The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-02-01
WOMAN IS ACCUSED
Of DOUBLE LIFE
Busy Landlady Said by Po-
lice TO Be Noted
Crook.

NEM YORK. Fen. with the in
cietment By the grand jury and the ar
raisnment OF Kittie Dowdell, alias Bes-
sic Roberts, and May Williams. alias
several other front names who were
asFested by central Office detectives as
ing the women who a week ago last
thursday robbed Warner ". Van Nor
sn, until recently president Of the Van
oTden Trust Company. OF $4,000 q few
linutes after ne left The Wald0rf-Asto-
Ia, the details Of a most unusual ac-
cunt Of the under world life Of New
York became public
Nothing stranger than the life history
bf kittie Dowdeu was ever conceived
boy T0mancer- According to central Office
detectives. who have known her for
years, she is the only example they
have ever come across Of a real woman
Jexyl and HYDE.
one OF the most skilled IN the ways
or the underground element. this won-
an. who IS in the prime of life, for three
years has kept select rooms TO let in
respectable apartment house in West
Thirty-fOUrth street. So clever was she
fu keeping up the deception Of her life
that many Of her dodgers still believe
IN her and think that instead OF being
locked up with another street worker
awaiting trial on the manifold charges
of robbery grand larceny. assault, and
receiving stolen goods, she IS visiting
friends in Chicago.
The Van NoTden Robbery
Even those who knew her best and
are acquainted with all the facts in the
case were astounded 70 learn that the
hard working, respectable To- appearing
housekeeper was the central figure in
one OF the most dramatic street rob
lind IN the history of the
city.
A week ago LAST Thursday nlsHt -dr.
van Norden walked out OF the Waldorf
Astoria with a wall Il IN his inside Coa-
pocket containing S2S,9oo- Next day he
COMPLAINED 10 INSPECTOR AIcCJteTty Of
the detective bureau that two wOE On
had iostIed against him IN Thirty thin
street. near Madison OvCIUc. and within
fifteen or twenty seconds had abst1@.t rcd
his wallet, taken out the $500, and re-
placed II, leaving 500 in another Zap OF
his pocketbook. NCCaferty turned the
case over TO Detectives Frank Peabody
and Val O'Farrell-
Its Kitty Dowdeu- the lone worker
No one else could have done L, was
Peabody's comment
They found her busy helping her negro
maid make beds on the fifth floor f the
ADDiAL- Aie-- LA--N-+e --'--t-'-H - w
tv-feurth street
we want you for that little Van NJ
den affair." said Peabody. shJw'rg his
shield
Chicago May" Implicated
.-Sh-h-h,'' whispered the woman, tax
Ing of her apron Dom SPEAK 50
loud. The roomers will overhear YOU
she readily went TO police headquar-
I'll no ~
with the night Of the robbery II was
'.Chfcago May Williams
s'Tf DowdeU got any cash she didn't
split with me- was Chicago May $
only statement According 10 Peabody
and O-Farreu both admitted that they
we're working the streets the night in
question, and had talked 70 man re-
sembIing Mr.. Van Norden- They both
denied. according 10 the detectives, that
they had seen any money When they
we're arraiEned later in the Jefferson
market court neither said a word With
The stoicism OF the resouTCefuI criminal
t.ev let their lawyers 90 the talking
for them
Most of the dodgers in Coourg apart
Iues-s read all about the robbery and
arrest IN the newspapers the morning
after the women were locked up Some
Of them went 70 FRANK LOW dF-l- tA-7
housekeeper's husband
III is all case Of mistaken identity
said DowdeII. suaveIy- Mrs DOwdeil
is in Chicago. How could she be ar
some. knowing Mrs. DowdeU. be
Ieved him. So did Otto REG superln-
1eudeut Of the building They had al
ways known Mrs DOwdeI as the house
keeder OF the apartments and IS an
honest. Woodworking woman
DowdeU Under Suspicion.
The following day Dowde1 himself got
inta trouble I'm trying to locate the
missing Van Norden money the sieuths
discovered that a mjddIe-aged man with
a black mustaChe mad gone into the
Corn Exchange Sank, in Fifth avenue
and asked for change for four $1,000
Lius- The same day a man answering
The same description went into down
town bank and tried to get change
for eight s. 600 bills They took DOwdell
20 the cashiers. but neither could iden-
tifv him, so they released him
Inspector McCaferty asked him g few
questions. however DowdeII. according
10 the inspector. admitted that he had
been arrested in Chicago and that his
picture vas IN the rOEues- gallery there
According To the detectives, DOWdelt
also got into trouble with the pOliCe in
Cleveland and IN BIlIdlD- IN lnlC-tSp
he was "A SaiooukeepeT- In New YORK
he SAYS he is a manufacture He VIII
uot-taIk much about his past however
&Inquiry at the CODuTE apartments eiiCl-
S1aled the fact that many tenants sun
believe in Mrs DowGelTs innocence
Still Believe In Woman
why. it is absurd to say that she is
locked I'D" said a middle-aged woman
Who had been one Of Mrs DOwdelIs
first dodgers she YVES sIst the reverse
of \ criminal. she was one OF the best
lfousekeepers I ever saw Her husband
says she is in Chicago. and III have
10 see her in jail myself before I'll be
Iicye she is there"
-As a badger game worker hlttie IS
3 wiuder- said one Or the sleuths yes
rcrday she Is what IS known as A
lone worker. for she prefers 10 keep by
herself III is only occasionally that
she takes in a partner, as she did on
The night she robbed Van Norden- she
- IS clever enough. too. TO select a pretty
hos