THE LIFE STORY OF "CHICAGO MAY."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 4 October 1907, Page 1

THE LIFE STORY OF "CHICAGO MAY."

How May Churchill lias earnsti her Title of the Most Notorious Woman Criminal in Europe. Opium Smoker for Years. Now that Chicago May has been sent to fifteen frears,' penal servitude, thd worst woman in the world is in her right place. Neither in fiction nor in real life, could s^ich a virago be met with. Sho literally revelled in vice and crime, onlisting the, beauty of ber face anjd the charm of her manner into her nefarious service. She .bGWit-ched men of all typesi, toiough in her latter days her associates were wholly of thk. small criminal class. It was not so much tho cleverness of the law as her habits that brought he<r to .this long .term of imprisonment at last. For many years thei fasoinating, handsome, cunnings, cool >and unscrupulous woman had bean a victim to the opium haibit. It was this fatal drug that finaVly dulled H?r natural Shrewdness jand led her into the desperate" compact with the ma n Smith, who planned to kill Eddie Guerin ranl'l has now 1 g-ono to imprisonment for life. ■From her earliest girlhood up till now the life of Chicago May has been replete with enterprise and adventure.. Her variable wild and romantic nature, uncurbed by any moral sense, soon succumbed to tho allurements of crime. Born in Ireland. Tlie daughter of a respectable farniea.- in the west of Ireland, where she was born thirty-five years ago, May Vivienne Churchill — or 'May Sharp, to give her her proper name —was actually educated undur the benignant influence of a convent school. IBut at the early age of sixteen her ambitious brain cherishbd visions of liberty and conquest on the other side of Mie Atlantic. She emigrated to Nebraska, U.S.A., and for a little whilo osiis-tedi her uncle in his home. Very quickly she tirerrl of the dull routine of domestic life and hied away to New York. v ßy this time she had developed; into a tall and beautiful ■ girl, noti "too young to be conscious of her attractiveness., Her beiauty proved her downfall.

SEe easily procured employment m a minor part in a travelling theatrical company. She subsequently returned to New York, and became a chorus girl. In this capacity she had what she regardod as the good fortune to be se^ lected as one of the Salvation lasses forming part of the chorus of '•The Belle of New York," which was then just starling upon »its prosperous career. It was while in the chorus of "(The Birlle of New York" that May, Vivienne Churchill, as she was kitown'nfl the stage, met ter fate. She fell into the hands of a degenerate of the gtanford type. This man ook a peculiar pleasure in associating with some of tho most disreputable characters in New York. His intimates .were) fighting men, so-called "sports," and crooks in general, and May soon became acquainted with the whole gang; Smoked Opium. It was while surrounded by this vicious crowd that sho contracted tho habit of smoking opium— a vice which has ever since proved chronic with her. Most people are unaware thlat it is a common characteristic of the higher-class Americail criminajl to smoke opium; they begin, as a> rule, by using "the pipe"' as a sedjit/ivo, Uut invaritalbly the use' of the drug becomes hab.itual, and they seldom, if ever, are ablo to escape from its thraldom. May Chuschill has for years past indulged in opium, anid has at times consumed as many as thirty or forty pipes in a day. She is known to have indulged in a prolonged bout of. this kind shortly before her arrest for thb crime for which she was sent to penal- (servitude last Thursday. I The millionaire soon tired- ojf May, ' and she became the associato of a i notorious criminal who is well known on both sides of tho Alantic as ''the King of the Badgers." She also became i nit imate with a disreputable New York journalist, who used her to assist him in his (bilackmailing schemes. Among other things, he induced her to help bim to carry out a plot against PoliceCaptain Price, who was thenjin cHmge of the notorious Tenderloin district of New York.

Bribing the Police. At that time, thei reform movement instituted by the Rev., Dr. Parker was at its height, and it was wt,ll K_^o^vn tliat the popic^ oi New] York were habitually receiving bribes from, criminal and others, witb tho result fch'at the law was trampled on: with impuaity. yVlthough this was general knowledge. The bright idea occurred to the journalist in question to entrap one of tha more highly placed police oilicials in suoh a maniner that dej nial w-as < impossible., j At his suggestion, an interview 1 was arranged between May Church- ' ill and Captain Price, at her rooms, for the purpose of fixing the amount whioh Jt_bo officer iwould agree to take in return for refraining from moflesting her in her nefarious career. Prior to; tite arrival of .the ■ captain, however, Chicago May had concealed tho redoubtable Dr. Parker, tha Reform leader, in her room Iso that he overheard the whole of the conversation which took place. As a result, Police-Captain 'Frice was summarily dismissed. But) the police took their: revenge on May, and made things so unpleasant for lbr that she found it desirable to leave Nowi York for London. r A's a Chorus Girl. A few months earlier sjie had married tho son of a wellr-to-do Now York business man named Sharp, who had Ibecome fasoinated with her,, and there is no> doubt that she intended to turn over a new leaf and live a respectable life* Her husband's parents, however, became acquainted with soma details of hfer, past, and cut off the young man's allowance a_i a, means of inducing ■him to leave her. With; tho loss ot this allowance, i how-over, !May promptly took action on her own account and left him. Fori a time she returned to her old associates, until tho incident of tho entrapping of the police oaptain made Now; I York too hot for her.

Sho arrived in London, curiously enough, at the moment when "Tha

Bello of New York," the piece in which she had 'fig-ured as a chorus girl, was in thei full tide of success at the Shaftesbury Threatre. She fell in with] several pld acquaintances in the company, and also resumes! hell connexion with a number of American crooks whom she found I had migrated, like herself, to; London. A certain well-knownr jockey was much in her company, and sho was a frequent visitor to many ol the most fashionable West End resorts. Always beautifully dressud, Chicago iJlay was famed for her mag'n iii cent 'diamond earrings which were ihe object, of envy to ans' of her associates. Hore than one plot was laid to rob her of her jewels, but she was far too 'cute to believe thu old adage that there is honour even among thieves, and kept a successful guard upon them. Hoi" jewels werr. pawned on her arrest to pay for )i"r defence and maintenance , in prison. "Chicago May." One incident of her career at thii^ time will be vividly remembered by a. good many members of the theatrical profession ftvhcx formed part of a large company which assembled for supper onm night at one» of the most important West End reai taurants. A quarrel arose between Chicago May and one of the emailparty ladies of "Thd Belle' '• company, owing t& tite latter haviag"becomc| annoyed at thei amount of attention which ha-d been paid to the attractive May by an actor who ie new famous, and whom the jealous one regarded asr her especial property. In the result both women found rthemselvea pit the police station. ,

It was not until this period that sh« became known as '-'Chicago May." When she arrived in London May Churchill found tfiati .Edna May, mi consequence of her success in t 'The Belle," was the rage in the West End,, and promptly decided to be known for th(j future as "Chicago May." As a matter of fact, she htid' never Ifved in Chicago, but the title probably commended itself to her on account of its terseness- ar/i tho ease which a curious- cognomen is remembered.

First Taste of Imprisonment:. May was not long in London before she became fascinated! by the red coats of the soldiers, like so many of her sex, and became enamoured of a drill-instructor. On t)ho outbreak of tho Boer war, ho was ordered to the front. May carug'ht the patriotic fever, and did everything in her powt-r to bedome a nurse and follow jhirui to South Africa. She failed,, however, in this laudable attempt, a nd iv despair at i-eing baulbed of her del-ire srhe indulged in a heavy debauch of opium smoking.

While under the influence of this drug she stole a large sum of money, and was arrested and commift'Od for trial at the Middlesex &e(s9ions, but as no prosecutor appeared sho was discharged. This was her first taste of imprisonment^ On her . release she wont back to New York, but found it closed to hen. Tho police had not forgottien tho downfall of Captain Price, and ahq hastily returned to Lojndon, where she took a house in Moju-tagu-place. |

This house became ia notorious haunt of '.well-known criminals, bath American and British. The proceeds of many a robbery were dealt with here, and the place was also) the headquarters of a gang of blackmailers, with whose operation^ Chicago May was well acquainted;

One of the victims of this gang was a well-known London 'barrister, wJio was bled for large sums, in view of his approaching marriage. Ultimately,, an despair, Ho communicated with Scotland Yard, and a judicious warning on the part of thb authorities caused the scoundrels to refrain fsom further menacing the man of law,

Pljotbgraphy was largely made use of by these blackmailers, and it is a fact that one ot the mostl astute o£ living legal luminaries vaa '■'caught'" in this manp-er foi) the lump aum of £500 down»

One woman member of the gang : was known as Becky. She was convicted only a short timo ajgo ait Brighton of jewel- robbery, the 1 value of the property being nearly 1 £•4,000. She is the wife of a famous 1 jewel thief ffamed Locket, who is now serving a sentence of. penal 1 servitude for <the sensational robbery of precious stones at Birmingham and Liverpool, soma time ago. Meeting with Guerin. /tier acquaintances saj'i thatj Chicago May made associates* of these people more .out. of a Sheer delight, in adventure and a love of excitement, by which she sought to ■' subduct or rather to counteract her craving, for. opium, /and t-hat sho ___a<- in her __-ll tHe r__a.k.'ings of a. good woman, was excessively fond of children and dumb animals, and was charitable to tho point of recklessness. At tHis period sho met Kddie Guerin in a West End bar, as' stated in court on Thursday,, and a companied him to France, where h took her to raco meetings and won considerable S-inis of money. Sho introduced hini to an old associate of hers called Dutch iius, who, Guerin maintains, was the author of the robbery of thu American bank, forr. ;which he was convicted ancb sent to Devil's Island for life. Dutch Gus was arrested for the robbery but saved himself by stath ing that Guerin was connected with the crime. Guerin's own story is that he knew .nothing of t\te robbery, and that Dutch Gus was actuated by jealousy towards ham in regard to Chicago May. Guerin was arrested Sn the JFaris to London mail, train while on his way to London accompanied lby Chicago May. She was allowed to proceed to London, but when she learnt how serious' was the charge against Guerin she returned tio Paris to see him. She waa then promptly arrested on the charge of comulicity. The police .alleged that sho had taken Guerin's sharei of the proceeds of the robbery, to London. After twelve month's waiting for her trial, sho was sentenced) to five .rears imprisonment. Betrayed. Her case excited a good dent of attention',, as many people considered that she was innocent. An English lady of title im particular iaid prominent metobers of the American colony In Paris • petitioned the French authorities, aad! May waß ; released after, sho had served threo years. Her conduct to prison -was. irws>roachable. Sh» applied hereel^ to tha study et pjwnch, *•«* » a <

doubt waa sincere in her pro j testations to reform. On her release sha came to London, but again her good resolutions wcra shattered, Her craving for opium resumed! its sway, and in a few. week's she found her among all her old associates. Twelve months after her release Gmjrin escapod from Devil's Island and rejoined her in London.i A quarrel occurred, and in a/ fit of jealousy Chicago May gave informatiion to the police that led to hia arrest and )tho subsquent extradition proceedings, Within a few weeks of Guerin arrest, Ciicago went to South America, and so thoroughly bewitched and deceiva member of the British Consular service tli.re, that he shot 1 himself on learning Ithe woman's terrible pastt ''Baby T. This was only a few months: ago. She returned to (London at\ ouce, and joined her old criminal friends Anong them was '''Baby T— ," the man to whom sho wrota fromi prison tlhe letter which went so much against her at her trial. Charles Smith was probably her latest acquaintance. His desperate attaak, on Guerin was the outcome of his unfathomable infatuation for tho woman.

Few people know Chicago May's real name. On the !N<jwj Bailej. calender she was described as May Vivienne Churchill 'the , name by which she hae been known in London. But her aliases were innumerable,

After the jury had found her goiilty of intent to murder, Detec-tive-Inspector StoC-tiley entered tha witnes-box and described her as one 0$ the worst women 'in Europe, and credited her with the responsibility of having caused five men to r commit suicide. At this present! moment the police are in possession of lettbrs that, if published, would reveal in a measure the terribln extent to which she carried blackmail in England. It is an open secret that one of her victims was — "is" per Kips no longer applies since the passing of the sentence — a highly important and highly-_jt_i_d personage. She is a tall, finely-proportioned Irish-woman, with tousled auburn hair flung carelessly across hor broad forehead, n smiliag.- babyisVii face, dusky eyes and eyebrows cap- ' able of running tho gamut of all expressions from grave to gay, a saucy mouth, and a complexcon from which the traces of dissipation have been partly removed by use of rouge — such is Chicago' May. Manners of a Schoolgirl To the discerning eye sho looked an utterly bad and dangerous woman, whose appearance had deteriorated, who would look better in tho flash of lights by might. But ten years ago, when sho arrived in New York and began. to acquire a reputation in the Tenderloin, s>he was an unusually pretty girl, with fair hair, large blue eyes-, and distinctive features. She had the in- ■ nrocent face and the manners of a schoolgirl, and those served her purpose admirably. At the Detective Bureau mr New York she won for herself tllA reputation of being one of the most dangerous women in tho United States. She introduced a novelty in tb_j matter of theft that was a exceeding ly profitable as well an being novel. She possessed a beautiful sot of whito teeth, and sho made a habit of picking up a male acquaintance and taking him for a cab drive. Whilo in the cab she would fondle, her dupe and lay hur head on) hie shoulder — and bite off his shirt-stud mit-h thoso beautiful white teeth of hers that were flashed, white and tantalising, when she smiled tjhoee innocent smiles of hers that were lures* in ithemselvea without • the Iri__h eyes and the good complexiom of thoso days. As welll at studs, anything that came wititrin reach of ter preoty_ white teerth .was. fair game, and she haa drawn many a tie-pin. These methtods soon made her well-known fbo the N«w York j police, but she was seldom arrest j cd. Those who fell into her clutches were only too thanScjEul to escape without publicity. It is one of the most difficult; of things to gebmea to give evidence against) womes of t__ia class. Few men dare face tihe shame of the thing. Men have cut their, throats for fear of tKe kind of charges thnt Chicago May and her appalling class of womeni threat; en -to make, and do actually bring.

It was Chicago May, w%o for a wager, violated thei constitution, laws, and traditions of bhe famous Lambs' Club shortly after it had opened its newr house in Thirty Sixth-street. New York. Sho boldly entered the smoking-room one evening and demanded a drinfe. The horror of the famous "Lambi" may be better imagined rthan descr|iled. Chicago May by this time had acquired a considerable reputatiion. -Possibly: somo of tho .g: G __.t.l€*___.en. quakfd badly in their shoos at) sight of that fair-haired, innocecteyed young woman. She was politely begged to withdraw, but refused to until she had been provided with I a small bottlo of champagne. Perhaps it is a trifle significant that instead ofi having her removeid from' (ho premises by the police she was given h<-» drink. Nor was she then dismissed unceremoniously. One of the club cabs was ■placed! Bit her complete disposal, and she assuredly made excellent uso of it. ' Tho cab returned somewhere about eiighrt o'clock next morning, the driver almost as tired out as the horae. He charged 24.50d015. for tHat drive.-

Fight in. an Hotel.; . Her freedom from arrest during 1 h^r career In New York was remark- I able, but) understanderWble under 1 the circumstances; but on Christmas Eve. 1896, 'Chicago Maj" was ar- 1 rested on a charge of grand lar- ' cL-ny. Jacob Plammer. son of a police magistrate, bad tho courage ', •Qo come forward an|tl tell hisi story, in court. Ho Bfcated that he .had : taken Chicago iMay for a Belighdrivo, and that they baid vtsitud an i hot«!. According to Flammer, he caught Chicago May fa the act of taking a. roll of notes from' his packet. Chicago May behaved ill cKaracteriatic fashion. When he accused her of the theft, she retaliated by charging' him with stealing one of

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y her rings. A violent quarrel' that c I followed brought the proprietor ol r the house into the room, and -ia the subsequent argument Chicago 3 May displayed another side o^ her 1 versatile character by smashing * . water-jug over the .proprietor's . head. They were finally expelled I from the hotel* | ; When* the case was brought into . court Flammeii made this extraordi- • nary statement: '"Your Honour, this young won»>" ■ tt a hypnotist. I sawi her taku 1 - money, but when I protested sky simply waved her hand in front) of l my eyes and ordered me to! go back . to bed, and I had to do so." Assuredly a most extraordinary and remarkable statement, ai_|d yet giving perhaps some clue to the woman '9 remarkable personality and her. undoubted power over men as was Instanced af her trial, in her influence over tho scoundrel who stbod besider her in the dook'. Attempted Suicide Chicago May utterly denied tha larceny charge, ther* was nd. cor * roborutive evidence, and gba was discharged. But in this instance one svea the woman's methods then fore-) shadowing her future actions—the bcjld, unscrupulous daring and tha swift, audacious retaliation when caught red-handed. I Her. youthful huuband is still aliva. He was ' under twerity-ona when sha married hlm in the month ol May 1899 ia Naw\ York. She~wai married under the name o4 Uary Churchill, Whether she really cared ior the youth much younger than hereelf is a mattar of mystery and speculation; yet a remarkable fact* if true, points nt least to) a tern.-, poraryj infatuation. ShortJy aftei: the marriage sho was found ma desperately serious ■. state, 'suffering from carbolic acid poisoning, and her life waa saved witth difficulty. She statod that she had attempted to commit suicide, that before her. marriage she had told her husband concerning her past, which he wag willing to forget, and forglVei it aha would only reform. Being muoh in love with him, she promised' to do so, and the marriage had taken place. A few evenings later; they went out together, and the. tempat'ion, to return to her old haunts proved too much for her. She suggested that thej - should just take. a look' round and see ho«* things weria going on. They did so, but on their return her boy husband re» fusud to enter tyheir apartments with his wife. Too much of her past had been revealed to him,- oiiti he wished never to set eyes! on her again. She begged him not tci;' go, but there was no getting bim " to change his mind. Sho following him into the street, still pleading, and. finding it all in vain, went to a drug store, twhere she purchased carbolic acid. This was the story told by Chicago May after she had been discovered, suffering from car-_ bolie acid poisoning, in. a boarding-! houso in Sixth-avenue, and had s. lfficiently recovereh to explain. I'Dutch Gus." A month before she had been in court charged with robbing a man under thta usual circumstances, and when he would have raised an outcry, stifled him with his whislsers, which were long-* In 1905 it was reported that; Ohicago May had died in- French prisoni In 1906 it was di6Coyer«d that fihe wass, not only, alive, but "had " visited America surreptitiously, and had proceeded to Brazil, having in soma way, perhaps ty good con- • duct, contrived to shorten her sentence. Brazil and British) ■Guiana ara contiguous, "Vfaa Chicago "May to any way associated with Guerin's escape? It is merely a question that euggests itself. Thim ehe was heard of in Rio'de Janeiro as tha central figure of a =. tragedy under the name of May Churchill Sharpe. The interweaving ot these many threads is most Complicated In her role of widow she encountered tiie younger "Bon* of a distinguished English family, and promptly won his affections. He worshipped feer—till ths fa£ts of her past were unexpectedly brought before Wm. Then he Shot himself. IVhem Detective-Inspector Stockley fentered the witness-box art the New Bailey, ha credited! Chicago May . wltih the responsibility ofl having driven men to commit suicide. Her Latest Dupec l

In the detective bureau at New York thara Ss 4 Bogue'f Gallery, where Chicago May's portrait figures, and what time Edward Guerin met ber in London often bis escape thei 'American detective* /wero expecting her and ready for her. Tfia following description of her appeared in the "Police Ohtonicla** •Q* November 24, 1906: "May Churcfa.ill,"' alia» "Chicago May^ l la a Ibadger-worker and general thief. Sho was formerly a, 'New .York girl, on-d haa often been arreated by the police of tHis city. She is & divided blond, styliali in drees, and tries to pass herself off as a chonuei girl. She went abroad with Eddie Guerin and George Miller, both well known American crooks. Tho trio were convicted Sn Paris' in June 1902 for robbing tlfe American Express Company in Paris and stealing 30,000fr, after blowing the safe and gagging the watchman. Miller and Guerin were sentenced to lifo imprisonment, but the la'.t-i- is reported to have escaped. r.iicago May; -waa sentenced to f - 'vara. goo|d time 08, her term is -c ■<■•;•! red. She may be expected tback i.i Xew yo?k aii any time.

DaseripWoaT .Afe t thirty three, heigM. Mt. 3 Jte.. weight 155tbs., heavy build, hair brown, oyra blue, complexion fnir. Bear back of left hand, scar beck of forearm, soar in right brow.

When Gn rin was released from prison the i.assionate woman decided that mho hndt a grivarice against (him, and laid hfer flvei years' Imprisonment in France o,t his door. Sm.ith was chosen ea the instrument of revenge. But she had to ply him Heavily with champagne, for. blackguard' as ho was, even Smith would have h-?sitated euti committing a murder in oold (blood. That he was under the influence of drink when Ihe sh.pt- Guerin is ob- s

viious. For in 'South Africa there is aj policeman who has good cause to remember the deadly ;Q&ax oi ■'Chicago May's" latest dupe.

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