Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-03-17

SHE'S A SHARPER.

There is an old saying that there are
tricks in all trades but Mrs. Mary A.
Mohr, of Stanley, appears to have an
over abundance of this commodity, in
fact they appear to be her whole stock
in trade. After being liberated from
the county jail here on Tuesday last
she started for her home at Stanley,
but while about to board train at
Marshfield was arrested by Sheriff
Bourn, of Portage county, and taken to
Stevens Point. 1t appears that at some
time in December, Mrs. Mohr visited
that city and to Mrs. Susan Bowersock
unfolded tale of woe regarding some
difficulty the formers son had gotten
into. She desired money to straighten
out matters, and partly sayel the good
name of the family, and from Mrs.
Bowersock solicited a loan. She in
formed the lady of the value of her
holdings at Stanley. and agreed to give
mortgage on the property, but in this
case was not so generous in her security
I AS she had been in the execution of her
former mortgages, for the instrument
only covers an so acre farm and thirty
head of stock. To Mrs. Bowersock she
stated that these were first mortgages,
and being amply secured as she thought
the woman gave to Mrs. Mohr part of
the money and sent her the balance by
express, $3.50 in all. The Milwaukee
papers of Sunday, March 7th, however,
contained accounts of Mrs. Mohr's
swindling operations, and these articles
were brought to the attention of Mrs.
Bowersock, who then, for the first time,
became alarmed, and placed the matter
before Dist. Atty Dahl, and the arrest
followed AS stated. When she appeared
in court she was represented by counsel
and pleaded not guilty to the charge,
and her examination was postponed
until today, she being required to fur
nish bail in the sum of 81, 1000. Since
then the Stevens Point authorities have
learned of another operation in that
city by the same woman. 1t is said
that she also swinded the Stevens Point
Tannery company out of $50 worth of
furs.
In speaking IF her examination at
Colby the Colby correspondent of the
Marathon County Register says:
"a crowd collected to listen to the
trial which rese mbled an old Methodist
camp meeting. Many were present
from Unity; some as witnesses, and
others more out of curiosity, for the
fame of the defendant had gone abroad
in the land, and if one-half of the
stories told of her being able to gull all
classes, bankers, business men, lawyers.
doctors, farmers, and washer women
are true, then she is ore of the most ac-
complished confidence operators in the
United States. Her personal appear.
ance is very disappointing, she being
long, angular, and hungry looking, re-
sembling somewhat an i'll made and
poorly constructed rag doll. Her face
in color and general appear
ance an old burnt shoe pack"
Mrs. Mohr, it appears, is at all times
as busy as the proverbial bee. 1t is
said she is in possession of mileage
tickets on different railroads, and is
travelling from one town to another all
the time, carrying on her occupation.
If she is successful in securing bail at
Stevens Point as she no doubt will be,
aud providing she meets with no more
in the meantime, she can,
before her trial, by following her avo.
cation, secure enough money to carry
on her defense, and the Judge and jury
will be lucky if she don't fleece them,
for she has an oily tongue. Unless
her case is put on the next calendar for
Portage county, she will probably
be tried on the Marathon county charge
first, for while she is under a previous
indictment to answer a similar charge
in Buffalo county, the circuit court for
that county does not convene until
next October.