The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-28

| -'SA Hseu. " course, III ine WASH Ma
jority Of he- swindling operations she
vas either never traced OF the victims.
Tor reasons OF their own, made no at
tempt to prosecute her, but for years
and years she was constantly before the
courts ON one charge or another until she
fi.rted with the law once too often, and
in 1855 received her first punishment,
in the form OF a sentence Of four years
and half for obtaining $1,000 on a
forged mortgage Of the Mutual Life In
surance company. A former convict
VINO was witness in the case person
ated Mrs. Peck's husband and procured
the money.
The occasion in which Mrs Peck as
| sisted the ends Of justice by aiding in
the arrest CT julius Columbani shows her
in an original role.
This man Columhani was a profess
sionai forger and negotiator OF stolen
bonds. who had ben released from Sing
Sing prison in June, 1881. and, as the
event shows, went back almos; iInme-
Stately to his old ways. 1t was on
Sunday, September 10. 1882, that Edward
and Owen McSorley. brothers. left theI
homestead at West Brighton. s. l., and
went out for a drive, leaving the place
in the charge OF an Old man named
Bryan Norton. About an hour after
| ward a stranger called a, the house
with the news that the McSorleys' car
rage had broken down a mile or so up
! the road and that ne had been requested
to have assistance sent. The old man
| hurried off as fast as he could. but was
surprised to find no trace of the car
rage. When he got back he found
that the brothers had already returned
| and had made the discovery that dur
ing their absence the house had been
entered and the safe broken open. The
thieves carried off ten one thousand dol
lar Richmond county bonds and jewelry
and cash 10 the total value of $4,000.
! No trace Of the stolen property was
! found until the following January, when
| the store OF Higgins & Co., No. Straw
berry street. Philadelphia, was robbed
| of property worth $1,000, and some of the
McSoriey jewelry was found on one of
| the thieves VINO was arrested in New
York. Payment on The bonds was
stopped, and all that could be done was
10 wait until they were offered for sale.
Thanks 10 one OF Mrs Peck's peculiar
enterprises, the bonds were heard of in
the fiilowing spring.
According to Mrs. Pecks story, a
lady who was visiting her had advertised
FOR a loan Of s. 900 on a quantity Of
diamonds. There isn't very much doubt
in my mind that the lady in question
was none other than Mrs. Peck herself,
for the transaction bore all iler charac-
teristic earmarks. Two days after the
insertion of the advertisement she saws
she received letter containing instruc-
tons how to recognize in the parlor o.
the AStor House man who desired TO
negotiate the loan. The writer OF the
letter was Columbani, but Mrs. Peck
professed al the time to be ignorant
OF mis- identity, which, she says, was re-
veaied to her few days later. Her
friend, the advertiser. being inexperi-
enced in business matters, Mrs. Peck de-
oided 10 conduct the transactions with
her Aston House correspondent in per-
son, and meeting was arranged, a;
which Columbina told her that, as his
MS capital was all tied UP. he could not
manage TO let her have TIE actual cash
but that he would place in her hands
ten one thousand dollar Richmond coun-
~ bonds, to oe considered as equivalent
to $4,000. They parted with the under
standing that they were to meet aea,n
az the same place In four days. and
Mrs. Peck fastened down TO Wall Street
70 consult broker on the value of
Richmond county bonds. She found that
they We're quoted at par. but she was
warned that she had better be careful
in de2lins with them. and received the
numbers of the bonds stolen from the
McSorleys.
When Mrs. Peck met Colubina ac-
cording to her appointment she biuntly
charged him with dealing in stolen Sc
curities at which Columbina compliment
ed her on her keenness and limited that
persons Of unimpeacha5le honesty could
rarely afford TO dispose of bonds at half
their value. Such a clever woman az
she appeared 10 be, he protested. would |
not nave much trouble in disposing OF |
bonds at half their face value and net
ting 5000 by the operation Mrs Peck |
wasn't quite so sure about that I. |
seemed 10 her to be pretty risky spec |
ulat:on, and when she left Columbina |
the relative advantages OF undertaking |
the operation and OF assisting the own
ers OF the bonds 10 recover their prop
erty. She finally decided in favor OF /
the latter course az being the safer and |
also likely TO afford sure profit.
she met Colunbina the next day at
a hotel in Brooklyn, where he showed |
her the ten bonds stolen from the Nc
Sorleys, and. having satisfied herself on
.hat point, Mrs. Peck arranged for en-
other Interview at the Aston House on
the following day. and then HE'D her to
police headquarters. where she informed
me fully Of everything that sne hai
done. II was very desirable that Col
umbina should be captured with the s:o-
len nlonds IN his possession, and 10 make
sure Of this / arranged that Mrs. Peck
should give a certain signal 10 two de-
tectives whom 1 detailed To follow her
as soon as she was sure that her COM
panion had the bonds with MIN
'She went 10 the As;or House the FOL
lowing cay. and again met CoiunIbins.
who was July Identified by the detect
ives. He hal not brought the bonds
with MIN. and when he Left the detect
ives followed him % Jersey City snd
located him in house in which ne
lived with his wife and daughter A.
this lest interview Mrs. Peck had beaten
down the price OF the bonds from $500
10 5000 for TIE lot.
ON the following day Colunloina net
her in the Barclay street ferry house
and handed her one OF the bonds. fo-
which she paid him $500. AS he received