Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-13
TROUBLESOME TOAL.
His Trial Proceeding in the
Superior Court.
HIS WIFE TAKES BACK TRACKS.
She Claims the Trouble in the Last
Terrible Fight Was All
Her Fault.

Frank Toal has been before the courts
for beating his wife probably as often as
he has fin gers and toes. Row after row
has taken place between them for years.
and always when the row is over and
trial comes, the woman weakens and
gives as little testimony as possible
against her abuser. Toal is big, burly
blacksmith, whose face would condemn
him before any intelligent body of men.
Mrs. Toal is not angelic in her appear
ance.
When the trial was called yesterday
morning it took until nearly noon to get
q Jury. At length, however, the follow
ing was impsnnelled: NJ. D. Halliday,
@. K. Ingersoll, L. NJ. Whitson, William
Benin, ]. R. Denney, E. F. Charnock. F.
F. Fine, Elmer Dilley, A. Valla, l.. Po'
laski, A. J. Brooks and J. w. Goodwin.
The first witness placed on the stand
was the wife whom Toal had SO terribly
cut in drunken fit of madness. She
wore a thick veil over her face to conceal
the scars of the cutting. At the time of
the affray Mrs. Toal related how her hus-
band came home drunk. 1t was on the
evening of the 10th of last April. For
some slight cause he rushed upon her
and began beating her terrifcslly. She
ran from the house into the street, and
he followed her. He knocked her down
and cut her in the face and in the side,
swore at her, and threatened to kill her.
The son of the pair, Frank Toal, Jr., a
boy of IA years old, told the same story
in almost the same manner as the
woman.
When on the witness stand yesterday
in the Superior Court she gave almost
the same account of the row as above,
with the important exception that she
said she was the cause of the whole
trouble that they had quarreled in the
morning before he left the house; that
she had refused to help in the evening
when he returned; that one cross word
followed another until she became so
angry that she threatened to kill him if
he called her any more names; that she
thereupon rushed on him with knife
which she had in her hand and attempted
to cut him. Here followed a struggle for
the possession of the knife, which he
wrested from her grasp. In this scuff1e
she thinks she fell, but was not
clear on that point. She acknowledged
that it was her intention to kill him if
she could. All through she was a most
unwilling witness against her husband,
and at times refused point blank to an
swer at all. When in the hands of the
attorney for the defense of her husband,
she was most willing witness, and
gave the prosecuting attorney not a Sec
ond's time to put in an objection. Her
answer was usually out before the ques-
tion was we'll finished. 1t is plainly her
intention to clear her husband, if any
thing che can say will do it, or if
anything she can keep from
saying will help him. The prose-
cutting attorney tried to put
In evidence photograph of Mrs. Toal,
taken while in bed after she had been
cut. 1t was ruled out by the Court. The
picture was seen by persons who saw
Mrs. Toal at the time, and they say it is
o most vivid presentation of how she
locked. Her face is terribly cut and dis.
figured, a cash crosses the nose little
below the bridge, and on her cheeks are
several terrible slashes. The whole pre-
sents picture of work brutal, tiendish,
diabolical in the extreme. The witness
acknowledged that she, as well as her
husband, was wont to look upon
the wine when it is red, when
it stirreth itself Alright in the cup. Toal
had some three weeks before the fight
cut off her supply of ardent. She had
not had any during that period. She
was sober the night of the row. On
previous occasions she confessed to hav-
ing made savage onslaughts OH Toal
when "under the influence" He had
cut off her tap because she had imbibed
so freely that she undertook to manifest
her wifely affection by attacking him
with an ak. They have been married
sixteen years and have four children.
The next witness put on was Frank
Toal, Jr., the eldest offspring of this
marriage which the most devout of re
ligionists, nor the most sentimental of
Juliets will hardly claim to have been
concocted in heaven. Franks story on
this occasion is as divergent from that
told before, as his mothers varied from
her first narrative. Indeed. the boy g
story is almost in a line now with his
mothers, Just as it was then parallel to
her original tale. He answered with
great readiness, very much like bis
mother, and told the story almost in the
on today. The result is likely
to be like former trials of Toal for the
same offense. Mrs. Toal always comes
to bis rescue in pinch and pulls him
through, and then the fun begins anew.
There is this fact to be remem bered-
when Toal is sober he seems to be a
good, kind husband and q peaceable
man. But when drunk he is a holy
terror to his wife, or to any other person
who crosses his track. He is not infre-
quently drunk.
Where 10 KeQtn.