Arizona republican., 1922-03-29
STATE RESTS IN
THIRD TRIAL Of
FATTY ARBUCKLE
rRepublIcan a. p. Leased WIreJ


SAN FRANCISCO, March 2s.-
The first direct testimony linking
Roscoe c. (Fatty) Arbuckle with the
death Of Virginia Rappe was given in
his trial for manslaughter late this
afternoon by Miss Virginia Briggs,
secretary to DR.. Francis Wakefield,
at whose sanitArium the actress died.
She said Miss Rappe told her:
"Arbuckle took me by the arm and
threw me on the bed and put his
weight on me and after that do not
know what happened"
With the testimony Of Miss Briggs.
q surprise witness, the state rested
its case The defense Immediately
began the presentation Of its evil
dence by calling Adolph Juel, head of
the police Identification bureau, TO
the stand.
This is the first time Miss Briggs
has appeared as a witness, and at the
conclusion of her testimony the de-
fense made a motion that her state
nents be stricken from the record
as hearsay. This>N1otion the court
denied.
Miss Briggs explained that she had
gone into Miss Rappe's room on the
day or her death. She asked me
about the amount OF the hospital bill
that would be due" said the witness.
''She said she didn't see why she
should pay the bill Arbuckle was
responsible for her being there. I
told her that il Arbuckle or anyone
else should pay the account after she
left, the money paid by her would be
returned. She replied that she was
not going to leave. that she was go
ing to die. As..s
''Then / asked her why she thought
she was going to die, and it was then
that she told me the details OF the
party"
Cross examined by Attorney Gavin
McNab, defense chief counsel as to
whether it was not true that she had
telephoned him asking that Miss
Rappe's bill be paid and threatening
that If it was not she would tell her
story to the district attorney, Miss
Briggs made an absolute denial She
also denied that McNab had told her
to give any evidence she might have
to the di2trict attorney although ad-
mitting that he had told her to see
that official, she presumed, about the
bill.
Il had some one on the line while
was talking to YOU" said the wit
ness
so did l." volunteered McNab.
Miss Briggs declared that she had
not told her story before or volun-
teered ary information because she
shrank from the notoriety. She
added that she had been summoned
to testify only last Saturday.
"A portion of the alleged attack by
Arbuckle on Miss Rappe was enacted
by the defense in an effort to show
that had force been used, the finger
prints on the hotel room door would
! have been blurred and smudged be-
yond Identification.
Nat Schmulowitz, defense attor-
ney, impersonated Miss Rappe and
e. o, He.nrich, who had testified as
finger print expert, impersonated
Arbuckle. The door of the hotel
room was used in the staging of the
supposed scene. Heinrich had tes-
titled that the door bore the prints
of Miss Rappe's hand, with Ar
buckles stperimposed. Adolph
Juel, finger print expert for the San
Francisco police department, testi-
fled that the finger prints on the door
OF the hotel room in which the strug-
gle was alleged to have taken place
were not those OF Miss Rappe and
Arbuckle, thus directly contradict
ing the testimony of Heinrich. who
developed the photographs of the
marks.
Juel was under cross examination
when the session closed.