The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-11-20

that court room with the words, plesdingly
uttered: my Lord, everything has been
against me. wish TO say that, although
evidence has been given az to a great many
circumstances in connection with Mr.. Bril-
erly much has been withheld which might
have influenced the jury had it been told /
am not guilty Of this crime"
This was case Of murder by poison.
Most instances In which women are the
criminals, and where the crime is prsmed-
itated, are such, and that makes the change
In the Borden cases, where a brutal mans
weapon-an ak or a hatohet-waS used,
strangely inconsistent IL not impossible. A
woman bent on crime will solve the problem
before her In the easiest possible manner.
But must go into history.
Baltimores cause ceLe6re was the trial OF
Mrs Wharton, the widow of an army officer,
who, in 1871, was accused Of the murder of
Gen. w. s. Ketchum Of the United States
army. Mrs. Wharton was a woman nearly
80 years of age, an intimate friend Of the
general, and heavily in his debt. She was
preparing for trip to Europe, and on June
%, 1871, the general came from Washing
ton to bid her good by and incidentally to
collect the money due him. He was taken
i'll after leaving the house and died June %.
His waistcoat, containing the widows note
for the money due, was missing.
Mr.. Van Ness, man fully cogniZaut of
the widows financial affairs, was also taken
Ill at the same time and narrowly escaped
death. It was proven that the general had
died by poisoning. Mrs. Wharton was ac-
quilted Of the charge OF poisoning Gen.
Kstohum, and the charge OF attempting to
kill Mr.. Van Ness was never pushed. The
trial was perhaps one OF the most sensa-
tionsl ever held in the country, over 100
experts testifying pro and con concerning
the effects Of the poison administered. The
defense claimed, In the face OF the ex perts'
arra rvafn kkak a a..
spinal meningitis.
Laura D. Fairs great crime was the fruit
of her awful temper. Her victim was A
Z. Crtttenden, q member OF the famous
Kentucky family, and q distinguished law
yer then praotioing In San Francisco. Mrs.
Fair was q strong minded woman, not par
ticularly good looking, and infatuated with
Crittenden. She had been married four
times, and insisted that Crittenden should
secure divorce from his wife and make
her fifth marital victim. He refused and
east. He met her on the ferryboat
Ell Captain, In the bay Of San Francisco,
Nov. 8, 1870. Hiding near at hand
was Mrs. Fair. As CrIttepden pressed bis
arms around his wife's form, touching her
lips In welcome, the shot that ended his life
rang out its death knell and he fell a corpse
between the two women who had claimed
him. Mrs. Fairs defense was insanity, but
at the first trial 1t was not taken into con-
sideration, and she was found guilty of
murder in the first degree. On technical
ity the verdict was set aside, and a second
trial ended with acquittal. Each trial lasted
full month and was telegraphed in ex-
tense to all the papers Of the country.
The most sensational judicial murder Of
this century was the execution of Eliza
Fenning, in her time one Of the most beauti-
full women Of London. She was scarcely
IS when charged with poisoning the
family in which she was a gove-ness 1t
was proven conolusively that she herself
| had become i'll from eating the poisoned
food. Her innocence was established at the
| trial, but the recorder, before whom the
case was heard, conceived so great a preiu-
dice that in his final charge he passed only
upon the evidence Adduced against her She
was executed, and as she stood robed in white
on the scaffold between two old offenders
who were suffering like penalty she cried
out: Before the just and Almighty God,
and by the faith Of the holy sacrament
have received, ] Am Innocent Of the offense
| Of which am charged"
Before the funeral is was discovered that
| the poison was In all likelihood administered
by a maniac who had been sheltered in the
| house at the time Of the poisoning. Ten
thousand persons attacked the house OF the
prosecuting lawyer, and only large mill
tary force prevented death and destruction
| by that infuriated mob. On the day of the
funeral half OF London appeared on the
streets through which the cortege passed,
and only the presence of troops prevented
another riot.
But legal history fairly teens with
famous poisoning cases In which women
| have figured, and fiction stands abashed
before the complications which have at
various times arisen in their development.
There is per haps no parallel in this century
to she awful case Of the Marchioness of Bien-
Ailliers. Having through lover discovered
the art Of compounding the most subtle
and mortal potsons, She two began their
fearful career. Father, mother. sister,
brothers, children, all met fearful deaths.
Then began a series Of poison ConspiFsciss
which has no parallel in the worlds history.
Deaths OF heirs Of noble families through
out France grew of alarming frequency.
st. Croix. the lover, finally died from an
accidental inhalation OF q Roxious vapor
Then came the fearful discovery. The
woman was arrested, put TO the torture by
swallowing water. then beheaded ard her
body publicly burned. The trial of the case
| was stopped suddenly as o matter Of policy
for each day new developments pointed to
the most noble of the French aristocracy as
coconspirators.
Jules Simon has said that a woman's
beauty is her best lawyer. The remark
|
some Of the remarkable trials of the past in
which women have figured, and again falls
fat when thing OF the pallid, beautiful
face Of Charlotte Corday on the guiIlo-
tine, or of a Lizzie Fenning on an English
scaffold.
Beauty could not plead for Mary Queen
of Scots or for Lady Jane Gray. 1t failed
TO touch the hearts of the men who Judged
Marie Antoinette, and 1t was palsied when
Nine. Roland, the wonderful daughter of
Neckar, stood before a tribunal for
| judgment. But these lie in dim history.
Mrs. Walkup, the New Orleans belle, on
trial few years ago at Emporia, Kan. for
the murder Of her husband, Judge Walkup,
was, and perhaps still Is, a
| strikingly beautiful woman. The case
against her was strong, but largely
| circumstantiaL The people of that western
country still attribute her escape from con-
viction to a marvelously expressive face
But New York records are filed with SEN
sational cases, with which the public is more
or less familiar, and space alone prevents
recalling many which present features of a
most narrowing nature, in many respects
strongly resembling the Borden mystery.
DAVID WECHsLRR,
IA