The Daily Missoulian., 1917-03-10
tRALl'S'DEFEIl6E
OUTLINED AFTER
STATE FINISHES
Fiat Denial Of Pruyn Girls.
Charges to Be Made !
by Defendant. i
STORY OF CHECKS
SHOWN AS UNTRUE
Expert Says Same Person
Forged All Drafts on
Halls Account.

Frank c. Hall. former city treasurer
who Is on trial in the district court O.
a charge of rape, will rely almos
wholly upon his own denial of the &C
cnsations lnads4 against him by Ellie
Lucetta Pruyn. the 1l-year.old gil
whose story is the states bulwark, &C
cording to the opening statement, o
the defense, make yesterday afternoon
by Attorney E. C.. Mulroncy.
That means that the jury will prac
tically be asked to choose betwee,
Halls story and the girls, for insoA,
as the crime itself is concerned n,
other evidence than that OF the prln
cipals is available.
Hall Humanitarian.
The state has bolstcred the Pruyl
childs charges with a great deal O
circumstantial evidence. some of i
very strong. This evidence, the open,
Ing statement indicated, will be me
with testimony aiming to prove thai
HaUs interest in the child was no.
CANAL but humanitarian.
State Rests Case.
The state closed its case early yes.
terday afternoon. 1t had presented
against the defendant an imposing
structure Of evidence. The pruyn Cir
was the only witness actually able tt
say that Hall had been criminally in.
timate with her. but damaging cir.
cumstantial evidence was added to tht
chiid's story. Witnesses testified tina,
HAL was seen beside the Frenchtowr
road with the girl under suspicious
circumstances; that he sometimes
carressed the child and held her in
his lap; that he was frequently seer
with her. and that he had often car.
ricd beer to the Thompson home
where he and the child, with Mrs
Thompson and Sam Henderson, a
gambler. gave frequent sheer parties >
H. J. Pruyn, the girls father, testified
that Hall told him once that he had
"done wrong" to the girl and might
be "sent to the pen for it," Other wit
nesses corroborated the child's story
of purchases at local stores of goods
Tor Mrs. Thompson: of a street. car
flight from Hall during the Stampede;
OF excursions into the country by Mrs.
Thompson, Hall and the girl
Character Witnesses.
The defense began it's attack against
this evidence yesterday by presenting
character witnesses against Lutte
Pruyn. Mrs. Viola Moore, Mrs. J, Fl.
bingham. r. d. Whistler, Mrs. Martha
Mace and Mrs. Sallie Goodwin were
called. ! Not one Of these, however,
was able to, name any, contributor to
their impression that the girls gen
cral reputation for yeracity was bad.
Mrs. kingham, while she said the rep
utation was bad didn't know what
veracity meant. and F. d. whistler and
Mrs. Martha Mace admitted that they
did not know what the child's. reputa-
ton for truthfulness was.
Shows Girls FaIseness.
John Friauf however, furnished
definite proof Of some falsehood. and
inflicted the first serious damage yet
done to Lutte's testimony. Mr.. Friauf.
an expert In the Mlssoula Trust &
Savings bank. declared that all OF the
checks on which Halls signature had
been forged were written by one per-
son. The girl had said that she wrote
one and Mrs. Thompson the Others.
The experts conclusion was that the
girl wrote all Of them.
Charles G. Adams. associated with
the defense. testified regarding Halls
actions early in the scandal and added
to Halls credit column evidence of a
meeting with Hall and Henderson at
which the latter said he could get Hall
out Of the scrape for 5000.
H. f. Thompson. train dispatcher
and husband Of the woman accused
by the Pruyn child of connivance with
Hall in her degradation, testified that
he had never seen anything ungen-
tlemanly in Halls actions while with
the girl.
Mrs. Thompson on Stand.
Mrs. Thompson, supported by her
husband. took the stand late in the
afternoon She said that she had been
Ill with ptomaine poisoning since
Thanksgiving day. She denied all the
charges made by the girl. saying that
Hall had in no way mistreated the
child and that the. relations between
herself and Henderson had always
been platonic. Under cross examina-
tion she admitted that Hall. Hender-
son and the Pruyn girl and she had
tcontinued on Page Three.)