The Girls of Murder City (48 page)

87
When a voice tweeted over the line:
“Woman Plays Jazz Air as Victim Dies,”
CDT,
Apr. 4, 1924. This quote comes from Watkins’s first story about Beulah. In later reports, in newspapers throughout the country, the quote was typically relayed as: “I’ve just killed a man!”

87
The nearness of wealthy Hyde Park and Kenwood:
Holt and Pacyga, 87-88.

88
Fighting raged for days:
Ciccone, 168; Wendt, 464-65.

88
“This will get us by,” he said:
Nash,
Makers and Breakers of Chicago: From Long John Wentworth to Richard J. Daley,
52. Nash writes that the motorcycle’s driver was Dean O’ Banion. O’Banion would later become one of the city’s foremost bootleggers.

89
“Midnight was like day”:
Ward and Burns, 87.

89
One of the officers, Sergeant Malachi Murphy:
CEA,
May 24, 1924.

89
“I came home and found this guy”:
San Antonio Light,
Dec. 21, 1947. The headline is illegible on the University of Texas Library microfilm. The byline is Peter Levins.

89
“I am going to quit you”:
CEP,
Apr. 4, 1924.

89
“I told him I would shoot”:
San Antonio Light,
Dec. 21, 1947.

89
She dropped—a dead-away faint:
CDT,
May 24, 1924; “Beulah on Stand Fails to Keep Out Her Confession,”
CEP,
May 23, 1924.

90
“Don’t you know me?”:
CDT,
May 24, 1924;
CDT,
May 25, 1924.

90
Albert Allen, the stenographer there to record:
CEP,
May 23, 1924.

Chapter 7: A Modern Salome

91
“I’ve been a sucker, that’s all!”:
“Demand Noose for ‘Prettiest’ Woman Slayer,”
CDT,
Apr. 5, 1924; Pauly, 128.

91
“I guess I was too slow for her”:
“Hold Mrs. Annan for Murder,”
CDJ,
Apr. 4, 1924.

91
The young, slender woman, with “wide blue eyes”:
Quoted section from “Select Jury to Pronounce Fate of Beulah Annan,”
CDT,
May 23, 1924. The description of how Beulah Annan was dressed comes from
CDN
negatives collection, images DN-0076797 and DN-0076798, Chicago History Museum, and
CDJ,
Apr. 4, 1924.

92
“He came into my apartment this afternoon”:
“Woman Plays Jazz Air as Victim Dies,”
CDT,
Apr. 4, 1924; Pauly, 123.

92
“I didn’t know—I didn’t realize”:
CEA,
Apr. 4, 1924.

92
She said the same thing over and over:
CDT,
Apr. 4, 1924.

92
Harry’s voice hung in the air:
San Antonio Light,
Dec. 21, 1947; Pauly, 125.

92
Photographs of the suspect in her revealing attire:
CDJ,
Apr. 4, 1924; “Will Her Red Head Vamp the Jury?”
CDN,
Apr. 4, 1924; “ ‘Glad,’ Says Jazz Slayer,”
CEA,
Apr. 4, 1924.

93
“You are right, I haven’t been telling”:
Pauly, 122;
CDT,
Apr. 4, 1924.

93
After the shooting, she became “distracted”:
Untitled clipping,
Lincoln State Journal,
Apr. 4, 1924, Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

93
“How much did you drink?” they asked:
Pauly, 137; “Judge Admits All of Beulah’s Killing Stories,”
CDT,
May 24, 1924.

94
It wasn’t because she was giving them :
Ibid. W. W. Wilcox described her as “smiling most of the time” that night.

95
Back at the station, flush with pride:
CDN,
Apr. 4, 1924.

95
“Harry was my greatest love”:
“Mrs. Annan Says She is Glad She Killed Kalstedt,”
CEP,
Apr. 4, 1924.

95
“I am glad I did it,” she said:
Ibid. Also see
CEA,
Apr. 4, 1924.

95
“Mrs. Beulah Annan, termed by her questioners”:
CDN,
Apr. 4, 1924.

95
In the
Tribune,
Maurine wrote that the popular:
CDT,
Apr. 4, 1924; Pauly, 123.

96
It borrowed from Edgar Allan Poe:
CEA,
Apr. 4, 1924.

96
“A grotesque dance over the body”:
“Dances Over Body of Man She Kills,”
Davenport (IA) Democrat and Leader,
Apr. 6, 1924.

97
Sometimes it seemed that running down payment:
Stewart,
Stewart on Trial Strategy,
60.

97
He was so successful with murder cases:
“William Scott Stewart Dies Broke, Alone,”
CDT,
Mar. 20, 1964.

97
Wanderer was a veteran of the World War:
Lesy, 9-15.

97
So did the hanging, when Wanderer:
Murray, 240-241.

98
He prepared for each court appearance:
Stewart,
Stewart on Trial Strategy,
109-10.

98
“I am a great believer in original”:
Ibid., 568.

98
He married a performer, Louise Dolly:
ISA: O’Brien, 31.

98
In 1922, he married a third time:
Case B-121999 (
O’Brien, William and Zoe,
1925), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

99
In 1922, two assistant state’s attorneys accused:
“2 Bribe Efforts Cited in Charges Against O’Brien,”
CDT,
Oct. 5, 1922; “Seek to Disbar W. W. O’Brien on Bribery Charge,”
CDT,
Oct. 3, 1922.

99
Two years later, it happened again:
ISA: O’Brien, 32.

99
“I haven’t much money,” he told reporters:
“ ‘I’d Rather Be Dead,’ Mrs. Annan Sobs as She Prays,”
CEP,
Apr. 5, 1924.

99
“Beulah wanted a gay life”:
“Beulah, the Beautiful Killer!”
CDT,
Dec. 30, 1951.

100
She wore a light brown dress, a darker brown coat:
CDT,
Apr. 5, 1924.

100
From the next room could be heard strains of:
Ibid.

100
“I wish they’d let me see him”:
Ibid.

100
She had a seven-year-old son:
Ibid.

100
She had married that first time:
“Mrs. Annan Sorry She Won Race for Pistol,”
CDN,
Apr. 5, 1924.

100
“I didn’t love Harry so much”:
CDN,
Apr. 4, 1924.

101
“They say she’s the prettiest woman ever accused”:
CDT,
Apr. 5, 1924.

101
“Both went for the gun!”:
Ibid.

101
The inquest dragged on, and Beulah grew:
CDT,
Apr. 5, 1924;
CDJ,
Apr. 5, 1924.

102
“He pressed a $5 bill into her hand”:
CDJ,
Apr. 5, 1924.

102
After the inquest, the police moved Beulah:
CDN,
Apr. 5, 1924.

102
“Murderesses have such lovely names”:
“Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’; or, Telling It to the Maurine,”
NYW,
Jan. 16, 1927.

102
In the morning, Sabella clomped past the cell:
CEA,
Apr. 5, 1924.

103
“You pretty-pretty,” she croaked:
Ibid.

103
When the Italian immigrant was convicted, Forbes:
“Death for 2 Women Slayers,”
CDT,
July 10, 1923.

103
“Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah”:
CEA,
Apr. 5, 1924.

Chapter 8: Her Mind Works Vagrantly

104
“Twenty-three, not twenty-nine”:
“Gin Killing Is Re-enacted in Cell in Jail,”
CDJ,
Apr. 5, 1924.

104
“Harr y said, ‘You won’t call me a name like that’ ”:
“Woman in Salome Dance After Killing,”
CDN,
Apr., 4, 1924.

105
She suggested they have a picture taken:
Pauly, xvi.

105
“No, no, no. It would choke me”:
“ ‘I’d Rather Be Dead,’ Mrs. Annan Sobs as She Prays,”
CEP,
Apr. 5, 1924.

105
The thought of what she’d done to her husband:
What Beulah said is paraphrased in
CDJ,
Apr. 5, 1924.

105
“My husband says he’ll see me through”:
“Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,”
CEA,
Apr. 5, 1924.

105
“I suppose it is true that a man may drift ”:
“ ‘Too Slow’ for the Wife He Fought for in the Gallows’ Shadow,”
Fresno Bee,
Aug. 8, 1926.

105
He had refused to talk to reporters at the inquest:
“Demand Noose for ‘Prettiest’ Woman Slayer,”
CDT,
Apr. 5, 1924.

105
“I can’t believe it, I can’t”:
“Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,”
CEA,
Apr. 5, 1924.

106
A part of her believed Al had made her cheat:
CEP,
Apr. 5, 1924; “Beulah Annan Sobs Regret for Life She Took,”
CDT,
Apr. 6, 1924.

106
“Sun. Oct. 7: Daddy and I had an argument ”:
“What Life Finally Did to ‘the Girl with the Man-Taming Eyes,’ ”
Hamilton (OH) Evening Journal,
May 5, 1928. The newspaper published a photostat of a page from Beulah’s diary, which ran alongside the article.

107
Two years ago, she and Al had taken a trip:
CDJ,
Apr. 5, 1924.

107
“I didn’t want to hurt Albert,” she said:
“Annan Killing to Grand Jury,”
CDJ,
Apr. 7, 1924.

108
They stared at her, followed her, told stupid jokes:
Hamilton (OH) Evening Journal,
May 5, 1928.

108
She and Perry were just teenagers when:
Spencer County (IN) Index to Marriage Records 1850-1920, Spencer County Clerk’s Office, ancestry.com.

108
A year and a half later, she gave birth:
Kentucky Birth Index, 1911-1999, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.

108
“There will always be temptations”:
CEA,
Apr. 4, 1924.

108
“If I hadn’t been working, I’d never have met”:
CEP,
Apr. 5, 1924.

108
Quinby had waited an hour:
Ibid.

109
“Well, thinking it all over, I think”:
“Mrs. Annan Sorry She Won Race for Pistol,”
CDN,
Apr. 5, 1924.

109
“I am just a fool,” she said:
CEP,
Apr. 5, 1924.

109
“I had never shot a gun but once”:
“Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,”
CEA,
Apr. 5, 1924.

110
“Will Her Red Head Vamp the Jury?”:
Headline of large photograph accompanying “Woman in Salome Dance After Killing,”
CDN,
Apr. 4, 1924.

110
“Forty hours of questioning and cogitation”:
CEP,
Apr. 5, 1924.

110
“Stunned—almost to the point of desperation”:
“Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,”
CEA,
Apr. 5, 1924.

1 10-111
“A noose around that white neck w ith Venus lines”:
Ibid.

111
Alone among the reporters, she wrote that:
Pauly, 126;
CDT,
Apr. 5, 1924.

111
Men “gazed at photographs of her lovely”:
Hamilton (OH) Evening Journal,
May 5, 1928.

112
That first day behind bars she received a beautiful red:
“Mrs. Nitti Consoles Beulah,”
CEA,
Apr. 5, 1924.

112
The next day, somebody sent her “a juicy steak”:
“Mrs. Annan Has Lonesome Day Behind the Bars,”
CDT,
Apr. 7, 1924.

112
Letters began to show up at the jail, dozens of them:
Hamilton (OH) Evening Journal,
May 5, 1928.

112
Nash pushed the trial date back:
Pauly, xviii, xxxi.

Chapter 9: Jail School

113
The
Evening Post
announced that April 21:
“Five Women Are in Court Today on Murder Charges,”
CEP,
Apr. 21, 1924.

114
The Broadway star Mae West had been hired:
Watts, 65.

114
“They got up from the tables”:
Watts, 49.

114
She’d been relegated to a minor-league vaudeville:
Watts, 65.

114
“I think in most cases where a man is shot”:
“Wants Jury of ‘Worldly Men,’ ”
Danville (VA) Bee,
Mar. 28, 1924.

115
Maurine Watkins, witnessing this response to Beulah:
“Chicago” (letter to drama editor),
NYW,
Jan. 16, 1927.

115
Five people—three generations of the family:
“Montana Boy On Stand Tells of Killing ‘Cop,’ ”
CEP,
Apr. 24, 1924.

115
Photographers surrounded Beulah, Belva, and Sabella:
“Jail Beauties Face Court in Easter Garb,”
CEA,
Apr. 21, 1924; uncategorized notes, Ione Quinby Papers, Western Springs Historical Society.

115
she was now seeking bail:
“Mrs. Nitti May Be Free on Bond,”
CEP,
Apr. 28, 1924. Bail for Sabella was set at $12,500.

116
“Beulah has been told she’s beautiful”:
“Least Stylish of Court Ladies Only Happy One,”
CDT,
Apr. 22, 1924.