Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-23
TESTIMONY IN LIBRARY CASE
NEARLY ALL TAKEN
DEFENSE EXPECTS TO END ITS
CASE NEXT MONDAY
Miss Anna Becky Refutes. Many of
the Allegations Made Against
Defendant by Director of
Research Jones

O'Clock last night and two witnesses
for the defense, Miss Anna Becky,
principal of the reference department
of the library, and 1. B. Dockweiler,
president of the library board, were put
on the stand
Herbert j. Goudge, attorney for Miss
Celia Gleason, declared at adjournment
last night, that unless the civil service
commission demanded some other wit
nesses shall be put on he will close
his case next Monday night with Miss
Gleason herself, as the last witness.
Miss Becky is the star witness of
the entire library performance and it
S evident her testimony made a
deep impression on the civil service
commission. She has the reputation of
being the most learned woman in Los
Angeles and when she gained control
of herself, after few minutes of nat
- Al agitation, she gave her answers
in clear, calm voice and in a positive
manner that carried conviction to her
auditors.
She has been an assistant in the Ii
brary fifteen years and knows every
detail of the institution as perhaps no
other attendant in it. She told about
the schedule arrangements which has
been one of the points on which the
prosecution has harped continually dur
ING tie llN6SllSdIlOU, DIS evidence OIL
Miss GleaSon's incompetency and de-
clared it could not be arranged bet
ter than is now the case and that the
careful way in which Miss Gleason
handles it prevents friction that might
otherwise occur.
Discipline Does Not Lack
One of the charges of Miss Julia W.
Blandy, who is the complainant in the
case, is that Miss Gleason lacks disci-
pline in handling the library staff. Miss
Becky declared last night Miss Glea-
son was one of the best disciplinarians
she had ever seen and that she had
often reproved attendants for in
fringement of library rules. She
frankly admitted Miss Gleason had had
occasion to reprove her many times
DR.. Jones in his testimony declared
that one evidence of Miss Gleason's
incompetence was that visiting" was
frequent among the attendants. Miss
Becky declared this visiting never
lasted more than five or ten minutes
When asked if she had ever seen DR..
Jones visiting she replied she had,
although Attorney G. d. Munson, who
represents the prosecution, objected to
her answering the question.
DR.. Jones, the director of study and
research, has the reputation among the
library staff of being a "knocker." One
morning he arrived at his office to find
hammer on his desk. In his testimo-
ny he declared Miss Gleason was the
only person besides himself having a
key to his office, broadly intimating she
was responsible for the hammer being
placed on his desk.
Miss Becky declared that the night
when the hammer was placed on DR..
Jones desk she passed through his office
number of times and the doors were
not locked. Late in the evening she
passed through his room and noticed
the hammer on the desk. She testified
that Miss Gleason was not at the libra
ry any time during the evening on
which the hammer had been presented
to Dr. Jones.
DR.. Jones also had intimated broadly
that Miss Gleason had tampered with
the safe in the librarians office. He
concluded she had done so from the
fact that he had set a little trap to
catch her. he declared This tran con-
sisted of a. package of papers so placed
that the minute the door of the safe
was opened it would fall to the floor
and break open so it could not be re-
placed. He gave this incident in sup
port of his theory that Miss Gleason
had tampered with the safe.
Says Statement Is Outrageous
Miss Becky was asked about this in
cident by Attorney Goudge. Miss
Becky is a woman, and because of that
fact she contented herself by desig-
mating this statement of DR.. Jones as
Outra ageOuS.
81 opened that safe myself. I let that
package drop to the floor. / took the
broken package to DR. Jones and told
him I had opened the safe to secure a
valuable Spanish book He had told
me about the trap he had set for Miss
Gleason, but forgettino about the pack
age | had sprung the trap myself. DR..
Jones knew it was / who sprung his
trap, and yet in his testimony he laid
if to Miss Gleason" Miss Becky said,
and her eyes snapped as she said it, at
the evident unfairness shown by DIR.
Jones in his testimony in support of
Miss BIandy's charges
She testified that when DR.. Jones was
acting librarian, during Mr. Lummis'
absence from the city, she had COM
planned about the binding Of some
books in her department and asked him
to use his authority to straighten out
the matter. He had replied: LET the
work go to the dogs Wait until the
honorable librarian returns"
On the use of intoxicating liquors in
the lunch room, of which DR.. Jones
had complained. she declared there
never had been anything stronger than
cooking sherry used and that only to
flavor pudding sauce. She said Dr.
Jones had been very kind about fre-
quently prescribing whisky to the
young women of the library when they
felt the need of stimulant
The giSt of Mr. DockWeiler's testi-
mony was that Miss Gleason was very
competent for her work and that her
work was of a superior kind that re-
auired great tact and diplomacy, As
well as a high order of intelligence
He said her position and several others
were superior to that held by Miss
Blandy as principal of the branches.
Takes Sly pig at Director
DR.. D. W. Edelman of the civil SER
vice commission could not refrain from
sly dig.
as the position of director of study
and research more important than
that held by Miss Blandy?" he asked,
suavely.
''Yes," replied Mr.. Dockweiler, 'qt
is"
els the position of director of study
and research such an important one
that you would not abolish it?' was
DR.. Edelmans next leading question
Mr.. Dockweiler smiled. for he real
lied the purport of the remark, but
replied noncommitally, "That would
depend upon the work accomplished ny
the incumbent of the office"
City Auditor Mushet, Peter keenan,,
the civil service carpenter, and DR.. J.
w. Trueworthy, former president of the
library board, were the last witnesses
for the prosecution, but two of them
gave testimony more in favor of the
defendant, as has been the surprising