The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-11-27
HER LOVE BETRA YED, SHE
SOUGHT JUSTICE BY MURDER
~ FRANK 7. Starlight.

SCaeA VoxEevpOuoSuCe 20 Euo ExoSu
SANTA BARBARA, Cal, Nov.
o7.-In the shadow OF old Santa
Barbara mission a mother lay dy-
lng, and awaited the end much as
Z, tired child, dropping in its Chair,
welcomes the arms that carry it to
bed, Yet, in the moments when
& ne foretouch of death was not so
>neavy upon her she prayed for still
another day of the all too weary
flesh that a great burden might be-
lifted from her heart before she
passed away. Her daughter, girl
of only 1S, had been wronged--had
been slave to her betrayer even
then for two or three years--and it
was the hope that the wrong would
be righted that kept desire for life
alive in the mothers breast.
The man came to her bedside,
held the hand of the dying mother
and gave his word of honor that,
within few days, he would marry
the daughter; SO while the girl vic
tim wept for joy at the promise,
the tired woman sighed and con-
tentedly closed her eyes in the
final sleep.
That is the prologue, or perhaps
the most striking phrase of it, to a
story which did not end in the
promised marriage, but in the MUIR
der of the man who broke his word
---justifiable killing, a Santa Bar
bara jury has called it-by pretty
Mary Magdalena Cavalerro, the be-
trayed girl. And that is why the
most remarkable of murder trials
has just ended here.
The trial was remarkable be-
cause the man or woman was not
found who would say the girl did
wrong to kill; remarkable because
a brother of the dead man testified
reluctantly and studiously avoided
saying anything damaging against
the girl prisoner; remarkable be-
cause the district attorney cross
examined the witnesses for the. de-
Tense in a way to bring out new
facts favorable to the prisoner or
to emphasize the testimony already
; given in her behalf.
Walter SprOul. the man In the
case, should have known before he
began how the affair would end,
the men here say. He knew the
girl was Spanish-ltalian and he
himself had Spanish mother. The
Sprouts were prosperous. wealthy
almost. and more like the pure
American type in their ways. The
Cavaliers were poor and unedu-
Gated and some of them had even
been in prison.
The girl was Is when she first
went out to work for her living,
handicapped as. fortunately. only
one in thousand or thousands are
IAN epileptic, the child of epilep-
tic parents and some of her ante
cedents had died In insane asy-
lums. Testimony showed that her
life long affliction began when she
was only two years old and that at
IL signs of her mental deficiency
appeared. But at Is she was ply
sically almost full grown woman,
as aer many of the Spanish girls
Of that age or even less, and she
was pretty. beautiful even, with
her great masses of deep black
hair and the sparkling black eyes
of her race. She was the attraction
that Sproul found, working as a
domestic In Hot Springs hotel.
A year later, while she was liv-
ing at home. Sproul made regular
calls at the house. The mothers
objections were soon overcome by
her fears: those fears realized, and
with a fatal illness upon her, she
made what she thought her sue
cessful plea.
The evidence showed that for
Ave years the man ana the girl
lived together as man and wife and
that on four occasions the girl suf-
fered all the agonies of premature
motherhood, and worse still, that
cruelty OF the man-blows when
words failed him--she claimed was
responsible for some of these suf-
ferings.
And 1t was for often promised
marriage that Maggie" Cavalleri
endured five years of these things,
She endured work. too. all this
time. She would not admit the
thought of mistress" even IL there
had been no need for her to work.
She had lost her friends and
avoided those who had not stunned
her. They blamed her then.
And, after five yearse OF it
more than six years from the time
he told her he loved her-Ahe
cursed her and called her dog"
and told her he was going to kill
her and marry another woman.
That was her story, corroborated
as to the "other woman" by his
own brother The night he told her
about the other WOman--and she