THE BADGER GAME

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Oren E. Stembel

 

 

 

 

 

New Friends

 

On a spring day in 1902, a young man complaining of a sore throat visited Dr. Reynolds in his Indianapolis office, an office he shared with a young dentist named Dr. Basil Stembel.  The patient was accompanied by his pretty young wife who decided she might as well have her teeth cleaned by the dentist while waiting for her husband.

 

The couple, Julius and Nettie Herman, had recently moved to Indianapolis and were interested in establishing some friendships.  Both thought Doctors Reynolds and Stembel were delightful fellows and invited them to visit their flat for an evening of cards.  The doctors accepted and enjoyed their evening with the Herman’s.  The Hermans had a good time, too, and renewed their invitation.  The doctors consented, and thus began many enjoyable evenings of cards, drinks, and conversation with the Herman’s.

 

So, when Nettie dropped by Dr. Stembel’s office one day, and asked if he would like to come over that evening for cards, Basil thought nothing of it and accepted.  He showed up that evening expecting to join the couple, and possibly some of their friends, for the usual evening of cards.  However, when Basil arrived, Nettie was alone.  Julius, she explained, had driven to Marion, a town nearby, on some unexpected business, and wouldn’t be able to join them until later.  Nettie suggested they play cards until he returned.

 

After taking Basil’s jacket, Nettie offered him a drink. Basil asked for a whiskey.  She served it as he shuffled the cards. After the first hand Nettie opened a bottle of wine which she had purchased that day, and they each had a glass.  After his second glass of wine, Basil later explained on the witness stand, he “fell unconscious.”  When he came to sometime later, he found he was laying on the couple’s bed where Nettie had placed him, and Julius was standing over him, yelling for him to leave the house! 

 

Basil staggered out of the house, and arriving home discovered that he had been robbed of $72 and his diamond ring, but he felt too sick to return and confront the couple that night.  The next day Basil decided he should report the theft and went to the police, but upon reflection decided that this would reflect poorly on his reputation and practice, so he declined to file a complaint, and left.

 

 

Basil

 

Dr. Basil Justus Stembel was a single, 35-year-old dentist, a recent graduate of the Indiana Dental College in Indianapolis. He was raised in Benton County, Indiana, the eleventh of twelve children of Theophilus Stembel, a wealthy 88-year-old farmer.  Basil shared an office on New York Avenue in Indianapolis with a physician, Dr. S. L. Reynolds.

 

 

 

Stembel’s Story

 

Two days later Basil returned to the police with a disturbing story.  He said earlier that day Julius Herman had visited him at his office and accused him of “assaulting” his wife.  Julius demanded a payment of $1,000 or he would “blow Basil’s brains out” with the revolver he had in his pocket.  Scared for his life, Basil told Julius that he didn’t have that kind of money at hand.  Julius then demanded that Basil write to his wealthy brother in Iowa and have him wire the amount requested.  Basil reluctantly agreed and wrote the letter, which Julius dictated. Julius then took the letter from Basil and mailed it.

 

Hearing that Julius had made plans to return to Basil’s office a few days hence to pick up the money, two detectives were assigned to set a trap for Julius on the day the money was to arrive.  The detectives squeezed into a closet that the doctors used for their laboratory and waited. At 5 o’clock Julius arrived for the money.

 

Basil, at the direction of the detectives, told Julius that the requested money had been delayed but that he would write him a check for $100 to serve as a down payment until the full amount arrived.  Julius hesitated, then agreed, and when he stuffed the doctor’s check into his pocket, the detectives sprang from the closet, and arrested him. 

 

Nettie was arrested soon after.  She surrendered Basil’s diamond ring, which she insisted was given to her by Basil, but the detectives could not find the $72 Basil said had been taken.

 

The Hermans were jailed, and their case was sent to the Police Court the next day where a grand jury would decide whether there was enough evidence to send the case to trial.

 

 

The Game

 

‘Badger Game’ is the name given to a scam where an attractive woman approaches a man of some means from out of town and entices him into a sexual affair.  An accomplice, often a “husband” or “boyfriend” then “discovers” the affair and threatens to make the liaison public unless a ransom, usually money, is paid.  The badger game can also be run by an out-of-town couple targeting a respectable man of means whose trade depends on his good name.

 

 

Nettie

 

Nettie Herman was a young woman whose age was never determined, but appeared to be in her mid-20’s. What isn’t in dispute was that she was very attractive, well educated, and uncommonly articulate.  She told the court that she was originally from Lynchburg, Virginia, that she had married a man named Prince who was the manager of the St. Louis Terminal Company, and who died of consumption recently in Colorado. [None of this checks out.]  Soon after her husband died, she suddenly appeared in Davenport, Iowa, in late 1901, in the company of Julius Herman. They wed in Chicago and moved to Indianapolis in January 1902.

 

 

Julius

 

Julius C. Herman, Nettie’s husband was the son of a well-to-do cigar manufacturer in Davenport, Iowa.  The Indianapolis News newspaper received the following dispatch from Davenport concerning him and his background:

 

"Julius Herman was born in the city twenty-six years ago and is the son of a prominent cigar manufacturer. He is of good family, of Jewish descent, attended the public schools here and always associated with the best class of residents. A number of years ago he entered the employee of the Nadler Drug Company, and later was employed at Ballord's drug store, at which place he was discharged last May under a cloud. Aside from the latter instance, he has always borne a good reputation in the city until his marriage, which event took place in Chicago, around Christmas time. At that time, he was engaged to marry Miss Shanley, a well-known and estimable young lady of Rock Island, Illinois. Without a word of explanation to his affianced, he left the city.”

[From Indianapolis News, May 9, 1902.]

 

 

But, Wait, there’s More!

 

The earlier biography of Julius Herman, as found in The Indianapolis News, above, was only half complete.  Here is the rest.

 

“Soon after the first of the present year, [Julius] returned to this city with his present wife, whose maiden name was Miss Prince, and who is reported to be an adventuress. Her address has been given as being at both Chicago and St. Louis. During their short stay in this city they cut a large swath and appeared to have an abundance of money. Fine liveries, the best of wearing apparel and costly jewels soon started the people to talking. The marriage caused a disruption in the young man's family, and his parents refuse to be again reconciled to him as long as he insisted in remaining with his wife.  Other relatives, however, approved of the marriage, and the two factions are still at loggerheads. It is not thought here that Herman would have had the nerve to attempt a blackmailing scheme, unless prompted by his wife.

 

“The couple have been absent from this city for several months and very little has been heard of them of late, although it was understood that Herman was employed in an Indianapolis drug house. Mrs. Herman is several years her husband's senior. It is thought that she married him, believing that he would be a willing tool to her nefarious designs. Although Herman's father has considerable means, it is not thought that he will assist his son in an endeavor to get out of his present trouble."

[From Indianapolis News, May 9, 1902.]

 

 

Netties’s Story

 

The story of the events that led to the Hermans arrest is the one that Basil Stembel told the police.

 

The next day, in Police Court, the Hermans got a chance to give their side of the story.  Julius, for some reason, did not take the stand.  It was left to Nettie to tell their story, and the story she told was not only radically different from Basil’s account, it was shocking in its content.  A Cincinnati newspaper, reporting on the hearing, cautioned (or excited) its readers that Nettie’s testimony contained elements “of a sensational nature.” They reported that the handsome young woman on the stand told of having several “frolics” with Dr. Stembel during the past two months in which “wine flowed freely”!

 

Nettie testified for nearly an hour about her relationship with Basil. Confident and direct, Nettie testified under oath that on her first visit to Dr. Stembel’s office, when she had her teeth cleaned, he gave her whiskey to alleviate the pain, got her drunk, and then took advantage of her (there was no mention of her husband who, Basil claimed, had accompanied her). Nettie further testified that every time she returned to Dr. Stembel’s office for dental work, he served her whiskey and Champaign.  Evidently many of these encounters ended in sex.

 

She recounted that on her final visit, Basil claimed that famed author (at the time) James Whitcomb Riley was a client of his who owed him $40.  He pulled Riley’s account and said, “Let’s let Jim buy us a bottle of Champaign!” He altered the account to read $45 and handed Nettie $5 to buy them a bottle of Champaign and a quart of whiskey for later that day. 

 

That evening Basil came to her apartment, knowing that her husband was away.  They opened the bottles and proceeded to get drunk.  That’s when  she claims Basil asked her to elope with him.  She said he told her he had $25,000, and that they could run away to Colorado where she could live “a life of ease.”  That’s when he slipped his diamond ring on her finger.  Later that evening Nettie’s husband came home, caught them together, and ordered Basil out of the house.

 

After Basil left, Nettie told Julius that she was in love with Basil and wanted to run away with him.  Nettie said Julius was angry and wanted to make Basil pay for his transgression.  He decided to confront Basil and demand $1,000 from him, and in return Julius would let his wife and Basil run away and marry.  Nettie said Julius said he would use the money to go to the Dakotas and never bother them again.

 

 

Stembel’s Turn

 

Now it was Basil Stembel’s turn to take the stand.  Shaken by the sordid details of Nettie’s story, Basil emphatically denied there were any “frolics.” He was in not in love with her.  He had not asked her to elope with him!  He said there were usually others at their house when he came to play cards, and the evening he came to visit, he had expected Julius to be there too. There was no more he could say.

 

 

The Grand Jury

 

The grand jury hearing lasted five hours. At the conclusion of the testimony, they retired to a side room to discuss the case and decide if there was sufficient evidence to support the various charges and send it to trial.

 

The grand jury recommended that the charge that the Hermans had robbed Basil be dropped.  But they believed there was enough evidence to warrant sending the blackmail charge against the Hermans to trial.  Thus, Julius and Nettie were taken back to jail where they were to be held, on a $2,500 bond each, until trial.

 

Their trial was held five weeks later. Despite the detective’s eyewitness testimony that Julius accepted Basil’s $100 check as a down payment for a $1,000 alleged blackmail payment, the court believed there wasn’t enough evidence to convict the Hermans, and they were freed.

 

After their release from jail, Nettie directed her lawyers to sue Basil for $20,000, for forcing her to spend 36 days in jail “with persons of ‘low and dissolute character’ which was responsible for her loss of health.” 

 

 

The Victim?

 

Was Dr. Basil Stembel the victim of a blackmail scheme?

 

It appears the Hermans, most notably Nettie, were not the innocent, honest citizens they presented themselves to be, at least based upon the newspaper accounts I found.  I believe “Nettie” was an attractive, intelligent woman who realized that by using her good looks, she could seduce well-to-do men into compromising situations, and with the right accomplice, could blackmail them to pay up to protect their marriage or reputation.        

 

Nettie knew that if the victim decided to go to the police and have her arrested, she could make the victim look like a depraved sexual predator to a grand jury.  If the case went to trial, she knew she could rely on her good looks to manipulate the all-male court system (of the time).  She would rarely lose in court, and if she didn’t post bond and remained in jail until trial, she could then sue the victim for forcing her to languish in jail with the dregs of society.  It would only take one successful suit of $20,000 to make her a wealthy woman (in 1902).

 

 

Epilogue

 

The Police Court dropped the burglary charges but bound the Hermans over to the Grand Jury on the blackmail charges.  Evidently Julius raised the $2,500 bail and was released.  Nettie spent 36 days in jail before the Grand Jury dropped the blackmail charges.  She immediately sued Dr. Stembel $20,000 for damages, filed June 23, 1902.

Ten months later, on April 19, 1903, this small notice appeared in the Indianapolis Journal:

 

Superior Court

Room 3 - Vinson Carter, Judge.

 

Nettie Herman vs. Basil J Stembel: damages.  Case dismissed. Judgment against plaintiff for costs.

 

 

The End

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Sources:

 

Indianapolis News. May 7, 1902

Indianapolis News. May 8, 1902

Indianapolis News. May 9, 1902 (two articles)

Cincinnati Enquirer, May 9, 1902

Indianapolis News. June 20, 1902

Indianapolis News. June 23, 1902

Indianapolis Journal. April 19, 1903

 

Note:  Basil did not have a wealthy brother living in Dubuque, so I’m not certain who the request for $1,000 was sent to.  Basil did have a cousin (2nd cousin, once removed), living in a small town west of Dubuque who had money, though why would Basil ask him for money when his own father was wealthy?  If Basil had enough money to elope with Nettie to Colorado and live well until she could divorce Julius - as Nettie claimed, then he must have had money of his own ($25,000 by one newspaper account).  Another newspaper article noted that the Hermans had high priced lawyers.  It appears that Basil did not.  He lost on both charges.  Where did the Hermans get their money?  Julius’s father said he was not inclined to help his son out of this mess.

 

This writer checked census records for Nettie and Julius.  I found no record of Nettie using a number of names and places she mentioned.  I found no record of her anywhere.

 

I searched the census for Julius Herman as well.

* 1900 - he was a single druggist living with his parents in Davenport, Iowa, so his story checks out.

* 1910 - he could not be found in any census record search.

* 1920 - he was found to be living in Davenport, Iowa. He was married and had two children.  His wife was not Nettie. His occupation was ‘clerk.’

* 1930 - his wife and two children were living in Davenport. Her marital status was Widow.  Her occupation was ‘cigar maker.’  Thus it appears that Julius died between 1920 and 1930 (though women whose husbands left them were known to tell census takers they were widows).