Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-10-24
CALLSPEGGY BEAL
VERDICT OUTRAGE
Mother Of Slain Man Says Ac-
quittaI Of Nurse Is Travesty
of Justice
DISGRACE TO KANSAS CITY,

The ncouittal of peggy" Beal for
s,,ving her ''pcrfect lover, Frank
U,rren Anderson, was called an out
,apc and travesty of justice today bS
Mrs Flo-a Anderson, of Collingswood,
n. T., mother Of the dead man.
Marie l.. Peggy Bcal was declared
not guilty by jury in Kansas City
.f,er one of the shortest murder trials
4, ,hc history of Missouri. The sole
.r:dcncc for the defense was list OF
nomen's names. ostensibly in Ander-
sons handwriting.
Peggy Bcal deliberately killed my
my said Mrs. Anderson. to whom
thc ocuuittal came as a fresh shock
ss.or geo ,he anguish she suffered last Jun"
..hor anderson was shot to death In
..Cirls like that who mndc love to n
san, no Peggy Beal did to Frank AMI
.In" ," Iii, IN cold blood should be Jailed
tnr life. II not executed. sh" SAID.
liant know what the ncop'e OF Kansas
Cuy are thinking of. The verdlct oush'
o. hc n disgrace to them.
" Trs Anderson said her son is buried
o. Kansas City cemetery. Eventually
,ho Mans TO have the body removed I"
= cemetery near here. -.
"Trcpy" Bcal. Il nurse. faced liir
with "cncwed determination today.
nc,ning 10 her feet us ~" v"rdiri WAS
-c,J last night. Mrs. Peal thanked III"
trrv. and asserted: "\ow ! am gong
:" sfoy ,ieht here in Knnsns City and
make good. I'm going to send for my
little boys in. Terre iiautc an" max"
e., han,
The court ordeal was comparatively
brirf There were few witnesses, and
tho testimony was addurcd s"r"di!y.
Sh,. took the witness stand. pal lid and
nervous. and the story OF the shooting
was drawn from her by the attorneys.
Luretl to Hotel
From the first meeting in Dayton, o.:
Mrs. Bcal, n young diVorcee. related
association which tcrmiratcd in her
fatally shooting anderson and seriously
wonnding herself in Il room which they
occunicd in a local hotel. June 3. He
Iurod her there. she said, with promise
OF marriage
romantic novel in which n woman killed
her lover. She shot Anderson as lie
Inv upon the bed and turned the re-
yolver upon herself. sending a bullet
into her breast.
DAYTON, O.. she testified. ''IIe asked
me- to marry him before he left Dayton
and l told him ] would give him my
answer in June
Twice she visited him in Kansas
City. They moved to the hotel where
the tragedy occurred. She asked him
to marry her. she said. II was nearly
stunned when he told her he could find
no grounds for divorce. she said.
"Do as You Please"
Il asked him what was going to
do" she told the Court. ''and he said {:
30 as YOU ,lcasc.' She asked him
why he had sought her love and he
answered. she declared. because l am
a devil"
She said that she could not recall
shooting him. but remembered shooting
herself.
State attorneys branded the thirty
-y"nr-old nurse ''ihuvia.' They
"Thuvia." Edgar Rice Burroughs
novel, was found in the room where
the shooting took place, oppned at q
page showing woman bending over her
slain lover looking at blood dripping
dagger. This they cOntcnded, was evil
E"ncc that Miss Beal contemplated the
staying, and had not, as she said. com
mittcd the crime in the heat Of the
passion of spurncd and betrayed love.
Th" defense counterea with the charge
that Anderson. with his list Of fifty con-
crcred hearts, was n "shcik' and be
trNycr.
Miss Beal. in her own behalf. told oi
her relations with Anderson. Her love
FOR him. she said. made her place faitl
in his promise that he would divorc,
his invalid wife and we'd her. When sh'
first knew him, she said, he told heI
10 already had been divorced, although
later she learned this to be Untrue.
Many times the nurse broke down nn(
,N"pt bitterly as she told of her tragic
Nve and It's ending. She denied tn,
States c!Hrg" that Anderson was aslcel
when she shot him.