Evening journal., 1911-07-07
GIRLS LOOK
FOR ACQUITTAL
Expect to Go On Stage After
Stokes Case is Con-
Cluded
MILLIONAIRE DENIES
SOME STATEMENTS
By The United Press.

BY The United Press.
NEW YORK, July mot only do
they expect to be acquitted Of the at
tempted murder of W. E. D. Stokes, the
millionaire hotel proprietor, but that
they anticipate a profitable vaudeville
engagement as the result Of their ex-
perience, was the statement made by
Lillian Graham and Ethel Conrad as
they left Magistrate Frischis Court
following the noon recess today.
Stokes was the principal witness 1t
today's examination. He maintained
his defiant attitude and absolutely
denied ever assailing the character Of
Miss Graham or her mother and sis
ters. He also emphatically denied i'm
proper relations with the Graham girl
and insisted that while he had given
her money at various times and Sc
cured her theatrical engagements it
was because he considered her a
friend"
The two girls followed his testimony
closely. AS they left the court room
for luncheon, they professed TO be sat
isfed with the outlook and to be-
UeNe Ilel Will Dt uloCndl6 l6Ou WACh
their side of the case is heard.
II have four other letters that Stokes
wrote me-" said Miss Graham" and
when they are read in court they will
take some Of the starch out Of his
story. They will show why he was so
anxious to get those letters away from
me before their contents became pub
lie. Stick around, kid, those letters will
be worth waiting for.
"Ethel and / are going into vaude-
vile, after we are discharged here.
am writing a sketch Part of it will in
clude a court room scene and we will
work nsome of Stokes theatrisms.
guess will have to call the sketch
One man in a boat, and make it some
thing of a farce. 1t ought to be a
scream"
Stokes today identified the various
letters introduced in evidence last
night, and was then asked to tell Of
his acquaintance with the Conrad
girl. He said he met her first when
she called at his Office in the Ansonia
to ask him to do something for Lii
lian Graham whom, he said Miss Con-
rad told him, had tried to kill herself
by drinking carbolic acid.
"She told me that she had met Miss
Graham a few days before" said
Stokes, land that since then she had
been living with her as she had
neither money nor clothes. On re-
turning home the day before she had
found a letter from Lillian bidding
her goodbye She found her un-
conscious in the bathroom with her
face badly burned by acid A doctor
was called who saved her life. On
the table she found bunch of letters
which / had written her and also a
number from other men. They vtre
addressed to the press of New York
Conrad told me that she had shown
the letters to a lawyer and he ad-
vised her to tell me about them She
told me that if l would give Lillian
5000 to go to her sister in Paris and
herself $50 to pay her fare to Mobile
where her mother and brother lived
she would give me the letters, and
agreed to do So
"The next day she came back to the
hotel and 1 gave her the money.
wanted to hand her a check but she
asked for cash and l got it for her
She had previously told me that she
was the daughter of a Russian noble
man who had been killed in Bluefields
Nicaragua, after amassing a fortune
there Her mother, she said, had later
married another man who had robbed
and deserted her and the mother ther
went to live with her son in Mobile
That was the last l heard of her unit
she phoned for me to come TO th'
fat"
Questioned whether he ever promis
ed Lillian Graham that he would mar
ry her, Stokes said there had neve1
been any suggestion of marriage be
tween them. He said he knew boil
Miss Graham and her sister, Mrs. Sin
gleton, as they had lived at his hotel
He had given Miss Graham money a
various times and aided her in gettinl
theatrical positions but this was sim
ply because they were good friend
Stokes said that he thought" Miss
Graham remained at his farm near
Lexington when she visited him there
soon after he first met her, about two
or three days"
"Don't you know that she stayed
only one night?" demanded Attorne.
Moore for the girls, "and then wher
she found you we're alone although
you had told her there was to be ,
house party there she leftg
"I know she stayed more than one
night"
Didn't you make ner SIT down anC
write a letter generating you of an.
attempt at attacking her before yol
would let her leave the farm?"
Il did nothing of the sort"
Were your relations with her per
fectly honorable?"
They we're"
Stokes was questioned about mys
terious countess who, he said, mad
s. "a special trip across the ocean to war;
- him that Lillian Graham planned Il
blackmail him. He insisted that hi
statement to this effect was true al
though be could not explain why
stranger should take such an interes
in his affairs He again professe'
not to know her name.
II stayed awake in bed two hour
last night trying to recall her name,
he said, but / failed"
Stokes was followed on the stanl
by the policeman who made the ar
rests. following the shooting. Thei
Testimony develOped nothing new