Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-12-31

this woman was found stiff and stark
in the hut at Coney Island where for
some time past she had made her
home.
Kate was practically the last of her
peculiar class to survive. In many
respects she was the most interesting
Of the circle Of criminals whose his
tory makes a most fascinating story
to the social student and the layman.
The story of her life, if it could be
told at length, would make a romance
Of crime beside which the i'm ginative
tale would seem weak and stale
Every species of wrongdoing entered
into her history-either she was the
principal, the associate or the con-
dante. Nor does the fact that she
was always a true wife to the man
who was her husband detract from
the interest.
Of small, graceful, slender build,
with a face that was almost pretty,
Kate was the last person the average
person would have pitched upon as a
criminal and the associate Of crimi-
nails. High strung, strictly honorable,
as far as she was able TO appreciate
what was honorable; generally kind,
amiable and sympathetic, she was a
most remarkable mixture, a true type
of the hereditary criminal.
And she had the courage Of a lion
ess, or rather Of a tigress. Indeed
RED" Leary himself dubbed her
Bleeding Tigress," and we'll she de-
served the appelation.
She absolutely did not know what
fear was. Surrounded all her adult
life by a gang Of men who thought no
more of the chance of life and death
than the ordinary person thinks of
crossing Broadway at a crowded spot,
it was conceded even among them
that her nerve was greater than
theirs. Again and again she jumped
into the thick of a desperate fray,
when pistols and knives were flashing,
coolly thrusting the conf Atlantis apart,
flinging one to the left, the other to
the right, possessed Of a strength lit
tie short of marvellous when her blu Id
was considered.
And in her own turn she has re-
sorted TO the pistol and knife Then
the stoutest gave way, for man and
woman knew that she was not to be
trifled with; that she would use the
weapon she brought out without the
slightest hesitation. cred" Leary
was a man of extraordinary courage,
who never ordinarily took water"
But even he gave Kate all the room
her fighting fits. To be sure, thele
were times when he beat her, and
when she submitted without protest
but when the grievance was en- her
side, when she was the aggr essor,
Leary wisely kept out of reach, for he
knew her temper as no one else, and
had a wholesome appreciation of her
prowess.
IF the old gal and I should have a
kid" he once said, land he had my
beef and her hooks (meaning his
Drawn and Hates nerve), John L.
Sullivan would be a monkey beside
him.
Fortunately for socie,y the kid
never came.
Leary was killed four or five years
ago on Sixth avenue. 1t was an sac
cident," according to the people who
witnessed the occurrence, but Kate
always maintained it was murder, and
she was probably not far from right
Billy" Trainer, a fellow crook, threw
a brick that struck Lea-y on the back
of the head, 2racturing his skull.
Trainer declared that he was simply
skylarking, that he threw the brick
in the air" and by accident it CINE
down on Leary's head. The coroners
jury took this view and Trainer went
free and the affair was ended there,
except for Kate, who from that time
began to go down hill. Some prop
erty that she had held was lost not
Tigress'' sought solace in the bottle,
ending naturally in absolute poverty
and a miserable death.
Kate came of evil S ock and took
to thieving as a duck takes to water.
She was an expert shoplifter and
pickpocket and occasionally tried her
hand at Matchmaking. Until she
met Leary her game was small He
came down here from Troy shortly
after the war and fell in with a gang
of crooks, and soon came to be recog-
nized as one of the leaders. He was
magnificent specimen physically,
fully equal to John L. Sullivan in that
respect, and unusually intelligent for
his class. Naturally Kate took %
He was concerned in a number of
big transactions, but always managed
to wriggle out of the clutches of the
law until the famous Northampton
(Mass.) bank robbery. 1t was clearly
shown that he was one of the princi-
pals in this affair and he was locked
up by the United States authorities in
Ludlow Street Jail to await the action
of the grand jury. Kate set her wits
to work to get him out. She rented
some rooms in a building adjoining
the Jail, and one fine day Mr. "Red"
Leary was missing. The wall
| abutting in his cell had been cut
| through.
! He got away to Europe, Kate re-
naming behind Until she could stand
the separation no longer. They were
or IN Do, ~