New-York tribune., 1921-04-23
IS Chickens i'm
StOkes's Home
Drove Wife Out
Defendant i'm Divorce Trial
Says Husbands Leghorn
Pets Kept Apartment i'm
the Ans on ia Filthy
Denies All His Charges
Woman Testifying in Own
Behalf Is on Verge Of
Tears and Often Bushes

Sometimes on tho verge Of tears,
blushing frequently and faint Of voice,
Mrs. Helen Elwood Stokes, on the wit
ness stand In the Supreme Court yes
terday, denied the most important of
the charges that have been made
against her in the divorce action of
W. E. D. Stokes.
absolutely false" was the favorite
term which Mrs. Stokes used during
her examination to contradict the tes-
timony Of numerous witnesses brought
together by the plaintiff to prove alle-
cations that the defendant had been
guilty of indiscretions with DR.. Hal
Bilig, Edgar T. Wallace and George
Shroter. Unhesitatingly, Mrs. Stokes
gave answers to dozens Of questions
regarding her acquaintance with the
three Correspondents. These gave sn
entirely different view Of the case.
Now and then, although under the
friendly questioning of her own law
yer, Mrs. Stokes showed signs of in
dignetion that she had to answer ques-
tions that were made necessary by the
statements of witnesses against her.
First Wife Mentioned
During the testimony of Mrs. Stokes
the name of Mr.. Stokes's first wife was
brought into the case. The first Mrs.
Stokes obtained divorce from the
plaintiff in this case and later became
the wife of Major Philip M. Lydig,
whom she sued for divorce in 1919 in
Paris. Mr.. Littleton asked the witness
whether it was true that she had gone
to Denver, her old home, to sue Mr.
Stokes for a divorce.
II went to Denver" replied Mrs.
Stokes, "to give my husband ar oppor-
tunity to choose between his first wife
and me-"
Mr.. Littleton read letter showing
that Mr.. Stokes was in correspondence
with his first wife, and that w. E. D.
Stokes jr. had acted as messenger.
Mr.. and Mrs. Stokes were formally
introduced to each other in September,
1910, by DR.. and Mrs. Hendricks, with
whom Mrs. Stokes, then Miss Elwood,
was stopping at the Hotel Ansonia,
which Mr.. Stokes then owned, But
Mrs. Stokes, in the interest shown by
Mr.. Stokes before the introduction.
"He followed me up in the elevator of
the Ansonia in September, 1910, few
days after / reached the hotel" said
Mrs. Stokes.
Earlier testimony in the case was to
the effect that Mr.. Stokes sought the
friendly intervention of Mrs. Emma
Miller, Mrs. Stokes's mother, in i'm
pressing on Mrs. Stokes that she ought
to pass more time with her husband at
the Hotel Ansonia. Mrs. Stokes ex-
planned yesterday why she did not want
to live there. One reason, she said,
was that Mr.. Stokes boasted to her Of
his friendship with other women and
because she had to share the apartmen
with forty-fve Leghorn chickens that
Mr.. Stokes kept in the apartment.
Says Apartment Was Filthy
"Why did you object to going back
to live at the Ansonia IN the latter
part of 1852" asked Mr. Hittleton.
"On account of the environment I
had to endure. 1t was as if l was in
a public hotel even in my own apart
ment and l could not endure the wom-
en- had to meet. It was a filthy, dirty
apartment. Mr.. Stokes kept forty-fve
chickens in it and l had to 60 to a
friends home to eat"
Mrs. Stokes testified that she had
not seen Edgar T. Wallace, the leading
figure among the correspondents, be-
tween 1909 and day three weeks ago
testify in the case for Mrs. Stokes.
This was in direct contradiction to
testimony given by numerous witnesses
for Mr.. Stokes that they had seen Mrs.
Stokes in the apartment of Mr.. Wal
lace at IL East Thirty-fifth Street.