Sensational Murder Trials.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 137, 16 April 1901, Page 1

Sensational Murder Trials.

London’, March 1. Public intercut has been nrach a boor bey durine the current, week by Lv/o highly ■cnsatior.al murder trials. One ia that of Ke? her I Bennett for v.hat ia known as the Yarmouth murder. That is s i: : > proceeding. It may lie remembered than the prisoner’s wife was found on the ci£. beach at Yarmouth murdered by strangulation. The husband had fallen in kmc. with Alice Me-dows, a pretty servan; maid, and had become betrothed to her while his wife still lived. A accumulation of circumstantial ev'd'.-.-.i seemed to point to him as the murder-', Popular feeling ran so high against birr at Yarmouth, largely stimulated by scandalously u. far. and premature corn menis in the public Press, that the venue of the trial was removed to London, l'he Lord Chief Justice ia presiding in the trial at the" Old Bailey, and Mr Mmshali Halt, K.U., is defending the acou-ed with a skill and brilliance that : feenlls Montagu Williams in his best Javs. (0 tie news has since boey, rec.uvi d cf the conviction cf Bennett.) In the other case a most curious and ■mu suul problem was involved. A pro'ty girl r f twenty-two, named Mario ridding ton, went one day to the place where lur fiancee was employed and shot him dca-i, also making an abortive attempt to shoot heiself. She freely admitted having killed the young man, mni was, of course, arrested for murder 1 , But at ho infill -.st various circumstance? came out v.’hicu raised a strong doulri whether the killing was really inten iional. The girl had wildly accused herself, and lamented that her lover should, 1 bo dead and she alive. Bet as she became calmer she explained that she had never -me rit to kill him, but Only intended to commit suicide in tie ore euce— limy having had a slight disagreement which her mo.bid temperament exaggerated into an unfounded, idea tb it be wished to be rid of'her-L and that he was accidentally shot through the revolver going-off while he. w s struggling to wrest it from her. This view was at once -accepted by the coroner ’s jury, who returned a verdict of raisadventure, and added a’rider cl sympathy wuh the fair Maud,

lUU ihe police weie by no means ec easy to convince. They pressed the case Ah the Magistrate’s Court, and the gul was con-mi tied fur trial. Evidence was

ijven which showed that, although V; -truagle might have taken place, all ..ppearanees wore against tho likelih>o l. On the other hand, the prisoner gave evidence on her own behalf very clearly and calmly, and evidently proihu cd a good impression on some of the jury, foj, after retiring for nearly a'n hour, da y found her not guilty. The Crown then withdrew the subsidiary charge of unlawfully wounding, and Maud pleaded guilty to attempting euieide. Apparently she expected to' bo let off with a,-caution— as is usual it attempted suicide eases—but the Judge ( after commenting severely oo the folly and wickedness of her conduct, which, •ha'cl led to fhe death of a worthy young man through his praiseworthy effort fb ave her, sentenced her to fifteen months’ hoi risonment with hard labour. At this announcement the unfortunate Maud uttered a shriek of horror anp dismay, and was carried out f in a starts of collapse.

It is to bo Imped that the lesson wijl be a wholesome one and will bear fruit. Otherwise, as sure at I sit here writing this, we thall sie several repetitions qf this sort of crime. Nothing is more infectious than proceedings of the kind, especially w hen the chief actress becomes ,-uch a prominent and interesting figure as Maud ■ Eddington has been made to • ppear by su ceptible' young journalists. Another t ing that is also absolutely certain is that the attractive Maud will have a perfect crovyd of marriago proposals from now up to the time she comes mit of prison. That always ha.--pens in these casrs. There is no accounting for taste !

Talking < f suicide, I have mentioned once or twice lately how increasingly (■otrmoii it is b‘coming among mere boye and gir s. A striking instance was the joint tuple suicide of three country all under twenty years of ago, for no ea<>hly r> a-on yet discovered, save that they vt i bed to perform a romantic feat wmi create a sensation. And to-d y comes the account of a schoolb y who, altl-oiiidi very clever at some studies, ■ including mu-ic, and a brilliant athlete, r fi.und Latin so troublesome,to. learn that he resolved to* destroy himself, and dicl so I —Press sp cial. .