The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-11-06
Took Money From Victims
Among Rich Here.
She WAS UNWILLING VAMPIRE
Gladys Frisbie Gives Away Sc.
cret to Police Officers.
Procured SS From One Wealthy
Aged TOpekan.

Fourteen-year-old Gladys Frisbie
doesn't fit the popular conception of
the vampire" She is lacking in age
and in experience in the ways of men
and women. She's just a child. But
she told county officers today, between
sobs, that her own mother, Lucy War
ner, had been using her as a lure for
men for two years with the object of
blackmail.
The little girls story indicates that
she has been a very unwilling '+vam-
pre- that while she has been more
or less successful in shaking down old
men with long purses and short MEM
or1eS, she had no heart in the game.
But at that, she says she would have
gone on and on had not some neigh
Dor told Miss Kate King that the girl
needed looking after.
The chfld's mother, Lucy Warner,
came to Topeka about state fair time.
in company with a Greek named An
drew Speel. The three have been liv-
ing together at 210 East Fifth street
Mrs. Warner is about 35 years of age
while Speel is only 20. The girl says
they are not married and that her
mother is not divorced from a former
husband named Warner.
we came to Topeka from Pennsyl-
vanla, said Gladys, "and we had to
leave there in hurry By using me
they took 5000 from an old man.
According to the girls story a To-
pekan, an old man reputed to have
plenty of money. had been marked as
/ a victim.
Went Out With Him.
Because mother insisted upon it
nave peen out with him several times, "
said the girl. and 1 think she got sew
en- or eight dollars from him But
things were not ready to hit him hard
she said. l have been scared and
didn't know what to do. She has
made me do things 1 did not want to
do and she told me that if there was
any trouble for me to say 1 was over
16 years old. But 1 know 1 am only
Ii years old
! County officials have the name of
tho aged Topekan who appears to have
fallen into the tolls of the Warner
woman. They have not consulted him
If the girls story develops sufficient
ly he will find that he has uncovered
a deep vein of trouble in running
around with the 1 4 year old girl
/ Gladys Frisbie was almost a nervous
wreck when Miss King took her in
charge Sunday afternoon. She became
more nervous as the evening progress
ed and it was necessary to call 4
physician to quiet her. 1t was to the
physician that the girl first told her
story. She repeated it today to Har-
vey Parsons, chief of police, and later
to Robert Carver, assistant county at
torney
You are sure your mother and this
Greek are not married % was asked.
Her Father Is Dead.
| How can they be married when my
mother is not divorced from Mr.. War
ner?" countered the girl. My own
father died years ago then my mother
married Mr.. Warner. They separated
and not long ago she took up with this
Greek, Speel. He's only % years o1
age and my mother is twelve years
older than he is.
Following the statements of the gir
a warrant was issued for Mrs. Warner
and Andrew Speel. Charles HiXon and
Joseph Holman, deputy sheriffs. took
the warrant to serve it at 210 East
Fifth street and learned from neigh
| bors that the man and woman left
there early today. The girl talked tc
her mother over the telephone from
the police station at o'clock this
morning, but apparently the couple
left town after that.
The mother has deserted her daugh-
ter The girl wondered today, ever
after she told of the things she alleges
her mother had forced upon her, wha1
was to become of her without her par
ent 1t was with difficulty that of
ficers kept her quiet long enough tt
get her story. Once, while she wa:
telling it to Robert Carver, a dool
slammed and she sprang out of hel
chair Temporarily she will be placed
in the county detention home