DETECTIVES solved Ruth Cruger mystery; reasonable rates. J.J. KRON, Manager, Donnelly’s Detective Agency, 111 Broadway, Phone 7476-Rector.
Across town, Grace was also contemplating a change. After the publicity that followed the Cruger case, police and city officials were tripping over themselves trying to hire her. District Attorney Swann offered Grace a full-time job as an investigator of white slavery. Grace had made Swann look like a fool, but he recognized her new political power. Observers wondered if he wanted her closer to draw on her skill, to save face, or to keep an eye on her.
In addition to receiving job offers, Grace had people wanting to work for her. One day, a very tall, very pale woman with short hair appeared on Grace’s doorstep. She was dressed in full khaki uniform with a thin belt and a flat helmet. She introduced herself as Miss Christie Harrington and straightaway volunteered her services as Grace’s personal bodyguard. She was part of an initiative started by Commissioner Woods called the New York Women’s Home Defense League, a group of civilians whose job it was to patrol the parks and guard the children against white slavery perils. She wore high leather boots.
Around the same time, Grace officially announced that she was giving up her law practice. She was going to devote herself, full-time, to stamping out white slavery and ending the missing-girl problem once and for all. Society women of influence and wealth lined to back her, including Mrs. Felix Adler, who had suggested she look into the Ruth Cruger case in the first place.
“I have seen so much and hope to be able to accomplish so much on behalf of girls who are constantly meeting the same risk that cost Ruth Cruger her life,” Grace said. “So I shall give up my law practice and devote every energy I possess to this fight against white-slavers.”
*
“I know of other victims,” remarked Grace, “and I only wish I could afford a house in the country where I could protect them. If some wealthy person would only pay the rent I would do the rest.… I know of twenty-two cellars where young girls have been brought by men and made their victims.… I would like to get hold of the Police Department list of girls who have disappeared. Ninety per cent of them, I feel certain, are under the control of men.”
And thus the Grace Humiston League, whose goal was to raise one million dollars in order to endow a national organization for the protection of womanhood, was conceived. One of New York’s best citizens, who remained anonymous, said he would personally contribute fifty thousand dollars. Grace said she looked forward to serving under a board of trustees to grow an enterprise that would eventually spread to every major city in the United States. Grace applied as an incorporator for the Morality League of America, along with Cathy de Nemethy, Izola Forrester, Helen de Nemethy, and Hannah E. Frank.
In late July, Grace finally accepted an offer of employment from Woods to be a police special investigator. She was even allowed to carry a gun. But she didn’t care about any of those things; she wanted something far more formidable. She wanted subpoena power. Per U.S. Code, section 2321, Grace wanted the ability to require witnesses to appear in court and produce evidence under threat of prosecution. She needed this authority because, she said, “with seven hundred cases under investigation, the time expended in such efforts is a handicapping factor.” She asked Governor Whitman for this power in person. On July 21, he declined. She felt as if he would always decline her. When people asked her why she picked the cop job over Swann’s, Grace swore that it was not political. “I assure every one that politics has no more to do with my actions than it has with the tides,” she said. Her position with the police came with great fanfare in the press. It also came without salary.
A few days later, Inspector Faurot announced to the newspapers that they had finally found the cellar that Consuelo La Rue had been imprisoned in. Faurot came out to talk to reporters. They all held their breath for more news of the white slave ring that had encircled their city. Faurot marched to the front and held up a small black book. The newspapermen stood on their tiptoes. There had long been rumors that members of the Black Hand carried a manual called The Code and Ritual that contained all the secret rites and names of their order. These small books were supposedly housed in special, dummied-up gauntlets along with small bottles of arsenic and ground glass. The Black Hand was so difficult to stop because there was seemingly no unified rhyme or reason to the secret organization. Having one of these books would be an incredible victory for law enforcement.
Faurot raised the book even higher. He had a smile on his face. Maybe the case had been broken after all. Faurot explained that his investigators, who had been working to substantiate La Rue’s claims, had found this black volume in her possession. They felt it solved the mystery once and for all.
Except it wasn’t a secret handbook of crime. Faurot was holding up a novel. Consuelo La Rue’s story of being kidnapped by white slavers had been stolen from a book.