234 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



woman ' and her * refined, worn face,' her 

 * pathetic history/ etc. One would have said 

 that such a fatuous exhibition of misplaced 

 sentiment was enough to disgust all right- 

 thinking citizens. Not at all ; the disgusted 

 ones were in the small minority. By far the 

 larger half of the city was at the murderess's 

 feet, worshipping her as an up-to-date martyr 

 and saint. 



Now, what were the facts of the case ? 

 Had this wronged wife, in a moment of 

 ungovernable grief and despair, caught up 

 a revolver and fired at her enemy whilst 

 frenzied and scarcely responsible ? Again, 

 no ! Not only had she carefully cleaned and 

 loaded the weapon beforehand, but she had 

 set her son her young son to watch for 

 the passing of her rival, and when the child 

 gave notice of the woman's approach, she 

 stepped out and deliberately shot her, sea- 

 soning the act with language expressed in 

 the newspaper type by dashes. Instanta- 

 neously the city went into hysterics of sym- 

 pathy ; the gruesome incident of the child, 

 the setting of her own selfish instincts above 

 the purer claims of motherhood, passed un- 



