The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1919-05-06
RUIHCARRISON
FACESC0URT IN
MURDER TRIAL

SEATTLE, May (by Associated
Press) Love for the husband OF an
other woman, and her determination
to possess that man, which resulted
in the deliberate poisoning and death
of the wife, is the charge against Ruth
Garrison, the 1S-year-old Seattle girl
who now will battle for her own life
in the courts, her trial having been
called yesterday. Her case is SAID to
be one of the most remarkable in the
crime annals of the state, for, accord
ing to the confessions the police say
she made, this slip of girl arranged
and calculated the doom of her rival
with all the care and old-bloodedness
of any of the famous poisoners known
to history.
The taking of testimony commenced
today, the coroner and the clerks en-
ployed, in the tea room where the
crime is alleged to have been commit
ted being the first witnesses.
The girl prisoner wept during the
testimony of the coroner.
Story of the Crime
Ruth Garrison on March 1S last in
vited Mrs. Grace Glatz Storrs, % years
old, to luncheon with her in the tea
room of a department store, and, ac-
cording to the confession the Garrison
girl is said to have made, placed poi
son in a cocktail designed for her
guest before the latter's arrival. Death
came to Mrs. Storrs in the emergency
hospital of the store
Douglas M. Storrs, the dead woman's
husband, an automobile mechanic OF
Okanogan, Wash, surrendered soon
after, claiming he knew nothing of
the case, being in Okanogan at the
time He was arrested on felony
charge Miss Garrison is said to have
confessed that she visited him in Okla
hogan, where she registered as Mrs.
Storrs.
Miss Garrison's attorneys, Thomas
NJ Askren and A. r. Hilen, entered
the girls plea of mot guilty" They
asserted that the girl was insane when
she poisoned Mrs. Storrs, but later,
they claimed, regained her sanity.
whats the matter? Are you ILL.,"
witnesses said Miss Garrison asked
Mrs. Storrs as the latter sat across
the table from her, dying from the
effects of the fatal cocktail. Although
the police thought possibly Mrs. Storrs
took her own life, they held Miss Gar
rison for few hours after the death
of Mrs. Storrs, but later released her.
After the autopsy disclosed the man
ner of death Miss Garrison again was
taken into custody, at 1:30 o'clock in
the morning of March 10, at the home
of her uncle, J. D. Esary, president of
the Island Transportation Company
Alleged Confession
Miss Garrison at first denied that
she knew anything about the cause of
Mrs. Storrs' death. All day of the
10Th she held to the point, but later
took the police to the drug store where
she had purchased the poison and told
them in detail of her actions on the
day of the death.
Il was crazy" she is reported to
have said II acted on an impulse that
came to me the morning before II
lunched with Mrs. Storrs." The girl
shed no tears. ut is too late for that
now" she is stated to have said. Miss
Garrison's one expressed hope was to
be permitted to see Storrs.
II love him with all my heart and
SOUL" she said. "Will they let me see
him? Will he still care for me?" were
her constant questions.
Storrs was not allowed to see Miss
Garrison. He stated, however, that
he intended to do all he could to help