Show PARALLEL THE THE CRIMINAL tells how he planned the a TOP I 1 ES deed and sought to close every avenue of knowledge A ef 0 r kl MOTT U S leading to his guilt M 9 the detective shows hoa ho C I 1 M E A fa futile these efforts were and how the old adage murder HENRY will out coper by F L L nelson THE RED TRAIL OF THE RED ROBINS HAVE before called atten tion to the passing of the old gangs in new york city this has largely come about through the re cia clai nation mation of those sections of the city which were their breeding places mulberry bend is no more the bowery has lost its criminal char acter the gas house district Is a sunday school compared with what it used to be many sentimentalists deplore the passing of these old land marks and lament the good old order at of things but while crimes of violence still exist and probably will con to do so for some time to come I 1 think I 1 am sate safe in saying that life in a great city is being made safer all the time it if any one Is disposed to call atten tion to recent crimes in dispute of this statement I 1 wish to put in evidence the record of the famous red bob rob ins who left a trail of robberies beatings and murders around new york something like a generation ago after reading left flannelly s story I 1 leave it to any student of criminal cri minol agy ogy whether in this day of Ber bernillon Bertl tillon llon measurements the finger print system ind the portrait parle such a gang of ic murderers could go so ala crog undetected and unpunished LEFT FLAN FLANNELLY NELLYS S STORY in the days when I 1 was a kid said left flannelly the bowery was a stream of life and joy and there were more indians to the square inch than ever ran loose on the plains among the old shiners who used to sparkle and overflow with such wisdom as de I 1 gats the heart of a crook was jeff henry who was born and died in state prison jeff was a dandy and no mistake his mother was just a saade the best confidence woman that ever lifted a caller valler ticker she was doing a stretch of dt five years when jeff saw the 1 of df day his early education was picked up in the books during the off hours nn n the penitentiary well you d be astonished to hear the old cove s talk there never was a boo book k sharp who ho could give jeff any points when it came to shooting off genuine chunks of af learning 1 I was a young fellow then and I 1 guess it was the cheerful words of leff jeff that led me away from the job that I 1 had as an apprentice to a butch er and started me on the road lifting ather people s coin and jewels I 1 never was sorry that I 1 met jeff even though his advice never brought me anything but trouble 1 I heard jeff say one time talking to sam perrin as he sat ona billiard table in sheeny backus joint that he had in his day tried his hand at every lan line of crooked work from lifting bank vaults to tapping tills and he found that of all the tricks that he ever worked he lie picked up the most money in country jobs in localities where the people were simple minded and hid bid all their money in different places around the house jefe jeff went into the business so carefully that he had a lot of statistics showing the wealth in the country and how much of it was out of banks and locked up in houses it was my luck when jeff got nailed tor for the rob bery of aaron burr s old house on staten island to get his list of places which promised well if worked I 1 was in that job but being new to the business I 1 was left on the outside to watch the house I 1 had their extra clothing to look after in some way the constables of new brighton got a up tip on the movements of the gang and laifed them maybe I 1 was not tickled when I 1 found jeff s books in his overcoat it was a rich prize to me I 1 landed on the bowery bigger than one of bill dooley s fighting cocks I 1 got under cover for a couple of weeks just as a matter of form when I 1 came out I 1 got together fhe the gang that will go down into history as the red robins there was not a bloomer in the gang that did not have a murder to his credit and they would every one of them rather fight than eat cat I 1 was al ways a bit lively in any game and I 1 won my spurs by doing jim bradley with a pitcher in his sailors boarding house in cherry street when jim was in his prime and nobody else dared go near him I 1 got the gang by giving up jeff jeffs s book As I 1 had all the facts I 1 was made the pilot then we started off on the tour that set long island crazy and made the name of red robins feared as tho the devil by all good people jeff not only had the names of per sons living in each house but he had clans lans of the houses the easiest way fo to attack them and the obstacles that might be met with in some instances he had gone so tar far as to give the num her ber of dogs and their breed as well after studying over the book carefully 1 I laid out a route which began at riverhead and wound up in jamaica this his would give us altogether about sixty places to visit a very fair remount cf work for the dull season I 1 arranged the program so that the homes to be robbed were widely scat seat for the first week after that they were all close together the ide idea a being that people after hearing of the first robberies wo woid id think that they were safe as the lightning did not seem to strike twice in the same place we had to get transportation from place to place I 1 had a rig of my own to start with that was fitted up as a farmer farmers s wagon it was large enough to hold the gang and such property pio pi perty as was worth taking away this scheme did not work well as the wagon became I 1 by being seen in different parts of the island eo so it had to be given up we relied after that upon the farmers own rigs which we pick ed up ns the occasion required the red robins consisted of mike feeney jim wilkes zip ireland kelly poster foster and joe mcginnis there was no reason for having so many in the gang tor for the game was dead easy but our numbers gave us a chance to work tricks in different parts of the island on the same night this drove the people and police into a frenzy and they did not know which way to turn the work at riverhead was very hot and I 1 was surprised at I 1 the large amount of money that these old miser farmers had stowed away the alist six houses that we called at turid tur tr kd id up 15 in la cash and quite a wad of bonds it took about two months to get down to babylon and from there over to oyster bay where there was a rich mine among the old retired fishermen and oystermen the last place we struck was the home of august struble in oyster bay day he lived with his wife and an id otic daughter the general imbres slon about him was that he had a b S boodle stowed away somewhere on the premises jeff had marked his biame with a double cross that meant that he was away up in money mat we started for oyster bay on a saturday night but feol there a bit too early thero there were lights burning in struble s house holse we did not know who might be there we stopped in the rear of a shanty and zip ireland picked up a piece of an a axe xe handle and an old cap he ito had lost his own hat on the ride to the place and p put ut the cap on his head when the lights went out in the struble house we went to it in single file on the way we met a negro who had left the place by the back door he ile did not see any of us and digap feared down the road we listened for a moment at the door and heard the old man talking with his wife the door was unlocked and I 1 stepped into the place Is that you hube rube said struble I 1 replied that I 1 was rube then going to the bedside of the old man I 1 flashed a lantern in his face he was terribly frightened and so was his wife but when it came down to get ting him to give up the hiding place of his gold he would not budge I 1 hit him over the head and gave him a couple of twisters in the ribs but he t tell a thing the old woman was just as ugly as he be was they both said they would die first they got a bit of rough treatment but it was no use while we were at work the idiot girl came out of a room and gave up the whole business she took us to where old struble s money was hidden and turned up a rich prize after we got everything in sight we took the old mans man s team and lit out we made the idiot girl come with us and then lost her in the woods DETECTIVE 0 CONNORS STORY the very business of the detective makes him an intense hater of crim ills said detective 0 connor he gets an idea that they have not any rights which an honest man Is bound to respect it Is this feeling of india ference and desire to se so a criminal punished which sometimes leads po linemen to stretch the truth and to find circumstances where none exist which can be used as evidence I 1 speak for myself when I 1 say this even with a strong desire to do what is right I 1 have found myself distorting evidence to suit spit my own purpose and to cause a conviction in cases where there was ground for a reasonable doubt I 1 have seen men sent to state prison for a long term of years whom I 1 was satisfied in my own mind were innocent but it la Is always a satis fac tion to get rid of the pricks of con science by the reflection that the con Is the verdict of the jury it is a good way to shirk the bality in doubtful cases but many a policeman has slept unea uneasily ily after the ver diet of a jury although few will be honest enough to admit it the peculiar way in which circum stances can be twisted into making a case against a man if the right start Is obtained appears clearly in the in vestI gatlon of the robbery of old oscar struble in his home in oyster bay day struble was a fisherman for many years and he made a lot of money anu kept it the more money he made the stronger he clung to it it was like pulling teeth out of a horse s jaw to get a dollar from the old man he had a large farm and when be got well along in years he sold it to a WA alator at a good figure he ile had a R wirt and a billy silly daughter the wife was a nice old lady and everybody had a good word to say tor for aunt maria as she was known there was common talk among the villagers in oyster bay day tha the old mans daughter became silly through the starvation treatment which she received jn her younger days be this as it may the old law of bompensa com pensa tion got in its usual work and she gave her father the herdest blow that ever he received in his life when I 1 got over to struble s cot tage which was in a pretty spot I 1 found both him and his wife in a sort of stupor the result the octor said of concussion of the brain their faces and heads mere ere covered with bruises and they were unable to give an intelligent account of the th 0 affair a ff ar I 1 they had been found lying ly I 1 rig in the r beds early in the morning by rube thompson a colored man who had for years done chores tor for the family he gave the alarm in the first instance there was no thought of robbery the silly girl whose name was sarah was missing and it was my belief that sl e had something to do with injuring the old folks she had been abused for many years and it was only natural that the worm should turn and strike some time the first suspicious circumstance was the ab sence of the horses and wagon from the barn sarah v as afraid of horses and she would not go near the barn while I 1 was trying to settle sarah a connection with mith the case and her d s appearance she turned up unexpected 13 footsore and weary after a tramp of many miles the neighbors were all anxious to talk with her but I 1 got her alone as soon as I 1 could and she told me in her simple way the story of the visit of several men to the house in the night and all about her gh giving ing away the I 1 iding places of the old man mans s money to save flis his life then I 1 made a thorough search of the place I 1 found in the corner ol 01 the room a torn cap and a piece of an axe handle which were covered with blood As soon as the girl saw them she said that they belonged to rube thompson several of the neighbors corroborated her I 1 sent for rube when I 1 showed him the club and cap car he seemed to change color and to tc shake like a leaf I 1 charged him with taking part in the crime and as many another innocent has done be fore him he lied in the effort to ex plain away the presence of his cap and club in the 0 o ise he denied be ing near the house at all although I 1 had positive evidence of his being there from several witnesses I 1 ar rested bube rube and sent him to the queens county jail he was indicted for the robbery two days later I 1 believed that rube was in th the plot as much as ever I 1 believed any thing but he maintained his innocence and I 1 was able to prove it aft erward I 1 tried in every way possible to get a confession from rube as tc who his confederates were without success I 1 looked then in other diree eions for information when old struble s senses returned I 1 learned that every piece of papel paper money that he had in his possession amounting to about had been marked by him with a red cross on the margin there was no reacon for his doing it and it was only one ol 01 tl e miser a eccentricities but it turn ed out to be a very valuable factor in the discovery of the criminals and the release of an innocent man I 1 sent a notice to all banks in new ne lork brooklyn jersey city and phil adelphia adelph la requesting them to look out for any bills that were deposited with a red cross on them in three or foul four days I 1 got word from the old DIe bleecker ecker street bank to the effect that money of that description had been received there I 1 learned from the cashier that the money had been depoti deposited ted by lena chadwick whose address was IS 19 james street a notorious sailors boarding house I 1 investigated lena and earned that she had sold her interact Int ereCt in the boarding house and liquor store at tach ment to left flannelly th the lead er of the red robins two days after the robbery of struble and he had given her 1500 1 in cash she had de do posited just this sum in the bank every one of the bills had the red mark I 1 brought struble over and he identified every one of the bills as hia his money he no had handled the money so often that he could tell every wrinkle in lit the bills Flann flannelly elIy too charge of the joint that he had bought and I 1 became a frequenter of it as an old sailor fresh from india with plenty of bood e there was a lot of crooked work go ing on I 1 picked out jim kelly foster joe me ginnis glimis and zip ireland as belonging to the red robin gang on different occasions when I 1 was out on a racket with these worthies and blowing in my wealth I 1 noticed that each one of them changed a bill which had a red cross on it I 1 managed by getting money chang ed also to get possession of bills with the red sign of guilt on them I 1 was satisfied that I 1 had enough evidence to land them in order that there might not be any trouble or shooting I 1 arranged it so that each one of the gang could be picked up by the police when I 1 was with hirn him alone in this wy we got the whole gang in jail without it being known by their friends that they had been arrested old struble identified each of the bills I 1 had secured as evidence the silly girl recognized each of ane men as being in the party which had car ried her from home bome I 1 learned that on the night of the robbery the gang had bad stopped in the rear of rubes cabin and picked up his cap and the axe handle this cleared rube and each of the red robins was sent away for twenty years |