The Mysterious Mrs. Whitney, Hotel St. James Tenant 1911

Additional news clippings from the 1911 case of the Mysterious Mrs. Whitney, from 

The Curious Case of the Hotel St. James

In the first account in the Times, Mrs. Whitney was thrown from a car, splitting her skull. Her "husband" gave his name as William Whitney, saying this was his wife. 

 

The original address written down was 107 W. Forty-Fifth, which was the Friar's Club. This was corrected to 109 and the St. James the following day. 

However, in this version, the man says he is not Mr. Whitney.

Eight days later, Mrs. Whitney dies from her injuries having never regained consciousness. The chauffeur of the vehicle has disappeared, as well as the license plates of the vehicle.

   

10 days after the accident, Mrs. Whitney is identified as Lydia Mitcheli (Mitchell?) by her son Nessuno, via telegram. She had been a resident of the St. James for the past two months, but he had heard nothing regarding a man staying with her. 

[I can locate records of a Nessuno Micheli from California who would have been about 20 years old in 1911, but the newspaper keeps swapping an "l" for the "i' more than half the time.] 

Lydia would have been in her fifties, although her age is listed as 47 by her son, the third wife to Vincenzo Micheli who died in 1906 in Tahiti. Nessuno is listed as born in Mangareva. So Lydia winds up in New York from the French Polynesian Islands, living with a man for several months unbeknownst to anyone in her family. 

The car was eventually traced back to Mr. Frank H. Wiggin, whose name appears in the Times as treasurer of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, at 14 Beacon Street, Boston. His connection with the Cotton Exchange is traced to the Brown Brothers & Co 59 Wall Street & 60 State Street Boston.

Curiously, I came across Mr. Wiggin returning to Boston on New Years Day 1912 from Liverpool, England. As the wreck and subsequent death of his friend happened at the end of 1911 (the piece above revealing his identity was published Dec. 2, 1911), I might imagine he embarked out of the country very quickly afterwards. Quite curious.