Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1865-07-19
The Miss Harris Murder Trial.


ment, is coming to a close. All the test
monv of the defense, thus far, has been
directed to the one object of proving that,
having become infatuated in love with
Burroughs his marriage to another lady,
and his attempt 10 seduce her suhsequent<
F, ly ut Chicago, drove her to desperation,
and she committed the act in fit of In
sanity
| That there must haze been a very
tender relationship existing between the
two previous to his marriage. is quite con-
clusively proved from the letters Of Bur-
roughs to Miss Harris, which have been
| produced in Court. The sentiments OF
these letters couched in words OF the
warm st affection, certainly justified her
in the strong attachment which she had
evidently formed for him. Here is a
specimen of his letters:
"You know, darling, when person is Bit
ten bv vcnomous snake, his skin assumes
tie color of the snake IF an abominable
snake has such effect a man, is it strange
that when bcwitche6 bv the sweetest
! looking Irish girl that ever lived, he should
become an IriShman? Who wouldn't be any
| thing to be the recipient of such favor as
was on Sat? How am to thank you for
/ such a favor? @ joyous surprise Glad
source of delicious JOY,
| ture, and let my agnation dwell upon the
receipt of, but burst not ask Won for it, for
| reasons | will give YOU if we ever 1ncet-n0t
,lo1g: but it is the more grateful, coming as
surpi Use of such inexprcSsible delight Really
| Molie, as | returned from the post office
after receiving i, felt so light l could with
difficulty keep the ground I coud scarcely
! avoid flving. | wanted to button everybody
| met. and show them what had got and it
required all the sense of proprioty | could
command to keep myself from doing So
I" Oh that beautiful picture beautiful
beautiful! beautiful and my beautiful
beautiful MolIe! What can | now say for
her, | cannot say words fail me- Could
see her, | might, perhaps, express f,ntly
what my feelings reawa1ened bv such
visible testimony of her lcyeincss. o Mol.
lie , Molie' you have turned my dry, sterile
old bachelor heart into gushing fountain of
glad emotion and warm, genial affection and
Molic dear, darling MolIie, is the source and
end of all. Would that | had hundred
Pixies Peak fortunes to Law at her feet and
the affection of hundred hearts to lavish
upon her. If another Mollie' were to con-
test her love, she would Stand bnt a poor
chance now, if not before. < Under
the circumstances. hoIs You will excuse me-
dearest, if do plaster II on rather thick. |
would not resort to gross fattcry of yOur
personal appearance. though yorr charms were
those of Venus (a"d do not think them short
| of ~, for / possess too much of sincere re
gard for YOUR best interests to turn hattcrcr
and iniure you with cxtravagant praise.
" With Il cart-load of kisses, | bid YOU
adeu."
Any lady who is at all susceptible Of
the tender passion, would be justified
in cherls1ing q strong affection for and
expecting to marry a lover writing thus
passionatcly; and unless she we're pos
sessed Of a remarkable power Of mind,
heart, and self>control if he should, after
Writing series of such letters, profess
inc ia tendcrest sentiments, marry az
other wonHn without previously apprisin@
her of his inte7 tion, she would naturally
feel the disappointu at kecnly and sorclv.
So it no doubt affected t.. IS Young woman.
And when, subsequently, Sc discovered
what she supposed To be n schelHe on his
part to get her into a house Of asSig,, alton
and dishOnor the effect can readily ' e
| imagined But the question is, did she
Kill him because she was mad with dis
appointment and a broken heart. or from
n feeling of revenge for a fancied Insult -?
! Upon this point, no doubt, will the decis-
ion of the jury turn
The testimony given yesterday. rs re-
| ported to us by the telegraph. will hear
( heavily On the case. DR. Nichols, of the
! Insane Asylum at Washington, testified
! that, after watching and Investigating her
| case he deemed her insane at certain pc
! RODS, and that in hissopnion. she shot
| Burroughs while under the Influence of
/ one of these periodical fits of mental de-
I rangement
/ Rev. DIR. Burroughs of this city. brother
of the murdered man, also testified that
the handwriting of the anonymous notes
sent to Miss Harris, while in Chicago. pro
posing diShOnOrable as.i9uation. was
not that Of his brother.
The testimony of these two imnortant
witnesses must have material weirht-that
of the one bearing flvorabv to the ac~
cused and probably saving her from q
conviction OF deliberate murder for which
she could he held morally accountable
and that OF the other excnlpating the
murdered man from the dshonorable de-
sign Of which she had suspected him.
The case Is Il peculiar one. and the re-
suit will be looked for with no little inter
est, especially here in Chicago. where both |
parties have resided, and where Bur-
rouGhs had many friends among our best
class Of citizens. 1t is one of those cases /
IN which public sympathy naturally be- |
comes enlisted in behalf of the woman, |
who, smartlng under "a serious wrono |
means for redress or revenge. and in /
which Jury find it most difficult to de- |
eide what to do. If the woman, deliber-
ateiy, and while in her right mind COM
united this terrible murder, of course she |
should be amenable to the law and suffer
the penalty. for under no circumstances
can human being justified in taking the
law into his or her on hands, and DESTROY
Ing the life of anuthcr human being If .
Miss Harris was actually insane at the
time Of the homicide. she should be con
signed to the place of the insane; but if
1t can be strongly and clearly proved that
such was not her condition, she deserves
the penalty of murder
The trial will probably close and the
verdict be given to-morrow.- Chicago
Journal l4h
. DISTRESS IN CANADA-tfreat distress
appears to prerail among the German set
tiers on the Upper Ottawa, especially in