Evening star., 1944-03-14
Mrs. DoImage Takes
Stand in Own Defense
In Kent Gem Theft
Elevator Operator Says
She Sow Defendant
Near Apartment

Taking the stand in her own de-
Tense, Mrs. Frances Dolmage, ac-
cused Of stealing a $4,000 antique
jewel collection belonging to Otis
Beal Kent, wealthy retired tax law
|yer, testified in District Court to-
day that the only key she had to the
Kept apartment was given to the
scrap drive after the death of Mr..
Kent's mother.
Mrs. Dolmage said she had key
to the apartment on Eleventh
street, where Mr.. Kent lived with
his mother. to enable her to pay
social visits. She said a great af-
fection existed between Mrs. Kent
and herself. When the Kents
moved to the Presidential Apart
ments at Sixteenth and L streets
NV. she was given a key, to the
service door by Mrs. Kent. That
was the key thrown away in the
scrap drive. She said she had never
entered the apartment through the
front door except when admitted by
Mr.. Kent.
Mrs. Dolmage said she had no de-
sire to visit the apartment after
Mrs. Kent's death, and that the
key she threw away would have been
OF no value as Mr.. Kent had changed
all the locks on the apartment.
Miss Buchannon Mentioned.
Asked who was living with Mr..
Kent at the apartment following his
mothers death, Mrs. Dolmage said
it was the woman who now is suing
him for breach of promise
You mean Miss Margaret Bu-
channon?" asked her attorney, Rob-
ert H. McNeill.
THE same" replied Mrs. Dolmage.
Previously, Beulah Davis, colored
elevator operator at the Presidential
Apartments, Sixteenth and L streets
NV, testified she saw Mrs. Dol
mage on the apartment stairway
last July, the day the jewel COL
lection allegedly was stolen.
The witness said Mrs. Dolmage,
who is accused of stealing the
wealthy retired lawyers jewels, was
carrying small black ladies over
night case and had a small round
paper bag tucked under her arm.
She identified Mrs. Dolmage as the
woman she saw on the stairway, and
said Mrs. Dolmage stepped into a
recess on the landing between the
second and third floors the first
time Miss Davis looked up the
stairway.
Was Delivering Mail.
The elevator operator said she
was delivering mail to apartments
on the second floor at the time and
that her attention was attracted by
footsteps on the stairway. She
looked second time to see who was
coming down the stairs, she re-
lated, and came face to face with
Mrs. Dolmage, whom she knew as
"the woman with the little dog"
Ira N. Gulickson, Police Depart
ment Identification expert, who tes-
titled yesterday, resumed the stand
briefly this morning. He told of
seeing the jewels in a black lady's
overnight bag last March and iden-
titled an inventory card as being in
the bag when he examined the
jewels.
Thomas R. Davis, janitor at the
Presidential Apartments for the last
five years, told the jury he was
cleaning the hallway on the fourth
floor last July "a when he noticed
the latticed door of Mr.. Kent's
apartment open. He said he never
before had seen the door open and
that it was fastened by a lock that
only could be opened from the
inside.
The witness said he did not see
Mrs. Dolmage in the apartment
building that day.
Denies Discussing Case.
Under cross-eXamination by De-
fence Attorney Robert H. McNeill,
Mr.. Davis admitted he had refused
to discuss the case with the at