The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-07-11
d Remarkable Crime.

d Remarkable Cr1me.
ATLANTA, June 20.-One of the most
remarkable cases ever tried in Georgia
court was before Jadge Van Epps yes.
terday in the city court.
The case is probably without a pre-.
cedent in the history of crime. The Of
tense charged has extended over period
oftwenty years, here in Atlanta; and no
notice of it was ever taken by the police
or courts before.
| AS the case vas called yesterday the
defendant was a white woman named
| Nora Heron. She is 40 years of age,
but seems several yeats younger, quiet,
intelligent aud well dressed. She vote
white summer dress and white straw
hat, and everything about the woman
was quietly progressing.
Twenty years seo Nora Heron came
to Atlanta. She had one child with her.
One other first acquaintance here was
Ashley Creech, q maehinist. She applied
| at his home for work, stating that she
| was young widow from South Carolina,
with. one child and nothing but her Own
labor between them and starvation.
Creech's wife was an invalid, the
| mother of two children.
Under these circumstances Mrs. Her.
ron WAS taken into the family, atd there
she remained. Mrs. Creech has been an
invalid these twenty years.
Soon after Nora Heron came into the
/ Creech family there was very quiet but
/ radical reorganization of the family
| circle.
Creech adopted Mrs. Heron as hi.
wife, and his real wife became servant
in her own household.
Creech, itseems, had always treated
her cruelty. She was naturally weak.
minded woman and tho change was made
without serious protest from her. Nora
| Heron was the acknowledged mistress
| of the house, and until the matter was
brought before the last grand jury not
half a dozen people, living knew that
she was not Herron's real wife, or that
the real wife was not q servant.
Creech has had FIVE children by his
| adopted wife, the last one two years
| old.
The two children by the first wife
were brought up in the same house.
Both we're old enough to remember when
aud how the Heron woman came, but
were frightened into silence when they
we're children, and have tolerated it since
through horror Of the scandal that
would follow its disclosure.
So twenty years have passed.
Creech's neighbors were told that the
real Mrs. Creech was an idiot and de.
pendent relative. kept through charity
and that Nora Heron was Mrs. Creech.
Not long ago the daughter of the real
wife was married TO man named Drew
She told him, after, they were married
of her mothers real position, and Drew
carried the matter before the grand
jury.
This daughter was the main witness
before the grand jury. She swore that
for years after Nora Heron first came
into the family there was only one room
to their house. After Mrs. Heron waE
adopted as Mrs. Creech, the wife slept
upon pallet lat the foot Of their bed
Afterwards partition Was built, making
two rooms of one, and the real wife was
sent into separate room. 1t was the
real wife that did all the servants work,
cooked, nursed, washed and ironed.
The Heron woman contributed to-.
wards the support Of the family by work.
ing in selig's pants factory. She has been
there for years-one of the best and
most Industrious workwomen in the fac
tory.
An incident of the trial yesterday WA!
the introduction of the real wife as q
witness for the defense. She is much
older than the Heron woman and an
imbecile.
She shielded her husband and the
other woman as best she could. She de.
MED all that her children bad testified
but her statements we're weak and CON
Trajectory. The testimony was simply
| overwhelming against the adopted wife
and Creech, and the jury we're out no
exceeding two minutes.
There is a true bill against C.eech
and be will be tried if be can be found
He learned oftbe grand jury's inyesti
CATION, and it ia said left Immediately.
The woman's sentence was 500 ant
| costs or six months in the peuitentiary
| a collection vas taken up in the court
room and over so was raised. Solicitor
Frank O'Bryan, who had prosecuted ant
convicted her, contributed $40, ant
several of the jurymen contributed
The entire amount was not raised, how
ever, and the woman went to Jail yester
day afternoon. The balance of the fin
will probably be raised to-day and tn
woman released.
Taking q Lady's ARA.
"The question is often put to me" sai'