Kind Killer

Anyone seeing a well-dressed lady step out of her limousine to feed biscuits to four dogs playing in a vacant lot, might think she was a queer old busybody but a kindly one. If the four dogs all fell sick that evening, three of them fatally, the witness might well recall the old lady and tell the police, but still not doubt her kindness. If the old lady, in police court, explained that she was a great friend of animals, a contributor to humane societies, habitually solicitous of waifs and strays, she might be considered an unfortunate victim of coincidence, sure to be cleared at her trial.

Such was the position of wealthy Mrs. Juliet Tuttle, 65, after the deaths of three popular dogs of suburban Eastchester, N. Y. last month (TIME. May 31). But at her trial last week, other evidence darkened the picture. Found near the spot where she had approached the dogs was a capsule which had contained cyanide of potassium. A former chauffeur of hers testified he had resigned "in disgust" because she used to have him stop the car while she got out to give capsules to stray cats. When the cats keeled over she would deliver them to an S. P. C. A. shelter. "She handled as many as 30 cats a day," testified this witness.

Old Mrs. Tuttle, who took a nap in court while a score of other witnesses told how their pets had died or become sick after she fed them, freely admitted occasional cat killings, "to put them out of their misery." "But," she explained. "I never picked up an animal that was licensed or had a home."

That was enough for the court and the derisive spectators who packed it. The court offered "kind" Mrs. Tuttle the choice of $500 fine or a year in jail. As she paid and walked out, the spectators growled with satisfaction, wished her no luck on her appeal.

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