THE SECOND ORGY.
The second affidavit of Ella Gingles covering the incidents of the
second night following her arrest is a story of a grewsome tragedy. It
was made as she lay on a cot in the Frances Willard Memorial hospital
in Chicago.
The affidavit, signed by herself and sworn to, is as follows:
STATE OF ILLINOIS, }
County of Cook. } ss.
Ella Gingles, being first duly sworn, deposes and says:
That on the ninth day of February, 1909, she was arrested, charged
with the larceny of jewelry and lace in the city of Chicago, and that
the complaining witness was one Agness Barrett, alias Madame Barette,
and that on the following day she was taken out on bail and became
represented by Patrick H. O'Donnell of Chicago, and a day or two
thereafter also by John P. O'Shaughnessey. The affiant further says
that she had a hearing thereon.
Your affiant says that on Tuesday, February 16, 1909, this affiant came
in the afternoon to the office of Patrick H. O'Donnell, 911 Ashland
block, and there sat in the office making lace for one hour and then
had a talk with Attorney O'Donnell in his private office, and then left
his office a few minutes before five o'clock p. m., but stopped at
the elevator in said building to talk to Mr. O'Donnell and Miss Sarah
Hopkins.
That as she left the said building she had in her pocketbook, among
other small change, a five dollar bill, and that this affiant went from
the office to the store on State street known as Carson, Pirie, Scott
& Co., and went in there and bought a spool of thread for crocheting
purposes, and paid forty cents therefor and gave the five dollar bill
to be changed in making said payment; and this affiant says she is
ready to exhibit her purchase slip showing the purchase and the amount
of money offered in payment therefor; and this affiant says that the
hour of said purchase was almost five o'clock on the evening of the
sixteenth, and that as this affiant approached the door of said store a
cab was standing at the curb and Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette,
stepped out of said cab and started toward the store and left a man
sitting in the cab waiting, but that this affiant did not see where
Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, went, or did not see her make
subsequent purchases.
This affiant further says that after making said purchase she returned
home to her room at 474 La Salle avenue, Chicago, and there placed the
one key to the door of her room in a secret place where her sister
might find it, and which place was known to herself and her sister, and
the secret place was on the stairs under the stair carpet.
After concealing said key, and before the sister so returned, and after
entering her room and turning out the gas stove, she retraced her steps
and started back to room 545, Wellington hotel, to collect from a Miss
Arnold three dollars that said Miss Arnold owed this affiant; and that
on two separate occasions theretofore this affiant undertook to collect
said money; once while in company with Miss Mary E. Joyce and later
while in company with Mrs. Bagshaw and Miss Sarah Hopkins, but that she
was persuaded not to try to make such collections by both parties.
This affiant says she is familiar with the Wellington hotel and had
worked in said hotel for about a week, and while she worked there said
Miss Arnold did occupy said room, and that Agnes Barrett, alias Madame
Barette, lived on the second floor in said hotel, in room number 228;
and that this affiant, when she went to said hotel, did not know that
Miss Arnold had moved out of room 545, when in fact she had, and, as
your affiant is now informed, had left the hotel on the 12th of the
preceding month.
This affiant did not know that Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, had
left the second floor and had moved up into the identical room 545,
but your affiant is informed that such is the fact. And this affiant
did go to room 545, believing that she was approaching the room of
Miss Arnold and not knowing that she was approaching the room of Agnes
Barrett, alias Madame Barette, and knocked on the door, the exact time
of which this affiant does not know, but believes that it was in the
neighborhood of half past six o'clock in the evening.
This affiant says that a man stepped out of said room and asked this
affiant what she wanted, and this affiant said she wanted to see
Miss Arnold. The man said, "Is it about anything in particular?" and
this affiant said, "It is about lace," and the man said that she was
expecting this affiant, and to wait a minute. He talked to somebody in
the room and then came out and said Miss Arnold was in the bathroom,
and this affiant said she would wait until she came back.
The man said she was only brushing her clothes, and this affiant went
around to the bathroom and he followed her around, and this affiant
knocked at the door, which was a little ajar, and he pushed open the
door and pushed this affiant in the bathroom and put a wet handkerchief
in her mouth, on which handkerchief, this affiant says, there was some
burning stuff that was sweet, and it was "cold, but burning," after
which affiant says she did not know any more.
Affiant says that this was not the bathroom she was subsequently found
in, but was the bathroom around by Miss Barrett's room, that affiant
then thought was Miss Arnold's room.
Affiant further says she does not remember subsequent events until this
affiant woke up lying on a bed entirely undressed with the exception of
her stockings, and was being guarded by a man.
This affiant asked, "What is the matter with my head; what is the
matter here, and what is wrong?"
The man answered this affiant and said, "You are in Miss Barrett's
room; you told something that Miss Barrett did not want you to tell and
she is going to kill you, and if you scream we will kill you." At that
time this affiant saw nobody except the man himself.
He said he was going after Miss Barrett, who was in the hall, and he
went to the hall and locked the door after him, and then this affiant
looked for her clothes and could not find any, but found a pocketbook
belonging to her on the bureau, and there was a lead pencil in it, and
this affiant wrote on an envelope:
"I am at the Wellington hotel; come quick."
But did not sign her name in full, merely signing her first name,
"Ella," and then put it in an envelope, and after affixing two stamps
wrote on the outside, "Bellboy please mail this," and then got up on a
chair and threw it over the transom towards the next door, room number
547.
Affiant says that the reason she did not call on the telephone was
because she did not remember Mr. O'Donnell's telephone number and she
did not see any telephone, and that she could not have called on the
telephone anyway if this man was still outside, and she did not want to
alarm him or notify him, because he said she was not to move or get up,
and said that he would kill her if she got up from the bed.
Affiant says that at this time she had nothing on except her stockings,
and that when she got down from the chair she put Miss Barrett's spread
around her, and that man above referred to then came back in and asked
her what she had been doing and she replied that she had not been
doing anything. Affiant says that the man then attacked her. When she
screamed the man hit her on the head with his fist at the root of the
hair over the right eye, and the resultant wound was the wound found on
her by the doctors later.
Affiant further says that the man referred to then offered her ten
dollars after striking her, and tried to tear the spread off of her,
but that this affiant screamed for help, and that the man then got
a towel or some cloth and bound her mouth with a gag, and that this
affiant could not prevent said binding. Miss Barrett came in, and he
then sat down and wrote several letters or papers and watched this
affiant for several hours. Late in the night he presented some paper to
this affiant to sign and told her he would kill her if she did not, but
this affiant does not know what the paper was and has never heard of it
since.
This affiant further says that on the second occasion that the man
attacked her this affiant pulled the gag off her mouth and screamed for
help again, but the man bound her mouth, and she so sat with her mouth
bound until about two o'clock in the morning. Affiant says that there
was a knock at the door and the man put out the light and went to the
door, and that Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, and another woman
came in, and that the man asked the said Barrett what kept her.
Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, then asked the man if this affiant
was there yet, to which he replied yes, and that then the aforesaid
Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, said that she could not help
staying, saying something about a game of cards.
The man then asked the said Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, if
she brought the wine with her, to which she replied that she had, but
that she did not have a corkscrew, and asked the man if he went out to
straighten up the bathroom, to which he replied that he did, and said
Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, then said that she went into the
bathroom as she was leaving the hotel and found a hatpin in it, and
that was all.
Affiant says that the man then gave the said Agnes Barrett, alias
Madame Barette, a pocket knife with a corkscrew in it, and that they
pulled the cork out of the bottle and drank some of the contents.
Affiant says she did not know what was in the bottle or whether the
wine was red or white. Affiant says that the said man, Agnes Barrett,
alias Madame Barette, and the woman that came with her as aforesaid had
lighted a candle before they opened the bottle, and that after they
had partaken of the contents thereof as aforesaid the man went out of
the room, but that previous to that he offered the said Agnes Barrett,
alias Madame Barette, fifty dollars, and that the said Agnes Barrett
said that was not enough.
Affiant says that that was all the man said at the time, and that he
then gave to said Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, fifty dollars,
who did not then say any more, but took the money. That the man then
went out of the room and took the bottle with him, and also the candle
lighting the room. Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, then turned on
the light and came over to this affiant, who was sitting on the bed,
and removed the gag from affiant's mouth and said to this affiant:
"Didn't I tell you I would kill you if you would tell your lawyer the
things she told me."
"I did not tell the attorney," I replied. Agnes Barrett then asked
affiant if affiant had told him the man's name down at the Springs, to
which affiant replied that she had.
She then said: "Did you tell that interrupting beast?"
When I asked her who she meant, she said: "That other lawyer of yours."
I said, "I did not tell him anything."
I asked her who brought me there, saying that she did not remember
coming there.
The man then came in and said that he was going to fix my head and give
me something for it. They asked me to go to Miss Donahue's room and I
refused.
Affiant further says that Agnes Barrett then took two night-dresses
out of a paper and put one on her and then took her in to the man she
claimed was a doctor to the bathroom. The other woman came out of the
room after them and locked the door and brought the key with her, and
that they then all went into the bathroom.
This affiant says that Miss Donahue was talking over the back transom
to the man inside the bathroom. Affiant says that a candle was then
lighted in the bathroom and that Miss Donahue reached a little bottle
through the transom and told said Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette,
to mix it.
Affiant said she did not know what it was and refused to take it,
whereupon the man poured it out in a glass and put it to this affiant's
mouth and made her drink it. Affiant says that she did not know who the
man in the bathroom was at that time, because he had a black mask tied
over his face, and that she did not know whether this man was a doctor
or not, but that Agnes Barrett called him doctor.
She further says that after drinking the medicine or drug, as above
stated, she became sick, and that Agnes Barrett then asked the man if
he had any knockout drops.
The man replied that he had not.
Agnes Barrett then said she had some, and went out of the room and
shortly afterward came back with what appeared to be candy. They then
made affiant drink more of the aforesaid wine and then told affiant
to eat some of the supposed candy in order to get the taste out of
affiant's mouth, and that she did so.
Affiant says the supposed candy was sweet and was hard on the outside
and soft on the inside, and was of a greenish color.
She says that after this she could not keep her eyes open and could not
remember anything more, but that they were still in the bathroom, and
when affiant awakened she was on the bathroom floor.
(Here the affidavit recites the revolting details, unprintable in
nature, which occurred in the bathroom on the fifth floor of the
Wellington hotel.)
The affiant says that when she awakened she was not yet tied, and that
the man had his coat off and his face uncovered. Agnes Barrett was
standing in the room. The affiant says that Madame Barette cut her on
the arms and wrists several times. She says she struggled and that the
other woman then asked the said Agnes Barrett why she did not tie the
affiant's hands, to which she replied that she did not have anything
there to tie them with, but that she then got the key to her room from
the other woman and went out, and returned with cords, etc., and that
the other woman then held the affiant's hands while Agnes Barrett
tied them behind the affiant's head, and tied them to the legs of
the bathtub, and that the man then tied the affiant's leg, which the
aforesaid Agnes Barrett held until he tied. She says that Agnes Barrett
then said that she had not got enough cords with her, but she had a
piece of black cloth or stocking, or something black, with which she
tied affiant's leg, and also tied her ankle with some sort of a cord.
She says that her left leg was left untied and that her mouth was also
tied. The affiant then says that the man and Agnes Barrett then both
attacked her.
She says that the strange woman held her shoulders to the floor and
Agnes Barrett held the leg that was loose while the man took the knife
and cut her several times. She says she did not bleed freely and Agnes
Barrett then ordered the man to cut her on the other side. The man then
assaulted her. He said he cut her to arouse his passions.
She says they were in the room for some time after that and that the
man then told Agnes Barrett to go for his overcoat, and she said for
him to come back at five o'clock.
Affiant further says that the said Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette,
then asked the man to come to her room and stay the remainder of the
night, but he said no, that he had somebody to see before he left the
city.
Agnes Barrett then told the man to be there and awaken them when he
came at five o'clock, and not to sleep late, because she said he was to
have a cab with him to take this affiant to Louisville with him.
The affiant then declared that she would not go to Louisville with the
man.
Affiant then says Agnes Barrett put the neck of the bottle in her mouth
and made her drink the rest of the contents, and also gave her some
more of the supposed candy, and then tied up affiant's mouth again.
Agnes Barrett told the man to leave the light on so that the people
would think there was somebody in the bathroom, and they then left
affiant lying drugged on the floor of the room.
Affiant further says that the man then climbed up over the transom;
that she saw him get up; that she saw that he had one leg over, and
that she then could keep awake no longer; that she was sleepy and did
not know what happened after that.
Affiant further says that at the time the liquid was poured from the
little bottle into the big one, as above narrated, that the man told
said Agnes Barrett, alias Madame Barette, to scrape the label off the
bottle and she took the knife that the corkscrew was attached to and
scraped at the label of the wine bottle.
Affiant further says that after the man had attacked this affiant the
first time, as hereinbefore narrated, that the said Agnes Barrett,
alias Madame Barette, said to him, "Fifty dollars is not enough for
this girl," and he then said, "That is all I paid for the last one,"
and added, "Look at the bother you gave me with the last one," and she
said, "Yes, but you won't have any bother with this one."
This affiant further says there are many incidents and things that
happened from the time she was first seized in the bathroom until the
man climbed up out over the transom that she has not narrated in this
affidavit, but that she has told most of the occurrences; and also says
that the clothes she wore that night were later returned to her by the
police.
ELLA J. GINGLES.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15th day of March, 1909.
MARY E. JOYCE, _Notary Public_.
[SEAL.]