Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-18
7 N BORN
IN E A n T
is SKILLED
Mother and Child
Are Slain by
Monster
Brute Drags Wife From
Sick Bed aid Then
Shoots Her
Surgeons Work Heroically in Attempt
to Save Life of Babe, but Bullet
Wounds Are Fatal to
Both

One of the most dastardly and most
horribly atrocious crimes ever COM
mitted in Los Angeles occurred last
evening about Q o'clock when Sam Can
MALTA of S07 Castelar, street shot his
wife, Mary Cannalla, twice through the
abdomen, fatally wounding the woman
and instantly killing her unborn child.
For more than a year, according to
Antonio Gallo, ather-in-law of the
murderer and father of the murdered
woman, Cannalla abused his wife and
many times beat her. For the past few
months while the woman has bee: in
a delicate condition the husband has
been especially cruel and quarrels be-
tween the two were frequent.
The climax to the marital trouble
Game last evening, when the husband,
without the excuse of intoXication nor
the slight palliation which jealousy
would give to the crime, deliberately
walked up to the bed upon which his
sick wife was reclining, jerked her half
way across the room and fired two
shots into her body He then fired
twice at Antonio Gallo, the father-n-
law, and then turned the weapon upon
himself. infiicting a slight wound in
his own neck. The bullet which Can
MALTA fired into his neck passed through
his mouth and after knocking out two
teeth cut open his lower lip. The
monster was arrested and placed in the
city Jail.
Perform Difficult Operation
The woman did not die Immediately
but was taken from the house to the
city receiving hospital. The caesar
otomy was performed in the hope of
saving the chld's life, as it was not
known positively that the bullets PEN
etrated the childs body. Doctors c..
w. Cook, Quint, Bonynge, Freedman,
Tanner and Sexton assisted in per-
forming the operation, which is one of
the most difficult as we'll as one of the
most unusual known to surgery.
The incision was made in the caes-
arean section and the babe removed.
Then n was found that the first bullet
of the murderer passed through the
chld's head and back.
The second bullet lodged higher up
in the woman's abdomen.
Mrs. Cannala lived about an hour
after the operation and then died.
All the time the operation was in
progress and until the news was given
out that the woman was dead. Mr.. and
Mrs. Gallo. father and mother of Mrs.
Cannalla. paced up and down the cor
ridor of the dingy Jail waiting for the
result of the operation.
Then when a surgeon went to the
door of the Jail and told the stricken
parents that their daughter was dead
both of the old people broke down ut
terly, and sitting upon bench walled
over their irreparable loss.
Father Witnesses Awful Deed
The murderer was seen to commit
the foul crime only by the father-in-
law, at whom Cannalla shot when the
old man cried for help.
The bullet holes in the walls of the
cottage at S07 Casterar street were mute
witnesses against the murderer, for
they told of the terrible tragedy which
had been enacted so recently.
In the wall near the door leading TO
the street were the two holes made by
the bullets which Cannalla fired at his
father in law, while near the bed from
which the murdered woman was drag
ged to her death was a pool of blood
from which the terrified Italians who
thronged the house drew back in hor-
ror.
Cannalla's wound in his neck, which
he inflicted upon himself, was dressed
by the police surgeon and then he was
imprisoned in the tanks. He denied
vehemently that he had committed the
crime and stated that his father-in-
law at whom he fired shots was the
real murderer.
When asked to explain how he had
received the wound in the neck, he
asserted that it had been inflicted upon
him by Gallo, but the powder burn S
which are deep in his neck belle his
statement
In addition to the evidence of the
father of the woman which was TO the
effect that he had seen Cannalla com
nit the crime, Mrs. Cannalla after be-
ing told that she was going to die,
said that her husband had shot her
A few minutes before she died Mrs.
Cannalla said my husband was a
Sicilian and that race kills" She knew
that her babe had been killed and
would say no word of forgiveness to
the murderer. While his wife was dy-
ing the murderer sat in the next
room and moaned, not because he
had killed his wife, but because his
head was sore from the self inflicted