Police Jail Woman, 45

Weird Story of 'Confidence Game' Told By Two Girl Victims

Originally Published in The Tulsa World on Wednesday, March 29, 1944

A 45-year-old Tulsa woman was arrested Tuesday afternoon by city police, who said over a period of several years the woman had combined fraud and a "mental power under the guise of religion" to enslave two younger women and "sap" them of practically all money they earned.

The woman, who had gone under several names, was held on order of Assistant County Atty. M. S. Simms, pending charges expected to be filed Wednesday.

A bulky statement was signed by a 30-year-old Tulsa woman who said that she had lived with the suspect for five years and had been beaten and abused, and at one period had given up her entire wages, receiving a $1-a-week allowance for food. Extreme hunger, she said, had on one occasion driven her to rob a store.

According to the statement another young woman who had been living with the accused had been represented to her father as an invalid, while in reality she was gainfully employed and was paying about $66 a week to the accused for "meta-physical treatments."

SHE PAID $300 MONTHLY

She had been receiving amounts as high as $300 a month from her father a resident of Stroud, to be paid to nurses. The daughter said she had been ordered to sign checks made out to a fictitious name, supposedly that of a nurse, and to cash then at a cafe.

The canceled checks were brought to the police station by the father and the girl signed the fictitious name in exactly the same handwriting as that on the canceled checks. The money had been given to the alleged extortioner, it was stated.

When the father first appeared at the police station, he was antagonistic stating that the accused woman "had been a mother to her." He later was convinced that something was wrong, however, when the daughter's name was shown to be on the payroll of a Tulsa firm. He could hardly believe that the supposed invalid had been working, police said.

EARNING $220 MONTHLY

The statement said that when the accuser quit working for a Tulsa oil company she was receiving $220 a month, all of which, less deductions, went to the accused woman, who also refused to permit her to buy war bonds.

The accuser said the woman on one occasion broke a mirror over her head in a fit of rage, and that she was habitually beaten and berated, and told that “evil thoughts were eating out her soul. She found it impossible to explain the power, which the accused had over the two younger women, but suspected hypnotism and stated that a religious faith was used as a “cloak.”

The accuser stated that she had deserted her family when she fell into the older woman’s power and that she had been weaned away from her family by the woman who spoke of the girl’s mother as a “witch” and her family as “trashy.”

Five years ago, she said she went to live with the woman, and began putting her money into a “community pot,” taking out what she needed for personal expenses.

COLD AND HUNGRY

She said she commonly went cold and hungry, and that at one time she was forced to quit her stay in the guest house for filthy “quarters” because of an infection in her eye which the older woman “did not want in the house.” She had to spread newspapers and sleep on the floor.

At another time, it was charged the younger women were forbidden to do any laundering, except step-ins and hosiery, and had no sleep on sheets which hand not been washed for two years. They used orange crates to store their clothing the charge said. At one time the girls were given on $3 or $4 a year for personal expenditures, it was said.

She also charged that the older woman would not let her attend her mother's funeral, and that she falsely stated that she had legally adopted the younger woman.

Both women were living elsewhere at the time of the arrest.

The father of the other alleged victim brought checks and letters to the police station showing that for seven years he had been paying $35 a week to the alleged extortioner. He told police he was ready to file charges of using the mail to defraud. One letter from the woman stated that the supposed invalid was "improved" and that the nurse might be dismissed soon.

WORKING THEN

At this time the "invalid" was working and was not living at the home of her former hostess.

Another accusation included was the woman in question had obtained an extra ration book in the name of "Bonnie"--her pet dog, now dead. It was charged also that the woman, who used various names, had urged the accuser to change her name by stating that she had been born under a different surname and merely "adopted" by her actual parents.

When the father of the girl made out his income tax, he asked the names of nurses who had cared his daughter. Four names were given, but police said that they had been checked carefully and found no such nurses who had worked for the woman.

Arresting officers were Alice Whitney, Beulah Johnson, and Bob Cleveland.

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