The New York herald., 1922-01-14
RYAN DENIES giving
POISON TO WIFE
Husband of -ViOlinist In
sists She Took Tablets
of Own Accord.
TALKED OF A DIVORCE
His Lawyer Says Wife
Wanted Separation to
Marry Another.
HE DISAv0WS THREATS
Declares He Tried to Take Life
When Girl Swallowed
Tablets.
HE DIsAvows THREATS
Special Cable 10 THr NEwssY0Rrs HERALD. J,
Copyright, 1922, by THE NEW York HERALD

nPeo'u' coote 30 THE NEW fQRIs HERALD. q
COPYRIGHT, 1922, by THE New York HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau,
Paris Jan. l3r
The charge of attempted murder of
his wife, Audrey Creighton Ryan,
against Thomas Stewart Ryan an
American newspaper correspondent
here, took new angle to-day when
Ryan appeared before am examining
magistrate and gave fiat denial OF
all the allegations contained In Ills
wife's deposition. which was signed
on what was believed to be her death
bed. Mrs. Ryan, according to Dr.
Edmund Gros of the American Hos.
pital in Neuilly, is suffering greatly
tonight, but it is still too early to
predict the outcome of her illness,
which was caused by her swallowing
three poison tablets. Mrs. Ryan in
sists she was forced to take the poison
after her husband lad locked the door
of his room, where she was with him
and had menaced her life.
This morning when Ryan was called
before Detective Inspector Fralicq he
offered two letters which he said he had
received while he was in India, wherein
he was Informed his wife had threat
ened to commit suicide, as she loved:
another and death was preferable to in.
ability to obtain a divorce and seek
happiness elsewhere. Beyond this Ryan
refused to make any statement until he
had obtained counsel.
Friends Aid Ryan.
Ryan's relatives in Los Angeles, Cal
cabled to friends here urging them to
assist him in all ways possible, and later
To-day Charles LOep, an American
lawyer here, was engaged to conduct
Ryan's defense. He says he will en-
deavor to show that Mrs. Ryan's act
was a voluntary one and that II comes
under the heading of marital troubles
known here as 'passionel." Talking to
THE NEW YORK HERALD correspondent
here tonight. Mr.. Loeb said:
Mrs. Ryan took the poison of her own
volition, without any semblanee of force
on the part of her husband Ryan's
declaration before the Judge to-day
showed this ccnclusively. After dinner
they had a discussion and an argument
about their future relations. Mrs. Ryan
told him she wanted to leave him for a
man named Peter Mccoy, a popular
young American of the American colony
In Paris, and pleaded with her husbands
to accord her a divorce.
During the discussion Mrs. Ryan de-
clared she did not care anything about
life, whereupon Ryan replied:
Well, If you do not care this will
finish life for you
'As he spoke he showed her n box
OF mercury tablets. not believing she
would attempt to swallow them.
According to Ryan. both laughed
over the idea. and had another drink
They continued to argue until the wom-
an suddenly arose and gulped down
three of the tablets quickly. saying:
There. that's done 7
when he realized that she had at
tempted suicide. Ryan took out his
pocket knife and said:
If yop are going to die, / will die,
too
Then he slashed his throat and wrist.
Ryan denied formally that he had
ever menaced his wife with knife, or
that he had forced her to remain in a
room against her WILL"
Mothers story Disputed.
Ryan's friends call attention 90 the
discrepancies between the story told by
Mrs. Ryan's mother, Mrs. Creighton, and
Mrs. Ryan's testimony taken by n mag
rstrate yesterday. Mrs. Creighton de-
ciared Ryan held a knife over her daugh-
ter and forced her 90 take the tablets
the composition of which her daughter
did not know. The official text OF Mrs
Ryan's deposition, given by her just af-
ter she had been taken TO the Cochin
Hospital. does not mention the knife
episode.
on the other hand. Mrs Ryan. when
questioned by advisers at the Ameri-
can Hospital in Neuily. whittier she
was taken later, declared that the letters
introduced by Ryan were written in his
room 81 his dictation, he threatening
to end both their lives unless she left
documents indicating she had commit
ted suicide
The magistrate continued his qucs-
tioning of Ryan until a late hour to-
night along lines of why he carried
poison in his suitcase.
He VIII be held without bail until his
wife's fate is known.
Special Dispatch 10 TuB NEW yosK fiERAtp.
Los ANGELES. Jan. 13.-Born and edu-
Gated in Los Angeles, Audrey st. clair
Creighton first left this city several
years ago, slip cf a school Girl. TO
study the violin in San Francisco. and
later went 10 New York and abroad but
returned to Los Angeles 10 visit her
mother. an English woman, who made
her home here
Her runaway marriage 10 Thomas
Stewart Ryan four years ago causcd
considerable stir locally. the young mu-
sician later claiming she was forced 70
go with Ryan and a chauffeur TO La
verne. where the ceremony was per-
formed by the Methodist clergyman. who
later testified In her suit for annulment
Of the marriage. The suit was filed
March "a. 1919, n year and ten months
after the marriage took place. At the
time Ryan had gone abroad.
According to the story she told the
court the occasion OF the alleged Kid
naping had been the first time Ryan had
spoken OF marriage Sho said she had
rs~rsted and had endeavored ca ercGpc
from the automobile In which they were
riding by leaping frosn the car as II
was going through Pasadena, but had
been unsuccessful. The minister who
cniciated at the service. however, and
his wife who witnessed It, claimed they
noticed nothing unusual in her de-
mcanor. except she was rather pale and
uuiet 70 uphold her contention that she
was dazed and of unsound mind at the
time.