Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-18

he did not know his wife was dead
until about o'clock the following
morning.
I'VE walked to Main street from his
home at Forty-fifth street and Moneta
avenue" continued Mrs. Carpenter.
when we were outside of the house
| / said, Are you sure you did not do
| it? He said, no, and l said, You
wanted to get rid of her so much He
replied that it was a mere coincidence.
We met Frank Abbott a policeman,
| and his wife, and Bennett told them
the same story he had told to me.
I'VE walked up and down for about
! three quarters of an hour, Bennett
making plans for the future of him
self and Nudge. I told him she did
not love him and that woman who
would leave her own child would not
love him and that he believed in af-
finities Since then 1 have done moth
| ing to help either of Them
Mrs Carpenter said she had seen
Bennett only once since that date, This
meeting was by appointment made
| over the telephone.
Mrs. Molster had told him 1 was
going to tell her husband there was a
man in the case" said the witness,
''and he begged me to say nothing
about the matter for the sake of his
| little girls. ] told him he did not think
about Ed holsters little boy when he
! took his mother away. He then told
/ me he would have Mrs. holster tell her
/ husband there was a man in the case
/ but he did not keep that promise. I
| telephoned to him upbraiding him for
| this, and he denied there had been any
| Illicit relations between himself and
Mrs. eMolster. When l spoke about his
registering as man and wife at the
Dakota rooming house he denied that
such was the fact and hung up the
receiver"
Mrs Carpenter asked leave to re-
turn the first part of her recital and
volunteered the statement that when
Bennett told her he had prepared the
food the night his wife died, she asked
him if he did not believe Mrs. Bennett
had attempted to poison him; that Mrs.
Molster had told her Bennett was in
mortal dread of his wife and because
of this he prepared his own meals.
Bennett, she said, denied this.
on cross-examination it developed
that a man named Kennedy and F.
M. Fowler, detectives, a stenographer
and n. S. Sterry, an attorney in the
office of Gibson, Trask, Dunn &
Crutcher. counsel for Royston's. the
grocery firm against which Bennett has
brought suit for $4,000 on account of
his wife's death. called on Mrs. Car
penter and obtained a written report
of the testimony given by her yester-
day. Attorney Drake said he pro-
posed to show that the whole investi-
cation was instituted by representa-
tives OF the grocery.
When asked if she had not tried to
reach an, agreement with Bennett
whereby she would receive $1,000 if she
would refuse to divulge what she
knew, Mrs. Carpenter replied scorn-
fully in the negative.
1.-The only talk of money" she said,
was when 1 told Molster he had
good case if he wanted to sue Ben
nett for alienation of his Wife's affec-
tions, and you bet your life he has"
There wasn't a thing l would not
have done for 'Midge,' up to the time
of Mrs. Benefits DEATH said Mrs.
Carpenter, in conclusion. II thought
| was helping her to reach her hearts
desire, and by my presence l hoped to
protect her. I believed if Bennett killed
his wife he was a murdered, and love
that woman too well to let her live
with a murderer. When we left the
east together, her father said: Go, I'm
giving you my daughter to care for
guard her.
LandIady Gives Testimony
The evident purpose of Bennett to
conceal the fact that he had been with
Mrs Molster at the Dakota rooming
house was disclosed by the testimony
of Mrs. Eunice Reppeto, landlady OF
the place. She Identified Bennett and
Mrs Molster as the persons who came
to her house February 3, Bennett, she
said, registering the names Mr.. and
Mrs. Arson.
He came again on March Is and told
me he had registered under an assumed
name, asking if he could change it. l
gave the permission and he wrote w.
D. Henderson and wife He came again
the following day and explained to me
that the woman who had accompanied
him early in the month was a friend
he had known since childhood, that her
husband had treated her cruelty and
that he was going to send her to her
eastern home"
A sensation, second to that occa-
stoned by the testimony of Mrs. Car
penter, was caused when Joseph Tip
ton, a business associate of Bennett,
| testified that the latter, ten days be-
| fore the death of Mrs. Bennett, had
purchased some strychnine and asked
the witness to accompany him to his
home, where he was going to poison
cats that had been disturbing his rest.
After some of the strychnine had
been used for this purpose said Tip
and insisted that 1 watch him while he
disposed of what remained. He threw
it into a bowl and let it run into the
sewer"
Louis Duni, a detective employed in
the office of S. L. Browne, chief of the
criminal bureau of the district attor-
neys office, testified that he had OBJ
tanned permit from the city health
office to exhume Mrs. Benefits body
F. NJ. Fowler, special agent for the
Huntington railways and connected
with the legal firm of Gibson, Trask,
Dunn & Crutcher, testified that he ac-
cOmpanied Bennett to San Diego May
81. I'VE talked on the train" said the
witness, land | told Bennett | was
making an investigation on behalf of
the Roystons. He invited me to the
house and introduced me to Mrs. Mol
ster, who, he said, was his housekeep-
err"
e. c. Molster. a street car conductor
and husband of Benefits affinity, was
the last witness of the day. His wife
he said, left his home on January 20
last and has never returned He es-
ayed to read a letter received from his
wife a few hours after her departure
but broke down and sobbed, turning
the letter over to Mr.. McComas.
The letter, which is not dated and
In which was enclosed the advertise
ment inserted by Bennett asking for
'motherlY woman to care for two
young children" was as follows
Dear Ed: I've accepted a position
with these people as nurse and com
panion for these children to travel, and
expect to leave here Monday | don't