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~*~. ea eS ee ee ene a TT oe ny — g ee ~) ~~ _—* + “tae HY eae ha ge fe et) — The Facte in the Ratcliff Cage. the tewn ——, where I was at medical lectures. She was a talP 7 no tty; her face would have been insipid bat for the pcouliar restlessness of her eyes. were neither bright nor expressive, yet she kept them so constantly in motion that they seemed to catch and reflect light from a d sources, When, as rarely happened, she fixed them even for a few seconds upon one object, the factitious bril- liancy disappeared, and they become dull and gomnolent. 1 am unable to say what was the colour of Miss Borgier's eyes. After tea I was one of a group of le whom our host, the Rev. Mr. Tinker, sought to entertain with a portfolio af pho- phs of placcs in the Holy Land. While endeavouring to a pra interested in his de- scriptions and explanatiens, all of which I had heard before, I became aware that Miss pe was honouring me with steady re- - My gaze encounte hers, and I ound that 1 could not, for the life of me, withdraw my own eyes from the encounter. Then I had a singular experience, the phe- nomena of which | noted with professional acouracy. I felt the slight constriction of the muscles of my face, the numbness of the nerves that precedes physical stupor induc- ed by the narcotic ageney. Alth tirely unconscious of my present surround- ings, and jculariy alert'to the Rev. Mr. Ww . finally, we reached the point where the jah Mr.. Tinker beholds with imazement joy the i orama of Jerusalem oat tore his T taw“it all with fo- 2 le vividness: I ssw Jerusalem in as cyes. I tacitly thanked fortune when her eyes resumed their habitual dance around nity. “"Why, she is Deacon Borgier's - ter,” 1¢.lied that good person, with some surprix . 7 i ier ?” Borgie “A mest excellent man; one of the pil- lars of my husband's i laugh at what they call his been walking i has about town im his sleep for twenty years ; bas I ssvate you shat there fe not sainoerer: more fervent i I turned “ef t " selfat “That is ri _ she ssid. ‘I wished to come. id you enjoy your journ a ne oo on, to you.” ‘*Perkaps. Bat you can repay the obli- gation. I am told tha page or A Mack's assistant in surgery at t ere to-morrow. _ I want to attend themsclyes, But neither Miss nor anybody resembling Miss Borgier waa of the num geniculated twenty or twenty five degrees from a right i remarked, this deflection had to be corrected by direct, forcible pres- ‘sure dowoward upon the knee. With the assistance of a young surgeon of greatughysical strength, Dr. Mack proceeded to y this preasore, The operation is one of the most excruciating that can be imagined, J was stationed at the head of the patient, in order to hold her shoulders, should she s le. But I observed that a marked change had come over her since we established her upon the table. Very much agitated at first, she had become perfectly calm. As she passively lay there, her eyes, directed upward with a fixed gaze, the eye- lids heavy as if with approachiog slumber, the face tranquil, it was hard to realize that this woman had already crossed the thres- hold of an experience of cruel pain. I had no time, however, to give more than a thought to her wonderful courage, The harsh operation had begun. The surgeon and his assistant were steadily and with in- creas:ng force bearing down upon the rigid knee. Verhaps the Spanish Inquisition nover devised a method of geenpe, Lari torture more intense than that which this woman was undergoing, yet not a muscle of her face quivered. She breathed easily and regu'arly, her features retained their placid expression, and, at the moment when her sufferings must have beea the most agoniz- ing, I saw her eyes close, as if in peacefal sleep. at the same instant the trem:nJous force exerted u hearing it—the crooked e a3 straight as its mate. Closely fallowing this horrible sound, I heard a ringi of laughter. The shaft was so deep and w that its upper orifica visible from no part of the room except a limited » im- y e table. The ter I wasin a tion to know better, tively, I upward in the direction in whi Mra. Wilson had been eiyiclanon of Un povioas oveciee i aed we [) not care to trust ay bel?-comtrol ander the iatfu: ence of her gaze, As Dr. or owe his sharp scissors cut a end of “( This is wi my lecture-room, I made my way to the-roof of As I emerged ci i te ii tx 2 iad? 1! : zi & 2 B g IL my professi facts before briiefl murder the ter of my relations with the accused, have been i ly misrepresen The circumstances of that celebrated case are no doubt still fresh in the recollection of the public, Mr. John Ratcliff, a wealthy, saidnle-aged merchant of came 10 St. Louis with mae Ap. alee on their wedding jourmey. Hiss death at the Planters’ Hotel, followed by thearrest of his wift"who was entirely without friends or acquaintances in the city, her indictment for poisoning, the conflict: of inedical testi- mouy at the trial, and the purely circum- stantial nature of the evidence against the prisoner, attracted general attention and ex- cited public interest toa degree that was quite extraordinary, It will be remembered that the State roved that the relations of Mr. and Mrs, Ra iff, as observei by the guests and ser- vants of the hotel, wcre not felicitous; that he rarely spoke to her at table, habitually averting his face in her presence ; that he wandered asimless!y about the hotel for sev- eral days previous to his illness, apparently half stupefied, as if by the oppression of soms heavy mental burden, and that when accosted by any one connected with the house he started as if from a dream, and an- swered incoherently, ifat all, It was also shown that, by hér husband's death, Mra. Ratcliff becamo the sole mis- tress of a large fortune. The evidence bearing directly upon the circumstances of Mr. Katcliff's-death was very clear, For twenty-four hours before a physican was summonod, no one had access to him sava his wife. At dioner that day, in ix some to the polite inquiry of a la neighbour at table, Mra. Ratcliff announced, with great self-possession, that her husband was seriously indisposed, Soon after eleven o'clock at night, Mrs, Ratcliff rang her bell, and, without the least agitation of manner, remarked that her husband appeared to be dying, and that it might be well to send for a physician. Dr. Culbert, who arrived within a very few minutes, found Mr, Rat- cliff in a profound stupor, breathing ster- torously. He swore at the trial that when he firat entered the room the prieoner, point- ing to the bed, coolly said ; ‘* I suppose that ve killed him.” Dr. Culbert's testimony seemed to point unmistakably to poisoning by Jaudaoum or morphine. The unconscious man's palse was full but slow ; his skin cold and pallid ; the expression of his countenance placid, yet ghastly pale; lips livid. Coma had al- ready supervened, and it was impossible to rouse him. é i expedients were tried in vain. Fiagel impression cn his ter 4 Keaeily, ceened, be tothe size pupils of pin- ter, traches; there were ‘convulsi by copious —_ at the month; the un- pros edeemgeal sae e breast ; and paralysi and death followed, four hours alter Dr. Culbert's arrival. Several of the moat eminent practitioners a the prose- On the other hand, the State absolutely failed to show either that opium my Bg been purchased by Mra, Ratcliff in St. Hy i i E i nt i [ i E Hl F : Fe pee Hi; E 3 teh rit i have killed him.” Having conducted the , and af. Se ae of the contents of the man's stomach, I was Nite the papaver : wry cult Ay mill pro : "Ey vie = ; TEE : i FES ! as to my pre ith prisoser, I was able to answer truthfully in a manner that did not shake the force of my | _ rruggrend irgeenp 5) And it bine nee on: the strength of this testimon t ; se a eet deliberation, perabaad a Veeaie 4 of not guilty. ly 5 a i=} <j 3 3 é © / 5. g 36 I knew that the woman 4d murder her husband. Yet I believed and knew—as sure as we can know apythi where the basis of asceriained fact is slendor and the laws obscure—that she poisonad him, poisoned him to death with her eyes, I think that it will be generally conceded by the profession that-] am neither a sensa- tionalist nor prone to lose my self-command in the mazes of physico-psychologic spec- ulation. I make the foregoing assertion deliberately, fully conscious of all that it ae. : Vhat wes the mystery of the noxious in- flaence which this woman exerted through her eyes? * What was the record of her an- cestry, the secret of predisposition in her case? By what occult procesa of revolution did her glance derive the toxical effezt of somniferum? How did she come to be a woman-Poppy. I cannot yet an swer these questions, Perhaps [ shall neve able to answer them. Bat if there is need of further proof of sincerity of my denial of any eentime my part which might have led me to shi Mrs, Ratcliff by perjury, I may say that I have now in m ession a letter from her, written after her acquittal, proposing to endow me with her fortune and heraelf ; as well as a copy of my reply, respectfully declining the offer, Wheat Heaters. histicated person, on entering a mill and Ending the lange heated to 6 heay fact, might have serious doubts as to whe- ther any advantage was gai dure ; rived from heating wheat by steam is of a very substantial character, wheats bave always been diffi- ly and still obtain a good wheats, if the a separation is impossible, seeing tha the comminuted i ran are of about the same size as the flour particles, and will pass h the same numbers of bolting cloth, It was this eacha regent to psn Bern Bn ening bran before grinding, the first and simplest: means seemed to be to wet it. tl nee ollge gp ap lowed by E millers, but there are ve alate Satedboonhe Va ach his leash ot wh aiNccilebpage. Avatyhesend the k Sy eae the flour, ge- nius noted fact that dry, hard wheats be groand and bolted more easily in hot er than in cold, and reasoned that e E Fe i E E F if fs iy Hl i 2 a 3 Ir is now, asserted by a dentist that the cy true wil} to clean teeth is to bite into aw potato three or four times per day. \dpaper won't take the black of of young men wil! present a girl v4 shoes are ‘ail A Hamivros woman dreamed that she saw her husband kissing a certain neigh- bour's wife, and she pecs A and struck him across the face and broke his nose, Man is nowhere safe, Herearrer we shall dccline all mvite- tions to take breakfast with Mr. Alexander, Czar of Russia, We never could enjoy a meal when the dining-room is being blown through the roof by a parcel of alleged hu- mourists, as it were. Last year, when Queen Victoria visited , she planted’a tree in his gar- den, The Prince of Wales, on a visit just now, has planted another, and is waiting for the Czar to coms next spring and sow his turnips, - eee tracts _ to a man, with twelve cents postage due on them, are not conducive to religious tion. We have in our mind » young maa who was just wavering in the balance ; the twelve cents deci: rd bi howling heathen, i He Ft if fait greece a Fe hit AS [a nH me the of such articles as the husband and fe Lane te throw at cach other while in the of passion, prim. pee prig cess boqecitt a certain and the bible completely demolished “God Bless Our Hose 8 beaatifal work etd tee colours, "Peace. Be Unto House” was also wrecked by a much-read volume on Home Discipline,” - to = woman is of trouble, In the ey tat fe ea gp atale