The Washington times., 1922-11-19
Mrs. Hazel McNally
Is Freed of Charge
of Double M urde err
w n e n t h e State
Failed to Present a
"corpus Delicti."
The Couple Ill a d
Been Apart.
HAMMOND. Ind. Nov. Is.
Z" OIJ,OWJNG the NJ.

M N a lly on the
charge of infanticide, new
developments are pending in
the now famous Doll-Baby
mystery, which is considered
still unsolved despite the
result of the trial.
Mrs. McNally met the ac-
cusation of double murder
brought by her husband by
asserting that she had never
borne babies and that the
children she was charged
with killing were really
dolls. Three witnesses, in
cluding her husband, nurse
and "a neighbor, testified
that they had seen and
heard the children.
The young woman was ac-
quilted on the technical
point that the prosecution
had not brought forth a
"corpus delicti"-that is,
could not prove by the
presentation of body or
even fragments Of a body
that either of the alleged
children had been slain.
Justice Henry C. Cleave-
lands remarkable ruling
was that the murder charge
could not stand, not because
there were no children as
Mrs. McNally asserted, but
because it had not been
shown that the children she
was said to have borne are
not alive now.
Frank McNally, husband
of the young woman, de-
clares that the investigation
is not yet finished. Mrs.
McNally responds that she
will bring suit against him
for absolute divorce and for
false arrest. In. the mean
time detectives and private
investigators are checking
up in an effort to adjust the
many contradictions that
still puzzle all who have fol-
lowed the extraordinary
case.
The charge Of murder was made
by McNally after he and his wife
had parted. He asserted that on
December last twins were born
to her. She took the infants to
Chicago with her. He said he saw
the babies and was certain that
they were alive. Wehn Mrs. Nc
Nally returned from Chicago. the
husband said in filing the charge.
she brought two dolls with her and
succeeded in palming them off on
him as real children until he dis
covered the hoax.
MOTHER ARRESTED.
On this statement. Mrs. McNally,
who is pretty and in her twenties.
was arrested and held without bail
for trial. She protested that she
had not killed the children, be-
cause there had never been any
children. She insisted that she
was incapable of bearing children.
because Of an operation and that
her husband knew It. As to the
dolls she admitted that she had
deceived the neighbors with home
made manikins, but that, she ex-
planned, was merely in order to
crafty her husbands desire for
children as far as possible.
But Prosecutor Todd and the
police from the first believed the
charge might be true. The wo-
mans defense was 80 weird, the
man protested that she was falsi.
fying throughout. and there was
the testimony Of neighbors, all Of
whom believed that the couple
were the parents Of twins.
with spades and shovels the po-
Nee made several excavations in
vacant lots near the McNally home
IN the belief that the infants
might have been buried after the
double staying. No indication OF
anything OF the kind was found
Searches were made in other
quarters Of the city. The woman
was grilled for hours. Then came
the trial.
Despite tho gravity Of the
charge. Mrs. McNaily siggled and
smiled throughout the proceedings
Even when the most hostile wit
nesses were testifying against her
she seemed to regard the whole
proceeding as in the nature Of a
practical joke. and II the fear OF
the death penalty ever entered her