The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1872-11-06

murder, is as follows Dr..Schoeppe, young
physician of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was the son
of Lutheran clergyman Of that place and gen.
tleman OF fine appearance and great cultivation.
Having occasion to visit in professional way,
Miss Maria Steinecke, hale, hearty and
wealthy" lady of seventy summers, that some
what mature maiden was so impressed with the
varied attractions of the young doctor that she
courted his society on all occasions. She seems
to have fallen desperately in love with him, and
the attachment was in some measure reciprocal.
/ The meeting between these strange lovers oc-
Cured in July. 1868 On December ID of that
year they became engaged, and at the same time
she made him her heir, the will bequeathing the
doctor her property made and recorded. Many
letters full Of afectionate illusions passed be-
tween them during the short engagement which
terminated with their peculiar marriage in Janu-
ary oath, 1869. This ceremony consisted only
of the signing of formal contract of marriage
by the interested parties, with a stipulated con-
dition that DR.. Schoeppe should be sole heir Of
the brides property. On the 9th Madame
Schoeppe was taken sick, and on the 29th she
died. Four days afterward the widower attempt
ed to prove the will. The heirs interested in his
Wife's first will resisted and lawsuit began in
reference to the subject. When the sudden and
suspicious death of the lady began to be talked
about, the heirs caused the body to be examined,
and paid Professor Aiken to examine the stomach
of the deceased. The Professor announced that
q small trace of prussic acid was found, and upon
this evidence the Doctor was arrested and charged
with murder. After speedy trial, he was prompt
ly convicted and sentenced to be hung. Public
opinion was Overwhelmingly against him. The
Judge even charged the jury to convict. The
last hours approached, the coffin was made, and
the moose even was arranged, when q reprieve
came from Governor Gerry at the last moment
Eminent chemists and experts questioned and
ridiculed the correctness of the analysis made by
Aiken under pay of the heirs. They almost un-
snimously insisted that prussic acid did not kill
Mrs. Schoeppe, and that the Doctors execution
would be legal murder. The outcry became so
great that Governor Gerry was forced TO sign the
reprieve. The question affected politics. Later
investigations and additional evidence began to
turn the tide in the Doctors favor. The Judge
who showed so much zeal in convicting him, wns
defeated. A new trial was ordered, aud SO clear
a case was made in the Doctors favor that
the Judge charged the jury to acqu;t, and last
week the accused was declared " not guilty" and
became free man again. He bad been in pri-
son three years, and had come within a few hours
ofbeing executed for a crime be never committed
How YouXG MENPHIAN CONDUCTED A Cox
TRovERsY.--An antiqaated writer 10 the Memphis
appeal has dug up out of his memory the fol-
lowing rich story, The young lawyer referred to
is still fourishing in Memphis &" There was nev-
er greater local excitement than that which grew
out of this internal navy-yari business. Half the
people were in favor of accepting the property
aud half or more opposed to it, the latter think
ing that the Government might be induced ev,n
yet to make liberal appropriations and perfect the
navy,yaTd and build ships and steamers here.
There were two newspapers published here one,
a morning publication, edited by gentleman of
no ordinary ability named Bankhead, who was
tragicay and mysteriously assassinated some six
years ago. There was another, an afternoon pa
per, called the Ne,cS Il believe that was its name),
edited by named Yancy. These editors
opposed one another on the navy-yard question,
and their discussions had begotten good deal of
excitement, when both went away for the sum-
mer, and each, without the others knowledge, en-
ployed the same man, this young lawyer, to con-
duct his paper in his absence. The young limb |
of the law naturally enough took to both sides of
the question. He made the controversy between |
the two papers hotter and hotter on each success
sive day. Crowds gathered each afternoon about |
the Nel0s Office and somebody expected that the |
two furious editors would shed blood. The CON-
ing duel in Arkansas was confidently anticipated
and the ferocity of the two papers marvellous
Popular excitement was intense when Bankhead |
came hurryiug home from Virginia and Yancy |
from Alabama, each thinking that the other was
about to murder his own substitute. Such was |
the fervOr of popular feeling and evaporation
that the story was necessarily kept quiet. If the
mischievous fraud upon public passion had been
exposed at the time the con dnaore editor would |
have been hung 10 lampost."
METEoRITES FROM THE SUN.-The theory of |
solar origin for meteorites, however strange and
startling it may appear to be, has now many ad-
vocates among leading scientific men, and much
evidence in its favor has been supplied by the re-
cent solar researches of such eminent astronomers
Lockyer, Proctor, Secchi, Young and others.
Their opinion is, in brief, that the solar pro-