The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-11-24
DORR|T SUFFERS
ATTACK OF NERVES
Doctor Says She Was In
Earlier Stages of Nerv-
Gus PrOstration
DEFENSE TO BEGIN
TESTIMONY TODAY
Judge NIoultOn Refuses to Direct Verdict
for Defendant More Letters Be
tween Dorrit and Douglas to BE In
twadunad

tween DoTrit and Douglas TO BE In
troduced.
BURLINGTON. NOV. 24.-That
Dorrit Stevens Woodhouse was Il sufferer
from an attack of nervous prostration ia
its earlier stages as the result of the
treatment of Douglas Woodhouse to his
wife. was the testimony Of DR. G. L.
Beecher this morning at the resuming of
the trial of the day before in the million
dollar alienation suit of Mrs Woodhouse
against Mr.. and Mrs l.. +. Woodhouse.
Court did not convene until shortly be-
fore II o'clock fer the reason that argu-
ments were being heard in chambers re
sarding the admissibility of evidence in
answer to Attorney Austin's hypothetical
question.
In asking the question of the physi-
elan, Attorney Austin reviewed the cir
cumstances of the case. He told of the
marriage and the desertion of the hus-
band shortly afterwards. of the trip of
Douglas to the Canadian woods, of the
short experience which they had together
after the meeting in Washington when
! Douglas was in company with Mrs.
Mcclellan, and in fact reviewed his en-
tire case before asking Dr. Beecher
Assuming that this is 50. would you
consider it a cause for Mrs. Woodhouse
being in the condition she was ut the
time YOU treated her in 1922"
DIR. Beecher replied that he would con-
slider il sufficient cause.
!. Judge M0ulton yesterday afternoon de-
MED motion that the jury be directed to
return verdict for the defendants.
Contending that Douglas alone and not
his parents was responsible for the shat
FgFrpf ,sr 4
the defendants made this motion immedi-
ately after Atty. Warren r Austin the
plaintiff 5 lawyer, had announced that his
| case was complete except for the testi-
mony of DR.. G. ii. Bcecher. a Burlington
physician who attended the younger Mrs
! Noodhouse dnring a nervous breakdown
which she1stIffeFed IN fuIe fsS.,tl@-- '-44 4-rs
The defence attorneys argued that
the plaintiff had failed 10 present suffi-
Gent evidence of acts of the alienation
/ which she alleges. Atty. Austin, in re
ply, reviewed the evidence introduced to
support the plaintiffs charges and cited
| the supreme Indifference" of the defend
1 ants toward Dorrit, To which Douglas
| testified in his sworn deposition. After
/ listening to the arguments Judge Moul-
ton dismissed the motion and directed the
| defence TO be ready TO proceed with their
! case today.
! Counsel for the defendants reported
/ that their case probably would be COM
4 DieEeu IN TWO DAYS.
| Included in the evidence which the
/ defence may offer are many letters writ
| TEN by Dorrit TO Douglas before and after
| their marriage Excerpts from several
of these letters already have been read
| by Mrs Woodhouse during her cross-eX-
animation regarding the union OF love"
which she testified existed berween her
| and Douglas three months before the
marriage.
Mrs Woodhouse concluded her testi-
mony yesterday BY asserting under re
( direct examination that she had changed
her mind regarding the operation at the
! time of her marriage. and that she then
! did not wish 10 avoid motherhood.
She said that she had tried in vain
4 to effect reconciliation with Douglas.
/ with whom. she testified. she had not
lived rs a wife since June. 1920. She adj
mitted that she had refused al that time
10 live with him ''on account of his esca-
pade" with Mrs. Lillian Hendrick Nc
! ClellaU. Il Washington divorcee. to whom
he was once engaged and on whom he
4 lavishCd 1891 in checks and jcwclry val
/. ued at several thousand dollars.
She denied however. that Douglas
affair with Mrs. Mcclellan stood in the
!, WAY of n reconciliation. or that she had
charged Douglas with his relations Wit
| this woman in Washington and asked
herself for hill of divorce or that III
be denied a bill on that ground. During
her attempts ut 4 reconciliation. douglas
was lust han"ing around burlington
his wife testified. He later went to Reno
%ev. and netitioned for a divorce.
or the witness stand Yesterday. Mrs
Wcodhousc testified that her husband''