Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1921)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, MARCII 27, 1021 253 CTl f? W SJ M A M BM MH . M M MM M Bar MS H MM . I a h ' JUT M a ne m aw r MvrM UVH I ) And the Tragic Climax to the Frenzied Career of Aimed a - Everts, Whose Easy-Money Victims Include Bankers, the v Clergy J 7 and Even Some Very Shrewd Business Men. 16. bt Hubert e. vale. A "WOMAN'S form poised for a flash on the edge of a ferry boat, and almost without a sound the waves closed over one who had gone to eternity. A trail of high finance ewings through many states and totals more than $300,000. ' Scores of men and women bled of thheir pavings and only an echoing laugh to answer their tears or their curses. Other men who trusted and who Icved awake to find they are dupes. And. In Moyamensing prison there sits Almeda Everts the woman. And there she will sit, her business men clergymen -doctor-victims assert, for many long days to come. If they have their way. For, even though many of them refuse to prosecute, to face tho derision that follows the admission by a man that a woman duped him, they want the satisfac tion for the amounts ranging from $8000 to $15,000 each from wnich they were separated of knowing that she Is in durance vile. So, mys teriously, petty little things are charged against her from unsus pected sources so that, as fast as clever lawyers dispose of one allega tion, another arises to keep fast locked the bars of her prison. Her Inspiration was Cassie Chad wick; the methods of that high priestess of visionary wealth were followed by Almeda Everts. Side by fide, In a strange parallel, their lives are linked 16 years apart Almeda Everts was not yet 20 years old, :the wife of a mechanic, when she was stirred by the witchery of wealth shown by Cassie Chadwick. How, on the strength of a mythical fortune, Mrs. Chadwick had per suaded hankers to give her millions; how she rode In gay carriages; how she dashed here and there in the automobiles of those days; how jewels and luxuries were hers, aroused the strange spirit of Almeda Everts. . And how this girl built her own fantastic 6tory of rich estates and how she lured and betrayed men ct wealth and how, like Cassie Chad wick, she finally came to a prison cell, Is as exciting as the life story cf Almeda's predecessor with the added tragedy of the suicide of the wife of Robert Mountford, one of Everts' victims. Her Husband's Tribute. "A remarkable woman, an aston ishing woman," reflected William V. Chambers, her first husband, as he smoked his pipe in the parlor of his borne up in Frankford. In the same neighborhood that Almeda spent her childhood days. "I can understand the feelings of that New Jersey man who, after identifying her in prison, said: 'Now let me go away. . If she speaks to me I cannot help myself; I will have to go her bail." If ever there was a woman with hypnotic power it is Almeda Everts. In her presence you are helpless man or woman. She is not handsome, she never was. . As a girl she was pass ably good-looking. But. my friend, he has i- personality such as I have never seen In any other woman. Let her talk and you believe everything she says. Out of her influence you wonder what swayed you to make a fool of yourself. "I know when it started. It was about the time of the Cassie Chad wick exposure. She talked about the woman; perhaps she studied every action of that noted swindler. At any rate her whole nature seemed to change in a flash. She began to hire expensive rigs and drive up and down the streets. She bought expensive things. In one day she spent more money than I could earn tax week, I begged her to. end tat 1 f. r A 1 y Vary i V is? jxc V 2 4J . i to Cassie Chadwick collected a cool million from other wise astute business men. Almeda Everts, the petticoated Ponxl, gathered CSOO.OOO before her arrest. . . Charles PonzJ fleeced credulous Investors out of millions within 12 months. She laughed and re extravagance, plied: " "Money is the easiest thing to get in the world.' "Then we broke. I went my way She went' hers. More than 15 years have gone since then and I can speak dispassionately, but she was a re markable woman and worthy of bet ter than a prison. Somehow I do not blame her, not a bit. And still I know that she is accused of swindling scores." Those who have known and talked with Almeda, now 38 years old, will tell you the same thing. Even her victims praise her ability, her kindli ness, her sympathy, her mentality. Vet she was reared among scenes ol drunkenness and did not go to school five years in all her life. As a child shes was beaten, and, frail and anemic was "bound out" and sen! to the country. Todty she talks learnedly on many subjects. Her English is fault less, her voice musical and well mod ulated. Her eyes are frank, happy, trustful. No society woman dresses in better taste. No political leader !n more convincing. No clergyman more earnest. But When Everett Marshall and his wife of Newfield faced the woman in prison and pointed her out as having taken $2300 of their savings, she surveyed them through a gold mon ocle as if entertained; then with a merry laugh, she turned to the cap tain of detectives and confessed sweetly: "Certainly I took their money, blew it away like bubbles. They be lieved wjiat I eald." Robert Mountford, of Haddon Heights, N. J., was helpless before this .weird woman, Ee gave her $(000. He Induced his mother to give her $15,000. Although he was married he became separated from bis wife and, according to the court records, committed bigamy by marrying the Everts woman. A few weeks later a disheartened woman leaped from a ferryboat in the Delaware river. The police say she was Mrs. Mountford. When Almeda was arrested in her luxurious apartments on North Broad street, Philadelphia, she laughed and asked the police to notify "Bob" Mountford. They ex plained to him the long string of charges against Her. He was amazed. "Why, she swindled me and my mother!" he cried. Then he pre ferred additional charges against her. This warrant was served on Almeda. She smiled ever so sweetly. "Bob will help me out," she reiter ated. Away from her voice, away from her eyes, away from her charm Mountford was like Iron. But he went to the prison. He talked with her. Then he came out, withdrew his charge and setxout to aid the woman he knew had duped him. Now Mountford has disappeared. He is dominated by Almeda. So are other victims, or at least they refuse to prosecute. Some, how ever, are determined to keep the re markable woman in jail for a long time. Five Kensington mill owners have told the detectives that they have been fleeced. The amounts range from $8000 to $15,000 each. Clergymen, doctors, business men, rich women who sought social fame, and even taxicab companies are listed as victims. How did she do it? Just as Cassie Chadwick did it she did it. There was one difference. This woman h'gh financier of later days operated in different cities, Mrs. Chadwick In one. Her stock in trade was a mythical Harjes estate. She was "one of the heirs." Her share amounted to "hundreds of thousands of dollars." Yes, it was the Morgan Harjes financial house of Paris that held her money. Meanwhile she was receiving wonderful tips from the Morgan bank in New York and her winnings on the stock market ran into vast sums. Of course, she would let her friends in on the 'deals and they would soon be wealthy. But she 'needed a few thousands for pressing r.e.eds. Could they accom modate her? So the stream of gold came : oiling to the woman who but a few years ago was a house servant, half-starved.. Victims who came to her handsome bungalow In New Jersey one day saw a check on the Irving Bank of New York for $100,000. It was signed "J. P. Morgan." Almeda tossed it into a corner of the desk. "The local bank does not have funds to cash it; I will have to wait a few days to get the money." She was visiting at the home of one who had too much faith In her. She begged permission to use the tele- THE PARALLEL ALMEDA EVERTS Uneducated. Former house servant. Said to have taken $300,000 from her: victims. Posed as heiress to vast fortune. Called a hypnotist. Unusual talker. ' . . Fond of carriages - and automobiles. Not handsome. Good dresser. Owned fine bungalow and kept city apartment. Sought business men as victims. Daring and cool, Arrested; In prison, Got more than CASSIE CHADWICK. Uneducated. Once a servant. $1,000,000 from her dupes. Posed as heiress to vast fortune. Admitted she' studied hypnotism. Convincing talker. Used carriages and automobiles. Not handsome. Good dresser. Lived in magnificent home. Had country place. Bankers and business men her victims. Daring and cool. Died in prison. phone. They heard her talk with her broker. "So that stock deal only netted me $35,000?" they heard her cry, petu lantly. "I was sure it would reach $50,000. Oh, well, just credit it to my account." Later they agreed that Almeda had her finger holding down the receiver. But at the time it was impressive. SoOuO Year ou Taxis! It is the gospel truth that she spent $5000 a year on taxicabs. It was one of her frenzied hobbies. At Atlantic City she had a high salaried chauffeur to run her cars. Like Cassie Chad wick, she found automobiles impres sive. Equally convincing was her tale that she was a niece of the late John G. Johnson, a millionaire Phil adelphio lawyer. Now and then she would exhibit a letter from a firm of Washington lawyers telling how swiftly the Har jes estate was being closed up. That helped a whole lot. But the lure of the tips on the stock market was the strongest. There is a story that six teen busii ess men and rich farmers in southern New Jersey formed a pool and placed sums ranging from $1000 to $5000in her hands hoping to profit They never heard from the pool. Almeda Everts was one of the few persons successful in "skinning" At lantic City folk. She paraded her es tate and her stock tips before the eyes of well-to-do men and women. Some ray she got more than $10,000 in a very short season. She fled when warrants were issued. She went to the Maine summer re sorts. Just about the time she was getting her sta set she was ar rested in Portland on a charge made by a victim from Pittsburg; Pa. Shs was sent to prison or nearly a year and a half. It Is said that almost very hour of her time in prison was spent In reading, studying and plan ning. And when she came out she began to organize finance and faith on a large scale. Almeda is confident that she will escape sentence in the present prose cution. Cnly the other day she sent out this warning: "Some persons will get me out of this; they've got to. Which may mean a great deal for she is a remarkable woman. Dueling in Heidelberg Still Popular. German Students Continue Old Custom of Getting; Scarred Faces. HEIDELBERG. Germany, March 26. Sword duelling in the Uni versity of Heidelberg is as popular and as common today as it was more than 500 years ago, when this oldest of German schools was founded. Vir tually every student who has passed the first year wears a sword scar on the left side of his chin or the left cheek, or a bandaged head, which ad vertises that the scar is in the mak ing. Duels do not always arise from anger or quarrels, but out of the necessity of providing the student with a diploma of sword prowess, or to give him sword practice, which affords the students great delight. They are sometimes arranged, like a boxing bout, by fraternities which have developed certain differences of opinion. Five-round duels are popu lar. "Surgeons stand by to sew up the wounds after each round, which usually last a minute," said a Heidel berg man, who wore a deep scar on his chin. "If neither student is bad ly damaged, the fight will go the full number of rounds decided upon, after which the stitches the surgeons have taken will be counted and the man with the fewest stitches will be de clared the winner. "Should, at any time during the en counter, a combatant dodge a sword stroke his opponent Is immediately declared winner. That is the un forgivable thing in the students' dueling code to dodge a stroke." Except Infrequent combats between older students, when heavy swords are used, dueling in Heidelberg is not dangerous. The heads and necks of the fighters, and the abdomen, are protected by leather guards. Some of the favoring duelling places are ancient cafes and beer rooms, the floors of which are always covered with sand, the walls lined with huge mugs and hung with engravings, old pictures and trophies of the fight. These places are sacred to students and it would be a serious offense against custom of half a thousand years for a stranger to wander inand sit down in some storied chair. The university is still a law unto It self, and the civil authorities of the town of Heidelberg never, under any pretext, interfere in student affairs. Punishment is administered to re fractory students by university au thorities. The university "Jail" is now in the top story of the building. It is a custom for the student confined in one of these cells to leave his name and the date of his imprison ment written on the walls. C. S. Landseekers to Visit Canada WINNIPEG. Manitoba. Estimates that 25,000 United States land seek ers will visit Western Canada dur ing 1921 have been made by Wa'ter Johnson, Winnipeg, secretary of the Farm Lands Settlement association of Manitoba. A very large number of Inquiries about lands have been re ceived from the states.
