From Boniface to Bank Burglar; Or, The Price of Persecution: How a Successful Business Man, Through the Miscarriage of Justice, Became a Notorious Bank LooterWhite, George M. (George Miles)
History
From Boniface to Bank Burglar; Or, The Price of Persecution: How a Successful Business Man, Through the Miscarriage of Justice, Became a Notorious Bank Looter
White, George M. (George Miles)
Bank robberies -- United States; Criminals -- Biography; White, George M. (George Miles)
“Oh, to hell with the cops,” was the separate reply from the trio. I
said no more, but hoped they would be wise. I might have left them to
a big surprise, but after Radford had gone I hastened to McGuire’s
place in Bleecker Street and told him what I had heard, adding that
they would better get out of town on the instant. They laughed at
my warning. The following evening at eight o’clock Captain Jourdan
arrested them, and the next morning soon after daylight he personally
took them to the outskirts of the city and, boarding a train, lodged
them in a Maine jail. Thus were “Fairy” McGuire, Rory Simms, and Dave
Bartlett shanghaied out of New York State by Captain Jourdan, in utter
defiance of the requisition laws.
Knowing what the police had done, I determined that Captain Young
would not have the opportunity to thus take Mark Shinburn and our
sales agent to Maryland, and ex-Judge Stuart said he would assist
me. He procured a writ that would forestall any illegal procedure of
the sort that might be attempted, and had it served on the Police
Commissioners at headquarters. Meanwhile we kept a diligent watch on
the gamesters in Mulberry Street. About the time Mr. Somerville got
back from Albany with good news from that quarter, Captain Young turned
up and with him the news of where he had been. Close on the heels of
these developments, the officials of the New Windsor Bank and their
attorneys, accompanied by Detective Pierson, of Smith, Pierson, and
West’s Agency, of Baltimore, arrived in town. Pierson was a very clever
sleuth and a trusted friend of our advisers at Police Headquarters. He
promptly received a tip from our friends, and therewith ignored Captain
Young. In an exceedingly short time he was in an earnest conversation
with the attorneys of the bank officials, advising them as to the most
efficacious means of recovering the Union Pacific bonds. Pierson had
no difficulty in demonstrating the fiction of John Young’s wonderful
tale of his capture of the bank looters, and immediately there was some
figuring with a view of scaling down his promised reward. Also it was
presently shown to them how the bonds could be returned without the
fabricator’s assistance. They were thoroughly disgusted with the mode
of procedure, and admitted that they had been well duped by Young’s
representations.
The result of Pierson’s mediation was an interview between the bank’s
attorneys and ex-Judge Stuart. Two days later we decided to return the
fifty-three thousand dollars’ worth of Union Pacifics in return for
the recipients’ promise not to prosecute Shinburn and our sales agent.
Captain Young had his reward scaled down to seventeen thousand five
hundred dollars, but felt that he must turn the prisoners over to the
Maryland authorities. He had his reward in hand, and if General Spinola
received any part of it, the information never reached me. Knowing John
Young as I did, I believe the general whistled long and loud ere he got
a finger on the “rake-off.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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