Arizona republican., 1911-11-26
Mrs. Gertrude Gibson Pat terson Has a Trying Ex- perience While Undergo ing Ordeal of Cross Elk animation.
STICKS TO HER
 FIRST NARRATIVE
Slayer of Husband Pits Her Word Against That of Physician and Circum- stantial Evidence of Her Crime.

DENVER. Nov. 25.-Crouched on one knee on the courtroom floor with sRe- cial prosecutor Horace c, Benson standing over her, his right arm poised for a blow-the attitude in which she testified her husband was when she trude Gibson Patterson today re-en- acted before the jury the scenes of the rCment that brought her tO trial for her life It was near the close of long ordeal of cross examination. And he swung his right arm for another blow" asked the prosecutor.
 Yes, yes"-her breath came fast and he looked like a demon"
 And you shOt?'
 Yes. yes, l don't know how many times
 And YOU shot him in the back"
 That was all A little shudder ran over the crowded courtroom. The wit ness resumed the stand and the cross examination began anew. Against Mrs Patterson's version of the shooting the state contends with the testimony of the physicians who performed the au- topsy. Mute evidence of the tragedy on the dead mans clothes lie in heap u..der a table in front of the witness stand Both show the bullets entered the back. One went through the right shoulder the other through the heart. Just before Mrs. Patterson had been asked to show how the shooting Oc cured, the state had placed before the jury its version as to how Patterson met his death.
 When .our husband told you posi- |tively he would not dismiss his alien ation suit against Emil w. Strouss. didn't you say I told you Saturday that if you wouldn't I'd kill you and didn't he start to run and didn't you shoot him in the back, while he was on his hands and knees before you. cry ing. Oh. my God. my God. Didn't you put the muzzle of your gun within few inches of this coat that he was wearing and shoot him through the eart?"
 And Benson thrust almost in her face the coat her husband wore at the time of his death, his finger on one of the powder burned bullet holes in the back. She did not shrink.
 No sir. no sir; that's a lie"
 At three this afternoon Benson end ed his cross examination and turned .he witness over to her counsel for re- direct examination. Alleged relations with Strouss. the Chicago clothing m tnufacturer, were taken up almost Immediately, the point avoided by the defense on direct examination and brought out by the prosecution ou cross examination. She testified re- garding meeting StrOuss, the first trip to Europe with him, and said he prom ised to marry her before they went. She said he took her to a boarding school in Paris and later brought her back to America where she lived as Miss Gibson and he as MT. Strouss. in the same hotel. She said later she returned to Paris he saying he would marry her when she had finished school She said he promised marriage month in and month out Later they returned again to America and he ln- troduced her to his friends as his wife. Regarding the letters she wrote to Pat terson she said: 'I tried to get along with Mir Patterson. He said I was mean and unkind to him. I never felt any malice toward him, for the way he treated mel just tried to get along" and the witness laid her head down on her arms and wept Mrs. Mary D. Campbell. proprietor of a dye ing and cleaning establishment of Chi cago. followed Mrs. Patterson on the stand. She corroborated the defen- dant's testimony regarding two as saults on the part of Patterson. Miss Marie Gillen. a trained nurse. now liv- ing in Minneapolis. who took care of Patterson during his illness. corrobor- ated Mrs. Patterson's testimony of Patterson's threat to kill her If he ever got out of bed.