Norwich bulletin., 1921-01-20

day to produce in court Wednesday in | the trial of Miss Mary Jane Nelson on | the charge of enibeaziing 41e3 from the | Smart Shop in New London, appeared in | the superior court toetn There before | Judge Gardiner Greene and the jury late | Wednesday afternoon. Il
 According to testimony Tuesday by Samuel Greenes, proprietor of the New | London store, one of thA approval, slips | on which one of the embesxlAment l charges against Miss Nelson was based | showed corset taken out on approval by 9 Mrs. Smith of 21 Berkley avenue, | and Mir. Greenes testified that when he went to this address to investigate he found no Mrs. Smith lived there. Attor- | hey Morgan asked Mir. Greenes if he wanted to have the jury understand th&t this was ''phoney' transaction and whether he would De surprised if Mrs. Smith was produced In court. The 'at- torney promised to plant her right in court the next day
 Just as the court session was nearly over Wednesday. Attorney Morgan called Mrs. Smith to the witness stand. A small. nice looking woman of rather slight took the stand.
 When she had been sworn. she said her name was Mrs. Ruth M. Smith.
 What does the M stand fer, Mrs Smith? Does it stand for mysteriousT queried Attorney Morgan, while the spectators burst into laugh that Court Officer Stanton checked with a rap of his gavel
 No, indeed" responded the witness
 Probably stands for Morgan" dfyly interposed State Attorney Hull, setting the court into an -uproar Of hilarity again.
 NO, I guess not but I should feel l honored if it did," responded Attorney Morgan.
 Now, Mrs. Smith, what does the N l stand for?' continued MT. Morgan. Margaret" responded the witness. Mrs. Smith went on to testify that she ! lived at 21 Fitch avenue. which is near Berkley q 'enue, and had often done ] business with Miss Nelson. who always put down her address as Berkley avenue. 1 The witness had frequently corrected this l mistake. She testified that she took a ] corset out on approval on oct. 14 but l sent it back by her husband the next day. She located the date because she
 had taken corset from another store the same day, which she kept. That stores records showed 1t was Oct. II. [ William Denholn Smith, general su- perintendent of the Connecticut Power
 company, testified that he Is Mrs.
 Smiths husband and that he took the | corset back. 1 These two witnesses and one or two others were introduced by arrangement
 of counsel while the crose-examination
 of Miss Nelson by Major Hull was sus-
 pended for time but is to De resumed
 this tThursday) morning.
 = Will L. Stearns, mems clothing rAer-
 chant of this city, was irtrSddoed as a
 character witness for Miss Nelson He
 said he had known her for 20 years and
 her reputation for integrity and honesty l was excellent. He admitted in cross
 examination that he had heard of an
 affair at Porteous | MitehAirs affect ing Miss Nelson's honesty, but he ceaid
 not remember what it was. He was con-
 vinced she was absolutely straight.
 Mrs. Alice Crandall of New London,
 wife of Albert L. Cfandall, was another
 character witness, who said sh4 had
 her reputation was the best.
 Morning Session sf Cssrt.
 When the court session opened in the morning Major Hull callei William D.
 Jackson county Investigator, 10 the
 stand as the first witness. H6 told about the investigation and arrest Of MisA lNelson. The witness said that the mat.
 ter was first called to his attention by the I
 he gave his information to Prosecuting
 Attorney Daniel NJ. Cfenin. Detective
 Jackson told about eallink at Miss Nel
 sons store in Union street and ttllht
 her that he had warrant for her arrest
 and he explained to her the nature 0, the charges. Miss Nelson asked hin { what lawyer to get and he told her tha l he was not allowed to advise her. whel l she asked him what was required of her xaf1 ts Tn police station, where she could kiV : bonds.
 g Detective Jackson said he explaiAe, that one of the charges against her va I the cashing of check for $1s.50 an, n the accused told him that she had tn | money in her pocket and that she woul pay 1t back, She wanted to know if sh r could see Mir. Greenes and fix 1t up an t he told her that it was out of Mi C Greenes' hands.
 On cross-examinatien Attorney Moi " gan asked Mir Jackson about the "my. e terious" Mrs. Smith whose name was Q l. one of the approval slips which is ethib T No. 17 in the case. The oiieer said h |" had tried to locate her in New Londc e but could not do 50.
 ,,i About noon the case for the defkns . was begun by Miss Nelson going On th z stand to testify. 7, 7. She said that she is . native ot No ,, wich and that she worked for Porteous id Mitchell, the Norwich dry goods stor Y, for 10 years. On leaving there she g ,t out to learn the corset business. Mi iS Nelson told of going to New London l. few years ago and of managing a loc 7. branch of a corset concern for thr, . years. She said that she had managed fe successfully, that the business had pro m pered and that she had no trouble du Id ing her connection with the concern.
 While she was thus employed the vi n, ness said that she received call fro ?, Samuel Greenes. proprietor of the Sma in Shop, and he induced her to enter h Id employ and manage his corset depar l. ment. He told her that this departnei
 of the store had run down and he tt1ugl
 that if she could be successful in mana
 ing the branch store she could build | is is his business. She went to work for nj !S and during her stay there she built | Il, his corset business from $5,oe0 a year =, $12 900, she said. -s IS Miss Nelson then went into eonside a able detail as to the nature of her bus a ness. She said that there was alwa,
 more or less trouble in fitting corset ,J that the business was exacting and ted ,r ous and tiresome because of the mal a pcculiarities and characters of women. = The witness explained the system .s charge or appreciation slips employed st the Smart Shop. Miss Nelson testlh = that often when return slips came in s S- was busy waiting on A customer and tn ie she would ley 1t down. When she n s' finished waiting on the customer s .. would attend to it. She said that $
 often took the money and let the s
 wait until she had time and then 6
 would explain 1t to the bookkeeper.