Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-03

all. The note, by whoever written,
was not brought until 1li o'clock.
LILIES LIFE.
Here Mr.. Evans turned aside to re-
view the life Of Lillian Madison, saying
that he would let her tell her own
story let her be her own biographer.
lie would read her letters, or Mt least
comment upon them, showing that in
her condition death might be pre-
ferable to life; that in her mo-
ments of solitude she longed for
death, and contemplated suicide ;
that she was restless to leave the pa
rental roof, and just as soon as she
had attained her majority she did leave
that home, which was home Of cruelty
and misery for her. And here Mr..
Evans stopped to ridicule the idea Of
Colonel Aylett that the education which
Mrs. Tunstall had given Lillian was the
cause Of Lillian's home troubles. lie
declared that if that were so the pa
rents Of Virginia should hesitate to
educate their children.
LILLIAN INVOLVED.
Mr.. Evans said that il is in proof
that as far back as 1879, because OF
certain letters she had written to Biggs
and others, she had involved herself and
relatives in trouble, and the letters
were Of such character as to consti-
tute leverage TO make the prosecutors
Of Biggs desist.
Mr.. Evans nevertheless conceded that
the letters were probably but girlish
improprieties f; doings Of a thoughtless
young maiden. He said these letters
were preserved until late period, and
the destruction Of them occasioned a
family feud.
OH, II SUICIDE WERE NOT A SIN.
Here Mr.. Evans read the letter OF
August, 1883 supposed date), wherein
Lillian wrote to her Aunt Jane in great
agony Of spirit" Oh, what a terror
nv life is :" "0h, how | am strug-
Cling with myself" "0h, if suicide
were not a sin !" &C., &C., pouring
out to her aunt the feelings Of misery
and hopelessness that possessed her
heart.
Lillian in that letter spoke Of how
inhumanly they" treated her at home.
Taking a look into her inner domestic
life. from 1879 to 1884, Mr.. Evans
found her an unhappy and discontented
girl; found her leaving that home,
leaving it finally and forever, with
out even contemplating corre-
spOndence with it, for she wrote
but one letter to them from Bath,
and that at Christmas, when she justl-
fed herself by sending some little to-
kens to the younger children. She
leaves that home a fugitive-an exile,
| if you choose-certainly with a pur-
pose never to return. She goes into
the home Of her grandfather and there
remains until October, when she comes
to Richmond and goes to Bath goes
in physical condition that makes an
other incubus weighing down her life.
A DUAL LIFE.
Her necessity required her to live a
dual life !; a life of misery and sadness
at night; life Of ease and sociability
with those with whom she associated.
We find her not only in social gatherings,
but "in the period Of her pregnsncy
receiving love-letters one from a
man in King William and one from a
youth Ofnineteen in Bath; well-grown,
tall boy. Mr.. Evans complimented
Mrs. Dickinson for her kindly and ma
ternal feeling for Lillian in life, and for
devotion to her memory in death.
A MYSTERY.
Mrs. Dickinson says she Lillian) came
down here on the 5th Of January - for
the purpose of visiting sick aunt, ="
and she told her that "her Cousin Tom
mie met .her." 1t was not true. She
was not carried to the house Of her
aunt. Whether Tommie met her on
that day. Mr.. Evans said, lis, | think,
a matter Of great doubt" What did
she come here for? Who knows? Who
has told? The implication is that she
met her Cousin Tommie here; " that
she came from Bath and he from King
and Queen for purpose / am ashamed
TO name" But there is no
evidence of it. Suppositions will
not do. Proof is required, and
it is not given you; nothing but
suspicion. Well, if they met they Sc
parated. She is approaching the pc
riod of maternity. She sees the home
of her childhood closed on her by un-
grateful and cruel parents. She knows
that when her shame eliminates she
will be an outcast from society. The
days of childbed come up in terror be-
fore her. What does she do? She pre-
pares a pretext for leaving this home in
Bath.
They tell you that the prisoner fab.
ricated this scheme. There is no proof
Of it. The Laura Curtis letter is writ
ten. To whom could the motive Of the
act be more reasonably imputed than to
the girl herself. She had to do some
thing. She made no confession of her
condition. No; she planned to come
to the city. A girl despoiled of her
virtue, when she finds that her time is
about come, will not remain in the
Sparsely settled country, but seeks a
city in which TO hide her shame.
OH, MISERABLE LILLE.
See how she worked it. Did he tell
her to write a letter to Miss Matte
Williams of similar import to those
written Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Tunstall
OF course not. That was her idea. II
was to give admonition to her friends
that they need not correspond with heI
or expect letters from her; it was to
cover her act +; to account for her re.
tirement. So she came to the city oI
Richmond for these purposes, and in a
state of great wretchedness. You re-
member what she said to Conductor
Wright, Il wish that the train would
run off and kill me-" Wasn't she in
that state to commit that act which she
said she was ready to commit before
she left her parents roof. | ask you,