KEEPS HIS SECRET

Evening Star, Issue 18031, 27 July 1922, Page 7

KEEPS HIS SECRET

“CHICAGO” MAY’S GUNMAN

LADY ASTOR’S APPEAL,

"Who is “Mexican” Smith? Helms just left this country on the liner Majestic, winch has sailed on its maiden trip to America (stated the ‘Daily Express’ of May 24). ‘ 1 Mexican Smith was one of the most notorious criminals of recent times. He had just been released from Dartmoor Prison, whore he had served fifteen years for the attempted murder of Eddie Guerin, tho “ Man from Devil’s Island.” The real name of “Mexican ” Smith remains a mystery. Ho still refuses to divulge it. His release had been pleaded for by Lady Aster, who, like him, comes from Virginia, and by John M. Savage, American Consul at Southampton. Smith was a member of a "ang of criminals which included Guerin, the only man who over escaped from Devil’s Island, a convict settlement in French Guiana. “ Chicago ” May (May Churchill) was another of the gang. Guerin was in prison when Smith first came to England, and hearing* of the intimacy of “Chicago” May with the now arrival, ho threatened Smith. Tho drama came to a climax one night in Russell square. Smith, with the girl in his company, ran into Guerin, who had come out of prison. Smith drew his revolver and fired, wounding Guerin in the foot. He was sentenced for life and sent to Dartmoor. The girl received a similar sentence.

Chicago ” May herself was one, of the most daring women criminals in police history. The bare story of her life from her early days in an Irish. convent would make a “ best-seller.” j The central figure of the gang, how- 1 ever, is this mystery man, who refused on the very morning of nis departure t to cliviilge his real name. He came as Smith, and as Smith he goes. And nobody to this day has probed the strange story. All that is known Ms that ho preferred to conceal his identity for the sake of relatives in Virginia. That fact, and the story that he saved a warder at Dartmoor from the assualt of a fellow-convict, seem to indicate that there may be a touch of decent feeling in the most hardened criminal. He announced on his departure that ho had done with his old life and his old associates, and intends to make a fresh start. Will anyone ever fathom the mystery which surrounds this man, on whose behalf Lady Astor and an American Con-* sul