The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-06-30
WHOLE NUMBER 1.757.
A NOTORIOUS WOMAN.
A CHAPTER IN rHE HISTORY op xps v,,,,,v
"A STRANGE AND DTsaoIIrrR nAnunn

A NOTORIOUS WOMAN.
A CHAPTER IN rHE HISTORY op xps
"A STRANGE AND DIssoLUTE cARRER
A correspondent of the chicavo T;ua.
writing from Parkersburg. West yirgin;a
gives the following chapter ii, the life OF the
woman whom the Grand Duke Nicholas
mas just made so notorious: "The publica-
ton IN eastern papers of some items ;p the
history OF Mrs Lizzie Blackfori Feepix Z. nee
Ely, as the heroine OF the rece mt diamond
ano ruby robbery in the city of st. Peters
ourg. has revived a chaoter in the history
Oh TINS remarkable woman, the scene Of
which transpired in this city. In the sum-
ner OF 1904. when the town was filled with
sroops, the Hon. j. J. Jackson, United
States district Judge of the Third die
trict, sent his only daughter. Miss Iilv tn n
lssnionapie boarding school in the good
Quaker city, Philadelphia. While there She
formed the acquaintance of Miss Lizzie Elv
gusning maid of some fifteen summers.
sne only daughter or then prominent Pres
Dyterian clergyman. Acquaintance melted
into friendship, friendship foated into
schoolglrl love. and when the HOLIDAYS came
MRS Jackson repaired to Philadeinhis To
Dring her daughter home. She extended An
invitation to her daughters friend and asso-
cla.e' MISS Ely, to accompany her. Nothing
ioath to visit and frolic in the South. she
came, and soon became the center of attrac-
ton OF admiring beaux and the envy
OF less favored bellies. With a form
delicstely rounded,-plump without being
gross,-eyes like sparkling solitaires, and
manners winning, yet modest, the satsnv
softness of her lily-hued skin inspired with
burning fevor the ardent blood of all the
young Lotharios here. At Philadelphia she
was demure as a kitten, mild as a pet lamb.
and circumspect as a staid matron, vet with
al slumbering volcano of passion. No
| q a had De-
the fiood-gates of her passion broke loose.
and like the waters of the Massachusetts,
dam, the loosely cemented walls of prudence
and virtue gave way and swept on In wan
ton riot and mad revel. She
MADE ROME HOWL,
as the Bowery trsgedians have it, and on
one occasion took a pleasure trip with q
party of ladies and gentlemen on the steam
or Potomac, to Cincinnati, when she pun
ished so much wine that her bon-mots made
the ladies blush and the gentlemen litter,
and the chaperones OF the party deemed it
necessary to place her in charge of the col
ored fiddler, who locked her in a ststeroom
and stood sentinel during the silent watches
of the night. Some said she was impru-
dent; OF course women Of an uncertain
age declared she was bold hussy; the
boys thought she was gushing; her
friends chrissened her conduct as eccentric.
Be this as IL may, she was not watcnfuf
enough of peeping eyes and careful enough
tn turn the key, and was discovered in re-
lations with a gay young man neither credit
able or praiseworthy, nor exctly fit to be
recorded in this history. Accordingly, Mrs
Ely was sent for, and decided, after due de-
liberation, 70 repair to Philadelphis with
her amOrOus charge. But the young lady
had marriage on the brain. and with per-
sistencv worthy OF Miss Prue in the play,
who exclaimed at is well they got me
L - 4 - Al n. n
she determined to risk it. Reaching
Oakland, station on the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad, she feigned sickness, and
telegraphed tor a gentleman who had been
paying her his addresses Mr.. Beal Black
ford, connected with one Of the first families
of the town, and at that time occupying the
position of ticket agent in the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad Company-"to come on and
marry her." Blackford, vastly preferring to
repose in the green pastures of matrimonial
bliss TO browsing longer on black and
lonely moors of Dacheiordom, repaired to
Oakland with Mr. Jack Cuthbert-army
contractor for the purchase of mules and
| horses-a jovial companion and boon chun
of Blzckford.
Cuthbert poured the oil of kindness and
sympathy over the troubled waters of Mrs.
| Eiy's sorrow; hoped Miss Ely would soon
recover, and be herself again, while Black
4 lOT0 nfc0 away 70 the pr1cSSs = ana tue Eusn-
| ing Mss Ely became Mrs. Blackford. Re
| turning to this city, she and her husband
immediately took lodgings with Mrs. Ssun
ders and sfterward with Mrs. Littleboy.
But scarce was the honeymoon done and
| the battle of life in earnest begun, when Mr..
Blaclsford discovered that his wife was q
genuine female thoroughbred. He. had
then taken position in the Northwestern
| bank - teller now known as the PaEkers-
burg National. She joined Trinity (Rev.
Mr.. Hyland's Episcopal church, and shortly
after her only child was baptized there. Sus-
picious eyes glanced askance at her, sBd her
old habits of dissipation clung to her She
could not subdue her love for strong drink.
Frequent jars, chickering's and quarreis en-
sued. and one Sunday morning, her husband
not appearing at breakfast, she replied that
he was out late the night before. The SER
want was unable to awake him, and called
her. She went to his bedside and found him
stiff and cold in death. This fact announced,
ply ysicians were summoned, who pronounced
that he had been dead some hours.
| MYSTERIOUS,
But strange to relate, Mr.. Beverly Smith,
the cashier of the same bank, and r-Steele
Smith, bis son, book keeper, and intimate
with Mrs. BlackfeId. were each found dead
| in their beds within year. The public were
suspicious then, and whispered, but did not
openly avow foul play, yet now many Of the
citizens openly declare that they never had
a doubt that Bsal Black Serd. at least, met
is death by poison. From this city she re-
paired to Philadelphia, left her boy with
her mother, laid in wsit for rich young
men and armorous old bachelors, and
made all pay the fiddler who
danced at her court. At the watering
places she was known as the gay and pretty
widow Blackford, and so adroit were her
Eschemes, so modest and suspicion -disarming
ther ways, that manv's the unwary she lured
to her folds. Her love tor notoriety was al
ways excessive. She was never happy un-
less in the whirl of constant excitement
her name on everybody's lips; her presence
at every gathering. Some years ago she
caused TO be published tale, which went
the rounds of the press, that while she was
travelling on the cars, an old man
tottering with years entered. She gave
him q seat revived his dropping
spirits with her never-dsgging tongue,