GIRL ACQUITTED OF MURDER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 346, 23 March 1910, Page 6

GIRL ACQUITTED OF MURDER

LOVE LETTERS BURNED IN TilE VICTIM'S ROOMS. MYSTERIOUS CRIME. Vienna, January 2'J. Frau Fanina Barowska, a girl student of medicine and the wife of a public official at Cracow, was to-day acquitI ted of the murder of Dr. Lewieki, a iaw- | yer with whom she was in love. . The trial dealt with a strange case of [ passion and espionage in widen the lawyer was punished with a violent death [ for a liason with Frau Barowska, who was his client and a noted beauty. Last year Frau Barowska was accused by a Polish journalists of acting as a spy -for Russia, and Dr. Lewieki, who took up her case, won her action for libel. During the course of the action ,the lawyer fell passionately in love with Frau Barowska, and the intrigue continued for months until the t'octor became engaged to a Polish countess. But i Frau /3a")\\ski refused to break off her 'intimacy wi'U <j, a l;iwy<", and there , were man;; vio'en: ...cues between ■ them.

LOVE-LETTER QI^RREL. In particular, they quarrelled about har love-letters and the papers concerning -the libel action, which the lawyer refused to give up. Qn July 5 last year Frau Barowska telephoned from Dr. Lewicki's chambers to two doctors and to the ambulance society in Cracow to say -that the lawyer had shot himself, and asking tor help. When the ambulance ami the doctors arrived they found tne lawyer lying on the floor unconscious from'the effeets of a fatal bullet wound in the right temple, and lie shortly afterwards succumbed without recovering consciousness. THE PAPERS DESTROYED. Frau Barowska explained' that Dr. Lewicki had suddenly shot himself because he was worried about a charge which had been brought against him al»o of being a Russian spy, and that lie was afraid of the result of an impending trial. There were many circumstances however, which suggested that she had herself Tired the fatal shot. The wound appeared to have been inflicted some hours /before the doctors were called.

The room was 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.

Fran Barowska was arrested and charged with murder, the theory of the public prosecutor being that she had shot her lover fiartlv out of jealousy and partly in order to get possession of the letters which she had immediately •ought for and burnt before she telephoned for help. The trial, which lasted for more thin a fortnight, and excited the greitest interest throughout th" monarchy, was 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 weak that frequently a sofa had to benrovi''ed for her in the dock and injections of cockayne administered to prevent her from collapsing. THE DOCTOR'S COMPLAINT. The doctor's fiancess, Countess Tyszkiewicz, declared ill the witness-box that Dr. Lewicki had complained to her of Frau Barowska's persecution and of the difficulty he had in getting rid of her. Another interesting witness was Frau Barowska's husband, who stated she had confessed the liaison to 'mm, "out he believed had broken it off herself and emphatically declared his belief in his wife's innocence. During the trial the court adjourned to t)r. Lewicki's chambers, where an attempt was made to reconstruct the scene in order to test Frau Barowska's story. Shots were fired by experts at a dummy in various positions, and experiments were even made with Dr. Lewicki's little dog to see if it would be likely to have carried the empty cartridge case that was found across the room.

These experiments, however, like the opinion of the doctors as to the question whether the wound in the temple was a self-inflicted one, were inconclusive, as it appeared that either suicide or murder would explain the circumstances equally well.

ECZEMA CURED IX LESS THAN A WEEK. • PROOF POSITIVE AT NEWTOWN People who are disfigured with Eczema need not despair. Listen to what Mrs. Jane Robinson, of 3, Commodore-street, Newtown, Sydney, says in respect to her ease. This lady removed a patch of Eczema four years old by means of one week's treatment with Rexona. "Rexona Ointment removed a patch of Eczema from my face in less than a week in a manner that was positively startling. This patch of Eczema was very unsightly, and really I was ashamed to go out of the house. This Ec-zema had been on my face for about four years when I started to use the Rexona. I bad tried all sorts of ointments and other remedies, but all without any effect at all. After a few applications of Rexona, however, the irri tation was much decreased and the Eczema scabs began to come off, leaving new skin underneath. The improvement kept up day by 3ay till all the stabs were gone and a perfect new skin appeared where the disfiguring Eczema formerly was. The wonderfully speedy cure Rexona Ointment effected has astonished and delighted me." Rexona. the new skin remedy, is sold only in triangular pots at Is Cd and 3s. ' Obtainable at Bullock and Johnston's, agents, Devon street, New Plymouth.