Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1876-07-13

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ferent rooms we visited. Their dresses. clothes
SOAP. brushes, towels and iD fact everythlni
was neatly done up 10 packages and geDeraIll
hid beneath their beds
Leaving this ward, We next entered the col
ored women habjtaton and | can truly say lha
in a long and chequered career OF llfe, | never
have seen anythog so approaching utter nor
ror as this. 1t was like being 10 the abode OF
the lost and of the eternally damned. One
coal black negress, with flaming eyes, from
Prince William county, Va, stood IN the mid.
die of the passage, aud with her wild tits Of
ugovernable madness, demanded her release
| Shrinking and gestulatDg, she looked to me
the very incarnation of Bedlam. Opposite her,
harapguing in a sentorian voice was burly
| fat BLACK women who believed she WAS the wife
| of Jesus Christ Sitting down, closely watched
| by an attendant, was colored girl, With a
| mania for destruction; her wrists had terrible
| cicatriz wounds, half iuch wide, made by a
clothes line rope cutting her to the bone. 1t
was fearful spectacle to look at. This was the
way her own family kept her tied before she
ca me to The asylum, to keep her out OF mls-
chief. Doctor Hamlin showed me the window
where >he had picked out with her teeth all
the putty from the window panes.
Why the colored women were more violent
than the rest, don't know, but SO 1t Was.
Trer ward was never quiet; Wild manlacs
threw their arms above their heads and
screamed in fearful laughter. Angry ones
roamed to ard fro filling the air with lupreca-
tious aud curses. Some sat down groanlng
dsmally. Others CT ~ on religious excite
meUt rxhorted AID sung hymns. Others agaln
jiobered sensecss jargon of words, or muttered
10 themselves. Aad so curses, Imprecatous,
maolacai m@rrlment, gr0ans, siDglog, preach
Ing, wild rayogs, screams and shrleks oil com.
mingled. formed volume OF sOuud 80 full OF
horror aud of woe that imagination cuu'd not
invent pandemOnlum more utterly dresdtul
than this. 1t surpassed the awful unhaoWed
rites of the German Walpurgis ulght, and lts
equal could only be found IN mad house, or
10 Hades. We lett this part OF the building
with the surgiug ooise still ringing 10 our ears
| theu told the Doctor that had been asked
by the newspaper men TO be allowed to have an
interview with Miss Mary Harris. He raj her
d"murred, but at last agreed to leave 1t to Mss
Harris herself, aod 10 few moments he re-
turned aud ushercd me 10 her presence. Her
room was elegantly furnished; pictures, articles
of virtu scattered around, piles OF bouks
papers, showed that che was literary women.
From t." widow superb view Was to be had,
and bul for the restraint, she w,u have been
coutent. Miss Harris-but before 70 further
I will tell you who she washer life would
form the materials for 6Fst.c!ass sensational
novel.
MISS MARY HARRIS
WIS born 10 Iowa, but lived 10 Chicago She was
bright, clever, impulsive woman, high strung,
always in extremes, With 20 medium about her.
When girl she fell in with Mr.. Adaronon
Burroughs,a a gentleman by birth aud education,
and fascinating man witEal, and old enough
to be her father. Burrouah rs WAS so infatuated
with the child and the promise OF her ripenlng
into All accomplished W man that be was with
her constantly. He proposed to mould and
fashion her mind by the superior force OF his
own age, experience and will, in order that she
might at future period make him suitable
wife Years passed on, and the childhood chang
ed into rhoud and girlhood into womanhood,
and sne b came all that he had hoped and from
the letters that passed it seems the day was &C.
tuslly fxed for their marriage. She seems to
have loved Burroughs with an all absorbing
love not often seen in this world Burroughs
was profes s>or of religion; but, as Mr.. Voor-
bees eoquently said al the trial, was 1t part
of Christian character to win the love and conf
dence of child, TO cultivate her affections as
wears advance engage to become her husband,
induce her to leave her home In order to enjoy
his society and to escape from another proposal
IL,
deferred, TO dispel all her bright dreams of life
by quitting her in moment, BY dropping sll
connection with her without word OF expsna.
ton, by marrying another woman and turning
his back On her fnrever|
at this stage the whole affair is wrapped in
mystery; their Intercourse was of the Platonlc
kind Not so much as whisper of detracton
was bresthed against her fair fame; everybody
knew of the cou tship of the child, the subse-
quent engagement, the allurement from home,
and the final unexplained and silent desertion,
and the sudden marriage with another.
sertion she changed utterly; her former buoysnt
health withered away, the bloom of her
cheek died out IN single night, her slight form
dreoped, and sleep, except In httul intervals,
fed from her pillow; she became morose, dis.
tracted and finally h9mlGldsliy M insane, ana mon On
she was staying, came to Washington, went to
the Treasury, where Burroughs had an office,
entered his room and
SHOT HIM THROUGH THE HEART,
and then fell down beside him crying, my
Godp l loved him better than my own SOUL
Mary Harris was tried for her life. She was de-
fouded by Dan Voorhees, of Indiana, who made
then the most brilliant effort of his lfe and she
WAS acquitted and placed IN the asyl am After q
short tine she WAS released and again put back
A second time she WAS allowed to depart upon
q promise never to return to Washington. a
short time after she returned to Washington
and wss found with = loaded pistol in her pock.
ct which she intended to use on well known
Washington gentleman for some fancied wrong.
She was ircarcerated for tie third time, and is
now held to keep her out of mischief. found
Miss Harris a lady oi about thirty summers
unmistakab!y lady-with that repose OF man
ner that shows so we'll the refined woman. She
is about the medium height, elegantly formed
her features are finely moulded but her eyes
hat sAW
,he is much diSfsured by her hair being cut
close. She had no complaints TO make, only
she wanted to b, SLOWED to leave the asylum,
where, she says, she is detained i'll defiance of
all Justice and right, and tnat she is kept in dur
ance because of the enmity of the family of Bur-
roughs Her eyes filled with tears several times
during the interview. 1fshe is nota perfectly
sane person never SAW one and tnlnk ner
case ought to be fully investigated.
l could SAY more, but my lvtter Is spun out to
an immoderste length. examined the kitch-
on. store rooms pantry, bakery and meat house,
81, hSua oil WAY