Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-25
COURT ISMERCIFUL
!. To PRETTY WOMAN
MRS. HERMANN IS RELEASED
ON YEARS PROBATION
Fair Member Of One Of the Best Faml-
lies Of Virginia Pleads Guilty
to Obtaining Money Under
False Pretenses

Mrs. j. G. Hermann, petite. pretty
and brunette, yesterday appeared be-
fore Judge smith of department one of
the superior court, pleading guilty to
the many charges against her, and
was allowed to 60 free under one years
probation.
The chief charge against her was
of obtaining money Under false pre-
lenses, and her accusers were officers
of the Boston store, who alleged that
the young woman had purchased sew
eral articles of value from their estab-
lishment and had given in payment a
check for $50 on the First National
bank of Kansas City.
Yesterday morning 1t was rumored
that Mrs. Hermann would throw her
self on the mercy of the court, and
there were many spectators In the
court room when the beautiful young
woman was ushered In by Bailiff Her
rington. In spite of the weeks of in
generation in cell at the county jail,
Mrs. Hermann looked as though she
had just stepped from bandbox. She
was neatly dressed, and when Judge
Smith asked If she desired to plead
guilty to the charge against her she
nodded her head and then hurried back
to the county jail.
CltnCneS f1ef f1dnuS
During the day, however, her friends
appealed for mercy and late yesterday
afternoon she was again taken before
Judge Smith. The woman was not
quite so sprightly when she learned
that she was to receive sentence
She tried to control herself, but she
patted the floor with one foot and
cinched her hands until the nails
broke the skin.
For fifteen minutes Judge Smith lee
tured her on the enormity of her crime
/and then told her that he would put
her on probation, but that If she
showed the slightest tendency again to
wander from the straight and narrow
path she would be sent to the peniten-
tiary.
The court then asked whether Mrs.
Hermann had any friends.
Mrs. Peabody, an ardent church MEM
Der of Fresno, spoke up and said that
she would care for Mrs. Hermann. She
told the court that she had met Mrs.
Hermann while the latter was in Jail
at Fresno and that by the grace of God
they had become friends.
Under the care of Mrs. Peabody and
the sheriff of Fresno, who will watch
over her the coming year, Mrs. Her
mann was allowed to leave the court
room.
For the next few weeks, however, it
is expected the young woman will live
at one of the beach towns and recu-
perate.
Story of Her Downfall
Mrs. Hermann's case is one Of the
most pitiful in the history of the local
courts. The young woman is well
educated and refined and she is a
member of one of the best families OF
Virginia.
According to her story she fell in
love with travelling salesman and
against the wishes of her parents she
married him. The marriage was not
O happy one and Mrs. Hermann found
herself thrown on her own resources.
The love of strong drink, according
to her own statement, was the cause
OF her downfall. She visited many
cities on the coast, and according to
the statements of officers she managed
to pass a number of worthless checks
in all the coast towns. At last upon
her arrival in Los Angeles, Mrs. Her
man visited some of the down town
department stores to make purchases.
At the Boston store she was intro
duced by one salesman as an old Gus
toner and she promptly bought waist
and gave a check on a Kansas City
bank for about three times the amount.
She was arrested and admitted her
guilt, but she said that she was under
the influence of liquor when she COM
mitted the crime. An official of the
Missouri bank testified that the woman
had never had an account there and
she was held for examination in the
higher court, which had a most salts
factory termination so far as she was
o0nperned