S ' ,MI e b i .,, , - i -. i. J" 'vTw j" T ma-h -, H J7, . . - - - - - -v - tf 'IS THERE SUCH J THING AS LOVE?' EDITH LAVO - a a ' r&UE r.va i. i i fr)'v l"i.C p 1 THOUGHT THERE WAS, FOUND IT 'ONLY; A DREAMk Br'n . . pretty 1 eacher s 200 Letters te Jrtlltam Creasy, New Indicted for Killing Her, Tell of Passion and Despair, but Fail te Selve the Secret of Her Tragic End HER 'SWEETHEART BILLIE' IN ONE NO TE IS AN 'OIL CAN' SHE 'HATES' IN ANOTHER r Meanwhile Freeport, L.I., Vainly Puz zles Over Mystery JVas It Murder? Yes, Her Friends Assert Suicide? ShtShet Herself, Creasy Insists in Jail TID the romantic secrets of Edith Lavey's life- and the tragic secret of her death die with her? Did the little school teacher of twenty-two, perhaps broken of heart. kill herself with the revolver of the man she loved ? Or did this man, vv ill tarn jureasy, a Kentuckian, once engaged te Edith, murder the girl because he had wearied of her? Or because he was Jealous ? These are the questions they are asking today in Freeport, L. I., a community which recently hrfs seen much of tragedy, the town where Edith Lavey taught in the public school and met her death en Friday night, June 23. Edith loved Creasy with a vast t devotion. That is, she loved him once. Whether this love existed at the time of her death nobody knows. Indeed, in a late letter she spoke of her "hate" for him. But certain little phrases in some of her letters te Creasy laid bare the heart of the girl. And new and then a poignant touch of pathos! "Don't worry about me falling in love," she wrete once. "I have given up hope. I thought I was once, you knew, Bill, but I found it was only a dicam. Ged, is there any such thing as love? I am afraid net for me." And, again, this in another letter te Creasy: "Billy, dear, hew are you these lovely, LONELY spring days? Se glad you love Miss Veith se much. Billy, I knew she must be a wonder ful girl." Who is Miss Veith? What part did she play in Crcasy's life? Was Edith's heart- at the breaking point when she wrote te the man she loved or had loved "Se glad you love Miss Veith se much"? On, the ether hand, who are the ether men who figured in Edith Lavey's life? What part did they have in it? What, for instance, of Geerge Davidsen, te whom, in a letter just before her mysterious death, Edith wrete: , "I was happy because I was with you. I thought of you many times." And in another letter te Davidsen she referred te a surprise visit by Creasy. "I am net nervous, but just annoyed," was her comment. "De net worry, Geerge, dear, and 111 let you knew hew things are just as seen as I knew." "Murder!" Say Her Friends; "Suicide!" Is Creasy's Answer Creasy, whose home is in Ken tucky, at Fert Themas, is new in the Mineola jail, Nnssau County, held without bail en an indictment charg ing murder in the first degree. Ar raigned en the indictment, he pleaded net guilty. He insists that Edith shot herself with a revolver she found in the pocket of his coat. Yet Miss Lavey's relatives and hundreds of her friends and ac quaintances in Freeport rise up te deny Creasy's statement. They say he killed the girl they loved and re spected; the girl who was found in the living room of her bearding heuse at 156 North Main street, Freeport, with a bullet through her head and bleed trickling idewn either side. "Murder!" they cry. "Suicide!" replies Creasy, and leeks scornfully from behind the bars at all who ceme near his cell. "Yeu planned te kill, her," they accuse. "She often thought of taking her own life, and at last she did it," he answeis imperturbably. Fer two years Edith Lnvey taught In the Grove Scheel at Freeport. Yeung, lively, attractive, she was ,enc of the most popular teachers. She had the devotion and affection of her pupils; the admiration of their parents; the trust of the school of ficials. "She was one of the most efficient f teachers in the system and a charm- nR girl," suid Geerge Du Beis, su perintendent of the Freeport schools, ke far as I knew she had no reason 10 hft rlnanrMrlnnt n 1 ..11. A 11. .i:iiUtm IH u, WISH III lllllk- jPner own life. She hnd been i n.i.Wtcd for nc:;t year, with an increase in Wary, and I knew that the school beard wanted her te return and teach." Her interest centered in the schoolroom. w0"'1 thlnk 8he carctl much for Wh ng but her work," said one of friends. "She went around some with the best peepTe in town, but she had no particular interest in any thing but her 'kiddies,' as she called her pupils. "She used te tutor these that were back in their work se they could 'pass' at the end of the year. Their parents never asked her te, but she wanted te de it. And when they did pass with high marks she was happy as could be. 'Yeu don't knew the joy it gives me,' she said te me just a few days before her death. "She used te go te the picture show, and when she left she would sometimes step at the ticket window and say, 'That was a geed picture tonight,' or 'Oh! I didn't like that picture at all.' She wasjust as happy as could be, and if she was despondent she didn't leek it." Pupil and Friend Alike Shocked by the Tragedy The day after her death a dark haired, nice-looking boy about twelve years old was seen pacing up and .down the sidewalk. "What's the matter sonny?" a man asked. The boy twisted and turned his cap, his hands nervously picking at the button, "Oh! isn't it awful?" he said. "Isn't it the most awful thing you ever heard ? -She was my teach er." She was his teacher; attractive, fun loving, "like all young persons," said an elder resident of the town, "but we knew nothing but geed of her, and I never heard a word of criticism or condemnation of her character." Edith lived with Mrs. Anna Smith. "She was a lovable girl in every way," said. Mrs. Smith as she sat quietly rocking en the perch of her home. "She was that," agreed a roomer who sat near, busy with a piece of embroidery. "And then te have this hap pen " Mrs. Smith gripped the arms of her chair and her eyes blurred. The ether woman, looking through tears, pricked her finger and jerked the needle through a tangle of thread. William Creasy, who is thirty-one, had come from Kentucky te see Edith Lavey. He arrived Thursday night of last week and was with Edith at various times during the day and part of that evening. The next dny he saw her several times and was with her until 10:30 o'clock the night of her death. "She shot herself," Raymond Ma lone, Creasy's lawyer, says. "She knew that was the last time she would see Creasy. She was in love with him nnd desperate, and that is why she killed herself." His only purpese in coming from Kentucky, Creasy said, was te see Edith Lavey and break his engage ment with her nil in a decent and honerablo manner. He was out of work nnd out of funds. He get rail read passes from friends nnd went te Freeport. He had no money, he insisted, nnd wns in no position te marry. He saw little hope for the future. He came, he said, with several gifts Edith had given him a pair of cuff links, a cigarette case, a eeld stickpin, nnd the letters she had written him. These he planned te return te her. Letters Tell of Edith's Leve and Say She's Tired of Life Of the letters, there are about two hundred, many of which tell of Edith's love for Creasy and the fact that she was tired of life. They refer frequently te his revolver which she had in her possession. She i f4x' ir r."!,' iv" y '?.,?! ?', :..iii i , u '"'; !. S-', ,A 5X mu &. $y 1$ -; 'v ,' . ', ! 'ifvl 1 ;- - l'-'' v. . t ..-.. . ' , s ki-V t ft if. ,.- -X t"l -?? " j ;-.:: Sft .- , vrr jv w.i ,mi-?t-'F- $m wff , - 5 Hi,. JJ m &AiM 7- S-ft .1,1 As- tfi w The first of June Miss Lavey still had Crcasy's revolver, and he sent her a telegram demanding it. The telegram was telephoned te the school, and Miss Lavey, thinking that it was a message from her mother, asked Edna Shoemaker, principal of the school and a close friend of hers, te take the message. On June 4 Miss Lavey wrete te Creasy saying that Miss Shoemaker had been greatly shocked at the message: "Wlint en enrth de you de such funny things for? Don't jeu suppose I nm known around here?" The same week she also wrete: Darllnj? Bey : Will be se glad te get home again, but I de get te tired of llvlnc soinc seinc UmeH. It fecms we arc here only for trouble. Ne, Billy, mother Is no bet ter, nnd nm se nnxletiR te go te her. I fenr mother will never be' well again, nnd if such is the cnc I wnnt te go, tee. It never mins but It pours. Geed night, darling boy. ME. One of the last letters Edith La La eoy wrete was dated June 7. In it she said: Se sorry, BHlie, you arc net feeling necs fit te take pie. Certainly there miiHt be Mitihliine cvcrlnsttng In our heavenly home, nnd that Is worth while working for and looking for. There Is no hupplnens en enrth, nnd I shall net leek for any. Yeu are net friendless nnd will net be se long as I live. I nm your true blue, sincere friend, nnd alwnys will be, and you knew the old saying gees, "Ne mun is useless whlle he hns a friend." Pieces of letters were found in the yard of the house where Edith bearded, and they are being patched together. An uncompleted letter was found pushed under n blotter en the desk. It was nddrcssed te Edith's family. It read: Dear l'vrrybedy : This sure has been n busy week, nnd it will .fcccm geed when everything Is done. All my "cherubs" mnde their grade nnd every ene passed regent ge ography. The weather down here for the last week has been just fine; by that I mean plenty of rain, se it mnde it nice and cool. Last Sunday I went te Last Orange. Bloemlirld and Newnrk, N. J., te visit Geerge's folks. Wc had dinner at his father's at Uloemfield. nnd an elaborate -dinner at bis brother's in Kast Ornngp. By the way, Geerge send, mother his 'J v f :. 'SiVS -xm , Kj m rv ' -: V ,' V&i rh'& '?. WW Edith Lavey, the school teacher who was shot nnd kilfed in the parlor of her bearding house in Freeport, L. I. had taken it away from him in April when he came te sec her. "Yeu threatened te kill her with it and she took it away from you," cry her friends indignantly. "She took it because she wanted te practice sheeting around the weeds of Freeport," Creasy replies. One of the first letters is dated March 16, 1921. Edith wrete: Helle, sweetheart Blllie: Sny. bow is it I never knew when your birthday wns? Se glad te knew new. Am I right in siyltig it was your twcnty-'-i'veiith blithdny? I bope It was a happy one. Xrxt year you can bet I will remember (that Is. If we are still the snme old ). Blllie, I was at n Iecs what te send you. I f-ent you n box of cigars last night. New I don't knew hew you will like tlicm, but the man who sold them te me vouched for them, and said be knew you would like them. I am se glad you received a letter from me en jour bhtbday. Well, lust think, day after tomorrow I leave for Heme Sweet Heme. I am packed and all ready. Will leave here at 15 :2." Friday and bp home Saturday morning. (Oh! Blllie, jeu can't imag ine hew happy your is!!!!) Yes, dear boy, I am having n lovely time, but you are first and foremost in my thoughts. I am glad you have a snap of a job, but am sorry you arc missing nil the geed times. Bye-bye, Blllie. The folks join me In sending ---. Just sent one of mv kiddles nn iift-er the mail. Just enn't wntt until 3:30 for It. Tours till the moon burns out of oil. MB. (xx) Kissed by ME. 4 A XA ?- Wj i Jti i 1 I sorry you hare net received elthMS tin two letters I tnnlled you this wtl.Ml but I am sure the fault is nil my OWB.-.S n I nm nlmnst nnsitlve I ftdrirMMMft ' name Twenty-third nnd Twenty - fettrtjl fSj .mircis. ji nil cnreiesncns i uebdr if you could get them by calling up tee posteffico? I wrete you Monday an4 yesterday. : The first wns thanking you for the happy day I hnd Sundny, Geerge. I wns happy because I was with you. I felt tee guilty te think thnt you had te go back en thnt slew trolley, Geerge', I thought of you many times. The letter was a hasty note, the contents of which I will tell you personally wbed I see you. My thanks, for the folder,. Yeu nre se thoughtful nbeut everything , It's the little things thnt really count. Wl ... . yc In fact, they are the nig things alter nil. I ennnet recall telling you that we were going up by beat, but must have, as I see one of the time-tables Is the Hudsen River Line. Mcrci beaueeupt Well, GVerge dear, hew is the world trentlng you? Suppose you nre the same busy boy as ever. Geerge, if you hare the time nnd care te run ever some evening before I go home, I'll be only tee glad te see you. Just a nice, quiet lltle chat with you. New please, de net feel it is compulsory. I would just like te have you knew that you are welcome. Hastily, but U knew. EDITH. Affairs With Other Women Revealed by Creasy's Trunk Creasy and his wife, who was Miss Elsie Certcll, and new lives in Hunt ingdon, W. Va., were divorced. Iff his trunk, which was found at the Freeport station, were letters from many women and envelopes contain ing articles of women's apparel, with the names of the women te whom they belonged en the envelopes and details of Crcasy's relations with each of the women. At ene time, seen after Edith Lavey's death, Creasy made several statements against the girl's char acter which he later denied. But with the brother nnd sister of the dead girl standing before him in the jail, he defiantly insisted that what he said was true and that she had had ether affairs. Lerey Lavey sprang forward te strike the pris oner, but the jail attendants seised The four dashes are supposed te mean "love," and the ten dashes "sweetheart." In another letter dated Freeport, Tuesday, January 12, 1921, Edith wrote: My dear sweetheart. Many, many thanks for your kindness and thoughtftilness In bending me that beautiful primrose. I just simply love it, but mere still U Ne. Ah! Ha! Blllie, you nre a darling boy who always springs surprises en me. Words cannot express my appreciation. I shall take such geed care of it, be cause It's from Blllie U Ne. Well. I hope you sleep well tonight. I knew I shall and I feel we both need it. I'll, wet? I sure missed you when I came home tenicht. The rnnm scorned empty without you. I am sorry I acted as I did before you left, as I vowed I would de dif- fcrent. It was a fifty-fifty game, eh Billy? Well. Blllie dear. 1 kiicsh I will an te bed. Bidding you a kind geed night and happy dreams and with all my love, I am Your EDY. (xx) This is the only letter which hns been disclosed that bears any ether signature than "Me," which was Edith's pet name. Thought She Was in Leve; But Found It All a Dream And the ether letters! De they tell the story of a girl, unhappy, despairing, desperate because of her mother's illness nnd her leve for a man who cared nothing about her? Or arc they merely the record of a normal girl who was depressed be caueo of her mother's peer health? In a letter written May 9, 1922, she expicssed a wish te die: Darling Bey wait until I have served my time In this wicked old world. That was geed advice you gave me about falling in love. Ne, Billy, don't worry about me falling In levei Guess 1 am net built that way. Sometimes I wHt I could. But I have given up hope. I thought I was once, you knew, Jiiny, but I woke up and found it was only a dream. Ged, is theie any such thing as love! I nm nfrnld net for me. In a letter dated May 9 Edith said: Billle dear, as for that gun, I de net lonely spring dnjsj .e glad you love Miss Veith se mudi. Billy, I knew shu must be n wonderful girl. In a letter of May 22 a small spray of lilies of the valley was inclesed. It said : Your letter Just received. This has been a wonderful day, but rather warm. Hew is It In Kentucky? Mether Is no better nnd I am almost decided te go home tomorrow. But ou can send my mall right here and I will get It in ease I don't za home. j If I de go I will let you knew at once. i. i .... ' . ' .. . j - ww kw a ,wu ivv juu auu Willi. II II .If. .fill If llllll' r IIIIKIIIIi. Ii. It m .. ... 'a . iin.....n .- J. .iV "j, "" '".. . ii nm leeiing sick today, se shall re-i?.?.H.CVCi,.f.-,n.?ii?,iat.?0l1. went U se'tirc railv. I have been se nervous 1'ii'tij ft eiiiu n ill rt'I I 1L ill lllll ill night, as I have it all packed up. Serry If jeu hae really needed it and I today. Completely unstrung. The letter wns signed "Me." An- X. . s. & -. 1 1"" F. '' sz. sz :s. ' tj( .:ii .-.... .. .fS''. W$?SO:v t 77H m Jm .. 'fi s?i- 5OLSSSf' g3S ixa?& a52 ZZ&CS- IESS III! ifts sss fftamaatatRfan a)u)WfT' "" . I ,MRE5L. NN rrqr-ri ' s.' fn-.m'-vtm wSSuSSISOtc'tTttlKti &r; f" K2 32 EKSSsMlkS wc M ,) m &v .. L -' "f "" .,' m rtiv iv vv ikts" f s,rr4r4 v pm m f'lv-V- SiSSplJ IU .'.K m 'ji.'j TV '.- , ,s !'.' , wr tibial m . The bearding heuse nt 136 North Main street, Freeport, L. I., in the parlor of which Edith Lavey was found dead and Creasy sitting in a chair beside her Above Willi,am Creasy, the Kentuckian te whom Edith Lavey wrote 200 endearing letters and who has been indicted for first- degree murder in connection with her death ' . Ihe ' Kissing Bridge" en the outskirts of Freeport, L. I., that at first hnd an important position in the police theory of Edith Lavey's death. It wus then thought the couple hnd entered into a suicide pact and had intended te end their lives at this bridge have been se mean. But honest, Blllie, ethor card, undated, bore just a few I did It with the kindest and fiienil- linns 1l..wt f..,.H...... ..,....,.1 . .. '.. 1 ".".3. it all alms "yu iM 3-01' A" ,,' .. u . wile any mere. wimj, -mill-, iin.ri it nun sure, mil KOOU-lllCht mi, she can go you knew where It just makes nm feel terrible te have any ene criticize jeu. I can't stand It and I won't. Seme folks me se nar row about such tilings. If she tell-, any Feeling better tedav, no will wilte ' H" about It I'll never speak te he.- ou a long lettei.1 llrlleve me, ilur- , ngiim. ling be, I am net mjself at all' ttned-by, (hilling boy. and I will buxen't been for some time. And judg- write seen and surely will send your lag by your litteis, I guess jeu are ' eun tonight. Bye bje, honey, net jeuiself either. Billy dear, guess MI', (xx) ttrhen,!b1e.W,Tthnve nrd'smil, tfe J". 0 liter Edith speaks of bio before n ' r'en" Creasy's, about whom he Oh, sometimes I wish I could die had evidently written her: and end It nil, but I must be brave and Billy, dear, hew ere you these lovely, didn't wnnt me te se am just saying mi:, (x) On May 23 Edith again expressed her desire te die. The letter read: D.ii ling Bey: Will it mnke mi feel any better te really knew that I nm lonesome for ou tonight V I spun the cwwilltg at .Mis. Shoemaker's, or I would have geno insane. Oh, I don't knew hew I can wait bi weeks until vacation comes. Will Mss jour picture geed -night, and Ged help us both. Oh, hew I wish I could die, but 1 can't go till Ged wuuts me. Lonesome and heartbroken, ME. (xx) 1 best regards nnd Fays he'd like te have another game of pinochle with her. He has a studio new in New Yerk ami is quite n success. ' Nell, lijuel nnd I were picked again this 5 ear te he uMicrs. Net tee tickled nueut ir, eitlier. 1 It nier niliis but what It pours he should have pepped in this morn- nig nut iiiiiie. Timt -en can.' I just iiiup nm. liclleve me, he get some cold reception The letter wns net signed because I reasys arrivar interrupted it Ac cording te Edith's friends it was she who had resolved te terminate the engngement, and, se they reason, in i a jenleus rnge he killed her as he had threatened te de before. Tells of Creasy's Arrival; 'Net Nervous, Just Annoyed' A letter said te hne been written bv Edith Lavey te Geerge Davidsen, of whom she wrote in her lust letter te her family, reads as follews: i My Dear (ieeige: I am eiy bu-j with eserj thing. nnd will write jeu a nice lenj letter seen. Have lets te tell you. Hepe you nre net weiklng I tee haul. My chciubs are coming en great In their esams, Hery ene pjsbed i in geeginphy mid ever hnlf weie honor maik. Hastily, but EDITH. i I. S. Snj, Geerge, I sealed this letter twice new without telling jeu 'what I wanted. Illllj, much te mj Isurpilse. pepped into my classroom this 1 neon. I inn net nervous, but Just an- well, but, of com se, jeu must leek at things in a different light. It Is just a matter of will power, Blllie. 1 lime been under the weather, tee. but I've just come te the point wluue I knew r must de dlffereutlj . Wh, uij folks would be horrified If thej could see me at times. It would be enough te cud my darling mother at once. Se l miiM hi acu up for her sake If net for my own. iiiiiie, den t you think jeu ought to.nejed, that s all. as I have se much smiw conMeermion ler jour mother, wei It te de. De net ioe; ut'iiiemner. mm !1H1' 1111. ..IIP ect trieiius. I'eitalulj acting ns we base won't bring us anywhere but te sumo Insane iiNjluni. Oh, hew I wish I were dead I Se many times, but let Ged's will be done! I mean te de my work in this world se I shall net fear death when Ged werrv. (ieeme. dear, ami I'll let jeu knew hew things aie just as seen as I knew. Hastllj, EDITH. A second letter te Geerge written just a few hours before Edith's death said: Geerge Dear Z am ae Terjr, very him before he could reach Creasy. Eva Lavey pointed her finger at him and told him the real truth was known. Then, with tears in her eyes she besought him te retract his statements. Creasy did net reply, but merely glared at the girl, who shuddered and sank en the jail cor ridor irra faint. Lester Bedell, of Freeport, who ia one of the men mentioned by Creasy, as well as Geerge Davis, clenched his hands when he heard of Creasy's remarks, and prayed for an opportunity te avenge Edith. "It was net suicide. 'The girl was murdered," was the opinion of Dr. Otte Schultz, assistant medical examiner of New Yerk, and Captain William Jenes, formerly pistol ox ex ox pert of the New Yerk Police De partment, efter an examination of the body. fa Miss Lavey's roommate was M Mildred Semsen. Almest nrestri . . ji with shock, frantic with grief, a tewi went te Tupper Luke, N. Y.. vri Edith Lavey's brother nnd nit wllb took thn hnilu hnmn ". The dunth of M'iss Lavey is eh ene of the tragedies which has Mk3fi turbed I-rcepett recently. Thef'div' ...w ....en " n Ilk-Mill UCCUITW.' the sheeting of Oscar A. Hirsh afr, i imriy in, inn nome 01 Kcnie UMH ....vi, ut-iiu .jinuiiuiy iiijjnw .Jf Mr. Hirsh was shot threufh''i cnecK, ana nis Deuutitui wife' Hirsh, wu charged with tba1 iner. ; , 8 '. Ait 7.:. p 4i,Q-.S. J Li. .mzm&M .. itiArj, , . ' HiiiiiiiiiiiiiV in-. 1 -" - .. hk. ft ' I " -" w
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers