Robert "Bert" V. Prince was born 9/2/1892 in Ardmore, Carter County, OK.
1900 U.S. Census of Township 1, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0137; FHL microfilm: 1241848, Lines 83-89, "Robert Prince"
Robert Prince, Head, W(hite), M(ale), Born Apr, 1848, 52 yrs old, Married 29 yrs, Born in TN, Both parents born in TN, Farmer, Can read and write, Rents farm
Manning Prince (sic, Maomi Eubanks Prince), Wife, W, F, Born June, 1854, 46 yrs old, Married 29 yrs, 10 children with 10 still living (sic), Born in TX, Both parents born in AR, Can read and write
Arley L. Prince, Son, W, M, Born June, 1883, 17 yrs old, Single, Born in AR, Father born in TN, Mother born in TX
Doshire Prince (sic, Docia Prince), Daughter, W, F, Born Dec, 1885, 14 yrs old, Single, Born in AR, Father born in TN, Mother born in TX
Walter H. Prince, Son, W, M, Born Mar, 1889, 11 yrs old, Single, Born in AR, Father born in TN, Mother born in TX
Robert V. Prince, Son, W, M, Born Sept, 1892, 7 yrs old, Born in Indian Territory, OK, Father born in TN, Mother born in TX
Nora S. Prince, Daughter, W, F, Born Nov, 1895, 4 yrs old, born in Indian Territory, OK, Father born in TN, Mother born in TX
1910 U.S. Census of Shirley, Grady County, Oklahoma; Roll: T624_1253; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 0107; FHL microfilm: 1375266, Lines 51-55, "Robert A. Prince"
Robert A. Prince, Head, M(ale), W(hite), 62 yrs old, 1st Marriage, Married 39 yrs, Born in TN, Both parents born in TN, Farmer, Can read and write, Rents farm
Maoma Prince, Wife, F, W, 54 yrs old, Married 39 yrs, 10 children with 10 still living, Born in AR, Father born in AL, Mother born in TX, Can read and write
Robert V. Prince, Son, M, W, 18 yrs old, Single, Born in OK, Father born in TN, Mother born in AR, Farm Laborer, Can read and write, Attends school
Nora L. Prince, Daughter, F, W, 14 yrs old, Single, Born in OK, Father born in TN, Mother born in AR, Can read and write, Attends school
At some point, Bert Prince married Fannie Bernice Ladner. I found her mentioned in newspaper stories and was finally able to piece together who she was. I don't know if she was the owner of the Prince Hotel or they both were the owners of the Prince Hotel in Tulsa, OK. She is listed as the proprietor many times as you will see.
Fannie Bernice Ladner was born 4/11/1883 in Kansas to Thomas Harrington Ladner (DOB Abt. 1845 in England; DOD 8/29/1919 in Guthrie County, OK) and Elizabeth Catherine Radley (DOB 2/1855 in IN; DOD 12/30/1918 in Tulsa, Tulsa County, OK). They had Gertrude Agnes Ladner, Fannie Bernice Ladner, Minnie B. Ladner, Edger Hurbert Ladner, William James Monroe Ladner, Ella Grace Ladner. Her sister, Ella Grace Ladner (DOB 2/1/1892 in OK; DOD 10/1974 in Tulsa, Tulsa County, OK) married Samuel A. Todd (aka Simon A. Todd) (DOB Abt. 1875 in IL; DOD ? in ? ). You will see them come up again in the newspaper stories. She later married Theodore Houston Ericksten (DOB 12/14/1902 in Tulsa, Tulsa County, OK; DOD 9/5/1980 in Tulsa, Tulsa County, OK).
Tulsa Daily Legal News, 1/2/1917, Pg 2
On his WWI draft registration card it says he is in the hotel business for self. It also lists that he has a wife and baby. He lived at 119 1/2 East 2nd Street, Tulsa, OK which was the address of the Prince Hotel.
Now we find them getting into trouble with the law and shady stuff happening at the infamous Prince Hotel according to the newspapers.
The Tulsa Democrat, Tulsa, OK, 1/7/1918, Pg 1
Woman Asks Relief From Cop Conduct
In a statement made to the city commissioners, Mrs. Bernice Prince, proprietor of Hotel Prince, 119 1-2 East Second Street, takes George Blaine, desk sergeant and former plainclothesman in the Tulsa police department, severely to task. This is the same officer complained about to the city officials by F.S. Brooks, proprietor of the Ardmore rooms, 106 1-2 South Main street. Bert Prince, husband of Mrs. Prince, is a soldier at Camp Bowie.
The statement of Mrs. Prince on file with the city auditor is as follows:
"The City Commissioners:
"I am addressing you concerning the uncalled for and offensive conduct of Officer George Blaine in annoying the guests at the Hotel Prince, of which I am the proprietor. The conduct of this officer, I believe, is the result of the fact that I am by myself at the hotel with my two children while my husband is at Camp Bowie.
"On repeated occasions he has made unnecessary raids on the hotel; has gone through the rooms and disturbed the guests, and has brought disrepute on the name of the hotel through his own efforts. On no occasion has he shown a search warrant, and when asked to produce one, has replied that he has no need for one.
"On Sunday night last he entered the hotel for the purpose of looking over the register and searching the hotel. I refused to allow him to do so without a warrant, whereupon he declared that he had no need for one. He then tried to enter my room which, however, was locked. He said that he wanted to take me to the station. I said that I would not go without a warrant, as my baby was in bed and very sick.
"'I'll break down that door with a tomahawk,' I heard him say.
"'I'll have you arrested and put under a $2,000 bond,' he then said.
"From the ungentleman-like actions and abusive threats, he caused me to have a nervous breakdown which necessitated my calling a doctor.
"The next day I was told over the 'phone by the sergeant that a warrant had been issued on the grounds that I had been resisting an officer. My bond was placed at $50, which I paid.
"I am stating these facts in order that the city commissioners will at least look into the matter and that if anything can be done for alleviation that it be effected.
"All my statements can be substantiated with proof, and my hotel has not been the only one which has been subjected to like treatment from officer George Blaine."
Officer Blaine has but recently been promoted to a desk job at police station, but whether it was because of the complaints reaching the heads of the police department has not been given out.
The Morning Tulsa Daily World, 6/3/1918, Pg 1
Girl Faints At Hotel Causing Suicide Scare
Mabel McCarty, Waitress, Taken From Prince Rooms In Unconscious Condition
Fear that Mabel McCarty, a waitress at the K.C. waffle house on South Boston street, had committed suicide at the Prince hotel last night caused a furore of excitement at the hotel and the girl was rushed to the Tulsa hospital where examination showed that she had merely fainted.
The girl was found in her room at the hotel about 9 o'clock in an unconscious condition. She was lying upon the floor with distorted features and apparent symptoms of poisoning. An ambulance was called and she was taken to the hospital.
An unfinished letter among the girl's belongings indicated that she was despondent over the fact that a lover had recently married another girl.
The Tulsa Democrat, 6/3/1918, Pg 7
Young Woman Recovering
Mabel McCarty, waitress, who fainted at the Prince Hotel on East Second street Sunday night, either as the result of shock or from the effect of drugs, according to the police, was reported as improving at the Tulsa hospital Monday.
The Tulsa Democrat, Tulsa, OK, 1/5/1918, Pg 1
Bert Prince and Bernice Ladner begin divorce proceedings.
Tulsa Daily Legal News Tulsa, OK, 12/28/1918, Pg 1
Tulsa Morning Times, Tulsa, OK, 6/15/1919, Pg 1
Cop Wins Race
Now Bert Prince Faces Many Charges Under City Laws
Bert Prince manager of the Prince Hotel, lead Motorcycle Policeman Wade Foor something of a merry chase Sunday evening at 8 o'clock but the officer came out victorious. Prince, according to Foor, was doing considerable in the line of breaking speed laws in the vicinity of Main and First streets when he attempted to stop him.
But Prince evidently did not propose to suffer himself to be arrested for he speeded up and the officer was compelled to chase him down into the precincts of "Little Africa" where the arrest was finally made. Prince was booked on several charges among them being drunk, carrying concealed weapons, reckless driving and speeding.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 10/31/1919, Pg 1
**Note that there are no children listed in the 1920 U.S. Census. Where were they?**
1920 U.S. Census of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Roll: T625_1486; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 203, Lines 20-28, "Bert Prince"
Bert Prince, Head, M(ale), W(hite), 27 yrs old, Married, Born in OK, Father born in KY, Mother born in TX, Hotel for self
Bernice Prince, Wife, 34 yrs old (1886), Married, Born in KS, Both parents born in England, Hotel for self
Hugo Pittman, Roomer, M, W, 44 yrs old, Divorced, Born in AL, Father born in GA, Mother born in AL, Waiter in restaurant
W.O. Morrill, Roomer, M, W, 39 yrs old, Single, Born in IA, Father born in U.S. Mother born in IN, New manager for self
O.R. Lewis, Roomer, M, W, 39 yrs old, Single, Year immigrated 1902, Naturalized in AL, Born in Wales, Both parents born in Wales, Carpenter
A.M. Ryan, Roomer, M, W, 32 yrs old, Widowed, Born in MO, Father born in IL, Mother born in MO, Waitress restaurant
J.E. Bracy (sic), Roomer, M, W, 31 yrs old, Divorced, Born in OK, Father born in TX, Mother born in MO, None
R.E. Lienfulges (sic), Roomer, F, W, 32 yrs old, Widowed, Born in NM, Father born in England, Mother born in Spain, Clerk at grocery
L.C. Gaddes, Roomer, M, B, 30 yrs old, Married, Born in TX, Father born in TX, Mother born in MS, Hotel porter
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 2/9/1920, Pg 8
Collins On Trial Charged With Theft Of Stecol Auto
The trial of the state against Tom Collins charged with larceny of a Cadillac car, the property of J.M. Steckoll, was called before Judge Edmond Cole Monday morning. The morning was devoted to preliminaries.
The car was stolen September 2, 1919, and recovered the following day. It was found in an abandoned barn two and a half miles northeast of Tulsa. When the sheriff and his party drove up to where the car was stored, Tom Collins appeared in the weeds a short distance from the barn, entered an automobile and drove away.
His explanation according to officials is that he had been sent by Bert Prince of the Prince Hotel to repair the car.
Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times Democrat, Muscogee, OK, 5/8/1920, Pg 1
Held For Bank Robbery
Tulsa Taxicab Drivers Charged With Looting Fairland Bank
Miami, OK, May 7 - William Cox and Walter Buchanan, Tulsa taxicab drivers, were arrested here today and placed in jail charged with the robbery of the Fairland bank April 19. R.V. Prince, another Tulsa man, who was arrested in connection with the robbery, gave a personal bond of $3,000 and was released.
Evidence against Cox and Buchanan is said to have been found through tracing the sale of Liberty bonds stolen from the bank to a brokerage firm in Tulsa.
The Grove Sun, Grove, OK, 5/20/1920, Pg 3
Haskell News, Haskell, OK, 5/27/1920, Pg 4
Traced through the sale of liberty bonds to a brokerage concern in Tulsa, William Cox and Walter Buchanan, Tulsa taxicab drivers, were arrested at Miami and placed in jail charged with the robbery of the Fairland bank April 19. R.V. Prince, another Tulsa man, gave a personal bond of $3,000 and was released. Five hundred dollars of the $2,500 taken from the bank by burning into safety deposit boxes has been recovered.
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 6/11/1920, Pg 1
Thieves entered room 36 at the Prince hotel early last night stealing a hand bag and four silk shirts.
Miami Daily Record Herald, Miami, OK, 7/1/1920, Pg 3
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 10/27/1920, Pg 2
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 12/20/1920, Pg 1
Wife Sees 'Joyrider' Slay Mate
Taxi Shooting Ends In Murder of Man Hunting Spouse
A Sunday night joy ride, in which two wives and a man who is "not the marrying kind," took part, ended in murder early today.
When E.S. Duke, a Frisco switchman who works nights, attempted to take his wife from a taxicab in which she was riding with A.C. Mullins, private detective, he received a bullet wound in the abdomen for his interference.
This happened about midnight. Duke died at 3 o'clock at the Oklahoma hospital without speaking of his wife.
As the result of the shooting which was staged in the 1200 block on North Main street Mrs. Duke, Mrs. Ira Dalton, a guest at the Prince Hotel; B.G. Larkins, taxi driver, who was operating the car occupied by the joyriders, and Mullins are being held in jail for investigation. A charge of murder, police officers said today will be preferred against Mullins.
Asked Women To Ride
Salient facts of the shooting, brought out by questioning the persons involved, are that shortly after 8 o'clock last night Mrs. Duke and Mrs. Dalton were eating dinner at the Newport cafe, First street and Boston avenue, when Mullins came in and asked Mrs. Dalton "If she and her friend wanted to take a ride."
"We both agreed to go," Mrs. Duke said from her cell today, "and we got into Larkins' taxi standing at the curb. I got in the front seat with the driver and Mrs. Dalton not in the back seat with Mullins.
"After riding about the city for two hours or longer Mullins suggested that we visit a 'choo' place. No one protested so Larkins drove to Esther's place, a negro roadhouse about a mile and one-half north of the city.
"We remained there only about 15 minutes. The place was crowded with white men and women and negro men and women. They were all drinking choo and many of them were very drunk. None of our party took a drink.
"Leaving the place we started to town and had just entered what I judge to be the 1600 block on North Main street when an automobile drove up behind the taxi we were in. This car followed close behind us for two or three blocks and while I never paid any attention to it Larkins, the driver, yelled to Mullins to 'get your gun ready, we are going to be hijacked' just as a man stepped out on the running board of the other car. Then Mullens shot.
Recognizes Her Husband
"Just as the shot was fired we passed under an arc light and I saw my husband's face. I yelled: 'My God, I believe that's my husband.' The others, however, told me that he had not been hit so we drove to the hotel and an hour later I was arrested.
"My husband and I were married on Dec. 2 and since that time have been living at the Prince Hotel. We had never been separated and had never had one cross word since we were married.
"The last time I saw my husband before the shooting was at 3:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon at the foot of the stairs leading to the hotel. He was dressed in his working clothes and was starting for West Tulsa to go to work. 'Sugar, I'll be back about 11:30 o'clock,' he told me as he kissed me goodbye.
"I then went upstairs, talked with Mrs. Dalton awhile and we went to a picture show where we stayed until a little after 6 o'clock. We returned to the hotel for an hour and then went to the restaurant from where we went on the ride."
Never Saw Mullins Before
"Last night was the first time I ever saw Mullins. He was acquainted with Mrs. Dalton, however, and she was riding with him at the time the shot was fired. I never heard anybody call my name before the shot was fired."
Mrs. Dalton, who occupies the same cell with Mrs. Duke, made a similar statement.
"I have known Mullins for some time," she said, "and the whole thing is just as Mrs. Duke has said. I was riding with Mullins and she was riding with the taxi driver. When the other car came up behind we all thought it contained hijackers and Mullins shot."
Mullins, too, told the same story.
"I saw Mrs. Dalton and Mr.s Duke in the restaurant," he said, "and being acquainted with Mrs. Dalton asked her if she cared to take a ride and she accepted the invitation. We drove around for a couple of hours and then went out to Esther's roadhouse.
"The place was crowded so we started to town and was coming south on Main street when the other car came up behind us."
The Morning Tulsa Daily World, Tulsa, OK, 1/8/1921, Pg 1
Bert Prince and Bernice Ladner began divorce proceedings on 12/28/1918 and the divorce was granted in January 1921. According to the 1920 U.S. Census and the newspaper stories, they continued to live together in the Prince Hotel. She later married Wesley Waples Spencer (DOB 8/9/1875 in Columbus, Franklin County, OH; DOD 9/5/1957 in Jackson County, MO). She died 2/17/1948.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 1/28/1921, Pg 1
On 6/14/1921, Bert Prince married Dorothy Lee in Kansas City, KS. Their marriage was short and volatile. I could not find records of Dorothy before their marriage or after their divorce. She is a mystery. And what happened to the child(ren) of Bert and Bernice Prince? In one of the newspaper stories she mentions having 2 small children.
Also keep in mind that the newspapers only use the appellation of Mrs. Bert Prince or Mrs. R.V. Prince. Not using their real names or maiden names make it hard to differentiate which is Dorothy and which is Bernice in some of the stories. I'm going strictly by dates.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 8/24/1921, Pg 2
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 9/23/1921, Pg 2
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 10/3/1921, Pg 1
Youth Reveals Workings of Robbery Gang
Sixth Member Of Alleged Band Of Thieves Makes Confession
County officials today asserted that they had run down the sixth member of a well organized gang of eight persons which pillaged the homes' of wealthy vacationists last summer and disposed of their loot through fenses (sic) in other cities, when F.J. Bays, county investigator, returned this morning from Fort Smith, Ark., with Norman Gillard, 17-year-old Tulsa youth.
Bays says Gillard made a statement after his arrest at Fort Smith giving details of one of the most carefully planned campaigns for looting homes of vacationists ever revealed. It involved methods of locating the homes from which the occupants were absent, entering the houses, securing the loot and disposing of it through an underground system of fences.
List of Wealthy
According to Gillard the band made a record of all wealthy Tulsa residents and their home addresses. Then they watched until that family left town for the summer placing a check mark against the house and looted it at the first opportunity.
Some of the robberies were committed at night and others in broad daylight when the burglars backed trucks up to the houses entered with pass keys and moved the valuables away under the pretense that they were draymen regularly employed.
While no alleged fences other than Prince and his wife have thus far been disclosed statements made lead to the belief that others operated in neighboring cities where the property was finally disposed of by those into whose hands it passed in Tulsa.
The specific charges on which Gillard is held in the county jail are participating in the looting of the homes of Waite Phillips, wealthy oil producer, at 1621 S. Owasso Av., and George W. Deck, 1517 S. Newport Av. The robberies occured in July and August, along with a number of others, which Bays says he believes were pulled by the same gang.
Dresses Are Recovered
Bert Prince, man about town and former proprietor of the Prince hotel at the corner of Second street and Cincinnati avenue, was recently arrested as a fence for the gang when $700 worth of dresses identified by Mrs. George W. Deck were said to have been found secreted in his home. His wife was held on a like charge. Later Prince was taken on a second charge of receiving stolen property following the finding of the cigarette and tobacco boxes with the names cut off in an investigation at the Owl drug store.
Tulsa Daily Legal News Tulsa, OK, 11/1/1921, Pg 2
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 11/4/1921, Pg 2
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 11/23/1921, Pg 4
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 12/3/1921, Pg 2
The Morning Tulsa Daily World, Tulsa, OK, 12/14/1921, Pg 1
Tulsa Daily Legal News Tulsa, OK, 12/14/1921, Pg 1
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 12/23/1921, Pg 1
Judge Delays Plan To Re-Open Prince Hotel
And Then Cat Is Let Out Of The Bag By Investigation
No, children, the Prince hotel on East First street, padlocked recently by court injunction as a place where booze was kept and sold and people consorted for drinking it, also long known as a place where lewd women, drunks and other police court habitues had their hangout, will not be re-opened by Mr. and Mrs. S.A. Todd, not immediately, at least.
Yesterday the Todds came before District Judge Albert C. Hunt representing that they had bought the lease from Mrs. Bernice Prince, former proprietor, and asking that the ban be lifted because they were good, law-abiding citizens and wished to runa moral uplift rooming house.
Ed Crossland appeared as their attorney and presented all these things forcefully to the court.
Shyly Mr. Todd admitted that he had formerly operated the Capitol rooms at the corner of First and Boston - operated them for nearly three years, in fact, during this and the former administration. But Mr. Todd said the Capitol had always been stainless and blameless and never raided at all under his benign management.
The Cat Crawls Out
Judge Hunt had passed on such cases before. While the count attorney's office utterly failed to present any evidence about the matter to speak of one way or the other, he was not altogether satisfied. He took the matter under advisement and said he would think it over carefully for several days.
Then the cat crawled out of the bag.
It became known that Mrs. Todd, who was trying to get the lease along with her husband, is the sister of Bernice Prince, the woman whom the court had just enjoined as proprietor of the Prince Hotel when it was padlocked.
It also became known that the Todds operated the Capitol, Brooklyn and Comus rooms here during a period when their record was pretty well known. Todd was at the Capitol, Mrs. Todd at the Comus and a negro manager represented them at the Brooklyn during most of this time, it is said.
Acting Chief of Police James Patton was asked today concerning the Capitol while Todd ran it. Patton said it was raided and whisky found there. He added that it did not bear a good reputation with the police.
Patton Refuses Mrs. Todd
"That Todd woman came in here the other day and asked me to go up to the courthouse and testify as to her good character in this case, so she and her husband could take over the Prince," exploded Patton. "I told her the police would never consent to having them in there and I wouldn't give her a good reputation because I couldn't. Then Todd came down and I refused to testify when he asked me.
"If such people are to be permitted to take over leases after injunctions are sustained, then it is no use to get injunctions to clean up this town," added Patton.
This was rather at variance with the testimony before Judge Hunt of H.J. Gray, justice of the peace and C.C. Webber, real estate dealer, who testified that the Todds bore good moral reputations.
But it is rumored just the same, that the Prince Hotel will not be reopened under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Todd.
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 12/28/1921, Pg 10
Prince Hotel "Knocked Out" In Court Fight
Rooming House Will Go Out Of Business, Judge Hunt Is Told
The Prince Hotel, former notorious hostelry at 119 1/2 E. Second St., has closed it's door forever, according to information received today by District Judge Albert C. Hunt who granted the temporary injunction padlocking it as a place where liquor was kept and sold.
So far as known this is the first instance in the history of Tulsa county where an injunction against a downtown rooming house with a police court record has actually served the purpose for which it was designed.
Many injunctions have been brought against rooming houses as places of drunkenness and immorality in Tulsa in the past. Many have been temporarily closed. All have reopened and practically all have resumed their former unlawful practices with impunity.
But now it is said to be different with the Prince, long acclaimed by police and county authorities as the most notorious of all.
Counsel for S.A. Todd and wife, attempting to secure the lease, appeared before Judge Hunt Monday. The judge had the matter of modifying the injunction so as to permit the Todds to reopen the place under advisement at that time.
Counsel had something to say anent the facts carried in a story in The Tribune, but didn't come out at the trial to the effect that Mrs. Todd is the sister of Bernice Prince, the woman against whom the injunction was secured and that the Todds formerly ran three rooming houses in Tulsa which Jim Patton, chief of detectives, said had had reputations.
Counsel blandly admitted the sistership of Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Prince, saying he had learned of it since the trial. He also admitted a few other things, but he added that the Todds were really very nice people and would run the place quite morally.
"Well, I have decided to make the injunction against the Prince hotel permanent, but you can have the case re-opened and come in and make a showing if you wish to appeal to a higher court." replied Judge Hunt. He set yesterday morning as the time for such action.
Yesterday morning Judge Hunt said no one appeared, but he was unofficially informed that the Todds had decided not to make a further fight.
It was said today that the owner of the building would very likely cease its operation as a rooming house under any management and rent it henceforth to some wholesale business concern.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 1/9/22, Pg 4
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 1/11/1922, Pg 3
Find Prince Guilty
Hotel Proprietor With Wife, Convicted Of Receiving Stolen Goods Ask Leniency For Woman
R.V. (Bert) Prince and his wife, Dorothy Price (sic), were convicted of receiving stolen property by a jury is district court which returned the verdict after three hours of deliberation. The jury recommended that Judge W.B. Williams be lenient with Mrs. Prince and left the fixing of the punishment in both cases to the court. The former hotel proprietor and his wife were charged with buying wearing apparel worth $570 which had been stolen last summer from the home of George W. Deck, 1517 South Newport.
The state's star witness was Will Carden, convicted auto thief, who testified that Joe Morris, Claude (Slats) Chamberlain, both being held in the county jail on other charges and himself stole the clothing from Deck's house and later sold it to Prince for $60.
The Morning Tulsa Daily World, Tulsa, OK, 6/30/1922, Pg 1 and 21
Police Officer Shot In Arm By Enraged Woman
Grant Tucker Attacked When Called To Quiet Wild House Party
Injury Not Serious
Mrs. Bert Prince Shoots Into Door When Officer Tries To Talk With Her
Under An Assumed Name
As Mrs. Wright, Woman Rented the Woods Home On S. Victor: Gave Gay Parties
Grant Tucker, police field sergeant and one of the best known police officers in the city, received a flesh wound in the left arm about 10 o'clock last night and narrowly escaped serious injury when, in answering complaints of neighboring citizens against a house at 1522 South Victor, he was shot at through the door. The bullet just missed the elbow join and ploughed its way through the fleshy part of the arm.
Other police officers who were called to the scene by neighbors arrested a woman who gave the name of Dorothy Wright. She was sitting in the darkened house holding an old-fashioned .38 caliber revolver in her hand. The arresting officers said that she was partially intoxicated. She was held for investigation. The revolver had been fired one time.
While making no direct confession that she did the shooting, the woman was very truculent, according to the officers, and told them that she would shoot some more if she got a chance. When the other officers arrived at the house, the lights were out and a large crowd of curious neighbors were the only persons about. A flashlight thrown through an open window. however, disclosed the woman sitting in a chair with the revolver in her lap. After she had been ordered to open the and told that she was under the direct scrutiny of several officers with leveled guns, she consented to let the officers into the house.
Identified As Mrs. Prince
She was the only human inhabitant at that time. The reeking odor of liquor was everywhere, and the officers found 12 broken quart bottles and 3, 5-gallon bottles, all of which had evidently been filled with liquor. When the woman was forced to give up her gun she became furious. "I would have gotten some more of you if I had a chance," she threatened. The officers said that she had evidently been in a scuffle with other persons in the house when Tucker broke in on a gay party as one of her eyes was blackened.
The woman was booked for investigation at police headquarters and police officers are searching for the other members of the "booze party". While the woman gave the name of Dorothy Wright, she is in reality Dorothy Prince, wife of R.V. (Bert) Prince well-known to both police and county officers, according to the police. The woman admitted to one of the arresting officers that her name was Prince. It is not known whether the woman's husband was a member of the party last night. Both she and her husband are at liberty under supersedeas bonds pending an appeal taken from a conviction in district court on charges of receiving stolen property, police officials said last night or not, but he is being sought by the police.
Story Of The Shooting
"I went to the house in answer complaints from neighbors," Tucker said last night, while his arm was being dressed by nurses at the Oklahoma hospital. "Someone called the station that people in the house were making a lot of racket and I thought I would see what the trouble was as the house is within a short distance of the beat that I make every night.
"When I got up to the house the lights were all on, a phonograph was playing and I could hear several people laughing and talking. I went to the door, which was closed and knocking announcing I was an officer. The lights were thrown off and as I ran to the back door I heard it throw open and could hear several people leaving hurriedly. I ran into a fence and was unable to stop a score of people who went down the alley. Walking back to the front of the house I threw my flashlight in an open window and it fell on this woman. She dropped to the floor and I ran to the front door, knocked and asked to be let in, that i wanted to talk to her.
"I heard a pistol snap and without a second thought I jumped to one side. Just as I jumped the shot was fired and I felt a stinging pain in my left arm. If I hadn't jumped the bullet would have entered my stomach. Realizing that I couldn't get in the house alone. I asked a neighbor to phone police headquarters and another man volunteered to bring me to the hospital.
Tucker Remains On Duty
Tucker said that he would finish the night's work wafter his arm was dressed but the physician ruled against such tactics. The officer will be able to again resume his duties by July 1, however. He remained at police headquarters all night despite the physician's orders.
When the woman was arrested Tucker recognized her as the one whom he had surprised with the flashlight. "I saw her only a second," he said, "but she is the one!"
The house is the property of Mrs. Mary E. Woods, according to her son-in-law, A.E. Finney, an employee of the Santa Fe railway company who locked the house after the departure of the woman. Finney said that his mother-in-law was in Colorado for the summer and had rented the house furnished to a woman who name he did not know. The house had been rented only about 20 days, according to Finney.
Police officers in searching the house found several pictures of the arrested woman and also bank deposit checks made out to R.V. Prince, proof they say that he had been living there. A large silver loving cup engraved with the words "Hotel Prince" was on a table. Prince was formerly owner of the Prince hotel, a notorious booze joint until cleaned out by repeated police raids.
"I don't know the name given by the woman renting the house," Finney said last night, "but I do know that it was no Prince. It may have been Wright. My mother-in-law would never have rented the house to these parties if she had known them. The house will be cleaned up and either closed or rented to other parties. These people won't again be allowed to use it."
Neighbors said last night that there had been several other parties held in the house since Mrs. Woods left.
The Morning Tulsa Daily World, Tulsa, OK, 6/30/1922, continued
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 6/30/1922, Pg 2
The Oklahoma City Times, Oklahoma, OK, 6/30/1922, Pg 52
Tulsa Policeman Is Shot By Woman
Tulsa, June 30 - Grant Tucker, Sergeant of police, was shot through the arm tonight by a woman when he went to the front door of a house in a restricted residence section to order less noise at a party that had brought complaint from neighbors. Mrs. Bert Prince, who is out on bond and under seven years' prison sentence for accepting stolen property, was arrested. She had rented the residence for the summer from the owner who is in Colorado. A large quantity of fine bottled whisky was seized by officers, who raided the house later.
The Morning Tulsa Daily World, Tulsa, OK, 7/1/1922, Pg 8
Mrs. Prince Says She's Not Guilty
Remanded To Jail In Default Of Bail Fixed At $5,000
Mrs. Dorothy Prince pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault with intent to kill filed before Justice J. T. Thompson yesterday by Grant Tucker, police field sergeant, who was shot in the left arm Thursday night while attempting to quiet a party at 1522 South Victor. The woman was remanded to jail in default of $5,000 bond pending her preliminary trial next Thursday.
Information against the woman was filed yesterday morning by Tucker, who appeared at the county attorney's office with his arm in a sling. He also filed a charge of possession of liquor against her. Tucker was called to the residence at 1522 South Victor about 10 o'clock Thursday night by neighbors who complained of a boisterous party. When Tucker knocked at the front door all lights were switched off and he heard several people making a getaway at the back door. He attempted to interfere but was prevented when he ran into a fence.
A few minutes later when attempting to enter the front door of the house Tucker heard the snapping of a revolver on the inside and jumped to one side just as a bullet crashed through the door and ploughed into his arm. The jump probably saved his life as the bullet would undoubtedly have entered his abdomen. Other officers called to the scene found Mrs. Prince in the house holding a .38 caliber revolver which had been fired once. The officers also said that they found where 12 quarts and three five-gallon bottles of liquor had been broken.
When booked at police headquarters after her arrest the defendant gave the name of Dorothy Wright. She admitted to one of the officers however, that her name was Prince. She is a wife of R.V. (Bert) Prince, former owner of the Prince Hotel, which in years gone by was a famous booze and gambling resort. Both Prince and his wife are now under sentence to the state penitentiary. Pending an appeal to the criminal court of appeals, however they have been released on bond.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 7/2/1922, Pg 7
Mrs. Prince Is Re-Arrested On Federal Charge
Woman Who Shot Tucker Gets Out On Bail And Runs Into More Grief
Mrs. Dorothy Prince, 1522 S. Victor Av., was arraigned yesterday afternoon in Justice J.H. Querry's court and held under $2,000 bond. Mrs. Prince is charge with assault with intent to murder Grant Tucker, a police officer. The charge against her was at first filed in the justice court of J.T. Thompson and he ordered her held under $5,000 bond, but the case was removed to Querry's court under a motion for change of venue.
Tucker went to the residence on South Victor avenue in answer to a call of neighbors Thursday night making complaint about the loud and boisterous noise at a late hour. As he was standing at the door waiting for Mrs. Prince to open it she fired, striking him in the left forearm. Other officers arrived soon thereafter entered and arrested her still holding the .38 caliber revolver with which she did the shooting.
Another Bond Is Required
Mrs. Prince, immediately after her release on bond, was brought before United States Commissioner William J. Melton yesterday and placed under an additional $500 bond under charges of having intoxicating liquors in her possession. This arrest was under an old warrant issued a year ago, which had never been served on account of inability to locate her. This adds one more to the already long list of criminal charges already pending in the courts against her. She is charged, in addition to the assault charge Thursday night, with having liquor in her possession on that occasion.
Police officers claim that Mrs. Prince is the second wife of R.V. (Bert) Prince and has a criminal record. She was convicted last fall in criminal court of receiving stolen property and sentenced to a year in the penitentiary, and is under bond pending appeal to the court of criminal appeals. The officers also claim that she killed a man in Texas some years ago, shot another in the leg at a rooming house of hers, and stabbed Prince's former wife while attending the dog races last year.
Mrs. Prince, while being arraigned before Unite States Commissioner Melton yesterday, was in a highly nervous state and attempted to explain the charges against her. She denied that she had killed a man in Teas. She says the man she is said to have deliberately shot in the leg thought he received the wound from her gun while on a duck hunt, was wounded accidentally. She state that while attending the races at Mid-Continent park last year with her husband, his former wife came up to them and asked Prince for $100, then turned on her, cursed her, and reached into her pocket as if to draw a gun. Mrs. Prince claims that she then cut the first Mrs. Prince on the arm with a knife for fear that she herself would be shot.
The preliminary hearing of the assault with intent to murder charge against Mrs. Prince will be held before Justice Querry on July 11.
Woman Jumps From Window To Escape
Mrs. Dorothy Prince, who recently came into the limelight for the shooting of Police Traffic Sergeant Grant Tucker when he attempted to arrest her at her home where a drunken party was in progress, was arrested again Friday night by police officers at 320 1/2 E. First St., and was treated in the city jail for a broken ankle and sprained back, received Wednesday night when she made a clever escape from police officers who attempted to arrest her for vagrancy.
According to police officers Mrs. Prince was caught in a loca rooming house and immediately arrested for vagrancy. She asked to be allowed to dress, and her request was granted by the officers who waited in the hall. A few minutes later the officers entered her room to find that she had escaped by jumping two stories to the pavement below and crawling several blocks to another hotel, where she took refuge.
Lawyers yesterday obtained her release from jail through a writ of habeas corpus and she was turned over to the county.
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 3/7/1923, Pg 3
Turner Approves Bert Prince Bond
A $5,000 bond for R.V. (Bert) Prince was approved by Hal Turner court clerk, this morning and has been forwarded to the clerk of the criminal court of appeals.
This action follows an order of the court, signed by Judge Smith C. Watson, that Prince be released upon bond following the court's refusal to declare Prince's former bond forfeited as requested by County Attorney John M. Goldenberry.
Stella Prince and S.G. Waggoner, both of whom reside in Creek county, are sureties on the bond and have property listed said to be worth $22,000. A certificate from Maude C. Elliott, court clerk of Creek county, states that the property listed is easily worth the amount of the bond. Turner obtained this information before approving it.
Prince had appealed from a sentence of two year's imprisonment on a conviction of receiving stolen property and was arrested several days ago at the farm of his father, 20 miles north of Sapulpa, after sureties on the old appeal bond had decided to withdraw their names . Following this action of sureties Goldenberry sought t have the appeal dismissed and Prince sent to the penitentiary to serve his time.
Tom Munroe, former county attorney, counsel for Prince filed bond for him in the required amount late yesterday afternoon, but the court clerk would not approve it until a thorough investigation as to it's value could be made.
Sapulpa, OK - Bert Prince, was arraigned before Justice J.H.N. Cobb here yesterday, on the charge of assault with intent to kill his wife. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded to jail.
His wife, while recovering in the Sapulpa hospital, is said to have stated that Prince took her out in an automobile and then beat her over the head with a revolver because she had threatened to divulge information concerning the killing of Frank Holloway, the notorious bandit.
It seems that Dorothy Prince and Bert Prince start divorce proceedings in 1923.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 3/8/1923, Pg 1
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 3/9/1923, Pg 17
Dorothy Prince Asks For Divorce
Dorothy Prince, concerning the whereabouts of whom the county authorities have been so interested recently believing that she would be able to shed some light on the Holloway murder, filed suit for divorce against R.V. (Bert) Prince her husband, in district court late yesterday.
With the filing of the petition it developed that Sheriff Bob Sanford had known of Mrs. Prince's whereabouts for the past two weeks and that she is living in a private home here in Tulsa and has forsaken the pathways of crime.
In the petition for divorce she alleges that her husband beat her into insensibility with a revolver and threw her from an automobile on the night of February 18 and was otherwise cruel to her. They were married June 14, 1921, in Kansas City, according to the petition.
Bert Prince, her husband, is at liberty on a $5,000 bond pending the hearing of an appeal from a conviction of receiving stolen property, and a sentence of two years, before the criminal court of appeals.
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 10/7/1923, Pg 12
Bert Prince Carries Walton Commission, Booze and Guns
Sapulpa - Bert Prince, convicted of receiving stolen property and known as an all around bad man, takes his place alongside Frank Nash, bandit suspect, as one of Governor Walton's special officers.
A special commission from the governor, two guns and a quantity of booze were taken off Prince when he was arrested here Saturday, for the third time in two days. The present charge is assault to kill. The victim is E.P. Williams.
Arraigned before a justice of the peace. Prince was released on a bond signed by Mrs. C.H. Bateman and James H. Carrothers. His release came just a little later than that of his wife, Dorothy Prince, from the city hospital. She was taken there following an alleged beating by Bert.
Both Prince and his wife, the records show, were sentenced to the penitentiary from Tulsa for receiving stolen goods. They are on appeal bonds. The case is said to be pending in the higher court.
It has been generally reported that Prince was carrying a Walton commission but a search of his person Saturday afforded the first actual proof that he is enrolled as one of Walton's immortals.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 12/9/1923, Pg 8
William Hightower, charged with the theft of an automobile from Dorothy Prince Jones said to be the former wife of Bert Prince, was found not guilty and released at his preliminary trial before Judge Yager in common pleas court. There was no testimony to connect Hightower with the theft, the court held.
The Tulsa Tribune, Tulsa, OK, 7/12/1924, Pg 1
Slayer, Shot By Dying Man, Surrenders
It Was Over A Girl, Sapulpa Police Say
The "wild and woolly" spirit of the old west still is present in some Oklahomans, and because of this Albert Day (sic, it was Albert Lester Aday), 40, of Slick, is dead of bullet wounds received in the abdomen and leg and Bert Prince of Sapulpa and Tulsa is lying in the Sapulpa hospital with bullet wounds in the hip and hand, facing a charge of murder which is to be filed against him this afternoon as a result of a gun battle he started in the Cozy rooms in Sapulpa about midnight last night.
The "woman in the case," for which a recurrence of the old-time grudge-settling manner was revived, according to police is Mabel Baiton, who has been dividing her attentions between both Prince and Aday, and whose husband is now serving a 15 year penitentiary sentence in Lansing, Mich.
Reeling under the influence of liquor, Prince stamped into the Cosy rooms last night dressed in the picturesque garb of a cowboy and proceeded to "shoot up the place," in the most approved old-time Western manner, because he declared Aday had been going around with "his girl," as Aday explained just before he died this morning at 4:25 in the Sapulpa hospital. Aday was lying in his cot at the rooming house, but whipped out a gun and fired three bullets which lodged in Prince's hand and hip.
Prince escaped then but a few minutes after Aday had died, Prince walked into Chief Morley's office at Sapulpa. He would offer no word of explanation, other than that he had been dropped off in front of the police station by a friend of his. As he was suffering from his injured, which are painful, but are not expected to be serious, Prince was taken to the Sapulpa hospital for treatment.
The Baiton woman, who lives outside the city limits of Sapulpa, has not yet been located although a search is being made for her in order to get her story of her relations with the two men.
Always handy with his gun, this is not the first violation of the law that Prince has committed. He is now out on a heavy appeal bond, having been convicted more than a year ago in connection with the famous Jacobs case, for having received stolen property. Although he was given a two year sentence at that time, he has never served a day of it.
He was also questioned in the Holloway murder case, and this instance brought about the split between Prince and his wife, who divorced him after he was reported to have beaten her up and thrown her from an automobile where she was left for dead. The former Mrs. Prince is now living in Texas.
The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK, 7/13/1924, Pg 7
The Oklahoma Bulletin, McAlester, OK, 3/1/1925, Pg 1
Drumright Weekly Derrick, Drumright, OK, 10/16/1925, Pg 8
Bert Prince Is Acquitted
Alleged Creek County Slayer Pleaded Self-Defense In Sapulpa Case
Sapulpa, Oct. 16 - Bert Prince was acquitted of slaying Lester Aday here late yesterday. Aday was killed in a rooming house the last of July. Prince pleaded self-defense.
Among the cases known to have been investigated was that of Sim Prince, who was arrested near Sapulpa several weeks ago on a charge of manufacturing wine. Prince is a brother of Bert Prince, who will be tried for murder in the district court October 2. The total number of indictments to date is 121. It is not known how many of these are from Creek county. The grand jury is expected to complete it's work today.
Ella Grace Ladner and Samuel A. Todd get a divorce in 1926.
Tulsa Daily Legal News, Tulsa, OK, 1/15/1926, Pg 1
The Cushing Citizen, Cushing, OK, 6/9/1927, Pg 1
Bert Prince Is Shot And Killed In Earlsboro Row
Earlsboro, June 9 - Bert Prince, well known around Tulsa and Sapulpa was shot and killed here last night.
Frank Lee, Prince's brother-in-law, is sought by police in connection with the murder.
Police said Lee drove up to the curb where Prince was standing and alighting from his car, started to quarrel with Prince. Five bullets were fired in the gun battle that followed, one piercing Prince's chest.
As Prince fell to the sidewalk, Lee ran to his car and drove away.
It is from the following story that I got Dorothy's maiden name. If Frank Lee was Bert Prince's brother-in-law, then it may be safe to assume that Dorothy was Dorothy Lee. But I still could not find her before or after.
The Cushing Citizen, Cushing, OK, 6/10/1927, Pg 1
The Cushing Daily Citizen, Cushing, OK, 6/10/1927, Pg 2
Perry Republican, Perry, OK, 1/11/1912, Pg 1
The Ardmore Daily Press, Ardmore, OK, 2/9/1923, Pg 1
The Cleveland American, Cleveland, OK, 2/15/1923, Pg 1
The Frederick Leader, Frederick, OK, 2/8/1923, Pg 1
