Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-06-12
LAURA FAIR.
Interview of DIR. BruehI with
the Condemned California MUIR

| been IN California, we have obtained the
following account Of an interview with
Laura Fair, now under sentence of
death: fii4inlhi HHr At
During my stay in California the trial
of Laura Fair formed the great event of
the day. had read the verdict of the
jury in the Alta California few days
previous to my arrival, and | rejoiced at
the fact that moral sense had triumphed
over the adherents Of free-love, and CON
demned their doctrine in a most ener-
getic manner. felt, however, great
curiosity to see the heroine of the bloody
tragedy, not so much because | wished
to see the murderess, but because /
wished to solve the question how such a
woman could have attracted such an in
telligent mind as her paramour is said
to have been, and whether her beauty,
or the rare powers of her mind had given
her such an influence over him. Her
own testimony, and her letters, which,
although they were full of expressions
of tender love, still bore evidence in
every line to the fact that the most con
temptible thirst for gold had been the mo-
tive of her action. This dark side in the
character of the woman could not es-
cape such penetrating mind-sueh as
Crittenden must have been, to judge
from what have heard of him, and so |
believed to find in one of the above
mentioned qualities the solution to the
question The kindness of the sheriff
Of San Francisco, Mr. White, enabled
me to gain access to the convicted wo-
man. Unfortunately, l was introduced
to her as a physician and the cores
pondent of Western paper, and al
though she seems to take particular
pride in conversing with the gentlemen
of the latter profession, she appeared
distrustful of the physician, because she
based her whole defense on a temporary
insanity, caused by certain diseases.
She was, in consequence, very cautious
in her answers, which was all the more
inconvenient for me, as / had hoped to
fathom her mind by paying fixed at
tention to some involuntary words or
gestures of hers, rather than to ques-
ton directly on certain subject. Ev-
erybody knows that physician, by dint
of incessant watching of all those little
external symptoms, by taking notice of
a thousnd little signs, which escape the
eyes of other men, can discover dis
eases, passions, and the current OF
thoughts. But for this he needs more a
penetrating eye than a dull interroga-
tory, and therefore / was most disagree
ably surprised when / found that had
to draw every word out of her.
/ was told that she was in the last
Il 4 ha
had, indeed, lost in flesh, but that was
only caused by excitement and the fatal
verdict. None of the symptoms of con-
sumption could be seen on her, 1t was
evident that her friends had contrived
this statement in order to attract gene
raj sympathy for her. ~.
But is she really handsome2 Or
amiable2 Or does she bear at least
traces of former beauty2 Her photo
graph pictures her as a handsome
woman, but there are so many cosmet-
les, so many arts of the toilet used by
vain women at the time she has her pho
tograph taken, that felt convinced that
she had made use of them at the time
when she sat for her picture. Her face
is round her form quite handsome, but
her eyes are too deeply set, not on ac-
count of grief, but on account of the
fire that can be traced in her glances,
and on her low forehead. These are
not eyes of intelligence and feeling,
eyes that either command or attract;
they are only eyes full of passion, that
disturb the harmony of the features.
But often, when the eyes betray neither
: lDd1
may attract with a magic force. But l
missed that also. An unimportant in
cident proved this to me- A letter had
come to her address from Tennessee,
in which a crazy female had offered to
endure imprisonment in her stead. Ac-
cording to law, the sheriff had opened
the letter, and so she heaped on him the
bitterest reproaches, and spoke with so
much affectation, used such affected
gestures, that she appeared at once IN
the character of an actress of the low
est rank. This could fill calm, unpre-
JUDGED observer only with disgust.
But this was the solution of the mys
terry. Affectation and hypocrisy were
her weapons, and they are dangerous
in the hands of vain woman. 1t
flattered her vanity TO draw man |
of intellect into her nets, and this
smoothed the path of the talented liber-
tine when he sought TO satisfy his i'm
pure passion, His profession gave him
ample means to gain the ayarieious
woman. 1t was double game of un-
principled characters. On one side,
vanity, affectation, hypocrisy and ava
rice; on the other, great intellect de-
graded by low sensuality the dark
sides of California life That bullet
put an end to it was the natural conse-
quence of criminal habits that were suf-
fered to go unpunished. One of the
parties has received his reward and is
not pitied; the other is about to be pun
ished by an avenging Nemesis. God is
lust; my verdict severe. Well, ] am
used to look at things through my own
eyes, and Laura Fair has permitted me
to publish my opinion of her and her