Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-05

them, ana they chose death, Dut the nus
band alone found it.
I'VE decided" said Mrs Seldom at the in
quest on his body, that we had better
both leave this world together After pass
ing sleepless night worrying over their
lot, black despair gripped her II can't
stand this any longer" she said to her hus-
band. Rising from the bed she went to a
cupboard and took from 1t bottle con-
tanning a liniment composed of belladonna
and aconite, which had been used to re-
lieve her husbands pain. 1t was marked
Poison" She drank half its contents.
/ Then she said to her husband, There is
nothing for US but this or the workhouse.
Are you going to take your share?' Yes"
replied the man, and snatching the bottle
from his wife's hands, he drained what re-
manned of the poison.
Mrs. Seldom then sought her sister-in-law
who lived IN the same house, told her what
they had DONE and besought her to see to
1t that they were saved the ignominy of
pauper burial. Then she returned to the bed
and lay down by her usband's side. to die
with him. she thought. But the poison work
ed slowly. AS IN duty-bound the sister-in-
law told the police what had happened Tie
police removed the couple to the workhouse
which they had SO dreaded. There the
doctors did their best to present them es-
Gaping from 1t by death-as in duty they
were bound to do They saved Mrs Sed-
don's life, but her husband succumbed
M*
quest. The jury brought in a verdict of
suicide while temporarily insane Then the
police arrested Mrs. Seldom and charged
her with thevmurder of the man. who. ac-
cordfng to the coroner's jury, had commit
ted suicide. Paradoxical as 1t sounds the
law justified that charge. For the law de-
clares that If two persons conspire to COM
init suicide and one survives that survivor
IS guilty of murder.
The evidence at the trial made it clear
that 1t was not a case of murder-that is
according to common-sense notions But
the law was equally emphatic that it was
murder. and the judge told the Jury that
they would have to stand by the law The
jury reluctantly brought in a verdict of
guilty, adding a strong recommendation to
mercy. And the judge reluctantly sentenced
the woman to death. He said 1t was the
saddest case he had ever tried. His opin-
ion of the law which compelled him to
impose a sentence that was abhorrent to
his notions of right and justice he kept to
himself, for in a court of justice the most
stupid law must be treated as something
sacred.
I'VE did not want to find the woman
guilty said one of the jurymen, after the
trial was over, but after what the Judge
told us we could not do otherwise or
course we knew that the woman would not
be hanged, and. of course, the Judge knew
it, too. when he pronounced sentence of
death upon her. In this case the law is GER
tainly an hass. and II is absurd to retain
1t on the statutes"
One Of the counsel who took part in the
! trial said: THE case reveals a flaw in our
| law which certainly ought to be amended.
| We ought to have murder in the first degree
and in the second degree as they have in
| the United States. 1t is absurd to nut a
person who is merely technically guilty on
| trial for his or her life. A housebreaker
who smashed window with his fist the
| flying glass from which fatally injured any
one, would be technically guilty of murder.
So would q man who shot at fowl which
| did not belong to him and accidentally
killed man"