The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-06-17
BO|STEROUS AND
PROFANE WAS
MRS. GOULD
Frequently Drunk and Abusive
to Her Servants
CASE IS DRAGGING ALONG
Coarse Character of MiIIionaire's wife
Shown Up BY Her Life on Vir-
ginia Farm

New York, June 17.-An alleged at
tempt to poison Mrs. Viola Katherine
Gould through tne medium or cup
of coffee while she was staying at
her Virginia farm in November, 1906
was sprung by Clarence j. Shearn,
Mrs. Goulds counsel, just before court
adjourned for the day yesterday in
the trial of her action for a separation
from Howard Gould, which is being
heard before Supreme Court Justice
Bowling.
Mr.. Shearn was cross-examining
Robert Trotter, a master carpenter
who had been employed both at Castle
Gould and Mrs. Gould's Virginia farm.
Tretter nad given the most damaging
evidence SO far adduced as TO Mrs.
Gould's drinking habits and use OF
abusive language. A long cross-ex-
animation had failed to snake Trot'
ters testimony, when Mr.. Shearn sud
denly asked him about his relationship
with Betty Foster. colored woman
employed in the kitchen at the farm
In his direct examination .Trotter
had testified now, on one occasion, a
Saturday evening he had seen Mrs
Gould sitting in the dining room at
the Blue Gap Farm. She was gross
~ intoxicated" he said. 1t was this
incident that Mr.. Shearn had been
sitting when he suddenly asked Trot
| ter:
Did you put anything in Mrs
Goulds coffee that Saturday even
ing?"
Il did not" replied Trotter.
Did you get Betty Foster to put
anything in Mrs. Goulds coffee that
Saturday night
Il did not, replied Trotter indig
nant1y.
Didn't Mrs Gould charge you with
having poisoned herr"
No"
ut was right after Mrs. Gould had
her meal that she fell to the floor
wasn't it?"
mo, it was two hours after"
Tie subject was then dropped. but
not before Mr.. Shearn tried desper.
| ately hard to get the witness to admit
that detectives, supposedly employed
by Mr. Gould, had been seen hanging
around the farm about this time
| Trotter was sure that such was not
The case.
Another occasion on which Trotter
said he saw Mrs. Gould drunk was
whep sne said to her French maid:
You must wash that floor. I'm Mrs.
| Howard Gould,-you. wash that floor
A little later Trotter said she came
to the servants quarters. which he
vas repairing. 'She had a flushed
countenance, dishevelled hair, stag
yering gait and shaking voice" ne
said, This was about six weeks be-
fore Trotter went to the farm.
"One afternoon, about 3 o'clock,
the witness said. Il was working in
the buffers pantry, with two other
carpenters repairing a door. Mrs.
Gould came along and said to me: =
you, you have been four days at work
IN that door and you haven't got it
done yet and had only put the men
to work that morning.
Trotter said he was induced to go
down to Blue Gap Farm through let
ter written to another carpenter by
Mrs Gould. This was early in Sept
ember, 1906.
saw her the morning after my ar
rival" he said" and she stayed there
about eight or ten days. She was oc-
casionally intoxicated during that
time
The witness said that Mrs. Gould
drank continually during this visit.
rhe next time she visited the farm
was for few hours one day, wnen,
according to Trotter, she was drunk.
The third visit lasted three days. She
arrived on a Friday night about IL o.
clock. The next morning in company
with Mr.. Harrison, manager of the
farm, she went on a tour of insection.
"On Saturday afternoon" testified
I'fotter, "she was intoxicated again.
At night when she came in from a
drive, she was Slightly intoxicated.
She went upstairs and came down
worse. She abused us because she
said we hadn't done things and said
we were to do them that night before
going to bed"
One of the things left undone, said
Trotter was the moving of a large
'grandfathers" clock which stood in
the nall. He said he got a chair to
stand on so as to remove some orna-
ments from the top of it, when Mrs.
Gould asked what he wanted with a
chair and caught the clock in her
arms and she and the clock fell
against the WALL
Il got angry then" said Trotter,
and left. Later she sent for me to
put up a mirror in the bathroom.
refused to go and said | was through
with Mrs. Gould. Mr.. Harrison came
three times to get me and at last
took my tools and went. When
reached the house I saw Mrs. Gould
sitting on a chair in the dining room
grossly intoxicated"
Trotter said he saw her next day,
leaving the place. Before she went,
he said, she gave MIN a telegram to
send to Dustin Farnum.
Some interesting testimony was CIV
en- by Reinhold Carlson, a Swede, who
was head coachman at Castle Gould
from October 1904 to August 1905. He
told of some of the drives on which
he accompanied Mrs. Gould
Q.-Tell us what happened. Al