Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1917-05-04
mrs. VAWTER ON STAND
Exposes Her Own Shame and Freely
Bares Life Of Marital Infdelity and
Disgraceful Conduct.

ly sacrificing her good name 10
save from prison or worse the man
whom she had sworn to love, honor
and obey, Mrs. Charles E. Vawter
took the stand as a witness yester-
day afternoon for her husband, who
is being tried here for killing Stock
ton Heth, Jr., and before crowded
courtroom made confession oil
marital infidelity that probably
stands without parallel in the an
nails of Virginia criminology.
Without blush for the shame she
confessed to, without a tremor IN
he, voice, she admitted that she had
been. intimate with Heth ON more
than one occasion, and that when her
husbands suspicious had been
aroused both she and Heth had lied
to him and in that way regained his
confidence.
Her confession was the climax to
series Of sensations, equaling If
not surpassing,. anything ever
brought out in murder trial in
this State. 1t was astonishing to
hear a woman so completely blast
her own reputation; the nonchalant
way in which she blasted it was even
more astonishing. Again and again
she declared she was telling the
truth. After she left the stand one
of Vawter's attorneys said privately
that he had told her no less than
five minutes she would never be
justified in swearing away her good
name to save her husband unless
her story was true and that each
time she had said: at is true, and
I am going to tell it,"
Mrs. Vawter was placed upon the
witness stand after the failure Of
an attempt to bring about an early
ending of the trial by having her
husband interpose plea of insan-
ity. 1t was said that the prosecu-
ton was willing to allow Vawter to
plead insanity at the time of the
shooting, if he would admit that ne
was still insane. His attorneys,
however, declined to enter into such
an agreement. They were willing
for him to be regarded as insane
when he shot Heth, but they did not
want him declared insane at the
present time: and so the plan to
end the trial abruptly failed.
But to go back to Mrs. Vawter's
testimony. Briefly summoned, it
was to the effect that she had been
! in Hcth's room for two hours on
the night; her husband caught her
coming out Of there last May; that
her relations with Heth while she
WAS in the room were improper;
that, aftcrward in November, she
had been guilty Of improper conduct
with Heth, and in order to avert the
suspicious of her husband she had
put the blame or q woman who was
visiting her when Professor Vaw
| ter noticed things that caused him
to ask questions. Finally, she ad-
mitted that she was in Heth's room
on the night Of the shooting about
10 or Is minutes, just before the
shooting, but she declared that he
had come to the door, caught her and
dragged her in when she went into
the hall to get some medicine to
give one of her children.
On top of all this sshe admitted
that she was completely under the
influence of Heth, or, as she eX-
pressed it, he had gained her af-
fection.
She also contended that she had
never been indiscret with him, ex-
cept when she had been drinking.
and she swore that she was intoxi-
Gated that night in May when she
left Prof. Vawter drunk on the par
lor sofa and went with Heth to his
bedroom. She was so intoxicated,
she said, that she remembers but
little after leaving the porch until
she heard Prof. Vawter coming up
the stairs, when she made a dash
for her own room, leaving her cloth
ing behind her.
Not all of Mrs. Vawter's state
ments regarding her relations with
Stockton Heth were brought out OF
her direct examination. 1t took tn
cross-examination, conducted by At
torney Lee, to bring out all of tn
facts, but when he asked question
there was no attempt to make eva
sive replies By her confession sh
proved that Professor Vawter. afte
what he had seen, might be expecte