True Detective Stories from the Archives of the PinkertonsMoffett, Cleveland
History
True Detective Stories from the Archives of the Pinkertons
Moffett, Cleveland
Crime -- United States; Criminals -- United States; Detective and mystery stories, American
"Red" Leary came to his death in a curious way. One night in April,
1888, he had been drinking with some friends at a well-known
sporting-resort in New York, on Sixth Avenue, between Twenty-seventh
and Twenty-eighth streets. In the party was "Billy" Train, an old
bunko-man. They were all somewhat intoxicated and inclined to be
uproarious. As they came out on the street, "Billy" Train picked up a
brick and threw it up in the air, yelling: "Look out for your heads,
boys." To this warning Leary paid no attention, and the brick came
down on his head with full force, fracturing his skull. He was taken
to the New York Hospital, and died there, after much suffering, on
April 23.
As for the safe-expert, Evans, he is engaged in legitimate business,
and is prospering. In compiling this chapter from the records, the
writer has, by request, changed some of the names of the parties, who
since that time have reformed, and are now respected members in the
communities where they reside, and the author has no desire to injure
them.
The Susquehanna Express Robbery
At Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, are located the great shops of the Erie
Railroad, where fifteen hundred men work throughout the year. These
men receive their wages on a fixed day toward the end of each month,
the pay-roll amounting to many thousands of dollars. It was customary,
fourteen years ago, for the company to have a sum of money sufficient
for this purpose shipped from New York by express a day or two before
the date when the wages were to be paid. Following out this practice,
on the night of June 20, 1883, the Marine National Bank of New York
shipped by the United States Express Company a sealed package
containing forty thousand dollars for the Erie Railroad Company, in
care of the First National Bank of Susquehanna. The package contained
United States currency and bank-notes, almost entirely in small bills,
none larger than twenty dollars.
The usual precautions were observed in shipment, a trusted clerk of
the Marine Bank carrying the package to the express company's office
and taking a receipt for it from the money-clerk, who examined it
first to make sure that the seals of the bank were intact and that in
all respects it presented a correct appearance. Having satisfied
himself on these points, the money-clerk placed the package in one of
the canvas pouches used by the United States Express Company, sealed
it carefully with the company's private seal, and attached a tag
bearing the address of the company's agent at Susquehanna.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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