ARRESTED!
After the horrible outrages of January 4 I did not know what to do.
I was without money, and I would have been without food if Mrs.
Lindermann had not kindly given me something to eat. I could not bear
to think of telling any one, even a police officer or my kind landlady,
of the horrors of that night.
Finally on the afternoon of Thursday, January 8, I did make up my mind
that I would not say anything about the horrors of the case, but would
go to the chief of detectives, Captain P. D. O'Brien, and tell him of
the stealing of my things from my rooms and ask him to get my things
back for me. I went to the captain and told him my story. He seemed
impressed by it, took me to his home that night for supper, lodged me,
and the next day, which was Friday, ordered the women at the Wellington
hotel to bring back the things which they had stolen from me.
On the afternoon of Friday Mrs. Kenyon, who has since died under the
mysterious circumstances, came over alone. Miss Barrett did not come.
The captain ordered her to bring the things over with her and to have
Miss Barrett come over by noon of the next day. The next day I went
back to the captain's office and they both came over. They brought with
them only a part of the things they had taken from my room and they
also put in some things which had never been in my room. I told Captain
O'Brien so when I looked over the lot. We went over everything piece by
piece, and only four small pieces of lace was there any difference of
opinion, Miss Barrett admitting that the rest of the things belonged to
me. I was allowed to take them away.
Captain O'Brien then asked Miss Barrett whether she was going to
prosecute me for theft, and asked her if she was to get the warrant out
before all the offices closed so that I could get bail that night and
would not have to spend the Sunday in jail. Miss Barrett declared that
they had no intention of pushing the prosecution, and we all supposed
the case was then over, except myself. I intended to get my other
things back in time, if I had to sue for them.
We all then left Captain O'Brien's office. I was astounded that night
to be arrested at about eleven o'clock on a warrant sworn out by Miss
Barrett, charging me with having stolen the four pieces of lace valued
at fifty dollars. I was taken to the Harrison street police station.
Here I was compelled to spend the night in a filthy cell.
I understood later that it was the next morning that Captain O'Brien
called up Attorney Patrick H. O'Donnell and asked him to come down to
the station and get out my bond and take up my case. Mr. O'Donnell did
come, and he did get me out on bail furnished by Samuel Feldmann. Mr.
Feldmann came to go on my bail at Mr. O'Donnell's solicitation and that
of Captain O'Brien, as I understand it, although of this particular
point I am not sure. At any rate, I was released on bail pending a
hearing on the charge, which subsequently took place in the municipal
court before Judge Hume.
Mr. O'Donnell kindly took me to his home, and his wife there cried over
and mothered me and was as good to me as my own mother could have been.
Up to this time I had given no hint of the horrors of January 4. I
could not bear to think of them, much less speak of them. Mr. O'Donnell
did not know. No one except those present and myself knew of these
things.
Then the people of Chicago began to come to my aid because I was poor
and friendless. The Irish Fellowship Club employed Attorney John
Patrick O'Shaughnessey to take up my case and investigate it.
I was taken to the office of Mr. O'Shaughnessey and was told that he,
as well as Mr. O'Donnell, would be my friend. Mr. O'Shaughnessey was
rather cross to me at first and seemed to doubt whether or not I could
make any lace. He seemed to fear that I was a common thief, and not a
real lace-maker. He said to me, "Can you make lace?"
I told him, "Yes, I can make lace of any ordinary pattern known as
Irish lace." He said to me, "You sit right down there in that chair and
make some lace, if you can make lace." I replied that I had no thread.
Mr. O'Shaughnessey then sent out and got some thread of the kinds
which I told him to get, and I sat down and worked with the thread for
several hours making lace. At the end of the time I was able to show
Mr. O'Shaughnessey a piece of the grape-vine pattern, which is well
known in Ireland, and which is the pattern which I used when I won my
prizes in my native home of Larne for lace-making. It was the same kind
of lace which I had made on one or two occasions for Miss Barrett at
the Wellington hotel. The pattern agreed with some of the pieces of
lace which I was accused of having stolen from the Wellington hotel.
This exhibition of my powers to make lace convinced Mr. O'Shaughnessey
that I was not a fraud, and that I could do what I had claimed that I
could do. From that time forward he became my active friend and fought
hard for me clear to the end of the terrible trial to which I was
subjected.
Subsequently I was compelled to make lace in the presence of a number
of ladies who were interested in my case, just to show them that I was
not a fraud. Every one seemed to be suspicious of me until I had proved
that I could make lace and that I was not lying. I did not and never
have had a single friend who has not compelled me to give some definite
proof or other either as to lace-making ability or my character since
this whole horrible matter came out.
After my experience in proving to Mr. O'Shaughnessey that I was not a
fraud I was taken to Mr. O'Donnell's home and there cared for by his
wife. Mrs. O'Donnell, who seemed to be about the only person to believe
in me from the first, even when her husband seemed to doubt me, took
good care of me and treated me as if I were her own daughter. After Mr.
O'Donnell had satisfied himself that I was all right, and that there
was no fraud in any of my stories, he, too, was very kind and allowed
me to come down to his office to visit with Miss Mary Joyce, his
stenographer, who used to chat with me while I made lace with which to
pay at least a part of my obligations to the O'Donnells.
It was here, in this office, away up in the air at the Ashland block,
that I made lace day after day. I could only make one or two collars
and a tie or so a week, but that little brought in something, as I had
some exclusive Irish patterns of my own which attracted trade. These
patterns of mine could not be duplicated, at least in America, and the
lace which I made has always attracted attention. One of my customers
for the lace which I made at this time was Miss Sarah M. Hopkins of the
Catholic Women's League of Chicago. She bought several ties from me
and became interested in me at this period of my troubles, before the
brutal second attack at the Wellington hotel.
When Miss Hopkins and other ladies became patrons of mine I thought I
saw a way to make a good living without having to work as a housemaid
any more, and that I could use the trade which I had learned in Ireland
to good advantage. It was the first chance I had really had to show
what I could do since I had left the old country, and I felt very
thankful for it.
The days dragged by very slowly for me, for they kept putting off the
case of trying me for lace-stealing, stealing the lace I had made
myself, from time to time, and some days I cried and cried because the
case was not over and I was not free, because I did not believe that
anybody would convict me of stealing my own property, especially after
the manner in which it was taken.
I remember one day I was crying my eyes out on the couch in Mr.
O'Donnell's law office when Miss Mary Joyce, the best girl friend
I have ever known, came in and tried to quiet me. I cried more and
more until a gentleman came in, I think he was a reporter, and then I
managed to quit crying until he left. Miss Joyce told him to get out
of the place until I was quiet, and he went. After he had gone I began
to cry again, and Miss Joyce said not to cry, that some time soon I
would be back in Ireland again with the home folks. That only made me
cry more, because I did not see how I could face the people at home
after the terrible things that had happened to me and after I had been
arrested.
Long and long those awful days dragged out from January 9 until
February 6. I do not believe that there was a single day that I did not
cry until my eyes were all red, and I know that on many a night during
that time I cried myself to sleep. I could not bear to think of the
shame that had befallen me, although I knew that it was no fault of my
own that it had happened to me.
It was all a nightmare. My nerves were breaking gradually under the
terrible strain.
Then came my hearing before Judge Hume of the municipal court. I was
arraigned on the larceny charge and after Miss Barrett and I had
testified my attorneys demanded that I be held to the grand jury,
and refused to cross-examine the witnesses for the prosecution, so
convinced were they of my innocence.
When this was done Miss Barrett was heard to say, "Oh, my, this is
awful." This remark was overheard by Mr. O'Shaughnessey and convinced
him more than ever that something was being hidden and that I was not
the thief the Wellington hotel people sought to make me out.
During this trial an attempt on the part of Mrs. Kenyon to coach Miss
Barrett while she was on the stand brought forth some strong objections
from Mr. O'Shaughnessey, and Mrs. Kenyon was compelled to stop
attempting to coach Miss Barrett from the floor of the courtroom.
When they tried to make out their case against me at this hearing they
brought a number of pieces of lace which had never been in Captain
O'Brien's office or in my room, and I said so, and Attorney O'Donnell
promptly had them impounded for the purpose of disproving the charge
against me later on. He would not let them have them back, nor would
he let them have back a pair of stockings of Miss Donahue's which they
said I had stolen. This was the first injection of Miss Donahue's name
into the case, but it was brought in later after the second attack on
me in the Wellington hotel.
At this preliminary hearing I was held on the demand of my own people
to the grand jury and was subsequently indicted on their demand that
I might be enabled to effectually clear my name. This was the opening
of the larceny case, where the alleged theft of $25 worth of lace has
caused the expenditure of more than $38,000 all told in prosecution and
defense of me, a little Irish working girl.