Evening star., 1926-11-04
HA[L-M|[LS TRIAL
ATTRACTS THRONG
Closing Scene of Mystery
Draws Countryside to
Quaint Court.
BY DOROTHY DIX.
niSnofob fo Tho C+ar


SOMERVILLE, N. J.. November 4.
AT am. Tuesday morning a
| woman took her Seat on the stone
steps of the courthouse at Somerville,
prepared to crash the gates when the
doors opened for the Hall-Mills case.
BY sunrise every road leading into the
little town was packed with vehicles,
llmousines from the rich country
estates, trucks from the vegetable gar
dens, f1ivvers from the village, all
bound in the same direction.
At 8 o'clock the street was jammed
with cars bearing the license numbers
OF surrounding States, and the pretty
green courthouse yard was packed
with the curious, eager if only for
sight OF some one connected with the
case, and three minutes after court
convened the Standing room only"
sign might have been hung out.
Nor was this a marvel, for within
was to be enacted that great human
drama that Is as old as time and as
| new as the latest>crime. Here was to
be played out stark tragedy that
had as it's plot a mystery far more
battling than any playwright could in
vent. for 1t is eternally true that truth
is stranger than fiction.
Here was the pathos of analogy
that tore at hearts. and here the sus-
pense Of three lives that trembled in
the balance.
Within the court the resemblance to
q play was still further enhanced by
the setting of the scene, for the court
room Is built like little theater. with
the judges bench and the witness
G. a hn
for the counsel and the defendants.
while the representatives of the press
occupy what might be called the dross
circle. and the audience filled the bal
ance OF the small house.
The first of the dramatis person
nae to enter were the lawyers for the
prosecution. Senator Alexander Simp
son, the special prosecutor, is a small,
alert, keen-faced man, with finely cut
features. humorous mouth and wom-
anlshlY small hands. He was dressed
meticulOusly in a dark blue suit, with
= blue shirt with darker hue figures
| on it, and dark tie He wears his
hair rather long. and a little wavy, and
both in his appearance and his man.
ner he resembles greatly the Califor-
MA spellbinder, Delmas, who defended
Harry Thaw in his last trial, and who
coined the phrase "dementia Ameri-
cana in justification of man killing
the nan who had invaded his home
With Senator Simpson was Prosecu-
tor Bergen, tall and young looking,
who is his assistant.
McCarter Heads Defense.
Then came the lawyers for the de.
Tense. Chief Of the million dollar de.
fense," as it has been called is Robert
II. McCarter, a powerful, gray-haired
man, dressed in gray. who was former
attorney general Of this State, Mrs.
'talIs special counsel. and who comes
| or family as powerful as Mrs Halls
own. Then Clarence E. Case, State
Senator. just reelected, tall. clean.
cut youngish man, just beginning to
grow bald. He is to be the trial law
yer. and he and Senator Simpson clash
at every step. because each of them.
gossip whispers. hopes to ride into the
gOVernOrshiD on this trial. as did Whit
| man on the Becker trial in New York
With them was Timothy Pfeiffer.
tactual, suave. diplomatic, the laison
officer between Mrs. Hall and the press
and the public.
On the bench, back of them the Stars
and Stripes and over their heads a
shield f1anked on one side by figure
holdlng naked sword and on the
nfner pV blndfOded justice, sat the
two trial judges. stately in their black
silk robes. The older one, Charles w.
Parker, veteran member Of the New
JERSEY Supreme Court, with a tired
face and tired ewes that seemed as if
thew had looked too long on human
f"ailtv and sin. With him Judge
Frank L. Clearv Of the Somerset Coun.
tv Court Of Common Pleas. Young.
black-haired. sleek. keen eyed. he
looked as some Young judge might in
a Roman tribunal.
Defendants Enter Court.
A door opened suddenly and in from
the tunnel that connects the jail with
the courthouse the defendants came
almost running to their seats.
Mrs. Hall does not look in the
least as she has been pictured. either
in words or in photographs. She is
woman of medium size, with a good
figure. She is not beautiful. of course
Sixty rarely is. but her face is strong
and kindly and intelligent. and 1t
bears upon 1t the marks of race and
breeding that take the curse off of
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.