Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1913 — Page 3

The Cases of Alice Clement

True Stories of the World's Greatest Woman Sleuth as Told by Herself to Courtney Riley Cooper

Fitting; a Crime to the Evidence

E were aboard a rattling “L” train. Mias Alice Clement, free ZjwW\ for the day from her iQ J W \ work of tracking ’ j criminals, was mak- > J ing a few little notes in the memorandum she always carries. I rwas watching the roofs as they whirled past Neither of us had spoken for isome time. At last I ceased my occupation of Idleness to turn to the little woman, ■and found her staring absently ahead. [The little notebook was closed and ‘clasped in her hands. "Well?” I asked at last "Just thinking, that’s all,” she answered. “This is a little anniversary rwith us.” “Birth, marriage or death?” I jested. “The last,” came the answer. “It’s the anniversary of my first murder case. I don’t have those very Often, you know. In fact, it’s only when I stumble into a thing of that kind that I am allowed to take any interest In it But, then, in this easel could do as I pleased, for I was not working on the force under orders.” * She glanced up at me with a twinkle In her eyes. “Sometimes it’s good not to be working under orders,” she said. "A person can take any risks that are to be taken, and do just what seems best —even if ’it turns out all wrong. And it’s really nice to know that." Miss Clement looked rather hastily around to see that no other passengers were near us. Then, turning the llt•tle notebook playfully about in her hands, she smiled to herself. “A person never knows what’s going to ensue from the smallest kind of happening,” she began. “My case came from waiting for a car. You see, that was in the days before I went on the police force regularly, and I was selling candy for a living. Every evening I would take my car for home from one of the corners in the loop district, near the office of an after-, noon paper. It would be just about time for the last editions to come out, and It was a favorite diversion of mine to watoh the circling, yelling newsboys as they hurried in every direction from the building, each in a contest of who could sell the first paper. And watching this way one night I stumbled onto my undiscovered crime.” “Your what?” I interrupted. “The undiscovered crime. Any big city is full of them. Not that they remain undiscovered for all time, because they don’t. Some little thing will always give the criminal away. It may be even the crooking of a finger at the wrong time. In this case it was the buying of a paper. - “For three nights I had seen him, a short, shifty eyed, heavy browed man, who seemed to lurk in the shadows of the building in wait for the whirring of the presses. At the first shout of the newsboys he would dart forth, hand out his penny, buy his paper, and then scan the first page. Once in a while he would look inside; not often. It did not impress me so much the first night, nor even the second. But the third I began to wonder a little about the person, what his motive was in being so anxious to get his paper, and why he should read only the* first page, then throw It away. - "I spent a night wondering about that man, and then things began to form themselves in my brain. I determined to watch him. It was none of my business, I knew that I had no right to play detective and to take chances —but I guess when the desire to hunt persons gets into one’s heart, there isn’t anything that will take it out. I Mke to discover things; I was always a person to be finding out, finding out, and so—well, I started in to learn what the gentleman with the shaggy eyebrows had in mind "when he bought his paper every night and then quickly threw it away. “The next day I reported to the candy company that I was ill, and that I didn’t believe I would be down to work for several days. Then, that night, there appeared at the newspaper corner a poor woman, dressed in clothing that was out of date, a bit lame, and not very good of sight Incidentally that same person was myself. I had started On my work of finding out the message of the newspaper. I had hired a girl for a few days to take care of my little kiddie out at the flat; I had kissed the child a long goodby, in case my passion for detective work should carry me away from her forever/and now I was ready for anything.

“The homegoing crowds began to Jam the street cars. Dusk had come. Chen darkness. Fifteen minutes I waited, twenty, and then from the basement I heard the whirring of the presses. A few moments later, there came the shouting newsboys, and with their first appearance my heart gave a leap. Seemingly from nowhere my man appeared, pushed forth his penny, clutcned his paper, and was greedily scanning the front page. I watched him as he threw the paper to the pavement and turned down the street Then I followed. “It was a long road we traveled, down Fifth Avenue, then turning and

(Copyright by W. G. Chapman.)

crossing the river, past old commission houses and into the tenement district of the city. Sneaking along in the shadows, I saw him enter a dark stairway. I started to follow, then stopped. . The building, on the upper floor, I had noticed, was occupied on one side by. a small manufacturing concern, a sweatshop, probably. Then he must have his room somewhere on the other side. I hurried into the alley next to the building and watched. Soon a light appeared in a window on the fourth floor, to shine dimly a moment, then fade as a curtain was pulled. I strained my eyes at the shadow as the man had gone to the window. I was sure he was the one I was following, and that I had located his room.

“That night the house took a new lodger, one who preferred to live on the fourth floor, where the light was a trifle better. She was a poor woman, but at that she managed to pay her first week’s rent in advance.” Alice Clement smiled as she said this, and I could not help wondering at the courage of this bright eyed little woman, slight, pretty, young appearing, a woman who seemed of the type that lives for petting and for easy luxury, instead of the grueling life that one must undergo when stalking crime. The “L” train had stopped for the transfer from local to express trains at Indiana avenue. Miss Clement waited until the whirring of the wheels began again before she took up her narrative once more.

“It isn’t a usual thing for a man to buy papers like that,” she said. “And that was the reason I had become so interested in him. What was it that he desired to see? What was it that he was constantly fearful might - come forth every day—what was it that impelled his curiosity to watch the very latest edition of papers, that he must know what was happening up to the very last minute? The thoughts gnawed my brain. There was no particular unsolved murder mystery just at that time. There had been no very great robberies. As I sat in my little room, looking at the faded, torn wall paper and the miserable furnishings, I dissected the whole thing, piece by piece. That man was a criminal, I felt sure of it. He had done something which as yet had not been found out. His conscience was hurting him. The thought of a crime, weighing down upon his brain, was driving him night after night out into the open, to learn if possible if the world had yet learned of his guilt. Yes, I was sure of all that; but to prove it was a different matter. A criminal, forced to the wall, is a hard person to deal with. I had nothing by which a lead of attack might be made. There was nothing that he could be accused of. There was only one thing to do —wait and play spy. “That night, as the hours grew late, I sneaked into the hall and stealthily approached the door. There, in the shadow, just around the corner from where a dingy hall light threw its feeble rays against the overpowering darkness, I knelt, hour after hour, listening at the keyhole. But no word, no sound, came from within. There was no movement from the man within the room, nothing that would indicate that he was suffering from the thoughts of a crime. I went back to my room and went to sleep. “The next night it was the same. There must be a new plan. The following day, gauging my time so that I felt sure he would be at the newspaper office, I tried my keys on the door. They all failed. Then, following apparent failure, there entered hope. The door of the room next went open to my touch. I saw that it was vacant. I felt the walls; they were almost nothing. I saw that by judicious use of a sharp knife I could have a hole through the connecting one within a half hour. I set to work."

The "L” train had stopped for a moment, and with it stopped Miss element’s narrative. Then, as the motorman shot the lever around on the controller, it began again. “When my man returned that night, he was being watched by two eyes that were tireless.', I had stationed myself in that little room, locked and bolted the door, and was at the tiny hole I had made in the wall. I felt sure that it would not be noticed. I was willing, anyway, to take the chance. “He came Into the room somewhat wildly. His face was set, he seemed nervous. Hurriedly he walked to the small cupboard and took from it a box containing some white powder—a cocaine flend! Then, almost stealthily, he paced around the room, to take out at last some letters from a desk, and seated himself by the light I could see that the paper was old and dirty. The letters evidently had been read and re-read a thousand times. "I stood at that hole in the wall spellbound. The man before me was changing in every bit of his nature. The shifty, nervous expression had left his eyes now. As he read line after line of the missive he held in his hand, his eyes grew steely and cold and glaring. Now and then the lips seemed to part in a snarl. The blood surged to his cheeks, then left it The hands trembled. The man beneath my gase was turning animat

"At last he rose, and, with the letters clasped tight In his hapds, he began to pace the floor. Once or twice he raised his hands as if to tear the letters into bits* then, with a smothered exclamation, he threw them far from him, and stood trembling. A moment later he was on the floor hastily, (hurriedly lifting an edge of the worn carpet. A picture came, forth. I saw that it was the photograph of a man. I knew that it was time for action. .. .

"Out of the room I crept, turning the lock in the door with the softness of velvet Then down the hall I harried and into the street. A patrolman was near. I recognised him. “’Malloy,’ I said, *1 want you to make an arrest and take the credit for it Will you do it?’ > “He went into the house with me, and then, once in the hall, hid himself in the shadows near the door. I knocked—once; twice, three times. I heard a slight movement within the room—l knew that the man was hiding his cocaine, his letter and the picture. I waited. At last the door opened, and the peering face stared out at me. “ ’Well?’ he asked. “I walked into the room, almost past his outstretched hand. I sat down near the door. With eyes that were nervous, I saw him reach to turn the key again in. the lock as he shut the door. Then there came a feeling of great thanksgiving as he at last refrained, walked’past me with puzzled look and sat down near the window.

‘“Well?’ he asked again. ‘What is it?’ ‘“You don’t remember me? “He seemed to puzzle a moment. “ ‘No,’ he answered at last “I lived next door to you.’ “‘Where?’ He shot the question at me with a queer jerk of his voice. Hastily I rose, walked to the door, looked out and then returned to my seat. “‘We’d better not mention names or streets,’ I said in a lowered voice. I felt that my hand was gripping my revolver with extreme tightness. ‘There are too many that will hear; you know why.’ “The man’s face across from mine had turned pale for a moment, and then a stillness had come over it. The eyes seemed Immovable as they gazed straight at me. “‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ came the denial from his lips. ‘Talk all you want to. Name everything you want to. I know of no reason for quiet— ’

“ ‘Don’t you?’ I allowed my face to go stern and T leaned forward a bit “Are you sure of that?” “He shifted in his chair; “ ‘Look here,’ he began, ‘what in— ■’ ‘“Not so loud,’ I interrupted. ‘Even if you are going to play the fool, I’m not I’m here to help you. They’ve found out’ “ ‘What?’ He was on his feet now, staring at me. ‘What have—’ “ ‘They’ve found the body. I knew they would. I tried to keep them away from there as long as I could, but they would go in—and when they did, they found it. The neighbors— ’ “The face had turned livid now. ‘“What are you talking about?’ he asked hoarsely. ‘Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you mean when you say that you tried

“I had interrupted him with a gesture. I was on my feet now, tqo, pointing a finger at him. “ ‘You know what I am talking about,’ I hurled at him. ‘You know as well as I do that you killed her You know when the quarrel was, after you had found his letter to her and his picture! You know! You thought that no one saw you, but there was one, and that one was myself!’ “ ‘You—!’

“ ‘Wait!’ I ordered. ‘I am not here to harass you. I’m here to save you. The police are trailing you. They’ve gotten a description of you from some one around the newspaper offices, some one who has seen you buying papers every night to see if the news of the killing had come out You fool! Why didn’t you get out of town when you had the chance? Didn’t you know that some one would see you and recognize you—and wonder what was wrong? You’ve got to leave town now, and leave quick. They’ll trail you here; there won’t be a chance of escape. You’ll swing, that’s all.’ “A cry broke in on me. Hands outstretched, fingers claw-like, the crazed man stood before me. I quailed before him. I half drew the revplver from my pocket Then came the outburst

“'Swing?' he asked wildly. *You mean that I’ll be hanged—hanged for that? I didn’t kill her intentionally— I just meant to strike her with the dull side of the knife, to scare her. It turned in my hand and caught her jugular—l didn’t mean to do it! I didn’t mean to do it* The voice was almost screaming now. T ought to have killed her!* he added with a quick change of demeanor. T ought to have! She deserved It She’d been deceiving me for three years All the time I thought she was true to me she was meeting Withers. She was tin love with him. They were planning to run away—and I found out I stopped her, though. I stopped her! If they hang me they’ll have to hang him, too, that’s alt He’s just as guilty as I am. He stole her away from me, he stole her—' “He stopped. His lips trembled. His eyes went wilder than ever, then closed. His arms covered his face. He was sobbing, sobbing just like some great child. For a moment he stood wavering, he staggered a few steps—then straightened. “His eyes caught the motion of the door" as I closed it. I had softly opened it and waved a hand outside — the signal. With a rush he came toward ma

AGAIN HE RUSHED FORWARD, BUT THIS TIME THERE WAS SOMETHING BESIDE ME TO RECEIVE HIM

“‘What did you open that door for? he asked. ‘“You’re mistaken—' “‘I saw you when you started to shut it You signaled to somebody. Then you’re not a friend, eh? You’re a detective? You came in here to get everything you could out of me, did you? Well, you’ve done it, but you’re not going to— f “Again he rushed forward, but this time there was something beside me to receive him. It was the hulking form of Tom Malloy, whose great arms outstretched and crushed the maniacal man before me as though he was a small boy. “ What's the matter with th’ boob?’ Tom asked as we called the wagon. I told him. “‘But keep me under your hat,’ I begged. ‘l’m only a candy saleslady, you know, Tom, and right now I need my job.’ “ ‘Sure, and he walked right up to me in the street and confessed, he did,’ grinned Tom. ‘l’ll search th’ gent’s room and find out a few things about him before I talk to the captain. I’ll book him for investigation until then. Ah, Tommy’s th’ wise boy.’ “And sure enough he was,” added Miss Clement as she finished her story. “He got into the man’s room, found out his address, went out to the house, discovered the body In the basement, with the throat cut from ear to ear, and then made his report And I, well, I went back to work the next morning and told the boss what a terrible time I had been having with headaches. It’s a mighty bad thing to have* the detective Instinct when you’re selling candy.” “Lexington avenue,” shouted the L guard. “Madison the next stop. Watch your step, everybodie-e-e-e, watch your step!” “New man on the job,” mused Miss Clement as we left the train. “He talks too plain for an old-timer.”

FIRST COLONISTS HAD FEW LUXURIES

EARLY Yankees brought over scant supplies of household furnishings. They came in small ships, wdhich provided scarcely enough room for their provisions, clothing, ammunition and other absolute necessities of life. Fortunately, says the Boston Globe, they found in the new country a number of things which served them well in everyday housekeeping. x The first settlers of Plymouth built rude huts for their first homes. The people who came over with Winthrop in June, 1630, “either built huts with bark and branches of trees or erected tents of cloth till they could provide themselves with better shelter.” So Hawthorne relates. Some settlers dug little caves in the hillsides and roofed them over with branches of trees. Many settlers made log cabins, but. they lacked tools for furniture making. The kitchen was the chief room in these early homes. It served as a place for cooking, eating, sleeping and was often used as a workshop. The fireplace was one of the important furnishings of the kitchen. Stoves were unknown. First fireplaces were of green logs covered with clay, and fresh roots weer used for andiron making. Jenks established his iron works In Saugus in 1643 and made kitchen ware of iron. Meats were roasted on a spit of green wood or were hung in the fire from green hick* ory switches. Furnishings of Early Kitchens. Early settlers commonly ate their meals in the kitchen, as did New Englanders for several generations. Some settlers brought tables with them from England. Others made tables of boards from packing cases coming in 'from England. Food was served on wooden trays. Trenches, or wooden trays, were used even at Harvard osllege. Crockery

and pewter dishes were owned and used by some of the better colonial families. Apparently pottery was used in colonial homes, for the general court enacted laws regulating the digging of potters’ clay in 1646. A glass factory was established in Salem in 1639, but glassware was not among the common tableware. Silversmiths came from England and settled in Newbury in early times and made spoons. The floors of early colonial homes were often covered with sands from the seashore or rushes from the marshes. The sand on the floors was sometimes molded into geometrical designs or elaborate figures for adornment. The kitchen floor in the Colonial home in the Essex Institute in Salem furnishes an excellent presentday example of the early colonial way of sanding floors. Brooms were made of stiff reeds or birch twiggs, like the brooms used by some farmers in their stables today. Woven carpets and rugs were rare. Bearskins and the pelts of other animals made warm and pretty rugs.

• Clocks and Watches Scarce. There were no pictures on the walls, no bookcases and scarcely any need of them, for the bible was almost the only book read by the puritans. There were few writing desks; clocks, too, were rare. When Roger Williams became involved in a discussion with some rivals, it was agreed that each side should have 16 minutes in which to present its case. But before the debate was started it was found that not a man in the entire gathering had a watch, and there wasn’t a clock, not even a sandglass, in the entire neighborhood. So it was agreed that the presiding officer should guess at the time. Sundials in many New England gardens served to tell the time of day. The watchman cried the hours of the night. Many colonial houses were built facing the south, and housewives knew it was noon when the sun was in the south windows.

Kitchen sinks and bathroom furnishings were among the things of which early comers never dreamed. The first settlers obtained their water from springs or brooks. Later settlers dug wells. Water was brought into houses in buckets. Being scant in supply, it was sparingly used. The daily bath was not a puritan practice. The family washing was usually done once a month, and in some homes once in three months. The chests brought over from England served for trunks; shelves were made; pegs, driven into the walls for the hanging of clothes, and corner closets were built in kitchens. The mantel of the fireplace, the walls of the kitchen and the rafters served tor. the hanging of pots, pans, kettles, guns, kettles, guns, corn, dried apples, snowshoes, clothing and other household furnishings. Simplicity of Colonial Homes. Candlesticks brought from England were in use and some thrifty families employed pine torches for lights. Beds and bedding were among the goods brought by the first settlers. Capt John Endicott’s company of 100 men, aho settled in Salem, was provided with fifty beds, fifty mats to lie under, fifty pairs of blankets of Welsh Cotton, 100 pairs of sheets, fifty bedticks with wool to put in them and Scotch ticking. There were no springs in the beds. The typical colonial bedsteads were large, many being of the four posted style, with canopy tops draped with heavy fabrics. Bedroom furnishings were prised In colonial times. Bertha Cartwright, who died In 1640, beqeauthed **my bed, my bolster and two pillows, with a blanket and a coverlet to my sister." She also directed that a pair of sheets be given to Margaret Jackson and that four pairs of sheets be sold to pay her debts. Some idea of the general equipment of an early colonial home may be gained from the Inventory of the estate of Joseph Howe, who died in Lynn In 1650 and left his entire estate to his wife and his 18 year old daughter. In addition to land and buildings and cattle, the Inventory shpwed the

following property: “A cart and yoke,, an ax, two wedges, a load of hay, one cradle, three pounds of powder, twenty pounds of shot, a box, a chest andi other timber, three pairs of sheets, two pillow coverings, a feather bed and bolster, four and one-half yards of cloth, a rug, and blanket, six napkins and tablecloth, a bedstead, a chair, a table and two stools, a hanging candlestick a copper kettle, a tub, a spit and frying pan, a piece of iron, an iron kettle, a brass pot, a gridiron, trays and dishes, an iron posnet, a chest, some books and a dial case.” Simplified housekeeping was necessarily practiced in early colonial times.

KILLED BABY IN HER SLEEP

Scientists Puzzled* Over a Strange Tragedy Recently Reported From Trieste. A tragedy which occurred at Trieste recently is attracting wide attention on the part of medical scientists and the general public. The case is one in which a mother during sleep murdered her infant child with a razor. The woman, who has been almost demented since the terrible occurrence, is at present being held at the disposal of the judicial authorities until the medical experts shall have been able to give an opinion on the affair. The woman is the wife of a Corfiote named Belelli, and when, after six years of married life, a child was born to the couple, in September last, their dearest wish was realized. Father and mother alike appear to have worshipped the little one. On the night of the tragedy, the woman, speaking in her sleep, said to her husband, "The child is iIL" The man, although aware that his wife was not awake, got out of bed and looked at the baby. It was lying quietly, and no fear was aroused in his mind, but he called his sister-in-law and told her what had happened. As soon as she took the child in her arms she saw that it was dead. The mother was then aroused, and as she rose in bed her husband saw that she had a razor in her hand. She had reached out during a dream and taken the razor from a chest near the bed, and with It had cut the child’s throat

Work of Childish Brains.

Childish brains work well and quickly, but sometimes the difference between the juvenile and adult viewpoints result in strange conclusions and amusing remarks. The recently published dairy of an Innocent American child of 60 years ago records sundry answers and expressions quite natural to the little maker but inevitably humorous to her elders. Once, for instance, small Anna was asked: "Where does the sun rise and set?” Now, Anna, like all her classmates, had learned the proper “east and west” reply, but her rejoinder was couched in the terms of her dally observation. “It rises over by General Granger's house and sets behind the Methodist church.” The same child, hearing that a “day of prayer and fasting” had been appointed, naively inquired **if it meant to eat as fast as you can.”

In Prehistoric Days.

Ilford, in Essex, England, is famous in the annals of geological research, discoveries there giving an idea of the dangerous state of the Thames valley at an early date in its history. The elephant, the rhinoceros and the bear roamed wild and the prehistoric trav. eler who dodged them still ran the risk of encountering the tiger or the bison. The number of teeth discovered at Ilford shows the elephant to have been particularly common.

The Cause.

"Judging from the accounts from the Congo and South America, rubber must be a Very bad sort of business In its moral effects on traders.” “Perhaps it is because naturally it tends to make their consciences else*, ttif