New Britain Herald Newspaper, November 22, 1930, Page 13

Colorful Career of the Girl WhoBecame Queen of the Dress-Suit Gang o . She Was Just a Taxi Dancer--- § - and Then Pretty Peggy _ Mahon Was Suddenly \_ Swept From Poverty -~ to Wealth--- _— > _and Finally ‘ -~ Prison i l’wwflmmmmf % o I PN 1111 ey L et it UL Demmemmsomimmasiomomo s B o T AN OO O OB 2N R I O PRI AN BB WA A R RN AT OPIIN: e i A y i S JUST AN EVENING CALL Drawing Shows How the Gorgeously Gowned Peggy Mahon, and Her Dress Suit Mob Gained Entree to the Detroit Van Antwerp Mansion. Peggy, Armed with 3 Gun, Forced the Servant to Cook Them a Meal While They Robbed the House. The Drawing Above in Circle Depicts the Arrival in the United States Nine Years Before of Peggy and Her First Husband, Then Irish Immigrants. PRETTY, auburn-haired gir! stood beside her husband on the deck of an immigrant steamer. Before her loomed up the fantastic, beckoning skyline of New York. This was the land of opportunity, of glittering hopes that Peggy Mahon had dreamed about in her impover. ished home back in Belfast, Ireland. But if the innocent, open-eyed col leen could have lnoked into the future she: would have been horrified. For during the subsequent nine years she was plunged into a maelstrom of events and experiences that swept her from poverty to ill-gotten wealth and eventually to prison. At first she learned the loneliness and terror of a big, strange city Then came many jobs. She was a “ten- cents-a-dance” taxi dancer. Her first romapce gave way to divorce. Final- ly she became the leader of a darine gang of well-dressed and well-armed holdup men who looked up to her as their “queen.” The climax of this strange story was reached only recently when Peggy was sentenced in Detroit to two and a half years in prison for armed rob- It abruptly ended a career that rivals the m imaginative plots of the current crime writers. Indeed, it fits the patterns of an underworld movie in every amazing detail. Let the writer of such stories, short of material, glance at the turbulent jife of Peggy Mahon and he will find it ready-made for him, embellished by ct that it is from the life c Peggy and her husband, Jim on that day nine years ago when they arrived in the United States. They had left behind in Ireland a life of hope- s dreams. Now they faced the real- ization of these dreams—in the new land. Having heard that big wages were paid to workers in Detroit’s auto- mobile factories, Jim got a job there. But Peggy was lonely, terrified by the turbulent city around her. She said later that Jim drank heavily and stayed away from home. Finally he lost his job. Peggy Mahon decided to go out and work for her self. She was tired of staying at home alone, of worrying about how to make ends meet. She got one job after an- other. None of them lasted long. Peggy was too frail, too inexperienced, to endure the work To make matters even more discour- aging her romance collapsed. She and her husband separated and then were divorced. The tiresome hunt for jobs, continued and finally she got one in a restaurant There the son of the own- er saw her and began paying close at- tention te her. He took her out to dances and parties constantly and then proposed marriage. Peggy accepted. It would be a re lief, she thought, from the drudgery she hated. She felt sure that she had found happiness and contentment at last. But even this dream vanished, for after a time, according to her story, her husband began, paying attention to other women and spent most of his nights at wild parties away from home. At last Peggy divorced him. Thus the immigrant girl found her- self just where she had started. She had ‘experienced twc marriages and divorces, she was drifting from one job another and the future seemed As she took stock of her life ewed events she became a Then she found ajob ]"mx]-dzmcr-r" in a Detroit dance This job was tiresome, but it brought her bread and butter. She was f all kinds of n fat ones v had a ticket. 4 igh me.” of the popular song {i and she w y he had to didn’t know. Then came a break—or w seemed like good fortune at th ¥ She met one night a debonair, well- groomed young man, who asked for a dance. He returned every night a that. He had a pleasant smile, voice. A strong friendship grew ur between the two. Joe O'Connor was the young man's name, and to Peg he was different than the other m she had known. One day he proposed marriage. But Peggy was disillusioned about marital life. Her past two experiences had been enough for her. But she and O’Connor agreed to continue their friendship on the old basis. Then O’Connor began making | mile up didn’t to carry out little * time, make them ric tioned Peggy. Yes, philosophy was one that slowly gripped Peggy Mahon. Why should she go on trying to be merely good? Her own past had been one that showed life was a matter of take—mnot give. It had taken everything from her and given her nothing, so she thought. Peggy Mahon must have often of those early conversat 0’Connor, especially when thought ons with SHE WAS RULER OF THE MOB Although They Were Called the “Dress Suit G the Followers of Peggy Mahon didn't Look Very Dressy in the Police Lineup. The Gunmen, Left to Right, Are Garner Grabill Marvin Sapovich, Louis Gardella, 0'Connor, and James Cantefield Men Standing in the Background and the One at the Extreme Right, Are Detectives. clutter Thus they w e to build the dation for one 4 into candy Slotsk r into his r e back of the sto: inutes the gang g: ailable cash and esc rom every part of the ci Copyrigtit, 1948, lnte; iz BUT SHE DANCED TOO FAST The Words From the Popular Song, “Ten Cents a Dance,” Fitted Peggy Mahon, Who Once Was a Taxi Dancer. She Is Shown Above as She Appeared—Not in a Dance Hall But in a Police Station. oon told e tried in to Peggy, in- g to do with ound her com- greed in Peg- ther trial. It ended Sculpture With Brass Wires town hou 1 only a staying behind. for some nds Here's a Novelty in Sculpture, the Creating of a Group of Figures—7 in All— in Brass Wire. Above You See Alexander Calder, of New York, Son of a Famous Sculptor, and | elf a Widely Known Modeler in Clay--*% ls0 Beside His Design. It Is y One of a Number of Fantastic Group Created for His Own Amusement. w s D e I R pmm I I v 7 I 7 N I O AR I SN MM%WI% Z e % [ TN R ORI RN I3 Z