The National tribune., 1907-12-05
"ACQUITTED."
The Jury Frees Mrs. Bradley for the
Murder of Ex-senator Brown-Generai
Satisfaction With the Verdict.

The Jury Frees Mrs. Bradley for the
Murder of Ex-senator Brown-General
Satisfaction with the Verdict.
Acquitted"
That was the verdict in the Bradley
murder case.
And it was well. Nobody on earth
wanted that little woman to die for
her crime, and it meant death if con-
victed in the District of Columbia, death
by cruel hanging. That is just as re-
fined as we have yet become in the
Capital of the Nation.
It's no use to talk about the matter.
Mrs. Bradley never denied that she
killed Senator Brown, and nobody has
ever been found to say that he did not
merit killing. His particular sins against
this woman are of the kind that no
woman forgives, no man ever forget3.
and both loathe and abhor the man
who commits them. Senator Brown was
the father of Mrs Bradley's children,
and said so often. He also stated, and
it was brought out in the trial, that he
was not the father of one of the Brown
children, tho Mrs. Brown was its moth
er. 1t was shown that his relations
with women were utterly bad. In facT,
so much was brought out against Sen
ator Brown that the Judge presiding
had to warn the witnesses and jury that
they must remember that Mrs. Bradley
and not the late Senator Brown was on
trial. Both Senator Brown and Mrs.
Bradley were unhappy in their married
life. Mrs. Bradley is a finely-educated
woman, with keen political grasn Of
public questions. a brilliant converse
tionalist and thoroly winning woman,
whom any man of any sense would ad-
mire Senator Brown deliberately set
traps for her, and determined 20 win
lar 10 fe11 - t.. ttay
after letter, this to follow divorce for
the two Then his own wife died: then,
at his instance, Mrs. Bradley got her
divorce. Then he turned poltroon, and
denied her the one saving grace-mar-
riage-and when the little bit of n wo-
man faced her boys she realized that
they must grow up to curse their moth
er if she did not give them the right to
fathers name.
Do you know what that means to
woman? She will face degradation and
disgrace herself, ana battle with power
ty and never whimper; but, like the
wild beast. she fights for her young.
the mother goes mad when she sees her
children branded in infancy with in
fanny. and comprehends that until the
grave closes over them the bar sinister
must stay upon the family escutcneon,
even to the last Of all the generations
of the name. In the old world some
of the proudest families glory in that
bar sinister, but to an American it is a
curse which no man faces bravely.
Insanity was the plea, emotional in
sanity, and who dares say it was not
eminently correct? Who is there who
dares say that in some moment in his
life intolerable anger has not driven
him to commit murder in his hcarto
Mrs. BRADLEY went little further, and
killed in earnest.
A 4
Night and day, day and night, as long
as life lasts, the specter of the man she
murdered will be with her. and the lit
tie boys, his sons. must come to know
their mothers crime. Eut let us hope
that they Will grow to be manly men,
and, recognizing her wrongs, viii COM
fort her, fer God knows she needs It.
Out in Utah there is rejoicing over
the verdict. Here in Washington there
has not been found one to say that the
jury should have given any other YER
dict. But utterly broken in mind and
body, Mrs. Bradley goes forth, from the
shadow of prison doors into the shadow
of world, that, now that its sentiment
has been satisfied by the verdict of the
jury, will give her the cold shoulder
and probably let her starve. She is
going back to Utah, she says, among
the people who know her story, and
where she will never have to tell it,
"Oh, how L dread it, she cries.
My conscience hurts me SO much
that no matter how many truths they
tell about me, how many thrusts they
try to send because of my life, / only
bow my head and say Amen to them
all. / deserve all they have said and
all they Will ever say as long as l live,
and L accept my part. But it is the lit
tie kindnesses, the little acts of helpful
ness and understanding which go 70
my heart and pierce it to its very roots.
Il have tried to change, oh, so many
times, and / have wanted to change,
but ii seemed that ! was always chain
ed-alwayS chained. It's the first step,
the first step that turns one either to
the right or the left, and after that all
things come. on. SO easy and SO relent-
lessly.
The future is full of terrors for me,
for / have them to face when
my sors grow into manhood
and realize this terrible thing
Some try to tell me that they
will then understand my sufferings and
my torments, but will they? VIII they,
all four of them, give me the love they
would have given if this terrible curse
had not come into my life?
Il want to get away. / want to get
somewhere away from people for
time, and, oh, i never want to see my
name in a newspaper again. Nobody
knows how 1 hate myself for it all
Nobody knows so well as l the depth
of my sin and degradation, and / shall
s;;tfer-I shall suffer until my very last
breath. No one can cast slur at me
nor point the finger of scorn that 1
shall not bow my head and say Amen
to 1t. What is there for me to live for
except those little ones, and when they
understand and know will there be any
place for me in the whole wide world ?"
Now, If it were you, wouldn't You
rather the verdict had been guilty"
and the penalty hung by the neck till
dead" rather than that one word
"Acquitted?"
Tie 172d and 1ssth Ohio.
Editor National Tribune. win Won