New-York tribune., 1916-02-26
MRS. BALFAME.

- This is only true 10 tne eN1vn'
Io.'a,F,s Relfame' deals with muir
..- whose perpetrator is not discover
%, .,.I the end is rcacneO. but IN
e~f..y the book is far more. it Is
~, things. First oi all, iasciha'-
l~" study In feminine psyehology;
-, remarkable picture OF proVincl"'
,.rsrican life; and, last OF an, striA,
-. renort Of a sensational murder tfi"l
- frolu both sides that OF the oe-
80 and that Of the prosecution
a.s,eb /, led and prompted by the ye4-
"T Tperiodically the interest Of our met
.,1oii,qn papers and their readers
,bifted from the affairs of the worid
- fhe nation 20 murder mystery
. some quiet. staid country town OF
r'rsre. maintaining surface OF con
'.-,-e.ive American traditions, WIN
,,,arentlv. nothing hidden beneath IL
Ssvond a certain amount OF uncharll--
~ gossip. Such places are jealous o.
.se,r good repute. their local spirit Is
.,,- their inhabitants. the men even
more than the women, stand ready IN
Seferce Politics. business inter-
ass. social life. all make for solidarity
Tbe rival political leaders, the oihclals,
.ss local banker, the undertaker ana
,ss selooukccper all belong 10 the
ssme secret society; the women, hVlng
ss1..,4iv on the surface of things. set
ss-est store by conduct take ther
Jsuow social pool most seriously, ana
ss',ivate culture club, which, uhoef
-, Influences Of the rising generation,
i,s often "a country clu. attachment
~ church. II not religion, plays its
mart in the narrow dairy round OF lhesV
somhunit.es. where crime is least 10 De
expected ..l;-....,.
has unm istakably come 20 Mrs. amer.
-, from a recent sensational trial OF
an American woman for murder: she
Ios interwoven with it bits Of sulI
other crmiua. mysteries IN Whlch
vor,en have been involved, and has
furnished d solution OF ner own. -,
Wr. Ba'fame is the leader OF the
'oeai social SET of Elsinore. Brabant
corr.v. New York. the president of ITS
FRIDAY Club. and the wife Of the gen
e~si s+orekeerer and Democratic leader.
She has moved upward with the adj
vance of his material fortunes; she has
rea1 .he fiction and the plays Of the
iovr. She is q provincial Selma White.
Her husband has deteriorated. lie
frirks heavily at times. which aggra-
Yates the mcouthness Of his manners
srd sneech Mrs. Balfame latest
aspiration Of her upward course plans
sanarete bedroom. Mr. Balfame
ve-oes the innovation lie resents the
implied reflection upon the offence OF
his weakness.
And then. az the Friday Club, lady
from New York reads a paper on ne
War versus Woman" Here Mrs. Ath-
erlon strikes q note worth ponderng.
Mrs Balfame suddenly decides 20 XIII
her husband Compared with the stu
pendous slaughter in Europe, q slaugh-
,er that would seem 90 be one OF the
seriolcities Of The world, since Z is
The composite expression Of the indl-
vdua males desire 20 fight somebody
Just so often what, in comparison with
such a m0nstr0us crime, would be the
o4ence Of doing away with one OBJ
roxious husbaud2" That thought IS
terminating other feminine brains
IN Elsnore. for later, when Mrs. Bal
fame is held FOR trial and all the wom-
en- Of The place believe that she >;
guilty while presenting a firm front OF
belief in her innocence, one or her Ge-
tenders asserts that there TINS much
70 be said. a lot OF good men may get
killed, but when YOU think or the thou-
SANDS Of detestable, tyrannicaL stngy'
boresome husbands well, II is 10 be
!magincd that q few widows viii man
age 70 bear up. II women all over the
world refuse 10 come forward In one
grand concerted peace movement, per
haps We can guess the reason why. IN
deed. there arc many reasons why MIS-
Ba.fame. though held guilty. must be
declared innocent, it necessary with a
little jury fixing the mems part OF the
Affair As the bankers wife says: u he
men are uo more anxious than we are
10 have Eisinore disgraced- especially
with all those lots on the edge OF the
West End unsold They are hoping for
boom every day. The trial viii be
bad enough"
Mrs Balfame, be it understood, is a
"woman's woman handsome, stately,
tmiable, asexual. Prim is too old-iash-
ioned word for her. though the es-
tsnce Of 10 Is there. She does not ap-
prove Of divorce-she shrnks from 1t.
Hence her resolution 10 poison her
husband after q disgraceful drunken
scene az the Country Club. Mrs. Attn
erion makes the femininity Of II quite
understandable. And then, on his way
home 20 the poisoning, Mr.. Baltame IS
shot down in the dark by an unknown
hand
LISA star reporter from New York
who bit By bit makes out the case
tgsnst the wife. He finds the witness
VITO heard her returning 10 the house a
moment after the shooting. A little
later he runs 20 earth the man who had
Teen her leaving it little earlier still,
mapped in dark cloak He traces
III poison which was not needed; and
sob sister aspiring TO write an
American "'Crme and Punishment but
not so long. Of course" pieces together
IN Illicit love element In the case. Mrs.
hlnertOn's reporters belong IA some
eegree 20 detective fiction, and then
tgein, much Of what she writes she has
hom trst-hand observation, for even
as She sat through notorious murder
Ease 20 obtain the local color and at
hosphere for the murder trial IN an
earlier novel Of hers, Patience Spar
hawk" so has she reported later case
70 obtain much of the material Tor
Mrs. Balfame."
II is capital mystery story of "a
.lgher type. Its interest centres not IN
ne crime, nor in the criminal, but in
ne psychology Of a womaA capable OF
S1urder, already murderess in her
heart, who yet is irnocent. Murder not
tne art. but as an irksome Incl
%nlal necessity in the conduct Of life
,yt ils wider development. And, side
9y side with this curious study, we
rave the picture Of the community,
Hsl'h all its devious ways and interests,
~ confused ethics, loyalties and clan
ishness, serious collective social
Mehomenon that is not without its hu-
'h Perhaps Mrs. Atherton would
asVe done better to leave the mystery
.hAolVed-th denouement she furnish
involves another curious study OF