The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-04-08
BY EDITH STEVENS

the modern world of crime-the rum rum
ming professionalism has been the envy of
those in my own group.
During that adventurous year I became
the acknowledged queen of liquor traffick-
ers. Revenue officers, prohibition agents
and representatives of the governments
bureaus have been constantly on my trail,
on land and sea.
Working together with a group of the
shrewdest, most desperate characters of in
ternational underworlds, never was my au-
thority questioned Never was NY place
of "honor" in jeopardy.
On the one hand, there were men in our
band who were known to the world as gen
tlemen, and who were at home in societys
drawing rooms. Again, there were sharp
ers cheats gamblers and notorious char
acters-many of whom l had seen at some
of the nations leading race courses
Yet again-and it can be readily under
stood why-in our pirates band were some
of the most inhuman, cruel most debased
figures.
Regardless of the differences that
listed between the polished veneer of my
leutenants and the crude gestures of the
riffraff of my following, our big jobs were
most 100 per cent efficient. These men at
heart were all adventures, who sought the
easiest way to line their pockets with gold.
However, they were selfish, each and
every one of them, that they would fight
like rats in cellar, each to promote his own
personal greed and criminal ambitions.
In so far as l know, was the first won
an ever to engage in rum running the first
who seemed to possess the necessary dash,
courage and devil may-care abandon that
marks the successful leader in criminal en-
terprises.
My men, who seemed to feat ne largely
because of my connections which / will
explain in a little INTELLECTUALLY believed
that had charmed life. They looked on
me as being human symbol of good for
tune. Many times, when tn, insurgcnt
g-oups of our complicated organization fell
down" in thc.f private enterprises, so super
stitious were the men that they attributed
these failures to my absence.
My start in life was a particularly auspi-
cious one Born of wealthy parents, l had
no cares, nor did l have any whm or
caprice that vent unsatisfied until was 6
years old. At that age cloud of domestic
difficulties darl:oned our home. There was
a divorce. My father went his way. My
mother hers As usual, the ch'l paid the
price. l hav, lot seen my father since that
time.
from wealth to comparative poverty is
not an easy path for any one totravel, much
less an easy one for a girl of artistic ten
denotes, for a girl educated to the belief
that place had been set apart fer her es-
pecal aggrandizemt
Yet, even in this, if may say so without
becoming immodest in my cain:s, 1 dis
played nerve and ability. Cast adrift from
my home, from my associates in society,
endeavored to acquire enough money to
meet my wants.
But alas. the wants Of society debutante
many. l obtained a position with
life insurance company. l went to work
an adding machine. Dreadfully prosaic
this venture. l thought 1 should 60
mad
tried to be game, as the sporting world
has it, but by heart and soul rebelled. My
work--and it was work-followed me to the
apartment where my mother, my sisters and
l were hiding away from affluent
friends. Numbers, additions, dreary col
umns of dreary figures haunted me in my
sleep Life was a nightmare of monotony!
Every human being, the old masters tell
us. seeks to escape from the things of life,
the drab things, without laying down life
itself. l was always on the lookout for this
escape. At last l 70 Ind it.
did not know when met Antonio Cas-
sese that was entering upon the most ad-
venturous and dangerous career that any
woman could undertake. This sounds ex-