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Curious Spectators Find Sensations They Seek as the Famous Tragedy Is Unfolded in Court
WOMEN SEE A MARRIAGE LESSON IN THE GRACE TRIAL
A Graphic View of the Women at the
Hearing Who Find in It a “Big Show,”
Varying the Monotony of Dull Lives.
By DUDLEY GLASS.
If any spectator at the Grace trial
expected to be awed by the solemnity
of the tribunal and thrilled at the dra
matic stage setting—accused wife and
wounded husband glaring at each other
before the judge—he must have been
somewhat disappointed.
The striking detail one couldn’t get
away from was the women in the audi
ence, the poorly clad women who sat in
those rear seats breathing that fetid
atmosphere, surrounded by men of
every stamp, hearing little, seeing less
and apparently supremely happy de
spite the wilting of their garments and
the trickle of perspiration through the
powder on their cheeks.
There were perhaps 50 of them —some
old enough to be grandmothers, some
girls not far in their teens. One wom
an bore a child of five, who fretted and
whined on her lap and begged to be
taken outdoors again. There was a
little girl who ran through the crowd
when the doors were opened, dodging
between the legs of the grownups, gain
ing ground by her very insignificance,
until she found a front seat by the
judge's stand.
Just Ordinary Women.
There were little groups of women,
dull-eyed, who chewed gum incessant
ly and chatted together in low tones
as the case progressed. I saw no wom
an whose garb or manner stamped her
as one of the demi-monde few of the
type the world would call "refined."
They seemed just ordinary women,
whose husbands were at work for day
wages. To them the trial of Mrs. Grace
was the great "show” of the year. It
was to their starved, sensation-hungry
souls what the grand opera is to the
lover of great music. It was the event
of their lives.
And how little they saw and heard!
Most of them were crowded into seats
far at the left of the court room, with
the judge's bench and the railed do
minions of the clerk shutting off their
view of all the principals in the drama.
They saw no more than if a wall had
been built between them and the court.
Perhaps they caught a glimpse of a
white-covered cot as Eugene Grace was
borne into the room and out again. Per
haps they saw a bit of brown plume
as Mrs. Grace rose to make her exit.
But through all the six hours of the
hearing they saw nothing more, for the
railings and the standing men against
it were between the audience and the
stage.
But they did not leave in disappoint-
OEM ARREST
UMS POLICE
Lieutenant Is Held Under an
Indictment for Rosenthal
Murder.
NEW YORK. July 30.—Mayor Gay
nor today announced that he would
call a special meeting of the board of
aiderman to begin an investigation of
the police department. Police Com
missioner Waldo was with the mayor
when the announcement was made.
Panic reigned in the New York po
lice department this afternoon when It
became known that several high offi
cials had been named to District At
torney Whitman as participants in the
graft system that resulted in the as
s-issination of Herman Rosenthal and
tiic indictment of Lieutenant Charles A
Becker.
Eight men occupying high positions
"ere involved in the case by the con
fessions of “Jack" Rose, Louis Webber
and Harry Vallon, according to reports
recurrent about M. Whitman’s office.
The district attorney refused to give
out these names. Every newspaper
man who saw the district attorney was
later besieged by’various police officials
tor any information he might have se-
Complete Exposure
Os Graft Promised.
Complete exposure of a graft
system in which the police have
blackmailed gamblers and other
law-breakers and have protected
them in turn, was promised today as a
result of the indictment and arrest of
Becker on the charge of planning and
ordering the murder of Herman Rosen
thal.
District Attorney Whitman is confi
dent that he will be able to fix the
crime on Becker as a result of confes
sions made by “Jack” Rose, who ad
mitted that he had been Becker's col
lector; Louis Webber, the gambler, and
Harry Vallon, the East Side gang
leader.
They named Harrv Horowitz, Frank
Muller, alias "Whitey Jack Lewis;
Louis Rosenzweig, alias "Lefty Louis,
and "Dago Frank" Clcerio, as the a< •-
’UH murderers. The last named is the
only one in custody. Becker is in the
nibs on a charge of murder In the
first degree, while every possible effort
■ being intuit to irate the other three
■n accused of tiring the shots that
killed Rosenthal.
Rosenthal was assassinated Just in
time to prevent him testifying before
" grand Jury concerning the alliance
i" tween the gamblers and the poin t
nd concerning the personal alliam •
between ffitke. and Rosenthal in one
gambling tiouse
in their confessions, Rose, Webber
ment. No; they stuck to their seats in
grim determination, knowing that ;
should they leave a dozen other men |
or women were waiting for their places,
rhey sat and waited, in the forlorn
hope that something might happen to
break the monotony of the proceedings
or perhaps satisfied with being mere’.. •
in the same room with those famous
characters immortalized by the papers.
1 hey were like the crowd which gath
er outside the walls of a jail waiting
for the moment of the execution which '
they have no hope of seeing.
Drama Strangely Dull.
Rut the drama itself was strangely i
dull and emotionless. Upon the wit- I
ness stand a policeman in his Sunday ,
citizen's suit or a negro in worn and 1
dusty garments answered such ques
tions as were put, waiting patiently
while the young solicitor and the burly ;
trial lawyer for the defendant quarreled ■
over the wording of a phrase. There
were questions seemingly without a
shadow of importance, answers appar
ently meaningless. There were half
angry altercations between the lawyers
ovei points bearing no meaning to the
auditor; flashes of rough wit as a cross
questioner tried to ridicule the witness
into tangling his testimony.
And Mrs. Grace, central figure of "the
Play, sat at her lawyers.' table, ex
pressionless, inscrutable. There were
moments when the testimony became
unprintable; when almost forbidden
subjects were discussed with comment
bordering on buffoonery. But st in Mrs
Grace leaned over her table, her dark
eyes fixed upon the face of the wit
ness, her cheek unmarked by blush or
pallor. It was as though all the smaller'
things of life had been forgotten in the
face of the great question the tribunal
had been called to answer.
And Eugene Grace, the "dying man"
of so many newspaper extras: the man
who had descended into the shadow of
death: the hopeless cripple who would
never smile again—he lay on his cot
and laughed softly as his friends made
comments on the case. He chuckled at
the sharp tilts between the counsel and
commented caustically upon bits of the
testimony. His face was brown, as
though he had been playing golf in the
sun. There .was no trace of the pallor
u hich comes from long confinement
save in the slender hands, which were
white and emaciated. Grace seemed '
the merriest man in all the room.
and A ailon declared Becker set the
stage for the mprder and personally
managed its details. Each swore he
acted at the repeated direction of
Becker, and that Becker both before
and after the crime assured them of
protection.
These men gave to District Attorney
Whitman the complete chain of facts
leading up to the assassination. And in
doing so they paved the way to the
most remarkable exposition of graft
that has ever been known.
All of the statements lead to men
higher up in the official scale than
Becker. They caused District Attorney
Whitman to state that he was no
longer concerned for the little fish, but
was determined to get the bigger men
who were responsible for the direction
of Becker.
They told how the services of big
Jack Zellg’s red-handed murder band
had been called in to carry out Beck
er's sentence of death, and how the
whole startling crime had been com
mitted under the threat from Becker
that if the gamblers did not murder
Rosenthal, Becker would send them to
prison under "framed up” charges.
For the telling of the murder story,
Rose, Webber and Vallon will get im
munity. They were called as witnesses
and testified before the grand jury,
which was called in extraordinary ses
sion last night to indict Becker.
Three Men Guarded
Through the Night.
All night long Rose, Webber and
Vallon camped in the office of Hugh
Byrne, secretary to District Attorney
Whitman. Detectives Leigh and Russo,
with Process Servers Kling and Zinn,
took turns guarding them. There was
no sleep for Webber. Intensely nerv
ous by nature, the man sat in a chair
and smoked cigarette after cigarette,
alternately weeping, wiping his fore
head with a huge handkerchief and
staring vacantly into space. At that
he said that it was the first good night
he had passed in weeks.
Becker Passes
Sleepless Night.
Becker passed a sleepless night in
cell No. 120 at the Tombs. He said
this morning:
"This is an awful plight for an inno
cent man to be in. I can't say any
thing more now."
The delicate health of his wife, who
is expecting the arrival of an heir,
weighed upon Becker quite as much as
the charge against him. The man who
had Jauntily twisted a panama hat the
night before and smiled in the face of a
charge of murder in the first degree
was broken and unstrung.
When Police Commissioner Waldo
came to his office he was affected.
"Have you any statement to make?"
Absolutely none,” was his reply.
"Don't you think that as the head of
the department of New York and in
view of what has happened In the last
JI hours It is up to you to say some
thing?"
do not,"
"It ha bl 111 reported that you re
signed from the position a- a result of
this?"
The commissioner ma l<* no reply.
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWSI. TUESDAY. JULY 30, 1912.
MRS. GRACE, CONFIDENT, LEAVING HOME
J. Photographed by a Georgian Photographer.
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GRACE SUFFERS
J BREAK-DOWN
Victim ’of Shooting Ordered
by Physician Not to Go to
Court Room.
Continued From Second Page.
within a fraction of an inch. He be
lieved the bullet rested In the spite.
The spinal cord would not be shown
in an X-ray. Mr. Rosser's Insistence
that the witness "speak English" in
stead of Latin phrases occasioned some
amusement.
Dr. Durr said Grace had no control
of his legs when the X-ray was taken.
He attributed this to the pressure of a
bony substance against the spinal cotd.
The X-ray plates were admitted in
evidence.
The court took a recess here until
1:30 p. m.
So fearful for their seats were the
morning spectators at the trial that
they refused to leave the court room
during the recess period.
The same faces that peered over the
rail when court opened this morning
were there when Judge Roan rapped for
order at 1:30 o’clock. The edges of the
crowd were swelled to a considerable
extent by a throng of men who dropped
in "just to look on for a few minutes.”
Quite a sensation was caused just
prior to the opening of court by a thin,
bedraggled old woman who forced her
way Into court and demanded a seat.
Not finding any seats vacant, she made
her way to the inside of the rail. Here
she deliberately caught a man by the
coat collar and jerked him from his
chair. She then took the seat herself.
At the afternoon session the patent
medicine bottles in question were ten
dered by the solicitor general. Mrs.
Grace was missing from her seat, but
she arrived a moment later.
Morris Prioleau, a relative of Eugene
Grace's family and an employee of the
Southern Bell Telephone Company, was
the first witness at the session.
Grace had not returned from the san
itarium to which lie .had been taken
in an ambulance nt luncheon time. He
had felt the effects of the heat at the
morning session.
Mrs. S. L. Hill was recalled to the
stand, Mr. Prioleau being taken down.
"Did you tell .Mrs. Grace of any ac
cusation made against iter?" she was
asked.
"No; I didn’t know of any.” she re
plied
"Mrs. Gra< e was not out of my pres-
ence from the time she left Newnan
until midnight.
"Gene told me he had married Daisy
on March 8, 1911, in New York. She
is about 30 years old.”
On cross-examination, Mrs. Hill said
Daisy had told her she had given Gene
a patent medicine that morning. She
didn't remember testifying to this be
fore Justice Ridley. She said Daisy
had told her Gene was feeling "par
alyzed" that morning and he seemed
to feel better after the medicine.
Heard at Depot That
Mrs. Grace Was Accused.
* At the Terminal station two police
men met her. She and Mrs. Grace
did not ride to the police station in
the same vehicle. She hadn't meant to
say they hadn't been separated at all.
"Didn't you know," asked Mr. Ros
ser. "that it was rumored around the
streets that Grace accused his wife?”
Mr. Dorsey objected. The court ruled
in favor of the question.
"I heard it at the depot,” said Mrs.
Hill.
"Didn’t Mrs. Grace have the same
opportunity?"
“I don’t know. A paper was shown
me. I don’t know whether she saw a,
paper or not.
"I don't know whether Daisy knew
whether she was suspected or not. Yes;
she went down the street with Morris
Prioleau, and two policemen followed
them.
Mr. Rosser gave a comical imitation
of Mr. Prioleau, Mrs. Grace and the
policemen. z
Mr. Prioleau resumed the stand.
"I saw Mrs. Grace at the Terminal
station on the evening of March 5.” he
said.
"I said nothing to her about any ac
cusation against her. I was with her
all the way to the hospital.
"Nobody told her anything about the
accusation while I was with her. I was
with her in the room at St. Josephs."
Mr. Prioleau was extremely confident
of his answers.
He was in the room at the hospital
when Mrs. Grace confronted Grace. Mr.
Dorsey began to ask about the conver
sation, but the defense objected and
the jury was sent out again.
“Mrs. Grace spoke first,” said the
witness. "She said: ‘Gene, what -are
these tilings you're saying about me?’
He replied: 'Daisy, why did you shoot
me?' ”
Mr. Rosser protested against Mr.
Dorsey's leading the witness.
Conversation is
Barred From Jury,
"This witness,, more than any other
man, perhaps, is the friend of Eugene
Grace,” declared Mr, Rosser.
The court ruled that the evidence
could not go before the jury.
The jury returned to its box and
the examination of'Prioleau continued,
tin being questioned he said:
"Nobody had said anything to Mrs.
Grace about an accusation against her
until the time l went to Grace's room
witli iter.
“She told me Gene had had a cold
that day, and asked me what his con
dition was with reference to the cold.
"She asked me how the people had
got into the house and expressed worry
about tile furniture.
“She said she wanted jo go out and
spend the night and protect the fur
niture. Tills was before she had seen
her husband."
"Did she manifest any worry or so
licitude over her husband?"
The defense was on its feet, ob
jecting. and was sustained, Mr. Rosser
was persistently leading the witness.
After the question was put in proper
form, the witness answered:
"She asked about how badly Gene
was shot.
“She said Grace had intended to go
to Philadelphia, and his failure to go
would put her in an embarrassing posi
tion.”
Told Him She
Had Heart Trouble.
"She told me she was addicted to
heart trouble, and her keys were in a
handbag and her Jewels in her bosom,
and if anything happened I must get
them and keep them safe.
"The question of Grace's being drow
sy was not brought up.
"Preston Hill took Mr. and Mrs. Hill
away from Mrs. Grace and me at the
station. Daisy saw them talking. She
asked what had come up to make Pre.3-
ton take Gene's mother away from her.
She asked why we couldn’t al! go to
gether. She asked what Preston was
telling Mrs. Hill.
"She told me J. Ruffin, the serv
ant. must have shot Gene. She felt
certain of it. She said they had quar
reled.
"Daisy never asked me what the pa
pers were saying.
"At the police station Daisy told
Chief Lanford that the key to Grace's
room was kept in a glass bowl down
stairs."
Mr. Rosser cross-examined.
Prioleau said all his conversation
with Mrs. Grace was in a cab and
without witnesses. No, he hadn’t looked
to see whether her waist bulged with
jewelry. He didn’t know whether the
furniture was the Graces' or the
Kisers', owners of the house.
Testimony Weakened
By Cross Grilling.
Witness said an unknown woman
was In the reception room at the hos
pital when they entered. Colquitt Car
ter and a few others were there.
Witness admitted that he didn't
n ally know the detectives had* "beat-
The Probable Causes of the Tragedy
Speculated Upon by Two Women
as They Study Gene and Wife.
By T. B. SHERMAN.
The wife's outward composure, the
husband's disdain, the tender care in
the face of the aged mother —each
made manifest in many different ways
throughout the course of the trial, play
with strange effect upon the heart
strings of the women spectators at the
trial of Daisy Opie Grace.
As for the men. they are there to sat
isfy an appetite for details about two
persons who have suddenly been lifted
to the spotlight by a. plethora of news
paper publicity. When the average man
knows the result of the Grace trial hts
Interest soon will wane. But no verdict
of the jury will ever satisfy the un
spoken queries which have arisen in
the mind of every woman who has read
of the Grace case.
No matter what the trial brings
forth, the Grace is but a varia
tion of the domestic equation. The
Graces were incompatible, either by na
ture or through worldly circumstances
which arose early in their wedded life.
The wherefores of this incompatibility
—the reason for the climax, whatever
it was—are the things about the Grace
ease which disturb and compel the at
tention of the women.
But She Wants to Know.
"I object to being classed among the
‘idle curious,’ " said a well-dressed mid
dle-aged woman who sat in a front
seat at the trial. She was speaking to
a friend.
"Well, it's hard for me to say why
I came." said the friend. "1 confess to
this —1 am not so much interested in
whether she shot him or not as I am
in the chain of eircuinstances which
brought about the shooting”
“Os course,” said the middle-aged
woman, “there was tragedy in the
Grace home —that much is sure. There
are a thousand possibilities. She may
have been undutlful or he may have
been. If so. why? Did their natures
interlock? Or did an outside circum
stance force Itself in and disturb the
domestic balance?
“If the full details of the Grace case
were known—l don’t mean merely the
details which led directly to the shoot
ing—they would show a problem which
arises In the lives of every married
couple. In their case, it might have
been primitive -they • might have fall
en out about some petty thing, or they
may not have fallen out at all —it might
have al! been under the surface.
"But whatever the trouble was—it
arose because of the inability or the
failure of one of them to bear an equi
table part of the responsibilities of
married life. There are a million ways
in which this old, old formula can be
violated. In some Instances you see a
man and woman, apparently fashioned
for each other. Both of them are gen
tle in spirit, both are considerate, both
allow to each other the little necessary
privacies—and, there is enough money
to keep the wolf at a safe distance from
the door. Yet there is no permanent
happiness. It may be that one of them
tried to do too much. It may be that
the stronger withheld from the weaker
, certain matters which should have been
met by both of them together.
“And so It was with the Graces 1
am sure, regardles of what form it
took.”
en” him to the hospital, as he had said.
They bad only told him so. Witness
admitted that he had sworn to a thing
or things he didn't know, except on
hearsay.
Witness didn't remember that news
paper reporters came into the recep
tion room at the hospital. He couldn't
remember a reporter trying to inter
view Mrs. Giace. Yes, he had carried
an “extra" into the reception room
himself. He had been out in the hall
for fifteen minutes. A lady, Mrs, Stall
ings, was talking to Mrs. Grace. He
saw Mrs. Grace crying. No. he didn t
know what she had been told.
Prloleau’s statement that nobody
had had a chance to tell Mrs. Gra< •
of her husband’s accusations was com
pletely broken down by this cross
questioning.
Mrs. Grace Wanted
Policies Payable to Her.
Luther Williford said Mrs. Grace
told him she wanted Grace’s insurance
policies payable to her instead of to his
estate. She said she wanted him to
take out an annuity policy.
Witness was shown two Penn Mutual
policies. This was late in 1911. He
couldn’t state positively that the two
policies shown him today were the
same Grace had had. The two policies
had been for a total of $25,000.
Witness said his wife was a distant
relative, by marriage, to Eugene Grace.
Tracing the relationship was as in
volved as determining the age of "Ann."
Witness said he had no idea why Mrs.
Grace had talked to him about insur
ance. He was not an Insurance man.
Mr. Rosser declared that Williford
was a partisan witness, in favor of the
prosecution. He had refused to tell
Mr. Rosser anything about the case
but admitted that he had talked to So
licitor Dorsey. Mr. Dorsey refused to
permit witness to recount what he had
told the solicitor.
Mr. Williford said Giace was present
when Mrs. Grace talked to him about
insurance. He hadn't paid much atten
tion to the conversation. He was dis
missed
Mr. Dorsey desired to offer the poli
cies in evidence.
"Why?" asked the court.
"To prove the m<>tiv«. for murdering
this man." returned Mr. Dorsey. The
policies were ruled out, as the witness
Just then the bailiff rapped for or
der.
"The spectators will have to keep
quiet and stop interrupting the court,”
he bawled. The two women were silent
for a moment. At this particular mo
ment Mrs, Grace turned her head and
gazed for the barest part of a second
at the cot where her wounded husband
lay.
"Look at her—she can't keep her
eyes off him,” whispered the younger
woman.
“Yes,” responded the middle-aged
woman. "Elementally she is no differ
ent than she was the first day she saw
Eugene Grace. He fascinated her. The
two types point to that dearly—’’
“I don't see how they ever fell in
love with each other,” said the younger
woman.
“She Was Fascinated.”
"I don't know that they did,” said
the middle-aged woman. "But I can see
this. He hail never known much of
her type of woman and she had never
seen much of this type of man. They
were novelties to each other. She is
clearly a woman of a whimsical nature.
She is the kind who could com entrate
iter whole nature in the achieving of
one particular thing. He was tall and
good looking and with the unmistakable
marks of Southern breeding—he was a
new element in her life. Site was fas
cinated —and still is, down at the bot
tom, regardless of what she thinks sue
thinks of him."
“And what of him? What did she
mean to him?”
"I don't believe that tile emotions
which she stirred in him could have
been of a very firm texture, ’*■ answered
the middle-aged woman. "I don't be
lieve that he was ever more than mere
ly infatuated with her. And that, I
think, is in a. measure responsible for
the present situation."
The women were silent for a long
period. They listened closely to the
evidence. Finally the middle-aged wom
an seemed to lose Interest. As if pos
sessed by a sudden thought she nudged
her companion.
Then They Dissect the Men.
“A woman will always know what to
wear.” she said. “I'll wager that Mrs.
Grace picked out the simplest gown she
could find—although it fits her horri
bly."
"Yes.” agreed the other, "there are
lots of things which figure in a trial
besides the sworn evidence."
" —But all mothers are just alike.
They all look the same, they all act
tile same. Their actions spring from
tile one primitive animal impulse of
protection for their young. The fact
that Mrs. Grace's mother has rushed to
her daughter’s side proves nothing. If
her daughter were innocent as an angel
or black witli guilt, her attitude would
be the same. It’s beautiful, though.’’
The two women then fell to dissect
ing (he men. The prosecuting attorney
was certainly very insistent for a lit
tle fellow—and how Mr. Rosser roared.
Neither one of them could understand
how such a benevolent looking man
as Judge Roan Could sentence anybody
to prison. Both agreed, however, that
the jury was a very intelligent looking
body as a whole.
had not identified them.
Lewis S. Hill of Nev. nan. not a rela
tive of Grace, was next. He had made
a demand on Mrs. Grace's lawyers for
policies drawn in favor of Mrs. Grace.
He hadn't seen Mrs. Grace about it.
Objection was made to his testifying
that he hid made a demand on her
attorneys.
Court Refuses to
Admit Evidence.
Mr. Dorst-y said Mrs. Grace was in
the next room when the demand for
her policies was made. His object was
to prove that site had the policies and
wouldn’t surrender them, even after
Grace was shot and had demanded
them. The court refused to admit the.
evidence, as there was no proof that
Mrs. Grace, herself, had refused to give
up the policies. Witness had not heard
Mr. Moore talk to Mrs? Grace.
Mr, Dorsey insisted that he was try
ing to show by a set of circumstances
that Mrs. Grace shot her husband for
his insurance.
Mrs. Grace entered the room at 8:55
o'clock, accompanied, as on yesterday,
by C. W. Burke, a private detective
She wore a large white panama hat
with a black velvet ribbon around it.
Her dress was of black silk, with low
shoes to match. Diamonds flashed in
her ears. A bracelet with the insignia
of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity
was on her left wrist. She wore white
silk gloves and wielded a palm leaf fan
vigorously. Her face wore the marks
of the long ordeal she had gone through
the day before. She took her seat so
that iter back would be turned toward
the spot which Grace’s cot had occu
pied on the previous day.
"Oh, yes; I slept very well last night,”
site said. “No; I’m not worried a bit.
Os course, one's nerves suffer under
the strain of such a day. But the heat
was the. worst of all. There never was
such awful heat before.”
Grace was borne into the court roorr
at 9:22 o'clock and placed in the sarnt
position as on yesterday, looking to
ward the Jury and away from his wife’t
seat. Mrs. Grace had retired from the
room for the recess and was not pres
ent when her husband was borne into
the room.
Mrs. Grace came in a moment later,
but did not glance toward her husband.
3