The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-11-03
flame and q valet on a couch beside him.
He was always afraid OF Fisk's ghost.
JOSIE MANsFIELD.

| He was always afraid OF Fisk's ghost.
JOSIE MANsrmLD.
Helen Josephine Mansfield was a. fat
Cleopatra proud. ambitious, false and re;
vengeful. She had wit, tact and practical
sense. She was vain, oapricious, .wilful.
| generous and selfish. UNIV ritten history
I declares that outside OF the political rival.
I ries between Alexander Hamilton and
, Aaron Burr. both were en9inorod OF the
but endured Hamilton only that she might
bepuile him of secrets with which 10 In
g~ratiate herself with his rival. The same
! state of at iirs existed between Josie Mans
fold, Us she was known in those gaidy
, DAYS, and James Fisk, Jr.,. and Edward
! Stiles Stokes. Fisk spcn. n fortune on her
and a. the time she was sufreplitlously
I the chum Of Stokes.
The two women who played such bienlh-
are living to-day. The widow of FIX
lives In poverty in Boston. BY the widow
[ Of Fisk, Stokes was always regarded as a
| desperate villain: by Josie Mansfield, Stokes
! has alv avs been considered n hero. Fisk
left his widow well on, and she lived for
several years after his death at the New
York Hotel. Frank Risley, the proprietor
, OF the hotel at that time, failed and soon
after II came out that he owed Mrs. Fisk
in notes $3.50 900. Josie Mansfield was a
! native Of Boston. She was born there.
an only child, in ls+o, and is now, therefore
OF years old. Her parents removed to
Stockton, Cal, in 1882. Her father was
shot dead in a duel by John Tabor, Her
budding into a remarkably buxom beauty.
fell In love with Frank Lawlor, an actor
in Maguire's Opera House Company, and
in less than ten days she eloped with and
! married him. She became a matince
firt, and carried her firtations TO the verge
of criminelity. Among her admirers was
ID. W. Perley, an Englishman and the law
partner of Judge David $. Terry. who
killed Senator David c. Frederick in n duel.
Perley was wealthy. and for him Helen
Josephine showed a marked preference
over all other admirers. About one month
after this acquaintance had been formed,
Perley was visiting at the house OF Mrs
Warren. Some have said that Mrs. Warren
was Josie's mother. Perley was In the
parlor with Helen Josephine at ? o'clock
In the afternoon. The door was locked.
Suddenly a loud knocking was heard nj
the door. Before the inmates OF the room
had time TO respond the door was bursi
| open, and Lawlor and Mr.. Warren rushed
into the room. Each had a cooked revolver
in his hand. Lawlor quickly advanced
to Perley and placed the revolver to his
head. Warren stood guard at the door,
while Helen Josephine pretended to faint
Lawlor said Ia ferley:
VERY LIKE THE GAME.
.You Internal scoundrel. you have tam.
perod with the affections of my wife. IL
you don't instantly sign a check for 5000
will blow your brains out"
Lawlor then produced a check already
Allied up for the amount on a local bank.
only lacking the signature Of Perley. PcTley
signed 1t. Lawlor then put his pistol TO
| Perley's head "a second time. and ordered
him out Of the house, telling him If he ever
spoke of tho affair he would shoot him on
sight. When Perley escaped he hurried
10 the bank and stopped payment OF the
check. He then published the wholetrans-
action in the San Francisco newspapers,
describing II as a conspiracy by Warren,
Mrs. Warren, Lawlor and his wife, lie
also sent a friend 10 Lawlor, warning him
out Of California within thirty days, on
| penalty Of death Lawlor sailed with his
wife for New York.
In New York Helen Josephine. or. rather,
Josie, as she was knowna among the deni-
monde, found a field TO her taste. She
, got a divorce from Lawlor in 1887, coon
after her arrival here, and met james Fisk,
Jr., that same year. Fisk established her
at $50 West T~wenty-thid street. close TO
the Grand Opera HOUSE, which, in those
DAYS was the headquarters for all the mag
mates OF the Erie Railroad Company, and
where also invariably could he lou nd
William NJ. Tweed and his brother thieves
then in control Of Tanmany Hall.
feather. Her extravaganza became the
ak Of the town. Fisk gave her diamonds
by the peck. The most costly raiment
was hers and tho finest equipages made
in New York, London and Paris,
In September 1889. Fisk and his partner.
JAY Jould. engineered the great gold panic
eliminated in BLACK Friday On that
night Fisk and Josie and their companions
had a superb supper In tho West Twenty
third street establishment
In November, 1860. lust two years after
she met Fisk, Josie Mansfield was intro
duced 20 Stokes by Fisk. After Fisk dis
covered the infatuation Of Josie Mansfield
for Stokes the latter soon became awar
that the Erie Railroad ring, headed 10y
Gould and Fisk, were playing all sorts OF
tricks with him and his father and their
shipments of oil. Stokes decided to re-
t~aliate. Josie Mansfield had told Stokes
that she had in her possession a bundle OF
letters from Fisk, which would TO very
published IN the newspapers. Fisk went
Wild with rage and he brought suit against
both Stokes and Josie Mansfield, asking
that they be restrained from using these
letters TO his detriment.
JosIE's scATHIYG LETTER,
Josie Mansfield then took a hand in the
trouble. aud -he wrote the following letter
JANIS TIeK. IN str You and YOUR min
! ions o. the Ere Railroad Company ~" en-
d-hvoring 20 c~irrulat" that | an attempting
to eHtort money from YOU p, llrrat"n'd
You know how shamefHly tai-r th,, :. and
yet you encourage" aud aid u hud tlle
been my Intention. ! had a whole uIHki.l
/ would blush /. say ] Did g. lived N'N
acre not devoid ~ ga d''"r.y aud La e
that when your Own Notes To- nv orders o."
brought into m" '"ltls. '".r letters u'-
kuoNlciEiug your una'uf"1Iur- g. ne, ..
viii APPEAR gl tho mote ,.Ht,uIt,ulc 90.
cuWurdIE You UfH 10 rH.rrT tplII~rl y
1 ,rf",r"dirsr .f.in-. .i Ll"n 'm -'i','
surrender uI 30 t.r letter ,uu aiuie 0, ."
end Ifutluiuug iur irpm 'lAlrF au'i ih''n
Inc Indeed. lluk- Go u" .s"u lIrld l.N o.
UuaUt. HsTtly tho great 4LU uI-flnEulrlHl