Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-06-12

thai. / knsw from that
Oh, you want her testimony. do you,
Well, there wasn't much u II She cried
= great deal, wruRg her hands great
deal. and sot all tangled up ia her an
swers She acted 10 me like a woman
who Was trying % talk about something
CT which she knew nothing. AT last she
broke down entirely.
Il can't 10 on with the farce, she
cried -Iou can take me away u prison
II you lire have testified falsely about
the coachman's name. He was my own
brother. His name was EAameft Gould.
am to blame for rs awful death. Stop
your inquiry and ta2s me 10 prisonT
And from that time 10 the time she
left the stand nothing more could be got
out Of her. Only for the presence Of the
officer who had made the original in
Qniry at the Melville house she would
doubtless have been detained by the
coroner as suspicious person. This
officer explained how impossible it was
that she could have had anything 10 do
with the murder. and the coroner be-
lieved him. Ii seems that the officer had
located her IN another part OF the house
at the time the murder was committed,
and couldn't abandon his theory. lie
knew great deal about who didn't
commit the murder. bat when il came to
finding out who did he very promptly
gave il up. Somehow these police OFF,
GERS have an irresponsible way OF giving
everything up-except their places and
their salaries,
You needn't object TO that last sen
tence, Mr.. Charles Gates. You are too
sharp man not TO know it TO be true.
Mrs. Clark Melyille's testimony is the
next on my record. You want that,
suppose, in order 30 keep the connection.
A very dignihed witness was Mrs. Clar.:
Melville. Ii Disguised me TO see how
they all cringed before her. Her testi-
mony amounted 10 nothing so far as the
real point of the inquiry was concerned.
can't see what the coroner wanted her
for, unless he was interested with her in
clearing Mrs Mary Winters of the sus-
picion which had somehow become at
tached 10 her since the night Of the muir
der.
You would thank me to write down
what she said, ell, and have less to say
regarding my own impressions: l tell
you she didn't say much of anything.
I'll supply YOU with an exact copy of it,
combining the questions and the answers
SO rs to make it Ineligible. Make what
| you can of it:
Il was subp9naed at my own request
can tell you nothing about the unfor-
tunate affair which, for the time being,
has brought my family and myself into
public notice. am informed, however.
| that anything relating to any of the per
sons now under suspicion will be ac-
| copied by the coroner. If am to rely
upon the public prints and the hints OF
the public officials, member Of my
household is one Of the suspected parties.
/ refer to my housekeeper, Mrs. Maggie
Winters, and am here in her interest.
"Don't think by that that l intend ~
argue for her. 1t is my purpose only to
repeat strange story she told me few
days after the murder. She told it in
confidence, and l only repeat it now with
her consent.
''She came from New England vii
lage at the request of her brother-the
murdered MANN search of her hus-
| band. Perhaps tho word husband ex-
presses too much in this case. should
have said in scare of man who welded
| her one day, and the next became lost in
the great mass of Federal troops march
ing south Three days after her arrival
| in New York the brother and sister en-
tered my employ.
'The records Of that portion Of the
Federal army to which my housekeeper's
husband belonged show him TO have
been accidentally killed in a hospital
camp in Virginia in the winter of 1883.
The letters my housekeeper received from
this city, both before and after the date
| of her husbands death, according to the
army records, show her husband to have
been alive and well here. These letters,
| Of course, were written by her brother,
| and it was her brothers hand and brains
that urged and guided her on in the
hopeless search.
"All the years she lived in my house the
| SeirCQ went on. one CAME 10 Iuc QUIZ
and pretty country girl. passed her IL
the outer room u moment ago q worr
and faded woman.
Until this suspicion came upon her
until she was accused of numbering il
cold blood the only person she had LEFT
to lean upon-she never conhded hel
secret trouble to me. Until ne lay deat
in my house / never knew that my
coachman was my heusekeeper's brother
Even now Mrs. Winters will confd'
to no one-not even 10 me--the result o.
progress Of her search. The most sh,
will say is that she located her husband
long time ago. She refuses to tell IN,
whether she has met and accused him {,
his face of his reridy. She refuses t.
tell me why he deserted her. She onl,
tells me enough TO drive from my min,
any suspicious might have had regard
ing her completely in the coachman'
death. When /. in the kindest manner
press her to confde further in me sh,
only cries and wrings her hands just a
| YOU all saw her do here a few moment