New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-09
Girl Asserts
Innocence oil
Rum Running,
Mrs. Stevens Faces Cassese's
Deserted Wife and Hrs
band She Left and Tells
of Her Role on Yacht
Cruised With Fugitive
Checked Liquor but, ID dn',
Know J., She Tcs'
Quits Witness Stand Ill

Mrs. Edith Stevens, the nineteen
,ear-old girl accused of completely in
ysn,-smuggling adventures o.F the B.sr
ssmas. will be subjected to eross-exam-
,n..;on when her case is resumed be-
fore Judge Chatheld in the United
States Federal Court in Brooklyn this
morning and the prosecution VII at
.emnt to upset her testimony yester-
d,v that she was innocent Of the CON
.sn.s Of the packages she helped to
check ,.
IN the afternoon during which she told
franklv of yachting trips to Palm Beach
~ Nassau with Anthony Cassese. al
,sSsd bootlegging fugitive, of very
We times she had with him, OF par
rsls she checked though all unconscious
~ their contents, her counsel, Wallace
] Collins. said that she was too i'll
"a undergo cross examination and
court was adjourned until this morning.
Faces Rival Tensely
Although the defendant remained un-
moved, there were tense moments dur
ing the morning session, when Mrs.
Cassese, stout leweiled ana red-hat-
ted, took the stand against her rival
xnd again. when Milton Hirsch, who as
sNmed the name OF Stevens when he
went on the stage. testined that ne and
The defendant were married on April
10, 1920, but that they had not lived
together during March, April, May and
June Of this ear.
and pala Mrc Ctaupnc lyad
falteringly to the witness stand. The
ley indifference of her expression, her
clear, cool sentences, enunciated with
the care and precision CT child re-
peating lesson by rote, were belied
by white hands that trembled and the
faint stir of trinity starched blouse
Her youth was quite apparent in
spite of covert air of defiance that
revealed itself in sudden darting
glances and a tightening of her thin
Tipped mouth She wanted good times,
she said, ard Anthony Cassese was
able to give them to her. Simply, with
long pauses between the sentences, her
voice, high-pitched but musical in in
tonation, she told her own story Ike
this:
II was born in New York. NV
father was wealthy merchant He
and my mother were divorced. l had
20 face hardship then. l don't know
where he is now. AS a girl of sixteen
! was working when | met Milton
Hirsch. l married him because |
thought my life would be less monot-
onous than it was when l worked. But
found was wrong. He was a sales
man who did not make much money,
and things grew worse and worse"
Cassese Posed as Single
She told Of first meeting Cassese as
she came out of a cemetery. He nearly
ran her down with his car, she said,
then came back and apologized, and
thus their friendship began. He told
her he was wealthy tobacco man,
single, and living with his sister. said
Mrs Stevens. She did not know until
recently of the existence of Mrs. Cas-
sese.
She left her husband and went to
live in an apartment on Riverside
Drive, where Cassese paid her ex-
penses. He never gave her money. al
though he always paid her way, she
said.
He told me he had three cars" she
continued in her high, clear tones. "He
said he would take me to Palm Beach
and he pictured the beautiful things
that would be mine if | woufd 20 with