Deadly Blessing

The son of a former Texas governor and U.S. senator, Daniel felt himself the inheritor of a family tradition and rose to the speakership of the lower house in Austin before leaving politics. His first marriage was the sort he was expected to contract, to the daughter of a leading Texas family; it ended in divorce. His second marriage was to a waitress in a fast-food restaurant and they seem to have been incompatible from the start. In 1981 she killed him, or so charged the state. The trial for custody of the children preceded the murder trial, so that much of the evidence for the latter was unveiled during the former. The widow won custody of the children and also was acquitted of murder. Salerno (TNS) suggests a miscarriage of justice, perhaps because the case pitted ""a poor girl'' against a powerful and aristocratic family; hence the title. Photos not seen by PW. (November 17)