Notes: The Girls of Murder City

In the printed book, to make the notes more accessible and to save space, multiple discrete citations for an event or scene often were pulled together into a larger group citation. This, of course, is not acceptable to the completist, who can accept no abridgement, even in reference data. So below is the comprehensive, page-by-page source notes.

Note: In each chapter, after the first reference to a newspaper or magazine article, subsequent citations of the article omit the headline, except when two or more separate articles from the same issue of the same publication are cited in the chapter.

Chicago newspapers are abbreviated throughout the notes as follows: CDT = Chicago Daily Tribune, CDN = Chicago Daily News, CEP = Chicago Evening Post, CDJ = Chicago Daily Journal, CEA = Chicago Evening American, CHA = Chicago Herald and Examiner.

PROLOGUE
Pages 1-10:

The radio said so: “Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah: ‘Lady Slayer’ Told Not to Worry For ‘Beauty Will Win’,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924. The article, by reporter Sonia Lee, notes that Beulah had taken possession of the jail’s new radio. The shooting at Y. Kenley Smith’s house in Palos Park and Wanda Stopa’s escape was such a big story in Chicago that it was essentially the only news story of April 24, reported obsessively on the radio and in special editions of the papers throughout the day.

Beulah Annan peered through the bars: The cell number is given in the Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

But that was when she was the undisputed: “Beulah Annan Sobs Regret For Life She Took,” Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1924. All of the papers called her the “prettiest murderess” or a variation thereof.

Beulah never joined them: Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

She listened to foxtrots: Ibid.

The next day, she sat sidesaddle: Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0076751, Chicago History Museum.

This was the woman who: “Sleuths Sleuth on Sleuths in Domestic Row,” Chicago Evening Post, April 9, 1920; “Why the ‘Cave-girl’ Wants a Third Divorce From Hubby,” Fresno Bee (Calif.), September 19, 1926.

“I’m feeling very well”: “Never Threatened Law, Says Divorcee,” Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1924.

Faith would see her through this ordeal: “Mrs. Gaertner Leads Jailed Women in Song,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 14, 1924.

“Here, Mrs. Gaertner…”: “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924. The Chicago Daily News of the same day had Katherine Malm’s quote slightly different: “Just pretend it’s a beefsteak or a roast chicken, dearie. It makes it easy to swallow.”

Then there was Mrs. Elizabeth Unkafer: “Jail Colony of Women in Chicago Grows,” Danville Bee (Va.), April 24, 1924.

And Mary Wezenak – “Moonshine Mary”: “Woman on Trial For Moonshine Death,” Chicago Daily News, March 11, 1924. Newspapers sometimes spelled her name “Wozemak.”

After the police had trundled: “Feminism Leads Them to Kill, Dean Holds,” Danville Bee (Va.), April 17, 1924.

Motor cars were so plentiful: Thomas G. Aylesworth and Virginia L. Aylesworth, Chicago: The Glamour Years (1919-1941) (Bison Books, 1986), 25.

“I am staggered by this state of affairs”: Edward D. Sullivan, Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime (The Vanguard Press, 1929), 27.

Even Oak Park high school girls: “Mothers Fasten Oak Park Orgies Upon Vamp of 16,” Chicago Tribune, January 26, 1923.

Belva, the “queen of the Loop cabarets”: “Why the ‘Cave-girl’ Wants a Third Divorce From Hubby,” Fresno Bee (Calif.), September 19, 1926.

And now that she’d grown accustomed to “jail java”: Chicago Evening Post photo caption, March 13, 1924.

“How can they?”: “Beulah Annan Sobs Regret For Life She Took,” Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1924. Maurine Watkins reported that on Beulah’s first day at the jail, Belva and the other inmates sang “Bring Them In (From the Fields of Sin).”

The bare stone walls: Winthrop D. Lane, Cook County Jail: Its Physical Characteristics and Living Conditions. (The Chicago Community Trust, 1923). See alchemyofbones.com/stories/jail.htm.

She took no food and confessed no more: Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

At one point Sabella Nitti: Ibid.

“The writer who visits these prisoners week after week”: Danville Bee (Va.), April 24, 1924.

Once Beulah’s wistful gaze: “What Life Finally Did to ‘the Girl With the Man-Taming Eyes’,” Hamilton Evening Journal (Ohio), May 5, 1928, reported that “an armful of fan mail” arrived for Beulah every day during her jail sojourn. “Mrs. Annan Has Lonesome Day Behind the Bars,” Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1924, noted flowers sent by a “group of young men,” and also a “juicy steak, French fried potatoes and cucumber salad” sent by a “friend.”

“Sorry? Who wouldn’t be?”: Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924; also “Mrs. Annan Sorry She Won Race For Pistol,” Chicago Daily News, April 5, 1924.

Beulah couldn’t bear it: “False Colors of Bohemia Lead to Nowhere – Wanda Stopa Learns Too Late,” Chicago Evening American, April 28, 1924.

“Another Chicago girl went gunning…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 216.

CHAPTER 1: A Grand Object Lesson
Pages 11-21

Out in the hallway: Robert St. John, who started at the Chicago Daily News within weeks of Maurine Watkins joining the Tribune, noted that if you dared ask for a raise your editor would tell you to go take a look at the “fifty or a hundred eager-looking young men and women” waiting out in the corridor every day, hoping to get a chance. “I can hire the best of them for ten dollars a week,” the editor would say. “Some are even willing to pay me for the chance to get onto the staff so they can go to some other paper after a few months and claim they’ve had Chicago newspaper experience.” See St. John’s This Was My World (Doubleday & Co., 1953), 175. This waiting ritual among wannabe reporters hadn’t changed in a generation. In the early 1890s, Theodore Dreiser stood around in the halls of Chicago newspapers for hours at a time, day after day, hoping to be noticed or tapped for an assignment on a busy day. See Dreiser’s Newspaper Days (Black Sparrow Press, 1991), 45-47.

It was the first day of February: “Murder She Wrote: Tribune Reporter Maurine Watkins Achieved Her Greatest Fame With ‘Chicago,’ a Play Based on Two Sensational Local Crimes,” Chicago Tribune, July 16, 1997; “Women Who’ve Won: Maurine Watkins,” Syracuse Herald (N.Y.), June 26, 1928. The Tribune states that Watkins started work February 2, 1924. The Herald states that Watkins began work the day after she was hired.

The company had fifteen operators: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company, 1922), 289-290.

The Tribune received hundreds of want-ad orders: For the paper’s want-ad operation, see The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company), 180-185; Fanny Butcher, Many Lives, One Love (Harper & Row, 1972), 109; Lloyd Wendt, Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper (Randy McNally, 1979), 365.

But Maurine, at twenty-seven years of age: Watkins, Maurine. Radcliffe College Student Files, 1890-1985. Radcliffe College Archives, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. On her graduate-school application, Watkins lists her birthday as July 27, 1896.

Its six stories rose up: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company), 123. Austin Avenue is now Hubbard Street. After the straightening of the Chicago River, it no longer intersects with St. Clair.

Railroad tracks ran along: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company), 102, 124.

In fact, the Plant Building: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company), 103.

In front of it, facing Michigan Avenue: Lloyd Wendt, Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper (Randy McNally, 1979), 488.

The Plant Building may have been only a temporary headquarters: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company), 114.

Most of them – the great ones – were ornate: Theodore Dreiser, Newspaper Days: An Autobiography (Black Sparrow Press, 2000), 5-6.

He thought reporters the equivalent: Ibid.

The Tribune’s local room hummed: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company), 102.

Edward “Teddy” Beck was a Kansan: Fanny Butcher, Many Lives, One Love (Harper & Row, 1972), 40-41; Burton Rascoe, Before I Forget (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937), 235.

She had written a letter: “Murder She Wrote: Tribune Reporter Maurine Watkins Achieved Her Greatest Fame With ‘Chicago,’ a Play Based on Two Sensational Local Crimes,” Chicago Tribune, July 16, 1997, details the letter Watkins wrote to Robert M. Lee. See Edward Dean Sullivan, Chicago Surrenders (The Vanguard Press, 1930), 102, for a description of and background information on Lee.

Most of the women who wanted to work: Ishbel Ross, Ladies of the Press: The Story of Women in Journalism by an Insider (Harper & Brothers, 1936), 543. Ross described Watkins’s colleague at the Tribune, Maureen McKernan, as “large and commanding.”

Maurine, on the other hand, was tiny: Journalist Flora Merrill noted Watkins’ size in a story about her in “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling It to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

All the girls today wore their hair bobbed: Betsy Israel, Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules – a Social History of Living Single (Perennial, 2003), 110.

Maurine dressed only in conservative outfits: Syracuse Herald, June 26, 1928. A good example of her fashion style can be found in the photograph of Watkins in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Her shyness was palpable: Syracuse Herald, June 26, 1928.

No, she had never been a reporter before: Ibid.

“Had any newspaper experience at all?”: “The Author of ‘Chicago’,” New York Times, January 2, 1927.

She was too frightened to answer: Syracuse Herald, June 26, 1928.

A Tribune reporter had famously tracked: Burton Rascoe, Before I Forget (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937), 233.

“I don’t believe you’ll like newspaper work”: New York Times, January 2, 1927.

Lee told her she was hired: New York World, January 16, 1927.

The typical job seeker, standing around: Theodore Dreiser, Newspaper Days: An Autobiography (Black Sparrow Press, 2000), 17.

That was what Maurine liked about it: It was “a real…”: New York World, January 16, 1927.

Indeed, reporters often impersonated police officers: John J. McPhaul, Deadlines and Monkeyshines: The Fabled World of Chicago Journalism (Prentice-Hall, 1962), 8-9, 12.
 
Or they first proved themselves as picture chasers: William MacAdams, Ben Hecht: The Man Behind the Legend (Scribner, 1990), 13-14.

Almost all of the women to be found in newsrooms “lanquish…”: Catherine M. Downs, Becoming Modern: Willa Cather’s Journalism (Susquehanna University Press, 1999), 27.

The number of killings committed by women: Jeffrey S. Adler, “ ‘I Loved Joe, But I Had to Shoot Him’: Homicide By Women in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago,” The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Vol. 92, Nos. 3-4, 2003), 867-878.

This was why, argued an Illinois state’s attorney: Ibid.

Another, far more popular one held that: Ibid.

They were overwhelmed by alcohol: George Murray, Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett Publishing Company, 1965), 309.

Even the fallen woman was, at heart, good: Ibid.

Hearst hired sob sisters like: Ishbel Ross, Ladies of the Press: The Story of Women in Journalism by an Insider (Harper & Brothers, 1936), 548. Ross identifies Dougherty as Princess Pat.

“It’s a grand object lesson…”: Mildred Gilman, Sob Sister (Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1931), 38.

“I shot him,” she wailed: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton & Co., 2007), 33.

“I never drank as much as I have, lately”: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton & Co., 2007), 39.

Less than an hour after closing arguments: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton & Co., 2007), 46.

She wasn’t a girl from the neighborhood: Linda Steiner and Susanne Gray, “Genevieve Forbes Herrick: A Front-Page Reporter ‘Pleased to Write about Women,’ ” Journalism History (Spring 1985), 9. Forbes grew up on Chicago’s near North Side. Her father was a salesman who later ran a small tailor shop on the West Side.

Her father, George Wilson Watkins: Watkins, Maurine. Radcliffe College Student Files, 1890-1985. Radcliffe College Archives, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. Also see Watkins, Maurine. Irwin Library Special Collections, Butler University. Watkins’ rigorous undergraduate curriculum took her through Cicero’s six orations, Plato’s Apology and Phormio’s battles, through Sophocles, Lysias, Plautus and much more.

“If more people knew the Greek…”: John Elliott, “Tearing Up the Pages,” Portland Review (Vol. 29, No.1, 1983). This enlightening article about Maurine Watkins includes an excerpt of correspondence from Dorotha Watkins Jacobsen to Elliott. Portland Review is a Portland State University student publication; back issues can be found at the university’s Branford P. Millar Library (LH1. P66).

Maurine intended to get an advanced degree: New York World, January 16, 1927.

Walking to and from classes on Radcliffe’s verdant campus: Ibid.

Baker, a professor at Harvard University: In October of 1920, Maurine Watkins’s second term at Radcliffe, new Harvard graduate student Thomas Wolfe wrote to his mother that “George Pierce Baker is the great dramatic teacher up here. … When I tried to register up for his English 47 known all over the country as ‘The 47 Workshop’ I was told I could not by any means get in since the course is restricted to 12 people and mature writers all over the country submit plays a year ahead of time (one of his requirements) to get in.” See Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 228.

During her high school years and into college: Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University. Also see “A Roads Scholar Pedals Passionately Into the Past,” Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1986. Watkins penned her first play, a religious-themed effort called The Heart of Gold, when she was fifteen. The Ladies Aid Society of the Crawfordsville Christian Church produced it as a fundraiser and cleared $45.

Maurine had always easily overwhelmed: In the 1920s, in a letter to her friend Alexander Woollcott, she wrote about her social anxiety, insisting that she was “by nature a recluse.” See Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.

George Pierce Baker’s passion for the theater: Watkins, Maurine. Radcliffe College Student Files, 1890-1985. Radcliffe College Archives, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. Like a girl caught up in a torrid love affair, almost everything else in Watkins’ life fell away once she was accepted into the workshop, which was officially called English 47. In her first term, 1919-20, she took four courses, but only two – Greek 6 and Latin 8 – were in her registered field. The other two classes were with Baker. She received no grade in Greek 6; her transcript simply said “absent.” In her second term, she took but one class: the next level of the workshop.

Living on the East Coast for the first time: [MS9] William Roy Smith, Vice President of Abilene Christian College, 1940-1962. Letter from Maurine Watkins to W.R. Smith, December 7, 1959. Milliken Special Collections, Abilene Christian University Library.

She was convinced “the only thing that will cure the present…”: New York World, January 16, 1927.

Art was an obligation, Baker told her: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), xiv.

He advocated finding out about “your great…”: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 99.

Maurine knew where she had to go: Another reason Chicago called to her was that the celebrated stage actor Leo Ditrichstein, with whom Maurine sought to place a play, was there. Ditrichstein apparently showed some interest in working with her, but he soon left the city for Europe, abandoning the idea. See New York Times, January 2, 1927.

It was a city, Theodore Dreiser wrote: Theodore Dreiser, Newspaper Days: An Autobiography (Black Sparrow Press, 2000), 3.

She picked out a flat to rent: Chicago Tribune, July 16, 1997.

St. Chrysostom’s was a gem: Author’s visit.

She needed a murder: New York World, January 16, 1927.

“Being a conscientious person I never prayed…” Ibid.

CHAPTER 2: The Variable Feminine Mechanism
Pages 22-38:

In the first hour of Wednesday, March 12: The narrative for Walter Law and Belva Gaertner’s last night together – and Belva’s subsequent arrest – draws from the following key sources: “Bootlegger Had No Pints,” Iowa City Press Citizen, March 15, 1924; “One-Gun Duel Tragedy Told By Woman,” Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924; “Never Threatened Law, Says Divorcee,” Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1924; “Mystery Victim is Robert Law; Hold Divorcee,” Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924; “Hold Divorcee As Slayer of Auto Salesman,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner in Cell For Slaying is No Longer Gay,” Chicago Evening Post, March 13, 1924;  “Gamble With Death Excuse For Killing,” New York Times, March 13, 1924.
 
But the neighborhood was far enough east: Glen E. Holt and Dominic A. Pacyga, Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods – The Loop and South Side (Chicago Historical Society, 1979), 8-9, 133.

The bootlegger had been out of pints: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.

Later she realized the quart: Chicago Evening Post, March 13, 1924; Edward D. Sullivan, Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime (The Vanguard Press, 1929), 91-92.

The orchestra had been playing: “Jury Holds Belva’s Fate,” Chicago Daily News, June 5, 1924.

He told her she had to mind herself: Iowa City Press Citizen, March 15, 1924; Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924; Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.

“I bet I’m a better shooter…”: Iowa City Press Citizen, March 15, 1924.

“Think of it,” she told Walter: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.
    
She stared at the blood-soaked clothes: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton Company, 2007), 199.

The caracul coat bothered her: “Belle Bemoans Ruined Coat,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

Belva stood up from the couch: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton Company, 2007), 199.

Belva had never been able to count on: Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home Records, 1900 (255.004-008), Illinois State Archives, Margaret Cross Norton Bldg., Springfield, Illinois. Belva’s mother deposited her children in the state orphanage whenever times got tough for her. Belva’s father died when she was four years old.

She called him every night: Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

But now he wanted her back: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.    

He had just won the Franklin Institute Gold Medal: “Here and There,” Scientific American, April, 1924.

The flat was stuffed: Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924. Belva had gotten most of the furniture in the divorce. See Case #S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Belva realized the watch face: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.

“He gave me that coat, too”: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton Company, 2007), 199. Also see “Gin Bottle and Slippers Shown at Belva’s Trial,” Chicago Evening Post, June 5, 1924.

She pointed with her toes: Ibid.

“I don’t know,” she said: Sources for Belva’s statements to and interactions with police and prosecutors include Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924; Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924; Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924; Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1924; New York Times, March 13, 1924.

“I was frightened,” she said: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.

“I don’t see how I could”: Ibid.
    
In her first few weeks: “Women Who’ve Won: Maurine Watkins,” Syracuse Herald (N.Y.), June 26, 1928; “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling It to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

After only a few days on the job: “Young Lady,” New Yorker, January 29, 1927, 18.

If she were lucky she might: “Bobbed Wig or Wigged Bobs is Fashion Decree,” Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1924.

It hardly helped to know: Burton Rascoe, Before I Forget (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937), 242.

The newsroom’s major-domo was a profane: Burton Rascoe, Before I Forget (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937), 235.

“The prima donna is one who will…”: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company, 1922),132.

By the early 1920s the Tribune’s daily circulation: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company, 1922), 78-79.

When the country committed to the World War: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company, 1922), 85.

Serious journals called the Hearst style: Penelope V. Pelizzon and Nancy M. West, “Multiple Indemnity: Film Noir, James M. Cain and the Adaptations of a Tabloid Case,” Narrative (Vol. 13, No. 3, 2005).

His papers also vocally supported him: George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett, 1965), 55.

Hearst epitomized the “journalism of action”: Joseph W. Campbell, The Year That Defined Journalism (Routledge, 2006), 25-27.

The hardball tactics in the “circulation war”: Jay Robert Nash, Makers & Breakers of Chicago: From Long John Wentworth to Richard J. Daley (Academy Chicago Publishers, 1985), 30-31.

Now more than ever, to secure Hearst’s circulation: Lloyd Wendt, Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper (Randy McNally, 1979), 352-353.

Howey’s charge was, “Beat the Trib…”: George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett, 1965), 120.

“Don’t ever fake a story…”: Burton Rascoe, Before I Forget (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937), 236.

No one under Howey ever got caught: Burton Rascoe, Before I Forget (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937), 236.

In contrast to the Tribune’s culture: George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett, 1965), 67-74.

Editors at the two newspapers worked: Lloyd Wendt, Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper (Randy McNally, 1979), 451.

They bribed officers to sit in on interrogations: George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett, 1965), 206.

Jailers let them into cells: Ben Hecht, Gaily, Gaily (Doubleday & Co., 1963), 35-36.

The editor’s most memorable physical characteristic: Ben Hecht, Charlie: The Improbable Life and Times of Charles MacArthur (Harper and Brothers, 1957), 49-50.

“What do you mean, the man…”: George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett, 1965), 36.

“Hype this up!”: George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett, 1965), 35-36.

“A newspaper man need have only a spoonful: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company, 1922), 133.

It was after one in the morning: The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company, 1922), 159; “Mystery Victim is Robert Law; Hold Divorcee,” Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924.

She and Walter were so drunk they’d gotten giddy: The story Belva related at the police station is drawn from “One-Gun Duel Tragedy Told By Woman,” Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924, and Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924.

In the days ahead the papers would refer to her: “ ‘Flip Coin’ Murderess Acquitted by Chicago Jury on Eighth Ballot,” Waterloo Evening Courier (Iowa), June 6, 1924.

“Mr. Law said something about hold-up men…”: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton, 2007), 199.

Her nose, too big for her face: For photos of Belva Gaertner from the night of the killing, see Chicago Daily News negatives collection at Chicago History Museum.

“I remember seeing him collapse…”: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924; New York Times, March 13, 1924.

A girl reporter simply couldn’t be counted on: Ishbel Ross, Ladies of the Press: The Story of Women in Journalism by an Insider (Harper & Brothers, 1936), 6. Ross, writing a dozen years after Maurine Watkins worked at the Tribune, offered that getting on the front page “is where women have made little headway and probably never will.”

Despite the dramatic rise in “gun girls” and: Dornfeld, 189.

“I would rather see my daughter starve…”: Ishbel Ross, Ladies of the Press: The Story of Women in Journalism by an Insider (Harper & Brothers, 1936), 22.

The Tribune, at least, wanted a true: Fanny Butcher, Many Lives, One Love (Harper & Row, 1972), 208.

On her first assignment, Fanny Butcher: Butcher, Fanny Butcher, Many Lives, One Love (Harper & Row, 1972), 205-206.

She had to listen, she said, “to the intimate…” Ibid.

Mrs. Belle Brown Overbeck Gaertner, a handsome: Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 115.

The story had been designated: The Tribune’s operations and press capacity drawn from The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Company, 1922), 102, 159, 236, 242, 252. Linotype information comes from the 1972 World Book Encyclopedia and “Typesetting,” a three-minute industrial film.

Every story was instantly recognizable: Mildred Gilman, “The Truth Behind the News,” The American Mercury (Vol. 29, No. 6, 1933). Sabella Nitti was designated “Senora Sabelle, alleged husband-killer” by Genevieve Forbes in “Dialect Jargon Makes ’Em Dizzy at Nitti Trial,” Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1923.

Mr. Gaertner said last night at his home: Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 117.

“Call William,” Belva had pleaded: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton, 2007), 199.

CHAPTER 3: One-Gun Duel
Pages 39-56:

The horses had almost made the marriage: Belva Gaertner’s love of riding, and her “bridle path courtship” with William Gaertner, is related in “Finds Liberty As Taxi Driver,” Evening Courier and Reporter (Waterloo, IA), August 4, 1920. Also see “Riding to a Fall,” Chicago Tribune, September 16, 1917.

One observer noted that the “suppleness…”: Evening Courier and Reporter, August 4, 1920.

William gave her a present during their courtship: “Sleuths Sleuth on Sleuths in Domestic Row,” Chicago Evening Post, April 9, 1920.

With her long torso and her penchant: Glen E. Holt and Dominic A. Pacyga, Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods – The Loop and South Side (Chicago Historical Society, 1979), 73-79, 95-96. Holt and Pacyga detail the history of the South Side and its entertainment scene. For more information on the development of Washington Park and South Side diversions, see the New York Times, October 15, 1894.

Belva Gaertner should have been happy: The chief sources of information for William and Belva Gaertner’s life together are court documents from their two divorces, in 1920 and 1926, and their one aborted annulment case, in 1917. These case files reside in the archives of the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court. They are listed throughout the notes as “Gaertner v. Gaertner,” along with the court case number and year. Page numbers are not listed because each case’s documents, compiled over many weeks or months, are out of order, mostly unnumbered and the individual documents are usually not titled. The case files are not overwhelming in size, however, and anyone going through one of them in the Circuit Court archives can easily find my trail.

The parks, opined a visitor: Bessie Louise Pierce, As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933 (University of Chicago, 2004), 398.

This attraction, along with the 1893 World’s: “Desertion of Chicago’s ‘Loop’ Traced to Dance Places,” Variety, June 9, 1922.

Cable Court on South Lake Park: Glen E. Holt and Dominic A. Pacyga, Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods – The Loop and South Side (Chicago Historical Society, 1979), 73-79.

Every day dazzling accessories: Case #S-331246 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1917), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

That was the name she had been using: Case #S-331246 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1917), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. The Chicago Tribune, in its September 16, 1917, report suggests that the couple met on the city’s South Side bridle paths. The Evening Courier and Reporter of Waterloo, Iowa, in its August 4, 1920, story says the same thing, probably borrowing from the Tribune. California’s Fresno Bee of September 19, 1926, in an article headlined “Why the ‘Cave-girl’ Wants a Third Divorce From Hubby,” describes William Gaertner meeting Belva in a Loop cabaret. The Bee adds that William Gaertner “had the habit of seeking diversion from the cares of his business in the Loop cabarets.” Considering their respective stations in society and William’s taste in women, it is likely that the initial meeting was in a cabaret. He treasured the portrait he had commissioned of her in cabaret dress, so he clearly had seen her on stage and it made an impression. The “revelations of the female form” quote comes from Burton Rascoe’s Before I Forget (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937), 297.

Here, wearing molded breastplates: Michael Lesy, Murder City (W.W. Norton, 2007), 196. Belva Gaertner’s age is listed in Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home Records, 1900 (255.004-008), Illinois State Archives, Margaret Cross Norton Bldg., Springfield, Illinois. She was born September 14, 1885.

Not long after making her acquaintance: Fresno Bee, September 19, 1926.

He soon discovered her given name: Case #S-331246 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1917), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Also see: Case #S-327058 (Oberbeck v. Oberbeck, 1917), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Outside the cabaret, some men: Ibid.

Belva, it turned out, was easy to have: Belva and William Gaertner married for the first time on June 4, 1917. But William had another longtime mistress, Helen LaFontaine, and when LaFontaine found out about the marriage she first threatened to commit suicide and then apparently threatened William’s reputation. Within days of the ceremony, William told Belva the marriage was over. On August 3, he filed a bill of complaint in the Cook County Superior Court seeking an annulment. Then somewhere between October of 1917 and the following March, the newlyweds reconciled. William Gaertner, once again, had decided he couldn’t live without Belva. He apparently found some way to appease Helen LaFontaine. In August of 1918, just over a year after their ill-fated first marriage, William and Belva married again. See Case #S-331246 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1917), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Also see “Riding to a Fall,” Chicago Tribune, September 16, 1917, and “Gaertners Jog Apart As Court Cuts the Reins,” Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1920.

William, who’d come to Chicago: “Business Left To Chicago U.,” New York Times, December 15, 1948.

He controlled the universe: “New Camera to Take Mars,” New York Times, May 9, 1907.

Sometimes she would simply be out riding: Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

“You are one husband in a million…”: “The Matrimonial Worm That Turned At Last,” San Antonio Light, January 9, 1927.

Young women – proper, well-raised young women: Ben Hecht, Gaily, Gaily (Doubleday & Co., 1963), 194.

On top of such frivolities: “Are Chicago Women Slaves to Corsets? Well – Yes and No,” Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1921.

In his deepest heart, William probably never: Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Conclusions based on divorce-petition statements and on William Gaertner’s willingness to keep marrying her – three times – despite no change in her behavior.

“Thanks for the advice…”: San Antonio Light, January 9, 1927.

She’d then come home later: Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County; San Antonio Light, January 9, 1927.

“It wasn’t unusual for him…”: “Belva Gaertner Will Fight Rich Husband’s Suit,” Chicago Tribune, August 2, 1926.

He hired celebrated detective W.C. Dannenberg: The Gaertner divorce and the events leading up to it are detailed in “Sleuths Lose Jobs As Woman Gets Divorce,” Chicago Evening Post, May 7, 1920; “Gaertners’ Life Just One Sleuth After Another,” Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1920; “Gaertners Jog Apart As Court Cuts the Reins,” Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1920; “Detectives Bind Wife in Hyde Park Home; Ratio is 16 to 1,” Chicago Evening American, April 12, 1920. Also see Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. For general information on W.C. Dannenberg, see John Kobler, Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone (Da Capo Press, 1992), 57.

The neighborhoods to the west: Glen E. Holt and Dominic A. Pacyga, Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods – The Loop and South Side (Chicago Historical Society, 1979), 95-98. Also see Variety, June 9, 1922.

Belva munched a sandwich: Scene in hallway of Wabash Avenue police station before the inquest is derived from “Belle Bemoans Ruined Coat,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924, and “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

Nearby, Walter Law’s wife – widow: “One-Gun Duel Tragedy Told by Woman,” Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.

“All ready now,” he said: “Belle Bemoans Ruined Coat,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

He’d also brought her seven rings: “Other Woman’s Gems Shine As Widow Sneers,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

“I hope for a reconciliation…”: Michael Lesy, Murder City:The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton, 2007), 200.

The afternoon Daily News, which: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924.

“The motive which the state believes…”: “Hold Divorcee As Slayer of Auto Salesman,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago: With the Chicago Tribune Articles That Inspired It (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 121.

The morals court had recently called: Thomas G. Aylesworth and Virginia L. Aylesworth, Chicago: The Glamour Years (1919-1941) (Bison Books, 1986), 22.

“They didn’t have any gin…”: “Hold Divorcee As Slayer of Auto Salesman,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 120.
    
Maurine didn’t think much of Brown: Ibid.

When the deputy coroner, Joseph Springer, arrived: “Gaertner Trial Starts,” Chicago Daily News, June 4, 1924.

“We got drunk and he got killed: Chicago Daily News, March 12, 1924; “Hold Divorcee As Slayer of Auto Salesman,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924; “Gamble With Death Excuse For Killing,” New York Times, March 13, 1924.

Much of what Mrs. Law was hearing: “Never Threatened Law, Says Divorcee,” Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1924.

“No, daughter,” said Harry J. Law: “Other Woman’s Gems Shine As Widow Sneers,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

“Bring him in quick…”: “Hold Divorcee As Slayer of Auto Salesman,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

“Walter told me Monday: Ibid.
    
“Does Mrs. Gaertner wish…”: Ibid.

“Walter never did get along…”: “Other Woman’s Gems Shine As Widow Sneers,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

“He was always a perfect gentleman…”: “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

“No, I don’t want her to hang…”: “Other Woman’s Gems Shine As Widow Sneers,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

The two women could have gone on : “Mrs. Gaertner in Cell For Slaying is No Longer Gay,” Chicago Evening Post, March 13, 1924.

“Walter Law,” the jury declared: Ibid.
 
The day after William caught her in bed: William and Belva’s face-off on this day is chronicled in the Evening Courier and Reporter, August 4, 1920.

Belva went out and got her own lawyer: Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1920.

Eight detectives are comfortably ensconced: Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1920.

“It’s a rather trying situation…”:  Chicago Evening American, April 12, 1920.

It seems to me, Quinby said: Courier and Reporter (Waterloo, Iowa), April 10, 1920. Untitled clipping, loose, uncategorized papers, Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

She took a small room in the house: Chicago Evening American, April 12, 1920.

“I’m going to my sister’s…”: Courier and Reporter, August 4, 1920.

Wags called the Gaertner estate: “She’s Taxi Driver Now – Her Own Boss,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1920.

The Courier and Reporter of Waterloo: Courier and Reporter, April 10, 1920.

“I’ve gotten so used to detectives: Fresno Bee, September 19, 1926.

They would “promenade on each side of her”: Courier and Reporter, August 4, 1920.

She even played billiards with her detectives: Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1920.

The whip would be presented: “Sleuths Sleuth on Sleuths in Domestic Row,” Chicago Evening Post, April 9, 1920.

“Sure, I whipped my millionaire husband…” Fresno Bee, September 19, 1926. The Bee story gives the impression this quote comes from the 1926 divorce, but the whip was introduced as evidence in the 1920 divorce proceedings and not mentioned in the 1926 divorce case.

She publicly accused Robert McGearald: Chicago Evening Post, April 9, 1920.

She would not contest the suit: “Sleuths Lose Jobs As Woman Gets Divorce,” Chicago Evening Post, May 7, 1920.

She had married William because: Chicago Evening American, April 12, 1920.

“My wife had been away from home…”: Chicago Tribune, May 7,  1920; Chicago Evening Post, May 7, 1920.

Belva received $3,000: Chicago Evening Post, May 7, 1920; Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1920.

Not much of a settlement: Case #S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Using the Consumer Price Index, $500,000 in 1920 is comparable to more than $5 million in 2009. See measuring worth.com.

“The story is simply ridiculous…”: Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1924.

“Me threaten him with a knife?...” “Other Woman’s Gems Shine As Widow Sneers,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

Belva leaned against the bare cell wall: Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0076751, Chicago History Museum.

Belva was the only inmate “dressed up”: “Belle Bemoans Ruined Coat,” Chicago Daily Journal March 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

To the Daily News reporter’s eyes: Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1924.

“It gives me an awfully blank feeling: “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

“You see, they have taken away…”: Ibid.
    
“I hope they won’t put me to work…”: Ibid.

CHAPTER 4: Hang Me? That’s a Joke.
Pages 57-67:

When the jail matrons brought Belva in: “Never Threatened Law, Says Divorcee,” Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

The streak had stood at twenty-nine: Michael Lesy, Murder City (W.W. Norton, 2007), 154.

In the Tribune, Genevieve Forbes derided: “Dialect Jargon Makes ’Em Dizzy at Nitti Trial,” Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1923; “Death For 2 Women Slayers,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1923.

There was simply no comparison: Katherine Malm was actually a native of Austria. But she emigrated with her family at age seven, and her look and accent were thoroughly American.

There’d never been a time when it was easy: Jeffrey S. Adler, “ ‘I Loved Joe, But I Had to Shoot Him’: Homicide By Women in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago,” The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Vol. 92, Nos. 3-4, 2003), 883.

An earlier streak, this one of husband killers: Jeffrey S. Adler, “ ‘I Loved Joe, But I Had to Shoot Him’: Homicide By Women in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago,” The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Vol. 92, Nos. 3-4, 2003), 884-886.

The acquittals were so consistent, year after year: Ibid.

At fourteen, Belva found herself dumped: Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School, Record Group 255.004, Illinois State Archives. The home meant a strict, suffocating discipline that was completely new to Belva and her younger sister, Malinda. On admittance, staff shaved the girls’ heads (on the theory that this helped combat disease) and issued them uncomfortable uniforms. Belva and Malinda worked in the laundry and kitchen, or out in the fields. The children at the home weren’t allowed to talk during meals in the long dining hall – not a single word, not to anyone. This was a daily punishment to the always-chatty Belva. Their mother reclaimed them from the orphanage after a year. See Kenneth Cmiel, A Home of Another Kind (University of Chicago Press, 1995), 26-27.

Kitty dropped out of the fifth grade: “Ladies in Crime,” Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1927.

She’d married Otto Malm illegally: “Kitty Malm’s Legal Husband Seeks Divorce,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

“Defendant Katherine Baluk…”: Superior Court of Cook County, Chancery No. 400645, Baluk v. Baluk, May 31, 1924.

This shouldn’t have surprised her: “Suspends Police Blamed For Gun Girl’s Escape; Mrs. Malm’s Love For Baby May Trap Her,” Chicago Tribune, November 26, 1923.

Max now claimed: Superior Court of Cook County, Chancery No. 400645, Baluk v. Baluk, May 31, 1924.
 
“Fellows, always fellows…”: “Ladies in Crime,” Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1927.
 
Soon Belva and Kitty were playing cards: “Three Women Smilingly Awaiting Trials That May Cost Their Lives,” The Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH), March 19, 1924.

“You can now tell them…”: “Malm Woman’s ‘Death Notes’ Are Plea For Her Baby,” Chicago Evening Post, December 1, 1923.

He quickly adjusted his memory: What happened during the Delson burglary was detailed numerous times by Kitty and Otto Malm and various others in police confessions and statements, in newspapers interviews, and on the witness stand at trial. In each telling of the night’s events over more than four months, Kitty denied having a gun. There is no evidence that she carried a gun that night or knew how to use a gun. It was clear even to the prosecutors that Otto’s claim that Kitty fired the fatal bullet into Edward Lehman was a transparent attempt to save himself from the gallows. Neither of the two eyewitnesses, nor Kitty and Otto’s driver, Eric Noren, ever said Kitty was carrying a gun or fired a gun. See “Confession of Slayer Clears Man in Cell; Chicago Tribune, November 24, 1923; “Lehman Murder Becomes Tangle of Confessions,” Chicago Evening Post, November 24, 1924; “Blames Escape of Mrs. Malm on Policemen,” Chicago Tribune, November 25, 1923; “Expect Pistol Fight in Capture of Malm’s Wife,” Chicago Evening Post, November 26, 1923.

“Men are quitters,” Kitty said: Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1927.

The lawyer figured Kitty would be free: “Ex-‘Tiger Girl,’ Kitty Malm, To Ask For Parole,” Chicago Tribune, October 10, 1932.

“Say, nobody in the world…”: “‘I’m Not Scare’t,’ Says Kitty, But She Cries a Bit,” Chicago Tribune, February 24, 1924. For more background information on Kitty Malm, see “Savage Mother Cries Out From Gun Girl’s Soul,” Chicago Tribune, November 29, 1923.

She flopped her abundant fur wrap: “Angel Wings For Malm If I Hang, Says Lone Kitty,” Chicago Tribune, February 19, 1924.

Dozens of men and women assembled: “Girl in Court on Cot Exposes Mrs. Malm,” Chicago Daily News, February 21, 1924.

“Mrs. Malm is the hardest woman: “Jury Completed To Decide Fate of Kitty Malm,” Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1924.

“Katherine Baluk Malm, on trial…”: Chicago Daily News, February 21, 1924.

“The 22nd of last November…”:  For King’s testimony from the trial, see “Mrs. Malm Has Collapse After State Surprise,” Chicago Tribune, February 22, 1924, and also Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1924.

Along with a variety of long-standing physical ailments: “Mrs. Malm Pale and Broken As Trial Resumes,” Chicago Evening Post, February 23, 1924. Judge Steffen struck all of Blanche King’s testimony from the record before sending the jury out to reach a verdict. Her testimony still proved too compelling for the jury to ignore.

Forbes, in the Tribune: Chicago Tribune, February 22, 1924. Also: Maurine Watkins would steal the phrase two years later for a fictional “Tiger Girl.” Her Kitty Baxter would say of herself: “Say, for the last ten years I’ve carried a gun where most girls carry a powder-puff.” See Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), page 67.

Kitty read some of the coverage: “Mrs. Malm is Resting in Cell After Collapse,” Chicago Evening Post, February 22, 1924; Chicago Evening Post, February 23, 1924.

On Monday, Kitty arrived in court: For Katherine Malm’s testimony, verdict and aftermath, see “New Surprise Witness in Malm Case Promised,” Chicago Evening Post, February 25, 1924; “Kitty Malm, Two-Gun Girl, On Stand,” Chicago Daily News, February 25, 1924; “Mrs. Malm Trial Ending,” Chicago Daily News, February 26, 1924; “‘Tiger Girl,’ On Stand, Accuses Malm of Killing,” Chicago Tribune, February 26, 1924; “Kitty, Witness, Accuses Malm,” Chicago Daily Journal, February 25, 1924; “Guilty; Malm Girl Gets Life,” Chicago Tribune, February 27, 1924.

She wore a sexy new black dress: Chicago Daily News, February 25, 1924.

She knew Otto was waiting outside the courtroom: “Mrs. Malm Gets Life; Mate Hears His Fate March 8,” Chicago Evening Post, February 27, 1924.

“Expressions of surprise were heard all over…”: Ibid.

They were “physically and mentally…”: Betsy Israel, Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules – a Social History (Perennial, 2002), 121.

The social activist Belle Moskowitz: Ibid.

Her attitude and language: “Mrs. Malm Surrenders; Admits Share in Slaying,” Chicago Tribune, November 28, 1923; “Quiz ‘Killers’ Face to Face,” Chicago Tribune, November 29, 1923.

Two weeks after convicting Kitty: “Mrs. Gaertner Has ‘Class’ As She Faces Jury,” Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1924.

The Tribune stated the situation: “Beulah Annan Awaits Stork, Murder Trial,” Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1924.

“My experience makes me know…”: “Wants Jury of ‘Worldly Men’,” Danville Bee (Danville, Va.), March 28, 1924.

Asked to examine photographs: “Women That Shoot Men True to Type,” Fresno Bee (Calif.), April 19, 1924.
    
CHAPTER 5: No Sweetheart in the World is Worth Killing
Pages 68-81:

Maurine’s desk sat on the east side: Chicago Tribune photo files; The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration (The Tribune Co., 1922), 135. In WGN, an illustration shows where reporters and editors sat in the local room.    

Maurine was “so lovely…” Fanny Butcher, Many Lives, One Love (Harper and Row, 1972), 40-41.
    
Butcher amused herself: Ibid.

The men dared not pinch: This was not unusual behavior in newsrooms. Thirty years later, the Tribune hired Lois Wille “for ‘the’ woman reporter” position in the newsroom. Wille, who would go on to win two Pulitzer Prizes, remembered: “The first day I was on news I was sitting next to a big Irish cop reporter. He opened his desk drawer and bent over. I thought he was looking for something and the next thing I know I feel his hand rubbing my ankle.” See F. Richard Ciccone, Royko: A Life in Print (Public Affairs, 2001), 73.

Maurine had never even seen a poker game: “The Talk of the Town,” The New Yorker, May 21, 1927.

She didn’t drink: “Alimony,” Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan, July 1927. The brief author’s bio accompanying her short story states, “she doesn’t smoke cigarets, drink gin or bob her hair.”

Teddy Beck, the managing editor: Fanny Butcher, Many Lives, One Love (Harper and Row, 1972), 40-41.

One of the few other women: Fanny Butcher, Many Lives, One Love (Harper and Row, 1972), 41. Also see, Eunice Tietjens Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago (3a 43 2).

She had proven her value many times: Forbes earned her way into the local room in 1921 by going undercover as an Irish immigrant to expose abuses at Ellis Island in New York. The 14-part series lead to Congressional hearings. See “Tribune Woman Runs Gantlet of Ellis Island,” Chicago Tribune, October 13, 1921.

The 1920s began, wrote Burton: Burton Rascoe, We Were Interrupted (Doubleday & Co., 1947), 3.

Gangsters funneled a million dollars: George Murray, The Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett, 1965), 310.

Fred Lovering, of the Daily Journal, foolishly: A.A. Dornfeld, “Hello Sweetheart, Get Me Rewrite!” The Story of the City News Bureau of Chicago (Academy Chicago Publishers, 1988), 137.

Maurine was stunned to learn: “Chicago,” New York World, January 16, 1927. Letter to the “dramatics editor” by Maurine Watkins.

She found that in every kind of crime: Ibid.

Like everywhere else, bootlegging was a persistent problem: Guy L. Nichols, “Prohibition Survey of Illinois: A Survey of Prohibition Enforcement in Illinois, with Special Reference to Chicago,” Part II, 289-347, Chicago History Museum.

Sitting in a cell less than forty-eight hours: “Jail Java Instead of Gin for Divorcee,” Chicago Evening Post photo caption, March 13, 1924.

One number on the programme: “Mrs. Gaertner Leads Jailed Women in Song,” Chicago Daily Journal March 14, 1924.

“Law is to blame for the trouble…”:  “Mrs. Gaertner Lies – Mrs. Law,” Chicago Daily Journal, March 13, 1924.

In the original photos from the night: Chicago Tribune photography archives, Belva Gaertner file; Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0076750, Chicago History Museum.

Worse, the fusel oil and industrial: Edward D. Sullivan, Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime (The Vanguard Press, 1929), 90-92.

This kind of strip, popular for girl-crime stories: “Flip-Coin Murderess Gambles with Lives – Loses,” Chicago Evening American, April 6, 1924.

The typical murderess, one panel exclaimed: “False Colors of Bohemia Lead to Nowhere – Wanda Stopa Learns Too Late,” Chicago Evening American, April 28, 1924.

Her colleague at the paper, Forbes: See Genevieve Forbes file, “Women Building Chicago 1790-1990,” University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections.

When they talked of gin and blood, Mrs. Law: “Other Woman’s Gems Shine As Widow Sneers,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924.

“No sweetheart in the world…”: “No Sweetheart Worth Killing – Mrs. Gaertner,” Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 121-122.

“I wish I could remember just…”: Ibid.

She highlighted Belva’s gay: Ibid.

There’d been hundreds of brothels: 1929 Illinois Crime Survey, 845-850.

The 1911 Vice Commission calculated: Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan, Bosses in Lusty Chicago (Indiana University Press, 1971), 294.

In her purse, unknown to her: Robert St. John’s This Was My World (Doubleday & Co., 1953), 159.

Quinby had a way, a colleague: Ibid.

“The Post’s little bob-haired…”: “Goes to School to Learn How to Keep a Husband,” Chicago Evening Post, April 8, 1924.

She’d march through the Post’s newsroom: Author interview with Jackie Loohauis-Bennett, May 8, 2008. Loohauis-Bennett worked and became friends with Quinby during Quinby’s last years at the Milwaukee Journal in the 1970s and early ’80s.

One fellow scribe remarked: Newspaper clipping, headlined “Meeting Queen Marie, Lunching With Film Stars All in Day’s Work.” Undated, paper of origin unknown, in Ione Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

Indeed, back then, on the verge: “Finds Liberty As Taxi Driver,” The Evening Courier and Reporter (Waterloo, Iowa), August 4, 1920.

She undertook a new career: Ibid. Also see “She’s Taxi Driver Now – Her Own Boss,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1920.

“Well, I just can’t take orders…”: “She’s Taxi Driver Now – Her Own Boss,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1920.

Any man walking by the taxi stand: “Finds Liberty As Taxi Driver,” The Evening Courier and Reporter (Waterloo, Iowa), August 4, 1920. This story ran without a byline but Quinby unquestionably wrote it. For one, it has all the hallmarks of her unique prose style: the lively scene setting, the melodious rhythm and backing-into-the-clause sentence structure, the attention to fashion details. Plus, Quinby had become friendly with Belva while covering her divorce. Finally, and definitively, Quinby served at this time as the Chicago correspondent for the Central Press News Service, which provided news and features to the Courier and Reporter and other papers throughout Iowa.

“What else could he do, under the combined barrage…”: Ibid.

In the spring of 1920, Belva: Betsy Israel, Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules – a Social History of Living Single (Perrenial, 2003), 128. Israel captures the flapper as the “supreme incarnation” of the technologically driven modern world that began to take shape in the 1920s.

They wore rouge and: Ibid.

It was, said one commentator: Betsy Israel, Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules – a Social History of Living Single (Perrenial, 2003), 120.

Doctors warned that the “flapper…”: Ibid, 136.

School boards across the country: “Roused Teachers Plan Convention Aimed at ‘Blue Laws’,” Davenport Democrat and Leader (Iowa), April 5, 1928.

The Evening American reported that: Roger Kahn, A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ’20s (Harcourt Inc., 1999), 292.

She certainly never considered bobbing: “Alimony,” Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan, July 1927.
 
Young Crawfordsville ladies strove: James H. Madison, The Indiana Way: A State History (Indiana University Press, 1990), 175-185.

Already, Maurine had decided that she would make an awful: In correspondence with the author John Elliott, Dorotha Watkins recalled her cousin Maurine ending a marriage engagement when she was 24 or 25 because she was convinced her dedication to work would make her a terrible wife. See John Elliott, “Tearing Up the Pages,” Portland Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, 1983.

Soon after starting at the Tribune: “Pioneer in Birth Control Tells How Holland Profited,” Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1924.

Maurine knew all about how birth control: Betsy Israel, Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules – a Social History of Living Single (Perrenial, 2003), 109; Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex (Random House, 2001), 224.

She also attended a conference: “Pacifists Turn to Socialists For Their Guides,” Chicago Tribune, May 21, 1924.

It seemed to Maurine that murder: “Chicago”, New York World, January 16, 1927.

She found that Chicagoans rejected: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

The coroner’s jury determined: “Jurors Clear Boy Who Killed Brutal Father,” Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1924.

So did Maurine, who enthusiastically: Ibid.

In Chicago, the young reporter had noticed: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

To get star treatment in “Murder City”: “Chicago,” New York World, January 16, 1927. Also see Coramae Richey Mann, When Women Kill (SUNY Press, 1996), 27. The term “Murder City” was frequently applied to Chicago in the early years of the 20th century. Since then it has been attached to numerous American cities, from New Orleans to Newark. For the past 40 years, the label has been most identified with Detroit.

She would even develop a kind of crush: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“I had to ask him a lot of questions that…”: Ibid.

The gangster’s matter-of-fact attitude: Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University. As an example of her need to idealize, in one letter Watkins goes on at some length about her childhood hero worship of former U.S. Senator Albert Beveridge. (She surreptitiously removed photos of Beveridge from newspapers and magazines at Crawfordsville’s library and spirited them home to be pasted into a scrapbook.)

“Gunmen are just divine…”: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

More than that, she found murderous women: “Feminine Punch is Knockout,” Chicago Herald and Examiner, September 18, 1927; “Chicago,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

Standing around at the Criminal Courts Building: “Miss Watkins Suggests Press Agent For Gray,” New York Telegram, April 18, 1927.

Underneath the snide remarks about: Ibid.

The British war hero Ian Hay Beith: Stephen Duncombe and Andrew Mattson, The Bobbed Haired Bandit: A True Story of Crime and Celebrity in 1920s New York (New York University Press, 2006), 16-17.
    
CHAPTER 6: The Kind of Gal Who Never Could Be True
Pages 82-90:

On Thursday, April 3, Beulah Annan heard a rap: “Judge Admits All of Beulah’s Killing Stories,” Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924; “Tried to Kill Me, Says Beulah Annan on Stand” (jump page headline), Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924. The engine of this chapter’s narrative is “State’s Exhibit Two,” Beulah’s so-called “midnight confession,” which she gave after prosecutors took her back to her apartment after having initially questioned her at the Hyde Park police station. Her initial claims to police that Harry Kalstedt was a stranger who broke in and tried to rape her are patently false. The story she told in later days and weeks – that Harry had arrived drunk and bolted for Al’s gun after she told him their relationship was over – surfaced only after her lawyers entered the picture. Premised on Beulah being, as W.W. O’ Brien put it, “a virtuous working girl” caught up in a crazy age, the story was the centerpiece of a bold strategy to save her from conviction. The “midnight confession,” however, has the ring of truth throughout. The mask is gone; Beulah, sobered up, is remorseful and distraught and answers questions with specifics in a free-flowing way. This confession also matches up with key facts established at the inquest and with other details brought out at the trial.

“Oh, hello, Anne,” Harry said: “‘Shot to Save My Own Life,’ Says Beulah on Stand,” Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924.

The Tribune that morning carried: Laurence Bergreen, Capone: The Man and the Era (Simon and Schuster, 1996), 109.

Already, truckloads of flowers: Ibid, 110.

Beulah got so lonesome: “Gin Killing is Re-Enacted in Cell in Jail,” Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

She hated doing housework: Ibid.

It had been six months since she and: “What Life Finally Did to ‘the Girl With the Man-Taming Eyes’,” Hamilton Evening Journal (Ohio), May 5, 1928; “Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

Harry returned with two quarts: “Woman in Salome Dance After Killing,” Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924.

Back in October, when Beulah: Hamilton Evening Journal (Ohio), May 5, 1928.

She knew a doctor who’d give her morphine: Ibid.

She felt it was a woman’s prerogative: “Annan Killing to Grand Jury,” Chicago Daily Journal, April 7, 1924.

She looked at the flowered paper: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 3. Watkins’s scene description of Roxie and Amos’s fictional flat mirrored Beulah and Al’s real one.

There’s another man, she said: “Mrs. Annan Says She is Glad She Killed Kalstedt,” Chicago Evening Post, April 4, 1924; Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924. The Post identifies the supposed boyfriend’s name as Johnny. In the Daily News’ report, Beulah describes him to Harry as a “Southern gentleman.”

“If that’s the kind of a woman…”: “‘Glad,’ Says Jazz Slayer,” Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924.

“Well, you’re nothing!”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

Harry stepped forward, “with…”: Ibid.

“Hello, Betty,” Beulah chirped: Ibid.

She’d been dancing around: “Spurns Husband Who Saved Her From Gallows,” Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

“Why, you’re nothing but a four-flusher…”: Hamilton Evening Journal, May 5, 1928.

“Come home, I’ve shot a man…”: Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924.

“Where is the gun?”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

A popular song, “Hula Lou,” was playing: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.

When he came in the door, the first thing: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924; “Jury Finds Beulah Annan is ‘Not Guilty’,” Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

When a voice tweeted over the line: “Woman Plays Jazz Air As Victim Dies,” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 122. This quote comes from Watkins’ first story about Beulah. In later reports, in newspapers across the country, the quote was typically relayed as: “I’ve just killed a man!”

The nearness of wealthy Hyde Park and Kenwood: Glen E. Holt and Dominic A. Pacyga, Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods – The Loop and South Side (Chicago Historical Society, 1979), 87-88.

Fighting raged for five days: F. Richard Ciccone, Mike Royko: A Life in Print (PublicAffairs, 2001), 168.
 
“This will get us by,” he said: Jay Robert Nash, Makers & Breakers of Chicago: From Long John Wentworth to Richard J. Daley (Academy Chicago Publishers, 1985), 52. Nash writes that the motorcycle’s driver was Dean O’ Banion. O’Banon would later become one of the city’s foremost bootleggers.

After more than two-dozen people: Lloyd Wendt, Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper (Randy McNally, 1979), 464-465.
 
“Midnight was like day…”: Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, Jazz: A History of America’s Music (Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), 87.

One of the officers, Sergeant Malachi Murphy: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.

“I came home and found this guy: San Antonio Light, December 21, 1947. The headline is illegible on University of Texas Library microfilm. The byline is Peter Levins.

“I am going to quit you…”: Chicago Evening Post, April 4, 1924.

“I told him I would shoot…”: San Antonio Light, December 21, 1947.

She dropped – a dead-away faint: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924; “Beulah on Stand Fails to Keep Out Her Confession,” Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

“Don’t you know me?”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924; Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

Albert Allen, the stenographer there to record: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

CHAPTER 7: A Modern Salome
Pages 91-103:

“I’ve been a sucker, that’s all!...”: “Demand Noose for ‘Prettiest’ Woman Slayer,” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 128.

“I guess I was too slow for her…”: “Hold Mrs. Annan for Murder,”, Chicago Daily Journal, April 4, 1924.

The young, slender woman, with “wide blue eyes…”: Quoted section from “Select Jury to Pronounce Fate of Beulah Annan,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924. Description of how Beulah Annan was dressed comes from Chicago Daily News negatives collection, images DN-0076797 and DN-0076798, Chicago History Museum, and Chicago Daily Journal, April 4, 1924.

Photographs of the suspect in the revealing attire (footnote): Chicago Daily Journal, April 4, 1924; “Will Her Red Head Vamp the Jury,” Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924; “ ‘Glad,’ Says Jazz Slayer,” Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924.

“He came into my apartment this afternoon…”: “Woman Plays Jazz Air as Victim Dies,” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 123.

“I didn’t know – I didn’t realize…”: Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924.

She said the same thing over and over: Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1924.

Harry’s voice hung in the air: San Antonio Light, December 21, 1947; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 125; Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924.

“You are right, I haven’t been telling…”: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 122; Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1924.
 
After the shooting she became “distracted…”: Untitled clipping, Lincoln State Journal, April 4, 1924, Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

“I went to it and started it over again…”: San Antonio Light, December 21, 1947.

“How much did you drink?” they asked: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997),137; “Judge Admits All of Beulah’s Killing Stories,” Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

It wasn’t because she was giving them: Ibid. W.W. Wilcox described her as “smiling most of the time” that night.

Back at the station, flush with pride: Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924.

“Harry was my greatest love…”: “Mrs. Annan Says She is Glad She Killed Kalstedt,” Chicago Evening Post, April 4, 1924.

“I am glad I did it,” she said: Ibid. Also see Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924.

“Mrs. Beulah Annan, termed by her questioners: Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924. The paper either made a mistake in identifying the Clark Street station or Beulah was transferred there shortly before the inquest.

The Journal and the Post offered similar “death dance”:  Chicago Daily Journal, April 4, 1924; Chicago Evening Post, April 4, 1924.

In the Tribune, Maurine wrote that the popular: Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 123.

The Evening American borrowed from Edgar Allan Poe: Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924.

“Harry has bought some booze – some red wine…” (footnote): “The Kind of a Girl Who Never Could Be True,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

A grotesque dance over the body: “Dances Over Body of Man She Kills,” Davenport Democrat and Leader (Iowa), April 6, 1924.

Sometimes it seemed that running down payment: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 60.

He was so successful with murder cases: “William Scott Stewart Dies Broke, Alone,” Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1964.

Wanderer was a veteran of the World War: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton & Co., 2007), 9-15.

So did the hanging, when Wanderer: George Murray, Madhouse on Madison Street (Follett Publishing Company, 1965), 240-241.
 
He prepared for each court appearance: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 109-110.

“I am a great believer in original construction…”: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 568.
 
W.W. O’Brien graduated from the University: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, 30.

O’Brien married a performer, Louise Dolly: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, 31.

In 1922, he married again, this time: Case # B-121999 (O’Brien, William and Zoe, 1925), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

He aspired to be the next Charles Erbstein: John J. McPhaul, Deadlines and Monkeyshines: The Fabled World of Chicago Journalism (Prentice-Hall, 1962),
 182.

In 1922, two assistant state’s attorneys accused: “2 Bribe Efforts Cited in Charges Against O’Brien,” Chicago Tribune, October 5, 1922; “Seek to Disbar W.W. O’Brien on Bribery Charge,” Chicago Tribune, October 3, 1922.

In 1921, he caught his first bullet: Chicago Tribune, October 3, 1922.

Two years later, it happened again: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, 32.

“I haven’t much money,” he told reporters: “‘I’d Rather Be Dead,’ Mrs. Annan Sobs As She Prays,” Chicago Evening Post, April 5, 1924.

“Beulah wanted a gay life…”: “Beulah, the Beautiful Killer!” Chicago Tribune, December 30, 1951.

She wore a light brown dress, a darker brown coat: Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 125.

From the next room could be heard strains of: Ibid.

“I wish they’d let me see him…”: Ibid.

She had a seven-year-old son: Ibid.

She had married that first time: “Mrs. Annan Sorry She Won Race For Pistol,” Chicago Daily News, April 5, 1924.

“I didn’t love Harry so much...”: Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924.

“They say she’s the prettiest woman ever accused…” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 125.

Mr. Harry Kalstedt, he said, told Mrs. Annan: Ibid.

“Both went for the gun!”: Ibid.

They had already discovered that Harry Kalstedt: Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

Dr. Clifford Oliver testified that he arrived: Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924.

The inquest dragged on, and Beulah grew: Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 125; Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

He pressed a $5 bill into her hand: Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

After the inquest, the police moved Beulah: Chicago Daily News, April 5, 1924.

“Murderesses have such lovely names…”: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

In the morning, Sabella clomped past the cell: Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

“You pretty-pretty,” she croaked: Ibid.

When the Italian immigrant was convicted, Forbes: “Death For 2 Women Slayers,” Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1923.

Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah: Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

CHAPTER 8: Her Mind Works Vagrantly
Pages 104-112:

“Twenty-three, not twenty-nine…”: “Gin Killing is Re-Enacted in Cell in Jail,” Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

“Harry said, ‘You won’t call me a name like that’…”: “Woman in Salome Dance After Killing,” Chicago Daily News, April, 4, 1924.

Like Sabella before her: “Divorcee of page one notoriety” quoted from “Hold Divorcee as Slayer of Auto Salesman,” Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 118.

She suggested they have a picture taken: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xvi.

She now sat before reporters: Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

“No, no, no. It would choke me”: “ ‘I’d Rather Be Dead,’ Mrs. Annan Sobs As She Prays,” Chicago Evening Post, April 5, 1924.

The thought of what she’d done to her husband: What Beulah said is paraphrased in Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

“My husband says he’ll see me through…”: “Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

“I suppose it is true that a man may drift…”: “‘Too Slow’ For the Wife He Fought For in the Gallows’ Shadow,” Fresno Bee (Calif.), August 8, 1926.

He had refused to talk to reporters at the inquest: “Demand Noose For ‘Prettiest’ Woman Slayer,” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924.

“I can’t believe it, I can’t…”: “Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.
    
A part of her believed Al had made her cheat: Chicago Evening Post, April 5, 1924; “Beulah Annan Sobs Regret For Life She Took,” Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1924.

He never wanted to take her out dancing: “Spurns Husband Who Saved Her From Gallows,” Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

Sun. Oct. 7: Daddy and I had an argument: “What Life Finally Did to ‘the Girl With the Man-Taming Eyes,’” Hamilton Evening Journal (Ohio), May 5, 1928. The newspaper published a photostat of a page from Beulah’s diary, which ran alongside the article.

Two years ago, she and Al had taken a trip: Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

“I didn’t want to hurt Albert,” she said. “Annan Killing to Grand Jury,” Chicago Daily Journal, April 7, 1924.

Beulah had thought it many times as Harry dozed: “‘Glad,’ Says Jazz Slayer,” Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924; Washington Post, July 13, 1924; Hamilton Evening Journal, May 5, 1928.

They stared at her, followed her, told stupid jokes: Hamilton Evening Journal, May 5, 1928.

She and Perry were just teenagers when they slipped: Spencer County (Indiana) Index to Marriage Record 1850-1920, Spencer County Clerk’s Office, ancestry.com.

On her marriage certificate, dated February 11, 1915: Ibid.

A year and a half later, she gave birth: Kentucky Birth Index, 1911-1999, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.

The baby seemed to ratchet up Beulah’s need: Hamilton Evening Journal, May 5, 1928.

“There will always be temptations…”: Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924. Beulah apparently showed or mentioned the letter to the American reporter.
 
“If I hadn’t been working, I’d never have met Harry...”: Chicago Evening Post, April 5, 1924.
    
Quinby found Beulah’s demeanor odd: Ibid.

“Well, thinking it all over, I think…”: “Mrs. Annan Sorry She Won Race For Pistol,” Chicago Daily News, April 5, 1924.

“You know, if a fellow pulled a gun on you: Chicago Daily Journal, April 5, 1924.

He said I couldn’t talk to him like that, and I told him I knew: Ibid. Beulah never explained how she found out about Harry Kalstedt’s prison record.

“I am just a fool,” she said: Chicago Evening Post, April 5, 1924.

“I had never shot a gun but once…”: “Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

Harry Kalstedt had spent five years in prison: Chicago Evening Post, April 5, 1924.

“Will Her Red Head Vamp the Jury?”: Headline of large photograph accompanying “Woman in Salome Dance After Killing,” Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924.

“Forty hours of questioning and cogitation…”: Chicago Evening Post, April 5, 1924.

“Stunned – almost to the point of desperation…” “Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

“A noose around that white neck with Venus lines…”: Ibid.

Alone among the reporters, she wrote that: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 126; Chicago Tribune, April 5., 1924.

Men “gazed at photographs of her lovely…: Hamilton Evening Journal, May 5, 1928.

That first day behind bars she received a beautiful red rose: “Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,” Chicago Evening American, April 5, 1924.

The next day, somebody sent her “a juicy steak…”: “Mrs. Annan Has Lonesome Day Behind the Bars,” Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1924.

Letters began to show up at the jail, dozens of them: Hamilton Evening Journal, May 5, 1928.

Nash pushed the trial date back: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xviii; xxxi.

Hopped up on the press’ and the public’s unwavering interest: Photo, Chicago Evening American, April 6, 1924.

CHAPTER 9: Jail School
Pages 113-128:

The Evening Post announced that April 21: “Five Women Are in Court Today on Murder Charges,” Chicago Evening Post, April 21, 1924.

The Broadway star Mae West had posed for: Jill Watts, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2001), 65.

West’s signature dance was the shimmy: Jill Watts, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2001), 49.

She’d been relegated to a minor-league vaudeville: Jill Watts, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2001), 65.

“A woman has to be pretty bad to be as bad: “Wants Jury of ‘Worldly Men’,” The Danville Bee (Va.), March 28, 1924.  

Maurine Watkins, witnessing this response to Beulah: “Chicago” (letter to dramatic editor), New York World, January 16, 1927.

Five people – three generations of the family: “Montana Boy On Stand Tells of Killing ‘Cop’,” Chicago Evening Post, April 24, 1924.

Photographers surrounded Beulah, Belva and Sabella: “Least Stylish of Court Ladies Only Happy One,” Chicago Tribune, April 22, 1924; “Jail Beauties Face Court in Easter Garb,” Chicago Evening American, April 21, 1924; uncategorized notes, Ione Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

Belva wore a black Easter bonnet: Descriptions of Belva Gaertner, Beulah Annan and Sabella Nitti in the photograph come from the photo and caption in Chicago Evening American, April 21, 1924.

She’d come to court to seek bail. “Mrs. Nitti May Be Free On Bond,” Chicago Evening Post, April 28, 1924. Bail for Sabella was set at $12,500.

“Beulah has been told she’s beautiful…”: Chicago Tribune, April 22, 1924.
    
Today, following Belva and Beulah, Sabella stepped: Ibid.

The person most responsible for Sabella Nitti’s transformation: Helen Cirese’s decision to open her own practice because no law firm would hire her comes from an author interview with Cirese’s neice, Helen Del Messier Hachem, October 23, 2008.

Tall and slender, she wore a white blouse: “Slayer Gets Stay of Execution”: Undated Chicago Tribune photo and caption, Series I: Personal Papers: Folder 9, Helen Cirese Papers, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections.

Chicago’s police chief declared that when women: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton, 2007), 156.

The next day, when the police told her: “Uproar in Nitti Murder Trial,” Chicago Daily Journal, July 7, 1923.

The father of children ranging in age: Overview of Nitti case comes from Case No.15740 (1923), Supreme Court of Illinois, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois.

The next day, when an interpreter informed her: “Mrs. Nitti’s Tragedy Melts Hearts of Women in Jail,” Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1923.

For the first time in the history of Illinois: “To Hang Illinois Woman,” Los Angeles Times, July 10, 1923.

New York, they pointed out, had executed: Martha Place of Brooklyn was executed for killing her stepdaughter with an axe. She claimed she didn’t remember the murder. See Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (Ballantine Books, 1980), 857.

The wife of one of the jurors soon announced: “Murderess Tries Suicide,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1923.

After weeks of being ignored by her fellow inmates: “Informally: Jail Can Really Do a Lot for a Woman,” Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1927.

Twice she tried to commit suicide: Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1923.

“Me choke,” she told anyone: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois Press, 1997), 156; “Murderess Row Loses Class As Belva is Freed,” Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1924.

“This takes from eight to fourteen minutes…”: William MacAdams, Ben Hecht: The Man Behind the Legend (Scribner, 1990), 18.

The Los Angeles Times dramatically undercounted (footnote): Jeffrey S. Adler, “ ‘I Loved Joe, But I Had to Shoot Him’: Homicide By Women in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago” (The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, Vol. 92, Nos. 3-4, 2003),
883-884.

There had been more than a hundred executions: Chicago Tribune, March 28, 1935. Untitled clipping, Ione Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

Judge Joseph B. David postponed the execution: “See Hope for Nitti New Trial,” Chicago Daily Journal, August 4, 1923; “5 Lawyers Make New Attempt to Save Mrs. Nitti,” Chicago Tribune, August 5, 1923.

They insisted that Sabella, whose court request: Untitled biographical essay of Helen Mathilde Cirese, by Hope Sheldon (RES . 3/17/99 Wd. Ct. 2800), Women Building Chicago 1790-1990, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections.

The lawyers believed the identification of the body: Illinois Supreme Court, No. 15740 (1923), Illinois State Archives.

Much of the reporting on the case, especially Genevieve Forbes’: Untitled biographical essay of Helen Mathilde Cirese, by Hope Sheldon (RES . 3/17/99 Wd. Ct. 2800), Women Building Chicago 1790-1990, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections.

“Nice face – swell clothes – shoot man: Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1923.

“Her cheap, faded blouse hikes up…”: “Dialect Jargon Makes ’Em Dizzy At Nitti Trial,” Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1923.
    
A group of them wrote a letter to the Tribune: Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1923.

“A jury isn’t blind, and a pretty woman’s never…” “Beulah Annan Awaits Stork, Murder Trial,” Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1924.

“If Mrs. Sabella Nitti-Crudelle ever gets out of prison…”: “Nitti-Crudelli Benefited by Prison Period,” Davenport Democrat and Leader (Iowa), March 21, 1924.

“We simply reconditioned her…”: “Beauty Aids Saved Woman’s Life,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, September 6, 1940.

“When she came to the county jail, she appeared…”: Davenport Democrat and Leader (Iowa), March 21, 1924.

The fear of miscegenation was so great: “White Wife is Freed as Killer of Negro Mate,” Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1924.

One Virginia newspaper, commenting on: “A Woman Jury to Try Women Slayers Urged,” Danville Bee, June 12, 1924.

“Women make good law students …”: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 573.

One of the girls dubbed Kitty “The Girl with…”: “Jail Colony of Women in Chicago Grows,” Danville Bee (Va.) April 24, 1924.

She scrubbed the jail floor day after day: “Woman Given Life in Jail as Murderess,” Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1924.

She had, after all, said she’d killed: “This Thing and That Thing of the Theater,” Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1927.

Belva Gaertner, meanwhile, gave Sabella coins: Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1924.

The inmate the American had derided as a “bent old woman…” Chicago Evening American, April 21, 1924.

Judges assigned private defense attorneys: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 1393-1394.

“A horrible looking creature she was…”: Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1927.

“They study every effect, turn, and change…”: Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1924.

“Colorful clothes would mark her as a brazen hussy…”: “ ‘Chair Too Good for Them,’ Says ‘Gentle Sex’ Which is Ready to Save State’s Time,” New York Telegram, April 20, 1927.

The women, “all man-killers,” wrote one: “1924: Jail Cabaret – In Our Pages: 100, 75 and 50 Years Ago,” New York Times, May 24, 1999.
 
Belva offered fashion tips and gave: Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1927.
 
She was “a good stage manager,” Forbes wrote: Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1927. Forbes didn’t identify the girl in Cell “No. 4.”

Love-Foiled Girl Seeks Man’s Life: Chicago Evening Post, April 24, 1924.

Unwilling to be trumped on a guaranteed newsstand seller: “Seek Girl Slayer in Vain,” Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1924.

Only an hour after the unfortunate caretaker fell: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love, (Covici Friede), 1931, 216.

The story was an instant sensation: Ibid.

The recent camaraderie in the women’s quarters: “1924: Jail Cabaret – In Our Pages: 100, 75 and 50 Years Ago,” New York Times, May 24, 1999.

CHAPTER 10: The Love-Foiled Girl
Pages 129-142:

The smoked pulsed like a bleeding: Weather report, Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

Visitors to the city described it as “a dense…”: Bessie Louise Pierce, As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933 (University of Chicago Press, 2004), 277, 409.

They spoke of its aggressive nature: Bessie Louise Pierce, As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933 (University of Chicago Press, 2004), 411.    

Chicagoans called the problem the “smoke horror”: Lloyd Wendt, Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper (Randy McNally, 1979), 462.

Chicago had become too cultured and prosperous: Bessie Louise Pierce, As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933 (University of Chicago Press, 2004), 481.

At about seven in the morning, Wanda decamped: “Girl Lawyer Shoots At Wife of ‘Friend,’ Kills Old Man,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

She wore a blue serge suit: Ibid.

Ignoring etiquette, Wanda bypassed the cab: “Wanda Stopa Found – Dead,” Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924.

The man, Ernest Woods, said: Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924; “Seize Chauffeur Who Drove Wanda to Slaying Scene,” Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924.

“Got up in a cold, lonely room…”: “Love-Mad Pleading of Wanda Stopa in Her Letters,” Chicago Evening American, April 25, 1924.

The car stopped shortly after they entered Palos Park: Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924; “Seek Girl Slayer in Vain,” Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1924.

Woods bent down to her and whispered: “Girl Lawyer Shoots At Wife of ‘Friend,’ Kills Old Man,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

“There’s company come to your house…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici Friede, 1931), 218. Also see Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1924.

At 8:30, the taxi approached: Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924; author visit to former Smith house in Palos Park.

She gave Woods a ten-dollar bill: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici Friede, 1931), 223; Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924.

Wanda walked up the drive, pretty and demure: Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924; Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici Friede, 1931), 205. In Murder For Love and in all of the contemporary newspaper accounts concerning the Stopa shooting, Y.K. Smith’s wife’s name is given as Vieva. In Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences, p. 127, she’s called Genevieve. All sources agree her nickname was Doodles.

“Right here is good enough for me…”: “Girl Lawyer Shoots At Wife of ‘Friend,’ Kills Old Man,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

“Are you going to divorce your husband…”: Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1924.

“Wanda pulled the trigger and the gun: …”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931),  220-221; Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1924; “Love-Foiled Girl Seeks Man’s Life; Kills Caretaker,” Chicago Evening Post, April 24, 1924.

“I’ll get you yet,” she shouted: Chicago Evening Post, April 24, 1924; “Girl Lawyer Shoots At Wife of ‘Friend,’ Kills Old Man,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

A mile or so before the station: Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924.

“Live your own life!”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici Friede, 1931), 212-213, 226. The details of the Greenwich Village party – the people in attendance, the activities, Wanda Stopa’s speech – are predominantly derived from Quinby’s nonfiction book, pages 199-229. There are no sources cited in the book. There is also no research material for the book to be found among Quinby’s papers at the Western Springs Historical Society in Western Springs, Illinois. Quinby did not attend the Greenwich Village party (she was in Chicago at the time). She covered the Stopa story for the Chicago Evening Post, making it likely that the scene she evokes in Stopa’s Greenwich Village flat on April 22, 1924, comes from having interviewed party guests in the days afterward. She was a diligent, well-respected reporter, so her version of the party has credence. In her news stories about Stopa published in the Post, the party receives only cursory mention. She may have already had a book in mind and thus decided to hold back some of the most evocative material in order to give it extended play in book form.

Elaine – her new friends called her: Elaine: “Police Breakup Morbid Mob at Stopa Home,” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1924.

Wanda clenched her fists at her sides: …”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 212.

After all, these were the friends that excited her: “Morbid Thousands Assemble at Funeral of Wanda Stopa,” Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924.

She belonged in the real thing: “Brother Tells How She Came to Live in Studios While Home Was Closed,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924; …”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 204-205.
    
She luxuriated in the area’s damp, non-electrified: “Wandering Wanda,” Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1947.

Wanda had written to him that, when he did, “Once a week…”: Ibid.

They believed that marriage was “just a scrap of paper”: Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924.

“When I get you back I am never going to leave…” “Love-Mad Pleading of Wanda Stopa in Her Letters,” Chicago Evening American, April 25, 1924.

This was the girl that friends in Chicago called “The Light”…: “Wanda’s Funeral Tomorrow; Crowd Passes By Coffin,” Chicago Evening Post, April 28, 1924; “False Colors of Bohemia Lead to Nowhere – Wanda Stopa Learns Too Late,” Chicago Evening American, April 28, 1924. The American mistakenly gives the nickname as “The Life.”

This “pleasing little wisp of a girl”: “Wed, Then I Met My True Love, Says Wanda,” Chicago Evening American, April 25, 1924.

One of her law professors said he’d never had a student: Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1947.

The last time she was back home, on Augusta Street: “Dope Changed Wanda, is Cry of Saddened Mother,” Chicago Evening American, April 25, 1924.

Wanda hated Augusta Street: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931),
200-201.

That was why she had studied so hard: Ibid.

That was why Kenley Smith’s exhortations: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 204; Chicago Tribune, April 25; 1924, Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924.

“I looked in the shop windows today for something…”: “Woman Murderer Suicide in Detroit,” New York Times, April 26, 1924.

“Oh, Toots, I love you, I love you…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 208.

She gazed at a girl in green: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 208.

“I’m going to kill her, do you hear?”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 212-213.

But it felt good to say it out loud: “Dope Changed Wanda, is Cry of Saddened Mother,” Chicago Evening American, April 25, 1924.

“You talk about life, about freedom…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 212-213.

They thought she was giving a performance: “Says Glascow Was Evil Influence,” New York Times, April 27, 1924.

She was wearing the best gown she owned: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 210.

She didn’t know it, but just the day before, Easter Monday: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 199.

Here,” she called out, “take these…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 214.

“Atta girl, that’s the way to talk,” he said: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 214-215.

Some hours later, alone at last, Wanda: Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924; Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1947.

She eased a revolver into her bag: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 215.

Wanda Stopa, gun in hand, “had disappeared…” Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 217.
    
“Spurned Portia Forgets Law”: “Girl Lawyer Shoots At Wife of ‘Friend,’ Kills Old Man,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

“What were her thoughts as she strode up…”: “Wanda Was Known as Wild Little Woman by Federal Office Associates,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

Less than an hour after the shooting, Kenley Smith: “Girl Lawyer Shoots At Wife of ‘Friend,’ Kills Old Man,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

“That woman has been after me for two years…”: Ibid.

“She was disillusioned about my physical attractions…” Chicago Evening Post, April 24, 1924.

Smith told Assistant State’s Attorney Robert McMillan: Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924.

He added that he wanted to help “get her away…”: Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1924.

The Smiths had a history of giving shelter: James R. Mellow, Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences (Da Capo Press, 1993), 137.

Hemingway claimed that Doodles, whom he found: Ibid.

“But,” he insisted, “it was all very platonic”: Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924.

“Now, get this straight,” he huffed: “Smith About 40 and of Iron-Gray-Haired Type Women Call Interesting,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

“I’m not a bohemian,” he said: “Smith About 40 and of Iron-Gray-Haired Type Women Call Interesting,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

“Miss Stopa, we have learned…”: Chicago Evening Post, April 24, 1924.

One described Wanda as a “wild little woman”: “Wanda Was Known as Wild Little Woman by Federal Office Associates,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

“She liked to be bohemian…”: “Wanda Was Known as Wild Little Woman by Federal Office Associates,” Chicago Evening American, April 24, 1924.

It was as if Wanda had struck a blow for them: “No Friends on Hand to Meet Body of Wanda,” Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1924.

“They scoffed at convention and talked about inhibitions…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 204.

The American’s Sonia Lee, as always using tragedy:  “Primitive Urge Beat ‘Reason’ of Wanda,” Chicago Evening American, April 25, 1924.

Forbes, meanwhile, mocked the notion that bohemians: Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924.
    
As Chicagoans read shocking details about the murder: Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924.

He approached and surreptitiously glanced: “‘Mother’ is Last Spectacle of Wanda Dream,” Chicago Tribune, April 27, 1924.

There, in her room, she collected her few personal: Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924.

The only accessory she left on her person: Ibid.

She added sugar to the water and mixed it in: Ibid.

At 1:30 Wanda placed a call to the house physician: Ibid.

CHAPTER 11: It’s Terrible, But It’s Better
Pages 143-152:

On Friday afternoon, a coroner’s jury at the city morgue: “Woman Murderer Suicide in Detroit,” New York Times, April 26, 1924.

Smith had sat in the back of the room: “Wanda Stopa Found – Dead,” Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924.

So Wanda has committed suicide?...”: “Wanda’s Family Marked for Death; Husband Sought,” Chicago Evening Post, April 26, 1924; Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924.

In the Tribune on Saturday, April 26, just two days: Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924.

Epilepsy, the Tribune wrote: Ibid.

“You are the one I need. Oh, Bummy dearest…”: “Love-Mad Pleading of Wanda Stopa in Her Letters,” Chicago Evening American, April 25, 1924.

“I feel sure Wanda was morally and emotionally insane…”: “Knew She’s Do It – Smith; I Love Kenley – Wife,” Chicago Evening American, April 26, 1924.

“My daughter often begged to be allowed…”: “Seize Chauffeur Who Drove Wanda to Slaying Scene,” Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924.
    
Wanda’s twenty-two-year-old brother Henry: “Wanda’s Family Marked for Death; Husband Sought,” Chicago Evening Post, April 26, 1924.

“Yes, it’s better to be dead than to be added to that list…”: Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1924.

The train station was shrouded in low fog and a persistent rain: “Finale Soon to Girl’s Tragedy,” Los Angeles Times, April 28, 1924; “No Friends on Hand to Meet Body of Wanda,” Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1924; “Wanda’s Funeral Tomorrow; Crowd Passes by Coffin,” Chicago Evening Post, April 25, 1924; “‘Mother’ is Last Spectacle of Wanda Dream,” Chicago Tribune, April 27, 1924.

They pooled their money to have the casket delivered: Los Angeles Times, April 28, 1924.

It was mostly people from the neighborhood: Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1924; Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 227.

The apartment was filled with flowers, including a floral basket: Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1924.

And Wanda came home at last: Ibid.

The family expected the mourners to be gone: Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1924; “Battle Crowds at Wanda Rites,” Chicago Evening American, April 29, 1924.

“All day they came in steady streams; strangers…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 226.

“The true story,” one said, “will never be known…”: “Police Breakup Morbid Mob at Stopa Home,” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1924.

“Wanda would not mind,” came the reply: Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1924.

“She wanted to spare us the agony of a long trial..”: Ibid.

“My poor little girl! My poor little girl!”: Ibid.
    
And still, the line outside grew: Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1924.

“At 8 o’clock,” wrote Maurine, “5,000 persons…”: Ibid.

Soon, some two-dozen officers were rushing forward: Ibid.

“There were screams, laughter, a few curses…”: Ibid.

“Battle Crowds at Wanda Rites!”: Chicago Evening American, April 29, 1924.

She found her progress blocked by: “Morbid Thousands Assemble at Funeral of Wanda Stopa,” Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924.

Peanut vendors skirted the periphery: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 227; Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924.

The problem wasn’t so much public attitudes toward crime: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“The only path I found was through the alley…”: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 227.

Thinking on her feet, Quinby hid her notebook and insisted: Ibid.

The Catholic Church had indeed refused: Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924.

The small group of mourners did their best to concentrate: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 227; Ishbel Ross, Ladies of the Press: The Story of Women in Journalism by an Insider (Harper & Brothers, 1936), 544.

As the pallbearers began to step carefully: Ione Quinby, Murder For Love (Covici, Friede, 1931), 227-229.

Reverend Frykryk handed Quinby a wreath: Ibid.

“It was a funeral that would have interested Wanda…”: Ibid.

With great effort, the hearse pulled away: Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1924.

Henry was the first to break: Ibid.

Edward T. Lee, dean of the John Marshall: Ibid.

That was when Walter Stopa broke: Ibid.

Curiosity, she said, got the best of her: ibid.

CHAPTER 12: What Fooled Everybody
Pages 153-159:

Thomas Nash, a former alderman, represented the biggest: “Who’s Who in New City Council,” Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1913; “Litsinger Reads Nash Record in Freeing Killers,” Chicago Tribune, October 30, 1928.

On May 7, a jury convicted Elizabeth Unkafer: “Woman Given Life in Jail as Murderess,” Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1924.

Lizzie was a loon; she’d said she committed: “This Thing and That Thing of the Theater,” October 16, 1927.

Before “Moonshine Mary,” Katherine Malm was sent: “Beulah Annan Awaits Stork, Murder Trial,” Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 134-135.

Of the four awaiting trial: Ibid.

They would be best pals: “Killers of Men” (photo), Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1924.

The “forbidden cabinet,” the one that: “Mrs. Gaertner’s Powder Puff is Seen Victory Aid,” Chicago Evening Post, June 4, 1924. Reporter Ione Quinby labeled it the “forbidden cabinet.”

“Belva has her powder puff again…”: Ibid.
    
The Tribune labeled its photo: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xvi.

Maurine, knowing full well that everyone was talking: “Beulah Annan Sobs Regret for Life She Took,” Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1924.

On May 8, the day after Unkafer’s conviction: Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1924.

“Mrs. Beulah Annan, young and beautiful slayer…”: “Beulah Sorry World Knows About Stork,” Chicago Evening American, May 9, 1924.

The day after she announced her pregnancy, Beulah declared: “Beulah Wants No Delay of Murder Trial,” Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1924.

The pregnancy revelation surprised Maurine: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xviii.

What counts with a jury when a woman: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 133-135, Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1924.
     
The official line from William Scott Stewart: Ibid.

The story became so big that the twenty-four-year-old Ernest Hemingway: James R. Mellow, Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences (Da Capo Press, 1993), 278.

“Pity the female Polak lawyer couldn’t shoot…”: Carlos, Baker, Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters, 1917-1961 (Scribner’s, 1981), 130.

The Palos Park shooting and its circumstances: James R. Mellow, Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences (Da Capo Press, 1993), 278.

“I love it. I love it. I love it…”: Ibid.

“What fooled everybody when I told them…”: “Beulah Annan Credits Babe With Melting Jury’s Heart,” Atlanta Constitution, May 26, 1924.  

“Albert probably won’t want me back…”: Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1924.

Men riding into work on the streetcar shook: “Demand Noose for ‘Prettiest’ Woman Slayer,” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 127.

A rumor floated around the city’s newsrooms: “Spurns Husband Who Saved Her From Gallows,” Washington Post, July 13, 1924.  

The boxing champion Jack Dempsey: Roger Kahn, A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ’20s (Harcourt, 1999), 110.

CHAPTER 13: A Modest Little Housewife
Pages 160-174:

On Thursday, May 22, the bailiff in Judge William Lindsay’s: “Beauty Faces Murder Trial,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1924.

Reporters took up most of the first handful of rows: “Pick 12 Jurors in Annan Trial,” Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924.

Al sat in front of the railing, twisting his cap: Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924.

She did not meet his eyes: Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1924.

“The courtroom was full of appreciative smiles…”: “Blonde Beauty Acquitted After Killing Lover,” Syracuse Herald, March 1, 1925.

He described in detail her expertly tailored suit: Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924; also “Select Jury to Pronouce Fate of Beulah Annan,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924.

Slightly pale from her recent illness but blossoming: Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924.

Her lawyers, Stewart and O’Brien, with the help of: “‘Beautifying’ Girls Tried as Killers to Win Juries,” Zanesville Times Signal (Ohio), 1927. Undated clipping, Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society. Also see Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924; William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 168-174.

The “boarding-school girl” look: M.H. Dunlop, Gilded City: Scandal and Sensation in Turn-of-the-Century New York (Perennial, 2000), 153-156.
    
Time and again Beulah Annan was described: Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924.
 
The Post alluded to Alexander Pope: “Beulah on Stand Fails to Keep Out Her Confession,” Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

What any decent defense attorney in Chicago wanted: “Choose Morons on Jury, Advice of Playwright,” New York Telegram, April 19, 1927.  

So far they’d never lost a case: Virginia A. McConnell, Fatal Fortune: The Death of Chicago’s Millionaire Orphan (Praeger, 2005), 62.

They’d had such success that they were about to: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939). Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602,
pages 35-36.
 
Their rent would be a whopping $350 a month: Ibid.
    
O’Brien exuded tough-guy charm: Virginia A. McConnell, Fatal Fortune: The Death of Chicago’s Millionaire Orphan (Praeger, 2005), 62; Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0081117, Chicago History Museum.

He had a propensity for going on: Case # B-121999 (O’Brien, William and Zoe, 1925), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
 
A journalist labeled the always well-dressed Stewart: Virginia A. McConnell, Fatal Fortune: The Death of Chicago’s Millionaire Orphan (Praeger, 2005), 62.

“There is an atmosphere around every law office…”: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 576.

Stewart’s theory on hiring a secretary: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 577-578.

They were each making at least $20,000: Chicago Tribune, July 11, 1925.

Stewart liked to say that: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 7.
 
“When your client claims to be innocent…”: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 439.

“In Chicago,” Stewart pointed out, “the prosecutor…”: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 283.

He would represent thirteen female murder suspects: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, page 34.

He planned to argue that Beulah was a “virtuous working girl … “: “Judge Admits All of Beulah’s Killing Stories,” Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 142.

“Too damned many women gettin’ away with murder…”: Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924.

Another man exclaimed: “Kalstedt got…”: Ibid.
 
Maurine seemed amused by the cynical attempt: New York Telegram, April 19, 1927.  

The defendant nodded her head when: Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924.

The men accepted by the defense, Maurine wrote: Ibid.
    
The jury selection moved along slowly: Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924. The newspaper states that jury selection took 5 hours for the day.

She “leaned wearily on one white hand…”: Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924.

“Would the fact that the defendant and the deceased…”: Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924;  Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924.

Three days earlier, federal agents had raided: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 29.

In a follow-up raid, this one at the Stock Yards Inn: “Rifles Close Beer Parlor,” Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924.

Worse yet, as jury selection for Beulah’s trial: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 44.

The Tribune immediately offered $5,000: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 50.

They would prove, the prosecutors told the newly empanelled jury: Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924.
    
The twelve men who would get to pass judgment: Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924; Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1924.

The Tribune pointed out that the defense “favored bachelors…”: “Beulah, the Beautiful Killer!” Chicago Tribune, December 30, 1951. The Chicago Daily Journal, May 22, 1924, reported four bachelors were on the jury.

“We are not relying on the beauty of this woman…”: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

Right off, Beulah was called to the stand: “Judge Puts Proof Up to Defense,” Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924. The American report establishes that the jury was excluded during the preliminary testimony.

Before the trial could get under way, Judge Lindsay: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

Assistant State’s Attorney William McLaughlin responded that: Ibid.

Patricia Dougherty, writing as Princess Pat: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

“We’re not trying a case of adultery…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

On the stand, Beulah now had a chance: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

But even with the jury absent, she was nervous. Ibid.

Responding to a question from Stewart, Beulah said: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

“Who was the first person to arrive…”: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924. Slight differences in some of the wording of this exchange are in Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

Maurine Watkins, sitting near the front with her colleagues: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

“The luck,” Paul Gilbert wrote, “seemed to be going…”: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

“Her statements are entirely too vague…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

“I believe the statements are competent and admissible…”: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

Woods’ conversation with Beulah in her kitchen: “Beulah, on Stand, Tells Wine Killing,” Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924; William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 92.

Stewart viewed it as a victory if only because: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 92.

He also believed that, if he and O’Brien played it right: Ibid.

“It is true that a jazz record was being played…”: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

The lawyer had a habit of slapping his fist: O’Brien even posed for the newspapers making his signature fist-slap. See Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0079189, Chicago History Museum.

“Kalstedt forced his way into her apartment…”: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

Maurine noted that “Tears slowly came to Beulah’s…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

“At three in the afternoon,” O’Brien continued: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

“She foolishly took a drink…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.
    
“Fascinated, the jury followed him down the path…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 142.

“He put on a jazz record and made advances…”: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

Over at the American, O’Brien’s speech: Ibid.

“Both reached for the gun,” he said: Ibid.

“Several witnesses were called,” the Post wrote: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

“However, she tried to get it….”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

The American headlined one of its trial stories: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

“He was in the St. Cloud reformatory…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

Sergeant Malachi Murphy of the Hyde Park station: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924. The witness is identified in other press reports as Capt. A.E. Murphy of the downtown Wabash Avenue station. Beulah was taken to the Hyde Park station the night of the shooting.    

Maybelle Bergman, Beulah’s boss, took the stand: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

He read Beulah’s words from his notes: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

Allen said the defendant had made the statements “voluntarily…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

He insisted that Woods had never promised: Chicago Evening Post, May 23, 1924.

“In news articles, you are not allowed to write editorials…”: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“ ‘Beautiful’ Beulah Annan’s chance for freedom…”: Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924.

CHAPTER 14: Anne, You Have Killed Me
Pages 175-190:

Outside, on the sidewalk: “ ‘Glad,’ Says Jazz Slayer,”: Chicago Evening American, April 4, 1924, and “Dances Over Body of Man She Kills,” Davenport Democrat and Leader (Iowa), April 6, 1924, relate that children danced outside on the sidewalk to the music playing on Beulah’s phonograph. In “Woman in Salome Dance After Killing,” Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1924, Beulah mentions “the children shouting out in the court” while she played the Victrola.

“Did you shoot this man, Harry Kalstedt?”: “Beulah, On Stand, Tells Wine Killing,” Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924; “Tried to Kill Me, Says Beulah Annan on Stand,” Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924; “ ‘Shot to Save My Own Life,’ Says Beulah on Stand,” Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924; “Jury Finds Beulah Annan is ‘Not Guilty’,” Chicago Tribune, on May 25, 1924. These four reports include extensive excerpts from Beulah Annan’s trial testimony, with the American printing virtually all of it. The transcriptions closely mirror each other, though the wording of the same questions and answers occasionally differs to a minor degree from one newspaper to the next. I have synthesized this published testimony as seamlessly as possible. Unless otherwise indicated, trial testimony involving Beulah Annan comes from these sources. The official court records for the trial were destroyed years ago.   

Beulah’s eyes popped wide, as if the lawyer: Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924: “Beulah appeared startled for a moment.”

She responded slowly, “in a low, silvery…”: Ibid.

“The case of Beulah Annan is one of the most remarkable…”: “Spurns Husband Who Saved Her From Gallows,” Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

The Evening American offered that “Annan had carefully…”: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.

“All you have to do is to tell the truth…”: William Scott Stewart, Stewart on Trial Strategy (The Flood Company, 1940), 170.

The reporter wrote: “Under the glare of motion picture lights…”: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

Beulah, so enamored of attention, for a moment was: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.

Maurine, well on her way to becoming a court expert: “Maurine Watkins Stirred by ‘Old Fashioned Girl’s’ Sin and Sashweight Story,” New York Telegram, April 30, 1927.  

“Save for the grinding of the cameras, the courtroom…”: Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924.

The Daily News noted that Beulah “hesitated…”: Chicago Daily News story is quoted in “The Truth Behind ‘Chicago’ Glitz Was Fleeting for the Real Women of ‘Murderess Row,’ Chicago Sun-Times, March 23, 2003.

“Stately and with a calmness that astounded…”: Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924.

“I opened the inner door and there he stood…”: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.

As Beulah was answering the simple question, the movie-camera lights: Ibid.

“He grabbed for the gun, and I jerked the gun away…”: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924; Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924 account is slightly different: “He reached for the gun. I reached around him and grabbed it. Then he yelled, ‘Damn you, I’ll kill you!”.

“I pushed his right shoulder with my left hand”: Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924.
    
“He came to the door and said…”: Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924.

Now they came to the part they knew would be hard: Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924; Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924; Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

She appeared on the verge of tears: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924:
 “pleading eyes to jury and attorney.”

‘Where’s the gun?’ he asked, ‘let’s see it.’: There is mild disagreement as to the exact wording here. The American, May 24, 1924, reported that she said: “ ‘I’ll tell my mother.’ He said: ‘You are afraid.’ I said: ‘I’ll take this gun and shoot you.’ He said: ‘Where is the – – gun?’ ” The Journal and Post, May 24, 1924, and the Tribune, May 25, 1924, report her saying, with minor differences in her language, that she told Kalstedt that she’d tell her husband.

Beulah closed her eyes again, “in horror...”: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

With her “face pale under the glare…”: Ibid.

There had never been a “more dramatic story…”: Chicago Sun-Times, March 23, 2003.

Maurine, from her seat in one of the front rows: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

McLaughlin expressed surprise that sheBeulah “should be a step behind…”: Ibid.

“One by one he read her the questions and answers…”: Ibid.

Maurine marveled at how Beulah shamelessly: Ibid.

Despite Beulah’s firm denials, McLaughlin would not be deterred: Ibid.

Against her wishes he took her in his arms: “Judge Admits All of Beulah’s Killing Stories,” Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 140.

“The witness made a favorable impression…”: Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924.

The defense called Beulah’s mother: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.
 
“Her dark eyes were drawn and mouth set…”: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

Next up was Beulah’s husband: Ibid.

Beulah looked away as Al passed: Chicago Evening Post, May 24, 1924.

Finally, McLaughlin called Roy Woods: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

“Did you tell her it was no crime for her…”: Ibid.

CHAPTER 15: Beautiful – But Not Dumb!
Pages 191-199:

In his closing argument, Assistant State’s Attorney William McLaughlin: “Jury Finds Beulah Annan is ‘Not Guilty’,” Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 148.

“No woman living would have stayed in that apartment…”: “Beulah, on Stand, Tells Wine Killing,” Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924.

“You have seen that face, gentlemen…”: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924; “Tried to Kill Me, Says Beulah Annan on Stand” (jump-page headline), Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.    

Beulah, nervous now that her part in the drama: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

She remained calm, the Daily Journal’s reporter: Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924.

He told the jury that if they believed she lied: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.

“The verdict is in your hands…”: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924

The prosecutor, the Evening American noted: Chicago Evening American, May 24, 1924.

He laid into McLaughlin for using: Chicago Daily Journal, May 24, 1924.

“Every defense counsel knows the value…”: “Playwright Says Parents of 2 Murder Defendants Have No Monopoly on Sobs,” New York Telegram, April 25, 1927.  

“She had played the Victrola while the man…”: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

Maurine reported wearily that the defendant: Ibid.

“Will this woman be convicted, or will her looks…”: “Beauty in the Courts,” Decatur Review (Illinois), May 25, 1924.

An observer watched as Beulah “wrung her hands…”: “Beulah Annan Credits Babe With Melting Jury’s Heart,” Atlanta Constitution, May 26, 1924.

The syllables drifted away like smoke: “Spurns Husband Who Saved Her From Gallows,” Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

“Oh, I can’t thank you!”: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

She kissed the jurors, “each…”: Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

She grasped the jury foreman’s hand: “Beulah, the Beautiful Killer!” Chicago Tribune, December 30, 1951.

Beulah Annan, whose pursuit of wine: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 143-144; Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

“ ‘That’s my story and I’ll stick to it…”: Ibid.

“Men on a jury generously make allowance…”: “‘Chair Too Good for Them,’ Says ‘Gentle Sex’ Which is Ready to Save State’s Time,” New York Telegram, April 20, 1927.  

Mrs. Beulah Annan, Chicago’s prettiest slayer and latest to join: “Beulah Annan Fades Away to Seclusion,” Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1924.

“It was the baby – not me,” she told: Atlanta Constitution, May 26, 1924.  

She told another reporter that “I know now better…”: “‘Too Slow’ For the Wife He Fought For in the Gallows’ Shadow,” Fresno Bee (California), August 8, 1926.

“Shaking her Titian hair and relaxing…”: Atlanta Constitution, May 26, 1924.  

Beulah and Al must have had a terrible fight: Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

“He doesn’t want me to have a good time…”: Washington Post, July 13, 1924; also “What Life Finally Did to ‘the Girl with the Man-Taming Eyes,’” Hamilton Evening Journal (Ohio), May 5, 1928.

“I want lights, music and good times…”: Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

News of Beulah’s acquittal received: Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xix.

When introduced to another reveler: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 63.

CHAPTER 16: The Tides of Hell
Pages 200-209:

The mood also was completely different: “Lilacs Mock Home, Tomb of Sorrow,” Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

Jacob, widely known as Jake: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 33.

For much of the morning, as family friends: Chicago Evening American, May 23, 1924.

As she did in her report on Wanda: “Simple Funeral Service is Held for Franks Boy,” Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1924.

A reporter for the Evening American: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 50-51.

There was a bubbling dread, some thirty years: For an excellent account of the famous murder spree at the World’s Fair, see Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (Vintage Books, 2003).

“Only relatives, a few close friends, and…”: Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1924.

How and why was Robert Franks, a fourteen-year-old heir: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 68.
    
The police made progress without the aid: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 77-88.

“He caught them lightly and deftly…”: “Big Experience Either Way, is Nathan’s View,” Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1924.

“While it is a terrible ordeal both to my boy and…”: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 89.

Kitty Malm, the most famous gun girl in Chicago: “Kitty Malm Starts Serving Life Term,” Chicago Evening American, May 29, 1924.

“You’ll not find me making any trouble…”: “Kitty Admits She Expected ‘Rope’ Verdict,” Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1924.
    
“Some other woman might get off, but…”: “Life Term for ‘Tiger’ Woman,” Lincoln Sunday Star (Nebraska), March 9, 1924.

“Kitty Malm was taken to the Joliet penitentiary…”: Chicago Evening American, May 29, 1924.

The American’s reporter said the one-time: Ibid.

“Goodbye, Kitty, and good luck…”: “Kitty Malm Sobs as She Starts to Begin Life Term,” Chicago Evening Post, May 29, 1924.

Reporter Owen Scott, seeing Kitty carted: “A Woman Jury to Try Women Slayers Urged,” Danville Bee (Virginia), June 12, 1924.

She was intent on doing “a character analysis…”: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“In clear, precise language,” Maurine noted: Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1924.

Maurine laughed at her fellow scribes’: Ibid.

“The most brilliant boy of his age…”: Ibid.

He has built for himself a world: Ibid.

Just a few hours after the group interview: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 93.

The same court stenographer who’d recorded: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 95.

He knew, or at least strongly suspected: At least one prominent assistant state’s attorney on Crowe’s staff was proved to be in the bag for the mob – John Sbarbaro. See Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton & Co., 2007), 237.

“The Franks murder mystery has been solved…”: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 112.

The Tribune gave over almost its entire front page: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 115.

“Anyone who had ever spoken to either of them…”: New York World, January 16, 1927.

“He couldn’t have done it…”: “‘Dick Innocent,’ Loebs Protest; Plan Defense,” Chicago Tribune, June 1, 1924.

The next day, Monday, June 2: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 126.

“This thing will be the making of me…”: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 127.

CHAPTER 17: Hat-Proof, Sex-Proof and Damp
Pages 210-223:

He was considered the “ace”: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 50.

Downtown’s priciest shops helped out: “Murderess Row Loses Class as Belva is Freed,” Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 157.

The case of a negro was continued: “Belva Gaertner Goes to Trial on Murder Charge,” Chicago Evening Post, June 3, 1924.

“Say, she’s got the Annan girl skinned…”: “Mrs. Gaertner Has ‘Class’ as She Faces Jury,” Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 149.

“ ‘Class’ – that was Belva…”: Ibid.

She bowed to the judge: Chicago Evening Post, June 3, 1924.

The Daily News wrote, “She looks younger…”: “Mrs. Gaertner on Trial,” Chicago
Daily News, June 3, 1924.

The Journal offered: “The chin strap of her bonnet…”: “Complete Jury in Belva Case,” Chicago Daily Journal, June 4, 1924.

“Arrived at court, Belva adjusted her skirts…”: “Mrs. Gaertner’s Powder Puff is Seen Victory Aid,” Chicago Evening Post, June 4, 1924.

Maurine described her as a “perfect lady”: Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1924.

“The cameras are not disturbing me nor…”: Chicago Daily News, June 3, 1924.

Mrs. Freda Law, dressed in black: Chicago Evening Post, June 3, 1924.

“Mrs. Law, who up to this time had shown…”: Ibid.

“Would you be willing to mete out…”: Chicago Daily News, June 3, 1924.

“She clasped and unclasped the fastener…” Chicago Daily Journal, June 4, 1924.

Nash had made a name for himself: “Who’s Who in New City Council,” Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1913; “Thomas Nash, Long in City Politics, Dies,” Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1955.

“The list of Tom Nash’s clients reads…”: “Litsinger Reads Nash Record in Freeing Killers,” Chicago Tribune, October 30, 1928.

He took seriously his client’s preference: “Wants Jury of ‘Worldly Men’,” Danville Bee (Virginia), March 28, 1924.

“She’s wrong,” said one policeman: Ibid.
    
Captain Patrick Kelliher of the Chicago Police: Ibid.

One man after another was dismissed: “Gaertner Trial Starts,” Chicago Daily News, June 4, 1924; Chicago Daily Journal, June 4, 1924.

“Would you be prejudiced if it should develop…”: Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1924.

There also was one more consideration: “Jury Finds Beulah Annan is ‘Not Guilty’,” Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1924.

“Would you let a stylish hat…”: Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1924.

She wrote that many prospective jurors: Ibid.

Though she joked about it in the Tribune: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“The essence of Christianity…”: Ibid.

“Demure But with an ‘Air’…”: Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1924.

Cabaret dancer and twice divorcee, Mrs. Gaertner: Ibid.

Belva once again looked fabulous: “Jury Finds Mrs. Gaertner Not Guilty,” Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 155.

“I hear Belva got a lot of compliments…”: Chicago Evening Post, June 4, 1924.

At 2 p.m., after a lunch break, Hamilton: Ibid.

They were counting on the fact, Maurine pointed: Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 150.

Belva “stared, chin in hand”: “Jury Holds Belva’s Fate,” Chicago Daily News, June 5, 1924.

“Now, a small strip of fabric was removed…”: “Gin Bottle and Slippers Shown at Belva’s Trial,” Chicago Evening Post, June 5, 1924.

“They had been effective with the green velvet…”: Chicago Daily News, June 5, 1924.

Maurine, of course, topped the competition: “State Launches Trial of Belva for Law Killing,” Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 151.    

A more promising witness: Ibid.

Nash’s associate, Michael Ahern approached the witness: Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1924; Chicago Evening Post, June 4, 1924.

“There! You see,” the lawyer said: Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1924.

“They ordered three bottles…” Ibid.

“I waited on them myself,” Leathers: Chicago Daily News, June 5, 1924.

He added: “I wish that I had always…”: “Gaertner Case Given to Jury; See Acquittal,” Chicago Daily Journal, June 5, 1924.

Her sultry eyes never lost their dreaminess: Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1924.

A reporter from the Atlanta Constitution: “Another Woman Acquitted of Murder by Chicago Jury,” Atlanta Constitution, June 6, 1924.

Dr. Springer, she wrote, “identified…”: Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1924.

Maurine laughed openly at the testimony: Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1924; Chicago Evening Post, June 5, 1924.

According to his statement, the Gingham Inn is matched: Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1924.

In describing a policeman’s testimony: Ibid.

The case was given to the jury on Thursday: Ibid.

Lieutenant Egan, who had interrogated Belva: Chicago Daily Journal, June 5, 1924.

Nash and his colleagues “refused...”: Ibid.

Judge Lindsay refused the request, but: Chicago Daily Journal, June 5, 1924; also Chicago Daily News, June 5, 1924.

Lindsay said that he couldn’t “tell the state’s attorney…”: “Mrs. Gaertner Found Innocent of Slaying,” Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1924.

They asked for life imprisonment: Chicago Daily News, June 5,1924.

He reminded jurors “not to assume…”: “Belva ‘Checks Out’ of Jail,” Chicago Daily Journal, June 6, 1924.

The men listened solemnly: Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1924.

Were some of them “narrow-minded old birds”: “No Sweetheart Worth Killing – Mrs. Gaertner,” Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 122.

At last, shortly before midnight: Atlanta Constitution, June 6, 1924; Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1924.

It had taken them nearly seven hours: Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1924.

She “laughed and cried in one breath”: Ibid.

Suddenly overcome by emotion: Chicago Daily Journal, June 6, 1924; “‘Flip Coin’ Murderess Acquitted by Chicago Jury on Eighth Ballot,” Waterloo Evening Courier (Iowa), June 6, 1924.

“There’s no justice in Illinois!”: Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1924; also Chicago Daily Journal, June 6, 1924.

“Women – just women,” he said: Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1924.

“I’m going to remarry Mr. Gaertner …”: Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1924; also Chicago Daily Journal, June 6, 1924.

William Gaertner didn’t yet know: Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1924.

The Journal trumpeted: Chicago Daily Journal, June 6, 1924.

The Daily News reported: Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1924.

The Evening Post offered the blandest: “Mrs. Gaertner Given Freedom on Murder Charge,” Chicago Evening Post, June 6, 1924.

Belva Gaertner, another of those women: Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 153-154.
    
“Only four women, the fewest in years: Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1924; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 156-157.

CHAPTER 18: A Grand and Gorgeous Show
Pages 224-229:

Said Loeb, “I know I should feel sorry…”: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 141.

The approach apparently worked: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 305.

The reporter, taking a shot at Leopold’s atheism: “Leopold, Loeb Trial Set for Monday, Aug. 4,” Chicago Tribune, June 12, 1924.

She scrutinized men and women “packed…”: Ibid.

“Why come to me?” he croaked: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 139.

“The judge entered; Superior Court, criminal branch…”: Chicago Tribune, June 12, 1924.

“They never forgot the ‘sir’…”: Ibid.

“The case was really ridiculous. …”: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, June 16, 1927.

“I was on the case until the trial started…”: Ibid.

By the middle of 1924, after having interviewed: “Women Who’ve Won: Maurine Watkins,” Syracuse Herald (N.Y.), June 26, 1928; New York World, June 16, 1927.

The Evening American called the Tribune’s broadcast: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 159.

The Tribune tried to sway public opinion: Ibid.

The Tribune quickly tried to regain: Hal Higdon, Leopold and Loeb & the Crime of the Century (University of Illinois Press, 1999), 167.

She wrote that Pola Negri had: “Negri’s Art Shines Through Sordid Plot,” Chicago Tribune, July 27, 1924; “Fine Storm Washes Away All Their Sins,” Chicago Tribune, July 30, 1924.

She reported on child star Jackie Coogan’s: “Jackie Coogan is Mayor for Ten Minutes,” Chicago Tribune, August 7, 1924.

Covering a society yacht party: Author Interview with Dick Leonard, May 2, 2008. Leonard was the editor-in-chief of the Milwaukee Journal in the 1960s and ’70s, when Quinby worked there. A Chicago newspaper executive who was meeting with Leonard spied Quinby in the newsroom and told Leonard the story. Later, Leonard asked Quinby about it, and she confirmed it.
    
She had accepted a job as a junior editor: Syracuse Herald (New York), June 26, 1928.

CHAPTER 19: Entirely Too Vile
Pages 230-239:

He had a heavy, echoing voice: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 94.
    
“The finer the spirit of the young artist…”: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 266.

The main character of Maurine’s play, with the working title: “The Author of ‘Chicago’,” New York Times, January 2, 1927.

It endeavored to expose the utter corruption: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“Nobody but a newspaper worker knows to what extent…”: “Feminine Punch is Knockout,” Chicago Herald and Examiner, September 18, 1927.

Who knows you now? Nobody: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 15.

The Victorian writer George Meredith wrote: Justin Kaplan, ed., Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, Seventeenth Edition (Little, Brown & Co., 2002), 541.

Expanding on Meredith’s writing, Baker added: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 93.

Classical comedy, Baker insisted: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 94.
    
“Oh, I feel so sorry for her when I think…”: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 43.

The professor taught Greek classical comedy as the baseline: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 92.

Now titled Chicago, it didn’t get to be the first production: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 256.

In October, the New Yorker magazine: “Chicago,” New Yorker, October 2, 1926.

Harris had more than a dozen projects: “Harris to Put on Four New Plays,” New York Times, July 28, 1926.

All of Maurine’s frustrations as a police reporter: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“You wrote something that might have an effect…”: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 267.

“It is a comedy, intensely satirical…”: Ibid.

One prominent playgoer at its pre-Broadway: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), x.

“I quite agree with Professor Archer that the situation…”: Letter to editor, New Haven Register (Conn.), December 29, 1926, Chicago file, Katherine Cornell Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Watkins repeats this response to Archer in slightly different words in “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

“Liquor runs deep down the course…”: “Blind-Pigs in Clover,” Vanity Fair, April, 1927.

The jury quickly attacked West’s off-Broadway play: Burns Mantle, ed., The Best Plays of 1926-27 and the Yearbook of the Drama in America (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1927), 3-5.

When SEX went to trial, in February, 1927, Keneally focused on: Jill Watts, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2001), 90-92.

The jury convicted West and her producers: Ibid.

Both the author and producer of The Virgin Man: Burns Mantle, ed., The Best Plays of 1926-27 and the Yearbook of the Drama in America (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1927), 5.

“Here, take these, too!”: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 47-48.

The New York correspondent for the Chicago Tribune: “Chicago’s Lady Killers Theme of New Play,” Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1926.

“My hat is off to the genius of the young Miss…”: “Hughes Lauds Play for Baring ‘Ghastly Farce’ of Courts,” San Antonio Light (Texas), March 13, 1927.

In the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson warned off: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xxx.

Two months after the play opened, the humorist Will Rogers: “How a Murder Should Be Advertised,” Western Weekly, February 6, 1927.

The New York Times, in profiling the new playwright: New York Times, January 2, 1927.

The paper stated that it was “the experience of reporting…”: Ibid.

A New York World feature on Maurine later: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

Some of Maurine’s stage directions and scene descriptions: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), 3.

The details of Roxie’s shooting of her boyfriend: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 5.

Velma is described as being in her “late thirties…”: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 24.

Maurine even offered herself up: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 41.

The furthest she went in acknowledging: “Chicago,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

CHAPTER 20: The Most Monotonous City on Earth
Pages 240-255:

The train swung north into Chicago’s sprawling: Bessie Louise Pierce, As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933 (University of Chicago, 2004), 504.

The traveler coming into Chicago for the first time: Bessie Louise Pierce, As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933 (University of Chicago, 2004), 430.

Once the train settled into LaSalle Street: “Girl Author Pays ‘Chicago’ Surprise Visit,” Chicago Evening Post, October 11, 1927.

She stayed shut up in her room all day: Ibid.

“I am not coming for a drink today – not even…”: Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.

“If it’s one of those ‘yes-or-no…”: Ibid.

The best available seat at this late hour: Chicago Evening Post, October 11, 1927.

Maurine smiled her little smile and told: Ibid.

It took all of ten seconds from the opening curtain: “‘Chicago’ is a Murder Dance in Jazz Time,” Chicago Evening Post, September 12, 1927; “Calls ‘Chicago’ Rich in Satire,” Chicago Daily News, September 12, 1927; “Women Can’t ‘Go Hang’ in ‘Chicago’ It Seems,” Chicago Evening American, September 12, 1927; “‘Chicago’,” Chicago Tribune, September 12, 1927; “Francine Larrimore Acts Our Most Beautiful Murderess,” Chicago Daily Journal, September 12, 1927; “Feminine Punch is Knockout,” Chicago Herald and Examiner, September 18, 1927.

Watching Larrimore bound about the stage: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 4.

“Oh, God … God … “: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 12.

Eddie Kitt, the manager, smiled at her approach: Chicago Evening Post, October 11, 1927.

When the curtain rose for the third act: Ibid.

“What kind of look?” the lawyer asked: Maurine Watkins, Chicago (Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), 102-103.

She’d been a reliable background player: Chicago Evening Post, October 11, 1927.

New York was surprisingly tame: Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (W.W. Norton & Co., 2007), 304.

At one point, Maurine took a trip to supposedly: Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.

It was being made under great secrecy: Robert S. Birchard, Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood (University Press of Kentucky, 2004), 228.
 
Haver would admit that herself, saying: “Roxie Kept Her Jumping,” Los Angeles Times, February 26, 1928.

“Miss Watkins is uncannily keen…”: Chicago Evening Post, September 12, 1927.

The Evening American observed that “Good-natured…”: Chicago Evening American, September 12, 1927.

Chicago was indeed filled with awful (footnote): “Those Playwrights,” New York Times, May 26, 1929; also “Theater,” Oakland Tribune (California), November 10, 1926.

The Daily News enthused that the actress’s: “Calls ‘Chicago’ Rich in Satire,” Chicago Daily News, September 12, 1927.

The Herald and Examiner insisted that Larrimore: Chicago Herald and Examiner, September 18, 1927.

“Gee, this play’s sure got our number…”: “Murder She Wrote,” Chicago Tribune, July 16, 1997.

“Roxie Hart’s supposed to be Beulah Annan…”: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xxvi.

O’Brien, recognizing his own words: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xxvii.

The production recalled gayer journalistic: “This Thing and That Thing of the Theater,” Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1927.

In the Tribune, she wrote an open letter to: Ibid.

It had been incorrectly “whispered about”: Chicago Evening American, September 12, 1927.

She heightened this sense of implausibility: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xxix.

After Chicago opened, the magazine weighed in: “Young Lady,” New Yorker, January 29, 1927.

That other popular stage authoress: Charlotte Chandler, She Always Knew How: Mae West, A Personal Biography (Simon and Schuster, 2009), 2.

Vanity Fair thrilled to this “seraphic…”: Vanity Fair, April, 1927; “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’: Or Telling it to the Maurine,” New York World, January 16, 1927.

The New York Times’ theater correspondent, on meeting: New York Times, January 2, 1927.

Frances Browning was the sixteen-year-old wife: “Browning’s Wife Tells Her Story,” New York Times, January 26, 1927.

A swarming crowd gave him an ovation: “Legal Veil of Secrecy May Dim Dramatics Out of Browning Case,” New York World, January 25, 1927.

“She’s too fat,” a girl outside: Ibid.

An editors’ note pointed out that: “Our ‘Peaches’ Has Got to Have a Jury!” New York World, January 30, 1927.

“Chicago was never like this…”: Ibid.

Among those who signed up to cover the trial: “Maurine Watkins Sees Frustrated Ambition in Woman’s Bitter Reviling,” New York Telegram, April 21, 1927; “The Olympian Eye,” New Yorker, April 30, 1927.

Time magazine offered that the “details…”: “Carnival,” Time, April 25, 1927

“Strike up the band, for the show starts…”: “Playwright Says Dislikes Couple Didn’t Realize Now Flame Into Open Hate,” New York Telegram, May 6, 1927.

More than a hundred seats in the courthouse: “Miss Watkins Suggests Press Agent for Gray,” New York Telegram, April 18, 1927.

“For a few days, at least, perhaps for…”: Ibid.
    
On the first day of the trial, Maurine highlighted (footnote): Landis MacKellar, “The Double Indemnity” Murder: Ruth Snyder, Judd Gray and New York’s Crime of the Century (Syracuse University Press, 2006), 112.

“Feel depressed,” she wrote to Alexander: Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.

She’d barely gotten started on Revelry, a project: “‘Hatrack,’ ‘Revelry,’” Time, February 7, 1927.

“Our town harlot in Farmington,” wrote Asbury: Lawrence E. Spivak, The American Mercury Reader (Kessinger Publishing, 1944), 141.

“Any play which can batter away…”: Vanity Fair, April, 1927.

In Philadelphia, the play was withdrawn: “‘Revelry’ Withdrawn From Philadelphia Stage; ‘Unpatriotic’,” Chicago Tribune, September 7, 1927.

“The play that Miss Watkins fashioned is…”: “Wild Men,” New Republic, September 28, 1927.
 
George Jean Nathan, in The American Mercury, added: “The Theatre,” American Mercury, November, 1927.

“Does your department pay damages to guileless souls…”: Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.

Nelson B. Bell, a Washington Post film critic: “Offerings at the Theaters: Rialto,” Washington Post, March 5, 1928.

The Chicago Tribune reported that “Miss Maurine Watkins…”: “Theater,” Chicago Tribune, December 6, 1927.

Baker wrote to her from Yale: Wisner Payne Kinne, George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre (Harvard University Press, 1954), 268.

“I expect it will be the making of me…”: Jill Watts, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2001), 92.

But her themes and subjects changed little: See Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan: “Alimony,” July, 1927; “The Change,” September, 1928; “Common Sense,” January, 1929; “Doors,” July, 1928; “Luncheon for Two,” December, 1928; “Poison,” November, 1927.

One, “Butterfly Goes Home,” once again: “Real ‘Chicago’ Play Heroine Dies Unknown,” Oakland Tribune (California), March 14, 1928.

Instead, she had come to believe that “the feminine…”: “‘Chair Too Good for Them,’ Says ‘Gentle Sex’ Which is Ready to Save State’s Time,” New York Telegram, April 20, 1927.

“Six months from now, if life keeps on…”: Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.

EPILOGUE
Pages 256-266:

A Woman Jury to Try Women Slayers Urged: Danville Bee (Virginia), June 12, 1924.    

Seven years later, in 1931, Illinois voters: “Women Juror Law Held void by High Court,” Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1931.

Finally, in 1939, fifteen years after Beulah: “Women to Start Serving on Juries in September,” Chicago Tribune, July 9, 1939.

“Chicago men have suddenly become delighted to serve…”: “Men Now Eager to Get on Jury; Reason: Women,” Chicago Tribune, January 13, 1940.

“It was with a gesture of contempt…”: “Spurns Husband Who Saved Her From Gallows,” Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

In January of 1927, six months after her divorce: “Beulah Annan, Beauty Freed of Murder, is Bride,” Chicago Tribune, January 19, 1927.

At a divorce hearing Beulah told of “blackened…”: “‘Beautiful Slayer’ Fails to Get Decree,” Washington Post, May 8, 1927.

On March 14, 1928, the Tribune wrote: “Beulah Annan, Chicago’s Jazz Killer, is Dead,” Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1928. Also see “Real ‘Chicago’ Play Heroine Dies Unknown,” Oakland Tribune (California), March 14, 1928; “Most Beautiful Slayer is Dead in Obscurity,” Washington Post, March 14, 1928; Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1928.

“She wasn’t very beautiful,” said a friend: Oakland Tribune (California), March 14, 1928.

“I cannot make myself realize that Beulah has given…”: Washington Post, July 13, 1924.

She mused that Al’s willingness to endure: “‘Chair Too Good for Them,’ Says ‘Gentle Sex’ Which is Ready to Save State’s Time,” New York Telegram, April 20, 1927.

Ten years after Beulah left him, Al, now: “Dead Woman Linked With Stoll Kidnap,” Brownsville Herald (Texas), October 10, 1934.

The judge granted a request for a new trial: “Annan Goes Free in Party Slaying of Woman Guest,” Chicago Tribune, December 29, 1934.
    
Belva Gaertner remarried William Gaertner: “Belva Gaertner Marries Former Husband 3D Time,” Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1925; Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

After exchanging vows with William and moving: “Husband Sues Belva Gaertner, Freed in Murder,” Chicago Tribune, August 1, 1926; Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

William, now sixty years old, tried to be: Chicago Tribune, August 1, 1926.

The breaking point of the year-old marriage came: Ibid.

This cowardice apparently infuriated Belva even more: “The Matrimonial Worm That Turned at Last,” San Antonio Light, January 9, 1927; Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

In response to her husband’s suit, Belva claimed: Case # S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

She received overwhelming bad press: San Antonio Light, January 9, 1927.

Another paper referred to her as: “Why the ‘Cave-girl’ Wants a Third Divorce From Hubby,” Fresno Bee (California), September 19, 1926.

When William Gaertner died in 1948: “Business Left to Chicago U.,” New York Times, December 15, 1948; Belva E. Gaertner probate notice, Pasadena Star-News, May 26, 1965.

Katherine Malm was a model prisoner: “Kitty Malm, ‘Tiger Girl’ of Sensational Murder Case, is Dead,” Chicago Tribune, December 28, 1932.

“Each time,” the reporter recalled: “Dear Mrs. Griggs,” a reprint of a five-part series that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal in March of 1980, Ione Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

Kitty tried to win early release in 1930: Joliet Penitentiary Record for Katherine Baluk (No. 418-9185), Illinois State Archives, Margaret Cross Norton Building, Springfield, Illinois.

In response, Quinby began to agitate: “May Free Convict,” Charleston Gazette (South Carolina), July 19, 1931.

Elsie Walther, a prisoner advocate working for: “Ex-‘Tiger Girl,’ Kitty Malm, to Ask for Parole,” Chicago Tribune, October 10, 1932.

On December 19, 1932, the parole board: Joliet Penitentiary Record for Katherine Baluk (No. 418-9185), Illinois State Archives, Margaret Cross Norton Building, Springfield, Illinois.

What appeared to be a cold or the flu: Chicago Tribune, December 28, 1932.

In 1931, he was involved in riots: “Fear New Riots at Joliet; Tell Guards to Shoot,” Chicago Tribune, March 25, 1931.

Also in 1932 she married a fellow journalist: “Dear Mrs. Griggs,” a reprint of a five-part series that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal in March of 1980, Ione Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

She soon began an advice column: “Angel of the Green Sheet,” Coronet, September, 1953;  “Mrs.Griggs,” March, 1980.

In a 1953 profile, Coronet magazine: Ibid.

“Whenever we had a tour come through…”: Author interview with Jackie Loohauis-Bennet, May 8, 2008.

Quinby wrote her column for more than: “Dear Mrs. Griggs,” Milwaukee Journal, March 31, 1995.

Convinced she was failing on the women’s crime beat: “Informally: Feminine Fallacies in Newspaper Work,” Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1927; Linda Steiner and Susanne Gray, “Genevieve Forbes Herrick: A Front-Page Reporter Pleased to Write about Women,” (Journalism History, Spring 1985), 14.

Forbes met her future husband, fellow reporter: Linda Steiner and Susanne Gray, “Genevieve Forbes Herrick: A Front-Page Reporter Pleased to Write about Women,” (Journalism History, Spring 1985), 12.

After World War II, she and Herrick turned: Linda Steiner and Susanne Gray, “Genevieve Forbes Herrick: A Front-Page Reporter Pleased to Write about Women,” (Journalism History, Spring 1985), 14.

He and William Scott Stewart won an acquittal: For an account of the “Millionaire Orphan” case, see Virginia A. McConnell, Fatal Fortune: The Death of Chicago’s Millionaire Orphan (Praeger, 2005).

The following year, in 1926, O’Brien: “Noted Lawyer Shot in Chicago Gang War; 2 Killed, 3 Wounded,” New York Times, October 10, 1926.

After jury selection for the Saltis case, O’Brien was: New York Times, October 12, 1926.

“You better lay down, Willie”: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, 33.

O’Brien, wounded in the stomach: New York Times, October 12, 1926; “Chicago Police War Upon Bandits,” New York Times, October 14, 1926.

O’Brien would win the Saltis case: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, 33.

He had begun drinking heavily: Case # B-121999 (O’Brien, William and Zoe, 1925), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Four years later, he was disbarred: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, pages 39-40.

The high-profile lawyer who had dazzled juries: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, page 30.

In 1939, in an attempt to regain: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, page 27.

He claimed that he had “no bank account…”: In the Matter of W.W. O’Brien (1939), Illinois State Archives, Supreme Court of Illinois, Vault Number 48400-52602, page 29.

In 1944, facing new legal troubles: “William W. O’Brien Disbarred 2D Time; Five Others Banned,” Chicago Tribune, May 13, 1944.

In 1929, he was sentenced to three months: “Scott Stewart Ordered to Jail by High Court,” Chicago Tribune, December 21, 1929.

Two years later, he beat back: Virginia A. McConnell, Fatal Fortune: The Death of Chicago’s Millionaire Orphan (Praeger, 2005), 136.

Stewart defended gangsters through much of the 1930s: “William Scott Stewart Does Broke, Alone,” Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1964.

He died of a heart attack in 1964: Ibid.

On June 16, 1924, Sabella Nitti was released: “Mrs. Crudelle, Back on Nitti Farm, Rejoices,” Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1924.

On December 1, the state’s attorney’s office: “Drop Charge of Murder Against Two Crudelles,” Chicago Tribune, December 2, 1924.

One month after Sabella’s release: “White Wife is Freed as Killer of Negro Mate,” Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1924; “Woman Lawyer Gets Client’s Acquittal,” undated news clipping, publication unknown, Helen Cirese Papers, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections.

“ ‘The woman in law’ – and straightaway…”: “The Woman in Law,” Viewpoints magazine, 11/24, Series III, Folder 72, Helen Cirese Papers, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections.

After Revelry, Maurine Watkins never had another play: Internet Broadway Database, http://www.ibdb.com. In late 2009, however, an 80-year-old play of Maurine’s, “So Help Me God!,” debuted off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theater. The New York Times called it “deliciously sour,” adding that the comedy “derives much of its energy from a white-hot cynicism that’s as angry as it is amused.”

In the three years after Chicago made: “Theater,” Chicago Tribune, December 6, 1927; “News and Gossip of the Times Square Sector,” New York Times, August 25, 1929, September 17, 1929; Watkins, Maurine (1708-1712), letters to Alexander Woollcott. Correspondence: Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.

In 1981, seeking to revive interest: “How a 1936 Screwball Comedy Illuminates Movie History,” New York Times, February 1, 1981.

She devoted her later years to promoting: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xxix.

Maurine Watkins died of lung cancer: [MS9] William Roy Smith, Vice President of Abilene Christian College, 1940-1962. Letter from Fred J. Thompson, Jr., to Mr. J.E. Smith, October 9, 1969, regarding the estate of Maurine Watkins. Milliken Special Collections, Abilene Christian University Library.

Abend, who died in 2003, claimed: “Murder She Wrote,” Chicago Tribune, July 16, 1997.

“She didn’t want to accept a dime…”: Chicago Tribune, July 16, 1997; see also “Pssstttt! ‘Chicago’ Has a Secret Past,” USA Today, March 25, 2003.

Journalists and theater scholars recycled: Kevin Boyd Grubb, Razzle Dazzle: The Life and Work of Bob Fosse (St. Martin’s Press, 1989), 193; Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xiii.

University of Delaware professor Thomas H. Pauly: Thomas H. Pauly, Chicago (Southern Illinois University Press, 1997), xxix, xiii.

Rob Marshall, director of the movie musical: Author interview with Marshall for Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas), January 6, 2003.

In a 1959 letter to an administrator: [MS9] William Roy Smith, Vice President of Abilene Christian College, 1940-1962. Letter from Maurine Watkins to W.R. Smith, December 7, 1959. Milliken Special Collections, Abilene Christian University Library.

A 1935 stage revival in London: “London Dislikes Watkins Play,” New York Times, March 14, 1935.

That said, Maurine Watkins likely would have approved: Attempts to secure rights to the play for a musical adaptation had begun by 1956. “New Role Slated for Kim Stanley,” New York Times, February 3, 1956.

Bob Fosse had no desire to stage: Kevin Boyd Grubb, Razzle Dazzle: The Life and Work of Bob Fosse (St. Martin’s Press, 1989), 201-203.

Fosse told his stars that, though Roxie and Velma: Ibid.