The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-06-05
IN vsRMoNr ASYLUM
Mrs Hoirsn's Sensational Testimony
az Hartford. conn-

at Hartford. conn-
Hartford. Gem June More SEN
sational allegations Of the manner
whereby she was Abducted 10 Yer
mont mad-AOuse and OF her existence |
there for thee weeks came out ln the |
United States court here today when
Mrs.. Elizabeth Alden Curtis Holman.
wife Of Frederick Ernesf Holman of
Watergille. Ne. head OF n Boston
news concern. again took the sand
In her suit To- $4,000 damages
against her divorced husband. the
Rev. Craston Brenton OF Nonkers and
Doctors Oliver {. Smith and Paul Wa
terman. prominent Hartford physi-
clans. An asylum nurse oorroboraied
much OF Mrs. Holmans testimony re-
Earding her Incarceration.
Mrs. Holman withstood a search
cross-examination. When confronted
with her book. THE Norscman." a
poetic drama. which ran through a
private issue OF zoo copies. she quiet
Is admitted the authorship. also that
the first letters OF the verses In the
introduction formed an acrostic. read
ing. TO thee. Ernest, o my love"
She further acknowledged that ar
nest was her present husband. who
had net then been divorced from his
first wife.
She said she didn't think her hus-
band was justified IN objecting b..
cause he didn't know anything abol'
the hidden acrostic and because sac
had not been living With him as his
wife for some years.
Mrs Holman was tempo ariiy with
drawn from the witness stand TO en-
able Miss Lucy Townsend. a nurse OF
La.rc. VI. to testify. Miss Townsend
Who was special attendant ON Ms.
Holman. testified that the Brattlcboro
madhouse vas an old fashioned in
sane asylum for pauper patients, who
were never quiet. and that some who
had suicidal and homocidal manias
crept into Mrs. Brenton's room ar
night. The dishes of the tubercular
! patients we're washed with all the
other dishes Chairs aud dishes we're
| IA -own al meals and Mrs. Holman
was struck. Mrs. Holman's cell vas
| cheaply furnished with a small iron
bed bars on the windows. no space
Tor a trunk and no lights.
Tho nurse testified she always had
| Mrs. Holman under restraint. that
| visits by y cnton and DR. Waterman
upset Mrs. Holman terribly and that
Or $. T.. Lawton. the superintendent
told her Mrs Holman Vas not insane
Il would do OF say most anything
for them if they would only take me
away from here" she quoted Mrs
| Holman rs saving. She declared Mrs
Holman's cell az the asylum was 3
| filthy little affair and that the one
| window could be raised only five inch
es behind the barred gyaing Miss
| Townsend said photographs showed
| her by the defence were much deco
rated and intimated the ASYLUM inter
Tor had been Fixed up tor the occasion
as she had neve- seen Il so orderly.
| On cross-examination this afternoon
Mrs. Holman said she was member
OF the authors club OF Boston and be
fore her abduction was taking stenog
| raphy lessons at her mothers ex'
| pense In the hope that she would be
able to earn livelihood in case she
| left Brenton. She explained anec
Tomato letters to he husband from
Bra.tleboro by saying she thought
playing a pcnitent part and being a
model patient was the best way to
placato her prosecutors and thus
shorten her term of Imprisonment.
The record of her divorce action
which ran through numerous judicial
processes before granted, was read
Ia the IN y. Judge Thomas excluded
an effort 10 have her explain her dis
taste for lircuton She reiterated
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