Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1920 — GENERAL AND STATE NEWS [ARTICLE]

GENERAL AND STATE NEWS

TMsgraphlc Reports From Many Parts ot tho Country. SHORT BITS OF THE UNUSUAL Happenings In the Nearby Cities and Towns — Matters of Minor Mention from Many Localities. PEARL M’LAUGHLIN ACQUITTED Jury Flnda She Was Insane at Tima of Shooting. Lafayette, Ind., Dec. 9—Following her acquittal by a Jury In the circuit oourt late yeaterday afternoon, Pearl Mansfield McLaughlin, aged twentyelgbt, who was charged with murdering Guy McLaughlin, her former husband, was released from custody today by order of Jfidge J. L. Caldwell, who presided at the trial. ‘ The Jury was out less than an hoar and found that the defendant waa of unsound mind when she fired thh shot that caused McLaughlin’s ’death last June and that, therefore, sha waa not guilty of murder. The Indiana statutes require that when Insanity la Interposed as a defense in a murder trial, If the Jury finds the defendant not guilty, the court must determine whether the acquitted person is sane before releasing the person from custody. The court appointed Dr. F. A. Loop and Dr. J. W. Shafer to examine the defendant. When they reported that they found her of sound mind, Judge Caldwell ordered her released. Mrs. McLaughlin’s defense was that she was Insane when she committed the act charged In the Indictment, afd that her mental condition was doe to the mistreatment she had received at the hands of McLaughlin, from whom she was divorced and who, according to her story, had promised to marry her again. It was when she learned that he had gone to Louisville and married Anna Bllheizer that qhe procured a pistol, engaged a ride in the taxicab which he was driving and fired a bullet Into his brain. She also shot herself In the head, but inflicted only a scalp wound. The trial lasted two weeks and attracted many. When the .Jury returned to the court room with Its verdict, there waH a demonstration. Many women rushed forward to congratulate the defendant.