The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1909-08-19
ASK PARDON FOR
|. WOMAN 'RAFFLES'
Mrs. Evelyn Romadka May Leave
Illinois Prison.
PROSECUTOR IS WILLING
Wife Of Milwaukee Millionaire, Vic.
tim Of Romantic Decisions, Says
Roc, Who Sent Her to the
Penitentiary.

Chicago, Aug. 18.-Mrs. Evelyn @.
Rom6dka, divorced wife of the multi
millionaire Milwaukee trunk manufac-
turer Charles l.. Romadka, who two
years ago confessed she had been
leading DR.. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde ex-
istence, participating in score OF
sensational burglaries while living a
life of luxury and ease in a fashion
able hotel, will in all probability be
released from the penitentiary at
Joliet next month.
Another chapter was added to the
story of the weird life of Mrs. Ro-
madka, which Is even more fantastic
than that of Hornung's fiction charac-
ter "Raff1es," when it became known
that friends of her girlhood days, OF
Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, Wis, had
petitioned Gov. Deneen and the Hi.
nois board of pardons asking for the
liberation of the former schoolteacher
and millionaire's wife.
Father viii Spend Fortune.
Undaunted by the wealthy Romadka
family's refusal to assist in gaining
the release of the woman, whose
prison confinement has undermined
her health her aged father, p. j.
Game, who owns large rubber plan
tation In Mexico, has declared he will
spend his entire fortune in his daugh.
ter's behalf.
Maurice McKenna of Fond du Lac,
a well-known Wisconsin lawyer, has
been retained in the case and has
been granted an opportunity to make
plea for Mrs. Romadka before the
board of pardons at the session in
September.
Besides the Wisconsin petition
letter from the states attorneys office
has been forwarded to Gov. Deneen
and the board declaring no objection
will be made to the release of the
society woman burglar,
Assistant States Attorney Clifford
G. Roe, who prosecuted Mrs Ronald
ka, with the sanction of States At
torney Wayman, sent the following
letter to the beard of pardons at the
request of Attorney McKenna:
To the Honorable Board Of Pardons,
State of Illinois:
Gentlemen: In the case of the peo-
pie of the state of Illinois VS.. Evelyn
c. Romadka, | represented the prose-
cution in all the preliminary hearings
and aided in the preparation of the
evidence against Mrs. Romadka.
Mrs. Romadka has always had my
sympathy as a woman who was led
astray by romantic delusions, although
! know that she was guilty of all the
charges preferred against her, still,
in my opinion, she has paid fully the
penalty for her wrong doing.
l recommend to your honorable
board that she be released on parole
from the Illinois state penitentiary.
Yours very respectfully, ..
(Signed CLIFFORD G. ROE,
Assistant States Attorney.
Punishment Is Sufficient.
81 believe Mrs. Romadka has been
punished sufficiently by her confine-
ment in the penitentiary during the
last two years." said Attorney Roe
"She is a young and delicate woman
and longer confinement might prove
fatal. While know she is guilty of
all the charges brought against her.
/ think, as / said in my letter, she
was led astray by romantic decisions"
Mrs. Romadka's arrest and convlc-
ton was one of the sensations of Chi
cago and Milwaukee business and So
ciety circles and cleared away the
mystery surrounding the burglary of
score of wealthy homes.
Mrs. Romadka had been living in
an apartment at the Victoria hotel
and was receiving large allowance
from her husband. While at dinner
with prominent board of trade man
a diamond bracelet which she was
wearing was identified as one stolen
from Mrs. C, e, Beck. $3.50 South
Park avenue. Mrs. Romadka was ar
rested. When taken to the detective
bureau she asserted the jewelry had
been given her by Ralph Smith"
On learning of the wealth of her hus-
band she was released and the police
started a search for the mysterious
man.
When several other thefts were
traced to her Mrs. Romadka said her
first theft occurred at ball in Mil
waukee rendered Prince Henry Of
Prussia, at which the nobleman de-
clared Miss Gene Dolan, Mrs. Ro-
madka's future sister-in-law was the
most beautiful woman he had ever
seen.
Traveller Killed In Iowa.
Modification To Anu 1S Marx