Year: 1873

Failure of the Grand Jury to Find am IM-

 dictment Against the Accused Wife of

 the Clergyman.

 The story of the killing of Mrs. Hedges at Eureka, Ill.,, is one of the most shocking of recent occurrences. Mrs. Hedges was a widow residing in Eureka, who devoted large share of her time and energies to the church of which she was member. One day, 8 few weeks ago, her dead body was found behind school-house, half eaten by hogs, but bearing unmistakable evi- dence that she had been murdered. On examination two letters were found pin ned to her under clothing, which be- trayed an improper, though perhaps not criminal, Intimacy between the deceased and a clergyman of the town, a man named Workman. This gave the first clue to the commission of the crime Workman was produced, but he denied any criminal intimacy with the woman, and also denied any knowledge of the cause or manner of her death. Sus- picion at once attached to Workman's wife, who had the reputation of being a high-tempered woman, and she was arrested. Subsequent investigation showed that Mrs. Workman had made an appointment to meet Mrs. Hedges 1; that scuf1ing and outcries had been heard in the quarter where the meeting occurred; that Mrs., Workman had af- terward declared that she was ruined for life, and requested prayers for her soul, though she had never before been religiously inclined ; that there were bruises on her body, which showed that she had been in fight; and that the dress she wore on the evening of the murder had been hidden, and when found was covered with mud, blood, and hair, the hair being the same as that of the murdered woman. In one word, the circumstances were as conclusive as circumstances can be that Mrs. Hedges had been murdered by Mrs. Workman in fit of jealousy.

 The letters which passed between the Rev. MT. Workman and the murdered woman, and which have since been made public, give evidence that Mrs. Workman's jealousy was pretty well founded. Mrs. Hedges seems to have been under stronger restraining inf1u- ences than her reverend lover, though her letters disclose that she was more strongly attached to him than she should have been. Both parties concluded their letters with prayers. Unalloyed love and piety are strangely mixed up in the frequent exchange of letters, the inference from which is that Workman used his position to secure the love of woman who had no right to love him, and was beyond the age when such a passion might be considered difficult to repress. The case appears to have been one of dangerous class, in which re- hgious intercourse on the one side and hypocrisy on the other either lead to a violation of moral rectitude or bring the parties upon very slippery ground.

 The most dangerous phase of the case, however, has been developed in the ac- tion of the Grand Jury of Woodford County, in which the murder was com mitted. In spite of the proofs that Mrs. Workman was the murderess of Mrs. Hedges, the Grand Jury refused to find bill of indictment, and the guilty woman has been released. This decis- ion was evidently as much surprise to the people of Eureka, where the murder occurred, as it will be wherever the his tory of the case is known Chicago. Tribune