The Washington weekly post., 1899-11-14


Bertha. No. >; ana the oldest was a Mrs
Lamont. who was hunted up at the in
stigstion Of her son-in-law. Thomas Jones
stigation OF her son-in-law, Thomas
Jones, Of Dogtown. Butte County-not be-
cause he loved her. but because he ac-
cued her Of having stolen two saddles
ana bride from his barn just previous
10 her disappearance. OF the young girls
who leave their homes. the majority are
led away by false promises built on a
foundation of romantically secret gOve
affairs. Street firtations' INDUCED iu at
first in a spirit OF innocent fun By groups
OF pretty school girls. are the source Of
some Of the worst crimes that blaeken
the police annals Of our large cities.
There are girls. however. who seem tn
be naturally incorrigibie and vino desert
their homes not because OF outside per-
suasion. but simply for the reason that
they chafe under the bonds Of respects
bility and long for adventure and excite
ment and personal freedom. To this class
belongs pretty Maria Knudson. who at
the age OF sixteen stole $50 from her
mother and went to Oregon. where she
Joined the Salvation Army. in which she
was shining light vOcally and prayer
fully until her brother hunted her up and
brought her home, where she was freely
forgiven and lovingly reinstated. Therc
was no man in the case whatever. but the
girl was one of the kind who hated quiet
home life, and so after eight more months
OF monotonous misery she Gu; open the
back of her mothers trunk with a
hatchet. took ont S40 and-yanished again
/ found her"-the wonder says thLs I'm
the most casual manner-'llving quite
alone in second-class, but thoroughly
respectable, lodging-house. and with only
& in her possession, the rest of her plum
der having been spent for cheap jeweiry
ard solitary. but presumably soul-satisfy-
ing hack rides.
This Girl Loved Excitement.
Ida Trapp. Of Carson City. was a girl
of the same disposition. with, however,
the element Of dishonesty left out. Miss
Trapp, though the daughter OF well-to-do
people. had never had any opportunity to
see the world outside OF her home town
She had, however, "a small bank account
in her own name, and one day she drew
her money and became invisible. For
three weeks all manner of theories were
put forward to account for her d.sap-
pearance-murder. abduction. suicide. and
every other dreadful possible reason for
her loss wass suggested to her distracted
in San Francisco. boarding with respect
able people and happily engaged in seeing
all the many places of interest in and
about San Francisco In the most conven-
tional and proper manner imaginable un-
der the chaperonage Of her estimaDle
hostess. Quite as innocent and yet quite
as trying to her friends was pretty Aggie
Ward who hated TO sew and wished
she was a boy and created wild sensa-
tons by having her dainty boots black
ened at boOtblack stands whistling
through her fingers when she wanted to
stop street cars, and taking meteoric
drives in the park strapped into a racing
sulky behind the fastest horse that she
could hire There was nothing really
wrong about Aggie"-the detectives
smile is very kindly as he speaks-'for all
her escapades came merely from girlish
love of excitement. But when she ran
away from home to join a theatrical
company that didn't want her, had to go
after her and bring her back. I remem-
bered that the saucy little thing kissed
her hand to me In the court room when
her mother took her away" And he
laughed outright at the recollection.
''One Of the oldest cases that / ever
knew Of" he goes on, was that of a
away together from an almost palatial
home in Sacramento. The head of the
house was a rather stern man Of seventy
years, and his ideas OF home rule SEEM
ed very arbitrary to his wife and child,
who came here and set up housekeeping
for themselves, but were glad enough to
return when / found them. for their
money was giving out and neither OF
them Knew how to earn more
What was the queerest case | ever
knew Off" brief season of retrospec-
ton follows this question. 'Well. that
one of Ella Wilson of Los Gatos, has
never been really explained. That girl
was lost for two weeks, and when she
was dug up in Montgomery street Iodg-
lng-house she was a sight TO behold. She
had eaten and drank absolutely nothing
for fye days and nights although she
had plenty of money and a quantity of
valuable tewelry with her. She looked
ike living skeleton. and she claimed
that she had left her home and come to
tnis city under the hypnotic influence of
woman at Los Gatos whose name she
refused 20 TELL and that she had been
perfectly unconscious of her actions or
surroundings until just before her restora-
ton 10 home and friends She had been
quite alone all Of the time. and no harm
came to her out OF the affair." except a
Drlef illness, due to her self-imposed star
vatiOn.
Remarkable Female Thief.
THE most remarkable one in the line OF
thievery Tas the original woman In
black. who, ten years ago, stole over
S21OW worth of jewelry and other yalu-
ables here in San Francisco. after serving
sentence in Sing Sing for stealing $4,000
Ia government bonds from room In the
st. Nicholas Hotel IN New York City.
Then there were the Noodle Girls and
Eva Doherty. known a year or so ago
"a the toughest child In the city
But :he girl who has given me the
most trouble In that way is Annie Meyers.
German girl. who for more than ff-
teen years has been a constant source
of annoyance to the police Annie began
to steal when she was eight years old.
her first big exploit being TO clear our
ali the smaller treasures Of her own home
and distribute them among her playmates.
| have arrested this girl over and over.
and as her favorite method OF procedure
is 10 answer advertisements for domes-
tics and work Just long enough to secure
few articles OF value. and she goes
under many different names. / am never
sure when / go 10 arrest a dishonest
servant. unless Annie Is safely behind
the bars. that she is not the
letic as she was gentle-mannered, de-
mUre and acquisitive, Tor only last
year when ] arrested her down on Sixth
street. she jumed power the railing Of a
veranda twenty-five feet from the ground
and then climbed an elght-foot fence and
ran several blocks 10 get away from
me-"
did yoG jump after her%'
mo, but ! caugnt her all the same
I've beeB pretty near getting killed.
though, several times since ! went into
this work. the flrst time not quite TWO
months after getting my appointment
John X. Samuels, then deputy sheriff OF
COiusa County, tried % shoot me then.
and came very near doing a., too. but |
,!ldn't really blame him much under the
circumstance. You see, he sent his wife
here for a six months visit for her health,
and she got IN with tough lot and went
10 the bad. so that she was soon known
as drunken frankie all over the Barbary
coast. he didn't know a word OF II, of
g.sss - L.. d..