Arizona republican., 1911-12-01
The Patterson Verdict.

1T was a travesty on Justice said
Prosecutor Benson, in referring to the
subject which forms the caption of
this editorial The. prosecutor may
be right and he may be mistaken;
but there is one thing certain-the
factions of the people about the Den
Yer court house when the verdict of
not guilty" was announced were
travesties on decency and common
sense
When the jury formally acquitted
Gertrude Gibson Patterson of the
charge of having. in cold blood and
with deliberate and premeditated ma
! lice killed her husband, the people
who heard that verdict acted as
though they were suddenly bereft of
reason. Men fought and pushed and
scrambled in an effort to shake her
hand. Women did the same thing
in an effort to kiss her.
There is nothing in such action to
cali for anything but disgust. Such
sodden sentimentality does not show
manhood and womanhood-it is mere
" tho outward evidence of hysteria.
Mrs. Patterson even though she has
iust been acquitted by jury is,
hardly a woman to be greatly ad-
mired.
Stripped of all the sensationalism
and mawkish sentimentality which
surround her, here are a few facts
about this woman:
She was married to one man and
vas the purchased paramour of an
ether.
So far from being faithful to her
husband. she was not even faithful
to her professed love for Strauss, the
millionaire pantsmaker.
and even if her husband had abused
nor as she said, and even if he was
the moral degenerate she claimed, she
was hardly justified in appointing
herself his executioner
Mrs. Patterson claims to have shot
her husband in self defense, and it
would seem the jury believed her. For
there is no other possible justification
for what. otherwise. would have been
a heinous crime.
Yet here are the facts about the
homicide. They are not pleasant
facts. for the truth has a habit of
being unpleasant at times. But the
facts are that Mrs. Patterson went
out to the neighborhOOd of the SAM
tarium where her husband. already |
on the verge of the grave. was stay
ing; she took with her a revolver; |
she met her husband and walked
with him on the street; and there
they became involved in an alteration
and Mrs. Patterson shot and killed
him.
1t was self defense" said the de-
PENDANT. sobbing and turning her
languishing and tear-filled eyes on
the Jury. 1T was self defense. He
knocked me down and was standing
over me ready to strike again when
1 shot him"
But the rather peculiar fact about
it all is that one of the bullets struck
Patterson in the back. And when the
pistol was discharged it was held so
close that the coat was burned by
the flash This is a fact that all the
Mrs. Pattersons' in the world would
have some difficulty in explaining.
1t is a trifle strange that when Mrs
Patterson was lying on the ground
and her husband was on the point of
striking her that she could shoot him
in the back, and hold the weapon so
close that the flash would burn his
clothing.
The jury, of course were in duty
bound to free Mrs. Patterson if they
had a reasonable doubt of her guilt.
But it was hardly in good taste
for the men and women of Denver
to give her an ovation. Aside from
the Patterson homicide she can hard
" be classed as a desirable person
to have in your immediate vicinity.
And now she wants to go on the
stage. OF course-that was to have
been expected. She draws the line
at vaudeville, though-she wants a
part. even a tiny part, in a first
class play.
But managers of first-class plays
are not looking for women of the