HOUSE WITH BLACK BLINDS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXII, Issue 9594, 4 February 1910, Page 3

HOUSE WITH BLACK BLINDS.

MYSTERY OP A WOMAN'S FATE

A tragic mystery is Da tiding the police of Now York and New Jersey, ■whom an spinster, Miss Virginia Wardlaw, notified of the suicide of her niece, Mrs Owen Suead, at a house situated on the outskirts cf East Orange.

"She drowned herself in the hath tub," Miss Wardlaw informed tho coroner. The body was that of a beautiful young woman whom a

physician. Dr. Petit, later identified as the occupant of "the houso with black blinds" at Brooklvu.

Dr. Petit's story is most remarkable. Ho says he was called to attend Mrs Suead iv September, when she became the mother of a boy. Iv tiie house were three old women, describing themselves as the mother, tho grandmuther, aud the aunt of the patient.

The blinds of the big house were always drawn, the doctor states, aud he was never a'lowod to see the patient alone.

Often, it appeared to him, she wished to break the silence surrounding her, but ot a sign from one or other of tho old women she would fall back upou tier pillow iv dumb, hopeless misery. Despite his protests, tho infant- was taken away t'ruui tho mother aud lodged iv a charity home, while his prescriptions for the mother were systematically ignored.

One morning Miss Wardlaw explained to him that they had not sufficient money to pay for luxuries, as they were spending all they had iv keeping up au insurance policy ou the life of the patient for £5000. "Mrs Suead," Miss Wardlaw continued, "has made a will leaving you £100 for your services."

"Mrs Suead," the doctor replied, "need not die." He ordered a professional nurse to attend her, but after a few days in the house of mystery the nurse gave up her task. After her departure the doctor refused to visit the house agaiu.

The story is continued by a lawyer, who states that he was summoned one day to draw up a fresh will, by which Mrs Suead left all her property, with the exception of £100 for her infant son, to her grandmother. The will wa3 dictated word by word by the three old women. Next morning the house with the black blinds was vacant, the occupants, according to the testimony of the neighbours, leaving in the middle of ttie night in a closed carriage.

When he examined the body of the supposed suicide, the East Orange coroner declared that life had been extinct for ouly twenty-four hours, and that the cause of death was not drowning, but starvation. The police arrested Miss Wardlaw, charging her with the murder of her alleged niece. The other two old women have disappeared.

The search in the house at Brooklyn has hut deepened the mystery. On the parlour floor, it is stated", were bloodstains, aud in the stove the halfburned remains of two children, including the skull of a child about two years old. Before the magistrate. Miss Wardlaw, thickly veiled, listened to the charges against her in silence.

"Dear." said the young wife, "I jast can't wait till Uhristmas to tell you what I've got you for a present." "We'll," replied the youug husband, "what is it?" "I've got you a new rug to put in front of my dressingtable, and a bronze statuette for the drawing-room mantel," was the answer. "Now, what are you going to get me?" "Well," said he, contemplatively, "how about getting you a new shaving-mag and a razor?" Woman (to her husband, busily engaged in correspondence): "My dear, correctly speaking, what is a dentist?" Husband (crossly): "Derived from dent, French for teeth, a man who pulls teeth." Husband settles down to writing again. Wife : "My dear, you eaid this morning that lingui&t was derived from the Latin lingua, a tongue." Husband (crossly): "Yes." Wife: "Well, dear, is a linguist a man who pulls out tongues?" Husband: "No, madam; but I wish he did;"