Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-10-30
BIRCHALL'S DEVOTED WIFE
The Once Pretty Bride Now
an Object of Pity.
HER DOOMED HUSBAND
Welcomes Her With a Laugh
of lnSolence and Bravado.
The Murderer Laughs in NIocISery at
Death--He Regards Life as One Huge
Joise--The wife Fairly Crushed Under
Her Weight of Woe.

WOODSTOCK, 0YT., Oct. 26.-The belle of
an English village, courted by men of
wealth and good standing, a daughter who
made proud fathers heart glad-such
was Florence Stevenson, three years ago.
Then came an elopement and a secret mar
riage that bound her to a man for life; time
passed on; betrayer, thief and murderer
were the words branded on her husbands
brow, and thus furnished her fair namo,
and on November 18th she will be the
widow of man who eXpiated his crime
ON the gallows. Two weeks from next
Friday Reginald Birchell will be hanged
by the neck until dead Gay and happy
as when he drove a span of thoroughbred
horses through the streets of Woodstock,
he awaits the hour when the black cap,
drawn over his face, will shut out forever
the glad sunshine.
Already dead man in the eyes Of the
law, he passes his time when not writing
In boasting of his deeds, in relating
stories current in club-hollses and IN
laughing with his guards. In him is eX-
emplitied complete inditfence To the laws
of tod and the laws of man. He regards
his life as one huge joke, and the strange
relations to which he will be subjected as a
fitting climax for the grim humor
When the Birchells drove their horses
through Woodstock most of the glances
were for the plump woman who sat al his
all men envied the Lord Somerset his
prize Her bright eyes and sunny smile
won her hosts of friends. Her checks,
white as the fairest, were family tinged
with color that spoke Of the glow Of a
young girls health, Erect in figure car
rying perfect form with grace, she was
person far to see. That was Florence
Birchell six months ago
And now the picture of day. Punched
and wan are those cheeks, the eyes sunkcn
in the head avoid ones glance, and her
whole expire ssion calls forth words Of pity.
II is us though She were being haunted md
at any moment feared the appearance Of
dreaded enemy The clothes that enwrap
her body are Of as costly material as ever,
but they hang now where they chung be-
fore. On the street her figure is bent for
ward
1t is a cold October day in Woodstock.
Shortly after the hour of 3 is struck
large gong in the front entrance of the Jail
rings out. Jailor tameron rouses from his
reverie, throws aside his cigar, and, taking
large, heavy key, goes out the front
passage and unloclls two heavy doors, one
of iron, another of oak. Soon he returns
and is followed by woman clad in dark
gown of wooden, trimmed with costly fur
Failing over her shoulders is a cape Of the
same fur that trims her dress. a little hat
is poised on her head, and in this is the
while the jailor calls his assistant, and as
she does so her neatly gloved hand grasps
the iron rail as ii for support, and she
trcmhles as if the cold gray stones had
sent chill through her. Then Assistant
Tailor Forbes appears and she follows up
the stairway; slowly each step is taken; It |
even seems that She hesitates; before they
are halfway M two faces appear at the
door Birchcll and his guard. Birchell has
q pipe in his mouth, and just as his wife's |
face appears above the platform he blows
out q cloud Of smoke and laughs. II is Il
laugh Of insolent welcome Of bravado.
well, my dear come to see the muir
dcrer again, have you? Well, he wont
bite, and he's good enough for YOU"
The door swings with creak, and the
weird sounds calls her back to the present.
As the iron bars open the guard steps out,
and Jailor Forbes, accompanied by the |
wife, enters Then the guard locks the
door.
The law Of the land is that condemned
man shall not he alone for an instant with |
any one except the Jail officials and his !
spiritual adviser, and so husband and wife |
arc locked together with the taller. Only |
two or three words are spoken as that door
swings back.
ITS nasty day outside, Florence" says
the murderer
Reginald ~
This is all the wife replies, and the tone
is characterized by the same expression
that her face wore when she hesitated on
the landing. Did the single word mean
love, hate, contempt, or something else?
Thus they always stand, not once can |
they clasp hands, something might be
handed from one to the other, something |
that might cheat the gallows Neither |
can their lips meet a capsule filled with |
deadly poison might be in that fair mouth |
and q kiss allowed might prove kiss of |
death
Their conversation is mostly on bust
ness. 1t is about the sale of his manu- /
script upon which the murderer has been I
busy ever since sentence of death was pro- /
nounced. All the money, about 81, 700, is +
N go to the wife, and he tells her how ii Is
arranged
All the time there stands the miller
watching; there stands the husband muir |
derer, his hands calmly crossed, the pipe
in corner Of his month and n stream Of |
blush smoke curling about the stem In |
science and bravado are marked in his /
face. The very devil looks out of his eyes. /
There stands the wife, and one word, |
Reginald" is all that is said that has d |
ring. of love in it. Sometimes, even, |
Birchell tells a funny story, some Joke he |
has perpetrated upon the guards. The poor
wife standing still, apparently does not