This is an odd little story with no conclusion about a young woman who, for menfolks writing the news back in 1901, wore skirts that were too short, carried a rifle (too aggressive) and was a bit too well-spoken and well-informed for comfort.
Her name was Jessie M. Frey and as nearly as I could discover in what admittedly was a non-comprehensive search, this brief item in The Chariton Patriot of May 2, 1901, was her only mention here:
Miss Jessie Frey of Boise City, Idaho, is visiting old friends in and about Chariton. Miss Frey was raised in Otter Creek township, and also attended the Chariton Academy. She is a very intelligent young woman and spends most of her time in writing for some of the leading magazines.
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In order to figure out more of her story, it is possible to take a step back to earlier that spring, the Minnesota Territorial Prison at Stillwater (image above) and to St. Paul, where the following report was published in the St. Paul Dispatch, then reprinted on April 25, 1901, in the Great Falls (Montana) Tribune under the headline, "An Idaho Woman's Romance is Spoiled."
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St. Paul, April 25. What promised to develop into a very pretty little romance has been nipped in the bud by Warden Wolfer, of the state penitentiary at Stillwater, and Agent W.A. Gates of the state board of charities and corrections.
The woman in the case was Miss Jessie Frey of Boise City, Idaho, who is said to labor under the hallucination that it is her mossion in life to reform prisoners by taking up their cases one at a time.
The man is a convict at Stillwater who has convinced Miss Frey that he is innocent of the crime of burglary.
About two years ago the convict read an article in an eastern magazine written by Miss Frey. He wrote to her. She answered and the correspondence has been kept up, each writing to the other about 150 letters.
Just how far love entered into the affair the officials refuse to divulge, but more than the ordinary sentiment must have induced the woman, who is only 23 years of age, to leave her home in Idaho, to go to Stillwater and call upon Warden Wolfer in hopes of gaining the freedom of her convict friend.
When Warden Wolfer found that he could not persuade the woman to abandon her purpose, he went to Agent Gates, who went to Stillwater, brought the woman to St. Paul and sent her to her relatives in Chariton, Iowa, where her father once resided.
Agent Gates said Miss Frey wears short dresses and usually carried a rifle with her. She writes and speaks English very correctly and has contributed articles to eastern magazines and papers.
She claims to own a large herd of horses in Idaho. Agent Gates will notify her father of her actions.
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A further step back takes us to the Overland Hotel in Boise during early March, 1901, when the following report was published on March 20 in The Idaho Statesman under headline, "Strange Young Woman: Interviews Hotel Guests and Talks in a Peculiar Manner."
Miss Jessie M. Frey, who acts in a strange manner, came in last night from Warrens. She created a good deal of interest and excitement during the evening by appearing in the office of the Overland, where she is stopping, notebook in hand, and talking to a crowded audience of her past strange experiences.
She appears intelligent and is good loooking and talked last evening of many strange people and events that she had known. She had been in Warrens during the past winter, coming out as far as the Meadows on snowshoes. She has apparently traveled considerable, and most of her talk is rational enough, it being only from an occasional chance remark and from her looks and actions, that her mental balance would be questioned.
Miss Frey registered at the hotel as from Portland, but she is known to be the daughter of Jesse Frey, who lives down the valley some 6 or 8 miles, and is quite well known to many people here in Boise.
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And that's where the trail went cold. I found nothing before, or after, about Ms. Frey. Was she a delusional young woman who had forged a relationship via correspondence with an inmate in a Minnesota prison? Or was she an aspiring muckraker --- a title given to crusading journalists of that era who explored such topics as prison reform? I just don't know.
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