The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-17
DEFENSE ATTACKS
 NURSES TESTIMONY Attorney Grills Witness With.
 out Mercy ITS WOMAN DETECTIVE Attorneys Charge Her With Illegal Con- duct in Getting Damaging State ments From the Accused ii
 Mrs. Schenk

| Wheeling, w. Va, January 16.-In the case of Mrs. Laura Farnsworth Schenk, | charged with administering poison to her millionaire husband John O. Schenk, the defense today attempted to shake the story told the jury on direct examination l Saturday by Eleanor Zoeckler, who is also
 known as Mrs. Kline, the detective nurse,
 who alleges that Mrs. Schenk offered her
 5000 to put poisoned pill in the medi- 1 cine which was taken by the patient at
 the North Wheeling hospital. l Miss Zoeckler, who is connected with a | Pittsburg detective agency, was on the | stand all day and with the exception of a half hour when the remainder of her testimony was brought out by prosecute ing Attorney J. B. Handlan she was in the hands of s. o. Boyce, who grilled the witness without mercy.
 | The womans varacity. her character and her past lift were probed in the ques- l tions proposed by MT: Boyce. So fierce was the attack on the witness at the | very outset of the cross-examination that | Prosecutor Handlan objected and the | jury was excluded while the objection | was argued out. Time after time Mir Boyce asked. When you told MT. Schenk | that. you lied again, didn't you?" l Without faltering or changing her ex- pression the witness answered on every question in a straightforward Yes or | Sure | did She declared in explana- | ton of her course she was put on the case | to get informa ton from the alleged pois- | oner by any means possible. | The rest of the direct testimony of Miss | Zoecller was taken at the morning ses | sion but a short time being required by Prosecutor Handlan. Asked If she had had any conversations with Mrs. Schenk regarding the probable death of her hus- | band she said she had. She said Mrs. Schenk often expressed a fear that she | would not get what was coming to | her. and that she was not sure she would get a good home if her husband should die.
 q watched every board, every stone l going into our house." Mrs. Schenk told | her, the witness said. and know 1t is worth lot of money" Following our | talk when she had offered me $lo0o to | poison Schenk, Mrs. Schenk evaded me | for several days On the morning of her arrest she came to the hospital and ask | ed me if she could see her husband. 1 told her yes. to go in Miss Evans order l ed her out as she was just giving Schenk | treatment.
 "eYou can give him the devil for all care said Mrs. Schenk.' | Both the regular nurse and herself had | instructions not to leave wife and nus | band alone for a moment. | MT Boyce took the witness in charge | and his first question revealed the line which the defense would follow.
 You were told to break into Mrs
 Schenk's confidence by any means, | weren't your
 "Those were my instructions she an- | swered.
 | MT Royce, after two hours of search 1 ing inquiry, asked:
 Isn't it fact that every statement you have made relative to Mrs. Schenk offer l ing you s1000 to poison her husband a tissue of lies, manufactured out of the | whole cloth by you?"
 | "EverythinG l have told is true" "Isn't 1t a fact that the only mention or the s1G0o was made when you told Mrs. Schenk that Albert Schenk, Johns brother, | had offered Miss Evans that amount to | take Johns keys to his safe deposit box | and turn them over to Albert and you | you said it ought to be worth that amount | to you if you got them from Mrs Schenk2''
 That is not true. No such conversa- l tion took place"
 | During the closing hours of the after noon sess'on MT. Boyce attacked the char | acter Of the witness.
 | MT. Handlan said he would reserve
 the right to call Miss Zoeckler back 10 | the stand and that he would prove her good character before the trial was cont pleted.