At the trial papers, page 1556, Emma testifies:
A Half sister.
Q What was her name?
A Mrs. Whiting.
Do we have here a slip of the pen or a slip of the tongue? Would the sisters have make jokes about Abby and her sisters, Mrs. Fish and Mrs. Whiting? Or is this simply an error of the stenographer? What do you think?
Airmid.
Mrs. Whiting
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Airmid
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Well, it's an association I've not heard of before.
Usually we assume the steno misheard the name because that happened a lot with the spellings.
But it made me re-check the names of those who testified at the trial, thinking if Mrs. Whitehead had spoken, then someone was not paying attention to the defence testimony to get that name right.
But I notice Mrs. Whitehead was not called as a witness at the trial, at least not called to swear on oath.
I think that is odd, considering Emma is being asked about that land transfer.
Apparently Mrs. Whitehead also did not testify at the preliminary hearing, only at the inquest.
It's possible she spoke to the grand jury, but that is secret.
Anyway, more chance the transcriber misheard or mistranscribed the name, maybe not having much prior experence with it? I wonder how that name sounds in New Bedford from a Fall River accent?
Usually we assume the steno misheard the name because that happened a lot with the spellings.
But it made me re-check the names of those who testified at the trial, thinking if Mrs. Whitehead had spoken, then someone was not paying attention to the defence testimony to get that name right.
But I notice Mrs. Whitehead was not called as a witness at the trial, at least not called to swear on oath.
I think that is odd, considering Emma is being asked about that land transfer.
Apparently Mrs. Whitehead also did not testify at the preliminary hearing, only at the inquest.
It's possible she spoke to the grand jury, but that is secret.
Anyway, more chance the transcriber misheard or mistranscribed the name, maybe not having much prior experence with it? I wonder how that name sounds in New Bedford from a Fall River accent?