The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-07-04
Nov, You're Asking Dues
TONS" Inyariable Bar TO
the Curious.
EVEN WIFE FAILED
TO SOLVE MYSTERY
any Story Is Wonder" Only
Hint He Ever Gave of
Strange Career.
CONTINUED from First Page)

er must have that same lack of under
standing of The tragedy of the Eastern
shore. of the death of Edith WoodiA
his nonchalant pawning of victims
Jewels and his tragic defiance of law
when at last it was about to lay its
hands upon him.
Now, you're asking questions" was
his invariable answer, be 1t kinsman'
friend, or stranger who seemed to know
something of his past. Then he would
change the subject suddenly by saying:
7 heard good story yesterday" bring
ing into play that ever-present smile.
II the interrogation persisted, Bob East
man thought of another story and be-
gan TO talk about the stock market The
wife of his bosom doesn't know TO this
day how his foot was injured. He came
to her merely as Lame Bob Eastman
He went out of her life as little under
stood almost, as when he came m
Even she was not immune from the
jnvariable answer-''Now, you are ask
ing Neutrality-suspicious. upon every oe-
easion when some one tried 70 lift the
vel behind the ten years spent upon
4he curb in New YOrk's great nnanciai
district He came there unheTalded,
~o,,ebt and obtained membership in the
Consolidated Stock Exchange, and ike
hundreds of other brokers, entered
into the fascination OF get-rich-quick
schemes.
Twenty-Five Years
Are As Closed Book
Almost twenty-five gears OF MS me
are as a closed book
To-day you see me and tomorrow you
don't was another way he had Of let
ting the world know just how mysteri-
ous 3 man he wanted TO be In the
street he was often in a reminiscent
group. Every mar IN tae throng might
he. full OF reminiscences-it never came
Bob Eastman's time 70 talk, that Is
about himself
.eTell us, how did you get your Tame
foot. Bob,' would chirp some inquizitive.
.In a wreck ne would reply,
Suavely. Then he would hobble away
He was born, he once told his wiIe' IN
San Francis % on the spot where now
stands the Talace Hotel He skipped
over twenty years OF chiidhood ana Doy-
hood in the narrative. for after relst-
being still in the land OF the living by
saving that he ran away from home
vvben about grown. Three years, he
said. he spent in a gold mine and then
he returned-s3,000 to the good.
s.RTv mother was 2 fiHe woman my
fstser was n son OF a gum he added,
shortly afterward Somebody thought
+bat after this start Eastman would
At last break the long silence about his
career. His next sentence dispelled that
belief.
Il came 10 New York ten years ago.
he continued. and entered the broker
ace business. I've been here ever since,
until this little trouble
All Eastman
Has Ever Revealed.
These few sentences comprise al
Eastman has ever told about himself,
and vet the last time ne saw his young
wife. formerly an actress, he said sud
aenlv one night as he prepared to fee
again:
"Gee. hope 7 don't die until 7 get
q chance 10 write the story of my lie.
'Tis a wonder, dearie-
And the woman who bore his name,
known to the stage as Winnie Bradcome.
knew enough of life's drama 10 realize
that her nero iIil8l bViA d iiss't q 81 PPA4s
Ktnry II he would.
Tell me about i, now Bob, she
suggested, half timidly-
Not now, not now. Maybe. some
aav," he responded. with a patronizing
title smile as he prepared for what he
did not know then would be the final
leave taking. A few moments later he
mad again taken Up the role OF the fu-
gitive.
What was this life secret, before we
20 further into the apparent clean-cut
character OF this man? Would the man
who, for ten years had handled hun
oreds Of thousands on the stock mar
ket, elude justice and fear to face trial
because Of the alleged theft Of 1900?
Did Mrs Edith Woodiu ward Of Ly-
man J. Gage. foster daughter Of Col.
Charles Thompson, admired since her
eirlhood by all manner Of men, hold
the key to Eastman's skeleton closet
Would he. who had figured in escapades
lth women all his life, at the age OF
ffty-fve years, become so infatuated
with her that he would slay her rather
than part2 Had she been the one "a
furnish him money for nearly a year
With which 10 elude his pursuers, u
seek the secIusion Of Nicaraguan coasts
of tlie maze Of London streets and ths
mad gayeties of metropolitan Paris?
Woman and Man
Had Common Interest.
Might not they~bsve had some in
terest IN common-she with her fostel
parents, who professed TO know little
Of her origin, her later life Of socia
conquests. her resolve TO marry and for
get the past-he. with the secret Of hi
Young manhood, his strangely acquired
deformity and his ever-present dread o
detection for what his friends termes
an inconsequentiaI offense2
Answer afhrmatiyely or negatively
and YOU but deepen the enthralling in
terest ia the strange career OF thi
man.
Believed today to be guilty Of a muir
der, most brutal, Eastman. / am told
had never exhibited anger during hi
entire life. He was noted, even In tn
street. for his urbanity. his smile, an,