Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-04-19

this part Of her narrative. The jurors,
most Of them elderly men, glared
vengefully at her husband, and the at
torney for the prosecution looked
abashed.
Leading up to the day Of the shoot
ing with all sorts Of skillful little by
plays and constantly dabbing at her
fine eyes with a wadded-up lace hand
kerchief she described how she had en-
tered the hotel room, after a walk, how
her husband had jumped up from the
couch on which he was lying, locked
the door, pulled a revolver out Of bu-
reau drawer, and told her that she had
better say her prayers, as he was 60
ing to kill her within five minutes.
"She closed on him then, she declar-
ed, making grab for the revolver, and
in the scuffie the weapon was discharg-
ed, the bullet, as she was told after the
arrest, having lodged in the muscles of
her brutal husbands right shoulder.
"Now, she did all this mighty we'll,
and knew when she had finished that
she had the prosecution all over the
place and that she had picked up her
case and ran away with 1t. But I also
knew perfectly well that she was ly-
ing, and lying hard, with every move
ment Of her lips. Excellent actress
that she was, she wasn't able to crowd
down that give-away tone-quaver Of
the individual industrially engaged in
framing up a fairy tale.
1.-THE jury returned a verdict in her
favor without leaving their seats. in
spite Of the fact that the prosecution
put several experts on the stand, who
testified that it was absolutely impos-
sible for her husband to have gotten
that ball in his right shoulder in the
progress Of such a struggle as the wo-
man had described. When she swept
out of the room, receiving the congrat-
ulations Of all hands, had a hefty
line of thinks as to the advantages Of
good looks and a theatrical education
in some contingencies.
-Four years later met this woman,
a drink wreck in New York. She def
antly told me that she had shot her
husband in just exactly the manner
he had described on the stand, and she
gloried in it. She said that she was
only sorry that she hadn't killed him,
as she had intended doing when she
aimed at him.
II reported a case in Philadelphia in
which a woman was charged with hav-
ing caused the death of her husband by
secretly administering strychnine to
him. She had been on the outs with his
folks, and when he died suddenly they
got on her trail. had his stomach analyz-
ed. and when the analysis revealed
quantities of strychnine they charged
her with poisoning him.
"I took her statement when she was
arrested, and I knew tnat she had
nothing to do with her husbands death
as soon as she opened her mouth. Yet
everything was against her when the
case came up.
"She had been virtually her husbands 8
only companion; they had had a quar-
rel some years before that had brought
about their separation for long Pc
riod; he had, shortly before his death,
taken out large life insurance policy
in her favor: neighbors had heard high
words between them a day or so before
his death, and soon-it was as tight a
circumstantial chain as ever saw
woven, and I was a good deal worried
about the case.
"Well, on the second day Of the trial,
two Philadelphia druggists, who had
apparently been so sound asleep that
they hadn't heard anything about the
case, came forward and swore that the
dead man had been in the habit Of taxi
ing strychnine in quantities for several
years to their certain knowledge. and
that they had often sold him the stuff
on prescriptions. Right on top Of this
a few more Philadelphians woke up
and came to the fr.nt with testimony
to the effect that the deceased had fire.
quently talked gloomily to them Of his
business affairs and had mentioned sui
eide as the only way out Of the slough.
THAT knocked the underpinning from
the case against the accused wife OF
the dead man, and when 1t went to the
jury a verdict was returned for her.
Most experienced parliamentary re-
porters, too, develop this faculty Of be-
ing able to pin liar to the stick, figu-
ratively speaking, by the sound of his
voice. I and the head official reporter
Of the legislature Of q western state,
who visited me awhile ago, were COM
pairing notes on this subject, and he
told me an illustrative experience that
came his way couple of years before.
1.-The newspapers Of the state had
openly charged clique of legislators Of
being implicated in a bribery job, and