The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-05-18
A DANGEROUS WOMAN.
The Narrative Of a Secret Ser
vice Detecttv g.
A Counterfeiter's Wife who Successfully
Assumed Numerous Disguises.

SAS Nohh u OCc DuC AnOAG IN
Boston. The Detective Bureau being no
tilted in turn I was detailed on the case
and left for Boston the same day. About
81, 600 Of the queer had been 1oated in
one day, and the work had been done by
a woman At one place she had pur-
chased 5000 worth of diamonds; at m.
other a $3.50 gold watch; at another a dia-
mond bracelet. The goods in all cases
were such articles rs could be sold again
for at least half their value.
Each victimized party described her
differently. At the first place she was a
blonde, plainly dressed. At the next she
was a brown-haired woman in mourning:
at the third she had black hair, was
SLOWLY dressed, and claimed relationship
to q well-known family. After a day
spent in taking notes and making dcduc-
tons l came to the conclusion that there
was only one woman in the case, and that
she had assumed disguiscs. Boston was
thoroughly searched for her, and 1 had
not yet founda clue when the chief tclc-
graphcd me that she had appeared in
Philadelphia, I reached that city to find
that she had purchased 81, 600 worth of
diamonds at one place and $500 worth Mt
another, paying, of course, in the coun-
terfeit bills. The first jeweler described
her as \ snowy woman with gold in her
upper front teeth. The second jeweler
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 I
had only one woman to deal with, and T
would not now admit there were two. I
looked Philadelphia high and low for fe-
males bearing the description, and at the
end of four days received another tele-
gram from headquarters. She had ap-
peared in Pittsburgh, where she had
made three different purchases of Jewell
ers. l fastened to the Smoky City as
soon as possible, and 10! the three de-
scriptions given were so entirely different
that one was almost sure there were three
women at work floating off the counter
feits.
One jewelcr had been mashed OF his
customer, and had therefore taken mar
tlcular notice that her eyes were blue.
her hair brown, and her height medium.
She had gold in her upper front teeth,
and was affected in her ways and speech.
The second jeweler wasn't mashed, but he
was an old detective, and he noticed that
she had brown eyes, dark hair, a mole on
her 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. a
slight squlnt to one eye, and stamm cred
q bit rs she talked.
hunted Pittsburgh for three days, but
met with no success. Believing she
would next turn up at Indianapolis.
started for that city without orders, tax
ing a sleeping car on a night train. 1t
was a woman who had the lower berth
next to mine, and as I looked her over I
made up my mind that she was a school
teacher and an old maid. She had red
mar dressed plainly, and paid not the
sllghtest attention to any one. When
the porter came to make her berth he
placed a rather bulky satchel belonging
10 her on the seat at my feet, and she
temporary seat at the other end
OF the car. The jar of the cars jostlcd
the satchcl to the floor after a bit. and.
as stopped over to pick it up, I found
the floor covered with wigs, cosmetics,
brushes, pieces of crayon and false
teeth. There were three wigs of differ
ent colors, and two upper and two under
sets OF teeth. In one the gold was in the
upper; in the other it was in the lower.
Well, you may believe that with nv
MIN full of the mysterious woman and
ner disguise, l was not long in concluding
That had stumbled upon the person
wanted. l replaced the articles
IN the satchel and walked over to
her and made know my errand. She
me a terrible tongue-lashing and ;
called on the passengers for protection,
but when 1 revealed my identity and
emptled the contents of the satchel on a
'eat, She gave in. We got off at Steu-
'%enV'lle, and, when I had her searched.
$4,000 in the ~counterfeits was
to light, but her purchases were
lot to be found, she having shipped them t
o confederates. She was the wife of the
'otorlous "Black Dan," and the pair were
ne most dangerous couple in America ]
L 1n0f f1ma MN ~ok H. 4
7eek or two, and, while he got a sem !,