Wanda Elaine Stopa (May 5, 1900 – April 25, 1924) was a Polish-American lawyer and murderer who committed suicide the day after committing her crime.

Life

Stopa was born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, in 1900. She emigrated to the United States with her parents and siblings, ending up in Chicago's Little Poland neighborhood. Her father was a clay sculpture modeler in Chicago and her mother came from a prominent Polish family. While living in her parents' rigidly conformist home, she studied at The John Marshall Law School, passed the

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

and became Chicago's youngest and first woman assistant U.S. district attorney. Others described her as extremely smart and of a dominating emotional nature. In search of a more individualistic and independent lifestyle, Stopa moved to a studio with other creatives located in the Bohemian

Towertown The Old Chicago Water Tower District is a historic district along the Magnificent Mile shopping district in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, IL, Chicago, Illinois. The distric ...

neighborhood. True to the reputation of the

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western world, Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultura ...

, the studio was the site of late night parties and non-traditional lifestyles. Stopa lived at the studio for three years; for one summer, an advertising executive named Y. Kenley Smith and his wife, a pianist, lived there as well. Also living at the artists' studio was a Russian man whom Stopa married, variously referred to in the press as "Vlad", "Ted", "Glaskoff", "Glasko", "Glasgow" or "Glaskow". There is confusion about his background. He described himself as a count who lost a fortune in the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, but Stopa's brothers portrayed him as a bootlegger and professional gambler. He and Stopa separated soon after marrying. Smith financially supported Stopa as an intellectual and artist. At some point, they began an affair. When Smith broke off the relationship, Stopa was extremely unhappy and demanded he leave his wife for her. Stopa traveled to the Smiths' Palos Park cottage on the outskirts of the city and tried to shoot her lover's wife, named Doodles, but accidentally shot and killed their 68-year old gardener, Henry Manning. Kenley Smith was at work in downtown Chicago at the time of the shooting and was quickly picked up by the authorities for his protection and for an interview. Stopa fled the scene and led the police on a manhunt.

Death

Stopa committed suicide by ingesting

cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...

in a room in the

Detroit Statler Hotel The Detroit Statler Hotel (also known as the Detroit Hilton Hotel) was a building located at 1539 Washington Boulevard across from Grand Circus Park between the David Whitney Building and the Hotel Tuller in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. In a ...

. Her brothers speculated that her estranged Russian husband provided the poison and described his influence on her life as "evil". Crushed by the loss of their friend, the artists from the Bohemian studio asked to be involved with Stopa's funeral. Enticed by the nature of the tragic love story, her funeral drew many curious onlookers and gawkers, some accounts claiming as many as 10,000 people. Stopa is buried at the Bohemian National Cemetery.

Popular culture

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

was once a tenant and friend of Stopa's lover, Kenley Smith. After reading of the scandal in the newspaper, Hemingway privately reacted to it with dark amusement. In 2019, Stopa's story was featured in a Season 13

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of the American television series ''

Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) Television, network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted ...

'', with Kelsie Feltrin portraying Stopa. Stopa's story was also the subject of episode 108 of the Chicago History Podcast. The award-winning blog ''1,001 Chicago Afternoons'' by Paul Dailing delved into the story in post number 283, named "The Murderess Down the Block".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stopa, Wanda 1900 births 1924 suicides 20th-century American murderers Lawyers from Chicago American female murderers University of Illinois Chicago School of Law alumni Suicides in Michigan Burials at Bohemian National Cemetery (Chicago) History of Chicago 20th-century American lawyers Suicides by cyanide poisoning 20th-century American women lawyers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States 1924 deaths