t the assizes:

"I could not free myself from the feeling that I must get rid of the
child."

She then went to the hospital, after having bought new clothes for the
child, and told the authorities that an aunt of hers at Munich would
take care of the child. She then took the child to the woods. Having
found a lonely spot she sat down for a long time while the child
played in the wood. For some time she had not the courage to do the
deed, but at last an irresistible force, as she said, urged her to do
it. With her hands and shoes she dug a grave, then strangled the child
with string, with such force that it was difficult to untie the knot
on the dead body afterwards. She knelt for some time by the child till
it ceased to give any signs of life, then buried it, and returned home
restraining her tears with difficulty.

On the 1st of June she wrote to the hospital that the child had
arrived at Munich. On the 7th of June the body was exposed by rain and
was discovered by some Italians. On the 14th of June she was arrested.
During the trial she declared that her action had been the result of
her inability to maintain the child, and the necessity of keeping her
secret. This secret was the shame and dishonor of involuntary
maternity and illegitimate birth.

All the witnesses spoke in favor of Frieda Keller and gave evidence
that she was well-mannered, intelligent, hard-working, economical, of
exemplary conduct and loving her sister's children. She did not deny
the premeditation of her crime, and in no way sought to diminish her
responsibility.

According to the law of St. Gall, such cases are punishable with
death; but Frieda Keller's sentence was commuted to penal servitude
for life.

Such are the facts of this case taken from the official report, and
from an extract published by M. de Morsier in the _Signal de Geneve_.

We are compelled to exclaim with M. de Morsier that a legislation
which, in such a case, condemns to death one who can justly be called
a victim, while leaving unpunished the real culprit, is calculated to
destroy all belief in justice in a democracy which calls itself
Christian. It is a justice of barbarians, a disgrace to the twentieth
century. The tribunal and the juries have enforced to the letter an
article in the Code, and this is called justice! We may well say:
_Fiat justitia, pereat mundus._

Frieda Keller was no doubt in an abnormal condition of mind; she
probably suffered from the influen