Stephanie St. Clair
Reported by wire services in December 1930 as "the policy queen of Harlem," appearing at the New York inquiry into the magistrates' courts and saying she had paid police and magistrates. Both records are newspaper reports of what she said.
- Aliases
- Mme. Stephanie St. Clair, Miss St. Clair
- Rights
- Both records are 1930 newspaper pages, public domain by date. They report what she said; this page does not treat the newspapers' labels or figures as fact.
On the record
- 10 December 1930 — United Press dispatch in The South Bend News-Times, 11 December 1930: "Mme. Stephanie St. Clair" appeared at the investigation; the paper calls her "the policy queen of Harlem" and reports that "she says, she, too, was "framed" by the police and sent to the workhouse," and wants to tell of money she paid to detectives and police officials.
- 18 December 1930 — International News Service dispatch in The Washington Times, 18 December 1930, page 3: she "asserted after leaving Kresel's office that she had paid tribute regularly to magistrates," and said her income from policy was once "$7,000 a day" with "130 agents."
No family or role is set, and no birth or death date. The only records filed here are two newspaper pages reporting her statements to the New York inquiry; no federal record about her has been located. The Harlem numbers section files the other records of the Harlem policy game. A National Archives naturalization index card under the same name carries no detail that ties it to her and is not used.
The 1930 dispatches use period language, including a racial epithet, and make claims about her origin and wealth that are the papers’. This archive does not repeat them.
Records
clippingSouth Bend News-Times, 11 December 1930: New York judge quits bench as probe continuesA United Press dispatch on the New York inquiry into the magistrates' courts reports that "Mme. Stephanie St. Clair," called "the policy queen of Harlem," appeared at the investigation and said she had been "framed" by the police and wanted to tell of money she paid to detectives and police officials.
clippingThe Washington Times, 18 December 1930, page 3: "N. Y. Vice Fires Flare Anew"A short International News Service dispatch from New York on the inquiry into the lower courts reports that Stephanie St. Clair, "Harlem policy queen," asserted after leaving Isidor J. Kresel's office that she had paid tribute regularly to magistrates.