everyone in the room laughed (p. 128): “No Indictment in Big Peonage Case,” Frankfort Roundabout, February 1, 1908, 3.
“just the contrary” (p. 128): “Peonage Proved,” Chicago Tribune, February 19, 1908, 1. Grace’s whole immigration argument was later printed as “The Answer to the Immigration Problem,” Pearson’s, January 1911, 96, and in a self-published book titled A Question for the House of Governors, New York: People’s Law Firm, 1909. The thrust of Grace’s plan was to move immigrants out of densely populated cities and into the country for job opportunities, to eradicate tuberculosis, and to fight white slavery through a central system of “agents” based on the German plan. Grace also proposed a separate division specifically to help immigrant women.
“spoiled from city life” (p. 129): “Statement of Mrs. Mary Grace Quackenbos,” Hearings Before Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, 61st Congress, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, March 29, 1910.
barber story (p. 129): This dialogue is taken directly from “Statement of Mrs. Mary Grace Quackenbos,” Hearings Before Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, 61st Congress, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, March 29, 1910. The barber’s name was Salvatore Giannangeli. When Grace asked if he could get her workers, he said: “I will get a horse and wagon and go out in the country tomorrow and begin to get the men.” “Can you get a whole hundred?” responded Grace. “Yes,” he said.
“grow like everything” (p. 133): Martha Bensley Bruere, “The Housewife and the Law,” Sunday Magazine, Buffalo Courier, June 11, 1911, 8.
8: THE GIANT AND THE CHAIR
I have reconstructed the Charlie Stielow story largely from George H. Bond, “Report by the Special Deputy Attorney,” New York: New York State Attorney General’s Office, 1917; Frank Marshall, “Where There Are Women There’s a Way,” Good Housekeeping, July 1918, 54; Colin Evans, Slaughter on a Snowy Morn, London: Icon, 2010. Descriptions of Sing Sing are from photographs and firsthand accounts: Denis Brian, Sing Sing: The Inside Story, Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2005; Alfred Conyes, Fifty Years in Sing Sing, Albany: State U of New York P, 2015.
Mazzella case (p. 135): “Mazella to Die,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 28, 1915.
“hold of that” (p. 135): “Woman Who Solved Ruth Cruger Mystery,” New York Sun, June 24, 1917, 42.
Warden Miller (p. 135): Frank Marshall White, “A Function of State,” New Outlook, October 18, 1916, 389.
“house that night” (p. 136): Linda J. Lumsden, Inez: The Life and Times of Inez Milholland, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004, 148. The letter was dated March 31 of that year.
words in the air (p. 136): Colin Evans, Slaughter on a Snowy Morn, London: Icon, 2010, 190.
Nelson Green’s confession (p. 138): Ibid., 359. Charlie initially denied what his brother-in-law was claiming. He just shook his head. Mrs. Green went to the law firm of Coe & Harcourt to represent the two. “They have got to have someone,” she said. But the lawyers turned her case down. “It would cost too much,” they said.
guns in the barn (p. 139): Ibid., 128. Jim Fisher, “Courtroom Charlatan,” jimfisher.edinboro.edu, 2008. They had been given to Charlie by Raymond Green, another brother-in-law. The guns were in the barn laying on the hay. Once the police started to be interested, the guns were locked in a suitcase. A local crime expert and druggist named Albert H. Hamilton persuasively testified that a microscopic scratch on one of the killing bullets matched one of the .22 guns. He was later exposed as a fraud. Grace didn’t put much credence in his theories.
Mazella (p. 139): “Convicts as Pallbearers,” New York Times, August 15, 1920, 23. Mazella died in prison on August 14, 1920, after being a model prisoner for five years. His relatives could not be located, but “he was so well liked by prison employees and inmates a collection was taken up by the Mutual Welfare League.” Inmates served as pallbearers as he was buried in Kensico Cemetery. He died of heart trouble.
Misha Appelbaum (p. 140): “Cult Leader Here,” St. Louis Dispatch, June 11, 1916, 34; advertisement for Humanitarian Cult, New York Evening World, October 2, 1916, 4.
Cult members (p. 140): “Ask Whitman,” Buffalo Courier, July 28, 1916.
Sophie Irene Loeb (p. 140): “Sophie Irene Loeb,” New York Times, January 19, 1929, 1; “Sophie Irene Loeb,” New York Times, January 21, 1929, 4.
complete her housework (p. 141): “What Does It Look Like?” Winfield Daily Free Press, Dec. 17, 1913, 2.
“the weaker victim” (p. 144): “Two Women Saved,” Springfield Republican, August 13, 1916, 3.
“surround the case of Charles Frederick Stielow” (p. 144): Sophie Irene Loeb, “Man Facing Death,” New York Evening World, July 18, 1916, 8.
“shadow of death!” (p. 145): “Ask Whitman to Spare,” Buffalo Courier, July 28, 1916, 1.
“to live in” (p. 146): Alice S. Cheyney, “Inez Milholland Boissevain,” Vassar Quarterly, February 1917, 106.
execution of Becker (p. 146): “Becker Makes Final Plea,” New York Times, July 21, 1915, 1; “Becker Dies in Chair, Middletown Times-Press, July 30, 1915, 1.
“imprisonment instead of death” (p. 147): Colin Evans, Slaughter on a Snowy Morn, London: Icon, 2010, 212.
“to see Papa” (p. 147): “Ask Whitman,” Buffalo Courier, July 28, 1916.
Whitman’s decision (p. 148): “Hangs the Murder,” Buffalo Express, August 12, 1916, 5.
ice-cold strawberry shortcake (p. 148): Colin Evans, Slaughter on a Snowy Morn, London: Icon, 2010, 219.
finding O’Connell (p. 149): “Mrs. Humiston’s Story,” Buffalo Express, August 12, 1916, 5.
O’Connell’s reputation (p. 149): George H. Bond, “Report by the Special Deputy Attorney,” New York: New York State Attorney General’s Office, 1917.
Sophie Loeb convinces Justice Guy (p. 150): Frank Marshall, “Where There Are Women There’s a Way,” Good Housekeeping, July 1918, 54.
pursuit of him (p. 154): “Her Chosen Task,” Boston Post, August 20, 1916, 58.
King’s arrest (p. 154): George H. Bond, “Report by the Special Deputy Attorney,” New York: New York State Attorney General’s Office, 1917; “Text of King’s Confession,” New York Evening World, August 14, 1916, 2.
King’s retraction (p. 158): “King Repudiates Confession,” Republican-Journal, August 15, 1916, 2; “King Freed of Murder Charge,” Times Herald Olean, August 15, 1916, 6; “Fight for Stielow Goes On,” New York Evening World, August 16, 1916, 3; “King Now Retracts,” New York Times, August 15, 1916, 5; “My Confession Is a Lie,” New York Evening World, August 14, 1916, 1.
second interview (p. 159): “Mr. Humiston Succeeds in Seeing King,” Times Herald Olean, September 12, 1916, 1.
“this innocent man?” (p. 160): “The Example of Inez Milholland,” New York Evening World, November 29, 1916, 10.