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RECOLLECTIONS
OF A
NEW YORK CHIEF OF POLICE


BY
GEORGE WYQ        ALLIN G
AN OFFICIAL RECORD OF THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS AS PATROLMAN,
DETECTIVE, CAPTAIN, INSPECTOR AND CHIEF
OF THE NEW YORK POLICE.
ILLUSTRATED FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS;
AND
HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT
OF THE


DENVER POLICE
By A. KAUFMANN.
ILLUSTRATED.
SPECIALLY ISSUED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE
DENVER POLICE MUTUAL AID FUND.
890,
1890.




COPYRIGHT BY
CAXTON BOOK CONCERN, LIMITED.
1887.
All Rights Reserved.
8/iL
/ It' sO




'7-/ 6-3P JL -
INTRODUCTION.
IN penning this volume of police history, together with that of
criminals and prominent men, I have much to say that will please,
instruct, and, I trust, better its readers.
In many instances the facts given will be told for the first time.
No lurid pen was needed, for no fiction could be so rich in sen
sational incident as the true record of the lives of great criminals.
The tale of the professional law-breaker in the glory of his success, the homage paid him by the lesser lights of the profession,
contrasted with his downfall, and the misery that, sooner or later,
surely visits him, forms a more startling and deeper warning than
comes from any pulpit.
My work is not confined to either sex, but treats of male and female unfortunates alike. If, now and then, these facts seem.
ingly trench upon personalities, in the business, social, political
and criminal life of the city of New York, during the period over
which my connection with, and control of the police force extends, mine is not the blame nor responsibility. Full well do I
know the power of that mighty combination-Politics and Police.
I attempted to make a stand against it, but the result was most
disastrous to myself, and will be found recorded in the concluding chapters. So long as this combination is allowed to exist,
just so long will delay and corruption have a grasp upon that
which should uphold the honor, integrity and well-being of our
citizens.
The incidents narrated in this volume are those which came
under my personal observation, and although they may differ somewhat from reports published at the time of the occurrences, or
generally accepted traditions, yet the official records will bear
me out, and be a complete vindication of my truthfulness.
3




4                    INTRODUCTION.
In writing this book, no private ends nor aims are sought to
be served. My endeavor, throughout, has been to lay before  \
the public a plain, unvarnished statement of indisputable facts
which have not before been accessible to the public.
GEO. W. WALLING.




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS.-REMOVAL TO KEYPORT, N. J.-THE "CHINGARORA."
-"THE LONG, LOW, BLACK SCHOONER."-A REGULAR SCARE.
-ON THE "SPENCER."-THE MURDER OF HELEN JEWETT.THE COLT TRAGEDY.-DID THE MURDERER COMMIT SUICIDE?THE PRETTY CIGAR GIRL.-EDGAR A. POE AS AN AMATEUR DETECTIVE.-THE STADT HUYS.-BELL-AND-RATTLE WATCH.-THE
WHIPPING-POST.-CREMATION WITH A VENGEANCE.-" LEATHERHEADS."-WASHINGTON IRVING'S PRACTICAL JOKE......PP. 23-32.
CHAPTER II.
I BECOME A POLICEMAN. -" BUTTER-CAKE DICK." - "YOU MUST
NEVER DO THAT- AGAIN."-THE " BUTTON" CASE.-A SHARP
PIECE OF DETECTIVE WORK.-HOW I SAVED TOM HYER FROM
YANKEE SULLIVAN'S GANG.-" THE FORTY-NINERS."....PP. 33-42.
CHAPTER III.
ASTOR-PLACE RIOTS.-FORREST AND MACREADY.-" SI" SHAY AND
"BUTT" ALLEN.-RIOTERS STORM THE OPERA HOUSE.-FEARFUL LOSS OF LIFE.-AUTHORSHIP OF INFLAMMATORY HANDBILLS.-THE " HONEYMOON " GANG.-ENGLISH ROW AND IRISH
ROW. - ATTACK ON N. P. WILLIS. -"- STAND BACK, GENTLEMEN."-JENNY LIND.-BILL POOL AND LEW BAKER.-DELIBERATE MURDER.-GRAND FUNERAL.-AN OCEAN CHASE. —CAPTURE OF THE ASSASSIN.-" I DIE A TRUE AMERICAN."-THE
SWORD-CANE.-BOND STREET TRAGEDY.-THE BOGUS BABY.
PP' 43-53 -5




6


CONTENTS.


CHAPTER IV.
CHANGES IN POLICE DISCIPLINE.-POLITICAL INFLUENCE.-FERNANDO WOOD'S BATTLE.-WARRANT FOR THE ARREST OF THE
MAYOR.-HE DEFIES MY AUTHORITY.-ANOTHER ATTEMPT.THE SEVENTH REGIMENT APPEARS ON THE SCENE.-RELUCTANT SURRENDER.-$50,000 WORTH OF DIAMONDS.-HICKS,
THE PIRATE.-A FLOATING SLAUGHTER-HOUSE.-A COSTLY BANQUET.-FLOORS WASHED WITH WINE.-VISIT OF IHE PRINCE
OF WALES.-EXECUTION OF CAPTAIN GORDON.-MARRIED TO
HER FArHER S COACHMAN.-MURDER IN THE "LIBRARY. '-A
JUSTIFIABLE DEED.-THE PANIC.-RUN ON THE BANKS.
PP. 54-67.
CHAPTER V.
THE POLICE AND SECESSIONISTS.-AN, ANTE-BELLUM EPISODE.PLOT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT LINCOLN.-DOWN IN DIXIE.THE SOUTHERN VOLUNTEERS.-A PERILOUS POSITION AND A
MYSTERIOUS GUIDE.-ON THE TRAIN.-A JUMP FOR LIFE.BRAVE TIM WEBSTER AND HIS SAD FATE-THE MAN WITH THE
FUR CAP.............................................PP. 68-77.
CHAPTER VI.
IN WAR TIME.-THE DRAFT RIOTS.-HEROISM OF THE POLICE.-THE
BATTLE OF THE BARRICADES.-THE SHARP-SHOOTER ON TIHE
ROOF.-WITH A BULLET IN HIS BRAIN...........PP. 78-86.
CHAPTER VII.
CAPTURING HACKENSACK.-MYSTERIOUS VISITS TO NEW YORK.-AT
THE SHOP WINDOW.-THE FATEFUL RING.-RECEIVING THE RUSSIANS. —TRYING TO BURN THE CITY. —THE BLACK BAGS.-THE
" BOGUS ) PROCLAMATION.-BURNING OF BARNUM'S MUSEUM.AN UNHAPPY " HAPPY FAMILY. — STRUGGLE OF THE EAGLE AND




CONTENTS.


7


SERPENT.-EMBEZZLING $250,000 TO SATISFY BLACKMAILERS.
-A POLICEMAN MURDERED.........................PP. 87-IOO.
CHAPTER VIII.
ALBERT D. RICHARDSON'S MURDER.-THE DYING MAN'S RECOGNITION.-TRIALS OF A YOUNG WIFE.-THE LOVER'S PROMISE.THE MURDERER FREE.-VAN EETEN FORGERIES.-A STERN
CHASE BUT A SUCCESSFUL ONE.-RE-ARRESTED WHEN LIBERTY
WAS SECURED.-BEFORE THE LAST JUDGE OF ALL..PP. I0-rII 2.
CHAPTER IX.
THE NATHAN MURDER.-A TERRIBLE NIGHT.-THE TWO BROTHERS.
-A GHASTLY SCENE.-TWELVE BLOWS WHICH TOOK A LIFE.BLOODY FINGER-MARKS ON THE WALL.-FINDING OF THE IRON
"DOG." -MERCILESS SUSPICIONS.-THE HOUSEKEEPER'S SON."HIS CLOTHES DON'T FIT HIM." —CLEANSING THE ROOM.-AN
UNSOLVED MYSTERY.....P.................. PP. 113-125.
CHAPTER X.
THE "SAWDUST" SWINDLE.-A BROKER DUPED.-THE BOGUS DETECTIVE.-MOCK AUCTIONS.-FLANNEL AND HOT WATER.-WITH
A BIBLE IN HIS HAND.-A HORSEY GO-BETWEEN..PP. 126-137.
CHAPTER XI.
THE THIEVES OF THE RIVER.-MURDER ON THE "WATSON."-KILLED
FOR TWELVE CENTS.-THE HARBOR POLICE.-SCENE IN A BROOKLYN HORSE-CAR. —" SOCCO, THE BRACER'S " END.-THE HOOK
GANG.-GONE TO BROOKLYN AND JERSEY CITY.... PP. 138-152.
CHAPTER XII.
ON DUTY ON STATEN ISLAND.-APPOINTED INSPECTOR.-THE " CAR
HOOK " MURDER.-THE ORANGE RIOTS.-A GOOD STORY ABOUT




8


(ONTENTS.


JIM FISKE.-HIS DEATH.-STEVE GORDON AND THE $IOOO BILL.
-" BOSS  TWEED AND HIS RING.-HOW WINANS WAS BRIBED.
PP. 153-I63.
CHAPTER XIII.
SURPRISED BY NIGHT.-HOW THEY WERE TO " DO IT."-BROCKWAY, THE COUNTERFEITER.-THE PEDLER.-WOMAN S LOVE OF
FINERY.-A MILLION-DOLLAR SWINDLE.-ABOARD THE " THURINGIA."- TWO IMPERFECT BILLS.- SENTENCED FOR LIFE.-A
SWINDLER'S CAREER.-AN UNSUSPECTING CATTLE DROVER.AFTER  TIFFANY'S DIAMONDS....................... PP. 164-177.
CHAPTER XIV.
DISPUTE WITH THE POLICE COMMISSIONERS.-CRANKS WHO WRITE
LETTERS.-EXPECTING COUNTERFEIT NOTES AND GETTING SAWDUST.-A LITTLE BY-PLAY ON BROADWAY. — THE THIRD DEGREE. "-THE MAN WHO PULLED OUT HTS WHISKERS.-FACTS
ABOUT THE FINEST FORCE........................PP. 178-I97.
CHAPTER XV.
KIDNAPPING OF CHARLEY ROSS.-MYSTERIOUS LETTERS.-ON THE
TRACK OF THE CRIMINALS.-SEARCHING LAND AND WATER.
A TREACHEROUS AIDE.-THE BURGLARY AT VAN BRUNT'S
HOUSE.-DEATH OF THE ABDUCTORS............... PP. I98-208.
CHAPTER XVI.
BURGLARS.-HOW THEY WORK.-PRETTY SERVANT GIRLS.-A LITTLE
PIECE OF SCARLET RIBBON.-THIEVES ON THE ROOF.-A LEAP
IN THE DARK.-" STUTTERING JOHN " ASHORE IN JERSEY.HOW PICKPOCKETS OPERATE.-A MAN WHO KNEW IT ALL.ARRESTED AT SIGHT.-HOW  I WAS FINED.-THIEVES WHO
TALKED FROM THEIR CELL DOORS................PP. 209-223.




CONTENTS.                   9
CHAPTER XVII.
THE COMPLETE STORY OF THE ROBBERY OF A. T. STEWART'S
GRAVE.-WORK  OF THE GHOULS.-CONCEALMENT OF THE
BODY.-DEMAND FOR A RANSOM.-MRS. STEWART'S DISTRESSJUDGE HILTON'S REFUSAL TO PAY THE ROBBERS.-FINAL NEGOTIATIONS.-THE BONES OF THE MILLIONAIRE EXCHANGED
FOR MONEY UPON A HILL IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY.-RESTORED AND BORNE TO THE CATHEDRAL VAULT.-THE GOBLIN
BELLS.................................. PP. 224-235.
CHAPTER XVIII.
BANK BURGLARIES. - KINGS AMONG THIEVES. -" FOUR-FINGERED
JACK."-THE SATCHEL IN THE HALL.-MAKING THE CASHIER
UNLOCK A BANK VAULT.-i~ RED" LEARY S BRAVADO.-" IF
THE FUNDS HAVE GOT TO GO, I WILL GO WITH THEM."-A
HEROIC CASHIER.-A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.-UNJUST SUSPICIONS.-THE HOLE UNDER THE PRESIDENT'S CHAIR.-THE
SCHEME THAT WAS HATCHED IN A BROADWAY BILLIARD PARLOR.-SMOULDERING BAGS OF GOLD.-THE LITTLE BLACK
TRUNK ON ELIZABETH STREET.-BARON SHINDELL.-BUGGINS,
THE BANK MESSENGER........................... PP. 236-260.
CHAPTER XIX.
ROBBING THE MANHATTAN BANK.-A SYNDICATE OF BURGLARS.A NARROW ESCAPE.-THE DUMMY MISLEADING.-QUICK WORK.
- LOADED WITH WEALTH. - A LOQUACIOUS POLICEMAN. -
NABBED.-A GENIUS AS A BANK BURGLAR.-THE DECOMPOSING
BODY.-A MISTAKE AT NORRISTOWN.-A YOUTHFUL BRIDE.THE SOUTH KENSINGTON BANK. —A WIFE'S DISCOVERY.-THE
LAST TIME ALIVE.-PROBABLY THE MURDERER......PP. 261-278.
CHAPTER XX.


MOTHER MANDELBAUM, THE QUEEN OF FENCES.-THE OLD WOMAN'S WORD NEVER DOUBTED.-THE HOUSE IN CLINTON




IO


CONTENTS.


STREET.-A PATRON OF CRIMINALS.-THE FIRST MISTAKE.-A
DETERMINED DISTRICT ATTORNEY.-DETECTED. —OFF FOR CANADA.-A MOTHER AND HER DEAD DAUGHTER........PP. 279-291.
CHAPTER XXI.
ESCAPES FROM PRISON.-THE STRANGE WOMAN IN BLACK WHO
WALKED OUT OF THE TOMBS.-THE BANK BURGLAR'S SWEETHEART.-" YOUR TICKET, PLEASE. —THE MAN WHO SOAPED
HIS BODY AND WRIGGLED THROUGH A HOLE.-DESPERATE
FIGHT IN A BOWERY BEER SALOON.-A BOLD LEAP FOR LIBERTY.-THE STRANGE MAN ON DE KALB AVENUE WITH TWO
COATS.-THE WAX IMPRESSION FOUND IN " LONG MARY'S"
ROOM.-" RED LEARY'S ESCAPED! "............... PP. 292-305.
CHAPTER XXII.
PERSECUTING THE RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH.-ONSLAUGHT OF
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.-NOT AN EPILEPTIC FIT.-UNWELCOME LIQUOR BILLS.-A " HERALD " PERSONAL.-AN INDIGNANT HUSBAND.-TRACING THE HANDWRITING.-FOUND IN
BALTIMORE.-" GENTLEMAN JOE'S" DEATH........ PP. 306-320.
CHAPTER XXIII.
A LAW-BREAKER AS KNOWN BY HIS FAMILY.-SOME MISCONCEPTIONS.
-NOT AN AGENT OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.-PHILIP SCHUYLER OR JOHN SPICER?-A FIFTY-YEAR-OLD SON WHO DIDN'T
KNOW HIS FATHER.-A SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED WILL CASE.ISAAC M. SINGER AND HIS MANY WIVES.-FIRST A STROLLING
PLAYER AND THEN A MILLIONAIRE.-CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINALS.-WHAT MAKES A LAW BREAKER.-THE FIRST STEP IN
EVIL-DOING.-THE HARRIS FAMILY-............... PP. 321-334
CHAPTER XXIV.


FORGERS AND FORGING.-THE ARISTOCRATIC AND WEALTHY MEXICAN DOCTOR.-" A MOST CONSUMMATE VILLAIN. "-THE SUN



CONTENTS.


II


DAY-SCHOOL TEACHER WHO FORGED CHECKS FOR $250,000. —
THREE MEN WHO CAME FROM A HOUSE IN ALLEN STREET ON
A DARK WINTER'S NIGHT.-HOW JAMES A. GARFIELD WAS
NEARLY DEFEATED.-THE FORGER WITH BLACK EYES AND
RAVEN HAIR. -LORD ASHBURTON AND HIS ROMANTIC CAREER.
-ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACKMAILERS. —THE UNION BANK OF
LONDON  FORGERIES..............................PP. 335-349.
CHAPTER XXV.
SWINDLERS AND BLACKMAILERS. —"HE CAN'T BEAT ME PLAYIN'
POKER. "-A SWINDLER SWINDLED.-DIVORCES PROCURED BY
WHOLESALE.-SWINDLING A GREAT DRY GOODS HOUSE.-A
BANK BILL —HOW TO PUNISH A BLACKMAILER.-" I CAME IN
HERE TO KILL YOU.".............................PP. 350-361.
CHAPTER XXVI.
A PLOT OF NIHILISTS. —THREATENING LETTERS.-LITTLE ROSA
STRASBURGER.-A CAUTIOUS RABBI.-DETECTIVE CAMPBELL'S
WATCH.- I'LL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT." —A BLACKMAILER'S
DEATH.-LETTERS TO JAY GOULD.-INTERESTED IN "SALVATION.'"-WATCHING  THE  MAILING-BOXES. —THE  MYSTERY
SOLVED.....:....................... PP. 362-372.
CHAPTER XXVII.
PRIZE-FIGHTING AND FIGHTERS.-THE LAW ON THE SUBJECT.EARLY HEROES IN THE " RING. — AN ADVENTURE WITH " BILL "
HARRINGTON.-JOHN MORRISSEY.-HIS ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK.
JOHN L. SULLIVAN.-HIES LIFE.-FARO. —" EDE " NORRIS AND
HIS VISITORS.-LEGAL ASPECT OF GAMBLING.-WHY IT IS NOT
SUPPRESSED.-A REMEDY. —PLAYING ON A SYSTEM.-A SUCCESSFUL GAMBLER.-POLICY, KENO AND POKER.-MATTHIAS
DANSER S MONEY.-CUTTING COUPONS BY CANDLE LIGHT.$8000 UNDER SEWING-MACHINE PLATES.-A GAMBLER'S FORTUNE GIVEN TO THE CHURCH..................... PP. 373-386.




I2


CONTENTS.


CHAPTER XXVIII.
A GLIMPSE OF PRISONS.-A NIGHT IN A STATION-HOUSE CELL.SOBBING BOYS AND CURSING WOMEN.-SHRIEKS OF TERROR
THROUGH THE CORRIDORS.-LUXURIOUS LIVING IN LUDLOW
STREET JAIL.-WARD'S DINNER-PARTIES.-BECKY JONES' GOATRACE WITH JAMES D. FISH.-LIFE IN THE TOMBS. PP. 387-398.
CHAPTER XXIX.
MURDERS AND MURDERERS.-THE BLOODY AFFRAY IN " SHANG"
DRAPER'S SALOON.-RUNNING INTO THE ARMS OF A DETECTIVE.-PROSTRATE ON THE FLOOR IN A POOL OF BLOOD.THE SNOW ON TWELFTH STREET DEFILED WITH GORE.-THE
SKELETON IN THE CELLAR.-KNOCKED DOWN AND KILLED AT
EARLY DAWN. —THE MURDERER OF MRS. HULL CAUGHT BY A
REPORTER...........................................PP. 399-417.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE CHINESE QUARTER.-HAUNTS OF CHINESE VICE.-A SUNDAY'S
VISIT.-IN AN OPIUM JOINT.-THE GAME OF POLICY.-AT THE
FONG TONG TABLE. - THE SOCIAL EVIL. - DEGRADATION OF
WHITE WOMEN.-THE EVIL OF THE LAUNDRIES.-CHINESE AND
AMERICAN MARRIAGES.-BEFORE THE GREAT JOSS. PP. 418-433.
CHAPTER XXXI.
ABORTIONISTS.-MADAM RESTELL S PALACE OF WICKEDNESS.-A
\
RAID BY ANTHONY COMSTOCK.-SUICIDE IN A BATH TUB.THE NAKED CORPSE FOUND IN A TRUNK.-A SHRIEK WHICH
STARTLED THE COURT.-" FOR GOD'S SAKE, SPARE MY POOR
FRANK."..........................................PP. PP 434-442.




CONTENTS.                   13
CHAPTER XXXII.
FRAUDS ON INSURANCE COMPANIES.-A NOTABLE INSTANCE.-ERNST
ULING AND HIS CLEVER SCHEMES.-CONVULSIONS AND SOAP.A LIVELY CORPSE.-WHAT THE COFFIN CONTAINED.-THE LAST
SAD RITES OVER NINETEEN BRICKS.-HID UNDER THE BED.-A
FULL CONFESSION.-FINK, THE UNDERTAKER.-STATE'S PRISON
FOR  BOTH................................... PP. 443-448.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
BEGGARS.-THE DUDE MENDICANT.-FROM BEGGING TO THIEVING.
-TILL TAPPERS. — SNEAK THIEVES ROBBING RUFUS LORD.SHOPLIFTING.-HOW THE "CONFIDENCE" GAME IS WORKED.
— CATCHING A TARTAR.-THE USE OF DRUGS BY THIEVES.A MISTAKEN IDEA.............................. PP. 449-466.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A POT POURRI OF CRIMES.-A BLOODY ASSASSINATION IN FRONT
OF SUTHERLAND'S RESTAURANT. - THE MUFFLED GROAN OF
"MURDER! "-HIGHWAY ROBBERIES IN A THIRD AVENUE CAR.
-GARROTED IN THE FOURTH AVENUE TUNNEL.-A THIEF
TRIPPED UP BY A SERVANT GIRL.-THE RICH MAN'S SON WHO
SHOT A LAWYER.-GRADY, THE MASCULINE RIVAL OF MADAME
MANDELBAUM.-A RASCALLY THEOLOGIAN..........PP. 467-478.
CHAPTER XXXV. -
THE DIVES OF NEW YORK.-FROM THE HAYMARKET TO THE MORGUE
-IN THE CREMORNE.-TOM GOULD'S DIVE.-HARRY HILL'S THEATRE.-AT THE AMERICAN MABILLE.-VICE IN THE BLACK-ANDTAN.-THE CAN-CAN IN ITS GLORY.-BILLY M GLORY S SYSTEM.




14


CONTENTS.


— THE WRECK OF A WOMAN.-THE SAILORS' DIVES.-A FRENCH
BALL.................................................PP.  479-496.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
BUTCHER-CART THIEVES.-STARVING CHILDREN IN " THE SHEPHERD'S FOLD."- GARFIELD S MURDERER AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS.-THE WOMAN WHO THOUGHT SHE WAS SHADOWED.
-THE NOTORIOUS FLORENTINE FORGERS.-A VISIT TO EUROPE.-HOW THE EXCISE LAWS ARE EVADED.... PP. 497-51I6.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE DETECTIVE OF ROMANCE.-SOME POPULAR ERRORS CORRECTED.
LOST CHILDREN.-MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES.-MISSING MR.
SMITH.-HOW I FOUND HIM.-STEPPING OVER THE COUNTY LINE.
-LIVINGSTONE THE FORGER.-A CHASE AS FAR AS CHICAGO.-AN
ACCOMPLISHED PENMAN.-MORTGAGING A DEAD MAN'S PROPERTY.
CLEVER TRICK ON A LAWYER.-THE STORY OF A WATCH.
PP. 517-530.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
TRAIN ROBBERS IN HOBOKEN, N. J.-THE CASHIER'S SATCHEL.-A
BALKY HORSE. —CLEVERLY CAPTURED.-EX-POLICEMAN  NUGENT'S EXPLOIT.-THE CHARLTON STREET GANG OF PIRATES.SILK STEALING ON A STORMY NIGHT.-BANK BURGLARS FOILED.
-HOW MR. ALEXANDER'S PLAN MISCARRIED.-POTS OF " JAM."
-THE CONSPIRACY FOILED.-" JOHNNY" ROWE AND HIS CLUBHOUSE.-HOW THE PLUMBER WAS ROPED IN.-HIS REVENGE.
PP. 531-542.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
RIMARKABLE CRIMES IN BROOKLYN.-SUPT. CAMPBELL AS A DETECTIVE.-THE HEAD THAT WAS FOUND IN A LUMBER YARD.-A




CONTENTS.


Is


HORRIBLE SMELL.-THE DETECTIVES' DISCOVERY.-WHAT WAS
BOILING IN THE POT.-AN INHUMAN DEED.-THE GOODRICH
MURDER.-LOOKING FOR KATE STODDARD.-A FEMALE DETECTIVE AND HER PROVIDENTIAL MEETING WITH THE MURDERESS.
-ONLY A LOCKET.-CRUMBS OF CONGEALED BLOOD.-SEARCHING EVERY HOUSE IN BROOKLYN.-SUCCESS AT LAST.
PP. 543-551.
CHAPTER XL.
CHIEF STEWART OF THE PHILADELPHIA POLICE.-STORY OF A
CRANK.-SAVED FROM HIS ENEMIES.-CHIEF KELLY, OF THE
PHILADELPHIA DETECTIVES.-POOR KIRBY, AND HOW HE WAS
KILLED BY POLITENESS.-CLEVERLY LAID PLANS MISCARRY.-A
PLOT TO STEAL $I I,000,000. —COPPER INSTEAD OF GOLD.-DISAPPOINTMENT AND DEATH.-" GOPHER BILL," THE CUNNING COUNTERFEITER.-HIS CAREER AND HOW HE WAS CAPTURED. —
WALTER SHERIDAN.-A CURIOUS HISTORY.-A CASE OF SHANGHAI.-THE " BUNDLE " GAME.-PRINTED DESCRIPTIONS OF
THIEVES.-SOME CURIOUS SPECIMENS.-A BRUTAL MURDER IN
PENNSYLVANIA.-ROBBERY OF THE PHILADELPHIA MINT.-A BAR
OF SILVER THAT WASN'T MISSED..................PP. 552-571.
CHAPTER XLI.
JUSTICE'S JUSTICE IN NEW YORK.-HOW THE WHEELS ARE "COGGED."
-AN INADEQUATE JUDICIARY.-EVASION OF PUNISHMENT.SEVERAL INSTANCES.-" BUNCO" MEN AND SWINDLERS.-WHY
THEY ARE NOT BROUGHT TO TRIAL.-ROUGH ON THE COMPLAINANT.-SEVENTEEN WEEKS IN THE HOUSE OF DETENTION." FINE WORK. — SOMETHING ABOUT GAMBLE^:B,-NOT A SINGLE
HONEST ONE.-WALL STREET'S INSATIABLE MA'W.-SOLITARY MR.
SMITH, OF RHODE ISLAND.-WHERE ALL THE MONEY GOES.POLICE. CAPTAINS SHOULD BE MADE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF " HELLS. — BLACKMAIL LEVIED ON GAMBLING HOUSES.
-REMEDIES SUGGESTED.................... P  57 "-5$78.




r6


CONTENTS.


CHAPTER XLII.
THE C SOCIAL EVIL " AGAIN. - HOW TO CLEAR A RESPECTABLE
NEIGHBORHOOD.-A NOVEL PLAN.-CAPTAINS NOT UNAWARE
OF ILLEGAL RESORTS IN THEIR PRECINCTS.-" FIXED UP" REPORTS. - MISREPRESENTATIONS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED. -
BLACKMAILING BY DETECTIVES. - HOW I CAUGHT THE OFFENDERS. - A STORY WITH AN INTERESTING   SEQUEL.
" PLIN " WHITE S WONDERFUL CAREER.-HOW HE WENT HOME
TO DIE...................................  579-588.
CHAPTER XLIII.
INFORMATION TO REPORTERS.-ABUSES WHICH CREEP IN.-A CASE
IN POINT.-BLISSFUL IGNORANCE OF THE PUBLIC.-PUNISHMENT NOT THE SOLE PURPOSE OF A COURT OF JUSTICE.-ITS
REAL END AND AIM.-FULL PUBLICATION DESIRABLE UNDER
CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS.-A PARALLEL CASE WITH THAT OF MR.
COMMISSIONER SQUIRE. - HOW MR. DISBECKER BECAME A
POLICE COMMISSIONER.-WHY HE DID NOT RESIGN.-PERSONAL
APPEARANCE OF THE " FINEST. "-HOW IT CAN BE IMPROVED.A PROPOSED " SCHOOL OF DEPORTMENT."-THE ART OF WEARING CLOTHES.-MR. E. BERRY WALL AS AN INSTRUCTOR.-A
POLICEMAN WITH A PERFECT MENTAL EQUILIBRIUM.-WHAT A
VICTORY!-EFFECT OF POLITENESS ON THE LOWER CLASSES.-A
POWERFUL OBJECT LESSON...........................PP. 589-595.
CHAPTER XLIV.
tWO MAIN CAUSES OF CRIME.-MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN NEW
YORK.-  POLITICS " SYNONYMOUS WITH POWER AND PLUNDER.
-THE PREDOMINANT IDEA IN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.-ALL
THE SNEAKS ARE REPUBLICANS, AND ALL THE ROUGHS ARE
DEMOCRATS.-NEW YORK RULED BY THE WORST ELEMENTS IN
THE COMMUNITY. —WHY THE BETTER CLASSES DO NOT ATTEND
THE PRIMARIES.-RESULTS OF OUR FORM OF GOVERNMENT.



CONTENTS.                   17
EXCESSIVE TAXATION. - SHAMEFUL STREETS. - DISGRACEFUL
DOCKS.-INSUFFICIENT SCHOOL ACCOMMODATION.-THE JUDICIARY.-NOT AN EDIFYING SIGHT.-HOW JUSTICE IS PERVERTED.
-WHY JAY GOULD COULD DEFY THE LAW.-PERSECUTING A
PROSECUTOR.-OUR LIBERTIES CURTAILED.-ONE LAW FOR THE
RICH AND ANOTHER FOR THE POOR.-THE EXCISE LAWS.-SOME
SUGGESTIONS.-THE SOCIAL EVIL AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT.THE COMMISSIONER OF JURORS. - UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE A
FAILURE.-DIFFICULTIES IN THE PATH OF REFORM.- THE
ROOT OF THE EVIL.-REMEDIES.-THE LAST PAGE.
PP. 596-608.




V




ILLUSTRATIONS.


The illustrations of this work are from original drawings by the f-llowing
well-known artists: Baron C. DeGrimm, (by permission of Mr. James Gordon
Bennett), Valerian Gribayedoff, James A. Wales of "Puck," Wm. F. Mc
Dougall and Geo. Folsom, Philip G. Cusachs, Chas. Broughton, A. Meyer,
H. E. Patterson, Louis Dalrymple, Jno. A. McDougall, Jr., C. Beecher,
A. B. Shults and J. F. J. Tresch.


PAGE
GEO. W. WALLING................ Frontispiece.
25. HELEN JEWETT...............................
26. RICHARD P. ROBINSON.................
27. COLT TRAGEDY-THE DISCOVERY............
28. MARY ROGERS' RESTING-PLACE................
30. THE DUCKING STOOL.......................
31. THE PILLORY AND WHIPPING POST............
37. OLD BOWERY THEATRE......................
41. TOM  HYER...................................
42. YANKEE SULLIVAN..................
45. ASTOR PLACE RIOT..........................
49. BILL POOLE................................
50. MURDER OF BILL POOLE-STANWIX HALL....
57. MAYOR FERNANDO WOOD..................
59. FIGHT BETWEEN THE METROPOLITAN AND MUNICIPAL POLICE...........................
63. PRINCE OF WALES' BALL.....................
65. HANGING OF GORDON THE SLAVE TRADER......
70. DETECTIVE THOMAS SAMPSON.................
73. WILLARD'S HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D. C........
76. THE LEAP FOR LIFE.........................
8i. BATTLE OF "HE BARRICADES..................
83. AT THE CHURCH...........................
9o. THE WIDOW AT WORK..................
92. "THIS WOMAN IS A THIEF..................
95. BURNING OF BARNUM'S MUSEUM..............
IO2. THE DEATH-BED RECOGNITION................
109. THE FORGED CHECK.........................
116. AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY.....................
118. SUPT. JOHN JOURDAN.......................
129. A BITER BITTEN...................
I9


DRAWN RY


Win. E. McDougall.
McDougall and' Flsonm.
C. Beecher.
Geo. Folsom.
"V. G."
it
Phil. G. Cusacks.
"V. G."
H. E. Patterson.
/. F.J. Tresch.
Valerian Gribayedoff
James A. Wales.
Phil. G. Cusachs.
McDougall and Folsom.
J..     J. Tresch.
Louis Dalrymple.
H. E. Patterson.
McDougall and Folsom.
A. Meyer.
Chas. Broughton.
Phil. G. Cusachs.




20


ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE
136. A HORSEY (;O-ETWEEN......................
140. POLICE ANI RIVER I'IRATES..................
147. WHARF RATS AT WORK......................
155. CAR HOOK M URDER........................
157. ORAN(;E  PARADE...........................
158. JAMES  FISKE, JR...........................
168. THE PEDLAR AT THE DOOR.................
170 THE COUNTERFEITERS' DEN..............
173. A WARM WELCOME.......................
178. SUPr WALL!NG'S BADGE....................
180. POLICE HEADQUARTERS, MULBERRY STREET....
183. SUPT. WALLING'S OFFICE.....................
185. ROGUES' GALLERY AND MEMENTOES...........
I86. THE CELL CORRIDOR.....................
187. THE MUSEUM-BURGLARS' TOOLS..............
188.  "     "    -RELICS OF CRIME..............
190. INSPECTOR BYRNES' OFFICE..................
191. PRIVATE ROOMS, CENTRAL OFFICE.............
192. CHAS. WILIIAMS (No. 843)...................
95;. POLICE PARADE, BROADWAY..................
T99.  CIHARLEY   Ross.............................
207. DEATH OF THE ABDUCTORS..................
211. INSPECTOR HENRY V. STEERS.................
213. ASHORE IN  JERSEY............................
221 ADAMS EXPRESS ROBBERY...................
225. A. T. STEWART'S HOUSE AND STORE.........
227. ST. MARY'S CHURCH-STEALING STEWART'S REMAINS....................................
234. THE  MEETING................................
240. BANK BURGLARS' OUTFIT......................
248. INTERIOR OF BANK VAULT....................
255. DAN NOBLE................................
257. FAC SIMILE OF A REQUISITION................
262. PETE EMERSON, alias BANJO PETE.............
265. THE MANHATTAN BANK.....................
267. JOHN HOPE.................................
275. BILLY  PORTER...............................
276. EDWARD GEARING, alias EDDIE GOODIE, BUTCHER-CART THIEF............................
280. MOTHER MANDELBAUM...................
282. "BIG" FRANK McCoY........................
284. MANDELBAUM STORE AND HOUSE...............
285. MICHAEL KURTZ, alias SHEENEY MIKE.........
288. GEO. MASON, alias OSCAR DECKER, BURGLAR....
290. " MARM " MANDELBAUM'S DINNER PARTY.....
293. WM. J. SHARKEY............................
295. ESCAPE OF SHARKEY........................


DRAWN BY
Phil. G. Cusachs.
6
J. A. McDouall,Jr.
Phil. G. Cusachs.
H... 'atterson.
A. Aeye'r.
/I. E. Patterson.
Geo. t-ilsom.
McDougall and iolsom.
Geo. Folsom.
Mc)Dougall and Folsom.
"V. G."
McDougall and Folsom.
' V. G."
McDougall and Fbosolm.
"V. G."
A. B. Shults.
McDougall and Fb'som,
c
"V. G.'
McDougall and bolsom
"V. G.'
Geo. Folsom.
V. G."
Valerian Gribayedof.
H. L. Patterson.




ILLUSTRAT1IONS.                          21
PAGE                                                        DRAWN BY
303. " RED  ' LEARY...............................             V. G."
3ro. DR. DIX'S VISITORS..........................         C. DeGrimm.
342. WM. E. BROCKWAY...........................               ". G."
345. " HUNGRY JOE'S " POKER GAME..............    Phil. G. Csachs.
376. JOHN MORRISSEY.............................              "V G."
377. JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN....................
381. JIMMY ELLIOTT..............................              "V. G."
393. THE TOMBS-EXTERIOR......................
394. THE TOMBS-COURTYARD.....................
395. THE TOMBS-INTERIOR........................
396. BLACKWELL'S ISLAND..........................
397. THE "BLACK MARIA"........................
400. JOHN WALSH.................................              "V G."
401. CAPT. ALEX. S. WILLIAMS, 29th PRECINCT......
403. SURPRISED AT WORK........................            A. Meyer.
4I6. AT THE PRAYER-MEETING......................      Phil. G. Cusachs.
435. MADAM RESTELL.............................               4 V. G."
437. SUICIDE OF MADAM RESTELL.................         Phil. G. Cusachs.
439. DR.  ROSENZWEI;.............................              ". G."
440. ALICE AUGUSTA BOWLSBY......................
450. CAPT. ANTHONY J. ALIAIRE.................                "V. G."
454.  SPENCER  PETTIS............................
457.  " TIP'  LITTLE..............................
460. JIMMY  PRICE........................
464. THEO. BISHOP.................................
474. JIM BRADY'S JUMP............................ M. eyer.
486. A BOWERY DIVE..............................
490. OWNEY GEOGEGHAN..........................                " V G."
493. FRENCH BALL...............................       H. E. Patterson.
503. THE SHEPHERD'S FLOCK...........................Phil. G. Cusachs'
544. A BROOKLYN CHIEF..........................
553. A PHILADELPHIA CHIEF.....................
559. A CHIEF OF DETECTIVES..................








RECOLLECTIONS
OF A
NEW YORK CHIEF OF POLICE.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS.-REMOVAL TO KEYPORT, N. J.-THE, " CHINGARORA. — "THE LONG, LOW, BLACK SCHOONER." -A REGULAR
SCARE. —ON THE " SPENCER."-THE MURDER OF HELEN JEWETT.-THE COLT TRAGEDY.-DID THE MURDERER COMMIT
SUICIDE?-THE PRETTY CIGAR GIRL.-EDGAR A. POE AS
AN AMATEUR DETECTIVE. —THE STADT HUYS.-BELL AND
RATTLE WATCH.-THE WHIPPING POST.-CREMATION WITH
A VENGEANCE.-" LEATHERHEADS."-WASHINGTON IRVING'S
PRACTICAL JOKE.
I WAS born on the first of May, 1823, in Middletown township,
Monmouth county, New Jersey, some two miles from Keyport.
The original Walling stock was Welsh; a Walling settled in New
Jersey at the close of the seventeenth century. My grandfather,
Daniel Walling, served in the Revolutionary army, and afterwards
received a pension from the United States. My mother's maiden
name was Catharine Aumack; her ancestors came from Denmark.
My father, Leonard Walling, was a civil engineer and surveyor; he
kept a country store, and had been a member of the State Legislature.
I was sent to a school in the village, where I received most of
my early instruction. My father, who had ambitious views for me,
was desirous of preparing me for college; to which, be it said, I
never went. When not at school I acted as clerk in my father's
store. Sometimes I would accompany him on his frequent trips to
23




24


" THE LONG, LOW, BLACK SCH()ONER..


New York, to purchase goods. The journey was made on a sloop
or packet, and sometimes took an entire day. These excursions
were my delight, for I was an open-air boy, fond of athletic exercises, proficient in rowing, swimming and running, and capable of
sailing a boat.
In 1832, when I was nine years old, my father removed to Keyport and opened a store there; but, to my delight, he soon after
gave up store-keeping and built a schooner of about a hundred
tons, which he named the " Chingarora." He had taught himself navigation and made several trips on the vessel as her master.
The schooner brought pine wood and oysters from Virginia, and
naval stores from North Carolina, and carried back miscellaneous
freights to Southern ports. I made several trips to Virginia before I was fourteen years old, and so learned something about
sea life.
This "Chingarora" deserves more than passing mention, for
she wrote history to the extent of a slang phrase. Even now you
will hear the expression, " long, low, black schooner;" fifty years
ago it was in everybody's mouth and quite the vogue. I will tell
you what gave birth to it. Father was bound to New York with a
load of Virginia oysters; a little off the Hook he met the old Liverpool liner, " Susquehanna," outward bound. The captain hailed
father and asked him what he had to sell. " Virginia oysters," he
replied, and forthwith went aboard and made a sale. It was dusk,
and some inward-bound vessels sighted father's boat alongside
the packet. The " Chingarora " was painted black, with the exception of a narrow red streak below the bulwarks. She had no
cabin windows and her masts were tall and rakish. The next day
the news was reported that a pirate had boarded a large ship off
Sandy Hook; newspapers printed columns about the mysterious
" long, low, black schooner," and accounts of the ferocious pirate
went broadcast over the country, while official reports were furnished to all the ports. Meanwhile, of course, the " Susquehanna "
went silently to sea.
Father came up innocently to New York, sold his oysters, loaded
up again and proceeded peacefully to Baltimore, where he was immediately taken into custody as a bold buccaneer. Of course his
papers were in order and his identity was easily established. The
scare about pirates went out in a roar of laughter and "long, low,
black schooner" became the fashion in speech.
j..




HELEN JEWETT.


25


Poor old "Chingarora."  We had to sell her when my good
father ended his sturdy lift, but the sea knowledge I gained on
her stood me in good stead. I adopted the sea as my profession,
and worked on several of the steam-boats then plying up the North
River and the Sound. I was one of the hands on the old " Columbus" and the "Neptune " of those days.
In I845 I went on the revenue steamer "Spencer" and remained with her a few months. I remember a great fire in New
York in I845, at which the crew of the " Spencer," and a squad of
marines from the Brooklyn navy-yard assisted as guardians of
property. This was really my first service as a keeper of the
peace.
Growing tired of marine life, I left the " Spencer " and took up
my residence in New York. I went into business, and sold market produce brought to Washington Market by the river craft.
In spring, summer and fall I was kept busy, but during the winter
months I had but little to do.
I had not thought of police work then,
but recollect all the great crimes that
startled the country, and particularly one
of the most remarkable and atrocious
which had been committed. This was  1//3f
the murder of the notorious courtesan, I
Helen Jewett, by, as was alleged, her /
quondam lover, Richard P. Robinson, on
the night of April ii, 1836.  Helen,
whose real name was Dorcas Doyan,
was but twenty-three years old.  She   HELEN JEWETT.
possessed rare beauty of person and in-  (From a Photograph.)
telligence. The story of her career need not be repeated here. It
may be simply related that Robinson remained her lover for a considerable time, and, eventually, upon her solicitation, agreed to
go through the form of a marriage. At the time of her murder,
Helen was an inmate of Mrs. Townsend's house on Thomas
Street, and there, on the night of April ii, 1836, she was visited
by Robinson. After that she was never seen alive.
At about three o'clock the next morning, when Mrs. Townsend
entered the room, she was met by a dense volume of smoke which
almost overpowered her. The chamber was on fire, and there, on
the floor, lay the body of the ill fated Helen, her transparent fore.




20


THE COLT TRAGEDY.


head half divided by a gaping wound, and her body half consumed
by fire. Robinson was arrested a few
hours later, but was acquitted of the
charge of murder. There is almost conclusive evidence that he escaped the.            gallows through the bribery of one of
the jurors.
Another fearful tragedy, which ocR   curred on September 17, 1841, was the
y "  \ horrible murder of Samuel Adams, a
printer, by John C. Colt, book-keeper
<       and teacher of ornamental penmanship,
RICHARD P. ROBINSON. in an office at the corner of Broadway
(From a Photograph.)  and Chambers Street. After braining
Adams with a hatchet, Colt cut up the body and salted it down
in a box. He then had it conveyed by a teamster to a vessel bound for New Orleans, lying at the foot of Maiden Lane.
This vessel was to have departed immediately, but she was
delayed a week. A horrible stench came from the hold, and
the order was given by the captain to "break cargo." The
result was the discovery of the box containing all that remained
of Adams. Colt was arrested, and shortly afterwards confessed
his crime, stating, however, that there had been a fight between
him and his victim. He was sentenced to be hanged, but committed suicide by stabbing himself to the heart with a knife. This
has been generally accepted as true by the public, but 4 have
heard it declared over and over again, by those in a position to
know, that Colt did not commit suicide; that the body found in
his cell when the Tombs caught fire was only a corpse prepared for
the purpose, and that he escaped in the confusion. The coroner,
it is said, was aware of the deception, and the jurymen were selected for their ignorance of Colt's personal appearance. Persons
who knew Colt well are positive they have seen him since th;.
time of his alleged suicide in both California and Texas.
The mysterious murder of Mary Rogers, the " pretty cigar girl,"
occurred in 1842. For some years previously Mary was employed
to sell cigars in the store of John Anderson, the famous snuff manufacturer. She was a very handsome girl, and her fame extended
far and wide among the swells of that period, who were constant
customers at the store. In the early part of 1842 she relinquished




THE PRETTY CIGAR GIRL.


27


her position in the cigar store, and henceforward assisted her
mother, who kept a boarding-house at No. 126 Nassau Street.
One Sunday in July, I842, Mary left her home, telling Daniel
Payn, a young man to whom she was to be married, that she was
going to church, and that if she were not home to supper he was
to call at a female friend's house for her. There was a heavy
thunder storm that evening, and Payn, thinking his betrothed would
stay over night with her friend, did not call for her. He never saw
COLT TRAGEDY.-THE DISCOVERY.
her again in this world. The next morning her body was found
floating in the water near what was then known as the " Sybil's
Cave," in the vicinity of the Elysian Fields, on the Jersey side of
the Hudson. It bore the marks of the most horrible and namelss maltreatment. Subsequently, some articles of wearing apparel, which were recognized as having belonged to the murdered
girl, were found in a thicket of the Elysian Fields, where the crime
was undoubtedly committed, the body being afterwards thrown into
the water. Several persons were arrested on suspicion of having
committed the crime, including a rejected suitor for the victim's
hand, but no evidence was forthcoming, and the suspected persons
were all discharged.
-                   -.




EDGAR A. POE'S THEORY.


The excitement following the murder of Mary Rogers was conspicuously felt by the prominent New Yorkers of the day. Such
men as Gen. James Watson Webb, Gen. Scott, M. M. Noah,
James Gordon Bennett, Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, N.
P. Willis and Edgar A. Poe, were acquainted with the dainty figure
and pretty face where they bought their cigars. Edgar A. Poe
possessed, or thought he possessed, high ability as a detective;
and his ingenuity in this ghastly groping is shown in " The Gold


p


MARY ROGERS' RESTING-PLACE.


Bug," "Murder on the Rue Morgue," and "The Mystery of
Marie Roget."
In the latter story he endeavors to account for the disappearance of the pretty cigar girl. He slightly disguises her name, substitutes the Rue Morgue for Broadway, the Seine for the Hudson,
the Bois de Boulogne for the Hackensack Wood, etc. He follows
all her acquaintances, analyzes their characters, and examines
their relation to her, coming to the conclusion that a well-known
officer in the United States Navy was her murderer. The best




YE OLDEN TIMES.


29


authorities of that time do not agree with Poe's finding, but the
tragic romance is full of painful interest.
But leaving these records of crime for a time to deal directly
with the ancient police force of the city, which exerted itself to
detect criminals, I will write of the old watchmen who found their
headquarters in the City Hall.
The first of these buildings of which New York could boast was
built in I642, on Pearl Street, close to the Battery. It was called
the " Stadt Huys," and was five years old when old -Peter Stuyvesant, with his wooden leg, took his seat in the governor's chair,
and commenced his vigorous crusade against the liquor saloons in
the interests of temperance. Nine years later, the first police
force was organized. It was called " the rattle watch," and consisted of just half a dozen men. They marched about the streets
at night, sounding- it rattles with which they were equipped, and
yelling: " By the grace of God, two o'clock in peace!"
The records show that boys in those days were as noisy and
mischievous as they are now, for we are gravely told that " two
boys were arrested for shouting after Indians in Pearl Street."
And Pearl Street, by the way, is one of the few city thoroughfares
which has held its name from the very first.
Street lighting came into fashion some ten or fifteen years later,
an ordinance being passed commanding that " every seventh house
in all the streets shall, in the dark of the moon, cause a lantern
and candle to be hung out on a pole, the charge to be defrayed
equally by the inhabitants of the said seven houses." In I673 a
decree was promulgated looking to the banishment of the droves of
hogs with which the streets were infested. The reason given for
this decree was "because the hogs which are kept within this city
in multitudes have from time to time committed great damage to
the fortifications."        *
Twenty years later, the first uniformed policeman of the city
appeared in its streets. He was armed with a bell and a long
and formidable looking axe. His uniform was "a coat of ye
citty livery, with a badge of ye citty armes, shoes and stockings."
The cost of all this paraphernalia was charged ': to ye account
of ye citty." For the punishment of offenders there were erected
on the wharf at Whitehall, a gallows, a pillory, a cage, whippingpost and ducking-stool. The mayor in person was the public administrator of all forms of punishment.




3~


BARBAROUS PUNISHMENTS.


A new City Hall was built in 1700, its site being where the
Sub-Treasury now stands, on Wall Street, near the corner of
Nassau, then commonly spoken of as "the road that runs by the
pie-woman's."  What is now the City Hall Park, with its fountain, neat walks and well kept green sward, was known as the
Common in those days.   Here it was that those persons convicted of heinous crimes were burnt alive! Ah, those were "good
old days," were they not! Why, even as late as 1712, a poor
old slave, known as "Tomn," suffered this awful penalty.  He


THE DUCKIIG-STOOL.
belonged to Nicholas Roosevelt, and the sentence passed upon
him read this wise: " That you be carryed from hence to the place
whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution; and
there be burned with a slow fire, that you may continue in torment for eight or ten hours, and continue burning in the said fire
until you be dead and consumed to ashes." In these days such
punishment would be deemed barbarous, inhuman, or worse; yet
the majority of people who were then living were loud-professing,
earnest and fervent Christians. New York was very religious




THE ANCIENT POLICE.


31


then, far more so than it has ever been since, with all her
costly churches and wide-spreading missionary efforts. For twenty
years the whipping-post stood on Broad Street, and its site is at
present flanked by D. O. Mills' colossal building, where the great
banking house of Henry Clews & Co. is now located.  Down
through this thoroughfare ran a canal, crossed by bridges. Wall
Street was the northern boundary of the city, and along it, dividing it from the country beyond, was a high wall.
But about the whipping-post. Why, one of the newspapers of
that time disposes of a case of whipping in this manner, as if it


THE PILLORY AN. WHIPPING-POST.


were quite a common occurrence: "A woman was whipped at
the whipping-post on the 3d, and afforded much amusement to
the spectators by her resistance."  The pillory was not idle,
either, for "James Gain, pursuant to sentence, stood in the pillory near the City Hall, and was most severely pelted by great
numbers of spectators; a lad was also branded in the hand."
The old night-watchmen of the city were required to announce
not only the hour, but the state of the weather at the time, ringing their bell and chanting lustily something like this: " Past four




32


WASHINGTON IRVING S ESCAPADES.


o'clock, and a dark and cloudy morning."  The highest wages
paid to policemen in New York, up to the close of the Revolutionary war, was $5.25 a week.
During the first half of the present century the police kwere
known as " Leatherheads," a nickname which arose from the fact
that they wore leather hats, something like an old-fashioned fireman's helmet, with a broad brim behind.  Twice a year these
hats received a thick coat of varnish, and after a time they became almost as hard and heavy as iron. These old " Leatherheads " were subject to very little discipline, and were anything
but imposing or athletic. Should one attempt to make an arrest,
he was either very roughly handled, or led a long and fruitless
chase, in the course of which he was sure to meet with many and
ludicrous mishaps.  He was, in fact, unable to protect himself,
let alone guarding and protecting citizens and property.  The
young bloods of those days took liberties with this official which
no youth of our time, if he valued his head and health, would dare
take with "One of the Finest." Youthful and exuberant New
Yorkers considered that an evening out was not spent in the orthodox manner unless they played some rough practical jokes on the
poor, old, inoffensive " Leatherheads." It is recorded of such a
staid young man as Washington Irving, even, that he was in the
habit of upsetting watch-boxes if he caught a " Leatherhead " asleep
inside; and on one occasion, so it is said, he lassoed the box with
a stout rope, and with the aid of companions dragged it down
Broadway, while the watchman inside yelled loudly for help.
The only insignia of office which these old fellows had, besides the
leather helmet, was a big cloak and a club; at night they also
carried a lantern.




CHAPTER II.


I BECOME A POLICEMAN.-" BUTTER-CAKE DICK."-" YOU MUST NEVER
DO THAT AGAIN. — THE " BUTTON" CASE.-A SHARP PIECE OF DETECTIVE WORK.-HOW I SAVED TOM HYER FROM YANKEE SULLIVAN'S GANG.-" THE 'FORTY-NINERS."
ONE day, late in I847, I was hunting quail in New Jersey, when
a friend accosted me and asked whether I would like to take his
position on the New York police force. He was about to resign,
and the alderman and assistant-alderman of his ward had given
him the privilege of naming his successor.
In those days aldermen and assistant-aldermen nominated,
subject to the mayor's approval, which was rarely refused. The
term of service of each appointee was two years.
I certainly never had the slightest idea of becoming a policeman, but the proposition did not displease me. I had no particular business at the time and decided that I might as well carry a
club till something better turned up. I accepted my friend's offer.
Little did I think then that I was to pass my life on police duty.
My friend sent in his resignation and I was nominated by
Alderman   Egbert Benson and Assistant-Alderman   Thomas
McElrath, the latter well known as one of the original proprietors of the Tribune, with the illustrious Horace Greeley. The
mayor, Mr. Wm. V. Brady, approved and swore me in on the
twenty-second day of December, I847.
s       My dfbut was made as one of the force of the Third Ward. I
received no special instructions as to what were to be my duties,
but was ordered to report to Captain Tobias Boudinot, who was
then in charge of the Third Ward station, situated on Robinson
Street, west of College Place. The station was a small frame
building, with a stoop; there was a door below opening into the
basement, where the cells were.
i       It is amusing to me to recall the ease with which my appointment was secured. The men at. that time owed their appointments entirely to political preferences; there were no surgeons'
3             -       33




34


"' BUTTER-CAKE DICK. 9


inspections, nor ally civil-service examinations, *i fact no attention whatever was paid to the physique or mental acquirements of
the applicant. The salary was $6oo a year, the pay-days were
twice a month.  The sergeants then, the ro)undsmen of to-day,
visited the various posts to see that the melt were on duty.
The merely physical work, to a young man like myself, accustomed to walk all day with a gun on my shoulders, shooting birds
in the Jersey fields, was not at all onerous. As far as covering my
p~ost went, I had no trouble about that; nor did an exact obedience
to the rules present much difficulty. But I must confess that once
I fell from grace.
Just at the beginning of my official career there camne a bitterly
cold night. I had been on post for a number of hours, and if there
was anything on this earth that I yearned for it was a cup of hot
coffee. Now, in those days one Richard Marshall, better known
as " Butter-cake Dick,7" kept a coffee-and-cake saloon under the
then Tribune building. I could look from my post across the
Park and see the genial light of this haven of refuge, the windows
deliciously frosted with congealed coffee-steam. O. how I wanted
coffee!
Well, I was young, and I found my feet instinctively crossing
the Park and irresistibly carrying me to " something hot." I entered the shop, and to m) amazement it wasfiledu enth policemen 1
" iButter-cake Dick " himself, as if it were the most natural thing
in the world, brought me refreshments, and, speechless, I swallowed 'my coffee as quickly as I could, gobbled my butter-cakes
and flew back to my post. But, to my horror, Nemesis, in the
rotund person of Sergeant Hervey, was there, and apparently
looking for me.
"Where have you been, sir? " said he.
" To ' Butter-cake Dick's,' sir," I replied, quaking.
"You must never do that again,"9 said he, very sharply.
But he was a kind-hearted sergeant, and I suppose he saw my
dismay, for he went on to say that in very severe weather, if I
were very cold, and if coffee was veE-y necessary, I could wait till I
saw him, ask his permission, and he would patrol my post till I
returned. He wound up by telling me that as I was a new hand
he would not report me for this first offence, but if it ever happened
again he would have to send my name up..It never did!




THE " BUTTON " CASE.


35


But I could not help wondering how the other policemen I had
seen in the coffee-shop managed it. And here, at this late day, I
am informing on them.
In I848, when Mr. George W. Matsell was chief of police, complaints were frequently made to him of Sunday robberies among
the wholesale and retail houses about Maiden Lane and John
Street. These depredations were sources of as great annoyance
to Mr. Matsell as to the members of the force. One morning the
chief of police sent for Theodore Shadbolt, John Reed, John Wade
and me, and said: " Boys, I have sent for you to help me. Every
Monday morning when I come down to the office I have complaints
of burglaries committed in Maiden Lane or John Street, and if
you do not catch the thieves I shall have to jump off the dock."
Of course we all looked exceedingly vigilant and wide awake,
but we had to wait further developments.
One Monday morning Mr. Matsell sent for us. The chief was
not in a good humor. There had been enough to ruffle him. He
began at us at once with: " There has been another burglary in
Maiden Lane. I want you to go there and investigate, and see
what you can do! "
Accompanied by Reed and Shadbolt, I went at once to the
store in Maiden Lane and made a thorough examination. We
found that the burglars had entered the store by breaking
through a small window opening on an alley. The thieves had
stolen some very choice cutlery and costly suspenders. In counting the stock, about the exact quantity of cutlery was determined; and upon examining the loss of suspenders, three pairs
were found missing. It was a fair suspicion that three burglars
had been at work, and that each man had helped himself to a pair
of suspenders. Examining every nook and corner of the place,
we found a number of bits of newspaper, and in sorting them out
carefully, we came across a single button. This button would be
now classed as an ordinary one, but thirty odd years ago it was a
button not in common use. Sack coats had just then come into
fashion and were novelties.
This button was covered with the same material as the cloth of
the coat. The button had been, therefore, part and parcel of one
of these new-fashioned garments. The question arose whether any
one in the store wore a sack coat, or had lost a button? The
clerks were brought before us, of course not aware why their




36


AT THE THEATRE.


clothes were examined so particularly; but none of them wore a
sack. How, then, did the button come there? It did not look as
if it had been pulled off suddenly. I came to the conclusion
that the owner of the button, when it became loose, had put it in
his pocket, intending to have it sewed on again. When he was
filling his pockets with the cutlery, to make room for the fine
knives, he had turned out the paper in his pocket with the other
contents, and the button had fallen on the floor. A button was a
very insignificant clue, but it was all we had. We returned to Mr.
Matsell and reported our investigation. We said there were three
burglars, and one of them had lost a button. I do not know
whether the chief of police was very well satisfied. We held a
consultation with the officers of the force. We were all of the
opinion that we must find a man wearing a sack coat, minus a
button or buttons which would match the one in our possession.
We all studied, very carefully, the configuration of that little disc,
and, if I may so express it, got it by heart.
We now visited all the places wherein we fancied thieves
would congregate, but no buttonless rascals were visible. We began to be quite despondent; but nevertheless, that button kept
passing around.
About a month and a half had elapsed, when, one very cold
night, I was on duty at the old Chatham Street Theatre, just
above Pearl Street. Officer Shadbolt came to me and said:
"There are three young men going up stairs. I know them to
be thieves. I will give you the cue so that you can distinguish
them, and then you watch them. As the men know me by sight,
I mustn't show."
"All right, Mr. Shadbolt," I replied, "I will keep my eye on
them."
Presently three men came up to one of the upper galleries.
Shadbolt signalled to me, and I knew my men. I took a theatre
bill, and was apparently very much interested in the performance.
Being in plain clothing, I took a seat directly behind the men.
Always having that button on the brain, the first thing I did was
to scan their coats. There was not a button wanting. I scrutinized the make of all their buttons. Could I believe my eyes?
Yes I one of them displayed buttons precisely like the one we had
treasured. More than that, this same man with the suspicious
buttons had one button on his coat of a slightly different pattern.




ON THE TRACK.


37


There was no doubt about the matter; we had the thief, perhaps
the thieves. I hurried down the stairs of the theatre at once,
and saw Shadbolt. "Those are the fellows we are looking for,"
I said. "We will watch them. As they will come out with the
crowd, we might lose them. You keep in the shade, somewhere
in the house, and follow them out. I will go on the opposite side
of the street. When you are on their track, lift your hat, and then
I will take the trail and follow them. When you see me in their
wake, station yourself in front of the Bowery Theatre and do not
was closed, I was on the track, following the three men.
They went into an eating-house in Chatham Street, and had
some supper; came out, and then went on their way to the east
side of the street. The house they went into had. a light in the
door-way. I waited for a long time, and made up my mind that
the men had gone to bed. The house was probably a lodgingplace. It was bitterly cold, and I had hidden myself in a door



38


8" GET UP! THE COPS."


way on the opposite side of the street. After having run the
men to earth, it would never have done to lose them. I must
not leave my place of observation.
At about half-past two o'clock in the morning I saw a man come
along. I slipped out of the door-way. The man was apparently
alarmed and started across the street. I halted him and assured him that there was no cause for fear.  ' Do not be frightened," I said, " I am an officer." I took out my star and showed it
to him. I asked him in what direction he was going. It so happened that on his way to his house he would have to pass the
Bowery Theatre. I begged him to notify the officer he would find
in front of the theatre where I was and to come to me at onceThe man left. After a while down came Mr. Shadbolt. I
quickly explained to him the condition of affairs, and told him that
the men were in the house opposite and asleep. 1 begged him to
go at once to the Tenth Ward police station and to send Reed
and Wade to meet me where I then was, at five o'clock in the
morning.
Promptly on time, Reed and Wade were there. We went to the
house, knocked and were admitted by the man in charge.  I told
him: "You have three men in bed in this house, and we want
them." I advised him what to do, so that we might get into the
room where they were, in order that we could catch them all at once.
It was arranged that the lodging-house keeper should tell them to
open their door so that he could get their candle. The man went
to the room, knocked, awoke the sleepers and the door was
opened. No sooner was the door ajar than I went in, followed
by Reed and Wade. I put my foot in the door so that it could
not be closed. It looked as if our visit was no surprise, for one of
the men said to the others, "Get up-the 'cops' are here for us."
The men made no resistance and were taken to Mr. Matsell's
office and locked up in the cells. In searching them we found
that every man of them had on a pair of suspenders of the best
quality. We sent at once to the house in Maiden Lane, reporting
the finding of the suspenders.
The Maiden Lane merchant examined the suspenders, and declared that they were exactly like those which had been stolen, but
unfortunately he had sold a great many and could not of course
swear that these were the stolen ones.  Here then came the
chance that, after all our trouble, nothing could be proved against




A COMEDY OF ERRORS.


39


the men. The button was good for nothing in court; other evidence against the thieves was necessary.
I thought the problem out, and made up my mind that Shadbolt,
because he knew the thieves, would be of use to us. It should be
remembered that, so far, the three men had no knowledge that
Shadbolt had had anything to do with this arrest. A little comedy
was agreed upon by Mr. Matsell, Shadbolt and myself, and the
play was managecin this way:
I took the three men before Mr. Matsell, and they were left
with him for a little while. Then Mr. Shadbolt came in and
asked Mr. Matsell for permission to leave the city. Mr. Matsell
was to be apparently very much engaged, so as not to pay immediate attention to Shadbolt's request. Seeing the three men, Shadbolt expressed surprise, and inquired:" What are you doing here? "
Then I came in, apparently in a towering rage.  "What!"
I cried, "Mr. Matsell, is this the way business is carried on in this
office, sir? When I have prisoners, can another officer come in and
talk to them? This is an injustice which I will not permit."
Then Mr. Matsell turned on Shadbolt, a-id said:" Mr. Shadbolt,
this is contrary to every rule. You have no right to talk to these
prisoners. If ever anything of this kind occurs again I shall bring
charges against you."
I turned quickly on Shadbolt, and told him he had no business
at all in the office. I ended by insisting " that his room was better
than his company." Then I took the prisoners and put them in a
passage-way and left them again, apparently, for a moment. Shadbolt then returned to where they were. One of the men called
him to them.
Shadbolt looked around with suspicion, and said: "Is Walling
gone? " The men replied, " Yes." Shadbolt said: " I can talk
with you for a minute. Talk quickly, however, for it is more
than my place is worth for me to be seen talking with you.
What are you here for, anyhow?"
The men said they did not know. Shadbolt told them that he
would find out. Then Shadbolt went away, came back after a
while and informed them that it was in regard to stealing suspenders and cutlery, and that they had better confess their guilt,
and get off with a short imprisonment. This they consented to do.
They confessed the theft. Then Shadbolt advised them to tell Mr.
Matsell what they had done with the property. I was given charge




40


'TOM HYER AND YANKEE SULLIVAN.


of the men and took them before Mr. Matsell. The men informed
us that they had sold their goods to a man in Centre Street.
Mr. Matsell despatched me to Centre Street at once. I said to
the man:" You have been buying goods from three thieves. We
have got the men fast. Now you had better tell me where the
cutlery and other things are." The man positively denied that he
had bought any stolen goods. "Then," I said, "I will search the
place," and I did so.
In one corner of the room, stowed away behind some boxes, I
found the cutlery. No sooner had I put my hands on the knives
than I said:" Here is evidence enough to send you to the State
prison."
I sent for a truck and carried to Mr. Matsell's office a whole
load of plunder. Among the goods we found the stock of a tailor,
who had been robbed in Brooklyn some time before. The " fence "
was tried, convicted and sent to State's prison. As for the thieves,
they pleaded guilty on three charges, and were convicted.
A coat button lost by a thief, the finding of it by a policeman,
the element of luck entering to some slight degree in the matter,
led to the discovery of the burglars, the taking of the receiver and
the capture of property worth a great deal of money, the result of
seven burglaries. I suppose a certain tenacity of purpose in detective work is always necessary. If the clew is worthless to-day, it
may be valuable to-morrow. In following up a rascal an endless
number of small things, apparently insignificant, must be always
borne in mind.
Political feeling ran high during the year 1848. The excitement, in fact, was intense, and fights were more than frequent
between the members of the various factions. I was on duty on
Broadway the night that Tom Hyer thrashed Yankee Sullivan.
It was about twelve o'clock when, just as I was passing an oyster
saloon at Park Place and Broadway, I heard the sound of disputing going on within. The doors were wide open and the place
was brilliantly lighted. I paused for a few minutes on the sidewalk, and then, as the noise suddenly ceased, I proceeded to
patrol my beat, going down Broadway towards Cortlandt Street.
Barely was the latter thoroughfare reached before I heard the
rap of a policeman's club.. Hurriedly retracing my steps, I found
the officer who had signalled me standing in front of the oyster
saloon which I had just left.




' WHO THE DEVIL ARE YOU?


41


"There's a fight going on down there," he said, "somebody's
going to be killed."
I tried the doors and found they were locked and bolted. Evidently there was a row going on, and a lively one, judging from
the noise. Presently one of the waiters came running out of the
saloon through a side entrance on Park Place, and I immediately
captured him. He showed me the door through which he had
come, and I entered the place, telling the other police-officer to
keep close to me. But he didn't; when I got inside he was not
there.
There stood Tom Hyer, whom I knew well by sight and reputation, placing a percussion-cap upon
the nipple of a pistol which he held in
his hand. In one of the boxes was
Yankee Sullivan, who looked as if he   ll     li
had been roughly handled. I took in
the situation at once.
"Put up that pistol," I said to Hyer,
who looked calm and collected enough,
and with no trace on his person of having been engaged in a fight.
"Who the devil are you?" he asked,
in a gruff voice.
" I'm an officer," I replied, exhibit-        "
ing my star.
"They're going to bring the gang     TOM HYER.
here," said Hyer, in a calm voice;   (From a Photograph.)
" and I'm not going to let them murder me without a pretty tough
fight for my life."
"Come, get out of this. Come along with me," I said, and Hyer,
taking hold of my arm, we left the saloon. Just as soon as we
reached the street, Hyer said he thought he would go to the Empire Club, and, bidding me good-night, crossed Broadway.
No sooner was he out of sight than a howling mob of Sullivan's
friends came rushing toward me.  They had heard of Sullivan's
discomfiture, and were in search of Hyer, who, if they had caught
him, would most assuredly have been murdered. Some of the
crowd asked me where Sullivan was, and when I told them where
I had last seen him they made a rush for the oyster saloon. I




42


', '49-ERS. "


could plainly hear their yells of rage when they found their friend.
Hyer had not left the place a moment too early.
I frequently met Hyer after that, but he never referred to his
narrow escape on that night,-neither did I. Concerning Hyer, I
may say that with associates of his own class, who were all fighting men, the word and
the blow would follow
each other closely; but
with those physically
his inferiors he was         _
never inclined to pick
a quarrel. The same,
I am sorry to say, can-       k
gilists of to-day.
The year I849 opened  sIit
with the excitement resuiting from  the discovery of gold in California. This craze, for
such it was, exceeded
anyrthing of the kind          YANKEE SULLIVAN.
ever experienced in this       (From a Photograph.)
country. From this city there went merchants, professional men
and men of every grade of wage-workers. Among them awas Sam
Ward, the epicure and prince of dinner-givers. He was then a
member of the firm of Prime, Ward & King, but he subsequently
became the best known lobbyist in the country. In the same emigration went three sons of Robert Emmett, S. S. Osgood, the artist,
and others. I well remember the sailing of the bark "Joseph"
for San Francisco. She was purchased and equipped by young
men from the Seventh Ward. The number of expeditions fitted
out was very large, parties coming from Utica, Buffalo, Hudson,
Oswego, Albany and other parts of New York State.


A




CHAPTER III.


ASTOR PLACE RIOTS.-FORREST AND MACREADY.-" SI" SHAY AND
" BUTT " ALLEN.-RIOTERS  STORM   THE  OPERA  HOUSE.FEARFUL LOSS OF LIFE.-AUTHORSHIP OF INFLAMMATORY
HANDBILLS.-THE " HONEYMOON    GANG.-ENGLISH ROW AND
IRISH  ROW.-ATTACK   ON  N. P. WILLIS.-" STAND  BACK,
GENTLEMEN. — JENNY LIND.-BILL POOLE AND LEW BAKER.DELIBERATE MURDER.-GRAND FUNERAL.-AN OCEAN CHASE.CAPTURE OF THE ASSASSIN.-" I DIE A TRUE AMERICAN.'THE SWORD-CANE.-BOND-STREET TRAGEDY.-THE BOGUS BABY.
THE Astor Place riots-the outcome of jealousy between the
two great actors, Forrest and Macready-occurred during the
latter part of I849, two years after my appointment as a police
officer. In this, therefore, was gained my first experience in the
concerted action of the force to quell a disturbance.
Upon the night of the riot Macready was to appear at the
Astor Place Opera House. Long before the hour for the performance to begin a large and excited crowd assembled near the
theatre. The first two acts of the play were proceeded with in comparative quiet, though there was some groaning and hissing heard.
Being on duty within the theatre I saw everything that occurred.
In the upper galleries was a crowd of disorderly persons, many of
whom I knew. Two of the leaders in the disturbance were "Si"
Shay and " Butt " Allen. They were yelling and inciting others
to do the same. I went towards them with the intention of
ordering them to desist. As I neared them Allen picked up a
heavy chair and was about to throw it at Mr. Macready, who
was then on the stage. I caught hold of it. At the same instant,
several young ruffians, friendly to Allen, attacked me, and a
rough-and-tumble fight ensued. Allen managed to wrench the
chair from my grasp, and taking careful aim, threw it at Macready.
It struck within two feet of him, but he never flinched. He
simply looked up and went on with his lines. A few moments
afterwards a shower of stones from the mob outside shattered
nearly every window in the theatre. This stopped the perform43




44


ASTOR PLACE RIOTS.


ance for that night, and Mr. Macready announced it to be his intention not to appear again in this city. Many prominent persons waited upon him in a body, however, and insisted that he
should give a second performance, promising him ample protection. He reluctantly consented, and the result was one of
the most serious disturbances which has ever occurred in New
York.
A sewer was being constructed on Fourth Avenue, and the pavements, in consequence, had been torn up. At Macready's next
performance the cobble-stones became effective weapons in the
hands of the mob. Where the Bible House now stands was a
stone-yard. The stone clippings which the rioters found there
furnished sufficient ammunition to pelt the military and police.
The main attack came from Fourth Avenue, the police being
stationed there, as well as on Astor Place, Broadway, Eighth
Street and Lafayette Place. I was in charge of the amphitheatre
entrance to the theatre, on Astor Place. There were six men
under me. The stones came from the mob in volleys. Several
soldiers were struck down, one or two of them being seriously injured. I carried them within the theatre. There the scene was
one of terror and confusion. Shower after shower of pavingstones was hurled against the windows. The stones, however, fell
in the midst of the frightened audience, which became positively
terror-stricken.
When the military appeared the rioters became still more
demonstrative. Mr. Frederick A. Talmage, the recorder, ordered
the rioters to disperse, but their only reply was another volley of
stones. General Hall was in command of the military, and very
reluctantly gave the order to"Fire! "
The first volley was aimed over the heads of the crowd.
Many of the bullets struck the wall of Mrs. Langdon's house, at
Lafayette and Astor places, and many innocent, persons, taking
no part in the riotous proceedings and standing far from the
fighting, fell to the ground, wounded by the spent bullets. The
scene was now one of the wildest excitement, and the fury of
the mob became uncontrollable. Immediately after the first
firing some of the rioters shouted:
"Don't run; they're only firing blank cartridges. Damn 'em,
they daren't shoot anvbody."




__ __ __ _ _ __




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46


THE HANDBILLS.


It was apparent that unless the militia acted in a decisive manner
the) would be driven from their position. A brief pause, and
then, amid the din and discord of that awful scene, was heard the
command:
"Fire!"
There was a flash, a deafening roar, and then were heard the cries
of the wounded and the groans of the dying. The effect of that
volley was awful. Scores lay upon the ground, writhing with pain.
Terror-stricken, the cowardly rioters rushed from the scene, trampling upon the prostrate forms of those who had fallen. In twenty
seconds there was not a person to be seen on the street who was
capable of moving.
Edward Z. C. Judson, otherwise known as " Ned Buntline,"
took a very active part in leading the mob. He was arrested on
the spot, and subsequently sentenced to one year's imprisonment
and a fine of $250.
The police, at this time, were not uniformed. They were commended by all peaceful persons for their bravery. So far as I was
able to learn, not a single man showed the white feather.
A careful inquiry was made after the riot as to its cause. Mr.
Matsell, the chief of police, was satisfied that there had been premeditation on the part of some of the rioters, and placed clews in
my possession to be followed.
My experience has satisfied me that the concerted actions of a
mob have rarely anything spontaneous about them. In most cases
the so-called " uprising " has much premeditation in its composition. In order to bring about the Astor Place riot, handbills were
distributed, and an endeavor had been made to set two elements of
our foreign population against each other-the English and the
Irish. Some of these handbills bore an appeal to the Irish, headed,
"Will you allow Englishmen to rule this country?" Others were
addressed to Englishmen, calling upon them to " sustain their countrymen." The latter were circulated amnong the English sailors.
Both handbills were pasted side by side upon walls, boxes and all
available places. Astor Place was designated as the rendezvous
for both factions.
Mr. Matsell furnished me with copies of both handbills, and I
at once sought the printer. The first place I visited was a job office in the old Tribune Building. There the proprietor informed
me that from some peculiarity in the type he suspected they were




ISAIAH RYNDERS.


47


printed at an office in Ann Street. Thither I went, and at once
asked, as if I were sure of the whole matter:
" For whom did you print these handbills? "
" I don't know; I can't tell you," was the reply. "A man called
with the copy, gave me instructions to print the bills, paid me in
advance and ordered me to deliver them, with the copy, at No. 25
Park Row."
"All right," I replied.
Now, I knew that the Empire Club occupied rooms at the address mentioned. I also knew that it was the headquarters of the
"Native American " party, as it was then called. There was a saloon
there, kept by William Miner; it was frequented by members of
the Empire Club. I went to Miner, and questioned him about the
mysterious package of handbills.
"Yes," he said; " there was such a package left here. Somebody came and took it away, but I don't know who it was."
That was as far as I could trace the handbills. I never discovered who wrote the copy, or who had the bills printed and circulated.
But for all that I had my suspicions.
Some months after the riot, while I was standing in front of Chief
Matsell's office, Isaiah Rynders came along. I immediately began
a conversation about the Astor Place riot, and suddenly made this
remark, in a sharp tone of voice:
"The man who got up those handbills ought to have been shot,
instead of so many innocent persons."
Rynders turned upon me, and in an angry manner said: "Well,
maybe you ought to have been shot instead of me."
"I haven't accused you of it yet, Mr. Rynders," I replied.
"But if the shoe fits, you are welc-cne to;.-ear it."
My last remark seemed to put Rynders in a greater passion.
3 He ripped out in a savage manner:
"ItWwas a big red-headed Irishman of about your size who did
it."
I had no direct evidence that Rynders had taken any part in
the distribution of the bills, but I shall always believe that he was
one of those who incited the trouble.
In 1849 my first two years of service expired, and owing to political differences with the aldermen who appointed me was refused a re-appointment. I removed, however, to Ward Eighteen,




48


4 STAND BACK, GENTLEMEN.'"


lived there for a short time, and was once more nominated for a
position on the force, this time by Alderman Jonas Conkling.
This appointment, under the existing laws, was for the term of
four years; but in I853 an act was passed by the Legislature empowering policemen to retain their position during good conduct.
This, I believe, was the fist time that appointments on the force
were made for merit only.L The same year I was promoted to be
captain of police in the Eighteenth Ward. The station was on
Twenty-ninth Street, between Madison and Fourth avenues.
"Squatters" were plentiful in this locality. Fights were of frequent occurrence, and the precinct was by no means as orderly
as it is now. There was one especially notorious party of ruffians,
known as the " Honeymoon Gang."     It was named after its
leader. For a long time the members of this " gang " had everything their own way, and I determined to clear them out of the
ward. Taking five or six of my best men, all in citizen's dress, I
began hunting the ruffians, and in a few weeks, by dint of some
pretty hard "licks," judiciously administered, the ward was
cleared. At this time there was no regular surgeon attached to
the force to care for prisoners, and we had to frequently call upon
one who lived near the station to dress their wounds. His fee
was $I.oo for attending to a single cut. Not infrequently one
head would be worth as much as $5.00 to him.
On Twenty-second Street, between Second and Third avenues,
there were two rows of tenements, known as the "English " and
"Irish."  They were on either side of the street, and the occupants were rarely at a loss for an excuse to come to blows. I
have known them to indulge in as many as a dozen fights in one
evening. After dusk the life of a policeman who patrolled this
beat alone was not worth much. But by a severe course of discipline the neighborhood was soon made safe.
It was in June, I850, that Edwin Forrest assaulted Nathaniel
P. Willis, the poet.  This encounter occurred in Washington
Square, Forrest striking Willis from behind and knocking him
down. While the latter was on the ground, Forrest beat him unmercifully with a gutta-percha cane. Willis shouted loudly for
help, but the bystanders who attempted to interfere were warned
off by Forrest, who exclaimed:
"Stand back, gentlemen; he has interfered in my domestic
affairs."




A $225 SEAT.


49


After a few more blows, Forrest allowed Willis to make his escape, badly bruised. This encounter, I have every reason to
know, was an outcome of the famous Forrest divorce case.
The arrival of Jenny Lind in this country on September i,
i85o, by the steamship "Atlantic," was the occasion of a great assembly in the vicinity of the Canal-Street pier, where a triumphal
arch had been erected. From thirty to forty thousand persons
were packed upon the wharf and vicinity. Five or six of them
were pushed into the
water in the mad '
struggle to obtain a
glimpse of the famous.                  ili,
songstress. Her first
concert was given in                        m:   e
CastleGarden. She
receive   d $iooo a
night for her services.          o   b    s
Genin, the   hatter,
paid $225 for the first
choice of a seat. The                            tee
receipts for the first
concert were $24,753led
During the years               2 '-          w
1854-55 violence and
ruffianism, resulting
from the "Know Nothing"  excitement,              BILL POOLE.
was rampant. It was            (From a Photograph.)
in the early part of 855 that "Bill'" Poole, the famous pugilist,
was murdered by Lewis Baker. Between these men there had
been much "bad blood," and it was foretold by those who knew
both men that their differences could only be settled by the death
of one. On the night of February 24, y855, Poole was shot by
Baker in Stanwix Hall, opposite the Metropolitan Hotel, in Broadway. "Lew" Baker, James Turner, and a man named McLaughlin, alias "Paudeen," followed each other into Stanwix Hotel at
about midnight. Poole was standing in front of the bar, drinking
with some of his friends. "Paudeen," who was the last to enter,
remarked to him as he locked the door:
"What are you looking at, you black-muzzled


4




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w         ,vw  -   I..,         /1, / #
--


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MURDER OF BILL POOLE.-STANWIX HALL.




" I DIE A TRUE AMERICAN."


51


Poole, who must have known something serious was to happen,
was very cool. Even when "Paudeen" had spit in his face
several times and' challenged him to fight, Poole simply took a
hundred dollars in. gold from his pocket and offered to bet that
amount upon his ability to thrash any one of his opponents. He
treated "Paudeen" with disdain, saying he was beneath his
notice.  Suddenly, Turner took off his cloak, and swinging a
large revolver once round his head, fired at Poole, using the
hollow of his left trm as a rest. From some cause or other the
bullet entered Turner's arm and he fell to the floor, but not
before he had fired a second shot. This time Poole was wounded
in the leg. He staggered toward Baker, who drew his revolver
and fired two shots into Poole as he lay on the floor. He then
escaped from the saloon. Notwithstanding that one of the bullets
penetrated Poole's heart, he was taken to his home and actually
lived fourteen days afterwards. Poole was a brawny man, proud
of the fact that he was an American. In those days such men
were in politics.  Upon his death-bed his last words were: " I
die a true American."
The excitement following the tragedy was great, and Poole's
funeral was one of the most extraordinary I ever remember to
have seen. It was attended by an immense assembly of " sports"
and "toughs," together with thousands of respectable men who
belonged to the " Native American " party, and Broadway was completely lined with spectators from Bleecker Street to Whitehall.
The coffin was wrapped in the American flag, and plays were produced at various theatres in the city, in which the hero, encircling
his limbs with the star-spangled banner, departed this life to slow
music and red fire, exclaiming: "I die a true American!"
Baker boarded a brig bound for the Canary Islands, but the
clipper yacht "Grapeshot" was sent in pursuit, arriving at the
port of Teneriffe two hours before the vessel in which the murderer had taken passage, and Baker was brought back to New
York. He was indicted with a number of others, and tried three
times for the murder. The jury, however, disagreed in each case,
and he was finally discharged on bail.
There has been only one funeral of such character since then
which approached that of Poole's. This was that of Joseph Elliott,
killed by "Jerry" Dunn, in Chicago, in 1884, and buried from
New York. His funeral came the nearest in magnitude to that of




52


)DR. BURDELL.


Poole's, and was attended by " toughs," "blacklegs," gamblers,
and "sports " of all grades.
Perhaps the last recorded case of the use of the-sword-cane was
at the St. Nicholas Hotel, now demolished, but well known to
travellers. D)r. R. H. Graham, of New Orleans, at the dead of
night, intoxicated, noisy, and being unable to find his room, was
accosted by a fellow-guest, Colonel Charles Loring, of California,
whose slumbers had been disturbed, and who arose from his bed.
Graham, enraged at the interference, drew a sword which the cane
enclosed, and without warning plunged it into the body of the
Colonel, whose cries aroused the entire hotel. The Colonel died.
I continued captain of the Eighteenth Ward until the close of
i856. It was in the following year that what was known as "the
Bond-Street tragedy " occurred.  At about half-past ten o'clock
on the night of Friday, January 3, i857, many persons residing
on Bond Street were startled from their sleep by the shrill cry of
"murder!"   Then followed silence, and those who had been
aroused turned over and went to sleep again. The next morning
it was discovered that Dr. Harvey Burdell, a dental surgeon, of
No. 31 Bond Street, had been murdered in the night. When his
room was entered by a boy to light a fire, a terrible scene was
disclosed. The life-blood of Dr. Burdell had smeared the whole
apartment with its crimson stains. It had splashed against the
door to a height of five feet. There was blood on the stairs, in the
hallway and on the front door. Blood was also on the stairway
leading to the attic, and on the floor of the attic itself. An examination disclosed fifteen wounds on the body, any one of which
would have been sufficient to cause death. In addition, there
was the mark of a cord around the neck, as though an attempt
had been made to strangle the dentist. That the murdered man
had fought desperately against his unknown assailant there could
be no doubt, the furniture of the room being scattered.
The ostensible landlady of the house was a Mrs. Cunningham,
the house, owned by Dr. Burdell, being leased to her.  Mrs.
Cunningham, it was said, was very much in love with the doctor,
and, as she subsequently asserted, had married him on the
28th of October, the previous year. This fact was denied by
the relatives of the murdered man; but there is little doubt that
on the date mentioned Mrs. Cunningham was married to somebody. If she was in fact Mrs. Burdell, at the doctor's death she




THE BOGUS BABY.


53


would be entitled to her share of his property, and he was quite
a wealthy man.
There also lived in the house a Mr. John J. Eckel, who, it was
reported, was a lover of Mrs. Cunningham. Both were arrested,
but Mrs. Cunningham alone was tried. She was acquitted after
a three days' hearing.
And now comes the sequel. If, as Mrs. Cunningham asserted,
she had been married to Dr. Burdell, she would, after his death,
be entitled to one-third of his property. As the mother of a
child by him she would secure control of the whole of it.
This absolute possession was what she wanted, but in order
to have her desire satisfied it would be necessary to secure a
child. She went about the business in a most methodical
manner, " making up," as time went on, after the most artistic
fashion. Unfortunately, however, for the ultimate success of her
plan, she made a confidant of Dr. Uhl. He informed District
Attorney Hall, and between the two it was decided to let Mrs.
Cunningham have all the freedom she wanted. She asked the
doctor to assist her in her subterfuge, and he promised to aid her.
The time set for the consummation of the scheme drew near. At
length the child was "born" again, one having been obtained
from Bellevue Hospital, through the connivance of the District
Attorney.
Mrs. Cunningham was happy. But not for long. She made
her claim on the estate, and was at once confronted with the most
damning proofs of her intended fraud. What became of her is
not known, but I think she went to California, and afterwards
wandered from place to place. A year or two ago she appeared
in this city again, under an assumed name, in a " dispossession "
case, before the First District Civil Court. She was, however,
so old and poor as to be almost unrecognizable.
Eckel turned out badly, serving a term of imprisonment for
defrauding the Government.




CHAPTER IV.


CHANGES IN POLICE DISCIPLINE.-POLITICAL INFLUENCE.-FERNANDO WOOD'S BATTLE.-WARRANT FOR THE ARREST OF THE
MAYOR.-HE DEFIES MY AUTHORITY.-ANOTHER ATTEMPT.THE SEVENTH REGIMENT APPEARS ON THE SCENE.-RELUCTANT SURRENDER.-$50,000 WORTH OF DIAMONDS.-HICKS,
THE PIRATE.-A   FLOATING  SLAUGHTER-HOUSE.-A COSTLY
BANQUET.-FLOORS WASHED WITH WINE.-VISIT OF THE PRINCE
OF WALES.-EXECUTION OF CAPTAIN GORDON.-MARRIED TO
HER FATHER'S COACHMAN.-MURDER IN THE " LIBRARY. "-A
JUSTIFIABLE DEED.-TIE PANIC.-RUN ON THE BANKS.
FROM I853 to 1857 the police force was controlled by a commission composed of the mayor, recorder and city judge. At the
commencement, all officers were selected and promoted for efficiency. This continued until Fernando Wood became mayor,
when he assumed full control of the force, which resulted in its
being used for political purposes. It failed to give satisfaction
and was ridiculed and condemned.
In I857 the Legislature declared that the great city was too corrupt to govern itself, and the control of the police was transferred
from the city to the State. The new police district comprised New
York, Kings, Westchester and Richmond counties, and was managed by a board of five commissioners appointed by the Governor.
These men appointed the chief, who under this act was given the
title of superintendent of police and controlled the whole force.
Under him were two deputy superintendents, five surgeons, inspectors and captains (not to exceed forty), sergeants (not more
than one hundred and fifty), the rest being called " patrolmen."
Of course the change created a tremendous excitement in the
force, and there was much talk of resistance among the old members, encouraged by the mayor, Fernando Wood. In May the
new law was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. That
settled the matter in my mind. But fifteen captains and between
seven and eight hundred policemen refused to obey the commis54




FAC SIMILE OF BADGE PRESENTED TO ME ON OCTOBER
THIRTEENTH, 1853.


On the reverse is this inscription:
GEORGE W. WALLING,
Eighteenth Patrol District.
Presented to George W. Walling, on his promotion to the office
of Captain of the Eighteenth Ward Patrol District, by the officers
attached to the office of the Chief of Police, and other friends, as
a token of respect and esteem.
55




" JUST 'rHE MAN WE WANT."'


sioners. When called upon to vote on the question as to which
side they would serve (the Municipal or the Metropolitan), the
old or the new, only about 300 out of IIoo00 voted at roll-call to
support and respect the authority of the State board. The others
were tried for insubordination and dismissed; but they defied dismissal and remained on duty and in charge of the police stations.
The Metropolitans rented headquarters in White Street.
So the Mayor filled the places of the 3oo absentees in the
Municipal force. Subsequently the Metropolitan board filled the
8oo vacancies in the State force. Thus there were two complete
sets of policemen on duty, covering the same beats throughout
the city. Collisions were frequent.
When Deputy Superintendent Matsell refused to obey the order
of the Metropolitan board to furnish men to go to Quarantine and
guard the public hospitals he was dismissed and I was sent. I
took charge, and came up to the city jail to report at police headquarters. On the sixteenth of June, when I arrived at headquarters, in the hallway I met Jas. W. Nye, one of the police commissioners appointed by the Governor, and afterwards a senator from
Nevada. He hailed me.
As I went in at the door, he said: "Here's just the man Bwe
want."
Turning toward me, he added: " Come in the room."
He took me into the room before the other commissioners, and
said:
"Here's a warrant for the arrest of Fernando Wood."
I said: " Very well, give it to me. Shall I arrest him now? "
"Yes, this minute," answered Nye. "Howmany men do you
want?"
" None."
Nye smiled grimly, and handed me the warrant. I found the
City Hall the scene of great excitement. It was filled with hundreds of the Mayor's police.
I stepped to the anteroom of the Mayor's office, and sent in
my name. I was requested to wait till the Mayor was at leisure,
and after five or ten minutes the man at the door said:
" The Mayor will see you now."
As I went in the Mayor inquired: "Well, sir, what will you
have?"




" I WILL NOT BE TAKEN."


57


" I have a warrant for your arrest," I answered, exhibiting the
paper.
"I do not recognize you as an officer," he said; " I dismissed
you from the department."
" I am an officer," I retorted; " a member of the Metropolitan
police."
" I do not recognize the legality of the service or the existence of
the Metropolitan police," he answered. "I will not submit to arrest, or go with you, or
concede that you are
an officer at all."
I remarked: "Well,
sir, as we don't agree
on that point, I shall
be obliged to do as I       V h '   e
always did w h e n  I:.
served warrants under     an   i   X
your authority; I shall            l
have to take you out                            'll.
forcibly if you resist."  /,'.t4,N
"I will not be taken!
You may consider that
answer  resistance  if                      t
you please."
No, sir, that is not           _
resistance," I replied.        FERNANDO WOOD.
"That is only refusal."        (From a Photograph.)
I went around the desk to take hold of him; he ordered me
away and struck his office bell. It brought Captain Ackerman,
of the Municipals, who had adhered to the Mayor's usurpation.
He rushed in with several of his men. He and his men grabbed
hold of me at Wood's order and forcibly ejected me from the
office.
I would have been put out of the building, except that I was
well known to the men in the corridors; having served with them.
So I came and went at pleasure. One 'of the Municipals, a
stranger, stopped me, but others shouted to him:
"Here! What are you about? Let go of him! He's all right."
I reported to the recorder, James M. Smith, who had issued
the warrant; and hle inmmediately wrote a letter addressed to




58


5" PRESERVERS OF THE PEACE. '


Sheriff Westervelt, directing him to furnish me with a posse for
the execution of the warrant. This I delivered to the sheriff, who
requested me to wait till he could consult his counsel, Mr. Brown,
of the firm of Brown, Hall & Vanderpoel.
While I was waiting, I was surprised to see a body of fifty Metropolitan policemen marching from Chambers Street, apparently
under the command of Coroner Perry and Captain Jacob Seabring,
of the Ninth Ward.
D. D. Conover, who claimed to be street commissioner, had
obtained an order of arrest against the Mayor and Sheriff from
Judge Hoffman, in a suit for damages for having been forcibly
ejected from the office which he claimed.
As the patrolmen came up the steps there was a collision. The
place was garrisoned by some 800 or 9oo Municipals, who attacked
the approaching force, about one-fifteenth of their number. There
was a fierce battle between the "preservers of the peace." The
Metropolitans were attacked front, flank and rear, and terribly
beaten. Many were badly hurt, and a few, including Patrolman
Crofut, of the Seventeenth Precinct, were almost killed.  The
seriously wounded were carried over to Recorder Smith's rooms.
There doctors dressed their injuries. The affair was a disgrace
and dishonor to the Mayor, and from it his reputation never recovered.
About this time Mr. Brown, the lawyer, came into the sheriff's
office, and, after a short consultation, said:
" Sheriff Westervelt, it is clearly your duty to get the necessary
force and execute this warrant at all hazards."
The sheriff answered: " Come with me, you and Walling, and
we'll execute the warrant."
I returned to the Mayor's office with them, where Mr. Brown
said: " Mr. Mayor, here is an order for your arrest. It is in the
hands of the sheriff of this county. I warn you that it is your
duty as a law-abiding citizen to quietly submit to arrest."
Mayor Wood stood up behind his desk, seized his staff of office,
jammed it down defiantly and angrily on the floor, and exclaimed:
"-I will never submit! You are invading the city's precincts and
violating the law. I will never submit. You only want to humiliate me! I will never let you arrest me."
Mr. Brown then added: "Mr. Mayor, a battle has been fought
before this building, and a number of men have been nearly killed.




Wit.,. - _N,,,  ),, _!  ' ~
'ill~


'o        -l
q2)


FIGHT BETWEEN THE METROPOLITAN AND MUNICIPAL POLICE.




6o


" WELL, OUR GAME IS UP."


on account of your obstinacy in resisting the execution of a process. Your duty is to submit to arrest by the officers of the law,
and if you refuse, and further blood is shed, the consequences will
be on your head."
Just at this moment George W. Matsell, who had continued to
act as Chief of Police under Wood, entered the door and said,
exultingly: "Mr. Mayor,. the Metropolitans came and we've beat
them off."
The Mayor refused to allow himself to be arrested, and we, desiring to avoid another combat, retired and consulted. Soon after,
the Seventh Regiment was seen gayly marching down Broadway to
take the boat for Boston, where it was to have a grand reception.
The Police Board called upon General Sanford for assistance.
The regiment was halted, the trumpets were stilled, and the regiment marched into the Park. It formed in line in front of the
City Hall, facing the Mayor's window.
Matsell and his men looked out at the exhibition, and said to
one another: " Well, our game is up."
Their conclusion seemed to be correct, for General Sanford
walked into the City Hall by the side of Street Commissioner
Conover, and the writ was read to the obstinate mayor.
Wood saw that further resistance would be not only futile but
wicked, and he submitted to arrest. The conflict between the
State and the city was over. The Metropolitans had won. By an
arrangement the Municipals held their places for a month after
that, during which both the " old " and the " new " were on duty,
saluting each other on their beats. But it was observed by all
men that in this conflict of authority and the anomalous conditions
which accompanied it, the city had become demoralized. The repression of crime had been neglected, thieving had become rampant, and law-breakers had ceased to respect or fear the officers of
the law. The succeeding troubles followed as a matter of course.
One thing I should mention in connection with this conflict of
authorities.  Those officers of the Metropolitan police who had
been wounded in the affray sued Mayor Wood for their injuries,
and employed Mr. David Dudley Field as their counsel. Mr.
Charles O'Connor was retained for the defendant, against whom a
verdict was rendered for each of the plaintiffs for $250, together
with the total costs, amounting to about $13,000. The defendant




THE DIAMOND WEDDING.


never paid the money. It was finally put in the tax levy by the
Legislature, and the city eventually paid both damages and costs.
A great crowd thronged old St. Patrick's Cathedral in MNott
Street early on the morning of October 13, i859, to witness the
marriage of Miss Frances Amelia Bartlett, daughter of Lieutenant
W. A. Bartlett, of No. 59 West Fourteenth Street, and Don Esteban Sancta Cruz de Oviedo, a very wealthy Cuban planter. The
ceremony took place at noon, and was performed by Archbishop
Hughes.  The reception following this wedding was so thronged
that detectives were sent to watch the house. The jewels, ordered
from Tiffany's, cost $50,00ooo; the bride's wardrobe was valued at
$I5,ooo. A few days after the wedding Mr. Edmund Clarence
Stedman published a satiricar poem on the humorous features of
the event. This he entitled "The Diamond Wedding." The
poem angered Lieutenant Bartlett, and he sent a challenge to Mr.
Stedman. The poet refused to apologize, and Mr. Bartlett withdrew his challenge.
The trial of Hicks, the pirate, occurred in i86o. He was one of
the crew of the oyster sloop " E. A. Johnson," which left this port
on March i6, for Deep Creek, Virginia. The crew of the sloop consisted of Captain Burr, Oliver and Smith Watts (boys), and a man
who had shipped under the name of William Johnson. He afterwards turned out to be Hicks. Five days after the sloop left New
York she was picked up at sea and towed to Fulton Market slip.
There was no one on board, and everything was in confusion.
The cabin floor and furniture, as well as the bedding, were spattered and stained with blood. The scene was a ghastly one. The
day previous to the finding of the sloop, Johnson, it was afterwards
discovered, had returned to his home in New York, with a large
amount of money in his possession. He had immediately started
for Providence, R. I., with his wife and child. He was followed
and arrested, but denied that he had ever been on the sloop, or
that his name was Johnson. A watch belonging to Captain Burr,
and a photograph given to Oliver Watts by a young lady, were
found on him, however, and his identity was also established in
many other ways. His name, he said, was Albert E. Hicks.
Notwithstanding his protestations of innocence, he was found
guilty of the murders, and sentenced to be hanged on Bedloe's
Island, where the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World has
been erected. While in the Tombs after trial and conviction, Hicks




62


HICKS, THE PIRATE.


made a confession of his guilt.  He was hanged on July 13,
I860, and maintained his coolness and bravado to the very last.
The scaffold was erected only a short distance from the shore, and
the execution was witnessed by a large number of persons.
The same year that this horrible crime was committed, the first
embassy from Japan visited New York.  This was on the I6th of
June, and the arrival of the Japanese was made an excuse for
festivities of the most elaborate character. The members of the
embassy arrived on the steamer " Alida," and enormous crowds
assembled at the Battery where they landed.  Their journey up
town was a continuous ovation.  More than six thousand soldiers
were in line. One of the notable incidents of the visit was the
" matinee " given by Mrs. James Gordon Bennett in honor of the
two Japanese princes at Fort Washington. Three thousand invitations were issued, and Delmonico was told to spare no expense
in preparing the collation. A grand ball was given by the Municipal authorities at the Metropolitan Hotel, the tickets of admission
to which commanded a premium of $30. The hotel and Niblo's
Garden were profusely decorated with flowers. The supper rooms
were opened at o0 P. iM. Ten thousand bottles of champagne were
drunk. The crush was terrible, and before morning the floors
were literally washed with wine. This was one of the most costly
banquets ever given by the city of New York. It was estimated
that the festivities cost between $9o,ooo and $Ioo,ooo.
It was on Thursday, at 2 P. MI., October i, i86o, that the Prince
of Wales landed at Castle Garden, and was escorted to the Fifth
Avenue Hotel by the military and police. The Prince rode in a
barouche drawn by six horses. Broadway made a beautiful display of bunting, and the Prince was continually greeted with
cheers. A grand serenade was given him at midnight. A splendid ball, which I attended, was given in the evening of the second
day at the Academy of Music. The Prince arrived at o0 P.M.,
and shortly after, to the great dismay of the enormous crowd, the
ball-room floor gave way, and the police had hard work to keep the
crowd back. The Prince folded his hands and looked on without
emotion. After repairs had been made the Prince opened the
ball with Mrs. Governor Morgan.
At this ball, as at all others tendered him in various parts of the
country, partners were assigned the Prince who were evidently not
to his taste. As a general rule, ladies very estimable in every re



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64


A SLAVE TRADER.


spect, but advanced in years, were forced upon his notice and company. The result was that it was only towards the close of the
ball that this scion of royalty was free to exercise his own fancy
in the matter of selecting partners from among the youthful beauties present.
Toward the close of i86o I was placed in command of the
Twentieth Ward. The trial of Captain Nathaniel Gordon, the
slave trader, occurred the following year and excited a great deal
of public attention. Gordon was master of the ship " Erie," and
sailed from Havana for the west coast of Africa, having on board
everything considered necessary for carrying on the slave trade.
Near the mouth of the Congo River he shipped nine hundred negroes, male and female, who were packed in the hold without ventilation. He then set sail for Cuba, but when about fifty miles
from his journey's end he was captured by the United States manof-war " Michigan," and conveyed, together with such of his human
freight as had survived that awful passage, to Monravia. Upon
his second trial-the jury having failed to agree upon a verdict in
the first instance-he was convicted, and sentence of death was
passed upon him by Judge Shipman. "Remember," said the
Judge, " that you showed mercy to none-carrying off, as you
did, not only those of your own sex, but women and helpless
children. Do not flatter yourself that, because they belonged to
a different race from yourself, your guilt is therefore lessened.
Rather fear that it is increased. Do not imagine that, because
others shared in the guilt of this enterprise, yours is thereby diminished; but remember the awful admonition of the Bible:
'Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished.' " His execution was fixed for February 7, i862, and the
most strenuous exertions were made by Gordon's relatives and
friends, particularly his devoted wife and mother, to save the man
from the gallows. They even went to Washington together in the
hope of obtaining a pardon from the President. Their efforts
were in vain, but a respite of two weeks was granted. On the
evening previous to the day set for his execution, Gordon took a
most affecting farewell of his family. Mrs. Gordon, together with
the prisoner's aged mother, called at the prison about six
o'clock in the evening and remained an hour or more. He received them in a most affectionate manner and talked most
tenderly of his little son, who was absent.  He appeared to




HANGING OF GORDON, THE SLAVE TRADER.


65




66


THE COACHMAN.


trouble himself very little about his own fate, but was very anxious
concerning the future of his wife and only child. At about three
o'clock the next morning the keepers who occupied the same cell
with Gordon were considerably surprised to see him seized with
convulsions. A physician was summoned, and it was found that
Gordon was suffering from the effects of poison. How he obtained it no one could tell. The man was evidently dying, but by
means of the stomach-pump and the use of brandy he was brought
back to consciousness. He then begged the doctors to let him
die by his own hand rather than suffer the disgrace of a public
execution.  But to no avail. Gordon walked, or rather tottered,
to the scaffold in the City Prison like a drunken man, and while
the rope was being adjusted he had to be supported by two of the
deputy-marshals.
It has been so much the fashion of late years for young ladies to
marry coachmen, that I cannot help recalling almost the first noted
instance.  It occurred in I857, when Miss Mary Ann Baker, the
daughter of Mr. John E. Baker, a well-known importer at No. 93
Front Street, married John Dean, her father's coachman. When
Mr. Baker heard of the marriage, he locked his daughter in a
back room, informing her friends that she was of unsound mind.
Dean procured a writ of habeas corpus, but Mr. Baker threatened
to shoot the officer who went to execute it.  The house was
watched until after the departure of the European steamer by
which, it was said, Mr. Baker intended to smuggle his daughter
out of the country. A commission de lunatico inquirendo was
appointed, and their report was that Mrs. Dean was perfectly
sane. An order was accordingly made by the court for her restoration to her husband.
In i857 the " Library," a saloon at No. 480 Broadway, was a
noted resort. Theodore S. Nims, formerly city librarian, was
leaning against the bar one evening in August, conversing with
a party of friends, when a Tombs " shyster " lawyer, named Henry
J. Wagstaff, entered the place. He walked up to the party and
suddenly struck Nims two stunning blows in the face. Nims took
refuge behind a table, but being closely followed by his assailant,
drew a double-barrelled pistol and fired two shots. Wagstaff
fell dead. An inquest was held, and the coroner, addressing
Nims, who had been arrested on a charge of murder, said: " In
my opinion this deed was committed in self-defence, and upon my




AT THE "' LIBRARY.'                67
own responsibility I shall discharge you from custody." Wagstaff was a notorious character about the city, and no one appeared to regret his death.
The climax of the great financial panic of 1857 was reached on
October i3th. The excitement on Wall Street was intense. Tremendous "runs " occurred on all the banks in the city, and tens
of thousands of people thronged the streets.  Suspensions were
the rule with scarcely an exception. Large forces of police
guarded the banks and great trouble was feared, but the impending storm blew over.




CHAPTER V.


THE POLICE AND SECESSIONISTS.-AN ANTE-BELLUM   EPISODE.PLOT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT LINCOLN.-DOWN IN DIXIE.THE SOUTHERN VOLUNTEERS.-A PERILOUS POSITION   AND A
MYSTERIOUS GUIDE.-ON THE TRAIN.-A JUMP FOR LIFE.BRAVE TIM WEBSTER AND HIS SAD FATE.-THE MAN WITH THE
FUR CAP.
To the young men of to-day the war is a thing of the past-a
page of history. I, who belong to the generation that is passing,
recall with a shudder the years of bloody fight, and that time yet
more dismal that preceded open hostilities, when all was foreboding, trembling with uncertainty; when, if I may so express it,
the volcano was smoking, but not yet ablaze.
One day, early in January, I86I, Superintendent Kennedy
ordered me, by telegraph, to report immediately at headquarters.
I did so, but he had gone, leaving word for me to proceed to his
house. I went at once, and found his wife awaiting me with the
message that he was at Cortlandt Street ferry, and I was to meet
him there. I found him deep in consultation with certain officials. He said to me:
"Buy two tickets for Washington: you are to go with me. I
will explain later."
I bought the tickets. In fifteen minutes we were on our way to
Washington by the fast express.
During the journey the superintendent told me of the condi-'
tion of affairs. He was alarmed at the state of public feeling in
Maryland, especially in Baltimore, through which Mr. Lincoln was
to pass on his way to Washington to assume office. Riots were
feared, and there were sinister rumors of threatened attempts to
assassinate the President-elect. I learned from the superintendent that the Washington authorities were uneasy. They had
requested that some of the most trustworthy officers of the New
York police should be detailed for service in Baltimore to ascertain what grounds there were for such suspicions.
68




ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S PERIL.


69


Upon reaching Washington we were instantly admitted to consultation with a Government officer, high in position, whose nervousness was proof of the gravity of the crisis.  With secret
instructions from this gentleman we went to Baltimore.
Mr. Kennedy's -duty was a very delicate one. We were soon
satisfied that Baltimore was bitterly irritated, but whether the feeling against Mr. Lincoln was personal enough to make his passage
through the city dangerous was hard to determine.  Such evidence as we could hastily collect we sifted; and though we found
that many of the rumors current in New York were not trustworthy, there was enough bad feeling to give cause for alarm.
The situation demanded closer investigation, and Mr. Kennedy,
with whom I entirely agreed, instructed me to return at once to
New York and send on two of the best officers of the detective
corps. So back to New York I went.
I carefully considered the selection of proper detectives for this
delicate affair, and after anxious thought I chose Messrs. Sampson and De Yoe. They were instructed to go to Baltimore, look
over the ground and ingratiate themselves with disaffected persons. In other words, to use their own discretion and find out all
they could.
It may be that Superintendent Kennedy was thoroughly informed as to the exact situation in Baltimore at that time, though
this is open to doubt. I will say, however, that I was not.
Matters were bad enough, I knew, but I was not aware what terrible 'risks the two officers were to run. As this ended my personal connection with the affair, I have thought it proper to give
Mr. Sampson's own graphic version of his adventures:
"I was selected by Captain Walling, with Mr. De Voe as my
partner, under Superintendent Kennedy's orders, to go to Baltimore. Our instructions were to investigate the situation there
and to see Mr. Lincoln safely through.
"As soon as we reached our destination we assumed the role of
Southern sympathizers and mixed freely with the secessionists.
I had been at Augusta and knew some persons there, so I called
myself 'Anderson' and hailed from  Augusta. De Voe dubbed
himself 'Davis' from  Mobile, because he had lived there for
some time.
"We were well supplied with money, very swaggering and loudmouthed, and soon made friends with a certain class of Southern



THOMAS SAMPSON.
(Detective Municipal and Metropolitan Police. U. S. Marshal and Chief of Police
U. S. Sub-Treasury.)
70




THE " SOUTHERN VOLUNTEERS."


7I


ers whose talk was 'fight to kill.' We stayed at the Fountain
Inn and for some weeks had a good time.
"By degrees we worked our way into the confidence of our new
friends. We had to be cautious, though, for, as is well known today, defection was common enough in the Government bureaus at
Washington, and the South was kept well posted of all movements
made North. There were in consequence plenty of persons watching the movements of Kennedy and the New York police.
" For a time things went on smoothly. De Voe and I became
members of a military company that met regularly in a kind of
barracks. Our presiding officer and military instructor was a
Texan, Captain Hays by name, and a picturesque Texan he was,
with great flashing eyes and long floating hair, topped with a
huge white sombrero. We had no muskets, but that was nothing
to the inventive Texan. He put us through the manual of arms
with laths. Sometimes there was a squad of forty men at drill.
Our company was known as the 'Southern Volunteers.'
" All this time we were communicating with New York by telegraph. It would not have been safe to send messages from Baltimore, so we forwarded them from Cockeysville, a suburb of the
city.
" But suddenly I discovered that we were suspected. It was no
laughing matter. The 'Volunteers' were loud in their threats
against traitors. The desperadoes of the company were in the
majority. All carried revolvers, and De Voe and I stood a firstrate chance of being killed on sight. There was even a detail
whose duty it was to ' do away' with suspected persons.
"I do not know how the intimation of danger came to me, but I
was positive that we were watched. I had been asked searching
questions as to the identity of 'Davis' (De Voe). His wife had
been indiscreet enough to write him a letter, addressed in his assumed name, and bearing the New York post-mark; It had been
in some way seen by one of the 'Volunteers.' Now a letter from
the North for ' Davis' did not dove-tail with 'Davis's ' account of
himself. I may here remark that to act an imaginary story or
identity straightly is one of the most difficult bits of work a detective has to do.
" I was at once asked many questions in regard to the letterwhere it came from, and what it was about. I had to turn it off
as well as I could. t am afraid that my explanation was not at




72


"WHAT ON EARTH SHALL WE DO?"


all complimentary to good Mrs. De Voe, but that unconscious
victim was revenged; my explanation was accepted dubiously. It
looked as if we, the shadowers, were about to become the
shadowed. A telegram of inquiry to Augusta or Mobile would
make it very hot for us. I thought it was time to go, and we
went.
" How we got to Washington in safety I do not recollect. We
were in too tight a place for comfort and had no time to spare.
We left all our wardrobe in Baltimore and assumed another guise.
I remember that I had worn a heavy cloth cap with a band of fur
around it. I gave it away, and donned a soft slouch hat.
" Whew! let me stop a moment. A good many years have
passed, but even now I cannot understand why we were not
murdered in Baltimore, unless, perhaps, the conspirators thought
something more was to be had by letting us go on to Washington.
"Well, we went to Willard's and registered as Anderson and
Davis. It happened that our signatures were written on the last
half of the page. As I wrote I noticed the peculiar scrawl of
Horace Greeley and remarked to De Voe that we were in good
company. We went to our rooms and talked matters over. We
made up our minds that we were in a bad box. How much did
we know of these ' Southern Volunteers'? They numbered
many hundreds, perhaps thousands, and we were acquainted with
but a few. We felt certain that they were on the watch for us.
"We could not stand being caged in our rooms. We went
down the stairs, and looking carefully around, examined the main
hall. There, sure enough, we recognized several of our genial
friends, the ' Southern Volunteers,' who were critically examining
the hotel register. I watched them breathlessly. When Mr.
Greeley's signature was reached they stopped at that for an instant. Then one of. them ran his finger down the column and
stopped again while he read our assumed names. I cursed my
stupidity in not having thought to change my alias. The man
turned and whispered to his associates, and they all went slowly
out.
"'What on earth shall we do?' asked De Voe.
" 'Do?' said I, 'I don't know. About the best thing is to get
some supper.'
"We went slowly down the stairs. I knew we were watched.
Some of the party might be outside. 'Our only chance,' I




"I DO NOT RECOGNIZE YOU."


73


whispered to De Voe, 'is that in the crowd and confusion here,
our new get-up may throw them off the track for the moment.
But that won't be for long.'
" When we entered the hall, De Voe leaned on the cigar-stand,
and I cast my eyes toward the billiard-room. I don't want to disguise matters; I was afraid, and cudgelling my brains how to get
out of the mess we were in. I did not move for a few instants,
when a man in a long overcoat lounged along and got his back
directly toward me. Then he suddenly spoke to me-in a very
low tone-so that I could just hear his words:
WILLARD'S HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D. C.
"' For God's sake, Tom, come out of this.'
"He spoke just above his breath and did not move. I was
startled, but had wits enough about me to understand that I was
not to show, in any way, that I knew the speaker. I certainly did
not, nor could I see his face. His low voice sounded strange and
sepulchral. Mind, I was using all my wits just then, every nerve
and muscle at full strain.
"I replied, also without budging: 'I do not recognize you.'
"The man's hand just faintly moved behind him, as though bidding me to follow. What was I to do? Was he friend or foe?
It was just as pleasant to be killed inside the house as out of it.




74


74  WHERE IS WASH. WALLING? "


" The man went deliberately out of the hotel. I followed very
close to him, my steps almost locking his. I carried a self-cocking pistol, and I knew how to use it. I made up my mind that
at the first suspicious movement I would shoot. As we stepped
on the avenue the man exclaimed, still very low:
My God! where is Wash. Walling?'
" I asked: 'What Wash. Walling??
" * Why, Tom, Captain Walling,' was the reply.
" This time I did not answer. Alert with suspicion I fancied
that Captain Walling might be in Washington; that it was supposed I knew where he was. The man was seeking him. WNalling, perhaps, was to be killed.
" My companion had on a great, rough coat, with the collar
turned up to his nose. A heavy cap was drawn over his eyes.
We walked silently along Pennsylvania Avenue.  I was on the
side toward the street, near the gas-lamps. ' If he is an enemy,' I
thought, 'he has put me where he can the better see me.'
" We had walked on a little way, I with my hand on my pistol,
when the man said: 'Tom, for God's sake tell me who is with
you, and where is your fur cap?'
"This made me start. The man knew I had exchanged my
cap for a soft hat. He must have followed me from Baltimore. I
could stand the suspense no longer. I caught him suddenly by
the arm, spun him around with my left hand, while with my right I
still gripped the pistol. The violence of the movement flung open
his coat and shifted his cap, so that his face was revealed. He
made no movement but looked calmly at me. Then slowly, very
slowlv, his face came back to me.
" ' Is that you, Tim? ' I cried, overjoyed.
" ' You did not know Tim Webster, Torn?' he asked.
" ' You will never know, Tim,' said I, ' how near you came to
being killed. For the last five minutes my finger has been on the
trigger of myn pistol.'
"Sure enough it was Tim Webster, whom I had not seen for
many years. Now Tim was one of Captain WValling's and my best
friends. He had been on the force with us in former years and I
knew him to be a man of exceptional honesty and courage.
"' It was not a question of killing me, Tom,' said Tim Webster,
rapidly, ' but it is to save you from death that I have followed you.
Your life is not worth a cent. I swear to you there are twenty




ON THE TRAIN.


75


men after you this very instant. Even now I expect we are being
watched. I may not be suspected, for I am with them, but they
shan't kill my old friend if I can help it. But you clear out of this
just as fast as you can, Tom; it is more serious than you think.
The chances are you will not get through safely unless you use
every precaution. Quickness of movement is everything now.'
" Perhaps he thought I looked incredulous. I didn't feel so.
He went on" ' Tom, it's so close a shave that at this moment if there's anything particular you'd like to say to your wife you'd better say it to
me for her.'
" This was pleasant indeed. ' But, Tim,' said I, ' I can't leave
De Voe in the lurch.'
" ' He will have to take care of himself. You're a dead man if
you go back after him.'
" I insisted, however, on going back for De Voe, and Tim reluctantly consented to help me. We slipped around to the hotel
by a back way, and Tim told me briefly that he was in detective
work himself and had been affiliated with the most desperate
branch of the Secession party; that he was one of the leading
spirits, and that it was his special duty to kill De Voe and me on
sight.
" I managed by no end of manoeuvring to get De Voe out of
Willard's and explain matters to him.
" Said Tim, 'If you go to the railroad depot you will both be
dead men. You will have to walk around Washington some fifteen miles and take the train there. I will start with you and put
you on the track. It is your only chance of escape, for every
other exit is guarded.'
" Tim led us out of the city, and we got to a barn, where he left
us. There we slept, and early in the morning took the first train
to Baltimore. Bad luck still pursued us. As we stepped in our
car we saw three of the ' Southern Volunteers,' our quondam
friends; men we had drilled with.
"' There they are,' I whispered to De Voe. 'If they are only
three we can hold our own, I suppose.' Presently, from another
car, three more walked in. They knew we were in the car. One
of them, with a grin, pointed his thumb backward toward us. We
were in the rear end. They were deliberating what to do and how
to doit. Then they all sat down. Evidently they were going to




76


THE LEAP FOR LIFE.


wait till we got out at Baltimore, when history would know De Voe
and me no more.
" An idea-an inspiration-came to my aid. ' De Voe,' said I,
'let us take a jump for life.' De Voe understood in a moment.
'Done,' he replied.
" We were going at a rapid rate, but it was certain death to stay
on that train; there was a chance for life if we jumped. We
sauntered out on the platform, closed the door, and took the leap.
De Voe fell with a yell, he had sprained his ankle badly. I was
much cut and bruised, but not seriously hurt. The train sped on.
We had escaped.
RE a 'OHIo R R!2 '~i~' F,l'
________________________^^ -^S      C. —P.
THE LEAP FOR LIFE.
"It was agony for De Voe to walk, but he had to, and I helped
him all I could. We made the circuit of Baltimore and reached
the side opposite Washington. We hailed a horse-car, and I
helped De Voe on. Along we went, and, said I, 'At last we are
safe.'
" But where should that confounded car pull up but exactly in
front of our old drill-room. 'Car stops here!' sung out the conductor. Of all places in the world what a terminus! We had to
alight. I reconnoitred the house. I dreaded to see the flashing
eyes, the floating hair, the huge sombrero of our Texan teacher.




THE MYSTERIOUS SOUTHERNER.


77


Thank heaven! neither he nor any other ' Southern Volunteer'
was visible. Poor De Voe was almost fainting with the agony of
his sprain, and could walk no more. I looked down the street
and discovered a hack with a negro driver. I went up to him.
'Engaged, sah,' says Sambo. 'How much do you expect from
your fare?' I asked. ' One dollar, boss.'
"' I will give you five,' I returned.
"The look of joy that spread over that darkey's face was soon
reflected on mine. The driver deserted his customer (I hope he
was a 'Volunteer'); we bundled De Voe in and rattled merrily
away to the Philadelphia depot. We caught the train for the
North and our troubles were over. After we had started, a member of the Philadelphia detective force, whom I knew, came up
and spoke to me. 'Why, Mr. Sampson,' said he,'we were positive
that De Voe and you had been murdered somewhere in Maryland.
Where is your fur cap?'
" And so we should have been murdered but for the good head
and great heart of Tim Webster, the bravest, coolest man, I think,
that ever lived. Poor fellow, his fate was a sad one. He was executed as a spy at Richmond. After the war they brought his
body North for Christian burial, and I followed to the grave the
remains of him to whose skill and courage I owe it that I am alive
to-day to tell this tale.
" Upon our return to New York we received the thanks of Superintendent Kennedy and Captain Walling.
"There were some rather laughable stories brought to headquarters about a man in Baltimore distinguished by a renowned
fur cap, who was reported as a very dangerous person, furiously
Southern in his sentiments, breathing nothing but blood and murder. Putting this and that together I am inclined to believe that
I am the individual.
" In conclusion, let me say that the change made by Mr. Lincoln as to the date of his arrival in Washington, prior to his taking
the oath of office, and his escape from insult, were in no small
measure due to the unwearied efforts of Superintendent Kennedy
and Captain Walling."




CHAPTER VI.


IN WAR TIME.-THE DRAFT RIOTS.-HEROISM OF THE POLICE.-THE
BATTLE OF THE BARRICADES.-THE SHARP —HOOTER ON THE
ROOF. —WITH A BULLET IN HIS BRAIN.
AFFAIRS progressed very quietly in the Twentieth Ward, of
which I was still captain, until i863, when the draft riots occurred.
We did not lack warnings of these troubles. Handbills had been
circulated and meetings held, protesting against the draft. Mr.
John A. Kennedy, then superintendent, did not believe that these
mutterings of discontent would grow into riot, and did not prepare
for danger. Even on that Monday morning in June, when the
first mob assembled and showed its aggressiveness, the " offplatoon" had not been called on duty. The only reserve ready
in an emergency was one section of police in each of the stations.
These sections were immediately ordered to the scene of disturbance.  Having different routes, they did not arrive at the
same time, and were beaten by the mob in detail. The only
effective way would have been for the various sections to have had
a common rendezvous, and then, when a sufficient number of men
had arrived, marched on the rioters. The police would have
asserted their power and the mob would have been broken.
For my part, I had for several days noticed with great uneasiness the growing discontent among certain classes. Things, I
thought, were coming to a head, and so I remained at the precinct station Sunday night. Early on Monday morning I went to
my house, took breakfast and proceeded to headquarters to make
my customary report. At Third Avenue and Nineteenth Street
I learned, for the first time, that rioting was in progress. I was
told that the mob had attacked an enrolling office in Third Avenue, driven off the police and set fire to the building. My station
was in Thirty-fifth Street, between Eighth and Ninth avenues.
I immediately started back again on the " dead run," believing
the whole force would be called out. I was not mistaken. In a
short time orders were sent from headquarters directing me to col78




AT THE CITY HALL.


79


lect my "off-platoon."  Messengers were despatched, and soon all
the men reported for duty.
Information was received that the rioters were on their way to
the Colored Orphan Asylum, on Fifth Avenue, between Forty-third
and Forty-fourth streets, in which were about two hundred colored
children, besides the matron and attendants. Then came the
news that the institution had been attacked by a mob three thousand strong, pillaged and burned to the ground, the inmates
making their escape as best they could. All were brought to my
station, the small upon the backs of the larger, and were made as
comfortable as possible, remaining with me a week. The poor
creatures were almost crazed with terror, and were glad enough
when, after the riots were over, arrangements were made to convey
them to a temporary place of refuge on Blackwell's Island. Just
as the negroes were coming into the station I received orders to
report at police headquarters. No cars or stages were running,
and in order to get to Mulberry Street as quickly as possible I
hired stages, in which I placed all my available force, leaving in
the station a sergeant, two doormen and a few partially disabled
patrolmen who were on the sick-list. We arrived safely at headquarters. Meantime a body of rioters had attacked and burned
another enrolling office in Broadway, near Twenty-sixth Street.
That evening we were stationed in the City Hall, as threats had
been made to destroy the Tribune and other newspaper offices.
Some time during the next morning one of my men came to me
and said:
"Captain Walling, I've seen a big, rough-looking fellow peeping through the window. He's done it three or four times."
" Ah!" I remarked; " perhaps it will be just as well to keep a
watch on him. Next time he peeps in call my attention to it."
"There he is again," said the man, presently.  And sure
enough, the dim outline of a man's face could be seen pressed
against the window pane.  I opened the door cautiously, and
slipping out quietly grabbed him by the collar.
"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, as I looked at his features.
"What are you doing here, Leonard?" for it was no other than
my brother, who was a ship-carpenter.
He told me his fellow workmen had struck and wouldn't let
him work. "Well, if you can't work, can you fight? " I asked
him.




80


i< KILL EVERY MAN WHO HAS A CLUB! "


" Try me," he replied.
I immediately had him sworn in, gave him a club and had no
occasion to feel ashamed of my unexpected recruit. He served
under me the whole of the week, and took an active part in all
that occurred, on one occasion narrowly escaping death.
That day I was directed to proceed with my men-one hundred in number-to certain buildings in the Twentieth and
Twenty-second wards which were to be protected. We marched
up Broadway, being supported by a company of regulars from the
Invalid Corps. Thirty-second Street was reached without any
exciting incident; but on arriving there I was informed that a
mob was about to attack the Sixth Avenue car stables. This was
not exactly true, the mob having designs on Dr. Ward's and other
private residences in the neighborhood of Forty-sixth Street and
Fifth Avenue. We marched up to Forty-fifth Street, and through
it to Fifth Avenue. We were confronted by a howling mob of
men and women, numbering over 2000. A large'number were
armed with bludgeons. There was but one thing to do, and that
was done quickly. I shouted out at the top of my voice, so that
the rioters could hear me:
" Kill every man who has a club. Double quick. Charge! "
And at them we went with our clubs.  The rioters dropped
their bludgeons, tumbling over each other, and took to their heels.
We took no prisoners, but left the rioters where they fell. The
number of broken heads was large.  The mob dispersed in all
directions, despite the frenzied cries of the women for the men to
" stand up and give the police."
This scrimmage, however, was nothing compared with what was
to follow.
Early the next day, Wednesday, at the request of General
Sanford, I conveyed a large number of colored persons, who had
taken refuge in the Arsenal, to my station. This was crowded
already, but I managed to stow them away somehow, the officers
and men giving up their rooms. Barricades had been erected by
the mob on Ninth Avenue, at certain intervals, all the way from
Twenty-sixth to Forty-second Street.  These obstructions were
constructed of carts, bricks, wagons, etc., the vehicles being lashed
together with telegraph wires, or anything else that came to hand.
Many of the rioters had fire-arms. They could be seen not only
behind the barricades, but on the house-tops.








~ '
I
~'


L


-,. ',


1


r-4
r -,.%,~
I


00


-       - I 7 A.  -.
I' y,, y J)...... —_   --. ---.
BATTLE OF




82


HOW THE BARRICADE WAS WON.


My instructions were simply to " clear the streets," and a company of Zouaves having been sent to support us, we proceeded
to obey orders. We advanced towards the first barricade at the
4 double quick" with the soldiers in our rear. When within a
short distance of it we were greeted by a sharp volley of pistol
shots, with an occasional bullet from a musket by way of variety.
Fortunately most of the balls passed over our heads, but it was
warm work. The barricade could not be carried by the police
alone, so we deployed to the right and left, thus allowing the sol
diers space in which to manceuvre and return the fire of the mob.
This they did, and the rioters retreated.
Barricade No. I was won.
The police then went to the front, but were again greeted with
a volley from the mob, while the Zouaves, in skirmishing order,
occupied the sidewalks, getting a shot at the rioters whenever
they exposed themselves.
Even after so many years one or two tragical incidents come
to my mind in connection with this sad affair as distinctly as though
they happened yesterday.  One was that of a rioter who had
stationed himself with a musket at the corner of an intersecting
street, and was firing at us as fast as he could load, simply poking
the muzzle of his gun round, he being protected by the angle of
the house. One of the Zouaves saw this trick, and, watching his
opportunity, fired completely through the wooden house, killing
the man instantly.
Another fellow on top of a house made himself very conspicuous
during the conflict by taking a shot at either the police or the
soldiers, and then dodging behind one of the chimneys.  He
tried this once too often. Suddenly, while I was watching him,
he threw up his arms and fell headlong to the street with a rifle
ball through the very centre of his forehead.
Every inch of ground was disputed by the now desperate rioters,
but slowly and surely we advanced. One by one we captured the
remaining barricades with the aid of the soldiers, until our task
was accomplished.
We marched back to the station only to find that our duties for
that day were by no means ended. At night, word was brought
that the mob had attacked a church in Twenty-seventh Street
belonging to a colored congregation, and that we must disperse
the rioters.




AT THE CHURCH.


8;




84


WITH A CART RUNG.


No time was lost in getting to the scene of action, but the
rioters were well prepared to give us a warm reception. They
had thrown out a line of pickets to warn them of our approach.
It happened that several fire-engines were passing through the
street at the time, and mixing with the party of firemen we approached close to the church without attracting much attention.
The building was occupied by the rioters, and no sooner was our
presence made known than we were greeted with a sharp fusillade
from pistols, muskets, shotguns, etc. My men returned the fire
with their revolvers, and this was the first time during the day
that the police under my command had recourse to fire-arms. But
now they did use them they proved most effective, as the following
incident will show:
One of the rioters had straddled the ridge-pole of the church,
and was hacking away at the timbers with an axe. The outline
of his form stood out boldly against the sky, and he was in full
view of the crowd. His actions were watched with great interest,
and I kept my eye on him, as did everybody else. Presently the
arm of one of my men was slowly raised to the proper level, there
was a flash and a report, and the man on the roof disappeared
from sight. Next day his body was found at the rear of the
church. The bullet had lodged in his skull, and death must have
been instantaneous.
That shot was followed by a howl of rage from the rioters, who
attacked us in a savage and determined manner. We also set to
work with a will, clubbing our opponents most unmercifully. The
neighborhood was cleared in short order.
Before this a tragic occurrence was added to my day's experience. I was standing on Eighth Avenue, at Thirty-fifth Street, late
in the afternoon, when six or eight burly-looking fellows, armed
with clubs, marched up the street. In the middle of the block
was a hardware store kept by a man named Heiser, and there it
was that the party of ruffians stopped. The one who was evidently the leader was flourishing a heavy cart rung, with which he
attempted to smash in the door. Heiser dealt in guns and pistols
among other things, and if these men succeeded in getting into
the store they would arm themselves and their comrades. I was
alone, and there was no time to waste in seeking assistance. The
fellow with the cart rung plied his weapon with such energy and
strength that at the third or fourth blow he split the door in two.




THE MAN WAS DEAD!


85


It so happened that his club stuck in the crack, and while he was
endeavoring to pull it out I rushed forward and struck him a terrible blow on the head with my locust. He fell to the pavement as
if he had been shot. His companions, who made no attempt to
attack me, put him in a wagon and hauled him away. A doctor
was afterwards sent for to attend him, but his only remark on seeing the patient was:
"He doesn't want a doctor. He needs an undertaker."
The man was dead!
I am entirely aware that resistance to the draft was the first
incentive to these disturbances; but in New York, as in all large
centres of population, where any set of men makes a demonstration to ventilate its grievances, there will always be grouped
around this party of malcontents the very worst elements of society. Aside from the strictly criminal classes-always ready to
take advantage of any local troubles in order to carry on their
peculiar vocations-there is a large body of idle persons, with no
interests at stake, who amalgamate with the thieves for the purpose of sharing in the plunder. At times, when the utmost license
has been rampant, this class has formed a most dangerous element.
I really know of no instance of a riot occurring in New York, or
in any other large city, during which robbery did not play a prominent part. A riot, or disturbance, is the thief's opportunity, and
he is sure to take advantage of it. For more than a year after
the draft-riots various articles, stolen during the disturbances from
the houses of well-to-do citizens, were discovered by the police in
different parts of the city. Furniture, carpets, china and other
articles of a domestic character were carried off, and in some
instances tapestry carpets, valuable rugs and rich hangings were
found decorating some of the most squalid and poverty-stricken
shanties on Manhattan Island.
One circumstance more in connection with these riots will bring
my reminiscences of them to a close. On Wednesday afternoon,
after the Battle of the Barricades on Ninth Avenue, the police
under my command, together with the Zouaves, returned to the
station. While there, waiting for orders, the Governor (Horatio
Seymour), accompanied by Alderman John Hardy, came up and
I accosted them. Alderman Hardy said to me:
" The Governor and myself have been over on Ninth Avenue,




86


8" I CAN'T HELP THAT..


and found a number of persons there killed in the fight. It's too
bad."
"I can't help that," was my reply. "They were there behind
their barricades, and we had orders to clear the street. If there
were. any innocent persons there, I regret it very much. But such
persons had no business there; they should have got out of the
way when ordered to disperse. It's certain they were there, and
gave encouragement to the rioters by their presence. If they
come back," I added, after a pause, " I shall attack them again
and serve them in the same way."
Turning to the Governor, I asked him:
" Have you anything to say, sir; or any orders to give? "
The Governor's reply was: " Take your orders from your official
superiors."
Both then walked away.
The draft-riot was certainly the most serious uprising that has
ever occurred in New York, both in the area over which the disturbances extended and in the number of persons engaged in it.
The forces of the police at the beginning of the trouble were not
of sufficient strength to cope with the rioters at all points at once;
but whenever the police and the mob came in contact the former
were invariably the victors. No sooner, however, had the conflict
ended in one part of the city than it began in another. That the
struggle would have been prolonged and more disastrous had it
not been for the aid of the military, there is no doubt; but I believe the police would have subdued the mob eventually.
WThenever there are the slightest premonitions of a riot, an
ounce of prevention is worth more than a ton of cure in the shape
of clubs or bullets. At the beginning of such a conflict a mob
has no organization, and can be readily broken up.




CHAPTER VII.


CAPTURING HACKENSACK.-MYSTERIOUS VISITS TO NEW YORK.-AT
THE SHOP WINDOW.-THE FATEFUL RING.-RECEIVING THE RUSSIANS.-TRYING TO BURN THE CITY.-THE BLACK BAGS.-THE
" BOGUS" PROCLAMATION.-BURNING OF BARNUM'S MUSEUM.AN UNHAPPY " HAPPY FAMILY."-STRUGGLE OF THE EAGLE AND
SERPENT.-EMBEZZLING $250,000 TO SATISFY BLACKMAILERS,
-A POLICEMAN MURDERED.
SHORTLY after the stirring events of the early part of I863, the
adventures of a woman known as Mrs. Klineschmidt caused society to take a quickened interest in the criminal classes. To that
part of the world which did not know her, Mrs. Klineschmidt was
a lady. She dressed like one, looked like one, and spoke like a
woman of education and refined tastes. Her acquaintance was
cast, as much as possible, among severely respectable persons.*
She was young when she first became known to the police.
Her beauty was of the full-blown, blowzy sort, if you please, but it
was effective with all men and many women. She made her physical attractions pay her a heavy royalty all the time. Not satisfied
with thatj she became one of the most adroit thieves ever known in
New York. For some years, about the time of the war, she travelled between New York and Chicago, sometimes stopping in Canada, and smuggling by wholesale. She was arrested several times,
and so became a person of note on the police records. She had a
husband in the early part of her career, but he subsequently disappeared.
Finally she disappeared, too. Nobody knew what had become
of her. It was afterwards discovered, however, that she was living in the village of Hackensack, New Jersey. There in the latter part of I862, from the proceeds of her theft and economy, she
built a stylish mansion. The Mandelbaums, some of whom are
known to the detective police of America, lived across the street
in good style. The two households resolved to "capture Hackensack."
* This incident did not come under my personal observation.
87




88


HIGH LIFE IN JERSEY.


Mrs. Klineschmidt was eager for the fray. Her social ambition
demanded that she should "shine in society."  She was anxious
to test upon persons of established respectability the powers that
had won her such success in her own circle. She furnished her
house after the most luxurious fashion. In the rooms were highpriced couches, lounges, ottomans and easy chairs, dressing-cases,
Wilton carpets and portieres of heavy satin. The walls were hung
with tapestry. Valuable pictures were on the walls, and statuary
was among the decorations of hall and drawing-room. On the
front lawn a fountain played. Her carriage was a magnificent
vehicle-perhaps a trifle too magnificent-the wheels and tongue
red, and the body green. The upholstery was of brilliant yellow
satin. The coachman's livery was of blue and silver, and the harness of the white horses was mounted with gold. She dressed in
the latest fashion, and her beauty was a theme of never-failing
comment among the male population of the town. Some persons
to whom she was a mystery declared that she was the daughter of
a rich old sea-captain who had just died in Nantucket; some that
she had bought Harlem at a lucky moment on a tip from Commodore Vanderbilt; others that she had got rich in cotton, by the
connivance of General Banks; still others that she had been the
housekeeper for a miserly Californian who had just died and left
her rich.
When she had succeeded in arousing the curiosity of the whole
town, she coyly confessed to the veterinary surgeon, who called to
attend her lap-dog, and who said he had seen service in Calcutta,
that she was the grandchild of an Indian merchant who had left
her a colossal fortune, which he had made in the spice-trade. The
man spread the news.
Ladies began to call on her. Some were shy and still inquired.
The men were not incredulous; they admired her from the first.
She returned the calls, and did her utmost to ingratiate herself.
The suspicion of the people gradually disappeared. As the winter
passed she gave a ball at her residence, and was gratified with a
general response. She took a conspicuous pew in church.  She
became the queen of Hackensack.
There were three or four families who did not welcome her, and
on these she vainly tried all her arts. The men surrendered, but
the women refused to associate with the Klineschmidt.  This
she resented, and resolved to punish. One young man, Blank,




BEFORE THE SHOP WINDOW.


89


whose wife was thus placed under her ban, she secretly encouraged until he was completely infatuated with her. He was a tall,
handsome, alert, and wealthy young fellow, and he became dazzled
by her vulgar splendor, and by the preference for him which she
manifested.
Mrs. Blank was not long in learning that her husband's affections were being estranged. She told him her fears and reproached him. The secret of the transfer of his affection soon became the property of the public, for the foolish fellow spent evening after evening at Mrs. K's. There was one thing which con
fused and puzzled him. She spent two nights and days of every
week in New York; and when he asked her why, he received an
answer which silenced, while it did not satisfy him. He became
madly jealous, and resolved to find out whether she had another
amour in the great city.
His suspicion was wrong. The fact was, that being the social
arbiter of Hackensack cost considerable money, and her treasury
needed constant replenishing. Blank, however, determined to find
out what these mysterious disappearances meant; and the next time
she crossed to New York he followed her. He watched her go to
a house on Thirty-fourth Street, waited till he was certain that she
would remain there, then took the number for future investigation,
and slipped back home. He was unconscious of being followed
by a tall and graceful boy. But his wife had thus disguised herself to makecertain of the whereabouts of the inconstant Blank.
The next morning Mrs. Blank expressed a desire to visit her
mother, in New York, for a day or two. He assented, and she immediately crossed the river, took a school-friend into her confidence, and together they watched the house on Thirty-fourth
Street. While they were watching, Mrs. Klineschmidt came in
after a predatory excursion to Broadway. Storing her booty, she
again sallied forth.
"There she is, the hussy! Quick, or we shall lose her!" exclaimed Mrs. Blank to her friend.
"Hush! She may notice us."
"No fear of that. Our own mothers wouldn't know us; and I
am not certain that she has ever seen either of us."
"How she is muffled up-for disguise, I suppose."
"There! she has stopped to see those people by that shop window. Let's dodge in this door-way."




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90




ENTRAPPED.


91


"There i There! See, Kate, see! "
"Heavens! She is a thief. How skilfully she works I"
"What shall we do? How shall we trap her?"
The ladies talked the matter over, and then consulted the near.
est captain of police. Mrs. Blank did not wish the woman arrested,-" not yet."
"Ah! " observed the astute officer; "you want her to steal
something from you, so that you can hold it over her? "
"That was it," said she.
"Very well; go out to-morrow, or any day when you can find
her. Dress in your best, so as to attract her. When you are in
her vicinity and feel yourselves inspected, let your friend hand you
a roll of bills. Put them in your purse and put the purse in your
pocket. Have in it, also, some odd ring, or other piece of jewellery
that you can identify. I will have a detective there to witness the
theft."
The scheme worked to a charm the next day. HIer purse was
taken, and the thief made off.
The next week Mrs. Klineschmidt gave a grand ball at her house
in Hackensack. Everybody went: even Mrs. Blank accompanied
her husband, to his great surprise. Mrs. Klineschmidt met them
at the door of her drawing-room with an air of triumph. Mrs.
Blank's appearance created a sensation.' All eyes turned on her;
but the), were astonished to see that she was arrayed in plain
walking attire. She turned one look on the obsequious figure of
her would-be hostess, and then to the astounded guests said:
" I am sorry to disturb you, but this woman is a thief!"
"A thief! " they exclaimed in amazed chorus.
' Yes, she picked my pocket in Broadway. There is my emerald
ring on her finger now. The one your neighbors gave me for
selling the most tickets at the bazaar."
Mrs. Klineschmidt drew her hand convulsively within her
dress folds, and shouted in desperation: " You're a liar! "
" Here is an old acquaintance of yours who saw you do it. Walk
in, Mr. Officer."
The detective stepped into the room.  Soon all the guests
stepped out.
"Well," laughed Mrs. Klineschmidt, " I've had a good time, and
fooled all these stupid asses. Going over to-night?"
" Yes," answered the officer.




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" ARREST ALL CARRYING BLACK BAGS."


93


And the queen of Hackensack was dethroned.
Late in the autumn of the year when Klineschmidt was run to
earth (i863), Admiral Lessoffsky, with a Russian squadron, arrived
in New York waters. This was the signal for a grand military
reception, a municipal banquet, and a ball at the Academy of
Music, on the evening of the fifth of November. This ball was the
finest and most elaborate ever seen in New York. Irving Hall
was used for a supper room. Some 6000 persons assembled about
the Academy to see the guests arrive. Besides Admiral Lessoffsky, the guests included Baron Stoeckel, General Dix and Admiral
Farragut.
The following year was made memorable by the discovery of a
plot to burn New York. The police had received information concerning this dastardly scheme, but they refused at first to believe
it. The intention of the conspirators was to start fires up and
down town at the same time, and while the firemen were thus engaged to fire the hotels in the centre of the city.
The first fire was discovered at 8.43 o'clock on the evening of
November 25th, at the St. James Hotel. At the same time Barnum's
Museum was found to be in flames. In quick succession, alarms
came from the St. Nicholas Hotel, the United States Hotel, the
Lafarge House, the Metropolitan, the New England Hotel and
Lovejoy's. At midnight an attempt was made to burn the shipping
in the North River, and from that time until daylight, the Belmont, Fifth Avenue, Howard and Hanford hotels, the Astor House
and Tammany Hall were found to be on fire. Lumber yards in
various parts of the city were also in flames. Fortunately, all
these schemes miscarried, and the fires were extinguished in time
to prevent a general conflagration. Bags of black canvas were
discovered in the rooms set on fire at the different hotels and were
taken to police headquarters. Each contained a quantity of paper,
about a pound and a half of rosin, a bottle of turpentine and one
or two bottles containing phosphorus in water. The fires were
started by piling the bedding in the middle of the room and saturating it with turpentine, setting it on fire and then locking the
door. The hotel-keepers offered a reward of $20,000 for the detection of the criminals, but they allescaped. The terror in the city
on the night of the fire and some weeks after was very great.
A somewhat amusing, yet withal an important incident connected with war times in New York, was the publication on May




94


THE BOGUS PROCLAMATION.


i8, I864, of what purported to be a proclamation from the President, recommending a Fast-day, and calling for 400,000 troops.
The document was printed in the World and the journal of Commerce. It was soon discovered that the proclamation was bogus.
A large mob collected about the office of the Journal of Commzerce, in Wall Street, and demanded that the report should be
contradicted forthwith. The Government at once suppressed both
papers, and the Associated Press offered a reward of $iooo for the
conviction of the author. In due time it was discovered that
" Joe " Howard, Jr., wrote the proclamation. He was arrested and
sent to Fort Lafayette.
Although an attempt to burn Barnum's Museum had been made
in the "Black Bag " conspiracy, it was not until July I, I865, that
it was destroyed by fire. With it was consumed almost the entire
block bounded by Fulton, Ann and Nassau streets and Broadway.
The fire originated in the upper story of the Museum, and gradually worked its way down, at the same time spreading to the
adjoining buildings. The entire loss reached $2,000,000. During
the progress of the fire a large force of policemen was kept busy
in looking after the thieves and pickpockets with whom the city
fairly swarmed at that time. Several stores were pillaged. One
of the places broken into was Knox's hat store, the hats being
offered for sale in the most barefaced manner within sight of the
shop from which they were stolen. They found a ready sale, so
many head-coverings having been lost in the trampling and crush
of the vast crowd.
Although I witnessed the conflagration, I prefer to describe it
in the words of an account which appeared in the New York
Tribune of the following day, which created a great sensation:
Soon after the breaking out of the conflagration, strange and terrible howls
and moans proceeding from the large apartment in the third floor of the
Museum, startled the throngs who had collected in front of the burning building, and who were at first under the impression that the sounds must proceed
from human beings unable to effect their escape. Their anxiety was somewhat
relieved on this score, but their consternation was by no means decreased upon
learning that the room was the principal chamber of the menagerie connected
with the Museum, and that there was imminent danger of the release of the animals there confined, by the action of the flames. Our reporter fortunately occupied a room. the windows of which looked immediately into this apartment.
Luckily the windows of the Museum were unclosed, and he had a perfect view




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96


BURNING OF BARNUM'S MUSEUM.


of almost the entire interior of the apartment. The following is his statement
of what followed, in his own language:
" Protecting myself from the intense heat as well as I could, by taking the
mattress from the bed and erecting it as a bulwark before the window, with only
enough space reserved on the top so as to look out, I anxiously observed the
animals in the opposite room. Immediately opposite the window through
which I gazed was a large cage containing a lion and lioness. To the right
hand was the three-story cage, containing monkeys at the top, two kangaroos
in the second story, and a happy family of cats, rats, adders, rabbits, etc., in the
lower apartment. To the left of the lion's cage was the tank containing the
two vast alligators, and still further to the left, partially hidden from my sight,
was the grand tank containing the great white whale, which has created such a
furore in our sight-seeing midst for the past few weeks. Upon the floor were
caged the boa-constrictor, anacondas and rattlesnakes, whose heads would now
and then rise menacingly through the top of the cage. In the extreme right
was the cage, entirely shut from my view at first, containing the Bengal tiger
and the Polar bear, whose terrific growls could be distinctly heard from behind
the partition. With a simultaneous bound the lion and his mate sprang
against the bars, which gave way and came down with a great crash, releasing
the beasts, which for a moment, apparently amazed at their sudden liberty,
stood in the middle of the floor lashing their sides with their tails and roaring
dolefully.
" Almost at the same momient the upper part of the three-story cage, consumed by the flames, fell forward, letting the rods drop to the floor, and many
other animals were set free. Just at this time the door fell through and the
flames and smoke rolled in like a whirlwind from the Hadean river Cocytus.
A horrible scene in the right-hand corner of the room, a yell of indescribable
agony, and a crashing, grating sound, indicated that the tiger and Polar bear
were stirred up to the highest pitch of excitement. Then there came a great
crash, as of the giving way of the bars of their cage. The flames and smoke
momentarily rolled back, and for a few seconds the interior of the room was
visible in the lurid light. of the flames, which revealed the tiger and the lion
locked together in close combat.
" The monkeys were perched around the windows shivering with dread, and
afraid to jump out. The snakes were writhing about, crippled and blistered
by the heat, darting out their forked tongues, and expressing their rage and
fear in the most sibilant of hisses. The ' Happy Family' was experiencing
an amount of beatitude which was evidently too cordial for philosophical enjoyment. A long tongue of flame had crept under the cage, completely singeing
every hair from the cat's body. The felicitous adder was slowly burning in
two and busiiy engaged in impregnating his organic system with his own venom.
The joyful rat had lost his tail by a falling bar of iron; and the beatific rabbit.
perforated by a red-hot nail, looked as if nothing would be more grateful than
a cool corner in some Esquimaux farm-yard. The members of the delectated
convocation were all huddled together in the bottom of their cage, which suddenly gave way, precipitating them out of view in the depths below, which by
this time were also blazing like the fabled Tophet.
" At this moment the flames rolled again into the room, and then again




BURNING OF BARNUM'S MUSEUM.                    9k
retired. The whale and alligators were by this time suffering dreadful torments. The water in which they swam was literally boiling. The alligators
dashed fiercely about, endeavoring to escape, and opening and shutting their
great jaws in ferocious torture; but the poor whale, almost boiled, with great
ulcers bursting from his blubbery sides, could only feebly swim about, though
blowing excessively, and every now and then sending up great fountains of
spray. At length, crack went the glass sides of the great cases, and whale and
alligators rolled out on the floor with the rushing and steaming water. The
whale died easily, having been pretty well used up before. - A few great gasps
and a convulsive flap or two of his mighty flukes were his expiring spasm. One
of the alligators was killed almost immediately by falling across a great fragment of shattered glass, which cut open his stomach and let out the greater
part of his entrails to the light of day. The remaining alligator became involved in a controversy with an anaconda, and joined in the mle'e in the centre of the flaming apartment.
" A number of birds which were caged in the upper part of the building were
set free by some charitably inclined person at the first alarm of fire, and at intervals they flew out. There were many valuable tropical birds, parrots, cockatoos, mocking birds, humming-birds, etc., as well as some vultures and eagles,
and one condor.  Great excitement existed among the swaying crowds in the
streets below as they took wing. There were confined in the same room a few
serpents, which also obtained their liberty; and soon after the rising and devouring flames began to enwrap the entire building, a splendid and emblematic
sight was presented to the wondering and upgazing throngs. Bursting through
the central casement, with flap of wings and lashing coils, appeared an eagle
and a serpent wreathed in fight. For a moment they hung poised in mid-air,
presenting a no c-1 and terrible conflict.  It was the earth and air (or their
respective repr -C::trat;h (es) at war for mastery; the base and the lofty, the groveller and the s,;ti  were engaged in deadly battle. At length the flat head
of the serper  a:':: his writhing, sinuous form grew still; and wafted upward
by the cheersu/.z!p; gazing multitude, the eagle, with a scream of triumph, and
bearing his prey in his iron talons, soared towards the sun. Several monkeys
escaped from the burning building to the neighboring roofs and streets; and
considerable excitement was caused by the attempts to secure them. One of
the most amusing incidents in this respect, was in connection with Mr. James
Gordon Bennett. The veteran editor of the Herald was sitting in his private
office with his back to the open window, calmly discussing with a friend the
chances that the Herald establishment would escape the conflagration, which at
that time was threateningly advancing up Ann Street, towards Nassau Street.
In the course of his conversation, Mr. Bennett observed: 'Although I have
usually had good luck in cases of fire, they say that the devil is ever at one's
shoulder, and-' Here an exclamation from his friend interrupted him, and
turning quickly he was considerably taken aback at seeing the devil himself or
something like him, at his very shoulder as he spoke. Recovering his equanimity, with the ease and suavity which is usual with him in all company, Mr.
Bennett was about to address the intruder when he perceived that what he had
taken for the gentleman in black was nothing more than a frightened orangnutang.  The poor creature, but recently released from captivity, and doubt7




98


BURNING OF BARNUM S MUSEUM.


less thinking that he might fill some vacancy in the editorial corps of the paper
in question, had descended by the water-pipe and instinctively taken refuge in
the inner sanctum of the establishment. Although the editor-perhaps from
the fact that he saw nothing peculiarly strange in the visitation-soon regained
his composure, it was far otherwise with his friend, who immediately gave the
alarm. Mr. Hudson rushed in and boldly attacked the monkey, grasping him
by the throat. The book-editor next came in, obtaining a clutch upon the
brute by the ears; the musical critic followed, and seized the tail with both
hands, and a number of reporters, armed with inkstands and sharpened pencils,
came next, followed by a dozen policemen with brandished clubs; at the same
time, the engineer in the basement received the preconcerted signal and got
ready his hose, wherewith to pour boiling hot water upon the heads of those
in the streets, in case it should prove a regular systematized attack by gorillas,
Brazil apes and chimpanzees. Opposed to this formidable combination, the
rash intruder fared badly, and was soon in durance vile.
"We believe that all the human curiosities were saved; but the giant girl,
Anna Swan, was only rescued with the utmost difficulty. There was not a door
through which her bulky frame could obtain a passage. It was likewise feared
that the stairs would break down, even if she should reach them. Her best
friend, the living skeleton, stood by her as long as he dared, but then deserted
her, while, as the heat grew in intensity, the perspiration rolled from her face
in little brooks and rivulets, which pattered musically upon the floor.  At
length, as a last resort, the employees of the place procured a lofty derrick which
fortunately happened to be standing near, and erected it alongside the Museum.
A portion of the wall was then broken off on each side of the window, the
strong tackle was got in readiness, the tall woman was made fast to one end
and swung over the heads of the people in the street, with eighteen men grasping the other extremity of the line, and lowered down from the third story amid
enthusiastic applause. A carriage of extraordinary capacity was in readiness,
and, entering this, the young lady was driven to a hotel.
" When the surviving serpents, that were released by the partial burning of
the box in which they were contained, crept along on the floor to the balcony of
the Museum and dropped on the sidewalk, the crowd, seized with St. Patrick's
aversion to the reptiles, fled with such precipitate haste that they knocked each
other down and trampled on one another in the most reckless and damaging
manner.
'" Hats were lost, coats torn, boots burst and pantaloons dropped with magnificent miscellaneousness, and dozens of those who rose from the miry streets
into which they had been thrown, looked like the disembodied spirits of a mud
bank. The snakes crawled on the sidewalk and into Broadway, where some of
them died from injuries received, and others were despatched by the excited
populace. Several of the serpents of the copper-head species escaped the fury
of the tumultuous masses, and, true to their instincts, sought shelter in the
World and News offices. A large black bear escaped from the burning Museum
into Ann Street, and then made his way into Nassau, and down that thoroughfare into Wall, where his appearance caused a sensation. Some superstitious
persons believed him the spirit of a departed Ursa Major, and others of his
fraternity welcomed the animal as a favorable omen. The bear walked quietly




PHCENIX BANK CASHIER.                     99
along to the Custom House, ascended the steps of the building, and became
bewildered, as many a biped bear has done before him. He seemed to lose his
sense of vision, and no doubt, endeavoring to operate for a fall, walked over
the side of the steps and broke his neck.  He succeeded in his object, but it
cost him dearly. The appearance of Bruin in the street sensibly affected the
stock market, and shares fell rapidly; but when he lost his life in the careless
manner we have described, shares advanced again, and the Bulls triumphed
once more.
"After the fire several high-art epicures groping among the ruins, found
choice morsels of boiled whale, roasted kangaroo and fricasseed crocodile,
which, it is said, they relished; though the many would have failed to appreciate
such rare edibles. Probably the recherche epicures will declare the only true
way to prepare those meats is to cook them in a museum wrapped in flames,
in the same manner that the Chinese, according to Charles Lamb, first discovered roast pig in a burning house, and ever afterward set a house on fire
with a pig inside, when they wanted that particular food."
Very early on the morning of August ioth, I865, Patrolman
McCarty, of the Twenty-ninth Precinct, arrested Henry B. Jenkins, cashier of the Phoenix Bank, one of the wealthiest institutions
on Wall Street.   Jenkins was charged with embezzling $250,000.
He had been in the employ of the bank for twenty years. He
admitted his guilt, and asserted that five or six other persons
were implicated in the crime. Excitement ran high, and a number of arrests were made at once.
It soon became known that Jenkins was the victim of an infamous case of blackmailing.      Having become the dupe of a
woman whose acquaintance he made in a concert saloon, he was
forced to support her and her " lover" in richly furnished apartments in Bleecker Street. One of the men implicated was James
H. Earl, a clerk in an office on Wall Street. He admitted hay
ing received $ioo,ooo in stolen bonds from Jenkins. He was
arrested and taken to a cell in the police station, in Twenty-ninth
Street, near Fourth Avenue.     There he immediately committed
suicide with a small pen-knife, which he had concealed.   "Vieve
Brower,"' the mistress of Jenkins, and Charles Brower, her paramour, were also arrested. Vieve was the leech who bled Jenkins,
sometimes getting from him as much as $Iooo. She discovered
Jenkins' dishonest practices, and used the secret as a threat so that
she and her associates could obtain money.
She told other persons of her suspicions, and soon Jenkins
found himself surrounded by rowdies, pimps, and ex-bounty




100                  DIED AT HIS POST.
jumpers, who demanded large loans of money, which he was
afraid to refuse.
Soon after the detection of this crime the city was shocked by
the murder of Patrolman Thomas Walker. While Walker and
a fellow-officer, named Rork, were patrolling West Seventeenth
Street, about two o'clock on Tuesday morning, August 15, i865,
they heard the screams of a woman coming from a carpenter's
shop near by. Drawing their revolvers, they entered the place
where they found twelve or fifteen men.
"You devilish scoundrels, what are you doing here?" cried
Officer Rork.
The reply was a volley of shots from the room. A ball struck
Walker on the head, over the right ear, passing through the
brain. He instantly fell dead, and was found lying on his back
with his pistol in the hand that was stretched across his breast.
The men in the carpenter shop fled, but Rork pursued them,
capturing one named John Ward. Before daybreak the police
had succeeded in arresting twelve of the gang.  The funeral of
Walker was attended by the police force of the city.




CHAPTER VIII.


ALBERT D. RICHARDSON S MURDER.-THE DYING MAN'S RECOGNITION.-TRIALS OF A YOUNG WIFE.-THE LOVER'S PROMISE.THE MURDERER FREE.-VAN EETEN FORGERIES. —A STERN
CHASE BUT A SUCCESSFUL ONE.-RE-ARRESTED WHEN LIBERTY
WAS SECURED.-BEFORE THE LAST JUDGE OF ALL.
IN the latter part of I869, New York gossip fairly hummed with
the details of the murder of Albert D. Richardson, a prominent
journalist. At five o'clock on the afternoon of November 25, I869,
Richardson opened the door of the 2ribune office which led
from Spruce Street, and walking to a desk at one end of the
counter, asked if there was any mail for him. No sooner had the
words left his mouth than from behind the counter sprang a man
with a revolver in his hand. He leaned forward, took hasty aim
and fired. Richardson, mortally shot, held on to the edge of the
counter a moment for support, then staggered to the fourth floor
where the editorial rooms were, and threw himself upon a sofa.
There he lay in terrible agony. The murderer, seeing that his
purpose was accomplished, leaped over the counter behind which
he had been concealed, and with the still smoking weapon clutched
to his breast, vanished in the crowd. George M. King, a clerk,
stood within a few feet of him, and yet so sudden was the shooting
that he did not realize what had happened until it was over.
Neither did the other clerks, nor the men who were going in and
out of the office, nor the passing throng on the sidewalk. The
murderer, unknown, unrecognized, had disappeared, leaving no
trace.
In room No. 31 at the Westmoreland Hotel that night was a man
who was unknown to the proprietors, or to any of the guests in the
house. He had registered in the afternoon with a trembling hand,
and had left orders not to be disturbed. At ten o'clock Captain
Allaire, of the Fourth Precinct, knocked at the door of that room.
He opened it and found himself in the presence of the murderer,
Daniel McFarland, an assistant assessor in the city government.
IOI




z
0
H
0;4


'': 1


( I
j h


j

I


102




" THAT IS THE MAN."


I03


When told that he was under arrest for shooting Albert Richardson,
his limbs jerked spasmodically and- his features were distorted, as
he cried out in hoarse tones:
"My God, it must have been me-No!-It was not-Yes, it
must have been me!" The man seemed dazed.
There was.another scene before the day closed on this tragedy.
It occurred a half hour later, and was placed in the Astor House,
room No. II5.  The wounded journalist was there with his life
slowly ebbing away.  He had been brought across the square
from  the Tribune building.  Dr. Swan had probed for the
fatal ball and was trying to make his patient comfortable. Suddenly two men entered-one in uniform. They approached the
bed on which Richardson lay. The murderer and his victim were
face to face. The stricken man looked feebly up, let his eyes fall
for a second on the captain's companion, and in a thrilling whisper
said:
"That is the man."
There was a woman in the case, of course; else gossiping
tongues wouldn't have wagged. This woman was the wife of
Daniel McFarland. Her maiden name was Abby Sage, and her
childhood had been spent in Manchester, N. H.  Here McFarland found her-a girl in her teens, bright, beautiful and talented.
He was an Irishman, born in the old country, left at twelve years
of age without parents and obliged to cut his own way through the
world. He came to this country, worked hard for an education
and received a degree from Dartmouth College. When Abby
Sage met him he had been admitted to the practice of the law seven
years. According to her sworn testimony he had represented himself to be enjoying a good practice in Madison, Wisconsin, to own
property worth $20,000 or $30,000, and a man of excellent morals.
So they were married in I857.
They went to Madison to live, but after a few weeks returned
to New York.  The young wife ascertained that her husband's
property was in Wisconsin lands, and little money could be realized on them. Within three months from the tume of the marriage
her jewels were in the hands of New York pawnbrokers and the
bride was sent home to visit her father.  McFarland visited her
there, and, according to her own story, she got to know him better.
She found out that he was passionate in disposition, profane, and
intemperate. In the following year they took a house in Brooklyn,




104


MRS. MCFARLAND.


and at Christmas time a child was born-born to die within a few
months.
Domestic harmony after this was often interrupted.  Mrs.
McFarland several times left her husband on account of his
alleged brutality and went home to her father's. In April, I860,
the second child, Percy, was born. The mother paid her physician's bill out of the proceeds of a public reading which she gave
for that purpose-for she had no small talent as an elocutionist.
In the spring of I861 the little family moved back to Madison for
a year, and then returned to New York. They went to Mrs.
Oliver's to board, at No. 58 Varick Street.
And now this young woman of Puritan stock, who had beauty
and charms and talent, but an uncongenial and ill-tempered husband, began to prepare herself for going on the stage. She took
lessons of Mr. and Mrs. George Vanderhoff, and gave numerous dramatic readings, thereby earning enough money to support both her
husband and herself.  But McFarland continued to treat her
cruelly. She told afterward, how one morning, after he had been
out all night on a drunken orgie and had risen from their bed in
one of his worst tempers, she approached him as he stood by the
mirror finishing his toilet and tried to soothe him. In reply he
turned around fiercely and struck the woman he had married
across the face, sending her reeling backward.  She said that
sometimes he would extend his hands, with his fingers bent like
claws, as if he were about to clutch her throat, and cry out:
"How I should like-like to strangle you! "  She told Mrs. John
F. Cleveland (a sister of Mr. Greeley) about the blow she had received, and won that lady's sympathy.
About this time and later, Mrs. McFarland, through her readings, made the acquaintance of a number of persons who were
openly designated in the courts afterward as Free-lovers, Fourierites, Mormons and the like. They were for the most part persons
of more or less social prominence in the city, and professed the
most affectionate interest in the young dramatic reader. They encouraged her plans for going on the stage, and were the confidants of her trials and misfortunes. The weak young wife's heart
easily softened towards them under such genial rays of affection.
Mrs. McFarland's enemies afterward accused these persons with
being the instruments of her destruction.  They openly charged
them with having conspired to tear her from her legal husband,




ALBERT D. RICHARDSON.


Io5


and join her with him for whom they thought her soul had an
"affinity."  But Mrs. McFarland, to the last, denied the existence
of any such conspiracy.  Under the influence of their acquaintanceship, however, or on account of further harsh treatment from
her husband, the breach between Mr. and Mrs. McFarland grew
wider.
Albert D. Richardson, whom Daniel McFarland shot in a fit of
jealousy, was born in 1833: He chose a literary occupation, and
during the war became correspondent of the New York Tribune.
He was taken prisoner by the Confederate army and remained in
jail for some time. After the war he came to New York, continued
his connection with the Tribune, and won considerable fame as a
newspaper writer and as the author of sqveral books. Among his
more intimate friends in New York were Mr. and Mrs. Samuel
Sinclair and Mrs. L. G. Calhoun. He was a frequent visitor at
their homes. Mrs. Sinclair and Mrs. Calhoun, it chanced, were
also Mrs. McFarland's most intimate friends. They were attracted
by her charms and talents, and all three being persons of literary
tastes found congenial companions in each other. "There are just
three persons who are much to me in the flesh," wrote Mrs. Calhoun to Mrs. McFarland, " you-and you can guess the other two."
Mrs. McFarland's introduction to such society had given her a
taste of the sweet poison which was to ruin her. She longed for
wealth and refinement and love.  Her home relations became
repulsive to her. Perhaps she considered them the irksome ties
which prevented her from occupying the sphere in life which she
thought belonged to one of her talents. She had won some notice
as a writer in the Independent, in the Riverside Magazine, and had
written a little book called " Percy's Year of Rhymes " for children. But this success only tickled her vanity. She was led by
her friends to believe that she could shine on the stage, and to
win public applause behind the foot-lights became her sole
ambition.
She first met Mrs. Calhoun in the winter of I866. Mrs. Calhoun interested herself in getting Mrs. McFarland a theatrical
engagement. Her efforts were successful, and the dramatic reader
secured a position in the Winter Garden Theatre, which was controlled by Edwin Booth. Her salary was $20 a week, and on
November 28, i866, she made her debut as Nerissa, in the
"Merchant of Venice."




106


SEPARATION.


In January, i867, Mr. and Mrs. McFarland moved to No. 72
Amity Street, and took the back parlor and extension room. The
rooms were rented from a Mrs. Mason. The two had not been
there a month when Richardson, who had been boarding at No.
6I Amity Street, came to see about engaging rooms.  This,
Mrs. McFarland said, was the first time he had called upon her.
Richardson secured a room, and after that, Mrs. McFarland said
in a written statement, " I saw him often, and he did me many
kindnesses. I knew very well he pitied me, because he thought I
was overworked and not very happy.... He called sometimes
at my room, which was next his, but from its situation, and the fact
that it was my sleeping-room, parlor and dining-room in one, made
it in no sense a private room."
On the evening of February 19, Mr. McFarland entered the
house and saw his wife standing at Richardson's door. The husband thought it was time to expostulate, and he did.  But this was
his wife's reply: "I did not go into Mr. Richardson's room and I
am not in the habit of going there. Even if I was, it is not a private room, but an office in the day time."  But Mr. McFarland was
not satisfied. That night he raged and tore around. "Did Richardson ever kiss you? " he shouted to his wife. "Have you ever
been in his room alone with him? "
The partition between McFarland's room and Richardson's was
so thin that the latter heard all this conversation. The next day
McFarland spent at home, and had the pleasure of seeing his
wife's lover open the door and hurriedly retreat as soon as he discovered the husband's presence.  McFarland left the house for a
while, and when he returned his wife had fled and the boy Percy
was on his way to Boston. Mrs. McFarland had gone to the Sinclairs, where she had seen Richardson, and he had assisted in
taking her and her boy from the husband and father. Three days
later, in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Johnson, Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Sage, Mrs. McFarland told her husband that she
had determined to leave him forever. His answer was brief:
" I bow to it, and submit to it."
That evening Richardson was at the Sinclair house.  As he
was about to leave, Mrs. McFarland followed him to the door. As
they stood alone in the hallway, the woman murmured:
"You have been very, VERY good to me. I cannot repay you,
but God will bless you for it."  She spoke with great emotion.




DIVORCE, MARRIAGE, DEATH.


107


" How do you feel about facing the world with two babies?" he
asked.
"It looks hard for a woman, but I am sure I can get on better
without that man than with him," was her answer.
All this while Richardson held her hand. Now he leaned over
and in a low tone said: " I wish you to remember, my child, that
any responsibility you choose to give me in any possible future,
I shall be very glad to take."
Two nights later he called again, and proposed marriage.
The relations between the two thereafter are a matter of dispute, and I do not pretend to decide which side was right. It
should be mentioned, however, that on the night of March 13, of
this year, while Richardson was returning from the theatre with
Mrs. McFarland, Mr. McFarland came up behind them and fired
several shots, one of them wounding Richardson in the thigh.
Finally, in i868, Mrs. McFarland went to Indiana to get a legal
divorce from her husband. On October 31, I869, she returned to
her mother's house a free woman.  She saw Richardson on
Thanksgiving Day. Then he went back to New York, and a week
later she heard that he had been mortally wounded by her former
husband.
This was the story of a woman's trials and temptations which
resulted in the Tribune office tragedy. Shocked as the woman
undoubtedly was by the intelligence which sped to her over the
wire, she was not frightened. Her part in this sad play was not
yet ended. Nothing but hate filled her heart toward her lover's
murderer; nothing but pity and affection had she for the dying
victim. She came to him at once, and by his bedside in the Astor
House watched until he died. But three days before death came,
Albert D. Richardson and Abby Sage McFarland were lawfully
married. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher and the Rev. 0. B. Frothingham. It was a tender and
touching marriage. Then came death, on the night of December 2.
Five persons watched the spirit take its flight.  These were
Junius Henri Browne, Col. T. H. Knox, Mrs. Sage and the two
doctors, Carter and Swan.
The trial of the murderer began on April 4, 1870. His case
was represented by Col. Charles S. Spencer, John Graham, and
Elbridge T. Gerry. For the prosecution were District Attorney
Garvin, his assistant, Mr. Fellows, and Noah Davis. The hearing




io8


" NOT GUILTY.~


was before Recorder Hackett. The court room was crowded.
Prominent men were dragged in as witnesses. Horace Greeley
was in the box; so were Whitelaw Reid,.Amos J. Cummings,
Junius Henri Browne, Fitz-Hugh Ludlow, William Stuart, manager of the Winter Garden Theatre; F. B. Carpenter, the artist;
Samuel Sinclair, the publisher of the Tribune, and Oliver Johnson.
The speeches of the counsel were florid and eloquent. Public curiosity looked eagerly for the verdict. After the jury had been out
two hours, it came: " Not guilty." Daniel McFarland wiped the
perspiration from his brow, and walked out of the court room to
breathe a purer and freer air.
One of the most expert forgers in the country made a very
clever attempt at swindling in I87I, and, when discovered, led one
of the detectives in the office on a chase which included thousands
of miles and covered half a continent. The circumstances were
these:
In October of that year, a man named John R. Livingstone was
introduced to Mr. Cyrus G. Clark, a broker, of No. 3 Exchange
Place, by Mr. George W. Chadwick, a dealer in real estate. The
three men talked together, and finally Mr. Clark promised to buy
for Livingstone $oo00,000 worth of bonds from Mr. Goddard, the
treasurer of Wells, Fargo & Co. Livingstone paid for the bonds
by a check on Hallgarten & Co. for $77,500. He took them to
the Commercial Warehouse Co., and deposited them as security
for two checks of $25,000 each.
Having endorsed the checks, Livingstone handed them over to
Mr. Chadwick, asking him to go to Caldwell & Co., at No. 77 Wall
Street, and get them cashed. Chadwick willingly assented. It so
happened that at the very instant Chadwick entered the office and
presented the checks, a Mr. Gilman, president of a railroad in
Alabama, who was there conversing with Mr. Caldwell, was telling
the latter how nearly he had escaped being swindled by a rascal
named Livingstone.
"Why!"' exclaimed Mr. Caldwell, "here are checks payable to
the very John R. Livingstone that you are talking about! "
The thought naturally occurred to both men that the checks
were forgeries. A messenger was despatched to make inquiries,
but it was found there was nothing wrong about the checks themselves. Still Mr. Caldwell hesitated to cash them, and put Chadwick off with some trivial excuse, telling him to call on the next




I


THE FORGED CHECK.


1o9




1TO


( 1I TOLD YOU SO."


day, when he should receive for the checks $30,000 in Government
bonds and $20,000 in currency.
At the appointed time Chadwick was there. The bonds and
the bills were counted out and he started to put the money in
his pocket. Just then a messenger, almost breathless, rushed
into Mr. Caldwell's office with the astounding information that
Livingstone was a forger. Mr. Caldwell started as if shot. Mr.
Gilman looked as if he wanted to say "I told you so," and the
real estate dealer scarcely knew what to make of it. Chadwick
was compelled, however, to give up the money, and immediately
disappeared from the office.
It was singular how the forgery had been discovered. On the
morning that Chadwick was to receive the cash for the two checks,
the officers of the Park Bank discovered that Hallgarten & Co.
had overdrawn their account. The attention of the firm was
called to the fact and the members were naturally very much surprised. The check for $77,500, given by Livingstone to Mr. Goddard, came to light. No one knew anything about it, but the work
upon it was of so skilful a character that the firm hesitated at first
to say that the check was a forgery. Nevertheless it was. The
bonds purchased with it were found at the office of the Warehouse
Company, and Mr. Caldwell's office was reached in the nick of
time to prevent the payment of the money to Chadwick.
Now efforts were directed to catch the forger, and the assistance
of the police was asked. Detective Thomas Sampson was assigned
to work up the case. Sampson went to work with a will, and
quickly discovered that Livingstone was none other than Louis W.
Van Eeten, already notorious in this department of crime.
Chadwick was arrested by Sampson just as the former was
making arrangements for a trip to Europe. From him it was
learned that upon the discovery of the forgery he had gone to Van
Eeten and informed him of the state of affairs. Van Eeten swore
that Chadwick had played him false, put a pistol to the latter's
head and forced him to give up $iooo, which was all the money
he had. Van Eeten took flight.
Then began a long and remarkable chase after the forger.
Sampson first.heard that he was in San Francisco. There Van
Eeten obtained from the Bank of California the value of a $1o,ooo
United States registered bond, which had been stolen from Seiior
B. Castillo. In San Francisco Van Eeten assumed the name of
i    *                                                       s,,.:




A STERN CHASE.


I 2


Van Tassell, but embarked for the Isthmus of Panama under
the name of Phillips. Sampson was. close upon his heels, but did
not arrive until the (lay after the steamer sailed. At Panama
Van Eeten'struck out at once for Central America.  Sampson.
still tracked his footsteps. Van Eeten then tried to make his
way to Mexico, but gave it up as useless, and went to St. Thomas;
thence to Havana, and from there to New Orleans. He put up
at the St. Charles Hotel and remained there for several days.
By the lavish manner in which he spent his money at the bar,
and by his interesting conversational powers, he made many
friends. He knew, however, that as long as he remained on
American soil he was liable to arrest, should he be recognized.
He therefore settled upon Tampico as his next abiding place.
He announced his intention one evening to leave the hotel on
the next morning, and was busily engaged in his room, packing
his trunk, when a stranger entered the hotel and looked over the
register.
"Is Mr. Phillips in his room?" he asked.
"He is," replied the clerk, and at the same time directed a
call-boy to conduct the stranger to Mr. Phillips's apartment.
Arrived at the door, the boy knocked, and a voice replied:
"Come in."
The stranger entered. The occupant's back was towards the
door. He turned his head to greet his visitor, and then, in a terrified manner, jumped to his feet.
"Why! Captain-" he gasped.     "I never expected to see
you."
" I don't suppose you did," was the reply of Detective Sampson, for the stranger was none other than he, while Mr. Phillips
was Louis M. Van Eeten.
This ended the chase. Van Eeten practically admitted his guilt
when brought back to New York and tried. He was sentenced
to ten years' imprisonment in Sing Sing, and while there invented
an automatic arrangement by which a keeper could sit in his
chair at one end of a corridor and have certain knowledge
whether convicts were in their cells or not.
One Sunday morning, some eight years afterwards, immediately
upon his release from prison-for he earned a commutation of
his sentence by good conduct —Van Eeten called at Detective
Sampson's house. The call was merely a friendly one, Van Eeten




112


IEFORE THE LAS'T JI'D;F.


only wishing to show Sampson that he entertained no ill feeling
towards him for performing his duty. Still pursuing the line of
duty, however, Sampson telegraphed to the Bank of California the
fact that Van Eeten was at liberty, and the next day there came
an order for his arrest upon a charge of stealing the $Io,ooo
United States registered bond in San Francisco. Van Eeten's
capture was easily effected, and Sampson, with another officer,
took him to Trenton, N. J., there to await the arrival of the
requisite documents from California. Van Eeten took his re-arrest
very much to heart, and seemed completely broken down.
" Never mind," said Sampson to him, "you'll have an easy
judge in 'Frisco, and you will get off with a light sentence."
"That's all very well," Van Eeten replied, "but before morning I shall go before the best judge of all."
And he did. The officers slept in the same room with him,
but somehow he managed to swallow a dose of laudanum. Where
he obtained the drug is a mystery. Despite the efforts of several
medical men who were called in, the unfortunate man never regained his senses and died before the sun had risen.




CHAPTER IX.


THE NATHAN MURDER.-A TERRIBLE NIGHT.-THE TWO BROTHERS.
-A GHASTLY SCENE.-TWELVE BLOWS WHICH TOOK A LIFE.-.
BLOODY FINGER-MARKS ON THE WALL.-FINDING OF THE IRON
" DOG."-MERCILESS SUSPICIONS.-THE HOUSEKEEPER'S SON."HIS CLOTHES DON T FIT HIM. -CLEANSING THE ROOM.-AN
UNSOLVED MYSTERY.
THE month of July, i870, is remembered as being one of the
most glorious months of that most enjoyable summer. The days
were warm with a seasonable warmth, and the nights were cooled by
showers and eastern breezes. Just previous to Independence
Day, Mr. Benjamin Nathan had left his business affairs on Wall
Street, where he was a broker and private banker of great fortune
and repute, to go to his country-seat at Morristown, New Jersey.
His luxuriously furnished town house at No. I2 West Twentythird Street had been given over to upholsterers and decorators,
to be refitted for the autumn. Once or twice a week it was Mr.
Nathan's habit to visit his office, confer with his confidential clerk
about the light financial operations of the summer, call at his
mansion to see how the alterations were progressing and then to
return to his retreat.
On July 29 he made one of his trips to the city. He planned to
pass the night at his up-town house. Chief of his objects in doing
this was to make a fast day of the succeeding one, the anniversary
of his mother's death. He intended to pass the morning in
prayer at the synagogue to which he belonged. He found his
house the scene of disorder. Not a room was prepared to receive
him, as Mrs. Kelly, the housekeeper, was not aware of his intention to remain. But his sons, Frederick, his favorite, and Washington, who was something of a scapegrace, were in town and he
expected to meet them. The for ner was a broker of repute like
his father; the latter was simply a man of pleasure, whose pastimes were a source of much anxiety to his venerable father. But
Mr. Nathan's patience with "Wash," as he was called was proof


8


II3




II4


THE HALL BEDROOM.


against any but the gravest misdeeds, and on the night of the
anniversary of his mother's death the old man decided once more
to warn his erring child.
Early in the evening the skies in the west began to darken, and
prospects of a storm increased as the night progressed. It was
cool, and a right sort of time for the charms of retrospection to
seize upon an elderly man. In a little hall bedroom on the
second floor Mr. Nathan kept his family papers, and as the sentiment of the anniversary he was about to celebrate grew upon him,
he decided to look over these familiar archives after he had settled
the housekeeping bills of the month. So he directed Mrs. Kelly
to arrange a bed of mattresses upon the floor of the reception-room
immediately adjoining his little office room, and there he thought
he would sleep after he had concluded his work. The old gentleman, after his bed had been prepared, passed several hours in his
little office engaged with his affairs. There were mutterings of
thunder without, but no heed was paid to the approaching storm.
As the hours passed footsteps sounded less frequently upon the
pavements, and then the old man began to wonder why his sons
did not return. Fred was making some calls among those of his.friends who were still in the city; Wash was clinking glasses with
men of questionable repute and women of the demi monde.
The growling of the storm grew more distinct. Lightning
flashed, but yet no rain fell. The anniversary of his mother's
death grew nearer, and after gazing affectionately at the features
of his beloved parent, which were disclosed from the case of a
miniature, Mr. Nathan replaced the case in a small safe which
stood in the corner of the little room, locked the iron door,
dropped the keys into his pocket and prepared for rest. Within an
hour after he had retired, or just before midnight, Fred Nathan
entered the house. Passing the reception-room he entered and,
finding his father still awake, chatted with him for a time about
"Wash," who was still away from home, and then kissing his
father upon the forehead, wished him good-night and retired to
his bedroom. Mr. Nathan watched his son le  )'    m with
the eagerness of a parent who is sure of his chi.. A halfhour afterwards, it is said, "Wash" Nathan.: ~   house,
and observing, as he afterwards declared, hs.;leeping
peacefully upon his bed of mattresses went t -,    on an
upper floor.




" FOR GOD'S SAKE, HURRY! "


115


At midnight the storm broke. It was one of those awful manifestations of nature's power which frequently occur in the tropics,
but seldom in our temperate climate. The rain fell in sheets with
a persistency which made it almost impossible for a pedestrian to
withstand their force. The lightning was extremely vivid, and the
thunder followed the flashes with sharp reports that resembled the
volleys of musketry upon a battle field. Patrolman John Mangam,
of the Twenty-ninth Precinct, had that night the post on which
the Nathan mansion was situated, and was struggling bravely
against the storm. He saw a light flash for a moment in the
windows of the splendid house of the banker millionaire, and then
all was dark.
The day dawned bright and glorious. The terrible storm of
the night had passed. The sky was of that vivid blue which our
northern heavens assume after a storm. Mangam passed along
Twenty-third Street, toward Sixth Avenue, thinking of his relief
at six o'clock and of those at home. It lacked but a few minutes
of that hour when he was walking slowly along on the last turn of
his beat. But, hark! A voice, even at a distance vibrant with
terror, calls to him.
"Officer! Officer! For God's sake, hurry!"
Mangam turned right about. Away up the street toward Fifth
Avenue, on the brown-stone steps of their home, in their nightclothing, stood Washington and Fred Nathan, the latter intensely
excited, and the former pale but calm. They shouted again while
Mangam was going towards them, so excitedly that he began to
run, and went up the steps at a dash. While he was uttering:
"What's the matter, gents?" Fred exclaimed:
"Officer, quick! My father's been murdered!"
7ashington chimed in, like an echo:
"Father's lying murdered up stairs."
Mangam threw down his water-proof, went to the street railing
and struck a vigorous rap on the sidewalk. Without waiting to
see if this summons for assistance was answered, he rushed up
-tairs, after inquiring of the "boys " if they suspected anybodyf the murderer was in the house. He was told where the murdered man was. Going into the reception-room and turning the
pile of mattresses aside, he saw one of the most ghastly spectacles
that ever met the eye of a policeman.
Lying with its feet on the threshold of the little hall bedroom




C'4


I T,,,, - -, F.,
I
71  1.;,                 I,,  I
i      I
I
1,,;.,,,
11 11,               li,! 'Iil


II. I
-: 11
-.,i ",, 4, i


AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY.




FEARFUL WORK.


I I7


and its head to the east was the body of Benjamin Nathan. It
was lying on its back, with the left leg bent up, the right arm extended straight above the head, and the left arm by the side, so
covered with blood that the corpse resembled a red Irish setter
dog asleep more than a human being. Mangam rushed to Mr.
Nathan's side, knelt down beside him, put his hand on his breast
and exclaimed to Fred, who had followed him up stairs:
" Why, he can't be dead! There's life here yet."
"What shall I do? " asked Fred.
" Send for a doctor, quick! " was Mangam's reply.
Patrolman Theodore Rowland had by this time answered the
alarm rap. He was despatched to the Fifth Avenue Hotel for a
physician. One came in a few minutes. But before his arrival
Mangam had discovered that in his agitation he had made a mistake. Mr. Nathan's body was quite cold, and when the doctor
entered he told him the man was dead. There was in fact every
indication that the murdered man had been dead for three hours
or more. Little blood remained that was not coagulated or entirely dry.
As soon as the doctor arrived, Mangam went to the front door
and told the Nathan boys that while he regretted it very much it
was his duty, under the circumstances, to take complete charge of
the house and not permit any one to leave the premises. He then
despatched Patrolman Rowland to the Twenty-ninth Precinct
Station with a request that Captain Henry Burden should visit the
scene of the murder. This the latter did within half an hour. He
commended Mangam for what he had done, and remarked that he
seemed to know his duty so well that he might remain in charge
of the house for the remainder of the day. Captain Burden set
the machinery of justice in operation by placing his ward detectives on the case and notifying Superintendent John Jourdan and
Chief Detective James J. Kelso.
After the news of the murder had been telegraphed to police
headquarters detectives arrived in a short time. They had seen the
results of many bloody quarrels and self-inflicted injuries, but had
never witnessed a bloodier scene, or greater evidences of a terrible
and determined struggle for life on the part of a victim. Hardly
had they regained their self-possession when Chief Jourdan and
Captain of Detectives Kelso entered the room, and they, too, were
appalled at what they saw-Jourdan especially so. He looked at




118


HAND-PRINTS ON THE WALLS.


the body, cast a glance round the room, gazed upon the crimson
evidences of the struggle and became as white as a marble statue.
His voice faltered as he called out to Kelso, "Come here," and
the two retired to a corner of the room to discuss the tragedy.
On Mr. Nathan's body were the marks of eleven or twelve dis'inct blows, evidently inflicted with an instrument, and that a blunt
one. There were four wounds on the head, two of which were each
sufficient to cause immediate death. It is certain that Benjamin
Nathan was not conscious after he received the first of them.
Upon his right hand were the marks of two crushing blows, sufficient to break three of the fingers and fracture the knuckles.
There were five other marks of the instrument used upon his arms,
breast and back.
The body lay in a pool of blood, three by four feet in extent,
surrounded by blotches and smaller pools. Everything pointed to
a struggle having taken place in the doorway, between the room!n which he had laid down to rest and the little hall bedroom, or
office.  The most desperate struggle evidently occurred in the
angle formed by the west and front walls. Here, covering a space
of four by three feet, were gouts, blotches and smears of
olood, and the imprint of bloody fingers. One set of these fingermnarks was as distinct as though the person whose hand had
touched the wall had purposely dipped his hand in blood and
placed it there. The other set differed greatly from the hand of
the murdered man, and was long and lady-like, with well-kept
fingers-in short, that of a gentleman.
Where the fatal blow was struck was clearly and accurately defined. There was a smear on the wall, as if, when struggling handto-l.and with his assailant, old Mr. Nathan received a crushing
blowv and pitched headlong to the floor.
lie could have been safely left there by the murderer, but whoeve: he may have been, he evidently did not think so. This is
proJed by the fact of the body being found a distance of four feet
from the smear on the wall alluded to.  It was evident that
another blow was dealt, apparently with a view of making sure of
the old man's death and thus avoiding the possibility of the story
of the crime ever coming from his lips.
A thorough examination of the room revealed little or nothing
thai was of value to the police. It was apparent that whoever
kited old Mr. Nathan also committed robbery, either to make it




THE " DOG."                   119
appear that the crime was the work of a thief, or to secure enough
money with which to leave the city. The murdered man's keys
had been taken from his pocket, whether before or after his death
is, of course, not known. The safe in the private office had been
unlocked. This was a somewhat peculiar circumstance, as the
safe was so situated that even an expert burglar, if a stranger,
could hardly have discovered its existence. From it had been
taken a wooden receptacle, or trunk, which contained several rare
old gold, silver and copper coins, of value only to collectors.
When the murder was discovered the wooden receptacle in question was on the pile of mattresses, and the coins missing. The
safe itself had been rifled. In it Mr. Nathan generally kept the
money for housekeeping purposes. This never amounted to less
than $ioo, and often reached as high as $600 or $700. There
were also missing some cherished tamily trinkets, valuable to a
thief only as old gold. Upon the desk in the office was a partly
written check, which, it was afterwards explained, was to have
been drawn in payment of a stock transaction. In the room
where the body lay, the murderer secured a Jurgensen watch and
chain, worth about $600, and three diamond studs. That these
studs were taken after the murder was committed is indisputable,
as bloody finger-marks were found on Mr. Nathan's shirt. In the
basin in the bath-room was found bloody water, as if the murderer had washed his hands before leaving the house.  The
assassin had not apparently explored any other part of the dwelling, or even ventured into the passage leading to the apartment
of the housekeeper, Mrs. Kelly.
While Patrolman Mangam was waiting at the street door for
the arrival of Captain Burden, young Fred Nathan, who was with
him, suddenly stooped, exclaiming:
" Here's something."
The " something " proved to be an iron bar, about twenty inches
long. It was smeared with blood, and there were a few gray hairs
on it. That this was the instrument with which the awful deed
was committed there could be no doubt. It was what is known
among ship-carpenters and lumbermen as a " dog," a bar of oneinch wrought iron with the two ends turned up.
The whole community was startled by the news of the tragedy.
The excitement was not confined to New York. The press of the




120


"WASH.' NATHAN.


entire country commented upon it, and with one voice called on
the authorities to discover the perpetrator of the crime.
When the real work of the detectives began they were confronted by a great many obstacles. The first and greatest was
the intense interest manifested in it by the Hebrew community.
Foremost among those who looked after the interests of the late
Mr. Nathan and his family were ex-Judge Cardozo and Mr. Emanuel B. Hart. It is unfortunate for Mr. Nathan's children that the
mystery enshrouding the crime has never been cleared up, because
suspicion-justly or unjustly-still attaches to one of the members
of his family. Possibly those who sought to divert this suspicion
knew how in some cases circumstantial evidence might err, and
were unwilling that the slightest misfortune, neglect, or false
evidence should put the neck of the suspected individual in jeopardy. The first care of the detectives was to inform themselves
as to the movements, habits 'and character of the persons who
slept in the house the night of the murder; those who knew its
ins and outs, or who had the slightest motive for killing Mr.
Nathan. In this they were at first merciless. It was generally
known that Mr. Nathan did not regard Washington as he did his
other sons. " Wash " had been rebellious, dissipated, heedless,
and had fallen so much under the ban of his father's displeasure
that when the old gentleman's will was read it was found to be
particularly harsh in his regard. It practically disinherited him.
When Patrolman Mangam first saw the two brothers on the
stoop, he noticed that Fred's shirt-front and socks were bloody.
This was easily explained. Finding his father dead, he had
thrown himself on the body, after wading in the blood which surrounded it. Washington Nathan had exhibited no such emotion,
and in addition some one interested in the family had taken precautions which afterwards increased the suspicion against him.
His demeanor was not that of a dutiful son suddenly and terribly
bereaved. For a whole week after the murder he wore a handkerchief, so arranged as to conceal his neck. The stories told of his
life and associates were such as to cause the police, if not to put
him in the position of a prisoner, to place him under the surveillance of friends, who pledged themselves to produce him at
the inquest.
Stress has been laid on the fact that on the night before the
murde- Washington Nathan was not in proper company. but this




CRANKS AND THEORIES.


121I


is worthy of but slight consideration. Still, it is true he was at a
resort in Fourteenth Street, near Fourth Avenue, from an early
hour Thursday evening up to the time when he started to walk
home. His companion that evening was a fallen woman, of great
beauty, who afterwards went the way of all such unfortunates.
The inquest held by Coroner Rollins shortly afterwards released
Washington Nathan, and for the time held back the tide of suspicion against him.
The police were encouraged in every way to discover the murderer. Rewards were offered by the Stock Exchange, the municipality, the Israelites of the city and friends of the dead man-aggregating more than $45,o00. As usual in such cases, the police
were hampered by cranks and that class of practical jokers who appear, in such an emergency, to take delight in leading the detectives
astray. Why, within the three weeks succeeding the murder Superintendent Jourdan received at least 500 letters from all parts of the
country, proffering advice, venting suspicions and giving "clews."
When the inquest was over, the action of those in authority on
the police force was strongly commented upon. They appeared to
have failed utterly in making one step towards lifting the veil which
concealed the identity of the criminal. Half-a-dozen arrests were
made, and all sorts of plans were adopted to establish a reasonable
theory. Some of the able detectives engaged on the case insisted
that it was what is known as an " inside job," without the slightest
reference to the possibility of a member of Mr. Nathan's family
having committed the crime. Others said it was a "stow-away";
the instrument used was that of a "duffer "; no professional criminal, they argued, would have carried such a tool into a house, and,
as a matter of fact, such an instrument would have been useless to
break open a drawer in a mahogany cabinet. Still others came to
the conclusion that it was a first-class, professional, "second story
job," marks on the pillars of the portico being pointed out as proof.
Those who held to the theory that it was an " inside job," pointed
at William Kelly, the son of the housekeeper, as the guilty man.
The adherents of the "stow-away" theory had a long, weary, and
fruitless hunt among the seven thousand or more professional
and unprofessional bummers of New York, each of whom was capable of committing the crime, supposing, as was not the case, that
the front door had been left open.
M" awn personal belief is that William Kelly, the son of the




122


" HIS CLOTHES DON'T FIT HIM."


housekeeper, admitted confederates into the house with a view of
robbing the safe; that they succeeded in getting the key and opening it, and in doing so aroused Mr. Nathan, who engaged in a
struggle which ended in his death. He must have recognized
young Kelly, and this made it necessary, in order to insure the
safety of the party, to close the old man's mouth forever. This
explains the many unnecessary blows inflicted on the body. Since
the murder it has been shown that Kelly was the associate of thieves,
and he has never satisfactorily explained his whereabouts on that
eventful night.
Among those arrested on suspicion was George Ellis, a burglar,
who was brought down from Sing Sing on the supposition that he
was possessed of valuable secrets in regard to a man who had been
"named" by the police as having committed the murder. Ellis
was kept under guard in the Sixth Precinct Station for more
than three months, a man being detailed to watch him day and
night. One of these men was Detective Patrick Dolan, of the
Central Office, to whom Ellis remarked one day:
"Pat, Jourdan (the superintendent) is going to die, and I'm a
goin' back to State's Prison. Isn't it too bad?"
"How do you know that?" Dolan inquired.
" Well-his clothes don't fit him."
That was Ellis's gauge of Superintendent Jourdan, who did,
in fact, die shortly afterwards. From the day after the Nathan
tragedy Jourdan seemed to pine away, and never, apparently, regained his old familiar air. Was he in possession of an awful
secret?
There were other persons arrested, namely, Hayes, John T. Irving (who " confessed " in order to be brought from San Francisco
to New York free of charge), and Robert Kipling. Each arrest
furnished a certain amount of news for the papers and that was all
that came of it. There was much ado made concerning the disposition made of the room in which Mr. Nathan died, shortly after
the discovery of the crime; also concerning "Wash" Nathan's
clothing. The story told concerning the latter was that a mysterious bundle of bloody articles was smuggled out of the house before noon on the day of the murder. Yet with more than $45,00ooo
ready to be given to them in case of their success, and at their disposal to trace the crime, the detectives were unable to cajole or
frighten the washerwoman who received the bundle into disclosing




DISPOSITION OF THE ROOM.              123
its contents. The story of the disposition of the room is startling.
Before dusk on the day of the murder, and shortly after Benjamin
Nathan's mutilated body had been laid out in state in the handsome parlor of his residence, the carpet of the reception-room was
on its way to a cleaner's establishment and every blood-stain on
the walls was removed.


JOHN JOURDAN.
The story of the Nathan murder remains the greatest mystery of
the age. ' Murder will out," they say. If this be true, the query,
"Who killed Benjamin Nathan? " will one day be answered. Men
vet living, who were young and vigorous when it occurred, have
never lost sight of it, and will never give up the search so long as
they are capable of continuing it.




124


A DESIRABLE EXPERIMENT.


Some day the police may l revive " the murder; they have come
near doing it more than once. They should " revive " it in justice
to Benjamin Nathan's memory and to his suspected son. They
came near doing it not very long ago.
Washington Nathan did not reform when his father died. His
associations became worse instead of better.  He not only associated with gamblers, but was a companion of one of the most
notorious of this city-" Philo" Fields-on West Twenty-second
Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues. His liaisons became
public and disgraceful. By one woman with whom he associated
his life was threatened in a fit of jealousy, and he was afterwards
shot at by her in the Coleman House. A curious experiment might
have been tried on Mr. Washington Nathan at this time. His injuries by the bullets were such as to make a certain operation almost
inevitable. Had such an operation been performed it is possible
that a well-known physician of this city would have been taken
into consultation. He has declared that in such an event it would
have been necessary to employ an anesthetic. One would have
been used which would first have placed the patient in a state of
stupor, then in a condition of anesthetic inebriety, and lastly in a
state of coma. In returning to consciousness the patient would
have passed into the inebriate stage again. The physician in question, an expert in anaesthetics, knew, as all first-class practitioners
do, that in this inebriate condition the patient is incapable of retaining a secret. The physician, had he been called in, would
have determined to either clear Washington Nathan, for whose
family he had the greatest regard, or satisfy himself of his guilt.
He proposed, when the patient should be in the inebriate stage.
to question him in such a deft manner as to rapidly ascertain
whether he slew his father, or was innocent. He would have repeated the questions at the second inebriate stage; and he would
have left the chamber of the patient convinced one way or the
other.
The operation was not performed, and the opportunity was not
afforded the physician of making the desired test.
Mr. Nathan, in later years, married the daughter of Colonel J.
H. Mapleson, a widow of high social standing. The last heard
of " Wash " was that he was-seriously ill in Europe.
Was the secret of the Nathan murder too awful a one for such a
man as John Jourdan to keep? From the day of Nathan's death,




WHO KILLED BENJAMIN NATHAN?             125
Jourdan failed. He never made a step in advance, and died a few
months afterwards.
The " dog" with which the crime was committed disappeared
during Mr. Kelso's administration; and the one among the relics
of crime at the Central Office is only a fac simile.




CHAPTER X.


I HE "SAWDUST " SWINDLE.-A BROKER DUPED.-THE BOGUS DETECTIVE.-MOCK AUCTIONS.-FLANNEL AND HOT WATER.-WIT11
A BIBLE IN HIS HAND.-A HORSEY GO-BETWEEN.
THE " Sawdust" swindle is so termed because the victim gets a
box filled with sawdust, instead of the counterfeit money he expected. A large number of printed circulars are sent throughout
the country by the swindler. Sometimes he advertises his wares,
addressing " country merchants in trouble," and inviting them
to write to him, as he can give " assistance to those financially
embarrassed, on the most favorable terms." Of course he gets
many answers, and is thus provided with an excellent list of names
to use in his operations. He informs his prospective victim that
he has a large quantity of "green goods" (counterfeit money) of
different denominations, which he will sell at a great discount.
He invites a visit to the city for inspection. In one of the many\
circulars which fell into my hands, $3000 in " green goods" was
offered for $200 in good cash; $5000 for $300, $8oo000 for $400,
$15,000 for $6oo00, and so on in proportion. Of course the person
addressed, if he be dishonest, concludes that he has a good chance
to make money, and has an interview with his correspondent. He
is shown what are said to be specimens of the counterfeits, but
which, in reality, have just been obtained from the bank. If he
has any doubts about being able to pass this money, he and the
" operator " take some of it and purchase articles at a neighboring
store. It i, accepted without a word, and the countryman is satisfied. He concludes to take a certain amount. The counterfeits
are to be sent by express, " as it would be dangerous for himn to
carry so much of the stuff on his person." The victim goes away
perfectly satisfied, with bright pictures of the manner in which he
will enjoy himself when he gets home. A box arrives, " C. 0. D."
He pays the charges and carries it to a quiet corner in the hay-loft,
where, away from other eyes than his own, he opens the box and
finds it filled usually with sawdust.  Sometimes a little green
126




SAWDUST AND GOLD BRICKS.


127


paper is thrown in by way of variety. The farmer feels like kicking himself all round the cow-yard, while the swindler and his confederates in the city are asking: "What are you going to do
about it?"  The answer is, " Nothing." The would-be swindler
has been swindled. He must bear with it, or else risk the exposure which would result if he complained.
The Davis-Holland murder case, in which the former was shot,
furnishes a good illustration of the way in which the " sawdust
swindle" is operated, though with some slight variations in the
procedure.
A clever trick is the "gold brick" swindle. Some wealthy business man is selected by the swindlers, who approach him with a
plausible story concerning a solid brick of gold which they have
in their possession, and which they will part with for a very small
sum, for certain reasons they don't care to have known. They
give the impression that they have come by it in an underhand
manner. The usual tests of the gold are made with satisfactory
results, and a bargain is struck. The money is paid, and then the
victim discovers that the supposed gold brick is made of brass.
A corner has been chipped off the baser metal and pure gold substituted. This is what is tested, and the wealthy business man
is "out" the amount he paid for the brick.
Of the innumerable cases of fraud which have come under my
observation, I do not recall any more cleverly arranged and carried out than the one I now relate. A man visited a broker's
office on Chatham Street, and showed several ounces of gold dust
as a sample. He offered it for sale, representing that it was only a
small part of a large quantity which he had. As it came into his
possession in a somewhat peculiar manner, he did not care to sell
it all at once. He was not only willing, but anxious to have the
sample assayed without any delay, so that its real value should
be determined. If it proved to be all right, a price was to be
named for the remainder. To this the broker agreed, and his
caller left.
A few minutes later the broker noticed a small handbill upon
the floor of his office, in which a reward of $xooo was offered for
the recovery of a large quantity of gold dust which had been
stolen. The man who had just left him, the broker thought, was
the thief, or, at any rate, knew where the stolen dust was. Being
a man of considerable reputation he would not be suspected of


4




128


C I MUST ARREST YOU.'


complicity, even if he bought it. He could get the gold at his
own price; the man would not dare say a word for fear of beingarrested. But was the sample genuine gold? An assayer was
visited and his report was favorable-the dust was gold, indeed.
A day or. two passed, and the owner of the dust again visited
the broker's office. This time he was greeted in a pleasant
manner, and the broker signified his willingness to take all the
dust that he had, provided they could agree upon the price. The
broker offered $io an ounce. His visitor laughed and said:
" Fifteen; not a cent less."
" Nonsense, my dear fellow. Look here. That dust of yours
was stolen and I know it. Why, here is the very handbill offering
a reward of $1000iooo for the recovery of that gold dust (holding up
the piece of paper which he had found on the floor of his office).
However, I won't be hard on you. I'll give you $12 an ounce and
you can take that or nothing."
The visitor was very naturally much alarmed at the turn affairs
had taken, and managed to say:
"All right. You can have the stuff, but I won't bring it here.
Meet me at," naming a retired spot up town.
Provided with a pair of small steelyards, gauged for weighing
sixteen ounces to the pound, the broker went to the appointed
place. His unknown visitor was there, and produced a quantity
of the gold dust. In the shadow of a dimly-lighted alley-way the
broker produced his steelyard, the dust was weighed and the
money paid.
If the broker had been a little less intent upon the business in
hand, and had glanced across the street, he might have noticed a
short, thick-set man who was watching the whole transaction with
considerable interest. But the broker didn't look in that direction,
and so didn't see this third person. Steelyards and gold dust
were securely in his possession, his coat was buttoned, and he
had turned to leave the alley-way, the individual from whom he
had made the purchase having left in a hurry.
At this moment, the watcher from over the way stepped up to
the broker, and accosted him with the information that he was an
officer. The broker's knees trembled under him.
" You are just the man I've wanted for a long time. That gold
you have is stolen, and a reward of $iooo has been offered for its
recovery. I must arrest you."






---- - -  --.
iIitiirii',


A BITER BITTEN.
9                                           I29




130


WHAT ASSAY SHOWED.


"For God's sake, don't expose me," cried the now thoroughly
frightened broker. "I shall be ruined if you do. Come with me
to my office, and see if we can't arrange this thing."
"Can't do it," was the short, stern reply of his captor. " You'll
have to go with me."
The broker pleaded hard, and the detective finally relented, and
accompanied him to his office, where $Iooo was paid to the latter,
on condition that the matter should be allowed to drop. It was a
heavy blow to the broker, who had congratulated himself upon
having made a remarkably good bargain. But he consoled himself
with the thought that he still had the gold dust, sixteen ounces to
the pound, whereas he could sell it at twelve ounces.
He sent the gold to an assayer, but imagine his rage and consternation when it was reported to him that it was not gold at allsimply very fine brass filings, some of which were covered with a
thin wash of the precious metal.
I was in charge of the detective force at the time, and the discomfited broker called upon me. He had, he said, a very serious
complaint to make. He had purchased a large quantity of gold
dust, and on sending it to an assayer it turned out to be brass.
During my long experience with brokers I had always found them
to be extremely shrewd and careful in their transactions, and it
struck me as very strange that he should not have ascertained
whether the dust was genuine or not before purchasing. Of course
I listened attentively to his story, and by close questioning succeeded in getting from him a pretty full description of the man
from whom he had bought the dust. It tallied with that of a wellknown confidence man, and I had him arrested.
The story he told was very different from that of the broker.
He admitted being the individual who had played the trick on the
broker, and that he had dropped the bogus handbill on the floor
of the office for the purpose of misleading him. The detective
who had arrested the broker was no detective at all. He was a
confederate. The police justice before whom the case was tried
had no alternative but to discharge the sharper. The broker, I
afterwards discovered, was a thorough-paced rascal, who only got
his deserts.
In my time I have been acquainted with many brokers, and my
relations with them, as a whole, have been very pleasant. It is
not unusual for them to be asked for quotations on bonds or other




BONDS, BIDS AND BARGAINS.


131


securities which have been stolen. In such cases, an hionest
broker loses no time in informing the police. But sharp and suspicious as some brokers are, they are occasionally swindled by a
method differing very little from the "sawdust" game. A man
goes to a broker, and pulling out of his pocket a bundle of what
are apparently bonds, takes one from the package and asks the
broker to name its value. The broker examines it carefully, finds
it is genuine and mentions the price.
"Well," says the visitor, "I have fifteen or twenty just like that.
They, belong to a friend of mine, and I think he would be inclined
to sell them at a bargain-something under the regular price.
I'll see him about it, and call again in a day or two."
This is only a way of finding out whether the broker is honest or
not. If he is not he may be caught in the trap, for the man is sure
to make a second call, and an arrangement is made to have the
transfer of the money and the bonds take place in the streets.
And a sorry transfer it is for the broker. The " bonds " turn out
to be nothing more than nicely folded sheets of tissue paper.
I have often wondered how such an obvious fraud can blind
any one's eyes. One can have little sympathy for such men, and
while human nature remains what it is, there will be always those
who are eager to take advantage of what appears to be a weakness
of their fellows.
The " mock auction" dodge is another of the tricks played on
rustics, though of late years it has been pretty well suppressed.
A store is rented, usually on some frequented thoroughfare, and
fitted with a stock of goods-cigars, for instance. These are
seemingly sold at public auction, but the crowd generally assembled around the auctioneer consists of confederates in the swindle.
A stranger enters, and bids on a box of cigars; they are low in
price, and are finally " knocked down " to him. He steps up to
the cashier to settle his bill and is informed he has bought a dozen
or more boxes. He remonstrates, but after some haggling he pays
the amount demanded, and orders the goods sent to his address,
only to discover that they are not worth smoking.
Another trick of auction-dealers, so called, which cannot be
strictly termed a swindle, is the fitting up of a house with furniture,
and representing it as being second-hand, sold out to close an estate, or something of that sort. It is an old belief that women in
search of bargains will pay more for a second-hand article than




I32


A MUSICAL WAY.


they will for a new one; and the dealers thus set the nets to catch
the unwary. I know of one house on Twenty-third Street where
the red flag has been flapping in the breeze for nearly twenty
years; the auctioneer has held a "peremptory sale" once a week
during that period.
A curious swindle which was successful for a season in New
Yoik was known as the " hot water " scheme. A natty, fashionably
dressed little fellow, innocent looking, fluent in conversation, with
a delicate blonde mustache, calculated to disarm suspicion, went
about the city, from house to house, pulling door-bells and inquiring for the lady of the house. He had a partiality for flats. Entering the main hall of the building, he asked the elevator boy
who lived in the right hand flat on the second floor.
" Mrs. Stevens," the boy would reply.
"Yes, that's the name. I wish to see her.  Take me up,
please."
When her bell had been answered he would say in the blandest
manner possible:
" I have come to fix the piano."
The servant would show him into the drawing-room, and he
would note the name of the maker before the mistress of the house
appeared. As she entered he would bow gracefully, saying:" Mrs. Stevens, I presume."
" Yes," the lady would reply. "The girl tells me you have come
to fix my piano."
"Yes, madam. Mr. Steinway sent me up. He said Mr.
Stevens called a day or two ago and wished some one to be sent to
examine the piano. He thought it needed a little tuning. I see
you have a beautiful Steinway. Do you play? "
" Well, yes, I play some for my own amusement. I hadn't discovered that there was anything the matter with the piano."
"I can soon tell," replied the swindler going to the instrument
and deftly running his fingers up and down the key-board.
"It is a little 'off pitch,' as we say, in the higher notes. No
wonder, in this dreadful climate of ours and in the steam-heated
rooms of flats. Steam heat is so bad for piafios, madam."
By this time Mrs. Stevens ceases to think about the strangeness
of her husband's actions in relation to her piano. He was never
before known to have sent a tuner to the house. But men are
such strange creatures! She becomes absorbed in the work and




FIVE DOLLARS THE TUNE.


I33


conversation of the agreeable man. He opens a little hand satchel,
takes out a tuning key, raises the lid of the piano and begins to
tighten the high strings.
"I suppose you might as well have your piano put at concert
pitch," he says. "That will do no harm, for there is sure to be a
lowering of tone in a little while."
So he turns this staple and that, and keeps up a vigorous pounding onthe instrument, striking single notes and chords.
"Ah!" he declares at last, elevating his eyebrows, and listening
with keen attention. "Here is a note which needs special treatment. May I trouble you to get me a piece of flannel and a
dish of boiling hot water."
"Certainly, if you will wait a few moments," is the reply, and
Mrs. Stevens darts out of the room and finds a servant, or flies to
the kitchen herself. She is gone a considerable time, for flannel
and boiling hot water are not to be brought on the instant. The
fire is poked, and drawers are ransacked for flannel.
The "bogus" piano-tuner smiles serenely.  He keeps up a
strumming of the piano and looks about the room for any little valuable trinket he can pocket. He usually sees one and steals it.
Ultimately the hot water and flannel arrive, and after an elaborate operation he declares the work of tuning completed.
"How much do I owe you? " the lady asks.
As she has taken him at his word without any suspicions, he
modestly replies:
" Five dollars. And the next time you play you will get much
better effects than ever before."
Finally the husband comes home to his seven o'clock dinner.
"Whatever made you think of sending a piano-tuner up to the
house? " she asks.
"A piano-tuner! What do you mean? I haven't seen any
piano-tuner."
"Well, but didn't you stop at Steinway's a few days ago and ask
them to send a man to fix our piano?"
"No, of course not. Why should I? What do I know about
pianos?"
"But a man came here, and said he was sent by you."
"Well?"
"And he tuned the piano."
"Well?"




134


FARMERS: DON'T SIGN.


"And I paid him five dollars."
"Swindled! An impostor! Ahumbug! Nobody sent him. I
suppose if a man came and said Redfern had sent him, you'd give
him your $600 dress to be fixed. A button off, or a stitch broken."
" You frighten me. Why, it is perfectly dreadful! He may have
stolen something from the parlor!"
"Most likely he did," replies the husband.
She rushes about and finds her pocket-book and watch missing,
which were in the next room; also a rare bronze ornamen't which
stood on the parlor chimney-piece, and a costly Japanese embroidered scarf which hung over a picture.
The next morning, on his way down town, Mr. Stevens steps
into Steinway's to ascertain if they did ask a tuner to call at his
house.
" We know nothing of the matter," is the reply. 'Half a dozen
persons have been here within a week, to ask questions about the
same fellow. He's no tuner at all, but a piano destroyer! One
(lay he claims to be from this house; the next day he is from Chickering's, or some other establishment. He always plays the hot
water and flannel dodge, to give himself a chance to rob while the
lady of the house is away."
Complaints have been made to me very often by farmers from
New Jersey, Long Island and other places of having been swindled by a person who travels about in the garb of a clergyman.
He enters a farm-house, and declaring that he is an agent of the
New York Bible Society, says that he needs a meal. After having
eaten as much as he can, he inquires the cost, and is usually informed that there is no charge. He insists upon leaving twentyfive cents in the hands of his host, remarking that the Bible Society will not allow him to receive any charity. But the Society is
very strict about the production of vouchers or receipts for money
paid by its agents.
" Please sign this voucher," says the agent. "It is a mere matter of form, you know."
And the farmer signs, and forgets all about it in an hour. But
the incident is brought to his mind in a forcible manner, ninety
days afterwards, when he receives a letter from the county bank
asking him to settle a note for $146.25, signed by him, which the
bank had discounted in good faith. The next clerical-looking indi



"COACHMAN" JOHN.


135


vidual who calls at that farmer's house is treated with suspicion, if
nothing else.
The sheriff of Monroe County, New York, was a very shrewd man.
He declared that he had not been constable of Irondequoit, and
a policeman in Rochester, for nothing. He had learned all there
was to learn about " sharpers." So when he was on a train going
to the metropolis one morning to buy a horse, harness and various
trappings, he bought a paper and looked over the news. He informed himself, and then he turned sleepily to the column of " horses
at auction " and read the advertisements-among others this:" FOR SALE AT IMMENSE SACRIFICE!-Owing to death in the family, a
widow is compelled to sell for what they will bring, her entire stock of horses,
carriages, harness, etc. Among these are some young and handsome Hambletonians of the following pedigree-[here follows alleged pedigree.] Apply at
stable corner Morton and Ashby streets, and ask for coachman, John."
"I'll call and look at those," said the shrewd sheriff to himself.
After going to the Bull's Head the next morning and looking over
the stock, he answered the attractive advertisement. John was
present, exercising the animals in the yard. The sheriff cast a
critical glance at their fetlocks, and the horse-talk began. The
examination continued. Presently in came another customer.
The coachman slyly questioned him and found that he was a dealer,
looking for stock for omnibuses. This fact was revealed just as
a bargain was making for two strong-looking horses at $450. The
coachman suddenly exclaimed:
"No use talking any longer. You can't have any of these
horses at any price. I suspected you was a dealer at first, and
now you want 'em for omnibuses. No, sir! My mistress instructed me positively not to sell any of 'em 'cept to private parties, who would feed 'em well and treat 'em kindly. So no use for
you to talk."
The buyer expostulated, but the coachman was firm, and the
dealer reluctantly went away.
" I wouldn't sell them two horses to him for $iooo! " John exclaimed when he and the sheriff were alone. " Omnibus horses!
Jim and Nancy, who never knew anything harder than to toddle
around with the old lady or the girls, and live on the fat of the
land. I'd sell 'em for private use cheaper than I charged him."
The sheriff inquired and found that he could get them for $400.




A HORSEY GO-BETWEEN.


I36




" IF YOU SELL 'EM QUICK."


I37


But he knew something about horse-flesh, and thought he saw evi*dences of their having been doctored and " fixed up " to sell. So
he declined with thanks and withdrew, thinking, " Now, if I could
buy them for $400 and sell them to the other fellow for $450!"
He had not gone a block before he met the disappointed
searcher after horses, who bowed to him and asked, "Did you
buy 'em?"
"No," replied the sheriff, "but I could. In fact, I thought of
buying them for you."
"Why didn't you?"
"Well, hang it! I can't take any risks. I'd no idea I should
ever see you again."
"The fact is," said the other, "I sort of stayed around here to
see if I couldn't get the horses somehow. I shall hire somebody
to buy them for me, some respectable-looking man like yourself."
" B' George!" exclaimed the sheriff, "I'll get 'em for you.
You say $450 for 'em?"
"Yes, $450 it is, and blamed glad I shall be. They're worth
$600 if a cent. I've seen 'em on the road."
The sheriff went back, bought the steeds for $400, and led
them through the double doors to the street, with the halters which
John had generously " thrown in." He led them around the corner to where the anxious purchaser was ten minutes ago, but, alas!
was no longer. He had vanished.
The sheriff climbed on one of the horses and waited for the
owner. When dusk came he thoughtfully took the horses back
to the stable.
"Of course," John said, "I know nothing about the other gentleman. Never saw him before."
Sadly the sheriff led his hungry purchase to the Bull's Head, and
inquired how much they were worth.
"Them?" said a good-natured expert; "them?' Well, hides,
$2.50; shoes-there're only five-fifty cents; hoofs and so forth,
fifty cents more-Well, them horses may be worth four dollars, if
you sell 'em quick!"
Leaving them as temporary boarders, he hurried back to Morton Street with a sturdy policeman, but the darkey had shifted his
quarters and was seen no more.




CHAPTER XI.


'I'E THIEVES OF THE RIVER.-MURDER ON THE " WATSON."-KILLED
FOR TWELVE CENTS.-THE HARBOR POLICE.-SCENE IN A BROOKLYN HORSE-CAR.-" SOCCO, THE BRACERS 'S END.-THE HOOK
GANG.-GONE TO BROOKLYN AND JERSEY CITY.
ON a dark night in August, i852, three men in a small boat
pushed out into the East River from the neighborhood of James
Slip, and with oars wIuffled rowed stealthily for a few rods to
where the ship ' William Watson " was moored. It was just the
night for a crime. The black river rushed on its course as though
afraid to stop and see what was doing on its surface. Heavy
clouds hung overhead. The air was hot and oppressive, and the
atmosphere was thick with mist. The small boat neared the
larger vessel. In a moment they joined. Two men rose from
their seats and climbed nimbly over the ship's side to her deck.
Neither man was more than twenty years old. The lights from
the great city, which now and then shone on their faces, revealed
features marked with crime. They worked quietly about the deck,
stealing whatever they could, until they were discovered by the
watchman. But what was he to men who lived on crime? One
of them whipped out his revolver, fired, and in a second Charles
Baxter's body was inanimate. Nicholas Howlett and William
Saul, two notorious river thieves, were his murderers. William
Johnson, their confederate, whom they had left in the small boat,
stupidly drunk, was no unwilling witness of the tragedy.
The pistol shot which killed the watchman of the " Watson"
was not loud, but it was heard by a policeman on shore, and the
results of the investigation which followed aroused the police
authorities of New York to face a new and prolific source of crime.
I was put at the head of an able corps of detectives to ferret out
the murderers. Our task was not an easy one, but suspicion centred on the right persons, and they were arrested. Johnson
turned State's evidence. He was committed to imprisonment for
life, but Saul and Howlett were hanged on January 28, 1853.
I38




THE RIVER FRONT.


I39


My investigations in this murder opened to me a chapter in the
annals of crime, of the full horrors of which I never dreamed. If
they could be told exactly as they occurred, they would make a
tale of human depravity unparalleled in history. Citizens were
thrilled with wonder as they realized for the first time what human
monsters prowled around our river fronts. The police found that
there were organized bands of harbor thieves, who thought no
more of the life of a man than that of a chicken. If they had
been merely thieves, the revelations would not have caused the
sensation they did; but these men, or boys rather, looked on murder merely as a means to enable them to steal without molestation.
Perhaps a more hopeless maze of crime was never laid bare in the
city of New York. No way appeared at first for checking it.
Detective skill had been successful in nearly every kind of crime
on shore, but here it was baffled by natural disadvantages. The
main part of the island was bounded by piers and slips, which
were in turn fringed on one side by grog shops, rum holes, and
all kinds of iniquitous dens, breeding crimes as rapidly as mosquitoes are bred in a swamp. Along the piers ran the swiftly flowing rivers, a constant source of escape by day or night. Down
the North River fronts and up the East River docks criminals
formed the greater part of the population. They went in gangs.
Each gang had its leaders and its rough rules of discipline. Its
members lived in the vilest dens. Carousing or scheming all day,
prowling, marauding and thieving all night-these were their occupations.
The criminal operations of these men were not confined to the
water. They stole, and robbed, and murdered on land as well.
Woe to the pedestrian who happened to be seen alone at night in
the dark places along the river! It is dangerous enough now, but
then it was a thousand times worse. These fiends infested every
place where men were likely to spend money. Here they watched
their prey, tracked them out-of-doors, waylaid and robbed them.
Abandoned women were confederates of the thieves. They promenaded on the fashionable streets, and lured victims into the
haunts of their companions in crime. To rob was the consuming
motive; a murder was an amusement. There must have been at
least one every month. The criminal records include thousands.
How many more occurred is known only to the waters that eddy
round Manhattan Island and then hurry out to sea. With no




(  t 'j
~Yz
IiA
(?~  ____ _   /'


140




"DAYBREAK BOYS."


I4I


police supervision on the water there was little danger that a murder would out. It was an easy thing to stun a man in some dark
corner, rifle his pockets and toss the body into the river. The
splash was the only sound likely to betray the awful crime.
It made no difference apparently to these criminals how little
money or how few valuables their intended victim had about him.
A few pennies were sufficient reward for a dastardly crime. A
German immigrant, poorer in appearance than themselves, and
nothing but a wanderer, without even a home, was found at midnight walking on the Battery. A single blow with a slung-shot
ended his life. His assailants secured twelve cents as the result
of their conscienceless crime, and threw the body into the water.
It was winter, and the river was frozen. This body did not drift
out to sea with other victims of these midnight monsters; it
remained upon the ice, and those who passed along the Battery
wall early the next morning saw glaring at them the fixed eyes of
a frozen corpse. There was still a worse case. Three sailors,
being rowed out to their ship in the North River, were overtaken by
four. of these river pirates, robbed of their trunks and thrown
overboard to drown.  The wretches who did the crime went
coolly to the shore with the captured boat.
A somewhat similar case, though not attended with murder,
happened on the North River in broad daylight.  It was an
achievement of the gang known as the "Daybreak Boys."  They
were mere boys in years, but were patriarchs in villany. They
were called the " Daybreak Boys " because they nearly always
chose for their depredations that hour of dawn when men sleep
soundest. In this instance, however, they were out of their dens
in the daytime. As they rowed leisurely along, they discovered
three boys at a distance, out for a pleasure sail. The boys were
sons of respectable parents, and in an innocent way were enjoying
their, sport to the utmost. In a moment the young thieves were
alongside the sail-boat.  Grabbing the edge of the boat and holding it fast, they flourished some ugly knives in the air and began
to climb into it. The frightened boys attempted to resist, but in
vain.  Resistance wounded the pride of these tyrants.  They
flourished their knives with more bravado, and let forth a volley of
oaths that would have made a hardened reprobate quiver. The
boys gave in. They let themselves be robbed of their pocket
knives, their money and the silver watch which one of them had,




142


4  SNEAKS."


and then were obliged to row their captors ashore. Fortunately,
there was a detective on the shore, and the thieves were arrested
and afterwards imprisoned.
Two classes of thieves infest the river front and ply their nefarious trade on the waters surrounding Manhattan Island, Long
Island and Staten Island. The first are the "wharf rats," as they
are called. These, as a rule, confine their operations to the piers
and docks, and conduct them  during the day. They are the
"sneaks " of the profession, and are for the most part boys and
young men. The other and more dangerous class is composed of
those who know no short lengths in crime-men who plunge their
knives up to the hilt in the bodies of defenceless victims, in order
that their lust for money or valuables may be gratified-men who
know no resistance, scarce even the mighty power of the law. To
them the cutting of a throat is no worse a crime than the stealing
of a bag of coffee. If they can get the coffee without interruption,
well and good. But woe to him who interferes.
The thousands of vessels which load and unload in New York
harbor are the sources from which these river pirates get their
stolen property. There is nothing extraordinary in the mere
thefts of these men; it is the way they commit them and the
means they use, together with their audacious boldness and hardness. When the blackness of night hangs over the harbor, then
the pirates dart out from the shore in their small boats to the ship
they wish to ransack. They watch for a moment when well out,
to see that they are not observed. By ropes they climb nimbly up
the vessel's sides and soon are looking for things to steal. The
sailors on the ship sleep soundly, familiar with the crime which
lurks on all sides of them, but made reckless by their very familiarity with it. Usually the prowlers meet with no opposition.
They go through the vessel like hungry men through a pantry.
Nothing is too small for them to carry away. A rope's-end, a
pulley, anything they can afterward dispose of. Sometimes the
vessel is loaded with rice, or sugar, or coffee. If there are any
stray bags they seize them, drop them gently over into their boat,
and when well laden pull back to their dives. It is almost imnpossible to convict them if captured, for they tear the wrappings from
the stolen articles, and it is hard to prove that the sugar, or rice,
or coffee, or what not in their possession, is the same as that
missed from the vessel. Sergeant Edwin O'Brien in one year




WHERE PLUNDER GOES.


I43


made fifty-seven arrests, and yet secured only three convictions.
The stolen property is taken to police headquarters and placed
under the charge of the property clerk. Sometimes the owners
think they recognize it as theirs, but they dare not swear so; so the
thieves go free and get their goods besides.
When I was superintendent, however, it occasionally happened
that we caught and convicted the thieves by a shrewd move which
took them completely by surprise. We would let the charge of
larceny go by, detain the thieves, and send for the customs officers,
who held them for smuggling. The rascals could not demonstrate,
of course, that they had paid duty on the goods which they
asserted had come into their possession by lawful means, and so
were obliged to surrender their plunder and boats to the United
States Government. Another happy thought on the part of the
police was to prosecute the offenders for violating the quarantine
laws, in boarding vessels which were under surveillance by the
State authorities.  The neighborhood of Quarantine was at that
time thickly infested with harbor thieves, and efforts to secure
their conviction when caught, on the charge of larceny, failed, as in
many other cases. But this new scheme reached them nearly
every time, and so many convictions were secured that the thieves
were gradually scattered to other parts of the river and harbor.
The stolen property of the river pirates is disposed of at the
shops of the junk dealers. These line the river fronts almost as
thickly as rum shops, and are quite as fruitful in fostering crime.
The junk dealers are in most cases the equals in iniquity with
their piratical business friends. They are the "fences." It is in
their shops often that foul murders are plotted. It is there that
choice fields for robbers' work are made known and talked over.
To get their stolen goods to these places the pirates have to call into
play all their cunning, and the junk dealers in turn have to exert
all their shrewdness in getting rid of the property before the police
discover it. It has been said that junk dealers.will receive almost
anything save hot-house flowers or an iceberg.
When Saul and Howlett were hanged for that foul murder committed on the night of the 25th of August, I852, it had a wholesome
effect for a time upon this kind of villany. The thieves had
hitherto prospered undisturbed. Now public attention and police
attention were fixed upon them. They stood in little awe of both,
it is true, but nevertheless Crime stalked not quite so triumphantly




144


A JOLLY EXCURSION.


as ithad. The establishment of a corps of harbor police was the
first step to wipe out this evil. The captain in charge of this corps
had fifty-seven men under his command. The rules to which the
force was subjected were essentially the same as those which governed the land force. There was a station-house on shore. There
were six boats constantly on patrol and, well manned, they worked
their way up and down the two rivers at regular hours of the day.
These did not protect the entire water-front of the city, but they
frightened somewhat these demons who before had shown no
signs of fear. Yet robberies and murders went on.
During the first year of its organization the new force signalized
itself by practically breaking up the old gang of which Saul and
Howlett were the leaders. Twelve pirates had been shot; " Bill"
Lowrie, a famous thief, had been sent to prison for fifteen years;
" Sam " McCarthy had been driven from the river, and the rest of
the mob had been dispersed. The good work was kept up, and
soon the harbor police became an indispensable auxiliary to the
land force. Instead of the row-boats with which they at first patrolled the river, they were supplied with a fast little steamer of
one hundred and fifteen tons, called the " Seneca," and thus they
were enabled to make their work still more efficient.
The tragedy which was the final one during my term of office of
superintendent of police, and which directly concerned the harbor
squad, was that which occurred on Sunday, August 31, I884.
The lads and young girls employed in a laundry in West Houston
Street determined to indulge themselves in an outing, after their
long summer of excessively enervating work. They had formed an
association among themselves, and after chartering a tug and two
barges they invited all their friends and set out for a jolly excursion up the Hudson River. Their destination was Linden Grove,
where there was much fun to be obtained from the double
swings, merry-go-rounds and the dancing platform. These working persons were most respectable. But in their distribution of
tickets they did not make judicious selections.
On all well regulated New York excursions there is a luncheon
counter on one of the decks of the barges. That on the laundry's
pleasure trip had been rented by a quiet German, named Kopf.
Near him was a bar for the sale of beer. The trip up the river
was made pleasantly, save for the disorderly actions of a party of
five or six men who attempted to swindle the bar-keeper out of his




ITS SEQUEL.


I45


beer. These men were partly intoxicated when the excursion left
Linden Grove. They drank more liquor, however, and became
exceedingly obnoxious to the women on board the barge. They
singled out Mrs. Kopf from the rest and insulted her. She paid no
attention to them and thev went awav.
Mrs. Kopf had several of her young children with her on the excursion, and as they played about her and gazed, open-eyed, at the
sweep of the majestic highlands, the mother was unmindful of the
unpleasant adventure of a little time before. Luncheon from the
stand down stairs was eaten, and Mrs. Kopf was already counting
the prospective profits of the day. But suddenly she heard a rush
made on the lower deck. Then came the loud protestations of a
man and a volley of curses from a crowd. Another rush was made;
women who were seated near her shrieked and fainted, but Mrs.
Kopf was a sturdy German matron whose nerves were seldom
shaken. Then there was the sound of crashing glass, a groan and
a shout:
"Beat them back-they've killed the Dutchman!"
Mrs. Kopf thought the fight was becoming interesting, so she
drew her children about her and went towards the stairway to watch
it. She went half way down stairs. She saw a form lying upon the
deck with ugly red blotches of blood about it. She looked at the
face. It was but a glance.
" Oh, my God! Oh, my children, they have killed him-they
have murdered your father!
Kopf was dead. The ruffians had made an attack on his counter
with the intention of raiding it, but the courageous German stood
his ground and defended his sandwiches. His defence cost him
his life. One of the ruffians caught up a heavy beer-glass and
struck Kopf on the head, driving a piece of the skull into the brain.
Death was almost instantaneous. The fight continued until the
barges reached New York, and before the boats were moored the
men who had killed the German leaped to the pier and escaped.
Then the harbor police appeared, but it was too late; the murderers
had fled.. The barges were towed to Staten Island and there an
arrest was made, but the prisoner was discharged on some legal
technicality.  Kopf's murderers never paid the penalty of their
crime.
One morning the passengers in a Brooklyn street-car were asIO0




146


6  NED PERRY SHOT ME!"


tonished and horrified by a man who, with blood streaming down his
garments, jumped aboard, and, sinking into a seat, exclaimed:
"I am a watchman at Harbeck's stores. My name is Thomas
Hayes. Ned Perry shot me!"
The man spoke and then was dead. The passengers on that
car never forgot that tragic scene. Perry, who was a junkman, was
arrested and tried. It was proved that Hayes was shot in order
that a certain robbery might be committed-a deliberately planned
murder-yet Perry escaped hanging and was sentenced for life.
Several years passed with no unusual occurrence, the routine
work being carried on with great efficiency. However, as the old
thieves were " settled " in various ways, the younger ones became
more ambitious, committing many bold and daring robberies. In
May, i873, Joseph Gayles, alias " Socco, the Bracer," " Bum"
Mahoney, and " Billy " Woods, all expert river thieves, the latter a
murderer, stole a boat, and muffling their oars rowed out to the brig
" Margaret " at Pier 27.- They boarded her and were engaged in
rifling the captain's trunk, when both the captain and mate were
awakened. Thereupon the thieves, for a wonder, took to their
boat, but not until an alarm had been sounded which brought two
officers on the scene. The night was very dark. The policemen
looked at first in vain for any signs of the missing thieves. The
waters danced to a mournful song, and seemed grimly to rejoice
that they were sheltering criminals. The fog, too combatted the
blue-coated messengers of justice. One of the policemen brought
out his dark-lantern. The flash from the bull's-eye lit up the surface of the river, yet revealed no shadowy figures floating off with
the tide. Again the water was scanned, and with no better result.
Had the river itself opened to receive at last the fiends who had
filled it with victims? But now! What do these policemen
see? The rays of the lantern have lit up that blackest space beneath the pier, and there, crouching in the darkness, are three men
in a boat, one at the oars, the other two standing with drawn revolvers. Without a word being spoken on either side Policeman
Musgrave's pistol breaks the silence. As it echoes across the
river, " Socco, the Bracer," falls, mortally wounded, to the bottom
of the boat. A fusillade of shots follow, but the pirates are too
alert. Down the stream they urge their boat. Socco, the Bracer's,
body becomes too heavy a weight to carry for those who are trying
to escape from brave and determined men, so overboard it goes,




--


-          h~'     I


"Fiii
I /  ~


i
 no -- I,=. -
-a -- =




WHARF RATS AT WORK.






148


THE " HOOK GANG."


and is picked up four days later at the foot of Stanton Street.
Socco was the only one who met his punishment; his companions
escaped from their pursuers.
Shortly after this, another brig, lying off the Battery, was boarded
by a gang of thieves, masked and heavily armed. They abused the
captain in a shocking manner, assaulted his wife and departed
with everything of value on board. Two well-known river thieves
were arrested for this crime, tried and sentenced to twenty years'
imprisonment. While they confessed that they were river pirates
and had been such for years, they denied any knowledge of this
crime, and years afterward the police discovered that they really
were innocent, and that the outrage had been committed by a
gang under the lead of "Denny" Brady, "Larry " Griffen and
"Patsey" Conroy, who had also committed many depredations
in suburban villages.
In the same.year, Engleman, another famous Fourth Ward river
thief, robbed the bark " Zouma." Being discovered, he. jumped
overboard and clung to the rudder of a schooner. A rope was
thrown him but he exclaimed: " Go to h   with your rope,"
and dove under the vessel. Swimming from dock to dock, he
evaded for three hours six policemen in row boats, but was finally
captured and afterward convicted and sentenced.
Not long after this an attempt was made to steal some merchandise from Pier 8, North River, but the watchman gave an alarm
which brought the police. A shot in the dark after the thieves'
retreating boat was answered with the cry, "Oh, I'm shot!"
But if a man was shot ho one ever knew it. No body of a dead
or wounded thief was afterward found. Perhaps the cry was a
ruse; perhaps the North River really did claim another body.
The pirates of the day of Saul and Howlett probably had
their successors in the "Hook Gang," which had its headquarters at the foot of Stanton Street, and operated anywhere between
the Battery and Fourteenth Street. It was one of the boldest of
the gangs. The leaders were Merricks, a desperate thief; James
Coffee, who had served one term in State's prison; Preslin, a fearless robber; Le Strange and Lewis, professionals in all sorts of
crime; "Sam" McCracken, John Gallagher and     "Tommy"
Bonner. At one o'clock on the night of December 2oth, the three
last mentioned members of this gang climbed to the deck of the
canal boat " Thomas H. Birch," which was lying off Fourteenth




ON THE BRIG " MATTAN."'


I49


Street, in the East River, and marched with pistols in their hands
to where the captain lay asleep.
"Gag him! " whispered "Tommy" Bonner.
They set to work to do it. The captain refused to be gagged.
He struggled, and, in spite of their desperate efforts to prevent
him, yelled. The sound of his voice aroused Officer Booz and
Captain M. J. Murphy, who came to his assistance. When they
got there the thieves had got the best of the boat captain, and he
lay bound hands and feet and unable to speak. The policemen
cornered the robbers, covered them with their revolvers, and
made them prisoners. The three thieves were afterward sent to
the Auburn prison.
Among the places where thieves assembled and discussed their
trade was Slaughter House Point, a low rum hole at Water Street
and James Slip. At one time "Bill" Lowrie ana "Slobbery
Jim " were the leaders of the gang which had its headquarters here.
Captain Thorne, then of the Fourth Ward, thought'it was time to
close up the den after seven murders had been committed there.
But closing the gin mill did not break up the gang. "The Rising
States," kept by Lowrie and "Moll "' Maher, the woman who
passed as his wife, was opened near by in Water Street. Another
place, then well known to the police, was " One-armed Charley's"
grog shop, called the "Hole in the Wall," where "Patsey, the
Barber," was killed by " Slobbery Jim."
"Denny" Brady, who figured as a leader among the harbor
thieves, was connected in his day with almost every great robbery
which took place in this country. He was engaged in the Kensington Bank robbery, where he took $Soo,ooo from the safe.
Other chief spirits in this kind of crime were often participants
in robberies of a greater magnitude.
Few depredations of the harbor thieves were more daring
than the outrage.on board the brig "Mattan." Early on the
morning of November 3oth, I873, the brig had been loaded
with petroleum, and on the Sunday previous to the time of the
crime had dropped down the river from an up-town pier and anchored off the Battery. Her captain and owner, T. H. Connauton,
was expecting to take his crew aboard on the following day and
then to embark for Liverpool. Unexpectedly his voyage was delayed. The very night on which he brought his vessel to anchor
near Castle Garden, a gang of river thieves was watching his




I5o


" WHO'S THERE??


movements and laying plans for robbing him. These plans were
carried out with audaciousness and brutality.
The quiet of the stillest part of the night-2 A.M.-hung over the
harbor and the city, as a boatload of seven men pushed out from
a dark retreat on the river front, and slowly and cautiously made
its way to the " Mattan." Just before reaching the brig, the seven
men adjusted the masks which concealed their features, and
scanned the surrounding waters for a moment. Then they came
close to the vessel and climbed upon her decks. Unfortunately for
them they made considerable noise. The first mate went forward to see what was the matter, and the gang at once seized and
gagged him. The second mate was treated in the same way, and
when the steward ventured to show his head above the hatchway
he, too, was bound, and prevented from using his voice.
In the cabin, asleep, were the captain, his wife and three
children. They had no consciousness of the presence of strangers
aboard the vessel until the two mates and the steward had been
bound and gagged. Then Captain Connauton cried out:
"Who's there?"
"The harbor police," came the reply, as the gang rushed
toward the half-open stateroom door. The captain quickly closed
the aperture and braced himself against the door. One of the
marauders fired a heavy navy revolver. The ball passed through
the panel and wounded Connauton in the lower part of the leg.
The door finally gave way to their repeated blows, and with pistols raised and cocked they demanded that the captain should give
them the $4000 which they said he had on Saturday, and all the
jewellery there was on board.
The captain did not lose his coolness in this emergency. He
tried to parley with his assailants, but they were in no mood for
that. When he hesitated to comply with their demands they
seized him and dragged him about the narrow cabin. The wound
in the captain's leg was causing him great agony, and at last he became submissive; for one of the gang had hold of Mrs. Connauton,
and with the barrel of a pistol against her head was threatening
to blow her brains out if she and her husband did not facilitate the
thieves' search for valuables. The pirates, however, secured only
$45 in money, a diamond ring, two watches, three chains, a ruby
ring, and several silk dresses. They were on the brig just an
hour, and after cautioning those whom they had robbed and mal



THE CLERICAL IMPOSTOR.


ISI


treated not to give an alarm, on penalty of future injuries at the
hands of the gang, they made their departure and escaped. Within
twenty-four hours the police of the Twenty-fourth Precinct, under
direction of Captain Siebert, had arrested two of the seven marauders. Their names were William Carroll, a boatman, aged twentyone years, and William Dagan, a bar-tender, aged twenty-three.
From year to year, improvements of more or less importance
were made in the harbor police system. The wisdom of forming
such an organization had been abundantly shown, and the work
which it did was generally recognized. Those respectable persons
whose duties obliged them to be in the neighborhood where such
wretched crimes had been committed, breathed far more freely.
They were no longer in constant fear as they walked out at night
lest some devilish assassin should leap out from a dark corner
and deal out a death-blow. The public looked back with horror
at the state of things as they had existed in the fifties and early
sixties. The commissioners of police were liberal in their expenditures for this purpose.
The steam-boat squad, which was organized in 1876 and put
under the command of Captain G. W. Gastlin, still further improved the police protection on the waters. It succeeded especially in freeing the river front, the steam-boats, the ferries, and
Castle Garden from that more refined class of criminals known
as confidence men. Swindlers had taken the place largely of the
abandoned thieves and murderers who were their predecessors in
crime. This class of operators is numerous enough at present,
but poor immigrants and unsuspecting travellers ten years ago
were "fleeced" much more frequently than now. There were two
sharpers, I remember, who passed themselves off for priests, and
so easily won the confidence of foreigners who arrived at Castle
Garden. One morning Mazin, one of the "priests," got into
conversation with an Italian, named Mono, who was about returning home, and told him he was going to Italy and needed an interpreter. Mono accepted the position and gave the alleged priest
his money for safe keeping. The clerical impostor then sent his
newly employed interpreter to get some cigars. When the latter
returned, Mazin was gone, together with his confrere, Michell.
Both were arrested afterwards and sent to State's prison.
A short time after this occurrence, Hilza Von Zauen, alias Le
Marquis O'Neil de Lassantas, was employed as a waiter in New



t52


DRIVEN TO JERSEY.


port. In the evening he was in the habit of dressing himself as a
woman, in which guise he became the rage among the young
"bloods." Afterward he came to New York and was employed as
a waiter in a Fifth Avenue house, which he robbed and then fled.
Captain Gastlin arrested him as he was about leaving the city, on
a boat for Boston. The prisoner was sent to Sing Sing.
The work of the harbor police is most difficult.  They are
obliged to be out in all kinds of weather, and in winter the inconveniences are almost unbearable. Captain William Schultz took
charge of the force in I876. The "Seneca " was then in need of
repairs, which she received. In I88o the little steamer burned in
some unknown manner. Then the " Moses Taylor " was used, but
she was good for nothing. Then came the " Tiger Lily "; then
the " Florence," a fair boat. In I882, the " Patrol " was built at a
cost of $6o,ooo. She served not only as a headquarters for the
harbor police, but is well supplied with powerful engines and
pumps throwing ten or twelve streams. Large boats are of no use
for the best purposes of the harbor police, for to do effective work
in chasing thieves in and out of and around wharves and piers, boats
of small size are necessary, and small steam-launches would overcome many failings of the service. In I877, the captain of the
"Seneca" discovered some thieves making away with plunder
in a small boat. With his spy-glass he could see that the boat
was loaded with merchandise, but as soon as the "Seneca " was
upon the thieves, lo! there was no load in the boat at all. The
thieves had thrown it overboard when they saw the police were
after them, and they denied having had a load. This is a trick
frequently practised. Sometimes, especially when the thieves
have aboard a cargo of iron or other booty which is heavy and is
not likely to be injured by the water, they do not throw the cargo
overboard, but sink the boat and all into the river. In this way
they prevent their enemies from confiscating either the stolen
goods or the boat.
The harbor is not yet free from pirates, but they have left the
New York river fronts largely, and have sought the less exposed
and less protected piers of Jersey City and Brooklyn. Crime is
still committed there and relics of the old criminal gangs are still
to be found. They have opportunities in their present quarters
which they cannot get now in New York, and unless checked in
time may yet grow bold enough again to terrorize the harbor.




CHAPTER XII.


ON DUTY AT STATEN ISLAND.-APPOINTED INSPECTOR. —THE " CAR
HOOK MURDER. "-THE ORANGE RIOTS.-A GOOD STORY ABOUT
JIM FISKE.-HIS DEATH.-STEVE GORDON AND THE $IOOO BILL.
-" BOSS, TWEED AND HIS RING.-HOW WINANS WAS BRIBED.
WHILE still in command of the Twentieth Precinct, where I remained for nearly six years, I was detailed for duty at Seguin's
Point, Staten Island. The old Garibaldi candle-factory buildings
there were being arranged for hospital purposes by the quarantine
commissioners, and the villagers energetically objected to these
proceedings. They protested against the establishment of hospitals anywhere on the island. Indignation meetings were held,
mobs assembled near the old candle factory and threats were made
to burn the buildings. I was sent with one hundred men to protect this property. Although the situation at times appeared to be
rather serious, no important disturbance occurred. I remained
until the buildings were nearly completed, when the plan of establishing a hospital there was abandoned.
It must not be regarded as egotistical if I say that by this
time I had become familiar with all the administrative requirements of the police force, and when Inspector Daniel Carpenter
died I was appointed to fill the vacancy. My two colleagues
were James Leonard and George Dilks, the latter being office inspector. Every other night Inspector Leonard or I was required
to be on duty from 6 P. M. to 8 A. M. We had the city divided
into districts, Broadway being the dividing line. It was our duty
to visit the various precincts at irregular intervals, to inspect the
police stations, see that the books were properly kept and that the
captains, sergeants and others performed their duties. Each month
we had to make a report of our inspections to the superintendent.
Having no one to assist us, it is no wonder we found the work arduous, requiring, as it did, constant personal watchfulness.
During the year i870 several important changes occurred in the
police force. In April, Mr. John A. Kennedy, the superintendent,
I53




I54


'THE "CAR-HOOK MURDER."


resigned, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment ot Captain John Jourdan, of the Sixth Precinct. Upon his death, in
October of the same year, he was succeeded by James J. Kelsb,
captain of the detective force.
What is known as the "car-hook murder" occurred on the
night of April 26, I87i. The victim was Avery D. Putnam; his assailant was William Foster, a horse-car conductor. In company
with Madame Duval and her daughter, Mr. Putnam was riding
up town on a Broadway car. Foster, who was not on duty, and
had been on a protracted debauch, was standing upon the front
platform. Miss Duval, happening to look through the front window,
Foster pressed his face closely against the glass and made an insulting grimace. The ladies took no notice of him. He then
opened the door. Mr. Putnam remonstrated with him, and Foster
replied:
I'm going as far as you, and before you get out I'll give you
hell."
The ladies and their escort stopped the car at Forty-sixth Street.
Putnam had one foot on the rear platform, when Foster, stepping
behind him, dealt him a crushing blow on the head with the carhook, felling him to the ground and fracturing his skull. Madame Duval shrieked for help, but the driver of the car whipped up
his horses and drove rapidly away. Foster was at liberty only until three o'clock the next morning. The jury before whom he was
tried found him guilty of murder in the first degree, and he was
sentenced to death on May 25, one month after the murder. A
reprieve was granted, but the sentence of the court was eventually
satisfied on March 21, I873. His execution was witnessed by
about three hundred persons.
Shortly after this murder, on July 12, I871, the famous Orange
riots occurred. They happened just eight years after the terrible
scenes during the draft. They resulted from the well-known antipathy between Roman Catholic and Protestant Irishmen. The
twelfth of July is the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, and
on that day it was customary with the Orange societies to turn
out in large numbers and march in procession. When the
"twelfth" came in I871, Mr. A. Oakey Hall was Mayor, and at
his instigation Superintendent Kelso issued an order forbidding
the parade. This at once caused a great outcry; the newspapers
were filled with arguments pro and con, and finally the matter was




v      t


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Kl


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IA111  v


\~ \\j.I —            - I
I ----   ---           — I   -,


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CAR~1OO~ iURDF1


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156


ORANGE RIOT.


brought officially to the attention of Governor Hoffman. He immediately issued 'a. proclamation countermanding Mayor Hall's
instructions to the police, assuring the Orangemen that the)y
should have ample police and military protection. Public feeling,
of course, ran high. Irish Protestants and Roman Catholics were
pitted against each other, and it was very evident that little would
be needed to cause a serious disturbance.
The day for the parade arrived. Wise because of the lessons
taught during the draft riots, Superintendent Kelso massed the
whole of the police force on Eighth Avenue, near Lamertine Hall,
whence the procession was to start. The Ninth, Sixth, and
Eighty-fourth regiments were also assembled here under command of General Varien, to aid the police, should it become necessary. The sidewalks on both sides of the avenue were crowded
with a yelling mob, and before the procession started several futile attempts were made to break through the lines.
Superintendent Kelso placed me in command of the police at
this point, with Inspector Jamieson (appointed on the death of
Leonard) to assist me. Dividing the force under me into two battalions, I directed Jamieson to cover the left or rear of the procession, while I assumed command of the right. And here, let
me say, there were probably as many policemen as Orangemen.
As an advance guard, we threw out a body of mounted men under
Captain Wilson.
The line of march was down town, and beyond some shouting
and hissing nothing of any moment occurred until Twenty-sixth
Street was reached. There a dense crowd, including many women,
had collected. It was with the greatest difficulty that my men
could clear the way for the Orangemen, who were obliged to come
to a halt. At Twenty-fifth Street, Captain Joseph Petty found it
necessary to order the men under him to charge the rioters, driving them towards Seventh Avenue. Stones and other missiles were
now thrown from the housetops, not a few of which struck members
of the Ninth Regiment, who were in position at Eighth Avenue
and Twenty-fifth Street.
Suddenly a shot was fired from a window near the corner of
Twenty-fourth Street. Other accounts say that the shot came from
one of the soldier's rifles, which was accidentally discharged.
However that may be, that shot was most certainly the signal for
the horrible scene which immediately followed.




-5.                 I!!
IJI,.e. I~~ ' i~,,_...     ---,,
ONGR
//~~~~/ I  Ih           I '
ORANGF PARADE.




I58


COL. " JIM n  FISKE.


In an instant the Eighty-fourth Regiment, without waiting for
orders, fired upon the crowd. Then came volleys from both the
Sixth and Ninth Regiments. The sight which was disclosed when
the smoke cleared away was heart-rending and terrible in.the extreme. Dozens of bodies-men, women, and children even-lay
upon the ground; the shrieks and groans of the wounded rang out
above the' noise caused by the feet of the vast mob, now madly
trampling upon the weaker of the fugitives in the wild rush to reach
a place of safety. In consequence of this reckless, wholesale
JAMES FISKE, JR.
(From a Photograph.)
shooting on the part of the military, no less than one hundred and
twenty-eight persons were either killed or injured, including a policeman and a soldier.
Colonel " Jim " Fiske, who was in command of his regiment, did
not cover himself with unqualified glory upon this occasion. He
was on horseback, and as soon as the first volley was fired he dismounted with considerable alacrity and ran into a saloon on Eighth
Avenue. After scaling a back-yard fence he at length found shelter in a house on Twenty-third Street. There he rid himself of




A WRESTLING BOUT.


I59


his uniform, replacing it with citizens' clothing, and made rapid
time to the North River, where he got aboard a tug. The next
heard of him was that he was at Long Branch, but how he got
there was a secret which he would never disclose. Neither did he
ever give any explicit explanation of the causes which led to his
precipitate flight from the scene of the disturbance.  After the
military had fired upon the crowd, and the dead and wounded had
been removed to the hospitals, there was no further trouble. The
procession marched to the Cooper Institute in comparative silence
and disbanded.
Poor Fiske! Little he thought then that within six months he
would be shot down on the stairway of the Grand Central Hotel
by his rival, Stokes. This, however, occurred on the afternoon of
January 6, I872.
There is an incident connected with the trial of Stokes which
has hitherto escaped publication. One of the men on the jury was
named James D. Centre. He was formerly a member of the police force, and is now, I believe, a private detective. Grave suspicions were entertained that Centre had been bribed by the "jury
fixers," and there were certainly good grounds for these suspicions.
So much so, in fact, that he was arrested on a bench-warrant for
contempt of court, having boasted at Harry Hill's place that he
would save Stokes from the gallows, at the same time displaying a
large sum of money. For this, after the trial, he was sentenced to
a short term of imprisonment.
Some few weeks subsequent to his release, Centre visited a
liquor saloon in Jersey City. He had been drinking freely, and
taking a $iooo bill out of his pocket, said he could beat any man
in the room at wrestling. After some little talk, a man named
Steve Gordon (nicknamed "Pirate ") offered to try conclusions
with him. The stakes were the drinks. Centre put the $iooo
bill back in his vest pocket and prepared for the struggle. A
space was cleared and the two went at it. Gordon, though an expert wrestler, was advanced in years, and was easily thrown by
Centre. As though ashamed of his defeat, Gordon quickly left
the saloon. In a few minutes Centre discovered that he had lost
his $iooo bill, and at once had the " Pirate " arrested. No proof,
however, was forthcoming at the examination and Gordon was discharged.




i6o


" IRVING WEEK.'9


The matter subsequently came to my ears, and meeting Gordon
one day as I was walking along West Street, I said:
"Hullo, Steve; they tell me you can't wrestle now."
"0 yes, I can, a little," was Gordon's reply.
"But I understand Centre threw you, though," I rejoined.
"Yes," said he; " Centre throwed me; but Iwon his money."
While Mr. A. Oakey Hall was Mayor of New York he was intimate with Tweed, Sweeney and Connolly of the Tammany " Ring,"
whose bare-faced. robberies and corruptions in administering municipal affairs left such a stain upon the city's history. The
"Ring " controlled the Board of Audit, and millions of dollars
found their way into the pockets of Tweed and his followers, by
means of fraudulent vouchers.
Among the many who asserted that the city treasury was indebted to them was Mr. James O'Brien, formerly a sheriff. He
presented a bill of $200,000 for unpaid fees due him, and the
Board of Audit refused to approve it. He repeatedly demanded
payment, but always with the same result-he could get nothing.
In some way O'Brien managed to secure copies of the fraudulent
vouchers in the comptroller's office, and handed them to the
New York Times.   That paper made a thorough investigation,
and published a most startling array of facts and figures, all tending to prove the existence of a most gigantic robbery. The conspirators were with few exceptions punished.
Certain matters in connection with what is known as the " Irving week " of i871 which came to my knowledge will be of interest. It was in the winter of that year. The Democrats had sixtyfive votes in the Assembly and seventeen in the Senate. The
twenty-one assemblymen from New York City were all bound to
support Tweed's measures. They had obtained fat offices, and if
they did not vote as he ordered them, their monthly visits to the
paymaster's office would become things of the past. Affairs went
on very smoothly until "Jim " Irving assaulted Smith Weed by
striking him in the face, and was obliged to resign from the Assembly. Previous to this the Democrats had been able to pass any
measures they pleased, having just the requisite majority in both
branches.  But when Irving resigned there came a dead-lock.
Whenever an attempt was made to pass a bill the vote stood:
Democrats, 64; Republicans, 63.
Bad feeling began to show itself, and so bitter was the strife




AT ALBANY.


16I


that Republicans and Democrats would not affiliate. When asked
what he thought about the situation, Sweeney simply remarked:
"We have been in worse snaps than this, and got out of them
all right."
The Republicans held a caucus, and decided to force a vote in
the Assembly on certain measures upon which they knew Tweed
had set his heart. One of the Albany evening newspapers published the resolutions passed by the Republicans at their caucus,
signed by every one of the sixty-three.
The next day the Assembly Chamber was filled to overflowing.
Four bills, which would decide Tweed's fate, were called up for
consideration. A motion was made to suspend the usual order of
business. This was carried, and before the spectators had recovered from their surprise the first of the bills was read a third
time, and the call of the roll began. As the first name was called,
Tweed walked into-the gallery and pushed his way to the front.
With his small gray eyes glittering maliciously, and his arms
folded across his chest, he stood looking down upon the Assembly.
Not a movement on the floor escaped his notice. As name after
name was called his head was thrust forward and inclined on one
side, the more easily to hear the response.
When the " B's " were reached, he rested his hands on the rail
and leaned over. The "B " who had been expected to vote in
favor of the bill cast a decided " No." A faint flush, as of disappointment, swept over the face of the " Boss," and a word,
which sounded very much like " damnation," came from between
his lips. He was calm again in an instant and resumed his former position. Finally came the name of "Winans." Throughout
the session, Winans had been the most exacting of Republicans.
He had never failed to add a bitter word to every discussion, denouncing the rough-shod methods of the Democrats. He now
voted "Aye," and made a short speech explaining his reasons for
voting with the Democrats. The effect upon those in the Chamber was electrical. Those in the galleries cheered loudly and the
Democrats on the floor jumped to their feet in a body.  The Republicans were completely dumbfounded, and remained motionless in their seats like statues.
Truly it was a sad day for the Republicans; but what of the
author of their defeat-Winans? He became an outcast; everyone-Democrats and Republicans alike-avoided him as though
TT




l62


A SLEIGH RIDE.


he had been a leper. Previous to uttering that blighting "Aye"
he had been popular with all persons he came in contact with.
The morning after the vote Winans was a changed man; he had
aged in a single night, and acted during the remainder of the
session as though he were suffering from a horrible nightmare.
Was Winans bribed? He always denied that he was, but admitted that Gould and Fiske had compelled him to act as he did.
He held a position under them on the Erie Railroad, he said, and
was threatened with discharge if he failed to obey their behests.
The amount which Winans's vote cost has never been made public, but a little circumstance which occurred the night before the
memorable scene doubtless had something to do with binding him
so closely to the interests of Tweed. That" little circumstance "
was this: About four o'clock in the morning a covered sleigh
was driven up near the railroad track adjoining the Delavan
House at Albany, there being no depot there then. A man got
into this sleigh and was driven down the road which leads along
the canal to Troy. There was a negro on the box, and alongside
of him, wearing an overcoat with its collar nearly hiding his head,
was a New York assemblyman who shall be nameless. Before
the strange man entered the sleigh at the Delavan House there
were two others in it.  One was " Tom " Fields and the other a
well-known lobbyist.
The sleigh was driven down the dark road for a short distance,
and then came 'to a stop in one of the side streets. Here the
New York assemblyman alighted. An hour later he was in his
room. It was during the drive that the bribery was consummated.
Some say the assemblyman was paid $ioo,ooo in small bills for
his work, but the amount was generally believed to be $75,000ooo.
The negro driver never uttered a word on the subject; but " Tom"
Fields was questioned about it by a police official who had seen
the assemblyman get out of the sleigh and had caught a glimpse
of Fields's face at the same time. Fields replied with a laugh:
" Why, I'm subject to rheumatism, and when I drink a good deal
of champagne I always take a ride before going to bed-my doctor told me to take one."
Who that doctor was can easily be imagined. It was William M.
Tweed. Years afterwards " Jim " Fiske once remarked to a wellknown newspaper writer:
" Winans was too good a fellow to be killed off the way he was




BRIBERY.                   163
at Albany; but when you're in a tight place there's nothing one
won't risk to get out of it. The only trouble with Winans was
that he had to do something everybody knew about. Fellows in
that Legislature who did worse than he did are now respected
citizens. But they didn't happen to be found out."




CHAPTER XIII.


SURPRISED BY NIGHT.-HOW THEY WERE TO " DO IT."-BROCKWAY,
THE   COUNTERFEITER.-THE   PEDLER.-WOMAN S LOVE OF
FINERY.-A MILLION-DOLLAR SWINDLE.-ABOARD THE " THURINGIA. "-TWO IMPERFECT BILLS.-SENTENCED FOR LIFE.-A
SWINDLER'S CAREER.-AN UNSUSPECTING CATTLE DROVER.AFTER TIFFANY'S DIAMONDS.
WHILE I was in charge of the detective force, a curious and
somewhat startling incident occurred. Sauntering along Broadway one day, a detective happened to see a man named Cartwright, whom he knew to be a counterfeiter. Cartwright had assured us some time before that he had "retired from business,"
but it nevertheless occurred to the detective that it might be
worth while to find out for himself if the fellow was still engaged
in his unlawful occupation.
Following him across the Harlem River into Westchester County,
the officer reached a spot near the Harlem Railroad company's
tracks where there were but few'dwellings. Cartwright there entered a frame house. This meeting and its result were reported
to me. There was nothing particularly suspicious in Cartwright's
proceedings; still I deemed it advisable to watch the house, and
so sent two or three men to remain near it for several nights.
After waiting patiently for a week, they saw enough to convince
them that "work" was carried on at the place.
I then joined the party of watchers, and determined to force an
entrance into the house. Dividing my men into two parties, I
stationed one in the rear and the other in front of the building.
We waited until the lights were extinguished.
We had been able to locate the occupants of the house by assuming that they slept in the rooms where we last saw the lights.
Detective Sampson and I then advanced to the rear door, while
the two other detectives were at the front. At a signal a rush was
made for the doors. Sampson and I easily burst open the rear one,
as it was not very strongly fastened, and, lanterns in hand, made
i64




44 YOU RE MY PRISONER. X6


i65


for a room on the left of the hall. The door was open and our
sudden entrance awoke the occupant. Without a moment's hesitation he reached out his hand towards a pistol which lay on a stand
near his bed. Before he could grasp it we both sprang upon him,
while Sampson, pressing the cold muzzle of a revolver against the
fellow's head, ordered him to give up his weapon and lie quietly.
He did; and after securing him we went up stairs to the room in
which we had last noticed a light. Here we found.another man.
" Hullo! " he shouted, apparently guessing our errand; " I'm
only a visitor here."
"Can't help that," was my unconsoling reply; " you're my
prisoner."
Somewhat crestfallen, he remarked: " Well, anyhow, you'll allow
me to put on a clean shirt." With that he stepped to a bureau
which stood against one side of the room, took out a snowy white
garment and put it on.
-Bureaus, under certain circumstances, have a strong fascination
for me. This one had, so giving in to the feeling I searched it.
Five other shirts were carefully folded in a drawer. Under them
I got what I wanted: a plate for making counterfeit money.
In the mean time I had been closely watching the gentleman
with the clean shirt, and noticed that he kept glancing at the fireplace every now and then in a furtive manner. In fact, it seemed
to have a very peculiar attraction for him. Consequently it interested me so greatly that I determined on a closer examination.
A quantity of burnt paper on the hearth looked like business.
Brushing the ashes carefully away I discovered a number of
partly consumed counterfeit ten-dollar bills representing those of
the Ogdensburg Bank. Evidently they had not been satisfactory
impressions, and so had been destroyed. Searching further we
secured a large quantity of excellent specimens of these ten-dollar
bills which were finished, including the signature. At the foot of
a small pear tree in the garden we found another plate.
The counterfeiters were tried and convicted shortly afterwards,
before Judge Robertson at White Plains.
- I had a conversation with the men after their conviction, and
they informed me of the unique and ingenious device with which
they had expected-to " work off " the counterfeit bills. A big prize
fight was just about to occur, and they intended to bet. $20,000
on each of the contestants.  Of course, whatever might have been




i66


COUNTERFEIT GOLD.


the result of the fight, the counterfeiters would have obtained
$20,000 in good money.
At this time a number of complaints were made to me regarding counterfeit gold dollar and two-dollar-and-a-half coins which
were circulating.  Some specimens were shown me.    They
showed great skill in their making. They were so well finished
indeed that it was not at all surprising that so many persons
were deceived.
Now it is by no means easy to trace counterfeit money to its
source. In the first place it is necessary to discover whether its
circulation is restricted to one locality. The coin or bill may
pass through a great many hands before its spurious character is
discovered, and even thert no one is quite willing to bear the loss
and so tries to pass it on. This is human nature. Then again a
man may take a counterfeit coin from a customer who has received it in good faith, and who has perhaps handled large amounts
of money. The latter, of course, if the character of the coin be
pointed out, will probably insist that the coin given is genuine.
Long and tedious research is necessary to find out how innocent
each man is in these transactions and who may or may not be the
counterfeiter. The one who first passed the false coin of course
uses every precaution to conceal his identity.
In these coin counterfeiting cases I finally came to the conclusion.
that the locality where the work was carried on was on the east
side of the city. Many of the coins were found in the omnibuses,
and the dollar pieces were frequently passed by the drivers in
making change. Cautious detective work was begun and ultimately success began to crown our efforts.
We found a man nick-named "Tom Hyer," who seemed to have
some knowledge of the matter. Hyer intimated to some of the
officers that he had an idea where the " stuff" could be bought.
After questioning him I secured his services, undertaking to pay
his expenses and for his time. For two days I saw nothing of him.
At the end of that time he reported to me that for $30 he could
buy $ioo worth of the counterfeits we were after. "A man," he
said, "has agreed to meet me at a certain place near Chatham
Square. I must have $30. He will have the $ioo of his money
and will make an exchange in the street, at two o'clock to-morrow."
"All right," I said, "you shall have the money."
With the $30 in his. pocket Hyer left the office. I had him




^I'VE GOT THE MONEY."


x16


"*shadowed" to his home. Next day he was seen by my detectives to go to Chatham Square, where, they informed me, a short,
dark-complexioned man met Hyer and the exchange of coin took
place. Officer John McCord subsequently followed the man who
had passed the counterfeits. Again Hyer came to the office and
reported the matter to me, saying:
" I've got the money."
Whoever Hyer was or whatever might be his character, his version of the story agreed with that of the detective.
Two days afterwards McCord said to me: " I witnessed the exchange and then followed the man the rest of the afternoon.
There was nothing suspicious about his actions that day. At ten
o'clock at night he went into a house in the Fifth Ward, and as he
did not come out again I suppose he slept there. I followed him
the next day. He walked down Beekman Street and went into a
store where sheet-metal is sold, then he crossed Fulton Ferry to
Brooklyn and got on a Myrtle Avenue car. I went to a hackman
and hired his carriage; the driver got inside, while I took off my
coat, rolled up my sleeves, jumped on the box and followed that
car. After awhile the man got out and went into a drug store,
and then took another car. I drove after him for about a mile,
when he left the car and proceeded on foot.  I dismissed the
hack, and kept my man in view as he went towards a house on the
outskirts of Brooklyn. I cut across the open fields, and, approaching the dwelling, hid behind a fence and waited, but I saw
no more of him after that. I left this morning to report the state
of affairs."
Officer McCord asked for help, so two men were sent to him.
For four days the detectives watched, but nothing remarkable
occurred. The man who sold the counterfeit coin would go to
New York and return again. While he was absent the time was
spent in studying the house and its inmates, and so was not wasted.
For instance, we discovered that the house was protected with
many locks, bolts and bars.  The butcher, baker, grocer and
milkman came with the usual supplies, but were not admitted.
The stores were taken in at the basement by a woman who used a
great deal of precaution. These tradespeople would knock, and
the door, which had a sliding chain, would be cautiously opened.
As the chase was now becoming interesting I joined the party,
and we discussed the best means of effecting an entrance. We




r68


THE PROPERTY-CLERK S OUTFIT.


were satisfied that the counterfeit coin was being made in the house.
We, of course, must arrest the "gang" with their tools. They
must not be allowed to carry off their machinery, nor must they
have the opportunity of concealing their dies. My desire was to
break up the concern, root and branch. To employ brute force
was entirely out of the questio. What then was the best method
of accomplishing the object? The fact that the doorkeeper was
of the gentler sex was something in our favor. Could no persuasive means be used to induce her to admit us? I remembered
that Walpole is reported to have said, with regard to political
bribes, that he never saw but one woman who refused gold; and
diamonds captured her. Acting in a measure upon the above suggestion, we attired Mr. Thomas Sampson as a pedler. He was
dressed in a long black coat, and was provided with a capacious
blue paper box. Neatly packed in it were such articles as were
calculated to excite feminine cupidity.  The property-clerk at
headquarters furnished Sampson with his stock in trade. And
it may be as well to say that a police property-clerk in New York
can produce any description of outfit on very short notice, from a
needle to an anchor.
Thus disguised, Sampson knocked at the basement door. It
was opened a little way, the chain still remaining up. The pale
face of a woman was visible.
"What is it?" she asked, sharply and suspiciously.
"Oh! mine tear madam, I vas a trafflin merchant, a pedler. I
haf some beautiful tings vot I vill sold you, mine tear," at the
same time Sampson flourished an embroidered handkerchief
before the woman's eyes.
She looked longingly at the article, but answered, "No," and
was about to close the door in his face.
" Don't go for to shut the door, mine tear. I haf here a real
beauty," said Sampson, now producing a very handsome creamcolored crepe shawl, elaborately embroidered. "See how vresh and
nize it vas, my tear. It vas vorth a huntred tollars. I vill sold it
to you-only to you, for feefty. Dirt sheep, mine tear, dirt sheep.
Shoost look at eet."
The woman stretched out her hand to touch the delicate fabric.
" Dry it on, my tear. If I vas to go round I might get sometings vat it was vorth. Say twenty-five tollars! "
The bait was too much for the woman. She loosed the chain,






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rHE PEDLER AT THE DOOR.




I7o


FAIRLY CAUGHT.


made one step outside 'the door, and Sampson was inside the
house before she realized the situation.
Two of the officers at once rushed from their concealment and
ran to the rear of the house. I joined Sampson, who with pistol
in hand was ready for any emergency. Running through to the
back of the house I let in the two other men, and with this force admitted everything was in our hands. There was no show of fight.
The prisoners were as docile as lambs.  Criminals know that
when fairly caught, to fight only makes matters worse.
We found four persons engaged in making this false money,
Brockway, Thomas, another man and the woman who coveted the
crepe shawl. A press complete in every particular was found in the
basement.  Brockway was cool about the matter.  Going to a
bureau he took out of a drawer a thousand dollars in good bank
bills, and offering them to me, said:
"If you will let me off I'll give you a thousand dollars more."
He had the assurance to produce his bank book, showing there
was something more than that amount to his credit.
"Let one of your men go to the savings bank and draw out the
money," he remarked. "I will give you that provided you make
no search."
I, of course, refused, and we were about to ransack the premises,
when Brockway remarked: "Very well, I will save you a great
deal of trouble."
He went to another bureau and exhibited a quantity of counterfeit one-dollar and two-dollar-and-a-half gold pieces. Then from
a secret drawer he produced the dies. We took nothing for
granted, however. Long strips of metal were found in the cellar
from which the blanks had been punched. By counting these
holes we were satisfied that Brockway had manufactured not less
than a hundred thousand dollars in spurious coin. We took possession of everything, and carried prisoners and machinery to
headquarters. We found the silver imitations were poor, only a
few spurious half-dollars were among them; the gold coins, however, were works of art.
The prisoners were tried in the United States court. We had
no evidence against one of the men, and he was released; but the
others were sentenced and sent to prison. The woman pretended
to be Brockway's wife, and claimed that she acted as a counterfeiter under compulsion; but she could not prove it, and was put




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THE CUNTERFEITERS' DEN.
THE CuUUNTERFEITERS' DEN.


I 8_t




I72


MORNING IN THE HARBOR.


on trial. Brockway was more than fifty years of age, and was tall
and slim. With the exception of Marcus Cicero Stanly, no one
seems to have been personally acquainted with him.
I had the dies put in a neat velvet case and took them to Washington, where they are to be found to-day among the curiosities of
counterfeiting. The Government of the' United States, it might be
thought, would have paid the expenses incurred in arresting the
Brockway party, but such was not the case. The cost was defrayed by the New York Police Department. It was rumored that
the woman was a confirmed opium-eater, but this had not apparently blunted her appreciation of what was really a superb china
crepe shawl.
George MacDonnell was the most expert and persistent forger
and confidence man that ever exercised his cunning on unsuspecting humanity in this country and in Europe. Detection, capture,
and even imprisonment were no restraining influences on the
development of this man's knavish propensities. To paraphrase
Shakespeare's phrase, he was a rascal, take him all in all; I ne'er
shall look upon his like again. Failure goaded him to new endeavors; success nerved him.  That he was shrewd, cautious,
determined and bold goes without saying. It was a long while
before eager justice got a tight grip upon this polished villain, but
when once it did there was no letting up, and MacDonnell was
doomed to pass the remainder of his life in prison stripes. His
last crime was his greatest, for it was no other than swindling the
Bank of England out of one million dollars.
Gray clouds were hanging over New York harbor one summer's
morning in I873. The sun was just making his appearance over
the bastions of Fort Hamilton, and his first rays shone full in the
face of a man who was slowly pacing up and down the dock in
front of the health officer's house at Quarantine. Something was
evidently preying on the man's mind. A close observer would
have noticed lines of care on his forehead. Every now and then
his eyes glanced furtively from beneath his brow and took in the
scope of the harbor. They rested for a moment upon the huge
ocean steamships with their black hulls that lay anchored a dozen
rods or so from shore; they scanned the waters reaching down
into the lower bay, and noticed in the distance the little cloud of
black smoke which betokened the approach of another ocean racer.
Then they turned quickly in the direction of the health officer's




AT QUARANTINE.


I73


house, which sat prettily among the trees of the neighboring bluff.
Suddenly the man's expression brightened, as from above he heard
a sound of feet and beheld the deputy health officer walking down
the path. A few minutes later a steam tug left the dock and puffed
rapidly out to the steamships which lay at rest in the stream.
The strange man on the dock and the deputy health officer were
the tug's only passengers. They boarded the different steamers,
and while the Government officer examined critically for signs of
disease among the incoming passengers, his companion was busily
studying their faces.
"Did you find your man?" the deputy asked, as the two
returned to the tug and were taken back to shore.
No," answered the detective, for such he was. " He isn't on
those vessels."
Other steamers came into port during the day, and this inspection was repeated. The sun reached its zenith, sank slowly in the
west, and was finally gilding Fort Hamilton from over in the
Jersey marshes.
At this time another steamer came through the Narrows
and anchored off Quarantine.  Again the deputy health officer and the detective went out to board her. She was the "Thuringia." The passengers were called up for examination, and
among the number was one who answered the description of George
MacDonnell, the object of the detective's search.
"You are my prisoner," said the detective, quietly.
The man started back, and then in apparent indignation demanded, "What do you mean, sir? I want to know the meaning
of this insult."
MacDonnell, the forger, was tall, well-built and very handsome.
His voice was gentle, except when he was angry, and he possessed
a ready vocabulary. He had a delicately fair skin, and wore a
dark brown beard. He was not the man you would have picked
out for a criminal. But the detective's experience had taught him
to be no respecter of appearances, and even when his distinguished prisoner professed to be greatly insulted, and threatened
in loud tones to make the officer " pay bitterly for this outrage," as
he called it, the detective had no idea of letting him go. MacDonnell was taken to jail as soon as the "Thuringia " landed at
her pier, and'was held for examination.
The clever bit of forgery of which he was accused was accom



V

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I




174




A "BUSINESS" FIRM.


x75


plished in this manner: After having prospered for years in their
devices for swindling, MacDonnell and three associates, Austin
and Biron Bidwell, brothers, and Edwin Noyes, conceived the
gigantic scheme of defrauding the Bank of England out of many
hundred thousands of dollars. The reputation of the bank for
conservatism and shrewdness in management did not warn them.
They knew that untold millions were there to steal, and they
boldly matched their wits against those of the bank officers. Their
plans were well laid. They went at their task deliberately and
cautiously. They established an office in London, and put a large
amount of money in their business. The firm's name was "MacDonnell & Co.," and they deposited English gold in the vaults of
the Bank of England. They were in no hurry to reap the rewards
of their iniquitous conspiracy. They carried on a legitimate business for months, and made a reputation for honesty and fair dealing. George MacDonnell opened an account with the western
branch of the bank, and waited patiently for an opportunity to
execute his forgeries. When the conspirators thought the time
had come, they set to work to manufacture the forged bills. This
required great'ingenuity and labor. It was necessary to copy
exactly, water marks and all, the particular kind of paper used by
the various firms upon which they intended to draw the bills.
This was done so carefully and perfectly, that when the forgeries
were at last discovered it was not because the genuineness of the
bills was questioned. They were payable in three months, and
the forgers had no difficulty in discounting them. But by a very
careless blunder, MacDonnell and his associates forgot to put the
date of acceptance on two of the bills which they presented at the
bank, and the firms whose names were upon the paper were asked
by the bank officers to rectify the supposed mistake. Then of
course the bills were pronounced forgeries.
It was too late, however, to capture the forgers. They had
taken alarm and fled with nearly a million dollars, the earnings of
their.conspiracy. MacDonnell was supposed to have gone to New
York, and a minute description of him was cabled thither. It was
for the man of this description that the detective at Quarantine
searched all incoming vessels, and at last found him on the
"'Thuringia."  MacDonnell's associates were afterwards discovered in this country, and all four were taken to London. On
August 26, I873, ir the Old Bailey Court, they were convicted




176


WESTERN SOCIABILITY.


and sentenced to hard labor for life. By good fortune the bank
officers recovered the bulk of the stolen money.
MacDonnell was well known to the police of this country. Previous to this, his last crime, he had performed many daring swindling operations on this side the water. Once, while on his way to
New York from the West, he made the acquaintance of a goodnatured cattle drover. MacDonnell called into play his most fascinating manners, talked brilliantly, and made a deep impression
on the Westerner. Both drank frequently from the flask of excellent brandy which the forger carried with him, and soon the cattleman was sound asleep. It was a very easy matter then for MacDonnell to take his companion's pocket-book. This he did, and
was richer by $2600. He placed the money in some newspapers
he had with him, and addressing them to a fictitious name in this
city posted them at the next station.
By the time the drover awoke the train was at a junction, and
he invited MacDonnell to take luncheon with him. The two ate,
and when they had finished the drover took out his pocket-book to
pay the bill. He found to his astonishment that it was empty.
He turned to his companion and said:
" I had $2600 in that pocket-book; where is it?"
"Do you accuse me of taking it?" asked MacDonnell indignantly, and then insisted upon being searched. This was done, but
nothing of course was found. The cattleman was greatly humbled, and naturally ashamed of himself for his suspicions. During
the rest of his journey he treated MacDonnell with the greatest
courtesy, and apologized over and over again for his rudeness. At
Buffalo they parted the best of friends. MacDonnell came to
New York, secured the papers with the money inclosed, and enjoyed the profits of his ill-gotten gains.
In the autumn of i867 MacDonnell was in New York. He
answered the advertisement of Dr. James W. Barnard, a well
known physician on Fifth Avenue, who wished to rent the front
parlor and adjoining rooms of his house. Calling at the house
and presenting a card on which was the name of Henry B. Livingston, he represented himself as an English traveller who was
tired of hotel life. After inspecting the rooms he agreed to take
them. The rent was high, but he professed no objection, and
paid part of it in advance. During his call he was accompanied
by a valet, whom he addressed as Clarence.




DIAMONDS AND DUPES.


I77


Later on the same day he went to Tiffany's and asked to look
at diamonds. He chose a brooch with seven stones, a solitaire
ring, two diamond ear drops, and two large unset diamonds. The
value of all was about $2500. He gave his name to the salesman
as W. H. Barnard, and said that he had not sufficient money with
him to pay for the diamonds, but would go down town and see his
father. Pretty soon he returned and said that his father was out,
but that he had left word to have the money left at his residence
on Fifth Avenue. His carriage was outside, he said, and he invited the salesman to take the diamonds and ride with him to his
house, where he would be paid. The salesman assented, and they
were driven off by a coachman whom MacDonnell called " Charles."
They stopped at Dr. Barnard's residence, and went in the parlor.
MacDonnpll asked Clarence, who was there, where his father was.
Clarence replied that he had just stepped out, mentioning where
he had gone. Then MacDonnell told his valet to go after him
and get the money for the diamonds. Clarence did so, and returned with a check drawn for the proper amount upon a prominent bank, and signed by Jas. W. Barnard. This was given to the
salesman, and he departed with the worthless check. MacDonnell
and Clarence, who was no less than one of the Bidwells, left the
city at once. Charles, the coachman, had been in the conspiracy,
but his companions had " shelved " him at the last moment, and
he, through spite, divulged the fraud. MacDonnell was found by
detectives in Portland, Maine, and brought back to New York, where
he was sentenced to prison for three years. Bidwell escaped.
12




CHAPTER XIV.


DISPUTE WITH THE POLICE COMMISSIONERS.-CRANKS WHO WRITE
LETTERS.-EXPECTING COUNTERFEIT NOTES AND GETTING SAWDUST. A LITTLE BY-PLAY ON BROADWAY. — THE THIRD DEGREE. -THE MAN WHO PULLED OUT HIS WHISKERS.-FACTS
ABOUT THE FINEST FORCE.
I WAS appointed superintendent of police on July 23, I874.
At that time the force consisted of four inspectors, thirty-six
captains, one hundred and thirty-five sergeants, two thousand two
hundred and seventy-two patrolmen and eighty doormen-making a total of 2521.
In a strictly legal sense, the superintendent of the New York
police is the executive officer of the department; but during the
eleven years I occupied the position my powers were considerably
curtailed, with the exception of the short period when Mr. Matsell
was president of the Police Board. At the time I was appointed
superintendent, the Board of Police had authority under a special
act of the Legislature to remove me when they pleased.  This
arbitrary power they held until the Consolidation Act was passed
in 1882. It will be at once manifest that if, under the old act, the
superintendent attempted to carry out the promptings of his own
judgment, and his actions happened to be at variance with the ideas
of any member of the Police Board, that member in all probability
became his enemy. Under such circumstances it can readily be
seen that the removal of the superintendent would not be a very
difficult thing to bring about.
As a general rule, the subjects of dispute between the police
commissioners and myself were not of major importance. There
was one point, however, on which we never could agree, and that
was in regard to the duties of the inspectors. Prior to my assuming the position, captains were responsible to the superintendent
personally; they were under his immediate control and not under
that of the inspectors. By more recent regulations, the inspectors
received the reports of the captains. They thus came between me
I78




A STEP HIGHER.


I79


and the latter. The inspectors were four in number, and when
Inspector Byrnes was appointed he was given command of the detective force, which had heretofore been under my control. His
duties differed materially from those of the others. The captains
of the various precincts, therefore, did not feel under any special
responsibility to him, as no analogy exists between the work of the
detectives and that of the general patrol force. Under the new
rule, captains soon came to consider that the inspector of their


district was the officer to whom their allegiance was directly due,
and whose instructions they should follow. With such a divided
responsibility and authority, a great many matters occurred in the
city which might be classed among lesser misdemeanors, and
which did n6t come under the immediate notice of the superintendent, and only reached his ears after some lapse of time. Orders,
too, emanating from the superintendent and addressed to the captains through the medium of the inspectors, were imparted by the
latter in a half-hearted manner. In fact, it rested wholly with the
inspectors themselves whether the superintendent's wishes should
be supported cr practically ignored. I have every reason to be



*


I8o            ROUTINE.-EVERYBODY 'S FRIEND.
lieve that because the inspectors failed to give me the aid which
they should have given the laws in regard to gambling, lotteries
and policy playing were not enforced. Had the old and intimate
relations which heretofore existed between the superintendent and
captains continued, I am certain I could have suppressed many
of the evils to which I have alluded.
Mr. Hawley, who was chief clerk, co-operated most heartily
with me in the endeavor to effect a change in these rules relative
to inspectors. Our efforts were in vain; but I am pleased to know
that Mr. Murray, my successor, who, as inspector and with the
other inspectors opposed the change, has now urged the very identical changes which I had tried to obtain for.so many years, and
that his " requests" have been complied with.
To explain in detail the varied work which falls to the lot of the
police superintendent in New York would occupy many pages, and
I can give only a brief sketch of his complex duties. The hours
of the day, even when re-enforced by those of the night, are barely
sufficient to meet all the requirements of the situation. It was my
habit to be at the office promptly at eight o'clock in the morning,
and, with the exception of a brief interval for luncheon, to remain
there until six o'clock at night. Sunday was never a day of rest
to me. I was always prepared for night work, and was frequently
called upon at the most unexpected hours. It was also my duty
to be present at all riots, serious fires, etc. Anything like regular
hours or an established routine of work was altogether impossible.
The daily mail of a New York superintendent of police is
very large. Everybody in the United States seems to want to
write to him; and besides the letters from this country, he gets
communications from all over the world. Everybody with a
grievance of any kind addresses him; and in addition to a great
deal of trivial matter, no small amount of important business
reaches his busy hands. The bulk of his correspondence comes
from people who complain of having been " swindled." In most
cases of this kind even a cursory examination of the letters shows
that the "swindled" are not above suspicion themselves. The
grievances are many. Some say they have sent good money,
expecting to receive counterfeit notes in return, and got nothing
but blank paper or sawdust. Others expected to obtain a $250
piano for $5; a $60 sewing machine for $2; or a $Io washer and
wringer for fifty cents. And because their expectations were




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POLIC"E IIEADQUARTERS, 'MULBERRY STREET.




182


CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS,


not realized they get angry, denounce the "swindler" to the
superintendent, and demand justice. To such I paid no attention.
But whenever it was clear that a fraud or swindle had been
perpetrated, I always did the best I could to make it "warm"
for those who were carrying on the crooked business.
With letters of this kind there come to the superintendent
inquiries demanding his closest attention. Many of these are
of a strictly private, or family, character. A man is paying
attention to a woman who lives a thousand miles from New
York, and has told her that he formerly resided in this city; that
he' is unmarried, in independent circumstances and of fair
repute. "There is something," says the writer, "which is not
quite plain in regard to the gentleman who sues for the lady's
hand. Will the superintendent kindly find out all he can?"
Why, if the superintendent's office were the General Intelligence
Bureau of the Continent of North America it would not suffice
for the numerous and preposterous demands made upon its time
and patience. Some people seem to have the impression that
the superintendent is at the head of a commercial agency, and
it is not unusual to find in the correspondence requests
that the financial standing, probity and so on, of such and such
a firm shall be investigated and revealed. If it were possible
to give such information as is requested by anxious parents,
lovers, and creditors, the superintendent would be perfectly
willing to impart all he knows; but in most cases he is helpless.
On every day in the year the office of the superintendent is in
communication with the leading cities of the United States in
regard to business which is particularly within his province: the
whereabouts and conduct of criminals. A robbery is committed,
and the perpetrator is supposed to have fled to New York. A
description of him is immediately sent to the New York police.
Or perhaps a burglary has occurred in this city, and the criminal
is stealthily making his way to some other place; if we have a
photograph of the supposed culprit, a number of his pictures are
immediately struck off and forwarded, together with printed particulars of the robbery and the articles stolen, to-all parts of the
country.
Foreign letters are frequent. Germans, Frenchmen, Italians,
Swedes, Norwegians, English, Irish, Scotch and persons of all
other nationalities who have sons or daughters in the United




DUTIES.


i83


States (and in South America even, sometimes), write to the
superintendent to learn of their children's whereabouts. Whenever possible, inquiries of this nature are given attention.
A considerable portion of the superintendent's time is taken up
by callers, and many valuable hours are lost through the thoughtlessness of persons who come on all kinds of matters which are
utterly foreign to police business. Everybody, however, must be
listened- to attentively, for now and then a genuine grievance
'fill


SUPERINTENDENT WALLING'S OFFICE.
comes to light, requiring prompt action. The " routine " work of
the superintendent alone requires a great deal of time and attention, no matter how commonplace it may seem.
All parades and public meetings come under the supervision of
the superintendent. In such cases, notice of the time and place
and route is sent to headquarters. If a procession is likely to be
large, the superintendent studies the route, and instructions concerning the disposition of the force are sent to the police captains.
During the close presidential contest of 1884 the police force was
taxed to its utmost, and from the superintendent down to the patrolmen not one had scarcely a moment's rest for three weeks.




184


BY-PLAY ON BROADWAY.


And let me say here that the good sense and temper of the cornm
munity were never more conspicuous than on those occasions.
The tens of thousands of excited people who congregated on the
streets were easily managed.
The superintendent has no leisure. His position is no sinecure
or bed of roses; and with the rapid growth of New York and the
country of which it is the commercial mart, his responsibilities are
rapidly increasing.
The reader will be interested in the actual circumstances usually
attendant upon the arrest of a criminal by a Central Office detective, and I cannot do better than narrate an incident which occurred some time ago. In company with a Western friend interested in police matters, I was walking on Broadway one afternoon
in the vicinity of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, when I caught sight of
a little by-play which was going on unnoticed by the large number
of persons on the street. An exceedingly well-dressed individual,
wearing modest but expensive jewellery, was engaged in apparently
friendly conversation with another man, about whom there was
nothing to attract observation, unless it was his efforts to escape
it.
" Do you see that?" I asked of my friend, pointing out the two
men.
"Yes," he replied; "but what about them?"
"Well, one of them is a detective, and the other is a forger
whom he is arrestipg."
"Tell me all about it," said my friend. "I've long wanted to
know the modus operandi of such a capture-the conversation and
so on between the detective and his prisoner."
"That detective is 'Phil', and his prisoner is John -.
I think I can guess at the conversation between them. I'll wager
it's something after this fashion:
"' How are you, John?'
" 'O, first-rate, thank you, Phil,' answers the fellow, knowing
well that Phil's inquiry bodes him no good.
"'John, the old man [that's me] wants to see you.'
"' All right. I'll go along.'
"'Well, look here, no skipping. I'm fixed, and there might be
a little accident if you tried to go as you please here. Understand?'




ROGUES' GALLERY AND MEMENTOES.




i86


HOW THEY WENT.


"'Why, certainly, Phil. Don't suppose I'm going to give you
the slip, do you?' "
The detective and his prisoner now walked along the street,
and we followed. The pair had the appearance of being old
friends, just going to take a drink. There was no exhibition of
revolver or "billy," nippers or handcuffs. John knew well that
even if he made a bolt and escaped the bullets from Phil's pistol,
his re-arrest would quickly follow, and an exhibition of his ability
as a pedestrian would be accepted as an evidence of his guilt.


THE CELL CORRIDOR.


"John," I informed my friend, "is a notorious 'layer down' of
checks, who has given the community and the police a great deal
of trouble."
The two jumped aboard a car and alighted at Bleecker Street.
We followed, and my Western acquaintance could not avoid
remarking that Phil walked along as if he didn't know of any such
place as police headquarters. Turning into Mott Street, Phil
and his charge approached the rear of the Central Office, went
down a flight of stairs, and entered a corridor just outside of what
is used as an office by the boiler inspectors and policemen detailed
to enforce the health ordinances. Phil was anxious that his chief




4 ALL HOPE ABANDON."            8


i87


should know what he had achieved, while John, knowing too well
who had him in custody, was aware that the sooner he got in a
cell the sooner he would have a little comfort.
So far, no sign of a prison has met the eye. But the detective
and his man now reach a door fitted with heavy springs, on which
might be written, " All hope abandon ye who enter here." This
door gives entrance to a gloomy-looking arched passage-way, on


THE MUSEUM.-BURGLARS' TOOLS.
either side of which are yards paved with stone slabs. There is
no chance for escape.  The walls surrounding the yards rise to
the level of the fifth story, and are unscalable.  To the left is a
huge chamber barred with iron windows and fitted with iron doors,
and used for the safe confinement of large numbers of prisoners,
as in times of riot. To the right are two sets of casemates,
arranged with cells, out of which nobody, even if left alone and
possessed of -the most improved tools, could escape. Hurrying




i88


"8 BRIDGE OF SIGHS."


his prisoner along, Phil turns sharply to the right, to a yard Lun.er
hle " Bridge of Sighs," as it is called, the connecting link between
the office of the superintendent and the Detective Bureau. A
ring at the wooden door brings Turnkey Birney to view. He is
bearded and has a martial and business-like air, and his eyes are
as piercing as a gimlet. He appreciates the situation at a glance,
opens wide the door, and when his visitors have passed through


THE MUSEUM.-RELICS OF CRIME.
closes it with a resounding slam. Birney follows the officer and
his prisoner past the "day room " of the detectives, where they
pass the time while waiting for orders in writing " baby letters"
and playing dominoes. The prisoner is then conducted up one of
the worst corkscrew staircases that ever a builder constructed.
The landing on the top leads directly into the main office of the
Detective Bureau-an ample, lofty apartment, railed off at the east
end. Outside the railing is a measuring-stand and a subordinate




" DEACON " BIRD.


I89


rogues' gallery. Behind is venerable "Deacon" Sergeant Isaac
Bird, spare, angular, always exceedingly neat, particular, whitebearded, amiable, business-like and gentlemanly. He is of course
busy when Phil and his charge enter, but he leaves his mysterious
occupation to reach for the " blotter," while he says:
"What's the case?"
"Forgery," replies Phil, in a mechanical tone of voice.
The "Deacon " dips his pen in the ink, searches for the proper
line, and then, addressing the prisoner, says:
"What's your name?"
"John Jones."
The " Deacon " glances at Jones, and then makes an entry of
the single letter "W." This signifies "white."
"Your age?"
"Thirty-five."
"Born?"
"United States."
"Married or single?"
"Married."
"Occupation?"
"Speculator."
Then the " Deacon," without consulting the prisoner, and as if
holding communion with himself alone, murmurs:
"Forgery," and enters it.
"Complainant? " he then inquires.
"Phil Riley. Guess the chief wants to see this man." (This
means chief of detectives, not the superintendent of police.)
" Well, wait a second, I'll see."  Saying which the " Deacon"
disappears through a doorway, only to reappear after a brief
absence and hold up his finger. This indicates that the prisoner
is going to pass a bad quarter of an hour, or what is known in
police slang as " getting the third degree."
Phil accordingly hurries his charge into the presence of Inspector Byrnes, who is fully prepared to receive his visitors. He
has struck a meditative attitude behind his low but simple desk,
crossed his legs, and begins operations by casting. a short, sharp
glance at unfortunate John Jones. John knows the inspector, so
he makes a humble salutation. If the interview is likely to be a
prolonged one he is waved to a seat. Not so with Phil; if it lasted
all day he must stand.




I90


BEFORE THE INSPECTOR.


John Jones enters the presence of Mr. Byrnes, determined to do
the best he can for himself. The inspector is perfectly well aware
of John's intention and proceeds to upset it. Of course Jones has
certain secrets connected with his nefarious profession; but the
inspector soon shows him that the possession of such secrets is a
joint stock affair. All that Jones has done, or nearly all, for
months, appears to be as familiar to the inspector as to the prisoner himself. He begins to forget an original intention of keepINSPECTOR BYRNES'S OFFICE.
ing " mum," is entrapped into making admissions and contradictions, and generally ends by " squealing."  Some prisoners under
this ordeal are not so easily brought to confession. A few hours
sojourn in a cell, however, pondering over the inspector's parting
words frequently brings them to terms, and ready to impart such
information as the-authorities desire at the next interview.
The interview ended, John Jones goes back before the
"Deacon," and if he has not vet been searched, that operation is
in order. The man who "goes through him" has become expert
by long experience. His search is not an ordinary one of pockets
merely. It is thorough. It includes from hat to boots, seams,
tailors' "pocket tricks," hat band, hat lining, boot heels, watch




THE SEARCH.


I9t


case, underwear, even the prisoner's person,-all are ruthlessly
examined, and each article found in his possession is placed upon
the broad shelf in front of the " Deacon," by whom it is subjected
to a close scrutiny. Such articles as relate to the charge against
the prisoner, and any instruments with which he might inflict
injury upon himself, are laid aside. Generally he has returned to
him possessions of no value, small sums of money and so on. If
r,< I~~~ ~ ~  ~~~.~X{1l  f  1|~' a,   e:n1l 1/;'v --


PRIVATE ROOMS, CENTRAL OFFICE.


the prisoner's photograph is not in the possession of the police, or
has been secured bv them at such a remote day as to be valueless
in recognizing him, he is walked off by the detective, in the same
apparently friendly way as that with which he came to headquarters, to one of three Bowery photographers. The conversation
during the walk is almost invariably the same. The prisoner
ranks his captor as among the dearest of his friends, and addresses
him by his Christian name, asking him confidentially concerning
the nature of the charge against him. the evidence in possession of
the police and his "chances." The dete tive does not, of course,
answer all the questions put to him, but generally outlines what he
has against him, and seldom omits to interject a few grains of




CHAS. WILLIAMS. (No. 843.)
(From a Photograph taken under Duress.)


192




TURNKEY BIRNEY AGAIN.


193


comfort. At the photographer's the prisoner is treated as an ordinary customer. He poses, as a rule, to the best advantage, vanity
impels him to look his best, the negative is examined, pronounced
satisfactory or otherwise, and when a good likeness is assured, the
detective and his man chat on their way back to the Central
Office.
First-class "professionals " undergo the process of having their
faces handed down to infamy with bad grace. Not infrequently
they resist the taking of their photograph in a most vigorous
manner. Under the old method, such a prisoner was difficult to
photograph. Even when force was used it was found impossible
to obtain other than distorted features for the gallery.  Now-adays, however, by means of the instantaneous process, and by
catching the reluctant sitter at an unguarded moment, portraits
sufficiently correct for the required purpose are always obtained.
When once more back at the Central Office, John Jones is
treated kindly, and his personal wants are inquired into. If he is
hungry, a generous meal is soon provided, either from the kitchen
of Mrs. Mary Webb, the matron, or from a neighboring restaurant,
if the prisoner has money. His defence is not neglected, either,
if he can defray the cost of employing a messenger. The majority of thieves have their pet lawyers, and a message speedily
brings the latter to their clients.  Such visits, except in cases
where it would be possible for an unscrupulous lawyer to. thwart
the ends of justice by making away with evidence or property
necessary to convict the criminal, are regarded as sacredly confidential.
The prisoner is now handed over to Turnkey Birney, who conducts him down the corkscrew staircase and places him in whatever cell may be empty at the time. All the cells are alike.
The furniture consists of but one article-a slanting board, with a
raised ledge at the higher end in lieu of a pillow. If, on the next
morning, he desires to employ a barber, he can do so, provided
that in the process of shaving no hair is cut from the head or from
the whiskers or mustache. It has now and then happened that,
in order to avoid identification, prisoners have gone so far as to
burn their beard and mustache off. Others have been known to
hack their whiskers with a pocket-knife. But the most remarkable instance of all was where a man, with whiskers on his chin,
actually pulled out the hairs one by one rather than run the risk
'!




194


" THE FINEST."


of being identified the next morning in court. The agony he endured must have been excruciating, but he had his reward-the
witnesses were unable to swear to his identity.
The police force of New York City is without doubt the finest
organization of its kind in the world. The men composing it are
finer looking, better paid, more vigilant than the protectors of any
other large city. No organization is more effective either; and
even if our police do not exercise that perpetual espionage over
individual citizens that the Parisian gendarmes exercise, they are
better trained, more athletic, more resolute and hardy. The esprit de corps which prevails is unequalled in any other city. Then,
too, the men are given to understand that their actions, when
governed by a desire for the public good, will be protected and upheld by the courts. In this respect the New York police have
unusual liberty of action-more by far than the London police, who
dare not lay a finger on a man unless he is engaged in the very
act of violating the law. Here, however, it is often a case of
"giving a dog a bad name and then hanging him,"-men being
arrested merely because they are known to have been law-breakers
or persons of bad character. But in London, and in other large
cities of the Old World, thieves, burglars and criminals of all classes
march past the guardians of peace and law, feeling confident that
they are safe from arrest so long as they are not caught in the
act of law-breaking. A band of pickpockets may rush through a
crowd at Hyde Park, or hustle the throngs that gather upon
Epsom Downs on the " Derby Day," but the police are powerless.
A howling mob of ten or twenty thousand rascals may gather in
Trafalgar Square with the declared intention of sacking Buckingham Palace, but the police can only stand round, waiting for the
commission of some illegal act-the throwing of a stone, the tearing down of a fence-before taking any active part in stopping
the performance.
With " the finest," as the New York police are sometimes called,
criminals do not experience such forbearance.  A New York
police officer knows he has been sworn in to "keep the peace," and
he keeps it.  There's no "shilly-shallying" with him; he doesn't
consider himself half patrolman and half supreme court judge.
He can and does arrest on suspicion.  In times of turbulence, or
threatened rioting, he keeps people moving. If men or women
who are notorious enter places of amusement, a policeman is very




POLICE PARADE, BROADWAY.


'195




I96


MY EXPERIENCES


likely to eject them. If they don't go quietly and without many
words, the station-house becomes their abiding-place for the night.
The London police do not arrest for gross intoxication and disturbance in the street, or for street-walking, as our police do. In
New York, prostitutes are not allowed to pursue their calling in a
bold and shameless manner. When I was irr London I remember
standing by the " Old Bailey " and seeing a drunken sailor between two drunken women, chaffing the policemen as they went
along and shouting and swearing at the wayfarers. This would
not be allowed here one minute.
I stood by Charing Cross one day with Police Commissioner
Matthews. Two of his friends stopped him, and while they were
talking, a woman who was very noisy and drunken came staggering along.  She accosted them with some ribaldry and they
moved away to avoid her. She then came and harangued me. I
said:
" Get out! Move on! I'll have you arrested if you don't go
away."
She turned around and denounced and defied me with a profane and obscene expression. Policemen were close by, but they
paid no attention to her. In London and Liverpool are seen multitudes of lewd women in the streets, and the police never molest
them.
When I was captain of detectives I assumed a liberty which
had never been taken by any of my predecessors. That was, on
every public holiday, or in the event of large parades, to issue this
order to the detective force: " Arrest all known pickpockets on
the streets, and take them in." Of course my action caused considerable consternation in the ranks of the " crooked" fraternity.
Some remonstrated, and not a few were furious at my " restraining
the liberty of the subject." A considerable number clubbed together and hired a lawyer to argue the matter before the courts.
It was no use; my order was sustained and remains to this day.
When the Prince of Wales visited this country he expressed his
astonishment at the ease with which the police of New York controlled the large crowds in the streets. The Duke of Newcastle
noticed the same thing. As a contrast, the fact may be mentioned
that afterwards, when the Prince and Princess of Wales gave a reception in London, the mob there overpowered the police, seven
persons were killed and hundreds were wounded, to say nothing




WHILE ABROAD.                  197
of the robberies effected in the consequent confusion. When the
"Great Eastern "was on exhibition in England, the pickpockets
reaped a rich harvest, many thousands of pounds being reported
stolen. When the mammoth steamship was exhibited here, however, not a dime was known to have been taken, although she was
visited by more than a hundred thousand persons and only six
policemen were on duty.




CHAPTER XV.


KIDNAPPING OF CHARLEY ROSS.-MYSTERIOUS LETTERS.-ON     THE
TRACK OF THE CRIMINALS.-SEARCHING LAND AND WATER.A TREACHEROUS AID.-THE BURGLARY AT VAN BRUNT S HOUSE.
-DEATH OF THE ABDUCTORS.
OF all my experiences while connected with the police I recall no
case which gave me greater solicitude than the abduction of
Charley Ross. This occurred on the evening of Wednesday, July
I, i874, at Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia. I became
superintendent of police on July 23, and in consequence I took
an active part in the search for the child and the discovery of the
kidnappers.
The crime was one which called for vigorous and continued
action. For some years after the futility of the search became
evident the abduction was repeatedly brought to my memory. In
this case my sympathies were particularly enlisted.
The first intimation the public had of the abduction was oained
from the following advertisement which appeared on July 3 in
the Philadelphia Public Ledger:
"Lost, on the first instant, a small boy about four years of age; light complexion, and light curly hair. A suitable reward will be paid on his return to
E. L. Joyce, Central Station, corner of Fifth and Chestnut streets."
The name " Ross" was not mentioned in this notice, as Mr.
Christian K. Ross, the father, did not wish to alarm his wife, who
was spending a few weeks at Atlantic City. When Mr. Ross came
home on July i he discovered that his two youngest children,
Walter and Charley, were missing. He began search, and before
night learned that two strange men, with a horse and wagon, had
passed his house and had induced the boys to take a ride. After
driving about eight miles toward the city the men deserted
Walter. He was found and returned to his father's house. But
Charley has never since been seen by his parents.
The community became alarmed, and with the entire police
198




SPREADING THE ALARM.


199


force of Philadelphia a vigorous search was begun. On the evening of July 4 Mr. Ross received the first unsigned letter from
the abductors. It was in a disguised handwriting, and contained
much purposely-incorrect spelling, as the following extract will
show:
"July 3. Mr. Ros: be not uneasy you son Charley bruster be all writ we is
got him and no powers on earth can deliver out of our hand. you wil hav two
pay us befor you git him from us, and pay us a big cent to.... if any aproch
is maid to his hidin place that is the signil for his instant anihilation."
CHARLEY ROSS.
(From a Photograph.)
July 7, posters, giving an account of the abduction of Charley
Ross, and offering a reward, were sent to the New York police.
All this time the Philadelphia police, as well as that of the cities
and towns in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, continued
their search for the abductors. In a short time the people of the
entire country became interested in the matter, and all did what
they could to discover the criminals and restore the missing child.
Much sympathy was also expressed in Europe, and wherever newspapers were read the fate of Charley Ross was discussed and
deplored..A long correspondence followed with the unknown abductors,
through the post and press. They frankly admitted that Charley
had been stolen with the hope of getting a large ransom. They
declared that he would not be returned until the money was paid.




200


REWARDS, NOT RANSOM.


Acting upon the advice of the authorities and friends, Mr. Ross
decided not to pay the sum asked, but to offer large rewards for
the recovery of the child, and the capture and conviction of the
kidnappers. The Mayor of Philadelphia, at the request of many
citizens, offered a reward of $20,000 for the arrest and conviction
of the abductors and the restoration of the child to its parents.
The publication of this reward drew a letter from the abductors,
dated " Philadelphia, July 24," in which they said:" We have him so that we feel at ease against all the detective force in. the
country ever feritin him out. the authorities have offered $20,000 for the recovery of the child an detection of us if they had yu interest at hart this would
be the worst thing they could do. this is only oferin a reward for the sacrifice
of yu child."
The abductors continued the correspondence for a long time, and
made many attempts to induce Mr. Ross to pay them $20,000 for
Charley's return. Finally the correspondence closed, and the
search proved fruitless.
The first information received in Philadelphia that there was
any clew known in New York was through a telegram received on
the evening of August 2, as follows:
"Chief of Police of Philadelphia:-Send detective here with original letters of
kidnappers of Ross child; think I have information.
" GEO. W. WALLING,
"Superintendent of New York Police."
The next day Captain Heins, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Joseph
Ross, brother of Charley Ross's father, came to New York with
the original letters of the abductors.  They met me at police
headquarters.
" We hope that you at least have some trustworthy information,"
said Captain Heins.
" I think I have," I replied. " Through Captain Henry Hedden,
of the Thirteenth Police District, I have heard of a man who
professes to know who the abductors are. I will send for Captain
Hedden." Mr. Ross was impatient to learn the news.
" Have you any idea who the abductors were? " he asked.
" We suspect two men named William Mosher and.Joseph
Douglas," I answered.
"If we have their names," he exclaimed, eagerly, " they can be
hunted down."




THE SUSPECTED MEN.


20I


"Undoubtedly. And that is what we hope to do."
I do not think, before the publication of this autobiography, that
the exact reasons have been given why William Mosher was first
suspected. A policeman named Doyle came to me one day and
said:
" Superintendent, I have been talking with 'Gill ' Mosher, and
from all I have learned I think his brother William had a hand in
carrying off Charley Ross."
"Bring 'Gill' Mosher to see me, as soon as you can," I ordered.
After a great deal of searching and trouble, " Gill " Mosher was
found. After asking him many questions I finally said:"What are your reasons for suspecting that your brother
William took part in the kidnapping of Charley Ross?"
"Well," he replied, " I was approached by Bill, who asked me
if I would join him in carrying off some child who had rich parents.
The plan was to steal one of Commodore Vanderbilt's grandchildren."-(Some child of the late William H. Vanderbilt.)
" Which one of the children was to be taken?" I asked.
"The youngest one we could get."
"What would you do with it?"
"Hold it for a ransom."
"Where did he propose to conceal the child?"
"In a boat," said " Gill" Mosher. "And," he added, " I was
to negotiate for the ransom."
"Well, what then? "
"I refused to have anything to do with the business."
"Why?"
"Because I thought there would be too much risk in trying to
get money from the Vanderbilts. They are too rich, have too much
power and are not the kind of people to be frightened. There
would be no trouble in stealing the child, the difficulty would be
in negotiating for its ransom."
" So you gave up the plan?"
"Yes; I would not run the risk of being detected. I did not
think it was a safe enterprise."
"Gill" Mosher's statement made a strong impression on' me.
I was convinced he did not come to me from any honest motives.
He hoped he might secure a share of the reward. He was a notorious character, and had been in State Prison for horse-stealing.




202


ON THE TRACK.


It was principally from the clew given by " Gill " Mosher that we
followed his brother William, and Douglas. When Captain Hedden arrived at police headquarters he told Captain Heins, of Philadelphia, the story as narrated by " Gill" Mosher. He added:
"If my suspicions are correct, this William Mosher is the leader
of the conspiracy. He arranged the plot and is the writer of the
letters sent to Mr. Ross. I am familiar with Mosher's writing,
and can tell if I see the letters whether he is the author of them."
" Before we show you the letters," said Captain Heins, "describe
to us the peculiarities of Mosher's handwriting."
" He writes very rapidly," was the reply, " and is careless. He
seldom finishes a page without blotting it. He often writes either
above or below the lines. When he folds a letter it is in a peculiar
and awkward way."
The letters were produced.
"They are his, without the shadow of a doubt!" exclaimed
Hedden. " Here is the handwriting, blots and all, just as I told
you. And you see for yourselves, gentlemen, that the letters are
folded in a peculiar and awkward manner."
This identification of the letters seemed conclusive. It produced
a profound impression upon Captain Heins and Mr. Ross.
"At last! " exclaimed Charley's uncle.
Arrangements were made with the New York detectives that
the Philadelphia police should be kept informed of all that transpired, and whatever assistance could be given in Philadelphia
should be forthcoming.
Captain Hedden afterwards learned that Mosher and Douglas
manufactured a moth preventive, which they called "Mothee."
They travelled about the country with a horse and wagon, selling
this with other small articles. He also discovered that Mosher
had a brother-in-law, William Westervelt, a discharged police officer, of New York, who was probably implicated in the abduction.
I wrote the following letter to Captain Heins, of Philadelphia,
on August 1, 1874:
" Dear Sir:-The bearer, Officer Doyle, and another man, go to your city, and
intelfd going on to Baltimore, where the family of Johnson (Mosher) lived a
few weeks since. Johnson, we think, is the prime mover in the Ross abduction.
Mr. Doyle and the man who is with him both know Johnson and his family
well. This Johnson has a wife and four children. Sometime since he escaped
from jail at Freehold, N. J., while awaiting trial for burglary. His correct




MISSIVES.


203


name is William Mosher. It may be that we are on the wrong scent; but I
think not. If they can'locate Johnson's family, we can certainly find his whereabouts.
" Yours respectfully,
"GEO. W. WALLING,
"Sujperintendent."
The search for Mosher in Baltimore and Philadelphia was disappointing, and the two men returned to New York. On the I3th I
wrote again to Captain Heins, as follows:
"Dear Sir:-If we are right in our suspicions, and the parties that Detective
Doyle and his companion are searching for in Baltimore are guilty of abducting
the Ross child, in all probability the child is kept on board of a small boat, and
may be in your vicinity.
"Yours, in haste,
"G. W. WALLING."
I knew that " Bill" Mosher lived on the water, and as he had
been implicated in cases with river pirates this made it tolerably
clear that a boat would be used by him     and Douglas to evade
pursuit. Pinkerton's men were engaged for awhile on the case,
yet with all their endeavors they failed to discover anything relating to the mystery.
On August 24, I874, I wrote to Captain Heins the following:
" Yours of 22d received. I am more confident than ever that the parties, Clark
and Mosher, alias Johnson, are the parties we want. I knew before receiving
your letter that they were somewhere in this vicinity. Some one has let them
know that they are being looked after, and that is the reason for their change
of tone. They are frightened, and would, I believe, make terms very moderate,
provided they could be assured of safety. There is no danger of their going to
Europe; they have no money, and Mosher's wife and children would keep him
here. Of this you can assure Mr. Ross, providing I am right as to the parties,
and I have no doubt of it. I think it would be well for Mr. Ross to keep in
communication (if possiblej with them.
' Yours, in haste,
"GEO. W. WALLING,
"Superintendent of Police."
I sent for Westervelt, the brother-in-law of Mosher, on August
I8, and asked him to assist me in finding the men and recovering
the child. After considering the matter a few days he agreed to
help the police. I freely confess that Westervelt's entrance into the
Charley Ross case was unfortunate.    I well knew his relationship
to Mosher.   "Set a thief to catch a thief " may be a good method,




204


CLEWS AND DUPLICITV.


but I am forced to say it failed utterly in this case. I thought, as
did many with whom I consulted, that Westervelt could be induced,
by a share in the reward, to inform where the child was. I do not
think Westervelt knew where Charley Ross was, but that he took
some part in the abduction I feel positive to this day.
The following letter was sent by me to Captain Heins on
September i:
"Dear Sir:-Since writing you this A.M. I have seen Westervelt; he says
he knows nothing of the whereabouts of Mosher. He says Mosher lived in
your city, about four months ago, on Monroe, near Third Street, and that he
had a stable between Third and Fourth streets, in some street, name not known,
but the third or fourth street from Monroe, towards Washington Avenue.
The stable was an old wooden building with very large doors, and was near
Third Street. A wagon answering to the description you gave me was in said
stable at that time, and may be there yet, but probably not; they kept in said
stable a dark bay horse. He is confident the horse has been sold, but does not
know to whom. I showed him the drawing of the wagon you gave me, and he
says he could not make a better one had he the wagon before him, except that
he thinks this would not be quite so much rounded at the top.
"Yours, etc.,
"GEO. W. WALLING,
" Superintendent."
It was ascertained that a family named Henderson had lived at
No. 235 Monroe Street, Philadelphia.    This proved to be the
name Mosher assumed when he went to Philadelphia. It was also
learned that Joseph Douglas had lived with the family, and that
Mosher's wife and children removed to New York on August i8.
It was also discovered that there had been an old stable on Marriott's Lane, which had been since torn down. A part of this
Mosher rented, and there he kept his horse and wagon.
An effort was made to find some of Mosher's writing. Westervelt was asked to procure a letter or any paper that he knew
Mosher had written; but he would not or could not get any.
It is certain that when Westervelt was aware that we were on
the track of his brother-in-law he put Mosher and Douglas on
their guard. By means of newspaper advertisements he kept the
kidnappers thoroughly informed as to the methods to be employed
by the police in tracking them. He never would admit that he
had seen the men, but always professed that he was looking for
them. I finally learned that he had seen them, and told him so.
Then he admitted that he had met them twice, but asserted that




CONCEALMENT, FEAR AND WANT.


205


he could not have informed me of the meeting in time to have
been of any service.
It was one of the most delicate and difficult of cases. I sometimes dreaded that if probed too closely one of the ruffians would
murder the child, so as to efface all traces of the crime of abduction. The tracking of Mosher and Douglas was continuous, and
a weary chase it was, I having followed what I thought were
traces of them for days and nights. I was often close to them.
The vigilance of the kidnappers was that of those who were
hunted.  The innumerable bays and water-courses about New
York gave them the fullest opportunity for concealment. I had
the evidence that the men rarely stopped in one place more than
one night in their boat. Often we were so near to their hidingplace that we passed close by it in the dusk.  But the search for
the men continued; they were hunted as relentlessly as by bloodhounds. So hard were they pressed by the police of New York
that they were forced to remain almost wholly on the water, visiting the city at rare intervals, and then in the night.  Soon they
were brought to want, because of this, and resorted to burglary.
At two A.M. on December I4, the night pitch-dark, cold and
wet, Mosher and Douglas attempted to rob the summer residence
of Judge Van Brunt, at Bay Ridge, overlooking the Narrows.
When they entered the Judge's house, which was unoccupied,
a burglar-alarm telegraph rang a bell in the house of Mr. J. H.
Van Brunt, the judge's son, who lived across the way. He
roused his son and two men-servants, and arming them, the
party stood guard at the front and back doors of the judge's
residence.
" Now, boys," said Mr. Van Brunt, " we have work to do and
must understand each other. We must capture the thieves if
we can without killing them, but if they resist we will have to defend ourselves. Albert, you and Scott stand before the front door;
Frank and I will take the rear, and whatever happens afterwards
let us remain in the positions we first take up, because if we move
around we will be certain in the dark to shoot one another instead
of the thieves. Whichever way they come out, let the two who
meet them take care of them as best they can. If they come out
and scatter both ways then we will all have a chance to work."
The men took their places and watched for an hour, while the
thieves went all over the house. At length they came down to the




206


BURGLARY.


basement. Through the window of the pantry Mr. Van Brunt
could see the faces of the two burglars. He could have shot them
as they stood, with perfect safety to himself, but he did not wish
to take life unless forced to do so. He was getting numb from
the effects of the cold.
"Frank," he said to his hired man, " we may as well push
things. Take the key and open the back door quickly."
The burglars heard the rattle of the key in the key-hole. Instantly they put out their light and began to ascend the basement
or cellar stairs. Mr. Van Brunt heard their footsteps.
"To the trap-door of the cellar, Frank!" whispered Mr. Van
Brunt.
The lock of the door had been broken. The door was soon
opened, and the form of a man started up, followed by the head
of another.
" Halt! " shouted Mr. Van Brunt.
Two pistol-shots flashed almost in his face. They did no injury. He fired at the first man, and a cry of agony followed.
The other man fired and ran towards the front of the house.
There he met young Mr. Albert Van Brunt, at whom he fired two
shots, missing him. Before he could fire again Albert shattered
his arm with a blow from his shot-gun.
With an oath the thief retreated, when the elder Mr. Van Brunt
shot, him in the back. He staggered for an instant and fell dead.
None of the Van Brunt party were injured, while the burglars
were riddled with shot and bullets. One was dead, with his empty
revolver under his head. The other lived about two hours. The
neighbors came rushing to the place. Water was given the dying
iman.
" Who are you, and where did you come from?" several asked.
"Men, I won't lie to you," said the dying man. "My name is
Joseph Douglas, and that man over there is William Mosher.
Mosher lives in New York City. I have no home. I am a single
man and have no relatives, except a brother and sister, whom 1
have not seen for twelve or fifteen years. Mosher is a married
man and has five children."
Believing himself to be mortally wounded, he said:
"I have $40 in my pocket. I wish to be buried with it. I
made it honestly. It's no use lying now. Mosher and I stole
Charley Ross from Germantown."




-,;, I,
Fi  i  II  pw(
DEATH OF THE ABDUCTORS.




208


A FITTING END.


"Why did you steal him?"
"To make money."
"Who has the child now?"
"Mosher knows all about the child; ask him."
"Mosher is dead."
*   The men then lifted Douglas up so that he could see his dead
partner.
"God help his poor wife and family! " he exclaimed.
"Can you tell us where the child is? " he was again asked.
"God knows I tell you the truth," he replied. "I don't know
where he is. Mosher knew."
The same question was repeated.  "Superintendent Walling
knows all about us and was after us, and now he shall have us.
Send him word. The child will be returned home, safe and sound,
in a few days."
"How did you get here? " he was asked.
"We came over in a sloop which is down in the cove," he answered. " Please do not ask me any more questions. It hurts me
to talk or move."
Writhing in agony, lying on the ground, drenched with rain,
surrounded by darkness, the life of the miserable man who had
caused so much sorrow and outraged the feelings of every parent
in the country, went out. He died like a dog, as was fit.
On the morning of December 14, Justice Church, of Bay
Ridge, sent me a telegram, saying that Mosher and Douglas had
been killed. I at once dispatched Detective Silleck to Bay Ridge,
who, as soon as he saw the dead bodies, said:
"That is Joe Douglas, and that is 'Bill' Mosher. Take the
glove off his left hand and you will find a withered finger."
The glove was removed, and the finger found, as indicated.
The first finger of the left hand was withered away to a point, the
result of a felon.
Little Walter Ross was brought on from Philadelphia, and fully
identified the two bodies as they lay in the Brooklyn morgue.
But this was all; Charley Ross was never found. I think he is
dead. I can conceive of no possible reason why, after the two kidnappers had been killed and Westervelt was in prison, Charley
Ross should not have been returned had he been alive. The
promised immunity from punishment and the reward offered by
the Mayor of Philadelphia are good reasons for supposing that
the child, if alive, would have been returned to its parents.




CHAPTER XVI.


BURGLARS.-HOW THEY WORK.-PRETTY SERVANT GIRLS.-A LITTLE
PIECE OF SCARLET RIBBON.-THIEVES ON THE ROOF.-A LEAP
IN THE DARK.-" STUTTERING JOHN " ASHORE IN JERSEY.HOW PICKPOCKETS OPERATE.-A MAN WHO KNEW IT ALL.ARRESTED  AT SIGHT.-HOW   I WAS FINED.-THIEVES WHO
TALKED FROM THEIR CELL DOORS.
THERE can be no doubt that burglary is a fine art, when considered in all its various phases. The night is usually the time
when the burglar plies his vocation, and his operations are upon
the property of all classes in the community. Any one who possesses anything worth stealing is liable to be paid an unexpected
and unwelcome visit by the house-breaker. In a city like New
York the number of criminals of this class is very large. Drinking or sleeping is their usual avocation during the daytime, while
at night they are engaged in plundering their unfortunate neighbors. The complete prevention of their depredations has always
seemed to me to be impossible, and the only safeguard against
their operations is incessant vigilance on the part of store-keepers
and householders.
To the uninitiated it may seem to be almost an impossibility in
some cases for burglars to gain impressions of the keys of a large
store, for instance. But there is nothing easier or simpler. Having
selected the store to be robbed, the rascals will first attempt to fit
a key to the door from their own stock-in-trade. If they succeed,
there will be no further trouble. If not, they will watch for the
opening of the store in the morning by the clerk or porter, and
follow him in as if in a great hurry to buy some small article.
It happens ten times out of twelve that the clerk lays his bunch of
keys down on the counter while he goes for the article required.
A lump of wax, kept handy for the purpose, disposes of that little
matter in a trice, and the key is made at leisure. But suppose the
clerk should place the key on a desk inside the office? Even that
is a difficulty easily surmounted. The thief very politely asks leave


I4


209




210


IMPRESSIONS ON LOCKS AND SERVANTS.


of the clerk to address a few letters which he is desirous of mailing
immediately.
"Certainly, sir," says the unsuspicious clerk, bowing his customer into the office. With the wax in his hand the thief accomplishes his work in a second.
It is queer, though, that people will nearly always furnish their
front doors and windows with the most formidable bolts, bars and
locks, while they will leave the back entrances to their buildings
almost entirely unguarded. This is just what the burglar wants.
He doesn't care to " work " on the front street. The rear of the
building is more secluded, and the thief is less liable to interruption. Should the door prove too formidable an obstacle, the window is frequently pried open with an ingeniously constructed
"jimmy."  Still another way is for the burglar to gain admission
to a house or store in the daytime, and conceal himself in some
unoccupied room until dark. Then he emerges from his hidingplace and ransacks the place at his own sweet will.
Servant girls are often in league with thieves, and make things
easy for their confederates by admitting them into houses after
the family has retired to rest.  One such instance I well remember, and as it was nearly the first case in which Inspector Byrnes,
now chief of the detective force, was engaged, it deserves to be
told. A burglary, committed in a very skilful manner, had occurred on Madison Avenue. It was very evident the perpetrators
were expert hands at the business. The house had been entered,
a safe unlocked, the money and jewels extracted, and yet there
was nothing to show how it was all done. Despite all this, however, Inspector Byrnes (he was a patrolman then) found a piece of
scarlet ribbon which had been caught between the sides of the
safe and the inner drawer. It was not large, only a few shreds, but
it suggested an idea to the detective. He put it carefully away in
his pocket-book and closely scrutinized the apparel of the dozen or
more female servants employed in the house.  Only one of them,
he noticed, was partial to wearing scarlet ribbon.  She was a
pretty girl, and was seen by the officer on several occasions to wear
a ribbon the color of which was the same as that found in the
safe. He waited and watched. One day, some time after the
robbery, she announced to her employer that she had obtained
another situation which suited her better. She left in the middle
of the night. Byrnes "shadowed " her, and rode on the front plat



STEERS'S EXPERIENCE.


211


form of the Madison Avenue car which she boarded.  Going down
town she left the car at Canal Street, and hurrying along towards
the East River, entered a small tenement house on one of the side
"       streets. Byrnes was still at her heels, and with the aid of two
policemen the pretty servant girl, together with two well-known
rascals, were captured. Completely cornered, they admitted that
the girl had only taken the situation in order that they might
more easily rob the house.


INSPECTOR HENRY V. STEERS.
(From a Photograph.)


It should be remembered that burglars always have ih mind a
way to escape if they are discovered or interrupted. As a rule,
they will sooner run than fight.  But get one of them in a corner
and he will fight to the end in order to escape arrest. Searching
for a thief in a house on a dark night is what tries the nerve of a
police officer. He often gets in a tight place, taking fearful risks.
I remember one experience which fell to the lot of Inspector
Steers. An alarm had been given and Steers found his man on the
second story of a high building, picking out an assortment of valuable articles to carry away with him.  Upon seeing Steers the




212


THE SLOOP.


thief leaped up the stairs towards the roof, almost like a flash of
lightning, while the officer followed as best he could. All this was
in the dark. Out through the scuttle upon the roof the thief and
his pursuer went.  Steers did not hesitate even when the fellow
jumped off the side of the house. Where he was going to land he
didn't know; it seemed an age before he struck, and when he did
it was with a force that nearly drove his legs up into his body. But
he caught his man and took him to the station-house. The next
day Steers went round and took a look at the scene of his adventure of the night previous, and found that he had jumped from one
roof to another, a distance of about twenty feet.  He has never
fully recovered from the shock, and never will.
It would be impossible for me, without going over ground that
has long ago been covered, to give an account of all the big burglaries committed during my service on the force; but one or two incidents occurred in connection with such crimes which are not generally known.  For instance, during what I might call a period of
"off-duty," 1 was standing on the dock at Keyport, N. J., looking at
the craft in the bay. The month of February on the coast is rather
a stormy one, and on this particular day a fierce gale was blowing,
accompanied by snow squalls. Through the rather obscured atmosphere I made out a small boat struggling with the waves. She was
close hauled, and it was with great difficulty she could be kept on
her course. True to my instincts and training (for my first years
of service on the police force had developed a certain amount of
watchfulness), I watched the boat with considerable interest. She
was too small for a fisherman's or oysterman's craft, and did not
look like a " clammer "; it was not the season for pleasure boats;
and as she came nearer the shore I determined to watch her.
After some time she was almost upon the sand. The individual in
charge seemed unused to the place, and finally the wind drove her
on the beach near by. Concealing myself behind a convenient
bulkhead, I watched the crew of three as they walked up the
beach. They presented a pitiable condition-drenched to the skin
and stiff with the cold.
"Perhaps," I said to myself, "they are a lot of fellows on a
spree who.have been blown up the bay."
But it wasn't natural for men to start upon a pleasure cruise in
February. Scanning the. party closely, I noticed that one of the
men had a familiar look about him. It was more in the way he




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2I4


JOHN AND I.


carried himself than in his face, for at this time it was too dark
for me to distinguish his features. The storm showed no signs of
abating, but blew harder every minute. The men, therefore, I
knew, would be obliged to seek shelter somewhere or other, and as
the whole thing looked suspicious I thought it would do no harm
to keep an eye on them.
When they had taken to the main street I carelessly examined
the boat. Had they run off with her? Were there any stolen
goods in her? Should I try to gain admittance? They might
have left a man on board. I therefore thought it wiser to leave
the boat alone for the present and follow the men. The villagersfor Keyport in those days was a smaller place than it is now-were
also curious. A man named Poling, noticing the strange arrival,
wanted to find out the character of the craft. He strolled on
board, and looking through the windows of the little cabin-the
door was locked-saw what he thought were bolts of silk. He
and I were acquainted, and on making the discovery he came
directly to me with the information. I was then absolutely certain
that things were "crooked." The crew of the boat had gone to
one of the hotels in the place, and there I went. Entering cautiously, who should I see, warming himself by the stove, but John
Monahan, commonly called "Stuttering John "-a well known
river thief. John and I had come in contact some years previously.
Though he did not speak, my recognition of him was immediate.
Perhaps he was not quite thawed out, for he did not notice my
opening the door. Having put my head in, I immediately withdrew it. With "Stuttering John" there were three other men.
One I knew by his face as a river pirate. The others I did not
recognize.
I was well acquainted with Keyport oystermen, a brave and
honest set of men, and I enrolled several of them to help me. At
once I returned to the hotel, and, facing " Stuttering John," told
him he was a thief, and that I should arrest him and his party.
John gave in at once, and offered no resistance, and his companions
followed the action of their leader. We held them prisoners at
the hotel, sitting up with them all night.
On the next morning we escorted them to the steam-boat and
took them to New York. Captain Arrowsmith was in command of
the steamer, and at my request he ran the boat near the dock, so
that I could jump off first. When I had done that the boat was




A RUN, RECEPTION AND RECITAL.


215


backed off into the stream. I ran as hard as I could to Mr. Matsell's office, and reported my haul. I was so much out of breath
that I had some trouble in making my matter plain. Strange to
say, my sudden entrance into the office had interrupted Mr. Cunard,
of the Cunard line of steamers, who was explaining to Mr. Matsell
the particulars of the robbery of a bonded warehouse in Jersey
City, two nights before. When I had concluded, Mr. Cunard said:
"The goods stolen were silks."
"I have got them," I cried-" the thieves and the property." It
was one of those lucky accidents. At once Mr. Matsell touched
his bell, and several officers were called, who accompanied me to
the North River. I signalled the captain of the steamer. The
boat made a landing and the thieves were taken to the chief's
office.
Now that I knew the offence had been committed in New Jersey,
the prisoners had to be conveyed there. Of course we had secured
the silks in the boat. " Stuttering John " obtained the services of
a lawyer, who served a habeas corpus, declared that we had no
legal right to convey Monahan from New York to New Jersey, and
insisted that a warrant from the governor, or extradition papers,
were necessary. I had to show that the shortest way from Keyport to Jersey City was via New York, by steamer, as there were
no railways in those days. I had the party lodged in the Hudson
County jail. Justice, even Jersey justice, is not always swift or
sure. Some of the thieves escaped. Monahan's punishment was
not in proportion to his crime. The silks were worth $2500, and
with the exception of one piece all were recovered.
How Monahan and his party had found themselves at Keyport
was afterwards explained. The robbery of the bonded warehouse
took place at Jersey City. The goods had to be carried across by
the thieves to New York for concealment and subsequent disposal.
In crossing the North River and trying to round the Battery, the
gale took them and they were carried down the bay. The weather
was so thick that they did not know where they were going, and
at last they were blown clean twenty-six miles from New York, glad
enough to make a landing anywhere. They had been probably all
night on the water, and without fire or food, and had suffered a
great deal. A man subsequently claimed the boat, which had
been stolen.
There is an amusing sequence to this story, not so amusing to




2 I6


VIRTUE MY ONLY REWARD.


me at the time, as it will be to the reader. I had to pay for
the supper and breakfast of the prisoners, the escort of oystermen
for their time and the fare of the whole crowd on the boatamounting in all to $40, a good deal of money for a policeman to
pay out of his pocket in those days. The owner of the silks would
not reimburse me; the bonded warehouse people respectfully declined; the great Cunard Company was unwilling to pay, all preferring to let the man who had restored the property suffer by their
gain; so this little bit of detective work was carried out at my own
private expense. This, however, I did not so much mind. The
sense of justice done compensated me. I suppose that my subsequent promotion was due to several fairly clever pieces of work
of somewhat the same character.
On the occasion of the public reception offered to the Japanese
ambassadors upon their arrival in New York in I86o, a tremendous
crowd assembled in the streets. On Broadway, especially in the
neighborhood of the Metropolitan Hotel, the sidewalks were
thronged. As captain of the detective force, it was my duty to be
constantly in the streets, and to do my best to prevent those depredations on the public which are always committed on such occasions; for a large crowd in the streets or elsewhere is the pickpockets' carnival.
It happened that on the very evening the Japanese arrived I had
about my person a large amount of money. I was not in uniform,
and in order to mix better with the crowd and be unobserved, I
donned a rough suit of clothes; and, taking my roll of bank bills,
stuffed it down my boot-leg, tucking my trousers inside my boots.
I mingled freely with the people, and saw that my men were properly
distributed and on the alert.
When on the edge of the crowd, near the Metropolitan Hotel, I
noticed a very well-dressed and pompous-looking man, who was elbowing his way through the throng. He wore a handsome gold
chain, to which a big watch was attached; for I could see the outline of it in his waistcoat pocket. His coat was wide open; in fact,
he was making a display of his jewellery. He was a walking invitation for a pickpocket.
As he pushed up near me, I said, very quietly,.to him, "My
friend, if you go into this crowd in that manner you will be very
likely to lose your watch."




CHANGED HIS MIND.


217


The gentleman turned on me in an aggrieved manner, as if resenting my officiousness, and said, "Who are you? "
"No matter who I am," was my reply; " I only warn you that
you will pretty certainly lose your watch if you go in there. That's
all."
" Sir," was his angry retort, " I want to know who you are, and
why you presume to give me advice?"
' Well, if you desire to know, I am an officer, and belong to the
detective department," was my answer.
"All right!" he retorted spitefully, "if I do lose my watch I
shall never ask you to recover it."
"Very well," I replied, in perfect good humor; and a moment
afterwards I had left him and was working my way into the crowd.
On the very next day, I was sitting at my desk in the basement
of the detective office examining some reports, when who should I
see approaching me but this very gentleman, who had, notwithstanding my advice, insisted on decorating his manly breast with a
conspicuous gold watch and chain. At once, from his expression,
which was not quite so pompous and self-assured as on the evening before, I made out that something was wrong. The gentleman asked quite meekly:
"Can I see the captain? I have a complaint to make."
"I presume so, sir," was my reply. "You lost your watch and
chain before the Metropolitan Hotel last evening, at about seven
o'clock."
"I did," was his astonished answer; "but how do you know
that?"
" I am the identical person," I replied, " who took every measure
to caution you yesterday evening, and you said to me that if you
lost your watch I would be the last person you would come to in
order that you might recover it; but it looks as if you have come
to me after all."
The gentleman seemed to be quite taken aback. His loss annoyed him exceedingly, and there was certainly reason for it, because it had been entirely his own fault.
" Do you think you could get the watch and chain back? " he
inquired.
"I do not know, but you may be assured I will try and do my
very best," I answered.
It was of course my duty to make every exertion to recover any




218


HOW THEY WORK.


stolen property, but my pride in this particular matter made me
work very hard to get that watch. It was months before I had to
give it up, and I regret to say the gentleman never saw his watch
and chain again.
Persons who have never been robbed by a pickpocket believe
that they enjoy a certain immunity from such depredations, and
flatter themselves that it is owing to their own superior cleverness
and watchfulness that they have hitherto escaped. But experience
tells me that even those most on their guard suffer at times from
the operations of pickpockets. It is never safe to get into a crowd
in New York; that is, if you have anything valuable in your pockets, for a crowd, as I have said before, is the pickpocket's opportunity. Thieves in this particular calling work in parties of from
three to five. One of the rascals will tip a man's hat as if by accident, while another jostles him. The man, who is afraid his hat will
fall off, raises his hands to secure it. A third person pushes him,
and the fourth pickpocket, called "the wire," takes the watch
or the pocket-book. Prior to all this, the man to be robbed has
been carefully looked over, and the way his watch is secured or
the location of his wallet has been determined. If the wallet is in
a deep pocket in his trousers two hands may be used by the pickpocket, one to lift or press the wallet upwards, and two fingers of
the other hand to extract the treasure. A wallet put in a pistol
pocket is readily lifted in a crowd.  When a watch is to be
taken, the thief, with his thumb and forefinger, forces the ring of
the watch open, which disconnects the chain, and as this springs
readily the time-piece is easily removed.  The old-fashioned
way of keeping the watch and chain in the fob pocket is the safest,
for then nothing is exposed. The best place to keep money is in
a pocket inside of the waistcoat, which should be secured by a
button. Then when the waistcoat is fastened up it is very difficult
for a pickpocket to get at the money. Nevertheless, I have known
wallets to have been taken when placed inside waistcoat pockets.
There is but one rule for those who venture into a crowd in New
York, and this is to leave watch, money and all valuables at home,
and never to carry more than some small change.
In the street-cars losses are frequent. A crowded car is just.
arranged for a pickpocket's work. The man to be robbed is
hanging on to a strap, and before and behind him is a thief, the
one who is to be the " wire " being generally provided with an




" I HAVE ADVISED MY CLIENTS."


219


overcoat or duster, which he carries on his arm. In the swaying
of the car the opportunity is found. Nothing is easier than for a
pickpocket to filch a diamond breastpin under such circumstances.
If the diamond be of some value the wearer of it will have been
followed many times, and at all hours. The pickpockets wait
patiently for the favorable opportunity. A half dozen futile efforts
may have been made before the thieves are finally successful.
I have never had my pocket picked, though in the course of my
duty I have been in all parts of New York, and of course a great
deal in crowds, and in such dress as did not show that I had any
connection with the police force. Once when in a crowded car in
the Bowery I saw the car invaded by a rush of men who I knew
were pickpockets. I at once addressed them in a short speech,
which was neither very chaste or polite. They recognized me at
the very first word and a stampede was instantaneous.
While I was captain of the detectives, the losses inflicted on the
public by pickpockets, when crowds were assembled, were so serious at one time, occasioning so many complaints, that I adopted a
rule that has been kept up ever since, which was to arrest all wellknown pickpockets when seen in a crowd, or in the vicinity of large
assemblies, and to keep them in durance until the crowd had dispersed. When this method was at first sanctioned, a well-known
criminal lawyer came to police headquarters and protested against
my arresting suspicious characters, insisting that I had no right to
do so, as they had committed no crime, and, as he argued, " they
were not amenable to justice." It was, he stated, a base ursurpation of the rights of free men, etc., etc. This gentleman's peroration was peculiarly dramatic. "I have advised my clients," he
said, "to shoot the officers down' the very next time they arrest
them, when the latter have not been engaged in committing any
crime."
I do not think what this advocate said impressed me very much,
for my reply was, " Pshaw! Two can play at that game."
"You know you have no legal right to make such arrests unless
you have some charges against them, and they can bring suit
against you for false imprisonment," he continued.
"Yes, sir," I answered, " I know that, and I will pay all the
judgments your clients may get." So the matter ended.
The excellence of this method became immediately evident, for
the practice of the trade of a pickpocket in a crowd became more




220


TEN DAYS' PAY.


difficult. As he might be arrested on sight, he found it wisest to
be absent.
The female pickpocket abounds in New York, but she preys
only on her own sex. The habit women have of keeping their
porte-monnaie in their hands is a constant source of temptation.
As it cannot always be kept in the hand, the female pickpocket
watches patiently until the woman puts it in the pocket of her
dress, which, though not visible to men, is at once located by
a woman who is a thief, and a porte-monnaie is much more readily
abstracted from a woman's pocket than from a man's. As women
rarely go into streets where crowds assemble, it is in cars and
principally in the stores where these female pickpockets carry on
their business. The work is generally done by two women, and
shop-lifting often enters into the line of business of these female
depredators. When an old, or even a young lady, carries too
ostentatiously in the street a bag containing her purse, it is occasionally snatched from her by some young thief, who trusts to his
legs to escape capture. In such cases it has generally turned out
that the amount of money the lady is in the habit of carrying has
been the object of study beforehand.
I was fined ten days' pay once for violating the law, and that, too,
when I was at the head of the machinery established to enforce it.
How it happened the reader will learn from the following story;
Detective " Dick" King reported at headquarters one day that
he had found a lot of bonds, payment of which had been stopped
because they had been stolen. We found that some time before,
on January 17, i875, the Adams Express Company had been
robbed. The company had kept quiet about it, and instead of
confiding the matter to us, had put it in the hands of private detectives. Some persons prefer that way. But when the bonds
were found by Detective King I put him on the case. He tracked
the missing papers and laid his hand on the thieves. Chief of
these was Daniel Haurey, the man who drove the Adams Express
wagon containing the safe on the night of the robbery. This man
carted express packages across the North River to the Jersey City
depot. With miscellaneous packages of all sizes and shapes,
there was a little iron safe containing money, bonds and jewellery.
Investigations at the Adams Express Company's office revealed the
facts that this safe was securely locked; that it was put in Haurey's
wagon; that Haurey drove off; that the safe was apparently never




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221




222


BETWEEN THE CELLS.


received in Jersey City; and that Haurey came back without it
and swore he delivered it. The loss was over $50,ooo.
When a portion of the missing goods was found; we arrested
Haurey and a crony of his named John Sweeney, and confined them
in adjoining cells, cautiously letting them know that they were
neighbors. It was not long before they began to talk, each fromnt
his cell door. Our detectives overheard them, of course, and the
robbers, as usual, "gave themselves away." It was disclosed that
the bonds and most of the money were concealed under the flag
stones in the cellar of a plumber's shop somewhere in Nassau
Street.
We confronted Sweeney with his crime, and told him so much
that he concluded his "pal" had "peached;" and then he was
eager to tell all he knew. He said that some of the "stuff" had
been sold td a receiver by the name of Moses Ehrich. Moses was
arrested, gave bail, and fled to Canada.
From Sweeney's disclosures, it was ascertained that when
Haurey got over to the Jersey City depot he shoved the little safe
up nearer the wagon seat, flung a horse blanket over it, and failed
to deliver it. He then drove to a secluded place, where the robbers broke open the safe with tools and obtained the contents, and
on the return the sate was thrown in the river. Sweeney took and
secreted the plunder in the Nassau Street cellar, then Haurey
drove directly back to the.New York office, to escape suspicion.
Sweeney went on the stand; and Haurey was convicted within a
month of the time of the robbery, and was sent to prison for five
years. Most of the valuables were recovered.
Now as to my fihe. After Haurey's conviction, his counsel, A.
Oakey Hall, asked that sentence be deferred. The request was
granted. He then sent up a charge against me, enclosing a written
communication to the police commissioners, alleging that I had
violated the law by keeping Haurey over Sunday after arresting
him, before taking him to a police court. The law requires that a
man under arrest shall be taken before a police magistrate at the
next sitting of the court. I did not send Haurey up for examination till Monday morning, because I had reason to believe that
greater promptness would defeat the ends of justice. I was morally, and Hall was technically, right. He asked me before the
commissioners if I did not know I was violating a clause of the
police law.




MORALLY RIGHT.


223


"Yes," I said; " I knew it was a technical violation."
"How came you to violate the law?" he asked, with some
harshness.
"1 did it purposely and deliberately," I replied, "in order that
I might insure not only the conviction of the prisoner, but the recovery of the property. I had reason to fear that if I brought the
prisoner to court on Sunday the property would escape from its
hiding-place."
The charge made against me was sustained by the police commissioners. They knew I was right, but found that the law did
not allow them any option, for it imperatively prescribed a positive
penalty-either dismissal or a fine. They fined me ten days' payabout $i6o. The law ought to give commissioners some option in
cases like this. John Hoey, of the express company, offered to
refund the money to me; but I declined to receive it without the
consent of the police board. Of course their own action prevented
their giving their sanction to my being reimbursed; so that was
the last of it.
After Haurey's liberation he sought fresh fields. He finally attained the position of a police-marshal in New Orleans, his native
city, and about Christmas time, 1884, he got into a quarrel and
was killed.


*.




CHAPTER XVII.


THE COMPLETE STORY OF THE ROBBERY OF A. T. STEWART'S GRAVE.WORK OF THE GHOULS.-CONCEALMENT OF THE BODY.-DEMAND FOR A RANSOM.-MRS. STEWART'S DISTRESS.-JUDGE
HILTON'S REFUSAL TO PAY THE ROBBERS.-FINAL NEGOTIATIONS.-THE BONES OF THE MILLIONAIRE EXCHANGED FOR
MONEY UPON A HILL IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY.-RESTORED
AND BORNE TO THE CATHEDRAL VAULT.-THE GOBLIN BELLS.
"MY God! "
This exclamation sprang from the lips of a man unused to so
vigorous an utterance, and he turned pale and clutched the
tall iron fence near him. The speaker was Frank Parker, the
assistant-sexton of old St. Mark's Church, whose grounds are
bounded by Second Avenue, Stuyvesant, Tenth and Eleventh
streets-a church once fashionable, and still rich and powerful.
It was an hour after dawn one wet and gloomy Wednesday
in November, i878. Parker had just entered the ancient churchyard, and he stood as if paralyzed as his eyes were fixed on new
earth that had been upturned at the mouth of the vault where the
remains of A. T. STEWART, the merchant-millionaire, had been
deposited thirty months before.
" My God! " he repeated, with a tremor of fear and grief in his
voice. "They've done it at last! "
He understood that the Stewart tomb had been probably
robbed; that he was one of the only two or three men who knew
its exact location; that the horrible crime would convulse the
city; and that he would be suspected of participating in it by
those who did not know him. He stood a minute gazing nervelessly, and then gathering up his thoughts, he walked across the
grass to the tell-tale heap of fresh clay. Thence he ran and told
his superior officer, Sexton Hamill, who was still in his home near
by on Tenth Street.
Hamill hurried to the spot, and descended into the vault.
224




" THEY'VE DONE IT AT LAST."'         z'
There he found his fears confirmed-it had been riaied" of the
remains of the dead millionaire. Then he ran over to the great
store, a block up Fourth Avenue, rushing breathless into the glass
office, only to find that Judge Hilton had not yet arrived. The
sexton did not wait. He at once called a cab and drove to the
judge's house, next door to Stewart's marble palace on Thirtyfourth Street. He gave the butler a message that his business
/ -
S-..~  ~              ~-~ --- — -._~
was of extreme urgency, and the master of the house soon made
his appearance. The sexton exclaimed:
"The vault has been robbed, sir; Mr. Stewart's body has been
taken away!-I am sorry."
The lawyer made no reply. He thought a moment, took a
chair, jand then without asking his visitor to be seated, looked
long and earnestly at him. The sexton was ill at ease. He stood
with furtive eyes and fidgeted with his cap. "All gone; no


'5




ONE OF THE SEXTONS


tracera h,:-. '  i":" h added, to relieve his embarrassment.
Hilton;:-.""-'..; V",'v.
"You say -,.:-..       r  ' i thing should happen?" he
suddenly asked, cro... -  I;t
"Why, yes, sir; very..
"'Sorry,' eh?" repeated;        -,.r a-i:c emphasis.
"That's singular."
"Singular! " said the sexton, quicki;.,;, "  Maw
what was in the judge's mind, and he regr'.::;  7"
you come over and look for yourself, sir?"
"No; I'll go down to police headquarters," replies.
reaching for his coat.
Hamill hurried down town and went to the vault again. "be.
ton right here for twenty years," he said, bitterly, "and a member
of the church and living an upright life, to be suspected now of
this horrid thing! "
I was not at headquarters when Judge Hilton got there. When
I did arrive of course I was amazed. It was the first time I had
ever seriously considered a crime of that sort. I went over and
examined the premises. The vault was in the centre of the: yard,
east of the church, and seemed, prior to the digging, to have been
unmarked and concealed from sight. It would be impossible to
imagine a more exposed or difficult location for a grave-robbery.
An iron fence, ten feet high, runs around the yard. The members
of many old New York families were buried here, the Stewart vault
being flanked by those of Thomas Bibby and Benjamin Winthrop.
The rifled vault was of brick, 10 x 15 feet and 12 feet deep;
the top was covered with three feet of earth. It was entered by
a square hole in the roof, from which descended twelve stone
steps to the bottom. This entrance was covered with three marble slabs, and these in turn with three or four inches of sod on a
level with the surrounding turf, entirely hiding any suggestion of
an entrance. It did really look as if one of the sextons must have
been implicated in the robbery, and on this Judge Hilton firmly
insisted, as he explained:
" You don't know, I suppose, that an attempt was made to steal
the body last month? Yes.  On October gtl, just four weeks
ago, the sexton discovered that the Stewart slab had been lifted
from its bed and put back again. It had been done clumsily,- and
one end of the marble had been dropped on the grass; perhaps




227




228


NOBODY NEAR THE YARD.


the intruders had descended to the vault, but neither the casket
nor the brick pedestal on which it rested had been tampered with.
I discovered clay on the lock of the Eleventh-Street gate, like that
over the vault, and I had new patent locks put on the gate, and
the name-slab, which was before exposed, taken up and removed
to a vacant spot some ten feet south-west and sunk in the grass to
mislead other ghouls. The old place was carefully sodded over.
I then hired Michael Burton, night-watchman of the livery stable
across the street, to visit the churchyard every hour and warn
trespassers from the enclosure, without saying anything to him
about Stewart's vault. There was no disturbance, and Burton's
services were dispensed with three days ago."
That is what Judge Hilton said.
We sent for Sexton Hamill next, and he came and told all he
knew about it, adding to the information already in hand this:
" I can't imagine how anybody knew where that stone was. Its
approximate location was known to three of us only, and even 1,
who knew it best, couldn't have gone straight to it the first time,
on a dark night, as these villains seem to have done. They must
have obtained perfect measurements of the place. Perhaps they
were watching from a convenient nook when we took up the namestone and hid it."
The night before the robbery had been a rainy one. At midnight snow fell. The police saw nobody near the yard. The persons in the adjacent houses saw no one. The Rev. Dr. Rylance
had married a couple in the vestry as late as 9.30 P.M. He left at
ten o'clock, walking out past the Stewart vault and noticing nothing unusual.
The robbers did their fiendish work in the blackness of the
night and left hardly any clews. I put inspectors Murray and
Dilks on the case. The following alarm was sent out that afternoon:
"CENTRAL OFFICE, Nov. 7, 1878.
"To All:-The remains of A. T. Stewart were last night stolen from the
family vault, St. Mark's Churchyard. The casket was found broken and the
body removed. The decomposition of the remains is so offensive that they
cannot be concealed. This is apparent from standing at the opening of the
vault this morning; consequently the body cannot be taken across the ferries
or placed anywhere above ground without discovery. Cause diligent search to
be made in your precinct, as the remains were evidently stolen in hope of
reward.
" INSPECTOR DILKS."




THERE THE CLEW ENDED.


229


The robbers seemed to have gone directly to the spot, without
experimenting in surrounding sod.  The decoy name-slab had not
been touched. Only just enough dirt had been removed to uncover the mouth of the vault, closed by a slab three feet and a half
by two feet.
Two of the coffins within the vault were of Mr. Stewart's infant
children, and two of adult relatives of Mrs. Stewart. The burglars unscrewed the cover of the newest cedar-wood box, cut
through the second receptacle of lead, and then forced the enclosed coffin of Mr. Stewart by breaking the locks and hinges.
They tore off the costly silver inscription-plate, and carried it with
them; also a piece of the velvet lining which they cut out in the
shape of an irregular triangle. They left behind a new coal-shovel
and a tin bull's-eye lantern.
It was thought that the body of Mr. Stewart weighed about Ioo
pounds; and as it was not embalmed, it was said by physicians
that the flesh would liquefy soon after being exposed to the air.
Mrs. Stewart was in her seventy-eighth year, and quite ill and
feeble.
On the morning after the robbery the following reward was
offered:
"$25,000 REWARD!-Whereas, in the early morning of Nov. 7, 1878, the
vault of the late Alexander T. Stewart, in St. Mark's Churchyard, in this city,
was broken into, and his remains removed from there, the above reward is
offered by direction of Mrs. A. T. Stewart, and will be paid for the return of
the body and information which will convict the parties who were engaged in
the outrage. Or a liberal reward will be paid for information which will lead
to either of these results.
"HENRY HILTON."
The whole country was convulsed. Newspapers published page
after page of comment, rumor and theory. A double guard was
set over the tomb of Commodore Vanderbilt at New Dorp, Staten
Island. We found out where the shovel and lantern were sold,
and there the clew ended.    We shadowed suspicious-looking
persons; investigated newly-made graves; tracked old malefactors
and made them account for their whereabouts on that eventful
night.
The emotions excited by the robbery of Stewart's grave were
various, even contradictory. Some, who were neither thoughtless
nor heartless, were glad.  A semi-anarchist newspaper said,




230


EARLY LIFE AND APPEARANCE.


virtually: " There is a sort of grim justice in it, and the very irony
of greed, that this cruel, avaricious, hard-hearted man, who oppressed his employees, ruined his creditors and drove his poorer
competitors to bankruptcy should now have his flesh drop off and
his bones rattled in a thieves' bag, while the millions he earned are
enjoyed by others."
Mr. Stewart began business in the very humblest way, and was
his own salesman, book-keeper, porter and errand-boy. He lived
over his store, in a room which served as parlor, bedroom and
kitchen. He worked eighteen hours a day. He possessed an indomitable will, great industry, energy, shrewdness, and the foresight to see this week what would be needed in trade the next.
He did business for cash only, told the blunt truth about his goods
and sold at the cheapest possible price. He bought for cash,
controlled high-priced laces, silks, ribbons, furs and gloves, and
levied on.the world of fashion. He defied competition, and of
course ruined a good many of his rivals. Half of his clerks were
broken-down merchants. He did some harm incidentally, but he
offset it by much good, for he sold goods cheaper than they were
ever sold in this market before; set a much-needed example of
honesty, and laid the foundation of systematic and comprehensive
methods which underlie the great dry-goods bazaars of which New
York City boasts. He died worth $30,000,000.
He had no children that lived more than a week. He had few
if any friends. His mien was forbidding. He was undersized
and slim, with reddish hair, sharp, avaricious features, furrowed
with care, a clear, cold, gray eye and an unfriendly, suspicious
voice.
James Kealy was captain of detectives at that time, and he followed several promising clews to the end, but in vain. A lawyer
named General Patrick H. Jones, who was at one time postmaster
of this city, came to me one day, and in an excited tone, said: " A
man who formerly served under me in the army claims to know
something about the Stewart body. I believe that with proper
encouragement 1 can get information that will lead to its recovery."
By " proper encouragement " he meant some assurance that
Hilton would negotiate for it. I declined to commit myself, but I
told him to go ahead, and I would call on the judge, and lay the
matter before him from that point of view. I did so; the judge




NOT " PROPER ENCOURAGEMENT."


231


declared that he would never pay one cent for Mr. Stewart's bones,
unless they came accompanied by the thieves in irons.
I felt and expressed my serious doubts about the correctness of
the information, but Jones was persistent and wanted to work up
the case and make arrangements for buying the body.    He
brought a letter or two, which he asserted had come from the
thieves. To complete the demonstration he walked into my office
a few days later with a package sent to him by express from Boston, in which was the original coffin-plate stolen with the remains.
The engraver was sent for; he came and looked the plate over,
and at once exclaimed: "That's the very one."
I sent to Boston and interviewed the officers of the express
office; but I got no information, except that the package had been
left by a lady muffled up to her eyes.
Hilton was still obdurate. He would have nothing to do with
a purchase, he said, unless it included the villains themselves. As
they were the party of the first part in the negotiations, they were
not at all likely to be included. To complete their identification,
the robbers sent a piece of paper that fitted exactly the hole in the
velvet cover of the coffin. This piece of paper is now in the hands
of Sexton Hamill; the coffin-plate is at police headquarters.
Hilton's suspicions in regard to the sextons were not only not
confirmed, but were substantially disproved. The two men were
of high personal character, and the Rev. Dr. Rylance, pastor of St.
Mark's, took up their cause very warmly, giving Judge Hilton a
piece of his mind, and condemning his accusation.
The authentic story of the recovery of Stewart's body has not
yet been publicly told, but a gentleman who is in a position to
know the exact facts recently rehearsed the narrative, and for the'
first time it is given here.
Two years had passed since the body was stolen, and its recovery was apparently as far off as ever. Judge Hilton had repelled
the offers of the criminals to negotiate, and had resolutely opposed
Mrs. Stewart's desire to meet their advances.
"We must never compound a felony," he said. " It isn't, of
course, the money, but the principle. If we were to pay these
infamous scoundrels, what rich man's or woman's dead body would
hereafter be safe? We will never pay a cent except for the conviction of the criminals."
The position taken was morally correct, but a mourning widow




232


A PACKAGE FROM ROMAINE.


could hardly be expected to regard the affair so coolly. Her affections were trampled under foot. This difference between the
two seems to have been known and appreciated by the robbers,
who, therefore, incessantly strove to re-open negotiations with Mrs.
Stewart directly.  Her nights were almost sleepless.      She was
well nigh driven insane.
It was towards the spring of I88i when correspondence with
the robbers was resumed.
No trace of the body or thieves was found until January of the
following year, when General Patrick H. Jones, of No. 150 Nassau
Street, called upon me at police headquarters. He brought with
him a parcel and showed me the contents. They were the silver
knobs and several of the handles belonging to the coffin in which
the body had been buried. He also showed me some letters which
he had received.   They purported to have been written in Canada,
and were signed by "Henry G. Romaine.'       With tne first letter a
hundred-dollar bill was enclosed as a retainer for him to act as attorney for the return of the body, upon the payment of $250,000.
The letter then went on to say:
"The remains were taken before twelve o'clock on the night of the 6th and
not at three o'clock on the morning of the 7th of November. They were not
taken away in a carriage, but in a grocer's wagon. They were not taken to any
house near the grave-yard but to one near One Hundred and Sixtieth Street.
They were then enclosed in a zinc-lined trunk and left on an early morning
train. They went to Plattsburg and from there to the Dominion. There they
were buried. Except that the eyes have disappeared, the flesh is as firm and
the features as natural as the day of the interment, and can therefore be instantly identified. The enclosed piece of paper is exactly the size of the piece
of velvet taken from the coffin, while the small strip sent you will prove to be
of the same piece as that on the coffin. If any additional proofs are required
the plate will be sent you upon inserting the following ' personal' in the New
York Herald:
"' Canada-Send P.-Counsel.'
"If you decline to act, a friend will call for the retainer sent you. When you
are satisfied that the relatives of Mrs. Stewart will talk business, insert the following ' personal' in the New York Herald:
"' Canada —Will do business-Counsel.'
"Then you will hear from me again.
"HENRY G. ROMAINE."
The package with the articles mentioned arrived a few hours
before the letter. It, with the letter, was at once brought to me.
Three days later the personal calling for the coffin-plate was published as directed. The following reply came:




PERSONALS AND PROPOSITIONS.


233


" BOSTON, MASS.,Jan. 31, I879.
"P. H. JONES, Counsel, New York City:
" Immediately on arrival of Heraldcontaining ' personal,' I decided to express
the plate from this city, and thus avoid the discovery and publicity which would
certainly follow the examination of the package by the Customs officials of the
Dominion. Having satisfied the representatives of Mrs. Stewart of its genuineness, you will await further instructions, which will be forwarded after the insertion of the second personal:
"' Canada —Will do business-Counsel.'
"HENRY G. ROMAINE."
The coffin-plate was received from Boston, and brought at once
to me at police headquarters. On the 5th of February, at the request of Judge Hilton, Mr. Jones put the second " personal "in the
Herald, and a couple of days later Mr. Jones wrote to Romaine,
agreeing to act as counsel, and saying that Judge Hilton was
anxious to recover the remains. The reply which came from Boston on the i th of February set forth the terms upon which the
body would be restored. They were as follows:
"i. The amount to be paid shall be $200,000ooo.
"2. The body will be delivered to yourself and Judge Hilton within twentyfive miles of the city of Montreal, and no other person shall be present.
"3. 'Fhe money to be placed in your hands or under your control until
Judge Hilton is fully satisfied, when you will deliver it to my representative.
" 4. Both parties to maintain forever an unbroken silence in regard to the
transaction.
"These are the first, last, and only terms which will ever receive attention.
uHaving communicated the contents of this latter to Judge Hilton you will
await his decision. You will inform me of that by a 'personal' in the Herald"' Canada-terms accepted.'
"Until this appears you will not hear from me again."
Judge Hilton refused to agree to the terms proposed, and,
further, declined to negotiate through the medium of " personals."
"Romaine " was then written to, General Jones informing him
of the condition of things. His reply was soon received, ordering
Mr. Jones to break off all communication with Judge Hilton and
open negotiations with Mrs. Stewart. No notice was taken of this
request, but in March Judge Hilton made an offer of $25,000 for
the body. General Jones made the fact known to " Romaine,"
who " respectfully but firmly declined."
This closed the correspondence.
But the distracted widow and her relatives, without the consent
of Judge Hilton, opened negotiations on her own account. The




234


REAL RESULTS-THE SEQUEL.


lawyer was still the medium of communication with the ghouls.
Foiled in their first attempt to secure money, they had become
partly discouraged, and now, instead of expecting $200,000, were
willing to dispose of their dreadful booty for half that sum.
Mrs. Stewart, after a wakeful night, gave orders to have the
offer accepted; but her representatives obtained a reduction of
the price to $20,000, which sum they agreed to pay.
The conditions of the delivery were made quite as severe as
those which accompanied the negotiations for the return of


THE MEETING.


Charley Ross.  The criminals declined to take any chances.
They did not demand that the money be flung from a flying train
in a leathern bag without any guarantee, but the man with the
money had to surrender himself absolutely into the hands of the
robbers, trusting to their " honor."
He was to leave New York City at ten o'clock at night alone, in
a one-horse wagon, and drive into Westchester County along a
lonely road which the robbers indicated on a map which they
sent marked. " Sometime before morning," if the man was acting
in good faith, and was not accompanied or followed by detectives,
he would be met and given further directions.




KNOWN AT LAST.


235


A young relative of Mrs. Stewart undertook the hazardous errand, and drove out into the country. Two or three times during
the night he became certain that he was closely watched, but it
was three o'clock when a masked horseman rode up, gave the
signal agreed on, and turned the buggy up a lonely lane. The
strange visitor here left him, directing him to drive on. At the
end of another mile he became aware that another wagon was
blocking the way. He paused. A masked man promptly appeared, and brought forward a bag to his buggy, saying, " Here
'tis; -where's the money?"
" Where is the proof of identity? " asked the messenger, as the
bag containing the mortal remains of A. T. Stewart was lifted
into the buggy.
"Here! " said the other, holding up an irregular bit of velvet,
and opening a bull's-eye lantern upon it with a click. The piece
was compared with a bit of paper of the same shape which the
New Yorker had brought with him to this lonely spot.
"Come, hurry up! " was the command.
The messenger obeyed by producing the money, and the robbers retired a few feet and counted it by the light of their lantern.
Then they moved off with their vehicle, and the messenger of
Mrs. Stewart drove back the way he had come, glad to escape
from such company.
The next night a freight car went out to Garden City containing nothing except a trunk, and on it sat the man who had spent
the previous night in the loneliest part of Westchester County.
An empty coffin had already been deposited in the Cathedral, and
at the dead of night two men transferred the bones to it from the
trunk. They then placed the coffin in an inaccessible vault beneath the dome.  And now, they say, if any fiend should ever
again touch, unbidden, the vault which holds the bones of the
merchant-millionaire, the touch would release a hidden spring
which would shake the chime of clustered bells in the tower, and
send an instant alarm throughout the sleeping village.




CHAPTER XVIII.


BANK BURGLARIES.-KINGS AMONG THIEVES. —" FOUR-FINGERED
JACK."-THE SATCHEL IN THE HALL.-MAKING THE CASHIER
UNLOCK A BANK VAULT.-" RED " LEARY'S BRAVADO.-" IF THE
FUNDS HAVE GOT TO GO, I WILL GO WITH THEM. "-A HEROIC
CASHIER.-A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.-UNJUST SUSPICIONS.-THE
HOLE UNDER THE PRESIDENT S CHAIR.-THE SCHEME THAT
WAS HATCHED IN A BROADWAY BILLIARD PARLOR.-SMOULDERING BAGS OF GOLD.-THE LITTLE BLACK TRUNK ON ELIZABETH STREET.-BARON SHINDELL.-BUGGINS, THE BANK MESSENGER.
THE successful bank robber is a king among thieves, and so far
as the skill.and cunning which he exercises are concerned, he
undoubtedly earns his reputation. As a rule, it is the most intelligent members of the criminal class who drift into this branch of
wickedness. Experience has demonstrated that the expert bank
burglar is possessed of more than ordinary mechanical skill, and
an amount of energy and patience that is phenomenal. Thousands
of dollars are expended in purchasing tools, and in experimenting
with new mechanical contrivances. They are enthusiastic in
learning every detail of their occupation. Thus it is that every
succeeding year adds to the knowledge of the criminal, and makes
absolute protection against detection seem more possible.
But the most notorious bank burglars, like famous men of action,
are known by their achievements rather than by their reputation
among their fellows. To the burglar the sacking of a bank is as
the sacking of a town to a great warrior; if he accomplishes his
object without suffering a maximum of loss he is for the time peerless and much sought after by the people-or their representative,
the district attorney.
There was some very curious incidents in connection with the
robbery of the Hatters' Bank of Bethel, Conn. Some time before
the robbery, two excellent officers on the detective force-John
McCord and W. G. Elder-reported to me one day that they had
236




4' FOUR-FINGERED JACK."


237


seen young Jack Wright, commonly known as " Four-fingered Jack,"
because he had lost a thumb. Wright was a noted bank robber,
and McCord and Elder, who worked together, followed him to
see what he was about to do. They informed me that the rascal
had entered a number of safe-stores, and had carefully examined
the various styles and makes. Afterward he had gone into a
tenement house on Charles Street.
"We believe, Captain," said Elder, "that Jack is up to some
kind of a job. We are afraid, too, that we are known to him, and
if he should see us watching we should lose him. However, he
doesn't know you; you might arrest him."
"That will hardly do," I replied. "I know the fellow well by
reputation. We had better shadow him further. If he has any
job put up, we surely ought to be able to find it out. To arrest
him now, with no proof against him, would be useless. You take
me with you, and we'll watch him."
We secreted ourselves in a coal office at Charles and Hudson
streets, and watched Jack's house. In a short time he came out,
and I had a good view of him. " Four-fingered Jack " was a finelooking man, tall and well built, and tastefully dressed. Leaving
Elder and McCord to watch the house, I set out to follow the
burglar. He was evidently bent upon a thorough and practical
study of safes, for he went into nearly every establishment where
they were sold. That he did not want to buy a safe was evident
enough to me.
After an extended tour around the city, " Four-fingered Jack"
got aboard a Fourth Avenue car. I did also, but he did not seem
to recognize me. He rode as far as the terminus of the line, then
at Twenty-seventh Street, where the New Haven depot stood, on the
site of the building now known as the Madison Square Garden.
Here he loitered for a short time and was finally joined by a lightcomplexioned man. The two exchanged a few words, and then,
as they went aboard the New Haven train, I left them. If they
had a job in hand it would be at some point east of New York, I
thought.
I returned immediately to McCord and Elder, who had been
watching Wright's house on Charles Street. This they continued
to do for some time. Eventually, they found that their man had
returned and was about to remove to some other part of the city.
The difficulty now was to track him to his new lodgings. After




238


THE HATTERS' BANK.


some trouble the new quarters were discovered in the suburbs of
the city, and Jack and his partner kept coming and going, always
leaving town via the New Haven Railroad. On his last excursion
he was absent three days-somewhat longer than usual.  This
looked suspicious. I might have sent men to follow him on the
railroad, but had this been attempted, "Four-fingered Jack"
would have "tumbled" at once to the fact that he was being
shadowed. He was a clever rascal, and doubtless had his own
spies about. Then, again, if the job were in a country town, the
presence of any strangers in the place would have at once been
sufficient to put Jack on the alert. On the fourth day of his
absence from New York the news came to me of the robbery of
$Ioo,ooo from the Hatters' Bank, of Bethel, Conn. The moment
I heard of it I suspected " Four-fingered Jack."
His house in the suburbs was still under surveillance, and when
he returned we immediately arrested him, together with another
well-known bank burglar called "Peppermint Joe." The house
was carefully searched, but, to my discomfiture, none of the stolen
money was found. I telegraphed to the officers of the bank at
Bethel to come on to New York, and they did.
When our prisoners were brought before the bank officers,
"Four-fingered Jack " and " Peppermint Joe " were strangers to
them.  We sent to Bethel and brought some of the townspeople
to look at the men, but they did not recognize them. In fact, no
suspicious characters had been seen in Bethel. As usual under
such circumstances, the robbery had been committed on Saturday
night, and on Sunday the safe had been broken into. There had
been some clever burrowing, the heavy floor-stones broken, the
bolt of the lock blocked with wood and it was Monday afternoon
before the bank officers could open the vault, and then the robbery
was discovered. Of the $ioo,ooo stolen, $80,000 were in the
Hatters' Bank notes, and the rest in general currency. The bills
of the Hatters' Bank were of the denomination of $50 and $Ioo.
Bethel being a small manufacturing town, large bank-bills were
not much in use. The Hatters' Bank sent to all the other
moneyed institutions in the country an account of the robbery,
with a description of the notes. It was impossible to hold the
men. I was positive that "Four-fingered Jack" was one of the
robbers, but there was no evidence against him, and the magistrate was forced to release him and his "mate."




" THAT'S VERY STRANGE."


239


As Jack was leaving the court-room a free man I said to him,
"You have got clear now, but those bills of the Bethel Bank will
be of no avail to you. They will lead to your detection."
I regret to say that my prophecy did not come true, as far as
the detection of these robbers went, but something quite extraordinary in its way did happen.
I was living then with a friend, named O'Donnel. About a
week after the dismissal of " Four-fingered Jack," on returning
to my house one evening, Mr. O'Donnel said to me:
"Captain Walling, I suppose some of your people are coming
home from the country."
"Not at all," I replied.
"0, yes, they are," was his answer, "for some of them have
sent you a travelling-satchel."
"How is that?" I inquired.
"Just before you came in the door-bell rang. The servant girl
answered it, and a man put a travelling-hag in her hand, saying,
'This is for Captain Walling.'"
"That's very strange," I said.
O'Donnel went for the article, which was a common-looking
black bag. He put it on a chair in the hallway, and lit a candle
so that I might better examine it.
" I never saw it before," I said, looking it over. Just then
there had been a scare about infernal machines and Mr. O'Donnel said, "Watch out, Captain, maybe you and I will be blown skyhigh."
"Nonsense," I said.  "Nobody is going to blow me up."
Then I felt of the bag, and it seemed to have a parcel in it. Having no key, I opened it with a knife. There was a bundle about
eight inches wide and two feet long wrapped up in coarse straw
paper. What could it be? I had the wrapper off in a trice, and when
I saw the contents I was excited perhaps more than I have been
at any other time in my life, for there were the bills of the Hatters' Bank, of Bethel! I sent off in post-haste for McCord and
Elder. They could hardly believe their eyes when they saw what
was in the satchel. They sat down and we counted the bills.
We made the bundle out to contain exactly $60,025. I lost no
time in telegraphing the Bank of Bethel, and made a special deposit of the money in the Nassau Bank. The president of the
bank came at once to the city, claimed the property and carried




240               BURGLA




THIEVES AND THIEVES.


241


it back to Bethel. Still there was about $40,000 of the amount
stolen which was unaccounted for.. Some years afterward, the
city marshal of Buffalo, Mr. Tyler, got hold of $20,000 more of
the bills, but of the remaining $20,000 nothing was ever heard.
The robbers were never arrested. Then, as now, I was perfectly
convinced that " Four-fingered Jack" was the burglar. I do not
regard the restitution of the $60,025 as entitling Four-fingered
Jack to the least credit. There is no magnanimity about thieves.
Probably his continued possession of these notes might have been
a temptation to the rest of the gang, and the circulation of the
notes might finally have led to his re-arrest and punishment.
After this exploit, "Four-fingered Jack" disappeared from
sight forever. I don't know what became of him. The public
often hears of an individual who figures during a very long career
of crime. This I am inclined to think a rather exceptional condition of things, because the life of a thief, robber or burglar is
not usually a long one. Take a hundred of the criminal class,
and the larger proportion of them are dissipated. Drink kills
them. Theirs is a calling that carries with it constant and tremendous risks. It is sometimes difficult to follow a thief by his
soubriquet. A criminal may call himself, as in this instance,
"Four-fingered Jack," and at once he has imitators. There will
probably spring up in various parts of the country a large crop of
Four-fingered Jacks. There have been Jack. Shepards in and
out of prison walls ever since the time of Jonathan Wild. I do
not think that criminals are over fond of these catch names.
There are of course many aliases, but those oftenest adopted or
applied are familiar through history or fiction. I have more than
once startled a criminal who sported a long list of aliases by
saluting him with the name given him by his father and mother.
An officer of the police, in constant intercourse with the criminal
class, may have his sympathies blunted, but I have sometimes felt
sorry for even a hardened rascal when his own true name was
thrown back at him. It was as if all his disguises had been mysteriously stripped off, and he was suddenly brought face to face
with the recollections of his innocent boyhood.
The subject of the Northampton Bank robbery, on January 27,
1876, was on everybody's tongue for several years after it occurred. It was an interesting robbery by reason of the large
amount stolen, the notorious thieves who were believed to be im16




242


NORTHAMPTON BANK.


plicated, the boldness of their operations and their escapes after
capture.
The thieves were seven: "Shang" Draper, "Red" Leary,
"Billy" Connor, James Burns, George Howard (or George Leonidas Leslie), Thomas Dunlap and William Scott. There is some
doubt, however, whether Howard was actually concerned in the
work of the burglary or not. The criminals used considerable
strategy in their operations. They wanted to rob a bank, but
were not particular as to which one. It was necessary first to find
out where there was a bank whose safes and vaults were easily
opened. So they made the acquaintance of William D. Edson,
an expert in locks and safes, who was a travelling agent for Herring & Co. Edson was not a man with very stern moral convictions. He smiled on his new acquaintances and soon became
confidential. The burglars' plot was finally laid before him, and
he was promised a generous share in the proceeds if the scheme
was successful. They wanted him to point out a weak bank, from
a burglar's point of view, and this he did, directing their attention
to that at Northampton. With this much learned, the rest of the
task was not difficult to thieves of such broad experiences.
Northampton was a small town, and boldness, the burglars
thought, would most successfully accomplish their designs. Certainly it did.
On the night of January 27, 1876, having reached the town and
assembled at their rendezvous, they put on masks and proceeded
at once to the residence of the cashier, Mr. Whittlesy. They
aroused him from slumber, and after binding his wife, children and
servants, made him march under the cover of their pistols to the
bank. There they compelled him, by threats of instant death, to
unlock the vaults and surrender the contents. Under such circumstances the boldest cashier is apt to lose courage, and Mr.
Whittlesy was no exception. He meekly followed his masked
captors and surrendered all they asked for. They succeeded in
getting $1,500,000 in money and negotiable securities. But even
when the booty was in their possession there was no feverish haste
to get away. They coolly walked back with the cashier to his
house, gagged him and made secure the bonds of his family, and
then departed.
So large a sum had been stolen from the bank in the form of
securities, upon which the burglars could not readily realize, that




ARRESTED AND SENTENCED.


243


the bank officers tried to recover their lost property before attempting to secure the conviction of the thieves. This plan was
followed by negotiations which lasted a year and then brought
no satisfactory result. Detectives advised that as many of the
thieves as could be caught should be arrested, and acting upon
this advice, the bank officers soon had the satisfaction of knowing
that Edson, the travelling agent who had conspired with the
thieves, was under arrest.
Edson was piqued at not getting as much money from the robbery
as he had been promised, and it did not require much urging to
get him to turn State's evidence. The names of the burglars were
disclosed, and soon afterward Scott and Dunlap were arrested in
Philadelphia, just as they were about to take a train southward,
where they intended to commit another bank burglary. They
were taken to Northampton, and tried, not on the charge of robbing the bank, but on that of entering the cashier's house and
threatening the lives of the inmates. Conviction on the former
charge would give the culprits only twenty years' sentence, while
on the latter charge a life-sentence was possible. The trial on
this charge proved a failure, and the second was taken up. Scott
and Dunlap were found guilty and were sentenced to twenty years'
imprisonment in the Massachusetts State prison, at Charlestown.
Scott died in captivity.
Meanwhile, the New York detectives were continuing their
search for the remainder of the gang. " Shang" Draper was
taken in 1877, and soon afterwards " Billy " Connors fell into the
clutches of the law. He was confined in Ludlow Street Jail, but
while his extradition papers were preparing he secured an impression of the key of the jail, and one day, at meal time, he unlocked the iron door and walked out. It was on February 4, I88I,
that he was re-captured in Philadelphia as he was leaving a dram
shop. He was taken to Northampton for trial.
Leary had been arrested about the same time that Connors was
first arrested, and was also lodged in Ludlow Street Jail. The desperate character' of these thieves is again illustrated when it is
told that Leary also broke jail in 1879. Friends of his had' rented
a brick house adjoining the jail, and, dug through the walls to a
closet, making an excavation large enough for Leary to crawl
through. He was re-arrested in Brooklyn on the same night that
Connors was re-taken in Philadelphia. Of the other burglars, one




244


A HEROIC CASHIER.


was already serving a term in Sing Sing before it was known that
he was engaged in the Northampton bank robbery; Howard, if he
was really implicated, was killed, after a remarkable career, in
Yonkers, and Edson, of course, got free by turning State's evidence.
The bank recovered all its property save $ioo,ooo in securities,
$40,000 in Government bonds and $12,000 in cash.
The anniversary of Washington's birthday in 1878 was a raw,
cold day in Dexter, Maine. Since it was a holiday, most of the
villagers were enjoying themselves in various ways suited to their
tastes. On the second floor of what was known as the Masonic
Building, however, was one citizen who was not spending the day
in idleness. His name was J. W. Barron. He was the cashier of
the Dexter Savings Bank, which had offices there. He had left
his wife in the morning, and told her that he would return about
3 o'clock-he wanted to go to the bank " to do a little figuring."
There he sat in the offices of the bank on that chill afternoon,
and turned the pages of his books or added up a column of figures. The fire in the grate became low, and the cashier shivered
now and then as he went on with his work. Finally the room became too cold for him to endure the temperature any longer, so he
arose from his desk and walked down to the coal room to bring
up some more fuel. Little did James Barron suspect that several
pairs of eyes were watching every step he took. Unconscious of
coming doom he stooped over and filled the iron scuttle. The rattling of the coal drowned all other noises. He arose to lift his
burden, and then fell, struck by a sudden and unlooked-for blow.
Three men were upon him in an instant, three men whom that old
cashier recognized at once as desperate criminals. He saw determination and brutality written in their faces. He knew at once
their intentions.
But Cashier Barron was no coward. A short time before he
had read of the Northampton Bank robbery, how the burglars
had bound and gagged the cashier and made him divulge the combination of the safes, and Mr. Barron then had said to his wife:
"If the bank funds have got to go that way, I prefer to go with
them." And down in that dimly-lighted and dusty coal room, with
three of the most desperate bank burglars in the country upon
him, the gray-haired cashier did not flinch. Again the words he
had used to his wife came back to him, and he murmured to himself: "If thefunds have got to go, I will go with them."




THE DEXTER SAVINGS BANK.


245


So he struggled, and there was a desperate fight in the coal room,
in which the brave old man's head was cut and his face bruised.
His eye-glasses were afterwards found amid the coal, broken, and
a set of false teeth glistened brightly against the black diamonds.
But three men can easily overpower one. Mr. Barron struggled
until his strength was exhausted, and then the ruffians tied his
wrists behind him and fastened them with hand-cuffs. After gagging him so that he could not scream for help they lead him to
the bank vault and tried to force out of him the secret of the combination. But although the old man's strength was gone his spirit
was not bowed. That firm determination with which he said, "If
the funds have got to go I prefer to go with them," stood by him
still. He absolutely refused to divulge the combination. How
this enraged the burglars! They became perfect fiends. They
beat the cashier, slashed him with knives, assaulted him with all
sorts of indignities, and in short tried to murder him by slow torture.  But all was in vain; their victim was a martyr.  The
thieves, fearing discovery, for it was broad daylight, abandoned
their task and fled. They secured only about $ioo.
In the mean while there was growing anxiety in the home of
Cashier Barron. When 3 o'clock came around and her husband
had not returned, Mrs. Barron became fearful lest something had
happened to him. She smothered her fears, however; and went
on with her household duties. Then the shades of that February
day began to fall. The sun shone out clear for a moment just
above the western horizon, and then fell behind the hill. The air
grew chillier with the approach of dusk. Mrs. Barron left her
comfortable seat by the grate fire, and walked to the window to
ascertain if she could see her absent husband. There was no
sign of him. She walked into'the kitchen, and there saw a hired
man, named Bement, to whom she expressed her fear that Mr.
Barron had met with an accident. Bement offered to go down to
the bank and find out if his employer had been detained there.
As the hired man approached the Masonic Building and looked
up into the second story, where the bank offices were, he saw no
light in the window. He started to go up the steps, when he met
Cashier Curtis, of the Dexter National Bank, which was in the
same building, and asked him if he had seen anything of Mr. Barron. Mr. Curtis replied that he had not, and together with Bement walked to the door of the building. They listened and heard




246


A SICKENING SIGHT.


a faint groan. This was enough. They tried to burst open the
door, but it withstood their efforts. There was another entrance,
and through this they climbed and made their way to the bank
offices. The door by which entrance was had was open a mere
crack. They pushed against it, but could not open it sufficiently
to get through. The groans became more audible and horrible.
Something had to be done. They found a slender lad, who climbed
up over the door and into the room. It was dark, but by feeling
around he discovered that it was a man's body which blocked the
door. By much tugging and straining he managed to pull the
body along so as to allow the door to open more widely. Then
a Captain Weed, who had been attracted by the noise as he was
passing, squeezed through the aperture. Bement, the hired man,
handed him his lantern. The captain turned the rays full on
the creature behind the door, and a cry of anguish broke from
his lips. It was a sickening sight that met his searching look. By
the lantern's light he saw Mr. Barron wedged in between the
vault and the door-his face livid, his eyes set, his jaws stretched
apart by a blood-soaked gag, a rope around his neck, his hands
fastened behind him with hand-cuffs, and the man himself dying.
Mr. Barron was at once removed to another part of the building,
and his wife was summoned. At midnight he died.
Further examination of the premises revealed the false teeth,
the broken eye-glasses, a lead pencil and the coal-hod, half tipped
over. There were, however, no clews to the burglars. The little
town was of course very much excited.  Stories of strange men
who had been seen in the village multiplied. Several sleighloads
of suspicious-looking men had been seen driving across the country, but whether they included the murderers of the old cashier was
never ascertained. Detectives from Boston and Portland were employed to work up the case. It was a huge task. A rumor got
abroad that Barron had not been murdered, but had committed
suicide after having misappropriated the funds of the bank.
His accounts were examined, and for a time his widow lived confronting the unjust suspicions. But the expert accountants soon
discovered that Barron, instead of being a thief, was a hero. Finally suspicion centred on a well-known gang of bank burglars,
among whom were " Worcester Sam," " Johnny " Dobbs, " Jimmy "
Hope, " Abe " Coakley and George Leonidas Leslie, alias George
Howard. The Boston detectives called on the police of New




VINDICATED.


247


York for assistance, and Richard King and George Dilks of the
Central Office were put upon the case. They watched Coakley's
house attentively, and after some further investigation were so
convinced that the above-named rascals were implicated in the
murder that they felt ready to make. arrests. The matter was
finally allowed to drop because of insufficient evidence, and
the murderers of Cashier Barron were never brought to justice.
The peculiar circumstances surrounding the robbery of the
Ocean National Bank, at Fulton and Greenwich streets, New
York, on June 27, i869, gives the burglary another interest-aside
from that which springs from the cleverness of the thieves' work.
There was stolen altogether in money and securities $768,879.74,
but there was left in the bank vaults, or scattered outside on the
floor, $1,8o6,958.
The burglary occurred between Saturday night and Monday
morning.  The news came to headquarters on Monday, and
detectives Elder, Kelso and Farley were dispatched at once
to the building. They arrived at the bank shortly after nine
o'clock, and found a very confused state of things.  Outside
the bank the streets were crowded with persons who had learned
the fact of the robbery, and it required the efforts of several
policemen to keep the throng from pushing through the doors.
Within, the confusion was of a different sort, and greater. Of the
persons connected -with the bank there had already arrived the
colored janitor, Peter Grant; W. H. Dunn, a messenger; Joseph
D. Martin, the porter; Edward Dunn, another messenger; Mr.
Lyon, the receiving teller; Mr. Clark, the paying teller; C. S.
Stevenson, the cashier; Mr. Morgan, a director, and Theodore
M. Davis, an attorney of the bank. Sergeant Phillips, of the
Twenty-seventh Precinct, had been notified and was in command.
The bank offices included the large business room, the president's private room, and the vault. Around the latter was assembled a very excited and netvous group. The outer door of
the vault was open, and smoke issued from the aperture. The
floor was covered with papers, books and old clothing left by the
burglars, all thoroughly soaked with water. Bags holding nickel
coin were smouldering. The detectives examined the outer vault
door. It showed no sign of having been violently tampered with.
The lock worked as usual.
The vault was in three compartments, with a door to each.




248


THE OCEAN BANK.


The outside wall was built of large blocks of granite, which were
lined on either side by heavy plates of boiler iron. The first door,
which so surprised the detectives, was of iron, very strongly put
together, and held tight by bolts and a combination lock. The
second was also of iron, and was secured by a Yale lock. The


li l1 KI1K U r DAiSl. VAUL1I.
keys to this hung on the door, so that having forced the main
door it had only been necessary for the burglars to use the keys
which they found. The third door, or that leading to the inner
vault, was of inch-and-a-quarter iron, and had a different lock
from either of the others, a combination Butterworth, No. 3.  In
this inner vault were two safes, supposed to be burglar proof,
and holding the cash and securities of the bank.




SCATI'ERED WEALTH.


249


Through all this iron and stone the burglars had worked their
way. The evidences of their toil and its results were everywhere
visible. In some mysterious way they had unlocked the outside
door and found the keys which took them through the second;
but through the third there was no such easy passage. Here they
had to use their jimmies and wedges, and when they got to the
safes they brought into service all sorts of ingenious tools. There
was a strong smell of powder in this inner vault when the detectives entered. The floor was covered with powder cans, fuses,
drills, blow-pipes, bits, wedges, jack-screws, and steel and copper
sledges. More wonderful, though, than all the burglars' tools was
the wealth which lay scattered over the floor, left by the thieves.
Here were bags of gold and nickel coins, bundles of checks,
bonds, notes, books, papers and fractional currency, all mixed
up in a hopeless confusion, and all soaked with water. Inside
the safes were bags of gold untouched; in one box was $i6o,ooo
in gold and gold certificates, yet the burglars didn't seem to care
for it.
More signs of the burglars' depredations were noticeable outside the vault. The floor of the business room, behind the counter, was littered with depositors' boxes and their contents. The
thieves had gone through them, but had taken very little. At the
windows the small diamond-shaped apertures above the iron shutters were covered with black muslin and silk. In the floor of the
president's room had been bored a hole, two feet long and twenty
inches wide. It was directly in front of his desk, and had apparently been worked at several days previous to the robbery. In
the basement, below the bank offices, were found a bundle of
United States bonds, a lot of silverware, hundreds of dollars in
notes and mutilated fractional currency, half-eaten sandwiches, a
dark-lantern, tools and old clothing.  The basement windows
were fastened and the doors locked.
Our detectives looked at all this, and, it cannot be denied, they
were mystified. The work had been done very systematically and
intelligently, and yet it seemed as if the robbers had cherished
just a little contempt for "filthy lucre," so much had they left
scattered on the floor. It could not have been that they were
frightened away, for they had stopped to close doors and windows
after them. Indeed, there seemed no way of accounting for the
state of things which we found. When the officers of the bank




250


A MYSTERIOUS TRUNK.


had made an investigation into their losses they found that $768,879.74 had been carried away, and that $I,806,958 was left.
As soon as they had recovered their senses they requested
Theodore M. Davis, who had been the bank's attorney at one
time or another, and who happened in the bank on the morning
that the robbery was discovered, to undertake an investigation
into the burglary. He accordingly established headquarters at
once in the president's room, and called in the detectives.
Subsequent search on the part of the detectives only added to
the mystery. Strange as had been the conduct of the thieves on
the night of the burglary, stranger was it afterward. Early on
Tuesday morning, only twenty-four hours after the robbery, Patrolman Donahue, of the Sixth Precinct, brought to the stationhouse a small trunk bound around with a cord, and having attached to it a piece of paper on which was written, "For Capt.
Jourdan, of Sixth Ward." The patrolman reported that while on
his beat, two men, John Hilton, of No. 8 Franklin Street, and John
Gowan, of No. 202 Catharine Street, had pointed out to him the
trunk, which was then in front of No. 2 Elizabeth Street. As
they called his attention to it, they remarked:
" Perhaps there's a dead baby in it."
There was no baby in it, however. It contained nothing less
than a portion of the property which had been stolen from the
Ocean Bank. There were a few hundred dollars in cash, and the
remainder, amounting to more than $275,ooo, was in securities.
Among the checks was one of the cashier of the Exchange Bank,
payable to the order of D. R. Martin, the president of the Ocean
Bank, for $75,ooo. Another was drawn by President Martin for
$20,000, payable to himself, and still another was drawn by the
cashier, C. S. Stevenson, for $4000, payable to himself. The two
latter had been paid on the Saturday before the robbery.
The policy of the bank, as expressed and carried out by Mr.
Davis, was to get possession, not of the thieves, but of the stolen
property. For this reason the police thereafter worked against
great odds.  They did the best they could, however, and what
they found is herewith given. The entire mystery of the case was
not solved and probably never will be.
Until February 8, of the year of the robbery, the Globe Insurance Company had occupied the basement of the building in
which the Ocean Bank was situated.  The general manager was




" THEY'VE DONE IT."


25I


Edgar E. Holly, an intimate friend of President Martin. One
morning in May, 1868, Mr. Holly discovered some wax, such as
is used by burglars, around the keyhole of the front basement
door. A few weeks later he found the lock badly out of order,
and on several occasions saw suspicious persons in the neighborhood of the building. Each time his suspicions were aroused, and
he told President Martin that he feared a burglary of the bank
was threatened. The president laughed, and boasted the strength
of the vaults. Later on, the porter of the bank reported that on
one or two occasions he had seen strangers inside the railing near
the vault. Once also he had seen a suspicious-looking man in the
president's room, who had jumped out of the window into Fulton
Street as soon as he was discovered.  Other warnings came.
Sergeant Phillips reported the presence of suspicious characters
in the neighborhood of the bank, and two months before the robbery Detective Keneally told the bank officers that an attempt on
the Ocean Bank was probable. In spite of all these warnings the
president did not heed. He had implicit trust in the strength of
the vaults, and declined to have the bank watched. On the morning of the robbery, when Mr. Holly entered the bank, he said to
the president, significantly:
" Well, they've done it, haven't they?" Whereupon Mr. Martin, who was greatly agitated, whispered to Holly:
"For God's sake and mine, never speak of any conversation
that has passed between me and you in relation to the robbery of
this bank."
It was in William J. Sharkey's handsomely fitted billiard parlors
in Broadway that the robbery of the Ocean Bank was schemed.
Sharkey was a notorious character. The son of a prominent
church member, he became early in life a pickpocket. From this
occupation he drifted into other criminal pursuits, until, in 1869, he
was one of the biggest rascals in New York, and at the same
time had such a political influence that he was the companion of
judges, legislators and office-holders. Into the crime which he
had now in mind he enticed William McKay, called sometimes
" Canada Mac," a great sporting man, but known to the police as
a burglar. The first plan agreed upon by these conspirators was
to employ a sneak thief to do the burglary. For this purpose,
Charles King, an expert English thief, was brought over to this




252


PREPARATIONS.


country. He it was whom, in I868, the janitor of the Ocean Bank
Building saw leap out of a window in the president's room.
For a whole year Sharkey and McKay were planning the robbery, but their efforts met with no success. Then they changed
their tactics. There was a man whom McKay knew, called
William O'Kell. This individual was a broker, and did business
under the Stuyvesant Bank, on Broadway, above Grand Street.
He had previously assisted thieves in disposing of their stolen
property.  Sharkey and McKay arranged with O'Kell that he
should lease the basement under the Ocean Bank Building, recently vacated by the Globe Insurance Company, and sublet the
rear part of it to McKay, who was to be known by the name of
Lewis K. Cole. This was done early in June, I869, and unbeknown
to everybody save themselves the work of getting at the Ocean
Bank's vaults went on. About this time also they enlisted in their
plans two well-known thieves, Max Shinburn and George Miles
White. To the basement they brought their tools and lanterns.
In some way they got information regarding what was in the bank,
what the combination for unfastening the outside door of the vault
was, and where they were to find the keys to the second door.
To such a degree was their task lightened. To effect an entrance
to the president's room they bored the hole which was found
afterwards in the floor under his desk.
At last everything was completed. Sunday night was chosen
for the burglary, because the janitor was in the habit of being
away at that time. One by one the thieves crawled up through
the hole, and then they began their operations. Sharkey pointed
out what securities they should take and what they should leave.
They obeyed his commands, mysterious as the latter were, and
stole the amount which has already been mentioned.  They
carried the plunder to a wholesale liquor house near by and divided it. Within twenty-four hours, however, after the robbery
was discovered negotiations had been opened between the burglars and the bank officers, which resulted in the former returning the securities found in the little trunk on Elizabeth Street,
and making off with the remainder.
Some time during the month of March, 1874, a man named J.
J. Gilmore became the lessee of what was known as the Gilmore
Building, corner of Eighth Avenue and Fourteenth Street, at a
rental of $7000 a year.  This Gilmore Building adjoined the




"CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! '


253


premises occupied by the New York Savings Bank, the entrance
to which was on Eighth Avenue, near the corner. Previous to
Gilmore's tenancy, the Gilmore Building had been occupied by
John Arthur as a billiard hall, saloon and restaurant. Under
Arthur's management even, the place was never kept in decent
shape, but when Gilmore came into possession it was allowed to
go to " rack and ruin," and it was a subject for wonder among
those who resided in the locality as to how he made a living.
Rumors were circulated among a certain class that Gilmore was
none other than J. J. Clare, a noted bank burglar, but these suspicions never came to the ears of the officers of the bank, and
they therefore took no particular notice of their neighbors. And
so matters went along until shortly before midnight of Friday,
June 27, when Patrolman Keller, of the Sixteenth Precinct, passed
the building. A peculiar "click, click, click" was borne to his
ears, seemingly emanating from the bank premises. What could it
mean? Then the noise ceased, only to be resumed in a minute or
so. "Click, click, click!" There it was again.  From whence
did it come? Suddenly there flashed to his brain the thought that
there was something wrong going on in the bank. "Click, click,
click," once more. This time there could be no doubt about it.
He at once ran to the corner, and despatched Officer Sinclair,
whom he found there, to the Twentieth Street Police Station for
assistance. This soon arrived in the person of Captain Cherry,
accompanied by three or four patrolmen. They listened, and
could plainly hear the same noise which had attracted Keller's
attention in the first instance. He also was convinced that all
was not right in the bank. By his directions, the officers under
him attempted to force an entrance into the Gilmore Building at
the Eighth Avenue entrance. The door was a stout one and resisted their utmost efforts. Dashing up the front steps, Captain
Cherry gave the bell-handle a vigorous pull, and a resounding
peal followed. In response, a window on the second floor was
opened and a head appeared.
" What do you want?  Who are you? " it asked.
Captain Cherry shouted that they were police officers and
wished to be admitted immediately.
"All right," replied the head, which at once disappeared, and
the window was closed.
A minute or more elapsed, during which the sound of hurrying




254


WHAT CAPTAIN CHERRY SAW.


footsteps was heard in the basement. Impatient at the delay, the
captain was about to ring the bell again, when three men were
seen to jump out of a rear window and run in the direction of
Ninth Avenue. The officers followed, and after a short, sharp run,
managed to capture them. Two of the prisoners, Wm. Morgan
and John Simpson, were well known as "crooks," but the other,
who gave his name as Charles Sanborn, was a perfect stranger.
Meanwhile, Captain Cherry had not been idle, but had succeeded in entering the Gilmore Building by prying open a window.
Once inside, further research was not difficult. A trap-door in the
restaurant floor led to the basement, where he found ample evidence that Officer Keller had heard the "click, click, click " just
in time. In the southerly wall of the building a hole about four
feet square had been made. Four courses of brick had been
removed, exposing to view the granite slabs of which the outer
casing of the vault of the New York Savings Bank was constructed.
No attempt had been made to blast the slabs, but in one of them
the captain noticed a clearly-drilled, polished hole, one inch in
diameter and two deep. He at once saw that no hand-drill had
been used. Groping around in the dungeon-like basement he soon
came across a diminutive upright boiler, attached to which was a
portion of the machinery necessary to the working of a drill. The
whole floor of the basement was covered with the bricks taken
from the breach, but the only tool found was a heavy iron mallet,
tipped with lead so as to deaden the sound.
Nothing else was discovered, but it was evident that much
time and labor had been expended in the "enterprise," which was
brought to such an untimely conclusion.
Gilmore, the lessee of the building, managed to escape, and
what became of him or his companions I have never ascertained.
Dan Noble, alias Daniel Dyson, was originally a pickpocket,
but after some years' practice in that direction graduated as a
bank sneak of the highest grade. His most brilliant exploit was
his "snatching" of $Ioo,ooo from the Royal Insurance Company's
office on Broadway in broad daylight. He is also said to have
been concerned in the famous Lord bond robbery, when $I,ooo,ooo
were stolen. Being sentenced to five years' imprisonment at
Auburn for burglary at Elmira, New York, he there made the
acquaintance of Jimmy Hope and James Brady, and escaped with
them. Subsequently he went to England, where he associated,




A "' TOP SAWYER."


255 -

largely with "sporting swells." He visited France on one occasion, but the surroundings were uncongenial and he returned to
England, where he was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment
for forgery. His health broke down, and in 1878 he died in
prison, after serving about half his term.
Max, or Mark Shinburn, who was one of the confederates in
the Ocean Bank burglary, was an aristocratic criminal. It was
his habit to remark with great earnestness to his companions that
DAN. NOBLE.
(From a Photograph.)
as soon as he got wealthy he was going back to the Fatherland and
become a nobleman. He was the one economical criminal I ever
encountered. Instead of dissipating his booty among male and
female companions, he bought letters of credit and made them
payable to friends in Prussia. He was never the inmate of a
prison for any length of time, and only had to do with the " safest"
kind of robbery. On the 8th or 9th of February, I869, while I
was inspector, John F. Young, at that time captain of the detective force, received information from General Frank Spinola to
the effect that certain men had offered to sell him some stolen
e,




256


GEN. SPINOT,A'S PLAN.


bonds. A plan was accordingly set on foot to entrap the parties.
General Spinola hired a room at No. 6o Broadway, and fitted it up
with the necessary furniture, desks, chairs, safe, etc. A formidable and imposing-looking package of counterfeit bills was obtained from United States Marshal Robert Murray, and given to
General Spinola so as to enable him to show the holders of the
stolen bonds, who had been notified by him meanwhile that he was
ready to negotiate, that he was going to pay cash. On February
io they put in an appearance. The general received them in
the most polite and agreeable manner, giving them to understand
that he was willing to buy the bonds if a price could be agreed
upon. Opening the safe he took out the package of counterfeit
money, and remarked: "You see I'm ready to trade, and will pay
cash down for the bonds." After some further conversation an
arrangement was made by which they were to call the next day
with the bonds. Captain Young was notified by General Spinola
to this effect, and at the time agreed, the captain, together with
detectives James Irving and Edsell, concealed themselves near the
office and were to put in an appearance upon a certain signal.
The two men came, bringing the bonds, and the signal was given.
The officers rushed into the room and arrested them. Upon
being questioned they gave their names as James Weaver and
James McCabe, but the former was recognized as no less an
individual than Max Shinburn, while the latter was known as
"1 Canada Mac." They were taken to police headquarters, where
$99,500 in bonds, stolen from the First National Bank of Maryland, was found on them. Within the past month, in looking over
some of the minutes of this capture, I have had occasion to examine the returns of arrests made by the Detective Bureau at that time,
but after a careful search I failed to find any record of the occurrence at headquarters. The fact of the arrest was kept a secret at
the time, as the two prisoners, it was said, agreed to return to Maryland without waiting for the formality of extradition papers. The
two were thereupon delivered into the custody of a private detective
agency, having its office in Baltimore. The officers of this agency
conveyed Shinburn and Canada Mac to Jersey City, en route for
Baltimore. Upon arriving in Jersey City, so I have been informed-and I have every reason for placing implicit confidence
in my informant-the prisoners delivered to the private detectives
about $20,000, the balance of the amount stolen from the bank,




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247




258


HOW STRANGE.


A few hours afterwards Shinburn and his companion were seen
walking up Broadway. Early in I870, while John Jourdan was
superintendent, a warrant of Governor Hoffman's was placed in my
hands on a requisition from the Governor of Vermont, directing
the arrest of Max Shinburn; In the words of the requisition he
was " to be delivered to Leander Powers, duly authorized in the
State of Vermont to receive and carry the prisoner to the said
State." The date of the warrant was March 30, I869. When
I asked the authorities from Vermont why the warrant had been
held over so long, the answer was that, judging from former transactions with the New York police, they feared a miscarriage of justice and that the warrant would not be executed. They added that
a Mr. Stone, a dry goods merchant of New York, had recommended
the placing of the warrant in my hands, and then they would be
assured the warrant would be executed. Somewhere about the
time of my receiving the warrant, Shinburn had been seen in a
restaurant on Broadway, near Thirty-fourth Street. I told Superintendent Jourdan of this, and also of the fact that I had a warrant
for Shinburn's arrest, asking him whether I should serve it or hand
it over to some one else. His reply was:
"Keep it, and serve it-if you can."
A week elapsed, and the next information I received of Shinburn's whereabouts was that he was in Canada.
Comments on the whole transaction are needless. So far as the
police department of the City of New York was concerned it was
disgraceful. A door was actually opened for the escape of two
notorious criminals, while the absence of any record of the matter
at headquarters convinces me that there must have been a terrible amount of rottenness permeating many grades of the police
force.
Max Shinburn, I have since learned, finally became as wealthy as
he desired, and bidding farewell to his associates he sailed for his
long-wished-for Fatherland. There he bought an estate, employed
servants, dazzled the natives, and finally, after announcing to the
country about his estate that he had been a bank president in America, bought the title of Baron of the principality of Monaco and became a nobleman. His acquaintance with affairs and interiors
of banks bore out his claims of being a retired bank president and
as "Baron Shindell" he shines.
But perhaps the most audacious and withal amusing robbery




RESPECTABILITY NO SURETY.


259


which was intimately connected with a bank was the experience
of a messenger of the Greenwich Savings Bank, in i868. This
messenger was a man of unimpeachable honesty and of great
strength. He had frequently carried large sums of money from
the savings institution to the bank of deposit and had never met
the smallest or most uninteresting adventure. This man is still
alive, and as publicity will not benefit him I shall call him by the
euphonious name of Buggins. His great pride always was that he
was seldom known as Buggins, the bank-messenger, but " Buggins,
the gentleman connected with the Greenwich Savings Bank." His
air of respectability was so penetrating and infectious that one was
always inclined to accost him, not with the breezy and flippant in
quiry concerning the weather, but about last Sunday's. sermon or
the latest quotation in " Governments."
Now on certain days of the week Buggins was accustomed to go
through the following procedure: he would first go to a closet
where hung a respectable hat; removing this hat from its peg he
would place it upon his head; then drawing on a pair of respectable gloves he would take a cane, after which a large black bag; all
this slowly and methodically. Thus armed he would proceed to
the bank of deposit, where he would obtain a sufficient number of
bank-bills of small denominatiqns to fill the black bag. He would
then return with these bills to the Greenwich Savings Bank, where
they were used to pay depositors who desired bank-notes of a
small denomination.
A thief with a vivid imagination had long watched these proceedings with the most profound interest, and his mouth had watered at the sight of his bag. " So near and yet so far "; and " he
said to himself said he," "I will have that there bag and I will
get it without putting my precious carcass in the slightest danger."
So one day he boldly walked up to an officer in uniform who was
standing on a street corner, and said:
" I am a detective from headquarters, and Superintendent Kennedy [who was at that time Chief of Police] has instructed me to
arrest a notorious counterfeiter whom we have long been watching,
and who will probably soon pass this way with a black bag full of
counterfeit bills. I shall require your assistance."
The 1policeman, seeing in his mind's eye his name in the morning
papers, coupled with such expressions as "Gallant conduct of an
officer.-Arrest of a dangerous criminal by Policeman X," with




260


A TOO-CREDULOUS PATROLMAN.


perhaps a sergeant's baton in the background, joyfully acquiesced,
and when in due course of time Buggins, with his bag of money,
drew near, the officer bore down on him and seized him with such
an iron grip that he was for the moment completely paralyzed.
The thief, who had, simultaneously with the officer, grabbed poor
Buggins and the bag, but especially the bag, said to the patrolman
in an authoritative tone:
" Take him to the station-house while I go with the bag to Superintendent Kennedy. We will join you at the station." And then
he at once made off with the bag, in spite of the imploring and confused imprecations of the horrified bank-messenger. By this time
a large crowd had collected, and one gentleman asked the policeman what the prisoner had done.
" Done!" replied the patrolman, stopping and holding Buggins
off at arm's length for a moment while he gloated over his triumph.
"Done everything-counterfeiting, bigamy and arson."
"I am a bank officer," howled Buggins, " and you shall suffer for
this."
"Oh! yes," howled the crowd, "you are a nice bank officer, you
are. He a banker! Look at the villain! " Did the officer require
assistance in taking the hardened vagabond to the station? Hundreds of willing hands were stretched out to aid him. And the unhappy Buggins was marched to the Twenty-Seventh Precinct station
followed by a delighted crowd, sarcastically jubilant at his claims
to be a banker. When he reached *the station the officer in
command of course promptly informed Supt. Kennedy and the
bank. Then came the furious Chief of Police, next the president of the bank with every hair erect with anger and dismay,
afterwards the cashier, with a pale face. With this re-enforcement
to his reputation, Buggins was discharged.
A general alarm was sent out for the arrest of the thief with the
bag, but too late; the thief had disappeared, and neither he nor the
money were ever afterwards heard of. The credulous patrolman
was tried and dismissed from the force.




CHAPTER XIX.


ROBBING THE MANHATTAN BANK.-A SYNDICATE OF BURGLARS. —
A NARROW ESCAPE.-THE DUMMY MISLEADING.-QUICK WORK. —
LOADED WITH WEALTH.-A LOQUACIOUS POLICEMAN.-NABBED.
-A GENIUS AS A BANK BURGLAR.-THE DECOMPOSING BODY.A MISTAKE AT NORRISTOWN.-A YOUTHFUL BRIDE.-THE SOUTH
KENSINGTON BANK.-A WIFE'S DISCOVERY.-THE LAST TIME
ALIVE.-PROBABLY THE MURDERER.
THE bells of old Trinity and St. Paul's had barely finished
striking the hour of ten on the morning of Sunday, October 27,
I878, when a man, almost breathless, and quivering with excitement, rushed into the little barber shop in Bleecker Street under
the Manhattan Institute for Savings. For a moment he was unable to utter a word in explanation of his unceremonious entrance.
At length he gasped out:
"The bank's been robbed!"
Louis Werckle, the janitor of the Manhattan Bank Building,
was the person who imparted this startling information.
When sufficiently recovered to converse coherently, he said that
shortly after six o'clock that morning, while he was dressing,
seven or eight men burst in the door of his bedroom. They all
wore masks, and securely binding him, his wife and his mother-inlaw, left one of their number to guard the terrified trio. Shortly
before ten o'clock he and his family were released, and going into
the bank he found to his dismay that the vault had been broken
into.
The police were at once informed, and an investigation began
which finally resulted in the arrest and conviction of at least two
of those engaged in the robbery. It was found that the total sum
stolen amounted to $2,747,700, of which $2,506,700 was in registered bonds, $241,000 in coupon bonds and $12,764 in cash.
Three years previously, a syndicate of some of the foremost
burglars in America had planned this daring robbery. The chief
partaking in that conspiracy were George Leonidas Leslie, alias
261




262


A SYNDICATE.


Howard; "Jimmy" Hope, "Jim" Brady, "Abe " Coakley, John,
alias " Red," Leary, " Shang " Draper, " Johnny" Dobbs, " Sam"
Perris (" Worcester Sam "), Pete Emerson ("Banjo Pete "),
Mother Mandelbaum and John I). Grady, known as the "Banker
of the Burglars." The preliminary expenses of working up the
burglary were largely borne by Grady.  Mrs. Mandelbaum also
furnished considerable money. The remainder came from the
pockets of the clique. It was an " inside " job from the start, and


PETE EMERSON, alias BANJO PETE.
(From a Photograph in the Rogues' Gallery.)


was managed chiefly by " Shang " Draper and Leslie. In thieves'
slang it was a " pudding"; the bank was wealthy, and always
kept a large amount of cash and negotiable security on hand; the
vault, although apparently impregnable, was easy to enter, and
enough police protection from subordinates in the department was
assured to render surprise in the commission of the burglary difficult. The bank premises were as accurately surveyed by Leslie
as they would have been had a professional architect been em



EXPERIMENTS.


263


ployed. Every nook and corner was perfectly well known to the
members of the gang.
During the three years preceding the robbery several " mobs"
were got up for the purpose of consummating the scheme. It was
at first proposed to become possessed of the wealth of the bank
by a brutal, coarse and vulgar burglary, which should be accompanied by the forcible overcoming of those who guarded the bank
at night. Then more cunning schemes were devised. The nature
of the fastenings of the bank vault were ascertained, and the conclusion was reached that it was better to enter by gentler means
than by wedges, mallets and jimmies.  The use of powder or dynamite was not to be thought of. In the first place, the bank had
large plate-glass windows, which would not permit of an explosion
within, without disastrous results; and in the second place, there
were persons living in the adjacent buildings who would most
certainly be aroused by such a shock.
The thieves thought that the combination of the lock of the
vault could be easily discovered. The task of finding how this
could best be accomplished was assigned to the arch-mechanic
and business man of the rascally clique-George Leonidas Leslie,
whose history was most adventurous and whose fate was tragic.
Leslie was then living with his wife, Mary Henrietta, nie Coath,
at No. 86I Greene Avenue, Brooklyn. Knowing the style of the
combination lock to the vault, he procured one of the same make
from Messrs. Valentine and Butler, and, with Draper, experimented on it at his home. He found that the combination could
be thrown out of gear, and the notches of the tumblers, of which
there were four, brought into line by boring a hole under the indicator, and working the tumblers around with a fine piece of
steel inserted in the hole. When this much was decided upon
the clique planned to introduce a confederate into the service of
the bank. After months of scheming they succeeded. A few
weeks later Leslie was admitted to the bank at night by the confederate, and attempted with the real lock what he had done with
his " dummy" at home.  He was delighted when he found he
could throw two of the tumblers into line. This work was done
under circumstances which would make most men nervous.
The time had not arrived when the policeman on duty in the
street outside should become one of the clique. The man then
on patrol was a faithful officer, and his virtues were known to




264


RESULTS.


no one so well as to Leslie; so that, working at the lock, under a
black screen which shaded the light he was using from passers-by
in the street, he did not succeed in moving all the tumblers. He
believed he had ample time to perfect his plan on a subsequent
occasion. Accordingly, he puttied up the hole he had made under the indicator dial and left the bank. He had experimented
with the tumblers so much, and was so nervous, that he neglected
to place them as they were when he began his operations.  The
consequence was that when the bank authorities tried to open the
safe the next day there was found to be something wrong.  The
maker of the safe was sent for, and when the lock plate was taken
off the hole made by Leslie was discovered. Strangely enough, the
officers of the bank took little notice of this extraordinary circumstance.
Later on, another similar attempt was made by the gang (the
composition of which had been greatly changed, owing to various
reasons), but it was again thwarted, simply from the fact that the
construction of the dummy lock was slightly different from the real
one, and it would have been necessary, in order to insure success,
to have bored the hole one-eighth of an inch lower than they did.
The attempt to open the vault by mild means, therefore, was
abandoned. The gang managed, however, to introduce info the
bank a second confederate as watchman-Patrick Shevlin-and
it was now arranged to commit an extraordinary burglary in an
ordinary, every-day manner.
Thus it came about, that at six o'clock on Sunday morning,
October 27, I878, the gang entered the bank and bound the janitor and his family, as before described. It is now almost certain
that the men actually engaged in the robbery were "Jimmy"
Hope (who did the hardest work), William Kelly, "Abe" Coakley,
and " Pete " Emerson, who were aided outside by John Nugent, a
policeman of the Eighteenth Precinct who was on the sick-list, and
afterwards arrested in Hoboken for an atrocious and daring highway robbery on a bank officer. Louis Werckle's story that the
burglars were seven or eight in number is generally conceded to
be incorrect, as information obtained from men who were allowed
their liberty in consideration of. the confessions they made, places
the number at four.
After securing Werckle and his family, the burglars proceeded
to the bank and began operations on the safe. They had brought




QTZ


MANHATTAN BANK,.
265




266


A BAD WRECK.


with them the finest kit of tools ever used in a bank burglary.
Every article composing it was of the best workmanship and material, and the cost of getting up such a collection could not have
been less than $2500 or $3000. Forcing the main door of the
safe, they broke open the various compartments, making so much
noise that it was distinctly heard by Werckle in his room. No one
in the street, or in the St. Charles Hotel, next door, heard the
noise. It was not even heard in the barber's shop underneath;
but this is explained by the fact that the foundations of the vault
were of enormous thickness and imbedded in cement. The interior compartments were constructed of the hardest steel, and
offered great resistance. To get at their contents, the burglars
had to wreck them utterly; but they failed to open several which
contained large amounts of cash. The whole " job " was completed in the most expeditious manner, only two and a half or
three hours being consumed in the operation. Having obtained
possession of all they could get hold of the thieves placed it in
satchels, and left the bank unobserved. One of the " carriers " on
the occasion, so it is said, was Policeman Nugent.
How near the thieves came to being discovered may be.judged
from the fact that while they were at work Policeman Van Orden,
of the Fifteenth Precinct, who is still a member of the force and
has an excellent record, passed the bank and mechanically looked
in. He saw a man inside, whose face was not familiar to him,
dusting the desks. The man was in his shirt-sleeves and hatless,
and nodded familiarly to the policeman. Van Orden thought so
little of this circumstance, because the man appeared to be so
slightly interested in the policeman's looking into the place, that
he went on about his business, and could not afterwards fully remember the features of the man he had seen.
Within an hour after the discovery of the crime all the resources of the police department were called into requisition by
me. The detectives assigned to the case all agreed that never before was such a safe-wreck seen. No such " ripping out" had
occurred in any bank burglary that had come under their notice.
For awhile the case was a complete mystery, and the public
came to the conclusion, when some time passed and no arrests
were made, that we had given up a perhaps hopeless search. But
we had not. Captain Byrnes, of the Fifteenth Precinct, now inspector, had, by winning the confidence of men with whom the




SMALL POINTS.


267


actual burglars were allied, obtained a vast amount of valuable information.  The most important knowledge thus gained came
through Policeman Nugent's loquacity.  He had "snickered"
about the burglary, had spoken of the " boodle," and had declared
that he carried it on the morning of the burglary.
It was not until late in May, I879, that we were in a position to
make any arrests. Action then was brought about by the confes1475.
JOHN HOPE.
(From a Photograph in the Rogues' Gallery.)
sion of Shevlin. In substance, Shevlin said that the gang had
gradually won his confidence, and at last showed him how he
could make a fortune. He was poorly paid, he said, and the
temptation was too great for him. Finally, he consented to enter
partnership with the thieves. This partnership was negotiated by
outside members of the gang-" Little Tracy" and "Big Kid."
They introduced him to " Jim " Brady, and the result was the two
attempts to "work " the combination. Then came the decision to




268


THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR.


break open the safe by violent measures. The " mob " which actually committed the burglary was made up in New York City on
Friday night, October 25. It was decided to rob the bank, with
Shevlin's connivance, the very next time he should be on duty as
watchman. This occasion presented itself two days afterwards.
Shevlin acted most injudiciously after the burglary. He abandoned his former frugal habits, spent plenty of money and associated with men suspected of being the burglars. When cornered
by the police he made damaging admissions, and, finally, a full
confession. The result was that on February ii, I879, Johnny
Hope, son of the redoubtable " Jimmy," was arrested by Detective
Dolan as he was coming 6ut of the Theatre Comique. He was
fully identified as having been seen in front of the bank on the
morning of the robbery. On June 2, of the same year, Captain
Byrnes had in custody Shevlin, Hope, Kelly, and a man named
Patrick Ryan, a bartender in a grog-shop at Avenue C and
Seventh Street, who escaped conviction, but who is even now
suspected of having received part of the proceeds of the
burglary. The arrest of Coakley and " Pete " Emerson followed.
At the trial of Kelly and John Hope (whose father is now in San
Francisco "doing time " for a bank robbery there) Policeman
Nugent was an interested spectator. The police had been informed that a man answering his description was implicated in
the robbery. He was accordingly arrested in the court-room and
charged with being one of the gang.
Hope and Kelly were convicted, but Nugent, it is said, escaped
conviction at the time by bribing one of the jurors, and afterwards
was convicted in Hoboken of highway robbery.
The loss to the bank was comparatively small, all the registered
securities being replaced. Some of the coupon bonds were recovered. The principal loss was in the ready money. What was
stolen from depositors' boxes has never been ascertained, but was
probably not far from $Ioo,ooo.
New York's Thirty-fifth Precinct is a straggling annex of the
great city, and in some parts it is as sparsely settled as the Adirondacks. In no part of it were there fewer houses than in the neighborhood of what is known as " Tramps' Rock." This landmark
is close to the dividing line between Westchester County and the
County of New York, which runs from Clara Morris's country villa
to Williams Bridge over the Bronx River. No more favorable




TRAMPS' ROCK.


269


neighborhood for the commission of crime, or for the concealing
of its results, could be selected.
On the 4th of June, I884, Mounted Patrolman E. Johnstone,
while riding over his district, was not very much surprised when
he found, near the base of the rock, the partly decomposed body
of a man who, he supposed, had committed suicide. There was
nothing startling in the appearance of the body or its surroundings, so far as casual observation went. It was carried to an undertaker's morgue in Yonkers, where it remained for some days.
The man appeared to have shot himself with a white-handled revolver. The weapon was found near the body.
Under ordinary circumstances the body would have been buried
at the expense of the county, and there would have been an end of
the matter. But local reporters for the New York press investigated the finding of the body, and published an accurate description of the corpse and the clothing on it. Equally singular was the
lack of common prudence displayed by Madame Mandelbaum, the
notorious " fence." A " client " of hers-George Leonidas Leslie,
alias Western George, George Howard, J. G. Allison, George K.
Leslie, C. G. Greene, etc., ad infinitum-had been missing for several days. In a certain sense, Leslie was the chief of her clique
ot silk-stealing and bank-breaking friends, a man who had brought
to her coffers many thousands of dollars.  Mrs. Mandelbaum
dared not appear at Yonkers, but instead sent her chosen associate, Herman Steid, to ascertain if the body was that of Leslie.
Steid's usual self-possession deserted him when confronted with
the dead. His emotion was so manifest that the local coroner felt
assured that the visitor could tell something of the supposed suicide. He questioned him, adroitly obtaining a sufficient clew on
which to base further inquiries, and allowed him to return to New
York. Pursuing his investigations, the coroner visited New York
and made his errand public. The press became interested, and
by degrees the particulars of one of the foulest and best-planned
murders of the age was obtained.
George Leonidas Leslie was by descent an Englishman, his
father, in I840, emigrating to this country with his wife-a Miss
Rodh-and settling in the western part of the State of New York.
He had three children, of whom George was born in this country.
Leaving New York State, Leslie's father went to Cincinnati and
established a brewery. There young George was educated, first




270


HIS EARLY LIFE.


in the local schools and then in the university, whence he was
graduated with high honors. His mother died in the interim and
his father married again. The second wife ill-treated her stepchildren. George left home, came East and fell into bad company.
He had been brought up in luxury, was a spendthrift, and the
tastes he had acquired for ease and good living led him to spend
money rapidly. Possessing great mechanical genius, and prompted
by the acquaintances he had made among the criminal classes, he
speedily drifted into their ranks. His forte was architecture and
the use of house-breaking tools. From his father he inherited the
business tact, which never deserted him. He was above committing depredations himself. In the course of a criminal career extending over a period of twenty years, he was never known to be
connected with what is termed a "clothes-line affair." He started
in at the top of the ladder; and supposing he had been interested
in a thousand burglaries, those in which he was indirectly concerned would number more than three-fourths of them. During
the latter years of his life he was sought for by active criminals,
first as a " putter-up," or planner of robberies, and, second, as a
disposer of the plunder. He was such an expert mechanic and so
able a negotiator, that his fame spread wherever first-class criminals associated. Supposing him, for instance, to be in Cincinnati.
A telegram might summon him to Boston, Philadelphia, New York,
or any other large city, simply to "look over" the scheme for a
burglary which might be carried out by others. Or, it might be
he was wanted to dispose of what had been obtained by a previous
robbery.
His early training left an impression on him. When his association with criminals is spoken of, it does not mean that he was constantly with the men who were enriched by his ability to plan
raids upon property, or that they were his only companions. He
was always well-dressed, had a taste for the fine arts, was somewhat of a bibliomaniac, loved the stage not simply for the amusement it afforded him, but to gratify his critical disposition; and
many men, prominent in respectable society, knew him more or
less intimately as a man about town, seen at theatres, opening of
Academy exhibitions, poring over stands in book-stores, and as a
frequenter of all libraries to which access could be had. His exterior and bearing were those of a dilettante and business man. He
was somewhat short of stature, but robust, with a clean-cut, hand



PHILADELPHIA HIS HEADQUARTERS.


27I


some face. Patronizing only the best and most fashionable tailors
and haberdashers he always appeared to advantage. Certainly in
this city he lived a double life. Many men yet live who remember
him as an enigma. They had met him under circumstances which
precluded any doubt of his respectability. Of course, in his role as
a first-class criminal, he did not neglect to associate and ingratiate
himself with such of the detective fraternity as might injure or
help him.
There is only one instance on record of his having fallen into
serious trouble with the police. This was in i870, at Norristown,
a village near Philadelphia. A plot had been laid to rob a jewellery store. It was one of those occasions when Leslie found it
necessary to take an active part in the crime. His companion
was Gilbert Yost, also known as Charles Howard, alias Heard,
alias Wilbert. By the veriest mischance, probably due to Yost,
they were discovered just as they were about to enter the store,
and both were captured. Leslie was bailed by a woman who came
post-haste from Chicago. It is hardly necessary to say that the
bail was estreated. Yost was convicted and served a term of two
years in Montgomery Prison.
It happened that shortly before this, Leslie found it convenient
to make the City of Philadelphia his headquarters. He moved
there in a certain class of society, just as he had done in New
York. Of course, the first-class detective talent in that city knew
just as well who he was as they did the superintendent of police.
But this hidden knowledge was profitable and his identity was
kept a profound secret in expectation of prospective lucrative
favors. Thus he became an inmate of No. 508 Locust Street, a
boarding-house kept by Mrs. Mary E. Coath, the grass-widow of an
hotel-keeper whose domestic affairs were so involved that he found
it expedient to make a bee-line for the Western mining regions.
In this boarding-house Leslie became acquainted with his landlady's daughter, Mary Henrietta Coath, a very fascinating, blueeyed girl of fourteen years, who had been tenderly brought up
and well educated. She fell in love with the strange, handsome,
well-dressed, courteous boarder. His courtship was sincere, and
she married him when she was fifteen years old, believing him at
that time to be an Internal Revenue detective. Even while paying attentions to the girl, however, he kept up his criminal connections, and aided and advised in several large burglaries. The




272


BOGUS POLIC EMEN.


honeymoon was hardly over when the scheme of a gang of firstclass burglars to rob the South Kensington National Bank was
carried out. The burglars began operations by sending one of
their number to the bank in question and informing the cashier
that a plot had been set on foot to rob the bank that very night,
and it would be best for them to allow none but officers in uniform to enter the premises after banking hours. This messenger
professed to have been sent from police headquarters.  The
watchmen were put on the qui-vive, and so when, late on the evening of February 2, I87I, men in the police uniform knocked at
the door of the bank and imparted the information that they had
been sent as an additional protection, they were immediately admitted. As soon as the dQor was closed one of the men drew
from his pocket a bottle of whiskey, and offered the watchmen
a drink.  The latter were-well, they were watchmen.  One
of them found tumblers, and the other drew a little ice-water from
the cooler. Before these pleasing preliminaries were completed,
however, one of the pretended policemen invited watchman No.
i outside for the purpose of identifying some suspicious persons
who were near by. The other watchman, "Old Murphy," remained inside, and was considerably startled by an unlooked-for
occurrence.  Before he had an opportunity of realizing what
was going on, he was bound and gagged by the very man who
had been sent to.the assistance of the bank. The other watchman with the alleged policeman knocked, was admitted and likewise bound and gagged. They were completely powerless. In
a few moments sufficient safe-breaking tools were brought into
the bank by the seeming policemen to open its vault. Short work
was made of all obstacles between the burglars and the round
$1oo,ooo in cash which the safe contained.
It is to be doubted if Leslie did more than survey the building,
locate the safe, estimate the force necessary to get at the plunder,
and stand watch for the actual perpetrators of the robbery, who
were James McCoy, " Tom " McCormick, " Jim " Casey, "Johnny "
Dobbs, "Jim " Brady, Harry Glenn, " Ike " Marsh and " Jimmie "
Hope, the last named, Leslie's sole peer, now languishing in jail at
San Francisco.
It is said that Joshua Taggart, who at this time controlled the " optional intelligence " of the Philadelphia detective force, was a friend
of Leslie's. No arrests were made. When it became necessary to




A WIFE S DISCOVERY.


273


make public the facts of the robbery, it was jokingly said that the
car horses even in Philadelphia had been talking about it twentyfour hours after its commission.
Leslie did not stop at the Kensington Bank robbery. 'He took
a part in April, I872, in the robbery of the Lycoming Insurance
Company, at Muncy, Pennsylvania. The "gang " got away from
there with only $30,000, but they improved upon that when, five
months afterwards, they made a raid on the Third National Bank
of Baltimore and secured $14o,ooo. Two months later they levied
on the Saratoga County Bank, of Waterford, N. Y., to the extent
of $300,000. These depredations were followed by the robbery of
John Brennan's jewellery store, No. I3 South Eighth Street, Philadelphia, $30,000; the Wellsbro' Bank, Pennsylvania, $9o,ooo; and
the Milford (New Hampshire) Bank of $Ioo,ooo. There is not
the slightest doubt that Leslie participated either in the commission or the division of the plunder of each of these crimes.
It was not until late in I874 that Leslie's wife knew the real
character of the man to whom she was married. When the revelation came, her infatuation for him was such that she was willing to share his fortunes as a confessed villain. 'Tis said that
the discovery was made mainly through a dispute with the Philadelphia detective talent. Taggart thought that his share of
Leslie's good fortune was not equal to his appetite for hush
money. A scheme was accordingly arranged to entrap Leslie.
He was arrested; he promised to be more generous; a spoke was
put in the wheels of justice and he was given his liberty, to find
that his wife was acquainted with his past and prospective career.
After the discovery husband and wife went to Brooklyn, N. Y.,
and resided there in several localities: at the Clinton House in
Fulton Street, No. 478 Fulton Street, and No. 86i Greene Avenue, where the Manhattan Bank robbery was planned. Then
they went to Harrison Street, Stapleton, Staten Island.
Up to this time, despite the wife's knowledge of her husband's
business, her relations with him had been happy. Leslie had ample
means at all times, gratified his wife's every wish, was as careful as
~ever of living before the world as an. honest man, and as prudent in
conducting his criminal schemes. While at Stapleton, however,
Mrs. Leslie noticed that her husband had changed; he often appeared pre-occupied, was harsh to her, not liberal as heretofore,
and often absented himself from home for periods varying from a




274


DELICATE ATTENTIONS-CONSEQUENCES.


few days to several weeks. It is now known that at first his at,
tentions were devoted to " Babe " Irving, sister of the Johnny
Irving who was killed by " John, the Mick," in " Shang " Draper's
saloon on Sixth Avenue. In one instance he spent several weeks
with " Babe " and a convivial party in the Catskills, neglecting his
wife.  Leslie was also enamoured of the wife, or mistress, of
" Shang " Draper, and it is probable that the money he received
from the syndicate was not all spent at home. These liaisons
completely changed his mode of life. His proverbial sagacity and
prudence deserted him.
When, in February, I878, it was planned to rob the Dexter Savings Bank, at Dexter, Maine, Leslie did what is known as the
" outside " work. In committing the robbery, which netted a very
small amount of money, the cashier, James W. Barron, had to be
gagged. The scheme was consummated on the 22d of February,
i878. The burglars, sneaking in through the open door, surprised Barron, who was poring over his accounts late at night.
The old cashier made such a determined resistance in defending
the property of the bank and his own person, that in silencing him
the burglars dealt with him so roughly that he was found dead
when the robbery was discovered.
Leslie was completely unnerved by this murder, and hurried to
his wife, who was then in Baltimore. He told her he was tired of
the life he was leading, and determined to end it. He said he
had means and proposed to go somewhere and do a legitimate
business; open a cigar store in some great city, and silence those
who knew of his past career. He left his wife with the understanding that he was going to Albany, N. Y. This was in April,
I878. He returned three weeks later, utterly prostrated and apparently in terror. He said he had made a mistake, and spoke of
assassination, but very vaguely. All Mrs. Leslie inferred was, that
in some way or other he had got into ill-repute with his associates
in crime. When the facts of the Dexter Bank robbery came out
she said she had no doubt that Leslie, unnerved by the murder,
had dropped a hint, of which some detective in his confidence had
made capital.
She saw him alive for the last time on the ioth of May. He
then gave her a small sum of money, and told her he had secreted
another sum in the house, which might prove very useful to her.
There is no doubt that when Leslie left his wife-they were then




BIRDS OF A FEATHER.


275


in Philadelphia-he went directly to Brooklyn, to the house No.
ioi Lynch Street, where lived "Shang" Draper, Jemmy Mooney
and Gilbert Yost. Hard by, at No. 152 Patchen Avenue, lived
"Billy" Porter and "Johnny" Irving. There is little less doubt
that two weeks afterwards Leslie was murdered there by his associates, and his body carried to Tramps' Rock, Yonkers, where it
was found as already related.
The police having no special interest in shielding those who


f I


BILLY PORTER.
(From a Photograph.)


7ZK


were implicated in the crime, named " Shang" Draper, "Billy "
Porter, "Johnny" Dobbs, "Johnny" Irving and "Sam" Perris,
alias "Worcester Sam," as being concerned in it. The police fortified their theory by saying there had been a quarrel over the division of spoils, that Draper was jealous of Leslie, that Irving was
opposed to him on account of his intimacy with " Babe," and that
Leslie had become "leakv" in regard to professional secrets-notably so in the case of the Dexter Bank robbery. This theory of
the police was, in a certain sense, substantiated. In the first




276


A HANDY WAGON.


place, when the body was found at Tramps' Rock there was straw
near it, and also along the road leading to the rock. It was remembered by a countryman that a wagon (of which an accurate
description was obtained), drawn by a sorrel horse, was seen in
the neighborhood about Decoration Day, at which time the body
must have been placed where it was found. One peculiarity about
this wagon was that wisps of straw were sticking out from it, and
396.
EDWARD GEARING, alias EDDIE B;(UIAr,, BUTCHER-CART THIEF.
(From a Photograph in the Rogues' Gallery.)
there was something covered with straw on the floor of the vehicle.
This description traced the wagon to the Astoria Ferry, over it,
and thence towards Williamsburg, where all trace of it was lost.
"Ed " Goodie, a burglar associated with the Mandelbaum-Leslie
clique, possessed such a horse, and a wagon similar to the one described had been used by him, both in New York and Brooklyn,
in removing stolen goods and the furniture of members of the
gang. Moreover, when, shortly afterwards, a burglary in Brooklyn




"GENERAL ALARM."


277


was traced to the inmates of the Patchen Avenue house, and
thence to Lynch Street, old "Marm" Mandelbaum went to the
latter place and carefully superintended the taking away of a vast
amount of property, which included a valise! I was particularly
anxious to procure this, and while public excitement was at its
height I sent out the following " general alarm ":
" Make inquiries of all persons having furnished rooms or apartments to let,
for a square sole-leather trunk, marked 'G. L. H., Phila.' If found, notify me
at once.
"G. W. WALLING."


' --
JOHN IRVING.
(From a Photograph.)


This trunk, or valise, was traced to Chicago, and there the trail
was lost. I supposed, and had good grounds for my belief, that it
contained securities in which Leslie had invested his ill-gotten
gains. His wife estimated him to be worth anywhere from $40,ooo
to $70,000. She never received one penny of it.
Corroborative testimony as to the complicity of the men named
in the murder was obtained by Detective Wiggin, of Boston, while
hunting up clews to the killing of Cashier Barron, at Dexter. His
researches led him to Yonkers, where he obtained information
that at the time the body must have been placed at Tramps' Rock




278


THE MURDERER.


"Johnny" Dobbs and "Sam" Perris were seen in the neighborhood of Yorrkers. The day after Leslie's body was found, Porter
and Irving disappeared.
Mrs. Leslie was advised of the death of her husband by
"Marm " Mandelbaum. She came to New York to the funeral
(the expenses of which were borne by the noted receiver), was entertained by that lady, given a small sum of money and sent back
to Philadelphia. Just before going she heard that Irving and
Porter had been arrested on "general principles" by certain detectives. She went to the Tombs and saw them, but they treated
her coldly, as though afraid of her. She paid another visit to
New York some time afterwards, in order to recover property
taken possession of by the coroner at Yonkers, which had been
found on her husband's body. Again she made Mrs. Mandelbaum's house her headquarters, and there met Porter, who had
been released. He treated her as before, and sneered at her,
evading questions in regard to the possibility of George's associates having killed him.  Porter's wife-a shop-girl in a Grand
Street store-treated her as though pitying, yet dreading her. On
this occasion, Mrs. Mandelbaum was "economically " generous to
Mrs. Leslie.
Interest in the Leslie murder has waxed and waned since its
commission. At times it has appeared as if the secret would out;
at others to be as far from solution as ever. It is said that the
actual murderer has been often named.  He now occupies a
liquor saloon on Sixth Avenue under cover of a dummy proprietor,
and his place is the resort of thieves and detectives.
The operations of the Leslie gang-composed of men bound by
the strongest of ties to "Marm " Mandelbaum-in nine years, in
this city alone, amounted to a round half million of dollars.
Throughout the United States their plunderings cannot have been
less than $7,000,000, comprising 80 per cent. of all the bank robberies perpetrated from I86o to the date of Leslie's death.




CHAPTER XX.


MOTHER MANDELBAUM, THE QUEEN OF FENCES.-THE OLD WOMAN'S
WORD NEVER DOUBTED.-THE HOUSE IN CLINTON STREET.A PATRON OF CRIMINALS.-THE FIRST MISTAKE.-A DETERMINED DISTRICT ATTORNEY.-DETECTED.-OF FFOR CANADA.A MOTHER AND HER DEAD DAUGHTER.
RECEIVERS of stolen goods, or, in thieves' slang, "fences," are
numerous in New York. That they are known to the police is
not of much avail. The great trouble in convicting them is in the
matter of identifying the goods they receive. Many robberies are
instigated by receivers, and the means for prosecuting them provided by them. Nor is it simply the cost of the jimmy or other
special tools. The criminal must live.. Having spent the proceeds of a first robbery, the thief may, and often does, become the
pensioner of the receiver until a new job is planned and executed.
It takes money for a first-class thief to go through a store properly; and to frustrate watchfulness the criminal must spend
money freely. A building must be watched for days prior to a robbery, and its ins and outs located. If fellowship is to be cultivated with the watchman of the building, sometimes months elapse
before the thief and the guardian are on intimate terms. Invitations to drink are continuous. I have even known women in the
employ of burglars becoming acquainted with the wives of the watchmen of large stores, and in time the men were introduced. Not infrequently a horse and wagon must be provided. If there is money
in the job, money is required to launch it, and in all this it is the
receiver who is the financial backer of the robber. Affiliations
between the receivers and the criminal classes are constant. If
there were no markets for stolen goods, there would be no robberies. The police may be morally certain a person is a receiver,
and for years be known to associate with criminals. In the courts,
when men have been arrested for robberies, such receivers have
furnished the money necessary to defray the expenses of the defence. Goods, doubtless stolen, have been traced to the "fence,"
279




280


THE " QUEEN OF FENCES.


and yet no conviction has followed. The almost insurmountable
difficulty in obtaining the conviction of a receiver lies in the fact
that the major portion of the goods in which he deals cannot be
identified. One piece of silk, velvet, cloth, or calico, looks like
another when it has been stripped of its private mark, or such
printing as may have been on it originally. A merchant has been
robbed and his goods taken. The articles found in the " fence's "
possession are brought into court, but the merchant has sold many
of the same kind. Both the thief and the receiver know their
business perfectly. Say a store has been robbed and the goods
have been carried off to a secure place. Every bit of silk, velvet,
or cloth, is immediately unwound, a most careful search is made for
private marks, and all tickets, tags, or printed labels are destroyed. The thief's careful efforts to efface the identity of the goods does not suffice a clever and cautious receiver. If he
agrees to buy the goods he is not satisfied
until he, too, has them  examined once
7Z, ^/     more, and then only does he pay for the
A    ' /      sB goods. But before the business has come
to this stage, a great deal of caution has
~',   ^been exercised. It may be dangerous for
// -  the thief to sell the goods to the receivers
^y/        too soon after the robbery; and accordingly
some months may elapse before the transMOTHER MANDELBAUM. fer to the " fence " takes place. During the
(From a Photograph.)
interval, however, the receiver may deal
out some money to the thieves, as an advance. Sometimes it
happens that the receiver has one or several agents in his employ,
who act as go-betweens, or brokers, in " shady " goods. It can be
understood readily how goods, coming from a robbery in New
York, may be sold in Philadelphia or Boston, or may be shipped
to a southern or western city for disposal at auction.
But what of the " Queen of Fences "?
A quarter of a century ago, William Mandelbaum kept a haberdashery shop in this city. He was a bustling Israelite, but his
wife, Frances, or Fredericka, was his superior in business capacity.
They started as dealers in the proceeds of robberies in a very
small way. The woman took the lead in these nefarious transactions, speedily acquiring a knowledge of the machinery by which




TRANSACTIONS IN "COLLATERAL."


28r


criminals are brought to justice. She formed an acquaintance
with those who apprehended rogues of all degrees; knew where the
wheel of justice could be clogged, and learned the value of a little
money when criminals were "in trouble."  She was a thorough
business woman; her husband was a nonentity. He passed away
many years ago, leaving her an adept in discovering where tact, correct knowledge and a little or more money would do the most good.
" Marm " Mandelbaum was a wonderful person; she changed
character like a chameleon, and was as adept in her business as
the best stock-broker in Wall Street in his. The best of her days
were passed less than fifteen years ago. Her acquaintance with
policemen and the machinery of the law became more and more
accurate.. She knew the routine by which the suspected persons
reached the grand jury as well as the district attorney himself.
Her knowledge of criminals was fully equal to that of the venality of certain lesser members of the police department. In a few
words, she established a " Bureau for the Prevention of Conviction"
of certain first-class criminals.
Some enjoyed her highest favor, others were simply used to
make money. As time went on, her dealings in stolen property
are believed to have been enormous. She was known not only
throughout the United States, but in Canada, Mexico and Europe.
I am morally convinced that she had transactions in stolen property chiefly "collateral," which consists of gold, silver plate,
precious stones, etc., in all parts of Europe. She attained a reputation as a business woman whose honesty in criminal matters
was absolute, by her adherence to criminal ethics so far as they
regarded men who had been graduates in the school of housebreaking and shop-lifting, and the promptness with which she settled her accounts with them. And not only this, she never left a
criminal her creditor. When he was in need-caught flagrante
delicto, red-handed, under circumstances which she could not control-she became his banker, and he could draw on her for sums
which, in her estimation of the capabilities of a first-class criminal,
he could not hope to repay within many years.
Her establishment in the matter of receiving stolen goods was
perfect. It is. said she paid a retainer of $5000 a year to the
well-known criminal lawyers, Messrs. Howe & Hummel.
The ramifications of her business net were so widespread, her
ingenuity as an assistant to criminals so nearly approached geDnus,




282


" LOOK AFTER THE L[ TI'IE THINGS."


that if a silk robbery occurred in St. Louis, and the criminals were
known as "belonging to Marm Baum," she always had the first
choice of the " swag."
At the police court, the arrest of one of her "gang" was the
signal for the instant appearance of one or more of the tribe of
lawyers allied with her, and paid liberally for their assistance.
Suspicions are not wanting that some of the clerks who drew up
659.
"BIG" FRANK McCOY.
(From a Photograph in the Rogues' Gallery.)
the "informations " knew too well the value of English grammar
to neglect slurring it in her interests.
There were many unimportant and less direct channels by
which cases reached the grand jury and the district attorney's
office, but the Hon. Wm. M. Tweed's advice in this regard —"look
after the little things"-was not disregarded. Cases might be
mentioned where petty matters were so well taken care of on their
way from the police-court to the district attorney's office and the
grand-jury room, that the prisoners escaped indictment with an




A " BUSINESS " CONCERN.


283


ease that they marvelled at until the " old woman " claimed the
credit for the miscarriage of justice. And no man of that class
of which she was the head ever doubted her word.
Her methods were extraordinarily simple. She kept what appeared to be a thriving dry goods and haberdashery shop, at No.
79 Clinton Street. The house was rated as "fourth class " by the
insurance company, being possibly one-sixth brick and five-sixths
wood. It was a straggling, ill-built, yet curious looking building,
more pretentious at its angle with Rivington Street than at any
other. This angle was the business concern which concealed the
real occupation of its owner. Sprawling away from this angle
down Clinton Street was the actual business part of the establish.
ment. This was a two-story, clapboarded wing, some twenty-five
feet long. On the first floor was one of the best furnished apartments in this city, a room the like of which was not to be found
anywhere in the region known as Kleine Deutschland, or Little
Germany. Whether " Marm " Mandelbaum intended to astonish
her clients by a display of her wealth, or to show that she lived in
a style befitting her position, cannot here be discussed. There
were chairs which would have attracted the cupidity of an antiquarian; a massive mahogany sideboard, and on it a magnificent
display of silverware, such as would have been rated as "A i
swag " had a " client " of the old woman called on her to dispose
of it.
On the shelves of the store where the ostensible business of the
concern was conducted were displayed the usual assortment of
dry goods suitable to the needs of the neighborhood. The attendants were usually Mrs. Mandelbaum (the presiding deity), one
of her two daughters, a hired shop-woman, and the successor to
the Hon. William Mandelbaum (her late and lamented spouse),
Hermann Steid, a stalwart looking man, with curling blonde hair.
Mrs. Mandelbaum, thanks to her business capacity, could have
easily earned an excellent living simply by keeping a dry goods
establishment. She preferred "minting" money by dealing with
thieves.
Right here a glance at the proprietress of the store will not be
out of place. She was a woman above the middle height, sufficiently corpulent to be easily caricatured, who never, possibly,
had enough of coquetry to indulge in corsets, with a large mouth
and thick lips. But she was shrewd, careful, methodical in char



/






MANDELBAUM STORE AND HOUSE.




284




HOW THE " SWAG, WAS' " PLANTED."


285


acter, and to the point in speech. Wary in the extreme, she never
admitted any one unknown to her and unvouched for beyond the
precincts of the little dry goods store. Once the entree given by
a hint, note or personal recommendation from any one she depended on, and the little wing of her establishment was wide open
'to him or her.
Passing from the store to the real office of the concern was a
dumb-waiter let into the wall.
" Marm " Mandelbaum's methods grew bolder as her reputation


MICHAEL KURTZ, alias "SHEENEY MIKE."
(From a Photograph when under Duress.)


increased. The majority of her transactions were conducted by
correspondence, or through messengers. It is almost certain that
within the last ten years of her life in New York she rarely received stolen property in bulk at her Clinton Street shop. Suppose, for instance, there had been a robbery of silk in the city.
The "swag" would be first "planted" (stored). A messenger
would call on her, and she would send a trusted agent to examine
the goods thoroughly and report to her.
She would estimate their value to her, make an offer, haggle
enough' to satisfy her race instinct, pay cash for the " stuff," take




286


SILK WAS HER SPECIALTY.


the risk of shipping it or secreting it elsewhere, and afterwards
make arrangements for its disposal at a profit.
In the case of what is known as " collateral," she usually transacted business at home, first having obtained from the thief a
good description and inventory of the plunder. She then made
an appointment elsewhere for appraisement and settlement of the
inatter.
Her interest in professional criminals of a certain class has
been spoken of elsewhere. It was far reaching. She has sent
money to defend a man "in hock" to the uttermost parts of the
United States, and, in several instances, to Canada and Europe.
Not only has she sent money for the defence of criminals, but,
aware of the objects of their trips abroad, on receipt of information that their operations were delayed by want of funds, she has
promptly sent out generous letters of credit. Among those who
were especially favored by her were: First, last, and all the time,
the champion burglar of America, Michael Kurtz, alias " Sheeney
Mike"; "Billy" O'Brien, alias "Billy " Porter; "Jim " Brady,
"Shang" Draper, "Red " Leary, "Big Frank " McCoy, "Jimmy"
Wilmot, "Jimmy" Hope, "Ed" Goodie, "Jim" Casey, "Joe"
Dollard, "Johnny" Dobbs, "Sam" Perris, "Jimmy" Dunlap,
Oscar Decker, "Tom" McCormick, "Piano Charley," "Pete"
Emerson, "Billy" McKay, "Pete" Curley, "Bill" Connors,
"Jack " Rand, "Ike " Marsh, and a host of smaller fry.
But "Marm" Mandelbaum had to come to grief sometimes.
Twelve years ago there was an awkward inquiry about the robbery of $12,000 worth of silk (her specialty). The losers by
the theft-prominent merchants-were not to be placated by any
sophistries. They would have spent the whole capital of the firm
in convicting either the thieves or the receiver. But despite all
efforts in the interests of justice, Mrs. Mandelbaum came safely
out of the ordeal, although arrested as nearly red-handed as it was'
possible for a receiver of stolen goods to be. She was not convicted.
And here I must say that the higher officials of the police force
were most active in the attempt to convict her. She was watched
on all sides, and it was only her great cunning and shrewdness
that enabled her to continue her nefarious business for such a
length of time.
She had not been without anxiety. Nothing disturbed her so




HOW SHE WAS CAUGHT.:       287
much as the " fuss," as she termed it, which was made about the
murder of George Leonidas Leslie. She got out of the scrape at
a cost of (it is believed) not less than $I2,000.
Her next great trouble came to her through the well-meaning
and active, but, owing to circumstances, almost impotent district
attorney, Peter B. Olney. Mr. Olney undoubtedly took the utmost
aggressive interest in "Mother" Mandelbaum's affairs. If his
private utterances are to be believed, and there has never been,
among respectable persons, a doubt in this regard, he thought that
the existence of a woman who by various means had been enabled
to control the most dangerous and wealthy criminal interests of
America, was a burning shame. He employed the Pinkerton
agency, in order to discover a plan by which either the woman might
be brought to justice or her business broken up. Special officers,
detailed to watch her, visited her place in the guise of petty thieves.
Gradually they obtained her confidence. Others were detailed to
purchase goods from her by representing that they wanted to drive
a hard bargain in stolen goods, knowing that she was the right
person to whom to apply. Accordingly, on the one hand they obtained absolute proof that " Mother " Mandelbaum bought " stuff "
from persons who represented that they had obtained it by criminal
means, and on the other hand they were assured that she sold
goods at less than cost price, which she said had been obtained
feloniously. In the latter instance the detectives were able to
corner her.
Among the goods sold were pieces of silk which had been stolen,
and on them were certain marks by which they could be recognized. These goods, purchased by one of Pinkerton's " operatives,"
were identified by Jas. A. Hearn & Son, of West Fourteenth
Street, and Messrs. Simpson, Crawford & Simpson. And so it
came about that on the 22d of July, i884, Mr. Olney had so far
perfected his case against Mrs. Mandelbaum that he ordered her
arrest. She was arraigned in the Harlem Police Court. As was
to be expected, the prosecution encountered a tremendous array
of the best criminal talent of the New York bar, and a big fight
was made through the many agencies she controlled in her behalf.
Her son Julius and Hermann Steid were arrested with her.
" Marm" Mandelbaum got the worst of the fight. She appre.
ciated this fact on December 4, 1884, when, seeing that a convic.
tion was made inevitable, she made the best of her way to Canada.




I/


I, I
I(I   I.


Z/




//V
GEO. MASON, alias OSCAR DECKER, BURGLAR, No. 10271.
(From a Photograph taken under Duress.)
288


-111




MOTHERLY INSTINCTS.


289


Her bondsman, George Speckhardt, of No. I6I Rivington Street,
who had become surety for her appearance before the grand jury
in the sum of $3000, was a loser of that amount.
Mrs. Mandelbaum selected Toronto as her residence, and four
days after her arrival there, was arrested by the Canadian authorities, but was as promptly released.
Since her flight from New York Mrs. Mandelbaum has lived
quietly in Canada. Her exile has been cheered by frequent visits
from emissaries of her council, and saddened by the intelligence of
the death of her younger daughter. It is asserted, and the fact
has never been contradicted, that when the unfortunate and
beautiful girl died, the motherly instincts of Mrs. Mandelbaum
were so excited, that, braving arrest, she left Canada in disguise
and travelled by a circuitous route-from Montreal to Rouse's
Point, then by the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad
to Utica, thence by private conveyance to the Erie Road-to New
York. She dared not follow the body to the grave, but saw the
funeral on its way and immediately went back to her forced home
in Canada.
It is estimated that despite her misfortunes, lawyers' fees, loss of
"business," and a sojourn in a country where every fugitive, once
spotted, is considered fair material for "bleeding," "Marm"
Mandelbaum can command at least $125,000. She has told persons who have seen her in the "land of the bank cashier" that
she would gladly forfeit every penny of her wealth in order to once
more breathe freely the atmosphere of the Thirteenth Ward.
As a woman and a mother she is spoken of with respect. Her
family consisted of two sons and two daughters. Of the boys, one
clung to her as her alter ego. The other is a respectable citizen.
Of the daughters, one, as beautiful a girl as any of her race in this
city, died just as she came to know what her mother really was.
The other, strangely enough, is married to a private detective.
This daughter was so deeply interested in the shadowy part of her
mother's " business " transactions, that when times became threatening she took apartments within a block of the store, with the intention of receiving such " informers " as her parent could not conveniently see, and to watch prowlers who might be investigating
the "business " of the little store at Clinton and Rivington streets.
As a receiver of stolen goods, " Marm" Mandelbaum had no
peer in the United States. In New York, the shop of the great
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ARISTOCRATIC DINNER-PARTIES.


291


Grady was simply an annex of the Clinton Street establishment.
He dealt mainly in collateral of which Mrs. Mandelbaum found it
inconvenient to dispose, and considered dangerous to have in her
possession.
Madame Mandelbaum's favorite article of plunder was silk.
Next of importance, in her estimation, came gold and silverware.
Then ranked the miscellaneous booty resulting from a burglarious
or shop-lifting excursion in a dry goods store, such as laces, gloves,
etc. Her first care was to look for trade-marks, and in this branch
of her calling she was very expert. Labels and tags, of course,
were immediately removed. Private marks were also searched
for. Now and then she dealt in stolen bonds, having a safe outlet for such things among a certain class of brokers, who for a
large percentage would deal in securities whose ownership was
doubtful.
Mrs. Mandelbaum depleted her income in good living. She had
a cellar of choice wines and liquors and was a liberal patron of the
local synagogue, of which she was considered a consistent member.
In the winte-r she frequently gave entertainments to thieves of
both sexes and outside friends, and the receptions were conducted
with as much attention to the proprieties of society as though Mrs.
Mandelbaum's establishment was in Fifth Avenue instead of in a
suspicious corner of the East Side.




CHAPTER XXI.


ESCAPES FROM PRISON.-THE STRANGE WOMAN IN BLACK WHO
WALKED OUT OF THE TOMBS.-THE BANK BURGLAR'S SWEETHEART.-" YOUR TICKET, PLEASE.' -THE MAN WHO SOAPED
HIS BODY AND WRIGGLED THROUGH A HOLE.-DESPERATE FIGHT
IN A BOWERY BEER SALOON.-A BOLD LEAP FOR LIBERTY.-THE
STRANGE MAN ON DE KALB AVENUE WITH TWO COATS.-THE
WAX IMPRESSION FOUND IN LONG MARY'S ROOM. -     RED
LEARY'S ESCAPED!"
A YOUNG and pretty girl was standing on the sidewalk in front of
the iron gate which admits visitors to the Tombs prison, on the
morning of November 19, I873, waiting for the keeper to unfasten the lock and allow friends of the prisoners to enter. When
ten o'clock came the heavy gate swung open, and the throng outside passed in. One, at least, this same young and pretty girl, was
well known to the keepers. Her beautiful face appealed to their
sensibilities, and perhaps as she stood before them they did not
perform their duty of searching her as thoroughly as they might
have. At any rate, she received her ticket and passed by the
keepers until she had reached cell No. 40.  Here she stopped,
and peered between the iron gratings. He whom she had come
to see stepped forward quickly, and the meeting of the prisoner
and his visitor was cordial. The cell was richly fitted up and the
occupant evidently was not leading a very restricted life.
The man in the cell was William J. Sharkey; the woman outside was Maggie Jourdan. Sharkey had been a pickpocket, a
gambler, a notorious bank burglar, a politician of no mean influence, and the murderer of Robert S. Dunn. For this last crime
he had been tried and found guilty. While awaiting his sentence
a stay of proceedings was granted, but the arguments on the case
had not been heard when Maggie Jourdan, the criminal's sweetheart, walked into the Tombs on that November morning.
If the keeper who was at the door when Maggie Jourdan entered and was given her ticket of exit had searched this bright
292




A FEMALE IMPERSONATOR.


293


young woman more thoroughly, he might have discovered that she
carried on her person, not one set of raiment, but two. But the
keeper did not notice this, so Sharkey's sweetheart brought up to
his cell a woman's complete outfit, which, as soon as she could get
from her person, he put on his. To make him look more feminine
he shaved off his mustache.  At last the disguise was complete.
lie took the key which Maggie held closely in her hands and


1 -WM. J. SHARKEY.
(From a Photograph.)


found that the lock worked perfectly. At one o'clock Maggie left
him and walked out of the prison.
It was scarcely a half hour after Maggie Jourdan had passed
out that another woman came from the prison corridors, and giving
up the usual visitor's ticket was allowed by Keeper Phillips to
walk out without molestation or undue scrutiny.  This second
woman was dressed in a dark woollen dress, black cloak, and an
Alpine hat. She wore a thick green veil, which she kept close to
her face. She was large and rather masculine in appearance. An
hour later, Mrs. " Wes " Allen, a sister-in-law of " The " Allen




294


WITH A GREEN VEIL.


whose husband was in the Tombs, attempted to pass Keeper Kennedy who was then at the door.
"Your ticket, please," Kennedy remarked, as he looked at the
woman.
The latter stopped, put her hand in her dress pocket, and after
fumbling about her clothing for a moment, exclaimed:
"Why, I must have lost it. I'm sure I put it in my pocket! "
But Keeper Kennedy was not to be moved by such an excuse
as that, and Mrs. Allen did not make her exit from the prison that
morning as soon as she expected, for she was at once put in
care of the officer, while an alarm was given and the cells were
searched. When the investigating officers had reached cell No.
40, they discovered that its occupant was not there. The door
was unlocked, and Sharkey's clothing lay on the floor. On a little
shelf were found some locks of hair which were supposed to be
the remains of the murderer's mustache.  The whole thing was
clear enough now. The masculine-appearing creature who had
walked past the keeper with her green veil drawn tightly over her
face was none other than William J. Sharkey, the pickpocket,
politician, burglar and murderer, the one man of all who were
then in the Tombs that should have been constantly watched.
To say that there was excitement in that gloomy old building is
expressing it mildly. Of course the police were at once notified
and began work on the case. Mrs. " Wes " Allen was arrested
for complicity in the escape, but was afterwards discharged, as no
actual proof could be secured against her. The same was true of
Keeper Phillips. On Maggie Jourdan something stronger than
suspicion rested. It was discovered that previous to the day of
Sharkey's escape she had taken an impression in wax of the lock
on her lover's cell, and, assisted by Sharkey's confederates outside
the prison, had managed to have a key made. The first key tried
would not move the lock, but the second worked successfully.
Maggie was arrested and tried on the charge of helping Sharkey
to escape, but although everybody believed her guilty the jury
failed to agree upon a verdict, and the girl was set at liberty.
Her boldness in assisting Sharkey was universally wondered at.
The fact was that she was deeply infatuated with the man. He
had a pleasing appearance, and was undoubtedly fascinating to certain persons. Her devotion to him was constant. She visited
him every day in prison, and after his escape, while she herself




-AMA-U&JIM


3..,..I!!!   1-... 1.I


ESCAPE OF SHARKEY.
29S




296


ESCAPING FROM THE TOMBS.


was in custody and knew her lover's whereabouts, she did nor said
nothing by which the police could guess where he was.
In fact it is not known to this day where Sharkey went directly
after his escape. It is pretty certain that he remained in New
York for three or four weeks, but he managed very shrewdly to
elude the detectives who were after him. When at last he did
leave New York, it was on a small schooner bound for Baracoa,
Cuba. From Baracoa he went to Havana, where two years later
he was joined by Maggie Jourdan, whose affection had not dwindled in spite of time and separation. The girl's devotion, however,
was but poorly rewarded. With base ingratitude he soon began
to ill-use her. To his harsh treatment she at first submitted, but
when it continued day after day her infatuation ceased, and indignant at Sharkey's insults she left the man for whom she had
perilled so much, and returned to New York.
There is something daring in an escape from prison that appeals to popular interest. Here are gigantic walls, massive iron
bars, complex locks, all built and put together with the greatest
ingenuity and skill, and with the express purpose of preventing
escapes:; and yet here is a shrewd prisoner who has been successful in defying them all. It is not strange that people want to
know how he did it. As a general thing they are far more interested in a clever escape than they are in a dexterous burglary, or
even in a murder. With the great caution which is exercised in our
prisons it must be a bold mind which would even think of trying to
escape. But to succeed in breaking through bars and eluding the
watchful eyes of keepers displays cunning and ability of no mean
order. To the credit of the men who have had charge of the
Tombs prison be it said there have been in the last thirty-five years
only twenty-eight escapes from that place of confinement.
The first of these of which we have any record is that of Henry
A. Clark, who managed in some way to break out on December
21, i851. We have no details as to his manner of escaping.
There were two escapes during the following year: James Hampton leaped through a window in the court-room, and Robert Green,
who was imprisoned on a charge of grand larceny, got out of his
cell on the second tier, and surrendering a forged ticket at the
keeper's gate walked quietly out into the air and freedom.
At four o'clock on the afternoon of April II, 1859, six boys,
named Bartholomew Upton, Edward Upton, Peter McCann, Fred



SOAPED FROM HEAD TO FOOT.


297


erick Lowe, Thomas Flynn and John Mahoney crawled through a
window on the Franklin Street side of the prison. There were
some laboring men near by who watched the escape, but gave no
alarm. The boys got safely away and were never re-captured. A
shrewd trick was played by Henry Hawk, a noted burglar, who
made his escape in July, I86o. When the names of prisoners who
were to be discharged were called, he walked boldly up and out.
An escape which ranks with that of Sharkey was made on September 19, I863. The prisoner was Conrad Smith, alias Schrader.
With two other prisoners he was confined in a cell on the second
tier. Assisted by them he removed the iron lintel under the window, leaving an aperture twenty-nine inches long and six and a
quarter inches broad. When this had been done he soaped himself from head to foot, and then managed to wriggle through the
small space. He dropped to the ground below, and from' there
climbed to the roof of the cook-house, which was in the rear of the
prison. The top of the outer wall was thirty feet from where he
stood, but in some way he got upon it and then jumped to the street
-a free man. He went immediately among his " pals," who kept
him secreted for a month. At the end of that time, however, the
police found him in a Bowery lager beer saloon, and attempted to
arrest him. But Smith resisted. He did not care to go back to
prison and was willing to fight for his liberty. It was only after a
desperate encounter that he was re-captured.
In I879 there was a very bold escape of a man who had been
imprisoned on a slight charge of disorderly conduct. Dennis Sullivan, while waiting in the prisoners' pen at the Tombs policecourt for his turn to be arraigned, suddenly vaulted over the railing, sprang to the open window near by, and leaped through to the
street beneath. The thing was all done with such dexterity of
movement that none of the numerous policemen in the court-room
could interfere. Indeed there was one policeman within four feet
of the window, and although he jumped to catch the escaping prisoner, he had the pleasure only of seeing the latter's coat-tails disappear through his fingers. The crowd of persons who frequent
the court-room were greatly excited. In spite of the efforts of the
judge to preserve the dignity of the court, there was a rush of
spectators to the doors and great consternation among the officers
on duty. At least twenty policemen started in pursuit of the fugitive. He ran from Centre Street through Mulberry, and from




298


2< THEY'VE GOT OUT! "


there to Bayard Street. Here he was lost sight of and has never
been seen since.
It was early in the morning, but broad daylight, on June i, I879,
when "Billy" Porter and John Irving turned their backs upon
Raymond Street Jail, Brooklyn, where they had been deprived of
their liberty for the last ten months. They had the " run " of one
of the corridors, and were in the habit, between six and seven
o'clock in the morning, to pass down to the kitchen and get their
cups filled with coffee. Porter and Irving rose a little earlier than
their fellow-prisoners on that eventful morning. The two cooks
who were in the kitchen were not at all surprised when the notorious criminals entered with cups in hand. But when they put
down their cups on the table, and walked boldly across the kitchen
and up the stairway leading to the jail-yard, then the cooks were
struck dumb with amazement and raised neither hand nor voice to
prevent the escape.
Having reached the jail-yard, Irving and Porter walked boldly
across and entered the stable-yards. There were some men at
work here, but just as the two convicts entered the yard the attention of the laborers was diverted by heavy knocking outside the
wall. So believing themselves unseen by the men, Irving and
Porter stepped stealthily across the stable-yard to some excavations which were making in the wall. Through these they crawled
and were soon outside the jail limits, and in the adjoining grounds
of the city hospital.           a
But some one after all did observe the transit of the convicts
across the stable-yard. This person was John Cassin, one of the
men who were employed in the yard. He ran at once to Keeper
Joseph Evans and exclaimed:
" They've got out! "
"Who? " asked the keeper, all excitement.
"Irving and Porter," gasped the man, whose breath had been
exhausted by his hasty run.
This intelligence was enough to send a dozen fears through
Evans's mind. He rapidly asked a few questions and then hastened out to Raymond Street and looked up and down to see if he
could see some sign of the runaways. But he saw nothing. He
ran back into the jail and told Warden Bryan what had happened.
The warden became excited too. He telegraphed Sheriff Riley at
the latter's house, and sent out a general alarm to the police head



QUESTIONABLE "REFORMATION."


299


quarters of Brooklyn, New York and adjoining cities. From there
in turn went out instructions to all the precincts to watch for men
of Irving's and Porter's description. Inside Raymond Street Jail
a search was instituted, and the manner of the escape was soon
ascertained. Subsequent investigations revealed the fact that
after the convicts had got outside the jail walls they went immediately to De Kalb Avenue, where they were seen to receive two
coats from a strange man. From here all trace of them was lost,
and when at last they were re-captured, it was not for breaking
jail, but for worse offences.
Porter and Irving belonged to what was known as the Patchen
Avenue gang, one of the fiercest which at that time infested Brooklyn. They were all notorious burglars, but none were better
known than Irving and Porter. The two were close friends and
often "buckled" together to avenge wrongs or insults which one
had received. They were arrested on August ii, I878, for burglary, and had been in jail ten months when they made their escape.
Porter had been tried and found guilty, and was awaiting sentence.
He had been meditating escape for some time, and there is reason
to think that his delay in attempting it was only from a hope that
he might not be found guilty. When the jury's verdict upset this
hope he was ready to carry his plot into execution. There is no
doubt that he and Irving were helped by confederates outside the
prison, and the knocking which the laborers in the stable-yard
heard outside the walls on the morning of the escape was doubtless the work of the convicts' friends, who hoped thereby to divert
attention from the runaways. Sheriff Riley offered a reward of
$2500 for the return of the prisoners, but so far as I am aware no
one ever secured the money. The two men were conspicuous figures in subsequent crimes which startled the country. Irving met
his death a few years later in "Shang" Draper's saloon on Sixth
avenue, at the hands of John Walsh. Porter was supposed to
have avenged his colleague's death by killing Walsh, but he escaped conviction and promised to lead a different sort of life in
the future. How little his reformation amounted to may be seen
when I add that during the present summer he was arrested for
robbing a jewellery store in Troy, and having given bail to the
amount of $20,000, returned to his old haunts in this city.
At dusk one night in the autumn of 1873, a man named Henry
Smith and a woman named Lilly Miller set out from Tarrytown




300


ESCAPING FROM SING SING.


in a small boat and pulled for Sing Sing. Having reached their
destination they got stealthily out of the boat, and took with them
a large bag in which was concealed something of considerable
weight. This they carried over to the prison yard and concealed
in a lumber pile. In some inexplicable way the contents of this
bag-which were nothing more or less than a powerful jackscrew
and some smaller tools-reached gallery No. 19 in the prison,
where "Jim" Brady, who, previous to his lodgment in Sing Sing,
had been publicly flogged and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment at Newcastle, Delaware, for burglary, and W. A. Miller, a
notorious rascal, were confined. One day this illustrious pair of
striped convicts walked out of their cells, out of gallery No. I9,
and with their jackscrews and other tools having forced the iron
bars at the window overlooking the prison yard, squeezed through
the aperture and dropped to the ground beneath.   Having
reached the yard, escape was comparatively easy.
There was no little consternation when Miller and Brady were
missed from their cells. Keepers of course appeared as much
astonished as any one, and everybody wondered, first, how the convicts could have secured possession of their tools; and second,
how they could have obtained the keys which unfastened the doors
leading into the gallery. The mystery deepened when days and
weeks went by without any light having been shown on the rianner of the escape, and when subsequent sudden departures of
convicts from Sing Sing seemed as easily accomplished as that of
Miller and Brady. Among the desperate characters who made
their way out of the prison about this time was "Jimmy" Hope,
the notorious burglar, who had suffered with Brady in Newcastle,
Delaware, and for the same offence. Others were Sophie Levy,
W. C. Harrison, Joe Howard, and John O'Keefe. Ned Lyons and
his wife were both imprisoned. "Ned" got out, but instead of
leaving the vicinity of Sing Sing, he loitered near the prison, and
one day drove into the grounds in a carriage, picked up his wife,
who was in the female prison, and drove off without interference.
Such things as these made people think that there was something
" rotten " in Sing Sing. New Yorkers began to grow excited
over the number of escapes. The newspapers called loudly for
reform in the management, and the department of police came to
the conclusion that it was time for it to take a hand in ferreting
out the mystery. Accordingly, there were put on the case Captain




THE PRISON KEY.


30o


Irving and detectives Thomas Sampson and Philip Farley, of the
Central Office. These gentlemen worked for some time without
any success. Finally, by mere accident, they stumbled upon a
clew. Mary Moon, called " Long Mary," was arrested on February i8, i874, for shop-lifting. Her room, which was on Third
Avenue near Fifty-second Street, was searched by the same officers who were engaged in the Sing Sing mystery. They found
numerous articles which they thought would help in proving the
charge of shop-lifting against the woman. Suddenly one of the
detectives came upon a suspicious-looking tin box which was
hidden in a bureau drawer. The box was taken out and opened.
Inside, carefully wrapped in soft paper, was the wax impression of
a large key. It is needless to say that these officers were familiar
with the key which unlocked the doors in gallery No. 19 at Sing
Sing, and at once they recognized in the wax impression a familiar shape.
Of course they lost no time in confirming the suspicion which at
once entered their minds, that " Long Mary " was an accomplice
of the jail-birds' confederates. They had a key made according
to the impression, and then went to Sing Sing. They saw Warden
Hubbell, who. although not told of their errand, received them
Kindly and conducted them through the prison. When the detectives reached gallery No. 19 they tried the key, and found it to be
a perfect fit to the lock. Now they had a definite clew to work
upon. Without telling the warden their suspicions they came
back to New York and proceeded to look up Long Mary's friends
in the city. They found one, Henry Smith, whom they arrested
on suspicion. By clever work they secured from him a confession
which implicated John Steurer, a German locksmith, whose establishment was at No. io6 Hester Street.
The next move on the part of the detectives, was to find out
all they could from Steurer. So pretending to be burglars they
went to Steurer's shop one afternoon, and found him at dinner.
He left his meal to see what his visitors wanted, but they assured
him that they wished to have a few words with him in private and
would wait until he finished his dinner. The old German " tumbled" at once, and chuckling to himself over securing more. valuable customers went back to his sauerkraut. He soon returned
to the basement where his shop was and asked the men what he
could do for them. The detectives tried a "bluff" game on him.




302


FORCING A CONFESSbION.


They began to upbraid him for selling them such poor tools
recently.
"Why, that jackscrew was good for nothing," said Detective
Farley.
The old fellow had no doubt now, if he had been suspicious at
all, that his visitors were men whom he had previously worked
for through third persons, and he began to beg their pardon and
explain that the second jackscrew was all right. By careful work
they trapped Steurer several times, he growing more confidential
all the time, and finally they induced him to accompany them to
the house of a friend of theirs, where they wished him to see a
certain tool of which they were to order one similar. The unsuspecting manufacturer of burglars' outfits willingly followed their
guidance, nor did he turn back when they had led him into police
headquarters. It even took him some time to believe that he
was under arrest, and that his three customers were not burglars
after all, but Central Office detectives.
With the information which Steurer had already divulged, and
what was subsequently got from him, it was learned that Henry
Smith and Lilly Miller were the outside confederates of Miller
and Brady, the escaped Sing Sing prisoners. They, it seems, had
gone to Steurer's shop and ordered the tools which were afterward
taken to Tarrytown, and thence by boat to Sing Sing and placed
in the lumber pile. Smith had already been arrested, and now
Lilly Miller was taken to police headquarters. But the detectives had still to prove who had assisted the escaped prisoners
inside the prison. By this time, however, the warden had
become alarmed, and was making an investigation on his own
account. Through Keeper Gale, he forced a confession from
Keeper John Outhouse. This confession implicated David Manny,
another keeper, who was said to have taken the wax impression
of the key to No. 19. Manny was afterward acquitted, however,
of any complicity in the escapes. Outhouse admitted that he
had taken the tools to Miller and Brady, and that he had received
$iooo for his assistance.
After these revelations escapes from Sing Sing were not such
frequent occurrences.
A few minutes before eleven o'clock on the night of May 7,
1879, Roundsman Hirney ran breathlessly into the Eldridge Street
police station, and cried out: "'Red' Leary's escaped from




" RED " LEARY'S ESCAPE.


303


Ludlow Street Jail!" The policemen who were around the room
looked up in amazement, and the sergeant in command began at
once to order out a number of men for the search. No sooner
had he given the order than another man ran excitedly into the
station-house and gave the alarm.  This person was Bernard
Fitzsimmons,- who was acting-warden of the jail at the time. The
men whom the sergeant had ordered out accompanied Fitzsimmons
to the jail, and he posted them at different points about the block:


97c1Tr /    H   e
"RED" LEARY.
(From a Photograph.)


so that the jail-breaker might not escape from the immediate
vicinity. When some time had passed and no sign of "Red"
Leary had been seen, the policemen searched through all the buildings in the square, but with no better result.
In the mean while, however, the excited condition of the employees in the jail had given way to coolness, and a close examination revealed the manner of the notorious burglar's escape.
Leary's cell was on the first tier. On the third tier there was a
corridor, at the end of which was a water-closet. Leary was




304


THE HOLE IN THE WALL.


allowed the run of the corridor until IO.30 P.M. The floor of the
corridor corresponded to the second story of the jail. It was
Keeper Wendell's duty to see that Leary was in his cell at the
proper time, and at o.30 o'clock he made his nightly round.
When he reached the door of the prisoner's apartment he found it
partly opened. He looked inside and called out, "Hullo, there,
Leary!"  No answer came. Thinking the prisoner might be
asleep he walked into the narrow room, but found no one there. He
looked under the iron bedstead and still saw no one. " He must
be up in the corridor," thought the keeper, and proceeded up
stairs. But there was no Leary in the corridor, nor in the closet.
Wendell now was thoroughly aroused. He rushed down stairs and
told Acting-Warden Fitzsimmons, who at once started for the police
station. While he was absent, and the men from the Eldridge
Street station were searching the block, a vigorous investigation
was made about the jail. One of the keepers went into the closet
again at the end of the corridor on the third tier of cells, and there
the mystery was solved. A huge hole was found in one corner of
the room. Assistance was summoned, and surrounded by a crowd
of excited employees of the prison, one of the keepers entered the
hole to explore it. He did not know where it would take him, or
what obstacles he would meet at the end of it. Perhaps Red
Leary himself was there with a club in his hands to dash out the
brains of the first man who stuck his head through. But whatever
fears the keeper had he did not show them, and worked his way
on through the aperture. He crawled at least five feet and then
found himself in a room on the fifth floor of the tenement house
which adjoined the jail. Then the manner of the burglar's escape
was solved. A search of the tenement house was made at once,
but no " Red " Leary was found.
The investigation, however, showed that some weeks previously
a woman named Mrs. Myers, whose husband was a 'longshoreman,
had taken three rooms in No. 76 Ludlow Street, the large tenement house next the jail. About the same time two men took
rooms in the third story on the side near the jail, and then almost
immediately moved to the fifth story. The second floor of the jail
was three feet below the fifth floor of the tenement. From these
rooms the men burrowed with mathematical precision down
through the five feet of wall into the water-closet of the jail.
Leary was kept posted as to their progress by his wife, who visited




BRICKS IN THE FIREPLACE.            305
him frequently. She was there on the day of the escape at I2
o'clock, and again from five until eight o'clock in the evening.
During this last visit it is likely that the final arrangements were
made for the arch-rascal's gaining his liberty. When the room
into which the hole from the jail entered was searched, nearly a
wagon load of bricks were found in the fireplace.  As they had
been taken out they had been carefully piled and concealed. A
broken hydraulic jimmy was found near the scene of labor, and
scraps of food and cooking utensils lay scattered around the room.
Leary was in jail awaiting extradition papers by which he was
to be taken to Northampton and tried for the famous burglary
which was committed in the National Bank of that place. After
his escape he went to Europe, but returned again to this country,
and was re-captured in Brooklyn on February 4, i88I.
20




CHAPTER XXII.


PERSECUTING THE RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH.-ONSLAUGHT OF
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.-NOT AN EPILEPTIC FIT.-UNWELCOME LIQUOR BILLS.-A " HERALD" PERSONAL.-AN INDIGNANT
HUSBAND.-TRACING THE HANDWRITING.-FOUND IN BALTIMORE.-" GENTLEMAN JOE'S " DEATH.
ONE of the most extraordinary mysteries that ever puzzled the
police, the press and the people was the daring persecution of the
Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, the rector of Trinity Church, by " Gentleman Joe," in the winter of i880. To this day those concerned in
the capture of the rascal who kept the aged clergyman, the police
department and the leading members of several professions and
trades in a ferment for a month, and those who knew him before
and afterward, are unable to decide whether " Gentleman Joe"
was merely the feather-brained crank he seemed, or whether
some sinister design, involving a deep, ulterior motive, inspired his
remarkable conduct.
It seems almost incredible that a man of the soundness of
mind in ordinary matters that he manifested should have cut up
the pranks he played for mere amusement, and yet the circumstance that the only threats of blackmail he made were incidental
to his scheme of persecution, indicates that money was not the
object he was striving to attain. On the other hand, he had no
incentive for the malice he displayed toward the victim of his attentions, since Dr. Dix had been but one of several in the only
matter that can possibly suggest itself, if vengeance were the
motive of " Gentleman Joe's " persecutions. Another mystery in
the affair was the rascal's source of income. No one knew how
he obtained the large amounts of money he spent, not only in
carrying on his campaign against Dr. Dix, but for other purposes
during his previous career. He possessed no property and had
no bank account; the only swindles or thefts he was ever known
to perpetrate were on a scale so small that their sum total would
not have supported him for a week; and yet he lived in good
306




TRICKS ON DR. DIX.


3o7


style, and bore all the outward evidences of prosperity in his career
in several American and European capitals.
The malicious ingenuity that "Gentleman Joe" displayed in
his tricks upon the venerable clergyman saved him from the
clutches of the police for so long a time that they had almost given
up hope of ever laying hands upon him. During the entire period
that he kept the community stirred not a single clew was found
to the perpetrator of the outrages. His final discovery and arrest were due rather to a fortunate accident than to his own carelessness in leaving any of his tracks uncovered.
The attention of the police was first called to this remarkable
case in February, i88o, though for some time previously Dr. Dix
had been annoyed by his unknown persecutor. About this time
nearly-every large manufacturing concern in the West received
postal cards purporting to come from Dr. Dix, speaking of their
goods in a favorable way, saying that the writer wished to make
large purchases for the supply of several charitable institutions
under his control, and requesting the fullest information regarding
prices and cash discounts. At the same time all the leading
seminaries, boarding-schools and institutions for female education
in the country received letters, signed with the name of Trinity's
rector, asking for information and terms, with a view to placing
twe or three little girls in one of these academies.
The result was that for a week Dr. Dix received every day an
immense mass of circulars, hundreds of lett6rs and innumerable
samples of dry goods, while from seminaries and boarding-schools
came long and enthusiastic communications, offering special terms
to the wards of so distinguished a clergyman, while many of the
institutions sent members of their faculties to call on the doctor
in person.  Morning, afternoon and evening the door-bell was
rung, commercial agents and educators called at the pastoral residence, who kept Dr. Dix explaining and insisting that he had sent
no communications to the dry goods houses, and that he had no
children under his care whom he desired to place in educational
institutions. Many Western houses had sent agents to New York
to secure Dr. Dix's order, and a number of college instructors had
travelled long distances to explain the superiority of their methods
of education. In spite of the annoyance, and the fact that he was
in no way to blame for the hoax of which he was jointly a victim




308


PUZZLING THE POLICE.


with them, the clergyman felt it to be his duty to make a personal
explanation of the matter to each one of his unwelcome callers.
The newspapers and the police made strenuous efforts to ascertain the identity of this wholesale joker. Many of the postalcards and letters to which Dr. Dix's name was signed, and which
had brought about the trouble, were procured and were found to
be all in the same handwriting. The rascal had even gone to the
expense of obtaining engraved letter-paper with the title, " Trinity
Parsonage, No. 27 West Twenty-fifth Street," across the top, to
more completely establish his hoax in the minds of the persons
who received his letters. An effort was made to get some clew
to his identity through the engraver of this letter-paper, but he
had received the order through a messenger-boy, and another boy
had called for the package and paid the bill. A search of the
district messenger offices failed to find the boys who had done
this errand, and the trail was lost there. The letters were all
good examples of literary composition, and the writing of the hundred or more that the man sent out must have occupied several
days.' Whoever the writer was, the police thought he was playing
a great deal of a jest upon himself as well as his victims, but the
apparent lack of motive in the affair was the most puzzling feature
of it.
Dr. Dix's commercial mail was only beginning to fall off a trifle,
when the most distinguished clergymen and bishops of the Episcopal church, particularly throughout the East, received curt letters, on the Trinity Parsonage paper, signed with the pastor's
name, demanding to know why they had ignored his letters. As
a result the unfortunate Dr. Dix began to receive numerous grave
and stately documents from these clerical gentlemen, assuring
him that they had not received previous letters from him, and
expressing regret at the unchristian tone of his address to them
in reference to the matter. Of course this necessitated an immense amount of explanatory correspondence on the doctor's part,
and the good old rector began to realize that life was a burden.
But he had not concluded his explanations when the various Bible
societies and religious book concerns began to pour in circulars,
letters and agents in response to postal cards requesting that
terms for supplying Trinity Sunday-school be sent to the rectory.
Dr. Dix and the police gave the fullest information in all these
cases to the newspapers, in order that publicity might warn any




TRADING "MIT A SHENTLEMAN."


309


persons receiving communications purporting to come from the
clergyman. But, strangely enough, the warning seemed to have
no effect. The most amusing feature of the entire series of
hoaxes-if there is an amusing side to such a mean persecutioncame the next in order.
On February 21, Dr. Dix received a postal card, mailed at the
general post-office the day before, informing him that he would receive calls on the following Monday from  the "old clothes
ladies," of Baxter and Chatham streets, who would be prepared to
enter into negotiations with him for the disposal of his wife's
wardrobe. In fear and trembling Dr. Dix waited for Monday to
arrive. -It came, and the feminine part of the old clothes trade
came with it.
The pastor of Trinity had hardly finished his breakfast, when a
rickety little wagon, drawn by a mournful little horse, rattled up
the fashionable thoroughfare and stopped before his door. On
the seat sat a very fat woman of Semitic profile, in stately
grandeur. A small boy, whose countenance was a miniature reproduction of her's, held the reins in one hand, while with the
other arm he supported an infant of perhaps four years, that to all
appearance had not been washed since its birth. The fat woman
descended ponderously from the wagon, almost bearing the
mournful little horse to the ground as she steadied herself by
placing a hand upon his haunches, and then climbed laboriously
up the front steps. Dr. Dix opened the door.
"Madam," he said, courteously, "I am afraid you have been
made the victim of a hoax. I haven't —
" Ah, ha! " interrupted the matron, suspiciously. " You sell dose
glothes already, heh? "
"No, no," said the doctor, "I haven't any to sell."
"Vot's der matter?" said the lady, in an injured tone. "I gif
you der best brice in der market.  Come, you trade mit me
vonce, an' you nefer trade mit anybody else again. I vas shoost
so much of a fool dat I sheat mineself always when I trade mit
a shentleman."
" But you've made a mistake," began the unfortunate clergyman.
"You- "
"' Shoost show me dose glothes, an' vhen I tell you vhat I gif
you, you sell 'em right avay," pursued the fat woman, overlooking
his protest.




DR. DIX'S VISITORS.




" GIT ONTO DE SHEENYS."


311


" I tell you," said Dr. Dix, firmly, " that I have no clothes to sell,
and I must request you to leave the house."
" I gif you der money down," insisted the visitor, " I gif efferything-  "
A scream from the sidewalk interrupted her, and the horrified
Doctor of Divinity beheld another Jewish female ascending his
steps, shaking her finger and exclaiming:
"Don't you trade mit dot woman, she sheat you haluf vot dose
glothes is vort. I buy dose glothes at your own brice, mit der
cash on der spot."
"I bought dose glothes already," remarked the first comer, with
dignity. "Shakey," she called to her younger son, "come right
avay an' bring dose glothes into der vagon. Mosish can hold der
horse."
In despair Dr. Dix closed his door, but not until he had caught
a glimpse of three other women hurrying toward the house, one
drawing a clattering hand-cart behind her on the sidewalk. The
two4 women on the steps held a short conference, pulled the bell a
couple of times for luck, endeavored to peer through the stained
glass side-lights and then descended to the pavement and sat
placidly down upon the bottom step. The other women rang the
basement bell, and Dr. Dix, being aware that it was no fault of
theirs that brought them there, opened the door and began to
explain the circumstance to them, when the other two women left
the steps and ran excitedly in to hear the conversation, jabbering
the high prices they were willing to pay. The clergyman again
shut the door in self-defence, and when he got up stairs and
peered through the parlor curtains, there were three additional
women and two very dirty boys in his door-yard. A moment later
another wagon, bearing the name of Isaacstein, of Baxter Street,
on the side, drove up and. two more females were added to the
assembly. At this interesting juncture a street gamin Contributed
to the complication by shouting to a group of companions:
"Hi, fellers! Git onto de Sheenys! Here's de Essex Street
women's rights a holdin' a conwention!"  And in another
moment a group of street boys were leaning on the iron fence,
making solicitous inquiries relative to the market rates of wearing
apparel, and openly comparing the relative sizes of the Hebrew
noses.
Dr. Dix observed that his neighbors were becoming highly inter



312


PHYSICIANS VICTIMIZED.


ested in the goings on in his premises, but none of the women
manifested any intention to leave, while, on the contrary, new
arrivals were continually appearing. At noon there were twentyeight women and twelve children in the yard and on the steps.
Each one obviously thought that a sale was to take place, and that
the one who waited the longest would be able to make a good bargain, and hence each was determined to out-stay the others. But
Dr. Dix, observing that there was no disposition among them to
leave of their own accord, finally telephoned to police headquarters, and a squad of officers was sent to disperse them. This was
not accomplished without a great deal of difficulty. Each one of
these women had received a note requesting her to call at Trinity
parsonage to purchase the wardrobe of the rector's wife.
The last one of these women had scarcely been driven away,
and the police had hardly departed, when a carriage whirled rapidly around the corner from Fifth Avenue, stopped before the parsonage, and one of the leading physicians of the city sprang
hastily out and ran up the steps. He had scarcely pulled the
bell, when two more carriages came swiftly down the street and
also stopped in front of the house, and two more eminent physicians hurriedly entered the house. Each one told Dr. Dix that he
had been summoned by a messenger to come directly to the parsonage, as the pastor had gone into an epileptic fit and was feared
to be dying. The same summons had been sent to twenty or
thirty physicians, and their visits continued until late in the evening.
The following day Dr. Dix received a note from his unknown
tormentor, in which he said that he had witnessed the arrival and
the exodus of the children of Israel from his window, and suggesting to the clergyman that they would have been more agreeable
associates if he had had sufficient foresight to call out a fireengine to play upon them with a stream of cologne. The hint
that the man lived in the neighborhood was eagerly taken up by
the detectives, and every house that commanded a view of Dr.
Dix's residence was at once enquired at, and a complete census
of all the residents taken without any succes. i:  -- iernoon a
troop of shoemakers, each one of whom had ri '.:i.  ostal card
requesting him to call and measure some c?.-*.,.-.hoes, put
in an appearance; and at least fifty men and.   had advertised for employment, and received note:. them to




" PERSONALS."


3I3


call upon Dr. Dix, visited him during the afternoon and evening.
The latter callers were very persistent, and many of them called
several times to make sure that their letters were in reality hoaxes.
The man who had victimized them wrote to Dr. Dix the next day
that he had himself been one of the callers among those seeking
employment, and complimented him upon the courtesy he had
shown in dismissing him.
A day or two later this nuisance took on a new form, scarcely
less annoying. Messrs. Arnold, Constable & Co., A. T. Stewart &
Co., Stern Bros., Lord & Taylor, and other well known dry goods
houses received letters, telling them that their impertinent letters
had been received and turned over to counsel, who would proceed
against them. These firms made haste to respond that no such
letters had been sent by them, only to find that, on the other
hand, no such letters had been written to them. About the same
time many well known clergymen received invitations to dine with
Dr. Dix, to meet the bishops of York and Exeter, only to find upon
arriving at the parsonage that the rector and themselves were the
victims of another hoax.
After this freak the rascally author of the various forgeries
turned his attention for a day to other victims. He mailed a number of postal cards to eminently respectable citizens, signing the
communications with the names of various liquor dealers, and informing each recipient of a card that he would get himself into
trouble unless he called at once, or sent to the undersigned the
amount of his bill for liquors and cigars. Only the names of respectable liquor dealers were signed to these cards, while the
victims themselves were citizens of wealth and respectability, most
of them being members of churches. They were naturally very
much incensed, and many of them placed the matter in the hands
of their lawyers before the true state of affairs was discovered.
Then came the first letter that hinted at anything like blackmail
to Dr. Dix. The clergyman was informed that all the annoyances
to which he had been subjected would cease on payment of one
thousand dollars to the writer. He was instructed in case he accepted this proposition to insert a personal in the Herald, addressed to "Gentleman Joe," saying: "All right."  Dr. Dix at
once communicated with. the detectives who were at work on the
case, and they advised inserting the personal. The next day there
were three personals in the Herald addressed to " Gentleman Joe,"'




314


" GENTLEMAN JOE."


each one making the same communication, "All right," but Dr.
Dix's persecutor, who had probably inserted two of these advertisements himself, did not pay the slightest attention to the other
one. Whether he really intended black-mail and was frightened
out of his scheme, or whether he only desired to put the doctor to
the annoyance of advertising, has never been ascertained. However that was, the scoundrel now discontinued his annoyances for
a couple of weeks, after having kept lawyers, detectives and reporters on the qui vive for nearly a month.
Dr. Dix was just beginning to congratulate himself that his tormentor had ceased his attentions for good, when, on St. Patrick's
Day, he received another letter in the too familiar handwriting, in
which "Gentleman Joe" informed his "Dear friend, Dr. Dix,"
that his house would be again besieged on the following Friday,
unless he paid the writer $1500. He inclosed a name and address to which the money was to be sent. No notice was taken of
this communication except that the clergyman put the detectives
in charge of his house, while he, to avoid the threatened annoyance, spent the day at his office in the church. As "Gentleman
Joe " had promised, Dr. Dix's house was besieged by all classes of
men on all kinds of errands. In spite of the publicity that had
been given to the case by the newspapers, not one of the callers
had any idea, until he arrived at the house, that this, too, was a
hoax. "Gentleman Joe " had adroitly begun all his letters on
this occasion with an allusion to the mischievous tricks of which
the supposed writer had been the victim, in such a manner as to
throw them all off their guards.
Early in the morning came a member of a well known firm of
lawyers, who had received a letter purporting to come from Mrs.
Dix, who desired to consult them relative to proceeding against
her husband for divorce. Then other lawyers called on the same
errand during the day, and another firm sent word that a representative would visit her the following afternoon. Another caller was
the agent of a steamship line, who had received notice to bring
two tickets for Havana. Other callers were persons who had advertised in the newspapers of the previous two or three days, offering rewards for lost or stolen property, '.1;:. '   been directed to call at Dr. Dix's number and b i:.  -vard with
them.
One man, who had advertised one hundred. eward for




INSULTING MRS. DIX.


315


the return of two stolen one-thousand-dollar bonds, had been
notified to call with the promised amount, and get his bonds that
morning. He was not aware that No. 27 West Twenty-fifth Street
was Dr. Dix's number, and, therefore, he brought a private detective with him. The gentleman entered the house and the detective
stationed himself opposite, it having been previously agreed that
if the money was paid and the bonds received, the gentleman on
coming out of the house was to scratch his right leg with his left
foot, when the detective was to rush in and arrest the negotiator
of stolen goods. It is hardly necessary to say that the gentleman
came out scratching his head instead of his leg, and feeling very
foolish over the fact that he, too, had been victimized by the man
whose pranks had been so thoroughly advertised.
Dr. Dix returned home at night to be informed of his numerous
visitors and the various purposes for which they had called, and
the next day he received a letter from " Gentleman Joe," in which
that audacious trickster gleefully related the details of his visit to
the house on the previous day, pretending that he had been sent
for in response to an advertisement. He informed the doctor
that he was always in sight of the house and hugely enjoyed the
rare sights it furnished. That afternoon he meanly insulted Mrs.
Dix by sending her a pair of exceedingly dirty stockings, together
with a note, in which he said that he had another pair which he
would place at her disposal when the first were sufficiently worn.. The adventure that came the nearest to resulting disastrously to
the good old clergyman was "Gentleman Joe's" most audacious
trick. About ten o'clock, a few mornings after the occurrence
just related, Dr. Dix's bell rang violently, and a servant hurried to
the door. A very determined looking man, who carried a light
and supple cane, stepped quickly into the hall as soon as the door
was opened and inquired sharply:
"Is Dr. Dix at home?"
"Yes, sir. What do you want to see him about? " inquired the
girl, who surmised that he was probably the victim of a hoax.
"It's none of your d-d business what I want to see him
about," returned the visitor, savagely, " send him down to me."
The affrighted servant fled, and informed her master that a very
cross man was waiting for him in the hall, who declined to state
his business. Believing that this was probably another detail of
his tormentor's scheme, the clergyman descended to the front hall,




3I6


3; WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?


where his visitor was leaning against the wall with his hat on and
his hands behind him.
" What can I do for you?" Dr. Dix asked, mildly.
The stranger did not reply at once. He glanced the minister
over scornfully from his worsted-work slippers to his gray head,
and then sneered:
" You leacherous old hypocrite! You're a fine plum for a minister of the gospel, you are-you sniffling, sanctimonious old
sinner."
"Sir," began Dr. Dix, haughtily, " what do-"
"Shut up," thundered the visitor, taking a step toward the
clergyman. " Don't you dare to open that old Bible trap of yours
until I get through talking to you."
"I'll call a policeman," cried the doctor; "I'll see if  "
" D-n you, I tell you to shut up," shouted the stranger, with a
scowl so black that the clergyman's knees knocked together. " If
you call anything you'll call an ambulance, and I'll have you ready
to go to a hospital in it, you bow-legged old pelican."
"Wh-what have I ever d-done to-to you?" faltered the
clergyman.
"What have you ever done to me?" repeated the stranger, violently. "D'ye mean to say you don't know what you've done to me
-or rather what you've tried to do to me? Do you want to make
the matter worse by lying about it? By G-d, it makes me sick to
think of you standing up in your old doxology works every Sunday,
and ladling out religion with that sanctimonious mug of yours, and
all the time sizing up the women in the pews. 0, I'm right onto
you with all four feet. Now I'll tell you what I am going to do. I
ought to take you out in the street and cane you publicly; but this
time I'm going to be easy, and I'll thrash you in the privacy of
your own hall. But if you dare to yell or call for help, I'll finish
you up out on the steps."
"But what for?" gasped the agonized Dr. Dix, as the stranger
took a firmer grip upon his lithe and slender cane. " What have I
done?"
The stranger paused, and gazed upon the clergyman with
unfeigned astonishment. Then he broke out:
" Well, for clean cheek if you don't get the medal! What for?
-D-n your old slippers! For writing that letter to my wife you
hoary-headed old scoundrel! "




" IT'S A FORGERY."


3I7


The stranger produced a letter, and waved it excitedly above his
head. "I'll teach you to make an appointment with a respectable
woman, you old ruffian," he said. " I'll not only give you such an
everlasting thrashing that you'll wish you'd died before you were
born, but I'll placard you in the street. Call my wife, whom you
never spoke to, your ' darling Annie,' will you? Well, I'll wager
you won't again."
"I never wrote such a letter," cried the minister.
"You unblushing liar," cried the visitor, " there's your name to
it."
"It's a forgery," cried Dr. Dix.
"Is it, though," snarled the stranger, contemptuously. "Well,
I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you one chance for a whole
skin. Get me some of your handwriting and let me compare it
with this letter."
"I'll do it," cried the doctor, " I can convince you in a moment.
I was just writing a sermon, and I'll get you my last page of manuscript," and he started to run up stairs.
" Here! " said the visitor, sternly, " come back here! You can't
come that dodge on me. You'd run up stairs and get a revolver
or climb out on the roof, wouldn't you? I'll just go along with
you, my reverend old boy. You don't get out of my sight until
you've either cleared yourself or had a thrashing."
Accordingly, Dr. Dix and his unwelcome visitor mounted to the
minister's study, where the clergyman readily proved that his
handwriting was very different from that of the offensive letter.
But the stranger muttered a few remarks about writing in a disguised hand, and finally said that he guessed he'd go and see a
lawyer about the matter and get some money out of it.
Dr. Dix-was in a state of terror after this incident until the following day, when he received a note from "Gentleman Joe,"
declaring that the writer had enjoyed his call the day before
exceedingly, and that he hoped the doctor had recovered from his
fright. The savage stranger was none other than " Gentleman
Joe " himself, but Dr. Dix's description of him gave the police no
clew.
Strange as it may seem, notwithstanding all the annoyance he
had caused, "Gentleman Joe" had thus far committed no legal
offence, save when he had written a letter threatening to publish in
the daily papers charges of adultery against the clergyman. But




3i8


A CLEW AT LAST.


all the other annoyances he had caused did not then come within
any of our criminal statutes, since no such offence ever having been
committed before, there had been no law made to punish it. But
the threat to make charges of adultery came under the blackmail
law, and the aid of the Post-Office department was now invoked to
discover the identity of the rascal. In order to make sure of his
detection, detectives were actually set to watch every letter-box
and branch office in the city. The officers were provided with
keys, and with samples of " Gentleman Joe's " handwriting. They
stood at short distances from the boxes, and whenever any one
mailed a letter, the box was at once opened and the handwriting
on the envelope examined. If " Gentleman Joe's " neat chirography had been discovered in any of these instances, whoever had
deposited the letter would have been summarily arrested. Though
this surveillance was continued for a week, Dr. Dix's tormentor did
not use the mails during that time.
At length, every method of detecting the rascal that could be
devised having failed, it was resolved to make random inquiries,
with the hope of securing some clew by a piece of luck. For this
purpose detectives consulted personally every clergyman in the
city to ascertain if perchance some hint might be obtained upon
which action could be taken. None of these gentlemen could
offer the slightest help or make any suggestion, much as they sympathized with the rector of Trinity. One clergyman, however, of
another denomination, happened to mention to a detective that he
had seen in the city only a few days before a man who called himself Eugene Fairfax Williamson. He had left New York several
vears previously, upon being found guilty of extremely bestial conduct by the trustees of Trinity church, in whose Sabbath-school he
had been a teacher.
The detective thought that even so remote a circumstance as
the fact that Dr. Dix was at the head of a church that had
detected this man and forced him to leave the city because of
another case, might possibly account for a motive in lack of any
other. Acting on the hint, Superintendent Gaylor of the PostOffice Department at once made an examination of his books, to
see if Williamson's handwriting was in their possession. His
name was found in the book in which are registered the names
and addresses of persons requesting their mail to be forwarded
from one address to another. The Post-Office files all orders of




ARRESTED IN BALTIMORE.


31I9


this nature, and upon turning to this file the postal-card Williamson had written, asking that letters addressed to him be sent to
the Windsor Hotel, was found. The writing on this card was
identical with that of " Gentleman Joe."
The detective at once visited the Windsor Hotel and found
that Williamson had registered there on February I7, just before the persecution of Dr. Dix began, and had left the hotel only
that day for Baltimore. He had left directions at the Windsor to
have his letters sent to Barnum's Hotel, in Baltimore, and Superintendent Gaylor traced him through his letters to a private
boarding-house in that city.
Williamson was arrested in this boarding-house and charged
with being the author of the annoyances to which the pastor of
Trinity had been subjected. He at once admitted that he had
written all the offensive cards and letters, and caused Dr. Dix's
sudden popularity with the trades and professions, but he said that
he had no motive except the fun of watching the besieged house, of
reading about th4 matter in the newspapers, and of puzzling the
detectives. He said that neither Dr. Dix nor any of the persons
to whom he had written had ever annoyed or injured him, and
that he only selected the rector of Trinity because he considered
that his distinguished name, his standing as a minister and his
popularity in the community, made him an eminently available
person to have fun with.
The career of Williamson, or that much of it as was afterward
learned, shows him to have led an extraordinary life. He had
apparently given himself up to the commission of small crimes
and petty offences, not with the object of making anything out
of them, but only to amuse himself. He had an abnormal fondness for notoriety, delighted in causing a sensation of any kind,
and was very fond of writing letters.
But only the last twelve years of his life could be traced, and
who or what he was previously is not known. In i868 he travelled extensively in Europe as an English gentleman, calling
hinmself Eugene Edward Fairfax Williamson. Early in i870 he
caine to this city, where he spent that year and the one following.
His only exploit here at that time was to steal a lot of fine
stationery, gold pens and similar articles from a shop opposite
the Gilsey House, in Broadway. He became well acquainted with
the proprietor of this shop, and made use of the confidence re



320


A STRANGE HISTORY.


posed in him to steal small articles upon every possible occasion.
Williamson was in the habit of boasting of his experiences in
Turkey, and of his participation in vices peculiar to the East.
He became, however, a teacher in Trinity Sunday-school.
After the exposure of his early misdeeds he left for Europe,
announcing his engagement to a certain Countess de Maralles.
He was not married, however, but went to London, where he
played a series of tricks upon a well-known Hebrew gentleman
similar to those with which he afterward persecuted Dr. Dix.
He sent out the same kind of invitations and business proposals
in this gentleman's name, and hired a room opposite his house
from which to witness the fun. He was detected by the London
police, tried, convicted and sentenced to Newgate for one year.
After serving this sentence, he returned to America in 1875,
and took up his residence in Pittsburg.  He moved in the best
society there and always had plenty of money. The source of
his income still continues a mystery, since, as has been said, he
kept no bank account, and had apparently no resources except
swindling, though, as the only swindles that were ever discovered
dealt with very small amounts, these could not have furnished him with the amount of money he expended. It is
possible that he perpetrated larger frauds, which were never
discovered, but if he did he was the most adroit and skilful thief
that ever operated in America. During his residence in Pittsburg, he swindled several New York and Philadelphia jewellery
firms out of small amounts. Another strange feature of his
extraordinary- career is the circumstance that he wrote a great
'deal of poetry, and even had a play produced, his literary efforts
meeting favorable recognition by the newspapers in New York
and other cities. These works were afterward discovered to be
the productions of a nun in a New Orleans convent, but under
what circumstances he had procured them is not known, nor has
the identity of the real author ever been disclosed.
"Gentleman Joe" came to New York from Pittsburg, and at
once began his peculiar system of tormenting Dr. Dix, as has
been related. He was convicted of an attempt at blackmail and
sentenced to a term in Sing Sing prison, where he died. The
secret of his life and conduct, if indeed there is any mystery
aside from the circumstance that his mind was disordered, died
with him.




CHAPTER XXIII.


A LAW-BREAKER AS KNOWN BY HIS FAMILY.-SOME MISCONCEPTIONS.
-NOT AN AGENT OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.-PHILIP SCHUYLER OR JOHN SPICER?-A FIFTY-YEAR-OLD SON WHO DIDN'T
KNOW HIS FATHER.-A SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED WILL CASE.ISAAC M. SINGER AND HIS MANY WIVES.-FIRST A STROLLING
PLAYER AND THEN A MILLIONAIRE.-CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINALS.-WHAT MAKES A LAW-BREAKER.-THE FIRST STEP IN
EVIL-DOING.-THE HARRIS FAMILY.
IT is a preconceived and not always well-founded notion of the
vast majority of persons that men who war upon society must of
necessity bear the brand of their evil doings on their brows. This
is not so. As chief of police of one of the greatest cities of the
world, I have been brought into personal contact with the most
consummate criminals. With few exceptions, the men who have
been accredited with the most daring violations of the law have
been persons who could not have been marked by the most learned
physiognomist as of accommodating morals. As a rule, a man to
be a successful criminal must be an individual of rare cunning,
great determination, and capable of masking his real character
under the guise of a respectable and respected member of society.
I speak, be it remembered, only of the more dreaded enemies of
good order. Thieves, pickpockets, highway robbers and men capable of brutal crime are marked even to the most unsophisticated
citizen.  Criminals who live by their wits, generally termed
swindlers, are almost without exception persons of winning address
and fascinating manners. In fact, without this power to engage
the attention and secure the confidence of their victim, their
careers would not be very profitable. Law-breakers are compelled
by the exigencies of civilization to lead double lives. They are
children of the serpent-smooth, glistening, charming, only to
spring upon the unsuspecting and enjoy the results of their
trickery. A friend relates the following:
"I once knew a retired gambler. He had kept a 'hell' on Bar21                 321




322


AN ASSOCIATED PRESS AGENT.


clay Street for many years, and had lost the end of his nosebitten off in a fight. One of his fingers was also missing, from
the same cause. I was a boy when I first met the man, and was
much more afraid of him then than I was of any boat, horse, or
gun, as my subsequent experience on tne police force had not yet
taught me that most villains are only villanous at certain times,
and in the regular course of their evil deeds. He was, however,
of a mild and placid demeanor and engaging conversation. I
gradually got accustomed to him, and finally became fond of him.
One day he was sitting beside me, smoking a cigar, when suddenly
we heard the shriek of a child. The retired gambler evidently
recognized the voice, for he immediately dashed round a corner in
the direction of the cry, and quickly reappeared, tenderly carrying
his daughter's child in his arms. A dog had jumped against it
and knocked it down in the road. He hugged and kissed the
little one with all the fervor of a woman, brushing its hair, wiping
its eyes and loading it with caresses. But he was a rogue and a
swindler for all that.
Comparatively little is known of the lives of many persons in
New York. Acquaintances are formed which ripen into intimacy
among men and women who know nothing of one another's past
history, and there are many who pass for being thoroughly respectable whose lives would not bear much scrutiny.
Not very many years ago a family resided on Lexington Avenue, the members of which were popular and well liked among
their neighbors. The wife was a pretty and hospitable little
woman, and the two daughters-bright, engaging and well-bred
girls-were just coming of age. In fact, it was as happy a little
family as could be found anywhere, and everything about the
house was well ordered. The husband was tall and gaunt, and
was somewhat irregular in his hours and habits. This fact, however, was accounted for by the fact that he was supposed to be
connected with the Associated Press. For more than four years
the relations of a friend with the family were of the most intimate
nature, and he never had the slightest suspicion that there was
anything "crooked" about them, until one night when he
happened to be in a gambling-house up town, where there was a
very brisk game of baccarat in progress. About forty gentlemen,
all more or less well known about town and of good position, were
seated around the green table, and two young men who had




SCENE IN A GAMBLING HELL.


323


bought the bank were winning money very rapidly. Everybody
else was losing. The faces of most of the men looked solemn and
ill-natured; a few were flushed, while others were as calm and
imperturbable as though carved out of marble. The run of luck in
favor of the bank was evidently something out of the common. A
smooth-faced young fellow who sat inside a big iron cage and sold
chips to the players, had climbed upon his desk so as to get a good
view of the table; and even the waiters, usually so obedient and
prompt of service, forgot to fill orders. At one end of the table
the cards were dealt to a young man who had been losing heavily,
and whose hand shook so much with excitement that he turned
over one of his cards. The banker saw it. The flushed player
called for another card. It was turned up suddenly; there was a
" false play," and an instantaneous howl of rage (I can call it by
no other name) from the players. All the men were heavy loosers,
and matters looked very squally.
The players all jumped to their feet, everybody shouted at once,
and the waiters closed the doors. A row was evidently imminent.
Suddenly, the attendant in his iron cage rang a bell; the door of
the adjoining room opened quickly, and was then closed again
with a bang which could be heard above the babel of voices. The
heads of all were turned towards the doorway-my friend's along
with the rest-and there stood that very respectable head of the
very respectable family who resided on Lexington Avenue, and
with whom my friend had been so intimate for four years or more.
He was precisely as he always seemed; his frock coat hung in
loose folds upon his gaunt figure; there was a cigar in his mouth;
his cold, blue eyes were as devoid of animation as ever.
Immediately upon his entrance he was appealed to by a dozen
different individuals. He asked whether a decision by him would
be accepted as final. And the answer of the majority was in the
affirmative. Then he entered into a lengthy analysis of the rules
of the game on the point in dispute. He spoke with labored politeness, and looked around from face to face with a forced smile
as each word was spoken. He finally wound up by saying:
"There can't be a question or doubt, gentlemen, about this decision. I have known the point to come up fifty times in Paris,
and so universally is the ruling understood that it no longer raises
even a word. It is accepted at once as final."
That settled it, and within ten minutes the game was in full




324


PHILIP SCHUYLER OR JOHN SPICER.


blast again, and half a case of champagne had been disposed of.
That is the sort of Associated Press agent the gaunt gentleman
with the highly respectable family was.  His wife may have
known all about his business, but it is doubtful if his daughters
did.
It is astonishing how thoroughly things can be concealed in
New York. Men lead double lives for years without any one
being the wiser. Persons have even been known to support two
establishments within a very short distance of each other-two
wives, two families-and yet the fact has only come to light
after death.
Philip Schuyler, the railroad millionaire of twenty years ago,
was one of these two-faced individuals. He was known by his
family, who lived up town, as John Spicer. He did business on
the Stock Exchange, and maintained an office at No. io Broad
Street, under the name of Philip Schuyler. And the way in which
the whole thing was discovered was this:
A young fellow and companion, as they walked Broadway,
passed a handsome gentleman to whom they both bowed. One said:
"Why, Bob Spicer, how came you to know that man? I.didn't
know you knew him."
"Well, yes, I know him slightly," said young Spicer sarcastically.
"Why shouldn't I, seeing he's my father? "
" Your father! " exclaimed the other with a laugh; "not much!
That's Philip Schuyler."
"'Tain't either," exclaimed Bob Spicer, excitedly.  "Don't I
know my own father? What are you talking about? Haven't I
seen him every day since I could remember?"
"But have you seen him evenings, Bob?"
"No, he works down town evenings."
" Works! I tell you he's a Fifth Avenue swell, Schuyler is; and
he goes to all the Patriarch Club's parties and balls; and he is a
bachelor, and he is sweet on my Aunt Emma; and he plays billiards at our house every few evenings. They say he's awful rich."
" See here," said Bob to his companion; " if you go on talking
that way we can't be friends any more. Talk's cheap. Come
home with me at five o'clock, and see what mother says about it.
Father will be there too."
Thus it came about that the matter was investigated, and Bob
found that his loving and indulgent father, John Spicer, was known




ANOTHER DUAL LIFE.


325


on the Stock Exchange and at No. io Broad Street as the railroad magnate and bachelor millionaire, Philip Schuyler.
Not more than two or three years ago there was a contest before
the New York Surrogate over the will of William Austin. He
was an importer of Scotch linens, and died in I875, leaving personal
property to his wife valued at $800,000, together with a house on
West Twenty-third Street, in which they had lived for many years
and reared a large family. Down town, on Cedar Street, where he
had his office, he was known as William Hutchinson, and none of
his business acquaintances ever suspected him of being married or
having a family. In church he was known as Austin and on the
Stock Board as Hutchinson. A most remarkable fact in connection
with this case is that Mr. Austin-Hutchinson lived this double
life undiscovered for more than fifty years.
When he died his oldest son was fifty-one years old, and the
next, forty-six. But these two old boys do not seem ever to have
suspected that they were anything else than unadulterated Austins;
or that they had an enterprising and acquisitive relation named
" Hutchinson," doing a good deal of business in Cedar Street, with
his gilt sign out over the sidewalk-" Hutchinson "-for fifty years,
working six hours every day, doing millions of dollars worth of business. They never discovered that he was else than the respectable and domestic Austin of Twenty-third Street!  Austin for
fifty years, for eighteen hours of the day and night, and never
once inopportunely revealed as Hutchinson of the Stock Board,
and the note-shaver of Cedar Street! It seems to me that that
fifty-year-old boy could not have been very wide awake.
I remember a very strange revelation about a will, contested
more than thirty years ago in our Surrogate Court. In the old
times there was a very stylish house of prostitution in Chambers
Street, known as " The Palace of Mirrors "-the name being descriptive of the place. It was kept by a famous courtesan named,
or at any rate called, Kate Ridgeway. She was brilliant, refined
looking, and with modest manners, and she sometimes got into a
box at the opera without attracting undue attention, except from
the men about town to whom her face was known. Years and
years passed. She was prudent. She became wealthy. Suddenly
the house was closed, Kate disappeared from view, and nobody
knew whither she had gone.
Some years afterward a lady of distinguished appearance,




326


" MY DEAR DAUGHTER."


of about middle age, took up her residence on Fifth Avenue with
her wealthy husband, and, to a certain extent, was admitted into
the select society of that thoroughfare. They thrived. A circle of
friends assembled about them. They were prominent members of
a fashionable church. Their name was foremost in conspicuous
charities. Her husband, a retired hardware merchant of Warren
Street, died a couple of years later, leaving her a comfortable fortune. She left here for a residence in a moderate-sized Western
city, where she was regarded as a very wealthy woman.
After awhile she returned here and died, and her will was presented for probate in the Surrogate Court. Objections were filed
by a very beautiful and accomplished young lady, who claimed to
be her only daughter. The will bequeathed the bulk of the property to her niece, a Philadelphia woman. The evidence brought
to light the origin of the parties and their relations.
The testatrix proved to be no other than the famous Kate Ridgeway. She was the sister of Matilda Heron, the powerful but eccentric tragic actress, who was' the first representative Camille in
the English language. The contestant produced some forty or
fifty letters from the decedent, in which the writer addressed her
as " My Dear Daughter," and lawyers and court were confounded
by the marked manifestations of affection by the decedent, and
were nonplussed by the fact that the object of these terms of endearment was disinherited under the will. The claimant was strikingly handsome and refined, about twenty-two years old, intelligent
and lady-like, and she impressed everybody most favorably.
Pending the litigation, the attorney for the will bethought himself
to inquire of the records to see if a guardian had ever been appointed for this mysterious girl. The search was rewarded.
It was found that her real name was Louise West, and that she
was the child of the keeper of an assignation house in the rear of
the Palace of Mirrors, who, on dying, left her property to Kate
Ridgeway for the benefit and education of her child, enjoining
upon her that it should be used for her maintenance and training,
and that Louise should never know the secret of her birth. The
guardianship had been respected and the trust carried out. When
the infant arrived at sufficient age she was taken from the Palace
of Mirrors and placed in the Convent of the Sacred Heart above
the city, where she remained during several years' absence of her
guardian in Europe. On the return from Europe, the name Bishop




ISAAC M. SINGER.


327


was substituted for West, and the now educated young woman
was taken into the Fifth Avenue family to reside. She shortly
married without her guardian's consent, and left the city with her
young husband, remaining away till she heard of her "mother's "
death. The whole queer business being cleared up, the will was
admitted to probate.
On the 23d of July, I875, at No. 83y Boulevard Malesherbes,
Paris, Isaac M. Singer died, aged sixty-three years. In I836,
when eighteen years old, he met in Baltimore Mary Ann Spousle,
a native of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and fell in love with her. Her
father was an oyster-packer. Singer was a strolling player and
extremely poor. Travelling about the country, he acted in temperance plays in churches. He told Mary Ann that he was already married to one Catherine Maria Haley, whom he had left for cause,
and from whom he proposed to get a divorce. He induced Mary
Ann to go to New York with him, as his wife, promising to marry
her after procuring the divorce. The latter he neglected to do,
and the marriage ceremony was never performed. About a year
after this arrangement he deserted Mary Ann, and she returned
to her father's home, where she remained until I839. Singer and
Mary met again and the two travelled over the country for many
years. Mary also became an actor, although she was ignorant and
could not read. She lived with Singer for twenty-five years, and
bore him ten children. For thirteen years they went up and down
the country, residing at different times in Pittsburgh, Pa., Fredericksburg, Ohio; and Chicago. They were still very poor.
In I838 Mr. Singer invented a machine for drilling rocks by
horse-power. He received some income from this. He also invented a machine for carving wood types, and went into that business in Ohio. As an actor he played under the title of Isaac
Merritt. In i85o he perfected his first sewing-machine, and came
to New York to live, on Fifth Street, near the Bowery. He afterwards lived on Fourth Avenue, near Twenty-seventh Street, and
subsequently at No. x4 Fifth Avenue, then in Yonkers, and Paris.
The Singer Manufacturing Co. was started with a factory on Elizabeth Street, and a grand office on Broadway, at the corner of
Browne. Money flowed in and the Singers became wealthy. At
No. 14 Fifth Avenue they kept six carriages and ten horses, and a
troupe of servants. Mr. Singer always introduced Mary as his
wife, gave her money to pay all bills, etc.




328


ARRESTED FOR WIFE-BEATING.


Everything went well until August 7, i860, when Mrs. Singer
took a ride up Fifth Avenue in her coupe'. She met Mr. Singer
coming down the avenue in an open carriage with one Mary
McGonigal.    Mrs. Singer was astounded at Singer's apparent
perfidy, and screamed. She then drove home, and found Mr.
Singer there waiting for her. He gave her a severe beating, and
she had him arrested for ill treatment. She also began a suit for
divorce. In her complaint she said:
" During the whole of her married life she had received the most cruel and inhuman treatment. He frequently beat and choked her to insensibility. On
August 7, I860, he assaulted her at No. 14 Fifth Avenue. He beat his daughter
Violetta, until she became insensible, and he was alarmed for her recovery.
He was finally obliged to send for Dr. Wm. H. Maxwell. Mother and daughter
were both confined to their beds several days. On September I9, I860, Singer
went to Europe with a woman of easy virtue, Kate McGonigal, aged nineteen
years. They sailed from Boston under assumed names. He formerly visited her
at No. 40 Christopher Street. From I855 to I860 he kept as his mistress Mary
McGonigal, sister of Kate. Other women with whom it is known he had
illicit relations were Mary Matthews, a Mrs. Judson, an operative in the establishment; Mary Waters, Ellen Rrazer and Ellen Livingstone. These women
bore children by him. Another woman, known as Lucy, he seduced in England,
and she followed him to this country. He lived with her at No. IIO West
Thirty-seventh Street.  He is in the habit of seducing his female operatives,
and employs them both in England and New York for that purpose."
The divorce was never procured, since the lawyers agreed to a
compromise, and Judge Barnard ordered the papers sealed up and
returned to the attorneys. Singer agreed to purchase a house for
Mary, and support her family. He bought the house, No. I89
West Twenty-eighth Street, for $16,500 and furnished it.  He paid
$40 a week for the care of the children. A few weeks after this
settlement Mrs. Singer went to Boston, where she was married to
John Edward Foster, a young man, twenty-five years old, a railway
clerk.
When the Singer will was probated at White Plains, N. Y., in
September, I875, Mrs. Foster appeared in person to contest the
will, claiming to be the widow of Mr. Singer. At the close of the
proceedings, the surrogate, Judge Coffin, adjudged that Mary Ann
Foster was never the wife, and therefore was not the widow, of
Isaac M. Singer, and was not entitled to intervene.
The estate left by Singer amounted in round numbers to fifteen
millions of dollars.  It has largely increased, since each "part"
spoken of in the will represented $250,000.:..
5,-,




TWENTY-THREE CHILDREN.


329


In his will Mr. Singer made provision for the following persons:
" I give to my wife, Isabelle Eugenia Singer, all the plate, furniture, carriages, etc., in my possession; also the house and lands
belonging thereto which I occupied as a home, for life, and afterwards to her children.
To my children, born of her who was Maria Haley: to William
A. Singer, $500; to Lillian A. Singer, $io,ooo.
The rest of the estate shall be divided into sixty equal parts:
To Isabelle Eugenie, four parts;
To Adam Mortimer, six parts;
To Winnaretta Eugenie, five parts;
To Washington Merritt Grant, six parts;
To Paris Eugene, six parts;
To Isabelle Blanche, five parts;
To Franklin Morse, six parts.
I give to each of the following named persons whom in this, my
will, I call by the surname of Singer, they being my children, born
of Mary McGonigal, of San Francisco, and who is commonly called
by the surname of Matthews:
To Ruth Merrit, two parts;
To Clara, two parts;
To Florence Adelaide, two parts;
To Margaret Alexandria, two parts;
To Charles Alexander, two parts;
To Alice, born of Mary E. Walter, of New York, commonly
called Merritt, two parts.
To each of the following persons whom I call Singer, my children, born of her who is now known as Mary Ann Foster, of New
York:
To Isaac Augustus, two parts;
To Violetta Theresa, nothing;
To John Albert, two parts;
To Fanny Elizabeth, one part;
To Joseph Camet, one part;
To Mary Olive, one part;
To Julia Ann, one part, and
To Caroline Virginia, two parts.
But to return to " respectable " criminals. Look at the "confidence " man, or " bunco steerer," for instance. The greater part
of his stock-in-trade consists of his wardrobe and his personal at



33  RESPECTABLE ) CRIMINALS.


330


tractions - Without good clothing and good looks he would be
unfit for his " business." In making up his general appearance
his fashionable attire, of course, goes a great way. He must be
careful, too, not to offend the susceptibility of his intended victims
by any " loudness " in his dress, or anything that makes him singular or conspicuous.  The '; confidence " man, therefore, carefully
avoids anything remarkable in his address, seeking, rather, the
general appearance of easy respectability. A sprinkling of gray
hairs is a great help to him in his operations. A bald head and a
clerical figure is positively a fortune. His hands must be white
and delicate, and his voice softly modulated. With such an " outfit,'l together with an immaculate shirt and collar, he has the " open
sesame " to the wallets of his "dear friends" from the country.
When on the look-out for a " pigeon " no one could be more diffident and retiring. He is politeness itself, and no amount of pushing, crushing or crowding can put him out of temper.
The bank thief dresses well, lives well, and is, in fact, upon the
highest plane of criminal life. He must, like the "confidence"
operator, be a person of good address; and, above all, must have
some pretensions to good looks. Good pickpockets (if there are
any), those who "work " the largest kind of game, are generally
well and stylishly dressed, easy in their manners and correct in
speech. The hotel thief is usually a man of suave and polished
manners. Ask him a question as he strolls about the corridors of
the hotel which he has selected as his field of operations. His
answer is always ready, and you can touch upon no subject with
which he does not appear to be perfectly familiar. Well dressed,
of good appearance, the more you see and converse with him the
better you like him. He can suit his ways, too, to the company
in which he may happen to be-laughing with those who laugh,
and sympathetic or dignified with those who are sorrowful and
sedate. You may meet him at one hotel by the name of Brown,
and a week later at another by that of Robinson. But this little
apparent inconsistency doesn't trouble him in the least.  Remind him of it, and he is ready with some pleasant little fiction which it is ten to one will pull the wool over your eyes in the
most complete manner.
Shop-lifters are dangerous, too, as far as detecting them by
their attire is concerned.' It has frequently happened that a man
and a couple of women of this class have gone about the city




HOW ARE THIEVES MADE?


33x


during the holiday season, when stores are crowded, in a carriage
with servants in livery and other surroundings equal to their pretentions, riding from place to place, robbing as they went. They
gc.nto our best and largest jewellers', silk-merchants', and lace
shops rustling in silk or robed in velvet and satin; and yet all
the time, and none the less, they are thieves.
Even the burglar, that nightmare of the householder, is very
rarely brave; and it is only when driven into a corner, and at
bay, that he becomes bold and desperate. The burglar would
much rather run than fight. Frighten him, and if there is a chance
to escape he will avail himself of it.
I have known thieves, brutal and murderous enough, if disturbed
when engaged in any depredation, who in their homes were kind
husbands and affectionate fathers.  For years they have concealed the nature of their "work" from  their families; their
wives living lives of respectability and comfortable confidence.
The question has been very often asked me: "How are
thieves made-what makes them commit their first crime?"  It
is a difficult one to answer. It is not always the naturally vicious
men who join the ranks of our great army of criminals. Over
and over again instances have come to my notice where young
men, and women, too, who have been well bred, and whose natural traits are far from vicious, have drifted (and I can find no
better word in the English language) into crime purely and simply through want. Their first offence escaped detection, and they
have thus been induced to follow it as a business or profession.
There is a certain young man now serving out a sentence of seven
and a half years at Sing Sing for various burglaries, whose experiences will illustrate what I mean.
When he first came to New York, the young man in question
was as modest, quiet and respectable as could well be imagined. His references were excellent, and he had no trouble in
obtaining a situation in a down-town wholesale house, where he
soon gained the confidence of his employers. Consequent upon
the general depression in business which occurred in I884, he
was discharged, along with numbers of others. Day after day,
week after week, he tramped the streets, going from store to store
seeking work. The little money he had saved was soon gone,
and then an unpaid board bill stared him in the face.
With no friends to aid him, it is no wonder he became desper.




332


HEREDITARY VICIOUSNESS.


ate. An idea entered his head, and one evening he left his board
ing-house, taking with him all the keys he could find. He had
determined to raise money in some way, and, as honest labor
offered him no opportunity, he determined to try house-break
ing. One of the keys in the bunch which he had enabled him
to open a house in a certain side street, and entering one of the
rooms, he stole a quantity of jewellery and made his escape
without being detected. The pawn-shop was resorted to, and he
thus obtained funds with which to get along for a time.
Now the success attending him in his first robbery deceived him.
If he had been caught then and there the chances are ten to one
that his whole future would have been changed. But success in
his first venture ruined him. He went on and on in the downward path until, when he was arrested, he confessed to as many as
forty burglaries. His career is but a sample of several which
have come under my observation. Want and starvation drive
many more into crime than most persons imagine. Education in
crime by professional thieves is not the cause of making half as
many criminals as is the fact that young men of much more than
average ability are fairly driven to thievery by want, and also
the fact that they can see no way of making an honest living in
the immediate future.
On the other hand, however, it is wrong to say that there is no
such thing as hereditary viciousness. There is, and I'm sorry to say
I've seen plenty of it. Take the case of the Harris family. Five
of the brothers are now in prison! Just think of it. A drunken
mother with seven sons, only the two youngest of whom are
not within the clutch of the law.. What a picture! Four strapping young men, who might, if they had started aright, be earning a good living to-day! Save the wages of stripes and hard
labor for a convict contractor, they have earned little from their
arduous profession of thieving. Few tenements in the city were
more bare of comforts than those which they and their female
companions inhabited. There were no carpets on the floor and
nothing which could be termed "furniture," even by the greatest
stretch of the imagination. But what hard work they endured to
obtain all this; what nights of peril and discomfort while watching and waiting for a chance to "crack a crib "; what weeks of
hiding in garrets and cellars from the police; what hard bargains
driven with unscrupulous " fences "; what constant calls for drink



AN AGED JAIL-BIRD.


333


money by the mother who had done more than her share in helping them into the harness of crime; and, on top of this, fifty years
between them of an existence seen through an iron grating.
Again, only recently, I noticed the case of a man who was
eighty years of age, tottering on the edge of the grave, who
actually begged the judge of a circuit court in Indiana to sentence
him to such a term of imprisonment as would enable him to spend
his few remaining days in jail. Forty years he had passed behind
brick walls and iron gratings; no sooner had he been released on
one sentence, than he had committed another crime in order to
prolong his life behind the bars. His last offence was burglary,
and in response to the questions of the court told a story of crime
which indicated as near an approach to total depravity as can well
be imagined.
Said he: "I have no relatives, no friends and no money. I
would rather be in prison than in the poor-house. I will not beg,
and I want to pass the remainder of my life in the penitentiary.
Yes, Judge, send me up for just such time as you like. I don't
know how long I will live. I cannot say that five years will be
enough."
And the old man's face wore a contented, happy expression
when he heard his sentence of five years' imprisonment-a punishment which to some men would be as the crack of doom, but
which to him was as an invitation to partake of a good meal.
Such instances as these are almost sufficient to arouse a suspicion in the minds of most persons that there must be something
radically wrong in our social system, or else the mode of punishment for crimes committed cannot be sufficiently severe.
The intention of the law is not so much the punishment of any
one thief who may be captured, as to deter others from committing
similar crimes. On not a few criminals the best efforts of the
philanthropist are completely lost. Their efforts are as futile as
carrying water in a sieve. The most irksome manual labor and
most rigid discipline should be the portion of such men.
Upon the other hand, those convicted of a first offence should
be dealt with leniently. My conviction for a number of years has
been that criminals should be made to understand distinctly,
upon their conviction, that their punishment will be carried out
in the most rigid and inflexible manner-that they have nothing
to hope for in the way of a pardon. Of course, I believe it to be




334                A GIGANTIC PROBLEM.
perfectly right to offer premiums for good conduct in the shape of
a reduction of their sentence; but so-called " philanthropists " do
far more harm than good by their promiscuous and ill-directed
struggles for the relief of the imprisoned.  Men who are desirous
of reforming and leading a correct life in the future should be
afforded every facility to do so, and encouraged in their endeavors.
The problem is a gigantic one, and its solution this side of the
millennium is a matter of doubt.




CHAPTER XXIV.


FORGERS AND FORGING.-THE ARISTOCRATIC AND WEALTHY MEXICAN
DOCTOR.-" A MOST CONSUMMATE VILLAIN.' —THE SUNDAYSCHOOL TEACHER WHO FORGED CHECKS FOR $250,000.-THREE
MEN WHO CAME FROM A HOUSE IN ALLEN STREET ON A DARK
WINTER'S NIGHT.-HOW JAMES A. GARFIELD WAS NEARLY DEFEATED.-THE FORGER WITH BLACK EYES AND RAVEN HAIR.LORD ASHBURTON AND HIS ROMANTIC CAREER.-ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACK-MAILERS.-THE UNION BANK OF LONDON FORGERIES.
IN 1874 there lived at No. 50 East Fifty-third Street, New York
City, a man whose name was as complex as his character. Dr. Gabor
Nephegyi, for such was this person's name, was a gentleman whom
many prominent New Yorkers felt proud to say they knew. He
was to them a man of enormous wealth. He lived in a fashionable
part of the city and lived gorgeously. His house was elaborately
furnished. The works of art, the books, the tapestries and Persian
rugs with which the building seemed crowded, demonstrated that
there was no vulgarity about this man's riches. He was unmistakably a man of taste, education and refinement. His conversational powers were extraordinary. He had travelled extensively,
and seemed well posted on a great variety of subjects. He was
said to be a member of the New York Historical Society, as also
of the Geographical Society, and he frequently entertained his
fellow members at his house. These receptions were always the
envy of those who could not attend them, and those who came
once seldom remained away when the next one occurred.
Why this attractive man was called Doctor was never clearly ascertained. He was known to be a Mexican, and that covered a
multitude of curious questions. All sorts of explanations were
made by those who admired the grandeur of his turn-out as he
rolled in his carriages over the avenues or through the Park. No
livery was quite so faultless as his, no coachmen understood quite
so well their business. His horses were magnificent specimens
of brutes, and none in the city stepped along more proudly. The
335




336


A BOMBSHELL IN NEW YORK SOCIETY.


doctor's servants were legion, and they were managed like clockwork.
Yet this apparently faultless man, who had been dined and
wined and feted by the " nabobs" of fashionable and cultured society, was as great a rascal as lived in New York. He continued
his almost princely life for some time, and then fell-fell like Lucifer, never to rise again.
The Doctor had had some alterations and repairs made to his
house, and in payment had given forged checks on the Gallatin
National Bank. Among those who thus suffered was E. M.
Knox, who lost $3000.  Mr. Knox had the wealthy Mexican arrested, and the prisoner was held to await the action of the grand
jury. This was a blow from which Nephegyi had not quite audacity enough to recover.  He was bailed, as he had been many
times before, though the New York club men with whom he
associated had never suspected it, by a man named H. P. Norton,
who was believed to be his confederate in nefarious schemes. At
the trial the forger made a vigorous defence. His counsel submitted an inventory of his client's possessions, showing that there
could have been no fraudulent motive on the part of the prisoner.
The prosecution, on the other hand, hurled a bombshell into New
York society by unfolding Dr. Gabor Nephegyi's past record. It
proved him to have been a professional confidence man. In i866,
under another name, he had been arrested for making counterfeit
money on Staten Island. A year or so later he had swindled a
Boston business house out of $io,ooo. In I869 Asa Packer and
others, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, lost thousands of dollars by
this arch-rascal. "He is one of the most consummate villains,
rogues and swindlers that ever disgraced this part of the country,"
wrote John G. Miller from Asa Packer's home. He had been
confined for some time in the jail at Eaton, where he had shown
his cleverness and carelessness by writing over the cell door: " Private entrance to the hotel of free lodging. No exit except on bail.
Regulations: First. Guests are not permitted to leave without the
express permission of the landlord. Second. For the better security of guests, iron and locks are constantly in the windows and
doors."
The last and most astounding incident in this man's career, as
spread before the public by the district attorney, was his swindling
the City of Mexico out of $600,000 by fraudulent gas contracts.




DR. NEPHEGYI.


337


It was on the proceeds of these deeds of villany that the cultured,
aristocratic, wealthy and fashionable resident of Fifty-third Street
supported his gorgeous turn-outs, gave his magnificent dinners,
and aroused the admiration and envy of his less talented and
poorer acquaintances. Yet in the end his money did not save him,
and the law showed the cultured Mexican no more leniency than
it did a Bowery prize-fighter.
The case of Dr. Nephegyi illustrates well the character of the
men with whom, as forgers and swindlers, the police of New York
are constantly coming in contact. At the bottom, these men are
as unscrupulous and as vicious as the roughest looking criminal
that is arraigned in our police courts. Yet frequently their associates are persons of eminent respectability and refinement. Forging
is often refined bank robbery, and forgers are cultured bank robbers. It is necessary for the successful accomplishment of their
fraudulent schemes that they should dress well and act well. The
most adroit, or those whose aim is to get large sums of money,
must live like persons who are accustomed to handle plenty of
money. Their work of fraud lies among the rich and educated
part of the population, and to avoid arousing suspicion they must
be careful not to show any signs of vulgarity or of crookedness.
The successful forger is always a very smart man, and this very
fact frequently aids him, as it aided Dr. Nephegyi, in getting the
entree to the best and cleverest society. It has been my experience as a police officer that one of the hardest criniftfTs to detect
and convict is the forger, and I attribute this in no siall degree to
his habit of ingratiating himself, by his suave manners and gentlemanly appearance, into the affections of those who ought to be his
accusers. It is the most difficult thing in the world sometimes to
convince reputable people that the stranger who has gained their
confidence is the man who has defrauded them. So unwilling is
human nature to admit that it has been imposed upon.
Another of these accomplished forgers, whose case has also its
pathetic side, was William C. Gilman, a broker of good reputation,
who lived at No. 31 West Thirty-sixth Street. One day in October
Gilman sent to the office of Henry Talmadge & Co., bankers,
of No. 39 Pine Street, as collateral security for money borrowed,
two certificates of scrip of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company
for $Io,ooo each. The firm sent the certificates to the insurance
company for identification and there it was learned that they
22




338


A SWINDLER OF THE BLACKEST TYPE.


were not genuine.  It was found that certificates for $ioo each
had been issued to Gilman in I876, and there was every evidence
that these presented by Henry Talmadge & Co. were the same ones,
but the amount had been raised in each from $ioo to $io,ooo.
The fact of the forgery was soon made known, and the greatest
surprise and consternation followed.  Business men had looked
on William C. Gilman as a model of honesty and fair dealing.
He belonged to the firm William C. Gilman & Co., which had
been respected on the street for forty years. He had entered
the house when a boy, and had finally succeeded his father in
control. The latter had died thirteen years before and left his
son $ioo,ooo.  Gilman's manner of living was such that his
friends thought he must be doing a good business. He was a
member of the Union League Club, and very popular with his
associates. His social position was excellent. Above all, he was
a devoted church member and a teacher in a Sabbath-school.
Yet the revelation on that second day in October pronounced
him a swindler of the blackest type. His crime was not only the
forging of two certificates of $io,ooo each, but the swindling of
other firms and corporations out of ten times as much.  As
soon as the attempted fraud on Henry Talmadge & Co. was
discovered and made known, there was great excitement at all
the banks where Gilman was accustomed to do business. His
securities which they held were at once overhauled and critically
examined. The further the investigation went the more astounding revelations were made. The Third National Bank discovered
that it held $20,000 of forged paper; the American Exchange
Bank, $87,320; a trust company, $74,000; and other corporations, $30,000. Gilman was believed to have fraudulently secured
altogether about $250,000. The forgeries had all been committed
by raising certificates from comparatively small amounts to large
ones.
The excitement among business men and Gilman's acquaintances was intense, and when almost simultaneously with the discovery of the forgeries it was made known that Gilman himself
had fled, those who had for an instant cherished any doubts of the
forger's guilt were ready to believe it now. No plausible theory,
however, was suggested for the man's conduct.
Two weeks later Gilman turned up, and surrendered himself to
the police. I confess I have seldom felt more touched by the




A SCENE IN ALLEN STREET.


339


arrest of any prisoner. His fall was so complete, and the brokendown man realized it so entirely. He issued a confession to the
public, in which he blamed no one but himself, and said that he
had been tempted to wrong-doing by business troubles and his
extravagant habits. It was a very humiliating recital. In court
soon afterward he pleaded guilty to forgery in the second degree,
and was sent to State's prison for five years.
On a dark cloudy night early in the year I877 three detectives,
with their overcoats buttoned closely around their throats to keep
off the biting air, of winter, paced slowly up and down in front
of a house in Allen Street, New York. Now and then they cast
anxious glances toward the house, and stopped and stared curiously when there was any sign of life about the dwelling. They
noted the entrance of one or two men into the house, and then
were gratified to see an expressman drive up before the suspected
house, and, leaving his horse and wagon, rapidly mount the steps
and ring the bell. There were a few words exchanged at the
door with the person who responded to the call, and then the expressman returned to his wagon. A moment later three men
emerged from the doorway, carrying a large bundle which
they placed carefully in the wagon.  At that instant three revolvers were pointed at their heads, and the three detectives demanded the men's surrender.
So quick was the action of the detectives and so surprised were
their prisoners that the latter offered no resistance. The driver
started to run, but was told to stand still. Then the six men,
followed by the terrified expressman, filed silently toward a police
station, and thence to headquarters. There I saw the three prisoners, and recognized in one of them, to my great surprise, "Little
Joe" Elliot, an aristocratic criminal, a man who has committed
crime in nearly every State of the Union, and in half the countries
of the Old World, and who is familiar with at least a score of
prisons. The other two prisoners were Charles Becker and
" Old Man " Hearing, as he was familiarly called, two well-known
forgers.
The crime for which these men were arrested on this dark
night was that of forging a check for $64,000, purporting to be
drawn by the New York Life Insurance Company upon the Union
Trust Company. The forgery was wrought in this manner:
On January 3, "Little Joe " called on George L. Maxwell, a
it *




34o


" LITTLE JOE  ELLIOT.


Wall Street broker, introduced himself as an agent of the New
York Life Insurance Company, and asked the broker if he would
purchase for the company $5o,000 in gold, tendering him at the
same time a certified check for $64,000. There was nothing
in Elliot's manner or appearance to arouse suspicions. He was
dressed fashionably, had pleasant manners, was good looking and
had an agreeable way of talking. The broker felt flattered at being asked to do commission business for the New York Life Insurance Company, and readily agreed to do the work which Elliot
requested. Two days later the gold had been bought and put in
"Little Joe's " hands, and the certified check was deposited in
the Mechanics' Bank and duly honored.
The fraud was not discovered until January i6, when the account of the insurance company with the Union Trust Company
was audited. At first sight it was hard to believe even then that
a forgery had occurred. The president was astounded that his signature could have been copied so exactly. But that fraud had
occurred was beyond dispute, and the matter was put in the hands
of our detective force. The officers of the company were suspicious of the broker, Mr. Maxwell, and at their instigation he
was arrested, but when the matter had been thoroughly exploited, was discharged.
The first effort of the detectives was to find the note from which
the signatures on the forged check had been made. This, strange
to say, was found among the papers of the company, and subsequent investigation proved conclusively that it had been taken
from the company's papers and put back among them again by
Charles W. Pontez, a clerk. To the detectives, Pontez had been
known before as an associate of Joseph W. Chapman, a well-known
forger. Pontez was watched constantly. These curious creatures
of the day and night whom we call " shadows," followed him when
lie left the office at night, saw him go to his home, went to the
theatre behind him, and kept their eyes on him until he was safely
housed for the night. One night he was seen at the theatre with
"Little Joe " Elliot, but after that they were not observed together.
Again, on a night when the cold winds were sweeping across the
North River and causing the passengers who were hastening to
the Cortlandt Street ferries to shiver, one of these omnipresent
shadows saw Joseph Elliot greet warmly by a hand-shake the notorious forger, Charles Becker.




KATE CASTLETON.


341


After this the trio were seen to go frequently to the house in
Allen Street, and it was determined that this was their headquarters. Accordingly it was watched, and with the result mentioned.
After the arrest of the three forgers the house was searched, and
metallic dies, checks, lithographic stones, prints of bank-notes, etc.,
were found, as well as proof sheets of the forged check of the New
York Life Insurance Company. Pontez was arrested on the next
morning. The exposure of the affair showed that he had stolen
the check and handed it over to Elliot. Becker engraved the
check and " Old Man " Hearing printed it.
The trial of the forgers came on, and created a great deal of interest. But "Little Joe " had his mind on something else than
the trial. He was thinking of escape, and one day while the officer who took him to and from court had his eyes turned away,
Elliot took to his heels and fled. He was afterward re-captured,
and with two of his associates in crime paid the penalty for his
misdeeds. Pontez died before his sentence was pronounced.
"Little Joe " began stealing when a boy. As a youth he was
quite a dashing young fellow, had lots of money, and kept company with many of the most aristocratic young "bloods " about
town. He married Kate Castleton, the actress, having met her
when she was playing with the San Francisco Minstrels in this
city. Their wedding was in the Little Church Around the Corner
after a courtship of three days. She retired from the stage at his
request, but afterward, when their domestic happiness was clouded
by discord, returned to her old profession. When her husband
was serving his term in prison for forgery, no one was more constant in devotion than his wife, and she tried in vain to secure a
pardon for him from the governor. She afterward secured a divorce from him and married Harry Phillips, the manager of the
" Crazy Patch " company. Elliot is suspected of having been implicated in the murder of Mary Chapman, in London, many years
ago. She was the wife of Joseph B. Chapman, the notorious
American forger, whom Elliot met in Constantinople, and in whose
company he committed several crimes.
Charles I. Brockway, one of whose operations is referred to
in another chapter, was a forger whose name will always be a familiar one in the traditions of the police department of New York.
He was the leader of a bold gang which included such men as
William Ogle, Andrew Gilligan, James Williams, popularly known




/


1. I, ---
s::,. 11::- 1


/2  1


~:z~ZzSZ5


-    7;,'


I.7/
'


~ t:,'/':'         /


WM. E. BROCKWAY.
(From a Photograph in the Rogues' Gallery.)
342




BROCKWAY THE FORGER.


343


as "Big Kentuck," George Lockwood, alias "Cully," and
" Tommy " Moore. The amount of his forgeries in this city alone
amounted to $300,000, and there is scarcely an important city in
the Union that has not seen some of his handiwork. Some of his
victims in New York were the Bank of the Republic, the Chemical
Bank, the Bank of the State of New York, the Phcenix Bank, the
Second National Bank and the firm of Fiske & Hatch. Brockway himself frequently escaped detection and conviction, because
he was clever enough to put most of the work into the hands of a
man of pronounced bad character, and because he seldom had
communications with the members of his gang, save through this
accomplice. After successfully forging a check on the Bank of the
Republic, the gang got into a dispute over the spoils, during which
"Tommy" Moore objected to Brockway's creed, and fired a pistol
at him. Ogle sprang to his chief's defence and fired back at
Moore, wounding him. Atterwards Ogle, Gilligan and Williams
were arrested for committing a forgery on the Phcenix Bank.
Williams gave the conspiracy away, and the arrest of the other
members of the gang followed. Brockway was sentenced to prison
for ten years, but was afterward pardoned by President Johnson.
In I874 Detective King, of the Central Office, arrested him again
and he was taken to Massachusetts, where he served three years.
He turned up later in Chicago, and again was found plying his
trade in New York. Captain Kealy, the chief of detectives, got
evidence that he was implicated in other forgeries, and arrested
him in a Bleecker Street saloon.
Brockway was a handsome man, with black hair and eyes, tall
and well formed. He is now not more than forty-five years old.
He was born in New York and has lived here always, save for
such absences as his business would necessitate. Soon after the
war he ran a faro game in this city, and dealt largely in counterfeit money.
No forgery ever occurred more famous than the Morey letter,
which was published in fac-simile in Truth during the presidential
campaign of i880. No other forgery probably had such far
reaching consequences. Others have wrecked commercial companies and wiped out the fortunes of private individuals, but this
Morey forgery nearly changed the result of a presidential election.
Everybody is familiar with the story. The letter purported to
have been written by James A. Garfield, the Republican candidate,




344


THE MOREY LETTER.


to a Mr. Morey, a manufacturer in Massachusetts, and dealt with
the Chinese question in such a way as would undoubtedly lose the
Pacific States to the Republican party had the genuineness of the
letter not been doubted. Mr. Garfield himself wrote a prompt
denial, but the denial scarcely reached as many persons as the
letter itself, for a fac-simile of the letter in electrotype was published in every Democratic newspaper in the land.
The Republican national committee were determined that they
would trace this infamous imposition to its source, and put the
matter into the hands of Colonel George Bliss and John I. Davenport. These gentlemen employed almost the whole Detective
Bureau to discover the author of the forgery. It was not long
before he was supposed to be found in the person of Kenward
Philp, a brilliant but erratic journalist, who was one of the
writers for Truth.  He was arrested, charged with forgery and
libel in writing and publishing the letter. The trial lasted for
some time; but Philp was finally acquitted, not, however, until
several witnesses had been indicted for perjury. During the trial
a friend of Philp's happened into the court-room and asked him
what the charge was. His reply was: " For being the author of
'Beautiful Snow.'" The inference is, therefore, that had Philp
been convicted, this long-vexed question would have been decided.
Poor Philp! He died in Brooklyn the first part of this year.
A romantic, varied life, capped by a most successful tour of
forging through this country, is the picture I have now to present
to the readers of this autobiography. The life of William Griffis,
alias the "Earl of Ashburton," "Lord Ashburton," George M.
Saville, William J. Hadley and Henry C. Walters, is told best by
tracing his career from childhood. The rounded work of crime is
much more impressive and full of moral than any incidents of
this career of infamy.
Griffis was born at Totnes, a small village near the mouth of
the River Exe, in Devonshire, England. His father was a
wealthy, enterprising and respected timber merchant. He determined that his son should have education, fortune and the
choice of the army or navy, or one of the liberal professions.
The boy first went to the Butchers' School, in London, a very
famous institution for preparing lads for a collegiate career.
From there he went to Eton, and was in the class of '61-2. Here
his conduct did not please his father, and although the boy was




A BORN FINANCIER.


345


destined for Cambridge University, it was decided that it would
be best to start him in the banking business at once. So it came
about that influence obtained for him a desk in the Bank of England-" The Old Lady of 'hreadneedle Street."  This was in the
fall of 1862. He was a born financier. In I865 he had learned
all that could be learned in Threadneedle Street, and took a trip
with an officer of the bank to China. He visited Hong Kong and
Shanghai, returning to England in I867.
At this time his bad characteristics were developed. He
always possessed an innate cussedness, which cropped out just at
the wrong time. He suddenly left the bank, abandoned home
and friends, and came to New York. Unfortunately for him, as it
subsequently proved, he had learnt engraving and lithographing.
When he landed here he had ample means, and remittances from
home were assured. His choice led him into "tavern " society.
Naturally bright and conspicuously intelligent, he attracted the
attention of certain individuals who frequented the places he
chose for his headquarters. He continued to perfect himself in
engraving and lithographing, and so fell across men who were
agents for the most powerful gang of forgers that ever infested
this country.
Griffis's financial knowledge was a mine of wealth to those who
gradually drew him into the vortex of crime  News of his doings
had reached his father, who remonstrated with him for his gamb
ling, his association with females of doubtful character, and his
intemperance. Finally, the father virtually discarded him, but
Griffis did not trouble himself about this  He could earn his
living as an engraver and lithographer, and his criminal associates
warped his honest instincts by degrees. When he was financially
embarrassed they lent him sums of money  At first these sums
were small; then the amounts would be hundreds of dollars.
Finally he was head over heels in debt, and the only way to get
out of it was by doing the bidding of the men who had him in
their power. To "handle" him became easy in I878, because of
a little adventure with a girl whom he had betrayed. From I869
till i875 he had done all sorts of little " jobs " for the clique of
forgers. He had given them valuable information in regard to
financial business in Europe, had done some engraving on bonds,
commercial paper and bank-notes, and had shared in the profits.
There is no doubt that between the years named the clique made




346


DIDN T PAY EXPENSES.


at least $300,000 out of his intimate knowledge of the banking
business, and his skill with the graver.
But the grand coup had not yet been proposed to him.
In i876 he was at Syracuse, N. Y., with a few. hundred dollars
in his pocket, when he made the acquaintance of a German girl
who called herself Lola Walters. She was fairly respectable, and
averred that Griffis betrayed her under a promise of marriage.
In, February of the following year they lived at No. 126 West
Twenty-ninth Street, and were very hard up for money. In the
same house was an actress-Lizzie Kelsey-who was fond of
ostentatiously displaying her wardrobe and jewellery. The girl
Lola is believed to have prompted Walters, as he now called
himself, to the commission of a burglary; and in it were associated an ex-policeman and a professional criminal. The burglary
was not as successful as the perpetrators wished. It netted property worth less than a thousand dollars, which, sifted through the
hands of a receiver, realized but a couple of hundred dollarshardly enough, as the thieves afterwards confessed, to " pay expenses." All of those who participated were arrested. One was
not tried, another pleaded guilty to petty larceny and went to the
penitentiary for a short term. Lola and Griffis, who were each
under an alias, invoked "influence" at the district attorney's
office which secured a delay, resulting in the disappearance of
witnesses. Finally they weo. discharged. Griffis came out of
prison as poor as the proverbial church mouse, and fell an easy
prey to the men who knew his worth as an engraver and financier.
It had long been plotted to flood the country with circular notes
and letters of credit of the Union Bank of London (England).
The scheme had so far progressed that even the paper on which
the notes and letters of credit were to be printed had been ordered
and manufactured in Europe, together with the bulk of the engravings. Griffis was given general charge of the whole business, and
directed what should be done in England to bring the matter to a
head, and to secure the circulation of the paper without a hitch.
When the whole scheme was completed and everything was ready,
the forgers had prepared the following "paper," all directed
against the Union Bank of London: Circular letters of ~54,000
($270,000) with the privilege of unlimited credit on drafts, and
with circular notes running from 'io ($50) to ~500 ($2500); circular note for ~43,000 ($215,000), circular letters for ~20,000




LOADED DOWN WITH MONEY.


347


($ioo,ooo) and ~6000 ($30,ooo), and two of ~tooo each ($io,ooo),
the last four having circular notes of kLo ($50) each. The aggregate was $625,ooo!
No one not thoroughly conversant with the intricacies of banking, letters of credit, circular notes, engraving, printing and general business matters, can have the slightest idea of the pains and
nicety required to mature such a scheme of plunder.  When
Griffis started to cash these spurious drafts there was not a flaw in
the whole arrangement. He was not alone in the business of
reaping the harvest of his and his associates' infamy. His share
was to be the letter of credit for $270,000; his field of operations,
Denver, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Virginia City and San Francisco.
In October, 1878, he arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, literally
loaded down with money. There he met his fate, in the person
of Georgetta Saville, a corrupt but beautiful auburn-haired woman,
who had been launched on a career of infamy by a New York
stock-broker. This gentleman's means had begun to fail when
Griffis met Georgetta, and she was glad to find a new protector
with plenty of the needful. Taking her name, Griffis came to
New York and began to victimize our tradesmen, one of whom
was Mr. Thomas Kirkpatrick, the Broadway jeweller. From him,
for thirty-two of the forged -Io notes, he obtained $i6oo worth
of jewellery. Griffis fared equally well with a dozen other tradesmen, and then cut a swathe throughn Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland
and Kansas City. The woman accompanied him, and became as
expert in disposing of the forged paper as the man.
Unfortunately for them, an indiscretion on the part of one of
the forgers-Walker F. Floswell, alias Esmond-at the office. of
Jesup, Paton & Co., the William Street bankers, got the gang
into trouble.  The blunder led to the discovery of the forgeries, and in forty-eight hours hundreds of telegrams of warning and inquiry had put every banking institution in the United
States and Canada on their guard. Wall Street was appalled at
the responses which came in from east, west, north and south. It
was at first imagined that the scheme had netted $2,000,000, but
when the accounts were balanced it was ascertained that the epidemic was not one-eighth as bad as was supposed.
One of these telegrams of inquiry and warning reached a corrupt
and black-mailing clique in the Rocky Mountains. It was called
the Rocky Mountain Detective Agency. Now, it so happened that




348


ROCKY MOUNTAIN " DETECTIVES."


Griffis and Georgetta were " papering " Denver at the time. The
agency swooped down on them, kept them under surveillance, and
sent me the following telegram
"We have got those Union Bank forgers-man and woman.
What reward is there out for them?"
I replied:
" Will give $Ioo reward. If any more you can have it."
Whereupon the boss rascal of the agency, D. J. Cook, sent me
this reply:
" Sum named will not do at all. Would not pay railroad fare."
That closed the negotiations with me; but the " agency " proceeded to reward themselves for any little trouble they might have
had in following Griffis and his auburn-haired companion. They
fleeced them out of $1I,ooo, but were kind enough to pay the
forgers' railroad fare to the place they desired to go to.  The
woman quitted her companion to go East. Griffis chose to go
to Cheyenne, and as he got on the train the Rocky Mountain
Agency kindly handed him $300,000 of the forged Union Bank
of London paper, hoping, no doubt, that he would be successful
enough to be able to repay future attention.
The Rocky Mountain men, however, were too greedy. They
stuck to Griffis like his undershirt, and spoiled his "business " at
Cheyenne and Ogden, until he was compelled to give them a hint
" not to come so darned close to him." They saw the point, allowed
him a little more latitude, and despite the warnings flashed from
New York, he was able to do quite a respectable little business in
the line of forged circular notes.  But the Rocky Mountain boys
knew whenever and wherever he made a " haul," and at the very
first opportunity " shook him up " and divided the profits. In this
way, from the adventure at Denver to the time he arrived in San
Francisco, they fleeced him out of $21,000.
At San Francisco he stood at bay and defied the detectives.
The 'Frisco police had got wind of the affair, and interposed just
when Griffis had planned to lay a little money aside for himself.
He had disposed of $125,000 more of the notes in the purchase of
mining stocks. But he fell between the upper and the nether
millstone-the Rocky Mountain agency and Chief Lees of the San
Francisco detectives-and was prosecuted by the Bank of Nevada.
It was an easy matter to convict him. His sentence was eight
years' imprisonment. He was then in failing health, and in some




THE END OF ALL.


349


remarkable and mysterious manner excited so much sympathy
that two other indictments, which would have consigned him to
prison for the rest of his natural life, were not pushed. Griffis
continued in prison until November, 1882, when influence secured
his release, on the representation that he was dying. He had relatives in San Francisco, one of them a young lady of undoubted
respectability. She constantly visited him, and upon his release
from prison they were married. The ceremony was performed
while he lay on a bed of sickness, from which he never expected to
move unless to be placed in his coffin. He was carried, however,
by short and easy stages, to Southern California, and remained in
bed for nine weeks. Then he came East, intending to go home to
Devonshire to die. His lungs were affected, and he suffered from
haemorrhages several times a day. He arrived at New York, incognito, but news of his movements had been telegraphed to Mr. Kirkpatrick, who resolved to ascertain if the reported illness of the
forger was true. He communicated with me, and through the officers of the Twenty-ninth Precinct I tracked him to East Fiftieth
Street, where he was arrested. When in custody he made a full
and unreserved confession.




CHAPTER XXV.


SWINDLERS AND BLACK-MAILERS.-"t HE CAN T BEAT ME PLAYIN'
POKER. -A SWINDLER SWINDLED.-DIVORCES PROCURED BY
WHOLESALE.-SWINDLING A GREAT DRY GOODS HOUSE.-A
BANK BILL.-HOW TO PUNISH A BLACK-MAILER.-" I CAME IN
HERE TO KILL YOU."
ON one night in August, i883, the brilliant electric light which
hangs outside the entrance to the Madison Square Theatre shone
down on the faces of a well-dressed, hurrying crowd of men and
women who were anxious to reach their seats inside the building
before the curtain should rise. Standing just inside the main entrance, with rather a dubious look on his face, was a stout, healthylooking man, with rough clothes and bronzed face, whom a veteran
New Yorker would at once pronounce a countryman. Now and
then this stranger to the city walked over to the box-office and in
hearty tones cried out, "Any seats yet?" The play which was
on then was a popular one, and on this particular evening all the
seats had been taken. The stranger had waited until coming to
the play-house before securing a chair, and as a consequence
found himself unable to get one. Now he was waiting in hope
that some of the stalls which had been taken would be returned.
The ticket agent looked up with a smile at the stout man's
question, which was then asked for nearly the dozenth time, and
responded blandly, " No, there are none in yet."
Just then from one side of the lobby where he had been examining the pictures of actresses in a glass case, a young man,
dressed in a stylish suit, walked over to where the stranger stood,
and in polite and modest tones asked:
"Pardon me, but were you trying to get a seat?"
" Wall, I should say I war," the stranger replied.
" Then won't you take one of mine? I bought two expecting
to meet a friend here, but he hasn't turned up and I don't be
lieve he will come."
35~




A RANCHMAN FROM KANSAS.


35I


The man with the bronzed face was overcome with gratitude
and gladly consented to sit beside the handsomely dressed young
man. They went into the theatre, took their seats and enjoyed
the play. The young man was exceedingly agreeable, and his
elder companion talked with him frankly and without restraint.
He told him that he was a ranchman from Abilene, Kansas, and
that he was in New York for the second time in his entire life.
This led to conversation about the sights of the great metropolis,
and inasmuch as his polite young friend professed to be thoroughly familiar with the ins and outs, it was only natural that the
Westerner should comply with the young man's suggestion that
they should go together and visit some of the notorious places.
" I'm stayin' at the Fifth Avenue Hotel," said the ranchman, as
they parted for the night. " Come round an' take dinner with
me to-morrow night." The young man accepted the invitation.
On the next night, after the two men had more than satisfied
their stomachs' demands, and had imbibed liberally of claret and
champagne, they walked out of the dining-room into the corridor
and stopped at the desk, while the Westerner took a well-padded
pocket-book out of his trousers, and counting out five hundred
dollars in bills of large denomination deposited them with the
clerk. The young man appeared to take no interest in this proceeding, yet all the time his eyes were on the well-filled wallet
and the green bank-notes.
The ranchman and his young companion left the hotel. Late
that night the older man returned.
After breakfast the next morning, Benjamin Ashley, for such
was the name which the man from the West had written on the
hotel register, was lounging in the corridors, when he was addressed by the clerk, who, after apologizing for his boldness, asked
the hotel guest if he was aware of the character of the young man
who was with him on the previous night. Mr. Ashley replied that
he had met him since he had come to New York and was very
much pleased with him.
" Let me give you a pointer," said the clerk. "That young
man is 'Hungry Joe,' the biggest swindler in this town! "
Benjamin Ashley was startled. He said nothing for a moment,
then became thoughtful, and finally replied: "That's the kind
o' huckleberry he is, is it? Wall, all right. Let him blaze away.
He can't beat me playin' poker."




I 11


i,:


= -
1>pp~


l


Iri


In
o




' HUNGRY JOE."


353


The clerk smiled sarcastically, but considering that he had
done his duty dropped the subject at once, and without further
remark handed over from the safe the $iooo which Mr. Ashley
asked for.
After this, " Hungry Joe " and his innocent friend were often
together. They drove through the Park and up the Boulevard;
they went to the theatre and they played-poker. Mr. Ashley
grew more confidential, and told his companion that he owned a
valuable ranch in Kansas, and that he was about to sail for
England to have his eyes treated.  More poker games were
played, and more bank bills were drawn from those on deposit
in the hotel safe. A week after the clerk had warned him of
Hungry Joe, Mr. Ashley had lost nearly $4000. Yet he was
unwilling to give up.
One afternoon he was in his room with " Hungry Joe," and
two friends which the latter had introduced. They had played
poker and the Westerner had met with his usual poor luck. He
grew despondent.
"I'll tell you what I'.1 do, boys," he said at length, " I didn't
think you could beat me at poke-r, but, by golly, you've done it, an'
done it bad too. Now I've got to get to Europe somehow or
tother, an' I don't see how I'm to do it on what I've got left of
my pile.  So, as I said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you
a mortgage on my ranch for $4000."
The whilom friends expressed their sympathy for Mr. Ashley
and offered to think about it. They soon left the hotel and went
into a saloon.  Here they concocted a scheme. They would
telegraph to Abilene, to the postmaster, to find out if Ashley's
representations were correct, and if they were they would buy the
ranch outright at a reduced figure. The telegram read something
like this:
"Postmaster, Abilene, Kansas: Telegraph full particulars about Benjamin
Ashley at my expense.
"R. DICKSON."
The answer came and was entire.y satisfactory. Hungry Joe
and his companions managed to scrape together $14,000, and
with this sum in their pockets the two repaired again to the hotel,
and offered Mr. Ashley $14,000 for his ranch. The offer was.
promptly accepted, the papers were drawn up, and $14,ooo went
23




354


3  YOU ARE NOT MR. ASHLEY."


into the Fifth Avenue Hotel safe to wait until Mr. Ashley wished
to draw it out.
Two days later a Guion line steamship left its dock amid the
waving of handkerchiefs. Among the little knot of persons who
stood on the edge of the pier to get the last glimpse of their
friends were Hungry Joe and the two companions who were with
him in Benjamin Ashley's room when the latter sold the deed to
his Western property for $I4,000.  The bronze-faced ranchman
waved his slouch hat at the trio as the huge black hull of the
steamer swung loose from its moorings. The trio politely tipped
their stylish derbies in acknowledgment of the farewell greeting.
A few moments and the vessel was out of sight. The trio turned,
chuckled to themselves, and hurried away with the remark, " Well,
he's safely out of the way! A neat little pile we'll make out of
that ranch too, eh? " What the ranchman said we may only surmise when this story's sequel is told.
Two weeks from the time this steamer sailed there was registered again at the same hotel" Benjamin Ashley, Abilene, Kansas."
Hungry Joe heard of the arrival and hastened to the hotel to pay
his respects. He sent up his card and was soon ushered into the
presence of a total stranger.
" You are not Mr. Ashley? " he inquired. "There must be some
mistake. I was looking for Mr. Benjamin Ashley, of Abilene,
Kansas."
"I am the man, sir," responded the gentleman.
"Why, that is strange. Is it possible there are two men of the
same name in your town? It was only a few days ago that I
bought a ranch of a Mr. Benjamin Ashley, of Abilene."
" You did, eh?  Well, then, I guess you were swindled, my
friend," answered the traveller, dryly. "There is but one Benjamin Ashley in Abilene and that is myself, and I haven't any recollection of selling my ranch to you or to any one else. I just got
in yesterday from Europe."
Hungry Joe turned pale. The vision flashed across him that
he, the arch-swindler of New York, had been himself swindled.
The thought was humiliating. For a moment he said nothing.
" But, by the way," continued -this new Mr. Ashley, " what kind
of a looking man was this double of mine? "
Hungry Joe described him. A flash of recognition crossed the
stranger's face. He laughed as he said:




FRAUDULENT DIVORCES.


355


"I see it all now. That man must have been Harry Barnes,
one of my cowboys!"
The mystery was easily solved now. The genuine Benjamin
Ashley had gone abroad some time before for the purpose of havInghis eyes treated. The cowboy had followed, determined to
have a good time by using his employer's name, and perhaps
money.   After becoming acquainted with Hungry Joe he lost
nearly all he had, and to his great chagrin a "city chap " had
beaten him at poker. He would get even with him in some way,
and so devised the scheme of selling his employer's property.
It worked successfully, and at the same time that the real Mr. Ashley was leaving London for New York, the false Mr. Ashley was
leaving New York for London, with 14,o000 in his pocket.
Hungry Joe went thoughtfully from the hotel. One who was
close enough to him might have heard the murmur, "Beaten by a
cowboy! What a d-n fool I am!"
For some time previous to February, 1884, there appeared in
several of the New York papers a number of advertisements which
read, " Divorces procured without publicity." It was just such an
advertisement that would strike the eye of the hundreds in this
metropolis whose domestic lives were not that fulness of uninterrupted bliss of which poets sing and young people dream. How
many wives remain joined to husbands whom they would leave in
an instant save for the publicity caused by suit for divorce! It is
not strange then that such an advertisement would be clutched at
as if it were a last straw to the dying by those who suffer the pangs
of married infelicity.
To the police, however, this notice in the public prints was a
thing to arouse suspicion. An investigation was made, and a
most appalling state of things was discovered. It was found that
fraudulent divorces were obtained almost by wholesale in Brooklyn. It seems that a clique of lawyers in this city, notably one
Monro Adams, was in collusion with a clerk of the King's
County Supreme Court, who issued the decrees by forging the name
of the judge and county clerk, and stamping the documents with
the county seal.
This fraudulent business had been carried on for a long while
and on an enormous scale, and it is estimated that there are thousands of these bogus divorce certificates throughout the country.
When Adams's papers were examined it was found that this system




356


AN ADVENTURE AT TIFFANY'S.


of securing divorces had patrons in nearly every State in the
Union.
In I884 men and women of the upper circles in New York were
startled by the announcement that Henry C. Pedder, the proprie
tor of the Manhattan Magazine, had swindled Arnold, Constable &
Co. out of thousands of dollars. Fifteen years before he had entered the firm's business as entry clerk at a salary of $600 a year.
He worked his way up until he became manager of the firm's real
estate. Although his chances for making money honestly were
not great, he owned at the time his false character was discovered
a house at Llewellyn Park, Orange, New Jersey, valued at $200,ooo. He lived in great style, but in spite of his rather cultivated
tastes he was a thorough rascal. He sunk money in real estate in
speculation, in the Gorringe Ship-building Company, and in his
magazine, which died soon after Pedder's dishonesty was made
public.
The discovery of Pedder's illegal transactions was made by investigation into other cases of swindling which had occurred in the
house of Arnold, Constable & Co. The cases had been put into
the hands of Inspector Byrnes, and his men had ferreted the
swindlers out. It was found that several persons, including Mrs.
B. F. Burke, of No. 345 East Fifteenth Street, her son Joseph,
William Devlin, a porter in the employ of the house, and a man
named Cornelius O'Leary, who had at one time been receiving
clerk, had entered into a conspiracy to systematically rob the
firm. Their method was to impose fraudulent checks on the house
payable to the order of Mrs. Burke, from whom it was asserted
that bills of goods had been purchased. Checks from $ioo up to
$iooo were thus paid, and altogether the firm had lost about
$50,000. O'Leary pleaded guilty and was sent up for five years,
and the others were treated accordingly.
Years ago a florid-faced Englishman entered Tiffany's old downtown store on Broadway. He was dressed in the height of fashion, wore a profusion of jewellery, and carried himself with an air
of importance. He asked to be shown some diamonds, of which
the firm had a remarkable display, their value being not less than
a million dollars. The customer was rather particular in his
tastes, but finally selected a varied assortment of fine stones.
Ostentatiously he handed out in payment a bank bill of large de



"( YOU'RE A SWINDLER."


357


nomination, and at the same time presented his card, which bore
the name of Muchler. The bill was sent to the desk.
Suddenly the cashier appeared with the bill in his hand, and declared it a counterfeit!
The Englishman asserted his respectability, and his high " position," and became so noisy and indignant as to attract the attention
of all those in the store. Neither was the cashier backward, and the
altercation became warm.  The clerks gathered round.  The
cashier, waving the bill in the air, cried out:
"You're a swindler!"
In an instant the bill was snatched from his hand, and Muchler
made for the door. Now thoroughly aroused, the clerks grabbed
him and took him into a private office by main force.
Word was sent to me at police headquarters that there was
trouble at Tiffany's and I immediately sent two detectives. Upon
their arrival, they searched Muchler thoroughly; but to the' astonishment of every one the counterfeit biJl could not be found
upon his person; and he had had no possible opportunity for destroying or throwing it away. Here was a mystery. We had the
man safely enough, but without the counterfeit bill it would be impossible to convict him of any offence.  The detectives finally
brought him to my office at headquarters, together with the clerk
and cashier. When Muchler was conducted into my presence
the facts were told me, and I ordered him to be searched again,
thinking that the bill might have been overlooked. That it was
secreted somewhere about the Englishman's person there seemed
no doubt, so we searched every square inch of each article he
wore, both inside and out, as well as every portion of his body
where a human being could possibly conceal a bank bill.
But our efforts were futile; no bill could be found! My officers
were in a dilemma; it seemed as if we should be obliged to let
the man go. Suddenly, one of the detectives whispered to me.
"You are right; just the very thing," I responded to the whisper. Calling a messenger, I gave him some secret instructions
and sent him out of the office.
All the persons in the room, including the prisoner, looked
surprised and puzzled at my action. In a few minutes the messenger returned. By my directions, Muchler was laid upon his
back on a table. The two detectives held his head firmly while
I opened his mouth, and taking from the messenger a small packet




358


THE SECRET DISCLOSED.


emptied the contents down his throat and forced him to swallow.
He struggled violently; but it was too late.  Before the man
knew my intentions, the object was accomplished. Presently his
face twitched, his throat contracted, there came a spasm, and
at our feet fell-a bank bill! He had swallowed the counterfeit,
and I had given him an emetic.
The finding of the bill, I may say, led to Muchler's conviction.
The method employed for its recovery, I know, was not very enjoyable, but it was harmless; and the end certainly justified the
means. While I would never permit anything approaching brutality to prisoners, there are times when, in order to obtain the necessary proofs, one has to employ heroic methods. This was a case
in point.
The bill in question, I believe, is now on exhibition at police
headquarters.
In 1859 a young man came to me and told me that a rascal was
trying to black-mail him, on account of a woman to whom he was
paying attentions. The fellow had followed the pair, and the
next day called upon the lady and demanded money from her as
the price of keeping her secret.
"Well," said my visitor, "she hadn't any money to spare; but
he scared her with his threat of exposure and she fhurried to tell
me. I have come to you for advice. What shall I do? "
" I can arrest him for attempted black-mail; but even if he is
punished, that may not be the end of it," I replied.
"Yes, I was thinking of that," said the young man. "That is
what bothers me."
I asked him if he could thrash the fellow.
" Don't know,"' he answered; "I haven't sized him up. I can
if he isn't a real good man, Cap. Anyhow, I'll be glad to try it
if you say so."
I asked if he didn't sometimes stay behind and lock up the store
where he worked.
" Oh, yes," he answered, " occasionally; I can do it any time."
"Then let the lady send him to you for money. When you've
locked up the store, you can give him a dressing down."
In a week the young man made his appearance again, in a glow
of grateful appreciation.
" Thanks, Cap! " he exclaimed, " it worked like a charm. He
came. I told him I'd settle with him after the rest had gone, and




" KING OF THE BUNCO MEN."


359


when we were alone I gave him the worst licking a man ever had
in his life. He begged me not to kill him, for he thought it was
his last hour, and he swore on his knees never to say a word about
me or about any of my affairs. I'm awfully afraid I have crippled
him for life, though I didn't mean to; but when he went over the
first time he fell across the stove and broke his arm."
He had scared the fellow so badly that the rascal told just who
he was and where he lived and all about himself. It was the last of
the trouble. I saw the injured would-be informer walking about
nearly a month later with his arm in a sling.
At about midnight on November 7, I88I, half a dozen congenial spirits were gathered around a table in Dick Darling's saloon at No. I217 Broadway. Half drained glasses were in front
of them, and jokes and jesting were the order of the occasion.
It was a jolly good-natured crowd, although in their number were
some desperate criminals. The six men were Bill Bowie, George
Law, Jr., Harry Rice, Charles Crawford, Billy Temple and Charles
R. Miller, the " king of the bunco men." For an hour the men
sat chatting and drinking. Once a man whom the drinkers recognized as Billy Tracy, a bad fellow, but a coward, opened the door
of the bar-room and peeked in only to quickly withdraw. A few
minutes later the same man opened the door again, walked up to
the bar, and ordered a whiskey sour. Suddenly he turned around,
and addressing the king of the bunco men, exclaimed:
"I came in here to kill you!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a revolver was
pointed at Miller's head, the trigger was pulled, and a No. 32 cartridge sank into the bunco man's stomach. Miller doubled up,
reached for his revolver, and then fainted. In a few moments an
ambulance appeared and the wounded man was taken to the New
York Hospital, where he soon died. Tracy was caught and
arrested.
In the sensational death of Charles P. Miller was ended the life
of a notorious swindler, a man whose talents were so marvellous
that he earned for himself among the fraternity of sharpers that
name by which I have called him —" the king of bunco men."
In person he was slim, fair, polished, agreeable and one of the
best conversationalists that ever frequented the first-class resorts
of the Twenty-ninth Precinct. He was invariably well-dressed,
clean-shaven and good-looking, liberal to a fault, slow in making




360


HIS CAREER.


confidential friends, equally slow in making enemies. He was the
son of a county officer in Texas. Parental indulgence spoiled him.
He learned to drink to excess when he was fifteen years of age,
fell into bad company of both sexes, was outlawed by his father
and took to railroading in Louisiana, where he completed his
knowledge of the art of gambling.
He began his career as a gambler by " capping " for one of- the
New Orleans establishments, and finally started a cheating concern of his own. While conducting this he became proficient as
a " confidence " and "bunco man." When he had amassed about
$35,000 he came to New York and " doubled up " with a gambling
clique. He soon got ahead of his tutors, secured another partner
who knew a little more than his first, and battled in a contest of
wits with the "chiefs " of the New York swindling fraternity, including such men as Hungry Joe and McDermott. His ability
was such that they were soon willing and pleased to acknowledge
him as the " chief operator " in the United States. Miller had so
ingratiated himself by his intelligence, suavity and liberality with
persons who have a great deal to do with the surveillance, arrest
and conviction of this very slippery class, always difficult to convict,
that he could " pull the strings" of the law whenever he chose, and
the first person whom a " confidence " man thought of when he got
into trouble was Miller. It is hardly necessary to say that in his
new position Miller did very little " work." His principal occupation was keeping an eye on the operations of the various cliquesthe Ferry, Astor House, Fifth Avenue Hotel and other gangs. He
was rarely seen down town. His headquarters were within a few
feet of the lamp-post which stands on the south-west corner of
Broadway and Twenty-eighth Street. It is within reason to say
that he had a shake-hands acquaintance with a thousand men who
never dreamed that he was a rascal. He knew every police officer
by sight, at least, every politician, every man and nearly every
woman about town. He lived like one of the " gilded youths " of
Uppertendom, disdaining whiskey, strong drinks and cheap cigars,
and taking his meals in none other than first-class restaurants.
He passed his time "in the season," which may be said to last
from November to May, in the principal bar-rooms and hotels. If
he operated at all it was in the summer months, and then he only
aimed at high game. He was as well known at Long Branch, Saratoga, Newport, Nantasket Beach, Richfield Springs and other re



"I'LL FIX YOU.


36i


sorts as the millionaire habitues. He never visited one of these
places without having an eye to business; that is to say, he was
always accompanied by a clique of operators, whose movements
he directed. His personal expenses could hardly have been less
than $20 a day, and his liberality did not permit him to amass a
fortune. Had he been prudent he would have died worth several
hundred thousand dollars. One of the circumstances that militated against his prosperity was his love for horse-racing. He was
known to have lost $20,000 in one day's racing. He eschewed
faro after losing $i8,ooo at one sitting at Saratoga.
One of the few enemies he made was Billy Tracy, his murderer.
The latter was an Irish-American, born in the Eleventh Ward, who
was graduated as a petty thief at the age of sixteen, and went
through the various grades until he was considered an expert bank
forger. But this was simply because of his associates. He was
always a coward, but with such companions as Red Leary, Jimmy
Dolan, Whitey Bob, " Old Jake " Tierney, Dan Noble and Jimmy
Griffin he had no difficulty in attaining reasonable success in his
vocation. He had been arrested often for various crimes by Central Office detectives, and as frequently escaped conviction.
The feud between Miller and Tracy began in the spring of I88i,
and came pretty nearly to an end one night when they drew pistols
on each other in Tracy's own saloon, No. 33 West Twenty-ninth
Street. As Miller strolled into the place, Tracy began to bully
him. When Miller appeared likely to retaliate, Tracy backed down.
Miller kept his eye on him, expecting a cowardly attack, and when
the latter, in a burst of courage, said: " I'll fix you," the threatened
man drew a revolver and quickly fired three shots, one of which hit
Tracy. The bullet only wounded him slightly. He fell on the
floor and called for the police. Miller and his friends crowded
around him, laughing at him until they were tired, and then left
the place. There were no arrests. Miller's hilarity, however,
rankled in the breast of Tracy who resolved to get even, and did
it in the way that has been mentioned.
Perjured testimony saved the murderer from the gallows. He
went scot-free, and is still keeping the little saloon where the first
encounter between him and Miller took place.




CHAPTER XXVI.


A PLOT OF NIHILISTS.-THREATENING LETTERS.-LITTLE ROSA STRASBURGER.-A CAUTIOUS RABBI.-DETECTIVE CAMPBELL'S WATCH.
" I'LL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT. — A BLACK-MAILER S DEATH.
-LETTERS TO JAY     GOULD.-INTERESTED IN "SALVATION."
-WATCHING THE MAILING-BOXES.-THE MYSTERY SOLVED.
A PLOT only second in interest to the Charley Ross case, and
equal to it in its tragic conclusion, was brought to an end in the
early part of I88I. It was concocted by men who were proved to
be Russian Nihilists. Mr. Louis Strasburger, a wealthy diamond
merchant, of No. 15 Maiden Lane, whose name is known whereever there is a market for these gems, lived at No. 128 East
Sixty-first Street with his family, which consisted of his wife and
their charming little daughter Rosa. The first scheme set on
foot was to extort money by frightening the object of the attentions of the clique; and so, on the day before Christmas, I880,
they addressed the following letter to Mrs. Strasburger and her
sister, Mrs. Adler, who had married Mr. Strasburger's partner:
"You doubtless know that your husband has been sentenced to pay $60,000.
We appeal for the last time to you, and if you don't wish to have a funeral in
the house at an early day you had better pay it. If you desire to prevent
bloodshed take a car precisely at 1.30 to the corner of Broadway and Barclay
Street. Have the money ready. Between half-past three and four go alone
from the corner of Broadway and Barclay Street to West Broadway, three
times, with an envelope in your hand.
" EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE."
Mr. Strasburger ridiculed the communication.  His wife and
her sister were nervous, however, and upon second thought Mr.
Strasburger quietly informed Pinkerton's Detective Agency of
what had happened. Subsequently, he called upon Captain John
Gunner, of the Twenty-eighth Precinct, who took the matter in
hand, and strove, with Detective Campbell, to discover who had
written the letter. Upon their advice, Mrs. Strasburgerfollowed the
instructions laid down in the anonymous communication. She pro362




ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION.


363


vided herself with a dummy package encased in a large envelope,
and, as directed, ostentatiously displayed it. Detectives were
watching her all the time, but no one accosted her. Nothing more
was heard of the " Executive Committee " until the end of March.
Rosa was in the habit on Sunday of attending school at Dr.
Heubsch's synagogue, Lexington Avenue and Sixty-fifth Street.
She went there as usual upon the occasion indicated, and in the
course of the afternoon Dr. Heubsch was called from his duties
by one of the scholars, who gave him the following letter:
"Dear Sir:-I request you to permit my daughter to leave school, as a
member of the family has been suddenly taken sick."
Dr. Heubsch was very bright and keen. The handwriting of
the note did not satisfy him, although it was that of a lady's, and
on paper which such a person would use. It flashed through his
mind that Rosa was an only and cherished daughter, her father
was extraordinarily particular in regard to her, and if any illness
had occurred in the family he would not wish to have her startled
by the breaking of the intelligence to her by a stranger. Dr.
Heubsch, therefore, made inquiry as to the delivery of the letter,
and the child who handed it to him pointed out a man who was
lounging against the railing near by. At Dr. Heubsch's bidding
the child went to the man and asked him to come to the doctor.
His appearance was unprepossessing; he could not look the
doctor in the face, was shabbily clad, and was certainly not a person whom Mr. Strasburger would choose to escort his child home.
To the doctor's inquiring: "Who entrusted you with this note?"
the man made some muttered reply in German. Dr. Heubsch
"caught him up " in that language, and interrogated him sharply.
He said that the missive had been put in his hands by a man with a
long goatee, and gave a further description which tallied with that of
Mr. Strasburger. He added that after giving him the note the gentleman had darted down Fifty-first Street. This last statement impelled Dr. Heubsch to extreme caution. He told the man that he
could go-that it would be all right. When the man had gone Dr.
Heubsch sent Miss Strasburger home, when it was discovered that
no such letter had been written by any member of the Strasburger
family. Mrs. Strasburger at the time was in delicate health, and
this evident plot to abduct her child, in addition to the letter of
the " Executive Committee," brought about a nervous crisis, so
that Mr. Strasburger urged on the police to spare neither pains or




364


BLACK-MAILING LETTERS.


expense in relieving him and his family of the intense anxiety
from which they were suffering. Then came the following letter
to Messrs. L. Strasburger & Co., dated March 27, 9.30 P.M.:
" We attempted to-day to abduct your daughter, but as we desired to show
you what steps we can take when needed, you no doubt have an idea what
we shall do. We warn you again to comply strictly with our wishes, and if we
are not assured on Monday at 4 o'clock that you have what is desired safely
in your pocket, we shall satisfy you that there will arrive a moment for us
which shall be a momentous one in the history of your family. Should you
not comply, you will compel us to work our several plans and to doubly
strengthen them. We are not afraid of any kind of crime.
"EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 3 A I S."
This was followed in twenty-four hours by another letter, which
ran:
" March 28, i88i.
" MESSRS. L. STRASBURGER & Co.,
" NO. 15 MAIDEN LANE,
"CITY.
" Mr. Strasburger:-Confirming our letter of yesterday, we call your attention
to the necessity of your carrying the desired envelope in your hand wherever
you go, and in such a manner that every one can see it. We hope to see this
affair settled in the prescribed way. Otherwise, unless you do not give us
immediate cause, we cease further correspondence. Should you not comply
with our wishes we advise you not to permit your family to breathe too much
sea air during the coming summer. We have time for vengeance.
"THE EXECUTIVE COMIMITTEE, 3AISex."
Nothing was done by Mr. Strasburger except to place these terrible letters in the hands of Captain Gunner. He laid them before me, and acting on my advice, suggested to Mr. Strasburger
that he should take care of himself and permit no member of his
family to go out of the house without proper and sufficient escort.
Upon the 5th of April, i88i, Captain Gunner showed me the following letters:
" Louis STRASBURGER, ESQ.,
"No. 128 EAST 6IST STREET,
"CITY.
"Dear AMrs. Strasburger:-Without having the slightest interest, I can write
to warn you once more, although I am afraid that it will be useless. In your
own interests, so as not to be left a widow in this heartless world, try with Mrs.
Adler to persuade your husband, or another, to settle this business yourself. I
offer you my aid; more I cannot do. If I find in the Staats Zeitung of Sunday




A CURIOUS EPISTLE.


365


the following advertisement:  'LUDWIG KLABEKSKY, THIRD    AVENUE,Recommend all sorts of tobacco,' then I am certain you desire my help. I
subscribe myself,
" SECRETARY,
" Executive Committee"
The second letter was dated April 4, and ran as follows;
"MRS. L. STRASBURGER:
" Most Respected Ladies:-Excuse me for addressing you. I am a Polander
and was drawn among the Nihilists by the hatred my race bears towards the
Czar of Russia. I entered into the enterprise with a great zeal, as my generatCon is tyrannized over by Russia and we are breeding vengeance. I receive a
very high salary as secretary of the Nihilists, which makes my life very comfortable, and I have only in return to translate from other languages. The negotiations with your husband cover a period of six months. The correspondence
proved a failure, and it was intended a week ago that your daughter should be
abducted, but I prevented it, as I advised threatening letters should be first used.
The attempt to carry away your daughter from school was only a stupid affair.
The real plan was to carry Rosa away from the street, to force or coax her into
a coach. I prevented it. Then came threatening letters without any result.
Last Thursday night we tried to avenge ourselves on Mr. Strasburger by a
bomb, but I prevented that. When Mr. Strasburger went home with the boy,
one of us saw a package in his pocket and cried out ' The envelope,' and at
once the orders were countermanded. All this was my doing. You ask me
why I have so much sympathy for you. I am the only Jew among the Section
of Sixteen; all the others are Catholics. Therefore I concluded to warn you.
But, ladies, I now only warn you that it may be too late. On Tuesday a resolution will be adopted. I will advise you what will be done. I am afraid this
will be adopted on Tuesday night. The Fourth Section (the section of vengeance) consists of six men. It will be authorized to use the tools of their
goddess. Then it will be too late for me to warn you, as every one will act independently. For the present, do not let Rosa leave the house alone, or with
Miss Spelden. Do not walk any distance yourselves, particularly at night. I
do not know what your husband can do for your safety, as the people charged
with the execution of this resolve prize their success more than their lives.
This very hour, friend, should you be able to comply with the wishes of the
Nihilists, though to a reduced amount, you will find more rest and safety than
at present. Were I in your situation I couldn't sleep a wink. If you comply
you might be able to open other negotiations. Assuring you that I have acted
without any interest in the Nihilist cause, I remain,
"SECRETARY,
" A. E. 3d Avenue.
" P. S -I can be found by advertisement over a well known name in the Staats
Zeitung of Tuesday and the German News of Monday night, in which you
might shortly announce what your conclusions are. Be brief, short and quick."
I suggested that Mrs. Strasburger should comply with the sug



365


A DETECTIVE S DISGUISES.


gestion in these devilish communications, and in the papers named
the following advertisement was inserted:
" I am not afraid. Cannot give much. State lowest price and place."
Also this one:
" I have $4600. May raise $5000."
Then came in an envelope the following suggestion from the
Nihilists.
" Hurry them up."
It was followed by a scrap clipped from a German newspaper
which read:
"REWARD OFFERED.-Mayor Howcll was empowered by the Board of Aldermen to offer a reward for the discovery of the criminals who on March I2 laid
a grenade, filled with dynamite, on the doorstep of James McKesney, No. 175
Clinton Street,. Brooklyn."
All of us were now very much exercised over the turn affairs
had taken. It is hardly necessary to say that both Captain Gunner
and Detective Campbell were working zealously. A day or two
later they were chagrined from the fact that either the principal or
an accomplice of the black-mailers had been seen at Mr. Strasburger's house. When one of the letters was received, the door-bell
was rung, and the governess, Miss Spelton, answered the summons. A frowzy-looking fellow handed a note to Miss Spelton,
who looked at' the address and said that Mrs. Strasburger was not
in. Upon this the fellow snatched the missive from her hand,
ran away, and it was afterwards received through the mail. Detective Campbell was worn out by his activity in the case. One day
he would appear as an Italian rag picker; another he masqueraded
as a coachman; then as a ragged laborer, and again as a tramp.
Finally, it was resolved to post him in the neighborhood, so that
he could be constantly on the watch. Upon the 7th of April a lad,
who was evidently ignorant of what he was doing, went to Mr.
Strasburger's house and left the following letter on the stoop:
" What is the meaning of all this? If, on receipt of this, before any one
leaves the house, Miss Speldon will, with an envelope in her hand, go through
Sixty-first Street to Central Park, and enter the same, I will regret I have written to you. These are my thanks. If it is done as before indicated, Miss Spel



' I'LL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT! "


367


don will have to drop an envelope as soon as she hears a pistol shot, and not
look round. This will probably be done on Sixty-first Street."
It so happened that Detective Campbell was in the house at
the time. He told Miss Spelton to do precisely as the letter
requested, and then he got out of the house by strategy, knowing
perfectly well that the house was watched. Scaling a fence, he
reached the basement of a house on Sixtieth Street. Here he
was delayed somewhat by the suspiciousness of a servant, but he
succeeded in gaining her confidence by exhibiting his badge,
and then darted towards Fourth Avenue. He eventually gained
the corner of Madison Avenue and Sixtieth Street, where there
was a vacant space, which gave him a clear view up and down and
toward the Park. Concealing himself near a low fence, he scanned
the neighborhood and saw a youngish looking man, evidently a
foreigner, lounging at the corner of Madison Avenue and Sixtyfirst Street. Campbell immediately came to the conclusion that
this was one of Mr. Strasburger's persecutors. In a short while
he saw the man signalling to some one, and a few moments afterwards another fellow came along Sixty-first Street, from the east,
making signals for the first man to retire. The second man
passed on without speaking, crossed Madison Avenue, and continued westward until he halted between Madison and Fifth
avenues. Then he signalled to the first man to go up the avenue.
Campbell now knew that Miss Spelton was coming, and accordingly creeped up towards the first man. Miss Spelton finally appeared, and Campbell braced himself for the coming struggle.
As the lady turned the corner of Sixty-first Street, the second man
discharged a pistol and Miss Spelton dropped the envelope. In
an instant the first man darted forward towards the supposed fortune. Campbell glided towards where the envelope lay, keeping
pace with the man, who, in his anxiety to reach what he thought
was the treasure, did not notice his Nemesis. A few more steps,
and then, looking up, he caught sight of Campbell. Putting his
hand in his pistol-pocket he exclaimed in broken English:
"You son of a, I'll blow your brains out!"
Campbell, undeterred, seized him by the collar and put the muzzle of his revolver close to the man's face. The prisoner immediately seized the weapon and in so doing struck Campbell's hand.
The detective's finger was on the trigger and the pistol was discharged, the bullet entering the Nihilist's left eye and killing him




368


JAY GOULD.


instantly. His body was carried to the East Fifty-ninth Street station, where an examination of his clothing revealed his identity.
He proved to be Edward Herman Johannes Sagart. He was born
in Berlin, was only twenty-three years old, and had at one time
been a butler.
The plotted abduction of Miss Skrasburger was not, after all,
such a " stupid affair " as some people supposed. Documents in
the dead man's pockets led to the discovery that before Sagart
visited Dr. Heubsch he had hired a room in a secluded neighbor-.
hood, and had actually provided garments and food for the little
girl. His association with Nihilistic organizations was also amply
proved.
There is no doubt that his companion-Felix Vogel-who was
arrested the same day, was as deeply in the plot as Sagart; but it
is to be doubted if any one beside these two knew anything of the
details of the affair. There were, however, several individuals to
whom Sagart had spoken, in a general way, of making money by
frightening a rich man into the payment of many thousand dollars
for peace,land of taking the rich man's daughter away to hold for a
ransom. Had those individuals been honest they could have saved
Mr. Strasburger and his family much anxiety, and the life of Sagart
would have been spared.
Although Jay Gould is perhaps the wealthiest man on this continent to-day, the criminal classes regard him as a person who has
resources of such a peculiar character that it is well to let him
alone. Once, however, his name appears as complainant on the
records. In October, I88I, Colonel J. Howard Welles, a relation
of Gideon Welles (once Secretary of the Navy), whose father was
Richard J. Welles, a New York lawyer, conceived the plan of extorting money from the arch-financier. Colonel Welles believed
that Mr. Gould could be frightened into paying a large sum  of
money to secure peace of mind. And so, on October 17, at the
Windsor Hotel, he wrote the following letter and sent it to Mr.
Gould:
" Dear Sir:-It is my painful duty to inform you that within six days of the
date of this letter your body will have returned to the dust from whence it
came. I, therefore, entreat you to make your peace with God, and prepare for
the fate which awaits you. It is no wish of mine to take your life, but I am inspired and requested by the all-living God to do so as a public necessity, and
for the benefit of the community at large. You must undoubtedly be aware that
you have been a rogue of the first water all your life. Through your artful




"'GIVE HIM TIME TO REPENT."


369


cunning you have ruined thousands of people of their birthright; you have had
no mercy; you have robbed the rich and the poor, the father and the fatherless,
the widow and the orphan, indiscriminately, of their last dollar; and through
your villany have wrought ruin and destruction on thousands of families. All
this you have done under a cloak, by circulating false reports, bribing newspapers, making false statements, committing perjury, and by artful cunning. In
fact, you have robbed both great and small, and now the law says that you must
pay for all with your death, as a public necessity, in order to save thousands
of others from pain and destruction.
" Your death will be an easy one, for I propose shooting you through the heart,
if possible, and if my first shot is not instant death, I will give you the coup de
grace with the second shot, so that your death shall be quick and easy. Don't
hold out the hope that this is a threatening letter, sent for stock-jobbing purposes, for I don't own a single share of stock of any kind, neither am I interested
in any. This is simply,the will of God, and He has chosen me to carry it out.
He has appeared to me in a dream, and requested me to consult you as the
party interested, and in doing so God has'assured nme that it is by Divine Providence I am chosen to do this act, and that by so doing I will become a public
benefactor; and I have sworn and taken a solemn oath before the all-living God
that I will put you to death. I intended to have shot you last Friday (yesterday), when I saw you with Barrow and Sage. I had my pistol. ready cocked.
but a voice from the Lord sounded in my ear, saying: 'Hold on; give him
time to repent, lest he be sent into everlasting punishment.'
" Now make your peace with God and prepare for the fate which awaits you,
and may the Lord have mercy on your soul. I am only an agent of the Lord.
The Lord appeared to me again last night and said: 'Jay Gould must surely
die;' and when I reasoned with the Lord in my dream I told Him my life
would also be required, and that I should be hung. The Lord answered me
that no harm should come to me; the rope was not made, neither was the hemp
grown to make the rope to hang me with, and that He would deliver me out of
the hands of mine enemies. It is by the express will and command of God
that I am chosen to put you to death, and I have sworn before the all-living
God, the great Jehovah and the Redeemer of the world, and having taken a
solemn oath I will carry it out within six days if the proper opportunity occurs.
Therefore, be prepared to meet your fate at any moment, and may God have
mercy on your soul.
" I remain, sir,
" AN OLD VICTIM."
This letter was read by a confidential employee who was not at
first disposed to trouble Mr. Gould about it. But there was something in its tenor which indicated that the writer meant at least part
of what he wrote, and that it would be just as well to become acquainted with him. Mr. Gould was not in the imminent peril his
correspondent indicated.    For many years      Mr. Gould    rarely
moved in this city when engaged on business without a confidential agent having him under surveillance. Mr. Washington E. Con24




370


AN " OLD VICTIM."


ner was immediately placed in charge of the case. He naturally
went to police headquarters, and, as naturally, Inspector Byrnes
was directed to do whatever might seem necessary in the premises.
His first act was to put "shadows" on Mr. Gould, in order to
watch any man who might be lying in wait for him, or dogging his
footsteps.
Meantime, the " Old Victim " continued his correspondence and
began to insert advertisements in. newspapers. He also sent Mr.
Gould, in order to carry on the advertising correspondence, a
cypher key, in which familiar words were to represent certain
stocks. Gradually, the plan of the " Old Victim " was developed.
He said in one of his written communications that he had gambled
in Wall Street and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. He
desired to recoup himself. In other words, he wanted "points"
on the stock market direct from the bosom of Mr. Jay Gould. The
matter ran on for three weeks, when " Old Victim," having received
many " points " which did not appear to have been taken advantage of, addressed Mr. Gould the following letter:
"NEW YORK, Nov. II, I88I.
" My Dear Sir:-I thank you for the two personals in to-day's Herald, though
I expected none from you this morning, as I had no intention, when writing to
you yesterday, of giving you the trouble of replying to my letter. I gave you the
information asked for in your personal of yesterday, namely, the cost of the two
stocks I had purchased through your advice; and if I asked too much in too
short a time, as you say, it was owing to my anxiety on account of the decline
of 'Salvation,' early yesterday afternoon. I had no intention, I can assure
you, of advancing the price of ' Salvation' simply on my account, only I did
hope, for the reason I gave, that you would not let it go below its cost to me.
The ' Salvation' my relative purchased for me on Wednesday was on the usual
margin, but his brokers yesterday, as I mentioned, refused to carry any more
for him under a 20 per cent. margin. This forced him to purchase for me five,
hundred shares of ' Salvation ' yesterday from another house, who bought it for
him on the usual margin. I think commission houses are disinclined to purchase ' Salvation ' except for good parties with good bank accounts."
Now, it is necessary to explain that the cypher key previously
mentioned makes " Salvation " the indicator for Manhattan Elevated Railroad stock, while the personals referred to were:
c" TEXAS CORRESPONDENT.-Up-town Salvation. Then let me know at once
how you stand. Who is using the same heading? Are you trifling? "
" Up-town Salvation " meant "bull Manhattan Elevated," and the
question about the two persons using the same heading arose




WATCHING THE LETTER-BOXES.


37i


from some one who was curious trying to solve the mystery by in
serting misleading notices. The second personal was:
"NEGOTIATE SALVATION.-Yes. Keep Windsor. Let go Concord. Give
me the cost of Salvation."
This was in regard to a query by letter from the " Old Victim."
It meant "Keep Western Union. Sell Pacific Mail."    Then
came the personal alluded to in the " Old Victim's" letter, which
said he asked too much in too short a time. It added:
" Be more reasonable."
After that came:
"NEGOTIATE.-Can't understand how it costs so much. Give me particulars.
Do not be alarmed."
This had reference to the complaint that exorbitant demands of
the brokers forced "Old Victim " to take a twenty per cent.
margin.
And so it went on-letters and personals and the police playing
at cross purposes, until it was discovered that the bulk of the
letters addressed to Mr. Jay Gould by " Old Victim" came from
Post-office Station E. Still, this afforded a small chance of reaching the writer, as some letters were posted in other districts.
However, a watch was kept on the letter-boxes, and letters received at Station E for Mr. Gould were, by an arrangement with
the postal officials, allowed to be scrutinized by Central Office
detectives. This plan failed, because it was found necessary, in
order to catch the correspondent, to have a watch kept on each
letter-box, and arrest any man who put a letter in for Mr. Gould
in the handwriting of " Old Victim " on the spot.
A plan was first devised to have employees of the Post-office
work in concert with the detectives, but this did not appear feasi
ble, as it would first have necessitated the giving away of the
secret to men who might be "leaky," and they might not be
sufficiently alert, or sufficiently expert in handwriting to be of
service. Finally it was agreed that each box of the district should
be watched by an employee of the Post-office and one or more detectives. If a letter was dropped into a box the Post-office employee would keep an eye on the depositor and also scan the
letter. If it were addressed to Jay Gould he would be particularly careful to note whether there was any resemblance between
the handwriting of the address and that of " Old Victim."




372


CAPTUR ED.


The day chosen was Sunday, November i3, I88I. The letterboxes were under surveillance from an early hour, and the plan
worked well until about noon, when a patrolman of the Twentyninth Precinct, who was not in the secret and who had been
watching the actions of two Central Office detectives who had
charge of a box in company with a Post-office official, became suspicious. He was not satisfied with the explanation of one of the
officers that they were detectives acting under orders from Inspector Byrnes, and was about to take one of them into custody when
another detective passed who was acquainted with the patrolman,
and the matter was explained. Fortunately the "Old Victim " did
not choose that box as his depository. But at three o'clock a
sprucely-dressed man with a military bearing went to the box at
the corner of Thirty-fourth Street and Seventh Avenue, carelessly
dropped in a letter, and walked off. John Healy, a postman,
quickly opened the box and found a letter addressed to Jay Gould.
Detectives Phil Riley and Wood were instantly informed of the
fact, and a glance at the handwriting of the address satisfied
them that the man who had dropped it in the box was worth detaining. He was halted, questioned, the letter was re-examined,
and Detective Riley at once decided that he had Mr. Gould's tormentor in his grasp.
The prisoner was taken to police headquarters and proved to
be Colonel Welles.  When confronted with Mr. Washington E.
Conner and other gentlemen in the interest of Mr. Gould he
made some very lame excuses and shammed insanity. The same
defence was made for him when he was arraigned at the Tombs
police court. He was able to exercise the strangest kind of
personal influence over Mr. Gould, and after passing a few weeks
in prison was released and was never prosecuted.
It was not believed at any time that " Old Victim" had any
accomplices. He coined the scheme without aid, and if he had
been a sharper man he would have made money out of Mr. Gould,
as it was in Mr. Gould's interest to humor him in the matter of
giving " points." Many a stock gambler would have given Colonel
Welles a check for $Soo,ooo if he had known the plot, and that
Colonel Welles had driven in an entering wedge by getting up a
newspaper "personal" correspondence in which a cypher key
was brought into requisition.




CHAPTER XXVII.


PRIZE-FIGHTING AND FIGHTERS.-THE LAW ON THE SUBJECT.EARLY HEROES IN THE " RING. -AN ADVENTURE WITH " BILL "
HARRINGTON.-JOHN MORRISSEY. —HIS ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK.
-JOHN L. SULLIVAN.-HIS LIFE.-FARO.-"- EDE " NORRIS AND
HIS VISITORS.-LEGAL ASPECT OF GAMBLING.-WHY IT IS NOT
SUPPRESSED.-A REMEDY.-PLAYING ON A SYSTEM.-A SUCCESSFUL GAMBLER.-POLICY, KENO AND POKER.-MATTHIAS DANSER'S
MONEY.-CUTTING COUPONS BY CANDLE LIGHT.-$8o00oo UNDER
SEWING-MACHINE PLATES.-A GAMBLER'S FORTUNE GIVEN TO
THE CHURCH.
THE Penal Code of the State of New York contains not a few
sections relating to the " manly art of self-defence." First, prize
fighting of every description is expressly forbidden, and the dire
penalties consequent upon a breach of this law are fully set forth.
There are other sections prohibiting any one from leaving the State
with even the intention of engaging in a prize-fight. The punishment for this offence is very severe. And last, another provision
is made in this Code for disciplining such publishers of newspapers and others who print or send challenges with a view of engaging in a prize-fight. It can be seen, therefore, that the law is determined to put down prize-fighting and everything connected
with it-in theory. But not in fact. The columns of the daily and
weekly press contain numberless challenges. That the law is a
dead letter in this particular is patent to all; perhaps the majority of people are not aware that such a statute is part and parcel of our laws. Prize-fighting takes place every day under the
very noses of the authorities, and yet no steps are taken to prevent it, except in very rare instances. Once, however, some years
ago, Mr. Richard K. Fox, the proprietor of the Police Gazette,
was indicted for publishing some such challenges. What that indictment accomplished has always been a mystery to me and
everybody else. Nothing ever came of it to my knowledge, and
I was in a position to have heard.
373




374


37  BILL " HARRINGTON.


" But," some persons will say, "if you knew prize-fighting was
against the law, why didn't you put a stop to it when you were
superintendent of police? "
Let me relate what happened once when I made an attempt to
enforce it. In 1884 it was announced that John L. Sullivan
and Greenfield were to fight at Madison Square Garden. Mr. Edson was mayor at the time, and it was at his instigation that I took
steps to prevent the fight taking place. When consulted, the police commissioners concurred, and both Sullivan and Greenfield
were arrested on a charge of intending to engage in a prize-fight.
The arguments were heard before Judge Barrett, who decided that
it would be perfectly legal for the two principals to engage in a
sparring contest for "points." If it came to " slugging," then the
police were empowered to stop the fight. I accordingly attended
the " exhibition," accompanied by Inspector Thorne and Captain
Williams. In the first two rounds the fighting was confined to
scientific sparring for "points," but after that it became evident
to me that Sullivan intended to "knock out" his opponent, who
was cut and bleeding profusely. It became a "slugging" match,
and I accordingly had them arrested; and they were indicted by
the Grand Jury.
At the trial, however, I was the only witness who would swear
that it was anything else than a mere scientific contest. Inspector
Thorne and Captain Williams said they had often seen harder
fighting, as if that was any excuse for breaking the law. Inspector Murray, who saw the fight, agreed with me, but although it had
been arranged to have him called as a witness, he failed to put in
an appearance, nor was his name mentioned in court.
Thus it will be seen that it was very little use for me to attempt
an enforcement of the law in this matter.
In my time I have been acquainted with a great many prizefighters, particularly during my early connection with the force. I
knew " Tom " Hyer, an adventure with whom is told in a previous
chapter. He was really the first champion of America, and his
fights with "Country  McCloskey" and "Yankee" Sullivan
proved him to be one of the greatest pugilists who ever stood in a
ring. Then there was "_Bill" Harrington. He was a fine, wellbuilt young fellow, a regular giant in strength. At the time of my
first meeting him-in I849-he was in his prime. He introduced
himself to me. The way it happened was this: I was on duty on




JOHN MORRISSEY.


375


Broadway early one 4Sunday morning, and met him coming up
the street making " Rome howl," with a number of equally noisy
companions. The.party had evidently been making a night of it
and were on their way home. I went up to them and requested
that they should refrain from making such a disturbance, as it was
Sunday morning.
"Who the    - are you who talk so big?" asked the largest
man of the crowd. (It must be remembered that in those days
the police wore no uniform.)
"I'm an officer," I replied, exhibiting my star; "and if you
don't keep quiet I shall have to run you in."
" Well," he said, " I don't think you can take us all in;" when
another of the party, who afterwards told me he was Harrington,
interposed, saying to me: " You've spoken in a gentlemanly manner, and "-then he turned to his companions-" if he can't take you
in, he and I will. So keep quiet."  There was no further noise.
"Awful " Gardener was another bright and shining ornament of
the "mystic circle " in those days. I was well acquainted with him.
I knew John Morrissey, too-knew him when he was a long way
from being the John Morrissey of Saratoga, with white flannel
suits and huge diamond rings. I knew him when he was John
Morrissey the prize-fighter, John Morrissey the drunkard, without
money or friends, battered in clothes as well as in person. Before
coming to New York he kept a veritable " rum hole " in Troy, then
the favorite resort of gamblers, thieves and dissolute persons of the
lowest grade. Such a nuisance did his place become, in fact, that
it was closed by order of the authorities. At the time he arrived in
this city a local election was about to be held in one of the up-town
wards, and threats were openly made by a certain element-the
Plug Uglies and others-that they would smash the ballot-boxes
and keep the respectable voters from the polls. Violence must
needs be met with violence. Morrissey was engaged to hire a
gang of as big ruffians as himself to protect the polls. He did so,
and from that time began his upward course. He opened a small
gambling house, dressed decently, and became a teetotaller-almost. He made money rapidly, and in a few years his establishment was the most elegantly furnished of the kind in the country.
Morrissey now and then broke loose from his self-imposed restraint in regard to the use of liquor, and was very quarrelsome
when intoxicated. Early one morning in May, 1853, he and a




376


JOHN L. SULLIVAN.


friend named Patterson attempted to " clean out" the Girard House
in Chambers Street. They first threw a large water-pitcher at the
bar-tender, and then, when one of the other employees, named Conway, interfered Morrissey fired at him. He missed his aim, and
the ball, after shattering a window, passed through the hat of a gentleman who was walking along West Broadway. Conway ran for
a policeman, but even when he returned with two they were afraid


/illl'
JOHN MORRISSEY.
(From a Photograph.)


to arrest Morrissey, who drew an ugly-looking dagger and threatened to rip open any man who approached him. The officers retired, but returned very shortly with assistance. Morrissey and
his companion then surrendered, and were locked up.
John Lawrence Sullivan was born on the i5th of October, i858,
in that part of Boston, Mass., now known as the Highlands, but
which then formed the town of Roxbury. He received a commonschool education at the Dwight School, and was an expert in ballplaying from his very earliest days, having been connected with




JOHN L. SULLIVAN..3i7




378


HIS HISTORY.


such clubs as the old Tremonts and AEtnas, etc., long before
any professional nines were put into the field. Shortly after leaving school, young Sullivan commenced studying for the priesthood,
but after eleven months application in this direction concluded he
was not intended for a priest, and so it came about that he drifted
into playing ball for a living. He had always been " handy with
his fists," and had gained quite a reputation among the " boys" at
the South End by the manner in which he disposed of his antagonists.
It was not until October or November, 1878, when he was just
twenty years of age, that he made his first public appearance as a
pugilist. It was in Boston Music Hall, and the occasion was a
benefit to Dan Dwyer. His opponent was "Cockey" Woods,
whom he bested easily, and in such a scientific manner as to arouse
the enthusiasm of the knowing ones. In the year following he
had a lively set-to with Dwyer himself, who was knocked out
in short order. Upon April 6, I880, he sparred with the veteran Joe Goss, and on the 28th of June, of the same year, with
George Rooke, and in both of these contests he came off victorious.
A trip to Cincinnati in the fall of i880 resulted in his sparring John
Donaldson at the Opera House. Subsequently, the two fought on
Christmas Eve, Donaldson being pretty badly used up. His first
exploit of any account in New York was his fight, March 31, i88i,
at Harry Hill's, with Steve Taylor, whom he defeated in two minutes and a half. Then he fought eight rounds with John Flood,
on the i6th of May, on a barge up the Hudson River. Sullivan
had not a mark on him to speak of, while Flood was badly punished. His great fight with Ryan took place near Kansas City on
the 7th of February, I882, when nine rounds were fought in eleven
minutes. Then on the 14th of July, of the same year, came his
famous contest with " Tug " Wilson, resulting in what was called a
draw, although Sullivan was undoubtedly the better man and outfought Wilson at every point.
Sullivan's next venture was with an athletic combination, and this
led to travel over the greater part of the United States. It was at
this time that Sullivan issued his famous challenge, open to all,
offering $Soo to $io,ooo that no man could "stop" him in four
rounds. This challenge was accepted by not a few, but in no case
was Sullivan defeated-he always won, with plenty to spare. On
July I4, I883, he fought Charley Mitchell, and on August 6 following, Slade, the " Maori," made an exhibition of himself. Both




" OPENING A GAME."


379


events came off at Madison Square Garden. For the next eight
or ten months Sullivan travelled with Al. Smith's company of athletes. Then, on the Ioth of November, 1884, a match was made
between him and Greenfield. This is the occasion on which, as
previously stated, I ordered the arrest of both Sullivan and his opponent. Until lately Sullivan resided in Boston, where he kept a
gorgeous saloon on Washington Street, near the corner of Kneeland. Recently, however, he has removed to this city, and is now
in partnership, I believe, with Bennett, the proprietor of an hotel
on the corner of 59th Street and Seventh Avenue. Sullivan is not
a brute and bully, as some newspapers would have the public believe. For my part, I have always found him gentlemanly in demeanor; and when complaints have been made concerning his
conduct, they have been found to be more the outcomes of petty
spite than anything else. " Our John," as he is termed in Boston,
does not like to be imposed upon; he is but human, and has doubtless "given as good as he got."
But to turn to gaming. Of all the many games of chance, not one
is played so extensively, or has such an army of followers, as faro.
The haunts of the "Tiger " are dotted all over the city.
For me to say that nothing has been done by the proper authorities to stamp out gambling in New York would not be exactly
true. Still it would not be so very far from the truth. Spasmodic efforts are made, with the only result of closing up the
"hells" for a few nights, to re-open again with redoubled barefacedness.  I well remember a somewhat laughable incident
which occurred during x856, when Fernando Wood was mayor,
in connection with one of these spasmodic efforts to put down
gambling. I was captain of the Eighteenth Ward at the time.
"Ede " Norris and his brother ran a snug little place on the
Bowery, and were making a large amount of money. They had a
clever corps of " ropers in "; business was in a flourishing condition.
Early one evening, before the regular night's game had begun, two
well clad men strolled into their place, and looked round in a disappointed way, as if they wanted to find something and didn't
like to ask for it. " Ede " jumped to the conclusion that they were
countrymen and wanted 'to "buck agin the tiger." He jumped
up from the chair in which he had been sitting, removed a cigar
from between his lips, and remarked insinuatingly:
" If you like, gentlemen, I'll open the game for you."




380


"I'LL CLOSE IT."


The visitors observed that they didn't understand anything
about gambling; but might be induced to try their hand if the
thing were explained.
" Ede " withdrew a cloth from a table in the room and disclosed
to view a faro lay-out. Then he explained how the game was played,
in the usual manner. A game was opened, and several of those
present joined in it. Presently, one of the men who " didn't understand " the game stepped up to " Ede " and said:
"Well, Mr. Norris, since you've been so kind as to open the
game, I'll close it. Here's a warrant for your arrest."
The two visitors were myself and an officer named Knapp.
" Ede " was too dumfounded to say a word at first, but was
much incensed, and threatened vengeance. As usual, nothing
came of his threats. His brother laughed at the way in which he
had been caught.
That same night raids were made upon numerous other gambling
resorts in the city, this movement on the part of the police having
been prompted by certain suggestions from Mayor Wood, who
took this method, among many others, of improving his reputation
among certain classes in the community. Whatever may have been
its effect in that particular direction, it certainly did not put a stop
to gambling. For a day or two the "tiger" lay quiescent in his
lair, but was soon as rapacious and savage as ever in entrapping
and destroying his victims.
Practically speaking, the superintendent of police has no power
whatever to suppress gambling. Be he ever so honest or determined in his personal efforts, the whole matter rests solely with
the captains of the various precincts. The entire suppression of
gambling in all its forms, both public and private, is of course entirely out of the question, for obvious reasons. But make the
captains directly responsible to the superintendent, and give
them to understand distinctly that they will be dismissed the
force unless public gambling-houses are closed in their several
districts, and the nuisance will be soon abated. It is within the
power of each captain-and I know it from my own experience
when in that position-to so harass the proprietors of gamblinghouses that it will not pay to keep such places open. And when
the investment doesn't pay, you may be sure the business will be
dropped quickly.
Granted that it is a difficult thing to obtain a conviction in such




DIFFICULTY OF ENFORCING THE LAW.


38I


cases, that even when persons who have been swindled at " skin"
games are ready to come forward and make a complaint, the parties most interested get hold of the man and "fix" things, so
that the case never comes to trial. They pay him back his money
and send him out of the city; and further still, should the Grand
Jury indict the offending party, the indictment will soon be covered
with dust in the district attorney's office, unless some unusual
pressure from the outside is brought to bear upon that department
of our legal machinery. Granted all that, and much more besides.
JIMMY ELLIOTT.
(From a Photograph.)
One swallow does not make a summer, neither would any number
of convictions for gambling show a clean bill of health unless the
captains exercised their full powers in the desired direction.
I remember on one occasion, shortly after my appointment as
superintendent, taking vigorous steps to shut up all the known
gambling-houses in the city. Evidence-conclusive evidencewas secured against many individuals who stood high in the community, and warrants were about to be issued for their arrest.
But there was a stumbling-block in the way,. and one which I
could not surmount. The police commissioners stepped forward
and passed a resolution prohibiting me from taking any proceed



382


GAMBLERS IN GENERAL.


ings against gamblers without first consulting and laying the whole
evidence before them. That resolution remained on the books
some time, and, as a natural consequence, the proper enforcement
of the statute was rendered almost next to impossible.
At one time, in I873, however, when Mr. Matsell was superintendent, the commissioners co-operated with him most cordially
for a short period in the suppression of gambling-houses, showing
that such a thing is possible. One member of the board had a
quarrel with the famous John Morrissey, and it was for the purpose of t" getting even " with and injuring him, more than anything else, that the gambling-houses were closed for the time being.
If you gain admittance to some of the more fashionable gaming establishments in this city, many of those whom you see
there would not care to have the fact generally known. Gentlemen well known on the Stock Exchange and in public life, merchants of high standing, and whose names adorn the reports of our
benevolent and charitable organizations, are seen in these places.
To one not accustomed to such a sight it is rather startling to
see men occupying prominent positions in church and state
seemingly quite at home at their seats around the green cloth-covered table. The greatest gamblers of all are those who in the
day time are accustomed to the excitement of Wall Street. Most
of them play deeply and lose heavily of course. Merchants, bank
cashiers and clerks often play until they lose all, then pledge their
watches and jewellery, their salaries even, to meet their " debts of
honor," as they are termed. Embezzlement, forgery, theft follow
as an inevitable consequence. Very rarely is it that a gambler
saves any money. Generally he spends it in the same reckless
way as that in which it was obtained. Of course, there are some
men who make gambling their regular business, and pursue it with
the same amount of energy, carefulness and system as a dry goods
merchant. I know of one such who resided up town in fine style,
and was reputed to be worth half a million dollars. For more
than thirty years he has gambled steadily and persistently. In
every other way he is a model man, attends church regularly three
times every Sunday, does not use liquor or tobacco in any form;
He has made set rules for his guidance-loses a certain sum and
then quits playing for that night, but continuing as long as he wins
or breaks the bank. He has been successful, but thousands of




"MATT." DANSER.


383


others who have tried the same plan have been hurried to nothing
but irretrievable ruin.
Policy was a generally played game some years ago, but owing
to the " dead-set" made against it by authorities it has now gone
out of fashion. There are at present very few places, in fact,
where policy is played openly. Those who formerly ran a
"shop"-generally in the guise of a broker's office, cigar store,
coal and wood agency, etc.-are now compelled to walk round to
their customers, " backing their own books," as it is called. The
colored population is not by any means, as is generally supposed,
the chief patrons of this fascinating game of chance. Their Caucasian brethren are far more eager in their quest after the shadow
of the " almighty dollar " in this way. Keno, too, is going out of
date and is rarely heard of now. Poker is a favorite game, and
large sums are lost and won at this alluring recreation in our fashionable hotels, clubs and private residences.
One -of the most successful gamblers I have met was Matthias
'Danser, and about him there is a somewhat interesting story.
Danser was one of the shrewdest men in his mode of living. He
was after the "main chance " all the time. Some persons have
said that he never "ran a square game," and that in the early
days of the war he thus laid the foundations of a vast fortune.
He had establishments in various parts of the city, at one time
running both up and down-town "hells."  His last venture was
at No. 8 Barclay Street. Shortly after the close of the war he began to prepare to retire from business, and in 1872 he ceased to
be a director of the Board of Green Cloth. He was then worth
anywhere from $700,000 to $i,ooo,ooo. In justice to him, however, it should be said that despite the way in which he made his
money he kept his family aloof from his transactions. No one
could be more devout than his wife and daughter. "Matt" tried
hard to "get religion," but, to all outward appearances, signally
failed. That fact, however, did not interfere with the piety of his
family. He was the most extraordinary man I ever saw in respect to facial development. A slight stroke of paralysis had affected one side of his face, so as to draw his mouth sideways into
a pucker; and when he talked and swore it was hard to keep one's
countenance when looking him in the eye. " Matt " was not only
not a miser, but he was careless in looking after the securities into
which he had turned his money. In a trunk with a lock which




384


CUTTING COUPONS IN A COAL-HOLE.


could have been forced open with a tooth-pick, and in a room
which was never secured, in his house at No. 50 West Eleventh
Street, he kept securities and bonds worth certainly $400,000,
and possibly a great deal more. He was reckless, too, in the
choice of the domestic servants of his establishment.
In April, I875, there entered his service a sly, repulsive-looking
woman-Mary Logan. I was a-fterwards told that Danser's establishment had been "surveyed " by persons intent upon getting
a share of " Matt's " fortune, and that Mary was " planted " in the
house to enable them to attain their ends. At any rate, Mary soon
found out where the bonds were kept, and made no mistake when
she saved Mr. Danser the trouble of cutting off the coupons. She
did this by the light of a candle in the coal cellar. When she had
cut off coupons representing $2I,640, she hid about $6000 of them
under the coal, together with bonds worth $200,000. The other
coupons she put in her trunk. On or about May 26, I875, she was
suddenly taken ill, went to St. Luke's Hospital, and died three
days afterwards. Her relatives-Michael and Ann O'Farrellcame in suspicious haste to Mr. Danser's to claim her trunk, which
they carried away.  Mr. Danser did not miss his bonds until
nearly a month later. He took the affair as nonchalently as he
did the "nipping" of a thousand-dollar bill from his fob pocket
by a boot-black in Union Square shortly before. But he called
upon Sergeant (now Superintendent) William Murray, who, with
Detective (now Detective-Sergeant) Slevin, became very much interested in the search for the missing securities.
A clew to the robbery was found by Mr. Danser's cook, who in
overhauling the cellar unearthed the bonds and coupons. Then
Mary Logan's antecedents and associations were looked into, and
suspicion fell on the O'Farrells. They were not discovered for
a long time, but finally Sergeant Murray located them up town on
the west side. They were running a large and lucrative clothing
establishment, employing many hands and a cozen sewing-ma
chines. When the police made a descent on the place, husband
and wife quibbled about their connection with Mary Logan and the
contents of her trunk. The place was searched, but no trace of
the bonds was found at first. Sergeant Murray was just coming
to believe O'Farrell's story-that he found in Mary's trunk a lot of
little pieces of paper with printing on them, and that not knowing
that they were of value he had burned them-when he decided




" WHERE'S THEM BONDS?'"


385


to make a further search, and under the plates of the sewing-machines he discovered seven or eight thousand dollars worth of the
coupons.
Then Mr. O'Farrell volunteered the statement that he had sent
about $3200 worth to Patrick O'Farrell, his brother, at Lower
Cragie County, Edinburgh, Scotland. Sergeant Murray took upon
himself to write to Patrick in Michael's name, requesting the immediate return of the coupons. They came in a letter addressed
to " Michael Reynolds, care of D. A. Demey, No. 749 Ninth Avenue." This letter was impounded at the Post-Office through the
connivance of the authorities. The O'Farrells, husband and wife,
were tried for receiving stolen goods. The husband alone was
convicted (the wife pleaded coverture), and he was sent to State's
prison for five years.
Before this, however, the Danser establishment had another
startling experience. On the 12th of July, I875, Mr. Danser had
business down town, and his daughter went out to church, leaving
Mrs. Ann Louise Danser at home. This was in the morning.
Shortly after Mr. Danser left the house, three spruce young men
halted in front of the house. One of them took out a note-book,
scrutinized the house carefully, and appeared to be taking voluminous memoranda. Then they rang the bell at the basement door.
Mrs. Danser responded, and, as she afterwards said, understood
them to say that they wanted to see something about the water.
She took them to be employees of the Department of Public Works,
sanitary officers or plumbers sent by her husband, or " something
of that sort." They entered the house, and two seconds after the
door was closed Mrs. Danser was in their grasp. They conducted
her to a rear room on the third floor, and the first question asked
her was:
"Where's them  bonds?" showing a prior knowledge of Mr.
Danser's investments. Mrs. Danser protested, the rascals bullied
and cajoled her, demanded her keys, and, leaving her under guard,
went down stairs and admitted confederates to the number, it is
thought, of three.
Then they ransacked the house, using, among other tools, a
hatchet. They were evidently nervous and on the lookout for the
return of Mr. or Miss Danser, or calls from chance visitors, as they
did their work bunglingly, overlooking much property of value.
At length they found a bundle of $40,000 worth of Virginia City
25




386


WHERE THE MONEY WENT.


bonds, worth in the market $I7,000, and a halt was called. A
consultation was held, and Mrs. Danser was left, bound, in the
third-story room, awful and profane threats being made against
her if she attempted to regain her freedom before an hour had
elapsed. It was barely twenty minutes after they left the house
that her husband returned and found her in the predicament in
which she had been left. He rushed to the Mercer Street police
station, and his endeavors to make himself intelligible are spoken
of as earnest but ludicrous in the extreme, by reason of his
infirmity. The police did much to try and bring the perpetrators
of the robbery to justice. I believe that the job was arranged by
" Jim " Brady. But although this may be so, no one was convicted
of the crime and only one arrest was made-that of a man named
Frank Moss, who was very soon released.
These adventures so affected the Dansers that Matthias died in
August, i876. His wife followed him in November, and Miss
Danser, who was engaged to be married to one of the telegraph
operators at police headquarters, died in February, i877, leaving her affianced husband $30,ooo. The bulk of Matthias Danser's
fortune went into the coffers of various religious organizations, so
that what had been gained through the instrumentality of the devil
went, in the end, to the service of God.




CHAPTER XXVIII.


A GLIMPSE OF PRISONS.-A NIGHT IN A STATION-HOUSE CELL.SOBBING BOYS AND CURSING WOMEN.-SHRIEKS OF TERROR
THROUGH THE CORRIDORS.-LUXURIOUS LIVING IN LUDLOW
STREET JAIL.-WARD'S DINNER-PARTIES.-BECKY JONES'S GOATRACE WITH JAMES D. FISH.-LIFE IN THE TOMBS.
IF there is one place among those which are used for the purpose of confining criminals (or alleged criminals) that is known to
a greater number of persons than another, it is the station-house.
This, so to speak, is the reception-room before reaching the inner
office of punishment, and no small proportion of those admitted
here get no farther. Many persons are continually being arrested
on suspicion, and are perhaps locked up over night. When
brought before a police justice in the morning they are discharged.
Drunk and disorderly persons, as well as those who are more
vicious, find their first halting-place on the road to punishment in
the station-house cell. Perhaps this place of confinement sees, on
the average, a greater number of prominent prisoners than the
Tombs or Ludlow Street Jail.or Sing Sing. For urtder our laws
a policeman can arrest a man or woman on suspicion, and this
fact accounts for many an innocent and respectable person
spending a night behind prison bars. To the residents of any
precinct the station-house occupies the same place as the "coop,"
"cooler," "jug," etc., do to the inhabitants of a country town.
In the down-town precincts especially, every new arrest is witnessed by a crowd of youngsters, and frequently by children of
a larger growth. To persons of delicate sensibilities or of previously reputable character, whose lot it is to be brought a prisoner
to the station, such a reception is most humiliating.
When a person has been arrested, either on suspicion or by a
warrant, he is taken at once to the station house in the precinct
where the arrest is made. A sergeant sits behind a railing and a
high counter-like desk, and as the policeman enters the building
and walks up to the desk the sergeant enters the name of the
387




M


388                HORRIBLE EXPERIENCES.
prisoner, together with the charge which is made against him.
Sometimes it happens that the prisoner is a man of wealth, and
then frequently he gives bonds for his appearance at the proper
time to answer to the charge.
In most cases, however, the prisoner has no such easy fate.
He must take his lot as it comes, anrd usually it comes very hard.
To spend a night in a station-house cell is not one of the pleasantest experiences a man can have. Of course the class of persons
the officers have to deal with is a low and vicious one. They are
often brought to the cells in a state of beastly intoxication. They
shout and scream and curse worse than any furies which ever existed. All this perhaps goes through the mind of the accused as
he stands before the sergeant.
The man behind the desk orders the policeman who has brought
the prisoner to search him thoroughly, and, feeling more and more
like a criminal, the accused submits to have his valuables taken
from his pockets. Then the sergeant taps a bell, and at the summons a doorman appears.
"Show this man to No. -   " is the next remark of the sergeant, and the prisoner is led away to make his bed on a hard
board and in a loathsome cell. His night, it is safe to predict, is
not a restful one. In the first place, the thought of the cell itself
is repulsive, and its suggestions of filth are nauseating. The room
is cramped and the air foul. The occupant cannot get a comfortable position, and his limbs become lame and paralyzed. He tries
to sleep; the trial is a failure. Perhaps in an adjoining cell a
howling Jezebel has been placed for the night. She is mad with
liquor, and raves and swears in a horrible manner. Then one of
the keepers comes to quiet her. His admonitions are of no avail,
and he enters the cell to carry out his orders with force. The
woman strikes him, and there follows a tussle in which the screams
and oaths become tenfold more terrible. For a while, perhaps,
the creature is quieted, and then spasmodically during the night
her paroxysms of madness break forth again.
In another cell near by there may have been a woman of a different stamp-a tender, refined, intelligent woman, whose weakness has caused her to commit the sin with which she is charged.
She appreciates the enormity of her offence; at least whatever its
magnitude is it seems great to her. This is the first time she ever
was in a prison cell. The disgrace is terrible. She moans and




LUDLOW STREET JAIL.


389


groans in her grief, and sobs as if her heart was breaking. Now
and then can be heard her tearful words of prayer.
"0, why did I do it?" she cries out in tones of anguish, and
there is no one to answer the question or to comfort the griefstricken one.
In another cell is an old man. He, too, is half maniacal
through the constant habit of drinking. He has been brought in
stupidly drunk, but after awhile his stupidity gives way to howls
and ravings which are fearful to hear-they must be awful to
behold. He has delirium tremens, and the strange creatures of
his vision which haunt his cell frighten him and make him shriek
in supposed agony and in real terror.
Near by, again, is a sobbing boy. This is his first night in a
station-house cell, too, and thoughts of the disgrace and anxiety
he has brought on his mother are enough almost to distract him.
But the boy's nature causes him to weary of his grief after awhile,
and he sobs off to sleep to dream about his sorrows, not to taste
them in their reality.
Such sounds as these come to the man whom we have consigned to a cell. The tales they tell or suggest of human woe
and misery are heart-rending. How gladly would he drop off to
sleep and forget these dismal reminders of evil. But, no; that is
impossible. The night grows into weeks, apparently. Now and
then the iron gates clank, and a fresh victim has been brought to
satisfy that grim, stern avenger whom we call Justice. Worn out,
pale and haggard, the prisoner thanks God when he sees the first
glimmer of daylight which reaches the interior of his cell, and
when, some hours later, he is brought forth and taken before a
police justice, the outside air, and even the police court, seem the
most like paradise of anything he has ever seen.
It is said that William M. Tweed was the contractor of Ludlow Street Jail, in which he died. If so, he showed again the
trait of character for which, with all his faults, he was famous.
It does not look much like a jail, and in this respect was fortunately
planned. It is situated on Ludlow Street, just north of Grand.
Essex Market is beyond. The building is of red brick, and the
main entrance is on Ludlow Street. The structure has about
Ioo feet frontage. It has the appearance of a library from the
outside. The windows especially give it that look. In the northeast corner of the building is a large prison-yard, well guarded by




390


3' PAYING  BOARDERS.


lofty brick walls. The jail had previously been used as a place
for the temporary confinement of United States' prisoners and for
debtors. The prison was built about thirty years ago, and it is
estimated that no less than 40,000 prisoners have been confined
there since its erection. About half this number were residents
of New York previous to their incarceration. The jail has held
many prominent rascals. It was here that Tweed was kept, and
in recent times James D. Fish and Ferdinand Ward. Red Leary
made his famous escape from Ludlow Street Jail, and around its
walks cluster many of the traditions connected with prison scenes
and prominent prisoners.
In order that the reader may understand just what confinement
in Ludlow Street Jail means, let us suppose the case of a man
who has been arrested for attempting to defraud, or something
similar, and after having been brought before the court is remanded without bail to the jail. As he enters the iron gate at the
main entrance the deputy sheriff who has brought him hands him
over to the warden's care, who makes a record of his coming, and
speedily finds out whether the prisoner wants to become a
" boarder," or to remain a common felon. For there are two
distinct castes in Ludlow Street Jail, of which the public generally
hears of but one-and that the higher one. These two castes may
be named the "paying" boarders, and the "non-paying boarders."
The former class are the aristocrats of the jail. They pay the
warden fifteen dollars a week for the privilege of sitting at his table
and eating the luxuries of the market. This sum includes also a
respectable room, not cell, and fair attendance. Except for the
restraint of confinement the paying boarder's life in Ludlow Street
Jail is not such an unhappy one as most persons think. There are
sometimes prisoners who are even more aristocratic than the paying boarder, but these are rare-they do not appear in the jail
very often. When they do, they get a nicely furnished room with
all the luxuries, have their meals served in their rooms and live in
royal style. For this privilege, however, they have to pay from $50
to $ioo a week. Of course the warden is glad to see such prisoners, and you may be sure he tries to keep them as long as possible. -
Tweed belonged to the paying class of boarders, as did also
Becky Jones, and Ward, and Fish. It used to be said of Ward and
Fish that they frequently met in the jail corridors, but "never




LUXURIOUS DINNER PARTIES.


391


spoke as they passed by." Becky Jones was continually protesting that the only reason for her continued incarceration was the
warden's wish to make as much money out of her as possible.
And in spite of the $15 a week which Becky paid, she did not get
a very good room. It was small and cramped, but she kept it
neat and in first-class order. She had a way df collecting pictures,
advertising cards and other cheap articles of decoration, and one
side of her room  was literally covered with them.  I always
thought Becky was considerably "off" in the upper story, and I
remember well peculiar stories she used to tell; for she was a voluminous talker. Once she told a visitor that she had spent the
morning in having a goat-race in the court-yard with James D.
Fish.  The gray-haired ex-president of the Marine Bank had
mounted one goat, she said, and she had mounted another, and the
two had a mad race around the court. She came out ahead, I
believe.
When Tweed was a paying boarder in the jail many stories
used to be told of the luxurious way in which he lived, and I have
no doubt they were true. The same was true of Ward. He used
to have cases of champagne and wine in his room, and cigars
almost by the wholesale. Occasionally he would give dinner-parties, at which several of the old friends of his better days would
be present. On such occasions as these Ward would lay himself
out. He would order the choicest courses of food and the best
china, and an extra supply of wines. At each of the ladies' plates
he would have placed an expensive boutonnaire. Ward was an
omnivorous reader, and most of his time in jail was taken up in
smoking or reading the newspapers. Perhaps those who are at a
loss to account for some of the missing funds of the Marine Bank
might trace them to the merchants who furnished Ward with his
luxurious supplies.
But to go back to our prisoner whom we left before the warden
waiting to say whether he wished to be a pay-boarder or not. The
prisoner did not hesitate half as long as it has taken me to write
this parenthesis, for circumstances prevented him from being able
to live luxuriously, and he had to be satisfied with the lot of the
common prisoner. He was sent up to a cell near the rqof. Vermin were plainly visible on the floor, and his quarters were scant
and uncomfortable. He wished he had money enough to be a
pay-boarder, but there is no chance of his getting it. He lies




392


DAILY ROUTINE.


down and tries to rest, but it takes weeks sometimes to learn to
rest in these places. His daily life is a constant aggravation,
because in the court-yard and jail corridors he is brought into con
tact with the "high-toned " prisoners, and feels the sting of the
difference in his position continually.
He is locked up in his cell from 7.30 o'clock at night until 6.30
in the morning. At this hour he arises and puts on his clothes.
Then, according to the prison rules, he takes up his slop-pail and
carries it down to the sink, where he cleanses it.  His own ablutions are performed here too, and then he goes back to the cell,
makes up his bed, cleans his room, and then waits for breakfast.
Breakfast is a novel meal in Ludlow Street Jail. It comes to the
prisoners; they do not go to it.  They stand, the non-paying
boarders of course, each at their cell doors, and await the carriers
of food. These are two prisoners who, in consideration of their
work about the jail, are allowed to remain up until 10.30 o'clock
at night. The first carries a large basket of bread cut into goodsized hunks. As he passes each cell the man at the door reaches
for the biggest piece he can find, and the carrier goes on to the
next cell. After the bread-man comes one with a tin boiler filled
with coffee and tin cups. He gives one cupful to each prisoner,
and this completes the breakfast. After breakfast the prisoner
can go down into the court-yard or walk through the corridors.
Dinner is served at i2 o'clock, and consists of bread and a soup
in which scraps of meat and vegetables are mixed more according
to quantity than to the taste of the compound. On Thursdays,
Fridays and Sundays the dinner menu is changed. Fish and a
potato are given on Fridays; and on the other two days corned
beef and a boiled potato are each man's allowance.
Supper comes at six o'clock, and again the prisoners stand in
front of the cell doors and receive their portion. This time it consists of a tin cup of tea and a piece of bread. No knives or forks
are furnished, and no spoons, save for dinner, when soup is furnished.
To a non-paying boarder life in Ludlow Street Jail, as in fact in
any of our prisons, is a constant tax on the strength and health.
The food which is provided is not nourishing particularly, and this,
taken in connection with the dampness of the walls, the impure
air, and the fact of his imprisonment constantly preying upon one's
mind, it is not strange that men come out of jail shattered com



THE TOMBS.


393


pletely in constitution. This is all the more lamentable in the
case of prisoners in Ludlow Street Jail, for frequently they have
been confined for years for nothing more than the non-payment of
a debt. It is a glorious thing for our State that the poor-debtor
law has been recently passed. This has been veritably a loosening of the shackles to many an unfortunate.
To the average person I know of no place of imprisonment, outWNW —
THE TOMBS —EXTERIOR.
side of State institutions, which holds greater horrors than the city
prison, ordinarily called the Tombs. It may not be known to
everybody that the building in its general architectural design was
planned after an Egyptian tomb, but such nevertheless is the fact.
Certainly the structure is well-named. I never go past it but I am
struck with its gloom and its prison-like aspect. Unfortunate it is
that the Tombs prison was built where it is. This region was all a
pond and marsh once, and when it was proposed to build a structure like this there, it was found necessary to sink many piles and
heavy stones upon which to erect so heavy an edifice. From time
since the prison was built there have been evidences of a sinking
in the foundations. Large cracks have appeared in the walls, and
it would not surprise me very much if some time these massive
walls should crush beneath them the hundreds of inmates confined
by iron bars. Aside from this danger, however, is that of sickness
and disease. Many complaints have been made from time to time




394


ITS CONSTRUCTION.


regarding the sanitary condition of the prison, and despite the
efforts of the keepers to keep things cleanly, the natural situation
of the place will always work against them. It will require almost
a superhuman effort to destroy the germs of disease which I feel
sure must all the time be breeding in this malarial atmosphere.


THE TOMBS-COURTYARD.


The Tombs prison was completed and ready for use in the yeat
1838. There are 200 cells in the building; but even this number
has not always proved sufficient, and it has been necessary to put
two and even three prisoners in a cell. The female portion of the
prison is separated from the male, and contains about I50 cells
arranged in tiers. The officers of the Tombs are appointed by
the Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, and consist of a




THE TOMBS —INTERIOR.


395




396


" COME ALONG!"


warden, two deputies, a physician, record clerk, steward, eleven
keepers, matron and two deputy matrons.
As in the case of the other places for the confinement of violators of the law which I have mentioned, the reader will be able to
see more vividly the inside life of the Tombs by the suppositious confinement of a criminal than by the mere description of what goes
on. Suppose, then, that we take the case of one of the disorderly
or vagrant class that daily appears in the Tombs police court.
He steps before the bar and the police justice hears the charge
preferred against ~im, hears his statement Df the facts, and then,
as if this mortal was only one out of io,ooo, in a cold and busi.
ness-like manner consigns him to spend a term in the Tombs. An
officer in the court-room gruffly says: " Come along," and without
remonstrance, and pondering over his sentence, the new candidate
for prison discipline meekly follows his blue-coated attendant.
They pass through that awful smelling court-room amid the dull
and brutish stare of the assembled scum of the lower city wards,
through one or two corridors and into the prison. Here they pass
a keeper, who, seeing the officer in charge of the prisoner and his
commitment papers, allows them to pass. They go through two
or three more iron doors into the open area in the centre of the
building, across this into another section of the prison. Another




LOCKED IN.


397


keeper unlocks the door for them, and with scarcely a word they
approach the desk of the clerk. As the prisoner stands here,
waiting for the clerk to get his books ready, he has a chance to
look about and get a bird's-eye view of where he is to live for
some time. It is not an encouraging view. The floor on which he
is standing is merely a narrow hallway, perhaps six feet wide.
On either side rise high walls, with glimmerings of light streaming
down from the windows at the two extremities of the corridor.
Narrow balconies at inter-.                i
vals are built out from       o     T
these walls, and denote the        l I
different tiers of cells.
There is one tier on the    ll                     l
same floor that the prisoner
is standing on, and by peeping through the  narrow
grating he gets a glimpse
of the kind of room  in
which he is to be confined.
Finally the clerk at the
desk is ready.
"Name? " he asks, without looking up.                THE "BLACK MARIA."
"John Blank," is the response. Then follow in rapid order
inquiries as to age, marriage, residence, occupation and so forth.
A turnkey now steps forward and leads away the prisoner to his
cell. He unlocks the two iron doors and puts the occupant in.
Then he slams the doors, locks them, and the prisoner is left to
get acquainted with his new quarters.
The cell is narrow and small, but is rather better, on the whole,
than one would think from looking at the entrance. The floor is
of cement, and gets damp and cold. There is a hard, uncomfortable iron bed, one or two necessary articles of furniture; and these
are all. Here, as in Ludlow Street Jail, if one wants luxuries he
has to pay for them, and the messengers are said to make a very
good thing of it. They offer to get cigars, tobacco, fruit, etc., for
them and charge them double prices. The prisoners cannot rebel,
and their persecutors have absolute power.
Bread and tea formed the diet which our prisoners got at supper time. The tea was served in large tin basins, and a quart cup



398


THE BILL OF FARE.


ful was allowed to the prisoner. Besides this he was given a
hunk of bread. These he took into his cell and consumed them
at his leisure. At breakfast time there are bread and hot rye coffee passed around, and at dinner time a bowl of vegetable-andmeat soup. During the day the prisoner was allowed to get out
in the corridor for exercise.
This dull monotony of existence continues until the prisoner's
term expires. Occasionally he sees visitors, who are allowed to talk
to him at the cell door. Perhaps he is confined in the Tombs
only temporarily before being conveyed to Blackwell's Island.
When his time comes to start he is hustled out with a dozen or
more other prisoners, all of whom are packed into the " Black
Maria" and driven rapidly over the pavements toward Blackwell's
Island.
In the Tombs, of course, different rows of cells are assigned to
different grades of prisoners. The tier on the ground floor is used
for lunatics, delirium tremens cases, and for sentenced prisoners.
Muderers' Row is on the second tier, and burglars, highway robbers and other desperate criminals are confined here. The third
tier is occupied by prisoners arrested for grand larceny, and the
fourth for minor misdemeanors.




CHAPTER XXIX.


MURDERS AND MURDERERS.-THE BLOODY AFFRAY IN " SHANG" DRAPER'S SALOON.-RUNNING INTO THE, ARMS OF A DETECTIVE.PROSTRATE ON THE FLOOR IN A POOL OF BLOOD.-THE SNOW
ON TWELFTH STREET DEFILED WITH GORE.-THE SKELETON
IN THE CELLAR.-KNOCKED DOWN AND KILLED AT EARLY
DAWN.-THE MURDERER OF MRS. HULL CAUGHT BY A REPORTER.
THE moon shone bright on the night of October I6, I883.
The clock lacked fifteen minutes of two. The outside door of
" Shang " Draper's saloon on Sixth Avenue between Twenty-ninth
and Thirtieth streets was locked and the curtains were closely
drawn. Inside, the lights had not been all turned down, for there
were customers still in the room. Four men stood before the bar.
One was John Walsh, a bank burglar, called by his friends " Johnnie the Mick." Another was William Vosburgh, a notorious sneak
thief. Pat Leary and Michael Fay, associates of criminals, were
the other two. Behind the bar, mixing drinks, was Harry Hope,
a son of Jimmy Hope, a bank burglar of no small reputation. The
four men had raised their glasses to their lips.
Suddenly the side door creaked on its hinge. The men with the
glasses in their hands glanced carelessly towards the aperture.
A man's face and part of his figure were there. It was the face of
John Irving, himself a famous bank burglar, and the leader of a
gang hostile to that in which "Johnnie the Mick" was chief.
At the sight of him the men at the bar put down their glasses, and
one of them reached almost unconsciously for his revolver in his
hip-pocket. It was too late. Irving had cocked and aimed his
weapon. The trigger snapped and the ball flew through the lappel of Walsh's coat.
Behind the bar-room was a billiard-room, and into this Irving
ran as soon as he had fired. Walsh dashed after him, discharging
three cartridges from his revolver as he ran. One of the bullets
pierced Irving's heart and he fell dead. Then appeared on the
399




400


A SORRY SPECTACLE.


scene his life-long friend and avenger, Billy Porter.  Like a
Nemesis he swooped down upon his friend's murderer and sent a hot
piece of lead whistling through his head. Then he broke for the
door of the saloon, reached the street, and started to flee, only to
fall into the hands of Detective Sergeant Hickey, who had been
attracted by the firing.
In a few seconds the saloon was surrounded by Captain Williams
and policemen McCool, Price, Gallagher and Fay. Near them,/~
JOHN WALSH.
(From a Photograph.)


stood " Shang " Draper and " Red " Leary, the heroes of many
deeds of infamy, who had been eating oysters in the adjoining
saloon. The men waited a moment to see that no one broke away
from the saloon, and then entered. A sorry spectacle it was that
met their gaze. Irving lay stone dead, with his feet toward the
centre of the room. A 38-calibre revolver with five chambers, two
of which were empty, lay beside him. Ten feet away, doubled up
in a corner, was "Johnnie the Mick," who was just alive. Vosburgh, Pat Leary and Michael Fay were vainly trying to restore
him to life.




_____I____ _____ ~___I


THIEVES FALL OUT.                401
A solemn procession it was that fifteen minutes later wended its
way toward the Thirtieth Street Station-house. A wagon carried
the bodies of Irving and Walsh, and on the sidewalk, in a mournful,
silent group, walked Captain Williams, the policemen, and as many
of that band of criminals and ex-convicts as were left alive. Por.
ter had preceded them to the station-house. The moon shone
down as brightly as ever and threw the shadow of the passing
men on the flag-stones.
~..CAPTAIN ALEX. S. WILLIAMS, TWENTY-NINTH PRECINCT.
(From a Photograph.)
For a long time there had been bad blood between Walsh and
Irving. They had been engaged in the same burglaries and had
quarrelled over the division of the spoils. Both were supposed to
have been mixed up in the murder of George Leonidas Leslie,
and Irving thought that Walsh knew too much about the affair.
Porter had assisted Irving to escape from Raymond Street Jail in
Brooklyn, and they were warm friends.
Although Porter was arrested he managed in some way to escape
26




402


TIHE BLUE-BORDERED HANDKERCHIEF.


conviction. He is still alive and at large. Only as this is written
he is reported in the newspapers as having arrived in New York
again, after having been let out of prison in Troy, where he was
held for the jewellery robbery at the store of Marks & Son, by
procuring a bail-bond for $20,000.
On a Sunday morning in August, 1875, a woman who lived on
Greenwich Street heard groans coming from an unfinished house
at No. 275. At first she paid no attention to the sounds. But as
they increased in volume and number she became startled and instituted a search. On the first floor of the new building lay a man,
weltering in his own blood. There was a terrible gash in his head,
out of which flowed blood and brain. Spasmodic gasps showed
that the man was still alive. Those that found him recognized
him as James H. Noe, an elderly gentleman of fortune, and the
owner of the building in which he was discovered. It had been
his custom to walk over to where the work was going on every
Sunday morning, to see what progress had been made during the
week.
The old man rallied for a few minutes while he told the story of
the assault which had been made upon him. " I went up on the
roof," he said, between his struggles for breath, " and found a
man there tearing up the lead. I never had seen the man before.
I caught hold of him and marched him down stairs. Right here
where 1 lie he picked up a bar of iron and hit me. The next I
remember he had tied a handkerchief over my mouth and was
searching my pockets. I attempted to resist, but he told me if I
made any noise he would come back and finish me."
With this much said Mr. Noe became unconscious again.
He was removed to Chambers Street Hospital, where he died within a week, never having regained his consciousness.
The case went into my hands. I put upon it Detective Dorcey,
who, after making a thorough examination of the premises, found
several clews which he thought might lead to finding the murderer.
One of these was the handkerchief which he had tied around Mr.
Noe's face. It had a blue border and was saturated with blood.
Mr. Noe's gold watch and chain, which had been purchased a few
days previously, had been taken away by his assailant. Strangely,
too, the murderer had broken his victim's cane in two and carried
away the top piece, attached to which was a metal handle in the
shape of a monkey.  A description of the watch was obtained




CA
C:;4j
It;o
0-4
En
M
t
D1-3
0;o
A


0




404


A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE.


from the maker, a man named Welch, and Dorcey searched a great
many pawnshops, but without finding what he wanted. One day,
however, the proprietor of a small loan office on Chatham Street
brought me a watch which he thought answered the description of
the one taken from Mr. Noe. Sure enough it did, in every respect
but the number. Mr. Welch, the maker, called with the information that he had inadvertently given me the wrong number. Placing the watch which I had received before him, he declared it was
the one he had made for Mr. Noe.
A few days subsequent to this it was found that a cane with a
monkey's head in metal for a handle had been seen in the possession of James Dolan, a well-known "tough," by Hendricks,
who kept a coffee-and-cake saloon on Chatham Street. The bluebordered handkerchief, too, was identified as belonging to Dolan by
two girls of the town with whom he was on intimate terms.
Dolan was arrested, and on his trial was fully identified as having
pawned the watch. He was convicted of the crime and suffered
the extreme penalty of the law in the Tombs. He never made
any formal confession of his guilt, but when a son of the murdered
man published what purported to be the conversation between his
father and the murderer, Dolan exclaimed:
"That's a lie! I never said anything of the kind," thus practically admitting that he was the man.
The last day of the year i868 was ushered in by a heavy snowstorm. Thepure soft flakes fell noiselessly on the pavement until
its nakedness was hidden beneath a mantle of white. On East
Twelfth Street, as early as seven o'clock, an elderly gentleman,
named Charles M. Rogers, was in front of his residence, at No. 42,
sweeping the fallen substance into the street. As he swung his
broom, keeping time with a tune which he was humming, a roughlooking man crossed the street and approached him. As he got
near he made a dart at old Mr. Rogers's watch and pocket-book,
and transferred them to the side pocket of his blue flannel sack
coat. But when the highway robber tried to make off with his
booty he found he was restrained. The old man had him tightly
held. Then began a terrible struggle. The thief fought like a
demon to get free, but Mr. Rogers's grip was firm. Finally the assailant reached a hand for the knife which he had concealed about
him, and drawing it, plunged it into the 1owels of his antagonist.
Then with an extra effort he broke away, and the old man fell




THE CARLETON HOUSE MYSTERY.


/to5


over, clutching a portion of his assailant's coat which ha  parted
in the struggle.
All this happened in broad daylight, and not a few persons were
in the street. Yet so far as is known no human eye witnessed the
murder, for such it was.  A few minutes later Rogers was discovered dying on his own doorstep. He muttered a few words
which outlined the story as above told, and then died.
Firmly grasped in the murdered man's right hand was the part
of the coat which he had torn from the assassin. The snow was
gory with blood.  Near by was the garroter's hat and knife
sheath. In the pocket of the torn part of the coat was the watch
and wallet of Mr. Rogers, and an envelope with the inscription:
"James Logan, New York City. This will be handed you by
Tom."
This the police considered a good clew, and at once commenced
a vigorous search for James Logan. A man with this name was
found to be living in the upper part of the city, and he was'arrested.
It was ascertained that he was a plasterer by trade, and, strangely
enough, a small quantity of plaster was found in the pocket of the
coat torn from the murderer. Then, too, he was proved to have
been in the vicinity of Twelfth Street shortly before the murder.
These were suspicious circumstances, but he explained his presence on Twelfth Street by stating that, in company with a friend,
he had spent the night in a house near by. This was ascertainea
to be true, and being otherwise of a good character he was discharged from custody.
The true "James Logan," however, has never been discovered,
and who it was that murdered Mr. Rogers is likely to remain
forever a mystery. Many individuals bearing the name of Logan
were looked up and " shadowed," but no definite results followed.
What is known as the Carleton House mystery created a great
sensation at the time it was discovered. The affair is still as much
of a mystery as ever, but the people have forgotten it.
The Carleton House is situated at the corner of William and
Frankford streets, and is a tall building, occupied by many different
kinds of people. It has in times past had rather a bad reputation.
The traditions which cluster around its mouldering walls tell tales
of crime which gain horror with age. It was just the building for




406


A WOMAN S SKELETON.


a mystery, and the newspapers, with their keen instinct for what is
interesting, made the most of it.
One day in December, I884, some workmen were engaged in
cleaning out a sub-cellar which projected under the William
Street sidewalk. The sub-cellar had long been closed, and was
half filled with ashes and other refuse which had been dumped
through a trap-door from the regular basement of the building.
The subterranean apartment was many feet deep, and dark and
damp, and suggestive of crime. It was not a pleasant place to
work. Two of the workmen were engaged in filling a basket of
the debris, which two more would carry to a small aperture on the
Frankfort Street side, whence it was hoisted by ropes and pulleys
to the sidewalk. Candles were placed here and there in the dark
passages to give the workmen light. Such were the odors which
came from the sub-cellar that the men inside were obliged to come
out at short intervals for fresh air.
On this December day that I have alluded to, the flickering
rays of a candle were casting shadows over the ash-heaps, when
one of the workmen in his digging came upon a woman's hand
sticking out of the rubbish. It was a ghastly sight in such a place.
Cold perspiration ran down the workman's face, and he darted
for the place of exit and told his discovery to his companions.
The first spasm of fright was soon over. The men went back to
their work after having summoned a policeman. Further digging
brought forth a most horrible sight. It was the skeleton of a
woman clothed in a maroon-colored dress, a dark sacque with
bead fringe, and striped stockings. A heavy stone lay across her
face, and a calico cloth was tied tightly around her throat.
The body was dug out and carried to the Morgue. It looked as
if it had been dead five years. The police came to the conclusion
that they had before them to unravel the greatest mystery they had
touched in years.
Many theories were broached to account for the discovery of
the body. There had plainly been a murder. There was the
heavy stone across the face, the rag around the throat, and the
suggestive trap-door above. But who could have done it? and
who was the foul murderer's victim? These were the questions
which bothered the police for some time, until finally a theory was
accepted as most plausible, but nevertheless not quite satisfactory.
It seems that about the time the murder was supposed to have




A WOMAN WITH A NOTORIOUS HISTORY,


407


been committed, the room above the sub-cellar was occupied by
Benjamin Gray, a printer. There were witnesses who said that
Gray often had visits from two women, one of whom, after awhile,
ceased to come, and was never seen again. The police supposed
that Gray had killed the missing woman and thrust her through the
trap-door. The sub-cellar was never entered, ashes were thrown
through the opening in the floor above, and thus the murder was
never discovered.
The next thing was to find Gray. After some search he was discovered in the Trenton Penitentiary, where he was serving a tenyears' sentence, for attempting to murder a woman whom he called
his wife, and who lived in Dover, New Jersey, where he had struck
her on the head and left her on the road-side for dead. He was
surly and glum when spoken to concerning the body which was
found in the Carleton House sub-cellar, and would neither deny
nor affirm the charge of murder against him. His real name was
Samuel S. Gray, and he was by birth an Englishman, and about
twenty-six years old. His term expires on June 20, i893, and it
remains to be seen whether he will then be re-arrested on this
graver charge. His wife in Dover refused to say anything which
would in any way implicate her husband. So there is still a mystery hanging about the Carleton House.
Early dawn was just sending its gray shadows against the buildings in Seventh Avenue on the morning 'of May 24, 1882, when
Josephine Hawkes, a woman with a notorious history, was strolling
toward the corner of Fifty-seventh Street, arm-in-arm with Louis
W. Gutermuth. They had spent the night in carousing, and were
out "walking it off." The woman told her companion that she
thought they were being followed, and to see if her suspicions
were correct they turned into Fifty-seventh Street. As they did
so, the man behind them approached rapidly, and coming up behind Mrs. Hawkes made an insulting remark to her. Gutermuth
turned around to retaliate on the fellow, when the latter turned on
him, and with a blow felled his antagonist to the ground. In his
fall Gutermuth struck his head heavily on the curb-stone, and
while down he received another blow on the nose from a club.
He attempted to rise, but received a third blow on the side of the
head with a sand-bag, which stretched him again on the ground.
Mrs. Hawkes assisted him to get up; he was very feeble, and she
looked round for assistance. After some time she found an offi



408


FAMILY QUARRELS.


cer, who went with her to Mr. Gutermuth's assistance. He was
sitting on the curbing, so injured as to be unable to give his exact
address, and he was accordingly taken to the Roosevelt Hospital..A member of the firm by which he was employed found him in
that institution on the 25th of May and took him to his residenceat Mrs. Jardine's, No. I44 West Forty-seventh Street. There he
received such careful attention that on the 3d of June he was
able to go to his office. He was still very weak, however, and was
told to go home until fully recovered. He went back to Mrs.
Jardine's, became worse, aggravating his condition by paying visits
to friends, and three days later was a dead man.
The Central Office detectives were tardily notified of his death
and the facts connected therewith. On the I3th of June they had
in custody Mrs. Hawkes, Robert C. Clapp and John K. Imley, a
disreputable private detective. These arrests were made on what
appeared to be excellent information in regard to a scandal which
had existed for some time, and which grew out of troubles at the
Rossmore Hotel between the sons of Hawley D. Clapp (the proprietor), Robert C. (one of the prisoners) and Mortimer R., who
were made executors of Mr. Hawley Clapp's will. The father
died in i88o, and the sons immediately went to fighting at law.
Robert, who was a dissipated fellow, was accused of various offences, criminal and otherwise, and his mother sided with Mortimer
R. They had Robert C. arrested on the ground that he was a
confirmed drunkard. The charge did not stand in court, upon
which Robert turned round and had Mortimer arrested upon a
charge of grand larceny. This charge was also dismissed, and the
litigation increased the bad feeling between the brothers, Robert
on one occasion attempting to stab Mortimer with a knife. They
had a sister, named. Nellie, who became the associate of Mrs.
Hawkes, and was her equal in depravity. Imley, the private detective, was the " familiar" of Robert, while Mortimer and Gutermuth were friends. A singular circumstance was that the latter
two resembled each other so closely, that in the gray light of a
spring morning they might each easily have been mistaken for the
other. The theory of the detectives in arresting Mrs. Hawkes,
Robert Clapp and Imley was that the two last-named had plotted
to attack Mortimer, and that they followed Gutermuth believing
him to be Mortimer. There was a good deal of " volunteer " testimony placed in the possession of the Central Office detectives;




c( NIGHT-HAWKING. '


409


but when the inquest was held it was manifest that the mistakenidentity theory was faulty; and after a protracted examination, it
served only to throw additional mystery around the affair. It established that the events which led to the assault were simply a
street altercation, a sudden brewing of hot blood and the striking
of one or more deadly blows. Mrs. Hawkes, Clapp and Imley
were acquitted by the coroner's jury. For nine months afterwards
the police worked unremittingly on the case. Several promising
clews were obtained, but they ended like a track in the Far West,
beginning at a broad wagon-road and ending in a squirrel's " run"
up a tree.
Taken as a whole, the homicide in question was one of the
most peculiar on record. Gutermuth himself was a mystery, to a
certain extent, both before and after his death.. It is believed
that he was born in Germany, and that his father was a furniture
manufacturer and wealthy. Louis received an excellent education
and spoke English, German and Spanish fluently. He began life
for himself as a book-keeper. Subsequently he went to Cuba as
agent for Emil Myer, an exporter; and later on occupied a similar position with the firm of Coombs, Crosby & Eddy, who were in
the same trade. In this situation Gutermuth went to the City of
Mexico as general correspondent of the firm, and now and then
came to the United States. He last visited New York on New Year's
Day, 1882. As a business man he was eulogized as sober, industrious and capable. Socially he was exceedingly popular; he had the
entree of the best society in Mexico, and was engaged to a young
Mexican lady. In New York he belonged to several social organizations and had many firm friends.
Mr. Gutermuth, it should be stated, had a penchant for " nighthawking."  He was not a depraved or vicious man, but he loved
good-fellowship, and his friends said that he often stayed out later
than his own tastes would have permitted him because he was unwilling to break up a convivial party.  It thus happened that he
had formed the acquaintance of Mrs. Hawkes. This woman was
born of well-known and respectable parents in the Ninth Ward..
Many of her relatives were employed in the city departments, and
several of them were policemen. Her maiden name was Josephine Webb. In I859 she married a shiftless and dishonest fellow
named Monyea, who, before the honeymoon was barely ended,
was arrested for the theft of a diamond ring. Mrs. Monyea




4Io


" BALDY " JOSEPHINE.


invoked "influence " which enabled him to escape with a light
sentence, and she then " took up " with  Con " Stagg, an Internal Revenue officer, and a frequenter of the gambling den
called "The Place," on Hudson Street, where Sharkey killed
Dunn, the gambler. She has often said that Stagg was the only
man for whom she had any real affection. He went with her to
San Francisco, where Stagg, wearying of her, speculated on her
charms. He opened a gambling house, and his mistress was employed in luring wealthy Californians into the meshes of his net.
The place was run as a hotel, with the attraction of a " club " in
which faro and other games could be indulged in. While here
Josephine met with a great misfortune. She had a luxuriant head
of dark hair, which she lost by a fever, and then replaced it by a
blonde wig, said to have cost $3000. The young bloods who
patronized her " husband's " establishment were not slow in carrying the news all over San Francisco, and visitors to that city may
see in sundry nooks and corners the picture of the handsome
Josephine without her wig, facetiously labelled " Baldy Josephine,"
or "Blondy." Lithographs were also published of her with her
wig on, but those who possess them hold them at an exorbitant
price.
Somehow or other the popularity of Stagg waned, despite the
attractions, real and false, of his partner. He drank deeply,
gambled recklessly, and lost all the woman's esteem by publicly
consorting with the most notorious characters of the Golden Gate.
Josephine was not loath, therefore, to accept the offer made her
by B. Shafton Hawkes to go East with him. She settled accounts
in San Francisco by thrashing her latest successor in Stagg's affections in the public street, while Mr. Hawkes squared matters
with Mr. Stagg by lending him $io,ooo. All this occurred in
April, I877, and three weeks later Josephine and Mr. Hawkes
arrived in New York. Her story was that she had obtained a
divorce from Stagg and had married Hawkes.
Mr. Hawkes was simply " tolerated " by Josephine. He had to
submit to her capers and extravagances, and three years after he
had made her acquaintance in California he did little more than
support her. He travelled extensively in Europe and Canada,
now and then going to where ".Mrs. Hawkes " lived and appearing in public with her. It is said he fitted up a flat at No. I9
Seventh Avenue and lived with her a few weeks. This was in




A. MUTUAL INFATUATION.               4 I
June, I88I, and in the fall of that same year Mr. Hawkes dropped
out of sight, gave instructions to tradesmen to collect bills from
the " lady," and Mrs. Hawkes was thrown on her own resources.
Mrs. Hawkes, despite years of dissipation, was yet a remarkably
handsome woman. Mr. Gutermuth became, to a certain extent,
infatuated with her, and on the night of the assault had been with
her, in company with Nellie Clapp and a gentleman whose connection with the murder was so slight that I do not give his name.
Emma H. Conkling, in I873, when she was nineteen years old,
married, at San Francisco, J. Clement Uhler, a stock broker.
They lived happily several years, and then came to New York,
where Uhler went into partnership with Mr. W. H. Haverstick,
the title of the firm being "J. Clement Uhler & Co." At that time
Mrs. Uhler had become the mother of several children, but notwithstanding this fact she became infatuated with Mr. Haverstick,
who succeeded in seducing her. The injured husband was averse
to violent methods of expressing his disapprobation of the liaison,
and when Mrs. Uhler left his bed and board he did little besides
protest against an act which would bring disgrace on both families. Haverstick's infatuation was such that after the dissolution
of his business connection with the man he had dishonored, he
cohabited with Mrs. Uhler-the two passing as brother and sister
-and in the summer of 1882 they went to live in the Paris Flats,
No. 341 West Twenty-third Street, where Haverstick was subsequently slain.
A member of Mrs. Uhler's family-her brother, George W.
Conkling, Jr.-had known of his sister's disgrace for some time.
He wrote to her in regard to it, being unable to visit New York,
on account of his position as an officer of the U. S. Field Service
in Nevada. At last, however, in February, i883, Conkling arrived
in New York, with but one end in view-of breaking the liaison,
and taking his sister back with him to Reno, Nevada. His first
act was to seek out Mrs. Uhler, talk to her earnestly of her
situation, and implore her to leave her betrayer. He told her
he thought he could pave the way, after a short time, to a reconciliation with her husband, and that all might be well again. But
Mrs. Uhler rebelled against any idea of a reconciliation. She said
she did not care for her husband, and that in the future, whenever
they happened to be on bad terms, he would be sure to " cast up"
her association with Haverstick.




412


SCENE IN 'HE PARIS FLATS.


Conkling, therefore, gave up his idea of re-uniting husband and
wife, but he set himself at work to separate his sister and her paramour. She finally appeared to acquiesce in her brother's wishes,
and it was arranged that on a certain evening she should go to the
Leland Hotel (where her brother was a guest), place herself under
his protection and abandon Haverstick forever. Conkling had so
much faith in his sister's decision that he made preparations for
their journey westward.
Mrs. Uhler, however, did not keep the appointment at the
Leland House, and her brother went to the Paris Flats, resolved to
do something desperate if he could not tear his sister from the
arms of the man who had betrayed her. Conkling had little to
fear personally, although he was much the inferior in physique
of Haverstick, who was a swart, brawny individual, taller and
broader than the man who sought to remedy the disgrace into
which he had brought Mrs. Uhler. But Conkling had the advantage of having passed several years as a frontiersman, and also
of being a strictly temperate person. When he entered the little
bijou of an apartment on the third floor, which had been fitted up
handsomely by the guilty pair, he was confronted by Haverstick,
who demanded his purpose, well knowing, through a confession by
Mrs. Uhler, for what he came. Conkling said boldly that he had
come to take his sister away at all hazards, and that when he left
the house she should accompany him. Haverstick bullied and
Conkling made a pathetic appeal to his sister, which was offset
by an equally urgent appeal from Haverstick. The woman hesitated, and the men grew more and more angry until at last, after
Conkling had denounced the seducer's villany in galling terms,
Haverstick seized a Dresden vase from the mantle-piece and
hurled it at his victim's brother.
Conkling was accustomed on the frontier to the use of fire-arms
and knew the necessity of quick action in an emergency. Before
the vase, which missed him, was dashed against the wall of the
room, his hand grasped his pistol. Just as Haverstick was about
to throw the companion vase Conkling levelled his weapon, a shot
rang out, and the bullet pierced Haverstick in the centre of his
body. Conkling threw aside his pistol, cast a glance at Haverstick, who had fallen and was leaning on his arm gazing appealingly at the sister's avenger, walked out of the apartment, brushed
aside his half-frantic relative, and going to the Grand Opera




" GOD BLESS MY MOTHER."


413


House surrendered himself to Officer J. W. Mantell, of the Sixteenth Precinct.
Meanwhile physicians were summoned to the Paris Flats, where
they found that Haverstick was mortally wounded.  Although
fully cognizant that his end was near, he was loath at first to name
his assailant, probably from feelings of remorse; but at last he
endeavored to raise himself from his bed, on which he had been
lying, and in a burst of passion exclaimed:
"George Conkling shot me-shot me down like a dog. But I
forgive him. I don't think he meant to kill me."
Then he sank back on his pillow and murmured as in a dream:
" God bless my mother "
A few moments later he was dead. The homicide did not excite any feeling of animosity towards Conkling. By the general
public it was considered the avenging of Mr. Uhler and the honor
of the Conkling family. Young Conkling readily procured bail.
Mrs. Uhler was deeply affected by the tragedy, and was in constant hysterics for several days. At the inquest, however, after
acknowledging her disgrace without reserve, she told the story of
her brother's endeavor toseparate her from the man with whom
she had become infatuated. She gave testimony which was very
favorable to the defendant. The outcome of the inquest was that
Conkling was held for trial on the following extraordinary verdict:
" We find that Wilbur H. Haverstick came to his death by a
pistol-shot wound in the abdomen, fired by George W. Conkling,
Jr., on the evening of March I9, I883, at 341 West Twenty-third
Street, and that the shot was fired under great provocation."
After Mr. Conkling obtained bail he went West, came back to
be tried for the crime, was acquitted and went West again to die.
Mrs. Uhler did not reform. She contracted the opium habit,
and died a wretched death in this city.
When Nancy Francis, the cook at Mrs. Jane Lawrence De Forrest Hull's boarding house at No. 140 West Forty-second Street,
went to her mistress's room at seven o'clock on the morning of June
II, 1879, to awaken her, she shrieked with terror. The sight which
met her gaze was terrible to behold. Mrs. Hull lay flat on her
back; there was a bandage tied tightly around her eyes, her throat
was bound and bed-clothes were stuffed into her mouth, her hands
and legs were each fastened to the sides of the bed with strips




4r4


STRAPPED TO 'TIE BED.


of linen torn from the sheets. Her face was purple and cold as
death. When the bandage was removed from her eyes they were
found to be burned, and the lashes and brows singed. The odor
of cologne permeated the atmosphere. The woman was dead.
It is needless to say there was an uproar in that house. Mrs.
Hull was the wife of Dr. Alonzo G. Hull, and about fifty-eight years
old. She weighed about two hundred pounds. There were about
a dozen boarders in the house, who rushed from their rooms in
alarm when they heard the cook's shrieks. When they discovered
that their landlady had been murdered they were highly excited.
The police were immediately called, and Captain Williams was
soon in possession of the house. He thought that the enormity of
the crime was sufficient to warrant my presence, and at a special
summons from him I went to the house.
I found that the room in which the murder had occurred-for
that such it was there could be no doubt-was a small one, 12 x 6
feet, at the end of the hallway. There was every evidence that
a robbery had been committed. A ring had been torn from Mrs.
Hull's finger, and a gold watch, chain, an enamelled ring, a diamond ring and a topaz necklace were missing. Much silverware
and jewellery, however, were undisturbed. A colored servant,
Nellie West, had found the front door of the house open at five
A. M. The thief and murderer had evidently been familiar with
the house.
A post-mortem examination was held, and revealed the fact that
Mrs. Hull had died of suffocation. Her lungs and brain were congested. I concluded, after I had learned these facts, that the murder had probably been unintentional. Whether there was really a
thief in the case I confess I was in doubt. Dr. Hull's actions
were very peculiar. He seemed to exhibit no special concern, and
I had a suspicion that he was the murderer. I beg his pardon
for the suspicion, but I could not help it. Mrs. Hull had speculated largely in stocks, and when this was known it added to the
complexity of the case.
I went to work at the case with a vim. I found in a few days
after the sad occurrence that some of Mrs. Hull's stolen jewellery
had been offered for sale in Boston. The watch had been pawned.
When the Boston police ascertained this they telegraphed us a description of the man who had offered the valuables for sale. We
identified it as that of Chastine Cox, alias John Cox, alias William




TRACKED BY A REPORTER.


4I5


Francis, at one time a waiter in Mrs. Hull's house, and sent back
word to the police of Boston to find the man if they could.
About a week after this came the news of Cox's arrest, and the
particulars somewhat surprised us. Mr. W. R. Balch, a reporter
on the Boston Herald, obtained a description of Cox from the
police in the course of his regular duties, and mentally photographed him. As he was walking along Waltham Street on Monday, June 23, he noticed a negro in front of him who seemed to
answer the description given of Cox. He accordingly followed
him and saw him enter a small church frequented wholly by
colored people on Harrison Avenue.  Mr. Balch at once made
known his discovery to Detective Wood, who, with another
officer, went to the church in question. The sexton was requested
to call Cox outside, which he accordingly did, and upon the suspected murderer stepping into the vestibule, he was arrested.
When searched at the police station, Cox had on his person,
besides other things, a revolver and a gold watch. The latter was
at once identified as being one of the articles stolen from Mrs.
Hull's room on the night the burglary was committed and she was
so brutally murdered. The following day he was brought on to
New York, and shortly after his arrival Cox made what he called
a "confession." In it he said he entered the house through one
of the front parlor windows which he found unfastened; and that
when Mrs. Hull awoke and made an outcry, he tied her hands
and feet, put his hands over her face and stuffed up her mouth
with a portion of the bed-clothes. He then went on to say that
while looking round the room for money he suddenly noticed that
Mrs. Hull had ceased to breathe and, seizing a bottle of cologne,
he dashed the liquid on her face. It was too late, however; Mrs.
Hull was dead. Upon his trial he was found guilty, and while
confined in the Tombs under sentence of death, he made what was
undoubtedly a true statement of the facts, which utterly contradicted his former story. In this second confession Cox admitted
having been Mrs. Hull's lover for some considerable length of
time, and that he had been in the habit of constantly visiting at
night. In fact she had provided him with keys to the house and
her apartment. On the night of the murder he went to her room
as usual. For some days previously he had been playing policy,
and having lost heavily was in need of money. He demanded
the needed amount from Mrs. Hull, who replied that she had no




I'l


r)1


H,w




I


/.






HI,   4-1


I
mumommm-0 —


-J


AT THE PRAYER-MEETING.




THE TRUTH ATr LAST.


417


money. Going to the dressing table, Cox snatched up some
jewellery and observed that he would raise money on it and bring
her the pawn-tickets. The unfortunate woman attempted to
snatch the jewellery from his hand; there was a struggle between
the two which only ended in death, as before described.
This statement, together with affidavits to the effect that Cox
had had free access to the house and was intimate with Mrs.
Hull, were laid before the governor. That official, however, refused to interfere with the due execution of the sentence already
imposed. Although the killing of Mrs, Hull, he said, might have
been unpremeditated and unintentional, the crime, nevertheless,
was murder in the first degree, as it was undoubtedly committed
during the attempted burglary of a house in the night time.
Cox was therefore hung at the Tombs, and met his fate with
becoming resignation, so I have been informed by those who witnessed the execution.
*  i


-~
~:t r r
L
*~~::1Y.,- I:,r~ f: -:*r
L::..:~-?i~ *~.. I:.


i i
'




CHAPTER XXX.


THE CHINESE QUARTER.-HAUNTS OF CHINESE VICE.-A SUNDAY'S
VISIT.-IN AN OPIUM JOINT.-THE GAME OF POLICY.-AT THE
FONG TONG TABLE.-THE SOCIAL EVIL.-DEGRADATION OF
WHITE WOMEN.-THE EVIL OF THl? LAUNDRIES.-CHINESE
AND AMERICAN MARRIAGES.-BEFORE THE GREAT JOSS.
OF all foreign colonies in New York the Chinese is the most
picturesque. Emigrants from European countries merge themselves in the American population, acquire the English tongue,
study the spirit of our institutions, and are content to live and die
within the bounds of the great republic. But the Chinaman is a
unique and isolated figure. Suspicious as a man who finds himself in a den of thieves, he is ever on the watch while he works for
some new manifestation of that American temperament which his
own mind, dense with the superstitions of many thousand years,
can never quite understand. He scents in the average citizen an
alert foe to his nationality, creed and habits. Consideration and
kindness never disarm him. He is even distrustful of that tongue
which the Americans use with such nervous energy, and year after
year passes over his head without an attempt to learn more of the
language than suffices for his business relations with the people
whom he fears and dislikes. And so it follows that he wears the
flowing blouse, the loose trowsers, and the paper shoes of his
countrymen at home; lets his queue hang down his back, and
eats the peculiar dishes whose secret he brought with him from
the remote East. His amusements, too, are essentially Chinese.
He clings to the opium habit, and cannot see the good of casting
it loathingly behind him. He has his own clumsy methods of
gambling, which require the least effort of his enervated mind.
When he plays his favorite game of policy he employs a system of
counting which is grotesque to the American eye. When he
drinks it is a decoction made from the extract of a nut which is indescribably offensive to delicate palates. When he wants music
he thrums on a Celestial mandolin an air of unbroken monotony.
418




OPIUM " JOINTS."'


419


His pleasure is grave and subdued, as if he lived under the spell
of his impish and wooden-featured gods. It is his taciturn humor.
his creeping isolation, his clannish fashions, his uncanny likes
and dislikes, and his jealousy of push and progress, that make the
Chinaman stand out a conspicuous oddity in our restless population. He is like the figure of one of his own curiously carved and
hideous idols. There is probably no American who does not regard the Chinese as beings dissimilar to and dissonant with himself; as a caste shut out by its fantastic personality from his sympathies and associations.
Unless it be San Francisco, there is no city in the United States
where the Chinese can be studied to such advantage as in New
York. There are between six and seven thousand settled in our
midst, forming a compact and well-regulated colony. Their main
settlement is in the lower part of Mott Street, with branches running into Pell and Park streets. Here in old, dark and dirty tenement houses they swarm, like coolies on a Pacific steamer.
Around and on all sides of them live the crowded Italians, Irish,
Jews and Germans; hucksters, rag-pickers, laborers, loafers,
thieves and vagrants; but none in darker and narrower quarters
than the Chinese. Scattered in other parts of the city, even to the
outskirts, are hundreds of laundries. Their occupants have more
space to move and breathe in than the Mott Street Chinaman, but
every Sunday sees them wending their way to mingle with their
friends in the big settlement, with its stores, restaurants and joss
house. It was natural that in a colony welded into one whole the
fashions and practices peculiar to remote China should prevail
and take root. Some of those practices are no doubt bad and
vicious, but they have been transplanted and they flourish here.
Among them none is more pernicious than the opium habit: And
it is to indulge in his beloved drug by smoking it in long, cumbrous pipes that the Chinamen rendezvous in Mott Street Sunday
after Sunday.
The "joints" are usually situated at the end of a passage in a
weather-beaten brick house, no doubt the scene in other years of
brawls and orgies among the debased tenants. The Chinamen
glide into these houses as stealthily as shadows, for they know
that the opium den is under the ban of the laW and that it may be
raided by the police at any hour of the day or night. The authorities are disposed to let the Chinamen congregate as friends to en



420


DREAMING AWAY' THE HOURS.


joy a sociable pipe of opium, but set their faces hard against the
practice as it prevails in the notorious joint. With the connivance
of some politician, a Chinaman is sometimes able to fit up an
opium den with pipes and lounges, where he makes a profitable
business of drugging his almond-eyed friends with the narcotic.
But the politician, in permitting the joint to exist for a weekly
tax, draws the line at the admittance of Americans. Occasionally
a degraded white, who has become wedded to opium for the
pleasure it affords him, is tolerated among the Chinese smokers.
But his introduction is attended with peril to the interests
of the keeper of the joint, for no sooner is it known to the
Chinaman's accomplice on the police force than the den is raided
and indiscriminate arrests of whites and Mongols are made. If
an American, however, has had a long acquaintance with an intelligent Chinaman he may get admitted to the joint solely to look
on at the opium smoking but not to indulge in it.
This is the picture he sees. A low apartment divided into stalls,
between which runs a passage to the kitchen in the rear, where
the opium is prepared. In each compartment is a low lounge of
matting furnished with pillows for the smoker's head. The walls
are covered with a cheap paper and with crude Chinese designs;
an oil lamp swings from the ceiling. The effect of the division of
the place into stalls is to remind one of the steerage of an ocean
steamer, and the indescribable odor that floats in the air strengthens the illusion. Each lounge is equipped with a tray holding the
smoking apparatus, which consists of a pipe, needle, opium jar
and sweet-oil lamp. It is a rare thing for the compartments not
to be well patronized after dark. Reclining on the lounges with
their heads propped up by pillows two Chinamen on each lounge
may be seen smoking or dreaming away the hours. The process
of using the opium is simple. From the little opium jar the
smoker takes on the point of a needle a lump of matter which is
thick and dark like molasses. He winds it around the needle until it adheres without dropping, and then holds the substance over
the flame of the lamp. The opium sizzles and turns to a rich amber color, the Chinaman watching it with a drowsy face, in which
there is not the least vestige of intelligence. The cooking, as it is
called, lasts perhaps two minutes. Then the smoker takes his
long cane pipe in one hand to stuff into it the ball of opium. The
stem is about two.feet in length and an inch and a half in diam



HOW OPIUM IS SMOKED.


421


eter, and is made of reed or Chinese mahogany. The bowl is a
piece of wood of the color of burnt clay, with a hole in the centre
about as large as the thick part of a big'darning-needle, and
it is set into the stem six or eight inches from the end. The
mouth-piece of this clumsy pipe does not taper off into a smooth
piece of amber, but is of the same size as the stem itself. Into
the aperture of the bowl the Chinaman packs the opium with the
point of a huge needle. Now his preparations are complete. He
turns himself on his side and holds the bowl close to the flame so
that the opium can burn slowly. His eyes half close, a look of
languor steals over his features, and he sucks in from the big
mouth-piece a cloud of smoke which he takes into his lungs and
breathes out through his nostrils. In a minute and a half the
opium is exhausted, only a charred remnant remaining in the bowl.
Reveries, dreams and stupefaction do not come with one pipe.
Again and again the smoker cooks his lump of opium, packs it
into the bowl, and lazily watches the smoke curl up around the
hanging lamp. After awhile the pipe drops from his nerveless
hand, there is a glaze on his eyes, which are half-shut, like a dead
man's, his lips part, his head falls upon his breast, and he is in
that opium trance which is either paradise or hell, according to the
degree of his indulgence in the narcotic. It may be that his fellow on the lounge has thrown aside the pipe before its effects have
overcome him, and is holding a half-consumed cigarette between
his lips. His expression is listless and blank. His companion
is wrapped in the opium sleep, limp, pale and motionless, but he
does not look at him lying as one dead on the other side of the
little lamp of sweet oil which burns with a bluish flame, like an
imp of fire in a bottle. The air is dense with an oppressive odor
that has a leaden and drowsy effect even on the chance visitor.
In possession of other lounges lie Chinamen in all kinds of postures and in all stages of the opium languor. Now there is a stillness as of death, and now a jerky guttural comes from the throat
of a dreamer tumbled into a heap on a lounge in a dark corner.
Sometimes a door opens and a new comer breaks the silence with
a confused jargon. But there is not much conversation in the
opium joint; the genius of the place holds his worshippers in a
speechless and inert thrall.  The hanging-lamps burn with a
yellow flicker through the long night hours, and a cloud of opium
smoke is often drawn over them like a veil. The place is rude




422                 A GRINNING TYRANT.
and often unclean, but the minds of the sleepers are building for
them palaces of rare beauty, sunsets of eternal glory, and gardens
of musical fountains and blossoming flowers. No one can be so
transcendently happy as these wretched creatures in the depth of
their degradation. De Quincey has depicted in imperishable language the pageants and forms of beauty he saw in his trances, but
fortunately for his fellow-men he has also drawn pictures of the
exquisite torture he suffered in the moments when his nerves were
drawn out like fine wire through infinite space. As the night
wears on a sleeper here and there rouses himself to his feet and
with dulled eyes and mechanical movement passes out through the
door into the night and the yellow-lighted street. Perhaps his
senses mark the staggering gait and hear the shout of a belated
roisterer. Wine may be a bad taskmaster but opium is a grinning
tyrant who releases his victims only when their nerves are shattered
to fragments and death yawns horribly before them. Better to be
the wine-inflamed debauchee than the stupefied smoker of opium.
But the stagnant dissipation of the smoker's life in the joint
goes on all night. No breath of pure air strays in to cool the
dreamer's brow; doors are sealed tight, lamps steadily flame, and
the white smoke hangs in layers in the light and is banked up in
dark corners. In the rear of the rows of bunks is the opium
kitchen, where a boilerful of a black fluid is bubbling audibly.
Near it sits the keeper of the joint, a pipe of tobacco in his mouth.
He cannot afford to drug and daze himself. He must attend to
the wants of his patrons, refill the opium jars, prepare the pipes of
nerveless smokers, trim the yellow lamps, and collect his dues.
The fluid in the boiler is opium forming into the glutinous mass
with which the jars are replenished. A dense cloud of steam rolls
up from the iron pot; if you put your head into it you will find the
odor suggestive of a grave vault, and loving fresh air you will draw
back with repugnance.  Daylight can steal in even through the
blind windows of an opium den, and when it comes the dreamers
know that they must go out to that toil which earns them the
price of their indulgence. And so, one by one, they get up with
stiffened limbs and issue forth to their laundries and tea stores.
Another Chinese habit that is almost as pernicious in its effects
as opium smoking is the habit of gambling. The Celestial is a
shameless and inveterate gambler. It is a rare thing to find a
Chinaman who is not infatuated with games of chance. His




CHINESE GAMBLING.


423


gambling takes two forms, policy and " fong tong." The houses in
which these games flourish are, designated by white characters
painted on the porch or door. If you pass through Mott or Pell
streets you will see these places every few steps. It may be that
the den is in a basement below the sidewalk, and often it is
reached by three or four crooked flights of stairs. The policy
shop is the most interesting to Americans, because our own negroes and shiftless whites throughout the United States play the
game to a great extent. The Chinese game is not so complex as the
American, in which the term " gig," " whip" and "saddle" confuse the uninitiated. The Chinese policy-shop is usually a square
room boarded up to the ceiling with pine planks. It is divided
into two parts by wooden bars, which run up to the plastering.
Behind this partition stands the owner of the game and his assistants. In the space outside tables are set against the walls for the
accommodation of the players, and hung above is a sheaf of tickets.
In Mott Street two drawings take place every day, at four o'clock
in the afternoon and at ten o'clock in the evening. When the
Chinaman wants to play policy he tears a ticket from the sheaf on
the wall, and pores over it for a few minutes before selecting his numbers, of which there are eighty printed on the slip of paper. These
numbers are Chinese characters, incomprehensible to an American. Perhaps the player has had a dream the night before that
a certain combination of figures will bring him fortune, or perhaps,
like the American gambler, he employs a " system." When his
mind is made up he seizes a little stick from the table, dips it in
red paint, and daubs the numbers that he fancies. He does this
in a very clumsy fashion, and when he has finished the ticket
looks as if a dozen strawberries had been crushed into it. He
may play five or more numbers, according to the money he risks.
He hands his combination to a Chinaman behind the bars, who
puts it on file. Hour after hour the Celestials pour in to try their
luck. Some of them never miss a drawing, even if they have only
a few cents to lose. The dream of their lives is to make a lucky
strike.  They don't talk very much, except when excited with
winning, and then their jerky speech jars the ear like the sound
of a rusty wagon wheel. Behind the bars the proprietor is kept
busy receiving money and giving change. His expression is always fixed and stolid.  For impassiveness the American gambler cannot be compared with him. But if an inquisitive stranger




424


POLICY.


puts his face into the shop and peers at the strange scene, at once
a look of ugly distrust comes into the face of the gambler behind the
wooden fence. He now has the appearance of a venomous animal
in a cage. A hostile light glitters in his eyes, and if the strange
white man has been piloted in by a Chinaman it is with no
friendly glance that the latter is regarded. Next to an unknown
American the Chinaman hates one of his own kind who shows the
American the sights and oddities of Chinatown. Uppermost in
his mind is the fear that the strangely assorted couple have designs on his business.  He thinks he may be black-mailed by
threats of police interference. If an American wishes to see an
evil expression on a human creature's face he should penetrate
a Chinese gambling den and loiter about until the keeper of the
place and his satellites have worked themselves into an agony of
nervousness. If glances could kill he would be mutilated after a
hundred fashions.
When the hours have arrived at which the Celestial policy-player
is to learn whether he has lost his wretched stake or is to see it
multiplied many times the chief interest begins. About fifteen
minutes before the drawing eighty numbers are scrawled on slips
of paper, all of the same size. These are rolled up into balls and
placed in equal numbers in three white bowls. Then a Chinaman
mixes them 'up by changing handfuls of the balls from bowl to
bowl. Finally the numbers are thrown into one large basin, and
thirteen of them are picked out at random. They are passed
down the table to a Chinaman who keeps the record. Then it is
that the waiting gamblers beyond the railing give their strictest
attention to the procedure. Their eyes twinkle and expand, they
change their attitudes from one foot to the other or plunge their
hands under their blouses. But after all, they resemble American
gamblers in a studied unconcern and a rigid repression of feeling.
The recording Chinaman slowly unrolls the balls. He is the arbiter of fate, and he takes his time. As his eye catches sight of
the number he clangs it out in a monotone. Not a word is heard
among the gamblers. Some of them stand near the railing with
their eyes fixed on the clerk of numbers. Others are sitting down
at tables daubing red marks on fresh tickets to designate how the
drawing is running. As it proceeds they know how many of their
guesses were correct. The harsh monotone rises thirteen times
and then ceases. When it has died away most of the China



HOW IT IS PLAYED.


425


men straggle out with hands in their pockets. They speak not
a word, and look neither vexed nor surprised. There is not one
of them who shouts an imprecation. Policy is a part of their daily
routine. They expect to lose, and lose with the stolidity of wooden
images. Those who are winners remain behind to congratulate
each other on their good luck, to which they are very sensitive.
If five numbers were guessed the player receives the amount of his
stake, and it is doubled, trebled or further multiplied according as
his guesses have approached the complete number of thirteen.
Payments are not made immediately after the drawing, but the
next morning. In almost every tea and grocery store in Chinatown
you will find a record of the drawings for a month back. This record
the Chinese gambler studies as the American sporting man studies
the racing guide. He makes all sorts of calculations on the probability of a repetition or change of combinations. If the lucky
numbers are all huddled together in the card of to-day he will
scatter his guesses all over the ticket of to-morrow, or he will
paint them in the form of a cross or circle, as the fancy seizes
him. He is full of whims and oddities, and is as much a slave to
systems of play as the American roulette or faro gambler. The
Chinaman will talk freely with you about hio luck. He will tell
you that he has not hit the right numbers for a month, or that he
made fifty dollars a fortnight ago, and he will show you the numbers
he was successful with. The dream of his life is to paint on his
ticket the very figures that the Chinaman behind the desk announces in his harsh monotone. Then if his stake was large he will
be rich and may return to China and be mandarin. He is full of
reminiscence of his lucky days, when he won perhaps three hundred dollars at one clean sweep. But he will admit with a bland
smile and a show of teeth that he has lost every cent of it since at
policy. As high as three thousand dollars in greenbacks has fallen
at times to the lucky Mott Street policy-player.  That means
nothing less than shaking the dust of New York from the feet and
travelling overland to San Francisco on the way home.
But the Chinamen who enrich themselves out of the game of
policy are the proprietors of the shops. Profits fall into their laps
very fast, and if they can keep their dens open without interference
they are reasonably sure of fortune. The every-day gambler finds
himself growing poorer and poorer. His blouses get to look
shabby, he neglects his person, and his business goes to ruin. If




426


42  FONG TONG."


he is wise he moves his laundry to the upper part of the city where
it is a long cry to the Mott Street dens.
The favorite game of chance other than policy with the Chinese
is fong tong. This is played on a table of matting about three feet
high and eight feet in length for four in width. In the middle of
it is a square drawn in thin black lines of paint; each side of the
square is eighteen inches long, and is numbered one, two, three or
four. The player puts down his money, say at the No. i side.
Then the dealer or croupier, as he may be termed, pours a bowlful
of Chinese copper coins on the table. With a black stick he separates from the pile four coins at a time, a number the same as the
sides of the square. He may have removed twenty series of four
when one coin remains, which signifies that a stake on the No. i
side of the square has won. If two coins remain, the No. 2 side
of the square has won. If the player places his chip or counter on
a corner of the square he means that he desires two chances for his
stake, for he is covering two sides of the square. He can win of
course by this play less than if he were backing one chance out of
four. All manners of combinations can be made on this simple
square.
A popular gambling-house is crowded in the late hours of the
evening. The Chinamen swarm in and surround the fong tong
table. The place is fitted up as rudely as an opium den, but there
is more space for breathing, more light, more talk and laughter.
When the gamblers stand and sit in rows about the table of matting
it is possible for them to place their stakes only on one side of the
square, but they can designate a play on any side by using a little
red pointer which they put beneath the counters. They are probably the most absorbed gamblers in the world. They hang on each
play as if the fate of the human race hung on the issue, and they
watch the croupier who parts the coins with the most jealous
viglance. If he were to attempt to make the partition with his fingers there would be an outcry at once. He must use the black
stick, which he manages as skilfully as he would the chop-sticks
with a dish of rice.
The proprietors of the game not only have the benefit of the bad
play of their patrons, but exact a percentage of their winnings.
Americans are not admitted under any pretence. It has been said
that they have sat at Chinese gambling tables in Celestial garments,
but no one of sense will believe this, for the Chinaman is as keen



THE SOCIAL EVIL.


427


eyed as a lynx. And it might go hard with an American who penetrated into a gambling haunt in the dress of a Chinaman. Red
is considered the lucky color by Chinamen. In all the decorations
of their gambling dens, whether they are illuminated texts, rude
pictures, or knots of silk, you will never see anything red. Walls
and doors may be painted blue or green, but not red, for that color
would surely mean ruin to the proprietor.
The Chinese, when engaged in playing games of chance day after
day, are just as superstitious as the most ignorant negro who pins
his faith to the "whip," " gig," or "saddle" of policy. If on his
way to try his fortune at fong tong he meets a stranger who greets
him pleasantly, he will have good luck. If he visits of an evening
and refreshments are set before him, he can go to a gambling.
house with impunity after leaving his host.. If he dreams of the
color red, or sees a conflagration or gorgeous sunset in his sleep,
he will have luck at the fong tong table. But if his eye falls on a
dead body during the lay he will shun games of chance until the
effect has passed off. If he has had a quarrel he does not dare
to stake his money. On his way to play he will never lend a cent
of his capital, for that too would be an evil omen. Gold he may
dream about and win, but not so of silver. To dream of blue is
also unfortunate. And then he has the same queer notions while
at the fong tong square as his American brother at faro. If he is
losing and an acquaintance leans on his shoulder or puts a foot on
his chair he strenuously objects, believing that the circumstance
brings him bad luck. Two thousand dollars is said to be as much
as a Chinaman ever won at fong tong at one sitting in New York.
From one to eight hundred dollars is not an unusual winning.
When a house has gained the reputation of bringing big profits to
the proprietor straightway his rent is raised, and no Chinaman
thinks it an extortion. The Celestial who can renounce the gambling table after a turn of good fortune usually puts his gains
into a laundry and is content to work from daybreak to late at night
if he can spend Sunday in Mott Street.
The social evil prevails among the Chinese in New York to an
extraordinary degree, despite the fact that the half dozen native
women are wives of Chinese merchants and are not prostitutes.
In Pell Street and vicinity there are three houses of prostitution
whose sole patrons are Chinamen.  The inmates are Irish, American, German and Italian females who have fallen from one stage




428


IMMORAL WHITE WOMEN.


of degradation to another until they are more brute than human.
Most of them, sad to say, are very young women. Their appearance is coarse, and their habits are anything but clean. One
prominent man among the Chinese residents keeps a disorderly
house, in which there are sixteen women. A cousin of his has been
overheard to say that death would be the lot of any Chinaman who
attempted to break up his nefarious traffic.
But the existence of these houses of prostitution is by no means
the blackest feature of the loose life of Mott Street. Young girls
of from fifteen to eighteen years of age are in the habit of visiting
the laundries of their own free will for immoral purposes. Some
of them not only support themselves by this practice but supply
the means of dissipation to some chosen male friend. It is a
shocking thing to write down the fact that there are wretches low
enough to accept money from girls who administer to the lusts of
Chinamen, but such is the fact, well known to persons who live in
the vicinity of Mott Street. If contempt goes out to these brutalized females what odium is black enough for their white accomplices. It is from this latter class that the worst element in the
city is recruited; boys and men who haven't one vestige of manhood, who are ready to steal, stab and shoot without provocation,
and who are too drenched in moral iniquity to be held in check except by the discipline of the penitentiary.
The moon-faced, gentle Chinaman who plies his iron all day and
slips through the streets fearful of contact with the rude American
is an easy victim to the wiles of the immoral white woman. An
intelligent Chinaman, who dresses like a European and talks English fluently, once pointed out to a friend of mine a pert young
woman in an elevated train.
"That girl," said the Chinaman, "who is less than twenty years
of age, wheedled an acquaintance of mine out of eight hundred
dollars which he had got together after years of painful toil in his
laundry. It all went in three months, and then the girl went her
way and the poor Chinaman had to begin the world over again.
Such cases are not uncommon."
In New York City there are fifteen Chinamen who are married
to American women.  They belong to the progressive class of
Chinamen who have learned English and have abandoned all idea
of returning to the Flower) Kingdom. The women in most cases
have made excellent wives, and show as much affection for their




NEW YORK'S JOSS HOUSE.


429


offspring as if the blood in their veins ran pure. The children are
usually bright and active. They are taught to speak English and
attend the public schools. The ignorant Chinese element who
raise the barrier of their tongue and creed between themselves and
the hated Americans are bitterly opposed to this intermarriage.
Not only in their minds does it mean treachery to their country
and the faith of their fathers, but it implies that the husbands are
preferred by the white women to themselves. Jealousy, by the way,
is the ruling passion in the Chinese breast. The Chinese consul
in New York is of course a foe to intermarriage, on the ground that
the domicile of the husband in America must be the result.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of Chinese life in New York
is the social intercourse of these people as seen in the great joss
house, their restaurants and lounging places. The joss house
used to be a dingy tenement on Mott Street, but a year ago the
tea and grocery merchants, having waxed rich and generous, resolved to give their god an elaborate and reverential temple. The
distrust of Americans was so deep-seated that none of our skilled
workmen were thought worthy of being entrusted with the plainest
piece of upholstery or decorative work. An order for the image
of the joss, his shrine, and all the embellishments that were to
surround him was sent to China. The cost of the god and temple
was to be eight hundred dollars. In due time he arrived and was
received with imposing ceremony. The Chinese merchants leased
the second floor of a building on Chatham Street near Mott, and
the joss was at once put in possession. The room in which he
looks out from a screen, night and day, is about thirty feet square.
It is gaudily fitted up, and is kept as neat as pious hands can
keep it. The joss himself sits in a gorgeous shrine of carved wood,
mounted with gold. The setting is most fantastic and bewildering. Birds, dragons, antediluvian animals, serpents, crabs and
fishes burst out all over the front of the shrine. Almost veiled
from view, the joss peers out on the worshipper. He is painted on
carved wood, and is as hideous a deity as was ever seen in the most
frenzied of opium dreams. In front of the shrine stands a tablea handsome one, with all the appliances of worship upon it. Worship takes the form of burning scented sticks and paper, which is
done constantly by pious Chinamen and by Chinamen of irregular
habits when the good-will of the joss is desired. Something very
curious on that table is the wooden augur, as it might be called.




43~


CELESTIAL RESTAURANTS.


It consists of two pieces of wood, each shaped like the half of a
pear. When the devout Celestial wishes to know the humor of the
joss towards an enterprise or journey he kneels before the table,
takes the pieces of wood in his hands, and invoking the pleasure of
the god drops them on the floor. If the pieces both fall with the
flat sides uppermost the joss regards the enterprise or journey
favorably; but if the rounded sides show uppermost the joss is
inflexibly opposed to the purpose of his communicant. Before the
god an oil lamp burns day and night. It is tended by the clerk of
the temple, who also sweeps and cleans the room. On the walls
are painted mythological scenes; among them you may see the
Chinese Santa Claus, a bald-headed man of very benevolent aspect.
Handsomely illuminated texts from Confucius in rich frames are
everywhere, and from their corners hang bows of silk of colors considered to be auspicious by the Chinamen. Of course, red predominates. The costly furnishing of the room, however, is found in the
magnificent two-armed ebony chairs, elaborately carved.  The
carving was done by hand, and occupied the artists several years.
There are a dozen or more of these chairs in a row. The great
merchants and teachers of the Chinese colony sit in them on feast
days and occasions of solemn conclave. Strange to say, the joss
house is not only a place of worship, but a meeting-hall for the
consideration of questions affecting the material welfare of the
god's worshippers. It was not long ago that the expediency of
printing laundry tickets in both American and Chinese characters
was discussed in the temple. The unprogressive element opposed
the reform and killed the measure. Quite a number of Chinamen
are susceptible to Christian teachings and are seldom seen in the
house of the god. It is said that the respectable class among
them are joining the Baptist and other churches. Upwards of
two thousand Chinese now attend the Sunday-schools of New
York.
There are three Chinese restaurants on Mott Street; the chief
and best of them is called the King Flower House. Banners and
great bows of colored silk wave from the second story under the
name of this place of entertainment. The restaurant is on the
second floor, and on your way up you pass a policy shop with its
wooden walls and cage of railings. Colors trikes the eye on the
first entrance into the dining-room, gaudy words of welcome,
verses in strange characters and florid pictures of Chinese women,




A NOVEL BILL OF FARE.


43I


gardens and mountains. On one side an opium divan and enclosure
attracts the attention. It is encircled with painted railings that
run up to the ceiling, and contains easy pillows and the bright
little sweet-oil lamps. Very high black tables and chairs are set
about the room and the bill of fare in Chinese is pasted on the
wall. The kitchen, with its pots, pans and ware, is in plain view
through two doors in the rear. In the outer room half a dozen
chickens are hanging to hooks, and beneath them,.on a large table,
dishes full of liver, scraps of pork, Chinese maccaroni and fish
are to be seen. The cooks and waiters who whisk about their
duties are conspicuous for their loose attire and their indifference
to cleanliness. But you will be safe in ordering a bowl of tea,
which you will find to have an exquisite flavor. The Chinese
sweets and cakes, however, are sickening to the American palate.
The tea is not brought in a pot, but in a bowl covered over with a
saucer, and a cup is brought with it. After it is filled the saucer
is replaced on the bowl. No sugar or milk are used. A Chinaman would be horrified at the bare thought. His favorite dish is
boiled chicken or roast pork cut into fragments and thrown into
a heap of a peculiar maccaroni which the cook makes himself.
With a pair of chop-sticks the diner transfers the food to his mouth
with a quick moment and great relish. He is content with the
toughest kind of chicken. When he has finished his repast he
may try a pipe of opium on the divan.  While he eats, it is
likely that his attendant will lie down in the railed inclosure and
smoke three or four pipes, the while keeping up a running talk
with the man at the table. In the King Flower restaurant you
may see an elfish little Chinese-American girl, who talks English
very fast and is as pert as you please. She is a great favorite with
the Chinamen, who always play with her when they come in. On
very great occasions-as, for instance, a banquet to the Chinese
consul-the tooth of the epicure is tempted with shark's fin, birdnest soup and mushrooms, all imported from China.
The great feast season is at New Year's, which falls in our February. Then for ten days the Chinamen give themselves up to unrestrained revelry, which to our notions is noisy but very orderly.
Then the Celestials gather from all the adjoining cities and feast
on roast ducks and unpronounceable Chinese sweet~, washed down
with their home whiskey, which no American can taste without
nausea. Drums, gongs and cymbals wake the echoes of Mott.,,. *.....:,




432


AMUSEMENTS.


Street every afternoon and evening, and fireworks sizzle and flash
in the sky. Hideous kites of glaring colors float above the garrets
of the tenement houses, and Chinamen and street urchins cheer
them as they ascend. The prominent merchants close up their
shops for three days, and fling themselves, like boys, into the general celebration. Our Christmas is also observed, but more as a
season of social calls than as a single day of good cheer. The Chinese then pay visits, and leave cards nearly a foot long in immense
red envelopes. Sunday is the conventional day for social gatherings. A Chinaman would think he had passed it ill if he did not
journey to Mott Street, smoke his cigar in the store oF his friend,
the tea merchant, chat about old times, and dine at one of the restaurants. On Sunday, too, he makes his purchases for the following week. His critics say that he really appears in Mott Street
only to play policy and fong tong and to smoke'opium, and there
is a shade of truth in the assertion.
The Chinese, on the whole, if allowed to practise their vices unmolested are orderly members of the community. That the majority of them are incurable gamblers and beings of a low moral
tone is unfortunately true, but they mind their own business as
they understand it and are never guilty of ruffianism. Even among
themselves the bully and swashbuckler is a rare exception. They
never appear in the police courts except as complainants against
ruffians who have damaged their property'or brutally assaulted them.
While they are absurdly suspicious of the most amiable American
they are very sensitive to kindness, and display the utmost good
temper in return. They are keenly afraid of ridicule, and always
suspect it in gestures or expressions that they do not understand.
To laugh or jibe at a Chinaman is to earn his undying enmity.
He would never consent to let an artist draw his picture from the
dread that it would find its way into a comic journal.
In their intercourse with one another they exhibit one serious imperfection of character.  They are as jealous as women, and
nearly all their wrangles may be laid to this fact. If a Chinaman
is unusually successful in business, love or pleasure on Mott Street,
he is never in haste to announce it to his almond-eyed friends. It
is the shiftless Chinaman who creeps along the even tenor of his
way who does not raise enemies on every side.
There are, as has been said, between six and seven thousand
Chinese in this city. The work of religious and humane societies




RESPECTABLE MONGOLIANS.              433
among them has worked great changes in the last few years. Today the respectable Chinaman goes to Sunday-school and puts on
American clothing without fear of persecution, and he has become
ashamed of gambling. There is an earnest wish and effort among
them to stamp this evil out, and by living moral lives to prove
themselves worthy of the good-will of Americans and the privilege
of citizenship.
28




CHAPTER XXXI.


ABORTIONISTS.-MADAM   RESTELL S PALACE OF WICKEDNESS.-A
RAID BY ANTHONY COMSTOCK.-SUICIDE IN A BATH TUB.THE NAKED CORPSE FOUND IN A TRUNK.-A SHRIEK WHICH
STARTLED THE COURT.-" FOR GOD'S SAKE, SPARE MY POOR
FRANK."
IN a luxurious residence, built in the most fashionable part of
the city, and equalled in magnificence by few structures which
wealth and taste have erected, was ended in April 9, I878, the career of the most infamous female criminal ever known in New
York. She was found lying in her bath-tub, which was partly
filled with warm water dyed crimson by the blood which flowed
from the woman's neck. She had severed her jugular vein, and
her weapon, a huge carving-knife, lay blood-stained on the bathroom floor.
The woman who thus ended her life was Madam Restell, known
to the police as the most famous abortionist this country has ever
seen. Forty years of infamy were behind her; how small and
insignificant the crime of suicide must have appeared! Forty
years nourishing the most inhuman of vices! Alas! how many
murders must that female fiend account for on that dreadful day
of reckoning! How many mothers shall rise up in that day and
call her-damned! She was the very personification of infamy.
Under the mask of wealth and refinement she encouraged young
women to offer themselves up on the altar of lust, and she made
vice easy for those who wished to follow it. Her patrons from
the wealth and fashion of the metropolis flocked to her, and
they laid their money at her feet.,Her services she knew were
invaluable; she could charge what she wished and it was paid.
A young woman comes to her to prevent the disgrace which would
fall after the exposure of indiscretions. A wife of fashion and society comes because she is too cowardly and too selfish to perform
her duty as a mother. The little one who would have brightened
her household never knows what it is to breathe the air of life.
434




A; FOUL CREATURE.


435


Man, too, comes to this foul creature and implores her attention to
the young girl he has ruined. To them all the hardened reprobate
appears courteous and sympathetic. Sure of her fee she under
takes the filthy work.
The career of Madam Restell is like a horrible romance. She
was born in England, and married at the age of sixteen. Her real
name was not Restell; she got that in Paris and brought it back
with her. Her first husband was a worthless fellow, and he died
a few years after the marriage. The widow came to this country


MADAM RESTELL.
(From a Photograph.)
and began earning her living as a dressmaker in Greenwich
Street. She was handsome, bright and well informed. In the
course of her experience as a needle-woman she became acquainted
with many nice people. One family in particular were so pleased
with her that they induced her to go abroad with them as governess for their children. Paris captivated her and she decided to
make it her home. She fell in with a quack doctress who professed to have certain secret remedies whose properties were mar



436


MADAM RESTELL.


vellous. Madam Restell thought she would like to come back to
America and grow rich out of the weaknesses of the citizens of
New York as her Parisian friend had out of the weaknesses of the
French metropolis. So back she came, and with her certain recipes for producing abortions. To assist her in her cold-blooded
scheme she married Charles R. Lohman, better known as Dr.
Mauricna, an abortionist.
This was in i837. She took up her residence on Greenwich
Street, near Cortlandt, and advertised as a "physician." New
York was more Puritanic in those days than it is now, andi I am
glad to say, such an occupation was much more repulsive then to
the average citizen than it is now. Accordingly this new abortionist discovered that she had obstacles to contend with, and in
those early days she learned to get influence as well as shekels.
She was frequently arrested, but each time the indictments would
be suppressed by a liberal use of both money and influence. But
in i847 she was not so fortunate. Joseph C. Cook, a manufacturer, had seduced a young girl employed in his factory, named
Maria Bodine. To avoid any unpleasant consequences he had
taken the girl to Madam  Restell for treatment.  The young
woman was attended to and went home. Afterward she became
ill and confessed everything.
Upon the facts thus gained were based a complaint and warrant
against the abortionist. She was arrested, tried and convicted,
but not without a struggle. She brought into play every weapon
she could use. She invoked influence, she employed eminent
counsel and she spent money freely; but it was all in vain. She
went to the Island to spend a year. She behaved like no ordinary
prisoner, however, in her island home. Money bought her luxuries
here as it had elsewhere, and she lived in handsome style for a
convict. Her husband was with her frequently.
When her term here had expired she came back to her old quarters on Greenwich Street, and carried on her business more vigorously than ever.  She also became more notorious than ever.
Archbishop Hughes denounced her from the pulpit of St. Patrick's
Cathedral. Later in her life she got even with him. When the
site of the new cathedral was bought, and the archbishop designed to build the Episcopal residence at Fifty-second Street and
Fifth Avenue, Madam Restell stepped in, and, after running the
property up to a price beyond its value, bought it.




;I
I
I


---             -,.-           --- - -
- Z-..............I


I1


II
IIII


Ii:IiI


N,lI: 1 ~?


'I


A'~I


- \ I\
K,  1


1//I/Il


SUICIDE OF MADAM RESTELL.


437




438


HER SUICIDE.


Here was built the magnificent house in which the female abortionist was found dead on the morning of April 9, i878. It stands
there to this day. Handsomely built, luxuriously furnished, it was
a model of comfort and ease. Here she not only sold articles and
instruments for procuring abortions and preventing conceptions,
but she received.as patients in her house such women as desired
treatment and could afford the expense. Her charges were exorbitant, but as her patrons were from the wealthy classes she was
able to accumulate an enormous fortune. At her death it was estimated that she was worth a million dollars.
The immediate cause of her suicide was undoubtedly her arrest
by Anthony Comstock, who in searching her house procured evidence enough both in persons and things to secure her conviction.
'Her lawyers alleged that the knowledge of this and the memory of
her many dark crimes so weighed on her mind as to make her insane, but there seems to have been too much method for madness
in her suicide. Her property was divided between her grandson
and granddaughter, the latter of whom married a young lawyer of
this city. A woman was driven up to the door of the Hudson
River Railroad on the afternoon of August 26, i871. She nervously alighted, walked rapidly to the baggage master's room, and
asked to have a certain trunk checked to Chicago. She learned
that no train left until night, and then she disappeared from the
neighborhood of the depot.
The trunk which she had spoken of was taken care of in its
turn. The baggage men took hold of it and were carrying it to a
pile of trunks destined for the West, when they noticed a horrible
stench. Their suspicions of something wrong were at once
aroused. A cold chisel was procured and the attempt was made
to wrench the top of the trunk off.  After much prying the
cover was raised. The baggage men drew back as if shot. A
sickening sight met their glance and a foul odor filled the room.
There in the trunk was disclosed the naked body of a full grown
woman. It lay on its right side, with the legs doubled up and the
head bent forward so that the face and knees almost met. A
lovely mass of golden hair tumbled in confusion over features
whose beauty was not entirely concealed by the lines which pain
and suffering had drawn thereon. The corpse was slightly decomposed. Here was a mystery-an ugly burden which the baggage
masters wished to have removed as soon as possible. They called




THE TRUNK AT THE GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT.


439


in the police. I saw, as soon as I heard of it, that this was an exceptional crime, and accordingly I put my best detectives at work
to ferret out the perpetrators.
It was necessary first to find the truckman who had brought the
trunk to the depot. This would have been no easy task in itself,
and unless this link in the chain of evidence had been found, I
fear it might have been impossible for us to solve the mystery of


DR. ROSENZWEIG.
(From a Photograph.)
the cramped corpse. Officers were immediately detailed in search
of the truckman and all the customary steps were taken to get
upon his track. But our labors in this direction were lightened
by the voluntary coming forward of the man himself. News of
the matter reaching him in some way or other, he came to Captain Brennan and frankly told him all he knew about the mystery. It was soon found that the man himself was innocent of




440


ARREST OF THE ABORTIONIST.


any conspiracy that might be behind the matter, and he readily
told us from what house he had brought the body. This, he said,
was No. 687 Second Avenue. The house was carefully watched
by my detectives, who finally thought they had evidence enough
upon which to arrest the proprietor. Their suggestion was carried out, and very soon Dr. Ascher, alias Rosenzweig, a notorious
abortionist, found himself behind prison bars.
The body in the trunk was identified as that of Alice Augusta
Bowlsby, a charming and beautiful young woman, who had resided


c?,.,?


ALICE AUGUSTA BOWLSBY.
(From a Photograph.)


with her parents in Paterson, N. J.  Pieces of underclothing
marked with the initials "A. A. B." were found on Rosenzweig's
premises. When this discovery was made known the excitement in
Paterson was very great. A young man named Conkling, with
whom the unfortunate girl had kept company, put a bullet through
his brain in order that he might die rather than face the ordeal
and disgrace of appearing as a witness.
Rosenzweig's trial came on in the following October. Public
interest was intense. All through the trial the court-room was
crowded with spectators eager to hear the disgusting testimony




" GUILTY."


441


which came from witnesses. Rosenzweig's lawyers worked hard
for their client. The result of the trial was extremely uncertain.
Finally, the opposing counsel had offered their argument, the.judge
had delivered his charge and the jury filed out of the room.
Among those who awaited its verdict was Rosenzweig's little
daughter, about ten years old, who was very fondly attached to her
father and had remained in court during the whole of his trial.
After a reasonable length of time there was a stir near the door,
a buzz ran round the room, followed by a silence like death, and
the jurors walked in single file to their seats.
" Have you agreed upon a verdict?" asked the clerk.
Rosenzweig held his head down, but his little daughter's was
raised in expectation.
"We have," returned the foreman. "We find the prisoner
guilty."
As he pronounced the word " guilty " an unearthly shriek pierced
the room, startling the court and terrifying the spectators, and
Rosenzweig's daughter fell to the floor unconscious.
The prisoner was sentenced to seven years in the State prison.
Subsequently a new trial was granted him, which never took
place, in consequence of a change in the law.
A messenger came to Inspector Murray on February 10, 1879,
and told him that a woman was dying from malpractice at No. i6i
East Twenty-seventh Street. The house was a suspicious one, for it
was known to be the residence of Mrs. Bertha Burger, an abortionist.
Inspector Murray notified Coroner Flanagan, who with his deputy,
and with Sergeant Meekim and Roundsman O'Toole, went to the
house and made an investigation. A sad and wicked state of
affairs was brought to light. Cora Sammis, a girl, young, beautiful
and not long since pure and innocent, was the woman who had
been said to be dying. She lay in a poorly furnished room and
was surrounded by no comforts. Very different was the house of
this abortionist from that of Madam Restell. Here were no soft
carpets, luxurious beds and chairs, with servants to heed every wish
and cooks to tempt the appetite with delicacies. Mrs. Burger's
patients were women in lower grades of life than Madam Restell's,
and they could not pay such large fees. No wonder then that
they did not receive such good care.
Six months before that night when police officers raided this
house to save a dying soul, Cora Sammis had been a bright and




442


'POOR FRANK. '


pretty country girl at Northport, Long Island. Her father was a
well-to-do coal and lumber dealer. Cora went to Sunday-school,
and not the shadow of a suspicion was ever breathed against her.
In the summer time she met many New Yorkers who came there
to spend the hot months, and among the number was one Frank
Cosgrove, who was employed in an office at No. 2 Burling Slip.
Cosgrove was taken with the girl's charms. Acquaintance ripened
'into friendship and friendship into love. Passion played a part
too and this was what caused Cora Sammis's ruin and death. In
December Cora came to Brooklyn to visit an aunt, and Cosgrove
saw a great deal of her there. To prevent an exposure of her
weakness it was arranged that she should go to the abortionist,
Mrs. Burger.
She went, and the abominable practice which this ignorant
woman brought to bear upon her case made her so ill that she died.
Her last words to the officers who had come. to her rescue were:
"For God's sake, spare my poor Frank! "
"Poor Frank" was saved from punishment by law, but not from
the misery and remorse of his own soul.
Mrs. Burger was arrested, as were also her married daughter,
Rachel Davis, who lived in the same house, and Jennie Williams and
Minnie Russell, who were supposed to act largely as Mrs. Burger's
agents. Much evidence besides that yielded by Cora Sammis's
case came to light, and showed for what degrading purposes this
house was used. I rejoice to be able to say that this worse than
female devil suffered the penalty of her crimes in prison.




CHAPTER XXXII.


FRAUDS ON INSURANCE COMPANIES.-A NOTABLE INSTANCE.-ERNST
ULING AND HIS CLEVER SCHEMES.-CONVULSIONS AND SOAP.A LIVELY CORPSE.-WHAT THE COFFIN CONTAINED.-THE LAST
SAD RITES OVER NINETEEN BRICKS.-HID UNDER THE BED.-A
FULL CONFESSION.-FINK, THE UNDERTAKER.-STATEIS PRISON
FOR BOTH.
FRAUDS on insurance companies have but rarely come under
my observation, but one which occurred in 1874 is certainly deserving of mention. The organization sought to be defrauded was
the Merchants' Life Insurance Co., of this city, of which Mr. B. F.
Beekman was president at the time. The individual charged
with the fraud was a Hungarian doctor named Ernst Uling, alias
De Bagnicki, who had just previously been accused of malpractice
on a woman by the name of Louise Germs, with whom he had a
mutual policy of $io,ooo in the company in question. It was alleged by Uling that the woman, to whom he professed to be devotedly attached, died while under treatment for a uterine complaint; and he attempted to collect the money on the policy. The
officers of the company were somewhat suspicious that all was
not as it should be, and inquiries were quickly set on foot to sift
the matter to the bottom. The coffin in which Louise was said to
have been buried was exhumed from the Union Cemetery, and taken
to the New York Morgue, where a Dr. Leo was to hold a post-mortem
examination. The fastenings of the coffin were set in white lead,
and were removed with difficulty; and when the lid was opened
nineteen bricks, wrapped in newspapers and secured in place by
laths, were found symmetrically and tightly packed in the
bottom of the coffin, which was a very handsome one. The usual
trimmings were unsoiled, and there was no indication that a body
had ever been placed in it. In view of this discovery, the police
authorities were communicated with, and Superintendent Matsell
immediately ordered that Uling be. arrested, together with Chas.
Fink, the undertaker. The latter upon being taken into custody,
443




444


LOUISE GERMS.


stated that the coffin was ordered by Uling, and that he had seen
the body of a woman placed in it, he himself screwing down the
lid. The plate on the coffin bore the following inscription:
"Louise Greimet, died March 30, i874, aged twenty-three years,
three months."
Detectives Tilley and Heidelburg were detailed to work up the
case, and they at once decided to call at the apartments formerly
occupied by Uling, at No. i6o Eldridge St. Knocking at the door
produced no response, and the officers were trying to open one of
the doors with a key, when a quaint, livid-featured old lady, apparently about sixty-five years of age, together with a long, ungainly
lad, made their appearance. The female said her name was
Marie de Bagnicki, while the lad was her nephew-Aurel de SzentIvanyi. Both were Hungarians, and could speak but very little
English. In the apartments were a quantity of clothes, linen, and
documents, which were being packed up ready for removal. The
woman said these things all belonged to Uling, notwithstanding the
fact that the linen was marked " E. B. " When questioned concerning the death of Louise Germs, the old lady became very reticent, but finally said that if the officers went to Mrs. Janitzky,
No. 228 East Twenty-fifth St., they might learn something about
Uling. Tilley and Heidelburg accordingly went to the address
given, but were informed by Mrs. Janitzky that she knew nothing
about Uling. During a search of the premises, however, the
officers entered a small hall bed-room in the rear of the second
floor. Upon the bed was a man's hat,' and looking underneath
the couch Uling was discovered, in his shirt sleeves and crouched
up in a most uncomfortable position. He was quickly pulled from
his hiding-place. At the station-house he was searched and the
officers found on him a number of papers, amongst which was a
portrait of the alleged dead woman, Louise Germs. The next day,
following up a clew furnished by some memoranda found on
Uling, the detectives visited the house of Mrs. Wechsler, No. i33
One Hundred and Ninth St. They were admitted by Mrs. Wechsler, and Detective Tilley, while entering, saw a woman peep out
at the area gate. He took a second glance at her and immediately
recognized her as the original of the photograph found in Uling's
possession. The officers informed Mrs. Wechsler of the nature of
their errand, and Louise Germs, alias Greimet, was called into
the parlor and placed under arrest. At first she took her arrest in




SIMULATING DEATH.


445


a very nonchalant manner, saying she had learned all about the
case from the newspapers; but on the way to the station-house she
burst into tears and lamented bitterly the result of her conduct,
as' also the pain it would cause her father, who believed her
to be dead. At police headquarters she made a full confession
of the whole conspiracy. Her story was that when the insurance
policy was taken out by Uling, she, notwithstanding the fact that
she was examined by the physicians of the insurance company,
believed she was passing for another woman, who was to simulate
death, and thus enable Uling to draw the amount of the policy.
In December of the previous year (I873), she was very intimate
with Uling, and became sick. Her illness was a serious one,
and Uling called in a Dr. Kranowltch, who prescribed for her.
The following March she had entirely recovered, and Uling
offered her $2500 if she would simulate death and enable him to
obtain the amount of the policy from the insurance company. He
told her exactly what to do, and then called in Dr. Kurtz, who
found her apparently in strong convulsions and foaming at the
mouth. Dr. Kurtz pronounced her case a desperate one and left.
As soon as the door closed on him she jumped out of- bed and
burst into a hearty laugh.  She had placed a piece of soap in
her mouth to produce the froth, and had acted so well as to deceive Dr. Kurtz, who was a reputable practitioner. On March 29,
Uling made preparations for the funeral, giving Fink the order for
the coffin, which was taken to No. I6o Eldridge Street, and placed
on trestles by an assistant, who then went away, leaving Fink to
place the supposed corpse in its last resting-place.  Louise, who
was lying on a bed with a sheet over her, then jumped up and
frightened Fink considerably. Uling took him on one side and told
him he had a pecuniary interest in Louise's death; that he had
mistaken syncope for dissolution, and that his affairs were so embarrassed he was obliged to make it appear that she had died.
He offered Fink $250 to assist him, and after some haggling he
agreed. Mrs. Marie de Bagnicki then brought in the bricks, and
when they had been arranged in the coffin, Fink went back to his
shop, procured two strong slats, and fastened them with screws,
so that the bricks could not be displaced. Then the coffin was
sealed up with white lead as before described. Louise Germs
changed her name to " Marie Ley " and took service with a family in Orchard Street, where she remained two days. The "fu.




446


ULING'S CAREER.


neral " took place on April i, at Union Cemetery. This was all
she knew; she was completely in the dark as to who attended the
funeral of the nineteen bricks.
Before being taken to court, Louise was standing in the corridor when Uling and Fink were brought out of their cells. The
former made a sign for her to be silent and then sat down in a
manner suggestive of indifference to his fate. Fink acknowledged
the truth of Louise's story, and appeared much cast down at his
position.
In appearance Uling was apparently about forty years of age,
stoutly built, florid countenance, and passably good looking.
Louise was a rather interesting little woman, about twenty-five
years of age, with decided German features. She had small eyes,
high cheek bones and forehead, a pale complexion, and a small,
pretty mouth.
As far as could be ascertained, Uling belonged to a noble Hungarian family, and once held a commission in the Hungarian army.
In I845 his position was one of affluence, but he appeared to
have spent all his money. He was well educated, and must have
studied medicine thoroughly. It was presumed that in 1852 his
fortune became exhausted, and after visiting England and France,
where he practised medicine, he came to this country in I854.
His career in New York was a checkered one. In May, 186i, he
was tried in the Court of General Sessions for swindling Elizabeth
Altenhein, of No. 85 West Seventeenth Street, out of $417, but
was acquitted. The following year he was tried on a charge of
forgery, but a nol. pros. was entered. This prosecution arose out
of a patent held by Uling, for which letters patent were granted
in England. The facts of the case are not obtainable, but the
charge was instigated by Uling's agent in Paris, where the invention was favorably received by Dr. Ricord and the faculty of the
Hospital Beaujon. Uling had also been "in trouble" in regard
to debts contracted with various parties, and papers found upon
him at the time of his arrest showed that for some years prior to
i874 his practice had been far from reputable. Only $50 was
found in his possession, and as no money or valuables were found
at his house, it is fair to conclude that he was not in very good
circumstances. After these and other papers had been examined,
Fink was taken to Bagnicki's cell and identified him as the person
who ordered and superintended the funeral of Louise Germs.




MARIE DE BAGNICKI.


447


Fink stoutly maintained that when the coffin was taken to No. I60
Eldridge Street he saw the dead body of a woman. Bagnickl
asked him to help put her in the coffin. Fink caught hold of her
legs and noticed that they were very limp. He remarked to the
doctor that the body was scarcely cold, and asked how long the
woman had been dead. Bagnicki replied: "Twenty-four hours."
Fink thereupon closed the lid of the coffin, screwed it down, and
receiving $40 on account of a bill of $50, left. He was shown the
portrait of Louise Germs, but could not positively identify it as
that of the woman he put in the coffin. At the funeral there was
a woman closely veiled, but she remained in the carriage the
whole time. She resembled the portrait of Louise Germs, but
Fink thought that her features were longer and broader. Then
Mme. Marie de Bagnicki was questioned, and frankly acknowledged that she was the wife of Bagnicki; but on account of her
age she had given him permission to marry again whenever he
thought proper. She identified the portrait of Louise Germs as
that of a person she had seen, but she pretended not to know her
name or to have had any acquaintance with her. She remembered
that one of Bagnicki's patients died at I60 Eldridge Street; she
knew this to be true, as she went into the room and saw the corpse
laid out on a bed. She did not know the deceased woman's name.
The reason why Bagnicki adopted the name of Uling was because
his real name was so difficult of pronunciation. When told that
her husband had been arrested, a twitching of the corners of the
mouth and a momentary spasm were the only signs of nervousness
that she exhibited during the examination to which she was subjected. When asked what induced her to pack up her husband's
clothes and papers, she replied she thought from what had been
published in the newspapers that he had left the city and that she
would have to seek a new home. She also declared that she could
not recollect where she last saw Bagnicki.
The coffin containing the nineteen bricks was placed on view in
the day-room of the detectives' office, where it was an object of
curiosity to the police commissioners and several hundred private
individuals. Louise was brought from her cell and laughed heartily at seeing what was supposed to be her last resting-place,
remarking that she had no doubt but that there were many people
in New York who wouldn't object to purchasing the bricks as
relics at high prices.




448                   THE PENALTY.
The case was tried before Recorder Hackett in July, 1874.
Louise 'was admitted as a witness on behalf of the State, and
Uling and Fink were each sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment in Sing Sing. Louise was discharged upon her own recognizances.
Of the subsequent careers of the parties concerned in this
most extraordinary instance of attempted fraud I have no positive
knowledge; but doubtless Uling and Louise are now, if they are
not dead, still living together.




CHAPTER XXXIII.


BEGGARS.-THE DUDE MENDICANT.-FROM BEGGING TO THIEVING.
-TILL TAPPERS.-SNEAK THIEVES ROBBING RUFUS LORD.SHOPLIFTING.-HOW  THE " CONFIDENCE " GAME IS WORKED.
-CATCHING A TARTAR.-THE USE OF DRUGS BY THIEVES.
A MISTAKEN IDEA.
THERE are all kinds of beggars in New York, despite the efforts
of the Mendacity Society, the Charity Organization Society and
other kindred organizations.  By their agents, mendicants are
traced to their haunts, their claim to charity investigated, and
should it be discovered that they are impostors they are prosecuted. If these persons are caught in the act of begging they are
arrested and taken to the nearest police court, from whence they
are sent to places of industry under the city's care.
The tramp-beggar is the genus most commonly met. He
makes his appearance on the street just about the time the street
lamps are lighted and honest, hard-working citizens are going
home from their labor. Usually a tramp-beggar has a very hoarse
voice and a half-starved countenance. He informs you, in what is
intended to be a very pathetic manner-but which isn't-that he
is out of work, can't get any and has quick consumption. Pay
no attention to his: " May I ask a favor of you?" or " Mister,
would you kindly-." He is a fraud. Another favorite excuse is
that the applicant only~needs a nickle or a dime to make up a sufficient amount to pay for his night's lodging; but the chances are
that he has more ready cash in his pocket than the person addressed.
Then there is what may be called the chronic beggar, who is
found in the same place week after week and month after month.
As a rule he is blind or crippled. Sometimes he carries in his
hand a package of lead pencils, which are never sold; a bundle
of envelopes or writing paper, which are never disposed of. It
may be that he is equipped with a dilapidated music-box, asthmatical hand-organ, or some such instrument of torture. Others, and
29                    449




450


BEGGING LETTER WRITERS.


there are not a few of them, make no such pretence of earning a
living, but come out boldly, tin cup or cigar box in hand, and ask
the passer by for largess. Some of them are poor in reality and
use the proceeds of their solicitations in a proper manner. Most
of them, however, are frauds. Ladies do a great deal of harm by
the thoughtless manner in which they give away their small change.
The uglier and more horribly mutilated the beggar may be, the
greater his chance of getting a goodly share of coppers. One


CAPTAIN ANTHONY J. ALLAIRE.
(From a Photograph. See page zoi.)
blind fellow who had a " stand " on Second Avenue for a considerable time was followed to a room in a house in Tenth Avenue one
evening, where he handed over his day's receipts-something more
than $i6-to a number of gamblers.
Then there are the letter-writing beggars. They are very genteel, and from a comparatively comfortable home send out the most
heart-rending and pathetic letters regarding their piteous condition.
The names and addresses of all the benevolently disposed individuals in the city are at these persons' fingers' ends, and a mistake




A NEW GENIUS.


451


is rarely made in the character of the person addressed. The
heart of the philanthropist or merchant is generally touched by the
tale of woe, and without waiting to investigate the truth of the
letter he encloses a bank-note in an envelope and the beggar
laughs in his sleeve at the credulity of the giver. Not a few women
are engaged in this manner of soliciting, and they make a very good
living out of it.
Of late years a new genius has made its appearance-the dude
beggar. A young man who did not look to be more than twenty
five years old sauntered down Broadway one night in i88o. His
light overcoat covered a shapely form, his head was crowned with
a derby hat of recent fashion. A pair of eye-glasses rested on his
nose. One hand was hidden in a neat driving-glove and from the
other hand dangled its mate. Altogether, his appearance was that
of a natty young man just returning from a late call-for it was
midnight. All this was noticed by a tired New Yorker, who was
overcome with surprise when this exceedingly fine young man
stepped up with:
" Would you kindly assist me, sir, with a few pennies, that I may
get a lodging for the night? "
"What? " gasped the almost dumb-struck citizen.
"I am entirely without funds. I have met with misfortune,"
suavely responded the young man.
Without attempting to reply, the person addressed pulled out a
ten-cent piece. When the movement towards the pocket was
made, the " dude beggar " lightened his voice of the stress of care
and feeling that pervaded it at first.
" I only came over from England a month ago," he volunteered,
"and am unable to find work. I am a machinist by trade. I
have had no food since last night."
This observation was added when the silent transfer of the
coin was made, and its small denomination became manifest in the
bright rays of an adjacent electric light. The beggar hesitated a
moment; then he touched his hat with a "Thank you," and
quickened his pace down Broadway.
The loser by the transaction stood hesitating for a moment.
Then he started in pursuit. The latter did not even turn around,
and as his pursuer drew near wafted forth a contented whistle. He
finally came to a brilliantly lighted saloon, into which he dodged
with the familiarity of an old rounder. His follower caught him




452


45   I HAD TO GETr MONEY SOMEHOW."9


in the act of tossing off a sherry flip, for which he had thrown down
a fifty-cent piece in payment.
His cheek did not pale when he saw the almoner before him.
Indeed, he nodded his head in a sort of greeting.
"I admire you, now," said the New Yorker. To the bar-keeper,
" I will take the same. Come, sit down. I want you to tell me all
about it. Yes, that was with you. You pay."
The young man was led to an adjoining table, and after a little
persuading, told his method of following the begging business.
" Since you have fairly cornered me, I will tell you about this
affair. I was once a hard-working young man, but owing to circumstances I was thrown out of business and compelled to find
means of sustenance as best I could. I had a few decent rags
left, and he glanced affectionately at the neat top coat, and
nudged with his chin the rather flaming necktie that encircled an
upright collar.
"I had to get money somehow, and I took the method you have
observed. I joined the ranks of the dude beggars. I am not
ashamed of the term. A beggar is a beggar. Yes, there are others
like me. You have not happened to meet them, that is all. Indeed, a little more and you would not have met me, as I go to
Washington to-morrow. Congress is in session, you know, and it
is really about the best time to visit the Capital.
"The success of my method-you are not the only one who has
been kind to me to-night "-and the speaker proved his assertion
without remark by giving his pocketful of coins a slap-" the success of my method is owing to the astonishment which affects those
to whom I make my appeals. My appearance does not imply
want or starvation, and when I tell my story the listener immediately concludes, as soon as he recovers himself, that I am telling
the strict truth and have been caught without means. He goes
away after making his donation feeling extremely well satisfied
that he has at last hit upon a case deserving of true charity."
So much for the beggar, who, although not exactly a criminal,
still preys upon society, and is not by any means a law-abiding
citizen.
From professional begging to thieving is a very short step.
As 'a rule, till-tapping is the ground on which young thieves
-boys and youths-first practice. To be a successful till-tapper
the boy must have both courage and daring. The way in which




" MOSQUITOES."


453


they work. is as follows: Three or four boys enter a store, one after
the'other, being careful to select an hour when some of the clerks
are absent. One or two of the party make a pretence of purchasing some small article, while the third-who it. has been arranged
previously shall secure the contents of the till-will probably ask
to look at the directory. Sometimes one excuse is made and
sometimes another, but if it is sufficient to turn the attention of the
clerk for a moment or so, the trick is done and the thieves are
off. Occasionally a till-tapper will operate alone, creeping in on
his hands and knees behind the counter, and then make a bold
dash for the street. But this is a dangerous bit of work, and is
very rarely attempted..
Then the molasses trick is played. This is very amusing to
everybody but the victim. Two of the thieves go to his store,
laughing, carrying their hats in their hands. They tell him they
have a bet on as to whose hat will hold the most molasses. He is
to decide the bet by filling up one of the hats. But it will ruin the
hat. Never mind; the winner can pay for a new one. So the
obliging grocer pours in the molasses. At this interesting stage
of the proceedings, a third conspirator enters the store and asks
for the change of a quarter. The grocer goes to his till, and the
moment his back is turned the hat containing the molasses is
clapped dexterously on his head from behind. This is where the
laugh comes in, for while he is groping about, blinded and half
smothered by the sticky mass, his till is rifled of its contents and
the thieves make good their escape.
Every commander of a precinct will agree with me in saying
that the " mosquitoes " of police duty are the sneak thieves. They
grade from the urchin who will snatch an apple from the front of
a grocery store, to the clever, plausible, well-dressed fellow who
will steal into a mansion like a shadow and disappear with the substance, leaving not a " wrack " behind. In such cases I can hardly
blame the captain and his precinct detectives for just making an
inquiry into the facts, and advising the householder to be more
careful in the future. Of course sneak thieves of the better class
could not exist unless there were receivers of stolen goods; while
on the other hand there would be no arrests of first-class members
of this class in the criminal world, without a friendly hint now and
then from persons known to the police as receivers of their plunder.
So that where a precinct commander wishes to gain occasional




454


" SECOND-STORY" MEN.


glory by the capture of a sneak thief he must, in gamblers'parlance, "play both ends against the middle "-that is, his conscience
and reputation against " optional intelligence " in regard to persons
he knows to be in league with the criminals.
Strangely enough, the most dangerous sneak thieves are those
who work alone. Men have been in this "business" for years
without being detected. They have no one to betray them except
themselves, and they are generally faithful to their trust. Perhaps
the most venturesome is the "second-story " man. In all my ex

"if
SPENCER PETTIS.
(From a Photograph.)


perience I think I can say truly that there have not been more
than six of this class who have come under my notice. There
may have been a dozen " working" during that time. If so, six
have never come to grief. This is simply the result of the manner
in which these " princes of larceny " manage their affairs. A " second-story " man is required to be shrewd, have an absolute knowledge of police methods, be an A i judge of human nature, know
the ways of servants, profound in divining feminine artifices in re-,
spect to concealing valuables, expert in judging the value of pre



THEIR METHODS.


455


cious stones, jewelry, and, but rarely, furs and garments-for these
gentry make up their last in small packages, and do not care to appear bulky when returning from a marauding expedition. He must
have great architectural instinct, and, above all, acrobatic ability.
The hour of the "second-story " man is 6 P.M, in winter, and
dusk in summer; but here it should be said that mid-summer
business is neither safe or profitable. When dusk comes with the
dinner hour, then is the "second-story" man's opportunity. His
aim is to be above the inmates of the house when they are pleasantly
engaged in discussing the evening meal.  No one ever saw a
"pursy," asthmatic or feeble" second-story "man. Take a circus
acrobat, and you have his model. His aim is to reach a secondstory window unobserved. That attained he will take care of himself. It is immaterial to him whether the window be open or shut,
no catch ever devised can keep him out. His " tools " can be
carried in his hat if necessary. They consist of a jimmy, not more
than five inches long; nippers, a piece of candle, matches, a thin
bladed glazier's knife; and, in some cases, a piece of paper smeared
with Venice turpentine, molasses or any substance that will keep
sticky and wet for a long time. This is used when it is necessary
to break a pane of glass. A monkey in the tether of an Italian
organ grinder is not more agile than a second-story man in ascend
ing by means of window blinds, gutters, or anything which will
afford finger or toe hold, or the grasp of an arm. A few seconds
suffice to enter a window. Then a hasty survey of the field; and
everything is comprehended at a glance.
A second-story man rarely opens anything which does not contain valuables. Few locks are proof against his jimmy.  He
rapidly stores his plunder in capacious pockets, often fitted with
safety-flaps so that in descending to the ground, or in flight, nothing
can fall out. An average of two minutes to a room is enough for
his purpose. During this time he has to keep a sharp look-out for
stray members of the household and a dog. If possible, he chooses
other means of exit than those of his entry, so that a knowledge of
the various fashions of protecting front doors comes in use. Once
in the street, he never hurries until out of sight of the house he
has plundered, except when pursued. In such an event he is always "clean" when the hand of the law is laid on him, having
thrown his plunder away. I recollect three cases of conviction of
such marauders.  The very king of these'specialists, after a




456


SNEAK THIEVES.


wonderful career in respect to evading arrest, met his fate by the
toppling over of a coping-stone, which fell on his head and killed
him.
Next in rank is the first-class sneak thief who has no acrobatic
ability, but who has a thorough knowledge of the science of opening front or basement doors, profiting from the carelessness of inmates, and occasionally venturing a descent through the coal
chute or the scuttle on the roof. I remember the unearthing, in
September, I879, of one of the worst gangs of sneak thieves that
ever made a police captain's life unhappy. The party was conmposed of Michael Murphy, George Leonard, Alexander Higgins,
George Thompson and Arthur Dempsey. They had an ally in the
person of John J. Sheridan, a liquor dealer, of No. 428 East Thirteenth Street. Their depredations startled the community. They
were like the Irishman's flea. One day a robbery up town, next
down town, then the east, then the west, and then in the centre of
the city. At first no police officer could "place" them. Their
principal "tracks" consisted of the following robberies: In
August, at No. 47 East Ninth Street, at the residence of the Rev.
Mancius C. Hutton. This was a "coal chute job." The house
was vacant so far as residents were concerned, and the usual occu.
pant, who was in the country, was an antiquarian. His rooms
were crowded with objects of art, precious documents, old furniture, tapestries and books-some of them of great value. The
thieves completely gutted the place. No band of brigands ever
displayed less regard for property which would not pay for carrying away. When the robbery was discovered it was ascertained
that the articles secured by the thieves were worth less than a
thousand dollars. In getting this much they had done at least
$5000 damage. They had tirned over the contents of each apartment in order to select what was "negotiable," ripping, cutting,
breaking and defiling what they did not want; and piling the rejected articles in the centre of the room.  Only a day or two
afterwards the members of the gang visited the residence of Mrs.
Mary G. Duykinck. This raid netted them about a thousand dollars. Later, General J. Watts De Peyster was the sufferer. His
quaint old home at No. 59 East Twenty-first Street was entered by
the coal chute, and the property taken was worth " intrinsically "
more than $3000.  It included medals and other souvenirs, for
which the General would have refused $IO.ooo. Next in order




COAL CHUTE JOBS.


457


was the robbery of No. 24 Lexington Avenue, the residence of
Mr. J. Allen, of the firm of Allen & Dam (Astor House). Mr.
Allen's loss was $2000. Then came Mr. T. A. Coakley's house,
No. 268 West Twenty-fourth Street, loss, $1200. Then, Mrs. J. H.
Billings's residence at No. 117 East Nineteenth Street, where
trunks were rifled of property worth $700.
By chance, a week after, a policeman of the Twenty-ninth Precinct, arrested Murphy, Leonard and Higgins in the act of plunTIP LITTLE.
(From a Photograph.)
dering No. I40 West Thirty-fourth Street, the residence of Mr. F.
C. Manning. The job was a coal chute one, and when Detectives
King and Lyons heard of it they were active in examining and interrogating the prisoners. From what they learned, they became
assured of the men's complicity in the other robberies mentioned.
They found that one of them wore a shirt and necktie which had
been taken from Mr. Allen's house. This led to the surveillance
of men who might be reasonably supposed to associate with the




458


RUFUS L. LORD.


prisoners; and so, ten days later, the officers had the satisfaction
of arresting Thompson and Dempsey carrying valises which contained the bulk of the Duykinck property. Sheridan's connection
with the thieves had by this time been more than suspected. It
was safe now to explore his place. The result was satisfactory to
the police. Not only was much of the other property found there,
but also "stuff" obtained in other expeditions. Sheridan's private quarters were fitted up as a store-house, and the display of
recovered goods, worth from seven to eight thousand dollars,
at police headquarters, was about the best ever seen there. The
prisoners were all convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
One of the most important sneak thieving operations known in
this country was that perpetrated on Rufus L. Lord, capitalist and
owner of vast real estate in the neighborhood of Exchange Place.
Lord was a financial curiosity, and his wealth in his later years
could not have been less than $4,000,00o. That he was economical
there could be no doubt, and some persons called him a miser.
There was some reason for this. At No. 38 Exchange Place he
had what he called an " office." It was rather a den, presided over
by this Crcesus. His ordinary attire consisted of garments which
a first-class rag-picker would disdain to take from an ash-barrel,
and, invariably, a pair of slippers which appeared to have done
considerable service. The " fittings " of the office were as antique
as the attire of its occupant. At the back of the room, behind
his desk, he had constructed a fire-proof vault, in which were placed
the deeds, accounts and books of his property, and also vast sums in
bonds and securities. This vault was known to be so fire and burglar-proof that wealthy friends often asked permission to put their
securities and money in it. Mr. Lord's end and aim in life was to
amass wealth; he talked and dreamed of nothing else, and what
work he did was confined to taking his securities and bonds from
the safe, gloating over them and cutting off the coupons.
I well remember how, on the 7th of March, i866, poor Mr. Lord
came to grief. At that time he was almost in his dotage. He
was blear-eyed, feeble, and absent-minded to the extent of frequently leaving his treasure unguarded and at the mercy of marauders. 'Upon one occasion he went home, leaving his office and
safe open, with nearly $2,000,000 at the command of the first adventurer who came along. At another time, the janitor in clean



A PAIR OF BOSTON WORTHIES.


459


ing up the place found the key of the vault in the wash-basin, where
Mr. Lord had washed some grime from his usually dirty hands.
He was deaf, garrulous, and his attention was easily distracted by
any chance visitor who happened to call with a plan for making more money. Upon the date mentioned, Mr. Lord was busy
as usual in his den. He was, it is believed, at the time concerning which I am about to relate, sorting coupons into bundles.
Two plausible gentlemen called. They had visited him before,
and were, therefore, not entire strangers to him. They were " Jack"
Rand, alias "Greedy Jake," bank burglar and sneak, and so
thoroughly dishonest that once, in a marauding expedition in
Canada, he got the start of some confederates with whom he was
to visit a bank, opened the cash receptacle himself, and got away
with the plunder, leaving his "pals" in the lurch. Hence the
sobriquet, "Greedy." The other worthy was Horace Ennis, commonly known as " Hod." Both hailed from Boston.
At the former visit these gentlemen had taken a good look at the
room in which they were received, and had incidentally discovered
Mr. Lord's many infirmities.  It was easy, therefore, while they
engaged his attention on the first visit, for " Ed." Pettengill, alias
"Perkins," alias "Anderson," alias "Boston Pet," to glide into
the den, take the key from the vault and obtain a wax impression
of it. This was a precautionary measure. On the day of the crime
there was no need of using the key which had been manufactured
from the wax impression. Pettengill again glided in like a shadow,
seized two tin boxes, as silently gliding out. He took with him negotiable and un-negotiable securities worth little less than $1,900,000!
This is claimed to be the greatest " haul " ever made in this country by a sneak thief, and in my opinion the claim is a just one.
The greater part of the securities-half a million of which belonged
to a Mr. Barron-were as negotiable as a double gold eagle, being
coupon bonds. For instance, there was a little matter of $275,000
in one bundle, of 7.3-10 per cents. Then there were forty $5000
bonds of the same denomination; a few 10-40, piles of 7-30's, a lot of
Oregon War Debt, a quarter of a million in registered stock, sheaves
of Warren Railroad stock, of New Jersey, Hartford and New Haven,
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western; New Orleans Mechanics'
and Traders' Bank, Columbia Marine Insurance, Manhattan Fire
Insurance, John Scott bonds, Galea,.nd_ Chicago-first mortgage;
St. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute second mortgage, and also in



460


WHERE THE SWAG WAS " PLANTED."


come and interest bonds of the same railroad. On top of all there
was $26,000 in six per cent. United States coupons.
When Mr. Pettengill had "done his end of the job," Messrs.
Rand and Ennis bade Mr. Lord a courteous and dignified adieu.
Wall Street was convulsed by the magnitude and audacity of
the crime, while Mr. Lord came very near dying from chagrin and
mortification. Superintendent John A. Kennedy, Chief Detective
John Young and his aides, as well as all the private detective agen,
JIMMY PRICE.
(From a Photograph.)
cies, were immediately interested in the robbery.  Strangely
enough, but possibly because it was war time, the newspapers of
the day devoted but a few lines to the recital of the affair; but in
their advertising columns it took a column to enumerate the stolen
securities. What the robbers did with the securities became afterwards very clear. The tin boxes were taken to a liquor store kept
by an Englishman, at Spring and Worcester streets, where they
were " planted." There was a sort of a " whack-up " among the
perpetrators of the robbery, to whom should be added a man
named Harry Howard. Ennis started on a negotiating tour with




JACK RAND'S "REFORMATION."'


46I


about a quarter of a million of the United States securities-which,
by the way, amounted in all to $I,2oo,ooo-in Massachusetts. A
dozen detectives knew he had gone, but only Captain Young knew
of Mr. Lord's wishes and intentions. Mr. Lord's avarice prompted
him to request, first, the recovery of his property, and then the
arrest of the thieves, if the detectives cared to bother with them.
For the recovery of the securities a large percentage reward was
offered. And so it came about that Mr. Ennis, at Newburyport,
fell into the hands of a grasping sheriff, gave up the bonds he had
in his possession, and made the sheriff richer by $25,ooo. A
small percentage of the bonds found their way into Canada; but
the bulk of the booty was carried to Europe by the English liquor
dealer. Negotiations for the return of these bonds and securities
were then begun, through the medium of a " highly moral and conscientious " English solicitor. The result was that Mr. Lord and
Mr. Barron got back $i,6oo,ooo worth of their property-a shrinkage of $200,000. It is barely possible that the thieves got more
than $75,000 for the job. Some of the securities were lost, a good
deal of money was paid out in expenses, and the English solicitor
put the balance to the credit of his bank account. Nobody was
punished for the crime. Howard and Pettengill were arrested in
this city in August, I866, but were not prosecuted. A pawnbroker, too, was apprehended for having in his possession a five
thousand dollar bond of Mr. Lord's; and Mr. F. Hellen, then of
No. 9 Wall Street, was arrested and discharged on a complaint of
having dealt in some of the stolen securities.
Of the thieves, only Pettengill now survives. He is a broken
down, miserable tramp. He has run the gamut of high crimebank sneak and forger —and is now and then "shown up" at
police headquarters, possibly as an antiquarian curiosity, for he is
now harmless in his former lines of "business." Jack Rand, who
" reformed " some years ago-his " reformation" did not go to the
extent of refunding a snug little fortune amassed by villanydropped dead last year at the Beacon Park race course, near Boston, just after he had purchased a gambling ticket.
A very clever scheme of swindlers is known as the "Custom
House racket." A man calls at your house, attired in what looks
very much like a Custom House officer's uniform, and produces bills
for parcels from the other side of the Atlantic, which are now in
hand, and must be released immediately. In most instances no




462


VARIOUS TRICKS.


one stops to question the authenticity of the bill which is presented, and it is paid without much questioning. Even if one
does question this quondam Custom House officer, he always has
an answer ready. He is the most plausible kind of a fellow and
always behaves like a " perfect gentleman." In one case a fellow
of this class called at a house on Eighty-first Street, and collected
a little less than ten dollars on one of his bogus bills. The lady of
the house had occasion to bring the money from an up-stairs room,
and while she was gone he was left alone in the parlor. Finding
the piano open he sat down and played " Nearer, my God, to
thee," with great taste and feeling. So much pathos, in fact, did
he infuse into the whole performance, that when, after some days
of waiting and anxious inquiries, no package arrived, his victims
refused to believe he was anything but an honest man. Probably
they think so now, notwithstanding the fact that their Custom House
pianist is wearing a striped suit within the walls of Sing Sing.
A more impudent and barefaced mode of petty thieving is that
adopted by the man in a jumper, who pokes his head in at the
door the moment an express package has been delivered and
says:
"Beg pardon, ma'am; the driver left the wrong parcel. I'll
take it and bring back the right one."
And that's the last of your parcel.
Another " cheeky " thief is the one who makes a good " haul"
now and then by following coal carts to their destination-to saloons or restaurants he gives the preference-where he assumes an
air of authority which is liable to impose upon the sharpest. He
bosses the whole business in the most audacious and barefaced
manner, until the driver of the team thinks he is connected with
the firm by whom the coal is sent. When the swindler thinks this
stage has been reached-and he is an accurate judge-he demands
the driver's unsigned receipt, collects the cash for the coal and decamps.
It would be impossible for me to enumerate all the tricks which
have been resorted to by this class of criminals to dupe their
victims. The way in which the "confidence " game is played is
familiar to most persons, but for all that, scarcely a day passes but
somebody is victimized by it. Country people are not the only
dupes. Not by any means. Look at Oscar Wilde, Charles Francis




THE USE OF CHLOROFORM.


463


Adams and others quite as educated and in just such prominent
positions in society.
Shoplifting is almost exclusively confined to women. Generally
the shoplifter carries a bag, fastened with straps around the waist,
into which she can easily drop anything she may steal. Some
women arrange their skirts so that the whole front from waist to
bottom forms a bag, which can be stuffed full of feathers, laces,
etc., without any outward sign. A very handy receptacle for the
storing away of fine goods is a muff. Quite a natural and innocent
looking thing in itself, but very dangerous when utilized by a shoplifter. The woman puts her muff on a pile of handkerchiefs, and
while she examines something with one hand, quietly pulls handkerchiefs, or anything else within reach, into her muff with the
other.
I have been frequently called upon to express an opinion regarding the frequency, or otherwise, of the use of chloroform by
the criminal classes to assist in robbery. I may at once say that
during the whole of my experience there was never a case of this
character where chloroform was alleged to have been used,
brought before me, without my regarding the whole business with a
considerable amount of suspicion. It is very difficult for me to
remember any case in which I was convinced that chloroform was
employed by thieves whose intent was to commit a robbery. The
very character of this anaesthetic precludes its employment for
general criminal purposes. When carelessly applied it has something of a corrosive action, and its contact with the mucous membrane would leave a trace. Being, too, a volatile fluid, with a
peculiar odor, its presence would be immediately revealed. It is
a solvent and acts quickly on colors, and if it is absorbed by materials which are dyed the colors would be effaced. What is more
to the point, however, is this: To administer chloroform, the person
taking it must be willing to accept it. If he or she be unwilling,
then force or violence must be employed; and if violence is to be
used at all a much easier thing is to knock the victim on the head
with a bludgeon.  A handkerchief saturated with chloroform is
perfectly ineffective, unless it be closely and persistently applied
to the mouth and nostrils. It is impossible to make such applications of chloroform to healthy sleeping persons without awakening them. Entirely ignorant of the nature or effects of chloroform, a great many persons suppose that a sponge saturated with..




464


POPULAR ERRORS.


it and left in a room will throw a sleeping person into a state of
coma. This, of course, is nonsense; and I believe all physicians
will agree with me that chloroform as an agent to aid the criminal
in robbing his victim is worthless. I do not mean to say that, in
case a person is ill, or very old, or feeble, robbery may not be committed by means of chloroform; but the chance of discovery is
even greater than if a weapon of some kind had been used to attain the same end. I have found, very frequently, that persons;
THEO. BISHOP.
(From-a Photograph.)
who have lost money entrusted to them, and who have alleged they
were chloroformed, have been themselves the real culprits.
Sensational romance is full of stories of crimes effected by means
of chloroform; but all this must be credited to the vivid imagination of the writer. As to the use of drugs, I am inclined to believe
that they are very rarely employed. It is quite possible to " hocus "
beer by its mixture with a few grains of opium, but authentic cases
of drugged liquor are exceptional. Such reports are generally
mythical. Why should a man who wants to rob another administer an opiate? If he can induce his intended victim to partake of
one glass of spirits it is much easier to induce him to have another




PRETENDED ROBBERIES.


465


than it is to tamper with the liquor. It is far easier and safer to
get a man drunk than it is to poison him; and the risk is greatly
diminished.  If a man's head will resist alcoholic influences
longer than a woman's, why, when the latter is the subject, need an
opiate be used at all, even from the assailant's own point of view?
The use of snuff mixed with liquors is sometimes written about..A little consideration of the subject, or, at any rate, experimenting
with it, will show that the administration of a dose of this kind
would make the fraud immediately apparent to the person who
drank of it. A pinch of snuff would make a glass of beer, or any
thing else, positively nauseating.
An almost endless quantity of nonsense has been written about
the skill of criminals in the " fixing " of drugged fluids and the administration of them. Criminals are clever enough, in their way
too clever, but they possess no secret drugs with which to lull their
unsuspecting victims to sleep, sensational novels to the contrary
notwithstanding.
I remember one case that came under my notice. A prominent
jeweller claimed that he had been robbed. His store was situated
under a hotel, and his story to me was that during the night, while
he was in bed, chloroform had been administered to him and his
money stolen. Always suspicious about chloroform, I put a number of searching questions to him. He described his symptoms to
me in a very minute manner-he was half-conscious, but could not
move. To make his story more plausible, he informed me that the
traces of the chloroform could still be found on his pillow. This
decided the matter in my own mind. The man was a fraud, and
was trying to humbug me. Sure enough, when the pillow was
examined an oily substance was found staining it; but it bore no resemblance, either in color or odor, to chloroform, and a chemical
analysis proved that it was simply linseed oil. There had been no
robbery, and I believe it afterwards turned out that the man was
financially embarrassed and had invented the chloroform story as
an excuse for not paying his debts.
It is very certain that if chloroform could be made, useful by
thieves they would almost always employ it. The fact that they
do not do so shows conclusively that if they have tried it they
abandoned it long ago, finding it to be of no avail. All "is chloroform " stories, therefore, should be examined into most thoroughly.
Let me recall another case:
30




466


46  WHAT STUFF.')


A man in active business, whose credit was good and who possessed some means, was heavily indebted to one of the most prominent grocery firms in New York City. This indebtedness was in
the form of notes due at certain dates. The man had always paid
his obligations, and his financial condition was regarded as perfectly solvent. He was something of a speculator in real estate,
and the opportunity came when he thought he could purchase a
piece of property at a bargain. A note to his groceryman was
due. He went to the holder of the note and said:
"I have just met with a terrible misfortune-a great loss. I
went down on Wall Street to sell some bonds, so that I could
meet your note. In a hallway, where I happened to be, a stranger
came up and spoke to me, and that is the last I remember about
it. When I came to consciousness I found myself on Staten Island in the neighborhood of a friend's house. My bonds were
gone! I must have been chloroformed, and that is all I know
about it."
That was the extraordinary story he told the members of the
firm to whom he was indebted. I was very much inclined to disbelieve his story, and I assured the groceryman that it was all
utter nonsense. Then they were convinced, though at first they
were inclined to think he had been chloroformed and robbed. The
man was sent for, I had a private interview with him, and he repeated his story, varying in no respect from his first narration.
When he had finished, I said:
"What stuff! You don't mean to say that you found yourself
on Staten Island, and that no one knew of your transfer! A man
can't be carried on a ferry boat without being seen by somebody.
How were you carried? It's preposterous for you to try and make
me believe that you took a lot of bonds somewhere, that you told
no one of your intention, and yet that somebody knew it and met
you in a hallway on Wall Street and chloroformed you. Don't
you see how absurd and unlikely it all is? Why your story is so
flimsy that it won't hang together for an instant. Your trick
wouldn't deceive a child, even."
My outburst staggered him; and in a few minutes he confessed
the whole thing. He had bought some land with the bonds,
and so did not have money enough to meet the note which he had
given his groceryman.




CHAPTER XXXIV.


A POT POURRI OF CRIMES.-A BLOODY ASSASSINATION IN FRONT OF
SUTHERLAND'S RESTAURANT.-THE MUFFLED GROAN OF " MURDER! "-HIGHWAY ROBBERS IN A THIRD AVENUE CAR.-GARROTED IN THE FOURTH AVENUE TUNNEL.-A THIEF TRIPPED
UP BY A SERVANT GIRL.-THE RICH MAN'S SON WHO SHOT A
LAWYER.-GRADY, THE MASCULINE RIVAL OF MADAME MANDELBAUM.-A RASCALLY THEOLOGIAN.
I DO not remember a bloodier assassination than that of Nicholas W. Duryea by John E. Simmons, outside Sutherland's restaurant on Liberty Street, on the i6th of December, I872. Duryea represented a Brooklyn clique of policy players. Simmons
was one of the Simmons Brothers-" Eph," John E. and William C.-who conducted a Kentucky lottery at No. 17 Liberty
Street. There had been bad blood between Duryea and Simmons for some time. On the evening in question they were to
have a business talk, and settle some important matters.
What really occurred at this interview will never fully be
known. It was certainly not satisfactory to Simmons, for when
the two men left the office they came to blows. In the struggle
both men fell, Simmons being the " under dog." They rolled on
the sidewalk for half a minute, when Duryea cried out:
" G-d d- you, fight fair! Let me up! "
Simmons's only response was to draw a huge, glittering bowieknife, sharp as a razor on both edges. With a pumping motion,
he thrust the shining weapon into Duryea's body as often as the
nervous motion of the assassin's arm would permit.
" Golly! it was red hot!" said a little boot-black afterward, who
was asked to describe the fight to the coroner's jury.
After the first lunge of the knife Duryea said little. When his
opponent continued to stab, there was a muffled groan of " murder! " and Duryea offered no further resistance. Simmons tried
to rise, but the stabbing had been so fierce and so promiscuous
that nearly all the life-blood in Duryea's body had been let out,
467




468


A MOCK INQUEST.


and the sidewalk was covered with the slippery crimson fluid. In
rising, Simmons slipped in his foe's blood and fell and fractured
one of his ankles. This did not prevent him from shrieking exultingly over his bleeding victim:
"Now I've got the best of you!"
He was led to a chair in Sutherland's restaurant, sat down and
calmly awaited arrest. The horrible tragedy and his own personal peril did not appear to affect him nearly as much as the
condition of his ankle. He repeatedly asked when the surgeon
would come, and when an officer walked into the restaurant and
made him a prisoner, he asked whiningly when he could be attended to. He had to be carried to the Second Precinct stationhouse, where Captain Caffrey was in command. Duryea's body
had been taken there, and was a hideous sight. Before the combat he had been splendidly attired in the finest linen, with diamonds in his shirt front, a $ioo overcoat with a fur collar on his
back and patent leather boots on his feet. Now he was one mass
of gore. Blood flowed from sixteen wounds.
Dr. F. Le Roy Satterlee attended Simmons's foot, and sent him
to the Park Hospital under guard. The knife with which the
deed was committed was not found until lanterns 'were procured;
and it was then discovered that Simmons's energy had been so
great that the keen point of the weapon had been broken off in
Duryea's body.
Simmons had many daring friends, and a plot was arranged to
take him by force from the Park Hospital. This plan was frustrated by his being removed to Bellevue under a strong guard.
By no means discouraged, his friends influenced Coroner Patsy
Keenan to hold a mock inquest at the hospital. Simmons, however, was not smart enough to get out of town, possibly because
the bones of his ankle were not entirely knitted. So District
Attorney Samuel B. Garvin was able to override the coroner and
get the murderer re-arrested. He was tried, convicted and served
an inadequate term in the State prison. He is now a gambler in
this city.
Among the special instances I remember of unusual boldness
and cleverness on the part of thieves was a robbery which occurred down in Nassau Street early in the year I878.
The circumstances were these: The clerk of James H. Young,
a broker whose place of business was in this street, was busy late




THE " TUNNEL ROBBERY."


469


one afternoon cutting coupons from bonds. There was no one
else in the office at the time, until two well dressed and gentlemanly looking men entered and informed the clerk that there was
a lame gentleman at the door, who, owing to his infirmity, could
not get up the steps from the carriage in which he was, and
wished to see the clerk outside. Knowing that one of the firm's
customers was lame and supposing the young men to be his
friends, the clerk went down to the door without locking desk or
safe. When he returned the young men were missing, and so
were $8ooo in cash and $80,ooo in bonds.
Another instance which fell under my official observation was
the robbery of a Third Avenue street-car on the morning of August
22, i88o. Car No. 14 was passing through the Bowery at about
daybreak. When it had reached Prince Street six determined
looking men boarded it. One of them covered the driver with
the muzzle of a cocked revolver, while another paid the same
attention to the conductor, at the same time varying his occupation by relieving his terrified victim of all the money he had on
his person. The other four men went inside the car, and with
revolvers cocked and pointed robbed the twenty-six passengers of
what money and valuables they had about them. One passenger
was brave enough to make resistance, but in the struggle which
followed he was seriously injured. A policeman was aroused by
the unusual scene in the car and came up on a run to where it
was standing. The highway robbers, however, had about made
their rounds, and without stopping to greet the policeman, the)
grabbed their booty tighter and darted at full speed down one of
the streets which enter into the Bowery. They escaped.
There was wild excitement on East Thirty-eighth Street at
about the noon hour on January 15, i883. The occasion of it was
what is known in police tradition as the tunnel robbery. It was
a bold and outrageous attempt to steal money, and for some time
afterward produced a feeling of nervousness among the female
residents of Murray Hill.
Miss Christina Isherwood, of No. iI East Thirty-sixth Street,
a daughter of the chief engineer in the United States Navy, and
her cousin, Miss Carpenter, of Auburn, N. Y., started out just
after twelve o'clock for Fifty-seventh Street. They proposed to
take a Fourth Avenue car, and Miss Carpenter ran ahead to stop
it, while her companion came on more leisurely behind. When




470


A NEGRO IN THE CLOSET.


the latter had reached the first landing in descending the stone
steps leading to the Fourth Avenue tunnel, a man sprang up the
stairway and grabbed at the bag which Miss Isherwood held in
her right hand, and which contained a pair of opal earrings set
with diamonds, and $30 in coin. The young lady clutched the
bag more tightly, and the thief tried the harder to wrench it from
her grasp. She screamed and struggled; whereupon he seized
her by the throat and forced her down upon the steps. At this
her hold on the bag was relaxed and the robber rushed off with it.
Both of the young women started in pursuit. A man joined
them and all three rushed down Thirty-eighth Street towards
Third Avenue. Passers by stopped to see what this unusual sight
was going on and then joined the pursuers. A servant girl who
was sweeping the sidewalk in front of one of the residences
farther down the street, saw the thief coming and slyly putting
out her broom tripped him up. He fell on his knees, but
recovered himself at once and rushed on. At Lexington Avenue
he was lost sight of.
The robbery was reported at the police station in Thirty-fifth
Street, and Captain Ryan and his detectives came to me for aid.
I sent several of the detectives from police headquarters to the
spot where the robbery took place. They soon learned that a
man answering to the thief's description had been seen loitering
about the tunnel for a day or two. It was also learned that the
thief while being pursued ran into a barber shop at Third Avenue
and Thirty-sixth Street. He walked rapidly through the shop,
passed out of a rear door, crossed a small yard, and entered the
back door of a liquor store in Third Avenue. From there all
trace of him was lost for some time.
The people living in the apartment house at Thirty-second
Street and Broadway were startled on the night of Saturday,
March 8, 1884, when they were informed of a dastardly attempt
at robbery which had been undertaken in the building.
A Miss Harvey and her little niece were living in the rooms
rented by Mr. George H. Sloane. In the absence of Mr. and
Mrs. Sloane on the evening in question, Miss Harvey and her
niece went early to bed. They had no sooner retired than through
the dim light a negro emerged from a closet in the room and
stealthily stole toward the bed. He seized the woman by the
throat and gagged her, then dragged her from the bed, threw




WM. C. RHINELANDER.


47I


her on the floor, and bound her wrists together behind her back.
The black thief then proceeded to ransack the apartment for
plunder. — Nervously he picked up whatever valuables he could
find and thrust them into a bag which he was carrying. Then he
disappeared.
At II.30 o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Sloane returned to find the room
turned topsy-turvy, Miss Harvey stretched on the floor unconscious, and the silver missing. A physician was summoned and
the stricken lady was soon restored. Then it became time to
look for the thief. Detective Price was summoned and as soon
as he had arrived he heard Miss Harvey's story. The diningroom window opened out on a fire-escape. When Mr. and Mrs.
Sloane had arrived they had found that one of the doors to this
window was open. Through this Detective Price walked, and
found at his feet a pillow-case with $6oo worth of silver in it. He
climbed up the fire-escape to the room of a servant girl, where he
found, crouched under the bed, a negro, Jesse Williams, twentyone years old. He was handcuffed and taken to the stationhouse. The servant, Gertrude L. Ash, was also looked up. She
had had the negro in her room for several days, and had been
noticed pouring hot water on the fire-escape in the morning,
apparently for the purpose of melting the ice which had frozen on
the iron work.
A shooting affray occurred in June, I884, which while not possessing remarkable interest in itself, afterward gained some importance from the course the affair took in court. I refer to the
shooting of John Drake by William C. Rhinelander on June I7.
Rhinelander was a wayward son. He belonged to the wealthy
and aristocratic old Rhinelander family but scarcely upheld the
dignity of the name. He married a servant girl, named Maggie
McGinnis, whereupon his father disinherited him, and allowed
him $ioo a week. Rhinelander fancied that Drake, who was a
lawyer, stood between him and his wife, and with this idea he
threatened vengeance.
On the day in question Rhinelander and Drake were seated
talking in the latter's office, at No. 79 Cedar Street, when suddenly the former raised a pistol and shot the lawyer in the shoulder. Drake grappled with this lowly son of an aristocratic family, and held him until assistance came. He pinned Rhinelander
against the wall, and held his hands above his head. The lawyer




472


THE BURGLARS' BANKER.


finally wrenched the pistol from Rhinelander's grasp. By this
time George Douglas had arrived on the scene. Drake exclaimed, " I'm shot! "
"I'll send for a policeman," said Douglas.
"No," said Drake, " hold him, and let the boy run for a doctor."
By this time Drake was exhausted. Dr. Peck found him in a
state of collapse from the shock, but the patient soon rallied.
The ball had shattered the bone in the shoulder joint of the right
arm. Mr. Drake refused to have Rhinelander arrested, and he
was taken away by his uncle, H. Cruger Oakley. Finally, however, he was arrested and taken to the Tombs prison to await the
result of Drake's injuries. Drake recovered ostensibly, but died
about a year afterward from another cause. Rhinelander's relatives tried to make him out a lunatic, and several commissions
were appointed to determine his mental soundness. The accused
man was finally discharged, and with his wife sailed almost immediately for Europe.
From i865 to i88o no face was more familiar at police headquarters, at the district attorney's office, at the courts, in private
houses, in the streets, and in short everywhere, than that of the
eccentric and cunning dealer in "collateral," and the felons'
banker-John D. Grady. He was always shabby, always carried
a satchel, and never, in late years, had less than $o0,000ooo worth of
property in it and his pockets. It would have been a safe bet in
a bar-room, when Grady was present, to wager that at least one
of the crowd could show a genuine one thousand dollar note.
Grady would have been worth to the community at least a hundred thousand dollars as a detective; that is to say, such an
amount would have been only ten per cent. of the saving to citizens and, institutions, from burglaries, sneak thieving and the
higher grades of dishonesty.
Beginning in a small way as a pedler of "pinchbeck," Grady
took up " collateral " as a business, and found that it paid better
to deal with criminals and make from i50 to 200 per cent. than
to go down to Maiden Lane, take the risks and chances of depression in stock, and make from ten to twenty per cent. Besides
he thus became interested in other lines of business. He had
mastered the jewelry trade. No one could judge the precious
stones and metals better than he. He could make a watch, and




A RIVAL TO MRS. MANDELBAUM.


473


not infrequently was called upon to give expert opinion to honest
tradesmen, who knew perfectly well that it was among the not
very remote possibilities that some day he might be walking
around with part of their stock in his satchel. The new lines of
business consisted in "banking" for forgers, bank "cracksmen"
and plunderers generally.
He became a sort of masculine rival to Madame Mandelbaum.
There was a species of armed neutrality between them; they were
civil when they met, and occasionally transacted "business" with
one another. But they were rivals so far as influence over the
creme de la creme of felons was concerned. Grady now and then
took care of the proceeds of bank burglaries. In one case he
held half a million dollars' worth of securities until negotiations
with the losers had terminated, when he delivered up the booty
and received a heavy percentage. He occasionally tried his hand
at disposing of stolen bonds. In I874, while conducting negotiations in the Ninth Ward with the notorious Jimmy Brady, he was
surprised by detectives Dilkes and Tully. Grady surrendered.
Brady ran, firing at Dilkes, who returned the fire and captured
him after wounding him in the thigh as he jumped through a store
window. Both were tried, but Grady went scot-free, while Brady
was sent to Sing Sing. He was helped out of this little difficulty
by means of tools furnished by Grady, which enabled him to
escape from confinement.
It is estimated that in Grady's career as a pedler, receiver,
negotiator and banker, he handled in one way and another $4,000,ooo in property, securities and cash.
Brady turned out an ingrate. After his escape from Sing Sing he
owed Grady about $12,000. Grady, of course, wished to recoup
himself; but Brady was very lazy, found another banker and
wouldn't go to "work."  His new banker got tired of him. He
returned to Grady and got $2000 more from him by threatening, cajoling and promising. Then when Grady showed a disposition to close the account, Brady raised a pistol to his head and
made him hand over $2000 in cash. This little adventure was the
indirect cause of Brady's downfall. - He went to work at his criminal pursuits with a vengeance, and Grady kept himself thoroughly
posted as to his friend's movements.
In 1878 Brady and his confederates had been so fortunate that
a dividend was decided upon. A private room was hired at the




474




GRADY IN TROUBLE.


475


Hotel Brunswick, and each of the men present pocketed $40,000.
Drady celebrated the occasion by getting hilariously drunk. When
he left the hotel he decided that nothing but silk underwear was
good enough for him. He staggered into a furnishing store at
Twenty third Street and Broadway, selected several hundred dollars' worth of goods, and all would have gone well but for his habit
of taking that which did not belong to him. He secreted in his
pockets some articles of trifling value. The storekeeper detected
him and remonstrated. Brady, as was said before, was drunk, and
misapprehended the situation. He afterwards said he thought he
was "in a bank row." He therefore fled like a deer. The storekeeper pursued and policemen joined in the chase. Brady remembered that he had a pistol in his pocket and began to fire away.
After about a dozen shots had been fired by him and the police, he
was captured. Then Grady had him. He instigated and aided
the prosecution. So it came about that Brady went back to Sing
Sing prison under a heavy sentence for a miserable little theft of
which a "clothes liner " would have been ashamed.
During his career, Grady consorted with the following criminals:
"Sheeney Mike," Billy O'Brien, Johnny Irving, " Johnny, the Mick,"
"Shang" Draper, Bob Scott, "Red" Leary, Billy Conners, James
Dunlap, Johnny Dobbs, "Sheeney" Rose, Sam Perris, Abe
Coakley, George Leonidas Leslie, Pete Curley, "Big Frank"
McCoy, George Miles, Ike Marsh, Ed. Goodie, Joe Dollard, Geo.
Mason, and a hundred others.
In later years-the last two of his life-Grady was in trouble.
Men who had protected him had died, or had become impotent;
criminals whom he had dealt with, or banked for, had been imprisoned or become no longer useful. He was sued by persons who
had good reason to believe that property taken from them had
found its way into his hands; and persons who knew his secrets
had extorted blood-money from him, until all his fortune, which
was once estimated at $1,500,000, had dwindled down to less than
$Ioo,ooo. He died of pneumonia at his office, No. 403 Sixth Avenue, in October, i880. He was tl~:n in partnership with a man
who had been in a similar line ofobusiness; but for months the firm
had pretended to do what they termed a "legitimate business."
When the public administrator settled the estate, the amount of it
was below $45,000. Taking Grady's own words as a basis, this was




476


A CLERICAL SCANDAL.


a shrinkage since I875 of about $200,000. He always said he
never had had any luck since he quarrelled with " Jim " Brady.
In i88o, much scandal was caused at Tournai, Belgium, by the
antagonism between two ecclesiastics-Monsieur Dumont and
Monsieur Du Rousseaux-because the latter had succeeded the
former as bishop, through Pope Leo, who was compelled to suspend Monsieur Dumont. One cause of Dumont's suspension was
his great age; he was in his dotage, and peevish and quarrelsome
in the extreme. There was an unseemly wrangle between the two
ecclesiastics for many months, mainly owing to a refusal of Monsieur Rousseaux to give up certain property which Dumont demanded. In order to have the property in question, which consisted of valuable church plate and two millions or more of
francs, amply protected, Monsieur Rousseaux prevailed on the
authorities at Rome to appoint the canon, Leon J. Bernard, as
treasurer of the diocese. He immediately took the treasure to his
own house, and kept it in safes procured for the purpose.
In March, x88i, the canon concluded to lay up for himself treasures on earth, and ran off with the money just as Monsieur Dumont had made an application to have the property and money inventoried, so as to furnish a ground for action against Monsieur
Rousseaux. The flight of the canon caused such apprehension
and scandal that Monsieur Rousseaux and the clergy of the diocese
decided for a time to keep the matter a secret, hoping to find out
the whereabouts of the erring brother and bring him to terms.
For this purpose another canon was sent to follow Bernard, who
had been traced to New York. All clue to him in this city was
lost, until a lawyer opened negotiations with the ecclesiastical authorities from Quebec, and tried to arrange with Dumont on a
basis of 60 per cent. of the stolen money for the Monsieur and 40
per cent. for the lawyer and embezzler. This offer was refused.
The lawyer was arrested and was held as a sort of hostage for
Bernard. This arrest of the lawyer led to the discovery of some
of the stolen money. Two hundred thousand francs of it were
found at the Credit Lyonnais in Paris, and one hundred thousand
francs in a London bank. These amounts were seized; but Bernard, meanwhile, had again disappeared. The Belgian authorities
communicated with the Belgian minister at Washington, and Mr.
Mali, the Belgian consul-general here, was given charge of the
case. He engaged the firm of Condert Brothers, who came to po



A WEARY CHASE.


477


lice headquarters and conferred with me. The case was turned
over to Inspector Byrnes. His choice was excellent when he selected Detective Joseph Dorcy to hunt up the rascally monk.
All that the detective had to start with was a good description
of the man. He hunted around the hotels in this city until he
found that in June, I88I, Bernard had stopped at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel. From this point he traced him to Boston, Montreal, and
Quebec. Here the trail ended for a time. It was picked up at
Chicago, where Bernard was on the 25th of March, x882. Dorcy
wasted much time in the West, in endeavoring to track Bernard
from Chicago. He finally found a clue in Montgomery, Alabama,
and went thence to Mobile and New Orleans. Here the scent
was pretty fresh. Bernard, under the name of Leopold Bal, had
lived at No. I93 Canal Street, and had the imprudence to get photographed. A copy of this photograph fell into the hands of the
detective, and was useful to him, because the canon had somewhat
changed in appearance. "Bal " had left New Orleans just eighteen days before Dorcy's arrival. The detective found that the man
he was pursuing had taken tickets for Houston, Texas. This led
him to Galveston, Houston, San Antbnio, Little Rock, Hot Springs,
Memphis, Selma, Texarkana and Waco.
At the last named place, the train on which Dorcy was riding
was stopped by a freshet having washed away a bridge and part of
the track. It was a wild, desolate region, with no hotels and few
inhabitants. The weather was of the worst. The only shelter
Dorcy could find was a miserable hut, and there he subsisted for
three days on the staple f6od of the district-hoe cake and salted
horse. Tired of losing time in this manner, Dorcy decided to go
back to Texarkana, and was compelled to walk the greater part of
the way, knee deep in mud, and obliged to ford two streams.
From Texarkana, Dorcy hurried back to New Orleans. He had
been in the city but a few hours when he picked up a capital clew
at the office of the Morgan Steamship Company. It told him that
Bernard had dodged him in Texas, had come back to New Orleans
and had taken tickets for Vera Cruz, Mexico. Dorcy made the
best of his way to the City of Mexico. He learned from a passenger who saw Bernard on the ship which he took from Mexico, and
who remembered well, that on shore the rascal was exceedingly
anxious to get to the City of Mexico.
There Dorcy found the hotel in which Bernard had lodged as




478


CAUGHT AT LAST.


" L. Brown." He left it on May 10, 1882, giving instructions for
his letters to be sent to San Luis de Potosi up to the 25th of June;
and up to July Io, to the City of Leon. This, however, was simply a ruse on the part of Bernard to throw possible pursuers off the
scent. It resulted in Dorcy losing all track of him, although he
searched thoroughly in Pueblo de los Angeles, Orizaba and Cordova. He was almost in despair when, on the g9th of June, he arrived at Vera Cruz. Here he discovered that Bernard had taken
passage for Havana on June 2, as "J. Lyon." Dorcy consulted
a steam-boat guide, and knowing that Bernard had a passport for
St. Thomas, readily understood that as the steamer left Havana
on the 21St of June for that place, he had but little time to spare.
The telegraph was called into requisition, and a despatch sent to
the Governor of Havana resulted in Bernard's capture just as he
was leaving his hotel to go on board the steamer. He had in his
possession $20,000, and keys for thirteen safe depositories in the
United States and Canada, where he had secreted the stolen
money. In his travels he had become well versed in methods of
arrest and extradition, and had copies of the various extradition
laws, as well as blank forms of writs of habeas corpus, ready for
any emergency.
Dorcy took the next steamer for Havana, sympathized with Bernard, and returned to New York. Bernard was sent to Madrid
first, and thence to Belgium, where he was tried and convicted.
All the money stolen by him, with the exception of a few thousand
dollars, was recovered.




CHAPTER XXXV.


I'HE DIVES OF NEW YORK.-FROM THE HAYMARKET TO THE MORGUE,
— IN THE CREMORNE.-TOM GOULD S DIVE.-HARRY HILLIS THE'
ATRE.-AT THE AMERICAN MABILLE.-VICE IN THE BLACK-ANDTAN.-THE CAN-CAN IN ITS GLORY.-BILLY MCGLORY 'S SYSTEM.
-THE WRECK OF A WOMAN.-THE SAILORS' DIVES.-A FRENCH
BALL.
THE dives of New York are the hot-beds of its crime. Under
the brilliant glare of gas-jets and the seductive strains of music vice
germinates, grows, buds and yields its bitter fruit. Every stage of
crime is reflected in a true picture of these holes of viciousness.
The " dance of death " begins with the Haymarket, grows feeble in
" Billy McGlory's," or the " Black-and-Tan," and ends in the river
or the potter's field. A pure girl who visits the Haymarket, if such
a one ever does visit it, attracted by the gay scenes and the fascination of the waltz, may feel sure of her own power to keep from
going lower in the scale of sensuality; but as surely as a displaced
stone goes tumbling down a hillside, she rushes onward to the
black fate which awaits her, and virtue, youth, beauty, health and
soul are lost in the downward course to ruin. A terrible fate it is,
yet many are they who reach it yearly.
New York is well provided with what is commonly known as
dives, although fortunately, under the awakening moral sense of
the community, some of the more notorious dens of iniquity are
being closed. There are enough left, however, to amuse and corrupt the crowds which nightly flock to them. For the uninitiated
let it be said that by dives is meant, in general, the dance-halls in
various parts of the town, where abandoned women congregate to
try their charms on easily tempted men. These dance-halls are
all more or less alike. They vary only in the classes of people patronizing them. I will not say they vary in the degree of vice car479




480


TYRANTS OF THE WORST SORT.


ried on, for I believe there is as much wickednes in the Cremorne
and Haymarket and Tom Gould's, as in the low resorts down town.
They all have music and dancing and female attaches and gaudily
decorated halls, and liquors. One of these attractions would be
worthless without the others. All taken together make a combination which many men find it hard to resist.
The men who own and run such places are suigenelis-of their
own kind. From the enormous amo'unt of their ill-gotten gains
they are able to own expensive houses and live in extravagant
style. Beneath their-smiling features there is the consciousness,
no, perhaps not the consciousness, but at least the remembrance of
almost every sort of crime. Conscience is a foreign word to men
of this foul business. Honest and generous are they sometimes
called? Well, yes, when it pays. They are tyrants of the worst
sort. The women who frequent their resorts are not their accomplices in iniquity, but their tools. They use them as travelling
showmen do a trained bear-prod them when they refuse to dance
or when they become useless, treat them as we do faded flowers
-throw them into the gutter to die.
In order that the full significance of the evil influence which surrounds these places may be appreciated, I have thought it best to
describe in detail each of the better known dives. Some may seen
almost too well known to need description, but it strikes me they
cannot be made too familiar.
First, there is the Haymarket, situated on Sixth Avenue, just
below Thirtieth Street. On the outside it is not a particularly ornate building; in fact, by daylight the structure is rather repulsive,
but then the Haymarket is only an ordinary building in the daytime. At night it shines with the brilliancy of a Broadway theatre
and becomes animate with the licentious life of the avenue. The
easily swinging doors which open from the sidewalk creak half the
night with the entrance or exit of depraved women and their masculine escorts. Let the reader who has never visited this illuminated den go with me in imagination, and see the wicked character
of the place, pictured as well as I am able to paint it. At the entrance one reads by the pale electric light the only indication of
the purposes to which the building is put-" Haymarket, Grand
Soiree Dansante." We push the swinging doors and pay our entrance fee of twenty-five cents for males, nothing for females, to a
man behind a narrow window. We push another swinging door




THE HAYMARKET.


a8I


and then pause to become accustomed to the gay glare and the
whirl of human figures. We are in a long and broad room, whose
centre is a polished dancing floor. At the extreme end is a sort of a
stage with a brilliantly painted curtain, and the chairs of the musicians. The latter are playing their instruments at full blast, and
to the entrancing strains of a waltz a dozen or more young men
and women are moving in slow measure over the floor. Along on
either side of the wall is a row of seats, and here we sit for a few
moments and look about us. We hear the clink-of glasses and
look up to discover that the dancing-hall is not all of the Haymarket. There is a gallery above us and it seems to be the popular
part of the place. It is crowded with men and women, drinking
and smoking and filling the room with ribald laughter and blasphemous words. The galleries extend around three sides of the room;
and so well filled are they with the Haymarket's patrons and patronesses that it is with difficulty that the waiters, who carry everything,
from lemonade to whiskey, are able to work their way through the
throngs, without smashing glasses and tipping over tables.
The galleries are arranged with tables and chairs, and on the
northern side, connected by passage-ways with the gallery, is the
bar. There are tables in the bar-room also, and they are well filled
with glasses, and surrounded by abandoned women and the men
whom they have " roped " in. It does not take us long to discover
that the attraction of the Haymarket is not so much in its dance
floor as in its gallery. It is here that the habitues of the place
congregate, and mingle vile jokes with beer and whiskey and tobacco smoke. There are all sorts of women here. Some are extremely young and pretty; others are fat and homely and awkward. Some are demure, others coarse and loud-mouthed. Some
have painted their faces to hide the ravages which vice has been
making in their features. Some are dressed with taste; others
are arrayed in brilliant colors and cheap tawdry fabrics. Some
even are bashful and modest appearing, hesitating to approach the
men who patronize the place. Others are brazen in their conduct.
They address without compunction those with whom they wish to
talk-even fling their arms around them and breathe lascivious
thoughts into their ears.
The females who visit the Haymarket range in age from seventeen to thirty-five years, and most of them are not more than twenty-five. They are most of them inmates of disreputable houses, and
3I




482


DEVILS IN FEMALE FOPNM.


congregate in this dance-hall like harpies, to seize upon and devour
the weak. The owners of the Haymarket allow them free admission to and from the building, and pile up their riches by squeezing
the prey of these prostitutes. The amount of liquor that is sold
here is enormous. Of course fancy prices are put on every drink,
and the girls who frequent the place are supposed to call for the
most expensive liquors, and drink as much as they are able.
As I hinted in the previous part of this chapter, I consider the
Haymarket as bad in its influence as some of the down-town resorts. The language and conversation which one hears here are
something terrible in their way. I remember once when I was
obliged to be in the place in an official capacity, I noticed a young
girl there whose face was peculiarly sweet and winning. She had
an air of refinement about her that at once distinguished her from
her companions. She looked bright and seemed to talk with vivacity. I was struck by the girl's face, and made up my mind that she
must have been persuaded to visit the resort by companions who
were older in years and depravity. My curiosity to confirm my
good opinion of her was great, I admit, and I had not long to wait
before my curiosity was satisfied in a most shocking manner. The
girl saw me standing alone and came where I was. She introduced the conversation with some flippant remark, and after a
word or two in reply from me, she launched into such a tirade of
oaths and foul speech as fairly took my breath away. I was
almost struck dumb. The shock to my impressions was impossible to overcome. I have seen many hardened human beings
in the course of my life, but the depravity of none of them ever
surprised me as did the foul words which came from what I supposed were pure lips.
So the demoralizing effect of the Haymarket is not in the actual
crime committed there, as is the case in the Bleecker Street dives
for instance, but in the temptations which are held out so seductively
to young men by the devils in female forms who make their
homes there.
Not far from the Haymnarket is another dive where debauched
women congregate. It is known as the " Cremorne," and is situated just west of Sixth Avenue on Thirty-second Street. Out over
the sidewalk in large, glittering letters shines the name of the concert hall. It must not be confounded with that other institution
which Jerry McAuley founded next door, and which goes by the




THE CREMORNE.


483


same name. That good man was bold enough to pitch his tent
beside Satan's and fight with the devil for the possession of souls.
It may have been a foolish thing to establish a mission next door
to a hell, but that was what Jerry McAuley did, and all honor to his
memory for his bravery.
The " Cremorne " dive occupies the basement or ground floor of
the building in which it is situated. The entrance from the street
leads directly to the bar, and through noiselessly swinging doors at
the other end of the hallway comes the gleam of the electric light,
and now and then the strains of music. At the end of the bar sits
behind a desk a pompous, well-built man who, with a face stern
and defiant, acts as cashier and general manager. An ugly-looking
club hangs behind him on the wall, and occasionally his duties as
money changer are interrupted by those of the " bouncer."  For.
the men who come to his establishment sometimes get unruly, and
then it is that the cashier unbends his dignity and restores the " respectability " of the hall by dexterously clubbing the drunken offender.
The " Cremorne" is not a dance-hall. There are women and
music here, and all kinds of liquors. The women and music are
attractions brought by the proprietors to aid the sale of liquor.
The concert hall is a large room gaudily decorated with mirrors
and bright colors. Here and there stands a statue, more notable
for its nudity than its artistic merit.  A balcony rich in velvet,
and statues of historic personages separates the musicians from the
main floor of the hall, which is covered with tables. At each of
these tables sits one woman or more, who remain helpless and
awkward until they are joined by men who are willing to pay high
prices for liquors in order to drink them with these harlots. The
female attaches of the " Cremorne " are usually well dressed, and
many are handsome and attractive. They get a commission on
the number of drinks that are sold under their influences, and consequently they employ all their powers of fascination on their male
companions. "Ladies' drinks" are all twenty cents in this resort,
and no gentleman would think of sitting down and drinking without the companionship of one or more of the females present, according to the etiquette of the avenue.
Here again the women are largely " runners in " for the houses
of disrepute in the neighborhood. They have more pecuniary resources than the commission which they get from the " Cremorne's "




484


'TOM GOUI,) S.


proprietors. Some of these I can only hint at. I have no doubt
that in the wine rooms which are connected with the concert hall
of the Cremorne, many a man loses what money and valuables he
may have had in his pockets. He drinks and jokes with his fenale
companions until reason and wit begin to dull. He enjoys in a low,
sensual way their pawing over his face and whiskers, and notices
naught amiss when these light feminine fingers slip into his pockets and abstract his valuables. He does see something wrong,
however, the next morning, but he is unable to account for it.
Tomn Gould's is another of the up-town resorts, where vice is none
the less abundant because it is better concealed. It is in Thirtyfirst Street, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, on the south side
of the street. It is nothing more or less than a house of assignation. The hallway by which it is entered leads into a long room,
at the end of which is a platform used as a stage. The room is
decorated with flowers and potted plants. There is a bar from
which all kinds of liquor are sold. Tables are scattered about, and,
like those of other dives, are attended by women of by no means
doubtful characters. They are not as well dressed as the frequenters of the Haymarket.
On the stage, negroes and white men sing popular songs and musicians play the latest operatic airs. The proprietor, Tom Gould, is
rather a good-looking man. He is about five feet, seven inches
in height, has regular features and a long mustache. At present
I believe he is running his establishment without a license, and
the authorities should take measures to close it up. The great
obstacle I experienced when superintendent, in this as in other
cases, was the laxity on the part of excise boards about granting
licenses. It is well known that the former Board of Excise granted
licenses to many improper places.
Harry Hill's is one of the least harmful dives in the lower part
of the town. In saying this, however, I do not mean to imply that
debauchery and crime are not greatly fostered here. The gleaming diamond on Manager Harry Hill's shirt-front has probably
reflected rays of light on many an evil deed and on many a vicious
ace around him. The genial proprietor's rotund form and smooth
shaven face have made him almost a demi-god among the classes
which frequent his resort.
His notorious place, situated on Houston Street, one block east
of Broadway, is much frequented by strangers in the city, and by




HARRY HILL'S.


485


the residents near the Bowery. The building is well known; a
structure facing the corner, with a large brazen eagle surmounting
the entrance. The visitor enters the bar-room from the street, and
after buying his ticket of admittance to the concert hall climbs up
the dark stairs. To Harry Hill's sense of personal advantage may
be attributed the few disorderly scenes which are enacted in this
house. The concert and dance-room of the dive is small and
cramped. There is no such wide expanse of floor for waltzing as
there is in the Haymarket. There is plainer music, too. A small
stage furnishes the most amusement. A regular program is presented on it each night. It consists of boxing-matches, ballads, ballets and comedies. Perhaps a homely woman, dressed in radiant
colors, sings a pathetic song in a squeaky voice, or a young and pretty
girl in short dresses and long hair puts life and bathos into a touching
ballad. The comedy presented is of the lowest type, and the jokes
of the comedians are coarse and flat. Yet the open-mouthed
spectators stamp their feet in applause, and many a rustic heart is
touched with emotion by the forced and creaky notes of a gaudily
dressed ballad singer.
There is no formality at Harry Hill's. Everybody is supposed
to feel at home. Therefore, when one of the favorite " artists'
has finished her part on the program, she slips, in all her made-up
finery, gayly to the gallery over the stage and does her best to
make the visiting males buy her employer's liquor. They gather
around the tables, and at the expense of their male acquaintances
order drinks. Now and then they succeed in getting their victims
"half seas over," and then complete mastery is easy. They become affectionate in their disposition, and caress them with the
deceitful hand of the prostitute.
Far different from the dives which I have described is the " Blackand-Tan," at No. 153 Bleecker Street. No enormous globe holding
an electric light attracts people to its entrance. Vice is not resplendent here. No attempt is made to conceal it, or to make it
appear less like vice. It is carried on openly, flagrantly and defiantly. The wicked nature of the place is betokened as one enters. Imagine the house-an old-fashioned, well-built brick building, once the home of some proud and wealthy family, now abandoned to the very rot of society. No one would ever dream, as he
passed the front door, of the scenes that go on nightly within. Yet
he descends three steps and finds himself at the basement door.




486


BLACK-AND-TAN."


This and the windows are heavily curtained, and only here and
there where the curtain had not been securely fastened gleamed
forth rays of light. We enter a door at the right and find ourselves
in a narrow hallway, black as the waters of the East River on a
foggy night. We feel our way along the damp walls and follow
the sounds and the faint glimmer which come from the remote end
—...A. _


A BOWERY DIVE.
of the hall. Here stands Frank Stephenson, the alleged proprietor
of the Black-and-Tan. He has no such genial appearance as
Harry Hill. He is not particularly muscular-is slim built and
has a bloodless, brutal expression. His sneaky, vicious appearance is a good index of the character of the resort. The men who
frequent the Black-and-Tan are the " crooks," the thieves, the
criminals of the town.
It would not be difficult to say where the Black-and-Tan got its




THE CAN-CAN..487


name. It is the resort of black men as well as white, but the girls
are all white! This mixture of races is all the more revolting; and
the scenes which go on here in this underground dive are as bad
as imagination can picture them. The main room is only about
thirty feet square and is low ceiled. There are tables around the
sides of the room, and the space in the centre is reserved for dancing. At one end is the bar, kept by four bar-tenders, behind
each of whom hangs a murderous-looking club to which the patrons
of the dive are not strangers. One will see fifteen or twenty womhen
in the room, and as many burly, brutal negroes. There are only
traces of beauty in the women's faces. Whatever sign of womanhood that might have been there once is gone now. Persons who
have become too depraved for the up town dives find their way
here. There are no bounds to license. It takes a good deal to
satisfy the best of these dull-sensed negroes. They dance until
the perspiration rolls in streams down their faces, and then they
drink until they are stupid. The other male visitors besides negroes-sailors, young clerks, countrymen-indulge in sensuality almost as vigorously. The air becomes close and hot, and as impure
as the moral atmosphere of the place. Later in the evening, the
women amuse their male friends by the can-can dance. There
is a contest among them to see which can kick the highest, and
they take their skirts in their hands, and amid the applause of the
spectators kick a cigar from the lips of one of the men.
Women parade the Bowery at night and bring their victims, who
too frequently are countrymen, into the dimly lighted dance-room.
The bar-tenders, women and proprietor are all in one great conspiracy to make money by means fair or foul. A visitor orders a
bottle of wine and he gets perhaps the wrong change back. He
appeals from the bar-tender to the proprietor, but the latter smiles
grimly, assures him that he must be mistaken and pockets the illgotten gains. Let the wronged man make a disturbance, and out
he goes into the dark hallway, probably bruised and battered by
the murderous clubs wielded by the bar-tenders.
I am told that, until recently, there was an old woman with a
pathetic history who used to frequent the Black-and-Tan. Her
name was Crazy Lou, and she would come in promptly at midnight
and go away at two o'clock. Her face was wrinkled with years of
vice. She wore an old worn shawl, and shivered in the warm room
as if she were cold. No one spoke to this woman more than to




488,


4  "CRAZY LOU.'!


say: "Hello, Crazy Lou! " and her only answer was a smile.
She had began her career in the Haymarket, a beautiful, attractive
girl of seventeen. She had sat at the tables in the Cremorne and
at Tom Gould's.  She had danced at Harr) Hill's and Billy
McGlorNy's, and finally at the Black-and-Tan. One 'night while
the winds were blowing chill she gathered her shawl about her and
went out from the dance-hall into the street. Slowly she picked
her way along, and then those who were watching her lost sight of
her. The next morning a corpse was found floating in East River.
Crazy Lou came to the Black-and-Tan no more.
The worst feature of the American Mabille, as the brightly illuminated building is called lwhich stands in Bleecker Street, near
Broadway, is the temptation which it offers to young girls. Young
women who have worked all day in shops and factories have a
natural longing for relaxation of some sort when evening comes.
So they go out into the brilliantly lighted street, and thence easily
find their way to such places as the Mabille. Once there, and fascinated by the gay whirl of the waltz and the soft speeches of
masculine flatterers, it is a great temptation to come again. And
they return night after night, the slow poison of vice gradually
working to the very centre if their moral consciousness, absorbing
every good trait in their bodies. Finally they give up their positions in the shops and factories, and earn their living in the dancehall. Self-respect and virtue are speedily lost, and they sink to the
lowest depths of infamy.
For such downfalls as these Mr. "The." or Theodore Allen, the
proprietor of the American Mabille, and one of a family of criminals, is largely responsible. Yet what cares he for young girls'
souls? His path to wealth is strewn with them, and he has grown
accustomed to the sight ere this.
The Mabille differs in no important particular from the other
low resorts that have been mentioned. There are two parts of it;
the main room, entered from the street, where there are tables and
a bar, a few worn-out musicians, and bar-tenders with ominous
clubs. Women frequenters who are not directly employed by Allen sit at the table and persuade men to pay large prices for poor
wine and worse beer.
There is a stage also in the concert room, upon which a poor
variety performance is given.  Dissolute women in gaudy tights




BII,Y MC(;LORY.


489


dance and sing ribald songs, and rough-looking men shout-I
could hardly say sing-the latest vulgar burlesque.
In the basement is the dance-hall, and it is here that the young
girls of the neighborhood get their first taste for vice. There is
a bar down here too, and there are musicians who make worse
music than their fellows up stairs.
Billy McGlory is, in the neighborhood of Hester Street, what
Tom Lee, a discharged deputy-sheriff and an Americanized Chinaman, is in Chinatown-an uncrowned king. He is a man out of
whom forty devils might be cast were it possible to get at him.
He was born in crime, and has grown up in it. The Five Points,
thirty-five years ago, was the seat of the worst dens of infamy in
America. Surrounded by everything evil, McGlory was born. He
got his education in the dives, and there he is finishing it. As a
boy he was one of the worst " toughs " of Chatham Square and the
Bowery, but was shrewd enough to keep out of the clutches of the
police. He is now about thirty-five years old, a slim man, with
dark sunken eyes and thin lips. A huge diamond sparkles on his
shirt-front.
The realm of this king is only in the immediate vicinity of the
dive over which he presides. But his name is world-wide, and his
infamy is as well known as his name. "Armory Hall," or " Billy
McGlory's," is at No. 158 Hester Street. It is very much like the
American Mabille, only " more so." It is better known and perhaps more brilliantly conducted. This makes it all the more fascinating to the youth and pleasure-seeking classes of the Bowery
and vicinity. The "attractions " begin at about eleven o'clock.
They consist of much the same performances as we have seen at
the other dives. Perhaps here the women throw their legs a little
higher, and display a larger extent of nether garments. This
makes the spectators laugh and cheer the more loudly, and attracts
greater numbers of the vicious classes. There are "crooks" and
criminals of the worst sort in attendance here. It makes a sort of
diversion for them, and gives them exceptional opportunities for
plying their foul trade.
Billy McGlory's supplies largely with inmates the houses of illfame in this and other cities. Shop girls go to Armory Hall to
dance, and just as surely as they become habitues of the place
their horrible fate as prostitutes is settled. The can-can dance is
the favorite one here, and the debauchery and licentiousness exhib.




490


RUINED!


ited is terrible. The wonder is that young girls are not warned
by the shocking immoralities displayed by their elders: but they
seem to be only fascinated.
There was a sunny-haired maiden there once, who looked and
was, I believe, as pure as the freshly fallen snow. I saw her again
only two years later, and her plump cheeks were hollow; the lustre
of her eyes was gone, and a pallor as of death was on her coun

II, / ".          '
OWNEY GEOGEGHAN.
(From a Photograph.)


1'//  /


tenance. The grim terror, consumption, was standing over her
and waiting to grasp its victim. A woman with delicate physique cannot lie half drunk in the damp streets many nights without endangering her life.
A haggard woman was once brought into police headquarters,
raving like a maniac. She was taken to Blackwell's Island, but
before she went I had learned that she had been found in a fit of
delirium tremens outside of Billy McGlory's. She had danced in




THE FRENCH BALL.


491


Harry Hill's once, and had been a favorite at the Black-and-Tan
and the American Mabille. Later she had appeared at Armory
Hall, where she drank until even brain was gone.
A pretty girl who was once thrown out of Billy McGlory's, because she would not go with a man who invited her, was found by
police officers in a raid on a Mott Street opium joint, whither she
had gone to dream life away in the fumes of the Oriental drug.
I am informed that the king of the Hester Street dives has
made it a rule that any female habitue of his place who refuses
to go out for immoral purposes with the man that asks her, shall
be denied the " privileges " of the hall. He gives orders to this
effect to his door-keepers, and no king's orders were ever more
faithfully obeyed than Billy McGlory's.
But arising from the degradation of vice to the glitter it assumes
when surrounded by the splendor of the ball-room, and leavened by
such pseudo-respectable persons as wish to watch the immorality of others without indulging in it, perhaps the French ball is
the most conspicuous of all questionable assemblies. This ball is
known as that of the Cercle Franjaise de l'HEarmonie.
Although this event is termed French, it is- thoroughly an American institution. Most of the attendants are Americans and Germans. It is one of the most "populous" balls of the city, and
perhaps the most disreputable of the reputab'le ones-hovering just
on the border line.
It is given under the auspices of a society of Frenchmen, who
clear from $i5,ooo to $25,000 every year. A ticket of admission
is $5, a hat-check $2 more, and supper $2 additional for each guest.
So popular has this ball grown to be that it is generally held in
three of the largest halls in the city: the great Academy of Music,
opening one way through a short vestibule into Neilson Hall, and
the other way over a temporary bridge above the street into Irving
Hall. So important are the alimentary features of the entertainment deemed, that the two smaller halls are allotted wholly to the
gratification of the palate, Irving Hall being used for a supperroom and Neilson Hall as a wine-room. The orchestra chairs of
the Academy are covered by a flooring to be used as a dancing
floor, and at the back of the stage is an enormous circle of gas jets,
forming the luminous legends of the society. Two bands, numbering 175 instruments, play alternately dancing and promenade
music from the galleries. The Stars and Stripes, trimmed with the.'.




492


A CENTRE OF ATTRACI'ION.


tri-color along the foot-lights, and shields and crests crossed with
spears hang on the columns. The boxes are handsomely trimmed
with patriotic devices, and deep festoons of blue and crimson
velvet, interspersed with banners, decorate the galleries, the chandeliers, and the lobbies, as well as the bridge spanning Irving
Place to the second floor of Irving Hall. This bridge is lighted
by electricity.
The ball begins late. At ten o'clock there are not fifty persons
on the floor, and but few in the seats; but almost all are masked,
and the ladies' dressing-room is already a crush.
"It'll be lively by midnight, though," somebody said, and somebody was exactly right about it.
If it was lively at twelve, what adjective will describe it at two?
The French ball is an assemblage of the higher class demimonde and the club men of New York City, a congress of the
more particular of disreputable women and of business and professional men. It is taken for granted that most of the jeunesse
dor/e will go-sometimes, if not always-and that respectable
women will not go. Yet respectable women do attend the ball.
There are usually more than a hundred on the floor and in the
dreqs circle, deeply and thoroughly masked beyond recognition, except to those who know their forms and methods of walking.
Husbands and wives often go-generally with somebody's else
wives and husbands.
At one of these balls held recently the centre of attraction
seemed to be a Miss Western, a woman of much notoriety,
formerly an intimate friend of the notorious Josephine Mansfield,
and one of "Jim" Fiske's "Twelve Temptations."  She occupied the best proscenium box in the Academy-the boxowned by
the Astor family. She was unmasked, and evidently proud of
her position as the acknowledged queen of the ball. Scores of
club-men stood grouped together on the floor below the box all
night, staring up into her face, and indulging in free comments on
her appearance. She was very tall, but well proportioned; her
complexion, a rich, deep olive; black eyes and dark hair lending
considerable beauty to a round, full face. She was costumed in a
Worth dress of black satin, square corsage, with black gloves
reaching far above the elbow. There was no color in her ornamentation; her jewellery was of gold and diamonds.  In her ears
flashed two superb solitaires; about her arms wound two great




-, -.N.-,                -41/
- N  -. -
(PI-,
p
IN — /         4


FRENCH BAI L.




494


A PICTURESQUE JAM.


snakes of woven gold, almost from her shoulders to her wrists,
where four eyes of the largest diamonds gleamed from wickedlooking heads.
Some hundred or two of the " solid men " of the future New
York called on her in the box during the evening, and made her
acquaintance. Indeed, she held a regular court, and was the cynosure of all eyes. It seemed very odd that the gleaming and
glittering creature should be sitting there, enthroned and complacent, in the chair which Mrs. Astor usually occupies, so demurely listening to the opera.  Bouquet after bouquet was
brought to her, and she threw a fleeting glance of coquettish recognition upon each giver, and piled them upon the balcony and
chairs around her till she was fairly embowered. She was said to
have on $Io,ooo worth of jewels.  She reminded one of the
"Dame with the Camellias."
The other boxes in the vicinity were similarly occupied by the
most disreputable women in the city-a stout and sober-looking
matron occupying the front of each box, with a bevy of gaudily or
fancifully dressed girls grouped behind her.
At ten o'clock there are 7000 persons present-500 couple
madly struggling for a chance to waltz at once. Perhaps onethird of the people are in fancy dress, at least Iooo being in character; and perhaps half of the ladies and a quarter of the gentlemen wear masks. There is a terrible crowd. The heat is like the
fiery furnace. Actors and actresses come in from the theatres.
A good many well-known politicians were on hand. A distinguished Western journalist had a box, but he was soon enticed
to the floor.
The dancing floor is now a picturesque jam. A Neapolitan fisherman dances with the "Mascotte;" a Prince of the Caucasus
whirls " Little Red Riding Hood;" one of the half dozen Oscar
Wildes present dances the can-can; and turning about the floor are
a gaudy butterfly; a nymph in pale green silk, embroidered with
pearls, is arm-in-arm with a water lily; a Moorish chief charges
upon a dozen AEsthetes, and then comes an assorted lot of Napoleons, Cleopatras, Joan of Arcs, gypsies, nuns, brigands, vivandieres, sultanas, Magyars, Bedouins, "Olivettes," Indians, fairies
and demons women in black tights, women in red tights, women in blue tights; men and women in every picturesque garb imaginable. There is by this time a good deal of reckless behavior.




A "MOUNTAIN OF LOVELINESS."


495


Wine is having its effect.  A Charles II. cavalier comes rushing
down from the lobby, and seizing a handsorhe woman kisses her
frantically. 'Her escort interferes, and there is a fight. Somebody
strikes somebody else who cannot be seen, for the policemen step
upon the scene and vanish with their victim.
Policemen have been noticed quietly stealing in,-coming one
by one-so softly that their entrance was not noticed by the
dancers generally, and taking position around the outside of the
auditorium, at the entrances to the vestibule. Every species of
amusement that belongs to masked balls is in full swing. Some
of the club men are riotous. Others are languid and look bored;
but these are the dissolute and blase, who have drank all sorts of
beakers to the dregs and always look bored. Men yawn and pay
little attention to the creatures, padded and painted and powdered,
with hard-finish faces and harsh, rasping voices, that go flitting
past.
We walk down thefoyer, just on the borders of the dance floor,
when a woman approaches us, attired in a brocaded pink silk
dress, shirred down the front with pink satin, ornaments, laces
and diamonds, and tries to kick our hats off. We quit the terrible
person, and retreat to the stairs, where a gentleman, well known
in New York parlors, is tugging away at something. It is a
woman, apparently; a very heavy weight. He has clasped her
wrists over his shoulders, and is trying to carry her up stairs on his
back.
" O, Harry! Drop that mountain of loveliness! " shouted an acquaintance to him, and the " mountain " rolls off in a rage, and
rushes for the speaker, who flees.
We walk down to the floor again. Pandemonium has broken
loose. In the clatter of voices, quiet conversation is no longer
possible. A friend speaks in our ears.
" Do you want to see hell? "
"Yes! Where? " we cry eagerly. "Where is it?"
He takes us by the arms and leads us fifty steps to the entrance
to Neilson Hall. We stand at the top of the four steps between
the halls and look down upon the scene. This, it will be remembered, is the wine-room. Sure enough, it is an inferno. It
is so full of smoke that you can scarcely see a form, except those
near, though there are fully one thousand persons there. As for
the noise, it seems not so much like a Babel of voices, as like an




496


A CRAZY REVEL.


incessant roll. The sound is pitched high and the tone slightly
rises and falls, but the screech is unbroken; it sounds like the cry
of agony of a hundred persons being burned alive in a wrecked
railroad train. Here and there a loud laugh pierces the din.
Now I see that most of the drinkers are sitting at tables. Every
chair in the great hall is occupied, and persons stand behind in relays, waiting for a chance. One third of them are women. Some
are sitting on the tables. Some lying on the window-sills. Each
one of them seems to be screaming to the other. There is found
that wild abandon-that freedom of speech, gesture, and attitude
-belonging exclusively to the French Masquerade ball. Every
body speaks to everybody without reserve, and the person spoken
to puts his hand to his ear and scoops in the utterance like a sailor
in a hurricane.
When we first entered the building the halls were all of them
gloomy, cold, quiet, almost unoccupied; now there is found a
bacchanalian orgie-a hot and crazy revel, and whirl of passion.
At three o'clock some of the tireless foot fingers are still on the
floor, but the fire of revelry is burning low.
NOTE.-I wrote the preceding chapter in the summer of i886.
Since that time Abram S. Hewitt has been elected and is now
(I887) mayor of New York. Thanks to his untiring efforts and
inflexible determination every so-called "dive" described by me
has been closed and the city is to-day freed of those cradles of
crime and debauchery. There is no reason why they should ever
be re-opened.,       -G. W. W.




CHAPTER XXXVI.


BUTCHER-CART THIEVES.-STARVING CHILDREN   IN "THE SHEPHERD S FOLD. ' —GARFIELD'S MURDERER AT  POLICE HEADQUARTERS.-THE WOMAN WHO THOUGHT SHE WAS SHADOWED.
-THE NOTORIOUS FLORENTINE FORGERS.-A VISIT TO EUROPE.-HOW THE EXCISE LAWS ARE EVADED.
A CERTAIN class of thieves who flourished back in the fifties had
a bold and novel way of pursuing their vocations. Numbers of
young men, who either owned or hired horses and wagons, would
ride up suddenly to butcher shops in the upper part of the city,
and seizing a carcass would throw it into the wagon, and make
off at full speed. Such marauding expeditions led the thieves
into trouble, of course, unless the carcass-snatchers possessed
well-built vehicles, with faultless running gear, and trusty horses
of more than average speed. These robberies opened up to thieves
a new field for men of nerve, so that, a few years later, watches
and other valuables were snatched from citizens by men who escaped in wagons, and in the order of evolution persons were
waylaid in the streets by these bold depredators, and deprived
of packages of money and bonds. It came to be so, after awhile,
that " hog " and " butcher-cart " thieves, as they were called, were
all considered A. I. in the " profession."
The first important robbery of this kind which I remember
occurred on the morning of January 19, I866. Samuel Terry,
sixteen years old, a messenger of the Farmers' and Citizens'
National Bank, of Williamsburg, was despatched to the Park
National Bank, of New York, with a satchel in which were $7,000
in money and $7,00ooo in checks. He crossed the Roosevelt Street
ferry, and was in Beekman Street, near Park Row, when
two men, who wore soldiers' blue smocks, sprang from a
butcher's cart and approached him.   One struck the boy
a blow which made him dizzy, and the other seized the satchel.
Both then jumped into the cart again, whipped up the horses
and escaped easily.
32                     497




498


iCC THIEVES! "


Upon May I2th, of the same year, J. H. Higgins, cashier for
E. S. Higgins and Company, carpet-makers, at No. 358 Broadway, went to the bank to draw the wages for the hands, as it
was Saturday. He put $I6,400 in a bag, and started for the
factory, which was situated at the foot of West Forty-third Street.
He left an Eighth Avenue car at Forty-Third Street, and was
half way down the block when he passed a man who scanned
him closely. An instant later the man crept up behind him and
dealt him a stunning blow on the back of the head, while a confederate, springing from a butcher's cart near by, gave the cashier
another blow, seized the bag, and threw it to a third man in the
cart. The two assailants then leaped into the wagon andescaped.
They were chased as far as Third Avenue and Forty-Second Street,
but here trace of them was lost.
On December 13, i867, Lewis J. Kinsley, seventeen years old,
junior clerk of the Bank of the City of New York, had just left the
Clearing House and was at the corner of Wall and William Streets,
carrying a satchel which contained $500 in money and $3,6oo,ooo
in checks, when he noticed a Portland sleigh, in the shafts of
which was a bob-tailed horse, standing near the curb. As he
passed it he was felled to the ground, and in the twinkling of an
eye the satchel was thrown into the sleigh and caught by a man
sitting in it. Another man jumped in, and the horse was urged
on. Meanwhile young Kinsley had partially recovered from the
shock of the blow, and had caught on to the hind part of the
sleigh. He hung on bravely for about a block, lustily yelling
"Thieves! " but a film came over his eyes, his hands relaxed
their hold, and he was picked up in an unconscious condition.
The money was never recovered by the bank, but the checks, it
was reported, were "negotiated " back for a small sum.
So far there had been no arrests of any consequence for such
offences as these, but on February i, i869, Edward Francis, alias
" Steve " Boyle, alias "Gus" Shaw, was arrested in front of S. P.
Squires' jewellery store at No. i82 Bowery. He had a butcher-cart
near by, and when captured was no doubt meditating an attack on
Squires. The evidence against him, however, was insufficient to
warrant an indictment, so he was turned over to the Michigan
authorities for the murder of Sheriff Orcutt of that state.
There was a lull in the butcher-cart business up to June Io,
i878.  On that day Joseph W. Laffetra, conductor's receiver of




SWEEPERS ON THE STAIRS.


499


the Third Avenue Railroad, started from the Harlem depot for
the main office with about $i50 on his person. Usually he carried
a much larger amount. He boarded a Third Avenue car at nine
o'clock. In it were a number of persons who had been at a picnic,
and some soldiers of the Eleventh Regiment.  The car was followed, at a respectable distance at first, by a wagon in which were
five men. At Ninety-Fourth Street these men drove the wagon
close up to the car, and jumping out attacked Laffetra, got the bag
which contained the money after a severe fight, and escaped.
The soldiers in the car rendered Laffetra no assistance. For this
offence J R. Titterington, John Hogan and Peter Culkin, well
known desperadoes, and identified with former crimes of the same
nature, were arrested. There was not sufficient evidence against
them, and they were discharged.
The last butcher catt robbery of note occurred on December 31,
1883. Mr. Alfred Church, the aged superintendent of John Dwight
and Company's soda-water factory in East II2th Street, went to
the Chatham National Bank for the purpose of drawing morrey to
pay wages. He had done this often, and his movements had been
closely watched by the notorious "Ed." Goodie, alias Gearing.
Mr. Church had to get off the Second Avenue Elevated road at
i i ith Street. Goodie, who for years had furnished the horse flesh
for such expeditions, had his best horse hitched to a butcher's cart
near the station. At that time there was only one way to reach the
street from the platform, and as Church began to go down the
stairs he saw a villanous looking man, attired in a blue jumper,
sweeping the steps. The sweeper allowed Mr. Church to pass.
Near the bottom of the stairs Mr. Church encountered a fair-complexioned, clean shaven man, who was also sweeping. As he was
about to pass him, the fellow threw aside his broom and snatched
the package of money, amounting to $2250, from under Mr.
Churc, arm; while the first sweeper put the old man hors du
combat by a blow from a piece of lead pipe, prepared for the occasion. The two thieves then rushed for the butcher's cart, into
which they climbed and escaped, despite the fact that they were
chased as far south as Seventy-Second Street.  An excellent description of the thieves was given at Police Headquarters, so that
in less than two months afterwards Goodie was sentenced to
twenty years' imprisonment, Farrell to fifteen years, and Titterington to ten years.




500


0  ALI, RIGHT.'


One of the best executed " jobs " of this class was what is
known as the "Messerschmidt affair." It occurred on the i5th
Julv, i88i. Mr. Charles Messerschmidt was a trusted employee
of Jacob Ruppert, the brewer, and had been for years employed
to take the vast collections of his employer to the Germania
Bank.   On the day in question, accompanied by Gustave
Aengele, a boy, he started from the brewery at Ninety-First Street
and Third Avenue in a buggy, with $9600 in bills, made up in a
package, on which he sat; $5000 in checks, and $iooo in silver.
He drove down town by way of Lexington Avenue, and remarked nothing until between Forty-Seventh and Forty-Eighth
streets, when what appeared to be a licensed vender's wagon was
driven violently against the buggy horse, so as to force it on
to the curb. At the same instant a man sprung out of the wagon
into the buggy and throttled Mr. Messerschmidt with one hand
while with the other he held a revolver to his head. A second
man then jumped out of the wagon, ran round to the side of the
buggy and took the package of bills from under Mr. Messerschmidt. Still a third man cut the harness of the buggy horse, so
as to render pursuit impossible. There was a signal given-" All
right,"-the three men got into the wagon, in which there were
two others, and they then started down town at a 3.20 gait.
Some citizens, a policeman and a fireman took up the chase at
intervals, and the thieves showed of what metal they were
made by firing several shots at their pursuers, one of the bullets
passing through the window of a store. Several arrests were
made, but no one was even brought to trial.
Horrifying disclosures regarding the treatment of the children
in the " Shepherd's Fold " created much public indignation during
the year i88o.  This institution was situated at No. I57 East
Sixtieth Street in this city, and was managed by the Rev.
Edward Cowley, whose name will be handed down to posterity as
one of the most cold-blooded, canting hypocrites with which
this world has ever been afflicted.  Under his charge at the
" Fold " there were between thirty and forty children, ranging
in age from four to sixteen years.  Cowley's wife was associated
with him in the management of the institution. This confederate
in iniquity, on one day in the latter part of December, i879,
appeared at St. Luke's Hospital with a child called Louis Victor,
who was five years old, and who, she said, had been an inmate




" SHEPHERD " COWLEY.


50i


of the Fold, and needed better care and treatment than she could
give him there.
Truly the little waif did need better care. According to Dr.
Riolon, the physician in charge of the hospital, the child was
in a state of emaciation almost beyond relief; he was simply
skin and bones, and had nothing on his body which looked like
fat or muscular development.  He was very stupid. In the
presence of Mrs. Cowley he made no cry or complaint; but after
he was taken to the ward, he cried continually for food, especially meat. His pinched face had a dark, bloodless color. Beyond all question his condition was due, simply and wholly, to
improper and insufficient food-in plain English, he was suffering
from starvation!
The condition of the little starveling was critical, and on the
sixth of January, I880, the officers of St. Luke's Hospital notified
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The
president of the society, Mr. Elbridge T. Gerry, at once called
at the hospital, and a photograph of poor little Louis was taken,
showing his physical condition. The facts of the case were laid
before the Supreme Court by the society, and a warrant was issued
by Justice Donohue for the production of all the inmates of the
Shepherd's Fold. The result of this was that the following children were brought before him: Fannie McCurdy, i6 years, Bessie
Lawrence, 15, Minnie St. James, 15, Lillie Hawes, 14, Emma
Bowman, 15, Lizzie Hunter, 13, Mary Shaw, 8, Rockwell Macan,
9, Philip Macan, 5, Lilian Anderson, 8, Edith Anderson, 4, George
Predeau, 5, Mary Metzler, I, Gussie Sweeney, 12, Charles
Sweeney, 9, Frederick Sweeney, 7, Maggie Sweeney, 3, Lawrence
Martin, 7, Robert Wood, 3, Alfredo Lauzi, 9, Estelle Staudenback,
I3, John Staudenback, io, Thomas Banks, Io, and John Banks,
7 years,-Louis Victor, 5 years, being in St. Luke's Hospital, was
not produced. James Fox, 14, and John Campbell, 16 years, were
surrendered later.
The grand jury found no less than twenty five indictments
against the Rev. Edward Cowley, and on one of them, in which
he was charged with cruelly ill-using and neglecting little Victor,
he was tried during the month of February, I88o.
The evidence adduced at the trial showed that the Shepherd's
Fold was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York
for the purpose of " receiving and adopting children and youths




502


5" NOURISHING FOOD.'


of both sexes, between the age of twelve months and fifteen years,
who are orphans, half-orphans, or otherwise friendless; these to
keep, support, and educate, apprentice and place out to service,
trades and schools."  It was under these promises that Louis Victor was received into the "Fold " on the 23d of January, i878.
He was then in a perfect state of health-plump, lively, healthy
and stout. The testimony went to show that almost the only food
served to the children was oatmeal mush, milk and water, which
was served to them on soap boxes in a damp, dingy basement.
A physician was called in to see Louis Victor once, and fresh air
and exercise, together with nourishing food, were prescribed.
But all the exercise and fresh air he and his fellow inmates got
were obtained in a little back yard, into which the sun never entered. Meat, the children never saw, and the squalor, discomfort
and misery of the place must have chilled and darkened the entire block in which the " Fold " was situated. " Nourishing food
meant three raw tomatoes a day!
Poor little Louis gradually wasted away before the eyes of the
Cowleys, until he was on the very verge of the grave, and then
they took him to the hospital.
Shepherd Cowley made a strong fight in the courts, but it was of
no avail. The evidence of his neglect and cruelty was overwhelming, and he was found guilty, as might have been expected. Recorder Smythe, before whom the case was tried, sentenced him to
one year's imprisonment in the Penitentiary, and to pay a fine of
$250, or to stand committed until the fine was paid. Cowley appealed, but the conviction was sustained, and he served out his sentence. But prison fare such as he got would have seemed sweet to
the orphans whom he maltreated.
Every one is conversant with the tragic circumstances which attended the assassination of President Garfield by Guiteau-how,
when the President, walking in the Baltimore and Potomac railway
station at Washington, arm-in-arm with James G. Blaine, was
shot down in cold blood by a political crank. When the appalling
news of the assassination was made known in New York, I was immediately struck with the similarity of the name of the assassinGuiteau-with that of a man who had once been brought before me.
A few days before the trial of Guiteau I happened to be in Washington, and saw him in his cell. Any doubts I may have had as to
his being the fellow I had arrested in New York were at once dis



//


A/
/7/


r  /,'.. ___

--
--


THE SHEPHERD'S FLOCK.
503




504


LOVE-SICI GUITEAUT.


pelled by his appearance, and by his exclaiming, as if he recognized me, " How do you do, sir?"
The way in which he came under my notice was as follows: He
had conceived a passionate admiration for a young lady, and began
showing it by following her about when she went shopping and
when she went to church. Then he wrote her love-letters, in a
high-flown style, expressing his ardent affection and devotion.
These were followed by small presents from time to time. Such
attentions became exceedingly distasteful to the young lady, and
she made the facts known to her friends, who reported the matter
to me. The letters were numerous; all had passed through the
Post-office and were written on Fifth Avenue Hotel note paper.
The writer was apparently a man of some education, as the penmanship was fairly good, and the language, though lofty and grandiloquent, appropriate and grammatical. As an inducement to the
young lady to accept him as her husband, he mentioned that he
was about to receive from the Government an appointment abroad
as diplomatic representative of the United States. He drew a flattering picture, showing the grace and dignity with which the young
lady, as his wife, could assist him in filling the position. The lawyer who came to me in behalf of the young lady pointed out that
the would-be suitor was evidently under the impression that the
subject of his admiration was an heiress; but that in this he was
mistaken. The gifts, too, I learned, were of a cheap and trashy
character. The letters were all signed " Charles Guiteau."
I sent a very careful officer-John McNamara-to enquire into
the matter. He watched the lady's residence, and also the church
she was in the habit of attending. In a day or two Guiteau appeared on the scene, and was immediately recognized by the officer
from the description furnished him. The suitor was loitering
about outside the church, waiting for his lady love. He did not
see her, however, for McNamara arrested him, and he was brought
before me. It did not strike me then that there was anything remarkable about his appearance, and he m:i:`..cular impression on me. He was a small man, witL:.. lexion, black
eyes, and was respectably dressed. Hi (c  1.:, when in my
presence, did not differ in the least fro.  '.^  ler arrest for
similar offences.
" So you've been writing letters to a la




," LOST! '


505


He admitted as much, informing me, also, that he had sent her
presents.
I gave Guiteau a severe lecture, upon the conclusion of which he
promised never to annoy the young lady again.- As he was leaving
the office, I said:
" If this same complaint is made against you a second time, I
shall certainly send you to the Penitentiary."
Instances of this kind were not uncommon in my experience;
and it had almost passed out of my mind, when one day Officer
McNamara reported that he had again found Guiteau in the vicinity of the church, evidently lying in wait for the young lady. The
officer took hold of him and nearly frightened him out of his
boots by saying:
"I am going to take you before the superintendent, and you'll
have to go to the Penitentiary this time."
Guiteau was very much alarmed, and begged and prayed in a
piteous manner to be let off. This was done, and that was the last
time he came in contact with the New York police. It would have
been difficult to prosecute the man, which is nearly always the case
in accusations of this nature. The publication of particulars is'
unpleasant for the persons who have been annoyed.
The number of persons who are reported to the police as being
missing from their homes is something incredible..As for lost,
stolen or strayed children, their name is legion. A parent rushes
wildly into the station-house, her hair dishevelled, and her eyes
almost starting from their sockets, and cries out that her child has
been lost. It had been last seen with a strange man or woman,
therefore it must have been kidnapped l
As a general rule, however, the missing individual soon turns
up with a very simple explanation as to the cause of absence.
Right here comes in the greatest difficulty with which the police
have to contend. Instant information is given when a person is
supposed to be "lost," but very rarely is it that the friends of the
lost remember to inform the police of the absent one's return.
A number of precautions are taken by the police for the protection of those who are strangers in the city and who happen to
meet with any accident. When persons are found sick on the sidewalk, and are unable to tell their names or addresses, but are
identified by an address card found on them, they are at once sent
to their homes. Otherwise, if there is no such clue, a description


*




506


CHARLES DELMONICO.


of the individual found is telegraphed to an officer at headquarters,
who has charge of all such matters. In the case of a child found
wandering about the streets, if it can tell its name, we telegraph to
its parents, who come to headquarters and recover their darling.
If no information can be obtained from the child, it is placed in
charge of the matron, Mrs. Webb, until some one claims the child,
or it is sent to some public institution.
One of the most famous cases of disappearance which occurred
during my term as police superintendent, and one which perhaps
is freshest in my memory, was that of Charles Delmonico, the proprietor of the well-known restaurant, on January 5, I884. On that
day he left his home in West Fourteenth Street and disappeared
so effectually that for a week, in spite of large rewards, the police
and detective force were unable to get track of him. It came to
be generally supposed that he had been kidnapped, or, worse yet,
murdered; but the police knew that the missing man had shown
signs, previous to his mysterious departure, of dementia, the result
of a long and severe illness; and they worked on the theory that
he had wandered off somewhere and either lost his way or met
with an accident.
We finally learned that he had been seen last on a ferry-boat
leading to Jersey City, and accordingly our search was confined
largely to New Jersey. After days of disagreeable searching, for
the weather was wintry and cold, we came upon his body in a little
ravine near Orange. Evidently he had fallen, and injured himself
so severely that he could not rise nor attract others to his condition.
So he gradually starved and froze to death.
Women have very often proved troublesome upon being arrested,
especially when intoxicated.  Policemen Maxwell and Carney
came across two of them one evening, raising a disturbance on the
Bowery. Maxwell collared one and his companion the other.
Maxwell's prisoner made no particular resistance until they had
wralked some distance, when she suddenly sat down on the sidewalk and commenced to disrobe. Bonnet, shawl, boots, stockings,
and other garments went flying into the middle of the street. As
fast as Maxwell replaced one article she divested herself of another.
At length, with the assistance of bystanders, the policeman got
enough clothes on her to hide her nakedness, and again started
for the station-house.
Before reaching there, however, down she went on the sidewalk




"WHITER THAN SNOW."


507


again, and this time she managed to pull her dress completely off.
The policeman was then close to the entrance, and so, gathering
up his prisoner's clothing in one hand, took hold of her with the
other, and marched her in. To say that the sergeant in charge
was astonished at seeing this half-clothed woman is but half expressing his impressions. It took three men to dress her again
and put her in a cell. Maxwell has since confessed to me that
whenever he saw her on the street afterward he always gave her a
wide berth.
On one occasion, while superintendent, I was standing at the
corner of Pine and Nassau streets, talking to two gentlemen, when
an old woman, pretty well intoxicated and carrying a basket on
her arm, came up and addressed me. Although I was attired in
citizen's dress, she evidently knew me, because when I told her
to go away and not make a noise she commenced to abuse the
police in general and me in particular. A crowd quickly collected,
-and despite all my urging the woman would not go away. Among
those in the crowd was a well-known stock broker. With the intention of disconcerting me and having some fun, this gentleman
remarked in a loud voice:
" I thought it was the duty of the police to arrest intoxicated
and disorderly persons on the streets."
Thus challenged, as it were, although I might easily have called
a patrolman, I took hold of the woman and started with her towards the First Precinct station-house on New Street. The crowd
followed. Among the various contents of the woman's basket
was a bag of flour, with which, having one arm free, she vigorously
pelted me. I was covered with the white powder from head to
foot. The numerous brokers and others who witnessed the scene
were most uproarious, yelling and shouting at the top of their
voices, while the smaller boys were no less backward in their demonstrations of delight at my whitewashed appearance. I appeared
against the woman the next day at the Tombs, and she was sent
to the Island for a term.
The habit of people to fly to the police upon the very slightest
provocation is astonishing.  All nervous and excitable persons
apparently look upon the force as having been organized for their
own personal benefit. The complaints made, and the grievances
elaborated by these imaginative individuals, are countless. The
most natural movements and actions on the part of perfectly in



508


CRANKS.


nocent persons are distorted, by the aid of vivid imaginations,
into plots to commit crime or to destroy the happiness and peace
of mind of those making the complaint. Very often, I confess,
have I been provoked when investigating these "baseless fabrics
of a vision." Yet I could not pass these complaints over without
taking some notice of them, as the very next thing in order would
have been a charge of negligence against the police.
Of intercourse with "cranks" I really think I have had more
than my fair share. It is strange how these unfortunate individuals always go directly to the Superintendent of Police, seemingly having little or no confidence in any of his subordinates.
The most common form of aberration of mind which these halfbalanced individuals possess is the fear of being waylaid and attacked by enemies who, they think, are pursuing them day and
night.
I well remember one nice old lady who came to me in evident
fear and distress of mind. That she was well-bred there could be
no doubt-her dress and demeanor'plainly showed that. She informed me, in a very earnest but somewhat rambling manner, that
certain persons, with none of whom she was acquainted, were constantly following her about, to do her some injury. I saw at once
that her mind was affected, but nevertheless listened attentively
to all she had to say, with apparently the deepest sympathy.
She was so evidently a lady in every sense of the word that I
hadn't the heart to send her about her business, as I might have
done. A fortunate thought entered my head and I hastened to
act on it. I rang my bell and instructed the officer who answered
the summons to send me two of the smartest detectives on the
force. They came, and pointing out the lady to them I said:
" You will see that hereafter this lady is not molested in any
way."
The old lady then left the room, thanking me over and over
again for my kindness, and evidently was greatly pleased with
the result of her interview. A few months afterwards, however,
she again made her appearance in my office. She had come, she
said, to inform me that she was entirely free from her enemies in New
York; but as she was going to spend the summer at Newport she
thought it would be best if I gave her a letter to the Chief of Police
there. This, I told her, was impossible, but I would, however,
see to it that the Newport chief was made acquainted with her




SOME OF THEIR DELUSIONS.


509


case and that the necessary protection would be afforded her.
Once more did she almost overwhelm me with her professions
of gratitude, and then retired.
Upon returning to New York, however, she again proved troublesome, paying frequent visits to Police Headquarters and annoying me in many ways. One day, therefore, I informed her that
she must call on me no more. She became very indignant and
exclaimed in a very angry manner
" Superintendent, you are a cruel man! and God will not be
good to you."
Another good example of a crank who paid me a visit was a
highly educated Englishman. He, literally as well as figuratively,
had electricity on the brain, and believed he was powerfully charged
with the volatile fluid. In his imagination a brick wall presented
rno obstacles, and the never-failing reservoir of supply was, he
thought, located somewhere in his head. He was taken before a
magistrate, to whom I explained the poor fellow's hallucination,
and he was sent to an insane asylum. He was subsequently released and returned to England, whence he wrote me. His letter
was a bright and clever composition, very sensible except for the
final sentence, which ran thus: "I am still suffering from the
electric fluid; and I will never come near you again because you
were cruel enough to send me to an asylum."
Once, when I was captain of the Eighteenth Precinct, a German
actually came and wanted the aid of the police simply because his
horse wouldn't stand still and he couldn't harness him.  At
another time a woman told me a long story about a mackerel,
which another woman had promised to watch for her while it was
being cooked. This woman had neglected her trust, the mackerel
was burned and the complainant wanted the woman arrested, and
made to pay for the cremated fish.
I have even known business men to make the most reckless
charges, without considering the legal aspect of the case. I have
been asked to order the arrest of drummers travelling in another
state, who had sold their samples, the applicant forgetting that
such a crime, committed in one state, is not punishable in another. Men frequently want their wives arrested for stealing property from them, and also on the charge of adultery. This is no
offence, in law, in New York state, as I found out to my cost on
one occasion. I received a despatch from the Montreal chief of




5Io


CONFESSIONS OF A FORGER.


police requesting me to arrest a married woman who had eloped
from Canada with a man not her husband, and who was on her
way to this city. When the two arrived here I had them arrested
and taken to Jefferson Market Police Court. The woman employed Messrs. Howe and Hummell as her counsel and was immediately discharged, as there was no statute under which she
could be held for adultery. Afterwards, a resolution was intioduced in the assembly by Hamilton Fish, Jr., asking that an enquiry be held into my action, but nothing ever came of it. I was,
however, more careful in the future.
The methods of that dangerous class of criminals known as forgers, and the passers of spurious money and securities, were never
more thoroughly exposed than in a confession made to Col. J.
Schuyler Crosby, at Florence, Italy, in the early spring of I885
It occurred after the arrest of those famous forgers and counterfeiters: Willis, Burnes, Hamilton and Wilkes, in connection with
what is known as the Florentine forgeries. " Pete " Burnes, otherwise known as James J. Julian and Henry Wood; and George W.
Wilkes, alias Willis, were arrested in Florence, Italy, on Christmas
Day, I880. Almost at the same moment, " Shell " Hamilton, alias
Colburt, their confederate, was captured in Milan. They had been
engaged in freebooting expeditions against bankers and hotel keepers all over Europe, using forged bonds, counterfeit money and
spurious letters of credit.
After a long trial, they were all convicted. Burnes died in prison, leaving a fortune of nearly half a million dollars, for which
three women, who pretended to be his "wives," had a long legal
squabble. But Wilkes, in some way or other, managed to get released after a short term of imprisonment. It is believed that his
release is due to his confession to Consul Crosby, which threw
great light on the operaions of these and other celebrated forgers
in Europe and America.
Wilkes was undoubtedly the equal of any man who ever forged,
counterfeited or dealt in "doubtful" securities. Such men as
"Andy" Roberts,,eiige Engels, Charley Becker and a host of
others, who have been considered "specialists," acknowledged his
superiority by seeking his services from time to time. It was he
who engineered the infamous $64,000 check forgery on the Union
Trust Co.; and he hiad a share in at least 75 per cent. of all such




WHOLESALE " CHECK-RAISING. '


5"I


operations in this country and Europe in which Americans, or
villains sailing from America, were connected.
The confession of Wilkes is now among the archives at Police
Headquarters. In it he tells the story of his life. He was a native of Orange Co., N. Y., and was born in 1837. After clerking a
while for the Erie Railroad Co., he was graduated as a professional
gambler, and once kept a " hell" at the corner of Broadway and
Fourth Street, with John Tollman and Charley Schaffer. His
gambling career lasted a couple of years, and during this period he
associated with the better class of criminals. His first venture in
forging was with a third-rate man named Sudless. They forged a
check of the Board of Education, as well as some small drafts.
They were arrested, but discharged. Then Wilkes indulged in a
fraud on the Custom House, known as the "Brandy Ring," which
netted him $40,000. He was next interested in the forgery of a
fifty-dollar greenback on the Tradesman's National Bank of New
York. His succeeding venture was with Joseph Chapman (now in
prison in Europe) and William Denneran in a " starring " forgery
trip. After several failures, at Cheyenne, Chapman passed a draft
for $3ooo. The gang then went to San Francisco, where they
had poor luck, only succeeding in cashing a draft for $2300.
About this time they went into partnership with N. V. Clinton, a
" Hoosier," and organized a scheme of plunder against South
American merchants. Clinton, however, broke loose, cheated his
partners and came to grief, much to the delight of his former companions, for stealing a letter of credit from a fellow-passenger while
on the journey from Panama. Wilkes also left the gang to come
to New York, and made arrangements to meet Chapman, who at
San Francisco had obtained a small draft on the Bank of British
North America. Wilkes "doctored" the draft until it called for
$500oo0, and Chapman negotiated it by means of false letters of introduction.
The two then went to Boston, and when prepared for another
starring tour took in George Barlow. They raised funds to meet
travelling and hotel expenses by altering a check for a paltry
amount to $i6oo. Their next exploit was the raising of a small
draft, obtained in Chicago, to $5000, which was cashed in Louisville, Kentucky. All this, however, was poor business. Besides,
several detectives were on the track of the forgers, and Clinton,
who was in jail at Panama, had to be supplied with money to




512


THE ' SNAP GIVEN AWAY.


bribe his keepers. There was some clever work done in raising
checks from small amounts to thousands of dollars, and this kept
the gang from starving until the winter of 1876, when they were in
possession of funds to the amount of $8,ooo or $io,ooo. At that
time the gang was increased by the addition of " Eph " Holland,
Patrick Riley and James Hogan. They had money enough to be
idle for a time, and at Chicago perfected their knowledge of banking methods. In this they were greatly aided by "Phil" Hargraves, who was nearly as expert as Wilkes.
Early In i877 they made a descent on Louisiana, raking in from
$20,000 to $30,000. They lived recklessly, however; and when
they meditated operations between St. Louis and San Francisco, and
it was necessary to raise as much money as possible, they were unable to count on much more than $io,ooo. They, however, rang
the changes between the two cities named so cleverly that they
netted about $30,000. By this time Wilkes had formed other connections, and had accumulated enough money to enter into bigger
business. Forged bonds of the Central Pacific Railroad had
been made by Charley Becker, and $I,0ooo worth of them were
disposed of by Wilkes and the others in Chicago. Then, in company with "Josie" Spencer and $34,000 of the bonds, Wilkes started for Europe. Hardly had they landed at Liverpool than a telegram from Chapman announced that " the snap had been given
away," and the forged bonds were therefore immediately destroyed.
Hunted by the police, Wilkes and Spencer fled to London, and
thence back to America, landing at Baltimore. Then they went
into the draft-raising business again. At their very first attempt
they made $13,500. There was a quarrel among the members of
the clique, the result being that Wilkes joined his fortunes with
those of Decker and John Phillips, who had just emerged from
prison in Pennsylvania. Accompanied by their wives, the trio
started for England to dispose of bonds stolen from the Bank of
Trenton, New Jersey. In London they met "Andy " Roberts, and
had fair luck. Wilkes came back to America, to return almost by
the next steamer. This sudden trip was to aid in a plot for placing a "block" of $200,000 worth of Buffalo and Erie Railroad
bonds which had been prepared by Roberts. In addition to these
bonds there was about.$i5o,ooo worth of the bonds of the Chicago
Western and Southern: Railroad. These securities, however,
were not altogether perfected. The finishing touches to the Buf



A GIGANTIC SCHEME.             5


53


falo and Erie's were put on by " Andy " Roberts, while Walter
Sheridan completed the Chicago bonds.
The plot, however, fell through, owing to bad management.
The gang dissolved partnership, and Wilkes returned to New York
depleted in purse, but far richer in experience. He formed a comr
bination with John Donahue, Charles King, James Greene, and
" Phil " Hargraves to buy $50,000 worth of counterfeit greenbacks
to dispose of in Europe. The counterfeits were obtained from
Charles Ulrich and William E. Gray, at twelve and a half per cent.
of their face value. Of this sum $20,0o 0 was lost in Europe by
Greene and King, who ventured to Italy and did not know the language sufficiently to place the "' queer." Very little was done with
the balance.
Then Wilkes went into the speculation of forging letters of credit,
etc., spoken of in the history of William Griffis, alias Lord Ashburton. His next plot was to victimize the banking firm of Seligman & Co. of New York. He obtained genuine drafts of ~iooo
and ~Io from the firm in questiofi, upon their London (England)
correspondents. In London the gang had the drafts certified and
stamped in due form. Then they proceeded to forge other drafts
on the firm, and netted $40,000. These forgeries were accomplished by raising smaller drafts on the London correspondents,
and stamping them with the spurious certification.
Late in I879 a gigantic scheme of forging French certificates of
three per cents was entered into between Burns, Wilkes, Decker, a
Dr. Hamnell and a man named Picon. The certificates were
forged by Decker, and the venture proved a gold mine to the gang.
They next started on letters of credit of the Societe Gdnerale,
of Brussels; but this scheme hung fire, and only about 13,000
francs were made by them. Then they prepared for an Italian raid.
Decker and Engels had got ready certificates of Italian stocks to the
amount of 600,000 francs, and the gang started to negotiate them.
I n the hands of such expert "negotiators " as Burns, John Carr,
James Poswell, Engels, Wilkes, Charles Baranoff, and Charles Sil
vio Bixio the certificates went like hot-cakes. The forgers separated into several parties, some going as far as Russia even. The
rascals were not content with more than a moderate success, but
they were desirous of trying their hand again with the balance of
the five per cent. Italian stocks. The plot was to "sack " Naples,
Rome, Livorno, Turin, and other places. Luck followed them




514


OFFENCES AGAINST THE EXCISE.


everywhere, but they came to grief, as before stated, in Turin and
Florence.
I don't think I shall be very much out of the way in saying that
during Wilkes' career he and his associates dealt in at least $4,000,ooo worth of forged and stolen securities, and that they " realized"
at least forty per cent. of that amount.
A policeman who had a mistaken idea as to his duties was Patrolman Purvis, of the Sixteenth Precinct, who arrested a well-known
saloon-keeper for selling liquor on Sunday. He was informed
unofficially by the liquor interest, that in consequence of this arrest
he would be transferred to some other precinct. Sure enough he
was, for in a very short time he was assigned to duty in the Twentyninth, the Police Board passing an order making the transfer.
While he was in the Twenty-ninth Precinct he one day received the
following anonymous letter:
"Purvis, my old boy, you were told you would be transferred,
and you have been. I hope you won't be quite so fresh in arresting people for selling on Sunday."
Let the police do what they may in the matter of making arrests
for violations of the excise law, they cannot stop them. Suppose,
in the first place, a policeman, in citizen's clothes, enters a saloon
on Sunday and sees beer and spirits sold freely. He arrests the
bar-tender, who is taken before a magistrate. The law says that if
the accused demands a trial by jury it must be granted him, the
amount of bail being fixed at $1oo. Then the case goes to the
General Sessions, where it is placed on file, never to come up again
probably while he lives. Why? Because I suppose there are not
far from twenty thousand such cases on file there now, and the
machinery of the court of General Sessions is totally inadequate to
deal with them.
I know of one case where a patrolman entered a lager beer
saloon on Sunday, saw several sales of liquor, and then arrested
the seller. The magistrate before whom the accused was taken
asked the officer how he knew that what was sold was lager. He
even asked whether the policeman had tasted it or not. The officer
replied that he had not, but that he heard persons ask for lager;
that they were served with something drawn from a lager beer keg;
and that they paid the regular price for lager. The magistrate
thereupon discharged the prisoners.
In another case of a like nature, the officer was roundly abused




HOW THE ROOSEVELT COMMITTEE WAS " WORKED."    515


by the magistrate as a spy and a sneak, for having entered the
saloon in citizen's attire. Shortly afterwards the same magistrate
threatened to prefer charges against that very officer for going into
another saloon while wearing his uniform! The police are hampered in.every possible way, and it is no wonder some of them
give up as useless attempting to enforce this part of the law.
While I was superintendent it was my practice to send a complete record of all the arrests for violations of the excise law to the
Excise Commissioners. If they would only do their duty, and revoke the licenses of those who break the law, they would quickly
put a stop to all such infractions.
The Roosevelt committee, in their report, credited the inspectors
and captains of police with having used all due diligence. My
opinion is that the finding of that committee was not justified by
the evidence. Its members were influenced in some way or other.
I know that a fund was raised through the captains from the men
in the force, and turned over to the inspectors, who paid it to
some one connected with the committee. The force raised about
$13,000, and after the committee got through, the lawyers put in
their bills. There was not enough left to pay them, and they had
to take up a second collection. Many of the men refused to pay.
Anonymous letters came to me from members of the force protesting against it. The method taken to collect the assessments
was to have each member of the force "interviewed" while on
duty, and on pay-day he was expected to hand his contribution to
the person designated to collect. The information relative to the
amount paid to some person connected with the committee came
to me some months after the occurrence.
In company with Police Commissioner Matthews I went to
Europe on June 28, I882. We sailed front New York on the Germania, for Havre. From there we went to Rouen, and called on
the Prefect of Police. We told him who we were, but he wasn't
visibly impressed. He only touched an electric button on his desk
and told the man who answered the call to show us around. There
wasn't much to be seen. The next day we got an interpreter, an
Englishman who was building a horse railway, and we conversed
with the Prefect at second-hand. Americans who have been on
the Continent can best understand such enjoyment. Then we
went to Paris. I sent in my card to the Prefect there, and he requested me to call the next day; but it turned out that he had mis



5P6


MY VISIT TO EUROPE.


taken me for the Chief of the Newark, N. J., police, who had a
letter of introduction to him, from the American minister. So he
sent me to Mace', the Chief of Detectives. The latter showed me
his collection of burglars' tools, but they did not amount to much.
Finally we were presented to the Prefect, through the introduction
of the American Consul, Gen. Walker. We had an audience with
him.
I met Miss Kate Field at Mr. J. S. Hooper's, the American
vice-consul. We stopped in Paris ten or twelve days. We took
breakfast with the Prefect one morning at Mr. Walker's house.
I went into one or two of the police barracks, which are equivalent to our station-houses. One cannot compare the two police
systems. The French consists more in doing military duty, nearly
all the members of the force having been in the army. The gendarmes didn't seem to attempt to regulate vehicles in the streets at
all. I never saw but one disturbance, and that was a very slight
one, occasioned by one team running into another.
While in Paris, Mr. and Mrs. Hooper gave a reception, to which
we were invited and had a very pleasant time. From the pen
of our hostess are the delightful Paris letters to the press signed
Lucy H. Hooper. On July 14 we went to see the review of the
troops at Versailles-which was a grand sight.
In London we visited Scotland Yard, and I had an interview
with Superintendent Williamson. He knew me by reputation, and
I had had frequent correspondence with him. The police there
have three " watches "-eight hours each-from ten to six o'clock,
six to two, and two to ten again. There are three sets of men.
After staying a week or ten days in London, we went to Glasgow
by the London and North-western Railroad, and then came home.




CHAPTER XXXVII.


THE DETECTIVE OF ROMANCE.-SOME POPULAR ERRORS CORRECTED.
-LOST CHILDREN.-MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES.-MISSING
MR. SMITH.-HOW I FOUND HIM.-STEPPING OVER THE COUNTY
LINE.-LIVINGSTONE THE FORGER.-A CHASE AS FAR AS CHICAGO.-AN ACCOMPLISHED PENMAN.-MORTGAGING A DEAD
MAN'S PROPERTY.-CLEVER TRICK ON A LAWYER.-THE STORY
OF A WATCH.
TAKING a clew from the detectives found in novels, one portion
of the public believes that the member of this special branch of
the police service possesses almost supernatural powers; while
the other portion, more sceptical, has little faith in the abilities
of the detective as he is pictured in books. The detective of current romance is a superlative being, endowed with such prescience, fitted out with such a wonderful brain and gifted with so
many more senses than the average man that I fear his true char
acter is likely to be misunderstood.
In a large city, there must always exist a body of men entrusted
with the preservation of public order. Their duties are distinctly
defined. They serve the purposes of dealing with the ordinary offences which are likely to occur. These men, the rank and file of
the force, become familiar with those portions of the city entrusted
to their charge, and their services are all the more effectivet on
that account. Outside of this force, there must exist another one,
of a more mobile character, which ought to be in a certain measure independent of the first, though under the control of the principal officer of the police. The function of such a body of men is
obvious. To draw a simile from army organization, the main force
of the police is the infantry; the detectives, the cavalry and the
scouts. The latter make the reconnoissances. Their duties are
multifarious. Ready to move anywhere at any time, their province
is to anticipate, if they can, the commission of a crime; or, if a criminal act has been already perpetrated, to track it to its source.
I confess that I have found some difficulty in making clear to
517




DETECTIVES AND THEORIES.


my own mind what the peculiar traits are which make a man an
efficient detective officer. That he must be endowed with courage
and intelligence, have alacrity and adaptability, and, above everything, a good memory is quite evident to all. As to what is called
quick-wittedness, I am rather doubtful as to the indispensableness
of that, because I have rarely found that the one whose deductions
were very rapid was a safe man. The rapid generalizer turns out
usually to be one who shapes his facts to his theories. A slowthinking man, however, without powers of mental combination,
never could make a good detective. I have rather liked the hesitating man, the officer who doubted the correctness of his own
theories, providing he constructed any.  The cock-sure man, I
have always found, made a mess of his business. The man with
a poetical imagination, who gets greatly excited, and who frames
every day a new scheme, and tries them all one after another, always follows his nose up a blind alley.
I know of nothing more like a game of chess than the game of
thief catching. Edgar Poe never could have tracked a robber.
Clews are good things, but some of them are very thin and impalpable; straws which do not show which way the wind blows. Some
men who are detectives have been often lucky; and I may say
that I have been lucky a great many times. I have started from a
mere nothing, something which I thought at first was insignificant,
and which has proved to be the thread which led me straight
through the labyrinth.
But such good fortune does not always smile upon the best
equipped of detectives. My own experience has shown me hundreds of times how futile were my hopes. All of a sudden, when
the scent was hottest, when the tracks were freshest, when I
thought that a capture was positive, every trace of the malefactor
has disappeared. I might have been right up to a certain point
and then gone wrong. Looking back at my work, studying it
carefully, step by step, I would sometimes find where I had been
in error; but as often as not, where the blunder I had been guilty
of was I never could discover. I may as well confess here that I
never gave myself any credit for extra keenness, but generally attributed my failures to my own fault.
It is satisfactory, however, to recall the fact that in a majority of
the cases when criminal acts were followed up by the police, the




FAVORABLE COMPARISONS.


5I9


capture of the perpetrators has followed. I am inclined to believe
that the difficulty of catching offenders rather augments than diminishes as the years go by. The skill of the detective has increased, but the cunning of the criminal has not lessened and meaixs
of concealment are more readily attainable.
In a large city like New York, to find a certain man is like
hunting for a needle in a hay-stack. As the avenues of travel multiply, the methods of escape become easier. When the perpetrator
of a criminal act in New York may, within a week, notwithstanding
the use of the telegraph, be walking safely in the streets of San
Francisco, the increasing difficulties of detective work are at once
apparent. Oar system of surveillance differs entirely from that
employed in France, especially in Paris, where the goings and
comings of their criminal class are closely watched. I have some
acquaintance with the methods employed at the Rue Jerusalem, in
Paris, acquired by personal examination there, and I am quite
certain that the probability of the capture of thieves and the restoration of property is about the same in New York as in Paris.
In London, the comparison made by me between the work of the
English and the New York detective was rather creditable to the
superior skill or, at any rate, success, of our own men.
In describing not so much a perfect detective as the peculiarities of his calling, I should be doing an injustice if I did not state
that there is a certain element of romance about his work. The
detective must have, at times, histrionic traits, and must be able
not only to wear a disguise, but to enact the personage he assumes
to be. If the thief ingratiates himself among honest men in
order to plunder them, so the honest man associates with thieves
in order to frustrate their plans. It requires no small amount of
sang froid and self-command to shadow a man for days, and to assume an indifferent manner;* I can allege from my own experience
that it is very trying and exasperating work.
After weeks of apparent idleness and unconcern, all of a sudden,
in an instant, the time of action comes. Like everything else, after
a while the detective gets accustomed to his peculiar work, and
rather likes it. To ride with a man in a horse-car, whose every
action it is your business to know; to find out all you can about
him; to stamp his features indelibly on your memory; to see him on
the steps of his own house; to try to make out what he would look
like without his disguise, while you are apparently doing anything




520


THE WORK OF A; SHADOW.^'


else than paying particular attention to him, is an art not acquired
in an instant. Remember that the man you are watching is no
fool. He is expecting to be watched. He is never entirely off his
guard. If you caught his eye, if you made any uncalled-for movement, he would be as the wily fox, who scents the dogs from afar.
If the suspicious man has been for any considerable time engaged in criminal pursuits, you may be quite certain that he is
well up in his knowledge of the New York detective, and not alone
the New York detective, but those on similar service in many other
cities. He has a nose for a detective. Your assumed indifference
as a detective may be humored and recognized by him. When he
once believes you are after him, he will lead you an interminable
chase, which nine times out of ten will terminate in your losing
him entirely.
The preliminary study necessary before the regular detective
work begins is sometimes very great. A crime is committed, a
murder for instance, and in the confused condition of public alarm
three or four or more persons are suspected. All the details of
the lives of these persons have to be looked up-their past,
their present condition, their character, their motives. Often
such information is most difficult to obtain, because investigations
have to be prosecuted in a noiseless way. It frequently happens
that it is the head of the police department who, having unravelled
these tangled threads, gives the winding up of them to the detective. The public then blindly credits the detective with the capture, entirely overlooking the person who at his desk has laid the
elaborate plan which led directly to the execution of justice.
Sometimes, what might be called the refinement of detective work
is carried out. It may be that a counterfeiter is to be captured.
He has issued spurious coin. The laws have been, however, so
framed that unless the man is discovered in the act of manufact.
uring the false notes or the false coins, punishment would be difficult. To get into the forger's or counterfeiter's confidence and
to catch him in the very act of counterfeiting may be called one of
the triumphs of detective skill. The successful accomplishment
of an arrest of this character is often more difficult than to trace a
murderer.
Murders, it may be said, are not as often the work of clever criminals, as of unaccomplished ones. Putting aside the elements of
passion, as hate, or love, or jealousy, Cain kills Abel most fre



LOST PEOPLE.


52I


quently for his money. The house breaker does not wish to kill.
Occasional killing may be said to be one of the accidents of his
calling. He may turn suddenly when cornered or discovered, and
desperately use his knife or pistol. In such a case, when a man
has been killed for the sake of plunder in a city, it is wiser to seek
for his murderer in the lower stratum of society. But when death
seeks a victim from jealousy the clews are more apparent.
How frequently do we read in the papers that John Smith or William Jones left his house at a certain time and has not been heard
of since. And as for children, the number of them who are daily
reported as having disappeared is remarkable. The parents rush
to the station-house, saying their child had been seen with a woman and they concluded it had been kidnapped. The friends and
relatives of missing people get unnecessarily alarmed, and conclude that something dreadful has happened to them should they
be absent for a few hours beyond their usual time. But then, as a
rule, the children all return home, and so do the adults. This is
the greatest difficulty the police have to contend with; they are
told when people are lost, but no one bothers himself to vouchsafe
information as to when they return. We send orders to the captains of precincts to make inquiries as to whether parties had returned home, and to notify us immediately of the fact. Frequently
a man would be absent for a day or two, and would explain
the matter on his return by saying that he was carried off by the
cars, omitting to state, however, why he had not got off at the first
station.
We adopt a number of precautions to protect people who are
strangers in the city, or who have met with some untoward accident. The orders are very precise on this point. When people
are found sick in the streets, and are unable to tell their names, but
are identified by papers found on them they are sent to their homes.
The order is if a person is found sick on the streets and is unable
to tell his name, a description of him must be telegraphed and
that description is sent to a man. who has special charge of such
matters. When inquiry is made about an individual, the record of
arrests and accidents is first examined. The police are bound to
keep a book for this purpose. Let us suppose, for instance, that a
young lady has fallen ill on the street, and is unable to tell her name
and address. The police telegraph that a lady was found in such
a condition, describe her age, if they can guess at that, size and




522


SMITH IS MISSING.


other points by which she might be identified. Should she be able
to tell her name, or her address be found upon her, we immediately
send word to the house in question. If no address is to be found,
we put her in the hospital. In the height of summer, when people
are prostrated by the sun, such cases are of common occurrence. I
have known as many as from twenty to thirty children a day brought
to us in July and August. A full description is telegraphed to the
Central Office, if the child can tell its name; parents come to headquarters and recover their darling. If we can get no information
from the youngster on this point, it is placed in the care of the matron, Mrs. Webb, until somebody comes along and claims the child.
During the earlier portion of my career on the police force, I
remember several cases of persons missing from their homes; but
the one which stands out most prominently is that which I will now
relate:
Mr. Thomas Smith, whom I well knew, was a constable residing
at Middletown Point, now named Mattawan, Monmouth Co., N. J.,
in i856, and in the Fall of that year mysteriously disappeared.
The information was brought to me by two gentlemen, Messrs.
David Warner and Eusebius Walling, the latter of whom was a
relative. Mr. Smith's family, they said, were very much distressed
over his disappearance. When he left home, over a week previously, he told his friends he was going to New York on business,
and as the garrotting scare was then at its height, they feared foul
play. Somewhat curious as to the cause which induced Messrs.
Warner and Walling to take such an interest in the matter, I made
inquiries, and learned that Smith, in the course of his regular
duties, had collected some $2000 of taxes for which he had not accounted, and that the two gentlemen above mentioned were his
bondsmen.  To find any trace of Smith was a difficult matter, but
I found out from Warner that the missing man had once told him
that he had some relatives in the western part of New York State.
This was not much of a clew, but still there was a chance that
Smith might be there. I was not on duty at the time, and had an
idea that some experience might be gained by following the matter
up. I therefore took the train for a station not far from the terminus of the road.  I walked some miles on foot until I reached
the place. Before starting, some of Smith's letters had been
handed me, and during the journey I had studied the handwriting
thoroughly and was perfectly familiar with its peculiarities. Arrived




"GOT A TEAM THERE."


523


at the only hotel in the place, I at first made no inquiries. Entering a fictitious name on the hotel register, I scanned the pages.
There was no "Smith " on the first or second pages, so I turned
further back, and finally made out a signature, the handwriting of
which closely resembled that of the missing constable.
I questioned the hotel proprietor: " Did he remember one of his
guests of some days previously-the gentleman whose name
was written there? " pointing it out.
"Yes," he did; and he proceeded to describe Smith, who was
a man past fifty years of age-tall, slim, wrinkled face, and carrying a gold-headed cane.
"Where did he go? " I inquired.
"I'm sure I can't tell. I remember he wanted to hire a conveyance of me, but as I don't keep a horse I sent him to the livery
stable round the corner. Guess he got a team there."
I immediately called upon the livery-stable keeper.
"Do you remember a slim, oldish-looking man, pretty well
wrinkled, with a gold-headed cane, who hired a horse and buggy
of you about a week ago?" I asked.
"Certainly I do," was the prompt reply.
"Did he drive himself, or did you send some one with him?"
was my next question.
"One of my men took him," said the liveryman.
"Well, then, send round a horse and wagon to the hotel for
me," said I, "and, above all, that same driver."
In less than ten minutes, horse, wagon and driver were at the
door.
"Now, my man," said I, " I want you to drive me exactly to the
place where that old gentleman went with you. Put me down
precisely at the same spot."
The driver took me quite a long journey, but finally stopped at a
smallvillage and let me out. I walked to the hotel, had some dinner, and then engaged in conversation with the proprietor. In the
course of our chat I asked him if he remembered a certain old
gentleman coming there a week previously, who had a gold-headed
cane with him.
"Yes," he said; "he wanted to know the way to a family of
the name of Smith, who lived not far from here. Real nice,
pious old man; goes to church; I saw him in the village last Sunday."




524


" HOW ARE YOU, MR. SMITH? "


That was enough for me. ' I sought a Justice of the Peace and
procured a warrant.' The charge I made against Smith was the
embezzlement of public money. I needed a constable too, and
accordingly secured one. This constable, if he was a country one,
was bright enough, for he said to me: " Look here, that warrant is
all well enough; but it's only good for this county. Smith's house
is on the other side of the road, in another county. I'm afraid
you won't be able to get him."
" Much obliged to you," I remarked; " but for all that we must
find some way of getting hold of him."
Hiring a team, towards evening the constable and I started for
the house at which we supposed Mr. Smith was staying. By-thebye, I took the precaution of carrying with me a carriage lamp, the
utility of which will appear later on.
" There's the place," said the constable, pointing with his whip
to a little farm house, set a short distance back from the roadway.
"Now light the lamp," I said; "and haul the wagon up on
the side of the road which is in your county."
He did so, hitching the horse to a fence. There was a light in
the kitchen, and walking up the path I looked in at the window.
There was the missing man, seated very comfortably and engaged
in reading a newspaper.  I went back to my companion and informed him that our man was inside, sure enough. " You are acquainted with the people," I observed; "so you go ahead. I'll
follow."
The constable knocked, the door was opened, and we entered.
"How are you, Mr. Smith? " said the constable; and
" How are you, Mr. Thomas Smith?" was added by me.
Smith had known me ever since I was a boy, and at once rose
from his seat.
" Why, how are you, Wash," he said, " what are you doing here? "
Smith was very effusive, and really played his part very well.
"The fact of the matter is, Mr. Smith," I replied, " I've come
to see you. Your people were fearful that you had been garroted
in New York, and that your body had been thrown into the water.
But now I find you alive and well I should like to see you in private for a minute or two. Come outside." Suspecting nothing,
Smith came to the door.
" I have a letter I want you to look at," said I; " but it's too
dark here," and I led him to the lamp in the wagon. As soon as




" WASH KETCHED YOU."


525


he put his foot over the county line, the constable clapped his
hand on his shoulder and told him he was a prisoner. For my
part, I at once taxed him with having run off with $2000, and carefully searched both him and his baggage, but found only a few dollars in his pockets.
Upon asking him what had become of the money, Smith solemnly
avowed that he had been robbed of it in New York. This story I
did not believe for one instant, but hurried him to New York,
and turned him over to Supt. Matsell. Of course I was exceedingly annoyed at my failure to recover the money, and watched
my prisoner pretty closely. While I was communicating the facts
in the case to my chief, Smith appeared very uneasy and nervous, protesting his innocence in a manner that was really pathetic.
Suddenly I noticed a furtive effort on the part of Smith to handle
and fumble with his waistcoat. He did this two or three times,
and all at once it flashed across my mind that he had at one time
been a tailor. That waistcoat concealed something, and I must
have it. He took it off, and I scrutinized it all over very carefully. The stitches in the lining were apparently all right; but
still I was not satisfied. I took out my pen-knife, ripped open the
inside seam near the button-holes, and there was the money or, at
least, $i8oo of it, nicely quilted in 1
That afternoon Smith was taken, under my charge, to Keyport,
N. J., and confronted with his bondsmen.
" If you will go to my house," said he, " the rest of the money
will be found." We went there, and the remaining money, $200,
was found concealed in a bed. It was a singular case. Here was
a man ostensibly honest for forty years, who all at once could not
resist temptation.
The news of Smith's capture made a decided sensation at Keyport. The whole town was out of doors when Smith was brought
there. Perhaps what was hardest for Smith to bear were the
mocking taunts of some of the Keyport bad boys. It is probable
that some of these urchins had held Smith in awe, and he might in
former days have threatened them with punishment for some
trifling delinquencies. I remember some of them, notwithstanding
my efforts to the contrary, jeering Smith with their cries, such as:
"Tried to run away with money that wasn't yourn, did yer? But
Wash ketched you."
It is not generally known, but Thomas Worth, the artist, was at




THOMAS WORTIf'S SKETCH.


one time a teller in the City Bank, and it was only by the merest
accident that he did not remain in that position all his life. And
the way it came about was in connection with one of the cheekiest
forgeries I ever remember. It happened in July, I867, one day in
which month a stout, good-humored fellow, attired in a sort of
"cheese-cutter" cap and a short sack jacket, drove up in front of
the City Bank in an express wagon. drawn by a pair of magnificent
black horses. The man alighted, and walking into the bank in an
easy, off-hand manner, laid on Worth's desk a check for $75,000,
seemingly signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt in favor of "Henry
Keep." Apparently, the signature was genuine, and as it was no
uncommon occurrence for the Commodore to withdraw his money
in just such an unceremonious manner, the cash was done up in a
package and delivered to the man. He carefully examined it to
satisfy himself as to the correctness of the amount, engaged in conversation with the cashier for a minute or so, then strolled leisurely
out of the bank, mounted the seat in his wagon, and drove off.
Nothing more was thought of the matter by the bank officials,
until at the expiration of seven weeks, when Mr. Vanderbilt disclaimed any knowledge of having given such a check. In fact,
it was a forgery! When asked to describe the personal appearance of the individual who had presented the forged check, Worth
was unable to do so verbally, but taking his pen drew a rough
sketch of the man as he remembered him.
Detective George Elder (poor fellow, he died only a short
time ago) was shown the rough sketch. and immediately exclaimed:
"Why, that's John Livingstone."
Here was a clew certainly, but the daring forger had seven
weeks' start of his pursuers. Elder was detailed to work up the
case, and he very soon discovered that his man had located himself somewhere not far from Chicago. Knowing that Livingstone had a weakness for horse-flesh, Elder learned, by judicious
inquiries in that particular direction, that his man had purchased
some fine horses, etc., at various points on the road, saying he
was going to set up a stock farm. By this means Elder traced
him to a farm which he had purchased, about forty miles from
Chicago. Thither, one morning, the detective, in company with
some two or three friends, went, and accosted the suspected
forger, who met them at the front door, with:




UNAPPRECIATIVE BANK OFFICERS.


527


"Good morning, Mr. Livingstone."
Livingstone made no reply, and Elder tried again.
"Did you leave everybody well in New York?"
" Sir," was the reply, " I never was in New York in my life.
I don't understand you."
"Well, then, you'll soon have a chance of going there; " saying
which, Elder put the handcuffs on him, at the same moment imparting the information that he was under arrest for forgery.
Livingstone was a sensible man and consented to return East
with his captor, so Elder quickly hitched up the same pair of
horses with which he had driven up to the bank, and made the
best possible time for Indiana, pursued at no great distance by
Chicago lawyers armed with writs of habeas corpus. Elder, however, managed to get his prisoner aboard a train in safety, and
soon landed him in New York.
Elder succeeded in recovering about $50,000 of the amount
which had been obtained by means of the forged check, but even
this did not satisfy the bank authorities, who strongly hinted that
more might have been obtained if he had desired. Naturally
enough, Elder, who had really worked hard and faithfully on the
case, was very indignant at the accusation, and hot words ensued.
The bank refused to pay any reward, and it was only with the
greatest difficulty that Elder could' induce them to refund him
the amount he had disbursed in following up the criminal.
Worth's reputation as an artist was brought about and assured
through his rough sketch of Livingstone from memory. He soon
afterwards left the employ of the bank, and his subsequent
career is well known. Elder won renewed laurels by his skilful work in successfully following up the clew' afforded by the
picture, while Livingstone also reaped a benefit from it in the
shape of a long term of imprisonment in Sing Sing.
Some thirty years ago there resided in Chicago an individual
named Thomas D. Lawson, a most accomplished penman. His
skill was something wonderful, and had his energies been directed
in the right path he might have won for himself a respectable position in society. He obtained distinction, however, in quite another way. Contemporaneously with Mr. Lawson, the brewing
firm of Gunsenhauser & Co., was also famous in the annals of
Chicago. This firm was uniformly prosperous, and Gunsenhauser himself died in i858, leaving a large fortune. The shrewd




528


FRANCIS B. CUTTING S CLIENT.


brewer had the foresight and judgment to see that there was
much wealth to be acquired by the purchase of land in the already fast-growing city, and therefore invested the greater portion
of his means in realty. When he died, his extensive estate was
naturally a big temptation to sharpers, and a band of them determined to see what they could make out of it. With this end in
view, they mahaged to gain the good graces of Lawson, who under
their direction executed a number of deeds and mortgages, transferring portions of the deceased brewer's landed property, all
drawn up and engrossed in proper form. All these documents
were antedated, as if they had been executed during the lifetime
of Gunsenhauser. Each of them, too, was also recorded. To
have offered these deeds for sale in Chicago would have led to
certain detection, so some of them were disposed of in other
places. New York, however, became the principal base of operations, and thus, when in charge of the detective force, the matter came under my notice.
The swindlers were at first very successful. The parties with
whom they entered into negotiations for the purchase of the mort-. gages took the usual precaution of sending to Chicago for information. The examinations were made, and the transactions having been reported apparently correct, large sums of money were
paid to the forgers on the completion of the purchases.
Not long after, the buyers discovered that they had been swindled, the brewer's heirs showing very clearly that no such mortgages had ever been made, and that the whole of the transactions
were fraudulent.
I set detectives on the track and in a very short time I had a
number of the suspected persons under arrest. One of these was
Lawson, who secured the services of Mr. Francis B. Cutting, an
eminent lawyer, well known in New York, who occupied an elegant
house on Fifth Avenue.  Lawson succeeded in convincing his
counsel of his innocence.
Mr. Cutting, as is usual, insisted upon the entire counsel fee
of $iooo being paid. This seemed at first impossible, as Lawson's
brothers in crime had turned a cold shoulder to their accomplished
penman; however, after some delay, the money was paid. The
day of the trial came. Mr. Cutting made a very eloquent appeal
to the court, pointing out that Mr. Lawson was not only innocent
but a persecuted and much-wronged man. His address created a




"I'VE BEEN ROBBED. "


529


great impression on the jury, but in spite of this Lawson was convicted. He felt grateful for his counsel's able efforts, and did not
regret the payment of so large a retainer.
It transpired afterwards that the cause of the delay in raising
this money was that Lawson was negotiating the mortgaging of
some New York property. At length all arrangements were completed, and the mortgage was duly executed and recorded. The
consideration was $I500, $500 of which Lawson kept for himself,
paying the remainder over to his counsel.  But imagine Mr. Cutting's astonishment and rage when, upon looking over the records,
he found that his own mansion on Fifth Avenue was the
identical property upon which the money had been advanced.
It was a clever dodge, no doubt. Criminals very seldom play
any such tricks on their lawyers, but this one certainly displayed
a grim humor that was notable.
One day, some fourteen or fifteen years ago, while I was in command of the detective force, I was sitting in my office, which
was then at the corner of Broome and Elm streets, when
two of my men-Thomas Sampson and James Bennettcame in, bringing with them a well-known thief and fence named
Dreyfus. The officers were walking along the Bowery, and
saw him slip into a saloon by the side door, in a manner which suggested the idea that he had particular reasons for not being seen.
They followed him in, and finding he had taken refuge in the
water-closet concluded to bring him to me. Upon arriving at
my office, his clothing was searched, but nothing was found which
could criminate him. At length I told him to hold out his hands,
which he did, and in one of them was a gold watch.
"Ah! gold watch, eh? Where did you get this?" I asked.
"That watch," replied Dreyfus, "is one I've had for twenty
years, and I was just going to have it mended."
" All right," was my only observation, saying which I opened the
case of the watch and found that the pin had been removed, so
that the works could be taken out at a moment's notice. This was
suspicious, to say the least, and I accordingly ordered Dreyfus to
be locked up. He could not have been in his cell more than an
hour, when in rushed a man,-a stranger to me,-loudly exclaiming: " I've been robbed!"
When he had calmed down a little, I learned that he was a
watchmaker and jeweller on the Bower and that ver" afternoon




530


54 IT VAS MINE."


he had been visited by two young men, who looked at quite a
number of watches, but did not make a purchase. Af: L  i:
left he found a valuable gold watch was missing.
I should say that I had written on my blotter the ':,;
description of the watch taken from Dreyfus, while the v;-ci, A.-.?:
was on the desk, covered with a newspaper. I asked the man winu
had complained to me the number, etc., of his watch, and it corresponded. Calling him behind the railing, I lifted the newspaper
and asked:
"Is that your watch?"
"Mine Gott! " he exclaimed, raising his hands in astonishment,
"Vere you get dot vatch. It vas mine."
Telling him he would see in a few minutes, I ordered Dreyfus
to be brought up from his cell. When confronted with the storekeeper he was at once recognized as being one of the young men
who had paid him a visit in the afternoon.
While it was never my custom to bandy jokes with prisoners who
were brought before me, I could not refrain on this occasion from
remarking to Dreyfus it was very funny he had carried the watch
for twenty years, and yet the watch dealer was able to describe it
accurately, even mentioning a slight scratch which there was on
the inside of the case.
"Yes," was the reply which Dreyfus made, with the gravest
imaginable look orr his face; "dot was very funny."  Despite this
assertion, however, he was sent to Sing Sing for a term of years.




CHAPTER XXXVIII.


TRAIN ROBBERS IN HOBOKEN, N. J.-THE 'CASHETR:S SATCHEL.-A
BALKY HORSE.-CLEVERLY CAPTURED.-EX-POLICEMAN' NUGENT'S EXPLOIT.-THE CHARLTON STREET GANG OF PIRATES.SILK STEALING ON A STORMY NIGHT.-BANK BURGLARS FOILED.
-HOW MR. ALEXANDER'S PLAN MISCARRIED.-POTS OF "JAM."
-THE CONSPIRACY FOILED.-" JOHNNY " ROWE AND HIS CLUBHOUSE.-HOW THE PLUMBER WAS ROPED IN.-HIS REVENGE.
IN Chapter XIX. reference is made to one Nugent, a police
officer, who was suspected of complicity in the great Manhattan
Bank robbery. Some interesting details have been given me concerning his subsequent fate by that very able and distinguished
police official, Chief Charles A. Donovan, of Hoboken, who has
been at the head of the Hoboken police force for nearly twentyone years, and who, I trust, has still many honorable years of service before him.
It is not an uncommon thing to read of the exploits of Western
train-robbers. The Jameses, the Youngers, the Colemans and
others have cast a sort of infamous halo about this detestable species of crime. But it will hardly be believed that not so very long
ago, within sight of the metropolis, a bold attempt was made to
introduce the Western methods upon a railroad centring in the
very heart of civilization.
In the year i883, Mr. Thomas J. Smith was (and perhaps is now)
cashier of the First National Bank of Orange, N. J. It was his
custom, when in need of currency, to procure it himself in New
York, and carry it himself to his bank. For purposes of security
he had made a strong leather satchel with a stout lock. To this
satchel he attached a steel chain, which was so made as to fasten
around his wrist.
On the morning of July 28, i883, Mr. Smith was returning from
New York to Orange with ten thousand dollars in his satchel.
Afterwards he recollected that on the ferry-boat three men kept unpleasantly near him, and even jostled him once or twice, but at the
53I




532


2" KEEP YOUR SEATS."


time he paid no particular attention to their behavior. Arrived
on the Hoboken side, Mr. Smith proceeded to the Delaware and
Lackawanna railroad station, purchased his ticket for Orange, and
immediately took his seat in a car of the waiting train. It wanted
about five minutes of starting time.
Scarcely had he settled himself comfortably in his seat than
three men entered the car. He immediately recognized them as
the men of the ferryboat, and instantly it flashed across his mind
that they were following him for no good purpose. Still, the idea
seemed absurd; there were a number of other passengers in the
car, and Mr. Smith smiled at his own folly.
But while these thoughts were passing through his mind, one of
the men walked rapidly to one end of the car and stood at the
door with a drawn pistol. Another of them remained at The door
by which they had entered, also displaying a formidable revolver.
Then the startled passengers heard the short, sharp command
" Keep in your seats. The first one to move is a dead man!"
Meanwhile, the third man, armed with a short piece of lead pipe,
walked straight to Mr. Smith and attempted to snatch the satchel
from his grasp. Quite undaunted, Mr. Smith wasted no breath in
words, but settled himself down to a firm hold of the satchel.
The robber, realizing that he could not terrify the cashier, began
savagely striking Mr. Smith about the head with the lead pipe.
So thick and fast came the murderous blows that Mr. Smith involuntarily raised his hands to protect himself. The robber made
another snatch at the satchel, but was again baffled by the steel
chain, which, as usual, was tightly secured to the cashier's wrist.
Meanwhile, the other passengers had partially recovered from
the stupefaction of their first surprise, and, though not daring to rise
from their seats, were flinging up the windows and calling loudly
for assistance. Answering cries were coming from without, and
the confusion whys brought to a climax by the ringing of the engine
bell for the train's departure. And still the steel chain held, although the cashier's wrist was bruised and bleeding.
Not daring to be carried off on the train, the would-be bandits
relinquished their attempts, and, weapons in hand, bolted from the
car. It seems incredible that three men could traverse a crowded
station uncaptured or unstopped, but an unarmed crowd is naturally the most cowardly of gatherings, and the baffled desperadoes
gained the street, with the yelling mob behind them. A light




" DO YOU RECOGNIZE ME? 5"


533


baker's wagon stood outside the depot and into this the three
jumped, but the horse, terrified at the unusual noise, became balky
and refused to move-the more they lashed him the more obstinate he became, till, in despair, the men jumped to the ground
and scattered in different directions.
It so happened that at this moment Chief Donovan was standing
on Hudson Street, between Newark and First Streets. A man
came running along at a rapid rate, followed by a crowd. The
Chief promptly collared him, despite a very vigorous resistance.
"Now, my man, what's the trouble?" asked the chief.
" O, I got into a row with a longshoreman, and hit him on the
nose," was the reply.
Swinging the man around, so as to get a view of his face, the
Chief recognized him. It was the notorious thief, Peter Emerson.
"Hallo! Is it you? " said the Chief, genially.
" Do you recognize me? " asked " Pete," in a disgusted tone.
"Of course," replied the Chief, " and you are altogether too distinguished a gentleman to be practising on longshoremen's noses.
You will honor me with your society to the station-house."
Proceeding stationward, the Chief again recommended Mr. Emerson to confide his trouble to him, but he wasted his politeness
on the desert air, for all he could get out of " Pete " was the surly
growl: " You'll find out soon enough."
He had no sooner said this than a butcher wagon came dashing
along at a tremendous rate, with one man in it. He turned round
the corner of Second Street, where he collided with a tree and was
thrown out. Quickly regaining his feet, the man jumped on to a
grocer's wagon which was passing, and taking the reins from the
boy in charge, drove off. An officer close by, who had seen the
whole transaction, also jumped on the team and captured the
man, who turned out to be no less a personage than Edward Farrell.
The march to the station-house was resumed, but before the
Chief reached there he saw another man racing down Court
Street towards the Ferry. A roundsman started in pursuit, seeing
which the fleeing man threw down a pistol which he still had in
his hand. This man was soon captured, and proved to be the
John Nugent alluded to at the beginning of this story. He had
rapidly been promoted to the aristocracy of crime.




534


THE TRIO TRIED.


The assault upon the cashier took place at 10.35 A. M., and in
less than six minutes all three of the assailants were lodged in
the station. Such was the inglorious ending of this attempt to
transplant the Western crime of train robbery to a crowded centre
of population. To succeed, the robber must have at hand the vast
loneliness of the prairie for his asylum.
Nugent and Farrell pleaded guilty, and were each sentenced to
ten years' imprisonment, which they are now undergoing. Emerson stood trial and a great sum of money was spent in his defence,
but in vain. He was convicted, and received the same punishment as his comrades.
Mr. Smith received no lasting injuries from the blows dealt him,
but never again travelled without an escort when carrying money.
It was in i877-8 that the "Charlton Street" gang of river
pirates, under the leadership of the notorious Mike Shannon, was
at the very zenith of its prosperity. But it was at this period
also that it received its death-blow. For many years the members
of this ruffianly horde had preyed upon the shipping in both the
North and East rivers, along the Staten Island, Brooklyn, and
New Jersey shores, and Hoboken as well. They were not very
particular as to the plunder which they picked up, and less so as
to the means adopted to secure it. " Dead men tell no tales "
was their motto, and many a poor seafaring wanderer has been
foully murdered by them, within sight of the home from which he
had been so long absent, for daring to defend his property.
Mike Shannon was the leader and director of this gang. He
was a resident of the Eighth Ward, and his political influence there
was very great, a fact of no small importance whenever any of his
associates were " in trouble." One day, however, in the latter part
of i878, I received a visit from Chief of Police Donovan, of Hoboken. During the previous night, which had been a particularly
wet, dark and stormy one, a large quantity of valuable silks had
been stolen, so he informed me, from the Bremen Dock, Hoboken,
the property of the North German Lloyd Steamship Co. Could
I help him in discovering the thieves, as he had a suspicion they
had come from my side of the river?  Captain Schultz was at
that time in command of the New York Harbor Police, and so
I sent for him. The details of the robbery were again gone over
in a brief but comprehensive manner by Chief Donovan.




CAPTAIN SCHULTZ'S CLEW.


535


"A shoe-string against a row of apple-trees that I know who was
in that job," instantly exclaimed Captain Schultz.
"Who was it? How do you know?" exclaimed the Chief and
myself in the same breath.
"One question at a time, gentlemen, if you please," laughingly
remarked the burly captain. " Who wasit? Why it was Mike Shannon's gang. How do I know? Well, if you'll just listen a while
I'll tell you, and you see if I ain't somewhere near right. I've had
my men watching those fellows for a good long time, and know a
lot about them, but not enough to make sure of a conviction. Now
I think I've got them 'dead to rights.' Last night, you know, was
a pretty rough night, as rough a one as I want to be out in. The
rain came down in regular sheets and the wind blew a hurricane,
while it was so dark you couldn't see half a boat's length in front
of you. As I said before, I had been watching Shannon and his
gang for some time, and last night, as luck would have it, I had
one of my men stationed on Charlton Street. That's where Shannon and his lot hang out. At about ten o'clock, when the storm
was about at its worst, a couple of rough fellows, named Scanlon
and Cassidy, well known to be hand-in-hand with Shannon, were
seen by my men to go down the street towards the water. They
were muffled up round their necks, and they had on wide-brimmed
tarpaulin hats, well slouched down over their faces, so as to protect
them from the pelting rain, which was beating right against them.
They walked quickly down to the pier, where they were joined by
another, similarly muffled up. My man crept up pretty near them
and could just distinguish their forms as they got into a boat and
then rowed off in the darkness, headed for the Jersey shore. Now
there's no other gang working round here now, and if we can get
hold of those fellows I named we shall learn something more, you
bet! It's lucky I stationed that man on Charlton Street." Saying
which the Captain leaned back in his chair with a look on his face
as if he already had the gang under lock and key.
It certainly did look as if we had a clew to the robbers, and so
I ordered Captain Schultz to pursue his investigations in the direction indicated, and to give Chief Donovan all the assistance in his
power. Within three or four weeks, five of the gang were in custody, namely, Shea, Grady, Scanlon, Cassidy, and Shevlin. Unfortunately, Shannon, the ringleader, came to know we were in search
of him, and was lost sight of for some months. But more of him




536


A WATERY WAY.


hereafter. There was quite a chase after Grady and Scanlon, who
were captured in Buffalo. At first none of the gang would say a
word, but when they found themselves deserted by Shannon, and
that he did not come to aid them with his political influence, as in
times past, they " peached."
From them it was learned that there were nine of the gang implicated in the robbery. They had three boats, too; one starting
from the foot of Charlton Street, and the other two from Houston
Street pier, with three men in each boat. No lights were carried,
save dark lanterns, and these were only " flashed " now and then
for a second or so at a time, in order to get the proper bearings.
The job had been planned several days previously, and they knew
just where the cases of silks were located in the warehouse.
Through the inky blackness of the night, and pulling right in the
very teeth of the heavy gusts which blew across the river, the three
boats slowly made their way to the Bremen Dock, which is situated a little to the northward of the Hoboken Ferry. Watchmen
patrolled the wharf and warehouses throughout the night, " pegging " their clocks at stated hours. In the interval, the thieves
succeeded in effecting an entrance into the warehouse. Holes
were bored in the wooden partition with augers, and then with
the aid of a saw an aperture, measuring 3 x 6 feet, was soon cut.
Before this was accomplished, however, they were interrupted several times by the approach of the watchman, and then they would
suspend operations, crouching in the bottom of their boats, and in
the darkness they were not observed. When he retraced his steps,
operations on the boarding were resumed until completed. Quickly and noiselessly, two cases of silk were transferred from the warehouse to the boat. A slight noise alarmed the watchmen, who
came to the edge of the wharf and peered over. This alarmed
them and they pulled away out into the stream, with one boat short
of cargo. What they had secured, however, was safely landed at
the foot of Houston Street, and concealed under the wharf there,
until a favorable opportunity occurred for its removal to a more secure hiding-place. But that opportunity never came. The silk
was found there by Chief Donovan and Captain Schultz, and was
finally returned to the rightful owners. The five thieves mentioned
were tried and convicted, and were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment each in Trenton State prison.
As to Shannon, he was arrested four or five months after the




A TALE WITI A SEQUEL.


537


robbery, in Baltimore, when he had just landed from England.
He told us he had gone from New York to Canada and from there
sailed for Queenstown, Ireland, where he remained some four
months. He was brought on here, and put upon his trial, but notwithstanding the fact that two of his accomplices were brought
from prison and testified against him, the jury failed to agree and
he was shortly afterward discharged from custody. He was never
tried again, and is now, so I am informed, leading an honest, hard
working life.
Nearly all will recollect the sensation which was produced when
the almost successful attempt was made to rob the Jersey City
National Bank, some ten or twelve years ago; but there is a sequel
to it which has never before been made public, and which was confided to me by my friend, Chief Donovan, of Hoboken. There
were four of the most notorious bank burglars that this country has
ever produced concerned in the affair-Frank Denning (alias
" Dago Frank "), " Bill " Proctor, Moses Vogel and " Dave " Cummings. These four hired a room in a building adjoining the bank,
and had succeeded in digging their way to within a few feet of the
vault, when their strange behavior aroused the suspicions of their
landlady, who informed the police that she thought her lodgers
were up to some roguery. The house was raided by the police,
the result being the capture of Denning, Proctor and Vogel.
Cummings, who was attending to the " outside," escaped, and has
since made his name infamous in Europe. The three prisoners
were soon lodged in the Hudson County Jail to await trial, and for
a time public interest was diverted from them.
And now comes the sequel, or, rather, a little bit of by-play.
Late one night,, about a week after the arrest of the men
in question, a respectably dressed middle-aged man was found by
a policeman lying drunk in the gutter on Court Street, Hoboken.
To all appearances he was unable to walk, and was accordingly
carried to the station-house and locked in a cell. He gave his
name as Wm. Alexander. The next morning, in accordance with
an invariable custom, Chief Donovan walked along the cell corridor for the purpose of taking a look at those who had been
brought in during the night. Alexander was a very respectable
looking fellow, and in answer to the Chief's inquiries said he had
been on a spree the night previous and had taken more than was
good for him. The man's appearance was in his favor; he did




538


5  ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE."


not look like an" habitual," and so, when arraigned in court, the
Chief spoke a good word for him to the judge, and he was discharged with a caution. But that very same night " Mr. Alexander " was again found lying in almost the identical spot, and, as before, in a drunken condition. 'bis time, however, a pane of glass
had been broken in the window of a cigar store close to where
he was lying, and his hat was inside. He was again arrested, and
was sentenced to thirty days' imprisonment in the county jail.
Out of consideration for his apparent respectability, however, he
was not sent to the jail, but was kept in Hoboken along with the
" ten-day " men. What subsequently transpired will show how fortunate a circumstance this was.
"Alexander " had served about half of his term, when one afternoon a stylish brougham was driven up to the door of police
headquarters in Hoboken, and a fashionably attired man alighted.
His clothes were of the latest style and cut, while a magnificent
diamond pin in his tie almost dazzled Chief Donovan, who happened to be "at the desk," and to whom he addressed himself.
Did the Chief know anything about a man named Alexander,
who had been arrested for drunkenness.
The Chief replied that he did, adding that he had been " sent
up" for thirty days.
Was there no way of getting him out? asked the gentlemanly
stranger. He would be willing to pay a hundred dollars rather than
have him remain in prison any longer. The fact of it was his sister was to have been married to " Alexander," and his non-appearance on the day set apart for that interesting ceremony had almost
rendered the poor girl frantic. Could not something be done
to secure the imprisoned man's liberty? No monetary considerations should stand in the way. And so the stranger urged and
pleaded, but with no avail. There was no flaw in the commitment,
and nothing could be done. "Alexander," it was decided, must
serve his full term.
A day or two after this scene, a young lad, a resident of Hoboken, was arrested and sent to the county jail for picking pockets.
Chief Donovan knew him and his aged mother well, and through
his influence the old lady was allowed to visit her boy in the jail
rather more frequently than the rules permitted. One day she
conveyed a message to the Chief that her son wished particularly
to see him, as he had some valuable information to communicate.




ALL BUT.


539


The Chief accordingly called at the jail, and there obtained from
the boy a clew which led to the frustration of one of the most daring attempts at escape which has ever been heard of. The lad
told the Chief that some time previously he had been approached
by the three " bankies," as he called them, Denning, Proctor and
Vogel, who induced him to allow his mother to go to some friends
of theirs in New York and get some pots of jam, etc., for them.
These "pots of jam, " the lad said, were so numerous that he
thought there was something wrong. And, indeed, it looked very
much that way. The next jam pot, therefore, that the old lady
brought, was opened and examined, and found to contain, not
jam, but dynamite cartridges, fuse, etc. The cells of the three
" bankies " were at once thoroughly examined, and the astounding
discovery was made by the jail officials that the men had already
dug a tunnel which extended to the outer wall of the jail. The
wall, it was intended, should be blown up with the dynamite, but
the little pickpocket's forethought brought the conspiracy to light.
In conversation with one of the bank burglars, Chief Donovan
learned that the man "Alexander," who was twice arrested for
drunkenness, was no less than another of the gang, the notorious
Scott, who hoped to get committed to the jail, where he could
arrange the details of the plot for their release. The gorgeous
young man to whose sister he was to have been married was no
less a personage than Dunlap, also a well-known bank burglar.
Both were subsequently engaged in the Northampton Bank burglary, and are now " doing time " in Massachusetts State Prison.
It was only a short time ago that I noticed in the daily papers
an account of a murder and suicide in Washington, D. C., in which
"Johnny" Rowe, as he was called, shot his mistress with a revolver, and then put an end to his own miserable existence with a
bullet from the same weapon.  I knew Rowe well, and was pretty
well posted concerning some of the many " jobs " in which he was
engaged. In personal appearance he was a perfect gentleman:
his clothes were made by a fashionable tailor; his linen of spotless purity, his boots brilliantly polished, and his face always clean
* shaved. His favorite stand during the day, or when not engaged
in the pursuit of "' business," was on Broadway, at the corner of
Twenty-eighth Street. This was in the days when the Brower
House, near by, was generally considered by the " fraternity " as
their headquarters. ' In that then gorgeous temple of chance,




540


AN EYE ON THE PLUMBER.


"Johnny " was one of the leading spirits. He was a gambler of
the first water, and, like all of that ilk, did not hesitate, when " pigeons" were scarce and legitimate gambling was dull, to descend
further in the scale of crime and try his hand at common, everyday swindling. I couldn't begin to enumerate one-half the " hells "
with which Johnny was connected from time to time, in one way or
another. Two years ago, however, when we made a big raid on
all the gambling establishments up town, he " ran the game " at a
place on Sixth Avenue, between Thirty-first and Thirty-second
streets. He was a clever conversationalist, cool, plausible and calculating, and the possession of these qualities tended in a great degree to his almost invariable success in the various operations in
which he engaged. When preparing for a raid upon any one's
pocket-book, he was always very careful to make himself thoroughly
acquainted with his intended victim's "soft spot" or hobby, and
then he would work it for all it was worth. He " spotted " a
Brooklyn plumber (of course he was a wealthy man), and ascertained that his hobby consisted in making bets on almost every
conceivable matter or occasion. But the plumber was also a politician; he had " travelled with the boys " for a number of years,
and could not be plucked by any common, every-day trick.  He
knew all the ropes, as they say, and Rowe saw it would be no easy
job to pull the wool over his eyes.  So he hired a couple of nicely
furnished rooms, with sliding doors between them, located down
town, and then sent a polite note to the Brooklyn plumber, asking
him to call upon a certain day and give an estimate on a big job
in his line. Always having an eye to business as well as to poli_
tics, the plumber gladly accepted the invitation and called upon
the day indicated. Rowe ushered him into one of the rooms, the
sliding doors being closed, and at once began to explain that he
wanted new wash-stands, closets, pipes, etc., put in of a gorgeous
and costly nature. The plumber, of course, was deeply interested
in the long list of things which would be required'; but his meditations upon the vision of future profits were suddenly broken in
upon by a familiar sound, faint but distinct, which came from the
other side of the sliding doors. It was the rattling of "chips,"
and voices could be heard making bets. The effect upon the
plumber was like that of the scent of powder on an old war-horse.
He raised his head, almost involuntarily, and asked:
"What's that? "




THE PLUMBER A PLUMB.


54I


"Oh! " replied "Johnny," lifting his forefinger with a mysterious and warning air; "keep quiet. Don't say a word."
" But there's a 'game' going on there," said the plumber, pointing in the direction from whence the sounds came. "Who's in
there? What's going on?"
" Hush!" again said Johnny, in a hoarse whisper, and with a
well-assumed look of terror on his face. "Don't give it away,
will you? The fact is we've just started a little club of our own.
You see there's any number of respectable men about this neighborhood who are fond of a game of cards on the quiet, and so we
fitted up this place especially for 'em. There's one or two in
there now."
The natural curiosity of the plumber was aroused, and he asked
RoWe if he had any objections to his taking a look at the game.
" Johnny," at first, wouldn't hear of such a thing; the club was a
very select one, and those in the next room wouldn't like such an
intrusion upon their privacy. It might be the means, too, of getting him into trouble.
"Well, you know I'm all right," replied the plumber. "Just
let me have a look, won't you? "
And still Johnny made a show of resistance, but finally he acceded to the plumber's urgent entreaties, and pulling back the
sliding doors introduced him to the three or four gentlemen
in the room, who, it may be remarked, were " Johnnys " confederates, located there " for this occasion only."
The plumber watched the play for some minutes without saying
a word. At length he could not resist the fascination, and began
to wager on the turn of the cards.
The inevitable result followed. Before the plumber "let up" he
had been absolutely swinaled out of no less than sixteen hundred
dollars. Of course he was far from being pleased at losing such a
sum of money; but just imagine his state of mind when, an hour
or two later, upon informing a friend of his adventure, he learned
that the " club house " proprietor was no less a personage than the
notorious "Johnny" Rowe. To say that he was mad is but a
faint way of expressing the rage which burned within the plumber's
breast. He vowed to get square, and so, the very next day, when a
gentlemanly looking young fellow called on him with the information that his "brother" wanted to see him at the club, the
plumber was very polite, as if nothing had occurred.




542


JOHNNY'S DOWNFALL.


"Very sorry," said he, " but I'm very busy just now. Tell Mr.
Rowe to come over here to my place. I want to see him very
much. "
The young fellow left, and as soon as he had gone the plumber,
with a broad anticipatory grin on his countenance, procured a
formidable looking butcher knife, and placing the blade in the
stove, heated it red-hot.
He was doomed to be disappointed, however. The messenger
returned with the information that Mr. Rowe was also very busy,
much to his regret. This was too much, and so, seizing the knife,
the plumber went for "Johnny's" brother without any preliminaries, pricking him in a dozen or more tender spots before he could
make his escape.
"Johnny " saw that the game was up, and prepared to shift his
quarters, but before he could get clear away, the plumber, accompanied by some Brooklyn boys, appeared on the scene, and made
him disgorge a portion, at least, of the plunder.
" Johnny " was not even true to those of his own fraternity, and
never missed a chance of exercising his peculiar talents in the field
of roguery. A well-known man about town, named " Wine Harry,"
once backed Rowe in going into business with McLane, the betting man. Some money was needed, and Rowe was commissioned
to raise $5000 on a mortgage of property belonging to " Harry."
He did so, but that was the last seen or heard of him for some
time. At length it leaked out that he was in Washington, in company with a young woman who had accompanied him from New
York. He had set her up in " business," but Rowe took to drink,
and at length she left him, and went to live with a fast young fellow of the Capitol. This was the cause which led to the double
tragedy alluded to at the commencement of this narrative.




CHAPTER XXXIX.


REMARKABLE CRIMES IN BROOKLYN.-SUPT. CAMPBELL AS A DETECTIVE.-THE HEAD THAT WAS FOUND IN A LUMBER YARD.-A
HORRIBLE SMELL.-THE DETECTIVES' DISCOVERY.- WHAT WAS
BOILING IN THE POT.-AN INHUMAN DEED.-THE GOODRICH
MURDER.-LOOKING FOR KATE STODDARD.-A FEMALE DETECTIVE AND HER PROVIDENTIAL MEETING WITH THE MURDERESS.
-ONLY A LOCKET.-CRUMBS OF CONGEALED BLOOD.-SEARCHING EVERY HOUSE IN BROOKLYN.-SUCCESS AT LAST.
THE city of Brooklyn has been the scene of some very remarkable crimes; and the manner in which they were unearthed, and
the success which attended the efforts to bring the criminals to
justice, have combined to make the name of Superintendent Campbell famous as one of the most skilful detectives in the country.
In view of the fact, therefore, that Brooklyn, since the completion
of the East River Bridge, has been brought into still closer connection with New York, I cannot do better, perhaps, than give one
or two cases as examples of Supt. Campbell's skill as a director of
criminal investigation.
Early on the morning of January 27, I876, some men on
their way to work, found the ghastly head of a man lying in a lumber yard at Greenpoint, not far from the ferry. A casual examination showed that it had been severed from the body with some
not very sharp instrument, and the edges of the flesh of the neck
where it had been cut were irregular and jagged. It was partially
wrapped in a half sheet of a German newspaper, and that was the
only clew. The police were notified-in fact, the head was taken
to Chief Campbell's office, and was there subjected to the closest
scrutiny by medical men and others; but for some time the mystery was as far from elucidation as ever. During the afternoon
following the discovery, however, the head was viewed by a number of individuals, one or two of whom said it looked very much like
that of a man named William W. Simmons, who had been em543




544


IDENTIFIED.


ployed for some time in Williamsburgh at one of the sugar refineries. Search was accordingly made for Simmons, detectives being despatched in every direction by Mr. Campbell with instructions to report to him hourly by telegraph. While they were absent, a man who gave his name as Andrew Fuchs called upon


PATRICK CAMPBELL.
(Superintendent of the Brooklyn Police. )


Captain Woglom, of the Fifth Precinct. He had heard it rumored, he said, that the head which was found was that of Simmons,
and he should like to see it, as he knew him well. It was shown
him, and he positively identified it. Fuchs said he had been a
"helper" to Simmons for some years, and told about his partial



BLOODY CLOTHING.


545


ity for the society of the fair sex, how he would boast of his
conquests in that direction, and that he was particularly fond of a
certain woman of Greenpoint, who resided not far from the yard
where his head was found. Fuchs then left the office after
having given his address. Officers were then despatched to hunt
up the woman alluded to by Fuchs, but she could not be found.
In the course of their investigations, however, they learned that a
short time before the finding of Simmons' head a man had been
seen in the neighborhood carrying a market basket, the top of
which was covered with a sheet of paper. This apparently trivial
incident was reported to the Captain, who asked for a description
of the man. It was given him, upon which he immediately
a   exclaimed:
" Why that's very much like Fuchs, his helper, who has only just
gone out. Follow him and tell him I want him. Here's his address."
The officers departed on their errand, but found that the man
they were in search of had gone directly home, and thither they
followed him. As they entered the house a peculiar and unusual
smell was perceived, but they thought nothing of it at the time, although they subsequently remembered it with startling vividness.
Fuchs was seated at the table eating his dinner, knife and fork in
hand-the former being an immense and formidable looking article.
" You are wanted down at the station-house," remarked one of
the officers.
Fuchs gave a slight start, and came to a full stop with his eating,
staring fixedly at the detective, who repeated what he had previously said.
With his eyes still fastened on the speaker, Fuchs deliberately,
and in an apparently absent-minded manner, drew the blade of the
knife across the ball of his left thumb, and then wiped his bloody
hand on his trousers.
When taken before the Captain, that gentleman subjected him
to a rigid verbal examination.
"What's that blood on your pants there," asked the Captain,
pointing at the crimson stain.
" That?" was Fuchs' reply, " oh, I just happened to cut my
hand with my knife, as I was coming away," and he turned to



546


A HORRIBLE SMELL.


wards the officers who had arrested him with an inquiring look as
if asking for their confirmation of his statement.
The Captain, however, motioned them to remain silent.
"But that's fresh blood," remarked Capt. Woglom. "I mean
this dry spot. What's that?"
Fuchs mumbled out some half inaudible answer, to the effect
that he didn't know; but his demeanor was anything but that of
an innocent man, and he was fast becoming nervous. He was
searched, and the very first article almost which the officer
pulled out of his pocket was a watch.
"Is that yours?"
No answer.
The landlady with whom Simmons boarded in Williamsburgh
was sent for. On her arrival she was shown the watch and at
once identified it as the property of the murdered man.
There could be very little doubt but that Fuchs was his murderer, or, at least, was connected in some way with the tragedy.
But further evidence against him was necessary for the ends of
justice.
The detectives were again despatched to Fuchs' house, with
instructions to make a thorough search of the premises. Upon
opening the door their nostrils were once more assailed by the same
peculiar and penetrating odor with which they had been saluted
on the occasion of their first visit. Every minute it grew more
powerful and nauseating. At length one of them raised the lid
of an iron pot which was standing on the stove, and the mystery
was solved.
Horrible 4and almost incredible as the statement may seem,
there, boiling in the pot, was the trunk of Simmons' body! Hardened and inured to all sorts of sights as the detectives were, this
was too much for even their iron nerves. How any man could
have sat coolly eating his dinner as Fuchs did, with that ghastly
human broth stewing on the stove within reach of his arm, is
something which passes comprehension.
His wife and child, who were in another room, were then arrested and taken to headquarters.
When the detectives arrived and communicated their discovery
to their horrified listeners, Fuchs, who was present, admitted
everything. A night or two previously, he said, Simmons came
to his house, and they partook of considerable liquor together,




HACKED TO PIECES.


547


Finally, Simmons despatched him to a neighboring saloon for a
further supply of whiskey. Having procured it, he was about to
re-enter the house, when a suspicion as to his wife's fidelity entered his mind. He peered through the window, and, as he declared, saw her and Simmons in a position which left him no alternative but to come to the conclusion that they had been infringing one of the Ten Commandments. Almost frenzied by
the sight, he caught up an axe which was lying near the stove and
struck Simmons on the back of the neck with it, felling him to
the floor. He then got a large carving-knife-the one with
which he was eating his dinner when the detectives visited himand completely severed the head from the body. He next cut
the legs off at the knee-joint, then the thighs, and finally the
arms. The head he threw into the lumber-yard where it was
found; while the other members he hid at various points along
the banks of Newtown Creek. The trunk of the body, however,
was too bulky to be disposed of in a like manner, so he conceived the idea of boiling it!
Mrs. Fuchs, while admitting that her husband had murdered
Simmons, gave a far different version of the circumstances leading up to it. Her story was that she, together with her child,
retired to their room some time during the evening, leaving Simmons and her husband sitting in the kitchen drinking. At about
ten o'clock she heard her husband leave the house with a bottle
in his hand. In a short while he returned, to find Simmons
lying upon the sofa half stupefied with liquor. Going up and
bending over him, her husband stood gazing for some time and
muttering to himself. Suddenly snatching up the ax-, he knocked
Simmons off on to the floor, and then proceeded deliberately to hack
him to pieces. Horrified and astounded at the bloody butchery,
both she and her child rushed into the kitchen, but were silenced
by the most terrible threats of a like fate if they dared inform
any one of what they had witnessed. So they held their tongues.
The various pieces of the body were found where Fuchs had
hidden them, and, after a lengthy trial, he was sentenced to imprisonment for life.
During the year I873, no crime excited such wide-spread interest and attention as the Goodrich murder in Brooklyn, and the
circumstances attendant upon it. The victim was Mr. Charles
Goodrich, who resided in a handsomely furnished house (his own




548


DONE BY A WOMAN.


property) in one of the most fashionable portions of Brooklyn.
On the morning of March 2Ist, of the year before mentioned,
a report was made to the police that Mr. Goodrich was
lying dead in his kitchen. Officers were despatched to his residence, and, sure enough, Mr. Goodrich was dead, shot through
the head. He was lying on his back in the front basement, a
pair of boots under his head for a pillow, while on his feet were
a pair of slippers. The linen he wore was fresh and clean, and
his hair, which was wet, had evidently been combed and brushed
only a short. time before the body was discovered. In the back
basement were hung some two or three towels, damp, as if they
had been recently used. From this and other little circumstances
which were noticed by the detectives who had been detailed on
the case, it was concluded that the murder had been committed by
a woman; and so it afterwards proved.   But who was the
woman?   So far as was generally known, the murdered man
lived by himself, and there was no female inmate of his house.
By dint of close inquiry, however, Chief Campbell succeeded in
ascertaining that a woman named Lizzie King, alias Kate Stoddard, had been living with him up to within a short time of
his death.  They had had a misunderstanding of some sort
and parted;  and it therefore became very necessary to find
Miss Stoddard.  But she had vanished in a most inexplicable manner.   Her features and general appearance were unknown, and so the only clew which could be obtained as
to her whereabouts was that she had been employed   at a
straw works on Broadway, New York City. This branch of
the trail was thoroughly followed up, and finally it was learned
that the missing woman had some time previously become the
inmate of a certain home for fallen women in the upper part of
New York. For a day or two the name and location of the institution remained unknown, but at length it was found. Alas,
it was too late! The bird had flown. She, however, had roomed
while in the home with a young woman of good education.
Her name was Mary Handley, and Chief Campbell had a lengthy
interview with her. The result of that interview was that she
became a detective for the nonce, her task being the hunting
down of Kate Stoddard. Months passed and still no trace of the
missing and mysterious murderess, as she was alleged to be.
Mary Handley, however, did not give up the chase, neither did




A PROVIDENTIAL MEETING.


549


Chief Campbell, who cheered her on when she appeared despondent-at her lack of success. She travelled here and there
over the country, watching and waiting for a glimpse of the familiar face and form of her erstwhile room-mate. At last on July
8, i873, the time came; but in a most unforeseen and providential manner.  She had just had an interview with Chief
Campbell in his office, and was about leaving, when he remarked
to her:
"Oh! by the bye, Mary, have you got any money?"
" No," was her reply; " I wish you would let me have some.
I'm going over to New York, and may want it."
He handed her a five-dollar bill, and she left the office, still
carrying it in her hand in an absent-minded manner, thinking
of what the prospects were for capturing the supposed murderess
of Mr. Goodrich. Entering a horse-car for the purpose of riding
to the ferry, still absorbed in her reflections, she carelessly
rolled the five-dollar bill which the Chief had given her between  her fingers.  The conductor's abrupt:  "Your fare,
miss,"  brought her to her senses, and without thinking, out
of the open car window went the little rolled-up greenback. She
realized in an instant what she had done, and managed to
stammer out, in reply to the conductor's reiterated request for
her fare:
" Oh! my fare. Please stop the car. I've just thrown my
money out of the window."
The car was stopped, and alighting, Mary Handley retraced
her steps, finding the bill on the edge of the curb-stone. She
was not a very great distance from the ferry now, and so concluded to walk. Before she had gone many yards, however, she
happened to glance on the other side of the street, and there was
Kate Stoddard.   Thrilled with excitement at this providential
meeting, Mary followed the woman for whom she had so long
been searching, until she came to a police-officer.  Accosting
him, she said:
" Arrest that woman; the Chief wants her."
The officer, as was but natural, demurred somewhat.
"I'll go with you," observed Mary, noticing his hesitation;
"but if you let her escape you'll never forgive yourself."
The arrest was made, and the much sought-for Kate Stoddard
was soon before Chief Campbell in his private office. At first sho




55~


55   THAT'S BLOOD-DRIED BLOOD. "


denied that her name was either King or Stoddard; it must be a
case of mistaken identity, she said, and she had never roomed
with, or seen Mary Handley before in her life. All these disclaimers were made in a matter-of-fact manner, and with an air
calculated to convince even the most sceptical.
But Mary Handley was positive she was not mistaken, and finally Mr. Campbell observed to the suspected woman:
" Madame, we don't want to hold you here if you are not Kate
Stoddard. Be kind enough to tell me where you reside, and I
will at once despatch an officer and ascertain if you are telling me
the truth."
" That I'm sure I wont do," was the somewhat unexpected reply
which came from the woman's lips.
"Then," said the Chief, "you will have to remain in custody;
but first you must be searched."
Fastened around her neck by a chain was a large gold locket,
and as she refused to hand it over to Mr. Campbell herself it was
taken from her. The Chief found it a difficult matter to open it,
upon which the woman remarked, with more excitement than she
had hitherto exhibited:
" Now, be careful," at the same time watching every movement of the Chief's fingers in his endeavors to make the spring
work.
At length the locket opened and disclosed a few dark-colored
crumbs or lumps, some one or two of which fell upon the floor.
Falling quickly on her knees, Kate Stoddard hastily picked them
up and placed them in her mouth. Fearing they might be poison,
Chief Campbell grasped hold of her hands and asked:
"What's that? "
" That's blood-dried blood," was the startling reply.
"Why what do you mean? " questioned Mr. Campbell, whose
curiosity was now fully aroused, as well it might be, by such an
announcement.
" Never mind," she said; " I guess I wont talk to you any
further on that subject now."
And she didn't. All efforts to induce her to disclose her place
of residence were fruitless, and she was finally consigned to a cell
for the night.
I should have stated that when first arrested, and when on her
way to the station-house, she was seen to take a couple of letters




THREE HUNDRED FEMALES MISSING.


55I


from her pocket and throw them in the road. They were picked
up and handed to Chief Campbell, who noticed that they were addressed to parties in New York and New Jersey. From this, and
the fact that she was on the east side of the river when arrested,
he concluded that she lived in Brooklyn. But whereabouts?
Brooklyn, even then, was a pretty extensive city, and the task of
locating her residence seemed a hopeless one. Chief Campbell,
however, although comparatively a novice in police matters, was
determined to find out where the woman lived. He adopted a
plan, too, which had never before been tried and it is doubtful
whether it ever will again. First consulting with the Police Commissioners and obtaining their consent to the extraordinary plan
which he unfolded to them, Mr. Campbell called all the captains
before him and ordered the entire force on duty, reserves and all,
with instructions to inquire at every single house in the city
whether any female had been missing for several days-since the
arrest of Kate Stoddard. The result of such a course of procedure can be better imagined than described. Chief Campbell
fully appreciated the odium which would attach to him if his plan
turned out a failure; but he never faltered. Inquiries were made
as ordered and in less than two hours over 300 females were
reported as having been absent from the usual place of abode since
the previous Tuesday, including those whose whereabouts were
known.. Towards evening, one of the captains went to the Chief
and said:
"I've found it for you."
"Indeed," was the reply; "where is it?"
"On High Street."
A latch-key had been taken from Kate's pocket when she was
arrested, and taking that with him the Chief tried it in the door
of the indicated residence. It fitted.
Upon inquiring of the landlady it was ascertained that Kate
Stoddard had a room there, fitted up in a very neat and comfortable manner by herself. Her trunks were there, and when opened
were found to contain, besides books and papers, etc., the
murdered man's watch, chain, charms, pocket-book, etc. There
was now not the slightest doubt but that Kate Stoddard was the
murderess.
She was never tried for the offence, her insanity being proved
beyond the shadow of a doubt, and she is now an inmate of the
State Asylum at Utica.




CHAPTER XL.


CHIEF STEWART OF THE PHILADELPHIA POLICE.-STORY OF A
CRANK.-SAVED FROM HIS ENEMIES.-CHIEF KELLY, OF THE
PHILADELPHIA DETECTIVES.-POOR KIRBY, AND HOW HE WAS
KILLED BY POLITENESS.-CLEVERLY LAID PLANS MISCARRY.-A
PLOT TO STEAL $ I 1,000,000.-COPPER INSTEAD OF GOLD.-DISAPPOINTMENT AND DEATH.-" GOPHER BILL," THE CUNNING COUNTERFEITER. - HIS CAREER AND HOW HE WAS CAPTURED. -
WALTER SHERIDAN.-A CURIOUS HISTORY.-A CASE OF SHANGHAI.-THE " BUNDLE ": GAME.-PRINTED   DESCRIPTIONS OF
THIEVES.-SOME CURIOUS SPECIMENS.-A BRUTAL MURDER IN
PENNSYLVANIA.-ROBBERY OF THE PHILADELPHIA MINT.-A BAR
OF SILVER THAT WASN'T MISSED.
IN a previous chapter I have adverted to the tribe of nuisances
called cranks, who are constantly coming to police headquarters
with various and absurd complaints. General James Stewart, Jr.,
Chief of the Philadelphia Police,* who is not only the finest looking chief of police in America, but is a royal good fellow as well,
relates his experience with one of the above-mentioned fraternity.
He was quietly seated in his office when the door opened and
one of the most remarkable looking heads that he had ever seen
was thrust into the room. Every individual hair was standing perfectly erect, giving the face a combined expression of surprise,
anger and terror that was perhaps never before seen on a human
being. Now there are three kinds of men who wear their hair after
the manner of Shakespeare's indignant porcupine: poets, Russian
Nihilists and those who have been confronted with danger so
great and sudden that it caused their hair to stand on end. As
the head was followed by a well dressed body, the chief decided
that he could not be a poet, and when the man asked in broken
English if he had the honor of addressing the chief of police, he
was found to be a Russian. He stated that he had recently arrived
in the city, but ever since his advent had been constantly
followed by two men. He said that while one of the men was only
* Since writing this General Stewart has resigned from office.
552




GEN. JAMES STEWART, JR.
(Ex-Chief of the Philadelphia Police.)
553




554


A CRANK'S DELUSIONS.


eight feet high, the other had attained the unusual altitude of
nine feet in his boots. He further said they hardly ever left him.
When he arose in the morning there was the nine-footer solemnly
peering in at the window, while his side partner, who had come
down the chimney during the night, was glaring at him from the
hearth rug. Did he draw the curtains closely, and stop the
chimney, the sleepless eye of the one glared through the keyhole, while the loud breathing of the other could be heard
through the crack underneath the door. He said it was not agreeable to have seventeen feet of humanity constantly with one,
sleeping or waking. He declared that the taller man was one of
the most agile persons he had ever met, that he thought nothing
of turning a handspring over a lamp-post, and on one bright cool
morning, when he seemed to be feeling remarkably well, he had
taken a flying leap over the top of one of the tallest telegraph
poles in the city. His eight-foot friend was not such a jumper,
but for getting through key-holes and cracks of doors hardly
wide enough to admit the blade of a pen-knife, for balancing
himself on the top of a lamp or a chair during the entire night,
and sleeping with one eye open, he was without an equal.
He had spoken to several men, including some policemen, who
were too polite to deny the truth of his statements, but were so
discourteous as to laugh at him, and when he pointed out the
giants, the officers either through fear or because they were subsidized by the long men, pretended not to see them. Sometimes
they were dressed as policemen, and he had frequently seen the
nine-footer on Chestnut Street, dressed in the magnificent uniform with which a grateful city clothes its defenders. Of course
he knew they were not real policemen, but assumed the garb to
more effectually terrify inoffensive foreigners, and he now demanded the protection of the chief of police. General Stewart
replied that he heartily sympathized with and would protect
him; that such specimens of humanity instead of spending their
time in following and annoying strangers, should confine themselves to dime museums, where they would draw trade, and help
swell the resources of the municipality of Philadelphia. Asking
the Russian to be seated he sent for two officers, and after relating the story told them to go out and look for the two men
described, and when found to arrest them and bring them to headquarters.  The officers gravely assented and departed.  In




FRANCIS R. KELLY.


555


about a half an hour they returned, and told the chief, in the
presence of the Russian, who had in the meantime been anxiously
waiting in the office, that they had found the giants on Chestnut
Street and arrested them, and they were now locked up in the
strong cells beneath. A radiant expression overspread the face
of the Russian, and he heartily thanked the chief for having relieved him of his persecutors. In about a week the Russian
again came into the office, and showing the chief a ticket to
Europe said that he intended to go home, and had bought his
ticket; but on going to the wharf where the steamship lay he found
his two old enemies stationed at the foot of the gangplank, and
that they absolutely refused to let him go on board. Would
the chief once more aid him and remove them from the wharf.
The chief said that he would do so, but if he sent his officers, the
men, whose astuteness equalled their length, would suspect danger
and would at once board the ship; but could they be induced to
leave the wharf and remain until the vessel sailed, the Russian
would be rid of them forever. The chief proposed to put some of
his men into women's clothes, and as all giants are notoriously
susceptible to female charms, they would undoubtedly follow them
from the dock, when the Russian could depart in safety. The
crank cordially thanked the chief and departed in a very happy
frame of mind, went on board the ship and sailed away with illimitable faith in, and immeasurable admiration of General James
Stewart, Jr., Chief of the Police of Philadelphia.
Among the many detective chiefs of the United States, I know
of none other more worthy of mention in this volume of my reminiscences than Francis R. Kelly, Chief of the Detective Bureau of
Philadelphia.  He is comparatively a young man yet, but has
seen more real service than almost any other man in the country
occupying a similar position. In view of this fact, therefore, it
will not be out of place if I make brief mention of a few of the
notable cases in which he has been engaged.
I never knew or heard of a better example of the power of
politeness than the following one. It happened that in February,
i885, Chief Kelly made up his mind that it wouldn't be a bad
thing to let the dangerous classes of society know that Philadelphia was not going to be a pleasant abiding place during his term
of office, and that they would not be allowed to ply their usual vocations with impunity. Many a thief, pickpocket, burglar, or what




OVERWHELMED WITH ATTENTIONS.


not had been "sent up " through his instrumentality, and there
were not many rogues in town. But still there were a few rogues
left, and although they were keeping pretty quiet, Chief Kelly
determined to get rid of them as quickly as he could. And the
manner in which he did it in one instance is worth mentioning,
not only by reason of its amusing originality, but for its effectiveness as well. One day a complaint was made to him that an overcoat had been stolen from the house of a prominent resident, and
"from information received " the Chief made up his mind that the
theft had been committed by a well-known "professional" named
Kirby. There was no proof against the man from a legal point
of view, and it would be no use to arrest him on mere suspicion.
Mr. Kirby was well aware of this fact, and was therefore considerably astonished at receiving a very polite intimation that his
presence was urgently desired by Chief Kelly at his office. He
accompanied the messenger to headquarters, where his mind was
somewhat relieved by the assurance that he was not "wanted " on
any specific criminal charge. But Kirby's disgust may be better
imagined than described when he found that the Chief had also
invited the whole of his detective force to attend the reception.
Poor Kirby was introduced in turn to each one present by Mr.
Kelly, who was very particular to observe every little law laid
down in society's etiquette. At length the introductions were concluded, and then Chief Kelly outlined to him the sort of life which
he would have to live if he decided to reside in Philadelphia.
Other men might step an inch or two over the line with impunity;
but as for Mr. Kirby, he must see to it that his deportment was as
correct as that of the most straight-laced Puritan. The slightest
infraction of the law on his part would be followed by the most
condign punishment; and it therefore behooved him to be careful
in the extreme. This was too much for Kirby. He looked at the
Chief in a bewildered manner, as if he could hardly believe his
own ears, and then bolted from the room most unceremoniously.
The next day he packed up his "duds " and left Philadelphia for
the West, remarking that there was " no good in this confounded
town, anyway."
In I880, Mr. Alexander Tutton, in addition to holding the office
of Collector of the port of Philadelphia, was also custodian of the
U. S. Sub-Treasury, then located in the Custom-House Building,
and one day in the early part of the year mentioned he was called




" LOVE'S LABOR LOST. "'


557


upon by an individual in clerical attire, who represented himself
as the Rev. Dr. Haddock, pastor of the Spruce Street Church.
The "reverend " gentleman had called, so he announced to Mr.
Tutton, for the purpose of soliciting the position of watchman in
the Sub-Treasury for one of his parishioners-a very worthy, honest, sober and capable man. Now, Mr. Tutton was a very religiously inclined gentleman, and expressed himself as being not only
willing but anxious to oblige such an upright and distinguished
divine as Dr. Haddock, whose personal acquaintance he had not
previously made. A vacancy occurred very shortly afterwards in
the force of watchmen, and Dr. Haddock's protege was appointed
to the position. This was some time in March, and the newly appointed watchman performed his duties in a manner satisfactory
to his superiors. At three o'clock, Saturday afternoon, April 26,
the vaults, which contained about $I5,ooo,ooo in gold, silver and
bills, were properly secured, the usual guard of watchmen set, and
the outer doors of the building locked, not to be opened, in the
ordinary course of affairs, until the following Monday morning.
But something extraordinary occurred in the interval, and that the
doors were opened subsequent discoveries plainly showed. Adjoining the Custom-House Building was a bonded warehouse, and
when the laborers employed there entered on Monday morning
they found that a hole had been dug through the wall, on a level
with and in the direction of the Sub-Treasury vaults. The consternation, when this startling piece of information was imparted
to the Sub-Treasury officials, was something almost ludicrous at
first, but it disappeared when it was learned that the diggers of the
hole had failed in their endeavors to reach the gold and bill com
partments, and had only succeeded in possessing themselves of a
bag containing about $20 in copper coin. As a set-off they left
behind them a well-finished kit of burglar's tools, the making of
which must have cost the expenditure of considerable time and
money.
The fact of such an audacious attempt having been made was
kept a profound secret from the outside public for some time, as it
was feared the disclosure of it would tend to defeat the ends of
justice. Chief Kelly, who was at that time an officer of the U. S.
Secret Service, was put in charge of the case, and followed up
the slight clews with which he was furnished. After several
months of investigation in various directions, travelling hither and




558


A PUZZLED DIVINE.


thither over nearly the whole country, Kelly succeeded in sifting
the matter to the very bottom. He argued to himself that one or
more of the force of watchmen on guard in the treasury had been
in collusion with the burglars, and had admitted them into the
warehouse adjoining the Custom House. The antecedents of
each of them was looked into closely, and all gave a satisfactory
account of themselves, with the exception of the individual who
had been appointed through the influence of the Rev. Dr. Haddock. His story of his previous life was rather vague, and the
clergyman himself was applied to.
"Did Mr. Haddock know anything about his parishioner? "
asked Kelly.
The divine was puzzled; he knew nothing about any parishioner of his who was a watchman in the Custom House, neither
had he recommended any one for such a position; didn't know
Collector Tutton, and had never called upon him. Further inquiries developed the fact that the " parishioner" was no other than
"Shang" Miller, an old-time thief and crook, and the individual
who called upon Collector Tutton in the guise of Dr. Haddock,
was another of the gang. "Shang," it had been arranged, was to
furnish his confederates with a plan of the vaults, and it was only
through his carelessness that the most important part of the plot
was a failure. By some miscalculation " Shang" failed to locate
the different vaults properly. After-he had things all " 0. K.," as
he supposed, he let in " Big Jack" Eberman (who was the originator of the " job "), Bill Cutler and a couple of others, stowing
them away until after dark in a little loft under the roof. They
worked Saturday night, all day Sunday, until Monday morning,
when they found themselves in the copper vault, having missed
the gold compartment by a few inches. Their disgust can be
more easily imagined than described. In fact, their failure to get
the $5,000ooo,ooo in gold actually broke " Big Jack's " heart, and he
died six weeks afterwards. He kept a saloon on Vine Street, below Sixth, Philadelphia, at the time of the robbery, but was well
known among police officials and others all over the country.
Another noted criminal with the capture of whom Chief Kelly
had considerable to do when he was a Secret Service Agent, was
William H. Robinson, better known as "Gopher Bill," the wellknown counterfeiter and "shover of the queer." It was in the
summer of I88o. For some considerable period prior to the I




COUNTERFEIT BANK-NOTES.


559


month of June in the year mentioned, the city of Philadelphia had
been flooded with $5, $Io and $50 bank-notes, and although
every effort had been made to discover the source from which
they emanated, there had been no tangible results. Kelly, with
another secret agent of the Government, was placed on the case,


FRANCIS R. KELLY.
Chief of Detectives.


and the two soon made important discoveries. They learned, by
means which it would not be policy to divulge even at this late
day, that the members of a certain gang in Philadelphia were
operating in conjunction with another, the headquarters of which
were in Baltimore. Kelly and his "side partner," therefore, -
watched the trains and boats arriving from the latter city pretty
closely for several weeks. At length their patience was rewarded




560


THE GAME WAS UP!


one day by the sight of Frederick Umneck and James Lock, the
character of neither of whom would bear investigation, walking
down the gangplank of a steamer.  Both the men mentioned
walked slowly along Delaware Avenue, followed by the detectives,
and were met a few blocks below the landing-place, by the "Gopher," who, after a few minutes' conversation, handed them a small
package. Knowing Mr. Robinson's tricky nature, the officers
allowed him to go his own way unmolested for a time, but followed up Umneck and Lock. And a weary following up it was,
too, —first into one saloon for a drink or cigar; then into another;
next, a small purchase was made in a store, the officers all the
time close at their heels. Finally they landed in the Broad Street
station, and boarded a train for Baltimore. But as they sat in the
smoking car, each puffing away at a good cigar, they were utterly
unconscious of evil from the two innocent-looking men who sat
behind them, seemingly intent upon watching the country through
which they passed, but who, in reality, were closely wvatching
every action and listening to every word. Baltimore was reached,
and the two men, after having wished each other a cordial "good
night," were about to separate, when heavy hands were laid on
their shoulders, and a pair of voices simultaneously declared that
they were both under arrest. The game was up! When searched
in the station-house to which they were at once taken, it was discovered that the package which they had received from " Gopher
Bill" in Philadelphia contained sixty-two ten-dollar bills, purporting to be issued by the Muncy (Pa.) National Bank; five fiftydollar notes of the Central National Bank of New York, and
spurious silver coin to the amount of $200. The next day, Umneck and Lock were both committed to prison in default of $Io,ooo
bail, to await trial. Kelly and his comrade then went post-haste to
Philadelphia and devoted their best energies to keeping a watchful eye upon "Gopher Bill," with a view of ascertaining whether
he had any partners in his "business."  They soon noticed that
the " Gopher" was often accompanied by a respectable, quiet and
inoffensive looking man, whose identity was at first unknown to
the detectives. It was soon ascertained, however, that his name
was Alfred L. Hubbard, and that he lived, with his wife, in a twostory brick house at No. 632 McKean Street. Watching their
opportunity, the officers made a descent on Hubbard's residence
one evening, and in a closet in a rear room were found twenty-five




A GREAT " ORGANIZER. "


56I


packages of counterfeit Bland and trade dollars, as well as eight
rolls of half dollars-amounting altogether to somewhere about
$900 of spurious coin. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard were accordingly
arrested,.and the very next day "Gopher Bill" himself was in
custody. Mrs. Hubbard was not held for trial, but was discharged.
Her husband and "Gopher," however, were both tried and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in the Eastern Penitentiary. Before sentencing " Gopher," Judge Butler asked him what
he had to say. His reply was that so many of his years had been
spent in crooked ways that it was a matter of impossibility for him
to become "straight." That fact, he thought, should be taken into
consideration. Judge Butler, however, said his chronic crookedness was all the greater reason that society should be protected,
and he should accordingly send him where he would no longer be
a menace to the public.
Few men, indeed, have attained more notoriety in the counterfeiting business than " Gopher Bill." He commenced his career
away back beyond the memory of the oldest detectives now in the
service. His specialty seems to have been to receive bogus money
from the manufacturers, and to make all the necessary arrangements for disposing of it among the "circulators." His slyness
and cunning was such as to very often baffle the skill of the
shrewdest detectives, the great difficulty being to find the spurious
money in his possession and to locate the parties with whom he
dealt. As compared with the number of counterfeiting enterprises
in which "Gopher" engaged, the number of times he has been
arrested is very small. He was a great organizer, and was consulted by those high in the " profession " whenever any scheme of
unusual magnitude was proposed. In I877 he was arrested by
Agent Drummond, but as only one counterfeit coin was found on
him when he was searched, it was found impossible to convict
him. It is believed, though there is no positive proof, that it was
he who supplied "Big Frank" McCoy with the tools which enabled that notorious and enterprising criminal to make his escape
from the Newcastle (Del.) Jail.  "Gopher," however, came to
grief in the summer of 1878, when he was " caught dead to rights,"
and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment.  He served
out his time, and shortly after his release, in October, I879, was
again in custody on suspicion of being concerned in the robbery
of the Bailey Brothers, at Kennett Square. He gave certain infor36




562


A VERSATILE RASCAL.


mation to the police, however, and he was released. His companions, Charley Miller and Charles Jones, alias "Blake," were
sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in the Penitentiary.
Miller's friends, of course, were furious at the treacherous conduct
of the " Gopher," and vowed to be revenged. Some time afterwards, " Gopher" was attacked by James Cassidy, one of Miller's
" pals," and left lying for dead on the pavement at the corner of
Eighth and Vine streets. He was laid up for some time, but
finally recovered, and carried on his " business " again, until captured by Chief Kelly as previously narrated.
Chief Kelly, too, was well acquainted with Walter Sheridan, the
famous forger and diamond thief. Very seldom, indeed, is it
that these two branches of crime are " worked " by one man; but
Sheridan, so Chief Kelly informed me, always was a peculiar fellow, but probably united the two "businesses" so that he might
always have something to fall back upon. Sheridan was a native
of New Orleans, where he first saw the light in 1832. His parents were moderately well off, and he received a fair education.
When but a mere lad he drifted, as it were, into crime, and at a
very early age made his appearance in Western Missouri in the
role of a horse thief. Subsequently, he became an accomplished
general thief and confidence man, but he more especially distinguished himself as a bank sneak. In company with Joseph
Moran he was arrested in i858 for being [concerned in a bank
robbery in Chicago, and was sentenced to five years' imprison
ment in the Alton Penitentiary. The next operation of any mag
nitude in which he engaged was the theft of $35,000 from the
vaults of the National Bank of Springfield, Ill. He had with
him as partners on that occasion Charles Hicks and Phil. Pearson,
two noted experts in their line. Sheridan, who was a plausible
and entertaining conversationalist, engaged the attention of the
teller of the bank, while his companions crept in behind the
counter and stole the money. Months afterwards, Sheridan was
arrested at Toledo, Ohio, by Wm. Pinkerton with $22,000 of the
stolen money in his possession. He was placed on trial, but as
the prosecution could not prove that he did any more than engage the teller in conversation while the theft was being perpetrated, he was acquitted. Then he came East, and in Baltimore
robbed the American Fire Insurance Co. of $50,000, but again
escaped conviction. He was equally fortunate in June, i870,




"OUT" $75,000.


563


when arrested for stealing $37,800 from the Mechanics' Bank of
Scranton, Pa. Probably the neatest "job" ever performed by
Sheridan was, when, some six or seven years ago, he accosted
Mr. Blatchford (father of U. S. Judge Blatchford) at the corner of
Nassau and Liberty streets. The gentleman named held in his
hand a package of bonds of the value of $75,ooo and stopped at
a street stall to purchase an apple. Sheridan spoke to him, and
so interested Mr. Blatchford in the conversation that he unthinkingly laid the bonds upon the stall. In a moment it was snatched
up by one of Sheridan's confederates, and Mr. Blatchford was
' out" $75,000. Nothing, of course, could be legally proved
against Sheridan, and he was not even arrested. A portion of
the bonds, however, were subsequently recovered, but in what
way, I was never able to ascertain.
I have already given an account, in a previous chapter, of the
attempt made by George Wilkes and others, in I873, to swindle
Wall Street brokers by the wholesale issue of fraudulent stock.
Sheridan was one of the "gang" and was also concerned in the
plot to forge' letters of credit on the Bank of England. He became disgusted with the way in which the affair was being conducted by certain confederates on the other side of the Atlantic,
and declined to have any further hand in the "job." In the
same year, too, one of Sheridan's "enterprises" raised quite a
commotion in financial circles. After months of planning and
negotiating, he succeeded in obtaining a loan of $84,00ooo from the
New York Guaranty & Indemnity Co., depositing as security
Buffalo and Erie Railroad bonds, of the face value of $ioo,ooo.
Close scrutiny showed these bonds to be expert and clever forgeries. Previous to this coup Sheridan had, by some means or
other, become a member of the Produce Exchange, under the
assumed and somewhat romantic name of Charles Ralston. Immediately upon the discovery of the swindle, detectives were put
upon Sheridan's track, but he managed to get away from New
York with the money. In less than a week he was heard of in
Washington, D. C., where he was arrested and brought back to
this city. The evidence brought against him on his trial was
overwhelming. He was convicted and sent to Sing Sing for five
years.  Upon the expiration of his term  of imprisonment,
Sheridan formed a co-partnership with Joe McClosky, one of the
shrewdest thieves in the country, and the pair " worked" together




564


A CASE OF " SHANGHAI.


for some time. They stole a tray of diamonds from a jewellery
store in Philadelphia, and afterwards robbed a travelling salesman's sample trunk of a considerable quantity of jewellery in the
same city. The Jewellers' Association of New York took the matter in hand, and Sheridan's photograph, which was in the Rogues'
Gallery, was shown the individuals from whom the goods were
stolen. They identified him immediately, and soon afterwards he
was arrested by the Philadelphia police. It cost him three years
in the Eastern Penitentiary. Drifting out West, upon his release,
Sheridan, in the fall of I883, was arrested in Topeka, Kansas, for
passing three counterfeit $500 bills, and was sent into retirement
for two years. Sheridan is now in the House of Correction at
Oporto, Portugal, having been detected in attempting to pass
three bogus ~5oo Bank of England notes upon the cashier of the
London and Brazilian Bank.
The only case of " Shanghai," as it is called, which has occurred in recent years in Philadelphia, was one which came under
the notice of Chief Kelly in the month of October, 1884, although
the event actually occurred some considerable time previous to
that. One day, in the first week of the month above mentioned,
Chief Kelly received a letter from the -Chief Constable of Rochdale, England, giving certain details concerning what was alleged
to have been the kidnapping of a young man in Philadelphia during
the previous August. Chief Kelly was informed in the letter
that in June, Frank Tansey, a resident of Rochdale, sailed from
Liverpool for Philadelphia, on board the steamer Lord Gough.
Shortly after arriving in the city he secured employment in Messrs.
Morris & Tasker's Iron Works, and went to lodge at X. Kaufman's
saloon, No. 22 Morris Street. He worked at the foundry for
several weeks, and was then discharged on account of the slackness
of trade. One day, as young Tansey was walking along the
wharves, " near where the steamers came in from Boston," he
entered into conversation with a strange man, who finally asked him
if he was in search of work. Tansey replied that he was, and his
chance companion at once volunteered to get him work "down
the river." Both then got aboard a small steamer, and after a
long run down the Delaware, Tansey was placed upon the
Swedish barque Selina.  Once on board of her, although he
knew nothing about seamanship and protested against his treatment in a vigorous manner, he was compelled to work " before the




A CI.EVER CAPTURE.


565


mast." The vessel arrived at Hamburg, her destination, in thirtyfive days, and here Tansey was most unceremoniously discharged
with just ~i in English money as his pay. He informed the
British consul of his condition, and that official immediately forwarded him to his home in Rochdale.
Inquiries were set on foot by Chief Kelly upon receipt of the
above mentioned letter, and he found ample evidence that
Tansey's statements were correct. His trunk was found at
Kaufman's saloon, but ~I3 which it contained when he was spirited away was missing. From all appearances, Chief Kelly was convinced the affair was a case of " Shanghai," a term which originated many years ago, when the crime of forcing seamen and others
on board vessels just as they were about to leave port was a common almost every-day occurrence.
It was in the same month and the same year that Chief Kelly,
assisted by two of his men, made a clever capture, one morning,
of two notorious burglars, and also recovered considerable valuable
property which had been stolen the night before. When Mr.
Kelly reached his office that morning he found two complaints of
robberies, one of which is known as the "bundle game." A
messenger boy was taking a package of goods from the store of
Messrs. Murray & Wilson, Thirteenth Street, when at the corner of
Tenth and Chestnut streets, he was accosted by a man who asked
him to take a note a short distance for a pecuniary consideration.
The lad assented, and started off with the note, leaving the bundle,
which contained $50 worth of dry-goods, in the hands of the man,
who said he would await his return. Needless to say, the man
did not wait, and the boy returned to his employers in a disconsolate mood. The second robbery was perpetrated at the cutlery
store, Nos. 1927 and 1929 Market Street, not far from $400 worth
of razors, forks, knives and spoons being secured by the burglars.
For some time previous to this Chief Kelly had suspected that
some of the inmates of a cheap lodging-house, situated on North
Eighth Street, were not as honest as they might be. The messenger boy, too, gave a description of the man who relieved him of
his bundle which tallied with that of an individual who had been
seen at the house in question.  Without any delay, therefore,
Chief Kelly visited the premises, and hurrying up stairs to the
third-story back room, took the thieves completely by surprise.




566


DESCRIPTIONS OF CRIMINALS.


So unprepared were they for the Chief's visit that they had made
no effort to conceal the stolen property, which was lying on the
floor. The men proved to be "Boston " Crandell and Frank
Wilson, both of whom had served terms of imprisonment in not a
few prisons of various States.
I don't believe that over ten rogues in a hundred are ever caught
by the printed descriptions of them, which may be sent broadcast
all over the country without any result. The embezzler, the forger,
the murderer, all know how to guard against recognition from such
a description as a general rule. But when the authorities are furnished with a photograph of the suspected criminal, the case is
different. A man cannot change the expression in his eyes, which
is, after all, the main point. The English police officials are very
profuse and minute in their descriptions of criminals of whom they
are in search. Take, for instance, the following, of a man named
Harry Hammond Swindells, suspected of having fled to this
country after committing a murder at Oldham, Lancashire: " He
is 49 years of age, five feet three and a half inches high, sallow
complexion, dark brown hair and beard American fashion, whiskers
shaved off, dark blue eyes, Roman nose with blue mark on the
bridge, high cheek bones, large mouth, has only one or two teeth
in upper jaw, scar on right side of neck, little finger of right hand
crooked, walks with a swinging gait, dressed in a black-ribbed,
double-breasted slap-back jacket (the right shoulder and arm of
which may bear traces of lime-wash), trowsers and vest of same
material, new black soft billy-cock hat with a large brim, and new
spring-side boots, with square toes."
Another, selected at random, was from Bromberg (Germany),
dated October 23, i883, and headed " Warrant of Caption."
Translated into English it read as follows:
"It is notified that the imprisonment for inquiry has been decreed by judgment against the below-described banker, Nathan
Szkolny, of Inowrazlaw, Prussia, on account of fraudulent bankruptcy and counterfeiting of documents referring to section 209,
No. i, of the bankruptcy law, and sections 267, 268, No. i, 74 of
the penal code. It is requested to arrest him where he is met, to
seize the money and effects found with him, and to give me notice.
Szkolny has falsified bills of exchange to the amount of about 200,ooo marks, and has escaped with the money he has got thereby.




A REGULAR APOLLO!


567


His creditors guarantee to any one who seizes him a reward of
fifteen per cent. of the amount being in his possession.
"For the Royal Attorney of State,
" SCHULZE-VELLINGHAUSEN."
The description which follows is unique in its way, and includes
the following " special marks," as they are termed:
"Szkolny wears blue spectacles, has a glass eye, stutters and
has two false teeth in the under jaw. He walks slowly and the
legs are ' O 'formted."
Quite a prepossessing sort of a fellow, but not quite as handsome,
was an individual once " wanted " in Chicago, where he had succeeded in winning the heart and person of a trusting maiden, and
then cruelly refused to fulfil his promise of wedding her. His
name was Erastus Judson Stillwind, and the description furnished
is quite unique in its way:
"He claims to be forty-five years of age, but looks twenty years
older; is smooth shaven and wears a dark brown wig, reaching
over the forehead. He squints a great deal, and is constantly
chewing tobacco; complexion sallow, with hollow cheeks, receding
chin, prominent nose, on the left side of which are two warts;
about five feet six inches tall, stoops considerably and has a halting gait, caused by a club foot and knock-knees. Weight, about
130 to 140 lbs., but made up to look much heavier."
What an Apollo! None of my men ever came across such a
one, and I have often wondered whether his inamorata was as
good-looking and well-favored as he.
As a general rule we always had enough to do with looking after
our own criminals; and unless a man was very distinctly marked,
and the crime freshly committed, it was very seldom he was captured
unless by accident. It has often happened that an individual has
been arrested on suspicion, or for some petty offence, and has
turned out to be a fugitive from some other city or State. Then
the printed description, for want of a photograph, comes in very
handy.
Circulars in relation to eloping couples are very numerous, and
I have noticed that in nearly every instance where rewards are
offered the advertiser is the husband and of German birth. The
women, too, are usually well advanced in years. For instance,
some years ago, Mr. B. Hettisheimer, a resident of Cincinnati, was




568


5( PETE'S" DISCOVERY.


anxious for the return of his wife, forty-three years old, who had
run away with a young man not half her age. Then there was a
dangerous young flirt of fifty, who had eloped from her lawful lord
and master, a Mr. Tremble, of Pittsburg, with a Frenchman
named Shew. Twenty-five dollars appears to be the average
amount which 'husbands are willing to pay for the return of their
erring helpmeets, but a woman never offers to pay anything for
a missing husband. Strange, isn't it?
In October, I884, I received information from the Philadelphia
police authorities that an Italian had been brutally murdered in
the woods near Linwood, Deleware Co., Pennsylvania, and that
the suspected murderer, also an Italian, would doubtless attempt
to sail from New York on his way to his native land. The body
of the murdered man, who was employed on the Baltimore and
Philadelphia R.R., and was known as " No. 25 " by the contractor,
was discovered in a deep ravine near Upper Chichester, by an
Italian lad named " Pete ". The head of the poor victim had been
beaten into an almost shapeless mass, and a formidable hickory
club about five feet long, covered with blood and hair, was found
near by. His pants pockets were turned inside out, and the belt
in which he carried his money, and wore around his waist, had
been cut open. The identity of the murderer was shrouded in
mystery, and various theories were broached by the police and detectives. A lot of apples were on the ground near the body, which,
it should be mentioned, was lying in an orchard on the farm of two
German brothers, and this, together with the fact that the bloodstained club had evidently been taken from a wood-pile in the
vicinity of the farm-house, led to the belief that the killing had
been done by one of the inmates who had caught him trespassing
and stealing the apples. For a long time no clew was obtained
as to the murdered man's name. The contractor in whose employ
he worked as a stone-mason only reconized him as " No. 25." At
length it was discovered that the dead man, together with a friend
whose name,' also, was not ascertainable at first, but was subsequently discovered to be Giuseppi Davino, had lived in a shanty
kept by a fellow countryman, and known as " Frank's Hut." In
this shanty the detectives found an old trunk belonging to the deceased, containing some clothing and other effects; and a passport in the pocket of a coat, gave his name as Nevaciante Ciampi.
His friend Davino had also disappeared just previous to the find



CIAMPI S CORPSE.


569


ing of the body. By diligent inquiries it was also found that on
October 2ist, Ciampi and Davino had visited a place called Belleview, a mile or two from the shanty, and had remained there nearly the whole of the day. They were seen to leave Belleview in
company the same evening, walking in the direction of their camp,
where, however, they did not put in an appearance. Three days
afterwards Ciampi's corpse was found as above stated, three miles
from "Frank's Hut." He had always been an industrious, sober
and hard-working man; while his companion, Davino, was described by those who knew him as a worthless, lazy fellow, never
working when he could possibly avoid it and sponging on his fellow countrymen. He was always longing to return to Italy, and
had begged his friends there time and time again to remit him
money enough to pay his expenses. They always refused, and his
sudden disappearance, therefore, caused much comment. He was
traced to this city, where towards the end of December my detectives, who had been furnished witlh Davino's description, found
that he had sailed for Italy on the 3d of the month named. Upon
learning this, Chief Kelly communicated with the Italian authorities, and at length had the satisfaction of receiving a letter from
the Pretor of Frigento (Italy) that Davino had been arrested
there-his native town. A watch had been found upon him which
was identified as having been the property of Ciampi; and his own
daughter testified to having heard him confess to her mother one
night that he had killed Ciampi. Davino was never returned to
this country, but was, I believe, tried and convicted in Italy, the
laws there permitting such a course.
With all the numerous safeguards which exist against dishonesty in the Mint at Philadelphia, I remember one instance, at
least, in which they proved to be insufficient; and although every
effort was made by Chief Kelly and his detectives to fix the responsibility, they were unable to ferret out the thief. One afternoon, in the early part of February, I885, Mr. B. F. Cohen, a
jeweller, of No. 6 Maiden Lane, in this city, called at the office
of Mr. Charles S. Platt, assayer and refiner, No. 4 Liberty Place,
with a bar of silver, weighing seventy pounds, stating that it had
been sent him by some parties in Philadelphia to dispose of. Mr.
Platt was well acquainted with Mr. Cohen, and would undoubtedly have purchased the precious metal immediately, had he not
noticed the name of the Omaha & Grant Smelting and Refining




570


ADVENTURES OF A BAR OF SILVER.


Co. stamped upon it. This was rather suspicious to Mr. Platt,
as he knew that the silver of the company mentioned was generally sold in large quantities-50o,ooo ozs., or more at a time. The
company, too, were in the habit of numbering all the bars sold
by them, and the number of the one presented by Mr. Cohen
was " i6,929." It weighed 1023 70-100 ozs., and was 999 fine.
After noticing all these things, Mr. Platt said he could not purchase the bar unless Clark, Dodge & Co., the agents for the
Omaha Smelting Co., said it was all right. A message was accordingly sent to the firm, and on investigation it was found
that the bar in question had been sold some time previously
to the well-known bankers, J. & W. Seligman & Co., who declared
that, with a number of others, it had been purchased by the Government and delivered at the Philadelphia Mint. The Messrs.
Seligman said they had been paid, and had also received an official notification that all was correct. That notification was dated
January 24th and yet up to February i3th the bar of silver in the
possession of Mr. Cohen had not been missed from the Philadelphia Mint.  The matter was reported to me and a telegram to
the authorities at the Mint made them acquainted with the theft
for the first time. How a bar of solid silver, weighing over
eighty-five pounds, could be carried out of the Mint without detection, is beyond my comprehension i; but the fact remains that it
was stolen, and that the thief was never discovered. A saloon-keeper named Hugh Daly, who kept a place on South Street, was arrested by Chief Kelly on suspicion of being concerned in the affair;
but nothing could be proved against him, and he was discharged.
I might fill a volume, if I chose to give a detailed account of
the many excellent services rendered, not only the city of Philadelphia, but the country at large, by Chief Kelly. It will be
remembered that in i882 there was considerable excitement in
England over what was known as " the dynamite scare." A number of so-called " infernal machines," had been shipped to England, where they were seized. It was discovered that they had
been manufactured in this country, and the English Government
communicated with Minister West upon the subject, authorizing
him to take what steps might be necessary for unearthing the
makers. It should be stated that previous to this, Sir Stafford
Northcote (later Lord Iddesleigh) had offered a reward of $10o,ooo
for reliable information upon the subject; and it is now known




HOW BRITISH OFFICIALS WERE " SOLD. "


571


that the sum mentioned was actually paid, but to whom has never
been made public. In accordance with his instructions, Minister
West secured the services of Chief Kelly, then a secret agent of
the U. S. Government, and also those of Detective Gilkinson.
They received from England the very barrel in which the machines
were packed, and also one of the machines themselves. The work
of investigation was long and tiresome, occupying over nine months'
time and leading the two officers along the whole line of coast,
from the Gulf to Maine. They found that the barrel had been
made in Philadelphia, and that the infernal machines were the
productions of a man named Holgate, who then resided at No. 1502
South Juniper Street. This machine was nothing more than an
ordinary zinc canister, about four inches square at the ends and
twelve inches high. The " works " were simply common clock
works, and, it was ascertained, had been furnished by an individual doing business on Eighth Street. As to the explosives with
which the machines were said to be filled, their contents, on close
examination, turned out to be harmless gypsum powder, which had
been obtained from the ruins of an old factory at Gray's Ferry
Road and the Schuylkill river. It also transpired that the English
Government had paid the reward of $io,ooo to the very parties
who had shipped these harmless infernal machines to London.
Chief Kelly reported what he had learned to Minister West,
and shortly afterwards further investigation was ordered to cease,
the authorities evidently having come to the conclusion that they
had been nicely fooled by the parties who had shipped the
machines.




CHAPTER XLI.


JUSTICE'S JUSTICE IN NEW YORK.-HOW THE WHEELS ARE " COGGED."
-AN INADEQUATE JUDICIARY.-EVASION OF PUNISHMENT.SEVERAL INSTANCES.-" BUNCO, MEN AND SWINDLERS.-WHY
THEY ARE NOT BROUGHT TO TRIAL.-ROUGH ON THE COMPLAINANT.-SEVENTEEN WEEKS IN THE HOUSE OF DETENTION."FINE WORK.'"-SOMETHING ABOUT GAMBLERS.-NOT A SINGLE
HONEST ONE.-WALL STREET'S INSATIABLE MAW.-SOLITARY MR.
SMITH, OF RHODE ISLAND.-WHERE ALL THE MONEY GOES.POLICE CAPTAINS SHOULD BE MADE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF " HELLS. -BLACKMAIL LEVIED ON GAMBLING HOUSES.
-REMEDIES SUGGESTED.
THE reader will naturally ask why justice in New York is very
often so long delayed in the case of the wealthy defendant, and as
often denied the poor complainant. That the wheels of the blindfolded goddess's car are often " cogged, " is a fact beyond dispute. How is it that such a state of things exists; and to what is
all the more than suspicious laxity in the enforcement of the laws
and the proper administration of justice to be attributed? Any one
at all conversant with the workings of the lex mechanico in our city,
will at once perceive the difficulty of answering such a question
in an off-hand manner.
Take, for instance, violations of the excise law; they are numerous enough; arrests are made every day, and yet one very rarely
hears of a liquor dealer being sent to prison. Why, I suppose 1
should not be far wrong in saying that there are anywhere from
eighteen to twenty thousand complaints against parties for violations of the terms of their licenses now on file in the District
Attorney's office. They have been accumulating there in the pigeon-holes for years and years; most of them are covered with dust
and many of them are actually mouldy with age. A violator of the
excise law is arrested; he gives bail and elects to be tried by
a jury in the General Sessions. This he has a perfect right to do.
The consequence is that the facilities for trying such cases be
572




A VAST ACCUMULATION OF COMPLAINTS.


573


come peculiarly inadequate; and the District Attorney, in the
very nature of things, cannot prevent the vast accumulation of
papers to which I have previously referred. He is obliged to try
what are known as " prison cases," such as murder, manslaughter,
burglary and other crimes against person or property. If these
cases were not dealt with, and the time of the court were occupied
with liquor, gambling and lottery cases, a man, charged with a
serious offence, who has been in jail a certain length of time without being brought up for trial, would have a right to demand his
discharge. Unless, therefore, our judicial machinery-the number
of courts as well as the number of judges-is increased, this evil
in our system of justice will never be regulated or decreased.
Even supposing an offender is brought to trial, and a conviction
ensues - and this has happened now and then - political and
other influences are invoked, and the culprit is pardoned. Let me
give an instance or two. The case of Thomas Doyle, of No. 87
Third Avenue, charged with a violation of the excise law, came
up in the Court of General Sessions on Oct. 4, I878, before Recorder Hackett, who imposed a sentence of thirty days' imprisonment in the Penitentiary. Doyle's counsel at once procured a
writ of habeas corpus, the arguments on which, however, were adjourned from time to time over a space of two weeks. Doyle was
a prominent and powerful politician, and among his friends were
Major. J. W. Saner and Councillor F. Rand, who proceeded to
Albany while these arguments were pending before the courts,
had an interview with Governor Robinson and procured a pardon
for Doyle!  Comment is needless.
Then there was the case of Jacob Berry, proprietor of the infamous Columbia Opera House, which stood on the corner of
Twelfth and Greenwich streets, which was raided some time in
March,.1878. After many delays, Berry was sentenced to eight
months' imprisonment in the Penitentiary. The case was taken
on an appeal to the Supreme Court, but the decision of the lower
court was affirmed by Judges Davis and Ingalls, Judge Brady dissenting. The Court of Appeals at Albany was then applied to,
but with a like result, and the papers were returned to District
Attorney Phelps. Berry, however, remained at liberty; the reason he was not brought up for sentence, so I was informed, being
that a recommendation for his pardon had been presented to
Governor Robinson. And sure enough, on the 9th of June, a par



574


UNWILLINGNESS OF JURIES TO CONVICT.


don was granted, political influence having evidently been brought
to bear in certain quarters. Then, again, Phillip Cantlan, No. 39
Washington Street, indicted in i878 for violation of the excise law,
has appeared ten Or fifteen times in court, but on each occasion
the case has been adjourned, and nothing has yet come of the
complaint.          6
The common run of juries, too, if they think a severe sentence is going to follow a verdict of guilty, are unwilling to convict
in cases where the offence charged is a violation of the excise law.
In July, i879, a man named Julius Kohler was convicted of such
an offence, and was thereupon sentenced by Judge Cowing to
thirty days' imprisonment in the City Prison. A regular howl
went up from those in the court-room when they heard the sentence, and the foreman of the jury informed Judge Cowing that
had he and his fellow jurymen known so severe a sentence would
have been imposed, they would not have returned a verdict of
guilty; and yet this Kohler's place was one of the worst possible character, and the evidence against him overwhelming.
The reasons why" bunco " men and swindlers of a somewhat
similar nature are not convicted as a general rule, although complaints against such characters are numerous, are somewhat different. The victim, in nearly every instance, is a resident of some
other city or State. The magistrate before whom the parties are
taken holds both complainant and defendant for examination, fixing bail at the amount required by law. The procuring of a bondsman is an easy matter with the sharper; but with the poor victim
it is different. Failing to furnish the requisite security for his appearance, he is bundled off to the House of Detention.
As an instance of the injustice committed in this way let me
give just one sample, the records of which are before me. It
is the first that came to hand, although I could mention dozens
of a similar nature. A young man named N. T. Fox (never mind
what his business, or where he came from; but the name is genuine) visited that notorious gambling house, No. 15 Ann Street,
some time in February, i88o. In one evening he lost as much as
$iooo, and the next morning came to me with his story, saying
that all he cared about was to get his money back. At my request
he made an affidavit as to the facts, and that same night the place
was raided. Peter DeLacy was the proprietor of this " hell, " and
was arrested. Upon being taken before a police magistrate, he




" FINE WORK.                     57


575


gave bail and was allowed to go at liberty, while Fox, the complainant, was sent to the House of Detention, and held as a witness. Time and time again were efforts made, at my direction, to
have the case tried, but in every instance DeLacy's counsel, by
some means or other, which I have never been enabled to fathom,
managed to have it adjourned. Finally, in October, after no less
than seventeen weeks' imprisonment in the House of Detention,
Fox was set at liberty, the only explanation given him being that
the case would come up some time or other, and that he would be
notified. In April, i881, District Attorney Phelps was asked to
place the case against DeLacy on the calendar. This he refused
to do, giving as his reason that DeLacy had " gone out of business." And yet No. 15 Ann Street has long been known to be
one of the worst places in the city. True, DeLacy may not be the
proprietor in the eye of the law, but he hung round the place
most of his time.
It is when the complainant is about to be sent to the House of
Detention that the friends of the swindlers get in their " fine work,"
as it is termed; that is, they make overtures to the complainant;
they point out the inconvenience it is, to say nothing of the unpleasantness, to remain incarcerated, when by merely promising
to go to his home and not appear against the accused on the day
of trial, a bondsman will be procured, the money of which he was
despoiled will be returned, and there will be no further bother
about it. Of course the complainant is only too glad of the chance.
He gives the required promise, a bondsman is supplied, he leaves
the city or State, and there's an end of the matter.
It is not very likely that the aggrieved party, having received
back his own, is going to remain in the city at considerable expense, to say nothing of the inconvenience, in a business point of
view. He therefore goes home, and there is no legal power which
can compel the attendance of a person in another State as a witness here.
And now, although I have alluded to the subject of gambling in
a previous chapter, I have something more to say in that connection. It has always been a popular delusion that somewhere or
other, and at some time or other, there has existed an honest
professional gambler. I don't believe it.  During my whole experience I never met with such an one. They don't all of them
steal, however, because they find it pays them better to live by




576


WALL STREET GAMBLING.


gambling. Btt all the gambling that goes on in the City of
New York is not confined to the playing of cards and the betting on horse races, etc. Wall Street itself is nothing more nor
less than an immense gambling concern, and among the many
defaulters for large amounts, who have from time to time been
brought before me, nine-tenths of them have admitted that their
social and moral ruin had been brought about by speculating in
Wall Street. How many retire from it with a fortune? Very few.
Only a short time since, in the course of conversation with the
head of one of the largest firms of brokers in this country, the
question was asked how many men, of all the thousands who were
constantly investing money in stocks, etc., through his agency, retired from the " street " possessed of more than they had put into it.
"A few," said he.
"Can you give me an instance?"
He hesitated, thought awhile, and finally admitted that he could
not recall any just then. His chief clerk, who was standing near,
listening to our conversation, remarked:
" Yes; I remember there was Smith, of Rhode Island, who made
$30,000 through us, and then retired from the city to his farm."
"Do you remember any one else " was the next inquiry.
He did not-could not recall a single other instance.
So I asked further concerning this wonderful Mr. Smith:
"How long ago was it that Smith left the 'street' with his
$30,000?"
"About a year and a half," was the reply of the head clerk.
"And I'm perfectly confident," added the head of the firm, " that
Mr. Smith will return to Wall Street and lose it alL."
Seeking further enlightenment on the matter, I inquired of
another leading broker as to how many of his customers made
money in the long run by their speculations. He told me that not
one did; and to back up his assertion he'stated that only a short
time previously he had gone over the books with his accountant.  The result of his investigations, covering a number of
years, showed millions to the debit of the customers, balanced
almost entirely by commissions paid to the broker. Think of
it. Of all the thousands and thousands who had marched into
the offices of these two large firms, there was only this solitary
Smith who had retired with more money than when he went in!
Who gets these untold millions that are being constantly poured




GAMBLERS ASSESSED BY THE POLICE.


577


into Wall Street's insatiable maw? It finds its way, partly into the
pockets of those who, when they die, leave fortunes of hundreds
of millions; and partly to brokers, whose legitimate commissions
sometimes amount to as much as a million dollars a year. If
this is not gambling, I should like to know what is.
Apart from Wall Street, however, it will, of course, be of no use
for me to attempt to deny, even if I had the desire, that during my
term of office as superintendent, this great and crying evil was in
a flourishing condition. Under the present system, too, it can and
will never be otherwise. The suppression of gambling of every
description, under the present form of police government, does
not, by any means, lie with the superintendent. It is wholly and
solely within the power of the captains of the various precincts.
I do not mean to say that they can put a stop to poker parties, etc.,
in private residences; but having occupied the position of captain
myself for a number of years, it may be justly supposed I know
something about the matter. This I do know: that when first
appointed captain, I was called upon by a professional gambler,
who asked for permission to open a gambling house in my precinct. I refused him in language more forcible than polite, and
he was wise enough to think I meant what I said, and therefore did
not invest any money in such a venture as proposed. There were
no public gaming houses in my precinct, and it is within the power
of every captain to order the same state of things. It is an utter
impossibility for a public gambling house to exist in any precinct
for a length of time, without the connivance, direct or indirect, of the
captain. While I have no positive personal knowledge on the subject, still I am morally convinced in my own mind, that the great
majority of gambling establishments in this city have in the past,
and do even now, pay for the privilege of being allowed to conduct
their business without being molested. The only possible way in
which such a state of things as this can be remedied, is by making
every captain directly responsible for the condition of his precinct
in this regard; instant dismissal to follow the existence of a public gambling house.
But, after all, the only way in which to obtain a fair, just and
thorough enforcement of the law by the police, is to separate the
force entirely from politics. Have but one commissioner with unlimited power, independent of any or every political clique. Four
police commissioners are just about as much use as if we had four
37




578       FULLER POWERS FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT.
mayors. The superintendent, for his part, should have power corn
mensurate with his responsibility.
Just think of it! Prior to the year I882, the police commissioners had the power to remove me from the office of superintendent
by a simple vote at one of their meetings. Why, my position was
more unstable in that respect than that of any other member of
the force-from inspectors down to door-men, who had the right
of demanding written charges, and of being heard in their own
defence. Time and time again have I attempted, one way or
another, to have fuller power placed in my hands, but for the
last four years during which I was superintendent, my position was
that of a mere figure-head. What I claim is, that a man who is
held responsible for the actions of certain subordinates in any
public department, should have absolute control over those under
him as to assignment and transfer.




CHAPTER XLII.


THE " SOCIAL EVIL " AGAIN.-HOW  TO CLEAR A RESPECTABLE
NEIGHBORHOOD.-A NOVEL PLAN.-CAPTAINS NOT UNAWARE
OF ILLEGAL RESORTS IN THEIR PRECINCTS.-" FIXED UP" REPORTS. - MISREPRESENTATIONS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED. -
BLACKMAILING BY DETECTIVES. - HOW I CAUGHT THE OFFENDERS. - A STORY  WITH AN INTERESTING    SEQUEL. -
" PLIN " WHITE'S WONDERFUL CAREER.-HOW HE WENT HOME
TO DIE.
IN connection with the problem of how to deal with the " social
evil," one incident recurs to mind, which happened when I was
captain of the Eighteenth Ward. Complaints were made to me
by certain residents in a decidedly respectable neighborhood to
the effect that a house of assignation had been started in their
very midst by a notorious woman. How could they be ridded of
her company? Some sort' of a self-appointed committee, I was
informed, had waited upon the female in question, and had offered
to pay her quite a considerable sum of money —something over
$iooo-if she would remove from the locality. The "strange
woman, " however, was obdurate. $2000, or nothing, she said, was
what she wanted. This, in the opinion of the deputation was not
only more than they cared to give, but was more than their cash
in hand amounted to. Could I aid them in any way, so as to rid
the locality of the disgrace of having a house of such a character
right in its very midst? None of them were willing to go so far as
to make the scandal worse by making a complaint against the objectionable female in the courts, and the question was an open
one as to how I should get her to move. After considerable
cogitation I at length hit upon a plan which I thought would be
successful in attaining the desired end. By my orders an officer
in plain clothes was stationed in front of the house in question all
the time, both day and night. Anyone- whether male or female
-who was aboutf to enter.the premises, was accosted with the
579




580


HOW LISTS OF IMMORAL RESORTS ARE " COOKED. "


remark (accompanied at night by a flash from the officer's dark
lantern):"Beg your pardon, but the captain is going to 'pull ' this house,
and if you take my advice you will not go inside."
In almost every single instance the intended visit was indefinitely postponed, and as a natural consequence the woman very
quickly found it would be to her advantage to seek fresh fields
and pastures new.
This method may not have been a strictly legal one, but it at
least possessed the merit of being sure in its result, which is more
than can be said of a resort to a court of law. As a general rule,
juries have something almost amounting to an aversion to convict
in such cases, and especially is this so when the jury is made up
largely of elderly men; they seem to sympathize, strangely enough,
with the elegantly accoutred and apparently repentant Delilah,
who sometimes sheds " crocodile " tears, or else looks as prim and
demure as a Puritan maiden fresh from the " Mayflower. "
And while writing upon this matter, it may be as well to let the
public become acquainted with the fact that in each precinct station-house a private list is kept of all the houses of assignation,
gambling resorts, policy-shops, etc., a copy of which is also to be
found at police headquarters. These lists are constantly being
revised from time to time, as reports are made by patrolmen and
detectives, and it is all nonsense for a captain to declare that he
is unaware of the existence of an illegal or immoral resort in his
precinct until it has been brought to his notice by private citizens,
who have known of it for a longer or a shorter period. It has
happened-and more than once, too-that curious and inexcusable
blunders have been made by captains in writing out their lists.
An energetic mayor or spasmodically moral police commissioner
will call for a list in a hurry, and one is " cooked " for the occasion, in the almost certain conviction that no investigation will be
made as to its correctness, or otherwise. Now and then, however,
as I happen to know, such a captain reckons without his host. In
one list which came to my knowledge, submitted by a certain captain who shall be nameless, a couple of residences were set down
as gambling houses. Officers were sent to investigate privately.
One of the so-called gambling houses turned out to be occupied
by the widow of one of our most distinguished generals during the
Rebellion-a lady of undoubted culture, refinement and uprightness of character! The other house was vacant.




SYSTEMATICALLY BLACKMAILED.


58I


In another chapter I have alluded to the difficulty experienced
by a chief of police in convicting his officers of blackmail on
offenders against the law. I remember an incident, however, which
occurred while I was an inspector under Superintendent Kennedy,
and which is worthy of being related in this connection. A man
walked into the office one day, and without any preliminaries said
to Mr. Kennedy: " Chief, I'm a pickpocket, and have been systematically blackmailed by two of your detectives (giving their
names), and now they threaten to arrest me if I don't comply with
their demands."
Mr. Kennedy, as was but natural, in view of the fact that the
detectives in question had been many years on the force and bore
excellent characters, expressed his disbelief in the man's assertion.
" Well," said the self-confessed pickpocket, " I don't want you
to believe my simple statement. I didn't expect you would; but
if you have some honest man in whom you have implicit confidence, and will send him with me to-morrow, when I'm to meet
them again, I'll prove to your satisfaction that what I say is true."
Mr. Kennedy accordingly sent for me, and I had a long talk
with the thief. I myself doubted his story, but he stated the facts
so circumstantially that I concluded to investigate the matter thoroughly. He told me that he had met the officers the night previous and that they had demanded a certain sum of money from
him. He told them he had not that much in his pocket, but gave
them all he had, promising to furnish the remainder on the following day. After listening attentively to the man's story, I furnished
him with a worthless bill on a broken bank, writing on the back of
it " George W. Walling, Inspector of Police." We also arranged
a neat little plot, having in view the capture of the detectives redhanded, as it were, the details of which will appear hereafter. The
next day I followed the man to Thirteenth Street, where he said
he was to meet the officers. He ensconced himself in a doorway,
while I seated myself on the shafts of a convenient cart, which
stood on the opposite side of the street, with an old slouch hat
drawn down over my face somewhat. Very shortly afterwards the
detectives appeared on the scene, shook hands with the pickpocket,
and after some little conversation the money was handed over to
one of them, who placed it in his overcoat pocket. Both then
walked away in the direction of Fourteenth Street, where, followed
by me, they entered a saloon. Keeping close at their heels, I also




582


" WHAT'LL YOU TAKE?"


went into the place. They were standing at the bar, and were just
ordering something to drink.
"What'll you take? " said one to the other.
He was the fellow who had taken the money from the pickpocket, so I stepped up to him and put my hand on his shoulder.
Said I, "I'll take the money that thief has just given you."
The effect on him was wonderful. He jumped away from me,
and his face grew pale, as he replied:
"What do you mean, Walling? No thief has given me any
money."
"He has, though," I persisted.  "I want it, too, and am going
to have it. If you don't produce it immediately I'll throw you on
the floor and take it from you by main force," saying which I
stepped quickly to the other side of him, put my hand in his
pocket, and pulled out the worthless bill which the pickpocket
had given him. I showed him my signature on the back, and
observed:
"See what an egregious ass you have been."
"For God's sake, Walling, don't give me away," he said, imploringly.
But I had my duty to perform, and telling them I should report
the circumstances to Supt. Kennedy, walked down town in the direction of headquarters. They followed me as far as the Cooper
Institute, begging me to let up on them. However, I related my
story to Mr. Kennedy. The detectives could offer no excuse for
their conduct; they could only beg not to be publicly exposed.
No doubt they deserved to have been indicted by the Grand Jury,
but in consideration of their many years of service and previous
good behavior, Mr. Kennedy finally gave them permission to hand
in their resignations. This they did at once, and that was the last
heard of the matter.
Another similar case with which I was connected, was the outcome of a complaint made to Supt. Kennedy by Mr. Robert Murray, United States Marshal, to the effect that some of the detective force were in the habit of blackmailing certain criminals.
In his impulsive, off-hand manner, Capt. Kennedy at once exclaimed:
"I don't believe a word of it."
"If you will do as I say, Mr. Kennedy, I'll prove it to you,"
was Mr. Murray's rejoinder.




" SPONGING " ON A THIEF.


583


"If you can I'll be very glad to have you do so," replied the
superintendent, and Marshal Murray at once unfolded his plan.
In accordance with that plan Mr. Kennedy sent for Capt.
Bowen G. Lord, of the sanitary squad, and myself, and gave us
our instructions.
We were told that a well-known thief, named Hyer, had informed the " super " that certain detectives were in the habit of
" sponging" on him for money, and that he had agreed to meet
one of them that evening in a little yard in the rear of the Metropolitan Hotel, near the corner of Prince and Crosby streets, for the
purpose of paying him something. Lord and myself accordingly
stationed ourselves in a stable on the opposite corner, and watched
through the window for anything which might transpire. Very
shortly, the man Hyer came along and seated himself very comfortably upon a hydrant, whistling softly to himself in an unconcerned and havenl't-got-a-care-in-the-world manner.
I should have previously stated, however, that earlier in the day
Superintendent Kennedy had sent for Capt. John Young, who
was then in charge of the detective force, and informed him that
if any of his men were engaged in the affair they would most
assuredly be caught. One would have thought that with such a
warning as this none of the detectives would have been foolhardy
enough to keep the appointment with the man Hyer. But it
proved otherwise.
Hyer had been seated on the hydrant, as before related, about
a quarter of an hour, when a well-known detective approached
him, and, standing as he did, right under the lamp-post, everything
that passed was seen by Capt. Lord and myself. The conversation which passed between the two was inaudible, but we distinctly saw Hyer pass something to the detective, who immediately placed it in his waistcoat pocket, and then walked rapidly
away in the direction of Broadway. Lord and I followed, and
just as the detective was in front of Niblo's Garden I accosted him
with:
" Good evening, -, I'm very sorry you did that.'
" Did what? " he asked with an air of astonishment which I'm
certain was not assumed, as he did not dream of his little transaction with Hyer having been overlooked.
" Why, take the money from that thief Hyer," I replied. "Give
it to me. You put it in your right-hand vest pocket."




584


" HOLD OUT YOUR HANDS.'


Without a word, he handed me the money then and there. Mr.
Kennedy was waiting rather impatiently in his office to hear the
result of our inquiries, hoping to hear that the charge against the
detective was unfounded. I told him the facts and laid the money
on the desk. The detective was present, and turning to him he
simply said:
" Just write out your resignation."
The detective retired to the waiting-room, wrote it, and returning in a few minutes, handed it to the superintendent.
And now for the sequel, which is more interesting and instructive in a certain way than the story itself.
Hyer, who was said to have reformed, became the proprietor of
a liquor saloon in the Eighth Ward, and appeared to be doing a
good business. One day, some months after the events previously
narrated, Captain John Jourdan, who subsequently succeeded Mr.
Kennedy as superintendent, walked into Hyer's saloon, accompanied by one or two others.
"Hold out your hands," was Jourdan's command.
Hyer did so. Click! and the handcuffs were on his wrists.
"Having counterfeit money in his possession " was the charge.
It was sustained, too, by the prosecution, the witnesses, if I remember aright, testifying to finding base money in his till; and
Hyer was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment in Sing
Sing. Whether Hyer was guilty or not I have no means of
judging. I have simply given the facts and leave the reader to
draw his own conclusions. But there is something I had almost
forgotten, which is that the detective to whom Hyer was seen to
pay the money was an especial friend of Captain Jourdan, and
served under him as a patrolman in the Sixth Precinct.
Away back in the " thirties," there resided in the little town of
Wethersfield, Vt., a family by the name of White, consisting of
Mr. and Mrs. White and two sons, one of whom was named
" Plymouth." Young Plymouth attended the village school, and
stored his mind with such crumbs of learning as were distributed
in those days. There was nothing remarkable about the lad;
his pursuits and amusements were about the same as those of
others of his age and station in life; there was no indication of
the extraordinary career which it would seem was his by destiny.
Leaving school, Plymouth White, still a mere boy, went to work
in a small printing-house in Montpelier, the State capital  For




A NOTORIOUS CONFIDENCE MAN.


585


some years he busied himself with mastering the intricacies of
the "art preservative of all arts," and then emigrated to Boston.
There he succeeded in obtaining work as a compositor on the
At/as, and by his energy and natural aptitude for the newspaper business soon managed to elevate himself to the position
of editor. In this capacity he met with no small degree of success, his writings attracting considerable attention in literary circles. He was well known among newspaper men generally,
with whom he was always "hail fellow, well met." About this
time, too, he became somewhat convivial in his habits, and was a
pretty frequent visitor at one or two first-class saloons in the
neighborhood of the theatres and newspaper offices. He lived in
an expensive manner, always dressed well, and had quite a standing in society, being on friendly and familiar terms with many of
Boston's leading men. His salary was comparatively small for a
man of his luxurious inclinations, and the inevitable result followed.
Finding himself short of money he resorted to tricky methods of
"raising the wind," and was compelled to leave the " Hub " in
rather a hurried manner.
And this was the beginning of the criminal life of " Plin "
White, as he had now come to be called, the most notorious and
successful "confidence" man that ever lived, the whole of the
complaints against whom it would be impossible to enumerate.
He was, undoubtedly, the "king pin" of the great army of
those who gain their living by the exercise of their wits, and those
who knew him might truly have said: "We ne'er shall look
upon his like again." In personal appearance he was not unlike
that other great diplomatist, Prince Bismark. Massive, regular
and striking features; deep-set, resolute eyes; high projecting
forehead; mouth covered with white mustache, and his head
bald, with the exception of a snowy fringe of hair-such was
"Plin " White according to his latest photograph, taken under
the auspices of the Boston police when he was sixty years of age.
Earlier "counterfeit presentments " of him, however, depict him
as quite a slim young fellow, rather good-looking, with black hair
and mustache. Still, even in his youthful days he had more the
appearance of a young divinity student than anything else,
coupled with an air of frankness and integrity which imposed
upon even those most deeply versed in the ways of the world.
As a conversationalist he was both plausible and convincing,




586


" PLIN " WHITE'S OPERATIONS.


while in his manners he was a perfect gentleman. With such an
outfit of both mental and physical qualifications, then, ' Plin "
commenced his career as a confidence man. Leaving Boston, he
journeyed "down East," and located himself in Bangor, Me.,
where he found quite a lucrative field for the exercise of his peculiar abilities as a swindler. He wheedled himself into the confidences and good graces of many of the most wealthy business
men in the town, and succeeded in making more money in a
month by his swindling operations than he could in a whole year
by editing a newspaper. It paid immensely; but his quarters in
Bangor soon became too warm for him, and he therefore returned
to Boston, where he " operated " on a rather more pretentious
and extensive scale. Finding his abilities appreciated, as it were,
" Plin " came to the conclusion that his greatest talents lay in
the cheating of his fellow-men, and thought that the city of New
York would not be a bad place in which to exercise his wits. So
he came here in I850, and established what he announced as a
"general brokerage business," the name of the firm with which
he was connected being " Winn, Hawkins & White." This combination lasted but a very brief period; and "Plin" became the
defendant in any number of civil suits. But this didn't trouble him
in the least; he was far above being annoyed by such small matters as that, and in a few weeks he was on his feet again. At
this time the city was fairly overrun with returning Californians,
who brought with them large quantities of gold-dust and nuggets,
which they were anxious to dispose of. White considered them
fair game, and accordingly became a speculator in the precious
metal. Success attended every venture in which he engaged, and
he soon amassed quite a decent fortune. He purchased a costly
residence on Fifth Avenue and lived in the most extravagant and
luxurious manner. One of his victims was Major Hall, proprietor of Lovejoy's Hotel, whom he somehow or other induced
to sign notes to the amount of $50,000. White told the major
that he only wanted to use the notes as collateral security in some
of his gold speculations, and entered into an agreement not to
dispose of them. " Plin " no sooner had the notes in his possession than he sold them, and Hall realized that he was a ruined
man. He remonstrated with White and threatened him with
a criminal prosecution, but he only laughed in the major's face
and defied him.




CHICKEN-RAISING IN TEXAS.


587


"You can't have me locked up," he said.
And so it proved, but Major Hall brought a civil suit, out of
which White came with flying colors.  Thirty years afterwards,
so consummate was White's impudence, that he actually called
upon the major at his residence, and begged forgiveness. But
this was not the sole object of his call. Would Major Hall oblige
him with the loan of $1200 for a few days, and accept as security
a blue envelope, which he produced, saying it contained $6000
worth of bonds. The major hesitated, and was lost. He drew
the money from the bank and handed it to White, receiving the
blue envelope as security, and signing an agreement not to open
it until the expiration of two months. Mrs. Hall, when she heard
of the transaction was not quite as confiding as her husband. She
accordingly called upon me one Sunday afternoon at my private
residence, No. 31 East i9th Street, and showed me the contents
of the envelope-nothing but bogus and worthless bonds. Mrs.
Hall informed me that "Plin " was to call upon her husband that
evening, and I immediately telegraphed to police headquarters,
instructing a couple of detectives to arrest White when he called
upon Major Hall. They did so, and White eventually served a
three years' sentence in Sing Sing. Immediately after his first dealings with Major Hall, White retired, for a time, to Vermont, where
he completely dazzled the natives by the stories which he told
them concerning his enormous wealth and resources. He succeeded in gaining the confidence of many wealthy men, and purchased large tracts of real estate, paying for them with notes
which were worth a little less than the paper on which they were
written. Then he raised money by mortgaging the property so
purchased, and finally fled to Europe to escape arrest. Here he
spent several years, swindling everybody with whom he came in
contact and who was worth the "plucking.'" Returning from
Europe, he favored the good people of Louisiana with his good
offices, and helped to elect a governor.  He was rewarded for his
services by being appointed State printer, and while holding that
office purchased an island off the coast of Texas. Here he went
into the business of raising chickens, but his efforts in this innocent direction were interfered with by a tremendous storm, which
swept away the whole of his stock and nearly drowned White himself. Portland, Me., was his next abiding place, where he made
the acquaintance of a Mrs. P. 0. Williams and her brother, whom




588


THE END OF ALL.


he induced to go into partnership with him and open an immense
dry goods establishments in Denver, Col. The firm failed, and
White was richer by $75,oo000. The number of his dupes is amazing,
and among them I may mention Ex-judge James R. Whiting (his
lawyer), Charles Whiting; C. G. Sanford, of Williamsburgh; H. C.
and J. H. Stevens, bankers, of Broadway and Chambers Street;
Clinton Lovell, of Boston; Alderman Libby, of New York; Albert
H. Dolliver, Sixth Avenue; J. M. Shelly & Co., of Kansas City,
and hosts of others. Altogether, I shall not be very far wrong if
I estimate the total amount obtained by " Plin " from his too-confiding friends during the last twenty years of his career, at $1,500,
ooo!
He is said to have married three women, two of whom were
living at the same time; but he was always very close regarding
his domestic arrangements, and I never heard anything on the
subject which I considered reliable.
But after all, he died without a penny almost. Hunted by the
police, suffering from a disease which he knew would terminate
his existence in a few weeks (a carbuncle at the base of his brain),
the once dashing confidence man arrived at Reading, Vt., in the
early part of I886, a mere shadow of his early self. Bowed
down with the weight of sixty years of as adventurous a life as falls
to the lot of but few men, he passes along the old familiar streets,
unrecognized and unknown. Slowly and sadly he walks to the
home of his brother Edward, and there asks for shelter. His life,
he tells his relatives, has not been what it should have been.  He
knows that well enough. Prison fare had been his portion, at
times, but full well did he deserve the punishment. Drink hadbeen his downfall! It was the old tale told over again. But all
was over now; he had not many days to live, and in the name of
the mother who bore them both he begged that he might be
allowed to die beneath his brother's roof.
And so he did!




CHAPTER XLIII.


INFORMATION TO REPORTERS.-ABUSES WHICH CREEP IN.-A CASE
IN POINT.-BLISSFUL IGNORANCE OF THE PUBLIC.-PUNISHMENT NOT THE SOLE PURPOSE OF A COURT OF JUSTICE.-ITS
REAL END AND AIM.-FULL PUBLICATION DESIRABLE UNDER
CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS.-A PARALLEL CASE WITH THAT OF MR.
COMMISSIONER SQUIRE.- HOW   MR. DISBECKER BECAME A
POLICE COMMISSIONER.-WHY HE DID NOT RESIGN.-PERSONAL
APPEARANCE OF THE " FINEST. H —HOW IT CAN BE IMPROVED.A PROPOSED "SCHOOL OF DEPORTMENT." —THE ART OF WEARING CLOTHES.-MR. E. BERRY WALL AS AN INSTRUCTOR.-A
POLICEMAN WITH A PERFECT MENTAL EQUILIBRIUM.-WHAT A
VICTORY!-EFFECT OF POLITENESS ON THE LOWER CLASSES.-A
POWERFUL OBJECT LESSON.
As nearly everyone is aware, it has been the almost invariable
practice for those in authority at police headquarters to furnish
representatives of the press with only such information as they
may consider advisable concerning complaints made of crimes
committed. That the law gives them the authority to hold back
from the public any information which in their opinion would tend
to defeat the ends of justice, there can be no doubt; and in certain cases it is only right that they should have this discretionary
power placed in their hands. But, on the other hand, this very
power, when exercised in an indiscriminate and intemperate
manner, certainly opens a gateway through which many abuses
can creep.
When a case is successfully " worked up," the fact is invariably
given out to the reporters and blazoned far and wide over the
country with a grand flourish of trumpets. If the story furnished
the reporters were strictly in accordance with the facts, I should
be the last person on earth to make a complaint. The trouble
has been and is that greater stress is laid upon the efforts of the
detective than is most times deserved. It has frequently come to
my knowledge-while I was connected with the force, and since589




59~


A " STAR CHAMBER. "


that credit has been given certain detectives for "working up" a
case successfully, when, in reality, the capture of the criminal has
been effected by that much sought for individual giving himself
up, or else it has been the result of a "squeal" by one of his
companions. One glaring instance of this sort of detective
"work " recurs to my mind at the present writing. A forgery had
been committed on a leading banking establishment, but the
matter was not reported to the police. The bank kept quiet until
a second check was presented by the same man, when they detained him on some excuse, sent for an officer and gave him into
custody. In a few days a spread-eagle account of the capture of the forger was published in the papers, certain detectives
being credited with having been " shadowing" the unfortunate
criminal for weeks, whereas the very fact that a forgery had been
committed was unknown to them. This instance is by no means
a solitary one; it occurs frequently, and arises as much from the
desire of the reporter to " keep in" with the detective corps, as it
does with that of the detective's wish to pose as a successful thiefcatcher. But otherwise-should no such happy event occur-no
information is ever furnished the representatives of the press., and
the public remain in blissful ignorance of the real state of affairs;
they have, in fact, no means of judging of the real effectiveness of
the detective department, self-constituted, as it were, into something very nearly approaching a " Star Chamber." It is, of course,
a truism that the machinery of justice, as represented by the
police department and the courts, is not set in motion by society
for the sole purpose of punishing crime, or enabling individuals
who have been made the victims of criminals to obtain restitution
or revenge. The first and primal object of police and court
organizations is to prevent crime. Punishments are awarded, not
to inflict suffering on the criminal, but to warn others from the
wrong path. This is the modern and sound idea, to which all
humane and enlightened people are compelled to subscribe.
Now, I take it that if every person perpetrating a crime, or contemplating the perpetration of a crime, should know of an absolute certainty that if detected it would be utterly impossible for
him to suppress facts, utterly impossible for him to keep his name
out of the public press, and thus become a warning and an example-that this alone would exercise a deterrent influence. Of
course this would seem a great hardship in very many cases. The




c DICKERING" AND "' NEGOTIATING. "


59I


feelings of families and innocent people would often be sadly
wounded, but the result arrived at would be the benefit of society
at large; and in contemplating such a result, true humanity does
not permit us to consider the feelings of individuals.
As for the effect on the police force itself of a full publication of
police news, it could not fail to be beneficial, as the public would
learn of failures as well as successes, and the spur to greater
effort would be immediately felt. I am aware that I am writing
on a delicate subject, and my own experience teaches me that
there are many cases in which suppression of news is, to a certain
extent, absolutely necessary for the detection of the criminal, as
the mere fact of publication might warn him to take to flight. In
such cases I should advocate large discretionary powers in the
hands of the superintendent of police-not for the suppression of
news, but for a reasonable delay in giving such news out. Let
that delay, as now, be left entirely to the judgment of the superintendent.
I throw out these suggestions with diffidence, because I am so
thoroughly aware of the many complications surrounding this
question; and I do not put them forward in any spirit of criticism
of present method, but merely as the result of my own reflections
upon the subject, which may lead some wiser heads than mine to
give it mature consideration.
The publicity given not so very long ago as to the methods
which prevailed in connection with the appointment of Mr. Squire
as Commissioner of Public Works, recalls to my mind an Instance
almost identically similar in character, which took place in 1873.
When Mr. William F. Havemeyer became mayor of this city he
was asked to appoint Abraham Disbecker as one of the police
commissioners. Mr. Disbecker's most urgent and persistent endorser was Mr. A. D. Barber, of Albany, who had helped Mr.
Havemeyer to get legislation through the assembly affecting the
relations of the mayor to the police commissioners. Disbecker
had been a clerk of one of the committees that had the bill in
charge, and was a great friend of Mr. Barber. There was, of
course, considerable "dickering" and  " negotiating," but the
result was that Mr. Havemeyer agreed to appoint Disbecker as a
police commissioner, provided the latter would give him a written
promise to resign, which it was understood should be used when
the mayor saw fit. In accordance with this arrangement, there.




592'


ONLY A "' PRIVATE COMMUNICATION.


fore, on the day previous to that on which the appointment was to
be made, Disbecker handed Mayor Havemeyer a letter which read
substantially as follows:
"I hereby agree to resign my position as commissioner of
police whenever requested by Wm. F. Havemeyer, mayor."
In due course of time it came about that Mayor Havemeyer
arrived at the conclusion that it would be as well if Mr. Disbecker
exercised his peculiar Zalents at some other place than the sunny
quarters of the police board on Mulberry Street. In short, Mr.
Havemeyer called upon Commissioner Disbecker to resign. Mr.
Disbecker said he couldn't think of such a thing; he was very
comfortable in his berth, and saw no good reason why he should
willingly cast himself adrift upon a cold and unsympathetic world.
Mr. Havemeyer insisted, and reminded Mr. Disbecker of the existence of a certain document by which he promised to relinquish
his office whenever so requested. This didn't trouble Mr. Disbecker in the least; the document in question, the authenticity of
which he did not for one moment call in question, was not worth
the paper upon which it was written.  He pointed out to the
mayor that the date on the letter was that of the day previous to
his appointment as a commissioner. It was not, therefore, a legal
resignation in any sense of the term; it was merely a private communication, such as one citizen might write to another, and had
no official force whatever.
The position taken by the astute and far-seeing Mr. Disbecker
was indisputable, and Mr. Havemeyer, to his great discomfiture,
was obliged to retire from the field, leaving his appointee in possession of his commissionership. In fact, Disbecker continued in
office until Mr. Wickham became mayor, when he was removed on
charges preferred.
Since I have left active police life I have often thought of the
wonderful change that has taken place in the character of the
force during the time I was connected with it. Thirty-five years
ago but little attention was paid to the personnd of applicants for
appointment as patrolmen. Now a very close investigation is
made of the strength, constitution and general physical well-being
of the policemen, and it is unquestionable that great improvement
has been the result of the application of the methods of examination now in vogue. But I venture to suggest that there is still
very wide room for broadening the field of police education. It




IDEAL OFFICERS.


593


is undoubtedly an excellent thing to secure stalwart, hearty and
vigorous men; but there are other qualifications which civil service
examination does not provide for, but which would most certainly
go a long way towards making up the acquirements of an ideal
officer. I have sometimes fancied that it might not be wholly impossible to attempt to endow policemen with those elegancies and
courtesies of life which make refined social intercourse so pleasant
and improving.
Let us imagine an institution in which the guardian of the
peace can learn to make a pleasant bow, to walk with grace, to
shake hands with dignity, to lift his hat in a courtly way, or to extend his protecting arm to a lady with Chesterfieldian decorum.
Such arts are teachable, and could be eloquently lectured upon
and illustrated by some great actor, famous for his grace of manner, say Mr. Frank Mayo, for example. Another art which goes
far toward making a man popular and effective is the capacity to
speak readily and to the point upon matters which come within his
ken. In my imaginary School of Deportment I can see Mr.
Chauncey M. Depew filling such a "chair," and imparting to his
scholars some of the secrets of the fascinating elements which
make him so happy a speechmaker; and with what unctuous
humor and fine rhetoric could our distinguished senator, Wm. M.
Evarts, unfold the mystery of how to crack a pleasant joke.
Another of the amenities of life, which is taught nowhere, is the
art of how to wear one's clothes. How often have I seen the effect
of a fine new uniform, donned by a well-built policeman, spoiled
because the man inside did not know how to wear it; and how
much must this detract from the impression sought to be produced
by clothing the officer in a uniform? Could he not be taught how
to wear it? I maintain that he could, and have but to mention
the name of Mr. E. Berry Wall, for every citizen of New York
to instantly recognize the proper gentleman to act as instructor
of this branch of polite accomplishment.
At first sight, these propositions may seem somewhat fanciful,
but if the reader will think a little he will perceive that I am really
advocating a most serious matter. Certainly, the practice of the
arts which make men agreeable to their fellows is as much to be
desired as the practice of the rules which make them formidable.
Indeed, more than that. A strong man who is also a polite and
affable person is the possessor of enlarged powers for good. I




594


A NATIONAL INSTITUTION.


think, if such a curriculum were instituted for policemen, that the
beneficial effects which would be obtained would make themselves
notable; and that the idea would spread as it ought to, and that
before long we should see similar professorships ordained in our
public schools. And no one can dispute for a moment that much
good would be done if the coming generation were not only taught
how to read, write and cipher, but also how to be graceful, courteous, and sociable ladies and gentlemen. In fact, it would accomplish a revolution in the social life of our country; for the
most ardent lovers of American institutions, of whom I count myself one, cannot deny that our social life is somewhat lacking in
the refinement of what are commonly called small things, but
which really are very important things, and which go far toward
making existence pleasant and enjoyable. I have no doubt that
the eminent gentlemen I have named would heartily co-operate
in a movement looking to the ends I have indicated; and certainly a School of Deportment under such distinguished patronage
would speedily become a national institution that would find imitators throughout the length and breadth of the Republic.
Imagine a policeman so trained! Why, the transaction of business with him by the average citizen would be both a pleasure and
an instruction. A request for the locality of a certain street would
be cheerfully answered with a pleasant bow, that would send the
citizen on his way refreshed and light of heart. A lady compelled
to cross Broadway amid a throng of jostling vehicles, would find
herself escorted with a courteous consideration that would land
her on the opposite side-walk positively pleased with her perilous
trip; and the unfortunate gentleman who should have worshipped
too long and too often at the rosy shrine of Bacchus would find
himself guided to his home, or when too far "gone," to the nearest police-station, with a dignified and shocked formality that
would not only make him feel perfectly safe, but would positively
shame him into a better line of conduct, because, for the moment
at least, he would be the churl and the officer the gentleman. I
do not know whether, in surprising a burglar at his nefarious occupation, a police-officer so schooled could stop to consider how the
burglar should be accosted; but I can imagine a policeman
brought to such a fine pitch of mental equilibrium that even then
he would carefully weigh his words and actions, with a view not
only to effect the capture of the burglar, but to preach to him in




AN ERA OF NATIONAL POLITENESS.          595
his person and bearing an effective moral lesson. This, of course,
would be an extreme case, but if it could be accomplished, who
knows but that the burglar's mind would be so startled and so
powerfully affected by the living sermon before him, that it might
prove the starting point that would turn his feet into ways of
righteousness. What a victory would that be!
There are certain districts in New York, as in all great cities,
where life is seen in its crudest and most revolting forms. If the
police squads that patrol such districts were living specimens of
all that is lovely and courteous in mankind, they would breathe
out an atmosphere about them that could not fail to impregnate
the minds of the dullest of the denizens of these purlieus; and in
due course of time it might come to pass that Mulberry and Baxter streets would begin to rival Rotten Row and the Bois de
Boulogne in the exchange of courtesies and the practice of politeness; and every philosopher who has ever written bears testimony to the fact that good manners breed good morals. So, not
only might the poor creatures named be improved in their style,
but ultimately elevated in all their relations with their fellow-men.
The development of the Kindergarten system demonstrates that no
lessons are so powerful as object lessons; and what more striking
and delightful daily instruction can be imagined than the perpetual appearance and reappearance of a corps of policemen so
admirably trained as to be positively fascinating.
I will particularize no further, but will leave this fruitful theme
to the consideration of the public, with the firm conviction that
some great reformer will at some future day arise, who will crown
his name with glory by inaugurating the "Era of National Politeness."




CHAPTER XLIV.


TWO MAIN CAUSES OF CRIME.-MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN NEW
YORK.-"- POLITICS " SYNONYMOUS WITH POWER AND PLUNDER.-THE PREDOMINANT IDEA IN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.
-ALL THE SNEAKS ARE REPUBLICANS AND ALL THE ROUGHS
ARE DEMOCRATS.-NEW YORK RULED BY THE WORST ELEMENTS
IN THE COMMUNITY.-WHY THE BETTER CLASSES DO NOT ATTEND THE PRIMARIES.-RESULTS OF OUR FORM OF GOVERNMENT. - EXCESSIVE TAXATION. - SHAMEFUL STREETS.- DISGRACEFUL DOCKS.-INSUFFICIENT SCHOOL ACCOMMODATION.THE JUDICIARY.-NOT AN EDIFYING SIGHT.-HOW JUSTICE IS PERVERTED. —WHY JAY GOULD COULD DEFY THE LAW.-PERSECUTING A PROSECUTOR.-OUR LIBERTIES CURTAILED.-ONE LAW
FOR THE RICH AND ANOTHER FOR THE POOR.-THE EXCISE
LAWS. —SOME SUGGESTIONS.-THE SOCIAL EVIL AND HOW
TO DEAL WITH IT.-THE COMMISSIONER OF JURORS.-UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE A FAILURE.-DIFFICULTIES IN THE PATH OF
REFORM.-THE ROOT OF THE EVIL.-REMEDIES.-THE LAST
PAGE.
I HAVE finished my record. Looking over the many pages
that precede this, many telling of what is worst in human nature, it
fairly appals me to think that such a record lies within the recollection and experience of a single human life. But I pursue the
reflection, and realize that my own knowledge of crime is but as a
drop of water to the infinite ocean of vice. What causes crime?
There seem to me to be two main originating forces. First:
crime that springs from the instincts of nature, and that ever has
been, is and will be committed by human beings, whether savage
or civilized. Second: crime that springs peculiarly from society;
or, to put it more plainly, crime bred by the social environment
of the criminal. With the first species I do not propose to deal;
it is properly the field of the philosopher and the clergyman. But
the second species, I think, may fairly lie within my province; and
I may venture to claim that a chief of police has unusual oppor596




POWER AND PLUNDER.


597


tunities for observing and noting the many phases of corruption
which are possible and existent under our present system of government. I shall, of course, confine my remarks entirely to municipal affairs.
Municipal government in the United States is not conducted
as it is in the rest of the civilized world. It is based upon universal suffrage, and its campaigns are carried on, not on the basis
of what the city needs, but the needs of the politicians of
the two great political parties. As every one knows, there are
two political factions, so called, in New York-Republican and
Democratic-but politics implies principles, and I do not believe
that one man in five hundred can explain understandingly the
foundation principles of either of the parties mentioned. To call
them " political " parties is clearly a misnomer, for the very simple
reason that the only basis underlying their existence, here in
New York, at least, is power and plunder. No intelligent man,
in fact, believes that these two parties are kept alive for any
other purpose than that of catching votes by the use of the old
watchwords-" Republican " and " Democrat." If any proof be
needed of this, it can be found in the oft-repeated fusions of the
rings of the two parties, for the purpose of getting an office, and
the spoils belonging thereto, within their grasp. In a "political"
campaign of the' present day, one idea is predominant and overwhelms every other-that of nominating the man who can command the greatest numbers of votes. Why, I verily believe if
Judas Iscariot were alive, and it were supposed he had the " pull"
in any single ward in the city, he would stand a gpod chance of
being nominated for an office. I have noticed one remarkable
fact in connection with the intimate relations between politics and
crime, which is this: All the sneaks, hypocrites and higher grade
of criminals, when questioned upon the subject, almost invariably lay claim to be adherents of the Republican party; while, on
the other hand, criminals of the lower order-those who rob by
violence and brute force-lay claim in no uncertain tones tobeing practical and energetic exponents of true Democratic principles. Of course, it is far from my intention to say that every
Republican is a sanctimonious sneak, hypocrite or forger; or that
every Democrat is a burglar, foot-pad, pimp or rough. Nevertheless, what I have alluded to is the fact. I will not pretend to
account for these remarkable phenomena, but leave them rather to




f '


598           NEW YORK RULED BY " TOUGHS. "
future philosophers and scientists, who will, doubtless, enlighten
humanity. It is beyond my power to do so.
The city of New York is actually ruled by some twenty thousand office-holders, most of whom are taken from and controlled
by the very worst elements in the community.
The "gentleman " is practically debarred from any active participation in politics. One does not see the merchant princes, nor
the great editors in the aldermanic chamber. But we do see the
face of the ward "heeler" and the "tough." Observe the countenances of some of our " City Fathers," court attaches and city
employ6s. You will find the square jaw and large back head
of the man who rules by brute force rather than by intellect;
but the face of the student and of the refined gentleman is rarely
seen. In fact, the ruling class in New York has its counterpart
almost in the land of the Hindoo, where the " Thugs " dominate
certain portions of the country by the exercise of brute force and
criminal violence, although we are supposed to have a government
by the people, of the people and for the people; instead of that we
have a government by the politician, of the politician, and for the
politician. To me the question very naturally arises, why the
better classes of society do not attend the "primaries." I know
the " gentleman " considers it useless for him to do so; and it certainly requires some courage to enter the low saloons and rumshops in which the primaries are almost invariably held; attended,
too, as they are in most instances, by gangs of roughs in the employ of the "boss " of the district. It is claimed by the respectable element that even if they did attend, there is not much chance
' of their being heard; and even if they are not thrown down stairs
or pitched out of window before the voting commences, the ballot
boxes are stuffed with impunity, for the simple reason that the law
regarding the proceedings at these gatherings has fallen into a
state of "innocuous desuetude." Granted that such is the state
of affairs, and I am fully aware of its truth, I shall have something
'further to say upon the subject.
Let me ask, What are some of the results of such a form of government?  Why, the rate of taxation is so high that the owner of
a house has to disburse more per annum in that direction than
he would have to pay for the rent of a similar residence in almost
any city of the Old World. And what do we get in return for this
enormous outlay? Streets, many paved with cobble stones and




A BAD OUTLOOK.


599


full of holes, which would be a disgrace to any country village,
and only the chief of which are watered in order to lay the dust,
a county court-house without a roof; docks which are a disgrace to
any civilized community; a system of public schools so inadequate in the matter of accommodation that thousands of children
are obliged to attend private educational institutions; while the
cost of justice is so great, the loss of time so considerable, and the
annoyances of such a nature that many men submit to the depredations of the petty thief and the loss of small debts, rather than
risk ten times the amount in uncertain and ruinous litigation.
Our judiciary and prosecuting officers are elected and controlled
in a great measure by the very elements they are called upon to
punish and keep in check: A Russian official, in the very nature
of things, dares not cross the purposes of the Czar, nor does the
office-holder in New York dare anything which might prejudice
him in the opinion of those to whom he must appeal for re-election.
Not infrequently our police justices have been men with no
knowledge of law, and sometimes so illiterate as to be unable to
spell even the simplest words correctly. It is not an edifying or
unusual sight to see a low politician demanding that some disorderly person be discharged from the prison to which he has
been relegated on account of his inability to produce a bondsman
for his good behavior. Indeed, a politician often peremptorily demands the discharge of a culprit after he has been proved guilty
beyond the shadow of a doubt, and not infrequently a prisoner is
allowed to walk out of the court-room, a free man, even after he
has been committed to the Island for a term of months.
Although, of course, all things are possible, yet I would not
count among probable contingencies, under the present system of
government in New York, the hanging of any one of its millionaires, no matter how unprovoked or premeditated the murder.
Those individuals who have been executed during the last generation have all been without money, and, usually, with no friends.
Many murders have been committed by rich men, but they either
did not come to trial, or they were found to be insane by an " intelligent " jury. I believe that Mr. Jay Gould could to-day commit' any crime in the decalogue with impunity. I do not mean to
say that Mr. Gould is a dishonest man, nor would I have the
reader infer that he would wrong any one, but I believe that Mr.




600oo


LESS LIBERTY THAN IN RUSSIA.


Gould, backed by his fifty million dollars, could defy justice in
the city of New York.
I have already alluded to the disinclination of persons to "go
to law," and the fact that many a business man who has been
robbed, prefers to put up with his loss rather than submit to the
waste of time, the vexation, annoyance and interruption of business
which attendance at court would entail. The consequence is that
the accused is discharged from custody; a fact which, I have no
doubt, encourages others in the commission of crime by the expectation of similar leniency. In my opinion a man should be compelled to prosecute in such cases. A magistrate should not allow
any compromise in his court, but should enforce the attendance of
witnesses on behalf of the people. In not doing so he is simply
permitting what, under other circumstances, would be a criminal offence-the compounding of a felony. That is what it is morally,
if not legally; and it is constantly winked at by our judges. With
our present judicial machinery, however, it is very evident that we
cannot expect the laws to be properly enforced. I have known
numberless cases where the " lines " of a prosecutor have not, by
any means, " been cast in pleasant places." Political friends and
adherents make life unpleasant for him; on the streets he is
hounded by prize-fighters and bullies; his business threatened
with ruin; bully-ragged in court by low, shyster lawyers, as criminal as those by whom they are employed, until he comes to the
conclusion that his life is in danger-which is not probable-and
considers it policy on his part to withdraw from the prosecution.
While I admit that, as a nation, we have the best form of government there is in the world, under our municipal system here in New
York there is less liberty and protection to person and property
than in almost any city in Europe, Russian cities not excepted.
To such an extent is the public demoralized that they no
longer consider the policeman in his true light, that of a preserver of
the peace; but actually, and with some degree of justice, deem him
a public enemy. This, of course, inevitably reacts on the police
force itself, until a policeman very naturally comes to consider
himself not unlike an armed soldier in the midst of a hostile camp.
Further, the police are by no means supported by the authorities
in the enforcement of the law, and as a natural consequence, are
sometimes dilatory in bringing culprits to justice, or, as has
happened time and time again, mete out punishment themselves.




LONDON AND NEW YORK POLICE CONTRASTED.


6o0


Two incidents which come to my mind just now will illustrate what
I allude to exactly. Upon the day the Crystal Palace was opened
in London, certain streets were ordered to be closed against the
passage of any but pedestrians, and police-officers were detailed to
enforce this order. A captain in the Coldstream Guards, mounted,
attempted to ride through one of the thoroughfares in question, and
was stopped by the policeman on duty. He persisted, and finally
struck the officer several severe blows across the face with his whip.
He was promptly arrested, and despite the fact that his friends
were willing to spend any amount of money to procure his acquittal,
he was convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. An
appeal was even made to the Queen herself in his behalf, for he
was of high lineage, but with no avail. Now, mark the contrast.
At about the same time there was a procession passing through
the streets of New York, and a detachment of officers was at the
head of it to clear the way. A well-known gambler and politician,
seated in his carriage, was met and was requested to turn into a
side street. He refused, became very abusive and beat the officer
who remonstrated with him in such a severe manner about the
head and face as to draw blood. And then he drove on. Nothing
was ever done about it, except that the police-officer, if I remember rightly was soon afterwards transferred to a precinct where he
would not make himself obnoxious by interfering with the guileless
pleasures of the gambler. Is it any wonder, under such circumstances, that members of the force sometimes forget that they are
sworn to preserve the peace, and hit back, just as an ordinary
citizen would, when abused, threatened and assaulted, instead of
invoking the aid of justice-heaven save the mark!
Another crying evil is the system of excise laws. Standing as
it does at present, it is neither more nor less than a farce. Under
the present laws the excise commissioners are empowered to revoke the license of an individual who has been convicted; but
that individual, in the boldest possible manner, simply puts
a "dummy" in his place and procures another license. What
is needed is an act of the Legislature giving the commissioners power to suspend the license to the place itself, as well as the
individual. Owners of property in the shape of saloons, dance
halls, etc., would then pretty quickly find it to be to their interest
to secure decent, respectable tenants. I would also advocate the
granting of licenses for the sale of liquor between such hours as




602


'THE SOCIAL EVIL.


the customs or needs of the locality in which the saloon is located
demanded. Such, for instance, as in the vicinity of the Washington,
Fulton and other markets. Why not allow them to be open between 3 A.M. and 9 P.M. every day, for that is the period during
which those who do business there need refreshments?
And now a word or two upon a subject, distasteful to all, but at
the same time one which must be considered in connection
with the proper government of a large city like New York. I refer to the "social evil," so called. I am well aware, both from
personal observation abroad and what I have read, that in this
respect our city will bear favorable comparison with any other.
Not that the number of prostitutes is smaller, but the existence
of the evil is less apparent to a stranger, who does not find himself accosted on the street in broad daylight, as would be the
case were he walking on certain streets in London. But for all
that, some stringent regulations are required in order to deal
properly with this important problem. While I am not prepared to advocate the adoption of the French system in its entirety, still I would place the "strange woman" under the surveillance of the police. They should be restricted to a certain
section of the city, and be subject to arrest at sight if found anywhere outside the prescribed limits. Under no consideration
whatever should a woman be allowed to approach or solicit men
on the street. Such a system would undoubtedly prevent the
wholesale blackmailing to which I have every reason to believe
the poor degraded women who sell their bodies for gain are
forced to submit at the hands of unprincipled police officials. I
say "have every reason to believe," because, while it is a moral
certainty this blackmailing exists, it is almost impossible to obtain
the evidence of a third party as to the payment of money in such instances. When one of these women makes a charge of this nature,
it is simply a question of veracity between her and the police-officer.
Those in authority have always demanded that the complainant's
story shall be substantiated by the evidence of citizens of
reputation and standing before they were willing to arrive at
the conclusion that the charge was proven. It reminds me of
the story of the man who went to his neighbor and requested the
loan of his jackass. "It's not at home," was the reply. At
that moment the animal's braying was heard in the adjoining
stable. "Why, you said it wasn't at home! " remarked the would



JURY TALESMEN.


603


be borrower. Upon which the owner retorted: "Whose word do
you take-mine or that jackass's?" Neither do the police commissioners care to believe the word of the erring and sinful, but
much-to-be-pitied, woman against that of the police officer.
Another radical evil has been revealed by the recent disclosures
in connection with the preparation of the lists of talesmen for the
trial of "boodle" Alderman McQuade.     It has been shown
most conclusively that there is no small amount of corruption in
the office of the Commissioner of Jurors, and some sweeping reforms and changes are, needed in that department. I would
suggest, also, that the judge of a criminal court should have the
power, when he deems fit, to try criminal cases with "struck',
juries, as certain civil cases are now.
Think of all these things, and then talk about this being the
land of liberty. Look at the manner in which the elevated railroads occupy a street to the utter disregard of the rights of the
public. Certainly they are a public convenience, but as certainly should the people, who are the chief parties interested, be
consulted in the first instance, which they are not.
Our liberties are interfered with and curtailed in so many ways,
that it is useless to attempt an enumeration. We are robbed
and swindled right and left-by the wealthy corporation, which
seizes upon our property with impunity and without remuneration, down, through all the various grades, to the thief with political influence who " snatches " your watch; while human life, as
I have previously observed, can be taken with safety by the great
millionaire or party leader.
What are the remedies for the existing state of things? First,
I believe that universal suffrage, when applied to the municipal
government of large cities, is a failure. I think the same opinion is held by the editor of every newspaper in this city, but none
dare give public expression to that opinion, as such a course
would woefully damage the subscription lists. A man should
have some qualification other than simply that of being a resident. If it were possible to draw a plain, unmistakable line, I
should say make honesty, intelligence and integrity the prerequisite for the exercise of the ballot; but such a demarcation, as yet, is beyond our powers. By no means would I advocate a property qualification.  Suppose, for instance, a law
were passed requiring the possession of property to the value of




604


UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE A FAILURE.


$50 as a pre-requisite. A man owns a mule worth that much, and
as long as that mule lives his owner can exercise the franchise. It
dies, and the man loses his vote! Ergo, by a species of inductive
logic, the mule votes, not the man!
Admitting, therefore, the present impossibility of attacking universal suffrage, the efforts of all reputable citizens should be to
see that the suffrage is cast in the most honest manner possible
and for the most honest purposes. To secure this, what can be
done?  The expression of the public will at the polls must, in
the nature of things, be moved by the machinery of a party or
parties. Let the gentlemen of New York cease to vote in municipal affairs as so-called Republicans or Democrats, and let them
band themselves together in defence of their persons and
lives against lawless violence; in defence of their property against
excessive and illegal taxation, which, if allowed to run un
checked, will one day end in confiscation; and in defence of their
natural and inalienable right to rule themselves, which right,
through carelessness and lack of interest, they have practically
delegated to the professional politician, the ward bummer, the
heeler and the tough.
The very root of the whole trouble is that the respectable
business men, those having an interest in the good government of the city, not only for their own sakes, but for the sake of
those who will come after them, do not take that interest which
is clearly their duty in the preliminary skirmishes of a political
campaign-the primaries. It is all very well to say that such
gatherings are controlled by a rough element. Whose fault is
that? It is within the power of the better classes of the community to overcome this pernicious element, by taking their proper
part in the conduct of primaries. They do it in cases of riot or
disturbance; ruffians, may, for a short period, have the upper
hand, but the moment they meet the law-abiding citizens they
are crushed. Why should not the "gentlemen " exercise their
power, enroll themselves in district organizations, organize primaries, and see to it that those who are nominated for office are
in every way qualified? The only real reason they do not do so at
present is that they do not care to spare the time from their mad
race after wealth, coupled with a dislike to come in contact with a
lower element in society. At present here in New York we have
taxation without representation. Our forefathers revolted from




TAX-PAYERS SHOULD AWAKEN.


605


the British yoke because they were taxed without their own consent. We walk up to the tax-collector's office and hand in our
money without our opinion having been paid the empty compliment of being asked for.
But the taxed have none to blame except themselves. The only
hope and salvation for the future of the city is that the better
element will awaken to a full and complete appreciation of its
danger and rights, and, knowing them, will dare maintain
them in the face of all the politicians, ruffians, thieves and rascals
with which every branch of our city government is infested.
We have had enough of the rule of the " tough "; now let us
try the rule of the "gentleman."
An organized effort of the better classes to purify municipal politics will inevitably entail a bitter struggle, because things have
gone so far to the bad. It will be necessary to meet and repel at
every step the most shameless tricks, and the most audacious and
unscrupulous efforts that will be made to deter the " gentleman "
from claiming his own. The ballot and the ballot-box itself will
not be respected; and in this connection I would most strongly
urge the adoption of the Australian system of voting, which has
lately been adopted in England, and which, in brief, is this: Previous to election the names of all the candidates for each office are
recorded. On the day of election ballots are furnished for the
offices to be filled, containing the names of all the candidates for
each office. One of these is given to each voter, by a qualified
officer, as he comes up to vote; the ballot is stamped with an official mark; the voter on receiving it goes into a small retiring
room by himself, and there places opposite the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, a cross; he then folds the
ballot in such a way as to conceal the names, but to disclose the
official stamp, and then deposits it in the ballot-box, which is
locked. This plan, it will be seen, secures perfect secrecy, independence and certainty.
I would also most strongly advise that the Bureau of Elections
be taken away from the control of the police commissioners. The
connection of the police with an election should be absolutely
limited to preserving the peace and affording the safe and easy
access of every voter to the poles. To allow them to count the
ballots and certify the result is to clothe them with a ministerial
function, whereas the police force should be simply executive. A




606


EI,ECTIVE JUDICIARY.


separate and entirely independent bureau should be in existence
at times of voting, for the sole purpose of counting the votes and
declaring the result; and so completely would I wean it from
municipal control, that I would advise its being placed in the hands
of some perfectly independent officer, to be appointed by the
governor.
But let us suppose that such a party as I have alluded to has
been organized, and has elected a certain number of officials. A
new and deadly danger can at once be foreseen. The professional
politicians, rendered desperate by such a defeat, would inevitably
contest everything connected with the election in the courts, and
whom should we find on the bench? Judges elected by the socalled political organizations, and hoping for re-election at their
hands. This brings me to the discussion of a very grave matter.
I am forced to the opinion that it is wrong to elect judges. It is
next to impossible that a mass of voters, however organized, can
select candidates for the judiciary on account of their fitness for
the bench. Now, it goes without question that the political opinions of a man have nothing whatever to do with his legal abilities;
but so long as judges are elected to their offices, just so long will
they be elected because of their ability to control votes, and not
because of their mental and moral requirements. It would seem
to me a better way to have judges appointed by the governor, with
the consent of the senate. Even under this method I am quite
aware that a certain amount of political bias could not be escaped,
but I think a much more able and pure judiciary would be secured
in this way, than by leaving the bench as a plaything for municipal
associations, and part of the spoils to be trafficked in.
Any citizen of New York can recall the terrible depths to
which the judiciary sank during the days of the Tweed regime,
when certain judges were simply the creatures of a bold and infamous ring, absolutely subject to the command of political
bosses. It is true that an indignant public sentiment was aroused,
which swept from the bench those who had disgraced the ermine;
and it is true that to-day New York enjoys a pure and able
bench; but under our elective system we have good judges in
spite, and not by reason, of it.  Let public sentiment again
become dulled, and let some other ring, by slow and insidious
methods, gain possession of municipal politics, and once again, to
an absolute certainty, we should see the creatures of that ring




MY RESIGNATION.


607


mocking justice in our courts. And what is true of New York
city is equally applicable to all our other great centers of population.
I do not wish my preceding remarks to be taken as implying
dissatisfaction with our Republican institutions. I believe heartily
in the theory of the American system of government; but I am
forced to the conclusion that in the practical carrying on of that
government, at least in so far as it deals with municipal affairs,
the rules of safety are departed from. Republican government
means, of necesssity, self-government; and, as I have said before, the
citizens of our great cities have tacitly surrendered the exercise of
their prerogative. The evil can be checked if taken in time; but if
allowed to grow until the franchise shall become a mere empty
form, by which the professional politician operates his machine,
the decadence of Republican institutions will not be far off; and
this great republic, to-day the hope and glory of the world, will
follow the fate of the republics of old.
I do not believe in a monarchy; but if we are to be ruled by
individuals practically vested with monarchical powers, let us have
one king who. is a gentleman, rather than twenty thousand kings
who are " toughs."
On the ninth day of June, I885, my duties and cares as superintendent of the New York police force ended. I left the office,
in which I had spent so many pleasant hours, and met so many
varied experiences, with something of regret. Regret, because my
life had been one of almost continuous activity of a nature that
falls only to the lot of those in my position. The constant concentration of ideas upon a certain series of subjects is inclined to leave
a man exhausted when confronted with new duties, or the needlessness of any at all. And so with me. For some time the
routine of my past life remained with me with such potency that it
was only after effort that I could avoid going to police headquarters and assuming my former duties. The training of my life as
an officer was demanding recognition. Little by little habit grew
less imperative in its demands. I began to form new ties, new
associations, new duties. My time now is mostly passed in travelling, fishing and hunting, and I can congratulate myself upon
having become a private citizen of the greatest commonwealth in
the world.




608                   CONCLUSION.
With this last page of the record of my life upon the desk before
me, I can say, with the confidence of a man under no obligations,
that I have done my duty to the extent of my understanding; and
that my service as a police officer has been untrammelled by either
political or personal influences. I have endeavored to discharge
my duties to the citizens of New York, and in this I think I have
succeeded.




Historic   Supplement
OF THE
DENVER POLICE
A Review From Earliest Days to the
Present Time
By A. KAUFIMANN
ILLUSTRATED
Specially Published for the Benefit cof the Denver
Police IMutual Aid ri nd
DENVIR COLORADO
1890




iI




PREFACE.
In presenting to the citizens of Denver this historic review
of the Police Department the object intended to be conserved
is twofold:  First and foremost, the interest of the Mutual Aid
Association of the members of the Department, and, Secondly,
to bring the citizens and the Department into closer relations.
A knowledge of the men, and system, will help to a better
appreciation and a greater realization of the hazardous duties
of our police officers. The editor desires to thank Chief Farley
and his staff for their uniform kindness and courtesy for the
valuable aid they have extended to him while gathering data
and information. Thanks are also due to the respective Photographers, Messrs. Bellsmith, Post, Rinehart and Wells, who
kindly furnished the photographs from which the different
portraits, that embellish this supplement, are made.
THE EDITOR.




I




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY DAYS. -ORGANIZATION Olt A PROVISIONAL4 CITY GOVERNME~NT.
-BIOGRAPHIE~S OV FORMER MAYORS.-THE, HON. WOLFE~ LONDONER, MAYOR, Pp. 615-619.
CHAPTER II.
A CHANGE~ FROM A MLUNICIPAl4 TO A METROPOLITAN POLICE~ PORCE~
NIECESSMARY.-BIOGRAPHIIIS OV FORMER CITY MARSHALS AND
CHIEFVS OF POLICE4 PROM W. F. SISTY TO DAVID J. COOK, Pp. 620 -626.
CHAPTER III.
BIOGRAPHIEIS OP FORMER CITY MARSHALS A'ND CHIEFPS OF POLICE
PROM DAVID J. COOK TO JOHN P. PARLEY, Pp. 627-637.
CHAPTRR IV.
CHIEF FARLEV.-A THRILLING INCIDENT IN INDIAN WARFARE —THE~
INDIAN DEPRIEDATIONS.-FARLE~Y SEVEIRE4LY WOUNDED-A DESPIERATE~ SITIJATION.-FOUR AMERICAN SOLDIERS HOLD OFF A
FIIERCE-4 BAND CF APACHES FOR SEVE-RAL, HOURS.-FARI4EY ESTABLISHES9 THIE, THIEL DETE-CTIVE~ AGENCIES IN SEVE~RAL CITIES.-APPOINTMEFNT AS CHIEFV OF POLICE,, Pp. 638-644.
CHAPTER V.
INSPECTOR HAWLEY.-THE~ HAYWARD MURDER CASE-,-TRACKING OF
THIE MURDERERS SEMINOLE AND WOODRUFEF.-lNCIDENTAL4 CAPTTRUR OF THEP NOTORIOUS MAIL4 ROBBER "' BILL " JOHN4SON.



CONTENTS.


HAWLEY CAPTURES SEMINOLE IN DAKOTA.-ON THE TRAII, OF
WOODRUFF. —HAWLEY ARRESTS WOODRUFF IN IOWA.-WOODRUFF
BROUGHT TO DENVER. -SEMINOLET AND WOODRUFF LYNCHED.PP. 645-650.
CHAPTER VI.
LIEUTENANT PHILLIPS.-THE SLAYING OF JIM MOON.-THE ARREST
OF CLAY WILSON. —TH BELLE WARDEN CASE.-LIEUTENANT NEWMEYER. - SERGEANTS NORKETT - BOHANNA-M'NEIL-TEETERCLAY-GREEN-MACDONALD, PP. 65r-657
CHAPTER VII.
THE DETECTIVE DEPARTMENT.-DAN SINKS' NOTORIOUS CAREER.EXPERIENCE OF CHIEF FARLEY WITH SINKS.-SINKS LEAVES
TOWN.-THE SAFES CRACKED OF THE UNION PACIFIC TICKET OFFICE AND OF PRYOR & NOAH.-SINKS ARRESTED.-SINKS AND
THE DETECTIVES.-RECENT ARREST OF SINKS IN PUEBLO.-RESIGNATION OF CHIEF LOAR.-CHIEF FARLEY TAKES CHARGE OF THE
DETECTIVE DEPARTMENT.-ASSISTANT CHIEF OF DETECTIVES SAM
HOWE.-HOWE'S LONG AND USEFUL SERVICE, PP. 658-662.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ROUTINE OF OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT.-CHIEF PARLEY'S SYSTEMATIC AND ADMIRABLE IMPROVEMENTS.-DeNVER A WINTER
RESORT FOR TRAMPS AND "VAGS. "-GREAT NEED OF A WORKHOUSE.-FREE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT FROM POLITICS AND
POLITICIANS.-LET THE LEGISLATURE MAKE THE DEPARTMENI
METROPOLITAN, PP. 663-667.
CHAPTER IX.


DENVER BREWING COMPANY'S SAFE CRACKED.-THE TRAP.-THE
HAUL.-MOST IMPORTANT ARREST OF BURGLARS IN THE UNITED




CONTENTS.
STATES FOR A NUMBER OF YVEARS.-CILEVER WORK OF THE DE.NVER POLICE,.-THE MAGNIFICIENT KIT OFt TOOLS.-OFFICIAI, CORRESPONDENXCE IDENTIFYING THE BURGLARS, Pp. 668-673.
CHAPTER X.
THE DENVER POLICE MUTUAL AID ASSOCIATION.-OUR POLICU FORCit
MUCH TOO SMALL.-INCRIEASE THE FORCE, Pp. 674-675.
APPIENDIX.
THE ROSTER OF THU DIENVER POLICE, FORCE.




*




ILLUSTRATIONS.
THr  HON. WOLFE LONDONER-Mayor.
JOHN F. FARIEY-Chief of Police.
CHAS. A. HAwLiEY-Inspector of Police.
JOHN E. PHILLIPS-First Lieutenant.
I-IENRY NEwMEYER-Second Lieutenant.
CLAY, GREEN, MACDONAID, BOHANNA-Sergeants.
NORKETT, TEETER, McNEiL —Sergeants.
SAM HOwE-Assistant Chief of Detectives.
THI FAMOUS KIT OP TOOLS RECENTLY CAPTURED.




I




I




i


HON. WOLFE LONDON ER, MA YOR.




HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


OF THE
DENVER POLICE.
CHAPTER I.
FROM PROVISIONAL MAYOR, JOHN C. MOORE, TO MAYOR WOLFE
LONDONER.-1859-I890.
IT would be a difficult task to attempt a historic resume of
the Police Department of the City of Denver, without, at
once, making it a history of the City as well, since the two,
though separate and distinct, are co-relative
Both are young institutions, of co-eval birth; but they rival
in vicissitudes, cities and their departments which began their
growth in the early years of American history; neither of the
two is fully matured; still each is ripe and rich in experience.
Thirty-two years ago, on the 24th day of October, i858,
Anselm H. Barker erected the first log cabin somewhere within
the limits where now is the great Rocky Mountain metropolis,
Denver, with its population of some one hundred and fifty
thousand souls. There were no railroads then; not even a
good wagon road, and the hardy pioneer, the gold hunter and
the adventurer sought each, at the risk of his life, the gold
fields of Colorado.
The blood-thirsty savage and the beast of prey barred the
line of progress and had to be overcome as step by step the
white man forced onward and upward toward the crest of the
continent. To-day an empire stands redeemed and created as
the achievement of daring, hardihood and steadfastness of purpose.




616


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


Many are the pioneers that have passed away, but still many
remain to marvel at the results of their own efforts and endeavors. Among these belong the first mayor, now a resident of
Pueblo, and the present mayor of the City of Denver.
When it is considered what this little more than a quarter
of a century has brought forth; when the mind dwells upon
the fact that already is it possible to chronicle historical data
which read partly not unlike "ancient history," the startling
pace of development during the latter half of the Nineteenth
Century strikes one with amazement.
In the summer of I859 a mass-meeting of th1 early settlers
of Denver, then known as Auraria, a little camp on the west
shore of Cherry Creek, was called to assemble  The object of
this meeting was to organize a provisional territorial government of what was then known as Jefferson Territory. Resolutions memorializing the people of this territory were adopted
and Messrs. William N. Byers, J. C. Moore and Richard Sopris
were appointed a committee. This committee prepared a short
memorial, providing for an election in the scattered settlements and mining camps, to test the sense of the people on
the subject of a provisional government, and also for delegates
to a constitutional convention.  Within a few weeks the convention met and in ten days had completed its work. Shortly
after an election was held for territorial officers and members
of the legislature.  W. P. McClure and J. C. Moore were
elected members. The legislature, among other things, consolidated the rival and warring towns of Denver and West
Denver into one municipality, and under the name of Denver
granted it a charter and designated a time for the election of
city officers. A result of this election was the selection of Mr.
Moore for Mayor and the late Mr. W. E. Sisty as City Marshal, the first and pioneer police officer of Denver.
What the social conditions of the town were prior and partially during Mr. Sisty's tenure of office, may best be imagined and understood when contemplating this terse summing-up
of a chronicler: " During the year they managed to get a bridge
across the Platte river, (Cherry creek?) and established and
maintained pretty good order in the town-that is to say, put




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


6I7


a stop to mob violence and hung people, when they needed
hanging, legally and decently."
Mr. Moore, since his occupancy as first Mayor of Denver,
has led a very eventful life. He left Denver in I86I, during
that greatest of all civil strifes, and cast his fortunes with the
Southern Confederacy. He joined General Sterling Price's
army in Missouri as a private. At Corinth, Miss., he was
elected captain of the re-organized St. Louis Battery. After
the fight at Farmington, and the battle of Iuka, he resigned
and went west of the Mississippi. He was made Adjutant of
General Shelby's regiment of Infantry, and early in 1863 was
transferred to the cavalry as Assistant Adjutant of General
Marmaduke's division. After Marmaduke's capture he was
assigned as judge advocate general on General J. B. Morgan's
staff, and early in 1864 he was sent north of the Arkansas
river as an officer of General Shelby's cavalry division, Shelby
himself expecting to follow in a few weeks.
After the close of the war he went to Mexico and served six
months in the French Contre-Guerrillas, a command especially
organized to fight Guerrillas.  On leaving the service he was
offered a commission in the regular French army, but
declined.
In I866 he returned to Missouri from Mexico and in I868
established the Kansas City Times, which he edited for nearly
three years. Afterward he established the Mail in Kansas
City, and again became editor of the Times in 1878, during
the rancorous compaign between Crisp and Sawyer for Congress. Still later he held an editorial position on the St.
Louis Times. He returned to Colorado in I88I.
Mr. Moore is now editor of the Pueblo Press, and is one of
the most vigorous writers of the west.
The second mayor of Denver-the first one elected at the
polls-was the Hon. Charles A. Cook, who was elected in
November I86I to 1863 and was succeeded by the Hon. Amos
Steck, who in turn was succeeded in I865, by his predecessor,
Mr. Cook. The Hon. Hiram J. Brendlinger, third mayor of
Denver was elected in I864 and he was followed by the late
Hon. George T. Clarke in I865.  In I866 the Hon. Milton
M. DeLano was chosen for mayor by the people of Denver and




618


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


was re-elected to the same office in from April I867 to
I868. Under Mr. DeLano's administration the Denver Fire
Department was first organized. Hon. W. M. Clayton succeeded Mr. DeLano in i868 and he in turn was followed in
1869 by the Hon. B. B. Stiles who was re-elected in
1870. In 1871 the Hon. John Harper was elected mayor
of Denver, and was succeeded by Hon. Joseph E. Bates in
I872. The successor of Mr. Bates was the Hon. Francis M.
Case, 1873, and in 1874 the Hon W. J. Barker was elected to
this office, which he occupied for two terms.  He was followed by R. G. Buckingham M. D., who also served the city two
terms. This brings us down to I878 when the Hon. R. Sopris
was elected mayor and re-elected in 1879 and again in 1880,
serving three consecutive terms in the capacity of mayor of
Denver. In I88I the Hon. Robert Morris was elected mayor
and re-elected in 1882.  Hon. John L. Routt succeeded Mr.
Morris in 1883 and succeeded himself the following year 1884.
Mr. Routt's services as mayor form but an incident in his
distinguished career. After three years service to his country in
the late war he retired to private life from which he emerged
in 1869, accepting the position of Chief Clerk in the bureau of
the Assistant Postmaster General.  In the Spring of 1870
President Grant made him United States Marshal of the
Southern Districtof Illinois and in I87I the President offered
him the position of Second Assistant Postmaster General,
which he accepted. As such he served until February 1875,
when his old friend President Grant appointed him Territorial Governor of Colorado.  When in I876 Colorado became a state, John L. Routt received the nomination for the
Governorship and upon being elected the last Governor of the
Territory became the first Chief Magistrate of the Centennial
State. At the recent state elections the Republican party again
testified to the confidence and respect in which it held Mr.
Routt by once mere electing him Governor of the State of
Colorado.
In 1885 the newly amended charter of the City of Denver
passed the Legislature. One of the changes consisted in the
extension of the mayor's term of office from one year to two
years, and the first incumbent under the new order was Mr.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


6I9


Jos. E. Bates, for the second time honored by election to the
city's chief magistracy. Mr. Bates was succeeded by the Hon.
Wm. Scott Lee in 1887, and Mr. Lee was succeeded in I889
by our present mayor, the Hon. Wolfe Londoner, whose term
expires in March, I89I.
Wolfe Londoner was born in New York City in the year
I84I, and came to Colorado in May, of I86o, in the fall of
which year he drifted to California Gulch where he was
engaged in the mercantile business for a period of five years.
Four of these years he was clerk and recorder for the district,
and part of the time County Treasurer and Commissioner. In
I865 he returned to Denver where he has since been one of
the leading merchants and in every sense a prominent citizen,
having been both a member of the city council and County
Commissioner. Mayor Londoner has ever applied, in his official capacities, the strict methods of the business man and his
administration is marked by good judgment, economy and a
general conservation of the best interests of the community.
One of the distinctive features of Mr. Londoner's administration consists in the selection of Mr. John F. Farley as the head
of the Denver Police Department. In making this choice Mr.
Londoner ignored all precedents of former mayors of the city,
who were always, more or less, prompted by political motives
in the selection of their marshals and chiefs. Mr Farley had
neter been identified with politics further than to cast his vote
as an American citizen and a good Republican. He was known
as an efficient officer of one of the greatest detective systems
in the land, and a man of sterling character, courage and intrepidity.




CHAPTER II.


CITY MARSHALS AND CHIEFS OF POLICE.-FROM W. E. SISTY TO
DAVID J. COOK.-I859-1866.
There is perhaps no modern city on the globe which has
passed through the same stirring events during so brief an existence as the City of Denver. If the first child born here
were to turn historian and record the events during his own
life, in his own birthplace, he could fill a mighty volume and
still have matter left.
From a frontier post, remote from civilization, in the very
heart of the desert, Denver has grown, within a third of a
century, into the greatest and most important city between the
Missouri river and Pacific Coast. The vicissitudes during the
various stages of development, from hamlet to town, from
town to city, of this wonderful community, would fill volumes.
The limited space of this supplement does not permit delving
into detailed accounts and the writer can only in a general
way recount the origin and growth of the department of Public Safety up to the present time. He would however call attention to a very important fact relative to our police system.
With the unprecedented growth of Denver it is but natural
that the city should have outgrown many of its early institutions, one of which is the Police Department-the most essential department of a community. Our force is by no means
adequate to the exigencies and demands of the times.
Denver's fame has attracted the attention of the civilized
world, and with the great influx of men and money it is
scarcely remarkable that the criminal classes of all lands
should be liberally represented here. In the face of this deplorable fact an economy which retards and baffles the useful.
ness of the Police Department by limiting its numbers and
stinting it in the sinews of war, thus exposing it to every
grumbler and fault-finder, is to say the least, to be deprecated;




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


62I


and as long as these conditions shall last, our fair city will remain the Mecca and abiding place of the predatory class; and
so long will the rough and tough continue to lord it in this community.
Times and circumstances demand a change-a thorough reorganization of our police system. It is now ripe for conversion into a metropolitan force and must be freed from the influences of local politics, which hamper and impair its usefulness to an alarming degree. Our present police officials are
thoroughly competent and experienced men and the force, as
far as its personnel is concerned, compares favorably in capacity, taking into consideration its limited numbers, with any in
the United States. It however, does not reach far enough;
neither in numbers, opportunities nor means.  There is
actually not sufficient appropriation for the workings of the
detective branch of the department and yet the community
expects and exacts the same efficiency which, for example, exists in New York or Chicago, where similar departments are
absolutely and entirely free to move and act as arising exigencies may demand.
It has become necessary and the time is ripe for the city
council to give this matter their most serious attention and to
see to it that a bill shall be prepared and submitted to the General Assembly which shall give to the metropolis of the InterWest a metropolitan police department. This once effected,
causes for criticism and complaint, as they now arise, will rapidly disappear.
In reviewing the personnel of the present executive staff of
the department it must be apparent to the careful observer that
in point of character its individual members stand on a high
plane of excellence. They are each and every one trained and
experienced men in their profession, and all have been selected,
or advanced, for their proficiency and because of the general
confidence reposed in them. At the same time, going back in
review of the different heads of the Denver Police Department,
from its inception, we find a list of names comprising honorable and efficient men and some extraordinary ones. The first
one of these was




622


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


WILSON E. SISTY.
The organization which resulted in the municipal government
of Denver-Auraria-Highland, and which elected the Hon.
John C. Moore provisional mayor, forwarded the following document to Mr. Sisty:
DENVER, AURARIA AND HIGHLAND, )
DECEMBER 21, I859. f
MR. W. E. SISTY,-Sir:
You are hereby notified that you are duly elected marshal for the City
of Denver, Auraria and Highland at an election held for the election of
municipal officers on the i9th day of December, 1859.
[Signed]                              JOHN J. SAVILLE,
President of Board of Canzzassers.
W. E. Sisty was born in Pennsylvania in the year i826, and
after a few years in school, he entered, when but ten years old.
the office of the Wilkesbarre Advocate as "printers' devil; "
but, being restive, he remained there only two years, when he
struck out for "green fields and pastures new," and after visiting different places and following various occupations, be
enlisted as private in a company raised by Captain E. L. Dana
at Wilkesbarre, Pa., in the year 1846, at the outbreak of the
Mexican War. This company was mustered into service as
one of the first regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, at Pittsburgh. He accompanied his regiment to Mexico and participated with it in all the engagements before Vera Cruz and in
the battle of Cerro Gordo, and passing through the entire war, he
was among those who entered the City of Mexico under General Winfield Scott. At the close of the Mexican War, Mr.
Sisty returned to his home in Pennsylvania where he became
superintendent of a coal mine. At the breaking out of the
Pike's Peak gold excitement, in the year 1859, Mr. Sisty was
seized with the fever and started on his way West. Arriving
at Council Bluffs, Iowa, he fitted out an ox team and after a
journey of several months he arrived in Denver early in May.
The wonderful discoveries reported at that time from Central,
which attracted the attention of thousands, drew Mr. Sisty
with the tide and reaching Black Hawk he located at this
point and devoted himself to mining for a few years. Subsequently following the trail to Russell Gulch and down Virginia
Canon, he went to Russell Gulch and with a party established




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


623


the mining district of Downeyville. In the summer of I859
he came back to Denver, where he was appointed deputy sheriff by John H. Kehler, the first sheriff of Arapahoe, then a
portion of Jefferson Territory. In May, i860, he returned to
Idaho Springs, where he engaged in mining until 1862,
when he again returned to Denver. Mr. Sisty was a most intimate friend of the famous writer of wild and vivid Western
fiction, "Ned Buntline" (E. C. Judson.) In i856 the latter
wrote and dedicated to his friend Sisty a poem entitled "A
Song of Friendship," the original manuscript of which was
among Mr. Sisty's effects at the time of his death, which sad
event occurred on the I4th day of October, i889. Mr. Sisty was
a man of excellent traits of character and enjoyed great popularity throughout the entire State, where he had a multitude of
personal friends. In I876 he was made the first fish commissioner the state ever had, by Governor Routt, in which position he was re-confirmed by Governors Pitkin and Grant.
Aside from having been the first chief officer of the Denver
Police Department, Mr. Sisty may be regarded as the father of
fish culture in Colorado.
W. M. KEITH.
In I86I, after the provisional government of the city ceased
and the regular municipal government came into existence,
the Hon. Charles A. Cook, Denver's first regularly elected
mayor, selected Mr. W. M. Keith to fill the position of
marshal. Mr. Keith was a Scotchman by birth. Early in
life he came west and went into the hotel business at Omaha,
where he was for some years proprietor of the Douglass House.
In 1859 he came to Denver and opened the old Cherokee House,
on Blake Street between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. He
was also, at one time, connected with the old Platte Valley
House. He was city marshal from April 186i to April 1862.
He, later on, removed to Pueblo, where he died of paralysis.
Those who knew him speak highly of him as a good officer and
estimable citizen.
GEORGE E. THORNTON.
The first man who bore the title of "Chief of Police" of the
city of Denver was Mr. George E. Thornton, who is another of




624


HISTORIC SUPPLEIMENT


the early pioneers,having come to Denver in I859. Mr. Thornton
was born in the state of New York November 2, I829. While
still a young man he became a member of the New York
Police Force, in I855-56, where he enjoyed the esteem of his
superior officers as a man of integrity and an efficient officer.
Mr. Thornton was among the first to build his cabin in
Auraria, of which little home early settlers still speak.  At
the time of his appointment as Chief of Police desperadoes
from all parts of the world infested the town, which was a refuge for the very worst criminals the country produced.
Every man went armed to the teeth, and such "terrors" as Coal Wood, George Strute and Jim Gordon were representatives among the "bad men" of that time. It was the
delight of the hard characters of that period to designate themselves as "bad men from Bitter Creek," until the phrase became a byword the country over. This was the element which
Mr. Thornton had to face, and the acceptance of the call was
sufficient in itself to stamp the man as one possessed of extraordinary nerve and courage.  Mr. Thornton commenced his
administration of the Denver Police Department with making
a series of very important arrests, attended by some hair-breadth
escapes on his part.  But his intrepidity and heroism soon
made him a terror to the rogues and cut-throats who infested
the town and vicinity, and he soon won a reputation as an
officer of fearlessness  and merit.  Mr. Thornton's experience as Chief of Police would supply matter for a large
volume of intensely interesting reading in criminal literature.
Accounts of hisarrests, escapes and adventures would shame
the imagination of the most vivid romancer of western fiction.
In I870 Mr. Thornton was appointed acting warden of the Colorado penitentiary,which position he held until I882, whenCapt.
Burger, his successor, was killed and five prisoners succeeded in
making their escape. Then Mr.Thornton was appointed warden.
Always successful in the handling of criminals, possessed of
an unusual amount of executive ability, and never flinching in
his duty, no matter what the dangers of the occasion might
be, Mr. Thornton's name became a terror to the desperate
characters of that time and to him the community of those
days was indebted for such law and order and immunity from




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


625


crime as it soon learned to enjoy. Mr. Thornton is still living
among us and enjoys the esteem of all who know him.
ANDREW J. SNYDER.
In April of the year 1862, Mayor Chas. A. Cook appointed
Mr. "Andy" J. Snyder as City Marshal of Denver. Mr.
Snyder was born in Pennsylvania and was among the first to
follow the golden allurements which the Pike's Peak excitement promised for the vefituresome. He located in Auraria,
now West Denver, and served one term as the head of the local
police force. Sometime afterward he again turned his face
eastward, located in Kansas City, Mo., where he embarked in
business as a pork packer, and is now one of the most prosperous packers in the West. Mr. Snyder is a several-times
millionaire and while no event of particular or great importance during his term of office, as Marshal of Denver, occurred,
his marvelous success in business would stamp him as a man
of uncommon qualifications.
JOSEPH L. BAILEY.
Another who was attracted to this region of sunshine and
precious metals, in ante-bellum days, is Mr. Joseph L. Bailey. Of
an old Maryland family which was among the first settlers of
that state, Mr. Bailey himself is by birth a Pennsylvanian,
his native city being Philadelphia, where he was born in I835.
A grand-father of Mr. Bailey was a soldierof the Revolution of
I776. After receiving a good public school education, Mr.
Bailey learned the trade of carpenter and builder, like his
father, who was a practical builder and contractor. When
twenty-two years of age the young man went west to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he devoted himself to his trade, and
was there through that terrible struggle, known as the " Border Ruffian War," which was one of the causes of the War of
the Rebellion. Mr. Bailey himself belonged to the free-state
party.
In 1859 Mr. Bailey started for "Pike's Peak," and in June
of that year he pitched his tent on the banks of the now historic Cherry Creek. Later on we find him in Gilpin county,
where he and his partners worked a claim on Casto hill, in
which they exhausted their funds. Returning to Denver, Mr.




626


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


Bailey embarked in the butcher business, in which ventture he
was exceedingly successful, not to say fortunate, since he is
credited with clearing up the neat profit of thirty thousand dollars within eighteen months. This he possessed in the shape
of gold dust, which in lieu of a safer place of deposit, he
buried in the ground under his store. When the Civil War
broke out Mr. Bailey suffered the double loss of his bookkeeper and his funds, both at the same time. After this
misfortune he was appointed, successively, Street Commissioner, City Marshal and Provost Marshal, under Mr. Wanless,
and Deputy United States Marshal under Hon. A. C. Hunt.
He served as City Marshal during the administrations of Hon.
Amos Steck, Hon. H. J. Brendlinger and Hon. Geo. T. Clark,
and made a splendid record as an officer and a gentleman.
Mr. Bailey has also served, at different times, as Deputy
Sheriff, and was twice elected to the office of Councilman.
Prominent in business and ever public-spirited, Mr. Bailey is
one of the best and most favorably known of Denver's citizens.
He is one of the organizers of the Colorado Cattle Growers'
Association, of which he was president for two years.




CHAPTER III.
rROM GENERAL DAVID J. COOK TO JOHN F. FARIEY.-I886-I889.
DAVID J. COOK.
He is indeed a "tenderfoot" who does not know, or has
not heard of General David J. Cook, Denver's City Marshal
of I866-67-68, Chief of Police in I880 and the head of the
Rocky Mountain Detective Agency since I863.
David J. Cook was born August 12, 1840, in Laporte County,
Indiana, where his father was a farmer and land speculator.
After receiving a moderate, but what was then considered a
liberal education, he worked on farms in the states of Indiana,
Iowa and Kansas until the year I859. The same tales of the
" golden fleece," which allured thousands who now comprise
the "solid" citizens of Colorado, attracted Mr. Cook and he
struck out for "Pike's Peak. " Locating in GilpinCounty he dug
for gold some two years or more, but not " striking it lucky "
returned to Kansas whence he removed to Rolla, Mo., in 186I,
and there engaged in the running of supply trains. Subsequently he joined the ordinance department of the army of ihe
frontier and in 1863 he again drifted to Colorado, since which
time he has been connected with the famous Rocky Mountain
Detective Association. He enlisted in the Colorado Cavalry
and in I864 was detailed by the quartermaster of the Denver
Post as government detective, which position he held until
i866, when the post was abandoned.
In April of the year I866 Mayor De Lano appointed Mr.
Cook City Marshal, in which capacity he served during Mr. De
Lano's two terms and also during the administration of Hon.
William M. Clayton.
In I869 Mr. Cook was elected to the office of Sheriff of
Arapahoe County; at the end of his term he was re-elected
and served for two more years. In 1873 he was appointed
Deputy United States Marshal, which position he occupied




628


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


until I875, when he was again elected Sheriff of Arapahoe
county and re-elected at the end of his term, his last term
ending in January, I88o. In i873 the Hon. Samuel J. Elbert,
then Territorial Governor, appointed Mr. Cook major-general of
the Colorado Militia in the continuation of which post he was
honored by both Governors Routt and Pitkin. In I88o he
was ordered to Leadville by Governor Pitkin to quell the railroad riots which then occurred and which caused the Governor
to proclaim martial law in Lake County. General Cook most
promptly and effectually put an end to the disturbances. On
the 3oth day of October (Sunday) I88o, the memorable Chinese riots broke out in Denver and for a while the wildest state
of anarchy and lawlessness prevailed. Mayor Sopris called
on General Cook to subdue the rioters and restore order. Taking charge of the police force, and swearing in fifty special
policemen, General Cook very quickly became master of the
situation. He arrested the ring-leaders and placed them behind the bars. But for the prompt action on the part of the municipal government and the efficiency of General Cook and
his forces, the outrages on the inoffensive Chinamen, and the
sacking and pillaging of their quarters, might soon have spread
and become general, for the blood of the mob was up to fever
heat, and the direst calamity in the city's history might have
been recorded.
General Cook's services to Denver and the State of Colorado
are not easily estimated. He has, in his many years of service,
both in his capacity as public official and private detective,
been a terror to murderers, horse-thieves, foot-pads and general
all-around hold-ups. His is a career which teems with adventure and episode but rarely experienced by an individual. His
name is known as a warning to thieves from the Atlantic to
the Pacific; from the British line to the Mexican. He has
perhaps brought more criminals to justice than any half-dozen
men in the Rocky Mountains. In his reminiscences, which
General Cook published some years ago, under the title of
"Hands Up," he recounts many experiences which might
well be taken cum grano salis, but for the fact that there are
too many living witnesses of the occurrences therein detailed.
The most exaggerated Western sensationalism of blood-and



OF THE DENVER POLICE.


629


thunder authors is overmatched and out-done by the extraordinary and blood-curdling experiences of the head of the
Rocky Mountain Detective Association, and his picked lieutenants during the days of Colorado pioneerdom. It was during
General Cook's term of office that the notorious Musgrove
gang was hunted down and dispersed. Musgrove himself was
lynched in broad day light by the populace of Denver, and while
the rope, which was suspended from the Larimer Street bridge,
crossing Cherry Creek, was being placed about his neck the
desperado stood coolly puffing away at his cigarette. He veritably "'died game. " Many were the stock thieves which were
brought to book through the agency of General Cook and to
him is due the breaking-up of these particular bands of desperadoes in Arapahoe and adjoining counties; and in fact in distant counties of Colorado.
General Cook is still an active man and at the head of the
detective agency whose name and fame are identical with his
own.
G. M. HOPKINS.
Among the city marshals of Denver there is not one who is
more kindly remembered than the efficient and exceedingly
popular Mr. G. M. Hopkins. Born in the State of Illinois,
November 15, I835, where he passed the earlier years of his
life on a farm, receiving the customary education of a
prosperous farmer's child of that day, Mr. Hopkins at the age
of twenty-five, was induced, by premonitory symptoms of lung
trouble, to seek, like thousands of others in quest of life and
health, the restorative climate of Colorado. That Mr. Hopkins found his panacea is demonstrated by his physical appearance. He arrived in Denver on the Ioth day of January, I860,
and like the majority of new arrivals immediately sought the
gold fields and their fascinations. After a brief activity at
Chicago Bar, near Idaho Springs, he enlisted in the First Colorado Volunteers and with that regiment participated in the
battles of "Apache Canon," "Pigeon Ranche" and "Paroalta." After three years service he was mustered out with
an honorable discharge and the reputation of a gallant soldier.
After the war he again turned his attention to mining and in




630


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


i866 he entered the police department of which he was a faithful member for two years. Early in his career as an officer he
arrested James Allen on a charge of murder committed on the
Maxwell Grant in the territory of New Mexico, and delivered
up Allen to the territorial authorities. He was also mainly
instrumental in working up the " Cheap John " murder case,
which occurred in West Denver in the winter of I886-1887,
and in company with Mr. Richard Sopris, then sheriff of
Arapahoe County, arrested the murderer, George Gorman of
Central City. Though Gorman was acquitted at his second
trial his guilt was never doubted by a majority of the people.
Mr. Hopkins was elected City Marshal in I869 under the
mayoralty of Hon. B. B. Stiles and was re-elected in '70,
'7I and '72. Though called upon to run again for the office
in 1873 he declined to do so.
One of the most thrilling events recorded in the criminal
annals of Colorado is that of the surprise and plundering of
the United States mail coach on its way from Cheyenne to
Denver in January of 1870. Suspicion pointed to five men
who had terrorized the country about the old town of Burlington in Boulder county at the crossing of the St. Vrain. On the
6th day of February i 870,warrants were issued by Orson Brooks,
United States Commissioner, to Mark A. Schafflinberg, then
United States Marshal, for their arrest.  Schafflinberg
requested Mr. Hopkins to raise a strong posse of determined
men for the purpose of going to Boulder county and to make
the arrests. His reply was that he required but one brave
and determined man to go with him for that purpose.
He was made a Deputy United States Marshal and a suitable comrade having been found he started on his daring and
dangerous enterprise. His companion was Jesse Burton, now
of Ouray. They left Denver in the night in a two-horse conveyance and within 48 hours they returned with W. C.
Duboise, Perry Walker, George Morris and Theodore Smith.
The fifth of this gang of desperadoes, W. E. Tucker, was not
found.  The men were tried but discharged.   Duboise
returned to his home in Left Hand, and on meeting a young
man named McKinney, whom he suspected of "giving him
away," shot him down. The people, in their outraged feel



OF THE DENVER POLICE.


63I


ings, turned out and surrounded his house. He kept them at
bay until day-break, when, mounting a swift-footed horse, he
dashed through their lines, amid a shower of bullets, and
made good his escape. After a close pursuit he was surrounded, later in the day, and, finding escape impossible, he
turned and emptied two six-shooters at his pursuers,and then fell
from his horse a corpse, riddled with bullets and buck-shot.
This was the last attempt at robbing the United States mail in
Colorado.
Mr. Hopkins also worked up the famous Wall murder case.
Wall was a sheep-herder, who lived on Dry Creek, about fifteen miles south of Denver. His mysterious disappearance
was reported to Mr. Hopkins, who immediately suspected a
man named George Witherell, who had suddenly become the
possessor of a large flock of sheep. This man was also suspected of having stolen a large number of sheep from J. K.
Doolittle. Mr. Hopkins had Witherell arrested for the larceny
of these sheep, but his real design was to get Witherell in custody for the murder of Wall. If the body of Wall were discovered other evidence in his possession would convict Witherell of the murder. The case was compromised by Witherell
turning over six hundred head ofsheep to Doolittle. The body
of the murdered man was afterwards found, Witherell was tried
for the murder and is now serving a life sentence at Canon
City.
These are but a few instances among the many extraordinary and marvelous episodes in the apprehension of desperate
criminals in the official career of this excellent police officer.
Mr. Hopkins is now jailor of the Arapahoe County jail, is
hearty and well-preserved and esteemed as an efficient and
meritorious official.
WILLIAM A. SMITH.
One of the ablest and most determined Chiefs of Police Denver has known was Mr. William A. Smith, a gentleman still
among us in the enjoyment of health, prosperity and popularity.
Mr. Smith was born in Lancashire, England, November 5th,
1840. When ten years of age he came to America with his
parents, who located in Brooklyn, New York.




632


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


In 1851 he accompanied his father to Chicago, and in 1857
he moved to Kansas City, Missouri. In I860 he came to
Colorado and settled in Black Hawk, Gilpin County. Here
he erected several stamp-mills and engaged in the construction
of others in Empire, Clear Creek County. In conjunction with
his father he put up a quartz mill of his own. When the war
broke out he sold his interests and enlisted in company C,
First Colorado Regiment of Infantry, under Captain Richard Sopris, who afterwards became Mayor of Denver. In
I862 the regiment received orders to proceed to New Mexico, but in the fall of the year returned to Camp Weld and went
into winter quarters. In the spring of 1863 the regiment was
ordered to campaign against the Sioux Indians. In 1865 Mr.
Smith obtained a veteran's furlough, proceeded to St. Louis,
where he married, and soon after left the army. Upon
obtaining a large contract from the government to supply posts in Arizona with corn, he proceeded to that territory.
In the year I866 Mr. Smith sailed from San Francisco to New
York, by way of the Horn, and in 1867 he returned to Colorado, and located on Wisconsin ranch near Denver; but owing
to Indian depredations he was compelled to leave and then
removed to Denver in i868. He became a member of the police force and was elected Constable. In 1871 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff, in which capacity he served until I873,
when he was appointed City Marshal by Mayor Francis M. Case. In I875 he again returned to his ranch. In
1876 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff by General D. J. Cook,
then Sheriff of Arapahoe County, in which capacity he acted
for a number of years.
When the Hon. John I. Routt was elected Mayor, in 1884,
Mr. Smith was again appointed as the head of the Police Department, this time as Chief, which office he held during Mr.
Routt's entire term.
Mr. Smith's name is connected with some of the most important criminal cases and arrests in the history of Colorado.
JOHN C. MCCALLIN.
In 1874, wheh Hon. W. J. Barker was Mayor, John C. McCallin was appointed Chief of Police.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


633


Mr. McCallin was born in Ireland in I839. When he was three
years old, his family came to America. His father was a farmer
and youngMcCallin received his education at a township school.
His family emigrated West when he was still a young lad. In
1874 Mr. McCallin joined the police force of Denver and his
efficiency as an officer attracted the attention of Mr. Barker,
who regarded him as an able man to be placed at the head of
the department. His term extended through the two administrations of Mayor Barker. Mr. McCallin died at the age of
thirty-seven, a young man with a splendid record, respected
by all who knew him, and regretted as a good citizen and an
excellent officer.
DANIEL W. MAYS.
A prominent, enterprising and useful citizen, a man of highest standing among his fellow-men, is Mr. Daniel W. Mays,
and his selection to the head of the Police Department,in 1871 by
Mayor Buckingham, could not but meet with the approval of
the peace and order-loving people of Denver. Mr. Mays was
born in the year I840 in the State of Missouri. He was educated in the La Grange University in that state.  At the age
of twenty, at the breaking out of the war he joined the Confederate Army as a private in Colonel Martin E. Green's regiment. The regiment was one attached to the command of
General Sterling Price and took part in the battle of Pea Ridge
and numerous skirmishes. That Mr. Mays was a good and
brave soldier is attested by the fact that he joined the ranks as
private and graduated therefrom with an honorable discharge
and a pair of shoulder straps.
In i868 Mr. Mays brought the first drove of sheep to Denver; the first ever driven across the plains. The journey took
five months. He disposed of them to advantage and with the
proceeds established himself in the flour and feed business.
This was the first store of the kind established in Denver. In
this business he remained until his appointment as Chief of
Police. He served a full term and part of a second, the legislature having changed the election of city officers from April
to October. After his term of office Mr. Mays went into the
real estate business, in which he has been and is still emi



634


H ISTORJC SUPPLEMENT


nently successful. Mr. Mays is one of the substantial citizens of Denver and no one is more generally respected than
he.
CHARLES B. STONE.
Mr. Stone was appointed Chief of the Denver Police by
the Hon. B. B. Stiles, when the latter was elected to the mayoralty in I877.
Mr. Stone was born in Franklin County, Vermont, in the
year I843. He was the son of a farmer and made himself
useful upon a farm until he was eighteen years of age,
receiving the education farmers were wont to give their sons in
that part of the country at that time. At the breaking out of
the Civil War, Mr. Stone entered in the First Vermont Cavalry
regiment of volunteers as lieutenant of company B., and afterwards served in the third division of the cavalry corps, then under command of General Custer. After serving his country three
years and six months, participating in all the battles in which
his corps took part, he returned home with an honorable record.
He was engaged in the lumber business in his native state, until
1872 when he came to Colorado. Then he followed mercantile
pursuits with varied results, succumbing in the panic of 1873,
which proved so disastrous to many of the business men
throughout the country. Mr. Stone made a faithful and efficient Chief of Police. After his term of office he again turned
his attention to business in which he has been very successful,
having acquired large interests in this city and elsewhere.
WILLIAM R. HICKEY.
William R. Hickey was born in Ireland in 1844, and was
brought to this country when but a child, by his parents. His
family located in Ohio and afterward removed to Illinois,
where they lived when the war broke out. Young Hickey enlisted in one of the first regiments raised in Illinois, in which
he advanced from a private to the rank of first lieutenant, and
as such was mustered out. In the year I866 he removed to
Nebraska, where he raised a company of volunteers against
the Indians, who were troublesome at the time in that state,




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


635


and did some good service. After these disturbances he became City Marshal of Nebraska City, occupying the office for
two terms. He was afterwards tax collector of the same
city. In I873 he came to Denver and was chosen Chief of Police by Mayor Richard Sopris in 1879. He served one term in
full but during his second term of office, in consequence of political complications in municipal affairs, he resigned. Immediately after his resignation he lost his health, and never recovered sufficiently to take part in either politics or business.
His reason finally gave way and he was adjudged insane. He
died August 25, I882, in the house of his mother. He was
buried with public honors.
JAMES M. LOMERY.
Mr. Lomery was appointed to the office of Chief of Police
by the Hon. Robert Morris, in I88I. James M. Lomery was
born in St. Augustine, Florida, January loth, 1842, of English
parents. His father was a successful merchant and young Lomery was educated at various institutes in New York, Mobile and
New Orleans. In April, I860, he joined the Second Louisiana
Infantry, Confederates, and as ensign served in this regiment
until the close of the war. He took part in all the battles of
Virginia and Maryland, was in Jackson's corps at Gettysburg,
then under command of General "Jeb." Stuart, and an eyewitness of Lee's surrender at Appomatox. After the close of
the war Mr. Lomery returned to Mobile, where he was appointed clerk of the Circuit Court, and register and master in
chancery. For six years he held these positions and was then
elected a councilman. In i872 he received the nomination for
the mayoralty of Mobile, but in the tidal wave of the Greeley
campaign, which then swept the South, he was defeated. Mr.
Lomery then removed to Colorado and settled in Denver. He
engaged in the practice of law, entering the office of Teller,
Reed and Dixon. Mr. Lomery is now co-publisher, with Mr.
Halsey Rhodes, of the Rocky Mountain Herald.
AUSTIN W. HOGLE.
In I885, when the Hon. Joseph E. Bates was again elected
Mayor of Denver, he selected as his Chief of Police Mr. Austin
W. Hogle.




636


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


Mr. Hogle was born at Henrysville, western Canada, in
1844, whence his parents, while he was still an infant, removed
to the United States. They located in Iroquois County, Illinois, where young Hogle received his education at the public
school. At an early age he went into apprenticeship, as a
printer on the Middleford Press. A few years later he went
into the drug business.
In 1862 Mr. Hogle enlisted in the Seventy-sixth Illinois regiment of volunteers as a private. A few months later he was
made first sergeant of his company, and in I864 he was commissioned second lieutenant. His regiment was with Grant in
his first Mississippi campaign; he took part in all the battles before Vicksburg, Jackson Crossing, Benton, Mississippi and Jackson, Louisiana; was at the siege of Jackson, Mississippi; with
Gen. Steele in his Alabama and Florida campaigns; took part in
the siege and assault on Blakeley, Alabama, and participated,
all in all, in over fifty battles and minor skirmishes of the war.
In 1869, after returning to his old home in Illinois, Mr. Hogle
was elected treasurer of Iroquois County, which office he held
for two years. In I872 he came to Colorado, settled in Denver and went into the commission business.
Mr. Hogle made an excellent Chief of Police. It was he
who introduced the military discipline and drill into the force,
without which a police department is but an imperfect organization. A policeman should be in no wise, physically, the inferior of the soldier; mentally, to be a good officer of the
peace and order, he ought to be his superior. The soldier moves
and acts only upon command; the policeman acts largely on
his own judgment, and this ought to be of a high order.
HENRY BRADY.
The predecessor of the present incumbent at the head of the
Police Department was Mr. Henry Brady, who was appointed
by the Hon. WVm Scott Lee, in 1887.
Mr. Brady was born at Independence, Missouri, March 23d,
1854, where he lived and attended school, until he reached the
age of eighteen.  In search of adventure and fortune he
started West, reaching Denver in 1872, where he entered the
employ of a transfer company, which position he left at the




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


637


end of two months and went to work on the Colorado Central
railway, then in course of construction to Black Hawk.
From a tool boss, Mr. Brady was soon promoted to the foremanship of a gang. He remained in this position until the
road was completed, when he went to Georgetown, Colorado,
and engaged in mining for nearly five years. In I878 Mr.
Brady went to Leadville. After several months, the climate
not agreeing with him, he returned to Denver and again entered the employ of the transfer company for which he had
formerly worked. Later on he was in the employ of other
similar companies, until he entered the police force in November I88I.
For one year Mr. Brady did duty as patrolman, when he
was appointed City Jailer, in December, i882. In this position he remained until his promotion to a second lieutenancy
on the force, by Mayor Bates, in I886, which position he held
until his elevation to the position of Chief of Police.  Mr.
Brady is a man of courage, and his experience qualified him
well for the duties of the responsible position he was called
upon to fill. But Mr. Brady is too much of a politician and
in the opinion of the writer, this is an unnecessary requirement for the office. The less that politicsare introduced into the
department the more efficient will be the service. Mr. Brady,
duringthe past two years, has attended to the duties ofdoor-keeper
of the United States Senate at Washington, and with this added
experience is likely to develop into a politician of no mean
calibre.




CHAPTER IV.


THE DEPARTMENT OF TO-DAY.-CHIEF FARLEY.-I889-I890.
It were quite just to regard a compiler, chronicler or commentator on any subject, whatsoever it might be, as presumptuous in assuming a task for which his knowledge and field of
observation did not, at least in some degree, qualify him.
The writer, in his vocation as a journalist, has come into
somewhat closer contact and relations with various metropoli9   tan and municipal police departments than do men ordinarily,
f           if we except that branch of society which gains an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the various police
systems under protest.
It is maintained by wise and experienced heads that a thoroughly good policeman should be a good man-a man with a
large degree of human nature in his make-up. He should
also possess extraordinary judgment and be a gentleman. The
city of Denver is fortunate in the possession, at present, of a
Chief of Police who is essentially a gentleman, as well as -a
man of excellent judgment and of vast experience as a detective officer. It must be a source of regret that Mr. Farley's
usefulness has been greatly handicapped by conditions that
ought not to exist in that class of cities among which Denver
ranks. The fault-finders and grumblers, who are as numerous
here as elsewhere, are encouraged in their favorite pastime by
the false and mistaken notions of economy that prevail;
for instance, the secret service, which is an important adjunct of every well regulated police force, is stinted to such a
degree that this branch is practically useless. There is absolutely not appropriation sufficient to utilize the resources at
hand, and when it is considered that this branch exists especially for the purpose of working up intricate criminal cases and
that its inability to act is the result of parsimony, it must be
confessed that carping criticism is in very bad taste. Our de



JOHN F. FARLEY, CHIEF OF POLICE.


AOF'




I




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


639


partment must be sustained and supported with all the moral
and financial aid of which this community is capable. When
this shall be done, then, and not until then, will the openly expressed dissatisfaction and fault-finding disappear. To estimate our Chief of Police correctly let us review his still young
but useful career.
John F. Farley was born in the County Caven, Ireland, in
1849 and is therefor but forty-one years of age. He came to
America with his parents at the age of four. The family settled in Norwich, Connecticut, where the lad received a public
school education and remained until he was seventeen, at
which age, in the year 1867, he went west to Chicago, where
he enlisted in the regular army. He was assigned to company
K, Third Regiment Cavalry, Regulars, stationed at Fort Seldon, New Mexico, and here he remained until 1870, when his
regiment relieved the Eighth Cavalry in Arizona which in
turn took the place of the former.
During his term of enlistment, Mr. Farley rose to the rank
of first sergeant of his company and was honorably discharged
as such at the expiration of his term of service in 1872. While
in service Mr. Farley won an enviable reputation as an Indian
fighter. He was in a number of engagements with the redskins, of which the first was a fight with the Mescallero
Apaches in the Guadalupe Mountains in western Texas. Besides this Mr. Farley had an experience, which few men have
lived through and which attests to his remarkable courage,
fearlessness and tact. It was during the now famous battle of
Apache Pass, Arizona, on the Igth of July, I87I. He and
a first lieutenant were in command of a posse of five mounted
men. Mr. Farley was, in consequence of his experience in
Indian warfare, given equal command with the lieutenant.
This posse was sent out in pursuit of a band of Indians who had
been depredating and had been successful in stampeding the post
herd of cattle, about half a mile from the post. The garrison
consisted of but two companies, one of cavalry and one of infantry. The cavalry company had departed on a scouting expedition, a few days before, with the exception of twelve of
their number, who had been left in post for the purpose of escort and other duties, and who were in charge of the first ser



640


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


geant. The Indians, evidently aware of this, attacked the
herd within the very limits of the post, and were especially
emboldened as it happened that six of the twelve cavalrymen had departed from the post about an hour before as escort
to the United States mail wagon. When Sergeant Farley received his order to pursue the marauding band of savages
there were, therefore, but four men besides himself and the
lieutenant with whom to give pursuit. The exceeding smallness of the force did not, however, interfere with the ardor of
these few brave men and the order had scarcely been given
when all were in their saddles and off after the thieving redskins.
After pursuing them a half mile the trail was struck and
followed for another half mile. Here it divided and the larger
of the two trails was chosen by the party. The object of the
commanding officer, in sending so inadequate a force after so
large a one of the Indians was to temporarily engage and
hold them in check until such time as the re-inforcements
from the infantry company could come up with them. From
this time on the party kept in hot pursuit for a distance of three
miles, where the trail led up-hill over quite a rise in the country. Sergeant Farley was in advance and following his usual
system of Indian fighting, dismounted at the base of the hill,
which at the same time gave his horse an opportunity for rest.
While he was ascending the hill and leading his horse, a shot suddenly resounded through the stillness andMr. Farley immediately
realized that he was hit, and, as he at the time supposed, fatally. However, before he fully realized this, there came an
entire volley from the Indians, and a ball struck his horse;
the animal plunged and got away. Surely, a desperate situation for a wounded man, for at that moment a large body of
Indians appeared pouring down from the top of the hill, on
both sides of the small party, with the evident purpose of cutting off their retreat to the post. Happily the men were all:armed with the latest improved firearms and what still more
improved the situation, strange as this may seem, was the fact
that three of the party besides Sergeant Farley had also lost
their horses. Had they retained possession of their animals,
they would have endeavored to escape and becoming separated
would have fallen a sure prey to the enemy. The other two




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


64I


in making good their escape to the post, for a moment attracted the attention of the redskins, especially those who
were mounted, which was very fortunate for the four men
without horses, who were thus enabled to reach the foot of the
hill together and there entrench themselves in a strong position without further accident. However, before accomplishing
this, Mr. Farley had a very "close call."  In his endeavor to
reach the point of safety which already sheltered his companions he was exposed to the fire of the foe upon all sides. He
was moving along as best he could, with his shattered hip, in
a dry arroya at the foot of the slope. This was thickly covered
with underbrush. Exhausted from the loss of blood and separated from his companions, he crawled into a thick clump of
bushes, hoping thus to be secure for a time at least. He had
been there less than half a minute when a volley of shots
started the very ground upon which he lay, and covered him
with dust and gravel which nearly blinded him. It was evident that he was not so secure as he had deemed himself. He
quickly changed his position, hoping to thus better conceal
himself. He now took a survey of the situation, and looking
lip the hill, he espied the head of an Indian slowly making its
appearance above the crest, endeavoring to locate his enemy.
From the sudden disappearance of this head, Sergeant Farley
concluded that he was discovered and the certainty of his
death in case of attempting to reach his friends flashed upon
him, as in so doing he would have to run in a straight line
from the Indian and this would have made him a sure target.
Watching his opportunity, the very next time the head appeared, he drew a bead on it and fired. From the sudden and
entire disappearance of the gentleman's top-knot it may be
safely concluded that the shot told but too well. Farley now
made a sudden and determined break and fortune favoring him,
he reached his party in safety.
He now concluded that, as they were entirely surrounded,
it would be the last fight they would ever make and he besought his friends to make a determined and brave stand for
their lives, which they promised to do, he assuring them thathe himself would not run from the spot, as he was badly wounded
-to the death, he thought. In order to impress upon his




642


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


comrades his determination and despair, he unbuckled his pistol belt and laying it on the grouud beside him, he prepared
to sell his life as dearly as possible. Less than thirty minutes
later the mounted Indians returned from their pursuit of the
two men, who had succeeded in eluding them, and had reached
the post in safety. From this time on until darkness the Indians made assault after assault, but to no purpose. The four
hard-driven men repulsed them each time. We read of the
heroism of the Spartans at Thermopylae and the "Charge of
the Six Hundred," but think of four American soldiers, one
of them wounded and practically disabled, holding off for
hours a band of fierce and blood-thirsty Apaches numbering at least twenty-five, firing volley after volley, and
not a man hit with the exception of the shot received by
Farley in the beginning of the fight. Who can doubt the decrees of Providence, or question the heroism of our little frontier armies?
At night-fall the Indians desisted from further harassing our
party of heroes. It is a well-known fact to those familiar
with the Apache, that he will not fight after dark, a superstitious custom which prevails among them. This was an intense relief to the brave but exhausted little band and this
alone saved them,as neither ammunition nor courage could hold
out forever. Darkness was also followed by a heavy thunder
shower, much to the relief of the party in general, and to the
wounded man in particular, who had lain for three hours under
the scorching and tropical July sun in the desert of Arizona.
About an hour after dark a rider on a white horse appeared at
a distance. He was taken for an enemy by one of the party,
who fired a shot at him. The shot was followed by a challenge
from Farley and the welcome response " a friend!" cheered the
hearts of the forlorn little band. The speaker proved to be in
charge of a rescuing party, which had brought with them an
ambulance for the purpose of taking back four dead bodies; but
much to their surprise they found a very lively set of boys,
one with a fractured hip to be sure, but better than a regiment
of dead men.
Mr. Farley spent four months in the hospital and on recovering from his wound he was again assigned to active duty.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


643


At the expiration of his period of service he was honorably
discharged at Camp Bowie, Arizona, March ist, 1872.
Four months later, in 1873, Mr. Farley associated himself
with Mr. Thiel, who was an old acquaintance, and who at
that time established the now famous Thiel's Detective Service, in St. Louis, Mo. Mr.Farley remained in St. Louis about fifteen months and when the agency was enlarged and a New York
office opened, he was transferred to the metropolis to aid
in the establishing of the agency there. He remained in
New York about three years, in charge of the office and was
then transferred to St. Paul, Minn., where he opened an office
and built up the service to a high degree of efficiency. He
remained in charge there about four years and in I885 came to
Denver where he repeated his former good work for the Thiel
Detective Service, opening an office and remaining in charge
until his appointment as Chief of Police by Mayor Londoner
in May, I889. Mr. Farley had practically become an integral
part of the Thiel agency, which is to-day one of the leading
detective services of the world, and the establishment of the
most of its branch offices is due to his activity. Mr. Thiel always regarded Mr. Farley as his right hand, so to speak, and
when he left the agency the former was not inconsiderably annoyed.
Mr. Farley's schooling in detective work is of an exceptionally high order and with the necessary support from the city
government he would undoubtedly give to Denver a
most excellent police service, but if he is to carry out his ideas
to the advantage of the city, the city must at least do what
Mr. Thiel did: make a sufficient appropriation to enable him
to do so. The appreciation on the part of the citizens of Denver of Mr. Farley's appointment as Chief of Police was gracefully demonstrated by the presentation of an elegant and
costly gold star, richly embellished with brilliant setting and
appropriate inscription. The people knew what they would
gain in Mr. Farley's appointment and manifested their gratification early in his administration. Mr. Farley has recently,
after the development of the troubles in the Detective Department, taken personal charge thereof, and that he will properly
and efficiently administer it, is beyond the shadow of a doubt.




644             HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT
He knows how. It is only to be hoped that our city government will quickly recognize the necessities of its Police Department and take steps in freeing it from of its crippled condition
and thus utilize the good material it possesses and augment
this with what it lacks.








X    'M
Us: Ma


CHAS. A. HAWLEY, INSPECTOR.




CHAPTER V.


INSPECTOR OF POLICE, CHAS. A. HAWLEY.
A typical soldier, a thorough disciplinarian and an excellent
police officer: what more could be said of any man holding the
responsible position of Inspector of Police, a position, second
only to that of Chief? Such is Captain Hawley, the subiect
of this sketch.
Chas. A. Hawley was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in I848, and
is just forty-two years of age. His parents removed to New
York City while he was still a child,but he had scarcely reached
his seventh year when he left the city for the western part of the
state. This section of country, however, was tbo dull for the
lad and in a few months he was back in New York City,
whence he went to sea. For four years he was a seafarer, at
the expiration of which time he again landed in New York.
On the third of June, I862, he enlisted in the Eleventh United
States Infantry Regiment, of which he was bugler for three
years. After Appomatox he was among those who entered
Richmond, where he was mustered out on June 3, 1865, when
he returned to his parents in Philadelphia. He subsequently
followed railroading until the year 1878, when he came to
Denver.
It was in the special service of the Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy railroad that Captain Hawley gained his first experience as a police officer. Once located in Denver, he joined
the Merchants' Police, andin the year I879 General D. J. Cook
employed him as a criminal Deputy Sheriff, in which capacity
he served until I880. During this period he made a splendid
record, which was much enhanced by his remarkably clever
work in the celebrated Hayward murder case, when he captured the criminals after a two months' search.
A brief recalling of this tragic occurrence and the accompanying thrilling episodes, through which Captain Hawley




646


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


passed, may prove of interest, more especially, as it attests to
Hawley's undaunted courage, perspicacity and determination.
On September i, 1879, two men came over the mountains
towards Denver, on their way from Laramie, Wyoming, where
they had just been released from imprisonment in the territorial penitentiary. Their names were Sam Woodruff and Joel
Seminole. The former was three-fourths white and one-fourth
Cherokee Indian; the latter was a half-breed Cheyenne. Arriving at the Hayward ranch, above Mt. Vernon, which is situated in the mountains several miles back of Morrison,. they
stopped and asked to be driven down to their alleged cattle
camp near the Cold Spring ranch in the vicinity of Golden.
Hayward accommodated them. When they neared the
hog-back they choked Mr. Hayward, and in throwing
him out of his wagon broke his neck. The body was disposed of in a box-culvert about five miles out of town. They
then drove on to Denver, where they sold the team. On the
morning of the i3th the missing of Hayward was reported to
the Denver police authorities. Meanwhile the murderers were
enjoying the fruits of their crime and were also evidently enjoying supposed security.
Not long after the murder of Mr. Hayward, two men stole a
livery rig from Brown's stables, in this city. Captain Hawley
took charge of the case and tracked the thieves into Nebraska.
He took with him an assistant by the name of Ayres, and the
two followed the trail some sixty-five miles along the Niobrara
river. It seems that Ayres was hardly of any assistance to
Hawley, but on the contrary, came near ruining his plans, by
drinking and blabbing. At this point the track of one of the
thieves was lost and the other, Hawley discovered, led to Dakota, and he immediately set out to follow it up. He went as
far as Pine Ridge and succeeded in capturing Seminole whom
he brought safely back to Denver. Captain Hawley, without
loss of time, set forth again for Nebraska after the other man,
upon whose capture he was bent. Arrived at the point he had
reached on his first trip, the indications pointed to a fellow,
who kept dodging him and who, when arrested by Captain
Hawley, proved none other than the notorious mail robber,
" Bill " Johnson, who was wanted in Nebraska. This was an




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


647


important arrest.  Captain Hawley soon found out that Sam
Woodruff was the accomplice of Seminole and that these two
worthies were the slayers of Hayward. It appears that blood
found upon the clothes of Seminole, led to a close investigation which resulted in the confession of the half-breed to the
murder and the disclosure of the identity of his companion in
crime. When Captain Hawley ascertained the true nature of
the scoundrel he had determined to bring to justice, he started
back to Nebraska with re-doubled zeal. He struck his trail at
North Platte Station. Following this down, meanwhile stopping at all intermediate points between North Platte and
Omaha, he reached the latter city. Here Captain Hawley received a letter from Jeff. Carr, then Sheriff of Laramie County,
Wyoming, which contained the information that Woodruff's
people lived in one of the border counties of Iowa. At Council Bluffs Hawley discovered that a brother of the murderer
lived in the eastern part of Pottawatomie county, whither he
at once proceeded. Arrived there he disguised himself as a
farm hand and hired out as a corn-husker, at three cents per
bushel and board.  On the same evening, November 23, Captain Hawley went down to a village called Big Grove where
he found his man Sam Woodruff assisting his brother Jim
who kept a butcher shop. They were killing beef for a railroad construction gang. Being tired and worn out from his
long ride of the previous day, Captain Hawley now returned
to the farm and rested during the following day, but that same
night he again returned to Big Grove and striking up an acquaintance with his man he stood and chatted with him awhile.
The next day, however, he returned to Council Bluffs and telegraphed to General D. J. Cook for requisition papers. Then
he swore out a warrant for fugitive from justice against Sam
Woodruff. After obtaining this he started back for his man,
and took with him a constable, in the shape of a little Frenchman, who furnished Captain Hawley considerable amusement
because of his timidity and total unfitness for the task about
to be undertaken, and of which, for the time being, the constable had been kept in total ignorance. The night was dark
and stormy. Leaving Council Bluffs at 9:30 P. M., after riding
for six hours through the rain, our friends arrived at Big Grove




648


H ISTORJC SUPPLEMENT


at three A. M., drenched and cold, when they put up their
horses and lay down for a short rest in the stable. At five
o'clock they awoke and after an early breakfast Hawley prepared for work, taking every possible precaution to effectually
carry out the purposes of his plan. It was only now that the
Frenchman learned the true purport of their errand and he
was frightened almost out of his wits. Armed with a thirty-eight
calibre Colt's revolver, a shot gun, and the necessary official
documents, Hawley and his trembling companion went to the
store of the village and awaited the right opportunity. Meanwhile Captain Hawley had made his true identity known to the
store-keeper, who had on the previous day offered him a job
to cut cord wood at two dollars a day, telling him at the same
time that he looked too strong and too respectable for a cornhusker, who earned but a pittance at best.
It was not long before Sam and his brother Jim came sauntering down the street, the latter with an ax across his shoulder.  When they arrived opposite the doorway in which
Hawley stood, he quickly threw his gun up to his left shoulder
and leveled his revolver with his right hand and shouted:
"Sam Woodruff, stop! You are my prisoner; throw up
your hands!" Sam did stop, but made a move with his right
hand toward his hip pocket.
" Take your hand from behind you and throw up both hands
or you are a dead man," came from Hawley.  By this time
Woodruff began to realize that he was face to face with a daring and determined man, and up went his hands high into the
air.
"Who are you and what do you want of me? " said Sam.
"I'm a detective from Denver, where you are wanted for
the murder of old man Hayward," was the prompt reply.
By this time Jim, the brother, had sidled over toward Hawley's left, ax in hand, but he was not fast enough. Keeping
his shotgun leveled at Sam, Captain Hawley threw his revolver over his left arm, thus covering both men, and addressing
the brother, he said: " Stop right where you are, Jim Woodruff, or I'll fill you full of cold lead! "
This had the desired effect. Hawley then commanded the
trembling constable to take the ax away from Jim and, giving




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


649


the gun to the Frenchman,he walked up to Sam, quickly took
away his revolver, and snapped the handcuffs upon him. With
trembling voice the constable read the warrant, after which
Hawley told Sam Woodruff that he must go with him; that
he might go as a gentleman, or he would take him like a dog.
Sam concluded that the former was more preferable, and he went
willingly enough to all appearances, after giving his brother
Jim some ten dollars, with the remark: "You take this, Jim;
it belongs to you anyway."
Captain Hawley proceeded with his prize to Omaha, where
they arrived on the night of the 26th, and where requisition papers were awaiting his return. He had shackles riveted upon
Woodruff, so as to make absolutely sure of him, and left
Omaha with him on the noon train, November 28th, arriving
in Denver on the night of the 30th. Here Woodruff was kept
until December Ioth, when he was delivered to the authorities
of Jefferson county. On the evening of December 3oth a body
of about one hundred men marched to the jail in Golden, took
out the two murderers and hanged them from a railway bridge.
Seminole, in making his confession, had divulged all the details
of the atrocious crime.
The Rocky Mouutain Detective Agency was at this time
organized by General Cook. Captain Hawley joined it and remained with it three years. Subsequently he was made Deputy United States Marshal under P. P. Wilcox, by whom
Hawley was held in highest esteem. In August 1883 he accepted the position of special agent with the Denver and Rio
Grande Western railroad, and served as such until the railway
company abandoned this department, when he entered the
detective service in the City Police under Mayor Bates. Here
he served four months and then went into the Sheriff's office,
under Geo. B. Graham. Then for two years he worked as a
private detective and again entered the City Police Force on
January 7, I887, under Mayor Lee. He was re-appointed by
Mr. Lee's successor, the present Mayor, and on July 31, 1889,
he was promoted to First Sergeant. During the following fall
on September I4th, he was commissioned Police Inspector on
the recommendation of Chief Farley.




650             HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT
Inspector Hawley's duties are as follows: Supervision of all
police drills; inspection of uniforms, arms and ammunition;
and the sanitary care of the force. He is the purchasing
agent, through the City Treasurer, and has charge of the live
and rolling stock of the city. In fact, he is to the Police Force
what the adjutant is to a regiment. Of him Chief Farley has
said: " He is an exemplary officer and comes as near to the
standard of a West Point graduate in discipline as any man I
ever met outside of the regular service." Captain Hawley
earned his military title in i880, when he raised and commanded the first Zouaves organized west of the Missouri river.
He was also the first colonel of the Colorado National Guards,
in command of the First Regiment. Captain Hawley stands
six feet one and one-half inches, weighs I90 pounds and is a
splendid specimen of a man and an exemplary police officer.




I
I




/3
EMIR/


JOHN E. PHILLIPS, FIRST LIEUTENANT.




CHAPTER VI.


UIEUTENANTS AND SERGEANTS.
JOHN E. PHILLIPS, FIRST LIEUTENANT.
John E. Phillips was born in New York City, November 23,
1848. After passing through the various grades in the public
schools, he attended the business college of Bryant and Stratton,
in which he holds a life membership. Mr. Phillips is a carpenter and builder by trade. He joined the Denver Police
Force June I, 1879, and remained in its service until May i,
1885, under Chiefs Hickey, Cook, Lomery and Smith. He
was patrolman about one year and was then appointed license
collector, the first one in Denver, by Mayor Sopris. When in
1881 the force was increased the office of Sergeant of Police
was created and Mr. Phillips was advanced to this rank. This
position he held until i885 when he resigned from the force.
He again entered into the service of the department and was
appointed Second Lieutenant by Mayor Londoner July I, 1889,
and was promoted to the position of First Lieutenant on February ioth,.the following year. Mr. Phillips is the man who
arrested Clay Wilson, the "killer" of. the notorious Jim
Moon.
Those who lived in Denver in '79, '80 and '8I, well remember how this man Moon terrorized the entire community. He
kept a gambling house which was located in the alley behind
the Good Block and which was then a gathering place for all
the sporting element in and around Denver. Moon was not a
bad fellow when sober, but when in his cups woe to the man
who crossed him. The affair which terminated his career was
owing to a jealous row, between himself and wife. Upon Wilson, the mutual friend of the pair, fell Moon's suspicion. and
he uttered the threat of killing Wilson the first time the two
should meet. The meeting took place in the old Arcade on




652


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


Larimer street adjoining the present State National Bank,
then the quarters of the First National Bank. About the
time that the two men met, Chief Cook and Sergeant Phillips,
who had been in Police Justice Whittemore's Court, were
walking along on the west side of Larimer street, and had
just crossed over to Charpiot's Hotel when the first shot was
fired. Phillips ran toward the Arcade, whence he supposed
the shot to have come, and General Cook followed. He had
just reached the doorway when Clay Wilson issued therefrom,
with his revolver, still smoking, in his hand. Mr. Phillips
stopped Wilson and asked him what was the matter. "I
guess I've killed Jim Moon," he responded coolly. General
Cook having also arrived, Mr. Phillips stepped into the Arcade saloon, and there saw Moon lying on the floor near the
bar, flat on his back, acorpse. Mr. Phillips turned and went out,
and taking charge of Wilson, walked him up to police headquarters, then on Lawrence street, near Fifteenth. The affair
created great excitement and when it transpired who had been
killed, a sense almost of relief went up from the city, for Moon
had really been a menace to the peace of the community. The
man was not altogether bad, it was only his wild and ungovernable nature, when under the influence of liquor, that made
him the dread and fear of the peaceable portion of the community. When sober he was quiet and generous, and of undaunted courage; this he demonstrated during the Chines_
riot, when he faced a crazed mob of a thousand or more, ana
liberated, at the risk of his own life, a Chinaman who was almost dead from fright. At another time, when a warrant had
been issued for the arrest of himself and partner, the two,
with their wives upon their arms, and with revolvers in hand,
marched undauntedly through a phalanx of police officers to a
carriage and drove away. But all this courage only made the
man the more dangerous and when therefore the news spread
through the city that Clay Wilson had killed Jim Moon every
one felt like exonerating the slayer without further questioning into the details of the affair. Wilson was the hero of the
hour. Public opinion rendered the verdict and this was "justifiable homicide," and was so sustained by the court.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


653


Another famous arrest made by Lieutenant Phillips was that
of Mattie Lemmon, a denizen of a notorious house kept by
Belle Warden. The proprietress and inmates were all colored.
A barber from Leadville, on his way East, with considerable
money in his possession, accompanied the Lemmon woman to
a dance held at City Hall. He returned to the Warden house
with her where he was murdered. A man, Berry Gates by
name, did the killing and was condemned to the penitentiary
for life. The other man implicated, was a white man, the paramour of Belle Warden, and known by the sobriquet of "' Nigger Charley."  His right name was Charles Smith and he was
a hack-driver. He, Belle Warden and Mattie got ten years
each. Mattie has since died at State's Prison, but before dying made a full confession. The leading up to the arrest of
the parties implicated, was brought about by the finding of a
bundle in the Platte near the 3ISt street bridge. This contained
a bear robe and a quilt stained with blood. Soon after another
discovery of a more horrible nature was made by some children playing in the basin of Cherry Creek, near the Broadway
bridge. It was the body of a man, face downward, buried
there, and the encroaching waters had exposed portions of it.
Lieutenant Phillips devoted his time and attention to the matter and by cleverly connecting the various links brought the
murderers to justice.
Mr. Phillips is both intelligent and agreeable, and of a cool,
imperturbable temperament: admirable traits in a police officer. The confidence reposed in him, and the esteem in which
he is held by the members of the force is best exemplified in
his selection to the office of treasurer of the Police Mutual
Aid Association.
Lieutenant Phillips, it may be stated, like many of his colleagues, served his country in the days of its severest test. In
the year 1864, when the clouds of war darkened the American
sky, he, though but a boy in years, was seized with the ardor
of patriotism.  He offered his services to his country and
served in the 44th Volunteer Regiment of Wisconsin Infantry,
of which the colonel was the Hon. G. G. Symes, ex-member
of congress from Colorado. He passed through the entire war




654


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


and was honorably discharged from service. He has been a
member of Lincoln Post, G. A. R. since its organization.
HENRY NEWMEYER, SECOND LIEUTENANT.
Henry Newmeyer was born in the State of Wisconsin in the
year 1846. His father, who was one of the pioneers of that
State, arrived there, from Germany, in 1832. Mr. Newmeyer
crossed the plains in I862 and came to Colorado from Montana in 1867. Prior to coming to this State he was engaged
in mining in Idaho Territory and was among the first at the
Salm6n river excitement. Mr. Newmeyer is a pioneer of the
plains, having crossed these a number of times to Salt Lake
City and Idaho. He was also one of a party which was
among the first to make the journey from Walla Walla to
Boise Basin, Idaho. In I866 Mr. Newmeyer came to Denver
and later on drifted to the mining district in Gilpin county.
He located in Central City and was there married. In I871
he left Central City for Kansas City, Missouri, but returned to
Denver only six months later and has lived here ever since.
Mr. Newmeyer has been prominently known here in commercial pursuits. He was a member of the firm of Newmeyer &
Co., which did an extensive business in hides and wool. On
the second day of August, I887, Mr. Newmeyer became a
member of the Denver Police Force under Mayor Lee, and
after serving one year and a half as patrolman, he was made
Sergeant on the patrol wagon. Under the present administration he was assigned to the street and on February I9,
I889, was appointed, in spite of considerable competition, Second Lieutenant, in consequence of his steady and faithful services. Mr. Newmeyer possesses the confidence of his superior officers to the fullest degree. He is a magnificent specimen
of a man, standing five feet eleven inches in height. He is of
courteous and quiet demeanor and a thoroughly efficient and
capable officer.
SERGEANTS.
M. B. NORKETT, FIRST SERGEANT.
Mr. Norkett was born at Lake Forrest, in the State of Illinois, in the year I857, and came to Denver in May, I881.
Shortly after his arrival in this city he entered the employ of




HENRY NEWMEYER, SECOND -LIEUTENANT.


Of N




. -S.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


655


the Union Depot Company. He worked in the baggage room
for nineteen months and then became a member of the Depot
Police. On January 15, 1884, under Mayor Routt, Mr. Norkett entered the City Police as patrolman and under Mayor
Lee's administration he was made Second Sergeant, and
later on was advanced to First Sergeant, in which position he
was confirmed under the the present regime. Mr. Norkett has
always been regarded as as excellent officer and enjoysgeneral
popularity.
WILLIAM BOHANNA, SECOND SERGEANT.
Mr. Bohanna was born in the State of Massachusetts thirtyfour years ago. His business was that of a teamster. He
came to Denver in i877 and entered the Police Department as
patrolman in I880 and in 1889 he was appointed Second Ser-geant.
JOHN W. MCNEIL, THIRD SERGEANT.
Mr. McNeil was born in Adams county, Ohio, in the year
1845. He is of Scotch origin and his ancestors were among
the first settlers of Ohio. Mr. McNeil was brought up on a
farm and received a common school education. He is a carpenter by trade and came to Colorado, settling in Denver, in
I870. He served as Deputy Sheriff under General D, J. Cook
during 1877 and 1878. His appointment as roundsman in the
City Police Force occurred in I880. On May I, I890, Mr.
NcNeil was appointed Third Sergeant.
W. M. TEETER, FOURTH SERGEANT.
Mr. Teeter was born in the State of Ohio in I848. After
going through the course in the public schools he joined the
great army of laborers. In 187I he came west and settled in
Denver. Mr. Teeter first joined the Police Force in I882 and
served until 1887 when he left the force. He again entered
its service as patrolman in May, i889, and received his appointment as Fourth Sergeant on the i8th of February, I890.
Mr. Teeter is a good citizen and an efficient officer. He is




656


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


as well known as any member of the department and generally liked and respected.
PERCY A. CLAY, FIFTH SERGEANT.
Mr. Clay was born in Killbourn City, Wisconsin, June 4,
I859. He attended public school and passed through the
Normal University of Illinois. He taught school for two
years and then-learned telegraphy. He was station agent for
the Illinois Central, St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern,
Union Pacific and Denver and Rio Grande railway companies
at various times. Mr. Clay came to Denver in 1882 and became a member of the Police Force on May I, 1889, serving in
the capacityof patrolman until March i, I890, when he was
appointed as Fifth Sergeant. Mr. Clay is one of the finest
looking men in the department, standing six feet one inch and
weighing two hundred and fifteen pounds. His popularity
among his comrades was testified to by his election to the
honorable position of President of the Police Mutual Aid Association of Denver.
GEORGE L. GREEN, SIXTH SERGEANT.
Mr. Green was born in Bradford county, Pennsy4vania,
in I845. He received a commercial education, and is a locomotive engineer by profession. He came to Colorado in 1869,
located in Denver, and worked at his calling for four years
after his arrival here. In January, 1889, Mr. Green was appointed patrolman on the Police Force and on September ist,
the same year, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Mr.
Green is another member of the force who is of fine physique,
standing six feet one inch in height and weighing two hundred
and forty-seven pounds.
R. H. MACDONALD, SEVENTH SERGEANT.
Mr. MacDonald was born at Hazelton, in the State of
Pennsylvania, March 4, I860. He graduated from the high
school of that place and then became an iron moulder. In
I88I Mr. MacDonald came to Denver and entered the service




JOHN W. MO NEIL.j


SERGEANTS.


OF




I




OF THE DENVER POLICE.              657
of the water department. In June, 1889, he joined the Police
Force and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant September i,
I890. Sergeant MacDonald has the attributes of a good officer and is popular among his comrades.




CHAPTER VII.


THE DETECTIVE DEPARTMENT.
This important adjunct to the Denver Police Force has, of
late, been made the subject of much unfavorable comment, not
to say adverse criticism. Yet it must be confessed that this
was not entirely without cause, and it is but fair to acknowledge that sufficient reason has arisen to justify an expression
of dissatisfaction. But even so, there were still extenuating
circumstances and these should be taken into consideration before disposing of the subject altogether. Perhaps never in the
history of Denver were burglaries and safe-breaking so frequent,
or did these follow one another in such rapid succession as during
the late summer and fall of I89o. The community was greatly
wrought up over them, and the Police Department was particularly incensed at the daring criminals, who defied detection
despite the indefatigable perseverance on the part of the detectives, to ferret them out. But a scent was struck and the clue
was carefully followed up; and here it would be fitting to refer back to the experience of Chief Farley with a man whose
name is not unknown to the public.
Dan Sinks, after his discharge from Canon City, where he
had just served a six years' term for implication in burglary
and safe-blowing, which occurred at Leadville in i88I, and
where he was known under the name of McBride, had returned
to Denver. The Chief, in some way had been placed in possession of a bundle of letters belonging to Sinks, among which
was one from a lady, the matron of the penitentiary in Canon
City, who had taken much interest in the convict, and who
was determined to redeem him if it could be done by kind and
friendly advice. This letter deplored that he (Sinks) should
again have drifted among his old associates and haunts, after
the pledges of reformation he had given his friends, who had
interested themselves in his case and interceded in his behalf.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


659


Upon gaining this knowledge Chief Farley had Sinks brought
befo-e him. He charged him with ingratitude to his friends
and told him of his suspicions concerning his supposed connections with the recent burglary. Sinks slyly and doggedly
avowed his innocence. As Chief Farley had only moral
and not legal evidence against Sinks, he said to him: "Look
here, Sinks, I havn't the slightest doubt of your complicity in
this affair, but I will give you a chance. If you will tell where
the kit of burglars' tools is hidden and promise to leave Denver immediately and stay away from the city as long as I am
Chief of Police, I will let you go. On the other hand, if you
fail to accept my proposition, the chances are that after persistent work on the part of the officers, they will succeed in obtaining sufficient evidence to connect you with the possession
of these burglar tools and this being a penitentiary offense,
you will be sent back to Canon City, As the matter now
stands I am in possession of moral evidence only, but am
pretty sure of getting the necessary legal evidence to convict you." After a little hesitation and thought, Sinks replied:
"All right Chief, I agree."
He led the officers to the place where the tools were hidden
and true to his promise left town. But Sinks could neither
keep his promise to Chief Farley, nor would he give up his
nefarious vocation. A few weeks later several daring burglaries occurred and these bore the ear marks of Sinks' mechanical
skill. The blowing up of the safes of the Union Pacific Ticket
office and of Pryor & Noah, put the detectives upon their
mettle and Sinks, who was suspected by the Chief as the principal in these recent depredations, was apprehended and
brought to Police Headquarters where he was subjected to a
rigid examination by Detectives Watrous and Crocker, the
men engaged in working up the case. The Chief positively declined to see the fellow on this occasion after his
previous experience with him. Sinks became defiant, undoubtedly realizing that he had no mercy to expect from the
authorities and particularly from the Chief, upon whom he had
flagrantly imposed, and whose kindness he had scorned. Sinks
not only proved stubborn but indulged in vile and abusive lan



660


HISTORJC SUPPLEMENT


guage against the officers, who, exasperated at the prospect of
defeat, and seeing the fruits of their labors slipping away from
them, more especially after insinuations akin to ridicule on the
part of the daily press of this city, forgot themselves and their
duties as officers of the peace, and when Sinks became belligerent, they simply struck back and the wiley and audacious
criminal got the worst of it. For this they were prosecuted
and on their own admissions to the court, of loss of self-control,
forfeited their places in the department. The punishment of
these offending officers was not too severe and can not fail in its
influence for good, but it is nevertheless to be deplored that
at their trial the main witness against them and upon whose
oath and testimony the men were convicted was a notorious
felon, a released convict, who at that very time was under the
shadow of recent crimes. His complicity in them was also
verified by the admission of one of his confederates, both to
Messrs. Pryor & Noah and to Chief Farley. His confederate had
been previously in the employ of Pryor -& Noah, and was
chosen by Sinks on account of his familiarity with the premises.
Even while writing the above, news has reached Denver
from Pueblo that Sinks and his gang of safe-blowers have been
caught in the act of burglary in that city only the night before 'Nov. 28th, 1890) and are in durance vile.
The result of this affair brought about a change in the Department. Chief of Detectives Loar was prompted to resign
and the Detective Force was reduced from twelve to nine men,
a number altogether inadequate for the demands of the City of
Denver.
Prior to the year '83 the City Detective Service of Denver
was of a rather desultory character. During that year, however, a permanent and systematic organization of this department was effected. It is now under the personal supervision
of Chief Farley with Assistant Chief of Detectives Sam Howe
in charge, the latter having absolute control of the office.
The question may be asked, why did not Chief Farley take
personal charge of the Detective Force at once, when entering
upon his duties as Chief, instead of placing Mr. Loar at its
head? The answer to this is easily found. When Mr. Farley




I




SAMUEL HOWE, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF DETECTIVES.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


66t


accepted the office much had to be done in the Police Department and no one man could have superintended both branches
with justice to the task. Therefore Mr. Farley selected Mr.
Loar, whom he had-known as a trustworthy lieutenant in the
past. That Mr. Loar lacked the necessary executive ability
was as much of a disappointment to the Chief as it was detrimental to the Detective Service. It was the final disagreement
between Officers Loar and Howe, which forced the realization
upon Mr. Farley that he must give his personal attention to
this branch of the Department. As he has consummated many
of his plans in the Police Department in the introduction of
reforms and improvements, he is now at liberty to look after
both. A better state of affairs may be looked forward to and
it may be safely predicted that the Detective Service of Denver
will be as excellent henceforth as the limited force of men will
permit. More men and money are essential for greater efficiency.
SAMUEL HOWE, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF DETECTIVES.
Sam Howe,, as he is familiarly called, was born in Shelby
county, Ohio, October 16, I839, and is, hence, in hisfifty-first
year, though he looks scarcely more than forty. He received
a common school education and learned the trade of a wheelwright. Sometime before the breaking out of the late war for
the Union he enlisted in the regular army. He was assigued
to the Second Cavalry Regiment, then stationed in Texas.
This regiment, after the outbreak of hostilities, was changed
to the Fifth United States Cavalry. Mr. Howe served altogether eight years, passing through the entire war, and was
honorably discharged from the service in the year 1867 at Atlanta, Georgia. In 1868 he came to Colorado, going to Black
Hawk, where he lived for one year and from which place he
moved to Denver. In I873 Mr. Howe joined the Denver Police Force. He served as patrolman ten years and as detective eight years. Under the present administration Mr. Howe,
in consequence of his great experience, integrity and ability,
was advanced to the responsible position he now fills, which
under existing conditions, is paramount to Chief of Detectives. In the famous Fitzgerald murder case (already alluded




662


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


to as the Belle Warden case) Mr. Howe worked diligently
and adroitly and did much toward bringing the parties implicated behind the bars. It was he who broke up a dangerous
band of house-burglars, who entered and.robbed some fourteen
different residences in the city. Mr. Howe captured four of
them, each of whom received a thirteen years sentence in
State's Prison; and he personally recovered goods to the value
of $4,000. Mr. Howe's most recent success in the trapping
of the safe-blowers of the West Denver Brewing Company's safe is fresh in   the  minds of the    people.
He has been closely identified with nearly every important capture of burglars made in Denver during the eightteen years of his continued service. He has ever enjoyed the
confidence of his superior officers. He started the rogues'
gallery, now containing nearly thirteen hundred portraits
and collected and arranged the curious display of burglar's
tools and instruments of crime on exhibition at the office of
the Detective Department. Beside these interesting and valuable features Mr. Howe has a series of very valuable and
carefully arranged scrap books containing criminal events of
the past twenty years and a list of all the murders committed
in and about Denver during this period, with the disposition
of the perpetrators.
Tried, true and rarely mistaken in his judgment of men
and estimate of events, Mr. Howe is one of the members of
our department whose services are and have been of great
benefit to the community. He and Detective John Holland
ore the oldest serving members in the Denver Police Department, each having now served some eighteen years.




CHAPTER VIII.


THE ROUTINE OF OUR POLICE SYSTEM OF TO-DAY.
The first uniformed police was introduced in Denver by
Chief McCallin in I875. The force then numbered but thirteen
men, including the Chief. To-day the force by ordinance
should number one hundred but for lack of appropriation
on the part of the city there are but eighty-three,
exclusive of the Police Matron. These are as follows:
Chief, I Inspector, 2 Lieutenants, 7 Sergeants, 53 Patrolman,
i Assistant Chief of Dectectives, 8 Detectives, I Clerk, i Assistant Clerk, 3 Operators, I Jailer, 3 Assistant Jailers, and I
Turnkey.
There are three reliefs known respectively as First, Second
and Third Patrol, and these are divided as follows:
First, io men on duty from five A. M. until twelve Ai.
Second, 13 men on duty from 12 M. to 8 P. M.; and two
mounted officers on duty from I2 M. to 12 P. M.
Third, 28 men (night relief), of whom four are mounted,
from 8 P. M. to 5 A. M.
These reliefs go out in charge of a Sergeant, whose duty it
is to visit them while on their beats and report time of visit.
The men are also under instructions to report to headquarters
every half hour, by means of the patrol-box system, and each
report is recorded by the police operator.
During the day the Chief, the Inspector and one Lieutenant
are at the Central Station. At night this is in charge of a
Lieutenant, from 8 P. M. to 8 A. M.
Of the three operators there is one to each patrol.
The Police Clerk and Assistant are on duty twelve hours
each; one by day and one by night. The Police Clerk, James
Collins, is another pioneer who came to Colorado in I86I, locating in Gilpin county where he followed a miner's occupa



664


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


tion for some years. From i885 to I889 Mr. Collins was Under
Sheriff of Gilpin county, and in I889 he came to Denver where
he was soon appointed to the position which he now holds.
Mr. Collins is a Canadian and was born in Port Stanley, Ontario, in the year 1843. He came to the States in I854, located
in Chicago and during the war enlisted in the First Iowa Infantry Regiment. After serving for two years and a half he
was honorably discharged.
The patrol-wagons are stationed, one at the Central Station,
City Hall, the other at the station known as Division No. 2,
situated at Arapahoe and Thirty-third streets. This latter
station is in charge of a Sergeant. The patrol-wagons are
manned by a driver and a patrol consisting of a Sergeant in
charge and a private who are on duty I2 hours each relief.
The Jailer is on day duty, the Assistant Jailers and Turnkey
on night duty, I2 hours each.
The Police Matron, who has her rooms at City Hall, has
charge of female prisoners, lost children, etc.
Lieutenants, Night and Day Jailers and patrols change from
day to night and vice versa once eac-h month.
Aside from the above there are three special assignments of
one man each, viz: one at the post-office, one at the intersection of Sixteenth and Larimer streets and one at the Union
Depot.
The Detective Office is at present in charge of the Assistant
Chief of Detectives,under the supervision of the Chief of Police,
and the eight detective officers are at command at all hours,day
and night, whenever occasion may require them.
There are two Police Surgeons, one at each station, and
these are supposed to be on duty at all hours; in fact, whenever called upon.
There are also two city herders, whose duty it is to look after stray stock, and two hostlers who look after the stock belonging to the department.
Among the most important features introduced by Chief of
Police Farley are the following: Duties of Sergeants as
roundsmen; their daily reports stating where and when pa
trolmen are found while on duty; the present patrol-wagon
service with reports of Sergeants in charge; Jailer's daily re



OF THE DENVER POLICE.


665


ports; creation of the Inspector's office, and Lieutenants'
daily reports.
Prior to the present system, jailers were not required to
make daily reports, consequently prisoners might have been
incarcerated for weeks at a time without the knowledge of the
Chief or Marshal. This is impossible now. Each day informs the Chief of its happenings; who apprehended and upon
what grounds. Nothing that concerns the Department can
now transpire without the cognizance of the Chief, within the
twenty-four hours.
For the various reports, Inspector Hawley has devised and
arranged a unique and practical system of blank forms.
These forms are all enumerated on the requisition list, a fac
similie of which appears on page 667.
Thus it will be seen that the machinery must operate with
the regularity of clock work and it is but necessary to spend a
few hours at Police Headquarters in order to learn of the discipline which exists in the department.
But there still remains something of gravest importance to
be done and it can not be done by the department. It must
come from the City Council, and it is the introduction into
Denver of a WORK-HOUSE. This is perhaps the only city of its
size in the world that is without such an institution, the importance of which is hardly to be over-estimated. It is known
throughout the length and breadth of the land, among the
tramps and "vags," that Denver invites them, is willing to
feed and house them and look after their welfare and comforts
generally. The result is that our city is the great winter resort for the worthy members of these fraternities. They congregate here and have, to use a modern slang, "a picnic."
They commit petty, larceny, which means a sentence in the
county jail, and this is equivalent to good food, a warm bed
and nothing to do. In the spring of the year these worthies
are set free, looking sleek and fat and prepared to enjoy the
summer season out of doors in their own happy and peculiar
way. Build the WORK-HOUSE and you will rid the city of a
large element which is both objectionable and expensive.
Prior to I884 a condition existed which at the present time
would be regarded as nothing short of chaotic. But Denver




666              HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT
was then only a city in embryo and a frontier town at that.
Its police service, though severely taxed by'reason of the then
existing conditions, was but a primitive organization. All
this has changed during the past six years and the city has
developed into a metropolis. The department is metropolitan
in system and it now remains for a legislative act to make it
so in fact and thus increase its capacity for usefulness and free
it from the incubus of politics and politicians.




OF THE DENVER POLICE.             667
THE REQUISITION FOR BLANK FORMS AS USED IN THE
POLICE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF DENVER, COLORADO.
Form Numbers of Blanks Used in the Department.


o                   NAMES OF FORMS.                     I     WANTED.
I  Defendent's Recognizance     -        -        -..................................
2  Daily Report Wagon Sergeants     -        -...................................
3  City Jailer's Monthly Report  -       -...................................
4  Police Matron's Monthly Report....................................
5  Chief Detective's            -        -.....................................
6  Chief Herder's     "             -        -.................................
7  Charges and  Specifications  -                 -...................................
8  Pound Master's Order to Deliver................
9  Property Tag                 -                 -.......................
Io  Requisition on Inspector of Police  -     -...............................
II  Patrol Sergeant's Daily Report -      -        -..................................
I2  Operator's Monthly Report        -..................................
13  Telephone and Signal Service Daily Report      -....................................
14  Jailer's Daily  Report...................................
I5  Ruled  Letter Heads          -          -      -...................................
i6  Unruled ".   "                  -        -.
17  Printed  Envelopes (small)   -        -        -....................................
18  Printed Envelopes (large)        -        -..................................
19  Book Record of Gaming and Houses of Prostitution....................................
20  Pawnbroker's Daily Report        -        -....................................
21  Patrolman's Arrest Book      -                 -...................................
22  Form Number of Blanks            -        -...................................
23  Police Uniform Specifications         -        -....................................
24  Large Envelopes for Prisoners' Effects, Detective.................
25Small Envelopes for Prisoners' Effects, Detective....................................
2   Prisoners' Property Tag          -        -..........................
27  Second Div. Wagon Service Sheet and Opr. Daily Report..................
28  Police Record (book for monthly report)   -.................
29  Detectives' Daily Report     -        -        -................ -....
30  Detectives' Daily Record Pocket Memoranda....................................
31  Second Division Jailer's Daily Report  --...........................
32  I Description  Card     -        -        -...................................
33  Lieutenants' Daily Report    -        -        -...........................
34  City Jailer's Register  -        -        -.
35  Vicious Dog  Notice                   -        -...........................................................[SEE  PAGE  66.............................................................
[SEE PAGE 665.]




CHAPTER IX.


A BOLD PIECE OF WORK IN SAFE BLOWING.-THE TRAP.-THE HAUL.
On Saturday morning, November I5th, I890, the good people of Denver, after arising from their night's rest, were
startled by highly sensational headlines in the newspapers,
announcing that the Denver Brewing Company's offices, in
West Denver, had been entered by burglars the night previous,
the safes blown open and the collector, Charles Narath, who
sleeps on the premises, nearly beaten to death by the desperadoes. One thousand and sixty-five dollars in cash, belonging
to the company, one hundred and ten dollars and a gold watch
and chain, valued at one hundred and fifty more, belonging to
Louis Killbach, an employe, who left them there for safe keeping, were gone with the thieves.  Three hours later, Mr.
Narath, whom the burglars had gagged and bound, after beating him mercilessly, finally managed, by superhuman effort, to
release himself and give the alarm. The police were notified,
but all trace of the thieves seemed absolutely wiped out.
However, the case was not abandoned and a clue was obtained
less than twenty-four hours later, which resulted in the most
important capture recorded for some years in the United States.
How the department got its first information, which brought
about the capture of the safe-burglars, is still a mystery, and
one of those secrets which may, perhaps, never transpire, but
this much is known: Chief Farley got the clue and immediately detailed several detectives to acertain point on Broadway,
opposite the base ball ground. The sidewalk here is in the
form of a plank platform, leading over a slope in the ground
which marks the delimitation between the street and the bottom along Cherry Creek. The bridging is high enough to admit a man beneath it and is several hundred feet in length. At
one end of this walk, hidden beneath it, was found a cloth
casing, containing a collection of the finest and most complete




I




THE FAMOUS KIT OF SAFE-BREAKING AND BURGLARS' TOOLS,
CAPTURED BY THE DENVER POLICE, NOV. 18, 1890.




OV THE DENVER POLICE.69


669


set of burglars' tools ever made. A description of the find in
detail may not be uninteresting.
There are one set of machine drills, numbering thirty pieces;two sectional jimmies with oilcloth casings, so arranged that
te  nybe slung over the. shoulders ajuct c. te- benet) th~p
coat; without fear of detection; twenty a_~sr1teql: drills,;sectiopal hjand dritl'; three Wedges, so -fin,~it theywill eter,
m h sn~est. -possibli, crevice ~; AtwQ.0ilcd =;c 'il Qfus.~fs~i~r
double skele~toff keys;,one' pair- of doorsiippers thrire. punches,,one, scre-w,punch-; two. screw. drivers;, -oq4e monkey w rench,-;
two sets.. of -cot"bination to~ols. *
l.ree isas - diagrami upon,,,he,edge    i ich there ip,
"1[  hch eyidently stands. -for M.- osler,.t&e,fi~alb e,.of the'
mn~e~_l Qfowleof;, the safes used by.- the Denver iBrewing Coinpany 4ad th~e dtAwing is'a diagram of the combipatipn lock,
exact in line* 4nd mea~uikements. ~All. these are-,n~w, in the
dete'ctive office carefully and. artistically adrrar~ged.- ina. glaSs
caseq, including the revolvers taken from the -+urglars-later on.
The. exact reproduction, gn the next, page,, -will- giwe.. an accurate idea of the "kit)" the'sight of,wh~ich-would, make the
bosom of, an, expert safe-blower heave with -envy,..,
The capture of. these tools, including the, stlep` Watch: and
chain which were wrapped up in the! same btindltj'had leaked
out in some manner to the knowledge of Qthjeasrnembers, of
the force., Chief F.arley fearing that this, might spread and
reac~h the ears of. the burglars and thus thwart- his plans for
their capture, assembled the twelve men who':biad -thoe w..cret
and placed them, under * a solemin oath not to -4iIVujg&e what
they knew until he, should see fit to- release. them., fropintlr
oath. Every man proved faithful ~to -his, oath.
Three at a time, did the detectives 'do watch" ditty and,mrer
lieve each other when rest was neceess4ry adhS. te~tr
force of detectives served in turn,-Ayizig in Wait;,,nd watcjing
for their prey. At last, on the third night, 'Detectives McAndrews, Ustick and Clark stationed themselves under the
board walk, where no passers-by might see them. The
wea~ther was cold and the officers, in anticipation of another
long night of watching and waiting had wrapped themselves
up as warmly as possible; but it was destined to -be the




670


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


hoped-for and eventful night. Everything was still; all was
silent. McAndrews' hands rested on his shot-guu and
Clark and Ustick had their revolvers convenient.
The hour was about eight when they saw three men stealthily creeping down the embankment and under the platform
walk, where they apparently searched for something. They
did not find what they sought and seemed at a loss. No wonder; the tools were safely at Police Headquarters. One step
brought them sufficiently near to discover to them the men in
ambush. One glance was sufficient. Simulating entire indifference they turned and walked away. They had taken
but a few steps, landing on the side-walk, when the voice of
Officer McAndrews commanded them to stop: " Gentlemen,
we are officers. We want to talk to you." Instead of stopping the three men broke into a run. One of them had a revolver in his hand and Detective McAndrews, realizing that
the men would escape, drew a bead upon this one and fired.
The man dropped. He had received the charge in his left
leg between the knee and the thigh; another of the three endeavored to get behind a telegraph pole. But here he encountered Detective Clark, who placed his revolver at his breast
with the injunction to throw up his hands or he would be a
dead man. He did not hesitate to do as he was ordered and
the officer ran his hand back of him and took from his hip
pocket a 44-calibre Smith & Wesson revolver. The third man,
having gained an advantage, ran up the street pursued by
Messrs. Clark and Ustick, but as there were pedestrians along
the street they feared to fire lest they might hit an innocent
person; consequently the fellow escaped. A patrol-wagon was
summoned and the victors and their captives were rapidly
driven to the police station. Dr. Smith examined the wounded
man and pronounced him badly hurt. The bone above the
knee was shattered and he was taken to the county hospital
where he still lies strongly guarded. The other man, after being searched, was locked up. The men were evidently after
the tools, and it is thought that preparations had been made
to break into a bank on that same night. It has since transpired that the two men captured are among the most noted,
expert and dangerous burglars in America. They gave their




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


671


names as McDevitt and West. The wounded man is McDevitt. Who the third man was is not known. He doubtlessly
got far away on that same night.
RECORD OF THE CAPTIVES.
Under the fire of Chief Farley the prisoners made some very
doubtful and improbable statements regarding themselves. One
thing, however, was apparent to the Department from the
first; that they had succeeded in bagging a brace of very precious birds and the sequel has corroborated the accuracy of
the premise. In the endeavor to place the men, Chief Farley
has received the following communications by wire and mail:
LETTER FROM M. V. BORGMAN, CHIEF OF POLICE OF DETROIT.
DETROIT, Nov. 23, I890.
J. F. FARIEY, ESQ.,
Sup't of Police, Denver, Colo.
Dear Sir:-The man Frank West, whose picture you enclose to me, is
recognized by a number of our people as Jim Maguire, alias Cap Roach,
an all-around thief and desperate burglar, whose home is in Windsor,
Ontario, where he is well known to everybody. Some three years ago he
married at Windsor, the wife of Tom Bigelow, the burglar, who is better
known by the nom de plume of Little Louise. This is not by any means
his first trip to Denver, as he was in Denver at the time that Tom Gallagher, the Chicago pick-pocket, was shot and killed by Dan Hunt, in a
variety theatre in your city, about two years ago, and was one of a mob
of thieves who came there to operate at that time. The killing of Gallagher by Hunt led to the breaking up of the mob, and they left Denver,
first securing Hunt's release from prison, and coming back east Maguire
went to his home in Windsor. * * *- In Windsor Maguire opened a restaurant, which soon became the headquarters for all the traveling thieves
in the country, and many drinking bouts and carousals were carried on
in the place, until it became notorious. At that time his Denver friend,
Dan Hunt, made a headquarters at this place. Maguire, while on a
drinking spree, committed an indecent assault on a French boy who
lived in Windsor. The boy was scarcely more than half-witted. The
thing got out to the public and created a great deal of excitement and
Maguire was arrested and sent five years to the Kingston penitentiary on
account of it. This was in March, 1890, and on the I6th of October, in
company with another convict named John Leslie Cook, he escaped from
the prison hospital, and the receipt of his picture is the first that has
been heard of him since then. He is described by Warden M. Lovell of
Kingston penitentiary, as five feet six and three-quarters inches high,
fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, face covered with red blotches




672


HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


about the size of peas, first finger on left hand gone, weighed in March,
I89o, one hundred and eighty pounds, but lost much during his confinement in prison. This man is as desperate a burglar as there is on the
road, and a man of considerable skill and ability. I will write you further particulars regarding the other man, and I wish you would send
me an accurate description of him and let me know whether he compares
with the description enclosed of —  * *
Yours Truly,
M. V. BORGMAN.
[There are omissions which are designated by the stars, this being private matter,
and not for publication.-ED.]
LETTER FROM DONALD MACKAY, ESQ.
VERMILYE & Co.,
BANKERS,
I6 & I8 Nassau St.,
New York City.
NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 1890.
To THE CHIEF OF POLICE,
Denver, Colorado.
Dear Sir — I am this morning informed by Inspector Byrnes of this
city that you have arrested one known to us as " Milky McDonald," who
escaped some months since from Hackensack jail at Hackensack, N. J.
He was charged by us with burglary in the first degree, and breaking
and entering a safe. The testimony is such that had we the man we
could give him at least fifteen years. I understand that he is wounded.
Will you please inform me as soon as possible how much of a case you
have against him and if not able to hold him and give him as long time
as we will here, would it not be better to surrender him to us as he is
under indictment for that charge? If so, we will send and get him.
Please give me full information. I refer you with pleasure to Inspector
Byrnes of New York as to the statement of facts. Yours truly,
DONALD MACKAY,
And of Firm of Vermilye & Co.,       President of Englewood Protective
of New York City.                   Society, Englewood, N. J.
TELEGRAMS.
DECEMBER. I, 1890.
Dated Portsmouth, Ont.
To J. F. FARLEY,
Chief of Police, Denver.
Identified photo as Maguire easily. Facts are as you state. Will
write you particulars at once.            M. LOVELL, Warden.
DECEMBER I, 1890.
Dated St. Paul, Minn.
To JAS. MCPARLAND,
Opera House Block, Denver, Colo.
Tell Farley Robert identifies burglar McDermott as James, alias
Milky McDonald, noted New York burglar, wanted at Hackensack, N.J.,




OF THE DENVER POLICE.


673


for burglary committed at Englewood. Broke jail at Hackensack, is
desperate character. Will have to be closely guarded or will break jail in
Denver. See Byrnes' book, page 129.    W. A. PINKERTON.
DECEMBER 2, I89o.
Dated Boston, Mass.
To CHIEF OF POLICE FARLEY,
Denver, Colorado.
Your burglar West is Cap Roach of Windsor, Ont., an escape from
Kingston penitentiary. His pal is Milky McDonald, wanted at Englewood, N. J., where he broke jail.      A. W. COOKE,
Editor Police News.
From the Police News of Dec. 15, I888, we learn that James
McDonald alias " Milky " McDonald is one of the most notorious bank thieves and burglars in this country. He was connected with Joel Dollard, Geo. Feyth and Kid McMannus in
the Fairchild burglary of Bridgeport, Conn. He, Clark and
Connors did all the safe work in Boston, about six years ago.
McDonald's age is about thirty-one,-he is five feet nine and
one-half inches in height, weighs one hundred and fifty pounds,
has light hair and blue eyes, of medium build and light complexion. He has tatooed on his left arm the initials "J.
McD." and an anchor. Has a dot on left hand between thumb
and forefinger. He has done some of the neatest jobs in England. He is also charged with the murder of police officer Albert W. Thayer, Detroit, Nov. 26, i888.
All this information corresponds with the men West and
McDermott alias McDevitt and it will be seen that the capture
of these dangerous and notorious crimiials is of utmost importance. That our police should have succeeded in their capture
is a victory to be proud of and will add not a little to the enviable reputation already enjoyed by the Denver Police Department.




CHAPTER X.


THE DENVER POLICE MUTUAL AID ASSOCIATION.
Most of the large cities of the United States, and many of
the smaller ones, have either a Police Pension Fund or a Mutual Aid Fund. Some cities have both these funds.  It is
most fitting that there should besuch organizations. Recently,
in an interview in one of the Denver newspapers, one of our
leading citizens, Mr. Donald Fletcher, is quoted as saying that
between the citizens and danger to life and property stands the
police officer, ready at a moment's notice to imperil or sacrifice
his life, and that there should be a relief fund to assist the
widows and children, where an officer gives up his life in the
protection of life and property. Mr. Fletcher's humane statements will be voiced by the public at large. No citizen knows
but what at any moment, in the protection of his interests, the
life of an officer may be sacrificed. Within a short time two
brave officers, Wanless and Phillips, have been killed while in
the discharge of their duties, the former in the protection and,
in all probability, the saving of life, the latter in the protection
of both life and property. In such misfortunes, the Mutual
Aid steps forward to assist the families of the deceased officers,
and the larger the fund may grow, of course the more good it
may have in its power to do.
The Denver Police Mutual Aid Association was organized in
March, I890. The desirability of such an association in the
Denver Police Department was recognized by Chief Farley,
who in connection with Inspector Hawley and Lieutenant
Phillips submitted the matter to the force. The proposition
met with favor and from suggestion to realization consumed
only as much time as was required to perfect the organization.
Sergeant P. A. Clay is President and Lieutenant John E. Phillips, Treasurer. The other officers are members of the Department. There is a board of trustees and an investigating com



OF THE DENVER POLICE.


675


mittee. Only members of the Police Force are eligible to membership in the Association. The organization of this Association is one of the many things that reflect much credit on the
present Department.
A last word may be said for our Police Force. The City of
Denver has grown to be a metropolis of nearly one hundred
and fifty thousand population. The city covers a great deal
of ground. A large floating population is always here, and
there comes to us the refuse of the worst elements of eastern
cities, that drifts westward to the confines of the country, and
what part of it does not make its home here, remains long
enough to do its utmost to accomplish the worst possible ends.
Considering these matters, and the comparatively small number
of Police Officers that we have, the work accomplished by
our Police Department compares most favorably with other departments. Each officer has very much too large a beat to patrol, and it is to be hoped that the day is at hand when Denver
will show the same progress that exists in her commercial pursuits, in the organization of a metropolitan force of men adequate to the demands.
[THB END.]




0




ROSTER


OF THE
Denver Police Department.


OFFICERS.


NAME.
JOHN F. FARLEY,
C. A. HAWLEY,
JOHN E. PHILLIPS,
HENRY NEWMEYER,
M. B. NORKETT,
WM. BOHANNA,
J. W. McNEIL,
W. M. TEETER,
P. A. CLAY,
GEORGE GREEN,
R. H. MACDONALD,
JAMES COLLINS,
GEORGE DAVISON,
WM. FOWLER,
ISAAC LANGAN,
R. M. MURPHY,
L. H. WYGANT,


RANK.
Chief.
Inspector.
First Lieutenant.
Second Lieutenant.
First Sergeant.
Second Sergeant.
Third Sergeant.
Fourth Sergeant.
Fifth Sergeant.
Sixth Sergeant.
Seventh Sergeant.
Clerk.
Clerk.
Jailer.
Assistant Jailer.
Assistant Jailer.
Turnkey.


PRIVATES.


NAME.
JOSEPH BARR,
JOHN BAUGH,
P. F. LEGERE,
JOHN SWANSAY,
E. V. WILLIAMS,
JOHN O'DONNELL,
PATRICK DONNELLY,.J. A. SCRIVNER,
JOHN MCDERMOTT,
F. T. BRUCE,


RANK.
Patrolman.
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OF THE DENVER POLICE.


NAME.
T. J. RILEY,
W. P. DUNNINGTON,
W. W. JACKSON,
A. F. PETERSON,
JOHN HOLMES,
A. E. HUNT,
M. J. GOLDEN,
PERCY SMITH,
W. W. LOY,
S. T. SABIN,
O. D. JACKSON,
H. SHREVE,
WM. A. MORRISON,
Z. T. COLE,
JOHN BRADY,
H. C. SMITH,
H. R. RAMSEY,
O. P. WIGGINS,
JOHN HUNSBERGER,
JAMES WALKER,
WM. SMITH,
H. T. BENSON,
A. M. PETERS,
G. H. PETERSON,
C. M. ALEXANDER,
J. P. ANDERSON,
J. C. REED,
A. J. NORRIS,
PATRICK LEWIS,
JAMES RAFFERTY,
M. M. BURNETT,
J. D. BUTTON,
GEO. W. KELLOGG,
W. F. HENDRICKS,
CHARLES OLSEN,
BART. SULLIVAN,
J. J. KEANE,
P. J. DALEY,
GEORGE PATTON,
W. C. BAKER,
A. E. NORTON,
J. H. WILCOX,
E. P. SMITH,
JAMES DEKEATOR,
TH. L. PALMER,


RANK.
Patrolman.
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HISTORIC SUPPLEMENT


NAME.
T. E. CAMPBELL,
H. H. ISErT,
O. L. HAMSHER,
A. RORRISON,
M. SHAUGHNESSY,
OLAF SWANSON,
H. A. MEINART,
I. G. GILMORE,
FRED. LINDGUIST,
J. C. JONES,
GEORGE W. SEFTON,
MRS. SADIE M. LIKENS,
R. L. TAYLOR,
GEORGE IVERS,
H. R. WILLIAMS,
M. F. LYON,
AL. LEACH,


RANK.
Patrolman.
it
City Herder.
Assistant City Herder.
Police Matron.
Signal Operator.
Signal Operator.
Signal Operator.
Bailiff.
Lineman.


DETECTIVES.


SAMUEL HOWE,
WM. INGERSOLL,
C. E. CLARK,
J. J. MCANDREWS,
HOWARD THOMPSON,
JOHN HOLLAND,
JOHN J. LEYDEN,
W. H. RENO,
WM. USTICK,


Ass't Chief of Detectives.
Detective.
lc




II




CHAMBERLIN
INVESTMENT COMPANY
IS A
Home Institution
AND
BELIEVES IN HOMES
FOR THE PEOPLE.
It has suburban property on Capitol Hill,
at Montclair, University Park and elsewhere, which is most desirable for locating homes, or as an investment.
THE SAVINGS FUND PLAN OF REAL ESTATE
PURCHASES
is something new and attractive for homeseekers. Call on us for particulars.
THCE
CHAMBERLIN INVESTMENT COMPANY,
1033 Sixteenth Street,


DENVEnR      -


COLO.




Important to Those Seeking
Investments.
For the past ten years
The Chamberlin Investment Co.
has carried on a most successful business in placing
Real Estate                          and           Securities
throughout the State of Colorado. This Company, with a
PAID UP CAPITAL OF
$I,00O,00o,
believes in the future of Colorado, as one of the greatest and most promising States
in the country for natural resources, extent of territory and rapid development.
Real Estate Investments
=  -   =- = —  = --- —--                  _...
can be made through this well established organization with a feeling of security
that there will be no misrepresentations, and that business will be conducted on
honorable business principles.
Particular attention is &iven to investments for clients living at a distance,
this being a specialty in which the Company enjoys an enviable reputation.
Money can be placed to excellent advantage in Suburban Residence Property on
Capitol Hill and Colfax Avenue.
H. B. CHAMBERLIN', President.            F. J. CHAMBERLIN, Treasurer.
A. W. CHAMBERLIN, Vice Pres't.            F. B. GIBSON, Secretary.
The Chamberlin Investment Co.,
DENVER, COLORADO.
`-~~ —   ----— __




D. FLETCHER.


W. D. TODD.


Donald Fletcher & Co.,
Real Estate ALoans


I02I Sixteenth Street,
-         -     COLORADO.


DENVER,




E. W. ROLLINS, President.
F. C. YOUNG, Vice-President.


T. P. DUNBAR, Treasurer.
J. H. MORRIS, Sec'y & Cash'r.


CAPITAL PAID IN
SURPLUS AND PROF


$300,000.
'ITS      75,000.


Rollins
Investment
Company,
— DEALERS INState, City, County and School District
BONDS AND WARRANTS.
LOANS ON IMPROVED CITY PROPERTY AT LOW RATES.


DENVER, COLO.




J. M. BERKEY,


S. V. FARNUM.


ESTABLISHED IN 1870.
John M. Berkey y& Co.
BROKERS IN


REAL ESTATE.
Boston Block,


DENVER


COLO.


Oldest Real Estate House in Colorado.


EASTERN OFFICE 28 STATE STREET  - - BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.'




"Scenic Line of the World"
_  DENVER AMP RiO GRANDE
RAILROAD.
The- Popault Line to Leadvile, Gbflnwood
Springs, Aspen, Grand Junction, Salt
Lake, Ogden, and all
Pacific.. Coast.. Points.
The Tourists' Favorite Line to all Mountain Resorts.
All through trains equipped with Pullman Palace and Tourist
Sleeping Cars.
Free Chair Cars Denver and
Pueblo to Ogden.
Dining Cars on Overland Trains.
For elegantly illustrated descriptive books Free of Cost address S. K. HOOPER, Gen'l Pass. and Ticket Agent.
S. T. SMITH,                     A. S. HUGHES,
Generaf Manager.                Traffic Manager.




Denver andIi ~                    rndE E                  ress.
PHE Denver and Rio Grande, Express has become such an important
factor in western tr~Affle, tha't -m ention is necessitated when thee
railway lines of the, country ligWest of~ the' Missouri River are spoken
of. The Company has re'pre'senatation inl all tfit western cities and with
promptness and dispatdh delivier freight to all stat~ions in Colorado, New
Mexico and Utah., 1tot only d-6,es the Comrpany-' rdichf the rail stations,
but it receivcs matter for all 'the stage points in the.ettsadtriois
Over one thousand cities, towns iand villages are c-overed by them and
shippers desiring tO avail the~alve  ofthe  peswilbfunhd
ashippers' guide by any of the 9gentsor can secure same by addressing
the manager. Geo. W. Krampr, At Denver.
Denver and Rio Grande Express Money Orders are payable at over ten thousand places in the United States, Mexico 'and Canada, for any amount
from one dollar upward. These orders may be remitted to any point, or
be deposited with the banks in the leading cities.
Travelers will, find- these orders especially convefaidbt, as they will
enable them to carry money safely and also prove a means of identification without causing the stranger annoyance or delay.
SCHEDULE OP RATES:
Up to $5.oo   -                        Five Cents.
Over  5.00 to $io-oo      -       -    Eg-ht Cents.
Ov'er 10.00 to 20.00  -        -       Ten Cents.
Over 20.00 to 30.00       -       -    Twelve Cents.
Over 30.00 to 40.0o-o                  Fifteen Cents.
Over 40.00 to So. oo     -        -    Twenty Cents.
e~nofIhe? }eafure.
Quick and Responsible Delivery of lefter can be obtained by the use of the
letter service of the Den'ver'and Rio Graitde Express Company. Franks
for the' transmission of correspondence can be* obtained' from agents at
all offices of the Company.
GEO. W. KRAMWER, M'o'R.              'J. W. GILLULY, TREAS.
D: IEN~VIER,       -     COLO.




TRIP AROUND THE CIRCLE
Through Realms of Gold and Silver


Between Silverton and all Points in the Famous
Red     Mountain       Country.
Connects with the Denver and Rio
Grande R. R. at Silverton and
Ouray, and completes the
famous trip
"AROUND THE CIRCLE"
Over Denver and Rio Grande Railroad,
acknowledged to be the most niagnifient mountain trip in the known world,
including daylight ride of six miles in
CONCORD COACHES through the Uncompahgre Canon, which.is unequalled
in its grandeur and adds greatly to the
pleasure of thiS delightful journey.
OTTO MEARS,
President, Denver.


M. LIVERMAN,
Gen'l Supt.
Silverton.


S. K. HOOPER,
Gen'l Pass. Agt.
Denver.




Vetibolle- Epress TTains
- -— BbTWEBN —


Denver, Colo. Springs and Pueblo,
St. Joseph, Kansas City, and Chicago,
and Omaha.
Palace Day Coaches, Pullman Sleepers and the Celebrated Rock Island Dining
Cars. Elegant Reclining Chair Cars Free. The Fast Limited Trains are Vestibuled, and have all the modern improvements that conduce to the
safety, comfort and luxury of Passengers.
Prompt Union Depot Connections in Chicago with Past Trains to
all Eastern Points.
Save Time and Money. See that your Tickets read via Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway.
E. ST. JOHN. W. H. FIRTH, Gen'l Agt. Pass. Dept. JOHN SEBASTIAN,
Gen'l Mgr., Chicago.     Denver, Colo.        G. T. & P. A. Chicago.




I SOUTI     W1XxYWrU          Z
Stars$&.               t~o~  e   ~    tka sn.4 Alsok#   et    running
thenceOeln
and tQ                      ~         ~A
Cotton.CV~5I~~t                   a    e5etN
LAWMqCE& $th*ET -LIN4,
Roue        a   UV~in Pocf    Sb     9n     l    Al, tbt~vnue, t o
Curt's to      ~,\t.Lwreipc, t irt    to So.
Water,46406                                                          Da-tOI4ot Vi
kota st    r        5 ~It.~      *   e     &t~@                 1nght,
every 3~i4itsebRn             ot    riiI5b*et,~~~~                 at 12
niiduigbt ~      AGAT1SAR~T7        IE
Route:   Starting on Gallup a''~ne on Ashland, to 6th, to Agate, to
Sloan's Lake Park. 'Transfers given to and from i5th street Cable.
ASHLAND AVENUER LINE.
Route: On Ashland, to Steele street, to Sloan's Lake lark.      Transfers given to and from i5th street Cable. Cars for Sloan's Lake leave
Gallup avenue every 73-2 minutes.
DENVER TRAMWAY CO.'S CABLE Li NES.
Rodney Curtis, President, Denver. C. K. Durbin. superintendent, Denver. Power
House and Car Sheds, Corner Broadway and Colfax Avenue. General office
at Power House.
BROADWAY CABLE LINE.
Route: Alaska Street to Larimer street, via Broadway and I5th street. This line
passes State Capitol, County Court, House, Denver base ball ground. and makes connection with Electric Roads to U~niversity Park, Overland Driving Park and Petersburg. Transfers given to and fromn No[h D)enver. except Sunday afternoons, when
cars make North Denver their terminus. color of cars, orange; lights, red. Time of
trip, 20 minutes each way. Cars run every three minutes from 6 a. m. to 7 P. m. and
every 4 muiutes from 7 P. M. to I2 P. M.
COLFAX AVENUJE LINE.
Route: City Park to N1-orth Denver, via Colfax avenue and 15th to Gallup avenue.
This line connects at Gallup avenue, North Denver, with Berke-ley motor line to
Berkeley lake, via Highlands and Jesuit's College, at York street on Colfax avenue
with Electric motor for Montclair. with Monroe avenue car on Monroe avenue, also at
City Park with Motor line to Park Hill annex. Cars run every 4 minutes from 6 a. m.
to 12 p. m. Transfers given to Berkeley via Highland Motor from North Denver.
Transfers given to Broadway line except Sunday afternoons. No transfers given to
Berkeley via Jesuit College. Color of car, white: color of lights, white. Time of trip
30 minutes each way.
EIGHTEENTH AVENUE LINE.
Route: Twenty-sixth avenue to North Denver via Lafayette street, i8th a, ',enu e
Tremont and x5th streets to Gallup avenue. This line also makes connections at Gallup avenue with Motor lines to Berkeley via Highlands and Jesuit's College. Cars
run every 5 minutes from 6 a. m. to 7 p. in., and every 6 minutes from 7 P. m. to I2 P.
m. Time of trip, 2.5 minutes each way. Transfers given to Berkeley.
CARS TO BROADWAY THEATRE.
Broadway and Colfax avenue cars pass Fifteenth Street Theatre. Passengers -for
Broadway Theatre transferred at Tremont street.




THE DENVER CITY
Cable Railway Ca,
Operate Cable Lios as Follows:
Welton St. via I6th to North Denver.
I7th Ave., via x6th to North Denver,
Larimer Street.
All of these lines connect with the Electric Cars of the
West End Street Railroad Company for Sloan's Lake, Elitch's
Garden and Berkeley.
Its Horse Lines run from Union Depot to West Denver,
Champa Street, Arapahoe Street, Broadway, South Fourteenth
Street, Grant Avenue and Argo..
Horse Lines transfer to Cable at First and Larimer, Sixteenth and Platte, Seventeenth and Broadway, Seventeenth
and Pearl, and at Twenty-third and Welton.






BARBER
A"
'I 'P
I'  I   I
L


=


— PAVING COMPANY.Importers of Genuine Trinidad Asphalt.
R. J. CORY, AGENT.       DENVER, COLO.




McPhee & McGinnity,
Manufacturers and Wholesale Dealers in
Soft and Hardwood Lumber,
Sash, Doors, Blinds, Mouldings. Cement, PlasterHair, Nails, Building Paper.
Glass, White Lead, Oils, Mixed Paints & Varnish.
CORB EIGHTEENTH AND WAZEE STS.
DENVER              -         -         COLORADO.
TME
Manitou Mineral Water Co.,
Manitou Springs, Colo.
Bottlers and Shippers of the Famous
Manitou Table nnd Bar Water, Ginger Champagne, Sarsaparilla,
also Ute and Little Chief Iron Water.
The only Effervescent Spring in the United States from which
the Water is Bottled, Re-charged with its own
Natural Gas.




M. G. RICE,
LUMBER, SASH, DOORS,
Blinds and Building Materil.
rxtq   DENVER, COLORADO. S2
DENVER, COLORADO.


C. S. HOWARD, President.
CHAS. HALLACK, Vice-President.
J. H. HOWARD, Treasurer.


WM. H. DELLEKER, Secretary.
WM. H. BRYANT, Manager.
THOS. C. RUNDLE, Sup't of Contract Dep't.


--- -----— Tt


al!ack


I-G ~oard Lumber


o


LUMBER, SASH, DOORS.
BUI LDI NG * — MATERIAL *-' OF *** ALL -'. KIN DS.


Larimer and Seventh Sts.


Denver, Colo.




ONCORD, N. H.


SA-LINA, KAS.


DENWE~rs -,01CQe


CRIPPEN, LAWRENCE & CO.,
FARM AND CITY LOANS.
W. R, H1RRI, Mlanagr Colorado pepartmett.
Rooms I8 and 19 Patterson & Thomas Block,


Cor. i7th


and Curtis Sts.


OOXO.




-_ — TETKEWestern Farm   Mortgage
TRUST COMPANY.


x640 CURTIS ST.,


-  DENVER, COLO.


Capital Paid in, $1,500,00o00.
Surplus       -  -     $101,359.44.
First Mortgage Gold Bonds; Gold Debentures, Five, Ten and
Fifteen Years; School Bonds; Municipal Bonds; National
Bank Stocks; Commercial Paper; Irrigating Canal Bonds;
Building Bonds, Ten Years, Participating in Profits.


ALL INVESTMENTS FULLY GUARANTEED.




BIDDLE REEVES.J.HCLES


J. H. CLEMES.


Reeves    Cemes,
Mortgae Loans.
Rooms 2 an d 3
Jacobson Block.


]Denver


Cob.1


JAS. R. HICKS, PRESIDENT.
GEO. W. BAILEY, VICE PREST.


DAVID KEITH.
F. D. BAILEY.


E. P. WELLS, SECRETARY.
A. D. BAILEY, TREASURER.


-:-WM M!-:
Hicks & Bailey Investment Co.,


1ea- 6siafe


and 1oanS,


16551  ~dMES2~EEI
-~TLEEPHONE NO. 559.-:DVEIj        - COOI(O.
LOANS AT CURRENT RATES.


BARGAINS


IN BUSINESS AND FIRST

CLASS RESIDENCE PROPERTY.




... I. W elch z  Co.,


J nuestment ~ anZers,
160O8 (hampa 5St., t. e:.eer,


Cor. 16th.:..,


oleo.


-TiS9., --- —
Chas. Haowell & Co.,
r    5  Ct IrS    Street,
-..,,  *. V  "', '
-   -    COLORADO.
CH4. HALLOWELL-.  *               * —H. M. JORALMON.
correspondents.
New York, First National Bank,
Philadelphia, Girard Life and Trust Company.
Wllmii$ton, Delaware, Equitable G'uaantee and Trust Co.




W. J. FAY,
PRESIDENT AND MANAGER.
F. P. McM.


JAS. H. ARCHER,
VICE-PRESIDENT.
ANUS.


SECRETARY..0.  TJHE..


D


R


Office: I714 Curtis Street,
Between 17th and i8th Streets.


ID NT VE:j2


CO"Io0 -



THE DENVER
Consolidated
N,.
1534 arev  S,
DENVER       C COLO.


TE LEiHONE ~11.




HENDEY & MEYER
~ngineerin                            0 mpcnj,:DMW'VMMCOLJOIRI.AUDQ
MANUFACTURERS -OFMining, Milling, Smelting Machinery.
ESPFCIAI atten
tion given to con'""111!  I / centrating  plants,
stamp mills, combination plants for
cocnraigand
Rouse patent pulv'erizer, the cheapest and most effective mill made for
crushing fine, eithIer for coficentrat/ ing or amalgamat//  Wiswell Paten t
pecillydesig ne d.fr avng rusty or
free gold.
The HendeyAuto/matic Center-crank
Engine.   Ten to
200 H. P. Guarnteed the best regulator in the market. Especially de/signed for electric
I lighti ng and elec/tric roads.
The Roberts Patent Saety Water
Tube Boiler. S 9 -to carry 200 pour
fourth the weil,
i/~of horizontal bc,
ers, same powe:_economical; an
matic separation
sediment; absolute safety from disastrous explosion; steam in ten mi
utes from cold water; no cleaning required; best boiler for steam he,,
ing; no smoke nor need of special furnace.


'WMRITEZ W'QR, CIXLCU:_L~M:S.I




Globe SmeltingRefining o


DEJ2TVEJE,


CO O.


Buyers of all Classes of Ore.


DENNIS SHEEDY, PRE8T. AND GEN'L MGR.
J. M. WALKER, SECY. AND TREAS.


A. CHANUTE, VICE PREST.
M. W. ILES, SUPT.




American National Bank,
CURTIS ST. COR. SEYENTEENTH,


CDEISital,
Capital,


-   COLO.RADO.
$I,000,000.


COLLECTIONS CAREFULLY MADE
- -ANDPROMPTLY ACCOUNTED FOR.
Accounts of Merchants, Banks and Bankers
Solicited.


CD O  FIF I C: B E5:.. B. PORTER,
PRESIDENT.


FRANK CHURCH,
VICE PRESIDENT.


HOWARD EVANS,
CASHIER.




COLORADO


National


Bank


O —F:DF27VE      1=RV,.


CAPITAL AND SURPLUS,


$625,o000


Interest Paid on Time Deposits.
Letters of Credit Issued Available in all the
Principal Cities of the World.
CHARLES B. KOUNTZE, President.
DENNIS SHEEDY, Vice-President.
CHARLES B. BERGER, Cashier.
GEORGE B. BERGER, Assistant Cashier.
JOSEPH C. HEINZ, Second Ass't Cashier.




I:E3 T,:-     d         BO'37:E-   1,
E* JEWELER i
Sixctee   thi anrid 2PLrapahfaoe,, Streets,
DENVER     -     -     COLORADO.
Western Agents for Patek, Phillippe & Co's Celebrated
Watches of Geneva.
Spectacles aind Eye Glasses Scientifically Fitted.




C. H. GREEN, PRESIDENT.


F. L. SMITH, SEC. AND TREAS.


klle Q {-. Hreen OeelrE QmpanL.
WHOLESALE.


DIAMOND


IMPORTERS.


1200-1206 SIXTEENTH STREET,
-      -      -     COLORADO.


DENVER




JOSLIN


&


PARK,


JEWELERS.
Opera House Block,


DE)NVER


COLORADO.




M1S~rA:T~AjBSI32E:D 1866.
~CTTEHSI_4E2TRIE~           &  SO1\TS,
FINE DIAMONDS, WATCHES.AND         J EWELRY.
Union Block, 1104 and iio6 Sixteenth Street,


DENVER


COLORADO.


Importers of Diamonds and Fine Watches,
BEN   A IN     &   O.,I    Novelties in jewelry and Sterling Silver.
1105 SIXTEENTH STREET,


D)EN VER


-COLOR0ADO0.


ESTABLISHED 1881.
THE J. M. BLYTHE JEWELRY COMPANY
Wholesale jewelers and
Diamond Importers.
1133 FIFTEENTH STREET,
DENVER, COILO.


THE KLINE JEWELRY CO.,
Diamond and Loan Brokers,
1714 LARIMER STREUT,:1M!T-rMMZ -  -   COMO.


C. E. COCHR~AN,
Watches,: Diamonds,: and: Jewelry.
933 SIXTEENTH STREET,


DENVER,


COLO.


S. 2.  C  Q OC)I-c,
W  DEALER IN
Watcees. Diamonds and Jewelry
Watchmaker, Engraver and
Manufacturing Jeweler.
DENVER   — COLO.
SAM MAYER,
Piant  n b   r o her,
1729 Larimer St.,'
DENVER   -   -  COLO.


F. H. BORSTADT,
]Diarnondes, Watchies &
-jewvelry.-~
932 and 914 SIXTEENTH STREET..
1DnNV EI,    -   -   COLO.10


H. P. NAGEL,.W   PRACTICAL
Watchmaker and Jeweler,
1 704 Larimner Street,
DENVER.    -   -    CoLd.


IJOHN D. ALLEN,.
(i af ckes,   Je~Aell' j?   &fc.
1627 Chamnpa Street,
DENVER..    COLO.


A. P. HABERL & BRO.,
LAPI DISTS.
Watches, Diamonds, Clocks.
1704 LAWREI'NCE STREET,


Henry L. Chapin,,J E  WN  EL 14 ERZ
917 Sixteenth Street,


DFNVVR


COLO.


DRNVER


D E N V R   C o o.   D N V E R -. C 0O 4 0.




ACHESON & WARREN,
Investment: Bankers,
Real Estate, Loans, Investment
Securities.
TIMES BUILDING.
THEO. W. HERR & CO.
REAL - ESTATE.
Mine and Loan Brokers, negotiate Loans
& Insurance, collect rents, pay taxes, etc.
1736 Champa Street.
Denver Savings Bank,
TABOR BLOCK, 1227 16th STREET.
Authorized Capital  -  $,ooo,0ooo
Paid in Capital  -  -    250,000
Liabilities of Stockholders  500,000
The Strongest Savings Bank in the West.
Groesbeck & Otis,
Real Estate and Loan Brokers
1800 CURTIS STREET.
WILLIAM R. HOWLAND,
Real Estate and Loans, Rents and
Insurance.
Room 2I, Patterson & Thomas Building.


MARKS AMTER
Real Estate and Financial Agt.
925 Seventeenth St.


McKnight, Best & Co.,
Real Estate, Loans and Investments.
1e48 CtU=-TIS     STRFE:IET.
Sole Agents for Villa Park.
LEWIS PRICE,
Real Estate Operator.
1623 Curtis St.


G. W. CLISE,
Investment Securities
1623 CURTIS STREET.
JNO. L. DAILEY,
Real Estate and Loan Brokers
NOTARY PUBLIC.
17I9 Curtis St.  Telephone 1292.
GEO. F. BATCHELDER,
Mines and   Mining   Stocks,
Room 7, Jacobson Block.


D. F. CARMICHAEL,
Real Estate and Loans.
1456 Lawrence Street.
COE BROS.,
ROOMS 1, 2 AND 3, 1624 CURTIS ST.
Real Estate, Loans and Investments. Fire Insurance a Specialty.


TAYLOR & RATHVON,
Brokers in Mines and Mining
Stocks.
Room 7, Patterson & Thomas Blk.
The H. D. Smith Music Company,
PIANOS AND ORGANS.
523 and 525 Sixteenth Street.


CLARIKF  CARUTH ER,
Investment Bankers and Financial
Agents.
Arapahoe Building.
S. W. SPRAGUE,
Real - Estate - and - Loans.
x617 Chaempa Street.


ADAM GRAFF,
MANUFACTURER OF ICE.
Office, 1304 Seventeenth Street.


FITZGERALD & FLANAGAN,
Real Estate and Investments.
815 SEVENTEENTH ST.
Broadway Property a Specialty.


VILLA PARK ICE COMPANY,
IRA A. SCOTT, - M4anager.
Wholesale and Retail Dealers in
I — C E.1318 Seventeenth Street.




BOWERS & MILLER,
Milling and Hydraulic Engineers,
Mill Builders and Contractors
Office, 36, 37 arIdl 38 Good BiEk.


TH, DE~NVER MACHINERY CO.,
Mining, Milling, Concentrating
and Electric Machinery
OFFICE, No. io, WINDSOR HOTEL.


The Berry Iron Works Company,
IRON, BRASS AND WIRE WORK.
di 0O    21 AL L I-e-,2E'Z    ST_.
Trhe Woeber Bros. Carriage Company.
ESTABLISHED, 1853.    INCORPORATED, 1878.
Manufactu~ters of Carriages,
Street Cars, Omnibuses, Spring Wagons.
Office and Repository 1328 to I352 i ith-st.
Factory at South Denver.
F. M. DAVIS,
MANUFACTURER OF
MINING MACHINERY,
Eighth and Larimer Sts.


F. W. GROMM,
935 i6th St.   Factory, I2119 i6th St.
Manufacturer of and Dealer in
TRUNKS, VALISES, ETC.
Sample Cases Made to Order.
A. GAUTHIER,
Wholesale & Retail Wall Paper& Paints
Interior Decorations.
916-918 Fifteenth Street.
IL,. K. DESELN,
Wholesale and Retail Dealer in
Leather and Shoe Findings, and
Manufacturer of Boot and
Shoe Uppers.
1405-I407 MARKET- STREET.
BUTLER BROS.,
Boots, Shoes and Rubbers
AT WHOLESALEC.
I536-1538 Market Street.
METZ & POWELL,
IFINI qOE3
1013-1015 Sixteenth St.


ROCKY MOUNTAIN
WIRE AND IRON WORKS.
Ornamental Iron. wire and Brass Work.
i837 Lawrence Street.
The Mountaini Electric Co.,
INCORPORATED.
'Electric Light and Power Plants.
x and 2 D3uff Bl1ock.
F. W. BEST & CO.,
Gas and Electric Light -Fixtures
I721-I723 Stout Street.


FLANDERS DR Y GO ODS CO.
NEW STORE.
720 to 726 Sixteenth Street.
A. Z. SA LO MO0N & CO.,I
Dealers in Foreign and Domestic Dry
Goods, Cloaks, Suits, Lace and Turcoman Curtains and Upholstery
Goods.
Sixteenth and Champa Streets,
W. S. HOWLAND & CO.,
Wholesale and Retail Millinery.
Furnishing and Fancy Goods, Ribbons, Flowers, Laces, EKtc.
i'S3'-'i53f Lawrence St.
Retail: 900-904 s6th St., Cor. Cha mpa.
CORDES & FELDHAUSER,
Lace Curtains, Window Shades
and Carpets.
1537 to 1543 Lawrence Street.
Garson, Kerngood & Co.,
CLOTHIERS, FURNISHERS, HATTERS.
I017-I019 i6th St., through to
i617-I9-21-25 Curtis St.


The Leonard-Scheck Sadd!ery Co.,
Sa ddlery, Sa ddlery Ha rdwa re, Lea tker, &c.
1512-I514 Blake Street.


E. I. Dui Pont de Nemours & Co.,
Manufacturers of Sporting
and Blasting Powder.
General Western Office, 1226 zlth St.
WALTER G. CLARK, GEN'L AGSENT.




H. D. MARTIN,
Telephone Livery, Boarding and
Sale Stables.
1432 ARAPAHOE STREET.


J. S. BROWN        &   BRO.,
WHOLESALE. GROCERS,
1524-1534 Wazee Street.
Agents: for: Upman's: Cigars.


T 1 - E
J. M. CLARK     COMMISSION   CO.,
WHOLESALE PRODUCE.
1521-1523 Blake St. Telephone 563
HUMPjIREY. &. BRINKER,
Gl.OCElS.
Sixteenth and Stout Streets.
HARVEY & PARKER,
Wholesale Cigars and Teas.
1412 Larimer Street.
Carry the Largest and Finest Line of all
Grades and Styles of Cigars and Teas in
the West. Mail Orders given Special Attention.
F. L. ROHLFING,
Wholesale and Retail Dealer in
Staple and Fancy Groceries.
1508 CURTIS         STREET.
M. CAMNITZER,
Liquor Dealer. Imported and Domestic
Wines and Cigars. Our Specialty: Fine
OldGoods. Goods delivered Free of Charge
to any part of the City.
g1th and Larimer Streets.
A. FRIEDMAN & CO.
Importers and Jobbers of
Fine. Liquors. and. Cigars.
1637 and 1639 Blake Street.
BOEHM3  I & CO.,
Redistillers, Compounders end Liquor
Commission Merchants.
131S   BI: -. 5'-  ST =L-]EI"T.


Denver Fire Clay Company.
Fire Brick, Assayers and Chemists.
Wholesale and Retail Supplies.
1635 LARIMER ST.
DENVER,PAINT       MILLS    CO.
MILLS: CORNER 8TH AND WYNKOOP STS.
Wholesale Dealers in Paints, Oils,
Varnishes.
Office and Salesroom 1823 Blake Street.
JOHN CARSON & CO.,
Wholesale and Retail Dealers in
Crockery, China, Glassware,
Silverware, Hanging Lamps.
The best and most reliable house in city.
824 SIXTEENTH STREET.
NELSON'S OYSTER & CHOP HOUSE.
ALBERT NELSON & CO.,
PROPRIETORS.
1637. Curtis. Street,. F. Higgins Sporting Goods Co.
1508-10 ARAPAHOE ST.
General Athletic Outfitters. Bicycles.
Guns, Ammunition and Fishing Tackle.
State Agents, A. G. Spalding & Bros.
Columbia and Victor Bicycles.
0. P. BAUR & CO.,
Caterers   and    Confectioners.
1524 Larimer Street.
PLUMMER & HELLIS,
Wholesale and Retail Grocers,
and Dealers in
CHOICE   WINES    AND   LIQUORS.
15o7 Blake and 1513 15th St.
L. BUTTERFIELD,
WHOLESALE: GRAIN.
i6II Blake      Street,




HANSON PRODUCE CO.
General Commission    Merchants.
Wholesale Fish & Produce Dealers
1613-1615 MARKET STREET.
ICE CAVE CREAMERY BUTTER.
The McAdam and Beard Bros.' Co.
(Incorporated.)
General Produce Commission. The capacity of the Ice Cave Creamery System
is 1o,ooo pounds daily.
1433 FIFTEENTH ST.


N. B. lMcCrary& CO.,
Wholesale Produce Commission
Merchants.
STORAGE A SPECIALTY.
1650 MARKET STREET.




SUNSHINE.  ROCK SPRING.  LIGNITE.


THE B]INFORD COAT, CO.
1508 Lawrence Streel.
The Summit Fuel and Feed Co.,
Wholesale and Retail
Coal, Wood, Hay and Grain,
1509 Araipahoce Street.
TELEPHONEI~ 13I.
BEAL1C0lVIB & RiaCrE
ARCHITECTS,
23, 24, 25 Granite Building.
CHAS. H. SHAW,
DENVER
Steam B~iler Works,
Wazee-and 35th S/reels.
KENT & STUCHFIIE~LD,
Manufacturers of Mattresses, -jobbers of
Stoves, Hardware, ]E~tc. Office, i632
Arapahoe St. *Factory, Cor. iith
and Wyncoop Sts. Proprietors
of the K.&S.Steam Carpet Cleaning W'k's
G. W. WILSON,
RAILROAD CONTRACTOR.
RESIDENCE,
2828 Lincoln Avenue.
C. W. COYKIENDALL,
HARDWARE, STOVES AND RANGES,
Builders' Hardware, House Furnishing Goods, Fine Cutlery.
727-7-33 Sixteenth St.
A. HERRES, Pres't.  0. HERRES, Sec'y
The Troy-Globe Laundry Co.,
TELEFPHONE, 741.1836 to 1812 Arapiahoe St.
Buy your Carpets,. Draperies, and
Window Shades of
J. D. EAST, 232 I6th St.
K~Cheapest (Carpet Store In Colorado. G
Wholesale and Re/all Druggist
Cor. I~th and Market Streets.


J.J. DUNAGAN,
Drugs, Chemicals and Toilet
Ar/idles.
IPaints, Oils, Glass, etc. Wines, and Liquors for Medical Use. Telephone 334.
L~a Veta Cafe and Restaurant
1545-47 CIIAMPA ST.


Win. Wisch,


Manager.


Mammoth Dining Rooms,
M. GIVEN,
1546 Ot;Lrtiz St.
ABE~L & CO.,
Original New England Bakery,
3609 CHAMPA STREET,
Special Attention Given to Weddings,
Receptions and Parties. Tel. 929.
I. N. ROGERS,
Undertaker and Embalmer,
1624 CHAMPA STRZEET
FARMER & HALE,
Undertakers and Embalmers,
i617-I6i9 TRE~MONT ST.
Telephone 524.
CHARLES M. MILLER,
Undertaker, Funeral Director
and Embalmer.
1741 and 1743S Lawrence St.
E. P. McGOVERN,
UNDERTAKER,
1519 Arapahoe Street.
B. R. HALL,
Undertaker and Embalmer,
1723 CHAMPA ST.


JAS. A. CURRAN,-& Co.,
City Bill Posters and Distributors
In Denver, Pueblo and Colo. Springs.
General Office, I 31I 17th Street.
DENVE~R, COLO.




Henry J.Stephens, Pres. R. N. Chittenden, Sec. A.H.Root, V. Pres.A.R.Davison, Treas.
The Denver Loan and Trust Co.,
1124 Fifteenth Street  -    -        -   DENVER, COLO.
City and Farm Loans, State, County, Municipal and School District Bonds and Warrants.
Deposits received. Interest paid on Savings and Time Deposits. Collections
made. Trusts executed.
ER. -J:.:3XcI:ml:32N3TS & CO.,
B A N KE R S,
DENVER, COLORADO.
Special attention given to
Negotiating time loans on Real Estate.
INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF COLORADO JUNE 8th, 1887.
John A. Clough, Pres. F. K. Atkins, V. Pres. C. 0. Atkins, Cashier.
Colorado SaviTngs Banlrk.
Authorized Capital  -  $250,000.00.
Paid in Capital and Surplus 9o,ooo.o0.
RAILROAD BUILDING.                       DENVER, COLO.
The R. G. Head Brokerage and Investment Co.
74 and 75 BARCLAY      BLOCK.
DELVTERI                      - -              COI O
TBIE: —
DENVER CITY STEAM HEATING COMPANY,
1607 O     Blake Street,
DENVEER          -           -      COLORADO.
DIIN0T-W                  jT i, BROS.,
IMPORTERS AND JOBBERS OF
Queensware, Glassware, China, Lamps, Etc.
1214-1218 FIFTEENTH STREET, DENVER, COLO.
INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF COLORADO.
THE UNION BREWING               COMPANY.
Capital Stock, $200 000.00.        2,000 Shares, $ioo.oo Each.
2433 i6th    Street, DENVER, COLO..
Between Platte and Centre Streets, North Denver.
Melsheimer, Mack & Co.,
Proprietors ofthe Milwaukee Brewery
Bottled and Keg Beer, Ale and Porter.
923, 925 and 927 LARIMER STREET     -      DENVER, COLO.




JNO. MII~LER.    MILLER     &  HAEKLER.,         WM. HAEMLKAE.
LOA~NS &z IN VESTM4ENTS
Real Estate Bought and Sold.
i6o6 and o~cS Curtis St.      — DENVER, COLO.
E.W.. MERRITT.         P. D. GROMMON.          PETER WINNIE.
MERRITT 'GROMMON & WINNE,
REAL ESTIATE FIRST MORTGAGE LOANS
1537 Arapahoe Street, Denver, Colo.
J. S. WOLFE.              E. H. WEBB.       H. K. CHITTIENDEN.
Wolfe, Webb & Chittenden,
INSURANCE AND -RENTALS.
REAL -ESTATrE AND LOAN BROKERS.
Ernest & Cranmer Block, i6th Street, Denver, Colo.
AirRiFaaRENCE-National Banks of Denver.
Real Estate and Investments,
IBOST-ON BLOCK, DE8NVER.
COBB, WILSON & BENEDICT,
Fire Insurance. and. Loans,
Rooms -, 2 and 3 Tabor Block,
DENVER             -         -COLO.
W. J CHAMBERLAIN.                              F. DILLINGHAM.
W.- J. CHAMBERLAIN & CO.,I
S.AMPLER1S AND BUYERS OF ORE, BULLION AND MATTE,
No. 1315 Sixteenth Street, Denver, Colo.
Geo. B. Marsh, President, V. A. Watkins, Vice-.Prest. M. M4. S. Marsh, Sec'y and Treas.
Chicago, Ill.
Chicago Office No. 663 "The Rookery."
THEI ST.- JOHIN & MARSHI COMP)ANY,
Wholesale and Retail Lumber, Sash, Doors, and Building Material
H. C. Wood, Genil Mgr., Cor. 15th and Bassett Sts, Denver, Colo.
GicoYA Newton, Prest.  Whitney Newton, Vice Prest.  Fred~r~ick F. Sayre, Treas.
Harry E~. Newton, Secretary.
THME SAYRE-NEWTrON 1.UMBERn CO.,
Office and Yard,'Blake and 24th Streets.
Wholesale Dealers in Lnmber and Bnilding Material, Sash, Blinds,
Doors, Monldings, -etc. Frederick F. Sayre, Harry Newton, Mgrs.
North Side Yard xoth and Water Sts,         DEN V ER, CO LO.
L. W. Winchester, Pres~t. Anstin G. Gorham, Vice Pres't and General manager.
3. E,. Heimerdinger, Secretary.
THE? MARSHALL CONSOLID)ATED COAL MINING CO.,
Rooms 17 and i8lissex Building.  P. 0. BOX 2336.  DENVER, COLO.
B. L. JAMPS, President.  H. W. FRE~NCH, Secretary.  H. F. BROOKS, Treas.
B. L. James, Mercantile and M'f'g. Co..
White Lead, Colors, Varnishes, Brushes, etc.  Painters, Paper-hangers
and Decorators. Wall Papers, Friezes, Decorations.
1521 AND 1523 ARAPAHOE STREET.                  DENVER, COLO.




F. A. KNIGHT.     KNIGHT     &  ATMORE,          G. P. ATORE.
Merchant Tailors, Clothiers, Furnishers, Hatters, Shirt Makers.
Cor. 17th and Arapahoe Streets, Denver, Colo.
SOL:E; joLCG:ElNTS:      01 3 NOICC S: E1CTAS.
D T SKINNE. Skinner Bros. & Wright, R. R. WRIGHT Jr
Wholesale & Retail Clothiers, Gents' Furnishers & Merchant Tailors
HATS, CAPS, BOOTS AND SHOES.
i6th and Lawrence Sts.      -        -       DENVER, COLO.
BABCOCK BEROS.,
HATTERS & FURRIERS,
Native Fur Mats and Rugs of Every Description.
Dunlap's Sole Agents.  Ioog and loi Sixteenth Street,
Opp. Tabor Grand Opera House.             DENVER, COLO.
Fashionable Tailoring,
MODERATE PRICES.
We make a specialty of Uniforms.
1648 LARIMER STREET,
TAI *               L      DEI::R,        -    CORO.
*  *          D      Samples and Rules for self-measure by mail.
J. M. MOORE'S SONS,
Dealers in Hardware and Wood Stock.
Blacksmiths', Wagon Makers', Miners' and Ranchmen's Tools and Supplies.
1537 AND 1539 FIFTEENTH STREET, COR. WAZEE, DENVER, COLO.
L. L. MOORE.                             J. A. MOORE.
FRANK    C. GOFF     &  COMPANY,
CrEeT_1-ATI.'. HARD\WARLE.
Hot Water, Steam and Hot Air Heating and Ventilating
Apparatus.
516-518 SIXTEENTH STREET.         -         DENVER, COLO.
- WHOLESALE DEALER INSaddlery Hardware, Whips, Horse Clothing,
--  AND MANUFACTURER OF --- —
Harness, Saddles, Horse Equipments, Etc. Agent for J. R. Hill
& Co.'s Celebrated Concord Harness and Collars.
1528 AND 1530 BLAKE ST.,             -      DENVER, COLO.
The Robertson & Doll Carriage Co.
Corner Arapahoe and I4th Streets,  -     -     DENVER, COLO.
Where is displayed on one floor 85 Different Styles of Carriages.
Any one visiting Denver should not fail to call and look
through their varied stock. Prices are Low.
Those who sell the most goods can sell at the lowest prices.




ESTABLISHED 1868.                                STOIRA GE.
CITY TRANSFER COMPANY.
(OF FREIGHT.)
ROBEERT S. ROE,                     -            Proprietor.
STABLES, i3th and Wazee. Telephone 693.  OFFICE, 1543 Market Street.
LINK    4 McCULLY, FVorermax.    After 6 p. m. call Telephone 349.
M. W. HOWARD, MaR. AND TREAS.  J. H. BOWERS, SUPT.  W. G. HARDEN, COLLECTOR.
G. B. DODGE, SECY. A. W. SNYDER, WAREHOUSEMAN.  JOE. M. HOWARD, ASST. COLLECTOR.
THE DENVER       TRANSIT AND WAREHOUSE CO.
Transferring and Storage. Agents for United States Bonded Warehouse.
OFFICE 1319 16TH STREET.                 TELEPHONE CALL 22.
Established 1872. Owners of the Celebrated Jersey Creamery Butter, Grain and flour
Warehouse. No. 1620 i9th Street.
J. D. BEST & CO.
Wholesale Grocers, Commission Merchants, and Wholesale Produce Dealers.   1521 and 1523 Market Street,
DE:. TV:E B       R M[_   -       -      -       COLORIA.DO.
HENRY GEBHARD, PRESIDENT.                F. P. ERNEST, TREASURER.
J. G. BENKELMAN, VICE PRESIDENT.         WM. PRACKWINKEL, SECRETARY.
ALFRED BUTTERS.                          E. J. TEMPLE.
THE COLORADO PACKING CO., PACKERS AND PROVISION DEALERS.
Packing Iouese, Union Stock Yards.  Salesrobm and Office, 161z Market Street.
3D: M Er"7'E I3,  -  C    OI0 CL::2t..ID O.
H. H. MIILLS.                                     A. J. CAMPION.
B. & M. PACKING COMPANY.
Packers and Jobbers. Hams, Bacon, Etc. Manufacturers of the only Kettle Rendered
Leaf Lard. Office and Salesroom.
15a9 Blake Street,      -        -        -       DENVER, COLO.
P. L. BOCKFINGER.                              BARNABUS HUBER.
P. L. BOCKFINGER & CO.,
Wholesale Grocers and Commission.
1644 and 1646 Market Street,   -        -      -   Denver, Colo.
L. F. LIEBHARDT, PRESIDENT.               G.G. LIEBHARDT, VICE PREST.
The G. G. Liebhardt Commission Co.
WHOLESALE       FRUIT    AND    PRODUCE      DEALERS
1624 to 1630 Market Street,,          Denver, Colo.
Wm. J. Wulff, Prest. James Gibbons, Vice Prest. M. J. Lawrence, Secy. & Treas.
THE DENVER       PACKING     COMPANY.
Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Fresh and Cured Meats. Poultry, Oysters, Fish,
Game and Vegetables.
1625 to 1631 Arapahoe Street,                      Denver, Colo.
B. BURKIIARDT.                                    J. F. BIERHAKE.
THE BURKHARDT PACKING CO.,
Wholesale Dealers in Beef, Pork, and Mutton. Beef and Pork Packing.
1602 AND 1606 BLAKE STREET,       -     DENVER, COLO.
THE C. S. MOREY MERCANTILE CO.
WxThole1sale          -rocers,
CORNER     19TH AND WAZEE STS.,              DENVER, COLO.
The.'. Solis.'. Cigar.'. Company.
IMANUFACTURERS OF FINE HABANA GCIARS.
Corner i6th and Platte Streets,    -        -       Denver, Colo.




ED:R.,I:K


THE CELEBRATED.Xs   er LageHre
-- OF TE ---


p//.?I Brewing


Cum~a"Y


DENVER -


COLORADO.


Manufactured from the Best Imported Hops


and Selected Colorado Barley.


TE- rIH CITEJl1.


162.




DENVER BREWING CO.
BREWERS OF THE CELEBRATED
Vienna Lager Beer.
OUR EXPORT BEER
Is Commended Highly by the Leading Physicians for Family
UJse for its Pure Quality.
For Sale by the Leading Grocery
Houses in the City,
IDerV-Ter Birew-Xing  Comrpariy,
E54. SI EIMO/IN, alnagesr.
OFFICE AND BREWERY, 9TH AND LAWRENCE STS.
Branch Brewery, 8th and Larimer Streets.
D.T'V-EI,        -      COTIO



NVri-16


Burghardt,


WHOLESALE DEALER IN


W M.


J. LEMP'S


ST.. TLOUJIS
Draught and Bottled Beer.
1313 Larimer Street,


jDE3ErR\I7E/J


COOLO.


P. 0. BOX 2662.


TELEPHONE NO. 801.




Val.


Blat


z


BREWING COMPANY.
BrewersAND Malsters,
MILWAUKEE, WIS., U. S. A.
D1215 TWENTIETH STREET.
1215 TWENTIETH STREET.


TELEPHONE No. 984.


MAX KAUFFMANN, AGENT.




,A..:K. OCLAZR
Wholesale Whiskies6Cigars
S8,T     to
ESTABLISHED 181).            DiNVER, COLO.
BAR         & WEINER,
W6OLiALtkC DEALR* IN
WHISKIES.
Importers of Wines, Liquors and Cigars.
901-907 Sixteenth St.,      DENVER, COLO.
F. 8. GOLDSMITH.                WM. WACKER.
GOLDSMITH & WACKER,
Importers and. Oholesale biquor Dealers.
FI1NTE   CIGA1r    S.
SProprietors of the (elebraled ffock (Jstl  Sour d~ash Whiskey.
1717 LARIMER STREET, DENVER, COLO.
3l il aqar  fo ac r 3rPe 3E e: L t  y ii h s iA i... esii  S.
WEIT BROTIHERS,
Exclusive Wholesale Dealers and Distillers' Agents in
Straight Kentucky Whiskies,
Wines, Brandies and Cigars.
r6.9-x631 Blake Street  -  DENVER, COLO.
GENERAL OFFICE, PADUCAH, KY.




ALBANY
DENVER, COLO.
The Only Strictly
First-Class House
in the City.: 2.LT:ES:
$3-$4:5o a day.
H. A. SISSON, Mgr.
S. B. MORGAN & CO.,
Prop'rs.


—: —ILONG & AXTELL —:P=       D r i p t i   7o i   AD rZ Sgggists.
ALBANY DRUG STORE.  17TH AND STOUT STS.


-THE —. WINDSOR -:- HOTEL,
__                    _ _        DENVER, COLO.
Refurnished  and  Refitted. throughout. Only strictly firstclass hotel in Denver. Four
blocks from Union Depot on
cable line. Location most convenient for transient guests.
Rates, $3 to $4 per day. ELEGANT TURKISH    BATHS connected with hotel.
BUSH & ADSIT,
Proprietors:
T          'aE  TxTINIDSO1R IIEIcL.LCM-yCor. x8th and Larinmer Sts., Winrdsor Hotel,
OPEN ALL NIGHT.                      DENVER, COLORADO.


TheSt. James,
CURTIS STREET,
Opp. -Tabor - Opera - House.
The most liberally managed, safest and best Hotel in the city. Location
most central. Rates $2.50
to $3.50 per day. Bath
extra.
W. C. FURST,
Proprietor.


HOTEL - BRUNSWICK,
Centrally Located.:E3;mropeSarl 3E=la.X
SEWELL & TAYLOR,
Prop'rs.
Exclusively
For Gentlemen.
~Ith1 Strxemt,
Bet. Larimer and Lawrence,
DENVER, COLO.


Hotel-:-Victor,
American and European
Plan.
Dining Rooms for Private
Parties. Sample Rooms
for Commercial Travelers.
C. BARTHES & CO.,
Proprietors.
i8th and Larimer Sts.,
DENVER,      -    COLO.




* ' NEW  - v...BROADWAY THEATRE.
- *~ ~ *.b   *


-*..-.


N   l, B.. ZLEAVITT,.  Sole Lessee and    ^yr.


H. B. LONSDALE,
3jestzent Xanaer.




G. C. de BRONKART,
jELe;&l -   m.taGtef  - 3rolker,
1029 $ixteenth Street.
THE CHAIN & HARDY
Book, -Stationary - and - Art - Co.,
x609-15 Arapahoe Street.
THE  DENVER NOVIETY WORKS,
JAMES MOCGAN, Prop.
Rubber and Steel Stamps, Seals and
Stencils. Electrical Supplies.
14;LO-9-2 XLWXXrXe<B    Street.
M. A. KANE & CO.,
O          sT M': C I:: C  TE::Z iS.
408 Sixteenth Street.
Agents for Huyler's Candies.
E. J. ULLRICH & CO.,
Imported aud Domestic Groceries.
400-402 I6th St., Cor. Tremont.
Tpleplhore    6'75.
W. S, HASWELL,
ID U    Or C  S I  CT.
Cor. i6th and Lawrence Sts. and
Cor. 15th and Champa Sts.
G. A. DILLE,
DENT I ST.
toom 11, Opera House Block.


3>xxe:. WJ:R.^E  lrN,
MODUS - ET - CHAPEAUX,
1535-'3739"4i Curtis Street,
DENVER, ',       COLORADO.


Woodworth's - Shorthand. College.
30 NOT S0ATTETR  rUW POWERS.
More Teachers.: Mtrie Stenographers
placed than any school in Denver. Satisfaction guaranteed. Reference: Y. M.
C. A. 4, 5, 6 and 7 Masonic Temple.
THIE 'GOLDEN EAGLE
Wkolesale and Retail Dry Goods and
Notions, and Manufacturers and Importers of Suits, Cloaks, Millinery.
t553-55-57-S9 Lawrence Street
MACKENZIE BROS.,
IMPORTED AND DOMESTIC
Wall Paper, Room and Picture Frame
Mouldings, Signs. x741-43 Curtis St.
FRESCOING-Designs Furnished.
(E   ORGE    ALLAN, Successor to Jas.
C.     McKay, Wholesale & Retail Dealer
in Crockery, China, Glassware, Lamps,
Silver-Plated Ware, Etc. 917-919 x6th-st.
Hriw CHICAGO FRESCO AND DECorative Co. Mural and Ceiling Decorators. Wall Papers, Room Mouldings,
Sign Writing, xtS5 Champa St.




S:X TM1LA.T-    Z IM~T3   1  W1XrK1r  A.S STO-W.
MODEL STEAM LAUNDRY COMPANY.
TELE&PHON1E 247.       2012-2014. LAWRENCE ST.
W. C. LOTHROME0P, & Co.,0
Real iEIstate and Money Brokers,,
1751 LAWRENCE ST.,     -DENVER, COLO.
GxLENT'ARM %F.0* HO                   E L,
A. W. BAILEY, Proprietor.            DENVER, COLO.
Also Proprietor of the MANIITOU HOUSE and THUl MANSIONS, Manitou Springs.
I have thoroughly refitted and refurnished the GLIjKARM and am ready for Guests.
125 First- Class Roomns. Moderri Iniapro-vemrents.
RATES: $2zb0, *$300 AND $3,50.
I propose to make this the best House for the price in the
West. Special rates for a few families.
A. W. BAILEY.
THME    -KUNEIR        -PICKLIE       -COMPAN*Y.
Vinegars, Pickles, Mustard, Sauces, Sauer Kraut, Canners of Kuner's
Celebrated Tomatoes.
COR. 22ND & BLAKE STS.,               DENVER. COLO.
-MANUFACTURER OFUMBRELLAS, PARASOLS
and Walking Canes.
-Repairing and Re-coveringf on Short Notice. Umbrellas an dParasols
Made to Order.
933 Sixteenth Street,
-  ---        DENVER,  -   -   COLORADO.




SEiING OPENING OF
RocIry 7Vountain Jade
A FIRST-CLASS FAMILY RESORT.
Admission ioc.             Boats 25c an Hour.
New Boats, Good Music, Splendid Fishing, Swings, Grass, Shade, Sidewalk to the Motor Line, Bath House.
Baths, 25c with suit.
MRS. L. E. TAYLOR, Proprietress.  Office, 13a2 Eighteenth Street.
Take Berkeley Motor that passes Jesuit College.


Denver Land and Ice Co.........


IL. IL. HIGGINS,
W. H. EAGLTON,
F. F. HALL,


-     -    President..- I    Vice-President.
-     -    Sec'y and Treas.


Office, 1417 Lawrence Street.
JAS. G. KILPATRICK,
-IIT-E:FI:~E
Upholstery.           Furniture.
1717 to 1723 Lawrence Street.
J1. C. CROSS. ARTISTIC HOUSE FURNISHINGS. WM. SAUNTRY.


CROSS & SAUNTRY,


Furniture,


Carpets and Draperies.


1613-1619 WELTON STREET,
OPPOSITE MASONIC TEMPLE.        DENVER, COLO.




J. J. RIETHMANN & COMPANY,
-— IMPORTERS AND ---
Wholesal,-e            ruggists.
IDMTVME. COLORAY      sJDO.
W. A. HOVER & CO.
-— WHOLESALE ---
Druggists: and: Importers,
x533 Arapahoe Street,
TELEPHONE 39e.            DENVER, CCLO.
THE CROCKER BAKERY OF
American Biscuit and
Manufacturing Compa ay.
1862 TO 1862 BLAKE ST,. DENVER.
C!   A C   KE: 1E    S.


J. I. GLENDINNING & CO.


Confectioners and


Caterers.


922 to 926 Sixteenth Street


Telephone 431.


Denve'r, Colo.




BALLIN & RANSOHOFF,
DrRY/ GOODS.
OPERA    HOUSE    BLOCK,                    DENVER, COLO.
Headquarters for Fine Dry Goods,
At Prices Unmatchable.
-                     -- -------- T --  -
N:Mdamara: Dry Goods Co.,
Wholesale and Retail Dry Goods.
16th and Californria Ste.,           -       Derver, ColoW
1X<. J. XleNanmiara,/ rresideint.
THE DENVER "FAIR,"
16TH AND CHAMPA STS.,         -     DENVER, COLO,
DEPARTM E NTS
House Furnishing Goods, Hardware, Crockery, Glassware, Lamps and Fixtures 'Toys
and Gartes, Fancy Goods, Stationery and Books, Leather Goods, Jewelry and Silverware, Rugs and Mats, Baskets, Upholstery, Brass Goods, Bird Cages, Gloves,
Embroideries, Hats, Satchels, Fans, Widdow Shades, Optical Goods, Dress
Goods, Carpets, Cloaks, Brackets 'and Frames, Mouldings, Children's
Carriages, Shoes and Sliipers, Rubber Goods, Mens.Furnishing
Goods, Underwear, Hosiery, Millinery, Laces, Notions, White
Goods, Patent Medicines, Corsets, Toilet Articles, Blankets,
Dusters and Brushes,. Art Goods, Cutlery, Whips and
Dog Collars, Handkerchiefs, Ladies' Furnishing Goods.
E. XO..ASS.,                      -       Froprietor.
-   J. J. oslin  &  Son,
_  --                      Importers and Retailers of
IRY GOODS, RLLZLINERRY
and Carpets.
16TH AND CURTIS STREETS,.nMX;_v~rM, aCO.OPopular Goods at Popular
Prices.
First Class Mail Order Dept.
Samples, Etc., Free.




jo. ID. /JO-IrTSO:N,T
Fine French ^illinery,
15a3 Lawrence Street.
2905 to 2915 Fifteenth Street.
Dealers in Imported and Domestic Goods.
Xloturrnirixg;Goods      a   Specialty.
DENVER, COLORADO
The        ay Shoe&othing o.
OUTFITTERS TO ALL MANKIND.
161i:, 1614, 1861, 1618.AN.j 1620 Lma AEIS:ER, sTZ:,:ET'.
MEN'S CLOTHING, Hats, Furnishings.
BOYS' CLOTHING, Shoes, Ladies'Cloaks.
CUSTOM TAILORING, Ladies'Shoes.
MECHANICS AND MINERS WORKING OUTFITS
All Goods Retailed at Wholesale Prices.
W. W. KNIGHT, President.     L. W. WATERBURY, Sec'y.
A. K. CLARK, Vice President  GEO. H. CAMPBELL, Treas.
mESTL A BXXSm33:D 18s74
THE KNIGHT MCCLURE MUSIC CO.,
PIANOS AND ORGANS.
Steinway, Decker Bros., Weber, Knabe, Fischer, Everett,
Kimball, C. A. Smith.
1637 to 1643 Lawrence St.     -     Denver, Colo.
R. DOUGLAS & CO.,
DIRECT IMPORTERS!
Queensware, Fine China, Glassware (Table and Bar), Cuttlery
and Fancy Pottery from All Countries.
SOLE AGENTS FOR
Leonard Hardwood Cleanable Refrigerators,
THE BEST IN THE WORLD.
1517 to 1523 CURTIS STREET.  -  -      DENVER, COLO




Matnufacturer of all Kinds of First-class
Buggies, Phaetons & Business WVagons
x 840-42-44. and 46 Market Srreet,
]DENVER            -f      -               COLO11.
General Blacksmithing. Repairing of all Kinds Promptly Done
THE COLORADO IRON WrvORIKS
Mining Machinery. Manufacturers of Stamp' Mills, Hoisters, Engines
and Boilers, Smelting Furnaces, Crusthers, Cornish Rolls, Cornish
Pumps, Pans and Settlers. Castings9, and Heavy Foxgiup
Architectural Iron work,, etc.
I~CO~O~.AEZ)  878.      Miss Isabel Nesmith, Ttes. and Secy.
DIRECTORS: John W. Nesmith, President. J. H. Morcom, Supt. S. H. Nessuith.
Office I509 Larimer Street.  Works 33d and Wyncoop Sts.
DENVER, COW,.
JOHN DAVIS, PRESIDENT. LUMAN -M. BoGuE, SECY. AND TmprA~s. JOSEPH CRESWELL, V. PRIST.
The Davis-Creswell Mfg.Company
MANUFACTURERS AND JOBBERS OF
~{am as, and (~afer @ood-;E)S,
1624 to i638 Blake Street      -       DENV1UR, COLO.
St        Jamies Sals
H.' W. ERLE,'Proprietor.
NOSE 378 AND 378 CHAMPA STREET,
]DENV'ER          -       -       -       COLO10RADO.




HUQHES
A N DKIEITH
Sanitary Supply Co..
VW AGENTS FOR


Mitchell Vance Co.
OF NEW YORK.
Manufacturers of Ar —
tistic.ELECTRIC~,
GAS AND
COMBINATION
FIXTURES.;FINE SANITAR Y
IPL UMBINGT A
SPECIALTY.
1641 tO 1647
CALIFORNIA ST.


J. S. BROWN & BRO.,
WHOLESALE
1524-34 W~azeeSt.,
DENVIR, COLO.


JAMES M. JOHNSON,
Room so King Bik.  Denver, Colorado.
JOHN E. LEET,


Real


e""StateC.


No-c:. 1515 TFreaaaoz:)it St.,
Opposite the Court House.
Specialties of Court House Prop-  J  I  v ---
erty and Southeastern Additions.                         C A....J...~.J




FRANK A. ELLIS &"'SON,
Hardware, Tools,
Stoves, AH     ouse Furiishings.
giq6-igi8 Larimer St., DENVER, COLO.
Denver jctrdware Go.
-DEAItERS INHardware, Tin Plate, Sheet Iron,.Nails, Stoves, Ranges, Mantels and Grates.
1621-1628 LARIMER ST,9 DENVER, COLO.,
Hardware Company
1640-1642 LARIMER STREET,
DENVER,.CO*LORADO.
All slzus of Sewer Pipe for Sale at the Lowest Cash Prices, in large and
Small Quantities.
JOSEPH WVILLIAMS,
Sewer and Water Drainage a Specialty.
All Sanitary Work Promptly Attended to.




PACIFIC EXPRESS CO.                    U. S. EXPRESS CO.
]xEOIN-T-3~Y           O1,1JDE29 -Payable at over io,ooo places in the United States and Canada.
Money by Telegraph between all important agencies.
Fast Line to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and all points East, West,
North and South, and a system of Through Billing to all Prominent
Intermediate Points East, West, North and South. Short Line
to Galveston, New Orleans and all Gulf Points. Agencies
Established in all Parts of Europe. Merchandise and
Valuables Forwarded and Received.
QUICEST    IME.For further particulars, address, LOWEST  RATES.
R. A. LEIMER, General Agent, Cor. 15th and Lawrence Sti., DENVER, COLO.
1852 WELLS, FARGO & CO.'S EXPRESS. 1890
E~xpress Carriers of Money, jewelry 'Valuables and Freight to all Points. Quickest,
Safest and Cheapest Medium of Trantsportation to all Principal Cities and Towns
in the United States and Canada; also to Mcxico, British Columbia, and the
Sandwich islands. Express Forwarders to London, Paris,Hamburg and all
parts of E~urope, South America, China, Australia and Japan.
Offices, 2,654. MIleage, 39,600.-RaIl, 26,092. Stage, 3,046. Inland
Steamers, 583. Ocean Steamers, 9,879.
New York Through Express Line From Ocean to Ocean San Francisco
LOWEST RATES.     UNDQUBTED SECURITY.       FASTEST TIME.
Ship by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express.
]Denv-er Office 1762 Larirner St. G. B. Simnpson, Agt.


W. F. GEDDIS.


D. D. SiEMRIIE.


Geddis & Seerie,
CON T*T R 1zA6 CTOR 1zS.


TELEPHONE 819.
P. 0. BOX 2073.


DENVER, COLO.I


H. B. CHAMBERLIN, President.  GEO. L. KIMBALL, Vice-Pres. and Genul Manager.
F. J. CHAMBERLIN, Secretary.  Gao. D. KIMBALL, Treasurer.
(INCORPORATED.)
phe   K~imball 1ed        &andsfone       Qrpanv.
-Flagging -Footing, Curbing, Paving, Dimension Stone, Rubble, Etc.
PROPRIETORS OF ARCHALOW QUARRIES, LYONS, COLO.
Officei No. 62 and 63 Railroad Building, Denver, Colo.
'lrelephiore No. 11171.                   P. 0. I3o-x, 1243.




KEYS CORN HARVESTER AND


Machinery Manufacturing Co.
OFFICE, ROOM Ile 910 SIXTEENTH ST.,
IDENVER, COLO.,RA1DO.
Works at LITTLETON. COLO.
W. H. WRIGLEY, Pre.. and Treas.  H. McCOMS,, Secretary.
THE DENVER PLANING MILL & M'F'G-CO.
Sashi, Glass, ]Doors, Bl1inds, N%4ouldinigs, 'Turning,
B3and'and Scroll Sawinig.
SW-Door and Window Frames and All Kinds of Mill Work Done to
Order. Stair Work a Specialty.
Cor. -zand & Bl3ake Sts.,    D)ENVER, COLO.0
0 oman~r
FOR MEN AND BOYS.
CLOTHIERS, FIURNISHE~RS, HATTE~RS AND TAILORS. ALSO
SHOE~S FOR LADIES, GE~NTS AND CHILDREN.
Sixteenth & Larimer Sts.,      DENVER, COLO.
APPEL F>       & CO'S
J. HOLZMAN, Prop'r.


z55z 11.,arirxier St.,


IDENVRn, C011,0.




In the Elegant New
r4nest         3ranm-er I loe1
J A.PPLY TO
J. A. SAYWARD, Agent.


Room 407,


- FOURTH FLOOR.


AN EASY OBJECT LESSON.
THE SRORY:
A paternal government granted the U. P. Railway
Co., a domain of land in Colorado; they sold sixteen thousand acres of it to Rufus Clark for about
$I5.00 an acre; Clark sold it to THE DENVER-ARAPAHOE LAND CO. for $5o7,ooo; courage, brains and
capital built the most expensive water-works system in the West and irrigated this land: It is now
appraised at $2,930,000.
THE MORAL: Buy some of the above land before another chapter is added to the story.
THE DENVER-ARAPAHOE LAND CO.
BOSTON BLOCK, Ground Floor.


S. A. JOSEPHI & CO.,:Broke:rs,
ARAPAHOE BUILDING.
A. WARD,
Optician - and - Spectacle - Maker.
1634 Lawrence St.
A. B. PHILLIPS,
rDICTJOC3IST.
Cor. 15th and Curtis Sts.


F. M. DEMANGE & CO.,
Men's Furnishers, Shirt Manufacturers,
and Specialties in Novelties.
1654   Larirner     St.
TUCKER & CO.,
Men's Furnishers, and Fine Custom
Made Shirts.
1632 LARIMER STREET.
CHARLES N. KNOWLES,
PAPER WAREHOUSE.
I541-43 BLAKE STREET.




Colax Av.Eetic Raiload
MILo A. SMITH, PRESIT.  S. M. PERRY, V. P. AND GEN'L MGR.
GEo. A. BUSHNELL, SECY AND TREAS'R.
This line, as its name implies, is on Colfax avenue. Cornmencing  at- York- street, -it runs directly east -six miles,
past Montclair, St. John's and the Woman's Colleges and
Aurora, with branches to Richthofen's and- Porter & Raymond's
Montclair,, the Art Gallery and Easte~rn Capitol Hill.  Its
track and- equipment are -strictly flrst-class. By a traffic arrangement with the City Cable Co., through cars are run from
the eastern termini of the electric to Seventeenth avenue,
where they 'are -taken by, the " Grips, " down Sixteenth street,
over the viaduct and to the end of the cable line in North
Denver, making a continuous ride of ten miles, without change
of cars and for five cent fare. Take the cars at Sixteenth
street, ride east and see the most beautiful suburban property
of Denver.
CARSON & HOWIE.
investmnent and Trust Co.
PAID IN CAPITAL, $100,000.
Real Estate and Investments, and
First Mortgage Loans.
W. P. MANIEY, Pres. T. A. THomPSON, Treas, H. EMZiRsorz, Sec..
Theeliance Trust Company
SIOUX GITY., IOWA.
Buy and Sell State, County, School and Municipal Bonds.
8ia-c pe;r &t. ID9ebe~rittzrL~e- 8or:)ids.
Capital, $ioo,ooo.     Capital Authorized, $250,ooo.
DENVER OFFICE, ROOM 84, KITTREDGE BLDG.




CooaoFulC.
Owners, Operators and Exclusive Dealers in
ELK MOUNTAIN ANTHRACITE COAL.
PINON BITUMINOUS COAL.
ROUSE BITUMINOUS COAL.
ROCK SPRINGS BITUMINOUS COAL.
NORTHERN CO5LORADO LIGNITE COAL.
TRINIDAD SMITHING COAL.
TRINIDAD AND GAS COKE.
Office;16~~re~~                        tet
DENVER             -                     COLORADO
a, REPORT OF THE CONDITION OF
THE STATE NATIONAL BANK
OF -DENVER, COLORADO.
October 2,. 1890.
RESOURCES.                  LIABILITIES:
L~oans and Discounts  - $i,446,734 38  Capital Stock  - - $ 300,000 00
overdrafts - -5,787 43      Surplus Fud - -  -  6o,ooo oo
U. S. and other bonds  54,705 I17  Uniied Profits - - 33,130 07
Furniture and Fixtures  24,020 40  Circulation  - -   45,000 00
Current E~xpenses paid  468 78  Deposits  -  -  1819,9 I3 65
Due from Banks & U. S. Treas. 337,596 91
Cash on hand  - -   388,730 65
$2,258,043 72               $2,258,043 72
OFFICE RS:
JOHN L. McNEIL, PREST.          EDWARD L. RAYMOND, VICE PREST.
FRED C. KILHAM, CASHIER.  EDW. E. QUENTIN, ASSISTANT CASHIER.
COLLECTIONS HAVE OUR PROMPT AND CAREFUL ATTENTION.




1 1 z:

9esterrn    Elecrical (Cnstructior


1539 CHAMPA STREET,


DENVER, COLO.


Arc and Incandescent


Electric Lighting.
K.


THOMSON-HOUSTON SYSTEM.




TH8E CO,OIORADO


TELEPHONE.'. COMPANY,


ID ENW 3S 'T E E.
Exclusive Lessors of Electric Telephones in the State.
Telephones Rented for Private Line Purposes, Exchanges Established and General LIines Equipped for Telephone Messages,
Electrical apparatus of all kinds, Hotel Annunciations, Etc.




Coal.   Iron Co.
G. W. COOK, General Agent.
1! —. _ _ -_.____,
BOSTON BLOCK,
Denver, Co
IDenver, Colo.i,,.t....




DENNIS SULLIVAN, PRESIDENT.
JOSEPH A. THATCHER, TREASURER.


JAMES H. ARCHER, VICE PREIDENT.
FRANCIS P. McMANUS, SECRETARY.


Denver


Water


Comupa ny


f


638 I7th St., Cor. of California,.D81*T-V BROIO


- COO.




Citizens' Water Company,
which was organized for the purpose of furnishing the City
of Denver with a pure supply of Mountain       Water by a
gravity pressure, is now prepared to furnish all the premises along the lines of its mains.  The quality of the water
is far better than has ever been supplied through the pipes
of the old company, and the source from    which the water
comes renders it absolutely free from  contamination.
Our schedule of rates is on the average about 33 per
cent. less than prices heretofore charged to the citizens of
Denver, and we ask the public to recognize what we have
done for the city, by  connecting  their premises with  our
system.
THE CITIZENS' WATER COMPANY,
1626 Welton Street,
DENVER, COLO.




CONTINENTAL
OIL COMPANY.
PETROLEUM
And its Products.
Lubricating Oil,
Miscellaneous Oil,
Axle Grease.




DENVER


CC)].e(D




t     E wonderful growvth of Deaver, during the past three
yeasr has atract*d the attention of the whole country. Math has been written of its advantageous location, unequalled climatic conditions, inexhaustible mineral wealth and great possibilities in agriculture. These are
being universally acknowledged, a proof of which is the
vast amount of outside capital invested and seeking investment here.
But we wish to say a few words particularly about Aurora,
a new suburban property of great promise. Passing out
Cofax avenue, thiotgh "Capitol Hill," *te are located
the finet and most b autifilihonmts tOf the wealthy and continiang past Montclair, St. Jfhn's aid Womian's Colleges,
we comBe to A'irorA. Ae improveetits here aie all new,
the first dozen houses havingjust been completed and quickly purchased and occupied by those wishing to enjoy the advantages offered. Residents in Aurora may look from their
western windows and in xone grand chain, bekold over two
hundred miles of mountain range. Nowhere else in the
known world, can such a view be obtained and once seen, it
captivates and fascinates, but never tires the beholder. Passengers are conveyed to the city in thirty-five minutes, by
the Colfax Avenue Electric Railroad, in connection with the
City Cable Co., for five cent fare and without a change of
cars. Aurora is furnished with the best of water by the East
Denver Water Co. for both domestic and irrigation purposes.
All of the houses are wired for electric Higs aird a fitfrtclass lighting service will be furnished iat ain early day.
Every convenience and luxury of the city may be enjoyed
here, free from the smoke, dirt and noise of the city streets.
The Colfax Trust Co., owner of Aurora, is constantly improving it, and purchasers of lots at original prices will
share in the enhanced values which these improvements
will bring. The CompaSy bffers its lots and blOckts at very
low prices and on the most favorable terms, and an investment here is certain to reap a large profit.
Call on, or address
T'ic. Ct)OLFAX    TiLJST' C(O.,
1738 CURTIS STREET.
S. M. PERRY, President.
GEO. A. BUSHNELL, Secretary.. \
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THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN


DATE DUE


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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 00373 8328




BOUND
DEC 30 1952
UNIV OF MtCH,
LIBR ARY