Virginia Earle - Robbery Victim

Robbery Victim

Earle was robbed of valuables on several occasions. She apprehended Jennie Baldwin when she recognized the woman wearing one of the cloaks she wore in a production of The Merry World. Baldwin was walking along Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), near Twenty-Eighth Street, when Earle seized her and screamed for help. The cloak was one of a number of thefts at the Casino during the month of September 1895. Baldwin said that the cloak had been found by her brother lying in the street car tracks at Twenty-Eighth Street and Sixth Avenue. She was held in $500 for trial at Special Sessions after Earle made an affidavit. In testimony a day later Baldwin said that she got the cloak from her brother who was employed by the Sixth Avenue elevated railroad. The husband admitted to finding the cloak and several people vouched for Baldwin's character. Earle received the garment back, noticing its worn condition. She offered it to a deputy clerk who declined it. Then she threw it at the deputy district attorney, exclaiming Take the old cloak there; there! She then smiled at the audience. The cloak was returned to police headquarters.

A diamond pendant valued at $550 was taken from Earle in the Hotel Bartholdt on New Year's Eve in 1895. The diamonds were found in a Ninth Avenue (Manhattan) pawnshop, where $100 had been advanced on them. A man in charge of the hallboys at the hotel was charged with the crime and pleaded not guilty to a charge of grand larceny.

Earle confessed to the superstition of wearing a ring on her thumb for nine years. She thought it brought her good luck. She said the sole occasion she experienced bad luck was when she wore a hat with a peacock feather on it.