The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1913-04-29
Former Chicagoan, Held at Wash
ington Society Thief, Daugh-
ter Of Poor Attorney.
Says Prisoner is Insane and Story of
Rich Husband is an
Invention.

Washington. April 2s.--Here is
the solution OF the mystery sur
rounding Mrs Randolph Fitzhugh,
now held in New York on charge
of having stolen valuable purses be-
longing to society women.
Despite her many denials, she is
Catherine Fennell, born in Chicago
twenty-eight years ago, the daugh-
ter OF Robt. A. and Catherine B. Fem
nell. In her Immediate family and
in the families of her relatives there
never was. as she has claimed. either
wealth Or social station. Her moth
er is and for many years has been
an inmate OF st. Elizabeth's Hos
pital for the insane in this city, and
her father ssis an inmate of Mount
Hope Asylum near baltimore.
Thare is sister, Marguerite Fem
nell, a recent graduate OF Proyi-
dence hospital and now trained
nurse, living at 1882 Ontario road,
this city. and there are two brothers
Charles Of Woodside, Md, and Rob-
crt of Pittsburgh.
OF her immediate relatives there
is only one, William p Fennell, a
lawyer, who has practiced extensive
/ ly before the Court OF Claims, ar
cumulated modest fortune, and
now makes his home in 0akton, Va.
\ Tn oil fha aeoonaaac At h,a 49,. -. 4
in all of her misfortunes this uncle
has steadfastly refused to become
involved III her affairs
Husband an Invention.
SO far as any of her Immediate
family knows. Randolph Fitzhugh,
/ whose wife the woman of mystery
claims to be, is figment of an i'm
paired mind Neither does any of
the family possess any knowledge as
to the husband who is the father OF
the 15-months-old baby the so-call-
ed Mrs. Fitzhugh admits is her own.
In the earlier days in Washington
Catherine Fennel lived the life usual
to the daughter of family in mod
crate circumstances. Her fathers
practice as patent attorney was
such as to give he- more than the
ordinary advantages.
While the family was living at
Falls Church, Va. Catherine gave
the first indication of insanity by
! attempting to kin one of her suitors
Wilbur Sewall, with an ak. She ex-
planned that she tnougnt she had
died and had been allowed to return
to earth for few hours. She de-
sired. when again taken from EARTH
ashe said. to take Wilbur with her.
Father Driven Insane.
For this she was arrested and
committed to the Western State Hos
pital for the insane at Staunton. Va
! There she remained little less
than a year, being liberated under
parole. which is still in effect.
The woman then came to Wash
] ington and Immediately became con-
spicuous by the richness and taste
of her clothes and the select apart
IIsHtS aHE uSsupico'a oHC huu io
/ occupation and received no aid from
her family.
Within a month after her arrivas
her father who had witnessed the
assault upon young Sewall,. was ad-
judge insane and committed.
Before Catherine Fennell had
been here two months she was ar
rested on the charge of obtaining
goods under false pretenses. The
complainant was the proprietor Of
I one of the largest department stores
i'm Washington A friend of the
family paid the claim of the depart
/ Imeut store and the young woman
Twas released and sent to the home
LOT her grandmother near Freder-
i ieksburg, Va. She returned to
4 Washington later and established
herself in fashionable quarters siy
months after her return here the
u clind. was BON. Less than tive
y months after that event the young
y mother. was arrested on a charge OF
having stolen severa' purses in fash
ionable churches here.
The accused was sent to the
washington asylum and again in
fiuential friends went to her rescue
IA physician at the asylum certified
<that the Young woman was sane and
she was discharged. Then came her
arrest in New York.
Il am broken down through all
this Hotoriety my sister has brought
upon herself and the family" Miss
fConcludd on Page Six.)