The Trial
Beulah's story changed over time: first, she confessed to the murder; later, Beulah claimed she had shot Kalstedt in self-defense, fearing rape. According to one of her later versions, he told her he was leaving her, she reacted angrily and then she shot him. Prosecutors surmised that Kalstedt had threatened to leave Beulah and she shot him in a jealous rage. Her final story at the trial was that she had told Kalstedt she was pregnant, they struggled, and they both reached for the gun.
Albert Annan stood by her, pulled his money out of the bank to get her the best lawyers and stood by her throughout the trial. The day after the trial ended in acquittal, on May 25, 1924, his wife announced, "I have left my husband. He is too slow." She divorced him in 1926 on the charge that he deserted her.
Read more about this topic: Beulah Annan
Famous quotes containing the word trial:
“A trial cannot be conducted by announcing the general culpability of a civilization. Only the actual deeds which, at least, stank in the nostrils of the entire world were brought to judgment.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“You don’t want a general houseworker, do you? Or a traveling companion, quiet, refined, speaks fluent French entirely in the present tense? Or an assistant billiard-maker? Or a private librarian? Or a lady car-washer? Because if you do, I should appreciate your giving me a trial at the job. Any minute now, I am going to become one of the Great Unemployed. I am about to leave literature flat on its face. I don’t want to review books any more. It cuts in too much on my reading.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)