THE UNWRITTEN LAW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13650, 18 January 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE UNWRITTEN LAW.

MRS. BRADLEY.. ACQUITTED.

Tub-unwritten law achieved yet another signal triumph in the acquittal at Washington. of Ml*. Bradley, who was charged with murdering her lover, Senator Blown., whom she shot, a year ago. The trial has been in every way * cvg r thmhuk»«?« eelebre, and has excited scarcely less interest throughout the country than that of Mr. Thaw earlier in the year. Since .i began the entire press has devoted itself to exciting paroxysms of pity among the public on behalf of the prisoner and her illegitimate children. But the result was really never in doubt, for American juries are notoriously averse, even in States where electrocution does not prevail, to sentencing a. woman to capital punishment. When, therefore, the presiding judge, summing up, impressed on the jury that the prisoner deserved their commiseration and the murdered man their indignation, adding that no one with a spark of chivalry in his bosom could weigh in equal balances a man and a woman when passing moral judgments, the verdict was a lore gone conclusion. Only one man of the entire twelve, indeed, urged the necessity of inflicting some punishment on the pri- ! soner. He. when he found himself in a hopeless minority, subscribed at midnight to the opinions of his fellow-jurors. The announcement of the verdict precipitated scenes of intense enthusiasm. Scores of the women in court rushed to Mrs. Bradley, shook her hand, and assured her of their warmest sympathy. Mrs. Bradley, who feared above all things disagreement of the jury, which would be followed by the ordeal of a second trial, received her acquittal without the usual flood of tears. She repaired for a few brief moments to her cell, and then, with* her two children,. who have been her constant companions in gaol, entered a motor-car belonging to her counsel. Her progress through the streets resembled a triumphal procession, vast crowds surging round the vehicle and cheering vociferously. She intends to retire to Goldiields, Nevada, where she will devote herself to the upbringing of the children of the murdered senator. Mrs. Annie Bradley killed her lover, Senator Brown, when he refused to marry her and legitimise his children. He had promised to do so when his wife died. He failed to keep his promise, and Mrs. Bradley olio wed him from her home in Utah to Washington, where she entered his hotel and shot him dead. Hers is only one of several notable cases iu which the unwritten law has been pleaded at murder trials within the past few vears. Other instances are: Judge Loving, of Virginia, shot Theodore Estes, whom he accused of wronging his daughter. Estes' offence was _ nut proved, but Judge Loving was triumphantly acquitted. The brothers St rot hers, also of Virginia, forced Mr. By waters, who had wronged their sister, to marry her, and shot him dead by her bedside. Acquitted. Louis I). Strong, of Macon, Georgia, killed Henry D. Smith, who wronged Strong's sister, and was acquitted after a trial lasting only three hours. Harry Thaw, * slayer of the architect Stanford White, whom he accused of wronging his wife. The unwritten law was pleaded, and the jury disagreed. New trial proceeding.