New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-24
Lawyer Says He Saw Benny
Enter Martinique with Woman
Identity of New Witness Not Angry
at Coroner Who Agrees to Admit Accused player
of Mrs Eilair to ST. 1000 Bail

takes are not surprising; and the COM
mitment delivered with Benny 10
Warden Hanley at the Tombs bore no
notation indicating bail arrangements;
In the general hullaballoo it would
not be surprising. either, II Benny
temporarily lost sight OF the signln-
canoe and Importance of one little
paragraph injected into the rewritten
information.
That paragraph, reserved to supply
a dramatic punch at the end. contained
the information that new witness nau
come forward one whose credlolilty
was well established and who was sure
he had seen Benny entering the MAR
Unique on Thursday afternoon or last
week between $40 and o'clock, Win
a woman wearing such clothing as WIS
H;lair sailed forth from broohiyh III
to keep her date with death.
Only the bare detail was incorpo-
rated in the information, but Mr.. joyce
! explained that the new witness was
lawyer.
The lawyer-wtness, who had seen
none of the newspaper photographs OF
Sternberg, occupied reserved standing
room in the background when Benny
was taken from Justice Delehanty.s
courtroom to Coroner Riordans court,
/ in the Municipal Building. lie had no
difficulty in picking out his man IN
group of twenty-odd detectives ana re-
porters.
Lawyer Had Stepped Aside
1t was the man, he said, he had seen
walking into the Martinique WIN
woman like Mrs. Hilair. The three nag
come together at the lhlrty-secVhI
L ha
/ stepped aside. Because the woman was
| considerably taller and obviously much
older than her escort-because she was
a type. with her rouged cheeks, her
/ iaunty seal stole and the exaggerated
/ dash of the beaver trimmings on her
costume of gray-the lawyer had taken
/ sufficient stock of the pair to impress
| the picture on his mind.
/ Through the lawyer witness one OIL
/ the two things lacking to make the eVi-
/ dence of circumstance conclusive Is
/ supplied to the satisfaction of the
authorities. They have now only TO
/ trace Mrs. Hlair's $4,000 display OF
/ diamonds to the accused man.
/ "Benny's" latest story. which STANDS
/ mistaken, since legal advice has taught
] him the value of silence, brings him in
/ Mrs. Hilair's company UP to the Grand
: Central subway station. Detectives
/ have been unable to force admission
that he was with the woman alter than
/ 12:45 o'clock, or thirty-five minutes be,
| fore she reached the Martinique; and
| they have his excellent description OF
/ the mysterious, sdeburned Eddie" for
whom, he says, she deserted HIM. -.
The new witness eliminates Eddie"
and with him many elements of chance
which might have counted in "Benny's'
Z favor.
! "Benny's" first trip of the day from
the Tombs brought him to Justice Dele
! hanty's court, where Jonah Goldstein,
| his lawyer, had sued out another writ
of habeas corpus.
To cheer Sternberg, his father, wife
and brother were on hand, in the fore
/ front of a general gathering of the
clans of East New York.
| Justice Delehanty cut short argu-
ment by announcing he would hand
down no decision on the writ until the
preliminary examination had been con-
cluded by Coroner Riordan.
"Benny's" friends, more than a hum
/ dred, followed the procession to the
Coroner's court. There the prisoner.
who had had his suit pressed and ac-
quired a clean soft collar. spoke briefly
! for publication, under the direction OF
counsel. He chose as his topic the
green animal" tie which was found,
cut up into bits, in his pocket A police
theory was that Sternberg destroyed
the tie, fearing it might enter as an
important factor in further Identified
tions.
"But it was a detective cut it, the
owner explained. "He said what for
should be wearing green tie, named
| Sternberg Before he cut it sent out
another detective for some new
scenery clean collar and new tie
and a handkerchief. Even when |
/ wanted to manicure my nails they
wouldn't lend me a file. Dig up a
splinter out of the floor they told me-"
Benny" went back to the Tombs
afoot, trailed by an automobile loaded
with cheering friends en- route to
Brownsville.