The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-06 00:00:00

TEE NORTHERN RAILLOAD FRArD.

We glean the following particulars of the capture
of Carpentier from the New York Tribune and from
a private letter :
Charles Carpentier, the principal person impli-
cated in the late enormous frauds upon the Northern
Railroad Company of France, was arrested on
Thursday last, 7th. Soon after the publication 'of
the details of these frauds in this country, and the
belief that the parties had'fled hither, the brothers
Gvrpnt
eleetaieinc.l the broker Pa.rot were captured, but
Carpentier
adroitly eluded arrest and fled the city,
going; no one knew whither. It is said that he hint-
ed, when last seen, that he would go to Philadel-
phia, and it was believed that he had set out for
New Orleans. So skilful were his efforts to cover
up his retreat that while he was quietly wending
his way through the interior of this State one of
the keenest of the United States deputy marshals
of this city took the steamer for New Orleans in
pursuit. The Rethschilds, who are said to be large
losers by these frauds, have manifestedgreat anxiety
about the escape of these parties, and extraordinary
efforts were put forth, both by themselves and
their agents, to effect their arrest. When it was
known that Carpentier had left the city, Mr.
Christmas, the agent of Auguste Belmont, caused
a minute description of his person and appearance
to be extensively circulated, together with the offer
of 1,000 dols. for his capture. This tempting prize
set all the catctipoles in the countryouthealer
alert,
and Carpentier's chance of escape grew proportion-
ably small. There were plenty of aspirants eager
for the honour of catching the fugitive and greedy
of the golden reward which was to follow.
Late last Thursday night Capt. Dowling, of the
Sixth Ward police, was awakened by a tall mys-
terious-looking fellow coming into his sleeping
apartment and shaking him roughly by the shoul-
der. Starting up, he saw a man by his bedside,
wrapped in a thick cloak, which was so muffled
up as to conceal the lower half of his face, while a
slouched hat concealed the upper part, leaving
only his eyes and the tip of his nose visible. "Who
are you?" asked the captain. "An officer. Got
a prisoner for you."—" Who is he ?" " Carpen-
tier, the French railroad robber."—" Show me
your authority for arresting him " He drew out
from under his cloak, a warrant issued by Justice
Osborne. " Who are you, anyway ? Where do
you hail from ? If you are an officer, where do
you belong to ?" The stranger coolly replied, " I
have brought you a prisoner ; there is my autho-
rity. By what right do you thus question me ?"
Dowling, who was now standing in the middle
of the room shivering with cold, suddenly fired up
at this answer, and told the stranger to clear out
and air himself in the entry, for his insolence, and
wait until he was ready to attend to him. hen
he came out the prisoner had been lodged in the
cells, and his captor, after duly transferring him to
the custody of Dowling, left. Next day he did not
come back nor send Carpentier any food, and to-
wards noon Dowling sent out for some at his
own expense. He then discovered that the pri-
soner was handcuffed and in great pain from the
swelling of his wrists, the cuffs having been on ever
since his arrest. The captain, after much difficulty,
succeeded in getting his wrists free, and then
placed him in a warm room and made him comfort-
able. In the evening Sergeant Brown, of the chief's
office, and United States Deputy-Marshal Ryer
went to the Sixth Ward stationhouse and conveyed
the prisoner to the Eldridge-street gaol, where he
is now confined on a civil suit. W'iat became
of the unknown officer we could net discover, as
none of those of whom we inquired could tell any-
thing about him—who he is, where he came from,
or whither lie has gone. It seems that Carpen-
tier' on arriving at ew York, lodged two days at
St. Nicholas's Hotel, and then went to several se-
condary homes. He had no communication with
the two brothers Grelot or Perot, and was not ac-
companied, as was said, by a female named Geor-
gette. It was by the newspapers that he learned
the arrival of employes of the railway company and
of police officers to arrest him ; but he had already,
taken the precaution of bribing a number of per-
sons to keep watch for him, and give him warning
of the approach of the slighte-st danger. He re-
sided two weeks in a house in the upper part of the
city, and there he had a narrow escape. Tue
police learned that beyond all doubt he was in the
house, and after having placed a watch on all the
issues, they commenced a strict search ; every
room, every closet, was examined in vain, and at
last they reached a garret iu which, on a wretched
bed, was lying au old woman, her feet wrapped up
in bandages, and apparently suffering great pain.
The officers laid their hands on the bed clothes
with the intention of looking beneath them, but the
woman raised such a piercing cry of agony that
they did not venture to disturb her, and they at
last went away. Yet to their vexation they after-
wards learned that Carpentier was at that very
moment secreted between the mattresses ! As it
was dangerous for him to remain in the house he
determined on leaving it, but from the manner in
which it was watched this was difficult. However,
ho contrived it in this way : eight of his spies en-
tered and left the house, as if in great agitation,
and so contrived to fix on them the attention of the
police ; he in the meantime got down from a win-
dow, fifteen feet high, into the court yard of an
adjacent house, and from it reached the street ;
three or four other spies were waiting to receive
him, and they conducted him to another house at a
short distance. The day after (as was subsequently
ascertained) he took a drive in New York ; the day
following, he_ went to Yorkville ; then to elolsken ;
then lie took the Erie Railway, which goes to Phi-
ladelphia, but left it at Newburg. He had previ-
ously cut his hair very short, shaved off his mous •
tachios, and dressed himself as a labourer. From
Newburg he went on foot across the country to
Canterbury, and there got employment as a la- i
bourer on a farm belonging to one Ketaelti_he
consenting to receive for his labour only trifling
wages with board and lodging. He there thought
himself in perfect security ; but a German of New
York, ono of his spies, in a moment of intoxication
let fall some words which indicated the direction
he had taken, and two police officers, accompanied
by an unknown individual (who has since turned
out to be a Mr. M'Knight, of Washington), soon
'tracked him to the farm. On inspecting the premises
they found them guarded by a huge and very
savage dog, and they accordingly returned to the
town to obtain the means of poisoning him. In the
dead of night, having silenced the animal, they
effected an entrance into the house and found Car-
pentier fast asleep in his bed with his clothes on.
They awoke him and announced that be was their
prisoner, and must accompany them to New York.
He protested that he was not the man they sought,
but they showed him the minute description of
his person, which had been given to them, and
produced his photographic portrait., which had
been sent from Paris. Finding further denial
useless he gave himself up. He was securely
handcuffed, and then assisted into a waggon in
waiting outside. Two officers from Newburgh fol-
lowed him, and an hour or so afterwards saw them
all safely in Newburgh. Next day M'Knight and
Carpentier crossed the river in a row boat, Car-
pentier
still handcuffed. Their arrival in this city
we have-already described. Quite in keet3iug with
these singular proceedings is another transaction is
the same case. On Friday last (17th) M. E. Tie-
sandier, inspector of the Northern Railroad Com-
pany
heofHFarllasucoef? appeared before
Justice, and made the following
deposition :—" Emmanuel Tissander,
ofPaiisei2
France, now being in the city of New York,being.
duly sworn, deposes and says tl•at 5,747 shares of
titles of the capital stock of the Northern Railway
Company of France, with the coupons attached
thereto, have been stolen or embezzled from said
that deponent suspects that such property, or
company ; that the same are of great value, and. a
portion
Nt e is concealed
Sixteenth-streeti n the house(
(tenement
hiperne
t-
mises, o. 197,
cityof New-York ; ho therefore com-
plains prays for a warrant for
ea
as concealssu edd ,
aa s pwraorvriadnetd,
hou house),
of in
the the
above, "
E. TISSANDIEII."
sinsrl foruceih all
casesthe property
hy lw.
Judge Osborne thereupon p
iauthorising officer Sergeant Brown and Deputy-
Marshal Ryen to search the suspected premises.
M. Tissanclier's suspicions were aroused, it is sa;d,
bythe following anonymous communication, wlrch,
we learn, was sent to one of the parties iut( rested:
_et In the second storey of tenement•house, No.
197, West Sixteenth-street, front route, lives Fre-
derick Couvet, house carpenter. In the sub cellar
' of said house, where fuel is kept, and which is di-
vided into wood rooms to accommodate four or five
families who live there, in the woodhouse appor-
tioned to said Couvet there have recently beeu re-
ceived two tons of coal. The coal must be removed.
Under the coal is three inches of sawdust or earth.
Between the coal and paving of the cellar, under
the flagging of brick or stone, whatever the cellar
is paved with, is a small wooden box, a foot square,
enclosing a tin box containing the valuables." The
officers found the box precisely as stated, much to
the astonishment of the people in the house, who
did not dream that so rich a treasure was lying
concealed on their premises. It was very heavy,
and taken to the police-court unopened, where it
was handed over in the same condition to the agent_
of Mr. Belmont, agent to MM. de Rothsahild
of t,. d
he
ite
shas not
known y
that
statedat a o
amongst
precise
other
100,000 f. in bank notes, two gold watches, some
thingscontentsi t contained abnutpieces of gold,
but Carp .
entier This latter says
to any one
and some private papers of no inte-
restn
Paris. He gives
etfih,eeetperdoiceeds o. f sale. of
that6:oo otflie2.einOteo,o4oife.hahree