Mrs. Sherlock Holmes
Page 40
“Portia of the East Side” (p. 63): “Lawyers Vs. Shysters,” Boston Evening Transcript, December 13, 1905, 18.
“di Modeste Condizioni” (p. 63): “Women Lawyers in America,” Evening Star, February 16, 8.
“mother” (p. 63): “New Field of Legal Work,” New York Times, June 11, 1905, 47.
156 Leonard Street in Little Italy (p. 63): New York Charities Directory, New York: Charity Organization Society, 1907, 87.
“dominate their hearts” (p. 65): New Field of Legal Work,” New York Times, June 11, 1905, 47.
Rosie Pasternack (p. 65): Ibid.
“lady pay me” (p. 67): Ibid.
“$5 as for $500” (p. 68): Katherine Glover, “Justice and Legal Aid,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 5, 1906, 16.
“get my wife!” (p. 68): Ibid.
“have on now” (p. 68): Ibid.
trust-buster cases (p. 68): “Woman Will Help in War Against Trusts,” New York Times, September 15, 1907, 6. After a long three years in court, Grace won $17,000 to return to twenty-three people in Bath Beach, which was half of what the city assessed on their property, along with the taxes.
“police wouldn’t help” (p. 70): “Woman Gets Thieves,” New York Times, October 3, 1905, 6.
“little cases” (p. 71): “Justice and Legal Aid,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 5, 1906, 16.
“hurts nobody yet” (p. 71): “Deportation of an American Citizen,” Daily News-Democrat, October 7, 1905, 10. All of the dialogue in this section is from this article, which was picked up nationally.
Ward’s Island (p. 72): Situated off Manhattan between the Harlem and East Rivers, it had over four thousand beds for psychiatric cases in 1905, making it the largest mental institution in the world.
“year after arrival” (p. 72): “Regulation of Immigration,” Report on the Committee on Immigration, section 11, Act of March 3, 1891, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1902, 428.
“of moderate means” (p. 72): “Deportation of an American Citizen,” Daily News-Democrat, October 7, 1905, 10.
“the devil coming” (p. 73): Nellie Bly, “Ten Days in a Mad-House,” Around the World in Seventy-Two Days and Other Writing, New York: Penguin, 79; Deborah Noyes, Ten Days a Madwoman, New York, 2016; Brooke Kroeger, Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist, New York: Three Rivers Press, 1995.
Antonio Vigiani case (p. 76): “Lawyer Causes Man’s Disbarment,” New York Times, October 4, 1905, 16.
Mt. Carmel festival (p. 76): Robert A. Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street, New Haven: Yale UP, 2010.
Michael Cica (p. 78): “Tin Can Blown,” New York Times, July 20, 1905, 3.
The Black Hand (p. 79): “Police Guard Woman Lawyer,” New York Evening World, July 20, 1905, 10.
“we have you” (p. 80): “Pay or Beware,” Minneapolis Journal, September 30, 1905, 3.
“about to die” (p. 81): “Priest and His Church Guarded by Detectives,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 15, 1907, 14. The church was at 22 Powell Street.
Black Hand in Westchester (p. 82): “Black Hand Terrorizes Westchester,” New York Evening World, July 7, 1905, 4; “Alleged Queen of Black Handers,” Pittsburgh Press, March 10, 1918, 42; “Murder Taught by Black Hand,” Richmond Planet, February 1, 1908, 6.
barrel murders (p. 81): Mike Dash, The First Family, London: Pocket, 2009; John Dickie, Cosa Nostra, New York: St. Martin’s, 2004; “Barrel Murder Mystery,” New York Times, April 20, 1903, 1; Michael Zarocostas, The Barrel Murder, CreateSpace, 2013, fiction.
diaper (p. 81): William J. Flynn, “The Black-Hand Testament,” Lima News, April 2, 1920, 24.
“keep your mouth shut” (p. 82): William J. Flynn, “Methods of Blackmailing,” Lincoln Evening Journal, March 30, 1920, 2.
Bennie Wilenski interview (p. 83): Dialogue from “White Slaves in Labor Camp,” New York Sun, July 28, 1906, 1; “Slaves in Florida,” Minneapolis Journal, July 16, 1906, 4.
Schwartz arrested (p. 84): “Grand Jury Indicts,” New York Times, October 21, 1906, 6. The S. S. Schwartz Employment Agency was at 113–115 First Street and 283 Bowery.
Southern Agricultural Colonization Society (p. 85): “White Slaves in Labor Camp,” New York Sun, July 28, 1906, 1.
Edward Schoch (p. 85): “Another Labor Camp Refugee,” New York Sun, July 31, 1906, 5.
Bishop Broderick (p. 85): “Southern Peonage Stories,” New York Sun, August 2, 1906, 4.
“atrocious, bloodthirsty system” (p. 85): Richard Barry, “Slavery in the South Today,” Cosmopolitan, March 1907, 481–91.
$300 from McClure (p. 85): Robert B. Outland III, Tapping the Pines, Baton Rouge: Louisiana UP, 2004, 237.
Jessie Day (p. 86): This information is from a personal interview with her grandson, conducted by the author.
Martha Bensley Bruere (p. 86): dialogue from “The Housewife and the Law,” Buffalo Courier Sunday Magazine, June 11, 1911, 8. Bruere would write about Prohibition and the Triangle fire. In this account, she urges Grace to take a young journalist she nicknames “The Light” along with her to the South. This person might be Hannah Frank.
“talk about it” (p. 88): “Peonage Inquiry Started by Moody,” New York Times, October 18, 1906, 5. Another version has her first going to Moody, then Russell.
Henry Stimson (p. 88): “News Briefs,” Washington Evening Star, November 3, 1906, 6.
Florida pushback (p. 88): “Big Suit Against Mrs. Quackenbos,” Pensacola Journal, January 23, 1907, 7; “Asks for Information,” Ocala Evening Star, February 26, 1907, 1; Jerrell H. Shofner, “Mary Grace Quackenbos, a Visitor,” Florida Historical Quarterly, January, 1980, 273.
“an entire community” (p. 88): “Clark Is Angered,” Washington Herald, March 5, 1907, 4.
“was entirely untrustworthy” (p. 88): Pete Daniel, The Shadow of Slavery, Urbana, IL: U of Illinois P, 1991, 104.
Florida indictments (p. 90): “Peonage Cases in the South,” Atlanta Constitution, March 18, 1907, 6.
“being rendered gratuitously” (p. 90): “Peonage Cases in the South,” Atlanta Constitution, March 18, 1907, 6.
Schwartz and other agents (p. 90): “Two Peonage Arrests Here,” New-York Tribune, March 17, 1907, 7.
Julius J. Kron (p. 90): “Tale of Attempted Bribery,” New York Sun, April 6, 1907, 10. The restaurant was on 616 Fifth Street. “The Drawing of Jurors,” Indianapolis News, April 28, 1908, 6. Mr. Bagg later tried to buy the jury; “City Brevities,” New York Times, June 15, 1907, 2. The trial stalled because the jury couldn’t reach a decision.
6: ARMY OF THE VANISHED
Lee’s dialogue is taken from “New Ruth Cruger Clue,” New York Times, February 24, 1917, 16; “Sure Ruth Cruger,” New York Times, March 2, 1917, 8; “Police Graft Bared,” New York Sun, June 24, 1917, 6; “Gives New Clue,” New-York Tribune, February 24, 1917, 6; Dick Halvorsen, “The Hidden Grave,” Master Detective, April, 1954. Lee had a photographer partner named Edward Beach, who only appears in a few accounts.
“told me everything” (p. 93): “Search Widened in Cruger Case,” New-York Tribune, February 18, 1917, 13; “Chum of Miss Cruger,” New York Evening World, March 3, 1917, 3.
“here with Seymour” (p. 94): Ibid.
“Richard Butler” (p. 95): Seymour Many’s dialogue reconstructed from “Sure Ruth Cruger,” New York Times, March 3, 1917, 5; “Chum of Missing Ruth Cruger,” New York Evening World, March 3, 1917, 3; “Student Quizzed,” New York Evening World, March 2, 1917, 6.
“Alibi Schedule” (p. 95): “Examines College Students,” New-York Tribune, March 3, 1917, 8.
“a pretty girl” (p. 90): Ibid.
“very favorable impression” (p. 97): “Cruger Case Still,” New York Sun, March 3, 1917, 3.
Ruth liked riding (p. 97): “Baffled Police,” New-York Tribune, March 5, 1917, 9.
“a college student” (p. 98): “Sure Ruth Cruger,” New York Times, March 3, 1917, 5.
ciphers (p. 98): “Demand for $5,000,” New York Evening World, March 15, 1917, 3.
Tr
affic in Souls (p. 99): The film was directed by George Loane Tucker and released by the Independent Moving Pictures Company of America on November 13, 1913. Details of its premiere and reception taken from “At the Sign of the Flaming Arcs,” Moving Picture World, vol. 18, nos. 8–13, 1964. The film was made at a cost of $5,700 and made $430,000 at the box office.
multiple showings per day (p. 99): Larry Goldsmith, “Gender, Politics, and ‘White Slavery’ in New York City: Grace Humiston and the Ruth Cruger Mystery of 1917,” unpublished article, 5.
“five white slavers” (p. 100): “New York Sees Fight,” Day Book, February 28, 1917, 14.
“Disappear Yearly in New York” (p. 100): “Ruth Cruger Case,” New York Times, February 27, 1917, 20. For more background on white slavery, see H. W. Lytle and John Dillon, From Dance Hall to White Slavery, Chicago: Charles C. Thompson, 1912; Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900–1918, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1982; Clifford Griffith Roe and B. S. Steadwell, Horrors of the White Slave Trade, 226; “White Slaves Wage,” New York Times, January 31, 1913, 6. The Times claimed that white slaves earned a wage of “$57,000,000 a year.”
“other place” (p. 101): Ibid.; Larry Goldsmith, “Gender, Politics, and ‘White Slavery’ in New York City: Grace Humiston and the Ruth Cruger Mystery of 1917,” unpublished article, 7, notes the similarities between news accounts of white slavery and American captivity narratives.
“Should be silenced” (p. 101): “Rockefeller Jr. Heads White Slave Inquiry,” San Francisco Call, January 5, 1910, 2; “Rockefeller Heads Vice Grand Jury,” New York Times, January 4, 1910, 5.
across state lines (p. 101): The Mann Act, passed on June 25, 1910, was also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act because it made it a felony to traffic “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose” across state lines (ch. 395, 36 Stat. 825; as amended at 18 U.S.C. 2421–24).
“For immoral purposes” (p. 101): “White Slave Trade Is Not Organized,” New York Times, June 29, 1910, 16.
“less informally associated” (p. 102): Ibid.
“greater the value” (p. 102): “Ruth Cruger Recruit in Army,” February 23, 1917, Evening Public Ledger Night Extra, 8.
“white slave agent” (p. 103): “Movies to Present,” New York Times, February 21, 1917, 20.
“to her discovery” (p. 103): “Ruth Cruger Hunt,” New York Evening World, March 22, 1917, 5; “Sure Ruth Cruger,” New York Times, March 3, 1917, 5.
“Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” (p. 103): “She’s Sherlock of Cruger Case,” Muskogee Times-Democrat, June 20, 1917, 1. “She is New York’s Sherlock Holmes.” This was the first printed usage of the comparison I could find, though the New York press was quick to call any newsworthy detective a “Sherlock Holmes.”
breaking up the ice (p. 104): “Will Dynamite Ice,” Washington Herald, March 7, 1917, 3.
Cocchi’s black sled (p. 104): “What Happened to Ruth Cruger?” Milwaukee Journal, July 2, 1938, 10.
through her own tears (p. 105): “New Cruger Clue,” New York Evening World, March 16, 1917, 6.
7: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND OF SUNNY SIDE
The major details and facts of Sunny Side come from Mary Grace Quackenbos, Report on Sunnyside Plantation, Arkansas, Department of Justice Straight Numerical Files, Record Group 60, 100937, September 28, 1907. Other sources include Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 1, spring, 1991; Shadows over Sunnyside, edited by Jeannie M. Whayne, Fayetteville: Univ. of Arkansas Press, 1993, especially the excellent chapter by Randolph H. Boehm, “Mary Grace Quackenbos and the Federal Campaign Against Peonage,” which provides the definitive historical analysis of Grace’s presence at Sunny Side. For background: James G. Hollandsworth, Portrait of a Scientific Racist: Alfred Holt Stone of Mississippi, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008, 152–59. For an index of the U.S. Department of Justice peonage files, see The Peonage Files of the U.S. Department of Justice, 1901–1945, edited by Pete Daniel, Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1989. A remarkable source is Elizabeth Olivi Borgognoni, Italians of Sunnyside 1895–1995, Lake Village, AK: Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, 1995, a self-published history of Sunny Side from the Italian Americans still living in the area. There is a companion cookbook that is also well worth the cost. Both are available at ourladyofthelake.us. I have chosen to spell it Sunny Side only because that is how Grace spelled it in her report and correspondence to Washington, D.C. The more usual spelling is Sunnyside.
“ranges, or hunts” (p. 108): “Justice in South,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 31, 1907, 2. The dialogue for this entire exchange is from this article. Another version brings Pettek to Greenville for trial, but most accounts place the shotgun proceedings in Sunny Side. Grace had just received a treasury warrant that may have been how she paid for his release. She made $272.81 a month; Hannah Frank, her assistant, made $54.45, mostly for expenses.
“prosperity of the country” (p. 110): Lee L. Langley, “Italians in the Cotton Fields,” Southern Farm Magazine, May, 1904.
in the proper amounts (p. 111): James C. Cobb, The Most Southern Place on Earth, New York: Oxford UP, 1992, 135.
red water (p. 113): John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997; “Increased Brain Iron,” NeuroImage, March 2011, vol. 55, 32–78.
“conditions the best” (p. 116): Quackenbos, Report on Sunnyside Plantation, Arkansas, Department of Justice Straight Numerical Files, Record Group 60, 100937, September 28, 1907.
these black words into the sea (p. 116): Dell’orto gave his travelers a paper to prepare them. It read:
Where is your Final destination? Ans/ Sunny Side, Ark.
Have you a ticket to the final destination? Yes or No
By whom was the fare paid? Ans/ Luigi Riginelli
Are you in possession of money?
You have to tell the amount and in order not to have trouble you have to have in your pocket at least fifty liras.
Grace discovered that the tickets themselves were purchased through Peter McDonnell, who worked at Ellis Island.
“but I will” (p. 117): John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997, 112.
for all of those things (p. 118): Mary Grace Quackenbos, Report on Sunnyside Plantation, Arkansas, Department of Justice Straight Numerical Files, Record Group 60, 100937, September 28, 1907.
“wrong at Sunny Side” (p. 119): Ibid.
“a complete bankruptcy” (p. 120): Ibid.
“spent in driving Negroes” (p. 120): Ibid. The general manager set aside 140 acres as a wage crop to be harvested, if needed, by black farmers whose wages would be paid by the Italians. This extra layer of peonage was particularly disturbing. According to Grace, “the negro has money and the Italian has no friends.” She concludes, “In some ways the negro planter makes terms more advantageous … yet the debt sytem is the same and seems even more of an indignity when forced upon the Italian by a negro.”
“should be investigated” (p. 121): Ibid.
“directly at stake!” (p. 122): “Make Rivers Navigable,” Boston Evening Transcript, October 5, 1907, 4. Roosevelt’s words were met with cheers, even though his own Army Corps of Engineers was trying to—and would—kill the legislation to carry out his plan.
“ungentlemanly behavior” (p. 122): John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997, 115.
“Crittenden arrested for peonage” (p. 124): Mary Grace Quackenbos, Report on Sunnyside Plantation, Arkansas, Department of Justice Straight Numerical Files, Record Group 60, 100937, September 28, 1907; Randolph H. Boehm, “Mary Grace Quackenbos and the Federal Campaign Against Peonage,” Shadows over Sunnyside, edited by Jeannie M. Whayne, Fayetteville: U of Arkansas P, 1993, 61; “Mrs. Quackenbos Charges Peonage,” Daily Arkansas Gazette, October 31, 1907, 6.
“Slaves on Farm” (p. 124): “Millionai
re Has Slaves on Farm,” Oregon Daily Journal, Oct. 27, 1907, 1.
“a professional woman” (p. 124): “Who Is She?” Greenville Times, September 29, 1907.
special assistant appointment (p. 124): “A Woman Is Bonaparte’s Aid,” Daily Review, November 14, 1907, 1; “Women Lawyer Fights,” Washington Times, September 10, 1907, 9.
louder and higher (p. 125): “Mrs. Quackenbos Is Facing Charges,” Trenton Evening Times, November 16, 1907, 1.
the president insisted (p. 125): “Bonaparte Can Not Oust Woman Aid,” Daily Review, November 21, 1907, 1.
disproved and dismissed (p. 125): “Mrs. Quackenbos Is Vindicated,” Niagara Falls Gazette, November 20, 1907, 9.
“has been verified” (p. 125): Percy, as well as Roosevelt, knew that such a substantial request “might require an investigation from the Department of Commerce and Labor.”
“law in New York City” (p. 126): Letter, Teddy Roosevelt to Albert Bushnell Hart, January 13, 1908, Albert Bushnell Hart Papers, Harvard University Archives.
“beneath the bushel” (p. 126): “So Runs the World Away,” Wichita Eagle, November 23, 1907.
House committee on labor (p. 127): “Congress to Hold,” Indianapolis Star, February 7, 1908, 5.
“no experience” (p. 127): “Percy Makes a Reply,” Gulfport Daily Herald, October 14, 1909, 7. Percy responded to Grace’s article in like terms. “I saw the article,” he said. “It is shallow, sensational, and written to sell.”
“dear Manhattan Isle” (p. 127): “Lays Bonaparte in Congress,” New York Evening Telegram, March 2, 1908, 2.
“tailor to a mine” (p. 127): “Statement of Mrs. Mary Grace Quackenbos,” Hearings Before Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, 61st Congress, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, March 29, 1910.
everyone in the room laughed (p. 128): “No Indictment in Big Peonage Case,” Frankfort Roundabout, February 1, 1908, 3.
“just the contrary” (p. 128): “Peonage Proved,” Chicago Tribune, February 19, 1908, 1. Grace’s whole immigration argument was later printed as “The Answer to the Immigration Problem,” Pearson’s, January 1911, 96, and in a self-published book titled A Question for the House of Governors, New York: People’s Law Firm, 1909. The thrust of Grace’s plan was to move immigrants out of densely populated cities and into the country for job opportunities, to eradicate tuberculosis, and to fight white slavery through a central system of “agents” based on the German plan. Grace also proposed a separate division specifically to help immigrant women.