The Salvation Army meeting Friday evening was the scene of a bloody affray which may yet result in the death of one woman and the hanging of another.
Wm. Winters, who is well known in police circles, had been making love to Mary Grimes, a well known woman of the time. He had been spending his time luxuriantly upon her, much to the disgust of Grace Clark, another woman of questionable habits. Grace thought that she was entitled to all the affections that Winters had concealed about his person and did not propose to divide these winsome looks and tender glances with anybody. She had been casting a jealous eye for several days upon the Grimes woman and had warned her not to do so anymore. But Mary Grimes was not to be bluffed in any such manner. She held a very warm place in her heart for Winters, and she did not care who knew it, not even Grace Clark.
Just about the time the Salvation Army meeting was getting interesting, Grace stepped up to Mary and, with murder in her heart and a knife in her hand, she proceeded to cut calico in a manner that would have been startling even to the most fastidious cow boy or the savage Sioux Indians. She plunged the knife through the calico and cut the side of Mary Grimes.
Mary started running with Grace in pursuit. According to the Republican, Grace would have stabbed Mary a second time except that the women were interrupted by a policeman, who immediately placed the Clark woman under arrest and summoned medical help for Mary. Her wound was first thought not to be serious, but she was soon pronounced to be in a "very critical" condition.
On October 9, Grace, appearing in Springfield Police Court, applied for and was granted a change of venue, not to a different county but to a different judge and jurisdiction. No doubt she had appeared too many times in the police court on morals and other charges and doubted whether she could get a fair trial there. She and Winters had been charged jointly at least a time or two earlier in 1895 for cohabitating and/or for "resorting to rooms for immoral purposes." During the past couple of years, Grace had faced several additional charges of "lewd conduct" and at least one charge of stealing.
Mary Grimes also had a history of minor offenses in Springfield prior to the cutting affray, although her record was not as extensive as Grace's. Mary married G. L. Mahan in Springfield near the end of October 1893, but a month later Mahan deserted her when he stole items from the hotel where he was employed and skedaddled out of Springfield. Mary then reverted to using her maiden name, although her legal name was still Mahan.
The preliminary hearing for Grace Clark was held on October 12. The Springfield Leader-Democrat gave some background on the woman at the time. Her maiden name was Grace Ramsey, and ten years earlier she had been "the prettiest, black-eyed, plump little beauty" in her southwest Missouri school. She was the daughter of wealthy parents, was liked by her teachers, and was "beyond her years in intelligence." She finished her education with "high honors," but somewhere along the line, she took a "false step" that led her down the road to ruin. Grace was now haggard and unkempt with sunken cheeks, and the newspaper said it would "require a vivid stretch of the imagination to see any beauty" in her face now. She had been a "woman of the town for a long time" and was "perfectly familiar with jail walls and calaboose bars."
Mary Grimes had recovered sufficiently to testify against the defendant at her hearing, and the judge bound Grace Clark over to await the action of a grand jury.
Unable to post a $500 bond, she was taken back to jail.
However, I have found no record of what happened to Grace after this; so, perhaps the grand jury chose not to indict her.
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