Beulah Annan

Beulah Sheriff, of Daviess County, Kentucky, married car mechanic Albert (Al) Annan[?] and moved to Chicago, Illinois. They went shopping for a car, and met salesman Harry Kalstedt in the process.

On April 3, 1924, in the bedroom of Beulah Sheriff Annan and her second husband Al Annan, Beulah shot Harry Kalstedt in the back. She sat drinking cocktails and playing a fox trot record, Hula Lou, over and over for about two hours as she sat watching Kalstedt die, then called her husband to say she'd killed a man who "tried to make love" to her.

Beulah's story changed over time: first, she confessed to the murder; later Beulah claimed she shot Kalstedt in self-defense, fearing rape. Then she claimed she told him he was leaving her, he reacted angrily and she shot him. Prosecutors surmised that Kalstedt had threatened to leave Beulah and she shot him in a jealous rage. Her final story, at trial, was that she had told Kalstedt she was pregnant, they struggled and...that's when they both reached for the gun.

Her husband 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 acquital, on May 25, 1924, his wife announced, "I have left my husband. He is too slow." And she divorced him.

She married three times

1. Perry Stephens
2. Albert Annan, divorced 1926. In 1934 he was implicated in the murder of his common-law wife. He played the radio while waiting for the police to arrive.
3. Edward Harlib, married 1927, divorced (this marriage was bigamous, as he was still married)
4. involved with a fourth man, Able Marcus, before her death

Beulah died of tuberculosis in a Chicago sanatorium in 1928, four years after her acquital on charges of murder. She was returned to her home state for burial in Mount Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Daviess County, Kentucky.

Beulah's second husband Albert Annan was implicated in the 1934 murder of his common-law wife. He played the radio as he waited for the police to arrive to arrest him.