Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-26
Betrayal of Confidence Has
Made Paul Roman an Out
cast Even Among CaIifor-
MIA Criminals
BY RUTH SNYDER
Copyright, 1922, New York Evening
World. by Press Publishing Coz

Copyright, 1922. New York Evening
World, by Press Publishing Coz
NEW YORK-Once again the cur
tain has been raised on the dra-
matte situation which Mrs. Mad
alynne Obenchain has created out in
California.
A new character has been intro
duced, a character SO sinister that
the spectators are moved to Kisses
and cat-calls.
He is listed as Paul Roman, sol
der Of fortune, adventurer extra
ordinary and literary dilettante. He
is a prisoner of the state, because of
a burglary charge against him. But
this charge fades into insignificance
under the glazing headlight Of scorn
which is turned against him now.
Paul Roman has betrayed the love
and confidence Of a woman.
The scene revealed is court room
in Los Angeles, Cal. Two partici-
pants are on the stage-Mada1ynne
Obenchain and Paul Roman. But
for a tine-the eyes of the public
are turned from gray.eyed Mad
alynne Obenchain. Paul Roman -
the Judas Iscariot" of California,
as he has been called-is now the
cynbsure Of every eye.
These charges stand against him:
He has accepted money while in
prison from a woman and then
used that money and the privilege it
brought him to work against her.
He has written her the most ar
dent love letters, seeking, as he
frankly admits, to commit her in
writing to the most dana ging state
ments relative to her connections
with the death Of J. Bolton Kennedy
and then turned these letters over
to the state.
Admits Plotting
He has admitted having plotted
with her while in prison to establish
an alibi-and then testified to the
plot under oath at the trial.
Mada1ynne Obenchain, her clear,
deep, gray eyes masking the horror
of her many disillusions, stares with
deep-seated malice at Paul Roman
as her letters to him and his letters
to her are read for the greedy court
crowd to crow over.
+ Mrs. Obenchain is a big woman
five feet eight. Her eyes, deeply
fringed with black lashes, are her
main attraction. Her hands and feet
are large and awkward. Her, lips are
full-lipped and white. Her skin has
paled during her months of conf1ne-
ment.
/, Madalynne is facing trial for the
second time for the murder of her
sweetheart, J. Bolton Kennedy. The
testimony of the witnesses recalls
the story.
The pretty Northwestern univer-
sity student is courted during her
school days by Ralph Obenchain, a
quiet, steady-going man and a lover
with a slow-burning candle love. j.
Bolton Kennedy, dashing and mag.
netic, sweeps her off her feet with
his high-power dynamic passion. But
family objections keep their love at
fair from maturing into matrimony.
Finally Madalynne, regarding her
romance with Kennedy as hopeless,
decides to marry Ralph. For two
years. they live together, when her
love for Kennedy proves too strong.
and the Obenchains are divorced
Madalynne returns to Kennedy, hop.
ing now he is in a position to marry
her. But Arthur Burch, another
former sutton, hearing Of her di
vorce, begins to court her again. The
three men and the girl become hope
lessly ensnarled in one of life's
problems. The snarl has never be.
come fully unravelled; but the court
records show that one night while
Madalynne was visiting Kennedy at
his home in the woods he was mys-
teriously shot down. Circumsten.
tial evidence seems to point to the
fact that Arthur Burch and NADIA
lynne conspired to kill Kennedy be-
cause of her unrequited love.
Second Trial
So the situation stands at the be-
ginning of the second trial.
But a new complication is intro
duced in the person of Paul Roman.
In the previous trial of Mrs. Oben.
chain and in the two trials of
Burch, charged with being con.
spirator with Mrs. Obenchain in the
murder, Roman did not figure save
as minor witness for the defense of
Burch, on whose behalf Roman
testified. He declared that he had
been present when one prisoner plot
ted with another to frame testimony
against Burch.
Now Roman has appeared to turn
states evidence. He feels, as he
admits, that Mrs. Obenchain had
merely f1irted with him while she
was in prison in order to use him
&C thn foaanc fo,. nct a h1icbiycr mn o1ihi