Evening star., 1922-10-21
DOLL BABY TWINS
DEATH NOT SHOWN
Courts Decision Acquits Mrs.
McNaIk, Alleged Mother, of
Murder Charge.
BY the Associated Press,

HAMMOND. lad. October 21.-Nrs.
t5asel NcNaily, alleged mother Of
Hamsnond's doll baby" twins, was
freed yesterday Afternoon OF the
charge OF numbering the mysterious
infants when Judge Henry c. CIeve-
( land ruled that the state had failed
to prove the infants are not still
alive.
The twenty-six-year-ol wife, who
has grinned and giggled through
four days of preliminary hearing
while witnesses attempted to fasten
icollapsed and fell fainting to the fioor
| with the cheers of $50 woman court
room fans applauding her acQuittal
san1in9 In her ears.
Could Not Prove slsylns.
BY q strange paradox OF the law
the defense. which maintained the
twins born" to Mrs. McNaaly last
tions Of china and straw dressed in
baby clothes. won its victory because
the state was unable to prove that
the mystery babies were not at the
present moment living. breathing
human beings with actual flesh and
blood.
The missing corpus delicti. lawyers
Dhraseology tor the body Of the
crime, proved a stumbling block to
the state, and because Of 1t the mys-
they ever existed. whether they were
| only dressed-up dolls. or whether, as
the state contended, they were first
real babies and then dolls. remains
! 9nso1ved: Sustaining the motion of
samuel Swartz. attorney for Mrs. Nc
Nally. for dismissal Of the charge.
Judge Cleveland ruled that all legal
decisions maintained that some proof
. that q dead body actually existed.
that It came to its death by violence
and that the person charged with the
with its commission was necessary
before charge Of murder could be
supported.
women ~Claw Way" to Courtroom.
Hundreds OF women and few men
Fought and cfawed and scratched
their way uo the dark stairs to Ham
monds city council chamber an hour
before the door was thrown open on
case. A barrier OF stout oak desks
four feet high had been erected across
the room to block the rush OF 'front.'
row fans when the door was finally
opened.
Behind 1t women jammed in a solid
mass so dense as to make movement
impossible. and stood for two hours
and half while three lawyers argued
the merits of the corpus deficit.
Their long wait was rewarded.
however. by q thrilling movie climax
when Judge Cleveland solemnly pro-
nounced HIS decision. To the roar of
= fashlight barrage and the cheers Of
the audience. the defendant. who
looks more nearly nineteen than the
twenty-six years she confessed to.
rose to her feet. smiled and then fell
to the door.
LAWYERS and nevspaner men lifted
her to the table and famed her with
law books. While photographers on the
one side and spectators on the other
fought for vantage points. On the
on one foot and then on the other.
hovered Frank MeNaSly. the forty.
four-year-old husband, who i1stified
yesterday his wife had fooled him for
weeks and had him carry doll
around under the belief that 1t was
one OF his children.
aMystery Mother Makes Final Bow.
A halt hour later the mystery
.her Of the mystery ts,n tT,ns nishey, dish
| automobile. took her final bow before
| the cheering court fans and left for
! home, tn South Bend, surrounded by
her mother, friends and Attorney
| Swarts.
The trial fans, who have hung for
| four days on every bit of salacious
| testimony, were left behind wrestling
| with a mystery just as dark as 1t was
before the trial began. Again on the
outskirts the elderly husband re.
mained, watching his wife's triumphal
exit and still doggedly maintaining
that she gave birth to . son ana a
daughter last December.
The spectators who elbowed him
aside to watch Mrs. MeSally ride
away were inclined to believe he was
the victim of a clever hoax from start
TO finish, but what its purpose was,
why it began and why 1t ended as 1t
did is as much q problem as ever.