The Revenge of the "Kiss of Death-Girl": The Story of Dorothy Mori

by Linda Paris

Dorothy Mori, who's infamous kiss of death marked the final chapter in her violent lover's criminal history.

New York City, NY. Dorothy Mori was a pretty 34 year old woman by all accounts. In 1927 she won a beauty contest in St. Louis, Mo. Part owner of a candy shop, Dorothy somehow had found herself in the company of one “Red Murray” Pershing in October and November of 1940.

Theirs was a tumultuous relationship. Pershing was 40 years old and had been paroled from Comstock, NY after serving 10 to 20 years for assault and robbery. It was reported that he had threatened to kill Dorothy several times in recent weeks.

As the story is told Pershing stole a $150.00 diamond ring from Dorothy after beating her up so badly that she had to be taken to the hospital to be treated. One news report stated that Pershing had “slashed Mori’s finger in an attempt to remove the ring.”

Dorothy and her dog in better times.

I guess Pershing didn’t consider that Dorothy might go to the police, however she did and subsequently set up a meeting with Pershing at the Manhattan Tavern. Police suggested that she kiss him when he so they would know who he was.

Dorothy agreed and when Pershing came into the bar, she ran to him and threw her arms around him, kissing him passionately.

The detectives closed in quickly but not quick enough. Pershing drew his weapon and fired off 5 shots but none of them “took effect.” The police blazed away at Pershing and struck him 6 times before he fell at their feet, dead.

On November 15th 1940, the headlines were splashed across the front pages of every newspaper:

“GERMANS TURN TO DOG AND FOX MEAT”

“IRON GUARD REVOLT IN RUMANIA FAILS”

“ITALIANS FALL BACK FROM KORITZA”

and

“CONVICT GETS KISS OF DEATH”

Just before “Red Murray” Pershing went to meet Dorothy Mori that fateful night he told some acquaintances:

“I might have a little trouble with Dotty.”

Dorothy's headlines had ranked right up there

with news of the war.

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)

The "Kiss of Death" Girl: Mary Margaret Collins

by Linda Paris

A rendering of Mary Margaret Collins for an article in which she

is referred to as the "Death Angel."

This blog entry is the first, in a short series of stories focusing on women who were dubbed "Kiss of Death" Girls in the press.

Mary Margaret Collins acquired her nick name from the press, who faithfully followed her trail of death as the years passed by.

“Mary changed the color of her hair as fast as her boyfriends find bullets.” Said one acquaintance.

Mary was a woman with “gangland” connections. Most of her male friends had nicknames like Bulldog, Gloomy and Dandy Jack and she never wanted for a boyfriend, even after she had earned the nickname ”Kiss of Death Girl.”

Mary’s saga began in Chicago Ill., during the winter of 1923. In spite of the bitter cold a brunette Mary Margaret was escorted to a popular nightclub called “The Rendezvous”, on what was supposed to be her 23rd birthday. Her boyfriend at the time was “Dandy Jack” Sheehy, a small time criminal.

The club had just opened and it was packed with 500 well dressed patrons that night. Apparently, Mary Margaret celebrated enthusiastically and at some point in the evening became violently ill. “Dandy Jack” promptly took Mary to what was described as an “ante-room”…an entrance or waiting area.

Mary Margaret (below) with 2 different Hair

colors.

The following events unfolded in rapid succession:

“Dandy Jack” shouted towards the barkeep, Henry Bing:

“Give me a bowl of ice and be damn quick about it!”

Bing growled back:

“ Go back to your table! A waiter will serve you!”

To which “Dandy Jack” replied:

“To hell with your waiter! Give me ice or I'll…."

And with that Jack produced a “shooting iron” and waved it over the bar while over 500 patrons stared in disbelief and Mary Margaret gasped for air.

It was just at this moment that patrolman John T. O’Malley entered the establishment and in a polite, discreet fashion demanded that “Dandy Jack” put his weapon away. Instead, Jack then turned his gun towards O’Malley and just as quickly turned it back towards Bing.

By this time Bing had his back towards Jack and he fired the gun.

A bullet entered the back of Bing’s neck and emerged from his throat.

It was then that a steward, Leopold Guth, closed in on Jack, brandishing a bottle. It took little time however, for Jack to turn around and shoot him dead.

Amazingly, another policeman, Detective William O’Malley (no relation) heard the shots and entered the bar firing on “Dandy Jack” and hitting him with one of his bullets.

As “Dandy Jack” Sheehy lay there dying, his last words were:

“Gee, they shot me. What do you know about that. The coppers shot me.”

Mary Margaret never did get her bucket of ice, but she did get her name in the paper.
“Dandy Jack” Sheehy was victim #1.

A "weather-worn" Mary Margaret

No more than 2 weeks later Mary Margaret was seen on the arm of a new boyfriend and had transformed herself into a glamorous blond. His name was Johnny Philips and he was described as a “beer runner, a tough guy, a cop-hater and a general all round unpleasant character.”

He had less than a year to live.

It seems that Johnny was involved in a brawl at a place called the “Northern Lights Café” one night. He had started the fight by beating up a female entertainer who worked there.

After the fight broke out someone called the police and told them that there was a riot.

The police poured into the establishment and stupidly Johnny and his pal grabbed 2 policemen and used them as hostages. They attempted to hide behind the officers to get to their automobile and make a get-away. They were unsuccessful.

Patrolman Frank Sobal, who was an excellent marksman, picked Johnny off, just as he started to wheel away.

Victim #2: Johnny Phillips

Blonde bombshell, Mary Margaret Collins

It took Mary exactly one month to step into the limelight again, this time sporting bright red hair.

The police wanted to question her in connection with a shooting that took place in a Florist Shop but this was not just any Florist Shop. The shop belonged to the notorious “Dion O’Banion” who ran a big liquor business on the side.

The police had learned that a few months earlier Mary had become involved in a “hair-pulling” incident with the wife of one “Mike Caruzzo”…one of Banion’s Lieutenants. Caruzzo was there when the fight took place and pulled Mary off of his wife slapping her around in the process.

At the time Mary was Dion’s girlfriend, so this caused Caruzzo and O’Banion to tangle and become bitter enemies.

As a result of this spoiled relationship…Dion O’Banion died in a hail of bullets not long after this event.

Victim #3: Dion O’Banion

Mary must have loved being a blond because a few months later, although the boyfriend had changed, the hair color remained.

Blond bombshell Mary Margaret Collins is seen in the company of Irving “Sonny” Schlitz. “Sonny” was a bootlegger and a jewel thief. He had gained a small amount of fame by being the first man to run liquor from Canada via airplane.

Sonny’s bullet-riddled body was found on the morning of August 28, 1925.

Victim #4 Irving Sonny ”Schlitz.”

Five years pass by . Not one to be idle, Mary seems to have been working her way up the gangster social ladder. By 1930 she was socializing with some real big shots in the “underworld.” Her company was in great demand and she is now seeing Eugene “Red” McLaughlin, kidnapper, robber and murderer.

It was June 7, 1930 that “Red's” body surfaced when a tugboat, chugging through a drainage ditch, in Summit, Il churned it up.

Eugene “Red” McLaughlin, victim #5.

The time was the Great Depression and kidnapping was rapidly becoming a profitable business. It was commonly referred to as the “snatch racket” among criminal types and that was Sammy Katz's specialty. Mary seems to have genuinely grieved for Sammy and was upset over his sudden demise.

Sammy was one of 3 kidnappers shot down in June of 1932, in a police ambush. The ambush took place in the office of Morris Shachter, a gambler.


When Mary heard the news she commented to the press “Sammy was one grand guy.”

Victim #6: Sammy Katz.

Davey “Jew” Bates had been seen escorting Mary Margaret Collins around town quite a bit in the following years. In the process of trying to execute a “hit” in Cincinnati, on another gangster, Davey tangled with police and lost big.

Davey “Jew” Bates: Victim #7

It is now 1933 and Mary’s reputation has followed her. For Mary’s contemporaries, a little thing like a “jinx” was no deterrent and such was the case for “Gloomy Gus” Winkler, a big time dealer in hot bonds and money.

When “Gloomy Gus” suddenly came up dead, there were some that looked directly at Mary Collins in spite of the fact that the word was he had “squealed” to the government about some stolen bonds.

As the undertaker was laying “Gloomy Gus” out in his coffin early the next morning, he got a telephone call from Mary.

“I’m coming right over!” she sobbed. ”I want to kiss him goodbye!”

And come over she did, indulging in histrionics over “Gloomy Gus’” as he lay in his expensive coffin.
Mary cried out:

“I knew him! I knew him well!”

which did not go over so well since by this time Gus’ widow had arrived.

Mary lost no time exiting the building.

“Gloomy Gus” Winkler #8

It was shortly after Gus’ funeral that Mary was picked up for questioning again by the police. She was arraigned on a vagrancy charge and brought before a judge on Friday, October 13, 1933.

“Aren’t you superstitious?” Judge Erwin J Haster asked her.

“Not a bit!” Mary shot back.

However for the next 2 years everyone else WAS superstitious even if Mary was not. She was no longer able to find playmates that were willing to play with her. She changed her hair color from blond to brunette, then redhead and back again but no one was tempted. They were not willing to risk her company. By now Mary's nickname as “The Kiss of Death” Girl was securely locked in place and no man wanted to end up on a slab in the morgue.

Sol Feldman, Peter Gilhooly, the

policeman on the case and

Mary Margaret (inset.

It took Mary two years to find the exception, Sol “Bulldog” Feldman.

The year is 1933 and Greta Garbo is expected to return from Europe and come back to America.. Pretty Boy Floyd is in the news and suspected of killing a police officer. But bigger than both of those stories is a headline that reads:

“GANGLAND SEES DEATH KISS WORKING.”

Apparently Sol Feldman had scoffed at his friends when they tried to warn him of the jinx that Mary Margaret Collins had carried with her for years.

On November 29th Sol Feldman was shot and wounded after smashing a furrier’s window and stealing a fur coat. He was taken to the hospital and released a month later almost fully recuperated. As he left the hospital he was greeted by taunts from his companions who reminded him of Mary Collins and her list of fatalities.

Apparently the thought preyed on his mind and Feldman became weaker and paler.

"This resulted in shock which lowered his vitality.” Explained Dr. A.J. Chesrow

when he was discussing Feldman’s case.

“It has reduced his resistance to the poisoning in his system.”

Feldman had a relapse and was sent back to the hospital in serious condition. He survived... but just barely.

Mary vanished from her old haunts and the death toll amongst Chicago’s underworld decreased noticeably.

“The Diana of Doom”

On February 5, 1940 there was much to read in the evening paper. Some of the headlines read:

"NAZI TROOPS THREATENING SWEDEN!”

“ARMED WORKERS IN GAS STRIKE!

Actress Ann Sheridan, dubbed “The OOOMPH Girl” came out with her annual top 10 Eligible Hollywood Bachelors list and left off all of the big glamour boys in favor of lesser-known actors.

Above: Actress Ann Sheriden

Amongst the big stories of that day the “Kiss of Death”-Girl makes what will be one of her final appearances in print.

“SHOPLIFTING SUSPECT DIES IN CROWN POINT!”

“DEATH OF PAL GIVES LIBERTY TO JINX WOMAN!”

“The Kiss of Death Girl was freed from the Lake County jail at Crown Point last night on a dead woman’s bond.”

Incredibly the curse of Mary Margaret Collins had struck again in Feb of 1940 and this time it was a female who suffered the ultimate price for sharing the company of Mary Margaret Collins.

Mary was charged with Grand Larceny and conspiracy to commit a felony in connection with a Gary, Indiana shoplifting plot.

Mary’s $1000 bond on the conspiracy charges was signed by a Dominie Pungatore but the money was meant for her co-defendant Anna Williams, 58, one of 5 people charged.

To the amazement of everyone, Anna Williams died in a Methodist hospital after becoming ill in jail. Anna’s bail money went towards Mary’s bail as a result. An additional $3000, a considerable amount at the time, was posted for Mary by a mysterious couple…Luella and William King.

Mary and the dead woman, together with 3 accomplices were arrested for the theft of 2 fur coats from the Gary Indiana, Sears Roebuck and Company.

The "Kiss of Death” Girl had been convicted 21 times on larceny charges by Feb of 1940.

Mary Margaret stunned everyone with the headline. Another of her associates comes up dead. The coroner’s office ordered an immediate autopsy on Miss Williams, who succumbed in a Crown Point hospital.

Anna Williams, 58, one of three women and a man arrested with Mary Margaret Collins in Gary Indiana on Jan. 23, 1940 died of unknown causes.

Feb. 19 1940:

“KISS OF DEATH WOMAN ON TRIAL”

The article states that Mary Margaret Collins, alias Margaret Martin also known as gangland’s “Kiss of Death” girl, pleaded not guilty.

Later her sentence was suspended.

Mary's final appearance in print would tell this sad story:

Sunday, August 25, 1940 the headline reads:

“KISS OF DEATH GIRL NABBED IN NARCOTIC RAID”

This time Mary Margaret surfaced in Chicago and was being held on what the police referred to as “dope charges.” The article goes on to say that 4 women and 2 men were arrested in a North Chicago apartment where over $4000 worth of heroin was found. Officials referred to Collins and one of her co-defendants as “dope addicts.”

Allegedly the other women arrested operated a “narcotics ring.” An undercover cop had a rendezvous with one of the suspects and was to meet them with 430 grains of heroin. Collins and her co defendants were turned over to the state and federal authorities after facing charges in the Chicago court.

A young and vibrant Mary Margaret Collins

I looked for more information on Mary Margaret Collins…the notorious “Kiss of Death” Girl, but was not able to find anything else.

Sad to think of the potential of this glamorous, enigmatic woman who ended up a thug and a drug addict.

I will always wonder just how Mary Margaret Collins met her end?

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)

If Thine Eye Causes Thee To Stumble...

by Linda Paris

Police described the family as typical of the hundreds of itinerants who had come to California from the dust bowl sections of Oklahoma and Texas.

In 1930, there was no place better to farm than in the southern plains of the United States. Men and women had turned the untamed prairie into the most prosperous farmland in the world. During the war, the demand for wheat was outstanding and farmers were paid record prices at a time when the rest of the country was suffering from a depression.

But by 1931 a drought had begun in the Southern Plains, which became progressively worse and worse.

In 1932, the national weather bureau reported 14 dust storms and by 1933 that number went up to 38.

The dust was so thick that it was stuck in the screens and people were scooping up buckets of it from their homes.

1934 brought with it a massive drought that affected 75% of the country and 27 states severely.

In the spring of 1935 the winds blew 27 nights and days without stopping. People began to die of suffocation and dust pneumonia.

It was during this time that hundreds and thousands of farmers decided to cut their losses, pack their families and belongings into their jalopies and head to California.

That is where Ola and Woodrow Harwell came from in 1938 with their 2 sons in tow.

Harwell wore faded denim overalls and his wife wore a patched, gingham dress most of the time. The children were described as “thin and hollow-eyed.”

The Harwells settled in Merced, California, south of Modesto. Ola had 2 sons from a previous marriage and was 26 years old. Her husband, Woodrow, was 20 and worked as a cotton picker.

On the night of August 24, 1938, the Harwells had been living in Merced for four months. As the story was later told by Woodrow, the family had dinner and then gathered together in a circle in the center of their one room cabin for their nightly reading of the bible. Woodrow stated that Ola read and he and the boys would shout out frequent amens throughout.

Then Ola came to the book of Matthew (chapter18, verses 8 and 9)…

“…and if thy hand or thy foot causeth thee to stumble, cut it off…and if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out…”

According to Woodrow, Ola slowly looked up from her Bible and quietly announced to her family that her right eye and her left hand had “sinned.”

Saying nothing else, she slowly rose, picked up a pair of scissors and left the room.

Woodrow then explained to the police that Ola went out to the woodshed, where she stabbed herself in the eye repeatedly with the scissors. It was after this that she placed her hand against a slab of concrete and began swinging a large ax several times with her right arm until her left hand fell to the ground.

When she returned to the house, Woodrow said her clothing was soaked with blood and she simply lay down on the bed.

There, incredibly, he goes on to claim that the whole family finished praying and only when they had finished praying did Woodrow send the oldest boy to the neighbors for help.

The neighbor, Bessie Wilcox, called a Pentecostal minister. The minister called Curtis Sarr, the state highway patrolman.

It was Sarr who finally took the poor woman to the hospital where doctors worked feverishly to save her life, removing fragments of her shattered eye and treating her arm.

It took two full hours from the time the injuries took place to get to the hospital where Ola finally received medical treatment.

In another version, Woodrow said the children followed their mother out to the shed and screamed in terror begging her not to cut off her hand. They then ran back into the cabin as she laid her left arm against a cement pipe and raised the ax with her right arm. She swung three separate times before cutting off her hand.

Woodrow claimed that when she came back into the cabin she was “apparently without pain.”

The physicians who worked on the woman were astounded that she seemed to suffer no “shock” and was conscious the entire time they worked on her.

It would seem that Ola Harwell was obsessed with the idea that she had sinned.

Even though the doctors had said that Ola would live, they would have to sever the hand further up because her wrist had been so badly mutilated.

In 1938 the police did not fully accept Woodrow’s version of the story to be true and he was held for questioning. They did not believe that Ola could do this to herself or if it was indeed even possible?

Could you cause such severe damage to your own eye and continue to function after that?

Could you, even with an eye that wasn’t maimed, hack at your own hand with a heavy ax three separate times?

Wouldn’t you be screaming from pain after you had already chopped it once or twice?

It’s very hard to imagine.

Then there’s the matter of the two hours that Woodrow claims they spent "praying" after Ola returned from the shed, even though she sits there “soaked in blood” and bleeding from the eye and the arm.

Did Woodrow not ask her any questions at all throughout this entire event?

Did he ever say “Let’s get you some help!” or “You must get to the hospital?”

Why does Woodrow then send the son to the neighbor’s house for help instead of contacting the police himself, immediately?

The story is not believable.

To add even more mystery to Woodrow's disturbing tale he told the police that he buried Ola’s hand near the cabin, but his 6 year old son told the police that “Daddy threw Mama’s hand into the canal.”

What really happened to Ola Harwell the night of August 23, 1938?

Did the pressures of such a hard life become too much for Ola or did the pressure become too much for Woodrow instead?

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)

A Girl and Her Gun.

by Linda Paris

It is Feb 24, 1922 and the newspaper headlines are full of scandal and violence:

“FRENCH BLUEBEARD TO PAY FOR CRIMES WITH GUILLOTINE!”

“WOMAN DRINKS POISON”

Mabel Normand, a famous Hollywood actress has “collapsed” as a result of the murder of William Desmond Taylor, a Hollywood director who was mysteriously murdered in his apartment on the evening of February 1st.

Holding it’s own amongst the many sad tales that were featured in the evening newspaper on that day are the headlines slated Waco, Texas:

“MAN IS SHOT DEAD BY GIRL IN COURT”

“GIRL KILLS MAN IN WACO COURT AS TRIAL OPENS”

“GIRL MURDERS MAN IN COURT”

The girl was Marcine Matthews and she was just 17 years old.

Two years earlier J. S. Crosslin had been convicted of criminally attacking Marcine, age 15 at the time. She became pregnant as a result of the assault and needed surgery to deliver the baby. The surgery destroyed her health and the pregnancy ruined her chance of getting an education.

Crosslin had been found guilty and sentenced to 9 years for the crime however, the verdict had been recently overturned due to a technicality and he was given a second trial.

Marcine Matthews was to testify in Crosslin’s second trial and when the day arrived, she walked into the courtroom, through the doors and directly towards the witness stand.

Marcine fumbled slightly, then turned around and aimed a gun directly at the defendant J.S. Croslin.

She walked quite calmly towards him and took careful aim at Crosslin shooting him, right there in the courtroom from approximately ten feet away. Then Marcine deliberately took several more steps towards him. This placed her within feet of her target and she shot him again.

Croslin attempted to rise in his chair when the first bullet hit him in the stomach. The second shot hit him in the right arm below the elbow. As he tried to turn away…the third shot entered his back under the right shoulder blade.

W.H. Forrester, the attorney for the girl managed to stop her just after the third shot. He took the weapon from her and carried her to a room in the sheriff’s office. She was locked in the room until the scene was under control.

Croslin was a former pastor and had moved to 6 different towns in Texas before settling in Waco where he had been involved in religion since 1892.

He then became involved in the Real Estate business and apparently did quite well for himself.

He was found guilty of assaulting the girl in her own home when he came by to collect rent. Since Marcine’s mother had died when she was a small child she was there alone.

After the shooting she was sent to the “Evangelina Home” in Waco and her bond was set at $4000.00. Soon, however, the townspeople rallied around her and her bond was quickly paid.

By March the 2nd, 100% public sympathy was in Marcine’s corner.
The headlines read:

“BRAVE YOUNG GIRL SHOOTS MAN ON TRIAL IN WACO COURT”

J.S. Croslin was 55 years old and survived by a wife, 2 sons, 2 daughters, 2 sisters and a brother. He had lived in Waco for 28 years.



When you read this story you are struck by the fact that this is one of those things that would never happen now. No one would be able to walk into a court house with a gun in their pocket.

Not today.

Apparently Marcine took the 25 caliber gun from home and hid it in her suitcase.

An attendant who was with her while she was getting dressed for court that day left the room, giving Marcine the opportunity to retrieve the gun. Her little brother, however, came into the room unexpectedly and interrupted her in the process of putting the gun in her right pocket. She was forced to put the gun in her left pocket instead.

Witnesses said that she had difficulty pulling the gun from her pocket and when she finally got it out she had to transfer it to her right hand before shooting.

Marcine later told the police that she worried about it being in her left hand pocket. Mrs. Murdock from the Evangeline Home stated that Marcine had held up “wonderfully” the entire time she had been there. and that she did not shed a tear.

Mrs. Murdock also stated:

“She told me that when she entered the courtroom all she could think of was to empty the gun.”


Interestingly, Marcine’s father, J. E. Matthews, was the proprietor of a gun range and that was where Marcine had learned to shoot.

She fired 3 shots at Croslin…all taking effect.


Marcine’s words tore at everyone’s hearts in the days following the shooting:

“He disgraced me, ruined my health and deprived me of school privileges.” she stated after the killing, “but he will never ruin another girl.”

On March 20th 1922, a Grand Jury adjourned without finding an indictment and Marcine was freed from all charges.

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)

You Can’t Live on Love Alone

or "The Redhead and the Frenchman" by Linda Paris

It is a hot and lazy afternoon in July 1952. The city is Hollywood, California. The place is Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

A pretty young woman with flaming red hair walks up to the cashier, in broad daylight and says:

“Put all the money in the bag. There’s a man with a gun across the street making me do this.”

After collecting $55.91 she calmly walks around the corner from the theater and eventually gets into a taxi.

The woman was Colleen Bowman and she was 20 years old at the time.

Colleen was later arrested entering a Hollywood market, still carrying the bag with the money in it.

Meanwhile the police had followed a "suspicious looking man" from the theater. He was 20 year old Frenchman, Jack Lastrade and he had been holding Colleen’s coat for her as she robbed Grauman's Theater.

Lastrade told the police he knew nothing of the robbery and that Colleen was just a friend of his, however later when they saw each other at the police station the policemen noticed that they “embraced.”

While researching another subject I ran across this small story on page three of a Phoenix, Arizona newspaper and for some reason found myself fascinated by it.

I used to live in Hollywood, right down the street from Grauman's. Maybe that's what I found so interesting about this little snippet.

I've walked down those streets many times in the afternoon and know how dull and listless the days can become, in spite of the fact that you are in Hollywood, California.

The day to day dull-drum kicks in on Hollywood Blvd., just like it does in Topeka, Kansas.

I did a little more searching to find out what had happened to the exotic sounding couple and the female who was brazen enough to rob Grauman’s Chinese Theater by herself, in the middle of a typical afternoon.

Jack Lastrade and Colleen Bowmen met while both of them were working at a downtown department store. It must have been magic because before long they both left their job and ran off together, with not a penny between them.

Exactly 2 weeks before the robbery they walked out of their place of work believing that with their good looks and their love, that they would be able to build a life together.

Earlier in the day, Colleen had robbed 2 candy stores in the same area. She walked away from both with a whooping $6 total.

She later told police:

“I was hungry. I have been without food or a place to go. I decided I would pull the robbery to try and get some money for a place to sleep and something to eat.”

On July 30th Colleen entered a guilty plea and was put on probation but only on the conditions that she move back to Phoenix and never have anything to do with her French friend again.

She was also ordered to pay restitution to Grauman’s and the candy shops.

The candy store charges were dropped and the headline read:

“ROBBER REDHEAD MAY BE FREED”

Considering that it was not a violent crime, they didn’t point a gun at anyone and they only wanted money for food and shelter, I’m fine with the fact that Colleen Bowman was given another chance.

I do wonder what ever happened to Jack Lastrade and Colleen Bowman.

I hope they went on to have normal lives and the great Grauman’s Chinese Theater robbery of 1952, was the first and final chapter in their criminal careers.

It sounds more like an ill fated romantic adventure, both unrealistic and expensive in the end.

The redhead and the Frenchman.

It must have been an intense attraction for both of them to quit their jobs and run off together like that.

It didn’t take long for the couple to learn that life was not quite that easy.

As Colleen told the officers the day she was arrested:

“You can’t live on love alone.”

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)