The Washington times., 1916-01-01
Ayers She Told Him Not to Come
Home One Night, as She Was
Entertaining Mr.. Colt.
MAID TELLS OF HIS LOVE
Authoress Lost Her Affection
With His Money and Fine
Things, Lawyer Testifies.

NEW YORK, Jan. January.
1910, she Mrs. Rena Cary SherieldI
told me that she was going to invite
Mr. Colt to come to the house. Don't
YOU come home tonight or during the
night, she said to me.
II asked her the reason for this
and she said. oh. I only want to have
a little adventure, ="
So testified Justus Sheffield at the
proceedings which have grown out
of the efforts of himself and his wife
to obtain divorces in the Chancery
Court in Jersey city.
Mr. Sheffield also told how in 1913
he had whipped his son. Nelson, now
dead. for misbehavior. Mrs. Sheffield
during the recital buried her face in
a handkerchief and wept for the first
time at the hearing.
II did not nag Mrs. Sheffield" Mr..
Sanh Sheffield p.fsat said l09ng v,oe the
Lewis sat, at his wife. Il did not
criticise her. may have charged
her with being stupid: but ! never
said that she was unfaithful. 1 mere
other men,"
Mrs Sheffield looked steadily at her
husband as he made these state
ments. She was still dressed in blacL
white fox furs. white gloves. tan spats
and patent leather shoes.
How to Quench Soul Thirst.
Back OF her sat the spectators with
copies Of her book The Golden Ho'-
low" held open in their laps waiting
for further reference to it. She had
already admitted that Barbara" the
heroine. was herself. and that Mac"
the hero. was her husband and that
many of the events described were
taken from her own matrimonial eX-
perences.
"Imagination." she writes in the book.
'is the golden hollow. the drinking pool
in the wilderness. where the cravings Of
ones soul go to uuench their thirst.
In April, 1913, l was living in Japa-
nese boarding house in Vest Thirty
eighth street" Mr.. Sheffield continued.
At . n. m. one day was aroused by n
Japanese servant who said that my wife
was waiting to see me.
e! put on bathrobe and awaited her
arrival. No sooner had she come to the
dor than she yelled:
"Justus Sheffield. I'm here to tell YOU
year and a divorce. If YOU oppose me
will start by sending letters to Your
friends. showing. your. real character
II was not afraid the witness ex-
planned II told her to 90 ahead"
Responding to another question by
Merritt Lane. his lawyer. Sheffield said
it was true that he had been friendly
and that he had been to the opera with
",nid it cost yon anything" MIR. Lane
asked.
No" was the answer. "Christie Nc
Donald Is a professiona! woman and
she receives tickets gratis"
Lost More Than His Money.
Mr.. Sheffield. who since his gradua-
TTo, arl haS or iaf
bv his defense of !. w. w. members
after their arrest in New York on vari-
Gus charges. told how he lost his money
in 1909. Until then he said. he main
tanned seven servants and had Venetian
carved beds and doors to match IN his
home in Short Hills. n. j. 1t was after
he lost his money and with it the carved
beds and things like that that Mrs Shef-
field lost he" affection for him. he tndi-
catSc. r
my wife and the two children were
at the Hotel Mohican. in New London.
Conn. After they had been there two
or three days | called up on the tele-
phone. The clerk said. Mrs. Shelf
field has just stepped out
Il called up thrty-odd times between
noon and midnight. and received thirty
odd replies. She has just stepped out
Il then decided to investigate. I took
a train and went to New London and
the clerk and asked him to be admitted
to Mrs. Sheffeld's room.
He refused because he said that
Mrs. Sheffield had said that no infor-
nation should be given out about her
and that no entrance should be al
lowed to her room.
Il then asked where the children
we're, and he refused to tell me. /
finally got policeman. and then the
clerk told me that my wife had left
ho
and that she wouldn't be back that
night You see how she was trying to
keep the children away from me-"
After describing how he met his wife
at the deathbed of their son Nelson,
Mr.. Sheffield said:
~ never laid hands on her except in
affection"
In te!ling. how his wife,s alleged in
his attention. he sniI:
~ came home late one night Gin
ln9) rnd went lEstai"s and found my
wife with Charles Samuels, a lawyer.
toned was Colt"
Miss Victoria Thcn, for two wears
q soVernesS IN the Shethsld home, vas
was questioned by Mr.. Lane as fol-
flows:
Q. What was Mr.. snefheld's atti-
tude toward his wife, A. He was v"ry
affectionat' husband have ever seen
lie was always kissing Mrs. Sheffield.
He made fuss O|Hr her every time she
came near him. Why. Mr.. Lane. IL he
was forced to 20 to the city On bust
ness the telephon" was tinkalinkirc all
the time-he calling her aud she calling
him.
A keen. comcly woman with close
cropped. boyish dark hair, sprinkled
with gray. and brown eyes almost as
sparkling as those of Mrs Sheffield was
until yesterday one of the mysterious
figures in the divorce miX-up OF the
Sheffields. She was always In the court
room. and her green stockings twinkled
frequently on trips between her seat
and Sheffields chair at the counsel ta-
BILE. She walked arm in arm with him
during intermissions.
1t developed that she is Miss Grace
Potter. an investigator employed by
Sheffield.