Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-26
SAYS EDITH LAVOY
DREADED GREASY
Witness Testifie s Slain Girl
Shrank From Man Now
on Trial ,.
DEFENSE IS HIT HARD BLOW

New York. Sent 2G.--Edith Lavoy
shrank from William NJ. Greasy In
deadly physical fear. She skunk be-
! hind Freeport hedges lining Grove
street because Greasy walked on the op-
| posite sidewalk.
Once when she thouoht herself alone
| she was caught examining and lingering
in wide eyed terror a gun which may
be the one from which sped the bullet
that ended her life
This was the striking testimony yes
| terday at the murder trial of Greasy
in the Freeport. l.. l.. County Court
house. 1t came from the lips of Miss
Edna NJ. Shoemaker. principal of the
Freeport Public School in which Miss
Lavoy taught up 70 two days before her
violent death, when she was alone in
n boarding house room with her suitor,
Greasy.
Every sentence prccipitated n dis
pute between Prosecutor Eivin y. Ed :
wards and defense counsel, Henry A.
tterhart.
Defense Is Struck HarL Blow
And when the day had closed
Creasy's defense that his teacher
sweetheart had killed herself in fit
Of des!o.dency had received the most
damaging blow .t has sustained since
the trial opened.
The school principals testimony
dealt with incidents of the day of Apri
-. forty eight hours prior to Edith
Lavoy's death, and ended poignantly
with:
The next time I saw her she was
dead"
Iampcrcd by the rules of evidence.
which insist that speculation and re
port of conversations shall have no
place in testimony. Miss Shoemaker
mimicked Crcasy's actions when she
came upon him rocking back and
forth in chair with handkerchief
over his face" by the side of Edith
Lavoy'S still warm corpse.
my Darlng-I Loved Her.
Boo hoo Boo hoo chanted Miss
Shoemaker from the witness chair, eX =
planning the sounds made by Greasy.
and. suiting action to words. she her
self drew kerchicf from her bag. threw
it over her head and swayed violently
from the hips as she gave utterancc
to the sounds of horror and terror.
! And She accompanied her acting
with the phrases which had burst from
ltNSN VnrNul
My darling-my darling. l loved
her-loved her.
But when the Prosecutor interrupted
this scene with the quiet question,
"Was he wccving:' Miss Shoemaker
answered bitterly:
II never saw tear. lie was sit
! ting white and still and looked very
very uncomfortable.
No Motive for Suicide
The whole tendency of the school
/ principals testimony was TO suggest or
prove that Edith Luvoy had no motive
for suicide, Displayed no emotion othe.
than real fear of Greasy in her last
hours and that Greasy did not ard
nerhaps does not sincerely mourn the
death Of the woman to whom be had
become attached while his first wife
| held him in n divorce tangle which woul,
have made his early renarriapc bigamy
That Miss LavOy was successful and
/ happy in her vocation was indicated
when the principal told that her class
the sixth grade---had been triumphant
in yeur-end examinations. all but ono
girl. a >ickly pupil. passing the tests.
Moreover. Miss Shoemaker testified
Edith Lavoy was radianuy happy nj
through April and up to tho list, oi
which day the principal surprised hel
in her empty classroom in the Grove
street schoolhouse greatly changcc
over night. haggard and drawn anC
with wild look in her eyes.