Arizona republican., 1914-06-14
CASE FOR GIRL |S MADE CLEAR
Judge Baker Outlines De- fense of Mamie MullanaX on Trial for the Murder of Her Husband - Self Defense is Plea

In the resumed hearing of the trial of Mamie Mullanax for the murder of her husband on a night in April the greater part of yesterday was taken up in alteration between counsel who have the case in hand In the after noon the statement of the case for the defense was made by Judge A. C. Baker, furnishing the feature of the days proceedings.
 The court sat hushed and tense as the story of a domestic tragedy was unfolded in an appeal for the life of Mamie, the girl-Wife of Claude Null lanex. deceased. Self defense was tfe plea. Judge Baker told poignant story of domestic unhappiness, of young life finding none of the bliss, all of the wormwood, only disappointment. From the day of her marriage in Sep | tember of last year the life of the young wife had been filled with un l happiness Claude Mullanax was nos 1 a successful man and the girl had a 1 long series of hardships to share. In ] St Louis the deceased man found bu. occasional employment and the young wife had her visions of a blissful mar
 ried life shattered by close, hard liv- | ing in the city. All this had it's effect on the young couple, explained Judge i Baker and found expression in un- | happy domestic scenes which culmin- ated in an alteration in November, when in great anger Claude Mullanax | oc tad fnn fn Q her to death; an abrupt and awful change from love to brutality.
 The anxious girl watching the faces of the twelve men who hold her fate could nc longer bear the recounting of these n.iseries and was moved to tears,
 Maltreatment and exhibitions of anger succeeded incidents of cruelty until life for the girl was anything but sweet. She had looked for better than this.
 It was in response to an advertise ment for employment that the pair travelled to Arizona in February of this year. and took up work with a com pany managed by the witness Whyte at Ingleside. While the man worked in
 the business side the girl was kept em- ployed at cooking and housework by | Mrs. Whyte-and both for the pitiful
 sum of fifty dollars a month.
 It was on the 14th of March that an altercation of a more serious nature took place. Disguised at the discov- cry of a diseased condition in her hus-
 band the young wife refused his pas
 sionate advances, and to escape his
 fury rushed from the house and gained
 the shelter of the nearby gate-house
 wherein she barrcaded herself for the
 night When, later, the husband found
 her hiding place he was furious and
 shouted that if she would not come out
 to him he would get an axe and smash
 down the door. These threats reduced
 the girl to a state of terror, and it was
 not until her husband had promised
 that he would not harm her that she
 went out and joined him. On the way
 back to the tent. however, he broke his
 word and seizing her by the throat
 threatened again to choke her to death
 On a later night an incident hap
 pened that induced the mans anger
 With the intention of returning a
 batch of letters to male friend in her
 home town. Mamie Mullanax addressed
 an envelope to that man. This the
 husband discovered and became in-
 tensely angry, chasing the girl round
 the tent with a knife, threatening to kill her. So wrough up and mentally