Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-14

VIII MAnZ wv. ]
dresseu and she will be sure to notice you:
When you see that she does let your friend
hand you a roll of bills. Let Lena see
them and then put them in your purse.
She ii attend to the rest. But you had bet
ter put something else in the purse-some-
thing that can be better identified than the
bills -
a diamond ring that had been presented
TO the woman by bazaar commit lee was
put in, and the plot worked admirably.
Mrs Kleinschmidt stole the purse, but the
two women let her go, telling the watch
ing detectives that they would have her ar
rested later.
A few nights afterward Mrs. Kleinschmidt
gave her most ambitious ball. She was at
the pinnacle of her glory, because the wo-
man whose husband she had beguiled had
announced her intention of being present.
She was at the top of local society and had
disdained BLACK Lenas' previous invi-
tations, so her capitulation was a great
triumph.
much-desired guest appeared. She was in
walking dress and a detective followed her.
m sorry to interrupt you ALL she said
quietly, but this woman is q thief
The guests stared in amazement thinking
she had gone crazy, but she continued:
Its surprising, isn't it? Yet she picked
my pocket on Broadway a few days ago.
There's my ring on her finger now You
must all remember that one you gave me at
the bazaar"
BLACK Lena tried to bluff it out, but
she had to give up.
We'll. I've had a bully good timer she
told the detective. I've shown these silly
asses how to spend money. Are we going
over to little old New York tonight?'
Yes Come along said the officer and
that was the end of BLACK Lena's" brief
career as a society leader
Ellen S. Peck.
Ellen s. Peck, the confidence queen"
made great sums of money by ingenious
frauds In the seventies and eighties Be-
fore 1878 she was petty sharper. but in
that year she swindled B. T. Rabbit, a
soap manufacturer out of $4,000, and rose
at bound to high place in the HER
archy of thieves.
Mr.. Rabbit had been robbed a short
while before of more than 100000 by some
of his employees. Ellen went to him and
represented that she was a female de-
tective and could get his money back for
him at a comparatively small cost. So
plausible was her story that he gave her
the $4,000 she asked-and that was the end
of it. Or, rather, it was not; for six years
later her husband had the effrontery to
sue Mr.. Babbitt for 100000 damages for
his action in trying to recover the money
from his wife.
Mrs. Peck was concerned In scores of
similar swindles for larger or smaller
amounts between the years 1878 and 1885.
One of her frauds was very much like
that of Madame Humbert, and it is con-
celvable that the notorious French wo-
man may have taken hint from her ca
reer
She hired compartment in a safe de-
post vault and forged upon the rent re-
celpt specifications of diamonds and other
valuable securities. Then she pretended
that she could not get at the compartment
because the articles in it were the sub
jects Of tigation-precisely the Humbert
method.
BY exhibiting the receipt and telling this
story Mrs. Peck raised many large loans
one of them from a notorious fence" who
was himself an unusually shrewd sharper.
No Sense of "Honor.''
Ellen had, indeed, no idea of "honor
among thieves She would rather swIndle
a thief than an honest man. As a police
inspector who knew her we'll says, "she
delighted in outwitting professional Grim
inals and invariably succeeded in her
tricks" She also acted as stool pigeon
for the police and brought about the ar
rest of the notorious julius Columbani
Columbani had broken into a house on
Staten Island in 1882 and stolen $4,000 in
bonds. Two years later he met Mrs Peck
at the Astor House and suggested that she
should give him 5000 for $40, 900 worth of
bonds, which he had not been able to
negotiate. They haggled over the price,
and then arranged to meet again and con-
clude the bargain.
In the meantime Mrs. Peck went to the
police and told them all about the matter,
Offering her aid to entrap Columbani. De-
tectives We're put at her disposal, and she
arranged to signal to them as soon as she
was sure that Columbani had the bonds
on his person.
The man and woman met and entered
saloon, 'shadowed'' by the detectives.
vfc1-xr
bani growled as they haggled again over
the price of the bonds. Il don't like it at
all! l don't trust you, somehow"
I'm taking most of the risk" retorted
the woman. I'm playing my good money
against your doubtful bonds"
Columbani looked at her suspiciously,
his eyes blazing with anger, and asked,
abruptly:
DO you know Inspector Byrnesg"-the
very police officer to whom she had be-
trayed him.
Without the flicker of an eyelid the
woman replied that she did not.
Well" said the man, .'if you give me
away I'll kill you. I've got pistol and
knife here now. I've been in state prison,
and I'd sooner kill myself than go back
there. The keepers are all down on me
because rounded on them when + gave
evidence about prison life before the as
sembly committee. They'll kill me by
inches If 1 ever get back into their
clutches. SO, II you giveane away I'll kill
you and myself, too"
To emphasize his threat Columbani took
a revolver from his pocket and leveled it
at the womans head.
She was grit clean through"
80 you've got it out at last, have you?"
she sneered. You coward! I'm woman.
but no man ever frightened me yet. Look
here! / carry one of these things myself
Called His Bluff.
She drew revolver from the bosom of
her dress and pointed it at him. So they
stood for a few moments, rigid as statues,
each having the other covered"
The detectives. watching outside. saw
the incident, and in their excitement
made an incautious noise that betrayed
their presence. Columbani darted past
them and escaped. throwing away his
stolen bonds. He was arrested next day,
convicted, mainly on Mrs. Peck's evil
dence. and sentenced to twelve years in
state prison.
Mrs. Peck was even more successful than
Mary Hansen in lodging prison. She
employed the best counsel out of the pro-
ceeds OF her numerous swindles and ex-
kausted every legal expedient to defeat
Justice. She swindled Rabbit of $4,000 in
1875 but she was not sent to jail until 1885,
when she got four and half years in the
neuitpnfitry for defraudinp n leading life