“for all womanhood” (p. 160): Ibid.
“imprisonment for life” (p. 161): Colin Evans, Slaughter on a Snowy Morn, London: Icon, 2010, 288.
“save me from the Chare” (p. 161): Ibid., 282.
final report (p. 162): George H. Bond, “Report by the Special Deputy Attorney,” New York: New York State Attorney General’s Office, 1917. The final comprehensive report by George Bond was damning. According to a witness, Nelson Green was working on a farm when Detective Newton pulled up alongside a barn and grabbed a length of rope before grabbing Green and “hearing” his confession. Newton placed stool pigeons and hidden Dictaphones in Stielow’s jail, but they couldn’t get anything off him. One witness overheard Newton saying of Green, “He is the biggest boob I know. I told him to go on and make this confession and blame it all on the other fellow. That he was too good a man to be a farmer all his life and that we would make him a deputy sheriff, and he swallowed it.”
commutation of sentence (p. 162): George H. Bond, “Report by the Special Deputy Attorney,” New York: New York State Attorney General’s Office, 1917.
Stielow film (p. 162): The People vs. John Doe, directed by Lois Weber, Universal Pictures, December 2, 1916. Originally titled The Celebrated Stielow Case, only twenty-nine minutes of this sixty-minute film have been located. Grace seems to be represented by a female attorney in the film; Shelley Stamp, “Life’s Mirror,” Lois Weber in Early Hollywood, Oakland: University of California Press, 2015, 98.
9: THE MANHUNTER OF HARLEM
The description of the motorcycle shop is largely from photographs in the newspapers and in pulp magazines, especially Grace Humiston with Isabel Stephen, “Won’t You Help Me Find My Girl?” Actual Detective, May 4, 1938; Dick Halvorsen, “The Hidden Grave,” Master Detective, April 1954; “Persons and Scenes,” New-York Tribune, June 17, 1917, 8; “Murder of 18-Year-Old,” Spokesman Review, June 24, 1917, 30.
“SELLING OUT” (p. 164): “Ruth Cruger’s Body,” New-York Tribune, June 13, 1917, 16.
Julius J. Kron (p. 165): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephen, “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case,” True Detective, May 1926.
“food will decide the war” (p. 165): menu, Hotel Manhattan, November 13, 1917, New York Public Library. Call No. 1917-0422-wotm.
Kron’s dialogue with Cruger and Grace (p. 166): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephen, “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case,” True Detective, May 1926.
Herbert Roemmele (p. 168): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephen, “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case,” True Detective, May 1926; “Return of Cocchi,” New-York Tribune, July 17, 1917, 12. Sometimes spelled “Rameley,” Herbert (sometimes Harold), according to Kron’s account, “had towwhite hair and blue-gray eyes.”
Snyder finds Cocchi (p. 170): “Man Long Sought,” New York Evening World, May 31, 1917, 1. This is detective work on my part: the article is unsigned, but indicative of Snyder’s style. He seems to have already been in Italy as the World’s war correspondent. There are differing accounts of who located Cocchi first. S. S. Dumont, United States consul at Florence, reported in a letter received by Swann that Cocchi was in Italy. Yet another story had Cocchi turned in by a relative in Italy; “Bicycle Repair Shop”: Kansas City Star, June 6, 1917, 10; “Her Maiden Name,” Philadelphia Enquirer, June 8, 1917, 1. For more on Snyder: Alice Ziska Snyder and Milton Valentine Snyder, Paris Days and London Nights, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1921.
“extraordinary about her” (p. 171): “Ruth Cruger Taken Abroad,” New York Sun, June 7, 1917, 4.
10: THE PALE MAN
extradition (p. 172): “Ask Extradition,” New Castle News, June 7, 1917, 1; “To Question Cocchi,” New-York Tribune, June 8, 1917, 14; “To Ask Italy for Cocchi,” New York Times, June 8, 1917, 9; “Italy Likely to Cut,” New York Evening World, June 18, 1917, 2.
“sell the shop” (p. 172): “Mother Doubts,” New York Evening World, June 7, 1917, 12.
“were very lax” (p. 173): “Alfredo Cocchi Is Located,” New York Sun, June 1, 1917, 6.
“Mrs. Grace Humiston” (p. 173): “Mother Doubts,” New York Evening World, June 7, 1917, 12.
“near a solution” (p. 173): “To Ask Italy,” New York Times, June 8, 1917, 1.
“disappearance of Miss Cruger” (p. 173): Ibid.
Grace and Woods (p. 174): Grace Humiston with Isabel Stephen, “Won’t You Help Me Find My Girl?” Actual Detective, May 4, 1938.
“something on Cocchi” (p. 175): Ibid.
Madame Mureal (p. 176): “Cocchi, Who Evaded,” New York Evening World, June 20, 1917, 2; “Girl of 16,” New-York Tribune, June 20, 1917, 16.
Kron’s employment (p. 179): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephen, “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case,” True Detective, May 1926; Dick Halvorsen, “The Hidden Grave,” Master Detective, April 1954.
“I know you now!” (p. 181): Dick Halvorsen, “The Hidden Grave,” Master Detective, April 1954.
“taken down there” (p. 182): “Says Cocchi Headed,” Pittsburgh Press, June 27, 1917, 1.
speak anymore (p. 182): “Arthur Woods Signs,” Amsterdam Evening Recorder, July 5, 1917, 2.
“will you do that?” (p. 184): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephens, “My Encounter with a White-Slave Ring,” Mysterious Crimes, New York: True Story, 1934.
secret traincar (p. 184): The famous Mineola was said to have been able to speed its wealthy passenger from the Belmont Hotel on Forty-second to Belmont Park.
“border-line psychopathic cases” (p. 186): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephens, “My Encounter with a White-Slave Ring,” Mysterious Crimes, New York: True Story, 1934.
“that is her affair” (p. 187): Ibid.
“I’ll fire you” (p. 187): “Guy H. Scull Marries,” June 9, 1914, 11.
“this over with me” (p. 183): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephen, “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case,” True Detective, May 1926.
“cup of Tantalus” (p. 188): Ibid.
“snooping around long time” (p. 188): Grace Humiston with Isabel Stephen, “Won’t You Help Me Find My Girl?” Actual Detective, May 4, 1938.
“give you a couple of men” (p. 189): Julius J. Kron with Isabel Stephen, “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case,” True Detective, May 1926.
cup of Tantalus (p. 189): Bruce Yeany, “Hero’s Fountain,” If You Build It, They Will Learn, Arlington, VA: NSTA Press, 2006, 86; Thomas Ewbank, “Tantalus’ Cups,” Ewbank’s Hydraulics,” New York: Bangs, 1854, 520. Also called a Pythagorean cup, this cup uses hidden chambers to force the drinker to quaff its contents in moderation.
11: A DOOR TO THE UNDERWORLD