When Mary Neils appeared in a Newark courtroom, her face was battered and bruised, and the two young children in her care stood beside her.
The widowed woman admitted firing two shots at her longtime boarder, George Raab, but insisted she had not tried to kill him. According to Neils, Raab had come home drunk, threatened her with a hammer, and beaten her until she reached for her late husband’s revolver.
Neither bullet struck him, but Neils was held without bail while the children were taken into the custody of a charitable society.
Woman is Held for Shooting at a Boarder
NEWARK, New Jersey. — Standing in the First Criminal Court this morning with her face battered and bruised, and flanked by the two little children of a dead sister, Mrs. Mary Neils, a widow, told a story of abuse and ill treatment at the hands of a boarder, George Raab. The latter, thankful that he had escaped the two bullets which had been fired by the woman, stood before Judge Howell muttering, but making no effort to answer her allegations.
Te court held the woman without bail for the shooting, and held Raab in $1,000 bail as a witness.
The shooting took place about 6 o’clock last night. Neighbors heard quarreling in Mrs. Neils’ flat, then shots, followed by the sound of a man’s hurrying footsteps.
They found Mrs. Neils standing on the top landing of the third story flight of stairs with a revolver in her hand, demanding the arrest of Raab. The woman’s face showed marks of a severe beating, while Raab, who had been captured by Police Officer McNulty, of the First Precinct, was bleeding from scratches.
Raab said that the woman had tried to kill him and had fired two shots, both of which he managed to dodge.
McNulty placed the woman under arrest and took her and the two children, Jennie, aged 4, and Tessie, aged 6, to the First Precinct station, where Raab reiterated his charge.
Mrs. Neils, while not denying the shooting, declared it was done in self defense.
Mrs. Neils’ Story
In court today, Mrs. Neils said:
“My husband died two months ago in Jersey City. Raab has boarded with me for six years. I moved to Newark a week ago, and Raab came, too. He has not been working, and I told him that I would give him a chance to get a job and he could pay me later. Yesterday he came to my house drunk and was abusive. I ordered him out of the house and he seized a hammer and began beating me with it. My husband owned a 22 calibre revolver and I ran to the bedroom and got it. Raab was still threatening me with the hammer, and to scare him I fired two shots at the floor. He is a good man when not drinking, and I don’t want to make any charge against him.”
According to the police this is not the first time Mrs. Neils has figured in a row with Raab. Two months ago, they say, Mrs. Neils, then residing in Jersey City, came here, and, meeting Raab in the street, attacked him with a hat pin. For this she was arrested and fined $10.
The boarder refused to have anything to say this morning.
The little children were taken away by John A. Cullen, of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society.
Source: The Star and Newark Advertiser. Newark, N.J. March 11, 1908.
