The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1922-11-02
LADY AST0R FIGURES IN MOST
ROMANTIC CRIMINAL EPISODE
Through Her Influence "Chary" Smith Who Shot Noted Bank
Robber Eddie Guerin, Is Set Free in Enuland-
Guerin, World Famous for His Escape From
Devils Island Now Broken Man

New York.-Fate, In her time, has
tossed up many a queer and unexpect-
ed combination on her dlzzily spinning
wheel Of chance but seldom so odd n
one as that OF today, when Lady As
tor, the winsOme. the brilliant, the
Idol OF two continents, looked down
from the heights of her fame TO do a
good turn for fellow Virglnian-a
man who had been the companion OF
criminals and jallbirds and who vent
TO prison himself because he shot Ed.
die Guerin the most famous interna-
uonal criminal Of the last forty years.
The woman known as Chicago
May" TO whom no depths OF wicked
ness were unknown, dragged this man
down with her; and now Lady Astor
lifts him up.
When the great Majestic tied up at
the dock In New York recently among
her passengers was the man known
as Charley Smith"--a man who has
been In an English prison for the last
hfteen years, and who would have
been there another ten long years II
II had not been for Fate and her
younger sister, Nancy, Lady Astor.
Once Charley Smith," facing
Judge, said that his real name was
"Mr. Nobody. fron Nowhere" The !
years haven't added much to that |
Identification. nor TO what is known |
about that arch-crlmlnal, the man |
whose path "Charley Smith" luckless- !
iy crossed-Eddie Guerin. The un-
derworld knows all their secrets, and |
the underworld doesn't tell.
Let's begin with what is known |
about Eddie Guerin. Nobody knows
In what obscure hole he is lurking to-
day. The chances are that he Is n
miserable, grnyhaired derelict, thiev-
Ing and begging on the streets Of
London. But there was a time when
he posed as an American millionaire,
and when the police OF London, Paris
and New York held him in awe.
Guerin a Gang Leader.
Eddie Guerln was born In a POOR
OF Chicago some sixty years
ago, In a day when Chicago was no
torious as sink hole of vice and
breeding place of crooks. BY the time ,
he was twenty. in 1880, he and his
brother Paddy were leaders of gang
OF young toughs. Their first big lob"
was To walk calmly away one day
With nearly $4,000 In cash from the ,
OF a bank In Galesburg, Ill. =
Eddie might have stayed on ln Chi. !
cago, but, only few days after the ,
bank robbery, he shot Thomas Ire
harm, a policeman. in the back room
of a Chicago saloon, and fled from ,
iis old haunts. a
On his way East, n bank I'm Ale )
yheny, Pa, va robbed darlngly, and !
Eddie Guerlr wa3 "wnnted" for the q
rhine. But he reached New York and .
to keep out of harms way, a
hougi he became known TO the New !,
fork police. r
with the money from an occasional o
'ank robbery or burglary of Jewels,
eddie hung ABOUT uptown gambling N
louses and spent 1t freely In H. dives y
u the Tenderloin. He was a husky, n
handsome young fellow-lf you didn't !,
tudy his eyes too closely-and he n,
Iked "the women" One OF them In =,
artlcular he liked-"Chicago May" :,
He was to change his opln.
On Of her later.
May was easy TO look at, II CON n,
emporary reports are TO be believed. 81
Ter blue eyes could seem very allur- h,
lg to well-to-do men who didn't know y,
er record. Afterward, when they 81
ad accepted an Invitation to her fiat. IN
nd. once there, found Eddie GuerIn n,
iddenly demanding fat bankrol I,
'om them as the price OF silence. nd
icy found Mays blue eyes as cold II,
; the steel Of Eddles revolver. 90
Paris Attracts Them. 81,
New York cramped the two after n wl
hile and. In the 90's they decided TO So
Ike look at Paris. ~
There was a robbery OF 25O,OOO
ancs from that famous Partisan in
INK, the Credit Lyonnals, in 1901 In
ddie was suspected OF having had os
and In that. But nothing happened =,
him for good ten wears. 10,
Then, In the warm spring days OF ou