The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-08-07
STILL LIVING IN SIN.
The Thrilling Experience of
Belle johnson, Former
IL Of Sedalia.
A Oarria9e Ride Which Created
Considerable Excitement
in st. Louis.

Several years ago Belle johnson was a
resident of Madame Lizzie Cooks house OF
prostitution in this city, and Was known Is
the mistress of Q we'll known railroad man
Who then made Sedalia his home. When
she FIRST appeared on the town she was As
handsome p woman as Is often seen, and
her admirers were numerous.
firing of Selalia she went to St. Louis,
where she entered one of the most aristO-
cratic houses of ill-fame in that city, ard
Tor time conducted herself well-that is,
for one of her class. But the life she was
leading soon told on her, and she kept get.
ting lover and lower until she finally lend.
Cd ia dive On Myrtle street, where she has
been holding forth for several months
On Saturday mis- bit last she went carriage
riding with two men, and about z O'Clock
Sunday morning, just - the eastern sky
was grazing, the residents of the Lafayette
park region were aroused and startled BY .
shrill scream, followed By the exclamation
in woman's voice:
''Oh, Johnl please don't murder noe! I'm
Q woman"
A policeman had his attention attracted
TO the woman's screams. and started in the
direction from which they apparently ema-
mated, when he WI. sur
prised to see carriage driven
rapidly away, and it Vas evident the
woman screaming Was an inmate OF the
vehicle. The officer went in hot pursuit,
and the two men, seeing they were in for it
threw the woman from the carriage, and
drove hurriedly away, making their escape.
The officer was soon bending over the pros
t-ate female, and Q minute later took her
in charge but the remainder of the story
is best told BY the St. Louis Republican of
Sunday, as follows:
Arriving opposite the park, she was soon
under the gaze of quite q gathering OF the
residents of that street aid Benton place.
She admitted that she was a woman Of
abandoned life, and said that her name was
Belle johnson, and her so-called home on
MYRTLE, be ween Sixth and Seventh streets.
She said that one of the men 10 the car
rage was q teamster named John Kinney,
and the other she did not know. She had
for some time, for reasons which she did
not care to state, been fearful OF Kinney,
and had been warned against him, but on
the present occasion, while excited fr m
drink, she had foolishly accepted an
invitation from him to take
a ride about o'clock in the morning.
They rode along quietly till she noticed
they were nearing the City hospital. When
on Lafayette avenue, near the hospital.
Kinney took from his pocket whistle,
which he blew. A man came out from the
shadow of the tree box, and as the carriage
drove up he climbed in and took the reins,
driving westward. As they neared the
corner of the park both men seized her and
attempted to gag her, and she instantly
realized that the death which she had been
threatened was close at hanG. She fought
desperately and screamed, and the horses
started to run away. They tried TO choke
her, and Kinney, in the struggle, bit lAr,e
piece of flesh out of her srm, but she called
for help whenever they released their grip
upon her throat. She had seen the attempt
of the Waterman to check them, and when
he failed everything seemed lost. The men,
however, Sc that they were followed, and
fearing arrest threw her out OF the car
riage as it turned into Jefferson avenue.
The story c.eated as great q sensation as
the circumstances which preceded il, as it
was believed that the woman was possessed
of knowledge of some crime which the
men were determined to conceal. The pri-
vate Waterman accompanied the woman to
the corner of Mississippi and Choteau ave-
nues, and Is It was not then broad daylight,
she said she was not afraid to continue her
homeward way alone.
A Republican reporter called yesterday