The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-15

II was impossiblel But alasl The dread
ful fact was beyond dispute. The poor
girl s mother (who was now in a state.hor-
derlng on Distraction had found her
! daughter in the morning lying in her bed,
smothered. The pillow, with which the
accused deed had been done, still lay
upon the dead face. In its upper surface
two indented hollOws showed clearly
where pair of cruel hands had pressed
and held Il.
LAS the time of his marriage with Queen
ME drew near, the maids attitude toward
BagshOt became less violent. She lapsed
into state of sullen silence. which, how
ever, alarmed him nearly as much. There
was no saying what she might do or how
soon she might disclose his disgraceful Sc
cret to Queenie. And las afterward con-
fessed), he was all the while In a state of
pened. Mary Jenkins kept her own
counsel. Until the night before Queenle's
wedding all went smoothly-too smoothly.
"On that night. at about 10 o'clock, the
maid had an interview with George Bag
shot in the garden. The particulars of this
| interview came out in BagshOt's evidence
at the trial. Mary made a last appeal to
him-entreated him, even at this late hour
to abandon his marriage with Queenie
George Bagshot refused, declaring that un-
der the circumstances such "a demand was
outrageous unreasonable He would give
money--a sufficient sum to keep her in ease
for the rest of her life. He would cooper
ate with her in any attempt she might
make to conceal her shame He did not
!
matter. But marry her? Surely she herself
could see that this was impossible.
The maid said very little more. But
| what she did say was of great Importance
| in its bearing on the case. She declared
! that Bagshot should never-never marry
| Queenie Jackaby no, not If she herself
| had to swing for preventing IL. With this
dark threat she left him; and he did not
| see her again until she stood, a prisoner,
| in the dock
"This, of course. was enough to throw
| suspicion on the maid. And corroborat-
/ ing facts were soon forthcoming. Another
maid who shared her bedroom, gave evil
! dence to the effect that about a. m. on
| the morning when Queenie was murder
| ed she (the witness) was reused from
her sleep by the opening of their bed
room door. May Jenkins entered and
| crept stealthily back TO her empty bed.
| She (the witness) saw her distinctly in
the semi-twilight preceding dawn. Wit
| ness paid no particular attention to the
| circumstance at the time, but next day,
when she learned that suspicion had fall
len on the maid, Jenkins. she commune
| Gated the fact to the police.
| 1t further transpired, in the course Of
| subsequent Inquiries, that homicidal ten
! denotes had shown themselves In more
| than one member of the accused maids
| family, and that her mothers brother
was then actually incarcerated in Broad
moor for a murderous attempt upon one
OF his own sons. From a medical stand
| point, this was as significant as anything
And in the end May Jenkins was commit
| ted for trial.
ION the first occasion the Jury disagreed.
| on her being tried a second time, before
! new jury, she was eventually acqutt-
ted-this jury celebrating upon the case
Tor more than six hours. That she was
| really guilty, no one, l think, doubted;
but the evidence was not, in itself, con-
elusive.
II now come to what, from our point of
| view, is the most remarkable feature In
| the affair. have told you that was en-
| gagged that night-the night Of the murder
lin writing part of story before went
| to bed. Well, the story / was writing was,
in all essential details. the story of what
subsequently occurred during the hours Of
| that terrible night. In my story the bride
| was smothered in bed by rival for her
lovers hand. The incident occurred on the
| night before her marriage. The murderess
| was servant maid That maid too, had
| been seduced by the bridegroom-elect.
| my story found their exact counterpart in
the subsequent reality; and l. cannot put
the thing more strongly than by asserting
4 this, that If, with change Of names, my
| story had been printed in the newspapers
in place of the reports which did appear,
it would have been practically as true an
account of the awful tragedy.
Il may just add that this extraordinary
experience does not rest upon any mere as
sertion. 1 was so naturally impressed by
the ineXplcable coincidence-n coinci-
dence 1t were-that within a quarter of an
I hour of the time when poor Queenie' s
murder was reported 10 me had handed a
sealed envelope TO DR.. Hatfield, request
ing him to keep ii safe and not to open II
until the mystery was cleared up. That
envelope contained the manuscript or my
story; it consisted of about 1000 words,
and obviously implied not less than three
hours rapid work. This fact by itself
disposes of any suggestion that / may
have written the story subsequently to
the events.
"Dr. Hatfield will bear me out in what
I have told you and WILL ] am sure, allow
me to say that / selected him for my con-
fidant on account Of both of his scientific
reputation and of his unquestionable in
tegrity. What the explanation of this pc
culiar experience may be, whether IL is
simply a wonderful coincidence or some
thing deeper and more mysterious / dc
not pretend to suggest. But have laid the
facts before you with absolute accuracy
leaving each of you to form his own
opinion upon them"
Il was not tn six months afterward that