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Show r SHOTWELL BOND MYSTERY ; NEVER SOLVED V By CAPTAIN PATRICK D, TYRRELL y I I Tragic Romance Still Clings About General Roddy's Life in k I Connection with Daring Robbery. I It LL- I I"'"M THE day after Christ-mas, Christ-mas, 1872, I recolved n II summon from Oonernl Superintendent of Pollro "f Washburn of Chicago, re-fttftfyffi re-fttftfyffi qucutlng mo to report to ' rrWr nlm '''B l'r'vn, "fflcc. When I entered tho stipor-,' stipor-,' KH B Intendcnt wag In convorsa- 1 tlon with n handsomely sSp Kowned young woman, to LurnJ whom ho Introduced ino, . Baying as ho did so that sho was to toll hor story to mo and thnt 1 would havo charge of tho mnttor from that ! tlnio. Ixjft to ourselves and In an- iiwor to a look of Inquiry from mo, tho young woman Immediately plunged Into hor story In an unusunlly Intolll-' Intolll-' gont and biiBlncssllka way, relating L.it j ..tmvmmBmsmmeuammmmm t n pass for both himself and for me, I naked him why ho was buying a tlcknt. Ho Bald his nrrnngemont with the railroad forced him to buy n ticket hut that tho amount wns rebated to him afterward. He then checked tho trunk nnd gavo mo tho check." At tho Tromont hpuso Mies Shot-well Shot-well pnld hor bill, hnd her bnggago loaded on tho carriage and told tho hotol employes sho was going to Mobile. Mo-bile. Instead wo drovo (o tho Brlggs house, whero sho secured rooms, Sho wns to roinaln nt tho hotel In ordor to bo within call when needed. Tho caso scorned to call for quick action. I did not bcllovo, ns did my fnlr client, that tho trunk hnd bcon .broken opon at tho Tromont house. Prom what illsa Shotwell had told me. J. Stllos Armour and Prank W. that tho pnekngo sent by "C. A Hay ward" wns forwarded from Detroit. I had been In New York but a day when I received tho following mes-sago mes-sago from amoral Superintendent Washburn In Chicago: "Kelso will glvo you papers, see him at onco." Kelso was tho chief of tho New York police department, and about tho snmo tlmo I received tho mcssago from Washburn I received n pcrsonnl noto from Superintendent Kelso nt my hotol. In It he said thoro had been loft nt his ofllco somo papers for mo to look over, and If I would call there I might find something bearing on tho Shotwoll bond robbery. In nuswer to thoso messages I called at pollco hcadquartors. After some delays, duo K to the absence of tho lawyers who fc, Woman Claimed to Be His t Wife and on Witness l Stand Declared That She I Had LostxValuable Papers -Case Simmers Down to 1 a Question of Veracity I Between the Two Princi- 1 pals Public Will Never I Know Actual Truth in I I Famous Case. 1 HL tho following narrative without excite- BBVr incnt or tho uho of unnecessary HC- words: Bf "I am Cnrlotta Prances Shotwell. I am 28 years old nnd n native or Now HL Jcrsoy. 1 spend most of my tlmo In Kow York nnd Wnshlngton, but travel B8Bp good deal, as my business affairs, BY require I arrived In Chicago .this morning from Now York, and was on r " ray way to Mobile, Ala., whero I had BBm business In connection with somo Biff bonds of tho Selma and Oulf Unllroad B8V which I own. On my nrrlvnl hero I K, registered at tho Tromont houso and B8flT liad my luggago sent to that hotol. K. A fow hours ntter I reached tho city ,u"' occasion to open my trunk, and B8K .found that tho lock hnd boon broken. B8Sf On examination or tho contents I BBm fouHd a pnekago containing bonds or BY the Selma nnd. Oulf llallroad to tho BIB amount of $G 1.000, togethor with oth- Bf cr valuablo prlvnto papora nnd corro- BBm , Hpondcncd, had been stolon," R- "Old you travol from Now York BL nlonot" I asked, BT "No," sho answered, "I wns no- compaulod by a gentleman named HBJjr Georgo A.'Kvorett." B "Wlmt do you know of this mant" r "Very little, Whllo living at tho B8BV Orand Central hotel In Now York, I BBft was Introduced to him by J. Stllea Ar- mour, a gentleman who Is Interested Ht. with mo In a business venture. This Hi; was about two weeks ngo. Mr. livor- F tt was Btopplng nt tho snmo hotol BY and one day Mr. Armour mentioned to BY hint In my presenro thnt I was going BY po nth on business. Mr. Kverott said BY that ho was going to Chicago about BBB tho oamo tlmo to seo his wlfo and chll- BBB dren, who lived there, nnd thnt If I BBft cared to go south by way of Chicago BBB ho would got mo passes covering my V tvntlro trip. His offer seemed to tno BBV not so extraordinary, In view of tho BBV fact that ho was a closo personal BBflc frlond of ono of my business as-tocl- BH aloe, and seemed to bo nblo to securo BBL railroad passes for tho asking. I nc- B&Sk scptodihls orfor. and wo reached Chi- BBF cago togethor." H"v'' "Was ho In your company nil the BBVp tlmo on routcT" "Ho had a berth In tho samo Pull- BBBr i man and was In my sight most of tho BBf tlmo. At Niagara Palls ho In formed BH mo that Prank W. Droolts. who Is ol- h ' no a member of tho company I spoke BBB 4 of, had asked him to call on n bus!- BBaB :y ness acquaintance at Detroit. Wo BB8 reached 'Detroit too Into to mn'to tho HS Chicago train connection, out! wo wero HR rorccd to wait there from 1:80 to C:Uu HM ,n tho afternoon. These four hours BbH' Mr. V-vcrctt spent In tho city, while BBfi . I remained In tho train." HPf "Did you check your own bisgoge BBK In Now York!" HB "No; Mr. Kverett checked my trunk BBBb ror mo. At tho statlou I saw him hit;' BBB'' a ticket, and, as ho claimed to havo II rooks, both of Now York, KukK and sho wero threo of five RcPOS partners who owned and EfH operated tho Ship Vontl- K?BB latlon and Ullgo Water p Pumping Company, which E2fl had contracts to clennso VfwEu ships In dock. Kverott vJjf A wna on Intlmato friend of fllS n both Ilrooks and Armour, ylM fij and thoro seemed to bo yhg, fiVl nothing unronsonnblo In Mill im Kvorott's offer of trans- HuH portatlon. Whllo this wns KH truo, I could not under- uB1 stand why Kverott should fuUwJ! havo bought n ticket for iTOni Miss Shotwoll after toll- fcWulby Ing hor ho had a pass for her. Neither could 1 un-dcrstnnd un-dcrstnnd why his giving iuL hor tho wrong trunk check, If ho hnd dono so, should call for any particular confusion on his part when ho mndo tho exchnngo. Everett's actions at least called for somo explanation. Thnt night I asked for tho services of two pollcomon, ono of whom I stationed sta-tioned at tho- rear of tho Twenty-second street houso, which Miss Shotwoll Shot-woll snld was Kverett's homo, nnd tho dthor In front, with orders to hold anyone seen leaving tho plnco. At ono o'clock In tho morning I climbed tho stnlrs to tho flat over tho storo. My knock was answered by a man of whom I Inquired If Everett wero at home. "You am a friend?" ho naked. "An acquaintance." I answored. Ho admitted mo. and, pointing to nnother door, snld Everett was nsleop In tho room designated. I knocked nnd Kvorott responded, nsklng what was wanted. Pushing my wny into the room, I told him who I was nnd that ho must consider hlmsolf under arrest. After tho nrrost I went to tho Ilrlggs hoiuo nnd nsked to see Miss 8hotwe!l. Owing to tho hour, about tlirco In tho morning, thoro wns boiho parleying on tho part of tho clerk, but at last I succeeded In having word sont to hor. and sho met mo In tho parlor. "I havo urrostod Goorgo A. Everett." I Informed her, "and It will bo necessary neces-sary for you to appear In pollco court this morning. nt nine o'clock." "What!" she exclalmod. "You havo arrested Mr. Everett?" Procoodlng at onco to tho Detroit baggngo-room of tho Michigan Central, road and to the baggage-rooms ofetli. cr roads from Now York, I fourfd that on tho day Everett and Mlsf Shotwell passed through Dotrqlt'no trunk had been opened at tho railroad stations. Then 1 began n search of tho hotel registers. Aftor railing to find what 1 was looking for at several I at last found tho name, Oeorge A. Everett, on the register of tho Cass houso on tho day tho couple wero delayed In Detroit. Prom tho head porter I learned thnt on that dny, In the after noon, a tall man wearing n light suit nnd n fur cap had summoned him to aid In opening n trunk, explaining ho wanted to change clothes, nnd hnd lost tho koy to tho trunk. Pendleton, tho porter, hnd given him n hammer and n cold chisel, which woro returned n llttlo later. Everett, however, had not changed clothes, nnd this fnct was remarked by tho porter. Aftor disappearing from tho hotol a short time, Everett had returned nnd ordered or-dered tho trunk sent to Chicago. At tho ofllco of tho United Stntcs Express Company. I found n clerk who had received tho pnekago sent by "C. A. Hay ward." Ho lomombcred tho man who left It ns a tall man, wear ing a fur cap and a VmWMlf) light suit, this linusu-nl linusu-nl sartorial comblna 'wM tlon having marked MA ' A-Everett A-Everett nt sovoral WM places. Tho packago VlM fit was n small ono, said 1 tho clerk. Then from tho bnggogo-mastor bnggogo-mastor I lenrnod thnt on tho day In question tho baggngo checks from No. 1000 to No. 2000 woro used bctwoon Detroit nnd Chicago, and that any piece of baggngo beorlng any of tho Intermediate numbers could not havo been checked cast of Dotrolt. Tho check given by Everett to Miss Shot-well Shot-well at Chicago In oxchangu for what ho said was tho wrong ono was No. 1902. From Dotrolt tho trail plainly led to Now York and I lost no tlmo In ronchlng that city. Prom tho first tho enso had not nppearcil to, mo In tho light ot ordinary larceny, although that wns tho technical charge 1 was imdenvorlng to establish. Everett was un Englishman or education and good address and cool undor clrcumstnnccB which would nrouso to Indignation or breakdown many mon, but I did not bellevo him to bo n professional thief. Thoro was no doubt of his business connections with Frank W. Ilrooks, J. Stiles Armour and Oon. Itoddy, tho latter president of tho railroad tho securities of which had boon Btolon.' Ho had been a general In the confed-orato confed-orato army from Alnbamn nnd wob a man of hlgliflt&ftdjng, In Wnshlngton Wnshlng-ton ho jj8omethlng of a lobbyist nndfls Interested In government jiitrncU . At tho tlmo or which I am writing ho was abroad. Gen. noddy nod-dy and Frank W. Ilrooks wero intlmato intl-mato business associates and personal friends. Ilrooks' New York oAlccs woro nt 744 Uroadway, whero ho was In tho real cstato, Insuranco nnd loan business. busi-ness. Ho was known In New York as a "man about town" nnd a promo-tor. promo-tor. It was to his Now York address had -left the papers with Chief Kolso, I was Invited Into n private onico. Taking threo packages of papora from his safo Kelso said: "Theso woro left In my enro by former Judgo Cnrdoro and Mr. Far-roll, Far-roll, attorneys for n cllont whose Identity Iden-tity thoy do not enro to niako public nor to Inform you of nt this tlmo. Thoy havo requested mo to bo present whon you oxnmlno them." With this ho handed mo tho packages pack-ages and I began tho examination. Cnrdozo and Farroll, to whom I hnd been Introduced, wero In tho room. Tho first two packages contained llttlo but Miss Shotwoll'B private correspondence, corre-spondence, nnd I found nothing In them thnt I thought would bo of any service to mo In tho caso In hand. Among tho pnpoio composing tho third packago 1 found n legal envolopo. empty, bearing tho Inscription: "From P. D. noddy to C. P. Shotwell: Solmn nnd Gulf Itnllrond bonds, $54,000." I qulotly put tbls envolopo Into my' pockot. Anothor onvelopo, which hnd evidently contained somo sort of an ngrcemont between Gen, Iloddy nnd Miss Shotwell, was In tho packago and I pocketed that, Finishing tho search I returned tho packages to Kelso. t wns mystified by tho presentation of tho threo packages of pnpors bo-longing bo-longing to Miss Shotwoll. Thoro was llttlo doubt that Ilrooks was tho mysterious mys-terious cllont Attorneys Cardozo nnd Farroll declluod to namo. I could understand un-derstand why tho papers wero presented, present-ed, as tho mon who hnd conspired to got possession of tho Shotwell bonds nnd other prlvnto papers, I argued, had learned of tho work dono In Detroit and ot t'io closing of tho net nround Everett nnd Hrooks. ItealUIng this, j-jj3 thoy probably deemed It sS' better to ndmlt tho posses-alon posses-alon ot tho papers and "muka a bluff" at assisting Sggl tho authorities In solving tho mystery than to deny all knowledgo or to havo It proved on them later. Hut why hnd thoy allowed al-lowed tho empty bond envolopo to remain re-main In ono of tho packages? To this day I cannot explain why this was dono except on tho theory that It was an oversight. If U wero not It wns a decidedly stupid plcco of business busi-ness on their part. Tho IlrookB caso enmo up before Justlco Dowllng, who wns a prominent promi-nent member of the Tammany organization. organi-zation. Dowllng and "Doss" Tweed wero closo personal and political friends. Kelsa and Dowllng woro closoly associated as members of tho samo political organization, nnd Ilrooks" attornoys woro Influential In court and pollco' circles. It was for these reasons that I had taken tho enso to tho grand Jury, so that if It wero allowed to dlo a natural death In tho city court ns many cases In which defendants tiro Influential are allowed to do In all cltlos tho stato courtB would still hnvo Jurisdiction. During nil this time Miss Shotwoll had maintained a consistently proper nttttudo for a porson who had been robbed and who wished to see tho thlof punished. In 1875 I received a lottor from Now York, written In bohnlf of John D. Townscnd, n promlnont attornoy of that city. Tho Now York state assembly assem-bly had aomo time beforo appointed n committee, known as tho commllteo on crime and tho maungomcnt ot tho district attornoy'fi ofllco, rqr tho pur-poso pur-poso or Investigating certa'ln alleged Irregularities In tho administration ot tho ofllco or district attorney under Benjamin K. I'hnlps. I am not familiar fa-miliar with tho details ot tho charges mado against Mr. Phelps, but among them was tho general ono thnt cor- tain criminal cases under his Jurisdiction, Jur-isdiction, had not been pushed. Tho prosecution of tho men , chnrged with tho theft of tho . bonds and other papers had como 1 1 to naught in Now York, ns I had I I partially anticipated, Powerful III Influences hnd boon brought to III bear from sevoral quarters, nnd In Ilrooks nnd Evorett hnd never lii been tried on IndlctmentB. Tho Wj cano of tho bond robbery had" been ', gradually smothered and soon 'j passed from public Interest. 'jf Somo tlmo Inter a warrant was 'fl Issued at tho instanco of Gen. N noddy charging Carlotta F. Shot-I Shot-I well with larceny, nnd on this B chnrgo tho woman was arrested J and locked up In the Tombs. Gon. noddy was called to testify. Ho related the alleged facts concerning concern-ing tho appropriation by tho defendant defend-ant of tho vnluables in question. "Is this woman your wlfo?" asked tho lawyer. "Sho Is not," answered tho general, Anally. During tho recital thoro was deep sllcnco In tho courtropm, nnd when Miss Shotwell was called to testify In hor own behalf tho Interest grow Intenso. "I took tho dpora glasses and sovereigns." sov-ereigns." sho said In a volco strained but woll under control, "becauso I was IiIb legal wlfo and consldorcd I hnd a right to them." "As Gen. Itoddy said, I first mot him in leui, no apparently reii in lovo with mo at first Bight and began to pay mo ardent nttcntlon. Ho told mo ho had boon married and had children, chil-dren, but that ho was divorced from his wlfo, who was living In Havana. In confirmation of tho assertion con-corning con-corning tho dlvorco ho Bhowed mo what purported to ho nn ordor of court granting a decrco of dlvorco. I believed him free to marry again. "A year aftor our first meeting ho porsunded me to como to Now York nnd marry him. Ho drow up nn ngroomont which we both signed nnd which, ho said, constituted n legal civil mnrrlnse undor tho laws of Now I York. Ho proposed that tho rollglous ceremony bo dolnyod a whllo until certain matters then pending wero I adjusted. Wo lived In flrst-clnss hotels, ho-tels, and ho always Introduced me, referred re-ferred to me and treated mo as his wlfo. Ho supported mo In comfort, hut not extravagantly. I had con-sldorablo con-sldorablo money which I had Inherit ed rrom my rather, nnd I assisted him In business enterprises which made him a grent deal or monoy." Thus after years of mystery tho lloddy-Shotwell enso simmered down to a question of veracity between tho principals. (CopyrlRht. 1003, by Marlon a. Schelttln.) |