^37 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 HV6783 .E37 
 
 Our rival, the rasca 
 
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 Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Corneii University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030322071 
 
o 
 
 UR . RIVAL . THE - RASCAL 
 
 A . FAITHFUL • PORTRAYAL • OF 
 THE . CONFLICT • BETWEEN • THE 
 CRIMlINALS • OF . THIS • AGE • AND 
 THE . DEFENDERS • OF . SOCIETY 
 — THE . POLICE. 
 
 BY 
 
 BENJ. P. ELDRIDGE and WILLIAM B. WATTS 
 
 Saperintendent of Police. Chief Inspector of the Detective Bureau 
 
 OF THE CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 (Sb 
 
 PEMBERTON - PUBLISHING - COi«lPANY, - 287 
 CONGRESS - STREET, - BOSTON, - MASS., - J897. 
 
 Copyright, 1896, by Pemberton Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved. 
 
Copyright, 1896 
 
 by 
 
 Pemberton Publishing Co. 
 
 AH rights reserved 
 
 5 
 
 PiNKHAM Press, 287-289 Congress Strekt, 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 J. P. SiMONus & Co., En<.ra\'ers, Koston, Mass. 
 
 Macdonald and Sons, Book Binders, 
 Boston, ^^A';5, 
 
BENJAMIN P. ELDRIDGE. 
 
Benjamin P. Eldridge, Superintendent of Police, of the 
 city of Boston, was born in the seashore town of Truro,. 
 Mass., in 1838. When he was four years old, his parents 
 moved to Dorchester, then a suburban town bordering on 
 Boston. He was educated in the Dorchester pubhc schools 
 and after graduation entered the office of the Dorchester Fire 
 Insurance Company, first as a clerk and subsequently under- 
 taking the duties of a special policeman. 
 
 Shortly after his entry into the field of service to which 
 his life has since been devoted, he was elected a constable 
 by the choice of the town and discharged all the duties of 
 this post until his enlistment in the ' state police force of 
 Massachusetts in 1867. He served on this force till 1875, 
 working in all parts of the Commonwealth, and at- times in 
 the discharge of his duties in other states of the Union. 
 
 Upon the abolition of the institution of the state police 
 in 1875 he was appointed to the Boston police force and 
 three years later promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In 1885, 
 upon the organization of the Boston Board of Police Com- 
 missioners, Lieut Eldridge served as deputy at headquar- 
 ters to the acting superintendent and in October of the same 
 year was raised to the rank of Captain and assigned to the 
 charge of one of the city stations. 
 
 On July 14, 1888, Captain Eldridge was promoted to the 
 rank of Chief Inspector, and on November 9, 1891, he be- 
 came by appointment Superintendent of Police, which posi- 
 tion he has since held. His long and wide ranging serv- 
 ice in police circles has given him the intimate experience 
 with crime and criminals requisite to the preparation of 
 Our Rival, The Rascal. He is the present head of the as- 
 sociation of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police and also Presi- 
 dent of the National Union of Chiefs of PoHce, embracing 
 the representatives of all the leading cities of the country. 
 
Chief Inspector William B. Watts is the present head 
 of the detective branch of the Boston Police Department 
 officially designated as the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. 
 In this position he has at the present time under his command 
 thirty skilled detectives. He was born in Cambridge, Mass., 
 June 19, 1852, his parents moving to Boston while he was 
 very young. He was educated in the Boston public schools 
 from which he was graduated during the time of the war. 
 
 He became a member of the Boston Police Department in 
 December, 1877. Early in 1881 he was appointed an Assistant 
 Inspector of Police and assigned to duty at the Detective 
 Bureau at Police Headquarters. He was promoted to the 
 rank of Inspector of Police December 24, 1884. He served in 
 this capacity until November 9, 189 1, when he was promoted 
 to the rank of Captain in which capacity he served for three 
 years in charge of a city station. 
 
 In August, 1894, upon the reorganization of the Detective 
 Bureau he was transferred by the Board of Police to his former 
 field of duty and promoted to the office of Assistant Chief In- 
 spector. Two months later upon the promotion of the former 
 Chief Inspector to the post of Deputy Superintendent he was 
 advanced to the rank of Chief Inspector in the same branch of 
 the service, which position he has since held. 
 
 In his nearly twenty years of service he has become neces- 
 sarily familiar with every type of criminal and his constant 
 study of their character, habits and ways of operation has been 
 unremitting and minute. He feels that he may with propriety 
 state that the conclusions of his years of experience are frankly 
 presented in the following pages. 
 
WILLIAM B. WATTS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 AS we sit in our office chairs, our rival, the rascal, leers down 
 at us through a thousand masks. He is reckless, gay, de- 
 mure, stolid, dogged, sullen, surly, threatening, desperate. He 
 has the smirk of the confidence man, the furtive glance of the 
 sneak thief, the scowl of the burglar, the menace of the mur- 
 derer. The moulds of every vice and crime which the world 
 knows are ranged before us in a single group of pictures — 
 the photographs which compose the Rogues' Gallery. 
 
 Ourrival,the rascal, was born before the beginning of history. 
 He has existed ever since knavery sought to outwit honesty 
 and villainy attacked by force or fraud the natural right of man 
 to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the earliest 
 conditions of society the honest man fought the rascal single- 
 handed or with the chance help of his neighbors. With the 
 advance of civilization, came the institution of the standing 
 safeguards of watchmen and constables, culminating at length 
 in the great disciplined forces of our city police. 
 
 From the farthest stretch of tradition down to the present 
 hour society has been fighting our rival, the rascal, day and 
 night, with all its accumulating powers of defence and suppres- 
 sion, and yet the rascal has not been subdued and for ages to 
 come he will doubtless continue to defy the law and infest the 
 earth. Still the advancing experience, organization and deter- 
 mination arrayed against him have succeeded, at least, in mak- 
 ing his path in life a painful tramp over rocks and thorns with 
 traps and pitfalls threatening his feet at every step. Between 
 him and the grand organization of the defenders of society, 
 simply summed up in the term, the poHce, there is an undying 
 rivalry and an incessant contest, the one striving by every hook 
 and crook to blind the eyes or escape the clutch of the other 
 
Tiii PREFACE. 
 
 which in turn is constantly spurred on to meet craft with craft 
 and foil every new shift of resourceful villainy by redoubled 
 alertness in detection and capture. 
 
 In the following pages we have designed to show the rascal 
 of to-day in his multiform bodies and faces. We have distin- 
 guished, as sharply, and vividly as we can, the varying types in 
 our Rogues' Gallery. We have depicted the bunco man, the 
 sneak thief, the burglar, the forger — the trickster and ruffian 
 of every known stripe. We have shown what conditions make 
 or mould them, how they plan, how they work, what covers 
 they seek, and how the police in turn plan and work to forestall, 
 deter, detect and capture them. 
 
 For the sake of illustration and interest, we have sketched in 
 the life dramas of typical rascals, in which no stroke of fancy 
 is added to distort or impair the truth of the pictures. If they 
 do not appear Hke the heroes or principals in the lurid yellow 
 covered fiction of our time, they have at least the merit of being 
 true portraits of real men. 
 
 Accompanying these sketches we have given also photo- 
 graphs of distinctive criminals who have made their mark in 
 the crime of this century, together with cuts illustrating the 
 latest improvements in the instruments and weapons used for 
 the perpetration of crimes. 
 
 It has been our aim in the preparation of this book to make 
 not only a graphic and faithful portrayal of the criminal classes 
 and the police of to-day, but also to supply a work of practical 
 every day service to the public at large in the suggestion of 
 precautions for the better security of life and property. It has 
 further been of heartfelt satisfaction to us that we have the op- 
 portunity here of ofTfering a just tribute to the ability, zeal, fear- 
 lessness and unflagging devotion to duty of our brother officers 
 in the police service and to the admirable administration of the 
 boards of direction of our police throughout the country. 
 
 What we have written is the product of many years of actual 
 service on the police force of Boston in various capacities, dur- 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 ing which we have been brought into intimate personal contact 
 with the range of criminals whom we have depicted. To our 
 personal experience we have been enabled to add also the co- 
 operation of friends, expert in the police service, and the com- 
 prehensive official records of the police departments of this 
 and other countries. Supplementing these official sources of 
 information we have also a personal collection of memoranda 
 touching crimes and criminals, which we have been making for 
 many years for the purpose of reference and identification. 
 This collection we have now found of much value in preparing 
 the work which we have entitled. Our Rival, The Rascal. 
 
 rz^^t^ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SWINDLING BEGGAR i 
 
 A master in tricks of disguise — Tramps'' unions — Methods 
 of recruiting — The manufacture of cripples — The daily 
 life of a tramp — A convenient mask for a burglar— How to 
 provide for mendicants and vagabonds . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BY SLEIGHT OF HAND 15 
 
 The pickpocket and his methods — The amateur and profes- 
 sional — Favorite haunts of the pickpocket — Representative 
 rogues — How to guard against them — The shoplifter — Guard- 
 ing stores in the shopping districts — The cloak of kleptomania — 
 "Morning hoisters" and "■ Pe)iny-weight thieves" — Repre- 
 sentative shoplifters and their methods — Safeguards against 
 their operations. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE 35 
 
 Bank burglars, old-fashioned and modern — Their tools- 
 Evolution in burglary — Selection of a" tnark " — Famous bank 
 robberies — " Max Shinburn " and other foremost craftsmen — 
 The introduction of explosives — Cooperating defences — Elec- 
 tricity applied to safe breaking— Best precautions and safe- 
 guards. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THROUGH WALLS OF STEEL 64 
 
 Extensions of common law burglary — "-Safe blowers" and store 
 breakers — Insecurity of old and cheap safes — How store rob- 
 beries are planned and executed — Burglars'' correspondence — 
 Old-fashioned and modern ''kits " — Typical safe breakers and 
 their operations — The vigilance of the police — Cooperative 
 methods of defence suggested. 
 
xii OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 UNDER COVER OF NIGHT 93 
 
 Different classes of house breakers — The ' ' second story worker " 
 — Some representative ' ' climbers " — Raids of the ' ^ flat 
 worker" — Necessary precautions— House sneaks and how to 
 foil them — The professional burglar — Typical house breakers 
 and their undertakings — Essential safeguards for the protec- 
 tion of householders . 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE 120 
 
 The "bank sneak"— A connecting link between burglar and 
 forger — The foremost American " bank sneaks " and their ways 
 of working — The ''invalid" trick and the ''drop game" — 
 Characteristics and habits — Recruiting — Useful precautions . 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE STROKE OF THE QUILL 144 
 
 The forger's craft — The development of counterfeiting — Danger- 
 ous current counterfeits and how to detect them — "Sweating" 
 "plugging''"' and "filling" — Counterfeit paper money — Raised 
 bank notes — Means of detection of forgery — Characteristics of 
 forged handwriting— Celebrated cases of forgery— Sketches of 
 the most notorious forgers — Organization for protection. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SHARPERS AND DUPES 185 
 
 Origin of " Bunco" — Curious exhibit of the game — The "gold 
 brick " and its variations — Buried treasures and sunken 
 galleons — " Green goods " and " sawdust" games — The " horse 
 sharp " — " Confidence m.en " — Swindling land agents , lightning 
 rod men and commission agents — Bogus business investments 
 and publishing frauds — Overdrafts and worthless checks 
 — How immigrants are swindled — Detection and capture. 
 
CONTENTS. Xiii 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN THE CLOAK OF A GUEST 223 
 
 T/te hotel thief ^His tricks to gain entrance to rooms— Typical 
 rogues and their arts— The professional hotel " beat '"—Pre- 
 cautions for landlord and guest . 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 'KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD " 
 
 The riseof the train robber — The celebrated Reno gang — Other 
 noted gangs of outlaws — " Sleeping car workers'''' — Safeguards 
 for travellers — Pilferers from express wagons. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE ROVING FOOTPAD 280 
 
 The modern highwayman — Weapons, old and new — Palioly's 
 "choke-pear''" — Modern knock-out drops — Representative 
 ruffians — The need of stringent legislation. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE RECEIVER 291 
 
 The ' ' Fence " — How stolen goods are disposed of— Marks of 
 identification destroyed — The receiver's share — Representative 
 receivers — Masks of professional '■fences."'' 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE INCENDIARY . • • .299 
 
 The rise of arson — Conunercial incendiarism — Reckless over- 
 insurance — The pyromaniac — An advanced system, of fire 
 inquests — Duties and services of a fire marshal — The duty 
 of the State. 
 
xiv OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION 306 
 
 Organization and operation of police and detective forces — 
 Progress in discipline and service — A typical city police de- 
 partment — How detectives and patrolmen cover and guard a 
 city — Methods of identification — The Bertillon system— The 
 Rogues Gallery — Tracing and capturing criminals. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE MAKING OF CRIMINALS . . . . . . 337 
 
 Caiises of critne — Opinions of experts — Lombroso^s theory — 
 ProaVs rejoinder — Indications of criminality — Application of 
 photography to the study of criminal types — Composite photo- 
 graphs of criminals — The spread of crime. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE CRIMINAL WOMAN 357 
 
 Proportionally few women are criminals — Characteristics ob- 
 served by experts — Resources of pretence — Habits and methods 
 illustrated by typical instances — Remarkable criminals. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS 376 
 
 Advances during the present century — European and Ameri- 
 can methods — Habitual criminal acts — For discrimination in 
 treattnent — Plan of the Abbe Moreau — Progressive classification 
 — Requisites for reform — For diminution of crim^e — Care of 
 discharged convicts — An indelible brand. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 SAFEGUARDS 391 
 
 The evolution of the modern burglar-proof safe — Safe deposit 
 vaults and locks — Chrome steel jail cells — Electric burglar 
 alarm systems — Insurance against burglary — The ' ' Yale " 
 lock — Safety paper — Watchmen's clocks — Police signal systems. 
 
OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
THE SWINDLING BEGGAR. • 
 
 IN the dim, old traditional days when every tree had a nymph 
 as a tenant and every fountain was the bath of a naiad, there 
 lived an old fellow called Proteus. He made his living as the 
 herdsman of Neptune, god of the sea, and it was his custom 
 to tell over his herds of sea calves at noon and then to go to 
 sleep on the floor of his cave. The only way of catching him 
 was to pounce upon him suddenly in his sleep and bind him 
 fast, for otherwise he could change his shape in an instant to 
 any form he chose and slip away beyond the reach of pursuit. 
 
 There is a curious likeness between this shifty old fellow of 
 ancient fable and the artful rascal of our day who is wandering 
 up and down through this country as a swindling beggar. 
 Like Proteus he is a master of every trick of disguise. He 
 veils his cunning eyes behind patches and gropes through the 
 crowded streets of our cities with his pattering staff. He stufTs 
 up a monstrous hump on his back and invokes a shuddering 
 pity for his dreadful deformity. He counterfeits every imagi- 
 nable distortion of body or limb. He swathes himself in filthy 
 bandages as a victim of every wounding, maiming and shat- 
 tering agency on earth, from a cyclone to a trolley car. He 
 paints the most loathsome sores on his face, neck or hands, or 
 by the use of chemicals actually makes eruptions of the flesh 
 that may well pass for the surface show of incurable diseases. 
 In the ingenuity of his devices and variety of his masks he is 
 really an artist whose works might be studied with profit by 
 the character actors of our modern stage. 
 
 If he is persistently hunted from cover to cover by the police 
 or other agencies of the law, he will slip away like old Proteus 
 
2 OVR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 to some other place of refuge from which he can later return to 
 his favorite haunts, in some novel mask, after all scent of him 
 has grown cold. Even when arrested, he is never at a loss for 
 some plausible tale of woe to palliate his offences and shorten 
 his sentence, if he cannot escape conviction as an impostor and 
 vagrant. ' With his tricks of disguise and his shifts of pretence 
 he is certainly one of the most bothersome rascals with whom 
 our police has to deal. 
 
 Commonly this strolling beggar is a member of a little con- 
 federacy or gang of tramps whose field of imposition stretches 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from northern Canada to 
 the Gulf of Mexico. In their swindling practice, these tramps 
 go about usually singly or in pairs, but the gangs are bound 
 together by pledges which are rarely broken and are subject 
 to the direction of a chosen leader or captain. Their favorite 
 pastures are the cities and larger towns where they can beg 
 most successfully and meet by appointment at night in some 
 low dive or cheap lodging house to plan for the next day and 
 confide their spoils to their leader who serves as the treasurer 
 of the joint collection. 
 
 A considerable share of the booty is often left to accumulate 
 in the hands of the captain as a fund to be used as bail money 
 or in payment of fines when any of the gang are arrested. It 
 serves also as a means of support in weeks when the pastures' 
 yield little or when .the beggars are driven from the streets by 
 the bitter cold or the blasts of wintry storms. This reserve 
 fund is kept in some secret hiding place or, it may be, regularly 
 deposited in a bank by the leader who can readily put on the 
 dress and manner of a thrifty working man. 
 
 It may seem strange that so much confidenceisreposed in the 
 head of the gang, by the associated rogues, but it is a very rare 
 instance when this trust is abused. An absconding or default- 
 ing treasurer would be branded as a treacherous thief by the 
 men whom he robbed and blacklisted by every gang of beggars 
 throughout the country as fast as the tale could travel. There 
 
THE SWINDLING BEQOAR. , 
 
 is honor among these rascals to this extent, at least, that no 
 one can swindle another without being barred out of the united 
 order of American beggars and exposed to every device of 
 vindictive resentment. Doubtless the assurance of this pen- 
 alty is a fine buttress for a shaky conscience and a better shield 
 for a trust fund than any combination of locks and bars. 
 
 When the day's collection is put in the hands of the captain, 
 he divides all except the reserve among the members of the 
 gang equally or in regularly stipulated proportions, without 
 regard to the actual amount turned in by each as the proceeds 
 of his day's beggary. This distribution is accepted without 
 complaint and it is a matter of fact that there is rarely any 
 attempt to hold back a cent secretly of the full amount which 
 each beggar is expected to put in the common purse. 
 
 These beggars are of every age and nationality under the 
 sun. They make up their gangs from chance association in the 
 same district, or from personal liking, or the shrewd apprecia- 
 tion of the peculiar knack in imposition which each knave 
 possesses to a greater or less extent. In this association a 
 combination may be made that will successfully impose on 
 every class in the community or in the beggar's parlance "work 
 t:he whole town at once." 
 
 For the recruiting of the gangs, keen-witted young boys of 
 a wayward disposition are the ones preferred as a rule. These 
 boys are dissatisfied with their homes or life for some reason 
 or other. Some lack moral training, some have harsh or 
 abusive parents or none at all, some are naturally of a vicious 
 disposition and all may be led to follow a tempter who lures 
 them on with tales of pockets jingling with silver, of the free 
 and easy life of the rover, and of the curious and interesting 
 sights to be seen in his rambling over the country from ocean 
 to ocean. 
 
 When a boy is enlisted by the captain, he is introduced to 
 every member of the gang and regularly adopted as a con- 
 federate with a fixed allowance of the joint booty. He is 
 
4 OUB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 warned and trained to obey the directions of his chief implicitly 
 and continue faithful to his obligations to his companions. 
 How he advances in roguery may well be illustrated by a typi- 
 cal instance, in the person of a young fellow who not long ago 
 fell into the hands of the Boston police. 
 
 This lad was an orphan boy who wandered away from his 
 home in Connecticut and drifted into the company of "Frisco 
 Slim," one of the most notorious of the "knights of the road." 
 This remarkable beggar was no slender stripling as his sobri- 
 quet might suggest, but a strapping young rogue from 
 California, weighing over 200 pounds and towering above his 
 confederates as one of the giant firs on the slopes of his native 
 Sierras overtops the mass of the forest. He had lost by some 
 accident or gambling squabble part of the fingers of his left 
 hand and this mutilation was a handy corner stone for a fabric 
 of imposition in the role of a cripple. His strength and arro- 
 gance had won for him a certain preeminence in the company 
 of his fellow beggars and he was then the recognized chief of a 
 gang which was plaguing Boston particularly. 
 
 He was on the lookout for serviceable young recruits and by 
 adroit pumping he soon perceived that the Connecticut boy 
 might readily be turned into a useful tool. So he began to fill 
 the lad's mind with the enticements of life on the road and the 
 ease of imposition on the credulous public. 
 
 "Why should you rub along as a common bum," he said, 
 "when you might go up to the top of the profession and easily 
 make from three to ten dollars a day?" Then he showed the 
 boy how his arm had been chemically treated to counterfeit 
 closely the appearance of a frightful burn. "With that arm," 
 said Frisco, waving it proudly, "I collar many a dollar every 
 day of my life. I can fix up your arm in another style that will 
 catch on just as well and you can make money enough to burn 
 if you come with me." With this kind of talk, he soon won 
 over the boy to join the gang which he headed and the lad was 
 duly enrolled under the name of "Kid Johnson." 
 
THE S\VI\DLIXa BEGGAR. c 
 
 As soon as he was enlisted Johnson was taken to a resort of 
 the gang where his arm was set in a plaster cast as if it had 
 been recently broken. In outward seeming the counterfeit 
 was complete and nobody would be likely to suppose that it was 
 the cover of a cheat. Even if there was a suspicion of humbug, 
 no examination that could be made by the ordinary observer 
 would detect the trick. 
 
 Then the novice was sent out to beg on the streets 
 with his arm in a sling. His face was made up to show pitiful 
 traces of pain, hunger and weariness. He had no coat on his 
 back. His scanty clothing was thin and ragged. His naked 
 toes peeped through the tatters of his shoes. From head to 
 heel he was an image of woe cunningly fashioned to melt a 
 heart of ice and he had at his tongue's end a distrustful tale 
 composed by his mentor, the artful Slim. 
 
 The pains expended on his make-up and training were richly 
 rewarded. "Kid Johnson" proved to be a little silver mine on 
 legs. Over and over again his pockets were filled with dimes 
 and quarters and even round dollars by compassionate people 
 in the shops and on the streets. Good, kindly housewives fed 
 him on the fat of the land in their warm, cosy kitchens and big- 
 hearted servant girls took their mites from hard-earned wages 
 to comfort the poor little orphan, with a broken arm, who was 
 forced to beg his bread from door to door. 
 
 When night came, the young beggar went with overflowing 
 pockets to the rendezvous of his gang, which, in Boston, was 
 a room in the West End of the city. Here he was warmly wel- 
 comed by his chief, "Frisco Slim," and his mates, numbering 
 nearly a dozen in all, and the booty of the day was counted and 
 divided. The chief lieutenants, so to speak, of "Frisco Slim" 
 were the rogues, "English Harry" and "Sheeny Si," whose por- 
 traits appear in illustration of this class of impostors in a group 
 with their chief. "Harry" was by profession or pretence a, bar- 
 tender and "Si" a brakeman, but like their captain, the stalwart 
 Slim, who called himself a painter, both had a rooted aversion 
 
6 ODR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 to any work more laborious than the exertion of passing their 
 hats for the small change of society. "English- Harry" was 
 unmistakably the shrewdest of the gang, but he was perforce 
 content to serve as the adjutant of Slim who pocketed the 
 biggest share of the spoil regardless of the proportion of brains 
 which ,he contributed to the scheming of the gang. Slim 
 reserved also a considerable sum as a fund to cover possible 
 calls for the payment of fines and other expenses and to show 
 -his good faith exhibited savings bank books of deposits extend- 
 ing over three or four months and amounting to some four or 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
 After the day's receipts were divided the gang passed the 
 evening in smoking, drinking, playing cards and telling stories, 
 sometimes of their own petty cheats and odd experiences and 
 sometimes grossly obscene or coarsely comic. The furnishing 
 of the room was of the rudest kind, a few wooden chairs and 
 stools and dirty mattresses and blankets haunted by vermin. 
 The bare floor was disgustingly foul with a mess and litter of 
 rank cigar stumps, pipe ashes, broken bottles, half burned 
 matches, greasy scraps of paper and spittle. Yet the reckless 
 beggars huddled together in this fihhy den through the night, 
 lying indifferently on the greasy mattresses or the boards of 
 the floor, and breathing the air reeking with tobacco fumes, 
 stale beer, bad whiskey, foul sweat and odors excelling the 
 famous stinks of Cologne. 
 
 When morning came, the gang was roused up and sent out 
 again by the chief to pursue their common occupation of 
 beggary. Before setting out one after another, each made his 
 own mask of fraud with the help of his mates if necessary. 
 One with chemicals reproduced or refurbished his sores, an- 
 other bound up his neck and ankles in filthy blood-stained 
 bandages, and a third built up with leather top-lifts the heel of 
 one of his boots, so that he limped distressfully like a wretched 
 cripple. Some were content with their own coats of filth and 
 apparent misery and sallied out to beg, just as they rose un- 
 
»' ^m 
 
 -»^ 
 
 
 "ENGLISH HARRY.' 
 
 "FRISCO SLIM." 
 
 "SHEENY SI." 
 
 WILLIAM OAUUOLL. 
 
TEE SWINDLING BEGGAR. 7 
 
 washed and unkempt from their litter, taking perhaps a few 
 cheap pencils or shoestrings to distinguish themselves from 
 common tramps. 
 
 So "Kid Johnson" spent his first night with his new mates 
 and went out like the rest to cheat the city with his woe-begone 
 face and plaster cast. Day after day he returned with jingling 
 pockets to slide down the pit of vice lower and lower. The 
 wayward boy was changing fast to a debased and hardened 
 rogue like his comrades. 
 
 As he grew more expert and his first city pasture ground was 
 well grazed over he was sent out to neighboring towns to beg. 
 He brought back several dollars a day but the avarice of 
 "Frisco Slim" grew faster than his pupil could appease it, and, 
 as his control over his young accomplice increased, "lie treated 
 the lad little better than a slave. The boy was driven to beg 
 without resting by the threat of a beating if his day's collection 
 did not exceed the stint fixed by his bully and such was the 
 craft of this master beggar that the poor, ignorant boy grew 
 more and more abject under his thumb. 
 
 He was freed from his bondage by a resolute dash of the 
 Boston police who captured the whole gang of beggars at one 
 swoop in the winter of 1894-95. "Kid Johnson" was sifted 
 out of the incorrigible tramps and pains were taken to reform 
 and place him in a good position as a clerk where he could earn 
 a comfortable living with hope of advancement. But the con- 
 tamination of his fellow beggars had been fatal to him. He 
 ran away after a short time of honest work to resume his life 
 in the streets. When he left his place, he sent a grateful letter 
 to the Boston police department thanking his friends on the 
 force for their kindly care and regretting that their hope for 
 him should be disappointed. The latest report of him records 
 that he is a tramp like his vicious companions, "Frisco Slim," 
 "English Harry," and "Sheeny Si," now scattered over the 
 country or serving terms as vagrants and impostors. 
 
 With natural variations, that may be easily imagined, the 
 
8 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 experience of this young boy is the experience of thousands 
 Hke him and the habits and practices of "Frisco Shm's" gang 
 are fairly representative of hundreds of others infesting our 
 country. Besides these organized gangs there are many of the 
 fraternity also who beg independently, preferring to be their 
 own masters or thinking this course more safe and profitable. 
 These are apt to be the cleanest of their order and the least 
 dependent on any artificial cheat or counterfeit of bodily ail- 
 ment or deformity. These are the mendicants who meet us 
 on the street with tales of recently lost situations and hunts for 
 employment. These beggars are continually anticipating 
 promised remittances from their parents and friends, that never 
 arrive. Some have the promise of employment the next day 
 and want a trifle to tide over the night or buy a meal or make a 
 more decent appearance when they go to work. How familiar 
 too is that plea for another five cents to put with the five which 
 the beggar has in hand for the hire of a bed! And who has not 
 been besought by the beggars that hang about the railroad 
 stations for the price of a ticket to carry them home? 
 
 This class of beggars is commonly known to the police as 
 "lodging house tramps," because they usually aim to keep 
 out of the station houses and save enough to pay for a cheap 
 cot in the tenements where lodgings for the night are furnished 
 at ten cents and upward. 
 
 Below this class comes the rough, drunken, brutalized and 
 filthy tramp, who prefers rum any time to a bed, and onlv keeps 
 a nickel on winter nights for the cost of a shelter in the vilest 
 dens, in lofts or cellars. There they lie packed together on the 
 floor like rats in their holes, a frightful, reeking, lousy mass of 
 human kind that has fallen below the level of brutes. Some- 
 times even the wretched ease of a stretch at full length on the 
 filthy boards is denied to them and men pass the nights hano-- 
 ing in lines on thick ropes that are carried from wall to wall a 
 few feet above the floor. In the morning one end of the rope 
 is unfastened and dropped, flinging the weary tramps on the 
 
THE SWINDLING BEGGAR. g 
 
 floor as the easiest method of rousing and notifying them to get 
 up and go. 
 
 The continuance of Hfe after years in these vile slums can 
 only be accounted for by the extraordinary ruggedness of 
 bodies inured to every form of hardship and refreshed by the 
 pure outdoor air in which the days of the tramp are spent. 
 The coarse food eaten is also generally wholesome, and proba- 
 bly less enervating than the luxuries on the table of Dives. 
 Certainly it is rare that the police see a sickly professional 
 tramp or find a dead one unless he has been killed by accident. 
 
 The country is the tramp's paradise in summer. He some- 
 times travels in gangs but generally in parties of two or three. 
 Idling about from one farm or village to another, sleeping 
 imder a hay stack, in a barn or in the lockup, is his usual life. 
 He seldom works but begs persistently for money and for 
 food when he can get nothing else. Petty thieving is his 
 recreation. He keeps a sharp eye on the clothes lines and 
 steals the farmer's poultry, eggs, fruit and vegetables. If he 
 wants to cross a comparatively barren pasture he secretes him- 
 self in an emptv freight car or makes as comfortable berth as 
 possibly on the trucks under the car. Freight trains are 
 frequently stopped by conductors to drive out the tramps 
 and it is not uncommon to dislodge a dozen or more at one 
 time. 
 
 There is only a gauzy veil of division between the patent 
 professional beggar and the thinly covered kind that goes from 
 door to door and especially seeks an entrance to business 
 offices with a tale of misfortune and a handful of cheap pencils, 
 or penholders or useless knick-knacks. Some of them simply 
 present a few printed stanzas of doggerel, reciting their claim to 
 compassion and closing with the plea to buy the poor hand- 
 bill. A few of these petty pedlars may be really deserving of 
 pity or actually trying to keep themselves above the level of 
 beggars, but the vast majority are particularly crafty and 
 annoying impostors who resort to this device to evade the 
 
lO OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Statutes against undisguised vagrancy and gain access to 
 places from which the ordinary tramp is shut out. Among 
 these swindling beggars are many really desperate char- 
 acters, burglars and ruffians of the vilest stripe, who have 
 purposely sought the disguise of a mendicant to cover their 
 designs or evade pursuit and the strong arm of the law. 
 When arrested as suspicious characters, such rascals profess 
 to be merely vagabonds and serenely accept light sen- 
 tences for vagrancy as an assurance against more formidable 
 indictments. 
 
 A fair representative example of this imposture was given 
 by the gang of tramps and burglars which was arrested by 
 the Boston police, a year ago, in a cheap lodging house in 
 the North End of the city where the tramps were sleeping 
 three in a bed. One of the worst of the lot was William 
 Carroll, alias Hayes, alias Carpenter, alias Cole, whose por- 
 trait is given on our page of typical impostors. He was 
 convicted in the superior court at Dedham, in December, 
 1887, of breaking and entering a shop and sentenced to 
 the state prison for five years. Before the expiration of his 
 term he was released only to be re-arrested a few days 
 later in the act of "piping" a residence in Brighton, as the 
 preliminary survey for burglary is styled by the craft. A 
 revolver and burglar tools were found upon him when 
 searched, and for this offence he was sent back to prison 
 to serve out the remainder of his sentence. 
 
 When the gang was captured by a raid of the police, 
 a lad of fourteen, the brother of Carroll or Cole, was act- 
 ing as a spy or advance agent for them, in, the disguise of 
 a crippled beggar whose lameness was a mere counterfeit 
 produced by a shoe with a built-up sole. In a heavy valise 
 under the bed in their sleeping room a loaded revolver and 
 a complete outfit of giant powder, fuse and burglar tools 
 were stowed together with bundles of begging cards, cov- 
 ered with doggerel like this extract: 
 
THE SWINDLING BEGGAR. jj 
 
 A cripple's appeal. 
 
 Don't cast this from yon, reader, 
 But read my story through; 
 I, Hke many other unfortunates, 
 Must ask the aid of you. 
 Misfortune has befallen me, 
 Like many more .before. 
 My appeal, I wish to tell you, 
 Is to keep himger from the door. 
 
 With this plaintive petition, the little beggar extracted a good 
 many silver coins' from compassionate pockets and it prob- 
 ably served also as a passport admitting a spy to "pipe" ofif 
 tempting marks for his brother and his fellow burglars in 
 the guise of tramps. The elder Carroll was convicted in 
 the court of Worcester, in the following May, of breaking and 
 entering and robbery, aggravated by the carrying of arms, 
 and was sentenced to a term of twenty-two years in the Massa- 
 chusetts state prison. 
 
 It would be vain and wearisome to attempt to distinguish all 
 the multiform phases of beggary or the current pretexts with 
 which the compassionate or the careless or the gullible are 
 cajoled into almsgiving by the professional beggar of every 
 stripe. There is, however, one really notable line of distinc- 
 tion between what may be termed the invisible and the too 
 visible beggar whom we have so far sketched. Our invisible 
 beggar has already been depicted by Charles Dickens with 
 masterly vividness and the bitterness of experience in his 
 sketch of the Begging Letter Writer. 
 
 "He has besieged my door," writes the vivacious Boz, "at 
 all hours of the day and night; he has fought my servant; he 
 has lain in ambush for me, going out and coming in; he has 
 followed me out of town into the country, he has written to me 
 from immense distances, when I have been out of England. 
 He has fallen sick; he has died and been buried; he has come 
 to life again, and again departed from the transitory scene; he 
 
12 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 has been his own son, his own mother, his own baby, his idiot 
 mother, his uncle, his aunt, his aged grandfather. He has 
 wanted a great-coat to go to India in; a pound, to set him up in 
 life forever; a pair of boots to take him to the coast of China; a 
 hat to get him a permanent situation under Government. He 
 has frequently been just seven and six pence short of inde- 
 pendence; he has had such openings at Liverpool — posts of 
 great trust and confidence in merchants' houses which nothing 
 but seven and six pence was wanting to him to secure — that I 
 wonder he is not mayor of that flourishing town at the present 
 moment." 
 
 So Dickens runs on with graphic pen for page after page of 
 lively portraiture and what he has written of the invisible Eng- 
 lish beggar will fit neatly with a few trivial changes his brother 
 beggar of America. Every millionaire and prominent public 
 man in this country has doubtless a stack of correspondence on 
 hand from this begging letter writer unless he has thrown 
 their letters into the fire. The judgment of Dickens in regard 
 to such beggars is perhaps somewhat too harsh and sweeping. 
 "The poor never write these letters. Nothing could be more 
 unlike their habits. Tlie writers are public robbers and we who 
 support them are parties to their depredations. They trade 
 upon every circumstance within their knowledge, that affects 
 us, public or private, jo>ful or sorrowful; they pervert the les- 
 sons of our lives ; they change what ought to be our strength 
 and virtue into weakness and encouragement of vice. There 
 is a plain remedy and it is in our own hands. We must resolve 
 at any sacrifice of feeling, to be deaf to such appeals, and crush 
 the trade." 
 
 It is certain, however, that in the main this stern condemna- 
 tion is justified and it should be observed that the impassioned 
 writer had been suffering for years from an extraordinary 
 plague of importunity and imposition. There is fortunately 
 less of this kind of begging in this country than in Great 
 Britain but there is too much Ijere for the credit of our 
 republic. 
 
TEE SWiyOLiyG BEGGAR. 13 
 
 In some cases real and unavoidable misfortunes impel 
 honest men and women to beg indiscriminately of strangers by 
 piteous appeals in writing or in person, but ninety-nine times 
 in a hundred the beggar is a professional mendicant and money 
 given by the ordinary citizen in the ordinary way is not charity 
 but an encouragement of fraud and indolence, — the blackmail 
 levied by rascals who bleed sentimentality, heedlessness and 
 the desire to be rid of a provoking interruption or person. 
 
 No deserving applicant will be denied food or lodging in this 
 great republic, if the appeal is made to the proper authorities. 
 Public ordinances and private charities have made provision 
 for the destitute and homeless to this extent at least. Even 
 the inveterate loafer, beggar and tramp can secure food and 
 shelter if he seeks them at the expense of the city or town 
 which he infests, for the time. But the ordinary swindling beg- 
 gar and tramp wants no such assistance except in days of the 
 direst necessity. He shuns the police and has a well rooted 
 dread of the investigation conducted by well organized 
 charities. Petty thieving would be his favorite resort, if he 
 were not checked at every step by the watchfulness of the 
 police and the public and the dread of capture and punish- 
 ment. If an enticing opportunity is presented to him he will 
 eagerly pounce upon an unprotected house or store and even 
 break open an old-fashioned safe. In the city or country, 
 the prudent American will keep out of touch with these 
 rascals as far as possible and, when he cannot avoid them, 
 curtly notify them to apply to the proper local authorities 
 for all the attention their needs demand. 
 
 We may read with a smile Charles Lamb's whimsical lament 
 upon the decay of beggars and acknowledge the tenderness 
 and poetic beauty of Wordsworth's plea for license for the old 
 Cumberland beggar but, in view of the actual conditions of 
 American society, especially in our larger cities, plain common 
 sense must not be suffered to vield to illogical and fanciful 
 sentimentality. The conjunction of a good heart with a weak 
 
14 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 or heedless head is chiefly responsible to-day for the pest of 
 the swindling beggar. 
 
 Thirty years ago a committee of the Boston Overseers of the 
 Poor made a careful study of the question of street begging. 
 One of the conclusions of this committee's report expressly 
 enforces the point which we have sought to drive home. "By 
 a thorough cooperation of all well-disposed citizens in the 
 reference of all applicants for alms at the door or on the street 
 to the officers or local charities instituted for their relief, an 
 effectual check can be put to street begging." When this 
 intelligent counsel is generally heeded, the swindling beggar 
 will cry with Othello that his occupation's gone. 
 
THE PICKPOCKET. 
 
BY SLEIGHT OF HAND. 
 
 Did you ever cling to a strap in a street car? Yes? You 
 remember then riding home at nightfall in a car packed to 
 the doors and overflowing at both ends? No doubt you 
 recall that you probably gave up your seat to a gentle woman 
 who took it with hesitation and grateful thanks. Then you 
 stood up or tried to stand in the aisle, in the midst of an un- 
 easy mass that rolled to and fro, whenever the car stopped 
 and started, like one of those rocking figure toys that wab- 
 ble about so comically without losing their balance. 
 
 As you were gripping the strap by your right hand with 
 the clutch of- a drowning man, you recollect that somebody 
 behind you tipped your hat over your eyes with his elbow, 
 in one of the galvanic starts of the car. Of course you 
 put up your- left hand instinctively to settle your hat back 
 on your head. The gentleman with the awkward elbow 
 filled your ear, with his flow of apology. A minute or two 
 later, there was a little lull in the pressure of the pack in the 
 car. You had room to draw a full breath of relief and to 
 shrug your shoulders like a pilgrim whose burden has 
 dropped from his back; 
 
 The next moment a gentleman sitting near you pulled your 
 sleeve lightly. 
 
 "Did you notice, sir," said he, "that your watch chain is 
 hanging down?" 
 
 "Oh no, much obliged!" you replied, glancing down in sur- 
 prise and fumbling for the chain. 
 
 You found the hanging chain but, when you clapped 
 your hand on your waistcoat pocket with a start of suspicion, 
 your gold watch was gone. Naturally your next thought 
 
l6 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 was to look for the thief. Everybody about you seemed 
 to share in your concern but nobody was more sympathetic 
 and indignant at the impudent theft than the gentleman be- 
 hind you who had accidentally tipped over your hat. 
 
 You recollected dully that somebody at the same instant 
 had given you an uncommonly hard shove with his shoulder, 
 and began to suspect that he might have been the thief. But 
 who was the rude pusher and where was he? Did you call 
 out "Stop thief!'' at once and get the conductor or a police- 
 man to overhaul everybody on the car in search of your 
 missing watch? If so, you made yourself universally dis- 
 agreeable to no purpose. Your watch was not on the car. 
 It was nearly half a mile away in the pocket of a man 
 who had hopped off from the car platform several blocks 
 farther up town, and fused himself with the crowd on the 
 sidewalk until he darted down a side street. 
 
 What, did you say that you never lost your watch in this 
 way? Well, you are to be congratulated, for too many good 
 gentlemen have had this experience in crowded cars or in 
 the vestibules of theatres or at race tracks or great public 
 celebrations or even on the steps of our city churches. 
 Particular watchfulness is needed in entering or leaving a 
 car, for the doorways and platforms of cars are the favorite 
 places for the execution of this thievish trick. Pickpockets 
 are constantly hanging about city railroad stations and watch- 
 ing, if they can, the purchase of tickets. If a large roll 
 of bills or a well-filled pocket book is shown at the ticket- 
 seller's window, a signal is likely to be given to confederates 
 and the gang will contrive to push through the doorway of 
 a car at the moment when their victim is entering. For 
 this reason these railroad stations are always watched and 
 guarded by detectives and any persons acting suspiciously 
 are keenly looked after. Known thieves are not suffered to 
 stand in the stations. 
 
 The mode of picking your pocket has shifting details but 
 
BY SLEIGBT OF HAND. ^y 
 
 its back-bone is the same. The essentials are a crowd, a 
 jam and a sudden distraction of attention. Usually one rnan 
 knocks your hat over your eyes, another jostles you rudely 
 and a third picks your pocket, twisting off your watch with 
 a quick turn of his wrist, as is illustrated by our artist. Some- 
 times the gang is larger and your pocket is picked while 
 you are shoved along by a sudden rush of the thieves. It 
 is usual, however, for these knaves to consort in pairs or 
 knots of three and they are more apt to rely on dexterity 
 and nimbleness than on rude shoving. 
 
 The difficulty of catching the pickpocket is greatly increased 
 by his practice of giving the watch to a confederate with- 
 out an instant of delay. The receiver then slips out of the 
 crowd as quickly as possible, or he may slyly pass along 
 the plunder to a third who can slink away with less risk 
 than either of the others. After the actual holder of the 
 watch has slipped off undetected, it is comparatively easy 
 for his confederates to follow him in turn, and, even if they 
 are arrested, they may escape conviction because no stolen 
 property can be found on their persons when searched. 
 
 Has anybody who reads these lines ever lost a diamond 
 or fine pearl shirt stud in making a landing from a ferry 
 boat, or in the course of a harbor excursion, or in leaving 
 a crowded theatre? We think we hear a chorus of ayes. 
 Some of you, no doubt, remember that a man carrying a 
 long linen duster or an overcoat on his arm suddenly turned 
 around in front of you and began to push you back, crying 
 indignantly : " Come now, let up ! Stop this crovi'ding ! What 
 are you climbing on me for! Can't you let me have a little 
 room to breathe in! What do you want— the earth!" 
 
 All the while he was protesting, he was shoving his arm 
 under your chin and you were resentfully pushing back or 
 trying to convince him that you were not to be blamed for 
 pressing behind him. After the little fracas was over and 
 you had passed out of the crowd, you happened in some 
 
l8 OVB RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 way to discover that your shirt stud was missing. Even if 
 you were suspicious and sharp enougli to Iceep your eye 
 on the man with the duster, the chances are a hundred to 
 one that he would not have your stud on his person if he 
 should be arrested. If he plucked it out himself with the 
 nimble fingers of ' his free hand behind the screen of his 
 duster, while he was pushing you with his lifted arm, he 
 had instantly passed it over to his confederate, and possi- 
 bly he only did the shoving while his pal drew out the 
 stud. 
 
 Methinks we see some of those phenomenally suspicious 
 and clever citizens who are always on the lookout for thieves 
 in the cars or on the streets or in any crowd anywhere. 
 These are apt to be the people who keep glancing every 
 moment or two at some particular pocket in their clothes 
 or clapping a hand on it or feeling for something within. 
 Oddly enough these ever alert watchers fail to perceive 
 that they are marking the precise location of their pocket 
 books or other valuables by a method of advertising which is 
 as plain as a finger post to the eyes of any thieves who 
 chance to be near them. 
 
 As soon as the place of deposit is marked to a certainty, 
 it is little harder to get away with the booty than it is to 
 rob those easy-going people who give themselves no con- 
 cern about pockets and thieves. In the same class of ad- 
 vertising agents we must place the man who carefully takes 
 out his watch and chain on the outskirts of any crowd, before 
 he mingles with it, and slides this deposit into the pocket 
 of his trousers for safety. Often have we seen a good citizen 
 do this in utter disregard of the curious eyes attracted to 
 his pretence of concealment. 
 
 The left hand pocket of the trousers is the one commonly 
 preferred for the deposit of a watch or a roll of bills by 
 these people who distrust their waistcoat pocket. When 
 they are in the midst of a crowd, the wily pickpocket con- 
 
- ■ ■ •■ 
 
 _ 
 
 i 
 
 Rii 
 
 1 
 
 &■ ■ / '*" 
 
 ^^^ "^^^ 
 
 Tl 
 
 md 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 JAMBS WELLS. 
 
 JAMES McCAPFEBY. 
 
 GEOEGE HENNESSEY. 
 
 JOSHUA HINES. 
 
BY SLEIGHT OF HAND. ig 
 
 trives to press close to his chosen victim and bear down 
 on his right shoulder with sufficient weiglit to bend his body 
 slightly and open the left hand pocket a little. Then his 
 confederate slily pulls out the lining of the pocket until the 
 coveted watch or money is brought within the nip of his 
 fingers. This can be done by an expert in this knavish sleight 
 of hand so delicately and quickly that the booty may be 
 abstracted and carried of? while the suspicious owner is 
 patting his pocket and pluming himself on his phenomenal 
 caution and smartness. 
 
 It is somewhat more difficult to extract a pocket book 
 from an inside coat pockety especially when the coat fits 
 closely' and is carefully buttoned. The first attempt of a 
 pickpocket in this case is to unfasten the upper button or 
 preferably two in the press of a crowd, as slyly as possible. 
 Then the attention of the victim is distracted by some' sudden 
 jostling or other device and his pocket is picked while his 
 head is momentarily turned away from the darting hand 
 of the thief. When a purse or roll of bills is carried in the 
 inside pocket of a waistcoat, the upper buttons of this coat 
 are loosened in the same sly way, for the thief knows that 
 this opening will often be unnoticed while the unfastened 
 lower buttons hold the waistcoat in place with no marked 
 change in the pressure of the cloth on the body. 
 
 Some of the most dexterous pocket picking is effected 
 while the victim is seated in a car or on a bench in a railway 
 station or in a crowded theatre or some great popular gath- 
 ering. Many ladies among our readers will sorrowfully 
 bear witness to their losses from this mode of robbery. Few 
 may understand clearly, however, how they were robbed 
 and for their satisfaction and the sake of the wide-spread 
 warning that should be given for the protection of all ex- 
 posed to this thievish device, we shall fully uncover it. 
 
 Let us question one of the sufferers to bring to mind 
 more exactly the situation in which her pocket was picked. 
 
20 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 You remember, do }0u not, placing your purse carefully in 
 the skirt pocket of }'Our dress, before leaving home? Then 
 you went down town for two hours of delightful bargain 
 hunting through the aisles of our city stores, bordered by 
 rows of enticing goods displaying every hue and cut of the 
 latest fashion. You could not fail to profit by some chances 
 to get prizes that were almost gifts in -the depth of their 
 sacrifice. Still your purse was so lavishly filled by your de- 
 voted husband and you were so prudent in your purchases 
 that you finally put temptation behind you and started for 
 home with a plump little roll of bills and some silver packed 
 in your wallet. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon, was it not, when you 'passed 
 through the crush into a street car and fortunately succeeded 
 in getting the last vacant seat? Some moments later the 
 faithful conductor struggled through the car taking the 
 fares and you promptly took out your purse and extracted 
 a nickel, so that you might be ready to pay without taxing 
 his patience. A well-dressed man, standing in front of you, 
 politely offered to hand your fare to the conductor and you 
 were pleased by his courtesy. You may have recalled later 
 that he glanced quickly and impertinently into your open 
 wallet but the chances are a hundred to one that you didn't 
 catch his eye in this operation. At any rate you thought lit- 
 tle of this glance, for he was careful not to annoy you fur- 
 ther, and you shut your purse at once discreetly and slid 
 it back into your pocket in the folds of your dress. 
 
 You were living then , in the suburbs and the crowd in 
 the car melted away through the city until there was a vacant 
 seat beside you which was taken by your polite fellow- 
 passenger. He was wearing a long light overcoat stylishly 
 cut, and, as he sat down beside you, the flaps of his coat 
 fell naturally over a fold of your dress. You did not remark 
 this particularly at the time, for it is too common to attract 
 special notice. He took out an evening newspaper, unfolded 
 
BY SLEIGHT OF HAND. 21 
 
 it and was soon absorbed apparently in its news of the day. 
 After riding in this way for ten or twelve minutes he quietly 
 looked up from his paper, nodded to the conductor to stop 
 the car and stepped off without even the flattering imper- 
 tinence of a farewell glance at the attractive lady who had 
 been sitting beside him. 
 
 It was not until you reached home and were vivaciously 
 telling over the triumphs of your bargains to your enraptured 
 husband that you chanced to think of your pocket book 
 again. You slid your hand into your pocket and were 
 horrified to find a slit in it cut through the skirt of your 
 dress. Your purse was gone and you were indeed fortunate if 
 the thief was arrested before he had time to spend or hide 
 your money or turn it over to some waiting confederate. 
 There was the usual pocket opening in his coat but, when 
 he was caught by the police, it was shown that the coat 
 had no side pockets. He had slily thrust his hand through 
 the slit in his own coat which lapped over your dress, and 
 cut a slit in your skirt from which he extracted your pocket 
 book. 
 
 Sometimes this same trick is performed under the cover 
 of a folded duster or overcoat carried on the arm of the 
 thief and women who have become expert pickpockets 
 will cut a dress under the fold of a shawl. When a wallet 
 is put in a little hand bag, instead of the dress pocket, a 
 coat or shawl is easily laid over the bag if it is placed on 
 the seat beside the owner, as is too often the case. Of 
 course a sharp knife will cut through the light leather of 
 such a bag almost as quickly as a pair of scissors will make 
 a slit in a dress. Sometimes the bag can be opened in 
 the ordinary way by the catch and a pocket book extracted, 
 or the bag itself may be carried off with all its contents 
 when the owner lays it down carelessly on a seat or store 
 counter and forgets to keep an eye upon it. This opening 
 or stealing of bags is so regular a pursuit that the. pick- 
 
22 OUB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 pockets who make a specialty of it are known as "bag 
 openers." 
 
 Pickpockets range in age from mere children to white- 
 haired veterans in larceny. They are of both sexes and 
 some of the women can give points to most of the men. 
 The theft of a handkerchief or a scarf or veil or opera-glass 
 or any other light article, frequently carried in an outside 
 coat or sack pocket, is one of the primary school lessons in 
 crime and young boys and girls may master it without any 
 teacher, or they may have old thieves as tutors. Everybody 
 will recall the familiar instance of Fagin and his hopeful 
 pupils, and the like instruction is still given to boys and 
 girls who have been led astray, and, sad to say, too often 
 by fathers to their sons and by mothers to their daughters. 
 But it is a satisfaction to note that by far the greater 
 portion of the children who steal in this way are only way- 
 ward boys and girls, tempted by chance opportunities which 
 come in their way and not regularly engaging in theft as 
 a means of making. a living. 
 
 As they advance in age they are apt to seek for pocket 
 books and other things of greater value than handkerchiefs, 
 and, if they escape detection, these thefts grow bolder and 
 more frequent. But thieves of this class, amateurs in their 
 line, are generally within the range of possible reformation, 
 if they can be properly guarded and directed. In large 
 cities, where they chiefly live and roam, they are apt to be 
 very seriously annoying, but the provisions for their repres- 
 sion and reformation are constantly advancing and no class 
 of offenders receives more anxious care and humane con- 
 sideration from the police and the courts. 
 
 In the case of a first offence the child is usually discharged 
 on probation with good counsel and warning in words which 
 even the youngest can understand and take home. Every 
 eiifort is made to shield such children from the shame and 
 injury of public exposure, and parents are urged to watch 
 
PHILIP START. 
 
 THOMAS B. WILLS. 
 
 SAMUEL STBAEHLER. 
 
 FRANK DDFPY. 
 
BY SLEIGHT OF BAND. 
 
 23 
 
 their conduct with all possible care. When it is judged 
 best to take them out of the hands of their parents, they 
 are sent to reform schools where they are trained to live 
 honestly and usefully. For the prevention of the spread of 
 crime nothing is more important than the proper treatment 
 of the wayward children of our great cities, and this truth 
 is every day gaining a fuller recognition and more com- 
 plete advancement. 
 
 Between these youthful amateurs and the true professional 
 pickpocket, or "dip" as he is styled by his craft, there is 
 a wide and deep gulf of distinction, although this may be 
 crossed if the passage is not blocked in some way. These 
 "dips" usually travel in gangs from city to city and some- 
 times from one end of the country to the other. A gang is 
 made up of three or four, commonly, and known as a "mob." 
 There are expert thieves, however, who prefer to work 
 with only one confederate and some will accept no com- 
 panion. Female "dips" are accustomed to work alone or 
 in pairs, though they may be members of a "mob" partly 
 composed of men. 
 
 These "mobs" haunt railroad stations, steamship wharves 
 and all crowded thoroughfares and, if practicable, they never 
 miss attendance upon great conventions or celebrations or 
 popular gatherings of any description. Frequently dia- 
 grams and lists have been taken from these thieves, when 
 arrested, that marked the precise locations and dates of all 
 the important celebrations that would occur for six months 
 to come, together with notes of all regular and excursion 
 trains to and fro, so far as arranged. Unless they were 
 stopped at the railway stations and arrested or sent back, 
 there would be a swarm of thieves at every great popular 
 gathering, and, if they were not intercepted at the start by- 
 detectives, the excursion trains would surely be plundered 
 even if the conventions were safely guarded. Of recent 
 years the necessity of proper protection has grown so apparent 
 
24 OUB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 that it is usual in our larger cities for the police to arrest 
 and confine every known pickpocket, who haunts the streets 
 on the eve of any great assembly, until the meeting is over 
 and the people in attendance are safe at home. At the time 
 of great political conventions or other notable assemblies, 
 the best detectives are detailed from all the leading cities 
 of the country to watch the arriving trains and arrest the 
 thieves flocking from every quarter to the prospect of 
 plunder. 
 
 If let alone, the travelling gangs will usually proceed in 
 regular circuits from one convention or fair or dedication 
 or mass meeting of any kind to another and, as might be 
 expected, the thief follows a circus as devotedly as the small 
 boy hangs on the heels of the elephants or giraffes. There 
 is always a harvest of silver and small bills to be picked 
 out of the pockets of the festive citizen or countryman, who 
 delights in this perennial institution almost as much as his 
 rapturous children. If the "mobs" that go around with the 
 circus were not warned off or arrested by the police, it is 
 very probable that the "thieves" would net as much as the 
 average showman, to say the least. 
 
 Fashionable weddings in churches are another favorite 
 and productive field for this thief and even funerals are 
 not respected by his elastic conscience. One of the most 
 noteworthy pickpockets in America, James Wells, made such 
 a specialty of attendance at obsequies that he became known 
 throughout the country as "Funeral Wells." His portrait 
 is given on one of our pages depicting thieves of his order, 
 and it may readily be seen that his doleful visage would 
 naturally fit into the ranks of the mourners. He rarely 
 consorted with other thieves and it was no effort for him 
 to keep his face in harmony with his customary suit of 
 solemn black. James McCaffrey, alias "James Peters," who 
 has a place beside him on our portrait page, was also a 
 distinguished "church worker," as the constant attendants at 
 
BY SLEIGHT OF BAND. ^. 
 
 marriages and funerals are called by the fraternity of "dips." 
 George (alias "Kid") Hennessey has gained notoriety as an 
 accomplished "worker" in spite of the loss of one of his hands 
 by an accident, and Joshua, better known as "Josh" Hines, his 
 companion on the page, has earned his place as a remark- 
 ably expert "stone getter," as the pluckers of diamonds from 
 shirt fronts are professionally styled. 
 
 Philip Start, Frank Dufify,alias "Pete McCormack," Thomas 
 B. Wills, alias "Watt Jones" and Samuel Straehler, alias 
 "Dayton Sammy," make up another quartette of rogues, 
 representing the species pickpocket as well as any that 
 could be selected. All four have travelled in professional 
 mobs from Maine to . California and all whose hands are 
 free cannot keep them out of the pockets of other people. 
 Wills was sentenced, this year, for larceny, to a term of three 
 years in the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary and, if any of 
 the others are at present out of jail, it is because they have 
 kept out of states where theft is punished under an habitual 
 criminal act. 
 
 When the more notorious of these thieves are arrested, 
 they have, almost always, recourse to the "fences" or receivers 
 of stolen goods, with whom they are in league, and they 
 can usually obtain their bail or "fall money," as it is termed, 
 from these backers. As they commonly intend to run ofif 
 and forfeit their "fall money," it is of obvious importance for 
 the protection of the public that the bail demanded from 
 these thieves should be too high for their escape in this 
 way. 
 
 After making a successful theft or series of thefts, they 
 seek cover commonly in cheap boarding houses or third rate 
 hotels and, to shun suspicion, are apt to scatter and live 
 singly. They are more likely to be uncommimicative and 
 sly than social in their habits though they usually spend 
 their plunder in low dissipations. 
 
 The detectives of our city police know hundreds of these 
 
26 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 thieves by sight and reputation and are constantly alert m 
 watching for their appearance and preventing their thefts. ■ 
 But it would be prudent for good citizens to cooperate for 
 their own protection by making the picking of pockets and 
 the taking of jewelry more difficult to effect. One easy 
 and clearly safe precaution is to leave watches and valuable 
 scarf pins at home before going into places where great 
 crowds are gathered or are certain to assemble. 
 
 When watches are carried they can be well secured by 
 passing the chain through a little button hole cut in the 
 waistcoat pocket before fastening the end of the chain in 
 the usual way. A pickpocket extracts a watch by a gentle 
 pluck on the chain which lifts it out of the pocket before 
 he takes it in his hand and twists it from the chain. Ob- 
 viously, he cannot pull the watch through a button hole 
 and this simple little' device would save many watches if 
 it were generally adopted, for pickpockets plunder slyly as 
 a rule and not by rude robbery. 
 
 Wallets can be kept much more safely in pockets 
 which are buttoned and cannot be easily reached by 
 nipping fingers than they are in the usual open pockets. 
 The location of such pockets may well be varied by individual 
 judgment and we shall ofifer no suggestions which may serve 
 as guides for a thief. It is, however, a matter of some 
 relevant interest to note that thieves are quite commonly 
 accustomed to protect their own money or plunder from 
 the disloyal fingers of their fellow pickpockets by lining the 
 sleeves of their undershirts with their bank notes. As, they 
 sleep without removing these shirts, it is hard to steal their 
 money from them even when their eyes are closed in 
 slumber. 
 
 There is another branch of the upas tree of theft which 
 is closely allied to the pickpocket and may well be sketched 
 in the same chapter. This is the "shop-lifter," the thief 
 who filches from store counters in broad daylight or while 
 
THE SHOPLIFTER. 
 
%% 
 
BT SLEIGHT OF HAND. „_ 
 
 27 
 
 the store is open to customers. Many professional pick- 
 pockets are also professional shop-lifters but the mass of 
 the petty thieves who plague our retail merchants would not 
 venture so far as the bolder ones. 
 
 There are doubtless thousands of dabblers in shop-lifting 
 in our country as in the countries of the old world,— boys 
 who slyly pocket an apple or a handful of candy or even a 
 
 knife or a necktie when the shop-keeper's head is turned, 
 
 and girls who pick up a 'handkerchief or a bottle of cheap 
 perfumery from the heaps on a counter. These Httle pil- 
 ferers would commonly shrink from any considerable theft 
 and, probably, most of them learn to be more honest as they 
 grow older. But these first slips on the crust of crime are 
 demoralizing and dangerous and most of our veteran 
 thieves can trace their downfall from such a start. 
 
 Undoubtedly many of these little ones are sorely tempted 
 by the show of luxuries which they have no money to 
 buy, and many really feel the pinch of hunger or of cold 
 impelling them to the theft of food and clothing. All the 
 palliating circumstances are well weighed by the police and 
 the courts in dealing with these cases and store keepers do 
 not press complaints rigorously when there is a reasonable 
 prospect of reforming these little amateur shop-lifters by 
 warning and redoubled care. But this thieving practice is a 
 considerable nuisance and source of loss in the aggregate, 
 though the individual thefts are so trivial, and the police 
 are continually striving to stamp it out. 
 
 As the shop-lifters grow older, their thefts become larger 
 and more frequent and the watch upon them more strict and 
 sharp. In all the larger stores in the shopping districts of 
 our cities detectives are regularly stationed as guards and 
 the floor walkers and other employees of the establishments 
 are instructed to keep a sharp lookout for these thieves. This 
 system of detection is now so extended and complete that 
 none except the most sly and expert shop-lifters can steal any 
 
28 OUR RIVAL, TBE RASCAL. 
 
 considerable amount before they are arrested, and the old 
 professional thieves are so well known that they are rarely 
 suffered to enter the stores. 
 
 The shame of exposure should be sufficient to deter any 
 amateur or novice in shop-lifting, even if a sentence of 
 fine and imprisonment is not imposed after conviction. The 
 pleadings of conscience may be stubbornly disregarded, 
 but the knave must be a fool as well who attempts to prac- 
 tice shop-lifting for any length of time under the vigilant 
 eyes of the many watchers who guard our stores. The 
 black brand of a thief, the bitter shame of exposure and 
 the hard uphill struggle to regain, in some measure, the 
 esteem and position so inevitably forfeited, are surely 
 a frightful ofifset to the possible gain of some trifling trinket 
 or bit of clothing. 
 
 There is a diseased condition of mind or morals which is 
 termed kleptomania. This disease seems to break out 
 particularly in the form of shop-lifting. We shall not un- 
 dertake to measure the sanity or responsibility of the gen- 
 uine kleptomaniac, but we may fairly remark that the cloak 
 of kleptomania has been stretched out very thin, sometimes, 
 in the testimony of compassionate friends and relatives. 
 The college student who "rags" a car-sign or a door plate 
 appears to have fully as clear a title to the plea of insanity 
 as some of our shop-lifters who have" posed as candidates 
 for a thieves' hospital. In the case of first offences this 
 plea is not sharply riddled for obvious reasons, but it should 
 be needless to observe that a confirmed kleptomaniac should 
 never be permitted to go shopping. There is too much prob- 
 ability of the aggravation of this disease in the midst of temp- 
 tation and too much risk of confusing the patient with the 
 commonplace thief. 
 
 It would be of undoubted interest to trace the moving 
 springs of this mania where it really exists and examine 
 its apparently astonishing freaks. It is hardly remarkable that 
 
ROSIB VOKAR. 
 
 ROSIB COHEN. 
 
 JACOB WOLS. 
 
 JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN. 
 
BY SLEIGHT OF BAND. 29 
 
 a woman like Sophy Lyons, the daughter of a notorious 
 "fence," should have a passion for stealing which her husband 
 tried in vain to subdue, although he was himself a habitual 
 criminal. But it is certainly surprising that the child of 
 parents of excellent character and abundant fortune should 
 be impelled to steal when no real want or taste is unsatisfied. 
 Why should a young lady pilfer piles of meerschaums for her 
 private cabinet or veils enough for a sultan's seraglio? The 
 taste for a collection of rings or precious stones is less 
 inexplicable and kleptomaniacs who show a fine discrimi- 
 nation in the objects of their rq^nia are likely to discredit their 
 plea of insanity. It is our task, however, to deal with the 
 rascal and not with the maniac or the displays of mania. 
 
 The regular professional "shop-lifter" is to be distin- 
 guished from the amateurs who occasionally yield to tempta- 
 tion as well as from the perplexing kleptomaniac. Both 
 men and women engage in shop-lifting as a business pur- 
 suit, travelling from city to city and from state to state in 
 •gangs of two, three, four or nio^e. 
 
 The early morning, just after the opening of the wholesale 
 stores, is the harvest time for the species known as the "morn- 
 ing hoister." This kind of thief usually goes about in pairs. 
 "Hoisters" are generally young men of fair address who 
 can hope to quiet with some pjausible story the suspicion 
 excited by their early calls. One pours this yarn into the 
 ear of the listening clerk or porter while the other snatches 
 an opportunity to steal something which he can put in his 
 pocket or bag or hide under his coat. This ofifence is ac- 
 counted a grade worse than ordinary shop-Hfting and is 
 punishable by a term in state prison as larceny in the 
 building. 
 
 Another set of this order makes a specialty of the plun- 
 dering of jewelry stores. Two men enter a store together 
 and one engages the attention of a salesman while the other 
 steals anything within reach. T\\ese pilferers are distin- 
 
,0 oris KITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 guished as "pennyweight" thieves. Sometimes, instead of filch- 
 ing a ring or pin from a tray, the thief ventures the bolder 
 stroke of picking up the tray itself and hastily passing it to a 
 confederate outside the store who runs off like a hare. The 
 first thief makes oS in another direction, with equal haste, 
 after wedging or fastening the shop door behind him, in some 
 way, to block pursuit for a moment. 
 
 A common practice of these sneak thieves is to call out a 
 clerk from a store to look at the lettering of a new sign or to 
 direct the placing of some gas pipe or electric wire fitting or 
 on some like pretence. If the clerk leaves the store on such 
 a call for a moment, the thief takes instant advantage of his 
 absence to steal something within reach. To guard against 
 these tricky thieves a clerk should never lose sight of the goods 
 in his charge and never suffer himself to be called away from 
 his post by any stranger until another clerk is ready to take 
 his place. All the valuables in jewelry stores should uniformly 
 be locked up in safes whenever the proprietor or his clerks are 
 absent, as thieves are frequent!}- provided with keys fitting the. 
 door locks and some may be lying in wait for an opportunity 
 to enter. 
 
 From the performer in special lines of larceny we drop 
 naturally to the level of the ordinary shop-lifter who bags 
 anything that lies in his way on the counters of our stores, 
 if he thinks he can do so without detection. He does not 
 rely on his winning address or plausible yarn but simply 
 on sleight of hand and a game bag of some sort. As before 
 noted, women are shop-lifters, as well as men, and it is fair 
 to state that the}' show little if any inferiority in this accom- 
 plishment. We give a portrait page depicting one repre- 
 sentative gang, made up in equal parts of men and women 
 of well matched proficiency. Rosie ^^okar, alias "Lina 
 Levy," and Rosie Cohen, alias "Annie Levy," are reckoned to 
 be a working balance for their male partners, Jacob Wols 
 and Joseph Goldstein. When this gang was arrested, fully 
 
BY SLEIOHT OF llASD. 31 
 
 fifteen hundred dollars worth of fine silks and other costly 
 cloth were found in trunks in their rooms and there was 
 good reason for holding- that the women's contribution to 
 this stock was fully as large as that made by the men. 
 
 As a matter of fact the women shop-lifters probably out- 
 number the men and the reason is apparent in the better 
 facility for concealment of stolen goods which a woman's 
 dress secures. Large hags for holding plunder of every 
 description are sometimes artfully draped and fastened under 
 the skirt of a dress or the back of a cloak. This is technically 
 known as the shoplifter's "kick," and experience perfected 
 an improvement of this device in the form of the "hoisting 
 kick" or short ovcrskirt covering an ordinary dress skirt 
 so stitched that the lining and skirt made a complete bag 
 round the body from the waist to the heels. This bag was 
 often packed full of articles, slipped into it through a slit con- 
 cealed b\' the apron tiverskirt. One notorious shop-lifter was 
 caught not long ago in the act of stealing a cake of scented 
 soap. Upon examination sixteen yards of silk, fifty yards 
 of lace, two pairs of silk stockings, one silk and one lace 
 handkerchief and a scarf pin were extracted from her clothing. 
 It was a doleful reflection to her that she might have gone 
 of? with this booty if she had not been tempted by a few 
 cents worth of soap. 
 
 Of course this form of bag is varied in ways which may 
 readily be imagined and rulHes or other devices are used 
 instead of the overskirt cover. Aw ordinary hand bag is 
 sometimes carried but this is a more obvious pouch and 
 more difficult to fill. One annoying shop-lifter was accus- 
 tomed to carry a leather bag with one side partially cut 
 away but covered by a long flap. She would put this bag 
 on a counter and watch her chance to slip some article into 
 it by raising the flap slightly. This was an effective trick 
 until it was detected and so was another device in fashion- 
 ing a bag with a bottom opening by a spring. This bag 
 
32 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 was set on some selected article which was gulped in upon 
 pressing the spring and secured when the bottom was re- 
 placed. 
 
 Instead of these model hand bags, band boxes or hat boxes,- 
 fitted with covers fastened by rubber bands, have been em- 
 ployed. By a slight raising of the cover articles are slipped 
 into the box and the cover instantly snaps back to place. Some- 
 times a large pasteboard box is made with a movable end 
 which is di-opped for the insertion of goods and then put up 
 and securely tied. Ordinarily, however, in stealing from 
 shop counters, the method is mUch simpler and less me- • 
 Chanical. 
 
 One of the commonest ways is to lay a handkerchief down' 
 on a chosen bit of booty, with an afifectation of thoughtless-, 
 ness. A few minutes later the handkerchief is hastily 
 caught up with the prize in its folds. A cloak or shawl 
 serves as a cover for a larger article in much the same way 
 and there are known instances where a baby has been car- 
 ried about by a shop-lifter for the sake of picking up goods 
 under the screen of the child's long dress. 
 
 Jewelry stores are among the most difficult to protect' 
 from thieves of this class, because of the comparative minute- 
 ness of the articles offered for sale and the correspondingly 
 greater chance of concealment. Many thieves can "palm" 
 a ring as expertly as a professional prestidigitateur and, 
 when a tray is placed before one of them, the sharpest watch- 
 ing is needed to prevent a loss. "Usually he will have a 
 confederate near by, sometimes a man and sometimes a 
 woman, and he will contrive, if he can, to slip a ring or jewel 
 into the hand of his pal or to open a chance for his companion 
 to steal. 
 
 One common and dangerous trick of these thieves is 
 the carrying of false jewels and Brummagem rings to ex- 
 change for the 'real treasures in the tray. This cheat of sub- 
 stitution was refined by one artist to the exchange of a small 
 
i . . 
 
 ^P 
 
 P'^fei 
 
 ^§d 
 
 Z^.d 
 
 „,^ 
 
 ^^^^jgjs^um^m^m 
 
 
 ^^jm^ ^r* 
 
 .^^^^B^ ^«Mir 
 
 KATE FIELDS. 
 
 CAROLINE SMITH. 
 
 
 
 ,l 
 
 
 
 
 M ^ 
 
 fc 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
 ^' 
 
 ■ t 
 
 1 
 
 2»^" 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 ■■V* 
 
 1 
 
 
 ^jh| 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 -_^ .;-4j^^^^55 
 
 ■ 
 
 ROSE STADB. 
 
 ELLEN Mclaughlin. 
 
BY SLEIGHT OF HAND. ^, 
 
 genuine stone for another slightly larger and so on in 
 succession until a one-carat diamond was replaced by a 
 stone weighing several carats. 
 
 This particularly artful diamond thief was a young woman 
 who professed to be deplorably nearsighted. She used to 
 dress elegantly and was so attractive in person and manners 
 that she had little difficulty in obtaining the exhibit of a 
 ,tray of loose diamonds. Then she would bend over the 
 counter till her eye glasses were nearly touching the jewels 
 and, with a dart of her pretty red tongue, pick up a diamond 
 and cover it with her lips. At the same instant she would 
 drop a lighter stone into the tray so deftly that the exchange 
 was not suspected. In this way she would go from one 
 store to another, apparently trying to match a diamond which 
 she pretended to have at home, and using the alum- 
 coated point of her tongue to such purpose that she finally 
 picked up a gem worth hundreds of dollars. The profes- 
 sional name of this young woman is "Little Scotty" and she 
 was a plague to our Boston jewellers some years ago. 
 
 The four shop-lifters who have been taken to fill another 
 representative page are not as attractive as this young 
 woman and others in the profession but there can be no 
 doubt that they are typical as well as notorious. Kate 
 Fields, alias "Annie Upton," is an Englishwoman by birth 
 who favored her country by leaving it. Caroline Smith, 
 alias Myers, is a native of Germany, but has for many years 
 made her living as a shop-lifter in the country of her 
 adoption. Rose Stade, alias "Louise Kaufifman,'" is a product 
 of our own soil which is credited to a Western city particu- 
 larly, and Ellen McLaughlin was a native of Ireland. Every 
 nationality in America has its representative shop-lifters, as 
 well as its representative men and women of honor. 
 
 In the recital and exposure of their tricks there is an evi- 
 dent assistance and warning to. our business men who are 
 the sufferers from their depredations. Vigilance and knowl- 
 
34 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 edge of their ways of working are very important safe- 
 guards against loss. Tliese the police now have, but they 
 should be able to rely on the intelligent and alert cooperation 
 of the men whom they are striving with all their power to 
 protect. 
 
 In subsequent chapters we shall show the varied tricks and 
 resorts of all the other distinctive classes of thieves, in the 
 sequence which we shall pursue for the sake of its clear and 
 simple lines of division and course of development. From the 
 petty impositions of the swindling beggar, the succeeding step 
 in the pathway of crime passes the border line of actual theft 
 into the simpler forms of larceny, which we have described. 
 Another step forward reaches the point of felony, when the 
 thief becomes a robber and seizes upon his plunder with violent 
 hands. 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. 
 
 (^1 OOK here, upon this picture, and on this!" See that 
 1 J grim, ominous figure, that walking desperado sliuffling 
 along heavily with his slouch hat pulled over his eyes, girdled 
 with the tools of his rascally craft, a walking arsenal of burglary. 
 Then turn to that slim, jaunty 
 promenader, a "man-milliner" 
 from top to toe, spotless, clean- 
 shaven, and trim, striding 
 along with easy swing and 
 carrying his neat leather hand- 
 bag with airy unconcern. 
 
 Who could suppose these 
 portraits to be the counter- 
 feit presentment of two brothers 
 in crime, sprouts from the same 
 stalk, charged with the same 
 aims and fears, bent on the 
 same goal, and, in spite of their 
 discrepant masks, as essentially 
 akin as two peas in a pod. The 
 one, everybody will recognize 
 at sight as the traditional bank- 
 burglar — the familiar ruffian 
 whom our fathers and grand- 
 fathers knew — the image im- 
 pressed upon our shuddering 
 fancy in childhood — the con- 
 sort of bats and owls and all creatures that shun the light of 
 day,- — the midnight prowler slinking from cover to cover and 
 
 THE OLD-FASHIONED BURGLAR, 
 
36 
 
 ODR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 fleeing the dawn like a ghost — the sapper arid miner tunnel- 
 ing underground noiselessly like a mole, — the scoundrel of 
 such patent mark that the barest glimpse 
 would startle suspicion. That indeed is 
 hardly an exaggeration of the old style 
 stamp of burglar still lingering decrepit in 
 holes and corners or dully counting the 
 slow passing days as a white-haired convict 
 in his prison cell. Years ago, however, the 
 knell was tolled of the passing of the 
 burglar of the ancient order and the 
 modern generation which has taken his 
 place is outwardly a new type, vividly hit 
 ofif by our artist in his' illustration of the 
 burglar of to-day. 
 
 This is a remarkable transformation but, 
 as we shall show, it is a natural one, an evo- 
 lution- inevitably forced by the change of 
 conditions affecting the craft of burglary. 
 Tradition fails to hand down to us the 
 name of the first bank burglar, but it is 
 practically certain that he sprung up with 
 some rude tool in his hand within a year 
 or two after the opening of the first bank. 
 For his needs little skill or equipment was 
 required. With a few prods and heaves of a common crow 
 bar, he could tear a bolted door from its hinges or smash a lock 
 or panel with his heavy sledge hammer. Brute strength and 
 the cover of night or the temporary absence of watchers were 
 the only essentials for success in those old days. 
 
 But with the easy triumph of the first burglaries, the bankers 
 took warning and began to defend their deposits with re- 
 doubled precaution. Armed watchmen were kept on duty 
 both night and day, vaults of stone and iron were built to 
 supplant the insecure chambers, and heavily barred strong- 
 
 THE MODERN BANK BURGLAR. 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. vj 
 
 boxes were fashioned as safes to hold money, jewels and 
 papers of value. As the bankers racked their brains more 
 and more in the provision of safeguards, so the robbers, in 
 turn, were forced to devise counter-plots and new weapons 
 of offence to keep pace with the rising blocks in their way. 
 So from earliest history there has been an unending conflict 
 of wits, a neck to neck race of the banker and the burglar, 
 the one, striving by every resort in his power to intrench his 
 treasure and bar out the thief, and the other, straining every 
 nerve to pass the barriers and plunder the strongholds. 
 
 For thousands of years the wily burglar might claim to 
 have won the crown in the race. If a vault was constructed 
 with walls so massive that it might seemingly defy a hail storm 
 of cannon balls, bitter experience would prove that even this 
 fortress was not proof against the sly undermining, the per- 
 sistent sapping and tapping and drilling, the inexhaustible 
 patience and tireless arm of the stubborn burglar. If a lock 
 was fashioned so intricate in mechanism and peculiar in pat- 
 tern that, it was thought, no thief could master its wards, how 
 vexing to find, after a few fleeting months of fancied security, 
 that the cunning of the rogue had vanquished the craft of the 
 locksmith with a few bits of bent wire or skeleton keys! What 
 cover could be devised for a treasure so complete and per- 
 fect at every point that it could baffle the prying eye of the 
 burglar, scanning it inch by inch, or foil his deft hand tap- 
 ping its weakest spots as surely as the arrows of Locksley 
 rapped at the rivets of the armor of Maurice de Bracy? All 
 too often and too late, it was learned by the mournful banker 
 that one inconsiderable crack had been left in his bulwark of 
 defence, one frail bolt in the plates of his safe, one assailable 
 corner in his impregnable vault, like the undipped heel of the 
 otherwise invulnerable Achilles. 
 
 Even when there was seemingly no lack of precaution, — - 
 when the bank watchmen were alert and faithful and the 
 walls of the vaults of uniform strength from top to bottom. 
 
38 OUR lilVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the craft of the burglar still penetrated the stronghold. When 
 we consider the prodigious feats recorded of Baron von 
 Trenck and other prisoners who have secretly dug through 
 massive walls and cut iron chains and bars with no other 
 tools than a broken fork or a rusty nail, it is not surprising 
 that the expert burglar with his complete kit of drills, wedges, 
 jack-screws and levers, should be able to pierce the hardest 
 walls and wrench away the heaviest bolts and bars if he could 
 contrive to cover his Hne of assault for a few days or even 
 for a night. 
 
 For every new resource of defence he was quick to devise 
 some mastering weapon of attack. When steel began to be 
 substituted for iron in the plates of a safe or vault, the bur- 
 glar procured a finer and harder grade of steel for his drills 
 and cut his way through the plate of steel as he had through 
 the hardest iron. When progressive invention fashioned a 
 plate that would resist the point of the finest steel drill or 
 make the task of boring insufferably slow, the burglar's drill 
 was tipped with a diamond which no metal forging could long 
 withstand. When the position of locks was artfully hidden 
 and the multiplication of massive doors and walls made attack 
 groping and slow, the determined robber sought the help of 
 explosives and blasted an entrance to the treasure chambers 
 with gunpowder and later with the tremendous rending force 
 of dynamite. 
 
 In the provision and device of the common tools of the craft 
 there has been also a display of masterly and progressive in- 
 genuity, however criminally perverted. In the "jimmy," the 
 "jack," the "gripper," the "spreader," the "drag," the "plate 
 cutter," the drill and the wedge there is a really great com- 
 bination and application of fundamental mechanical forces in 
 exceedingly compact and efifective forms. 
 
 The "jimmy" is a handy and mighty lever, in the form of 
 a crow bar with a curving wedge shaped point which can be 
 inserted in a crevice or crack between a door and its frame 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. 
 
 39 
 
 SECTIONAL 
 JIMMY. 
 
 or between bars and plates. For the sake of compact- 
 ness, convenience and ease of concealment, the latest 
 designs of "jimmies" have been constructed in sections, 
 made with joints that. fit into sockets, like the parts of a 
 fishing pole, so that any desired length of leverage can 
 readily be attained. This simple tool is one of the most 
 indispensable in any burglar's outfit and in the hands 
 of a skilled operator it is marvellously efficient in ripping 
 off plates, bars and doors. In the accompanying cut 
 "a sectional jimmy" of the latest pattern is well pre- 
 sented. 
 
 The "jack" is a strongly made jack-screw chiefly used 
 for rending off plates and bars and doors by forcing 
 wedges into existing or artificially made cracks. These 
 wedges are nicely graduated from the edge of a knife 
 blade, and are applied, one after another, till the strongest 
 bolts are broken and massy doors split away from their 
 shattered hinges. 
 
 In the application of the "gripper" a heavy drill frame 
 is set on the floor in front of a safe, as shown in the illus- 
 tration on page 63. With a "diamond drill" a hole is 
 bored through the safe door close to the lock. This 
 hole is then enlarged by the use of a heavy bit or other 
 tools and through this opening the clutch, or "gripper" 
 attached to the drill frame, is pushed. The flat side of 
 the gripper is studded with holes for the insertion of 
 pin bolts to hold it fast after clutching the inside of the 
 door of the safe. Then a powerful screw is set at work 
 drilling another hole above the gripper and the resultant 
 pressure and wrench finally tear out a part of the door. 
 For the sake of noiseless operation, when a burglar is 
 not particularly pressed for time, the gripper is still a 
 favorite instrument, but, when he is in a hurry, powder 
 or dynamite is introduced through a drill hole and fired 
 by a short time fuse or electric baitery. 
 
40 
 
 OVR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 With the aid of the "spreader" the heaviest bars may be 
 wrenched apart or broken. In its union of simpHcity and 
 force this ingenious instrument is on a par with the "jimmy." 
 It is a soHd steel screw with two grip nuts of hard steel at 
 
 one end and another big hub- 
 shaped nut below. This hub nut 
 has a hole or holes for the inser- 
 tion of a movable arm and when 
 the spreader is set between two 
 bars, as shown in the accompany- 
 ing illustration, the lever in strong 
 hands turns the hub nut, forcing 
 the bars apart irresistibly. Some- 
 times, without a lever-bar, the hub 
 nut is turned by a heavy grip 
 wrench with like effect. 
 
 Sometimes a heavy hook is used 
 in place of the "gripper," in com- 
 bination with a drill frame, for 
 wrenching away part of the door 
 or some other plate of the safe. 
 This device is commonly known as 
 a "drag" or "puller." The tearing away of the door or side 
 of the safe is technically known to the craft as "safe booking." 
 The burglar's "sledge" of the latest approved design is a 
 mallet of solid copper finely finished. Blows struck with this 
 sledge are comparatively noiseless, falling with a thud in- 
 stead of the old bang and rattle. In place of the heavy and 
 clumsy old drills small, light and compact tools or machines 
 of various and ingenious patterns are employed. One of these 
 powerful instruments can rapidly drive a tempered steel drill 
 through the side of any iron safe. When the safe plates are 
 of steel, the expert burglar softens spots with his pocket blast 
 blow pipe and makes the hot metal brittle by splashes of water 
 or other devices destroying its temper. 
 
 THE "spreader." 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. 
 
 41 
 
 POCKET BLAST PIPE. 
 
 The "plate cutter" is a tool with a keen blade, which can 
 be readily bolted to the face of a wall or door. By revolving 
 the handle of the cutter a round disk can soon be cut through 
 any iron plate and even through ordinary steel. When walls 
 or doors are made by layers of plates, this is an effective tool, 
 unless the plates are of the hardest 
 steel. If alternate layers of boiler 
 plate iron and hard steel plate are 
 used for the sake of the combina- 
 tion of -tensile strength and im- 
 penetrability, the combination is 
 foiled by cutting the iron plates 
 and shattering the intervening steel 
 disks with picks and hammers. 
 This was alarmingly practicable in 
 the days of the first introduction of 
 cutter proof drill plates, for, in the 
 processes of hardening the steel to resist a cutting tool or drill, 
 the metal was made too brittle to bear repeated blows. But 
 of late years the skill of the steel makers has reached a pitch 
 of perfection that makes the drilling of strong safes a long 
 protracted process. 
 
 When, after thousands of years of contest and rival advances, 
 it began to appear for the first time, in the course of the present 
 century, that the bankers and safe makers were clearly out- 
 stripping the burglars, the latter were incited to extraordinary 
 strains of cunning and labor. The comparatively dull-witted 
 and commonplace robbers were coldly dropped to shift for 
 themselves by the leading craftsmen. It was patent to these 
 experts that in our principal cities, at least, the days were 
 ended where any rational hope of success could be based 
 on mere brute strength and sudden dashes upon exposed or 
 weak bank vaults. So the old gangs fell to pieces and in the 
 leading re-organizations only men of proven skill, address, 
 cunning and perseverance were invited, or permitted, to enlist. 
 
42 ' ODIi RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Thereafter no considerable undertaking was ventured upon 
 without the most careful examination and preparation. Years 
 were spent sometimes in surveying a selected bank or "mark" 
 as the burglars termed it, and, after all the plans were perfected, 
 the slightest awakening of suspicion or unforeseen obstacle 
 would cause the deferring of the assault for months or years, 
 if indeed it was not indefinitely postponed or abandoned alto- 
 gether. 
 
 The principals in these gangs, or the men who had charge 
 of all the preliminary arrangements and haunted the neighbor- 
 hood of the "mark," were almost invariably of good address 
 and appearance, — men who would readily pass muster as 
 prosperous tradesmen or real estate brokers or retired capital- 
 ists with a lingering itch for speculation or even for clergy- 
 men at a pinch. Even the most ignorant and ill-favored 
 could contrive to mask himself as a lounging "sport" or 
 Brummagem "swell," and drift around as he pleased without 
 attracting particular notice. 
 
 When a "mark" was selected, the gang planning the bur- 
 glary wxiuld meet for conference at some distant place or 
 advise one another by mail of the progress of their schemes, 
 shunning with every possible care the sleepless vigilance of 
 the police and the risk of arousing suspicion of the purpose 
 of the plotters. When feasible, however, a building or flat or 
 cellar or room adjoining the "mark" was rented as the base 
 of the actual operations of assault, and these quarters were 
 sometimes occupied for many months by apparently respect- 
 able tenants as quiet lodgers or partners in various legitimate 
 lines of business. 
 
 It is easy to understand how such tenants could readily 
 become familiar with every outward detail of a neighboring 
 bank and its method of business. If any one of its watchmen, 
 messengers and clerks was dissipated or improvident or from 
 any cause susceptible to corruption, it was the study of the 
 gang to entrap their possible tool and obtain a valuable con- 
 federate in their projected robbery. 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. .^ 
 
 All this elaborate preparation was tedious and expensive, 
 but from the standpoint of the shrewd burglars it was greatly 
 desirable to advance the chances of success to the farthest 
 practicable notch and to correspondingly reduce the risk of fail- 
 ure. The proper severity of the law in dealing with this formid- 
 able class of criminals was duly dreaded, and the certainty of a 
 long term in prison, if convicted, was an ever-dangling sword 
 above the burglar's head. The greatness of the possible booty 
 in view was also a mighty incentive to caution as well as to 
 daring, for a single false step might occasion the fall of all 
 the complex fabric of plot so painfully reared and the loss of 
 a fortune. 
 
 So the expert burglar stinted no expenditure of time, brains 
 or money to attain his goal of plunder, and the best cracks- 
 men of the craft were usually able to find unscrupulous backers 
 to advance the funds required for the long siege and final 
 assault, if their own pockets were emptied. The booty from 
 bank-breaking, in the event of success, was so enormous that 
 the immense percentage of profit tempted men of the so- 
 called "sporting" class and other money lenders, with more 
 greed than conscience, to invest in this extra-hazardous line • 
 of enterprise. 
 
 By the breaking open of the Ocean Bank in New York, in 
 1869, the burglars got over $1 ,000,000 in cash and bonds. The 
 Boylston bank burglary in November of the same year robbed 
 a Boston bank of $500,000. In the looting of the bank in 
 Northampton, Mass.," in January, 1876, over $1,500,000 in 
 cash and bonds were stolen. The robbery of the Covington 
 bank, two years before, gained a reported booty of $400,000 
 in cash and $1,500,000 in bonds. And as the culmination 
 of all came the famous robbery of the Manhattan Savings 
 Bank of New York, with its enormous plunder of $2,747,700 
 in cash and bonds, on the 27th of October, 1878. 
 - Among the foremost craftsmen in these extraordinary gangs 
 were "Jimmy" Hope and his son John, James Dunlap, Robert 
 
44 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Scott, Max Shinburn, Adam Worth, "Dave" Cummings, 
 Charles Bullard, alias "Piano Charley," George Gardner, 
 "Ike" Marsh, George Miles, "Bob" Cochran, "Ned" Lyons 
 and "Sam" Ferris, alias "Worcester Sam." Another who 
 is justly entitled to special mention as having been one of 
 the most gifted and accomplished operators in this line of 
 crime in America is Langdon W. Moore. This truly re- 
 markable man, who has reformed and is now leading an ex- 
 emplary life, has written one of the most faithful auto- 
 biographies, detailing a criminal career, which has ever ap- 
 peared in print. 
 
 A wide-ranging repertoire of impersonations was readily 
 filled by these artists in crime. Robert Scott, for one, needed 
 no touch of transformation to stand for the portrait of the 
 jaunty young dandy or broker, which our artist has taken as 
 a fairly typical figure of the new order of burglars. For many 
 years he hoodwinked society with consummate cleverness in 
 his shifting character parts. For some time he was known as 
 a wealthy owner of a racing stable and a patron of art as well 
 as of the turf. From this, by an easy transition, he became 
 a playwright and author apparently enjoying an ample for- 
 tune and turning his hand to literary work as a labor of 
 love. Up to the very moment of his arrest as a principal in the 
 Northampton bank robbery, he had deceived his own wife 
 as completely as he had his social acquaintances. 
 
 When the illustrated papers were filled with graphic draw- 
 ings and photographs of the wrecked bank and other features of 
 the robbery, Mrs. Scott, a really accomplished and lovely 
 woman, naively showed the pictures to her husband and his 
 mate, the burglar Dunlap, exclaiming indignantly, "I hope 
 that God will lay his hand on the villains and bring them to 
 justice and to the gallows if they deserve it." These men of 
 iron nerve listened without a visible shade of emotion or dis- 
 sent and examined the pictures with cool curiosity. When 
 Scott was arrested, some months later, and his wife learned 
 
FROM JIM Ml EH TO DYNAMITE. ^c 
 
 first from the lips of the detectives that her husband was 
 one of the villains upon whom she had called the wrath of 
 God, she fell in a swoon, striking her head upon an iron bound 
 trunk, and was out of her mind for several days. 
 
 Maximilian Schoenbein, far better known as Max Shinburn, 
 was no less adept than Scott as a character actor and much 
 more of an artist in the conception of and execution of criminal 
 plans. He has been distinguished by those expert critics, the 
 Pinkerton brothers, as the greatest bank, safe and vault 
 burglar of this or any other country. He is a German by 
 birth and first came to this country in or near the year i860. 
 His school education was excellent, and he soon made himself 
 a mechanic of remarkable proficiency. 
 
 To perfect his knowledge of the mechanism of safes, he 
 obtained employment under an assumed name in the works 
 of the Lilly Safe Company which, in the years of the war 
 for the Union, ranked as one of the best manufacturers in this 
 country. In this employment, he gained a knowledge so 
 intricate and exact of the construction of safe locks that he 
 could readily duplicate any then in the market. Moreover, his 
 ear was so acute and sensitive that by the turning of the 
 dial he could determine at what numbers the tumblers 
 dropped into place. In those days the combinations were far 
 more simple than the complex ones since perfected, and it 
 can readily be perceived that a rogue so expert was greatly 
 to be dreaded by the banks and other holders of money and 
 bonds. 
 
 He soon heaped up a fortune by his successful burglaries 
 and, although an inveterate gambler, he was so shrewd a spec- 
 ulator that he actually made another fortune by lucky turns 
 of the market. He spent his income at first with an extrava- 
 gant hand in dissipation and luxurious living, and was a 
 typical "high-roller" until he was arrested at Saratoga Springs 
 for the robbery of the Walpole (New Hampshire) Savings 
 Bank in April, 1865. 
 
46 OVTt RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Shinburn,atthetimeof his arrest, was masquerading as a New 
 Yorlv banker, but a complete workshop for making all kinds 
 of burglars' tools was found in his house, and the evidence 
 against him was so conclusive that he was convicted and sen- 
 tenced to ten years of imprisonment. He broke out of the 
 jail in Keene, N. H., on the night following his conviction 
 and contrived to elude capture for many months but was finally 
 arrested after an unsuccessful attempt to rob a bank at St. 
 Albans, Vt. He was sent to the state's prison in Concord, 
 but again this crafty and daring burglar was an over match 
 for his guards. His escape from the Concord jail after an in- 
 carceration for nine months was one of the most dashing 
 and skilfully planned in criminal history. 
 
 His confederate in this escape was his partner in the robbery 
 of the W'alpole bank, George Miles, alias George White. A 
 masked hole in the gate of the prison was cut one night by 
 the contrivance of White and Shinburn, and the next day 
 Shinburn broke away from a marching line of convicts in 
 the yard of the jail, jumped through the hole in the gate, 
 sprang into a light wagon in waiting outside, and, in a minute, 
 was flying away with his confederate White as fast as a fleet 
 horse could carry them over the state line into Massachusetts. 
 
 Three times in succession, in 1867, he entered and robbed 
 the vault of the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre coal company at 
 Whitehaven, Pa., by successfully manipulating the combina- 
 tion lock on the vault. His marvellous coolness and calcula- 
 tion were strikingly illustrated in this series of raids for, in his 
 first two robberies, he took away only insignificant sums, just 
 covering the expenses of his trip to Whitehaven, as the de- 
 posits in the vault were not enough, in his judgment, to offset 
 his prospective loss from the revelation of a burglary. The 
 thefts were so trifling that suspicion was naturally directed, 
 as Shinburn presumed, against clerks in the office of the coal 
 company and two were discharged in succession upon sus- 
 picion of pilfering. 
 
MAXIMILIAN SCHOENBEIN. 
 
 GEORGE MILES. 
 
 CHARLES BDLLARD. 
 
 ADAM WORTH. 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. .y 
 
 The third raid of the burglar was timed exactly upon the 
 deposit of the money for the monthly pay roll, and he then 
 succeeded in carrying ofif $40,000 in cash and some bonds and 
 other securities, the entire contents of the vault, at one swoop. 
 He reached New York City in safety with his booty but 
 some weeks later was cleverly shadowed and seized by detect- 
 ives while slipping out of a saloon on Broadway. He was 
 taken under close guard to Whitehaven upon a requisition 
 from the governor of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Shortly after his arrest he made a bogus confession impli- 
 cating a number of innocent men in Whitehaven and during 
 the investigation of the case he was held in custody in a 
 hotel of the town. Every night Shinburn was handcuffed to 
 a detective and both slept in the same bed in a room directly 
 adjoining the chamber occupied by the General Superintend- 
 ent of the detective agency. To ensure the utmost practica- 
 ble security, the clothes of Shinburn and his bed fellow were 
 taken from them nightly and locked in a closet of the room 
 in which the superintendent slept. The handcuffs used were 
 of the ratchet pattern, a design at that time esteemed the safest. 
 
 Yet in spite of all this precaution, Shinburn succeeded one 
 night in dropping a steel pen into the ratchet of the handcuff 
 which held him, a second before the bolt snapped into place. 
 This bit of steel blocked the locking of the bolt, though the 
 handcuff appeared to be fastened securely. It was then an 
 easy matter for the sly burglar to slip his hand out of the 
 cuff at midnight when his bed-fellow was fast asleep, and steal 
 into a neighboring chamber. There he dressed himself com- 
 pletely in the clothes of a sleeping guest, and succeeded in 
 escaping from the hotel and town before the alarm was given. 
 
 After this extraordinary escape he became the leader of 
 the gang of burglars which successfully broke into the vaults 
 of the Ocean Bank in New York City in 1869 and bore off 
 plunder to the amount of a million dollars. This was the first 
 of the series of gigantic burglaries which culminated in the 
 
48 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 looting of the Manhattan Savings Bank, and for the devices 
 which made these crimes practicable Max Shinburn probably 
 deserves the lion's share of credit or infamy. It is credibly 
 reported that he was the first to design and make the fine, 
 small but marvellously effective burglar tools which have 
 largely supplanted the old fashioned and cumbersome instru- 
 ments of former generations of burglars. His complete 
 working kit could often be packed in a small handbag like 
 the one shown in our picture of the modern burglar, and Shin- 
 burn himself was accustomed to carry such a valise. An 
 excellent illustration of a set of modern tools of this style 
 for safe cracking is given in the accompanying cut of an 
 actual outfit in the possession of the Boston Police Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 After the robbery of the Ocean Bank, Shinburn next applied 
 his talents to the promotion of the robbery of the Boylston 
 Bank, and, a little later, robbed the West Maryland Bank of 
 money and securities to the extent of $25,000. This was 
 Shinburn's last achievement of the kind for many years, 
 for he was so hotly pursued by the police and the 
 organized detective agencies that he was soon forced to fly 
 from the country and find shelter in Belgium, where he could 
 live undisturbed through the lack of any treaty of extradition. 
 
 For a few years he remained in Brussels, quietly enjoying 
 the proceeds of his years of plunder, but he later purchased 
 an estate and an interest in a large silk mill, winning a place 
 in aristocratic society and taking the title of "Count," which, 
 it seems, nobody cared to dispute. He cut off completely every 
 thread of association with his former confederates, and none 
 of them knew what had become of him except his single 
 confidant, a young Englishman who had long been his agent 
 in disposing of stolen securities. 
 
 He might have lived in his fine feathers to the end of his 
 life but he could not lestrain his passion for gambling and, 
 after some thirteen years of fickle fortune, he failed in business 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. ^g 
 
 and came to the end of his pile of plunder. Then he cast 
 about to fill his empty pockets and either by chance or design 
 came into touch with one of his old associates, "Charley" 
 Bullard, otherwise known as "Piano Charley," who had also 
 fled from this country, after escaping from the Massachusetts 
 state prison. "Piano Charley" had been one of the prime 
 movers in the famous Boylston bank burglary and was en- 
 tirely qualified to act as a second to Shinburn or any other 
 rascal of high degree. 
 
 The two old companions then plotted the robbery of the 
 Provincial Bank of Viveres, Belgium, and attempted to exe- 
 cute it in 1883. They readily gained an entrance into the 
 bank through a rear door, by unscrewing an old-fashioned 
 lock. Shinburn set the lock carefully aside in order to re- 
 place it and put the screws in his waistcoat pocket. The bur- 
 glars then entered the bank and made a careful study of the 
 vault and safes. After completing their study at their ease, 
 they returned to the back yard and replaced the lock on 
 the door. Unfortunately for the rogues, however, one of the 
 screws stuck in a piece of wax in Shinburn's pocket and the 
 burglars hunted about for it in vain. 
 
 While they were looking for the screw, a patrolling watch- 
 man came upon a pair of shoes which "Piano Charley" had 
 carefully taken ofif, just before entering the bank, and carelessly 
 left in the alley outside the bank yard. These tell-tale boots 
 made him suspicious and he called for help, searched the 
 bank yard and arrested both of the burglars. Still the re- 
 sourceful Shinburn was not at the end of his wits. He actually 
 succeeded in accounting satisfactorily for his presence in the 
 yard, and would have been discharged if the search of his 
 pockets had not brought to light the missing screw imbedded 
 in a lump of wax. The door lock was then examined and 
 it was seen that a screw was lacking, precisely like the one 
 in Shinburn's pocket. 
 
 Upon this circumstantial evidence both burglars were tried 
 
so 
 
 OUB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 and convicted. Shinburn, oddly enough, got off with a 
 sentence of five years' imprisonment while his comrade, 
 "Piano Cliarley" whose shoes had betrayed him, was 
 sent to prison for ten years. On such apparently slight 
 slips of precaution or luck does the fate of burglars often 
 turn. 
 
 "Piano Charley" died in prison, but the craftier Shinburn 
 served out his sentence, plotting meanwhile to throw the police 
 off the track and blot out his identity by the industrious cir- 
 culation of a tale of his own death in Belgium. This conven- 
 ient fiction was widely published in the papers of this country, 
 at Shinburn's instigation, but the police were too wary to be 
 victimized by any such yarn. 
 
 About four years ago there was a singular revival of coun- 
 try bank burglaries here after the marked cessation of such 
 offences since the day of the great Manhattan Bank robbery. 
 Keen inquiry of tire police and detective agencies ascertained 
 that in nearly every instance one of the persons implicated or 
 gravely suspected was an old man who spoke at times with 
 a marked German accent. Some witnesses thought that he 
 had a scar on his chin and others described the mark as a 
 deep dimple. Finally a banker, who had been robbed, identi- 
 fied this old man with the long lost Max Shinburn by the 
 aid of a picture taken at the time of Shinburn's arrest in 
 Belgium. 
 
 It was found by a tracing process that Shinburn had gone 
 to England after his release from the Belgian prison and, it 
 was supposed, had come to this country a year or two later. 
 The marked ability with which the present bank robberies 
 had been conducted showed plainly a master's hand in design 
 and execution. The remarkably adroit use of nitro-glycerine 
 was a pronounced feature of the principal burglaries, and all ex- 
 pert detectives throughout the country were well convinced 
 that the phenomenal brain and hand that had reconstructed 
 the burglar tools of America and successfully perpetrated some 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. ci 
 
 of the greatest robberies ever known, were alone adequate to 
 this expert adaptation of dynamite to burglary. 
 
 So the police and detectives followed up every possible 
 thread of connection between Shinburn and the bank bur- 
 glaries and he was finally arrested by the Pinkerton agency 
 in New York, on June 28, 1895, on the charge of robbing the 
 First National Bank of Middleburg, N. Y., in the previous 
 April. He was tried upon this charge and convicted in Jan- 
 uary, 1896. His sentence was one of four years and eight 
 months, and he is now serving out his term in Dannemora 
 prison. 
 
 He is a figure so preeminently remarkable and so repre- 
 sentative of the highest order of the criminals of his class that 
 we have no hesitation in giving his story with a minuteness 
 of detail that would otherwise be out of proportion to the 
 plan of our work. Personally, Shinburn is a man of refined 
 manners and marked cultivation. He has travelled through 
 Europe from end to end and speaks and writes several modern 
 languages fluently and well. He would pass in any society 
 as a foreign gentleman of means and fine .tastes. At the time 
 of his latest conviction, he was about 62 years of age. 
 
 He is a trifle over five feet eight inches in height and his 
 weight is approximately 160 pounds. He is broad-shouldered, 
 rather thick-set, and his muscles are still supple and strong in 
 spite of his years. Before he was sent to prison, his hair and 
 beard had a soldierly cut, and his grizzled head was fast turning 
 white. He wore a thick moustache and slight chin tuft or 
 imperial, perhaps to veil the deep and distinguishing dimple in 
 his chin. His forehead is broad, full and shapely, and all 
 the lines of his face are strOng and fine. No one who sees 
 him can fail to be struck also by the exceedingly keen glances 
 of his blue eyes. A photograph which fairly depicts him is 
 reproduced in the collection of representative portraits which 
 illustrate these pages. 
 
 Shinburn's confederate and comrade, George Miles or 
 
52 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 George White, as he has sometimes been called, has also a 
 fair title to a representative place in our set of portraits. His 
 part in the escape of his comrade from the prison at Concord 
 has already been told. He was a participant in the epoch 
 marking robbery of the Ocean National Bank of New York 
 in 1869, and took a leading part in other notable burglaries. 
 The conduct of one of these was so dramatic and typical that 
 it deserves special notice. 
 
 In the dead of the night of the sixth of July, 1875, Miles 
 and three other burglars, wearing white masks, entered the 
 house of the cashier of the bank of Barre, Vt. Every move- 
 ment of the gang was apparently mapped out beforehand, 
 with complete forethought, and was executed with military 
 precision. The cashier and his family were suddenly seized 
 in their bed-chambers. Strong screw-hooks were driven into 
 the floor of one of the chambers, and the cashier's wife and 
 daughter gagged and bound to the floor. Then the cashier 
 was dragged to his bank, a quarter of a mile away, and forced 
 to open the door by the pressure of two loaded revolvers 
 against his head. He unlocked the outer door of the safe un- 
 der the same pressure, but the inner door was fitted with a 
 time lock and could not be opened. As the burglars were not 
 prepared to blow open the safe, they were perforce content 
 with what they found in the outer safe, $10 in cash and $1,300 
 in unsigned bank bills. 
 
 When they were satisfied that no more could be got from 
 the bank, they marched the cashier back to his house and tied 
 him fast like his wife and daughter. Then the gang fled from 
 the town before the alarm was given, but by keen pursuit 
 one was captured by the breaking of his leg when jumping 
 from a train. He turned state's evidence and his informa- 
 tion caused the arrest of Miles, in New York, in the follow- 
 ing September. Miles was part owner of a fashionable livery 
 stable and so influential a man that the officers from Vermont 
 thought it prudent to carry him away to Barre secretly. At his 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DY SAMITE. e^ 
 
 trial extraordinary efforts were made by his friends to secure his 
 acquittal, but he was finally convicted and sent to Windsor 
 prison for fourteen years. He made two desperate attempts to 
 escape before the expiration of his term, but failed both times. 
 
 Soon after his discharge from prison, he joined a gang which 
 blew open and robbed the safe of a jeweller in Glover sville, 
 New York, and, a few months later, attempted to open a safe 
 in Utica. He was caught in the act by the Utica police, in 
 company with two other notorious burglars, Daniel Leary, 
 aHas "Black Dan," and James Brady, known as "Big Jim" 
 Brady. Allies drew a revolver instantly when the police tried 
 to seize him and fired upon the advancing officers, holding 
 them at bay until he reached the street. Then he was sur- 
 rounded and overpowered, but fought on like a wild cat until 
 knocked senseless. In February, 1891, he was tried and 
 convicted for this attempted burglary and sentenced to a term 
 of five years in state prison. 
 
 How "Piano Charley" joined JNIax Shinburn in the robbery 
 of a Belgian bank and how his shoes betrayed him has been 
 told in the story of the life of "The Count." Charles 
 Bullard, alias "Piano Charley," was a rascal of peculiar 
 ability and characteristics. He was the son of a re- 
 spectable ^Massachusetts business man and had a good 
 common school education. Dissipation and a restless 
 craving for morbid excitement made him a "fly crook" 
 and later an uncommonly daring and wily burglar. His 
 sobriquet of Piano was given to him by his comrades as 
 a testimonial to his skill as a player, for his delicacy of touch 
 was illustrated on piano as well as on skeleton keys. He was 
 so artful in covering his tracks that it was difficult to procure 
 evidence against him sufficient to convict and he went up the 
 ladder of crime round after round until he planned and exe- 
 cuted the great Boylston bank burglary in 1869 in conjunction 
 with Adam \A'orth, "Ike" Marsh, "Bob" Cochran and other 
 lesser stars of burglary. 
 
54 
 
 OUR RfVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 After this crowning feat he fled to Europe with Worth and 
 Marsh but his ill-gotten gains soon melted in his hands and 
 he came back to this country with his chum, "Ike" Marsh, 
 and robbed an express messenger who had more than $100,000 
 in charge for delivery. For this crime Bullard and Marsh 
 were arrested in Canada and_taken to the jail in White Plains, 
 N. Y., but they soon contrived to escape with the help nf con- 
 federates outside the prison walls. After his escape, "Piano 
 Charley" next turned up in Paris, where he opened the famous 
 "American Cafe" at No. 2 Rue Scribe. In the gay French 
 capital he soon became a man of mark as a gambler and 
 roue; but, after a few years of dissipation, he had the nerve to 
 return to America, coolly facing arrest and frankly 
 confessing his guilt when brought to trial. He was sen- 
 tenced to a term of twenty years in the Massachusetts state 
 prison. 
 
 His conduct as a prisoner was uniformly docile and good 
 for many months, until one day he surprised his keepers by 
 a seemingly inexplicable .outbreak of insolence and riotous 
 disturbance. For this offence against discipline he was con- 
 fined over night with five other rioters in the cells for re- 
 fractory prisoners. The next morning it was discovered that 
 the birds had flown. Bullard had somehow fitted keys to the 
 locks of the cells, released his confederates and found a way of 
 escape. Again he fled the country and, after some tarrying 
 in England, joined Shinburn and engaged in the robbery of 
 the bank at Viveres, as before related. 
 
 Adam Worth, "Little Adam," was a fitting fourth in this 
 quartette of accomplished rogues, and appropriately fills a 
 place in our page of portraits side by side with his comrade, 
 Bullard. He was a remarkably cunning plotter and per- 
 former of robberies and a master hand in fashioning false 
 keys and other implements of his craft. After the robbery 
 of the Boylston bank, in which he took a leading part, he 
 Bed to London and for many years had the criminal distinc- 
 
JAMBS HOPE. 
 
 JOHN HOPE. 
 
 DAVID CUMMINGS. 
 
 BDWAKD LYONS. 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. 
 
 55 
 
 tion of being the chief counsellor, broker and fence in Great 
 Britain for American burglars and thieves. In October, 1892, 
 this artful dodger was arrested in an attempt to steal 
 a lot of valuable bonds at a railway station in Liege. He was 
 convicted for this attempted robbery and shut up in a Bel- 
 gian prison for seven years. While in prison he made a sen- 
 sational revelation of his possession of the famous picture of 
 the "Duchess of Gainsborough," which was sold at auction at 
 Christie's, in 1876, for £10,100 and, eighteen days later, cut from 
 its frame in the exhibition gallery of its purchaser, a leading 
 picture dealer of Londpn. 
 
 Our second page of representative portraits depicts four 
 burglars of equally unenviable distinction. "Jimmy" Hope was 
 perhaps the most notorious of his class in America, begin- 
 ning his known career of crime in the year 1870 by the at- 
 tempted robbery of Smith's bank at Perry, New York, and 
 running up the scale to an alleged culmination in the famous 
 burglary which robbed the Manhattan Savings Bank of nearly 
 three millions in cash and securities. Six years later Hope 
 was captured by the police in the attempt to rob a private bank 
 in San Francisco, and for this crime was convicted and sen- 
 tenced to a term of seven years and a half in San Quentin 
 prison. He was brought to New York, on requisition papers 
 from the governor, for complicity in the robbery of the Man- 
 hattan bank, but for lack of convicting evidence he was dis- 
 charged and is now living by honest industry in a neighboring 
 state. 
 
 His son "Johnny," whose portrait appears side by side with 
 his father, was a hopeful slip from the parent stock but his career 
 was cut short by his arrest and conviction for complicity in the 
 Manhattan Bank robbery. For this crime he received a 
 sentence of twenty years in Sing Sing. His conduct in 
 prison was so excellent that he was pardoned by Governor 
 Flower in 1891, after a confinement of a little more than nine 
 years. He, too, like his father, should be credited with a genu- 
 
56 OVR RIVAL, TUil RASCAL. 
 
 ine reformation since his discharge, and he is now earning a 
 living as a good citizen. 
 
 David Cummings, commonly known as "Little Dave," was 
 one of the principal consorts of Dunlap, Scott and Hope 
 as well as an organizer and leader of his own gangs of bur- 
 glars. He began his professional career with robberies on 
 the Mississippi River, in 1865, in the convenient mask of a 
 waiter on a steamboat. 
 
 In March, 1873, Cummings, "Red" Leary and two other 
 burglars robbed the Falls City Tobacco Bank of Louisville, 
 Kentucky, of nearly $400,000 in money, stocks and bonds. 
 The gang chose Saturday night for the beginning of the as- 
 sault, in order to have two nights and a day for their work 
 before the opening of the bank on the Monday following. 
 They broke into the Masonic Temple immediately over the 
 bank and, after digging under the altar, cut a hole through 
 the floor. Through this hole they dropped one after another 
 to the roof of the bank vault about three feet below. The 
 steel lining of the vault dome was covered with a thick layer 
 of firmly cemented brick, but the determined burglars broke 
 through the cover with picks and sledges and reached the 
 metal lining. This they bored with drills and" finally weak- 
 ened a spot so that a section of the lining yielded to the blows 
 of a heavy sledge. Then they dropped through the hole in 
 the ceiling to the floor of the vault, blew out the door of the 
 safe, and dragged out their booty. 
 
 Before leaving the vault, they artfully wedged the outer 
 door, so that the discovery of the burglary would be de- 
 layed for some hours after the opening of the bank. To mask 
 the raid further, they carefully replaced the. plank over the 
 hole which they had sawed in the floor of the temple above 
 the vault, nailed down the carpet which had been neatly taken 
 up, and piled a stack of books above the patch in the floor. 
 Then all contrived to escape with such dexterity that it was 
 years before any one of the gang was caught. 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. 
 
 57 
 
 In the fall of the same year Cummings joined Dunlap, 
 Scott and others in an attempt to tunnel through the vault 
 of the First National Bank of Quincy, 111. This design was 
 very shrewdly planned and executed, and the gang succeeded 
 in carrying off $89,000 in cash, $100,000 in government bonds 
 and $350,000 in other securities. 
 
 This successful burglary was further remarkable in marking 
 the first introduction of the air-pump for the purpose of blow- 
 ing powder into a safe. The fine lines of junction between 
 the safe door and its frame were carefully covered with putty 
 to exclude the air completely except through a narrow in- 
 terval at the top of the door. In this break in the cover of 
 putty a fine pointed tube was inserted, and the air in the safe 
 drawn out through the tube by an air pump. After exhaust- 
 ing the air, the removal of a bit of putty from the crack be- 
 tween the door and the frame 'caused 
 a pressure of air which forced in 
 through the crack sufficient gunpow- 
 der to blow open the safe, when fired 
 by a fuse. This very effective and 
 dangerous device was unfortunately 
 made known to the burglars by a 
 travelling salesman for one of the safe 
 companies, who was tempted to be- 
 come the accomplice of the men who 
 were fighting the safe makers. 
 
 Since his notable success in 1873, 
 Cummings has taken part in a long 
 series of burglaries in this country 
 and Great Britain, in- spite of repeated 
 arrests and imprisonments. 
 
 When he came before Judge Cow- 
 ing of New York in 1891, for his latest offence, the judge re- 
 marked in addressing him: "Your record shows that you have 
 spent about all of the last eighteen years in prison. By actual 
 
 THE AIR PUMP, 
 
58 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 count, I believe, you have not had more than eight months of 
 liberty in that time. Do you think that crime pays?" 
 
 "I know it doesn't, judge," replied the burglar with appar- 
 ent earnestness, "I think only a crazy man would live as I 
 have lived for the last eighteen years." 
 
 "Well, do you claim to be insane, Cummings?" asked Judge 
 Cowing. 
 
 '"Oh, no. Judge," answered Cummings, "I don't. I have 
 brains enough. But I think now that I must have been crazy 
 all these years to go wrong instead of right." 
 
 This conviction on his part was doubtless emphasized by 
 his sentence to the state's prison for five years. 
 
 Edward, or "Xed," Lyons fills a quarter section of the same 
 page of portraits as one of the oldest and most adventurous 
 bank burglars now living, a veteran comrade of Hope, Shin- 
 biirn. Bliss and other stars of the first magnitude in the har- 
 vest years when burglary was nearer a fine art than safe- 
 making. He- has been through uncounted perils and hair- 
 breadth escapes in his defiance of the law and he bears the 
 marks also of a number of conflicts with his own "pals." 
 He lost the upper part of his left ear in a street fight in 1869. 
 Ten years later he was shot twice in a bar-room fight in New 
 York, and one of the shots left a scar on his jaw which is 
 still disfiguring. Besides these wounds, he has accumulated 
 a stock of scars on his body which would do honor to an old 
 soldier. 
 
 After bank burglary became too arduous a profession for 
 him with the latest improvements in safe-making and the per- 
 fection of police protection, he descended to store burglary 
 and train-robbery, with occasional diversions to various games 
 of swindling. 
 
 The portrait of Lyons fitly depicts the man, and, if any of 
 the other portraits seem in any respect at variance with the 
 descriptions, it should be taken into account that the photo- 
 graphs were made after their subjects had become convicted 
 
FROM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. rg 
 
 felons, under conditions which suffered no prinking for the 
 sake of a more winning appearance. 
 
 It can hardly be questioned that most of these noteworthy 
 burglars had a fertility and keenness of brain and a dexterity 
 of hand that would have won for them high places in honest 
 professions, if they had been content with the profi'ts to be 
 gained by steady, honorable industry. By the diversion of 
 their sharp wits and deft hands to works of crime, some of 
 them succeeded in carrying off great heaps of booty, but 
 the enjoyment of their plunder was embittered bv haunting 
 spectres of fear night and day. Of the vast amounts stolen, 
 also, the greater proportion was in the form of bonds and other 
 securities, difficult to convert into cash after the property 
 was blacklisted, and actually netting to the burglars only 
 a fraction of its full value. 
 
 It is noteworthy, too, that scarcely one of these marked 
 men was long enriched by the plunder which he acquired. 
 Their booty usually ran through their fingers like water, 
 and their extravagant habits, sensual appetites, and inflamed 
 greed drove them again and again to plots of crime until 
 even the wiliest fell into the nets of the police and ended their 
 wasted lives in prison cells or are still gloomily counting the . 
 years of wearisome expiation that stretch like an interminable 
 gulf between them and the beacons of liberty, home and 
 happiness. . Doubtless even the most reckless and depraved 
 have often bitterly reckoned that a few years of dissipation 
 racked with fears were a wretched offset to perverted talents, 
 a ruined life, a felon's cell and the agony of divorce from 
 wives, children, friends and all that men hold dear. 
 
 These hard and sober truths may well be marked and 
 digested by every wayward young man of our day, impatient 
 of the plodding ways of industry and thrift, and blindly fancy- 
 ing that the glitter of the prizes of crime is more than a will- 
 of-the-wisp. 
 
 It would be impracticable and useless to attempt to trace the 
 
6o OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 individual threads in the tangled skeins of crime spun by 
 these rascals and there is no interest attaching to a bare 
 enumeration of burglaries or to the myriad variations of device 
 by which they were effected. In the half dozen burglaries 
 which we have particularly noted as especially startling and 
 prolific of booty, the really distinguishing methods are prac- 
 tically comprehended. 
 
 In the robbery of the Ocean Bank of New York, the base- 
 ment below was hired ostensibly as an exchange. A partition 
 was put up in the rear behind which the burglars worked, as 
 they could seize opportunity, in cutting through the stone 
 floor of the bank. At length the work had progressed so 
 far that an entrance into the bank was effected on Saturday 
 night and before Monday morning the vault was torn to pieces 
 and the bank robbed of more than a million dollars. The 
 Boylston Bank of Boston was robbed a few ilionths later in 
 the same year, 1869, in nearly the same way. In this case a 
 room adjoining the bank was hired on the pretence of using 
 it as an office for the sale of patent medicines. An old- 
 fashioned bureau served as a screen to hide the progress of 
 the work of cutting through the brick walls to the bank 
 vault. In this instance only one night was required to break 
 into the vault, but the inner vault was left unbroken for lack 
 of time to complete the job. The Northampton Bank was 
 robbed by seizing upon the cashier in his own house at mid- 
 night and compelling him to give the combination of the bank 
 safe by the pressure of a loaded revolver on his ear. The 
 looting of the Manhattan Bank was the outcome of an elabo- 
 rately plotted scheme, in which the corruption of one of the 
 watchmen of the bank was an essential feature. How the 
 gang that robbed this bank seized and bound the janitor, 
 opened the vault and got away with millions of booty has 
 been told with graphic detail by Byrnes and Hawthorne, the 
 authors of the dramatic tale of "The Great Bank Robbery." 
 
 It must be confessed that the extraordinary feats under- 
 
FROM JIM3J1ES TO DYXAillTE. gj 
 
 taken and executed by the new generation of burglars were 
 startling and humiliating to law-abiding society and, particu- 
 larly, to its appointed defenders, the police, and the bankers 
 and safe makers who saw their guard lines penetrated and 
 their redoubts taken by storm or undermined. But the alarms 
 and the losses were fruitful in profit as well as in shock and 
 disaster. 
 
 One immediate result was the resolute bracing and ex- 
 ercise of every arm of defence throughout the country. 
 Bankers generally took better precautions in selecting their 
 employees and scrutinizing their conduct. There was a 
 more frequent and sharper examination, also, of the condition 
 of bank vaults and the character of the occupants of adjoin- 
 ing premises. Old-fashioned iron vaults and old st^'le safes, 
 which had been tolerated before through carelessness or a 
 misjudged economy, were reconstructed or replaced with 
 those of the latest design. Doors and windows and entire 
 walls even were fitted with an elaborate net work of burglar 
 alarm wires. The vault and safe makers, too, had their 
 needed warning and impulse, and have since made won- 
 derful strides toward the perfection of safes to resist burglar 
 tools of every kind and the application and shock of explosives. 
 
 Last, but not least, we may note the advances in the organ- 
 ization and efficiency of the police and detective forces through- 
 out the country. In every large city the police depart- 
 ments were overhauled, toned up and rightly amended. 
 Special patrols were instituted for the protection of the banks 
 and the business heart of our cities. Lines of mutual help 
 were multiplied and extended to all parts of this country 
 and Europe, uniting the police and detectives of every state 
 in our Union and of foreign nations as well, in cordial co- 
 operation. 
 
 It is, of course, beyond question that this arousal of self 
 protection and of cooperating defenders has been greatly ser- 
 viceable to our country, and for this incitement the new gen- 
 
52 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 eration of bank burglars deserves full credit, if not special 
 thanks. It is further to be noted with satisfaction that this 
 rallying of antagonists has gone far to foil and discourage 
 the schemes of the once formidable bank burglar. There has 
 really been no great city bank robbery since the warning shock 
 of the assault on the Manhattan Bank, and minor robberies 
 are growing year by year more infrequent and difficult of 
 execution. Our banks are now, with rare exceptions, ex- 
 cellently protected and guarded. 
 
 It is true that no device of man is impregnable to man's as- 
 sault, but in the case of the bank and the burglar there is 
 fortunately the saving element of the time indispensable for 
 the demolition of vault walls or safes. Undoubtedly a burglar 
 of our day could cut or blast his way into the best of strong- 
 holds, if he had all the time he needed for the completion of 
 his job. But, unfortunately for him, he can't command the 
 sun to stand still or make forty-eight hours out of twenty- 
 four. 
 
 There is, however, reason to apprehend that the develop- 
 ment of electrical science may require a reformation of modern 
 safeguards for money and other valuables. The use of an 
 electric current of high power for penetrating the plates of a 
 safe by melting the metal has lately been demonstrated in a 
 series of experiments conducted by a West Point graduate, 
 Samuel Rodman, Jr., in behalf of an United States government 
 commission and a number of banks in this country. The same 
 expert has shown also how swift and irresistible the application 
 of high explosives may be in the hands of cracksmen of the 
 first rank. 
 
 It is true that few burglars of our day can approach such 
 an expert in the titilization of- explosives for safe cracking, and 
 serviceable electric currents may be difficult to reach and com- 
 mand. But Mr. Rodman's experiments unquestionably urge 
 the expediency or necessity of the furthest feasible stretch of 
 precautions. He lays particular stress upon the desirability of 
 
FJWM JIMMIES TO DYNAMITE. 
 
 63 
 
 extending and perfecting a burglar alarm system in the form 
 of an envelope of wires about safes and vaults. Such a barri- 
 cade as he calls for could not be penetrated without giving an 
 alarm that would bring a police force, in a few moments, to the 
 point of attack. His recommendation strongly supports the 
 suggestions that have been made to the same end by other 
 expert authorities. 
 
 In view of the heavy responsibility necessarily attaching to 
 the guardianship of deposits in banks and the appalling losses 
 that may follow from a successful burglary, it is certain that 
 the expense of the best attainable precautions and safeguards 
 is comparatively inconsiderable. 
 
 We should urge, therefore, that nothing should be left undone 
 by a bank to secure the best possible safeguards. 
 
 Its watchmen should be bright, wide-awake, faithful, honest. 
 
 Its vaults and" safes should be of the best of steel, of the latest 
 improved designs, and of uniform strength. 
 
 All suspicious characters entering or loitering about the 
 bank should be keenly watched and questioned. 
 
 The slightest indication of any tampering with the locks of 
 safes or vaults, or with any of the external defences'of the bank, 
 should be daily sought for and instantly reported to the police. 
 
 USING THE GRIPPEB. 
 
THROUGH WALLS OF STEEL. 
 
 WHEN that ancient constable, Dogberry, was examining" 
 two knaves in Messina, one of them was charged with 
 the confession that he had received a thousand ducats "for ac- 
 cusing the Lady Hero wrongfully." 
 
 "Flat burglary as ever was committed!" exclaimed the 
 sapient Dogberry. "Yea, by mass, that it is!" chimed in good- 
 man Verges. 
 
 Notwithstanding this eininent authority, we shall not carry 
 our use of the term, burglar, beyond 
 the warrant of custom. The old com- 
 mon law definition of burglary was the 
 breaking and en- 
 tering by night ,.,Jii. ijj 
 into the mansion 
 house of another, 
 with intent to 
 commit a felony 
 therein. But, see- 
 ing that the com- 
 mon law limita- 
 tion of burglary 
 has been changed 
 by the statutes of 
 many states in 
 this country, and 
 in view of the com- 
 mon usage that 
 makes a burglar 
 of the robber 
 who seeks for 
 plunder by break- 
 
 DRILLING SAFE. 
 
TEROVGH WALLS OF STEEL. 
 
 65 
 
 ing- into and entering a bank or store,— we have not been finical 
 in appl3-ing the word. 
 
 Any knave ma}'- clumsily break into a house and steal, and, in 
 the eye of the law, he may be a burglar; but an expert in the 
 craft would scorn to acknowledge his fellowship. Professional 
 burglars, as a rule, demand confederates of tested skill anti 
 fidelity. Smart youngsters are enlisted, from time to time, for 
 special service; but it is difficult for any inexperienced 
 rascal, young or old, to get a footing in any working gang 
 of burglars. It is true that old burglars often consort with 
 tramps on the road, as a convenient mask of their own char 
 acter in travelling from place to place or flying from the 
 grip of the law, but they keep their own business plans strictly 
 to themselves, however freely they may drink or laugh or 
 gamble with their boon companions. The robber of a hen- 
 roost cannot expect a place in the councils of a dignitary who 
 has perhaps conducted a three years' siege of a bank. So 
 in the cities one ma}- see the affable burglar leaning up 
 against a bar with a petty thief in a saloon or jammed in 
 between two "sports" at a boxing match or driving out to 
 a road house with some woman of the town, but he does 
 not mix business with pleasure or make confidants of the 
 rank and file of his social acquaintances. 
 
 It can hardly be said that there are to-day any hard and 
 fast lines of distinction or division in burglary although sev- 
 eral classes are plainly marked. The burglars who make 
 private residences their "mark" are ordinarily to be distin- 
 guished from those who break into stores and offices, and 
 these, in turn, are separate from the professional bank bur- 
 glars, the aristocrats of the craft. 
 
 Thirty years ago these lines of separation were much more 
 sharply drawn and observed than at present, mainly for the 
 reason that poHce surveillance and cooperation have ad- 
 vanced to a degree that makes burglary far more difificult 
 and burglars far less exclusive in their practice than was 
 
66 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the case a generation ago. The construction of bank vaults 
 and safes of all descriptions has been very greatly improved, 
 also, in the last thirty years, as we have before 'noted, and 
 the extension of burglar alarm circuits and other precau- 
 tions has been widespread. 
 
 So the class of skilled bank burglars, who would rarely 
 deign to stoop to lesser prey, has been greatly thinned and 
 humbled. When these princes of the craft have not been 
 cast into prison or driven from the country, they have been 
 forced to look for booty among the small country banks 
 of the West and South, usually, and even to drop to the 
 meaner level of ordinary "safe blowers" and store breakers. 
 The veterans that have escaped death, prison or exile are 
 but an insignificant, dejected and demoralized remnant of 
 the formidable gangs that once were a terror to the coun- 
 try, and the broken ranks have not been filled with new- 
 recruits. 
 
 In like manner, though to a much less marked extent, 
 the line between the safe breaker or the robber of ofSces- 
 and the ordinary robber of stores has been blurred or over- 
 run. The men who made a special study of the construc- 
 tion and demolition of the safes in offices and large stores 
 were accustomed to work in gangs distinct from those en- 
 gaged in breaking and entering for the purpose of steal- 
 ing costly goods which they carried away in light wagons 
 or, by hand, with the help of many confederates. These- 
 safe breakers were of a grade below the bank burglar, though 
 many of the rank and file in the gangs of bank burglars, 
 did not turn up their noses at the sight of an easily cracked 
 office safe. But as the bank burglars at large have been 
 pressed down of late years into the ranks of the ordinary 
 safe breakers, so the latter in turn have been driven by the 
 perfection of safes and police protection to more indiscrim- 
 inate robbery. 
 
 With the introduction and extension of the use of explo- 
 
THROUGH WALLS OF STEEL. 
 
 67 
 
 sives for safe breaking in place of the slower operation of 
 tools, the safe breakers of the country have come to be 
 styled "safe blowers" by the police and themselves, because 
 almost every safe breaker now carries a can of powder or 
 dynamite cartridges to use, if- necessary, and, with the im- 
 provement of safes, ex- ^__ 
 plosives have usually 
 become necessary or 
 desirable in order to 
 break open a safe in 
 the few hours availa- 
 ble. 
 
 If, however, the safe 
 to be opened is an old- 
 fashioned one, or a 
 cheap, so-called fire- 
 proof safe, — and too 
 many of these safes 
 , are still lingering or 
 are even now sold in 
 this country, — the bur- 
 glar of to-day with his 
 modern kit of tools 
 will smash the lock or 
 break in or cut 
 through the door or 
 side as if it were paste- 
 board. These cheap 
 or old safes are merely a laughing stock to burglars. Their 
 only possible service is for the protection of papers from fire, 
 for a common band-box would be cheaper and just about as 
 strong a safeguard, if assailed by a robber. 
 
 A practical object lesson to this effect was given some 
 years ago in a New York court. A notorious burglar, 
 one Patrick Cody, designed a little boring machine for 
 
 FILLING SAFE WITH GUNPOWDER. 
 
68 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 his own private use in opening "fire-proof" safes. When 
 he was captured by tlie police, his machine was taken also, 
 and, in the course of his trial, a common safe was brought 
 into the court room for the sake of an instructive illustra- 
 tion. Cody obligingly consented to serve as the oper- 
 ating lecturer and bored a hole through the door with his 
 unpatented drill in just forty-five seconds, without using a 
 drop of oil. In actual practice he had entered a room, opened 
 a safe, taken out its contents and got off clear in less than 
 six minutes, without disturbing a sleeper in the adjoining 
 chamber. 
 
 "Johnny" Dobbs, another of the leading artists in safe- 
 breaking, was even more expert and successful than Cody, 
 and there are scores of others who can open an ordinary 
 safe much more handily than the ordinary servant girl will 
 open a refrigerator. The notorious "Red" Leary used to 
 keep one of this kind of chest, as a standing joke, in his 
 saloon in Brooklyn. Once "Big Frank" McCoy, a safe 
 breaker of some reputation, and one of Leary's friends, was 
 using it as a seat, when Leary came in and ran up to him with 
 mock alarm, crying: "For God's sake, get off that safe, you'll 
 crush it!" 
 
 This significant little story shows what the representative 
 burglar thinks of such a little block in his way as the cheap 
 "fire-proof" safe. Many hundreds of property owners have 
 come by bitter experience to the same opinion as the bur- 
 glar, and many hundreds more will help to make public 
 opinion unanimous if they do not take warning in advance 
 of a costly lesson in burglary. 
 
 A Southern railroad, some time ago, was greatly annoyed 
 by the blowing open of a number of safes in the offices of 
 its local agents. Finally it printed a card reading "Don't 
 blow me open! Turn the knob and you will save time!" 
 The card was posted on all its weak safes, to which only 
 books and papers were thenceforth trusted. When the bur- 
 
THROVOH WALLS OF STEEL. 
 
 69 
 
 glars found on investigation that this notice was put up in 
 good faith, they did not plague the road by brealdng the 
 paper holders. Some such device may save those who note 
 its suggestion from a similar plague of burglars, but it is not 
 warranted as a specific. 
 
 The safe breakers infesting this country to-day are com- 
 monly young men ranging in age from twenty-five to thirty- 
 five years. Their customary field of plunder covers the coun- 
 try towns and villages, but rarely extends to the larger cities 
 on account of the greater blocks and risks in their way. 
 
 Before striking a "mark" in a country town they usually 
 select it in advance and ascertain every condition favoring 
 or opposing their plan of robbery, which is modified ac- 
 cordingly to ensure the best prospect of success. This pre- 
 liminary survey is made in the guise of tramps or it may be 
 as pretended drummers or ordinary travellers. Next in im- 
 portance to locating and planning the robbery is the provi- 
 sion for escape, and no professional safe breaker or bur- 
 glar will make any attack until he has clearly defined and 
 secured his line and means of retreat in the event of suc- 
 cess or failure. This provision is justly esteemed of such 
 consequence that assaults on stores or safes are often post- 
 poned for weeks, or even abandoned, if the available means 
 of escape with the possible booty are insufficient or unsatis- 
 factory. 
 
 In the execution of burglaries the robbers usually travel 
 in gangs of two or three, to evade the suspicion likely to 
 attach to a larger gang and also because two or three men 
 are usually an ample force for the work required. A gang 
 is always provided with an excellent county or district map 
 covering the proposed point of assault and its environs. The 
 latest railroad time tables, noting the arrival and departure of 
 trains at all points in the district, are also procured and carefully 
 studied. 
 
 On the eve of the attack on a chosen mark, the gang 
 
70 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RAISCAl,. 
 
 BREAKING OFF KNOB, 
 
 usually drops down upon an adjoining town and hires the 
 Tbest team procurable at a livery stable. With a fast horse 
 and buggy or other light 
 wagon the robbers drive dur- 
 ing the evening, under cover 
 of the darkness, to their 
 mark, either directly or by a 
 roundabout course if greater 
 wariness of approach is 
 thought requisite. A dark 
 lantern is always a part of 
 their outfit, but the rest 
 of their kit varies in pro- 
 portion to the known requirements of the job in hand. In 
 many cases a heavy sledge hammer, a bit-stock, a sharp 
 steel drill and a steel punch are the only tools needed to 
 crack the safe in their eye. If the lock of the safe is di- 
 rectly behind the knob, it is only the work of a few moments 
 to break off the knob with the sledge and drive the spin- 
 dle through the lock with a few hard blows on the punch. 
 Or, if the safe is of a more modern and stronger design, 
 a hole is drilled with the bit-stock through the door or side 
 and powder enough blown in, with a light pair of bellows or 
 blow pipe, to open the safe, when exploded. When dynamite is 
 
 employed, the cartridge is so 
 placed within or without the 
 safe that the firing of a 
 charge of powder by means 
 of a wire and electric battery 
 DRIVING SPINDLE. ^111 causc tlie concusslon 
 
 necessary to explode the 
 nitro-glycerine which is relied upon to shatter the safe. 
 If powder or a dynamite cartridge is used, the safe is com- 
 monly covered with a carpet or rugs to deaden the report 
 of the explosion, or, in case of a grocery or produce store, 
 
THROUGH WALLS OF STEEL. 
 
 71 
 
 sacks of grain or bales of hay are piled up about and on top 
 of the safe as a bulwark and sound breaker. 
 
 When experienced burglars are executing the job, the 
 amount of powder or dynamite used is so nicely calculated 
 and the swathing of the safe is so perfect that the explo- 
 sion only produces a dull rumbling sound which may read- 
 ily be mistaken for a roll of thunder by untrained ears. Be- 
 fore the mistake is discovered or any alarm is spread, the 
 alert burglars have hastily ransacked the safe and are off 
 with their booty, driving so fast that their escape is often 
 unnoticed and pursuit is only a chase at random. At some 
 previously determined station on the line of a railroad in 
 the district, the robbers leave their horse and wagon and 
 take a night or early morning train to some distant place 
 of refuge and concealment. Sometimes, two or three 
 "gophers" or "peters," as the burglars call the safes, are 
 cracked in succession in a single night, and, by a neatly 
 planned division of time, a "get away," or departing train, 
 is reached and boarded just at tlie moment of its flight from 
 the station. 
 
 Entrance into a store, shop or office containing the marked 
 safe is commonly effected by bursting in a rear door, or 
 snapping off a window catch by prying up the bottom sash. 
 If there is any risk from the noise of such an entry, the 
 door lock will be picked by skeleton keys, or a pane cut 
 out of a window by the use of a diamond while the glass is 
 held by a bit of strong paper, glued to the outside of the 
 pane, or by a rubber stamp. After a pane is cut and removed, 
 it is, of course, easy to thrust in a hand and unfasten the 
 catch. 
 
 The special tools made for this class of burglaries are 
 lighter than those required for the entrance into massive 
 bank vaults, and less varied and complex. The drills in 
 common, use are so small that they may readily be carried 
 about in a coat, or even a waistcoat, pocket. In jobs m 
 
72 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 which a sledge hammer, punch, bit-stock and bellows are 
 nearly all the implements needed, it is quite common to pro- 
 cure some or all of these, only an hour or two before the 
 robber}', by breaking into a neighboring blacksmith, 
 wheelwright or carpenter's shop. After the robbery 
 these stolen tools are sometimes designedly left on the 
 ground or in places where they will be likely to direct 
 suspicion to their innocent owners, who are often seri- 
 ously annoyed or blackened by their apparent implica- 
 tion in the burglaries. At other times, the tools 
 are hidden injjlaces from which they may be later 
 recovered and even used again, perhaps, iii subse- 
 Cjuent robberies in the same district. 
 
 It is rare that the actual cash obtained by these 
 raids amounts to more than a few hundred dollars, 
 but securities and other papers of value are some- 
 times taken away and held for redemption through 
 the agency of "fences" or the professional dealers 
 in stolen goods. Postage stamps are a common 
 and highly prized booty, as it is impossible to de- 
 tect this stolen property from the lack of any dis- 
 tinguishing mark. These stamps are sometimes 
 obtained in large quantities and are readily sold for 
 nearly their face value to the' dealers in stamps in 
 every city and large town of the country. This 
 description of plunder is so easily marketed that the 
 United States government has been seriously annoyed 
 by the frequent robberies of the post-ofHces in small 
 towns, and has fixed a standing reward for the arrest and 
 conviction of post-ofiSce burglars. 
 
 To facilitate escape it is not uncommon for the burglars 
 to break into a clothing store, in the course of their drive 
 to or from their "mark," and make a complete exchange ot 
 their former dress, which is often a ragged, filthy, old tramp 
 suit, for new and neatly fitting apparel. The ragged old 
 
 Bt'RGLAR S 
 JIMMIES. 
 
THROUGH WALLH OF iJTtlEL. 7, 
 
 clothes are usually left in a heap on the floor of the clothing 
 store as a disgusting memorial of the visit, but, if the cast 
 off suits have any manufacturer's mark or any peculiarity 
 which may be recalled or used for tracing purposes, these 
 marks are carefully removed or the peculiar clothing is 
 burned, buried, sunk in ponds, or otherwise concealed or 
 destroyed. 
 
 These safe breakers are a particularly dangerous and 
 desperate class of criminals, less adroit and accomplished than 
 the better class of bank burglars and less inclined to shun 
 a deadly fight or a brutal assault on the way to their booty. 
 If surprised, they are likely to stickle at nothing in their 
 dash to escape or even to carry through their plan of rob- 
 bery. They almost uniformly carry loaded revolvers and, 
 at times, other weapons, and will shoot to disable or kill 
 with ugly recklessness. The certainty of long terms in . 
 prison, if caught in the act of burglary, is an ever present 
 dread that drives them to murder, at a pinch, to escape 
 the jail. To prevent the loss of good lives, the force that 
 attempts the capture of a gang should be plainly of over- 
 whelming strength, if possible. 
 
 After a burglary has been effected, the gang seeks hid- 
 ing places, sometimes scattering as tramps through the 
 country, sometimes taking the trains to distant states, or 
 even flying abroad, but usually resorting to the larger cities 
 where they rely on sinking out of sight in obscure lodg- 
 ings or in the swarms of visitors. They kill time by every 
 kind of dissipation while loafing between their works of 
 burglary. 
 
 One of the most expert, notorious and really representa- 
 tive safe blowers in this country to-day is Edward, or "Eddy," 
 Kelly, now serving out a term of five years in the Massa- 
 chusetts state prison. 
 
 It is of interest to trace his method of correspondence in 
 arranging for a descent upon a selected mark and his actual 
 
74 
 
 OVR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 procedure in the case that ended in his arrest and convic- 
 tion just as he was on the point of breaking into the office 
 of a large manufacturing establishment in the outskirts of 
 Boston. His planning and course of execution are un- 
 questionably topical of the devices of the advanced order of 
 safe breakers, and the foiling of his schemes is likewise 
 fairly representative of the countering methods of the police, 
 now generally pursuing the good prescription which the 
 sarcastic Balzac has put in the mouth of a chief of the de- 
 tectives of Paris, "Prevention of crime — that's the function 
 of the police!" 
 
 When Eddy Kelly was arrested by the. Boston police, early 
 in February, 1896, the following letters, were found in his 
 pockets. 
 
 Jan. 29/96. 
 Friend Jim: — 
 
 What I wrote you about is very desirable, I have 
 been there three times and think it A good investment, would 
 not write you if I was not sure, I am waiting for an open- 
 ing and will get A decition this week. I have been obliged 
 to keep rather quiet since my business failure in N. Y. You 
 will find everything as I represent, have all your friends 
 gone out of business there, I value the property T write of 
 at $S,ooo that is the lowest estimate, but I am sure you 
 will be pleased at one other investment I have you cannot 
 imagine a more desirable location with every advantage, 
 everything is very antique but it will be A place where if 
 successful one can retire, I could be very enthusiastic over 
 this last matter, but you know we Real Estate men pre- 
 fer to have Customers on the ground where they can see 
 things for themselves. I cannot say anything more to- 
 day I expect to sell A piece of land before this letter 
 reaches you and will communicate with you the latter part 
 of the week if I succeed, in any event I will write yoti as 
 
THROUGH WALLS OF STEEL. ye 
 
 «arly as possible and arrange matters in my next letter, 
 Have plenty news for you. My address is 95 Tyler St. not 
 Taylor St. 
 
 Yr's Truly 
 
 Ed. 
 
 P. S. I send you a piece of map marking first loca- 
 tion. I wrote of Madison County. 
 
 This precious missive is here reproduced without the 
 change of a letter or punctuation mark. ■ The dear "Jim," 
 who was addressed, was defined on the envelope as J. B. 
 Dunlap, Esq., then residing, as the direction noted, at a 
 fashionable hotel in Chicago, Illinois. "J. B." was supposed 
 to be the well-known "Jim" Dunlap, who was a star of the 
 first magnitude as a bank burglar, in his shining days, and 
 had been released from the Massachusetts state prison, a 
 few months before, after serving a long term as a princi- 
 pal in the great Northampton bank robbery. It is hardly 
 necessary to explain that, under the thin veil of an invest- 
 ment in real estate, Kelly was writing in regard to two tempt- 
 ing "marks." His "business failure" in New York was the 
 collapse of an attempted burglary. The anticipated sale 
 of "a piece of land" was the projected cracking of a safe in 
 Boston. 
 
 In the postscript Kelly informed Dunlap that he was 
 sending to him a map in which the location of the first 
 "mark" was defined by an oval figure drawn with a pen 
 or pencil around a town in "Madison County." The wari- 
 ness of the experienced burglar is shown by his enclosure 
 of this map in a separate envelope addressed to Dunlap, so 
 that the miscarriage of one of the letters, for any reason, would 
 not block or give away the scheme of robbery. 
 
 Kelly's letter was in response to one from Dunlap, written 
 in Chicago a few days before. 
 
76 OUR KIVAL, THE RAHCAL. 
 
 Chicago, Jan 25, 1896 
 Friend Ed; 
 
 I received your letter and was very glad to hear from 
 you I was a little afraid you was in trouble. I saw in the 
 papers about your Friends. I am glad you got away from 
 them I havent been doing any good for my self and have 
 spent what little money I did have I shall be glad to go 
 into buisness with you if thair is a chance to make a little 
 money but only you let me hear from you as soon as you 
 can 
 
 Nobody in Chicago and buisness as dull as a grave yard. 
 
 I will tell you a lot as soon as I see you that pop is go 
 out of buisness in a Short time he is going west. 
 
 with best wishes 
 
 Yours 
 
 D- 
 
 P. S Send letter to Hotel 
 
 Dunlap's lament of the dullness of "buisness" spoke well 
 for the efficiency of the Chicago police. It would appear that 
 this crafty correspondent was willing to go into "buisness" 
 again with his friend Kelly, if assured that the partnership 
 would not be further extended. The "pop," referred to as 
 on the point of retiring from "buisness," was supposed to 
 be a noted receiver of stolen goods. 
 
 While thus laying his plans with noteworthy forethought 
 for future operations, Kelly was meanwhile busily engaged 
 upon a job in hand, the disposal of "a piece of land," as 
 he wrote, in Boston. In order to effect this sale as rapidly 
 as practicable, he made appointments with George Perry 
 and two others of his own stripe to meet him in Boston, 
 and this curious confederation of "real estate men" hired 
 rooms together in a respectable lodging house in the South 
 End of the city. 
 
THROUGH ^yALL8 OF STEEL. jj 
 
 The Boston detective bureau soon learned of the arrival 
 of this gang and detectives were detailed to "shadow" them 
 or, more explicitly, to watch and follow them night and day 
 while they remained in the city. One detective took lodg- 
 ing in a neighboring house and with the cooperation of his 
 associates was able to mark and report every movement of 
 the gang outside of their quarters. So day after day the 
 chief inspector was promptly informed of every step of the 
 suspected burglars, >vhom they met, with whom they talked, 
 and what they were apparently planning. It was soon as- 
 certained that the probable "mark" in view was the safe of a 
 large manufacturing establishment near the city, in which the 
 money for the month's pay roll was usually deposited on the 
 day preceding the pay day. 
 
 About eleven o'clock on the evening of the night presum- 
 ably fixed for the burglary, Kelly left his lodging house 
 and stealthily proceeded to a harness shop in the West End. 
 Close upon midnight he reached the shop door and paused 
 for a minute, warily glancing up and down the street to see 
 if any one was watching. Apparently his reconnoissance 
 was re-assuring for he stepped quickly to the door, drew a 
 key out of his pocket, opened the door and darted in. After 
 a few minutes, he came out with two bundles under his 
 arm, but popped back instantly at the sight of two men 
 passing by on the other side of the street. 
 
 Again, after a few moments of wary waiting, he slipped out 
 of the door with its bundles but, to his profound disgust, 
 he was instantly nabbed by watchful detectives guarding 
 the doorway. He tried to draw his revolver, but, after a 
 moment's scuffle, he was mastered and handcuffed. Upon 
 searching the shop, a valise was found on the floor, close to 
 the door, partially filled with burglar tools. Other tools were 
 found in both bundles, wrapped in paper, comprising a 
 complete kit of the latest patterns of jimmies and drills to- 
 gether with a blow pipe, fuse and dynamite cartridges. One 
 
BOYLSTON BANK BURGLARS' KIT. 
 
'EDDY" KELLY'S KIT. 
 
8o OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 of the tools was particularly notable, a specially designed 
 instrument for safe boring, made in parts which could be 
 compactly packed and easily fitted together for use. In the 
 accompanying drawings this kit is reproduced for the pur- 
 pose of comparison with the corresponding outfit of the old- 
 fashioned burglar. The reader should remember, in contrast- 
 ing these two illustrations, that the old-fashioned kit is neces- 
 sarily reproduced on a more reduced scale than the modern 
 tools. When this is understood, the lightness and compact- 
 ness of the modern tools will be clearly seen, especially in com- 
 paring the various cumbersome parts of the old-fashioned 
 drills made with solid brass plates, as shown in the centre of 
 one page, with the slender but effective apparatus on the other 
 page. 
 
 immediately after the arrest of Kelly the police made a 
 descent on his lodging house where his confederates were 
 found lying on beds, completely dressed, although it was 
 then one o'clock in the morning. They sprang up instantly 
 upon the entrance of the detectives and showed fight, but 
 were soon overpowered. Every one of the men had a loaded 
 revolver on his person when arrested. The whole gang 
 was then taken to police headquarters as suspicious char- 
 acters. As the evidence was not sufficient to convict them 
 of an actual attempt at burglary, the men taken in the lodg- 
 ing house were discharged with the warning to leave Bos- 
 ton on the first train running out of the state. All were 
 happy to get ofif so easily and the first train was none too 
 early for them. Kelly was sent to prison for five years for 
 having burglar's tools in his possession, and his -gang has 
 since been completely broken up. Perry was soon after 
 arrested in New York for robbing a jeweller in Troy and 
 sentenced to the state prison for nine years. Two others of 
 these queer "real estate men" are in jail awaiting trial on 
 the charges of robbery and burglary. 
 
 The portraits of Kelly and Perry appear on the page, en' 
 
THROUGH WALLS OF STEEL. gi 
 
 titled representative safe breakers, and their title is clear 
 to this distinction. The other two, whose photographs com- 
 plete this representative page, are John Talbot and John, 
 or "Jack," Walsh. • 
 
 ' John Talbot has built up a reputation as one of the most 
 adroit and dangerous cracksmen In this country. In 1879 
 he gained a special black mark in his class by breaking into 
 a store on West Fourteenth street in New York and shoot- 
 ing at the proprietor who was trying to catch him. For 
 this offence Talbot served a term of two years in Sing Sing. 
 
 Within a year after his release he cut through the floor of 
 the parlors of a theatrical costumer in New York, and, with 
 the help of his pal, "Patsy"' Carroll, carried off goods valued 
 at $10,000. For this robbery the pair were sent to Sing 
 Sing for four years, and, as soon as they got out of jail, 
 planned another burglary, this time cutting a hole through 
 the ceiling of ,a Brooklyn dry goods store, dropping a rope 
 ladder through the hole, and descending by the ladder to 
 the floor of the store. Talbot then cut through and blew 
 open the safe, in twenty minutes, and the gang carried off its 
 contents of cash and valuable papers. 
 
 A few days later both Talbot and Carroll were caught 
 in New York and taken to Brooklyn for trial. They were 
 placed in the court pen of the examining police justice, an 
 apartment twelve feet square, lighted only through a glass 
 cover in the middle of the ceiling. There was only one 
 door to the room, which was carefully locked, but when 
 the court officer in charge opened the door and looked into 
 the pen, a few moments after the entry of the prisoners, 
 Talbot was missing. 
 
 He had first torn the register from the ventilating shaft 
 and climbed up the shaft to the end, but had been unable 
 to squeeze through the top. So he dropped back and set a 
 bench on end upon which he climbed while Carroll held 
 it upright. Standing on top of the bench, he noiselessly 
 
82 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 broke the glass in the skylight, carefully collecting the 
 broken pieces in his handkerchief. Then he squeezed him- 
 self through the opening, passed over the snow covered 
 roof of the court-liouse and an adjoining building, and dropped 
 down safely into a yard from which he escaped to the 
 street. 
 
 After this feat, he fled to Montreal and robbed a jeweller 
 there of diamonds worth $8,000, carrying oS the booty 
 while his confederate held a pistol at the head of the pro- 
 prietor. His next remarkable venture was the breaking of 
 the safe of a wealthy produce and commission merchant, 
 in Philadelphia, and carrying off four hundred dollars in cash 
 and securities valued at $315,000. With this plunder he went 
 to New York and, soon after his arrival, took part in the rob- 
 bery of a manufacturing jeweller of Burling Slip. 
 
 When the gang to which he belonged was arrested, a 
 remarkable arsenal of burglar tools was found in their rooms, 
 together with descriptions of all the principal safes in the 
 market and a list of the New York stores that were pro- 
 vided with burglar alarm wires. In a trunk in Talbot's bed- 
 room all the securities stolen from the Philadelphia mer- 
 chant were found as well as a number of diamonds, which 
 were supposed to be relics of the robbery of the Montreal 
 jeweller. Talbot was indicted for the Brooklyn burglary, 
 pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a term of ten years 
 at Sing Sing. 
 
 He served out his term only to drift back into his old haunts 
 and plan new crimes. He was arrested a few months ago 
 by the Boston detective bureau, for persistently hanging 
 about a leading jeweller's store in the city, and sentenced 
 to a year's term in the House of Correction as a vagabond. 
 Such a sentence is even more disgusting tha,n the state prison 
 to the old professional burglar, who fears with reason that 
 his old chums will turn up their noses at a safe blower who 
 has fallen to the level of a tramp. "Don't 'vag' me," is 
 
THROUGH WALLS OP STEEL. 
 
 83 
 
 often the rueful plea of these robbers to the police, "for 
 'twill spoil my reputation !'" 
 
 On Saturday night, the fourth of February, 1888, a large 
 jewelry store in Norfolk, Virginia, was broken into and 
 robbed of watches and jewelry to the amount of thirty 
 thousand dollars. The burglars escaped with their plunder 
 but, when the alarm was given, there was a hue and cry 
 through the country for miles around. A day or two later, 
 two suspicious looking men were hailed by the Petersburg 
 police. When ordered. to stand for examination, the strangers 
 fled to a swamp in the woods pursued by the police and 
 armed citizens. Bloodhounds were also put on their trail 
 and the swamp was surrounded, yet the fugitives succeeded 
 in stealing through the circle of the police, rmobserved, and 
 escaping. 
 
 But descriptions of the men had been wired to all parts 
 of the state, and, the next day, both were arrested on a street 
 car entering Richmond. Their clothes were torn to tatters 
 by the briars of the swamp, and their faces, hands and legs 
 were sorely scratched and bleeding. They gave their names 
 as Joseph Murray and John Ward, but were soon identified 
 as "Joe" Dollard and "Jack" Walsh, two notorious New 
 York safe breakers, who had just returned to this country, 
 after serving a sentence for burglary in an English prison. 
 
 The evidence against them was not sufficient to convict 
 them of the Norfolk burglary and Walsh was discharged, 
 but his companion Dollard was held to answer a charge 
 of complicity in a recent burglary at Bridgeport, Conn. All- 
 the valuables stolen from the Norfolk jeweller were recov- 
 ered by the police, before the end of February, from their 
 hiding place in a hole dug in a country road, seven miles from 
 Norfolk. 
 
 "Jack" Walsh continued to be a moving figure in a suc- 
 cession of burglaries, winding up with the cracking of the 
 safe of the Pawling (New York) Bank in March, 1893, and 
 
§4 OUB lilVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the theft of $500 in cash and $10,000 in' bonds. This bank 
 was located in the Dutchess House in PawHng, but the safe 
 was blown open so noiselessly, at two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, that nobody in the hotel heard the explosion. Walsh 
 and his companion put their plunder in their light satchels, 
 and slipped away to the station of the Harlem railroad. 
 Here they stole a handcar and rode to Brewster, eight miles 
 away. There they ditched the car and went across the coun- 
 try to Carmel, where they broke into the station and waited 
 for the morning train on the New York and Northern rail- 
 road. In spite of this crafty turning and twisting both were 
 arrested by the New York police at High Bridge, and the 
 stolen money and bonds were found in their satchels as 
 well as several hundred dollars worth of gold watches and 
 jewelry. Upon conviction for this burglary Walsh and his 
 comrade were sentenced to long-terms in Sing Sing. 
 
 Although the line of distinction between the safe breaker 
 and the robber of stores has been blurred of late years, as 
 before noted, there is still a real mark of division between 
 the gangs, whose chief aim is the cracking of safes, and the 
 gangs who break into stores for the purpose of stealing silks 
 and other costly goods. 
 
 These robbers of goods are in turn divided into two classes, 
 the first and weakest being the petty thieves, usually young 
 fellows beginning to dabble in crime, who are content with 
 a sudden dash into small retail stores through broken win- 
 dows or trap-doors , and- the hasty grabbing of coats, hats, 
 shoes, or cheap furnishing goods and bric-a-brac. Usually 
 these 'prentice hands in burglary are neglected children, 
 tempted by actual want or excited to their petty imitations 
 by the parade of older thieves or by flash stories of rob- 
 bers. Sometimes these boys are actually banded together 
 in organized gangs, in which the oldest, boldest or craftiest 
 is made the leader, and have regular meeting places in 
 imtenanted stables or shanties or hiding places in wood piles. 
 
EDWARD KELLBY. 
 
 GEORGE PERUY. 
 
 JOHN TALBOT. 
 
 JOHN WALSH. 
 
THROUGH ^yALLS OF BTEEL. 
 
 85 
 
 In this case, they are accustomed to rob fruit, provision, 
 cigar and grocery stores, and feast in secret upon their stolen 
 dainties. 
 
 The second and main class is made up of the profes- 
 sional store breakers, men ranging in age from the young 
 novice to the old, experienced burglar. Their descents 
 upon stores are usually in gangs of three or more, accord- 
 ing to the need of hands for the particular job in view, and 
 the burglaries are planned systematically like the cracking 
 of safes, sometimes for weeks or months in advance of the 
 actual raid. They effect an entrance into their chosen mark 
 by unscrewing the locks from doors or by the use of 
 skeleton or counterfeit keys, or by the ever handy jimmy, or 
 through a window by breaking a pane or turning the catch 
 with a tool inserted between the sashes. 
 
 When an entrance has been gained, the selected goods 
 are rapidly made up into bundles or cases and carried away 
 by light wagons in waiting, in charge of confederates, or by 
 cab-men or expressmen engaged for the purpose and hood- 
 winked by some plausible pretence. The stolen goods are 
 generally shipped to some distant point in barrels, crates 
 or boxes adroitly marked to shun suspicion, or, it may be, 
 delivered in secret to receivers of stolen goods in the city 
 where the robbery has been committed. Only a fraction 
 of the actual value of the goods can usually be obtained by 
 the robbers, 'but the receivers do not realize the full margin of 
 profit, for they, in turn, are obliged to dispose of the goods 
 at a discount and hold the plunder sometimes for many 
 months before they can prudently venture to market it. 
 
 The expert bank burglar, Adam Worth, was also a mas- 
 ter hand in the execution of robberies of stores. Once, after 
 robbing a jewelry store in Boston, this daring burglar slipped 
 out of the front door, only to meet a policeman face to face. 
 Without an instant of tremor this man of iron nerve politely 
 saluted the officer and stepped back to re-open the door 
 
86 OUR RIVAL. I'HK RASCAL. 
 
 coolly and call to his confederate within: "William, be sure 
 and fasten the door securely when you leave! I have got 
 to catch the next car." So indeed he did, after bidding the 
 officer a pleasant good night, but he hopped off the car, a 
 few blocks beyond the store, slipped back stealthily, signalled 
 to his confederate and both escaped with their booty. 
 
 Michael Kurtz, alias "Slicen\- Mike," is a flaming meteor 
 still in this line of burglary, and has been uncommonly sly 
 and luck}' in escaping conviction. ?Ie began his criminal 
 career as a member of the notorious Howard gang engaged 
 in a number of successful burglaries in Philadelpliia, in 1876. 
 Early in the next year he was arrested for the robbery of 
 a cloak house on Broadway, New York, but was discharged 
 from the lack of complete identification. A few weeks later 
 he was re-arrested in Baltimore for the robbery of a Boston 
 silk store and sentenced upon conviction to a term of twelve 
 years in the Massachusetts state prison. 
 
 By his exceedingly clever counterfeit of dangerous illness, 
 brought about by swallowing pills of hard soap, he contrived 
 to secure a pardon, after a confinement of four years, as a 
 man on the verge of the grave. After his release he recov- 
 ered his health so quickly that he was arrested, three months 
 later, on the charge of robbing a dry goods store in Wash- 
 ington, D. C. Again he was discharged for lack of evi- 
 dence only to "fall" again the next year on the charge of the 
 possession of burglar tools. He was suffered to go free 
 after a short detention and, two months afterwards, was ar- 
 rested in company with a notorious burglar, John Love, for 
 the robbery of the Italian American bank of New York City. 
 Once more the lack of evidence saved him, but he could 
 not escape arrest, the next year, for the robbery of a jewelry 
 store in Washington. He was taken to that city, admitted 
 to bail and skipped. 
 
 In the following February the store of a jeweller and 
 diamond dealer in Troy, New York, was entered at night by 
 
THROCGH \rALLi^ OF STEEL. §- 
 
 a remarkably expert gang of burglars. Tliis gang lorceu 
 open a window in an adi'.iiniug- builJing- and made an entry 
 into tlie cellar. From this base of assault the burglars tore 
 a hole through a twelve inch brick wall into the basement 
 of the jeweller's store, climbed through the hole, forced up 
 a trap-door and reached the floor above. Then they broke 
 open the door of the safe with heavy sledges and took away 
 diamonds, jewelry, watclies. and money to the amount of 
 over S50.000. 
 
 Immediately after this big robbery ""Sheeny Mike"' and 
 "Billy" Porter, a burglar of high degree, sailed for Europe 
 on a WTiite Star steamer. ""Mike" was known to his fellow 
 passengers as Henr\- C Appleton. a retired Californian 
 mine owner, and Porter masked himself as Leslie L. Lang- 
 don, the owner of a great cattle ranch at San Luis. These 
 polite capitalists \"isited Paris and London togetlier. stop- 
 ping at the best hotels and dropping golden showers 
 wherever they went. 
 
 During tlieir stay abroad a mnnber of daring robberies 
 was committed in tiie heart of London. e\"idently by most 
 accomplished b.aiuls. Safes were blown open so noiselessly 
 that people in ad'oiiiiiig dwellings were not alarmed, and the 
 burglars escivped with ti'.eir boot\- in every instance. Oddly 
 enougii. suspicion fell, at lengTli. upon the wealthy American 
 tourists, Messrs. Appleton and Langdon. and they were so 
 shocked tliat they determined to cut short their projected 
 stay abroad and g>> home. 
 
 "Bil'v" Porter was arreste 1. a day or two after landing in 
 Xew York, for the burglary in Troy, but Sheeny' iXIikc 
 reached Tacksonville. Florida, and calmly proceeded to es- 
 tablish a large wholesale tobacco house tliere uuider the 
 firm name of Kurtz Brothers. He was arrested in the midst 
 of the orange grove which he had purchased as a suitable 
 residence, and. after a long legal rght. was raker, to Xew 
 York to stand trial for the san-e ortence x\"ith which Porter 
 
g8 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 was' charged. He was convicted upon his own confessioa 
 to the prosecuting attorney and sentenced, jNIarch 30, 1886, 
 to a term of eighteen years and six months in the state prison 
 at Dannemora. His case, however, went to the court of 
 appeals on a legal technicality and he was discharged after 
 a few months of imprisonment. His confessions have been 
 so reckless of the alleged honor proverbial among thieves, 
 that he has been blacklisted by his old associates, in all 
 parts of the country, as a professional "squealer." His por- 
 trait is given on our representative page of typical store 
 breakers, for his sentence to the state prison was for rob- 
 bing a store, although his talents were not cramped by con- 
 finement to this single line of burglary. 
 
 John Hamilton, alias "Brooklyn Johnny"; John Mahoney, 
 alias "Jack Sheppard"; and Henry Hoffman, complete the 
 page of portraits with the faces of three rogues representing 
 their class, the store breaker, as well as any that could be se- 
 lected. All three are especially noted, too, for tiieir impu- 
 dent craft in capturing trucks, loaded withgoods, which chanced 
 to be standing, for the moment, in front of stores in our 
 principal cities. 
 
 "Brooklyn Johnny'' was arrested in the fall of 1883 by 
 the New York police detective bureau, in company with an- 
 other notorious thief, James Quigley, for coolly mounting 
 and driving away a truck load of goods, valued at $6,000, 
 from the front of the store of a leading clothing house on 
 Broadwa}'. He was convicted and sentenced for this offence 
 to the New York penitentiary for two years and a half. 
 Within a year after his release, he was caught in the act of 
 robbing a tea store on Eighth avenue, in the same city, and ar- 
 rested while breaking open the safe. For this crime he was 
 given a term of nine years in the state prison, and since his 
 discharge he has been consorting with his old confederate, 
 James Quigley, and the notorious burglars Carroll, TalboL 
 and Kurtz. 
 
THROUGH WALLS OP STEEL. 
 
 89 
 
 "Jack Sheppard" won his sobriquet from his remarkable 
 nimbleness and ingenuity in dodging the police and effect- 
 ing escapes, like his namesake, the famous English robber. 
 No ordinary jail was tight enough to hold him for a week, 
 if his hands were free, and old-fashioned hand-cufifs were 
 no more binding than mittens upon his slippery wrists. 
 
 He is even credited once with a successful break out of 
 the police headquarters in one of the largest cities. He 
 had been arrested for handling a jimmy, and the vigilance 
 of the officers was a little relaxed after he was within the 
 doors of the police station. Watching his opportunity, he 
 made a dash for the door, a flying jump over the steps, and 
 sprinted round the corner and down the street. There was 
 a great hue and cry on his heels, but this Mercury of bur- 
 glars ran like a hare or a scared coyote and soon distanced 
 the hunters. 
 
 Burglary seemed to be too deliberate a method of robbery 
 to suit his ripened and more fastidious taste and, in the later 
 years of his career, he has been especially distinguished as 
 a persistent eloper with goods in wagons. In 1866 he was 
 arrested in Boston for stealing a truck loaded with broad- 
 cloth and served out a sentence of five years in the Massa- 
 chusetts state prison. After a brief vacation, diversified by 
 burglary, arrest and escape, he was shut up for four- years 
 in the prison at Joliet, Illinois. A few months after his dis- 
 charge from Joliet, he was arrested in New York for stealing 
 another truck load of goods, but a disagreement of the trial jury 
 set him free until he was arrested again in Boston for the 
 same offence, in 1879, and again passed a term of five years in 
 the Massachusetts state prison. It was only a few months 
 after his release when he was again arrested and convicted 
 of larceny in Philadelphia, for which he paid a penalty of 
 three years in the Eastern Penitentiary. 
 
 One of his favorite tricks has been to put on an ink-stained 
 duster and step out, apparently from some busy merchant's 
 
go OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 office, as one of the clerks. Bareheaded and with a pen 
 thrust behind his ear, he has made so good a counterfeit of 
 a regular clerk that he has imposed upon draymen and ex- 
 pressmen over and over again, and they have delivered their 
 loads to his confederates, in various places, without any sus- 
 picious questionings. 
 
 When he has been caught and convicted, his plaintive and 
 plausible pleas for clemency have unquestionably shortened 
 his sentences, for this habitual criminal can put on the face 
 of a well-meaning man, driven to crime by want or pitiless 
 persecution, and only begging one more chance for repent- 
 ance and reform. He is the Artful Dodger of American 
 thieves, but he has not been able to escape eight convic- 
 tions with aggregate sentences of thirty-two years in different 
 prisons of this country. His latest conviction was in Febru- 
 ary, 1890, for the larceny of a lot of shawls in New York City. 
 He secured a sentence of five years in Sing Sing and, since his 
 discharge, he has been repeatedly arrested in company with 
 well-known thieves, although he has never ceased to protest 
 his determination to reform. 
 
 The fourth in line of our representative store breakers is 
 Henry Hoffman, alias Tannis, alias "Mug.'' He is a notori- 
 ous store breaker with a penchant for running away with 
 wagons loaded with goods. In the past twenty-five years he 
 has served out three sentences for burglary, and is now con- 
 fined in the state prison in New York. He is accounted one 
 of the most desperate men of his class, ready to shoot, at anv 
 time, if threatened with arrest. 
 
 The police and the organized detective forces of the coim- 
 try are constantly on the look-out for these dangerous crim- 
 inals, and endeavor to keep in touch with all their movements 
 from place to place through the country and with their con- 
 duct at all times. This oversight is clearly a concern of 
 proper precaution and is not carried to any extreme of offen- 
 sive espionage. 
 
MICHAEL KDRTZ. 
 
 JOHN HAMILTON. 
 
 JOHN MAHONEY. 
 
 HENRY HOFFMAN. 
 
TUROVOH WALLS OF STEEL. q[ 
 
 The complaints of police persecution, often made in the 
 courts by arrested burglars, or confided to the ears of gulli- 
 ble sentimentalists, are wholly unfounded in the great ma- 
 jority of cases, at least. Nobody has more reason to promote 
 the sincere reform and the well doing of these offenders 
 than the police to whom the active, plotting or working 
 criminal is an object of anxiety and dread, night and day. 
 It is, of course, inevitably difhcult, under present conditions, 
 for the discharged convict to secure the employment or the 
 pay open to workingmen of unquestioned steadiness and 
 character. This difificulty is a part of the penalty which the 
 man, who has preferred the life of a rascal to that of an honest 
 •man, must expect to face and overcome. But the experienced 
 police authorities of the country are not inhuman. On 
 the contrary, it is safe to say that they lend a helping hand 
 to men in need, who are honestly seeking to live by honest 
 work, with a good will and discretion that will bear com- 
 parison with the services of the perennial petitioners for the 
 shortening of the sentences of professedly penitent criminals. 
 
 It is the purpose of the police, however, to distinguish 
 as sharply and justly as possible, between the discharged con- 
 victs, who are sincerely trying to live an honest life; and the 
 hardened criminals who are merely trying to hoodwink the 
 charitable public and the eyes of the defenders of society. 
 The instances are unfortunately legion of feigned repentances 
 and the thankless deceit of confiding employers. So the 
 vigilance of the poHce must advance and extend with the 
 growth of our country, in order to be faithful to its trust of 
 guardianship. 
 
 We would urge upon the business men of the country, 
 also, the need of their alert cooperation to perfect their de- 
 fence. The cheap, "pasteboard" safe should be everywhere 
 discarded as a supposed strong-box for the keeping of money, 
 and safes of the best modern designs substituted. Against 
 the burglars of our day, the ordinary "fire-proof" safe is 
 
92 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 only a mockery of protection. As far as practicable, iron 
 shutters or bars should be used as a guard for the windows of 
 the lower stories of stores, factories and office buildings. This 
 protection is now frequently confined to the basement floor, 
 but it should certainly be extended to the second story, as 
 the entrances of burglars are largely effected through the 
 windows of this floor. 
 
 In the cities where there is a nightly patrol of police, a light 
 should be kept burning on the street floor of all business 
 establishments, and the safes, on this floor, so placed that 
 a clear view can be obtained of them by the passing watchmen, 
 on the street, through the uncovered, glass of a front window. 
 No curtain or other obstacle should be allowed to obstruct 
 this view. When the contents of a store or safe are es- 
 pecially valuable, the additional protection of burglar alarm 
 wires is strongly advised. 
 
 The night police patrols of Boston and our larger cities are 
 instructed to watch the condition of the safes with particular 
 scrutiny, try the locks of the doors frequently, note that the 
 lights are burning, and warn away or, if justified, arrest any 
 suspicious persons loitering near a store or ofHce block. With 
 the uniform observance of such vigilance and the general co- 
 operation of the public, it is safe to say that the annual losses 
 through burglars might be materially diminished. 
 
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT. 
 
 NO other class of robbers is so universally dreaded as the 
 house-breaker. He is the "bogey-man" of our childish 
 fancy, the burly ruffian who is expected to pop up like a jack- 
 in-the-box, in the dead of the night, from some secret lurking 
 place, and turn us into shuddering, 
 gasping little wretches by his murder- 
 ous menace. His horrid black m.ask 
 is the cover of a face so inhuman that 
 we dare not let our fancy run 
 riot in conjuring its image, but 
 bury our heads under the bed- 
 clothes as hunted ostriches 
 plunge theirs in the sands of 
 fiction, if not of the desert. 
 Still, through the thickest 
 screen of sheets, bed-spreads 
 and blankets we can feel the 
 scorch of those basilisk eyes glaring through the slits in the 
 mask and making us squirm like bugs under a burning glass. 
 
 This is that Methuselah of burglars who from time imme- 
 morial has crouched under beds or stowed himself away in the 
 corners of closets, to rise up and murder the sleep of the good, 
 easy man of the house and his slumbering family. His resur- 
 rection is always as startling as an earthquake, even to the 
 traditional old maid who has let no night pass without a peep 
 under the bed, as if a burglar was a visitor who was likely to 
 drop in any day in the year. 
 
 It is not to be denied that this nerve-shattering image has a 
 solid skeleton of reality which is justly an object of dread. One 
 
 SKELETON KEYS. 
 
54 OUIi RIVAL,, THE RASCAL. 
 
 need only recall a bare tithe of the instances of brutal night 
 raids that have been made upon unprotected households in 
 the last twenty years to justify in great measure the common 
 fear of burglars, and there is, of course, a black record of deadly 
 assaults in the annals of house-breaking stretching back to the 
 earliest dawn of history. The peculiar heinousness of the 
 violation of the sanctities and safeguards of the home and the 
 imminent threat of bloodshed that attaches to such an outrage 
 are justly recognized in the extraordinary penalties imposed by 
 the laws of all countries upon this description of burglary. 
 
 The house-breakers and the sneak thieves who commonly 
 make their inroads in the day time or in the early hours of the 
 evening are usually to be distinguished from the professional 
 burglar. Often the rascals who steal in this way are boys or 
 youths, still in their teens, who particularly infest the 
 cities and larger towns and slyly watch for opportunities 
 to enter houses closed for the summer or temporarily 
 untenanted. They may use a simple jimmy or skeleton 
 keys or perhaps only a chisel and screw driver with 
 which they unfasten window catches or take ofif common 
 locks. Unless they know positively by careful spying that the 
 "mark" in view is unoccupied for the time being, it is a com- 
 mon practice for this class of house-breakers to ring the bell in 
 the disguise of a pedler of knick-knacks or an incjuirer in search 
 of some fictitious person and thus ascertain definitely whether 
 any guardian is still in the house, before attempting to force 
 an entrance. They rarely attempt more elaborate robberies 
 than the ransacking of trunks, drawers and closets, and the 
 carrrying off of jewelry, silverware, money or articles of cloth- 
 ing which they can readily pawn. If they dispose of this 
 plunder to pawnbrokers, it is commonly kept in good condition; 
 but any plate or jewelry, which is sold to dealers in old gold or 
 silver^ is broken up or beaten into lumps in a way to destroy 
 the possibility of identification with the stolen articles. These 
 petty robbers are particularly reckless and annoying in the 
 
1\DI:R coy Eli OF XICHT. tj- 
 
 damages which they inflict on fine furniture, bureaus and 
 dressing cases, in their hasty search for the valuables which 
 they chiefly prize. 
 
 The most common and dangerous classes of these house- 
 breakers are known as the "second story" and the "flat 
 workers." The first are agile young men who can mount on 
 top of a veranda almost as quickly as a monkey, sometimes 
 bare handed or with the help of some chance prop, and some- 
 times with the aid of a spiral wire or chain ladder, that can be 
 compactly rolled up or folded. A hook at the end of this lad- 
 der is fixed on a window sill or water pipe or gutter, and the 
 robber then runs up and quickly passes in through a window 
 to the second floor of the house. His first act is to lock the 
 door of the chamber by its bolt or key, and then he rummages 
 about for booty without fearing the sudden entrance of any 
 one of the family or of a servant of the house. He usually 
 wears rubber shoes or "sneakers," as shoes with rubber soles 
 are termed, and he can skip over a roof or floor as noiselessly 
 as a cat. With a jimmy or chisel he soon bursts open any 
 closet door, trunk or bureau drawers, and he can ransack a 
 chamber with astonishing rapidity and noiselessly, leaving a 
 trail of wreck behind him when he finally slips out of the win- 
 dow and slides down to the ground. Even if he is startled by 
 any one who tries to enter the chamber, he has commonly 
 time to slip away and escape before the alarm is spread and 
 his retreat cut ofif. There are instances, however, where one 
 of these robbers has been forced to a desperate jump by the 
 heat of pursuit and h*as broken his leg or even his skull by 
 a fall on stone-steps. 
 
 He is, as a class, a keen as well as a daring robber, who 
 makes his preliminary surveys carefully before undertaking 
 a raid. He picks out the best class of houses commonly as 
 well as the particular ones most easy of assault. The hours 
 of meals and the habits of the occupants and especially the 
 posting of the servants are exactly noted. He makes the 
 
96 
 
 OUR RIVAL, rUil RASCAL. 
 
 sliarpest possible inspection of the dress of all persons enter- 
 ing or leaving the house, observing what jewelry is worn and 
 what is probably left in the chambers. 
 
 Ordinarily this "second-story worker" or "climber" is 
 accompanied by a confederate pal, who helps in the work of 
 spying and location and stands by as a watcher to warn his 
 comrade of any signs of discovery or danger. These robbers 
 find their favorite "marks" in fashionable watering places 
 among the hotels and lodging houses and in the fine resi- 
 dences in the suburbs of cities. Sometimes they select 
 a chain of "marks" near together and make what they call a 
 "circuit" at one swoop, carrying away their booty and 
 delivering it by previous arrangement to some confederate 
 "fence" or receiver of stolen goods. If they are seized or in 
 danger of arrest, these robbers will usually show fight and 
 are to be feared, for they commonly go armed and will shoot 
 if cornered. But when the chance is open, they prefer run- 
 ning to facing any encounter. 
 
 They are expert judges of the solidity of plate and settings 
 and the value of jewels. Usually they break precious stones 
 out of their settings in robbing a chamber, or as soon as pos- 
 sible after escaping, in order to reduce the risk of detection. 
 It is almost impossible to identify loose stones, and the rob- 
 bers can dispose of them to dealers to better advantage than 
 they can obtain from pawnbrokers' by the pledges of jewelry. 
 Whenever practicable, their stolen goods are marketed 
 through a fence or dealer "who stands for stuff" in the lingo 
 of the craft. 
 
 One of the most noted of this class of robbers was David 
 Mooney, (Little Dave) who, under this familiar title and vari- 
 ous false names, was a marked man in the principal cities of 
 the country twenty years ago. He was uncommonly adroit 
 and daring in his attempts and generally lucky in his escapes, 
 although he was caught and sent to Sing Sing for a term 
 of two years in 1874, upon conviction for burglary. In 
 
VXDER COTER OF NIGBT. gy 
 
 February, 1880, in company with his pal, Edmond Lavoiye, 
 aHas Charles E. Marshall, he broke into the house of a Boston 
 banker by climbing up the veranda and carried off bonds, 
 stocks and jewelry to the amount of $14,000. 
 
 On the very next night he killed his pal in a Florence Street 
 lodging house and fled from the city. It was reported, with 
 probable truth, that the murder was the outcome of a quarrel 
 between the partners on the score of a valuable pair of dia- 
 mond earrings, the fruit of a joint raid, which Marshall, or 
 "Frenchy" Lavoiye, had presented to his mistress, a well 
 known woman of the town. 
 
 When the dead body of Lavoiye was found, a scrap of paper 
 was lying beside it carrying this rudely scrawled message, 
 "Dear John, I am sick of Life. Please forgive me. I remain 
 yours, Marshall." It was supposed by the murderer that this 
 scrawl would be accepted as a certificate of suicide, but he 
 was mistaken. When arrested, Mooney denied, at first, all 
 knowledge of the murder, but later confessed that he had shot 
 Lavoiye in self defense, as he claimed, as his pal was on the 
 point of shooting at him. Unfortunately for the credibility 
 of this story, it appeared that one arm of Lavoiye had been 
 paralyzed for years; and the pistol which so terrified "Little 
 Dave" was found in his paralyzed hand where it had clearly 
 been placed to justify the pretence of suicide — the first inven- 
 tion of his murderer. Upon this evidence and the further 
 proof that Lavoiye could not possibly have shot himself in 
 the places in which he was wounded, the jury found Mooney 
 guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced him to 
 the Massachusetts State Prison for life in September, 1881. 
 His portrait, as a representative "second story" man, is given 
 on our illustrative page. 
 
 Another of these nimble robbers was James Gleason whose 
 portrait fitly accompanies that of "Little Dave." Gleason 
 made his first notable mark about fifteen years ago in a series 
 of robberies in the suburbs of Boston, in company with his 
 
g8 OUR RITAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 "pal," familiarly known as "Dutch Charley." These two ras- 
 cals made a circuit of entries into the residences of well-to-do 
 people, without any other instruments than a ladder and a 
 chisel. One house in the Highlands was entered, while the 
 family was at church, by prying up a small rear window with 
 a narrow mortising chisel. After a hasty search of the house 
 the thieves went out through the front door with a bundle 
 of silverware and jewelry valued at three hundred dollars. 
 Unfortunately for the rogues, they were reckless in pawning 
 their plunder, and both were arrested by the Boston detectives. 
 In the house of one, the blade of a chisel was found that 
 exactly fitted the marks in the windows of the residences that 
 had been robbed, and the handle of this cheap working tool 
 was afterwards found in the house of the other thief. Dutch 
 Charley was wearing a gold watch and chain when arrested, 
 as well as a handsome overcoat that belonged to another man ; 
 but Gleason was more cautious and had none of the stolen 
 property on his person or in his room, though he kept the 
 chisel handle which proved to be weighty evidence against 
 him. Valuable deposits made by these thieves were later 
 unearthed and both were sent to the State Prison for long 
 terms. Gleason was arrested in New Jersey, soon after his 
 discharge, for a like ofifence, and is now serving out another 
 sentence of five years in prison. 
 
 To guard against the raids of these "climbers," the windows 
 of second floor rooms should always be fastened securely 
 during the early evening hours, in the absence of the occu- 
 pants, for the robbers rarely risk an entrance by breaking the 
 glass or window catch. Like attention should be paid to the 
 fastening of the front door, for the thieves frequently steal up 
 stairs or down through this door. During the dinner hour a 
 servant should always be kept as a watcher on the second 
 floor, for this hour in the evening, in the fall of the year, is the 
 time commonly chosen for making these raids in the dark. 
 Valuable jewelry should always be locked up at this time In 
 
DAVID MOONBY. 
 
 JAMES GliBASON. 
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 
 
 WALTER EVANS. 
 
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT. gg 
 
 some secret place of deposit and preferably in a small, strong 
 safe. Attention to these precautions will certainly prevent 
 many heavy losses that will otherwise be suiifered. 
 
 ■ The "flat worker" is a cunning thief who usually makes 
 his own skeleton keys to fit any ordinary lock. He watches 
 sharply the habits of the occupants of a flat and lies in wait 
 to rob when no one is at home. Having gained an entrance 
 by a skeleton key or jimmy, he locks the front door and opens 
 a line of escape through a back door or window. His favorite 
 selection for a raid is in the topmost flat of a house ; as from 
 this place of vantage he can overlook approach or attack, and 
 run off, if hard pressed, over the roof to an adjoining building 
 and down through the scuttle, air well, or fire escape. 
 
 He is constantly on the lookout for a vacant building in a 
 row of houses of the better class, that will serve as a lurking 
 place from which he can pass out through a scuttle over the 
 roofs of the neighboring houses until he finds an unfastened 
 skylight or one that can be easily opened. Perched on the 
 roof, he watches for a chance to slip down unobserved into an 
 attic or the upper hall of an apartment house, where he may 
 find unlocked rooms or gain an entry with skeleton keys. His 
 descent is commonly made when the inmates of a house are 
 at dinner on the street or basement floor, or when they are 
 temporarily absent. This method of theft is as crafty as it is 
 common, for, if the thief is discovered, he has a way of escape 
 open through the skylight over the roofs to the place from 
 which he set out. These sly descents of the "flat worker" may 
 usually be prevented, if uniform care is taken to provide strong 
 fastenings for skylights or scuttles and to see that they are 
 well secured when the upper floors of a house are temporarily 
 vacated. 
 
 The ordinary thief of this class seeks chiefly for money, 
 silver forks and spoons, watches and jewelry, and 
 rarely cumbers himself with the theft of clothing or articles 
 that he cannot slip into his pockets. In his ransacking he 
 
lOO OUR RITAL, THE RAf^CAL. 
 
 is even more destructive than the "climber," ripping open 
 bureau drawers one after another with his chisel or jimmy, 
 and flinging their contents in heaps on the beds or floor. As 
 his marks are commonly the residences of people of moderate 
 incomes, his prizes are correspondingly less than those of the 
 "climber." His booty may be pledged piecemeal to pawn- 
 brokers or, for greater safety, melted and sold to jewellers 
 and others using gold and silver bullion. 
 
 Robbers of this class are usually young men between 
 eighteen and thirty years of age, of fair appearance and address. 
 They are generally recruited from the ranks of the wayward 
 and unruly boys whose parents are careless, intemperate or 
 pinched by povert}^ These boys bitterly feel the lack of 
 clothes and money to gratify their appetites for tobacco and 
 liquor or amusements, and are inclined to take the shortest 
 cut to these prizes, which is open to them. They spend their 
 plunder, as the "climbers" do, in all kinds of dissipation and 
 are especially fontl of frequenting opium joints. Many of the 
 wrecks known as opium fiends are thieves of this description. 
 
 A fairly typical portrait of one of this class is given in our 
 picture of Edward Williams, alias "Ellicott," alias "Morris," who 
 persisted in naming himself "John Doe" when he was arrested 
 by the Boston police three years ago. He was a graduate 
 from the Baltimore House of Refuge and the Maryland Peni- 
 tentiary, and distinguished as an exceedingly adroit plunderer 
 in his special Hue. Stolen goods were traced to his hands, 
 and, when arrested, a quantity of broken jewelry and bric- 
 a-brac of various kinds was found in his room at a fashionable 
 Boston hotel. He was convicted of breaking and entering 
 hotel flats in Boston and the larceny of a large amount of 
 jewelry. For these offences he was sentenced to a term of five 
 years in the state prison. 
 
 For safeguards against these "flat workers" there is first 
 the evident need of employing watchful and trustworthy jani- 
 tors. Doors should be fitted with Yale locks or others which 
 
UXDER COTEn OF JS'IOHT. jq,- 
 
 will defy the skeleton key instead of ordinary mortise locks 
 which can be readily picked. It is no less essential to make a 
 back door secure than it is to fasten the front, but, strangely 
 enough, this provision is too often overlooked. If jewels or 
 money are left in a flat, they should be locked in safes or put 
 in hiding places that will be likely to escape the search of the 
 thieves, which is almost always hasty and superficial. Some- 
 times an apparent carelessness or oddity of choice is really a 
 shrewd one, as in the case of the woman who put her jewels 
 in a common cream jug on a top shelf of her china closet, 
 where they escaped a raid that sacked every bureau drawer 
 and trunk in her flat. 
 
 The "house sneak" is the nimble rogue who slips into hall 
 ways and carries ofif coats, cloaks, hats, canes and umbrellas, 
 that chance to be within reach on stands and racks. Some- 
 times he works systematically as the "boarding-house sneak" 
 who hires a room of some imprudent landlady and watches 
 his opportunity to rob in the chambers of the house, or to 
 carry off spoons, forks, clothes and any other light articles 
 that fall in his way. These thieves are often of insinuating 
 manners and neatly dressed, and it is necessary to enjoin the 
 invariable demand of satisfactory references before letting 
 rooms to plausible strangers. If coat racks are placed in the 
 halls, there should always be a servant in waiting to watch 
 persons entering at meal hours and especially at dinner in 
 the early evening. This is the favorite time of the day for the 
 depredations of these sneak thieves, and the stationing of a 
 servant on the hall floor is an almost indispensable precau- 
 tion, as many a worried boarding-house keeper will bear wit- 
 ness, after her costly experience in buying new coats and hats 
 for her boarders. The hotels, 'also, should warn their waiters 
 and servants to keep a sharp lookout for these thieves who 
 make a practice of stealing co^ts from the racks in the halls 
 and even from dining rooms which they enter as guests. A 
 common trick is the substitution of a cheap old coat for one 
 
I02 
 
 OUR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 of the best on the rack, and guests should contribute to 
 strengthen the watch by keeping an eye on their overcoats 
 as well as on the bills of fare. 
 
 Far above all these house-breakers and sneak thieves, in his 
 own esteem and in point of offence, is the night raider or pro- 
 fessional burglar who makes the dwell- 
 ing house his mark. These robbers 
 almost always go armed with revolvers 
 and other weapons, and will fire or strike 
 desperately to efifect an escape or even, 
 at times, to reach their booty. They 
 travel in pairs usually, sometimes taking 
 a "kid" or young boy with them to crawl 
 through narrow openings and unbolt 
 doors, as Oliver Twist was employed by 
 the ruffian Sikes and his comrade, 
 Crackit. There are instances also where 
 a father has trained his son in this ap- 
 prenticeship to burglary and the two 
 have worked together for years until 
 both were caught and imprisoned, as was 
 lately the fate of the notorious "Jim" 
 Mains and his boy. 
 
 These burglars make their approach to a house 
 in the dead of the night, very noiselessly, wearing 
 shoes with rubber or cork soles, and seeking an 
 entrance at some weakly guarded place which is 
 usually marked in advance. With a prod of a jimmy 
 they will pry off a window catch or open the fasten- 
 ing by sliding a thin blade between the sashes. If this is difficult, 
 for any reason, it is an easy thing to cut out a pane with a 
 diamond, while the glass is held by a slip of stiff cloth or paper 
 glued to the outside face. After a pane is cut and taken out 
 dexterously, it is only the work of a moment to insert a hand 
 and open the window. If a key is, by chance, left in the door, 
 
 KEY NIPPERS. 
 
UNDER COYER OF NIOBT. 
 
 103 
 
 it can readily be turned from the outside by the aid of a pair 
 of key nippers, as shown in the drawing here given. When 
 there is no key in the door, the lock can sometimes be opened 
 by the skeleton keys which every experienced burglar carries 
 and knows how to use expertly. 
 
 After a door or window is thus stealthily opened, the burglar 
 thrusts his head in cautiously and surveys his line of advance 
 before going further. This first peep tries the 
 nerves more sharply than any other step in the 
 rogue's march of bur- 
 glary, as old robbers re- 
 port, and it is a wel- 
 come relief to the most 
 reckless burglar when 
 he feels that his head is 
 safe from instant attack. 
 It is a common saying 
 of these raiders that they 
 can enter any place into 
 which they can stick 
 their heads, but they are more wary than rats in their dread 
 of a trap or surprise. 
 
 Most burglars are content with ranging over the lower 
 floor and plundering the side-boards, closets and tables, or, 
 in rare cases, taking pictures or other bulky articles of unusual 
 value. Frequently they take their time in this course of in- 
 spection, apparently well assured that nobody will disturb 
 their freedom of choice, and they will coolly proceed to make 
 a meal leisurely upon any delicacy in the cupboards and to 
 open bottles of wine with a prodigal hand. 
 
 They are expert judges of the character of any silver or 
 gold plate which they find, and turn up their noses at plated 
 goods, no matter how finely made, for they are only looking 
 for "solid stui?." One of the surest, though rather too costly, 
 ways of determining the real bullion value of a basket of 
 
 KEY NIPPEKS IN OPERATION. 
 
I04 OVE mVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 plate is to leave it in a place where a burglar will be sure to 
 pass upon it if he calls. Every thing that a burglar prizes 
 enough to steal comes under the head of "swag," which may 
 be carried off in coat pockets or in bundles well wrapped up 
 or even in light wagons when the burglars are traveling about 
 from one cotuitry town to another. Sometimes the plunder 
 is hastily buried for the time in the neighborhood of the 
 house, to be recovered later when the scent of the robbery 
 has grown cold, and sometimes it is taken to a confederate 
 or fence who contrives to hide and market it by degrees. 
 
 The value of booty carried off in one of these burglaries 
 or in a series of them often mounts up far into the thousands, 
 as was signally revealed in the case of the burglar, Barrett, 
 a year or two ago, where the goods recovered by th-e police 
 comprised almost every description of fine silverware, china, 
 and bric-a-brac, together with costly furs and other articles 
 worth not less than twenty-five thousand dollars. It took 
 hours to unpack these goods from the trunks and boxes in 
 which they were stored, and yet this extraordinary collection 
 was only a fraction of the amount of the plunder of this one 
 operator; for stocks and bonds representing more than two 
 hundred thousand dollars were also found by the police in 
 the house of Barrett's receiver, Chaffey, and fully half as much 
 more was known to have been burned on the morning of his 
 arrest. 
 
 The night raider usually prefers the field of plunder, offered 
 in suburban towns and the suburbs of cities where the police 
 patrols have long rovites, and the robber can lie in ambush 
 and watch the passing of the officer. Watering places and 
 other fashionable summer resorts are also favorite marks for 
 him, and he is always discriminating in his selection of resi- 
 dences of the best class for attack. When he is particularly 
 daring or desperate, he will not confine his search for plunder 
 to the lower floor, but will crawl up stairs stealthily or enter 
 through a second floor window and rob the bed rooms. 
 
VSDEi; COVER OF MGHT. J05 
 
 It is in tliese ventures, as a rule, that liand to hand grapples 
 and perilous encounters occur, for the robbers who keep to 
 the lower floor have usually an open way of escape when a 
 house is aroused, and are not forced to fight to save them- 
 selves from capture. The burglars who take these risks are 
 almost invariably armed, and it should be needless to remark 
 that any one who tries to arrest them should be a brave man, 
 well armed and prepared to shoot at sight. 
 
 In the winter of 1887, two of these reckless burglars broke 
 into the house of a well-known insurance man in Chelsea, 
 Mass., at three o'clock in the morning. Some slight noise 
 aroused the master of the house, vvho thought that one of his 
 children might be sick and needing help. So he opened his 
 chamber door and saw a big man, a few feet away, with a dark 
 lantern in his hand, and another man coming up the hall 
 stairs. Without an instant's hesitation he sprang upon the 
 one nearest him and tried to throw the robber over the 
 banister of the hallway. He was entirely unarmed and in his 
 night dress and physically no match for the burly burglar. 
 While the two men were struggling in this desperate- wrestle, 
 the burglar's "pal," on the stairs, fired at the man of the house 
 and the bullet went through his hand, breaking his grip on 
 the man with the lantern. Both of the burglars then ran 
 down stairs and out through the front door, hotly pursued by 
 the wounded man in spite of two more shots that whizzed back 
 past his head. The burglars got off with some silverware 
 and the coat and hat of the master of the house, in spite of his 
 extraordinary demonstration of pluck. In imitating his 
 method of capturing burglars, the prudent householder will 
 not go bare-handed into the arms of two desperadoes. 
 
 These robbers were members of the notorious Albany Street 
 or Evans gang, the largest troop of its kind that ever infested 
 the city of Boston. Originally the gang was composed of 
 thirty-seven members, whose accomplishments ranged from 
 petty larceny to highway robbery. They had regular meet- 
 
lo6 OPffi RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 ings ten years ago in which their garrotings, burglaries, and 
 petty thefts were planned; and their schemes were so artfully 
 laid and executed that it was exceedingly difficult to secure 
 evidence and convictions, when any of the gang were arrested. 
 Still, they were so sharply pursued by the Boston detectives 
 that most of them were lodged in prison for one offence or 
 another, after months of persistent hunting; but it seemed im- 
 possible to bring any charge home to the leader. When 
 Boston grew too hot for his comfort, he went into retirement 
 in some out-of-the-way place, but he never failed to keep in 
 touch with every member of his gang, in jail or out. When 
 the prison doors were opened, the discharged convict ran 
 straight to him, like a chicken to a clucking hen,' and, within 
 a week, was taking part in some new raid or larceny. 
 
 In carrying through the principal burglaries it was com- 
 mon practice for men of this gang to blacken their faces with 
 burnt cork or to use the cover of a black mask, sometimes 
 wrapping towels about their heads in the fashion of turbans.. 
 Many of them were escaped^ or discharged convicts of the 
 worst class, and the terror that their raids excited was amply 
 justified. 
 
 Finally, in the winter of 1888, Walter Evans and his chief 
 confederates were captured at one swoop, and the- dreaded 
 gang was completely broken up. One of the chief members 
 of this gang was shot in the leg by one of his own pals in a 
 drunken quarrel, and taken to the city hospital, where he was 
 recognized and arrested for a garroting assault. Evans and 
 . another notorious housebreaker, Richard Drohan, were ar- 
 rested, a day or two later, with four of their "pals," all members 
 of the same gang, in their lodging house on Albany Street, 
 where they had rented the upper floor. All these robbers 
 were armed and tried to draw their revolvers, but the dash 
 of the police threw them down before they could fire. 
 
 In the lower oven of a stove in their rooms three jimmies 
 were found, and, under the ice chest, a heap of false keys, key 
 
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT. 
 
 107 
 
 nippers, drills and a bit-stock. Between the mattresses of 
 the beds, silverware and bric-a-brac of all kinds were con- 
 cealed, and a thorough search of the rooms unearthed a 
 French clock, a gold-headed umbrella, and bangles, breast- 
 pins, rings, forks and spoons enough to stock a small jeweller's 
 store. 
 
 Drohan had already been four times in the Massachusetts 
 House of Correction and twice in state prison, and Evans 
 had served two terms of five years in state prison for house- 
 breaking and larceny. Both were sentenced to a term of 
 twenty years in the Massachusetts State Prison. Four years 
 later, Drohan cut four bars of the window of his cell with a 
 saw fashioned out of a clock spring, and, one morning early 
 in March, climbed out of the window with his room-mate, 
 dropped to the prison yard, scaled the outer wall by the aid 
 of a rope and hook, and escaped. Within a month, however, 
 he was re-arrested in New York with his companion, and dis- 
 armed after a sharp struggle before they could use their revolv- 
 ers. He is now serving out his sentence in prison in company 
 with Evans. Their portraits are given as typical house- 
 burglars and probably the most dangerous of the Albany 
 Street gang. 
 
 One of the worst and most formidable gangs of house- 
 burglars that has ever infested this country was known as the- 
 "Johnny Dobbs" gang, whose headquarters were in a New 
 York saloon on the corner of Washington and Canal Streets. 
 Some twenty years ago this gang was a terror to every house- 
 holder in the suburban towns around New York, for their 
 descents were the boldest and most ruffianly ever known in 
 that region. Residence after residence was broken into by 
 this gang, usually masked and always heavily armed. The 
 wealthy country gentlemen and their families were straight- 
 way bound and gagged, and the houses were then leisurely 
 plundered. Even an armed watchman was no sufficient safe- 
 guard, for these burglars had the nerve to storm a railroad 
 
Io8 OTJR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 depot, knock down the watchman, blow open the safe and 
 drive off with their booty. 
 
 Michael or "Pugsey" Hurley was one of the shooting stars 
 of this notorious gang which was finally broken up by the 
 police of New York in the summer of 1874. Hurley was sent 
 to the state prison for twenty years. In the spring of 1876 
 and again in the following year, he made desperate efforts to 
 escape, but was stopped by his guards. Then he feigned in- 
 sanity and was transferred to an asylum attached to another 
 prison. After a few weeks in this asylum he made another 
 dash for liberty, only to be captured by his vigilant watchers. 
 The apparent intelligence which he showed in his scheme of 
 escape made his captors doubt his insanity, and he was reexam- 
 ined and sent back to prison as a cured convict. 
 
 z\fter several more attempts at escape, his perseverance was 
 rewarded in 1882. By the help of confederates outside of the 
 jail, he cut through the roof of his prison and ran off safely, 
 but was recaptured six months later by the New York police 
 and sent back to serve out his sentence. He was discharged, 
 in 1886, in season to attend the hundredth anniversary of the 
 town of Bennington, Vt., where he was arrested for pocket 
 picking during the unveiling of the centennial monument. 
 Unfortunately the police of the town were not aware of his 
 distinction both as a house and jail breaker, and he was locked 
 up in the county jail with his "pal," another notorious New 
 York thief, masquerading, like him, under a false name. The 
 robbers were confined in separate cells, but they soon con- 
 trived to let themselves out with a saw which Hurley made 
 from a common case knife. Then they released another 
 prisoner and broke out of the jail, leaving a wreck behind 
 them. 
 
 About a year later "Pugsey" was arrested in Boston while 
 "piping off" one of the leading jewelry stores and identified 
 as one of a gang which had been robbing banks and houses 
 in Springfield, Mass. When his arm was bared for inspection. 
 
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT. 109 
 
 an eagle and star in India ink were shown, and the prisoner 
 did not further persist in denying that he was the burglar 
 Hurle)'. He was taken to Bennington by the sheriff of that 
 town and sent to prison for larceny for one year. Since his 
 discharge he has been repeatedly arrested in company with 
 other notorious burglars, and in September, 1895, his gang 
 broke into the postoffice in Duboistown, Pa., and blew open 
 the safe. The noise of the explosion alarmed the neighbor- 
 hood, and a number of the townspeople gave chase to the 
 burglars. Hurley was shot by his pursuers and captured. 
 He was promptly convicted in the United States court in Phil- 
 adelphia, and sent to the penitentiary for five years. 
 
 Edward C. Smith, alias Charles Daily, a Cuban negro, 
 who can fairly claim a place beside the white men who have 
 been selected as representative house-breakers. He is cer- 
 tainly one of the boldest and most desperate criminals in 
 America, and his face is a speaking image of his character. 
 
 At the time of his first arrest, many years ago, for breaking 
 and entering a dwelling house, he effected one of the most 
 impudent and startling escapes ever made from a police court. 
 He had temporarily been left in charge of the clerk of the 
 court who was busily writing, while the judge was question- 
 ing the prisoner. Smith begged for the return of enough 
 money to buy tobacco, and the indulgent judge had given 
 him sixty-five cents and was stooping for a piece of memo- 
 randum paper when the bold negro made a long reach over 
 the desk, caught up his own loaded revolver, and held it di- 
 rectly in the face of the judge as his honor looked up. "If 
 you stir," he remarked coolly, "I'll shoot the life out of you!" 
 The judge had no weapon. Even his seal and inkstand were 
 buried under the papers of his desk. He could only sit dazed 
 while the negro stepped back toward a window. The court 
 room was on a second floor, but there was a shed roof which 
 could be reached by a bold leap. This was taken by Smith, 
 after driving back the clerk of the court who had started up 
 
no OUR KITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 to follow him, and the prisoner then ran off before an alarm 
 cotild be given. He was later captured, however, by the 
 police and, upon conviction for breaking and entering, 
 sentenced to the state prison for eight years, in June, 1881. 
 
 Immediately upon his discharge from prison he was con- 
 victed of larceny and sentenced to the House of Correction 
 for a year. As soon as he was released, he undertook a series 
 of burglaries in the suburbs of Boston, aggravated by a mur- 
 derous assault upon a coachman who attempted to capture 
 him. He was arrested upon suspicion of these burglaries in 
 June, 1890, by Boston detectives and temporarily shut up in 
 a cell at police headquarters. His cell was secured by a large 
 brass padlock, and the cell room separated from the rest of 
 the basement by a heavy iron door which was always locked 
 when prisoners were in the cells. 
 
 Smith's supper was brought to him from a neighboring res- 
 taurant, and, while eating this meal, he contrived to secrete a 
 knife and fork, unnoticed by the guard who removed the dishes. 
 Five minutes before midnight, his cell was examined by a 
 patrolman. The padlock was secure and the prisoner appar- 
 ently asleep in his bunk. Twenty minutes later, the night 
 watchman at the new court-house saw a colored man scale the 
 iron fence beside the entrance to headquarters, run across the 
 square in front, jump into a trench along the new court-house 
 building and run crouching through the trench toward the 
 farther side of the square. He gave the alarm, and the cell 
 room at headquarters was instantly inspected. Smith's cell 
 was empty, the door open, and the padlock lying on the floor. 
 The burglar had first attempted to pick the padlock with 
 his fork, by bending one of the prongs into a hook. Failing 
 in this, he broke off the blade of the knife and. succeeded in 
 starting off the brass face of the lock with the wedge of the 
 knife stub. Then he broke off the iron bale of the bucket 
 in his cell, and with this rude lever forced away the face of the 
 lock. To spring the catch and open the door was the work 
 
RICHARD DROHAN. 
 
 .michae;l hdhlby. 
 
 EDWARD G. SMITU. 
 
 WILLIAM BARRETT. 
 
UNDER COVER OF XIGHT. m 
 
 of a moment. He was free from his cell but still shut up in 
 the main cell room. He did not try the lock on the room 
 door, but put a table under the narrow window, and, by using 
 his really wonderful strength, forced off the iron grating. It 
 was astonishing that a man of his bulk could squeeze through 
 a passage so small, but he succeeded in crawling through and 
 scaling the iron fence. For nearly a month he enjoyed his 
 liberty, but he was recaptured in July by Boston officers in 
 Portland, Maine, and sentenced to state prison, upon a series 
 of convictions, for an aggregate term of eleven years. 
 
 There could be no mistaking of the character of such bur- 
 glars as Evans, Hurley and Smith. All three bear the stamp 
 of the hardened criminal so plainly on their faces, that any 
 masquerade on their part as respectable citizens would not 
 impose on the most verdant countrymen. Even a child 
 who met one of them in a lonely lane would scamper off with 
 trembling legs, and every householder who saw one of them 
 lurking about his home would fasten every window catch and 
 door bolt with redoubled precaution, and slumber with one 
 eye open if he slept at all. These ill-featured convicts un- 
 doubtedly represent the boldest and most reckless class of 
 house-breakers; but a portrait no less typical is given in the 
 picture of William Barrett, now serving out a life sentence in 
 the Massachusetts state prison for the murder of a farmer, 
 after breaking into his house. 
 
 There is nothing particularly repulsive or threatening in 
 the face of this burglar, who indeed succeeded in leading a 
 double life for many years, perhaps hoodwinking his wife as 
 completely as he did his common acquaintances. He came 
 of a good English family and learned the trades of a machinist 
 and wood carver, from a natural aptitude for the industrial arts 
 rather than from any pinch of necessity. When he was about 
 twenty-five years old he came to this country and, for a time, 
 went into business as a taxidermist in Detroit. There he met 
 and married an attractive American girl of excellent educa- 
 
112 OUR RIVAL. THE RASCAL. 
 
 tion and character, who made herself greatly helpful to him 
 when he drifted into the business of a horse dealer after his 
 removal to Chicago. He also set up an electrotyping plant, 
 but was burned out by the great Chicago fire and forced to 
 return to Detroit where he made another start as a taxider- 
 mist with remarkable success. He often went as far as Cali- 
 fornia to buy skins, and some of his work was so finely done 
 that he found a ready sale for it abroad as well as in this 
 country. 
 
 But he grew weary of this occupation and went to New 
 York with his wife to open a private stable and indulge his 
 taste for the breeding and handling of fine horses. By the 
 death of a rich uncle in England, he came into possession of 
 a large legacy and for several years he lived idly and com- 
 fortably in London with his wife. He was not only a fine 
 judge of a horse but a fine rider as well, though in this accom- 
 plishment he was excelled by his wife, who was accounted one 
 of the finest equestrians in London and won a medal from the 
 hands of the Princess of Wales for an exhibit of hurdle riding. 
 
 This easy kind of living was apparently very congenial to 
 Barrett, but his uncle's bequest ran through his fingers in a 
 few years and he determined to return to America and try his 
 hand again as a horse dealer. He made his residence first in 
 Boston, but, as the east winds were too harsh for his wife's 
 delicate lungs, he removed to Newport and afterwards to New 
 York. Wherever he went, he lived in elegant style and was 
 apparently earning a large yearly income by his business as a 
 horse dealer and breeder. It was a regret to his wife, how- 
 ever, that the demands of his business compelled him to spend 
 so much of his time in Boston, though she claims to have had 
 no suspicion that he was much more deeply engrossed in 
 burglary than horse-breeding. It is fair to him to note that 
 he grudged no pains or expense for the comfort of his wife; 
 and, at least once a week, he would tear himself away from 
 the distraction of house-breaking to ride with her in Central 
 
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT. n^ 
 
 Park. This Companionship and horse-back exercise were an 
 unfaihng pleasure to her and usually of marked profit to him, 
 for he could sell at a.fanc)' price the horses which his wife 
 showed ofif so admirably. 
 
 While he was thus posing as a busy horse dealer, the other- 
 wise devoted husband was swinging around in a circle of bur- 
 glaries through the suburbs of Boston and the neighboring 
 towns. In New York he was living in an expensive and richly 
 furnished uptown fiat, but in Boston he rented two small rooms 
 in an unfashionable quarter of the city, where his passing to 
 and fro would attract little notice. As the occupant of these 
 rooms he was known as Mr. Bassett, for he dropped his real 
 name when he first came to Boston, and nobody identified 
 the coarsely dressed horse dealer of Eliot Street with the 
 polite husband of the fashionable Mrs. Barrett of Central 
 Park. 
 
 For a number of years Barrett pursued his burglaries with 
 extraordinary craft and fortune. He had no comrade and, 
 for a long time, no confidant. His first undertakings were 
 very cautiously conducted, with long intervals between the 
 acts, but later, when flushed with success, he made raids that 
 plundered a series of "marks" in quick succession. He stole 
 into sleeping chambers, as well as into parlors and dining 
 rooms, and showed a remarkable instinct or information in 
 reaching the secret places for the deposit of jewelry and other 
 valuables. He was an expert judge of plate and nothing but 
 solid ware of the best quality was put in his "swag" bag. His 
 plunder soon mounted high up in the thousands, and the 
 whole circle of suburban residents was plagued and startled. 
 
 The police of the towns made every effort to track the bur- 
 glar and ward ofif his assaults, but his movements were so sly 
 and his appearance so inoffensive that he slipped through 
 their hands. It was impossible to trace him either by the 
 usual trail of stolen articles from "fences" or from pawn- 
 brokers, for he was too wary to market any of his plunder in 
 
114 '^^^^ lilVAL, Tin: ItAkiCAL. 
 
 a condition that could be recognized. He broke the dia- 
 monds and other gems out of their settings, and used to 
 dehght his wife with the frequent gifts of unset jewels, which 
 she sent to jewellers to set to her taste. Some of the finest 
 jewelry and bric-a-brac he hid for years in secret places 
 of storage, and invariably melted up the heavy plate before 
 offering it for sale to the purchasers of gold and silver bullion. 
 He was cautious also in suspending his raids, after getting a 
 heap of plunder, and pushing his legitimate business as a horse 
 dealer until the hunt for the burglar had been abandoned as 
 hopeless. 
 
 Finally, however, even his extraordinary wiliness failed to 
 cover his tracks. On a night in May, 1894, he set out from 
 his quarters in Boston upon another raid. His selected mark 
 was the house of a well-to-do farmer in Weston, Mass. There 
 were no near neighbors and the approach to the house was 
 not difficult. 
 
 Barrett took ofif his shoes at a spot by the roadside, a few hun- 
 dred yards from the place, and put on a new pair of "sneakers."' 
 Then he crept up to the back of the house, carrying his dark 
 lantern and jimmy. The doors and windows were fastened, 
 but he easily pried up a sash with his jimmy and crawled into 
 the kitchen. From the kitchen he made his way stealthily 
 through the house to the farmer's bedroom without finding 
 anything of value. In moving about in the bedroom he made 
 some little noise which awakened the sleeper, who cried out 
 instantly. At the first alarm Barrett jumped out through a 
 window and was ofif like a flash. He was chased by the 
 farmer and others of the town's people, but he was too fleet 
 to be overtaken. Still the pursuers did not give up the chase, 
 and, in the early morning, the farmer and his brother came 
 upon a man who was building a fire in the woods near the 
 Cherry Brook station on the line of the Massachusetts Central 
 railroad. 
 
 After some questioning of the man, the brothers were con- 
 
UNDER COVER OF NIQHT. jje 
 
 vinced that he was the burglar of whom they were in search 
 and called upon him to go back to the town with them. He 
 refused sullenly and when the former sprang forward to seize 
 him, he drew his revolver and fired three shots in quick suc- 
 cession, one of which wounded his captor mortally. Still the 
 plucky farmer clung to him and threw him down to the 
 ground, but, a moment later, fell dying beside him. Before the 
 murderer could escape, the brother pounced upon him and 
 held him in spite of his struggles until help came and the 
 stranger was carried back by a strong escort to Weston. He 
 was identified in the county jail as William Barrett, alias Bas- 
 sett, and, in the following November, he was tried and con- 
 victed of murder in the second degree. For this crime he is 
 now serving out a sentence for life in the Massachusetts state 
 prison. 
 
 Upon the search of his rooms, many burglar tools were 
 found together with a crucible in which the stolen plate was 
 melted to bullion. Little of his plunder was recovered until 
 his blundering agent, James Chafiee, was arrested for offering 
 for sale a portion of a very -valuable collection of rare postage 
 stamps which had been stolen from a Boston banker nine years 
 before. Oddly enough, the dealer, to whom the stamps were 
 offered, was the same man who had originally mounted the 
 collection and sold it to the banker. Upon Chaffee's arrest 
 with this positive evidence against him, he sought to clear 
 himself by a pretence of ignorance and the delivery to the 
 police of a great quantity of stolen goods of extraordinary 
 value as we have before noted. 
 
 The display and identification of these treasures caused 
 a sensation that will long be remembered in Boston, for 
 more than a hundred families of high social distinction recog- 
 nized and recovered heirlooms and other dearly prized valua- 
 bles which they had lost all hope of seeing again. These 
 were part of the proceeds of the host of burglaries committed 
 
jj6 ovr rival, tee rascal. 
 
 by Barrett, in a criminal career that is almost unique in 
 its length and accomplishments. 
 
 William Barrett is surely one of the most remarkable 
 burglars of this or any other country, but even his sensa- 
 tional career is pale in color compared with that of "Gentle- 
 man George," which leaps beyond the farthest strain of any 
 hack writer of lurid fiction. 
 
 "'Gentleman George," or George A.- Ellwood, is probably 
 an assumed name of the desperado from Denver, Colorado, 
 who reached the top notch of ill-fame ten years ago as the 
 most impudent and reckless burglar in America. 
 
 In 1883, Ellwood and two companions attempted to rob 
 the "Pike" Flats in New York City, but were foiled by a 
 brave woman who was the tenant of a suite on the fourth 
 floor. Just before daybreak she heard the grating of a key 
 in the lock of her bedroom, and made up her mind instantly 
 to face the burglars. So she slipped quietly out of bed, 
 taking a pistol from under her pillow, and crossed the room 
 to the door. Meanwhile she heard the bolt spring back and, 
 after an instant of waiting, she flung open the door and 
 stepped into the doorway. Two men were standing close 
 to her in the hall and another was crouching at the head 
 of the stairs a few yards away. She fired a shot, at sight, at 
 the nearest man and saw him stagger, but his comrades 
 quickly dragged him down stairs and out of the house before 
 the alarm was spread. On the stairs there was a trail of 
 blood and an embroidered handkerchief stained with blood, 
 but no other trace of the burglars could be found. 
 
 This was an unpromising start for "Gentleman George," 
 but he soon turned the balance against him in a series of 
 raids that sacked many of the finest residences in St. Paul, 
 St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo. He 
 and his "pa:ls" wore masks and literally stormed the houses in 
 their burglaries, compelling both men and women to give 
 up their valuables by threats of murder backed with pointed 
 
VNDER COVER OF NIGHT. ,17 
 
 revolvers. Sometimes they drove the terrified householders 
 to set out a feast for them in the dining rooms before they 
 departed. They stripped the rings from the fingers of 
 shrinking women with brutal violence, and made men sign 
 checks as ransoms when the plunder in sight was too little 
 for their greed. One morning in Detroit, "Gentleman 
 George" and his favorite partner, "Joe" Whalen, met a house- 
 holder coming into his yard as they were passing out of his 
 front door, and actually seized and robbed him on his own 
 porch before he could give an alarm. 
 
 In August, 1885, these two burglars broke into a house 
 in Toledo, and fired several shots at the servants who were 
 aroused to defend the family. Then they retreated sullenly 
 and leisurely. A pursuing policeman came up with them 
 and ordered Ellwood to show the contents of a bag in his 
 hand. "Gentleman George" replied gruffly: "Take it and 
 see for yourself!" The ofificer took the bag to a lamp near 
 by and, while he was opening it, Ellwood shot him in the back 
 and escaped. 
 
 For this burglary and assault he was arrested some weeks 
 later in New York, and deHvered to the authorities in Toledo, 
 where he was tried and sentenced to a term of ten years in the 
 Ohio state prison. He broke out of jail before the expiration of 
 his sentence and made his escape in a driving snow storm, at the 
 cost of the loss of two of his toes, which were frozen. After some 
 months of hiding he broke into a house in Hartford, Connecticut, 
 in the winter of 1892, and was shot while escaping. He took 
 refuge in the city hospital of Worcester, Mass., where he was 
 identified by Boston detectives and taken to Providence, upon 
 his recovery, to stand trial on a charge of burglary in that city. 
 In this robbery he had engaged single-handed, carrying off 
 money, diamonds and silverware, and terrorizing the family 
 into submission with the threat of his loaded revolver. 
 
 At the close of his trial upon this charge, this hardened 
 ruffian, oddly styled "Gentleman George," was asked what he 
 
ii8 
 
 OVB EIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 had to say before sentence was passed upon him. In reply he 
 produced a roll of manuscript and read a vilely scurrilous review 
 of his trial, closing with curses for the mother who gave him 
 birth and the hand that fed him as a child. Then he raved 
 insanely cursing God, the court and all the world; 
 declaring that he should be a devil from that day 
 whose sole aim would be "the annihilation of man- 
 kind." 
 
 He was sentenced to a term of twenty-five years in 
 the state prison, but, six months after his entrance, 
 he was shot dead in a murderous assault upon one 
 of the deputy wardens. "Gentleman George" had 
 planned an escape with another prisoner, who aban- 
 doned him when the fight with the guards began. 
 Ellwood battered the warden fearfully with a heavy 
 iron tool handle and hammer, but the plucky guard 
 blocked the way until, in self-defence, he drew his 
 revolver and killed the most desperate burglar whose 
 life story is written in our criminal records. Although 
 he has passed away, members of his old gangs are still 
 infesting our cities, and he is here described as the 
 most striking figure representing this type of burglars. 
 All possible care should be taken by householders 
 to impede and prevent the assaults of these burglars, 
 though fortunately few house-breakers at large to-day 
 are so utterly reckless and fierce as the notorious con- 
 victs whose portraits illustrate this chapter. One sim- 
 ple and excellent precaution is to have two locks on 
 a house door, one of which is invisible from the out- 
 side. In place of common mortise locks, Yale locks 
 or others of like design should be used, which 
 cannot be picked by ordinary skeleton keys or readily un- 
 screwed from place. Window catches should be of patterns 
 that cannot be turned by the simple insertion of a knife 
 blade between the sashes, and strong shutters should 
 
 KNIFE USED 
 TO OPEN 
 WINDOW 
 
 FASTENINGS. 
 
UNDER COVER OF NiaHT. ng 
 
 be provided for all windows on the lower floors. If a house 
 is to be closed for the summer or for any length of time, 
 the police should be promptly and invariably notified. 
 
 In country residences, especially, a watchdog on the lower 
 floor of a house is an excellent safeguard, and the dog should 
 be so placed that he cannot readily be decoyed away or 
 killed. 
 
 It is further of particular importance to keep a sharp watch 
 upon men of suspicious appearance loitering about a house 
 or calling at the door upon various pretexts; and, in any 
 such event, notice should be given to the police and the 
 usual precautions doubled for the next week. 
 
 It is, of course, impracticable to note every desirable 
 caution, but householders may readily amplify these sug- 
 gestions to cover any individual case. 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE. 
 
 IN November, 1888, two men called at a machine shop in 
 Toronto, Canada, to order a cane of a peculiar design. 
 When it was completed, it appeared to be only a fine, straight, 
 stout bamboo stick, nicely polished and fitted with an ivory 
 handle. It was encircled with a heavy band of solid silver, an 
 inch and a half in width, and tipped with a heavy brass ferrule. 
 Nobody who saw it in the hand of a man of fashion would sup- 
 pose it to be anything more than an elegant walking stick. 
 But, before the cane was ready for delivery, the two men, who 
 left the order for it, were arrested by Toronto detectives for 
 swindling a wealthy Scotch tourist who had accommodated 
 his engaging acquaintances by cashing a worthless check. In 
 tracing the movements of the two swindlers the trail ran into 
 the machine shop where the detectives found the cane and ex- 
 amined it closely. 
 
 Upon unscrewing the tip of the ferrule, the secret of the cane 
 was disclosed. There were two narrow pieces of steel, like 
 tweezers, in the hollow centre of the cane. The silver ring near 
 the handle was made to slide down, and its movement pushed 
 out and opened the steel slips. Upon the release of the ring 
 it was pushed back to place by a hidden spring, and its return 
 shut and drew back the tweezers. A little experimenting 
 showed that a parcel of bank notes, or anything that could be 
 nipped by the steel slips, might be picked up with this cane 
 from a point several feet away. This, indeed, was the actual 
 design of the stick, an unpatented improvement on the long 
 wire hook, an instrument which has raked off hundreds of thou- 
 sands of dollars from the desks of cashiers and payingtellers. It 
 was ascertained that another cane of the same pattern had been 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE EN AVE. 12I 
 
 made by another firm in the same city for the same men, a 
 month before. This was paid for and carried away and it may 
 be still in circulation, for its capture has not been reported. 
 In the hands of such eminent practitioners as the men who 
 were arrested in Toronto, its working value would be thor- 
 oughly tested in a year or two. 
 
 The urbane customers who ordered these canes were highly 
 indignant when they were arrested, but they failed to convince 
 the Toronto police that they were the victims of a deplorable 
 mistake on the part of the swindled tourist. The elder of the 
 two was a stout man, nearly sixty years of age, of dignified 
 presence and refined manners, who would readily pass for a 
 well-to-do merchant or manufacturer. His companion was 
 still on the sunny side of forty, a well knit, good-looking man, 
 somewhat over five feet eight inches in height and of notably 
 graceful carriage. He wore a full brown beard and mustache, 
 fashionably trimmed in accord with his claim to be a gentleman 
 whose sole labor was the killing of time. Both men were 
 dressed from top to toe in clothes of the finest material and 
 latest cut. 
 
 What a shock it was to their numerous acquaintances in the 
 Canadian hotels when it was learned by pushing inquiry that 
 these elegant tourists, Mr. Henry Hunter and Mr. William 
 Alexander, were two of the most dexterous and notorious 
 "bank sneaks" in all America! The younger of the two was 
 Horace Hovan, alias "Little Horace," and his dignified com- 
 panion with the fine Roman nose, strong, square chin and 
 mutton chop whiskers, was Waher Sheridan, alias Stewart, 
 Ralston, Holcomb, Stanton, Keene and a string of other per- 
 sonages longer than the line of Banquo. 
 
 What is a "bank sneak" does any one ask? A "bank sneak" 
 is a thief who fills the gap between a burglar and a forger. He 
 does not seek or dare to break through walls or blow open 
 safes. He lacks the craft of a forger or he does not choose to 
 face the penalty for counterfeiting. So he flits from bank to 
 
122 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 bank as a shoplifter from store to store, watching for a chance 
 to steal from desks, counters, or open safes, anything in the 
 form of money or valuable securities that he can lay his hands 
 upon. He is to be distinguished from the thief in the store as 
 a rascal of higher degree and accomplishment. The shop- 
 lifter is content to purloin any small thing that can be covertly 
 snatched. The "bank sneak" aims to get thousands of dollars 
 by a single, sly scoop and commonly forms and carries out an 
 artful plan of theft with the help of two or three confederates. 
 He is what Michael Cassio was falsely called: "A slippery and 
 subtle knave, a finder out of/ occasions." 
 
 To avert suspicion these thieves imitate, as closely as possi- 
 ble, the dress and general appearance of the ordinary custom- 
 ers of the banks in which they are seeking for plunder. In 
 cities they aim to pass for well-to-do business men or club men, 
 or the clerks of brokers and bankers; and the counterfeit 
 would usually pass current in any city where the thieves were 
 not well known. In country towns they become counterfeit 
 farmers and so put on the character and coloring of every com- 
 munity with which they mingle, with the art of accomplished 
 actors. The prime essential for the success of their schemes 
 is an opportunity for a sly entrance behind the bank counters 
 or for a grab through a window or other opening. This is 
 usually effected by some device, distracting the attention of the 
 bank ofHcials or securing the temporary absence of one or 
 more of them or hoodwinking them in some way. 
 
 The two sneaks who were arrested in Toronto for swindling 
 the Scotch tourist were remarkably expert in every trick of 
 their craft and contrived for years to elude conviction for their 
 frauds and larcenies, by using confederates as cat's-paws to ex- 
 ecute their schemes and providing every cover for themselves 
 which slyness and money could procure. They were permitted 
 to give bail in Toronto and leave the city, well pleased to escape 
 for the amount of their forfeited bail. Next month, Hovan was 
 caught again in an attempt to rob a bank in Denver, Colorado, 
 
THE BANK SNEAK. 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE. 130 
 
 in company with his confederate, Sheridan. Hovan was cap- 
 tured while sneaking out of the vault of the bank, but Sheridan, 
 who was standing outside, slipped away unsuspected, although 
 his face was afterwards recalled and identified. Although 
 Hovan was literally caught in the sneak act, he did not lose his 
 invincible impudence; and his protestations and explanations 
 were so plausible that he would probably have obtained a dis- 
 charge if he had not been identified. Notwithstanding this 
 identification, he was again permitted to give bail which he was 
 only too willing to forfeit. 
 
 It may properly be observed that the requirement of a few 
 hundred dollars in the form of cash bail from bank sneaks of 
 the class of Sheridan and- Hovan, is scarcely more than a petty 
 fine, in its practical effect, which these criminals pay non- 
 chalantly as merely an incidental expense attendant upon their 
 career of plunder. Certainly, bail should be fixed at amounts 
 commensurate with the real gravity and danger of larcenies of 
 this description, if the men under arrest are to be suffered to 
 give bail at all. Forfeiting, or "jumping," bail may be said to 
 be the regular practice of these "bank sneaks" whenever this 
 privilege is open to them and they have the money to put up for 
 the opportunity of running away. 
 
 Sheridan's schemes and methods of theft and fraud were so 
 varied and far-reaching that the plunder obtained by the gangs 
 which he led, for a score of years, amounted to hundreds of 
 dollars. He took the lion's share of this booty himself, and he 
 was sa exceptionally close-fisted and saving for one of his class 
 that his stolen fortune lasted till near the end of his Hfe. He 
 was one of the most versatile of character actors in impersona- 
 tions and disguises, and his shifts were so artful that he escaped 
 conviction until his arrest in New York in 1876 upon the 
 charge of uttering one hundred and fifty forged bonds of the 
 New York, Buffalo and Erie railroad. 
 
 At the time of his arrest he was, as usual, elegantly dressed 
 and wore a long, full, reddish-colored beard. To confuse the 
 
124 OVR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 witnesses against him, he succeeded in changing his fine 
 clothes in the prison box for the rags of a tramp, and hacked 
 his beard of? roughly with a jack-knife. While he was con- 
 fined in the Tombs, awaiting his trial, he further altered his 
 appearance by eating soap until his portly figure was changed 
 to a thin, sickly shadow of the well-fed broker, Ralston, whom 
 he had impersonated. He dyed his hair with coffee grounds 
 and clipped and twisted it so that he looked, in his rags, like a 
 wretched, half-witted tramp. But all his arts as a masquerader 
 failed to break the effect of his positive identification by 
 William A. Pinkerton, and he was convicted and sentenced to 
 Sing Sing for a term of five years. By maintaining his pre- 
 tence of illness, he succeeded in shortening his term, and, when 
 he was discharged, he was thought to be tottering on the edge 
 of the grave. As soon as he was out of prison and had no 
 occasion to eat soap, his health came back with such rapidity 
 that he was able to rob jewelry firms in New York and Phila- 
 delphia in the course of a few months. He was so well known 
 by this time, however, and so closely watched that he could 
 not conceal his identity and evade conviction as he had been 
 able to do in former years. So, after serving short terms in the 
 Pennsylvania and Missouri penitentiaries for larceny, he con- 
 cluded to leave this country for a while and try his hand in 
 Europe with a gang of forgers. 
 
 In 1886 he was arrested in Portugal for uttering forged Bank 
 of England notes, in company with another criminal of high 
 degree, and both were convicted; but their pretences were so 
 plausible and affecting that the jury specially recommended 
 them to mercy, and the presiding judge let them off with a sen- 
 tence of eighteen months in the house of correction m Oporto. 
 Upon his discharge from the Portuguese prison he came back 
 to this country stealthily and, under the name of Walter Stuart, 
 invested his stolen money in Colorado lands, and engaged in 
 the business of market gardening on a large scale for the sup- 
 ply of the Denver market. This venture would probably have 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE EN AYE. t^- 
 
 been profitable, but the comparatively slow returns of legiti- 
 mate business did not satisfy Sheridan, and he embarked in 
 mining speculations which swallowed up his fortune. Finally, 
 he imdertook to "jump" a mine and was driven oft by the 
 honest miners of the camp. 
 
 After this failure of his schemes he drifted back to his old 
 line of swindling and thieving, and joined Hovan and others in 
 a circuit of performances, including those given in Toronto 
 and Denver, as before detailed. His former luck or peculiar 
 adroitness was apparently lacking, for he slid down hill to the 
 point of utter destitution, and he was a sinking wreck when he 
 was arrested in Montreal, in January, 1890, on the charge of 
 vagrancy. When he stood before the judge to hear his sen- 
 tence, the miserable man sobbed like a child and begged for 
 pity. But the judge knew his record and sent him to jail for 
 six months at hard labor. On the fifth day after his sentence 
 was pronounced, Sheridan died in prison. In talents, educa- 
 tion and resources, he was the foremost "bank sneak" of the 
 country, as his remarkable career attests, but, with all his ac- 
 complishments, he died a pauper and a felon. Those who are 
 tempted to dabble in crime by glittering seductions may profit 
 by this unvarnished object lesson. 
 
 Sheridan's companion in Montreal, at the time of his arrest, 
 was another notable American thief, Alonzo Henn, alias 
 "Henry Morton," and commonly called "Dutch Alonzo." 
 This rogue had been in the habit of attending all the important 
 conventions and other large public meetings in the United 
 States, which he was able to reach, and his face had con;ie to be 
 so familiar to the American detectives that he concluded to 
 change his field of operation. He hadwon the reputation of hav- 
 ing picked more pockets successfully than any other thief in the 
 United States before crossing the Atlantic to try his hand as a 
 "bank sneak." In the fall of i887hemadeaflyingtripto Europe 
 in company with two other notorious "bank sneaks," "Billy" 
 Burke and Charles Allen ; but this gang came to grief in Ge- 
 
126 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 neva, Switzerland, where all three were arrested for the larceny 
 of a bag containing $16,000, which they stole from a bank mes- 
 senger. Thestolenbagwascarriedo£fandburied,butitwas later 
 unearthed by an honest countryman who turned it over to the 
 police. Burke and Allen were sent to prison for this theft, 
 but "Dutch Alonzo" contrived to escape and made his way 
 back to this country in time to join Sheridan in his visit to 
 Montreal. He was sent to prison v/ith Sheridan as a vaga- 
 bond, and served out his sentence. After his discharge he 
 went to Europe and has since been haunting foreign banks par- 
 ticularly. He was arrested in Hamburg, in the fall of 1895, in 
 company with another notorious American "bank sneak," 
 George H. Evans, ahas "Kid Miller," alias "Lady Hand 
 George," whose portrait is fitly placed with his on a representa- 
 tive page. 
 
 Sheridan's former and favorite companion, Horace Hovan, 
 was another apt adjutant of this master of the arts of thieving. 
 He began the noteworthy part of his career by the theft of $20,- 
 000 from the vault of a bank in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1876, 
 and slipped through every mesh of the law until he was ar- 
 rested and convicted in 1881 for robbing the safe of a Phila- 
 delphia stock broker. After serving part of his term of sen- 
 tence of three years and a half in the state prison, he was par- 
 doned for the sake of some testimony which he professed to 
 be able to give in regard to two important robberies. His 
 evidence proved to be of no value, and he was free to start 
 again in life as a "bank sneak." 
 
 Pie was almost as shifty in his disguises as his comrade, 
 Sheridan, and he had the advantage, over this accomplished 
 actor, of possessing a brother Robert, who resembled him so 
 closely that it was hard to distinguish one from the other. This 
 duplicate of himself was of peculiar service to Little Horace, for 
 he could use his brother from time to time to establish a perplex- 
 ing alibi. One of his common practices was to register with 
 his wife at a leading hotel and make the acquaintance of a num- 
 
HORACE HOVAN. 
 
 PRANK BOOK. 
 
 GEORGE H. EVANS. 
 
 ALONZO HENN. 
 
.1 SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE. 
 
 127 
 
 ber of guests. After a few days, Robert would turn up in the 
 hotel, walk up and down the office, nodding familiarly to the 
 guests, and finaHy order a carriage and drive out to some park 
 with the wife of "Little Horace." Meanwhile that artful 
 dodger would slip away unobserved and try his tricks of thiev- 
 ing in some bank or office. If any suspicion fell upon him 
 from any quarter, he had an alibi already manufactured to 
 order, and sustained by the evidence of the reputable witnesses 
 who really mistook his brother for their polite acquaintance, 
 Mr. Horace Hovan, or whatever his name for the time might be. 
 
 Besides his brother and Sheridan he had another favorite com- 
 panion, Frank Buck, who was his confederate in the robbery of 
 the Philadelphia broker's office, in 1881, and was sentenced with 
 him to the state prison for the same term. After Buck's re- 
 lease, he joined Hovan in Washington and, soon after, the art- 
 ful pair were arrested, while surveying a Boston bank, by Bos- 
 ton detectives and photographed for the Rogues' Gallery. 
 Their portraits, as accomplished "bank sneaks" of the most 
 dangerous class, appear on a representative page. 
 
 Soon after his trip to Denver with Sheridan, Hovan went 
 abroad and has since been a plague to the people of Western 
 Europe. Buck went to Europe a few months before Hovan, 
 and shortly after his arrival, his gang robbed a jewelry store in 
 Munchen, Bavaria, of jewels worth £50,000. He was arrested 
 in London, a few months later, for this burglary, and sent to 
 Bavaria for trial. Ten years in prison and ten years more of 
 police surveillance and loss of civil rights was the sentence in 
 his case. 
 
 The devices, commonly resorted to by Hovan, Burke, Henn 
 and other thieves of their class in getting hold of money in 
 banks and offices, may be best comprehended by the aid of 
 illustrative examples. 
 
 A few minutes after twelve o'clock on a day early in May, 
 1895, the cashier of the First National Bank of Plainfield, New 
 Jersey, went home to lunch, leaving the assistant-cashier, the 
 
128 OUR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 book-keeper and a young assistant book-keeper in charge of 
 the bank. It was the practice of the bank to liave not less than 
 three officials on duty during business hours. After the 
 cashier's departure, the assistant book-keeper went into the 
 directors' room to eat his lunch as he was accustomed to do. 
 While he was eating lunch, a stranger, looking like a respect- 
 able countryman, entered the bank and went to the window of 
 the paying teller. He made inquiry for the assistant book- 
 keeper by name, and told the bank officials that a lame man, 
 who was outside in a carriage, wanted to see him for a moment 
 on business. The book-keeper courteously called his assistant 
 and the young man went outside to the carriage." There he 
 saw a man sitting in a road wagon, who was apparently crip- 
 pled and wearing a green patch over one eye. The stranger 
 told him that he wanted to have a job of book-keeping done 
 and would like to talk it over a little. The young book-keeper 
 politely excused himself, saying that he had no time to do any 
 outside work and hastened back to his place behind the bank 
 counter. Meanwhile the seeming countryman was making 
 some natural inquiries which the other bank officers were 
 answering ; but, upon the return of the young book-keeper, the 
 inquisitive stranger was apparently satisfied and left the bank, 
 driving away with his lame friend in the wagon. 
 
 Nothing more was thought of this little incident until the 
 cashier proceeded to count the money on hand at the closing 
 of the bank for the day. Then he discovered that two pack- 
 ages of bills, amounting to $22,765, were missing and the 
 police of New Jersey and New York were notified at once of 
 the loss. It was only a small consolation to the bank directors 
 to learn that their bank had been the victim of expert "bank 
 sneaks." While the attention of the officers had been engaged 
 by the pretended countryman and his lame friend, a third con- 
 federate had slipped in through a back door, opening into a 
 back hallway, snatched up the parcels of money and slipped 
 out again unobserved. 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE ENATE. 
 
 129 
 
 Sometimes an unscrupulous woman is engaged as a con- 
 federate by "bank sneal^s," and she may be the most artful mem- 
 ber of the gang, as was notably shown in the case of the 
 notorious Sophia Lyons whose career as a thief and adven- 
 turess is a marvel in its way. A few years ago, a circus 
 company was parading through the streets of Mt. Ster- 
 ling, Kentucky, and when it was passing the doors of the 
 Traders' Deposit Bank, the officers and clerks clustered to- 
 gether at the front windows to see the procession. The 
 cashier stood on the counter, and the paying teller was in 
 the front row at a window. While watching the parade, the 
 teller saw a woman on the sidewalk in front of the bank, giving 
 a signal with her handkerchief. He turned instantly, just in 
 time to see a man's head disappearing behind the cashier's 
 desk, and sprang upon the intruder. The cashier jumped down 
 from the counter, and both seized the sneak who was slipping 
 away with more than four thousand dollars in his hands. The 
 capture of the thief was of such absorbing interest that the 
 teller did not think again of the woman with the handkerchief 
 until she came boldly to the jail where the man was confined 
 and asked to see him. Then she was recognized and held as 
 an accomplice, and both were later identified by a Cincinnati 
 detective as "Billy" Burke and "Sophie" Lyons, two bank sneaks 
 of national reputation. Another member of the gang was ar- 
 rested on the same day but discharged for lack of evidence 
 sufficient to convict, and a fourth contrived to escape from the 
 city after the arrest of his confederates. 
 
 "Sophie" Lyons had been a member of the Burke gang for 
 many months, and had gained wide-spread notoriety by a 
 series of performances of the carriage trick. Burke, or some 
 other member of the gang, would drive up with her in a buggy to 
 a bank in a country town, at dinner time, when only one or 
 two clerks were on duty. Then he would go into the bank 
 and address the clerk in charge, familiarly, as if he were a cus- 
 tomer of unquestioned standing. "A lady in the buggy," he 
 
130 OUR BITAL, THE liASCAL. 
 
 would say, "desired information about some stocks, but was, 
 unfortunately, unable to leave her carriage, owing to her lame- 
 ness." So the obliging clerk would often be persuaded to go 
 out to see the lady and, while he was chatting with her, the gang 
 would steal anything within reach in the bank. 
 
 This "invalid" trick has been worn threadbare by repetition 
 but it cannot yet be said to be completely exploded, for thefts by 
 this device still seem to be practicable in country towns. The 
 application of this distracting game is not confined to banks, 
 for the expert "bank sneak" is not above extending his thefts 
 to the offices of express companies and others handling .large 
 amounts of money. A gas company of this state was robbed 
 some years ago, in this way, by notorious "bank sneaks," 
 George Carson and "Rufe" Minor, assisted by a young 
 woman of pleasing appearance who was subsequently identi- 
 fied as the versatile "Sophie" Lyons. 
 
 One of the two clerks in the office had just gone to dinner 
 when a carriage rolled up to the door, and a woman, elegantly 
 dressed in black, alighted. Her face was hidden by a long 
 black veil, but her bearing was so straightforward and busi- 
 nesslike, when she eiitered the office, that the clerk in charge 
 had no hesitation in complying with her request that he should 
 step outside for a moment to see an invalid in a carriage at the 
 door, in regard to the gas fittings for his new house. He was 
 detained in conversation for a moment, and when he turned 
 away to reenter the office, the woman in black stood in the 
 doorway. He politely escorted her to the carriage and 
 opened the door. She stepped in with a few soft words of 
 thanks and the driver immediately whipped up his horses and 
 drove away. The obliging clerk returned to his desk, and it 
 was some little time- before he discovered that a roll of bills, 
 amounting to over five hundred dollars, had been taken out 
 of the money drawer. The theft and escape were so adroit that 
 the sneak thieves were not captured till a month later, when 
 Garson and Minor were arrested in Ghicago by the police of 
 
GEORGE CARSON. 
 
 RUFnS MINOR. 
 
 WILM.iM BURKE. 
 
 SIDNEY MANNING. 
 
A SLIPPERY AVD SUBTLE ENATE. i^j 
 
 that city. Both were admitted to bail and ^oth "jumped" their 
 bail as a matter of course. 
 
 When it seems to be improbable that a clerk can be enticed 
 away from his post, it is a common device to seek to engage 
 the attention of all the bank officials on duty by the pretence 
 of business, while one of the gang watches for an opportunity 
 to slip through a door into the bank and steal a parcel of money 
 or bonds from a desk or open safe. Every place that is used 
 for the temporary deposit of money is carefully marked before 
 hand by 'sharp spies, and the methods of business and habits ot 
 the clerks are noted as exactly as possible. Sometimes the face, 
 figure and clothes of a clerk are closely counterfeited by one of 
 th^gang, who may in this way gain access to a desk and even to a 
 safe or vault without arousing suspicion. There are known in- 
 stances where packages of bonds and coupons have been 
 picked up in the vaults of safety deposit companies by the 
 sleight of hand of these sneak thieves, while depositors were ex- 
 amining the contents of their boxes. 
 
 Chauncey Johnson, who used to be one of the most expert 
 "bank sneaks" in the world, was a master of arts in tricks of this 
 kind. His businesslike manner and audacious nerve sus- 
 tained him in a series of remarkable impositions. One of his 
 earliest feats was the theft of bonds worth eighty-five thousand 
 dollars from the hands of their owner, a lady of the best social 
 standing in New York. The artful Johnson saw her taking 
 the bonds from a bank to her carriage. He instantly ex- 
 changed his coat and hat for an ink-stained linen duster, thrust 
 a pen behind his ear, and followed her to the street. As she was 
 stepping into her carriage, this sneak, in the mask of a 
 bank clerk, came up to her politely and told her that there was 
 some mistake in recording her bonds. The cashier, as he said, 
 desired to take their numbers once more, and this request was 
 so courteously and naturally worded that the lady gave up her 
 package to him unhesitatingly and promised to wait in her 
 carriage until the bonds were returned. Johnson then went 
 
132 OUR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 into one door of the bank hurriedly, and came out through 
 another door. The lady waited for him patiently, but it is 
 needless to observe that he never came back. 
 
 At another time this same character actor counterfeited the 
 appearance of a cashier of a leading express company so exactly 
 that he was able to slip in behind the desk of this officer, who had 
 gone to lunch, and walk away with several thousand dollars, 
 in the sight of all the clerks in the office. Once when a large 
 •city bank vault was open for the deposit of boxes from brokers' 
 offices, Johnson made his wa)^ into the bank as a broker's clerk, 
 hung up his cap with consummate coolness, stepped into the 
 vault as if his right to enter was beyond all question, and walked 
 out again bearing a box on his shoulders, containing bonds 
 and other papers worth sixty thousand dollars. When a re- 
 ward was ofifered for the return of some of this plunder, he per- 
 sonated an attorney representing the thief, and actually ob- 
 tained the amount put up for the recovery of the stolen prop- 
 erty. 
 
 One of his most remarkable thefts was effected by following 
 the President of a national bank of New York, who was carry- 
 ing a package of bonds amounting to $125,000. When the 
 President entered his bank, he laid the package for a moment 
 on his desk while he stepped to a closet to hang up his over- 
 coat. As soon as his back was turned, Johnson snatched up 
 the package and slipped away before the President discovered 
 the theft. 
 
 Johnson can probably claim, with truth, that he has entered 
 more banks than any other sneak thief, living or dead, and 
 stolen a greater amount of money. He drew $37,819 in one 
 lump from the Bank of New York by watching the movements 
 of the bank messenger, who had the money in charge. When 
 this messenger was called away for a moment to another part 
 of the bank, he laid his small canvas bag, containing over thirty- 
 seven thousand dollars, on an unoccupied desk. When he re- 
 turned a few moments later, the bag was missing and so was 
 
A SLIPPERY J.yZ) SUBTLE ENATE. 133 
 
 Johnson, who had contrived to reach it and carry it off under 
 his coat. 
 
 He served two terms of five years each in prison for burglary 
 before entering upon his extraordinary career as a "bank" 
 snealc. This discouragement seems to have led him to turn his 
 hand to a line of theft for which his talents were peculiarly 
 adapted. In the early years of his sly pursuit of plunder, he 
 was comparatively awkward in his operations. He put a wire 
 through the screen in the Bank of North America, thirty-five 
 years ago, and dragged a roll of bills to the window; but he 
 was not quick enough to elude the eyes of the bank clerks. 
 The alarm was given and he was pursued and caught. He 
 gave the name of G. W. Dusenberry and, under this alias, he 
 was 'convicted and sent to prison for a year. 
 
 Upon his release he showed that he had gained experience 
 enough to keep out of jail for more than seven years, although 
 he was continually at work as a sneak thief. It was not until 
 December, 1870, that his life of plundering was cut short by 
 his arrest in the Fifth Avenue Hotel just as he was leaving with 
 several valuable packages which he had stolen from the hotel 
 safe. He was loitering near the cashier's desk when a guest 
 came up to deposit for safe keeping a package which was said 
 to be of great value. Johnson heard this imprudent remark 
 and took the first opportunity to slip behind the counter. He 
 was bareheaded and his movements were so exactly like those 
 of a familiar clerk that he reached the safe unquestioned and 
 took out the deposit, made a few moments before, as well as 
 other packages. There were three clerks in the office, but no 
 one of the three thought of stopping him and he had almost 
 reached the door when he accidentally stumbled over a waste- 
 basket and fell sprawling. This trip was fatal, for the noise 
 alarmed the clerks, and Johnson was chased and captured be- 
 fore he could get away with his booty. 
 
 For this impudent theft he was sent to Sing Sing for ten 
 years, and, since his discharge, he has been leading the life of a 
 
134 
 
 OVB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 poor vagabond, hardly knowing where to lay his head from 
 day to day, and turning his feeble hand to a succession of petty 
 larcenies. This "bank sneak" of highest degree — who has made 
 away with hundreds of thousands of dollars and would scarcely 
 deign to stoop for a hundred-dollar bill if it were thrown at 
 his feet — has been picking up an umbrella here and an over- 
 coat there to pawn for a few sups of liquor or rolls of bread. 
 For the past twenty-five years his most comfortable lodging 
 has been in a prison cell, and no words can enforce the deterrent 
 lesson of such a life as impressively as the sight of the wretched 
 old man, friendless, hopeless and homeless. His latest theft 
 was a fumbling effort to pick a pocketbook out of a shopping 
 bag on the counter of a book store in New York City. When 
 he saw that he was detected, he dropped the purse back into 
 the bag, but he could not escape arrest and conviction. He 
 pretended to be an unknown personage named George W. 
 Erown, but his disguise was soon rubbed off, and he was sent 
 for a year to Blackwell's Island, where he is now residing. ' An 
 excellent likeness of this remarkable old man is given on one 
 of our pages of typical portraits. 
 
 In most of our city banks in this country such barricades 
 of heavy wooden counters and metal lattice work protect the 
 paying and receiving tellers that theft by any stretch of arm 
 is almost impracticable, and even the use of the wire hook is 
 barred out. The "bank sneak" is obliged, therefore, to seek 
 an entrance by the way of side or rear doors, if any are tem- 
 porarily open or unguarded, or through a window under some 
 pretence. So they have taken to the disguise of janitors and 
 workmen employed about the building. No person should 
 be suffered to put up a step ladder or any other perch along 
 the side of a bank for the alleged purpose of washing windows 
 or any other object, unless he is well known and authorized 
 to do so. Every door should be securely fastened or con- 
 tinuously watched, if it is left unlocked for the admission of 
 employees and persons having business to transact with the 
 
A SUPPHRY AUD SUBTLE KNAYE. 13^ 
 
 officers of the bank. No loophole should be left for the an- 
 tiquated trick of engaging the attention of officers and clerks 
 at the partition windows while a sly confederate slips in 
 tlirough a side or rear door. Special precautions should be 
 taken to secure a constant watch whenever a procession of any 
 kind is passing the doors of a bank, and it should be borne in 
 mind that a circus parade is particularly relied upon to lure 
 clerks away from their places and open chances for sneak 
 thieving. What "Billy" Burke tried to do in the bank at Mt. 
 Sterling has been done many times before and since. 
 
 When it seems hopeless to gain an entrance into a bank, 
 the sneak will commonly resort to tricks for robbing the per- 
 sons who are depositing or drawing money. A favorite trick 
 is known as the "drop game." A few illustrations, furnished 
 by some of the most expert thieves in the country, will show 
 how this game is played. 
 
 In October, 1886, two well-dressed men entered the National 
 Metropolitan Bank at Washington, D. C, while one of the 
 depositors was busily engaged in counting over a roll of bills 
 at a desk in the outer office. As the men passed by, one of 
 them touched the depositor lightly on the shoulder — "You 
 have dropped some of your bills!" he said, courteously point- 
 ing to a few on the floor at the foot of the desk. "Oh thank 
 yoa!" said the depositor, stooping to pick up the bills. He 
 found four one-dollar bills on the floor; but when he counted 
 over again his money on the desk, seventy-one dollars were 
 out of sight — and so were the polite strangers. 
 
 The next day a well-to-do brickmaker of Baltimore went 
 into the Merchants National Bank of that city to cash a check 
 for two hundred and sixty-eight dollars. He drew the money 
 in bills and went to a desk opposite the window of the paying 
 teller to count over the roll. As soon as he left the window, 
 a man stepped up to ask for change in silver for a twenty- 
 dollar bill. While he was engaging the attention of the teller, 
 another man of fine appearance and suave address ap- 
 
136 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 preached the brickmaker and courteously informed him that 
 he had dropped several bills on the floor. When the brick- 
 maker turned around and bent over to pick up the money, 
 which was lying on the floor, the polite stranger reached over 
 his head, grabbed a handful of bills from the pile on the desk 
 and ran away. 
 
 Fortunately his proposed victim saw the trick in time to 
 start off in hot pursuit, shouting "stop thief!" and caught the 
 sneak in the doorway. After a short struggle he wrenched 
 the handful of bills out of the grip of the thief, but was unable 
 to stop him from escaping. The sneak ran ofif down the 
 street, but a detective, who was watching the bank, captured 
 him after a sharp run, and another detective collared his con- 
 federate at the window of the paying teller. Both of these 
 thieves gave false names when arrested, but they were identified 
 as two of the worst bank sneaks in the country, Joseph (Little 
 Joe) McCluskey and John Burke. George Carson, another 
 member of the same gang, was found in the room which 
 Burke had taken in a fashionable hotel; but he was too drunk 
 to take a hand in this particular "drop game" and was there- 
 fore able to escape conviction. The sneaks taken in the act 
 were convicted and sent to the Maryland state penitentiary. 
 
 A trick akin to the "drop game" is the distraction of the 
 attention of a messenger or customer just as he is on the point 
 of making a deposit with the receiving teller. This was a 
 favorite trick of the notorious bank sneak, "Billy" Burke, 
 whose unsuccessful attempt to rob the bank in Mt. Sterling, 
 Kentucky, has been before related. Burke ranks in his class 
 with the foremost practitioners, and has repeatedly succeeded 
 in performing this trick; but he failed in his latest recorded at- 
 tempt, six years ago, when he undertook to rob a bank clerk, 
 who was about to deposit a bag containing £5,000, in checks, 
 notes and gold, in the City Bank of London. Burke's con- 
 federate touched the clerk on one arm and asked him a ques- 
 tion while Burke slipped his hand into the bag which the clerk 
 
AOGDSTDS RAYMOND. 
 
 WALLACE O'CONNOR. 
 
 JOSEPH KILLORAN. 
 
 CHAUNCBY JOHNSON. 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE. 137 
 
 was carrying under the other arm. He was slyly extracting a 
 case of money from the bag, when the clerk saw the theft and 
 held the case fast. "Pardon me," said the suave sneak, "I 
 thought it was my bag." This easy explanation failed to sat- 
 isfy the bank clerk who called for help to catch the two sneaks. 
 Both ran out of the bank, but were caught on the same day 
 by the police with a third member of the gang, and all three 
 were tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison for eighteen 
 months. 
 
 Burke has earned the reputation of being one of the slyest 
 and most ingratiating sneaks in America, and the gangs with 
 which he has consorted from time to time have been the most 
 artful and dangerous in this country. Leading figures in these 
 associations of sneak thieves, besides those before noted, are 
 Rufus ("Rufe") Minor, George ("Georgie") Carson. Joseph 
 Killoran, alias "Joe Howard," Augustus ("Gus") Raymond, 
 Sidney Manning, alias "Sid Yennie," William Maher, alias 
 "Billy Marr," William Coleman and Wallace ("Wally") 
 O'Connor. Their portraits are given as a representative 
 exhibit of the thieves of their class. 
 
 "Rufe" Minor is a character not less remarkable than Sheri- 
 dan or Johnson. His early education and associations were 
 such as to give a refinement to his manners and conversation, 
 that has been largely retained through the wreck of his later 
 life. He is so fluent and fascinating in his talk that he has 
 over and over again entertained sharp-witted clerks in our 
 city banks, and allayed all suspicion while his confederates 
 were engaged in taking impressions in wax of the wards of 
 bank door locks and fitting false keys. Then with the help of 
 his pals he has so engrossed the attention of the tellers and 
 clerks that an .opportunity was given to a sly sneak to creep 
 into the bank and carry off packages of money or bonds. He 
 is a master hand also in assuming disguises, and with the range 
 of variations in the cut of his beard and the shape of his wigs, 
 he has successfully counterfeited a long line of imaginary char- 
 
138 OUR RIVAL. THE RASCAL. 
 
 acters. He has probably been arrested a score of times in the 
 last twenty years for taking part in a series of thefts and frauds, 
 and his companions have been repeatedly convicted and sent to 
 prison; but, by one shift or another, he has, generally, contrived 
 to escape conviction although his character is so well known 
 that he is constantly watched, or warned to leave, whenever he 
 shows his head in one of our leading cities. 
 
 George Carson, who has been one of the most prominent 
 members of the gangs associated with Minor, is also a man of 
 good education and pleasing manners. His ingratiating 
 powers have gained for him the title of "The Diplomat," in his 
 profession and he has usually been employed in carrying on 
 the conversations with the clerks while his confederates did the 
 actual thieving. Like Minor, he has been so adroit in the em- 
 ployment of cat's-paws and in skirting the edge of danger that 
 he contrived for years to escape conviction, although he was a 
 notorious associate of the most crafty and active bank sneaks 
 in this country. He was arrested, however, about nine years 
 ago in Toronto for the robbery of a bank messenger, in com- 
 pany with the dangerous burglar, "Gentleman George," and 
 sent to prison for seven years. Immediately after his dis- 
 charge, he joined a gang of "bank sneaks" and burglars in a 
 series of raids on postofifices, which will be subsequently 
 described. 
 
 There is a certain exclusiveness in the associations of repre- 
 sentative "bank sneaks." They do not fraternize with ordi- 
 nary thieves, and no one who is of distinctly repulsive appear- 
 ance will be admitted to membership in any prominent gang. 
 There is no scruple on their part, however, against- taking a 
 hand in any kind of thieving or frauds, which is sufficiently 
 tempting in its prospect of plunder. When the banks in any 
 city appear to be too well guarded to afford an opening for 
 their tricks, they will divert their attention to business offices 
 or hotels or railway cars or any other places where thefts of 
 money or jewelry are likely to be practicable. So sometimes 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE. i^q 
 
 the same men figure in our criminal records as "layers down" 
 or the companions of forgers, thieves of watches and jewelry, 
 "bunco men" or professional swindlers, and burglars even, as 
 well as "bank sneaks." Augustus, better known as "Gussie" 
 Raymond, is a rascal of this description, who has had a hand, 
 from time to time, in almost every kind of swindhng and 
 thieving. One of his most notorious crimes was the robbery 
 of a drummer for a jewelry firm, who was carrying a sample 
 trunk from Boston to Worcester. Raymond followed his 
 victim from a Boston hotel to the railway station, and con- 
 trived to replace the check of his trunk with another one, so 
 that he was able to carry off the trunk to New York. After 
 taking out nine thousand dollars' worth of jewelry, he filled the 
 trunk with bricks and sent it to Baltimore. This impudent 
 theft was finally traced to him and cost him a term of five 
 years in state prison. 
 
 Favorite recruits for the fraternity of "bank sneaks" are 
 drawn from the ranks of young men who have mingled more 
 or less in fashionable society and have had some training in 
 the offices of bankers and brokers. Some of these youths drift 
 into habits of extravagance and dissipation that involve them 
 in debt, and they may yield to suggestions to take part in 
 schemes of fraud if they are craftily enticed by boon com- 
 panions. Walter, alias "Wally," O'Connor is a young "bank 
 sneak" of this class who found an expert guide and confederate 
 in Joseph Killoran, alias "Joe Howard," one of the most wily 
 thieves in this country. By the intercession of his friends, 
 charges against him were more than once withdrawn, but he 
 was finally convicted in 1892 of the robbery of a bank in 
 Easton, Penn., and sent to the state prison for a term of three 
 years and nine months. 
 
 Sidney Manning, alias "Sid Yennie," is another sneak of the 
 same class and associated, like O'Connor, with Howard and 
 Carson. He had some training in the banking business, first 
 as messenger and afterwards as a clerk for a New York bank. 
 
I40 OUR EITAL, THE KASCAL. 
 
 He slid down hill from gambling at race tracks into cheating 
 at cards, swindling in bunco games, and stealing as a "bank 
 sneak." Finally he ventured to try his hand in burglary, in 
 cooperation with Carson, Killoran and two other notable 
 thieves, Charles Allen and Harry Russell. This gang made a 
 specialty of the robbery of postoffices, until it was broken up 
 by the arrest of Howard, Allen and Russell, on May i, 3895, 
 and the subsequent capture of Carson and Yennie, in January, 
 1896. In the following July both Carson and Yennie were 
 convicted of the robbery of the postofifice in Springfield, 
 Illinois, and sent to the penitentiary for terms of five years 
 each. 
 
 Joseph Killoran, ahas "Joe Howard," Sheldon Hamilton, 
 alias "Shell" Hamilton, William Maher, alias "Billy Marr," 
 and William Coleman represent well the combination of "bank 
 sneak" and burglar. All these have been associated with 
 Shinburn, Cummings and other leading bank burglars in not- 
 able raids. Maher was sentenced in 1871 to imprisonment for 
 ten years in the state prison in Trenton for the robbery of the 
 Jamesburg (N. J.) bank, but he escaped, after serving a year, 
 and eluded capture for six years. Then he was sent to prison 
 to serve out his term. Upon his release he went to work again 
 as a burglar and sneak thief, at first with the notorious "Dave" 
 Cummings and later with "Billy" Coleman, another noted 
 cracksman. In July, 1893, Maher and Coleman robbed the 
 postofifice in Rochester, N. H., of several hundred dollars' 
 worth of stamps. Maher engaged the attention of the post- 
 master by his inquiries while Coleman sneaked into the office 
 and took the stamps from the safe. Fortunately, the post- 
 master saw Coleman coming out of the office and captured 
 him after a short chase. He was sent to the state prison for 
 three years, but Maher contrived to keep under cover until 
 June, 1895, when he was arrested in New York and taken to 
 New Hampshire for trial. His former companion, Coleman, 
 who was then in prison, gave evidence against him, and Maher 
 
WILLIAM MAHER. 
 
 WILLIAM COLEMAN. 
 
 PHILIP PHEAESON. 
 
 SHELDON HAMILTON. 
 
. .*, 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE. 141 
 
 concluded to plead guilty in the hope of mitigating his sen- 
 tence. He is serving out a term of two years and a half in the 
 state prison. 
 
 Sheldon, commonly known as "Shell" Hamilton, has been 
 a prominent member of notorious gangs of bank sneaks, bur- 
 glars, forgers and counterfeiters, for the past thirty years. He 
 was caught twenty years ago, in the act of fitting a key to the 
 lock of a door of a savings bank in New London, Conn., while 
 the clerks were at dinner. He is particularly expert in making 
 and using false keys, but this lock was so hard to pick that he 
 was still at work on it when the clerks came back. He served 
 out a sentence of three years in the state prison for this attempt 
 and since his discharge he has taken part in the operations of 
 the most dangerous gangs infesting this country and Europe. 
 
 "Joe Howard," the last of this representative company of 
 "bank sneaks," has been robbing banks and business offices 
 for more than thirty years. In May, i8gi, he joined his young 
 friend, "Wallie" O'Connor in grand larceny in the Lewisburg 
 National Bank of Lewisburg, Penn. Shortly afterward he 
 turned his attention particularly to the robbery of postofiSces, 
 organizing a gang with Carson, Yenriie, and two other profes- 
 sional bank sneaks, Russell and Allen. This gang succeeded 
 in effecting a number of robberies, but was finally broken up 
 as before noted. Killoran, Russell and Allen were confined, in 
 advance of their trial, in Ludlow Street jail, in New York, but 
 escaped on -the Fourth of July, 1895, and succeeded in getting 
 away to Europe. 
 
 The portraits of these representative criminals show the ex- 
 tent of the range in age and appearance of professional bank 
 sneaks and our collection is well concluded by the photograph 
 of Philip Phearson, one of the oldest and craftiest sneak thieves 
 in this country. He is now a veteran too feeble and slow in 
 his movements to compete with the younger men in his pro- 
 fession; but, in his prime,* he was an accomplished "bank 
 sneak" and pickpocket, as well as an expert "till-tapper." This 
 
142 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 latter distinction marks'the sneak thieves who make a specialty 
 of infesting stores and ofifices, with the design of stealing be- 
 hind a counter or rail and filching from tills or money drawers 
 while their confederates are distracting the attention of the 
 cashiers and clerks. 
 
 We cannot emphasize too strongly the call for constant 
 vigilance in foiling the crafty tricks of these sly rascals. The 
 detectives on duty in the banking districts, known as "the bank 
 squad," in our principal cities, are keeping the keenest possi- 
 ble watch upon these artful thieves, and doing all in their 
 power to shut them out of the business centres. Known 
 "bank sneaks" are arrested, at sight, whenever they are seen 
 to be loitering about a bank or business office, and all persons 
 whose appearance or actions arouse just suspicion are 
 promptly and sharply called to account. 
 
 The detectives are instructed to pass through the banks daily 
 and keep a sharp eye upon all strangers or persons v/ho have 
 no apparent business to transact. They are expected to be- 
 come so well acquainted with the bank officers that they can 
 be readily called upon for any service in the Hne of their duties. 
 It is a part of their duty to guard bank messengers and other 
 employees carrying money or other valuables from business 
 offices to banks, or from bank to bank; and they are always 
 ready to do any special escort service that may be required. 
 In our larger cities, at the present time, this patrol is so efficient 
 that many of the most dangerous "bank sneaks" .have been 
 driven from their field of plunder in this country, and have 
 gone abroad to infest the cities of Europe, where they are not 
 so well known to the police. This migration has unquestion- 
 ably lessened the losses in this country, but it should not lead to 
 any relaxation of vigilance in the guarding of our business 
 centres. 
 
 The establishment of these guards has been of notable serv- 
 ice in suppressing the plague of- sneak theives, but their 
 watchfulness should be earnestly seconded by proper care and 
 
A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE. j^, 
 
 precaution on the part of business men generally. No person 
 depositing or receiving money should exhibit it, in the sight of 
 strangers, except in so far as is inevitable in the passing be- 
 tween the bank teller and himself. When the messengers of 
 brokers and bankers are carrying any considerable amount of 
 money or securities to and fro from the vaults of banks or trust 
 companies, these valuables should always be conveyed in 
 strong, locked boxes, and it is always preferable to employ two 
 messengers in this service. The doubling of the guard re- 
 duces the risk of loss far more than one-half, for "bank sneaks" 
 rarely venture to meddle with such a convoy by trick or as- 
 sault, and it is not likely that two messengers will be careless 
 at the same moment of time. The like precaution should be 
 taken in conveying jewelry or other tempting valuables, and it 
 may well be observed that the operations of "bank sneaks" 
 have been largely diverted of late to the robbery of jewellers 
 and their travelling agents. When transfers of great sums of 
 money and securities are to be made, as in the case of the 
 moving of a bank from one building to another, special guards 
 of detectives and police can, and should always, be obtained. 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL 
 
 IN one of the most fascinating of the romances of Walter 
 Scott the story is told of an extraordinary passage at arms 
 between King Richard of the Lion Heart and the Sultan, 
 Saladin. The two monarchs met as host and guest in the 
 course of a brief truce and Richard willingly gave a display of 
 his surpassing strength at the request of his rival. Heaving 
 
 aloft with both hands 
 his mighty sword, he 
 swung it about his head 
 as if it were of feather 
 weight and brought it 
 down with such resist- 
 less force' that its tem- 
 pered blade sheared in 
 two the heavy iron han- 
 dle of his mace and sunk 
 deeply into a block of 
 wood beneath. All the 
 lookers on cried out in 
 wonder and praise of the 
 Titan's stroke of the 
 Mdcch Ric. 
 
 Saladin's tribute was 
 ungrudging as any to 
 this demonstration of sheer strength which he could not hope 
 to match. But when the haughty Richard asked him, in turn, 
 for some exhibit of his own powers, the modest Saracen wound 
 a veil lightly over his scimitar, and with a sidelong sweep cut 
 the floating gauze apart. 
 
 Such a contrast there is between the smashing onset of the 
 
TBE STROKE OF THE QUILL. 
 
 145 
 
 burglar, breaking his way with sledge hammer and dynamite 
 into a steel-bound treasure vault, and the insidious craft of the 
 forger, wihng the hidden gold from its strongholds with the 
 flourish of a pen or the scratch of a graving tool. In actual 
 encounter on the field it is probable that the huge sword of 
 the English king was more terrible and deadly than the sultan's 
 potent scimitar, but no ponderous pick or sledge has ever 
 struck such dread into the heart of a banker as the tiny crow 
 quill or slender etching tool in the hand of an expert counter- 
 feiter. Here the pen is indeed mightier than any weapon that 
 ever cut or battered its way into a treasure chamber. 
 
 Forgery as a means of obtaining money, credit or other 
 valuable considerations under false pretences is doubtless al- 
 most as old as the invention of letters. It is morally certain, 
 in fact, that the claim of the mythical Cadmus, if there ever was 
 a Cadmus, was founded on the counterfeit of another's handi- 
 work. As soon as an honest man learned how to write, in the old 
 days, he found to his sorrow that a rascal was able to use a 
 stylus or some other lettering tool as well as himself. The 
 keeper of his strong box was cheated by a forged draft on a 
 tablet of wax, thousands of years ago, just as the honest man's 
 banker to-day honors a counterfeit check upon his deposit. 
 As civilization advanced and papyrus and parchment suc- 
 ceeded the sheet of wax or the plate of metal, the goose quill 
 served the forger as well as the other scribes who turned their 
 hands to honest work. 
 
 Hand in hand with forgery on parchment and paper came 
 on the sister art of the fabrication of counterfeit coins. When 
 a people advanced in civilization beyond the primitive exchange 
 by barter, coins of various denominations were cut by dies 
 or cast in molds and their composition was determined by 
 sovereign authority. The high privilege of producing and 
 issuing these coins was sometimes granted to favored persons 
 or associations by the sovereign, but it was usually jealously 
 guarded as an exclusive prerogative of the crown. Thus, in 
 
146 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 England, under the old common law and many statutes, 
 counterfeiting was accounted an act of treason, but, in spite 
 of this sovereign reservation and prohibition, the making of 
 counterfeit coins has 'been defiantly pursued by the irrepres- 
 sible rascal. 
 
 In strict technical usage counterfeiting may be defined as 
 the crime of making or uttering false or fictitious coins and 
 paper money. The counterfeiting of genuine signatures on a 
 bank note printed from a genuine plate makes what is termed 
 a forged note. If the signatures on such a note are those of fic- 
 titious persons, the note is classed as "spurious." In this re- 
 stricted usage only those notes are "counterfeit" which are 
 printed from false plates. But, in the terms of our statute laws, 
 forging and counterfeiting are alike applied to the manufacture 
 of every description of false coin, paper money, and every obli- 
 gation or security of the government. 
 
 It is not within the plan of our present work to trace in detail 
 the progressive stages in the rise of counterfeiting or to show 
 at length the successive expedients to which nations and in- 
 dividuals have been driven in the provision of safeguards. It 
 is sufficient to note that the plague has been afflicting and por- 
 tentous since the beginning of history in defiance of every 
 measure of suppression and defence. Even the extreme 
 penalty of death, imposed by ancient laws for this offence, did 
 not deter bold rascals from the execution of their frauds and 
 the modern laws of nations, punishing the counterfeiter by 
 penal servitude for life or for a long term of years, have not 
 been better respected. 
 
 In measures of precaution, as well as in the severity of 
 punishment, extraordinary efiforts have been put forth to stop 
 the progress of counterfeiting. With the advance of the arts, 
 the device and execution of coins have been carried to a pitch 
 of elaboration and finish that can only be attained by the com- 
 bination of rare artistic skill and costly machinery. The oper- 
 ation of all government mints is guarded with the most rigid 
 
TBE STROKE OF TEE QOILL. 147 
 
 regulations for secrecy and security. The theft of a die or its 
 duplication for any private and criminal use is now almost im- 
 practicable. In the design and execution of national paper 
 money and bonds the provision of safeguards is even more 
 complex and complete. Paper of peculiar composition, texture 
 and finish is made to order for government use under condi- 
 tions that are designed to exclude the possibility of any theft 
 or unauthorized disposal of any part of the product. Only 
 artists of the foremost professional standing are engaged in 
 the preparation of the plates for printing this paper, and the 
 lettering, scroll work, figure drawing and all other embellish- 
 ments are purposely so elaborate and artful that their .exact 
 imitation and reproduction are undertakings of great and con- 
 stantly increasing difficulty. Scarcely less care is taken by 
 banks, railway companies, and other corporations and business 
 associations to defeat the schemes of the forger by the multipli- 
 cation and perfection of safeguards. The art of the engraver, 
 the paper maker, the ink manufacturer and the printer has been 
 strained to raise insuperable blocks in the way of a counter- 
 feiter, and all honest and faithful employees are continually 
 vigilant in the detection and prevention of imposition. The 
 regular police forces of the country and the secret service 
 organization of the national government devote special atten- 
 tion to the stealthy workings of the forger and efficient private 
 detective associations are also enlisted in securing protection 
 for the business community. 
 
 Against this advancing array of defences the rascal has been 
 striving with a fertility of resource and craft of operation that 
 have found and penetrated every vulnerable point in the 
 barrier. When he has been foiled in any line of imposition by 
 some new invention or safeguard, he has turned his hand to 
 the removal of the block with redoubled energy and determi- 
 nation. If the block proved to be too much for his wits and 
 persistence, he has slipped around it in some way or turned 
 aside to some other avenue still open to him. 
 
148 OUR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Silver coin has been the kind most commonly counterfeited 
 from the earliest times, because of the comparative ease of pro- 
 duction of a passable counterfeit and because its circulation 
 was very largely from hand to hand among the classes of peo- 
 ple who were least wary and competent in the detection of 
 fraud. By far the greater part of the counterfeit silver coin has 
 been cast in molds because this is the cheapest and easiest 
 method of manufacture. Molded coin lacks the sharp and 
 clear cut appearance of genuine coin struck from fine dies, and 
 the lettering and line marks are usually so inferior that the 
 counterfeit only escapes detection through hasty handling. 
 Coins struck from dies are far more dangerous counterfeits 
 but, fortunately, the cost of making good dies is so large that 
 this mode of counterfeiting has been greatly restricted and 
 chiefly confined to the making of imitation gold coin. 
 
 In the earlier and cruder processes of counterfeiting, lead, 
 type metal, zinc and brass — cheap and common metals and 
 alloy_s — were most frequently used in the manufacture of base 
 coin, but within the present century ther§ has been a great 
 advance in the science of composition and the quality of ma- 
 terial. The invention of electroplating gave a notable impetus 
 to the manufacture of counterfeit coins and made their de- 
 tection far more difficult. One of the most dangerous counter- 
 feit coins now in existence is a compound of antimony and 
 lead very heavily electroplated with silver. The same process 
 is applied to the making of imitation gold coin and some of 
 the best executed counterfeit coins in this country are the gold 
 ten dollar piece or eagle of 1858, and the half eagles of 1847, 
 1848, 1862 and 1869, which are made of platinum with a 
 heavy plating of gold. 
 
 When the plated coin has been worn by use, its base material 
 can readily be detected by the application of strong nitric acid. 
 A drop of this acid will have no effect on a coin of standard 
 gold or silver, but it visibly attacks the baser metals. It should 
 be applied on the edge of the coin as that is the part most worn 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QVILL. ,40) 
 
 in handling. The United States mint test for proving gold is 
 strong nitric acid, 6| drachms; muriatic acid, | drachm or 15 
 drops ; water, 5 drachms. For silver the mint test is 24 grains 
 nitrate of silver, 30 drops nitric acid, i ounce water. 
 
 Perhaps even a more dangerous counterfeit than the electro- 
 plated coin has been produced by the use of considerable 
 amounts of the precious metals in the spurious coins. This 
 has been done in particular with marked ingenuity in the case 
 of the counterfeit half eagles of 1844, 1881, and 1882. The 
 gold bullion value in the counterfeit half eagle of 1844 is nearly 
 four and one-half dollars, and there is an additional percentage 
 of silver. The coin is only ^/j^ of a grain lighter than the gen- 
 uine, and is very closely alike in ring and coloring. It resists 
 acid tests almost as well as genuine gold coin. The counter- 
 feit gold pieces of 1881 and 1882 are almost equally perfect. 
 They were struck from dies by the drop process and closely 
 resemble genuine coins. They are composed of gold, silver, 
 copper and platinum, and their weight does not differ more 
 than three-tenths of a grain from that of the genuine half eagle. 
 The actual bullion value of one of these counterfeit coins has 
 been determined by assay to be four dollars and forty-three 
 cents. 
 
 It is obvious that the keenest watchfulness and pursuit are 
 requisite to prevent the imposition and circulation of such 
 counterfeits, although the bulk of the counterfeit coins in ex- 
 istence is far less delusive. Comparatively few coins of this 
 class will bear any close comparison with genuine coin of the 
 same period and coinage. The impress, the size, the weight 
 and the ring will be likely to differ appreciably and it is almost 
 impracticable to produce coins of precisely the same weight, 
 diameter and thickness without using the same exact compo- 
 sition. In examining a suspected coin, therefore, always note 
 by comparison, if practicable, whether it exactly corresponds 
 in these three points with a genuine coin of the same denomi- 
 nation and period. 
 
150 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 With the exception of a small amount of the counterfeit gold 
 coin, before noted, the only coins which will bear this test are 
 the very dangerous counterfeit silver coins, lately issued, con- 
 taining silver of the same weight and fineness as the silver in 
 the genuine coins of the United States. This counterfeit is 
 made practicable and profitable by the large difference now ex- 
 isting betvvfeen the bullion and the legal tender value of our 
 silver coins. ^ The director of the United States mint has made 
 special note, in his latest report, of the coinage and uttering of 
 these counterfeits, and it is needless to observe that every effort 
 will be made by our national government to detect and convict 
 all persons engaged in issuing these coins. 
 
 There are several frauds in tampering with genuine coins, 
 which appear to be foster brothers of counterfeiting. These 
 are known as "sweating," "plugging" and "filling," and gold 
 coins are the chief victims of these devices of abstracting some 
 of the precious metal in circulation. "Sweating" is the removal 
 of metal from the surface of a coin by an acid bath and, when 
 this is done adroitly, a fraction of the weight is taken away 
 without very marked damage to the appearance or ring of the 
 coin. In "plugging" a coin, a fine hole is bored into the edge, 
 preferably, and the gold dust from the hole replaced with some 
 base metal. This filling is covered with a wash or light plating 
 of gold, and the fraud is then difficult to detect in ordinary 
 handHng. "Filling" is done by sawing through the edge of a 
 coin and dividing it into two parts which are scraped thin in the 
 centre and lined with platinum or some composition whose 
 weight is nearly equal to that of the gold abstracted. The clip- 
 ping and filing of coins, as well as these more artful devices, 
 were far more common a century ago than they are to-day, but 
 the frauds are still prosecuted to some extent. 
 
 The counterfeiting of paper money has been prosecuted with 
 even more ingenuity than the manufacture of spurious coins. 
 The fine and complex engraving of the modern treasury notes 
 of our own and other countries has been an almost insur- 
 
THE STROKE OF TBE QVILL. lej 
 
 mountable obstacle in the way of counterfeiting from the diffi- 
 culty and expense of duplicating it exactly, but some expert 
 counterfeiters have succeeded in engraving plates which were 
 extraordinarily exact duplicates of the genuine ones. Poorly 
 executed and cheap wood-cut reproductions are still used to a 
 limited extent, as in the case of a recent counterfeit of the 
 United States five dollar silver certificate, but the greater part 
 of the counterfeits in circulation to-day has been produced by 
 the photographic method in combination with pen and ink 
 drawing or retouching. The combination of photography, en- 
 graving and pen and ink work has succeeded in fashioning 
 some very deceptive and dangerous counterfeits, although, to 
 an expert eye, the difference may usually be marked between 
 the grayish, brown-black impress from the photographic 
 process and the jet black ink used for genuine notes. 
 
 Up to the last thirty years the United States government 
 relied almost wholly on the perfection of the engraving on its 
 treasury notes as a security against imitation, and all such 
 notes issued prior to 1869 were printed on plain bank note 
 paper. Beginning with that year, however, all its issues have 
 been printed on a fibre paper which is manufactured under 
 special patent processes. This fibre paper has proved to be 
 very difficult to imitate, especially as it has been prepared of 
 late years, with two silk threads running lengthwise through 
 the note. 
 
 The leading national banks of this country rival our govern- 
 ment in the perfection of their issues of paper money, but the 
 notes of many banks have been counterfeited with varying de- 
 grees of exactness. Not only paper money but checks, prom- 
 isory notes, bills of exchange, bonds, certificates of stock, 
 deeds, wills, — in short every written or printed instrument con- 
 veying property — have been the prey of the forger. The old 
 common law definition of forgery was the fraudulent making or 
 alteration of a writing to the prejudice of another man's right. 
 Under repeated decisions of the courts it has been held that 
 
152 OUR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 the fraudulent insertion or alteration, or even the erasure of a 
 single letter, is an act of forgery. 
 
 The imperative call for the most stringent legislation and 
 sleepless vigilance in the detection and suppression of forgery 
 is, perhaps, most signally shown in the records and collec- 
 tions of the United States Treasury. It appears that the fifty- 
 cent fractional currency, issued in the years of the,War for the 
 Union, was successfully counterfeited to the extent of many 
 millions of dollars. When the distinctive fibre paper was 
 adopted in 1869, it was supposed to be proof against any art of 
 the counterfeiter but, before a year had elapsed, this presump- 
 tion was fatally shattered by the craft of the remarkable forger, 
 Thomas Ballard, an expert chemist, engraver and paper 
 maker, who contrived to produce counterfeit treasury notes 
 that were almost exact reproductions of the genuine legal 
 tenders. 
 
 Ballard and others of his gang were captured in 1871, but he 
 contrived to break out of jail and found a hiding place from 
 which he continued to pour out his dangerous counterfeits. 
 Two years after his escape the $500 treasury note was so art- 
 fully counterfeited in his workshop that the issue excited the 
 gravest alarm in all banking circles and caused the treasury de- 
 partment to put forth its utmost exertion to trace out the coun- 
 terfeiter. Its keen hunt was soon rewarded by the capture of 
 Ballard in his lair in Buffalo, where he was, at the moment, 
 actually engaged in producing a counterfeit, on a steel plate, 
 of the five-dollar bill of the Bank of British North America. 
 This work was designed to be his "chef-d'oeuvre" and destined, 
 as he vainly boasted, "to bankrupt all Canada." Fortunately 
 for the Dominion and this country, as well, the career of this 
 extraordinary counterfeiter was finally closed by his convic- 
 tion and sentence to thirty years' imprisonment in the Albany 
 penitentiary. 
 
 Charles Ulrich was only second to Ballard in art and accom- 
 plishments. He was a German by birth and, when he was 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. ^r-, 
 
 scarcely more than a boy, he won the distinction in infamy of 
 producing the best counterfeit Bank of England note ever 
 made. This feat made Europe too hot for the sole of his foot 
 and, in 1856, he was driven to fly to this country where he be- 
 gan his career in crime by "raising" genuine ten-dollar notes 
 to hundred-dollar bills. This alteration was so artfully exe- 
 cuted that a large amount of these forged bills was successfully 
 uttered, and the forger went on to produce a still more elab- 
 orate counterfeit. The "raising" of notes was too tedious a 
 process to content him; so he undertook to print hundred-dol- 
 lar bills from his own counterfeit plates. For a number of 
 years he succeeded in escaping arrest, while counterfeiting and 
 uttering the notes of bank after bank with alarming perfection, 
 but he was finally exposed and captured, in 1868, and sent to 
 the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio, for a term of twelve years. 
 
 The invention of the device of transforming small bills into 
 large by cutting and pasting is credited to an uncommonly 
 well-educated rascal, popularly known as "One Eyed Thomp- 
 son." There is a series of bank notes in the government col- 
 lection, which this artist "raised" by laboriously pasting large 
 numbers over the small ones on the genuine bills. The same 
 inventor led the way also in the manufacture of bills produced 
 by cutting ten $10 bills into slips sufficient to make eleven 
 counterfeit bills of. the same denomination, when the pieces 
 were pasted together. 
 
 Another inventor of the same class, John Peter McCartney, 
 was the first to devise a process of removing the ink from gen- 
 uine one-dollar bills by a chemical wash, so that he could ob- 
 tain the government's own fibre paper for the manufacture of 
 counterfeit bills of higher denominations. He made many 
 hundred thousand dollars by this stretch of his criminal inge- 
 nuity, but he could not escape conviction, at last, and imprison- 
 ment for fifteen years at hard labor, as the outcome of his 
 rascally invention. 
 
 Naturally the counterfeiting of a signature on a check or 
 
154 Ot/i? RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 draft has been one of the most frequent of forgeries because of 
 its comparative simpHcity and the Extraordinary sum of money 
 which may be obtained by a single successful imposition. Sig- 
 natures have been imitated so exactly that they have been ac- 
 cepted unhesitatingly by paying tellers, who were experts in 
 handwriting and perfectly familiar with every peculiarity of the 
 genuine lettering. More than this, the counterfeits have been 
 so perfect in some cases that the very men whose signatures 
 were forged would not have doubted their genuineness, if it 
 had not been for their positive knowledge that they had never 
 signed the checks in question. 
 
 Sometimes this counterfeiting is done by an overlaying and 
 tracing process which will produce an almost exact fac-simile. 
 This is obviously an imposition which is cunningly calculated 
 to cheat the handler of one of these checks in the ordinary 
 course of business, but it can surely be detected by experts to- 
 day with the aid of modern testing appliances. If the particu- 
 lar signature, which has been copied, can be secured for the 
 purpose of comparison, the fraud may be easily exposed. No 
 person ever writes his signature twice exactly alike; so, if two 
 signatures are so written that one precisely accords with the 
 other when placed upon it, one of the two is a traced counter- 
 feit. 
 
 It is, further, well determined that no tracing with pen or 
 pencil will show to an expert eye the same natural movement 
 of the hand which appears in the original writing and this is 
 true of any method of imitation by hand. In the deliberation 
 necessary for exact tracing there is inevitably a cramping of 
 the hand of the forger and a variation in the flow of the pen. 
 
 It may be supposed, erroneously, that a slow, awkward and 
 trembling hand can be more readily counterfeited than a fine 
 specimen of penmanship, but this is not the case. Expert 
 forgers are necessarily artists in the use of the pen and really 
 good penmen have an almost insuperable difficulty in feigning 
 to be bad writers. The tendency to produce symmetrical trac- 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. 
 
 155 
 
 ing and natural curves is a second nature which cannot be 
 readily overcome, as a leading authority on this subject has 
 keenly observed. "The tremors of a simulating hand," says 
 Persifor Frazer, an expert of the highest authority, "are never 
 so numerous nor so fine as real tremors. Under a microscope 
 the rhythmic lapses from perturbed writing and back remind 
 one of the imitation of a drunken man in amateur theatricals." 
 
 Among the most common lapses of forgers is the proper 
 union of the smaller letters w^hich a good writer will uncon- 
 sciously perform with address. The dash is apt to assume a 
 graceful curve, the dot will usually appear in the place where 
 the counterfeiter is accustomed to write it, and, if all these in- 
 dications are lacking, there will usually be some betrayal in the 
 crossing of the t, the shading of some of the lettters and 
 the preservation of a straight line for the base line of the 
 writing. 
 
 By the application of the microscope the most minute varia- 
 tions in the character of the writing can now be detected and 
 recorded. Even a line half an inch in length may furnish 
 a revelation of strong significance to an expert detector. And 
 throughout the whole of the forgery will be. visible what Mr. 
 Frazer terms the tremor of fraud, — "that tremor and uncer- 
 tainty which result from the slow motion of the pen over the 
 paper, necessary to a hand unaccustomed to writing a signa- 
 ture, when all the minute details visible in that signature must 
 be repeated." 
 
 When any writing or lettering has been removed by erasure 
 or washing with chemical reagents, the fact can be determined 
 by the fine microscopic, light and chemical processes now ap- 
 plicable, in spite of every device of concealment. The most 
 minute difference can be distinguished in the ink employed 
 from that used in the original writing and, if a line has been 
 written over another of earlier date, the imposition can be ex- 
 posed. 
 
 In view of the really admirable achievements of modern 
 
156 OUR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 science in provisions for the detection of forgery, it seems to 
 be high time for the discontinuance of the ancient custom 
 of calling upon alleged experts to give mere opinions, based on 
 bare eyesight, in trials of forgery cases. Such snap judgments 
 are always offset by a conflicting array of equally indecisive 
 opinions or surmises. For positive determinations of frauds, 
 weeks of laborious examination and a variety of tests may be 
 required, and it is certain that no expert deserving the name 
 will pass with assurance upon any case of supposed forgery 
 without the application of all the tests needed. 
 
 Of course these elaborate tests cannot be appHed in the or- 
 dinary handling of checks in business transactions, 
 but there are simple precautions which can readily 
 be taken. 
 
 A lithographic fac-simile can be distinguished from genuine 
 writing by simply passing a finger lightly over the face of the 
 copy which will be smoother than the lines made by a pen. 
 This is easily done in the case of a signature on a check and 
 every such draft should be keenly scanned to note the slightest 
 indication of an erasure or a discoloration of the paper. 
 
 Before cashing checks or drafts offered by strangers, 
 or by men whose character and standing are not 
 well known, the drawer of the check should be called 
 upon to certify the correctness of the amount and authorize its 
 payment to the applicant. In these days of the telephone and 
 telegraph, this precaution will involve only a slight delay, if the 
 application is authorized, and the cost of this reference will not 
 be grudged by any honest applicant. If there is any question 
 of the financial standing of the maker of the check, the bank 
 upon which it is drawn should also be called upon to give as- 
 surance of its payment, and this should be done invariably 
 when the applicant wants his own check cashed. If this pro- 
 cedure was universally adopted by business men, there would 
 certainly be a great diminution in the losses from forgery and 
 imposition of worthless checks. 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. 
 
 ^57 
 
 It is, however, necessary to add a word of warning in regard 
 to the possible use of tlie telephone by forgers for the purpose 
 of foiling this precaution of reference. There are known in- 
 stances in which the presenters of forged checks and notes 
 have previously given telephone messages to bank officers, in 
 the name of the maker or endorser of the note or check. A 
 bank in Albany, N. Y., was imposed upon a few years ago by 
 this device and would have lost several thousand dollars if the 
 cashier had not fortified his supposed assurance by calling upon 
 the professed indorser of the note to certify once more to his 
 signature. The reply was received in time to stop the payment 
 of the check given for the note, and arrest the forger, a notori- 
 ous "bunco man," John C. Johnson. 
 
 A trick even more artful than this has been devised by 
 rogues who arrange to have confederates in the offices of the 
 business men, whose names are forged, when the forged checks 
 are presented at the banks. By some plea or pretence the con- 
 federates get the use of the telephones at the prearranged mo- 
 ment for the presentation of "the checks, and coolly certify to 
 their correctness when these bank officers make inquiry over 
 the wires. This trick of impersonation and certification is ob- 
 viously not less dangerous than impudent. 
 
 It should, further, be borne in mind that the pretended certi- 
 fication of checks is a common device of the swindlers and for- 
 gers who are travelling from city to city, through this country, 
 to-day. Counterfeit certification stamps form part of their out- 
 fit, as has been shown in a number of recent arrests. The offer 
 of a check, which appears to be a cashier's or a certified check, 
 is, therefore, no sufficient assurance of payment. 
 
 Letters of introduction, or of application for the cashing of 
 checks, are also frequently forged by the swindling adventurers. 
 Sometimes these forgeries are made on an elaborate scale, and 
 a number of letters, — purporting to be written by business 
 firms of known standing or by public men of distinction, — are 
 presented by some plausible impostor. On the strength of these 
 
158 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 introductions, the swindler will secure goods on credit, or loans, 
 or accommodation in cashing drafts. Frequently these rascals 
 impersonate business men, the agents or members of firms 
 which they pretend to represent ; and by this cheat they succeed 
 in procuring the acceptance of checks and drafts through the 
 high commercial rating of these firms. This swindle has vic- 
 timized so many business men that it is necessary to urge par- 
 ticular caution in verifying these pretences of introduction and 
 business connection. 
 
 The same caution applies also to the legion of swindles, in a 
 smaller way, which are effected by ordering small lots of goods 
 to be sent to a well-known address C. O. D. The swindler 
 will meet the messenger, near the door of the house where the 
 goods are to be delivered, and take the parcel out of his hands 
 in exchange for a forged or worthless check. A still more art- 
 ful device is employed by the swindlers who send forged letters 
 to storekeepers, in the names of well known customers, asking 
 the favor of the cashing of a check. The writers explain this 
 call on the ground that their banks are closed for the day ancl 
 they happen to need the cash for some special purpose. As 
 the storekeeper desires to oblige a good customer, he is likely 
 to grant the favor and receive a forged check in return. The 
 messenger boy who will carry back the money, will be met by 
 the swindler, who is lying in wait for him, and the storekeeper's 
 money will soon be beyond recall. When such favors are 
 granted, bitter experience has shown that a trustworthy clerk 
 should be sent with the money to ensure its delivery to the 
 proper hands. 
 
 A paying teller of long experience in a metropolitan bank 
 has lately discussed the subject of the presentation of checks 
 with apparent candor and point. 
 
 "The genuineness of a check," he observes, "is largely de- 
 termined by the circumstances attending its presentation. By 
 far the greater number come through the clearing house from 
 other banks where they are deposited or cashed. As these 
 
THE STROKE OE THE QVILL. 
 
 159 
 
 banks guarantee their indorsements, the risk here is compara- 
 tively small. 
 
 "Those presented at the window are carefully scrutinized. 
 Not only the handwriting but the character of the bearer, as 
 well as the peculiarity of the customer's account, are taken into 
 consideration. There is such a disposition with most bank 
 accounts to run into grooves that anything out of the usual 
 rtm is noted at once, familiarity with a dealer's habits frequently 
 leading to the detection of irregularities. 
 
 "A man's bank account is a sort of index to his whole busi- 
 ness. It shows with whom he is dealing, what are the sources 
 of his income, and when and how he makes his payments. It 
 reveals the amount of his personal expenditures, and whether 
 he is a borrower or lender, rash or conservative; how much 
 real estate he is holding, and what it costs him to carry it, 
 almost everything, in short, concerning his financial affairs. 
 Needless to add, the knowledge thus obtained is held sacred. 
 
 "Perfectly innocent persons are often induced to present 
 bogus checks, and sometimes unconsciously give away the 
 whole scheme. A boy used for this purpose is especially apt 
 to blurt out the truth the very first thing and tell how a nice, 
 pleasant man around the corner has given him a quarter to go 
 and draw the money at the bank. It is hardly worth the while, 
 in such instances, to give the money to the lad and follow him, 
 as before that time the obliging man will generally have van- 
 ished. 
 
 "Many of the forgeries coming under my notice were com- 
 mitted by the sons of the men whose handwriting they copied. 
 Sons, nephews, trusted clerks, they of a man's own household, 
 are too often those upon whom suspicion rightly falls. Such 
 cases seldom or never come to the knowledge of the public, 
 and sometimes are not even known to the bank, the checks be- 
 ing quietly accepted by their reputed signers as regular charges 
 against their accounts. Pathetic scenes are witnessed behind 
 bank railings when the evidence of crime confronts both author 
 
l6o OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 and victim — blanched faces, trembling lips, shame and bitter 
 tears, oftener from the wronged and innocent ones than from 
 the culprit himself." 
 
 To these remarks one point of particular importance may 
 properly be added and emphasized. Caution should be more 
 universally taken in the introducing of acquaintances to banks 
 for the purpose of opening accounts, and banks should exer- 
 cise uniform care in obtaining satisfactory references before ac- 
 cepting deposits and issuing check books to slightly known 
 persons. 
 
 It will be found in the great majority of instances that fraud 
 has been successfully perpetrated from the neglect of such sim- 
 ple and easy precautions. It has been shown also that there 
 should be no hasty assumption of invulnerability or of the suffi- 
 ciency of safeguards against the snare of the forger. Even the 
 greatest bank in the world may suffer by such a conceit as was 
 signally illustrated in the celebrated case of the Bidwell forger- 
 ies. 
 
 Austin Bidwell, an American of plausible address, succeeded 
 in opening an account with the Bank of England, twenty-five 
 years ago, in the assumed name of Frederic Albert Warren. 
 Bidwell and his associates had obtained nearly eighty thousand 
 dollars by successful forgeries in Europe and they planned to 
 use this booty as capital to establish their credit in London. 
 Bidwell took rooms at one of the most expensive hotels and 
 masqueraded for weeks as an American Monte Cristo. He 
 was introduced to the Bank of England by the head of a firm 
 of fashionable tailors who really knew nothing about him be- 
 yond the fact that he was a prodigal customer who asked no 
 credit. 
 
 After his first deposit was made with the bank, he contrived 
 to impress the managers with his apparent command of capital 
 and the magnitude of his transactions by a series of open pur- 
 chases and secret sales of a variety of securities, drawing heav- 
 ily upon his account one day and replacing the draft on the 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. i6r 
 
 next day. He was also a considerable dealer in good bills of 
 exchange and acquired in this way an intimate acquaintance 
 with the practice'of the bank in discounting these bills. 
 
 At that time it was not the custom of this bank to send ac- 
 ceptances, ofTered for discount, to the acceptors for verification 
 of signatures. Upon the lack of this precaution the gigantic 
 forgery scheme of Austin Bidwell and his confederates was 
 founded. He represented to the manager of the bank that he 
 was about to engage in the manufacture of cars and other rail- 
 way material on a very large scale and should send on his bills 
 of exchange from Birmingham for discount. By this time, 
 six months after his first introduction, he had so established 
 his credit by his prepossessing bearing and the character of 
 his transactions, that he had no difficulty in putting bills with 
 forged acceptances through the bank to the extent of nearly a 
 million pounds. 
 
 Flushed with success, the forgers grew careless if not reck- 
 less. Austin Bidwell went away with his young bride on a 
 wedding journey through Spain to the West Indies. His 
 brother George remained in England to forward the forged 
 bills of exchange by mail and dispose of the proceeds. In the 
 course of two months an enormous amount was presented and 
 discounted and it was determined by the forgers to wind up 
 their business and fly with their booty. 
 
 The actual work of forging the acceptances on the bills had 
 been done by one of the confederates, George McDonald, in 
 his apartments on St. James's Place, and the confederates met 
 there for a final conference before leaving London. It chanced 
 that a handful of unused bills remained among the papers 
 which the forgers began to burn, and it was hastily agreed to 
 renew the closed scheme of forgery by sending this last batch 
 of bills through the mail for discount. This proved to be a 
 fatal error from the point of view of the criminals, for the date 
 of acceptance had been inadvertently omitted on one of these 
 bills. 
 
1 62 ■ OUR KIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 The deficient bill was discounted by the bank, but a messen- 
 ger was sent with the bill to the London firm, whose acceptance 
 was forged, to request the correction of what was supposed to 
 be merely a clerical error. This presentation of the forged 
 bill at once exposed the fraud and, when the alarm was given,, 
 the forgers in London had no time to effect an escape. After 
 a few weeks of keen pursuit, two of the principals, George Bid- 
 well and George McDonald, were captured and Austin Bidwell 
 was keenly traced out and arrested shortly afterward by a mem- 
 ber of the Pinkerton agency in Havana. Much credit is due 
 to the efficient detective forces of Great Britain for their suc- 
 cessful uncovering of the hidden tracks of these extraordinarily 
 artful forgers, and the securing of the evidence which justified 
 their conviction. Their trial in the Old Bailey Criminal Court 
 in August, 1873, was the sensation of the week in London. 
 The two Bidwells, McDonald, and a fourth confederate, Noyes, 
 who was employed to draw out the proceeds of the discounted 
 bills, were convicted of forgery and sentenced to penal servi- 
 tude for life. These sentences were commuted by pardons, a 
 few years ago, and both the Bidwells have since written and 
 published interesting autobiographies. 
 
 Some points of signal importance and representative value , 
 are emphasized in this remarkable case. The introduction of 
 "Frederic Albert Warren" by a business man who knew next 
 to nothing about his character was the foundation of the fraud. 
 The neglect to verify references and acceptances made the 
 fraud practicable. The execution of the fraud in spite of all 
 the array of artful preparation shows certain characteristic 
 blundering. 'Tt appears," remarks a keen observer of this 
 class of fraud, "as if the forger's attention is so earnestly di- 
 rected to overcoming the difficult parts of his task that he is apt 
 to neglect simpler and more obvious parts." The omission 
 of the essential date of acceptance on a bill of exchange caused 
 the exposure of all the forgeries. The failure to destroy a 
 piece of blotting paper bearing a clear imprint of the draft of 
 
TBE STROKE OF THE QUILL. iQ^ 
 
 "F. A. Warren" for "Ten Thousand Pounds Sterling" fur- 
 nished one of the most convincing links in the circumstantial 
 evidence that secured the conviction of the forgers. It is by 
 such palpable and characteristic slips that the wiliest rascals 
 expose and convict themselves. 
 
 Apart from this propensity to blunder in the execution of 
 their schemes, it is unquestionable that the leaders of the gangs 
 of forgers, which have harassed our own and foreign countries 
 during the present century, have been men of extraordinary abil- 
 ity in devising and executingplansof fraud. Henry Wade Wilkes, 
 aliasGeorge Wilkes, alias Willis, was a typical figure of this class 
 and the acknowledged head of a band of forgers and counter- 
 feiters whose operations were on an international scale and, as 
 a whole, more gigantic even than the fraud of the Bidwells. 
 This gang varied in number from time to time in the execution 
 of single schemes but it embraced, in the course of years, all 
 the principal experts in their line in America and a number in 
 Europe. Among these were Gottlieb Engle, Peter Burns, 
 alias "James Joy Julius"; Albert Wilson, alias "Al" Wilson, alias 
 "E. R. Marshall"; Charles Becker, Sheldon, better known as 
 "Shell," Hamilton, Joseph B. Chapman, and last, not least, 
 William E. Brockway. 
 
 The organization of this gang was typical in its enlistment 
 of middlemen and other hands still lower in rank and in brains, 
 who merely obeyed instructions and were never sufifered to 
 know the chiefs in command. The expert engraver or penman 
 who executes the forgeries usually remains in strict privacy 
 with a single manager or confidant or middleman who attends 
 to the preparatibn for carrying out the fraud and engages the 
 tools who do the detail work and are the ones most liable to 
 suspicion and arrest. In the case of a notable imposition on 
 a Lombard Street banker in London, in 1879, there were only 
 three principals who were the real plotters and the subor- 
 dinates employed never saw the directing head, Henry Wilkes. 
 
 Gottlieb Engle made three counterjeit drafts of a leading 
 
j54 our rival, the rascal. 
 
 New York banker upon his London agents in imitation of 
 blanks and small genuine drafts procured by Wilkes and 
 Burns. Then Wilkes bought a genuine draft for £2,000 upon 
 the same agents, and his employees bought three drafts for a 
 few pounds each at the same time. These small drafts were 
 purchased in order to secure the numbers to put on the backs 
 ■of the forged drafts which were otherwise complete. Wilkes 
 and Burns took passage for England, as soon as these drafts 
 were procured, and Wilkes transferred the numbers which they 
 bore to the forged drafts. Before reaching London, Wilkes 
 and Burns separated and went to different hotels with their 
 wives. Then, within a day or two, Wilkes presented the gen- 
 uine draft for £2,000 which was collected without delay. Two 
 days later the three forged drafts amounting to £8,000 were 
 also presented and collected by three persons engaged by 
 Engle in New York, through a middleman, and directed by 
 another middleman in London who received his orders from 
 Wilkes through Burns. 
 
 All this complication and secrecy was probably required to 
 reduce the risks of arrest or betrayal which would, otherwise, 
 be incurred by the principals. The cat's-paws fled to the con- 
 tinent and thence to this country as soon as the forged drafts 
 were cashed and their shares paid by the middleman, who 
 turned over the balance for division to Wilkes and Burns. 
 These chief partners remained in London apparently uncon- 
 cerned for a week longer and then went to Paris where Burns 
 took fine lodgings while Wilkes returned to this country 
 leisurely by way of Havre. 
 
 For years the wary principals in the Wilkes gang succeeded 
 in avoiding conviction, if not arrest, and, during their career, 
 swindled bankers, brokers and other business men to an 
 enormous extent, in the aggregate, with their counterfeit bank 
 notes, bonds, income certificates, bills of exchange and forged 
 drafts. Engle, Becker and Brockway were the chief oper- 
 ators in the production of the counterfeits with graving tools 
 
ALBERT WILSON. 
 
 EICHAED O. DAVIS. 
 
 ^^:^ 
 
 % 
 
 m^ 
 
 r. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 MAX STEELE. 
 
 OHAKLBS PISHEK. 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. 165 
 
 and pens, while Wilkes, Burns, Wilson and the rest were en- 
 gaged m uttering the forged paper. The organization of this 
 gang became well known to the American police and detective 
 agencies, although its operations were so adroitly conducted 
 that it was exceedingly difficult to secure evidence sufficient to 
 convict the principals. Their movements were so closely 
 watched, however, that any indication of the brewing of a new 
 plot was instantly telegraphed to the police officials at the place 
 or places threatened by the projected fraud. Still Wilkes and 
 his immediate associates were so adroit and plausible that they 
 were commonly able to obtain warning of the suspicion 
 aroused against them in time to change or abandon their plans 
 of imposition. In one notable instance the chief of police in a 
 leading city of Europe was so impressed by the pleasing bear- 
 ing of Wilkes, in the course of a call, that he imprudently 
 showed to this crafty forger a cabled dispatch from New York 
 warning him of the departure of the gang headed by the man 
 who was, at that moment, admitted to his confidence. 
 
 Finally, however, the net for these forgers was drawn so 
 tightly that the leader, Wilkes, and his comrade, Burns, were 
 captured at Florence by the Italian police on Christmas Day, 
 i880j a few days after the arrest of their confederate, the no- 
 torious "Shell" Hamilton at Milan. To secure his release, 
 Wilkes coldly betrayed his accomplices and made a full con- 
 fession of the, workings of his gang. When Burns learned 
 of this treachery, he killed himself in his prison cell, leaving 
 three alleged widows to wrangle over the fortune of $400,000 
 which he had amassed in his career as a forger. 
 
 Wilkes came back to America, after his discharge from his 
 Italian prison, and patched up a reconciliation with one of his 
 old confederates, "Joe" Elliott. With this colleague he made 
 a tour through the United States from Albany to San Fran- 
 cisco, swindling the banks by "raised'' drafts to the extent of 
 $83,000. He was arrested on his return to New York but suc- 
 ceeded in escaping conviction and took refuge in Paris, where 
 
l66 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 he spent every dollar of his stolen fortune in dissipation in less 
 than two years. 
 
 When his money was gone he was obliged to leave France 
 and made his way back to New York where he lived for four 
 j-ears by begging small loans or gifts from his former com- 
 panions and acquaintances. He soon fell to the level of a com- 
 mon drunkard and tramp, and roamed through the city streets, 
 dirty and slovenly, getting a dime, when he could, from every 
 chance acquaintance, for rum and food, and finally getting 
 kicked out of resorts where he used to throw money away by 
 the handful. During the last few months of his life he made a 
 bare living by distributing race-cards at saloons, but he was 
 not fit even for this poor service and, one day, in the early 
 spring of 1892, he was knocked down in a drunken brawl and 
 so brutally beaten and kicked that he was found by the police 
 lying senseless on a vacant house lot. He was taken to Belle- 
 vue Hospital and well nursed, but he was so badly hurt that he 
 died, seven days afterwards, from the effect of his injuries, 
 aggravated by delirium tremens. So came to an end the career 
 of the man who was once vain of the title of "the king of the 
 forgers." 
 
 At the time of the arrest of Wilkes and his confederates in 
 Italy, the gang was particularly engaged in the disposal of 
 forged income bonds and circular notes, and one of the prin- 
 cipal agents, Albert Wilson, succeeded in evading the police 
 and returning to this country. But he was arrested in the fall 
 of the same year, in New York, for his share in the forgeries on 
 two Baltimore banks and sentenced to a term of four years in 
 the Maryland state prison. A few months after his release 
 from prison he was arrested in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, upon 
 the charge of attempting to pass counterfeit fifty-pound notes 
 of the Bank of England. He was also charged with the same 
 offence in Chicago and was taken to that city for trial. He 
 contrived to escape from the police station, in which he was 
 temporarily held, and succeeded in reaching England where 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QVILL. ^g-, 
 
 he rejoined Wilkes, Engle, Becker, Hamilton and others of the 
 old Wilkes gang. Soon a plot was devised to float an enor- 
 mous amount of forged circular notes in France, Germany and 
 Italy, but this swindle was, fortunately, interrupted by the 
 police at an early stage. 
 
 After the collapse of this scheme Wilson went to Canada 
 and undertook to cheat a Moiitreal bank with a forged letter 
 of credit. In this attempt he failed, thanks to the keenness of 
 the bank manager, who procured his arrest, and he was con- 
 victed of this ofifence and sentenced in June, 1885, to a term of 
 twelve years in St. Vincent de Paul penitentiary. His portrait, 
 as one of the most notorious forgers of this century and a rep- 
 resentative member of the famous Wilkes gang, is given on an 
 illustrative page in this chapter. 
 
 On the same page appear the photographs of three other 
 representative forgers who were members of one of the most 
 adroit and dangerous gangs which has infested this country 
 during the past ten years. These are Richard O. Davis, Max 
 Steele and Charles Fisher. In the spring of 1895 this gang 
 devised and partially carried through a scheme of forgery 
 in Boston, so characteristic and notable that it is here 
 recounted. 
 
 In April, 1895, one of this gang succeeded in opening an 
 account under an assumed name in a leading national bank of 
 New Bedford, Alass., and on the 22d of this month he procured 
 in an ordinary business way a cashier's check for twenty-five 
 dollars, payable to the order of James H. Thorne. A fac-simile 
 of this check is here reproduced for the purpose of illustration. 
 With this check in hand, the forgers made tracings of the sig- 
 nature of the cashier with a fine pencil point on a number of 
 blank checks or lithograph copies of the form used by the New 
 Bedford bank. These pencil tracings were then dexterously 
 overrun with a quill and ink and a delicate bnish, so that the 
 forged signatures copied the lines, curves and shading of the 
 genuine name of the cashier with delusive exactness. 
 
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l68 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 ■ Then Steele went to Roxbur}' and undertook to negotiate 
 for the purchase of a hotel in order to obtain an introduction 
 to a suburban national bank, under the assumed name of 
 Henry T. Woodruff. Having craftily gained his point, he 
 succeeded in opening an account by the deposit of a few hun- 
 dred dollars and confirmed his pretence of engaging in busi- 
 ness in Boston by hiring an office and employing a young man 
 as a clerk. In the course of a few days the masquerading 
 Steele presented for deposit a check which purported to be the 
 cashier's check of the New Bedford national bank upon its 
 correspondent bank in Boston for the sum of $4,552. This 
 check was made payable to Henry T. Woodrufif and, upon 
 Steele's indorsement as Woodrufif, it was accepted by the teller 
 of the suburban bank and honored as genuine by the corres- 
 pondent of the New Bedford bank. 
 
 Wliile Steele was thus imposing upon the bank in Roxbury 
 as Henry T. Woodrufif, he was proceeding to extend the 
 cheat in the mask of another assumed character, David H. 
 Fielding. Steele, alias Fielding, called upon a furniture supply 
 house and, by wily practice, obtained a letter of introduction 
 to a Boston bank of high standing. With the aid of this letter 
 he succeeded in opening an account and made a deposit like 
 his first in the Roxbury bank. A few days later, he deposited 
 a check of the New Bedford bank for $5,225, payable to his 
 order, and signed apparently by the cashier. 
 
 Within a few days after the deposit of these two checks, 
 Steele drew out most of the amount standing to the credit of 
 Woodruff and Fielding, and the success of the fraud was ap- 
 parently so unquestioned that the gang proceeded to carry it 
 further. When the forged checks reached the New Bedford 
 bank, however, the fraud was detected and the Boston banks 
 notified. So when the office boy of "David H. Fielding" called 
 to make another deposit of a forged check of the New Bedford 
 bank, to the amount of $9,500, the boy was held and the gang 
 which employed him was hotly pursued. 
 
TBE STROKE OF THE QUILL. i5g 
 
 The Boston detectives hastened at once to Steele's office. It 
 was barely furnished with a cheap desk and chairs and a pre- 
 tence of office books. Nobody was in the office when the de- 
 tectives reached it, but, in the course of an hour, a man entered 
 who was immediately recognized as the notorious forger, 
 Richard O. Davis. He was arrested and held as a probable 
 accomplice and every effort was made to secure the arrest and 
 identification of the man who had personated Fielding and 
 Woodruff. 
 
 Finally information was secured by the chief inspector which 
 pointed to the probability that Steele and Fisher had been op- 
 erating with Davis in Boston. When Steele's portrait was 
 shown by the Boston detectives to officers of the Roxbury and 
 other Boston banks, it was at once identified as the likeness of 
 the pretended Fielding and Woodruff. As soon as this fact 
 was ascertained, a hunt for Steele was instituted which resulted 
 in his arrest in New York and transmission to Boston. He 
 was informed of the array of evidence against him and, before 
 his trial came on; he made a confession of his connection with 
 the forgeries, with the consent of his counsel, to the Boston 
 police. 
 
 This confession is so representative in its way of the pro- 
 cedure of forgers in effecting their frauds that it is given here 
 substantially as it was taken by a stenographer from the lips 
 of Steele. After detailing the circumstances of his meeting 
 with Fisher, and the suggestion of the plot to be carried 
 through in Boston, he told of his coming to this city and of 
 his part in the forgeries. 
 
 "I used to meet Fisher," he said, "in two Boston hotels and 
 very often on the Common by the pond. He used to pretend 
 to go away and would arrange an appointment some days 
 ahead. He told me that he would not tell me where he lived; 
 he had reasons for not telling me where he lived, he said. I 
 said that it was very funny that he did not tell me where he was 
 hying. He said, 'You are the man; if I want you, I know 
 
170 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RAfiCAL. 
 
 where you are living and I can send a message there for you.' 
 He would not let me connect with him, at all, only outside. 
 
 "One morning Fisher came to me with an 'ad' that he had 
 cut out of the paper, which read that a hotel was for sale and 
 directed callers to a School Street agent. I went to the agent's 
 office and pretended to be willing to buy a hotel, if the location 
 and house were satisfactory. I went up town with the agent 
 and looked over the property from cellar to attic. I told the 
 owner that I would have to wait a little time before buying the 
 hotel as there were other people interested. I was buying it 
 for a relative and not for myself exactly. 
 
 "So matters hung until one day when I saw Fisher and he 
 said: 'it is about time for you to find out whether this man has 
 any bank account or not; we must not waste any more time.' 
 I met Fisher again and he gave me the money, $400, to open' an 
 account with. He went up with me to the hotel for which I 
 had been bargaining, but stayed outside. I went in and talked 
 with the proprietor and we had some drinks at the bar. Then, 
 as we walked toward the door, I asked him to recommend me 
 to some good reliable bank, where I could open an account. 
 He said, 'there is a bank out here that I have been doing busi- 
 ness with for nearly twenty years; it is good enough for me.' 
 He went upstairs and got his hat and overcoat, and we went to 
 the Roxbury bank and he introduced me to the cashier. He 
 said: 'Here is a gentleman that is going to do business and he 
 wants to open an account,' introducing me as Mr. Woodruff. 
 
 "I made a deposit, got a pass book and check book, and 
 walked out with the hotel owner, accompanying him back to 
 his hotel. After chatting in the doorway a little while, I 
 walked away. That was the last I saw of him. Fisher 
 was opposite, further down the street. He walked down 
 ahead of the hotel man and myself on the opposite side 
 of the street. He was watching me all the time and when I 
 came out with the book, he knew that it was all right. I met 
 Fisher two blocks down and we took a car. He said: 'Well, 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. i^j 
 
 I see that everything is all right.' He took the bank books 
 and went away with them. I met him that afternoon at four 
 o'clock on the Common, by the pond, and he handed me back 
 the books and said: 'You keep those until we need them.' I 
 hired an ofifice on Washington Street and advertised for a boy; 
 got a boy and took him to the bank and introduced him to the 
 cashier as a clerk. 
 
 "Two days afterward I met Fisher by appointment on the 
 Common. He said : 'We will be all right to make deposits to- 
 morrow,' and pulled a book out of his pocket and said, 'I have 
 got the things all right.' I met him the following morning and 
 he handed me a check for $4,552 and I went up and made a 
 deposit. About two days after that he told me to send up and 
 draw some money and I 'did, drawing several small amounts 
 at different times. On the 9th of Afay, I presented a check for 
 $3,500 which was paid. The boy drew $505 on the^same day. 
 On the loth the boy drew $300, leaving a balance of about $250. 
 Fisher would be outside waiting for me when I went in to get 
 the money and, when the boy drew the money, he would bring 
 it back to the ofifice. 
 
 "When the boy went up Fisher would follow him. I 
 would go to the ofifice and take the money from the boy 
 and go out and meet Fisher and he would take the money from 
 me. He never left me with any money, as he said, 'In case 
 you are arrested.' On the 9th of May the boy drew $505, and 
 after Fisher got that money he went away. He sent for me 
 about half an hour later and I drew out $3,500. When I came 
 out Fisher was in sight. We went around the corner and 
 walked over to a little park and we never connected until we 
 sat on a bench. I handed him the money and he said: 'That's 
 all for now.' He took the money and went away. 
 
 "A few days after opening an account at the bank in Rox- 
 bury, we opened an account in a leading bank in the city of 
 Boston. Fisher told me to go to a well-known furniture 
 store and tell the salesmen that I was about to furnish a house 
 
172 '-'A' h'lVAL, Tin: h-ASCAL. 
 
 and would like to look at some of their goods. I priced some 
 of the goods and told the clerk I would be back again. Fisher 
 told me to go back and say that I was not ready to take the 
 goods just now, but wanted to have them put on memorandum 
 and I would take them in a few days. In conversing with the 
 clerk I asked him whether he could recommend me to some 
 good bank where I could make a deposit as I had more money 
 on my person than I wished to carry. Through the clerk I 
 obtained a letter of introduction to a bank of high standing 
 and succeeded in opening an account by making a deposit of 
 a good check and some bills. 
 
 "May 8th I deposited in this bank a $5,225 check on 
 the Xew Bedford bank, dated May 7th, 1895, payable to 
 David H. Fielding and signed bf the cashier. Different 
 amounts were drawn on that check and on the morning of the 
 loth I drew $2,000. Fisher was standing outside on the same 
 side of the street up towards Tremont Row, waiting for the 
 money, and I handed it to him. He left me right ofi. About one 
 o'clock we met, not far from the Quincy House, and he gave 
 me a check for $9,500 and $100 in bills to make a deposit. I 
 gave them to the boy in the office to take to the bank to 
 deposit. 
 
 "Fisher followed the boy and I stationed myself at the little 
 steps off Cornhill. Fisher came down there and asked where 
 the boy was. I said I did not know. He asked, 'Has he 
 passed here?" I said, 'No!' He went off and in a few min- 
 utes came back again on a very fast walk.- He motioned to 
 me to leave my position and said with an oath, as he passed 
 me, 'get awayl' 
 
 "I asked 'Where?' 
 
 "He said, with another oath: 'Oh, anywhere; the boy's 
 pinched.' 
 
 "A fellow came out of the bank in a hurry and bare headed, 
 looking up and down the street, and that the game was up. I 
 went off as fast as I could walk to the station and took the first 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QVILL. 
 
 173 
 
 train to New York. There I was waiting to see Fisher when I 
 was arrested, but he never turned up." 
 
 It is probable that Steele was disposed to throw the weight 
 of responsibility for the conduct of these forgeries on his 
 alleged confederate, Fisher, and the literal accuracy of his ac- 
 count is not vouched for, but it is, in the main, a graphic de- 
 scription of the actual method of the gang of swindlers in this 
 representative case. It emphasizes, particularly, the care that 
 ought to exercised in giving introductions to banks and in the 
 opening of accounts with strangers. It may further be ob- 
 served that all possible caution should be taken in the issue of 
 cashiers' checks or drafts, for these are the ones which have 
 been preferred of late years by forgers for their frauds. When 
 the check is not used as a copy, it is commonly raised and 
 passed as genuine. In the Boston case, the loss fell upon the 
 bank which was the correspondent of the New Bedford bank 
 and redeemed the forged checks through the clearing house, 
 but the warning was not confined to the actual sufferel". We 
 may note that an apparently feasible precaution would, almost 
 certainly, have foiled this scheme of forgery. If banks would 
 regularly send, every day, to their correspondents in Boston, 
 lists of all the cashier's checks issued during the day, stating' 
 numbers and amounts, these lists would be on hand for ready 
 reference when forged checks are presented. Such a reference 
 would have exposed the forgery in the case which we have 
 narrated and, if this practice were generally, adopted, the banks 
 of this country could hardly be swindled by "raised" or forged 
 checks purporting to be drawn by their correspondents. 
 
 Steele pleaded guilty to the indictment against him on the 
 score of these forgeries and was sentenced to a term of ten 
 years in the Massachusetts state prison. He has had a hand, 
 during his career, in a wide range of forgeries from checks to 
 railroad bonds and tickets. There was good reason for the 
 presumption that Fisher and Davis were the directing heads 
 in the Boston forgeries, but the evidence against them was not 
 
174 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 sufficient to ensure their conviction and they were therefore 
 taken to St. Louis for trial on charges pending against them 
 in that city-. Here again, unfortunately, for lack of evidence 
 sufficient to convict, both were released. 
 
 On the 29th of May following, Fisher presented to the First 
 National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio, a forged check for $1,500. 
 The forgery was detected but Fisher contrived to escape, for 
 the time, though he was soon afterwards arrested and com- 
 mitted to the Hamilton County jail. In November of the 
 same year (1895) he broke out of this jail with five other prison- 
 ers and succeeded in making his escape. He was lately seen 
 in London, England, by Inspector Houghton of the Boston 
 detective service, and it is probable that he will consult his safety 
 by remaining abroad for some time. He has long been known as 
 a dangerous burglar and forger. He was arrested in New 
 York twenty years ago in the act of breaking into a house and 
 fired severalshots at the detectives before he was run down and 
 caught. He escaped conviction of this ofifence through a flaw 
 in his indictment, but was committed to prison shortly after- 
 ward through his implication in the preparation of bogus 
 checks. Since his release from prison he has been involved 
 in a succession of forgeries. 
 
 Richard O. Davis is also probably sojourning abroad at this 
 time, as he has been repeatedly arrested of late years on the 
 charge of forgery since his discharge from Sing Sing, in 1888, 
 where he had been serving out a sentence of six years for 
 forgery. He is accounted one of the most expert of the 
 forgers now living, and there is not a section of this country 
 which has not suffered, at some time, from the artful frauds of 
 the gang with which he has been associated. 
 
 Pickpocket, shoplifter, burglar, bank sneak and forger, 
 Charles J. Everhardt, alias "Mash Market Jake," combines 
 and illustrates in his own person almost every grade and va- 
 riety in the multiform thief. His education in every branch 
 of his criminal profession has been typically progressive. He 
 
THE STROKE OP THE QUILL. 
 
 I7S 
 
 began as a street waif by the theft of apples and other petty 
 -articles from the fruit stalls and peddlers' trays. From this 
 beginning the transition was easy to the purloining of hand- 
 kerchiefs and wallets and the sly snatching of gloves and lace 
 from the store counters. Growing bolder with his ascent of 
 the ladder of crime, he joined a gang of burglars and when 
 this descriptionof robbery was judged to be too rude and dan- 
 gerous, he applied himself to the practice of forgery, beginning 
 as a common tool, or "layer down,'' as the presenter of forged 
 paper is styled, and rising step by step to the rank of a princi- 
 pal. 
 
 He has probably borne more assumed names than any other 
 thief in America, and is one of the slyest hypocrites and be- 
 ^uilers who have ever exhibited their arts in this country. He 
 was first arrested in 1880 on the charge of larceny, in Phila- 
 delphia, by the police of that city and sentenced upon convic- 
 tion to a term of eighteen months in the Eastern penitentiary. 
 His next important conviction. was for shoplifting in Toronto 
 and, shortly afterward, for burglary in the same city. 
 
 After his release from the Kingston (Canada) penitentiary, 
 in the spring of 1885, he turned his hand to forgery, at first as 
 a sneak thief in stealing blank checks, and later as a "layer 
 down" or presenter of forged checks. He succeeded for a time 
 in evading conviction, although several of his confederates 
 testified to his engaging wiles, but he was finally arrested and 
 convicted, in 1886, for forgeries in New York, as a member of 
 the gang headed by Charles Fisher. For this offence he re- 
 ceived a sentence of ten years in the state prison. Within a 
 few months after his release on the expiration of his term he 
 was arrested in New York for the robbery of the New Albany ^ 
 (Indiana) postofifice of over five thousand dollars in money and 
 postage stamps, and he is now serving out his sentence for this 
 offence. His portrait appropriately fills a niche on a repre- 
 sentative page. -• 
 
 Charles Becker and his confederate, James Cregan, whose 
 
176 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RAfiCAL. 
 
 portraits are given on the same page, are unquestionably two 
 of the most remarkable forgers now living and Becker, in par- 
 ticular, has an international reputation. His first appearance 
 of note was in association with Gottlieb Engel and others in 
 the pursuit of forgery twenty-six years ago. He was a pren- 
 tice hand then and apparently ready to enlist in any scheme of 
 robbery by force or fraud, for he was one of the gang, headed 
 by Adam \^''o^th, Joseph B. Chapman and "Little Joe" Reilly, 
 which broke into the vaults of the Third National Bank of Bal- 
 timore in 1872. 
 
 Then he fled to Europe with his confederates and, after their 
 booty had been flung away in varied dissipation, he reorgan- 
 ized the gang for the practice of forgery. Chapman had been 
 trained as a bank clerk in Chicago, and his familiarity with 
 banking customs was of essential service to his confederates. 
 Becker was an exceedingly skillful penman and undertook to 
 prepare the forged drafts, checks and letters of credit which 
 were to be handled by his associates. After all were well 
 drilled in the parts assigned to them, Becker led the gang from 
 London, through the principal cities of France and Germany, 
 leaving a trail of forged paper behind all the way to Smyrna, 
 where it was brought to an end by the capture of the forgers 
 by pursuing detectives and the local police. The captives were 
 tried and convicted in the English consular court at Smyrna 
 and all were sent to prison in Constantinople for a term of 
 three years. A very large amount of money had been obtained 
 by the series of swindles, and the bulk of the booty had been 
 sent to London for safe keeping under the charge of Chap- 
 man's wife. 
 
 A few months after this committal to prison, Becker, Reilly 
 and a third confederate. Carlo Susicovitch, contrived to escape 
 and made their way secretly to London, expecting to get their 
 shares of the booty in the hands of Mrs. Chapman. They pre- 
 tended that they had been obliged to leave Chapman lingering 
 in prison because he was too sick to escape with them, but his 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. j__ 
 
 wife had been informed by her husband that his companions 
 had deserted him and was imperatively instructed not to give 
 up a dollar until he was out of prison. When she refused to 
 part with the plunder, the three escaped convicts resolved to 
 rob her, and, to avoid any outcry, it is reported that they used 
 drugs to put her to sleep, but the dose was apparently so mis- 
 calculated that the victim died. Becker and his associates fled 
 in alarm to this country and met in New York by prearrange- 
 ment. 
 
 Here Wilkes and Cregan joined Becker and Reilly in the 
 plotting and execution of one of the most notable frauds ever 
 undertaken in this country, the counterfeiting of the checks 
 of the Xew York Life Insurance Company. A clerk in the 
 employ of this company was induced to furnish the gang with 
 a canceled check from which Becker made an imitation so ex- 
 act that it was used to draw $64,000 from the deposit of this 
 company with a New York bank. The forgers were so keenly 
 pursued when this fraud was detected that several were cap- 
 tured including Becker and Reilly. When Becker saw the 
 state prison looming up before him, he did not scruple to be- 
 tray his confederates by turning state's evidence, and his crony, 
 Reilly, was convicted upon his testimony. 
 
 Cregan, who was the financial backer of the gang, contrived 
 to keep out of prison and was soon plotting again with Becker 
 new schemes of fraud. Both were known then, however, as 
 uncommonly dangerous forgers, and all their movements were 
 sharply watched by detectives. Becker was next arrested and 
 convicted for forging script of the Philadelphia and Reading 
 Railroad Company, and, upon his discharge from prison, he 
 undertook to counterfeit Bank of England notes to an enor- 
 mous extent. This scheme was nipped in the bud in the spring 
 of 1881 by his arrest, but, for lack of convicting evidence, he 
 was discharged. A few years later, in September, 1884, this 
 artful skulker and wire-puller was uncovered in the attempt to 
 counterfeit and pass a thousand-franc note of the Bank of 
 
178 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 France. For this offence he was tried, convicted and sentenced 
 to a term of ten years in the penitentiary of Kings County, 
 New York. 
 
 Three years later, his partner Cregan was arrested and con- 
 victed of a forgery upon the Howard Bank of Baltimore. 
 While serving out his sentence of three years and six months 
 in the penitentiary, he made acquaintances which he used after 
 his discharge in forming a gang with the special object of de- 
 frauding the banks of two western states. Becker joined 
 hands with him once more upon his release from prison and 
 these two old foxes in forgery devised an elaborate scheme of 
 fraud which, for the time, was largely successful. Their latest, 
 and, it is to be hoped, their last cheat, was a masterpiece in its 
 way. It illustrates, so clearly, high art in forgery and the 
 methods that are likely to be followed by imitators in the 
 field, that its features may well be presented as an example and 
 warning. 
 
 On the 2d of December, 1895, a man of fine appearance and 
 address rented an office in one of the best buildings in San 
 Francisco. "A. H. Dean, Merchandise Broker," was lettered 
 on the glass of the door by his direction. Soon after his occu- 
 pation of the office, he asked the superintendent of the building 
 for a reference to a bank of the best standing. His manner 
 was so prepossessing that the superintendent unhesitatingly 
 offered to introduce him to the Nevada Bank. When the sup- 
 posed Mr. Dean was presented to the bank officials, his bearing 
 was so businesslike and engaging that he was cordially wel- 
 comed as a customer, and the superintendent who introduced 
 him was privately thanked for the particular favor which he 
 had rendered. 
 
 Air. Dean did not expect to call for any discounting of his 
 own notes, as he said, and presumed that his standing deposit 
 would soon be from twenty to thirty thousand dollars. His 
 first deposit was $2,500 in cash. He drew out a few hundred 
 dollars b>' check, a few days later, and, in a day or two, drew 
 
JAMES OBBGAN. 
 
 CHARLES BECKER. 
 
 CHARLES J. EVERHARDT. 
 
 WILLIAM E. BROCKWAY. 
 
THE STROKE OF TEE QUILL. j-g 
 
 upon his deposit again for seven hundred dollars. On Dec. 
 13th he deposited seven hundred dollars in cash and a draft on 
 the Anglo-California Bank for ninety-five dollars. 
 
 No exception could be taken to these proceedings of the new 
 :ustomer,butthebank was naturally desirous of the expectedin- 
 :rease in his deposit. It was gratified on Dec. 17 by the deposit of 
 what purported to be the draft of the cashier of the Bank of 
 Woodland upon the Crocker-Woolworth National Bank of 
 San Francisco for $22,000. This draft was duly paid through 
 the clearing house and it was not until the Woodland Bank 
 ■eceived its monthly statement from the Crocker-Woolworth 
 Bank, its San Francisco correspondent, on the 6th of January 
 'ollowing that the alarming fact of a forgery was uncovered. 
 
 Meanwhile the plausible Mr. Dean had drawn out of the 
 Nevada Bank $2,200 in currency on the day of his deposit of 
 :he forged draft and, on the next day, he had reduced his de- 
 posit very heavily by taking away four sacks of gold, contain- 
 ing $5,000 each, in return for his check to "self" for $20,000. 
 He was diligently sought for by the San Francisco police when 
 they were notified of the forgery, but it appeared that he had 
 taken his gold to some distant hiding place as soon as he was 
 ible to get away with his sacks. 
 
 The calculating craft of the directing heads in this forgery 
 ivas evident in the withdrawal of every dollar of Dean's bal- 
 ance in bank at the time of his deposit of the forged draft, so 
 that, in the event of the possible detection of the fraud by the 
 Crocker-Woolworth Bank, the forgers had none of their own 
 money at stake. It was ascertained that the forgery had been 
 eiifected by "raising" a genuine draft of the Bank of Woodland 
 [rom $12 to $22,000. The original draft was made payable to 
 the order of A. H. Dean. It was on safety paper and the 
 amount ($12.00) perforated at each end by a check protector, 
 yet a master hand in forgery had contrived to alter it so decep- 
 tively that it passed through the hands of several experienced 
 bank tellers and clerks without detection and it was only by 
 
ir^^yMri^Bfat|g tf rU-AilzlJ n^^hi^ i g^ FaJiiriterirM 
 
 . JL^ V^..^.' JX^U:a£«.•*f t^^lpai^L^p■• 
 
l8o OVK JUVAL, THE UASCAL. 
 
 close microscopic examination that the Bank of Woodland 
 was able to determine positively how the forgery had been 
 effected. 
 
 From the extraordinary perfection of its execution it was 
 suspected by the Pinkerton agency, which was cooperating 
 with the San Francisco detective force, that the accomplished 
 Becker was the artist in the forgery and Cregan was naturally 
 presumed to be a leading director in carrying through the 
 fraud. Both men were sharply looked after and every possible 
 clue to the forgery pursued. While this search was in prog- 
 ress, the detectives were informed by the cashier of the St. Paul 
 National Bank that he suspected the design of some fraud by 
 two men calling themselves D. W. Woods and J. M. Shaw, 
 who had opened bank accounts in St. Paul and Minneapolis. 
 Samples of the handwriting of Woods, furnished by the cashier, 
 satisfied the detectives that D. W. Woods of St. Paul and the 
 pleasing Mr. A. H. Dean of San Francisco were the same person. 
 J. M.Shaw was next identified as a noted "bank sneak" and for- 
 ger, "Joe" McCluskey, and, after some sharp watching, both 
 Woods and Shaw were arrested and taken to San Francisco, 
 
 Both men stoutly denied any connection with the Woodland 
 bank forgery and any acquaintance with Becker or Cregan.. 
 But, shortly after their arrest, Becker and Cregan attempted 
 to leave the country and take refuge in Guatemala. This pre- 
 caution on their part was obstructed by their arrest just before 
 taking the steamer for Philadelphia. A complete outfit of 
 forger's implements was found in Becker's baggage, but there 
 was no direct evidence as yet attainable to implicate him in the 
 San Francisco forgery. So both men were simply held under 
 surveillance while every effort was made to extend the links of 
 evidence. 
 
 Upon the capture of Woods, his photograph was taken and 
 copies sent to every important city in the country. When one 
 of these photographs reached the Boston detective bureau, it 
 was soon identified with a photograph of Frank L. Seaver, 
 
THE 8TR0EJE OP THE QUILL. 
 
 I8r 
 
 which had been taken in February, 1895. Seaver had rented, 
 in January of that year, an office on State Street under the 
 name of Frederick Stebbins, with the professed intention of 
 engaging in legitimate mercantile business. His cards stated 
 that his cable address was "Stebnett." It is the practice of the 
 Boston detectives to keep a watchful eye upon men of this 
 description whose antecedents are unknown or disreputable, 
 and, upon the first suspicious movement of Stebbins, he was 
 arrested by the "bank squad" and sharply questioned. He 
 claimed at first to be an Englishman, and upon examination 
 it was found that his clothes were made by a London tailor, 
 but he failed to give any evidence or reference in further sup- 
 port of his claim. Finally he was pressed to the point of con- 
 fessing that his pretences were false. He admitted that he had 
 come to the city under an assumed name and that his pre- 
 tended business was hardly more than a cloak for some swind- 
 ling scheme; He professed to be pleased, however, that he 
 had been intercepted by the vigilance of the detectives, before 
 he had gone so far in his scheme as to render him liable to 
 conviction for felony, and coolly complimented his captors upon 
 the keenness of their guard of the banking district. His real 
 name, by his own admission, Frank L. Seaver, was entered 
 upon the records of the police department, with his photograph 
 and other points of identification. In view of the fact that 
 nothing' actually criminal could be charged against him, he 
 was then allowed to leave the city, at his own request, with the 
 assurance on his part that he never intended to revisit this part 
 of the country. He was not, in fact, heard of again until his 
 arrest for the forgery on the Bank of Woodland. Then the 
 identification of the pretended "Woods" or "Dean" with Frank 
 L. Seaver was at once communicated to the detectives in 
 charge of the case. 
 
 Both Seaver and McCluskey hoped that they would be as- 
 sisted in their defence by their chief confederates, Becker and 
 Cregan, but, when it was apparent that they had been deserted 
 
182 
 
 on; RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 as so many other "layers down" had been before, McCluskey 
 soon told what he knew of the case, and with his cooperation 
 a full confession was finally extracted from Seaver by the 
 adroitness of Captain Lees of the San Francisco detective force. 
 With the direct testimony thus secured and the further evi- 
 dence obtained by the labors of the cooperating detectives, two 
 of the most dangerous rascals in America, Recker and Cregan, 
 were convicted after a stubbornly-contested trial in San Fran- 
 cisco, and sentenced to imprisonment for life in August, 1896. 
 Becker was the actual workman in the forgery of the "raised" 
 draft and Cregan, the financial backer and director. Becker 
 made the alterations in his hiding place in Oakland, California, 
 while Cregan, in San Francisco, was the middleman between 
 him and Seaver, the actual "layer down." The banks of this 
 country and the business community at large had signal cause 
 for congratulation that a gang of forgers, so extraordinarih- 
 artful and dangerous, had been finally crushed beyond the 
 hope of revival. 
 
 If any prize were ofifered to the oldest forger in America, it 
 is probable that nobody could maintain a better claim to it 
 than William E. Brockway. This noted forger has been known 
 to the men of his craft as "Old Bill Brockway" for the past 
 thirty years. Fie was educated in one of the foremost colleges 
 of the country, and in natural ability, as well as education, he 
 was fitted to take high rank in other professions than the one 
 to which his perverted talents have been applied. After his 
 college course he went into business as a printer and electro- 
 typer and gained in this employment an expertness which 
 later was evident in the production of counterfeit bonds and 
 notes. 
 
 He has been at work as a forger and counterfeiter from 1850 
 to the present day with the exception of the intervals spent in 
 prison where he was debarred from his favorite practice. In 
 1880 he was arrested and convicted upon the charge of for- 
 ging and uttering United States six per cent coupon bonds to 
 
THE STROKE OF THE QUILL. jg, 
 
 the extent of $204,000, as well as a number of United States 
 Treasury notes. Sentence in his case was suspended by the 
 United States court judge upon his undertaking to surrender 
 all the forged plates in his possession or anywhere within his 
 knowledge and upon his further pledge to uncover all schemes 
 of forgery then pending, of which he had information. He 
 was discharged from custody upon the fulfillment of his pledges, 
 with the assurance or understanding that his suspended sen- 
 tence of thirty years in prison would go into effect if he was 
 ever arrested for forging or counterfeiting any coin, notes, 
 bonds, or other obligation of the United States. 
 
 This was an impressive warning to him not to meddle with 
 Uncle Sam's business, but it did not suffice to deter him from 
 other forgeries. Three years later he was arrested for the 
 forgery of a number of bonds of the Morris and Essex railroad 
 and, upon conviction in New York, was sentenced to the State 
 prison for five years. Since his discharge from prison he has 
 been covertly engaged in counterfeiting, but he was so adroit 
 in covering his tracks that he escaped conviction until his ar- 
 rest in August, 1896, in New York, by United States secret 
 service officers. A counterfeit $500 gold certificate was found 
 on his person and, by searching the headquarters of his gang 
 in Hoboken, a large outfit of apparatus for counterfeiting was 
 brought to light, as well as incomplete counterfeit notes to 
 the extent of six hundred thousand dollars. Upon his con- 
 viction he was sentenced to the State prison for a term of years 
 which is equivalent to a life sentence. 
 
 Brockway is ranked with the most skillful of living counter- 
 feiters and his art and craft made him one of the most formid- 
 able rascals in his line in the country up to the time of his last 
 conviction, in spite of his enfeebling age and known character. 
 He is an inch and a half over six- feet in height, with a long, 
 thin knotty neck and face of preternatural solemnity, as well 
 appears in his portrait which completes our pages representa- 
 tive of the American forger. 
 
1 84 
 
 OVR BITAL, THE KAHCAL-. 
 
 It is of interest to note in conclusion that the latest report of 
 the chief of the United States secret service shows a gratifying: 
 decrease in the counterfeiting of paper money in this country 
 during the past twelve months. This satisfaction is unfor- 
 tunately offset to some extent by the increase which he notes- 
 in the counterfeiting of gold and silver coins, and by the ad- 
 vance in quality of workmanship and material. It is further 
 of particular importance to observe that the practice of "rais- 
 ing" or altering United States notes has been largely extended,, 
 and this particular device of forgery seems to be preferred also,' 
 as we have before noted, in the case of bank checks. 
 
 , The national secret service force is specially organized for 
 the detection and arrest of forgers and counterfeiters, and the 
 National Bankers' Association has supplemented this safeguard- 
 by the employment of the Pinkerton Detective Agency for the 
 like service. Unremitting efforts are made, also, by the com- 
 bined police and detective forces of the country, working to- 
 gether to secure the utmost possible vigilance to prevent and 
 suppress this peculiarly dangerous practice, and we may fairly 
 emphasize the call upon the public at large to do all in their 
 power to support the efforts of the police. We may hope, with- 
 out any vain assumption, that our suggestions of proper pre- 
 cautions will be materially helpful in the reduction of losses 
 from forgery and counterfeiting. 
 
SHARPERS AND DUPES. 
 
 ONE may as well try to number the sparks that fly from a 
 fizzing pin-wheel, as to catalogue the shifts and tricks of the 
 swindling hydra. This monster is continually trying to cover 
 his heads with sand and to throw dust in the eyes of spectators; 
 and it is even harder to fight with him than it was with the old 
 water serpent, for none of his heads can be cut off completely 
 -and new heads are sprouting yearly from his teeming trunk. 
 
 It seems as if every successive generation of men was blindly 
 or stubbornly bent upon burning its fingers in the same old 
 ways in spite of the rows of burnt fingers that stretch back 
 through the centuries into time immemorial. In some form 
 or another the old "shell game" has been played for hundreds 
 of years by sharpers and dupes, yet every year brings forth a 
 fresh set of gulls who are willing to gamble that they can mark 
 the one shell that covers the pea. "Thimble rig" is merely the 
 substitution of three thimbles or little metal caps for the fragile 
 shells, and "three-card monte" is practically the same old game 
 in a mask of cards. 
 
 It is said that Sir Walter Raleigh, in his prison in London 
 Tower, had occasion to learn that a man's own eyes can be 
 ialse witnesses, but it is not recorded that Sir Walter was obliged 
 to pay a "bunco man" in order to have this lesson well rubbed 
 in. Unfortunately for a legion of victims there are many peo- 
 ple who are vain of their eyesight and few who get rid of this 
 A^anity without some drain on their pocket books. The callow 
 youth, who is surer of everything at eighteen than he will be of 
 anything at eighty, is ready to bet his head that he can put his 
 finger on the shell that covers the pea, for has he not just seen 
 the covering with his own eyes? And there are others, and 
 
j85 ovr riyal, the hasgal. 
 
 fairly intelligent men, too, who get crowns of gray and white 
 hairs without getting the wisdom that will prevent them from 
 staking a cent on their eyesight in this antiquated bunco game. 
 In all its variations, the one essential feature is the delusion of 
 the eye by sleight-of-hand, and this is a trifling feat for an ex- 
 pert juggler. 
 
 Anyone who has seen the exhibitions of artists like the late 
 Herrmann or Keller can understand how foolish it is to trust to 
 appearances in "bunco games," even when the performers are 
 bunglers compared with really accomphshed jugglers. Any 
 artist of the first rank can practically defy detection in the 
 execution of his shuffling and palming tricks, even when he is 
 standing in the midst of a crowd and challenging exposure, as 
 both Herrmann and Keller have frequently done. The pro- 
 fessional players of swindling games with cards, dice, peas and 
 other gambling implements are all more or less expert jug- 
 glers. Sometimes these swindlers resort to crutches like 
 marked cards or loaded dice; some, like Ah Sin, have taper 
 nails and long sleeves ; others are aided by confederate partners 
 or agents, — all are constantly seeking to adopt and employ 
 every form of trick and cheat that will serve their end of 
 plunder. 
 
 It should be needless to point out that the honest player is 
 fatally handicapped in any and every game with such swindlers. 
 There are, it is true, current tales and stage plays, in which the 
 honest man confounds and fleeces the rogue, and such a 
 denouement may occur, once in ten thousand times, in actual 
 experience. It is practically certain that the honest man has 
 no chance, worth considering, of winning anything from the 
 swindler. If the greenhorn ever sees anyone apparently win- 
 ning from the dealer in "three card nionte" or in any other 
 bunco game, he may be sure that the winner x? a "capper" or 
 confederate. The sole exception to this conclusion is when 
 the amateur gambler is suffered to win small sums once or 
 twice in order to entice him to put up a stake which will empty 
 
I^HARPERt^ AXn DUPE.S. 
 
 187 
 
 his pockets. The most dangerovis "bunco men" among these 
 gamblers are the rascals of engaging address and pretentious 
 social position, — blacklegs in the persons of men of title or 
 fashion, — human spiders, who ^veave their nets for flies and 
 drain their victims, if they do not actuall)' take their lives at 
 last, in the manner of Sir Mulberr)- Hawk and Lord Frederick 
 Verisopht. 
 
 The only certain assurance against loss at the hands of these 
 knaves is to keep out of their reach, and, if an honest man is 
 necessarily thrust into contact with them, for a tin^e, by any 
 chance, he can and should refuse to take a hand in any of their 
 gambling -games. A common trick of these swindlers is to 
 propose a simple game at cards or billiards, without any 
 stakes, and, after playing indifferently for half an hour or so, 
 they will grumble a little at the dullness of the game and sug- 
 gest the hazard of a small stake, just to give an edge to the 
 play. The dupes who have been playing with them are apt 
 to consent from their silly dread of seeming disobliging or 
 puritanical or mean, and the practiced swindlers have every 
 device at their finger ends for exciting, deluding and drawing 
 on their victims until their pockets are emptied. "Plucking a 
 pigeon" is a "bunco game" of hoary antiquity and yet it is still 
 played in every city in the world, every day in the year, and it 
 will be played, in spite of all warnings, for generations to come. 
 It was a regular practice of professional "bunco men" to run 
 up and down our American rivers, in the palmy days of the 
 racing steamboat, and there are too many still travelling about 
 on railway trains and ocean steamers. These sharpers play all 
 the games which are commonly termed games of chance, but 
 little is left to chance in their style of play. Unless a player 
 belongs, like them, to the order of hawks, it is rank folly to 
 gamble with chance acquaintances who may be professional 
 gamesters or swindlers. 
 
 To describe a peculiar game with dice or cards, which was a 
 swindle with the thinnest of masks, the term "bunco" was prob- 
 
l88 OVR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 ably invented, and it has since spread, in common application, 
 to cover all sorts of swindling "games" and the sharpers who 
 "play" them. The game was apparently a counterfeit of the 
 old English swindling game known as "eight dice cloth." In 
 its original form dice were used with a checkered cloth 
 worked with stars, and numbers covered with a hood called 
 "banco." In the swindle of a victim, he would be induced to 
 throw dice which would be counted to correspond with a losing 
 number under the hood. The term banco, or "the bank," 
 game was probably applied to puff up the swindle by an im- 
 posing title. The proprietor of the game was naturally termed 
 the "banco man," or the "banker"; and when the game be- 
 came a widespread and notorious swindle, "banco," in our free- 
 and-easy American usage, had changed into "bunco," and the 
 "banco man," into the "bunco man." 
 
 A curious expert exhibit of the "bunco game" in full bloom 
 was given, a few years ago, in the county court at Albany, 
 New York. The notorious "Tom O'Brien" had been arrested 
 in London on the charge of robbery and taken for trial to this 
 country, where his offence was committed. His partner, 
 George W. Post, another rascal of the same stripe, had been 
 lodged in jail some months before the extradition of O'Brien. 
 As this pretentious "king of the bunco men" had his pockets 
 full of money, he was able to engage the foremost criminal 
 lawyers of New York to defend him. So, when he appeared in 
 the Albany courts, his line of defence was cunningly drawn. 
 
 An old farmer was the chief witness for the prosecution, 
 as the victim who had been robbed of ten thousand dollars by 
 O'Brien and Post. He told, on the witness stand, how his 
 money had been snatched out of his pockets by O'Brien, while 
 he was showing to the bunco man a house which he had for 
 sale. When O'Brien took the stand in his own defence, he 
 denied that he had robbed the farmer, as charged in his indict- 
 ment, but frankly confessed that he had taken his money away 
 in a "bunco game." His partner Post, as he claimed, -had 
 
SHAKFEh'ii AND DVPEti. igcj 
 
 lured the old man to his rooms in Albany, where O'Brien 
 showed his visitors how to play "bunco." 
 
 Then the leading counsel for the defendant spread out on a 
 table, before the jury, a huge black silk handkerchief or cover- 
 let, checkered with squares marked by gilt letters and figures. 
 "What's that?" asked the lawyer. "Chart of special drawing,. 
 or bunco chart," answered O'Brien with a broad grin. "How 
 is it used?" continued the examiner. O'Brien showed to the 
 jury a pack of forty-eight cards in eight sets, each numbered 
 from one to six inclusive. He explained that each player re- 
 ceived eight cards from the pack and that the sum total of num- 
 bers on the cards in each hand was compared with the num- 
 bers on the "bunco chart." If this total corresponded to a 
 number carrying a prize, the lucky holder of the hand won the 
 prize. 
 
 After explaining the game, O'Brien proceeded to tell how 
 the farmer had been "roped in" to take a hand with Post, "the 
 bunco steerer," and to suffer the loss of his ten thousand dol- 
 lars. When the game at O'Brien's rooms had been opened, 
 and the cards gravely counted and compared with the chart, 
 O'Brien said, as he testified: "Gentlemen, you've drawn the 
 grand conditional advertising prize. You're entitled to $io,- 
 GOO apiece on condition that you prove yourselves worth $50,- 
 000 apiece, and promise to advertise our lottery company 
 whether you win or lose. You will have to put up $10,000 
 apiece against the $10,000 prize. Then you draw once more. 
 If you draw a star number you get only the ten thousand dollar 
 prize and your own money back. If you draw any other num- 
 ber, you get its prize added to your own money and the big 
 prize." 
 
 The "bunco steerer" Post, who was masquerading under a 
 false name, claimed that he was worth over fifty thousand dol- 
 lars, and the old farmer certified that his property was valued 
 at over half a million dollars. Then both the winners went 
 away to get the required stake of ten thousand dollars, and re- 
 
igQ OUB RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 turned with the money which they laid on the chart, as 
 directed. Each drew four cards and the count of each hand 
 was the same, a total of 28. "Why, gentlemen," said the 
 brazen O'Brien, "that's the 'state number,' the total blank. 
 You've lost all." The "bunco steerer" pretended to draw a 
 long face, and the farmer's face fell without any pretence. 
 "It's too bad," said Post. "Yes," sighed the old farmer, 
 "it's so different from what we expected." Then the "bunco 
 steerer" reproached himself for bringing his old friend into 
 the game and stoutly protested that he would refund the lost 
 money. Both went away sorrovv^ing, but, in a few minutes, 
 Post slipped back alone, and the confederates slipped away 
 with the ten thousand dollars. Perhaps O'Brien's story was a 
 lie in this case, but it was, nevertheless, a vivid and good de- 
 scription of the usual course of the "bunco game." O'Brien 
 was convicted of robbery in the third degree, in spite of his plea 
 for himself, and sentenced to a term of ten years in state 
 prison. Within a month after his sentence he contrived to 
 escape from the custody of a careless keeper and fled to Europe, 
 where he remained under cover until early in 1895, when he put 
 a black cap on his infamous life by the brutal murder of one of 
 his old, associates, at a railway station in Paris. For this 
 crime he was convicted and sentenced to penal servitude 
 fo!' life. 
 
 All the known varieties and possibilities of the "bunco 
 game,'' with cards and dice and billiard balls and other imple- 
 ments of the professional gamester, are, however, a mere frac- 
 tion of the resources of the "bunco man." He looks upon the 
 world at large as his oyster and, in some way or other, he 
 proposes to get rid of the sheltering shell. He saw that there 
 was a considerable number of possible gulls who could not be 
 enticed into ordinary gambling games, — thrifty old farmers 
 who had put their savings in banks, and well-to-do store 
 keepers and other business men, who were in the habit of 
 going to church regularly and avoiding cards as a snare of 
 
SHARPERS AND DUPES. iqi 
 
 Satan. For the trapping of these shy birds he invented the 
 "gold brick" swindle and all its variations and varnishes. 
 
 This swindle has been worn so threadbare and exposed so 
 often in this country that it should be impossible to find a 
 gudgeon anywhere who will bite at it. But, year after year, 
 we hear of new dupes, who can be deluded into the belief that 
 a man with a real "brick," or ingot, of soHd gold is willing to 
 sell it to them at a sacrifice. No doubt, it is hinted, more or 
 less plainly, to the gullible purchasers that there is some cloud 
 on the seller's title to this brick. Yet the most ignorant dupe 
 should have enough scraps of intelligence to know that even a 
 thief would not sell a lump of gold, which could not be iden- 
 tified as stolen property, for less than its actual bullion value. 
 It seems, however, that there are still pigeons waiting to be 
 plucked in almost every state of the Union, who can be induced 
 to swallow the preposterous tale of a gold brick going begging 
 for purchasers, at a fraction of its real value. So these specu- 
 lators will start off, as they have done, year after year, to meet 
 Lo, the poor Indian, who has carried the brick under his arm 
 from Arizona to Maine; or, it may be, to shave the stupid 
 Mexican miner who cannot speak English, and can only bar- 
 gain, in dumb show, for the sale of his brick to a keen Yankee 
 countryman. 
 
 In the earliest stages of this swindle, many of these bricks 
 had not even a coating of gold, but when the gulls rose above 
 brass bricks, the sharpers put a thin electro-plating of gold 
 over the core of base metal, and challenged the gulls to drop 
 nitric acid on the plated brick, as an infallible test of its char- 
 acter. When the speculators in bricks learned, by bitter ex- 
 perience, that all is not gold that glitters or bears nitric acid 
 without smoking, — the progressive "bunco men" bored holes 
 in their bricks and plugged the holes with pure gold; and some, 
 even, inserted gold wedges or slides. Then the mock test was 
 paraded of boring into the gold plugs, or sawing into the gold 
 slides, and confiding the gold dust, so produced, to the gulls 
 
192 OVB RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 for their acid test or for accurate assaying. This latest device 
 has usually succeeded in closing the sale of the brick, and then 
 the victims wrap up their purchases carefully and store them in 
 strong boxes or the vaults of safety deposit companies to re- 
 pose until they are wanted for conversion into cash. Then 
 comes the inevitable revelation and the gulls flutter about in 
 dismay, while the "bunco men" are selling new bricks thou- 
 sands of miles away. The gold plugging trick is a refinement 
 of the art of swindling, which only the masters practice ; for it 
 is commonly sufficient to cheat the gull by substituting a little 
 package of gold dust for the dust obtained by boring into a 
 plated brick, if the victim is not willing to confide in the report 
 of a confederate, who is near at hand in the mask of an assayer 
 of high reputation. 
 
 Sometimes this moss covered "gold brick'' trick has another 
 coat of varnish in its production as the "gold dust" swindle. 
 Then the familiar Mexican or Indian appears as an idiot lug- 
 ging around bags of gold dust, which he has washed out of the 
 sands of remote placers of prodigious richness, in El Dorado. 
 The mouths of these tempting bags are untied and their loads 
 of glittering dust are dumped on a table. "You can handle the 
 dust yourself," says the spider to the fly, and the dupe revels 
 in the novel sensation of plunging his hands into the heap and 
 clawing over the yellow grains. "Take a spoonful home with 
 you!" says the spider, and the fly goes off with a neat little 
 parcel of good gold dust, which has been slily exchanged for 
 the spoonful which he scooped up and allowed the obliging 
 spider to wrap up for him. 
 
 This trick of substitution is nearly as old as the first specula- 
 tion in gold mining, but it is still current, not only for the 
 sale of portable gold bricks and dust, but for passing off 
 mountains of barren rock as prolific gold and silver mines. 
 Even when examinations are made and samples taken for 
 assay by the agents of the purchasers, it has been shown that 
 the pretentious mine was nothing more than a gigantic "gold 
 
WILLIAM BARRACKS. 
 
 LEWIS LUDLOW. 
 
 JAMBS MINCHEON. 
 
 WILLIAM RAYMOND. 
 
SHARPENS AND DUPES. ig, 
 
 brick" with a thin skin of ore. The notion that the "simple 
 Mexican" or the "honest miner" is willing to sell a "gold brick" 
 of any size or description for less than it is worth has been 
 a very costly one to many capitalists who would sneer at the 
 gullibility of their verdant countrymen. A few borings and a 
 collection of pickings from the faces of drifts and cross cuts are 
 of no more value as certificates of a mine than the ordinary 
 tests of a "gold brick." So we may fitly remark that the col- 
 lection of "bunco men" and gulls, in the "gold brick" game, is 
 not confined to the sellers and buyers of little bricks. 
 
 Of late years a frequent substitute for the ordinary "gold 
 brick" game has been played by swindlers who are technically 
 known as "cross-roaders." In this game the "btmco man" 
 appears as a man of property in search of a desirable farm, or 
 else, as an agent empowered to pick out a farm for some 
 wealthy relative. In either case he is invariably well dressed 
 and a fluent, plausible talker. He will drive up in a fine, light 
 carriage to the house of a well-to-do farmer, and ask if any 
 good farms are for sale in the neighborhood. If the farmer 
 knows of any such property — and he usually does — he will be 
 urgently invited to take a seat in the carriage and show the 
 stranger the way to the farm for sale. If he is busy and can- 
 not go at once, the polite caller will consult his convenience 
 and beg the favor of his company with such address and per- 
 sistence that he usually succeeds in gaining his point. When 
 the farm in question is reached, the sharper will examine the 
 buildings and land with a show of marked satisfaction and 
 close the bargain for it, without much haggling, only stipu- 
 lating for the proper verification of title. In the course of the 
 drive or the bargaining he will casually extract from his pocket 
 a big wad of banknotes, and impress his companion v/ith his 
 parade of ready cash. 
 
 On the way back from the farm, a confederate will appear on 
 the road, who will stop the carriage to make some inquiry. 
 After some bantering the new-comer will propose some game 
 
194 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 or bet, and the farmer will be led on to take a hand by the 
 certain prospect of winning and by the offer of his companion 
 to put up half of the stake. When the partners have won a 
 large sum, the loser will ask for proof of their ability to make 
 their stake good. The swindler in the carriage will show his 
 money, and the exultant farmer will proceed to prove his claim 
 by drawing out of his bank the amount of his share and carry- 
 ing the money to the appointed meeting place. This exhibit 
 will leave no loop hole, apparently, for further question, and 
 the stake will be paid over to the winners. 
 
 Then the first "bunco man" will ask the farmer to oblige 
 him by taking charge of all the money, including the purchase 
 money for the farm, until he is able to return and close the 
 bargain. This display of confidence naturally tickles the 
 farmer and he is well pleased, also, to put his own money with 
 the deposit of his confiding friend in a tin bank-box, which his 
 friend has fortunately taken along under the seat of his car- 
 rige. After a cordial parting, he takes the box under his arm 
 and goes home. When he gets home and, sometimes, on the 
 way home, he is likely to open the box and is confounded to 
 find nothing within more precious than a stone wrapped up in 
 brown paper. He has fallen a victim to the ancient- shuffle 
 trick. 
 
 If money cannot be extracted from the pockets or hoards of 
 the destined victims by the cajoling and juggling of the sharpers, 
 or if the timid speculators are slow in parting with their cash, — 
 it is a common resort of the rascals to obtain by some device 
 the show of money and then to filch or snatch it away. This 
 is done particularly when the victim is an old or feeble person 
 whom the "bunco men" will entice, if they can, into some 
 lonely place or den of thieves where cries will not be heard 
 and struggles can soon be overcome. Here the old man is 
 sometimes knocked senseless, or gagged and bound so quickly 
 that he cannot raise an alarm, or else he is induced to take a 
 hand in some "fake" lottery or other cheating game and his 
 
SHARPERS AND DUPES. jne 
 
 money is taken away under some knavish pretence. If the 
 victims are men of such standing among their neighbors and 
 friends that they are alshamed to confess any association with 
 "bunco men," or any. dabbling in "bunco games," they will 
 frequently sufifer their losses in secret in preference to exposing 
 their folly to public contempt. So the rascals, who are robbers 
 as well as swindlers, may escape pursuit and punishment. The 
 aged victims — who are usually selected as marks for the "gold 
 brick" trick and its dependent schemes of robbery — are techni- 
 cally known as "Pappy Guys" in the lingo of bunco. 
 
 Some "stars" of the first magojitude in the galaxy of "bunco 
 men" are depicted on our representative portrait pages. Wil- 
 liam Raymond and James (alias "Doc") Mincheon are a pair 
 of rogues who are commonly working partners in every varia- 
 tion of "bunco." George Post, William Barracks, Lewis Lud- 
 low, Clay Wilson and Samuel Brotzki are notorious knaves of 
 the same stripe, "gold brick men," "cross-roaders" and expert 
 in every "confidence game" from years of practice in almost 
 every state of the Union. Post was a partner of "Tom" 
 O'Brien, the "king of the bunco men," as we have noted. 
 O'Brien is serving out his life sentence, but Post is filling the 
 gap in the ranks to the best of his ability. 
 
 Jacob Sondheim, alias "Al" Wise, or Wilson, has a varie- 
 gated record as a pickpocket, bank sneak and forger, as w~ell 
 as a pestiferous "bunco man," and he has obtained special dis- 
 tinction, of late years, through his successful counterfeits of 
 the "gold sweating" cheat. He is a plausible rascal who con- 
 trives to obtain the confidence of men with more money than 
 conscience. He persuades these men that he is the sole con- 
 troller of a secret process by which genuine gold coins can be 
 "sweated," or reduced in weight, without damage to their ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 In several instances he has induced these speculators to con- 
 struct tanks in the basement of their houses and put in from 
 ten to twenty thousand dollars in gold pieces for treatment in 
 
1^6 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 his chemical solution. Then he has filled the tanks with a 
 dark colored mixture, informing his backers that twenty days 
 will be needed to "sweat" the gold perfectly. As the tanks are 
 strong iron vats and their iron covers are securely locked, the 
 speculators are not afraid to leave their gold to soak in their 
 own cellars, for they hold the keys that fit the locks. Unfortu- 
 nately for them, their agent, Jacob, does not forget to provide 
 himself with duplicate keys and before the allotted time for 
 the "sweating" has passed, he has fitted false keys to the doors 
 of their houses and carried off the gold which has not shrunk 
 a pennyweight, in his mixture. At the end of the twenty days, 
 or before, if the absence of their chemist is alarming, the specu- 
 lators unlock their vats and usually find a deposit of rocks in 
 exchange for their gold pieces. This trick has given to Mr. 
 Sondheim a European as well as an American reputation. 
 
 Other variations of the "gold brick" swindle are offered in 
 the yarns spun over sunken galleons and buried treasures and 
 inheritances awaiting the coming of rightful claimants. In all 
 these cases some money is needed to uncover the treasure or 
 to trace and establish a title, and, in spite of all warnings, this 
 advance is, too often, furnished by the gulls of the "bunco 
 men." 
 
 An amusing exhibit of this class was given, not long ago, in 
 the letters of a Spanish swindler to a number of people in this 
 country. The writer sometimes pretended to be a priest who 
 had learned of a buried treasure from the lips of a prisoner 
 dying in a dungeon, and sometimes it was the prisoner him- 
 self who told the tale. In the strictest confidence it was re- 
 vealed that a certain Senor Mateo, a confidant of King 
 Alphonso, had been intrusted with the charge of a million 
 francs in gold and a casket of jewels. Mateo had fled to 
 America and buried the treasure, but he had been obliged to 
 leave his wife behind in Spain. Unfortunately the pining wife 
 fell sick, and the faithful Mateo braved every risk in returning 
 to comfort her. Sad to relate, she died before her chivalrous 
 
SHAh'PERS AND DUPES. igy 
 
 husband could clasp l\er in his arms, and he was seized, as he 
 entered his ancestralliome, and flung into a dismal dungeon. 
 
 There he lingered forlorn till he died, but, on his death-bed, 
 he confided the secret of the grave of his treasure to> a com- 
 passionate priest. For the sake of the recovery of the jewels 
 the Spanish government was willing to dismiss a suit then 
 pending against the estate of the dead Mateo, if the jewels 
 were returned and the costs of prosecution paid. This con- 
 cession would leave a balance of nearly a million francs to be 
 divided between the alleged priest and the American agent who 
 would be employed to dig up the treasure. Upon receipt of 
 the sum necessary to satisfy the costs of the suit, the priest 
 would send on complete plans and landmarks defining the 
 burial place of the jewels and the pot of francs. 
 
 It is not known how many American gulls responded to this 
 tempting proposition, but it is known that the scheme with 
 varying details was presented to the attention of American 
 capitalists from Maine to California. It may seem transparent 
 "bvmco," but it is certain that worse spun yarns have been 
 successful in fleecing American lambs. 
 
 A foster-brother, if not a twin, of the gold brick swindle, is 
 known as the "green goods" or "sawdust" game. This is the 
 secret sale of counterfeit money or packages, said to be filled 
 with counterfeit bills, to unscrupulous purchasers. The game 
 is usually opened by the mailing of circulars to addresses 
 obtained from directories or other lists which can be secured 
 for the purpose. These communications are sent out by 
 "green goods" men to the extent of hundreds of thousands 
 annually, and their general style and character are fairly repre- 
 sented in the following typical sample, which lately came into 
 the possession of the Boston Police Department: 
 
 Dear Sir :^I am in possession of a good thing, and with your 
 confidential and friendly cooperation, I can make you inde- 
 pendently rich, and at the same time, better my own condition. 
 
198 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 The enclosure herewith gives all the information that could be 
 desired and explains itself. 
 
 There's no reason why yoit should be a slave and toil all of 
 your life for nothing. The opportunity is here for you to 
 "switch off" from poverty and benefit yourself in a substantial 
 way. Don't be foolish enough to let conscientious scruples 
 interfere with your aim in life. Few men ever obtain riches 
 honestly. Others have grown rich around you (no one knows 
 how), why not you? A hint to the wise is sufficient. You 
 will see from the sketch that my goods are not what the law can 
 class as real counterfeits, inasmuch as they are printed from 
 genuine plates, and can easily be passed in your section of the 
 country with impunity. 
 
 This is serious and highly important food for thought! 
 Your sober and earnest attention should be given to every 
 word in this letter. A person without the "universal rudder" 
 — the Almighty Dollar — is thought but Ijttle of, and is looked 
 upon as of no importance to the world. Isn't this true? I 
 know whereof I speak; in former years I have drank from the 
 "bitter cup" myself. 
 
 If you have not the money to buy my goods, I would con- 
 sent to your taking some confidential friend in with you who 
 has; provided, of course, he is trustworthy and could keep the 
 secret. You could both then come on together and make the 
 deal. However, you would be very foolish to take any one in 
 with you if you could raise enough money yourself. 
 
 If my business should suit you, it will be absolutely necessary 
 for you to come on here and see me in person. I only deal 
 face to face with my customers. Experience has taught me 
 that this is the safest and most satisfactory way for both. By 
 your coming on here, you see what you are buying, and I see 
 who I am dealing with. Consequently everything is "on the 
 level," and we both feel better satisfied. 
 
 I know it is quite a journey for you to make, but, ye gods, 
 just think of the "gold mine" in store for you — in the way of 
 
SHARPERS AND DUPES. iqq 
 
 profits. Furthermore, I always make a liberal allowance in 
 goods to cover the expenses. Make up your mind to come 
 on — I know you will always be thankful for your visit to me. 
 You will find me a square and honorable white man in every 
 particular. When you arrive here I will show you my entire 
 stock, from which you can make your own seclections. Then, 
 if my goods are not all that I claim for them, and are not as 
 fine as the enclosure speaks of, I will make you a present of 
 One Thousand Dollars in gold, and also cheerfully pay all 
 expenditures incurred upon your journey. Fair enough — isn't 
 it? My prices are as follows: $300 gets Three Thousand; 
 $400 gets Five Thousand; $650 gets Ten Thousand; $1,000 
 gets Thirty Thousand; $2,000 gets Seventy-five Thousand. 
 $2,000 is the most I will sell on the first deal. The more you 
 invest the cheaper you get the goods. The sizes run from 
 "One" to "Twenty." $300 worth of my goods is positively the 
 very smallest amount I will sell under any circumstances. If 
 you will invest $650 or more I will agree to give you the ex- 
 clusive State right. Now, should you wish to do business with 
 me, you must obey the following instructions, and do only as 
 I tell you. 
 
 First: — Don't, as long as you live, ever write a letter to me 
 until I give you permission. If you do it will be refused. See? 
 I mean exactly what I say, and, furthermore, all business rela- 
 tions between us will end. 
 
 Second : — If you wish to come on here and see me, send the 
 following Telegram (Remember Telegram ONLY will be 
 received), and simply say: "SEND INSTRUCTIONS," then 
 sign your name as per "passivord and number" given you. 
 
 Third: — On receipt of your telegram I will send you full 
 instructions how to meet me and where to stop, then no mis- 
 takes will be made in finding one another. 
 
 In conclusion I wish to say if you cannot come on here, or 
 have not $300 to invest, and you think favorably of my busi- 
 ness, send the following telegram: "What is market pi'icesf 
 
200 OVR FITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 I will then make you another proposition. Now kindly allow 
 me to caution you again, fwt to ivrite letters! Be patient, and 
 be guided by my advice. If you do, you will be sure of success. 
 No such thing as fail. Act square! Be true and honorable! 
 Do me no harm, and you will never regret it as long as you 
 live. You can make money faster and easier by dealing in my 
 goods than you ever dreamed of before in your life. Won't 
 you try it? 
 
 CAUTION: — No other person is now authorized by me to 
 correspond on this subject. Do not be deceived by shoddy 
 imitations. I am the sole owner and proprietor of this enter- 
 prise. Communications from others offering similar goods 
 for sale are absolutely unreliable and positively worthless. 
 Pay no attention to them. "Nuf-ced." 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 "YOU KNOW." 
 Keep this for future reference. 
 
 Send your telegrams, (no letters) to 
 
 THOMAS HUNT, 
 
 Claremont, 
 
 New Jersey. 
 
 Your Pass-word and Number is "Turnip 573." Do not 
 sign anything else. 
 
 CAUTION: — Be sure you have the numbers (plainly writ- 
 ten) on all telegrams after you sign the Pass-word "TURNIP" 
 otherwise your telegrams will positively receive no attention 
 whatever. The "figures" are very important. All answers 
 from me will be sent to the same name and address as written 
 on the present envelope — unless otherwise instructed by you. 
 
 Above all things do not sign your name, only your Pass- 
 word and number, and send all telegrams over the Western 
 Union Telegraph Company lines, (if possible) to avoid mis- 
 takes, also prepay all messages as it is very important. Should 
 
CLAY WILSON. 
 
 GEORGE POST. 
 
 JACOB SONDHEIM. 
 
 SAMUEL BROTZKI. 
 
SHARPERS AXD DUPES. 20I 
 
 the telegraph operator ask you for your name or address, refuse 
 to give it, simply say, "My name or address is not necessary." 
 
 N. B. — Should there be any official notice stamped on this 
 envelope pay no attention to it whatever, as it is put there by 
 the new administration to find out who has got the plates, as 
 they are missing from the Treasury. Possession of the orig- 
 inal plates is the foundation of my success, and as I have the 
 plates, the stamping of this ridiculous notice cannot injure 
 me at all; unless to frighten off some timid agent. 
 
 It will be observed that the cheat begins with the false pre- 
 tence that the counterfeit bills, offered by the "green goods" 
 man, "are not what the law can class as real counterfeits, inas- 
 much as they were printed from genuine plates." There is a 
 twofold lie in this assurance. Even if the plates were stolen, 
 as the svifindler pretends or assumes, bills printed from them 
 by any unauthorized person are no less certainly counterfeit 
 bills, in the eye of the law, than bills printed frorti the most 
 bungling imitations of genuine plates. The maker or utterer 
 of such bills is Hable, therefore, to the full penalties imposed by 
 law for the offence of forging, uttering, or even consciously 
 holding counterfeit money in hand. Secondly, the plates in 
 question were unquestionably made by some process of secret 
 counterfeiting, if they are really in existence at all, — a matter 
 by no means assured by the word of a "green goods" man. 
 
 It is calculated, as a matter of course, that only a small per- 
 centage of these circulars will reach persons who are willing 
 to comply with the imperative instructions laid down and open 
 communication by telegrams with "Thomas Hunt of Clare- 
 mont. New Jersey," or other swindlers of the same stripe. 
 But the cost of printing and mailing these circulars is relatively 
 so small, compared with the sums which may be obtained from 
 a few of the geese who are wilHng to be knaves, that there is 
 likely to be a considerable profit for the "green goods man," if 
 only one of ten thousand of these baits catches a gudgeon. 
 We will suppose that a bait is swallowed, and the gudgeon 
 
202 OUR RI\AL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 sends a dispatch b_v wire to "Thomas Hunt" and obtains an 
 appointment to meet the swindler. The financial banker of 
 the gang, who furnishes the money for bait and other expenses, 
 will usually arrange to keep under cover and send one of his 
 partners or hired men to meet the dupe. After this meeting 
 has been arranged with every possible precaution to assure the 
 fact that the correspondent is not a detective in disguise, — the 
 dupe is taken to some private room or unfrequented place in the 
 neighboring country and, by one trick or another, his good 
 money is exchanged for a package of poor counterfeit notes, 
 or a box stufifed with sawdust, or a brick wrapped in paper, or 
 some other worthless parcel. 
 
 There is always a great pretence of secrecy and apprehension 
 of arrest in the shuffle of the exchange, and, after the first hasty 
 examination, the victim is hurried away to the cars, or carried 
 ofT in a wagon to some distant place, with the caution not to 
 expose his purchase to any risk of spies by further inspection 
 before he is beyond the reach of the local police. Frequently 
 the top of a package of cbunterfeit bills or sawdust is covered 
 by one or two genuine bills, which are shown to the dupe as 
 a sample of the "green goods" which he will be permitted to 
 buy for a small fraction of their face value. Sometimes a roll 
 of genuine bills is actually put in his hands, for a moment, to 
 count and examine; and, after his money is paid over, the roll 
 which he holds will be filched away by some pretence or juggle 
 and a worthless package returned in exchange. 
 
 In one of the most artful tricks of the craft, he is allowed to 
 put the roll of good bills in his own tin box and lock it securely 
 before he hands over the purchase money. Then a "green 
 goods man" invites him to take a seat in his buggy and the 
 pair of knaves ride away, after carefully stowing the precious 
 tin box under the seat of the carriage. The bottom of the 
 buggy, under the seat, has a secret slide or panel opening with 
 a spring, and, before the carriage has gone a hundred yards, this 
 slide or panel is opened by the "green goods" man and the box 
 
SHARPERS AND DUPES. 203 
 
 drops on the foad, where it is picked up at once by confederates 
 in waiting. Then the panel is put back in place and a similar 
 box, stuffed with paper, is substituted, which the victim will 
 take away when he bids good-bye to his swindling companion. 
 As he"has consented to wrap up his box in an envelope of paper 
 or cloth, tightly fastened with string, he is not likely to detect 
 the cheat until he is far away from the "green goods" men. 
 
 It is useless to present, in detail, every known variation of 
 this swindling game, for all are founded on the same shuffling 
 device of substitution, unless the resort of pocket-picking or 
 robbery by force is used instead. The ordinary buyer of 
 "green goods" has practically no chance of defeating the 
 schemes of the spiders who catch him in their nets, although 
 there are some instances in which these knaves have been out- 
 witted by rascals of their own stripe. When the swindling ex- 
 change has actually been efTected, the victims will almost 
 inevitably suffer their loss without open complaint, because 
 they fear to expose themselves to the eye of the law. The only 
 sensible and honest disposal of a "green-goods" circular is to 
 destroy it at sight, and no communication whatever will be 
 held with any rascals of this class by a man of common honesty 
 or sense. 
 
 The swindling horse dealer, commonly styled the "horse 
 sharp/' is an expert "bunco man" in his line of business. He 
 is the man who picks up worn-out circus horses, or the refuse 
 of breeding stables, or horses of fair outside show but practi- 
 cally valueless on account of their ineradicable viciousness or 
 freaks of bolting, kicking and balking. He is a master of every 
 art of conceahng the diseases or faults or tricks of a horse until 
 his sale is concluded and the horse is. finally turned over to the 
 swindled customer. 
 
 He will sometimes work off his worthless stock at horse 
 fairs and auctions ; but his favorite method is to procure an ad- 
 vertisement or to send out circulars, informing possible cus- 
 tomers that horses belonging to private families are offered at 
 
204 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 private sale, for various plausible reasons. Sometimes the 
 head of the family has died, and the mourning widow is re- 
 luctantly compelled to dispose of the valuable pair of matched 
 roadsters which her late husband prized as the apple of his eye. 
 Or, again, the family is on the point of departing for Europe 
 for a tour of indefinite length and the stable must be sold at 
 short notice, so that no ofifer within reason will be refused. 
 Or, may be, it is a physician who is winding up his practice 
 with the design of opening his office in a distant state. So 
 the variations run through the stretch of invention, but one 
 note is invariably sounded. It is the fixed determination of 
 the owners that their horses shall not be sold to professional 
 horse dealers or stable keepers or jockeys or agents, who can- 
 not be trusted to give a fatherly care to these dear animals. 
 
 Nobody will be suffered 
 to lead off these pets un- 
 less he obtains them for 
 his own personal use or 
 that of his family. 
 
 Some lively and vivid 
 illustrations of the con- 
 duct of these horse sales 
 and the character of 
 these "family pets" are 
 given in the accompany- 
 ing sketches. 
 
 The first figure shows a 
 gullible customer, known 
 to the sharpersasa"jay," 
 just entering the stable 
 where the pets are lodged 
 and falling into the hands of the first assistant "bunco man" 
 in the person of the faithful groom, "Tom," who has had the 
 care of the horses for years. "Yessah, old mars'r's dead, bless 
 his heart! He was one of de ol' Virginny Persimmons, sah; 
 
SHARPEIiS AXD DDPE8. 
 
 205 
 
 a high-toned S'uthern genTman; nevah gave a cross word 
 to me, sah; an' he was took awftil sudden; an' it pretty 
 near done broke ol' missy's heart, sah; and now she's got t' let 
 de po' dear hosses go, dat ol' mars'r yus t' drive, sah; an' 
 lit'r missy Eva, dat dear chile, has jus' been yere, a cryin' her 
 pretty lit'l' eyes out, — but look yere — yere comes young 
 mars'r Bob, sah, an' he'll tell yer all about it ! 
 
 Enter "young mars'r Bob," who has the leading part in this 
 "bunco" play. ' He is masquerading as the eldest son of the 
 family, who has charge of the sale; and he comes in, after 
 faithful "Tom" has reeled ofif his touching yarn, to take the 
 half-snared "jay "in hand 
 and drop another net 
 over his head. He is 
 rigged up for his part 
 in a suit of solemn black 
 from top to toe, not 
 forgeting a mourning 
 weed that nearly covers 
 his hat, and elegant 
 black gloves that en- 
 case his slim and 
 taper fingers without a 
 wrinkle. 
 
 After some smooth words with the customer, he calls upon 
 the devoted "Tom" to bring out the choicest one of the family 
 horses; and "Tom" leads this precious animal out of the stall 
 and puts him through a set of paces for the inspection of the 
 visitor. Sometimes the docile pet pricks up his ears, at the 
 start, and tries to jump through a window or jerks faithful 
 "Tom" over the floor of the stable, like the bob of a kite, in 
 his vicious capers ; but there is always a flow of smooth talk to 
 cover up any cavorting, and every possible change is rung on 
 the fine spirit and gentle playfulness of this family pet. Our 
 artist has a pen picture of this exhibit, in which "Tom" is 
 
2o6 
 
 OUR KIVAL, THE UAHiJAL. 
 
 dodging the flyiny hoofs and the showman is filUng the ear 
 of the dupe with his oily patter in praise of the lamb-like gam- 
 bols of the family pet. 
 
 In the next scene of this comedy "litT missy Eva" appears 
 on the stage, — coming in, all in tears, through the stable door 
 and running up to her brother or to dear "Tom," whom she 
 clasps around the legs and sobbingly begs not to sell her 
 father's favorite horse. "It will break dear mamma's heart to 
 part with Charley," lisps this little "bunco girl," in a voice 
 broken with sobs,— "Oh, don't let the bad man take Charley 
 away!" Her brother tenderly pats the little one on the head 
 and gently explains to her that mamma is obliged to sell papa's 
 horse now that poor papa cannot drive him any more. But 
 little Eva keeps on sobbing and will not listen to her fond 
 brother. "Oh, come away, come away, come home to mam- 
 ma," she cries, "and mamma will tell the naughty man that he 
 can't have dear Charley." 
 
 Then the scene shifts to the home of dear mamma, depicted 
 in the sketch of our artist. "Brother Bob" brings in the bash- 
 ful "jay" who nervously 
 fingers his hat and 
 really feels that he is 
 a cruel man to be the 
 cause, even innocently, 
 of so much distress to 
 the little girl and her 
 mother. The "widow" 
 sits weeping in her par- 
 lor and the little girl 
 runs up to her, crying: 
 "Oh, mamma, mamma, 
 they are going to take 
 our darling Charley away, and we shall never, n'n'never see 
 him any more." 
 
 Mamma sobs, too, hugs the child convulsively to her bosom- 
 
SHARPERS AAW DUPES. 
 
 207 
 
 and then, with a brave air of fortitude, lifts her head and courte- 
 ously greets the stranger, while tenderly stilling her weeping 
 child, and wiping her tears away with her fine cambric hand- 
 kerchief. "Yes, sir," she says, "we must sell dear Charley, — 
 don't cry, dear, mamma must do what is right — we must sell the 
 horse which my dear husband brought up from a colt; but we 
 would not sell him, on any account, to anybody who would 
 not use him kindly and love him as much as we love him. 
 Bi.it you look like a good, kind man and, if you will promise 
 faithfully to keep the horse for your own family use, and treat 
 him gently, I am willing that my son should let you have him." 
 
 The good-hearted countryman is now melted almost to tears 
 by this piteous play, and he warmly protests that he will treat 
 dear Charley like a brother, if this precious horse is confided 
 to him. "You must arrange the price with my son," says the 
 widow, with an air of overpowering weariness and indifference 
 to such vulgar details. 
 
 The visitor takes the hint and 
 goes ofif with the son, who has 
 usually little difficulty in selling the 
 horse at a price that fills the 
 "widow's" heart with unaffected 
 delight, for she divides the profit 
 with the leading "bunco man" and 
 the faithful "Tom." 
 
 Sometimes this parade is varied 
 in another way shown by our 
 artist. The customer meets a 
 spruce young man at the stable, 
 and hears that he is the only son 
 of a gentleman who cannot use 
 his horses — because he is closely 
 confined to his bed-chamber and 
 it may be years before he will be 
 able to go out driving again. This 
 
208 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 tale may have a rock bottom of fact, as appears in the accom- 
 panying picture of the "father" wistfully staring through the 
 bars of his prison cell. But we may be sure that the real style 
 of the bed chamber forms no part of the image conjured up 
 to affect the "jay." 
 
 Again, when the caller appears to be more hesitating and 
 wary than usual, there is often a resort to the sly trick of intro- 
 ducing another confederate, in the person of an avowed horse 
 dealer or jockey. He comes in, while the "jay" is still hem- 
 ming and hawing over a bargain for a horse, and appears to 
 make up his mind in a moment. "That's the sort of horse 1 
 want." he says bluntly, "what's his price?" "Who are you?" 
 says the son, who is showing the horse. "Here's my card," 
 replies the new comer, producing the 
 card of a horse dealer. "Well, sir, you 
 can't have this horse; no man of your 
 sort can get my father's horse on any 
 terms!" Then the stranger pretends to 
 be moved to hot resentment and starts a 
 squabble which ends with his exit out 
 of the stable door, assisted by the son 
 and the groom, in the manner shown by 
 our sketch. 
 
 This display of determination natu- 
 rally impresses the "jay" and when he 
 goes away half disposed to close his pur- 
 chase, he meets the pretended horse 
 dealer waiting for him at some little dis- 
 tance from the stable. 
 "See here, stranger," says the sharper, "that's a mighty good 
 horse those people have for sale up there. What do they ask 
 for him?" 
 
 The gull names the price which was stated to him. 
 "Cheap as dirt," says the "horse sharp." "I'll tell you what 
 I'll do, sir. You don't want that horse particularly, but -I do. 
 
SHARPERS AND DUPES. 
 
 209 
 
 They won't sell him to me, because I am a professional dealer; 
 
 but you can get him easy enough and, if you can buy him at 
 
 the price named, I'll take 
 
 him oiT your hands in a 
 
 minute, and give you fifty 
 
 dollars to boot for your 
 
 trouble. I'll wait here for 
 
 you, for I mustn't be seen 
 
 hanging about the stable or 
 
 they'll suspect there's some 
 
 deal between us. You get 
 
 that horse as soon as you 
 
 can and bring him here, 
 
 and you find man and 
 
 money ready." 
 
 If the dupe bites at this 
 
 bait and buys the horse in 
 
 order to make fifty dollars, — he will spend the rest of the day 
 
 hunting for the eager purchaser and finally go home with his dear 
 
 horse and experience. 
 
 Another favorite trick to effect a sale is the assurance that 
 
 the "horse sharp" will 
 send to the purchaser 
 several additional horses 
 to board on liberal terms 
 for the winter, as the 
 cu stonier expects that his 
 profit will largely offset 
 the cost of the s'ingle 
 horse which he has 
 agreed to buy. After he 
 has paid for the horse, 
 
 there will be some pretence for delay in forwarding the other 
 
 horses, and he will surely grow weary if he waits in hope to re- 
 ceive the promised shipment. He may get, instead, some 
 
2IO 
 
 OVR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 trumped up excuse of the "horse sharp" or he may get nothing 
 more consohng than his experience in this "bunco game. 
 
 In displaying the horses at these swindling sales, all kinds 
 of expedients are used to disguise the condition and char- 
 acter of the animals; and the certificates or guarantees given to 
 
 purchasers are usually 
 queer documents. The 
 form of proper certifi- 
 cates is copied as closely 
 as possible, and there 
 is a wordy parade of 
 catch phrases and legal 
 technicalities to hood- 
 wink hasty readers or 
 greenhorns. But when the supposed guarantees are closely 
 examined, after the fraud is discovered, there is no pledge of 
 redress to the purchaser. 
 
 Sometimes it will be certified that the horse in question 
 "feeds well and takes his rest well." Or it is stated that "he is 
 as kind in double as in single harness;" or, again, it will appear 
 that "any lady can drive 
 him as well as a gen- 
 tleman." It may be 
 averred that "he will 
 stand for hours without 
 hitching and has never 
 been known to run 
 away." The value of 
 this last certificate of do- 
 cility is well illustrated 
 in the experience of the 
 young lady depicted by our artist, who is vainly trying to move 
 one of these bunco steeds from his grazing place at the side of 
 a road. A companion picture shows the certified gait of 
 another of these horses who has been formally credited with "a 
 
SHARPERiS AND DOPES. 
 
 211 
 
 fine easy knee action" and warranted to be "as gentle under the 
 saddle as he is in harness." Another one of these brutes, with 
 a like certificate, is shown tearing away, after upsetting and 
 wrecking a carriage on 
 top of the unfortunate 
 people who trusted in 
 the hollow pretence of 
 a "bunco man." A 
 horse who "will go ten 
 miles as readily as he 
 will one" is illustrated 
 in the last of the series, 
 an instance where the 
 buyer forgot to de- 
 mand a guarantee that the horse could be moved a foot with 
 less than five men. 
 
 Quite frequently the horses put up for sale in this way will go 
 through their exhibit without showing any apparent blemish or 
 fault to the eye of an ordinary purchaser; and many of them 
 may be driven away without displaying their viciousness or 
 peculiar ailments, although there are known instances in 
 which the poor horse has dropped dead before going a thou- 
 sand yards. But some day — and generally within a few days 
 — the discovery of the bunco game must be made, and the pur- 
 chasers will try to return their bargains and get their money 
 back. 
 
 It need hardly be observed that this restitution is no part of 
 the scheme of the bunco man, and it will never be made if he 
 can evade or escape doing so. If he doesn't hide himself, or 
 leave the city, as soon as he has sold his horses, he will meet 
 complainants with a brazen front and profess to disbelieve any 
 report that is made to him. It is quite common for him to give 
 a guarantee that a horse may be returned at any time within 
 two weeks from the date of the sale, provided the animal is 
 brought back in as good condition as when sold. This appar- 
 
212 OUR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 ently reasonable stipulation commonly quiets any anxiety on 
 the part of the purchaser, who fails to observe that the judge 
 of the comparative condition of the horse is a sharper who can 
 never be satisfied that a horse, when returned, is as good as 
 when sold. Moreover, the rogue has inserted in the same 
 guarantee a provision that no verbal embeUishments of the 
 written warrant shall be of any binding effect. So the swindled 
 purchaser has often no sufficient legal ground for the estab- 
 lishment of a claim of fraudulent misrepresentation. 
 
 There is another noteworthy cheat which is a common prac- 
 tice of "bunco men," because it is difficult to convict the 
 swindler of intentional fraud, even if his trick is detected. A 
 sleek, well-dressed rascal will enter a store or office and ask 
 the cashier to oblige him by changing a fifty dollar bill or 
 some other bank note of a high denomination. If the cashier 
 changes the bill, the applicant will ask for a number of one or 
 two dollar bills or silver, with a suave apology for the trouble 
 of making change. In handing back the bills to be changed, 
 he will slily take out a five or ten dollar bill, and rely on the 
 chance that a busy cashier will not count over carefully the 
 amount returned. If his cheat is detected, he will beg pardon 
 for his "blunder" and give the correct change; but he fre- 
 quently gets away from the window and ovtt of the store before 
 the trick is discovered. This swindle is known to the craft of 
 bunco men as the "flim-flam game," and the professional 
 players are styled "flim-flammers." 
 
 Besides these specially notorious and distinct forms of the 
 "bunco game," which we have described, there are all the 
 variations in play, that are practiced by that legion of knaves 
 who come under the general head of "the confidence man." 
 We scarcely need note that this term has come into familiar 
 usage, because the winning of confidence by some cheating 
 pretence is the bottom of all the wide ranging variations in the 
 swindling practices of these rascals. The "gold brick" man, 
 the "cross-roader," and the "bunco man" of every stripe are 
 
DAVID SWAIN. 
 
 HENRY DAVIS. 
 
 HARRY GIFFORD. 
 
 CHARLES GIFFORD. 
 
SHARPERS AND DOPES. 213 
 
 "confidence men"; but, for the sake of distinction, the latter 
 term is usually applied to the swindlers who have no peculiar 
 designation fitting their practices. Without attempting to 
 mark every known twist in the shifts of these swindlers, we 
 shall call attention to the representative tricks which have been 
 most successful in defrauding the public. 
 
 Undoubtedly an enormous plunder in the aggregate has 
 been heaped up by the knaves who have swindled investors, in 
 this country and Europe, with their "confidence game" of sell- 
 ing worthless town lots and other lands by false representa- 
 tions. The bitter experience of "Martin Chuzzlewit" has a 
 rock bottom of fact which was not the less real because this 
 particular Martin was a creation of fancy. Hundreds of thou- 
 sands of actual victims would truly attest, if they could be 
 called to bear witness, that they, too, had been caught in the 
 trap of some "General Choke" or agent "Scadder," and dropped 
 their savings into the quagmire of some fabulous "Eden." 
 And, in spite of all warnings, how many thousands more 
 will be gulled like the credulous Martin with showy prospec- 
 tuses and paper towns in the air! 
 
 "Confidence men" of less pretension and celebrity are wan- 
 dering through the country to-day professedly taking orders for 
 lightning rods and obtaining signatures to notes of hand from 
 ignorant farmers who suppose that they are simply contracting 
 to pay for some wires. Or they are masquerading as "summer 
 Ijoarders" or invalids seeking a fountain of health in "milk fresh 
 from the cow." When they have stretched their line of credit 
 to the snapping point, they will steal away without even bid- 
 ding good-bye to their hosts; or they will leave paper me- 
 mentoes in the form of worthless checks which will come b^ck 
 to remind the victims that plausibility is not reliability — that 
 promises or orders to pay are not cash, — and that forged letters 
 of reference are not guarantees of credit. 
 
 When the' "confidence man" comes to town, he will some- 
 limes rent a house or a suite of rooms and obtain his furniture 
 
214 ^^^ RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 from trusting sellers on the instalment plan. Then he will 
 get as many loans as he can on this furniture and skip off be- 
 fore his second instalment is due. "Confidence women" are 
 particularly plausible and expert in the execution of this trick, 
 and business men in every city in the country have been vic- 
 timized by it. Valuable sets of books have been obtained, also, 
 as well as considerable sums of money, by a variation of this 
 fraud. Two "confidence men" carry through this trick, — one, 
 professing to be a physician or some other professional man; 
 and the other masqvierading as a book agent. The pretended 
 physician will get rooms on credit in a fashionable quarter of 
 a city and put up his office sign. Then his confederate will 
 get employment as a book agent, and sell a costly set of books 
 to his partner, on the instalment plan. The first instalment 
 will be paid; the agent will collect his commission; and both 
 will disappear with the books and commission money. Some- 
 times several sets of books and several commissions will be 
 wafted away in this fashion before the cheat is discovered. 
 
 Similar swindles on a greater scale are effected by the "con- 
 fidence men" who open stores and succeed in buying large 
 stocks of goods, wholly on credit or upon small cash payments. 
 Over and over again these stocks have been shipped off to be 
 sold at auction or to be secretly stored with some "fence," or 
 receiver of stolen goods. When the payments, or notes for the 
 ffoods, fall due, the "confidence men" will "fail" or abscond. 
 
 Probably the most frequent and successful frauds of this 
 kind are the operations of swindhng commission agents and, 
 especially, those dealing in country produce. These rascals, 
 by means of attractive circulars or advertising, obtain ship- 
 ments from farmers and dairymen. Then the supplies will be 
 sold to confederates, and worthless notes taken in exchange 
 to make a showing when the swindlers "fail;" or the goods will 
 be quickly marketed at the best price obtainaljle, and the 
 shippers will wait in vain for any cash returns. To prevent 
 possible identification and recovery of any shipments — the 
 
SHARKERS AND DUPES. 215 
 
 marks are usually scraped from the packages, as soon as re- 
 ceived, and every tag cut off. Then the goods are put beyond 
 the reach or recall of their owners. 
 
 A common method of obtaining credit and consignments is 
 to counterfeit, with a slight variation, the name of a well 
 known firm in the same line of business in the same city or 
 district. Sometimes an initial in the name will be altered, or 
 the address will be changed to some neighboring town. Thus 
 the firm of "Roe and Doe" of Chelsea has been confounded 
 with the good firm of "Roe and Doe" of Charlestown in a way 
 very vexing tO the Charlestown firm and very disastrous to the 
 heedless shippers of produce. 
 
 Another device of the "confidence man" is to obtain a good 
 business rating by false representations to the commercial 
 agencies. Then he will make a delusive show of a stable and 
 prosperous business for a few months until his confederates are 
 able to discount his notes without much difficulty. When the 
 notes mature, it will be discovered that the signers and in- 
 dorsers are "confidence men," but a harvest may be gathered 
 before this frost. 
 
 Closely akin to this trick is the one which sets up some bogus 
 business and then offers it for sale in whole or in part. This 
 may be done in the commission business, or in any commercial 
 line which requires only a small investment in stock or plant to 
 make a deceptive show of prosperity. Frequently some 
 patented article, or humbug applying for patent, is the chosen 
 bait for gudgeons, and the victims will be entertained by a 
 lively show of business for a few days before they swallow the 
 bait. Then they learn that parade and bustle and shipping of 
 goods on the shuttlecock plan — out one day and in the next, 
 — are not solid proofs of a real and profitable business. 
 
 ■ On a par with these offers of bogus business investments is 
 the solicitation of advertisements from business men for "fake" 
 directories and other swindling publications, whose issue is 
 often limited to the number actually necessary for the collec- 
 
2l6 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 tion of the advertising accounts. "Proof of publication" may 
 onjy mean a single copy carried around and exhibited to the 
 swindled advertisers; but the victims usually agree to pay with- 
 out any better assurance that they are getting something more 
 than a "bunco game" for their money. This practice has 
 been carried so far of late years that it has become a really 
 serious swindle. 
 
 Another common trick of these swindlers is the obtaining 
 of a signature of a business firm to a contract which differs 
 from the agreement which has been made verbally and is 
 supposed to be incorporated in the printed or written form. 
 In this way a fraudulent claim may be set up and the signed 
 contract offered in evidence to sustain it. Sometimes, too, 
 the date of an old contract is altered so that it may be pre- 
 sented again for payment, or the amount stated in the orig- 
 inal contract may be erased and a much larger sum inserted. 
 
 It is certain, too, that the frauds of alleged insurance or 
 endowment orders are "bunco games" of a most dangerous 
 class; for their range of possible victims is extraordinarily 
 wide, and they have proved to be exceptionally delusive in 
 attracting investors. Their promises of great profit have 
 blinded the speculators to the fact that the rate of profit is apt 
 to correspond to the extent of the risk, and their comparative 
 novelty has given them an advantage over the older forms of 
 swindhng. 
 
 Everybody has heard of the threadbare trick of the "bunco 
 men" who walk up, smiling, to greet strangers on the street as 
 old acquaintances. If they succeed in learning the real names 
 of their selected "marks," by this trick, their confederates will 
 make a better front, a few minutes later, when they pretend to 
 know the same men. This is a stale and clumsy artifice, how- 
 ever, compared with the wiles of really accomplished "con- 
 fidence men," who will contrive to gain access to possible 
 victims without exciting any suspicion. These rogues are 
 never at a loss for plausible pretences for scraping an acquain- 
 
SHARPERS AND DUPES. 217 
 
 tance, and many adventurers make a practice of roaming from 
 city to city, getting cards of admission to clubs and credit in 
 various ways by false representations. Most of these knaves 
 calculate to get all they can by cheating without actually 
 crossing the penal line into forgery ; but they are apt to carry 
 their manufacture of checks and letters so far that they can be 
 indicted for forgery as well as for swindling. 
 
 We have before cautioned business men against the accept- 
 ance of checks from strangers, who are, too often, "confidence 
 men"; and we have particularly noted that the pretence that a 
 check is certified is no assurance that the certification has not 
 been forged. A swindhng scheme that is closely allied to the 
 supposed certification of checks is the use of a single certifica- 
 tion to establish a credit which is straightway abused by the pre- 
 sentation of overdrafts or worthless checks. Many business 
 firms in every large city in this country have been cheated, at 
 one time or another, by this specious trick, and there are rascals 
 to-day who are travelling from city to city to carry on this fraud. 
 
 The swindler's method is to open an account with a city bank 
 by the deposit of a few hundred dollars and then to make a 
 purchase from some store to an extent not exceeding his bank 
 account. He proposes to pay for his purchase by his check 
 and makes an impressive parade of his willingness to obtain a 
 certification. After his first check is certified, he calculates 
 that his second check will be accepted without the precaution 
 of reference and his calculation is too often well founded. 
 Sometimes, too, the first reference only goes to the point of 
 ascertaining that the plausible customer actually has a bank 
 account, and, in this case, both checks are likely to prove 
 worthless, for the swindler makes haste to draw his money be- 
 fore either check gets through the clearing house. It should 
 be unnecessary to observe, in the way of caution, that one cer- 
 tification does not make subsequent checks good any more 
 than one swallow makes a summer. 
 
 Some of the most rascally swindlers in America are the men 
 
2i8 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 who entrap confiding women by pretended marriages or by 
 false promises of marriage, and tlien desert them, after getting 
 hold of their money. Often these "confidence men" do not 
 stickle at bigamy, if they cannot gain their ends with less risk; 
 and pitiful stories come to us from the poor women who are 
 cheated and robbed and abandoned by these heartless scoun- 
 drels. 
 
 There are no meaner rascals on the face of the earth than 
 the "confidence men" who make a practice of hanging about 
 steamship wharves and railway stations, and trying to swindle 
 poor immigrants and other travellers. Country people from 
 the eastern provinces of Canada — and especially those who 
 speak English imperfectly — are a favorite prey of these knaves, 
 and their cheating tricks are shifting daily. The leaders of the 
 gangs are usually made up to pass for fatherly old men who 
 gain the confidence and regard of their poor dupes by their 
 sympathetic and kindly ways. Sometimes they take passage 
 on the steamers, or board the trains at stations many miles 
 away from the final stopping place. Before the boats or trains 
 reach their destination, these old rogues have marked their vic- 
 tims and won their confidence so far that swinding is easy, if 
 they are not arrested by watchful detectives. 
 
 David Swain, whose portrait is giyen on a representative 
 page, is one of the worst of these "confidence men." He has 
 fleeced immigrants, countrymen, backwoodsmen and other 
 dupes to the extent of thousands of dollars with the help of his 
 confederates, Henry Davis and a father and son, Harry and 
 Charles Gififord, whose portraits appear in our collection in 
 illustration of one of the most notorious gangs which has ever 
 infested this country. 
 
 On another page four other rogues of the same stripe are de- 
 picted: John Brady, Charles A. Hicks, John Bernard and 
 James Lewis. The ranks of "confidence men" will be raked in 
 vain to gather another set of meaner rascals. ■ 
 
 Sometimes these knaves get their plunder by inducing their 
 
SHARPERS AXD DUPES. 219 
 
 dupes to cash bogus checks or even to intrust their money to 
 them for safe keeping. Another common device is to treat a 
 new acquaintance to several rounds of drinks, and then to per- 
 suade him to accompany his hberal friend to his hotel. At the 
 hotel door, a confederate in the mask of a clerk will meet the 
 jolly companions and inform the confidence man that his wife 
 has gone to a railway depot with all his baggage. Or course, 
 she left the hotel bill for her husband to settle, but, unfortu- 
 nately, the husband has his money in his trunk — could his 
 friend oblige him with a small loan to settle the bill and allow 
 him to pay back the loan as soon as they reach the depot? The 
 dupe finds it hard to refuse this favor to a man who has been so 
 companionable, and the "confidence man" may get fifty or a 
 hundred dollars from him. "Wait a moment for me!" says the 
 sharper, who slips into the hotel and out through a side door. 
 The victim waits with growing impatience until he discovers 
 that his genial friend and his money are both out of sight. 
 
 Another common trick is known as the "drop game." The 
 "confidence man," while walking about with his dupe, will pre- 
 tend- to pick up a ring or a watch chain, or some other piece of 
 jewelry from the sidewalk or street. "Hello, what's this!" 
 says the sharper. "Why, it's a ring — solid gold, too! Say, 
 this ring must be worth ten dollars or more. I wonder who ' 
 lost it!" The dupe will wonder, too, and probably envy the 
 lucky finder. "Now, I tell you what," says the "con" man, 
 "I've got to leave town right off and I can't stop to hunt up the 
 owner of this ring. I suppose that he will advertise for it in the 
 evening papers or to-morrow morning. Perhaps he has got to 
 go off in a hurry, too, and may never try to get his ring back. 
 Anyway, there'll be a good bit paid for returning the ring, or 
 else the finder can keep it. Now, you're going to stay here for 
 a few days. You let me have two dollars for it, and you can 
 have the ring." If his companion bites at this bait— and he 
 often does— the victim will get a bit of pinchbeck metal, worth 
 less than a dime, for two good dollars. 
 
220 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 If the "drop game" has been worn too thin in any city, it is 
 likely that the "confidence man" will vary his performance by 
 pulling out of his pocket what is known to his craft as a 
 "fawny" watch, a gift, as he will pretend, from his dear old 
 father or darling mother. He has promised faithfully that he 
 will never part with this precious timepiece, and he could 
 not think of suffering it to pass into the hands of an ordinary 
 pawnbroker, even for a day. But he must have some money to 
 pay his fare home, as he has not received the check which he 
 expected, and he is willing to confide it to a good, trustworthy 
 man, like his companion, as security for the return of the little 
 money that he needs. If this trick succeeds, the dupe will get 
 an oroide watch of the poorest kind, and the confidence man 
 will get away with the money. 
 
 Perhaps the most successful snare of all is the trick that is 
 played with freight bills or invoices. The confidence man will 
 be talking with a new acquaintance in a railway station, and a 
 confederate will come up to him and tell him that his goods 
 have arrived and thaf it will be necessary to pay the freight 
 bill. Unfortunately the sharper does not happen to have the 
 needed amount of money in his pocket at that moment. So 
 his "pal" will ask whether his friend cannot favor him by ad- 
 vancing the money with such ample security. If the "dupe" 
 makes this loan, he will get a counterfeit inyoice or a lot of 
 worthless stuff for his money, unless he is willing to accept as 
 security a package of bonds or stock certificates of no value. 
 Confidence men make a practice of carrying about in their 
 pockets parcels of such worthless paper, and the bonds, which 
 they use as traps for gulls, are technically known as "confi- 
 dence bonds." Sometimes this trick will be slightly varied by 
 the substitution of a bogus check for the bonds or invoice, but 
 the dupe will not be a penny the richer by this exchange. 
 
 Naturally the sufferers at the hands of these "confidence 
 men" will make bitter complaints, and it is a black day for one 
 of these rascals when he comes within reach of one of his vie- 
 
JOHN BRADY. 
 
 CHARLES HICKS. 
 
 JOHN BERNARD. 
 
 JAMES LEWIS. 
 
SHAKPURS AA'D DUPES. 221 
 
 tims. But the knaves waste no time in getting away, after 
 one of tlieir tricks, and the poor people who have been fleeced 
 may never set eyes on their swindlers again. Still, sometimes, 
 they have the satisfaction of seeing that the rogues are caught; 
 and it is particularly gratifying to the police to secure a convic- 
 tion by bringing a "confidence man" face to face with one of his 
 victims. The rascal, Swain, was once arrested in Boston for 
 swindling a poor wood-chopper out of all of his hard earnings 
 by a long winter's work. When the woodsman came to the 
 police station to identify Swain, that brazen rogue flatly denied 
 that he had ever seen the man before, and actually tried to con- 
 vince the wood-chopper that he was mistaken in his recognition. 
 "Know ye," cried the big, gaunt woodsman, shaking his gnarly 
 fist at the "bunco man," "I'd know ye, if yer hide was skun off 
 ye and hung on a bush!" Even Swain flinched at this.foritwas 
 as plain as a pikestaff that the woodsman was aching for a 
 chance to skin him alive and then identify him. 
 
 Every effort is made by the police and detectives of all of 
 our large cities to stop the games of these "confidence men" 
 and catch the rascals. Detectives are specially detailed to 
 guard the railway stations and the steamship landings, and 
 the sharpest possible watch is kept on the movements of any 
 of these knaves. It is a common practice also for a search 
 to be made through the cars and boats arriving at Boston and 
 other cities; and known "confidence men" are arrested or 
 warned away like all known thieves. In spite of all these guards 
 and precautions, the pest of swindlers has been so annoying, 
 at times, from the difficulty of getting evidence enough for con- 
 viction, that detectives have been employed as decoys in the 
 disguise of green countrymen, carrying old black "grips" and 
 long leather pocket books well stuffed with bills. When the 
 "confidence men" have gone over the line of the law in trying 
 to cheat these "decoys," they have not been suffered to run 
 away with their booty. 
 
 Still, with all the watchfulness and alertness of the police of 
 
222 OUR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the country, it is beyond their power to extinguish the "con- 
 fidence men" completely. It was the observation of a good 
 and keen judge that "there is no law that will entirely protect a 
 fool." The best that can be done is to open the eyes of every 
 possible victim to the wiles and tricks of the swindling hydra. 
 This we have endeavored to do in the foregoing pages, al- 
 though we have made no pretence of covering the legion of 
 variations in swindling practices. It has seemed sufficient to 
 present their range and method so fully that the swindles 
 which have passed without special mention may be judged in 
 the light of our representative examples. We shall add only a 
 closing word of caution against the careless habit of confiding 
 too much to chance acquaintances or strangers. It is possible 
 to be as civil and companionable as any occasion may require, 
 without assuming that an agreeable or plausible person may 
 fitly be trusted with money or credit or intimacy. 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A GUEST. 
 
 IN the midst of the gay summer season at a fashionable water- 
 ing place, the guests of a leading hotel were plagued and 
 puzzled by a series of mysterious disappearances of rings, pins,, 
 necklaces, gold and silver toilet sets, watches and laces. Day 
 after day, as they returned to their rooms from breakfast or 
 dinner, the discovery of some new loss would be made, and 
 the landlord and clerks were soon at their wit's end to find any 
 consolation or assurance of protection. At first, there was- 
 an effort to keep the news of the losses from spreading to alarm 
 the guests and injure the business of the hotel; though all in 
 the house were specially cautioned never to leave the doors 
 of their rooms unlocked, and a sharp watch was kept upon the 
 servants as well as upon any stranger who came to the house. 
 But the losses ran on in spite of the warnings and watchful- 
 ness. It was impossible to keep them a secret, and, within 
 a week, they became an absorbing subject of speculation and 
 discussion. 
 
 Strange to say, all the alarm and suspicion and questioning 
 and suggesting did not seem to interfere, in the least, with 
 the flight of the jewels from trunks, boxes and bureaus. 
 Finally the pestered guests almost stifled themselves, in the 
 hot summer nights, by fastening every window and bolting 
 and locking all their chamber doors in order to sleep without 
 fear of thieves. By this scheme of defense they succeeded 
 in making themselves wretchedly uncomfortable; but, sad to 
 say, all this fortification seemed to be of no use as a safeguard. 
 Ov£r and over again, on awaking in the morning, a dismayed 
 guest would discover that his watch or her brooch had flown 
 away in the night, although the chamber doors and the win- 
 
224 '^^^^ liirXL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 dows were fastened precisely as they had been left when the 
 g'uests went to bed. 
 
 Among the superstitious there began to be a trembling of 
 the nerves, and a relating of ghost stories and of mysterious 
 losses suffered by their sisters or their cousins or their aunts, 
 and never explained. Even the skeptics, who flaunted the idea 
 of any supernatural attachment to the missing rings and pins, 
 had some palpitation of the heart when they became convinced 
 that a thief was creeping into the rooms, at night, in spite of 
 ail the bolts and bars, and hovering around their beds in 
 order to steal anything which would serve as "swag." . Maybe 
 the rascal would take to his heels if a guest awakened and 
 cried out in alarm, but there was a hanging dread that he 
 might prefer the chance of assault and even of murder in 
 order to stop pursuit and arrest; so everybody in the hotel 
 had more or less of a shaking, fit when they went to bed, and 
 the more timid kept lights burning brightly all night and 
 scared)' ventured to take a wink of sleep for fear of a horrid 
 awakening. 
 
 Still the mysterious flight continued, although it was evi- 
 dently interrupted; for several days would pass without any 
 report of a loss, and the landlord and guests would begin to 
 breathe easily once more and congratulate themselves that 
 the plague was ended. But, as sobn as there was any relaxa- 
 tion of the watching and guarding in the hotel, another set 
 of jewelry or other valuables would disappear during the 
 daytime or night. The safes of the hotel were overflowing 
 with precious things which the guests were afraid to leave 
 in their rooms, and the house was on the verge of a panic 
 which would have emptied it completely, — when the mysteri- 
 ous losses were finally accounted for and the long-delayed 
 relief came in the arrest of a guest who had never been under 
 the shadow of suspicion. 
 
 He was a tall, slim, spruce-looking young man, whose chief 
 concern seemed to be the care of his finger nails and the 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A GUEST. 225 
 
 fitting of his necktie. He pretended to be a foreigner travel- 
 ling for pleasure ; but he spoke English so well that his foreign 
 accent was only a sauce piquant to his conversation. He 
 was a fluent and engaging talker, and so courteous in his 
 manners that he became a general favorite and was fairly 
 showered with invitations to join in boating and driving 
 parties. He was an uncommonly graceful dancer, too; and 
 many a pretty girl was pleased to guide over the waxed floor 
 with a partner so skillful in avoiding the bumps of the whirl- 
 ing crowd. 
 
 It was therefore really distressing to a good many people 
 beside himself when this nice young man was caught, one 
 night, by a wide-awake servant jvtst as he was slipping out 
 of the room of a sleeping guest. When he saw that he had 
 no chance of escape, he pretended to be full of wine and vowed 
 that he had mistaken his room in his wandering. He was so 
 dripping with mortification and plausible patter that he might 
 have succeeded in deceiving his captor, if the guest in the 
 chamber had not awaked and discovered that his watch was 
 missing. Unfortunately for the yarn of the blundering drunk- 
 ard, the watch was fished out of the coat-tail pocket of the 
 thief; and when his clothes were thoroughly searched, several 
 articles, that are not usually kept in the pockets of tourists, 
 were brought to light. These were a ring full of skeleton 
 keys, a pair of small nippers, and a piece of wire bent at one 
 end and carrying a loop or noose of silk thread. 
 
 The guest, whose lucky awakening probably saved his 
 watch, recollected, perfectly, locking his chamber door and 
 also fastening it with the iron sliding bolt, which was put on 
 for additional security above the lock. So far, so good; but it 
 did'not occur to him to take the key out of the door after lock- 
 ing it; so the sly thief had little difficulty in catching the end 
 of the key in his nippers and turning it until he unlocked the 
 door. After doing this, he pushed the key in tmtil it fell on 
 the carpeted floor of the chamber so noiselessly that the 
 
226 OVR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 sleeper within was not disturbed. Next he slipped his bit of 
 bent wire through the keyhole, and succeeded, after a few 
 attempts, in casting the loop of silk thread over the pin of the 
 bolt and pulling it down to the open slide-way. Then he slid 
 the bolt out by simply drawing the thread with the wire; and, 
 in a moment, opened the door gently and slipped into the 
 chamber. By groping around, he soon found the watch and 
 he was starting away with his prize when he was detected. 
 If he had not been interrupted so unexpectedly, he would 
 doubtless have locked the door carefully behind him as he 
 had been accustomed to do in his former calls. 
 
 Upon searching the room of this elegant thief, a large col- 
 lection of valuables that had been stolen from the guests of 
 the hotel was recovered and returned to the owners; but the 
 greater part of the lost goods was beyond reach and identifi- 
 cation. The industrious "tourist" had been working by night 
 and day for several weeks, and had taken most of his plunder 
 to a "fence" in a neighboring city, when he went to town pro- 
 fessedly to visit his banker or his manicurist. Either in his 
 room at the hotel or in the workshops of the receiver of stolen 
 goods, the diamonds and other jewels had been taken out of 
 their settings, and the gold broken up for the melting pot. 
 
 The experience of this hotel is only one in ten thousand of 
 similar instances, although in this case the length of the series 
 of thefts was phenomenal. There is scarcely a hotel of any 
 distinction in this country or any part of the world, which has 
 not been plagued, more or less, by the rascals distinctively 
 known as "hotel thieves." These knaves are among the most 
 artful and sly of all thieves ; and it is especially difHcult to pre- 
 vent their depredations,, because they can usually contrive to 
 enter the houses which they propose to plunder, as ordinary 
 guests. Unless an applicant for a room in a hotel is a known 
 thief or a man of notoriously bad character, he will necessarily 
 be admitted on the same terms as other guests, and he is thus 
 enabled to gain access to the rooms on every floor of the house. 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A 00E8T. 227 
 
 With rare exceptions the professional hotel thief is a well- 
 dressed and ingratiating rascal, who knows well every trick'of 
 the "confidence man" and will spare no pains to make a pleas- 
 ing impressiqn on the clerks and servants as well as the guests 
 with whom he mingles. Often he will be in a house for days, 
 and even weeks at a time, before he ventures to steal anything; 
 and he will employ his time in making the acquaintance of the 
 guests and studying their habits and marking the rooms that 
 can be most easily entered and plundered. Within a week 
 after his entrance, he will be likely to know the people who 
 have valuable watches or jewelry, and he may even learn pre- 
 cisely where the valuables are kept during the day and night, 
 and what instruments he will need to open or force the locks 
 that protect them. If anybody is in the habit of carelessly 
 leaving his chamber door unlocked at any time in the day, or 
 if any jewelry is left in a room which is temporarily unoccu- 
 pied, the thief will almost certainly mark the room for a raid. 
 
 Sometimes he will watch for an opportunity to slip in 
 stealthily while the occupant is at breakfast or dinner; and 
 during all meal hours there is especial need of keeping a sharp 
 eye on every floor of the house to stop the prying and plun- 
 dering of these thieves. If the house is well guarded in the 
 daytime, the thief will wait till nightfall before making a raid; 
 but he will usually find an opportunity in advance to examine 
 the locks and bolts of a number of doors and to put his private 
 mark, in the form of a slight scratch or gimlet hole, on the out- 
 side of a door, indicating the exact position of a bolt pin or 
 any other fastening which he must remove. 
 
 It is also a common practice of these thieves to visit a hotel 
 several times in close succession, changing the rooms assigned 
 to them as often as possible, and using this opportunity to 
 tamper with the locks and bolts. When the outside and inside 
 keys have different key holes, the thief will bore through the 
 inside key hole until the door is pierced or only a film of wood 
 remains to cover the hole. Then he will carefully hide any 
 
228 OUR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 mark of his drill under cover of paint and putty, and note the 
 exact position of the key hole so that he can use his nippers 
 outside the door. Another common device is to extract the 
 screws of the nosing or catch of a lock bolt and to replace them 
 with smaller screws; or, else, to enlarge the holes so that little 
 pressure is needed to pry oS the catch, although the screws 
 are replaced and there is no external evidence of any tamper- 
 ing with the fastening. 
 
 It may be, too, that a thief will pick up clothes containing 
 watches and other valuables by using a flexible pole with a 
 hook at the end, or a long, bent wire inserted through a win- 
 dow or transom. Sometimes, instead of fishing in this way 
 for articles within reach, a bold rascal will crawl through a 
 window or ventilator, and clamber back through the same 
 opening after he has ransacked the room. This mode of entry 
 is so frequently adopted, if a room can be approached by the 
 way of the fire escape, that it is advisable for guests to look to 
 the fastening of the windows of their rooms as sharply as to 
 the locking of their chamber doors. 
 
 It is remarkable how quickly an expert thief can make 
 his way into a chamber with the aid of the few little imple- 
 ments which compose his "kit." With a pair of nippers, a 
 piece of bent wire and a bit of thread, — thousands of doors 
 have been opened in the manner before described; and a gim- 
 let and screw-driver, with perhaps a little wax or putty, are the 
 only other articles that one of these thieves is likely to use 
 in efifecting an entrance into a room. Usually the door will 
 be opened so noiselessly that no ordinary sleeper would be 
 awakened, if any one is in the chamber; and the thief will 
 glide in and lay his hands on any valuables that he can reach 
 and carry away. Watches have been taken in this way from 
 under the pillows of a bed without disturbing its sleeping occu- 
 pant; and clothes, hung up in closets, or laid on chairs, have 
 been thoroughly overhauled. The thief will rarely venture to 
 pry open any drawer or box, if any person is sleeping, in the 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A GUEST. 229 
 
 room, but he may use skeleton keys to unlock them. If a 
 room is unoccupied for the time, he may tear open bureau 
 drawers with a stout chisel, like a "second-story" or "flat 
 worker"; but he commonly prefers to carrry no heavy tools. 
 In fact, his entire outfit or kit can be hidden in one pocket 
 without any outward show to excite suspicion. 
 
 It will readily be perceived that a rogue of this class has 
 extraordinary opportunities for his thefts and is one of the 
 most elusive and annoying rascals on the face of the earth. 
 His operations are not confined to hotels; for many thieves 
 of this class seek lodgings in boarding houses and even with 
 ■private families, for the sake of opportunities to steal in 
 chambers and dining rooms. It should always be borne in 
 mind by persons who let rooms, that other recommendations 
 are necessary than the bare fact that an applicant is well 
 dressed and willing to pay in advance for his room. One of 
 the most frequent of complaints to the police comes from the 
 keepers of lodging houses who have imprudently admitted 
 these rascals. Before the end of a week, a rogue of this class 
 may make himself popular with all his fellow boarders and a 
 particular favorite of his landlady. Then it will happen that 
 articles of value will begin to disappear from the rooms; and 
 nobody will be more interested and indignant, apparently, than 
 the newcomer in discussing the losses. Finally the most valu- 
 able watch or ring or bracelet in the house will be missing; 
 and the thief will go off with his booty in response to a letter 
 or telegram which he will produce to explain his hasty de- 
 parture, unless he runs off without saying good-bye. 
 
 Sometimes these "hotel thieves" engage in schemes of de- 
 ception far more flagrant than the temporary hoodwinking of 
 landladies and lodgers. Some of them have houses where they 
 pass for respectable members of society, and their wives and 
 children have no idea of the character of the occupation which 
 they are pursuing. There are known instances, also, in which 
 a particularly artful rascal of this class has figured as a man 
 
230 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 of fashion and fortune and entrapped a wealthy and beautiful 
 young girl into a marriage — doomed to end in misery sooner 
 or later when the wife discovers that her husband is a thief. 
 
 When any of these thieves are arrested, they are likely to 
 "jump" their bail as a matter of course, if it is fixed at any 
 amount which they can procure, and a large proportion of 
 the hotel thieves at large to-day have indictments hanging 
 over their heads. Many years may elapse before they are 
 finally brought to trial; and, in one memorable instance, a 
 young thief had become a gray-haired man before receiving 
 his sentence for a crime which he had committed. This case 
 is so remarkable and so illustrative of the resorts by which 
 wily rascals evade the law, that it deserves special notice. 
 
 In 1868 the notorious gang, -headed by "The" Allen, was 
 one of the worst that infested the country. Its headquarters 
 were at a New York hotel; and sallies were made from this 
 rendezvous to any point where an opening for plunder was 
 reported. Among the recruits of this gang was James E. 
 Lyons, a young man of a good family, who had found employ- 
 ment in the hotel but had been persuaded to enlist in this com- 
 pany of thieves. 
 
 In some way the gang learned that a man was going to 
 take the train from New York to New Haven, who would 
 carry with him a bag containing thirty thousand dollars in 
 United States government bonds. So Jesse Allen, one of 
 the brothers of "The" Allen, and the young recruit, "Jimmy" 
 Lyons, took the same train which carried away the man with 
 the bag of bonds, with the design of stealing the bag before 
 reaching New Haven. They did pick up a valise on the way; 
 but, through a mistake on their part, it was not the bag of 
 bonds but a similar bag filled with underclothing of little 
 value. This was so disgusting that they went to the town of 
 Granby, Conn., at once, and broke into a store, in the night, 
 in order to get some plunder which they could show without 
 a blush to their gang in New York. They succeeded in 
 
JAJVrES E. LYONS. 
 
 JACK CANNON. 
 
 ROXIE McKENNA. 
 
 JOSEPH PRIOR. 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A GUEST. 23 1 
 
 carrying off considerable booty to Hartford, where they took 
 lodgings in one of the best hotels. 
 ■ Here they were arrested by the Hartford police for the 
 burglary at Granby; and when their room at the hotel was 
 searched, the valise, which was taken by mistake, was re- 
 covered. They were held for trial in the Granby case under 
 bonds of $450 each, which they promptly furnished; and, 
 before the day set for the trial, the police sucreeded in tracing 
 out the owner of the stolen valise. The thieves had little 
 dread of conviction for burglary; but they knew that they 
 could not escape conviction for stealing the valise, if the owner 
 appeared as a witness against them. So he was warned by 
 members of the Allen gang that his life would be in danger 
 if he took the witness' stand, and threats were made to his 
 wife, also, that a brutal revenge would be taken if her husband 
 should testify to the theft. 
 
 These threats were made known to the prosecuting attor- 
 ney for the State, and he instantly applied for a bench warrant 
 charging the thieves with intimidation of witnesses. The 
 application was granted and the two thieves were arrested by 
 an officer, holding the warrant, when they came to Hart- 
 ford, exulting in the belief that they had succeeded in break- 
 ing down the prosecution in the case of the stolen valise. They 
 were put under bonds of $1,000 each to appear for trial, in this 
 case, and, at the moment, were unable to put up the money. 
 So they were taken to jail; but the gang at New York head- 
 quarters was at once notified by a telegram, and the "fall 
 money" was sent on to Hartford immediately. 
 
 On the morning after their arrest, their counsel asked the 
 court to accept the money for the bonds while the trial of 
 the burglary case was in progress. Allen was permitted to 
 give his bond and then walked ofif as fast as his legs would 
 carry him. Fortunately the prosecuting attorney was fully 
 as sharp witted as the thief, for he had stationed officers at all 
 the doors of the court room with instructions not to let either 
 
232 
 
 OVR RIVAL. TEE RASCAL. 
 
 of the rogues pass out. So when Allen tried to push by the 
 guard, the officers seized him, and there was, for a moment, 
 one of the liveliest wrestling matches that has ever taken place' 
 outside of a ring. 
 
 Meanwhile the State Attorney had requested the clerk to 
 call the thief case for trial, and applied to the court for an 
 order to take Allen into custody. In view of the wrestling 
 officer and thief, the judge had no hesitation in giving the 
 order, and the thief was dragged back to stand his trial. 
 Then his indignant counsel sprang up to deny the right of 
 the court to order a freeman into custody; and, after a hot 
 and heavy debate, the motion of the State Attorney was altered 
 to one for the increase of the bonds, as it was visible to the 
 court that a bond of $i,ooo was not sufficient to hold the ras- 
 cals for trial. The judge admitted his own eyesight as a wit- 
 ness to this fact and added five thousand dollars more to each 
 bond. This "raise" was too much for the Allen gang; so the 
 two thieves were surrendered into custody and all the bonds 
 were released. Then the two prisoners were tried for the 
 theft of the valise, and convicted by the testimony of the 
 owner who pluckily appeared notwithstanding the threats 
 against him. 
 
 When the verdict of guilty was rendered, the court ad- 
 journed, with the expectation that sentence would be passed, 
 next morning, and the trial of the burglary case resumed. 
 But the resourceful "The" Allen bribed a prisoner in the jail, 
 who was employed to clean the halls; and, during the night, 
 jimmies and fine saws were used to such purpose that both 
 thieves escaped in company with the hall-tender and another 
 prisoner. So the curtain fell on the first act in this case, on 
 the morning of the 22d of February, 1869. 
 
 More than twenty years afterwards, in the closing week ot 
 April, 1890, a man was arrested by two Boston detectives, 
 shortly before midnight, as he was leisurely strolling along 
 Washington Street. He might readily have been mistaken 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A GUEST. 233 
 
 by a stranger for a worthy business man, who had grown pre- 
 maturely old under the weight of his anxieties as a trustee 
 for widows and orphans. Only a few thin hairs were left on 
 the top of his head, and his closely trimmed beard was a 
 mixture of bristling white and gray. His forehead was deeply 
 furrowed, and his eyes were dim and sunken. His voice and 
 manners were notably gentle and his dress in every detail was 
 neat and tasteful. 
 
 There was no doubt, however, that this apparently in- 
 offensive member of society was the same "Jimmy" Lyons 
 who had broken out of the jail in Hartford, twenty-one years 
 before, and had since made a record as a notorious hotel thief. 
 So there was no hesitation in searching his clothes, and no 
 surprise when a curious little package was extracted from 
 his hip pocket. When this package was opened, it was shown 
 to contain about one hundred and fifty small diamonds, more 
 than forty rubies, two sapphires, and two stones known as 
 California cat's eyes. In addition to these loose stones there 
 was also a fine and costly pair of diamond earrings. When 
 Lyons was asked to account for this collection of gems and 
 its place of deposit, he preferred to leave his question open for 
 investigation; but his friends later stated that he had re- 
 cently purchased the collection at an auction sale and was 
 fully entitled to put the gems in any pocket, which suited him 
 better than a burglar-proof safe. 
 
 This may have been a fact; but Lyons was, nevertheless, 
 held in custody, as it was known that the Connecticut authori- 
 ties had never abandoned their efforts to arrest him since his 
 escape from the jail in Hartford, in 1869. The Hartford 
 police were promptly notified of his arrest; but while the 
 officers from Connecticut were on their way to Boston with 
 the necessary requisition from the governor, Lyons was ad- 
 mitted to bail, giving a bond for three thousand dollars, and 
 immediately afterwards running away. 
 
 For several months he was able to keep under cover, but 
 
234 " f^VR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 he finally became weary of trying to evade the keen pursuit 
 and surrendered himself on the second of December, 1890, 
 to the superior court then sitting at Hartford, — to receive 
 his long deferred sentence. "An indictment," said the Hart- 
 ford Courant, "on paper so old that it had faded yellow, folded 
 and unfolded so often that it had split and been pasted and 
 split again, and scored all over with endorsements — an indict- 
 ment, that the officers of justice had persistently kept alive for 
 nearly twenty-two }ears, finally found its victim and secured 
 his sentence to state prison." The judge said that he con- 
 sidered it his duty to impose, as nearly as possible, the same 
 sentence upon Lyons which he would have received in 1869, 
 if he had not broken out of jail. This, in his judgment, would 
 have been two }ears in state prison, and he would therefore 
 pass that sentence. So the case, which had been called in 
 vain at every term of the court in Hartford for more than 
 twenty years, was finall}' brought to an end. 
 
 In the long interval between his trial and his sentence, 
 Lyons had been married and divorced, and had acquired an 
 international reputation as one of the most expert hotel thieves 
 in the world. It was his custom to register at the hotel which 
 he proposed to plunder, and spend money, for a week or more, 
 with so lavish a hand that he would become a favorite guest 
 with every employee from the manager to the smallest bell 
 boy. After gaining this secure position, he would inform 
 himself thoroughly in regard to the habits and means of all 
 the other guests of the house; and then would begin a series 
 of visits to selected rooms. It is reported that he was usually 
 considerate in his plundering, picking out one or two choice 
 articles from a collection of valuables, and leaving the rest for 
 the contentment of the owner. But it is suspected that his 
 discrimination was due less to any lingering scruples than to 
 his desire that suspicion might fall upon the chamber maids 
 and bell boys. 
 
 After this country became too warm for his comfort, he 
 
m THE CLOAK OF A GVE8T. 
 
 235 
 
 went abroad and plagued the principal cities of Europe, until 
 he was finally caught in Edinburgh and sent to prison for 
 seven years. His sentence expired in May, 1889, and he re- 
 turned home only to fall into the waiting hands of the Boston 
 police. The portrait of this remarkable rogue appears on a 
 representative page. 
 
 This prolonged contest between the law and the law-breaker 
 had its own peculiar features; but it is a fair representation, 
 in the main, of the range of devices employed by gangs of 
 thieves to shield their members from punishment. The re- 
 quirement of Hght bail in any case, as we have before noted, 
 is commonly regarded by a thief in the light of a new tax or 
 special license fee, which is merely a disagreeable imposition 
 to be paid for the sake of having his hands free to plunder. 
 If bonds cannot be "jumped," and keepers cannot be bribed, 
 and prison bars. cannot be sawed, — there is still the resource 
 of hushing complaints by cajolery or threats, or of suborning 
 witnesses to perjure themselves on the stand for the defence 
 of any rascals who may be brought to trial. If there is any 
 way of evading conviction and sentence, by hook or crook, 
 ,these thieves are likely to search it out; for they are usually 
 well supplied with money or able to reach friends and backers 
 who have money. So it is even more difficult to convict 
 them than it is to arrest them unless they are actually cap- 
 tured in the act of stealing. 
 
 Few of these thieves have the nerve to make any resistance^ 
 if detected, trusting, as they do, to their shyness and nimbleness 
 in making an entry and running away. So there is rarely, if 
 ever, any personal danger to the occupants of rooms in hotels 
 from the raids of these rogues. But there are occasionally 
 gangs of these thieves who are burglars as well, and will make 
 an entrance into lodging houses whose occupants are known 
 to possess large amounts of jewelry. Diamond earrings have 
 been taken out of the ears of helpless women by these 
 marauders and bracelets and rings stripped from their hands, 
 
236 OVB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 but raids of this character are now practically 
 restricted to remote mining camps and frontier settlements. 
 Gangs of this character usually carry loaded revolvers and 
 will fire, at a pinch, at anybody who is trying to 
 arrest them. John H. Cannon, commonly known as "Jack 
 Cannon," is a criminal of this dangerous class, who has re- 
 peatedly fired on officers who were attempting to capture him. 
 His portrait is given on the page with Lyons and the likenesses 
 of two other notorious hotel thieves, Joseph Prior, alias 
 "Walking Joe," and Roxie McKenna. 
 
 During the past thirty years Cannon has had a hand in a 
 wide range of robberies, from the picking of a pocket to the 
 opening of a safe. His favorite field of plunder was, at first, 
 the Gulf States, but he is to-day as well known in the North 
 as he is in the South. He was repeatedly arrested as a known 
 leader in many robberies, but his remarkable craftiness in 
 finding cover made loopholes of escape for him until his arrest 
 in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1889. He had engaged a 
 room at a leading hotel in that city for two days and left his 
 kit in the room. Then he took a room at another hotel, under 
 a different name, and it was observed by the hotel men that 
 he showed a kindly interest in the care of a guest who was 
 considerably under the influence of liquor and making a reck- 
 less display of diamond jewelry. During the night he was 
 seen prowling about in the halls and sneaking back hastily to 
 his room when the watchman approached him. So his door 
 was opened unceremoniously and he was found in bed in his 
 underclothing with a handkerchief wrapped about his delicate 
 throat, and a pair of skeleton keys and key nippers hidden in 
 his sleeve. Upon further search a self-cocking revolver was 
 taken from under his pillow. This performance gave him 
 a sentence of five years in the state prison at hard labor. In 
 the spring of the year after his discharge in 1893, he was again 
 arrested in Jacksonville, Fla., while trying to enter a room in 
 a hotel and sent to the state prison for a year. Within a month 
 
GEORGE MASON. 
 
 CHAs. Mclaughlin. 
 
 JACK STRAUSS. 
 
 CHARLES HALLERT. 
 
IN THE CLOAK OP A GUEST. 237 
 
 or two after his discharge he came to Boston to attend a 
 Christian Endeavor Convention in his professional capacity 
 of pickpocket and hotel thief. Here he was arrested at sight 
 and ordered to leave the city. In July of the next year he was 
 caught in a hotel in Detroit, with a complete kit of tools in his 
 pockets, and promptly knocked down before he had time to fire 
 his drawn revolver. His' record was so well known to the 
 judge at his trial that he was sent to the state prison in 
 Michigan for ten years. 
 
 "Walking Joe" Prior is another veteran of the same stamp 
 as Cannon and with a record equally varied and infamous. 
 He has twice been sent to prison at Sing Sing, N. Y., besides 
 serving out sentences in other states. His face is now so well 
 known to the detectives in all the principal cities in this coun- 
 try, that he is commonly warned away whenever he is seen 
 on the streets. 
 
 Roxie McKenna should be able to give some interesting 
 notes on prison life and administration, for he has been con- 
 fined in four different penitentiaries in the past ten years. Im- 
 mediately after his release from prison in Ohio, in 1891, he 
 undertook to rob a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, and shot the 
 porter who tried to capture him. For this robbery he was 
 sent to the Tennessee penitentiary for eight years ; but he was 
 pardoned, after serving two years of his term, and returned to 
 work again as a hotel thief until he wa^ arrested in the Astor 
 House in New York, in April, 1895, and sent to the peniten- 
 tiary on Blackwell's Island for nine months. This experience 
 did not prevent him from trying his hand again in the same 
 line of operation, as soon as his term expired; but after a few 
 months of practice, he was caught in a room in the hotel Marl- 
 borough and he is now serving out his sentence of four years 
 in state prison in New York. 
 
 On another illustrative page the portraits of four other 
 notorious and representative hotel thieves are given. George 
 Mason has probably visited every state of this country in pur- 
 
238 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 suing his varied range of occupation as a pickpocket and hotel 
 thief. Some years ago he went through three Washington 
 hotels in succession. In the first one he registered under the 
 name of G. A. Wilson. During the night he slipped into the 
 room of a guest who caught him while he was searching for 
 plunder. He had a watch and some jewelry in his hand, which 
 belonged to the wife of the guest, but he told such a plausible 
 story of his blundering entry into the wrong chamber that his 
 captor was persuaded to let Mm go. The next night he regis- 
 tered at another hotel as "J- A. Johnson," of Virginia. Here he 
 stole a watch and twenty-one dollars in money out of one of the 
 rooms and got away with his plunder. Two nights later, he 
 appeared in a third hotel and engaged a room in the name of 
 G. A. Walker. Before daybreak he succeeded in getting into 
 two other rooms and carried off a gold ring and six dollars in 
 money from one room and a watch and revolver from the 
 other. 
 
 He was apparently bent on making a round through the 
 hotels, one after another, but two detectives got on his track 
 and traced the man whom they suspected to a boarding house 
 of excellent character. On inc|uiry they learned that the man 
 with many names had been living at this house for two weeks. 
 He was a "Mr. Williams," the landlady said, and he had shown 
 himself to be a truly good boarder, of marked piety. He had 
 expressed a strong desire to meet her pastor and was anxious 
 to join her church as soon as possible. She knew for a fact, 
 too, that "Mr. Williams" could not possibly have had a hand 
 in any wrong doing, because he stayed in his room all day 
 long and was such an invalid that he passed most of the day 
 in bed. Unfortunately for "Mr. Williams," this testimony did 
 not deter the detectives from disturbing his sleep. When he 
 saw the officers he pretended to be violently sick at the stom- 
 ach; but the detectives ruthlessly searched him and found the 
 stolen property in his pockets together with key nippers and a 
 pair of heavy woolen stockings which he wore over his shoes 
 
IN THE CLOAK OP A GUEST. 239 
 
 in his raids. He liad been accustomed to call at the hotels at 
 about one o'clock in the morning, and the practice of register- 
 ing after midnight, robbing rooms, and departing before sun- 
 rise had made him so sleepy in the daytime that he was a quiet 
 boarder in his regular lodging house. 
 
 The portrait of Charles McLaughlin, alias McLain, alias 
 Lambert,- alias Seaman, alias Johnson, etc., shows the face of 
 one of the most artful hotel thieves in the country. He was 
 the son of a Southern planter who was ruined by losses during 
 the war for the Union, so that young McLaughlin was obliged 
 to earn his living as a book-keeper. Closely confining work 
 was not to his taste, so he soon began to roam about from city 
 to city as a hotel thief. In 1875 he was arrested in & New 
 York City hotel for the theft of a watch and diamonds, and 
 sent to Sing Sing for a term of three years. After his dis- 
 charge he returned to his thievish practice and was arrested 
 and convicted in Quebec, in 1881, for robbing a hotel. Three 
 years later he was again arrested in a New York hotel and a full 
 set of the tools of a hotel thief were found on his person. He 
 had stolen two watches and four hundred dollars in this hotel, 
 and was convicted of burglary and sent to the Blackwell's 
 Island penitentiary for two years. 
 
 Another exceptionally impudent and aitful thief is depicted 
 in the portrait of "Jack" Strauss, alias Charles H. Dorris. This 
 rascal is commonly called "Jack Straws" by his mates and is 
 known, like Mason, from one end of this country to the other. 
 In 1878, he v/as arrested for shooting one of his companions, 
 "Sam" Perry, familiarly known as "Bottle Sam," and sen- 
 tenced to state prison for five years; but he was set free by 
 some legal flaw in the conduct of his trial and suffered again 
 to roam over the country. Four years later, he made himself 
 familiar with the office hours and habits of a wealthy physician 
 of New York, and called one day at his house, at an hour 
 when he knew that the physician would not be at home. He 
 asked permission to leave a line for his old friend and medical 
 
240 
 
 OTJR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 adviser, and was politely ushered into the parlor where he 
 spent a quarter of an hour in a close examination of the costly 
 fittings and portable ornaments. During the following night 
 he called again stealthily with his corps of expert burglars, 
 and sacked the parlor and dining room very rapidly with the 
 aid of the inventory which he had made in his former call. 
 Then the gang made its escape with such a stock of plunder 
 that it was able to gratify its taste for dissipation for a number 
 of months. 
 
 In July, 1887, he led another gang in the robbing of a large 
 jewelry store in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and carried off about 
 fifteen thousand dollars' worth of diamonds and other precious 
 articles. When he was arrested in the following month for 
 his share in this burglary, three of the most valuable of the 
 stolen diamonds were t^ken from his person. He has served 
 three terms in state prisons for burglary, as well as several 
 shorter terms for minor offences. When he was not engaged 
 in schemes of breaking and entering, he has taken a hand 
 in stealing by way of the "panel" game. This device is the 
 decoying of victims into rooms where a secret sliding panel 
 in one of the walls admits a thief during the night or gives an 
 opportunity for the sly filching of money in a bunco game. 
 Of late years he has particularly applied himself to the practices 
 of the hotel thief. 
 
 He is a man of robust and portly figure and invariably 
 dressed in the best clothes that money can buy. He has been 
 accustomed to live in the finest hotels and has remarkable ad- 
 dress in making the acquaintance of the guests whom he is 
 seeking to rob. He has been repeatedly arrested and is now 
 so notorious that he is warned away from all our larger cities 
 whenever he is seen on the streets. 
 
 "Red Hyle," or "Cincinnati Red," has earned the reputation 
 of being one of the most expert hotel thieves in this or any 
 other country. His nickname was given to him on account 
 of his florid face and red hair. He has robbed hotels in every 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A QUEST. 241 
 
 part of this country and has been a master hand in disguising 
 himself to avoid recognition. There is no style of cutting a 
 beard which he has not tried on his own face, and he 
 has filled a score of character parts, at least, in a way 
 that might have won for him an honorable reputation on the 
 stage. 
 
 This class of thieves is so annoying to hotel men and their 
 guests and it is of such importance to the public that a full 
 exhibit should be given of the range of typical representatives 
 that we present a third page of portraits, including two more 
 notorious hotel thieves who have been particularly notable 
 also for their thefts in sleeping cars, William Fale, and Henry 
 Curtis. The page is completed by the addition of the faces of 
 Henry Hoffman, alias Carl Schultz, and Edward Farebrother, 
 a pair of rogues who have been plaguing hotels for years. 
 Farebrother is a particularly dangerous thief, although he is 
 now so old that the burden of years has seriously handicapped 
 him. He was educated as a physician and has frequently as- 
 sumed the title of doctor, making the names of Dr. Edward S. 
 West and Dr. St. Clair particularly obnoxious to the people 
 with whom he scraped acquaintance. He was a graduate of a. 
 leading English university and had a profitable practice as a. 
 regular physician in New York until he was convicted of mal- 
 practice in 1863 and sent to state prison for five years. After 
 his discharge he became a professional thief and was convicted 
 of grand larceny in 1873 and sent again to the state prison for 
 two years. Six years later he distinguished himself by com- 
 mitting twenty-two robberies in New York City within seven 
 months, and carrying ofif in one instance six thousand dollars' 
 worth of diamonds and jewelry from a private house on Fifth 
 Avenue. He pawned this jewelry for four hundred and fifty 
 dollars and had only twenty dollars left in his pockets when 
 he was arrested by the police in January, 1880. In the course 
 of his identification, he was recognized by a poor man from 
 whom he had stolen a coat unintentionally; and Farebrother 
 
24.2 OUR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 took thirteen dollars out of his pocket and gave it to the wit- 
 ness. Then a servant girl gave evidence to a theft of some 
 small article belonging to her, which had been taken in the 
 same way. This story moved Farebrother to empty his 
 pockets of his last seven dollars to give to her, but she refused 
 to take more than five. He is a rascal but he is not one of the 
 meanest class. 
 
 There is always a mustering and swarming of hotel thieves 
 particularly, whenever there is any great anniversary meet- 
 ing or celebration in any city, that is certain to fill the hotels 
 with visitors. A crowd is the favorite cover for a thief to-day 
 as it has been for years beyond reckoning. "Out upon him! 
 prig, for my life, prig; he haunts wakes, fairs and bear- 
 baitings," cries the clown to Autolycus; and we have the ex- 
 pert evidence of that famous pick-pocket himself: "Every 
 lane's end, every shop, church session and hanging, yields a 
 careful man work." 
 
 Just before any of these gatherings, streams of hotel thieves 
 will pour into the place of meeting from every part of the 
 country, unless their entrance is blocked by guards of detectives 
 on all the railroads or steamboat lines running to the city, as 
 well as at the terminal stations. Tliis method of safeguard- 
 ing a great assembly is now a widespread practice, and it has 
 unquestionably prevented losses to the extent of hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars. Still, in spite of all precautions, some 
 thieves are likely to step through these barriers, and it is there- 
 fore prudent for guests to use special care in protecting their 
 valuables on such occasions. 
 
 Every hotel of importance in the country has an office safe 
 for the deposit of money, jewelry and other precious pack- 
 ages. Notices informing guests of this fact are usually posted 
 up in every sleeping room, with the further warning that the 
 hotel proprietor will not be responsible for the loss of any 
 such package, unless it is put in the safe. This precaution 
 ought to be generally adopted by guests in hotels, and particu- 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A G0E8T. 243 
 
 lar care should be taken by the travelHng agents for jewelry 
 firms to keep their diamonds secure, for hotel thieves are always 
 watching for opportunities to plunder them. 
 
 Another efficient safeguard, which has been largely adopted 
 of late years by the leading hotels in this country, is the em- 
 ployment of skilled detectives as watchmen in the hotel. Ex- 
 perienced detectives are able to recognize and sift out thieves 
 who would not be suspected by hotel proprietors or their 
 clerks. They are familiar also with every trick and device of 
 the sly rascals who plunder hotels, and it is exceedingly diffi- 
 cult for a thief to blind sharp eyes on his track, within the 
 narrow limits of a house. This is so well recognized by pro- 
 fessional hotel thieves that few ever venture into a hotel 
 guarded by a good detective, and it is certain that the expense 
 of such a guard is more than offset by the immunity from 
 losses. It is always a grave annoyance and regret to a hotel 
 proprietor when any of his guests suffer from theft; and no 
 one is likely to appreciate so keenly the relief of mind as well 
 as the business advantage obtainable from the assurance that 
 hotel thieves will keep away from his house. 
 
 Furthermore, a good detective will be of marked service in 
 the investigation of cases of possible fraud, and in assuring the 
 fidelity and honesty of the servants employed in the hotel. It 
 is, therefore, to be hoped that the value of this safeguard will 
 be universally recognized in this country; and the hotels of 
 Europe may profit by our example. 
 
 To supplement the proper precautions of landlords the 
 guests in turp should do their part for their own protection. 
 Valuable articles should not be left carelessly on tables or 
 toilet stands for the temptation and accommodation of prying 
 thieves. Chamber doors should be locked invariably when 
 the occupants are temporarily absent, and the servant who 
 takes care of the room may often be easily notified to keep a 
 watchful eye on the door. We would again emphasize also 
 the importance of attention to the fastening of the windows, 
 
244 ^^-'^ RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 and especially to those opening upon air wells, balconies and 
 fire escapes. 
 
 Rascals who are even more numerous and, in their way, 
 as annoying as the "hotel thieves" — are the swindlers known 
 as "hotel beats," and the sharpers practicing every possible 
 device of imposition and fraud. The professional "hotel beat" 
 is ordinarily a well-dressed man who can counterfeit closely 
 the air of a man of fashion or of a well-to-do business man. 
 He may even attempt to get a night's lodging and a few meals, 
 with the intention of slipping away without paying his bill; 
 or he may hold a room for a week or more, and meet the de- 
 mand for payment with profuse pretences that he has not 
 received an anticipated remittance, but will settle in full in 
 the course of a few days. As these "beats" never have any 
 baggage of any value which can be attached, a landlord will 
 often be unable to obtain any redress, for the proof of actual 
 intent to defraud is difficult to secure. So the "beat" may 
 succeed in getting the best of board for days or weeks before 
 his swindling practice is cut ofif. 
 
 It is also a common practice of the most rascally knaves 
 of this class to give forged or worthless checks and drafts in 
 settlement of their bills, and, also, to secure when they can, 
 the cashing of their checks by the hotel men by various artful 
 pretences. For example, packages of goods are ordered from 
 stores to be sent to the addresses of guests at leading hotels, 
 C. O. D., and when the goods arrive, the hotel men will be 
 requested to pay the messengers in exchange for checks which 
 are usually larger than the amount of the bills; so that the 
 swindlers may get considerable sums in cash as well as the 
 goods in return for their worthless paper. 
 
 Swindles on a greater scale are practiced also by sharpers 
 who get a lodging in hotels for the purpose of claiming in- 
 demnification for pretended thefts or losses for which a land- 
 lord may be held responsible. Often these swindlers will 
 make loud and bitter complaints of the disappearance of valu- 
 
WILLIAM FALB. 
 
 HENRY CDBTIS. 
 
 HENRY HOFFMANN. 
 
 EDWARD FAIEBROTHER. 
 
IN THE VLOAK OF A QVEST. 245 
 
 ables from their trunks or from the closets and bureau drawers 
 in their rooms. As the landlord is held liable in many states 
 in this country for losses of this kind, to an extent running as 
 high as a thousand dollars, in some cases, it can easily be 
 perceived that he may often be a victim of barefaced imposi- 
 tions. To avoid a lawsuit, or from the dread that blustering 
 reports of this kind may injure his business, he may be driven 
 to pay these fraudulent claims, even when he strongly sus- 
 pects that he has been swindled. 
 
 Not long ago a noteworthy fraud was attempted in a lead- 
 ing hotel of this state by two rogues who professed to be 
 strangers to each other. One of them came to the hotel with 
 a small trunk which was sent up to his room. The other ob- 
 tained a room nearly opposite on the same floor, and his trunk, 
 which was unusually large, was put in this chamber. After 
 staying at the hotel for a few days, the man with the large 
 trunk settled his bill and went off, one morning, taking his 
 trunk with him. Late in the afternoon in the same day, his 
 confederate came to the -office of the hotel, hotly complaining 
 of the loss of his trunk. His room was searched, as well as 
 the baggage room of the hotel, but no trace of the missing 
 trunk could be found. ■ The complainant claimed that his 
 trunk contained valuables to the amount of nearly a thousand 
 dollars, and the hotel proprietor was actually on the point of 
 settling his claim when it was discovered by a shrewd de- 
 tective that the little trunk had been stealthily taken across the 
 hall, one night, and put inside the big trunk in the opposite 
 room. Of course, when the large trunk was taken away in 
 the morning, the little trunk was still inside, and the trick was 
 played with such craft that it nearly succeeded in swindling 
 the landlord. 
 
 Another device which has been repeatedly tried in our city 
 hotels is the exchange of the checks given as receipts for coats 
 and hand bags, left by guests, temporarily, in going to their 
 meals in the dining rooms or for safe keeping for a few 
 
246 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 hours. A big and a little man, who are confederate swindlers, 
 will slily swap their coat checks, and one of them will return 
 in an hour or two and make a bitter complaint of the offer 
 of a coat which is plainly a misfit. In such a case, the coat 
 which the swindler pretends to have left for safe keeping is 
 invariably a new and costly one, with articles of value in its 
 pockets; and the landlord is confronted with a claim which 
 is hardly ever less than sixty dollars. 
 
 Even when packages have been put in the hotel safe for 
 keeping, there are cases ot sly substitution and mysterious 
 disappearances for which the hotels are called to account. A 
 guest, who has taken a cheap room at a dollar a day, may call 
 upon a hotel keeper to bear the responsibility of a deposit of 
 many thousand dollars, and insure him against loss without 
 any consideration of value in return. There was recently an 
 actual case of this kind where a transient guest, who came to a 
 hotel in this state just before midnight, applied for the safe 
 keeping of seventy-five thousand dollars in bank notes. The 
 night clerk was so anxious over this heavy responsibility that 
 he woke up the proprietor of the hotel, and the two hotel men 
 sat up all night watching the safe in which this extraordinary 
 deposit was stored. In the morningf the guest paid a dollar 
 for his room, but the weary landlord would have been glad 
 to have paid ten times as much for a discharge from his task 
 as night watchman. 
 
 Frequently, too, a swindler will attempt to obtain credit by 
 requesting a clerk or landlord to deposit in the safe a package 
 which is said to contain several thousand dollars in money or 
 valuable jewelry. If his landlord is hoodwinked by this cheat 
 and gives credit for room and board to the sharper on the 
 strength of his supposed security in the safe, he will have his 
 eyes opened by the disappearance of his guest after his credit 
 has been stretched to the snapping point. Then he will proba- 
 bly examine the package, and find that it is stufifed with sawdust 
 or worthless paper possibly enclosing a brick to give it more 
 weight. 
 
IN THE CLOAK OF A GUEST. 
 
 247 
 
 Many of the leading hotels of this country have suffered so 
 much from impositions of all kinds that they have organized 
 associations for mutual protection. The descriptions and 
 records of all known "hotel thieves," "beats," and swindlers 
 of every description, have been procured for the use of every 
 member of this association, and all cases of theft and fraud, 
 within the knowledge of the members of these associations, 
 are promptly reported with the best attainable description of 
 the rogues. There is a special confidential agency also, which 
 undertakes the work of prosecuting these rascals and furnishes 
 the proper information to protect hotel.men from impositions. 
 
 It has further been the effort of one of these associations to 
 protect its members from losses through incompetent, intem- 
 perate and dishonest employees, and records are kept, with 
 more or less care, of the conduct of employees for the infor- 
 mation of the association. 
 
 By such agencies as this and the increasing employment 
 of competent detectives, the hotel keepers of this country have 
 been able to secure much better assurance of protection for 
 themselves and their guests than was the case twenty years 
 ago. It need only be added that every dollar expended in 
 such proper precautions is certain to be returned, ten times 
 over, in the diminution of losses. 
 
"KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 
 
 MANY of our readers will recall, no doubt, the wet blanket 
 that was cast over the convivial little party of highway- 
 men assembled, as Bulwer relates, in the back parlor of "The 
 Jolly Angler" on Finchley Common. 
 
 "Long may the Commons flourish," cried punning Georgia, 
 filling his glass. "It is by the Commons we're fed, and may 
 they never know cultiwation !" 
 
 "Three times three!" shouted Long Ned; and the toast was 
 drunk as Mr. Pepper proposed. 
 
 "A little moderate cultivation of the Commons, to speak 
 frankly," said Augustus Tomlinson, modestly, "might not be 
 amiss ; for it would decoy people into the belief that they might 
 travel safely ; and, after all, a hedge or a barley field is as good 
 for us as a barren heath, where we have no shelter if once 
 pursued!" 
 
 "You talks nonsense, you spooney!" cried a robber of note, 
 called Bagshot, who, being aged, and having been a lawyer's 
 footboy, was some times denominated "Old Bags." "You 
 talks nonsense; these innowating ploughs are the ruin of us. 
 Every blade of corn in a Common is an encroachment on the 
 constitution and rights of the gemmen highvvaymen. I'm 
 ©Id, and mayn't live to see these things; but, mark my words, 
 a time will come when a man may go from Lunnun to Johnny 
 Groat's without losing a penny by one of us, — when Houns- 
 low will be safe and Finchley secure. My eyes, what a sad 
 thing for us that'll be !" 
 
 The venerable old man became suddenly silent and the tears 
 started to his eyes. 
 
 The mouth of the dismal prophet was promptly stopped bv 
 the host of "The Jolly Angler," and "Long Ned" was called 
 
"KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 249 
 
 upon for a song to drive the spectre away; but rollicking songs 
 and flowing bowls could not stop the "innowating ploughs" 
 nor the sprouting blades of corn. The palmy days of the 
 highwayman passed away long ago into yellow-covered ro- 
 mances. The bold Dick Turpins and dashing Jack Sheppards 
 were flattened out by the same irresistible wheel of progress, 
 which had rolled over the bodies of the Robin Hoods and the 
 Kinmont Willies. "Paul Clifford" was too plainly a worn-out 
 puppet show to exert any of the practical influence on prison 
 discipline and the reform of the criminal code, which the 
 author projected. Any lingering glamour attaching to the life 
 of a highwayman was puffed out of sight by the snort of the 
 locomotive, and the "knight of the road" rotted away with the 
 old-fashioned stage coach. Then Hounslow was safe and 
 Finchley secure, and the traveller could ride from Land's End 
 to Dunnet Head without losing a penny. 
 
 Naturally enough, the highwayman has been able to keep 
 a foothold in a vast country, still redeeming itself from the 
 aboriginal wilderness, much longer than he could on Finchley 
 Common or Hounslow heath. It is true that the days have 
 passed away when a mining camp was more often entertained 
 by the stopping of a stage coach than by the finding of a nug- 
 get. The marvellous outstretching of the arms of our octo- 
 pian railways have brought the most remote settlements into 
 touch with our bustling cities; and the whizzing trains have 
 confounded, the highwayman here as in the old mother coun- 
 try. But there are still districts where the stage coach is 
 running to-day as it did forty years ago, and an express mes- 
 senger is still sitting in the coach or on the box, with a double- 
 barrelled gun across his knees, as he did in the days of the 
 Argonauts. There are still steep and lonely cations to climb 
 and long stretches of primeval forest to traverse; and the 
 guardian of the money box is occasionally shot and the reluc- ■ 
 tant passengers forced to hold up their hands in the same old 
 style. 
 
250 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 There has also sprung up here with the spread of the rail- 
 ways an extraordinarily bold and desperate class of robbers, 
 who have gone far beyond any bravado or daring of the old 
 school of highwaymen or of the plunderers of stage coaches. 
 These desperadoes have repeatedly stopped long trains filled 
 with passengers, and held the crowd at bay until they had 
 sacked the express car; and, sometimes, the gang has been of 
 such force that it has robbed the passengers as well as 
 the expressmen. Assaults of this kind have been made 
 in the oldest states of the Union as well as in the newest; but 
 they have been most common, of course, in thinly-settled 
 communities, where assistance could not be readily sum- 
 moned and escape would be comparatively easy. 
 
 Almost all of these men were fugitives from justice, from one 
 cause or another, and many were notorious safe breakers and 
 burglars. The chief, if not actually the first of these bands of 
 outlaws, was the notorious and infamous Reno gang. The 
 ringleaders of this gang were four brothers, John, Frank, 
 Simeon and William Reno. All four had black marks as 
 "bounty jumpers" during the War for the Union, and all had 
 a rooted aversion to any form of honest labor. 
 
 When their income from bounty jumping was cut off by 
 the close of the war, they were obliged to get their living in 
 other ways and turned their hands to the pursuit of burglary. 
 The smashing of doors and the cracking of safes did not con- 
 tent their craving for excitement and plunder; and, in 1866, 
 they began a series of novel and startling performances by 
 stopping a train on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, and 
 robbing the express car. Their first venture was so success- 
 ful that they repeated it again and again until "the Reno gang" 
 became a name of terror throughout southern Indiana. 
 
 It soon grew to be so numerous and overbearing that it 
 . looked upon its selected range of plunder as its own peculiar 
 preserves, and would not suffer anybody to poach in its reser- 
 vation. So, when two impudent young men stopped a train 
 
"KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD." ^gj 
 
 on the Jeffersonville Railroad and robbed a messenger of the 
 Adams Express Company, the indignant Reno gang suffered 
 the poachers to serve as cat's-paws, but snatched the booty 
 out of their hands as soon as it was secured.' Not content 
 with this reprimand, they actually lent their aid to the convic- 
 tion and sentence of the intruders, who were sent to the peni- 
 tentiary, while the gang coolly divided the proceeds of the 
 robbery. 
 
 After instituting their reign of terror in Indiana by brow- 
 beating the country people so that it was almost impossible 
 to induce witnesses of their raids to testify against them, the 
 Reno brothers extended their range into Missouri and began 
 to break safes and rob trains with glaring impudence. Finally 
 the late Allan Pinkerton won the credit of trapping and cap- 
 turing John Reno, at the railway station of Seymour, Indiana, 
 with the aid of the sherif? of the county and a posse of stal- 
 wart detectives. He was seized by a sudden rush of the 
 sheriff and his men, while lounging in the station, — in the 
 midst of his friends and "pals." Then, before the gang could 
 rally from its surprise, he was handcuffed and dragged on 
 board a waiting train, which instantly ran off under full steam. 
 After a stubborn fight in the courts, exhausting every device 
 of delay and technical buffers, this head of the gang was, at 
 length, chopped off and sent to the Missouri penitentiary for a 
 term of twenty-five years at hard labor. 
 
 But the three other heads still remained with free hands to 
 . plunder, and the arrest of John Reno seemed only a spur to 
 the rest of the gang. Soon they began to rove over a wider 
 range and to rob in Illinois and Iowa as well as in their old 
 preserves. In close succession the safes of the county 
 treasurers at Magnolia and Glenwood, Iowa, were broken 
 into and robbed, and again Allan Pinkerton was first on the 
 track of the robbers. 
 
 His clues led him to the conviction that a certain Michael 
 Rogers, one of the most wealthy and highly esteemed citizens 
 
252 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 of Council Blufifs, was covertly a prime mover in the gang. 
 The local authorities at Council Blufifs gave no credit to this 
 assertion of their eminent fellow citizen; but Mr. Pinkerton, 
 nevertheless, formed a posse of his own men and pounced 
 upon Rogers in his own house in the early morning. Mr. 
 Michael Rogers affected to be highly exasperated by this 
 untimely call and impudent suspicion; but he could not bar 
 the searching of his house and the capture of Frank Reno 
 and two other notorious members of the Reno gang, who were 
 about to sit down to breakfast in the kitchen with their host. 
 A strong smell of smoke was noticed while the detectives were 
 putting irons on the robbers. So Mr. Pinkerton picked up a 
 lid of the stove and saw that it was stuffed with packages of 
 bank notes. The notes were snatched off the burning coals 
 in time to save most of them, and the unburnt notes were later 
 identified as part of the money that had been stolen from the 
 safe in Glenwood. In addition to this damning evidence, two 
 complete sets of burglar tools were brought to light by a 
 thorough search. 
 
 The captured robbers were lodged at once in the county 
 jail, and certain conviction was hanging over their heads, 
 when the country round was startled and disgusted by the 
 news that the gang had sawed a hole in the wall of the jail and 
 escaped. In big, scrawHng letters, "April Fool" was chalked 
 over the walls and floor, instead of a civil "good-bye." 
 
 For a time the fugitives sunk out of sight as completely as 
 if the earth had opened and swallowed them up; but, about 
 two months after their escape, a gang of masked men held up 
 a train on the Ohio and Mississippi railroad at Marshfaeld, 
 Indiana, and took ninety-eight thousand dollars out of the 
 express car. The express messenger fought like a tiger to 
 guard his trust; but the gang fell upon him in mass and 
 pitched him out of the car into a steep gully, while the train 
 was steaming along at full speed. Another train robbery fol- 
 lowed hard after this outrage, and there was no real doubt 
 
"KXIOHTS OF THE ROAD.- 3^^ 
 
 that both were the work of the same Reno gang. By this 
 time the country about was ablaze with fury. Three notori- 
 ous members of the gang were arrested at Seymour and put 
 on the train running to Brownstown, the county seat. Before 
 the train reached Brownstown, it was boarded by a band of 
 masked men. The officers guarding the robbers were dashed 
 aside, and the three prisoners were hung on the Hmbs of a 
 beech tree in the nearest farm yard. 
 
 This fierce reprisal marked the forming of a secret organiza- 
 tion, which soon spread to cover the range of the Reno gang. 
 It was styled The Secret Vigilance Committee of Southern 
 Indiana. Within a few days after the lynching of the three 
 robbers, three more masked members of the same gang were 
 taken out of the hands of the county officials, in like manner, 
 and hung with instant despatch. The vengeful storm spread 
 from town to town. The gang which had terrorized Indiana 
 was thoroughly cowed and driven to hunt for cover. Frank 
 Reno fled to Canada with Charles Anderson, a member of his 
 gang and a notorious burglar; but William and "Sim" were 
 tracked to their hiding place in Indianapolis. There they 
 were captured and put in the strong jail of a neighboring 
 county, to save their necks more surely from the ropes of 
 lynchers. Finally, Frank Reno and his companion were ar- 
 rested, in their place of refuge, and surrendered, after a stub- 
 born contest, to Allan Pinkerton, representing the United 
 States. He took them to the jail in New Albany, Indiana, 
 where Frank's brothers were still confined. The robbers were 
 put in cells to await their trial, but it never took place. 
 
 A few weeks after Reno and Anderson were lodged in the 
 jail, a car was picked up on the railroad near Seymour by a 
 passing train on the way to New Albany. The conductor of 
 the train afterwards claimed that he knew nothing about the 
 attachment of this stray car. It was filled with men wearing 
 Scotch caps and black masks. They were a silent company 
 of fifty and sought to avoid notice. But it was observed by 
 
254 OVB RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 chance that a tall, black-haired man was the recognized leader. 
 When any one spoke to him, he was simply called "Number 
 One." 
 
 The train reached New Albany at two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing. "Number One" stood up in the car and took command 
 with the words "Come on." Then he passed quietly out of 
 the car and his company fell into line behind him. He led 
 the way to the jail and called upon the keeper to open the 
 doors. His demand was stoutly refused. Instantly- a rush was 
 made to storm the doors. The guards in the jail opened fire 
 and the mob fired back. For some moments the heavy locks 
 and bars bore the battering of the mob; but when the doors 
 were beaten in, the guards were helpless to stop the charging 
 mass. The faithful sheriff was shot through the arm and over- 
 powered. His little force of deputies was soon knocked out 
 of the way, and the lynchers swarmed into the jail. In a few 
 moments, the three Reno brothers and their comrade, Ander- 
 son, were taken out of their cells and hung from the beams 
 over a corridor. Then the mob carefully locked the doors of 
 the jail to keep the other prisoners securely, and marched back 
 silently to the car which had been left behind by the train at 
 the station. At half past three o'clock another train came by. 
 The car was coupled on, and the silent company was taken 
 back to Seymour, where the car was dropped and switched 
 off. 
 
 That was the end of the Reno gang and the last known act 
 of the Secret Vigilance Committee of Southern Indiana. 
 There was some attempt to lift the curtain and trace out the 
 lynchers; but their escape was too well planned. They had 
 taken the precaution to cut every telegraph wire running from 
 New Albany, and their closing performance was not reported 
 outside the town before the following noon. Meanwhile the 
 silent company had leisure to disband, throw away its masks, 
 and sink out of sight in the ranks of common citizens who had 
 nothing to fear from the testimony of their neighbors. 
 
"KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 255 
 
 The example and infamous eclat of this pioneer gang un- 
 doubtedly inspired and instructed many bands of less note to 
 pursue the novel line of plunder which it had marked out.. 
 The James gang and others of scarcely less mark have since- 
 terrorized whole counties and even larger parts of the state,, 
 but no subsequent gang of train robbers in this country has^ 
 defied the law with such brazen impudence and persistence, 
 or intrenched itself so formidably by corruption and intimida- 
 tion. 
 
 Of late years every gang of professional train robbers has 
 had one or more members who were expert "safe blowers" 
 or burglars skilled in the use of dynamite. It is usually of 
 the utmost- concern to these robbers to open the safes in the 
 express cars in the shortest possible time. The avoidance of 
 noise in cracking such safes is not so essential as it is to the 
 burglar in banks, stores and offices ; so there is^ no careful 
 muffling of the safes, or restriction of the amount of nitro- 
 glycerine to the exact allowance necessary. The shattering of 
 the safes at the first discharge is the prime requisite, and 
 this is done by a liberal use of cartridges. 
 
 Besides the "safe blower," a modern gang will commonly 
 include, also, some man who is able to handle a locomotive 
 well enough to run it for a few miles, at least; as it is some- 
 times of service to the robbers to use the engine in effecting" 
 their escape. The leading gangs are made up, as a rule, by 
 some leader who picks his men for the varied service that 
 may be needed, and considerable skill is required, as well zs. 
 desperate recklessness, to make a successful assault on a train 
 which is carrying a large amount of money. 
 
 No robber bands within the past ten years have been moret 
 formidable than the notorious Hedspeth and Morgan gangs. 
 Hedspeth's gang had its range in the Central Western, and 
 Morgan's in the Southern Atlantic States. By a sketch of 
 their methods of operation the general character and devices 
 of professional train robbers may be clearly set forth. 
 
256 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Marion C. Hedspeth, the leader of the first-named gang, 
 became notorious as a robber in Missouri and Kansas, twenty 
 years ago, in company with two other well-known "store 
 breakers" and "safe blowers." After some years of this work 
 Hedspeth and Cody, his partner, were surprised in the act 
 of blowing open a safe in a small town in Kansas. Cody 
 was shot dead on. the spot, but Hedspeth broke through 
 the line that hemmed him in and escaped. After a 
 keen hunt he was finally caught in November, 1883, and 
 sent to the penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri, for seven 
 years. While in prison he tried to break out and nearly 
 killed a deputy sherifif who blocked his escape. Soon after 
 his discharge he formed a gang of three otljer ex-convicts and 
 desperadoes like himself for the practice of -safe blowing and 
 train robbery. One of the gang was his brother-in-law, Adel- 
 bert Sly, who had just served out a term of seven years in the ' 
 Missouri state prison for the robbery of the American Express 
 Company in 1883. Under the leadership of Hedspeth and 
 Sly this gang soon became a pest in Missouri, Nebraska and 
 Kansas. In the early part of 1891 the outlaws impudently 
 raided the office of a street car company in Kansas City. 
 With a show of their loaded revolvers they forced all the clerks 
 in the office to face the wall and hold up their hands while 
 they blew open and robbed the safe. A few weeks later the 
 same gang made another raid of the same kind in Omaha. 
 Then, after making a round for diversion through a number 
 of post-offices in Missouri, they entered upon a series of train 
 robberies. 
 
 Their first venture was on the line of the Missouri Pacific 
 road. They coolly boarded a train at West Omaha, blew open 
 the locked door of the express car with a dynamite cartridge, 
 rushed into the car, knocked down the messenger and robbed 
 the safe. After this exploit, the surrounding country became 
 too hot for them ; so the gang scattered, found cover and came 
 together in Wisconsin, at Western Union Junction, on the line 
 
-KNIOBTS OF THE IWAD." ^^7 
 
 of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. Here thej^ 
 made another raid on a train, overpowering the train hands 
 and blowing open the door of the express car. Again the 
 messenger was unable to stop their rush, and the robbers 
 carried off about five thousand dollars in money and a con- 
 siderable amount of jewelrv. 
 
 Once more the gang dropped out of sight to reappear in 
 Missouri, on the night of November 30th, in the same year 
 (1891). Their chosen "mark," this time, was in Glendale, 
 a suburb of St. Louis, on the Hne of the St. Louis and San 
 Francisco road. Here they raided another train, as they had 
 done twice before in the same year, mastering the unarmed 
 railroad men by force and threats, and blowing open the door 
 of the express car. The passengers on the train made some 
 show of resistance, and the robbers fired some shots in return 
 into a passenger car; but no one was hit. In this raid the rob- 
 bers took a booty of forty thousand dollars, which they 
 promptly divided and then fled in different directions. 
 
 The plain repetition of method and other points of identi- 
 fication in these robberies left little doubt that all were com- 
 mitted by the same gang; although, in every case, the robbers 
 wore masks in their attacks, and covered their movements 
 from point to point with remarkable craft and success. The 
 men composing the Hedspeth gang were well known; and 
 after the Glendale robbery, every possible effort was made by 
 the Pinkerton Agency and the combined detective forces of 
 the Western 'States to track the fugitives. Sly was arrested 
 by the Pinkertons in Los Angeles, California, after a chase of 
 four weeks; and, in the following February (1892), Hedspeth 
 was captured in the hall of the San Francisco post-office by 
 Captain Lees of the city police and a squad of his men. 
 
 The robber had shaved off his heavy mustache to change 
 his usual appearance, and had the dress and air of a thriving 
 young broker. He was off his guard at the time, for he sup- 
 posed that the detectives had been completely thrown off his 
 
258 
 
 OUl! RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 track. While he was calhng at the deHvery window for letters 
 addressed to H. V. Swanson, one of the watching detectives 
 cautiously brushed past him in order to learn whether he had 
 pistols in his overcoat pockets. The touch was a slight one, 
 but Hedspeth felt it and instantly thrust his hands into his 
 coat pockets. He was quick to turn, but the detectives were 
 -quicker in seizing him and pinioning his arms. Two loaded 
 xevolvers were taken from his coat pockets and he was then 
 led to the city police headquarters. Over a thousand dollars 
 in money and valuable jewelry were found on his person, but 
 nothing particularly incriminating. There was no question of 
 his identification, however, and he was held in custody until 
 he was delivered to the Missouri authorities for trial in St. 
 iouis. 
 
 While he was confined in the city jail, awaiting his trial, 
 he laid a crafty plan of escape. A young rascal, charged with 
 forgery, was lodged in the same cell. He was a youth of nice 
 appearance and good education, and succeeded in getting an 
 appointment for service in the jail, by which he was enabled 
 lo get a view, one day, of the key to his cell. He was a good 
 ■draughtsman and sketched the key rapidly on a piece of paper. 
 That night he passed the sketch to Hedspeth, who succeeded 
 in passing it on to confederates outside the jail. 
 
 In a few days his wife came to the jail with some fruit for 
 her husband, and the exultant robber and forger found a key 
 within an orange in the fruit basket. They tried it, at night, 
 in the lock of the cell; but to their disgust it did not fit. So 
 the young forger melted a tallow candle and made an impres- 
 sion of the lock. Then the prisoners filed the key to fit the 
 mold, and found that they could unlock the cell door. But, 
 before Hedspeth could plan their escape further, his young 
 companion was taken to trial and sent to the workhouse for a 
 year. 
 
 Some time afterwards, Hedspeth used the key to unlock 
 his cell door and succeeded in reaching a window in the jail. 
 
MAEION C. HBDSPBTH. 
 
 ADELBERT D. SLY. 
 
 CHAELBS MORGAN. 
 
 OLIVER CURTIS PERRY. 
 
"KXIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 250 
 
 He had arranged with confederates to crawl under the gate 
 of the jail yard and open the bars of one of the windows with 
 "a spreader," and it is reported that this was done; but Hed- 
 speth went astray in the darkness, and, when he found the 
 right window, the jail guards Were upon him before he could 
 squeeze through. So he sullenly gave himself up and was 
 taken back to his cell, where he was strictly guarded until he 
 was tried and convicted of the robbery at Glendale, and sent 
 to the state prison for twenty-five years. His brother-in-law, 
 Sly, received a like sentence. A third member of the gang 
 was killed at Pleasanton, Kansas, shortly after the Glendale 
 robbery, in the attempt to rob a train with only a single assist- 
 ant; so the Hedspeth gang is no longer to be dreaded. 
 
 In the spring of. 1893, a train on the M. & O. railroad was 
 held up by two train robbers at the first water tank north of 
 Cairo, Illinois. This was the first performance credited to 
 the "Morgan gang," although the leader, Charles Morgan, was 
 no novice in crime, and had already earned a bad reputation. 
 His true name was probably D. M. Speer, but his latest alias 
 was Morgan, and this name may be used as the one best 
 known. His companion in the robbery near Cairo was C. J. 
 Searcy, a carpenter by trade, who was persuaded by Morgan 
 to try his hand as a train robber. A third confederate was 
 expected at Cairo; but, when he failed to arrive, Morgan and 
 Searcy 'undertook the job without delay. Searcy kept the 
 -engineer and fireman quiet with his gun, while Morgan went 
 through the express car and took all the money obtainable, 
 which was a little over twelve hundred dollars. After divid- 
 ing this booty the robbers fled and soon separated; but, early 
 in the next year, they met in Florida. 
 
 Here they enlisted a new recruit, — one "Sam" Martin, who 
 had been trained as a locomotive driver. One night in June 
 (1893), this party of three boarded a train near Homerville, 
 Georgia. Searcy took charge of the engineer and fireman as 
 before, and Martin held the passengers in check while Morgan 
 
26o OUR RIVAL, THE RAHVAL. 
 
 hung a dynamite cartridge on the door of the express car and 
 blew it open. After robbing the car, the gang uncoupled the 
 engine and rode ofif on it, leaving the cars behind. They ran 
 along the track for a few miles and jumped off at a convenient 
 point and let the engine go wild. After dividing their plun- 
 der, the robbers parted, but, in September of the following 
 year (1894), the three met again at Harper's Feri-y in Virginia. 
 While they were planning a robbery in Maryland, Martin was 
 arrested and locked up on the charge of carrying concealed 
 weapons and dangerous explosives; but Morgan and Searcy 
 contrived' to escape to Washington and from that city into 
 Virginia. 
 
 On the night of the 12th of October in the same year, 1894, 
 they boarded a train on the R. F. & P. R. R., near Brooke 
 Station. After'passing Acquia Creek bridge, the two robbers 
 climbed over the tender, and with their leveled revolvers 
 compelled the engineer and fireman to stop the engine and get 
 off. Then Searcy kept the two trainmen under the threat of 
 his pistol while Morgan blew open the door of the express 
 car with dynamite. The messenger and his assistant were 
 apparently helpless, and Morgan took out of the car nearly 
 three thousand dollars in cash and some valuable papers. It 
 was next in order to get some free instruction from the engi- 
 neer in the practice of stopping and starting a locomotive; and 
 after the lesson was over, the instructors were put off the 
 engine again and the pupils, IMorgan and Searcy, took the 
 engine about a hundred yards to a cross road, where they 
 turned it loose. The wild engine ran into a couple of coal 
 cars on a side track, and fortunately toppled over just in time 
 to avoid a collision with an express train on the main track. 
 
 ^Morgan and Searcy divided their booty and tramped over 
 the country to a station on another line of road. Here they 
 took the cars, but the pursuit on their track was so keen that 
 Morgan was arrested a few days later in a suburb of Cincin- 
 nati, and his companion was captured shortly afterward. 
 
"K.MGH'I'S OF THE ROAD:' 261 
 
 Morgan was convicted in the spring of the following year and 
 sent to the Virginia Penitentiary for eighteen years. Searcy 
 received a- lighter sentence of eight years in the penitentiary, 
 chiefly for the reason that his evidence was used to convict his 
 partner. Morgan's portrait, as the convicted principal of this 
 gang, is given on a representative page. 
 
 When train robberies are committed by bands which are 
 not professional gangs, it is generally easy to mark the dis- 
 tinction. As in the case of burglaries, something in the plan- 
 ning, the execution and the escape will show to experienced 
 detectives whether the robbery was a professional job or the 
 work of green hands. This is none the less sure even if there 
 has been a labored effort to counterfeit the proceedings of 
 experts, so far as their methods can be learned from yellow- 
 covered "flash" novels or current report. The amateurs in 
 this line will not forget to parade in black masks and to bran- 
 dish revolvers recklessly; but their counterfeit will almost cer- 
 tainly fall flat through some awkward bungling or neglect of 
 the precautions which expert robbers are careful to take. 
 
 This distinction was signally shown a few years ago, in the 
 case of a robbery on the Mineral Range railroad, a little 
 narrow gauge line running from Houghton, Michigan, to the 
 mines of the Calumet and Hecla Company. One morning in 
 September, 1893, the train running to Calumet over this line 
 was held up by a band of robbers at a little woodside station 
 called Boston. A stop was made at this place to allow two 
 passengers to alight, and as the train slacked up, a masked 
 man, wearing a long linen duster, jumped upon the engine 
 and forced the engineer and fireman to throw up their hands, 
 in face of his heavy, loaded revolver. Then the robber started 
 the train and ran along slowly, away from the station. Mean- 
 while, two men, similarly dressed and masked, boarded the 
 forward end of the express and baggage car, and burst open 
 the door with a single heavy blow of a sledge. Through the 
 open door they covered the express rhessenger and baggage 
 
262 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 man with their revolvers and called upon them sharply to 
 throw up their hands. Both obeyed, although the express 
 messenger was well armed with revolvers like the robbers. 
 Then they took the loaded pistols out of the pockets of the 
 messenger and ordered him to open the safe in the car. He 
 obeyed submissively, and the masked men took out several 
 packages of money which they put in a grain bag. There 
 were seventy-five thousand dollars in the packages which the 
 messenger was carrying to the Calumet and Hecla mine for 
 the monthly pay roll. After filling their bag the robbers told 
 the engineer to keep the train moving or he would be shot, 
 and then all three jumped off and were soon lost to sight in 
 the thick woods bordering the railroad track. The train ran 
 on to Osceola, where the robbery was reported and the tele- 
 phone actively enlisted in rousing the country for the capture 
 of the robbers. 
 
 It may seem at the first glance that there was no apparent 
 slip in the conduct of this robbery; but the blunders were soon 
 shown in a bright light by the expert detectives on the track 
 of the robbers. This first obvious blunder was in the behavior 
 of the express messenger, Dominick Hogan. Instead of the 
 stout resistance which a faithful man would make, his con- 
 temptible submission without firing a shot branded him, at 
 once, as a probable accomplice of the robbers. Now, a trained 
 gang of robbers would have_ arranged an imposing parade of 
 devotion on his part, if he had been one of their confederates; 
 so that it was almost certain, at this starting point, that the 
 robbers were amateurs and it was almost equally sure that 
 recent meetings between this clumsy actor and his associates 
 could be traced out. 
 
 This was done by the Pinkerton detectives and the police 
 of the district with extraordinary despatch, and the pursuit of 
 the fugitives was equally swift and acute. The robbery had 
 been committed in the heart of a dense wood, many miles in 
 extent, where men could lie in hiding for weeks and probably 
 
"EXIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 
 
 263 
 
 defy detection. Nearly all the people living on the woodland 
 clearings were of foreign birth and few could speak English. 
 It was certainly a difficult ground for the prosecution of the 
 chase and there was, apparently, little prospect of a speedy 
 capture of the robbers and recovery of their plunder. 
 
 But again the stqpid errors of the gang soon put clues into 
 the hands of their hunters. It was learned by close question- 
 ing of the neighboring people that a horse had been tethered 
 in the woods near the station, on the morning of the robbery 
 and the day preceding. The detectives found the place where 
 the horse had been standing, and took an imprint of his hoof 
 marks on paper, as they had no plaster to make a mold. The 
 print showed that the horse was shod with plates instead of 
 shoes. This was a clue of great value, as it showed that the 
 animal was probably a race horse, which could be readily 
 identified in a district of this character. Then the detectives 
 tracked the horse to a road and measured his stride. This 
 measurement narrowed the search still further, for it was 
 shown that the race horse was a fast pacer. 
 
 By pressing inquiry it was soon learned that a fast pacing 
 horse, named "Champ K," was owned by a man in a neighbor- 
 ing town. Detectives were then sent out over every road 
 leading from Boston, with instructions to get all possible infor- 
 mation touching this horse or any other fast pacer which had 
 been seen on the road, immediately before or since the rob- 
 bery. Their inquiries brought to light the fact that "Champ 
 K" had been driven slowly over the road from Houghton to 
 Boston, just before the robbery, by two well-known "sporting 
 men," "Jack" King and "Jack" Butler; and that the same 
 horse passed through Hancock, steaming and sweating, forty 
 minutes after the robbery. This gave the detectives sufficient 
 assurance to warrant the arrest of Butler and King. Thus the 
 use of a horse, which could be easily identified and was certain 
 to attract attention, led straight to the detection of part of the 
 gang ; and another fatal blunder soon brought about the arrest 
 
264 OUR FITAL-, THE FASCAL. 
 
 of another principal, and drew the net tighter about the other 
 prisoners. 
 
 Michigan is not a warm country in the latter part of Sep- 
 tember, as a rule, and in that particular month almost every- 
 body was wearing overcoats. But the amateur robbers had 
 apparently been impressed with the conviction that long linen 
 "dusters" were part of the regulation costume of men who 
 "held up" trains. So two of them bought new hnen dusters 
 at a store in a neighboring town, and a third stole a duster 
 for his outfit from a saloon. This fact was soon found out by 
 the searching detectives, and the three dusters were traced 
 to Butler and King and a discharged fireman of the Duluth, 
 South Shore and Atlantic railroad, George La Liberte. 
 
 So the ex-fireman was arrested, and as he was not a 
 hardened "crook," but a poor, ignorant French Canadian, a 
 confession was soon extracted from him which completely ex- 
 posed the robbery. It appeared that the scheme had been put 
 up by a former express messenger, who was the brother of 
 Dominick Hogan. He induced his brother to become an ac- 
 complice, and informed Butler, King and La Liberte that they 
 could capture the money in the car without any risk of being 
 shot in the operation. So, within three days after the robbery, 
 all the robbers were traced out and held for trial and a large 
 part of the stolen money was recovered. Other confederates 
 were arrested at the same time and all the principals were, 
 soon after, tried, convicted and sentenced to the Michigan 
 penitentiar}'. 
 
 This was a notably brilhant and creditable piece of detective 
 work, although the detectives were aided, as we have shown, 
 by palpable blunders on the part of the robbers. It is much 
 more difficult, as experienced detectives will testify, to follow 
 the track of expert professional robbers, who often lay their 
 plans as artfully as bank burglars and are masters of every 
 trick of disguise and concealment. Sometimes, too, the track 
 of the robbers is intentionally covered by accomplices on the 
 
-KXiaHTS OF THE ROAD." 
 
 265 
 
 trains; although this is fortunately of rare occurrence, for the 
 regular messengers and train hands are usually men of sterling 
 faithfulness, as the sacrifice of their lives in the discharge of 
 their duty has so often and so nobly shown. 
 
 It has happened, also, that a robbery of an express car has 
 been planned and executed entirely by train hands, as in the 
 remarkable case of the Rock Island express car robbery, ten 
 years ago, where the messenger was brutally shot and beaten 
 to death by a brakeman and a baggageman. This is an in- 
 stance so exceptional that we should scarcely refer to it, except 
 for the sake of a word of just tribute to the really superb de- 
 tective work in coping with uncommon craftiness in knavery 
 and finally securing the conviction of the criminals. 
 
 Outside of the rare cases where a robbery has been effected 
 by train hands, the robbers have usually got their plunder by 
 stopping a train at some little signal station, in the midst of 
 woods or in a thinly settled country; or, else, by boarding a 
 train, like ordinary passengers, and waiting for the best op- 
 portunity to make a raid on the express car. In view of the 
 evident blocks in the way of one of these robberies — the re- 
 sistance of the train hands, the possible rallying of the passen- 
 gers in force, and the entrenchment of one or more express 
 messengers in the stronghold of a car with bolted doors, — 
 it is very rare that any assault is attempted by less than two 
 men, and three or more men usually band together in making 
 such raids. There are, however, isolated instances in which 
 a single man has "held up" a train or boarded and robbed an 
 express car, and the most remarkable of these was, unques- 
 tionably, the performance of Oliver Curtis Perry on the line 
 of the New York Central railroad, about four years ago. 
 
 At that time Perry was only about twenty-six years old, but 
 he was far in advance of his age as a criminal. He was the 
 son of a poor farmer in Fulton county. New York, and grew 
 up, as he himself has said, "without schooling." Probably 
 his lack of the ordinary primary school education was largely 
 
266 OUR RIVAL, THE RASiCAL. 
 
 his own fault, for he was a self-willed, wayward and roving 
 boy from his earliest childhood. He was set at work on his 
 father's farm as a chore boy; but this plodding labor was so 
 little to his liking that he took a hand in burglary, in the town 
 of Amsterdam, N. Y., when he was only fourteen years old, 
 and was sent to the state reformatory and subsequently to 
 prison. When he was discharged, an opportunity was given 
 to him for a fresh start in life, with a good opening in a store 
 owned by his uncle in Minnesota. He took advantage of this 
 chance to rob his uncle's store, but he was caught, shortly after- 
 ward, and sent to a Minnesota penitentiary for three years. 
 
 After graduating from the penitentiary, he went to Montana 
 to enlist as a cowboy. In his new employment he was shot 
 in the breast and sent to the almshouse in Mills City for treat- 
 ment. While he was recovering from his wound, he had some 
 wrangle with one of the other inmates of the almshouse and 
 finally threw a heavy spittoon at him which crushed his skull. 
 The man died, but Perry in some way contrived to escape 
 conviction for murder. 
 
 After leaving the almshouse, he got employment as a brake- 
 man and worked on several roads with an apparent resolution 
 to live honestly. But plain, hard work with the pay of a train 
 hand made Oliver Curtis Perry very weary. He was continu- 
 ally repining because he could not make money faster. As 
 he did not see any honest way of improving his income, he 
 concluded to try, as he said, "a bold stroke with big chances." 
 This was nothing less than the single-handed robbery of a fast 
 express train passing through the heart of the greatest state 
 in the Union. 
 
 The young man, who was proposing to undertake this job, 
 was altogether unlike a common ideal of a desperado. He was 
 only five feet five and a half inches in height and slightly built. 
 His weight was not more than 130 pounds. His complexion 
 was dark sallow, and what is known as "pasty." The wrinkles 
 between his eyes gave to his face a somewhat troubled and 
 
"KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 
 
 267 
 
 careworn expression, and he was nervous and uneasy except 
 when actually at work; but there was nothing ugly or brutal 
 in his appearance and manners. On the contrary, he would 
 be likely to impress a stranger favorably. His forehead was 
 square and high and there was evidently no lack of brains in 
 his head. His voice was soft and delicate in tone, and he 
 could use it with touching effect, as he had frequently shown 
 in church meetings when he was pleased to play the impostor. 
 He was scrupulously neat in person and his clothes were well 
 chosen and well cut. Although he had little or no school edu- 
 cation, he had learned to read and write well, and had picked 
 up a considerable miscellaneous stock of information. So he 
 was far from an unpleasant acquaintance or companion, al- 
 though he was secretly puffed up in his own conceit and had 
 a string of petty vanities, one of which was the wearing of 
 gloves to keep his hands white, even when he was handling a 
 brake. An excellent likeness of Perry, as he appeared at 
 this time, is given on our page of representative portraits. 
 
 It was this young fellow with pensive brown eyes, effemi- 
 nate voice, almost invisible mustache and general air of weak- 
 ness, who was going to distinguish himself by robbing a train 
 single-handed. 
 
 Train No. 31, on the New York Central railroad, left the 
 Grand Central Depot on the evening of the 29th of Septem- 
 ber at half past eight o'clock. It was made up of eight cars, 
 and the last in line was the express car, carrying money and 
 valuables. Young Perry had been laying his plans for t\yo 
 weeks and had marked this particular train for robbery. He 
 had a thin, sharp-pointed saw made especially for use in this 
 job. This was the only tool that he had except a gimlet and 
 cornmon jack-knife, but he carried one or more revolvers. 
 
 When the train reached Albany, it was shortly after mid- 
 night; and, at that time or within the next two hours, Perry 
 contrived to board the train and reach the front platform ot 
 the "money car." This car was divided into three compart- 
 
268 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 ments with heavy sliding- doors. The express messenger was 
 in the middle section, and the conductor and other train men 
 were in the last compartment. 
 
 Perry first bored a "peep-hole" with his gimlet in the for- 
 ward end of the car. Through this hole he could see that no 
 one was in the front compartment. Then he quietly inserted 
 the sharp tip of his saw, sawed out a square panel, and crawled 
 through the opening into the car. In a moment he reached 
 the middle compartment, stealthily, and put his revolver close 
 to the messenger's head. The messenger was busily exam- 
 ining way bills, in front of an open safe, and was taken utterly 
 by surprise. Perry fired a shot over his head to startle him, 
 and told him to hold up his hands. He could not do other- 
 wise, for Perry had slily picked up his revolver, and he had 
 no other firearms. Then the young robber took what money 
 he could lay his hands on, and crawled out backward through 
 the same opening by which he had entered the car. To make 
 his escape the more readily, he cut the air pipe controlling the 
 brakes and brought the train to a standstill just before reach- 
 ing Utica. 
 
 While the people on the train were trying to find out what 
 was the cause of the stop, Perry slipped down and away before 
 the alarm was given. He fan back along the track until he 
 came to a ravine where he hid during the day. When an east- 
 bound freight train came along, at night, he found a hiding 
 place on it; and from that point all trace of him was lost until 
 the middle of the following December. Then the secretary of 
 the Tro}^ Railroad Y. M. C. A. received a letter, mailed near 
 Toronto, in which Perry confessed that he had robbed the 
 express and professed to be very penitent. This communica- 
 tion would have been more affecting, if he had proposed to 
 make any return of the plunder which he had carried off, 
 amounting to several thousand dollars ; but restitution was no 
 part of his scheme of atonement. 
 
 After easing his conscience by his confession, he took a trip 
 
"KXIGHTS OF THE ROADr 
 
 269 
 
 through Arizona and Mexico, and found sight seeing very 
 pleasant until he had spent nearly all of his booty in junketing 
 and gambling. Then, when he had only a few hundred dol- 
 lars left in his pockets, he concluded that he ought to make 
 some further provision for his wants ; so he went back to New 
 York for this purpose, as it occurred to him that it would be 
 a master stroke to rob the same express train No. 31, once 
 more, in the same state. 
 
 In place of the sharp-pointed saw and gimlet, which he used 
 ■ in the first robbery, he provided a short rope ladder with 
 clutching hooks. By making a roll of the ladder he easily 
 stowed it in a small leather hand bag. During the night of 
 the 2oth of February, 1892, he made his way stealthily to the 
 New York Central railroad station at Syracuse, carrying his 
 hand bag containing the coiled ladder. When the express 
 train. No. 31, reached this city, in the darkness of the early 
 morning. Perry climbed up the rear end of the "money car" 
 to the roof. In a moment the train was off and soon sped 
 over the track at the rate of forty miles an hour with Perry 
 clinging to the icy roof of the swaying car. 
 
 In spite of the jerks and swings that threatened, momenta- 
 rily, to fling him headlong from his slippery perch, the robber 
 crawled to the edge of the car and clamped the hooks of his 
 ladder over the jutting cornice. Then he stretched the ladder 
 over the roof, and let it dangle down over a sliding door on 
 the other side of the car. The upper half of this door was of 
 glass, but the night was so dark that Mclnerney, the express 
 messenger within the car, could not see the ladder nor the 
 form of the dare-devil stealthily dropping down to the level 
 of the door sill. 
 
 When Perry had crept down so far that he could look 
 through the grimy glass top of the door, he hung for a little 
 while with his toes barely touching the door sill, and peered 
 into the car. Mclnerney was standing near him, at the mo- 
 ment, but soon moved away to the other side of the car and 
 
270 
 
 OOR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 sat down with his back to the door, to check over a list of 
 packages. Then Perry smashed the glass in the door with 
 his elbow, thrust his hand in, and fired a shot just over the 
 head of the messenger, crying out, at the same time, with an 
 oath: "Hold up your hands." 
 
 Startled by the sound of the breaking glass, Mclnerney 
 started up from his chair, and turned to face the grim, masked 
 head of the robber and the smoking revolver. Then his hand 
 went up, but not in surrender. He had snatched up his re- 
 volver and fired at Perry, who shot back at the same instant. 
 Mclnerney missed, but Perry's shot shattered his hand and 
 his pistol fell to the floor. Before he could stoop for it, the 
 robber unbolted the door and sprang in at him, yelling, "Hands 
 up." The plucky' messenger closed with him, in spite of his 
 shattered hand, and the two men strained and heaved in a 
 fierce wrestle, while the car went whizzing along. 
 
 The high wind through the open door blew out the lights; 
 and, in the darkness, Mclnerney broke away for a moment, 
 and pulled the bell rope twice while Perry was groping about. 
 As soon as the robber touched him and learned where to 
 shoot, he fired twice in quick succession. One ball went 
 through the messenger's thigh, and the other cut the skin over 
 his eye. Then the two men clinched again, dragging each 
 other over the flooi*. 
 
 Perry's muscles had been hardened by his work as a brake- 
 man, and he was a tough, wiry fellow, notwithstanding his 
 sickly look. Mclnerney was a small, weak man, and crippled 
 by his wounds; but he fought with a heart so strong that for 
 some little time the desperate struggle hung in the balance. 
 But Perry, at length, threw the messenger on his back, and 
 got a knee on his chest. "I'll kill you, if you don't give up," 
 he hissed; and the fainting Mclnerney stopped his vain strug- 
 gling. Then Perry struck a light, picked up the keys of the 
 safe, and was searching for money when the train came to a 
 stop. The engineer had heard the signal of the messenger. 
 
CHAKLES SPEXCEi;. 
 
 FRANK VAX HORX. 
 
 THEOPHILUS GEORGE. 
 
 WILLIAM E. STEWART. 
 
"KXIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 
 
 271 
 
 Perry sprang out of the car, without even a handful of 
 plvmder, and ran along the track to the engine, firing his re- 
 volver and crying out to the engineer to go ahead. In the 
 darkness, it was impossible for the engineer to see that he only- 
 had one man to deal with; so he prudently started his engine 
 and ran on. 
 
 Perry had the coolness and cunning to choose, deliberately, 
 a line of escape so impudently bold that it was likely to be the 
 safest; for who would suppose that a train robber would ride 
 straight into the hands of the people who were trying to catch 
 him. He climbed back on the express car, as it ran by him, 
 and rode on to the next station, Lyons. On the way he took 
 off his mask and disguise, and put on a pair of gold-bowed 
 spectacles. As the train slacked up to make a stop at the sta- 
 tion, he jumped off and circled about in order to approach the 
 station like a man hurrying down to catch an early train. 
 
 His manner was so easy and unconcerned, as he mingled 
 with the crowd that was standing about the train^ that no sus- 
 picion fell on him until he was recognized by one of the train 
 hands, who had seen him in the station at Syracuse. He 
 stoutly denied that he had been in that city ; but the train men 
 said, "We'll hold you, anyhow." 
 
 "No, you won't!" cried the demure young man with the 
 spectacles, whipping out his revolver. "You just keep easy, 
 boys, — keep off or you'll get hurt!" 
 
 This threat stayed the rush upon him for a moment; and 
 Perry seized his chance to run under the train and jump upon 
 an old freight engine which was standing in the yard at the 
 head of a line of coal cars. He drove off the engineer and 
 fireman of the engine with his revolver, uncoupled the locomo- 
 tive, pulled the throttle wide open and started down the road 
 as fast as the lumbering old engine would carry him. 
 
 For a moment, the crowd stood gaping after him; but, in 
 a trice, the fast engine of the express train was uncoupled, and 
 the engineer and fireman with two other volunteers went off 
 
272 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 in hot pursuit. They had only one gun, a double-barrelled, 
 smooth-bore shotgun, while the robber had two revolvers; 
 so the superiority in numbers scarcely balanced the advantage 
 in arms. 
 
 The speedy engine of the chase gained rapidly on the old 
 freight engine; and Perry, seeing that he would soon be over- 
 taken, desperately reversed his engine and ran back to meet 
 his pursuers. As the two engines rushed past each other, the 
 robber leaned out of his cab window, with a revolver in each 
 hand, and fired at his hunters as fast as he could pull the trig- 
 gers. The four men in the other engine crouched on the floor 
 under cover, and the broadside did them no harm beyond a 
 sprinkle of broken -glass. But when Perry's engine had 
 passed by, a following shot was fired at him from the gun, in 
 exchange for his fusillade. 
 
 The shot did not hit him, but the plucky men on the fast 
 engine had still another charge in their gun. So they re- 
 versed their engine and ran back in jjursuit of the flying rob- 
 ber. Again Perry met this pursuit with a challenge, and ran 
 down the track to renew this strange duel. He had reloaded 
 his revolvers and sent another volley into the other engine, 
 as he went plunging by. The second barrel of the shotgun 
 returned his fire, but this shot exhausted the ammunition of 
 the hunters and they were forced to relinquish the chase for 
 the time. 
 
 Nevertheless, their pursuit had forced Perry to use up 
 almost all the steam supply for his engine in racing and fight- 
 ing, and he had no time to fire up. So he took his engine a 
 little further down the track until he reached a strip of wood- 
 land, and then jumped down and ran into the woods. Twice 
 he succeeded in getting horses from farm houses by the threat 
 ■of his revolvers, but the whole country around was aroused 
 and he was readily tracked through the snow that covered the 
 roads. Just before noon he made a last stand behind a stone 
 Tvall, hoping to keep his hunters at bay till nightfall; but when 
 
"KXIOHTS OF THE liOAD." ^^^ 
 
 he heard them calling for rifles, he knew that he could not 
 hold out, and gave himself up to the deputy sheriff who had 
 driven him to the wall. 
 
 He was put, for the time, in the little stone jail of the town 
 of Lyons. Within forty-eight hours he had planned an es- 
 cape and contrived to slip into his father's hand, through the 
 bars of his cell, two working drawings of a key to fit the door 
 lock. On the slip with the sketches was written: "Make of 
 very hard wood; be sure and not get it brittle, for it must be 
 very tough and strong. Alake it about the size of this draw- 
 ing. Hole in key, three-eighths of an inch. Make the key 
 blade as thick as it is drawn above." 
 
 Fortunately the passing of the slip was seen by a keen-eyed 
 detective, who arrested the old man and threatened to search 
 him, unless he gave up the paper. So the father reluctantly 
 produced a folded leaf from an old book, with a picture on 
 one side and a blank page on the other, covered with pencil 
 sketches and writing. This attempt put riveted shackles on 
 the ankles of the prisoner, connected by a heavy log chain. 
 The jailor in Lyons was- determined not to lose such a robber 
 by the lack of any precaution. When Perry was finally called 
 to trial, three months later, he pleaded guilty to five in- 
 dictments and was sentenced to the state prison at Auburn 
 for a term of forty-nine years and three months. 
 
 Shortly after his committal to Auburn he threatened his 
 keepers with a drawn knife, and was put under the strictest 
 guard in a cell in the basement of the north wing of the prison. 
 These basement cells had thick walls of brick, and were con- 
 sidered so secure that they were not regularly inspected like 
 the cells on the floors above. Perry was closely confined to 
 his cell and not permitted to go to work in the shops. At first 
 he was sullen and rebellious ; but he suddenly became submis- 
 sive and cheerful. His good behavior was so long continued 
 that he seemed to be well on the way to permanent reform. 
 
 This fond hope was suddenly blasted by the discovery that 
 
274 OUR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the docile prisoner had cut his way out of his cell, through a 
 brick partition, a foot thick. He had left a straw dummy to 
 represent him, but that was not a satisfactory substitute. The 
 cell on the other side of the partition was temporarily vacant 
 while its occupant was at work in the shops, and Perry was 
 able to steal unseen from this cell, out of the north wing, 
 across the prison yard into the basement of the broom shop. 
 -Here he lay hid urftil night, when he tried to enter the shop 
 above. This shop was so closely guarded that he slipped 
 along toward the marble shop, and tried to enter it, but he 
 was seen and pursued by the guards. He ran toward the 
 ■collar shop and was seeking for a knife when he was knocked 
 down by a guard and taken back to his cell. 
 
 After this escapade he was comparatively quiet for a year, 
 and then he secured his transfer to Matteawan Asylum by 
 counterfeiting insanity with extraordinary craft; unless he 
 was, in fact, half crazed at the time. His transfer to the asy- 
 lum was in December, 1893, and in April, 1895, he had re- 
 covered his wits so far that he planned and executed a re- 
 markable escape from the asylum in company with four other 
 inmates. They knocked down the night watchman at mid- 
 night, and bound and gagged him. Then they took his keys, 
 imlocked the chapel door, passed through to a main building, 
 mounted to the roof, and dropped down, thirty feet, to the 
 ground outside the walls. For some days Perry succeeded in 
 evading pttrsuit; but he was finally recognized by a detective, 
 in the midst of a gang of tramps, sitting about a bonfire in 
 Weehawken, New Jersey. After a sharp run he was cap- 
 tured and taken back to the asylum. 
 
 On the 1st of July, in the same year, he was sent back to 
 Auburn to serve out his sentence, by the judgment of a com- 
 mission which declared him to be sane. In the following No- 
 vember, however, he was returned to the asylum, because of 
 his unruly and demented conduct. He made an attempt to 
 blind himself by thrusting needles into his eyes; hoping, as 
 
"KXIOHTS OF THE ROAU." 275 
 
 he said, to gain the pity of the governor and possibly a pardon. 
 Whatever may be the final conclusion touching his sanity, 
 there can be no doubt that he is one of the most dangerous 
 men who has ever run at large in this country. 
 
 Fortunately, such desperate and wily robbers as Perry are 
 rarely known, and the penalties for the robbery of trains are so 
 heavy that comparatively few rascals venture to face the risk 
 of lifelong imprisonment coupled with the probability that 
 they will be shot in the act of robbery. On all the principal 
 railroad lines in this country such watchfulness and safeguards 
 are used that a successful robbery is almost impracticable to- 
 day, and the robbers are certain to be pursued with all the 
 resources of the united police and detective agencies of the 
 country. The best that any such robber can reasonably 
 expect is a few months' hiding in constant fear and harass- 
 ment, followed by many years of close imprisonment at hard 
 labor. 
 
 A dwarfed and petty offshoot from the professional "train 
 robber" is known as the "sleeping car worker." Thieves of 
 this class make a practice of riding over the country in sleeping 
 cars and trying to steal the watches, money and hand bags of 
 their fellow passengers. They will mark, whenever they can, 
 people carrying gold watches and those that are likely to have 
 the most money in their pockets. If there is a vacant berth 
 next to the sections occupied by such passengers, the "sleeping 
 car worker" will try to secure it by an exchange under some 
 pretence. Then, when the curtains are drawn for the night, 
 the thief will slip a groping hand around the partition and try 
 to filch a watch or pocketbook from under a pillow or from 
 clothes on the coverlet of a berth or hanging from a hook. If 
 it is possible to unfasten and draw out a sliding partition for a 
 few inches, the "worker" will then thrust his hand through 
 the gap thus made between the slide and the wall of the car. 
 If the berths are too sharply watched by the porter to give 
 any chance for such sly groping, the thief will wait for an 
 
276 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 opportunity to steal while the passengers are dressing or using 
 the toilet rooms of the car. 
 
 One of the most notable thieves of this class in the country- 
 is Charles Spencer, alias Spence, alias Bronson, who has been 
 robbing passengers on the trains by his sly thefts during the 
 past ten years. He learned to be expert in every trick of 
 vaulting, tumbling and swinging as a member of a circus 
 company ; and then found a new opening for his nimbleness in 
 the exercises of a pickpocket, hotel thief and bank sneak. 
 About twelve years ago he applied himself particularly to the 
 occupation of a "sleeping car worker." Here he soon earned 
 a reputation as "the fastest worker in this country in his line." 
 He has been known to pass through a whole train in the 
 course of a single night and rob more than a dozen people in 
 the ordinary cars as well as in the "sleepers." When he has 
 been put off a train as a known thief, he has sometimes jumped 
 on board again while the train was leaving the station, and 
 swung himself up on the roof of a car with the celerity of a 
 monkey. Then he has ridden on top of the car to the place 
 M'here he wished to stop, and jumped off as nimbly as he 
 mounted. He has dodged arrest and conviction with uncom- 
 mon dexterity, but he has served out one sentence of im- 
 prisonment for seven years at Ogden, Utah, for the rob- 
 ben- of passengers on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Tliere 
 is probably no more dangerous thief of this class in this 
 country. 
 
 Frank Van Horn is another thief of equal mark, who has 
 been roaming over the country from Maine to California for 
 many years. He was long associated with a partner of the 
 same stripe, John Dennis, who is now dead; and no pair 
 of thieves were more crafty and annoying. At one time Van 
 Horn was credited with the ownership of a large estate in 
 Mississippi, but he has wasted all the property, that he has 
 inherited or stolen, in gambling and other dissipations. He 
 has always been fashionably dressed like- all noted hotel 
 
"KXWHTS OF THE HOAIJ." ■ 277 
 
 thieves and sleeping car workers, and his appearance would 
 hardly prejudice a stranger against him, though his face is so 
 pitted by the small pox that he has the nickname of "Pock- 
 marked Frank." 
 
 Theophilus George and his partner, William E. Stewart, 
 alias "Billy Jackson," fitly supply the portraits to fill up a 
 representative page with Van Horn and Spencer. Both are 
 notorious sleeping car workers and hotel thieves. Stewart is 
 a fluent talker and dangerously ingratiating. He has served 
 time in the prisons of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and 
 Wisconsin, and has probably been in the jails of every large 
 city in this country. His occasional trips to Europe for the 
 sake of diversion and plunder have made him of note in the 
 old world as well as the new. 
 
 All employees of railroad and sleeping car companies are 
 particularly instructed to keep a sharp watch to protect pas- 
 sengers from the hands of these thieves and it is needless to 
 remark that no known thief is permitted by the detectives at 
 railroad stations to enter any train of sleeping cars. Pas- 
 sengers should not neglect, however, to take reasonable pre- 
 cautions for their own protection. Large amounts of money 
 should not be carried on the person when travelling except in 
 the rare cases where this method of conveying money is the 
 only practicable one. There should be as little parade as 
 possible' of the possession of money or jewelry. If valuables 
 are not put in the keeping of the porter, they should be so placed 
 in the berths that they cannot be reached by a groping hand 
 without disturbing the sleepers. It is worth noting that 
 thieves take much greater care not to be robbed by other 
 thieves than' is shown by ordinary travellers, and few of them 
 have ever had occasion to lament the loss of a dollar unless it 
 was taken away by violence. Very little ingenuity is needed 
 to provide places of deposit as secure as the undershirt sleeve, 
 which usually holds the money of a sleeping thief. 
 
 It is a far descent from the pinnacle of crime reached by 
 
278 • OVIi RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 such robbers as Perry, Morgan and Hedspeth, to the level 
 of the thieves who watch for chances to break into freight 
 cars temporarily sidetracked or unavoidably left for the night 
 at some distance from the freight depots. Thieves of this 
 class have light carts in waiting to carry off their plunder in 
 the same manner as goods from stores are taken away, and 
 the stolen property is then repacked and concealed or put in 
 the hands of receivers. 
 
 It is the practice also of these thieves to seek every oppor- 
 tunity of stealing packages from loaded express wagons on 
 the way to and from the railroad stations or when stopping for 
 the delivery or receipt of goods. Unless a sharp watch is 
 kept on the wagons also, the most impudent of these thieves 
 will jump upon the driver's seat and carry off the entire wagon 
 load to a place from which the goods can be rapidly shipped to 
 distant points in boxes or barrels consigned to a confederate. 
 In the winter holiday season, especially, thefts of this kind are 
 frequent as the wagons are then most heavily loaded and the 
 expressmen or drivers are often obliged to wait for many 
 minutes in the throngs of people and teams about the railway 
 stations. At such times, wagons should never be left standing 
 along the sidewalk or at freight depots without some watchful 
 attendant. If a driver is obliged to leave his team, temporarily, 
 for any reason, he should have an assistant to take his place. 
 Any boy with.sense enough to keep a sharp eye on the contents 
 of a wagon will be a sufficient guard, lor thieves of this class 
 are usually too wary to meddle with any goods that are con- 
 stantly watched. 
 
 In the portraits of Harry Kelly, Walter Borsch, Frederick 
 Lawrence, and Ernest V. Schneider — the "express thief," so 
 called, is well represented; for all have been repeatedly sent to 
 houses of correction and other reformatory prisons for terms 
 of varying length, and Borsch, in particular, has been con- 
 victed and sentenced eight times for larceny in the past twenty 
 years, and spent three-quarters of his life, since 1877, in all the 
 
ERNEST V. SCHNEIDER. 
 
 FREDERICK LAWRENCE. 
 
 HARRY KELLY. 
 
 WALTER BORSCH. 
 
•'KXIGHTS OF THE ROAD." 279 
 
 grades of penitentiaries from a reformatory for boys to the 
 state prison. 
 
 Frequently these rogues vary tlieir pilfering from wagons 
 by calling at houses to deliver bogus parcels, said to contain 
 goods of value and sent C. O. D. They will personate express 
 messengers and the employees of city stores, and may present 
 a close counterfeit in dress and manner. Another trick of 
 theirs is to lie in waiting for messengers carrying packages and 
 obtain them by false pretences. Some of the bolder rascals 
 have decoyed express messengers into a room hired by a gang, 
 by sending to some fictitious person a parcel which is registered 
 as a package of money or other valuables. When the mes- 
 senger has called to deliver this parcel, he has been caught, 
 bound and gagged by the gang, and then robbed of his money 
 bag. " It is common also for these thieves to call at stores 
 where signs are displayed requesting expressmen to stop for 
 packages, and carry of? the bundles by the impudent pretence 
 that they are expressmen. It would be well to caution clerks 
 not to deliver packages to any unknown person unless he can 
 clearly show that he is duly authorized to receipt for the 
 goods in the name of a reputable express company. 
 
THE ROVING FOOTPAD. 
 
 FOR the gratification of the "gentlemen highway- 
 men" or "l<nights of the road," there has been con- 
 siderable straining to draw a gilded line of distinction 
 between robbers on horseback and robbers on foot. The 
 Macheaths and Duvals reckoned themselves a superior 
 order of beings in comparison with the vulgar foot- 
 pad. Their clothes were as fine and their linen as 
 dainty as any fop of the court, and they were as fastidious as 
 any popinjay in their particular care that nO' ragged rascal 
 should come betwixt the wind and their nobility. The belated 
 "Paul Chfford" was constrained to tolerate the companionship 
 of the swaggering "Ned Pepper," but he did not afifect to con- 
 ceal his disgust at this pinch-beck counterfeit of a man of 
 fashion. 
 
 In the light of our matter of fact civilization which jumbles 
 all robbers together in the same pit of infamy, and has the 
 same convict dress and the same prison cell for the defaulting 
 cashier and the common pickpocket, — the highwayman's dis- 
 tinction seems a farcical vanity. But it was undoubtedly 
 recognized to a considerable extent by popular sentiment in the 
 palmy days of the "knights of the road," if not by the cold eye 
 of the law. This was natural enough in an age when the ever- 
 green custom of living by rapine was still stubbornly main- 
 tained in the turbulent Highlands, and bands of moss-troopers 
 and caterans were making their forays and restocking their 
 pastures as their forefathers had done for generations unnum- 
 bered. When a notorious freebooter like William Armstrong, 
 alias "Kinmont Willie," was so unlucky as to fall into the hands 
 of an English warden, he could count with confidence on the 
 
THE ROVIXCr FOOTPAD. 281 
 
 intercession of his kinsmen of high degree; and he might even 
 be plucked out of his prison cell, like Kinmont \Mllie, by the 
 dash of a "bauld Buccleuch." And the still more famous 
 "Johnny Armstrong" would have turned purple in the face, if 
 any impertinent moralist had presumed to put him in the same 
 class as a thief in Whitefriars. 
 
 Some of the keener-witted robbers, too, were in the habit of 
 making very odious comparisons between their occupation and 
 that of the great princes of their day and former sovereigns of 
 glorious memory. It was recalled on the authority of an old 
 historian that even the magnificent Alexander, who wept be- 
 cause there were no more worlds to conquer, was impudently 
 informed by the robber Dionides, that he was only a bigger 
 robber than himself. Frederic the Great is said to have suf- 
 fered a like affront, and the king who appropriated Silesia 
 promptly broke on the wheel, no doubt, the saucy little rascal 
 who annexed a purse in Berlin. 
 
 It was observed also that even a robber of low degree was 
 on a par with the average citizen in some large provinces that 
 were not entirely barbaric, and that such robbers had been 
 known to climb. the steps of a throne. The illustrious Xadir 
 Shah was the son of a poor shepherd of Khorassan, and began 
 his career as an ordinary robber; but was nevertheless able to 
 mount to the throne of Persia. Xadir Sing was an East Indian 
 robber, who attained scarcely less distinction as a leader of the 
 Bheels, and struck terror to the heart of Hindostan. And 
 there were ten thousand chiefs of the Pindarries and Mewatties 
 and Baugries and Aloghies who were not without honor in 
 their own country before the advent of the famous robber 
 Cheetoo, whose daring foray so astounded tlie extenders of the 
 British empire by the strong arm. It was by the brazen asser- 
 tion of the likeness between the extenders of empires and the 
 appropriators of smaller plunder that the ordinary robber of 
 to-day is frequently and familiarly styled by his "pals," a 
 "strong arm man." 
 
282 ' OUR RIVAL, THE RAHCAL. 
 
 But in spite of all this parade of distinction and logical con- 
 tention for the recognition of the rank of robbers in society, the 
 highwayman has sunk so low in the popular estimation that 
 it makes scarcely a whit of difference to-day in the eye of 
 society whether a robber is mounted on a horse or a dromedary 
 or a palace car, and wears the clothes of a prince — or whether 
 he lurks in a slum or roves over the country as a footpad in 
 the filthy rags of a tramp. With the possible exception of the 
 gilded pretences of sovereigns, barbarism is barbarism and rob- 
 bery is robbery, in our own day, regardless of their masks. 
 
 There is little essential variation in the method of robbery 
 by the footpad in all the thousands of years since the first 
 robber "held up" or knocked down his victim. The cover of 
 darkness, or the loneliness of the place of attack, the ambush, 
 the surprise, the helplessness of the victim, or the overpowering 
 force of the robbers — have been constantly recurring features 
 of this form of robbery from the beginning. The footpad has 
 struck his foul blow alone, and he has had comrades in crime, 
 ranging from a single partner to^angs that have terrorized 
 whole provinces in organized bands of brigands, which might 
 swell into such a legion as followed the Wild Boar of Ardennes. 
 Sometimes, too, the footpad has had the craft to magnify him- 
 self by the aid of dummies, like the Sicilian bandit who levied 
 tribute for years from a score of villages with the aid of some 
 masks and hats and ten men of straw. 
 
 When a gang reached the size of a band of a score or more, 
 the leader was usually distinguished by the title of chief, and, in 
 this event, he was raised in his own conceit far above the level 
 of the common footpad. It might be, also, that he would 
 wear the title of count or some other lord of high degree, which 
 would give him the privilege of being beheaded, instead of being 
 hanged like a robber who was not one of the gentry. It was 
 possible, however, for a footpad of humble origin and no par- 
 ticular distinction of title to obtain a widespread reputation, of 
 the infamous kind, even in the beginning of the present cen- 
 
JOHN H. MBYEK. 
 
 JOSEPH STACK. 
 
 LINDSAY C. BOYD. 
 
 JOHN J. MARTIN. 
 
THE ROVING FOOTPAD. 
 
 283 
 
 tury. This was signally shown in the case of John Buckler, 
 who was a "bogey man" to the country people of Western 
 Germany, even more dreadful than the great Napoleon. The 
 name of Schinder Hannes, or "Jack, the Flayer," which was 
 given to this footpad in commemoration of one of his diver- 
 sions, is still in use to conjure up a spectre that will raise the 
 hair of disobedient children. In view of the legions of foot- 
 pads that have lived and died on the banks of the famous river, 
 it was no slight distinction to pass into history as "The Robber 
 of the Rhine"; but it did not compensate John Buckler for the 
 penalty of death on the wheel which overtook him. 
 
 In the ruder weapons of the robbers in our city slums and 
 mining camps there is often no mask at all on the perpetuation 
 of the barbarism of the stone age. A bludgeon or rough stick, 
 broken or cut from a tree, is still used to-day as it was in the 
 days of Cain. The use of iron instead of wood for a club is a 
 step down from simple barbarism to viler brutality. The foot- 
 pad, who uses a wooden stick to strike down his victim, might 
 shrink from wilful murder, but the ruffian who strikes with an 
 iron bar either strikes to kill or is utterly reckless. 
 
 With the spread of civilization, however, there has necessa- 
 rily been a faUing off in the use of the old savage weapons. 
 The professional robber could not stalk down Broadway or 
 even through the rudest mining camp with the war club of a 
 Fiji islander over his shoulder or bulging out under the 
 back of his coat. So the footpads were obliged to make their 
 weapons smaller and more easy to conceal. Some armed 
 themselves with heavy riding whips with loaded butts; or car- 
 ried canes with handles of solid horn or of plated metal. It 
 was difficult, if not impracticable, to draw a line of toleration 
 and proscription, defining the style and weight of whips and 
 canes which people must not carry, — and such instruments of 
 robbery could not be classed as concealed weapons. It was 
 hardly practicable, either, to prohibit a man from carrying in 
 his coat pocket a piece of lead water pipe or iron gas pipe. 
 
284 Ol'R RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Hence the robbers who were debarred from using the clubs 
 of ordinary savages, provided themselves with makeshifts of 
 their own, no less brutal and deadly. 
 
 There was, however, a general unwillingness to add murder 
 to robbery, if their plunder could.be secured by threats or any 
 violence that was not punishable by death on the gallows. 
 The pirate, declaring war to the knife against all civilization, 
 might be seeking for blood as well as booty; but the ordinary 
 footpad or highwayman was not a rover whose swift ship 
 might defy pursuit over a trackless ocean. Unless he had 
 some personal and deadly spite to gratify, he had no wish to 
 take his victim's life as well as his purse, and arouse such a pas- 
 sion of indignation that he would be hunted like a wolf from 
 cover to cover by the people at large as well as the police. 
 Rascals, too, who would steal or rob without any scruple would 
 often shrink from cold-blooded murder and would aim to stun 
 or stupefy or entrap their victims rather than to kill them. So 
 from the dread of the gallows, or some lingering compunction, 
 or simply to avoid the spattering of blood, bars and spikes 
 were covered with leather and slung shot encased in thick, 
 close woven, nets. Cord and leather cases served to deaden 
 the thud of a blow and make it less mutilating and fatal without 
 detracting from its stunning efifect. The handle of these clubs 
 were usually fitted with loops of leather or cord intended to slip 
 over the wrist so that theycould be readily grasped again if they 
 dropped or were knocked from the hands of the robbers. 
 
 Bv the device of the sand bag, the purpose of the covered or 
 padded club was carried out still more effectively. This inven- 
 tion is credited to the rascally art of French footpads. It is 
 a roll of canvas tightly packed with sand or emery and closed 
 at the ends so that it can be handled as a club. A hard blow 
 from this dangerous weapon will almost certainly stun and 
 knock down a man, and the skull may even be fractured with- 
 out any external mark of injury beyond a slight bruise. 
 Within a few years after its introduction the sand bag was 
 
THE ROYiyO FOOTPA D. 
 
 28s 
 
 known and feared all over the world and it is still a favorite 
 weapon of footpads in this country and Europe. 
 
 Sailor men \\ho take to robbery use occasionally the slung 
 shot which was their device in the old days when almost all 
 merchant ships carried guns, and little cannon balls could be 
 readily picked up and put in slings. Sometimes, also, small 
 brass or iron plates with four holes for the insertion of the fin- 
 gers are worn as a cover for the clinched hand to make the 
 blow of the fist more stunning. This dwarfed substitute for 
 the cestus of the old Greek and Roman boxers, is known as 
 "brass knuckles." It is a product of the slums and foully used 
 in the fights of ruffians more often than in robberies. 
 
 Instead of a blow that will knock down and stun, a noose 
 may be cast over the head of a victim and tightly drawn about 
 his neck while his cries are stifled with a gag, or by muffing his 
 head in a heavy coat or shawl. This imitation of the East 
 Indian thug was too often given twenty years ago on the out- 
 skirts of new mining camps and in the slums of our cities as 
 well. It is termed garroting and the practice has not yet been 
 discontinued, although it has been greatly abated. 
 
 A remarkable variation of this method of preventing any 
 outcry has been described in detail by M. de Calvi, who wrote, 
 two hundred years ago, a curious and minute account of the 
 robbers and thieves of France under the title ''Histoire Gen- 
 erale Des Larrons." He credited to a certain Palioly, a French 
 robber in the days of Henry of Navarre, the invention of the 
 so-called "poire d'angoisse," or "choke-pear." This instru- 
 ment appears to have fully deserved its name, "the pear of 
 anguish," as it was originally fashioned; if the account of M. de 
 Calvi is to be credited. 
 
 A Parisian locksmith of considerable perverted ingenuity 
 made the first "choke pear" to the order of Palioly, and it was 
 first tried in practice in the mouth of a wealthy merchant 
 named Eridas. Palioly and three other members of his gang 
 succeeded in taking the merchant by surprise in his house, and 
 
286 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 thrusting into his mouth the new invention. This was in tlie 
 form of a little bottle which was charged with an artful core 
 of springs that expanded as soon as the bottle was in the mouth 
 of the merchant. The more widely the victim gaped in his 
 effort to cry out, the more the "choke-pear" swelled and 
 suffocated. 
 
 In this state of helplessness and torment, Eridas was bound 
 to a chair, and saw the robbery of his strong box and store of 
 jewels by Palioly and his "pals," who coolly packed up their 
 plunder under the bulging eyes of the merchant and leisurely 
 departed, leaving him still gagged with their pear. 
 
 It was a further peculiarity of this truly "diabolical'' device, 
 as M. de Calvi remarks, that the pear could only be dislodged by 
 the use of a key made especially for it by the wicked locksmith. 
 So when the servants of Eridas finally came to his help after 
 some hours had passed, they were powerless to extract the 
 pear and relieve their master. The more their clutching fin- 
 gers strained to pluck it out, the more firmly it stuck in the 
 mouth of the merchant. As the victim could scarcely breathe 
 and was entirely cut off from eating and drinking, he was in 
 great terror of dying, but he was happily relieved by the com- 
 passion of one of the gang who begged the key of the pear from 
 Palioly, and sent it secretly to the suffering Eridas. 
 
 M. de Calvi reports that the multiplication of this "choke- 
 pear" worked great evil in Paris and throughout France, 
 Fortunately for us this "diabolical invention" appears to be one 
 of the lost arts, if, indeed, it ever existed outside of de Calvi's 
 head. There is no doubt, however, of the fashioning of a 
 pear-shaped gag which has been largely used in former days 
 by robbers in Europe, and may still be employed to some ex- 
 tent. This is also known as the "choke-pear," though it is far 
 less marvellous and dangerous than the pear of Palioly. 
 
 When robbers are desperate ruffians whose greed for booty 
 is utterly reckless of bloodshed, they will shoot or stab ruth- 
 lessly in seeking plunder or in resisting capture. We shall. 
 
THE ROVING FOOTPAD. 
 
 287 
 
 not call up any ghastly series of blood-boltered pictures by 
 the selection of any of these horrid crimes for the sake of profit- 
 less and needless illustration. They are only too familiar 
 already to every reader of the newspapers that aim to repro- 
 duce with the vividness of a mirror all the horrors of the day 
 as a principal part of its news arid reckon that murderers are 
 of far more news value than missionaries. A reader must, in- 
 deed, be insatiate who is not yet glutted with every nauseating 
 variety of savage assaults in lonely lanes and congested slums, 
 in luxurious mansions and dens reeking with opium fumes, in 
 the cabins of ships at sea and in snowbound camps on moun- 
 tain perches. 
 
 There is, however, an exceedingly dangerous and dastardly 
 mode of robbing which has been practice^ for centuries but is 
 more common and threatening to-day than ever before. 
 Opium and other potent drugs have been used to stupefy vic- 
 tims ever since this possible application was perceived by ras- 
 cals of every degree. Jewelled hands have daintily poured out 
 a few drops from a phial into golden cups of rare wine, and 
 dirty fists have flung doses into pots of muddy ale. Men of 
 all kinds and conditions have been decoyed into vile dens and 
 drugged and robbed, and often the doses have been given so 
 slily that the victims could remember nothing of the place or 
 manner of the robbery. The discovery of chloroform gave to 
 the robber a chance to use a wet cloth or a saturated sponge 
 to paralyze his victim; and the same advance of medicinal art, 
 that has done so much to heal the sick and to banish pain, has 
 been shamefully perverted to the use of the footpad. 
 
 Of all known drugs and powerful ansesthetics no other is so 
 menacing and so widely employed to-day as chloral hydrate. 
 This is the common base and often the only ingredient in the 
 doses that bear the ugly, but expressive name of "knockout 
 drops." The foul use of this drug has rapidly extended of late 
 years and is now gravely alarming. A prominent newspaper 
 recently published a list of over twenty deaths which were 
 
288 OVn RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 reckoned to be from the use of "knockout drops," and subse- 
 quent violence. In addition to this forty robberies were 
 enumerated in some of our principal cities, in which the same 
 drug was used. The victims ranged from a "bonanza king" 
 to an organ grinder, and a few dollars of plunder was ap- 
 parently sought as greedily and brutally as the spoil of a mil- 
 lionaire. A wealthy mine owner was found dead, on a street 
 corner, in November, 1896. He had been robbed of his gold 
 watch and chain, a diamond ring, diamond shirt studs, two 
 hundred dollars in money, and an overcoat. From many 
 others, watches, jewelry and considerable sums of money were 
 taken ; but the rascals would drug a man to rob him of a dollar, 
 if he had no more, and strip all the clothes off his back in 
 addition. , 
 
 It is true that evidence of the use of these drops was lacking 
 in a number of the cases cited, but it is probable that there was 
 no material exaggeration in the list given ; and it is certain that 
 the experience of the police in every large city will attest the 
 alarming spread of the use of knockout drops and the need of 
 special legislation to assist in checking this danger. 
 
 It is difficult to carry about a slung shot or a sand bag or a 
 club of any kind without attracting suspicion and arrest; but 
 what external sign will there be of the presence of a deadly 
 little phial in a waistcoat pocket? Then, too, if an ordinary 
 policeman had as many eyes as Argus, — he could scarcely 
 observe every glass of beer or wine or liqtior that is drawn on 
 the line of his route, and insure them from the mixture of a few 
 drops out of a tiny bottle. So the rascals have watched for 
 chances to use their drops when their victims were looking 
 away from their glasses, and it has been peculiarly difficult to 
 stop this practice. The solution of chloral used is a nearly 
 colorless fluid, with slight odor or taste; and a man who has 
 been dosed will rarely suspect the use of the drug, which acts 
 subtly and gradually, in bringing on drowsiness without any 
 sickening or disagreeable sensation. As he grows sleepy, he 
 
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 1 
 
 
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 ^^^^^■^v^ ^ 
 
 
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 m ^m 
 
 
 AKTHVK FLTXN". 
 
 WALTER SEARS. 
 
 JOHN" W. ArURRAT. 
 
 WILLIAM E. SMALI.XG. 
 
THE ROriXO FOOTPAD. 289 
 
 will be lured or led to some dark room or alley or nook where 
 he is speedily robbed and left to sleep off the effects of the drug, 
 if the robbers are not afraid that he may suspect them and 
 cause their arrest. If so, he may be knocked in the head or 
 thrown into the water, if opportunity serves. 
 
 The rogue's name for the professional users of "knockout 
 drops" is Peter-men or Peter-players, and there are women 
 who are as expert as any man in this use of chloral. Some- 
 times a dose is given as an introduction to the "panel game," 
 and other deliberate robberies; but the victim is usually robbed 
 as soon as he is stupefied by the drug. Beyond the crime of 
 robbery grave peril to life is entailed by this reckless use of 
 chloral. The same dose will affect different persons to a vary- 
 ing extent, and what will barely stupefy one may kill another. 
 There is little or no precaution taken in pouring a dose from a 
 phial, and a number of deaths have unquestionably followed 
 the administering of "knockout drops" when no other mur- 
 derous agent was enlisted. To a man suffering from heart 
 disease or any pronounced weakness of the heart, "knockout 
 drops" are very likely to be deadly. 
 
 On representative pages are ranged the portraits of eight 
 "Peter-men," perhaps the most dangerous rascals now infesting 
 our cities. Joseph Stack, alias "Spanish Joe," is a noted black- 
 mailer and thief, who was sent to Sing Sing in 1885 for ten 
 years. On the occasion of the conclave of Knights Templar 
 in Boston, in 1895, Stack was arrested and a bottle of "knock- 
 out drops" taken from his pocket. He was sent to the House 
 of Correction for six months upon conviction as a vagabond, 
 but there is no doubt that he deserves to be classed with 
 habitual criminals, for his term in Sing Sing was not his first 
 term in prison. John H. Meyer is no less notorious in the 
 same line of robbery. John J. Martin was sentenced in 
 August, 1895, to the Massachusetts House of Correction for 
 four years. In the same month of the same year Lindsay C. 
 Boyd was sent to the Massachusetts state prison for six years. 
 
290 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 John W. Murray was sentenced to the House of Correction in 
 September, 1896, for five years; and, two months later, William 
 E. Smaling received a sentence to a term in the state prison, 
 which will range from three to five years. Arthur Flynn and 
 Walter Sears are also serving out sentences in Massachusetts. 
 All these offenders were convicted of larceny from the person 
 with the use of "knockout drops." 
 
 The Massachusetts district attorneys fully appreciate the 
 gravity and dastardly character of this ofifence, and have spared 
 no efiort to secure the conviction of the criminals. The trial 
 judges have taken the same view of the cases and imposed sen- 
 tences corresponding to the offence. Thanks to this cordial 
 cooperation with the efforts of the police, Peter-men and 
 women have been driven to stop or suspend their practice in 
 Massachusetts of late and this is satisfactory so far as it goes. 
 But the danger of a revival and the constant effort that is re- 
 quired to hold this vile practice in check are cogent reasons for 
 the enactment of the most stringent legislation to suppress this 
 latest resort of the footpad. 
 
 Strict regulations in all cities should govern the sale of dan- 
 gerous drugs and the carrying of such drugs on the person with 
 felonious intent should be made a felony. The judgment of 
 the prosecuting officers in our larger cities is fully in accord 
 with that of the police authorities, we believe, in the call for 
 stringent treatment of this abominable practice for the 
 extension and aggravation of robbery. 
 
THE RECEIVER. 
 
 THE receiver is as bad as the thief. That is a moss-grown 
 adage which has long been a current truism. It might 
 be added with equal truth that the receiver is often worse than 
 the petty thief whom he incites or employs. There is some 
 hope of reform for a feather-brained young rogue like "Char- 
 ley," or even for a prematurely old rascal like the "Artful Dod- 
 ger" ; but what can be done with a Fagin except to put him in 
 a prison cell for life, if he is not brought to the gallows in spite 
 of his wiliness and a cowardly vileness that would plot murder 
 without daring to strike the deadly blow. Such a scoundrel is 
 even more to be dreaded than a mere ruffian like "Bill Sikes," 
 for he has the cunning to keep under cover as well as the craft 
 to find the tools for the execution of his schemes of plunder. 
 
 An "Artful Dodger" picks up a few dozen of handkerchiefs 
 and a watch or two, and then an officer puts his hand on the 
 collar of the young pick-pocket and he is escorted to a house of 
 correction. A brutal Sikes and a "flash Toby Crackit" may 
 break into a few stores or houses and get a few thousand dol- 
 lars' worth of booty; but before many months they are caught 
 in the act or tracked to their hiding places, and lodged in prison 
 for years at hard labor. But a Fagin lurks in his den year 
 after year, gloating over the spoils which his pupil, the pick- 
 pocket, or his cat's-paw, the burglar, brings to his storehouse; 
 chuckling when one of his tools dies without "squealing" ; de- 
 stroying every mark that might identify his plunder; slipping 
 through the net of the law like an eel ; enlisting new recruits as 
 fast as the prison doors swing behind the heels of old appren- 
 tices; and growing white-haired, perhaps, before he comes to 
 the end of his shifts in the convict's cell. 
 
292 OUlt RIVAL, THE KAliCSL. 
 
 It is true that all "fences" or receivers of stolen goods are 
 not Fagins in craft or villainy. Dickens was an artist who 
 never spared paint in intensifying an effect. His marvellous 
 "fence" is a living picture but the caricature of a type. A 
 creature so diabolic could not be permitted to slink off the 
 stage or drop through a trap into a dust-heap like "the Artful 
 Dodger." It was necessary to throw him on the rack in the 
 midst of blue fire, with the gallows creaking over his head. 
 So the great melodramatist got a jury to convict him as an 
 accessory to the murder of "Nancy" on evidence that would 
 not have hung a cat, and thus wrung the neck of his leading 
 character actor in a way to satisfy the gallery if not the critics. 
 
 A real Fagin would perhaps have slunk out of the country as 
 soon as he had put the wolf, Sikes, on the track of the doomed 
 "Nancy"; but more probably he would have defied the officers 
 of the law to prove that he was anything worse than a decayed 
 "fence." It is not the custom of real Fagins, either, to keep a 
 stock of stolen watches, rings, brooches and bracelets on hand 
 to gloat over, or any other articles that may be readily identi- 
 fied. The receivers of stolen goods are well provided with 
 melting pots for the swift conversion of gold and silverware of 
 any kind into lumps of bullion. It is the custom of thieves, 
 too, as we have before noted, to destroy, at the earliest oppor- 
 tunity, the possibility of identifying any of their "swag." They 
 will tear precious stones out of their settings, and beat the 
 metal into an indistinguishable mass. When they present their 
 boot}' to the "fences," it is usually in a condition which gives 
 to the receivers the possible pretext of claiming that they did 
 not know that it was stolen. 
 
 It is not common for thieves to deal direct with the receivers. 
 Some intermediary is employed to offer the stolen property, 
 and this agent is frequently the wife of the thief or some other 
 near relative whom he can trust with his booty. The "fence" 
 may be morally certain that the offered goods are stolen, and 
 he is likely to know the character of any person from whom he 
 
THE REG E ITER. 2Q^ 
 
 makes repeated purchases; but, if he is unscrupulous, he will 
 not be disagreeably inquisitive if the goods can be bought for 
 a small fraction of their real value and are not of a sort that can 
 be easily traced and identified. 
 
 A large per cent of professional "fences" are women. Many 
 years ago, a considerable number of the lower class of pawn- 
 brokers were covertly acting as receivers of stolen property; 
 but of late years this class has been nearly weeded out by the 
 vigilance of the detectives and police, and to-day the regular 
 pawnbroker is one of the most serviceable coadjutors of the 
 police in the detection and recovery of stolen property. Repu- 
 table pawnbrokers will not only refuse to make loans on goods 
 which they suspect to be stolen but they will contrive, if they 
 can, to detain the persons applying for loans on such property 
 until they can communicate with the police and secure their 
 arrest. 
 
 Some receivers still lurk in the slums like Fagin and consid- 
 erable plunder is hidden temporarily in the rooms of persons 
 who are connected with the thieves by blood or marriage ; but 
 most of the professional "fences" are men and women who are 
 ostensibly engaged in respectable business on a small scale as 
 dealers in cheap clothing or haberdashers or milliners. 
 
 It is obvious that a "fence" must have some plausible pretext 
 to account for the receipt of goods, and accommodation for 
 the storage and concealment of stolen property. So he puts 
 on the convenient mask of a small storekeeper and if any 
 stolen goods are traced to his store and discovered, he will 
 plead his ignorance of the theft and pretend that he has bought 
 the goods in the ordinary course of business. As all marks 
 of identification are destroyed, if possible, by the thieves before 
 they attempt to dispose of their plunder and as the "fence" is 
 careful to inspect his purchases at once and efface any com- 
 promising marks which he can discover, — it is often very diffi- 
 cult to convict the receiver as an accomplice in a robbers'. 
 
 Probably the most' remarkable rascal of this class, who has 
 
294 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 ever been known in this counfry, was tlie notorious woman 
 familiarly called "Old Mother Mandelbaum." Frederica 
 Mandelbaum came to this country from Germany, forty years 
 ago, and, a few years after her arrival, she opened a small dry 
 goods store, with the help of her husband, in New York City. 
 The conduct of the business was a joint concern, but the hus- 
 band soon fell into the background behind his scheming, wily 
 wife. The business thrived from the start, but the grasping 
 woman was not content with the narrow margin of legitimate 
 profit; so she opened lines of secret communication with the 
 most notorious "store breakers" and "shoplifters" in New York, 
 and gradually extended her net to all parts of the country. 
 Her little dry goods shop soon expanded into three connected 
 buildings, and she had outlying storerooms in various parts 
 of the city, and in adjacent cities. She was willing to pay spot 
 cash for her purchases, but she practically made her own price 
 in the bargaining, buying often for a petty fraction of the cost 
 of the stolen goods. She could sometimes get a camel's-hair 
 shawl worth two thousand dollars for a hundred dollars and 
 silks worth three dollars a yard for half a dollar a yard. 
 
 By such speculations her selling profits were immense, and 
 she rapidly piled up a fortune which enabled her to buy in a 
 lump the booty of the largest robberies. Here her range of 
 profit was even greater than in her petty bargains, for burglars 
 were often hard pressed to hide their plunder and anxious to 
 get it ofif their hands at any price. By being able to pay in full 
 for any bargain on the spot, "Old Mother Mandelbaum" tow- 
 ered above the "fences" of her class, and almost all the big 
 bargains fell into her lap, especially if the stolen property was 
 costly silks and other dry goods which she could dispose of in 
 her regular business as a storekeeper. She had no losses in 
 the delivery of her bargains, for she would pay no money for 
 any bird in the bush. She asked no credit and gave none. 
 Her cash was paid over on the instant when the stolen goods 
 were put in her hands and not a moment before. 
 
TBE RECEIVER. 295 
 
 Although so strict in her bargains, she was more speculative 
 or partial, at times, in other dealings. She would frequently 
 furnish the "fall money" when one of her pet burglars or shop- 
 lifters called on her for bail, but she did not forget to deduct 
 any advances of this kind when her favored agents brought in 
 their next batches of booty. . Her husband died, but this be- 
 reavement was apparently no loss to the Mandelbaum busi- 
 ness It is reported that she was so determined to provide a 
 regular supply of stolen goods for her market, that she organ- 
 ized gangs of shoplifters, both men and women, whom she 
 trained and employed. She made a specialty of dealing in silks, 
 satins and fine dry goods; but she would buy anything that 
 she could sell on her own scale of profit. She was so crafty 
 and keen that her ill-gotten gains reached close to a million 
 dollars, in 1884, when evidence was finally obtained against 
 her that secured a warrant for her arrest. 
 
 In order to bring the possession of stolen property home to 
 her, an adroit detective succeeded finally in gaining her confi- 
 dence and buying a number of pieces of silk for shipment out 
 of the country, as he pretended. On some of this silk the pri- 
 vate marks of leading dry goods houses in New York were 
 found. So "Old Mother Mandelbaum" was arrested and all 
 her tenements were searched. In the piles of silks in her store 
 several pieces were found with private marks that had not 
 been obliterated, and a glittering mass of jewelry of every de- 
 scription was brought to light on opening her old safe. On 
 a table in her magnificently furnished bedroom, there was a 
 curious array of melting pots, pennyweight scales of various 
 sizes, and scales for weighing diamonds. The trunk of her 
 confidential clerk was stuffed full of watches, chains, scarf pins, 
 shirt studs and collar buttons, and in a big "Saratoga" tnmk 
 in a closet, India and white lace shawls of extraordinary value 
 were stowed away. 
 
 On the 4th of December following her arrest, her case came 
 up for trial in the New York court, but she had departed 
 
296 OOR niTAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 meanwhile to Canada; for she had been permitted to give bonds 
 to the extent of $21,000 for the appearance of her son, her 
 clerk and herself, and preferred to "jump" her bail rather than 
 to stand trial. A few days afterwards, the old woman and 
 her two companion bail-jumpers were arrested in Hamilton, 
 where the}- had registered at a hotel under assumed names. 
 As they were not subject to extradition, it was impossible to 
 prosecute them successfully. So Madam Mandelbaum and 
 part of her family resided for several years in their place of 
 refuge. She livea in a style suited to her income, but for the 
 sake of occupation she put the following advertisement into 
 a Hamilton newspaper in li 
 
 OPENING, 
 
 Tuesday, Aug. 10. 
 
 F. MANDELBAUM, 
 
 Ladies' and Children's Furnishing Wear, 
 
 Fancy Goods, Novelties, etc., 
 
 72 King St., East. 
 
 In the closing years of her mercantile career she was twice 
 arrested for smuggling costly laces and jewelry into her 
 adopted country, but escaped conviction in both instances, and 
 continued to live in apparent affluence until her death in 1893. 
 It is doubtful if any "fence" has ever matched her in craft, and 
 it is certain that few have been able to make such gains or to 
 hold them even in exile. 
 
 The portraits which we give on an accompanying page repre- 
 sent four notorious and typical receivers. James H. Chaffee, 
 who had in keeping the goods stolen by the burglar, Barrett, 
 and fully described in a preceding chapter, represents that class 
 of receivers who try to make money at both ends by imposing 
 on honest purchasers and cheating the rogues who use them as 
 agents. This practice might be lucrative if it was feasible, but 
 it is apt to result, as in Chaffee's case, in the .exposure of these 
 knaves by the thieves as well as by the honest men. When 
 Barrett became convinced that Chaffee \\as trying to pocket 
 
JAMES H. CHAFFEE. 
 
 GADALIA BERKOWITZ. 
 
 AMELIA LEVY. 
 
 LENA KLEINSCHMIDT. 
 
THE RECEIVER. 297 
 
 all the proceeds of the stolen property, he was more than will- 
 ing that his agent should be put in a prison cell. On the other 
 hand when Chaffee undertook to dispose of the stolen property, 
 in order to get the highest price, he went to a dealer of the 
 best standing and offered sets of stamps which the dealer had 
 mounted for a customer, and knew to be stolen. It is practi- 
 cally certain that Barrett would never have blundered so 
 grossly, but the receiver was obviously a combination of fool 
 and knave. 
 
 The portraits of two sisters are ranged side by side on the 
 same page. Lena Kleinschmidt, alias "Black Lena," and 
 Amelia Levy, alias "Black Amelia," are two of the most noto- 
 rious shoplifters and receivers in this country. Under various 
 assumed names, and in association with other women of like 
 character they have visited nearly every prominent city east of 
 the Missouri and attempted to plunder the leading dry goods 
 stores. They have been repeatedly arrested and convicted, 
 but both are incorrigible, habitual criminals, and as soon as 
 they are discharged from prison, they return to their old occu- 
 pation. 
 
 Two months after the release of "Black Lena" from prison 
 in New York, in 1883, she was arrested in Chicago in com- 
 pany with a third sister, Mary Anderson, better known as 
 "Mother Weir," the head of one of the largest organized gangs 
 of shoplifters that ever infested an American city. Both 
 women, when arrested, had just passed out of a wholesale mil- 
 linery house, carrying large bunches of valuable ostrich 
 feathers under their long black circular cloaks. A search of 
 the room which served as the headquarters of the gang un- 
 covered two large "Saratoga" trunks filled to the brim with 
 miscellaneous goods from various stores. The method of this 
 gang was to hire a showy carriage in which the women would 
 drive about and go shopping as ladies of fashion. One of the 
 sons of "Mother Weir" commonly acted as coachman, and his 
 mother and aunt, assisted by another elegantly dressed shop- 
 
298 
 
 OUR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 lifter, would fill the carriage with plunder in a few hours. The 
 arrest broke up this dangerous gang and "Black Lena" .was 
 sent to Joliet prison for a term of eight years. 
 
 A few weeks after her discharge in July, 1889, she went back 
 to Chicago again and rented a room in one of the cheap hotels. 
 Within a month after her return, she was caught while on the 
 point of leaving a large dry goods store, and three full bolts of 
 silk were extracted from the bag which she wore beneath the 
 folds of her skirt. In her room at the hotel she had a trunk 
 filled with stolen silks, laces and dress goods. Again she was 
 convicted and sent to prison and, as soon as she was discharged, 
 she went into business again as a shoplifter and receiver. She 
 was sent to the workhouse in St. Louis, in 1894, for petty lar- 
 ceny, for a term of nine months, and has served three terms in 
 New York City prisons. 
 
 Her sister, "Black Ameha," has a record no less black. She 
 has been arrested in nearly every large city in the northern 
 states and sent several times to penitentiaries. Her favorite 
 companion has been the notorious "Lizzie Myers," whose por- 
 trait has been given on a page illustrating the "shoplifter," and 
 the two women have stolen almost every kind of portable arti- 
 cle from a diamond bracelet to a roll of silk. A bolt of eighty- 
 five yards of silk has been easily slipped into the skirt pocket 
 which serves as a bag, and once, when Lizzie Myers was ar- 
 rested in Boston, seven jerseys, a silk cap and two light shawls 
 were stowed away under her dress skirt. 
 
 The fourth on the page of portraits is Gadalia Berkowitz, the 
 notorious "fence" who was in confederacy with the Wols-Vo- 
 kar gang of shoplifters described in a previous chapter. In 
 June, 1894, he was sent to the House of Correction in Boston, 
 for two years, as a receiver of stolen goods. Shortly after his 
 discharge from this prison, he was convicted of an assault with 
 intent to kill and sentenced to the Massachusetts state prison 
 for four years. He is now serving out his sentence. 
 
J THE INCENDIARY. 
 
 EVEN among rascals the "fire-bug" is a monstrosity. He is 
 not merely a man of an abnormal type, not merely greedy, 
 brutal and cruel, but a creature essentially inhuman. No 
 other distinct class of rascals exhibits such callous indifference 
 or utter recklessness in the sacrifice of life and property. For 
 the sake of a possible handful of plunder, or a few hundred 
 dollars of insurance money, these scoundrels are daily kindling 
 flames that threaten our towns and cities with destruction, and 
 may subject hundreds of helpless men, women and children to 
 the intolerable agonies of death in a fiery furnace. If lesser 
 losses and, horrors follow the touch of the incendiary's torch, 
 the preservation of our cities and citizens is not to the credit of 
 the rascal who has risked all to put a few vile dollars in his 
 pocket. 
 
 The malicious incendiary, whose motive is revenge or wan- 
 tonness, probably traces a long lineage back into the dawn of 
 history, although the laws of England did not recognize this 
 crime sufficiently to provide for official inquiry into the cir- 
 cumstances and origin of such a fire until the year 1297. The 
 swindling incendiary, or the incendiary for gain is of more 
 recent origin, following the birth of fire insurance which dates 
 from 1681. This class, it is needless to say, forms by far the 
 greater part of the wilful incendiaries of to-day. 
 
 The gravity of the offence has ever been recognized by the 
 law. Blackstone says of arson, — which the common law de- 
 fines as the "wilful and malicious burning of the house or out- 
 house of another man," but which has to-day been extended by 
 statutes to cover the burning of any building, — "This is an 
 
oQo OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 offence of very great malignity and much more pernicious to 
 the public than simple theft: because, first, it is an offence 
 against that right of habitation, which is acquired by the laws 
 of nature as well as by the laws of society; next, because of the 
 terror and confusion that necessarily attends it; and, lastly, 
 because in simple theft the thing stolen only changes its mas- 
 ter, but still remains in esse for the benefit of the public, whereas 
 bv burning, the very substance is absolutely destroyed. It is 
 also frequently more destructive than murder itself, of which 
 it is too often the cause ; since murder, atrocious as it is, seldom 
 extends beyond the felonious act designed; whereas, fire too 
 frequently involves, in the common calamity, persons unknown 
 to the incendiary, and friends as well as enemies." 
 
 The punishment of arson was death by the ancient Anglo- 
 Saxon law of England, and in early times this sentence was 
 executed by a kind of lex talionis, ior the incendiary was burnt 
 to death; and until quite recent times, in England, the mali- 
 cious burning of houses in towns and contiguous to others 
 was the capital offence. 
 
 The first law on this subject in Massachusetts was passed in 
 1652, and provided that whoever "wittingly and willingly set 
 on fire any Barn, Stable, Mill, outhouse, stack of wood, corne 
 or hay . . . shall . . . pay double damages to the partie 
 damnified, and be severely whipt" and that whoever "shall 
 after the publication hereof, wittingly & willingly & feloniously 
 set on fire any dwelling house, meetinghouse, or store house 
 . . . shall be putt to death." Under the present Massachu- 
 setts law the severest punishment for arson is imprisonment for 
 life, but in recent years the sentence of the court has been the 
 minimum penalty of from five to ten years imprisonment, with 
 occasionally a longer term in peculiarly aggravated cases. 
 
 From the beginning of fire insurance, as above stated, by 
 far the greater percentage of incendiary fires has been for the 
 purpose of swindling insurance companies. In Boston, dur- 
 ing the past seven years, it appears that seventy-five per cent 
 
THE IXCIjyDlARY. oqi 
 
 of the criminal fires were cases of incendiarism for gain; and 
 that more than sixty per cent of all the fires set for the purpose 
 of defrauding insurance companies were the work of insur- 
 ance swindlers who had a record— ^who had previously col- 
 lected, or attempted to collect, insurance from one to five times. 
 and, in one case, twenty-two times, on fires which were be- 
 lieved to be incendiary. The chief incentive in such cases 
 comes obviously from over-insurance and the attention of in- 
 surance companies may well be called to the need of careful 
 examination into the real value of the property insured. The 
 risk is often taken on property by a broker whose commission 
 is proportionate to the amount of insurance which he can 
 place. If he be not scrupulously honest and thoroughly wide- 
 awake, he may be persuaded into writing a policy largely in 
 excess of the value of the goods or premises insured. 
 
 Such cases as the following will illustrate what might almost 
 be called criminal over-insurance. A young man in one of 
 our large cities, without previous knowledge of the business, 
 opened a grocery store which he stocked with about three 
 hundred dollars' worth of goods. By representing to an in- 
 surance agent that he was going to increase his stock to the 
 amount of one thousand dollars, he secured a policy for that 
 amount, and the agent allowed the insurance to remain in 
 force, although he saw the stock from time to time and knew 
 that it was not increasing. Soon after, an incendiary fire oc- 
 curred and the investigation which followed resulted in the 
 arrest and conviction of the proprietor who was sentenced 
 to three years in the house of correction. This store was in 
 the central part of the city, attached to a dwelling, and sur- 
 rounded by wooden buildings. The fire occurred in the night 
 time and only the prompt and efficient efforts of the fire depart- 
 ment prevented great damage to the surrounding property 
 and probable loss of life. 
 
 On another occasion a Russian herdic driver, without expe- 
 rience, leased a store for a month and started in the jewelry 
 
302 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 business. He put in a stock of goods which inventoried less 
 than $500 and which he himself did not claim to be worth over 
 $1,000. Through a small broker he procured an insurance of 
 $5,000 on the representation that he expected to increase the 
 value of his stock within a short time. Two weeks after tak- 
 ing out his insurance the place' was burned, all the gas-jets 
 being found unlighted and turned on at the time of the fire. 
 This man was convicted and sentenced to four years in State 
 Prison. 
 
 ^^'hen it is realized how great is the danger that threatens 
 the lives and property of the public, from such cases, not to 
 speak of the financial loss to the insurance companies, — it will 
 be seen that great caution should be exercised both on the 
 part of the insurance company in appointing its agents and 
 in the placing of insurance by the brokers; no pains of investi- 
 gation should be spared to guard against the insuring of the 
 property of any person who has a previous record for swind- 
 ling insurance companies, as such persons may frequently be 
 found engaged in business under a different firm or company 
 name. 
 
 Another class of criminal fires comprises those set wan- 
 tonly by boys. In Massachusetts, during the year 1895, 
 seventy-one fires, causing a loss of over $88,000, were set by 
 boys. It is apparent that the match of a small boy is liable to 
 destroy as much property and imperil as many lives as the 
 brand of the professional firebug; and in prosecuting this class 
 of offenders, the danger to society should be considered more 
 than the lack of actual malice or the tender years of the young 
 criminal. 
 
 It seems quite evident that, as the kleptomaniac merges into 
 the thief in such a way that it is difficult to draw exactly the 
 line between moral responsibility and insanity, so the incen- 
 diary includes various degrees of accountability, — varying 
 from those who set a fire from mere general malice or "pure 
 cussedness," as the homely New England phrase would de- 
 
THE I'SCEyDIARY. ,03 
 
 scribe it, to those whose motive is to cause excitement or see the 
 engines come out; and so on to the true pyromaniac who seems 
 to be impelled to his act by an irresistible impulse which he 
 cannot control. "Pyromania" is the apparent result of certain 
 abnormal physical conditions, and most of the persons suffer- 
 ing from this alienation of mind are women. Patients in this 
 state are sent to an asylum for treatment and usually recover; 
 the mania passes away with the disappearance of the physical 
 irregularities. 
 
 Every one will recognize the need of a thorough system of 
 investigation into the causes of fires, but while legislation to 
 this end has been enacted in many states, it has not been as 
 effective as could be desired. The experience of Massachu- 
 setts in this line and the present system of fire inquests in this 
 state probably mark the farthest advance yet made in dealing 
 with incendiarism. 
 
 In 1867, provision was made for the holding of fire inquests, 
 by a specially appointed jury upon a complaint subscribed and 
 sworn to by any person before a police court, alleging that 
 reasonable grounds existed for believing that the fire was 
 caused by design; and accompanied by a certificate in writing 
 ■from a majority of the mayor and aldermen of a city or the 
 selectmen of a town, attesting that the case was a proper sub- 
 ject, in their opinion, for investigation. This law, which was 
 similar to laws passed in many other states, became in all of 
 them practically a dead letter. Citizens hesitated to take an 
 oath that a neighbor's property had been wilfully burned, and 
 perhaps to run the risk of having their own property destroyed 
 in revenge by the same incendiary. It was seen, therefore, that 
 a general law must be made for the investigation of every fire. 
 This, the state tried to do, by a law passed in 1889; but the 
 inquest was provided for when the preliminary examination 
 furnished reasonable grounds for believing the fire to be of 
 incendiary origin. Since the examination was to be made by 
 the iire engineers, in cities having a fire department* and by 
 
304 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the selectmen in towns, — in the greater number of cases these 
 officials neglected to order inquests after the preliminary exam- 
 ination, fearing the displeasure of owners of property or the 
 revenge of the incendiary. It then became apparent that the 
 investigating power should be lodged in the hands of officials 
 entirely removed from local prejudice, fear, or favoritism. 
 
 In 1886, at the solicitation of prominent insurance men of 
 Boston, the Massachusetts legislature created the office of a 
 Fire Marshal for the thorough investigation of fires in the city 
 of Boston and Mr. Charles W. Whitcomb was appointed to fill 
 the office. The duties of this position were partly those of a 
 prosecuting attorney and also quasi-judicial. Every fire must 
 be investigated ; the marshal could subpoena witnesses, admin- 
 ister and verify oaths and, if he deemed it advisable, could 
 prepare the case for submission to the district attorney. In 
 five years after the creation of the office, incendiary fires mate- 
 rially decreased and convictions for incendiarism increased 
 over four hundred per cent. By the thorough system of ex- 
 amination instituted by the new marshal, the annual percentage 
 of incendiary and unknown fires in Boston was reduced from 
 33 per cent to 5 per cent. 
 
 In view of the very favorable results obtained by this system 
 the legislature, in 1894, enacted a new law and Mr. Whitcomb 
 was appointed State Fire Marshal. To this officer is entrusted 
 the duty of thoroughly investigating all fires in the state and 
 arresting and prosecuting incendiaries in the lower court. If 
 an accused person is held in this court, the case is prepared 
 by the marshal for presentation to the district attorney and 
 to the grand jury and then to the superior court, if an indict- 
 ment is found. In addition to these duties, the marshal is re- 
 quired to prepare and file full indexed records and reports upon 
 all fires, for the inspection of house owners, insurance com- 
 panies, and the public generalh'. This important trust has 
 been ably and faithfully discharged by the present fire marshal, 
 and it is undoubtedly a fact that the moral effect of the exist- 
 
THE INCENDlAUy. 
 
 305 
 
 ence of the office has accompHshed much in deterring incen- 
 diaries and preventing crime. While the principal advantage 
 may accrue to insurance companies, the indirect benefit to the 
 public is very great, not only on account of the interest of 
 the public in having the insurance loss reduced as much as 
 possible; but, also, because of the decrease in danger to life 
 and property from the assaults of incendiaries. 
 
 A recent writer of authorities has said: "It is as much the 
 duty of the state to hunt down and punish the man, who for 
 personal gain puts the match to his own property, at the peril 
 of the lives and property of his neighbors, as it is to hunt down 
 and punish the footpad, who, also for personal gain, puts the 
 pistol to the head of the traveler upon the highway." Massa- 
 chusetts is obviously trying to do her duty. 
 
ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION. 
 
 IN sketching, chapter by chapter, the distinctive classes and 
 types of criminals and their representative methods of 
 reaching their ends, we have incidentally described to some 
 extent the planning and working of the defenders of society to 
 foil their scheming and arrest the law-breakers. But it seems 
 to be fitting that the organization and operation of the police 
 and detective forces in the discharge of their great trust of 
 guardianship of the lives and property of law-abiding citizens 
 should be presented no less distinctly than the criminal arts of 
 the rascal. 
 
 Probably no one of our ever ready and caustic critics regrets 
 more sincerely than the police themselves the imperfections 
 in their service of guardianship, or the occasional delays in 
 the detection and capture of fugitives from justice. But per- 
 haps even our critics might find that they, too, were human and 
 liable to err, if they were entrusted with the charge of guarding 
 society instead of the congenial task of scoring its defenders 
 for their short-comings. And if we, the police, should become 
 in turn critics by such a miracle of transformation, we may 
 humbly trust that our former experience would dispose us to 
 be more patient than acrid if a rascal should occasionally elude 
 the new police officers. 
 
 Meanwhile we may venture to note for the encouragement 
 of the public and our own satisfaction that the discipline and 
 service of the police have progressed notably during this 
 present century and even this present generation, like the con- 
 dition and efficiency of every other arm of society. This prog- 
 ress is none the less certain and incontestable in face of the 
 fact of the multiplication of criminals with the multiplication 
 
ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION. 
 
 307 
 
 of population. It is true that rascals are far more numer- 
 ous to-day than they were fifty or a hundred years ago. It is 
 true that the temptations are greater and the slums are larger 
 than in the days of our fathers and grandfathers. But it is 
 equally true that civilization has, on the whole, gone forward 
 greatly and there has been a corresponding advance in the 
 security of life and property throughout the length and breadth 
 of our American union. 
 
 Broadly speaking, it is no longer possible for gangs of 
 thieves and ruffians to maintain a foot-hold for any length of 
 time in any one of our cities or in the country at large, and 
 their possible places of hiding or refuge have been yearly 
 diminishing. The penetration of the wilds of America by the 
 resistless march of the pioneer, the opening of clearings, the 
 foundation of settlements, the expansion of paths into high- 
 ways, followed fast by the outstretching of railways and the 
 network of the telegraph and its ally the telephone — have 
 driven the rascal to hunt vainly for cover. He can no longer 
 count safely on the enjoyment of plunder in some far off city 
 or remote country district, where the story of his crime is 
 utterly unknown or disregarded. With the spread of swift 
 and certain communication, our cities and towns have been 
 linked together in one vast organism, sentient and responsive 
 to any affliction of the smallest part. If a crime is committed 
 in farthest Oregon or rock-ribbed Montana, electric couriers 
 bear the news with lightning swiftness to every city and town 
 throughout the length and breadth of our union, and the flying 
 criminals can find no rest for the soles of their feet, no weaken- 
 ing in the strain of pursuit on their track, no hamlet so obscure 
 and no thicket so dense that it will hide their shrinking heads. 
 
 Even if they take to water, and hope that the ocean may 
 cover their tracks, the submarine cables will tell the tale of 
 their crimes throughout all Europe and even to the uttermost 
 parts of the earth before the sea-greyhounds that carry them 
 have covered one-half of their course from port to port. 'Tis 
 
3o8 OVR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 true there are still spots on the globe to-day where the guilty 
 can hide themselves and say "we are safe"; there are still coun- 
 tries so insignificant or so rude and barbaric that they are not 
 allied to the civilized world for the repression of crime by 
 treaties of extradition; — but these lands are far off and can 
 rarely be reached except by roundabout routes with interven- 
 ing delays that are likely to be fatal to any hope of escape from ' 
 keen pursuit, where the fugitives are only a few hours ahead of 
 their hunters. It is a grand cooperation that binds 'together 
 to-day not only every town in our union in zealous alliance for 
 the detection and arrest of our rival the rascal; but embraces, 
 as well, practically the whole of the civilized world in its league 
 for the common defence and mutual helpfulness. 
 
 In order to clearly present the practical workings of this 
 vast confederation, we shall begin with a sketch of the organi- 
 zation and local method of one of its members, which will 
 fairly represent and illustrate the composition and operation 
 of the police force in all large American cities. American 
 towns still hold, as a body, to the old English and colonial in- 
 stitution of the constable, and in the smaller towns a single 
 officer usually composes the entire constabulary. When a 
 town becomes a city, it organizes a police force of varying size 
 under the direction of an officer ordinarily called the Chief of 
 Police. As a city expands, its pohce organization is corre- 
 spondingly enlarged and becomes more complex. In our 
 larger American cities police boards or commissions are some- 
 tirhes instituted by the city or state, and entrusted with powers 
 of direction and control, as is the case in Boston. In all these 
 cities, however, there is an executive head of the force, styled 
 the Superintendent or the Chief of Police. The force under 
 him is made up of the regular city police and a special body 
 of detectives which has a distinctive organization. In Boston 
 this organization is styled the Bureau of Criminal Investiga- 
 tion and its official head has the title of Chief Inspector. 
 
 The entire control of the police department of Boston is 
 
ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION. 
 
 309 
 
 vested in a Board of Police, composed of three members ap- 
 pointed by the governor of Massachusetts. Tlie present 
 members of this board are General A. P. Martin (chairman), 
 Robert F. Clark and Charles P. Curtis. It makes all appoint- 
 ments to the police department of the city, subject to civil 
 service rules, and has the power of discharge also, in accord- 
 ance with established regulations. Transfers and all general 
 regulations of the department are made by its authority. 
 
 The Superintendent of Police, appointed by this board, is 
 the designated executive head of the department. His office 
 is at the department headquarters together with the offices of 
 the board, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The 
 city is set off into sixteen police divisions, one of which is 
 termed the harbor station. Each of these divisions is in the 
 immediate personal charge of a captain of police, with the ex- 
 ception of the harbor station, which is under the charge of a 
 deputy superintendent. The other fifteen divisions compose 
 tvvo districts, in charge of two deputy superintendents under 
 the direction of the Board of Police and Superintendent. A 
 squad of special officers, known as the "liquor squad," is also 
 stationed at headquarters under the charge of a captain. Two 
 other officers at headquarters with the rank of captain are in- 
 trusted with the purchase and sale of all department property 
 and the investigation of all claims against the city, arising 
 from accidents. 
 
 The captains are held responsible for the maintenance of the 
 peace and good order of their respective districts and the con- 
 duct and discipline of their divisions of the police. Two 
 lieutenants and three sergeants are the subordinate officers of 
 a division. Each division has its separate poHce station. All 
 these stations as well as headquarters are kept open day and 
 night throughout the year, and the superintendent, chief in- 
 spector and 'captains, or their representatives, are always 
 present to respond to any proper call and to discharge their 
 unceasing trust of guardianship. 
 
3IO OUR ItlVAlu THE UASGAL. 
 
 Each district is laid out like a prodigious checker board into 
 sections which are continually traversed by patrolmen in their 
 respective "routes" or rounds. A patrolman's "route" is 
 always confined to the same limited district, but his course is 
 varied from time to time to prevent any accurate calculation 
 by burglars or thieves, that he will not pass a certain block until 
 a certain time has elapsed. 
 
 All the district stations have telephone connections with 
 headquarters for the instant interchange of communications, 
 and signal boxes are placed at short distances throughout 
 every police district, which serve to connect the patrolmen 
 with officers in charge. Once, and often twice in every hour, 
 every patrolman on duty is required to open the nearest signal 
 box and communicate with the district station, by pulling a 
 hook, which registers the box number on a tape in the station, 
 and also the time of his call. There is also in the box an 
 electric bell and telephone; and should the officer in charge at 
 the station desire to communicate with a patrolman for any 
 purpose, a switch is set on a signal machine in the station, 
 which will cause the bell to ring in the box when the patrolman 
 pulls the hook. This is a notification to him to open com- 
 munication by telephone. 
 
 These switches on the signal machines at the stations are 
 repeatedly set during the day and night to notify officers that 
 they are expected to watch for criminals that have escaped 
 arrest and are charged with various ofifences. A call can also 
 be sent from the signal boxes throughout the city for the police 
 wagon for the conveyance of prisoners. Besides the regular 
 communications, termed "duty calls," the patrolmen are re- 
 quired to use a box at any time when they have occasion to 
 give any alarm or special notice. 
 
 In the course of his rounds every patrolman is expected to 
 attend sharply to the keeping of order and the law in the 
 section which he covers, and he is further required to look to 
 the proper securing of doors and windows during the night. 
 
ARREUT AND lUEyTIFWATION. 311 
 
 and mark any sign of tampering with any fastening or of at- 
 tempted burglary. He must also watch for the possible out- 
 break of fires in order to give the alarm notice, and attend to 
 a variety of other important matters- It is his duty to remain 
 on guard until he is regularly relieved by his successor at the 
 designated relief post. / 
 
 The day patrolman's service begins at 7.45 o'clock in the 
 morning, when he is expected to be present at roll call in his 
 district station. He will then go out under the charge of 
 the sergeant of the day and relieve the night officer at his post. 
 He will remain on patrol duty until relieved shortly before 6 
 o'clock P. M., with the allowance of an hour for dinner during 
 which his route is covered by officers on adjoining routes, 
 who are subsequently relieved themselves for the same pur- 
 pose. 
 
 His successor, the night officer, will report at the district 
 station house for roll call at 5.45 P. M., and then proceed, 
 under charge of a sergeant, to relieve the patrolman on duty. 
 His term of duty lasts till his relief by a patrolman, who comes 
 on duty at the roll call at 12.45 ^- ^-j ^^'^ serves till relieved 
 by the day officer. After their relief all patrolmen are required 
 to report immediately for roll call at the district stations, unless 
 unavoidably detained ; and they must account satisfactorily for 
 any detention. Their service is an arduous and often dan- 
 gerous one; for, in addition to the constant vigilance required, 
 they must be ready at any moment to suppress any turbulence 
 and arrest armed criminals who do not hesitate to use their 
 weapons to effect their escape. In recognition of exceptional 
 service medals of honor have rightly been given, and all mem- 
 bers of the force are fully aware that their promotion depends 
 upon their proven fearlessness and fidelity in the discharge of 
 their duties. 
 
 During the day each district station is under the immediate 
 personal charge of the captain, who is relieved for dinner by 
 the day sergeant. In the night time the station house is under 
 
312 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the immediate personal charge of one of the two heutenants, 
 alternately; or under a sergeant, if the lieutenant is unavoid- 
 ably absent. The sergeants are expected to inspect the patrol- 
 men on duty in their platoon, and to report any neglect of duty 
 to their superior officer. At some of the principal stations, 
 in addition to the regular force, officers in citizens' clothes are 
 detailed for special service under direction of the superintend- 
 ent and captains. 
 
 The Bureau of Criminal Investigation has, at present, a 
 force of thirty experienced detectives in constant service, in 
 charge of the chief inspector or his assistant, who has the 
 rank of captain. This force keeps watch, day and night, over 
 the entire city to detect and report the appearance and work- 
 ings of criminals of every class ; and special oversight is given 
 to the banks and the business heart of the city, during business 
 hours, and to all railway stations, steamboat landings and 
 probable resorts of criminals. All known thieves, profes- 
 sional swindlers and other dangerous persons are arrested at 
 sight when they fail to give a satisfactory account of their 
 presence in the city, and held for trial or warned away if evi- 
 dence sufficient to convict cannot be obtained. 
 
 The office of the bureau is open at every hour of the day and 
 night throughout the year, like police headquarters and the 
 district stations. During the day the chief inspector or 
 captain is in immediate personal charge, and, at night, they 
 are relieved by two subordinate officers. The detectives of 
 the force are regularly on duty at all hours of the day and 
 evening, and are frequently employed till after midnight, and 
 even all night, in their watch to intercept and arrest criminals. 
 Details are made to protect churches, halls and theatres from 
 thieves, and the like oversight is given to out-going and in- 
 coming trains at the railway stations. Detectives also watch 
 the street railway cars and all crowded thoroughfares, and are 
 frequently detailed to attend large weddings and other cere- 
 monies. Every morning this force reports for roll call at the 
 
ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION. 313 
 
 office of the bureau, and assignments are made for all cases 
 under investigation. This systematic and comprehensive 
 patrolling of the city has proved to be of invaluable service in 
 the prevention of crimes of all kinds, and in securing prompt 
 arrest of all law breakers. 
 
 As a matter of course, if any crime is committed within the 
 sight of any one of the members of this department, the offender 
 will be arrested if any officer can lay his hands upon him and 
 hold him. A detective has practically entire freedom of move- 
 ment, and a patrolman may leave his route, if it is necessary, to 
 pursue a criminal who is trying to escape arrest, but he must 
 account for his absence to his superior officer. Many of 
 the arrests made by the force are of men intercepted in the 
 commission of crimes or caught in the act. But in spite of 
 all the vigilance which is exercised, there are criminals who 
 elude the watch of the police and run away before they can be 
 reached and arrested. 
 
 To illustrate the way in which the pursuit of such criminals 
 is organized and carried on, we shall suppose that a burglary 
 has been committed in the heart of Boston, at midnight, and 
 that the burglars have contrived to get away unobserved with 
 their booty. In less than an hour afterward, the raid. is dis- 
 covered by a patrolman, in the course of his examination of 
 the doors of the building which has been entered by the 
 burglars; for he finds that the bolt of a basement door has 
 been broken. He enters and searches the building at once, 
 and finds that a safe has been broken open and ransacked, and 
 that glass cases containing valuable goods have also been 
 plundered. A jimmy and dark lantern have been left on the 
 floor near the safe, and, by looking around, the patrolman 
 comes upon a sledge hammer which had apparently been used 
 in breaking off the handle of the lock of the safe, for it was of 
 an old pattern, and dynamite was not needed to force the door. 
 
 As soon as he has made his investigation and satisfied him- 
 self that none of the burglars are still in the building, he pro- 
 
314 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 ceeds at once to the nearest signal box, stopping, for a moment, 
 on the way, to question a private watchman employed in the 
 same block. This watchman has not been startled by any un- 
 usual sound, and knows nothing of the burglary; but he is able 
 to recall the passing of two strangers, shortly after midnight, 
 apparently on their way to a hotel from a late train; for both 
 were carrying handbags. He noticed their appearance suffi- 
 ciently to give some important details in regard to their height, 
 figure and dress. One of the men had a full dark beard, and 
 the face of the other was closely shaven. The watchman was 
 standing in the recess of a doorway at the time, so that the men 
 did not see him until they were nearly opposite; and he re- 
 marked that they quickened their walk perceptibly after pass- 
 ing him, and soon crossed to the other side of the street. He 
 did not feel warranted in stopping them, on such slight ground 
 for suspicion, but their movements impressed the other details 
 on his mind. 
 
 After getting this clue to the persons possibly engaged in the 
 burglary, the patrolman hastens to the signal box and rings 
 up his district station. Then he telephones to the officer in 
 charge the fact of the burglary and all the details that he has 
 learned in regard to it and the men who may have had a 
 hand in it. This information is fully noted by the officer at 
 the station, and reported at once by telephone to police head- 
 quarters. At the same time the officer sets the switches on the 
 signal machine in the station, to ring the bells in the signal 
 boxes throughout the district as soon as the patrolmen on duty 
 pull the hooks in making their hourly or half-hourly reports. 
 
 As soon as the report is received by the officer in charge at 
 headquarters, he notifies every district station in the city by 
 telephone, and the officers at these stations set the switches on 
 their signal machines to open communication with their patrol- 
 men all over the city. As fast as the men report they are in- 
 formed of the burglary, and ordered to look out for two men 
 answering to the description given by the watchman. The 
 
ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION. 315 
 
 officer in charge of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation is 
 also notified at once, and details of detectives and of poHce are 
 sent out to get the fullest possible details of the burglary, and 
 trace, if possible, the track of the burglars. 
 
 The superintendent and chief inspector are reached by 
 telephone calls within a few moments, and they send instruc- 
 tions for the further extension of the pursuit of the burglars. 
 The owner of the property which has been stolen is promptly 
 informed of the burglary, and called upon for any facts or sug- 
 gestions which he may be able to give touching the extent of 
 the robbery, and any possible participants whom he may sus- 
 pect. It is soon ascertained that the burglary is one of extraor- 
 dinary importance in view of the estimated amount of the loss, 
 and extraordinary measures are taken to uncover the fugitive 
 burglars. 
 
 By direction of the superintendent and chief inspector tel- 
 egrams are sent out from headquarters to the police and 
 detective forces of all the neighboring cities in the state, and 
 to the cities in the surrounding states on the lines of the rail- 
 ways radiating from Boston, informing- them of the burglary 
 and requesting their cooperation in the capture of the sus- 
 pected men, who are described as fully as possible. All pos- 
 sible information is sought also from the heads of these police 
 and detective departments which may lead to the identification 
 of the burglars and any of their accomplices. Every railway 
 and steamboat station in Boston and all vessels on the point of 
 clearing from the port are watched at once by the city detect- 
 ives and poHce, and every probable resort of the robbers 
 within the city and the surrounding district is sharply 
 searched. 
 
 All this cooperating force is aroused and at work within a 
 few hours after the discovery of the burglary. Then the 
 morning newspapers of the city and the associated press agen- 
 cies spread abroad through the country all the news that they 
 can obtain from the police record book and other sources in 
 
3i6 OUR RIVAL,' THE RASCAL. 
 
 regard to the burglary. So the pohce of every city and town 
 in New England — and probably of every large city and town in 
 the country — are soon apprised of the crime and incited to the 
 capture of the burglars, if they slip through the net of the 
 Boston police. 
 
 Before noon of the same day, too, official details of the 
 burglary are sent from police headquarters on hundreds of 
 sheets of manifold paper to every station in the city of Boston 
 for the information of all the members of the police force, 
 with accompanying descriptions of all the persons suspected 
 of complicity in the burglary. Inquiries are addressed by the 
 chief inspector and captains to all members of the force, to 
 identify the burglars if possible, and the officers are instructed 
 to obtain every possible clue to the persons implicated and 
 their hiding places. The Rogues' Gallery and the records of 
 the department are also searched for the same object. The 
 manner in which the robbery was committed, will usually in- 
 dicate whether the burglary was the work of experienced 
 hands and the effort is made to trace the maker or seller of 
 any tool left behind by the fugitives, which might lead to their 
 identification. If the police officials of any city or the 
 leading detective agencies have any information to 
 communicate touching the persons probably engaged in the 
 burglary, they will usually send it at once to the Boston police 
 without waiting for any special appeal; but, during the day, 
 circular letters are sent out by the superintendent and chief 
 inspector, giving the details of the burglary and the descrip- 
 tions of the persons suspected, and requesting the cooperation 
 of the officials addressed in the identification and capture of the 
 criminals. These letters are mailed to the chiefs of police 
 and the heads of detective bureaus and agencies in every city 
 and large town in Massachusetts, and to the like officials in all 
 the principal cities and towns of the country at large. As soon 
 as fuller and more exact descriptions of the burglars are ob- 
 tained by the search of the Boston police and detective forces 
 
ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION. ,17 
 
 and the cooperation of other police and detective departments, 
 these details are sent out in another set of circulars addressed 
 like the former one. 
 
 In response to these telegrams, letters and circulars, descrip- 
 tions and photographs are sent to the Boston police department 
 by the like departments in other cities of all persons arrested, 
 whose appearance corresponds with that of the fugitive bur- 
 glars. There is further a cordial and active cooperation with 
 the Boston department in tracking and uncovering the hiding 
 place' of the fugitives; and, if any department or detective 
 agency is able to identify the persons described in the circulars 
 or has reasonable ground for suspecting any known criminals 
 at large, — this identification or probable ground of suspicion is 
 at once communicated to the Boston police. This cooperation 
 would be rendered in turn by the Boston department, if the 
 like appeal was made for its assistance, and the procedure in 
 this case is simply given as a representative instance of the 
 practice of the police departments of all our leading 
 American cities in similar cases. No special credit is 
 claimed for the organization and method of the Boston depart- 
 ment which is only a fractional part of the great national con- 
 federation of police departments, but it is our design to give a 
 fair comprehension of the manner in which all are enlisted in 
 mutual support for the protection of the people. 
 
 If there is ground for supposing that the fugitives have found 
 means of flight to Europe or some other part of the world by 
 a steamer or sailing vessel, cable messages are sent by the 
 superintendent of police to the police authorities of the port 
 to which the vessel is bound, and to the police of any other 
 port which may be entered on the way, requesting a search of 
 the vessel before any passengers are allowed to land, and the 
 arrest of the persons described and accused of burglary. 
 These messages are followed by letters containing a fuller 
 description of the burglars and the official application of the 
 superintendent of police for their arrest and detention in cus- 
 
3i8 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 tody, until the necessary requisition papers can be forwarded 
 and extradition proceedings taken. 
 
 It will be seen that a keen and comprehensive pursuit of 
 these supposed burglars, or of anybody committing any 
 serious crime at any hour of the day or night, would be 
 promptly organized and set moving. Even in the possible 
 event of the lapse of several hours before the discovery of 
 such a crime, the burglars have only a scant allowance of time 
 in which to fly or find cover; and their movements are likely 
 to attract notice, and even suspicion and arrest, in advance of 
 the actual discovery of their crime. Burglars can hardly carry 
 about heavy bags or bundles of booty without giving cause 
 for suspicion to patrolmen, or to good citizens whom they may 
 meet in their flight, and city policemen and detectives have no 
 hesitation in stopping and questioning persons whose actions 
 arouse just suspicion. If they fail to give a satisfactory ac- 
 count of themselves, the police will promptly arrest them and 
 take them to the district station or to headquarters where they 
 will be thoroughly investigated. 
 
 It is a recognized duty of all policemen, and particularly 
 expected of all detectives, that they shall famiharize themselves 
 with the appearance and names of persons known to have 
 criminal records, or to be of bad character, whom they may 
 be called upon to arrest, at any moment, for the commission of 
 crimes. The larger his range of acquaintance, the more efifi- 
 cient an officer will he be in the detection, arrest and identifi- 
 cation of criminals. It is presumed and required, of course, 
 that a patrolman shall first learn to know the persons of bad 
 character residing on his route and in the neighboring district, 
 or frequenting this quarter by night or day. The field of the 
 regular service of a detective is wider than that of a patrolman, 
 and it is often his principal duty to single out and arrest, or 
 warii off, the thieves and swindlers who are seeking plunder in 
 the crowded streets, stations, banks, stores, and business oiifices 
 of our cities. So it is obvious that he should have a consider- 
 
ARIihlHT AND IDENTIFICATIOX. ,iq 
 
 able collection of faces in his mind's eye in order to render 
 efficient service. 
 
 This is invariably an acquisition of the experienced detect- 
 ives in ovir principal cities. All of them know hundreds of 
 criminals by sight; and some with remarkably retentive mem- 
 ories could recognize and name over a thousand rascals. To 
 aid the detective and police forces in the recognition and re- 
 membrance of criminals, every one of our large American 
 cities has a collection of photographs commonly styled, "The 
 Rogues' Gallery." These collections are made by photo- 
 graphing noted criminals brought to police headquarters, and 
 adding by exchange and purchase similar photographs taken 
 in other cities. Sometimes these portraits run far up into the 
 thousands, and even the smallest gallery is of marked service 
 in promoting the arrest and identification of criminals. 
 
 It is certain, too, that the study of these collections, and 
 direct , personal inspection of criminals are of very material 
 service in increasing arrests beyond the range of immediate 
 recognition or recollection. Detectives who have studied the 
 range of faces, manners, and habits of criminals for years ac- 
 quire such a comprehensive familiarity with the professional 
 rascals of the country, that they hardly ever make a mistake 
 in picking out thieves and other criminals, at sight, in a crowd. 
 This detective faculty has more than memory behind it. Keen 
 observers have over and over again marked and arrested 
 apparently inoffensive rogues, whom they had never seen be- 
 ■fore in person or in pictures. Long experience and sharp 
 eyesight have made them sensitive to the slightest mannerisms 
 and tricks of the various species of rascal. There is also an 
 almost instantaneous mental process of grouping and com- 
 parison. Without any • conscious effort of will, the general 
 features and traits of a criminal class come to the mind's eye 
 as a composite photograph, and the members of any group 
 actually in sight are assimilated or differentiated at a glance. 
 This swift judgment is analogous to that of an expert handler 
 
320 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 of money in the detection of counterfeits, or of an expert in 
 handwriting in the determination of forgeries. Often some 
 impression made by the appearance of rogues, which is beyond 
 exact definition and explanation, will assure the trained de- 
 tective that he is warranted in making arrests. 
 
 When a suspected person is arrested, he will be taken to the 
 nearest police station, or directly to police headquarters. If 
 the person is unknown, or if he is not recognized at once by 
 the officers at headquaj-ters, it becomes of manifest impor- 
 tance to obtain his true name and record. In January, 1890, 
 the Massachusetts Board of Prison Commissioners formally 
 recommended the adoption of the French method, commonly 
 known as the Bertillon system, for the identification of crim- 
 inals, after a prolonged investigation into its merits by Mr. 
 F. G. Pettigrove, the general superintendent of prisons for the 
 state. Its adoption in the state prison soon followed with 
 very satisfactory results. This system, concisely stated, is the 
 classification of the measurements of those parts of the human 
 body that do not change in size after a person has reached 
 the age of about twenty-one years. 
 
 The inventor, M. Bertillon, is the son of a French physician 
 who was a man of eminence in his profession. After complet- 
 ing the prescribed military service of a young Frenchman, M. 
 Bertillon was appointed to a position in the prefecture of police 
 in Paris. Soon after his appointment, he was so strongly 
 impressed by the difficulties in the way of the identification of 
 the large number of criminals passing daily through his office, 
 that he began to devise the system that now bears his name. 
 
 His design was based on the fact that certain measurements 
 of the body do not change after the period of full growth has 
 been reached. These are, for example, the length and width 
 of the head; the length of the middle finger, the foot, the 
 forearm and the outstretched arm; the height of the fio-ure 
 standing and seated; and the dimensions of the ear. As no 
 two persons are exactly alike, it is practically impossible that 
 
OUTSTKETOHED ARMS. 
 
 Left Fore-Akm. 
 
 APPLICATION OF BEBTILLON SYSTEM. 
 
Length of Right Eak. 
 
 application of bertillon system, 
 
 Length of Trunk. 
 
ARREST AND IDENTIFICATION. 32 1 
 
 any two complete sets of measurements of dififerent persons 
 should agree in every particular. Should it be found there- 
 fore, after measuring an unknown prisoner, that the record of 
 measurements agrees precisely in every detail with any record 
 on file, it is practically certain that both sets are measurements 
 of the same person. If, then, the earlier record is one of a 
 known criminal, the unknown prisoner will be inevitably iden- 
 tified with that criminal. This comparative process may be 
 styled a mathematical demonstration of identification. 
 
 To facilitate the comparison and identification, every set of 
 measurements that is taken is recorded on a card, and this card 
 is filed in a cabinet divided into compartments, each of which 
 is subdivided. These separate compartments are used for the 
 classification of cards in a way approximately resembling the 
 filing of book cards in a public library. In searching to 
 identify any person who has been arrested, the examiner — who 
 has measured him and ascertained that the length of his head 
 is within a certain range — can turn at once to a compartment 
 in the cabinet containing all the cards of persons whose heads 
 come within this range. This compartment is divided into 
 smaller compartments, each of which contains its special range 
 of measurements of other parts of the body, or marks distinc- 
 tions in the color of the eyes and hair. So if there is any card 
 of measurements corresponding exactly to the set taken by the 
 examiner, he will soon put his hand upon it. 
 
 The measurements under the Bertillon system are taken 
 with fine caliper and sliding compasses, accurately marking 
 very minute variations. In the illustrations which are given 
 in this chapter, the process of measurement is so clearly pre- 
 sented that no further description is needed. 
 
 Besides introducing this use of certain measurements of the 
 body, M. Bertillon perfected a method of notation of the color 
 of the eyes, which is very exact; and this forms a part of his 
 regular system to-day. He lays particular stress, also, on the 
 desirability of obtaining photographs in profile as well as front 
 
322 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 views; on the ground that the outHne or profile of the face 
 changes less in the course of years than the full face, and that 
 it can be less readily contorted or disguised. His system 
 further includes what has been generally recognized as very 
 important and trustworthy for the purpose of identification, — 
 the more ineffaceable scars or marks, noting their exact posi- 
 tion and size. 
 
 In 1862 M. Bertillon had the satisfaction of seeing the adop- 
 tion of his system by the police of Paris, and within a few 
 years afterward it became the recognized official system 
 throughout France. Its use has since been largely extended 
 through Europe. In this country its introduction has not 
 progressed so far, but it has been regularly adopted for making 
 records of criminals in the Massachusetts state prison; and in 
 Illinois it has been in use for some years not only in the state 
 penitentiaries but in the police department. Several other 
 states are also employing this system to a considerable extent. 
 
 There can be no question that admirable results have been 
 obtained by the development of this system in France. In the 
 year following its adoption, it is reported that forty-nine crim- 
 inals were recognized by this method when all other means of 
 identification had failed. In 1884, when its use had become 
 more general, 241 criminals were identified; and, in 1885, more 
 than 500 persons, whose characters would have been unknown 
 but for this method, were recognized as habitual criminals. 
 
 A remarkable example of the possible application of this 
 system was furnished in November, 1891. Early in this 
 month one of the workmen employed in a box factory on the 
 Rue de Charonne, in Paris, went down into the cellar to get 
 some boards. A few moments later he came flying back into 
 the workroom, with his face as white as a sheet. He was 
 trembling like a man with the palsy, but he managed to stam- 
 mer out the cause of his terror. The lighted candle which he 
 had in his hand went out before he reached the foot of the 
 cellar stairs ; but he did not take the trouble of relighting it, as 
 
ARREST AXD IlrEXTIFWATIOX. ^^T. 
 
 he was familiar with the storage room and was able to grope 
 along in the dark to the corner where the boards were piled. 
 While he was picking out the boards which he wanted, he 
 touched something cold and clammy. This strange thing so 
 startled him that he lit his candle to see what he had touched, 
 and was horror struck to find that it was the headless and 
 decomposed body of a man. 
 
 As soon as his story was told, the police were notified. The 
 body was sent to the Morgue and, in the hope of possible 
 identification, it was measured by M. Bertillon. The record 
 was then proved to be identical with one taken of an old crim- 
 inal named Boutry. 
 
 Keen inquiry brought to light the fact that Boutry was last 
 seen in company with one of his friends, a workman whose 
 name was Vancourt. When Vancourt waB called to account, 
 he was caught tripping so often that he finally refused to 
 answer another question. Then he was bluntly informed that 
 the body of Boutry had been found and positively identified. 
 He was so shaken with this apparent revelation of the super- 
 natural knowledge of the police that he broke down and con- 
 fessed that he was the murderer. 
 
 He had brutally killed Boutry, who had shared his bed for a 
 night, because the sleeping man had accidentally struck him 
 in'a fit of unconscious restlessness. Then he hid the body at 
 night in the cellar of the factory, cut off the head, mutilated it 
 beyond recognition, wrapped it up in a bundle of linen and 
 threw it on the roof of a shed by the river side. It is practi- 
 cally certain that this horrible crime would never have been 
 disclosed, and the murderer convicted, if the Bertillon system 
 had not given a positive identification of the corpse in the 
 cellar. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with this signal revelation in Paris, 
 the extraordinary service of the same system was notably 
 marked in Chicago by the identification of a burglar who was 
 killed by a druggist in self-defence. The robber persistently 
 
,24 OVB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 claimed that his name was Charles Holmes; but measure- 
 ments of his body, taken after death, fully identified him with a 
 notorious "safe blower," whose true name was Charles Kinney. 
 
 Undoubtedly the extension of this system would have been 
 more rapid in this country, if it had been possible to secure its 
 general adoption by the concurrent action of every state in the 
 union. It is obvious that the practical working value of any 
 such system depends largely upon the completeness of its 
 records and the certain assurance of cooperation and accuracy 
 in their preparation. This cooperation and uniformity of 
 record have naturally been secured in France more readily 
 than is possible when more than forty different states must be 
 brought to an agreement upon the adoption of a single sys- 
 tem. So the common dependence throughout this country 
 for the identification of criminals still rests on the simpler 
 records which are taken with a close approach to uniformity 
 by the police and prison officials. There has been, however, 
 of late years, a marked improvement in the extent and pre- 
 cision of the descriptions and records prepared for local use 
 and general circulation. Photographs of all known criminals 
 and persons charged with crimes are now almost invariably 
 taken by the police in American cities; and particular care is 
 exercised in noting as precisely as possible all scars and in- 
 delible marks of any kind. 
 
 The customary character of the descriptions prepared and 
 used for tracing out and identifying criminals may be best 
 comprehended by the use of a few representative examples. 
 
HEADQUARTERS OF POLICE DEPARTMENT, 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 Superintendent's Office, 7 Pemberton Square. 
 
 Wanted for Murder of Josephine Brown, 
 
 ON DECEMBER 24th, 1891. 
 ROGER T. SCANNEL al. R. O'CONNELL, 
 
 Twenty-six (26) years of age; five (5) feet eight (8) inches in height; 
 one hundred and forty (,140) to one hundred and forty-five (145) pounds weight; 
 complexion medium but inclined to light; small light-colored mustache; high 
 cheekbones; face narrowing sharply from cheek bones to chin; consumptive 
 look; pretty square shoulders viewed from behind; small waist and hips; one 
 shoulder a little lower than the other; first joint of forefinger on left hand a little 
 stiff and turned in on account of an accident. 
 
 Wore at that time a flat-topped Scotch Cap with two or three buttons in 
 front; blue and white Gingham Shirt; black cutaway Coat and Vest; blue and 
 black stripes in Pants, and a Gray Check Ulster, brown stripe, well worn, four 
 pockets on the outside and one in each sleeve. 
 
 Speaks with a slight brogue and an affected air; wears a 14 1-2 Collar and 
 No. 8 or No. 9 Shoe. Frequents kitchen bar-rooms and cheap lodging rooms 
 with low women. 
 
 FAC-SIMILE OF HANDWRITING : 
 
 Send any information to BENJ. 
 Boston, December 26, 1891. 
 
 P. ELDRIDGE, Supt. of Police. 
 
By the Governor of Virginia===A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Information having been received by the Executive that 
 
 C. 7^. F= IGGMT, 
 
 late Cashier of the Bank of Lexington, Va., stands charged with the crime of 
 embezzlement, and is now a fugitive from justice, and is now going at large, 
 therefore I do hereby offer a reward of 
 
 FtVE HUNDRED DOLLARS, 
 
 to any person who shall arrest the said C. M. FIGGAT, and deliver him to 
 the authorities of Rockbridge County, Virginia, at the place of arrest, said reward 
 to be paid only after such arrest and dehvery; and I do moreover require all 
 Officers of this Commonwealth, civil and military, and request the people gener- 
 ally, to use their best exertions to procure his arrest, that he may be brought to 
 justice. The offer of this reward is to continue for six months. 
 Given under my hand as Governor, and under the Lesser Seal of the Common- 
 wealth, at Richmond, this 19th day of February, 1895. 
 
 CHAS. T. O'FERRALL. 
 By the Governor : 
 
 J. T. LAWLESS, Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 DESCRI RTION. 
 
 A heavy-set man; weighs 185 pounds; height, 5 feet, 10 inches; legs slightly 
 bowed; short gray beard ; full gray mustache ; eyes, dark gray, almost brown; 
 walks slightly stooped and very slowly, on account of some inward affection; full 
 stomach; ruddy complexion; face flabby; very affable in manners and speech; 
 talks slowly and nods his head as he talks; his hair has been dark, but is now 
 two-thirds gray; his appearance shows him to be addicted to drink ; always wore 
 dark slouch hat, and had on a gray suit when he left Lexington; age, about 
 sixty years ; may now be shaved. 
 
ARRBST TRAIN BOBBER Oliver Cxirtis Perry, alias James Curtis Perry, 
 alias " Curt " Perrv. alias Oliver Moore. Rscaped from the State Ilospi- 
 Matteawan, N. Y., on the night of Wednesday, 
 
 tal for Insane Criminals, 
 April lOtU, 1895. 
 
 As Perry appeared in 1891 
 
 BEFORE CONVICTIONS". 
 
 As Perry appeared in 1895 
 
 BEFORE ESCAPE. 
 
 OLIVER CURTIS PERRY was convicted at Lyons, N. Y., on May 19tli,1892, 
 for train robbery, sentenced to 49 years and 3 months in the State's Prison at Auburn 
 and transferred December 28th, 1893, to the State Hospital for Insane Criminals at 
 Matteawan. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 Perry is described as follows : Age, 27 ; height, 5 feet 5 1-2 inches ; weight, 130 lbs. ; 
 hair, brown; eyes, brown; complexion, darlj, sallow, (pasty); chin, round; smooth, 
 shaven, can raise small darls mustache ; large Adam's apple. 
 
 Scars : 1 right side of scalp, 2 on back, 1 left side of head. 2 small ones on left 
 thumb, 1 back of index finger (left hand). 1 near wrist inside right hand, 1 large scar 
 left forearm. 1 large scar on throat just below Adam's apple. 
 
 Forehead, square and high; wrinkles between eyes gives his face troubled and 
 thoughtful expression. 
 
 Perry may use any of the following names : Oliver, Curtis, Perry, Haswell, Van- 
 Allen, Havens, Hamlin, Allen, Gavens, James, James Curtis, James Perry, James 
 Curtis Perry, Oliver Moore. 
 
 Perrv is said to have been at one time a cattle herder (cowboy). Before his con- 
 viction for train robbery he was sentenced twice for burglary, and while in prison 
 learned the shoemaker's trade; has also been a freight and passenger brakeman. He 
 professes religion, and will try to impose on ministers and class leaders of churches, 
 particularly Presbyterian. 
 
 Please search hotels and keep general lookout around railroad depots, saloons, 
 
 Gambling resorts, etc., and inquire of Vard or Train iVIasters for his having applied 
 or employment, and of Railroad Trainmen for his having "beat" his way on freight 
 or passenger trains. Also Inquire of ministers, class leaders and at Young Men's 
 Christian Association Rooms for trace of him. He is likely to be travelling as a tramp. 
 
 RBlnmRDS. 
 
 $1,000 by the State of New York; $1,000 by the American Express 
 Company; $250 by Dr. H. E.Allison, Medical Superintendent Matteawan state 
 Hospital, Fishkill Landing, New York, 
 
 Send information (telegraphic or otherwise) to the nearest of our offices. 
 PINKBRTON'S NATIONAL BETECTIVE ACENCY, 
 
 66 Exchange Place, New York. 
 
HEADQUARTERS OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE, 37 PEMBERTON SQUARE. 
 
 Wanted on an Indictment Warrant, 
 
 For obtaining $6,000 by false pretences, with intent to cheat and defraud by 
 means of the gold dust trick, a Russian Jew, known by the following names, 
 Samuel Brotzski, Solomon Schwartzman, Solomon Tzigainer (means Gypsy), 
 Samuel Schetman, Leitchman and Greenberg. He is from 45 to 50 years old, 
 5 feet 3 inches tall, 175 pounds weight, dark complexion, dark mustache mixed 
 with gray, beard when worn will be mixed with gray, bluish-gray eyes, small 
 nose, talks slowly and has a slow gait. Is a constant smoker of cigarettes that 
 he makes himself, has small hands with tapering fingers, and full neck. Will be 
 found amongst Jews, and is very fond of women. 
 
 If found, arrest, hold and notify me, and I will send for him. Send any in- 
 formation to 
 
 BENJAMIN P. ELDRIDGE, 
 Boston, Nov. 17, 1894. Superintendent of Police. 
 
$3,000! - - REWARD I - 
 
 $3,000! 
 
 The Post Office Department will pay the sum of ONE THOUSAND DOL- 
 LARS REWARD, each, for the capture of Joseph Killoran, Harry Russell, and 
 Charles Allen, and their return to the custody of the United States Marshal at 
 New York City. 
 
 Joe Killoran, alias Joe Howard, is an Englishman; age 56 years; heights 
 feet 9 1-2 inches; weight, 160 pounds; build medium: complexion, fair; eyes, 
 blue-gray; hair, dark brown; beard, light mixed with gray; letter "P" and 
 round dot on right forearm, three dots on left fore-arm, partly burned out; 
 slightly pock-marked; dot between thumb and first finger of right hand. 
 
 Harry Russell, alias Harry Murphy, alias Harry Vosburg, is an American ; 
 age, 32 years; married; stout build; height, 5 feet 5 3-4 inches; weight, 160 
 pounds; hair, blonde; eyes, light blue; features, regular; complexion, florid; 
 light, sandy mustache; two spots of ink on inside of left fore-arm; bald head. 
 
 Charles Allen, alias Charles Robinson, is an American; age 41 years; height 
 5 feet and 8 inches ; complexion, fresh; eyes, blue; hair, light brown; beard, 
 light brown; freckles on shoulders, back and arms; scar on right knee. 
 
 These men were arrested May 31, 1895, *°<i "'^'^^ ^^^^ fo'' robbing several 
 post offices and for other crimes. They escaped from the Ludlow-Street Jail, 
 New York City, on July 4, 1895. 
 
 The above rewards will be paid upon presentation at this Department of sat- 
 isfactory documentary proof of the capture and delivery of the persons as above 
 described. 
 
 M. D. WHEELER, Chief P. O. Inspector. 
 Post Office Department. 
 
 Washington, D. C, July 9, 1895. 
 
$500 - - REWARD. - - $500 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 ARREST AND CONVICTION 
 
 OF EACH OF THE 
 
 Wisconsin Central Train Robbers. 
 
 The sum of FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS will be paid for the AR- 
 REST and CONVICTION of each of the persons who attempted to rob the 
 express car of the Wisconsin Central train, about three miles west of Waupaca, 
 Wisconsin, on the night of September 19th, 1895. 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS. 
 
 The leader is described as follows: An American, 38 to 40 years old; 5 
 feet 7 or 8 inches in height; weight 135 to 140 pounds; sparely built, slightly 
 humped, fairly square shoulders; smooth face; dark brown hair; medium sized 
 nose; prominent and fairly broad cheek bones; thin lips; hollow, sunken eyes 
 and haggard look; spare face, with skin tightly drawn; pale, sallow and un- 
 healthy complexion; keen, sharp voice with peculiar nasal twang; wore no mask, 
 and had quick, nervous action. He wore a cheap, dark suit, quite faded; well 
 worn soft slouch hat; cheap shoes, size about No. 8; had trampish appearance. 
 One hand cut during the robbery and bled quite freely. This was the man who 
 used the dynamite on the safe. 
 
 A second man who was called " Jack " by the leader, appeared to be about 
 28 years of age; 5 feet 10 or 10 1-2 inches in height; weight 165 to 175 pounds ; 
 apparently full faced, with mustache probably brown in color; wore a wide: 
 brimmed light colored slouch hat and hunting coat. 
 
 Both men had medium sized revolvers. 
 
 Shots fired during the robbery indicated that there were more than two men. 
 
 Address all communications to H. F. Whitoomb and Ho'ward Morris, 
 Receivers Wisconsin Central Railroad Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; J. A. 
 D. Vickers, Superintendent National Express Company, Rookery Building, 
 Chicago, Illinois, or the nearest of our offices. 
 
 PINKERTON'S NATIONAL DETECTIVE AGENCY, 
 or WILLIAM A. piNKERTON. 201 Fifth Avenue, Chicago, III- 
 
 Chicago, Oct. 9th, 1895. 
 
OFFICE OF 
 
 SHERIFF OF HAMILTON COUNTY, O. 
 
 R. M. Archibald, Sheriff. 
 
 Cincinnati, November 12, 1895. 
 CHIEF OF POLICE : 
 
 Sir : — On the 10th inst., at about 7 o'clock P. M., six prisoners made their 
 escape from the County Jail in this city. One of them was recaptured a few- 
 hours after the escape. Two of them were charged with forgery, two with bur- 
 glary and one with picking pockets. 
 
 The description of each is as follows : 
 
 CHARLES FISHER, alias BOLAND, 
 alias FORD. 
 
 Was born in Germany, resides in 
 New York. Age, 39 years; weight, 
 135 pounds; height, 5 feet 6 I -2 inches; 
 eyes, blue; hair, dark brown; mus- 
 tache, dark brown; complexion, fair; 
 build, medium; occupation, forger. 
 Arrested June 25, 1895; charge, for- 
 gery. Photo, taken September 26, 1895. 
 Scar in palm of left hand and the 
 thumb drawn inwards because of a 
 leader having been cut. He is one of 
 the most accomplished and best known 
 forgers in the country. He was await- 
 ing trial. 
 
 [The descriptions of the other escaped prisoners with their portraits, were, 
 in general features, like that of Fisher, and are not reproduced.] 
 
 If any of the described persons are found in your city, please make the 
 arrest and we will send an officer for him. 
 
 Please send information to the undersigned. The necessary expenses will be 
 paid for the arrest of either one. Very respectfully, 
 
 R. M. ARCHIBALD, Sheriff Hamilton County, O. 
 
332 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 The preparation and filing of the descriptions and records 
 of criminals for ready reference is one of the allotted duties of 
 the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Every person who is 
 brought to police headquarters, under the charge of commit- 
 ting a grave crime, is photographed, unless his photograph 
 and description are already on file in the bureau. ' His height, 
 weight, figure and any marked peculiarities of person and 
 manner are carefully noted. Close search is made for any 
 scars or indelible marks of any kind on his body, and any 
 such mark is accurately defined and recorded. These photo- 
 graphs and descriptions are kept under lock and key, but are 
 not regularly entered and filed with the other records of the 
 bureau, unless the person is convicted or is known as an 
 habitual criminal. Upon the conviction of the crime charged, 
 the convict's photograph is filed in the Rogues' Gallery and 
 numbered for ready reference. His description is entered in 
 a set of description books alphabetically indexed, and his 
 criminal record is kept in a like set of record books. 
 
 In this way a complete record has been made up of all crim- 
 inals brought to police headquarters, and this collection has 
 been greatly extended by applications made to police depart- 
 ments, detective agencies, and prison officials throughout this 
 country and Europe, for the photographs and descriptions of 
 all criminals of note. The description and record of every- 
 person committed to the state prison or house of correction 
 in Massachusetts are promptly secured and recorded. The 
 records show the offence committed in every case, the trial 
 court, the date of conviction, the term of sentence, the date of 
 entry into prison and the date of discharge. 
 
 On the first day of every month, a report of the convicts to 
 be discharged during the month in Massachusetts is made to 
 the Superintendent of the Boston Police, by the Bureau of 
 Criminal Investigation. Copies of this report are filed in the 
 Superintendent's office and in the Bureau of Criminal Investi- 
 gation, and manifold copies sent to every district police sta- 
 
ARREST AXD IDENTIFICATION. 333 
 
 tion. At the time of discharge, or shortly after, the ex-con- 
 victs are sharply scrutinized by detectives to facilitate subse- 
 quent recognition if it should ever be necessary. Reports 
 upon these discharged prisoners are sent out also to the lead- 
 ing chiefs of police throughout the country, giving the names, 
 prison record numbers, and a full personal description, 
 and complete criminal record, so far as this can be obtained. 
 
 By diligent effort to build up this important department of 
 identification and record, the photographs in the Rogues' 
 Gallery, on the ist of January, 1897, numbered 3,973. During 
 the year 1896, the records of 697 criminals were added to those 
 already on file, making a total of 20,456. Prison reports of 
 360 discharged convicts were issued during the year. In addi- 
 tion to the systematic records of this bureau, before noted, a 
 collection has been made for many years past of all informa- 
 tion obtained from official inquiry and correspondence, reach- 
 ing tO' all parts of the world, and from the press reports of the 
 doings, arrests, and convictions of all criminals of note. This 
 information is regularly indexed and placed in official en- 
 velopes, which are numbered and filed away in cabinets for 
 ready reference. In cases where full records are desirable, this 
 collection has proved of great service to the home department, 
 and of value also in answering applications for information 
 from the police officials of other states. 
 
 There is a further record in this bureau of all cases assigned 
 to detectives for investigation and report. The name of the 
 officer charged with the duty of investigation is entered in an 
 assignment book ; together with the name of the official direct- 
 ing the investigation, the name of the applicant, and important 
 facts pertinent to the inquiry. The investigating officer is in- 
 variably required to make a complete report upon the case for 
 use and preservation on file, and all communications bearing 
 upon the case are filed with this report. 
 
 A very large number of circulars calling for the arrest of 
 fugitive criminals and descriptive lists of property stolen are 
 
:.;.^ OVK RIVAL, THE RASCIL. 
 
 yearly received by tlie department, and, after thorough investi- 
 gation, carefully put on file for future reference. 
 
 Reports of the presence of all known criminals and of their 
 haunts are regularly made by the detectives and police to the 
 police headquarters. The detectives are ordered to arrest at 
 sight and bring to headquarters all known thieves and "bunco 
 men" entering the city. Daily reports are made to head- 
 quarters by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the po- 
 lice captains, covering all the crimes committed and arrests 
 made in the city. Complete records or abstracts of these re- 
 ports are daily prepared at headquarters, and hundreds of mani- 
 fold copies are sent out to tlie district stations for the informa- 
 tion of the captains and their men. When criminals, commit- 
 ting offences in Boston, have not been arrested, full descrip- 
 tions are prepared and sent out to all the district stations, ac- 
 companied by pliotographs, if obtainable. It is also the 
 practice to send to all stations circulars or other notices sent in 
 bv police officials, or other authorities, from all parts of the 
 countrv, calling for the arrest of fugitive criminals; and such 
 applications are read to all the men on the force. 
 
 It is expected that every member of the department will do 
 his dutv in tlie endeavor to arrest all known criminals; but 
 certain classes of rascals, like pickpockets and shoplifters, are 
 commonly arrested by detectives, because they aim to keep 
 well out of the way of policemen in uniform. It is natural, also, 
 that the arrest of thieves and other criminals coming from 
 points outside the city to Boston, should usually be made by the 
 force specially employed to bar them out and capture them. 
 Frequently the services of Boston detectives are given on the 
 occasion of great conventions in other states, and some of them 
 have traveled for this ptirpose to all the principal cities of this 
 country. Sometimes, too, detectives are sent to attend such 
 gatherings where no formal application for their services has 
 been made, for the sake of the marked advantage to the corps 
 of extending its experience and acquaintance with the range of 
 
AliEESr AND IDEXTIFICATIUX. 
 
 335 
 
 thieves. In like manner, detectives from other American 
 cities occasionally visit Boston, and their presence and assist- 
 ance are cordially welcomed. 
 
 In view of the plain practical importance of increasing the 
 efficiency of this arm of the service, it seems to us a suggestion 
 worthy of consideration by the police departments of our large 
 cities that a regular system of interchange of detectives should 
 be established by mutual agreement. Such an interchange 
 would inevitably broaden the experience and improve the 
 power of service of the detectives attached to the several police 
 departments, by the institution of what might be termed 
 schools of instruction for the benefit of the guards of our cities. 
 It would also serve to keep thieves continually on the run 
 and discourage them by making it impracticable for them to 
 enter any large city without recognition and arrest. 
 
 There is a popular impression, produced by the inventive 
 fancy of the manufacturers of lurid tales of crime and so-called 
 "detective stories," that a detective of any distinction changes 
 his clothes not less than ten times a day and puts on disguises 
 and masks and comical costumes enough to supply the de- 
 mand for a fancy dress ball. As a matter of fact, detectives 
 rarely wear disgfuises of any. kind, though there is occasionally 
 some service in which a disguise may be of advantage, as in 
 the case of the detection and conviction of "confidence men" in 
 the manner noted in a former chapter. 
 
 ^^llen some special information is required which the regular 
 detective force cannot procure without the risk of apprising 
 a criminal that his presence or his scheme is kno\\ n, this in- 
 formation is often obtained by the temporary employment of 
 persons whom the rascal \vill not distrust. Frequently rogues 
 are exposed by their own confidants or members of their own 
 gangs, for a rascal who relies upon the fidelity of another rascal 
 is apt to be leaning upon a frail reed. The small tools of one 
 or two principal rogues who try to keep under cover, have been 
 scornfully and meanly abandoned over and over again, wlien 
 
336 OVR EITAL, THE liAtiCAL. 
 
 they have been in need of assistance; and it is not surprising 
 that they should requite this treatment by doing what they can 
 to throw the burden of guilt and punishment on their princi- 
 pals. \A'here leaders of such mark and ability as Wilkes, 
 Becker and Cregan betray or desert their confederates, with 
 cold, deliberate meanness, they should expect to be betrayed 
 in turn. 
 
 The proverbial honor among thieves is little more than the 
 dread of retahation, if one rascal exposes the other rascal, and 
 instances of anything approaching self sacrifice for the sake of 
 shielding others from punishment are few indeed. A profes- 
 sional thief or forger does not like to be branded by his old 
 associates as "a squealer," for the reputation will make it more 
 difficult for him to get associates or help in his schemes of 
 plunder. But if he is obliged to choose between turning 
 state's evidence and going to prison for a long term, he is likely 
 to prefer the rating as "a squealer." So, too, if one of the 
 small fry of knaves can get some reward for disclosing the 
 scheme of a gang of burglars or forgers, he may prefer some- 
 thing in hand to his possible share in uncertain plunder. For 
 the prevention of crime and losses, and the reduction of the 
 expense of safeguards and of the arrest and conviction of 
 criminals, it is desirable to shatter, as far as possible, all the 
 bonds 0|f confidence that bind rogfues together. It is fortu- 
 nate, therefore, for society at large that the fear of betrayal 
 is constantly hanging over the head of a rascal who is obliged 
 to confide in another rascal, in order to carrjr out his scheme 
 of plunder. It is well, also, that among the associates of crim- 
 inals there are some who can be relied upon to cooperate with 
 the officers of law in the prevention of crime, and their infor- 
 mation is always held in strict confidence by police officials. 
 
THE MAKING OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 IN the foregoing pages we have sought to distinguish and 
 present as clearly as possible the varied pursuits and char- 
 acteristics of the criminals comprised under the head of our 
 rival, the rascal. The swindling beggar, the pickpocket, the 
 shoplifter, the burglar, the bank sneak, the forger, the sharper, 
 the "hotel thief," the train robber, the footpad, the receiver of 
 stolen goods and the incendiary — have successively passed in 
 review with other divisions and sections of lesser note, com- 
 posing the full array. The order of their succession was deter- 
 mined for reasons which need not be entered upon, inasmuch 
 as the precise arrangement within certain limits is obviously 
 a matter of no essential moment. 
 
 It is clear, we presume, that the divisions here made repre- 
 sent variations of method in the common pursuit of plunder, 
 the multiform ways and masks of the rascal, and not distinct 
 classes of criminals. The pickpocket may be also a hotel 
 thief; the tramp may be a skulking burglar; the "safe blower" 
 and house breaker may be a train robber, and the sharper may 
 be a forger as well. As a matter of fact many of the criminals 
 depicted in these pages have entered, from time to time, into a 
 number of these pursuits and some of them are versed in 
 almost every description of crime. A rogue's progress is 
 likely to be from round to round on the ladder of crime and 
 not bv a single spring from the ground to the top. The way- 
 ward, intractable, roving boy tries his hand as a petty thief, 
 and extends with practice his range of plunder. The clerk 
 grows wearv of plodding honesty, and drifts into gambling 
 and other dissipations that sap his principles and make him 
 pliant to tempters and temptations that sweep him along into 
 peculation and forgery. The swindler starts ofif with little 
 
338 OVR RIY AL, THE RAHGAh. 
 
 frauds that pave the way to viler and greater cheats. The pro- 
 fessional criminal is a product of evolution, and it is rarely the 
 case that a novice in crime begins with the commission of 
 some great felony, 
 
 We have not undertaken to present crimes or vices which 
 cannot be reckoned as 'the professional pursuits of rascals 
 threatening the security of property and life. The burglar, the 
 train robber and the footpad maim, wound and kill their vic- 
 tims at times, in their reckless quest of plunder; and in describ- 
 ing their pursuits we have necessarily dealt to some extent 
 with felonious assaults and murders. But we have no inten- 
 tion of exhibiting any chamber of horrors that can serve no 
 useful purpose, and are not the deeds of malefactors who can 
 be classed as professional criminals. Occasionally we meet 
 with abnormal wretches in the heart of civilization, who take 
 a savage delight in barbaric cruelty and the shedding of blood; 
 but these monstrosities are too few to be ranked as a class by 
 themselves, and to make requisite any special description and 
 warning. Nor does our discussion and review of the rascal 
 extend to cover the crimes that are committed on the spur of 
 some uncontrollable passion or frenzy. In such cases murder 
 and other outrages are simply dreadful incidents and not 
 regular pursuits against which society may well be armed and 
 cautioned. 
 
 We have so far intentionally confined our review of the 
 rascal to an exhibit of his methods and habits coming within 
 the range of ' our own personal experience and that of our 
 brother officers, cooperating with us in the discharge of our 
 trust of the repression of crime and the arrest of the law- 
 breakers. In so far our slight contribution to the great theme 
 of crime will have a certain distinctive value which may merit 
 recognition. 
 
 We do' not propose now to enter presumptuously into the 
 discussion of the general theme with its. far ranging ramifica- 
 tions and perplexing problems. Its initial point, the origin of 
 
THE MAKING OF GRIMIXAL8. 
 
 339 
 
 sin, has probably given rise to more questioiling and contro- 
 versy than any other subject with which the mind of man has 
 sought to grapple. Yet there has thus far been no common 
 agreement even upon this fundamental consideration. Nor 
 has the world advanced much farther in any exact measuring 
 of individual guilt or responsibility. There is still wide vari- 
 ance, too, in the reckoning of the influences that impel men to 
 the sinful acts that are infractions of law as well as of morality. 
 
 "Intemperance," says an authority of the foremost reputa- 
 tion, Dr. E. C. Wines, "is a proximate cause of a very large 
 proportion of the crime committed in America." . . . "Or- 
 phanage, idleness, misery, and the wretched home life, or lack 
 of home life, in great cities are fruitful sources of crime." . . . 
 "Want of a trade is a permanent and potent occasion of crime." 
 
 "The truth is," observes Z. R. Brockway, superintendent of 
 the great reformatory at Elmira, N. Y., "ninety per cent of 
 crimes are against property, and b,y young men who have 
 neither the application nor the skill to obtain the means of 
 coveted gratifications by their honest work and earnings. But 
 two per cent of the prisoners received into the Elmira Reform- 
 atory have had trades, and the trades of these — fifty per cent of 
 them — are of the commoner and under productive kind." 
 
 "We all know that idleness is one of the greatest promoters 
 of crime," remarks Chief Justice Hayt of Colorado. "Take 
 the best man in a community and put him in prison and keep 
 him there three years in idleness and I would not give much 
 for his morality when he comes out. If he was able to with- 
 stand the temptation, he would be something more than an 
 ordinary man." 
 
 The distinguished jurist, M. Loyis Proal, author of that 
 notable work, "Le Crime et La Peine," while recognizing 
 other influences, concludes that tertain passions are the chief 
 moving springs of crime. "Greed and envy, love of pleasures, 
 debauchery, idleness, hate, vengeance, sudden fury, — behold 
 the principal causes of criminality." 
 
240 0(77.' RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 No authority appears to us more justly entitled to respect 
 for his method of research and the precision of his determi- 
 nations than R. I. Dugdale of the New York Prison Associa- 
 tion, the author of that remarkable study in crime, pauperism, 
 disease and heredity, "The Jukes." It is to such collections 
 of facts and acuteness of inference that society must look for 
 the basis of a comprehensive treatment of the criminal prob- 
 lem. His truly scientific conclusion is the cautious statement 
 that "the logical induction seems to be that environment is 
 the ultimate controlling factor in determining careers, placing 
 heredity itself as an organized result of environment." 
 
 In his "further studies of criminals" Mr. Dugdale has also 
 made contributions of extraordinary and indisputable weight. 
 His investigations covering the descent, characteristics and 
 environment of large numbers of 'criminals cannot be too 
 highly commended. The summary of one of his admirable 
 tables will give a sample exhibit of their value and character. 
 By the investigation of forty-eight persons convicted of bur- 
 g;lary, he found that thirty-nine were sane and nine either men- 
 tally deficient, epileptic or belonging to families affected by 
 some form of nervous disease. Nineteen of the forty-eight 
 were orphans; twenty-eight were neglected children; forty 
 were habitual criminals; eight were first offenders; fifteen were 
 refuge boys; ten belonged to criminal families; sixteen were 
 of pauper stock; sixteen, of intemperate family; sixteen, habit- 
 ual drunkards; eight had trades, and thirty-nine had no trade. 
 
 He has gone far toward demonstrating that heredity de- 
 pends upon the permanence of the environmefit and that a 
 change in environment may produce an entire change in the 
 career of persons with criminal tendencies. He has further 
 marked, also, that one of the causes of idle habits and the 
 extraordinarily small percenfage of criminals who have learned 
 honest trades is primarily physical and mental disease. 
 
 So we might go on to cite authority after authority, differ- 
 ing more or less widely in their estimates of the relative force 
 
THE MAKING OF CRIMINALS. 341 
 
 of the influences impelling to crime, and in their suggestions 
 for its prevention and treatment. Of late years, too, a view of 
 the development of crime has been maintained by a certain 
 group of anthropologists in Europe, which has been urged 
 with such boldness of assertion and definiteness of detail, that 
 it has had the effect of startling novelty, though it is hardly 
 more in principle than the stretching of the theory of evolution 
 beyond any conclusions reached by Darwin. The recog- 
 nized founder and head of this new school is Csesare 
 Lombroso, Professor of Legal Medicine at the University of 
 Turin. 
 
 According to Lombroso a considerable part of the human 
 race is doomed by inheritance to a life of crime, or born, at 
 least, with such ineradicable taints and characteristics that 
 their development will impel to crime with almost irresistible 
 force. These moving springs of crime are derived through 
 lines of ancestors reaching back to the primeval creatures 
 from whom man and all living animals have been 
 evolved. The primitive man, springing from his animal an- 
 cestors, was destitute of any notion of morality and could ac- 
 quire none because of the limitations of his brain and the 
 necessities of his struggle for life. In the criminals of our 
 modern society the instincts of primitive man are transmitted 
 and revived. So crime, in the eyes of Lombroso, is a distinct 
 return to ancestral barbarism, and the criminal is physio- 
 logically distinct from the honest man. 
 
 From the analogy of the known transmission of certain 
 diseases of the body and mental ailments, Dr. Lombroso 
 argues with undeniable ability in maintenance of his theory of 
 the transmission of criminal tendencies and brutal instincts. 
 An apparent stumbHng block in the way of his sweeping con- 
 clusion is the hard matter of fact that the children of criminals 
 and known descendants of convicts often show no apparent 
 trace of any criminal tendency. On the other hand, the chil- 
 dren of virtuous parents whose ancestors for successive gen- 
 
342 
 
 OUR RIVAL. THE RAf^CAL. 
 
 erations have been unstained by crime, have committed crimes 
 of the worst description. 
 
 We are not assuming to enter into a discussion which must 
 necessarily be referred to expert physiologists, and we should 
 not question the assertion that criminal tendencies are some- 
 times transmitted from parents to children. But we may ob- 
 serve the plain fact that it is a matter of extraordinary diffi- 
 culty to determine to what precise extent crime is attributable 
 to inheritance, in view of the complications of other predis- 
 posing causes — ^the impress of degrading environment; the 
 impulse of vicious incitements and temptations; the lack of 
 steady, honest and congenial employment; and all the other in- 
 fluences that impel to crime. Some one once asked Dr. Oliver 
 ^^'endell Holmes when a boy's education should begin, and the 
 witty autocrat replied: 'You should begin with his grand- 
 mother." But from the point of view of Lombroso, it would 
 be necessar}' to begin with extinct brutes. 
 
 In his assertion of actual physical distinctions between the 
 criminal and the honest man, Dr. Lombroso has undertaken to 
 maintain alleged matters of fact, which may be submitted to 
 exact practical tests. One of the most acute and well-equipped 
 of his challengers is the jurist and author, before quoted, IM. 
 Louis Proal. In rebuttal of this contention^ M. Proal says 
 pithily and forcibly: "L'ntil now justice did not find the means 
 of recognizing criminals b}- the features of the face. Honest 
 folk, often deceived by the innocent appearance of the wicked, 
 used to complain because nature had not revealed their crimi- 
 nalit} by exterior signs. 'O Zeus, why hast thou given unto 
 men a sure method of distinguishing real gold from its counter- 
 feit, while to distinguish good men from bad no sign has been 
 engraved on their countenance!' If we are to believe Dr. 
 Lornbroso these revealing signs of criminality exist; he has 
 discovered them. According to him the criminal man dif- 
 fers anatomicalh' from the honest man ; he is born a criminal in 
 conseqrerxe of a defective organization. The Italian crimi- 
 
THE MAKIXG OF CBIilTXALS. ^., 
 
 nalist points out thirty anatomical anomalies on the skulls of 
 malefactors (Acts of the Congress of Rome, p. 58); he also 
 points out a great number of others on the other parts of the 
 body (Ibid., p. 78). All the members, all the organs, all the 
 functions of the born criminal present anomalies; his teeth, 
 eyes, jaws, arms, hand, nose, ears offer peculiar characteristics. 
 According to Dr. Lombroso, ths ensemble of the special char- 
 acters observed in the criminal constitutes a type which effaces 
 the national type: 'Hence the analogy between Itahan and 
 German criminals.' The criminal type is the }.Iongol type. 
 (The Criminal Man, p. 249.) Criminals have a peculiar and 
 almost special physiognomy for each form of criminality. 
 Dr. Lombroso is so convinced of the reality of this type that he 
 advises magistrates to regard it as an indication of criminalitv 
 in suspected persons. (Preface, p. XIII.) Ferri and Vito- 
 Porto also think that 'the anatomical, physiological and psy- 
 chological symptomatology of certain types of criminals ought 
 to be useful to the pohce and to justice.' (Acts of the Con- 
 gress of Rome.) 
 
 'Most assuredly, if nature had engraved on the face and skull 
 of the accused some anatomical and physiological signs of 
 guilt, the task of justice and the investigations of the police 
 would be much simplified. The examining magistrate would 
 not have much difficulty in discovering the guilty if he was 
 able to recognize a criminal by his bad physiognomy, and 
 might address him in some such language as this: 'Inde- 
 pendently of the charges which \Aeigh upon you I observe on 
 your face and person signs of criminalit)-; you are dolicho- 
 cephalous; you have very long teeth, a sinister eye. a strong 
 grip and arm, as long as those of a chimpanzee: clearly you are 
 guilty.' For all that, it would not be a bad thing for the 
 magistrate, before detailing to the prisoner the features in his 
 face that were clear proof of criminality, to assure himself 
 whether on the faces of the record clerk or policemen he would 
 not find the same accusing traits. In fact, the type of the 
 
344 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 criminal does not differ from that of the honest man. There 
 are no anatomical or physiological signs that enable us to dis- 
 tingush the criminal from the non-criminal. 
 
 "If malefactors betrayed themselves by their faces, the police 
 would have less trouble in arresting them. The criminal re- 
 mains often enough on the very spot where the crime was 
 committed to divert suspicion by the very boldness of his pres- 
 ence; he talks about the crime with the neighbors, with the 
 policemen themselves, who do not perceive on his face any re- 
 vealing sign. Sometimes the culprit, arrested upon suspicion, 
 is released. In spite of the charges against him, his explana- 
 tions and his attitude deceive the police authorities so thor- 
 oughly that they set him at liberty. When the culprit is ar- 
 rested and his guilt established, people are naturally inclined to 
 discover that he has a sinister face, but they would never have 
 noticed it before his arrest. 
 
 "To strengthen the proofs of the existence of a criminal type. 
 Dr. Lombroso has added to his book an atlas, in which 
 the photographs of criminals are reproduced- These photo- 
 graphs, according to him, reveal the characteristic type 
 of criminality. But it is impossible to see in these physiog- 
 nomies what Dr. Lombroso claims to see in them. Placed in 
 contact for the last twenty years with a very large number 
 of criminals by my judicial functions, I have never found 
 them different from honest men from an anatomical point 
 of view. My observations do not confirm the existence of a 
 criminal type which effaces the national type; it is not correct 
 to say that criminals of different countries resemble one an- 
 other; you can distinguish perfectly the Italian criminal from 
 the French criminal, or from the German criminal. 
 
 "It is well known that an anthropometric service has been 
 established at the prefecture of police in Paris under the direc- 
 tion of Dr. Bertillon for the verification of the identity of prison- 
 ers who give a false name. Now, the observations made and 
 the measurements taken by the director of this service and his. 
 
THE MAKING OF CRIMINALS. n^c 
 
 employees have not confirmed the existence of a criminal type ; 
 the criminals examined present the most varied physical con- 
 formations, just as honest men do. 
 
 "Of course, we sometimes observe in the case of criminals, 
 faces bearing the brand of debauchery, expressive of dis- 
 honesty or brutality. We say, and not "without reason, in 
 speaking of some exceptional criminals, that they look like 
 brutes. This expression is a very good term to designate the 
 man who, given up entirely to his bad instincts, allows, ac- 
 cording to the saying of Aristotle, the body and the brute to 
 reign in the place of a man. There is nothing astonishing in the 
 fact that the brutality of the instincts which are not combated 
 is reflected on the countenance and that the passions leave 
 their impress. 'Yes, by treading underfoot the laws of de- 
 cency, a man gives to his soul a certain disposition which is 
 shown forth in his exterior.' (^schines against Timarchos.) 
 But this disposition does not reveal itself by anatomical signs; 
 it can be observed in the case of men who have abandoned 
 themselves to their passions without going as far as crime. 
 It is not then a distinctive sign of criminality. It is by basing 
 their conclusions on the relations between the physical and 
 the moral that the physiognomists have claimed to read the 
 character of all men on their faces. This pretension was not 
 unknown to the ancients; we know that the physiognomist 
 Zopyrus professed to know the temperament and character 
 of men by the mere inspection of the body, eyes, brow. 
 (Cicero on Fate, § 5.) 
 
 "Plutarch tells us that a Chaldean physiognomist, after ex- 
 amining the face of Sylla, announced to him that he would be 
 the foremost .man in the world (Life of Sylla). In the XVIIIth 
 century, and in our own day, many ingenious works of phy- 
 siognomy have been written, notably those of the Abbe Per- 
 netty, M.Gratiolet and M. Eugene Mouton. But I can only see 
 the very dangerous illusion for justice in the pretension to 
 search for indications of criminality in the face. It is not even by 
 
346 
 
 OVR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 any means rare to see great criminals whose outward appearance 
 denotes both gentleness and honesty; I have seen very many 
 examples of this. Some )'ears ago, a very important poisoning 
 case was heard at the assize court of the Bouches-du-Rhone; 
 among the prisoners was a young woman with a very pretty 
 countenance expressive of the greatest sweetness, and her 
 mother, whose outward appearance denoted equal sweetness 
 and honesty. However, the acts committed by these two 
 women showed the profoundest perversity. The mother had 
 advised her daughter to poison her husband in order to enjoy- 
 freely the fortune which the latter left her in his will. When 
 the }'oung woman, after administering poison to her husband, 
 was weeping at the sight of his sufferings, her mother called 
 her an idiot, encouraged her to renew the potions, com- 
 plained of the slowness of the husband in dying, and promised 
 that she would dispatch her own much more rapidly. 
 
 "The most vicious women have sometimes an air of innocent 
 candor. It is not correct to say that 'ugliness is, on the whole, 
 the most pronounced characteristic of the criminal.' M. Tarda 
 develops with spirit this ingenious paradox in his work on 
 Comparative Criminality (p. i6). Still, we cannot yet discard 
 entirely the saying of La Fontaine: 'The good is 
 not always the comrade of the beautiful.' History has 
 preserved for us the names of great criminals whose beauty 
 was remarkable. Tacitus tells us that 'nothing was wanting 
 to Poppea except an honest soul. Her mother, the most 
 beautiful woman of the age, had given her a beautiful and noble 
 appearance.' (Annales I, viii., § 45.) Atria Galla, a 'woman 
 unworthy of her race, had nothing to commend her but her 
 beauty.' (Annales I, xv., § 59.) Brinvilliers was extremely beau- 
 tiful. If ugliness was a token of criminality, beauty should ac- 
 company virtue. Now Socrates and St. Vincent de Paul have 
 never been considered types of remarkable beauty. Who does 
 not know that in certain countries of the south physical beauty 
 is often united to numerous vices, while, in some northern 
 
THE MAKING OF CIt£MIXALS. 347 
 
 countries, certain populations, very siiperior in morality to the 
 Romans and Neapolitans are very inferior to them from an 
 aesthetic point of view? I have often had occasion to judge 
 prisoners of a handsome Italian type, while very honest peo- 
 ple have only moral beauty. The costume which the prisoners 
 put on after their condemnation would seem to be the first 
 thing that gives them a repulsive physiognomy. This illusion 
 is provoked by the costume solely, which gives the prisoners an 
 ugly appearance. In reality, their appearance does not at all 
 differ from that of the people in the audience. 
 
 "Accordingly, it is rather astonishing that a criminalist so dis- 
 tinguished as M. Tarde should write that 'the accusing fea- 
 tures of the countenance should be taken into account,' and 
 affirms that 'when a magistrate hesitates as to which of two 
 individuals he should prosecute, the bad physiognomy of one 
 of them should be enough to decide him.' That justice which 
 is prudent and worthy of the name will never search for proofs 
 of guilt in the physiognomy. Following the very wise advice 
 given by the fabulist and by common sense not to judge people 
 by their appearance, it can draw proofs of the guilt of a 
 prisoner only from hearing the witnesses, questioning the ac- 
 cused and examining into his antecedents. It prefers judging 
 the accused rather from their actions than from their skulls 
 or noses. 'Everything told us by the physiognomist,' wrote 
 Buffon, 'is devoid of all foundation. Nothing is more chi- 
 merical than the inductions they have tried to draw from their 
 pretended metoposcopic observations . . . ! A badly 
 formed body can contain a very beautiful soul, and we ought 
 not to judge of the good or evil nature of a man from the traits 
 of his countenance. . . . The form of the nose, mouth and 
 other features have no more connection with the form of the 
 soul and the nature of the person than the largeness or bulk 
 of the members have with the thought. Is a man less wise be- 
 cause he has little eyes and a big mouth?' " 
 This is a strong rejoinder, on the whole, to an apparently 
 
, ,g OLIi lUVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 untenable or extravagant claim, but M. Proal has seemingly 
 gone too far in his unqualified condemnation of any attempt to 
 search out indications of criminality in the face or appearance. 
 It is unquestionably right for him in his judicial capacity to 
 consider the law and the evidence without regard to the counte- 
 nance of an accused person; but it does not follow from this 
 that all attempts at all times to detect criminality in the ap- 
 pearance of men and women, are prejudicial to justice or nec- 
 essarily illusory. Over straining of suspicions and hasty 
 jumping at conclusions are no doubt imprudent and objec- 
 tionable, but within proper restrictions it may be admissible 
 and even very desirable for the guardians of society to judge 
 by appearances. 
 
 We have before noted that detectives are often called from 
 distant cities on the occasion of great conventions for the sake 
 of their known acquaintance with the faces of many of the 
 thieves who are likely to flock to their anticipated harvest 
 field. This is the service of exact recognition; but we have also 
 observed that expert detectives at these gatherings will almost 
 unerringly mark and arrest persons whom they have never seen 
 before and who are not at the time actually engaged in pick- 
 ing pockets, or any other overt criminal act. 
 
 The grounds of the assurance with which these keen ob- 
 servers venture to make arrests are so complex and in some 
 features so difficult to define that it is doubtful whether many 
 detectives could justify their action in such cases to the appre- 
 hension of persons who have not been trained in close per- 
 sonal study and contact with criminals. Movements and man- 
 ners and general appearance, in which the ordinary eye would 
 see nothing remarkable, are often highly significant and dis- 
 tinctive to the eye of an expert. Moreover, there is, as we 
 have before remarked, a process of comparison and classi- 
 fication performed by the mind in an instant, and usually 
 without any conscious effort. 
 
 It is this process which Francis Galton, F. R- S., has termed 
 
TUB MAKING OF CRIMINALS. 34Q 
 
 composite portraiture, the combination or fusing of a number 
 of individual faces, which an observer has seen, into a generic 
 type. This portrait is stamped on the brain, as Mr. Galton 
 says, by the successive impressions made by its component 
 images. It "represents the picture that would rise before the 
 mind's eye of an individual who had the gift of pictorial 
 imagination to an exalted degree." 
 
 Then Mr. Galton proceeds to mark the variations and inac- 
 curacies of this image arising from the differences in the 
 minds of individual observers, and the varying force of the 
 component impressions. Hence the composite image is not, 
 in his judgment, accurate or trustworthy. "The human mind 
 is a most imperfect apparatus for the elaboration of general 
 ideas. Compared with those of brutes its powers are mar- 
 vellous, but for all that they fall vastly short of perfection, 
 f he criterion of a truly perfect mind would lie in its capacity 
 of always creating images of a truly generic kind, deduced 
 from the whole range of its past experiences." Inasmuch as 
 no human mind is truly perfect, Mr. Galton draws the sweep- 
 ing conclusion that "general impressions are never to be 
 trusted." 
 
 As a possible substitute for the inaccurate mental image in 
 practical application to the inspection of criminals and the 
 determination of criminal characteristics and types he has 
 suggested the use of the photographic camera. He has under- 
 taken to give in place of the composite mental impression the 
 composite photograph. In this way, as he holds, a portrait 
 may be obtained with absolute assurance of combining indi- 
 vidual elements in the same exact proportion. To obtain this 
 composite portrait, he superimposed a number of photographs 
 in such a way that the eyes of each face were as nearly as possi- 
 ble in the same vertical plane. This device brought-the other 
 features sufficiently closely in line for his purpose. 
 
 The portraits being thus arranged, a photographic camera 
 was directed upon them. .His method of preparing his com- 
 
350 OCR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 posite photographs may now be described in his own words 
 "Suppose that there are eight portraits in the pack, and tha 
 under existing circumstances, it would require an exposur( 
 of eighty seconds to give an exact photographic copy of an} 
 one of them. The general principle of proceeding is this, sub 
 ject in practice to some variation of details, depending on th( 
 different brightness of the several portraits. We throw th< 
 image of each of the eight portraits in turn upon the sam( 
 part of the sensitized plate for ten seconds. Thus portrai 
 No. I is in the front of the pack; we take the cap off the objec 
 glass of the camera for ten seconds and afterwards replace it 
 We then remove No. i, and No. 2 appears in the front; w( 
 take off the cap a second time for ten seconds, and again re 
 place it. Next we remove No. 2, and No. 3 appears in the 
 front, which we treat as its predecessors, and so we go or 
 to the last of the pack. The sensitized plate will now have \p 
 total exposure of eighty seconds; it is then developed, and the 
 print taken from it is the generalized picture of which ] 
 speak. It is a composite of eight component portraits. Thos( 
 of its outlines are sharpest and darkest that are common to thi 
 largest number of the components; the purely individual pe 
 culiarities have little or no visible trace. The latter being 
 necessarily disposed equally on both sides of the average, tht 
 outline of the composite is the average of all the components 
 It is a band and not a fine line, because the outlines of thf 
 components are seldom exactly superimposed. The band wil 
 be darkest in the middle whenever the component portrait; 
 have the same general type of features, and its breadth, 01 
 amount of blur, will measure the tendency of the compo- 
 nents to deviate from the common type. This is so for th( 
 very same reason that the shot marks on a target are mort 
 thickly disposed near the bull's-eye than away from it, and in i 
 greater degree as the marksmen are more skillful. All that ha; 
 been said of the outlines is equally true of the shadows; th( 
 result being' that the composite represents an averaged figure 
 
THE MAKIXCf OF CRIMINALS. -551 
 
 whose lineaments have been softly drawn. The eyes come 
 out with appropriate distinctness, owing to the mechanical 
 conditions under which the components were hung." 
 
 We have given this description at length because of the 
 practical application of this process by Mr. Galton to the 
 study of our rival, the rascal. 
 
 Sir Edmund Du Cane, the Director General of prisons in 
 Great Britain, furnished him with a large collection of photo- 
 graphs of criminals for the prosecution of his investigation. 
 From these photographs he made an interesting and valuable 
 series of composites by the selection of several sets of criminals 
 convicted of murder, manslaughter, or crimes accompanied by 
 violence. "There is much interest," as he says, "in the fact 
 that two types of features are found much more frequently 
 among criminals of this character than among the population 
 at large. In one, the features are broad and massive, like 
 those of Henry YIII., but with a much smaller brain. The 
 other, of which five composites are exhibited, each deduced 
 from a number of different individuals, varying four to nine, 
 is a face that is weak and certainly not a common English 
 face. Three of these composites, though taken from entirely 
 different sets of individuals, are as alike as brothers, and it is 
 found on optically combining any three out of the five com- 
 posites, that is, on combining almost any considerable number 
 of the individuals, the result is closely the same." By means 
 of three converging magic lanterns, Mr. Galton effected the 
 combination of the three composites "referred to and main- 
 tained that the result might be accepted as generic in respect 
 to this particular type of criminals. 
 
 In his brief, but acute, comments on the exhibit made by 
 Mr. Galton, Sir Edmund Du Cane observed: "In consider- 
 ing how best to deal with and repress crime, it occurred to me 
 that we ought to try to track it to its source, and see if we can- 
 not check it there, instead of waiting till it has developed and 
 then striking at it. To track crime to its source we must 
 
252 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 follow up the history of those who practice it, and specially 
 in such lines as are likely to contain the true clue to their 
 criminal career. Among these subjects for observation, the 
 hereditary disposition is one of the most important, and to dis- 
 entangle the effect of this from the effect of the bringing up. 
 It seems to me to be a correct inference that if criminals are 
 found to have certain special types of features, that certain 
 personal peculiarities distinguish those who commit certain 
 classes of crime — the tendency to crime is born or bred in 
 those persons and either they are incurable or the tendency 
 can only be checked by taking them in hand at the earhest 
 periods of life. Mr. Galton's process would help to establish 
 this point, because if there is any such. distinguishing feature, 
 it would come out in his mixed photographs in a clear line, 
 whereas in those features which do not correspond' the lines 
 would be more or less blurred. I should anticipate that a 
 great number of those who commit certain classes of 
 crime would be found to show an entirely inferior mental 
 and bodily organization; but, on the other hand, a very 
 large number of criminals are rather superior in intelli- 
 gence; so much so that I was quite recently informed by 
 Colonel Pasle'y, the Director of Admiralty Works, that his ob- 
 servation was that convicts picked up a knowledge of a new 
 trade with much greater rapidity than free workmen. In 
 fact, it is often misplaced and unbalanced cleverness that leads 
 to the attempt to commit crime, and this characteristic might 
 very probably be found in the features of criminals of this 
 class." 
 
 There can be no question of the interest and possible im- 
 portance of the extension of the investigation undertaken by 
 Mr. Galton. It is obviously of extraordinary moment to as- 
 certain with certainty, or even with a marked inclination 
 of probability, whether it is practicable by the aid of the camera 
 to distinguish criminal traits, or to differentiate the various 
 classes and types of criminals. Can it be determined and 
 
Composite of 
 
 5 FOKGERS. 
 
 Composite of 
 4 Criminals. 
 
 Composite of 
 6 Hotel Thieves. 
 
 Composite of 
 G Bank. Sneaks. 
 
 CfiMPOsiTE of 
 5 Criminals. 
 
 Co-Composite 
 OF All. 
 
 Composite uf 
 
 4 BURGLAltS. 
 
 Composite of 
 
 'J Criminals. 
 
 Composite of 
 
 7 FlCKPOCKETS. 
 
 CO-COMPOSTTE OF 
 
 2S Criminals. 
 
 The six outside portraits are original composite photographs. 
 The four central portraits are reproduced from Galton's work. 
 
THE MAKING OF GRIMrNAr.S. 353 
 
 maintained on good evidence that criminals have certain dis- 
 tinguishing personal peculiarities? 
 
 For the final conclusion, in answer to this question, there 
 must be prolonged and exhaustive investigations with every 
 attainable resource in the supply of photographs of the crimi- 
 nals of all classes. We shall not even hazard an opinion, at 
 this point of the bare opening of this great undertaking, but 
 we have pursued the line indicated by Galton to the extent of a 
 forward step in our preparation of several composite photo- 
 graphs, representing to the extent of their typical character, 
 the forger, the burglar, the "bank-sneak," the "hotel thief" 
 and the pickpocket. These photographs have been carefully 
 produced in substantial accordance with Mr. Galton's method, 
 by the combination of the portraits of five forgers, four bur- 
 glars, six "bank-sneaks," six "hotel thieves" and seven pick- 
 pockets. The selection was made from the representative 
 portraits given on previous pages. We have further obtained 
 a composite by the combination of the twenty-eight portraits 
 selected, which is given on the same representative page to- 
 gether with a reproduction of the composites prepared by Mr. 
 Galton. 
 
 We shall leave to . expert physiognomists or to professed 
 experts the difficult task of analyzing the results obtained by 
 this process. It may be that Mr. Galton has entered upon a 
 futile inquiry. But this conclusion should not be accepted 
 until it is determined by thorough investigation. Meanwhile 
 we may properly note that his depreciation of the value of the 
 composite conception formed by the mind, is largely unjustifi- 
 able. It is true that a general impression is not absolutely 
 trustworthy, but it is equally true that it may well be trusted 
 to some extent in some cases. A general impression will lead 
 a prudent man to keep out of reach of a snarling bull dog or a 
 fellow man who looks to him like a ruffian, unless the en- 
 counter is a matter of duty. A general impression may well 
 be suffered to impel a detective to question sharply and even to 
 
354 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 arrest persons who have the appearance in his eyes of bank 
 sneaks or bunco men or pickpockets. 
 
 A general impression is the union, in the apprehension of 
 the mind, of a multitude of details far more comprehensive, 
 minute, subtle and significant than can ever be given by the 
 reflection of a face in a mirror or camera. The photograph 
 only represents a few features which may be wilfully dis- 
 torted or comparatively insignificant. The eye apprehends 
 at a glance the whole person, with every peculiarity of manner 
 and action, and the mind makes an instant comparison with a 
 mental image comprehending every known trait and habit of a 
 class of criminals, and reaches the conclusion that the indi- 
 vidual in sight is or is not one of that class. For the forming 
 of this judgment or impression, a few furtive glances on the 
 part of a criminal may be of more account than any cast of 
 countenance. 
 
 It appears to us eminently desirable that every possible line 
 of rational inquiry into the methods, habits, and characteristics 
 of criminals should be pursued indefatigably by competent in- 
 vestigators for the sake of the protection of society, the ends of 
 justice, wiser dealing with the ever-pressing and unavoidable 
 questions of repression, reform and penalty, the increase of the 
 sum of human knowledge, and our common humanity. If the 
 contention of Lombroso should be even in some small meas- 
 ure sustained by the progress of research, it is obvious that the 
 conclusion must lead to greater discrimination in the treat- 
 ment of criminals. The extent of their individual responsi- 
 bility will be more fully considered and exactly measured. In 
 so far as criminal manifestations are determined to be the 
 products of disease, of organic conditions, or taints, or defects, 
 they will be made subject to the treatment of skilled physi- 
 cians, as well as the administrators of the law. This course 
 will be sustained by the common sense of society, not only 
 from considerations of equity and humanity, but from the 
 strictly utilitarian considerations of the checking of the spread 
 
THE MAKING OF CRIMIXALS. 
 
 355 
 
 of criminality, the better protection of the public, and the re- 
 duction of the cost of the present complex array of safeguards 
 against crime and provisions for felons. 
 
 Certainly the present exhibit of the development of crime in 
 this country is one that deserves the gravest consideration, 
 and the application of the best practicable checks and reme- 
 dies. It appears from the statistics of the last national census, 
 in 1890, that there were then 82,329 prisoners in the United 
 States — 75,924 of these were males and 6,405 were females. 
 
 The tabulation by ages is of evident concern and interest: 
 
 Males. Females. Total, 
 
 Under 20 years of age 8,822 873 9,695 
 
 20 to 24 years of age 18,358 1,347 19.705 
 
 25 to 29 years of age IS. 354 994 16,348 
 
 30 to 34 years of age 10,366 712 11,078 
 
 35 to 39 years of age 7,592 737 8,329 
 
 40 to 44 years of age 4,953 566 5,519 
 
 45 to 49 years of age 3.637 4o8 4.045 
 
 50 to 59 years of age 3,968 456 4,424 
 
 60 to 79 years of age 1.761 253 2,014 
 
 80 and above 50 12 62 
 
 Not stated 1.063 47 '."o 
 
 Total 75.924 6,405 82,329 
 
 This classification shows that more than eleven per cent of 
 the males and more than thirteen per cent of the females were 
 under twenty years of age. ]\Iore than forty-four per cent 
 of the males and more than thirty-six per cent of the females 
 were between twenty and twenty-nine years of age. 
 
 It is therefore obvious that the process of the development 
 or manufacture of a fresh stock of criminals annually is going 
 on at a rate that is greatly to be deplored, and that impera- 
 tively demands the earnest, active cooperation of the intelligent 
 and prudent forces of society for its reduction. It is the duty 
 of the police to prevent the commission of crimes, so far as lies 
 in its power, and it is, we believe, as a body, faithfully trying 
 to do its duty. It remains for society at large to fully recog- 
 nize and discharge the burden of guardianship which is out- 
 side of the special responsibilities and functions of the police. 
 
356 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 Doubtless crime is to-day largely repressed by the institu- 
 tion of penalties. A felon's brand and a convict's cell are surely 
 the reverse of alluring. Something, too, has been done, and 
 may be done to make crime abhorrent by impressing the hearts 
 of the young with its sinfulness and its blight. In our fore- 
 going depiction of "Our Rival, the Rascal," we have not failed 
 to point out that the notorious criminals, who have served as 
 illustrative examples, have had cause to regret most bitterly 
 the first fatal step into the quicksand of crime. There has been 
 no evasion in our treatment or process of selection. Our de- 
 sign has simply been to present a comprehensive and faithful 
 picture. But, in so doing, we have necessarily held up a warn- 
 ing that ought to strike home to the heart of the most reck- 
 less young man. "How can you hope to fare better on the 
 rough road of crime than those who have gone before you? 
 Have you the brain and hand of a burglar like Schoenbein, 
 or the craft of a forger like Becker, or the wiliness of a 'bank- 
 sneak' like Johnson, or even the nimble fingers of a pickpocket 
 like Wells? All that extraordinary talent in the commission 
 of crime can do to cover the criminal has been tried and failed. 
 Surely you are even more of a fool than a knave if you think 
 that you can find a safe footing where all others have fallen." 
 
 So what we have sought to do in this work, and what thou- 
 sands of others better qualified than ourselves are doing daily 
 for the repression of crime — is of service as far as it goes. 
 But this is far from enough. In a subsequent chapter, devoted 
 to the general question of the treatment of criminals, as well 
 as the prevention of crime, we shall take occasion to note the 
 suggestions that seem to us most feasible and valuable for the 
 diminution of first steps in crime. 
 
THE CRIMINAL WOMAN. 
 
 ANY one examining the prison and criminal records of our 
 own and foreign countries will necessarily observe how few 
 crimes, comparatively, are committed by women. The census 
 record given in the preceding chapter shows that less than ten 
 per cent of the convicts in our prisons are women, although 
 women nearly equal the men in the total population of the Unit- 
 ed States. A like proportion is noted in other countries where 
 statistics, bearing upon this point, have been prepared. In 
 France, for example, it is reckoned by M. Tarde, a statistician 
 of the highest authority, that only one-fifth or one-sixth of 
 the persons accused of crimes are women; and M. Proal cites 
 yearly records showing that the proportion of female criminals 
 is even less than the estimate of M. Tarde. 
 
 In spite of this great discrepancy in the relative contribu- 
 tion of the sexes to the ranks of criminals, it is asserted by Prof. 
 Lombroso that the number of aged female criminals is actually 
 in excess of the number of males of like ages. He attributes 
 this disproportion chiefly to the greater vitality of the women. 
 It is his observation, also, that women bear the close confine- 
 ment of prisons better than men, and he gives instances of 
 female convicts who have passed more than sixty years con- 
 secutively in prison. 
 
 He remarks, however, that both senile and precocious gray- 
 ness of the hair is much more frequent in female than in male 
 criminals, and that certain wrinkles, especially those on the 
 cheek bones and about the eyes and mouth, are more common 
 and deeply marked in criminal women of mature age than in 
 men of the same age. "In this connection," he says, "we may 
 recall fhe proverbial wrinkles of witches, and the instance of , 
 
358 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the vile old woman, the so-called Vecchia dell' Aceto, of Pa- 
 lermo, who poisoned so many persons simply for the love of 
 lucre. When already of mature age, the idea of these mur- 
 ders occurred to her. The bust which we possess of this crim- 
 inal, so full of virile angularities, and above all so deeply 
 wrinkled, with its satanic leer, suffices of itself to prove that the 
 woman in question was born to do evil, and that, if one 
 occasion to commit it had failed, she would have found 
 others." 
 
 Baldness is also more common, he states, among criminal 
 women than among those of reputable life. The stature, 
 stretch of arms, and length of limbs are less in all female crim- 
 inals than in normals, but in proportion to the stature, the 
 weight of murderesses is greater than in moral women. Fe- 
 male thieves are inferior to moral women in cranial capacity 
 and circumference, and their cranial diameters are less, but 
 their facial diameters are larger, especially in the jaw. Homi- 
 cides, poisoners and incendiaries have more prominent cheek- 
 bones than the average normal type. 
 
 Beyond these alleged physical anomalies, or peculiarities, 
 Dr. Lombroso professes to distinguish in female criminals a 
 certain refined, diabolical cruelty exceeding the brutality of 
 men. He explains this abnormal condition on the ground that 
 woman is less sensitive to pain than man, and that "compassion 
 is the offspring of sensitiveness." Women, in his eyes, "have 
 many traits in common with children: their moral sense is 
 deficient, and they are revengeful, jealous, and inclined to ven- 
 geances of a refined cruelty." 
 
 "In ordinary cases these defects are neutralized by piety, 
 maternity, want of passion, weakness and an undeveloped in- 
 telligence. But when a morbid activity of the psychical centres 
 intensifies the bad qualities of women, and induces them to 
 seek relief in evil deeds; when piety and maternal sentiments 
 are wanting, and in their place are strong passions and in- 
 tensely erotic tendencies, much muscular strength and a su- 
 
THR CRIMINAL WOMAN. 355 
 
 perior intelligence for the conception and execution of evil, it 
 is clear that the innocuous semi-criminal present in the normal 
 woman must be transformed into a born criminal more terrible 
 than any man." 
 
 "What terrific criminals would children be if they had strong 
 passions, muscular strength and sufificient intelligence; and if, 
 moreover, their evil tendencies were exasperated by a morbid 
 psychical activity, rvnd women are big children; their evil 
 tendencies are much more numerous and more varied than 
 men's, but generally latent." 
 
 Almost all of the alleged criminal peculiarities distinguished 
 by Lombroso are held to be uncharacteristic or merely fanciful 
 by other European anatomists and physiologists, although his 
 conclusions are largely sustained by the members of his new 
 school. One apparent weakness in his contention is particu- 
 larly remarked — the fact that his examination of criminals has 
 been chiefly confined to Italian convicts, in place of the com- 
 prehensive investigation essential for the determination of any 
 conclusions affecting criminals at large. It is also observed 
 even by those who admire him greatly, like Dr. Pauline Tar- 
 nowsky, that he is too apt to rear air castles of assumption on 
 a few stepping stones of fact. 
 
 M. Proal is particularly cutting in his remarks. "Some 
 writers belonging to the school of criminal anthropology have 
 claimed that the criminal woman revealed her character by 
 exterior signs. 'That which distinguishes,' says Dr. Lom- 
 broso, 'female criminals from normal women and especially 
 from mad women, is the extreme abundance of the hair; in 39 
 out of 122 I have not found a single one bald, and out of 122 
 3 murderers only had their hair prematurely whitened.' [The 
 Criminal Man, p. 238.] Let women who have abundant hair 
 remain reassured, and let those who are bald not be in any 
 hurry to attribute to themselves a monopoly of virtue. The 
 verifications of Dr. Lombroso are explained quite simply by 
 the fact that female prisoners in general are almost always 
 
360 OUB RIVAL, THE RAHCAL. 
 
 young. Dr. Lombroso notes, also, as an indication of crimi- 
 nality, the black color of the hair. Black hair is, according to 
 him, more common than fair hair among criminal women. 
 What is there astonishing in this, since the criminal women 
 who were the subject of his observations were Italians? If 
 Dr. Lombroso had examined the women of the North, would 
 he not have observed, in the case of criminal women, more 
 with fair hair than with black hair? ihis pretended type of 
 criminal woman drawn from the abundance and color of the 
 hair is really drawn by the hair and from pure fancy. 
 
 "After affirming the existence of the criminal type. Dr. 
 Lombroso acknowledges that the characters that constitute 
 this type are only met with forty times out of the hundred. If, 
 by his own confession, there is a deficit of sixty per cent, what 
 sort of a criminal type can that be which does not exist among 
 the large number of criminals? The characters Dr. Lombroso 
 claims to have observed in criminals cannot constitute a special 
 type, since they are lacking in sixty per cent of these same 
 criminals. Dr. Lombroso has tried to answer this objection. 
 'Besides, that forty per cent is not to be disdained, the insensible 
 passage from one character to another is manifested in all 
 organic beings; the passage even from one species to another 
 is manifested, a fortiori; it is so in the anthropological field, 
 where individual variability, growing in proportion to its 
 capacity for perfection and civilization, seems to efface the 
 complete type. Out of 100 Italians, for example, it is hard to 
 find five who present the type of race.' [Preface, p. xiii.] 
 This reply is anything but satisfactory. An authority on 
 anthropology, M. Topinard, declares that it contains almost as 
 many errors as words." (Revue d'Anthropologie, 15 Nov., 
 1887.) 
 
 Besides the alleged deviations from the normal types of 
 women which are noted by Dr. Lombroso, it is remarked by 
 him and other distinguished criminalists that certain habits are 
 characteristic of the criminal woman, "The born criminal," 
 
THE CRIMINAL WOMAN. 
 
 361 
 
 says Lombroso, "constantly endeavors to prepare a preventive 
 alibi or proof of innocence; but her ideas, however ingenious, 
 are often ill-adapted for their purpose." "The female delin- 
 quent," observes Rykere, "is more sophistical and argumenta- 
 tive than her male prototype. She finds pretexts and excuses 
 which astonish one by their fantasticality and strangeness." 
 Pasteur Arboux remarks, "not only do women, when they fall 
 into crime, fall deeper than men, but they lie with greater 
 coherence and audacity. They are bolder in the stories which 
 they tell and more hypocritical." 
 
 These observations appear to be, on the whole, well sus- 
 tained by facts. A frank admission of guilt will often be made 
 by male thieves, when they are caught in the act of stealing or 
 when they know that the evidence against them is overwhelm- 
 ing. But it is exceedingly rare for a criminal woman to admit 
 that she has consciously committed any offence against the 
 law. When silk, laces or any other valuables are extracted 
 from a female shoplifter's bag, by arresting ofificers, she will 
 volubly protest that she has bought the goods, and defy the 
 police to prove that they have been stolen. As experienced 
 shoplifters try to destroy as quickly as possible any mark of 
 identification, it is sometimes a matter of great difificulty to 
 convict such thieves, although it may be morally certain that 
 their pretences are lies. 
 
 Even when the stolen goods can be readily traced and 
 identifilsd, the professional woman shoplifter or pickpocket 
 will stubbornly maintain her innocence with every resource of 
 counterfeit indignation or plaintive appeal, or mock bewilder- 
 ment. She cannot account for the presence of the "swag" in 
 her pocket or bag. Somebody must have slipped the pocket- 
 book or handkerchief or gloves or lace into her bag, to escape 
 the detection of the poHce or for the wicked purpose of bring- 
 ing her to shame. Some enemy, some persecutor, is secretly 
 following her and trying to send her to prison maliciously. 
 This pretence of persecution is a staple resource, even when 
 
362 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 it is clearly preposterous, and it will be supplemented by a 
 dogged protest that she didn't know that any stolen article was 
 on her person. She never took anything that didn't belong to 
 her; but if she had picked a pocket or pilfered from a counter, 
 she was absolutely unconscious or irresponsible. The plea of 
 kleptomania will be made by the most hardened professional 
 thief, as a last resource, with the utmost glibness and brazen 
 assurance. If tears, shrieks and hysterics are thought to be of 
 any service in bolstering up this pretence, they will be furnished 
 with even more facility than is shown in cases of probable 
 mania. 
 
 So even the most notorious and hardened offenders will in- 
 sist, before conviction and after, that they are really persecuted 
 and innocent women. Some of the keener-witted will perhaps 
 admit that their lives have not always been correct in past years, 
 but they will unflinchingly maintain that they have reformed; 
 or, at least, that they have not committed the particular offence 
 with which they are charged. The characteristics and 
 methods of the criminal woman, — the adventuress, the black- 
 mailer, the swindler, the shoplifter, the pickpocket, — will be 
 most distinctly shown in typical instances. 
 
 As a study for criminalists and in the general interest attach- 
 ing to her character and life "Sophie" Lyons is unquestionably 
 in the forefront of living women. She is the offspring of gen- 
 erations of criminals. Her line of descent has been traced into 
 the last century, and it may be possible to follow it farther with 
 certainty. Her grandfather was a noted English burglar 
 named Elkins. She used to boast that he was "a cracksman to 
 whom Scotland Yard took off its cap." Her father and mother 
 came to this country from England before she was born. 
 Both were professional thieves and blackmailers. They made 
 their home in New York where their daughter Sophie was 
 born. It is credibly reported that she was trained to steal as 
 soon as she was able ^o toddle about alone. She was arrested 
 for shoplifting when she was only twelve years old. Her 
 
 %.• 
 
THE CRIMJXAL WO MAS. 
 
 363 
 
 father and brother were then in the same prison in New Jersey 
 for blackmaihng. Her mother was in a New York peniten- 
 tiary for shopHfting. Her elder sister was in prison on Black- 
 well's Island as the keeper of a disorderly house. 
 
 When she was sixteen years old, she married Maury Harris, 
 a professional pickpocket. Before her short honeymoon was 
 over, her husband was caught in the act of picking a pocket 
 and sent to the state prison for two years. It is presumed that 
 she obtained a divorce, though she was not likely to stickle at 
 the commission of bigamy, for within two years she took a 
 second husband. This privileged partner was Edward Lyons, 
 at that time on the lower rounds of the ladder of ill fame 
 which he afterwards mounted as "Ned" Lyons, the notorious 
 burglar whose portrait has been given on a representative page, 
 Lyons was then an uncommonly good looking rascal, not yet 
 thirty years old, and his bride, Sophie, is described by those 
 who knew her well as an exceedingly beautiful girl, with bril- 
 liant dark eyes and auburn hair that flowed to her feet when 
 shaken from its coils. 
 
 The young couple came to Boston in 1866 and made their 
 home for a year or two at a lodging house in the North End. 
 They probably would have prolonged their stay if the young 
 wife had not been caught picking pockets at a cattle fair in 
 Portsmouth, N. H., on one of her pleasure trips from the city. 
 She was then only nineteen years old, but her phenomenal 
 talent as an actress was already far developed. She could 
 mould her face to every shade of emotion. She could make 
 her eyes, at will, a fountain of tears. She treated her captors 
 to a moving display of her art. She was by turns horror- 
 struck, proudly indignant, heart-broken and convulsed with 
 hysterics. Who could press a charge against such a blushing, 
 trembling, sobbing, young beauty, piteously claiming that it 
 was a dreadful mistake, painting the agony of her dear hus- 
 band and parents at the bare suspicion of her spotless inno- 
 cence, and subtly hinting at the grave censure that would 
 
364 - '^^R RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 surely fall on her maligners? It was her shrewd calculation 
 that the authorities in charge of her case would prefer to let it 
 drop quietly, and so they did. Either conclusive evidence was 
 lacking, or it was judged to be an unusually clear case of 
 kleptomania, for the artful "Sophie" was suffered to dis- 
 appear. 
 
 It is well known that her diversions of pocket-picking and 
 shop lifting were for years directly contrary to the desires and 
 commands of her husband. He was himself a burglar, it is 
 true, but he was passionately in love with his beautiful wife and 
 would have been glad to keep her beyond any possible risk of 
 arrest. His own plunder was sufficient to support her luxur- 
 iously, and he was ready to gratify her slightest whim, but he 
 could not control her apparent passion for stealing. Day aftei 
 day she would dangle before his eyes the fruits of her ramble 
 through the streets and shops, — handkerchiefs, gloves, laces, 
 pins and bracelets. She would pick up anything that caught 
 her fancy for the moment, without any apparent discrimination 
 in the measure of value, or any consideration of the stock oi 
 trinkets which she had at home. 
 
 In 1869, about a year after her performance at Portsmouth, 
 her husband took a leading part in the great robbery of the 
 Ocean Bank in New York, in company with Max Shinburn 
 and other burglars of note. Lyons had a large share of the 
 booty, but it melted away like snow in the mist. He bought a 
 villa on Long Island and begged his wife to live on his stolen 
 fortune without dabbling in petty thefts. A son was born to 
 them, and he hoped that the tiny hands of the baby might hold 
 his mother at home. Btit when her baby was only six months 
 old, "Sophie" Lyons was caught stealing in a New York 
 jewelry store. By her artful pretences she escaped with a 
 light sentence of six months on Blackwell's Island, but her 
 home was broken up and her child was put in the care oi 
 friends. 
 
 In 1870, while she was in the penitentiary on the island, her 
 
"SOPHIE" LYONS. 
 
 BERTHA HBYMAN. 
 
 "MOLLIB" HOEY. 
 
 LOUISA JOORDAN. 
 
THE CRIMINAL WOMAX. 
 
 365 
 
 husband with three other notorious burglars robbed a bank 
 in Waterford, New York, and was soon after arrested, con- 
 victed, and sent to Sing Sing for seven years. Before a year 
 of his sentence had expired, his wife was under the same prison 
 roof. After her discharge from the Blackwell's Island peni- 
 tentiary, she made an alliance with "Old Mother Mandelbaum," 
 and was caught while shoplifting in New York city. Goods 
 from two of the largest stores were extracted from her cloth- 
 ing; and, as the stolen property was valued at more than a 
 thousand dollars, she was convicted of grand larceny and sent 
 to Sing Sing for five years. But even in the state prison she 
 was not at the end of her wily resources. 
 
 In December, 1871, a suit of citizen's clothes was smuggled 
 into Sing Sing by confederates of Lyons, and the burglar con- 
 trived to slip on this suit in place of his convict's dress. Then 
 he found a way to escape by hiding himself in a wagon which 
 carried him away from the prison to liberty. As soon as he 
 was at large he began to plot for the escape of his wife. After 
 some months he succeeded in opening communication with 
 her and devised a plan to take her out of prison. 
 
 It is reported that she was employed in housework by the 
 warden, and it is evident that she was not confined to a cell. 
 For, one winter night, she was standing close to the outer door 
 in the warden's house, when her husband drove up to the 
 prison in a sleigh with a companion equally daring. Lyons 
 rang the bell at the warden's door sharply, and his wife an- 
 swered the call. He threw a blanket over her head, caught 
 her up in his arms and carried her to his sleigh. His com- 
 panion whipped up the horses and the fugitives sped away. 
 Their escape was made in a driving snow storm which hid 
 them flying and covered their tracks. There is some variance 
 in its reported details of this escape. According to one 
 account she slipped out of the female prison when the guard 
 opened the door to receive a basket of fruit for a sick convict. 
 But there is no question of the main matter of fact. The 
 
366 
 
 OUR ItlTAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 fugitives escaped to Canada and from there to Europe. They 
 came back steahhily and Lyons went into business as a 
 diamond broker in Montreal. This was probably a cover for 
 his regular occupation, and when he had only a little money 
 left of his plunder, he undertook to fill his pockets with the 
 help of his wife by picking pockets at a country fair in northern 
 Xew York. Here they were caught by Brooklyn detectives 
 and Lyons was sent back to Sing Sing; but his wife escaped on 
 the plea that she had been kidnapped at the prison and that the 
 time of her sentence had expired. There is little doubt that 
 the melodramatic show of forcible abduction from Sing Sing 
 had been planned cunningly to clear her of the charge of at- 
 tempting to escape, in case the bold venture had failed. 
 
 Soon after her release she became an adventuress of the 
 most dangerous type. She made her so-called home in 
 Detroit, but roved over Michigan to levy blackmail and sub- 
 sequently extended her raids to Cincinnati, Boston, and other 
 Eastern cities. She was faithless to her husband, and, after his 
 release from Sing Sing, they had a series of bitter quarrels, 
 ending in final separation. Then for some years she roamed 
 over this country and Europe in the pursuit of shoplifting and 
 blackmailing, and once, for the sake of variety, undertaking a 
 lecturing tour. Although she was repeatedly arrested, her 
 craft usually saved her from conviction, even when she joined 
 gangs of notorious bank sneaks as related in a former 
 chapter. She made repeated trips to Europe and under 
 various assumed names reaped harvests of plunder. But with 
 advancing years her remarkable beauty faded away. She be- 
 came addicted to the opium habit and dissipation marked her 
 face indelibly. Of late years she has had little opportunity for 
 plundering, for her face is so well known in all large cities in 
 this country and Europe that she is constantly watched, if she 
 is not arrested at sight. 
 
 She still has considerable means at her command, and her 
 money is fully spent in behalf of her surviving children. Her 
 
THE CRIMIXAL WOMAN. 
 
 367 
 
 oldest boy died in Auburn prison, and several other children 
 died in early childhood. But she has two living daughters 
 who have been educated in fine schools in Canada and France. 
 She said a few years ago in regard to them: "They have never 
 known me to use a profane word or allow a drop of liquor in 
 the house. All they know bad about me is what they hear, and 
 as I know I can't always keep them in ignorance of what I 
 am, I don't try to hide anything from them." It appears 
 to be a matter of fact that she has spared no expense 
 in training her daughters to become good and accom- 
 plished women. So far as is known her efforts have been suc- 
 cessful. If their lives continue to be unsullied by crime, it will 
 surely be a signal testimonial to the preponderant force of en- 
 vironment in determining careers. Moreover, the fact of the 
 exercise of such motherly love and care is a marked exception 
 to the sweeping assumption of Lombroso that women who are 
 criminals usually have little of the maternal instinct. It affords 
 also a specific instance of the weakness particularly noted in 
 the method of this distinguished professor, his neglect to verify 
 the statements which he accepts and announces as if they were 
 indisputable truths. "Sophie Lyons," he says, "though very 
 rich, abandoned her children when she fled from America, leav- 
 ing them dependent on public charity." He was obviously too 
 ready to adopt a rumor to bolster up a theory. 
 
 His general observation touching this remarkable woman is 
 more nearly correct. "She must have possessed a very 
 superior intelligence. She enriched herself by robbery in 
 America and came to Europe to continue the same system out 
 of sheer love of it. Arrested in flagrante by the police of 
 Paris, she succeeded in obtaining her liberty through the inter- 
 cession of the British and American ambassadors." 
 
 It is a fact that "Sophie" Lyons was arrested in Paris for 
 picking pockets in July, 1888, and it is also a fact that her artful 
 pretences secured her release, for her masquerade as "Mme. 
 de Varnev," was apparently too well sustained to be pene- 
 
^68 OUT? RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 trated even by the keen examining magistrate, although the 
 chief of detectives was not deceived, and identified her soon 
 after her discharge. But for the special intercession of the 
 ambassadors, we must leave Dr. Lombroso to vouch. 
 
 Bertha He3'man, who has acquired the title of "The Confi- 
 dence Queen," by her swindling operations in this country, is 
 another remarkable woman of known criminal parentage. 
 She was born in a village near Posen in Prussia. Her father 
 was a forger with a convict's record. Her family name was 
 Schlesinger, but, when she came to this country twenty years 
 ago, she was married to an immigrant named Karko. 
 
 Soon after her arrival she made herself notorious as a so- 
 called "confidence" woman. Her common practice was to 
 obtain loans vtpon worthless checks, bonds and safe deposit 
 receipts for packages alleged to contain jewelry and other 
 valuables. She was so crafty and ingratiating that she victim- 
 ized men and women of all classes, from the mechanic with 
 hard earned savings to wealthy brokers and bankers. She 
 was so utterly unscrupulous and grasping that she would set 
 her trap for the poorest immigrant with no less pains, aprpar- 
 ently, than the snare for the largest capitalist. After leaving 
 her first husband she married again and acquired the name of 
 Heyman, under which she is most widely known, though she 
 has borrowed the name of Stanley and other imposing fictions 
 for various character parts. 
 
 In the conduct of her greater swindles she has spent money 
 lavishly to bolster up her pretences. Her dresses and jewelry 
 have been superb, and of the latest fashion. She has taken the 
 most expensive sviites at the best hotels in the country, and 
 used every art to make the acquaintance of people of wealth 
 and social standing. When she had callers, she would con- 
 trive to receive exquisite baskets of flowers bearing the counter- 
 feit cards and compliments of various leaders in fashionable 
 society, which would naturally impress her visitors with her 
 exalted standing in the ranks of the "Four Hundred." When 
 
THE (RIMIXAL WoMAX. 
 
 369 
 
 the bills for these baskets were sent in by the trustful florists, 
 she was usually masquerading in some distant city. 
 
 When her son was old enough to serve as an apprentice in 
 her confidence games, she employed him as a ''stool-pigeon" ; 
 and, in the negotiations for the disposal of the hand of her heir 
 in marriage, she was able to entrap a number of parents seek- 
 ing rich sons-in-law. He was accustomed, also, to collect 
 diamond rings and other costly trinkets from the young ladies 
 of his acquaintance, upon his obliging ofler to have the jewels 
 reset in the latest fashion ; but the owners grew weary of wait- 
 ing for the return of their jewels. Sometimes the perform- 
 ance was varied by the substitution of the confidence queen for 
 her son, in the negotiation for a marriage. After the engage- 
 ment of the mother, her rascally son would contrive to borrow 
 enough from his prospective father-in-law to fill his pockets, 
 and then the engagement would be heartlessly broken by the 
 "confidence queen." 
 
 This dangerous swindler is now so notorious that her range 
 of fleecing has been greatly restricted. She has been an in- 
 mate of several penitentiaries and jails, and has been forced to 
 seek cover, of late years, as the conductress of cheap variety 
 shows and other petty business. 
 
 It is to be regretted that it has not been practicable to trace 
 with any certainty the parentage of a third member of the 
 group of noted criminals, whose portraits appear on an accom- 
 panying page. Mary Holbrook, alias "Mollie Hoey," has been 
 reckoned the most adroit and sly female thief in this country. 
 It is reported that her maiden name was Mary Williams, and 
 ' she is said to have been born in Boston, although her first 
 appearance as a criminal was made in Chicago thirty years 
 ago. She was the consort there of a notorious gambler and 
 burglar, named George Holbrook, who was shot dead in the 
 attempt to escape from the jail in Hennepin, Illinois. With 
 two companion prisoners he succeeded in tunnelling under 
 the walls of the jail, and undertook to crawl through the nar- 
 
,-n OUJ{ RIVAL, THE RAtiCAL. 
 
 row passage. As soon as his head appeared above ground, he 
 was shot by a watchful guard, and his companions prudently- 
 crawled back into prison. 
 
 Shortly after his funeral "Mary Holbrook" married "Jimmy" 
 Hoey, a young pickpocket, and acquired her familiar name of 
 ''Mollic Hoey." She soon became a far more expert thief 
 then her husband, but, in 1870, she was caught in the act of 
 picking the pocket of a woman in Chicago. She was per- , 
 mitted to give a bond which she promptl)' "jumped." It was 
 learned that she had gone to New York, and she was arrested 
 in that city at the request of the Chicago authorities. 
 
 On her return to Chicago, in charge of an officer, she con- 
 trived to bolt out of the train, when it stopped, for a moment, at 
 a station in Canada; and raised an outcry that she had been 
 kidnapped on a trumped-up charge. Her ruse succeeded, for 
 the officer had no authorit}' to arrest her in Canada. After her 
 escape she returned to New York and resumed her labors as 
 a pickpocket and shoplifter in close confederacy with "Old 
 Mother Mandelbaum." 
 
 In April, 1878, she was arrested in Boston for picking the 
 pocket of a lady, and was placed under bonds, which she 
 "jumped," as a matter of course. Five years later, in the spring 
 of 1883, she was again arrested in Boston, for the theft of 
 pocket books from shopping bags. When she noticed that 
 she was watched, she thrust her hand through the lining of 
 her pocket like a flash, but the movement did not escape the 
 e)'e of the watching detective. A considerable sum of money 
 and a receipt from an express company were extracted from 
 the lining of her dress skirt. For this performance she 
 was sent to the House of Correction for a ^'car, and 
 as she stepped from the jail in February, 1884, she 
 \\as arrested upon a requisition from the governor of 
 New York. Two years before she had been convicted of steal- 
 ing a pocket book in New ^'ork and sentenced to five years 
 imprisonment. Her counsel appealed the case and, pending 
 
THE CRIMINAL WOMAN. 071 
 
 the appeal, she was admitted to bail. As soon as she was re- 
 leased by giving bonds, she made the excursion to Boston 
 which ended in the House of Correction. While in this prison, 
 her sentence in New York had been confirmed by the court of 
 appeals, and New York officers were in readiness to take 
 charge of her as soon as her sentence in Massachusetts expired. 
 She was escorted to the New York state penitentiary to serve 
 out the term of her sentence. 
 
 As she suspected that her ally, "Old Mother Mandelbaum," 
 ^ had furnished evidence to convict her, she proceeded to re- 
 tort from her prison cell by helping to expose the crookedness 
 of the old receiver. In consideration of her service, she was 
 pardoned by the governor, and promptly made use of her 
 liberty to pick pockets in Chicago dry goods stores. She was 
 caught in the act and when she was admitted to bail, she 
 "jumped" her bonds, and departed to Cleveland. Here she 
 was arrested in September, 1886, while carrying of? a camel's 
 hair shawl from a leading dry goods store. While awaiting 
 trial she was confined in the county jail. 
 
 One evening in October, less than three weeks after her 
 entrance into the jail, the turnkey was pained to observe a hole 
 cut through the wall, at one side of a window, in the women's 
 apartment on the first floor. Some twenty bricks had been 
 taken from the wall and the thick window casing had been 
 roughly cut off for a length of about fifteen inches. There 
 were no bricks or fragments of mortar on the floor, but the 
 missing part of the wall was later discovered in a vacant cell 
 in the fourth tier. The hole was only about 15x8 inches, but 
 it was big enough for Mollie Hoey to crawl through and 
 escape, in company with a boy who helped her. She left lying 
 on the floor a pair of shears with one of the handles broken 
 off. That was not an ideal tool for cutting through a brick 
 wall and a heavy wire netting, but it served her turn. The hole 
 was neatly covered with a piece of dirty, light-gray oil-cloth, 
 which closely matched the color of the walls of the apartment. 
 
272 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 There was a hot pursuit, but the lost "MoUie Hoey" had 
 found cover. The latest trace of her was given by a hackmari 
 who reported at a city police station that a woman had taken 
 his carriage for a short drive. She had come running up to 
 him, with a shawl wrapped about her head, and told him that 
 she was running awa)- from a drunken husband who had been 
 beating her. Her face and hands were badly bruised and 
 scratched, and the hackman did not question the story. So he 
 drove her to a certain street corner, where she told him to stop. 
 She had some silver tied up in a handkerchief, from which she 
 took a dollar and paid her fare. Then she stepped out of the 
 hack and walked quickly away. 
 
 It is reported that she was actually in a house in Cleveland, 
 on the night of her escape, when the police came up to search 
 it. She was having her hair cut when the officers broke in, 
 but she had time to push a plank out of the window to the roof 
 of the next house and scramble across. Then she pulled the 
 plank to the roof and hid herself until the search was over. 
 She then contrived to escape from the city by putting on the 
 suit of a common laborer and coolly walking on board the 
 boat for Detroit, in her disguise. Her hair was cut short and 
 she was smoking a clay pipe with such relish that no looker 
 on suspected that this counterfeit of a man was the notorious 
 "Mollie Hoey." According to the most probable report, this 
 really remarkable thief is now picking pockets on the other 
 side of the Atlantic. 
 
 On the same page with these noted criminals appears the 
 portrait of Louise Jourdan, alias "Little Louise," who is dis- 
 credited by a reputation as a pickpocket that is hardly second 
 to that of '"Mollie" Hoey. She was born in England where 
 her father kept a public-house, and was sent to prison for 
 larceny when she was a young girl. L'pon her discharge she 
 secured a place as a maid for a wealthy Spanish lady and ac- 
 companied her to Brazil. Here she found an opportunity to 
 steal the diamonds of her mistress, but was arrested and sen- 
 
MARION L. DOW. 
 
 MARX BDSBY. 
 
 MARGARET BROWN. 
 
 ELIZABETH DILLON. 
 
THE CRIMINAL }yoMAy. 
 
 tenced to receive forty lashes at the whipping post. ' From 
 Brazil she came to this country, and soon made herself noto- 
 rious as a pickpocket and shoplifter in all the principal cities 
 of the Eastern states, in company with "Lizzie" Myers, "Black 
 Amelia" and other expert thieves. She married in succession 
 a number of professional pickpockets, bank sneaks and 
 burglars, and her last known husband was the notorious "Big- 
 Tom" Biglow. When he died in 1886, she put in a claim as 
 his widow to property which was estimated to amount to over 
 $100,000. It is not known how this claim was settled, but of 
 late years the widow has contrived to keep under cover. She 
 has always dressed well, and her gentle, quiet manners have 
 enabled her to ;iiingle in crowds without exciting suspicion, 
 and prosecute her dexterous thefts. 
 
 Upon a second page are given the portraits of four other 
 typical criminals. Marion L. Dow can probably boast of having 
 assumed more names and characters than any other woman 
 who has not been a professional actress. Her original name 
 as a baby is said to have been Marion Grass, and her birthplace 
 was a town in New Brunswick. Her first appearance in the 
 United States was made in 1870, when she had acquired the 
 name of Warren by marriage. Both her husband and herself 
 had the reputation of being swindlers, in Boston, where they 
 resided for some years; but they contrived to escape con- 
 viction. 
 
 After a few years the husband died and Marion Warren soon 
 changed her name by marriage to a second husband named 
 Dow. His death soon followed, and the widow took a lodging 
 house as a cover for her swindling operations. In 1875 she 
 attempted to negotiate a loan from a Boston bank upon a 
 "raised" certificate of railroad stock, and when the forgery 
 was detected, she fled to St. John, New Brunswick. Here she 
 was soon arrested for attempting to pass a forged check. 
 There was a disagreement of the jury sitting at her first trial 
 and, before the second came on, she "jumped" her bail and fled 
 
374 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 to Chicago. Flere she took another lodging house to cover 
 her swindhng under the name of Ware. 
 
 In 1880 she determined to extend her operations by opening 
 a brokerage office in New York, at first in the name of Marion 
 E. Warren, which she expanded by personating the characters 
 of Carrie R. West and Carrie R. McDowell. After swindling 
 her gulls to the extent of about $40,000, she found that New- 
 York was becoming so hot that she transferred her brokerage 
 office to Philadelphia, where she furnished a suite of apart- 
 ments with costly and elegant fittings and all the appurtenances 
 of a wealthy broker. She announced her intention of operating 
 exclusively for the accommodation of speculative ladies, and 
 sent out enticing circulars, guaranteeing her customers 
 against any loss in consideration of one-half the profits of their 
 investments. This assurance was so satisfactory that she 
 reaped a large harvest from confiding women, many of whom 
 put their entire savings into her hands. When the crash came, 
 the widow, Marion L. Dow, as she called herself, failed to 
 clear herself of the charge of swindling and was sent to 
 Moyamensing Prison. 
 
 After some months of confinement she secured her release 
 upon some technical error in the proceedings against her. 
 Soon she took a third husband in the person of one Royal 
 La Touche, who had just been discharged from prison. M. 
 La Touche went to Sing Sing in 1883 upon conviction for 
 bigamy, and as his wife desired another husband, she espoused 
 one James E. McDonald. 
 
 In the fall of 1883, she opened a "Ladies Investment Bureau" 
 in Xew ^ork, under the name of Carrie E. Morse, Among 
 her victims was a widow with four children, whom she left 
 completely destitute. In recognition of these swindling 
 operations, Mrs. "Morse" was sent to prison for two years, 
 and as soon as she was discharged she went into the swindling 
 brokerage business again in New York, as "Mme. Marion La 
 Touche." This time she promised a sure return of $50 per 
 
THE CRIMIXAL WOMAX. ,75 
 
 month to any lady who would confide to her $300 for mvest- 
 ment. She was again arrested, but was ultimately discharged 
 by order of the court. It is not known under what name she 
 is masquerading to-day. 
 
 Margaret Brown, better known as "Old Mother Hubbard," 
 has been a thief from her earliest childhood, and her face is now 
 familiar to detectives of ever}- large city in this country. 
 For nearly sixty years she has been roaming from city to city, 
 as a pickpocket and shoplifter, and her successive sentences to 
 prison have been of no avail to deter her from stealing as soon 
 as she was free to use her hands for this purpose. Anything 
 within reach which she could put in her pocket or bag has 
 been a prize to her, and she was apparently willing to run the 
 same risk for a pair of stockings as for a plump pocket book. 
 Her usual dress on the streets has been black silk, which she 
 has carefully kept from any stain or soiling. Once, when 
 arrested in Boston, she wore a plain calico dress under the 
 silk, and, after she had been searched, she coolly requested 
 permission to put on her calico dress over the silk to preserve 
 her professional costume from any defacement when not in 
 actual use. Mary Busby and Elizabeth Dillon are women of 
 the same class and like career, representing the apparently in- 
 corrigible professional thieves, who can only be restrained 
 eflfectually by permanent confinement. 
 
THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 IN "Le Monde des Prisons," the work of the Abbe Moreau, 
 formerly chaplain of the prison of Grande-Roquette, the 
 author quotes from the letter of a robber this savage pre- 
 scription for the solution of the criminal problem. "I have 
 little faith in the reformation of professional robbers and 
 thieves. One who has stolen will steal ; one who has killed will 
 kill; just as one who has drunk will drink, — and if I should 
 advise the government, it would be to shoot every one of us 
 through the head or to throw us all into the sea with cannon 
 balls tied to our legs — all of us comrades in crime and brothers 
 by blood. Repentance or change in our manner of living 
 almost never takes place." 
 
 Our civilization shrinks in horror from this barbaric way of 
 cutting the knot which so many good people have gropingly 
 sought to untie. But it is needful not merely to hold up our 
 hands in protest against barbaric suggestions, but to apply our 
 best brains as well as our hands to a task of imperative public 
 concern — the attainment of the best feasible method for the 
 repression and diminution of crime. 
 
 We are glad to recognize the great advances which have 
 been made during the present century in the treatment of 
 criminals in all civilized countries. The hungry child who 
 steals a loaf of bread from the counter of a baker is no longer 
 penned up with burglars and murderers. By the institution 
 of progressive reformatories, houses of correction, and sep- 
 arate prisons for men and women, — the leading countries of 
 the world have gone far toward making adequate provision for 
 the separation, classification and treatment of criminals while 
 actually confined at the charge of the state. Philanthropists 
 
THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS.- 377 
 
 to-day can make few just complaints of the inhumanity of 
 prison officials or, even, of callous indifference to the condi- 
 tion of the convicts under their charge. In the fittings of 
 American state prisons, in the quality and quantity of food sup- 
 plied to prisoners, in the variation of employments and in the 
 interpretation in practice of sentences at hard labor, — such 
 painstaking regard is shown for the comfort of convicts that 
 it is sharply questioned by some experienced observers 
 whether this humane consideration has not overstepped the 
 rational and proper Hne by making sentences to prison too 
 little dreaded by habitual criminals. 
 
 It is certain that the general treatment of criminals in the 
 prisons of Europe is more severe than the course generally 
 followed in American prisons; but it is the judgment of author- 
 ities of such undoubted weight as President Brinkerhoff of the 
 National Prison Association, that the results of the severer 
 European method show no advantage over those obtained 
 from our American system of treatment. There has been of 
 late years, however, a marked resolution in a number of the 
 states of this country to emphasize heavily the distinction be- 
 tween the hardened professional criminal and the offender 
 who has yielded to temptation and marred a life of integrity 
 by a single criminal act. It has been judged to be unwise for 
 society and undiscriminating in the treatment of law-breakers, 
 to allot the same penalty for a breach of the law by a person 
 who has otherwise a good record and by one who has repeat- 
 edly broken the law and demonstrated his purpose to prey 
 upon his fellow man. The habitual criminal is a continual 
 menace to the just security of law-abiding citizens. He con- 
 strains the establishment and maintenance of safeguards 
 which are yearly becoming more costly and burdensome. He 
 conflicts with the elemental purposes of social organization. 
 It seems clearly preposterous to permit such a public enemy to 
 carry on his warfare with occasional brief interruptions as long 
 as he has a plotting brain and molesting hands. 
 
378 
 
 OUR RIVXL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 This conclusion has been readied and practically incor- 
 porated in the legislation of Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts and 
 other states touching habitual criminals. Largely througli 
 the able advocacy and persistent effort of Hon. Clement K. 
 Fay, one of the prison commissioners of Massachusetts, ten 
 years ago, the legislature of this state passed an act to pro- 
 vide for the punishment of habitual criminals, which became a 
 law by the approval of the governor, June i6, 1887. This act 
 was so carefully and judiciously drawn that it certainly has not 
 operated to imprison any one as an habitual criminal who has 
 not been incontestably a member of that class of public 
 enemies. Its provisions are as follows: 
 
 "Section i. Whoever has been twice convicted of crime, 
 sentenced and committed to prison, in this or any other state, 
 or once in this and once at least in any other state, for terms of 
 not less than three years each, shall, upon conviction of a 
 felony committed in this state after the passage of this act, be 
 deemed to be an habitual criminal, and shall be punished by 
 imprisonment in the state prison for twenty-five years, pro- 
 vided, however, that if the person so convicted shall show to the 
 satisfaction of the court before which such conviction was had 
 that he was released from imprisonment upon either of said 
 sentences, upon a pardon granted upon the ground that he 
 was innocent, such conviction and sentence shall not be con- 
 sidered as such under this act. 
 
 "Section 2. When it shall appear to the governor and council 
 that any person sentenced to the state prison as an habitual 
 criminal has reformed, they may issue to him a permit to be at 
 liberty during the remainder of his term of sentence, upon such 
 conditions as they deem best; and they may revoke said per- 
 mit at any time previous to its expiration. The violation by 
 the holder of a permit, granted as aforesaid, of any of the terms 
 or conditions of such permit, or the violation of any of the laws 
 of this Commonwealth, shall of itself make void said permit. 
 
 "Section 3. When any permit granted under the provisions of 
 
THE TREATMEWT OP CRIMIXALi^. oyg 
 
 the preceding section has been revoked, or has become void as 
 aforesaid, the governor shall issue his warrant authorizing the 
 arrest of the holder of said permit and his return to said state 
 prison. Said warrant may be served by any officer authorized 
 to serve criminal process in any county in this Commonwealth. 
 The holder of said permit, when returned to said state prison 
 as aforesaid, shall be detained therein according to the terms 
 of his original sentence; and in computkig the period of his 
 confinement the time between his release upon said permit and 
 his return to the state prison shall not be taken to be any part 
 of the term of the sentence." 
 
 It is doubtless better to err in legislation affecting criminals 
 on the side of lenity rather than on that of undue severity; and 
 it has been clearly pointed out by Mr. Fay that many notorious 
 professional criminals have escaped indictment under this act 
 by reason of its specification of the terms of previous sentences. 
 A habitual criminal who had a record of several terms of 
 imprisonment could not be prosecuted under this act unless 
 two of the terms were for three years each or longer. But the 
 act has been, nevertheless, of far reaching benefit to the state 
 from the deterrent effect which it has undoubtedly exercised 
 on the commission of felonies as well as on the entrance of 
 criminals from other states. From the point of view of the 
 reformer also, a sentence to a long term, which may be re- 
 duced upon the demonstration of amendment of character and 
 conduct, is practically essential to the production of any con- 
 siderable change in hardened criminals. Dr. E. C. Wines 
 expresses the general judgment when he says that long sen- 
 tences are "indispensable for reformation." 
 
 It is true that this law is very much disliked by habitual 
 criminals, but that fact does not operate to condemn it in the 
 eyes of good citizens, if the criminal has no better justification 
 for his dislike than the consideration that the law may prevent 
 him from robbing his neighbors for a period of twenty-five 
 years. The same criminal is equally disgusted with the appli- 
 
38o 
 
 OL'h' NIVAL. THE RA!<VA.L. 
 
 cation of the Bertillon system to prevent him from conceahng 
 his identity from the poHce and the courts; but the extension 
 of this system has rapidly progressed in spite of his objections. 
 In Ohio and Ilhnois the punishment of habitual criminals is 
 imprisonment for life; and, if it is certain that these criminals 
 are incorrigible, no solid reason can be urged against a life- 
 long restraint from stealing, robbing, blackmailing or mur- 
 dering. 
 
 In this conclusion it is immaterial whether their criminal 
 proclivities and characteristics are derived from those of the 
 primitive man, as Lombroso contends, or inherited from their 
 parents and grandparents, or acquired through debasing en- 
 vironment or any other source or impulse. Even should it be 
 demonstrated that any such criminal is morally or mentally 
 irresponsible, it is none the less proper and necessary that he 
 should be restrained from preying upon society. The investi- 
 gations of Dugdale and others who have gone far toward 
 demonstrating that crime is largely the result of a diseased 
 condition of mind and body, do not operate to impair the right 
 of society to protect itself against the commission of crimes by 
 anybody, whether he be insane or sane, diseased or healthy. 
 If expert examiners should determine, for example, that Oliver 
 Curtis Perry, the remarkable train robber, has been of un- 
 sound mind for years and is now unquestionably insane, it is 
 none the less certain that he should be strictly confined. An 
 insane criminal is likely to be even more dangerous than a sane 
 criminal, and there should certainly be no less restraint of his 
 freedom to molest society. 
 
 It is, however, undoubtedly the duty of our enlightened 
 civilization to pursue the investigation of the causes of crime 
 with the best ability which it can command, and to govern its 
 treatment of criminals in accordance with its advancing 
 knowledge. It has already separated and classified criminals 
 to accord with distinctions of age, sex and degree of crimi- 
 nality. It has further sought to distinguish the insane from 
 
THE MAKING OF VUIMINALH. 
 
 381 
 
 the sane criminal, and provided asylums for the treatment of 
 those criminals who are adjudged to be lunatics or idiots. 
 But it has not yet gone far in the extension of its researches 
 along the lines followed by Dugdale nor in any practical appli- 
 cation of his conclusions. A criminal may be gravely diseased 
 in mind and constitutionally without exhibiting mania that 
 will ensure his committal to an asylum, or bodily ailment that 
 will send him to a hospital. The treatment of prisoners which 
 is intentionally equitable in its uniformity, may be seriously 
 inequitable and unsuitable in its lack of discrimination. 
 
 The Abbe Moreau, who has given particular consideration 
 to the classification and treatment of criminals, advocates the 
 opening of what he terms "penitentiary hospitals" for the recep- 
 tion of criminals who are determined to be constitutionally 
 diseased in mind or body, but are not adjudged to be technic- 
 ally insane. In these hospitals he would have pure air, 
 abundant light, and a moral atmosphere of all good and heal- 
 ing influences. Separation from any depraved companion- 
 ship is an essential condition for reformation in his theory of 
 treatment. So his ideal hospitals would have a cell for each 
 inmate, whose solitary confinement would be carefully regu- 
 lated by skilled physicians. 
 
 We note this suggestion simply as an instance of advancing 
 discrimination, without undertaking to pass judgment uporf its 
 propriety or utility. It may be well to observe, however, that 
 separation from depraved companionship is undoubtedly a 
 good thing for anybody, but the abbe's specific of solitary 
 confinement to secure this separation will be sharply ques- 
 tioned by other authorities. He would apply it with far more 
 rigor to professional thieves. If they are susceptible of refor- 
 mation, they will reach it, as he holds, only by isolation in 
 separate cells. "Those who are not susceptible will become 
 idiotic or die. Shall we weep for these?" It is certainly re- 
 markable that such a person as the Abbe Georges Moreau 
 should deliberately urge the adoption of a course of treatment 
 
382 OVR RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 that in the cases of hardened habitual criminals would lead to 
 idiocy or premature death. 
 
 Besides its advance in the good work of classification and 
 separation of criminals, our modern civilization has addressed 
 itself earnestly to the undertaking of reformation. The pro- 
 vision of separate prisons for men, women and children, 
 and the suppression of vicious intercourse and association are 
 now regarded as simply a basis for the possible upbuilding of 
 good principles and habits. It is considered that youthful 
 criminals, at least, whose vicious propensities are still im- 
 mature and not hardened, must be susceptible of reformation 
 or improvement to some extent. Our state reformatories 
 are a recognition of the fact that idleness, the lack of instilled 
 habits- of industry and thrift, the inability to earn a living by 
 honest, skilled artisanship — are fruitful causes of crime; and 
 their courses of treatrhent and training are designed to drill 
 their young inmates in useful and honest occupations. And, 
 in general, it is now the design of our criminal laws and estab- 
 lishments to unite reform and punishment. 
 
 For the extension of the original separation and classifica- 
 tion, at the time of the committal to prison, progressive classi- 
 fication and the systematic offer of incentives for improvement 
 in habits and conduct have been strongly advocated by expe- 
 rieTiced wardens and other authorities, and these reforms have 
 been already introduced to a considerable extent. "Nothing 
 can be done with men," observes Dr. Wines, "except through 
 the will, and the will can be reached only through the intelli- 
 gence and the heart. For this, religion in all its freedom and 
 power is necessary; and, in the case of prisoners, progressive 
 classification, whereby the motives which control men in free 
 society and urge them to industry and virtue, may act steadily 
 and efifectively upon them, determining to good the choices 
 of their will and the actions of their life." Warden Bridges 
 of the Massachusetts state prison recommended, three years 
 ago, in his report, the classification of prisoners as far as possi- 
 
THE TREATilEyr OF CRIMINALS. 383 
 
 ble. He would make the quality of their food and clothing 
 as well as the enjoyment of privileges, dependent upon their 
 general deportment, to* be determined by the warden. He 
 suggested also the propriety of recommending the enactment 
 of a parole system for prisoners. 
 
 In a recently published statement the same warden has 
 strongly emphasized the necessity of the employment of 
 prisoners, in order to discharge the obligation of reform 
 imposed by our laws. "Reform," he says, "is an impossibility 
 without work, and that this end of sending men to prison may 
 be best accomplished, labor is a prime necessity." The con- 
 clusions reached by the wardens of the principal prisons in 
 other states are in general accord with this position. Employ- 
 ment of some kind is held to be absolutely necessary as a pre- 
 ventive of crime, melancholia and in-sanity, and it is further 
 essential as a training to enable a convict to make a living 
 honestly after his discharge. The instilling of habits of steady 
 industry, and the healthful exercise and development of the 
 faculties of the body and mind, are regarded as the most stable 
 foundations of reform. 
 
 So in some prisons it is designed to carry the education of 
 the convicts considerably beyond the training for some useful 
 trade; and Warden Sage of Sing Sing states that he is now 
 considering the introduction of a university extension course 
 of lectures and instruction. Commissioner Burtis of Kings 
 County, New York, suggests the formation of classes for in- 
 struction in mechanical trades and exercise. Warden Thayer 
 of Dannemora prison. New York, and Warden Schneider of 
 Menard prison, Illinois, urge that prisoners should be em- 
 ployed in making articles needed for state and municipal in- 
 stitutions. The building of roads is advocated as an advisable 
 and healthful employment by Warden Grimes of Snake Hill 
 prison, New Jersey. 
 
 In view of the intelligent expert consideration that is now 
 directed to the treatment of convicts in the prisons of this 
 
^84 OUR RIVAL. THE RASCAL. 
 
 country, there is substantial assurance of satisfactory progress 
 toward the goal of feasible reform; but we must expect that 
 this progress will be hampered by thd opposition to the con- 
 flict of convict labor with that of free workingmen. Com- 
 mittees of the labor unions have warmly protested against 
 even the present limited industrial training in the reformatories 
 for young criminals. It is urged by them that this education 
 operates practically as a handicap to honest apprentices who 
 are obliged to pay or to give their services gratuitously to their 
 employers, for the sake of gaining the same proficiency which 
 the state provides for criminals together with food and lodging. 
 It is further contended that a grave danger to society is in- 
 volved in the entrance of convicts, after their discharge, into 
 the ranks of workingmen who often have open access to 
 houses in plying their trades. Criminals, it is argued, will 
 make a pretence of reform in order to obtain better openings 
 for plunder; and their thievish practices will seriously dis- 
 credit the reputation of their honest fellow craftsmen. By 
 such representations and the broad underlying resolution to 
 keep convict labor out of competition with free labor, the 
 undertakings for reform have been embarrassed and restricted. 
 It is probable, however, that the considerations of humanity 
 toward the convict, the diminution of crime and the welfare of 
 society at large, will secure, before many years, a fairly ade- 
 quate provision for the useful employment and reform of the 
 criminals in our state prisons and reformatories throughout 
 the country. But this is only a fractional part of a compre- 
 hensive undertaking to diminish the spread of crime. It is no 
 less necessary to grapple firmly, intelligently, and unitedly with 
 the problem of the reduction of the number of criminals whom 
 our penal institutions are required to punish and reform. It is 
 obvious that the perplexity and difficulty of adequate reform 
 in our prisons would be greatly diminished if they were not so 
 often over-crowded with convicts. Doubtless these impedi- 
 ments may be largely removed by building more prisons and 
 
THE TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 385 
 
 maintaining more costly establisliments ; but this remedy is, at 
 best, an unfortunate necessity. 
 
 It seems to us that the best dfforts of reformers to-day may 
 wisely be directed toward the securing of such environment 
 and training as will nip in the bud the criminal proclivities of 
 the young people who will otherwise furnish a great share of 
 the annual supply to our prisons. It is immaterial to this work 
 of reform whether the budding rascal is largely a product of a 
 diseased or contaminated stock, or whether he is becoming a 
 criminal by force of temptations, idleness, or degraded environ- 
 ment. The method of treatment in individual cases may be 
 fitly varied; but the urgent need of the application of some 
 adequate, systematic treatment appears to us to be obvious. 
 
 The establishment in Massachusetts of what are known as 
 probation officers has undoubtedly been of marked service in 
 checking the flow to our state reformatory and houses of 
 correction. 
 
 In 1878, a law was enacted by the state requiring the appoint- 
 ment of a probation officer by the city of Boston. His duties, 
 as laid down by the statute, were to attend the sessions of the 
 criminal courts in Suffolk County; to investigate the cases of 
 persons charged with or convicted of crimes and misdemeanors 
 and to recommend to the courts the placing on probation of 
 such persons as might be reasonably expected to reform with- 
 out imprisonment. He was also required to visit the ofifenders 
 placed on probation at his suggestion, and to render such 
 assistance and encouragement as would tend to prevent them 
 from again offending. 
 
 The working of this enactment was so plainly beneficial that 
 it was extended, in 1880, to authorize the appointment of a 
 probation officer by any city and town in the state; and, in 
 1891, this provision was made mandatory and the power of 
 appointment was vested in the justices of the municipal, police, 
 or district courts. It is enjoined upon these probation officers 
 to inquire into the nature of every criminal case brought before 
 
386 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 the courts under whose jurisdiction they act and to recom- 
 mend the placing upon probation of any convicted person who 
 may, in their judgment, be reformed by this treatment. The 
 courts may place any such person in the care of a probation 
 officer for such time and upon such conditions as may seem 
 proper. The utility of this provision is already well demon- 
 strated. It has operated to diminish considerably the. number 
 of prisoners whom the state and the counties would otherwise 
 be required to support; and it has saved thousands of young 
 offenders from contamination and stigma. 
 
 There should be, however, some well organized and com- 
 prehensive cooperation to anticipate the service of the proba- 
 tion officers. Our churches and schools and public libraries 
 and reading rooms and various associations for humane 
 purposes are all enlisted as helpers in the great work of rearing 
 children to become good citizens. The slums of our great 
 cities have been largely purged and obliterated. With every 
 succeeding year more devotion is given to the diminution of 
 misery, vice and crime. But with all the noble work that has 
 been done, it is obvious that unremitting and greater effort is 
 sorely needed. , 
 
 Superintendent Brockway of the Elmira reformatory is 
 strongly urging for this end the extension of the service of the 
 public schools. He would have them supply an education for 
 "a definitely determined walk in life, for earning and study 
 and training, — in short, no longer for a general purpose of 
 development to fit children for anything and everything, but to 
 qualify the boys for some thing in particular, for the walks in 
 life they should and probably will follow." This push for 
 physical and industrial training is in the direct line of the 
 design of the present state reformatories, but Mr. Brockway 
 would secure like establishments without waiting for the com- 
 mission of crimes and the consequent degradation and stigma. 
 This recommendation appears to us to be worthy of the most 
 careful consideration. It may be considered that appropriate 
 
THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 387 
 
 physical, mental, moral and manual training of the classes of 
 children, who are now furnishing the chief new supply to our 
 prisons, can properly and advantageously be undertaken by 
 our municipalities. 
 
 If the supply of criminals to our prisons is diminished by 
 wise provisions, the outflow will necessarily be decreased and, 
 in so far, it will give less concern to society. But while present 
 conditions continue, the discharged convict is a subject that 
 may well enlist the most careful investigation and considera- 
 tion. In his Jean Valjean, Victor Hugo has painted with 
 masterly vividness the heart-breaking experience of a released 
 prisoner, roaming from door to door in search of shelter and 
 food. Hugo's convict had some little money in his pocket; 
 but the common shop-keepers and inn keepers shrank from 
 him in fear and loathing, and the outcast could hardly buy 
 bread to eat by the roadside. 
 
 There is probably the exaggeration of a poet in this delinea- 
 tion, and in this country a discharged prisoner will find people, 
 without difficulty, who will be pleased to entertain him with 
 meals and lodging while he has money to pay them; and will 
 not annoy him with probing questions. But steady, honest 
 employment — a want scarcely less urgent than food and shelter 
 — is, unfortunately, often beyond his reach, even if he has 
 certificates of good conduct in prison and sanguine assurances 
 of his reformation. While so many men with untarnished 
 records, good education, and skill in the arts are seeking em- 
 ployment, it can hardly be expected that good engagements 
 should be readily found by men whose latest reference is a 
 state prison or, at best, a reformatory. 
 
 So it happens that thousands of discharged convicts drift 
 back,, disheartened, into their old ways of life, even when they 
 leave prison with good intentions. The habitual criminal may 
 be beyond the control of any reform influences which surround 
 him in prison, and may turn to crime, as soon as he is released, 
 without any efifort toward amendment. Still, even such 
 
388 OVB RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 hardened rascals as Chauncey Johnson have repeatedly ex- 
 pressed their bitter regret that they could find no opening of 
 honest employment. "I would rather earn five dollars 
 honestly,"' said Johnson once, with apparent sincerity, "than 
 get fifty dollars by stealing ; but I have wasted my chances and 
 my life. Who wants to hire an old thief while he can get good 
 young men to work for him?" 
 
 There should be no fluttering sentimentality in deaHng with 
 this grave concern. Anything approaching the coddling of 
 convicts is, in our judgment, a serious misdirection of charity. 
 A discharged prisoner should not be suffered to contract the 
 conceit that he has any more claim upon the charity of the 
 community or the funds of the state than any other member of 
 our common society. Under no circumstances should he be 
 encouraged or sustained in any disposition to roam about in 
 lazy idleness. If he is an incorrigible loafer, he should be 
 promptly committed to a house of correction as a vagabond, 
 and, if practicable, forced to earn his bread. But when dis- 
 charged convicts are honestly anxious to get their living by 
 honest work, helping hands should be outstretched to them. 
 At best, they are terribly handicapped in their search for em- 
 ployment by the brand of their prison record. No rational 
 or feasible provision will put them on the same footing as that 
 proudly occupied by the poor man who has preserved his 
 integrity through every struggle and temptation. The crim- 
 inal must expect and endure the penalty of crime, not only in 
 his prison sentence, but in the brand that will not be cast off 
 with his convict's garb. He must form and sustain the resolu- 
 tion to stick to honesty in the face of every discouragement, 
 as the sole plank that can save him from sinking to degrada- 
 tion worse than death. 
 
 But while every care should be taken not to sap the man- 
 hood of a discharged convict, not to make him feel that he is 
 an object of charity and that his crime has been fully atoned 
 for by his submission to his sentence, it is further the concern 
 
THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 389 
 
 of society to diminish the number of discharged convicts who 
 are annually committing new crimes and returning to our 
 prisons. If this can be done by a continuance of oversight 
 and possible provision of work, in extreme cases, it would be 
 cheaper and better than the expenditure for the arrest, con- 
 viction and support of such convicts by the county or state. 
 
 In the latest report of Massachusetts Commissioners of 
 Prisons, the agent for aiding discharged convicts observes: 
 "When a discharged prisoner loses himself in the community, 
 and does not again appear on the prison records, it is an evi- 
 dence that he has reformed. A man who is sincere in his 
 desire to reform tries to do this. The right thing to do is to 
 aid him, at this time, not grudgingly, but with all necessary 
 facilities wherewith to make a respectable start in the world." 
 The extent of the appropriate aid -is broadly stated, but not 
 precisely defined. It appears to be, in the judgrhent of the 
 agent, necessarily a matter of discretion and variation. A 
 thorough knowledge of the records and character of dis- 
 charged convicts is practically essential to the proper adminis- 
 tration of any plan of oversight and aid. 
 
 After all is done that is proper and feasible for the ameliora- 
 tion of the condition of criminals and the advance of their re- 
 form, there will still be forever a great gulf fixed between the 
 position of the criminal and that of the honest man. The 
 rascal can hope, at best, for only a few years of possession of 
 the fruits of his rascality. His anticipated enjoyment will be 
 racked by fears and haunted by shame. He will be driven to 
 hunt for cover with the slinking fox or to fly from the face of 
 civilization with the savage wolf. He will find his dearly 
 bought dissipations palling and sickening. He will be a 
 pariah from whom good men and women will shrink. He will 
 have no true friends, no helpful companionship. His home 
 will be blasted and his children will wish that they had no 
 father, or, still worse, will learn to follow his example. It is 
 for this that he has bartered his good name and all that is 
 
390 0^^ RIVAL. THE RASCAL. 
 
 really good and pleasant in life, and what more can he reason- 
 ably expect beyond a convict's cell and a felon's grave? This 
 experience and this fate have been for generations unnumbered 
 the common lot of the criminals comprised under the head of 
 Our Rival the Rascal. 
 
 There is no fascination in unmasked crime. The only risk 
 of allurement is through ignorance and delusion. So it has 
 been our aim to show in the clear, colorless light of truth what 
 a criminal's life really is. Such an exhibit cannot fail to im- 
 press the most heedless. Surely no }'Oung man who retains a 
 remnant of honest resolution, or even of common sense, would 
 be tenipted for a moment to put himself in the place of any one 
 of the rascals whose wretched career has been sketched in our 
 storv. 
 
SAFEGUARDS. 
 
 IN the preceding pages of this volume we have considered 
 Our Rival the Rascal in his manifold phases. We have seen 
 how he has plotted to outwit the ingenuity of those who have 
 devised methods of protection against his criminal attacks; 
 and how he has striven to undermine or overcome the obstacles 
 which have been successively opposed to him. Interwoven 
 with this story of his struggle is the story of the development 
 of the safeguards, which has followed each step of his advance 
 in skill and equipment for attack. 
 
 It has been throughout this work one of the authors' main 
 purposes to indicate the precautions which should be adopted 
 by the community in order to secure the greatest possible pro- 
 tection against the Rascal's alert brain and cunning hand; but 
 the insertion of any detailed or adequate description of the in- 
 ventions which constitute the chief material safeguards, would 
 have necessarily interrupted the flow of the narrative. 
 
 The development of these inventions is, however, of such in- 
 terest and importance that we cannot fitly dismiss it with such 
 incidental mention as has been made in the foregoing chapters. 
 We propose, therefore, in closing, to give a fairly comprehen- 
 sive description of the latest and best safeguards, serving to 
 reheve, assist or diminish the labors of the defenders of society 
 in the suppression of crime. It would be manifestly impos- 
 sible to include within the necessary limits of this chapter 
 every device worthy of commendation, or every variation of 
 an approved device. We have therefore confined ourselves to 
 such devices or systems as seem to present features of special 
 interest to the reader and which are of demonstrated and recog- 
 
392 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 nized value in the protection of property. In our mention of 
 safes, vaults, locks, and other devices it must be clearly under- 
 stood that no reflection is intended upon similar devices of ap- 
 proved merit by other manufacturers which are not herein 
 specifically described. 
 
 It is doubtful if the inventive ingenuity of man has been 
 more taxed than in the struggle between the burglar and the 
 safe manufacturer. Certainly nowhere else is the conflict be- 
 tween honesty and dishonesty more thoroughly illustrated. 
 The skilled burglar has compelled the recognition of the fact 
 that what man can construct, man, with sufficient time and 
 skill, can destroy; and the prospective gain from bank bur- 
 glaries is so large that the really skilled cracksman seems to 
 consider no preliminary effort too great to be undertaken in 
 the hope of such reward. In the Dorchester (England) Bank 
 robbery in the early part of this century, when locks were the 
 only safeguard and before burglars were skilled in the use 
 of explosives, the burglars were in the house ninety-two nights 
 before they succeeded in opening all the locks by false keys 
 
 which they fitted to lock 
 and relock the doors. The 
 same untiring zeal is a dis- 
 tinguishing mark of the 
 burglar of to-day and al- 
 though wonderful ad- 
 vances have been made in 
 safe construction, the in- 
 troduction of powerful ex- 
 plosives as agents for 
 robbery has rendered safe cracking, where possible, much 
 quicker work than the opening of the earlier forms of safes. 
 
 When we look upon the latest triumphs of invention in the 
 burglar proof safe, it seems almost incredible that they are 
 the development of a comparatively short period of time. 
 Even iron safes are of quite modern date and fire-proof safes 
 
 DEPOSITORY FOR CROWN JEWELS OF SCOTLAND (1707). 
 
TSE BVRGLAB PROOF SAFE. 
 
 393 
 
 were not introduced until the beginning of this century. Prior 
 to that time the only safes designed for protection against 
 burglary were oak chests, secured by one or more locks, while 
 the only protection against fire was in brick or stone closets 
 with plain iron doors. The 
 fastenings were secured by com- 
 mon warded locks or with iron 
 bands with hasps, staples, and 
 padlocks. A typical safe of this 
 description is the oak chest 
 manufactured as a depository for 
 the crown jewels of 
 Scotland, in 1707. This 
 was secured by three 
 locks, all of which were 
 forced open in the pres- 
 ence of the royal com- 
 missioners in 1818, the 
 keys having been lost. 
 We learn from this that 
 as late as 1818 these sim- 
 ple locks (which could 
 easily have been picked by a bent skewer) were considered too 
 intricate to be opened by a common locksmith or mechanic. 
 Such safeguards appear puerile in contrast with the intricate 
 lock devices and massive walls of the modern safe, but it must 
 be remembered that, if the construction was simple, the thieves 
 of that day were unskilled and possessed of only rude tools, 
 and the oaken chest of a century ago was fully as secure against 
 robbery as many so-called burglar proof safes of to-day. 
 
 The first iron safes were the so-called foreign coffers which 
 were originally brought into England from France and Ger- 
 many. Those were made of hammered iron, rolled iron not 
 having been introduced at that time. The security of their 
 fastening was only the rude lock of the oaken chests, multi- 
 
 FOREIGN COFFER. 
 
394 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 plied by the number of bolts. If there were twenty of these, 
 they could be picked as easily as one. The accompanying 
 illustration shows a fine example of this rudimentary iron safe. 
 It had strong handles, a multiple lock, throwing eight bolts 
 on the inside, two dogs at the back and staples for padlocks. 
 The bolts in the lid were covered by a beautifully chased 
 plate, and the escutcheon over the key-hole had to be moved 
 with a turn screw. When this sprang up, the lock was opened 
 by inserting the turn screw as a lever through the bow of the 
 key. 
 
 There is no record of a cast or wrought iron safe being made 
 in England prior to 1800 and they were certainly not in com- 
 mercial use before that 
 time. The first English 
 patent for a safe was is- 
 sued to Richard Scott, in 
 1801, and this safe was 
 mainly designed as proof 
 against fire, but, as it con- 
 sisted of an outer and 
 inner casing of iron, filled 
 with a non-conduct- 
 ing substance, it seems 
 also to have marked 
 an advance in protec- 
 tion against burglars. These safes were known as double 
 chests. In 1829, James Conner, of New York city, con- 
 structed a crude safe of this type for the security of his own 
 wealth but not for the benefit of the general public. The 
 long line of improvements in the fire-proof qualities of safes 
 do not enter into the scope of this chapter and it is probably 
 not worth while to enter into a detailed account of the large 
 number of burglar proof devices. Evidently the first progress 
 made by safe breakers beyond the picking or bursting of locks 
 was in the use of tools to cut through the iron walls, for the 
 
 EARLY CAST-IRON SAFE, 
 
THE BURGLAR PROOF SAFE. 395 
 
 first improvements in burglar proof devices seem to have been 
 directed against tliis danger. Many have been the devices 
 patented and at each advance in construction the ingenuity of 
 the burglar proved equal to the genius of the inventor. Hard- 
 ened iron was cut by better tools, steel was pierced by diamond 
 tipped drills, or shattered by blows, and in 1867, it was demon- 
 strated that Franklinite, a particularly hard form of iron which 
 was supposed to be impenetrable, could, after chemical treat- 
 ment, be drilled. 
 
 The use of gunpowder to blow open the doors was early 
 resorted to and many inventions were patented to guard 
 against this danger; but after safes had been constructed so as 
 to be practically impregnable to this force, came the use of 
 giant powder, then dynamite, and recently high grade hquid 
 nitro-glycerine, which the burglars successively turned to ac- 
 count in their handicraft, and the enormous blasting power of 
 these agents necessitated at once new methods of construc- 
 tion. 
 
 Among the various inventions, which were long in use in 
 modified forms in safes of the best construction, may be men- 
 tioned Chubb's device (1865), placing the door in a recess and 
 providing an extra bar to prevent its being wedged open; 
 Thompson's (1865) recess door with an interior flange behind 
 which the bolts shot, also to prevent wedging; and Parrish, 
 Thatcher and Glasscock's series of dovetail projections on the 
 door frame for corresponding mortises in the frame, with a 
 bead around the door fitting a groove in the casing. The 
 invention by Chatwood, in 1862, of iron-steel, consisting of a 
 plate of steel welded between two plates of iron, seems to have 
 been the first step toward the chrome steel plate which is to- 
 day considered the most impregnable material for construc- 
 tion. This constant warfare and development should be kept 
 in mind in judging of the merits of safes to-day. Some of the 
 companies now manufacturing safes in this country have been 
 many years in the business and have constantly progressed 
 
396 
 
 OUR ItlVAL, TkE RASCAL. 
 
 in their construction. Hence, it will be seen that even the 
 safes of the best compatlies cannot be relied upon except they 
 are of the latest pattern and contain all the improved devices. 
 It must also be remembered that it is unnecessary to build 
 burglar proof work for security against honest men, and use- 
 less to try to deceive skilled burglars by old-fashioned and 
 poorly-constructed vaults. 
 
 It is safe to say that many expert bank burglars have had 
 experience in the works of some safe company and know 
 much more about the security or weakness of a safe than the 
 owner can be expected to know. It is the falsest kind of 
 economy to award safe construction to the cheapest bidder, 
 for there are many ways of cheapening construction which 
 simply mean the elittiihatioh of the very elements which give 
 security. It is safe to say that many a job is thus awarded 
 which becomes a tehiptation to an honest workman to turn 
 burglar. He sees the construction of a safe so cheaply made 
 that he knows it can be easily robbed; and the spies of the 
 burglars keep constant watch of the safe factories and are 
 always ready to seize an opportunity for the cooperation of 
 any of its workmen. Until business men learn that no real 
 security can be foUhd in anything other than the best con- 
 structed work, safe robberies will continue to be too frequent. 
 
 An object lesson of the value of first-class safe work can be 
 found in the attempted robbery of the treasurer's vaults of 
 one of the large Railroad Companies a few years ago. The 
 burglars penetrated without difficulty through the outer doors, 
 which were intended mainly for protection against fire, and 
 then discovered that the inner safe had been recently fitted 
 by the Diebold Safe Cotnpany with new doors of chrome steel 
 secured by their latest anti-dynamite device. In disgust they 
 scratched upon the enamel the significant letters "N. G." and 
 departed without vvasting further time upon a safe which they 
 knew to be impregnable to their assaults. 
 
 The modern burglar proof safe of the best type to-day is 
 
TEE BURGLAR PfiOOF SAFE. 
 
 397 
 
 built from the outside inwarcj from alternate sections of welded 
 five-ply chrome steel and iron burglar-proof plate and fibrous 
 iron fastened together by tjie shqrt screw process. Experi- 
 ence has proven that the weak ppint of steel lies in the fact 
 that, while its hardened surface gives security against cutting 
 or drilling, the crystallization of tlje iron into steel, by destroy- 
 ing its fibrous nature, renders it brittle enough to be shattered 
 by sharp blows. Iron, of course, while secure against this 
 method of attack, can be quickly cut or drilled by good tools. 
 The greatest combined strength against drill, chisel and ham- 
 mer has only been attained in the chrome steel plate originated 
 and manufactured by the Chrome Steel Works of Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., which is used by the leadifig safe makers in their best 
 work and which has received the unqualified indorsement of 
 the experts of the United States Government. This is made 
 by welding into a solid plate two layers of chrome steel (a 
 tempered alloy of the metals chromium and iron) alternately 
 between three lay- 
 ers of tough - fi- 
 brous iron. To 
 penetrate such 
 plates it would be 
 necessary to cut 
 each layer of iron 
 and shatter each 
 ply of steel, which 
 cannot be done by 
 the means accessi- 
 ble to the burglar. 
 In the method of 
 construction used 
 bytheDiebold Safe 
 and Lock Com- 
 pany, which we 
 
 have selected as a : modern burglar proof banker's safe (diebold). 
 
398 
 
 OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 type to illustrate the burglar proof safe of to-day, the entire 
 outside of the safe is made in four segments of Brooklyn 
 chrome steel known as full angle caps. This form of con- 
 struction avoids the use of panel plates which might be wedged 
 and stripped off. The edges of these segments are hand- 
 ground to an exact metallic contact and are held together by 
 the next layer of plates (also of five-ply chrome steel), which 
 are screwed firmly to the outer segment and overlap all joints, 
 coming fiush with the angles. Next follows another set of 
 chrome steel angles. In this manner the safe can be built to 
 any desired thickness, angles and square plates following each 
 other alternately from the outside to the inside of the safe. 
 
 All of these plates are secured by short screws put in at an 
 average of from six to eight inches apart (centre to 
 centre), no screw penetrating more than two plates, 
 and no screw or joint in the whole series of plates coming 
 opposite another. These screws are made of twisted seven- 
 ply chrome steel and iron, as impervious to a drill as the 
 plates themselves. The screws which secure the second plate 
 to the outside angles only penetrate through three layers of the 
 chrome steel plate, leaving the ends covered by one ply of steel 
 and iron. The outside screws are thus blind and cannot be 
 located from the surface, but the third plate so covers the head 
 end of the screws that they could not be driven in even if 
 found. Every joint is hand-ground to such a perfect metallic 
 contact that it cannot be penetrated by water. 
 
 The door is built, in the same manner, of continuous plates, 
 each the full height and width of the door. It is closed with 
 steps or flanges, tenons and grooves, thus interlocking each 
 plate of the door and jambs when shut. Of necessity each of 
 these plates must be ground, after tempering, to a metallic 
 air-tight joint when the door is closed, in order to prevent 
 the introduction of liquid explosive, now so successfully in use 
 by burglars on old-style work which is file-fitted. In the 
 square door the most vulnerable point is the corner where it 
 
TEE BURGLAR PROOF SAFE. 395 
 
 might be possible to chip off the steel and cut the iron ply 
 sufficiently to make a small opening for the introduction of 
 explosives, and many successful burglaries have thus been 
 performed. This weakness is obviated by the modern square 
 door with full round corners, of from three and one-half inches 
 to four inches radius, exactly fitting fillets and jambs. All 
 modern safe doors have full tenons and grooves extending en- 
 tirely around the edges and jambs of the door and are closed by 
 cam or duplex hinges, operated with heavy cam levers or worm 
 gear wheels with linked lever connections, thus seating and 
 closing the door squarely in position and into the tenons and 
 grooves. In addition to this, the grooves into which the 
 tenons project are packed with elastic felt packing, and in safes 
 of the most recent date an elastic metallic packing, which is 
 impervious to the action of acids, has been used. This packing 
 is also used on some of the steps or flanges. The joints are 
 hand ground and fitted so close that a sheet of paper interfering 
 will be cut as smooth as by a razor. 
 
 No spindle can be used which will be absolutely burglar 
 proof to the introduction of liquid explosives. Therefore, in 
 the finest safes, the spindle, whether with or without time lock, 
 has given place to an automatic bolt-throwing device. In 
 small chests, however, where the automatic device cannot be 
 worked, the cut-off spindle furnishes reasonable security. This 
 spindle is built half through and offset through the centre 
 of the thickness of the door with a gearing of cogwheels to 
 the inner end which penetrates to the locking device. This 
 construction necessitates two explosions to reach the locking 
 device, whereas spindles built with steps or revolving plates 
 have direct connection through the entire thickness of the 
 door. On safes using the cut-off spindle the Diebold company 
 attach their patent anti-dynamite device by means of which 
 each explosion only locks the bolts tighter. The Diebold 
 Company afso manufacture their own time locks and automatic 
 devices, a practice which concentrates upon the makers all 
 
400 OC/iS RIVAL, THE BASGAh. 
 
 responsibility for the proper working of all parts of the safe or 
 vault. 
 
 In concluding this brief sketch of the modern burglar proof 
 safe, it may be well to add yet another word of caution to what 
 we have already said here and elsewhere in regard to the 
 choice of a depository for valuables. A burglar proof safe is 
 not designed to be fire-proof and should, of course, be placed 
 within a fire-proof vault or closet. A fire-proof safe does not 
 claim to be burglar proof and should be used only for the 
 preservation of papers against fire. An improperly con- 
 structed or out-of-date "burglar proof" safe furnishes little or 
 no protection against fire or burglary. To those who need a 
 burglar-proof safe nothing should be acceptable except the 
 best. To those who cannot afford such a safe, the safe 
 deposit vaults in all our large cities and the bank vaults in 
 smaller places offer the best security at a reasonable price. 
 
 The first public safe deposit vaults in the United States were 
 built in 1865 for Col. Francis H. Jenks and were located at 
 140 and 142 Broadway, New York. The lowest rental charged 
 for safes in these vaults was twenty dollars a year. Two years 
 later Col. Henry Lee built the Union Safe Deposit Vaults, the 
 first of their class in Boston, at 40 State Street. These vaults 
 were opened for the reception of securities on the first of Janu- 
 ary, 1868, and have since furnished continuous accommodation 
 and protection to depositors. 
 
 The main vault is of granite about two feet in thickness, 
 forming an enclosure thirty-eight feet long, twenty-nine feet 
 wide, and nine feet high. Its ceiling is composed of four 
 courses of strongly cemented brick, supported by heavy iron 
 girders set in the granite walls. The only access to this vault 
 is through a single passage-way, closed by double doors of 
 chilled steel with combination locks. This passage opens into 
 a corridor extending completely around the vault, with an en- 
 trance into the outer office. A heavy iron door Secures this 
 entrance, and watchmen guard the passages and patrol the 
 
SAFE DEPOSIT VAULTS. ^qi 
 
 corridor night and day. At frequent intervals they are required 
 to register their rounds and test the electric communications 
 leading to the nearest district police station. 
 
 Within the main vault five iron vaults or cases are ranged on 
 iron supports between the floor and ceiHng. These cases are 
 constructed with chilled steel doors and strong locks, and con- 
 tain compartments, each of which is closed by an iron door 
 with a double lock. A special, unduplicated key, furnished to 
 each depositor, opens one lock and the other is opened by a 
 special key held by the custodians of the vaults. This pro- 
 vision for security has proved so thorough and practically im- 
 penetrable that the only addition required since the construc- 
 tion of the vaults has been the application of the Holmes sys- 
 tem of electric protection, which was installed as soon as its 
 merits were demonstrated. 
 
 The superior security afforded by vaults of this character was 
 soon realized and numerous additional vaults were constructed 
 in all our large cities to keep pace with the demand for accom- 
 modation. In Boston to-day there are not less than nine of 
 these special safe deposit vaults, beside the regular bank vaults,, 
 and all are of well approved designs and practically impreg- 
 nable. To illustrate the most modern methods of construction, 
 we shall describe one of the latest built of these vaults. 
 
 In 1875, the Equitable Life Insurance Society of New York 
 built in their building on Milk Street, Boston, one of the most 
 approved vaults of that day, which was leased by a Massachu- 
 setts corporation, the Security Safe Deposit Company of Bos- 
 ton. This vault has recently been reconstructed to meet in- 
 creased demands and to make an advance in safe and vault 
 construction. 
 
 The new vault, constructed in 1895, consists of a cage twenty 
 feet wide and forty feet long, built of six-inch steel rails and 
 lined with four inches of welded, five-ply, chrome steel and iron 
 burglar proof plate. This is backed up by a twenty-inch wall 
 of hardest burned brick. Each vestibule and its doors weigh 
 
402 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 between fifteen and twenty tons. The outer doors weigh 
 about seven tons ; are eight feet high by four feet wide, and ten 
 inches thick, and, being locked by an automatic device oper- 
 ated by a three chronometer time-lock, have no holes what- 
 ever through the door. The inner door is secured by two 
 locks, the combinations of which are known only to the presi- 
 dent and the superintendent of the company. In case of the 
 illness or absence of either, the combination is entrusted to two 
 directors and changed on the return to duty of the regular 
 officials. In this steel vault are six thousand small boxes 
 renting from ten dollars to one hundred dollars a year, accord- 
 ing to size. 
 
 The foundations of the steel vault extend two feet below the 
 level of the floor and rest upon a lower vault, the floor sides 
 and ends of which are also lined with four inches of chrome 
 steel plate. In this vault are about twenty-five hundred safes 
 of various sizes renting at the same prices as those in the vault 
 above. Inside of each vault are two uniformed custodians 
 whose sole duty is to identify the depositors and admit them 
 to their safes. The locks upon the boxes are manufactured by 
 Messrs. L. L. Bates & Co., of Boston, who have for many 
 years made a specialty of safe deposit locks and who are also 
 experts on bank and safe-lock work. 
 
 These locks are so constructed that they can only be opened 
 by the use of two keys, one of which, a master key, is in the 
 possession of the custodian. This key having been inserted 
 and turned, the box can then be unlocked by the depositor's 
 key. The lock is automatic; the key cannot be removed until 
 the bolt has been thrown ; and the box, when locked by the de- 
 positor's key, cannot be opened without the use of both keys. 
 
 Another type of lock made by the same firm and requiring 
 three keys to open is used where the safe is rented to an execu- 
 tor, administrator, or trustee whose bonds are furnished by a 
 surety company. In such cases, the keys are distributed so 
 that it is impossible for the lessee of the safe, or the represen- 
 
CHROME STEEL JAIL CELLS. 403 
 
 tative of the surety company, to gain access to the contents 
 except in the presence of each other and the custodian of the 
 vault. In all cases, as soon as a box is given up by the lessee, 
 the lock is changed before the safe is again rented. 
 
 The vaults are protected by an electric burglar alarm system 
 which is the invention of the superintendent of the company, 
 Capt. Fred G. Storey, and leads directly to the district pohce 
 station. On closing at night, the alarm is tested by ringing 
 a signal to the police. If there is any ventilator or door left 
 open or other break in the circuit, it instantly rings an alarm 
 and indicates the location of the omission. The windows of 
 the main room in which the vaults are built, are securely pro- 
 tected by heavy bars and the entrance guarded by a stalwart 
 police officer who admits none except those having business. 
 
 Thus much for the security of these vaults; in facilities for 
 the convenience of customers they are equally well equipped. 
 Some one hundred small compartments, called coupon rooms, 
 furnish a convenient place to which patrons may take the tin 
 boxes which occupy the inside of each safe and examine their 
 papers in privacy at their leisure. For the use of ladies renting 
 boxes a special room is reserved, with a young woman in at- 
 tendance, where facilities for correspondence may be found. 
 A handsomely appointed reading room containing a large as- 
 sortment of the leading newspapers and magazines, domestic 
 and foreign, a telephone, and stock tickers showing New York 
 and Boston quotations, is furnished for the use of the gentle- 
 men. Not the least important feature of these vaults is their 
 system of ventilation, which, while leaving no weak spots in the 
 construction, maintains a, perfect supply of fresh air. 
 
 In the consideration of the construction of the burglar proof 
 safe it has been stated that the Chrome Steel Works, Breok- 
 lyn, N. Y., were the originators and first in this country to 
 manufacture by a secret formula, laminated, welded chrome 
 steel and iron bars, plates and angles for use in bank safe, 
 vault and prison cell construction. After a time imitations of 
 
404 
 
 OVR RIVAL, TEE RASCAL. 
 
 this material began to creep into the market. These have 
 been manufactured under various names, but the originators 
 maintain that they are the only manufacturers of genuine 
 chrome steel in the United States. Their material has been 
 recognized by the leading experts in this line of business as 
 the only uniformly tool proof material obtainable and, after a 
 most thorough examination, the commissioners appointed for 
 this purpose by the 'United States Government, gave it their 
 unqualified endorsement as the only material which they could 
 with safety advise to be used in the construction of new vaults 
 and safes for the Treasury Department at Washington. 
 
 It can be readily seen that if good for work such as described 
 above, it must be fully as good for use in the construction of 
 prison cells, window guards, etc., and it is extensively used for 
 this purpose; but it appears more expensive to make this class 
 of steel by the Brooklyn process than any other of its various 
 imitations, and consequently the Brooklyn material is sold at a 
 higher price. For this reason there is sometimes a hesitancy 
 on the part of county commissioners and committees acting for 
 the public, to insist upon its use, for fear of being considered 
 in a "job" if chrome steel made by the Chrome Steel Works, 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., should be specifically mentioned as the 
 material to be used. This is to be regretted, for certainly it is 
 short sighted economy to use anything except the best material 
 that can be obtained for this purpose. The first cost of material 
 should not influence those who have under consideration the 
 construction of prison cells, in which the worst class of crim- 
 inals are to be confined, any more than it should influence a 
 committee in charge of the erection of buildings to be used for 
 financial purposes. The experience of many years has proved 
 that such chrome steel cells cannot be cut or sawed by the 
 prisoners, as has frequently been done with all kinds of cells 
 built of ordinary five ply, laminated, or carbonized steel. The 
 uniform tool proof quality of the material should be the first 
 consideration of all parties interested in guarding themselves 
 
BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEMS. aq^ 
 
 against an attack or the escape of burglars, after which 
 naturally follows the best and most modern form of construc- 
 tion. 
 
 In the chapter upon the bank burglar, we have mentioned 
 the security afforded by proper systems of burglar alarms, 
 especially as. a safeguard against the use of powerful electric 
 currents which are indicated by Mr. Rodman's experiments as 
 dangerous agents in safe breaking. It is but another evidence 
 of the wonders of science if greater security may be found in 
 the use of a tiny electric wire than in massive walls of steel 
 and intricate lock devices. 
 
 This system of protection originated with Edwin Holmes, 
 who, about 1865, invented and patented the first electric bur- 
 glar alarm, a model of which he then carried about from house 
 to house and sold in this manner. From this small beginning 
 has grown the burglar alarm business in this country and no 
 better idea of its development can be given than by describing 
 the Holmes system of electric protection which is to-day in 
 operation in the largest cities of the United States and in 
 Canada. 
 
 The original burglar alarm of Mr. Holmes was for the pro- 
 tection of houses, connecting the doors and windows in such a 
 manner that, if one was opened, a bell at the head of the bed 
 would be rung. It was a crude device but the burglar alarm 
 has kept pace with the marvellous development in electrical 
 science as will be seen from an examination of the system 
 to-day. 
 
 About 1870, the first system of electric protection for bank 
 vaults, safes and business buildings, by what is known as the 
 central office system, was established in New York City by 
 Mr. Holmes, and it has since been steadily improved and per- 
 fected. 
 
 The system to-day consists of a metallic circuit connecting 
 a patented electric lining and other appliances in the protected 
 premises with a tangent galvanometer and other equally sensi- 
 
4o6 OVB RITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 tive apparatus, which instantly announces even the most 
 minute change in the workings or interruptions of the circuit, 
 at the nearest central station of the company. ' Each customer 
 has a complete and distinct metallic circuit in no way con- 
 nected with that of other protected premises. The electric 
 lining, which completely envelops the vault or safe requiring 
 protection, is so constructed that, if punctured, even by a hole 
 the size of a lead-pencil, the alarm at the station will be imme- 
 diately sounded. 
 
 If a bank vault is' to be protected, the entire inside surface 
 of the vault is covered with this lining, and a wooden door 
 lined in the same manner covers the entrance to the vault and 
 completes the circuit. A safe is protected by being completely 
 enclosed in an electrically lined wooden cabinet. 
 
 The application of the system to stores or business buildings 
 (commonly known as door and window work) consists in run- 
 ning the circuit through each door and window of the protected 
 premises, and is so perfect that a single door or window can- 
 not be opened, broken, or cut through without instantly giving 
 the alarm. On closing such premises at night a signal is sent 
 to the central station and a reply is instantly given, telling the 
 proprietor whether any door or window has been left open or 
 improperly closed. The signalling instrument in the store 
 also denotes this fact automatically, thus giving double assur- 
 ance of proper closing of the premises. 
 
 At the central stations is maintained at all times a competent 
 force of electricians, inspectors, and call men. Immediately 
 on receipt of an alarm an inspector and a callman, thoroughly 
 armed and equipped and supplied with keys to police signal 
 boxes, go at once to the premises. Their first duty is to an- 
 nounce their safe arrival by signalling back to the central sta- 
 tion. If such signal is not received within a reasonable time, 
 another relay is sent to the aid of the first. Each inspector is 
 thoroughly familiar with all parts of the protected premises 
 within his district and knows all persons who can reasonably 
 
BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEMS. 407 
 
 be expected to be about the place after business hours. As 
 a further means of identification, however, each inspector 
 answering an alarm carries with him an instruction card con- 
 taining the signature of all persons having authority to visit 
 the premises at such times. Any person thus found must 
 give his signature on a call ticket carried by the inspector. / 
 If this exactly corresponds with the signature on the instruc- 
 tion card, and no suspicious circumstances exist, it is con- 
 sidered a proper identification and the matter is merely re- 
 ported to the proprietor on the following day. Otherwise the 
 suspected person is brought to the central station where he 
 must properly identify himself or be turned over to the police. 
 
 This system not only prevents burglary but gives every 
 customer, once a week, a record of every time his store, vault, 
 or safe is opened and the exact opening and closing time of 
 the premises for each day, thus showing any irregularity. Each 
 customer designates who 'shall open and close his vaults or 
 store, and each of these persons is supplied with a private 
 number by which he can signal to the central station. Im- 
 mediately upon opening the premises in the morning, the cen- 
 tral station responds to the alarm by giving a challenge signal 
 to which ^he authorized person replies by his private signal. 
 The same method is followed on closing the premises. This 
 challenge signal is sent and its answer accepted only at the 
 regular hours of opening and closing. At any other time 
 no challenge signal is given but an inspector visits the prem- 
 ises. Thus, if an unauthorized person gains knowledge of the 
 signal, it is useless to him and all irregularities of authorized 
 persons are reported. It will be seen that this system fur- 
 nishes great protection against defalcation or embezzlement 
 as such acts are visually committed outside of business hours. 
 
 All fire alarms in the city are sounded at the central station 
 and if, on investigation, any danger threatens a customer's 
 premises, they are guarded and a carriage is sent for the pro- 
 prietor or his designated representative. 
 
4o8 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 The Holmes system of electric protection has been thor- 
 oughly tested by the most expert electricians and has been 
 highly endorsed by United States Government experts. It is 
 extensively used by banks, safety deposit vaults, jewellers, and 
 large business houses in all large cities in this country. This 
 system is also applicable to the safe or vault of the bank in a 
 country town, in which case the alarm apparatus can be 
 located at either a police station, janitor's apartments, or at 
 any point where there is some one on duty who will give atten- 
 tion to an alarm. As the country bank is often selected by 
 the bank burglar as the special object of his attention, it will be 
 seen that such a system of protection is very valuable. The 
 cost of protecting the safe or vault of a country bank in such a 
 manner is small in proportion to the security afforded. It is 
 claimed by the company that no successful burglary has ever 
 occurred upon premises protected by its system and, so far as 
 we have been able to learn, this statement seems justified. It 
 has rendered valuable assistance to the police in the detection 
 and arrest of many criminals and, considering the security of 
 its protection, is not unduly expensive. 
 
 The latest system of protection against loss by burglary — 
 and probably one with which many people in this country are 
 not yet familiar — is that of Insurance against Burglary. Our 
 previous chapters have shown fully what burglary is and how 
 desperate are the class of men operating in this branch of 
 crime. While insurance against this great menace to the 
 safety of property is a new thing to this country, it has been 
 carried on in Europe for years by large companies and is there 
 regarded as of equal importance with many other forms of 
 insurance. 
 
 The introduction of comprehensive burglary insurance into 
 the United States may fairly be credited to Mr. Howard S. 
 Wheelock, of Boston, who, after studying thoroughly the 
 principles of the system as formulated by the experience of the 
 companies of Europe, secured, in 1890, a charter for a bur- 
 
INSURANCE AGAINST BURGLARY. 40Q 
 
 glary insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut, which, 
 however, was not put into operation. In 1895, Mr. WiUiam H. 
 Brewster, of Boston, with the cooperation of Mr. Wheelock, 
 effected the organization of the New England Burglary Insur- 
 ance Company of Boston, the first company of its kind char- 
 tered in Massachusetts, and at the present date the only com- 
 pany authorized to write burglary insurance in this common- 
 wealth, and the only exclusively burglary insurance company 
 operating throughout the United States through agencies es- 
 tablished at all important centres. 
 
 Although the company's policies are for insurance against 
 burglary, they are not held to the narrow lines of the technical 
 legal definition of burglary, but can be made comprehen- 
 sive enough to cover all classes of robbery except by defalca- 
 tion. From an insurance point of view, and as the business is 
 conducted by the "New England," a burglar can enter a bank, 
 warehouse, store, dwelling or stable and damage the building 
 itself and carry off its contents. In the event of loss by bur- 
 _glary the company first satisfies the claim of the policy-holder 
 and then employs special agencies for the capture of the crimi- 
 nal, realizing that a wholesome fear of the company in the 
 mind of the burglar promises the greatest immunity from loss 
 to the clients whose property it insures. On all banks, stores 
 and other business buildings covered by its policies a warning 
 device, giving notice that the premises are protected by the 
 company, must be prominently displayed, and the use of the 
 same device is recommended on private houses, but is left 
 optional with the occupant. It is believed that the notice con- 
 veying the assurance of vigorous prosecution will prevent 
 many burglaries. 
 
 To illustrate the value of such a system of insurance, tables 
 were recently prepared from estimates given by chiefs of 
 police, heads of fire departments, superintendents of detective 
 agencies, and standard works on criminology, showing the 
 number of arrests for burglary and alarms for fires in seven 
 
4IO OVR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 of the large cities of the United States covering a period of five 
 years, and estimating therefrom tlie number of burglaries 
 committed and actual fires. It is not necessary to give the full 
 details but is sufficient to state that the average of burglaries 
 to fires thus estimated is in the ratio of nine of the former to 
 ten of the latter. 
 
 Although it has been seen from our mention of the bursting 
 of the simple locks on the oak chest containing the crown 
 jewels of Scotland, that, as late as 1818, little progress had been 
 made by burglars in lock picking, yet it was not long before 
 the mechanism of locks became thoroughly known to the 
 criminal fraternity and the burglar, like love, could "laugh at 
 locksmiths." But about forty years ago a lock was put upon 
 the market which has to this day proved unpickable. 
 
 In a recent account of the great Northampton Bank rob- 
 bery, the startling statement has been made that fifty thousand 
 dollars were offered by the thieves for the picking of a Yale 
 door lock, and it is a fact that this obstacle was only overcome 
 after obtaining, by the exercise of great ingenuity and by 
 bribery, a duplicate key. When Linus Yale, jr., in 1865, in- 
 vented the lock which bears his name, he effected a revolu- 
 tion in the whole art of lock making, both in principle and 
 construction; and a brief account of the lock, now so univer- 
 sally identified with his name, and the conditions before and 
 after its introduction, must be of more than ordinary interest. 
 
 Prior to the invention of Mr. Yale the large round key was 
 in universal use, and the idea that the size of the key should 
 be about proportionate to the size of the lock was generally 
 accepted. The length of a key was necessarily such as to 
 enable it to reach through the thickness of the door, and it was 
 clumsy and heavy in proportion. The large old-fashioned 
 keys in use at the time of the introduction of the Yale lock are 
 familiar to all and may still be found in use on some old 
 buildings. 
 
 Mr. Yale's invention consisted first, in separating the key 
 
TEE "YALE-' LOCK. 
 
 411 
 
 mechanism of the lock from the case which contains the bolt 
 and enclosing it in a separate compartment, or cylinder, in- 
 serted from the front of the door and connected through the 
 door with the lock case behind ; and, second, in making a small 
 flat key to operate the lock, the key being the same size for all 
 sizes of locks, and all thicknesses of door, and the keyhole 
 being reduced to a narrow slit. 
 
 From an examination of Patent 
 Office records, and by the courtesy 
 of the company founded by Mr. 
 Yale, we are enabled to show here- 
 with the earliest form of the Yale 
 cylinder, and also its highest and 
 most recent developments, the 
 Paracentric key and key-way. 
 From these illustrations the con- 
 struction will be clearly understood. 
 The security and key changes 
 
 are obtained by means of pin tumblers, as shown by the sec- 
 tional view (Fig. i) of the lock, as made by Mr. Yale when 
 applying for his original patent. The small key (which was 
 originally made flat) is inserted into a slit in a cylindrical plug, 
 and, as shown, adjusts the height of the pins so that the divi- 
 sions in them coincide to the division 
 between the plug and the body of the 
 cylinder, thus permitting the plug to be 
 rotated and the bolt mechanism to be 
 operated by a suitable connection with 
 the end of the plug. In Figure 2 
 is shown the escutcheon or front end 
 of the original Yale cylinder as it 
 appeared from the outside of the door. 
 ™- '■ The facility which this construction offers 
 
 for the use of a number of tumblers, and the freedom from 
 play and lost motion which the close fitting secures, makes an 
 
412 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 
 enormous number of different keys possible and thus gives 
 the highest security against intentional or accidental inter- 
 change of keys. 
 
 One point of defect in this construction was the ease with 
 which a duplicate could be obtained either from wax impres- 
 sions or from an outline drawn upon a 
 piece of paper, if a key could be secured, 
 even for a moment, for this purpose. 
 About ten years after the introduction of 
 the first Yale lock, the idea of a corru- 
 gated blade and correspondingly shaped 
 key-way developed itself. By inter- 
 locking the key and key-way the "tilt- 
 ing" of the key was eliminated, the 
 tumblers were rendered inaccessible, the 
 number of key changes was indefinitely increased, and above 
 all, the duplication of the key was rendered infinitely more 
 difficult. About 1890, however, we find in the Patent Office 
 the "Paracentric" key and corresponding key-way, and this 
 form is now used in all genuine Yale locks and may be said 
 to add another chapter to the history of the art of lock making. 
 In the Yale Paracentric Lock the pin tumbler mechanism 
 is identical with that of the original and the corrugated forms, 
 the improvement being 
 wholly in the key-way 
 and key. The front 
 view of the cylinder 
 (Fig. 3) shows this new 
 form of key-way and it 
 will at once be seen 
 that the projections ex- 
 tend in such a way and 
 are of such a shape as 
 
 YiiLE r^FKEIiTPrC 
 
 — 'lw*VWy(V//>/jWjV^<VAf/Alta_ 
 
 -jy 
 
 FIG. 4. 
 
 to utterly preclude the vertical movement of any instrument 
 which might be introduced with the intention of lifting the 
 
SAFETY PAPER. 
 
 413 
 
 pins and so opening the lock. Fig. 4 shows the key partly in- 
 serted and it will be seen how the pins are moved up and down, 
 riding upon the bittings of the key as it enters. In Fig. 5 the 
 key is all the way in and the plug partly rotated, thus show- 
 ing the manner in which the divisions of the pins permit 
 the lock to be opened by use of the proper key. From 
 these illustrations can also be seen the impossibility of opera- 
 tion by any key except one which is "bitted" (or cut) exactly 
 in conformity with the arrangement of the divisions in the pins 
 of the particular cylinder with which it is to be used. 
 
 Shortly previous to 
 his death, in 1868, Mr. 
 Yale formed a partner- 
 ship with Mr. Henry R. 
 Towne, out of which 
 grew the Yale & 
 Towne Mfg. Co., of 
 which for more than 
 twenty-five years Mr. 
 Towne has been presi- 
 dent, and which is the sole maker of the Yale locks. Its works 
 are located in Stamford, Conn., and its main office in the city 
 of New York, with branches in other cities. Out of the inven- 
 tions of Mr. Yale, supplemented by a long series of later im- 
 provements and inventions, contributed by others but relating 
 to the same field of industrial activity, has thus grown one of 
 the leading industries of the country whose efforts and prod- 
 ucts constitvtte an important element in the defences of society 
 against "Our Rival, The Rascal." 
 
 It has been duly noted in our chapter upon Forgery that it is 
 far more difficult to guard against the quill in the hand of a 
 skillful operator than to withstand all the assaults which may 
 be made upon vaults and safes by the most efifective weapons 
 of the most expert burglar. When one considers what vast 
 amounts of money are transferred by means of a few lines of 
 
414 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 writing, it is not surprising that many thousands of dollars are 
 annually lost by means of forged instruments. Documents 
 representing wealth may be carefully secured in burglar-proof 
 vaults, but in the transmission of evidences of value from hand 
 to hand, we must rely upon writing ink, which vanishes before 
 the touch of acid or alkali and which can often be fraudulently 
 changed, with almost perfect security against immediate detec- 
 tion, while the document still gives every appearance of being 
 genuine. 
 
 Among the many devices perfected to protect the system 
 of exchange by paper, which is so distinctive a feature of our 
 modern business methods, it will be readily seen that none can 
 be better than one whereby the medium itself is rendered in- 
 capable of alteration without being so affected as to show in- 
 stantly the change. Such a medium has been accessible for 
 commercial use for many years in the shape of the National 
 Safety Paper, invented and manufactured by George La Monte 
 of New York, which has a white body, the surfaces of both, 
 sides being colored, during the process of manufacture, with 
 chemicals which are derived from the same ingredients as the 
 writing inks used to fill up the documents. The writing thus 
 becomes so incorporated with the color that whatever removes 
 one removes the other and, leaving the white body of the 
 paper exposed, instantly attracts attention to the alteration. 
 The paper is colored in wavy lines, which not only gives an 
 ornamental surface but also renders it proof against artificial 
 coloring after erasure, which might be effected were it merely 
 printed on the surface as a tint. Being alike on both sides it 
 prevents alteration of the endorsements, as well as the face of 
 the document, which is a very important matter, yet frequently 
 overlooked. In short such a paper is protection for every part 
 of a check, amount, date, signatures, and endorsements alike. 
 
 This paper is now in use by over 6,000 banks and bankers 
 in this country as well as many large corporations and railway 
 companies, and is largely used abroad as far as Japan and 
 
WATCHMAN'S CLOCKS. 
 
 415 
 
 Australia. A special form of this paper upon heavier stock 
 but equally sensitive in its surface is being manufactured for 
 the coupon tickets of many railroads, it having been found 
 that forgeries of these tickets result in large losses to such 
 corporations. In this paper the colored surface carries with 
 its ornamental lines the name of the issuing company, the same 
 device being in reverse on the back and so exactly registered 
 that, on holding to the light, only one perfect lettering appears. 
 This paper is only sold under contract to the proper officials 
 of the road which uses it, rendering it practically impossible 
 for spurious tickets to be printed. 
 
 The necessity of private watchmen for the protection of 
 certain classes of property is generally recognized, but the 
 security of such protection de- 
 pends, of course, on the fidelity 
 of the employee. It therefore 
 becomes necessary to have 
 some means of determin- A^lm 
 
 ing the watchman's pres- 
 ence and attention to 
 duty. This demand has 
 been met by the inven- 
 tion of various automatic 
 time-registers or watch- 
 man's clocks (operated 
 by clockwork or by elec- 
 tricity) which will record 
 exactly the time when 
 the watchman visits his 
 post of duty. Of course it is 
 absolutely necessary to guard 
 against any fictitious record made 
 by the use of false keys or by tampering with the electric wires, 
 for if the watchman can get at the mechanism of the clock, its 
 record is unreliable. 
 
>j5 our rival, tee rascal. 
 
 One of the latest devices for this purpose, which is used ex- 
 tensively by the principal financial institutions of New York 
 City, is shown in the accompanying illustration. It consists oi 
 a clock movement which will run for eight days, and withm 
 which is placed, at the beginning of the week, a paper dial 
 divided into quarter hours for eight consecutive days. The 
 clock being wound and started, the dial travels regularly past 
 a point where a stylus is made to puncture the paper by simply 
 turning a knob at the top of the clock. It is screwed to the 
 wall from the inside and the glass cover, through which the 
 watchman's record is visible at all times, is locked in place by a 
 simple but effective automatic time lock which can not be 
 opened by any key. When the full week has run out, it imme- 
 diately unlocks itself and the record can be removed and a 
 fresh dial substituted. As there is no way of reaching the 
 mechanism (without breakmg the cover) until the lock opens, 
 it is impossible to produce a false record without immediate 
 detection. 
 
 Among the most important needs of the police systems in 
 cities has been some method whereby the patrolman on duty 
 could communicate with the station house for assistance or in- 
 struction. In 1880, the first regular system for police com- 
 munication was introduced in Chicago by the Police Telephone 
 and Signal Company of that city. Soon afterwards the Game- 
 well Fire Alarm Telegraph Company, having large facilities 
 for the manufacture of electrical apparatus, became interested 
 with the Chicago company, and from this starting point has 
 grown the police signal system in use by the Gamewell com- 
 pany to-day. 
 
 Prior to 1880, the police departments in some cities had 
 used apparatus of more or less service as a means of communi- 
 cation, such as the dial telegraph; but, with the invention of 
 the telephone and particularly of the transmitter, it became 
 possible to secure new and better results. The original appa- 
 ratus used by the Chicago company consisted only of a tele- 
 
POLICE SIGXAL SYSTEMS. 417 
 
 phone and call box installed in a booth and connected with the 
 station-house. While this marked a great advance in the 
 development of an efficient police service, it was found to be 
 expensive, requiring special operators on duty at all times, 
 who could only sift important from unimportant matter by 
 scanning and recording every message sent in over the line. 
 
 To increase the efficiency and economize in the cost of the 
 service a combination was effected whereby anyone of the sev- 
 eral calls sent in from a signal box to a poHce station was not 
 only recorded there by a printing device, but automatically 
 rang a bell on all important calls, while silently recording those 
 not requiring immediate attention. 
 
 When the Gamewell system was first introduced, the metallic 
 circuit, as now used on long distance telephones, was not 
 known, and for some time it was necessary to locate the instru- 
 ment and signal mechanism within a booth into which the 
 officer could retire in order to cut off the disturbing noises of 
 the street. But it was not long before the Gamewell Company 
 put in at Baltimore a system with a large number of what are 
 known as wall boxes which, placed on the side of buildings or 
 on poles, did away with the use of booths. This worked well 
 on quiet streets and, before long, the improvements in tele- 
 phony made it possible to use wall boxes altogether. This is 
 the form now generally used, although some cities still retain 
 the booths. Among other improvements patented were de- 
 vices for signalling from the station house to the patrolman at 
 his box, both manually and automatically. 
 
 In principle the construction of the essential parts of boxes 
 has varied but little from those first introduced. They contain 
 a pointer which may be placed at any one of six or seven 
 different points, or wants, upon a dial; and, after being thus set, 
 a hook or lever is pulled. This records, at the station-house, 
 not only the number of the box (in practically the same man- 
 ner that an alarm of fire is sent) but additional characters show- 
 ing just what is wanted. Patents were also taken out very 
 
4lS 'JiK mVAL. THE RAi^CAL. 
 
 early in the history of poHce telegraphs — not later than iSSi or 
 1S82, — for a combination mechanism which registered auto- 
 matically not only the box number and want but also the exact 
 minute, hour, day, and year when the call was sent in. 
 
 \Mthin the past twelve years, the Gamewell company, oper- 
 ating with the Chicago company, have put in a large number 
 of such systems in many of the largest municipalities in the 
 countT}-. including Chicago. Philadelphia, San Francisco. St. 
 Louis. Baltimore, Washingion. etc. The Xew England cities 
 ha^e especially shown great enterprise in thus increasing the 
 efficacy of their police systems. Springfield, Lawrence. Lowell. 
 \\~altliani. Xew Bedford. Brookline and Chelsea. Mass.; Port- 
 land and Lewiston, Maine; Hartford and Xew Haven, Conn., 
 and Pro\-idence and Pawtucket. R. L, — are among the places 
 where this system has been in use for a niimber of vears; and 
 it seems to be the general testimony that such a system wonder- 
 fully improves the efficiency of the police department, enabling 
 both officials and patrolmen to do work much more rapidlv, 
 completely, and satisfactorily. It is doubtless only a question 
 of time when the use of the police signal system will be quite 
 as universal as the fire alarm telegraph. 
 
 In the City of Boston, in 1SS6. the ordinary telephone booths 
 were replaced by the police signal and intercommunicative sys- 
 tems of the ^Municipal Signal Company of Boston, the work- 
 ings of which apparattis has been referred to in our chapter 
 entitled "Arrest and Identification." This system enables the 
 patrolman to record, automatically and silently by a printing 
 de^-ice at the station-house, the exact moment of his \-isit to the 
 signal box upon his beat, thus pro\-ing his efficiency and keep- 
 ing him in touch with his superior officer for any needed con- 
 ference or ad\^ce. He can also announce an important or 
 emergency call for patrol wagon, ambulance, or telephone 
 communication by another signal which sounds a continuous 
 alarm at the station-house until the call has received proper 
 attention. These different calls also record themselves by the 
 printing mechanism in distinguishing characters. 
 
POLICE SIGNAL SYSTEMii. 415 
 
 Should the officer in charge at the station-house wish to 
 speak to the patrolmen on street duty, he can instantly put him- 
 self into telephonic communication with them by manually 
 sounding the gongs in the boxes whenever a patrol signal is 
 received, or he can forestall the arrival of the patrolmen in turn 
 at the street boxes, by merely setting a switch which causes 
 an incoming patrol signal to automatically sound the box 
 gongs and thereby summon them to use their telephones. In 
 the most recent construction of this system a switch may 
 also be set to sound a signal which calls the patrolmen imme- 
 diately back to the police-station. By the use of this signal, 
 at the time of the riot at the Charlestown State Prison, details of 
 patrolmen from the stations in the central part of the city were 
 recalled from their beats and landed at the prison for duty in 
 less than fifteen minutes, and a large force was thus massed 
 at that place in a very short time. 
 
 The system also brings to the assistance of the department 
 a large number of citizens who, being furnished with keys to 
 signal boxes, are enabled to call for police assistance in case 
 of trouble, and thereby, in one sense, constitute an auxiliary 
 police force. When one of these keys is used it becomes 
 locked in place and cannot be released until the officer unlocks 
 the box. 
 
 This system was introduced in Boston after a thorough 
 examination of the subject of police signal systems. It has 
 been in continuous use in all parts of the city since its adoption 
 in 1886, and, as in all of the many cities where it has been in- 
 stalled, it has received the complete endorsement of the police 
 authorities. 
 
 Among all the other benefits of such systems for police 
 communication, not the least is the fact that they do away with 
 the degrading and offensive spectacle of a prisoner being 
 dragged through the streets to the station-house, and alleviate 
 human sufifering by providing an expeditious way of summon- 
 ing assistance in accident cases, and conveying the injured 
 to their homes or the hospitals. 
 
420 
 
 OVB BITAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 In pointing out and strongly commending the use of the 
 best modern safeguards, it is not, of course, our design to 
 diminish the responsibility or relax the vigilance of any police 
 organization. We are seeking simply to secure the most 
 thorough cooperation and system of defence against the arts 
 of the rascal, and by so doing to discourage criminal under- 
 takings and reduce the losses of good citizens. 
 
 It is already apparent that the application of these safe- 
 guards has been greatly disheartening to burglars, "bank- 
 sneaks" and forgers, and that the actual working range of these 
 criminals is yearly receding. They have been driven to search 
 laboriously for openings where the defences are imperfect or 
 neglected, and every extension of safeguards will make their 
 search more difficult and diminish their possible plunder. We 
 have then a confidence grounded on actual experience that the 
 cooperation for the protection of society will foil more and more 
 completely any possible combination or art of the rascal, and it 
 will be an enduring satisfaction to us if our work in furtherance 
 of such cooperation shall prove to be of substantial service. 
 
INDEXES. 
 
INDEX OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Allen, Charles 125, 140, 329 
 
 Allen, Jesse 230 
 
 Allen, "The" 230 
 
 Anderson, Charles 253 
 
 Anderson, Mary (a/zaj " Mother Weir ") 297 
 
 Ballard, Thomas 152 
 
 Barracks, William . 195 
 
 Barrett, William (a/zaj Bas.sett) 104, in to 116 
 
 " Bassett." See William Barrett. 
 
 Becker, Charles 163, 175 to 182 
 
 Berkowitz, Gadalia . 298 
 
 Bernard, John 218 
 
 Biglow, " Big Tom "......... 373 
 
 " Black Amelia." See Amelia Levy. 
 
 " Black Dan." See Daniel Leary. 
 
 " Black Lena." See Lena Kleinschmid. 
 
 Borsch, Walter 278 
 
 " Bottle Sam." See Sam Perry. 
 
 Boyd, Lindsay C. ......... . 289 
 
 Brady, James (" Big Jim Brady") 53 
 
 Brady, John 218 
 
 Brockway, WiDiam E. (" Old Bill ") .... 163,182,183 
 
 " Bronson." See Charles Spencer. 
 
 " Brooklyn Johnny" {alias John Hamilton). 
 
 Brotzki, Samuel 195, 328 
 
 Brown, Margaret (a/z'aj " Old Mother Hubbard ") .... 375 
 
 Buck, Frank . . . . . . . . . . .127 
 
 Bullard, Charles {alias " Piano Charley ") . . 44, 49, 50, 53, 54 
 
 Burke, John 136 
 
 Burke, William ("Billy") 125,129,136 
 
 Burns, Peter {alias " James Joy Julius") . . . . 163 to 167 
 
 Busby, Mary 375 
 
 Butler, Jack 263 
 
 Cannon, John H. ("Jack") 236 
 
 " Carpenter." See William Carroll. 
 
 Carroll, "Patsy" 81 
 
 Carroll, William {alias " Hayes," alias " Carpenter," alias " Cole ") 10 
 
 Carson, George 130, 136 to 138 
 
 ChafFee, James H 115,296 
 
 Chapman, Joseph B 163, 176 
 
 " Cincinnati Red." See Red Hyle. 
 
424 OUR RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 ■Cochran, Bob 44 
 
 -Cody, Patrick 68 
 
 Cohen, Rosie {alias Annie Levy) ....... 30 
 
 " Cole." See William Carroll. 
 
 Coleman, William . . -137 
 
 "Confidence Queen," The. See Bertha Heyman. 
 
 'Cregan, James 175 to 182 
 
 Curamings, David (Dave) 44, 56 to 58 
 
 'Curtis, Henry . . . . . . . . . . . 241 
 
 " Daily, Charles." See Edward C. Smith. 
 
 Davis, Henry 218 
 
 Davis, Richard 167, 169, 174 
 
 " Dayton Sammy," alias Samuel Straehler. 
 " Dean, A. H." See Frank L. Seaver. 
 
 Dennis, John 276 
 
 Dillon, Elizabeth 375 
 
 Dobbs, "Johnny" . 68, 107 
 
 Dollard, " Joe " . . . . • 83 
 
 " Dorris, Charles H." See Jack Strauss. 
 
 JDow, Marion L. (a/z'aj " Carrie E. Morse ") . . . 373*0375 
 
 " Dr" St'^ cTair/'' ^'''■" \ ^'' ^^^""'^ Farebrother. 
 Drohan, Richard ......... 106, 107 
 
 Duffy, Frank (a://a.f Pete " McCormack ") 25 
 
 Dualap, James 43> 44, S7i 74 to 76 
 
 ■" Dutch Alonzo." See Alonzo Henn. 
 
 " Dutch Charley " 98 
 
 " EUicott." See Edward Williams. 
 
 £lliott, "Joe" . . . . , 165 
 
 .EUwood, George A. (a/z'flj " Gentleman George ") . . . 116 to 118 
 
 JEngle, Gottlieb 163, 167, 176 
 
 "English Harry" .......... 5 
 
 Evans, George H. {alias " Kid Miller," alias "Lady Hand George") 126 
 Evans, Walter ......... 106, 107 
 
 Everhardt, Charles J. {alias " Mash Market Jake") . . . 174, 175 
 
 Fale, William ........... 241 
 
 Farebrother, Edward {alias " Dr. Edward S. West," alias "Dr. 
 
 St. Clair") 241 
 
 ■" Fielding, David H." See Max Steele. 
 
 Fields, Kate {alias Annie Upton) 33 
 
 Figgat, CM 326 
 
 Fisher, Charles 167, 169 to 175, 331 
 
 Flynn, Arthur .......... 290 
 
 "' Frisco Slim " . 4 
 
 •" Funeral" Wells. See James Wells. 
 
 Gardner, George "44 
 
INDEX OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 425. 
 
 " Gentleman George," alias George A. EUwood. 
 George, Theophilus ..... 
 
 Gifford, Charles ...... 
 
 Gifford, Henry 
 
 Gleason, James 
 
 Goldstein, Joseph 
 
 Hamilton, John (alias "Brooklyn Johnny") 
 Hamilton, Sheldon (alias " Shell") 
 " Hayes." See William Carroll. 
 
 Hedspeth, Marion C 
 
 Henn, Alonzo (alias " Henry Morton," alias 
 Hennessey, George (fl/za^ " Kid ") . 
 Heyman, Bertha (alias " The Confidence Queen") 
 Hicks, Chas. A . . . . 
 Hines, Joshua (" Josh ") 
 Hoey, Jimmy ..... 
 Hoffman, Henry (alias " Tannis," alias 
 "" " 'Carl Schultz") 
 
 . 277- 
 . 218 
 . 218 
 97. 98 
 • 30 
 
 141, 163, 165 
 
 Dutch Alonzo ' 
 
 'MoUie Hoey") 
 
 Mug ") 
 
 Hoffman, Henry (alias 
 
 Holbrook, George . 
 
 Holbrook, Mary (alias 
 
 Hope, James (Jimmy) 
 
 Hope, John ..... 
 
 Hovan, Horace (alias " Little Horace ") 
 
 Hovan, Robert .... 
 
 " Howard, Joe " See Joseph Killoran. 
 
 Hurley, Michael (alias " Pugsey ") 
 
 Hyle, Red (alias " Cincinnati Red") 
 
 " Jack Sheppard, " alias John Mahoney. 
 " Jackson, Billy." See William E. Stewart. 
 " Jackstraws." iV^ Jack Strauss. 
 "John Doe." See Edward Williams. 
 
 Johnson, Chauncey 
 
 Johnson, John C. ..... • 
 
 Jourdan, Louise (alias " Little Louise") 
 "Julius. James Joy." See Peter Burns. 
 
 "Kauffmann, Louise." See Rose Stade. 
 
 " Keene," 5«^ Walter Sheridan. 
 
 Kelly, Edward ("Eddy") . . . . 
 
 Kelly, Harry 
 
 "Kid Johnson" 
 
 "Kid" Hennessey. 5££ George Hennessey. 
 " Kid Miller." See George H. Evans. 
 Killoran, Joseph (^alias " Joe Howard") 
 
 King, Jack 
 
 Kleinschmid, Lena (alias " Black Lena") 
 Kurtz, Michael (a/zaj " Sheeny Mike ") . . 
 
 256 to 259 
 
 ) 125, 126 
 
 • 25 
 
 368. 369 
 
 218 
 
 ZS 
 
 2,7^- 
 
 90 
 
 241 
 
 369 
 369 to 372 
 
 43. 55 
 
 43. 55 
 
 125 to 127 
 
 . 127 
 
 108, 109 
 . 240. 
 
 131 to 13s 
 
 • 157 
 
 • 372 
 
 73 to 80. 
 . 278 
 • 4- 7 
 
 137, 139 to 141 
 
 328 
 263 
 • 297 
 86 to 88 
 
426 
 
 OUB RIVAL, THE BASCAL. 
 
 " Lady Hand George." See George H. Evans. 
 La Liberty, George ..... 
 
 " Lambert." See Charles McLaughlin. 
 Lavoiye, Edmond {a/ms " Charles E. Marshall") 
 Lawrence, Frederick ..... 
 
 Leary, Daniel {a/ias " Black "Dan") 
 
 Leary, " Red" ...... 
 
 Levy, Amelia (alias " Black Amelia") . 
 " Levy, Annie." See Rosie Cohen. 
 " Levy, Lina." See Rosie Vokar. 
 
 Lewis, James 
 
 " Little Adam." See Adam Worth. 
 " Little Dave" {alias David Mooney). 
 " Little Horace." See Horace Hovan. 
 " Little Joe." See Joseph McCluskey. 
 
 " Little Scotty " 
 
 Love, John ....... 
 
 Ludlow, Lewis ...... 
 
 Lyons, Edward (Ned) ..... 
 
 Lyons, James E. ..... . 
 
 Lyons, Sophie ...... 
 
 . 264 
 
 ■ 97 
 . 278 
 
 53 
 56, 68 
 
 297. 373 
 
 218 
 
 33 
 86 
 
 44, 58 
 
 129, 
 
 • 19s 
 363 to 36s 
 230 to 23s 
 362 to 368 
 
 Maher, William (a//aj " Billy Marr ") 137,140 
 
 Mahoney, John (a/M.f "Jack Sheppard") . . . .881090 
 Mandelbaum, Frederica (" Old Mother Mandelbaum") 
 
 294 to 296, 365, 370, 371 
 Manning, Sidney (a/zaj " Sid Yennie ") ..... 137,139 
 
 Marsh, "Ike" 44, 54 
 
 " Marshall, Charles E." See Edmond Lavoiye. 
 
 " Marshall, E. R." 5^^ Albert Wilson. 
 
 Martin, John, J. .......... 289 
 
 Martin, Sara ........... 259 
 
 " Mash Market Jake." See Charles J. Everhardt. 
 
 McCaffrey (alias Peters), James 25 
 
 McCartney, John Peter . . . . . . . -153 
 
 McCluskey, Joseph {alias " Little Joe, " alias "J. M. Shaw") 136, 180 
 " McCormack, Pete." See Frank Duffy. 
 
 McCoy, " Big Frank " 68 
 
 McDonald, George ......... 161 
 
 McKenna, Roxie ......... 237 to 239 
 
 "McLain." 5«a Chas. McLaughlin. 
 
 McLaughlin, Charles (alias " McLain," alias " Lambert," alias 
 
 " Seaman") ......... 239 
 
 McLaughlin, Ellen ......... 33 
 
 Meyer, John H 289 
 
 Miles, George (a&'aj " George White ") . . . 44,46,52,53 
 
 Mincheon, James (a/zaj " Doc ") ....... 195 
 
 Minor, Rufus (" Rufe") . 130. 137* 
 
 Mooney, David (a/Mj- " Little Dave ") ..... 96,97 
 Morgan, Charles (a/zizj- " D. M, Speer") .... 259 to 261 
 
INDEX OF CRIMINALS 427 
 
 "Morris." &« Edward Williams. "'"' 
 
 " Morse, Carrie E." See Marion L. Dow. 
 " Morton, Henry." See Alonzo Henn. 
 
 Murray, John W 2 
 
 " Myers, Lizzie." ! 208 ^7^ 
 
 " Myers." See Caroline Smith. -^ ' -*^'' 
 
 O^Brien, Thomas 188, 190, 195 
 
 O'Connor, Wallace (" Wally") . . . . i?7 no 
 
 " Old Mother Hubbard." i^s^ Margaret Brown. 
 
 "One Eyed Thompson." !„ 
 
 Ferris, Sam (a/zaj " Worcester Sara ") ... 44 
 
 Perry, George . , ^l 
 
 Perry, Oliver Curtis 2651027? -^ay 
 
 Perry, Sam (a/zaj " Bottle Sara ") .230 
 
 " Peters, James." ^^^ James McCaffrey. 
 
 Phearson, Philip ........ 141 
 
 " Piano Charley." i"^^ Charles BuUard. 
 
 Porter, " Billy " 87 
 
 Post, George W i88 to 190, 195 
 
 Prior, Joseph (a/zaj " Walking Joe ") 236,237 
 
 " Pugsey " Hurley, ^e^ Michael Hurley. 
 
 Quigley, James 88 
 
 "Ralston." i^^^ Walter Sheridan. 
 
 Raymond, Augustus (" Gus") 137,139 
 
 Raymond, William ' igr 
 
 Reilly, " Little Joe." 176 
 
 Reno, John 250,251 
 
 Reno, Frank 250 to 254 
 
 Reno, Simeon 25010254 
 
 Reno, William 250 to 254 
 
 Rogers, Michael 251 
 
 Russell, Harry ......... 140, 328 
 
 Scannell, Roger T. ((z/zizj " R. O'Connell ") 325 
 
 Schneider, Ernest V. 278 
 
 " Schultz, Carl." See Henry Hoffman. 
 
 Scott, Robert ......... 44, 57 
 
 " Seaman." See Charles McLaughlin. 
 
 Searcy, C. J . . . . . . 259 
 
 Sears, Walter 290 
 
 Seaver, Frank L. (ah'as "Frederick Stebbins" ah'as " D. W. 
 
 Woods." a/zfflj- "A. H. Dean") 180 
 
 "Shaw, J. M." See Joe McCluskey. 
 
 " Sheeny Mike." (alms " Michael Kurtz.") 
 »" Sheeny Si" 5 
 
 Sheridan, Walter (alias " Stewart," ah'as " Ralston," a/i'as " Stan- 
 ton," a/?a.r " Keene ") 121,12310:26 
 
4:^8 
 
 OUH RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 44. 45 to SI 
 
 . 25610 259 
 
 . 290 
 
 ■ 33 
 . 109 to III 
 
 • 195 
 
 276 
 289 
 
 Shinburn, Max ..... 
 
 Sly, Adelbert 
 
 Smaling, William E. . . . . 
 
 S.nith, Caroline (a/z(M " Myers '■) . 
 
 Smith, Edward C. {alias " Charles Daily ") 
 
 Soadheim, Jacob (alias '■ Al Wise") 
 
 " Speer, D. M." ^fi- Charles Morgan. 
 
 " Spence." .5"^^ Charles Spencer. 
 
 Spencer, Charles {alias '• Spence," rt//aj " Bronson ") 
 
 Stack, Joseph {alias " Spanish Joe ") 
 
 Stade, Rose {alias " Loui.se Kaufmann") 
 
 "Stanton." .S'«« Walter Sheridan. 
 
 Start, Philip 25 
 
 " Stebbins, Frederick." See Frank L. Seaver. 
 Steele, Max {alias" Henry T. Woodruff," alias "David H. Field- 
 ing") 16710174 
 
 " Stewart." 5tv Walter Sheridan. 
 
 Stewart, William E. ((z/zaj " Billy Jackson ") .... 277 
 
 Straehler, Samuel (a/A?.f " Dayton Sammy ") 25 
 
 Strauss, " Jack" {alias " Charles H. Dorris," alias "Jack straws'") 239 
 Susicovitch, Carlo . . . . . . . . . .176 
 
 Swain, David . . . . . . . . . .218. 221 
 
 Talbot, John 81 to 83 
 
 Ulrich. Charles .......... 152 
 
 " Upton, Annie." .^tv Kate Fields. 
 
 Vokar, Rosie ((z/mj " Lina Levy ") ...... 30 
 
 Van Horn, Frank .......... 276 
 
 " Walking Joe." &v Joseph Prior. 
 
 Walsh, John ("Jack") 81,83,84 
 
 " Watt Jones." See Thomas B. Wills. 
 
 Wells, James {alias " Funeral^') ....... 24 
 
 Whalen, Joe . . . . . . . • . -117 
 
 " White." See George Miles. 
 
 Wilkes, Henry Wade (a&zj "George Wilkes, "<7//<;i^"Willis") 16310 167,177 
 
 Williams, Edward {alias " Ellicott," alias "Morris," alias "John 
 
 Doe "........... 100 
 
 Wills, Thomas B (s/mj " Watt Jones ") 25 
 
 Wilson, Albert (" Al," alias " E. R. Marshall ") . . 163, 166, 167 
 
 Wilson, Clay 195 
 
 " Wise, Al." ^tY Jacob Sondheim. 
 
 Wols, Jacob ....... o ... 30 
 
 " Woodruff, Henry T." See Max Steele. 
 
 " Woods, D. W." See Frank L. Seaver. 
 
 " Worcester Sam." See Sam Ferris. 
 
 Worth, Adam {alias " Little Adam") ... 44, 54, 85, i76« 
 
 ' Yennie, Sid." See Sidney Manning. 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Air Pump, The 57 
 
 Albany Street Gang 105 
 
 Arrest of Criminals 306 
 
 Arson. {See The Incendiary.) 
 
 Bank Burglar, The .... 
 
 Old-Fashioned and Modern Contrasted 
 
 Tools ...... 
 
 Preparation for a Burglary . 
 
 Improvement in Defence Against 
 
 Dangerous Uses of Electricity 
 Bank Sneak, The .... 
 
 Methods of Operation 
 
 Precautions Against 
 Bank Robberies. 
 
 Bank of England (Bidwell Forgeries) 
 
 Barre, Vt., Bank of . . . 
 
 Boylston Bank (of Boston) . 
 
 Covington (Ky.) Bank . 
 
 Dorchester (England) Bank . 
 
 Falls City Tobacco Bank of Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Italian-American Bank of New York 
 
 Manhattan Savings Bank of New York 
 
 Middleburg, N. Y., First National Bank of 
 
 Northampton (Mass.) Bank . 
 
 Ocean National Bank of New York 
 
 Plainfield, N. J., First National Bank of 
 
 Quincy, 111., First National Bank of 
 
 Smith's Bank, Perry, N. Y. . 
 
 Traders' Deposit Bank, Mt.. Sterling, Ky. 
 
 Viveres, Belgium, Provincial Bank of . 
 
 Walpole (N. H.) Savings Bank . 
 
 West Maryland Bank .... 
 
 Bank Vaults 
 
 Bates, L. L. & Co 
 
 Beggars 
 
 Report of Boston Overseers of the Poor 
 Bertillon System, The .... 
 Bidwell, Austin 
 
 43 
 
 J61-163 
 52 
 49. 53- 54, 60 
 
 35-63 
 
 35 
 
 38-41 
 
 42 
 
 61, 62 
 
 62 
 
 120-143 
 
 129, 131, 136 
 
 134 
 
 43 
 
 392 
 
 56 
 
 86 
 
 43. 48, 55. 60 
 51 
 43, 60. 410 
 43, 47,. 52, 60 
 127 
 S7 
 55 
 129 
 
 49 
 45 
 
 66 
 
 402 
 
 1-14 
 
 14 
 320-324 
 160-163 
 
430 
 
 OUR RIVAL, THJil RASCAL. 
 
 H. 
 
 BiDWELL, George 
 
 Brewster, William 
 
 Brockway, Z. R. 
 
 Bureau of Criminal Investigation (Boston) 
 
 Burglar Alarm Systems ..... 
 
 Burglars' Correspondence 
 
 Burglary. {See also Bank Burglar, Safe Breaker, 
 
 Breaker, House Breaker, etc.) 
 
 What constitutes .... 
 
 Insurance against .... 
 " Bunco Games" .... 
 
 The Shell Game. (Thimble rig) . 
 
 Origin of " Bunco " 
 
 Gold Brick Swindles 
 
 Cross Readers .... 
 
 " Sweating" Gold Coins 
 
 Sunken Galleons and Buried Treasure 
 
 " Green Goods " or " Sawdust " Games 
 
 Horse Sharps 
 
 Flim-Flam Game . 
 
 Bogus Business Investments 
 
 Advertising Frauds 
 
 Worthless Checks 
 
 Swindles on Immigrants 
 
 The 
 
 i6i 
 
 409 
 
 339. 386 
 
 312-336 
 
 . 63, 402-404 
 
 • 74,76 
 
 Store 
 
 " Choke Pear, 
 
 Chrome Steel 
 
 Composite Photographs of Criminals 
 Counterfeiting. {See also Forgery) 
 
 Definition of .... 
 
 Methods used in . 
 
 Precautions against 
 
 Tests for ..... 
 
 " Sweating," " Plugging" and " Filling 
 
 Raising Bank Notes 
 
 Washing Bills 
 Criminals, The Treatment of 
 
 Massachusetts Legislation 
 
 Probation Office . 
 
 Diebold Safe and Lock Co. 
 
 "Dips' 
 
 '• Drag," The 
 
 " Duchess of Gainsborough " Portrait 
 Dugdale, R. I. 
 
 Explosives for Safe Breaking 
 Express Thief, The . 
 
 Fay, Hon. Clement K. 
 
 64,65 
 408 
 85-222 
 185 
 188 
 191 
 
 193 
 196 
 196 
 197-203 
 203-211 
 212 
 215 
 216 
 217 
 218 
 
 395. 
 
 285 
 397. 402 
 
 348 
 145-153 
 
 145 
 146-153 
 
 147 
 149 
 150 
 153 
 153 
 376-390 
 378 
 385 
 
 397. 399 
 23 
 
 40 
 
 55 
 340 
 
 57. 61 
 
 . 72 
 278 
 
 378 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 431 
 
 Fence, The. (See The Receiver.) 
 " Filling." {See Counterfeiting.) 
 
 Fire Marshal, Massachusetts State 304 
 
 Flat Workers qq-ioj 
 
 Footpad. The 280 
 
 Forger, The. {See also Counterfeiting) .... 145-184 
 
 Counterfeiting 145-153 
 
 Definition of Forgery 151 
 
 Forged Signatures ........ 154 
 
 Forged Signatures, Detection of . . . . . . 155 
 
 Precautions against 156-160 
 
 Frazer, Persifor, on Forgery 155 
 
 Galton, Francis 348 
 
 Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Co 416 
 
 " Gripper," The 39 
 
 Hayt, Chief Justice 339 
 
 Hedspeth Gang, The 255-259 
 
 Heredity in Crime 340 
 
 Highwayman, The 280-290 
 
 "HoisTERs" 29 
 
 Holmes, Edwin 405 
 
 Holmes's Electric Protection 405 
 
 Hotel Thief, The 223-247 
 
 House Breaker, The 93-H9 
 
 Sneak Thieves and Amateurs 94, loi 
 
 Second Story and Flat Workers 95-101 
 
 The Professional Burglar ...... 102-118 
 
 Identification of Criminals 306-320 
 
 Idleness as a Cause of Crime 339 
 
 Incendiary, The 299-305 
 
 Definition and Punishments of Arson 300 
 
 Commercial Incendiarism ....... 301 
 
 The Pyromaniac 303 
 
 Insurance Against Burglary Loss 407 
 
 Insurance Against Fire 300 
 
 "Jack," The 39 
 
 Jail Cells, Chrome Steel 403 
 
 James Gang, The 255 
 
 "Jimmy." The 38 
 
 "Johnny Dobbs" Gang 107 
 
 Key Nippers 102, 103 
 
 Kleptomania 28 
 
 Knockout Drops 288 
 
 La Monte, George 4'4 
 
 Lodging House Tramps 8 
 
432 OVE RIVAL, THE RASCAL. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 LoMBROSO, Caesare, Theory of Crime . . . 34' > 357. 361 
 
 Making of Criminals 337-356 
 
 Moore, Langdon W. 44 
 
 Moreau, The Abbe 376-381 
 
 Morgan Gang, The ....... 255, 259, 261 
 
 Municipal Signal Co. of Boston ...... 418 
 
 National Bankers' Association 184 
 
 National Safety Paper 414 
 
 New England Burglary Insurance Co 409 
 
 "Pennyweight Thieves" 30 
 
 Pettigrove, Fred. G., Gen. Supt. of Mass. Prisons . . 320 
 
 Petty Thieves .......... 84 
 
 Pickpocket, The 15-26 
 
 Methods of Operation . . . . . . . 15-26 
 
 Training of Children as ....... 22 
 
 Professional Gangs of . 23-25 
 
 Cover Sought by ........ . 25 
 
 Precautions Against ........ 26 
 
 Pinkerton, Allan 251-252 
 
 PiNKERTON Detective Agency .... 162, 184, 257, 262, 330 
 
 Plate Cutter, The 41 
 
 " Plugging." {See Counterfeiting.) 
 
 Pocket Blast-pipe .......... 40 
 
 Police Signal Systems 310, 415, 418 
 
 Police Systems 308,336 
 
 The Boston System ....... 3°9-336 
 
 Proal, M. Louis 339.348,357,359 
 
 Pyromania 303 
 
 Receiver, The 291-298 
 
 Reno Gang, The 250-254 
 
 Rodman, Samuel, Jr. Experiments in Safe Breaking . . 62 
 
 Rogues' Gallery . .' 3'6, 319, 332, 333 
 
 " Safe Booking" 40 
 
 Safe Breaker, The 66-84 
 
 Methods of Operation ........ 69 
 
 Use of Explosives ........ 66-72 
 
 Tools 70,77.80 
 
 Safe Deposit Vaults 400-402 
 
 Safe Deposit Locks 401 
 
 Safes, Burglar Proof 66, 67, 392, 400 
 
 Sandbag, The 284 
 
 Sanford, C. E 415 
 
 " Second Story Workers " 95-98 
 
 Shoplifter, The 26-33 
 
 Dabblers in Shoplifting 27 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 433 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Shoplifter, Guarding Stores in Shopping Districts . -^7 
 
 Professional Shoplifters 20 
 
 "Morning Holsters" ■....., 20 
 
 Pennyweight Thieves ....... ,□ 
 
 Precaution against ....'"' \o 
 
 Sledge, The Burglar's ..,.'' io 
 
 Sleeping Car Workers ' '27 --278 
 
 Sneak Thieves ' gl-ioi 
 
 "Spreader," The .'..'! 40 
 
 "Stone Getters" . . 2; 
 
 Store Breaker, The ........ 66-85 
 
 Safeguards against ........ 00-02 
 
 "Sweating." (S'^« Counterfeiting.) 
 
 Swindling Burglar, The j^, , 
 
 TARDE, M. ..... -ijtf, -,,7 ,r7 
 
 Topinard, M .,60 
 
 Towne, Henry M. . . 4,, 
 
 Train Robber, The '248--'75 
 
 Tramps \ ', 2,8, g.'io 
 
 Watchman's Clocks 415 
 
 Wheelock, Howard S. . . 408 
 
 Whitcomb, Chas. W., Massachusetts Fire Marshal ... 304 
 
 Wines, Dr. E. C 33g, 382 
 
 Woman, The Criminal 357-375 
 
 Yale, Linus, Jr , . ^iq 
 
 "Yale" Lock, The .... 118, 410 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 Since the pages of this volume, containing the history of 
 Chauncey Johnson (pp. 131-134), went to press, the career of 
 this once noted bank sneak has been ended by death. On 
 February 26, 1897, while serving out his sentence of imprison- 
 ment at the penitentiary on Blackwells Island, he died of con- 
 sumption, being then seventy-five years of age. 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 i