Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-09-06
THE WILES OF SIRENS.
Confidence Women Less Numerous
Than Confidence Men. But Much
More Dangerous.
Schemes by Which Arched but Brainy
Adventuresses Manage to Fill
Their Golfers.


| as confidence men, but they are infinitely
| more dangerous. The confidence woman.
moreover, Is much more slippery customer
Tor the police to deal with than her male
| counterpart, for the reason that she
Is often able to cast aside suspicion by the
| assumption of well counterfeited woman
| ly dignity and innocence The male shark
or confidence worker is a person with
| whose characteristics and modes of pro-
| cedure most newspaper readers are thor
oughly familiar; the feminine vampire is
more or less of mystery, and one hears
less of her doings. This is principally be-
cause her victims, once they have been
enmeshed and plucked, prefer to accept
their losses and hush the matter up rather
than have their folly exposed to the pub
lie gaze. The consequence of this is that
the wicked siren in nine cases out of ten
escapes with her plunder and can afford to
| laugh at the authorities
| This was the substance of a verbal
treatise rendered a reporter by "a grave
vlsaged, clerlcal-looking gentleman who
was some years ago the leading spirit of
| a private detective agency, upon the sub
| Ject of dangerous women. The nature of
| his work III past years has brought him
| INTO criminal contact with lady conf
| dence workers, and it was not difficult to
| draw him out on the subject
Il am practically out of the detective
| business now, said he, but | can't re-
slst the temptation of keeping my hand
| In by running down the fair rascals when
| ever they stick up their horns. and soaring
them into fits on general principles Here
is an advertisement diving into neat
pocket-book- which | clipped from a
NOV Tho o+ln,. =. I
| recognize the fine Italian hand of a posi-
lively clever lady confidence worker
The advertisement read as follws.
STTUATION wANTED-A YOUNG WOMAN
~ desires position house-keeper for an
elderly or midde-aged widower single gentle
man.
That" continued the ex-detective
| thoughtfully, looks very like the work
of woman whom | chased from city to
city years ago IN behalf of a silly old
| gentleman she had swindled For aught
know she is alive and prospering, and
| this advertisement makes it look as if she
were back In Chicago at her old tricks.
This woman is "a southerner. a brunette
and "a perfect dream of grace and beauty.
The 'housekeeper' game is her favorite
one. Her record is a remarkable one, for
one of her profession, and she has had
more giddy old Adonises at her feet in
her time than you or | would care to
| count. She has bled three or four gen
tlemen that are personally known to me.
and they have all preferred to lose and
| suffer silently rather than expose her and
be laughed at by their club and business
associates.
For whom did | chase her? a
rich and elderly widower who dwells in a
e. L., l
at her bait with the avidity of a much
younger cudgeon. He needed a house
keeper, or thought he did and answered
Just such an advertisement as that ! have
given you. The young widow came. saw.
and conquered. The old gentleman was
completely overcome by her charms. She
had not been in the house a week before
everything in 1t was at her disposal The
mink played her cards so well that her
adOlescent adorer lost his head completely.
His pOcket-book was ever at her disposal.
and-but, to make a long story short, she
chlorformed him one night. and, with the
assistance of a younger lover of her own
class, whom she admitted at the basement
door, she carried off all the money in the
house, and over S5 900 worth of silver-ware.
pictures and other portable valuables BY
the time the victim awoke the pair of har-
pies were on their way to-Jericho, for all
| knew
And your pursuit."
WAS undertaken with the strictest in
functions as to the secresy to be main
tanned In case of capture. The poor old
gentleman cried like baby when he put
the case in my hands. and warned me sol
emnly not to hand the woman over to the
police, but to try and persuade her to make
restitution voluntarily"
Ever catch them?"
No, did not. and am glad of it. |
was well paid for my work. and | varilv
believe that if had run the vixen down
to earth the old fellow would have for
given her and wanted to take her back.
1t was really bad case with him.
'Blackmall, continued the narrator of
this melancholy story, as he warmed to
his subject, lis the favorite resort of the
confidence women, and the most success
| ful one. To compromise her victim and
| then threaten him with an exposure that
would mean his social ruin is her easiest
| and most lucrative source of revenue.
Moral backsliders who fall into the
| clutches of such a woman are awful cow
| ards and the higher their social position
| the greater their cowardice. They would
| exposed. and the confidence woman knows
| it. Woe to the victim when he was weak
| ened and paid his tormentor a price for
| her silence. The moment her pockets are
| empty back she Ii come to strike him for
| more and he must either 90 ON paving in
| definitely or dare her to do her worst
which he might just as well have done at
| first. The only way to conquer such a
woman Is to defy her first demand The
| consequences may be heavy. but it will be
the cheapest way i'll the end
''Other adventureSses. of a smaller cali
ber, secure positions in rich families as
lady'S maid, companion nurse, or
goeerness. Their plan may be to concoct
partnership plot with gang of burglars.
and in the big robbery that follows the
| favorite servant Is the last person in the
world to be suspected. Another plan is
for the servant to possess herself of fam
lily secrets which an unhappy husband or
| wife would give the world rather than
| have known, and then use them to the
best advantage. Then. of course. there
are so-called clalryoyants, who play their
games while claiming to make supernat-
ural revelations. They may demand ex-
orbitant compensation for revealing the
whereabouts of lost or stolen yaluables-
| cVultbtlAlAE el1t tudpltu 10 10 bN de-
ing In collusion with the thieves who stole
them. There are others who play the role
of the spiritual medium; like Mime. Diss
De Bar, of New York. and still others who
pretend TO be rich and philanthropic ladies
soliciting funds for some worthy chari-
table object, and pocket the funds The
tricks of confidence women are innumer-
able, and attended by far less danger
for the operator than those of the male
sharks
How about shop-lifters -
''Shop-lifters. and there was a tingt
of offended dignity in the tones. are not
confidence women. They are sneak-thieyes
and for the police to handle. not for me
A woman who is a siren must have
brains
wEB-wEANING MONSTERS.
| A story of Big Spiders Found in the Mount