The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-09
LILLIAN GRAHAM TELLS HER STORY Recital Is Punctuated by
 Sensations TELLS OF SHOOTING Declares That Stokes Was the Aggressor and That He Choked
 Her Before He Was
 Shot
TELLS OF SHOOTING

New York December S.--An almost con- stant flow of tears accompanied the re- cital Lillian Graham gave today of the sordid romance which led up to her shooting William D. Stokes, the million aire hotel proprietor.
 The hearing was punctuated with sen- sations. One came when the young wom- an was asked if her sister, Mrs. Stella Singleton, had ever talked to her about Stokes
 "She told me that I should be very, very careful and not see him any more I than had to-" replied the witness. be cause he was very dangerous man and mot to trust him. She told me, too. not to enrage him because she had good req son to believe that he had murdered l Al Adams. "On the night that MT. Adams was l murdered she saw MT Stokes come out of a back entrance of the Ansonia, be- tween Il and F o'clock. She said MT. Stokes had said next morning he had been in bed at s o'clock the night before. She said that when she opened the door she saw Mir Stokes rushing down stairs muttering something"
 Al Adams the policy king died at the Ansonia. october 1, 1907, and the death was recorded a case of suicide. Prompted by her counsel, C. L. Jordan, the young woman sobbed her replies to questions which covered her girlhood in California and came gradually up to her relations with Stokes. These made up a story of her having been lured to MT. Stokes stock farm and of her having been detained there for two nights and forced to sign self-defamatory letters re- leasing him from responsibility before she was allowed to leave.
 She declared the letters were written in Lexington before she left and that Mr. Stokes made her write them, under threat to write to her brother-in-law and tell him that she had been there and forced herself on him. The statements in the letter, she said, were not true.
 She testified that during her acquaInt- ance with Stokes he paid her s1200 which, she asserted, fell $500 short of $17O0 which she said she had earlier given him for investment and which he had reported had been lost.
 The girl told the story of the shooting in rapid tremulous phrases, denying pos tively that she had invited Stokes to her apartment. Ethel Conrad opened ,ne door and when she heard them talking she rushed out and demanded to know what business he had there.
 "He grabbed me by the throat and tried to choke me- she said. He forced me back into my room and against the bu- reau. He cursed me and called me terrible names 1 thought he was going to kill me I opened the drawer where the re- volver was. He seized the weapon and struggled with me for it. At last l got my finger on the trigger and 1t went off Then he got the gun away from me and ran into the front room Miss Conrad cried to him. Drop that gun or I'll shoot. then she shot The next thing I remember l ran out into the hall scream ing for help"
 Miss Graham was asked what Stokes had said, repied.
 "Hc said, I came here after my letters and I'm not going to leave without them.''
 Did he say any more that you have not told us?" asked her attorney.
 When he took me by the throat he said, You won't have to commit suicide when I get through with you.
 When the cross examination began the witness seemed to regain her composure but with almost the first questions asked by the prosecutor, objections by Miss Graham's counsel brought on an argu- ment and Justice Marcus declared an ad- journment until tomorrow