The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-08-18
Girl Pretender Tells
About Her Gang
Girl Who Lived as Man for Years
Tells of Her Lies Expert
enceS.
By Anne Dunlap.

New York, Aug. 14.-"To be boy
for ten years then get caught! Just
shows how girls always found out
Sure, I'd rather be girl. Don't
have to be afraid all the time, and
can be natural, and cry when you feel
Ike it. But I'll say when was a boy
was there!"
This compromises just about the
whole philosophy of Florence Gray,
rec Whistling Jack Mcconnell" :"
.eader OF one of Philadelphia most
burdensome gangs. Eggs" Flor
oAcc called them, when she was in
,"rViewed in Philadelphia, and the
term embraced herself, meaning
tough"
In the f1apper togs to which she
has been reduced by the majesty of a
Philadelphia municipal court, Flor
ence appearss a SLIM, wiry, youngster,
sss-sSsa1FzS Szarrlr- face, WIDE open,
pale blue eyes and teeth that won't
add to her feminine charms. Her
speech is breezy, slangy-the lingo of
her gang. But it is wholesome.
She's been "picked up, sure. Fight
ing, corner lounging, vagrancy. And
this last time" (The terms are hers
She's 22, and has masqueraded as
boy since she was six She had to
confess her fraud eight months ago
because troublesome young thing
tried to force "Whistling Jack" into a
marriage and hauled him into court.
But the public wasn't Informed until
last Tuesday when Florence had one
Of her old bunch up for "landin~ i
!1Vmak"r on her beak."
Florence is the granddaughter of
James Cray, "a little man with a lonr
rcdantrE Of his kind. for he is a re-
tired Southern judge, living frugally
at No. lll2 Green street, Philadelphia
AS she sat, cross-legged, in Phil
adelphia hotel, she told this story of
her life, and the adventures that for
her began almost in the cradle.
Il was born in New York City. NV
father was a Buckeye boy. My moth
er was a New Yorker. She died when
was two years old and my father
married again and is living in Ashe-
vile, n. c. My grandfather Gray took
me when / was four years old. He's
supported me since the day | was
born, bought my first baby clothes,
and I've Travelled all over the coun-
try, from coast to coast with him.
"Trave]ing around that way seem
I'd 70 attract the attention of some
rcddlesomc people who said they
were going to put me in home.
cried, and grandpa dressed me up in
boys clothes and we slipped away
from whatever town we were in then
in the night
'Ihc first place | remember much
about was Washington. went
through the capitol building and up
IN the monument. Once | was on a
stone where you hear sounds like
whispers.
Il got my first job in Cincinnati,
driving a grocery delivery wagon. I
guess / was 13 then.
Il always got in with a gang of
Kids wherever we went and in Gin
cinnati I soon got initiated into the
corner crowd. That's how I got to
be fighter ! made up to the girls.
Just the same as the other bows SO
they wouldn't get suspicious. Was
| foxy?
"And | walked home with them af-
ter school, and wrote notes to them
Roses are red and violets arc blue
the old stuff.
Grandpa was always after me
about the gang. He tried to teach
me at home, or to make me stop work
and go to school. He was always tell
ing me those older fellows would get
me into some trouble and leave me
to pull tho red hot chestnuts out of
the fire. He wanted me to be a gen
tleman, like he said he'd raised my
father, who wasn't allowed to leave
the house without servant.