New-York tribune., 1921-04-27
Stokes's Wife
Tells $5O,OO0
Divorce Offer
Urged to Bring Suit, She
Says, but Refused; Swears
Husband Struck Her With
in Month After Marriage
Tall, Dark Man" Known
Womap Denies That Elliot
Brown, Chuna of Brother,
Was in Her Room at 3 AM.

Mrs. Helen Elwood Stokes testified
for the third successive day yesterday
in the Supreme Court and described at
length the alleged acts of cruelty on
Ahch she bases her counter suit for a
separation from ". +. d. Stokes, in re-
p,y to the divorce action which he has
brought
She added some denials TO those al
ready made Of testimony given by wit
neSses for Mr.. Stokes, but for the most
her testimony was in support of her
charges against l.er husband.
This recital brought out that the diff
ferences which finally wrecked their
married life began about a month after
they were married. and that. according
70 Mrs. Stokes. she was the victim of
PHYSICAL cruelty at the hands of her
millionaire husband.
E;hei Conrad and Lillian Graham,
the shooting show girl in whose
apartment Mr.. Stokes was shot not
long after his marriage. also were
brought into the case, as was the tall,
dark man. who has figured mysterious
ly in the suit and was revealed yester-
day as Elliott Brown, who in 1918 was
a college chum at Yale of Victor Miller,
brother of Mrs. Stokes.
Tells of $4,000 for Divorce
Mrs. Stokes testified that she had
rejected an offer of $50. 600 to sue Mr..
Stokes for divorce. She also told Of
signing paper at the request of her
husbands attorney. without knowing
he contents of the document, which
was a conveyance of forty-five parcels
OF property owned by Mr.. Stokes, to
the Merwin Realty Company. She said
she signed another paper upon the de-
mand of her husband in the court
house in Lexington, Ky. She has
never learned the purport Of that
paper, she added
Mrs. Stokes told of an incident in
the fall of 1918, when she and Mr.
Stokes were living at 81 West Seventy,
eighth Street. At about o'clock in
the morning. she said, her husband
came into her room. He had revolver
in his hand. Mr. Stokes asked his wife
whether she had heard q noise. She
answered that she had not. After
standing at Mr.. Stokes's bed few
minutes, said the witness. Mr. Stokes
went into the library, where he took a
seat commanding a view of his wife's
bed
II did not sleep again that morning.
said Mrs. Stokes.
In the course OF his examination
Martin w. Littleton, counsel for Mrs
Stokes, took UP the shooting episode
which took place in the rooms of Mis-:
conrad and Miss Graham on June 7
1911. Herbert c. Smyth. of counsel fo,
Mr. Stokes, objected to the introduc
ton of this incident on the ground tina
1T did not indicate the alleged cruelt,
of Mr.. Stokes toward his wife.
IF he was shot in the home of Iii!
former mistress, after a quarrel will
her. said Mr.. Littleton, chat surely
constitutes cruelty against his wife"
Mr.. Smyth re. ted, eff he went ther
to get some OLE love letters writer
before he was married and if tn
women sought to extort 5000 900 fror
him and if he was trying to save Mr.:
! Stokes the embarrassment of havin
these letters mailed to ner one by on,
rs was threatened, it was far frol
cruelty"
What happened" said Mr. Littleto,
was that Stokes went to see anothe
woman and his mistress hid behind
screen. That is how he happened t
get shot"
In answer to questions about tn
Conrad and Graham women Mrs
Stokes said she had complained abou
them to Mr.. Stokes before the shoot
ing and that she had seen the actresse
several times at the Hotel Ansonia
which Mr.. Stokes formerly owned an,
where he and wife then lived
Mrs. Stokes was asked to tell abou
the tall, dark man" whom Anna Bren
nan, a former Stokes maid, had testi
fed she had seen enter the home O
her emplcser at o'clock one morning
in December, 1918, and go into tn
room of Mrs. Stokes. The witness de
nounced this testimony as "absolutel,
false" and then told about the visit O
elliott Brown to her home.
My brother Victor and Mr. Brown
we're chums and room mates at col
lege." she said, and they both RAJ
down from New Haven several times
to see us-always the two together
and that night they were here. Mis-,
Mildred Adams and Miss Funk and tn,
'wo boys and | went to theater ant
then we took Miss Funk to Miss Gard
ner's School in Fiftieth Street, as w,
had promised to have her back at /:
O'Clock. Victor had an engagement a
the Netherland Hotel and we lef
him there, and Mr.. Brown and / drov,
to the house in Seventy eighth Street
| rang the bell and the cook let us in
That was about quarter Of /. Thel
1 told the cook to fix lunch for Ell
liott and | retired at once | dom
know whether Mr.. Brown ate hi
lunch"
Cruel Month After Marriage
Mrs. Stokes said that the first act O
cruelty inflicted upon her by Mr. Stoke
took place within month after thei
marriage in 1911.
II asked him if he were going to pa.
for some clothing | had ordered" tn,
witness testified. He struck me severa
times and hurled me against the wal
and told me that he was boss of tha
household, and the sponer | Learned
that the better it would be for me-"
Another time Mr. Stokes used VIC
lence on her, said Mrs. Stokes, was ir
1919 when Thomas Stokes, brother OF
heE husband, was d visitor at theil
nome. The witness said her brother
in-law had insulted her several times
and on the occasion she described she
refused TO dine with him.
tom Stokes was an Objectionable
guest, and | told Mr.. Stokes that
would not have him there any longer
Mrs. Stokes testified "He talked vileiy
and called me vile names and in the
presence of Mr.. Stokes taunted me
often about my husbands preference
for his first wife, saying that Mr.
Stokes was sorry for the day that he
lost her. | left the table and said Ton,
Stokes would have to leave
"Then my husband slapped me, threw
me violently against the wall anC
nipred me- therp untit aftar Tou, S$ol,n~