The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-04-23
CLARK GABLE TO
 KNOW FATE SOON
Mrs. Violet Wells Norton of England Being Tried
 for Fraud
BY ALAN McELWAIN

United Press Staff Correspondent Los Angeles, April 23.-(UP).-A jury of middle-aged men decides today whether Mrs. Violet Wells Norton used the mails to defraud when she accused Clark Gable of being the father of her child and demanded money for t he child's support.
 Lawyers reached the end of her defence with Mrs. Norton still in- sisting that the handsome movic star was the Frank Billings who seduced her in Billercay, England, in 1922, when she was g farmers mistress and he 9 dashi1g young poulthymaI1. "-' '] |. Never Was lin England
 Gable denied he was ever in Eng land or that he ever before had seen the double -chinned Essex housewife, who is 47 years old.
 Butt Mrs. Norton would not be swayed. A
 "'Tc,s the father of me baby. Right ho! Yes, hindeed." Hid know i'm anywhere" she told the court after 8 close inspection of the movie star from his big ears to his size II feet
 "'Hit's the same unhappy face that used to light hup so tenderly when e held me in is harms"
 Gable was placed on the stand for Mrs. Norton's inspection. She marched up, stood so close that she was breathing down his neck, and stared and stared. She cooked her head to one side, peered into his eyes and at his ears. She examined his frame and his well-shod feet. Gable returned her stare blandly. Her request that he take of his shoes so she could look at his bare feet was denied. Satisfied, she wheeled and shouted:
 Hits 'im," She Shouted
 "1it's i'm"
 Howls of laughter swept the court room and Gable laughed too. U. s. Attorney Jack Powell leaped to his feet. DO you mean to say Mrs. Norton. that you still believe the man you saw on the witness stand is the same you knew in England as Frank Billings?"
 Him convinced that's the case"
 Powell repeated his question. Judge Cosgrave interrupted: You don't need to shout this time, Mrs. Norton"
 That what hi mean to say" she replied. That's i'm. Clark Gable or Frank Billings, 'e's one and the same, if you ask me. Right-ho! Yes, indeed"
 Working For $l5 a Week
 Witnesses had testified that Gable was struggling on a $15 weekly sal- ,ary in the northwest at the time Mrs. Norton said he seduced her.
 Mrs. Norton told, in her rich Cockney dialect, of the shame that befell her.
 < She had been living with Frank Norton, she said. and Frank Billings moved to an adjoining farm to raise chickens. Norton invited Billings to dinner one day and soon regretted' it. Discord developed in the Norton home. s se
 "Hafter one of these tiffs. Bill ings asked me to come to is farm 'ouse. While hi was talkin' to i'm, e pulled me into room and turn ed the key in the lock,
 "He said e 'ad over-eard con- versation between me an Norton and knew we weren't married. 'E said hi should stay hat is 'ouse. Hi protested but e wouldn't ave hit any other way.
 "Then 1t 'appened. Gwendoline was born nine months later"
 Jack l.. Smith. private detective. on trial with Mrs. Norton,> testified that a lawyer told him of the case and he approached the Motion Pic ture Producers association to discuss it with them. The government charged that he suggested the movie employers set up $150,00O trust fund for Mrs. Norton's child. Smith denied he had suggested such a payment.