The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-02-23
SCOTCH NELL DIED.
IN A WINNIPEG
CELL
Well Known Female Character
Of the Valley succumbs
While Intoxicated.
WAS WOMAN OF CULTURE
And Refinement-Chose the
Downward Path in Life
Many Years Ago.

eAy 4Vo4 y <1&Vs
Scotch Nell" probably one of the
most widely known female characters
in North Dakota is dead. Her demise
came while she was locked in a cell
IN the police station in Winnipeg,
where she had been placed after being
found in an intoxicated condition on
the street. Scotch Nell' was in
Grand Forks about nine months ago,
and at that time became intoxicated
and was placed in Jail here. The
story of her life and death is best
told In the following from the winni-
peg Free Press:
A woman who once sang and danced
to amuse large audiences at the old
Princess opera house in Winnipeg,
died in the cells of the police station
where she had been taken by a con-
stable who picked her up on the street
In drunken condition.
Was Found Dead.
Sunday morning on the police court
docket the name of Nellie Padden was
inserted and against the name was the
charge Of drunkenness, but the case
was not called as the unfortunate had
gone to a higher court where her
taiings and good deeds will be re-
corded by an unerring hand. In the
records of the police station there is
brief entry which says that Nellie
Padden, aged As, no fixed place of
abode, was arrested at $40 a. m. on
Saturday morning by Police Constable
Thomas Mitchell, at the corner of
King street and Higgins avenue. She
was brought, to the police station in
an express wagon driven by Joseph
Cohn of 305 Pritchard avenue. At
1:45 p. m. Detective Green entered
the Women's ward and found her lying
on her back, dead, in her cell. Char.
lotte Glover and another woman occu-
pied the cells at the time, and while
Charlotte Glover was intoxicated. the
other woman was sober and says that
there were no sounds from the fatal
cell nor anything to indicate that the
occupant was in distress. A post
norton examination was made on
Saturday afternoon, and while the
finding was not disclosed, 1t is under
stood that the woman died from the
effects of alcoholism.
Clever Actress.
Nellie Padden was the name that
the woman has gone under of late,
but while she was on the board, a
clever actress, she was known as An
ME Tregilgas. She was member of
Joseph Murphy's company, which
played repertoire of Irish plays, in
Guiding "Shaun Rhue," Kerry Cow"
and other old favorites. Though she
had sunk to the level of woman
known to the polrce, she retained
traces OF her former beauty, and her
voice, while affected by the life she
had led, contained sweetness and
culture that marked her as woman
Of more than ordinary ability and
education. At the police station she
used to sing while she was serving
time, and her voice was often remark
ed on by those who had business there
and 1t always sounded very much out
of place in the unsavory surround
ings. Amidst the clamor and din and
in contrast to the life tragedies often
being enacted, her voice would be
heard from the cells singing some of
the old favorite songs that brought
the listener back to the days of child
hood, and as he realized that 1t was
a trained musician that was singing,
he would instinctively ask, WHO is
that?" Born in Edinburgh, Scotland,
Annie Tregilgas was the daughter OF
respectable parents and she received
an education which included train
ing in the accomplishments that made
her favorite on the stage. Attrac-
tive in feature and figure, she might
have been a charming hostess in
society and made happy the life of
a good man, but she chose the down.
ward path OF fell and then drifted
away from home ties to wander over
three continents as an actress and
wind up a derelict in the vortex of
humanity which came to the west at
tracted by its prosperity. Her beauty
had faded, her youth had been spent,
and when the last came she had no
fixed place of abode. The Turing
gilded life of the world had tempted
her and she fell to the lowest depths.
Perhaps she had thought to avoid the
terrible price that is demanded of the
woman who gives her all for a few
luxurious years, but the grim reaper
followed her and a grave on which
only tears of pity may be spilled
awaits her.