Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1905-05-13
THE CASE OF NAN PATTERSON

New York yesterday on her own re-
cognizance, is virtually free, as it is gen
erally believed that she has been ar
raigned the last time on the charge o.
killing Caesar Young. A synopsis ol
her meteor-likc career is interesting:
Young, bookmaker, was riding in
han ,om cab with Nan Patterson, A
former chorus girl, on the morning oi
June 4, 1904, in New York, when, al
the corner of West Broadway and Frank
lin street, at $50 o'clock, the driver
heard the report Of a pistol in the cab.
Without looking inside of the vehicle tc
see what had happened-sO he alter
ward testified in court-he drove to the
nearest police station, and there Nan
told the officers that Young had shot
himself during the scullle with her, she
having tried to take the weapon away
from him. Young was ON the point OF
leaving for Europe and would have sail
ed that morning.
The defense afterward sought to set
up the theory that the bookmaker, WHO
had maintained intimate relations with
Nan, though he was married. had killed
himself in moment OF desperation at
the prospect of separation from the wo-
man he loved; while the prosecution
maintained that Miss Patterson had fired
the fatal shot, being driven to the deed
by his avowed determination to discard
her. Young had treated Nan with great
liberAIity and, according to the prosecu-
ton. had expended on her in the one
year their acquaintance lasted not less
than $50, coo. Before the shooting the
couple had visited divers restaurants and
taken several drinks.
The FIRST trial began Oh November 10,
1904, and was brought to a halt after lO
days by the illness of juror. On Dec
ember 5 of the same year the second trial
commenced, continuing until December
2G, when the jury was discharged be-
cause it could not agree. Nan Patterson
was put on trial for the third time on
April is, and on May 4, early in the
morning, the jury was discharged by
Recorder Gofl because it could not agree.
A related issue was the long-conllnued
chase after Mr.. and Mrs. j. Morgan
smith, brothei-in-law and sister, respec'
lively. of the accused, who we're sought
as witnesses in the case Of Nan aud were
also accused of having conspired toex-
tort money from Caesar Young. This
charge was dropped after the discharge oi
the third jury.
Nan Patterson was born in Washing
ton less than 90 years ago. While she
was a mere child her father took his
family to the country beyond the Poto-
mac to live. Nan grew up OH farm
and reveled in rural life as any city-bol q
girl would at that age. She was always
athletic and never tired of her romps
over furrowed land and long iaunts
through the woods.
Those who knew Nan Patterson as
the bare-headed woodsprite Of Virginia,
and even those who knew her as a
schoolgirl in Washington a few years
later, marvel as they ponder on the trans
formation that evolved the Nan Patter'
son of the "Florodora" sex!et aud the
Nan Patterson, prisoner at bar.
John X. Patterson, the girls father,
found it necessary to take bis family
back to Washington TO give the children
the education and culture which the
name demanded. The Pattersons were
prominent. Mans uncle was a United
States Senator-the late j. w. Patler-
son, of New Hampshire, who served
from 1867 20 1878. Her father, John
II. Patterson, has held many public Of
fees at Washington, aud at the time
Nan left the farm TO return TO the city
for her education he was chief clerk to
the Supervising Architect of the United
States. The Paltersons we're related ia
the Randolphs of Virginia. Ia this way
the girl gets the middle name Of Ran
dolph.
Bright and brimful or vitality. Nan
Patterson had little trouble master
ing her lessons as a schoolgirl, but
the life she had led in the country
left little londness for books in heI
mind. aud she gave nearly all of hel
time TO athletic and out-of-dOOr sports,
paying only sufficient attention to
her studies to grasp the general benefits
of each lesson and make her records
good before the class. As a mere chile
Nan Patterson could jump the rope more
times than any other girl Of the neigh
bJrhood and she was the most robus
child in school,
When still quite young Nan becam'
"stagestruck," and was encouraged IL
this idea by her first lover. AT the ag'
of II years she ran away with ant
married. Leon J. Martin, of Syracuse
who was employed by railroad on thu
Pacific slope. The marriage proveC
unhappy from the start. 1t estrange'
the girl from her family from the tlm'
! end freed her from whatever restraint
sshe had been under up to that time
TShe turned to the stage. by and b!
Nan became member of the "Floro
doro'' sextext. She had then been OF
the stage sufficiently long to catch tn
craving for life of luxury, of bohemian
reyelry during the small hours of morn
ing. of 6nery, carriage drives, cham
psgne suppers and all those thing
which are the essentials Of the "Pac
that kills."
Everybody knows what it counted 10
in those days to be "Florodora" girl