Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-10-25
WOMAN is AN EMBEZZLER.
Alice NJ. Barrett's Case Disproves ths
Sex's Innate Honesty,

EeX'S lnuatc
Ever since woman entered the do
main of active business, accepted and
performed the duties of trust and re-
sponsibility, it has been urged that the
gentler sex is essentially honest. A
woman embezzler has been regarded as
an impossibility. The sex has not been
sufficient 10 protect them from the
commission of other crimes, but that
one would deliberately steal from an
employer and endeayor to conceal the
defalcation has been considered of the
things not possible to nature.
This dream of superiority in innate
honesty received a rude shock when
the tragic fate of Miss Alice NJ. Bar
rett, the Boston bookkceper and stenog-
rapher, showed that under the same
temptation and with the same incent-
ives at work, there can be and Is but
difference in humanity, whether
clad in skirts or trousers. Sad as 1t is
to the sorrowing relatives, sad as it
may seem TO all who sympathize with
them IN their double bereavement, the
evidence was too direct to admit of
doubt. The young woman not only took
the funds of her employers, but, fear
ing the inevitable exposure incident to
change in the makeup Of the firm,
followed in the footsteps of so many Of
the same class. She ended her own
life, rather than face the consequences
of exposure.
The story of the death and all of the
circumstances surrounding it has been
told. The fact that an effort had been
made to destroy the cash book by fire
was known within a day after TIE fact
was known that bullet and not light
ming caused the death of the attractive
young woman.
Scarcely anyone could be surprised
/ at the result of the examination of the
firms books, after her mother had ad-
mitted that the girl had lived on scale
that her salary could not possibly JUS
tify, and after it had been shown that
the girl had suffered serious losses in
wildcat speculation. A complete chain
of circumstantlal evidence had been
forged. 1t shows that Alice Barrett
was extravagant in her expenditures,
IhdG oiC lsbhlDitt III SlOtho, tudl Sllt
took her employers money in order to
keep up this speculation, thGt she set
fire to the books in order to conceal the
defalcation, and perhaps with the in
tention of destroying the building in or
der to do so. and that she finally shot
herself in order to avoid facing the dis
covery and disgrace which she sup
posed threatened her.
She was endowed with lively i'm
aGination. She did not care for men
nor for marriage, at least a marriage
which would pinion her to the ordinary
duties of q housewife. In one of her
letters she said she preferred to sip her
p, own cup Of tea alone and only stipulat-
ed that the tea should be of good quail
lty, and that she should not be obliged
to drink it out of a cracked cup. She
thought she was denied opportunity
and she attempted to create it. Some
where or somehow she had heard of
the wonderful things done in the buck
ct shops. Here, she thought was
quick road to wealth, not wealth for its
own sake, but for the sake of the op-
portunities it would give her. She lost,
and to cover this made false entries in
the books.
1t appears that Miss Barrett had
been pursuing this dangerous course
for about year, when the awful day
OF reckoning came. The books, upon
examination, show very clearly when
she began to appropriate her employ.
er's money, and the clerks recollect the
fact that about the same time there
was marked change in the personal
appearance of Miss Barrett. Her man.
ner of dressing became more elaborate,
her clothing was of the richest ma
terial and expensive Jewelry figured in
her adornments. These things were ac.
counted for by the young lady to the
satisfaction of her mother but in order
TO explain these things the favorite
child Of her mother had to resort to
further deception.
The first venture in speculation had
proved failure, but, added to her de-
sire for finery, the fever of speculation
had taken possession of her. She es-
sayed second venture and wentinto the
mlre deeper and deeper. Each succeed
Ing loss seemed but to make her the
more determined, for she hoped that
success would yet come to her.
Miss Barrett's position in the Office of
Goldman & Goldman made it possible
for her to carry on this work with little
fear of detection. 1t is not believed
that Miss Barrett intended to steal out
and out her employers money, but that
she was merely using it as a means to
an end. She hoped to succeed and make
good what she had taken.