Mary of a thousand names, 1869-1872

A Cleveland girl. Cincinnati Daily Enquirer [Cincinnati, Ohio] 27 December 1869; p. 4.

A Cleveland girl, who gave her name as Mary Goldsborough, was brought up before Judge Cummings, in the Police Court at Toledo on Thursday, on the charge of appearing in male attire. She was fined $13 20. In the account which the girl gave to the Court of herself, she stated that she had dressed in man’s garments for the past seven years, and that she had never been detected before. Within the time mentioned, she had driven street-cars in Cleveland for two years, and for a time she was employed as driver on a canal. Her parents died when she was quite young, and since she had become large enough she had supported herself. The girl is said to have been of a very modest appearance.

“A Young Amazon.” Plain Dealer [Cleveland, Ohio] 31 December 1869; p. 4.

An Ohio Girl in Boy’s Clothing for Seven Years—She Drives Street Cars, Cooks on a Steamboat, Works on a Farm and Chews Tobacco.

Last evening Officer White, of the West Side, arrested a person on suspicion of having stolen $9,60. On being taken to the Station House this person gave the name of Alexander Davis, and the age of 16 years. This morning, however, Davis’ sex was doubted, and it was then ascertained that the prisoner is a girl. She was tried before the police court for petit larceny and discharged, but retained in prison for wearing male apparel.

This is the same girl who was arrested in Toledo a few days since for disguising herself in this manner. She was allowed by the police of that city to go, on promising to leave town. She then came here, and wandered about the city until arrested as stated above.

Her career has been a romantic one. She was born in Zanesville, and her right name is Florence Baker. At the age of 11 years she ran away from home to “seek her fortune.” Thinking that she could get along better if she wore boys’ clothing, she donned male apparel, and states that her sex was not discovered until after passing for a young man for seven years she was arrested in Toledo. When she left her home she went to Columbus, and obtained employment as driver of a street car. She was large of her age, and having masculine features and short hair, easily passed for a boy of about sixteen. For six months she worked in this capacity, and then went to Cincinnati. There she was hired on the steamboat Alaska as second cook and sailed four trips between that city and New Orleans. She generally slept alone, and no one on the boat mistrusted that she was a girl. Leaving the boat she came to Cleveland and went to work for a farmer living about nine miles west of the city.

But to trace her through all her wanderings would take too long. Suffice it to say that she has been engaged at masculine labor constantly, much of the time having been employed at farming.

She is now 18 years old, but in her costume appe[a]rs like a boy of 16, and gives that as her age. Her hair is black and shingled close. She wears a black suit, no shirt collar, a slouch hat, goes with her pants in her boots, and chews enormous quids of tobacco. Her voice is coarse and her manners correspond. The police are, as yet, undecided what to do with her, and in the meantime she is retained in prison.

“Municipal Court, Dec. 31.” Plain Dealer [Cleveland, Ohio] 31 December 1869; p. 4.

Petit Larceny—Alexander Davis, a woman in man’s clothing, was arrested on a charge of stealing $9,60 from J. E. Woodbury. She was discharged.

“A Toledo Sensation: A Cleveland Girl in Male Attire.” Blade [Toledo, Ohio]; reprinted in Racine County Argus [Racine, Wisconsin] 20 January 1870; p. 1.

The Toledo Blade, of Monday, says: “Quite a sensation case came before justice Cummings for adjudication in the police court this morning, it being that of a girl charged with wearing men’s clothing. The name of the girl as given to officer Barnes, who arrested her last evening at the St. Charles’ hotel, is Mary Goldsborough. The girl pleaded guilty to the offence to which she was charged, and the court fined her $13 20. On paying $5, and promising to leave the city for Cleveland to-day, suspended the balance of the fine and released the defendant. In the account which the girl gave to the court of herself, she stated that she had dressed in men’s garments for the past seven years and that she had never been detected before. Within the time mentioned, she had driven street-cars in Cleveland for two years, and for a time she was employed as driver on a canal. Her parents died when she was quite young, and since she has become large enough she has supported herself. The appearance of the girl was extremely modest, and while relating her history she bowed her head, and a deep blush mantled her face. In size she was less than the ordinary height, and rather slim. In complexion she was of the brunette, with a large, dark eye, black hair, cut short, and parted on one side, and skin bearing the effects of outdoor exposure. The outlines of her face were, in every respect, effeminate and girlish. Her voice was like that of a boy’s, and in her manner and expression she seemed like a lad about fourteen years of age. She was dressed in a black sack coat with a dark vest revealing between its lappels [sic] a white shirt bosom, and dark pants cut in style. Immediately after her trial, which was witnessed by a gaping crowd of roughs, she left the court room and disappeared.”

“ ‘Wearing the Breeches’ ,” by Le Grand Marvin. Buffalo Morning Express [Buffalo, New York] 14 January 1870; p. 4.

A Legal View of Woman’s Right to Wear Male Attire.

[We have received from Le Grand Marvin, Esq., the following valuable communication throwing light upon the much misunderstood right of women to wear the apparel of the masculine sex:]

For Buffalo Express:

Has a woman a right to wear a costume, conformed (adapted) to ther anatomy: of course, to her convenience, comfort, strength and health?

Has she a right to wear man’s apparel to-wit, what men,—intelligent, scientific, practical men, have adopted, wear and advise as so adapted to man’s anatomy, and health,—and to his convenience, comfort and strength?

In our Buffalo Express of Jan. 10, was copied from the Cleveland Plain Dealer of Dec. 31,—a statement therein—of the arrest for larceny of one “Alexander Davis”—after appearing to be a woman “Florence Baker”: that the proof being insufficient for the alleged larceny, she was “retained in prison” at Cleveland, [O]hio, for “wearing male apparel”.—

A letter of Jan. 11. from the Cleveland Superintendant of Police,—states that she was retained under arrest to be sent, and was sent Jan. 10,—to Columbus,[O]hio, on a charge for grand larceny.

Therein the “male apparel” seems not to have been the cause of her being so retained under arrest;—thereby that statement aided to sustain the erroneous impression of many,—perhaps of the most people—that the wearing by a woman of clothing, known as the “American costume”—or any other apparel—similar to men’s apparel,—was a crime and a sufficient cause of her arrest.—

That cause of arrest, seems to be not only questioned, but that it is planned to prosecute for “false imprisonment”—all police, and other officers, making, or aiding, or retaining arrest of any woman—for such a cause.

A young girl. Cincinnati Daily Enquirer [Cincinati, Ohio] 6 January 1870; p. 4.

A young girl calling herself Mary Goldsborough was arrested in Toledo the other day for appearing on the streets dressed in masculine apparel. She admitted that she had worn such garments for years, and said she adopted them because in that garb she cought more easily earn her living, and that her disguise had never before been detected, although she had been employed as a driver on the street-cars and canal, and in farm work. This admission evidently aggravated the poor girl’s offense in the eyes of the astute magistrate before whom she was taken, for he imposed a fine of $13 20 upon her; but, be it recorded, he mercifully consented to let her go, on handing over five dollars—all the money she had in the world. Where she should turn after that for food or shelter, this pharasaical Dogberry did not stop to inquire. And now, if it would not be considered impertinent, we would like to ask, was there not in all Toledo a lawyer, able or willing, to tell the judicial donkey that the luckless girl had committed no offence known to the laws of Ohio, and that he was morally, if not legally, guilty of robbery in taking her money? It is about time for magisterial blockheads to learn that the fashion of men’s or women’s garments, so long as they are not indecent, is not to be decided in police courts. By the way, our exchanges furnish the natural and expected sequel to the story. The plundered girl—her real name is Florence Barker, and she was born in Zanesville eighteen years ago—stripped of the trifle of money she had, succeeded in reaching Cleveland, and was there again taken into custody; this time on a charge of larceny—probably forced to the crime to escape starvation. The stern virtue of the officers of the law will doubtless be satisfied when they have driven her into a brothel. That seems to be what they are striving for.

“Arrested Again.” Cleveland Leader [Cleveland, Ohio] 8 January 1870; p. 4.

The girl dressed in boy’s clothing, who was arrested last week in this city, was arrested again last night, in accordance with orders received from Columbus. She gives her name as Mary Goldsborough, but her real name is Florence Baker.

“From Columbus.” Cincinnati Daily Gazette [Cincinnati, Ohio] 12 January 1870; p. 3.

Special Dispatch to the Cincinnati Gazette.

Columbus, O., January 11.

…

Mary Goldsbury, alias Florence Baker, who raised some excitement in Cleveland by appearing in male attire, was before the mayor of this city to-day, charged with stealing one hundred and twenty dollars from Mr. Schneider, with whom she had engaged as a boy. She was committed to jail in default of three hundred dollars bail.

…

“Municipal Court, April 22d.” Plain Dealer [Cleveland, Ohio] 22 April 1872; p. 3.

Intoxication—Joseph Elmer, Albert Lemke, Gustave Ehrard, Mike Gillan, Samuel Braumagem, Robert O’Brien, John Connors, Patrick Sweeney, Jacob Wilson, Chas. McCarthy, John Ashton, Peter Murphy and Patrick Nolan were fined $3 and costs; John Hamilton, William Higgins and Henry Dawson, $5 and costs; Walter Collins, Homer Smith, Mrs. Baker, Edward Bragg, Mollie Myers, Mary Goldsborough and Lizzie Brunner were sentenced to the house of correction and most of them were fined from $5 to $10 in addition.

J. F. Goldsborough. Daily Dispatch [Columbus, Ohio] 4 December 1872; p. 4.

J. F. Goldsborough, alias Charles Smith, alias Charles Beld[e]n, a girl of twenty-five summers, who has been in the habit of wearing men’s clothing for several years, is in jail, charged with having stolen a watch from a freight conductor. The case will be investigated by J. P. Remmy, Justice of the Peace, December 6th.

“Fast Girl of Muskingum.” Daily Dispatch [Columbus, Ohio] 5 December 1872; p. 4.

Her Adventures in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati—Dressed in Male Apparel—Capturing Female Hearts and R. R. Conductors; Gold Watches.

A brief notice of the arrest of J. F. Goldsborough, alias Charles Smith, alias Frank Belden, charged with stealing a gold watch from Michael Henry, who is a conductor on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, while riding on his train from Zanesville to Columbus, was made in The Dispatch of Wednesday. The prisoner is a woman and her true name is Mary Goldsborough. Her advent into this world occurred near St. Clairsville under the usual circumstances. But Mary is a queer girl, notwithstanding the advantage she enjoyed in having poor and pious parents. The exact date when Mary first dressed in the garb of naughty men is not made very clear by her biographer. It is generally understood that when she and her only brother were at home, basking in the sunshine of happy childhood, the brother was compelled to bask without his pants about half the time, as Mary, though two years younger than John, was an early riser and a perfect tiger in the settlement of juvenile difficulties.

It made but little difference whether John got out first in the morning or not, Mary would capture his clothing and take the wind out of her father’s sails in fifteen seconds when he offered to correct any irregularities between the children. Her early training in bifurcated garments proved to be of great value in the first days of womanhood, when Mary adopted the occupation of bar-tender, canal driver, and general utility business in the dens and dives of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. She made her debut before the courts of Columbus January 10th, 1870, charged with stealing $400 from a saloon-keeper whom she had been serving as bar-tender, and with whom she lodged, strange as the statement may appear, without knowledge on his part that she was not what she represented herself to be—a boy. Her subsequent exploits of this character are not justified by any matrimonial record in the office of Probate Judge of Franklin county. The record of the Common Pleas Court states that Mary was discharged from custody in the month of February fellowing her arrest, no bill having been found against her by the Grand Jury. Mary has lost much of her former popularity. Her familiarity with watch fobs and vest pockets worked this change. She is perfectly cool; says she never wore petticoats since she was a woman, and never will. She makes no attempt at concealing her age, another knock down argument as to the influence of dress over the mind.

After Mary left the freight train from which the watch is alleged to have been stolen, she went to Cincinnati, and was on her return to Cleveland when she was arrested at the depot in Columbus. Boylike, she ventured into the field of “wanted correspondence, for fun, love or matrimony,” and received letters from Kitty O’Neil, a resident of the Forest City. Kitty inclosed locks of hair in her letters, and wrote extraordinary assurances of “yours till death.” Pawn tickets found upon her person reveals the fact that she deposited the conductor’s watch with her “uncle” in Cincinnati. Officer McEwen has gone after it. Meanwhile Mary occupies a room in the brown stone front on Mount street; smoking and chewing, and receiving such attention as is usually accorded to people there by vigilant deputy sheriffs.

“A Female Shark: How a Feminine Dead-Beat Ran a Checkered Career.” Columbus Journal [Columbus, Ohio]; reprinted in Cincinnati Enquirer [Cincinnati, Ohio] 6 December 1872; p. 2.

[From the Columbus Journal, 4th.] [Note: brackets original]

J. F. Goldsborough, alias Charles Smith, alias Frank Belden, has been incarcerated in the County Jail. The incarcerated individual wears bifurcated garments, but in this case the clothing is no indication of the sex. She has for a long time worn men’s clothing, and under the disguise has perpetrated many thefts. A depredation on a railroad conductor is what brings her into particular notice.

Mary Goldsborough (her true name), who is now about twenty-five years old, came originally from St. Clairville, where her father died some years ago. She adopted the trade of a thief, and first came to notice in Columbus about nine years ago, when she was arrested for till-tapping, and was punished by the means usually resorted to in Police Court. Her next appearance was in 1870, by which time she had donned the habiliments appropriate to the masculine gender, and she enacted her assumed character so well that she secured a situation as bar-keeper in a saloon, and continued in the service of her employer, and occupied a part of his bed for a month before, it is alleged, he learned that she was not a man. Even after that she continued in his employ, and to share his domestic comforts till she found an opportunity to lay hands on about four hundred dollars of his money, when she absented herself in a very precipitate manner. She was arrested, but the evidence was not regular, and the Grand Jury did not find a bill against her.

On the 16th ultimo this extraordinary female adventuress turned up at Zanesville, where she took passage for Columbus in the caboose-car of Conductor Michael Henry’s freight train. As usual, she was attired as a man, and her make-up was well calculated to deceive. The train arrived at Columbus in the night, and she got permission to sleep in the caboose till morning. During the night she found an opportunity to steal a gold watch and chain, valued at $250, belonging to the conductor, who was also sleeping in the car. She got away with the watch before the conductor discovered his loss, and took an early train for Cincinnati.

Tuesday evening she came back to Columbus, and while at the ticket-office at about two o’clock yesterday morning, purchasing a ticket for Cleveland, she was recognized by policeman McEwen, and taken into custody. She was before Justice Remmy yesterday, and was committed to jail to wait examination to-morrow.

The woman tells a remarkable story about herself. She became accustomed to men’s clothing, and found them to be most advantageous in her thieving operations. She was not always successful in this line of business, however; sometimes she found it necessary to engage in manual labor or clerical service. At one time she drove horses on the Mahoning Canal, and at another time secured a second clerkship on a steamboat, and continued in that situation for some weeks, but was finally discharged for drunkenness.

During her recent visit to Cincinnati she was engaged as waiter in a saloon, but lost her situation after a spree, and struck out for Cleveland, where, it appears she has been toying with the affections of an innocent damsel named Kitty O’Neal. On her person was found a letter from the infatuated Kitty, inclosing a lock of her hair and communicating the most extraordinary assurances of undying affection. The Goldsborough declares that she captured Kitty’s affections in the character of a nice young man; and if Kitty takes the State Journal, as all good little girls ought to, this paragraph will give her the first information that she has had of the gross imposition practiced on her.

The prisoner confesses that she stole Henry’s watch and chain, and says she pawned them at two different places, getting but eight dollars on one of them. The pawn tickets found in her pocket-book verify her statements, and Policeman McEwen started to Cincinnati last night to secure the articles. Meanwhile she will “keep company” with old Ann Clark in jail. She plays her part well. Dressed in a new suit she presents rather a respectable appearance, and with hardened hands and short hair looks decidedly masculine. She smokes, chews tobacco, and before her arrest was seen by some policemen standing up to a counter in a saloon and tossing off drinks with the sang-froid of “one of the boys.”

“The Girl-Boy.” Daily Dispatch [Columbus, Ohio] 6 December 1872; p. 4.

J. F. Goldsborough, as the girl named Mary Goldsborough calls herself when dressed in men’s clothing, was brought before Justice Remmy at two o’clock, waived examination, and was held in the sum of $300 to appear before the grand jury. The watch stolen from Michael Henry was valued at $250. It was recovered from a pawn-broker in Cincinnati, who loaned the girl about $20 on it. The girl was returned to jail for want of bail.

“Court of Common Pleas.” Daily Dispatch [Columbus, Ohio] 12 February 1873; p. 4.

The prisoners in jail were arraigned before Judge Olds on Tuesday, and their cases were disposed of as follows:

Florence F. Goldsborough, grand larceny; plea, guilty. Sentence deferred.

Elijah Coleman, burglary and larceny; further time for plea. Judge Rankin appointed to defend.

On last Friday. Belmont Chronicle and Farmers, Mechanics and Manufacturers Advocate [St. Clairsville, Ohio] 6 March 1873; p. 4.

On last Friday in the Court of Common Pleas, at Columbus, Judge Steel sentenced the “boy-girl” Goldsborough to one year’s imprisonment in the Penitentiary, for grand larceny. it will be recollected by many that the party referred to above was sentenced by the judge of the Common Pleas Court of this County, several years since, to a three years’ term in the same boarding house.

“Municipal Court: Before Judge Abbey.” Cleveland Leader [Cleveland, Ohio] 19 March 1874; p. 7.

…

House Breaking—Mary Goldsborough and Brook Goldsborough, $150 and costs, committed till paid, and thisty [sic] days in the work house.

Mary Goldsborough. Cleveland Leader [Cleveland, Ohio] 19 March 1874; p. 8.

Mary Goldsborough, who has made herself notorious by her assumption of male attire and character, has again brought herself into public notice by a raid upon the residence of Judge Hessenmueller. She, with her brother, broke into that gentleman’s house on Tuesday, in broad day light, and after appropriating about thirty dollars worth of clothing were making their escape when they were discovered by the house servants and handed over to the police.

They were tried upon a charge of “house breaking” in the Police Court, Wednesday morning and found guilty. They received a sentence of sixty days’ imprisonment in the Workhouse, and were each fined $150 and costs, committed till paid.

Mary appeared in her usual costume and with her bluff, off-hand manner, and scientific mode of chewing tobacco, made an admirable counterfeit of a fast young man.

She did not appear to be at all crestfallen by the prospect of a long seclusion from the world, and maintained a cheerful deportment which, bearing in mind the fact that she has but recently been released from the penitentiary, was highly creditable to her philosopy.