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I hate it when women who do awesome shit are diminished by giving them a moniker that calls them the female [dude who did something similar]. She wasn’t “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes.” She was Mary Grace Quackenbos Humiston. Say it with pride. In 1917 she investigated a cold case of a missing woman, uncovering both a killer and police corruption.
--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: February 13, 1917--
On February 13, 1917, 18-year-old Ruth Cruger went missing in Harlem. It was a big deal, because she was white. And pretty. Except the cops alleged she was “on the prowl,” meaning she ran away from her wealthy and loving family and her work as a Baptist Sunday school teacher to become a sex worker. Right. They didn’t investigate the last man known to see her.
Ruth’s sister Helen knew that on the day of her disappearance, Ruth was taking her skates to a mechanic’s shop for sharpening. Helen asked the mechanic, Alfredo Cocchi, if he’d seen her. He said yeah I sharpened her skates haven’t seen her since. Helen remained suspicious and told her father. Mr. Cruger urged the cops to investigate Cocchi, but they said nah he’s a good guy he didn’t do it. Cruger went up the chain and they said fine and a corrupt sergeant was sent to investigate, filing a four-word report: “I searched the cellar.” Then he came up with a “witness” who saw Ruth getting into a cab with a man, pushing the sex worker narrative.
Cocchi fled to his native Italy two days later, leaving his wife and two children. The Crugers were all the fuck he’s obviously guilty and the cops said nah he just hates his wife he didn’t do nuthin’. Enter Grace Humiston.
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Humiston had a reputation as a talented and dogged lawyer; she knew fuckery was afoot. Working pro bono, she interviewed local residents who may have seen something. Two said they saw Cocchi appear from his basement looking “dirty and nervous.” So Humiston went to the Cocchi’s shop asking to see the basement and Cocchi’s wife wielded a brick at her and threatened to “split your skull.”
Knowing the police had botched the investigation, she went to the police commissioner to report the threat, and was granted a search permit. Taking some men with her they discovered the concrete floor had been smashed. They dug, and Ruth Cruger’s body was found, four months after she went missing. Cocchi was eventually extradited from Italy and confessed. Being a murderous douche, he blamed the victim, saying he killed her because “Ruth did all in her power to attract my attention.” Asshole. He got 27 years.
But Humiston wasn’t finished. Her accusations of police negligence uncovered that Cocchi was protected by police because he was involved in a scam where police would arrest people and say they could pay a fine to Cocchi. Cocchi would take a cut and give the rest to the cops. The following month Grace Humiston was named a special investigator to the NYPD.
Fuck da police! The corrupt ones, at least. And also fuck da algorithms. Never miss a post with a free (or paid) subscription:
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