The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-07

tory. He had a large family. lived lux
uriously and Quarreled with his wife. Bath
sheba was the apple OF his eye, ana II IS
strange that he permitted her TO marry
old Joshua Spooner. double her age, and
wholly beneath her station. Perhaps the
internecine war made the home too hot.
Maybe she did not relish the cookery at
home. for Mrs. Ruggles. in a rage, once
served up TO the brigadier his favOrite
dog for dinner. Bathsheba lived with
Joshua twelve years. and then killed him
in the most inartistic and unromantic
way. Having nursed a young fellow
named Ross. a youth OF II. through a
dangerous illness. she fell in love with
him. 1t was long the talk Of the neigh
borhood that there never was a hand
somer couple as they dashed by on horse
back.
Bathsheba hired two common soldiers.
who after the fashion of that disturbed
period, had sought lodging at her house,
10 kill Spooner. and she persuaded Ross,
much against his will, TO assist IN the dis
position which she proposed to make Of
the body. They clumsily knocked the poor
fellow on the head and threw him down
a well, by which process" remarked one
Of her frugal neighbors, she lost good
husband and spoiled good well Of wa
ter"
She divided the dead Joshua's personal
effects between his murderers. His watch.
silver buckles. coats. waistcoats, shirts
and other belongings were soon discovered
at the nearest tavern, where the soldiers
went to get drunk. They were easily
traced and soon captured.
When Bathsheba was told that the dead
body Of her husband had been taken from
the well she approached. and putting her
white hand on his forehead, said: Poor
little man.
She was arrested and convicted as IAN
bar
history end here We might dismiss her
simply as a monster, but from the mo-
ment of being found out and condemned
to die she began to behave with such cour-
age. fortitude and picturesque magnifi-
cence that we must follow a little fur
Their the strange enigma.
She made remarkably bold and affect
ing plea for life, claiming that another
and an innocent life would go out with
hers. But the Judge and jury, and, worst
of all, a jury of matrons. who, after the
old fashion, had been convened to treat
of this question, disbelieved and rejected
her story.
Then she gave up hope. but her courage
was phenomenal. She dressed her hand
some person in richest brocade and fine
laces, put on elegant jewelry and other
adornments, and looked like a Copley chef
d'oeuvre as she stepped out of the dis
trict Jail. So feeble was her health that
sue CouAu Hol Wdlhs SO was driven IN neT
own chaise. Her friends and neighbors
had all assembled to see her hanged, and
she bowed to them smilingly as If CRATE
fully acknowledging the attention.
They even hanged first her boy lover
Ross, but she did not finch. AS her turn
came violent thunder storm suddenly
burst over the scene. Upon her hands
and knees she crawled up the fatal lad
der, too feeble to mount otherwise. SThe
storm became more terrific. The prince
of the powers of darkness had come to
claim his daughter, the people thought.
But she was serene, unterrihed, and died
with a smile on her lips.
After the body had been cut down and
examined by the surgeon the statement
that another life must expire with hers
was found to be true, and. as her historian,
Chandler, says, the annals of Massachu-
setts Jurisprudence were stained with a
barbarity which they never learned from
ancient Rome"