Evening star., 1926-11-12
MRS. HALL'SLOV
ALLFOR HUSBAND
Long Robbed of Affection,
) Widow Centered Life
on Clergyman.
BY DOROTHY DIX.
Special Dispatch TO The Star.

SOMERVILLE, n. j., November ] .
For more than a week we have sa
In the little courtroom at SomerViii'
and watched the drama OF the Hall
Mills trial unfold as one would watcl
picture in a cinema.
Hour after hour, as scene followed
scene with lightning rapiditv. we have
been told the tale of a clergyman wht
forgot his vows to God and man. anf
Of a weak and fraii woman. and O
how they were slain together at theiI
secret rendezvous. Now. while the
tale goes on to its unknown ending
let us get q closeup of the three char
acters most involved in the tragedy.
First, Mrs. Hall. A woman who
knows Mrs. Hall well said to me
"Why. she was the last woman in New
Jersey to quit wearing a flannel petit
coat" | don't know what that will
mean to men as certificate of char
scter, but to women it is proof O1
conventionality. of adherence to tradi
tion, of impeccable respectahilitS
strong enough to draw money on al
the bank. For every woman knows
that 1t is the ladies who wear geor
gette undies who do strange. tempera
mental things. not the women who pin
their faith to good red flannel
Little Love aS (n1l0.
As Mrs. Hall sits silent. still self
contained. in the courtroom. her white
tired face like n tragic mask, | think
of the story of her life and try to pic
ture her horror al having TO listen to
the things she is accused of doing. II
must seem to her like the final climax
70 an existence that has been dral
within, however much it has been
gilded without.
Mrs Halls father died when she
was years old, and she was reared
by her mother who was austere. hard
and Puritanic and bitterly opposed To
all change.
She was good woman. just and
honorable to the last degree, but cold
and hard-One of the women who
think 1t a weakness to show tender
ness to their children.
In this atmosphere of repression the
little Frances grew up. SchOoled to
Spartan self-control, taught to repress
every inclination.
Such girls are not what we call pop
ular. They never have many friends
They have few beauX. And so Frances
Stevens life lacked many of the pleas
nres that poorer young girls enjoy.
She was literally poor little rich girl
very lonely. with little companionShip
except that of her austere mother.
AS with so many women of her kind
she found in religion a vent for her
pent-up energies and emotion, and she
became devoted church worker.
Then came the new rector. Rev. Ed
ward Wheeler Hall. handsome. young.
magnetic. She was 38 and he 30.
There was about him the glamour of
his holy calling. for the cassock at
tracts women as much as does the
uniform of the soldier, and 1t was not
long before the sefseeking young
clergyman found that he might marry
his rich parishioner If he would.
Perhaps it was always a marriage
Of ambition with him. but with her it
was the volcano breaking through the
lce---a woman who was cold and re
served giving her whole heart. the
love of whole lifetime. to one man.
And be IL said for DIR. Hall that he
made a good husba and~in the technical
sense. He was pleasant. amiable and
agreeable at home, kind and affection
ate to his wife, and he made her
happy. So that II was literally true
when she said that her love for him
was the one beautiful thing in her life.
She had few intimates and conf
dants. She was not the kind of woman
to whom one would easily 30 and gOS-
sip about her husband. She believed
in him with all her heart. and So her
friends say it is literally true that she
had no suspicion he was untrue TO her
until that dreadful day when with the
news Of his murder they also brought
her the news that he had betrayed her
So self controlled is she. so impossi
bic does she find il to express her emo
tlon. that even those who are nearest
and dearest to her do not know
whether she is eating her heart out in
grief for her dead husband or whether
she has rolled the stone upon the
grave Of her dead faith.
On one side Of Mrs. Hall sits. her
brother, Willie. who has never grown
up. He is just a boy of 10 or II in
mentality. although he is gray
haired man. He is interested in the
things that boy is interested in. and
he likes to play with little children.
Those who know him will say he has
the kindest heart In the world; that he
never harmed thing in his life. and
that he has passion for truth
nothing can induce him to tell even
the slightest lie.
Willie Hurt by Trial.
For this unfortunate brother Mrs.
Hall and Henry Stevens have had the
greatest tenderness, and they have
watched over him SO carefully and
dealt with him so patiently that not
uutil the murder Of Mr.. Hall and Mrs.
Mills dragged the family into the spot
light had Willie ever known he was
not as other men are. And it has hurt
and wounded him beyond measure to
have had the knowledge forced upon
him of his attlction.
Henry Stevens. the other broth is
an outdoor man, a sportsman. a fisher
man. In all Of his life he has hardly
suent a single day In the house. and
SO the confinement in the Jail chafSs
him terribly, and especially now.
when guns are beginning to crack
and iridescent pheasant whiZ up
through the stubhle.
In I.avalette. where he has a house
on Barnegat Bav. SO close to the water
that he can almost FISH out of the
window, and where he owns a famous
duck point he is adored by his neigh
hors. In fact. Sunday or two after
he was lodged in the jai! in Somerville
fhe whole population OF I.aValette,
r1en. women and children. piled into
their automobiles on rainy Sunday
end splashed through the mud all the
way up to tell him that they stood by
him through thick and thin
Mr.. Stevens Is particularly fond OF
rhildren. and they follow him in
QueQOe tnrouEn tne StISetS ol lte III tlc
town. They sit around him on the
hulkhead as he fishes. they write him
letters to the Jail. and one little fellow
10 whom Mr. stevens had given
little turtle lugged It in jar of water
ell the way from Lavalette TO Somer-
<ille to show il 10 him. and another
Ilddfe cried because he hadn't brought
his kitten. along for Mr.. stevens TO
eee. too.
And when that happened it was the
only time that Henry Stevens has
broken down since his arrest.
And these are the three people that