The San Francisco call., 1909-01-10

place in the same manner. he red neadco WoLldn
put up the shades and began her dusting- We never
got inside if the gray haired woman was sew
ing
There was a chain on the door, and when the
woman in black who answered the bel saw the law
yer she pointed the merchant and said;
"He can in but you can't
But I'm his attorney" said the
That makes difference"
Then followed the most marvellous exhibition of
nerve that I ever saw displayed by a woman
The man told her she must let his client alone
'.I'II do nothing of the sort she snapped back
through the crack in the door If $4,000 IS not here
by o'clock tomorrow morning will be at his home
talking with his wife at 10
You try it and I will have you in jail before noon
and in states prison within month
Her only answer was derisive laugh
Then the lawyer took a tack
Trouble my client any more" said he. and viii
go to your husbands home in the street near One
Hundredth giving the correct number, and tell him
what you have done And I'll go to the home .of your
red haired sister and tell her husband about her
You are too busy.a a man to go away up town to
my husbands house Go TO his Office down town, It IS
nearer You know where his office is. And she gave
his correct business address
The wonans remarkable efrontery amazed the
attorney Here was woman. the wife OF wealthy
man. we'll known among large number OF nelghbors
and friends woman who had committed crimes Tor
which she could be put in felon's CELL yet inn
pudently defying a who had the evidence IN his
possession that would only ruin her standing IN
the community but put her in prison Yet he kept a
firm front in her presence and the last thing ne said
to her was to tell her the house surrounded with
detectives who would arrest her she attempted to
go TO his clients residence warning that brought
from her only the defiant profanity. But after
we had left he said to me:
Drummond how do you diagnose this case? How
does this woman dare to tell me go TO her hus-
bands office and tell him all? Is he conspiring with
her to blackmail this man. and the husband OF her
sister also conspirator?"
Il don't think So said L. I'm fact. / sure the
husband of neither woman knows what she is doing.
Both arc men of affairs. Both have large numbers of
business and social acquaintance. No of their
standing would countenance such acts the part of
his wife The is blufing She felt sure you
would not go her husband because OF your clients
desire to his reputation 1t required won
derfu nerve to say what she did, but she wouldn't
have said it if she had believed you would make a
toward exposing her.
Tell your client" continued seldom addressed
the merchant himself, because the lawyer had
called me into the cAse-"te your client to go home
and get a good nights rest. He need not fear. And
tell him not to pay the woman another dollar"
The next morning the lawyer called the
phone
Here's telegram l have just received" said he
"I'll read it.
~1f you are ready to cry quits we are Mary
Schmidt
OF course that ended the case. The merchant could
not afford to prosecute the woman. because to do
so would have exposed himself And he never heard
again from the woman In black
l have used no names in this article because the
women and their husbands still live in New York.
The women continue drive out in fine carriages,
and their husbands are, then, at the head of
important business concerns / don't know whether
the women have reformed
And the wealthy merchant is still here. I saw him
in streetcar and he looked if he would like
to jump out the window. had rather strange ex-
perience with him, by the way when the attorney and
| presented bills The lawyer asked what 1
thought he should charge.
Send him bill for $1,000 said L
The lawyer did not know whether he ought to or
not. / insisted and he sent it My bill was about
$500
A few days passed and no money came Then the
lawyer told me the merchant thought had charged
too much.
"He will pay my bill as it stands" said eff he
doesn't pay it by night I'll file sut against
him the next morning"
The lawyer felt the same way about his own bill.
So he went to the merchant and demanded an i'm
mediate settlement of both statements The merchant
demurred He would send it later. But the lawyer
made him draw check the spot for both sums and
sent me his own check for what was due me.
The utter depravity of the women was equaled
only by the meanness of the man:
The Next Story in This Series VIII Appear Next
Sunday
Ut TFCTRO(1VTTON MAnE FASTEP