Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-01-26

a doctor be called. The next day Mrs.
Desplaines told him Duke and Miss
Webb had gone away to be married, and
the day after the marriage, so Osbaldes-
ton told District Attorney Jerome, Mrs.
Duke came to him and showed him her
marriage certificate, saying:
Now address me as Mrs. Duke with
the $40, 600, 900. Oh, my God, what I have
gone through and suffered in the last
few weeks to get this can't tell you.
But, thank God, it is over"
1t is a curious part of this extraordin-
airy case that nearly everybody connected
with it has a record. Osbadeston admits
that he was once arrested in Montreal
with a woman named Louisa Weiss, who
was accused of theft, and that he spent
| several years in an insane asylum there.
In August, 1892, he was shot while inves-
| tigating a suspected dive in New York
city. Later he had a silver plate inserted
in his skull to cover the hole made in it
by a colored man who shot him while he
was thus engaged in another raid. In
1901 the Weiss woman went to Germany
where %Osbaldeston followed her. There
in the course of his life of adventure
he was assaulted by a man named We'll,
whom he shot dead. Osbaldeston was
chased by a mob and fired and killed
the leader. Subsequently he was set
free on the ground that he fired in self
defense. He was also once arrested in
Washington, D. c., for extorting money
from the owner of a massage establish
ment, but this case was dismissed.
While the examination of the persons
principally involved in the Duke mar
riage tangle was under way and evil
dence was being prepared for submits
sion to the grand jury, District Attorney
Jerome was informed that Mrs. Duke
did not own the valuable tobacco lands
in Texas which had figured in her bust.
ness relations with the impressionable
Mr.. Duke. She once held title to some
property, but it had previously been sold
under sheriff's execution for $3.50, and
instead of being very valuable it was
probably worth only about that sum.
In any case, Mrs. Duke declared that
she would stand on her rights as a law
full wife and began habeas corpus pro-
ceedings for the recovery Of her hus-
band from the hospital. The Duke fam
lily are equally determined that the
separation shall be final, regardless of
the modification and scandal growing
out of court proceedings.
The Ways of the City.
One fact which has come to light in
the course Of the inquiry made by the
criminal authorities in this case is that
there are a number of disreputable
women in the city of New York who
live in good style, in pretentious quar-
tiers, and make it their special business
to keep informed about the habits of
men of wealth who are given to dissi-
patton and loose living. They maintain
elegantly furnished apartments, are
women of good manner and pleasing
address, and under the pretense of car
rying on regular business operations are
really concerned with wheedling money
out of their victims by fair means and
foul. Several Of these cases which have
been uncovered have been suppressed
by the victims for fear of disgraceful
publicity. The Duke case has gone too
far to be suppressed. Whether or not
charges of conspiracy can be proved in
court, exposure should help to check
similar operations by women hanging
on the fringes of society.