Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1916-03-24


writ so large on the faces for her at
the beginning now greeted the prose
cutor instead. and it was Il hostility
that somehow WAS the more acute be
caIse the faces We're SO oddly familiar
SO familiar, in fact, that he had al
most spoken 10 one of the men who sat
in the front row when he had passed
him in the corridor the day before.
The reporters seemed like old friends
too. and he noticed with a grim little
smile that one of the sob sisters had
ON new and very becoming hat, and
he wondered ironically whether it was
IN honor of the defence or because the
day before one of the star writer's GA
Il big daily Ind changed his seat In
order to sit beside her.
There was al extra sbriskness abent
the newspaper group today, for 10
day the defence Of Mary Page would
begin Today Lanadon must strip OF
the mask of a smiling confidence and
show what lay behind it.
The mask or at any rate the smile
was still thcre when he came into
court. nor with Mary. this time, but
with her mother His hand was tn k
cd prote-ti 81 under the arm OF tie
little gray haired woman. and his lips
were lose 10 her ear MS If he were
HHiemuaEg q final neouragement-o r u
fiHal IA Hae ten,
Mary. tao. was smiling. and silently
repo9ting
Today we will begin my defence
To-day Philip VIII start 10 set me free
And not even in her own heart would
she let herself contemplate the thorn3
path that must be Travelled before that
elusive freedom had struck the mvisi
BILE gives from off her wrists .ane
heart. Suddenly she heard tLe FIRST
witness of the day called.
Mrs. Annie Page
The frail little woman seemed tc
have yisibly shrunk when she took
her place in the witnesses stand.
Mrs. Page. how long ago was Ii
that you met the man who later abe
came your husband?'
''Thirty-one years ago at Christmas
.But it was some years before Won
were married was it notT'
Yes"
-.Why?"
Because of-of Mr. Pages habits
My parents insisted upon my breakine
the engagement
Put II was later renewed?'
Yes. He promised me that he
would stop drinking and | believed
Gol knows a woman always believes
that from a man"
-.Wnl you tel MS, please" Langdon7s
voice was warning In its sharpness
''as concisely as yen can what hap
ieHed after vour marriage?
what happened she said YEARLY.
lis what happens to thousands Of We.
men We hadn't been married very
long before my husband began 10
drink again. he-the-nlght that the
certainty that Mary was coming TO us
from God came to me-he was out till
dawn and had TO be brought home too
drunk 10 even know where he was.
Ana ali tire while that | was making
ready for her. he made my inability to
ge out with him an excuse for de
barch. Md oh. your Honor she
added turning to the Judge with a
catch in Ter voice might after night
used to walk the floor, praying like
wicked woman that my baby might
die lefore # came into the world-be-
cause was afraid it would bear the
be born with that awful
devastating thirst.
tDid your husband ever strike you
when he was drunk Again Lang
don's voice held that warning note, but
now the prosecutor broke in sharply:
MAY it please the court. | protest
against this evidence. as Irrelevant
As being 6 palrable effort 10 arouse
towards the prisoner and
her mother and therefore a menace TO
the progress Of 3Hstiae."
e0n the contrary. your Honor"
Langdon took an EAGER sten forward
and there was sharp thrill almost Of
triumph in his voice - he spoke. III
Is my intention TO pTove by This festi
moay that Mary Page through pre-
natal Influence. Vas born With 50 great
A horror II drink. as 70 induce. in her
moments Of temporary insanity even
when she was liTfle child. And If
Mary Page fired the shef that killed
lanes pollaeN she did so while suffer
ing from aa attack ef TeIressed Tsy-
Ghosts 10 Nhleb she has been subject