The Washington times., 1931-09-30
MRS. GRAHAM
COLLAPSES
ONSTAND
Victims Mother HysteriCaI as
Evidence Reminds Her Jenny
Cannot Come Back to Her

quotes Kane heClCa1
Graham told of a converse
ton between the professionalism
everybody called "Sashy"-and
himself, regarding the drowning
''He told me he was teach
ing my daughter to dive. I
was on the shore and when /
got to her in water up to my
waist, Sashy told me, Jenny
got hold of him and he swan
to shore with her.
4 asked him why he couldn't
have saved her and he said:
"'I was on the shore and
when I did get to her she
nearly drowned me-"
Then Graham said quietly:
81 didn't ask him any more
questions because / was salts
fled it couldn't have happened
that way"
Asked by the prosecution as to
the state of the professors health,
Graham said:
81 always considered him q
physical giant. He always took
regular exercise at our house
and he was known as an
expert swimmer"
Coroner George K. Vanderslice
gave the following reasons for
changing the verdict from acci'
dental death to homicide:
l. The stories told by fisher
men in the vicinity regarding
: the drowning Of Mrs. Kane near
Back River lighthouse did not
coincide with the story told by
Prof. Kane.
2. The mother, father and
brother Of Mrs. Kane expressed
their suspicious of "fOul play"
8. The letters from "the other
woman" Betty Dahl, to the pro-
fessOr, which would serve as .
motive, were revealed by Mrs.
w, G.. Graham, mother Of Mrs.
Kane.
Quotes Betty Letter
"Hop' Graham, brother ct
Mrs. Kane, said that in 1929,
Professor Kane was IN training
camp in Fayetteville, N. c., and
was with a woman supposed to
be a nurse" testified the coroner
who continued:
"He said that letters from
this wOman-five or six-were
received over period Of time,
and forwarded to Knoxville,
Tenn, where the pOfessOr was
teaching. Mrs. Graham, the
mother, opened the letters
after they were turned over to
her by Mrs. Kane"
The coroner then told of the
contents of one letter, intercepted
by the Graham family, from
Betty" dated September 1, 1881.
"Tn that letter, it as sug.
gested the professor get rid Of
his wife"
"What happened to the other
letters?"
~ believe Mrs. Graham said
she destroyed them"
Cousin Leads Defense
Cousin Kane, of Bradford, Pa,
conducted the cross examination
Of the witness, aided by the de
fendent's suggestions. The pro
fessor's aged father also offered
suggestions.
The coroner continued:
"It is my vague recollection
that Mrs. Graham, in telling me
of the Betty letters, declared her
daughter feared trouble from
the professor.
81 understood some members
Of the Graham family, upon
learning of these letters, wanted
to go to Knoxville where the
professor was teaching and take
NJ the rcatter in q more iOlent
manner"
Following another question, the
coroner added:
Mrs. Graham told me that
her daughter refused to get .
divorce from the professor"
The witness explained that he
was primarily a coroner because
he "iked to make post mortemS.' u
He was asked:
"InaSmuch as there was no
autopsy, was it not possible
that Mrs. Kane might have
died Of other causes then than
from drOwning?"
at is possible but I believe
Mrs. Kane died Of drowning"
Wife Was WaiIing
The witneS SSaid HI had learned
from several doctors who had
treated her that she had been
suffering from stomach, lung and
nervous trouble but she had no
trouble with her heart" He said:
Zone doctor classified Mrs.
Kane as q neuraSthenic."
The coroner then testified that
Hop" Graham, brother of Mrs
Kane, told him that his sister
did not know how to swim.
Regarding the version of the
drowning, as told b. the fisher
men, the coroner said:
"The clammers in the vicin-
ity of the drOwninL told me
that they had seen two per-
sons struggling in the water
for IS minutes with frightfuI
screaming going on"
w. H. Pride, high school