Omaha daily bee., 1921-04-23
Life With Aged
Husband Related
By Mrs. Stokes
Defendant Testifies Wealthy
Mate Made Chicken Farm
Out Of Hotel Apartment
DENIES All Charges.

Chicago Tribune Omaha Bee Leased Wire.
New York, April 22.-Life with an
aged, rich husband was described i'll
detail by pretty and young Mrs.
Helen Elwood Stokes today in de-
Tense OF the W. Z. d. Stokes divorce
suit. Y
Mrs. Stokes, dressed in blue
tailored suit trimmed with lace, her
luxuriant hair topped by a natty
brown turban, told of the romance.
marriage and troubles in her life
with the elderly millionaire.
At the same time, she denied every
one of the stories of many cores
pondents. Those "peeping scenes"
affectionate greetings for male call
ers vat the Stokes home, bathing
beach events and auto rides-all re-
lated by witnesses for Stokes, were
one and all denied as fabrications
and part Of framed up case.
How Mrs. Stokes, then Helen FL
wood, Familiarity known to friends as
Carrots because of her luxurious
red hair met the elderly rich hotel
owner. was first told by Mrs. Stokes
in her testimony.
Gle followed me up i'll the elevator
in the Ansonia. hotel (owned by
Stokcs) in September. 1910, few
days after / reached the hotel" said
Mrs. Stokes.
She explained, that she was at the
hotel with Mrs. Henricks following
a trip to Cuba,
Called on Hendricks,
After that day Mr.. Stokes fotS
lowed me. hc called on the Hem
dricks and thus I met him. she con-
tinued
Explaining her reasons for refus-
ing to live at the Ansonia soon after
her marriage to Stokes, she said: !,
Il would not return because Of
the chickens that were kept there"
The Stokes apartment at the An
sonia was absolutely filthy. according
to Mrs. Stokes. She said that her
husband was given to unusual hob
bies and that one OF them was the
maintenance of miniature chicken
farm IN the apartment He had As
hens and several roosters there, she
said, and they constituted such a
nuisance in the place that she was
unable to eat there and frequently
went out to luncheon because she
could not stand the barnyard aroma.
Denies Charges.
Practically all her other testimony
was in denial of the truth of testi-
mony of Stokes witnesses. She
characterized as unqualihedly false,
any suggestion or statement that she
had been unduly inmate with Edgar
T. Wallace or George Schroter, two
of the correspondents in. the case. She
swore that she was in Colorado in
that part of 1917 when one of the
witnesses testified chaffeur drove
her to Long Beach with Schroter and
a Mrs. Kearny. ii
Mrs. Stokes related incidents of
her girlhood life in Denver, her year
at the national parks, at Washing-
ton. D. c., and a trip to Europe. that
ended, she went at once to the matter
OF her acquaintance with Edgar II.
Wallace, one of the three remaining
correspondents in the case.
Mrs. Stokes was asked:
"Was there ever any intimacy OF
any character, at any time, between
YOU and Mr.. Wallace?"
Absolutely never. / was at no time
alone with him. was her reply.
Testifying that she had never posed
in the nude for the artist, S. Mont
gomefy Roosevelt or any other
painter, Mrs. Stokes identified a
large, fully clothed oil painting
shown in court asstl1e. only picture
of herself nainted hy Mr.. RaoseYelt.