KIND TO WOMEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19828, 30 April 1927, Page 6

KIND TO WOMEN

CHICAGO JURIES QUICK ACQUITTAi IN MURDER CHARGES. A woman need not be young and she need not be beautiful to win acquittal on a murder charge in Chicago, two juries have decided on successive days. Both times it was a middle-aged mother charged with slaying her husband, and both times acquittal came quickly. In the case of Mrs Bertha Hellman, 46 years old, who strangled her husband to death with his own shirt during a quarrel, there was an apparent indifference to personal comeliness. Most of her adult years had been spent in hard work, as she contributed to the support of herself and family. She is large and muscular. The jury required less than thirty minutes to exonerate her. Mrs Alma Olson, 46 years old, was dressed plainly, and her features showed the strain of years of suffering. Testifying to the slaying of her husband, she said: was sick and tired of it all. I followed him into the bathroom and shot him live times.” Mrs Olson said her husband held hypnotic power over her and while she was under the influence he brought other women into their home. Her own attorneys told the jury they would be satisfied if she were ordered to be sent to a State institution for treatment, but the jury, after short deliberation, returned a verdict of not guilty, holding that Mrs Olson was insane at the time of the crime and had since recovered.