Evening star., 1939-04-01
Mrs. Stinson's 5
Phone Calls
Told by Medium
Bride Said They're
Trying to Kill Me-
Witness Testifies

MIo. clld HC1ldIcIl, d cpu lGudl
medium, testifying at District Court
today as a defense witness in the
suit of Mrs. Lola CrounSe StinSOn
to annul her marriage to Joseph
Whitla Stinson, said the bride
phoned a few weeks after the we'd
ding:
II think they're trying to kill
me. I heard Joe talking to some
body about trying to sell his interest
to a gangster"
An hour later that night, the
witness said, Mrs. Stinson, whom
she had known for years, called
again and said: They are trying
to poison me-"
The bride phoned third time
that night, the medium said, and
told her they" had locked her in
room and her husband had
'pinched her arm"
Her Clients Before They Met.
The spiritualist, who said Mr. and
Mrs. Stinson had been occasional
clients for years before they met,
told Justice Oscar r. Luhring that
in the morning she called Charles
S. Baker. then attorney for Mrs.
Stinson, and suggested some trusted
friend be sent to the CrounSe man.
sion on Wyoming avenue to OBJ
serve things.
Mrs. McLaren explained that she
had frowned on the romance of Mrs.
Crounse and Mr.. Stinson when the
wealthy widow consulted her about
it. One time, the witness recalled,
Mrs. Crounse's nurse. Miss Jessica
Shoemaker, who also had been a
client, visited the McLaren seance
room very much excited and said
Mrs. Crounse was about to sign over
an irrevocable trust setting up a
fund for herself and Mr.. Stinson.
Il called Mrs. Stinson," the seeress
added, "and said, May advise you
just once more? Don't be foolish.
Don't sign away everything you
have"
Post-Wedding Phone Call.
After the wedding at Bar Harbor,
Me, September q, 1887, the new
Mrs. Stinson phoned her from New
York, Mrs. McLaren said, and when
wished every happiness. replied, Il
don't know-things haven't been
going so we'll"
Later, in Washington, the witness
said Mrs. Stinson telephoned that
Miss Shoemaker had taken her
husband away from her and she was
going to nail her to the cross
Asked If she knew some Of the
things she was discussing from her
psychic knowledge, Mrs. McLaren
answered: I'm not using it here"
The medium denied she ever had
advised the then Mrs. Crounse re-
garding the progress of her late hus
band, William Livingston Crounse,
ION the other side" She said she
might have told the widow that Mr.
Crounse wouldn't want her to be un-
happy. Mrs. McLaren denied en-
phatically that she had anything to
do with the meeting of Mrs. Crounse
and Mr.. Stinson, or that it occurred
at her house.
Saturday Session Unusual.
Justice Luhring held an unusual
Saturday session of the trial as its
third week was ended in an effort
to complete 1t before the Easter re-
cess of court. Mrs. Stinson is charg-
ing in her annulment complaint tina.
Mr.. Stinson and Miss Shoemaker
conspired to bring about the mar
riage to obtain her estate and that
she was under the influence of seda-
tive drugs when the wedding oc-
cured
AS Mrs. McLaren completed her
testimony and left the court room,
she began weeping convusively and
was taken to the matron's Office
in a state of Mysteries. She re-
covered within a short time and
left the building. The elderly clair
voyant had been reluctant to dis
close what she termed confidential
revelations from the three principals
in the case-Mr. and Mrs. Stinson
and Miss Shoemaker-and had
answered questions concerning their
statements to her only at the in
sistence of the court.
She admitted she had told Alvin
L. Newmyer, attorney for the wife,
and Carroll L. Beedy, counsel for
the husband, before the trial that
she hoped that she wouldn't be COM
PEELED to testify because she might
hurt both Sides"
Mrs. McLaren, beginning her tes-
timony late yesterday, said she had
been visited for solace and advice
by the former Mrs. Crounse.
The medium was called as a de-
tense witness by Carroll L. Beedy,
attorney for the husband, who is
seeking to refute his wifes charge
that he and Miss Shoemaker plotted
to bring about the marriage by put
ting Mrs. Crounse under the inf1u-
ence of sedative drugs, so that they
could divide her large estate.
Tells of Meetings.
Mrs. McLaren gave a romantic
account of the circumstances sur
rounding the meeting of Mrs.
Crounse and Mr.. Stinson in the
late winter of 1887, some six months
before the wedding. She had met
Mrs. Crounse on perhaps four oc.
casions, the witness recalled. though
she did not at first know her name
Miss Shoemaker had brought the
wealthy widow to her home, Mrs.
McLaren said, and presented her
as "Sweetie."
One day, the medium said, Mr..
6tinson, whom she had known for
some time. brought her one of his
paintings, which she had ordered.
The same day, as it happened, Mrs.
Crounse and Miss Shoemaker called,
and Mrs. Crounse admired the
Naintinp