The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-11-25
At the Time She Swears He Was
Abusing Her.
CROSS EXAMINATION
Weakens Her Original Story
Told to the Jury.
Prosecution Goes Far Back Into
Her Early Life.

son compelled Gertrude Gibson Pat
terson on trial for the alleged muir
der of her husband to reverse a reply
which she made yesterday when the
cross examination of the defendant
was resumed in Judge Aliens court
today The defendant admitted writ
! ing letter although she denied the
fact yesterday The letter declared
| that IL the elder Mrs. Patterson would
not pay her sons hospital bills she
| could send him to Dunning, an insti-
tuition maintained by Cook county in
which the city of Chicago is situated
and to which among other patients
impoverished consumptives are con-
/ signed by court order. Yesterday.
when asked IL she had written such a
\ letter, the prisoner answered with a
/ denial When the letter was shown
her today she reversed her reply.
You said yesterday that you did
not write it, did you not2" asked
! Prosecutor Benson.
Did 1 say anything like that?''
Mrs Patterson countered. with dilat-
ca yes yes
L didn't remember that letter.
You did not know had 1t, them
replied Mr.. Benson with grim smile.
! The cross examination at this point
reverted to alleged negotiations which
the state claims Mrs. Patterson en-
tered into for the purchase Of fifteen
band in Chicago printing esta blish-
| ment. Witness repeated her denial
that she had conferred with mem
bers of Patterson's family on the sub
ject.
Direct Testimony Is Shaken.
Denver, Colo, Nov. 25.-Against the
two vital points of the story Gertrude
! Gibson Patterson. charged with the
murder Of her husband. told upon the
witness stand-the cruelty and abuse
I q ia hn
had sold her for $500 to her former
admirer, Emil w Strouss. Chicago
millionaire, with whom she made
trip to Europe-Special Prosecutor
Horace G. Benson directed three hours
of merciless cross examination. And
the state made more than a passing
impression.
Led to repeat various instances OF
his abuse and forced to declare that,
naturally, at the time she felt toward
him the greatest of indignation and
contempt, she was confronted by let
ters she herself had written 70 her
husband on dates but a few days sub
sequent to those on which she had de-
clared the assaults on her had been
made. Those letters were couched in
terms Of deepest affection, models OF
what devoted wife would write to an
/ affectionate husband.
on the trip to Europe with Strouss.
a trip undertaken, she had said, at the
| urgent demand of her husband who
received S1,500 from Strouss. the state
put an entirely different cOnstructiOn
and wrung from the witness admis-
| sions that materially strengthened the
theory it advanced.
Under the gruelling of the special
! prosecutor, the mask Of imperturba bill
ity that Mrs. Patterson has worn
throughout the early days of the trial
! vanished completely. She ran the
gamut OF emotions Twice she broke
down and wept. while at other times.
.H
Tended dignity was often her attitude
and she used Il to good advantage.
Back TO School Days.
Reviewing her early life in Sandoval.
H., Prosecutor Benson Wrung from
Mrs. Patterson an admission that when
she was about IA years old she had
/ been expelled from school. but not for
immoral conduct, she declared. as he
4 had intimated. He then endeavored.
lunsuccessfully. to get Mrs. Patterson
to admit that she had been the inmate
of a resort at 1918 Chestnut street. ST.
Louis
He asked Mrs Patterson II she had
not seen a lawyer in Chicago about a
divorce in July. 1910. and added.
You took this step because or the
treatment you had suffered at your
husbands hands2"
Il did"
you then felt indignant against
your husband?"
Il did"
Here -.ensOn handed her "a letter
| which she admitted she had written 10
/ Patterson. then at a sanitarium near
/ Chicago. only a short time after she
had consulted her lawyer. The letter
was read to the jury. Tn Il Mrs. Pat-
/ terson called her husband her soul
| mate" and said.
IF you did not sign the paper my
lawyer has this afternoon / viii come
to you soon as am very unhappy
/ and YOU are the only cure
The witness showed no trace of en-
barrassment as the prosecutor read this
letter.
Tnen Rdr. Benson led over the story
/ Of her husbands alleged abuse until
| Patterson entered a Denver sanitar-
Another letter written June 30. 1911.
/ was handed Mrs. Patterson IL read In
part:
my dear little pet. Yours just re-
feel there is a respousi bllity on you. for
/ there is not. I take an the response
| bility on my own shoulders. You VIII
be happy when you step into your little
bungalow. Just be happy. Charlie and
| the way to be happy is % know that
| you have got the best little loving
| helpmate and wife ia the whole world.
Lots OF love and trust me. am
true all the time. Are your"
Her Meeting With Strouss.
The story Of Gertrude Patterson's
| girlhood. Of her meeting with Strousa
when she was Is years old. OF his
taking her TO Paris. TO study. OF her
| return to Chicago with him at the end
OF the winter and of the life she led
with him for the next five years--a