The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1901-04-25

ter of fact, it did give way, but /
caught myself and saved the woman.
When old Dyson saw the failure of his
plot. he looked chagrined and savage
and presently found excuse for cutting
the poor wife's ears.
In the course of a couple of weeks
he declared that the cellar was full of
rats and gave me money and COM
manded me to buy arsenic. He recon-
mended me to go to a store miles away
and to say that ! wanted it for my
complexion and to give my own name.
l went to drug store only two blocks
away and gave his name, and when
he discovered this he was highly in
dignant for day. and l rather expect
ed to be thrown out. However, In the
course of three or four days he devel-
oped another plan. After coaching the
old wife he left me alone with her for
the first time. and she begged me to
get her some laudanum for toothache
and not mention the matter to him. 1t
was easy to tell that she had been
coached what to say. and l refused to
buy the drug. A few days later, as l
was preparing her soup. | had to
leave the kitchen for minute. When
returned, the soup was giving out a
strange odor, and. being satisfied that
| the husband had poisoned 1t. ! OF
course threw it away. He scolded
about my waste, but when I looked
him square in the eyes he dropped his
and had no more to say.
l had been with the Dysons Ave
weeks when the climax came. The old
woman was holding her own, IL not
getting better, and the husbands i'm
patience had a savage edge to 1t. Their
bedroom was on the north side of the
house. All along on that side was q
deep excavation for a factory, and the
cellar was full of stones and water.
From the bedroom window the dis
lance to the cellar bottom was all Of &c
feet. / slept on the west side. with two
rooms and two doors between us, but
so poorly built was the house that II
voices were raised above a whisper
they could be heard, and there were
also many cracks and crevices to peer
through. At 10 o'clock one night lay
wondering If he really meant to take
her life and how he would finally &C.
complish it when l heard half sup
pressed scream from his room. l got
softly out of bed and went to the far
Their door, and, looking through crack,
I saw that the window was up and that
he stood before 1t with his wife In his
arms. She was hanging on to him
with fingers of steel and making
great struggle. l heard him breathing
heavily and snarling and growing as
he tore her fingers loose. but did not
know what he planned to do till Of
sudden he staggered to the open win
dow and flung her out. She screamed
as she went to her death, and In my
fright l echoed the scream. l re-
member the man rushing across the
room at me, of his dashing open the
door, of his striking me down, and then
came darkness which lasted for weeks.
He struck me with piece of iron and
fractured my skull. He then carried
my body down stairs and bore 1t
quarter of a mile away and flung 1t
into another excavation. Before TAX
ing me from the house he put on my
hat and cloak, and thus it appeared to
those who found my unconscious body
next morning that l had been coming
home the night before and fallen into
the pit. AS to his wife, he gave the
alarm and brought the police and made
out that it was a case of suicide.
While he was fast asleep. as he claim
ed, she had stolen to the window and
leaped to her death.
| His story went. and it was seven
months before there was any contra
ldiction. had a fractured skull. brain
fever and pneumonia and for weeks
and weeks lay as one dead. When l
mended. my memory was confused,
and it was seven months before I told
my story and put the police on the
track. Long before that Dyson had
married the widow and sailed for
America, and. though efforts were
made to find him, nothing came Of
them Never did a man deserve the
hangman's rope more, and yet. If liv-
ing today, he is free and has no fear
Of the law.