Saint Mary's beacon., 1895-07-25

luneh-hasket as he passed through
the village. Sometimes he ate of
the hotel. A few times he stayed
all night there. Mrs. Ferrall di-
rected the preparation Of his meals.
Sometimes she took them to the
train herself, aud sometimes she
sent the servants. At that time
Hall was not yet 20 years old. he
will not be "a till next November.
A very ordinary-looking man is
Hall, not nearly as fine-looking for
. man as Mrs. Ferrall is for q wo-
man.
He is below medium height, has
dark hair, blue eyes and round,
dumpy features. His expression 10
brazeu and his manner defiant.
The redeeming feature of his make
up is his smile. That is good ma
tured enough, but it is rare. The
surly is much in evidence in his
makeup. He stayed on his fathers
farm, near Cheltenham, Prince G.
county, for the first 16 years Of his
life and attended the country school.
Since that he has been o railroad
brakeman. He went back to farm
ing last January, and says he in
tends to keep on farming for the
remainder of his life.
He is not an aesthetic person of
romance and story nor gallant
cavalier of knightly regime. He is
a plain railroad brakeman with the
dark, lurid tinge Of countenance
peculiar to railroad men who spend
their time in sun, smoke and dust.
1t was this kind of man to whom
village gossips say Mrs. Ferrall gave
her heart. They say the trysting
place was in Mr.. FerralPs own
house and that kisses and caresses
were frequent; that loving letters
were written; that the two went to-
gether frequently to picnics and
public entertainments; that their
liaison became an open scandal in
the community. All this time Hall
was getting his meals at the Ferrall
hotel. 1t gave him o good excuse
to see the hostess.
It may be that Mrs. Ferrall's
ability to furnish q good meal first
turned the railroad mans eyes
toward her.
At all events the two became
friends and something more. The
village gossips began to talk and
Halls friends on the railroad urged
him to break off his Irritation with
Ferrall's wife. He did not do 80,
and the sudden death of Mr.. Fer
raIl gave the Hughesville gossips a
morsel that fairly melted under
their tongues as they wagged them
fast to and fro. =.
Nv.
Poison In the Body.
1t began to be whispered about
that Frederick Ferrall had died of
poison, and that for love Of Brake
man Hall, Mrs. Ferrall had admin
istered the dose. Mr.. Ferrall's
brothers heard it and called the at
tention of the States Attorney to
it. They wanted the body exhumed
and an examination made for traces
Of poison.
Seven days after the death of
Frederick Ferrall his body was
taken from the grave in st. Mary's
Cemetery under the authority of n
coroner's inquest and an autopsy
was held. State's-Attorney Mat
thews was present with the Coroner.
DR.. E. NJ. Schaeffer, medical expert
from Washington, performed post
mortem examination at the grave
side, using the coffin case for q dis
secting table. The vital organs
were taken to Washington, tests
were applied and strychnine was
found.
The coroner's inquest was re-
sumed at Hughesville in the early
part of February of this year. It
developed damaging testimony a.
gainst Mrs. Ferrall. DIR. Schaeffer
said there was strychnine in the
body and that it had probably
caused Mr.. Ferrall's death. Mer-
chant j. Z. Chappelear said Mrs.
Ferrall had bought strychnine at
his store few weeks before Mr..
Ferrall's death. State's-Attorney
Matthews said he had procured q
bottle Of strychnine from Mrs. Fer
rail- after the death of her husband.
Miss Olympia Burch. servant in
the Ferrall household, said the Fer
| rails had nuarreled a month hefore