New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-07-12
THE GOODRICH TRAGEDY.

The GeQuel now JOlu Is IHOTc HOIIlOlo ofeh
than the original tragic story which shocked
Brooklyn four months ago when the dead
body of Mr. Goodrich was found in his house.
The exciting nature of the crime the circum-
stances of its discovery, the mystery surround
ing its commission, seemed to relieve 1t OF
some of it's more revolving features. But this
account of the hunting down of the murder
ess by the willy agents Of the law; the pltiful
spectacle of one vengeful woman just risen
from a sick bed tracking another weak, lone.
guilty creature for months with the tenaclty
and, alas with something of the ferocity
of a bloodhound the recital of the guilty
woman's struggles with poverty While crushed
with the heavy load of her sin, her secret,
and her crime her close confinement for
week while the detectives ransacked the city
for evidences of her guilt sufficiently conclu-
sive to compel her confession; and last, and
most painful of all, the brief story which she
tells of guilty love and consequent brutality.
of insane jealousy and the stealthy assassina-
ton Of her unsuspecting lover which 1t
prompted, are depressing rather than exciting,
and one rises from their per1sal heart-sick
rather than indignant. Every great crime like
this, it has been frequently remarked,
reveals a condition of society hith-
erto unsupported. That which this muir
der dscloses is revolving beyond de-
scription. The facts of her wrongs at his
hands and her pursuit by the police irresistibly
create a sympathy for the half-starved crea-
ture. The blood of Charles Goodrich does not
cry aloud for vengeance; he and the woman
were quits, for his death seems only fair pen
atty for a blighted life He had made the
woman the wretch she was, and only Heaven
and the law were outraged in his horrible
murder But to these the woman must
answer, and let US hope, remembering her mad
love as well as her sin, that Heaven will DO
less inexOrabIe than the law is likely to be, or
can be, for the confession as well as the
proof of guilt are conclusive and condemn
her beyond hope of escape.
The police of Brooklyn have been fully
three months in search of this woman, whs
has never been beyond their immediate juris-
diction. They now make special pleas in
extenuation of their delay in finding her.
The detectives may leave their final success TO
Justify their efforts. 1t is complete if it has
been long delayed all the proofs necessary
have been secured, and the officers of the law
who are to prosecute have plain work before
them. The search has been difficult one;
only q single detective, and she unframed,
seems to have known the woman by sight, and
she finally met her only by accident. But to
the discredit of the police it will be remem-
bered that by harsh treatment of one impor-
tant witness, named Lucette Meyers, they de-
prived themselves of an ally who, 1t is now
evident, could have greatly aided them had
she not been needlessly offended. And this
woman, it seems, has not only been the great
est obstacle in the way Of detection, but now
boldly and defantly declares that the connec-
ton of the man Roscoe with the case shall re-
main a mystery Resolute women such as she
have before now baflled the ingenuity OF the
best detectives.
The shameful and pitiful story has but one
moral, which all can read as they run. What
need TO draw it anew when it is certain that
there are none who will take the lesson TO
hearth Illicit love does not always end thus
tragically for man. In ninety-nine tragedies
out of every hundred the world sees that it is
the woman who suffers wrong aud bears con-
tumely, and finally dies, scorned and soon for
gotten of the world. These lives make no
narratives in the papers. these tragedies find
no record on the books of the law; but to
all the actors alike there some day comes
home the bitter truth, the memorable decree,
| "The wages of sin ia death"