WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 123, 11 October 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.")

WOMEN JURORS

MEN TOO TENDER-HEARTED.

New York, August 23. Two more eases are reported to-day of juries composed of men acquitting women charged ■with murdering their husbands. One case was in Cincinatti and the other in Chicago. The verdicts are tho subject of bitter comment .by Mr. Waymann. the State Attorney of Illinois, who declares that it is essential in the interests of justice that women charged with murder should be tried in future by women jurors. ''Even when the evidence is overwhelming," says, Mr. Waymann, "women cannot be convicted in this country of murder. Men simply -refuse to convict the opposite sex of such crimes. The tear-stained face, white lips and trembling hands of the woman defendant unnerve them and destroy their judgment. Only a woman can read a woman's heart, tell when her emotional displays are true or false, and determine when the lie falls from her lips and when truths are told."

Miss Jane 'Addams, the founder of Hull House—a social settlement in the slums of Chicago—and a conspicuous member of Mr. Roosevelt's new party, proclaims to-day her agreement with the observations of Mr. Waymann, who predicts that "if a jury refuses to convict a woman, even when she virtually in evidence pleads 'guilty and when (her counsel pleads guilty for her, the murder of 'husbands by women will surely become fashionable."

In one of the cases referred to a man named Bernstein was shot in the back of the 'head while asleep,.but lived long enough to make a statement accusing his wife of the crime. The defence was that Mrs. Bernstein was in a condition of temporary insanity when her husband was killed. To the question asked her in the witness-box, "Did' you murder your husband?" she replied. 'T cannot remember."

The plea criovcd ::y her counsel was one .of +>,? .r.:>sr remarkable in the annals

.-• f r.^..'v ; .-.iri justice. It was that she ■■v;i- a girl of an old Jewish race which held that her husband by deserting her branded her as a woman of a low type. Desertion was an indelible disgrace, to her, and she frantically tfegged and Beseech'ed film fo return to her. After he returned she decided that he would never be allowed to leave her again. At the conclusion of this plea Mr. Wayinann; for the prosecution, informed the;jury: "If you acquit this woman it wjjl be because there is no law .in this land."

The jury deliberated for /.twenty-six hours and decided on acquittal.

| HATS THAT HIDE BEAUTY CRITICISM OF FRENCH FASHIONS.

i Paris, August;2l. Tfie fallen Sultan Mulai Hand docs not Jikejthe French fashions in ladies' hats. "Frenchwomen have such. beautiful hair'.," he declared yesterday while surveying the elegant assemftly'rat Moulins-sur-Allier,'where he had motored for the day! "It is a great pity to. hide it under J those enormous constructions which conceal the face. "Now,. if the women-.here were really , vaity they would wear nothing on their heads, or at any rate only very small hat*, like those worn by General Moinj ier |Or the Resident General Lyautey, in Morocco. ' "Those hats would really suit the ladies down to the ground. Why should ■ such pretty headgear be worn only by the! men?" ... .* •Mulai Hand has been measured for a ■ loujige suit, which he proposes. to wear ; inl Paris,, and he'has. donned liis first pair I of, shocks. ■ . J -Ben Ghabrit, hie counsellor and in- | terpreter, invested in a. "ready-made,"'. , ;and presented himself to his' master this morning, in .his new attire.,-,..Mulai Hafidfailed to recognise him, and: J thinking ; that, he was the representative from.the bank at Vichy whom he was. expecting on I business, he sent an attendant to find Ben Ghabrit. .. ; The ex-Sultan was just beginning' to get' irritated at the delay when the faithful Ben revealed his identity. Mulai Hafid was delighted at the- joke and lauj?hed heartily. " ..Throughout the day the Villa.Majestic at Vichy is almost enveloped in clouds of ismoke. Mulai Hand has taken a strong fancy to cigars, and ' he hands them round Javishly. Since his departure for Marseilles. £4O "worth of cigars have been purchased and smoked by the entourage of the fallen Sultan. A volnminous mall continues to pour in jdaily from all parts of France. The average is 400 letters and postcards every morning, addressed for the most part to "Monsieur Mulai Hafid." The extSultan insists that they shall all be attended to, and that all "requests shall be 1 granted as far as possible.