The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-06-02
AGED DUPE TELLS
TALE OF EXTORTION
Poses. as Suffering Victim
of Tawny Enchantress.
DID NOT PAY FAST ENOUGH
Accepts Exposure as Only Means of
Saving 100000 Wrested From
Him by Adventures.

! NEW YORK. June 2-Johu r. PIatt.
retired glass manufacturer. of Z East
| Fifty-fourth Street. near Fifth Avenue.
/ who is eighty-four years old. and who
/ has sued to recover $685.. 1856 from Hannah
Elias, the negro woman, which sum
/ he AYERS he gave her in various amounts
/ since 1894, told his full story when asked
! the following question:
What was II that impelled you at this
late day 10 start proceedings to recover
4 your money, KNOWING mat ii would
bring about just that exposure TO avoid
which you have paid out nearly S7OO,OcD
/ In the last eight years?
IL was useless to attempt to keep UP
the pace any longer" he replied. THE
woman's demands began TO grow more
and more eXorbitant. She Kept on
| threatening to expose me to my family.
| Up to within few weeks ago she had
never actually gone 10 any member of
my family, but then, because l did not
] respond with as much as she thought /
| ought to, she sent some one to see my
\ brother. Isaac S. Platt, of 10 East
/ Sixty second Street, who Is president of
| the Buckeye Mower and Reaper Com
pany.
Not Paying Fast Enough.
This emissary Of the Elias woman
told my brother that had not been pay
( ing up fast enough, nor in sufficiently
/ large amounts. and that II I did not Go
! better she would find means TO let my
married daughters know all about nv
relations with her.
Il therefore talked the whole thing
over with my brother and my sOn-in-
law. and we concluded that as long as
exposure was inevitable II might just
as well come before she had reduced
me to poverty. have no doubt that
even II had actually given her my
last dollar she never would have be-
heYed 1t, and would not have felt salts
ned until she had me up for supple
mentary proceedings 10 be sure I had
no more
1T has been said that you are so
wealthy that the 100000 you gave her
mas not embarrassed your it was sUg-
Il have something left yet" said Mr..
Flatt with chuckle. but I'd like 10
/ get back some of the houses and lots
she blackmailed out of me Her in
roads have made a big hole in my pile"
When did you first meet this ne
about twenty years ago. when she
was girl Of about sixteen or seven
teen.
octorOon again until about nine years
ago when. being troubled with rheuma-
I tism. read an advertisement in the
paper that a certain perSon in Third
Avenue could cure rheumatism by mas
sage. I went to the address given and
was surprised to find that the adver-
User was none other than the pretty
little octoroon girl now grown into full
womanhood.
Cured Him of Rheumatism
"She reiterated to me then what she
| had often before told me. that she was
( not negress. but that she WIS Of Span
/ ish extraction, and told how glad she
was 10 be able to get out OF that rnulat-
/ 10 boarding house where she had al
! WAYS been mistaken for negress
She treated me for rheumatism for
several hr##
/ One day she expressed the desire to
/ give up the massage business and start
a boarding house, and, as she had rem
| dered me valuable service in Kidding me
] Of my rheumatism, 1 volunteered to
start her in the business. 1 don't re
member how much I gave herr She did
as swore 70 In my complaint. represent
20 me when met her again. eight years
ago, that she was stilF single and viz
tuous." -.....
It viii be recalled that in his affidavit.
1 prepared by his lawyers, Mr.. PIatt went
/ back only eight years-to the time when
she. as he ALLEGES, began 20 extort money
from him.
Have you ever been mistaken for the
late Andrew II. Green?" was asked
I don't know that I have But
probably owe my life 10 the fact that
Mr.. Green was mistaken for me by the
negro Williams. Mr.. Green occasionally
visited his relatives. Mr.. and Mrs Rich
/ ard Henry Green. at z35 Central Park
west, which Is next door TO Hannah
/ Elias home, at 235 Central Park West
This crazy negro must have known that
I was in the habit Of visiting the Elias
house. and had probably seen me ente-
| and leave there enough TO be familiar
with my face.
Both Mr.. Green and I wore white
| boards. Either on the night Of the muir
der or on some previous JccasiOn~the
negro must have been on the lookout
near the Elias home. He probably caught
a glimpse Of Mr.. Green just as he had
left the Green house, 23j, and. supposing
IL was ! who was coming away from 23G
he followed Mr.. Green 10 Green's home
In that way he located what he sun
posed to be my home.
Mistake Saved His Life.
1t is evident that the murderous ne
gro thought II was I when he killed Mr.
Green. I am certainly much Obliged C
the negro for not killing me. but it f.
unfortunate that MI Green should hav,
been an innocent victim. Hannah Elias
often told me that she saw Mr. Green
calling on his nephew next door and
after the murder she used the murder as
"A peg upon which to hang up more bills
for silence, saying that she would let
the public know that il was L anC
not Green, that her jealous negro friend
intended TO kill I understood that she
did tell District Attorney Jerome at tho
time exactly what the real circumstances
were.
Il hate the exposure beyond measure
but. as long as II had 10 come. I decided
that i would do what / could to saw,
my family all l could Of the 100000 this
adventures has Wrestcd from mo nrf
or my married daughters is living with
me at my Fifty-fOurth Street home and
nave another married daughter living
out West"
A civil order for the arrest Of Mrs
Elias was issued yesterday afternoon
II VIII be served toady. An attachment
Tor property has also been issued