St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-12-11

Waugh Tell victim to lust and the gal
lows. That man also went his way.
Three months after this terrible occur
renee Hester removed to Philadelphia
and hired a room there. She supported
herself by little odd jobs of work from
different families, Away, giving the most
perfect satisfaction. During one of the
fierccst storms of last winter she was
without food or file or comfortable ap-
parel She had been i'll and partially
unconscious for three days before her
confinement, and child was born to
Hester Vaughn. Hours passed before
she could drag herself to the door and
cry out for assistance, and when she did
it was to be dragged to prison where
she now lies with the near prospect Of a
halter.
Is it not terrible that this victim of
mans craven lust should be thus foully
dealt with while her seducer walks the
earth free and unmolested ? In this
connection let ME say that no amount OF
coaxing OF entreaty will induce Hester
Vaughn TO name the man who thus
cruelty wronged her. Since that time
he has married. 'If lie were alone,
said Hester, Il would ring his name
through the whole country, but nothing
will induce Inc to send terror and dis
grace into the heart of an innocent trust
inc woman" Glorious Hester Vaughn,
True as steel to her own sex.
Following Mrs. Kirk, Mrs. DIR. Lozier
gave in her testimony i'll this case:
freely corroborate all that has been
said by Mrs. Kirk; as a physician
was cordially invited to accompany her
to Philadelphia, and had authority to
question this poor woman i'll regard to
her own condition, and all that occurred
also consulted with Mrs. Doctor Smith,
who has been a practicing physician for
fifteen years, a woman of large influence
and a neighbor of the judge who con-
demned Hester Vaughn. DR.. Smith
had not heard of the case till she read OF
the sentence the next morning, and she
concluded to call ON Judge Ludlow and
ask him the particulars. He gave her a
permit to visit Hester Vaughn at her
pleasure. She has done so, once or
twice week, for five months. She told
mo she had questioned the girl; had
taken her by surprise and had come TO
the conclusion that she was innocent OF
the crime of inianticiie. Her lawyer.
after visiting her once, never came neal
her again. He paid her Il visit and took
her money, and promised to defend her E;
but he never SAW her again until she was
brought into court.
He never inquired into any of the par
ticulars of her former history, or Of her
present condition. When Mrs. DIR.
Smith went to see him, lie said, ''Oh
yes: it is now too late; she has been
condemned. and is TO be hung" For
over five months not one benevolent per
son has condcscended to visit her in her
-ickness-for she has been very sick
well" said Mrs. =. ''you took her last
thirty dollars AMI promised to defend
her ~ He replied. is that 50? Was
that all the money she had ?" Well,
then he remembered that he had not
called on her consequently when her
case came up he was unpreParcd to give
her any defence. DR. Smith, by the
kindness of Judge Ludlow, has been per
mitttd 10 visit her, and to report TO him
and TO Gov. Geary in regard to the poor
Urls condition, and she has sen: 10 Gov.
Geary ten letters, praying for her imme-
date pardon on the ground of her inno-
ccncc, and she thinks her entirely inno-
cent. For three months she thinks she
was irresponsible for her actS-thc vic
tim of puerperal mania. When she i
spoken TO about her condition at the
time, she says: 1T was so dark she
seems hardly to have recognized a ray OF
| Highland she adds: Il never saw my
child" l have had a large experience
in obStetrical practice my record shows
over two thousand cases: and have
had several cases of puerperal blindness
in one case for over four days and
nights the patient did not see And |
believe what this poor girl says when
she says Il did not see" | asked her
how tic skull could have been injured,
for it seems the skull WAS indented, and
she said, Il must have lain Oh it when
| walked up. and the child lay under me.
She might have swooned or tainted i'll
her agony. l have no doubt that she
suffered from puerperal mania for at
least three months. Her sight is still
very weak.
Ii has been said in some of our papers
to-day that the marks on the head prove
that the child was destroyed. l do not
see that it was proved That poor wo-
man, in her agony, alone, without fire,
without light, may have injured the
child, but not wIltully. | said to her
chester, you love children !'' She re-
piled: mo one ever loved children
more than | do-no one. | dearly love
them. l wish | had my poor little babe.
1t would be some comfort to me-" She
is here among strangers but her friends
write to her and beg her TO come home.
Her poor father does not know of her
sad fate, and she is fearful that he NAV
know of it, 1t appears that the name
OF the man she married was Harris, and
her father gave his consent to the mar
rlage. 1t was not runaway match. 1t
was not as disobedient, wilful child
that she came to this country. | could
see by the tone of her fathers letter, and
by the kisses sent to her from her young
er sister, that it was a very affectionate
letter. She longs to go home.
! 1.-THE interest manifested in this c,So
and the tale of such fearful wrongs, has
brought out the other side of the CASE
The prosecuting attorney publishes a
statement that ''the case was plainly one
of child murder, and so the court and