Evening star., 1939-03-24
Mrs. Stinson Declared
'|ncoherent' Shortly
Before Her Wedding
Pastors Deposition
Is Reed at Trial
For AnnuIment

For AnnuIment
The Rev. Leon A. Shearer, former
assistant rector of st. Johns Epis-
copal Church here, declared, In a
deposition read In District Court TO-
day at the trial of the suit In which
Mrs. Lola Crounse Stinson seeks to
annual her marriage to Joseph
Whitla Stinson. that when he was
a clergyman at Bar Harbor, Me,
in September of 1887 he talked
over the telephone to the bride
shortly before the wedding and her
conversation was "disjointed and
incoherent.'
II realized" said the clergyman,
that I was talking to a crazy per-
. son or a sick person"
Mr.. Shearer, who had refused
Mr.. Stinson's request to perform
the ceremony because the bride
groom had been divorced, was called
by the then Mrs. Crounse from her
hotel and asked for an appointment,
he said.
Tells of Second Voice.
Another voice, the deponent
added, came on the wire and finished
the conversation, completing the
appointment. When he went to the
hotel. the witness said, he saw Mrs
Crounse's companion, who told him
she was too sick to see any one. The
companion was Miss ,Jessica Shoe
maker, who is accused in the annul-
ment suit of conspiring with Mr..
Stinson to bring about the marriage
through drugging the wealthy
widow.
The clergyman said the young
woman companion explained that
Mrs. Crounse had been i'll for some
time and "the plans for the wedding
had upset her"
Mr.. Shearer said he told her he
wanted Mrs. CrounSe to know that
she was cutting herself off from
the Catholic Church, in which she
was a communicate, if she went
through with the marriage. He said
the companion told him Mrs.
Crounse understood and had talked
the matter over with Msgr. Bucky In
Washington and everything was sat-
isfactory.
The clergyman said he told the
Young woman he knew this was
not true, that he knew Msgr. Bucky,
and he would not represent to Mrs.
Crounse that his church would con-
done such a marriage. Mr.. Shearer
never was able to see Mrs. Crounse,
the deposition added.
Another Deposition Read.
Another deposition which Alvin L.
Newmyer, attorney for Mrs. Stinson,
read to Justice Oscar r. Luhrlng
was from the Rev Guy Wilson,
then Methodist Episcopal minister
at Bar Harbor, who performed the
ceremony September q.
The pastor said he saw nothing
unusual in the conduct OF bride or
bridegroom at the ceremony. which
was performed in the church in the
presence of three or four persons.
Attached to the deposition was an
earlier statement of the Rev Mr..
Wilson in which he thus described
the brides attitude.
"She might have been having
breakfast or ordering a new dress. )"
Miss Shoemaker called at a dress
makers shop in Bar Harbor a few
days before the wedding. two wit
nesses testified through dispositions.
She said she would like to bring her
cousin over to look at some dresses,
they recalled.
This testimony came from Mrs.
Edith M. Goodrich, proprietress OF
the dress shop, and her niece, Mrs
A. G.. Goodrich, jr.
IT would have said she was a very
sick woman or had been very sick,
the elder Mrs. Goodrich testified.
Stayed in Rooms.
Robert Taylor Bateman. manager
of the hotel where Mrs. Crounse.
Miss Shoemaker and Mr. Stinson
stopped eight days before the we'd
ding, described the bride as "ap-
parently doped" He added that she
spent virtually all the time in her
suite and he never saw her 60 about
without assistance.
Mr.. Bateman, also testifying by
deposition, said he overheard tele-
phone conversation of Mr. Stinson
with the Rev. Mr.. Shearer. in which
the clergyman refused to perform
the ceremony.
The shopkeeper's niece said that
Mr.. Stinson, in the absence of the
then Mrs. Crounse, bought an eve
ming gown for Miss Shoemaker and
had it shipped to him in care of his
Washington attorney. Four dresses
selected by Mrs. Crounse were sent
to the New York hotel where they
stopped on their wedding trip.
Called Routine Affair.
Wyman P. Wadleigh, town clerk
at Bar HarbOr. was a witness at
the wedding, but he said in his dep
osition that it was "a routine af-
fair" so far. as he could see, ex-
cept that after the ceremony Mrs.
Stinson was helped into the car y
Another deposition was from DR..
Alexander L. Anderson, New York
physician, who as fellow member Of
the summer colony at Chester. Nova
Scotia, had known Mrs. Crounse
some 20 years. He said he exam
ined her on one occasion during
the summer of 1887, while she and
Miss Shoemaker and Mr.. Stinson
were staying at Chester. and got
the impression that she had been
drupped prettv heavily"