INCIDENTS ENCOUNTERED WHILE WORKING ON A CASE IN THE OIL
REGIONS--CAPTURE OF A COUPLE OF CLEVER SNEAKS AND SAFE ROBBERS.
In 1872, a year after I had been elected Chief of Police of Oil City,
Pa. (and, by the way, I had the distinction of being the first Chief of
Police of that town), the safe in the store of Henry Fair, in South Oil
City, was robbed late on a Saturday night. This safe contained a number
of bonds, some cash and other valuable papers. The robbery was not
discovered until the following Monday morning by Mr. Fair himself, who
was the only person connected with the establishment who had the
combination of the safe. Mr. Fair found the safe locked, as usual, and
upon opening it found the bonds and cash missing from the safe. I was
immediately notified of the robbery, and upon examining the premises
found that no burglary had been committed. The safe and windows and
doors of the store were all found to be intact on Monday morning. I also
learned that the cash and bonds which were missed on Monday morning were
known to have been in the safe as late as ten o'clock upon the Saturday
evening previous. I further learned that at that hour quite a large
crowd of people were in the store, all of whom were supposed to be
customers, and at the close of my investigation there was no doubt in my
mind but that the safe had been rifled of its contents by the sneak
method. During the business hours prior to ten o'clock Saturday evening,
the safe had not been locked and the door was left standing partially
opened, so that clerks and others connected with the store might have
easy access to it during the busy hours of the day to get change, to
look at accounts, and other purposes, so it became apparent to me that
there were probably at least two persons connected with the robbery, and
that one of them had attracted the attention of the clerk nearest to the
safe, while his partner quietly slipped behind the counter and to the
safe and took the cash and missing papers unobserved. It was also
apparent to me that this must have been done almost immediately before
the store was closed for the night, as the cash box and some of the
missing bonds had been out of the safe on the manager's desk until a
short time before they were placed in the safe by Mr. Fair himself at
about ten o'clock. Upon further investigation I learned that two young
men had visited the store about ten o'clock Saturday evening. One of
them purchased a package of smoking tobacco, while the other consumed
considerable time in trying to select a pair of shoes, which, by the
way, he did not purchase. One of these young men was known as "Butch"
DeWitt, then about nineteen years of age, the other was William Heilman,
twenty-one years of age. The parents of these young men were
respectable, hard-working people and both resided in Oil City. The boys
both bore bad reputations, but up to that time were not considered
thieves. Upon learning that they were at the store at a late hour
Saturday night, I concluded that I would locate and interview them, but
upon further inquiry I learned that they had not been seen since the
Saturday night in question, and evidently had left town. I also learned
that "Butch" DeWitt had a sweetheart, whose name was Hattie Bates, who
was a professional dancer and was supposed to be at the time an employe
of Ben Hogan, proprietor of a large dance hall at Petrolia, Butler
County, Pa.
For the information of the reader, I will say that Ben Hogan was a prize
fighter of note and a sporting character generally. He at one time
fought the celebrated Tom Allen for the heavyweight championship of the
world, near St. Louis. The fight was a draw and created a lot of bad
blood between the two factions interested. Some time after Hogan's fight
with Tom Allen he retired from the prize ring and became an evangelist,
making his headquarters at Chicago, and up to a few years ago, the last
heard of him, the writer has been informed had been very successful in
his missionary work. Prior to the time Hogan established himself at
Petrolia he had been engaged in the dance hall business at Tidicute,
Warren County, Pa., which is also an oil town on the banks of the
Allegheny River. While engaged in that business a party of roughs, who
were looking for trouble, visited his place and started a disturbance in
the dance hall, which resulted in one of the parties being killed and
two or three of his companions being severely injured. Hogan was
arrested charged with murder. Upon hearing of this trouble, and knowing
as I did the character of the parties who created the disturbance, and
that Hogan was entirely justified in protecting his premises against the
violence of this gang, who had gone to his place in search of trouble, I
assisted Hogan's attorneys by informing them as to the character and
standing of the parties who created the trouble. Hogan was acquitted
and ever afterwards was very grateful and friendly towards me, and when
I learned that "Butch" DeWitt's sweetheart was employed at Hogan's dance
hall, I hastened to Petrolia, thinking that DeWitt might visit his
sweetheart there. Petrolia was about sixty miles south of Oil City and I
arrived there on the afternoon of Wednesday, after the robbery before
mentioned. This was my first visit to Petrolia, which was a big oil town
or more like a mining camp, located in a valley on a tributary of the
Allegheny River, and the town consisted of one main street with
buildings on both sides of the street running up and down the valley,
all very close together and all frame. It consisted chiefly of boarding
houses, saloons, dance halls and gambling houses. On my arrival at
Petrolia I started up this street. I had had a description of Hogan's
dance hall, which he had built a short time prior to my going there, and
it was described as one of the largest buildings in town, and when I
arrived in front of what I considered the largest building there I
inquired for Hogan's place. The man from whom I made this inquiry
pointed out the building, which I had selected as Hogan's, which was
directly across the street from where I was standing, and told me that
that was Hogan's dance hall. There were two buildings standing along
side of each other, and as they were almost identically the same in size
and appearance, and being anxious to make no mistake, I inquired again,
and the man pointed out the building to my left, so I understood, as
Hogan's, whereupon I crossed the street and entered the front door of
the building, which was standing open. This was about four o'clock in
the afternoon. I mention this fact for the reason that everything is
usually very quiet about these dance halls until later in the evening,
as places of this kind do all of their business at night. There was a
screen, as there usually is, in front of bar-rooms, to shield the gaze
of the passers-by on the sidewalk. As I entered the house supposed to be
Hogan's, and went around the screen to my left, I found a bar standing
right back of the screen and behind the bar was a large young man with
blonde hair, rather fine looking, standing about six feet, one inch, in
height, and weighing in the neighborhood of two hundred pounds, and
about thirty years old. This man was the then notorious "Bill" Casey,
who was also a heavy weight prize fighter, and the proprietor of this
dance hall. I knew Casey upon sight, and he also recognized me. When I
went around the screen I found myself face to face with him as he was
leaning over with his elbows on the bar talking to one of his employes.
He straightened up, looked at me for an instant, and exclaimed, "Why,
hello, Chief. What in the world are you doing down here?" at the same
time extending his right hand. I shook hands with him and said, "I just
happened to be passing through Petrolia on a little matter of business,
and while on the opposite side of the street met a friend who told me
that this was your place and that I would be likely to find you here at
this time, so I just stepped in to pay my respects and shake hands with
you." To which he replied, "I am mighty glad you did. You say that you
are down here on a matter of business. You know that I am pretty well
posted among the class of people that you are generally looking for, and
if there is anything I can do for you I shall be glad to do so." I
thanked him for his offer and told him that there might be some way in
which he could assist me a little later on. He then said, "You know
Kittie, don't you?" (Kittie was his wife), I said, "Yes, I remember
her." "Wait a minute and I will call her," and he called to the rear
part of the house for Kittie. When she appeared he said to her, "Kittie,
you remember Mr. Furlong, don't you? He's Chief of Police at Oil City,
and I want you to shake hands with him." Kittie came to where we were
standing (in the meantime Bill had come behind the bar alongside of me)
and good-naturedly said, "Oh, yes, I shall never forget Mr. Furlong."
She then continued, "Mr. Furlong, Bill and I often speak of you. You did
the best thing that ever happened that time that you arrested Bill in
Oil City and he has often told me that he would always remember you with
the kindest of feelings for the reason that you did not kill him at the
time he was arrested. The manner in which he acted and the manner in
which he abused your man Fry, if you had not appeared upon the scene as
you did at that time he would have killed Fry and would probably have
been hung. You know he was drinking at the time and was acting very
badly, as he always did when he drank. He has never touched a drop of
any kind of intoxicating liquor since that time, and it has made a man
of him, and I give you credit for what you did. Bill has often said that
you had a perfect right to kill him under the circumstances and has
always felt very grateful." As she finished I said in reply, "Well, I am
very glad that you and Bill feel as you do, and I appreciate your good
will very much, although I regretted at the time what occurred, but knew
that there was nothing else to do but what I did, and I am more than
glad of the good results."
In this connection I will say that just prior to my arrest of "Bill"
Casey at Oil City, which was more than a year prior to the time of the
foregoing interview, Casey and his wife had a quarrel and had separated.
Mrs. Casey (or Kittie), as he called her, came to Oil City and was
boarding with a woman named Mrs. Brown, who had sixteen or eighteen
other female boarders. Casey, at this time, was living at Petroleum
Center, in the oil country, and had heard that his wife was boarding
with Madam Brown. He came to Oil City in search of her and visited
Madam Brown's house one afternoon about two o'clock. Madam Brown's house
was situated in Oil City in what is known as the "Red Light District"
and was a large and well furnished establishment, in fact the finest of
its kind in the oil regions of Pennsylvania at that time. It so happened
that I was passing Madam Brown's house, when I heard a tremendous uproar
in the house; women were screaming and shouting for help, and it was a
general tumult. Some person I met on the street said to me, "You had
better go into Madam Brown's house. Officer Fry has just gone in there
and it seems as though he is in trouble," whereupon I hastened into the
place, and in one of the parlors on my right as I went in I could hear
Officer Fry calling for help. I ran into the parlor, where I found
several women, all screaming at the top of their voices, and "Bill"
Casey standing at one side of a large square, old fashioned piano, from
which he had twisted one of the legs. He held this piano leg in his hand
similar to the way in which a ball player holds his bat, and had Officer
Fry backed up into a corner alongside of the piano and was about to
bring the piano leg down upon the officer's head. Fry had his revolver
in his hand, but was unable to raise it, as Casey had him covered with
the leg of the piano. Casey was standing with his back to the door from
which I entered, and, upon taking in the situation, I pulled my revolver
from my pocket and struck Casey over the head with it just above the
right ear, which cut an ugly gash and caused him to fall to the floor. I
had dealt him a heavy blow, which took him completely by surprise, and
before he could rally and arise from the floor he was seized by Fry and
myself and subdued only after a vigorous rough-and-tumble fight. He was
locked up, but owing to the fact that his wife had been found by him in
this disreputable place, and that he was under the influence of liquor,
the committing magistrate fined him $200.00 and costs, with the
agreement, on his part, that he was to leave town immediately, upon the
payment of the fine and costs, which he did, and further agreeing that
he would never again appear in Oil City, or any place else under the
influence of liquor. That promise he always kept until the day of his
death.
With the above explanation I feel that it is unnecessary for me to say
to the reader that I did not enter "Bill" Casey's place voluntarily. I
had not the slightest idea "Bill" Casey was there. The last time I had
seen him was at Oil City on the day of his arrest, and he had said to me
before leaving that he would get even with me if it took him the balance
of his life, so the reader can imagine my predicament better than I can
describe it, when I first found myself in the presence of "Bill" Casey
and in his own place. It would have taken a good sized rope to have
dragged me into that place had I known that Casey was its proprietor,
but on confronting him I could think of no better way than to act boldly
and act as though I had voluntarily come in to call and pay my respects,
which worked admirably.
After ascertaining the friendly feeling of Casey and his wife towards
me, I told them that I wanted to locate "Butch" DeWitt, who was a friend
of Hattie Bates, who, I understood, was living next door with Ben Hogan.
Mrs. Casey said to me, "I know Mrs. Hogan, and we are warm friends. I
will go over and see her about this and see whether she knows anything
about the whereabouts of DeWitt or not." She did so, and in a few
minutes returned with Mrs. Hogan, who said to me, "'Butch' DeWitt and a
young thief by the name of Heilman were here the night before last.
DeWitt, you know, is a sweetheart of the Bates girl, who lives with me.
DeWitt and Heilman had some money and left here yesterday morning at
two o'clock for New Brighton, Pa., where they have a job of some kind
that they expect to do, and intend to return here in a couple of days
from New Brighton."
I took the first train from Petrolia to Pittsburg, and then from
Pittsburg to New Brighton, Pa., where I arrived the following morning
early. At New Brighton I learned that the night before my arrival the
safe in a factory had been blown open by burglars and a quantity of
money stolen. At New Brighton I received a good description of Heilman
and DeWitt, and traced them down the railroad to Rochester, Pa., to a
hotel. Upon entering this hotel I found that they had registered under
fictitious names and were still in their rooms at the hotel. I went to
their room, forced an entrance, and found DeWitt and Heilman there. I
arrested them and took them to Oil City, and in the meantime Heilman
made a clean breast of the robbery. He told me that while he was
examining the shoes before mentioned, DeWitt sneaked around behind the
counter and took from the safe, which was unlocked, the money and bonds
that were missing. They took the currency with them and secreted the
bonds and other things stolen by them from the safe in a tin lard can,
which they had buried on a farm south of South Oil City, known as the
Faren Farm. They accompanied me to the place and we recovered the can
and its contents. These boys were convicted and sent to prison.
The prize fighter "Bill Casey" continued as proprietor of the dance hall
and saloon at Petrolia, where he did a profitable business, and where he
had many friends among the drillers and tool dressers who were employed
at the oil wells in the district which surrounded Petrolia. He was noted
for being big-hearted, sociable and clever while sober, and it will be
remembered he had quit drinking after his arrest at Oil City. He had
accumulated a small fortune, and upon the Christmas Eve following my
interview with him, as before related, he and his wife left Petrolia for
the purpose of visiting his parents, who were living at the time at
Lockport, N. Y. They boarded what is known as a mixed train, northbound,
on the Allegheny Valley Railroad, bound for Buffalo. This train
consisted of a number of freight cars, some of which were loaded with
crude oil, a baggage car and two passenger coaches, which were at the
rear of the train. The passenger coaches were crowded to their utmost
capacity with passengers, as there were many people leaving the oil
country to spend the holidays in other regions. As the train was
rounding a very sharp curve near Scrubgrass a front axletree broke on
one of the freight cars, which precipitated the entire train, behind the
breakdown, over a high bank into the Allegheny River, which was at the
time at high water mark. The crude oil ignited, by reason of the wreck,
and set fire to everything. The oil spread out over the water, and, as
crude oil burns just as fiercely upon water as it does upon land, the
whole river was afire in a very short time from bank to bank, and the
fire was carried down stream by the current at the rate of four or five
miles an hour. Many of the passengers were drowned, or injured and
burned to death by the flames, as it should be remembered that the oil
cars were ahead of the passenger coaches, and as the train was running
upstream the flames immediately enveloped small portions of the
passenger coaches which remained above the surface of the water. Casey
managed to escape from the wreck, and, being a very powerful man, took
his wife with him and reached the bank in safety with the exception of a
few burns. There was a crippled newsboy employed upon the train, and in
the wreck he had managed to get a portion of his body through one of the
windows which was upturned and out of the water, while his lower limbs
were fastened in the wreck, and he was about to be engulfed in a body of
floating burning oil, which was rapidly approaching him, when Casey
spied him. Casey immediately left his wife standing on the bank and
rushed to the assistance of the newsboy, and while tugging away trying
to extricate the boy from the wreck Casey was engulfed by the burning
oil and lost his life, and thus died in the act of performing a humane
and heroic deed.