The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-05-11
Dominated by a Woman.
ro-iginaIJ

We of the police are constantly sub
jected to this domination Of women.
We therefore often appear 10 err in
judgment or IN ordinary caution, while
we err in neither, being simply mas.
tered by the woman and forced TO do
her bidding. l was once sent with q
single assistant to go and make an
arrest The offender was woman who
lived in luxury and refinement. Of
course we went in plain clothes. Leay-
ing my assistant at the door, | entered
on being hidden 10 do so by mail
and asked to see the lady. The maid
asked SO many questions as TO my
business that, having been warned
against slipperiness, | went upstairs
and straight into large room used
for boudoir. y LADY, had her pho
tograph in my pocket-rose from a
lounge and confronted me-
!. 'MadaIn.' l said, Il am sorry 10
have to place you under arrest
The look she gave nue. made me feel
all there is OF contempt that could pos
sibiy pertain to my errand. 1t said TO
me without word of speech: You
have come unbidden into Il lady's pri-
vate room. You are on level with the
brute" Had the words been spoken
they would likely not have affected
me. AS it was, | felt abject shame
Then in twinkling her manner chang
ed to a sort of friendliness.
Il see she said i'll ii voice full of
melody, you are police officer not in
uniform. but still an officer. You are
simply dc.ng your duty. May / ask
what you are going to do with mef'
l explained to her that / would be
obliged to conduct her to the station,
where in default of bail she would be
locked up.
Il do not Think she said. that /.
having lived SO far above such things,
could survive an hour in cell. If you
will permit | can attend to the bail be
fore leaving here / ask your permits
sion to send a messenger TO an attor-
ney asking him to come here aud take
charge of my case from the beginning.
l am completely ignorant of such mat
ters''
Somehow the look she gave me, taken |
with a certain reasonableness of the
request, decided or, rather, dominated
me. l told her to write her message
and l would direct man l had posted
at the door to allow her messenger to |
pass. She was going into the mex:
room when / stopped her.
Surely" she said, you do not ex- |
pect me to go to the police station in /
this costume?'
How could L? She was en- deshabille /
I permitted her to go both to write the /
note and change her dress. She told I
me that to save time she would send
her messenger first and don another
costume afterward. AS soon as she
1 stepped into the hall /
and saw that the room she entered had |
no egress except by the boudoir. This
satisfied me- Not ten minutes after her
a young man of swarthy
and a black mustache, with
4 note in his hand. hurried out of it,
passed me and went downstairs. l
called to my man to suffer him to pass.
If the lady was expeditions in send
ing her note, she certainly took her
time in changing her dress. l waited
both for the return Of the messenger
and for her temperance. I waited in
vain for both. | went to the door lead
ng into the adjoining room and listen
I'd. l could near no sound. Suddenly
, great mfsgiving welled up within me.
opened the door and entered.
There in neap on the floor were the
clothes she had worn at my coming
An enormous coil of hair lay on the
lresser box of brown dye stood I'M
covered before mirror. The lady had
passed out as her messenger.
/ sprang downstairs and to the near
st telephone, where l confessed what
lad occurred to the chief. He told me
hat he would have the railway depots
but as a steamer was to sail
within an hour / had better go there
myself, since the culprit would be
pore likely to get out of the country
han simply out of the city. / followed
lis directions and proceeded without
lelay to the dock.
Passengers were beginning TO arrive.
made a search of the ship. then took
'osition at the gangway. where l scru-
inized every person who entered. l
aw no one whom / considered could
ossibly be my escaped prisoner. The
anyway was being Withdrawn when
carriage drove up hurriedly. the door
pened. and q fat woman wearing dark
pectacIes Jumped out. She was very
luch excited evidently for fear Of
eing left, suffering French aud wad-
ling to the gangway, which she
louuted as it was being Withdrawn.
he was the last passenger TO go
board. and when she had done so i
rent away with a heavy heart.
1ouid be reprinanded by the chief
I'D be the laughingstock of the rest
the force.
One day a cabman stopped me on the
treet and asked:
cap. was you lookin' for some one
go out on the steamer last week.
Eyes. Why do you ask"
well. I drove the old Frenchwomau
, the ship. She was a young man {
hen she got in Maybe she was the !
ne you was lookin' for"
Now. what I maintain is that no man
1uld have got me into this scrape
or was l made q fool Of in this case
knew | had no business TO grant {
hat the woman asked. l granted il
acause she compelled me TO grant f. '
ut this did not save me from the con- I