Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-20
WOMAN FREEDOF
MURDER CHARGE
FRAU BAROWSKA ACCUSED OF
KILLING LAWYER
STRANGE Features of Case Traced Dur
ing TriaI-Affair Had Ended
with Violent Scenes Be-
tween the Principals

VIENNA. Feb. 19.-Frau Fanina Ba-
rowska, a student Of medicine and the
wife of a public official at Cracow, has
been acquitted of the murder of DR..
Lewicki, a lawyer with whom she was
in love.
The trial dealt with a strange case
of passion and espionage, in which the
lawyer was punished with a violent
death for a liaison with Frau Barrow
ska, who was his client and noted
beauty.
Last year Frau Barowska was ac-
cused by Polish journalist of acting
as a spy for Russia, and DR.. Lew1cki'
who took up her case, won her action
for libel. During the course Of the
action the lawyer fell passionately in
love with Frau Barowska, and the in
trigue continued for months until the
doctor became engaged TO Polish
countess. But Frau Barowska refused
to break off her intimacy with the law
yer, and there were many Violent
scenes between them.
In particular they quarreled about
her love letters and the papers con-
cerning the libel action, which the law
yer refused to give up.
On July Frau Barowska telephoned
from DR.. Lewicki's chambers to two
doctors and to the Ambulance society
In Cramow, to say that the lawyer mad
shot himself, and asking for help.
When the ambulance and doctors ar
rived they found the lawyer lying on
the floor unconscious from the effects
of a bullet wound in the right temple,
and he shortly afterwards succumbed
without recovering consciousness. Frau
Barowska explained that DIR. Lewicki
had accidently shot himself because he
was worried about a charge which had
been brought against him also of being
a Russian spy, and that he was afraid
of the result of an impending trial.
There were many circumstances.
however, which suggested that she had
herself fired the fatal shot. The wound
appeared to have been inflicted some
hours before the doctors were called:
The room was in great disorder, the
drawers of the writing tables were
oDen. and ashes in the stove showed
that number of papers had been
burned.
Frau Barowska was arrested and
charged with murder, the theory Of the
public prosecutor being that she had
shot him partly out of jealousy and
partly in order to get possession OF the
letters.
The trial, which lasted more than a
fortnight. and excited the greatest in
terest throughout the monarchy, was
remarkable for the skill and the pas
sion with which tne accused ueIeHueu
herself. Her health had suffered much
from the preceding six months i'm
prisonment and the strain of the pre-
liminary examination, and she. was so
weak that frequently a sofa had to be
provided for her in the dock and in
jections of cocaine administered to pre-
vent her from collapsing.
The doctors fiancee, Countess Fysz-
kiowicz, declared in the witness box
that DR.. Lewicki had complained to
her of Frau Barowska's persecution
and of the difficulty he had in getting
rid of her Another interesting witness
was Frau Barowska's husband, who
stated that she had confessed the LA
son to him, but believed she had broken
it off herself, and emphatically declared
his belief in his wife's innocence.
During the trial the court adjourned
to DR.. Lewickts chambers, where an
attempt was made to reconstruct the
scene in order to test Frau Barowska s
story Shots were fired by experts at
a dummy and experiments were even
made with DIR. Lewicki's little dog to
see if 1t would be likely to have car
ried the empty cartridge case that was
found across the room.
These experiments, however, like the
opinion OF the doctors as to the ques
tion whether the wound in the temple
was a self-inflicted one, were incon-
elusive. as it appeared that either sui
eide or murder would explain the cir
cumstances equally well.