The Invention of Solitude

afternoon with the Rev. M. Hartman, pastor of the B ’ nai Zadek Congregation ….
    “ When the rites were completed Mrs. Auster calmly tightened the fox fur collar more closely about her throat and signified to the police that she was ready to leave….
    “ After short ritualistic ceremonies the funeral procession was formed on Wisconsin street. Mrs. Auster asked that she also be allowed to go to the burial ground and the request was granted readily by the police. She seemed very petulant over the fact that no carriage had been provided for her, perhaps remembering that short season of apparent wealth when the Auster limousine was seen in Kenosha….
    “ …The ordeal was made exceptionally long because some delay had occurred in the preparation of the grave and while she waited she called Sam, the youngest boy, to her, and tucked his coat collar more closely around his neck. She spoke quietly to him but with this exception she was silent until after the rites were finished….
    “ A prominent figure at the funeral was Samuel Auster, of Detroit, the brother of Harry Auster. He took as his especial care the younger children and attempted to console them in their grief.
    “ In speeches and demonstrations Auster appeared very bitter about his brother ’ s death. He showed clearly that he disbelieved the theory of suicide and uttered remarks which savoured of accusations of the widow….
    “ The Rev. M. Hartman…preached an eloquent sermon at the grave. He lamented the fact that the first person to be buried in the new cemetery should be one who had died by violence and who had been killed in his prime. He paid tribute to the enterprise of Harry Auster but deplored his early death.
    “ The widow appeared to be unmoved by the tributes paid to her dead husband. She indifferently opened her coat to allow the patriarch to cut a gash in her knitted sweater, a token of grief prescribed by the Hebrew faith.
    “ Officials in Kenosha fail to give up the suspicion that Auster was killed by his wife…. ”
    The paper of the following day, January 26th, carried the news of the confession. After her meeting with the rabbi, she had requested a conference with the chief of police. “ When she entered the room she trembled a little and was plainly agitated as the chief provided a chair. ‘ You know what your little boy told us, ’ the latter began when he realized that the psychological moment had come. ‘ You don ’ t want us to think that he ’ s lying to us, do you? ’ And the mother, whose face has been for days so masked as to reveal nothing of the horror hidden behind it, tore off the camouflage, became suddenly tender, and sobbed out her awful secret. ‘ He isn ’ t lying to you at all; everything he has said is true. I shot him and I want to make a confession.’
    This was her formal statement: “ My name is Anna Auster. I shot Harry Auster at the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin on the 23rd day of January A.D. 1919. I have heard people remark that three shots were fired, but I do not remember how many shots were fired that day. My reason for shooting the said Harry Auster is on account of the fact that he, the said Harry Auster, abused me. I was just like crazy when I shot the said Harry Auster. I never thought of shooting him, the said Harry Auster, until the moment I shot him. I think that this is the gun I shot the said Harry Auster with. I make this statement of my own free will and without being forced to do so. ”
    The reporter continues, “ On the table before Mrs. Auster lay the revolver with which her husband was shot to death. As she spoke of it she touched it falteringly and then drew her hand back with a noticeable tremor of horror. Without speaking the chief laid the gun aside and asked Mrs. Auster if there was more she cared to say.
    “ ‘ That ’ s all for now, ’ she replied composedly. ‘ You sign it for me and I ’ ll make my mark. ’
    “ Her orders—for a little moment she was almost regal again—were obeyed, she acknowledged the signature, and asked to be returned to her cell… ”
    At the arraignment the next day a plea of not guilty was entered by her attorney. “ Muffled in a plush coat and a boa of fox fur, Mrs. Auster entered the court room…. She smiled at a friend in the crowd as she took her seat before the desk. ”
    By the reporter ’ s own admission, the hearing was “ uneventful. ” But still, he could not resist making this observation: “ An incident occurred