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Elizabeth Beardsley talks a robber out of a crime
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A. R. and Elizabeth Baldwin Beardsley
From the Elkhart Truth, November 8, 1909:
MRS. BEARDSLEY ESCAPES HOLDUP BY DIPLOMACY AND PERSUASION
“Here, give me your diamond ring!”
The words spoken in an undertone by a man who stepped from the rear of the Sykes store on High Street startled Mrs. A. R. Beardsley, who was on her way home at night.
At the same time the man struck his intended victim on the arm. At first Mrs. Beardsley was inclined to believe that the man was a friend of the family and that he had been coming along High Street, and seeing her coming from the east had stepped behind the store with the intention of frightening her. The incident took place last week, but was not reported to the police.
Although the darkness hindered Mrs. Beardsley from getting a good look at the man, she soon became aware of the fact that he went (sic) business. His voice did not seem familiar. With the first demand that she turn over a diamond ring Mrs. Beardsley told the man to move on and allow her to pass.
The request that she turn over a diamond ring was repeated and then the intended victim fully realized that she was face to face with a holdup man.
She resolved to outwit the man if possible and to delay any attack in hope that hope that she might be able to summon assistance from any person who might pass that way.
A third time the highwayman repeated his demand and each time he struck Mrs. Beardsley.
She informed him that she was not wearing a diamond and that if she was that she would not turn it over.
Mrs. Beardsley advised the man to move on and allow her to proceed on her way. She said something about the would-be robber landing in jail and this seemed to have the desired effect.
Elizabeth Baldwin Beardsley (1850-1924) was a formidable woman. The daughter of Silas Baldwin, a prominent figure in early Elkhart, she married Albert Raper Beardsley, a nephew of Havilah Beardsley, the founder of the city of Elkhart. A. R. Beardsley had worked his way up from a clerk in a dry goods store to the owner of the Muzzy Starch Company to the president of seven starch companies.
In 1890 he joined the Dr. Miles Medical Company, becoming general manager the following year. He served in the Indiana Legislature during much of the early twentieth century.
Elizabeth Beardsley was known as the “Flag Lady” for her donation of flags to fire departments and other organizations. She served on the Elkhart Public Library’s Board of Trustees and was instrumental in procuring the library’s first bookmobile. She was also rather daring for the time. She was known to swear and smoke cigarettes.
The Beardsleys lived, appropriately, on Beardsley Avenue, in a grand house called “Ruthmere,” named for their only child, who died as an infant.
While the Sykes store is no longer, Ruthmere, in all its elegance, is still with us, as a museum. Check out Ruthmere’s website. And if you happen to visit Elkhart, a make sure you see Ruthmere.
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