Good Morning POU! Today is the final post in the saga of Hannah Elias. Hope you’ve enjoyed this drama.
It was clear that the scandal of a wealthy black woman alleged to be an extortionist had drawn attention. Elias lived in a mansion off of Central Park outfitted with butlers, maids and personal chefs from Japan, China, France and Africa. She owned many properties in addition to her main home. She had a chauffeur and carriage, diamonds, pearls and furs. She owned a summer home. A rich black woman confounded ideas about blacks and poverty, while the accusations of blackmail gave support to stereotypes about blacks and criminality. Her story was covered by newspapers across the country as readers followed to see what the conclusion would be.
At her arraignment, the crowd was massive and police were forced to barricade the entrance to the courthouse.
Elias sat at the defense table with her lawyer, Washington Brauns. Across the courtroom was the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney William Rand. The first witness called was John Platt. As Platt climbed the witness stand, Elias fixed her gaze at him.
“How old are you?” the prosecutor began. “I’m 83 years old. I was born in 1820.” Platt replied
“what is your occupation?” “I have no occupation. I was a plate glass manufacturer, but retired years ago.”
“Do you know the defendant Hannah Elias, and if so, how long have you known her.” “I know her, but I don’t know just when we met. It was a long time ago when the volunteer firemen came here from San Francisco.”
“You supported her during the last 10 years” – at which point Elias locked eyes with Platt. “I don’t know,” said Platt, searching for the right answer. “I have given her large sums of money.”
“Your relations with her have been more than a friend, have they not?”
“Yes,” Platt seemed bothered by the question.
“Did you give her large sums of money running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars?”
“I don’t know,” Platt said. His answer bought a look of displeasure to the District Attorney’s face.
“Do you remember bringing action in the Supreme Court to recover $685,000?” “I don’t know” Platt muttered.
“Do you remember any of the suit at all?” Rand asked.
“I don’t know” Platt repeated. “Do you remember signing a warrant charging her with blackmail?”
“I think I did”.
“Do you know what day of the week it is?” Rand asked, growing impatient.
“I think so”.
“Do you know what month it is?”
“I don’t remember” Platt replied
“Do you remember swearing to certain facts in this case the other night in your home?” Rand shouted.
“Go easy on the witness!” The judge interjected. Rand posed several more questions to which Platt responded “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember.” Until the prosecutor gave up. Elias’s attorney declined to cross-examine Platt. A former attorney of Elias’s was called who testified he knew of Platt and Elias’s affair but had no knowledge of where she got her money. Both of his witnesses haven fallen flat, Rand told the judge he had no other witnesses.
After scolding the district attorney over the presentation of his case, the judge asked “Do I understand the district attorney requests dismissal of the charge against his woman?”
Rand conceded, “You can put it that the district attorney’s office recommends that such a course be pursued.”
After the case was dismissed, Platt exited the courtroom first. Jeers of “nigger lover” and bottles greeted him. Police escorted Elias and her attorney to a back exit. They returned to her mansion where Kato was waiting when they pulled up.
Later that evening, Elias invited a rare guest into her home, a reporter from the New York Times. In the parlor of her home, she gave her first public statement.
“I don’t blame the poor man at all” she told the reporter. “I know he was forced to bring the suit against me and had no choice in the matter of the warrant for my arrest. He never wanted to make trouble for me. I am sure of it. I’ve known all along I would be vindicated as soon as I got a hearing. I never did anything wrong taking the money which he gave me. It’s all nonsense to talk of me having blackmailed him, has he plainly showed himself this afternoon when he refused to say I extorted money from him by threats.”
Elias, who had dealt with angry crowds outside her home for weeks, seemed to reach for conciliation with her final words: “I have all my life made white people my friends and never had much to do with my own race.”
The crowds outside her home shrank each day until after a few weeks, they were gone altogether. Looking out her window, Elias could see again the green of the park.
Platt appealed the decision of the court, but lost. He remained estranged from Elias and in 1908 died of a hear attack at age 89. He left nothing to Elias in his will and she knew better than to attend his funeral.
Platt’s estate was worth $10,000 ($270,000) at the time of this death. It seemed the millionaire had transferred the majority of his wealth to Elias during their affair.
In 1910, Elias left her mansion at Central Park West and moved to Harlem. In Harlem she didn’t have to shutter her windows or hide her face behind a veil. She finally felt free. However, after a while, she was constantly barraged with people looking for charity or lawsuits as she was known as the richest woman in Harlem. She bought a parakeet she kept in a golden cage which she screamed at whenever she was upset. She took her frustrations out on Kato whom she berated constantly. Eventually she was once again secluded just as she had been before.
In 1923, Elias decided to leave the United States. She was accompanied by Kato, her loyal butler and companion. Some people who knew her said she lived to old age in the South of France, others said she died in Paris, a few years after arriving. Rumors flew that she took one million dollars with her or that she was down to her last penny when she left. What no one disagreed with, was that she disappeared.