Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-05
WOULD | LIKE To
DIE IN HIS ARMS?
ISHOULD SAY NOT!'
Wealthy Widow Tells How Actor
Got $2100 of Her Money
by Subtle FIattery
DENIES BEING FOND OF HIM
you Must Be an Artist Jack
Donovan's Way Of Getting
Acquainted with Her
DENIES BEING FOND OF HIM

ON THE stand in Judge Roses
court room yesterday afternoon
Mrs. s. A. Brooks. guest at the
Hotel Alexandria, told the story of her
acquaintance with Jack Donovan, va
riously known as Jack Sheridan and
Jack Golden, actor and former pugil-
list. Insidious flattery, a supper at
Casa Verdugo, dinner at a downtown
cafe, and various visits to theaters
figured in the story which has as it's
eliminating features the humiliation
of the woman and the arrest of the
man on grand larceny charge.
AS Mrs. Brooks told the tale the
clumsiness of the plan which she said
Donovan had devised to defraud her
of $2100 was apparent to every listener.
Yet it appears to have served its pur
pose, for Donovan got the money and
was arrested only as he and his wife
were preparing to board a transcon-
tinental train for Chicago.
Donovan, Mrs. Brooks testified, made
her acquaintance by the simple ex-
pedient of strolling up to her. as she
sat in chair on the mezzanine floor
of the Hotel Alexandria, and beginning
q conversation. Mrs. Brooks was
crocheting and the man, she says, COM
plimented her upon her work. She had
a clear recollection of that first speech
and repeated it to the court.
you must be an artist. 1 can tell
by the way you use your fingers. /
also am an artist. 1 embroider and
paint miniatures"
That, she declared, was Mr.. Dono-
vans introduction. A conversation
followed. the first of many, for the
man quickly fell into a habit of meet
ing her in the hotel corridors and
chatting in friendly fashion.
GOES TO THEATER To SEE HIM
Soon his conversation turned to
money. Then, one day, he asked her
to go to the Nielsen theater to see
him act. She went. Donovan met her
after the matinee and they dined to-
gether at a downtown cafe.
At this point In her story Donovan's
attorney interrupted the witness to
ask:
Didn't you tell him at this dinner
that you would like to die in his
arms?"
Most certainly not" replied Mrs.
Brooks with asperity. "He's the big
gest liar on the face of the earth"
Upon this reply Donovan feaped to
ger at the witness He started TO
speak, but was pulled back into his
chair by his lawyer.
Continuing, Mrs. Brooks told of go
ing with the man to Casa Verdugo for
dinner, and said that upon their re-
turn to the city she had accompanied
him to moving picture show.
Every time we met he talked to
me about starting d moving picture
show" she explained. "Ie told me it
would be easy to make a lot of money.
He said. too, that he had lot in
Sacramento and only needed $2100 to
put up a building. Often he asked
me to let him have this sum and
finally I drew the money from my
bank.
Last Friday evening we were stand
ing talking in the hotel lobby. I had
the money in my purse. In some way
the purse opened and the money fell
out. He picked it up and said:
TAKES CARE OF THE MONEY
"'Aren't you afraid you'll lose that?
You'd better let me carry it, Then he
placed the roll of money in his pocket
and that was the last I saw of it. He
had talked about a contract and he
said then that he would have one
drawn up Immediately. That night,
after I had retired, he came to my
door and slipped under it something
that was supposed to serve as a re-
ceipt. I found 1t the next morning
when I awoke."
"Did you ever give him any money!"
was asked.
Eyes. once" replied Mrs. Brooks. "I
came down into the lobby of the hotel
and found him sitting there like
hungry beast. I felt sorry for him
and I threw him IS and told him to get
something to eat"
The cross s-examination was devoted
largely to an effort on the part of
Donovan's attorney to draw from Mrs.
Brooks an admission that she had been
fond of the man. This, however, she
denied. not once but many times. Once,
when the question was nut to her di-
rectly, Mrs. Brooks replied:
'I was not fond of him. Most GER
tainly not l at first thought he was
a man, but now I know he hasn't got
a bit of manhood in him. In my ex-
perience with men I have learned not
to be fond of any of them"
The case finally was adjourned un-
til tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock,
when the prosecution will show the
facts regarding Donovan's arrest and
the subsequent discovery of the miss
ing money, pinned inside the waist of
the mans wife.
a.