Evening star., 1926-11-13
MAID PROVES IDEAL
TYPE OF WITNESS
But From Her Viewpoint Only,
as Hall Prosecutor Gets
T Little Satisfaction.
By FRANCES MOVES HART.
Special Dispatch to The Star

N. D., n oVemDer 13.-There was cOlOr
in Somerville yesterday. Outside the
trees were bright as banners, and
there was Ice in the streets and flood
OF sunlight on the grass, that is still
green. There was ice and wind in the
air, too, and the rush of II came into
the crowded courtroom at 10 O'Clock
with the eager stampede of reporters
many Of them just back from Armi
Btice day in New York. gay and reluc'
tant as children back from holiday
All day that color fingered. No more
mist and fog, no more experts.
The parade through the witness box
yesterday was made up of real people
talking Of real things. Not a collec
ton of tiredlooking old gentlemen
with bald heads and white mustaches
and enormous vocabularies, but people.
A chambermaid, a waitress, an
editor OF tabloid, fireman, dress
maker, a reporter. Surely, no one
could ask for more varied fare than
these? And not a word about Whlrls
or loops or contusions or mutilations.
These people were to tell about simple.
easy things, about telephones and
shutters and sewing rooms and gossip
and hymns and hall lights and kitchen
doors. All instruments Of fate, per
haps, but their very names sound
pleasantly reassuring to ears recently
assaulted by horror and boredom.
Undertaken Is Called.
There were few premonitory stirs
when the nice, neat looking old gen.
tleman with a beautiful silky white
fnustache announced that he was an
undertaken. but even he was consid-
crate enough to let us off with few
lavish and lamentabie details as to
vaults. And all the rest were very
kind.
Barbara Tough came first, recalled
from Wednesday. A quiet, pleasant
looking young woman. with wide,
firm mouth and gray eyes, steady be-
hind smoked glasses; dressed In
cinnamon brown coat. a gray SCARF
with magenta flowers and a large
black felt hat with glittering star
like cockade Of black and white. She
sits erect and completely at ease IN
the witness box. serene and unruf-
fed. giving some of the most i'm
portant testimony of the trial in her
pretty, clipped. precise voice, with its
strong Scotch accent.
"Pareeshoners," says Barbara
Tough, explaining that she herself
was not q member of DR.. Hall 8
church, as she Is Presbyterian and
attends kirk.
Helped State Very Little.
She had been with Mrs. Hall for a
good many years. and 1t is not diff
cult to imagine that she made an
admirable servant, loyal, discreet and
intelligent She proved a distinct
failure as a State witness, however,
save for her brief testimony Wednes-
day of the fact that gossip was rife
about Mrs. Mills and DR.. Hall for
over two years before the murder.
and her statement as to how. four
years before that time. she had come
Inadvertently upon Eleanor. as she
calls her. sitting on DR.. Halls knee
in the church study and how Eleanor,
laughing hysterically, had said. "Oh,
It's only Barbara"
Even after all these years there
was a faint touch of diSapproval in
barbara S plea SAINT, level tones at the
thought of such weakness and hys.
teria. She was also forced by the
prosecutor to admit that DR.. Hall had
an old ia shioned razor. OF much the
color and shape of the one that the
prosecutor suddenly flashed at her.
but before the lightning quick Simp'
son could withdraw 1t, she added
swiftly and gently. but his was just
a teenv bit smaller" That she stuck
to, softly obstinate. In spite of all his
efforts to shake her.
Both sides gave her a few bad min
utes yesterday, when they insisted on
the names OF the ladies of the guild
who had been gossiping.
oh" said the soft, persuasive voice,
'1'd feel SO awful mean. sir.
Hated to Harm Others.
Its an awfully mean thing that
we're in. Miss Tough" replied Senator
Case grimly.
But they never. never done any
harm to me, and l do hate to do any
harm to them
Justice Parker ordered her to tell
the names, Simpson added his orders
Case reiterated his-well, one was
Nellie Hutchins. she's married now
her names Nellie Thompson. And
her sister Maggie. and--the gentle
voice runs unhappily on. stopping
each time, hopefully. to see If that
wasn't enough to appease these insa
table inquiSitors. But worst Of all
was the horrid necessity of divulging
The name and sex Of the Scotch friend
who took her riding in his car that
night, depoSiting her safely at the
Hall home at 10 sharp. For the first
and last time Barbara s serenity was
absent Mr.. Cooper to the courtroom.
Still. Barbara Tough-Teuch. II
should be pronounced. she says. and
adds with a rueful murmur of laugh
ter that 1t never isis the kind OF
witness that we all dream that we may
he If cruel fate ever sends us to the
witness box. She remembers, effort
lessly and convincinGly. words spoken
and gestures made. the distance from
streets to houses, the angles of rooms
and the turns on the stairs.
Always she heard the clock strike
always she noted the number who
came to lunch or who left for tea
quietly. promptly and unhurriedly she
gives each courteous answer and is
silent, a mode for all to gaze on with
respectfully envious eyes. She is the
perfect witness, from the standpoin,
Of the witness From the standpoint
OF the prosecution, she left something
10 be desired.
Editor Goes On Stand.
After Barbara Tough comes Phillip
A. PAYNE, editor of the New York Mir
ror, the tabloid which Is undoubtedly
largely responsible for the reopening
Of this case. A performance which Mr.
McCarter openly regards as neither
iaudable nor disinterested. After get
ting Mr.. Payne to state that the card
that he now sees-the famous card
alleged to contain Willie Stevens fin
gerprints-is in precisely the same con.
clifton in which Mr.. Schwartz. the
nngerprint expert. showed it to him
late in July or early in August. 1926
Senator Simpson callously surrenders
him to the far from tender mercies OF
the defense.
Mr.. McCarter pounds joyously into
the arena, roaring whole -heartedly,
all in a glow at the prospect of bait.
ing this arch-menace. He discovers
before many minutes have passed,
however. that he has the wrong bull
lHo tot