Speaker 1: This is section forty six of The Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and Seed Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter forty six. Philip left the capital and walked up
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania Avenue in company with Senator Dilworthy. It was a
Speaker 1: bright spring morning. The air was soft and inspiring in
Speaker 1: the deepening wayside green, the pink blush of the blossoming
Speaker 1: peach trees, the soft suffusion on the heights of Arlington,
Speaker 1: and the breath of the warm south wind was apparent
Speaker 1: the annual miracle of the resurrection of the earth. The
Speaker 1: Senator took off his hat and seemed to open his
Speaker 1: soul to the sweet influences of the morning. After the
Speaker 1: heat and noise of the chamber under its dull gas
Speaker 1: illuminated glass canopy, and the all night struggle of passion
Speaker 1: and feverish excitement, there the open, tranquil world seemed like heaven.
Speaker 1: The Senator was not in an exultant mood, but rather
Speaker 1: in a condition of holy joy, befitting a Christian statesman
Speaker 1: whose benevolent plans Providence has made its own and stamped
Speaker 1: with approval. The great battle had been fought, but the
Speaker 1: measure had still to encounter. The scrutiny of the Senate
Speaker 1: and Providence sometimes acts differently in the two houses. Still,
Speaker 1: the Senator was tranquil, for he knew that there is
Speaker 1: an a spree decorps in the Senate which does not
Speaker 1: exist in the House, the effect of which is to
Speaker 1: make the members complaisant towards the projects of each other,
Speaker 1: and to extend a mutual aid which in a more
Speaker 1: vulgar body would be called log rolling. It is under
Speaker 1: Providence a good knight's work, mister Sterling. The Government has
Speaker 1: founded an institution which will remove half the difficulty from
Speaker 1: the Southern problem. And it is a good thing for
Speaker 1: the Hawkins heirs, a very good thing. Laura will be
Speaker 1: almost a millionaire. Do you think, mister Dilworthy, that the
Speaker 1: Hawkinses will get more much of the money, asked Philip, innocently,
Speaker 1: remembering the fate of the Columbus River appropriation. The Senator
Speaker 1: looked at his companion scrutinizingly for a moment to see
Speaker 1: if he meant anything personal, and then replied, undoubtedly, undoubtedly,
Speaker 1: I have had their interests greatly at heart. There will
Speaker 1: of course be a few expenses, but the widow and
Speaker 1: orphans will realize all that mister Hawkins dreamed of for them.
Speaker 1: The birds were singing as they crossed the Presidential Square,
Speaker 1: now bright with its green turf and tender foliage. After
Speaker 1: the two had gained the steps of the Senator's house,
Speaker 1: they stood a moment looking upon the lovely prospect. It
Speaker 1: is like the peace of God, said the Senator, devoutly.
Speaker 1: Entering the house, the Senator called a servant and said,
Speaker 1: tell miss Laura that we are waiting to see her.
Speaker 1: I ought to have sent a messenger on horseback half
Speaker 1: an hour ago, he added to Philip. She will be
Speaker 1: transported with our victory. You must stop to breakfast and
Speaker 1: see the excitement. The servants soon came back with a
Speaker 1: wondering look and reported, Miss Laura ain't dead, sah, I reckon,
Speaker 1: she ain't been there all night. The Senator and Philip
Speaker 1: both started up. In Laura's room, there were the marks
Speaker 1: of a confused and hasty departure, drawers half open, little
Speaker 1: articles strewn on the floor. The bed had not been disturbed.
Speaker 1: Upon inquiry, it appeared that Laura had not been at dinner,
Speaker 1: excusing herself to missus Dilworthy on the plea of a
Speaker 1: violent headache, that she made a request to the servants
Speaker 1: that she might not be disturbed. The Senator was astounded.
Speaker 1: Philip thought at once of Colonel Selby. Could Laura have
Speaker 1: run away with him? The Senator thought not. In fact,
Speaker 1: it could not be General Leffenwell, the member from New Orleans,
Speaker 1: had casually told him at the house last night that
Speaker 1: Selby and his family went to New York yesterday morning
Speaker 1: and were to sail for Europe to day. Philip had
Speaker 1: another idea, which he did not mention. He seized his
Speaker 1: hat and saidying that he would go and see what
Speaker 1: he could learn. Ran to the lodgings of Harry, whom
Speaker 1: he had not seen since yesterday afternoon when he left
Speaker 1: him to go to the house. Harry was not in.
Speaker 1: He had gone out with a hand bag before six
Speaker 1: o'clock yesterday, saying that he had to go to New
Speaker 1: York but should return next day. In Harry's room, on
Speaker 1: the table, Philip found this note, Dear mister Brierly, can
Speaker 1: you meet me at the six o'clock train and be
Speaker 1: my escort to New York. I have to go about
Speaker 1: this University bill the vote of an absent member. We
Speaker 1: must have here, Senator Dilworthy, cannot go yours. L h
Speaker 1: confound it, said Philip. The noodle has fallen into her trap,
Speaker 1: and she promised she would let him alone. He only
Speaker 1: stopped to send a note to Senator Dilworthy, telling him
Speaker 1: what he had found, and that he should go at
Speaker 1: once to New York, and then hastened to the railway station.
Speaker 1: He had to wait an hour for a train, but
Speaker 1: when it did start, it seemed to go at a
Speaker 1: snail's pace. Philip was devoured with anxiety. Where could they
Speaker 1: have gone? What was Laura's object in taking Harry? Had
Speaker 1: the flight anything to do with Selby? Would Harry be
Speaker 1: such a fool as to be dragged into some public scandal.
Speaker 1: It seemed as if the train would never reach Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Then there was a long delay at hav Or de Grace,
Speaker 1: a hot box had to be cooled at Wilmington. Would
Speaker 1: it never get on? Only in passing around the city
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia did the train not seem to go slow.
Speaker 1: Philip stood upon the platform and watched for the Bolton's House.
Speaker 1: Fancied he could distinguish its roof among the trees, and
Speaker 1: wondered how Ruth would feel if she knew he was
Speaker 1: so near her. Then came Jersey, everlasting, Jersey, stupid, irritating Jersey,
Speaker 1: where the passengers are always asking which line they are
Speaker 1: on and where they are to come out, and whether
Speaker 1: they have yet reached Elizabeth. Launched into Jersey, one has
Speaker 1: a vague notion that he is on many lines and
Speaker 1: no one in particular, and that he is liable at
Speaker 1: anyone moment to come to Elizabeth. He has no notion
Speaker 1: what Elizabeth is, and always resolves that the next time
Speaker 1: he goes that way he will look out of the
Speaker 1: window and see what it is like. But he never does,
Speaker 1: or if he does, he probably finds that it is
Speaker 1: Princeton or something of that sort. He gets annoyed and
Speaker 1: never can see the use of having different names for
Speaker 1: stations in Jersey. By and bye, there is Newark, three
Speaker 1: or four Newarks apparently, then Marshes, then long Rock Cuttings
Speaker 1: devoted to the advertisements of patent medicines and ready made
Speaker 1: clothing and New York tonics for Jersey, egg Yus, and
Speaker 1: Jersey City is reached on the ferry boat Philip bought
Speaker 1: an evening paper from a boy crying, here's the evening
Speaker 1: Graham all about the murder, and with breathless haste, ran
Speaker 1: his eyes over the following shocking murder tragedy in high life.
Speaker 1: A beautiful woman shoots a distinguished Confederate soldier at the
Speaker 1: Southern Hotel. Jealousy the cause. This morning occurred another of
Speaker 1: those shocking murders which have become the almost daily food
Speaker 1: of the newspapers, the direct result of the socialistic doctrines
Speaker 1: and women's rights agitations which have made every woman the
Speaker 1: avenger of her own wrongs, and all society the hunting
Speaker 1: ground for her victims. About nine o'clock, a lady deliberately
Speaker 1: shot a man dead in the public parlor of the
Speaker 1: Southern Hotel, coolly, remarking as she threw down her revolver
Speaker 1: and permitted herself to be taken into custody, he brought
Speaker 1: it on himself. Our reporters were immediately dispatched to the
Speaker 1: scene of the tragedy and gathered the following particulars. Yesterday
Speaker 1: afternoon arrived at the hotel from Washington, Colonel George Selby
Speaker 1: and family, who had taken passage and were to sail
Speaker 1: at noon to day in the steamer Scotia for England.
Speaker 1: The colonel was a handsome man about forty, a gentleman
Speaker 1: of wealth and high social position. A resident of New Orleans,
Speaker 1: he served with distinction in the Confederate Army, and received
Speaker 1: a wound in the leg, from which he has never
Speaker 1: entirely recovered, being obliged to use a cane in locomotion.
Speaker 1: This morning, at about nine o'clock, a lady accompanied by
Speaker 1: a gentleman called at the office of the hotel and
Speaker 1: asked for Colonel Selby. The colonel was at breakfast. Would
Speaker 1: the clerk tell him that a lady and gentleman wish
Speaker 1: to see him for a moment in the parlor. The
Speaker 1: clerk says that the gentleman asked her what do you
Speaker 1: want to see him for, and that she replied, He's
Speaker 1: going to Europe, and I ought to just say good bye.
Speaker 1: Colonel Selby was informed, and the lady and the gentleman
Speaker 1: were shown to the parlor, in which were at the
Speaker 1: time three or four other persons. Five minutes after two
Speaker 1: shots were fired in quick succession, and there was a
Speaker 1: rush to the parlor, from which the reports came Colonel
Speaker 1: Selby was found lying on the floor, bleeding but not dead.
Speaker 1: Two gentlemen who had just come in had seized the lady,
Speaker 1: who made no resistance, and she was at once given
Speaker 1: in charge of a police officer who arrived. The persons
Speaker 1: who were in the parlor agreed substantially as to what occurred.
Speaker 1: They had happened to be looking towards the door when
Speaker 1: the man, Colonel Selby entered with his cane, and they
Speaker 1: looked at him because he stopped as if surprised and frightened,
Speaker 1: and made a backward movement. At the same moment, the
Speaker 1: lady in the bonnet advanced towards him and said something like, George,
Speaker 1: will you go with me? He replied, throwing up his
Speaker 1: hands and retreating, My god, I can't, don't fire, And
Speaker 1: the next instance two shots were heard and he fell.
Speaker 1: The lady appeared to be beside herself with rage or excitement,
Speaker 1: and trembled very much when the gentleman took hold of her.
Speaker 1: It was to them she said he brought it on himself.
Speaker 1: Colonel Selby was carried at once to his room, and
Speaker 1: Doctor Puffer, the eminent surgeon, was sent for It was
Speaker 1: found that he was shot through the breast and through
Speaker 1: the abdomen. Other aid was summoned, but the wounds were mortal,
Speaker 1: and Colonel Selby expired in an hour in pain. But
Speaker 1: his mind was clear to the last, and he made
Speaker 1: a full deposition. The substance of it was that his
Speaker 1: murderess is a Miss Laura Hawkins, whom he had known
Speaker 1: at Washington as a lobbyist and had some business with her.
Speaker 1: She had followed him with her attentions and solicitations, and
Speaker 1: had endeavored to make him desert his wife and go
Speaker 1: to Europe with her, when he resisted and avoided her.
Speaker 1: She had threatened him only the day before he left Washington.
Speaker 1: She had declared that he should never go out of
Speaker 1: the city alive without her. It seems to have been
Speaker 1: a deliberate and premeditated murder, the woman following him to
Speaker 1: Washington on purpose to commit it. We learned that the murderess,
Speaker 1: who is a woman of dazzling and transcendent beauty, in
Speaker 1: about twenty six or seven, is a niece of Senator Dilworthy,
Speaker 1: at whose house she has been spending the winter. She
Speaker 1: belongs to a high Southern family and has the reputation
Speaker 1: of being an heiress like some other great beauties and
Speaker 1: bells in Washington. However, there have been whispers that she
Speaker 1: had something to do with the lobby. If we mistake not,
Speaker 1: we have heard her name mentioned in connection with the
Speaker 1: sale of the Tennessee Lands to the Knobs University, the
Speaker 1: bill for which passed the House last night. Her companion
Speaker 1: is mister Harry Brierly, a New York dandy who has
Speaker 1: been in Washington. His connection with her and with this
Speaker 1: tragedy is not known, but he was also taken into
Speaker 1: custody and will be detained at least as a witness.
Speaker 1: P s. One of the persons present in the parlor,
Speaker 1: says that after Laura Hawkins had fired twice, she turned
Speaker 1: the pistol toward herself, but that Briarly sprung and caught
Speaker 1: it from her hand, and that it was he who
Speaker 1: threw it on the floor. Further particulars with full biographies
Speaker 1: of all the parties in our next edition. Philip hastened
Speaker 1: at once to the Southern Hotel, where he found still
Speaker 1: a great state of excitement and a thousand different and
Speaker 1: exaggerated stories passing for from mouth to mouth. The witnesses
Speaker 1: of the event had told it over so many times
Speaker 1: that they had worked it up into a most dramatic
Speaker 1: scene and embellished it with whatever could heighten its awfulness.
Speaker 1: Outsiders had taken up invention also the colonel's wife had
Speaker 1: gone insane. They said. The children had rushed into the
Speaker 1: parlor and rolled themselves in their father's blood. The hotel
Speaker 1: clerk said that he noticed there was murder in the
Speaker 1: woman's eye when he saw her. A person who had
Speaker 1: met the woman on the stairs felt a creeping sensation.
Speaker 1: Some thought Briarly was an accomplice and that he had
Speaker 1: set the woman on to kill his rival. Some said
Speaker 1: the woman showed the calmness and indifference of insanity. Philip
Speaker 1: learned that Harry and Laura had both been taken to
Speaker 1: the city prison, and he went there, but he was
Speaker 1: not admitted. Not being a newspaper reporter, He could not
Speaker 1: see either of them that night, but the officer questioned
Speaker 1: him suspiciously and asked him who he was. He might
Speaker 1: perhaps see Briarly in the morning. The latest editions of
Speaker 1: the evening papers had the result of the inquest. It
Speaker 1: was a plain enough case for the jury, but they
Speaker 1: sat over it a long time, listening to the wrangling
Speaker 1: of the physicians. Doctor Puffer insisted that the man died
Speaker 1: from the effects of the wound in the chest. Doctor
Speaker 1: dobb As strongly insisted the wound in the abdomen caused
Speaker 1: the death. Doctor golightly suggested that, in his opinion, death
Speaker 1: ensued from a complication of the two wounds and perhaps
Speaker 1: other causes. He examined the table waiter as to whether
Speaker 1: Colonel Selby ate any breakfast, and what he ate, and
Speaker 1: if he had any appetite. The jury finally threw themselves
Speaker 1: back upon the indisputable fact that Selby was dead, that
Speaker 1: either wound would have killed him, admitted by the doctors,
Speaker 1: and rendered a verdict that he died from pistol shot
Speaker 1: wounds inflicted by a pistol in the hands of Laura Hawkins.
Speaker 1: The morning papers blazed with big type and overflowed with
Speaker 1: details of the murder. The accounts in the evening papers
Speaker 1: were only the premonitory drops to this mighty shower. The
Speaker 1: scene was dramatically worked out up in column after column.
Speaker 1: There were sketches biographical and historical. There were long specials
Speaker 1: from Washington giving a full history of Laura's career there,
Speaker 1: with the names of men with whom she was said
Speaker 1: to be intimate, a description of Senator Dilworthy's residence and
Speaker 1: of his family, and of Laura's room in his house,
Speaker 1: and a sketch of the senator's appearance and what he said.
Speaker 1: There was a great deal about her beauty, her accomplishments,
Speaker 1: and her brilliant position in society, and her doubtful position
Speaker 1: in society. There was also an interview with Colonel Sellers,
Speaker 1: and another with Washington Hawkins, the brother of the murderess.
Speaker 1: One journal had a long dispatch from Hawkeye reporting the
Speaker 1: excitement in that quiet village and the reception of the
Speaker 1: awful intelligence. All the parties had been interviewed. There were
Speaker 1: reports of conversations with a clerk at the hotel, with
Speaker 1: a call boy, with a waiter at table with all
Speaker 1: the witnesses, with the policeman, with the landlord, who wanted
Speaker 1: it understood that nothing of that sort had ever happened
Speaker 1: in his house before, although it had always been frequented
Speaker 1: by the best southern society. And with missus Colonel Selby.
Speaker 1: There were diagrams illustrating the scene of the shooting, and
Speaker 1: views of the hotel and street, and portraits of the parties.
Speaker 1: There were three minute and different statements from the doctors
Speaker 1: about the wounds, so technically worded that nobody could understand them.
Speaker 1: Harry and Laura had also been interviewed, and there was
Speaker 1: a statement from Philip himself which a reporter had knocked
Speaker 1: him up out of bed at midnight to give. Though
Speaker 1: how he found him, Philip never could conjecture what some
Speaker 1: of the journals lacked in suitable length for the occasion,
Speaker 1: they made up in encyclopedic information about other similar murders
Speaker 1: and shootings. The statement from Laura was not full. In fact,
Speaker 1: it was fragmentary and consisted of nine parts of the
Speaker 1: reporter's valuable observations to one of Laura's. And it was,
Speaker 1: as the reporter significantly remarked, in coheres rent. But it
Speaker 1: appeared that Laura claimed to be Selby's wife or to
Speaker 1: have been his wife, that he had deserted her and
Speaker 1: betrayed her, and that she was going to follow him
Speaker 1: to Europe. When the reporter asked what made you shoot him,
Speaker 1: miss Hawkins, Laura's only reply was very simply, did I
Speaker 1: shoot him? Do they say I shot him, and she
Speaker 1: would say no more. The news of the murder was
Speaker 1: made the excitement of the day. Talk of it filled
Speaker 1: the town. The facts reported were scrutinized, the standing of
Speaker 1: the parties was discussed. The dozen different theories of the
Speaker 1: motive broached in the newspapers were disputed over During the night,
Speaker 1: subtle electricity had carried the tale over all the wires
Speaker 1: of the continent and under the sea, and in all
Speaker 1: the villages and towns of the Union, from the Atlantic
Speaker 1: to the territories, and away up and down the Pacific slope,
Speaker 1: and as far as London and Paris and Berlin. That morning,
Speaker 1: the name of Laura Hawkins was spoken by millions and
Speaker 1: millions of people, while the owner of it, the sweet
Speaker 1: child of years ago, the beautiful Queen of Washington Drawing Rooms,
Speaker 1: sat shivering on her cot bed in the darkness of
Speaker 1: a damp cell in the tombs. End of chapter forty
Speaker 1: six