New Britain herald., 1915-03-05
RELATES TESTS HE
 MADE WITH DUMMY
Corner Phel1n Called to Stagd d
 Mrs. Alpt's Trial.

Bridgeport, March 5.-In it's efforts to prove that Waldo R. Ballou did not come to his death by falling down stairs from the landing adjoining the room of Mrs. Helen M. Angle in the Rippowam building at Stamford, the state today in the trial of Mrs. Angle for manslaughter called Coroner John J. Phelan to the stand to tell of tests he had made with a dummy which convinced him that if Bailou had fallen down the stairs the sound of the fall would have been heard by other occupants of the building. The coroner said he had taken a dummy representing the figure of 1 man about the weight of Ballou and had it thrown from the top of the stairway leading to Mrs. Angles apart ments to the floor below, while he stood in the room of Patrick Rabbit on the second floor separated from the landing by an eight inch brick wall. He had two others in the room with him and distinctly heard the sound of the dummy as it fell. Speaking Tests Tried.
 The first time the dummy was thrown from the top of the stairs, it landed a few steps from the bottom. He then had 1t thrown from the third or fourth step down and it struck the landing on the second floor. num- Der of speaking tests were also tried and these showed that sounds made in an ordinary tone of voice could be heard in that room.
 Preceding the testimony of the cor oner, a detailed description accom- panied by maps of the Rippowam building and the location of the Angle apartments and the Rabbit room was given by Nelson E. Emmons, an ar chitect of Stamford who designed the building. With the exception of the few moments that the coroner was on the stand the testimony of En- mons occupied the whole morning.
 Shortly before adjournment yester- day, Harold A. Parsons, a civil en- gineer of Stamford, was put on the stand to describe plans he had made of the Angle apartments and the stair way leading to it, together with the location of the various objects in the rooms and stains, spots and barefoot prints which the witness said ap- peared to be blood.
 Ennaons Describes Building.
 At the opening of the session to- day, Nelson F.. Emmons, a Stamford architect was asked by the states attorney to describe plans of the Rippowam building. Emmons de- signed the building. He was asked particularly to point out the location of MT. Rabbits room on the second floor with reference to the stairway leading to Mrs. Angles rooms on the s- room was under a part of Mrs. Angles front room. ..a
 Opening of court was delayed for about half an hour because counsel in the case were engaged at short calendar session of the superior court in another part of the court house.
 States Objection Sustained.
 The witness was asked if he had made experiments to determine whether the noise of a falling body in the Angle apartments could be heard in Robbits room. Witness had not done so. The plans were submitted as exhibit G by the state and Jacob B. Klein of counsel for the defense took the witness in hand. He sought to have him say whether the stairs were as steep or sleeper than are usually put III An ODJeC- tion by the state to these questions was sustained by the court. Asked by MT. Klein for the percentage of grade of the stairs, the witness said he could not give it, but promised to secure the information and sumbit it at a later date.
 Detail of Measurements.
 MT. Klein went into considerable detail of the measurements of land ! ings, railways and rooms and of the l entrances and exits of the Angle l apartments and of the lodge rooms l on the third floor.
 In the course of his questioning | MT. Klein brought out that the dis | tance between the door leading from Mrs. Angles room to the head of the stairs was about ten feet six inches in a diagonal line.
 Efforts of counsel for the defense | were directed yesterday largely to drawing from the states medical wit nesses a statement that the injuries suffered by Ballou, who died of a fractured skull, could have been re- ceived by fall downstairs. From four of the five physicians examined l this admission was secured. Consid- erable attention was also paid to the lighting of the hall and stairway.