The sun., 1917-03-20
BENNY GIVES UP
In HILAIR CASE
Exposes His Own Duplicity
to Wife. but Asserts InnO-
cence of Murder.
is HELD AS 4 WITNESS
Went Twice With Victim to
Theatre and Cafes, but
Never to Hotel.
Is HELD AS 4 WITNESS

'erud! AFTERNOON ana asked Tor the Of
hcer In charge. When Capt. Coughlan
inquired the visitors errand he said:
my names Benny and I guess I'm
the man you've been looking for. I met
this Mrs. Hilair at the Orpheum The
atre week ago last Thursday. the day
was there with a blond woman. We
all had seats in the right hand stage
box"
Questioning revealed that ne was Ben
jamin Sternberg, "a. who lives at 433
Miller avenue. In the East New York
section of Brooklyn. He had been ac-
companied into the station by his wife
and a man. They were requested to step
outside and a questioning Of Sternberg
began which continued at other points
in Brooklyn and In the Second Branch
Bureau, Manhattan. until after midnight
Will Re Held as Witness.
At that hour Assistant District Attor-
ney Joyce, Deputy Police Commissioner
Scull and Inspector Cray said Sternberg
would be held as a material witness In
tho murder OF Mrs Elsie Lee Hilair at
the Martinique last Thursday.
Benny" denied insistently that he
knew anything at all about the death
of the Brooklyn housewife whose fond
ness for the gay life OF the Manhattan
oance parlors and restaurants led to her
death, but he made revelations which
brought heartbreak to another home.
his own.
After questioning his caller for a few
minutes Capt. Coughlin and Benny"
walked outside and faced Mrs. Sternberg
The officer told her OF the admissions
her husband had just made. For a mo-
nent she was speechless. Then she
exclaimed
II don't know how can ever stand
this! Benny. Benny. why didn't you
tell meT'
Sternberg's friend had persuaded him
that the surest way to disarm the police
of suspicion was to give himself up.
Mrs. Sternberg believed that her hus-
band was a victim OF mistaken identity ::
that, far from having any connection
with the murder. he had never even seen
Mrs. Hilalr. She was wholly unpre-
pared for the revelations which were
to come within the next few hours.
She Flirted with Him.
For Benny" admitted that ne did
know Mrs. Hilair well. though their ac-
y.
had fiirted with him as they sat IN the
theatre box and they had slipped out
into the foyer while the performance was
going on and made an appointment to
meet the next day. On Friday after
noon-this was March 9-they met at
the Casino n burlesque theatre In Brook
lyn, and after the performance they went
10 the Plaza Restaurant, in Flatbush
avenue. where they danced and had few
drinks together.
On the following Monday they attended
the matinee performance al the Orpheu,n,
occupying chairs In the same box In
which they had first seen each other Just
four days before. Then they went again
to the Plaza.
II was while they We're chatting to-
gether In the restaurart--she over a
cocktail ne drinking beer--that Mrs.
Iiilair. according TO Sternbergs stoyy to
the authorities. urged him 70 meet her
again on the following day. She con-
f!ded. he said, that Tuesday was her
day on" 1t was then that she was In
the habit of visiting her mother In
Rutherford, n. J. Sometimes she re-
manned away from home for the whole
OF Tuesday night but not always. she
hirted. at Rutherford.
Benny" could not agree with this ar
rangement. He Insisted that whatever
pleasures he might enjoy in the daylight
hours re was always careful to reach
home early in the evening.
Was His Last Meeting.
That Monday afternoon meeting at
The Plaza Restaurant was his last with
Mrs fIilair, "Benny" told the Assistant
District Attorney and the police author
tiles. He traced his movements on the
fatal Thursday afternoon In detail. He
visited several saloons. the names OF
which he gave his questioners, "dropped
In at the Empire and Bushwick theatres
ard was home again by s o'clock.
Stcrnberg insisted that he was never
in Manhattan vito Mrs. Hilair and never
accompanied her to n hotel; that he
never met her indeed except In the two
theatres and the one restaurant In
brooklyn. She had given her name to
rim az Mrs. Hill She represented her
self rs single woman who used the
Mrs" rs a protection against men
whose advances she did not wish to en-
courage.
Sternberg is no. certain whether he
,old Mrs. Hilair his right surname or
not. lie bade her call him Benny"
and she did so. Sometimes he told the
police, he used the name Sutton. partly
because he had a number OF Christian
friends and when In their company did
not wish to emphasize his Jewish origin.
No amount OF insistent questioning
could move Benny from the positive
declaration that ne did not telephone to
Mrs. Hilalr on last Thursday morning.
He Insisted that he did not know her
address or even her telephone number.
This latter assertion was denied em-
phatically by Miss Irene Murray. Mrs
Hilair's twenty-one-year-old niece, yes
tcrday afternoon.
Confronted by Niece.
He had IL dramatic meeting with Miss
Murray an hour after he presented him
self at the detective bureau as 'the
man you're looking for" After a call
at the Orpheum Theatre, where he
pointed out the seats he had occupied
with Mrs. Hila!r at two matinees Stern
berg was taken by Capt. Coughlan and
Detectives Asp and Carney to the Hilair
home at 211 Clinton street. Mrs Stern.
berg was member Of the party as far
as the theatre. With one glance ut the
scene OF her husbands meeting with
another woman she was overcome with
grief and withdrew.
Miss Murray, who was with her aunt
on the afternoon Of the filtration In the
Orpheum box. responded to the bell
Conttaved on Ftfth P0oe.