Burnham for the purpose
of cross-examination."
"That is your privilege under the law," said the judge.
"Mrs. Burnham," continued Sharpman, "will you kindly take the stand?"
"Certainly," replied the lady.
She arose, advanced to the witness-stand, received the oath, and took
her chair with a matronly dignity and kindly grace that aroused the
sympathy and admiration of all who saw her. She gave her name, the
date of her marriage to Robert Burnham, the fact of his death, and the
names and ages of her children. In the course of the examination, she
was asked to describe the railway journey which ended in the disaster
at Cherry Brook, and to give the details of that disaster as she
remembered them.
"Can you not spare me that recital, sir?" she said.
"No one would be more willing or glad to do so, madam," responded
Sharpman, "than I, but the whole future of this fatherless boy is
hanging upon this examination, and I dare not do it. I will try to
make it easier for you, however, by interrogation."
She had hidden her face in her hands a moment before; now she raised
it, pallid, but fixed with strong determination.
"Go on," she said, "I will answer you."
Sharpman stood for a moment as if collecting his thoughts, then he
asked: "Did you and your husband, accompanied by your child Ralph and
his nurse, leave your home in Scranton on the thirteenth day of May,
1859, to go by rail to the city of Philadelphia?"
"We did."
"Was the car in which you were riding well filled?"
"It was not; no, sir.
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