February 26, 1917
This Is the Story of Sweet Marie!
GLORY TO BETSY, GRACIOUS GEE
New York, Feb. 26.—"Sweet Marie" Gans [sic],
leader of New York's east side food rioters, is the lady who:
Threatened to kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Led the free speech fight at Tarrytown.
Gave up the stage for the soapbox.
And, they say, swears like a trooper.
The latter is given as the reason they call her "Sweet
Marie," a name the police handed her. She's 26, has been an expert
saleswoman, ranging from delicassen [sic] to laces. Lately her salesmanship has
been that of the street corner, with the anarchist magazine, Mother Earth as
the wares.
Sweet Marie is a member of the "Red Angels," anarchist
group that has been the "flying squad" in many a radical gathering.
Every member is put down in the policeman's mind as a "dangerous
girl."
Miss Gans, first a "private" in the ran[k]s,
became a "corporal," displacing Becky Edelson; now she's the
recognized leader among this particular group of adherents of Emma Goldman.
The neatest thing about her is her tongue, which is drilled
in harangue and repartee. Anybody that starts an argument with Miss Gans has to
dig for cover.
Her unkempt garments drape and conceal the figure of a cloak
model; for Sweet Marie believes no longer in milady's toilette.
Her eyes are blue and her teeth are perfect; she has the
complexion of a rural belle, and her laughter ripples like the waves of the
Danube beside which she was born. You'd take her for Irish, but she really is
an Austrian Jew.
