Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1882-12-23
A STRANGE STORY.

The jury came into court at l0.3O d. III
and declared her guilty of manslaugh'er
and the punishment was fixed al one
Year in the penitentiary. Few people
are surprised at the leniency OF The sen
tence. Those who have watched the
trial would have been better satisfied
with verdict of acquiltal, but the sen
,ence is as light as could have been
made consistently.
There has not been murder case Tor
many wears that has developed so much
interest. For several weeks the conr:
room has been crowded daily, and
ladies' in sesskin sacques have We'd with
each other for desirable seats. This
trial has developed remarkable case of
blind devotion on the one hand and OF
brutality on the other. From the first
sympathy has been with Miss Sturla,
and the recital of Der wrongs at the
hands of Charles Stiles, gambler, has
brought the tears TO many an eye.
There has been no attempt TO disprove
the shooting of Stiles by Miss SlurIa
In TACT, she herself described the fatal
meeting on the witness stand and fell
to the floor in an attack of Mysteries.
The defense has been that she was
driven crazy by the brutality of the
man to whom she clung and that the
act was that of an insane person.
Theresa Sturla is beautiful girl of
twenty-one. Charles Stiles, the son of
General Z. b. Stiles, once prominent in
Illinois politics, was tbirty-two. His
career was a wild one. He went I"
Europe when boy aud returned with
knowledge of the wickedness OF the
gay capitals. He was an adventurer,
gambler and at the age of twenty one
was leader among the fast men OF
Chicago. Although moving at first in
high society circles he voluntarily made
himself an outcast. He specula,ed in
the Board Of Trade and, firing OF
this. started on the grand Eastern cir
cult as IA pool seller. This was seven
years ago.
1t was while engaged in this occnpa-
ton that Stiles fell in at Baltimore with
the woman who killed him. She was
then a young but singularly beautiful
girl, whose real name was Theresa Stur-
la. She was engaged to be married, but,
meeting Stiles, she became infatuated
with him, as he did with her, and they
lived together thereafter as man ana
wife. Coming to Chicago tour years
AGO he was made caller OF the Gail
Board, at salary Of about $1,000 His
ungovernable propensity Tor gambling,
coupled with his extravagant habits, ab-
sorhrd 81 this, however, ana he was
head over heels in debt ten months out
of the twelve. His value US caller
gave him q standing on the Board OF
Trade which he could not have obtained
in any other way, but there was very
LITTLE in common between him and the
members He began TO abuse Theresa
soon alter he had her in his power. She
idolized him and he knew it, but he
seemed to enjoy her suffering, and is
known 10 have done many things to
excite her, simply for the purpose OF
witnessing her furious outbreaks. He
was extremely brutal, but she was his
willing slave Wherever he went she
followed. When he got ont Of money
he levied on her Her jewelry and her
c!othiEn more than once went 10 the
pawnbroker 10 supply him with money.
ii larger sums were needed she knew
how to get them aud he was willing to
have her. When the money had been
delivered to him he reproached her with
unfailhlulness and Knocked her down
and on one occasion kicked her III the
side
In fact, Stiles brutality, as shown by
the trial, stands hardly without parallel.
1t has been shown that on many Occa-
slons after Stiles bad beaten, despoled
and temporarily abandoned the girl, she
suffered intensely from hysteria, and IN
some cases showed unmistaka6le signs
of insanity. She was naturally super
s,i,ious, aud Stiles, knowing this, worked
upon her fears 10 accomplish bis ends.
When out driving with her at night he
would take her Into some neglected or
abandoned graveyard and till her ears
with ghusily romances until she would
scream with terror. One night ne drove
to the old cemetery at the south end of
Lincoln Park, and by talking to the gill
q ghosts, skeletons, skulls aud other
matters connected with the dead fright
ened her so that she leaped from the
carriage. The horses took light and
ran away and she hid behind vant
for hours, afraid To move. After
night OF agony she made her way to
neighboring house and related her
wrongs to sympathetic family, certain
mem bers of which have appeared atthe
trial to corroborale her story. The III
carnations INDUCED in by the gnl when
suffering from Stiles il.-treatment have
been used to show the unsettled con-
dilion of her mind. AT times she would
surround herself with candles, read let
tiers TO her friends. cry over them and
talk incoherently. She would stick
pins through photographs and stand
them on their heads and make pm
holes in all sorts of things. She was
always burning incense and burying
things in box of dirt. When suffer
lug physically or mentally from his
cruelty she would sing and cry and
laugh alternately and then would throw
herself on the floor, talking to herself,
frs, in Italian and then III English. She
finally came to believe that wbiskey
was The cause of his cruelty to her and
she resolved 10 scare him. She bought