THE BARROW MURDER

Evening Star, Issue 15074, 4 January 1913, Page 5

THE BARROW MURDER

> THE WIDOWS ALLEGED ADMISSION. A remarkable statement, said to have been made by Mrs Seddon, the widow of the anan Frederick Hem-}' Seddon, who was hanged on April 18 of last year for the murder, on September 4,. 1911, of Miss Eliza Mary Barrow, his lodger, by poisoning her, is given in the 'Weekly Despatch.' It will be remembered that the verdict was much discussed, and that, very strong efforts were made to get it set aside. Mrs Seddon alone was in a postiion to state who gave Miss Barrow the heavy doss of arsenic on the early morning of September 14, 1911, and she affirms in the published document: " I saw him (Seddon) give the poison." The woman's declaration, which is a long one, opens with these asseverations : That, although I was arrested and tried for the murder, along with Seddon, I was innocent. That Seddon committed the crime.' That I saw him give the poison to Miss Barrow. On the fatal night he deliberately substituted for the doctors medicine a mixture made up of water from the fly papers and white precipitate powder, and gave it to Miss Barrow. Shortly afterwards she breathed her last. I threatened to call the police at. once, and ho pointed a revolver at my head and told mc that if I informed on him he would blow my brains out. That I acted as I did, and kept quiet about_ what I knew, in the faint hope that if Seddon was acquitted, although justice would have been defeated, my children would be spared the terrible disgrace of being branded as the children of murderers. The conclusion is as follows: As we stood in the dock- through those weary days at the Old Bailey 'it sometimes seemed to me that his reason had come back at last, and that the affection which he told me he had for me in the old days was there again. " I did it," ho whispered. "I did it, Mag; but if you'll help me, by God, I'll help you! If the worst comes to the worst, and we are both sentenced, then I*ll speak up and tell the truth—that I am guilty and you are innocent." But although he kissed me at the end. although to the people in court it seemed as Tf he was sorrier about losing me than about losing his life, and although nice things were said about his cry and his " last longing look at the sharer of his joys and his sorrows." I can say this : that if I had been sentenced to death as well, Seddon would not have said a single word to get me off. Forgive. ? Of course, I forgive ; but I can't forget. Would you forget? >