The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-07
?. DUPES SEE
WOMAN TRIED
MRS. FLORENCE GAMBLE WHO
BROKE HEARTS IN THIS
STATE, PLEADED GUILTY TO
USING MAILS TO pEFRAun-
GOES TO PRISON.

A special to The Chicago Tribune
from Des Moines, Ia, tells of the o
fession and sentencing Of the heart
breaker who duped a number of
North Dakotans as follows: Mrs.
Florence Gamble, the iowa heart
breaker" after pleading guilty to US
ing the mails to- defraud, has been
sentenced to prison by Judge Smith
Mcpherson of the United States court.
When Mrs. Gamble took her place
before the court to receive sentence
there was a general craning of necks
by many dupes from far and near TO
catch a glimpse of the young widow
to whom they had made love through
the mails and to whom they had sent
money that she might come and mar
ry them. Sitting over in ms corner of
the courtroom were the husband and
two little children Of the woman who
had represented herself as being n
young widow soon to inherit SIT, 1000"
Mrs. Gamble, who. lived with her
family at Boone, Ia, will spend sixty
days in the Red Oak Qa,) Jail, and
while she does so her husband will
return to Boone and await her return
from the visit" which the two little
girls think their mamma" has been
Caileu 10 pay.
Dupes in Fourteen States,
The lovelorn of fourteen states in
| trusted their letters, their hearts, and
their dollars to the keeping of the
young widow without incumbrances".
with the healthy husband and two
little girls. AT least, the postoffice in
spectors have SO far located SWANS
from only. fourteen states. They be-
lieve, however, many moret ashamed
to step forward and acknowledge, fell
victims to the warm letters the
widow wrote. The widow" kept
all the dollars. and some of the let
tiers, but she ruthlessly threw the pal
pitating hearts into the wastebasket.
1t cost Nick Geiger of Batesville,
Ind, sos to form the mail acquain-
lance Of the widow but John Ken
nedy, Leal, n. d., only had So, and
so got off cheaply. Geiger sent the
$50 in order that the young widow"
might pay railroad fare, as we'll as
stop off in Chicago for a day a. and
purchase some muchly needed cloth
ing.
Money. from All Quarters.
John Owner of Biggsville, Pa, sent
SIS and L. J. Prather, Arlington, Tex,
$25, each to pay railroad fare for his
expected bride. w. F. Wegner, Loyal
ton, s.. D., lost $16.16 and N. =. Lind
say, Williams, N. D., $50 on the same
proposition. O. r. Wilson of Mime
apolis wanted a wife mighty badly,
but he had only So, and was certain,
if his little sweetheart loved him
as much as she said she did, she could
secure the amount necessary to pay
the railroad fare. He sent the SO, but
the little sweetheart" failed on rails
ing the balance.
c. E. Brooks of Mohall, N. D., got
bit for $50 n James Love, Du Bots,
Neb., bought $15.25 worth of expert
ence. Christ Rageth, Porcupine, Wis,
contributed $40 to the widow" and ].
w. Brewer, Van Horn, Ia, handed
over SO. Bert Gales, Cogwell, N. D.,
sent $50 and N. A. Smith, Colesburg,
Ia, S. to the handsome young wild
ow." 60.
Aged Wooer Turns.
NJ. Carnahan. 20 years old, of Bunch,
Ia, is responsible for the investigation
by the federal authorities. Mr.. Carna-
han advertised in a matrimonial pa
per. In the bushel of answers he
received was one from Florence
Gamble, a young widow" He an
swered, So did Florence. But she
wanted $40 to come to her sweet
heart" Sweetheart" wrote again and
Florence raised her demands to $35.
Sweetheart sent the, $25 and then
his son reported the case to the postal
authorities when Florence kept the
money and failed to come to marry
the old man. ,a
An investigation followed and some
months ago Mrs. Gamble was placed
under arrest. She confessed.
A number of her former swains
were called to testify before the grand
jury. Others who had been duped
heard of the approaching trial and
fifteen or twenty came down to Coun-
Gil Bluffs to get a look.
Mrs. Gamble started her matrimon =
ial adventures two years ago. She
lived at Cedar, a., at that time, but
later moved to Des Moines and then
to Boone. She exchanged photo
graphs, but always asked for the re-
turn of her own picture, as she had
only one copy and that belonged To
her sister" Invariably she got it
back. The picture showed a girl about
20 years of age, slender and graceful
with the description Drown hair and
eyes, And when Mrs. Gamble stood
up to receive her sentence her admir-
ers saw a fat, motherly looking WON
an of about 40,