Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1915-04-23
Ferreting Out
An Injustice
Il Was All Done by q Young Law.
yer For an Attractive Widow.
BY WILLARD BLAKEH1AN

There has been the same develop.
ment In Jurisprudence as in everything
else. From the time Of trial by battle
to trial by jury there has been con.
tinued progress, and, strange to say,
there are more reforms being consider
ed today than ever before. In Other
words. confidence In the justice dis
pensed In our criminal courts is dying
out
The reason of this is that legal jus.
tice Is mechanical, and mechanical con.
trivances do not always work. The
many ingenious happenings that have
been conjured up by detective story
writer's have doubtless helped to make
people chary Of believing in the infalli
bility OF courts. l. as a criminal law
yer, have often, by thought and energy
alone. turned the results of months
trial into an absurdity. In the first
place | Judge OF an accused PERSONS
innocence from intuition. After thai
think and work-principally the lat
ter.
was In criminal courtroom one
day when young woman was con
victed of having sent dose of chlora
to her husband. | watched her counte
nance and made up my mind from III
emotional expression that she was In
nocent. You may sneer at judgment
from emotional expression, but 1t Il
often the basis Of my efforts In my
profession. II you ask me how 1 cal
tell innocence from guilt by such I
process | am forced to admit that
cannot enlighten you.
The case | have referred to Is this
Edith Atwater married, through tn
influence of her mother, Martin Hay
wood. an elderly man, who wa
wealthy. 1t was a May and Decembe
match. and December soon froze tn
sap of May. The couple lived unhap
PLY together. Haywood was a chroni
invalid. and this with age made hin
peevIsh. He was very parsimoniou
and would not have a doctor, constant
ly experimenting with remedies whicl
he procured himself
The usual way for young wife Il
get rid of nm old husband IA bv poison
and the favorite poison Is arsenic
The arsenic Is always discovered in tn
deceased's stomach, but this does no
seem TO deter candidates for widow
hood from using 1t.
Ola HAYWOOD died under verv susni
cious circumstances These were thu
no w,s IN for Some t,me and M docto
was I'm attendance No druggist in tn,
TOWN wbere he lived and died had sol,
him anv medicines How couId n ma,
die without doctor or even n druppis
IN helm bIm3 The idea was nrenoster
ous II was tho neipbbors who noticed
those incon0ruities md their tonOue
wa0oed at ono another accordingly
The rumors came 70 the knowledge Of
the nolIce who exhumed the bodv. q
chemist made nm ANALYSTS and fonnf
arsenic
This was sufficient evidence in itseli
tn convict his wife Of having poIsoned
him Rut tho courts which ore In
stituted m Give nj, occusad narsons IN,
soma chanrn before tho Inv and use
tho aomo nacbinorv for tho innocen,
as for the puIItv insist unop nuttinO
hotb ,brouob tho IagaI mill A norsor
branch, nm IN rearemont and moroI,tv
10 ground out tbrouob the sarro mill
a. pIooL IIona ,,,,,rdoro,. - s., 4
signal informs n witnesa that n hs
tells the truth b,s life will nav the
forfeit
Mra uovwood WINS broupbt IN trial
and. as 1 have said. I was IN Tho court
room when she WINS sentenced she
had h.en convicted nv the Iow ma.
chino twelve oooa and t-ro mo-, ho,no
its snokesmen and was sentencad ~
I,fe imnrisonmant knew that sho
wa, ,nnocont Uow7 7 have toId von
Tho, came, ,ou 10, ,bIs cooeso.s
have sinco so,d thst rn,g+,oir an,r-
cath o.. ,,,r,t,on 80 .hor. aooec
viii admit that 7 vent UNIV from
rho courtroom with a heavy heort and
that the agony Of desns,r in that
beautiru faca bauntad mo II con.
filmed m bonnt mo when M tho end
NJ sovaroI nontb. 7 found T conId not
cot IA ~ - I doterm,nod that r,rs,
nrovo tho ,rnoconco ~ .h.' gnh1o.c+ ~
!, a.. oon,,nno 20 .,,,yo- ,ndoen,.oI1 r
dotn,,,1noa % ho,,,, - o.. IT,,
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