GOOD STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4907, 24 March 1894, Page 1

GOOD STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAY.

A DANGEROUS WOMAN. (New Fori: Sun.) There is no greater menace to society in general and to the .peace and comfort of individuals in particular than a bad woman. To be Buck a menace to the fullest exhent sho must be young, attractive and fehif-wdl ."(.■- -.. ( There will be some among my readers who will remember the case of the woman known as Belle Clifton, although her career closed a quarter of a century ago. I had heard and read of her for five years before she got her ten-year Benten.ce to the prison in which I was deputy warden, and therefore had considerable interest in her. Had one been able to gather together the handßomest girls in four of the largest cities of the United States this Belle Clifton would have been the queen of beauty among them. She began her career at fourteen, and she was entered on the prison records aa being nineteen years of age. With facial beauty she combined a wealth of golden hair, small feet, dainty hands and a voice of wonderfully magnetic powers. No man or woman could look into her face and believe her guilty. But for a bungling piece of business on the part of her lawyer she might not have been convicted when she was. In hopes to conceal her identity he brought her into court with her face bandaged up, and declared she was suffering with neuralgia, and the jurors saw nothing of her beauty. Before telling you of her career in prison let me relate some of her outside experiences. As near as could ever be learned, Belle Clifton was born in Chicago. She was taken to a town in lowa when three months old and deserted in a railroad dep6t. She was adopted by a family named Clifton, and they gave her both her nameß. As a baby, a child, and a young girl, her beauty gave her a local fame. While Bhe obstinately refused to attend school she pioked up a great deal of general knowledge, and without anyone to advise her she fell into ways to make the most of her influence on mankind. In opposition to her bringing up and general surroundings she deliborately selected the career of an adventuress. It was probably in the blood. At the age of fourteen she disappeared from home and went to St Louis. The story she told at one of the hotels enlisted sympathy: She had prepared her yarn in advance, and although every statement was false she made everybody believe that every word was gospel truth. No less than three prominent families offered to adopt her. She accepted the offer of one, and began her career. There was a son who was to be married soon, and when Belle had been in the house less than a month she laid certain charges at his door. They were false, but rather than have any talk the girl received a sum of money and was told to go. She departed for Cincinnati and on her arrival sought out a prominent divine, claiming to believe that he could give her information about her relatives. Hera is the story the good man afterward told t^e police :— " I was favourably impressed with her appearance. I never saw a more truthful, honest, face. Her voice charmed me. She was but a child, and all my sympathies were at once roused. I received her in my study, as I did all others. She was there for about twenty minutes, telling me a story which I implicitly believed, but which was entirely false. When she arose to go she demanded 500dols of me, threatening to go before a judge and swear out a warrant againßt me if I didn't hand it over. I was at first dumb with surprise. Then I defied hor and threatened in turn. She was perfectly calm, and while admitting my entire innocence she argued that I could not afford to be dragged into court and scandalised. The result was that I gave her the money. Had she been a woman I would have defied her to the end. A child of her years possessed of such attractions would have carried public sympathy by storm." Miss Clifton's beauty attraoted men by the score, but she had no use for them. She detested compliments, and would permit no one to make love to her, except to further her purposes*. While in Cincinnati she claimed to be looking up the history of her mother, who she said died in a hospital under another name. She not only told a straight story, but even employed a private detective to search for information. Four weeks after blackmailing the minister she spread her net for the president of a bank. She had never seen the man when she entered the bank and asked for sn interview. Strangely enough he

had returned from Europe only two daya 1 before. She did not know whether he was 1 married or single, but took her chances on ' that point. His Btory was aB follows.:— 1 j "Iwasverybußy, but supposing her to 1 be fatherless or an orphan who had come 1 on bank business, I asked her into my private office. She did not sit down, as I 1 of course asked her to, but, standing with i one hand on my desk, she looked me ■ straight in the eyeß and said that if I did i not give her a thousand dollars in cash she < would tell the whole story to my wife. I 1 listened like one in a dream. I could not < comprehend her meaning until Bhe had i repeated her words. There was a sad 1 smile on her beautiful face ; there were 1 tears in her big blue eyes. There she < stood, an orphan of fifteen, and her 1 very pose called for sympathy. I j had just returned from Europe, and I had 1 never set eyes on her before. She had no i hold on me. If she went to my wife or to < the courts I could prove her a liar and < blackmailer, and yet I handed her over ] that thousand dollars. WhyP Well. . because it was business. If a jnry had i cleared me of every taint and Bent her to 1 prison besides, the general public would 1 never have been quite satisfied. She i thanked me, pocketed the greenbacks, and i walked out, and you can be sure that I had f nothing to say to anyone." t When Balle Clifton arrived in Baltimore * she went to board with a widow to whom * she had boen recommended. She claimed ' to be an English girl in search of inferma- ' tion regarding her father, who had been a 1 soldier in the Confederate service and died ' under that flag. In no time at all she had ' a score of people ready to assist her, and to carry out her plans she frequently went to Washington and employed special clerks to dig among the records in the , archives. No traoe of her father conld ever be found among the captured records. In Baltimore at that time was a man about thirty years of ago, who was , poßsesßed of a large fortune. He had fallen in love with the daughter of a - 1 Cleveland millionaire, and they were to '' have been married within a snort time. ' Mies Clifton heard of this case through a - lady who called on the widow. She made , a few cautious inquiries, ascertained that , the gentleman wan in his office from two : to four o'clock every afternoon, and one day she set out to pay him a visit. What ' happened is best told in his own words : " Her excuse for desiring a private interview was that she came from Cleveland and was well acquainted with my betrothed. I thought her one of the loveliest and most charming girls I ever saw. She gave her name as Miss Christian, and claimed to have been a dear friend of my betrothed for three or four years, I was expecting her to deliver some message, when ehe suddenly looked up and remarked that not a cent less than 2000dols would settle it. I was stunned. Settle what P I was wondering whether I was awake or asleep, when she said that if I did not hand over the money she would swear to a warrant, drag me into court, and even if the jury cleared me my affianced would break the engagement. When I discovered her purpose I was terribly indignant and boldly defied her, but five minutes later I took a different view of things. While I cursed her and could . hardly keep my hands off her throat, I paid her the money. My good name and future happiness Were at stake." For five years Belle Clifton's career waa unchecked. There f ware it o reasons tot this — first, because Whe worked entirely alone, and, secondly, Bhe made no mistake in her victim's. She did not ask for exorbitant sums, and though she had no hold whatever on any man, each one pud the money rather than be scandalized. The "job" for which the woman was convicted and sentenced was planned and carried out in Boston. She invented exouses to go to the office of a wealthy broker several times and to have him call on her at least twice. He was a widower, but soon to be married again. She demanded SOOOdols of him, and he stood up and defied her to do her worst. She made the mistake of taking him into court, probably being angered over his defiant attitude. The woman he was to marry at once broke the engagement, and he was the subjeot of . muoh public and private scandal. This made him thirst for revenge. He got the case put off and set detectives at work, and in the course of time he traced the girl clear back to the home from which she had run away. When the trial came on she stood unmasked, and after his acquittal he caused her arrest, and did not letu p until the doors of a State prison had closed behind her. Prison officials are not easily beguiled, but I must admit that Belle Clifton pulled the wool over our eyes in fine shape. She hadn't been with us two weeks when we began to look upon her aa a martyr. She told her story in suoh a way that yon felt yourself believing every word of it. She won the heart of the matron in a week, and in leas than a month was treated more like a guest than a prisoner. Our prison was open to the public several hours each day, and everybody who came wanted to Bee "the beautiful prisoner." In one month six different men offered to marry her in oase ehe waa pardoned, and nine-tenths of the female visitors gave her their sympathies. I should not tell tales out of school, but to show you the strange powers she possessed I will state that the prison doctor, the chaplain, the warden, a turnkey, and a guard were all "soft" on Miss Clifton at the same time, and yet all were married men. You will want to know how I- stood. Well, I was courting a good-looking girl at the time, and so escaped the epidemic, though I won't deny that I thought her innocent, and would have signed a petition for her release. The matron of the prison had a Bister living about half a mile from the prison. After Belle Clifton had been with us five months this sister was taken ill, and the matron was in the habit of running over there after breakfast and after supper. One evening I was coming up from town in a buggy, and encountered the matron on the highway. We nodded to each other, but after I had passed on it struck me that the good woman, whose weight was 1601 b, had suddenly lost fleßh. When I turned to look, I was oertain that someone had borrowed her clothes. I turned about and overtook her, and behold it was Belle Clifton ! I took her back and made an investigation, and it did not surprise me overmuch to learn that the matron was in the plot. She believed the girl innocent, and was willing to help her get away. The political situation was rather tioklish just then, and bo nothing was done that the public heard of. A mon& later the Governor of the State dropped in one day and enquired for Belle Clifton. He had been appealed to by a score of outsiders who did not believe her guilty. The matron and myself were present at the inter* view. The Governor had the record pf her trial, and he started in without a doubt of her guilt, but two hours later he was very much in doubt. She not only glibly explained away the points bearing hardest against her, bnt accused the Bostoni&n so circumstantially that it seemed to be a case where he had evoked the power of the law to uphold his wrongdoing. She spoke without halting or hesitating. She seemed to anticipate every question and have an answer ready. It was not alone her way of telling it, but. she knew jußt where to smile, just whereto drop a tear, just when to look so sad and

heartbroken that you wanted to pat her on bhe head and tell her to put on her hat and (talk out. It may be a mean thins to give bhe Governor away, bnt I'll bet boots to buttons he was a bit "soft" on the girl himself When he left the prison* I don't know how things would have turned out in the matter of securing a new trial or a pardon or a commutation of lentence had not something occurred to render further proceedings useless. The Hooter's wifetfwas an almost daily caller at bhe prison, and of course ahe had the run )f the place. She was greatly interested in Belle Clifton, but not foolish enough to be willing to help her escape. It amounted bo about the same thing, however. The looter's wife brought laudanum to cure toothache, and in retnrn Belle Clifton gave her a dope of it in something ;hey were drinking together in the natron's private room. When the irug had taken effect the fair angel iressed herself as the doctor's wife and passed the guards and got safely away. It's my private opinion that at least two of ;he guards knew her, bnt were glad to ccc _er get away. The search for her was halfhearted, and She made good her escape, md later oni heard that she was living in England. Her escape created a prison scandal, and several men were bounced, md the Governor was so cut up over beim? ;aken in and done for that he made it hot for all hands for the next year. Neither _s a private individual, a business man, nor a public official do I want anything ivhatever to do with handsome women. I regard them as more dangerous than the bombs of the Anarchists.