Year: 1878

Was She Asleeps


Mrs. Smith, wife of the murdered police
man in Jersey City, says that she awoke
near daylight and found her husband dead,
and that was the first she knew of what had
taken place while she slulnbered peacefully
by his side in the same bed. His skull had
been crushed in by two blows with sash
weight, and large knife had been driven
into his body more than a dozen times
But the skull of q man is not to be burst in
like melon. 1t is bony case, capable OF
resisting blow equal to nearly two hun
dred pounds weight Men often fall strik-
ing fairly on their heads with all their
weight without fracturing the skull.
Over this case is drawn, however, cover
ing of fbrous membrane skin and hair
that deaden the sound of blow, but in
crease the resistance to short armed hit
with weapon. The sash weight, therefore,
did not fall noiselessly on Smiths skull 1t
made noise enough to startle any sleeper,
and it Jared the bed and, perhaps, the
floor Of the whole apartment; and then he
was hit twice. II sleep was only little
disturbed by the first blow the second must
have come to complete the awakening. always
supposing there was natural sleep. But he
was stabbed also, and why? Because he
groaned. He groaned not with conscious
pain, but as an injured animal does so long
as the organs of the voice are intact and
vital force is left. He groaned, and the
alarmed murderer deemed it necessary to
end his life speedily, and stabbed and
stabbed and stabbed till the arm gave out
with weariness And while all this went
on the wife slept, and if the bed was of tho
common sort her head was not more than
two or three feet away from his. She must
then be q sound sleeper, and she must
have slept soundly that night. But no,
she did not sleep soundly. On the
contrary she was uneasy and wakeful. She
got up several times-so many times as to
irritate and annoy the husband. She was
wakeful, and yet she slept through all that.
Was she chloroformed, then? She says so,
and scent bottle with little feeble chic
ro.orm in it has been found; but all that it
could have contained would not account for
such sleep. Was there a bottle not found
People who 60 on such an errand would
scarcely carry two bottles. They would
take one efficiently filed, and if they did
not understand chloroform any better than
is shown by what was found they would not
know perhaps that that was useless and
therefore would not have any other. What
was gone from the bottle found was not
enough to chloroform two persons. For, of
course, both must have been chloro-
formed if either, since the chloroformed
subject always makes more or less
noise. It is the theory Of the chloroform
notion that Mrs. Smith must have been
under the influence of that medicine in
order that she might not hear what was
done. She was made insensible by it,
therefore, before he was hit. He was,
therefore, as yet unhurt, and would have
heard her whining and whimpering cries
and have been awakened by them unless
he was chloroformed also. But If there
was too little chloroform used, as thought,
to oppress the consciousness OF one person
there was not enough used for two; and it
would have taken great deal to overcome
the man. But he was probably not chloro-
formed, as he was aroused apparently by
the irst blow so far as to be able to assume
partly upright position. If he was not
chloroformed the woman was not chloro-
formed, and if she was not chloroformed
she slept quietly in natural sleep at
time when she was uneasy and wakeeul
within two feet Of where man was beaten
to death.