San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-20

it on his head that lowered so far above mine Then
on went the noose and darted to the lever before
Holt could think of any further objections.
1t may not seem kind to say it, but positive sigh
of relief came from the officers when they Holt
go down.
'Well, that's the last of him. said one of them
to me afterward, land not sorry"
But not all condemned men are so actively con-
cerned with the details of their execution as Holt.
Many, indeed, show most astonishing indifference as
the end approaches. Twill relate such case now.
An eccentric and somewhat cantankefous spin:
ster of forty-nne named Eliza Mary Barrow, who
had been living for some time in the house of Mr..
and Mrs Frederick Seldom at Tollington Park, North
London, died September IA, 1911, and was duly
buried. On the face of such happening presents
nothing out of the ordinary. Yet behind lay con!
ceaed what would characterize as the strangest
poisoning case was ever associated with.
Miss Barrow had quarreled with all her rela-
tives, and it was not until week after her death
that any of them knew she gone. When they
called Mr. Seldom for particulars of her end
he expressed surprise that they had not responded
to his letter inviting them to come to the funeral.
eve never received any letter." said one of the
relatives, whereupon Seldom assured them he had
written, and in proof produced copy of the letter
he had sent.
1t then came out that Miss Barrow had been
buried in the meanest possible way. She had been
buried in public" grave.
Shocked and suspicious, the relatives wanted to
know why this had been necessary in view of the
fact that Miss Barrow was known to be woman of
some means She had S25 900 invested in India
stock owned easehold property that brought her in
$4,000 year, and, being an eccentric, usually kept
several hundreds of dollars in gold in her cash box.
Altogether she must have possessed something like
100000 Why should such a comparatively we'll
to-do woman be buried in public grave?
Seddon'S reply was that after her death he
searched her rOom but could find only $50 in her
cash box Consequently there only enough to
pay the doctors fees and bury her in common grave
that is, grave in which five or six persons would
be buried
Mystifed by the disappearance of all the money.
the Home Secretary pettioned to allow the
woman'S body to be eXhumed. The result was start
ling. DR.. Wilcox, the senior analyst to the Home
Office, found Miss BaTow's body simply saturated
with arsenic.
Before any information as to this discovery could
leak out the Seldom family had huge surprise. The
police swooped down and arrested not only Mr. Sed-
don but his wife, too In fact, Mrs. Seldom was al
ready in custody when the husband was placed
under arrest.
"Absurdw was Frederick Seddon's characteristic
remark when told he charged with the murder
of Miss Barrow, and his tone of indignant but con-
temptuouS tolerance was maintained by him to the
very day of his execution. He well knew that all
his tracks marvellousy we'll covered, and that
it would be difficult if not impossible to convict him.
AS things turned out it did prove extremely difficult
but not impossible.
Both Mr.. and Mrs. Seldom were arraigned before
Justice Bucknill and jury at the famous Old Bailey
and thus of the most sensational trials of modern
times began on March 5, 1912.
Listening to the Attorney General during the
trial of the case, could that the prosecution