Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-10-27

ed a trial and sentence unique in the
annals of our country-so strange
that one wonders it should have be-
come no more widely Known. None
of the participants of the singular
drama is now living, and, lest the
events be quite forgotten, | will mar
rate them just as they have come to
me.
A young woman, Margaret WillOugh-
by by name, had voluntarily presented
herself before the officers of the law,
making confession of crime. and ask
ing that due sentence for wilful muir
der be proOunced upon her. Briefly
summed up, her story was this: The
day before, while travelling an isolat-
ed woodpath on Blare's mountain, a
wooded elevation some two miles east
of the village Of Blare's Hollow, she
had come suddenly upon Elsie
McGrew, little girl some nine years
old. who was gathering spring flow
ers. She was about to speak to the
child, when she was startled to hear
a warning rattle end see an ugly form
sway for a moment between her and
the child, but with its powerful scin-
tillating eyes fixed on the little one.
SO near to the snake was she and so
unnoticed by it that she might seem
ingly have kille d it with the stout
staff she carried in her hand, yet she
had not struck oTt in defense of the
child, had stood and seen the poison
Gus blow struck
Then, in truth, she had aroused her
SELF fought off the loathsome thing,
caught rp the child, and with her lips
sought to draw from the wound its
venom. Partly she had succeeded,
but the child, too nervously organized
to outliye the horror, had died In ter
rible commissions the next morning in
her home, whittier Margarets arms
had borne her Then 1t was. when
the convulsed limbs had Strengthened
into deaths rlgldty, the look of horror
fed before the look of peace eternal
which had come to rest upon the little
face.-that Margaret had gone to the
officers Of the little town and told her
story
90 bblduBG were inc NOFuS Sne
spoke at the preliminary hearing that
doubts Of her sanity were entertain
ed Eminent doctors from distant
cities were consulted. but they could
find no reasonable grounds for pro-
nowncing her mad
The afternoon which ended this sin
gular trial, In which the prisoner
stood sole acuuser and witness of her
guilt was one betting such a scene.
Natrfe lad put on her most weird
Sarb. Great masses of dark cloud OBJ
scured the sunlight. gray mist
scurried through the air. hurried hith-
er and thither by wild winds which
howled and sighed and moaned
around the mpretentious wooden
structure In which the court was held.
Despite the weather the courtroom
filled to overlooking. Men. women.
even school children were there for
Margaret Willoughby had been widely
known and loved, Often had she
watched by the bedside Of the dying.
or comforted those who mourned:
hers were the hands which had plac.
ed the dead within their cofi1ns In
that terrible winter when the small
rox had swept the little numbering
village Of Blare's Hollow. Hers was
the voice which had led the singing in
the village church on Sunday. She
II was who had been the beloved
teacher of the village school--so gen.
tie so tender that from her had little
children learned to feel kindness for
every living thing. And now she
stood before them, self-accused of
wilful murder. and these most learned
physicians had pronounced her sanei
There was no need that jury should
decide II she We're guilty. That they
would recognize her guilt-that was
her only plea. It remained only for
the judge to sentonce-and the sen.
tence for which she begged was,-
death. She made no plea. but in the
course of her examination by the wise
doctors, this much had been learned.
From childhood. Margaret had had a
tenderness FOR every living thing
even those things which filled her
with a sort of loathing horror still
had a claim upon her simple mercy
becaused they lived God had Great
ed them, even as He created man.
God. who noted the sparrows fall. low
ed them. They had the same right
to live as she. The spider In his
home was safe from destruction at
her hand. though she might break his
airy web in the release of some poor
victim fly. The moth, fluttering in
the candle. filed her heart with pity:
the MANNED creatures of the earth.
however hmble-hird with broken
wing, toad bruised with stones by
children's wanton cruelty, or dog with
sore and bleeding feet cut by the
snow-crust of the mountain winter
all shared her tender care even as had
their human brethren. Even the tint.
est living creature she had not Killed
II this might be called a defense. so
much of defense she made. But not
as Such II was not pity that she