The Washington times., 1922-08-30
ROMANCE
TRAGEDY
!. FOR HER
Willing to Be Punished She
Says-Proposes Novel
Defense.
BY JACK CARBERRY.
Cosmopolitan News Service.


KANSAS CITY, Mo-, Aug. 80.
~ killed my perfect lover to
save other girls from a fate such
rs mine"
With this novel defense, Marie
Peggy" Beal. slayer of F. War
rem Anderson, Kansas City edu-
cational director and Philadelphia
clubman, today prepared to hear
herself arraigned before Justice
John H. Pollock.
Bobbed.Ilair Beauty.
Peggy" Beal, five feet tall.
bobbed.haired and pretty, former
nurse OF Dayton, Ohio. read over
q copy Of her own story as writ.
ten exclusively for Cosmopolitan
News Service and discussed her de.
tense.
'erhe story of my life. and love 10
TO be my own Defense" she said.
II will read it just as published
In The Times into the records Of
the case---let the jury decide"
Peggy" Beal's defense is without
precedent in the annals of the Mis-.
souri, courts.
Disregarding the time.worn pleas
OF women who have killed-defense
or her honor, insanity or se.f de.
fense-"Peggy" Beal will ask u
question Of the jury which will
After they hear my story they
can say whether / did right or
wrong; whether II was better to be
free myself and see other girls
hearts enslaved in life worse than
death, or whether / had the moral
right to kill for their honor" she
says.
Peggy Beal. in her own story
which will appear In six chapters
In The Washington Times. gives
detailed accounts of her life.
Tragic Romance.
It 10 story of tragic romance:
the account of a woman who ex.
perienced the thrill OF "love at
first sight, the wife who found
herself at the side of an eternal
triangle with her dearest friend
and the husband she trusted as
the other actors to the tragedy:
the tale Of a woman whose love
died, on their wedding eve. and
man to whom she had given herself.
It was her latter adventure
which now brings Peggy" Beal
into the tolls of the law.
Believing, she says, that the
man she calls her perfect lover"
was unwed, she agreed to come to
him under a promise of marriage.
Then, she says, she found he had
q wife.
"But he promised divorce and mar.
rage for me-" Peggy" Beal ex-
plains, warning girls against what
she terms "the universal language Of
lies of men,"
Her story, which is to be her de-
ic night on which her perfect lover
was slain.
The couple occupied a room in q
hotel here.
Mrs. Beal will say:
"My perfect lover came to me on
our last night and told me he could
not be true to me. Then he wrote
. out the names Of other women to
whom he had given his heart. There
were fifty in all. My name was the
last.
"'But there will be more he said.
"I killed him to save these other
girls" Is the noval defense offered.
State Differs.
The State. however, has a different
story.
Peggy Beal." Cameron Orr. coun.
~ prosecutor, will tell the jury, ac-
cording to an authorized statement
issued today, was reading Edgar
Rice Burroughs novel, 'Thuvia. Maid
of Mars"
"She came upon a picture-the
drawing Of the mythical Thuvia
standing above the form of her lover
whom she had killed.
"And Peggy Beal, romantic Of ma
ture, pictured herself as Thuvia. She
also killed-not for other women,
but because she was afraid her life
would be found out. Peggy Beal is
not one bit different than any other
woman who has killed." Orr says he
will tell the jury. "She was afraid to
think of the answer to the eternal
question, What will the world say?'
that is why she committed murder"
Peggy Beal says she Is anxious to
he punished.
For IL am punished other girls
may take the sentence given me
even death-as a part of the price