The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-12-14
MRS. MARY BLAIR BROkAW
TELLS OF sPoUsE's DRINKS
IN DIVORCE TRIAL.
DID NOT FEAR HIS THREATS
Replies With Ready Wit and Cool
Head to Questions of Defense Say
ing That She Didn't Fear Husband
When Not Drunk-lnterestins Tes-
timony on Plaintiffs Expenditures.

NEW YORK, Dec. 13.-The ready
wit and cool head of Mary Blail
Brokaw, who seeks a decree of sep
aration with alimony of 100000 a
year from her millionaire husband
w. Gould Brokaw, flashed again anC
again today through the persistent
plodding of her cross examination.
cat the times you say your hus'
band threatened to blow out your
brains, did you believe him." asked
John F. Mcintyre, counsel for the
defense.
Not when he was not drinking
returned the witness adroitly.
Did he say he would or could dc
it?" pursued Mr.. Mcintyre.
'In Paris, he said he could and ir
the south he said he would"
well, he did not, did he?" asked
Mr.. Mcintyre as clincher.
II think" said the witness sweetly
"you find 1 am still left"
At another time there was a ques-
ton of what Mrs. Brokaw meant by
"paralyzed," and an adjective she ap-
piled to Mr.. Brokaws condition on a
night when she testified she telephOn-
ed for his secretary to take care OF
him.
Mrs. Brokaw amplified her defini-
ton into condition of helpless in
toxication," and Mr.. Mcintyre immed-
lately wished to know how the wit
ness had qualified as judge in the
symptoms of drunkenness.
my varied experience after mar
riage made me an expert" she. re-
torted.
The worst weather an Atlantic
coast northeaster can show did not
daunt the curious. Many women,
richly robbed, motored over to Min
cola, through the slush and rain and
crowded the little courtroom. The
testimony did not disappoint them
Mr. Brokaw just before court con-
vened gave out a state for the press
in part as follows:
81 have been grossly misrepresented
py Mrs. BrOkaW and by members OF
her family Proposition after propo-
stion has been made to me by the
Plaintiffs side to abandon this case if
I should submit to a large settlement
Of money
Mr.. Baldwin. Mrs. BrolSaw's law
yer, Immediately issued a counter
statement. in part as follows.
THE statement given out by the
defense that the plaintiffs side had
made overtures to him to abandon the
case upon payment of a large sum OF
money is an unmitigated and DELHI
crate falsehood, and consistent with
the policy adopted by the defense ain
trying to win the case. upon unsub-
stantiated statements made without
the sanctity of an OATH
After these preliminaries both sides
got down to the serious business OF
the day Mrs. Brol1aW was asked il
she did not once take poison by mis-
take with 10 intention Of killing her.
self
Now, wasn't that only buff ~
queried Mr.. Mcintyre.
No, it was not replied the witness
Indignantly Il wanted to die
Cigarettes had proved an .embar-
RAISING subject for Mrs. Brokaw in
previous testimony. Today, she tri-
umphed over cocktails, of which she
had only tasted four in her life, she
said and never before breakfast.
Champagne she thought, tasted much
like ginger ale.
Mr. Mcintyre began to delve into
Mrs. BrokaW's bills for dresses. Her
'awyer cut him short with an adj
mission that Mrs. Brokaw had spent
1900 on his wife in their first year
of married life
Mr.. Mcintyre thought the items
spoke for themselves.
Il will hardly agree" he instanced,
that a couple of hundred dollars
worth of corsets were used by Mrs.
Brokaw
Brokaw himself, who is far from
puny, joined in the laugh that fol-
lowed.
Mr. Mcintyre, counsel for Mr.. Bro
kaw, questioned the seriousness of
the "gun episode" as he termed 1t.
He wanted to know if Mrs. BrokaW
screamed or made an outcry: Mrs.
Brokaw declared that she did call for
one of her maids.
MI. MC1HlyTG WdItSu " hllO" IL
her husband had not always been at
tentive to her and brought her flowers
every day." The witness said that
he did not buy flowers every day and
sometimes when he did he would ac-
cuse her Of not approaching the at
tentions he paid. her and of not
thanking him for the flowers.
Mrs. Brokaw said that Jimmy
Martin and her brother also used to
buy her flowers occasionally and that
this was objected to by her husband.
The witness said that while they
were stopping at the Hotel Essex.
she heard a great commotion in her
husbands room. Il went to his
ROOM" she said, land found him
paralyzed."
"Paralyzed from drink, or do you
use the word in a medical sense?"
asked Mr.. Mcintyre.
"Paralyzed from drink was the
prompt reply.
A CLASSIFIED AID in The Union