Queen of Thieves by J North Conway

Author:J North Conway [Conway, J North]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781629144351
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2014-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

By the 1880s, things were changing, both for Mandelbaum as well as society in general. Many of her contemporaries were either dead or in prison. George Leslie was dead. Many of her best bank robbers were either in jail, on the lam, pursued vigorously by the police, or in the case of her favorite entertainer, Charlie Bullard, and Adam Worth, had moved on to greener pastures in Europe. The world was changing for Mandelbaum. Boss Tweed was dead and the chokehold he had on New York City’s political establishment had loosened, giving way to more reform-minded elected officials. A unique, although not total, division had also occurred between the law enforcement system and the criminal underworld. There was still crime and corruption, but even within the criminal community, a dramatic shift in allegiances was occurring. Some of Mandelbaum’s closest associates were discovering that playing ball with the police and prosecutors was more beneficial to them than remaining loyal to Mandelbaum. Pressed by reformers, the tide was turning and it did not bode well for her.

In 1881, a civil suit was brought against her. A Boston merchant named James Scott had managed, without any New York City police department assistance, to bring the suit against Mandelbaum. In his case James Scott vs. Fredericka Mandelbaum, he stated that back in January 1877, robbers had stolen twenty-six cashmere shawls worth $780 from his store on Washington Street in Boston. The thieves also absconded with two thousand yards of black silk worth approximately $4,000. Scott claimed that the merchandise ultimately ended up in the hands of Mandelbaum and that she was fully aware that the merchandise had been stolen from his store. He sued her for $6,000 including the cost of the stolen merchandise as well as associated legal fees and interest. The case was finally adjudicated three years later in January 1884, and Scott won a sizeable judgment against her.

Mandelbaum denied all the charges brought against her in the civil case. In her response to the complaint she claimed that she had no prior knowledge that the merchandise in question had been stolen, and further that she had no connection to the robbery at Scott’s Boston store or with the men who were engaged in the theft. The civil case languished in the courts for several years but finally did make it to court after the original judge in the case, Charles Donohue, was replaced by Judge Hooper Van Vorst. Donohue was later investigated for his questionable legal behavior including the continued delay of cases that benefited favored defendants.

According to the newspapers, the courtroom during the civil trial resembled a who’s who of the criminal underworld filled with an assortment of characters with nicknames like “Big Bill,” “Sheeny Rosy,” “Big French Louis,” “Whitey Bob,” “Tommy King.” and “Red Leary,” all known to authorities as thieves and burglars. They, according to a New York Times report, “sat alongside unprofessional citizens, looking as honest as anybody else.”

The prosecution’s case in the civil trial was primarily

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