The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-04-03
88RTHA PROMPTLY ANTE AND ROLLED
U OF THE CHAIR.

OUV OF TdE ChAlH.
tha's deportation forever beyond the
confines Of Illinois Is something diti-
cult Of estimate, but it Is certain that
in various asylums and prisons there
are attendants on salaries who would
make personal contributions to help
swell the possible fund.
Yet Painting Bertha" Lebecke is
one of the prettiest, blOndest, most
delicate handed little bits Of we'll de-
veloped femininity that ever made Il
marked success in deceiving people OF
both sexes and all conditions In public,
afterward deceiving officials of jails.
asylums and penitentiaries until bars
and gates and frowning walls were as
cObwebs before her.
Bertha gets her lame from her abil-
iy to throw Il fit ut any moment.
She faints in the arms of Il man or
woman wearing .jewelry or carrying
money and in the confusion biting the
stone from Il pin and swallowing it or
with small, supple hand taking a purse
from Il pocket or II watch from It's fob,
perhaps with innocent eyes and dim
pied face assisting the loser in the
search for the missing valuable.
Here il her detention record:
Asylum For the Feeble Minded.
Glenwood. Ia. Discharged.
Insane asylum. Glenwood, Ia. Dis
charged.
Insane asylum, Nevada. Mo. Dis
charged after several escapes.
st. Demands asylum, Council Bluffs,
la. Discharged.
itentiary.
kankakee Qll.) Asylum For the In
sane. Escaped twice.
Kankakee Qll.) Asylum For the In
sane. Returned to Joliet penitentiary.
Elgin Qll) Asylum For the Insane.
Escaped twice.
Present address. Asylum For the In
durable Insane. South Bartonville, III.
Gates Of steel never have held her IN
jail or asylum. In the mightier peni-
tentiaries she has made herself such an
uncontrolled fury by night sleeping
calmly all day long and resting for the
next seance-that pen%itentiary gates
have opened for her in the hope Of hay
ing her maintained as an asylum ward.
after which Painting Bertha" has Sc
cured keys to asylum doors and gone
her untrammeled way straight back to
a police record which for years has
shown her to be n of the most re
markable pickpockets, diamond snatch,
ers and shorlifters Of her time.
Her latest escape was from the aSy
lum at Elgin on the night Of Dec. -.
Christmas V she tainted in the arms
OF an attendant. and in the scurryin.
which followed she secured the KEYS
to h gates. On the night Of Christmas
she went out Of the Elgin asylum, board
ed a a for Aurora and from Aurora
bought II railroad ticket for Peoria.
On the way to Peoria she relieved
the conductor Of $50 in bills, secreting
them in her hat. In Peoria within for
ty-eight hours she had stolen Il thou
sand dollars worth of goods from
stores, registered at three hotels under
assumed names and was in Il chair car
with a ticket for Omaha when the
Peoria police had followed her easy
tracks through the city. Perhaps the
broadcast, most easily identified track
was that which she left in Il barber
shop in the National hotel. where she
appeared for an egg shampoo. Two
eggs had been broken into her shiny
hair when Bertha promptly tainted and
rolled out Of the chair. As a count of
shop equipment showed nothing miss
Ing an hour later, the barber shop was
at a loss to account for her faint.
Dr. George A. Zeller. superintendent
OF the asylum at South Bartonville.
where Bertha Is now, promises that II
she faints there she will get a bucket
Of cold water in the face.