A SAN FRANCISCO CAUSE CELEBRE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1158, 9 May 1884, Page 4

A SAN FRANCISCO CAUSE CELEBRE.

The great Sharon trial is now in full force, after months of adjournment from day to day and week to week. The cour'. room is almost as much of a sensation in the day as the opera is at night, and the interest that is feit in the outcome is absorbing. So far the plaintiff, Sarah Althea Hill Sharon (1), has made out a very strong case, and will disembowel the old Senator of a good deal of money. I (“ Silver Pen,”inthe Auckland Herald) will simply describe what I call the funny portion of the evidence. You must know that it is the custom of the women < f this city to call in the aid of lovecharmsand other nonsense when they wish to facinateany old gentleman who has more loose cash than common sense, and the gentle Althea was in no way behind the times in her manipulation of the sorcerer’ art. As told by her confidant and friend on the witness-stand, she visited all the old negroes, Spaniards, and other of the fortune telling confraternity she could find, and their name is legion. One of these dainty dames demanded a pair of soiled socks belonging to the senator, which, after “ charming,” Miss Athea wore bound round her limbs as a sure method of drawing towards her the aged heart of the. old gentleman. She also procured an undershirt of the senator, which garment also underwent, the charming process, after which A Ithca wore it for an indetinate period. The plaintiff also paid L 5 for a pinch ot pepper and salt charmed by a negrets to act upon the susceptibilities of the aged lover, The case is peculiar, and varied enough to give a basis for a novel out of the common. Mr Sharon is sixty-two, a small, limp, looking creature, without anything but his millions to recommend him, and it must have-taken Miss Althea a considerable amount of consideration to put up with him at all ; but in this city the women will do anything for a good settlement., Whether she will finally make good her case remains lo be proved. So far it looks like a good showing on her side I should like to understand how any woman, decently raised, can stand up in a public court before thousands of men «nd have her name smirched as is Sarah Althea’s. Truly, there is no accounting for taste.