Sophie Lyons Again

The Detroit Evening News of Jan. 1, had a column coneerning Sophie Lyon. Last July she was arrested in Paris, France, under the name of DeVarney, and imposed upon the French officials wonderfully. Inspector Byrnes, of New York city, knows all about Sophie. He said : "About 15 months ago this woman went with two confederates into a Brooklyn bank, and while a gentleman was countingSSOOthat had been hamled him by the cashier, Sophie tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'I have dropped my handkerchief, won't you kindly piek it up for me?' The gentleman stooped down for the handkerchief, and one of the confederates stepped up and took off the counter $700 of the $800. Sophie simply thanked the gentleman for his kindness, and calmly walked away. "In the early part of last spring Sotihie left New York with two notorious American thieves, and the nextl heard about her was that she and her crookf d friends were operating very successfully in Europe. She, however, has an ungovernable temper, and after quarreling with the men, they separated. But she was never at a loss for friends. She had formed the acquaintance of an English thief, and my information is that she is now working with him in Paris, where she is known as 'Mme. De Varney.'and where she wasarrewted in July for picking pockefs and afterward discharged. This Mme. De Varney and Sophie Elkins, alias Levy, alias Lyons, alias Harri, are one and the same person. Two of her associates, who went to Europe about the time, sailed for the puroo-e of joining her on the other side, and have since been arrested in Geneva, and both convicted. "As I have said, Mrs. Lyons had four children, three girls and one boy. The boy followed in the footsteps of his father, and turned out to be a professional thief. He died in Auburn prison. One good thing the parents did for the girls, and that was to send them to a good school and keep them ignorant of toe life led by their mother. I believe they are now in a convent school at Montreal, and I don't think they are aware of their mother's profession."