Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-06-27
WOMAN GLAD SHE
WHIPPED NE|GHBOR
Regards Fine of $40 as Bar
gain After Resenting Al
legged Insult.
WIDOW, AFTER ROW, PLANS
SENSATIONAL RETRlBUTION
Travels from Crawford to New
York in Same Train
with Foe.

ELIZABETH, June 27.-When Mrs.
Sophia Tucker returned to the quiet
cf her Crawford home last evening
after a trip to New York that proved
painful in more ways than one to her
neighbor, Henry Armstrong, she had
a notch in the handle of her horse
whip and n message for oppressed
women"
Il am not a bit sorry for what l
did" she said, land l hope my action
will set an example for other weak
members of my sex who have endured
insults from men because they had
no one to protect or resent. 1t shows,
after all, that a woman may infiict
just as much pain as she is forced to
bear. / think the sting of the whip
on his back and the jeers of the hun
dreds who saw his humiliation formed
q punishment that will make Mr..
Armstrong, and perhaps some other
men such as he, think in future be-
fore. villifying a lone woman
II all began with a dispute concern
ing a board walk. The walk was
laid by Mrs. Tucker, a petite widow,
who has been at divers time actress
and m%illiner. In the course of an
alteration Armstrong. she says,
called her "a name" Just what the
..name" was she will not say. but 1t
angered her sufficiently to make her
plan a sensational retribution.
Yesterday Mrs. Tucker rode to
New York on the same train upon
which 1t is Armstrong; custom to
make his daily cityward journey.
Somewhere in the tucRs and pleats of
her fleecy summer gown she had con-
cealed a ~horsewhip, bought specially
for the occasion.
eMrs. Tucker bided her time and
Armstrong played pinochle in the
smoking-car in blissful Ignorance of
the Scene awaiting him at the end
of the trip. He stood on the forward
deck of the ferryboat and breathed
deeply of the water-cooled air. Mrs.
Tucker, hidden in the stuffy women's
cabin. still bided her time.
Crowd Sees Attack.
And her time. as she saw it, came
when the crowd from the boat poured
out into West street. between Cort-
landt and Liberty streets. 1t was
ithen she had the advantage of the
largest possible audience and the
slightest chance of immediate police
interference. She drew the horse
whip, approached Armstrong on the
run, swinging it, and larruped him
across the shoulders.
He was too dazed at first by the
suddenness of the attack to resist
- H. ,tht,, Fa1I NTH rhxythfnin prn-
cision on various vulnerable parts of
his person. He started to run,
s~topped-slnce Mrs. Tuckers pace
was moi limited by the confines of
a hobble skirt--and sued for peace.
IL was not until a policeman inter
posed his Unconstitutional bulk, how
ever, that Mrs. Tucker was willing to
suspend hostilities. She agreed
smilingly to go to the police station,
although Armstrong seemed not
avtrse to letting the affair drop.
Mrs. Tucker was arraigned later
before Magistrate Corrigan and adj
mitted she had made the trip to New
York solely for the purpose of wreak-
ing her. vengeance on her neighbor.
, "Why didn't o settle it out in
J%ersey?' asked the magistrate.
II thought I'd get a fairer deal in
a New York court she said.
"Itll cost you $40, anyhow" re-
marked Corrigan.
A bystander thought he heard the
little widow say something about it
being the best bargain she ever had
encountered" as she dug in her
handbag for "A bill with an X on it.