The Confession of Newton Edwards--The foul Plot fully Explained--Eugene
Pearson's Guilt clearly Proven--A Story of Temptation and Crime.
The confession of Newton Edwards revealed a history of undiscovered
crime that had been carried on for years. Beginning at first in wild and
extravagant conduct, which consumed the liberal salary which he
received, and then led to the incurring of debts which became pressing
and impossible of payment by legitimate means; then followed a thirst
for gambling, in which large returns were promised for small
investments, and failing in this, came the temptation to crime and his
consequent ruin.
How certain it is, that once the downward step is taken, the rest
follows swiftly and inevitably, and ruin and disgrace tread swiftly and
surely upon the heels of folly and crime. Newton Edwards began life
under the brightest aspects. Of respectable parentage, he had enjoyed
the benefits of a liberal education, and his first essay in business had
been both fortunate and profitable. Beloved by his family, and admired
by a numerous circle of friends, he deliberately gave himself up to a
life of excess and dissipation, and the end was soon to be a dark and
gloomy prison.
I will, however, leave him to tell his own story, and the moral of it is
so plain that he who runs may read. We were all seated around the fallen
young man awaiting his recital, and after a few moments of hesitation
and embarrassment he began:
"I will tell you all there is to relate, and in order that you may fully
understand my present situation, I will commence with the first
temptations, which finally led to the commission of this crime."
"Yes," said William, encouragingly, "tell us all."
"The robbery of the Geneva bank was planned more than six months ago,"
continued Edwards, "but its real origin dates back more than a year. At
that time I was traveling for a large house in the city, and was
receiving a liberal salary. I had a large trade, and my employers were
very generous with me. I cannot tell you how I drifted into habits of
dissipation, but it was not very long before I found it a very easy
matter to dispose of my salary almost as soon as received, and was
forced to borrow money of my friends to enable me to maintain myself at
all. From that I was tempted to gamble, and being fortunate at the
outset, I soon found, as I imagined, an easy way to make money without
serious labor; but I speedily discovered that my first success was
doomed to be of short life, and I began to lose more money than I had
ever won. It was after one of my losing experiences at the gaming-table,
and when I was hard pressed for money to meet my immediate wants, that I
visited Geneva, for the purpose of selling goods to some of my
customers in that place. At that time I made the acquaintance of a young
man by the name of Horace Johnson, who was a practicing dentist of that
town. Like myself, he was a wild and reckless fellow, given to
dissipation and drink, and who, like myself, had been able to conceal
the fact from his family and their friends. Johnson's prevailing vice
was an uncontrollable passion for gambling, and he had been addicted to
this practice for a long time. I afterward understood that he had
acquired this habit while attending a dental college in St. Louis, where
he had become quite an expert in the handling of cards, and was well
posted in the tricks so frequently resorted to by gamblers to fleece
their unsuspecting victims. When he returned from college and
established his business in his native town, he became the leader of a
set of fast young men, and his office was the nightly resort of his
associates, where they played and gambled frequently, until the morning
hours drove them to their homes.
"As I have said, I met Johnson at this time, and on my succeeding visit
I was introduced by him to Eugene Pearson, the assistant cashier of the
bank. That evening we spent together at Johnson's office in drinking and
card-playing. Johnson stated that there was an excellent opportunity to
make money offered, if we were disposed to accept it. I asked him what
it was, and he stated that there were quite a number of well-to-do
merchants in the town who were in the habit of meeting in a room which
they had furnished for the purpose, and where they played cards for
small amounts and for amusement.
"Johnson stated that we could readily make their acquaintance, and once
introduced into their games, it would be an easy matter to induce them
to play heavily, and then, from his knowledge of gamblers' tricks, we
could win their money in spite of them. We all agreed to this, although
Pearson declined to become an active player, because of his position in
the bank.
"On the next visit I made to Geneva, I remained over Sunday, and being
taken to the club, we managed to win several hundred dollars before
morning. This continued for some time, and always with the same success,
and as a consequence I became more reckless in my expenditure of money
than ever before, because I knew of a sure plan to replenish my pockets,
when they were empty. Shortly after this, I received a letter from
Johnson requesting me to come to Geneva as soon as possible, as he and
Pearson had devised another scheme to raise money and wanted my
assistance. Being hard pressed at that time, I responded as soon as I
could, and in a few days found myself in Geneva, where I was heartily
welcomed by both Johnson and Pearson. After supper we met in Johnson's
office as usual, and then the plan was made known to me. At first I was
startled by the daring proposition, which was nothing more or less than
to rob Pearson's bank by means of forged checks. The checks, which had
been already prepared by Pearson, were exhibited to me, and I was
surprised at the cleverness of the forgery. It looked easy and safe, and
I consented. The person selected as the victim was a rich farmer by the
name of Henery Sharpless, whose accounts were only settled about twice a
year, and consequently detection was not likely to follow very soon.
After carefully comparing the forged checks with an old one that was
genuine, I no longer hesitated and signified my readiness to try the
experiment.
"On the following day, therefore, I went to Johnson's office, and there
put on a hickory shirt, a pair of coarse boots and pantaloons, and in a
few minutes I was transformed into a veritable countryman. Johnson
colored my face and hands with some preparation which made me appear
like a tanned and sunburnt farmer, and thus equipped, I started for the
bank. I was provided with two checks for three hundred dollars each, one
of which was to be presented to the Geneva bank, when, if I experienced
no trouble, I was to present the other at the Union National Bank, where
also Mr. Sharpless kept an account. I had no difficulty whatever in
obtaining the money, and after dividing it among the other two, I left
town on the first train. I received two hundred dollars for my share,
and the forgeries were not discovered until a long time had elapsed, and
when it was almost impossible to obtain any information concerning them.
To this day I don't believe that any of the officers of the two banks
have the slightest idea as to how the thing was done. Soon after this
forgery, Johnson left Geneva and located at St. Louis, where he still
resides. Emboldened by the success of this first venture, Eugene
Pearson, who was really the master-spirit in these later efforts, boldly
proposed to rob the bank in which he was engaged, but this was something
too audacious to be considered for a moment. At length, by dint of
repeated suggestions, Johnson and myself began to give some
consideration to the matter, and upon Pearson's assuring us of the
perfect ease with which the robbery might be accomplished, we at last
began to discuss various plans by which the bank might be robbed.
Several ideas and propositions were discussed, but either through fear
or some other consideration, they all fell through.
"At last we decided upon the plan which was finally carried out. Johnson
and myself were to come to Geneva disguised as much as possible, and
after the business of the day was over, and the other officers had gone
home, Pearson was to give us the signal that the coast was clear. We
were then to enter the bank, the doors of which would be left open, and
after securing the young lady and Pearson, we were to rob the vault and
place them within it. In order that they might not suffer from their
confinement, Pearson was to start the screws in the lock, so that there
would be no difficulty in opening the vault, after giving us time to
make good our escape. It was understood that there was about twenty
thousand dollars in the vault, in gold, silver and notes, and Pearson
was to take his share out in advance and hide it, so that no danger
should be incurred in the attempt to divide it afterward. As the time
approached for carrying this plan into effect, Johnson began to show
signs of weakening, and finally declined to have anything to do with it,
although he promised to make no disclosures regarding our movements, and
to keep our secret inviolate. After Johnson's backing out we did not
know what to do, and were just about abandoning the whole thing, when I
came across an old traveling friend of mine in Chicago, who had been on
a protracted spree, and who was without money and friends, in a strange
city, and who came to me to borrow enough to get him home to Denver. The
idea at once occurred to me to induce him to join us and in this I was
successful, for he was in a desperate state, and anything that promised
to furnish him with money would have been greedily accepted at that
time. Even after this, however, I don't believe that either of us would
have had the courage to carry out the scheme, if we had not continued
our drinking, and I don't believe I was sober a single moment until
after we had accomplished our object and the robbery was committed. How
it was done, you all know, and it is not necessary for me to detail the
particulars of an event which will overcast my whole life."
As he ceased speaking, Edwards buried his face in his hands, and wept
aloud.
"Who was this man whom you procured to help you?" inquired William.
Edwards hesitated for some time, as though he was loth to divulge the
name of his companion, but finally he said:
"His name is Thomas Duncan, and he was in the clothing business, in
Denver, Colorado."
"Now tell us how much money you took from the bank, and how it was
divided?" asked Mr. Warner.
"There is something about that that I cannot understand," replied
Edwards. "From what Pearson told me, there must have been more than
twenty thousand dollars in the vault, twelve thousand of which was in
gold. The agreement was that Duncan, Pearson and myself were to have six
thousand dollars apiece, and the balance was to be paid to Johnson for
his silence. Pearson took his share out on the Saturday before the
robbery, and when Duncan and I came to divide the money, we found that
we were five thousand dollars short. There is only one solution I have
to give for this, and that is that Pearson did not act fair with us, and
took five thousand dollars in gold more than he was to have done."
"Where did you and Duncan separate after the robbery?" asked William.
"At Clinton, Iowa," was the reply. "Duncan went on toward Des Moines,
while I made my way east, where I remained until you found me."
Upon being questioned further, Edwards stated that when he met Duncan,
he had a room in the lower part of the city, with a very respectable
lady, who rented furnished apartments, and that when he left the city,
having no money, he left his trunk and baggage in his room until he
could settle for his rent.
This was all that could be gained from Edwards at this time, and it
must be confessed was most important. Pearson's guilt was fully proven,
and we had a strong clew as to the identity of the third man in the
robbery. It is true that he had more than a month the start of us, but
we did not despair of finding him at last. In the meantime, much was to
be speedily done. Edwards must be conveyed to Geneva at once, Johnson
must be arrested at St. Louis, and we must pay our respects to Eugene
Pearson as soon as possible. We must also start immediately upon the
track of Thomas Duncan, and endeavor to trace him to his hiding-place.
Everything was therefore made ready for the departure of Edwards, who
was consigned to the care of two trusty operatives until evening, when
they would take him to Geneva; and William forwarded a telegraphic
message to Mr. Silby, at Geneva, to this effect:
"WATCH THAT PACKAGE."