Evening star., 1896-08-07

referred to Matthews as "Eahy" she re-
one letter appeared this: +" Odd crazy is
| going away. Come over and let your
honey kiss you all night" When she first
commenced the correspondence a long tine
ago she signed her name "Ema" not know
| ing how to spell the name. Later. how
ever. as heretofore stated. she signed two
cross marks. and he did the same.
Because Of the horrible character OF the
wound the doctors are no: fully certain
whether there was more than one shot
hred or not and therefore II is not certain
whether one person two actually par
ticipated In the killing. by some OF the
Jurors II Is believed that both Matthews
and Mrs. Irwin took part in the actual
violence. while others believe she only
paved the way for the man and probably
held a piece of lighted paper In order that
he might make his aim sure. for a piece CT
burned paper was found in the room.
Fossible Attempted Poisoning.
The theory that Mrs. Irwin had attempt
ed to poison her husband and failed Is gen.
orally believed by the jurors and others
who are Interested In the investigation.
The small vial containing q quantity of the
deadly fluid was found In George Mat
thews' shanty. but why he had II there
he has not yet explained. A man who
lived in the shanty with him says he did
not have It there for the purpose of killing
rats Tor there were no rats in the shanty.
He however knew nothing Of the presence
In the house of the poison until States At
torney Posey. Constable Howard and Juror
Robertson made the search. Mrs. Irwin.
many seem to think. put the poison in
some OF her husbands food. thinking he
might be taken suddenly Ill in the night
and die. and nothing more would be
thought of him. This. Of course would
free her of het husband and allow her an
,,v,is,
down in Cobb Neck. While this belief is
shared in by many, there are others who
believe that the poison was obtained for
this purpose. but that the wife became
frightened and made her lover take the
poison home. probably to be used later on.
Result Of Preme.litation.
That Jim Irwin's brutal murder was the
result of generalization there can be no
doubt. for 1t is generally believed, especial
iy about the vicinity Of Aliens Fresh that
his killing had been agreed upon about the
| latter part of April. when the wife was SO
persistent in her efforts to have Jim go to
church and renew his peace with God and
the world. for although she loved another
far better than she did her husband she
was charitable enough to him to want him
to die in his church and leave his Christian
parents this much consolation when his
sudden removal finally took place. But the
final arrangements were made on Friday at
SO the states attorney thinks. This was
the memorable meeting In response to a
letter from the woman. and Hattie Barnes.
the woman's sister, was present at the
meeting. 1t may he that she knows some
thing of the arrangements. SO the prose-
cutor thinks. and last evening an officer
went in search of her after she had not
been found the previous day. II she is
found before the inquest concludes this
afternoon she will be rut on the witness
stand and put through a rigid cross-exam-
ination.
While the officers were out making this
investigation and getting the additional ev
idence. the woman was still under treat
ment in Dick" Swann's house. while Mat
thews was in Matthews prison" at La
Plata. The woman Is still Sick and Mat
:hews is beginning to show the effects OF
solitary confinement. His Incarceration vir-
tually amounts to solitary confinement, for
he is the only prisoner in the jail. and
Wash. Bufch. the cOlored man who has
charge of the prison. is seldom there to
| minister to his few wants. Matthews is
very quiet i'm prison and seldom has q word
to say to the colored keeper unless he IS
addressed He never talks of the crime
unless he Is addressed. and II Is against the
orders of the states attorney to have any
thing said to him upon the subject Of the
crime unless he Is present. His question
ing is always done in the presence Of wit
resses. for the states attorney wants out
side witnesses to hear what is said in event
of either of the prisoners breaking down
Meshes Closing Around Matthews.
The meshes are closing around George
| Matthews. the jury will undoubtedly hold
Matthews as principal of the crime and
Mrs. Irwin as a witness. IL not an acces-
| sory. for the grand jury for the murder Of
| James J. Irwin.
at AlleI's Fresh. he scene Of the murder
| States Attorney Posey first went into the
house where Mrs. Irwin has been since
the night Of the murder.
Here In the presence Of some of the
coronet's jury he examined her as to what
she knew about the murder and her rela-
tions with George Matthews. The accused
woman lay in her bed as she was being ex-
amined and the jury sat around her. No
one else was allowed to be present at the
examination, not even the newspaper men
States Attorney Posey told the jury that
ne had talked in friendly way with the
woman, attempting to get her confidence,
and had not tried to connect her with the
| murder.
She contradicted several OF Matthews.
statements already made to the jury. Mat
thews had said that he had given her 20
cents on Friday when he met her near Har-
| ris 10: for making tive shirt waists for a
little boy he was raising. This she denied
positively.
Mrs. Irwin Admits Illicit Relations.
She admitted for the first time that she
had Illicit relations with the accused. and
admitted all the letters. both to her and
from her. which had been offered in evil
dence as genuine.
She then told Mr.. Posey that she had
been cruelty treated in not being allowed to
see her husbands body. She did not know
that Irwin had been buried. and when
| the states attorney asked her II she really
wanted to see the body she then remained
silent. and afterward went into a ut of
weeping, upon which the states attorney
and the jury left her.
John Stein's Evidence.
The most important witness of the day
was John Stein. fisherman and crabber
who lives at Rock Point. his house being
thirty or forty yards away from Mat
thews shanty.
1t will be remembered that Matthews tes-
titled that on the night Of the murder he
had rowed out to Chaptico. looking for q
friend and not finding him had returned
to his home at 10 o'clock and had gone 70
| bed. Stein. whose reputation for honesty
and veracity seems well established In the
community. testified that at 3::;U a IN. Mou-
day his wife sroused him as the alarm
clock went on and told him that some one
was out on the grabbing grounds before
him. He got up and looked out the window
I