Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-12-12
MINNIE HAS RETIRED
SHE HAS BEEN ARRESTED i ,ooo TIMES
 AND HAS SAVED stoo,ooo.

The Cleverest Female Thief In Ameri
 Has Gone "out of Businessa- Gave Farewell Banquet Something of II Remarkable Career.
 Minnie May, we'll known to the p
 lice of Chicago and other eities as , clever and bold thief, has made enoug \ money at her nefarious calling to sett. \ down for life. She has retired, as 4 were, and with her husband, Dam Nugent has gone to Dayton, O, wher she owns a comfortable heme
 The occasion of Minnie's departur from Chicago will be remembered fo years to come by her companions few nights ago she gave farewell ban quet, at which all the leading lights ot her set were present The next day she and Danny, who, by the way, is one of the best diamond thieves in tho coun- try, left for their Ohio home. There they intend to spend the remainder of their lives in ease and luxury.
 It is estimated that in the last ten years Minnie May has stolen to the value of upward of $10o, 000 Somo po- licemen put the amount as high as $200, 600. At any rate, she has laid enough by to keep her and Danny with out further ado as long as they live
 Minnie May is still young woman She is not moro than 28 years old. The last ten years she has lived ill Chicago, and during that time she has been ar rested more than LOGO times for rob bery and disorderly cQlhfe9be big tene- been called ..s....r She has |
 Tillie an1he wickedest woman ill i ,lle world, D but there is often doubt ex- pressed as to the applicability of this term.
 Minnie May was born on q farm near Milwaukee. Her mother still lives on the old homestead. When Minnie was about IS years old and an innocent but bright and energetic country girl, she was engaged to be married, but the prospective husband disappeared two weeks before the day set for the we'd ding. The proud spirited girl felt dis graced in the eyes of her family and friends go she left home suddenly and went to Chicago. She quickly drifted into the life of crime ill which her shrewdness and in many ways her eom- mon sense caused her to be successful Quickly her cleverness ill getting vic tim's money attracted tho attention of the Central station detectives.
 The police were at first loath to be- lieye that the innocent looking, rosy checked girl from Wisconsin could do the deeds accredited to her. Nearly every night some man, usually d stran- ger ill the city, would report to the po- lioe that he had stopped to talk to a young woman on the street, and after leaving her discover that he had been robbed. Sometimes it would be a watch that was taken, and again it was dia- mond stud or fat poeketbook.
 5 Minnie was arrested before she had been .sin tho business Il month, , to use her own expression Her photograph was taken and put in tho rogues' gal lery The detectives at the Central sta <, tion were told to arrest her every timt Q they saw her on the street. whether sh' was with victim or not. In this way the police hoped to drive her from tn !, city.
 4 lodging the police whenever she could and in spite of the fact that she ha been locked at the Harrison Street sta tion something like 1000 times she ha succeeded i'll stealing fortune. Fo years she was a we'll known figure i
 the neighborhood of the Grand Pacifi n, hotel She usually selected strangers i n. town as her victims. And there was
 reason for this If stranger lost a dia
 mond or his wallet, it would usually n a financial loss for him to try to stay m prosecute the case Even if the victiI
 did succeed in having her indicted Mir
 nie would have the case continued frol m. term to term and in that way tire th a- prosecutor until, disgusted, he woul
 give up the attempt to get her punished
 One secret of Minnie May s remark;
 ble success, us given by herself man
 times ill conversation, was that she di m, not dissipate. She seldom drank an.
 thing and was never known to be und'
 the influence of liquor. But many lie time after good nights work sl i'd would enter saloon and buy drinks f. ',% X the loungers until everybody was gl ,le rious. Minnie would then call cf IT, and go to her home on the West Sid K, The next night she would be down tow .ce ce again looking for victims in the neig lta borhood of Clark, Adams, Jackson al p9 e9j La Salle streets.
 Minnie's diamonds and wardrol " were the best that money could bu
 Her earrings were said to be wor m Sl, 300, and she had diamond rings g - lore, enormous in weight and yalu
 She had an assortment of sealskin eoa
 and muffs and wraps, as well as han s, some gowns, and one who did not kno
 her might think she belonged to
 wealthy family Minnie Mays face
 irregular in outline and far from com ed ly, but she has teeth of exceptional . 1,, tractiveness, and her smile transforr rD " her face into one far from unattractiV
 Captain Horace Elliott, chief of q
 tectiyes, said, when he heard of Mi
 nie's departure from Chicago, that he f,
 like dancing jig "She's the elevere
 woman thief in the United States
 said the veteran detective, and I
 glad she's gone from Chicago. She h
 been nightmare to the police of u
 town for ten years i-Chicago Timl