The Daily Gazette

A Beautiful Friend

THE TERRIBLE CRIME OF A YOUNG MISSOURI WIDOW—CONVICTED BY AN UNEXPECTED WITNESS.

"It is a very, very strange case, Judge," said Mr. Anthony Dunbar, prosecuting attorney of St. Charles, Missouri, to Judge Ballard, of that judicial district, on the 17th of May, 1843. "Everything seems to indicate that Julia Fairbanks set fire to the house which her deceased husband left her. But why should she have committed so grave a crime, by which she not only destroyed her own property, but also brought about the death of her own two step-sons? She was greatly attached to them."

"It is a very strange case," remarked the Judge, "and I dread the necessity of trying it. Still I will do my duty to the best of my ability. Maybe during the trial unexpected disclosures unveiling the mystery will be made."

"What complicates the case, Judge, is the unquestionable fact that the prisoner is perfectly sane."

The case of Mrs. Julia Fairbanks was a most mysterious one. She was the young widow of Anson Fairbanks, who had two sons by a prior marriage. He had suddenly died, leaving his wife very little money and a small farmhouse on condition that she should educate her two step-sons, who were respectively six and eight years old. The young widow, who was a very handsome woman, had led a very secluded life since her husband's decease, and had eked out a scanty livelihood by giving music lessons and doing needle-work. She was believed to be very pious and she was generally popular among the church members.

So much the greater, therefore, was the amazement of the people of St. Charles when, at an early hour on the 6th of April, 1843, the house of the widow burned down. Her step sons perished in the flames, and strong proof was discovered that she herself had fired the house.

She was arrested, but doggedly refused to say what motive had caused her to commit the terrible crime.

The grand jury indicted her for arson and her trial took place on the 18th of May.

The above mentioned facts were clearly established by the evidence for the prosecution, when suddenly a stranger entered the court room, and asked to be sworn as a witness.

When Mrs. Fairbanks caught sight of him, she turned very pale, and then, uttering a loud scream, she fainted away.

The witness swore to the following startling facts :

He said he was the brother of the late Anson Fairbanks. He had known the prisoner prior to her marriage to his brother at Louisville, Ky., where her reputation had been notoriously bad. She had a lover there, one Pennybacker, a lawyer disbarred for forgery. Pennybacker had been re-arrested for forgery one week before. Among his papers was found a will, purporting to have been made by Anson Fairbanks in favor of his widow, bequeathing to her the sum of $30,000, which he had on deposit in the State bank of Kentucky. A number of letters written by the widow to Pennybacker furnished evidence that the will had been forged by him, and that she was engaged to be married to him as soon as she got rid of her step-sons.

The prisoner violently protested her innocence, but the court ordered an adjournment until the necessary corroborative evidence from Kentucky had been obtained.

At her second trial she was convicted and sentenced to the state prison for life.