Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Suzanne Shell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: WILLIAM A. PINKERTON] True Detective Stories From the Archives of the Pinkertons By Cleveland Moffett NEW YORK: _G. W. Dillingham Co., Publishers,_ Copyright, 1893, 1894 S. S. MCCLURE CO. Copyright, 1897 DOUBLEDAY & MCCLURE CO. * * * * * CONTENTS PAGE The Northampton Bank Robbery 1 The Susquehanna Express Robbery 57 The Pollock Diamond Robbery 95 The Rock Island Express 121 The Destruction of the Renos 161 The American Exchange Bank Robbery 193 * * * * * The Northampton Bank Robbery About midnight on Tuesday, January 25, 1876, five masked men entered the house of John Whittelsey in Northampton, Massachusetts. Mr. Whittelsey was the cashier of the Northampton National Bank, and was known to have in his possession the keys of the bank building and the combination to the bank vault. The five men entered the house noiselessly, with the aid of false keys, previously prepared. Passing up-stairs to the sleeping-apartments, they overpowered seven inmates of the house, gagging and binding them so that resistance or alarm was impossible. These were Mr. Whittelsey and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Cutler, Miss Mattie White, Miss Benton, and a servant-girl. The bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Whittelsey was entered by two men who seemed to be leaders of the band. One wore a long linen duster buttoned nearly to the knees, also gloves and overshoes; the other wore a jacket and overalls. Both men had their faces concealed behind masks, and one of them carried a dark-lantern. On entering the room the two men went directly to the bed, one standing on either side, and handcuffed Mr. Whittelsey and his wife. Both carried revolvers. The proceedings were much the same in the other rooms.