Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-09-12
NEW YORK LOVE SYNDICATE
COMES TO A SUDDEN END

Pretty Women Lure 7hous-
ands of Dollars from, Infat-
uated Dupes Before They
Are Caught--Error of the
Actor-Butler the Cause of
Their Fall.
New York.-If Robert Emmett
Keene, actor, wit and adviser in the
court of love operated by Mrs. Izella
Brown and Mrs. George T. Verrault,
had not used bad judgment and let
James V. Mcclellan, the obscure
Philadelphia grocer, into the West
Seventy-third street mansion, all the
russ about the love syndicate might
have been avoided. It was Keene
who used to determine which of the
eager applicants for love honor should
come in. When he passed favorably
upon Mcclellan he let in the man
who, when ruthlessly rejected by the
charming Mrs. Verrault, promptly
went to the United States district
attorney
The extent to which the love syn
dictate operated has amazed the dis
trict attorney. 1t is calculated that
in the three years during which the
combine ensnared it's victims MOI e
than 100000 was taken from them
A census of the dupes shows that
they range from prosperous store
owners to millionaire Wall street
financiers. Probably one hundred of
them walked into the spider weI.
-Four women figured in the active
work of the love trust Mrs. Brown,
shrewd and fascinating, was the
schemer who kept the syndicate af1oat.
Mrs. Verrault was the official letter
writer. 1t was she who sent the cap
tivating love missives that won the
hearts of the susceptible dupes. She
attended to the correspondence of
both herself and Mrs. Brown.
Daughter and Niece
as Side Attractions.
The golden-haired daughter of Mrs.
Brown was conspicuous member of
the combination. She did not make
love to any of the men nor receive
their attentions, but it was handy to
have her around as milady's maid.
The same interesting role was as
sumed by Mrs. Browns beautiful
niece, Miss Mary Mason. To the
credit of Mrs. Brown, it may be said
that she watched these two damsels
with the eye of a hawk and never
permitted the slightest indiscretibn so
far as they were concerned. The two
girls when not engaged in the palace
of love had the time of their lives in
going about the country with Mrs.
Brown.
The niece is the daughter of a
struggling Boston storekeeper. He al
ways held high regard for his sis
ter, and feeling that she could pro-
vide his daughter with better advan-
tages than he was able to afford sent
her to New York. Mrs. Browns
scheme to marry the girl to a New
Yorker of wealth was given a rude
shock when the girl eloped with a
man she really loved. She met her
husband while attending a regimental
ball to which Mrs. Brown had taken
her.
Gregory Allen, who was one of the
buffers in the Brown-Verrault house
hold, knew this young man and intro
duced him to the blue-eyed beauty.
It was love at first sight Three
months from the day of the meeting
Miss Mason broke away from the in.
Rdence of the love combine. Gregory
Allen had been very much smitten
with Miss Mason himself When she
Tilted him he got bravely over it and
fell in love with Mrs. Browns daugh-
ter Lillian. It is said they are en-
gagged to be married.
Dashing Leading Spirit
of the Love Trust.
Mrs. Brown, the guiding spirit of
the love enterprise, is forty-two years
old and has had a kaleidoscope ca
reer. Her deep hazel eyes have a
bewitching and dangerous softness.
She has a subtle grace and dignity
Her hair is of the blazing peroxide
variety. Tall and with a strikingly
symmetrical figure, she is a woman
who would Immediately attract atten-
ton. There is shrewd cast in her
countenance, but it is tempered by
the melting languor of her eyes.
It is easy to see from an observa-
ton Of Mrs. Brown how she was able
to hold men in her clutches. She is
a woman of keen wit, a brisk con-
versationalist and one quick to take
advantage of every slight opportunity.
With her suitors she has been by
turns affectionate, adoring, gracious
and stern. She has heart of steel,
but her admirers never suspected it
until they were violently Tilted.
Mrs. Verrault is a woman of a
softer type. Her deep dark eyes, rosy
complexion and beautifully moulded
face give her an atmosphere of daz.
zling charm. She is scarcely past
thirty, yet she has broken hearts ga.
lore. Her chestnut-brown tresses con.
sooooooooooooooooooooooooo