True Stories of Crime From the District Attorney's Office

an in t

York City, and asked to be allowed to look at a suit of clothes. Having selected one to his fancy and arranged for some alterations, he prod

l the afternoon. Of course, you don't know me or even that my name is Lang, but if you will forward the ch

salesman. "I will hold the suit a

then cancelled its certification and returned the check to Rogers, Peet & Company, and the store detecti

back of which Parker's f

ed a written order (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2) inscribed upon the back of an envelope bearing a cancelled stam

, PEET

o kindly put change in envelope in inside coat pocket. Trusting the alterations are

. yo

B.

on Rogers, Peet & Compa

at he was only doing an errand for a "gent," who was waiting close by, was directed to return with his b

was identified as a gentleman who had been very actively engaged during the preceding months in passing bad checks throughout the city, his more recent operations having consisted in cashing a check on the Lincoln National Bank for $160 on July 20th

, and on inquiring for "Mrs. Parker," were introduced to a young girl of attractive appearance to whom they delivered their unwelcome message. Mrs. Parker seeme

ffice, and in this instance the precinct men, having gained the credit for the arrest, it did not occur to them as necessary to communicate the kno

et and asked if she could be allowed to see Mr. James Parker. It took the detective but a moment to run across to the Criminal Courts Building and to telephone the warden to detain her temporarily and then to refuse her request. Five minutes later the girl emerged disconsolately from the Tombs a

those complicated, brain fatiguing processes of ratiocination indulged in by our old friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. There are still, however, genuine detectives, and some of them are to be found upon the New York police force. The magnifying glass is not one of the ordinary tools of

ng in a rocking chair in a comfortable, well-furnished room, and reading a magazine. Assuming an expression of sheepish inanity he informed her that he was an old pal of "Jim's" who had been so unfortunate as to be locked up in the same cell with him at Headquarters, and that

irl. "Couldn't you smuggle

n Elmira Reformatory and elsewhere with him, and gaining each moment valuable information from the girl's exclamations, questions, and expression. He soon learned that she was Parker's wife, that they were living in comparative

gement with the officials, the detective succeeded in convincing her that he had been able to send in to her husba

complished practically nothing. At breakfast the girl inquired of her companion what his particular "graft" was, to which he replied that he was an expert "second story man," and then proceeded to indulge hi

he expressed it,

ll you to put the ga

him sharply and c

at gang? Oh, perhaps he me

lip. He had ha

"he didn't say who they we

a lucky hit, for Mrs. Parker sudden

to make a l

llowed th

hey have got Jim fo

paper, w

e them myself. If you want to go in with me, we can earn enough mon

but he held himself under control as wel

a woman that was very go

sisted. "Why, I can copy anythin

ed Peabody. "I might ge

have to do is to write a letter to the bank asking for a new check book, saying yours is used up, and sign the name that appears on the check. If you can fool the cashier into giving your messenger a check book you can gamble pretty safely on his paying a check signed with the same name. In that way, you see, you can get all the blank checks you ne

naturedly. Things w

anyhow?" he asked. "I mus

o a store, buy something, tell them to forward the check to the bank for certification, and that you'll se

said Peabody

r. "But Jim and I have been averaging o

self? For instance, suppose I go into Tiffany's and pick out a diamond, and say I'm Mr. John Smith, of 100

s on him," said the girl

u get 'em?"

, and send them to your

n." "But how can I mail myself a letter to 100 We

miled in a su

erent days? Very good. Buy a bundle of stamped envelopes and write your own name and address on them in pencil. When they arrive rub off the p

got the 'gray matter' all right. You can have

-head frill of

e mail at the same time that you get your sample check. If you do, you can have it copied and write your request for the check book and your order for the goods on pa

est whipped to a stan

show you something worth while," exclaimed

Street, and she had closed the door of the room and drawn Peab

hich lay open upon the desk an

D. Singley

with-Miss Kauser's, you know. And this," she added a moment later, adopting a stiff, shaky, hump-backed orthography, "is the signature th

the assumed name of William Hickey, first with a stub and then with a fine point, both of which signatures she

rk, "You don't want to leave this kind of thing lying around, Mabel," pretended to tear the page up

siness with you,-sure

money to set Jim fre

ould dine at some restaurant and then sample a convenient mail box. Meantime Peabody telephoned to Headquarters, and w

manded Clark. "Didn't I give you six hour

ular penmanship; the next two are forgeries from memory; and t

whined "Hickey," "and this lady's

up at Headquarters for the night,"

exclaimed Mrs. Parker. "Mr. Hickey has been very good to

k. "I guess I can put up with t

ls under the table to "Hickey" and whispered to him to keep it for her. The detective, thinking that the farce had gone far enough, threw the money on the table and asked Clark to count it,

e, you have destroyed the only ev

d Peabody, producin

e was up and made a mock

t to the New York

loose sheets of paper and signing her name, apparently rather enjoying the notoriety which her arrest had occasioned. A thorough search of her apartment was now made with the result that several sheets of paper were found there bearing

hing, and as her forgeries were written by a muscular imitation of the pen movement of the writer of the genuine signature they were almost impossible of detection. When Albert T. Patrick forged the signature of old Mr. Rice to the spurious will of 1900 and to the checks for $25

Infra,

ignatures of the n

l, she exhibited great precocity and a considerable amount of real ability in drawing and in English composition, but her very cleverness and versatility were the means of her becoming much more sophisticated than most young women of her age, with the result that while still in her teens she gave her adopted parents ground for considerable uneasiness. Accordingly they decided to place her f

is marriage, was addicted to most of the vices common to the habitués of the under world. His worst enemy was the morphine habit and from her husband Mrs. Singley speedily learned the use of the drug. At this time Mabel Prentice-Parker-Singley was about five feet two inches in height, weighing not more than 105 or 110 pounds, slender to girlishness and showing no maturity save in her face, which, with its high color, brilliant blue eyes, and her yellow hair, often led those who glanced at her c

hich the indictment fo

er, supplemented by illustrations from her own pen of what she could do. Comparison showed that the signatures she had written without a model upon the Peabody sheet were identical with those upon the forged checks (Fig. 6) and with Mr. Bierstadt's and Miss Kauser's handwriting. When Mrs. Parker's case, therefore, came on for pleading, her counsel, probably because they could think of nothing else to do, e

jauntily by the side of her counsel throughout the proceedings toying with her pen and pencil and in the very presence of the jury copying handwriting which was given her for that purpose by various members of the yellow press who crowded close

r, did not see that anything could be done about it and the girl openly continued her literary and artistic recreation. The Court itself was not a little amused at the actions of the defendant, and when Detective Peabody was called to the stand the general hilarity h

she had confessed to him in detail the history of her crimes. Practically the only other evidence tending to corroborate his story were a few admissions of a similar character made by her to newspaper men, matrons and officers at the police station. Unless the jury were to believe that Mrs. Parker had actually written the signatures on "the Peabody sheet" there was no evidence that she was the actual for

ad committed the forgeries her husband might get off, and that later she might in turn establish her own innocence. She had therefore hastily scratched her name on the top of a sheet already containing her husband's handwriting and had told Peabody that the signatures had been written by herself. That the sheet had been written in the officer's presence she declared to be a

ty to the forgery of the very signature for which his wife was standing trial. (Kauser check, Fig. 6.) He was then sworn as a witness, to

he obvious objection to this was that Parker, in anticipation of this test, had probably been practicing the signature in the Tombs for months. On the other hand if the District Attorney did not challenge him to write the

of the witness, who ingeniously complained that he was in a bad nervous condition owing to lack of morphine, in consequence of which his hand trembled and he was in no condition to write forgeries, the latter to

other hand, argued that the evidence was conclusive that the defendant herself was the writer of the check. The whole thing boiled down to whether or not the jury was going to believe that Mrs. Parker had wri

ture of Alice Kauser, made in cour

the Kauser signature than that written by Parker himself, and thus to show how simple a matter it was to learn to do so. He had taken up his pen and was about to give a sample of his handiwork in this respect when the defendant grasped her counsel's arm and whispered: "For God's sake, don't let him do it!" whereupon

was accordingly brought down to New York, where he gave a complete history of his relations with them. His story proved beyond any doubt that Mrs. Parker was the forger of the checks in the possession of the District Attorney, and of many others beside, some of them for very large amounts. The evidence of Sweeney was of itself quite sufficient to warrant a conviction.

fficial belt." With an extraordinary accumulation of evidence the case hinged on the veracity of these two men, to which was opposed the denial of the defendant and her husband. It is an interesting fact that in the

not in her handwriting. This was one of the envelopes claimed by the prosecution to have been originally addressed in pencil and sent to themselves by the Parkers through the mail for this precise purpose. (2) That she had never seen the "Kauser practice sheets," and that the words "Alice Kauser," re

on the practice sheet. An enlargement of this "M" and a comparison of it with the "M" in the defendant's signature to her formal examination in the police court, with the "M" in "Mr." in the address on the envelope and with that in the "Mrs." on the "Peabody sheet

rs in the bath-room" upon the second practice sheet had at the same time and with the same pen

ig. 4) also shows clearly that one and the same person wrote them both. And to the accuracy of all t

to disguise her penmanship which it seemed to her quite unnecessary to do, as in t

o one who was present is likely to forget the impression made by the defendant at her sec

ntroduced his wife to a life of crime there can be no doubt, but that she had a natural predilection for it must be equally obvious. It is probably true that Mabel Parker's affection for her convict husband was unfeigned and deep. The natural repugnance of the American jury

Parker illustrated her methods and her skill a