Trial by Jury in San Francisco.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 374, 20 June 1881, Page 2

Trial by Jury in San Francisco.

Early in the present year a man named Chico Forster was shot in Los Angelos, California, by his ssveetheart, Lastania Abarla. The trial of the girl came off on April 20, and excited great interest. The defence was paroxysmal hysteria and emotional insanity, superinduced, by the seduction of the defendant and the refusal of the deceased to marry her. The prisoner, who is beautiful and attractive, is half Spanish and half French. She testified to being engaged to Forster in marriage, and produced a note in which he promised to marry her in a This note was written about a week before the killing. On Friday, March 11, Forster took her to a room in the Morse House and lived with her three days, telling her that, it was all right, that he had a marriage licence and would marry her on the following Monday. He failed to fulfil his promise and she declined to live with him longer unless married. On the Tuesday she went home to her mother, who turned her out of doors because she was not married. She resolved to kill herself rather than live in disgrace, and. purchased a revolver for that purpose. Then she got her sister and a hack and', drove to where Foster was. He got into the hack with them and drove to ’

the church, but refused to get out and be married. They then drove to the corner of Commercifl and Los Angelos streets, where he got out She followed. She stated that she had no recollection of killing him, and did not thing clearly till she found gaol. The verdict from a Californian jury was of course “ not guilty,” which was received with enthusiasm by the assembled crowd. Cheers rent the air, and a large concourse gathered to take a look at the released young lady. She was escorted out by another door to avoid the crowd, but the people thronged all around the building to seeher. A close carriage was called, and • the young lady and her sister were placed in it and with difficulty driven through the crowd to their home.