Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31
SMART WOMAN CROOK
Queen Elias" Remarkable
Career of Crime
ON TWO CONTINENTS
WAS THE ORIGINATOR OF MANY
swINDLING GAMES,
And Found Them All Proftable-Even
Did the Proprietor of q
Gambling House.
]N TWO CONTINENTS
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
That Cleveland town isn't so far down
on the list when it comes to producing
smart women" observed a grizzled veteran
of the New York detective force who was
in Washington recently on a requisition
case Whatever else they're saying or
writing about Mrs. Cassie Chadwick, 1
don't hear it claimed anywhere that she
hasn't shown herself TO be smarter than
double-lashed cow-quirt. But long years
before Mrs. Chadwick was out of her short
skirts and pigtails Cleveland had picked
up a reputation as a developer of clever
women criminals. i am not saying this as
a knock for Cleveland, but simply because
It's the fact. Detroit, a town not far from
Cleveland, has for many years been known
TO police folks as the place from which an
extraordinarily disproportionate crowd of
the smartest male crooks on earth hail
from and that isn't saying that Detroit
isn't a nice city. in the same way, the
pretty Cleveland place isn't responsible
for the big mob OF class y women crlfni-
nails from that town that have shone lu-
mnously in the criminal world.
zone of the smartest female crooks that
the police of the world ever had to con-
tend with was Ella Mayhew-'Queen Ella,
she was called-of Cleveland.
In her day-and 1t was a long one
Ella MAYHEM was easily the star female
crook of the United States. If not of the
world She had all of the women grafters
that ever L ran into-and I've handled a
few-Iashed to the mast and asleep at the
switch, and right down to the present min
ute the old-time stars among the male
crooks doff their bonnets at the mere men
ton of Queen Elias name The lags par
ticularly reverenced Ella because she al
ways took care of them when they were
in trouble If any of the push had 10 stand
for a pinch anywhere from Saugerties to
Shanghai, Ella was there with her entire
bank roll, If necessary, to fix up the bail
thing or to otherwise salve the nabbed one s
way out. She was never known to shake a
pal or even an ex-pal. There never was
time when 1t was safe for her to come out
into the open that she didn't do 1t for the
purpose Of digging up bail or passing over
"A trial fund for the corralled chook with
whom she had worked, and even for plenty
with whom she'd never yoked up on jobs.
1t was that little characteristic that kept
Queen Ella out of prison on a good many
occasions when ii looked bad for her. The
gratitude of prospecting crooks for whom
she had stood when they were in trouble
always took them to Elias aid in punches
and squads whenever she got grabbed and
was scheduled for a long bit, and in nearly
every case this sort of help pulled her
through tidily. Considering the kind OF
long chances that Ella Mayhem took for
so many years. she did very little time-she
had too many friends,
All One to Her.
Amy old game. with enough in 1t. was
good enough for Ella during the quarter
Of century that she was playing them
both ends from the middle and coming and
going shoplifting on toppy plane, spark
grating for the big ones. straight dip work
in crowds. laying down the queer or bogus
checks, running "A swagger fence, skinning
marks at cards. stringing along with the
green goods people, smuggling; it was all
one to Ella. so long as the coin was in
sight. don't believe that I'm going too
far in saying thai she probably picked up
more money during her active career than
any criminal. man or woman. in American
police history.
Nobody ever succeeded in getting Ella
Mayhem to give up anything about her
connections or her early life. bat she was