The Washington times., 1922-09-19
MRS. T|ERNAN
SOBSSTORY0F
BAbY|N COURT
Accuses Husbands "Bes,
Friend" Of Paternity Of
Infant.
BY international News Service.

oNS ~ DI<ANb1 1nu.p ocpt. "
He said he would send me roses
when the baby came. I never saw
them"
The words came definitely at the
close of Mrs. Augusta Tiernan's re-
markable confession late yesterday
In which she sobbed out the story
OF her tragic amour with Harry
Poulin, her husbands "best friend"
She was on the stand more than
an hour, relating In all their sordid
details the numerous clandestine
meetings with the young haber.
dasher, whom she accuses Of being
the father OF her tea-months-old
son, who bears the name of her
husband, John p. Tiernan, profess
sor Of criminal law at the Notre
Dame University.
Every factor essential In stag.
ing a gripping drama was at hand
when the" four principals confront
ed each other across the counsel
table in Judge Chester Ducomb's
court room. A throng of 1000 NOR
bidly curious jammed the room and
the corridors, overflowing to the
street. Police reserves were called
out when women tainted in a crush
to gain admittance.
Mrs. TIernan was accompanied to
the courtroom by her husband and
the nurse who was with her when
the repudiated baby was born. The
baby was also in court, and was
taken care of by a policewoman while
the mother was on the witness
stand.
Her clandestine meetings with
Poulin, Mrs. Tiernan- said. covered a
period Of seven months, many of
them being held in the campus cloth
ing store at Notre Dame University.
She also told Of three meetings in
the Poulin home during the absence
of Mrs. Poulin.
Poulin's curt rebuff at church on
a Sunday morning was the casual in.
cident which CALLED her soul, Mrs.
Tiernan said, and prompted her to
confess to her husband the secret
love that was to demand Of her so
great a sacrifice. II was then; she
said, she found strength to publish
her shame and wreak a tardy ven
geance on the man she charges be-
trayed her.
I'VE first met at a children's dance
which Professor Tiernan and l chap
eroned three years ago." Mrs. Tier
nan said, recalling her first meeting
with Poulin. After that we met many
times. 1t was in February of last
year that Poulin called me one day
and said he wanted me to come down
to the store and see him.
IT suspected nothing and went.
He asked me upstairs, where We
would be alone. He told me to pre-
tend that l was buying some over
alls for the children. There he pro.
tested his love for me-and kissed me.
After that he insisted on making
dates with me for the movies and
more visits to the store. He kept
calling me up, saying he would go
mad If he couldn't see me-"
Her soft voice scarcely audible at
times, Mrs. Tiernan sighed out her
story.
Prof. Tiernan, worn in appear
ance, sat less than ten feet from the
man charged with wantonly wreck
ing his home. Dry-eyed, he carefully
followed the course of evidence. Oc-
casionally his gaze rested on Poulin,
who lolled in his chair with an ap-
parent indifference.
Mrs. Poulin, a frail little woman,
with watery blue eyes that stare
amazedly through thick-lensed spec.
tacles, sat apart from her husband,
| in the. center of a group Of intimate
| friends.
| when confided my trouble to
Poulin, a few weeks after our first
secret meeting" Mrs. Tiernan con.
tinued, "he admitted that he was re-
| sponsible. He swore me to secrecy
and demanded that 1 forego any
marriage relationship with my hus,
band"
Questioned upon this point, Mrs.
| AA1 knI .avNN .,
her alleged paramour's request.
"One time he asked me IL any Of
my husbands relatives had blue
eyes and black hair, as he himself
had, so that any suspicion about
the parentage of the child might
not crop up from such facts.
my husband, all the while,
thought was at the movies when
was meeting Poulin.
During Mrs. Poulin's absence in
Chicago, Harry took me to his home
three times, and we had a few high
balls, danced to the phonograph, and
he loved me again and again"
When Mrs. Poulin returned she
learned of the affair, Mrs. Tiernan
said, and their meetings came to an
abrupt end. There was a promise
OF roses when the child was born in
November, but no roses came.
Poulin sat motionnless when the
final direct answer came to Prose
cutor Jellison's question: who. is
the father OF that child?'
Harry Poulin," returned the wit
ness, raising her eyes to meet those
of the defendant. But their gaze did
| ,,oaat