The San Francisco call., 1910-11-24
''Baby John" Stands Firm Un-
der Cross Examination by
His Putative Mother
Judge, Prosecutor and Jurors
Display Patience With the
Yagaries of Defendant
Bv MARY AsHE MILLER

land yesterday or lemlnlnlly, IRE
pressible. cantankerous. illogical un-
reasonable. dominating, nagging, cum
Ming. npudent-everything except at
tractive.
Judge Wells and Assistant District
Attorney Hynes gave examples Of pa
tience which pass belief as appertain-
ing 20 mere men, but with symptoms
Of nerves approaching the swapping
point
The Jurors showed patience in more
negative form-some amusement a
frife Of boredom and at times aston
fshment which made their mouths into
round O's OF wonder at Mrs. Martin 5
va garies.
Mrs. Martin IS undergoing her sec
ond trial for blowing up the home OF
Judge Ogden, acting as her own coun-
sci and departing as far as she pos
sfblv can from every accepted rule Of
the legal profession.
She came into court yesterday, ac-
conpanied by the matron of the JAIL
Mrs White. and a deputy, the latter
OF whom politely carried for her a
good sized bag Of yellow cross stltch
tapestry filled with oOgeared papers
and some books. There were no law
hooks. One OF the things that marks
the conduct Of the Martin trial is the
absence Of all such volumes. The judge
snd the district attorney have diff
culty in getting in little legal lore
bv word Of mouth every now and then.
Thev would be shouted down by the
defendant at once II they tried any
tbfne so deliberate as reading out Of a
book.
- APPEARANCE OF DEFENDANT
Mrs. Martin was dressed in black
Sod in 1p a.
dots and having expansive insertions
of black lace which disclosed the fact
that the gown was made over pale
gree7ish blue silk, accordion pleated.
The garment was trife voluminous
and questionable and was gathered
81, ample folds around her unstayed
waist bv IN ornate metal belt.
Her hat was a mysterious thing OF
white chin. blue beads. blue and brown
wings and bows. small and rolling
evav from her tightly drawn up hair.
Although there are traces Of beauty,
ere white skin. regular features
cleaning chestnut hair and the ike,
her life. both in and out Of prison ]
fancy. has told on her. Her eyes are
uonderful-not for beauty now but for
tho force one might say, violence or
her glance Large. Of clear blue.
they seem 10 fairly pierce the object
~ her regard. They are Ia ggard-wild III
AT times with one emotion or another
bur one searches them in vain for any
trace OF insanity
u Is said by those who have been in
court during the trial that Baby John"
VIII not look at her-that his eyes are
alu-avs elsewhere and he never meets
her glance. This may be true, but GER
tain it is that he showed no trace OF
fear or nervousness when cross exam
ined by. her yesterday
The boz- is as wonderful in his way
IS the woman he is handsome lad,
with clear. honest brown eyes ana
rather regular features, save for his
nose. which Mrs. Martin is said TO have
broken. No amount Of her attempted
browbeating yesterday. however, was
HE 10 break his testimony or cause IT
10 waver for one second. He did not
even lose his temper with her as he did
the day before.
STRANGE SCENE IN COURT
II was as strange a scene as one
coujd imagine This woman. accused Of
every crime IN the calendar. conducting
the cross examination for her own de-
fense OF the boy whom she claimed for
her son for so many years, trying, as
she declared TO prove that he was a
criminal from his youth up"
She began her examination in rather
q ssctatty'' tone. asking. John, in re-
ferring 10 the trouble you gave Mrs.
Martin in 1901, do you remember Mrs
Andrea Lindal?"
John" said. with slight yawn but
3 trifle defiantly, Yes, ma'am."
And then she made rather minute in
oufries as 70 his plans TO poison Mrs.
Idndal with some quicksilver which she
said he had stolen from Phil Coopers
ca bin"
This John said was not true in any
particular.
brief session OF the Martin trial, 70
such details as the poisoning of one
or another, theft. the plans for blow
ing I'D prominent men as the outcome
% Sfsa agreements. and the manufacture
Of bombs. By the close Of the after
noon it seemed rather all in the days
work
District Attorney Hynes tried early
10 stop some Of Mrs. Martins questions
which he said were irrelevant and
waste OF time, declaring at the same
tine that he wishes to show every
courtesy TO the defendant.
Mrs Martin began to object, and
when Judge Wells showed signs Of
agreeing with the district attorney she
hurst IN with Why Judge, do you
mean to say that when this boy ac-
cuses this woman Of crime that she
can't show that he's criminal from
his youth up That's the most unfair
thing I ever heard Of"
And the funny part Of 1t was that
she said this with a feminine plant
iu her voice and a vocal pout that
made Judge Wells feel for a moment
as though he had stepped on a kitten.
WoyTAN'S WILES ARE TRUMPs
The wiles OF womanhood are Mrs
Martins trumps She gives a man
that helpless feeling when he tries 70
cope with her. She tries the gentle
art Of fascination, too. Yesterday she
zvinked at a juror. but he took IL in
the right spirit and grinned at the
district attorney, who had his eye on
the same Juror Another time, when
she showed the district attorney a
passage Of the transcript on which
She was questioning John. he said:
Now, Mrs. Martin. just a moment;
YOU don't have to be jabbering TO me
all the time"
She nudged him confidently and CO.
ouettishly on the elbow and said be-
meath her breath, You hush up"
Again, when the Judge had been
driven TO ordering her peremptorily
10 heed the rulings he had made, she
fell tack and said: Judge, you dis
courage me so I can't get on at all"
Wei, you discourage me, Mrs. Mar
tin" retorted the Judge. You did
some time ago.