| OCR Text |
Show I PARALLEL STORIES OF FAMOUS CRIMES thSWtEry I IB I B An Innocent Man Would IB Certainly Have Been IB Hanged Had Not Chris IB J3erry s Old Partner in IB Crime Come Forward IB and Confessed the Deed. IB by henry c. terry. Wm f 1 1 Bowery is still one of the I show places in New York City's artificial wickedness. Visitors to (he metropolis parade in fear and trembling its bus- sidewalks where the imagine thai, ovc' siono is staiued with the blood of murder; but -vUioro they are as safe as they would be 011 Fifth avenue. Time was when tho Bowery wns not snfe; when every HH other door was a gambling hell; when every crook- in the countr' depended upon tasting, at least once' a vear, of tho delightfc the street had tp offer. But t' c glory of the Bowery has passed. It is now a thoroughly moral streot givon HH ux-ot to business of the cheaper order. I know of no atorv thut better illus-H illus-H trates actual condition on the Bowory Bj 111 the old da3's and the fierce passions of lifo as it was lived thore than the H story of the murder of Phris Berry. It was a nino diys' mystery in its 'day, the greatest mysterv the Bowpry ever H produced; the "King of the f'ard H Sharks" mnrdered in broad daylight n at tho Bowory 's busiest corner and not H a single cluo apparently to tho perpc-Hj perpc-Hj trntor of the docd. It was not until years afterward that 1 had the privilege of listening to Hj tho true talc of the killing from the Hi lips of his slayer. "Lone .lack" Sin- Iclair, as ho emerged from his cell in ing Sing. Knowing thnt Detective Ihckey had handled tho case nnd had almost succpoded in hnnginu an inno-4ent inno-4ent man for tho crime I hunted him up and asked him to give me his vcr-s'on vcr-s'on of tho strange affair. "I don't suppose you ever killed a man, did you?" asked Jnckson Sinclair, Sin-clair, who has been known on the Bow-crv Bow-crv for miuiv years ns "hone .lack," liernuso of his reticence ami dislike of society. T entered a modest disclaimer. "Well, if you never did, then you can never understand the feeling that goes with it, especially when the man whoso life is taken has been a frieud to von, no matter what the cireum-tanco.K cireum-tanco.K may be. "It's all well cnoUL'h to kill a man in battle, where there '$ a crowd, a wild rush of soldiers, 3'clls and the wavinc of flags and the roar of mus-1 mus-1 etrv and cannon, for that is a par ( f the business of vrnr. But when -ou meet a man who has been vour friend for many years ami vou take his life, although at the time you do so you think vou aro justified on the ground of self defense, I tell 3'ou nothing can blot the scene out of vour mind, no matter how cnllous the rough knocks of life have made you. "Well, T killed my friend, Chris Berr.y, und I seo Chris" everv day, and I hear his last words ringing in my BSSoorj.' juncbadvlously announced tor Friday- ears, .-just the same as if it was yes-terda.y yes-terda.y on tho Bower3', instead of over thirty .years ago. Chris Berry was a good fellow, and tho finest card sharp in the county. I was considered the best man on tho Bowor3' with the cards in. those da3rs, but Chris could give me points without turning a hair. Ho was ordinarily a mild chap, but ho had a temper as hot and as quick as greased liehtning, "It was a lucky thing that he didn't often get mud, for it, meant something very serious for him as woll as the person he was angered at. Although he was a crooked card plaj-er he scorned the ordinary methods of thioves, and if he couldn't mako monov with enrds he wouldn 't have gotten ft at all, as ho was constitutionally opposed op-posed to work. "Heine in the same business and something of a crook ni-self, it was only natural that I. should run up acainst Chris at. manv a game, nnd those games woro always for blood, but on the lovcl. I was more eas3'-going than Chris, and we took a kind or lik-iuir lik-iuir for each other. Aftor a time, in company with Jake So.ymour. we wont regubirl3' into tho business of Tunning a skin game of cards. "Wo had a little poker game at No. 20 Bowory. Seymour. did the steering, while wc did the p!a3'ing whenever the sucker was big enough game. The business ran so big and we played so well together that Chris proposed that wo should mako a tour through the West and South, where we would have a chnnce to wiu a bigger stake. "This just suited nip, nnd, with Sej--inour. who was one of the best bunco artists that I ever saw, and had a tongue so sweet and persuasive that it would coax the bank-roll out of the pocket nf Old Mr. Tightwad himself, wo started West. We put up for a few days at Albaii3 where the legislature was in session, and cleaned out every dollar thcro was in both hnnsp.s. W left Albany with $21,000 more than we had whon we landed there. We were traveliug ns Western merchants, taking our time 011 our way homo from tho j spring purchases in New York, and wo carried this idea out in all tho large cities between New York nnd Chicago. "In Chicago we started on another tack, and from there wo were ISastcrn sports making a tour of the country, lookine for fun of all kinds, rendy for a came at any time. .Sometimes wc would be together as friends, and then again we would accidoutallv meet as strangers in some other Iocalit' to disarm dis-arm suspicion. The game wc usuallv played was with marked cards, or with rrds with beveled edges, so that wc had a perfect knowledge of the hand? in every game, no matter who dealt. This gave us a chance to make it appear ap-pear as though wc played a square came, ns wo could bet to lose when it would be to our advantage. "Seymour wns the greatest drum-mer-up of business that I ever met. He was nearly always in the game, nnd frcouentlv lost heavily, but, as either Chris or 1 got about all thoro was at tho table in the end, it didn't make much difference. We pulled a lot of monov out of Chicago, but we quit when we saw that they were putting up a braqe game on us. We didn't do j much bueiness then till wo got into St. Louis. Then we struck a game after bCCn. compTtUM" county nr ew ...... . J--g. .SSBl THE CRIMINAL Tells How He Planned the Deed and Soughl to Close Every Avenue oi' Knowledge Leading L io His Guilt. The Detective Shows How Futile These Efforts Were and How the Old Adage, '"Murder "Will Out," Always Holds Good. we had been there about two weeks that in tho ond gave mo morn trouble than an3'thitig 1. ever had. before or since. "Seymour was on the scout all the time, and he pulled an old cove iinmed Colonel Wcntworth into a private game in the hotel. Colonel Wcntworth was a very wcnlUn' cotton planter and a stiff pla3'er. Thore was big 11101103' in it for us. Tt looked to be about the richest thing we had struck .yet. Ho couldn't beat our game uuless wo let him. We let tho luck run his wa3' for awhile, and then began to occasionalh' sock it to him. "He preferred a game without a limit so did we. When ho began to lose, he began to drink. We pla3"cd all night, and we coaxed him along until we had about 25,000 in mone3'. which he had sont out and borrowed from time to time. Then he became a bit reckless he was prcttj' drunk, too and lost 8,000 on one hand. He quit tho game, and said he'd give a chock for tho $8,000. He dashed off a check in a huny, like an nngr, drunken drunk-en man, and said that he would givo us another battle tho next day. "Then Chris made a big mistake. He raised the $8,000 check to $80,000 by putting in a letter and a cipher. Ho presented it to the bank and asked to have it certified, but tho cashier refused re-fused to certify it without, first seeing Colouol Wentworth. Tho colonel donied that he had given an3' such check. This started up Chris's temper, and he began be-gan suit against Colonel Wentworth in the courts of St. Louis to recover the amount of the chock. "The foxv colonel did not mako the dofenso Chris expected, but set up instead in-stead that the check wns a forgor.v. Wc bluffed it out and the case came to trial, Chris went on the stand, told the story of the game, and claimed that the .SO,000 was given for money which he had loaned to Wentworth during the play. He told a prott3' stor.v, but on tho cross-examination the colonel's law3cr went for him bare-hnnded. bare-hnnded. The lawj'er had got some knowledge of our swindling trip, and asked questions concerning the most intimate relations between Chris and myself. I substantiated Chris's story, but also had to go through the same searching cross-examination. After Wentworth had told his stor.y to the jurv about giving an $S,000 check, which he was wjlling to pa v. the3' brought in a verdict against Chris. "Chris left the courtroom in a white heat, ne didn't sav anything to me till we got to the hotel. Then he flew at me like a ticcr and knocked me down with the butt of his revolver. Ho accused mc of giving the information informa-tion about our trip to Wcntworth 's lawyer. I denied it. and said it must havo been done 13' Seymour, who had disappeared: but Chris had it in for mo for sorao reason, and would have shot mo if he had not boon interfered I i, jUIie - with. As ho was dragged awn' from me, ho said: 'The next time we meet, Sinclair, I'll kill you 1 1 " 'All right,' said .1, 'I'll be looking for .vou.' "He wont his way and 1 went mine. It was fivo -cars before I landed back in Now York. I kuew Chris was in the city, and if wo ever mot he'd koop his word. "About a month after 1 arrived 1 met him ono night, about, nine o'clock face to face at Fifth street and the Bowcr.y. 1 watched him like a cat. Ho had an ugl look, and drew a gun like a flash. I was close to him and he flashed it in mj- face. Before ho could pull tho trigger again 1 drove a knife into his heart. "As ho staggered back he cried: 'It isn't loaded, Jack!' Then ho fell dead. "I picked up tho gun as it fell from his norvelcss lingers. Sure enough there was no load in it. I know too late that Chris was onl- bluffing. I looked nround. The streets were crowded and the Bowery, at that corner, cor-ner, fairly well lighted. But we were away fTom the gas lamp, nnd no one was verv near us. Strange ns it. seems, not a person in tho crowd had seen the altercation; it has all passed so quietly and so quickl-. "Half crazed b.v what I had done, I walked hurriedly away. In loss than half an hour T was on board a train speeding for tho west." |
