Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-12-15
THE FAIR LAURA.
Women Not So Fair Who Have Been
Hanged.
BY JANE G.. swIasHELM.

California by which it becomes crime
worthy Of death for man to desert his
mistress that he may cleaVe to bis wife.
There can be no more direct abrogation OF
the divine and human law of marriage; and
the case recalls the GOOD old times il which
Europe trembled at the frown of q Pom
padour and the prondest mobiles of Eng
land did obeisancs to "the Elephant"
"the Maypole," nellie Gwynne,
and other women of that ilk. And, when
we closely examine cause and effect, we see
in all these and similar cases but the natu-
raj outgrowth of the education and public
sentiment which, from the fall, have form
ed the character and controlled the desti-
MES OF woman. What has ever been
taught her, what required of her, out to ''De
charming?" What is the gist Of all the
arts into W / ich she is indicted, all the
homiles written and spoken for her bene-
fl, but her duty to make herself agreeable
to the other sex? "The chief end of man
is to glorify God and enjoy him for
ever" but the chief end of woman has al
ways been to cultivate the admiration and
minister to tue wants OF man. Since hiil.
ton made Eve say 20 Adam, "Be God thy
law, thou mine," our spirituafguides have
10 some form been Teiterating his words;
and thus, as the race has been advancing
from Barbarism, this lower place assigned
to woman has held it down until, in
the bnasted Christian civilization of to-
day, woman's charms outweigh the
laws of God and man; for attempt as
we may to account for the verdict which
lets this woman loose upon . commu-
nifty, it was brought about BY her personal
charms, her art of pleasing. She spent her
life in learning the cardinal womaDiy viz
tue, and is charming, Men are charmed,
fascinated by her beauty and art; and
those religious and moral teachers who
wave women away from the ballot-bax or
business pursuits because these would rem
der them less agreeable to men, mag read
in Mrs. Fairs acquittal q natural result Of
the false philosophy which they teach as
Gods fundamental law.
many people conclude that it is her wo-
manhood which shielded Mrs. Fair from the
punishment Of her crime, and jump to the
conclusion that American men will not hang
woman; but it would be nearer the
truth to say that they will not hang a
charming woman. The girl who shot her
seducer on the steps Of a hotel in Bos-
ton, some thirty years ago, and was &C
quilted, was young and charming. So was
Mary Harris; so the Chicago woman who
shot her paramount five years ago, So, |
| think, was every woman who has committed
! capital crime and escaped the penalty,
| through the sympathies of american jurors.
Women who are charming may do what
| seeneth good unto them, SO fac IS toe eX.
IRENE rigor Of Law is concerned. They
certainly enjoy something very like immu-
| nifty, provided their charms are known TO
| be maj ketable com uIoailies; but those who
never were or have ceased to be charm
ing are generally dealt with as the law d.
reefs.
The first white person executed in Min
nesota was woman. As an Illustration
of her class of intellect, it was told that,
when she went TO the Territory she took
with her from Central Illinois bucket Of
butter, kept it III her sJs5e-Toom On
| a frst-class boat, and carried it ia
her hand TO frst-clas5 hotel (tLe
Merchanis), keeping it by her side in the
parlUr aud her bedroom, while leaving her
! other baggage to be handed By porteIs. She
had heard that butter was scarce in t0at
part of the country, snd had brought h-r
supply. This ana her general appearance
and behavior led to tie belief that she
| was a person of weak mind. she mar
riei e man who trested her cruelty
and died with symptoms of poison.
A chemist thought he found arsenic
in the stomach, and druggist had
sold her some Of that drug 40
| poison rats" There WAS no attempt
| to dispute the chemical tests. This expedi-
| ent was discovered lately for the benefit OF
a woman who has not Outlived the charms
which once drove rival claimants for her
| hand to the verge Of suicide and madness.
| Being old, unattrsciive, and poor, none but
the ladies Of st. Paul took shy special III
| terest in her case; and these could only be-
| siege the Governor for pardon. His wife
| led population OF them, knet at MS feet,
| and with tears aud passionate entTeaty beg
| ged executive clemency; but the ugly wo-
man was hanged by the neck until she was
| dead.
| A poor German woman was executed
rear Phiiadelphia about FIVE years ago; and
| her confession, in her broken English, was
| one of tie saddest things l ever read. Her
man had "peat' her, peat her SO much,
! made her work in the field when she was SO
sick and So tired; peat her for not keeping
| up; peat her for Stopping 10 nurse her
baby; made her work in the house while
! he rested and smoked, and peat
Ger if she was not ready to go out to
work when be was! She was so tired;
| could "never get 10 rested" She want to
leave him and go away; but he take her
children fIOn her; she have four lille
children; he Peat them, too; she could not
leave her children. She was so tired she
thought she would die; and she thought she
| give her man stuff. She sorry she kill her
man; but she 10 know what to do, she so
TIED.
The dailies made occasional news items
out of the case, and the poor old WORKOUT
Save was universally voted a monster of
iniquity. The majesty of law was vinGica-
ted by sending her from the gaiiOws to the
unerring judgment, where her toil.worn
hands and tortured soul must have been
very white compared to the bejeweled fn-
gers of the charming monsters who slip 30
gracefully through the elastic meshes of our
man-made laws.
Mrs. Sugart, now under sentence OF
death il Butler county, Penn, who is to be
hanged when the present treatment in the
Rixmont Insane Hospital shall so far have
restored her reason as TO make her sensible
Of the sol muily Of the occasion, is gray
barred and grandmother, and in personal
appearance the opposite OF charming. Mrs.
Grinder, who was executed at Pittsburg
some eight years ago, had studied the art
Of poisoning to the neglect Of that Of pleas
ing. She was not charming, and such
charms as she had were reserved Tor hor
husband.
If my knowledge Of the calendar of crime
extended furthur, l should probably be
able TO trace this principle to the end.
But these instances should be enough TO
prove that men are untitled by sexual at
fractions TO do justics to woman; and that
it was Fair Laura, and not Laura Fair
who was triumphantly acquitted by a jury
Of her country men, | must believe that
no such acqaitLal could have been pre-
cured had there been six Of the wives and
mothers Of California on that jury. know
that several prominent women distinguish
ed themselves still further by their sym
patty for, or rather 1citk, her; but there is
no class Of women in this country who do
less represent its wOmanhOod than those
who thus sig1alized themselves, and so re-
corded their preference for al illegal rather
than legal sexual tie.
When you can't think of what your wife
CHARGED Won IN hiring homa oot harm ms