Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1904-11-17

tained divorce had she SO wfshed:l
there was no necessity for her to seek
freedom by causing his death. Mrs.
Dumbarton was woman OF blameless
life and all who knew her could bear
witness that hers was not the Wickeds
depraved and malignant heart that had
conceived and carried out such q
crime.
There was no necessity to say more
to any enlightened body of men. He
had pointed out the gross improbable
ity. he might add, the utter imposst-
bility of such a deed being done by
such woman; the lack of evidence
to support SO serious an accusation:
the inadeduacy of motive on her part;
and he would ask the jury as men OF
judgment and as lovers of justice to
return verdict which would free this
suffering lady from the Inconvenience,
the humiliations, and The foul sus-
picions of which unhappy circumstan-
ces had made her the victim.
George Coris sat down at the conclu.
sion of his speech with sense OF satis-
faction ait having done his best for his
client, but likewise with the knowledge
that his case was weak and his argu-
ment inconclusive. At the request OF
juryman; the maid was recalled and
questioned regarding the voices she had
heard on the night ofsthe tragedy. but
she merely repeated what she had ale
ready stated. and no further light on
the deed was Forthcoming.
The coroner then summed up the evi-
dence. The jury, he stated, must dis
miss from their minds all inadmissable
statements made by the solicitor for
the person suspected. They had heard
the evidence and they ought to find d
verdict contingent and dependent on
hai a
their minds the chief points of the evil
dence given. And he then dwelt briefly
but forcibly on the persecution the
suspected person had endured at the
hands of an unprincipled man; on his
demand for money; his entrance to her
house, Where he was discovered MUIR
dered, the instrument by which his life
had been taken being noticed in her
hand. The supposit!on that an unseen
and unknown avenger had caused the
death of David Dumbarton had, SO
far as could be ascertained, no founda-
ton in fact
Evening had come before he had fin
ished his remarks and the jury had re-
tired to consider their verdict. Gas
fiared in the court, poisoning the close
atmosphere: strangers had come and
gone, reporters had relieved each other;
the officers looked jaded But the in
terest which had begun to flag in the
ipQDllc H1lliu HOW SuuuGIllS IeNiNGu, tiit
silence was broken by whispers; the
court, which had perceptibly thinned
an hour ago, became suffocatingly
crowded.
Olive Dumbarlon, sensitively COM.
scious to all that went OH around her,
preserved a calmness that she felt was
unnatural; her emotions We're frozen; +
the tide of her life seemed to stand
still. Those around he., George Bos-,
took, her solicitor, Dr.. Quave, betrayed
their excitement by their restlessness
and by the anxious manner with which,
they regarded her. 1t was relief tol
her and to her friends when the jury
once more entered the court. She
heard their footsteps without a quick
ening of her heart throbs. and saw
without a flutter of hope the look Of
satisfaction they wore at having come,
to the end of Il troublesome duty, for,
she knew full We'll the verdict they
would return, and foresaw the fate that
cruelty awaited her. That which was
to her probably a matter of life or,
death was to them an exciting incldentl
in the mototony of their daily lives
In another moment the foreman of
the jury declared that they We're unani- /
NOUS liz their opinion that David Dunn !
barton had met his death by being,
stabbed in the breast. and that the fatal
blow had been struck by his wife.
silence, broken by the coroner's voice
as he proceeded to explain the differ,
ence between murder and man
slaughter, with q view to helping them,
in their decision as to which form of.
the crime had been committed by olive.
Dumbarton. Manslaughter was unlaW-l
full act of killing another without mall
ice, either expressed or implied, and;
was either voluntary or involuntary,I
while murder was the unlawful killing
of any creature by any means with
malice aforethought and with settled
purpose to revenge. The evidence they,
had heard must be the best guide tot
the deceased had, in backing his de-
mands for money, or through charac-
teristic brutality, used violence Which
resulted in an act on his wife's part of
self defence; or if they considered thel
fatal blow was given during one of
those paroXysms Of passion which.
While the frenzy lasts, stills the voice
of reason, and renders its victim reck-I
less of the consequences of his or her
deed, then they must return a verdict
of manslaughter
Without quitting the box, the jury
gave it as their opinion that the case
before them WAS one of manslaughter.I
The coroner then, turning toward the!
black robed, removable figure which,
was the center of all observation, said:
"Olive Dumbarton, the jury have In
quired into the cause attending the del
mise of your husband, and have come.
to the conclusion he met his DEATH
at your hands. 1t is, therefore. my
duty to commit you to the next assizes,
to be holden at the old Bailey, there
to take your trial upon that charge"
On this George Coris applied that his
client might be liberated on bail, when
the coroner said he would accept bail
in two sureties for the appearance of
the accused SO charged with man
slaughter at the ensuing assize.
And the necessary formaities, having
gone through, Olive Dumbarton was
led from the coroner's court and driv-
en- home by George Bostock; Veronica
sitting beside her, clinging to her.
holding her hanGs, the girls sad eyes
fixed upon her mothers immobile face:
Olive Dumbarton herself, weighed down
by q sense of impending woe, heavier
to bear and darker to meet than death
itself.
CHAPTER VII.
On recovering from the dull stupor,
caused by the death of her husband
under circumstances so appalling, at
.,I,4 .A-.sl