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THE SAID CASE
Mrs. Kate Southern!
–THE-
BEAUTIFUL, VIRTUOUS GEORGIA WIFE,
WHO, BEING MADDENED TO INSANITY BY THE OUTRAGEOUS
TAUNTS OF A BAD WOMAN WHO HAD ENTICED
HER HUSBAND AWAY, KILLED HER.
º
Arrºr TERRIBLE AND YET ROMANTIC ADVENTURES DURING HER FLIGHT,
SHE WAS ARRESTED, TRIED, CONVICTED, AND
SENTENCED TO BE HUNG,
NOTWITHSTANDING THAT, BESIDES HAVING A LITTLE CHILD,
SHE WAS ABOUT TO BE00ME A MOTHER AGA////
HRE SENTENCE HAS BEEN COMMUTED BY GOVERNOR COLQUIT, BUT THE
PUBLIC EXCITEMENT IS SO HIGH THAT THE LEGISLATURE
IS TO BE APPEALED TO TO SET HER FREE.
The Most Thrillingly Touching Book Ever Published.
ºutered according to Act of Congress in the year 1878, by C. W. ALEXANDER, in the office of the
Łibrarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

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“Oh, Judge!” gasped poor Kate, “God have mercy! my baby!”
, Cºl Surge," ſtºute Ratt, ,CŞott ſet mit quitig! :ºrin armes baby."








THE HUSBAND's FAULT.
Another terrible warning has been added to the thousands of the past,
by this case, the history of which we narrate in the following pages.
When a man and a woman solemnly promise in the marriage vow at the
altar, the promise which makes them one for life, they too often think it
a mere form in order that they may come together in life in a legal way.
Too many do not seem to comprehend that, instead of a mere formula,
that may be unheeded, or even forgotten immediately after its utterance,
it is a stern reality, a fact that should be rigidly adhered to through-life.
And just so far as either one of a married couple neglect, or avoid its
binding force, just so far is the door of their household opened for the
admission of evil. -
Excuses are useless; the man who, shortly after his wedding, should
find his wife flirting with a previous suitor of hers, should find her walk.
ing in the woods with him, and giving him these little attentions, which
only affection should bestow on its proper object, that moment, he would
become jealous, and furious, and quite likely out would come the aveng-
ing pistol, or knife, and his a honor.” must be vindicated in injury to the
offender. The deed, instead of being reprobated among men would be
extolled and the husband would be held up as a paragon of manly bravery
and virtuous determination.
We have yet to come across a case in which public opinion was other-
wise.
Yet when the circumstances are reversed it would appear that the
*erdict of the people is also reversed. But if it be just and right in a
s
4. THE HUSBAND’s Fault.
man to defend his honor in his wife, is it not equally so for the wife to
defend her honor in her husband, and to take vengeance upon the mis-
chievous rival, who seeks to coax that husband away from his proper
allegiance to her 2
How much misery and heart-burning in wedded life would be avoided
if husband as well as wife were to live fully up to his vows of marriage,
live up to them just exactly as he requires his wife to life up to hers.
To-day there stands under the shadow of the gallows a proud, loving,
faithful, beautiful wife, far away in Georgia, because in a moment of utter
insanity, produced by the most deliberate provocation she slew the woman
who in the most public cruel manner was trying to rob her of her hus:
band.
Him we hold accountable for the whole terrible tragedy. His was the
fault, and all his heroic and manly defence of his unfortunate wife after-
wards will never relieve him of this blame. Beyond a doubt he loved
his wife most dearly, and she loved him with an intensity rarely equalled.
Yet, as it appears to us, from a sheer spirit of mischievous—what shall
we call it, he actually goaded his wife on to her desperate act.
With these words of introduction we proceed to the history of the sad.
affair.
THE RIVALS.
The Country in which the participants resided is rather a sparsely
settled one in Pikens County, Georgia Close by each other on their respect-
ive farms or plantations the two families were living. Robert Southern
lived with his people, while Kate Hambrick resided with hers nearly
adjoining. Near both lived Narcissa Canart. These three were about
of an equal age. “Bob” as he was familiary called was a strapping,
handsome fellow whom everybody liked for his winning ways, spiced as
they were with a certain dash of wildness and harum-scarum. He was
daring, good hearted and ready to do any one a good turn, or enter into -
adventure as the case might be. Of course in that kind of country all the
girls and young women were warmly inclined to Bob Southern, and he
returned to all about equally his attentions.
Most conspicuous among the rest of the belles in their rivalry were
Narcissa Canart and Kate Hambrick.
While the Southerns and Hambricks were only moderately situated as
regarded wealth, Narcissa's people were rich, a fact which has caused the
course of events to turn as they really have. This is the story at any
rate.
For a long time it was a mooted question as to which of the contend-








The Husband's FAULT. 5
ing beauties Bob would marry; but the doubt was finally swept away by
his wedding with Kate, who was described as a gloriously lovely crea:
ſure, descended originally from Indian blood. In personal appearance she
is a bright brunette, with luxuriant auburn hair, dark brown, splendid
eyes, and a most exquisite, voluptuous figure. -
The rival Narcissa, is said to have been almost as beautiful but of a
more dainty style, a blonde, at times exceedingly bewitching.
Nothing was talked of for sometime but the bridal. There were those
who had always said, as usual, “they knew how it would be.” There
were those who had harsh predictions to make concerning the future of
the bride and groom, and there were others who looked upon it as exactly
what was to have been expected, and who wished them a life of hap-
piness and prosperity.
But their bliss was destined to be broken. The disappointed beauty
felt all the keen stingings of her failure to win young Southern as her
husband, and instead of giving him up, as she ought to have done and
looking elsewhere for another beau, she continually put herself in his
way, and under the guise of old friendship she managed in a great variety
of ways to induce her lost swain to bestow upon her a good deal of at-
tention, which invidions gossips quickly manufactured into lots of scan-
dal. For instance they took care to report to his wife that her husband
and Narcissa were often seen walking in the woods together, alone.
At first Mrs. Southern would not notice this; but at last it came with
such galling frequency that she felt forced to speak to her husband about
it. He only laughed at this and said:
“It is a mighty queer thing that I can't speak or look at Narcissa,
without a parcel of old women make bad out of it.”
“I don’t doubt you Bob, dear,” replied Kate, “but it is the looks of the
thing. You ought to not allow it; because if you do people will cer.
tainly talk.”
"They had better be at some better employment,” said he with an
oath.
“Well, there, Bob, for your own Kate's sake be careful.” And the de-
voted wife flung her arms around her husband's neck as he left the house
and kissed him.
Next day a busy neighbor clanced in, for the purpose no doubt, and
told Mrs. Southern that she had seen Bob and “Cis” as she was called in
the neighborhood having a sweet confabulation in the woods together
near dark, the afternoon before. Now it so happened that this was a
fact, and it so happened that, after her misunderstanding with her hus-
band in the morning, Mrs. Southern had been laid up with a sick head-
ache. Very anxiously did she long for his return; but he did not come.

º THE HUSBAND's rault.
The afternoon wore away, and evening came. But not until an hour
after dark did Robert arrive, a very unusual thing with him.
“Ah, Bob, what kept you so long? you did not know I'd be worrying
about you?” she inquired.
“Oh, you must not worry about me, I can take care of myself.”
“But I don't like you to stay away from me this way. What detained
you ?”
“Oh, I met an old friend of mine, just as I was coming home and he
wanted me to go up to the hotel with him to talk about a little gunning
expedition.”
“Why did you not bring him home?”
“Well, I don't know. He asked me up and so I went along. No
harm in that, is there?”
“No, there's no harm in it. But no old friend would have kept you
away from me before we got married, Bob.”
There was just a little vein of reproach in her tone as she uttered this
remark, and it cut her husband keenly, for he was rather sensitive. As
usual, he took a man's method of freeing himself from blame by becoming
angry, and he harshly retorted:
“My gracious ! you don't expect a man to court all his life, do you,
Kate, after he is married the same way as before ?”
“Yes,” said she, I court you now more than before, Bob, don't I?”
This was a fact, and the husband was well aware of it, so he said no
more, and she also dropped the subject.
When the gossip called the next day, however, and referred to Nar-
cissa, Mrs. Southern, naturally enough called to mind the event of the
evening before, and she felt that she had been deceived, and that the
story of the gunning friend was a myth manufactured by Robert for the
purpose of concealing his meeting with Narcissa.
So when the husband came home she saluted him with :
“So you told me a falsehood last night! You were with that girl again
walking in the woods, and that's what kept you away from me, and not
a friend up at the hotel.”
Southern was confused; she saw it at once, and, just as quickly she
sprung to the conclusion that her surmise was correct.
“Well,” said he, “I was up at the hotel, exactly as I told you though I
did see “Cis,” before that.”
“Why didn't you tell me you saw Cis?” angrily rejoined the wife.
“Because you would have got as mad as a march hare and blazed away
at me if I had,” was the reply.
“Look here, young man, this running has got to stop. I won't
have it!”

A HEART RENDING CASE. 7.
The wife stamped her foot in fury as she uttered this, and her eyes
flashed fire, while she fairly shook with rage.
“I don't know that when I tied myself to you,” came the retort, “that
I became your slave.”
“No you did not I wouldn't have you for a slave, but I want you to
treat me as you ought to treat a wife, and not go walking round with
that girl, and having people coming here to my house, telling me about
it and worrying me so about it.”
“Then tell them to keep away, with their infernal mischief making.”
“Why it was near dark when you were with her.”
Well, I couldn't help it. She met me and asked me to see her home,
and of course I could not get out of that, could I ?” -
“Yes, you could, you ought to have told her like a man, about the
scandalous talk there was, and let her see herself home. I warrant you
she was in no danger. She knew her way, and every man she meets
knows her and would gladly escort her anywhere she chose to go.”
“Then you’d have me make a fool of myself, and aknowledging that
I've tied myself by the heel to your apron string.” -
“Well, a man that is ashamed to acknowledge his proper duty to his
wife, is not fit to have a wife, that is all.”
“Oh, you don't say sol” -
“How would you like,” resumed Kate after a pause, “to have me seen
in the woods with some one of the young men who used to court me;
not once, or twice, but several times, with the same man.”
“I’d blow his head off " said the husband fiercely.
“Very well, Bob, I love you dearly; you know it, but as true as there's
a God in Heaven, if you and she don't stop this business that's what I
will do! I'll adopt your own remedy, now mark my words.”
"Ha! hal” laughed Robert, “women don't shoot. It's only men,
wicked men who do those things.” -
“Don’t put me to the test, or you may give more than flesh and blood
can put up with.”
This ended the stormy scene between the two for that time, but like
the sewing of the dragon's teeth, there was to result in the course of time
a harvest of sorrow and blood. º -- º
During a short period, Southern, either to avoid provoking his wº.
further, or else by accident, did not see Miss Canart, and there was no -
further trouble between the couple, although busy tongues were still at
work making mountains of past mole-hills, as is their habit.

8 A HEART RENDING CASE.
THE FATAL FLIRTATION.
Matters indeed appeared to have healed over entirely, but it was only
a deceptive film that covered the cankering sore beneath, which was
destined to burst forth again, and this time with fatal and terrible
results.
A large party was given at the home of Mr. Hambrick, Kate Southern's
father, and of course, every body was invited to take part in the hilarity
and good cheer of the occasion.
Among the rest of the guests were the Canarts, Miss Narcissa especi.
ally being asked to come. This was done by third parties, mutual friends
of the two young women, in the assurance that the make up wonld be
final and lasting, and that all feelings of jealousy on the one side, and
bitter disappointment on the other, would be reconciled.
And so far as Kate was concerned this had been fully resolved on.
But it is said now that Miss Canart misunderstood the whole affair,
and supposed that she had only been asked to the party in order that her
successful rival, Southern's wife could make her victory the more con-
spicuous and complete to the perception of the friends and neighbors.
This seems to have been what Narcissa firmly believed, as was evinced
by her manner from the moment she entered the house.
The first act was to go to Robert and engage him in conversation, long
and pointedly and drawing attention to themselves, which it did; for a
woman can easily do this by this and that little act and manauvre, which,
while it can be easily understood by a spectator, still defies the powee of
words to describe it. -
The consequence was that Mrs. Southern began to look black at her
husband. He began to feel stung that his wife should treat him so, and
resolved, as he thought, to assert his independence and freedom as a
man, or in other words, to show that he would do as he liked, and not be
dictated or henpecked, even by a beautiful wife, who really loved him so,
and who had given herself to him in preference to a score of suitors.
Alas! it is a sad day for married people's happiness when either the
one or the other begins to stand on dignity and assert individual rights
at the expense of their mutual duties. It is in that case like the huge
sharp stone that the Norwegian hunter hangs by a rope in front of the
entrance to the bee hive in the hollow tree, for the greedy bear. The
latter comes along smells the honey, and thrusts aside the stone with his
head. The oftener and harder he pushes the stone away, the oftener and

A HEART RENDINO CASE. 9
harder it comes back against his head, until at last in his blind persistent
fury it kills him and the hunter secures his body without trouble.
In the early part of the dancing, Miss Canart solicited Mr. Southern to
dance with her, knowing, from the looks of his wife, that it would “make
her awful mad.”
That set was danced, and though the wife was dreadfully hurt by it,
for she had told Robert that she would feel offended if he should show
the slightest extra attention to Narcissa, still she refrained from saying
anything. But when the next set was made up she refused to dance.
At this juncture, Narcissa it is averred did an act which we hardly
think any wife could put up with, without becoming actually insane with
rage. -
The husband, it is said, sat down beside his wife, and was endeavoring
to persuade her to dance in the next set with him, she still persisting in
refusing, on account of the previous slight he had put apon her. While
he was doing so, Miss Canart came over from the other side of the room,
and, dancing back and forth in front of them she said:
“Come Bob, and dance with me again in the next set. I feel like I
could keep the floor all night.
This enraged Mrs. Southern beyond all control and springing to her
feet she exclaimed as she shook her finger in Miss Canart's face :
"You shall not dance again with Robert. He is my husband, and I
forbid you to dance with him.” - -
“I will, if I want to, and if he has no objection to dancing with me.”
"I say you shall not! and if you do, you will do so at your peril. Go
away you are a bold bad woman to act as you are acting! go away!”
With a taunting laugh, Narcissa danced off down the room, and when
the set was made up, she did not take part in it, because she could not
dance with Mr. Southern.
The latter still sat with his wife, who was very nervous and much ex-
cited, talking to her in order to calm her.
He ought to have taken her away then and there, because, by the ac-
tion of Miss Canart she had been grossly insulted, and there were seve-
ral, who had witnessed the provocation, who did not hesitate to express
themselves in regard to it.
However, be that as it may, the pair remained. After awhile he was
called away by some male friends to another part of the house, and re-
mained with them for over half an hour. When he came back his wife
had also gone somewhere.
Just at this moment Narcissa who had taken a seat on this side of the .
room, rose and going to Southern exclaimed:
"Oh, Bob, come let you and I dance in this set. They're just making
it up. Come!” -

10 A HEART RENDING CASE.
He hesitated for a moment, but, with a merry challenge the temptress,
eaught his arm, and almost before he knew it, the music began, and he
wbirling along and around with Miss Canart.
In a few moments his glance fell upon his wife as she appeared at a
side door. She shook her head in a dazed sort of manner, and then, put-
ling her hands to her temples, she drew back. This made him feel very
badly, for he really loved his wife and did not care for the woman who
was so cruelly lacerating the heart which he knew to be entirely devoted
to himself. And yet while he longed to do so, he could not break the
spell that the siren at his side had thrown round him, and he danced on.
The little dreamed of what was coming; but in a few moments more
the thunderbolt burst from a clear sky as it were.
Mrs. Southern had run to her father in the other room.
“Give me your pen knife! pap,” said she, I want to pare my nails.”
Her father laughed at his daughter's request for it was an odd one to
make in company. Still it might be a very natural one, and he handed
her the knife, after opening the finger-file blade for her.
Taking it, Kate commenced to cut her nails, but as she turned away
from her father she shut up that blade with a snap, and opened the large
blade, which, however, was not at all formidable, for the whole knife was
only a small one.
When she re-entered the room where the dancing was going on, she
cast her eyes over the groups till she saw her husband and the now
doubly hated and doomed rival. In a moment more she was beside them,
and 'ere any hand could stay her, she flung her husband aside, tearing
him away from her intended victim with the strength of a lionness. The
following instant Narcissa was in her grasp, and, with the pen knife, she
madly, furiously, blindly began stabbing, slashing and cutting her.
In another moment or two Miss Canart was lying senseless on the
floor but still the vengeful wife clung to the prostrate form and hacked
at it, till her husband and two other men dragged her from the body by
main force. - -
The wildest confusion at once prevailed.
"Shut and bolt every window and door ſº shouted a young man, “and
do’nt let anybody leave the room! There's a woman killed!”
Then it was found what had happened, and over the body of the dead
Narcissa, bleeding as it was from a score of wounds, one of her relatives
called :
“Who did this 2'"
“I did I and I’d do it again, a thousand times over! She robbed me of
my husband!”
With those words, uttered in a wild tone, while her eyes blazed with
the light of madness, Kate sprang forward, and would again have flung
A HEART RENDING CASE. 11
herself upon the bleeding body, on which she had wreaked her venge-
ance.
“Kill her! hang her!” shouted some one of the Canarts.
This terrible cry seemed to start into life all Bob Southern's love for
his wife; it seemed to recall him to himself, seemed to nerve him for
what he saw he must do—get his wife away from the perils she had
brought on herself. The doors were shut; escape appeared impossible;
but Southern, drawing a revolver, put his arm round his wife, and, lifting
her like a child, he leveled his pistol, and striding forward, said firmly,
while his white lips and ashy face told of a desperate resolve:
“Gentlemen, I am going through that door way! My wife I shall take
with me! Now, stand aside. I will go, if I have to shoot my way
through!”
“Then, with a sudden bound he knocked aside the foremost of the op-
posing men, and in a moment more was lost to view in the darkness
outside.
Of course the ball was at once broken up, and the body of the dead
beauty laid on a settee, until the Coroner should come, for already a mes-
senger had started to that officer of the necessity for his presence.
THE TRAGIC E LIGHT.
When Southern had gotten his wife fairly outside, he halted a short
distance down the road, and said:
“Oh, Kate, what is to be done, now? Oh! what have you done!
They will hang you!”
The wife seemed now to be perfectly calm, and she replied, as she
withdrew her arm from her husband’s :
“Robert, I have loved you with my whole soul, and had you been a
man as you ought to have been, you would never have allowed that wo.
man to come between us as you have done. What is to be done? Noth-
ing! You can go on, and escape, I'll go back. They can hang me when-
ever they like. I don't care. My heart is broken, my life is ruined.
Leave me, and go on. I am going back.”
And she turned, but he restrained her, and kneeling he exclaimed:
“Oh, Kate, I am your husband still. It has all been my fault, and all
I can do now is to share your fate. We must escape, and go somewhere
where they can't find us. My people will help me I know. Come! I
love you, darling, to my heart's last drop, and I swear to you to devote
the rest of my life to you. Come, let us escape together, or die together.
I will not leave you ! You shall not leave me. I have sinned, if ". -


12 A HEART RENDING CASE.
has. Mine has been the wrong, and mine must be the atonement. Come,
darling wife.” - -
There was such chivalry in the act, and so much of the old love in
Southern's tone, that his wife consented, and the two hastened along.
She wanted to go to her people; but her husband said: -
“No, there's nothing to be gained by mixing them up in it, and time
is too precious. We will get all the help we need from father and the
boys, and then we'll be off.”
Without another objection Kate consented and the two speedily ar-
rived at the house of the Southerns. The father was at home, and the
two brothers who had been out during the earlier part of the evening,
came in shortly after the arrival of the fugitives.
Bob explained everything, sparing himself not in the slightest, and
then, when he'd finished he appealed to them to help him to get his wife
safely away to some safe retreat.
There is something worthy of the chivalry of ancient times in the self
sacrificing manner in which these brave men resolved to aid their bro-
ther and son.
They were well aware that the relatives of the dead girl were wealthy,
influential, brave and determined, and that any measures to be taken for
the defence must be thoroughly and determinedly done. After a long
consulation the old man said:
“Well, Kate, you’re my daughter, just as near to me as if you had my
blood in you. I don't blame you, I can’t blame you for what you did.
Bob has acknowledged the fault in the first place was his. He is right,
it was, and he ought to have listened to your remonstrance. But it's no
good to groan over that now. We must get you away to some safe place.
As for me, boys,” and here the father turned to his other two sons, “I
am going to see Kate and Bob through safe, if it costs me my bottom
dollar and the bottom drop of my heart's blood. There Kate,” and the
speaker kissed his son's wife, tenderly.
Without a moment's hesitation the two brothers repeated the same,
and the four men at once set about making preparations for the flight to
the southern part of Texas, where they supposed they would be safe from
their foes.
Hastily purchasing two wagons and powerful stock, they supplied
themselves with a perfect magazine of weapons, and then putting Kate
in the first wagon they secretly set off on their long and perilous journey.
And so adroitly did they manage that no one found out anything about
them, and they dropped completely out of sight as it were.
The friends of Miss Canart were thrown completely off the scent at the
very beginning of the search, for they supposed that the Hambricks
would be the ones who would assist their daughter. Consequently par-

A HEART RENDING CASE. 13.
ticular surveillance was kept up over their every movement, and their
assurances that they knew nothing of Kate or her whereabouts were re-
garded as mere subterfuge and deception.
Therefore by the time that it was all discovered to be true, the fugitives
were safely gone. -
It may be also conceded that after the first excitement had passed off,
there were not many, even of the dead woman's relatives, who were ever
earnest in catching Kate Southern, for it was acknowledged, that the
deadly and continued provocation to which she had been subjected was
more than human flesh and blood could have endured.
THE PURSUIT AND CAPTURE.
So determined and well armed were Kate Southern's guard that no body
with whom they came in contact cared to pry into their affairs, who they
were, where they were going, or where they had come from ; and it is
more than likely that, but for an unforseen incident, they would have got
safely through to their destination.
The Canarts, had offered large rewards for the arrest of the fugitives.
Among others, who noticed this, was M. W. W. Findlay, of Fannin
County. He was a man of great nerve, cool judgment and determination.
A short time afterwards he also learned that a party of travellers answer-
ing exactly to the description of the Southerns, and coming from Pickens
County, had stopped in Franklin, North Carolina, and annonneed their
intention of settling there upon a farm.
That these strangers wore the fugutives he felt almost convinced, and
hiring resolute men, he at once started in pursuit. He heard nothing
of much interest or encouragement until he reached the town of Haysville
in North Carolina. There, however, he got points that rendered him
sompletely satisfied that he was on the right track. So certain was he
now that, in order to have no possibility of escape, he secured the servi-
ses of several other men, and all took up their line of march along the
Western Carolina Turnpike. After a rough ride, the pursuers came to
the farm, and found that the tenants had left it only a short time before,
and evidently in haste. From inquiries among the neighbors, Findlay
learned, that the people who had lived on the farm had left quite sud.
denly, and without any specified reason, had set off up the pike, between
the Nahalala and Valley River Mountains. It became requisite now for
the pursuers to use great caution, for besides fearing to alarm the fugitives,
by making inquiries about them, they dreaded to attack them openly,
knowing that from the determined character and bravery of the Southerns
they would be a fight which would result in a heavy loss of life, they all

14 A HEART RENDING CAS.
being dead shots with both rifle and revolver. Thus their progress was
slow, comparatively speaking, but they rode on as fast as they could
push, and upon arriving at the town of Murphy, North Carolina, they
found they were only one or two hours behind their prey. This was
startling news, and Findlay, halting his men, gave them particular instruc.
tions as to what they should do and how they should do it. This done,
rein was again drawn and the pursuers advanced carefully.
At the turnpike gate which is situated just at little outside of Murphy,
Findlay heard from the turnpike keeper that the strangers had forced
their way up the road after refusing to pay toll, after having a fuss with
himself. A fact like this showed that the fugutives were in a dreadful
hurry, and so Findlay became more circumspect than before.
The gate keeper was trying to collect a mounted party of citizens to go
with him in pursuit of the fugitives and collect the pike charges by force,
for next to horse stealing, the most heinous offense to the average country-
men is to ride over their pike roads and not pay pikeage, as they call it.
When Findlay found this out he persuaded the pike man to keep quiet,
and promised that he himself would bring them all back as prisoners, as
they were fugitives from justice in Pickens County, Georgia.
Weapons were examined and last orders given by Findlay, and then
the final ride commenced. He had ordered his men that when they over-
took the Southerns, instead of making any charge, or attempt to capture
them, they should ride on, withont having any parley, and then when
out of sight, they should form an ambuscade, await their approach and
when came up take them thus unawares, and unready for resistance.
This he altered quickly after he had started to this fresh plan. He him-
self made on ahead alone entirely, the others riding behind him nearly
two miles. As soon as they canºe to a certain mark which he left by the
road side, and which they were to watch for, they were to holt and wait
for his return.
In this way the advance was made. Late in the afternoon, Findlay
espied his intended prisoners and their wagon. They only had one wagon
now, and this they had driven off the road and drawn up in the woods.
in order to camp for the coming night.
Findlay at once dropped the signal on the side of the pike for his fol-
lowers, and then rode boldly and carelessly up to the fire the Southerns
had already kindled.
“Good evening,” said he, addressing Bob, who was on guard.
“Good evening,” replied the latter as he eyed the newcomer with con-
siderable suspicion, “are you from Murphy?”
“No,” said Findlay, that's the very place I am looking for, and I rode
up to you to ask you the direction. We have lost some mules and are
out to find them. Are you going to settle down here, partner or are you

NÖ
-----------
------ --- ------
----------- --“T - - - - - -
----- ------ -
- - - - - - - - --- - --- -
- - - - ----------- -
-
- ------ ------
“Go away!” said the wife, “you are a bad, bold woman to act so."
„Geh!“ ſagte ſeine Frau, „Du biſt ein freches, ſchlechtes Weib, ſo zu handeln.“




A HEART RENDING CASE. 17
going on further?” asked Findlay, seating himself by the fire and pulling
out his pipe, and tobacco bag for a smoke, “have a little of this,” and he
offered the bag to his host, who was completely thrown of his guard by
the careless style of the newcomer.
*Which way did those mules come?” asked Southern, as he filled his
own pipe from Findlay's bag.
*Well, now,” laughed the latter, seeing the danger of a wrong reply,
that's a gay question to ask. If I knew which way they had come,
would I be fooling my time asking you if you'd seen them?”
Bob laughed also at this retort, but he had only asked the question
more for the sake of appearance, for he did not wish to ask anybody any-
thiug. Presently the others came up out of the woods and bent suspi-
cious looks at the stranger, but Bob, motioned to them that it was all
right, and shortly afterwards Findlay thanking them rode away.
The moment he was out of sight he made a detour and galloped at
speed to his companions, among whom was Detective Howell of Murphy,
who was well acqnainted with the country all round there. - -
He and Findlay now held a council of war, and they decided that no
attempt should be made upon the Southerns until early morning, the
pursuing party lying in wait about two miles beyond. - -
This done and after posting their men where they wanted them, Find-
lay and Howell crept up in the darkness to within a short distance of the
camp fire. They saw all their intended prisoners, including the redoubt.
able Kate herself, the latter with a baby in her arms. This baby had
been born subsequent to her flight and appeared to be a good deal over a
year old.
How wretched that poor creature must have felt to be thus constantly
in flight and dread of capture, for so long a period of time.
Being satisfied that there would be no failure of their plans the two
sleuthhounds of the law returned to their companions and calmly awaited
the coming of their victims -
In order to be sure they had risen earlier than was their original in-
tention, and it was well they did, for they had hardly got stirring ere
through the dim light of the dawn they espied the Southerns advancing
all unconscious of the surprise in store for them. -
Quickly Findlay, on one side of the road, and Howell on the other,
ordered their men down out of sight, rifles were cocked and revolvers
ready.
It seemed an eternity before the fugitives came fairly abreast of them.
When they did, Findlay sprang forward and covered Bob with his re-
volver, while Howell did the same for old Southern, the father.
“Hands up! or you die!” was the imperative command.
18 A HEART RENDING CASE.
At the same instant several rifles covered the whole party, making it
certain that the slightest movement would be death.
The Southerns, seeing themselves thus ambushed, at once surrendered,
Saying:
“There, put up yonr shooters, gentlemen, we'll go back with you and
settle the toll."
They thought it was the gate keeper who had thus pursued them to
force them to pay the pikeage.
At a word the assistants advanced, and, before they knew it, the South-
erns were manacled and disarmed. When this was safely accomplished
Findlay announced to his prisoners that he did not want them for toll,
but for the murder of Miss Narcissa Canart.
Kate uttered a hysterical scream at this news, but quickly recovered
her composure, and the cavalcade, forming a line of march immediately
returned to Murphy.
From there the captives were taken as rapidly as possible to the scene
of the murder in Pickens County, Georgia.
As might be expected, as soon as it was announced that they had been
taken and were to be returned, there was an immense excitement in the
whole region and all the people turned out to witness their arrival.
Now there were two parties, one of which influenced by the friends of
the dead woman was exceedingly bitter against the prisoner and those
who had helped her to make her escape originally. The other party were
equally enthusiastic, but were not so well off as their opponents.
Mrs. Southern was fully committed after her hearing to stand her trial
which came off in the usual time. The prosecution strained every nerve
to have her convicted, not that the thought really she was to blame, for
even the fiercest of them when asked if he or she under circumstances of
even less provocation would not have done just the same, acknowledged
that, they would, and think themselves fully justified.
But like most feuds of a like nature they took sides bitterly and waged
a relentless warfare against the person who offended them, and followed it
to the extremity.
Yet the defendant's adherents claim that her case was bungled in such
a manner that no jury or Judge could help, although much aganist their
sympathies, in convicting. A case it must be stated when it comes into
court for adjudication, acending to the strict forms of law, is a very dif.
ferent affair from the same case talked over among friends. And a mis-
take in form or manner may often result in a guilty person escaping, or
what is for worse, an innocent person being punished.
Now the reader must understand, that it was never claimed that Mrs.
Southern was innocent of the killing. But when all the facts are known


A HEART RENDINO CASE. 19
the wonder is that she did not in the same paroxysm slay her husband
also. -
Let any wife put herself in Mrs. Southern's place and then let her con-
demn her, if she can. -
First her husband had gone to see Miss Canart before he was married
to herself. Then, after the marriage the friendship was kept up, and in
such a manner as to render the wife wild with jealousy and sorrow at the
slights and insults put upon her. -
Next a company is assembled, and right in the presence of that comp-
any the wife is most outrageously insulted, and taunted by the former
and present friend of her husband. She still does not say or do anything,
except suffer in her own breast untold mental agony.
Be it remembered also she was in a peculiar condition that all women-
kind will thoroughly understand, and in which the wind so often becomes
unbalanced.
While thus the audacious rival for her husband's attentions committed
an act of insult that utterly dethroned the poor wife's reason, and she
flew at the object of her wrath and in a few moments the latter was dead.
There was no premeditation on the part of the injured wife, none what-
ever. But there was a serpent, not sneaking in, but boldly gliding as it
were right into her household, with the fixed intention of destroyed it, of
robbing her of her husband and poisoning her happiness for time and
eternity, with the loathsomest venom that can kill a wife's heart. Seeing
the reptile, the wife crushed it, an illegal act it is true. But is she not
blameless after all?
It is in reality an illegal act for a man to shoot, or stab to death the
burglar who enters his house in the dead hour of the night, except he
shall be in actual danger of his own life from the latter. His legal duty
is to size the burglar and arrest him, take him before a magistrate and
have him committed to answer at court the charge of burglary. Or it is
his duty as a citizen to hold the burglar and shout till a policeman comes,
when he must hand his prisoner over to the officer of the law.
Yet how would that do in practice? Not at all. The only result would
be that the burglar would invarially kill the citizen and escape. So it
has come to be a habit in law now, that when a man awakes, finds a
burglar in his house, shoots him dead in his tracks, or brains him with a
club to say it is right, that he has done so.
Yet the miserable burglar perhaps is stealing to save his little ones
from starvation, he carries off, if he succeeds only a little wordly wealth
which may be replaced. But when, or by whom can a wife, robbed of
all she holds dear in existence, be re-imbursed? Will industry bring back
her husband's love? will it give to her again the stolen happiness?
Never .
20 A HEART RENDING CASE.
But there is still a more potent argument especially with men, and
juries are composed of men. The man who sends a ball through the
heart of the other man who is endeavoring to wean away his wife's af.
fections, is glorified as a hero. Such a thing as convicting that man for
murder under such circumstances would arouse the widest anger, and he
would be pardoned ere the ink of his sentence was dry on the Court
Clerk's book of record.
Has man a monopoly of defending the household from stain, from
taint? So it is proclaimed by this Georgia jury.
The natural feeling on the part of every right thinking mind is that
whether Mrs. Southern is wrong or not in the eye of Heaven's Judge
she is not guilty of it so far as earthly judgment can go. And that, there-
fore earthly punishment cannot fairly be inflicted upon her for her tragic
act. It feels that to God alone is the wife responsible and to Him alone
should she answer for what she has done.
To say nothing of the unfortunate lady's condition it would be a cruel
unjust thing to bang her. And under the peculiar circumstances were
such an execution to occur there would be two lives taken for one,
the mother’s and her unborn bab’es as well.
Yet let us not allow our feelings for this poor, unfortunate woman
cause us to forget the work of the historian. -
When the case was called, the trial proceeded, the witness for the pro-
secution were placed one after another on the stand, and delivered their
testimony as to the occurrence on the night in question. The act itself.
the using of the knife, the wild words of the accused, and all the other
details relative to the deed were given and drawn out skilfully.
It is here that it is claimed the defence ought to have been handled dif-
ferently from what it was, and that if there had been a Philadelphia or
New York lawyer present to guide it, Mrs. Southern would have been
promptly acquitted.
On the other hand it is urged that it was only to keep up the proper
form of the law, that the verdict of guilty was rendered; and that this
having been done it was expected that the Governor of Georgia would at
once issue a pardon to the convicted woman.
If this were really so, it is surprising that the day fixed for the execu-
tion, which was in June, should have been allowed to approach so near,
without the exercise of executive clemency. It shows that the unfor-
tunate woman's friends, must take it for granted that they need not to do
anything but wait till the Governor should set down and write out a
pardon. There was gross ignorance, or gross negligence or both.
However, the newspapers from one end of the land to the other took it
up and never in the past century has there been such a storm raised for
a defenceless woman at bay for her life. As we are writing this, it is now



A HEART RENDING CASE. 21
near the end of May, and we do not take up a paper from the great
dailies of the large cities, to the little weeklies away off in the remotest
villages, that does not contain an editorial denouncing in unmeasured terms
the condemnation of Mrs. Southern. Should all this pleading not induce
the Governor of Georgia to issue a full and complete pardon to the
wretched woman, he must indeed be a cast iron man, or have a heart
like steel. -
THE OPENING COURT SCENE.
When the jury had been selected the various little details were gone
through with, while the prisoner sat, holding her baby on her lap. The
little creature all unmindful of its mothers jeopardy, laughed and crowed,
and clapped its hands, and anon as some stranger would approach it
would cling to Mrs. Southern, who would thereupon fondle and caress it,
not from any theatrical attempt to excite sympathy; but real love.
She is a woman of the most intense character, and we can easily under-
stand how a wife of her temperament would try to tear in pieces the
wrong doer of her household. Her plain, pure love was above any exhi-
bition for effect. Indeed there were many who said, if she had only made
believe a little more and waked up the feelings of the speetators, she
would have got off. But there was none of that about her.
She was much thinner than when she was arrested first, and her cheeks
were as pale as wax, her form was also a little drooped in the shoulders,
but still her beauty was unmarred; her brilliant eyes shining like stars,
while her luxuriant hair combed plainly about her shapely head, and with
only such arranging as was absolutely necessary, gave her a grace sel-
dom seen. She has an exquisite form, and everybody wondered how a
man could allow any woman to entice him from such a lovely wife, espe-
cially when to her beauty she added such a wealth of love for him
All being ready Judge Lester gave a signal and the court crier ordered
the prisoner to stand up.
Every breath was held as she obeyed, never relinquishing her baby,
but clasping it the tighter to her heart, as though to still the latter's
throbbings. Indeed she never let it go from her during the whole trial.
“Prisoner at the bar, how do you plead to the charge against you? are
you guilty or are you not guilty?”
Poor Kate Southern, a bright hectic scarlet spot on each cheek now,
and her dry, pale lips could not part for a moment or two. But with a
tremendous effort she collected all her strength, and raising her eyes to-
ward Heaven she replied in a steady, clear voice:
22 A HEART RENDING CASE.
“I am not guilty! God knows I am not guilty of deliberate murder!”
“How will you be tried?” asked the clerk in the usual routine form.
She was prompted by her Counsel here as to the proper reply to make
and she said:
“By God and my Country.”
“And may He send you a safe deliverance.”
The wretched woman shut her eyes and shuddered as the deep toned
legal words of the officer were uttered:
“I hope He will,” she whispered, as she sank down again into the
arm-chair which had been provided for her use. “Oh, my darling baby,
I hope He will for your sake!”
And as she kissed the little one a tear, so hot as to make it start fell
from the mother's eye upon its brow. In passing we may remark that
the infant is a splendid one, about nine or ten months old.
When the witnesses began to testify Mrs. Southern became as firm as
a rock, and eagerly watched every sentence, every word of the testimony.
Her face was like a mirror and sent back every expression produced by
the description of the terrible scene of the tragedy. At those points where
the provocation was alluded to her eyes blazed as with the old jealousy,
and her lips tightened as though she were once more going through the
terrible scene. - -
It appeared that the principal point made against her was the long
continued determination to kill her victim. But in this there was really
nothing; for, supposing it all to have been so, what was called her long
cherished determination to do the act, was easily explained. The vio-
lator of her domestic happiness had kept up a long determination assault
upon that happiness. Mrs. Southern time and again had warned her not
to repeat her offence. Yet it was repeated over and over, and over; and
repeated with such continually increasing boldness, that at last the re-
peated threats was carried into execution.
This was the extent of the long cherished design, as it was called to
“do murder on the unfortunate victim.”
To every fair and unbiassed mind it certainly seems as though the
“unfortunate victim” was continually courting and daring the fate she
finally brought upon herself.
Great stress was laid upon one portion of the evidence. In June or
July it was testified that the prisoner had said: “If Narcissa don't let
Bob Southern alone I will kill her!”
Admitted, and does not this prove exactly what we have claimed, that
the provocation itself was steady, and long continued How many wo-
men who read this book would have waited even as long as did Mrs.
Southern, before resorting to just as desperate means as she did to ridher
hearthstone of the reptile which so besmirched it? It it easy to say the








A HEART RENDING CASE. 23
husband was to blame; easy to say his wife ought to have left him;
easy to say she ought to have sued for a divorce, easy to say she ought
to have had the woman arrested.
But not one of these methods was feasible. She would have been
ridiculed to death had she arrested the offending creature, she could not
leave her husband, did not want a divorce, but wanted him to remain
with her—why? simply for the reason that thousands of other wives
will give you if you ask them-love! She loved the very ground South-
ern walked upon and in her anguish and rage she saw no way to keep
him, and get all the love she yearned for from him, than by slaying her
adversary.
The next point dwelt upon by the prosecution were the utterances Mrs.
Southern used after the tragedy, to her mother:
“I’m glad she is dead. I intended to kill her and I’m glad I did it!
She robbed me of my husbandſ"
These were nothing more than the expressions of the very madness
which had possessed her from the moment the victim threatened to take
her husband from her. Could any person hold the doctrine that the
tongue was to be held any more responsible for insane utterances, when
he or she would excuse the act performed by the hand? Surely not.
Yet such was the case in Mrs. Southern's trial.
CONDEMNEI).
The trial went on till at last the testimony was all in, the speeches
were all delivered and the jury retired to make up their verdict.
What ever passed in that jury room, will of course never be known;
but at last, after a comparatively long delay they arrived at a conclusion.
The Court room was packed with spectators and a pin could have been
heard to drop as the twelve men who held the life or liberty of the poor
prisoner in their hands filed into the court room and took seats. Judge,
spectators, lawyers, all gazed steadily at the selected arbiters, who did
not return the gaze at all, but looked, with efforts to appear sphynx like,
in calmness out through the windows or up at the ceiling.
Every eye in the scarcely-breathing assemblage was fixed upon first the
jury and then the prisoner.
Quiet was completely restored. Quiet! had one shut his eyes he could
easily have thought himself locked in a grave yard vault, so perfectly still
was the stillness. The first sound that broke it was the restling of a few
sheets of paper on the desk of the clerk, as that officer, gathered them to.

24 A HEART RENDING CASE.
gether and laid them in order before him. Then he rose and in a mode.
rated voice said:
“Gentlemen of the Jury have you agreed upon a verdict?”
“We have,” replied the foreman.
“Who shall speak for you?”
“Our foreman.”
The latter then rose to his feet, and his example was followed by the
others. Now came the monotanous formof address usual.
“Prisoner at the bar stand up !”
“Shall I take the baby, darling? asked the now quivering husband.
“Oh, no, Bob, don't take my baby away from me! Let me keep it!”
And the poor mother clutched the infant tightly to her heart.
“Jurors,” (the clerk's voice now sounded like that of a minister going
through the burial service) “look upon the prisoner. Prisoner look upon
the jurors.” Poor Kate at bay with Justice! That jury—twelve stal-
vart, powerful men wheeled like a dreadful piece of machinery (they had
hitherto avoided confronting the captive or even glancing at her.) Now
their dozen pairs of eyes rested upon her face. Twelve to one Poor,
pale, sick, young mother, standing calm like a statue, this is a dreadful
moment for you! The baby nestling and cooing at your breast, and the
other unseen oh, twelve good men and true, are you guessing at
the inner page of that wretched human book before you? You have had
mothers, you have wives of your own, daughters—speak not yet, let your
thoughts go with your hearts, away to your separate homes for a moment,
and then let them come back laden with the words that shall frce Kate
Southern, who mutely, sorrowfully, hopefully is bending her beautiful
eyes upon you—those eyes! pleading ever so eloquently to you to say
by your verdict that when a wife dares to do what thousands of hus-
bands have been applauded for doing, dares to purify, to purge her dese-
crated hearth and home altar with the blood of the polluting syren, she
shall at least go scathless from the punishment meted out to the ordinary
taker of a life. Can you gaze at this loving wife and but hush the
service for the dying is going on again, for that is how it all sounds.
The clerk continues:
“Gentlemen of the jury, how say you, is the prisoner at the bar guilty
or not guilty of the charge, as in this bill of indictment *
“Guilty!” said the foreman.
“Oh, Bob! Oh, my baby!”
It was the prisoner at the bar who was gasping these words, and
blindly with one hand and arm she was reaching out for the help of that
husband for the love of whom, she was now in the dock.
“Oh, Bob it's all over with me.”
“Prisoner at the bar 1"
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A HEART RENDING CASE. 27.
Ah, Mr. Clerk, spare your breath, the prisoner at the bar hears.
nothing, for her life has lost its hope. She is resting in her husband's
arms. She wants to die there. She is praying, oh so ſervently, that God
may mercifully let her die there on the spot. The shadow of a gallows:
and its dangling noose is rising before her eyes. She shudders, shrinks
closer to her husband. Water quick, she has fainted. What a mercy
it would be if she could pass away to the other life while she remains
unconscious. But no, that is not to be. She rouses from her lethargy,
and sitting up in the arm chair, clasps her baby again to her with the
earnestness of her whole nature.
Till now she has remained calm and quiet, but the reaction has set in
and she rocks herself back and forth and utters the most piteous ex-
clamations of poignant sorrow. They are all about her baby and her
husband, and they wring the heart of all who hear her.
But even this must give way to the inexorable demands of Georgia's
Justice. The scene of sorrow must be quashed like a bad indictment,
and upon being notified that he must make his convicted wife quiet,
Southern bent down over her and whispered: “Come darling, be brave,
there is something more to be done before this terrible affair will be over.
A form only. Come, Kate, bear up bravely.”
Wait one minute,” said the unfortunate woman, “wait just a minute
and I will.”
“Prisoner at the bar "
The Clerk's voice again, and again the service for the dying. Oh, how
chilly were the words and tones.
“Prisoner at the bar.” -
The prisoner at the bar rose to her feet as well as she was able, sus-
tained by her husband ; and still holding her baby in her arms.
That was indeed a sorrowful sight, as the District Attorney rose to his
feet, and holding the bill of indictment in his hand, said:
“May it please the Honorable Court, I move that sentence be pro-
nounced upon the prisoner at the bar.” -
Prisoner at the bar ! how dreadfully montonous did these continually
repeated words sound. It was the monotony of approaching death
Judge Lester fixing his gaze upon the condemned, commenced his re-
marks, and as he advanced toward the conclusion he could not keep back
his feelings. Nor in truth could anybody else. Even the friends of the
dead woman, now that they had really won the victory of the law's ven-
geance upon Kate Southern, were moved to tears at her forlorn helpless-
ness. It looked so cowardly for everybody, as it were, to be stamping
down a wife who had only defended her home from the intruder.
Calmly she looked into Judge Lester's face as he proceded with his
duty, without outward manifestation she heard sentence after sentence fall

28 A HEART RENDING CASr.
from his lips. Yet to the keen observer, skilled in reading of physiog.
nomy, the gradually deepening dread within her bosom could easily be
perceived. It began to come to her face as the Judge commenced the
conclusion of his awful duty in the words:
“And the sentence of the law is, that you, Kate Southern, the priso.
ner at the bar, be taken hence to the place from which you came, and
thence to the yard of the jail, and on the 20th day of June, next, between
the hours of 10 A. M. and 2 P. M., you be hanged by the neck un-
til you are dead. And may God in his infinite goodness, have mercy on
your soul.” -
“And may he have mercy on you, my baby! Oh, mama's darling,
may He never forsake you, but guard you when I am gone.”
Mrs. Southern spoke these words to her infant, who innocently enough
was stretching up its little chubby hands to her chin.
The trial was over, and the law, by its decision had ordained that any
wife in Georgia who should so far allow her natural instincts to obtain
control of her, as to slay a woman who had led astray her husband, and
was continually repeating the offence, in defiance of all her warnings, must
expiate the awful crime upon the gibbet. That jury we must say, has
covered the State of Georgia, with something the reverse of glory. Think
of itſ a commonwealth so full of chivalry and manly bravery as Georgia
has always been, to put itself on record as she has done in the Southern
case! There is something wrong somewhere.
In about half an hour the doomed wife was removed from the Court.
room, and the spectators, who, though dismissed, had loitered around
hoping to see something, or hear something more, now went home.
When Kate and her husband returned from the cell from which she
had gone, and from which she was sentenced never to come forth again
till she went to execution, they sat down and for several minutes neither
of them spoke a word. He did not know what words to speak, for
he could not banish from his memory the crushing thought that he him-
self was to blame for all that had occurred. This rendered him silent. On
the other hand, Kate, felt that the catastrophe was too crushing. She did
not wish to say anythiug harsh to her husband. So far from that she
wished rather that she had restrained her just indignation and not im-
brued her hands in the blood of her rival.
Back and forth she rocked with her baby on her lap, trying to get
asleep. But it remained awake and was disposed to be fractious.
At last Southern rose and took it and began pacing the cell-floor, and
hushing the little creature so successfully, that in a few minutes more it
was sound asleep and he laid it down in its crib. Then standing with
one arm behind his back and the other hand on the pillow, he bent over
and gazed down upon the sleeping infant with mingled sensations.

- 29,
A HEART RENDING CASE.
His wife was watching him, and after doing so for a moment ºr tWO.
she left her chair and impulsively flung herself on her knees beside the
erib, on the opposite side from her husband, and clasping her hands ex-
claimed: -
*Oh, Bob! Bob, what will ever become of our baby when they hang
me! My baby! my precious child!” and she bent down till her burning
fevered lips almost touched the little sleeper's cheek “what will become
of you when they kill your miserable, wretched mother?”
“Kate 1 try and be quiet. Don't wake baby up. Come, get up and let
us sit over here "
*No, no, Bob, I don't want to yet awhile. I will in a few minutes.
Just let me be here a little while I'll not wake the baby.”
With these words the poor, heart broken, doomed mother bent herself
down across and over the crib as though she would take it up in her
arms, gazing the while ever so yearningly at the little innocent sleeper.
Presently she got up, and with a lingering look at the baby, she turned
and went to her husband. Opening his arms he received her, and as she
sank upon his knee she tried to twine her arms around his neck; but she
was too weak and they fell listlessly iuto her lap.
“Cheer up, Kate,” said Southern kissing her lovingly, “cheer up, some-
thing will turn up to save you, darling. Oh, God! I wish they would
only just hang me ! I am the guilty one, the one who is to blame for all
the trouble, and I ought to suffer instead of you, my poor wife. I ought
to have done as you wished me and this would all have been avoided !”
“Don’t scold yourself, Bob dearest Bob There's no use in that now!
Let us spend the time left for us to be together on this earth, in mutual
love!”
“Oh, they will not part us, Kate, they shall not. But they won't exe-
cute you! Why such a thing would be unheard of.”
The husband shuddered as he said this. The image seemed to float
up before his eyes like a ghostly miasm.
“Ah, Bob, I feel that there's no hope. They have the money and in-
fluence all on their side, and they appear resolved to finish me. But God
knows I never intended to kill that woman.”
At this moment the warden of the jail appeared at the door of the cell
with some refreshments. He brought them in and setting them on the
rough table, he told the couple to sit up and eat.
Strangely as it may appear, both were exceedingly hungry, and in
spite of the state of mind that they were in, they obeyed the injunction
of the warden and ate a hearty meal. Before the trial, neither of them
had the slightest appetite. But now that the suspense was ended, it

30 A HEART RENDING case.
seemed as though the physical functions returned to their normal condi-
tion.
This is the reason, doubtless, why prisoners condemned to die can
sleep soundly, and eat well—a fact that is well known to exist and yet
always seems unaccountable.
Complete, thorough despair takes away all anxiety or worriment. It
is the introduction of hope that causes the awful see-saw motion of the
mind, which results in the destruction of appetite.
EFFORTS IN HER BEHALF.
As we have said, the prison doors had not closed long upon Kate
Southern before the community began to be stirred by thinking over the
terrible event. The mere fact that a woman was to be hung caused, as
it always does, an intense curiosity to know why she was to be hung.
Her crime, argued the people must have been something extraordinarily
horrible to bring upon her such a punishment, especially iu. Georgia.
Here, when they received the real facts in the case, there was at onee
a revulsion of feeling, and on every tongue was the verdict:
“It’s a shame to hang that poor woman She ought to be pardoned
at once. Why don't the Governor do so? Why are they keeping that
unfortunate creature under dread of the gallows for what she did. The
only difference between her and the thousands of suffering wives through-
out the land who have been treated in the self same manner by their
husbands, is that she was brave enough and determined enough to take
the law into her own hands. The law which should protect a wife in her
private rights in this respect does not do so, as every man well knows
who has seen much of general society. And it is not to be wondered at
that occasionally some heroic wife, like the subject of there pages, should
take wild justice upon the female seducer, just as the angry, injured hus-
band does upon the male seducer. Why society should praise the hus-
band and yet hang the wife for the self same deed, is past our compre-
hension.
Everywhere, all classes and conditions took up the case, every editor
took up his pen in Kate's cause and even clergymen everywhere, spoke
of the harshness and severity of her punishment. It was a noble sight, if
we may use that form of expressing it, to behold thus the tens of thon-
sands of hands stretched forth, hands of strangers, to arrest the march of
the Nemesis of the law, and to lift the noose from about the neck of Mrs.
*Rate Southern and set her free.
A HEART RENDING CASE. 3.
As we are going to press the telegragh brings the news that Governor
Colquit of Georgia has, in deference to the general public demand com-
muted the death sentence into ten years of solitary imprisonment.
In doing so he avers that he has only considered the law in the case,
and not for a moment considered the fact of the prisoner being a wo-
man. But still the public, although glad to learn that her life is to be
spared, are not satisfied, nor will they be with anything less than a full
pardon for Kate. And if the Governor refuses farther clemency, the
State Legislature is to be appealed to for special legislation in the case.
We individually regret that, Governor Colquit, while upholding the “ma-
jesty of the outraged law” and in the stern, steel like administration of
that law thinking it necessary to banish the fact of the captive being a
woman, he did not think of the fact that she was an injured wife, and
that he lost sight of the other fact that the “victim,” when she met her
death was in the act of offending against the law herself. So, for the
present the cell door closes upon poor Kate, shutting her from her child
and the world, and so for the present ends a tragedy that has awakened
more excitement and sympathy than any other in the history of the
country.

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*Oh, Bob when they hang me what will become of my darling!” gasped
- she, kneeling at the crib.
ºpºl Boº," itſudºte ſie, an per Siege tauernt, was virt aus unſerm ºiet-
ſing verben, memn ſit mid lºngen.
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