Louise Lester seems to have been quite a character in her off hours, when not annihilating money. She was active in Eastern Star and in amateur theatricals, and on one occasion she even won a contest in which "the ladies were required to eat a cracker and then whistle, the prize to go to the one who succeeded in performing both operations in the shortest time." (Washington Post, 1 August 1915, pg. R5)

I can imagine the small talk at an afternoon tea.

"So what do you do, Mrs. Lester?"
"Oh, I'm in charge of mutilation."

There must be a Goldman Sachs joke here somewhere.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the obvious. It looks like it will be done in the Conservatory by Miss Scarlet, with the knife and it also looks like she's paid the rest of the characters to assist in the murder. I definitely see Colonel Mustard, Mr. Green, and Professor Plum. There in the back on the left standing behind Hooterville's Homer Bedlow is the unsuspecting and still living, Mr. Boddy himself. Poor guy, doesn't know he's dead already in their presence.

"Can we try a double E cup next time. This old money spends just like new."

I think it's a funnel that goes clear down to China. At least, that's what we have now, and it's not even the old currency that goes in.

This same photo, aggressively cropped, appeared in the Washington Post for 2 June 1912.

[Ooh. Thankyou! - Dave]

I dunno, something about the woman. Maybe the way she's holding that knife?

This picture is so loaded with symbolism that it leaves me speechless. I think it may be my all time favorite Shorpy image.

Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Are they going to macerate that money or stab it to death?

We've seen this room before, haven't we? I believe it was an even older picture, and I'm awfully certain I remember seeing that cauldron in the floor before.

[Indeed. We were introduced to Louise two years ago in this photo.- Dave]

I like the way the light is shining off Mrs. Lester's knife.

Paging Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. A Warner Brothers ideal setting!

Wow, so much to love about this photo. But at the larger size, it's the pocketknives that drew my attention. One wonders if Ms. Lester kept one on her person all the time, given her duties.

And is that a giant bowl or a funnel into some basement furnace? Maybe a portal directly to hell!

Wow...so much to love about this photo. But at the larger size, it's the pocketknives that drew my attention first. One wonders if Ms. Lester kept one on her person all the time, given her duties.

And is that a giant bowl or a funnel into some basement furnace. Maybe a portal directly to hell!

I dated a number of women who could make money disappear.

Which one is thinking "they won't miss a few of these"?