The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-06-13

Unless the details OF the murder OF M.
Il. Walworth, the novelist, by his son,
have been misstated, it was one of the
most brutal and suniastifiable crimes on
record. There was nothing in the cir
cumstances of the family quarrel, which
has had this fatal result, to excuse the
murder or to place young Walworth in
in any other position than that of q
brutal assassin. The circumstances of
this tragedy and the position of the
family in society are such that public
interest will be excited in the case,
hardly second to that which followed the
murder of Fisk. M. L. Walworth, the
murdered man, although his literary
reputation never exceeded very limited
local boundaries, was well known in
society. He was man of the Willis
type, although he did not possess 1.-THE
of Mr.. Willis intellectual ability. The
Home Journal, Mr.. Willis old paper,
was, in fact, the medium which first in
troduced Mr.. Walworth to the public
His novels and newspaper stories, how
ever, were of the cheap and popular
order, and, but for,his untimely fate, his
name would scarcely have been known
outside his immediate coterie of ad-
mirers. He was highly connected, how
ever. His father, Chancellor Walworth,
was one of the most distinguished citi-
zens of New York, had achieved a ma
tional reputation in jurisprudence, and
was identified with many of the more
important religious and charitable move
ments of his day. He was pre- eminently
society man, and, like many other men
who make society life and tuft-hunting
business, he had family troubles. He
parted with his wife, daughter of the
late Gen. Harding, some years ago,
and, according to the statement of the
son, who espoused the cause of his
mother in the unfortunate quarrel, he
had repeatedly sent her threatening and
insulting bletters. Some of these
letters were intercepted and read
by the son, and one of them
induced him to go from Saratoga to New
York city, where his father was engaged
in some Masonic business. Arrived
there, the son sent his father the follow
ing note 90 o'clock-I want to try and
settle some family matters. Call at the
Sturtevant House after an hour or two.
If am not there, 1 will leave word at
the Office. f. III. WALwoRTH. The
family matter which he wished to settle,
according to his own statement, was to
exact a promise from his father that he
would send no more threatening letters
to his mother The two met, and the
son, drawing pistol, told his father to
promise him he would cease that sort of
correspondence. The father promised
that no more such letters should be
xv,.;ftap Tho N II a Il Al c1,
ed his purpose. But, as if determined to
provoke his father or to find some Occa-
sion for the use OF violence, the young
man continued the conversation on
family matters, which naturally enough
led to ill-feeling and remarks from the
father, which the son deemed insulting
to himself, whereupon he fired four
shots at him, two of which were of q
fatal character. The himsy excuse made
by the son is, that he saw his father
drawing pistol, and that he anticipated
an assault by firing at him first. This
is the same plea that was made by
Stokes, and has been made thousand
times over by other murderers. In this
case, the shallowness of the excuse is
shown by the fact that, when the body
was examined by the Coroner, there was
no weapon at all on the person. After
the murder, the son, with the utmost
sang .frOid, walked down stairs, informed
the clerk of the hotel of what he had
done went out and telegraphed his
relatives, and, after he had given him.
self up to the authorities, expressed no
regret, except for the terrible distress it
must occasion his mother. The miser-
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accomplishing nothing by the wanton
murder of his father except to add to
the griefs of his mother already existing,
and intensity them by imposing upon
her new sorrow and embittering her