The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-01-09
BIackmaiI Hinted by Harvey
L. Smith Defense at
EIkhart.
LOVE NOTES OF REYHER
Gen Suits Married
Sweetheart Admits
Being Writer.
BY ARCH STEINEL

IlmeS stan correspondent
ELKHART, Ind, Jan. 9.-"Did
relatives of Mrs. Genevieye Stults
attempt to get you, Mr.. Reyher, to
pay $4,000 for four letters which
they had in their possession?"
This question, the shroud of
blackmail, slipped into the trial of
Harvey L. Smith, former private de-
tective, charged with the murder of
Gen StultS today when Robert E.
Proctor, defense counsel, crosS-ex-
amined Charles Reyher, real estate
dealer.
fhe question was never answered.
State attorneys objected to it's ad-
mission and Judge William B. Hile
sustained them
Letters Not Revealed
On redirect examination by the
state, the four letters written by
the South Bend sweetheart of the
beauty parlor operator to her, were
identified by Reyher. The state re-
fused to present the letters as ex-
hibits or divrlge their contents.
The curious courtroom crowd
could only Surnise the endearing
phrases of the married man, Reyher,
to his four-year love.
Following swiftly upon the black
cloud of blackmaiI charged by Proc
tor and not admitted as court evil
dence, came the testimony of Miss
Eunice Jones, Star City stenographer
for Smith at the time of the
alleged murder, who testified that
Smith owed her six weeks salary at
the time of the disappearance Of
Mrs. StultS.
1t was the first direct evidence
proffered by the state to explain e.
motive for Smiths alleged crime.
The state AYERS he was in need of
despite the defense's plea
that $204 was found in the lime pit
where the alleged body of Mrs.
StultS was discovered. The defense
no one who needed money
could have robbed the body.
Smith admits he received $50
from the Reyhers for detective
services the day prior to the disap-
pearance of Mrs. Stults.
Reyher Nervous
When Proctor opened a new
mystery drawer in the trials
chiffonier Of sordid allegations and
counter-allegations with his black
mail attempt charge, Reyher, fid-
geted in the witness chair His
hands opened and closed nervously.
He started to answer the question
but was prevented by the states
sharp objection.
In identifying letters which he
wrote Mrs. Stults and which were
never returned to him, Reyher
glanced at the handwriting as his
own and looked quickly away past
the bone exhibits of what the state
says was at one time the woman
he loved too we'll"
Smith focused his eyes directly on
Reyher at Proctor's blackmail
charge as if he wished to mesmerize
him into stumbling out an answer
to the farmer-jury before the state
could prevent.
Bar Dead or Alive Reply
Only an objection of states at
torney's stood between Reyher and
public admission Tuesday that he
believed Mrs. Stults might be alive.
Just a few hours before he went to
the stand he told an interviewer he
did not know whether Mrs. Stults
was alive or dead"
Reyher said a long distance tele-
phone call which Mrs. Suits re-
ceived from Detroit shortly before
she disappeared; her oft-reiterated
exclamation, "I'll go away and never
come back" added to a report that
she was seen leaving a Goshen hotel
with two men" the Sunday follow
ing her disappearance, gave rise to
his belief she went to Detroit.
Smith contends he turned the .
soaring of Mrs. Stults out of town"
over to two dance hall hangers-on
Like a fumbled football, Reyher
rolled out of the hands of the state
into those of the defense.
IbCJIlCL N4OlI
her eVasions of "I don't remember
took on chameleon ways, she fed
morbidity with little
peeks of her four-year worry over
her husband who says he fell in love
with "love leech."
Destroyed Love Evidence
On cross-examination Tuesday
and today, Reyher heaped fuel on
the fire of sansationalism with his
tale of the photographs, postal card
and letter which Smith in a gentle
manly "prowl' obtained from Mrs.
Stults' apartment and returned to
Reyher
Reyher destroyed the evidence of
his marital delinquencies. He said
one photograph was that Of Mrs.
Stults and her daughter, Virginia,
IL; one of he and Mrs. Suits, and
4 third of Mrs. Stults, her mother,
Mrs. Anna SechoWski, and the
beauty operators daughter. Virginia,
70. Reyher further identified him
self as a defense witness by reveal
ng that the route which his car.
driven by the mysterious tall
nan, took the night Of the alleged
Staying in its hunt in EIkhart for an
alleged likely spot for committing