The Adventuress: Murder, Blackmail, and Confidence Games in the Gilded Age

16. Death from Afar

The Robber Baron’s Partner 181 Chapter 15 The robber Baron’s Partner � The secret of success in my business is to buy old junk, fix it up a little, and unload it upon other fellows. —Charles Tyson Yerkes (circa 1897) Two interesting news items concerning minnie Wallace Walkup Ketcham surfaced after John Ketcham’s death. The first was the discovery that a woman who lived in the vicinity of indiana Avenue was the niece of minnie ’s first husband, James Walkup. Mrs. Titus, the niece, had been fifteen years old at the time of Walkup’s death, but remembered the incident—and the subsequent hoopla—quite clearly. But she had no idea that her neighbor mrs. Ketcham, aka mrs. Wallace, was the famous minnie Walkup until after the death of John Ketcham, when her real identity was discovered.¹ The second item, never proved or disproved, was from 1901, just before the trial in Hansen v. Ketcham. minnie was living in New york City, and the rumor had reached emporia from Chicago that she was about to marry a rich New yorker “who loves her madly” and was going to move her into a Fifth Avenue home. Her lawyer, George Trude, said he knew nothing about it and viewed it as untrue. The reason for the marriage, of course, according to the article, was that her money was nearly gone.² Whether minnie was out of cash or not, by 1900 she had latched onto another rich man, one who was still married: DeLancey Horton Louderback , twenty years her senior, who accompanied her to her trial in Chicago Chicago, 1902–1915 182 every day. By then he had been married for thirty-three years to Virginia Mixsell Louderback, born the same month and year as her husband (August 1849). DeLancey Louderback’s main claim to fame was his partnership with robber baron Charles Tyson Yerkes. Louderback, the son of an Episcopal minister, was born in Iowa in the house that had been built by the owner of the famous slave Dred Scott.3 The very prolific Reverend Alfred Louderback had thirteen children: nine with his first wife, Susan, and four with his second, Sarah, whom he married after Susan died. By 1860, the family had moved to Alfred’s native state of Pennsylvania, settling in Philadelphia, with a brief stint in upstate New York. DeLancey was a boy who was small for his age (and he would be small as a man as well), but very ambitious. He saved all the money he got from running errands until he had the princely sum of $5, at which point—at the age of fourteen—he left home to make his living on his first love, the railroad. Whether it was the large number of children in his home or an DeLancey Horton Louderback (from the Chicago Daily Tribune) To view this image, please refer to the print version of this book The Robber Baron’s Partner 183 intolerable situation there that precipitated his leaving is unknown, but his older brother David had done the same thing at an early age, finally disappearing completely in 1889. Nobody ever found out what had become of David.4 When fourteen-year-old DeLancey approached the superintendent of the New york Central railroad in Batavia, New york, and asked for a job as a telegraph operator, the older man scoffed. “young boy,” he told him, “you should be at home with your mother.” “But i want to get out into the world and be a man,” DeLancey replied. His dedicated persistence finally wore the superintendent down, and he gave the boy the job. “But remember ,” the older man warned, “you must not sleep on duty; if you do, two trains will surely crash together and you will be hung.” DeLancey was a quick learner and a dedicated telegraph operator. He used his $30 monthly wages to buy books that taught him the principles of electricity and spent his nights studying when he had no railroad chores. Eventually, his proficiency netted him the job of train dispatcher in Buffalo , and from there he became a player in the growing field of telegraph companies. in 1876 Louderback was in charge of Western electric’s sales department, and after that he was placed at the head of Western union’s New york enterprise. Through his connection with Western electric and Western union, Louderback came in contact with...