Kitabı oku: «True Detective Stories from the Archives of the Pinkertons», sayfa 2
On the night of November 4 only one layer of bricks separated them from the top of the vault, and it was decided to finish the work and do the robbery that night. Two hours' hard labor with "drag" and "jack-screw" sufficed to effect an opening, and Scott and Dunlap were lowered into the vault. They found three Marvin spherical safes protected by a burglar-alarm. But Dunlap was somewhat of an electrical expert, and was able to so surround the burglar-alarm with heavy boards as to render it of little or no danger. They experienced much difficulty, though, in blowing open the safes. The first one attempted yielded on the second explosion, and they secured five hundred dollars in currency and sixty thousand dollars in bonds. The next one was far more troublesome, not less than ten explosions being required to make way into it. And just as the task was at last accomplished, and they were on the point of seizing a great sum of money, there came a warning call from Conroy, who was doing sentry duty on the roof, and it was necessary to fly.
When Dunlap and Scott had been dragged out of the vault by their associates, they were found scarcely able to run. During all the twelve explosions of powder and dynamite they had never left the vault, but, crouching behind the boards that guarded the burglar-alarm, had remained within arm's length of explosions so violent that they tore apart plates of welded steel and shook the whole building. Worse than the shock of these explosions were the noxious gases generated by them, which Scott and Dunlap had to breathe. On coming out, their clothes were wringing wet with perspiration, and they were so weak that their legs tottered under them, and their comrades had to almost carry them for a time. But, nevertheless, they managed to walk thirty miles that night, to Lehigh, where they boarded a train to New York.
It was on this occasion that there was left behind in the vault the air-pump which Robert Pinkerton afterward recalled so shrewdly to Evans's disadvantage.
Coming, in his confession, to the Northampton Bank robbery, Evans said that the gang had considered making an attempt there for several months before the robbery was actually executed. For a time they had designed to rob the First National Bank, where Evans had been employed to put in new doors, but this scheme they afterward abandoned. Enjoying the fullest confidence of the Northampton Bank officers, Evans had made repeated visits to the bank and gained important information for his associates. It was through his influence that the bank directors decided to give the whole combination of the vault to the cashier, Whittelsey, who had previously been intrusted with only half of it, the remainder being given to one of the clerks.
On the night of the robbery Evans was in New York, but he had gone to Northampton a day or two after, as already stated. Then, for the first time, he realized what immense wrong and suffering would be inflicted upon innocent people by the robbers, and he said it was this that had prompted him in his efforts to have the securities restored to the owners.
Returning to New York, he at once communicated with Scott and Dunlap by means of "Herald" personals, and had several interviews with them in the city during the month of February. While they were anxious to dispose of the securities, it was plain from the first that they distrusted Evans and proposed to lessen his share of the profits. While pretending to approve the steps he was taking for a compromise with the bank, they were really, without his knowledge, carrying on secret negotiations with the same object. The suspicion on either side grew until finally it could no longer be concealed. Meeting Scott in Prospect Park some time after the robbery, Evans said, "When are you going to settle and give me my share?"
"You'll never get a cent," answered Scott; "you've given the whole gang away."
For some time they did not meet again. Evans continued his vain efforts for a settlement, growing more and more anxious as the months went by and he saw the danger to himself become more threatening. On the 9th of November he met Scott, Dunlap, and "Red" Leary on the outskirts of Brooklyn, and a violent quarrel occurred about the division of the spoil. Reproaches and threats were exchanged with stormy language, and at one time Evans's life was actually in danger.
It was soon after this interview that Evans decided, under the management of Superintendent Bangs, to save himself by making a full confession. He had fewer scruples about betraying his associates, because he had become convinced that in the previous robberies, notably in the one at Quincy, Illinois, he had been treated most unfairly by Scott and Dunlap.
Evans said that for several weeks preceding the Northampton robbery the gang had concealed themselves in the attic of a school-house which stood four or five rods from the highway and apart from other houses. His statement was substantiated by the discovery in this attic, after the robbery, of blankets, satchels, ropes, bits, pulleys, and provisions, including a bottle of whisky bearing the label of a New York firm.
After the vault had been rifled, the money and securities were placed in a bag and a pillow-case, and carried to the school-house, where they were stowed away in places of concealment that had been previously prepared. One of these was underneath the platform where the teacher's desk stood. Another was a recess made behind a blackboard, which was taken off for the purpose and then screwed carefully in place. For nearly two weeks this treasure, amounting to over a million dollars, lay unsuspected in the school-house, the teacher walking over a part of it, the children working out their sums on the blackboard which concealed another part. It was left there so long because the robbers were unable to return for it, owing to the strict watch for strangers that was kept at the railway-station and along all the roads. Finally Scott bought a team of horses for nine hundred dollars, and, with Jim Brady, drove over to Northampton from Springfield. After securing the booty, they had serious trouble in getting away. Brady fell into the mill-race, which they were crossing on the ice, and this accident necessitated their camping out all night in a cabin in the woods.
After hearing Evans's story, the question foremost in Mr. Pinkerton's mind was where the stolen securities had been concealed. From what Evans said, and from what he knew himself about the methods of the gang, he was satisfied that Dunlap possessed this secret, and would intrust it to no one unless absolutely compelled to do so. The likeliest way of compelling him was to put him under arrest, which might very well be done now that Evans had consented to turn State's evidence. For weeks Pinkerton "shadows" had never been off Scott and Dunlap, who spent most of their time in New York, the former living with his wife at a fashionable boarding-house in Washington Square.
Instructions were accordingly given to the "shadows" to close in upon them, and on February 14, 1877, both men were arrested in Philadelphia, as they were on the point of taking a train for the South.
Despite the large sum of securities in their possession, the men had run short of ready money, and, while awaiting a compromise, were starting out to commit another robbery. They were taken to Northampton, and committed to jail to await trial.
It happened as Mr. Pinkerton foresaw. Brought into confinement, Dunlap and Scott were compelled, in the conduct of their affairs, to reveal the hiding-place of the booty to some other member of the gang. They chose for their confidant "Red" Leary. The securities, as subsequently transpired, were at this time buried in a cellar on Sixth Avenue, near Thirty-third Street, New York. The precise spot was indicated to Leary by Mrs. Scott, who, in doing so, reminded Leary of an agreement entered into by the members of the gang before the robbery, that any one of their number who might get into trouble could, if he saw a necessity, call upon his confederates to dispose of all the securities on whatever terms were possible and use the proceeds in getting him and others – if others were in trouble also – free. At the time Leary scoffed at this agreement, but was perfectly willing, even eager, to have it enforced a little later, when, by the orders of Inspector Byrnes, he was himself arrested on the charge of complicity in the memorable Manhattan Bank robbery, which had occurred some time before. Having failed in a purpose of "shadowing" Leary to the place where the securities were hidden, Robert Pinkerton decided that the best move to make next would be to arrest Leary for complicity in the Northampton robbery. Steps were taken to have requisition papers prepared, and it was pending the arrival of these that Leary was held on the other charge, for it was not thought that he had really taken part in the Manhattan Bank robbery.
The criminal annals of the United States contain no more thrilling chapter than that of the adventures of "Red" Leary. He was a typical desperado in appearance, with his shock of red hair, and his bristling red mustache, and his ugly, heavy-jawed face, while his huge neck and shoulders, his big head, and powerful hairy hands impressed one with his enormous physical strength. He weighed nearly three hundred pounds, and his "pals" used to point with pride to the fact that he wore a bigger hat than any statesman in America – eight and a quarter.
While much of Leary's life had been spent in deeds of violence, he had shown on occasions such splendid bravery, and even heroism, as almost atoned for his crimes. There are few soldiers who would not be proud of Leary's record on the battle-field. He was among the first to respond to his country's call in our own Civil War, being a volunteer in the First Kentucky Regiment under Colonel Guthrie, and he was a good soldier from the time of his enlistment up to the moment of his honorable discharge.
The ablest lawyers were now secured in his defense, and by every possible method of legal obstruction they kept alive a controversy in the New York courts until the early days of May, 1879. Meanwhile Leary reposed in Ludlow Street Jail, where he enjoyed all the privileges ever accorded to prisoners. In return he paid the warden the substantial sum of thirty dollars a week; and it was evident that, whether he had or had not been concerned in the Northampton robbery, he had in some way obtained abundant money. He was visited constantly by his wife.
On the afternoon of May 7 Mrs. Leary called at about five o'clock with "Butch" McCarthy, and the three were alone in Leary's room until nearly eight o'clock. After that Leary strolled about in the prison inclosure, and at about a quarter past ten keeper Wendell, who had charge of the first tier, in which Leary's room was located, saw him going up-stairs from the second to the third tier. Although in this Leary was going directly away from his own room, there was nothing to excite surprise, for Leary had been accustomed to use the bath-room on the third tier. A quarter of an hour later Wendell started on his rounds, according to the prison rule, to see that each one of the men in his tier was securely locked up for the night. When he came to Leary's room he was a little surprised to find him still absent, but supposed he would be there shortly. But after waiting a few minutes and finding Leary still absent, the keeper became alarmed, and began a search. He first went to the bath-room, and not finding Leary there, searched in other places, high and low. Then he returned to the bath-room, and there made a discovery which filled him with consternation. He saw in the brick wall, what at first had escaped his attention, a gaping hole, large enough to allow the passage of a man's body. The hole opened into a tunnel that seemed to lead downward. The alarm was at once given, and it soon appeared that the keeper's fears were only too well founded. "Red" Leary had escaped.
It was found that the tunnel from the bath-room led into a room on the fifth floor of a tenement-house at No. 76 Ludlow Street, adjoining the jail. The wall of the house added to the wall of the jail made a thickness of four feet and a half of solid masonry, which had been cut through. In the three rooms that had been rented in the house by Leary's friends were found abundant evidences of the work.
Leary, after his escape, fled to Europe, but was afterward arrested in Brooklyn by Robert Pinkerton and three of his men, who "held him up" in a sleigh at the corner of Twenty-seventh Street and Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn; and before Leary could make use of a large revolver which he had on his person, the horse was grabbed by the head and pulled to a standstill, and Leary was dragged out of the sleigh and handcuffed. He was taken immediately to Northampton, and put in jail there.
Some time previous to this the Pinkertons had located Conroy, who had also escaped from Ludlow Street Jail, in Philadelphia; and immediately on the arrest of Leary, Robert Pinkerton sent one of his detectives from New York to Philadelphia, who was fortunate enough to arrest Conroy at one of his resorts on the same night, and he was also delivered in jail at Northampton.
Some months previous to this the Pinkertons had also arrested Thomas Doty, another member of the band, and lodged him in the Northampton jail.
In the mean time, Scott and Dunlap, now in State prison, had made a confession as against Leary, the holder of the securities; and when Leary was brought to Northampton, they wrote him a letter, notifying him that unless the securities were handed over to their proper owners, they would take the witness-stand against him and convict him, but that if he did turn over the necessary securities they would refuse to take the stand. This resulted in the recovery by the Northampton Bank of nearly all the securities stolen from the bank and its depositors, this not including, however, the government bonds and currency stolen at the time. Some of these securities had depreciated in value upward of one hundred thousand dollars since they were stolen. The amount of the securities recovered represented seven hundred thousand dollars; they had been in the hands of the thieves upward of two years.
After the securities were returned, Scott and Dunlap refusing to take the stand against Leary and Doty, the authorities were eventually obliged to release them, as Evans had also refused to take the stand against them. Conroy, who had simply been a go-between, and not an actual participant in the robbery, was released at the same time by order of the court.
The trial of Scott and Dunlap took place at Northampton in July, 1877, a year and a half after the robbery. Evans took the stand against them, his evidence making the case of the prosecution overwhelmingly strong. After three hours' deliberation the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, and the prisoners were sentenced to twenty years each in the State prison. Scott died in prison, and Dunlap, having been pardoned several years ago, is now living in a Western city, a reformed man, and is earning an honest living. As far as is known, since leaving the penitentiary he has never returned to his evil ways. Conroy also has taken to new ways, is honest, and is generally respected by all who know him.
"Red" Leary came to his death in a curious way. One night in April, 1888, he had been drinking with some friends at a well-known sporting-resort in New York, on Sixth Avenue, between Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth streets. In the party was "Billy" Train, an old bunko-man. They were all somewhat intoxicated and inclined to be uproarious. As they came out on the street, "Billy" Train picked up a brick and threw it up in the air, yelling: "Look out for your heads, boys." To this warning Leary paid no attention, and the brick came down on his head with full force, fracturing his skull. He was taken to the New York Hospital, and died there, after much suffering, on April 23.
As for the safe-expert, Evans, he is engaged in legitimate business, and is prospering. In compiling this chapter from the records, the writer has, by request, changed some of the names of the parties, who since that time have reformed, and are now respected members in the communities where they reside, and the author has no desire to injure them.
The Susquehanna Express Robbery
At Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, are located the great shops of the Erie Railroad, where fifteen hundred men work throughout the year. These men receive their wages on a fixed day toward the end of each month, the pay-roll amounting to many thousands of dollars. It was customary, fourteen years ago, for the company to have a sum of money sufficient for this purpose shipped from New York by express a day or two before the date when the wages were to be paid. Following out this practice, on the night of June 20, 1883, the Marine National Bank of New York shipped by the United States Express Company a sealed package containing forty thousand dollars for the Erie Railroad Company, in care of the First National Bank of Susquehanna. The package contained United States currency and bank-notes, almost entirely in small bills, none larger than twenty dollars.
The usual precautions were observed in shipment, a trusted clerk of the Marine Bank carrying the package to the express company's office and taking a receipt for it from the money-clerk, who examined it first to make sure that the seals of the bank were intact and that in all respects it presented a correct appearance. Having satisfied himself on these points, the money-clerk placed the package in one of the canvas pouches used by the United States Express Company, sealed it carefully with the company's private seal, and attached a tag bearing the address of the company's agent at Susquehanna.
After a brief delay the pouch was delivered to express messenger Van Waganen, who saw it placed in one of the small iron safes used by express companies in conveying money from city to city. The messenger rode with the safe to the train, and then remained on guard in the express-car, where the safe was placed, as far as Susquehanna, at which point he delivered the pouch to Dwight Chamberlain, a night-clerk and watchman in the joint employ of the Erie Railroad and the United States Express Company. The train left New York at 6 p. m., and reached Susquehanna about midnight.
Watchman Chamberlain, having received the pouch at the station, carried it into the ticket-office and locked it inside a safe belonging to the Erie Railroad Company. He remained on duty the rest of the night, and at seven o'clock the next morning a messenger from the First National Bank of Susquehanna came to get the package. Chamberlain unlocked the safe, took out the pouch, opened it, and then emptied its contents on the table. To his great surprise the package containing the forty thousand dollars was gone, and in its place were several bundles of manila paper cut to the size of bank-bills and done up in small packages as money is done up.
The agent of the company, Clark Evans, was immediately notified, and he at once telegraphed the news of the robbery to the officials of the United States Express Company in New York, who with very little delay placed the matter in the hands of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The direct supervision of the work was undertaken by the late George H. Bangs, at that time general superintendent of the Pinkerton Agency, and a force of detectives at once started for Susquehanna.
An important discovery was made on closer examination of the pouch. It was found that this pouch was not the one that had been sealed up in the express office at New York, but a bogus pouch, so much like the other that the change might easily have escaped notice. The chief points of difference were the tag and the seal, the former having been addressed in a different hand from that of the New York money-clerk, and the latter being an old seal not in use by the company at that time. But the general appearance of the pouch was such that neither the messenger, Van Waganen, nor the watchman, Chamberlain, could swear that it was not the one that he had handled.
After going over the ground carefully and cross-examining Van Waganen and Chamberlain, Superintendent Bangs concluded that the robbery had not been committed on the train and that the genuine money package had reached Susquehanna and been locked in the railroad company's safe by the night-clerk. He was strengthened in this conclusion by the statement of Chamberlain, who admitted that, after locking up the money, he had only been in the ticket-office at intervals during the night. For this he was in no way to blame, as he had other duties to perform about the station, notably those of way-bill clerk.
Thus the robbers would have had full opportunity to approach the safe unobserved and exercise their skill upon it, could they have secured entrance to the ticket-office. Nor was this a difficult matter, since the door leading into it was known to have three keys, in the hands of various employees of the road, from whom they might have been procured or stolen. More important still was the fact, ascertained by Mr. Bangs, that the safe itself had three keys, intrusted to as many men, whose duties required them to have access to the safe. It subsequently transpired that two of these keys had been made by the men who carried them, for their own convenience and without the knowledge of their superiors. The door leading into the ticket-office opened from the men's waiting-room, where people had been coming and going during the entire night of the robbery. Such of these people as could be found were questioned closely as to what they had observed on this night, but they could furnish no information that threw light upon the case.
Some significance was found in the coincidence that nine years before there had been a robbery at Susquehanna, in which thirty thousand dollars had been stolen from the express company's safe. The Pinkertons knew that for years a band of professional thieves had been traveling through the country, operating on safes that could be opened with a key. Among them were experts in fitting locks, especially skilled in making keys from impressions, and known as professional "fitters." At first it was considered possible that the robbery had been committed by these men; but, after the most careful search and inquiry, Superintendent Bangs concluded that this was not the case and that the pouch had been stolen by some person or persons resident in Susquehanna, presumably by one or more of the railroad employees who had access to the office, or by persons intimately acquainted with some of the men who had keys to the safe.
"Shadows" were put on all persons who might have had access to the ticket-office and the safe; but, although this was continued for weeks, nothing conclusive came to light.
About this time a reorganization of the Pinkerton Agency became necessary, through the death of Allan Pinkerton, the founder, and George H. Bangs, the general superintendent; and Robert Pinkerton assumed charge of the investigation at Susquehanna. He undertook the difficult task of picking out one guilty man (or possibly two or three) from a body of fifteen hundred workmen. For, despite lack of evidence either way, there was no doubt in the detective's mind that the money had been taken by some of the employees of either the express or the railroad company. Pinkerton men were taken to Susquehanna and given employment in various positions for the railroad and express companies, their duty being to make friends and hear gossip, and, if possible, in an unguarded moment, at some saloon or boarding-house, or perhaps at the chatty noon hour in the works, secure some important secret. Other detectives came with money in their pockets, and, under the guise of sporting men, made themselves popular at resorts where a poor man come dishonestly and suddenly into money would be apt to spend it.
Day after day, month after month, the watch was continued from many points of view, the conversations of hundreds of workmen were carefully noted, the gambling houses and their inmates were kept under constant scrutiny, the lives of this man and that man and scores of men were turned inside out, and all without any one in Susquehanna suspecting it, the general opinion being that the robbery had been put aside along with many other unsolved mysteries.
A whole year passed before any promise of success came to cheer the express company and the patient detectives. In the summer of 1884, Robert Pinkerton, having received information that a professional burglar, who had been arrested some weeks previous for a burglary at Milwaukee, had valuable information about an express robbery, immediately journeyed from New York to Milwaukee to interview the man. He learned from the burglar that some years before he had operated with a man named John Donahue; that about the time of the Susquehanna robbery Donahue had been away from home, and that shortly after the robbery he had returned with plenty of money and paid off several old debts. Mr. Pinkerton at once recognized in Donahue a notorious thief who, to escape justice, had taken up his residence at Fort Erie, Canada, where he had opened a hotel.
The burglar also gave Mr. Pinkerton a description of a man who had visited Donahue at his hotel on several occasions, and who had the general appearance of a workman. He suspected that this man had been in some way concerned with Donahue in the Susquehanna robbery; he knew that he had resided at one time in Buffalo, New York, and worked in the shops there, and he thought that he might be then living in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
From the description, Mr. Pinkerton was able, on going to Susquehanna, to identify the suspected man with one George H. Proctor, who had formerly been foreman in the railroad company's shops, but had resigned his position some months before and moved to Buffalo. In the investigation that was at once begun it was found that Proctor had recently been speculating largely in oil and spending money freely, although while living in Susquehanna he was known to have had no resources besides his salary. It was learned further that Proctor had deposited money with three Buffalo banks and had accounts with various firms of brokers, and also that he was paying frequent visits to gambling-houses and in general leading a fast life. Proctor's deposits, it was learned, had at one time amounted to about eleven thousand dollars, but most of this sum had been subsequently drawn out and lost in speculation.
All of this was strong presumptive evidence against a man who was known to have been poor a few months before, and a more significant discovery was made a little later, when Proctor went on a trip to Canada, evidently on important business. The detective who followed him found that the men with whom he had dealings, and with whom he passed nearly the whole time of his visit, were professional thieves, well known to the police.
In view of all that had come to light, it was decided to effect Proctor's arrest. This was made easy by his habit of coming to Susquehanna every few weeks to see his wife and three children, who had remained there. During these visits it had been remarked that he was especially intimate with employees of the railroad and express companies who were connected with the ticket-office.
All unsuspicious of the danger that threatened him, Proctor took the train from Buffalo on the night of Saturday, November 16, with a ticket for Susquehanna. Word was at once telegraphed to Robert Pinkerton, who, in company with E. W. Mitchel, superintendent of the United States Express Company, started for Susquehanna, reaching there Monday morning. They learned that Proctor was still in town, but keeping very closely to his house. It was not until ten o'clock in the evening that he appeared on the street, his purpose in going out being to purchase some groceries. As he came from the store Robert Pinkerton stepped forth from his place of waiting and took him into custody. He was taken to a private house, where Mr. Pinkerton passed nearly the whole night in conversation with him. Before daylight Proctor had made what purported to be a full confession.
Proctor stated that he had moved to Susquehanna in 1880, having resided in Buffalo previous to that time. While in Buffalo he had occasionally of a Sunday visited Fort Erie, Canada, and there had made the acquaintance of John Donahue. At first he did not know that Donahue was anything more than the keeper of a hotel. He found him an entertaining companion, a good story-teller and singer of comic songs, and very generous with his money. They came to see much of each other, and after Proctor's removal to Susquehanna they kept up an occasional correspondence. Proctor, having a monthly pass over the Erie Railroad, and being able to procure passes on other roads, made several trips to Fort Erie, always stopping at Donahue's hotel. On one of these visits he chanced to read aloud to his friend the newspaper account of a clever robbery in Montreal, where a band of sneak-thieves had robbed a paymaster of a sum of money he had in a bag to pay off employees. This turned the conversation to criminal exploits, and Proctor related the circumstances of the express robbery at Susquehanna some years before. Donahue showed great interest, and inquired how it happened that the express company had so large a sum of money at Susquehanna. Proctor explained about the extensive railroad shops there, and incidentally remarked that the same system of paying the hands was still in practice. Donahue then requested Proctor to ascertain for him how much money was being shipped each month at that time, the day of shipment, the train, the kind of safe used on that train, and full details about the lock – whether opened by a combination or a key. Donahue professed that his only motive in seeking this information was curiosity, and Proctor promised to learn what he could.
