Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-05-30
Officers Lay in Wait at Ren-
devious Where Money Was.
to Be Deposited CuIprit inI
Tears When Caught
BURGLAR ALARM LEFT IN
LIEU OF CASH DEMANDED
Prisoner Young Wife Of Re
spectacle Citizen, Claims She
Is Also Victim Of BIackmai|.
ConSpiratorS,

Especial Dispatch to ;hs Morning Journal
Clovis. n. NJ. May 20 Clovis Is
today in state of the greatest cx.
element over the disclosure of a num-
Der of "Black Hand" letters which
have been received by prominent
men of this place, ana the capture Of
woman by a posse of men and Of
ficers, who were laying In wait at
place designated as the point where
the money should be left by one OF
the intended victims. al late hour
last night, was the cap for the climax
of the uneasy situation Mrs. II. A.
irwin, the wife of a butcher of this
place. was the woman in the case and
she was caught by posse of men
composed of Marshal Duncan, A. II.
Curren. Gus vonelm, Charles Schue-
rich and r. A. Baxter. Just as she WAS
in the act of receiving the bogus
package supposed to contain three
thousand dollars in currency
T.. B. Leepy. b. d. Oldham, D. X.
Fitzhugh and a Mr.. Mendelshon were
the four parties known to have re-
ceived threatening letters. all de-
manding amounts ranging from three
to six lhonsand t,iars promising
death to any who should make any
effort to have officers on guard or try
to cause an arrest. and signed "The
Black Hand"
Mr.. Leepy went, according to In
structlons, to a point about milo
ana one-half from the city and there
deposited a package containing a |
burglar alarm instead Of the stipu- |
lated amount In currency. He had |
quietly notified an officer, who sc- |
lected few men of the town TO as
sist him and placed himself In walt
ing in the vicinity of the spot whore
the money was to be left. Mr.. Leepy. |
at the hour named in the "Black
Hand letter drove up to the spot,
deposited the package and hurriedly |
drove toward the city. 1t was only a
short time until a buggy was seen APP
preaching the place, and after II had
stopped a woman stepped out and
reached for the package, which had
been left for her. At the uneX-
pected alarm she was frightened al
most into insensibity and just at this
moment the men on guard came rush.
ing up and took her in. The woman
offered to them the same excuse that
she offers now, which Is that she was
into doing tho act by a
letter written by the same hand that
wrote the others and signed BLACK
Hand" Both the woman and her
husband protest her innocence and
say she is merely the unfortunate ;
bol Of a band OF systematic operators.
rrs. irwin, who was a Miss Leila ,
before her marriage a few ,
months ago to II. a. Irwin and came
rom Tishomingo, okla, 10 Merose,
Y. NJ, and from that place here
bout six weeks ago. She is a woman i
# pleasing personality and from all
appearances she does not possess the j
lerve necessary to carry out a plan t
% carefully and boldly planned and T
rranged as this one must have been. y
n talking with a representative of o
he Morning Journal at the room Y
where she is being carefully guarded ,
" Officers she said. (
Il am nothing more than the VIC q
I'm OF a plot and this will all be h
.nown in time I realize that / must 1
Ie in a sense guilty in the eyes of "
he law, yet, / did what / was COM y
ldhutu bA TINS ittl'i 10 HANf Afit III
+ my dear huaband. They said thai q
e would be killed II did not go get il
hat money and return as directed" a
md between crys and screams she =
'ould say: "Oh | am as innocent as b
ny ono of you who stand here. What G.
'ould my dear mother say II she b
ould know Of this persecution.
Il is said that her people live at Il
'enson. Texas. Il
Mrs Irwin Is apparently q woman II
f considerable education and refine e
lcnt II is said that she was for Il
avcral years connected with the y
adcral court in Tishomingo. the az
apital Of the Creek nation. in the
ays before statehood in oklahoma, h
irving in the capacity OF court 81
10
When tho docov package was de- le
ositod in the place directed by the b
tier. it is said. Mrs Irwin was sta II
oned IN a building overlooking the Il
'ene and armed with powerful field h
lass with which she could oversee all
rat was going on. Five strange b
zen were located in an adjoining ca
uilding which also overlooked the II
.ene. but whether they had anything tc
do with the attempt at blackmsil u
mains 20 be determined. The five T
rangers are mysteriousiy missing b
The letters received bv. the pro- Il
osed victims OF the plot were written u
ith a lead pencil, the characters be- n