The Washington herald., 1907-11-20
4 WOMAN BOWED BENEAT TIL
GRIEVOUS WEIGHT OF WRONG

sad, and infinitely pathetic smile.
Ii Is only while awaiting the questions
those times that fall with such an aw-
ful and dread silence-that her face takes
on again the look of patient endurance,
OF suffering, and pain
What is this, the counsel speaking
Did YOU suffer any mental distress at
this time?"
He means at the time when ex-senator
Brown had told her that he must violate
his promise and that he could not marry
her
She locks up as if surprised. She
brrshes trembling fingers across her
forehead:
"Oh, judge" she replies, with a note
OF tears in her voice. "Of course. Won
know l didl'
The strain Is great upon her and she
details the sordid facts of her love life
the children she has lost; the children,
who through this dread shadow are for
time being, lost to her. The pallor steals
over her face again, the lips are pale.
Two OF the jurymen are furtively wip-
ing tears from overcharged eyes. and a
kindly bailiff hurries to bring the little
woman glass Of water, which She
eagerly sips
In the somber light of the courtroom
the face Of this pathetic figure on tine
| witness etonJ - H. 49,. =,
tace there. 1t is like mask which only
halt conceals the knowledge and memo
RES beneath. You cannot look at It with
out thinking of the faces Of the sorrow
ful mothers which the old Flemish mas
tiers loved so 10 paint
There Is whisper behind. 1t is the
girl chewing gum. still industriously
chewing How old is she?" the whisper
tasks.
She IS thirty-hve, but seated here. one
lone woman fighting out such battle
as It Is given few women TO fight She
looks older She is a woman bowed be
meath the weight Of wrongl And vet. one
cen easily see that given few davs in
the happy country and happiness and her
children and a hopeful outlook for the
future. and she might well look Younger
than her age-she might even seem
pretty!
10 the spectators in the courtroom Il
grows monotonous. this question and
answer 1t Is only she upon the stand
that finds this unwonted task sfra;,
The resonant male soioe QUESTIONING i
heard clearly through the room; the
answer comes, musical, but inarticulate
only few feet away. In the dronirg
afternoon IT sounds like nothing so mnch
as a distant vesper bell Ginning softlv
IN the cloiSters Of a monastery
She IS describing one Of her many i'll
nesses The man who is deaf had come.
to her. and struck with remorse at sipbt
OF her fraility and pain. had cried So
she says
oh, my child, my child. YOU have suf-
tered so muchr
The words bring back TO her the mem
ory OF the time when he was tender IN
iler; when she was hedged about by love
and gentleneSs-a time so different from
thls-and she breaks down for mo
ment. Sobbing She is not alone Tbere
are those IN the jury box whose ewes are
wet and IN the body Of the room Rhere
IS the futter Of handkerchiefs-even the
sirl chewing gum ceases a moment 10
gulp down a sob.
1t IS deeply moving, intensely dra-
matte, and the center of the dran,s :
this pathetic figure in black that sits there
immovable and blinks away the hot tears
One other note All through the long
day there sat immediately in front of
the witness stand, mercifully concealed
from the witness by the array of counsel
the eldest son Of the man whose death
has brought Mrs. Annie Bradley 70 her
present peril Dry eyed. urmoved with
eNpressionleSs face, he sat there and stared
steadily az this woman whom his father
had loved-and left. She never looked
at him; perhaps she felt him there. b,t
on. the tragedy that lay betweenl
She never wavered all the livelon9
day; but bit by BIZ, and thread by thread
she wove the pitiful narrative Of her life
.ot love and bitterness. Once or twice
She looked up at the courtroom clock
which has licked so steadily and nm
moved through so many sorrows. and at
the last, IN a weak and pleading voice
she said:
oh. | am 50 tired-so tiredrr
We Will adjourn now. said the
nudge, who represents mercy as we'll as
Justice; and sill brave still bearing her
self uprlghtly and with courage. the lii
tie woman IN black was led back to her
prison cell
And the girl in the front row. as she
went out after the show, was still chew
ing gum
ure, and then asked when she met him