Show = = L Robert Pinkertons Solution of a 40000 Robbery Passion r Gaming Table Turns t = Promising Master Mechanic Into a King of Crooks e 1y GEORGE 7JARTOY More than three c < a thousand men MM3 Thief George Women and H Proctor a a children resi Wit skilled musician dents of mu-Sus musician foreman sician-quehanna Pa H in boiler shops put under surveillance Y and athletesuc s sur-veillance in cumbs to great I ° connection With detectives marvelous ° big theft I mar-velous powers d iKJ I I I of reasoning J Robert A Plnkorton was born In DunN l 1 Dun-N Illinois in ISIS antI educated fat I ° XotVe Dame university In Indiana HP 11 ni the con of Allan Pinkerton tin under of the famous detective agency to Bob Pinkerton as he was familiarly io died had a marvelous memory foramen for-amen and faces and his gallery of crlm oat photographs and biographies was ur posed to be the finest in America lie r nade a big reputation by his method of idling great crowds at the nice tracks lit WAS a man of pleasing personality nd did much toward Introducing purely G balnes systems Into a concern which regarded as rather romantic He died August 12 1W7 aboard the North German Lloyd steamer Hremcn while bound or Europe 11 One morning before daylight the United States Express company was robbed of 40000 and sad to say there was not a shred of evidence toy to-y Y tell the story of how this small for time was permitted to slip from the i grasp of a corporation that had them the-m reputation of being ono of the most I careful and conservative In America The scene of the robbery was at Susquehanna Sus-quehanna Pa and tho local authorities u authori-ties did everything in their power to N locate the cash but all to no avail In this emergency the company en fisted the services of Robert A Pinkerton Pink-erton It Is probable that no detective detec-tive In the world was better equipped grapple with a problem of this kind than Hob Pinkerton Ho had the iperlence of a lifetime In following > rime of this particular character and ilthough his adventures were little mown to the public at large he enjoyed en-joyed the reputation of more suc esses than any other man In the urgency On June 20 1883 tho Marine Na Honal bank of New York sent to tho first National bank of Susquehanna i sealed package containing 40000 n currency and notional bank notes The money was to bo used In tho iaj1 ent of wages of more than 1000 fnpoes of the Erie Railroad com any In the local shops Tho pack die was carried to the United States upress companys office In New IOk by a clerk of tho Marino bank rho received a receipt for It Tho alley clerk of the express company look charge of tho cash and inclosed tinthe t regular canvas pouch sealed mhth the companys stamp and at ached a tag on which was the name 1 I the companys agent at Susquehan re The pouch was duly delivered to Messenger Van Wage 1Cn who placed I fn the bare with other valuables twas t midnight when it reached Sus Wanna and ho turned tho expen Repackage over to DwIght Cham wlaln a night clerk and watchman oho was jointly employed by the ex rress company and the Erie Railroad wipany Chamberlain placed it in w safe In the ticket office and locked t I with a key which ho carried In his locket After that he was busily em cloyed In his usual duties about tho he tatlon frequently l being away from ticket office until seven oclock 0 the morning ° t the 21st l While casting up his accounts the messenger ta from time Susquehanna arrhell nnd called for tho sealed the tckage > Tho pouch was taken from I Neste I but Instead of the 40000 In ten u a m number ° f small packages Of lie manilla paper cut about tho or bank bl8 < wore found In tho receptacle This being the case either Chamberlain the nIght clerk ono of he s cm i > employes > or Eomo ollle1 nknoIVn Personas Person-as Was guilty Chamberlain subjected to nation a rigid cross exam Pinkerton and at Its conclusion Mr he expressed tho belief that as enllrl ntlrely ely tUclt In noccnt of any com Ht k the Ueftl A cnroful watch < on all nployosl company of tho employes of tho brought no developments At Atthla tit tJ eta Ke of the tho tire broalIme game dotec 10 M to IncIIHlo tho tine of his l Inquiry d child ovory Inan woman 00le In tho town of Susquelmnna fSult Insllnctlve on hIs i floII BI > robahly the loS years of made him experience e4 believe that the crlmo orhlnatl1 I 0nSYIanla III the little town In ta After learning ash as-h 1 ° rv a nf IIIISslblo about the poruonol I th ntsoho I InhabltnntB lie 1 began I J I ll t 1 t S H sk I 4 I I I L 7 7 d if 1 > P I WZAT Do Yorrr v y G4S EZJ AJQJ7ShID 7Z41r the process of elimination dropping out names of all those to whom he was morally convinced on suspicion could bo attached Then ho ascertained ascer-tained the names of all persons who had left tho town within the preceding preced-ing 12 months and as a result of this learned that George H Proctor the foreman of tho boiler shops of the Erie Railroad company had gone to Buffalo about a month after the robbery rob-bery This was a rich lead and tho detective followed It up with great eagerness He located Proctor In Buffalo without any difficulty and learned that tho man was engaged In speculating In oil and that he had made considerable profit from that occupation oc-cupation The man came In the course of a few i weeks and Pinkerton who had assumed as-sumed an alias casually found an opportunity op-portunity of having himself presented to Proctor Ho Invited him out for a stroll and finally suggested that they go to his room at tho hotel and smoke a cigar Once there tho detective de-tective turned to Proctor and said slmrnlv m Its no use Proctor the game Is upl What do you mean gasped the astonished man I mean that my uumo is Robert Pinkerton and that I have all the facts In the safe robbery You have exclaimed the other I have was tho response and the sooner we close It out tho better bet-ter After this Proctor throw off all reserve re-serve and admitted his guilt lIe said however that ho had been the tool of two men named Martin and Collins who were now In Canada They hud given him 11000 as his share of the booty which ho had placed In a glass jar and burled It In tho yard of his house leaving it there until his removal to Buffalo Pinkerton Pinker-ton believed this story and arranged to permit Proctor to go at liberty determining de-termining tor hold him as a witness for the prosecution and also as II de coy to bring Collins and Martin from Canada where they had gone to bo beyond the reach of tho American law Proctor was allowed to remain at Ills homo In Susquehanna pledging himself to keep PInkertons agency constantly Informed of his movements move-ments One morning however ho broke his parole without warning Much chagrined at the mistake he had made In the character of Proctor Pinkerton set about to recapture the three robbers Ills first step was to put out a rumor that the trio were i being sought by the police for a burglary bur-glary committed In Canada On hearing hear-ing this Martin Collins and Proctor purchased tickets to Portland from whence they had taken passage by I telegram on a steamer scheduled for London Pinkerton was Informed of this through the various agencies at his control and stationed himself at Island Pond a point In Vermont where the Grand Trunk railroad crosses the line Into tho United States He boarded the train and Interviewed the conductor who told him that Martin Mar-tin and Collins evidently susncctlnc trouble had jumped from the train during a temporary slowdown on the Canadian side He said however that the third man was still in his berth That Is enough said Pinkerton and he started for the berth where Proctor was sleeping Pushing his hand In he shook tho man roughly What Is It 1 was the sleepy response re-sponse Time to get up said tho detective detec-tive hurry Proctor jumped out of bed and stood in the passageway of the car rubbing his eyes with his fist I want you on a matter of great importance im-portance Mr Proctor As soon us he heard his voice Proctor Proc-tor recognized the detective Ho smiled grimly and said All right I guess the jigs up And the jig was up In the trial that ensued the full details de-tails of the crime h camo known About a year before tho robbery Proctor Proc-tor secured employment In the boiler shops of tho Erie Railroad company at Susquehanna In six months his superior su-perior skill mado him foreman of the shops In this position ho learned that tho money used to pay tho em ployes was brought from New York city and that it was frequently kept In tho safe of the express company for 48 hours before being paid to the men He next discovered who carried the keys of tho safe and learned that the agent of the express company at Susquehanna and two of tho clerks each had a key His affable af-fable manner soon made him a warm friend of tho threo men One day while In the shops Proctor asked one of these clerks to loan him his keys In order to unlock his tool chest Innocently In-nocently the man handed Proctor his bunch of keys They walked together togeth-er towards the tool chest Proctor easily picked out tho safe key as he walked along He had a small piece of white paper in his hand and whilo he conversed with the clerk ho rubbed the key tightly on the soft paper The Impression was perfect It was all Proctor needed That night before going to bed ho had a key exactly lllto the safe key on tho clerks bunch such Is the expertness of fitters In the burglars world Before morning ho had a plan of all tho details of the robbery Ho did not deem It safe to attempt tho enterprise alone so ho secured tho aid of the two Canadians named Collins and Martin At tho time they were living near tho Suspon I slon bridge Proctor now found that the pouch containing the 40000 would leave I New York city at six oclock In tho evening on June 20 Tho train arrived ar-rived In Susquehanna at three oclock In this morning In CO minutes the pouch had been put In tho safe by the agent and taken out by the conspirators con-spirators Tho bogus bag and seal had already been prepared and as soon as tho genuine pouch was taken out the other was put In Its place It lml Tho substltutlon took place while tho agent was busily engaged In the way bill department of HID station at four oclock In tho morning The agent was out of earshot at tho tlmo Martin opened the safe with tho key that Proctor had made and took tho bag containing tho money Tho substitute was put In Its place and tho sofa locked rind In ton minutes time Col line and Martin carrying a valise with the 40000 took a train for Corning N Y from thence they wont to Schenectady Sche-nectady nnd then to Suspension bridge where Proctor was waiting for them The object of this circuitous Journey was to throw anyone off tho trail In case they wero followed At Suspension bridge the three consplra tors met and divided their loot Proctor Proc-tor received 13000 as his sharo of the booty and calmly returned to Susquehanna and putting on his overalls over-alls and working clothes resumed his I employment In time boiler shops Robert Pinkerton was much chagrined to think that Proctor had been able hoodwink him in tho curly part of tho affair Instead of being an Innocent Inno-cent accomplice ho was a professional profession-al burglar with n checkered career Proctor when ho began the serious part of his life was u firstclass mechanic me-chanic and at an early ago became the foreman of tho Portland holler works The passion for gambling caused him to lose his position a I In a few years ho had joined a group of eastern east-ern burglars acting for them as a fitter In opening safes In the Con ennlal year after he was convicted of a safe robbery In Lowell ho was sent to the Massachusetts state prison at Charleston for four years He bo came organist of the prison and had unusual privileges As a result ho became acquainted with Charles Dullard Dul-lard a fellow convict who was serving serv-ing a 20year term for breaking Into the Boylston bank Boston and together they conceived a plan of escape Proctor Proc-tor made Impressions of time cell door keys and made keys out of old knives From time to tlmo ho gathered enough clothes to bo used by himself and Dullard when their plans of escape es-cape had fully ripened The clothes In tho meantime were deftly hid In the top of tho organ One eventful night Proctor Bullard and seven other longterm convicts escaped Proctor and Dullard went to Canada by way I of Now York In Toronto they robbed tho ticket office of the Grand Trunk Railway company at Brockvlllo ot 3000 A few days later l they robbed another ticket office near Quebec at 4000 Aftetr that Proctor got work In tho Toronto safe works and after awhile was promoted to a traveling salesmanship When he sold a safe ho arranged the combination and Dullard Dul-lard would follow him a little later and rob tho safe The suspicion of tho safe company eventually caused his dismissal I On another occasion Proctor attempted at-tempted to break jail but did notmeet with his usual success HP pried the bars off tho cell door but when he reached the corridor tho sheriff stopped him at the point of tho pis tot As a result of this he was sentenced sen-tenced to eight years solitary confinement con-finement part of this for hit original offense and two years for attempting to break jail A week after this pieces of paper woro found on tho floor of his cell bearing tho Impressions i Impres-sions of tho key of his cell door tho corridor door and tho door leading to the street It was after he had served this sentence that ho went to Susquehanna Sus-quehanna and lived an an honest man until the opportunity came for him total to-tal < o part In tho great safe robbery The King of Burglars as Proctor was called was given a long sentence for the Susquehanna express robbery rob-bery at hard labor In the Eastern pen itontlary at Philadelphia His accomplices accom-plices as far as known were never captured |