The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-07-25

nave ample scope for the play
1of their imagnations in the
Latimer case A wealthy couple
IN middle life retire one night seemingly
on the best of terms. In the small
hours of the morning the wife is awak-
encd by curious sounds and the intui-
tive sense of an unnatural presence.
She awakenS her husband. Just then
a masked man, a burglar, appears,
there is struggle, shots are fired and
the husband sinks, mortally wounded.
Tine intruder escapes, no one knows
where or how, and the police find no
clue.
such is the version of the wife, An
other story is current but not support
ed by substantial evidence. 1t is to
the effect that Latimer was shot dur
ing quarrel with man whose pres
ence in the Latimer homestead was
not previously unknown to Mrs. Lati-
mer The only basis yet disclosed for
this theory is the fact that Mrs. Lati-
iner and her husband had had differ
ences, that she once intimated to a wo-
man friend that she was tied to a man
she did not love. and-this according
to her own testimony at the coroner's
inquest-that she had been indiscreet
upon certain occasions. such as eX-
changing notes with man next door,
dining with a man of whom her hus-
band was jealous, and once putting to
bed during her husbands absence a
male caller who had imbibed not wisely
but too much While the inference
from these admissions is not to the
credit of Mrs. I.atimer's wifehood, it
should in fairness be said that no proof
has been produced that her indiscre-
tions were worse than the foolishness
of many wealthy and discontented wo-
men who have nothing to do but to
pass the irksome time as best they
may. The fact that she and her hus-
land old not get along together as a
model couple should supplies no war;
rant for believing, without corroborat-
ing circumstance, that she was un-
faithful, and without this established
there can be no credence for the theory
mirer of his wife.
the burglary story seems plausible
and doubtless would have been accept
ed without question had it not been
disclosed that I.atimer. while in the
hospital, repeatedly spoke to his nurse
and physicians in IA way to discredit it.
The purport of Latimer's talk was that
he suspected some one whom his wife
knew and wanted that person watched.
1t should be added that this person, a
friend of the family, has established
that he was at home and in his own
bed lat the time of the Latimer tragedy.
If his alibi holds, the attempt to con-
meet the shooting with domestic scan
dal will be seriously interfered with.
Evidently his testimony impressed the
coroner's jury, for it's verdict credits
The shooting to SOME unknown person.
The strange feature of the affair, as
noted in the inquest finding, is the fall
ure of the hospital authorities to take or
somebody to demand an ante-mortem
statement. Latimer lay for hours with
intervals of consciousness. yet he was
permitted to pass away without an in
iuiry an to his knowledge touching his
shooting. 1t looks as though this
negligence was more than accidental.
And on such a foundation of suspicion,
surmise, mystery and romantic conjec-
ture, with the detective agencies appar-
emily wholly at sea, it is not strange
That the case attracts widespread at
tention. 1t has all the elements which
most strongly appeal to popular Curl
osity.
AS usual in such matters, the burden