Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-10-12


 self.
 "The book did, indeed, interest me. There was one terrible story which took a hold on my mind-the story of man who stabbed his own wife in sleep walking dream. l thought of putting down my book after that, and then changed my mind again and went on. The next chapters were not so interest ing; they were full of learned accounts of why we fall asleep, and what our brains do in that state, and such like. It ended in my falling asleep, too, in my armchair by the freside
 II don't know what o'clock it was when l went to sleep. l don't know how long I slept, or whether l dreamed or not. The candle had burned out, and it was still dark when 1 woke 1 can't even say why woke unless it was the coldness of the room.
 "There was spare candle on the chimney piece 1 found the matchbox and got light. Then for the first time 1 turned round to- wards the bed; and l saw"
 The unfortunate creature tainted at tie bare remembrance of that dreadful sight her husband stretched dead on the bed with knife in his heart. The proceedings were adjourned. She received every possible care and attention, the chaplain looking after her welfare as we'll as the surgeon. have said nothing of the evidence of the landlady and the servants. It was taken as a mere formality. What little they knew proved nothing against Mrs. Zebedec Tho police, again, knew of nothing that sup ported her frantic accusation of herself. Her master and mistress where she had been last in service spoke of her in the highest terms. We were at complete deadlock.
 It had been thought best not to surprise Mir. Deluc as yet by citing him as witness. The action of the law was, however, hurried in this case by 8 private communication re- | ceived from the chaplain
 | After twice seeing and speaking with Mrs. Zebedee, the reverend gentleman was firmly persuaded that she had no more to do than himself with the murder of her husband. He did not consider that he was justified in re- beating 8 confidential communication-he | would only recommend that Mir. Deluc should be summoned to appear at the next examination This advice was immediately l followed
 The police had no evidence against Mrs. Zebedee when the inquiry was resumed. To assist the ends of justice she was now put into the witness box. The discovery of her mur- dered husband when she lit the candle in the small hours of the morning was passed over as rapidly as possible Only three questions of importance were put to her.
 First the knife was produced Had she ever seen it in her husbands possession? Never. Did she know anything about itl Nothing whatever.
 Secondly-Did she or did her husband lock the bedroom door when they returned from the theatre. No. Did she lock the door her self before she fell asleep in her chaira No.
 Thirdly-Had she any sort of reason to
 give for supposing that she had murdered
 her husband in sleep walking dream7 No
 reason, except that she was beside herself at
 the time, and the book put the thought into
 her head.
 After this, the other witnesses were sent
 out of court. The motive for the chaplain's
 communication now appeared. Mrs. Zebedee
 was asked if anything unpleasant had oc
 cured between MT. Deluc and herself?
 Yes; he had caught her alone on the stairs
 at the lodging house, had presumed to make
 love to her, and had carried the insult still
 further by attempting to kiss her. She had
 slapped his face, and had declared that hel
 husband should know of it, if his misconduct
 was repeated. He was in furious rage al
 having his face slapped, and he said to her
 Madam, you will live to regret this'
 After consultation and at the request o1
 our inspector, it was decided to keep Mir
 Deluc in ignorance of Mrs. Zebedce's state ment for the present. When the witnesses were recalled he gave the same evidence which he had already given to the inspector and he was then asked if he knew anything of the knife. He looked at it without any guilty signs in his face and swore that he hat
 never seen it until that moment. The re sumed inquiry ended, and still nothing hat been discovered.
 But we kept an eye on Mir Deluc Ou next effort was to try if we could associat him with the purchase of the knife. Here again (there really did seem to be
 sort of fatality in this easel we reached m useful result. It was easy enough to find ou the wholesale cutters who had manufacture
 the knife at Sheffield by the mark on tn blade. But they made tens of thousands o 3 such knives, and disposed of them to retal
 dealers all over Great Britain-to say noth ing of foreign parts. As to finding out tn person who had engraved the imperfect in - scription (without knowing where, or b. Q whom, the knife had been purchasedD, " might as we'll have looked for the proverba t needle in the bundle of hay Our last re p source was to have the knife photographed l with the inscribed side uppermost, and t send copies to every police station in tn Kingdom.
 At the same time we reckoned up MI B Deluc-I mean that we made investigation 0 into his past life-on the chance that he an l. the murdered man might have known eac s other, and might have had a quarrel, or ' rivalry about a woman on some former occs V SIOu. NO SuCu u4SCOSoEy ESWaIuSu uS 7, We found Deluc to have led dissipate t life, and to have mixed with very ba }. company. But he had kept out of reach ( !, the law. A man may be a prohigate vagt y bond; may insult a lady; may say threatenin things to her in the first stinging sensation ( 'f having his face slapped-but it doesn't folio 5. from these blots on his character that he hs
 murdered her husband in the dead of tt ]. night.
 e Once more, then, when we were calle B. upon to report ourselves we had no evidenc $ to produce. The photographs failed to idel
 tify the knife and its interrupted inscription F. Poor Mrs. Zebedee was allowed to go back { le her friends the understanding that si T, was to appear again If called upon. Articl SC in the newspapers began to inquire ho d many more murderers would succeed 1 re bafding the police. The authorities at u r. treasury offered a reward of e100 for u ,e necessary information. And the weeI a. passed, and nobody claimed the reward.