Girl Student and Lawyer.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 31 March 1910, Page 4

Girl Student and Lawyer.

LOVE DRAMA IN AUSTRIA THAT HAD A TERRIBLE ENDING.

MYSTERIOUS CPJME

A Polish girl student of medicine, Janina Barowska, wna declared "Not guilty " at Vienna recently of the charge of murdering a barrister, who had defended her in a previous trial. The trial created a tronmndous sensensation throughout Austria, Barowska being a. noted bwiuty. Still in her teens, she was married to a public official at Cracow. Last year she was iicr-nsed in a S:;chlist newspaper as acting as a spy for Russia, and Dr. Lewicki, the barrister who took up her case, won her action for libel. During the course of the action the lawyer fell madly in love with Fran Barowska, and the intrigue continued for some months until the doctor became engaged to a Polish countess. Fran Harowska refused to. break off her intimacy with the lawyer and there were violent scenes between thorn. On July 0 last Fran Barowska telephoned from Dr. Lewicki's chambers to two .doctors and to the ambulance, society in (Vircuw to &i.y that the- lawyer had shot himeslf, and asking for help. When the ambulance and the doctors arrived they found the lawyer lying on the floor unconscious from the effects of a fatal bullet wound in the right te-mple, iniicl he shortly afterwards succumbed without recovering consciousness. Fran .Barowska explained that Dr. Lewicki had suddenly shot himself because lie was worried about a charge which had been broughtagainst him also of bring a Russian spy, and that be was afraid of the result of tho impending trial. There were those, however, who suggested that it was not suicide, •iiitl that the wound appeared to have beLMi inflicted some hours before the electors were called. The room iv;is in great disorder, the drawers of the writing table were open, and ashes in the stove .showed that a number of papers had been burnt. Frua Barowska was arrested and charged with murder, the theory of the public prcset-uter being that she had shot her lover partly out of jealousy and partly in order to get possession of the letters she had written to Lewicki, which she had immediately sought for and burnt before she telephoned for help. The trial, which lasted for more than a'fortnight, w.is remarkable for the skill and the passion with which the accused defended herself. Her health had suffered much from the preceding six months' imprisonment and the strain of the preliminary examination, and she was so wcak that frequently a sofa had to be provided for her in the dock and injections of cocaine administered to prevent her from collapsing. The doctor's fiance. Countess Tyszkiewii'Z, declared in the witness !>ox that Dr. Lewicki had complained to her of Fr.au IJraowska's per-;-cutinn and the difficulty he had in getting rid of her. Fran Barowska's husband was also called, and emphatically declared his belief in his wife's innocence. During the trial the court ,r.lJMirned'to Dr. Lev.icki's chambers, where an attempt was indue to reconstruct the .scene in order-to test Fran liaiowska's .story. Shots .vere fired bv experts at a dummy in various positions, and experiments were even made with Dr. Lewicki's little :log to see ii ! it would be likely to 11.rive carried the empty cartridge as;; that was found across the room. The-;t: experiments, however, like the opinirn of the (loctens n.s to the question whether the wound in tlia temple was a self-inflicted one were inconclusive, as it appeared that either suicide or inurdrr would explain the circumstances equally wall.