Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1903-01-27


band. He, however, yet further invit.
C. suspicion by admitting that he had
rot only written the order, but had
sent another woman, whom he would
not name to buy II. The evident eX.
PLANTATION of this unlikely yarn was
that Pickering wanted to shield his
wife from any suspicion of completely.
and preferred to bear the full Odium
and consequences OF the crime rather
/ than compromise his wife and sully the
| lair name of his children.
The most convincing portions of the
! the neighbors, who gave testimony to
the effect that every visit of the moth
tr-in.law to Pickering's house was
marked by quarrels, chickering's, yitu
peration and even threats. II was also
proved that Mrs. Pickering expected to
inherit considerable money from her
mother and that the husband knew IL.
The old lady was bit of Tartar and
was continually interfering in the fam.
lily affairs of her son-in.law: she assum.
cd the spiritual membership, accused
the married folks of neglecting the re.
| ligiOus training of the two children,
and In other ways so conducted herself
as to lend probability TO the theory
that her murderers had both a merce.
rary and vindictive reason for put.
ting her out of the way.
My own observation of the two &C.
cused people was that they were gull.
| ty They seemed equally devoted to
TIE two pretty children, but regarded
enc another with a species of Mortified
hatred that, to my mind, clearly eX'
pressed the loathing repulsion that
must come to the partners in so
wretched a crime. He avoided her
glances and she never looked up while
Lis face was turned toward her. In
their respective testimonies, however,
each tried to shield the other, and yet
these palpable evidences of self-sacri
flee failed utterly in evoking any signs
Of tenderness or forgiveness from eli
ther.
Well, 10 make long story short, "
continued Judge Pfaff, I'VE were try.
ing them separately, and his case was
drawing to close one day with every
indication that he would be found gull.
~. Along in the afternoon, | noticed
that Mrs. Pickering was terribly eXcit.
ed. At last she called her attorney
and whispered some instructions. He
frightened up, went red and pale by
turns, and then came to tell me in a
whisper that they had, or would have,
another piece of evidence. This an.
royed the prosecution, for we were all
: convinced that nothing would save
| Pickering, but we managed to reach
an agreement and her attorney prom
ised to call at my house that night and
let me know whether the new evi
Gence' amounted to anything. The
prosecuting attorney agreed to meet
us at the same time and we adjourned
Tor the day.
We'll, sir, about 10 o'clock that night
Mrs. Pickering's lawyer came, all ex.
element, fairly bursting with his
news, He had letter in his pocket
addressed To the Police and which
proved to be nothing more nor less
than long screed, written and signed
Ey the woman for whose murder we
we're trying the chickering's in which
she confessed that she had administer.
ed the poison TO herself. The reasons,
FULLY set forth, were, as | recall, that
she had not any estate at all, but had
leu her children to believe that she was
rich for the selfish purpose of making
sure of a home for herself in her old
age. In a word, the old woman had
hoped that her reputed wealth would
have overcome her sonin-law's dislike
Tor her, and when she found out, on the
day OF her death, that he would not toll
crate her in the house, she had simply
used the arsenic which she found on
the bathroom shelf.
THE defense soon overcame any OBJ