The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-09-27

be allayed.
If guilty, the case of Mrs. Wharton
certainly presents features of such
hockingdcpravity as hardly to have
been eQnaled in the annals of crime
The victims were generally those who
were the most intimate acquaintance
and, if the reports which have already
been given prove to be correct, the re-
suit was invariably proceeded by un-
wonted kindness and attentions upon
tile part of the criminal. That there
midst have been long and searching
study of tho effects of poisons in all
their variety, there can be no doubt.
and it has been stated that accompa-
nying her husband for years with the
army gave her facilities for obtaining
thorough knowledge Of the medical
properties and effects of the different
minerals as well as vegetables.
But one conclusion can be arrived
at, from what your correspondent can
learn and from the few cases which
have preceded this, that, willie in the
first instance, if guilty, there might
have been the generalization of a sane
mind, intent upon the accomplishment
OF some set purpose and requiring the
use of such means to attain it, gradu-
ally 1t became monomania, and while
the mind might have been perfectly
clear in reference to all other matters,
success--the lack of detection, NOR
bid condition Of thought-might have
made her irresponsible for her act af-
terward. Be it as it may, however.
she scouts the plea of insanity, and APP
pears to be thoroughly herself, and de-
sires her trial as speedily as possible.
The officers of the Jail report her as re-
lying upon the charges against her be-
ing disproved, and that she expects a
triumphant acquittal. She has en-
ployed some of the best legal talent in
her defence, and states that she has
no idea of removing her trial from Bal
iimore.
1t seems to me that it will be impos
sible to obtain a jury in our city, near
~ every one having formed an opinion
in reference to the case. Either the
prisoner or the State has right, upon
filing an affidavit that a fair trial can.
not be obtained, to remove the case to
some adjoining county.
Mrs. Wharton is so anxious for a
speedy trial that she desires her case
to take precedence at the September
term of the criminal court of those
which precede hers upon the docket,
and it is supposed her wish in this res
pect will be gratified by a mutual un-
Outstanding between the counsel on
either side. The trial, considering all
the mysterious circumstances sur
rounding the prisoner, the position in
society occupied by the accused and
/ one of the supposed victims, and the
widespread anxiety to get the facts
on the part of the public, will in all
probability attract universal attention
throughout the country, and will prove
one of the most intensely exciting OF
any that has ever been known in the
criminal History of the United States.
The most affecting incident connected
with the affair is the pitiable position
of her daughter,
| MISS NELLIE WHARTON.
One more touching in its exhibition oil
tiilal affection has probably never been
witnessed. Indignantly resenting all
possibility of the guilt of her mother,
when the facts became SO glazing that
the States attorney was forced to send
her to prison, she clung to the mother
with tenacity which could not be re-
sisted, insisting upon accompanying
her to her gloomy prison, and there
she has been ever since.
While no restraint is of course put
upon her freedom, and having the
privilege of egress and ingress accord
ing to her own inclinations, she has
never since her mothers incar, Grafton
been without the walls, waiting upon
her with the tenderest assiduity, and
nursing her under the nervous pros
tration to which she has been more o,
less subject since her imprisonment
Sometimes, but rarely, at the earnes,
solicitation Of the warden, Captain
Irwin, she will in the evening take ex.
ercise in the garden attached to the
institution. She is very handsome
and qnlte young, not being quite
twenty years of age, and the contine.
ment, in view of her old associations
circulating in the very best society o.
our city, and able because of her in.
telligence to appreciate the contrast
between "now and them" must tel
terribly upon both her mental ant
physical organization.-[N. Y. World
Baltimore Letter.
CosT OF DEMOCRATIC AND REPUB-
LICAN ADMINISTRATIONS Washing