Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-02
WIFE BEATER GETS
EXTREME PENALTY
SENTENCED SIX MONTHS FOR
ASSAULTlNG WOMAN
Justice Declares That If 1t Were Pos
sible He Would Make Punish
ment Even More
Severe

ut is the Judgment of this court that
you be confined in the city Jail for SIN
months" said Justice Austin yesterday
in passing sentence on e. H. Phelan
who pleaded guilty to a charge OF pat
| terry last Saturday morning. This SEN
tence is the heaviest that police judge
can inf1ict under the law and the justice
said informally yesterday that if there
was a heavier penalty he would have
| imposed it on Phelan, for his attack
was brutal and cowardly in the eX-
| treme.
Phelan took his sentence like a
doomed man. When the courts words
penetrated his brain he gasped and
sunk into his seat as If to faint. MY
God: that's awful" The words could
hardly be heard.
But there was no sympathy FOR the
man expressed in the crowded court
ROOM Even the court bailiff, who gen
orally has a kind word for every poor
soul that Is the victim of mistaken
ideas, could give Phelan no sympathy.
Come on. Get out of here. Down into
the tanks. You can go to work toDlor-
row." he said.
No Sympathy for Prisoner
will they put me on the chaih
gang?'
again, too"
but my barber shop
"Well. your patrons can go unshaVed
for six months or lind another JOINT.
With that the prisoner was hurried
back to the stuffy Jail cell that Will be
his home till the 1st of next January.
AT the home of a neighbor on East
Fifty-second street Mrs. Mary Phelan.
his wife. lies in a very serious condi-
tion. and it is feared that the injuries
she received at the hands of her hus-
band may result fatally. Every effort
is being made to save her DR.. Clark,
the police surgeon who attended her
when she was taken to the receiving
hospital, told the court yesterday that
she had bruises on her body that would
aggregate four square feet. HE sald
her teeth were knocked out, both eyes
so badly battered that she couldn't see,
and her left arm beaten to pulp. He
said it was swollen to twice its natural
size. In addition to this she is in
jured internally, and it is the internal
injuries which may cause her death
Attorneys say that the sentence OF
Yesterday would not prevent a felony
charge against Phelan in case his wife
should die.
The witnesses yesterday told of Phe-
Ian beating his wife. H. j. Peak, l5oO
East Fifty-second street, swore that ne
saw Phelan drag his wife by the hair
from the house of ]. H. Brady, neigh
Dor, to his own home at 1852 East FIJI
ty-second street. He declared when
Phelan had his wife at the door ne put
his knee against her and showed her
into the house At this point Peak says
he telephoned for the police.
C. A. BeckWith said that While the
officers were coming to the scene he
heard screams of terror issuing from
Phelan's house j. A. Reed said that
he heard Mrs. Phelan's voice shrieklng
Murder! Murder"
Patrolmen Hickock and Kickoff, who
broke into the house, told the court
that when they got into the room Phe-
Ian was hitting his wife with an orange
wood cane that had a big lump on the
end. They showed the cane as evil
dence and pointed to the knotted end.
on which were seen spots of blood.
They said the woman was almost un-
conscious and that Phelan wanted to
fight them, but they quickly overpoW-
cred him.
A little girl who lived in the neigh
borhood said that she looked through
the window and saw Phelan kicking
his wife.
Phelan said that he took his wife
from a neighbor's house and led her
to the door. When she did not want to
go in he showed her into the open door
way. When asked how she came to be
bruised so badly Phelan said that she
fell off the sofa. But the court did not
believe his story and gave him six
months,