Norwich bulletin., 1914-06-04
Had Thrown Fork a. Husband.

Had Thrown Fork at Husband.
 She described serious quarrels with | her husband, told of throwing a fork | and hitting him in the head after an | arugument they had when she objected | to his putting dirty water in milk that | was to be sold. telling him she would | not stand for such doings. She also 1 told of their troubles over the deed of | the farm and of her husbands prom | ise to have her name put in the deed.H l She felt this was her right, she said, 1 for when she married Lawson 23 years | before she had property in the west 1 to the value of $500 and had made | it over to her husband. She also had worked hard as his wife. taking in washings for years, and felt. she should have a share of title in their new farm. Interviews with Pastor. Mrs. Lawson related her interviews with her pastor Rev. Axel E. Elm quist Once when he came to her l after her husbands death, another clergyman from New York with him. she was so ill with heart trouble she did not want to talk, she said. The | clergymen prayed, however, and Mrs. Lawson declared they later talked with her about God and she had said: 'T ! do not know whether I have a God.
 that will help me- That night some
 thing happened to me and tears first | came to my eyes" she said. She
 also told of seeing Rev. MT Elmquist
 on another day later and claimed that | he advised her at the time to confess
 her crime. She quoted her pastor as | saying to her: If you tell the whole ] story they will be easy on you There i was another talk with the clergyman
 as to making a confession and she said ] that Rev. MT. Emquist mentioned that | If she were arrested she might be for I cibly fed at the jail where they would probably put her anyway.
 l Denied CIergyman's Statement.
 Mrs. Lawson quoted herself as say ing to the pastor: Before they do all l that to me I think God would for | give me for taking my own life" She ] denied that she said to the pastor: T hope God will forgive me if I die {, beforehand" as he had testified during the trial. \< Dared Not Tell Suspicious
 In relation to her interview on Nov: Q last with Claus A. Hagstrom of
 Thompson, who was at her home as
 an appraiser of her husbands estate, Mrs. Lawson said she asked him if ! she had been text at the Swedish church the Sunday before and he had said "No." She said she told him she ] should have the sympathy of the Swedish people and also that if she ! told whom she suspected of killing
 her husband her own life would, be
 in danger
 Had Not Helped Husband in Fields.
 Mir. Searls' opening line of ques- tions on cross examination was as to Mrs. Lawson's state of health for
 a period of years past. She said it became poor in 1910. She admitted that since that time she had no per- n1anent help at her home, but with the assistance of her daughter and
 an occasional helper from the outside,
 had done all of the home work In response to a question Mrs Lawson denied that she had helped her hus- band in the fields and upon one oc-
 casion had carried two large pails ill., ed with water from her home to the l lot where her husband was working
 Husband Had Knocked Her Down.
 Mrs. Lawson described for MT Searls how her husband had knocked her
 down and had given her a black eye,
 how she had thrown a fork and hit
 him on another occasion and of one
 instance when he had picked her up
 and thrown her on the floor. MT. Searls asked her if she did not recall how
 on the day she struck her husband with the fork, he had gone out to the barn. covered with blood and had lain
 in the stall, remaining out all night
 because he was afraid to return to the
 house. She said she knew he stayed
 out, but did not know it was because
 he was afraid to come in.
 Beer Made Lawson Humorous
 Mrs. Lawson said the trouble over
 the deed of the farm was not con-
 stant but had ceased after she left
 home on account of their differences and had returned to the Lawson home . from which she had intended to re-
 main away and earn her own living Cider made her husband ugly. she said. but beer made him humorous She remembered a talk with Mrs } Bernhard Johnson, a neishbor, about : men drinking, but had said that there was a way to prevent men from drink ing in this country. Her husband had . not been drinking from the Sunday before to the day of his death
 Mrs. Lawson denied that she had . said to Rev. Mir. E1mquist that hel
 husband was so mean people woulc
 not believe 1t if she told them about him. Reviewing all of her quarrels ,, with her husband, Mir. Searls asked , Mrs. Lawson if she meant to tell the jury that she could conclusively saS that the relations between herself ant MT. Lawson were that of an affection. ate wife and husoand. Her reply wa, ! affirmative and supplemented by thu , explanation that they lived quite hap. ' pily. when not quarreling. as MT . Sear1s suggested. There were ionf
 periods of family harmony.
 . Mir. Searls asked why Mrs. Law sol had not awakened her daughter in.
 stead of going fer u neighDer, Mir May
 on the night Mir. Lawson was killed
 The explanation offered by the wit t ness was that she thought the horsea | were making trouble and the dangh E ter could do nothing witis the horses k She did not use the telephone, sh y said. because she did not want t. . awaken other subscribers eh the line : Mrs. Lawson could net recall whethe laha had ea1lad Ia hrn32a ur5ar.