Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-14
Fire in New York Courthouse
interrupts Stokes Case.
JUDGE ORDERS A RECESS
Cigarette 1gnites Wooden Partition
and Room Becomes Foggy.
MAY REACH JURY TOMORROW
Defense Expects to Conclude Argu
ment Today and Prosecution
Will Follow.

| NEW YORK, December 14-Judge at
torneys and jurors and every one else
concerned In the Stokes case were smok-
| cd out OF the courtroom in the criminal
[ courts building today by a slight fire in
one OF the upper stories. Some one threw
cigarette behind the wooden partition.
starting a fire which caused a great deal
OF smoke and was very hard to find and
extinguish.
The smoke poured into the room where
the attorney for the defense was sum-
ming up before the jury, and after try
ing In vain to clear the room by opening
the windows, Justice Marcus order ed an
early recess. If the fire could be located
and put out in time he ordered the jurors
to return for the resumption of tine trial
at 1:3O pm.
This is the third time that the trial of
Lillian Graham and Ethel Conrad cha ged
with attempting to murder W. E. D.
Stokes. has been Unexpectedly interrupt
ed. The first time it was the dismis sal
! OF juror who had indiscreetly discussed
the case outside the courtroom The sec
ond interruption was the illness of Mr..
stokes III the delay today was not too
summlng-up before adjournment. In this
case the prosecution will make it's final
argument, and the case will 20 to the
july tomorrow.
Girls Complete Testimony.
Lillian Graham, Ethel Conrad and
Stokes have completed their testimony.
II Mrs. Stella Singleton, Miss Graham's
sister, was able to testify the defense
planned to put her on the stand today.
Mrs. Singleton had been confined to- the
out of the courtroom and fell in a long
faint, unable to endure the strain of the
exciting trial.
Although both sides would like to ex-
anime Stokes little farther. his condi-
| ton would prevent his appearance in
court for at least two weeks: and the at
torneys have decided to close the trial
without taking any more OF his testi-
| mony.
| Stokes physician, who spent nearly the
| whole night at his bedside. said this
| morning that the millionaire passed a
| very bad night and that his condition is
| critical.
Mrs. Singleton Also Ill.
| Soon after court opened the attorneys
| for the defense said they had learned
| that Mrs Singleton was on the verge of
nervous prostration and unable to take
the stand. The defense had expected Mrs
Singleton to corroborate several import
| ant points in the defendants testimony
| among others. the assertion that her sis
| ter, Miss Graham. feared Stokes because
Mrs. Singleton had told her that Stokes
killed Al Adams. known as the policy
king" coroner's jury found that
Adams committed suicide This left the
only new witness, Police Inspector John
H. Russell. who was called by the prose-
cutton to tell about the arrest of the de-
PENDANTS and their first examination by
the police. The witness said he did not
notice on Miss Graham's throat the marks
she testified had been left there by
Stokes fingers.
The defense then renewed the motion
to strike out all of StokeS testimony on
the ground that it had not had sufficient
opportunity to cross-examine.
The motion was denied and without
any further preliminaries the defense be-
| gan to sum up
The closing address to the jury was be-
| gun by Attorney Robert NJ. Moore.
Calling Mrs. Stokes Surprise.
The calling of Mrs. Stokes yesterday
as witness for the state came as a
| surprise to the defense and to the spec
| tators. Her testimony. however, was
brief. She said she had married Stokes
last February II, but had lived at Stokes
that date.
The main feature Of her testimony was
the contradiction of Miss Conrad's decla-
ration that the defendant had met Stokes
at the Hotel Ansonia on the morning of
May %. Mrs. Stokes declared that her
husband and herself were away that
morning.
When Miss Conrad appeared Assistant
District Attorney Buckner, resuming
cross-examinatiOn. wanted to know a lot
of things about her stage experience.
You were not success as a vaudeville
artist. were you?
well. / am not the person to talk
about myself that way
Ethel Conrad's Story mistaken.
Ethel Conrad's story Of the shooting Of
| terial point by the long cross-examina-
| ton. Her answers to the prosecutin-
attorneys questions came quickly. She
swore that Stokes shot twice without ef-
| feet in the battle last June in the apart
ment which Miss Conrad and she shared,
| during which she admitted that she and
Miss Graham also fired In self-defense and
wounded Stokes in the legs. 1t was his
| life or ours she declared.
| When asked why she did not tell the
police that Stokes had fired twice she
said she did not tell the police all she
knew because they were "old tattletales.
anyhow"
.,fter the failure to shake the witness
story Horace Hix. q negro butler on
Stokes farm In Lexington, KY. was
| called He told story much at variance
| with that Of Miss Graham. who had de-
clared she was detained at Stokes farm
for two nights. Hix swore that while
| Miss Graham was q guest of Stokes she
| seemed VERY happy. She was the only
woman who ever visited Stokes farm
individually" Hix said he had heard her
| ask about that money! but did not
know what she meant