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Apr. 30, 1959 - Woman Accused of Terrifying a Mouse. Mrs. Phyllis Cooper, 45 year old widow who runs a Portsmouth pet shop, was accused yesterday of cruelly terrifying a mouse. She did so, it was said, by putting it in a cage with a python and waiting to see what happened. A sailor told Mrs. cooper that snakes fed on mice. She did not believe him so popped the mouse, which was her youngest son's pet into the cage with the python. Supt. Harvey Hindle, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, saw the mouse in the snake's cage. It was running into corners and trying to climb the glass sides of the cage. Mrs. Cooper produced the mouse in court yesterday and let him run up and down the witness box ledge to prove he was unharmed. The Portsmouth magistrates dismissed the case. Mr. Gordon Jones, prosecuting the R.S.P.C.A. said In one respect these proceedings are unique because in no other country in the world would a mouse invoke the protection of the law'. Photo shows: Mrs. Phyllis Cooper pictured yesterday with the 5 ft. python and the mouse

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