The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1907-03-08
THE STRANGE CASE
OF MILES O'BRIEN.
loriglnal.l

Tor this story unless ] state that 1t Is
true. The names OF the characters are
not their real ones, but the Incidents
are exactly as they occurred in all
their improbabllity.
THE O'Briens." said man standing
In his doorway. ARE quarreling. Lis
ten!'
A mans voice was heard to say:
BE quiet, Molly. Don't you see the
neighbors lookingT'
4 don't care If they are. This life
I'm living with you is lunbearable"
Very well, I'll trouble you no longer.
But remember-mInd what say Che
shook his finger at herl-you'l not get
me back for the asking"
0'Brien strobe away. and his wife
went into the house and slammed the
door, Those who were watching the
couple went OF about their respective
callings and thought no more OF the
incident, except that this was the l1rst
time they had ever known the couple
to quarrel. Miles and Molly o'Brien
had been supposed to be devoted TO
each other.
The next day and the next and the
next the o'Brien house was closed.
Neither Miles nor his wife was at
home, nor was either seen in the vii
lage. Then one morning crowd gath.
cred about their house. In the yard
lay Mrs. o'Brien. dressed in her best
clothes and wearing ornaments which
she seldom wore except on gala occa-
Blons. She had been dead some time.
A blow on the head had been the cause
Of her death. The body was identified
before the coroner. the parting words
Of the couple given in evidence, and
the police Of neighboring cities were
notified to arrest Miles o'Brlen for the
murder OF his wife. The same evening
he was lodged in jail.
The trial was one Of circumstantial
evidence. The couple had quarreled,
O'Brien had gone to the city. where
during the interval between his leaving
home and his arrest he had stunned
every one. His wife had disappeared.
Then suddenly she had been found in
her own yard murdered, wearing her
best apparel and her jewelry. The
theory OF the prosecution was that she
had returned TO her home for the pur-
pose of taking away these valuables
that her husband had found her there,
they had renewed their quarrel and
o'Brlen had killed her.
The prisoners counsel tried in vain
/ 70 1tn -
der in order to establish an allbi, but
the corpse had been found in the
morning under some bushes, where it
might have lain not only all night, but
Tor several days. The clrcumstantial
evidence against the accused was too
strong to be controverted except by an
Rlibi; consequently there was no
ground for the defense TO stand on
The jury brought in a verdict OF guilty.
Miles o'Brien was brought up for
sentence.
Have you anything to say why the
sentence of death should not be passed
upon your asked the judge.
II am innocent of the crime. My
wife and never had but one serious
quarrel, and never expected that it
would be lasting"
The judge then made some prellml-
nary remarks on the deviIish brutality
Of man who would kill his wife with
club and was about to pronounce the
6nal words which would consign Miles
O'Brlen to the gallows when there was
commotion among those gathered in
the back Of the courtroom and a wo-
man came pushing her way down the
aisle. Rushing to the prisoner, she
threw her arms about him, he, though
astonished, returning the embrace.
who are you?" asked the Judge
"HIs wife"
When the commotlon consequent up
on this sudden return to life of MUIR
dered woman who had come to save
her husband from the penalty Of hnv-
ing killed her had subsidized, the Judge
asked Mrs. o'Brien to give an account
Of her whereabouts since her parting
with her husband.
after he left me-" she said, II con-
cluded to shut up the house and go up
into the country to my mother, who
lives on a farm. They don't take
newspaper up there, SO didn't hear Of
my husbands arrest. But found
couldn't live without him and came
back to learn what had become OF him
and, II could hnd him. ask his for
gtvenesS. When got home, 1 heard
he had been tried for my murder and
was to be sentenced this morning"
Have you a twin sIster?"
mo, your honor"
The Judge sat stupefed. Twelve good
and true men under his legal guidance
had pronounced Miles o'Brien guilty
Of having killed the woman who was
weeping over him and covering him
with kisses. In another moment the
convicted man would have been legally
guilty Of the crime.
| "You are DISCHARGED - said fl1a irlHOa