The sun., 1899-04-02
CITY RUINEDHER, ,LETITPAY
LEGIST iTION TO MAKE AMENDS EOR
RITTER WRONG DONE

ft"fHf y ' h'N y" H5hF -IHB NDS EOK
RITTER WRONG DONE.
Gov. Roosevelt Tells of n Case Found by
the Legal Aid Society, of n Woman I'm
Peril of Robbers Sent to n Mndhousc he.
cause OF Her Fears aud Robbed at Easo.
This is the story OF great wrong wrought By
the law: OF how those who are paid to admin
lister justice unwittingly did bitter injustice
to an innocent woman. 1t may very we'll be
the one case out OF many that have happened
from time to time TO come to the light. The
circumstances came to the notice OF Gov. Roose-
welt. and he is now trying TO secure legislation
to indemnify the victim for her losses and suf-
terings. In illustration OF the many calls upon
the attention OF the Governor of this State he
gave an outline OF this case in his speech at
the Citizens Union Club dinner on Friday night
without giving the name of tho woman.
For the purposes Of this account she may be
called Mrs. Muller She is a respectable Ger.
man woman who speaks no English and has
been in this country only few months. When
she landed she had money and property
amounting 10 about ST 800. and she took
lodgings in this city preparatory to embarkna
in business on small scale II her plans. in
which relative of hers was interested. should
mature. Other persons in the house where
shc lived found out about her money and set
about getting 1T from her. Several schemes
were set afoot to swindo the woman by ficti-
tiouS business ventures. but she saw through,
them a II and at last told the would-be thieves
plainly that she understood their plans and
would thank them to leave her alone There,
upon one OF the men threatened her with
bodily harm. saying that she had agreed to put
money into his business. and that il she failed
him he would kill her ,
The exact plans of tho consprators in their
next move do not appear. but it is certain that
this man and his confedcrates sought to
frghten the woman away from her lodgings,
and to this end they made what was probably
fake attack upon her in the hallway one
evening. This SO terrified Mrs. Muller that
she remained in her room the next day with
tho door locked. and ON tho day following
went out cautiously to seek help She was
very much excited. and rushed at the
first policeman she met. pouring forth
her story with tears in vehement Ger
man. of which the officer understood not
one word. What he did understand. how
ever. was that there was something wrong
somewhere SO he took the woman to the
station house. There the Sergeant made out
this much. that somebody had threatened her
with harm of some sort. SO he did the natural
and right thing and sent her to the nearest
police court with the officer. not under arrest,
but merely that she might put herself in the
hands OF the Magistrate. whose business 1t 10
to lODk after Just Such cases.
Now. the Magistrates Of this city have very
many cases of vcrv many kinds to look after
and they occasionally make mista kes; This
Sn patgntn ns sonsdfrn99 9f rs The fregm
quite incoherent but the one idea which she
succeeded in expressing with great force was
that there was somebody, who wanted to kill
her. This She repeated time after time with
tears and tremblingsi, for AL this matter of be-
ing taken to Il police station and then to
"A pXDlnin
places she didn't understand and she was
ms wss hEFn iha ,He nEssRss eG Rsh0t so1 Of
afflicted with the common deuson about mur-
! liccman who had brought her to court to make
complaint against her of insanity, on which
mental condition. Here there would seem @ Ito to
have been some carelessness. too. for the doc.
| basis of her insistcnce on the plot to murder
her The conspirators' plot, was working bet
Mrs Muller was efrectuay out of the Way iTso SO
| far as their purposes were concerned.
Am ,And she might have % remained there until she
strain Of her misfortunes but for the relative
with whom she was going into business part
from the police station 70 the court and from
there to the asylum and finally got her case in
Iuircd into. Three months after she was sent
away she came out free woman-and paurer.
All her rroncrty had disappeared during her
| incarcrration. nor was there any way to trace
| any rate it was gone and the city of New. York
failed 10 make Mrs. Muller a iunatic had pretty
eflectunlIy ruined her life. When she found her
Brought Po with Ger % from 0 The % other Pg Side to the the
new country dis1rate1 apparently beyond
heI she was ready f ha t" give up and go back to
Ihrr.., is an institution in this city called the
IIrgal Aid Society. of which Mr. Arthur Won
!%% % It "tTer|iss C Gov w. Hoose!SI! @ consider i
f,tl .t,,ln