Arizona republican., 1913-04-21
PRETTY GIRL
 ADMITS THEFT
Leona Frailey, Canton, o., Belle, Confesses to Rob- ping Guests at Castle Hot Springs Hotel of Valuable Wearing Apparel

So young and pretty, so vivacious and unconcerned, so handsomely goWned and well supplied with money and apparently lacking nothing her heart could desire that she was about the last person in the world upon whom suspicion would fall Leona M. F'railey, of Canton, Ohio, for many weeks a favored guest at the Castle Hot Springs Hotel, in a signed confession delivered into the hands of Private Detective Joe Murphy of this city, admits the theft of certain garments from MT. and Mrs. A. L. Pratt" of Kalamazoo, Mich According to Detective Murphy, who returned from the Springs yester- day, the garments and other stolen property recovered represented value estimated at not less than $1,50O. And the ravelling of the mystery which has embarrassed the hotel management for some time required strategy and deduc- ton not unlike that attributed by Co., nan Doyle to Sherlock Holmes. But for the disinclination of the Pratts to be brought into the limelight of crin1- inal court proceeding. the girl, who is
 
 might now be in the Marcopa county jail awaiting trial instead of speeding eastward in a Pullman car with Can ton as her destination
 The garments stolen from Mrs. Pratt consisted of dainty gowns, silken hose, the finest lingerie, silk shirt waists, amounting in all to between $500 and $1.000. The list of articles missing, which was supplied Detective Murphy at the time he undertook the case, cov- cred both sides of two sheets of the Castle Hot Springs Hotel stationary. Had it been that no other crime than that of the stealing of the pretty gar ments and those things dear to a Wo- mans heart, was laid at the door of Miss Frailey, it might have been be- lieved that she was simply a victim of kleptomania, but when silverWare of the hotel began disappearing and was later discovered boxed and ready for shipment to San Diego, it was seen that, if she too was responsible for this act. she was no simperng school girl with a love for finery. And that she was not prosecuted for the theft of the
  cause on the part of the hotel company as actuated the Pratts to decline to push the case.
 Miss FraiIey has been a frequent wis itor to Phoenix and the Castle Hot Springs. She moved in some of the exclusive society circles. and made many friends. She attributed her pres ence in Arizona to a threatened bron- chial affection which was not notice able to the average person.
 When it was seen that the hotel the mysterious disappearance of the silverware careful watch was insti- tuted but without result And then when a suite of rooms occupied by the PrattS was entered and nearly a trunk ful of goods taken, it was decided that the assistance of a detective was inn perative. Murphy was called into the case and as a guest was given the freedom of the house
 The attempt to ship the slverware, according to the story told by Murphy yesterday was responsible for the un- doing of the young woman. The pack
 
 room occupied by Miss Frailey, con ducted while she engaged in a game of golf, disclosed the hiding place of the missing garments of Mrs. Pratt. Con- fronted with the charge that she was tn, purloiner of the valuable apparel of Mrs. Pratt and believing that she was facing probable imprisonment, Miss F'railey broke down and confessed. She agreed to sign a confession on the ground that she desired to clear all other persons, particularly some of the young women employees of the hotel of all suspicion of having been engaged in the theft
 Miss Frailey is said to have had about $1,500 of her own money in the hotel safe. This was returned to her. ticket was purchased from the amount for Canton and she was placed aboard the train and advised to turn over new leaf The confession of Miss Frailey was signed in the pres ence of H. J. Meany, manager of the hotel Detective Murphy and D. P. Smith, a deputy sheriff, detailed to the Springs.