The Invention of Solitude

declared that in their opinion there was no doubt but that Mrs. Auster showed signs of insanity at the time she attempted her life in Canada. ”
    Further witnesses included the two oldest children, each of whom chronicled the family ’ s domestic troubles. Much was said about Fanny, and also the frequent squabbles at home. “ He said that Auster had a habit of throwing dishes and glass ware and that at one time his mother ’ s arm had been so badly cut that it was necessary to call a physician to attend her. He declared that his father used profane and indecent language toward his mother at these times…. ”
    Another witness from Chicago testified that she had frequently seen my grandmother beat her head against the wall in fits of mental anguish. A police officer from Kenosha told how at “ one time he had seen Mrs. Auster running wildly down a street. He stated that her hair was ‘ more or less ’ dishevelled and added that she acted much like a woman who had lost her mind. ” A doctor was also called in, and he contended that she had been suffering from “ acute mania. ”
    My grandmother ’ s testimony lasted three hours. “ Between stifled sobs and recourse to tears, she told the story of her life with Auster up to the time of the ‘ accident ’…. Mrs. Auster stood the ordeal of cross questioning very well, and her story was told over three times in almost the same way. ”
    In his summation “ Attorney Baker made a strong emotional plea for the release of Mrs. Auster. In a speech lasting nearly an hour and a half he retold in an eloquent manner the story of Mrs. Auster. … Several times Mrs. Auster was moved to tears by the statements of her attorney and women in the audience were sobbing several times as the attorney painted the picture of the struggling immigrant woman seeking to maintain their home. ”
    The judge gave the jury the option of only two verdicts: guilty or innocent of murder. It took them less than two hours to make their decision. As the bulletin of April 12th put it: “ At four thirty o ’ clock this afternoon the jury in the trial of Mrs. Anna Auster returned a verdict finding the defendant not guilty. ”

    April 14th. “ ‘ I am happier now than I have been for seventeen years, ’ said Mrs. Auster Saturday afternoon as she shook hands with each of the jurors following the return of the verdict. ‘ As long as Harry lived, ’ she said to one of them, ‘ I was worried. I never knew real happiness. Now I regret that he had to die by my hand. I am as happy now as I ever expect to be…. ’
    “ As Mrs. Auster left the court room she was attended by her daughter… and the two younger children, who had waited patiently in the courtroom for the return of the verdict which freed their mother….
    “ At the county jail Sam Auster… while he cannot understand it all, says he is willing to abide by the decision of the twelve jurors ….
    “ ‘ Last night when I heard of the verdict, ’ he said when interviewed on Sunday morning, ‘ I dropped on the floor. I could not believe that she could go clear free after killing my brother and her husband. It is all too big for me. I don ’ t understand, but I shall let it go now. I tried once to settle it in my way and failed and I can ’ t do anything now but accept what the court has said. ’”
    The next day he, too, was released. “‘ I am going back to my work in the factory, ’ Auster told the District Attorney. ‘ Just as soon as I get money enough I am going to raise a head stone over the grave of my brother and then I am going to give my energies to the support of the children of one of my brothers who lived in Austria and who fell fighting in the Austrian army. ’
    “ The conference this morning brought out the fact that Sam Auster is the last of the five Auster brothers. Three of the boys fought with the Austrian army in the world war and all of them fell in battle. ”
    In the last paragraph of the last article about the case, the newspaper reports that “ Mrs. Auster is now planning to take the children and leave for the east within a few days…. It was said that Mrs. Auster decided to take this action on the advice of her attorneys, who told her that she should go to some new home and start life without anyone knowing the story of the trial. ”
     
    It was, I suppose, a happy ending. At least for the newspaper readers of Kenosha, the clever Attorney Baker, and, no doubt, for my grandmother. Nothing