Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1901-03-08
WITNESS 70 THE DEED
EY M. QUAD.
,ogrsleHr. i9Ol. ~ c. ;. lrva


My mistress In Cainsborough road
had lost a g note In the house, aud the
thief was the parlor maid. / knew Il
from her actions. and three months
after / left the house she was caught
In a simiiar oGense and owned up to
the FIRST theft. However, the crime
was laid on on me. aud because |
made Indignant and perhaps lmpa.
dent protest I was flung out OF the
house at half an hours notice and re-
fused a character. was Idle for the
next three months. The hrst thing de-
handed when l applied for a place
was n character. As sOon as II was
lcarred that / had none Il was useless
70 talk further. II was for this reason
that I finally paid a fee to IN intelll-
gence Office In Margate street and wal
at length sent for to take a place ut
general homework. II was mn old
man named Dyson who wanted me.
he WIS willing to take ME without a
character because he would have TO
pay less wages and because. as he
grlmly asserted. there was nothing
lying around loose In his house for one
10 steal. AS We sat face to face
sized him up as mean and penurious.
but | did not sec any evil in him. lie
had nm aged and inhrm wife, he told
he, aud | would be the only servant.
1t vas not for me 10 pick and choose.
: must have a place aud hold It long
enough L get a character again. /
G-.na sv~f4N Lie. r,NHu@ orI vrnff.u .r,k IN
She HolbOrne road, and we at last ar
rived at the cheapsy built and cheap
booking cottage he occupied. II was a
place devoid OF almost all c~oRvenienccs
and had been selected for It's cheap
rent found the old wife deaf. almost
blind and palsied. and Il was apparent
that she had no care whatever. She had
Ueroine childlsh md petulant. and be-
tore'I had been In the house half an
hour Mr.. Dyson whipped her with q
strap for saying that she was hungry.
As he whipped her ! saw him look at
her In a way to give me q chill. In the
course OF three or four days / made up
my mind that be regarded her with de-
testation and adherence and was hour
ly hoping for her death. | wondered
AAuA NV nuu uNl DlDAAtu ntf uONfn uNAANN
Or found other means to bring nbout an
accidental death, but the old man
was full OF craft and cowardicO. l
soon had evidence that he was In love
with a widow In the neighborhood. or
al least he desired to be free 50 that he
could marry her. The man had no oc-
cupatlon and seldom left the house.
During my first two weeks In the place
be never allowed me TO see the wife
except In his presence and found fault
II | cooked anything extra for her or
expressed my sympathy. He had a
way OF whispering 10 himself, and a
dozen times over 1 heard him say:
"fve waited for Eve years, but l
won't wait much longer. I'll get rid Of
her aud be happy"
My natural Impulse on finding out
how he felt toward his wife was 10 dy
the house. but have explained how |
was situated. And. too, l soon got the
feeling that | ought to stay to protect
the poor old woman / figured It out
that. while he might thirst for her
death. he would not proceed to OK
tremlties while I was In the house. Ii
seemed as II he would have lived on
clone. as he had done for the last two
months, II he medltated anything OF
that sort. | didn't know the depth OF
his craft. however. He had brought
me- there to work her death through
me. The 1rst thing l suspicioned this
way was one morning when he asked
me to help her down stairs. The stairs
were steep and shaky, and he bad prled
ana - al. -N.-. t.-.a 49, a .-a-Aa
aide from under u feet AS a mat
ter OF fact. 1t did give way. but
caught myself and saved the woman.
When old Dyson saw the failure Of his
plot. be looked cbagrined and savage
and presently found excuse for cutting
the poor wife's ears.
In the course OF q couple OF weeks
he declared that the cellar was full Of
rats and gav me money and com
handed me TO buy arsenic. He reeom-
mended me to go to a store miles away
and to say that / wanted It for my
complexion and to give my own name.
went to a drug store only two blocks
away and gave his name. and when
be discovered this be was highly I'm
dlgnant for a day. and ! rather expect
ed to be thrown out. However. In the
course Of three or four days be devel-
0ped another plan. After coaching the
old wife be left me alone with her for
the hrst time. and she begged me 20
get her some laudanum for tootbache
aud not mention the matter to him. II
was easy TO tell that she had been
coached what to say, and | refused to
buy the drug. A few days later. asl
was preparing Der a soup. ! had to
have TIE Kitchen for q minute. When
returned. the soup wSs giving out a
strange OdOr. and. being satisfied that
tbe husband had poisoned H. ! Of
sssrse threw Il away. ne 0coided