New Britain herald., 1926-11-13
Defense Seeks to Show That Much Handling of Bit of Pasteboard Destroys Its Con- demnation of Willie Stevens
Reporter for Daily Mirror Again Being Cross Ex- amined as to His Part in Urging Prosecution.

Court House somerville, N. J.. Nov. 13 P-The small visiting card which the state has made one of tha cornerstones of it's case in the HalI- Mills murder trial was made ths target Of defense fire again this morning immediately after the trial was resumed. Na
 It Is on this tiny !. I'd that ths prosecution is largely de.sending to prove it's contention thac Willie Stevens, one Of the three defend. ants, was at the s--ne of the slay- ing of the Rev. Edward w. Hall. New Brunswick church pastor, and Mrs. Eleanor R. Mill, choir singer in his church. on dark night at a deserted farm outside New Bruns- wick more than four years ago.
 Herbert Mayer, reporter for the New York Daily Mirror resumed the witness stand for cross-examin- ation as to the movements of the card after having been taken from this state by one Of the police in- vestigators. Two fingerprint ex- perts, who were present during ths photographing in the newspaper of fee, previously have testified that the card, found at the scene of the crime, bore the imprint of Willie Stevens left index finger.
 Mayer testified that he made two visits to Middletown, N. Y, where the visiting card was examined by Joseph A. Faurot, former finger print expert of the New York polics department.
 Yesterday he had said he made the first trip In July. but today he corrected it to August IT, explain- ing he had difficulties in remember ing dates. He said that on the sec- ond visit he spent two days in Middletown while Fargot and Frederick Drewen, flngerprint ex- pert of the Jersey City. N. J.. po- lice department, examined ths l card. Drewen earlier had taken the visiting card from New Jersey to the newspaper office, where it was kept for a time.
 The defense contends that what ever evidence the card may bear in the form of a fingerprint, 1t has been made unreliable by the ex- tensive handling of the card during the four years since it was found. l For the first time since the trial | began there were empty seats in the courtroom today. More than | one-third of the seats in both th9 ! courtroom and galleries were va | cant.
 Heretofore people have besieged the doors in their attempt to gain | entrance.
 Diary Is Shown A diary of Mir. Halls which tho l prosecutor asserted "Getailed the great affection" of the minister for his choir singer was admitted as evidence. over the objection of ths defense.
 Robert McCarter. chief of defense counsel. argued that the diary was irrelevant since it was found in the Mills home several weeks after the killings, and had not been written by any of tho defendants.
 | The diary is common notebook, from which the pages of writing appeared had been torn. The court ruled that the condition of the book wa7 imm .terial. since the dates on the loose pages were consecutive. The first date was July 31. and the last August 12.
 Prosecutor Simpson in offering the diary announced that he would also ask for the admission of several let ters alleged to have been written by Mir. Hall to Mrs. Mills. Both letters and diary were published in a news paper four years ago and James l Mills. husband of the slain choir singer has testified that he was paid $500 for them.
 At first mention of the diary and letters, Charlotte Mills who last week had identified the handwriting as that of MT. Halls left the room.
 When the diary was offered, Jus tice Parker suggested that defense lawyers might want to see if.
 Four defense lawyers started for the stenographer's desk at once only to be restrained by McCarter They were not allowed to touch the little notebook until the court had made 1t plain that defense examination Of the book before ruling on it's be- | ing admitted, would not require &C., ceptance of the matter as evidence.
 Later when the diary had been ac- cepted and admitted, Timothy N. Pfeiffer. who four years ago repre-
 sented Mrs Hall and who is mem-
 Der of the defense in this trial. got
 Simpsons permission to examine it. Announcement was made that the funeral Of Ulysses Tillman. broth
 CT of Juror Edward Tillman, would
 be held at Raritan tomorrow after
 noon. His death occurred yesterday
 and the juror will be permitted to attend in custody of a constable.
 Somerville. N. J.. Nov. 8 R = Two sharply contrasting pictures