Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-06-18
ANAWFUL STORY


She "Would do Anything for Him."
New York World.
Annie Loughlin sat a prisoner on
trial before Judge Cowing in general
session recently. The charge against
her was an assault in the second de-
gree. Such another spectacle was
never presented in this court of male
factors as that made by Mrs. Tough
lin. Her crime explained her appear
ance, for it was she who, in February
last, visited Broadway Office build
ing, called her husband into the vesti-
bule, and after he had distinctly in
formed her that he would no longer
give her shelter, drew from beneath
her cloak a can partly filled with oil
OF vitriol, intending to fling it IN his
face, but he, by a quick motion,
grasped the can, and while get.
ting a Jew burning drops on his
hands, sent the entire contents
IN one smarting, stlnging shower over
her face. Two months of hospital
care had only succeeded in saving her
eyesight, but such face never shock
ed human sight as that which the once
pretty Annie Sinclair q waiter girl in
a Broad street restaurant, brought
with her to trial. The case was very
simple one; barely two hours were
consumed in its disposition, but it
gave All insight into the woman's
whole life; OF her love and it's awful
ending OF her revenge and it's terrible
recoil upon herself. The only materi.
al witness for the people came to the
stand. He was the husband, a low
spoken, mild-mannered man, with
blonde complexion and looking the
type OF the minor officeholder. He
said that on February 25 he got a.
note asking him to go over to the Of
fee OF James J. Gumbleton, on Broad
way. He did not know who
wished to see him, but he went over
at once and in the hallway met his
wife. The meeting was not pleasant
one. A few weeks before, after two
years OF married life, he had left her
and gone home to the residence OF his
parents in Dominick street. He took
this move partly because he did not
have an income sufficient to support
q wife, but mainly, he said, because OF
her temper, (which was enough to
make man wish himself dead" No
words were wasted at the interview in
the office building. She asked him
whether or not he intended to re-
sumo housekeeping. He gave her a
distinct negative and turned to go
down by the elevator. An umbrella
which she carried was handed him as
they went down together, and as she
sat in the descending car she drew
from satchel beneath her water
proof a tin mustard box in which was
d bout q cupful OF vitriol. In the YES
tibule she still begged him to resume
married life, which he as firmly refused.
"Then she made motion with the can
towards me, and I, having become sus-
picious, grabbed her hand, and some
OF it splashed on my hands and clothes
some on her face and the rest on the
floor. | did not know what it was or
what she intended to do, but when I
saw how burned she was l called a.
cab and took her to the Chambers
Street Hospital" The defense had
but one witness, the woman herself.
The tears flowed from her eyes as she
told the tale OF the great episode in
her life, of the instant's work which
had made OF her living wreck and
her face a hideous mockery of beauty.
Her defense was that, though her in
tention when she went to the building
was to disfgure her husband with the
burning chemical, yet the sight Of him
revived her old love, renewed her affec-
ton despite his cruel treatment, and
thatshs took the fluid receptacle from
her pocket in order to tell him what
she had intended to do, and what her
love had prevented.
II married him." she said, "two
years and a. half ago, and loved him,
oh, so much! l would do anything
for him. He had left me two weeks
before, and I had not q cent in the
world, l was sick for week, and
when I was able to get up I bought
the vitriol, and went down town in
tending to ask Tom what he was
going to do, and use it if he refused to
stand by me; but when I saw him I
had not the heart to do it. Before
my God, Judge, loved him too much
to harm him in the least. ! asked
him and begged him to be to me a
good husband again, but he would
not. l could have used it up
stairs in the hall, but I didn't,
and when / took it out it was
to show him what / had and what
had come to do; but it was the good
God only that turned my hand on
myself" Even on the stand she show
ed the same spirit of forgiveness and
solicitation for her husband which she
evinced at the hospital, where in the
agony OF her first treatment, with the
flesh coming off ingreat charred flakes,
her only inquiry was for "Tom" and
her pleading was for his forgiveness.
In the charge Of Judge Cowing he
cautioned the jury that they had no
concern about the injuries which the
woman had already suffered, nor
about what trouble, either real or
iancied, which may have existed be-
tween her and her husband. The
theory OF punishment was to deter
others from committing crime and not
to pursue any particular wrong-doer
with vengeance. "There is too much
tendency for those who think them
selves aggrieved to take the law into
their own hands and become at once
judge, jury, and executioner. Recent
occurrences in this land have shown
what danger there is to law and order
and happiness if such an idea becomes
prevalent. AS certain as day follows
night law and justice must prevail in
the end, but the interval may be one
of anarchy and disorder. 1t certainly
will be if any man or body Of
men are to take upon themselves
the functions of court of law.
There is ample protection for
every innocent man in the due pro-
cess of law, and only imminent peril