OCR Text |
Show AN ENGLISH TIUGEDY. CRIME THAT HAS ORBATLY EXCITED THAT COUNTRY. Jleotara Daughter Tarns Sfortlaract Larea ll.r Mrllm la Charoh and Ktlla lllm lurora a I'lelnra nl Lhrltl Ko rrovocalton. A murder under uncommon and amailng circumstances hat Just been committed In the beautiful Kentish town of Illddenden, Kngland, by the middle aged, austere maiden daughter of the old rector of tho parish church Sho was narrow-minded and filled with religious teal She had been superintendent of the Sunday achool and church organist, and aa vigorous In tho church work na a rector' daughter could be Her morale were Irreproachable, and It ahe erred at all It waa on the aide of severity. Two jrart ago one of tho teachers In tbla Sunday school, who waa alsu a local newspaper correspondent, bootmaker boot-maker and Insurance agent, had been charged with misconduct with a tlttlo girl In tho school. Nothing camo of the charge, and It appear to have been due lo the Idle gossip that pro-valla pro-valla In small towns. The teacher against whom the charge waa brought waa named John Whlbley, nnd the person most wrought up over the af-alr af-alr waa tho rector's daughter, llcrtha d'Spaen Heggertson Peterson. There had been some little disagreement between be-tween the two before, for aome of the church people thought Whlbley, who had been a teacher In the school for more than twenty )ears, should be superintendent of the Sunday achool Instead of Mlsa Peterson When the charge waa brought against Whlbley, tho rector's daughter act herself to Investigate. She concluded that be waa guilty and publicly aald so, and after a time the man withdrew from the Sunday achool, although the sympathy sym-pathy of Ihe townspeople wero moro or lesa with him. Uertha Peterson wat not exactly popular In Illddenden. Tho townsfolk towns-folk thought bet too cold and narrow and domineering It was for this reason, rea-son, perhaps, that a story got about that ahe waa starving her father, the Iter. William Peterson, for whom the kept house since the day her mother fell Into a lire and wat burned to death. At any rale, while Uertha waa to church one Sunday, the old rector wat taken from hi bed nnd carried to a homo for tho aged, where ho waa mora comfortable than hit daughtcr'g mlnltterlngs had made him, After her father waa taken away, Mlsa Peterson left the rectory, which haa been vacant ever alnce, moved to a town a few rollea distant and finally became a nurse In a home for Inebriates. Inebri-ates. Nothing more wat heard from Uar In ,lllddndn, and aha and bar 'quarrals bsd'been forgotten. When abe suddenly appeared In tho town recently recent-ly and expressed a with to make a public acknowledgment that ahe had wronged John Whlbley. She wrote to several ortlcera of the church, asking ask-ing them lo see her after the church service the following Sunday, and to hear her retract what alio had aald about Whlbley a few year before. She also wrote this letter to Whlbley: "I have had very much on my mind what took place between you and me In the spring of '97. Are you willing to forget UT If so, what amende do you think you should ask of rooT I waa wrong In the attitude I took. I believe you were very badly treated In any case, It waa not for me to Judge. Will you come Into the Infant achool room after church tomorrow morning and look at a picture I am giving to the schools and shake hands, and I have also asked Mr. Itaven, Mr. I'lnyon, Mr. Lavence and Mlsa Thlr-kell Thlr-kell to come, and they will then seo that I retract what I tatd about you. I want to ylvt 1 Is, to the Forester, HEHTIIA PKTKI180N, or to tomethlng tbat you are Interested Inter-ested In, and If you will take It and pata It on to the treaaurer I ahall understand un-derstand that you are willing to forgive for-give and to forget Yours truly, 11. S. II. PHTKUSON." That Sunday morning ahe took her old place at the church organ, tho regular reg-ular organist being III, nnd afterward hurried to the room occupied by the Infant class of the Sunday achool, where the plcturo mentioned In her letter, a representation of Christ with a lamb on Hit shoulder, had been put In position. Poor Whlbley waa there waiting for the acknowledgment of bit Innocence, and Mlsa Ptteraon greeted blm with tome little cordiality and ' him up to the picture aho r.ad hoin aaylng: "I want )wi to look a welL" A toon aa t' mas'-turned mas'-turned the m ut. - Colt'a atmy , n.'.rtvr and, standing dote behind him, shot him through the head and Whlbley fell back dead, H The parish curate who waa present, M waa to frightened that he hurried out H of tho room and did not venture back H until he had found Ihe man who had M aucceeded Mitt Peterson a tuperln B tendent of the Sunday school. When IH they returned the woman wat calmly M walking down the ateps of the build- M Ing, and when tho aaw them the held M out her revolver to them, saying: 1H "You may have thla now," and walk- mB ed on down tho ttept ItaH Iloth the superintendent and the LwiaU curate were too much paralysed by H astonishment to think of anything to H any at first, but finally the tuperln- jB tendent managed to stammer. "Why jjHJ did you do It?" She replied- "I had to do It to pro- H tcct little children" BI Tbi superintendent wot fumbling with the revolver aa the spoke, and, HB noticing hla embarrassment, she aaldi BH "You don't teem to understand IL It you will let mo have It back, I will ahow you how to unload It" HH Tho superintendent had enough HI tense to keep the revolver, but stood BH rooted to the ground, staring at tho BH woman whllo aho walked away. HB One of the little crowd who had HJ gathered by thla time at last got hi BB wlta together sufficiently to go after H Mis Peterson and tell her the mutt BB come back. She tald the didn't with. BB to do to. He told her the must, and BB to she returned. HB In the presence of her victim's body BJ aha tald, "I did It In tclf detente t BB itippote you know a woman It Justified HB In killing a man, but a child it not jHH able. I did thlt to protect little chll- jHH drcn " When the constablo turned up HH and told her she must be arretted for HB THU WIIIIH.llV COTTAOI1. H murder, ahe said, "Very well," aa BJ simply aa It he had merely asked ber BJ to walk around the corner. jHJ Subsequent Investigation proved Hi that Mlsa Peterson had the revolver M and a box of cartrldgea with her when HJ she came to Illddenden, and that the HJ whole plan, even to the mo ot the HJ picture of the Good Shepherd, bad HJ been carefully matured. During the HJ three day of her ttay In tbo town HJ prevtout to tho tragedy ahe had rid- HJ den her bicycle about the ttreeta and HJ talked with many people, none ot HJ whom thought there waa anything HJ unusual In her speech or behavior. H When Miss Peterson waa brought. ,H Into Ih pollen court the waa aa calm HJ aa ever She waa well dreated and HJ self contained, and her bearing waa HJ that of a lady to the manor born. After Ihe preliminary hearing ahe waa H told ahe would be remanded until Feb- H ruary II, "Oh, thank you," ahe said, H In the most unconcerned faahlon, "It H that all?" H According to tho testimony of the I dead" man's wife, be had not heard I from or ot Mlsa Peterson since the H time ahe had moved away from the H town, and nothing had occurred to H arouse her afresh In regard to him. BJ She evidently had brooded over the H old charge for two yeara until ber rea- BJ ton had become warped on tho tub- H JecL I H |