The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-06-14

Utter physical collapse has come
acqua who is being tried for the kill
ing of Mary Rose. and the probabili-
ties are the trial will be terminated
| today by the acceptance of plea of
| manSlaughter.
| Yesterday afternoon. while on the
stand, Mrs. Bevilacnua twice fell into
a state of coma and finally. complete
ly exhausted. she swooned away. She
was cared for in the law library by
| Coroner Roberts and after being re-
| suscitated was taken back to Jail. In
the meantime proposition was being
discussed to terminate the case by
entering plea of guilty of man.
slaughter. No conclusion was arrived
at. but this morning the conference
between the attorneys will be resumed,
and in all likelihood the trial will be
brought to an end.
1t is believed Mrs. Bevilacoua can
not live more than few months at
ali events. The terrible strain she is
undergoing now has tended consider
ably towards shortening her days, and
In the opinion of some, if she is COM
PEELED to undergo this intense strain
to the end of the week. there is dam
ger of her dying at any minute.
She was in a weak condition, from
confinement at the time of the shoot
ing, and when she was cast into
prison cell and left alone with the
thoughts of her awful crime for seven
months, her system began to grow
weaker and weaker, until finally. about
a month ago she was so reduced in
vitality that fainting spells frequent
ly Frustrated her, and heroic meas
lires had sometimes to be adopted to
bring her back to consciousness.
During the four days of the trial,
preceding the time she was called to
the stand Mrs. Bevilacqua seemed to
evince little or no concern about what
was going on around her She sat
with bent head and closed eyelids, per-
fectly mOtionless. for long stretches
of time. The deathly pallor of her
features and her generally cmaciated
appearance gave her death-like look,
and before the first day of the trial
was over there was a general opinion
she would not live to go to the scaf-
fold even though convicted of first
degree murder
A PITIABLE SPECTACLE.
No more pitiable spectacle was ever
beheld in the court house than that
which was presented yesterday while
Mrs. Bcvilacqua was on the stand. No
.1n l.bn hn,, s.;,.
ter could look upon it without suffer-
ing a shock.
A commonwealth. with all it's great
power and resources, was seeking to
assuage its offended peace. by sending
her to the Eallows. It's representa-
tives. reluctantly of course, but with
a stolid determination, born of their
sense of the sworn obligation upon
them We're trying to bring out from
her own lips admissions that would
tighten the halter already about her
neck. The relatives of the woman she
had slain were grouped not far in
front of her to keep alive in her eX-
cited mind. the horrible thoughts OF
the deed which brought her to the
soul-racking position she then was oc-
cupying. The jurors, lawyers the
judge, court attaches. witnesses and
spectators crowded close about her to
catch her family uttered words and
served incidentally to intensity in her
minds eye her hopeless Imprisonment.
So weak We're her words that the
had to bend his ear to with
in few inches of her lips to distin-
Guish them. Not infrequently he
would have to repeat Il question two or
three. times before he could bring her