Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1911-07-07
DECLARES
GIRLS TRIED To
KILL HIM
TELLS COURT ATTACK WAS
DELIBERATELY PLANNED
Letters Which New York Mil
liOnaire Tried to Recover are
Made Public at Trial of Al
legged AsSaiIantS.
ny Morning so.r,a, Special L.a..s wir.I

(By Morning yosr.ai special Lsasss wirel
New York. July GA package OF
eighteen letters, written in hy-gon,
years To Miss Lillian Graham, was
handed up to the judges bench this
afternoon In the court room where
Miss Graham and her chum. Ethe
Conrad were arraigned on a charge OF
attempting to murder W. +. u. stokes,
the millionaire hotel man.
The letters had been found. de-
teetive said. in the young woman's
rooms and constituted the prize to re-
cover which Stokes said he had rlsked
his life
stokes pale and Worn, told his own
story of the shooting. He had been
summoned 10 the apartments. he aaid
by Miss Conrad. who told him that
Miss Graham had left for Europe
He was angry, he said. when he saw
he had been deceived and declined Ia
sign an alleged statement setting forth
that he had DETAINED Miss Graham
and her relatives. He had also de-
clined TO pay t25,00O under threat OF
| death, he added. and thereupon Miss
Graham began to shoot.
stokes said he told the girls that
blackmail was prison offenss and
that Miss Graham said
I'm say I'm crazy while Miss
Conrad asserted. according to stokes
Wen say he came TO our apart
ments and attacked us and we killed
him in self-defense. We have three
witnesses listening to all this who
never would let him out alive
When Stokes disarmed Miss Gra-
ham after sustaining two wounds
Miss Conrad, he said. was In the par
Tor and as some ono bega" firing
then he assumed 1t was she. He was
shot again In the calf of the leg
There were -FOUR more shots. but they
all went wild,
stokes started for the hall then,
There, he said first the two girls and
later three Japanese seized him and
throttled him, while short, stout
man aided them. The police finally
rescued him, and he said. he handed
patrolman the revolver he had taxi
en- from Miss Graham.
on ross-exsmination. opposing
counsel attempted to have Stokes tel
of his attentions to Miss Graham dur
ing the four years he had known her,
but he proved an unwilling witness
and the lawyer met with constant OIL
iections. Stokes met Miss Graham at
dinner in Lexington, Ky, he said.
He had taken her out automobillng,
had written her while she was mt
Memphis, Chicago and other points,
and also had entertained her at his
Lexington farm. once. he said, she
had come from Memphis tc i.cxing-
ton at his telegraphic request She
left the next da" stokes said.
The first cash present he had g'v-
en- her was $3.50 or $500. he did not
remember which on the occasion of
one cf her visits to Lexington. Stokes
concluded his testimony before ed-
iournment. he case viii be contin-
u"G tcmtrroU.
The bundle Cf l,tters tina. ilt. W
stokes to tie girls apartments was
made public by the court. They S,l
begun with the salution, MY Dear
MISS Graham" or My Dear Miss
Lillian" ana most Of them concluded
with, Yours sincerely, or Yours
truly"
There was brisk encounter be-
tween opposing counsel as 10 Nhat
Mr.. stokes should he mGde to tes'hx
to regarding the visit nc said Miss
Graham made to his Lexington farm.
stokes admitted that II was tele-
gram from him to- Miss Graham that
caused her to go to Lexington, but he
declined to identify "A particular tele-
gram that Miss Graham's counsei pro-
duced. When he was asked as TO the
lenB n Of time he had invited Miss
Graham to remain as his guest at
Lexington there was objection by
Stokes counsel The young Woman s
attorney insisted that the matter had
an important bearing on the shooting,
Assuming, the attorney said,
that he inveigled her to the farm and
that she went believing that she
would meet large number of per-
sons there and as soon as she found
there was no one there, she went
away, would not that have 4 bearing
on the motive?"
1t was then that Mr.. Stokes testi-
fled that Miss Graham had left his
place at Lexington. the next day"
In the letters from stokes to Miss
Graham, given out tonight there were
many bits OF advice for the young
woman one sent early In December,
1903. warned her that the stage held
but "a hcartless social ife,' and urged
her instead to marry some rich
man whose Compa1ionship VIII be
worth more than all the worthless
admiration Of cheap stage"
In another the writer said:
Il am a cross, grabbed and ugly
old cove. ard such nice letter from
such pretty girl has turned my
head. In the FIRST place, YOU know
am a divorced man. forbidden to
marry; second, any man who has fall
ed TO retain the love Of the woman
who was desperately In love with him
would count it a crime to try maul-
mony on a girl for the second time.
In the third place, | am too old 80 all
| can do is to wat for a widow or di-
vorceo who has had all the matrimOn-
ial experiences she wants for life, and
SO we will just be good friends.
I'VE viii go travelling and antolng
together and have pleasant talks aud
such things. There are several dozen
widows and Divorces here ! intend
looking over very carefully before
return. but I will make no selection
before | have talked II over with you.
"There Is widow right small,
about forty years old very pretty and
only slightly damaged that | hear a
lot Of good about She Is very shape
ly and will get your opinion Of her.
She has a nice little nose ana blnck
hair. She says She does not like
Chicago Tho dirty streets thp hogs