Mrs. Sherlock Holmes
Page 39
“place for that” (p. 5): “Sir Arthur Visits Tombs,” New York Evening World, May 28, 1914, 3.
“they’ll bury it” (p. 5): “Two Prophets,” Detroit Free Press, July 12, 1914, 44.
“never been the same since!” (p. 6): “Pilgrims Greet A. Conan Doyle,” Chicago Daily Tribune, May 29, 1914, 2.
“Sherlocks over here” (p. 6): William R. Hunt, Front-Page Detective, Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State UP, 1990, 201. The phrase is also attributed to Joseph Choate: “Pilgrims Ask Doyle”: The New York Sun, May 29, 1914, 10.
Burns as actor (p. 6): These films were Universal Animated Weekly No. 117, June 3, 1914; Our Mutual Girl: Episode 22, June 15, 1914; The $5,000,000 Counterfeiting Plot, September 1914. Doyle’s cameos mostly involve his visit to America. While filming Our Mutual Girl, Doyle, “leading man Edward Brennan, and famous humorist Irvin S. Cobb got involved in heated discussion on the number of edible sausage,” according to Moving Picture World, vol. 20, April–June 1914, 1598.
“First World War had begun” (p. 6): The onset of the First World War is the major historical event that takes place during the events of this book. I have chosen to keep it on the periphery to mirror what happens in terms of personal focus when someone loses a loved one. The world seems unimportant.
son’s tragic passing (p. 7): Andrew Lycett, The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes, New York: Free Press, 2007.
“for a sign and a consolation” (p. 7): “There Is No Death,” Indiana Gazette, November 20, 1918, 2.
“evidence in this world” (p. 7): “War Stimulates Interest,” The Index-Journal, April 13, 1919, 9.
“only a veil” (p. 7): “There Is No Death,” Indiana Gazette, November 20, 1918, 2.
1: TRUE DETECTIVE MYSTERIES
The details of this scene are taken from several pulp sources: Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephen, “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case,” True Detective, May 1926; Grace Humiston, “Won’t You Help Me Find My Girl?” Actual Detective, May 4, 1938; Dick Halvorsen, “The Hidden Grave,” Master Detective, April 1954.
Call her (p. 10): Grace Humiston with Isabel Stephen, “Won’t You Help Me Find My Girl?” Actual Detective, May 4, 1938.
2: THE MISSING SKATER
The story of the critical first hours after Ruth’s disappearance, including dialogue, is taken from a number of sources, including newspapers, detective magazines, city maps, and weather reports. The majority of the narrative is from Grace Humiston, “Won’t You Help Me Find My Girl?” Actual Detective, May 4, 1938; Dick Halvorsen, “The Hidden Grave,” Master Detective, April 1954; “Another Arnold Mystery,” New Castle Herald, February 15, 1917, 1; “Girl Kidnapped,” New York Evening World, February 15, 1917, 1; “Pretty Girl Skater,” New York Times, February 16, 1917, 20; “Cocchi Must Be Returned,” New York Evening World, June 23, 1917, 2; “Won’t Limit Inquiry,” New York Times, June 24, 1917, 2; “Swann Prepared,” New York Sun, June 26, 1917, 4; “Police Were Deaf,” New York Times, June 26, 1917, 8; “Police Graft Bared,” New York Sun, June 24, 1917, 6. There is some variation on who goes with Helen on her second trip (and how many times she returns), but the accounts are otherwise in agreement.
Helen’s shiver (p. 14): “Sister Warned,” New York Evening World, June 26, 1917, 2.
“looked positively happy” (p. 15): “Missing Schoolgirl,” New York Evening World, February 15, 1917, 1.
Description of Henry Cruger (p. 16): “Father of Slain Girl,” New York Evening World, June 25, 1917, 3.
first clue (p. 19): “First Clew,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 16, 8.
Alfredo Cocchi’s disappearance (p. 21): “Man Disappears in Cruger Case,” New-York Tribune, February 17, 5.
3: THE CORONER’S CABINET
The majority of background information, dialogue, and information about the Antoinette Tolla case comes from Gertrude Klein, “But the State Said She Must Hang,” Actual Detective, March 23, 1938; State v. Antoinette Tolla, New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, vol. 375, no. 7, 1906. Government sources: Dept. of State—Sec. of State’s office—Miscellaneous Filings (Series III): “Governor Edward C. Stokes Commuted the Death Sentence,” March 9, 1906, item 370; “Reprieve of Antoinette Tolla,” February 7, 1906, item 371; “Governor Stokes Suspended,” January 10, 1906, item 694; Governor Edward C. Stokes—Correspondence, 1904—1908: file 618; Court of Pardons, relating to A. Tolla (7 letters); Death Record for Joseph Sonta, March 4, 1905; New Jersey State Archives Dept. of Institutions and Agencies, New Jersey State Prison at Trenton Inmate Registers, 1894–1975, vol. 21. Thanks to Bette M. Epstein, of the New Jersey State Archives, for her kind help.
“I shot him” (p. 23): Gertrude Klein, “But the State Said She Must Hang,” Actual Detective, March 23, 1938.
“indict for murder” (p. 24): Ibid.
“For the defense” (p. 26): “Woman Will Help in War,” New York Times, Sept. 15, 1907, 6.
“it by reason” (p. 26): Leslie J. Tompkins, “Notes and Personals,” American Law School Review, vol. 4, 1911–12, 176. Ashley was born in Boston on July 4, 1851, and was a Yale graduate.
more than a handful (p. 27): The first woman lawyer in New York, Kate Stoneman, passed the bar in 1886, but only after an arduous battle to change the Code of Civil Procedure to allow women to take it at all. She practiced in Albany, mostly in suffrage cases. Albany now observes “Kate Stoneman Day” and gives out awards; see katestoneman.org and katestonemanproject.org.
Clarice Baright (p. 27): Virginia G. Drachman, Sisters in Law: Women Lawyers in Modern American History, Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2001, 133. Baright would go on to become a pioneering attorney nicknamed “The Lady Angel of the Tenement District” for her work with the poor.
Dean Ashley’s teaching (p. 28): “Law Schools,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 15, 1912, 89.
“become a lawyer” (p. 28): Leslie J. Tompkins, “Notes and Personals,” American Law School Review, Vol. 4, 1911–12, 175. Ashley believed in leaving the bar to law school entry low while making it very difficult “to get out.” “He hated sham, despised pretense, and avoided publicity. Quiet and simple in his tastes, he chose to live his life in the congenial and loving society of his family and intimate friends. A man of firm convictions, he rarely expressed an opinion until he had given the subject thoughtful consideration and when once his mind was made up, took a positive stand and retained it.” He died on January 26, 1916, about a year before Ruth Cruger’s disappearance. Clarence D. Ashley, Annual Report: Including Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association, vol. 24, 1901, 477. According to Ashley, “There is no question that women are thoroughly able to practice law. They themselves will work out the problem, and they are doing it in New York to-day. Only last year a bright little woman went out of the law school, and the result is that she and her husband are both practicing law successfully together.”
Legal Aid Society (p. 29): Thirtieth Annual Report to the President of the Legal Aid Society for the Year 1905, New York Public Library Archives. In 1904, they took 20,277 cases and paid out $58,665 to clients. They took on work “no matter how small their claims, nor how helpless or poor the claimants.” That year, they spent $22,702. The most popular cases were “Advice,” “Complaints Agt. Attorneys,” and “Domestic Difficulties.”
one thousand female lawyers (p. 29): “Women Lawyers in America,” Evening Star, February 16, 1906, 8.
“may have it” (p. 30): Gertrude Klein, “But the State Said She Must Hang,” Actual Detective, March 23, 1938.
“is manifestly fanciful” (p. 30): Ibid.
an incendiary editorial (p. 32): “Mrs. Tolla Granted a Reprieve Today,” Trenton Times, January 10, 1906, 1.
killed before his arrival (p. 32): “Murder to Save Mrs. Tolla,” Trenton Times, January 15, 2.
under her lower lip (p. 34): New Jersey State Archives Dept. of Institutions and Agencies, New Jersey State Prison at Trenton Inmate Registers, 1894–1975, vol. 21.
“not do so”
(p. 34): “Counsel Retained to Save Mrs. Tolla,” Trenton Sunday Advertiser, January 7, 1906, 1. Grace heard that Caesar Barra was working with Antoinette’s lawyer to ask for a pardon. She thought he had been disbarred (“Lawyer Causes Man’s Disbarment,” New York Times, October 4, 1905, 16). Barra said in the press that he felt confident that the appeal would be granted.
“woman-killing country” (p. 34): “City Priest Would Save Murderesses,” Trenton Times, January 8, 1906, 6. “Let the Stars and Stripes shine and float all over the world as an emblem of strength. Don’t let the other peoples think that beautiful flag is stained with the blood of women.”
“assault the woman” (p. 34): “Mrs. Tolla Found Guilty,” Trenton Times, January 17, 1906, 1.
Antoinette’s cell window (p. 36): Gertrude Klein, “But the State Said She Must Hang,” Actual Detective, March 23, 1938. Afterward, Antoinette cried and talked with Anna Valentine, another death row prisoner. Father Lambert, the prison chaplain, would visit at night and hear these conversations, praying for them both. There is debate whether she actually witnessed the execution.
“is rendered doubtful” (p. 37): New Jersey v. Tolla, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined Before the New Jersey Supreme Court, Newark: Soney and Sage, 1906, 523.
about five years (p. 38): Letter, Office of the Sheriff of Bergen County Hackensack to Secretary of State James Mercer, March 10, 1906, Department of State Secretary of State Office miscellaneous filings (series 3), box 370, 1836c–1915.
4: THE HEATHERBLOOM GIRL
“very little of his business” (p. 41): “Man Disappears in Cruger Case,” New-York Tribune, February 17, 5. All of the dialogue in this beginning section is from this article.
“protection for their children” (p. 42): “Hunt Missing Man,” New York Times, February 17, 1917, 1. The document was signed by Mrs. Pattinson, Mrs. Gershwin Smith, Mrs. John H. Brown, Mrs. B. M. Oxley, and Miss Grace M. Chamberlain.
How much they loved Ruth Cruger (p. 43): “Students Join Hunt,” Washington Herald, February 17, 3; “Movies to Present,” New York Times, February 21, 1917, 20.
“in the newspapers” (p. 43): “Saw Weeping Girl,” New York Evening World, February 17, 1917, 1.
blind woman (p. 44): Wording taken from Paul Strand, “Print shows woman beggar wearing ‘Blind’ sign and New York City beggar’s permit,” Photograph—New York, 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. Call No. TR1.C5 1916/1917 (case X) [P&P]. I am using this photograph as a representative image of the beggars Henry Cruger would have seen. There is no evidence to prove that he indeed saw this particular woman, though there is no evidence he did not. Throughout this book, I similarly use other contemporary details and situations to fill out cultural and social details. This is a story of creative nonfiction, not an academic history.
become a detective (p. 44): “Lost Cruger Girl,” New York Evening World, February 19, 1917, 1.
“sent in search of her” (p. 44): “Pretty Girl Skater,” New York Times, February 16, 1917, 20.
“knew it was she” (p. 45): “Sure Ruth Cruger Rode,” New York Times, March 2, 1917, 2; “Chauffeur Gives Cruger,” New-York Tribune, February 20, 1917, 6.
“which [I] did” (p. 46): “Sure Ruth Cruger Rode,” New York Times, March 2, 1917, 2.
“wide black hat” (p. 46): “Police Graft Bared,” New York Sun, June 24, 1917, 6.
“had been crying” (p. 46): “Lost Cruger Girl,” New York Evening World, February 19, 1917, 1.
“for police shirking” (p. 47): “Man Who Last Saw,” New York Evening World, February 16, 1917, 1.
“with me long ago” (p. 47): Ibid.
“and the children” (p. 47): “Lost Cruger Girl,” New York Evening World, February 19, 1917, 4.
nothing in-between (p. 48): Ernest Poole, His Family, New York: Macmillan, 1917. Poole’s book is set in 1913 and tells the story of widower Roger Gale as he tries to understand his three modern daughters who are navigating life in New York City. Known for its inclusion of real-life detail and events into its fictional narrative, the book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1918—the first given to a work of fiction. The work is largely forgotten today. In an attempt to get closer to 1917 language, I have, at several points in this book, consciously reflected some of Poole’s brief phrases and images in homage. His Family is in the public domain.
“should be done” (p. 49): “Girl Drugged,” New York Times, February 20, 1917, 20.
“You big fool” (p. 49): “Woods Sworn In,” New-York Tribune, April 9, 1914, 2. Woods’s inauguration day was the same day as the funeral of Detective Joseph Guarnieri. Woods’s pals at the Harvard Club had sent roses for his inaguration. Woods supposedly looked at the flowers for a moment and had them sent on to the detective’s family instead. For more on Woods, see Arthur Woods, Policeman and Public, Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2009 (reprint); Arthur Woods, “Police Administration,” Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York. New York: City of New York, April 1915, 54–61. The Arthur Woods Papers, 1884–1938 on microfilm, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, shelf no. 19,604.
“to shoot me?” (p. 50): “Corporation Counsel Polk,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 17, 1914, 1. Mitchel was convinced, in the hours afterward, that it was a larger conspiracy and began brandishing his own pistol in the air.
“none of them did” (p. 50): “Polk Expected,” Harrisburg Daily Independent, April 18, 1914, 1. Mahoney, after trial, was sent to a mental asylum.
“dealing with strange forces” (p. 50): “Malone Warns Revilers,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 18, 1914, 2. Attributed to both Mayor Mitchel and here to Dudley Field Malone, collector of the Port of New York.
Barking Squad (p. 51): “Nothing Like a Canine Sherlock Holmes,” New York Times, September 6, 1908, 46.
long campaign of murder (p. 52): Francesco Maraesciallo Bianco, “The Story of ‘Jo’ Petrosino,” The Scrap Book, April 1910; Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld, New York: Knopf, 1928; James Dalessandro, “Petrosino v. The Black Hand,” Playboy, January 2010; “Old-Time Racketeers,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 18, 1951, 1. Tom McDonough played for the “Barnstorming All-Americans” and was a .300-hitting third baseman; “Masquerading Sleuth,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 20, 1951, 5; Anne Romano, “Italian Squad,” Italian Americans in Law Enforcement, Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2010; Bernard Whalen and Jon Whalen, The NYPD’s First Fifty Years, Lincoln, NE: Potomac, 2015.
Black Tom Island (p. 52): “Munitions Explosions,” New York Times, July 31, 1916, 1. At 2:08 A.M. on July 30, 1916, German saboteurs set off explosions on Black Tom Island, an ammunitions dump located off Jersey City, causing reverbations that allegedly made the Brooklyn Bridge sway. Less than an hour later, another explosion showered the region with debris. Six people were killed in the aftermath, including a baby.
without its own controversies (p. 52): “School Children Told Life,” Washington Times, November 2, 1910, 6. An English teacher, Miss Henrietta Rodman, had been disciplined for teaching the work of Victorian novelist George Eliot. It wasn’t the choice of novel so much as the details of Eliot’s personal life: she had lived openly with George Lewes, who was married to someone else.
“insulted me in the street” (p. 53): “Gang Annoys Schoolgirls,” New York Evening World, May 1, 1903, 6.
used secret hand signs (p. 53): Ibid.
the people huddled (p. 53): Information on the early days of the New York City subway from The City Beneath Us, edited by Vivian Heller, New York: Norton, 2004.
“to go home” (p. 54): “Find Clue,” Washington Times, February 19, 1917, 2.
Heatherbloom Girl (p. 54): “Moving Signs Along Broadway,” Edison Monthly, December 1911, 226; Gregory Gilmartin, Shaping the City, New York: Clarkson Potter, 1995, 443; James Traub, The Devil’s Playground, New York: Random House, 2004.
“(Signed), Ruth Cruger” (p. 55): “Girls’ ‘Prison Note,’” Washington Heral
d, February 22, 1917, 1.
false leads (p. 55): “Cruger Girl May,” Asbury Park Press, February 19, 1917, 2. A girl named Mildred Van Loan saw a blotter note on the ground while playing near the Hudson River. It was an “S.O.S.” message from “Ruth Cruger.” Another fragment of the blotter seemed to say “Metropolitan Motorcycles” on it. Mildred showed her father, who took it to police. They dismissed it as having no value. The handwriting was later determined to be different from Ruth’s.
tidal wave of clues (p. 55): “Fear Cruger Case,” New York Evening World, February 22, 1917, 2.
Woods at Scotland Yard (p. 56): “An American Sherlock Holmes,” Deseret Evening News, September 14, 1907, 14.
“out of the experience” (p. 56): “N.Y. City Sleuths,” Washington Times, September 11, 1914, 7.
“few such mysteries” (p. 57): “Where Is Ruth Cruger?” New York Times, February 28, 1917, 10.
fifty detectives (p. 57): “Fifty Detectives Fail,” New-York Tribune, February 28, 1917, 5.
“to the bottom” (p. 57): “Fifty More Submarines,” Scranton Republican, February 22, 1917, 8.
“can be a detective (p. 58):” “Police Trace Two,” New York Evening World, February 21, 1917, 1.
ice-skating—alone (p. 58): “Ruth Cruger Hunt,” New-York Tribune, March 6, 1917, 15.
“in my motorcar?” (p. 58): “School Chum,” New York Sun, March 1, 1917, 8; “Woods Aids Hunt,” New-York Tribune, February 15, 1917, 3.
“an invitation to dinner” (p. 59): “Seek New Man,” New York Times, February 25, 1917, 10.
Henry’s reward (p. 59): “Reward of $1,000,” New York Evening World, March 7, 1918, 1. Swann then asked the Board of Aldermen to double it; “$1,000 Reward,” New York Times, March 8, 1917, 11.
“be a lost girl” (p. 60): “Ruth Cruger Gone,” New York Evening World, February 23, 3.
5: THESE LITTLE CASES
The physical description of the People’s Law Firm is from Katherine Glover, “Justice and Legal Aid,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 5, 1906, 16.
“to help you” (p. 62): “New Field of Legal Work,” New York Times, June 11, 1905, 47.