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GATH'S VARIOUS TOPICS ENTERTAINING REMINISCENCES OE "JIMMY" O'BRIEN The Difficulty of Obtaining Publicity for the Tacts of the Tweed Ring Rottenness—Smart Waiter Long Branch, August 13.—1 have been Studying New York at the bath, along her many beaches, and find at the West End, wHlch came Into being during the civil war, when I first knew It, ull the crowd and gaiety then delightful, repeated ln this Bpanlsh war. Wars Inevitably assemble the urban peo ple Into closer Intercourse and dissuade them from going far away from their trade center. Summer housekeeping Is equally made nervous ln war times, and the better hotels get the cottagers. The improvement ln tho Jewish families of New York between the two wars Is most apparent here, where 1 see the daughteis of the mothers I once saw as daughters also. Baturday night Is a court scene among these prosperous and dressy people, whose ladles in youth and nearly up to middle life, are as rich ln person and in physical con trast as In apparel. Were the Hebrew so ciety at this hotel seen in some foreign cap ital as at the Saturday night dance and veranda promenade, it would take record as among the most brilliant courts In the world. The two nations which bait the Hebrews most are the German and French, who yet owe to the Jews their advance ment In the arts: Heine, Bplnosa, Meyer beer, Neander, Rothschilds, are a few names only, and the baptismal names o£ Europe ure nearly all Jewish. Said a traveled foreigner to me: "The last piace I should go to in America to ac quaint myself with your country would be to a college faculty or a sanctum of re viewers. They pull no lever, perceive no changes. But your public schools are great factories of patriotism and produce all the Inventors and machinists." "Has the present war some education for Europe?" I asked. "Great education, like all your wars. Remember that Germany, which was then Austria, mado as natch fuss about your annexation of Texas as It does about your appearance ln the Philippines. Your an tagonist when Daniel Webster was secre tary of stale was Austria. "The effect of the present American war Is to force upon Europe a constellation government, or European union. As that will be resisted by army aristocrats, a speedy, better emigration to America Will arise. "Your way of trade is much better than Europe's; you manufacture the savage into a being oO wants, and enter to your new pupll's body; we expect to trade with him only for his servitude, raw materials and taxation. Nothing has ever been wit nessed half as curious as Brother Jona than's appearance in Ihe Pacific ocean. You already see the welcome yon get frnm Spain's nlrt subjects In Porto Rico; how different from Pizarro and Cnrtezi Your hardy experience with material obstacles has been your salvation," Coney Island seems tn me the greatest Vanity Fair In the world, Its number nf nude or almost nude shows extensive ami golrig on all day as well as night. Bismarck follows Gladstone soon, their careers long previously ended, Bismarck was nearly a Teutonic knight, Gladstone a British rhapsmllst and agitator. Dura tion was a large talent In both. Bismarck's seizure of Germany in 1866 was in the direc tion of homogeneity, Austria having been an Italian and exterior leader of Germany, but the doggeiVness of France militarized Germany and sat Bismarck aside, to be a kind of Prussian Kossuth or Garibaldi. German literature, not Bismarck nor Wil liam, was Ihe real power—the writing of Luther, Schiller, Goethe and Wagner. Disturbed self esteem is preying upon France and Germany. Europe has nn leaders, yet It ls not at rest. Enough of th-' feudal and ecclesiastical period is left to stay wholesome settlements; too many of ficials require to be fed. "Jimmy" O'Brien, ex-sheriff of New York, n potent leader, the author of the ruin of Tweed's and Sweeney's ring, said to me last Sunday: "Cnmc, dine wllh mo on the Rumson road, at Thomas' place." We went along the ocean front of half decayed former Long Branch and through the fine fresh village of Monmouth Beach, the lenttt exploited, host part of the settle ment. We passed Dave Hill, ex-governor, on the road, and Archbishop Oorrlgnn, fo both of whom the sheriff spoke. Then we took four miles of the Rumson roar] through a country of corn, cattle, salt pond, fish hawks' nests and the noblest parks and residences continuously on Ihe globe. "Almost appalling, sheriff, this wealth and grandeur of New York! To leave It Is to admire It the most ln exile." The sheriff was a New Yorker, and no; as much enthused as I. He said, however: "I have been well over Europe, and they have nothing there like the Rumson road." What elegant palaces, so wide, so clean, so unobtrusively princely! What low, vlne orched gateways, hedges, landscape gar dens, groves, terraces! The Rumson road falls back from the sea with the Npver sink on Its flank and the sea winds do not smite the woodlands, which In the languor ous scent of the salt grows strong as beauty beyond the breath of Neptune. As we sat down at old Thomas', a colored man of Canadian parentage, and ate Can adian black bail and plover, wllh no drink but Wisconsin Llthla water—for the sher iff neither drinks nor smokes—l asked him various leading questions, to the following results: "Thomas here," said O'Brien, "used to make $18,000 a year at Saratoga as head waiter. I always gave him fifty for the season and many gave him a hundred to two hundred. He blew It all ln at Wall street and now rents this villa for the Rum- Bon road gentry, and I think does pretty well." "SheVlff, they tell 1 me you have made heavy losses In Wall street?" "I' am ahead of the street; that fellow Seymour failed with $32,000 of mine, but Isaac Bell's son said to me: 'Mr. O'Brien, our office is open to you without money; when you want to deal, feel at home there.' I have old friends like Flower who tell me what they are doing. I have never been an accuser of the game I elect to play at: If I do not like thf> looks of it I lay down my cards and go away In silence, hut to play and pout Is not fair." "That game Tweed and Sweeney played |rou did cry on." "I only fought; Mr, Tweed on account of my friends, like Loeu, Creamer, Genet and lome others who were doomed by Tweed's ring to be slaughtered for the crime of (oining the Toung Democracy. Tweed said to me: 'You tako half a million of dollars and go away!' 'Whose half a million is It?' I asked. 'What do you care?' said Mr. Tweed. I said to him: '1 will stay with my friends and fight you.' Queerly enough. Oakey Hall, the mayor then under Tweed, wants to write my life; he ls poor and lives by his pen. He could verify all the dates from his personal knowledge of the events." "What was Hall's degree of guilt?" "They deluded him with the Idea of mak ing him governor of New York, the same as Edward Plerrepont fooled Judge Bar nard to enjoin the ring and the governor. I went to Hall nnd said: 'You get out or this wicked house will fall on you.' Ho wouldn't believe they had stolen millions. When A. T. Stewart, Astor and Marshall O. Roberts examined the books and- said everybody had been honest, Hall remarked to me: 'There, I can't go back on that!' Said I: "I am sorry for you, because you will be under the wreck.' " "Did not women help break all those men up?" "Nearly all. Tweed's sons had nojhlng left, and I think they are all dead. Hall Is poor as a reporter. A few of their depend ents lived domestic lives and kept some of the plunder. The thief always gets the lar cenlous woman for his punlsher." "Publication was necessary to effectuate theso figures?" "I was more than a year getting the fig ures published. The character of the times was crooked and the newspapers had friend* in combinations the ring controlled. I had people employed ln the comptroller's office to take off the figures. Greeley was coddled by the ring and afterward was their candidate for president. Mr. Dana wouldn't publish the accounts as I demand ed, though 1 told him it would malto his paper. Jim Taylor owned stock in '.he Times and not till he died could 1 get the Times, for Taylor was in the ring. At one time I got an introduction through Matt Carpenter to Koscoe Conkling, and from him to President Grant and Pierpont, Grant's dlstriot attorney, helped materi ally when the time came. Finally Mr. Jones of the Times fetched his editor, Jen- nings, as narrow-minded a fellow as ever lived, to me. Jennings asked me what I was a Cathnlic for; I told him none of his business. To my mind people are best ln the church they are brought up in; change nbles are not to be relied upon. Georgo Jones treated me hone«tly and I made his paper; his son never showed any gratitude. Greeley assailed me, and when he ran for president sent John Cochrane to tell me that he would take everything back if I would support him. I replied that I was committed to Gen. Grant, as the Twcod ring was for Greeley. I drove every one of them fellows to Canada, or Europe, or the jail." "What is the state of New York city po litically today?" "The government of Croker ls equally corrupt and stupid. Croker ls a numbskull nnd Van Wyck, his mnyor, is a tried and proven nobody, without lndependtnce, or information, or the respect o£ his equals, a mere bully for Croker, whom he ought to despise-. This Croker, and Scanwell and Martin, and a few others of such varlets, got together in a tough house next door to the Brunswick and upset, the dying Kelly ,and assumed his powers. John Kelly wanted me to tnke charge of Tammany hall when he was disabled. Kelly was a capable boss till somebody fought him well. anc". then he ran. Croker is a creation of the New Ynrk newspapers. Dave Hill would bo a power 1f he were not so cold. Croker Is the worst attempt to hamstring a great city we have ever had, and Mayor Strong, Instigated by Dr. Parkhurst, is the cause of Croker's success. I helped elect Strong and told him in three months, 'You have thrown away a noble chance by op poslnns g—u.O.lT'Ouua.pvPfan. IHv pressing the people who gave you victory. The small and narrow use you are making of it will he the injury of your friends. No good you can do will be an apology for in flicting Croker on Greater New York.' I told Mayor Slrong not to quarrel with sent It to them. The man who thinks tlie milk sour by their little thunders, and to sour Piatt they went under the yoke ot Croker themselves, servants of a low serv ant." "Sheriff, they say you used to give away mill stocks of barrels of flour to the poor?" "I gave away then no more than I give now. I was a smith In the Empire Stone worhs. my bosses Irish Presbyterians, but they said to their sons, "Always vote for James O'Brien," and I got the support of my employers and keep th* support of their son-.- and all my fellow workmen stood and stand by me. So I took tho view that I owed my chances to help myself in other enterprises to the people who had lifted mo to better .things, anc. that part of my increment was theirs. I knew" where the poor lived or hid or had no bread, and I sent it to them. The mon who thinks that was wrong never gave anybody his bread, and his advice is as dry as his char ity. I gave bread and havo never beer, without it." "They say you played a mighty game of poker or something with Ben Wood?" "I never drank liquor and never smoked a cigar, and somo play must be left to the animal nature. So I have been fond of a stroke of hazard. Ben Wood ls a fine gamester. He can outplay mo at cards, except poker, perhaps, which is the only game I am good at because I do not fear. Wood ls a very old man now and depends chiefly on his newspaper. He once offered John Morrlssey $10,000 to be allowed to mako two hots above tho faro bank's lim its. He bet twice, $00,000 each time, and won $120,000 and broke the hank. Morrls sey took the faro box ln a fury and fired it Into the plaster of the wall, where It stuck for a good while. Wood liked to gamble high. Morrlssey's wife, 1 believe, died in the poor house, but the gamblers' under the protection of the Croker government are rich. Al Adams has got a million In tho best real estate. The Croker ring has stuffed newspaper men all through their offices; two of them are tbe mayor's sec retaries. They are afraid of the press becoming honest. Hugh Grant ls worth money. He vetoed tho street railway or dinance because they wouldn't let him ln, and got the credit of honesty." "What has become of Ed Stokes?" "He has property, but the Influence he had with the ring of Grant, Croker & Co. is pretty well done. That Stokes was a sort of hanger around of Fisk, Tweed and tho old evil doers till one day he came ln my office of Bixby & O'Brien, ln Warren street, and said Fisk had got out an order of arrest for him and he would go to jail unless he could get bail. I told the sheriff I would be responsible for him till next day, and meantime he could find ball. That afternoon I heard that he had killed Fisk, who was a great fnt coward that ho could have slapped or kicked and scared him from doing viclousness, but to sneak to the woman's stairway and murder an unarmed man so disgusted me that from that day to this I have never noticed Stokes." "New York can be recovered against the Croker-Murphy ring If the bigots relln LOS ANGELES HERALD: SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 28, JB9B qulsh their ideas of persecuting the people who put them ln power, but to set a watch on the people and treat them as criminals for enjoying themselves is bad American- Ism and bad religion. Religion Is for your own life and heart and not to be a spy on your neighbor's enjoyments." "Were you born here or ln Ireland?" "In Ireland; but I came here at 0 years of age and knew nothing about Ireland until I paid It a visit. The best English I ever heard spoken was ln Ireland, and I think the finest men ln the British king dom are the educated men of Dublin col lege." The president Is said to want Information about what the country wants with the Philippine Islands. The country wants its JVankoe character to drive a bargain not to be Impaired, and If we let go of Dew ey's acq i?i loi every n*'ion in Eurt.pe will probably hold Brother oJnathan to have become an imbecile. Salisbury's government expects us to take the Philippines. Our own peo ple expect the administration at Washington to think and decide for them and the opposition party will make another Martin Van Buren of McKinley if they can, defeating Van Bu ren for opposing the acquisition of Texas. The acquisition of Hawaii ls valueless without the Philippines; the one looked to the other. Foreign statesmanship is the greater statesmanship. India was a vast experiment for England, but It redeemed Asia and replenished England for the loss of America and educated the British races for the science of administration. Our Pacific states have a commercial ca reer to fulfill. Spain, In her discomfiture, clings to the Philippines und knows their value. What were "the objects of the war" is a vain repetition. The object of the Amer ican revolution was not our Independence, but a redress of taxes. We went onward to the consequences and they became the objects. We stand upon the horizon of Our destiny and aro educated and slocked to pursue It and an historical pause to spit on our hands will let us down the well. The statue of Benton, at St. I.ouls has long pointed to the west and been carved with the prophecy: "There Is the east; there is Europe." Mr. W. J. Bryan Is ln his own conceit a bigger man than Old Bullion, but he has time to grow up with the new country. There are also some old men In Massachu setts who would have us keep In the steps of Sam Adams; Sam Adams wore mocca sins and put them on backwards. If we are pulling enough, lock ourselves up like Brazil and Mexico and be peddled with by men carrying packs. We cannot bo merchants and sell only at home. The fear that the United States will be too great shocks some dwarfs ln it. McKinley can select, but his rejected op portunity will be the occasion of futuro wars. Gibraltar suffered ono siege, but It never was retaken. Nor has the president any moral right to give back to the Spanish and the In dians a territory our countrymen have ac quired. The eight millions of customcrs'of Amer ican blacks bought nothing till they were free. So shall the Philippines learn to live like free customers' bS ours, as proud of our flag as are the black infantrymen in our army. We will postpone the Philippine Issue in take It up again against ome stronger country than Spain, Germany or France, and lose more blood. No catching memory like "They gave up the Philippines" is ever abandoned ln American politics. Our possession there Is already a claim better than that of Don Carlos to the crown of Spain. GATII. It Is certain that the American people, who entered upon this war to deliver from oppression the subjects of Spain, In the Antilles, wilt never tolerate the employ ment of American soldiers In the Philip pines for t'ho purpose of replacing insur gents under the Spanish yoke. As we con ceive It to be our duty to speak with friendly frankness, we do not hesitate to say that If, Immediately after Admiral Dewey's victory at Cavlte, we had boldly announced an Irrevocable determination to annex tho Philippines' and give them all the tranquillity, order an« civil liberty which are enjoyed by the Inhabitants of our territories, we should have had; no trouble, and no apprehension of trouble, either with Germany or with the Insur gents. It was the uncertainty regarding our intentions, an uncertainty which has THE LAST MEAL BEFORE SAILING FOR FORTO RICO i been but too well justified by evenrtS', that Caused' the Insurgents to view our pro fessions of friendship and protection with suspicion, and suggested to Germany the Idea that she might have a chance to in terpose between Spain and her revolted subject's in the Interests' of civilization. The truth ls that we failed to turn Admiral Dewey's splendid' triumph at Cavlte to timely and proper account.—Collier's Weekly. Perfume and Perspiration Would you like to give out a perrume like the body or one who died ln the odor of sanctity? Nothing ls easier. If you want to smell like violets make a subcu taneous Injection of essence of these flow ers. You can vary your perfumed es sence as you please. The perfume Is scarcely noticeable unles3 one gets warm. This mode of scenting one's person was discovered accidentally. A morphlno maniac was called suddenly to Russia, She had not time to lay ln a provision of her favorite drug. Hut a complacent doctor promised' to send It after her. Ho did so. Hut the Russian custom house would not let It pass. The paternal government of Russia forbids the Importation ot mor phine unless by chemists, ffhe morphln omanlac as a substitute tried essence of violets. She remembered that an lnTuslon of violets Is soporific. She made her sub cutaneous injection with a Pravas syringe. She fell asleep, and to her great surprise awoke in a perspiration, smelling like a bed of violets.—London Truth. AN OFFICER'S TENT IN THE TROPICS The mercury now glistens as It glides Along the- tiny lube with numbered sides, Anel each citizen grows fiadder, For you've got to get a ladder If you wish to note th* height to which It slides. A gentle billow sweeps the asphalt pave. And to cross the street you must be cool and brave. c Overshoes—you fain would use them, Hut you're liable to lose them If your feet aro overtaken by the wave. Yet, when these summer days have hur ried by For happiness we still will vainly try. In the chill of January We will be regretful, very. For our Impolite remarks about July. —Washington Star. 1 Costly Uncertainty PENITENCE THE LIFE THAT SHE LED ÜBS. JACK WILMEBDIHO DIETS THE VEIL FROM HER FAST She Thinks Dissipation Caused Her Insanity—Her Pitiful Story as Told in Court The mask which hides one phnse of New York fashionable life was torn aside Tues day by Mrs. John C. Wilmerdlng, Jr., the great granddanghter of old Commodore Vanderbllt. The picture she revealed was one of fierce dissipation. Her story was a calm and coherent recital of facts which she deemed necessary to give to show her environment and how that environment was responsible for her Incarceration in Itloomingdale asylum. Mrs. Wilmerdlng did not spare herself. She was fighting for her freedom. Her one purpose was to convince the commission appointed to pass upon her mental condi tion that her Insanity was not chronic but the result of her abnormal habits of liv ing. It was a pitiful picture she drew. It would be a remarkable story from any woman, but coming from the lips of Mrs. Wilmerdlng it was bewildering. She is only 27 years old. She ls a beautiful wo man, far more beautiful than the news paper pictures make her. As she sat on the stand for two hours Tuesday morning gowned in a plain blue serge skirt, a white shirt waist and a black satin stock about her throat, the very simplicity of her at tire made her beauty of face nnd figure stand out more sharply than did the frip peries of gorgeous ballroom finery. Mrs. Wilmerdlng came to the courthouse at White Plains, where the hearing was held, accompanied by two women attend ants from the Bloomingdale asylum. The hearing was the result of the efforts of Mrs. "Jack" Bluudgood, through Lawyer Louis P. Levy, to secure the release of Mrs. Wilmerdlng from Bloomingdale. By means of a habeas corpus Mr. Levy had Mrs. Wil merdlng brought before Supreme Court Judge Martfln J. Keogh some days ago. Judge Keogh decided to appoint a special commission to pass upon Mrs. Wllmer dlng's mental condition. It was before this commission that the former society belle appeared Tuesday. Besides Mt. Levy, Mrs. Wllmerdlng's Interests were looked out for by Albert Bach, assistant corporation counsel, whose relatives are Intimately connected with friends of Mrs. Wilmerdlng. The two guardians appointed by the court to man ago her monetary affairs oppose her re lease on the ground that she Is mentally unable to care for her a%alrs, and oy dis sipation would Injure her health. Her guardians are her two uncles—Franklin Allen, brother of her father, the kite Col onel Vanderbllt Allen, and John Wallace, huslband of her aunt, now deceased. Beginning the Hearing When the hearing was begun Mrs. Wll merd'lng sat between her two attendants near the open windows on the east side of the room. Mr. Levy was the lirst speaker. He said the question had been raised about his right to represent Mrs. Wilmerdlng. He stated that he had acted as her attor ney and as her father's attorney ln past years. Without more ado Mrs. Wilmerdlng was asked to take the witness stand. Speak ing calmly and in low tones, which pene trated to every corner In tha room, Mrs. Wilmerdlng began by saying: "My name is Marie Fatima d'Lex Wil merdlng. Ii will be 27 this month. I was born In Egypt, at Rameses-, near Alexan dria. My mother's maiden name was* Helen Mount. She died at Tivoll when I was about 5 years old. When we returned to this city we lived at Hie Buckingham ho tel, and after that with my grandmother, Mrs. Vanderbllt Allen. Later we lived at the Newport flats. "From there we went to Philadelphia, where 1 went to Miss Wheeler's school. "In Philadelphia my father met Edith de Sllvler, whom he married when I was about 8 years old. Later we went to New port. About this time my father's wife got a divorce from him. "When I was 12 years old I was sent to Miss Masters" school at Hobbs Ferry, and remained there until I was 15. After tha; I was sent to a school at Brighton, England. I was about 1" then, and after a year there I wast sent to a school in Paris for another year. Her Younger Days "When I returned home at 19 I went to the Adirondack*, and on coming back to town lived at Ihe Hotel Bristol with*my father. My grandmother died about the time of my return from Paris, and shortly after my aunt, Mrs. John Wallace, was killed. From the Bristol we went to Bei muda, and on our return lived at the Ger lach. Then my father took me to Milford, Pa., where he met Miss Edith Mott, whom he married. "She and my father made me marry Jack Wilmerdlng. It was against the wishes of his mother that he married me, becau.se she did not think him fit to marry any one. "After that I led a horrible life. I drank tc a horrible extent and I smoked to a hor rible extent. I wanted to get free from Mr. Wilmerdlng, and at Cedarhurst I fre quently met (naming a young man). "My husband was a beast and treated me horribly. He beat and abused me in many ways. Once I tried to hnve hfm arrested at Staten Island and pointed him out to a Staten Island policemen, but the Wllmer dlngs are big people there, and the police man refused to arrest him. Her Life at Bloomingdale "After our separation my husband gave me $50 a month and my father allowed me |400 a year, making $1000 ln all. Then I de cided to go abroad and join my father. He was dying at the time in a house at Capri. "On my return Mr. Gleason took me to Bloomingdale asylum. I went there of my own free will, although I tltbught I was being taken to some Keeley cure place. 1 was put in with a lot of very sick patients. "When I left Paris I owed a large hotel bill and left all my clothes and trunks there. I gave the doctor my watch to get money on which to come home. "In Bloomingdale I suffered fearfully. 1 had been In the habit of drinking a quart nf whisky a day and smoking from forty to sixty cigarettes. I had to drink something, so I drank gallons of hot water. The doctor loid me if I didn't stop "drinking the stu:T he would send me downstairs. "He send me down there, and It Was the most horrible place I ever saw. The sick est patients were there. I tore my clothes and screamed and made a terrible fuss. It was just a piece of acting. I wanted to get out of there. "I have written the most absurd, things In the world, I wrote them at Capri and in Bloomingdale. Up there I tore the leaves out of my prayer book and wrote on them all sorts of absurd epistles to Dr. L,yon." Mr. Levy started In to question Mrs. Wll merding. "What reason have you to suppose you were insane at any time?" he asked. "I don't know whether It was the effects of the absinthe I drank, but at <_'aprl I talked to a Mr. Andrews about religion and wrote a rldtculous paper about my being an Egyptian princess, the daughter of a noblo family. I realized that there was something) wrong with me. I wrote such a letter to Dr. Cerio, who attended my father and- myself. Dr. Cerio inslstedi upon ac companying me back to this country on the Ems. Dr. Cerio told every one on the ship that I was crazy and that distressed me greatly." "What is your condition now?" "I am perfectly sane at the present time, I think." Mrs. Wilmerdlng told of her marriage by Dr. Huntington at Grace church ln March of 1892 and her separation in Jul*- of 1837. They last lived together, she said, then her husband went to Btaten Island to live with his parents, and she took apartments In the Gerlach, where she lived until her de parture for Europe on Oct. 10, 1897. Mir. Gleason asked her to describe the transfer of property she made on the evening or the day before her departure. "I needed money (Dreadfully," she said. "First I went to several men whom I knew, some of them very rich, andl asked them to lend me money, but they refused, giving different reasons. All I had to raise money on was my Interest In trust funds left my father by my grandmother." There was one fund of $20,000 In the Farmers' Loan and Trust company and.an other of J15.000 in the United States Trust company. Borrowed Money She went to Forgotston, the loan agent, and finally secured $500 in cash and some bonds, which she said were worthless, for her half Interest in the trust runds. It was this transfer of about $20,000 worth of property for $500 which caused her rela tives to have her Incarcerated. Hy hav ing her declared insane they hopt-ii to ho able to upset the transfer made to For gotston. When asked to detail the conversation with Forgotston, Mrs. Wlhnerdlng said: "I cannot remember all of the talk we had then. AW I know is l that 1 got only $500 for my Interest In my father's estate." She was uncertain whether the transfer Included both trust funds or only the one ln the United States Trust company. Mr. Gleason asked her several Involved ques tions, hut she was too quick to be caught and made him repeat each one again and again by sections. Once when he tried to Involve her ln an Intricate question, she said smilingly: "You are not going to prove that I am insane today, not if I can help It." For a mlniKe It looked as If the witness were going to reveal other secrets at the expense of the lawyer, hut Mr. Gleason re covered his composure In a hurry and'asked her about her relatives. She told of one who had been Intrusted with her mother's necklace. "It was a necklace of real pearls," she said, "but when I grew up and my aunt gave me the necKlace the pearls were not real. They were only Roman pearls." Questioned about her last trip abroad, when she Joined her father nt Naples and then went with him and his wife to Capri, she said regarding the letter she had writ ten Dr. Cerio: "I thought Dr. Cerio was my father. I drew up a very foolish paper, and Insisted upon having the mayor of the town called ln and several witnesses to my signature." "Was that a sane thlng to dor" asked Mr. Gleason. "'I don't ifhlnk X was a sane thing to do: do you, Mr. Gleason? I think It was very Insane." * Questioned about other letters she had written and which were offered as evidence after she Identified them, she said: "How perfectly crasy they are. I was crasy at the time. I wrote so many ab surd things. But/1 tell you, Mr. Gleason, I had such a high fever that I waa delirious, and dldn'e know what, I was doing. If you are going to bring up everything I have written It will certainly make nice reading." Lawyer Bach objected to the admission of the letters, saying that they had no bearing upon Mrs. Wllmerdlng's present mental condition. He was overruled and took an exception. Drank and Smoked "When I wrote those letters," said Mrs. Wilmerdlng, "my physical and mental con dition was terrible. I had hardly slept for two months. Dr. Cerio allowed me to sit up every night nursing my dying father. He had dropsy, and the bandages had to be constantly attended to. Often I had to go and summon the doctor at midnight, carrying a lantern to light the way." "Then, Mrs. Wilmerdlng, ln writing these letters you think you were Insane?" "It may have been what I drank and smoked and the life lied. My father and I did nothing but drink—lt was French brandy most of the time. I never smoked or drank so much before in my life." "Did you use opium?" "I never took opium ln my life,™ "Morphine?" "Never." "Sure?" "Sure." Witness mentioned men who had mtdo love to her, she declared. She continued: "That worried me, too. Then I had my portrait painted by a cousin of Dr. Cerio. I used to go to his studio ond sit unchap croned, and we drank great quantities of liquors. They affected me Strangely. I used to think they were dragged, or were knockout drops, or something of that sort. I was never affectci like that before." This ended Mr. Gleason'r examination, and Lawyer Pegram, for the asylum, ex amined the witness, not on the subject ot her sanity, but to show that she had been properly treated .n the asylum, and that abundant clothing had been furnished her. On the latter point she did not make af firmative answers. Mr. Levy, 1n redirect examination, asked: "You recognize now, Mrs. Wilmerdlng, that the contents of these letters are un true and frivolous?" "Yes, naturally, Mr. Levy." Asked about her being placed In Bloom- Ingdale, she said: "When Mr. Gleason took me there as said I would only have to stay three weeks, but when the three weeks expired there was no Mr. Gleason to get me out." "When did you begin to be adtflctetf to stimulants.?" "About three years> ago?" "After your marriage?" "Yes. Before marriage I drank, butnever to any terrible extent." "You became addicted to stimulants, then, after your troubles with your hus band?" "Yes. I suffered great pain ln getting my wisdom teeth, and he refused to allow me to see a dentist. My married life was extremely unhappy." Dr. Carlos McDonald here asked Mrs. Wilmerdlng If she did not know that the law made it compulsory upon the asylum officials to discharge her as soon as she was cured. "Yes," answered the witness'; "but you know the law Is very slow andl might be a year in getting arounfl' to me.'' Mr. Levy asikert several questions regard ing her present health, and In reply to one she said: "I don't know what property I have left or what I shall do when I get out, but 1 feel that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." This ended Mrs. Wllmerdlng's ordeal, after which she resumed her seat between the two asylum attendants. Dr. Samuel B. Lyon, medical supertn« tendent of liloomlngdale, was called by Mr. Gleason. Dr. Lyon said Mrs. Wilmerdlng was in ai state of sub-acute excitement when she was brought to the asylum on Jan. 27th last. "I regard her as absofutety Incapalble of managing her own affairs. She has lost many of her delusions, but her condition ls somewhat chronic. I believe her con« dltion to be the result of gradual growth and development, hastened by her habits of life." That olosed the hearing. The commis sion will make Its report next Tuesday after a visit to Mrs. Wllmerdring at Bloom- Ingdulc—New York World. BIG GAMBLING AT SARATOGA More Than 8100,000 Changed Hands. Cole TJlhnan, Lost 82100 More than $100,000 changed hands at the Saratoga club house last night, one of the greatest nights in the history of modern gambling. The biggest winner of the even ing was Henry McKenna of Hot Springs, Ark., one of the best-known sporting men cf the south. He and his friend, Tom Wood fcrd, playe dtogether and 1 won $8300. Tod Sluan, who until yesterday was $3SOO loser at faro at the club, quit $3100 winner, after almost losing it all trying to win $100 more to make him even on the season's play. "Smiling" John Kelly, accompanied by several political friends, made a tour of the large gambling rooms nnd played at every roulette wheel, finally cashing in $1900. E. Games, Ihe friend and partner of Geo. E. Smith, "Pittsburg Phil," made four $500 bets, which he lost. Cole Ullman. the race track and pool room man of St. Louis, lost $2100, and Tommy Wakely of New York maue several Bets of $500, hut broke about even. J. W. O'Neill of St. Louis quit $900 winner. —Globe-Democrat. • • • Storyettes Dr. Evans, a member of tho parliament at Melbourne, was an old man, and the other members jokingly spoke of him as belonging to the era of Queen Anne. Once, while making a speech, he referred to Queen Anne and wns greeted with cries of: "Did you know her?" "What was she like?" "Yes, sir," retorted the doctor, "I did know her. The scholar ls conTemporary with all time." At the great meeting ln St. James* hall. In the summer of 1868, to protest against the disestablishment of the Irish church, some Orange enthusiast, In the hope of disturb ing Bishop Wllberforce, kept Interrupting his honeyed eloqtfence with Inopportune shouts of "Speak up, my lord!" "I am al ready speaking up," relied the bishop. In his most dulcet tone; "I always speak up, and I decline to speak down to the level of the 111-tempered person In the gallery," A Difference " 'Hamlet' Is to be brought out •■ a bs> let." "I've seen It as a ballet, but the tgfUsnoa did tbe kicking."—Chicago Record. . ~.