Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-03-04
A Sad WidOwhOOd,

1t is claimed that Mrs. Thomas, tn
widow of the dynamite fend, did no
know of the crimes of her husband unit
after the Bremerhaven disaster. She wa
at Dresden and the authorities sent
detective to bring her up to Bremen
haven. She had heard about the grea
explosion there and fancied for awhil,
that her husband had been standing b,
and sustained some injury, but the de
tective, while concealing the facts of thu
case, intimated that Thomas had beer
wounded by his own hand. This intelli
gence increased her anxiety and dismay
and seemed to divert her attention from
the curious crowd which gathered al
every station on the route to see her,
and it made her anmindful of theil
scrutiny.
On reaching Bremerhaven another de.
tective awaited her, who Sc attendance,
she imagined, had been secured by the
kind forethought OF her husband. While
waiting on the platform for cab she was
surpi ised to find vast concourse of peo-
pie, apparently expecting some public
demonstration and crowdipg all the
streets and byways which opened on the
main thoroughfare. Soon over the
faces of the multitude a look of pity
passed as there moved into view long
train of hearses, stretching far up the
avenue, which, she was told, bore to the
grave the victims Of the explosion. The
sorrow depicted on the faces of relatives
who followed the sad cortege moved her
womanly heart, and the tears of the wife
were shed in pity for the victims of
the husbands fatal plot. On reaching
her hotel ehe inspector of police called
upon her and from his lips she first heard
the awful story OF Thomas crime. For
while she says she was unable to realize
or comprehend what she had heard. In
a state of stupor she asked the official to
repeat it again, and during the subse-
quent examination to which she was sub
mitted she had barely strength to answer
the questions put her. On asking to
see her husband the officials at first de.
INJURED, and afterward agreed to an in
terview only in the presence of witness
es and with the understanding that all
conversation should be carried on in
German, with which language, Mrs.
Thomas says, her husband was quite un-
familiar. It was only when he was
speechless and at the point of death that
she was permitted to see him. In a
large room in the hospital, whittier he
had been taken, Thomas lay. His breath
came hard and labored, and his whole
frame trembled convulsively when his
wife was led up to the bedside. His eyes
fixed upon her face with look of recog-
milton. and when the doctors inquired if
he knew her he pressed her hand tightly
and strove, but In vain, to speak. For
D few moments Mrs. Thomas was allowed
to remain by the dying man, and soon
after she was led away he breathed his
last. Then began series of examina-
lions by both magistrates and curious
persons of no official standing, coupled
with suggestions from the German press
which the American residents felt called
upon to resent, until, wearied by this
Kind of persecution and longing to Sc
cure retirement from the unenviable
publicity into which she had been
brought, Mrs. Thomas came to
America.
At present she is residingi in New York
With her four children, from whom she
las sedulously concealed the knowledge
If their fathers crime and death. Left
Utterly penniless in her widowhood, it |
vas only by the munifcence of the
American residents in Germany that she
vas enabled to pay the expenses of the
'oyage, and she is now without any re-
ources whatever.