The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-06-09
THE SUN


in directing verdict of acquitaal, the case belongs
to that great class in which jury will never send
the prisoner to death.
"I'he punishment of the slain woman would seem
almost to have been justified, If murder can ever be
justified by her wicked participation in the horrible
indignities to which the Terranova girl had been
subjected
'rhe verdict of acquital not due, in any sense
to the counsel for the prisoner to the sensational
accounts of the trial published in various neWspa-
pers but simply to that sense OF primitive JUS
ice which is at times enuncated by the verdict of
American jury.
Through misrepresentation it has been made to
appear that the Terranova girl was subjected to tor
and to cruel tests during her examination by the
doctors who We're experts on insanity. Such state
ments are absolutely false. No stones were dropped
on her feet; neither the needle electricity nor
anything else used to torture her. These stories
were fabricated by persons desiring to make the trial
spectacular.
1.-The accused has been remanded to jail until the
District Attorney shall determine what course to
take in reference to the indictment against her for
the murder of her uncle. There can be no doubt
about the proper She should never be
brought to trial for the other concurrent murder.
All the testimony and all the evidence which re-
suited in her speedy acquittal the charge of
derng her aunt would apply, with even more force,
to the trial for numbering her uncle and the result
would inevitably be the same. The county should
not be subjected to this unnecessary additional ex
pense The District Attorney in view of these facts,
is warranted in applying to the court for the dis
missal OF the Indictment The accused girl should be
discharged from custody. While it may have been
unnecessary to kill the aunt, the verdict of the jury
has disposed of that question forever; and if the
killing OF the aunt justified, the Staying of the
uncle was even more justifable for he was the
principal villain, whose crime demanded condign
punishment"
The whole press is agreed, however, that the YER
dict was proper one. "The jury that acquitted
Josephine Terranova of the charge of murder within
sixteen minutes after the Judge had charged them,
did right" says the New Orleans Item, and con-
tinues: "If 1.-THE of the testimony given by this
defendant is true she was ustifable in taking the
lives OF her knspeople and ought to have been CEN
sured for not adopting this means of putting them
out of the way long before she committed the deed
A poor, Ignorant foreign girl was made to slave for
her uncle and aunt for years, performing the most
abect drudgery even while she ill enough to be
in bed and attended by physician But the worst
part of this horrible affair is unfit for publication
and it is sufficient to say that those who should have
protected their niece conpred and did disgrace her
and make of her an outcast. After her marriage
they were demons enough to poison the mind of her
husband against her and caused him to abandon her
with hopes she would lead a life of shame If ever
the taking OF human life commendable and right
we think the present presented the most perfect
Provocation conceivable. These foreigners should
learn that American citizens will not tolerate their
devilish Vaccinations, and if they resort to unmen
tionable crimes upon whose brow shame would be
ashamed to Sit they will not punish the victims who
take the law in their own hands for their own vind
cation and protection. The opinions of alienists
differed as to the sanity of the poor, maltreated
young woman; but sane or insane, she did right in
welding the bloody dagger with such telling effect
upon those who had assassinated her character"
The demolition of the old part of the famous
Hoffman House, in New York, for the purpose of re.
building it on larger and finer plan has given rise
to report that the Hoffman House would be closed
and thus would disappear from New York a land.
mark that will hold place all its own in local his
tory Its fame had penetrated the farthest recesses
OF America, and no male visitor from any part of the
country was allowed to depart without being shown
the Hoffman House art gallery" The report of the
closing OF the hotel however, is erroneous, as the
Improvements now under construction interfere in no
way with the business of the house or the convenience
of its guests
The revelations we have had in connection with the
western meat'packng concerns horrify and astound
the American people. For many days these revea.
tions have been the aimportant topic of discussion