davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26

case including the plutocracy along with the
aristocracy and upper circle Of sthe denli-
monde.
THERE are spiders and spiders. They range
! from the sstute brain which q web
around the celebrated Mr.. A." and stripped
him of a million dollars to the genius who
"played" the South American, whom we must
call Mr. k for II months before selling him
an Elizabethan country house full of spurious
antiques and old masters painted the previous
year in an attic factory on the left bank Of the
Seine; and from the siren who began to spin in
Palm Beach hotel the web in which she
eventually caught her banker from the Amer
ican Middle West in London hotel and took
$25, 900 from him without leaving any sour
feelings to the Greek gambler who patiently
went on weaving a web around the wealthy
English Jew art dealer for two years before
he caught him in it in the state room of a
transatlantic liner and after the expert
banditry, asked the victim snlilingly what he
was going to do about it and got the furious
but inevitable answer, "Nothtng!"
The sophisticated will understand why the
crimes of the spider Grimes? It seems
rough, hard world are an Old World phe-
nomenon rarely known in the United States.
The federated States of North America COM
prise a rich, new land which sends wealthy
travellers forth for long Sojourns in the capitals
and beauty spots of older lands, but does not in
like manner receive the wealthy pleasure
seekers and holiday makers of the Old World,
except, perhaps, to some extent in Florida,
whose attractions Winter resort the rich
and highly placed of England discovered at
about the same time as AL Capone.
AS both psychologist and romanticst. the
spider is aware that so long as his potential
prey remains at home amid familiar surround
ings and people and scenery he may spin end
less webs, yet the fly will never come into his
parlor but once get the millionaire, the wealthy
aristocrat, the banker, the merchant prince, the
potentate, the rich woman with a reputation
to lose-get any one of these away from family
mansion, ancestral castle, Summer estate or
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26

the Office, and watt him OF for a playtime
season to some foreign paradise-and who knows
what may happen?
These are the times when the blood quckens,
the eye brightenS, the old sense of adventure
comes alive again. The protective crust is OFF.
Normal defenses are weakened. In short and,
to borrow the inexcusably crude phrase of one
spider Git destroyed his web just as it was COM
pleted and all ready for the dy-serving him
right, the bacon is ready to be fried.
The case of Mr.. A." now the Maharajah Of
Kashmir, who was pulled into as pretty a
spiders web as has ever been woven and paid
100000 to get out of it, back in 1924, is one
of the classic cases. I have known crime
specialists to go into ecstasies over that affair.
[ IERE we have young Indian prince, heir
to throne and millions, on holiday in
London and Paris At London charity ball
he meets attractive woman; in Paris she
comes to his room-and So at the moment con-
sidered correct in these comedies, does the
ladys husband. million dollars will assuage
the husbands wounded feelings and save the
prince from being cited as correspondent in
divorce suit. The prince, in a panic, pays. If
this gets out it may ruin him. His uncle, the
maharajah, is straitlaced He has only adopted
his nephew as heir to his kingdom and fortune
anyway, and there is a strong rival on the
scene already. All the factors and circum-
stances are perfect. It would all look like
dream, too good to be true, but for the steely
fact that spiders deal in dreams and weave
their webs of such fantasies. They can do
nothing with the threads Of the commonplace
and the everyday.
There was only one thing wrong with that
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26

man, who intended to spend part of every year
in France with his family. He bought, on an
experts valuation, pictures silver and so on.
The price was well over $500, 900.
Well, the expert was "nobbled." He passed
as genuine some spurious pictures and works
Of art and in all, let his client In for twice as
much as he should have paid. The sale had
no sooner been completed and the money
secured and sent out Of the country than the
gang robbed the mansion, and not only strip.
ped it of the few genuine old masters, silver;
everything worth carrying away, but also clear
ed off the spurious pictures and objets dart.
No evidence was left of the original fraud. The
police were sent after the robbers and failed
to get them The chiefs of the detective bu-
reau got on the track of the truth about the
affair, but without proof or captures there was
nothing they could do.
Our duchesse played the chief role in that
coup. She had met in Paris the impoverished
French nobleman who wanted to sell and she
had conceived the whole ingenious scheme.
She also found the buyer, whom she had met
at Biarritz that season in a social way. Her
share of the spoils is said. in quarters where
these things are gossiped about to have
amounted to more than 100000.
She had arranged to repeat somewhat SIM
liar coup in England when the c. I. D.
which now work in close touch with the de-
tective forces OF Europe and New York police
headquarters her social call and sug-
geSted that sea voyage would benefit her
health. AS the police of Paris and of Berlin
wanted her, she thought she had better rest for
q while in certain Latin American republic
whose legation does not inquire too closely into
the antecedents Of persons requesting visas SO
long as they have money.
have no doubt that even in the capital of
that sub-tropical little land she will make
things hum.
IA /HEREVER in England or Europe cosmo-
w politan society, and especially rich and
socially ambitious Americans, settle during q
season, there you find these sirens, or their
hangers-on gathering like vultures for the feast.
Some are highly accomplished blackmaileEss
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
broke that q
~ gent eman
" W had been ar
v " rested in
Mill lnI~katn

" W had been ar
v " rested in
Philadelphia
on a charge of getting some
thing more than a million
dollars by unlawful means
from the pockets Of "a high
British parsonage" and some
others, members of the GRIM
inal investigation department
ct Scotland Yard looked up
in surprise and said. "Aha!"
And their colleagues of Paris
and Berlin doubtless also ele-
waited their sophisticated eye
brows and made exclama-
tions suitable to the occa-
sion.
For this looked like q
charge of a "spider" crime.
And among the specialists
who study the ways of this
most delicate, faStidiouS,
aloof and delusive of all the
denizens of the international
underworld. it is generally
accepted that spiders" are
not found in the United
States; indeed, that they
desert the favorable environ
ment of the luxury play
grounds of the Old World
only in order to spin little
web and pull something par
ticularly soft into it on the
transatlantic ferry, heading
east again by the next boat
nosing out of the New York
docks.
Here let me say that a
spider is something more
than a gentleman, or, it may
be, a lady. who spins a little
web with intent to lure
therein some veal by per-
son and strip him of a por-
ton of his bank roll. Before
he qualities for the title in
criminal investigation de-
partment circles (where
they make subtle differen-
tiations unknown to the
common or garden variety
of cop, who would bluntly
term our friend a crook and
let it go at that, he must
be a high flyer and he must
operate in the international
sphere and in high life
&INa farV,N GgI1inl1 lifap IN fhic
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
HIGH SOCIETY OF CROOKDOM
The "Sdv Who WeaUe Webs Entagk Un1ymy Members the Sma,1
Snt Lay Traps That Net Thousands Dol9-Bm the Public Seldom
Hears of Their Lmruh1e Coups

how she acquired her 1egii.
mate title of ducheSse, be-
cause the records Of her
: marriage to the decrepit old
French roue, whose ances.
tors secured the title back
in the days Of Louis XIII,
are all in order, and we also
know that on her flrst visit
to England soon after the
war she operated q baccaret
club in . Mayfair mansion
through the whole Of q Lon
don season and left for Paris
with q useful reputation, q
number Of valuable acquaint-
ances and $4,000 IN Bank
of England notes In a jewel
case.
In following years she
came back twice and in Ger.
tain circles was known as
the queen Of the baccaret
clubs. Persons Of rank,
wealth and high repute went
to play at her gaming salon
and none had cause for COM
plant from first to last.
The duchesse Is typical of
the high-f1yerS who fit from
capital to capital and from
exotic playground to exotic
playground, according to the
season, live by their wits
and cause the police endless
trouble.
She has her sidelines. She
introduces men with money
to men who want money.
She assists, at a price, the
socially ambitious, also moths
anxious to "See life" She
has married off fat widows
of SO to gigolos and taken
a commission from both
parties on the deal. Further,
she does a lucrative trade in
introducing rich fools, young
and old, to crooks who can
strip them far, far away
from her and her beat.
The particular affair as q
result of which she had
been requested" to leave
England was something
about which the full truth
will never be published. In
the Autumn of last year q
gang of international crooks
arranged to buy o French
ancestral chateau, with con-
tents, and resell. They sold
to a wealthy Argentine cattle
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02

the twisting department they start
us off at $12.32 a week. In some
departments you get even less to
begin. Even when you are very
experienced you seldom make over
SIC or SIT week.
No Pay For Overtime
In the Keeling and inspection de-
partments, where there is only one
shift, they work US very often lon
er than 8 hours. We are sup
posed to work from to 4, and up
to IL on Saturday, but sometimes
we work to $50 and they rty to
make us work up to on Saturday.
For this we ge, only the usual
rates.
Last fall we had one wage cut,
now we have another one in Janu-
airy, that is in almost all depart
ments. 4 tt h'tt
There are lots of girls working
here younger than 16. They have
to do this because their fathers
can't make enough to support the
family.
The women-folk of the mill work.
ers who stay at home haven't any
joke either. A neighbor of mine
has a husband, 2 girls and boys
working in the Glanzstoff. There
are 3 children at home. You would
think that with all those pay-checks
they would do well, but the pay
checks are only for from $40 to
SIS. Out of this you have to pay
$500 week for transportation, by
an arrangement between the bus
company and the mills.
In the 3 strikes we had already.
the women and the girls were some
of the best fighters we had. Only
We got sold out by the United
Textile Workers Union. But now
We want to organize again in q
real fighting union, the National
Textile Workers Union.
A Girl Worker in Glanzstsf,
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Negro Women Are Framed i'm Va.

There is only one drinking cup
for the colored women, and diseas-
ed women easy spread it to those
that are healthy. The front of the
old building which is the only en-
trance to the cell tiers is a fire
trap. The whole inside of this
part is wooden with a furnace right
under the wooden floor, and if
there was fire in this part of the
there would be no way
to get the prisoners out.
z There has often been such a hell
raised that now they are talking
about making few improvements.
But only for white women. No i'm
provements for the colored women
is planned. They will have fire.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Women Jewelry
Workers Wages
Cut. in Chicago
tBy q Worker Correspondent

NDy WOHhcI SOfEcSponucutt
HICAGO. Illinois - We
slaves at Aginin & Singer,
manufacturers of jewelry aid nov
elites, setting stones, especially the
expensive ones, do not wear them.
We can not afford to. No, not on
the eight dollars to twelve dollars
per week which Aginin & Ginger
30 generously "give" US. They used
to hire US girls at twelve dollars
per week, but to make the indus
try more efficient and to make
more and more profits for the boss
they start US out with eight dol
lars per week-about twenty-three
cents per hour. If we prove our
selves after the first week to the
"good ability" we get raise and
get ten dollars per week. The
boys make little higher, but moth
ing to brag about.
We must organize and fight.
Woman Jewelry Worker.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02

proof rooms for white women and
a toilet and shower, but even for
the poor white working women it
will be just as bad as for us, that
will only be for any white woman
that has some money that has to
be a prison guest a few days.
They mix healthy prisoners with
insane or diseased prisoners. We
working people in Alexandria, one
of the worst jim-crow towns in the
world, are not yet smart enough
to realize that we must join an or
ganization that fights for US, like
the Communist Party does, espe-
ciaily for the colored women. But
we must soon realize this and join
up. Negro Woman Worker.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Women Pajd Less IN EZizabethtom Rayon
A New Kind of
Slavery For
Mass. Women
(By a Worker Correspondent


FALL RIVER, Mass. = There is
new kind of slavery for the wo-
men in Fall River. Already over
two thousand former textile mill
workers are working in the needle
trades factories that moved in as
The mills closed down or moved out.
Of the two thousand women now
working in the needle factories
here l would say about 1900 are
power machine operators, and the
rest are packers, ironers, and doing
other work and the pay is lower
than ten dollars a week for nearly
every woman needle worker.
The famous bosses Bradford
Durkee Textile School is now
teaching woman workers power
sewing to train new slaves for the
needle trades bosses for .ow wages.
Beginners are being paid only four
dollars to $3.50 a week while the
period of instruction is on.
The hours are very long, more
than ten hours, as rule, and the
conditions of health are worse even
than the textile mills, and they are
bad enough.
These needle firms came from
New York to pay low wages here,
and so / think the Needle Trades
Workers Industrial Union ought to
send organizers up from New York
to teach US to fight for better con-
ditions.
A Needle Trades Woman.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
(By a Worker Correspondent

(by a worker SOIreSpOn0eHtJ
ALEXANDRIA, Vain this
city a Negro woman is arrested
and convicted as easy as anything
without any proof at all.
Many colored women workers
are arrested for prostitution when
they never were prostitutes. Then
the Alexandria city jail-it is the
most horrible and unbelievable
ever known The only woman put
in this filthy Jail is colored. Just
now out Of 70 prisoners in this Jail,
So are colored men aud 5 colored
women. There is room in each
tier for s cells, a hunks for each
20 prisoners. There is only 2 wash
basins for 55 prisoners.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Negro Domestic
Workers Cheated;
Must Organize

l am working woman. have
been working hard all my life. I
have been doing house work for a
rich lady. would go to work 1t
seven o'clock in the morning and
quit at six in the evening, and work
hard all day long, scrubbing, wash
ing and cooking. For all this she
paid me only two dollars a week.
And what hurts me very bad il
what / am going to tell you. About
a month ago the old lady fired mo
and did not even pay the misera-
be two dollars. She just told me
to go.
But then she said, eff you want
to work for only your board you
can do So" Now | am out on thu
street with no place to stay and
nothing to eat. This is how We
working people are treated, and ve
will be treated even worse if wa
don't stand up for cur rights. For
now know that we can help our
selves If we only organize and IN
to fight these bad conditions.
l ask all you women to join IL
Communist Party and help carr,
on the work that will lead m y
freedom.
A Negro Working Wom.n
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Girls in Natl Electric
Who Ran 80 Machines
are Now Running so
(By Worker Correspondent

(By Worker Correspondent
AMgRDGE, Pa. - Here are
some Of the conditions of women in
the National Electric Co.
In my department, Braiders, we
work nine and three-quarters hours
= getting only twenty-three cents
an hour.
Here is how the pace is set in
our department. Before. ene girl
used to run every thirty machines.
The bosses began to think how to
work us faster and also how to
throw some of US ON the streets.
So they made every girl run sixty
machines and half the girls are
thrown out.
Workers of the National Elec-
trio Company, the Metal Workers
Industrial League fights against
and the rotten conditions
in our plant. Join now, and be pre-
pared to fight fer better conditions.
National Electric Worker.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02

they distributed so-called Christ
mas baskets for those whose hus-
bands are out of work. But they
didn't lose anything on that, they
even gained, because when pay day
came the bigger part of US were
short.
ii other cases if you were short
anu filed out shortage slip you
got it back but not last Christmas.
When | went to the office to find
out about my shortage a bosses
servant told me my shortage slip
is lost. Now we count out earn
ings not in dollars but in cents.
Size Does The Bosses Dirty Work
Conditions in the shop are ter
rible. No day without wage cuts
on one job or the other. Our fore
lady, Rose Charest, is the worst
creature to work under. All day
long she is running from one place
to the other yelling at US and she
is the one who cut our wages last
tire.
Nnen we come to work in the
morning most of the time we must
wait for work an hour or two.
Then comes work for few cents.
Can girl support herself on these
few cents day? No! That's
why many girls go on he bad road.
We must stop this great exploita-
ton by organizing into big in
dustrial auto workers union.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02

One of the $4,000 workers in the
Westinghouse Electric in Pitts
burgh, whose wages viii be cut 10
per cent on March 1. Women are
Metal Workers Industrial League
worst exploited in this plant. The
must organize these workers.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Miners Wives Starve,
Cannot Nurse Babies;
eve Must ORGANIZED"
(By a Worker Correspondent

(By a Worker Correspondent
RUSSELTON, Pa. - am the
wife of an unemployed miner who
has been out of work for eight
months. l have four children The
oldest is five years and the young
est is one month. Ny husband has
tried everywhere to get work, but
he cannot get any.
My children and l are starving.
1 cannot nurse my young baby be-
cause ! do not have enough to eat,
SO that do not have enough for
my baby.
! have gone to the Wildwood coal
mine four times to get job for
m husband. Each time the super
intendent has told me that there is
NO work. But 7 am going once
more before this mine to look for
a job for my husband. When l
go this time l will take club with
me and if this super does not give
my husband a. Job I viii beat him
with that stick SO that he viii go
to a hospital.
l do not care if I go to Jail. l
have nothing anyway. Ny chill
dren are starving and ] can not
help them.
But here is a better weapon to
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02

use. Several times / have called
group Of women together and
we talked about the conditions.
What we need now is that these
women organize into n women's
auxiliary, and when we are ergan-
lied we will better be able to lead
and fight.
Miners Wife.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
SHAM BATTLE OVER NIGHT
WORK

RALEIGH, N. c. - The textile
bosses control the state legislat-
ure which is considering the sham
move. to abolish night work for
wemen. One group pretends to
favor abolition Of night work fer
women, merely because II is an ex-
cuse for laying off thousands Of
workers.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Always Best Fighters; Are
Eager To Organize Into
National Textile Union
ave Been Sold Out by A. f. of L.; Women
Folk at Home Have Hard Time Too
(By a Worker COrrespondent)

ELIZABETHTON, TENN.-I to you somethn.
about the conditions of the and girl workers here
lot of departments where they
the girls off at the lowest they instance
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Hardly a Day Without a
Wage Cut on One Job or
Another in Murray Body
AS Low AS Wages Are, Girls Are Robbed of
S1.65 Month By Bosses
Dy a WOrAer Correspondent)

DETROIT, MichWhere is that
at the Murray Body Co. have waiting
Those who class-cOnscous know that will
shop where work girls getting
sides that they deduct $165 month
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-02

i246 MONROE ST. NE. CONVENIENT TO
cars, buses. churches and stores-S rooms
and bath, large front and back porches
lieht and air on all four sides; SIS. w. i.
HOPKINS. Dec. 0e30-J.
200e BELMONT RD. N.W.-FRONT APT,
four large rooms, bath. FrigtdAire on house
current. very seASonable rental $3.50. -
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-02
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
AT MILLION DOLLAR
BRIDGE.

DE LUXE Ar. APT, SOS.
Best location; new hrsproof bldg, phone,
elevator service: all improvements; Frigid-
aire; exclusive apt. Phone Pot. S083.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-02

Ola NEW YORK AVE NW.-Beautiful, large
front bath hot and cold water all time;
ard floor: meals optional. D
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-02

VICINITY GA AVE. AT RITTENHOUSE-
furnished rooms in modern detached home;
very reasonable. sos Quintana pl. Ga olS2.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-02
ROOMS--SUBURBAN.

Two FURNISHED ROOMS, ami, West
Colonial Heights. one fourth mile west Ross
i'm, Va; beautiful location, overlooking Lee
Highway; adults only; references. Mrs "A.
s. Tavenner. RoSslyn. Va.
IN AURORA HILLS, VA-Nlcely furnished
room in small private family; IL minutes to
city. Telephone Clarendon s54.F-ll s.
VERY LARGE ROOM. is minutes to city;
private family; homelike; gentlemen or cou.
Die: Ink: reasonable. Phone Georgia 1888.