THE TRAGEDY OF THE HANSOM CAB.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 36, 11 February 1905, Page 13

THE TRAGEDY OF THE HANSOM CAB.

A SENSATIONAL KKW TORE TRIAL. The trial of Mrs "Xan" Patteraen for the murder nf Mr "Caesar* Young—the mystery of the hansom cab —Es the one topic of. conversation in New York to-day. At present the mystery remains as deep as ever. Mrs "Nan" Randolph Patterson is a woman of stove than ordinary fascination. so beautiful indeed that the prosecution fear to let the jury gaze upon her. Twenty years of age, but looking somewhat older. Mrs Patterson has beautiful blue eyes, regular features, and a mass of dark brown hair which clusters over her forehead. For many years she Lived in San. Francisco, to which sfee first came as one of the six pretty maidens in a "Florodora" company, and her fatal beauty is reported to have caused :the suicide of at least three men. It was at San Francisco that ilr "Caesar" Young j first met the woman, with wttem his name is now indissolubly linked. The infatua,--Bien. which he felt for her was returned at once; it was a ease of love at first sight. THE CAREER OF '"CAESAR" YOUNG. : 34r "Caesar" * Young's career is remarkable eves foi- America. ; Bookmaker, rancher, and rncehorse-owner at tlse time of his death. Mr "Caesar" i Tonny was nopalarly supposed to have owed Esueh of his success to his wife. Fifteen 1 years ago his success as an athlete won him the sobriquet of '•Caesar, -, by which he has ever since been known. His real ; name was Frank T. Young. Sow he came to marry the wife who thus helped him through life, and whom he so deeply -wronged, is in itself another romance. One day "Caesar" Young was standing in front of the Manhattan Club in 1890,. when suddenly he saw a beantlrui young woman faint on the sidewalk a yard or two away. He rushed to her assistance and carried her in his arms into the club-room, where she was. revived. He ascertained her name, and before leaving her obtained leave to call at her home. "Caesar" followed up his wooing with spirit, and married the girl the next year. Into these two happy lives "Nan" Patterson broke just over two years ajro. '"Caesar" Tern? at once became a changed mm. EEIs booking-box at the Oakland track was deserted; his former haunts knew him no more. He left no word for : his family. Finally he was found by Mrs Young at Los Angelos. "Nan" Patterson was there too. Jlrs Young succeeded in. enticing her husband away, but whereVer Mr and Mrs Yonng went "Nan ,, Patterson followed with unerring instinct. All Mrs Tonnes efforts to cure her husband's infatuation seemed fruitless. WIFE'S VICTORY. At laat it seemed as 4f her forbearance and tender love were to meet with the reward they so richly deserved. Mrs Young persuaded her husband to make a taur with her in Ehirepe, and the pair were to have sailed en Saturday. 4th Jane last. On that afternoon Mr Youns was tfrMag down to the pier with '"Na.n" in a cab,when he was ahot. In a few minutes he had died without a word to throw light on tke trafedy. '•Xan" says he committed suicide. Meantime, on the pier the unhappy wife wafted for tho husband -who was destined never ito come. The luggage was alt on board, but thf» sailed without them. What happened on the fateful day is now a matter of common history. Net many i hours before there had been a quarrel, and Young ha 4 told "Nan" that they must part for ever. She threatened to come to the pier ;tnd create a disturbance, but finally she quieted down, and was appeased by Young's promise to give her a final inter'vio.w. They met at eight on the Saturday morning, and drove towards the quay. In West Ernariway a shot, followed by ;i woman's screa-ms, startled those near at hand, and passers-by saw a beautiful young woman hysterically kissing the face of a man whose head lay in her lap. Young's body was taken from the cab, but he died in five minutes. CONFLICTING EVIDENCE. ICrs Patterson was arrested and w*s taken to the Tombs, where she gave a cirenmetautral account of the tragedy. The case is one, of infinite difficulties. The weund of which "Caesar -, Yoang died Tias in kis left side. After entering bis left breast the bullet passed between the first and second ribs, cut through his left lung, and finally, after cutting through the fourth spinal vertebra, lodged in his back. As they sat in the cab Yonng was eu the right and "Nan" on the left. She is righthanded. For ber to have shot Young, her counsel urge, would bo extremely difficult. Further, she must have used her left hand to do ir. and must have leaned forward in such a way as to excite Young's suspicion. Her story is that she suddenly heard a muffled report, and then Young fell forward. She st once searched for the wea- ! pou, and foand ir. still smeking hot. She then thrust it Sack into the dead man's pocket, -where it was found by the poHce. On tUe other hand, tlie prosecution maintain that the wound could not have been in3itrted from the pistol in tile pocket, as Mrs Patterson declares, as rho powder Qiarbs on the <;o.it show where tlie btillet entered the coat. There are no such marks oa the- pocket. For Young to have replaced \ tho revolver in his pocket is, prima facie, I absurd. Further, the post-mortem revealed no trac* of powder on Young's thumb, as tlie coroner's physician declared that, with the weapon in question, the wound conld only have been inflicted by Young piishing the revolver far to the left and pressing, the trigger with his thumb. THE '-NEW HAT" PROOF. The last point is this, thai Young was never known to carry a revolver. Why ! should he begin, then, when about to leave for Europe, and wny. if he had intended to commit suicide, should he have troubled to stop a few minates before and buy a new hat ? Round the revolver the whoie story cenI tres. To whom did it belong, and bow j came it into his or her possession? The j point has now been cleared up. It was s»ld jby G. R. Schneider in November, 182S, j across tho counter in the Broadway. Yoang jat that date was in San Francisco. The J theory of the prosecution ia that the weaj poa W2s sold to J. Morgan Smith, who married a sister of "Nan," and that 3he may havo obtained it from him. Such is the tangled web which twelve men have failed to unravel after twentyfour and i-half heuw' deliberation. Their disagreement fiung Mrs Patterson into hysterics, and with a heartrending cry she fell Into the arms of her father, who had sat from day to day with his arm rownd her waist. For once her beauty, her gorgeous dress, her yonth had partially failed her.