The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-03-02
and it made her unmindful of their

and it made her 6nmindful of their
scrutiny.
On reaching Bremerhaven another
detective awaited her, whose attend
ance, she imagined, had been secured
by the kind fore-thought of her husband.
While waiting on the platform for cab,
she was surprised to behold vast con-
course of people, apparently expecting
some public demonstration, and crowd
ing all the streets and by-ways which
opened on the main thorough
fare. Soon over the faces of
the multitude 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 sor-
row 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 reach
ing the hotel, the Inspector of Police
called upon her, and from his lips she
first heard the awful story of Thomas'S
crime. For a 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 subsequent examination
to which she was submitted she had
barely strength to answer the questions
put to her. On asking to see her hus-
band, the officials at first demurred,
and afterward agreed to an interview
only in the presence of witnesses and
with the understanding that all cOnver-
sation should be carried on in German,
with which language, Mrs. Thomas says,
her husband was quite unfamiliar. 1t
was only when he was speeches. and
at the point of death that she was per-
mitted to see him. In 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 recognition, and
when the doctors inquired if he knew
her he pressed her hand tightly and
strove, but in vain, to speak. For 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 a series of examinations by
both magistrates and curious persons of
no official standing, coupled with sug-
gestions from the German press which
the American residents felt called upon
to resent, until, wearied by this kind OF
persecution and longing to secure re-
tirement from the unenviable publicity
into which she had been brought, Mrs.
Thomas came to America.
At present she is residing in New
York with her four children, from whom
she has sedulously concealed the knowl-
edge of their fathers crime and death.
Left utterly penniless in her widOwhOod,
it was only by the munificence of the
American residents in Germany that
she was enabled to pay the expenses of
the voyage, and she is now without any
resources Whatever. \ lady friend of
hers, who met her on the Continent and
keenly appreciates the position Of a
woman of refinement such as Mrs.
Thomas is, exposed to penury after
life of af1lueAce, has suggested the pro-
priety of making a public appeal for
sympathy, as Americans on the Cont
nent did, in order to enable the widow
and mother 20 support the little ones
whom she shrinks from intrusting to an
eleemosynafy institution.