Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-03-27
A STRANGE STORY.
A Beautiful Devil and Her Terrible
Crime.

Among other stories of real life
which | have heard told ut the capital,
one of the strangest was of a widow in
Virginia who was left with several
children, among them very beautiful
daughter about 10 years of age. The
widow, finding herself embarrassed.
opened a clearinghouse at the county
site, and among her boarders was a
Mr.. W., a wealthy merchant over 40
years of age, but a very fine looking
man. This gentleman was the prop
and stay of the family; gave employ
ment TO the sons, educated the daugh-
ter at fashionable academy and,
very naturally, on her return fell des-
perately in love with her, when he
should have preferred the mother. He
pressed his suit with perseverance, but
the beautiful Mildred resisted his APP
peals, and the opportunities of all her
friends. Finally, however, after two
years of aSsiduity and delicate gallant
~ on the part of Mr.. W., and the com
bined tears, entreaties, threats, and
prosecutions of her family, the fair girl
reluctantly stood before the altar and
became his wife. The next evening
large party was given them, but in the
midst of it Mr. W., being attacked with
ertigo and sick headache, was COM
PEELED to withdraw. His young wife
hung over him in the silent watches of
the night, apparently in deep distress,
and insisted on giving him potion;
she poured out wineglassful of laud-
anum, and he swallowed it, uncon-
scious of its nature. 1t acted as an
emetic, but left him stupid and wander
inc. His senses reeled. One moment
he lay motionless as if on the brink of
the spirit world, and the next he would
leap up convulsively, a strong man in
lis agony. Mrs. w. denied all admis-
sion into his chamber. At length he
fell into a deep sleep. She then stoop-
ed for moment over the smoldering
embers, approached the bed, gazed at
her sleeping husband. and holding a
heated ladle in her hand attempted to
pour stream "a melted lead in his ear.
She trembled, and the kissing liquid,
intended to scald the brain and thus
kill without trace, fell upon his
cheek. He shrieked in excruciating
torture, and the jewellers in the adjoin-
ing saloon rushed into the chamber.
There writhed the still stupid hus-
band, the lead riveted deep into his
cheek, and there stood the fend-wife,
her bridal fillets yet upon her brow,
the instrument of death in her hand
and an empty vial, labeled laudanum,
lying on the floor. The fearful reali-
ties of the cause flashed upon every
one, and, in the confusion of the mo-
ment, she was hurried away and taken
to distant state. On searching the
apartments, an old magazine was
found containing the confession of a
woman who had murdered five hus-
bands by pouring lead into their ears.
The laudanum and the lead, it was as
certained, she procured from the store
of Mr.. W. a few days before the mar
riage, and the ladle was part of his
wedding gift. The grand jury next
morning found bin against the fugi-
tive, and the legislature, being in SEES
sion, forthwith decreed an absolute di-
vOrce. The sequel of this romance
is yet more singular. Years rolled
away, and Mr.. w. continued a wretch
ed and solitary man; but the spell of
the enchantress was still upon his soul.
He closed his store, sold his estates,
collected his ample means and traced
her to her distant retreat, TO make a
new offer of his hand. She had Just
married a gentleman of high standing,
acquainted with all the details of her
career, shuddering at the tragedy, but
incapable of resisting her charms.
Poor w! Then, indeed, did the iron
enter his soul. 1.-The deadly arrow
quivered in his side" His early love.
his fiuctuating courtship, his marriage
and the catastrophe, the flight, the di-
vorce, his years of misery, the new
birth of his passion and now his disap-
pointment, final and forever, came
crushing over him like an iceberg in
the tide of the bitter memories, and he
prayed for death.-Ben PerJey PO0re IN
Boston Budget.