Other Noted Criminals

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DAN NOBLE, alias Dan Dyson, bond forger, bank burglar and sneak.

This celebrated criminal is now (1886) serving out a twenty years’ sentence in the Millbank prison, London, England. For years previous to Noble’s departure for England and the Continent, he was an acknowledged leader of the most notable crooked operators in America. He was the master spirit in the Lord bond robbery in New York City in March, 1886, which netted him and his companions, Fred Knapp, James Griffin, and Little Pettingill, nearly $1,700,000. Subsequently (in the spring of 1871) he was sent to Auburn (N. Y.) State prison from Oswego, N. Y., for five years for a burglary. He remained there but a short time, securing his liberty by escaping with two other notorious bank robbers, Jimmy Hope (20) and Big Jim Brady. After remaining in hiding in New York a short time, he started for the old country, arriving in England in 1873. Here he fell in with the big swells in sporting and crooked circles, and, as in America, soon went to the front, on account of his ability to concoct and successfully carry out his schemes. He began his operations with three smart men, Johnny Miller, formerly of New York, Joe Chapman and Jack Phillips. They got rid of a large amount of spurious 5 notes in Bavaria, Brussels and Switzerland, several of which were found upon emigrants after landing in this country. He was sentenced to five years in Paris, France, for a diamond robbery, but escaped shortly after. The crime for which he was sent to prison in London was forgery, his associates being two noted English thieves named Wardley and Garnett, and an American named Charles Lister, who assumed the alias of Edward Hunt. Lister was sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment, and afterwards gave information to the authorities about Johnny Miller, who was also arrested and sentenced to twenty years. Dan Noble fled to Italy, but was captured and returned, and although Miller swore that Noble was innocent, it was not believed, and Noble was sentenced to twenty years also. They all went to prison together. This will probably wind up Noble’s criminal career.

He was known in Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Munich, Bavaria and London as well as in America. Is fifty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. Height, 6 feet; weight, 185 pounds. Fair complexion; light hair, inclined to be red; bluish grey eyes, long slim nose. Used to wear an exceedingly long goatee; now wears a long mustache. He is a fine-looking, big, jolly and well-built man. He has a deep scar on his nose caused by a cut from a bottle. Walks straight and erect, dresses well, and is an interesting talker. His description was taken during his trial in London, and is a good one.

Noble, Knapp and Griffin were credited with robbing Leonard W. Jerome, in New York City, on February 6, 1867, of about $100,000; also Bliss & Co., of Pine Street, New York. This last robbery was the cause of one of the firm becoming a raving maniac. The thieves, however, never realized one dollar from the latter robbery, as the bonds that were stolen were given by them to Phil. Furlong and Ned Lyons (7o) to dispose of. These worthies never gave an accounting to the thieves, but divided among themselves what was realized on them.

Knapp is a horse sharp, Griffin and Phil. Furlong are dead, and Ned Lyons is serving out a sentence in Connecticut. (See record of No. 70.)

For further particulars of Dan Noble, see records of Nos. 4, 14, 20, 202.

SAMUEL T. PERRY, alias “Bottle Sam,” the bank sneak, was convicted and sentenced in Detroit, Mich., on October 31, 1882, to five years’ imprisonment at Jackson, Mich., for robbing the office of the County Treasurer in 1870.

Perry is the son of very respectable parents, and was raised in the vicinity of New York, but went to Cincinnati when he was quite young, where he has a sister married to a very respectable gentleman. His first connection with thieves was brought about by Johnny Green, a well known sneak thief, of St. Louis. Perry was caught tapping a till in St. Louis in 1868, and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years. Green succeeded in making his escape with the money. On coming out he returned to New York, where he associated with George Carson, Horace Hovan, alias Little Horace, and Red Tim, well known bank sneak thieves. Through his association with these men he became acquainted with Andy Roberts and Valentine Gleason, the forgers, and was selected by them to aid Walter Sheridan in the disposition of the forged Buffalo, New York and Erie railroad bonds. In this connection he went with Sheridan to England. Shortly after that detectives went there in pursuit of Joe Chapman and Joe Riley, alias Joe Elliott, in connection with the robbery of the Third National Bank of Baltimore, and while tracing them about London, they came across Perry, who was keeping company with them. Through watching Perry they were brought into contact with Walter Sheridan, Ike Marsh, Charley Bullard, alias Piano Charley, and Tom Worth, the Boylston (Boston) Bank robbers.. By keeping run of them, the detectives and the London police were also brought in contact with Mark Shinburn, George Wade Wilkes, George McDonald and the two Bidwells, and numerous other American burglars, sneak thieves and forgers then residing in London. All of these men were thoroughly exposed, and it was through this exposure that the London police succeeded in implicating the two Bidwells and McDonald in the great frauds and forgeries on the Bank of England.

In the spring of 1873 Walter Sheridan and Sam Perry (Walter Sheridan under the name of C. Raulston and Sam Perry under the name of William B. Morgan) returned to New York on the steamer Adriatic. On account of Perry’s dissipated habits Sheridan separated from him and left Perry none of the money. Sheridan had disposed of $150,000 worth of the Buffalo, New York and Erie bonds without leave of Perry. Perry acquired the habit of excessive wine drinking, and became familiarly known by the name of “Bottle Sam.” In one of his drunken bouts he shot Charles H. Dorauss, alias Jack Strauss, the well known burglar, in New York, and was sentenced to State prison for five years on March 11, 1879, but through the influence of his mother obtained a new trial, and did not serve his sentence. After lying around New York and Philadelphia for a couple of years he again went West, and stopped in Chicago with a mob of Eastern thieves. In Chicago he committed several small sneak robberies, and from there went to Detroit, where he was concerned in the robbery of the County Treasurer’s office. Perry was arrested the day after the robbery at Windsor, Canada, but succeeded in obtaining his discharge, as the offense against him did not come under the treaty. But he was readily identified as the man who “stalled” the County Treasurer to the rear of the office while the sneak went through the safe. After being liberated he went to Fort Erie, Canada, where he met John, alias “Clutch,” Donahue, a well known American thief, who then resided in Canada, and operated with him and Joe Dubuque and Little Joe Harris through the Dominion. Coming to Port Huron, Mich., he was recognized by a Detroit officer, and arrested and taken back to Detroit, tried, and convicted. Perry has been one of the most remarkable thieves in the United States, and had he let liquor alone, was one of the most dangerous men in the country to meet. Dissipation has been his ruin, for in his time he has been associated more or less with the ablest thieves in the country.

Perry is forty years old in 1886. Height, 5 feet 11 inches; weight, about 150 pounds. Black hair, hazel eyes, nose full in the centre, dark complexion, and generally wears black side-whiskers and mustache.

JOSEPH KILLORAN, alias Joe Howard, was arrested in Philadelphia Sunday, February 8, 1885, for the robbery of the First National Bank at Coldwater, Mich., of $10,000 on August 1, 1883, thus closing for a number of years to come the career of a man who, as a pickpocket, bank sneak thief and bank safe burglar, has operated successfully in one of these three lines of thieving with nearly all of the great professional criminals. Joseph Killoran is a New Yorker by birth, and comes from a good family. At the time of his parents’ death, Joe, with his other brothers and sisters, inherited considerable property, but his share was spent in gambling and riotous living. Through gambling he became acquainted with professional thieves, and when his money was gone he joined a party of pickpockets. He was afterwards associated with George Bliss, alias Miles, alias White, the noted bank burglar, now serving sentence at Windsor, Vt., who was the partner of Mark Shinburn, probably the most expert bank safe burglar in the country. Joe was finally convicted for the robbery of the Waterford, N. Y., bank, and was sentenced to Auburn prison. He escaped, in company with Jimmy Hope, who was concerned in the Manhattan Bank robbery, and was next arrested in New York with George Miles, alias Bliss, for the Barre bank burglary of Vermont. The Auburn prison authorities, being informed of his arrest, claimed him as a prisoner who had escaped from them, and he was taken back to Auburn to serve out his term of imprisonment, which expired about three years since. Miles was taken to Vermont and sentenced to fourteen years’ imprisonment, where he now is.

Joe Howard was concerned with Jimmy Hope, Worcester Sam, George Bliss and others in the robbery of the Beneficial Savings Fund, and the Kensington Bank burglary at Philadelphia, which occurred on April 6, 1869, and which attracted wide attention because of its magnitude. He was also concerned with Jimmy Hope, George Mason, Ike Marsh, alias “Big Ike,” Tom Curley and Mike Welsh, in the successful robbery of the First National Bank at Wellsboro, Pa., on September 17, 1874. Here the family were bound and gagged, and the cashier made to open his own safe, while the contents were taken out. Marsh, Welsh, Curley and Mason were arrested, while the others made their escape. Marsh was sentenced to seventeen years in the Pennsylvania State prison, where he now is. The jury acquitted Welsh and disagreed as to Mason and Curley. With Jimmy Hope and two others he was concerned in the attempted robbery of the First National Bank at Wilmington, Del., November 7, 1873. Four of the party, including Hope and Howard, were arrested and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment each, and were ordered to receive fifty lashes. The sentence was executed, but after a few years’ imprisonment all succeeded in making their escape.

Howard has also worked with Scott and Dunlap, of the Northampton (Mass.) bank robbery; also with Sam Perris, alias Worcester Sam, Thomas McCormick, Johnny Love, and in fact with all the leading professional bank burglars in the country. He has always made New York his home. Since coming out after serving his last imprisonment, he quit burglary and set to working almost entirely with bank sneak thieves. He was with Western sneak thieves when he perpetrated the robbery for which he is now serving time. Three parties entered the First National Bank at Coldwater, Mich., about noon, August 1, 1883. Howard engaged the attention of the cashier, while a second party engaged the paying teller. Then Ed. Quinn, the noted professional thief of Chicago, entered the bank, sneaked along the counter, and succeeded in getting into the vault without being observed. He took $10,000 worth of bonds, when, through some act of carelessness on his part, he attracted the attention of the cashier, who, on discovering Quinn in the vault, rushed in to seize him. He was warned off by Quinn, who pulled out a large pistol and threatened to kill the cashier in case he attempted to detain him. In this way he backed out of the bank, where a wagon was in waiting for the whole party. In this they were driven rapidly away. Quinn was arrested about a year ago in Chicago, but was taken to Laporte, Ind., instead of Coldwater, where he was wanted for a jewelry robbery, and was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. He is now in prison. The other men who committed this robbery, with Howard, have been successful in keeping out of the way.

Killoran pleaded guilty to having assisted in the robbery of $10,000 from the First National Bank of Coldwater, Mich., as above described, and was sentenced to five years in the Michigan State prison on July 26, 1885, at Coldwater, Mich.

For expiration of sentence see commutation laws of Michigan.

WILLIAM E. GRAY was the son of a gentleman who for many years was Chaplain of the United States Senate. This honorable position held by the father gained for the son an entrée to the best circles of society, but which he sadly abused by his misconduct. He was extradited from England in July, 1878, for forging certificates to the amount of $30,000, issued by the State of New York for the payment of bounties of volunteers during the late war. Gray was tried and convicted, and sentenced to ten years in Sing Sing on May 29, 1879. During the trial his counsel took a great many exceptions, and carried the case to the Court of Appeals, which took some years, during which time he was locked up in the Tombs. He was finally set free in May, 1881, and is now living in this city. (See records of No. 202 and George Wilkes.)

The following very interesting account of Gray was published in one of the New York papers in May, 1880:

“Gray is a young man of pleasant address and agreeable manners, and while operating in Wall Street many years ago, was regarded as a shrewd speculator and an intelligent observer of financial events. Born of respectable parents, well educated, and given a good start in life, he chose a career of crime in preference to respectability with a more gradual fortune. His father, Rev. E. H. Gray, of Shelburne Falls, Mass., was Chaplain of the United States Senate from 1861 to 1869. After leaving college William E. Gray was appointed to a clerkship in the Fourth Auditor’s office of the United States Treasury Department, and served with credit and fidelity until 1866, when he resigned. The following year he came to New York, bringing letters of recommendation from Gen. Butler, Senator Morrill, Acting Vice-President Foster, National Bank Examiner Callander, Senators Pomeroy and Fessenden and others, upon whom he always called when they visited this city. He was then twenty-three years of age, and extremely youthful in appearance. He was abstemious in his habits, refraining from liquors and tobacco, which gained for him the reputation of a model young man.

“H is first employment in this city was as clerk for A. W. Dimock & Co., of No. 26 Pine Street, to whom he represented that he desired to learn the secrets of stock brokerage so as to enter the street on his account. In May, 1869, he left Dimock & Co., and began business on his own account in a small way at the office of Mr. J. G. Sands, No. 36 New Street. Among others, Mr. J. G. Eastman gave him power of attorney to act in the Gold Room, and the young Washingtonian was launched on the rough sea of Wall Street speculation under the most favorable auspices. It was here, as far as can be learned, that Gray began the sharp practices which subsequently made him a fugitive from justice, dodging the officers of the law, and finally landed him in the Tombs, awaiting a decision that may consign him to State prison for a long term of years. His first act was to borrow $1,600 on three Government bonds from George H. Lewis, who in turn re-hypothecated them to L. W. Morse for $3,000. Something he had learned awakened Mr. Morse’s suspicions, and he called in the loan. Neither Lewis nor Gray responded, and the securities were sold at a loss to Mr. Morse. The purchaser afterwards discovered that the bonds had been stolen from the Common Prayer-Book Society of New York several months previously. Gray refused to make good Mr. Morse’s loss, and he was arrested and thrown into Ludlow Street jail. His father intervened, paid the money, and young Gray was released. He next victimized William H. Chapman, a South Street merchant, and kept up a system of ‘kiting’ on Mr. Eastman’s credit, but his little game was discovered in time to prevent any serious losses.

“In the autumn of the same year, Gray gave out that he expected a legacy of $50,000 from a wealthy aunt, who had accommodatingly died, which, with $10,000 ready cash which he claimed to own, he proposed to enlarge his business operations. He purchased from G. H. Stebbins’ Son the lease of the offices No. 44 Broad Street, which were afterward occupied by Victoria Woodhull and Tenny Claflin. He furnished the rooms in elaborate style, and over the door a sign was hung with the name of W. E. Gray & Co. Who the company was became a standing conundrum on the street, but it afterwards leaked out that it was composed of T. H. Pratt, William J. Sharkey, William S. Ree, George Larabee, and one or two others. All the firm afterwards came to grief. Sharkey is a refugee, having murdered Dunne; Glover was convicted as an accomplice in the Boylston Bank robbery; Leighton was arrested in California for being connected with a mining swindle, and Ree and Larrabee have been frequently before the public in connection with heavy forgeries. While operating in a pool on Quartz Hill mining stock, Gray and his associates came into possession of sixteen New York State Bounty Loan certificates of $1,000 each, which had been stolen a year previous from C. W. Woolsey, a Pine Street broker; two similar bonds for $15,000 originally issued to Elizabeth F. Taylor, and other stolen Government and miscellaneous securities. The bounty loan certificates were raised by means of chemicals from $1,000 to $10,000 each, and the registers were changed to W. E. Gray & Co. Pratt was supposed to have done the forging, and that Gray aided in floating the bonds. This worked so well that the system was kept up for a long time. In December, 1879, the forgeries were discovered, and Gray was sharply catechised by bank officers and detectives. Gathering together all his available funds, some $50,000, he left his office in a carriage, in company with a veiled woman, and disappeared from view, and for two years all trace of him was lost. His total debts were $310,000, and the assets he left behind consisted of $20,000, leaving him a net profit of $280,000.

“After Gray’s departure a letter was found in his office addressed to a female clerk in the Treasury Department, whom he designated as ‘Dear Birdie.’ He told her that he had insured his life for $5,000 in her favor. The Mining Board expelled Gray, and the Stock Exchange gave Detective Tom Sampson instructions to find where he was and to follow him up and arrest him. Sampson, after following numerous clues, learned that Gray was luxuriating in London under the name of James Peabody Morgan, a pretended nephew of George Peabody, the great philanthropist. Being- introduced one day to a genuine relative of Mr. Peabody, and being sharply cornered, he laughed the matter off as a joke, and was afterwards known as James Payson Morgan. He dressed like a noble, courted the society of snobs, and rejoiced in the ownership of a finer tandem team than the Prince of Wales drove. At a dinner given by the niece of Baron Rothschild, when only twenty-eight years of age, he made an after-dinner speech on finances which astonished all his hearers. He became acquainted with Mr. Chatteris, a London banker, and he placed his son in business with Gray, handing him £10,000, and accepting as security $50,000 in spurious United States bonds. The venture was not a success, but Gray secured 5,000 more from old Mr. Chatteris by showing him an order, believed to have been forged, stating that $30,000 had been placed to his credit in New York. Young Chatteris quarreled with Gray, and accused him of swindling, when he drew a pistol and was arrested. The bonds deposited with Mr. Chatteris turned out to be stolen and caveated bonds, and Detective Sampson immediately, on learning the facts, had Gray indicted, and, having secured extradition papers, sailed for London on November 18, 1871. Gray, alias Morgan, cunningly made his escape and crossed over to Paris. Captain Sampson chased him all over the Continent, and, failing to catch him, returned to New York.

“Gray next turned up on the Hague as Dr. Georgius Colletso, oculist, and graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons of London, and possessor of diplomas which were never legally issued. Here he attempted to sell to the wealthy capitalists of the Hague a mythical silver mine in Colorado. Gray next appeared in Texas under the name of Colletso, where he inaugurated the Bastrop Coal Mining Company—another mythical concern. Here he formed an alliance with Colonel William Fitzcharles McCarty, and together they returned to England and flooded the market with the stock of the Wichita Copper Company, limited. They raised $20,000 to start the thing, and would have secured more had not the Englishmen learned that the entire thing was an arrant swindle. This led to his identity, and again Captain Sampson started out after him. Upon his arrival he found Gray in custody, and apparently anxious to return to America. Again the persevering veteran detective was doomed to disappointment. Secretary Fish declined to give a promise that Gray should not be tried on any other charge than was contained in the extradition papers, and he was released by the British authorities. This position was subsequently receded from, and George B. Mickle, a son of ex-Mayor Mickle, meeting Gray in Edinburgh, gave Captain Sampson information, and Gray was arrested in London. Captain Sampson was again deputized by the Stock Exchange to go after the long absent prisoner, but being detained here on important Government business, the late Captain Kealy was selected in his stead. Gray was brought back, followed by a niece of Balfe, the great composer, who is his wife. She still resides in this city. As a matter of historic equity, it may be mentioned that Seth Johnson, who was Gray’s most intimate friend when in the Treasury Department, was convicted in 1872 of embezzling $50,000.”

MARY A. HANSEN, alias Klink, has many wiles in working sharp men for money and her husband helps in her crooked schemes.

On January 15, 1886, Frederick Bohmet, of No. 192 Allen Street, called at Police Headquarters in New York, and informed the authorities that in September, 1885, Julius Klink, a shoemaker, whom he had known for twenty years, called on him and said a wealthy widow named Hansen, on Jersey City Heights, had got infatuated with him and he married her; that he was well fixed and would never work another day at the bench. He said she was left by her uncle, who died at Harrisburg, Pa., $750,000, and the money was on deposit in the United States Treasury, and would be paid in a few days, as the Supreme Court had decided the case in her favor, and they would be obliged to pay the money on July 15, 1886. They had a number of lawyers employed, he said, and they wished to get her money at once. While this conversation was going on Mrs. Klink ran into the house with a telegram, shouting and crying, “You are a nice man. Why didn’t you assist me to get our money? The telegram says if we don’t have money and get the Supreme Court seal on our papers we are gone. We will not be able to get our money until July, 1886, and we must have money at once. I must have money too to run on to Washington at once.”

Mr. Klink then asked Mr. Bohmet if he would advance the money needed. Mr. Bohmet asked what security he should receive. Mr. and Mrs. Klink said they would give him his money back in a few days, and also as a present a four-story tenement house and lot. Mr. Bohmet went to the bank and gave them $2,316, which money he was to receive on July 15, 1886, also his house and lot. On January 2, Mr. Bohmet called on his lawyer and explained his case to him. He advised him to call on the police, which he did on January 18. While the sergeant was in conversation with Mr. Bohmet a lady named Mary Mesam, of No. 1 First Avenue, called and informed the sergeant that she was robbed by a woman named Hansen, of $2,500. A detective listened to her story and saw by the description that Klink and Hansen was the same woman. Two detective sergeants were detailed on the case, and ordered to bring both complainants before Justice Duffy at Jefferson Market and obtain a warrant, if possible, as the woman resided in Jersey. Justice Duffy issued a warrant for Mr. and Mrs. Klink. Two officers went to No. 72 Hague Street, Jersey City Heights, accompanied by Inspector Lang and Detective Dalton, of Jersey City. As they attempted to enter the house Mrs. Klink’s daughter met the officers on the stoop and informed them that her mother was not at home. The officers remained watching the house until evening, when they entered and searched, and found the object of their search on the second floor pretending to be sick. She came to New York and was locked up at the Central Office on January 22, 1886. She was taken before Justice Duffy and held under $8,000 bail.

On January 29, Lawyer James D. McClelland served a writ of habeas corpus on the police authorities, returnable before Judge Van Brunt at the Supreme Court Chambers, and she was discharged on the ground that the money was loaned, and the complainants did not show by witnesses from Philadelphia, Harrisburg or Washington that her representations were false. After she left the court room the detectives arrested her again, and she was taken before Justice Duffy on complaint of Richard C. Perry, of No. 370 Broadway, who charged her with obtaining $300 by representing that the Sheriff of Philadelphia held $11,000 of her money, and she wished to go on to Philadelphia at once and obtain her money. She was held in $4,000 on this charge. She was also charged with obtaining $500 from Annie Mesam of No. 1 First Avenue, New York City, by representing that she owned a number of houses in Philadelphia, and that Mr. Friedenburg, of No. 908 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, held all her deeds in his safe and had advanced her $700. A detective went to Philadelphia and found her story was false; that she never had any deeds with the above named firms, and they did not know any woman named Mary A. Klink, Mary A. Hansen or Mary A. Gibson, and she was a fraud. She represented to Miss Mesam that her husband, Julius Klink, was left $490,000 at Harrisburg, and it was in the hands of the Sheriff at Philadelphia, and she expected her money every day, but she had just received a telegram to come on at once and obtain her money. If Miss Mesam was afraid to trust her husband she would pay herself, as Mr. Freidenberg, of No. 908 Chestnut Street, held all her deeds and diamonds in his safe.

She began crying and shouting, clapping her hands and running around the saloon and saying that she was ruined if she did not get the money at once. Miss Mesam gave her $500 to go to Washington to get the money from the United States Treasury. The following are the parties who have been swindled by Mrs. Klink and her husband: Mary Mesam, No. 1 First Avenue, New York City, $2,000; Annie Mesam, No. 1 First Avenue, $500; Frederick Bohmet, No. 192 Allen Street, New York, $2,316; John Lodlobz, Philadelphia, $500; William Whiteman, $200; Mr. Trost gave on same representations his house and lot, valued at $2,800; Daniel Troft, No. 1309 North Front Street, Philadelphia, $1,200; Jacob Trost, $2,900; Christopher Baure, No. 971 Randolph Street, Philadelphia, $900; Caroline Schamer, 23 West Thompson Street, $185; Leonard Friedwald, No. 229 East Thompson Street, $610; Fred Watters, $110; John F. Graff, No. 1337 Greene Street, Philadelphia, $525; J. L. Schwartz, $200; William Bauer, $90; Mr. Henning, No. 59 Warren Street, New York, $195—and a number of others.

Mrs. Klink, alias Hansen, alias Gibson, was arrested by Chief Murphy, of Jersey City, in 1876, for swindling a number of politicians in Jersey City, by representing that she was worth a half million dollars, which was held by Cardinal McCloskey. Cardinal McCloskey took the stand, and swore he never knew the woman or had any money in trust for her.

In the latter part of 1879 Detectives Handy and Fogarty, of New York City, arrested her for obtaining goods from about twenty different firms in the wool business. Among the victims were Bernstrein & Co., Canal Street; Franklin & Co., Howard Street, New York. She received about $12,000 at this time.

The Jersey City Rogues’ Gallery description of the woman is as follows:

“No. 143. Mary Klink, alias Mary A. Hansen, alias Gibson, aged 48, hair brown and gray, eyes hazel, weight about 190 pounds, height 5 feet 1 in., German, but speaks good English.”

Mrs. Hansen was committed to Ludlow Street Jail on a judgment obtained in the civil case by Mrs. Mesam. The complaint in this case was withdrawn, and Mrs. Hansen was discharged from the jail on August 30, 1886. She was re-arrested on a warrant issued by a Philadelphia magistrate, charged with swindling a party in that city some years previous. The Grand Jury refused to indict her in this case, as her husband had already served five years in prison for it. She was discharged in New York City on September 10, 1886, and is now at large.

ELLEN E. PECK eight years ago suddenly developed into a dangerous confidence woman. Prior to that she was but an ordinary sharper, and her small exploits were scarcely worthy of notice. When, in 1878, she succeeded in swindling B. T. Babbitt, the soap manufacturer, out of $19,000, she came to be looked upon as an operator of some talent. Mr. Babbitt had been robbed a short time before of over half a million dollars. When the dishonest employes had been arrested, Mrs. Peck visited the soap manufacturer in the role of a female detective. She then represented that she was in the possession of valuable information concerning property owned by the clerks which could easily be sued for or seized. Mr. Babbitt was so taken in by his visitor that he advanced the amount demanded, and afterwards discovered that Mrs. Peck’s information was false and worthless. Next she swindled Samuel Pingee, a patent medicine man, out of $2,700. She pretended to the latter that she had a friend in the office of Jay Gould, who gave her all the points about financial affairs. The medicine maker was anxious to secure information concerning stocks from Mr. Gould’s office, and willingly gave Mrs. Peck the money for “points.” Pingee’s investments which followed the “tips” were not as fruitful as he had expected. When it was too late he discovered that Jay Gould had been selling the very stocks he had been buying, and that they were on the eve of going down. Later on she secured a large loan from the notorious John D. Grady, the crooked diamond dealer, who was known for years as “Supers and Slangs.” Grady, although himself an unusually shrewd sharper, was so completely taken in by Mrs. Peck that he readily handed her over the cash in lieu of a rent receipt for a compartment in a safe deposit vaults where the imaginary diamonds she was borrowing on were supposed to be. The compartment, of course, was empty, and on a small investment the cunning confidence woman realized many thousand dollars. In after years, when Mrs. Peck rose to the front rank among confidence women, she delighted in outwitting professional criminals, and invariably succeeded in her tricks. She roped the notorious Julius Columbani into a transaction over bonds stolen from the residence of the McSorleys, on Staten Island. Mrs. Peck furnished the evidence which led to the recovery of the plunder and the conviction of Columbani. The whole of her exploits, if written, would fill many pages of this book.

Mrs. Peck was indicted for the Babbitt affair, but every time the case came up for trial she was taken very sick, until told that the next time the trial came up she must appear or forfeit her bail. Then she suddenly became insane, and was sent to an asylum in Pennsylvania. Her counsel soon got the complainants to agree to sue her in a civil court, which suit was to take precedence over the criminal charge, and Mrs. Peck’s wits, when all was arranged, returned to her and she came back to New York.

The confidence woman was tried and acquitted in the Kings County Court of Sessions, July 18, 1879, on an indictment charging her with obtaining several thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds and jewelry, under false pretenses, from Loyance Langer, of this city, and was arraigned four days later in the same court upon the remaining indictments pending against her in the same case. The Assistant District Attorney moved that a nolle prosequi be entered, as the trial had failed to convict her. Judge Moore granted the motion, permitting her to go upon her own recognizance, and remarking at the same time that it was but fair to say that there was an officer in waiting to take Mrs. Peck to New York, where it was understood an indictment had been found against her.

Mrs. Peck was again arrested at her home, No. 307 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, on September 16, 1881. She was then accused of having defrauded John H. Johnson, a jeweler, of No. 150 Bowery, New York, of jewelry to the amount of $150. The complainant alleged that when Mrs. Peck selected the jewelry she paid down $25, and represented herself as Mrs. Eliza Knight, giving as a reference a bank in New York. On making inquiries at the bank Mr. Johnson was told that Mrs. Knight had an account there, and he therefore let her have the articles; but subsequently he discovered that the Mrs. Knight who had the credit at the bank was an entirely different person from the purchaser of the jewelry.

On March 4, 1884, Mrs. Peck obtained an introduction under the name of Mrs. Knight to John Bough, a diamond dealer of No. 22 Liberty Street, New York. She represented herself to be a speculator in precious stones. In the early part of April she called on Mr. Bough and told him she had an order to purchase a diamond cluster ring for a lady friend. She selected a ring valued at $75 and took it away, returning next day and paying for it. Mr. Bough offered her a commission, which she refused, saying that the transaction was only a trifling one, and that she would soon bring him an important order. On April 28 she told Mr. Bough that the wife of a prominent Brooklynite was going to dine with her that night, and she thought that she could sell her some diamonds. She selected a pair of solitaire earrings and two finger rings, valued at $400.

After anxiously waiting the lady’s return for several days, Mr. Bough called on the police to work up the case. After an infinite amount of trouble a detective found that the missing jewelry had been pledged at Simpson’s, on the Bowery, New York, for $130, and that on the 1st of August Mrs. Peck had called at Simpson’s, presented the ticket and demanded the surrender of the property, alleging that the jewels had been stolen from her several months before, and that the ticket had just been returned to her by mail. Simpson refused to comply with her demand, and a replevin suit was instituted by Mrs. Peck’s counsel, Champion Bissell, of No. 23 East Fourteenth Street, New York. Simpson got a writ of re-replevin, and the result was a civil suit tried before Judge Clancy on September 12, 1884. Decision was reserved. The day before the trial Mr. Bough called at Simpson’s, where he fully identified the jewels by private marks. At the trial Mrs. Peck swore that the jewels had been bought by her last October from one George P. Thomas, of Brooklyn, for $130. Thomas corroborated Mrs. Peck’s statement. He was arrested on September 28, 1884, for perjury, and when brought to Police Headquarters he made a full confession in writing. In it he said that he met Mrs. Peck about four years ago, and that on several occasions since then she has befriended him and loaned him various sums of money. Just before the trial he borrowed $20 from her. He felt himself placed under so great an obligation that when he was asked to “do a little swearing” for his benefactress he professed himself to be ready to make oath to anything. As a reward it was arranged that the $20 loan should be cancelled, and that he should receive a bonus of $50 in addition.

In 1884 Richard W. Peck, the husband of the confidence woman, began a suit against Benjamin T. Babbitt to collect from the soap manufacturer $100,000 damages, alleging that he (Peck) had been seriously injured by the defendant’s putting a lis pendens on his property in connection with proceedings against Mrs. Peck to recover some of the money out of which Babbitt charges that the woman defrauded him.

The Babbitt action was one of fifteen cases in which Mrs. Peck was prepared to act a prominent part. One of these, brought by her husband against Frederick W. Watkins and Daniel C. Mitchell, was to set aside a mortgage for $600 upon the furniture in the Peck residence. In this case the plaintiff alleged that on April 2, 1884, his wife obtained for the defendants in the suit the amount named upon a chattel mortgage upon property which belonged solely to him. Mrs. Peck always came to the assistance of her husband by swearing that the loan was made “on a corrupt and unlawful agreement, namely, that Watkins should receive $150 for a loan of $450 for thirty days.”

Mrs. Ellen E. Peck, on December 6, 1884, succeeded in having herself arrested again. A charge of larceny was made against her by Mrs. Ann McConnell, of No. 140 West Forty-ninth Street, who advertised in the newspapers that she had money to loan on good security. On the 20th of September, 1884, she received a visit from a Mrs. Crosby, who said that she had seen the advertisement and wished to borrow $250. Mrs. McConnell was favorably impressed by the appearance of her visitor, who, in addition to her neat and quiet way of dressing and ladylike manner, told in the most plausible way how it happened that she was compelled to make the loan.

“My second son,” she said, “is about to engage in business, and the money is needed for that purpose. I own considerable household furniture at No. 307 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.; I do not owe $10 in the world, and I have a large income, which is paid semi-annually, in May and November.”

Mrs. McConnell gave her the $250, and executed a chattel mortgage on the furniture, Mrs. Crosby agreeing in thirty days’ time to pay back the $250 and $75 besides as interest. Fifteen days passed and Mrs. McConnell read of the arrest of Mrs. Peck on the charges of perjury and swindling a jeweler, and of her incarceration in the Tombs. It struck her as a curious feature of the case that Mrs. Peck’s residence was in Putnam Avenue. The suspicion that Mrs. Peck and Mrs. Crosby might be one and the same person flashed through her mind. She called at the Tombs and saw Mrs. Peck. To Mrs. McConnell’s dismay it was no other than Mrs. Crosby. Mrs. McConnell went straightway from the prison to the Tomhs Court and asked for a warrant for Mrs. Peck’s arrest on a charge of larceny. Justice White advised her to wait until the thirty days agreed upon had expired. Mrs. McConnell did so. The payment was not forthcoming. Worse still, she found that there were half a dozen other mortgages on the same furniture. She again applied for the warrant, which Justice White issued. On it Mrs. Peck was arrested.

Mrs. Peck did not look as jaunty as usual when she was arraigned before Justice Duffy in the Tombs Court. She wore a brown turban and a veil that covered half of her face. She had on a brown polonaise and a gray dress. Her counsel, Henry A. Meyenborg, of Brooklyn, accompanied her. He said that in spite of all the dubious transactions in which she had figured she had never in her life been convicted of any crime or misdemeanor. In this case, he said, she had an excellent defense. Mrs. Peck got $250 and agreed to pay it back with $75 interest in thirty days. She had not paid it. That was all there was to the case. It was a corrupt agreement and could not be constructed into a larceny.

Mrs. Ellen E. Peck was again a prisoner at the Tombs Police Court on January 5, 1885. She was the defendant in twenty-eight civil and criminal cases, and three indictments that had been found against her were pending.

The complainant in the last case was Champion Bissell, a lawyer, of No. 23 East Fourteenth Street, who was once her counsel. On September 1, 1884, she obtained $500 from him on a chattel mortgage on the furniture in her house. She exhibited a letter purporting to be signed by her husband, Richard K. Peck, saying that he would join her in executing the mortgage. The signature was witnessed by George P. Thomas. After lending the money Mr. Bissell discovered that Mrs. Peck, under the name of Mrs. Knight, had, on Augus.t 28, obtained $650 on the same furniture from Horatio W. P. Hodson, a lawyer, of No. 132 Nassau Street. Mr. Bissell foreclosed the mortgage on November 4. Then Mr. Peck, who is a member of the iron firm of Peck, Howard & Co., of Nos. 73 and 75 West Street, pronounced the letter a forgery and claimed the furniture as his own.

Mrs. Peck looked pale and anxious when she was arraigned for sentence on June 2, 1885, before Judge Van Brunt for having forged a bond upon a mortgage by which she obtained $3,000 from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York City, the Assistant District Attorney, instead of moving for the sentence informed the Judge that it was the opinion of the District Attorney that the ends of justice would be better subserved by granting Mrs. Peck a new trial.

A gleam of joy shot across the face of the prisoner and the color rose to her cheeks when she heard the motion, but paled again when the lawyer continued that the punishment which could be inflicted under the present conviction would not be sufficient for the offense committed.

Mr. Henry Meyenberg, counsel for Mrs. Peck, urged that a second trial of the case be delayed as long as possible, asserting that his client would change the plea on which she had been convicted and would plead insanity at the new trial. “Since the last trial,” said the counsel, “I have learned that Mrs. Peck’s father committed suicide, and that five years ago she was an inmate of an insane asylum.”

After flirting for years with justice, the confidence woman received her first punishment in New York City on October 6, 1885, in the form of a four and a half years’ sentence. Mrs. Peck is not a prepossessing looking woman, and as she was brought to the bar of the Court of Oyer and Terminer her masculine-looking face was divested of every vestige of color. Without displaying any outward sign of feeling she clutched the railing before Judge Van Brunt and cast her eyes on the floor. Her counsel asked the court to take into consideration her long imprisonment in the Tombs in passing sentence.

Addressing the prisoner, Judge Van Brunt said that there were a number of indictments against her, but that the District Attorney felt that no good results could be attained by pressing them. In passing sentence he took into consideration her long imprisonment, but felt it was the duty of the court to impose the highest penalty. Her sentence, therefore, would be four and a half years in the penitentiary. Mrs. Peck’s head fell lower when she heard the sentence, and she turned from the bar without a word. She had gone only a few feet when she tottered and was about to fall, but a young man, her son, sprang from one of the seats and caught her in his arms. Supported by him and followed by the Deputy Sheriff, she went sobbing convulsively from the court room.

The crime for which Mrs. Peck was convicted was for forging a bond given with a mortgage on a house owned by her husband in Brooklyn, by which she obtained $3,000 from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. An ex-convict, who was a witness in the case, personated her husband and received the money.

Mrs. Peck, who is about fifty years of age, is now in the penitentiary on Blackwell’s Island, New York.

JULIUS COLUMBANI, a forger and negotiator of stolen bonds, was arrested in New York City and sentenced to three years and six months in Sing Sing prison for forgery in the third degree, on October 10, 1878, on complaint of Courtland St. John, of No. 20 Cedar Street, New York City. His time expired there on June 10, 1881. Below will be found full particulars of his last arrest and conviction:

Mrs. E. Peck, whose acquaintance was very costly to Mr. B. T. Babbitt, the soap manufacturer, John D. Grady and others, was once more brought before the public, and in the somewhat unexpected rôle of an aid to the police authorities. On Sunday, September 10, 1882, Edward and Owen McSorley, brothers, who have a homestead at West Brighton, Staten Island, went out driving, leaving their place in the care of Bryan Norton, a credulous old man. An hour later a polite young man went to the house and told Norton that his masters’ carriage had broken down a mile away, and that he had been sent by them to tell him to go to their aid with a wrench and some rope. The old man started off as fast as he could, but slackened his speed when the polite young man told him not to hurry. When the McSorleys returned home Norton was absent and their safe had been broken open. Burglars had stolen ten one-thousand- dollar seven per cent. Richmond County bonds, three other bonds, and jewelry and money, amounting in all to $14,000 in value. In January of the following year the store of Higgins & Co., No. 7 Strawberry Street, Philadelphia, was robbed of property worth $7,000, and E. Jacques and his wife were arrested for the crime in Philadelphia, and an accomplice, Tom Gardiner, was caught in this city. In Gardiner’s possession was found some of the jewelry stolen from the McSorleys, but he was taken to Philadelphia, and he, with Jacques, sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for the Higgins robbery. The bonds stolen from West Brighton were kept out of the market, as honest negotiators had been properly warned. On April 25, 1884, however, Mrs. Peck helped the police to recover some of them.

According to Mrs. Peck’s story, a lady who was visiting her advertised on the 13th of April, 1884, for the loan of $5,000 on a large quantity of diamonds. Mrs. Peck’s antecedents have caused it to be surmised that she was the advertiser herself, and that the advertisement was to pave the way to one of her peculiar business transactions. Mrs. Peck says that two days later she received a letter, in which were instructions how to recognize at the Astor House a man who might negotiate with her. The letter was written by Julius Columbani, an old criminal, whose specialties are negotiating stolen securities and altering them. He had been in State prison, and was identified at one time with some real estate swindlers. Mrs. Peck did not, until April 25, discover who he was, if her story is to be believed. She said that as she was a business woman she would not permit her lady friend, who is uninitiated, to carry out the transaction with her correspondent of the Astor House, New York, and so met him herself. They walked into Vesey Street and talked about the loan. He said he could not let her have the money, as his capital was tied up, but he would place in her hands ten seven per cent. Richmond County bonds of $1,000 each, to be considered as equivalent to $5,000. They parted to meet four days later. Mrs. Peck went to a Broad Street broker immediately to ask about Richmond County bonds. She was told that they were at par, but cautioned, as some had been stolen, and she received the numbers of those taken from the McSorley homestead.

Meeting Columbani at the Astor House on the 19th of April, 1884, Mrs. Peck walked to Barclay Street with him, and then taxed him with dealing in “crooked” securities. He evaded a direct answer, but said in effect that she appeared to be keen, and must know that if he offered her bonds at half their value there would be something odd about them. Mrs. Peck was not dreadfully shocked, and managed matters so well that she appeared to believe Columbani’s assertion that with her business talents she could take the bonds at $5,000 and sell them for $10,000. Columbani, in pursuance of an agreement, met her the next day at the Annex Hotel, in Brooklyn, N. Y., and showed her ten bonds, which were those stolen from the McSorleys. She demurred as to their value, so as to get another interview with the man, and offered $4,000 worth of diamonds for them.

The next interview was to be at the Astor House at 12:30 P. M. on April 21. When Mrs. Peck left the Annex Hotel she went to the Chief of Detectives and told all she had done, and he detailed two detective sergeants to aid her in capturing the criminal. A code of signals was agreed upon by which Mrs. Peck could notify the officers if Columbani had the bonds in his possession, so that they should pounce upon him. On April 21 Mrs. Peck went to the Astor House, and the detectives recognized her companion. When he left her they followed him to New Jersey, and “located” him in a house where he lived with his wife and daughter. The next day, at the Barclay Street ferry-house, Columbani gave Mrs. Peck one of the stolen bonds, and she paid him $400 under instructions from one of the detectives. On receiving the money he said: “I fancy I could let you have two or three more of these at the same price.”

“No, Sir. No more trifling with me,” replied Mrs. Peck, simulating indignation. “All or none. I’ve run my feet off on this business, and I’m taking all the risk.”

Columbani then agreed to bring all the bonds to St. Peter’s Church on April 25, and receive $3,600. Mrs. Peck was there, as were also the officers. Columbani met her, but evaded her inquiry as to whether he had the bonds, so that she was unable to give the signal for his apprehension.

“Do you think,” he asked her in a whisper, “that I would be so ‘flat’ as to deliver the bonds on the street? You must come up-town to a place I alone know of.”

Mrs. Peck hardly knew what to do when Columbani led her to a Sixth Avenue car, but she decided to trust to luck and go with him. The detectives dared not let Columbani see them, and they were equally nonplussed, but came to the same decision as the acting Detective Sergeant in petticoats. Boarding the next car they watched the one ahead, and saw Columbani and Mrs. Peck get off at Sixth Avenue and Fourth Street, and enter Thomas Murphy’s groggery, near the corner. After getting on the car Columbani waxed confidential. He began by saying he was transacting a risky business. Mrs. Peck retorted that she was taking a greater risk than he, as she was “playing” her money against his doubtful bonds. Suddenly Columbani turned toward her, looked her full in the face, and said abruptly:

“Do you know Inspector Byrnes?”

Mrs. Peck does not quail or flinch, and she replied quietly that she did not. Then Columbani said, in substance, that he was what is called a “crook,” that if he knew that Mrs. Peck—she had masqueraded to him in another name—would “give him away” he would kill her. He had, he said, a pistol and a knife in his possession, and as he had been to State prison he knew its horrors, and would as soon kill himself as go back. If Mrs. Peck got him into trouble he would have her life if he had to wait forty years. He dreaded prison life all the more because he went before an investigating committee and exposed prison treatment, and every keeper was “down” on him.

When the couple reached Murphy’s saloon Columbani led the way up-stairs to a room in which were a table and a lounge. Mrs. Peck sat down beside him, and Columbani took a pistol out of his pocket and laid it on the table.

“Well, you’ve got your pistol out at last,” sneered Mrs. Peck. “I’m a woman, but I’m not afraid. You’re a man, and my opinion of you is that you are a coward. But look here”—opening the bosom of her dress and displaying a pistol—“I carry one of those things myself.”

Columbani was about to reply, when there was a scurrying of feet at the door of the room, and a “psitt, psitt.” Snatching his pistol, he went to the door, listened earnestly to some one who whispered for a couple of seconds and darted away. One of the detectives had become very uneasy about Mrs. Peck, and he determined to see if she and Columbani had left the bar-room. He was stalking up to the front door, trying to conceal his gait and his features, when a thief, known to him, darted by and dived into the bar-room. When the officer got inside the door he had disappeared. He then summoned the other detectives, and as he did so he saw a man running across Sixth Avenue. He recognized Columbani, who had escaped by a side door, and pursued him into Jones Street. Then Columbani, who was two hundred feet ahead of the officer, threw away a parcel in which were five of the bonds stolen at West Brighton, and the detective, picking them up, decided that pursuit was useless. He then reported Columbani’s escape, and all the detectives that were available guarded the ferries and scoured the city for the fugitive. He was arrested on Saturday, April 26, 1884, at the Park House in Chatham Street, New York, and was remanded by Justice Duffy at the Tombs. Mrs. Peck fully identified him, and the McSorleys identified their bonds. When told who had betrayed him Columbani’s anger was intense.

His trial, for having in his possession bonds that were stolen on April 22, 1882, from the residence of Owen McSorley at West Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y., took place at Richmond the county seat of Richmond County, on May 8, 1884, before Judge Pratt.

Miss Mamie O’Neill, who worked for Mrs. Hatch a next-door neighbor of Owen McSorley, positively identified Columbani as one of the three persons who were about the McSorley premises when the robbery took place. She swore that she saw him across the fence very plainly.

Thomas Ryan, the hired man of the McSorley family, testified to the robbery, and Thomas McSorley identified as his father’s property the bond that was bought by Mrs. Peck from Columbani. He' also identified the bonds that were found in the alley off Great Jones Street, where Columbani threw them when chased by the detective.

Mrs. Peck related how she negotiated with Columbani, and identified him as the party from whom she purchased the bond and who had the bundle of bonds in his possession, which were wrapped up in a newspaper when recovered by the officer.

The detective identified Columbani as the man he chased and who dodged into an alley where the bonds were found.

Columbani, in his own behalf, said he was a commission broker in general merchandise, particularly drugs and liquors. He positively denied ever having sold Mrs. Peck a bond, or having at any time seen or handled such bond or bonds as she alluded to. On the day that the detective chased a man Columbani swore that he was home with his family on Jersey City Heights, and in this he was corroborated by his wife, who also testified that on the day the McSorley mansion was robbed Columbani was at a dinner party at her aunt’s house on Jersey City Heights.

Francis C. Barange, Columbani’s father-in-law, and Mrs. Matilda Truatt, the sister of the former, corroborated Mrs. Columbani’s testimony.

The jury, after a few minutes’ absence, returned a verdict of guilty of larceny in the first degree, as charged in the indictment.

Mrs. Columbani gave a slight cry of anguish as she heard the verdict and turned deadly pale. She was removed from the room with difficulty. Judge Pratt sentenced Columbani to twelve years’ imprisonment. The prisoner sobbed convulsively and cried out that they would almost kill him in State prison for his testimony before the Assembly investigating committee.

An attempt was made to have Columbani pardoned on December 27, 1884. Several respectable people became interested in him and made an application to Governor Cleveland, who, after investigating his previous character, refused to grant him a pardon.

Columbani was an associate of Louis Susicovitch, alias Grandi, the notorious Italian forger, lately convicted in San Francisco, Cal.

LOUIS and CARLOS SUSICOVITCH are brothers, and two of the most expert forgers and check-raisers that ever operated in this country.

The trial of Louis Susicovitch, alias Grandi, came to an end in San Francisco, Mayó, 1886, with his conviction. Susicovitch belongs to a gang whose specialty has been to get small checks from business men they deal with, remove the figures by chlorine and fill up the check with a larger amount. Susicovitch was counted one of the most expert hands in the country in this business, as he re-sized the paper or check with gelatine, rice or bone dust, so that the forged check could not be distinguished from a genuine one. Susicovitch operated in San Francisco with two associates named Sieger and Garrity. Garrity is a New Orleans man who made Susicovitch’s acquaintance as cell-mate in the prison of his native town, where, when quite a lad, he served a few days on conviction of gambling. Sieger is known as a saloonkeeper and waiter at hotels at St. Louis, against whom nothing can be learned previous to his connection with Susicovitch. Susicovitch and Garrity were arrested in St. Louis for check-raising operations last year, Susicovitch being locked up with Italians suspected of murdering a man, whom they threw into a lake, in order to realize the insurance on his life. The authorities had no testimony against them, but the wily forger wormed himself into their confidence and obtained from them a full confession of their connection with the murder. For turning spy, Susicovitch was released, and left his confidant, Garrity, in the lurch, to fight his case alone. Garrity was a man, who, in St. Louis check-raising operations, appeared at the front; while Susicovitch, as usual, performed the secret work. Only his proof of previous good character saved Garrity from conviction. The experience did not benefit him, and after release he joined Susicovitch again, and the three went to San Francisco.

Formerly Louis Susicovitch was not a forger himself, but was a layer down of forged paper. In January, 1886, he was arrested in San Francisco in company with J. J. Garrity and J. Smith, alias Sieger, by J. W. Lees, Captain of Detectives, for raising a check from $10 to $1,500. Garrity was formerly a newsboy in New Orleans, and Smith, who is a Swede, some three or four years ago kept a saloon at No. 1015 North Broadway, St. Louis. Susicovitch, alias Grandi, is supposed to be an Italian or Russian by birth, is forty-two years of age, five feet six inches high, gray hair, blue eyes, dark complexion, dark whiskers mixed with gray, scar on forehead over left eyebrow, scar on left eyebrow, large scar on left fore-arm. Is a sailor by occupation. He has served five years in Sing Sing prison, New York, under the name of Theodore Burnett, and was in the Parish prison in New Orleans in 1872, when he met Garrity.

In this case Louis Susicovitch was sentenced to fourteen years in Folsom prison, California, on May 12, 1886. His associates, John Smith, alias Albert Siegers, and John J. Garrity, were sentenced to seven years each in San Quintin prison, on May 22, 1886, for the same offense. (See also records of Nos. 16 and 18.)

Carlo Susicovitch, alias Charles Grandi, alias Howard Adams, alias John Howe, was arrested in Cincinnati, Ohio, early in March, 1878, in company with a man named Fred. Marker or Maerker, on the charge of forgery. When arrested in Cincinnati the authorities did not know who they had, but his identity was established, and he is now serving a long sentence in the Columbus, Ohio, penitentiary.

Some years ago he kept a saloon under Booth’s Theatre in New York, and had as associates Charles Becker, Joe Chapman, Joe Reilly, alias Elliott, George Engle, George Wade Wilkes and others. In 1874 he was arrested in Constantinople for an attempt to defraud the Ottoman Bank on a forged letter of credit, but escaped in September, 1875, with Joe Reilly and Charles Becker and went to London, where he was suspected of the murder of Lydia Chapman. This occurred in Maud Grove, Chelsea, a suburb of London, on April 13, 1876. About the middle of March, 1878, he was arrested at Cincinnati, where he was under the name of Dugan, for trying to defraud the Commercial Bank of that city. He was also concerned in the burglary of the Third National Bank of Baltimore, -August 18, 1872, with Chapman, Shell Hamilton, Frank McCoy, an English burglar named “Junco,” and little Joe Elliott, alias Reilly. Both the brothers have been barbers.

ADAM WORTH, CHARLES W. BULLARD, alias PIANO CHARLEY, and ISAAC MARSH were for years the associates of Maximillian or Mark Shinburn and Robert Cochran. The first achievement of note in which this daring coalition of thieves took part was the plundering of the vaults of the Ocean Bank in 1869. The bank robbery netted quite a large sum, but the money was soon squandered, and in less than a year the cracksmen were at work again. Their second exploit was the robbery of the messenger of the Merchants’ Union Express Company on the New York Central Railroad, between New York City and Buffalo. Bullard, Marsh and a man since reformed broke into the express car, bound and gagged the messenger, and stole $100,000 from the safe. The other members of the combination were aboard the train prepared to cover the escape of the men with the booty. The burglars who took part in the attack on the express messenger fled to Canada, where they were arrested. They were afterwards extradited and lodged in the White Plains jail. Ex-Recorder Smith was engaged to defend the prisoners and was paid a fee of $1,000 by their friends. The thieves were held for trial, and while their lawyer was afterwards on his way to this city the $1,000 was stolen from his pocket in the train. The friends of the prisoners abandoned the idea of fighting the case in the courts and decided to liberate their incarcerated companions. Billy Forrester and a number of other desperate thieves were consulted, and the plan decided upon was to free the imprisoned men by breaking into the jail. The prison was a poor one, and Forrester and his confederates had but little trouble digging through its old and rickety walls. Marsh and Bullard were freed, and before the escape was discovered the jail-breakers had made their way to the city.

Within a few months after breaking out of the White Plains jail, Bullard, under the assumed named of William A. Judson, hired the house next to the Boylston Bank in Boston, Mass. From that day out the institution was doomed, and on November 20, 1869, the vaults of the bank were rifled by Bullard, Adam Worth and brother, Ike Marsh and Bob Cochran. An entrance was effected by cutting through the side wall, and the cash and securities stolen amounted to $450,000. With the plunder the burglars hastened to Europe, and in Paris Bullard, under the name of Charles H. Wells, opened the “American Bar,” a café, in the Rue Scribe, near the Grand Hotel, which had been fitted up regardless of expense. In a private parlor in the rear of the saloon “faro” was dealt, and for over a year burglar Bullard did a thriving business.

In the course of time the French authorities closed up the “American Bar,” and Bullard was convicted of keeping a gaming-house and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. Upon his release he returned to New York and took up quarters at a house in East Eighteenth Street kept by “Dutch Dan.” Bullard was there captured and taken to Boston. He was tried for the Boylston Bank robbery, and on his conviction was sentenced to twenty years in the State prison at Concord, Mass. He escaped from there on September 13, 1878, and fled to Canada, where, in the course of a few months, he attempted to rob a bank and was arrested. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment at Kingston on January 22, 1879, and upon the expiration of his term he returned to Europe and joined his former associates. He has since been arrested, and is at present serving a term across the water. (See record of Mark Shinburn.)

Bullard is a man of very good education, and speaks English, French and German fluently. He gained his soubriquet from his proficiency as a musician, playing the piano with the skill of a professional.

Adam Worth was long considered the “Prince of Safemen,” but several of his pupils are now believed to be far ahead of him in talent. After the Boylston Bank robbery he went abroad and remained there for a long time. He has, however, made several trips to this country, landing quietly in Canada, for the purpose of seeing an old sweetheart of his who is now the wife of a former associate. At the present time a well-known lawyer of this city is trying to compromise the Boylston Bank matter so as to enable Worth to return once more to his native land. He is now living in London, England, and his line of business is the purchasing of stolen goods. About the only time Worth was arrested in New York was for blowing open the safe in Stiner’s tea store in Vesey Street several years ago.

Isaac Marsh, alias “Big Ike,” after separating from Shinburn, joined partnership with George Mason, and was concerned with him in the Wellsboro, Pa., Bank robbery. He is now serving out a seventeen years’ sentence in the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadelphia for a bank robbery.

CHAUNCY JOHNSON is one of the oldest and cleverest bank and general sneaks in America, and has stolen more money collectively than any man in his line. He commenced his career of crime as a burglar. In 1852 he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for the burglary of a silk warehouse in Reade Street, west of Broadway, New York City. After the expiration of his term he was arrested for the robbery of the Hatters’ Bank, at Bethel, Conn., where $36,000 of the proceeds of the robbery was recovered, and Johnson was again sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Being liberated, he went to Philadelphia, Pa., where he first embarked as a bank sneak.

He provided himself with a long, fine steel wire, shaped on the end like a fishhook, and entered a bank in Philadelphia. Approaching the paying teller’s window, he inserted this wire through the window-screen and secured a number of $50 bills. His success made him bold, and he attached this wire to a bundle of $100 bills, the moving of which attracted the attention of the paying teller, who was so surprised to see the money going away by some invisible means that he looked up into the faces of the men in line, and discovered in the countenance of Johnson a flurry of excitement as he was putting the wire into his pocket. The bank porter was standing outside; he was called to arrest Johnson, which he did, and he was handed over to an officer. When searched his pockets were found to be filled with bank-bills of large denominations. For this offense he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three and a half years in State prison. When released he returned to New York City, and entered the banking-house of August Belmont, corner of Wall and William streets, at about a quarter to three, when every clerk was busy settling up the day’s work and preparing the bonds for the Safe Deposit Company, and sneaked into Mr. Belmont’s private office, where he stole $25,000 in Government bonds, with which he escaped. He was arrested, but for want of evidence was released. Shortly after this he entered the office of the Adams Express Company, 49 Broadway, and waited for the cashier to go to lunch. At 12 o’clock the cashier took off his office coat and silk cap, throwing them into the chair, and went out. Johnson sneaked in, put on the coat and cap, and, placing a pen behind his ear, sat down at the desk and proceeded to rob the money drawer of several thousand dollars. He was arrested some time after, but could not be identified, and was discharged.

In 1870 the vault of the Marine National Bank contained a tin box belonging to one of the directors, who, when he went to cut off the coupons of the bonds it contained, found it missing. The box held many hundreds of thousands of dollars in securities. No one in the bank could tell when it was last seen, or when it was likely to have been taken, and from all the searching examination that followed there was not a particle of information obtained concerning the disappearance of the box.

Johnson was known to be a desperate gambler, and at this time it was known that he was losing heavily. No reports were received from any part of the country of large robberies, and it was concluded that Johnson must have made a large amount of money at some gambling house, which he was now losing.

When this tin box was discovered lost, and reported at police headquarters, Johnson was suspected and arrested; but he had gambled away what money he had, and as there was no evidence of his having stolen the box he was discharged. It was never ascertained, but always surmised, that Johnson had stolen these securities.

It was Johnson and Henry Newman, alias Dutch Heindrich, who robbed the president of the Central National Bank of a package of bonds amounting to $125,000, which he had laid down on his desk, and which was stolen while he turned away to remove his overcoat. The president was followed from Wall Street to his office.

Shortly after this, December 21, 1870, while loitering in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, he saw a clerk place in the safe a package given him by a guest, whom he heard say was very valuable. Johnson thereupon boldly walked in behind the counter, in among three clerks, and abstracted the package, with several others, from the safe, and was leaving the office, when, near the door, he stumbled over a waste-basket and fell. The noise attracted the clerk’s attention, and Johnson was arrested and sentenced to ten years in State prison. He was discharged from Sing Sing on December 25, 1878.

After the expiration of this term of imprisonment Johnson returned to New York, to find many of his old acquaintances either gone away, imprisoned or dead. He was without money, and his long imprisonment had lost for him many friends. He had become old and broken down, and unfit for the clever work of younger days. Thus, deserted and hungry, he snatched a pocket-book from a lady’s hand at Twenty-second Street and Broadway, and was so weak from want of food that he could not run. He was arrested, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to four years in Sing Sing prison by Judge Gildersleeve, on January 19, 1880.

Johnson was arrested once more in Philadelphia, on July 22, 1883, for sneaking a package containing $230 in money from a barber’s shop, the property of Mr. W. War- nock, of No. 1610 Mashers Street, Philadelphia. He was committed in $1,000 bail for trial. He finally pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three years in Cherry Hill prison on August 16, 1883.

Johnson was arrested again in Philadelphia on June 11, 1886, charged with the larceny of a hand-bag, containing seventeen dollars in money and other articles, from a lady in St. John’s Church, that city. He was convicted and sentenced to two years and six months in the Eastern Penitentiary, by Judge Gordon, on June 18, 1886.

He is about sixty-four years old in 1886; weighs 145 pounds, and is 5 feet 8 inches high; sharp, thin face; hair long and generally combed over the ears.

JIM BRADY, or “Albany Jim,” as he was sometimes called, was born in Troy, N. Y., and has been the associate of the most expert bank burglars and thieves in this country. He was arrested in New York City in 1865 for highway robbery committed at Cohoes, N. Y. The robbery and assault was of a most desperate character, the victim being badly beaten and left insensible; the property stolen was, however, partly recovered, and the matter was compromised, so that Brady did not have to appear in court to answer the charge.

He was arrested again in 1873 in New York City, charged with burglary and the larceny of $5,000 worth of optical instruments. He was tried, convicted, and sent to Auburn prison, from which, however, he soon made his escape. He was re-arrested on May 27, 1873, in the act of negotiating $40,000 worth of stolen bonds, the proceeds of burglaries in Glenn’s Falls and Port Jervis. A detective found him in a second-story room in Carmine Street, between Bleecker and Bedford. Brady jumped out of the window and ran down the street. The officer followed, and shot him in the leg just as he was jumping into a basement window. He was again tried and convicted, and sent to Sing Sing for three and a half years, at the expiration of which time he was to go to Auburn to serve five years, the unexpired time of his former sentence. Hardly a month had elapsed before he again escaped. He was next arrested in Wilmington, Del., for a burglary there, together with Joe Howard, Frank McCoy, alias Big Frank, Jimmie Hope and others. They were sentenced to pay $1,000 fine, receive forty lashes, and spend ten years in Newcastle jail. The lashes were received and the prisoners were sent to jail, but the fine was not paid. While he was in that jail, State Detective Jackson, of Sing Sing, went after him, but the authorities there refused to release him. They had better have done so, as shortly after all four escaped, and Brady was not heard of again until he was arrested on August 1, 1877, in New York City, under the name of Peterson.

Brady’s last exploit, when he entered Ward’s furnishing store on Broadway, New York, could only have been the act of a madman or a desperate thief. After stealing some goods almost under the eyes of the clerk, when an officer was called upon to arrest him he coolly said: “I will go with you, sir, and you will discover your mistake.” In sight of the station house, however, the desperate character of the man was revealed. He turned upon the officer quick as lightning and fired a shot at him, the ball grazing the captor’s cheek. Then came the quick pursuit and flight; street after street was traversed; entire neighborhoods were aroused at the sight of an officer following a man who turned at intervals and discharged shots at his pursuer; finally other policemen joined in the chase, and at length the desperate man was hunted down. During the flight a citizen, in endeavoring to arrest the criminal, was wounded by him. When he was arraigned at the Tombs Police Court this modern Jack Sheppard showed how completely he was master of his art; his long, flowing beard was cut off and modest, quiet apparel was substituted for the fashionable costume he wore at the time of his arrest. It would, indeed, almost defy a Cuvier to recognize in the placid features of Jim Brady, the prisoner, the Jim Brady whose facial muscles were swelled, eyes dilated, and mobile mouth working with passion and excitement while the police officers were running him down.

This man is one of a gang of the most dangerous criminals in the country, the more to be feared because possessed of intelligence and address, and having access to channels of communication with wealthy men, bankers and institutions of trust, by which means the most daring schemes of plunder are organized and consummated.

Brady, who gave the name of Oscar D. Peterson, received a cumulative sentence of eleven years on three indictments—two of three years each and one of five years, on September 14, 1877, by Judge Gildersleeve.

Brady was once as expert at prison-breaking as he is at safe-blowing, and therein lies all his present trouble. Brady sighs for liberty; but the prison officials blankly refuse to grant him freedom. The slippery burglar first donned the stripes in Auburn prison early in the spring of 1871. He remained until January, 1873, when, in company with the notorious Dan Noble, of Lord Bond robbery fame, Dan Kelly and other congenial spirits, he escaped by digging through four feet of solid masonry into an unused water-wheel pit, which adjoined the high stone wall on the outside. He again turned up in the August following, when he was received at Sing Sing under the name of James H. Morrison, to serve theee years and six months. In October of the same year he took French leave of Sing Sing, and was gone until September 14, 1877, when he returned to his old quarters as Oscar D. Peterson. Clinton prison being considered a more secure place for fellows of his ilk, he was transferred to that institution, and after a short sojourn there he was brought to Auburn, where he is now confined.

The prison authorities having the slippery fellow once again in their custody, took a Trinitarian view of his case and determined that the three men, Brady, Morrison and Peterson, were one and the same, and that he should pay his indebtedness of time due the State of New York by serving the allowance he would have earned had he not escaped from Auburn and Sing Sing, about six years all told. Brady was ignorant of this move on the part of the authorities, and when his term of imprisonment as Peterson had expired he demanded his release. When told that he had just entered upon his sentence as Peterson and the eight years he had completed would be credited to the old score, his amazement knew no bounds. He held that he was illegally imprisoned; that Oscar D. Peterson’s sentence had expired, and his custodians had no right to hold Peterson for the offenses of Brady and Morrison. His next step was to avail himself of the provisions of the law governing the discharge of convicts prior to 1874. He employed counsel, and when confronted by evidence that the court which convicted him had ordered that Peterson’s term of imprisonment should not begin until the expiration of the unfinished sentences of Brady and Morrison, he gave up all hope.

About the middle of December 1885, a mysterious express package was received at the prison from Detroit. Its contents proved to be a bundle of circulars. Accompanying the circular was a letter dated Detroit, December 15, 1885, signed “Geo. Parks, pal of ‘O. D. P.’” It was addressed to Major Boyle and advised him to immediately make his peace with Peterson, threatening to publish copies of the circular in all of the Auburn and Syracuse daily and Sunday papers if he failed so to do. It is understood that Governor Hill, Superintendent Baker and the members of the Legislature of 1885 were furnished with a copy.

The boldest part of the whole proceeding lies in the fact that the author of the circular does not attempt to conceal his identity, and that convict “No. 19, or 4” (which translated means 19,004), and convict 19,004 is Jim Brady, will furnish the necessary proof. Its author exhibited a degree of cunning by forwarding the document by express, thereby avoiding the penalty prescribed for sending threatening letters through the United States mail. Major Boyle is a highly respected citizen of Auburn, and the contents of the circular will be read with many grains of salt by his fellow-townsmen, when they consider the source from which it emanated.

There are those who know that Brady is simply playing a game of bluff. Seven more years of prison life for a man so well advanced on life’s journey is indeed a long time, and, vexed over his failure to be released, he now proposes to place his custodians· on the defensive and has thrown down the gauntlet.

See also records of Nos. 20, 50, 53 and 89.

JOHN, alias CLUTCH DONOHUE, one of the most noted bank sneaks in America, has been a principal or an associate in several large robberies in America and Europe.

The South Kensington National Bank of Philadelphia was on February 2, 1871, robbed by burglars of money and securities worth $100,000. The bank is situated in what is known as the “shipbuilders’ quarter” in that city, and the neighborhood is quite lonely at night. The burglars obtained entrance by a very ingenious ruse. Just before the bank closed that day, a man, supposed to have been Clutch Donohue, called at the bank and told William Connell, the cashier, that the lieutenant of the police district had seen suspicious characters lurking around the bank, and was apprehensive that an attempt might be made to rob it. He had been sent to give them information. The intelligence was spread among the bank attachés, and the two watchmen were instructed to let no person into the building after banking hours. At seven o’clock that evening two policemen rapped at the door. They said that the lieutenant had heard from good sources that the bank was to be robbed that night, and had told them to aid in protecting it. The overjoyed watchmen invited them to enter. They seemed to think that it would be better to remain outside, but as the weather was cold, they finally accepted the invitation. Once in the bank, officers and watchmen talked over the situation; one of the policemen said, “I am very dry; I wish I could have a drink.” “That you can have,” replied one of the watchmen, and went back to get it. The remaining officer told the other watchman that he had better look around outside to see if everything was all right. No sooner was the door closed upon him than the officer joined his comrade, and found him with a bottle of whiskey in his hand. The watchman was drawing water from a cooler. In a trice the officers gagged and bound him hand and foot, laying him out like a mummy. They were no longer officers, but burglars. The absent watchman was admitted, and treated in the same manner. The door was thrown open to their associates, and, by the aid of wedges, muffled hammers and jimmies, the vault was opened and about $100,000 carried away. The robbers worked until three in the morning, and did not succeed in opening the safe containing the most money. They had been gone two hours when one of the watchmen got loose, ran into the street, and sounded the alarm. Nobody was arrested. A well-known ex-detective of Philadelphia had the securities returned to the bank, but the burglars kept the money, about $60,000. Several noted burglars have from time to time been credited with committing this robbery, when in fact they were either in prison or far away from the scene. The following are the names of four of the eight persons who committed the robbery: Mike Kerrigan, alias Johnny Dobbs, Denny Brady, of masked burglary fame, Thomas Burns, alias Combo, John, alias Clutch Donohue, and four others. Dobbs was the only mechanic in the gang.

At Welland, Ont., October 12, 1885, the court room was packed when John, alias Clutch Donohue, was arraigned on the charge of stealing a quantity of meerchaum pipes and tobacco, goods the property of Goldstein Brothers, from their store in the city of Quebec, during the night of February 1, 1882. The prisoner pleaded not guilty.

William Goldstein was the first witness. He testified that he lived in Quebec in 1882, where he carried on the tobacco business. On going to his shop on the morning of February 2, 1882, he discovered that a robbery had occurred, and that a case which had contained eight hundred dollars’ worth of goods was empty. He gave information immediately at the police headquarters. His impression was that the shop had been entered by means of a false key. He afterwards found one-fifth of the stolen goods in a store kept by a man named A. J. Rainer as a news depot in Buffalo.

William Hampton, a thief, testified that he was in Quebec, February 2, 1882. The prisoner lived at Fort Erie at that time. On January 31, 1882, he left Toronto with the prisoner for Quebec, each with a satchel. They arrived in Quebec on the morning of February 1, and roomed together at the Albion Hotel. On the morning of February 2 they went to LeMesurier’s store. The prisoner represented himself as a merchant of Sherbrooke. Witness occupied the attention of the proprietors while prisoner took an impression in oiled wax of the keys of the store door and the cash box. Witness got a sheet of copper with which Donohue made the keys. They afterwards went to Goldstein’s, where witness occupied the attention of the clerks. Donohue asked for paper to write a note. He had plenty of time to take an impression of the keys. He made the keys at the hotel. Prisoner had keys for other stores in Quebec. They went to Joseph Amyot’s with the intention of committing a robbery. Prisoner opened the door while witness went in and filled the two satchels with goods, remaining half an hour. Donohue stood at the door and gave a signal—three raps. They accomplished the robbery at Goldstein’s the same way. They procured a trunk, and packing all the goods in it, forwarded it to Brampton, leaving afterwards for home.

The next day they called on Levi Reynardt in Toronto and said they had some goods at Brampton to sell him. Donohue, Reynardt and witness met in Brampton. Reynardt bought a hundred dollars’ worth of goods. He got no cigar goods except two holders, which they presented to him. Two days after witness saw the balance of the goods in possession of Donohue at Fort Erie. Then they sent for A. J. Rainer, of Buffalo, to whom they sold the tobacco goods. Donohue got $330 and witness got $165. Witness saw the stolen goods after at Rainer’s store.

The jury, after fifteen minutes deliberation, returned with a verdict of guilty. Donohue was sentenced on October 2, 1885, to seven years’ imprisonment in the Provincial penitentiary.

Three other indictments were read against Donohue, to which he pleaded not guilty, namely, receiving one thousand dollars’ worth of postage stamps, stolen July 24, 1884; stealing pearl and gold buttons, etc., from Joseph Amyot’s store in Quebec, February 2, 1882; and having the above goods in his possession. These indictments were not proceeded with.

See also records of George Wilkes and No. 202.

JOSEPH EATON, alias GEORGE C. HAMMOND, a gold brick swindler and card sharp, is forty-nine years old in 1886; medium build; married; born in United States; height, five feet nine inches; weight, 165 pounds; black hair, dark eyes and complexion; generally wears a full black beard. Has had a stroke of paralysis, which is noticeable; long nose. Has a leaf in India ink on his left arm.

He is probably one of the smartest gold brick swindlers in America. He is a partner of Nathan White’s, who generally uses the alias of William Johnson. They have been arrested in almost all the principal cities in the United States, but owing to the respectability of their victims, they always escape, through fear of publicity. The following is a very interesting account of the manner in which the scheme is worked. It was clipped from a New York paper of May 4, 1881, when White, alias Johnson, who was with Eaton, was arrested:

“One afternoon in March, 1881, Mr. Smith, the owner of a number of towboats, sat in his office in South Street, when a stranger entered and presented a letter of introduction. The new comer was a tall, gentlemanly person, affable in manner and refined in speech, who, however, bore about him a flavor of the Far West and its blunt, off-hand ways. The letter which Mr. Smith read was over the signature of an old-time friend of his in California, and in it he was requested to show the bearer what courtesy he could, as he was worthy of his esteem, and with the writer would duly appreciate it. The stranger was treated to a cordial reception, and, as Mr. William Johnson, who had come to the metropolis on business, was given the use of the office and what other accommodations he desired. Two weeks later he called again, and in his intercourse with Mr. Smith he increased the good impression he previously had made.

“In the latter part of April he came again. He seemed very thoughtful this time, and a trifle perplexed. Mr. Smith noticed his seeming perturbation, and the other, after a time, revealed its cause, which his confidant remembers much after the following fashion:

“‘ You are acquainted in New York,’ said Mr. Johnson, ‘and you are a man of wide connections. I am a stranger, and I have come to ask your advice about a matter that has caused me considerable thought. Some time ago I was in Leadville. It was in the old days when the revolver settled every difficulty and was very often seen in people’s hands. One night I was in a bar-room when a couple of men quarreled. One of them had a pistol in his hand and its muzzle in a line with the. other’s head. His finger was on the trigger too, and the man’s life wasn’t worth a button, when I threw up the fellow’s arm and the pistol exploded. The man whose life I saved came to me a few days ago. He was a burglar, and it was his partner’s bullet I had turned aside. He told me that after they left Leadville they went to California, where they robbed a bank of a quantity of gold. The police were on the scent, though, and fearing apprehension, they buried their booty under ground. Well, they were arrested for the crime at last, sent to prison, and not long ago the man I had saved came out alone. His partner had died in confinement. The ex-convict’s first work was to recover the stolen treasure. But it was composed of bricks of gold, and it would be foolhardy for a man of his notoriety to attempt to dispose of it. So he turned his back on the Pacific slope and came here. When he learned I was in New York he sought me out, and told me that he remembered with gratitude the part I had taken in saving his life, and was willing to do me a service. The treasure he could not readily dispose of himself, and he offered me the chance of negotiating for its sale. He has quite a quantity of it, and is willing to dispose of it at a great sacrifice. I thought I would come to you, and see if you thought well of the scheme. There would be a big profit in it for us both. What would you advise me to do?’

“The story of the gentleman from California at once aroused Mr. Smith’s suspicions as to his real character. He questioned him further, and believed them confirmed. Then, to hide his surmises, he determined to parley with the other in the interests of justice until he could have an opportunity of giving the authorities a clew to the stolen booty. He told the latter he wished to consult a friend, and that night he told the story to an ex-Senator of Brooklyn, who came with him to New York and called on a police inspector. When the latter heard the narrative he recognized in it a part of the programme carried out in a swindling operation which had been plied with success in the mines, and had shorn not a few unscrupulous men of means in the West. At once he directed Mr. Smith how to act.

“‘Meet Mr. Johnson as you agreed,’ he said, ‘and appear to be unsuspicious, for men of that class are apt to keep you under surveillance, to see if their plans are detected. Go with him to the place of meeting with the supposed ex-convict, and negotiate with him for the purchase of the gold. They will no doubt show you a brick of manufactured metal with a tip of gold at one end and a thin wedge of it in the middle. That’s their usual game. To assure you that it’s genuine, they are likely to chip a piece off the end and a bit off the middle for you to test at the assay office. Don’t postpone the negotiations for that, though. Say that Johnson is your friend and you believe his word. Buy the booty, and give your check for it.’

“Mr. Smith looked up in surprise at the proposition.

“‘ Give your check for it,’ repeated the Inspector. ‘You can first have its payment stopped at the bank. Then, if they are chary about the check, offer to bring Johnson to the bank with you to identify him and set things right. We’ll be ready for him when you get out of doors.’

“Mr. Smith followed the directions given him by the Inspector, and met Mr. Johnson, and the pair started for the place of rendezvous with detectives in their wake. The Inspector had fancied that some boarding-house or private abode would be selected for the business, as is customary in such cases, and in such a place there would be little difficulty in apprehending the accomplice whom J ohnson would leave indoors behind him. The detectives were somewhat taken aback, then, when the gentleman from California escorted Mr. Smith to the Compton House, on the corner of Third Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street, and took him up to one of the seventy or eighty rooms in it. His experience from his entrance savored much of the melodramatic. Johnson preceded him to a room into which he ushered him, carefully closing the door behind. There Smith found himself in front of a rather peculiar figure reclining on the bed. It was that of a man in ordinary attire, whose features, hewever, were completely hidden by a large mask. Johnson explained that in consequence of the ex-convict’s deeds in the West, he preferred keeping his identity a secret, but was ready to proceed with business. The masked man then drew from underneath the bolster a bar of gleaming metal about twelve or fifteen inches long and three and a half thick. Mr. Smith looked at it, and it had all the appearance of pure gold. The masked man said that he had eighteen such bars, and was willing to dispose of the lot at a considerable sacrifice. When he turned them into money he proposed giving over his evil ways, and would be heard of no more. The bar he showed, he said, was worth $9,000, but he would part with it for $7,500. As the Inspector had predicted, a piece of the metal was sawed off the end at Johnson’s suggestion, and he proposed to Smith to bring it to the assay office to be tested with some grains which were filed off the middle.

“Mr. Smith, according to his instructions, professed to be satisfied; but a hitch arose here. The masked man did not have all of the gold with him, but only the sample bar. So, after some talk, the negotiations had to be suspended, and Smith and Johnson started away together. The detectives were at their heels in a twinkling, and once they were out of sight of the Compton House, a detective pounced upon Johnson. They had supposed the negotiations completed and the case ready for the courts. Without delay the Compton House was entered. But the accomplice of the gentleman from California had not lingered. He had passed out just as his partner went away with Mr. Smith. The latter's failure to perfect the negotiations had left the case against the prisoner incomplete. Mr. Smith had the piece of gold sawed from the bar, which was afterward shown in the Jefferson Market Court when the prisoner was arraigned, and upon the man was found the following letter, which seemingly had been used by Johnson to ingratiate himself with a friend of another Californian, as he had done in Mr. Smith’s case:

NATIONAL BANK OF STOCKTON, February 15, 1881.

D. ALLEN, Esq.:

DEAR SIR,—This will introduce to you Mr. H. S. Walker, of this place, who comes to your city for a short stay. Mr. Walker is a gentleman in every particular, and any courtesy extended him will be appreciated by me as by him.

Yours truly, R. K. REID.

“According to the paper on which this was written, R. K. Reid is president of the bank, and his name was doubtless forged with the purpose of victimizing a friend in this city.”

Eaton was arrested in New York City on June 23, 1881, charged with having swindled Adolph Liebes out of $500, by inducing him to play “faro.” He was committed in $2,000 bail for trial, and again his good luck stood to him and he was discharged. He was arrested again in Boston, Mass., on December 28, 1882, with similar results.

NATHANIEL WHITE, alias NAT WHITE, alias WM. JOHNSON, another clever “gold brick” swindler, is forty-four years old in 1886; born in United States; calls himself a speculator; is married; slim build, fair complexion; height, 5 feet 6 inches; weight, 136 pounds; dark brown hair, gray eyes, and wears a full, dark brown beard and mustache; dresses well; talks low and confidingly. He is generally the “outside man”—that is, the man that picks up the party to be swindled. He works with Joe Eaton and a party called Tibbits. He was arrested in New York City and his picture taken on May 3, 1881 (see record of Joe Eaton for account of White’s arrest and the manner of working the gold brick swindle), and discharged on May 5, 1881. He was arrested again in Jersey City on October 13, 1881, in company of Tibbits, for an attempt to swindle one John C. Van Horn out of $5,000, the price of two gold bricks. In this case, as in fifty others, White was discharged.