committed at the bank before the package was intrusted to the two
messengers; for no bank clerk would have made up so clumsy a package,
and the paying-teller himself, had he been a party to the crime, would
not have cut the label written by himself from the genuine package and
pasted it on the bogus one; he would simply have written out another
label, thus lessening the chances of detection. Furthermore, it was
shown by testimony that during the short time between the sealing up
of the package in the paying-teller's department and its delivery to
Dominie Earle, who took it first, it was constantly under the
observation of half a dozen bank employees; so that the work of
cutting off the label and pasting it on the bogus package could
scarcely have been accomplished then without detection.
Earle and Crawford, the bank messengers, were submitted to repeated
examinations; but their statements threw no light upon the mystery.
Both stuck persistently to the same story, which was that neither had
loosed his hold on the handle of the valise from the moment they left
the bank until they had delivered the package through the window of
the express company's money department. Accepting these statements as
true, it was impossible that the package had been tampered with in
this part of its journey; while the assumption that they were not true
implied apparently a collusion between the two messengers, which was
highly improbable, since Dominie Earle had been a servant of the bank
for thirty-five years, and had never in that long term failed in his
duty or done anything to arouse distrust. Before entering the bank's
employ he had been a preacher, and his whole life seemed to have been
one of simplicity and honest dealing.
As for Crawford, who was, indeed, a new man, it was plain that if the
Dominie told the truth, and had really kept his hold on the
valise-handle all the way to the express company's window, his
companion, honest or dishonest, would have had no opportunity to cut
off the label, paste it on the bogus package, and make the
substitution.
Finally came the theory that the money package had been stolen while
in the care of the express company. In considering this possibility it
became necessary to know exactly what had happened to the package from
the moment it was taken through the window of the money department up
to the time of its delivery at the Treasury. The package was first
receipted for by the head of the money department, Mr. J. C. Young.
Having handed the receipt to the bank messengers, he passed the
package to his assistant, Mr. Littlefield, who in turn passed it on to
another clerk, Mr. Moody, who way-billed it in due form for
Washington, and then placed it in the iron safe which was to carry it
on its journey. Two or three hours may have elapsed between the
receipt of the package and the shipment of the safe, but during this
time the package was constantly in view of five or six clerks in the
money department, and, unless they were all in collusion, it could
scarcely have been stolen by any one there. As for the express
messenger who accompanied the safe on the wagon to the train, and then
on the train to Washington, and then on another wagon to the Treasury
building, his innocence seemed clearly established, since the safe had
been locked and sealed, according to custom, before its delivery to
him, and showed no signs of having been tampered with when opened in
Washington the following morning by another representative of the
express company. The messenger who accompanies a through safe to its
destination, indeed, has small chance of getting inside, not only
because of the protecting seal, but also because he is never allowed
to have the key to the safe or to know its combination. Recently, as a
still further safeguard, the Adams Express Company has introduced into
its cars an equipment of large burglar-proof and fire-proof safes,
especially as a guard against train robbers, who found it
comparatively easy to break open the small safes once in use. In the
present instance, of course, there was no question of train robbers.
One important fact stood out plain and uncontrovertible: that a
responsible clerk in the money department of the Adams Express
Company had receipted for a package supposed to contain forty-one
thousand dollars intrusted to the company by the bank. This threw the
responsibility on the company, at least until it could be shown that
the package as delivered contained brown paper, and not bank-notes. In
accordance with their usual policy of promptness and liberality, the
Adams people paid over to the American Exchange Bank the sum of
forty-one thousand dollars, and said no more about it. But their
silence did not mean inactivity. Their instructions to their
detectives in this case, as in all similar cases, were to spare
neither time nor expense, but to continue the investigation until the
thieves had been detected and brought to punishment, or until the last
possibility of clearing up the mystery had certainly expired.
Hastening to New York in response to the telegram sent him, Robert
Pinkerton examined the evidence already collected by his
representative, and then himself questioned all persons in any way
concerned in the handling of the money. Mr. Pinkerton, after his
investigation, was not so sure as some persons were that the package
had been stolen by employees of the express company. He inclined
rather to the opinion that, in the rush of business in the express
office, the false package, badly made up though it was, might have
been passed by one of the clerks. This conclusion turned his
suspicions first toward the two bank messengers. Of these he was not
long in deciding Dominie Earle to be, in all probability, innocent.
While he had known of instances where old men, after years of
unimpeachable life, had suddenly turned to crime, he knew such cases
to be infrequent, and he decided that Earle's was not one of them. Of
the innocence of the other messenger, Crawford, he was not so sure. He
began a careful study of his record.
Edward Sturgis Crawford at this time was about twenty-seven years old,
a man of medium height, a decided blond, with large blue eyes, and of
a rather effeminate type. He went scrupulously dressed, had white
hands with carefully manicured nails, parted his hair in the middle,
and altogether was somewhat of a dandy. He had entered the bank on the
recommendation of a wealthy New-Yorker, a young man about town, who,
strange to say, had made Crawford's acquaintance, and indeed struck up
quite a friendship with him, while the latter was serving in the
humble capacity of conductor on a Broadway car. This was about a year
before the time of the robbery. Thus far Crawford had attended to his
work satisfactorily, doing nothing to arouse suspicion, unless it was
indulging a tendency to extravagance in dress. His salary was but
forty-two dollars a month, and yet he permitted himself such luxuries
as silk underclothes, fine patent-leather shoes, and other apparel to
correspond. Pushing back further into Crawford's record, Mr. Pinkerton
learned that he had grown up in the town of Hancock, New York, where
he had been accused of stealing sixty dollars from his employer and
afterward of perpetrating a fraud upon an insurance company. Putting
all these facts together, Mr. Pinkerton decided that, in spite of a
perfectly self-possessed manner and the good opinion of his employers,
Crawford would stand further watching. His general conduct subsequent
to the robbery was, however, such as to convince every one, except the
dogged detective, that he was innocent of this crime. In vain did
"shadows" follow him night and day, week after week; they discovered
nothing. He retained his place in the bank, doing the humble duties of
messenger with the same regularity as before, and living apparently in
perfect content with the small salary he was drawing. His expenses
were lightened, it is true, by an arrangement voluntarily offered by
his friend, the young man about town, who invited him to live in his
own home on Thirty-eighth Street, whereby not only was he saved the
ordinary outlay for lodgings, but many comforts and luxuries were
afforded him that would otherwise have been beyond his reach.
Thus three months went by with no result; then four, five, six months;
and, finally, all but a year. Then, suddenly, in April, 1889, Crawford
took his departure for Central America, giving out to his friends that
he was going there to assume the management of a banana plantation of
sixty thousand acres, owned by his wealthy friend and benefactor.
Before Crawford sailed, however, the "shadows" had informed Mr.
Pinkerton of Crawford's intention, and asked instructions. Should they
arrest the man before he took flight, or should they let him go? Mr.
Pinkerton realized that he was dealing with a man who, if guilty, was
a criminal of unusual cleverness and cunning. His arrest would
probably accomplish nothing, and might spoil everything. There was
little likelihood that the stolen money would be found on Crawford's
person; he would probably arrange some safer way for its transmission.
Perhaps it had gone ahead of him to Central America weeks before.
"We'll let him go," said Mr. Pinkerton, with a grim smile; "only we'll
have some one go with him."
The Pinkerton representative employed to shadow Crawford on the voyage
sent word, by the first mail after their arrival in Central America,
that the young man had rarely left his state-room, and that whenever
forced to do so had employed a colored servant to stand on guard so
that no one could go inside.
Nothing more occurred, however, to justify the suspicion against
Crawford until the early part of 1890, when the persistent efforts of
the detectives were rewarded by an important discovery. It was then
that Robert Pinkerton learned that Crawford had told a deliberate lie
when examined before the bank officials in regard to his family
relations in New York. He had stated that his only relative in New
York was a brother, Marvin Crawford, who was then driving a streetcar
on the Bleecker Street line. Now it came to the knowledge of Mr.
Pinkerton that Crawford had in the city three married aunts and
several cousins. The reason for Crawford's having concealed this fact
was presently brought to light through the testimony of one of the
aunts, who, having been induced to speak, not without difficulty,
stated that on Sunday, May 6, 1888, two days after the robbery, her
nephew had called at her house, and given her a package which he said
contained gloves, and which he wished her to keep for him. It was
about this time that the papers contained the first news of the
robbery, and, her suspicions having been aroused, she picked a hole in
the paper covering of the package large enough to let her see that
there was money inside. Somewhat disturbed, she took the package to
her husband, who opened it and found that it contained two thousand
dollars in bank-notes. Realizing the importance of this discovery, the
husband told his wife that when Crawford came back to claim the
package she should refer him to him, which she did.
Some days later, on learning from his aunt that she had spoken to her
husband about the package, Crawford became greatly excited, and told
her she had made a dreadful mistake. A stormy scene followed with his
uncle, in which the latter positively refused to render him the money
until he was satisfied that Crawford was its rightful possessor. A few
days later Crawford's young friend, the man about town, called on the
uncle, and stated that the money in the package belonged to him and
must be surrendered. The uncle was still obdurate; and when Crawford
and his friend became violent in manner, he remarked meaningly that if
they made any more trouble he would deliver the package of money to
the Adams Express Company and let the company decide to whom it
belonged. This brought the angry claimants to their senses, and
Crawford's friend left the house and never returned. Finally
Crawford's uncle compromised the contention by giving his nephew five
hundred dollars out of the two thousand, and retaining the balance
himself, in payment, one must suppose, for his silence. At any rate,
he kept fifteen hundred dollars, and also a receipt in Crawford's
handwriting for the five hundred dollars paid to him.
Other members of the family recalled the fact that a few days after
the robbery Crawford had left in his aunt's store-room a valise,
which he had subsequently called for and taken away. None of them had
seen the contents of the valise, but they remembered that Crawford on
the second visit had remained alone in the store-room for quite a
time, perhaps twenty minutes, and after his departure they found there
a rubber band like those used at the bank. The detectives also
discovered that on the 15th of May, 1888, eleven days after the
robbery, Crawford had rented a safety-deposit box at a bank in the
Fifth Avenue Hotel building, under the name of Eugene Holt. On the
18th of May he had exchanged this box for a larger one. During the
following months he made several visits to the box, but for what
purpose, was not known.
On presenting this accumulated evidence to the Adams Express Company,
along with his own deductions, Robert Pinkerton was not long in
convincing his employers that the situation required in Central
America the presence of some more adroit detective than had yet been
sent there. The difficulty of the case was heightened by the fact that
Crawford had established himself in British Honduras, and that the
extradition treaty between the United States and England did not then,
as it does now, provide for the surrender of criminals guilty of such
offenses as that which Crawford was believed to have committed.
Crawford could be arrested, therefore, only by being gotten into
another country by some clever manoeuver. The man best capable of
carrying out such a manoeuver was Robert Pinkerton himself; and,
accordingly, the express company, despite the very considerable
expense involved, and fully aware that the result must be uncertain,
authorized Mr. Pinkerton to go personally in pursuit of Crawford.
Mr. Pinkerton arrived at Balize, the capital of British Honduras, on
February 17, 1890, nearly two years after the date of the robbery.
There he learned that Crawford's plantation was about ninety miles
down the coast, a little back of Punta Gorda. Punta Gorda lies near
the line separating British Honduras from Guatemala, and is not more
than a hundred miles from Spanish Honduras, or Honduras proper,
directly across the Gulf of Honduras.
Difficulties confronted Mr. Pinkerton from the very start. People were
dying about him every day of yellow fever, and when he started for
Punta Gorda on a little steamer, the engineer came aboard looking as
yellow as saffron, and immediately began to vomit, so that he had to
be taken ashore. Then the engine broke down several times on the
voyage, and the heat was insufferable.
As the boat steamed slowly into Punta Gorda it passed a small steam
craft loaded with bananas. "Look," said one of the passengers to Mr.
Pinkerton, not aware of the nature of Mr. Pinkerton's mission, "there
goes Crawford's launch now."
Landing at once, the detective waited for the launch to come to shore,
which it presently did. The first man to come off was Marvin Crawford,
whom Mr. Pinkerton recognized from a description, although he had
never seen him. Then he saw Edward Crawford step off, dressed smartly
in a white helmet hat, a red sash, a fine plaited linen shirt, blue
trousers, patent-leather shoes, and so on. Mr. Pinkerton approached
and held out his hand.
"I don't remember you," said Crawford; but his face went white.
"You used to know me in New York when I examined you before the bank
officials," said the detective, pleasantly.
Crawford smiled in a sickly way and said, "Oh, yes; I remember you
now."
Mr. Pinkerton explained that he had traveled five thousand miles to
talk with him about the stolen money package. Crawford expressed
willingness to furnish any information he could, and invited Mr.
Pinkerton to go up to his plantation, where they could talk the matter
over more comfortably. Seeing that his best course was to humor
Crawford, Mr. Pinkerton consented, though realizing that he thus put
himself in Crawford's power. They went aboard Crawford's launch and
steamed up the river, a very narrow, winding stream, arched quite over
through most of its length by the thick tropical foliage, and in some
parts so deep that no soundings had yet found bottom. The plantation
was entirely inaccessible by land on account of impassable swamps, and
the crooked course of the river made it a journey of twenty-three
miles from Punta Gorda, although in a straight line it was only six
miles away.
Mr. Pinkerton was surprised at the unpretentious character of the
house, which was built of cane and palm stocks and roofed with palm
branches. Originally it had been one large room, but it was now
divided by muslin sheeting into two rooms, one at either end, with a
hall in the middle. Almost the first thing Mr. Pinkerton noticed on
entering was a fire-proof safe standing in the hall. It was of medium
size and seemed to be new. He knew he was powerless, under the laws of
the country, to search the safe, but he made up his mind that while he
was in the house he would keep his eyes as much as possible upon it.
That night he did not sleep for watching. But Crawford did not go near
the safe until the next morning, when he went to get out some
account-books. While the door was open Mr. Pinkerton saw only a small
bag of silver inside, but he felt sure from Crawford's manner that
there was a larger amount of money there.
Mr. Pinkerton remained at the plantation for forty-eight hours. On the
second day he had a long interview with Crawford, questioning him in
the greatest detail as to his connection with the robbery. Crawford
persisted in denying that he had had any connection with it, or had
any knowledge as to what had become of the stolen money. Argue as he
would, Mr. Pinkerton could not beat down the stubbornness of his
denials. All direct approaches failing, at last he tried indirection.
He spoke of Burke, the absconding State treasurer of Louisiana, who,
along with a number of other American law-breakers, had fled to
Central America. "Burke had a level head, hadn't he?" said he.
"How do you mean?" asked Crawford.
"Why, in going to Spanish Honduras. You know the United States has no
extradition treaty there under which we could bring back a man who has
absconded for embezzlement or grand larceny. Burke is as safe there as
if he owned the whole country."
"Is that so?" said Crawford, looking significantly at his brother
Marvin, who was present.
"Yes," said Mr. Pinkerton, "it is. I only wish the fellow would come
up here into British Honduras; then we might do something with him."
Here the subject was dropped.
Next Mr. Pinkerton exhibited to Crawford a sealed letter written by
James G. Blaine and addressed to the chief magistrate of British
Honduras, pointing to the seals of the State Department to assure
Crawford of the letter's genuineness, and hinting mysteriously at the
use he proposed making of this document and at the probable effect
that would follow its delivery.
With this the interview closed, and Mr. Pinkerton announced his
intention of going back to Punta Gorda. Crawford had practically told
him to do his worst, and he had not concealed his intention of doing
it. Nevertheless their relations continued outwardly pleasant, and
Mr. Pinkerton was treated with the hospitality that is usual in
tropical countries. He saw no sign of any disposition on the part of
either of the Crawfords to do him harm, but he kept his revolvers
always ready, and gave them no chance to catch him napping.
Toward evening of the second day Crawford and his brother got the
launch ready, and took Mr. Pinkerton down the river back to Punta
Gorda, where they said good-by. At parting Crawford made a brave show
of treating the whole matter lightly. "I may see you in New York in a
couple of months," he said to the detective as they shook hands.
"If you see me in New York," said Mr. Pinkerton, "you will see
yourself under arrest."
On landing, Mr. Pinkerton proceeded, with all the obviousness
possible, to call at the house of the British magistrate, which was so
situated that Crawford from the launch could not fail to see him
enter. This seems to have confirmed the impression he had been
striving to create, that British Honduras, though in truth a perfect
refuge for a criminal like Crawford, was none. Crawford, apparently
thoroughly frightened, and thinking he had not an hour to lose,
steamed back in all haste to his plantation, gathered together, as
subsequently appeared, his money and other valuables, and then, under
cover of night, dropped down the river again, put out to sea
forthwith, and crossed the Bay of Honduras to Puerto Cortes, in
Spanish Honduras, the country of all Central America in which Mr.
Pinkerton preferred to have him. In short, Mr. Pinkerton's stratagem
had worked perfectly.
Mr. Pinkerton's reason for wishing to get Crawford into Spanish
Honduras was not because the treaty arrangements were more favorable
there than in British Honduras, but because the Pinkerton Agency
enjoyed unusual personal relations with the Honduras government.
Several years before, when President Bogram had in contemplation the
federation of Central American States under one government, he had
applied to the Pinkerton Agency for reliable detectives for
secret-service work. In consequence of this the present head of the
Honduras secret force was no other than a former Pinkerton employee
who had been recommended by the New York office to the Honduras
government, and upon whom Mr. Pinkerton knew he could rely absolutely.
Another man equally disposed to favor him was Mr. Bert Cecil, a member
of the cabinet, and at the head of the telegraph service, and thus in
a position to render most valuable service in the apprehension of
Crawford.
As soon as Mr. Pinkerton learned of Crawford's flight, he hurried in
pursuit, crossing the bay to Livingston, in Guatemala. In so doing he
risked his life, first by putting out to sea in a little dory, and
then by trusting his safety to a treacherous Carib boatman, who, when
they were several miles out, evinced a strong disposition to take
possession of the detective's overcoat, in order, as he explained with
a cunning look, to turn its silk lining into a pair of trousers. At
this, Mr. Pinkerton carelessly produced his revolver, which had a
quieting effect upon the fellow, and the voyage was completed in
safety. But soon after landing Mr. Pinkerton suffered an attack of
fever, and being warned by the doctors to return to a Northern
latitude, he got the government machinery in motion for the
apprehension of Crawford, had photographs of the former bank messenger
spread broadcast through the country, and then having cabled the New
York bureau to send responsible detectives to take his place, he
sailed for New Orleans.
Mr. Pinkerton was succeeded in Central America by detective George H.
Hotchkiss, one of the best men in the country, who arrived in Balize
on the 18th of March. A telegram from Pinkerton's former employee, now
chief of the secret police in Honduras, informed him that Crawford had
been seen in San Pedro, Spanish Honduras, on the previous Saturday,
and was being closely pursued by Spanish soldiers accompanied by
Pinkerton men. Hotchkiss sailed at once for Puerto Cortes, where he
learned from the American vice-consul, Dr. Ruez, that Crawford had
left San Pedro hastily the previous Monday night. On further
investigation the detective discovered that a San Francisco bully and
former prize-fighter, "Mike" Neiland, had called at Crawford's
boarding-house on Monday, and warned him that detectives were pursuing
him from Puerto Cortes on a hand-car. Neiland had pretended to be
Crawford's friend, and said he would keep him out of the hands of the
detectives. Crawford, very much frightened, grabbed up some of his
luggage and left the house with Neiland. It was generally believed
that Neiland had designs on Crawford's money, and would not hesitate
to kill him, if need were, in order to get it.