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[Illustration: WILLIAM A. PINKERTON]
True Detective
Stories
From the Archives of the
Pinkertons
By
Cleveland Moffett
NEW YORK:
_G. W. Dillingham Co., Publishers,_
Copyright, 1893, 1894
S. S. MCCLURE CO.
Copyright, 1897
DOUBLEDAY & MCCLURE CO.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Northampton Bank Robbery 1
The Susquehanna Express Robbery 57
The Pollock Diamond Robbery 95
The Rock Island Express 121
The Destruction of the Renos 161
The American Exchange Bank Robbery 193
* * * * *
The Northampton Bank Robbery
About midnight on Tuesday, January 25, 1876, five masked men entered
the house of John Whittelsey in Northampton, Massachusetts. Mr.
Whittelsey was the cashier of the Northampton National Bank, and was
known to have in his possession the keys of the bank building and the
combination to the bank vault. The five men entered the house
noiselessly, with the aid of false keys, previously prepared. Passing
up-stairs to the sleeping-apartments, they overpowered seven inmates
of the house, gagging and binding them so that resistance or alarm
was impossible. These were Mr. Whittelsey and his wife, Mr. and Mrs.
T. B. Cutler, Miss Mattie White, Miss Benton, and a servant-girl.
The bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Whittelsey was entered by two men who
seemed to be leaders of the band. One wore a long linen duster
buttoned nearly to the knees, also gloves and overshoes; the other
wore a jacket and overalls. Both men had their faces concealed behind
masks, and one of them carried a dark-lantern. On entering the room
the two men went directly to the bed, one standing on either side, and
handcuffed Mr. Whittelsey and his wife. Both carried revolvers. The
proceedings were much the same in the other rooms.
After some delay and whispered consultation, the robbers ordered the
five women to get up and dress. When they had done so, they were roped
together by ankles and wrists, and taken into a small room, where
they were kept under guard by one of the band. Mr. Cutler also was
imprisoned in the same way. Then the two leaders devoted themselves to
Mr. Whittelsey. They told him plainly that they had come for the keys
of the bank and the combination of the vault, and that they would
"make it hot" for him unless he gave them what they wanted. Mr.
Whittelsey replied that it was useless to attempt to break into the
bank, as the locks were too strong for their efforts and he would not
betray his trust. At this the man in the linen duster shrugged his
shoulders and said they would see about that.
Mr. Whittelsey was then taken downstairs, and again summoned to
surrender the keys. Again he refused. At this the man in the overalls
put his hand in the cashier's trousers-pocket and drew forth a key.
"Is this the key to the bank?" he asked.
"Yes, it is," answered the cashier, hoping to gain time.
"You lie," said the robber, with threatening gesture, at the same time
trying the key in the lock of the front door of the house, which it
turned.
"Don't hit him yet," said the other; "he is sick." Then he asked Mr.
Whittelsey if he wanted a drink of brandy. Mr. Whittelsey shook his
head no. Then the man in the linen duster renewed his demands. He
wanted the combination of the vault. Mr. Whittelsey gave him some
figures, which the robber wrote down on a piece of paper. These were
for the outer door of the vault. He demanded the combination for the
inner door, and Mr. Whittelsey gave him other figures. Having written
these down also, the robber came close to his prisoner and said, "Will
you swear these figures are correct?"
"I will," answered Mr. Whittelsey.
"You are lying again. If they are correct, let's hear you repeat
them."
The cashier could not do this, and so disclosed that the figures were
not the right ones.
"See, Number One," said the robber, addressing his comrade, "we're
wasting time; we'll have to teach him to stop lying."
As he spoke he struck the sharp point of his lead-pencil into Mr.
Whittelsey's face so violently as to make a wound, and followed this
with several blows on the body.
"Will you tell us now?" he asked.
Mr. Whittelsey kept silent. Then both men came at him, wringing his
ears, shaking him by the throat, hurling him to the floor, and
pounding their knees into his chest. For three hours this torture was
continued. More than once the ruffians placed their revolvers at Mr.
Whittelsey's head, declaring they would blow his brains out unless he
yielded. Finally he did yield; the suffering was too great; the
supreme instinct of self-preservation asserted itself. Toward four
o'clock in the morning, bruised from head to foot, and worn beyond
further resistance, he surrendered the keys, and revealed the true
combination of the vault.
Then the robbers went away, leaving two of their associates to watch
over the prisoners. One of the band, before his departure, did not
disdain to search Mr. Whittelsey's clothes and take his watch and
chain and fourteen dollars in money. The last of the band remained in
the house until six o'clock; and it was an hour later before Mr.
Whittelsey succeeded in freeing himself from his bonds.
He hurried at once to the bank, arriving there soon after seven
o'clock. He found the vault door locked, and its dials broken off, so
that it was impossible at the moment to determine the extent of the
robbery, or, indeed, whether there had been any robbery. It was
necessary to send to New York for an expert before the vault could be
opened, which was not accomplished until late that night, twenty hours
after the attack had been made. Then it was found that the robbers had
been only too successful, having secured money and securities
estimated at a million and a quarter dollars. Much of this sum was
safe-deposits, and the loss fell on the depositors; and to some it was
the loss of their whole property.
At this time the authorities had no clue to the identity of the
robbers, though they had left behind them numerous evidences of their
presence, such as dark-lanterns, masks, sledge-hammers, overshoes, and
the like. Their escape had been managed as skilfully as the robbery
itself. Sheriff's officers and detectives did their best during
subsequent days and weeks, but their efforts were in vain. The
president of the bank offered a reward of twenty-five thousand
dollars for the apprehension of the robbers and the return of the
property; but there were no discoveries.
When several months had elapsed, the Pinkertons were called into the
case. They began by carefully studying certain communications that had
been received by the bank directors from persons claiming to have in
their possession the missing securities. The first of these
communications was dated New York, February 27, 1876, about a month
after the robbery. It ran as follows, the letters of each word being
carefully printed with a pen, so that there was little chance of
identification through the handwriting:
"DEAR SIRS: When you are satisfied with detective skill you
can make a proposition to us, the holders, and if you are
liberal we may be able to do business with you. If you
entertain any such ideas, please insert a personal in the
New York 'Herald.' Address to XXX, and sign 'Rufus,' to
which due attention will be paid. To satisfy you that we
hold papers, we send you a couple of pieces."
[No signature.]
No attention had been paid to this letter, although two certificates
of stock accompanied it which had undoubtedly been in the bank's
vault. Three other letters of a similar nature had been received
later. To one of these the bank people had sent a guarded reply, which
had called forth the following response, dated New York, October 20,
1876:
"GENTLEMEN: Since you have seen fit to recognize the receipt
of our letter, we will now send you our price for the return
of the goods. The United States coupon bonds and money taken
cannot be returned; but everything else--bonds, letters, and
papers, to the smallest document--will be returned for one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. If these figures suit
you, we will make arrangements, according to our promise,
and you may have the goods as soon as preliminaries can be
arranged for the safe conduct of the business. If you agree
to this price, insert in the New York 'Herald' personal
column the simple word 'Agatha.'
"Respectfully, etc.,
"RUFUS."
The special value of these letters was in helping the detectives to
decide which one of several gangs of bank robbers then operating in
the country was most likely to have committed the crime. Being
familiar with the methods of each gang, Robert Pinkerton was able to
draw useful inferences from evidence that would otherwise have been
insignificant. He knew, for instance, that the notorious gang headed
by James Dunlap would be more apt than any other to thus negotiate for
the return of all the securities in a lump, since it was Dunlap's
invariable rule to insist upon personally controlling the proceeds of
his robberies until final disposition was made of them. On the other
hand, the gangs headed respectively by the notorious "Jimmy" Hope,
"Worcester Sam," and George Bliss might have divided the securities
among the members, and then tried to negotiate a compromise on the
individual portions.
A fact of much significance to the Pinkertons was the rather
remarkable interest in the case, and apparent familiarity with it,
shown by one J. G. Evans, an expert in safes and vaults and the
representative of one of the largest safe-manufactories in the
country.
The day after the robbery Evans had been at Bristol, Connecticut, in
the interest of his firm, who, on receipt of the news, had immediately
wired him to proceed to Northampton. His presence in Northampton was
regarded as nothing strange, for he had been there several times
during the months just preceding the robbery, and once had inspected
the lock and dials of the vault of the robbed bank. What did seem a
little strange, however, was Evans's evident interest in the
negotiations for a compromise. On a dozen different occasions he
talked with the president and other officers of the bank regarding the
robbery, and insinuated quite plainly that he might be in a position
to assist them in recovering their lost securities. A few months after
the robbery he even went so far as to tell one of the directors that
he could name the members of the gang.
This disposition of Evans to put himself forward in the negotiations
had all the more significance to Robert Pinkerton from the fact that
it had been rumored that a series of daring bank robberies lately
committed in various parts of the country had owed their success to
the participation of an expert in safes and locks, who had been able,
through his position of trust, to reveal to the robbers many secrets
of weak bank locks, safes, and vaults. Up to this time these rumors
had remained indefinite, and no one ventured to name the man. It was
known, however, that the false expert was a man of high standing in
his calling and generally regarded as above suspicion. It was also
known that there was great jealousy in other gangs of bank robbers
because of the amazing success of the gang with whom this man was
working, and that overtures even had been made by the leaders of some
other gangs to win over to their own gangs this desirable accomplice.
Robert Pinkerton had already concluded that the gang so ably assisted
was the Dunlap gang; and he was now pretty well persuaded, also, that
the Northampton robbery had been committed by the Dunlap gang. There
was every reason, therefore, for keeping a sharp eye on the
safe-expert Evans.
As he studied the case, Mr. Pinkerton recalled a circumstance that had
happened in the fall of 1875. On the night of November 4, 1875, the
First National Bank of Pittston, Pennsylvania, had been robbed of
sixty thousand dollars, and Mr. Pinkerton had gone there to
investigate the case. He met a number of safe-men, it being a business
custom with safe-men to flock to the scene of an important bank
robbery in order to supply new safes for the ones that have been
wrecked. While they were all examining the vault, still littered with
debris of the explosion, the representative of one of the
safe-companies picked up a small air-pump used by the robbers, and,
looking at it critically, remarked that he would have sworn it
belonged to his company, did he not know that was impossible. The
air-pump was, he declared, of precisely his company's model, one that
had been recently devised for a special purpose. At the time Mr.
Pinkerton regarded this as merely a coincidence, but now the memory
came to him as a flash of inspiration that the man who had remarked
the similarity in the air-pump represented the same company that
employed Evans.
In view of all the circumstances, it was decided to put Evans under
the closest questioning. He did not deny that he had made unusual
efforts to effect the return of the securities, but professed that it
was because he was sincerely sorry for the many people who had been
ruined through the robbery. And he professed to believe, also, that he
had been unjustly treated in the affair, though just how, and by whom,
he would not say. To the detective's trained observation it was
apparent that he was worried and apprehensive and not at all sure of
himself.
In November, 1876, George H. Bangs, superintendent of the Pinkerton
Agency, a man possessed of very remarkable skill in eliciting
confessions from suspected persons, had an interview with Evans. He
professed to Evans that the detectives had secured evidence that
practically cleared up the whole mystery; that they _knew_ (whereas
they still only surmised) that the robbery had been committed by the
Dunlap and Scott gang, and that Evans was a confederate; that for
weeks they had been shadowing Scott and Dunlap (which was true), and
could arrest them at any moment; that there was no doubt that the gang
had been trying to play Evans false (a very shrewd guess), and would
sacrifice him without the slightest compunction; and, finally, that
there was open to Evans one of two courses--either to suffer arrest on
a charge of bank robbery, with the prospect of twenty years in prison,
or save himself, and at the same time earn a substantial money reward,
by making a clean confession of his connection with the crime. All
this, delivered with an air of completest certainty, was more than
Evans could stand up against. He broke down completely, and told all
he knew.
The story told by Evans is one of the most remarkable in the history
of crime. He admitted the correctness of Robert Pinkerton's inference
that the Northampton Bank had been robbed by Scott and Dunlap and
their associates, and in order to explain his own connection with this
formidable gang he went back to its organization in 1872. The leader
of the gang was James Dunlap, _alias_ James Barton, who, before he
became a bank robber, had been a brakeman on the Chicago, Alton and
St. Louis Railroad. His inborn criminal instincts led him to frequent
the resorts of thieves in Chicago, and thus he met "Johnny" Lamb and a
man named Perry, who took a liking to him and taught him all they knew
about breaking safes. Dunlap soon outstripped his masters, developing
a genius for robbery and for organization that speedily proved him the
most formidable of all the bank robbers then operating in the country,
not even excepting "Jimmy" Hope, the notorious Manhattan Bank robber.
He had the long-headedness and stubbornness of his Scotch parents,
united with the daring and ingenuity peculiar to Americans. In the
fall of 1872 he organized the most dangerous and best-equipped gang of
bank robbers that the country had ever known.
Dunlap's right-hand man was Robert C. Scott, _alias_ "Hustling Bob,"
originally a deck-hand on a Mississippi steamboat and afterward a
hotel thief. Scott was a big, powerful man, with a determination equal
to anything. Their associates were what one might expect from these
two. Other members of the gang were Thomas Doty, William Conroy,
"Eddie" Goody, John Perry, James Greer, a professional burglar
originally from Canada, and the notorious John Leary, _alias_ "Red"
Leary, of whom more will be said later on. In addition to these, the
gang contained several members of less importance, men who acted
merely as lookouts, or as go-betweens or messengers.
The first large operation of Dunlap's band occurred in 1872, when they
plundered the Falls City Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, of about two
hundred thousand dollars, escaping with their booty. This was
satisfactory as a beginning, but Dunlap and Scott dreamed of
achievements beside which this was insignificant. They began a careful
investigation through many States, to learn of banks of weak structure
containing large treasure. One of the gang finally found precisely
what they were in search of in the Second National Bank of Elmira, New
York, which institution, being a government depository, contained, as
they learned on good authority, two hundred thousand dollars in
greenbacks and six millions in bonds.
A survey of the premises satisfied the gang that, massive though it
appeared, with its ponderous iron walls and complicated locks, the
vault of this bank was by no means impossible of access. The floor
above the bank was occupied by the Young Men's Christian Association,
one of the association's rooms being directly over the vault. There
was the floor between, and under that four feet of solid masonry, some
of the stones in it weighing a ton. And under the masonry was a layer
of railroad iron, resting on a plate of hardened steel an inch and a
half thick. All this, however, so far from discouraging the
conspirators, gave them greater confidence in the success of their
plan, once under way, since the very security of the vault, by
structure, from overhead attack lessened the strictness of the
surveillance. Indeed, the most serious difficulty, in the estimation
of the robbers, was to gain easy and unsuspected admission to the
quarters of the Young Men's Christian Association, on the second
floor. The secretary, a very prudent man, had put on the outside door
of the association rooms an improved Yale lock, which was then new
upon the market and offered unusual obstacles to the lock-picker.
Neither Dunlap, Scott, nor any of their associates had skill enough
to open this lock without breaking it, which would, of course, have
been fatal to their plan. For days, therefore, after all the other
details of the robbery had been arranged, the whole scheme seemed to
be blocked by a troublesome lock on an ordinary wooden door.
So serious a matter did this finally become that Scott and Dunlap went
to the length of breaking into the secretary's house at night, and
searching his pockets, in the hope of finding the keys and getting an
impression of them. But here, again, the secretary had taken
precautions that defeated their purpose, for he had hidden the keys
under a carpet, where the robbers never thought of looking for them.
Disappointed in their search, they went away, making no attempt to
carry off anything, a bit of forbearance which caused the excellent
secretary much wonder the next morning, when he found that nothing
was missing, although there were plain traces of intruders.
The Yale lock still continuing an insoluble difficulty, Perry finally
made a journey to New York, in the hope of finding some device by
which to open it. There, in the course of his search, and in a curious
way, he made the acquaintance of Evans, then a salesman in the employ
of a prominent safe-company.
Before entering the employ of the safe-manufacturers, Evans had
conducted an extensive mercantile business for himself in a large
Eastern city, where he was regarded as a man of wealth and integrity.
He had large dealings through the South, with extensive credits; but
the outbreak of the war had forced him into bankruptcy. It was hinted
that there was some over-shrewd practice connected with his failure,
and his subsequent sudden departure for Canada gave color to the
insinuation. At any rate, he compromised with his creditors on a
basis advantageous to himself.
On his return from Canada, Evans took up his residence in New York
City, and began to cultivate habits far beyond his income, notably the
taste for fast horses. Perry heard of Evans through one Ryan, whom he
had known as a "crook" years before, but who was then running a
livery-stable in an up-town street. As a matter of fact, this
livery-stable was merely a blind for the sale of unsound horses
"doctored up" to deceive unsuspecting buyers. But of this Evans knew
nothing, and, in good faith, had stabled one of his own horses with
Ryan. This had led to an intimacy between him and Ryan, and now, at
Perry's suggestion, Ryan encouraged Evans in his disposition to live
beyond his means.
Before long Evans found himself much cramped financially. Being unable
to pay Ryan the money he owed him for stabling, he began to talk of
selling his horse; and one day, when he was complaining of being
short of money, Ryan said, "If I had your position I'd never lack for
money."
Evans asked him what he meant.
"Oh," said Ryan, "there are plenty of people who would put up well to
know some of the things you know about safes and banks."
By degrees Ryan made his meaning more clear, and Evans grew properly
indignant. The subject was dropped for the moment, but, in subsequent
meetings, Ryan kept reverting to it. Meantime Evans found himself
growing more and more embarrassed, and one day he said, "What is it
these people want to know?"
"Well," said Ryan, "they would like to know, for one thing, if there
is any way of beating these new Yale locks?"
"You can't pick a Yale lock," answered Evans--"that would take too
long; but there is a way of getting one open."
"How?"
"We'll talk that over some day."
Having once nibbled, Evans was not long in biting at the bait thus
adroitly held before him. He consented to be introduced to Perry, who
shrewdly showed him what an easy matter it would be for a man who knew
the secrets of safe-makers and could locate weak banks, to make a
great deal of money, without danger to himself.
"Why," said Perry, "you can make more in one night with us, without
any one's suspecting it, than you can make in a year working for these
safe-people."
The result was that Evans, in consideration of fifty thousand dollars,
finally agreed to provide some means of opening the Yale lock which
barred the robbers from the coveted treasure at Elmira.
Perry, in great delight, hurried back to Elmira, and reported his
success to Dunlap and Scott. In order to bring Evans to Elmira in a
way not to excite suspicion, a letter was written to the company he
served, containing a tempting proposition regarding the purchase of
safes. Evans was at once sent to Elmira to look after the matter. He
stopped at the Rathbone House, where he was waited upon by Scott, with
whom he concerted a plan of operations. Scott was to slip a thin piece
of wood into the lock at night, so that the lock would not work. Then,
as Evans's presence in the city had been made known, it was hoped that
he would be called upon, as an expert in difficult locks, to find out
what was the matter. This would give him an opportunity to secure an
impression of the key. The plan worked only too perfectly; and within
twenty-four hours the conspirators were able to pass in and out of the
Young Men's Christian Association rooms as they pleased, without the
knowledge of any one.
It now remained, in order to achieve the robbery, to dig down into the
vault--an immense task, for which the constant presence in Elmira of
the whole gang was necessary. It was also necessary that their
presence should not be noticed, and to that end a woman from
Baltimore, who had been associated with one of the gang in previous
undertakings, came on to Elmira and took a house in the suburbs,
giving out that she was the wife of a man whose business kept him
traveling most of the time. The house was simply furnished, and every
day, for the benefit of the neighbors, the woman made a great pretense
of sweeping the steps, cleaning the windows, and busying herself about
the yard in various ways. Meantime, inside the house, in careful
concealment, the members of the gang were living--Scott, Dunlap, "Red"
Leary, Conroy, and Perry. They never went out in the daytime, and they
left the place at night so cautiously, going one at a time, that,
although they lived here for six weeks, their presence was never
suspected.
Every night they gathered in the rooms of the Young Men's Christian
Association after the young men had gone home, using their false keys
to obtain admission; and they remained there hours at a time, doing
what would ordinarily be the noisiest work; but their movements were
so cautious and well planned that their presence in the building was
never suspected. Every night the carpet and flooring were taken up,
and, after they had finished their excavations, were carefully relaid.
Tons of masonry and heavy stone were removed, shoveled into baskets,
and carried up to the roof of the opera-house, adjoining the bank
building, where there was small chance of the debris being discovered.
Thus the unwearying rascals worked downward through the layer of
railroad iron, and at last found themselves separated from the inside
of the vault by only the plate of steel. Success seemed within their
very grasp, when an unforeseen accident spoiled everything.
One day the president of the bank, Mr. Pratt, was surprised, on
entering the vault, to find the floor sprinkled with a fine white
dust. An investigation was made, and the whole plot was uncovered. The
members of the gang, however, got word in time, and all managed to
escape except Perry, who was convicted of attempted burglary and sent
to the Auburn prison for five years.
Undisturbed by the failure, Scott and Dunlap proceeded to scour the
country again in search of another bank suited to their operations,
and in February, 1874, notified the gang, which now contained some new
members, that they had "found something to go to work at" in Quincy,
Illinois. The attack on the Quincy bank was made in very much the same
way as the attack on the bank at Elmira. The Baltimore woman again
rented a house which afforded shelter and concealment to the men;
access was obtained to rooms over the vault by false keys, as before;
the flooring was taken up and put down every night without exciting
suspicion; the masonry was removed, the iron plates of the vault were
penetrated, and, finally, one night Scott and Dunlap were able to
lower themselves through a jagged hole into the money-room beneath.
It now remained to force open the safes inside the vault; and to
accomplish this the robbers used, for the first time in the history of
safe-wrecking in America, what is known as the air-pump method, which
had been devised by Evans, and carefully explained by him to Scott and
Dunlap. Evans's employers were at this time introducing a padding
designed to make safes more secure; and Evans had hit upon the idea of
introducing powder into the seams of a safe-door by an air-pump, in
the presence of a possible customer, in order to impress him with his
need of the new padding. Evans himself was not present at the breaking
open of the Quincy bank, and he had nothing to do with the robbery
beyond furnishing instruction and the air-pump. Scott and Dunlap did
the work.
As a first step, all the seams of the safes formed by the doors were
carefully puttied up, save two small holes, one at the top and one at
the bottom. Then, at the upper hole, Scott held a funnel filled with
fine powder, while Dunlap applied the air-pump at the hole below. By
the draft thus created, the powder was drawn into all the interstices
between the heavy doors and the frames of the safes. Then a little
pistol, loaded simply with powder, was attached near the upper hole,
and, by a string tied to the trigger, discharged from a safe distance
above. There were several attempts made before a complete explosion
was effected; but finally the safes were blown open and their contents
secured, the robbers making good their escape with one hundred and
twenty thousand dollars in money and about seven hundred thousand
dollars in bonds. No part of this money was ever recovered by the
bank, nor were any of the gang captured at this time. The securities
were, however, afterward sold back to the bank. Indeed, so cleverly
had the whole affair been managed that no suspicion fell upon either
Scott, Dunlap, or any of their associates.
Here were fortunes made easily enough, with plenty more to be made in
the same way, and the gang were in high feather over their success.
During the summer of 1874 Scott and Dunlap lived in princely style in
New York. They attracted much attention at Coney Island during the
season, where they drove fast horses. No one suspected that they were
the leaders of the most desperate gang of bank robbers ever organized
in this or any country.
By fall their money began to run short, and they decided to look about
for another job. In the Quincy robbery they had broken their agreement
with Evans, paying him only a small sum for the use of the air-pump
which he had furnished them. Now, however, they called upon him again,
and, partly by threats, partly by generous offers, induced him to
assist them again. A series of unsuccessful attempts at robbery were
made on banks in Saratoga; Nantucket; Covington, Kentucky; and
Rockville, Connecticut. In several instances failure came at the very
time when success seemed sure. In the case of the Covington bank, for
instance, nitroglycerin was used in blowing open the safe, and the
explosion was so violent that the men became frightened and fled in a
panic, leaving behind untouched, although exposed to view, two
hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks and one million five hundred
thousand dollars in negotiable bonds. In the case of the Rockville
bank their plans had worked out perfectly, and they had removed
everything from the top of the vault but a thin layer of brick, when
Scott accidentally forced the jimmy with which he was working through
the roof of the vault and let it fall inside. As it was too late to
complete the work that night, and as the presence of the jimmy inside
the vault would inevitably start an alarm the next day, they were
obliged to abandon the attempt entirely.
The gang's most desperate adventure befell in connection with the
attempt on the First National Bank of Pittston, Pennsylvania. This was
made late in the fall of 1875. The bank occupied a one-story building
covered with a tin roof, and the robbers decided to make the attack
from the roof. But there was a serious difficulty in the fact that in
case of rain coming any time after they had begun operations, water
might soak through the openings they had made and betray them.
Dunlap's ingenuity, however, was equal to this emergency; and each
night, after finishing their excavation, they carefully relaid the
sheets of tin that had been disturbed, protecting the joints with red
putty, which matched the roof in color. So well did they put on this
putty, that, although it rained heavily the very day after they began,
not a drop leaked through.
On the night of November 4 only one layer of bricks separated them
from the top of the vault, and it was decided to finish the work and
do the robbery that night. Two hours' hard labor with "drag" and
"jack-screw" sufficed to effect an opening, and Scott and Dunlap were
lowered into the vault. They found three Marvin spherical safes
protected by a burglar-alarm. But Dunlap was somewhat of an electrical
expert, and was able to so surround the burglar-alarm with heavy
boards as to render it of little or no danger. They experienced much
difficulty, though, in blowing open the safes. The first one attempted
yielded on the second explosion, and they secured five hundred dollars
in currency and sixty thousand dollars in bonds. The next one was far
more troublesome, not less than ten explosions being required to make
way into it. And just as the task was at last accomplished, and they
were on the point of seizing a great sum of money, there came a
warning call from Conroy, who was doing sentry duty on the roof, and
it was necessary to fly.
When Dunlap and Scott had been dragged out of the vault by their
associates, they were found scarcely able to run. During all the
twelve explosions of powder and dynamite they had never left the
vault, but, crouching behind the boards that guarded the
burglar-alarm, had remained within arm's length of explosions so
violent that they tore apart plates of welded steel and shook the
whole building. Worse than the shock of these explosions were the
noxious gases generated by them, which Scott and Dunlap had to
breathe. On coming out, their clothes were wringing wet with
perspiration, and they were so weak that their legs tottered under
them, and their comrades had to almost carry them for a time. But,
nevertheless, they managed to walk thirty miles that night, to Lehigh,
where they boarded a train to New York.
It was on this occasion that there was left behind in the vault the
air-pump which Robert Pinkerton afterward recalled so shrewdly to
Evans's disadvantage.
Coming, in his confession, to the Northampton Bank robbery, Evans said
that the gang had considered making an attempt there for several
months before the robbery was actually executed. For a time they had
designed to rob the First National Bank, where Evans had been
employed to put in new doors, but this scheme they afterward
abandoned. Enjoying the fullest confidence of the Northampton Bank
officers, Evans had made repeated visits to the bank and gained
important information for his associates. It was through his influence
that the bank directors decided to give the whole combination of the
vault to the cashier, Whittelsey, who had previously been intrusted
with only half of it, the remainder being given to one of the clerks.
On the night of the robbery Evans was in New York, but he had gone to
Northampton a day or two after, as already stated. Then, for the first
time, he realized what immense wrong and suffering would be inflicted
upon innocent people by the robbers, and he said it was this that had
prompted him in his efforts to have the securities restored to the
owners.
Returning to New York, he at once communicated with Scott and Dunlap
by means of "Herald" personals, and had several interviews with them
in the city during the month of February. While they were anxious to
dispose of the securities, it was plain from the first that they
distrusted Evans and proposed to lessen his share of the profits.
While pretending to approve the steps he was taking for a compromise
with the bank, they were really, without his knowledge, carrying on
secret negotiations with the same object. The suspicion on either side
grew until finally it could no longer be concealed. Meeting Scott in
Prospect Park some time after the robbery, Evans said, "When are you
going to settle and give me my share?"
"You'll never get a cent," answered Scott; "you've given the whole
gang away."
For some time they did not meet again. Evans continued his vain
efforts for a settlement, growing more and more anxious as the months
went by and he saw the danger to himself become more threatening. On
the 9th of November he met Scott, Dunlap, and "Red" Leary on the
outskirts of Brooklyn, and a violent quarrel occurred about the
division of the spoil. Reproaches and threats were exchanged with
stormy language, and at one time Evans's life was actually in danger.
It was soon after this interview that Evans decided, under the
management of Superintendent Bangs, to save himself by making a full
confession. He had fewer scruples about betraying his associates,
because he had become convinced that in the previous robberies,
notably in the one at Quincy, Illinois, he had been treated most
unfairly by Scott and Dunlap.
Evans said that for several weeks preceding the Northampton robbery
the gang had concealed themselves in the attic of a school-house which
stood four or five rods from the highway and apart from other houses.
His statement was substantiated by the discovery in this attic, after
the robbery, of blankets, satchels, ropes, bits, pulleys, and
provisions, including a bottle of whisky bearing the label of a New
York firm.
After the vault had been rifled, the money and securities were placed
in a bag and a pillow-case, and carried to the school-house, where
they were stowed away in places of concealment that had been
previously prepared. One of these was underneath the platform where
the teacher's desk stood. Another was a recess made behind a
blackboard, which was taken off for the purpose and then screwed
carefully in place. For nearly two weeks this treasure, amounting to
over a million dollars, lay unsuspected in the school-house, the
teacher walking over a part of it, the children working out their sums
on the blackboard which concealed another part. It was left there so
long because the robbers were unable to return for it, owing to the
strict watch for strangers that was kept at the railway-station and
along all the roads. Finally Scott bought a team of horses for nine
hundred dollars, and, with Jim Brady, drove over to Northampton from
Springfield. After securing the booty, they had serious trouble in
getting away. Brady fell into the mill-race, which they were crossing
on the ice, and this accident necessitated their camping out all night
in a cabin in the woods.
After hearing Evans's story, the question foremost in Mr. Pinkerton's
mind was where the stolen securities had been concealed. From what
Evans said, and from what he knew himself about the methods of the
gang, he was satisfied that Dunlap possessed this secret, and would
intrust it to no one unless absolutely compelled to do so. The
likeliest way of compelling him was to put him under arrest, which
might very well be done now that Evans had consented to turn State's
evidence. For weeks Pinkerton "shadows" had never been off Scott and
Dunlap, who spent most of their time in New York, the former living
with his wife at a fashionable boarding-house in Washington Square.
Instructions were accordingly given to the "shadows" to close in upon
them, and on February 14, 1877, both men were arrested in
Philadelphia, as they were on the point of taking a train for the
South.
Despite the large sum of securities in their possession, the men had
run short of ready money, and, while awaiting a compromise, were
starting out to commit another robbery. They were taken to
Northampton, and committed to jail to await trial.
It happened as Mr. Pinkerton foresaw. Brought into confinement, Dunlap
and Scott were compelled, in the conduct of their affairs, to reveal
the hiding-place of the booty to some other member of the gang. They
chose for their confidant "Red" Leary. The securities, as subsequently
transpired, were at this time buried in a cellar on Sixth Avenue, near
Thirty-third Street, New York. The precise spot was indicated to Leary
by Mrs. Scott, who, in doing so, reminded Leary of an agreement
entered into by the members of the gang before the robbery, that any
one of their number who might get into trouble could, if he saw a
necessity, call upon his confederates to dispose of all the securities
on whatever terms were possible and use the proceeds in getting him
and others--if others were in trouble also--free. At the time Leary
scoffed at this agreement, but was perfectly willing, even eager, to
have it enforced a little later, when, by the orders of Inspector
Byrnes, he was himself arrested on the charge of complicity in the
memorable Manhattan Bank robbery, which had occurred some time before.
Having failed in a purpose of "shadowing" Leary to the place where
the securities were hidden, Robert Pinkerton decided that the best
move to make next would be to arrest Leary for complicity in the
Northampton robbery. Steps were taken to have requisition papers
prepared, and it was pending the arrival of these that Leary was held
on the other charge, for it was not thought that he had really taken
part in the Manhattan Bank robbery.
The criminal annals of the United States contain no more thrilling
chapter than that of the adventures of "Red" Leary. He was a typical
desperado in appearance, with his shock of red hair, and his bristling
red mustache, and his ugly, heavy-jawed face, while his huge neck and
shoulders, his big head, and powerful hairy hands impressed one with
his enormous physical strength. He weighed nearly three hundred
pounds, and his "pals" used to point with pride to the fact that he
wore a bigger hat than any statesman in America--eight and a quarter.
While much of Leary's life had been spent in deeds of violence, he had
shown on occasions such splendid bravery, and even heroism, as almost
atoned for his crimes. There are few soldiers who would not be proud
of Leary's record on the battle-field. He was among the first to
respond to his country's call in our own Civil War, being a volunteer
in the First Kentucky Regiment under Colonel Guthrie, and he was a
good soldier from the time of his enlistment up to the moment of his
honorable discharge.
The ablest lawyers were now secured in his defense, and by every
possible method of legal obstruction they kept alive a controversy in
the New York courts until the early days of May, 1879. Meanwhile Leary
reposed in Ludlow Street Jail, where he enjoyed all the privileges
ever accorded to prisoners. In return he paid the warden the
substantial sum of thirty dollars a week; and it was evident that,
whether he had or had not been concerned in the Northampton robbery,
he had in some way obtained abundant money. He was visited constantly
by his wife.
On the afternoon of May 7 Mrs. Leary called at about five o'clock with
"Butch" McCarthy, and the three were alone in Leary's room until
nearly eight o'clock. After that Leary strolled about in the prison
inclosure, and at about a quarter past ten keeper Wendell, who had
charge of the first tier, in which Leary's room was located, saw him
going up-stairs from the second to the third tier. Although in this
Leary was going directly away from his own room, there was nothing to
excite surprise, for Leary had been accustomed to use the bath-room on
the third tier. A quarter of an hour later Wendell started on his
rounds, according to the prison rule, to see that each one of the men
in his tier was securely locked up for the night. When he came to
Leary's room he was a little surprised to find him still absent, but
supposed he would be there shortly. But after waiting a few minutes
and finding Leary still absent, the keeper became alarmed, and began a
search. He first went to the bath-room, and not finding Leary there,
searched in other places, high and low. Then he returned to the
bath-room, and there made a discovery which filled him with
consternation. He saw in the brick wall, what at first had escaped his
attention, a gaping hole, large enough to allow the passage of a man's
body. The hole opened into a tunnel that seemed to lead downward. The
alarm was at once given, and it soon appeared that the keeper's fears
were only too well founded. "Red" Leary had escaped.
It was found that the tunnel from the bath-room led into a room on the
fifth floor of a tenement-house at No. 76 Ludlow Street, adjoining the
jail. The wall of the house added to the wall of the jail made a
thickness of four feet and a half of solid masonry, which had been cut
through. In the three rooms that had been rented in the house by
Leary's friends were found abundant evidences of the work.
Leary, after his escape, fled to Europe, but was afterward arrested in
Brooklyn by Robert Pinkerton and three of his men, who "held him up"
in a sleigh at the corner of Twenty-seventh Street and Fourth Avenue,
Brooklyn; and before Leary could make use of a large revolver which he
had on his person, the horse was grabbed by the head and pulled to a
standstill, and Leary was dragged out of the sleigh and handcuffed. He
was taken immediately to Northampton, and put in jail there.
Some time previous to this the Pinkertons had located Conroy, who had
also escaped from Ludlow Street Jail, in Philadelphia; and immediately
on the arrest of Leary, Robert Pinkerton sent one of his detectives
from New York to Philadelphia, who was fortunate enough to arrest
Conroy at one of his resorts on the same night, and he was also
delivered in jail at Northampton.
Some months previous to this the Pinkertons had also arrested Thomas
Doty, another member of the band, and lodged him in the Northampton
jail.
In the mean time, Scott and Dunlap, now in State prison, had made a
confession as against Leary, the holder of the securities; and when
Leary was brought to Northampton, they wrote him a letter, notifying
him that unless the securities were handed over to their proper
owners, they would take the witness-stand against him and convict him,
but that if he did turn over the necessary securities they would
refuse to take the stand. This resulted in the recovery by the
Northampton Bank of nearly all the securities stolen from the bank and
its depositors, this not including, however, the government bonds and
currency stolen at the time. Some of these securities had depreciated
in value upward of one hundred thousand dollars since they were
stolen. The amount of the securities recovered represented seven
hundred thousand dollars; they had been in the hands of the thieves
upward of two years.
After the securities were returned, Scott and Dunlap refusing to take
the stand against Leary and Doty, the authorities were eventually
obliged to release them, as Evans had also refused to take the stand
against them. Conroy, who had simply been a go-between, and not an
actual participant in the robbery, was released at the same time by
order of the court.
The trial of Scott and Dunlap took place at Northampton in July, 1877,
a year and a half after the robbery. Evans took the stand against
them, his evidence making the case of the prosecution overwhelmingly
strong. After three hours' deliberation the jury brought in a verdict
of guilty, and the prisoners were sentenced to twenty years each in
the State prison. Scott died in prison, and Dunlap, having been
pardoned several years ago, is now living in a Western city, a
reformed man, and is earning an honest living. As far as is known,
since leaving the penitentiary he has never returned to his evil ways.
Conroy also has taken to new ways, is honest, and is generally
respected by all who know him.
"Red" Leary came to his death in a curious way. One night in April,
1888, he had been drinking with some friends at a well-known
sporting-resort in New York, on Sixth Avenue, between Twenty-seventh
and Twenty-eighth streets. In the party was "Billy" Train, an old
bunko-man. They were all somewhat intoxicated and inclined to be
uproarious. As they came out on the street, "Billy" Train picked up a
brick and threw it up in the air, yelling: "Look out for your heads,
boys." To this warning Leary paid no attention, and the brick came
down on his head with full force, fracturing his skull. He was taken
to the New York Hospital, and died there, after much suffering, on
April 23.
As for the safe-expert, Evans, he is engaged in legitimate business,
and is prospering. In compiling this chapter from the records, the
writer has, by request, changed some of the names of the parties, who
since that time have reformed, and are now respected members in the
communities where they reside, and the author has no desire to injure
them.
The Susquehanna Express Robbery