Evening star., 1926-11-30
MRS. HALL P|T|FUL
/ FIGURE ON STAND
Shown l'Iinging Desperately
| to Last Shred of Belief in
H.. Unworthy Man.
BY DOROTHY DIX.
6peclal Dispatch to The Star.

SOMERVILLE N. j., November
S0.-At the opening of court in the
Hall-Mills trial yesterday. Mrs. Hall
walked to the witness stand as many
woman in ages gone by must have
walked to the torture chair Head
up, chin out, shoulders squared, eyes
burning up as with fever, face white
Bnd set mouth thin line Of grim
determination.
SO set was she. so bound she
would show no weakness, you felt
that she would pluck her eyes out
OF her head before she would le'
them shed a tear, that she would
bite her lips off rather than have
them tremb,e.
And, indeed, no victim broken on
the wheel of the inQuistion ever
went through a worse ordeal than
she endured during the two and
half hours in which Senator Simp-
son mercilessly beat upon her heart
with every weapon at his command.
No Quarter Asked.
1t was a duel to the death between
these two, with no quarter asked or
given on either side. Senator Simp-
son began by trying to break down
the guard with which she has pro-
tected her emotions and make her
admit that she had been jealous OF
Mrs. Mills.
He recalled to her her own
romance. He reminded her of her
love for her husband and or now
she had said that he was everything
In the world to her and that his
death had wiped out everything in
her life. and then he twitted her
with her husbands unfaithfulness.
lie threw her husbands passion for
another woman in her face ana
Knocked her for being a poor dupe'
or else he accused her of being
liar Never, during the whole exam
fnation did he cease trying to rouse
her jealousy of the dead woman and
make her confess that she had sus-
pected her husbands illicit love az
fair.
But nothing that he could do broke
through Mrs. Halls icy calm. Other
women whom the little prosecutor mas
goaded to fury have screamed back
at him, but Mrs. Halls cultured, re-
fined, well bred voice never changed
it's even tone. 1t never took on an
edge, it never showed any emotion
whatever unless it was sort or cold
contempt, and the expression OF her
face never changed. That, too, was
as blank and inscrutable as mask.
Sticks to Answers.
Yes. she had loved her husband.
Yes, she had believed that he loved
her. Yes, she had trusted him utterly
No, she had never observed any
change In his conduct toward her
lie had been just as kind and affec- |
tionate to the last as he had always
been.
Yes. she had known Mrs. Mills
Yes. she had known that her husband |
saw a greet deal of her. No, she had
never been in the slightest degree
jealous of Mrs. Mills. Mrs. Mills was ,,
very active in church work and she |
had believed that her husband being |
with her so much was merely due to |
their interest in church activities.
No, she had never seen the prayers
Mr.. Hall had written for Mrs. Mills |
while she was sick in the hospital
No. she had never seen any OF the
letters that her husband had written |
to Mrs Mills, nor had she seen the
diary. Moths scornfully-she had |
never looked over her husbands |
shoulder while he was writing to Mrs. |
Mills. No. she had never read any |
of the letters that passed between her |
husband and Mrs. Mills nor the diary |
until just a few days before this pres |
ent trial commenced. No, she had not |
read the newspapers at the time OF the !
murder
Answer AmaZes Courtroom.
Then again and again Senator Simp- |
son would demand of her. Mrs. Hall, |
how is it possible that a woman such |
as you area woman Of the world, |
woman Of intelligence-could be in |
almost daily association with your |
husband and woman he loved, could |
see them together, could see them in |
church and the looks that passed be- |
tween them, and not suspect any
thing?"
And again and again Mrs. Hall re- !,
I'D pnv,S
any:
Il loved him, 1 believed in him. I
never had the slightest suspicion that
anything was wrong"
And now that YOU have heard all |
these things that YOU have heard in
court; now that YOU have read these
letters and this diary, in which he |
proclaimS his passion for another
woman and tells how he loves her and
how he yearns for her, do you still
believe in him." sneered Senator
Simpson.
And Mrs. Hall made this amazing
reply:
Il do. I think there might have
been some slight thing going on be-
tween them. but nothing much"
At this. a gasp of wonder swept |
the courtroom. and every woman
and nine-tenths of the audience are |
Of the feminine persua uasion--turned to
her sister woman with eyes that were |
ironiC. inCredulouS. humorous, and /
that questioned whether this thing |
they heard could be true or not
Story Is Cnshaken.
Was 1t possible there could be a |
love so great that it was above all |
jealousy, above all suspicion? Could !
a woman so love man that it blind |
ed her to his faults. so that she did |
not even see his Weaknesses? Could |
wife have a faith in her husband |
as unquestioning as her faith in God? |
Were these things possible, and |
was it just because we are cynical |
and hard d-boiled in this age of light |
lives and temporary marriages and |
easy divorce that we find it hard to |
believe in such miracle?
But, believe it or not, as you can, |
as you WILL Mrs. Hall stuck to her |
simple story of her faith in her hus- |
band. and her ignorance of the fact |
that he loved another woman and was |
faithless to her. Nor was Simpson !
able TO shake her
Mrs. Hall did not make as an an
pealing a witness as her brothers !
She lacked the bluff heartiness of |
Henry Stevens. and the childish |
raivete Of Willie, but they had no in |
tereSt i'll their testimony beyond try
ing to prove themselves guiltless.
But she had suffered. She had had |
her heart torn out of her. not only by |
the loss Of her husband. whose going |
took the light of life out for her, but |
she had had the greater loss of hav- |
ing her ideal shattered, and the agony |
OF finding out that she had been be- |
trayed. So II is no wonder that she |
n "a Il how Sv, l1