The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-05-25
The StO Y Of Laura Fair.

Never were forty minutes better spent
than by the twelve men who, in San
Francisco, Wednesday afternoon, decided
the guilt of the woman who calls her.
self Laura Fair. For careers less loath-
some, Borgia and Brinvilliers are syno-
nyms of womanish atrocity. We are no
believers in the practice of hanging, but
so long as that method is adopted as the
highest expression of the justice of the
age, we see no reason why a rational
woman who does deliberate murder
should not suffer the penalty equally
with her fellow-man. But we note the
universal land creditable) shrinking
from the hanging of woman as one OF
the strong arguments against prescrib-
ing for this crime punishment that
cannot be enforced. Are we to hold
that deliberate murderers of the male
sex should be hung, while equally
guilty ones, who, being women, have
fallen lower to reach that depth, should
notp Is it wise to bring law into con-
tempt by disregarding it9 Or is it wise
to have law, the execution of which,
in case like this, will shock the sense
of the civilized world, and make even
good men hate it? Guilty as is Laura
Fair, she is a woman. She may possibly
be brought to the gallows--though we
greatly doubt it; but her presence there
will make more clear to all the barbarism
of hanging-the need of some punish
ment for murder that does not make the
chances in favor of escape for such as
her 80 enormous.
of :.
woman cannot be emphasized by minute
details of her crimes, hence the full re-
cord of the trial has found no place in
our columns. Her life, however, is toe
strongly suggestive to be passed with
out glance. She was born in Alabama
and, through poverty and neglect
reached womanhood without knowing
the wholesome atmosphere of home
The family removed to New Orleans
when Laura was sixteen, and here the
girl resolved to enter the world under
new circumstances. Bright in mind and
exceedingly comely in person, she soon
found full investment for her capital
She caught a rich husband. She wa,
eighteen and he was eighty. His senile
jealousy drove her to the remedy of di-
vorce; but while the action was pending
the dotard died in delirium tremens, and
the adventures found herself the mis-
tress of an ample fortune. She married
within u month, and in less than three
was the widow of suicide. With the
semblance of decent sorrow fresh upon
her, she took another husband, Col. Fair
and the fortune of the first running low
she emigrated with this one to Virginia
City, Nevada, where she set up a hostelry
styled the Fair House" The amiable
Colonel made way for some one else by
blowing his brains out, and the incor,
rigible widow, sated with her matri.
monial ventures, essayed fame and for.
tune on the San Francisco stage. Hers
were the arts, however, which do not
show to full advantage on the mimic
scene, and her first appearance as Lady
Teazle was also her last. One conquest
she made was the final cause of the
present scandal. She captivated the
susceptible heart of A. P. Crittenden, an
ex-Judge and an eminent lawyer. Prac.
ticing all the arts of matchless cunning
she lured him from wife and home, rob.
bing him meantime of all she could get
With his money, she pensioned hei
mother comfortably, and re-established
herself in the Fair House in Virgins
City. While still intriguing with Crit.
tenden, she met some one else possessed
of money and made herself his wife
Without identity or apparent purpose
this fourth husband" fits aimlessly
across the hideeus scene. 1t suited the
aim of Jezebel to remove this Nabott
that she might make her way into 9
neighboring vineyard, SO she shot him
This, at any rate, was candid but ever
Nevada justice frowned at it, and the
enchantress was brought to trial. She
was defended by Crittenden so eloquently
and ably, that the Judge seems to havt
forgotten the law and the jury the facts
for she was triumphantly acquitted.
The favorite of fortune ana favored o.
justice supported her melancholy widow.
hood few months. and i'll 1868 made 6
new marriage feast, taking to her arms
a man of doubtful morals but undoubted
wealth, who figures on the scene al
"Snyder." She looked upon Snyder
money and it was good she looked upor
Snyder and thought Crittenden wa
better. Tired of the sanguinary method
she gave Snyder the choice of divorce
and he, amiable man, furnished situa