Omaha daily bee., 1911-12-23
CoRRoBoRATEs HER HUSBAND
Prosecution in Marks Trial Calls
Woman to Stand.
MEMORY GOOD ON me POINT
Accompanied Spouse Make Pay
ments to Defendant.
FEMININE CURIOsI4 LACKING
wife of ChIef mixer Proves Herself
by Testimony Superior 20 All
Others I'm Never Asking
Questions

Mrs, John G. Mabray was called to the
witness stand to testify for the state OF
Iowa in the Ben Marks case at Council
Bluffs yesterday The purpose was to
corroborate the portion OF her husbands
testimony In which he declared she fire.
quenuy accompanied him In their auto
mobile when he went to the Marks home
on Vine street In Council Bluffs TO nay
the percentages agreed upon after each
event, which Mabray has characterized
as play Her testimony on this point
was explicit, but upon all others her
memory was hazy or gone altogether.
She was an interesting witness, how
over, with loyalty to her husband spark
ling in every word.
Mrs. Mabray Is pretty little woman,
well Bowned and modest. She said she
was gamblers wife and looked upon
his calling as perfectly legitimate
In one remarkable respect she showed
herself transcendlng all other wives in
the world by repeatedly swearing that
never at any time or under any circum-
stances did she feel enough of the sup
posed natural curiosity OF wives and
women once TO inquire Of her husband or
his associates who were constantly
around her the real nature OF his busi-
ness. She contented herself with the sim
pie explanation that his business was
cards" She swore she never heard OF
mikes" big stores" or any of the
familiar terms in which Mabray and his
gang expressed their constant thoughts.
sh ealso swore with the same definite
earnestness that she did not learn the
true nature OF her husbands criminal
| ~ or
business until she read It in the news
papers at Hot Springs, Ark, the day
after Mabray's arrest there.
Married In Kansas City.
Mrs. Mabray told OF her life since the
time. when ms a young Nebraska girl at
Crawford she welded the man. but unlike
Mabray, who copuld not tell within three
years when such unimportant events as
his divorce from his first wife, with its
antecedent incidents of acid throwing in
Omaha, and his second marriage oc-
CURED. she could tell the year and day
OF her marriage. She said 1t was in
Kansas City on November 4, 1908. She
said she had one sister and three
brothers living at Kansas City, where
she had lived while Mabray was in the
penltentiary.
The attorney generals examination was
very brief. He asked her II she had ever
accompanied her husband in their auto
mobile when he went to the Marks home
and she replied that she had, many times,
during the seasons OF 1907 and 1904 and
that the machine was stopped three or
four doors from the Marks home and
often on the corner, and that she saw him
enter the gate but could not say he en-
tered.
The question, "what did, your husband
say to you when he returned to the auto?"
was objected to by the defense and re-
suited in arguments that consumed more
than an hour. Judge Arthur held that the
declarations OF co-conspirators could not
be considered until after the conspiracy
had been proved. but decided to permit
Mrs. Mabray to answer
Saw Him Enter Gate.
Mrs. Mabray answered that her hus-
band told her he went there to pay Marks
some money and that she only saw him
enter the gate, never the house. She was
also asked II her husband ever received
any kilograms or ltters from Council
Bluffs while he was In Kansas City or
4 New Orleans, but she was not allowed
to answer by sustained objections. She
was then turned over 10 the defense.
Mrs. Mabray said she had been taken q
few days ago to the vicinity OF the Marks
home by her husband and County Attor-
ney Capell to refresh her memory. She
had forgotten all dates connected with
the visits but that they were throughout
the summer and fall of 1908. She said
she was with her husband in Seattle,
New Orleans and all other places where
the mixing games we're pulled off, and
that she knew well all OF his partners
Hartman, Brown, Scott, Simpson-and
was intimately associated with their
wives, living together often in the various
cities where they operated. but that she
never once talked with them about theig
, husbands business.
When they were living in Omaha in
I 1907 at Twenty-fourth and Harney and in
1903 at a fashionable boarding house on