Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-27
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE D1srArcH.,

I0rmS necessary 10 discover dnu recOr(
that on Friday, November %, 1889, a
or about 10 o'clock A. NJ, anC
in this county, Stephen Pettu
came to his death from pistol shot wound
received at the hands of Mrs Hanna B
Southworth. proceedings were scarcely
more than formal, since no evidence wal
offered except that tending to make cleal
! the circumstance of the killing.
Those in front were fairly bent over tht
rail by the crush, and seemed as If they
were thrusting their heads out in order tC
get a few inches closer view o.
the woman who had killed a man
Mrs. Southworth came up from the Tomb'
in carriage with Police Captain McLaugh,
lin and Lawyer Howe. Her mother and
William B. Martin, her brother, met her al
the court house, and the family, with
Lawyer Howe, sat at one end of the law.
yers' table.
NOT A STRONG WOMAN.
Mrs. Southworth had improved in ap
pearance, but was still clearly a very frai
woman, ard heavy cough was evidence o.
the disease of the lungs from
which she has suffered for many
years. Her emaciation is extreme. Her
reddish-brown hair was dressed more
|
curled over the forehead and at the back OF
the neck. Her wide, brown eyes were open
and bright. She seemed careless of all that
| passed about her, except at rare intervals.
The crowd eyed her huDgrIly, but she seemed
not to know how she was being stared at
The Coroner called Policeman Goodwin
as the first witness, and he said that on the
morning of the murder he was at his post at
the corner of Fulton and South streets,
when he heard the shots, ran up and
seized the woman, and taking her into
the store where Mr.. Pettus lay, asked
her why she had DOM it. She said that the
man had mistreated her and dishonored her.
Mr.. Pettus was unable to speak. Goodwin
then took her to the police station. On the
way she said that the man had drugged her.
CoRRoBoRATIvE TESTIMONY.
Philip Smith, clerk at 10 Fulton street,
saw Mr.. Pettus run into the store and start
as if to search behind the door; then he took
two steps into the store, and fell on the floor.
Blood was gushing from his mouth, and he
died in few moments. The policeman
brought in the woman and asked her ''if
the man was her husband" She replied:
mo, not my husband; but that. man dis
graced me and ruined me"
Patrick Dougherty, an expressman, saw a
woman with a revolver chasing a man and
firing at him. She was about five feet be-
hind the man and aiming at his back.
William A. Dawson saw q man aud
woman before him. He didn't notice them
particularly until he saw her take two or
three rapid steps and fire a revolver twice;
then there were two more shots and the
man turned partly around, and then
another shot. She aimed straight at the
mans back. Examined by Mr.. Howe as
to what property had been found on Mr..
Pettus' body when it was searched at the
station house, he mentioned a letter which
Mr.. Howe wanted produced.
A LETTER ALLOWED TO BE READ.
Mr.. Howe had Photographic copies of the
Rosa Lloyd letters in his hand, and he com.
pared them curiously with the one the Coro-
ner handed him. Then he asked
that the letter be put in evil
dence. Lawye. Bedford objected, but
the Coroner allowed it, and Mr.. Howe read
the letter found in the dead mans pocket,
with his best dramatic effect, marred some
what by mistakes in making out the words.
1t was from a woman with whom he was ev-
identity maintaining close relations.
As he read. Mrs. Southworth, for the first
time, manifested interest in the case. She
sat leaning forward, with her eyes shining,
drinking in every word. Afterward
letter for her, and when he had
done so she compared it herself
excitedly with the handwriting in the Rosa
LLOYD photos Apparently it satisfied her
that they were in different writing. and that
there must have been still another woman
with whom Pettus was involved. After a
time her excitement left her, and she re-
lapsed into indifference again.
HER LAWYER SPEAKS FOR HER.
The Coroner asked Mr.. Howe if his client
had any statement to make, and Mr.. Howe
replied: "Some years since, when this
lady, who is OF good family, who had relig-
ious teaching and is highly educated, first
became acquainted with this modern
Tarquin. and disgrace the name oil that
ancient betrayer in comparing him with
Pettus, she believed him to be a man of
honor. Confding woman that she was, she
trusted him. He drugged her and worked
her dishouor."
Mrs Southworth here. was heard to ex-
claim excitedly, as she tugged at her coun-
sells coat with one hand: Don't! Don'tl
Don'tr' He turned to her, and saying in
low voice: "We must tell the truth
about it, you know" placed his left hand
upon her shoulder, and so continued,
she leaning her head against his side
and sobbing. Her mother, also. who had
been quietly weeping all the morning under
her black veil, pushed it up to wipe her
eyes and wet cheeks more easily.
LEFT TO THE PUBLIC.
Mr.. Howe continued: ''The work of ruin
in the course of time caused her to suffer
that which left her a physical wreck. 1t
would be inhuman and cruel, as
well as useless, for me to place
her on the stand now, when i am
informed that proceedings already under
way in,another place would probably result
in the service OF bench warrant upon her
before she had said a dozen sentences,
and all that has been done
here rendered nugatory and farce.
This little woman trusts herself to world
of fathers and brothers and mothers. This
jury must find that Stephen Pettus
died by bullets at her hand,
but when it comes to her trial; she
and her mother and will represent her
story, and she will leave the court room on
my arm, the verdict being that be-
trayers and other rascals are punish
able for their acts, even in this world.
She says he deserved his tate, and that will
be the verdict of the people Of the State OF
New York, after petit jury shall have so
declared it."
The Coroner thereupon committed her to
the Tombs without bail, to await the action
of the grand jury.
A Canadian Educators HOrsewhip.