Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-25

disease. The evidence produced remark
able sensation, but when counsel for the
plaintiff rose to reply to the case put tforward
in the. interests of the Universal, and after
expatlating on the beauty and distress OF his
prosecuted client, and went on to declaim in
well-acted indignation on the cowardice of q
great company trying their strength against
one poor solitary woman, the jury we're cleo
trifed by his appeal.
There was a conflict Of testimony" he
remarked, between the doctors. Well, ("
he continued, "when doctors differ who
shall decide? There can be but one answer
to that Judgment must go for the woman
who, unaided, In this action was fighting q
wealthy corporation with every resource at
their command. IF that were not enough to
convince the jury that justice lay on
the side of his client, he had one
more argument to adduce. II the directors
of this great company had each possessed
the courage of their convictions, if they
honestly believed in their own pitiful ex-
cuse for robbing the widow of her rights,
why had they not taken the bolder and
more honest course of vindicating their
cause by prosecuting this woman Grimm
ally for her crime and dragging the body
of the unfortunate man from his grave, that
it might prove q swift witness against the
woman whom he had loved so well, and who
had repaid him with all wife's fondest de-
votion?"
In the nature of the case there could be
no answer to the appeal. The written mar
rative of Colonel West was not evidence
and could not be alluded to.
A careful summing up from the Judge;
and the jury, without turning around in
their seats, gave their verdict unhesitating-
ly in favor of the widow. Mrs Macdonald
had triumDhed. But the directors refused
to accept the verdict, and gave notice of ap-
peal; and in the hour of her triumph came
the opportunity, which the directors had
long coveted, of instituting criminal pro-
ceedings against her Colonel West had
returned, bringing with him a train of In
dian witnesses ready to swear to suspicious
acts witnessed on the part of Mrs. Macdon-
aid and the faithful Ali, and to gross acts
of improperly which had been witnessed
between them, and which could on no ac-
count be reconciled with the relations be-
tween mistress and servant.
The arm of the law was now set in motion.
The Home Secretary consented to grant an
order for the exhumation of the remains of
the late Major Hector Macdonald, and in
the end Mrs Macdonald with Ali Sen by
her side stood in the criminal dock at York
Assizes to be tried for their lives
The same conflict in medical testimony.
which had occurred at the former trial, per-
picked the mind of the court again. No
actual poison was found in the body Such
post mortem signs as were not obliterated by
decomposition were attributed on the one
side to the action of some unknown irritant
poison, and on the other to the course OF dis
ease. Once more the absence of link in
the chain of evidence gave to Mrs. Mac
donald renewal of her former triumph,
and after long consultation BY the Jury
she and her accomplice were acqu:
The Universal made the best possible use OF
a bad situation and paid over the money. with
which the Majors widow disappeared to the
Continent, ON pleasure bent, carrying with
her the faithful Ali.
Several years afterward the Star and
Garter, sister company, received a pro-
posal for heavy insurance on the lie of
young lady. The name of the proposer was
Madame Dejazet. Inquiries were instituted
which led to the discovery that Madame
DejaZet was person without the means to
pay the annually recurring premiums, and
that she was in fact none other than the
Infamous woman who had been tried and
acquitted at York Assizes some yesrs before
for the murder of Hector Macdonald.
Once more she disappeared to be heard of
for the last time. In low, filthy den in
the East End of London a woman was found
lying dead in her bed with knife of Indian
workmanship plunged to the hilt in her
breast She had uttered no cry, given vent
to no groan as'she passed to her Maker. A /
absolute Hindoo who mad lived with her
was tried for the murder, sentenced to death
and hanged.
His name was Ali Sen.
The END