The Butte inter mountain., 1902-03-01
A NOBLE WOMAN.


II Is not often that court In a big |
city like New York adjourns for q day |
as mark of respect to a woman. Yet |
that rs the record of the court of special |
sessions last week. The woman in uues- |
tion was not "a leader of fashion, nor |
was she related to the great or the rich |
in any way. She was simply a woman |
who had devoted her life to doing good, |
and the veneration in which she was
held was touching and extraordinary. |
Her mission and desire In life were to |
uphold and encourage the unfortunate.
10 defend them in trouble and start |
them anew with n kind word from her
to inspire hope in their hearts. Her
name was Rebecca Salome Foster. Last |
week she lost her life in the Park Ave
nue. hotel fire. On the day of her burial |
the court of special sessions being
crowded with the hotsam and ietsam of ,
life in the vicinity of the Tombs Dis
trict Attorney jerome asked the court
to adjourn out OF respect to the memory
of Mrs. Foster He wept as he an
nounced her death. lie said to the
court. .tltRaa4 taetts
| II 1t pleases your Honors-Wthln a
| few weeks, and in territory but little
| more than mile in length and few
| hundred feet In width in the heart of this
great city, there have occurred three ap-
palling disasters.
| In the early morning of February 22
came the last of these, the fire at the
Park Avenue hotel. There the hand of
death touched Rebecca Salome Foster.
What she was to this court, and TO the
unfortunate people with whom it has to
deal is too well known to need state
ment. For many years she came and
went among us with but a single pur-
pose, q,
That men might rise on stepping stones
OF their dead selves to higher things.
There Is word which is seldom used.
To u.s. who in the administration OF the
criminal law are daily brought into con-
tact with the misfortunes and sin OF
humanity, Ii seems almost a lost word.
1t is the word "holy." In all that that
word means to English-speaking peoples,
II seems to me 1t could be applied to
her. She was indeed holy woman."
1t hardly becomes us to do aught else
than to testify in reverent silence our
of whom 1t has been written: s'i
And none but the Master shall praise
them,
And none but the Master shall blame.
She would not have wished to do any
thing which would increase the sorrow Or
suffering of those upon. whom stern duty
requires your honors to inflict punish
ment shall not, therefore, ask this
court to adjourn before it dispose Of its
prison calendar. I move this Honorable
Court, that when 1t has disposed Of the
cases on it's calendar where the defend
ants are in prison 1t adjourn for the day
In respect for the memory Of Rebecca
Salome Foster and that a suitable min
ute be spread upon the records of this
court.
James Lindsay Gordon seconded the
motion with another tribute to the dead
woman. Justice Holbrook in granting
the motion said:
! It is eminently proper that we should
briefly interrupt our regular proceedings
and pause for the moment to plant a
flower of remembrance, eyincing our re-
gard for that noble and sanity woman
Mrs Foster-not inaptly called and
known as the 'Tombs Angel" whose
t tragic and pathetic death has so greatly
, saddened' our hearts. Mrs. Foster was
I known to and highly respected by all
who frequent this court. Perhaps none
y. knew her better than the members OF
i this bench on whom she was wont to cal
: almost daily In the performance of her
e benevolent work and in the discharge OF
s her duties as probationary officer, OF
this court. tGud 4
1t has been very truly and eloquently
e said of Mrs. Foster by the learned dis
trict attorney that to those In distress
and especially to those of her own sex
she was good and true angel. To the
erring and wayward, her large generous
womany heart ever went out with sin
G cere and deep sympathy. Her appear
n ance at the dark and gloomy prison cell
: to the inmates, was like the entrance ,oi
: a yeritable sunbeam Numberess lonely
and weary hearts have been cheered
eladdened and made even radiant by
her ministrations and words of goof
a cheer, and numberless, too, of those wllt
!, had strayed from the straight and mar
row way We're brought back by her sweet
u influences to paths of rectitude and yir.
e tue.
On behalf Of my associates and myself