New Britain herald., 1916-01-28
STATESHAKESST0RY
 OF MRS. MOHR
Accused Woman Loses Self Con-
 trOl Under Cross Examination

Providence, R. l., Jan. 2S.-Mrs. Elizabeth Frances Mohrs confident air that had grown with the hours un- der the gentle guidance of her attor- ney, Arthur Cushing, yesterday after noon suddenly left her.
 She had answered MT, Cushing's $ last question with a calm denial of ever plotting With any one to bring about tte death of her husband when Attorney-Ge Rice, gray haired and stern faced, rose slowly from his seat and walked toward her. The pal lid faced woman seemed to grow even paler and shrink into her seat.
 Mrs. Mohr Falters.
 Under MT. Rice's suave, sarcastic probing of her memory she faltered as if she felt unequal to the task Of matching wits with the man who has the reputation of never having lost a case for the state.
 For the next hour she became en- tangled in contradictions more seem ing than real repeatedly changed her dates and gave answers so vague and half heartedly that there were few ln the crowded court room who did not
  presented It was as if her faculties had been suddenly paralyzed, her eyes opened wide and her mouth sometimes opened and shut uccertainly, as If she could not even speak.
 Leads Her Into Pitfalls.
 Mr. Rice, a man at whom any One would look twice, his face and plerClnS eyes, topped by mass of curly 1lo1l
 1olox i,,1,- I the iuv box, balancing his glasses on his finger tips as he smiled gTlmly aC the woman mentally writhing nef0rc him in the vain attempt to eXtricatc herself from the pitfalls he led her into.
 His questions came hurriedl|' car rvine seeming insinuations that Kept Mrs. Mohr's lawyers jumping to thclr feet with objections. At tunes .heN were evidently sparrinG for tI1ne uhul their client regained something of her cOmpOsure.
 Breaks Down Once.
 Only once, however did she break down under the pitiless questioning of inc states attorney, and that was when she explained that her chief req son for going to Lynn, where her sec- OnQ marriage to the UOClOI was per formed, was to avoid notoriety that might injure her children.
 Then she sat silently a few minutes, tears rolling down her cheeks. Throughout all the sordid story that she has told the only bright feature has been her evident great love for her boy and girl.
 New Character in Trial. A new character was brought into the case by MT. Rice when hey had 1 Mrs Mohr tell of her acquaintance | with Samuel E. McDougall, to whom ! she was engaged before she knew pr. Mohr She admitted that she broke her engagement before she met the doctor. and also that what she told her husband about McDougall made him violently angry, and that soon at- ter he went to Nova Scotia, where McDougall, now a clergyman, was HVN ing.
 MT. Rice tried vainly to get her to admit that she left Providence at one time because of notoriety that camc from her acquaintance with McDou- gall. but her attorney was quick with obiections and Judge Stearn ruled out the questions. ,
 Even Forgets Her Age. Mrs Mohr's loss of self-control was evident as soon as the attOrneY-gener al put his first carefully phrased ques- tions on dates of important events in her life She forgot how old she was, when she was born, was even unable 10 calculate whether she was 34 or 36 when she finally fixed the year of her i birth as 1880 and became hopelessly confused as to the date of her moth CTS death, a slip that caused the one climactic moment of the examination.
 My mother died six years ago. she said.
 Cant you remember just when she died, the day, the month, the hour,