Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-04-16
A Dangerous Woman.
ny A SECRET SERVICE DETECTIVE.

ny A SECRET SERVICE DETECTIVE.
detroit Free Press.l
In January, 1868, the Secretary of
the Treasury was notified that a new
and dangerous counterfeit on Gin
cinnati National bank had been put
afloat in Boston. The Detective Blu
reau being notified in turn l was de-
tailed OH the case and left for Boston
the same day. About $1,000 Of the
queer had been foated in one day,
and the work had been done by a
woman. At one place she had pur-
chased 5000 worth of diamonds; at
another $3.50 gold watch at anoth-
er a diamond bracelet. The goods
in all cases were such articles as
could be sold again at least half their
value.
Each victimized party described
her differently. AT the first place she
was blonde, plainly dressed. AT
the next she was brown-haired wo-
man in mourning; at the third she
had black hair, was SLOWLY dressed,
and claimed relationship to we'll
known family. After day spent in
taking notes and making deductions
| came to the conclusion that there
was only one woman in the case, and
that she assumed DISCUSSES. Boston
was thoroughly searched for her, and
| had not yet found clue when the
chief telegraphed me that she had APP
peared in Philadelphia. l reached
that city to find that she had pur-
chased 81, 600 worth of diamonds at
one place and $500 worth at another,
paying, of course, in the counterfeit
bills. The first jeweler described her
as snowy woman with gold in her
upper front teeth. The second jew
eler described her as very plain and
demure, and he was sure that she had
no gold in her teeth.
l had set out under the belief that
| had only one woman to deal witlf
and would not now admit there
were two. I looked Philadelphia
high and low for females bearing the
description, and at the end of four
days received another telegram from
headquarters. She had appeared in
Pittsburgh, where she had made
three different purchases of jewellers.
| FASTENED to the Smoky City aB soon
as possible, and 10 the descriptions
given were 80 entirely different that
one was almost sure there were three
women at work floating offthe coun-
terfeits. ...ft
One jeweler had been mashed on
his customer, aud had therefore taken
particular notice that her eyes were
blue, her hair brown, aud her hight
medium. She had gold III her upper
front teeth, and was affected in her
ways Of speech. The second jeweler
wasn't mashed, but lie was an old de.
tective, and he noticed that she had
brown eyes, dark hair, a mole on the
chin, and plain, white teeth. There
was nothing affected about her. The
third jeweler could swear that she
had black hair, gold in her lower
teeth, slight squint to one eye, and
stammered bit as she talked.
| hunted Pittsburg for three days
but met with 10 success. Believing
she would next turn up at Indian.
apolis, l started for that city withou,
orders, taking a sleeping car on @
night train. 1t was woman who
had the lower berth next TO mine
and as l looked her over made W
my mind that she was a school teach.
er and an old maid. She had red
hair dressed plainly, and paid moi
the slightest attention to anyone
When the porter came to make hel
berth he placed a rather bulky satch.
ell belonging to her on the seat at my
feet, and she found temporary seal
at the other end of the car. The jai
of the cars jostled the satchel to the
floor after a bit, and as l stopped
over to pick il up, l found the floor
covered with wigs, cosmetics, small
brushes, pieces of crayon and false
teeth. There were three wigs of diff.
ferent colors, and two upper and two
lower sets of teeth. In one the gold
was Ill the, upper; In the other II was
in the lower.
Well, you may believe that with
my mind full of the mysterious wo-
man and her disguise, was not long
in concluding that l had stumbled
upon the person wanted. replaced
the articles in the satchel and walked
over 10 her and made known my
errand. She gave ME terrible
tongue-lashing and called on the pas.
sengers for protection, but when
revealed my identity and emptied the
contents of the satchel on a seat, she
gave in. We got off at Steubenville,
and when l had her searched, over
$4,000 in the counterfeits was brought
to light, but her purchases were moi
to be found, she having shipped them
to confederates. She was the wife OF
the notorious "Black Dam" and the
pair were the most dangerous couple
in America at that time. We got
her husband in week or two, and
while he got sentence of twenty.
two years, she got off with seven.