Evening journal., 1890-03-10
ONE GENT.
MRS. ]. A. FLACK'S FLIGHT
Strange Conduct of the Sheriffss
Wronged Wife. "a
HAD SHE FORGIVEN HER HUsBANp

Alleged coIiusion Retween Her and Har
Indicted Husband and SON Almost om
the Eve Of Trlal-Twenty Detectives
Searched All Night for Her.
NEW YoRK, March l0.-The Star saym
Mary f. Flack, wife Of Sheriff James A.
Flack, who was divorced from her husband
some time ago in a very irregular manner.
was spirited away Saturday night by well
laid plot She was secreted at the house of
close friend and political follower Of ths
sheriff, but was discovered yesterday by de-
tectives. taken into custody, and is now in
room No. 200 Of the Vanderbilt hotel She
is under arrest and will not be allowed tc
vanish again. Mrs. Fluck has forgiven her
husband, and her testimony can now only
be secured by compulsory methods Sha
declares that she will not testify at the trial
Of the indicted divorce conspirators Of her
own win. She says she win not aid In any
way the prosecution Of her husband and her
son and the referee, Joseph Meels
District Attorney Fellows and his assist
ant, Mr.. God, are now said to be greatly
discouraged at the outlook for the prosecu-
tion. They believe Mrs Flaek was spirited
away, Of her own volition by her son, and
that she allowed herself to be swayed by
affection.
The Alleged Plot.
The plot to get Mrs Flack out OF the way
| OF the prosecution was an elaborate one. IL
was laid soon after Mrs Facks first APP
pearance in the grand jury room. 0verturea
for settlement were made by ex-Judge
Fullerton the sherif's counsel, to TreadwelI
Cleveland, legal adviser of Mrs Flack. In
The Star was told the story OF how partial
agreement had been arrived at and khaa
| Mrs. Flack was weakening When the
woman testified many facts she gave were
contradicted by her own lips after cross
examination She was sick at heart, she
said, partially Ill, with memory gone.
One thing she tried to impress on tbs
searching jurymen was that she did not want
TO punish her husband or son. It came QUE
that tho sheriff had not lived happily with
his wife for some years, and 1t was also di-
vulged by Mrs Flaek that all she cared foF
was proper support--an allowance iarga
enough TO enable her TO spend her declining
years in comfort.
Husband and SONS Appeal.
Then, as It is now brought out. Mrs Flack
was appealed to by her husband and son.
sYou have ruined Us both. they said. do
not, for Gods sake send Us 70 prison, too.n
The Son Pleads His Fathers cause.
= Slowly but surely the constant pressure
brought 70 bear by the indicted conspirators
began to bear fruit. AT first the son was
forgiven and taken back in his mothers af-
fections 1t became apparent TO Assistant
District Attorney Goif that it was only q
matter Of time when the forgiven child.
/ srtty MA w "a
fathers cause, would bring about a still
further change in the prosecutions most
important witness He feared all along
: that Mrs. Flack would weaken and forgive
her husband
Mrs. Fiack's Alleged Trick.
! On one pretcxt or another postponement
!, followed postponement. After every other
important witness had been too i'll to testify.
there was still another postponement on ae-
count Of Mrs. Flack's alleged illness. The
i trial was set down for today, and the prose-
cution half believed all witnesses would be
on hand when wanted.
Time was gained by the plotters by the
constant delays. VIII Flack succeeded step
& by step, IN his elaborately planned scheme.
s IL now transpires that Mrs Flack agreed,
y about three months ago, to accept $50 week
n from her SON. Then Mrs. Flack, according
Z to a detective connected with the district
!. attorneys office, agreed to plot 70 deceive
b the prosecution into the belief that she would
is testify, and then at the last moment van
J. ish. That is what she did.
g The Star then states that Mrs. Flack came
l. TO New York Saturday. She appeared at
Is the district attorneys Office and emphatically
e denied that her husband or her son had tried
70 influence her not 70 testify against them
She promised to be on hand Monday, and
said she was going to stop with her niece
o Her counsel, Mr. Cleveland, said he did mel
Il think she would deceive the district attor
Is ney, and undertook personally to see her II
e her nieces home. He put her aboard Thir'
4 avenue horse car, just opposite the bridg'
e entrance, and left her
y Il win be at my niece's house In an hour.
e she said, in parting with her counsel
She Had Forgiven hiIm.
: She did not 60 there at all, however, bu
!. accompanied by her son, went to the hous
y Of Joseph M. Hill, one OF the sheriff's croniea
} Twenty detectives searched all night for her
finally discovered her, and lead her weeping
from the house Between her sobs she sal
that she had forgiven her husband Sh
o would neither deny nor affirm the belle
of the detectives that she had entered int
n the scheme to ''spiritn herself away
The Case on Trial.
], Mr.. Goff called at the Vanderbilt hots
Y \, this morning accompanied by Treadwe
Cleveland, her counsel. The two gentleme
\, escorted Mrs. Flack to the court Of oyer an
:, y terminer, where the trial Of the People VI
~ ~ James A. Flack and Joseph Meeks was con
menced