Sophie Van Elkan (spelled Elkin also) was born 24 Dec 1847 in New York, her parents might be William Van Elkan which is listed on her death certificate and Ann Levy which was on someone's tree, I have not confirmed it.
Her grandfather was a known safe-cracker and both her parents (Stepmother) had criminal records prior to immigrating to the United States from England. Her mother, Baltimore shoplifter Sophie Elkans (Stepmother), was a "keeper of a disorderly house" on New York's East Side, and supposedly forced her out into the street to steal. Lyons claimed she had been first caught stealing at the age of three and was tried at the Essex Market police court, and she was again arrested for shoplifting at 12.
Her New York Mugshot taken 1886
She was mostly raised by her stepmother who taught her how to steal. Her father was away at war and she was left to the wicked stepmother. At age 16 she married Maury Harris, but the marriage ended when Maury was arrested and sentenced to New York State Prison for two years.
She was considered a consummate actress who, even when caught by her victim, was able to "counterfeit every shade of emotion" to persuade them to release her. According to one incident in 1880, she was able to convince a store detective that she suffered from kleptomania. Her stepmother would pinch her, poke her with a hat pin until she had brought back enough money or goods for a hards work.
Both mugshots above are from New York arrests dates unknown.
She married Ned Lyons, known then as the "King of the Bank Robbers", and they had three children together. Two years after their marriage, Ned was able to purchase a villa on Long Island from his share in a major bank robbery. Although he tried to discourage Lyons from pickpocketing, she continued to do so and eventually both were imprisoned. Soon after Ned's escape from prison in 1872, he returned to New York to help Lyons escape from prison by using a disguise to infiltrate Sing Sing and break through the wall of her jail cell. They escaped to Paris, where Lyons lived under the name Madame d'Varney and the two continued their criminal activities.
Here are some of Edward "Ned" Lyons photos.
Published in "Professional Criminals of America" by Thomas Byrnes (New York: Cassell & Company, 1886), No.70.
Forty-seven years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Stout build. Height, about 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 180 pounds. Hair inclined to be sandy. Wears it long, covering the ears, one of which (the left one) has the top off. Wears a very heavy reddish mustache. Bald on front of head, forming a high forehead.
His picture was taken while he was asleep at the hospital in Connecticut, in 1881.
In 1869 in Philadelphia, PA he was in a Street fight with Jimmy Haggerty who bit a good portion of his ear off.
They had the following children:
George Lyons
1866–1886
Eugenia Lyons
1869–
Florence Lyons
1875–1935
Carlton Mason Lyons
1878–1922
Two years after their marriage, Ned was able to purchase a villa on Long Island from his share in a major bank robbery. Although he tried to discourage Lyons from pickpocketing, she continued to do so and eventually both were imprisoned. Soon after Ned's escape from prison in 1872, he returned to New York to help Lyons escape from prison by using a disguise to infiltrate Sing Sing and break through the wall of her jail cell. They escaped to Paris, where Lyons lived under the name Madame d'Varney and the two continued their criminal activities.
Lyons spent much of the 1890s in the Midwest as a member of a burglary gang led by Billy Burke, whom she would later marry. She returned to New York in 1895 and, after her arrest by police detective Stephen O'Brien, she was put under close police surveillance by Brooklyn detectives, under orders from Superintendent McKelvey.
On the afternoon of June 21, 1896, Lyons entered a dry goods store at Sixth Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Lyons, then using the alias Mary Watson, was approached by store detective Mary Plunkett, who had recognized her, and who informed her she was wanted by local police. When Lyons dismissed her, Plunkett grabbed her arm, attempting to bring her in by force. A crowd began to gather as the argument escalated. Plunkett told the crowd that "one of the most notorious pickpockets in the world" was standing before them. At that point, Lyons got free of Plunkett and left the store with the detective in pursuit. Plunkett pursued Lyons onto a streetcar, where she informed the driver that Lyons was wanted by police. The driver allowed Lyons onto the streetcar, replying to Plunkett that it was none of his business. As they reached Eighteenth Street, Plunkett was able to call two patrolmen and had Lyons placed under arrest.
Lyons refused to be taken back to the dry goods store, insisting that she be searched to prove her innocence, but was instead arrested and taken to the Mercer Street police station. She was held at the precinct until her arraignment at the Jefferson Market police court on June 22. She was charged with the theft of a pocketbook from an unknown woman in New Jersey, which contained $12 and a railroad ticket, and it was requested by the court that she be remanded. Her lawyer, Emanuel Friend, successfully argued for her release by pointing out the largely vague circumstances of the charges and the absence of the store detective. The magistrate agreed that the city had no evidence to prosecute Lyons and dismissed her case.
After Ned died in 1906 in New York Sophie married another notorious criminal William "Billy" Burke (1858-1919). Married 12 Feb 1910.
This is a drawing of Billy's coat with secret compartments he had to hide is stolen good.
His criminal record:
“Billy the Kid” is one of the most adroit bank sneaks in America. He is now about twenty-eight years old, of pleasing address, and claims Chicago, Ill., as his home. He is known in all the principal cities in America and in Canada. This young man is credited with being the nerviest bank sneak in the profession. He is an associate of Rufe Minor (1), Minnie Marks (187), Big Ed Rice (12), Georgie Carson (3), Johnny Jourdan (83), and several other clever men. He has been arrested one hundred times, at least, in as many different cities, and although young, has served terms in three prisons.
At 12:30 p.m. on August 1, 1881, a carriage containing two men drove rapidly up to the Manufacturers’ Bank at Cohoes, N.Y. At the same moment a man walked briskly into the bank, and toward the directors’ room, in the rear. One of the men in the carriage jumped out, and entering the building, asked the cashier, N. J. Seymour, to change a $20 bill. While the change was being made the man at the rear of the bank forced the door of the directors’ room and obtained entrance to the space behind the desk. He rushed up to the safe, the door of which stood open, and snatched a large pile of bills, done up in packages of $100 and $500 each, and amounting in all to over $10,000.
James I. Clute, the discount clerk, who sat at the desk at the time, not more than ten feet from the safe, sprang from his seat, grasped a revolver, and followed the thief. The burglar was so quickly pursued that he dropped the packages of money in the directors’ room. Clute kept after him, and tried to bar the way at the door, when the thief pushed him aside and ran quickly down two or three streets, crossed the canal, and fled toward the woods. The thief who remained in the carriage drove furiously down the street, and the man who asked for the change meanwhile had left the bank. He met the carriage a short distance from the scene, jumped in, and was driven out of the city. The thief who fled toward the woods succeeded in eluding his pursuers, and shortly after entered the house of a Mrs. Algiers and took off his clothes and crawled under the bed. A man who was at work in a mill opposite the house saw the man’s proceedings, and notified the police. The house was surrounded, and the intruder captured. A search of his clothing revealed a false mustache, a watch, $45 cash, two pocket-books, some strong cord, and other things. He was afterwards identified as Billy Burke.
After remaining in jail some little time he was released on $10,000 bail. On September 9, 1881, an attempt was made to rob the vault of the Baltimore Savings Bank, in Baltimore, Md. Four men (no doubt Burke, Jourdan, Marks, and Big Rice) entered the treasurer’s room, where were several customers of the bank, and one of them engaged the attention of the treasurer by asking him about investments, holding in his hands several United States bonds. Another then walked back toward the vault, in a rear apartment, but his movements were observed by one of the clerks, who followed and arrested him in front of the vault. The other three retreated hastily and escaped. The party arrested gave the name of Thomas Smith, but was recognized by the police as Billy Burke, alias “Billy the Kid.” In this case, as at Cohoes, N.Y., he was bailed, went West, and was arrested in Cleveland on December 12, 1881, and delivered to the police authorities of Albany, N.Y., taken there, and placed in the Albany County jail, from where he escaped on January 7, 1882.
A reward of $1,000 was offered at the time for his arrest. He was finally re-arrested at Minneapolis, Minn., on March 13, 1882, in an attempt to rob a bank there, but afterwards turned over to the Sheriff of Albany County, N.Y., taken there, tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the Albany Penitentiary by Judge Van Alstyne (for the Cohoes bank robbery), on March 31, 1882. He was tried again the same day for breaking jail, convicted, and sentenced to one year more, making six years in all. Burke was sentenced in this case under the name of John Petrie. His sentence expired on June 2, 1886.
Warrants were lodged against him at the penitentiary some time previous from Lockport, N.Y., Detroit, and Baltimore. He was re-arrested, as soon as discharged, on the Lockport warrant, which, it is said, was obtained by his brother-in-law, for an alleged assault. The scheme was to prevent him from being taken to either Detroit or Baltimore, where there are clear cases against him. His picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1880. From
1886 Professional Criminals of America
By Thomas Byrnes.
Sophie wrote 2 books here is a link to her first one which I read and it is absolutely marvelous. She explains in depth how she was treated by her stepmother and that she would try to get arrested as a child because they were nice to her. She describes the bank robberies and adventures her and Ned had. She was worth half a million dollars when she died and every penny was earned honestly. She worked hard to reform young criminals who had one prison term so they would leave a life of crime behind them. She talks about her children and how she tried to protect them from who she and her husband were and what they did. She talks about how she tried many times to go straight. Here's the link I hope you read it.
https://archive.org/details/amazingadventure00burk/mode/2up/search/Levy
At the time she wrote her book her husband Billy was in a prison cell in Stockholm, Sweden and she talks how the one person she wanted to help more than anything and couldn't was him.
Her 2nd book was: Queen of the Underworld
Book by Sophie Lyons I ordered this on Amazon.
Sophie died of a an hemorrhage in the brain on 7 May 1924 in Detroit, MI.
Her grandfather was a known safe-cracker and both her parents (Stepmother) had criminal records prior to immigrating to the United States from England. Her mother, Baltimore shoplifter Sophie Elkans (Stepmother), was a "keeper of a disorderly house" on New York's East Side, and supposedly forced her out into the street to steal. Lyons claimed she had been first caught stealing at the age of three and was tried at the Essex Market police court, and she was again arrested for shoplifting at 12.
She was mostly raised by her stepmother who taught her how to steal. Her father was away at war and she was left to the wicked stepmother. At age 16 she married Maury Harris, but the marriage ended when Maury was arrested and sentenced to New York State Prison for two years.
She was considered a consummate actress who, even when caught by her victim, was able to "counterfeit every shade of emotion" to persuade them to release her. According to one incident in 1880, she was able to convince a store detective that she suffered from kleptomania. Her stepmother would pinch her, poke her with a hat pin until she had brought back enough money or goods for a hards work.
Both mugshots above are from New York arrests dates unknown.
She married Ned Lyons, known then as the "King of the Bank Robbers", and they had three children together. Two years after their marriage, Ned was able to purchase a villa on Long Island from his share in a major bank robbery. Although he tried to discourage Lyons from pickpocketing, she continued to do so and eventually both were imprisoned. Soon after Ned's escape from prison in 1872, he returned to New York to help Lyons escape from prison by using a disguise to infiltrate Sing Sing and break through the wall of her jail cell. They escaped to Paris, where Lyons lived under the name Madame d'Varney and the two continued their criminal activities.
Here are some of Edward "Ned" Lyons photos.
Ned Lyons NY Mugshot
Published in "Professional Criminals of America" by Thomas Byrnes (New York: Cassell & Company, 1886), No.70.
Forty-seven years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Stout build. Height, about 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 180 pounds. Hair inclined to be sandy. Wears it long, covering the ears, one of which (the left one) has the top off. Wears a very heavy reddish mustache. Bald on front of head, forming a high forehead.
His picture was taken while he was asleep at the hospital in Connecticut, in 1881.
In 1869 in Philadelphia, PA he was in a Street fight with Jimmy Haggerty who bit a good portion of his ear off.
They had the following children:
George Lyons
1866–1886
Eugenia Lyons
1869–
Florence Lyons
1875–1935
Carlton Mason Lyons
1878–1922
Two years after their marriage, Ned was able to purchase a villa on Long Island from his share in a major bank robbery. Although he tried to discourage Lyons from pickpocketing, she continued to do so and eventually both were imprisoned. Soon after Ned's escape from prison in 1872, he returned to New York to help Lyons escape from prison by using a disguise to infiltrate Sing Sing and break through the wall of her jail cell. They escaped to Paris, where Lyons lived under the name Madame d'Varney and the two continued their criminal activities.
Lyons spent much of the 1890s in the Midwest as a member of a burglary gang led by Billy Burke, whom she would later marry. She returned to New York in 1895 and, after her arrest by police detective Stephen O'Brien, she was put under close police surveillance by Brooklyn detectives, under orders from Superintendent McKelvey.
On the afternoon of June 21, 1896, Lyons entered a dry goods store at Sixth Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Lyons, then using the alias Mary Watson, was approached by store detective Mary Plunkett, who had recognized her, and who informed her she was wanted by local police. When Lyons dismissed her, Plunkett grabbed her arm, attempting to bring her in by force. A crowd began to gather as the argument escalated. Plunkett told the crowd that "one of the most notorious pickpockets in the world" was standing before them. At that point, Lyons got free of Plunkett and left the store with the detective in pursuit. Plunkett pursued Lyons onto a streetcar, where she informed the driver that Lyons was wanted by police. The driver allowed Lyons onto the streetcar, replying to Plunkett that it was none of his business. As they reached Eighteenth Street, Plunkett was able to call two patrolmen and had Lyons placed under arrest.
Lyons refused to be taken back to the dry goods store, insisting that she be searched to prove her innocence, but was instead arrested and taken to the Mercer Street police station. She was held at the precinct until her arraignment at the Jefferson Market police court on June 22. She was charged with the theft of a pocketbook from an unknown woman in New Jersey, which contained $12 and a railroad ticket, and it was requested by the court that she be remanded. Her lawyer, Emanuel Friend, successfully argued for her release by pointing out the largely vague circumstances of the charges and the absence of the store detective. The magistrate agreed that the city had no evidence to prosecute Lyons and dismissed her case.
Court battle with Son George Lyons:
On the afternoon of January 31, 1880, Lyons returned to the Essex Market police court where she brought her youngest son, 14-year-old George, before the magistrate. She claimed he refused to attend school, often left home at nights to sleep in the streets and "was so generally unruly" that she requested that he be put in a juvenile correctional facility.
After she had finished, George shouted, "That woman is a thief and a shoplifter. I have seen her steal in Montreal and elsewhere." He denied his mother's charges, claiming she wanted to get rid of him, and that he had "recommendations showing his good character". He went on to make further criminal charges against his mother, continuing, "Yes, you want to get rid of me, and you're my mother. How can I tell you are when you have two husbands with whom you go all over the country, stealing everywhere?" These accusations caused a disturbance in the courtroom and the magistrate called for a recess to listen to both mother and son in private.
Lyons confessed to her criminal past and being the wife of Ned, however she maintained that she had spent considerable time and effort trying to keep her children from becoming criminals. She had sent George to three colleges in Canada, and her two daughters attended schools in Germany, but George returned to New York and began frequenting underworld resorts, including Dan Kerrigan's infamous Sixth Street saloon, where he performed as a singer and associated with known criminals. She also said that her son had obtained at least one of his recommendations by threatening a former employer by the name of Kate B. Woodward with a carving knife.
After hearing of this incident, Lyons invited George to her home on Montgomery Street and had him arrested by waiting police officers. George admitted that he had an argument with Woodward, who had withheld his pocket watch, but denied intimidating her to obtaining his recommendation. He did admit to picking up a carving knife during the argument, but did not use it towards her or use threatening language. He was reportedly disruptive while his mother made her statement, making claims of child neglect and abandonment. The magistrate ruled that George would be held in custody until the claims of both parties could be investigated. George, being informed that he would not be released, had to be escorted from the court room by police and attempted to choke himself by swallowing a handkerchief.
After Ned died in 1906 in New York Sophie married another notorious criminal William "Billy" Burke (1858-1919). Married 12 Feb 1910.
aka Billy Burke, Billy the Kid, Charles H. Page, John Petrie, William Brady, etc. — Sneak thief
DESCRIPTION. Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Printer. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Dark brown hair, dark gray eyes, straight nose, round face, florid complexion. Small ears. Upper lip turns up a little. Cross in India ink on his left hand, near thumb. Dot of ink on right hand, between thumb and forefinger.
This is a drawing of Billy's coat with secret compartments he had to hide is stolen good.
His criminal record:
“Billy the Kid” is one of the most adroit bank sneaks in America. He is now about twenty-eight years old, of pleasing address, and claims Chicago, Ill., as his home. He is known in all the principal cities in America and in Canada. This young man is credited with being the nerviest bank sneak in the profession. He is an associate of Rufe Minor (1), Minnie Marks (187), Big Ed Rice (12), Georgie Carson (3), Johnny Jourdan (83), and several other clever men. He has been arrested one hundred times, at least, in as many different cities, and although young, has served terms in three prisons.
At 12:30 p.m. on August 1, 1881, a carriage containing two men drove rapidly up to the Manufacturers’ Bank at Cohoes, N.Y. At the same moment a man walked briskly into the bank, and toward the directors’ room, in the rear. One of the men in the carriage jumped out, and entering the building, asked the cashier, N. J. Seymour, to change a $20 bill. While the change was being made the man at the rear of the bank forced the door of the directors’ room and obtained entrance to the space behind the desk. He rushed up to the safe, the door of which stood open, and snatched a large pile of bills, done up in packages of $100 and $500 each, and amounting in all to over $10,000.
James I. Clute, the discount clerk, who sat at the desk at the time, not more than ten feet from the safe, sprang from his seat, grasped a revolver, and followed the thief. The burglar was so quickly pursued that he dropped the packages of money in the directors’ room. Clute kept after him, and tried to bar the way at the door, when the thief pushed him aside and ran quickly down two or three streets, crossed the canal, and fled toward the woods. The thief who remained in the carriage drove furiously down the street, and the man who asked for the change meanwhile had left the bank. He met the carriage a short distance from the scene, jumped in, and was driven out of the city. The thief who fled toward the woods succeeded in eluding his pursuers, and shortly after entered the house of a Mrs. Algiers and took off his clothes and crawled under the bed. A man who was at work in a mill opposite the house saw the man’s proceedings, and notified the police. The house was surrounded, and the intruder captured. A search of his clothing revealed a false mustache, a watch, $45 cash, two pocket-books, some strong cord, and other things. He was afterwards identified as Billy Burke.
After remaining in jail some little time he was released on $10,000 bail. On September 9, 1881, an attempt was made to rob the vault of the Baltimore Savings Bank, in Baltimore, Md. Four men (no doubt Burke, Jourdan, Marks, and Big Rice) entered the treasurer’s room, where were several customers of the bank, and one of them engaged the attention of the treasurer by asking him about investments, holding in his hands several United States bonds. Another then walked back toward the vault, in a rear apartment, but his movements were observed by one of the clerks, who followed and arrested him in front of the vault. The other three retreated hastily and escaped. The party arrested gave the name of Thomas Smith, but was recognized by the police as Billy Burke, alias “Billy the Kid.” In this case, as at Cohoes, N.Y., he was bailed, went West, and was arrested in Cleveland on December 12, 1881, and delivered to the police authorities of Albany, N.Y., taken there, and placed in the Albany County jail, from where he escaped on January 7, 1882.
A reward of $1,000 was offered at the time for his arrest. He was finally re-arrested at Minneapolis, Minn., on March 13, 1882, in an attempt to rob a bank there, but afterwards turned over to the Sheriff of Albany County, N.Y., taken there, tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the Albany Penitentiary by Judge Van Alstyne (for the Cohoes bank robbery), on March 31, 1882. He was tried again the same day for breaking jail, convicted, and sentenced to one year more, making six years in all. Burke was sentenced in this case under the name of John Petrie. His sentence expired on June 2, 1886.
Warrants were lodged against him at the penitentiary some time previous from Lockport, N.Y., Detroit, and Baltimore. He was re-arrested, as soon as discharged, on the Lockport warrant, which, it is said, was obtained by his brother-in-law, for an alleged assault. The scheme was to prevent him from being taken to either Detroit or Baltimore, where there are clear cases against him. His picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1880. From
1886 Professional Criminals of America
By Thomas Byrnes.
Sophie wrote 2 books here is a link to her first one which I read and it is absolutely marvelous. She explains in depth how she was treated by her stepmother and that she would try to get arrested as a child because they were nice to her. She describes the bank robberies and adventures her and Ned had. She was worth half a million dollars when she died and every penny was earned honestly. She worked hard to reform young criminals who had one prison term so they would leave a life of crime behind them. She talks about her children and how she tried to protect them from who she and her husband were and what they did. She talks about how she tried many times to go straight. Here's the link I hope you read it.
https://archive.org/details/amazingadventure00burk/mode/2up/search/Levy
At the time she wrote her book her husband Billy was in a prison cell in Stockholm, Sweden and she talks how the one person she wanted to help more than anything and couldn't was him.
Her 2nd book was: Queen of the Underworld
Book by Sophie Lyons I ordered this on Amazon.
Sophie died of a an hemorrhage in the brain on 7 May 1924 in Detroit, MI.
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