The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-03-11
NO. 36.
A Devoted Mother.

a bclVttu hullCAs
Charles Marlow, found guilty of having
willfully murdered Williilm Bachman,
is sentenced to chung. Some time last
August n stranger named William Bach
man came to the brewery of NARROW and
asked permission TO stay there over
night. The favor was galnted, and the
stranger, protesting 10 have with him a
considerable sum Of money, and to be
seeking for n business, made his head.
quarters with NARROW for several days.
Suddenly he was missing, and the next
news Of him came from Pole, named
Benkowski, who appeared before a
magistrate in Dunkirk and told a story
OF his murder He explained that he Ind
been working as the hired man of Mar.
low, and had been witness of actions on
the part Of the brewer which left no
doubt in his mind that he MARROW Ind
murdered Bachman in tho beer cellar
and had burned the corpse in the furnace
ofthe place. The promises were imme
diately examined and the remains of
Bachman's body and clothing were duly
found. NARROW was arrested and in
time brought up for trial, complete
train Of circumstances pointing appa.
rently with infallible sureness to his
guilt.
His defense, suddenly developed, was
certainly Of startling and unexpected
character. 1t consisted in the bold and
unqualified assumption of the guilt Of
the murder by the brewers old mother.
in.law, Mrs. Ortman. With her dnugh.
ter, she told u story which, for ingenuity,
under the circumstances has surely been
seldom equalled. Her testimony was to
the effect that, entering the house on tho
afternoon Of the Murder, she saw Bach.
man in the act Of an outrageous assault
upon her daughter, She seized hammer
and struck him, rs JRel smote Sisera, d
blow upon the temple. Her daughter
tainted, and Bachman rolled over dead
As soon as Mrs. NARROW came to her
senses, the women testify, they carried
the corpse TO the cellar, thrustit into the
furnace and piled the fireplace full oil
fagots. Then they washed the cellar
floor and stairs, and resolved to keep
their terrible secret in silence. NARROW
in the meantime attempted to prove that
he had gone to the village before the
hour ut which the murder had been com.
mitted.
Tho first trial resulted in disagree.
ment of tho jury, and learned lawyers
were puzzled whether to credit or reject
the persistent story in which this old
woman swore human blood upon her
own hands. AT the second trial the same
story was told again and us perSistently,
If not as consistently, rs ever. But a
continued fusilade Of cross.examinatiOn
speedily made breaches in the singular
defence. NARROW failed to establish his
alibi, and the fabrication of the women
at various points fell to the ground.
Once and again the old mother.in-law,
realizing that her most energetic nttes-
tations Of guilt were likely to be in win,
broke down and uttered her agony in
heart-broken CALCULATIONS. The Jury
rendered IN unanimous verdict, finding
the woman innocent who pleaded guilty,
and him guilty who sought TO establish
his innocence at woman's cost.
What shall be said of the extraordi
nary resolution. II not heroism of this
old woman ? Her case illustrates either
the remarkable subservience to which
weak mind may be reduced by a strong
and brutal one, or 1t reveals spirit Of
self.immolation such MS has but few
parallels. 1t, is, perhaps, safe to say
that such spirit could only have been
bred in the simple nind Of European
peasant woman, reared in n society where
the relations OF the sexes are still undis.
turbed by the modern woman move
mant