Evening star., 1939-04-05
Mrs. Stinson Well
On Wedding Trip,
Court Is Told
Deposition Says She
Was q Rudiont Hostess
Few Days After NuptioIs

days after the marriage into which
she says she was drugged, accord
ing to deposition read today by
the d.fense at the trial of her an
nulment suit before Justice Oscar
r. Luhring in District Court.
Carroll L. Beedy, attorney for the
husband, presented this evidence
after Miss Jessie Shoemaker, for
years nurse companion to the for
mer Mrs. Crounse, completed more
than two days on the witness stand,
including an extra court session last
night. The nurse remained un-
shaken in her denial that she ever
plotted to bring about the marriage
or gave the then Mrs. Crounse over
doses of sedatives, as the complaint
charges.
According to the deposition of
Abel I. Smith, New York attorney,
who said he had known Mrs. Crounse
for % years, he never had seen her
looking better than at the party
she and her husband gave for few
| friends while they were on their
wedding trip early in october in
1887.
Looked Like "Old. Self"
| "She was her old self of 10 years
ago." Mr.. Smith said, explaining
that she had been in terrible shape"
after the death of her former hus-
band, William Livingston Crounse,
in 1885. I remarked that 1 never
saw her looking better" the de-
ponent added.
The final questions put to Miss
Shoemaker today concerned the
charge that the former Mrs. Crounse
had been kept a prisoner" in her
bedroom at the Crounse mansion
on Wyoming avenue. The trained
nurse denied this emphatically. She
explained that at times she had
locked Mrs. Crounse in her room at
night, but this, she said, was a.
Mrs Crounse's request, because she
would not sleep in an unlocked room.
Entrance to the nurses room
through a bathroom always was left
open, she explained.
| Later in the day Charles S. Baker,
formerly Mrs. Crounses attorney.
took the stand as an important de-
fense witness. He said he served
the widow in this capacity from
about January, 1886, for about two
years and drew up three wills for
her. The first made certain be-
quests to relatives and there was
a residue of one-quarter for the
George Washington University
Medical School. though the latter
and other provisions were revoked
in the later wills.
Hadn't Heard Of Poisoning.
The second will, the lawyer said,
left a painting which she valued
at $150,00O to Mr.. Stinson, whom
she had met only recently. This
painting later was appraised at a
much smaller figure for tax pur-
poses, the witness explained. 1t was
THE Flower Girl" by Greuze.
| When she proposed to set up
deed Of trust making Mr.. 6tinson
beneficiary of whatever was left of
a $3.50, 900 fund after her death. Mr..
Baker said, he questioned such a
provision for "a man she had just
met and whose motives at the time
I questioned"
Mr.. Baker testified that Mrs.
Crounse appeared of normal men,
tality when she executed the deed
of trust. The lawyer said he never
saw woman with faster mental
ity.' The first he heard of her
charge that attempts had been made
to poison her, he said, was when the
present annulment suit was filed.
At the night session that Justice
Luhring held in an effort to COM
plete the marathon trial this week,
Miss Shoemaker remained cool under
a steady fire of questions directed at
her by Alvin l.. Newmyer, counsel for
Mrs. Stinson, though the soft-vd4ced
nurse began to show the long strain
and once asked for recess.
The key witness in the marital
tangle insisted there was no truth in
the charge of the former Mrs.
Crounse that her husband conspired
with the nurse to bring about the
marriage and that the wealthy widow
was under the influence of sedatives
when she married Stinson.
| Some Medicines Administered.
She did give Mrs. Crounse medi-
cines to quiet her nerves that sum-
mer before the marriage, the nurse
said, but these were administered
very sparingly and very carefully"
Mrs. Crounse, in fact, had taken
remedies for nervous upsets and
sleeplessness ever since 1881, when
she entered her employ during the
lifetime of the late William Living
ston Crounse, the nurse said.
Asked by Justice Luhring If Mrs.
Crounse got better or worse after
she met Mr.. Stinson, the witness
said the widow seemed very happy
with him at first.
Never Got Dress.
Miss Shoemaker said she never
got the much-discussed green dress
which Mr.. Stinson bought her just
before the wedding at Bar Harbor,
Me-, September ~, 1887, and sent
to Washington in care of his lawyer.
She was to wear it at q big reception
which the Stinsons were planning
when they returned to Washington,
| VAAC AANA DC CAPAdAACO, OuC Vic 1cs
ception never was held.
She denied there was any "af-
fection" between her and Mr.. Stin-
son.
The nurse said on direct exami-
nation that she borrowed $1,000
from Mr.. Stinson while he was in
London, where he went after re-
| coivjno GOT nm Soporofiop coff1o
ment from his wife on November l,
1887. Miss Shoemaker explained
that her Alabama home had been
attacked by termites and was about
to collapse; also that her mother
needed medical attention. This
sum, she testified, was in addition to
the 81 500 which Mr.. Stinson volun-
tarily set aside for her because he
felt that she had been treated un-
| 3,,e%1,, and Ia uyoc tho innocent