The Girls of Murder City

by Douglas Perry

  Chapter 1: A Grand Object Lesson

  11 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. See St. John’s This Was My World, 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, 45-47.

  11 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,” CDT, July 16, 1997; “Women Who’ve Won: Maurine Watkins,” Syracuse (NY) Herald, June 26, 1928.

  11 The company had fifteen operators: WGN, 289-90.

  12 The Tribune received hundreds of want-ad orders: For the paper’s want-ad operation, see WGN, 180-85; Butcher, 109; Wendt, 365.

  12 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.

  12 Its six stories rose up: WGN, 123. Austin Avenue is now Hubbard Street. After the straightening of the Chicago River, it no longer intersects with St. Clair.

  12 Railroad tracks ran along: WGN, 102-3, 114, 124.

  13 In front of it, facing Michigan Avenue: Wendt, 488.

  13 “Most of them—the great ones—were ornate”: Dreiser, 5-6.

  14 The Tribune’s local room hummed: WGN, 102.

  14 Edward “Teddy” Beck was a Kansan: Butcher, 40-41; Rascoe, Before I Forget, 235.

  14 She had written a letter: CDT, July 16, 1997. See Sullivan, Chicago Surrenders, 102, for more information on Robert Lee.

  15 Most of the women who wanted to work: Ross, 543. Ross described Watkins’s colleague at the Tribune, Maureen McKernan, as “large and commanding.”

  15 Maurine, on the other hand, was tiny: “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’; or, Telling It to the Maurine,” NYW, Jan. 16, 1927.

  15 Her shyness was palpable: Syracuse (NY) Herald, June 26, 1928.

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

  15 “Had any newspaper experience at all?”: “The Author of ‘Chicago,’ ” NYT, Jan. 2, 1927.

  15 She was too frightened to answer: Syracuse (NY) Herald, June 26, 1928.

  15 A Tribune reporter had famously tracked: Rascoe, Before I Forget, 233.

  16 “I don’t believe you’ll like newspaper work”: NYT, Jan. 2, 1927.

  16 Lee told her she was hired: NYW, Jan. 16, 1927.

  16 The typical job seeker, standing around: Dreiser, 17.

  16 That was what Maurine liked about it: NYW, Jan. 16, 1927.

  16 Indeed, reporters often impersonated officers: McPhaul, 8-9, 12.

  16 Or they first proved themselves as picture chasers: MacAdams, 13-14.

  17 Almost all of the women to be found in newsrooms: Downs, 27.

  17 The number of killings committed by women: Adler, “ ‘I Loved Joe, but I Had to Shoot Him’: Homicide by Women in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago,” 867-78.

  17 Another, far more popular one held that: Ibid.

  18 They were overwhelmed by alcohol: Murray, 309.

  18 Hearst hired “sob sisters” like: Ross, 548. Ross identified Dougherty as Princess Pat.

  18 “It’s a grand object lesson”: Gilman, Sob Sister, 38.

  18 “I shot him,” she wailed: Lesy, 33-46.

  18 She wasn’t a girl from the neighborhood: Steiner and Gray, 9.

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

  19 Maurine intended to get an advanced degree: NYW, Jan. 16, 1927.

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

  19 During her high school years and into college, she enjoyed: “A Roads Scholar Pedals Passionately Into the Past,” CDT, Apr. 7, 1986.

  19 Maurine had always felt 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 Woollcott.

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

  20 She was convinced “the only thing that will cure”: NYW, Jan. 16, 1927.

  20 Art was an obligation, Baker told her: Kinne, xiv.

  20 He advocated finding out about “your great”: Kinne, 99.

  20 Once that seed had been planted: 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 NYT, Jan. 2, 1927.

  20 It was a city, Theodore Dreiser wrote: Dreiser, 3.

  20 She picked out an apartment to rent: CDT, July 16, 1997.

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

  21 She needed a murder: NYW, Jan. 16, 1927.

  21 “Being a conscientious person I never prayed”: Ibid.

  Chapter 2: The Variable Feminine Mechanism

  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, Mar. 15, 1924; “One-Gun Duel Tragedy Told By Woman,” CDN, Mar. 12, 1924; “Never Threatened Law, Says Divorcee,” CDN, Mar. 13, 1924; “Mystery Victim Is Robert Law; Hold Divorcee,” CDT, Mar. 12, 1924; “Hold Divorcee as Slayer of Auto Salesman,” CDT, Mar. 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner Lies—Mrs. Law,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner in Cell for Slaying Is No Longer Gay,” CEP, Mar. 13, 1924; “Gamble with Death Excuse for Killing,” NYT, Mar. 13, 1924. Descriptions of the neighborhood are derived from Holt and Pacyga, 8-9, 133.

  23 Later, she realized the quart: CEP, Mar. 13, 1924; Sullivan, Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime, 91-92.

  23 The orchestra had been playing: “Jury Holds Belva’s Fate,” CDN, June 5, 1924.

  23 She stared at the blood-soaked clothes: Lesy, 199.

  23 The caracul coat bothered her: “Belle Bemoans Ruined Coat,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924.

  24 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 two children in the state orphanage when times got tough for her. Belva’s father died when Belva was four years old.

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

  24 The room was stuffed: CDT, Mar. 12, 1924; Case S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926), Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

  25 “He gave me that coat, too”: Lesy, 199. Also see “Gin Bottle and Slippers Shown at Belva’s Trial,” CEP, June 5, 1924.

  26 In her first few weeks: “Women Who’ve Won: Maurine Watkins,” Syracuse (NY) Herald, June 26, 1928; “Pistol Fire Lights Up ‘Chicago’; or, Telling It to the Maurine,” NYW, Jan. 16, 1927.

  26 After only a few days on the job: “Young Lady,” New Yorke
r, Jan. 29, 1927, 18.

  26 If she were lucky, she might: “Bobbed Wig or Wigged Bobs Is Fashion Decree,” CDT, Apr. 24, 1924.

  26 It hardly helped to know: Rascoe, Before I Forget, 242.

  26 The newsroom’s majordomo was a profane: Rascoe, Before I Forget, 235.

  27 “The prima donna is one who will”: WGN, 132.

  27 When the country committed to the World War: WGN, 85.

  28 Serious journals called the Hearst style: See Pelizzon and West.

  28 His papers also vocally supported him: Murray, 55.

  28 The hardball tactics in the circulation war: Nash, Makers and Breakers of Chicago: From Long John Wentworth to Richard J. Daley, 30-31.

  29 Howey’s charge was, “Beat the Trib”: Murray, 120.

  29 “Don’t ever fake a story”: Rascoe, Before I Forget, 236.

  29 In contrast to the Tribune’s culture: Murray, 67-74.

  29 Editors at the two newspapers worked: Wendt, 451.

  29 They bribed officers to sit in on: Murray, 206; Hecht, Gaily, Gaily, 35-36.

  30 Howey’s most memorable physical characteristic: Hecht, Charlie: The Improbable Life and Times of Charles MacArthur, 49-50.

  30 “What do you mean, the man”: Murray, 35-36.

  30 “A newspaper man need have only a spoonful”: WGN, 133.

  31 It was after one in the morning: WGN, 159; “Mystery Victim Is Robert Law; Hold Divorcee,” CDT, Mar. 12, 1924.

  31 She and Walter were so drunk: “One-Gun Duel Tragedy Told by Woman,” CDN, Mar. 12, 1924, and CDT, Mar. 12, 1924.

  32 The papers would refer to her: “ ‘Flip Coin’ Murderess Acquitted by Chicago Jury on Eighth Ballot,” Waterloo (IA) Evening Courier, June 6, 1924.

  32 “Mr. Law said something about hold-up men”: Lesy, 199.

  33 A girl reporter simply couldn’t be counted on: Ross, 6.

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

  33 “I would rather see my daughter starve”: Ross, 22.

  33 The Tribune, at least, wanted a true: Butcher, 208.

  33 On her first assignment, Fanny Butcher: Butcher, 205-6.

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

  34 “Mrs. Belle Brown Overbeck Gaertner”: CDT, Mar. 12, 1924.

  35 The story had been designated: WGN, 102, 159, 236, 242, 252.

  37 Every crime story was instantly recognizable: Gilman, “The Truth Behind the News,” 1-4. Sabella Nitti was designated “Senora Sabelle” in “Dialect Jargon Makes ’Em Dizzy at Nitti Trial,” CDT, July 7, 1923.

  38 “Call William,” Belva had pleaded: Lesy, 199.

  Chapter 3: One-Gun Duel

  The chief sources of information for William and Belva Gaertner’s life together are court documents from their second divorce, in 1926, and their aborted annulment case, in 1917: Case S-331246 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1917) and case S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926). These case files reside in the archives of the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court in Chicago. Page numbers are not listed because each case’s documents, compiled over many weeks or months, are out of order and mostly unnumbered. The case files are not overwhelming in size, however. Anyone going through them in the Circuit Court archives can easily find my trail.

  39 The horses had almost made the marriage: “Finds Liberty as Taxi Driver,” Waterloo (IA) Evening Courier and Reporter, Aug. 4, 1920; “Riding to a Fall,” CDT, Sept. 16, 1917.

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

  39 William gave her a present during their courtship: “Sleuths Sleuth on Sleuths in Domestic Row,” CEP, Apr. 9, 1920.

  39 With her trim torso and her penchant: Holt and Pacyga, 73-79, 95-96.

  40 The parks, opined a visitor: Pierce, 398.

  41 That was the name she had been using: CDT, in its September 16, 1917, report, suggests that the couple met on the city’s South Side bridle paths. The Fresno Bee of September 19, 1926, in “Why the ‘Cave-Girl’ Wants a Third Divorce from Hubby,” describes William Gaertner meeting Belva in a Loop cabaret, where William “had the habit of seeking diversion from the cares of his business.” Considering their respective stations in society and William’s taste in women, it is likely that the initial meeting was in a cabaret. William 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 Rascoe’s Before I Forget, 297.

  41 Here, wearing molded breastplates: Lesy, 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.

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

  42 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 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 1917 and the following March, the newlyweds reconciled. In August 1918, just over a year after their ill-fated first marriage, William and Belva married again. See case S-331246 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1917). Also see “Riding to a Fall,” CDT, Sept. 16, 1917, and “Gaertners Jog Apart as Court Cuts the Reins,” CDT, May 7, 1920.

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

  43 “You are one husband in a million”: “The Matrimonial Worm That Turned at Last,” San Antonio Light, Jan. 9, 1927.

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

  43 “Thanks for the advice”: San Antonio Light, Jan. 9, 1927.

  44 “It wasn’t unusual for him”: “Belva Gaertner Will Fight Rich Husband’s Suit,” CDT, Aug. 2, 1926.

  44 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,” CEP, May 7, 1920; “Gaertners’ Life Just One Sleuth After Another,” CDT, Apr. 9, 1920; “Gaertners Jog Apart as Court Cuts the Reins,” CDT, May 7, 1920; “Detectives Bind Wife in Hyde Park Home; Ratio is 16 to 1,” CEA, Apr. 12, 1920. Also see case S-443652 (Gaertner v. Gaertner, 1926).

  44 The neighborhoods to the west: Holt and Pacyga, 95-98.

  45 Belva munched a sandwich: Descriptions and dialogue from the inquest come from the following sources: “One-Gun Duel Tragedy Told by Woman,” CDN, Mar. 12, 1924; “Belle Bemoans Ruined Coat,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924; “Other Woman’s Gems Shine as Widow Sneers,” CDT, Mar. 13, 1924; “Hold Divorcee as Slayer of Auto Salesman,” CDT, Mar. 13, 1924; “Gamble with Death Excuse for Killing,” NYT, Mar. 13, 1924; “Never Threatened Law, Says Divorcee,” CDN, Mar. 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner Lies—Mrs. Law,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner in Cell for Slaying Is No Longer Gay,” CEP, Mar. 13, 1924; “Gaertner Trial Starts,” CDN, June 4, 1924. Additional information came from Lesy, 200; and Aylesworth and Aylesworth, 22.

  51 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, Aug. 4, 1920.

  53 Wags called the Gaertner estate: “She’s Taxi Driver Now—Her Own Boss,” CDT, July 10, 1920.

  54 The whip would be presented: “Sleuths Sleuth on Sleuths in Domestic Row,” CEP, Apr. 9, 1920.

  54 “Sure, I whipped my millionaire husband”: Fresno Bee, Sept. 19, 1926.

  55 She had married William because: CEA, Apr. 12, 1920.

  56 “Me threaten him with a knife?”: “Other Woman’s Gems Shine as Widow Sneers,” CDT, Mar.
13, 1924.

  56 Belva was the only inmate “dressed up”: “Belle Bemoans Ruined Coat,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner Lies—Mrs. Law,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924.

  56 “It gives me an awfully blank feeling”: “Mrs. Gaertner Lies—Mrs. Law,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924.

  56 “You see, they have taken away”: Ibid.

  56 “I hope they won’t put me to work”: Ibid.

  Chapter 4: Hang Me? That’s a Joke

  57 When the jail matrons brought Belva in: “Never Threatened Law, Says Divorcee,” CDN, Mar. 13, 1924; “Mrs. Gaertner Lies—Mrs. Law,” CDJ, Mar. 13, 1924.

  57 The streak had stood at twenty-nine: Lesy, 154.

  57-58 In the Tribune, Genevieve Forbes derided: “Dialect Jargon Makes ’Em Dizzy at Nitti Trial,” CDT, July 7, 1923; “Death for 2 Women Slayers,” CDT, July 10, 1923.

  58 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.

  58 There’d never been a time when it was easy: The best source of information on the difficulties in convicting women, especially husband-killers, in Cook County is Adler’s “ ‘I Loved Joe, but I Had to Shoot Him’: Homicide by Women in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago,” 883-86.

  58 At fourteen, Belva found herself dumped: Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School, Record Group 255.004, Illinois State Archives. Also see Cmiel, 26-27.

  58 Kitty dropped out of the fifth grade: “Ladies in Crime,” CDT, Mar. 27, 1927.

  58 She’d married Otto Malm illegally: “Kitty Malm’s Legal Husband Seeks Divorce,” CDT, Mar. 13, 1924.

  58 “Defendant Katherine Baluk”: Superior Court of Cook County, chancery no. 400645, Baluk v. Baluk, May 31, 1924.

  58 This shouldn’t have surprised her: “Suspends Police Blamed for Gun Girl’s Escape; Mrs. Malm’s Love for Baby May Trap Her,” CDT, Nov. 26, 1923.

  59 Max now claimed: Superior Court of Cook County, chancery no. 400645, Baluk v. Baluk, May 31, 1924.

  59 “Fellows, always fellows”: “Ladies in Crime,” CDT, Mar. 27, 1927.