Jane Ann Turzillo - Wicked Women of Ohio

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2018 by Jane Ann Turzillo

All rights reserved

Front cover, clockwise from top left: public domain; Cleveland State University Library; Mike Tailford; Library of Congress; Washington Evening Star, Washingtoniana Division, D.C. Public Library; Mike Tailford; public domain; Vinton County Historical Society & Genealogical Society; public domain.

First published 2018

e-book edition 2018

ISBN 978.1.43966.535.0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018942436

print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.826.0

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For my sister, Mary Turzillo.

A hard act to follow.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Research for this book took me from California to Arizona to the Royal Library of Scotland with many stops in between. I was delighted with the people I met and the information and photographs they shared with me. I could not have written this book without all of those people. I owe them all my gratitude.

Before I thank all the wonderful librarians, record clerks, volunteers, authors, attorneys, friends and family, I want to thank my commissioning editor, John Rodrigue. He was always there when I had questions or needed a sounding board. Without him, this book would not have seen print.

This is the seventh book that Marilyn Seguin, my good friend and fellow author, has read for me and tirelessly corrected my spelling, typos, punctuation and other faux pas. Thank you!

Thank you to Debra Lape, who helped me tell the story of her great-great-grandmother Lizzie. Many thanks to Mike Tailford, who gave me a look inside the life of his mother, Lillian Tailford. Thank you to Valerie Collins, who shared photos and stories of her grandmother Sheriff Maude Collins. All three were extremely generous with family stories and photos.

This book would not have come together without the research help of Ashtabula attorney Richard Dana; Ashtabula County public librarian Debra Laveck; Dan Hearlihy, Johnsons Island Preservation Society; author Robert Sberna; and my writing buddy, Wendy Koile, who is always ready for some field research.

Deanna L. Tribe, Vinton County Historical Society president, and Lawrence McWhorter, Vinton County Historical Society past president and Clinton Township trustee, lent me photos and took a whole day to show me around Vinton County and helped make Sheriff Maudes world come to life.

I am indebted to the following librarians, archivists, records custodians, historians, authors and experts. Each and every one played an important part in helping me find the facts and photos. Lily Birkhimer, digital projects coordinator, Ohio History Connection; Liz Plummer, and all Ohio History Connection librarians; Adam Jaenke and Brian Meggitt, Photograph Collection, Cleveland Public Library; Nora, Librarian Chat Service, New York Public Library; National Library of Scotland; Jill Gregg Clever, manager, Local History and Genealogy Department, Toledo Lucas County Public Library; Donna Christian, Toledo Lucas County Public Library; Peggy Debien, Ottawa County Museum; Nancy Horlacher, Dayton Metro Library; Mary Plazo, division manager, Akron-Summit County Public Library; Rebecca Larson-Troyer, Akron-Summit County Public Library; Hilda Lindner Knepp, interim Batavia branch manager, Clermont County Public Library; Lauren Martino, Washingtoniana Division, Washington, D.C. Public Library, Special Collections; Catherine Amoroso Leslie, PhD, professor and graduate studies coordinator, the Fashion School, Kent State University; Jeffrey A. Huth Esq.; author Carl Feather; author Casimir Ki Jadwisiak; Jody Coleman and Chris Hatem, Vinton County Clerk of Courts; Jackie Ludle, Summit County Clerks Office; Gary Puckett, prison records, Ohio Reformatory for Women; Joe Lancaster, volunteer, Greenbriar Historical Society; Gale Young, Vinton County Historical Society volunteer; Chuck Ocheltree, West Virginia Historical Society; Diane Mallstrom, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County; Julie Callahan, Columbus Metropolitan Library; Jason Wood; John Pointer; Phoebe Borman and photographer Debbie Gibson.

Those of us who write about history owe a debt of gratitude to the period journalists who covered the stories that we write about today. Sadly, their bylines never appeared at the top of their stories.

Love and thanks to my familyJohn-Paul, Nicholas and Nathan Paxtonand also to my new companion, Wyatt Earp, who lies under my desk while I write.

INTRODUCTION

The seed for this book was planted when I ran across a historic photo of a beautiful young woman wearing an Annie Oakleystyle straw hat and a frock coat with a ruffled shirtwaist. I was immediately struck by the intelligence in her eyes, the confidence in her expression and a touch of haughtiness in the tilt of her chin. I had to know who she was.

It took several keystrokes on the computer to learn her name was Maude Collins, and she was the first female sheriff of Ohio. No wonder she looked confident! She led me to Vinton County and out on a single-lane gravel road where a double murder was committed ninety years ago. She solved those murders by reading footprints in the mud. When I read about the crime, I knew I had to write about Maude and how she brought Inez Palmer and Arthur Stout to justice for killing Stouts father and stepmother.

While Inez may have been wicked, other women in this booklike Maudewere not, and they deserve to have their stories told.

Four madams are included in this book. Without passing judgment, I have tried to present what their lives were like. These women all had something more in common than the sex trade: They were tough as nails and successful businesswomen.

Clara Palmer contended with constant police raids in the 1880s and 90s. Only her death could shut the doors of her gilt-edged bordello in Cleveland.

You could say that Lizzie Lape had a franchise on bawdy houses in Ohio from the 1870s to 1904, having opened them from Akron to Marion to Lima and beyond. She married a number of husbands along the way, too.

Rosie Pasco and Lillian Ginger Pasco Tailford hailed from Ottawa County. Their houses were legend, as were their soft hearts and philanthropy. Rosie opened her doors in the 1930s. Gingers house was closed down by the feds in 1970.

Mildred Gillars is the lone traitor in the book. As a failed actress, she left the United States to find work in Europe before World War II. Because she fell in love with the wrong man, she wound up promoting Nazi propaganda as Axis Sally on the radio.

And then we have the killers.

Hester Foster was already doing time at the Ohio State Penitentiary when she lost her temper with another female inmate and bashed her head in with a shovel. Foster was the first woman in Ohio to be executed. She was hanged in 1844.