Myrtle Lea: Grand Larceny

 Myrtle Lea the "Black Duchess" Was born about 1878 in the West Indies. I do not know what her maiden was, but her father was Henry, her mother was Emma and she had two siblings when she went to prison, David & Asa. 

Inmate: #183 Montana State Prison

Rec: 13 Aug 1910

Age: 32

Term: 2 years

All this information comes from her prison record, see below.

This was attained from Ancestry.com. Yes they have prison records.

There are sides of this story and both come from the so called victim Henry Columbo. He first said he lost or misplaced his wallet, then he said it was solen. See newspaper article the link is posted below. It also states that they were a couple living together as man an wife, no marriage records were found.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-butte-daily-post-myrtle-lea/99232726/

Myrtle never took the stand. This same article also mentions that she was once married to Barbados Joe Walcott A famous boxer who was born in 1873 in British Guiana.

I searched records on him and only found one wife and some kids. He died in 1935 in Ohio.

His Boxing record:

Total fights 157

Wins 96

Wins by KO 57

Losses 31

Draws 27

No contests 3

For mor information on Joe here's a link for Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados_Joe_Walcott

I found another long article on Myrtle for this same crime, here's the link for it.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-butte-miner-myrtle-lea/99232924/

 If Myrtle did brag about stealing Henry's purse and diamond ring then she was guilty, but if they lived together and she did steal it, then there's more to this story that we may never know.

Here are the last articles I found.

The Butte Daily Post

Butte, Montana

Mon, Jul 25, 1910 · Page 2

The Butte Daily Post

Butte, Montana

Sat, Jul 30, 1910 · Page 2

The Butte Miner

Butte, Montana

Wed, Jun 8, 1910 · Page 6

The look on here face and those eyes, break my heart. I want to know more about women and what happened to her when she got out of prison in 1912?

I found a City Directory for 1946 but I am not sure this is her, but I will post here.

Name Mrs Myrtle B Lee

Gender Female

Residence Year 1946

Residence Place Great Falls, Montana, USA

Occupation Maid

Publication Title Great Falls, Montana, City Directory, 1946

I see the spelling is different but lots of records are like that.

Maybe a family member will see this blog post and help fill in some blanks. In the meantime I hope you find you criminal ancestors stories and ad them to your tree.