Morning herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1837-1840, 1840-10-20
Police Onice.

Der. 19.--Passagss in the Lirss of Roues.-The
following tale Of crime has been furnished our re-
porter by Justice Matsell, to whom the public are
much indebted for his xcrtons in Riding the city
of as base set OF miscreants as dsgrac ed hui
man nature. In granting search warrants TO disco
plumber, il has hitherto been customary to give
the parties an mixing Of what was going on by means
Of stool pigeon, or some other useful familiar Of
the indefatigables, that would be 10 blame
II little surprise was manifested One Of the new
mag strstes conceived that he would not follow in
the footsteps Of his predecessors, however nlustri
Gus may have been their fame, but that he would 20
on in a new track The result Of the now system
was ettle gloom in some quarters, but the Justice
would not the objection, and when an applica-
tioa made for search warrant, his worship took
the bull by the horns at once, by PUTTING his hat
and going in,tauter to superintsnd the searching
operation, and by this summary and unprecedented
stroke Of policy, he has captured several nests of
robbers, and recovered much stolen property !;
among others, the gang whose exploits we are going
TO hand down to posterIty
In the month Of Jane last, a French gentleua
whose name need not be mentioned, picked up a
very handsome quadroon file de joio in Broadway,
who, soothing lsatb, accompanied him to his private
lodgings in a respectable boarding house, in Liberty
street. The demoisells and her new I" friend did
not agree the question Of remune ration and some
ugly words passed between them, which ended in
the expulsion Of the lady ri 81 arms. She however
saw enough to answer her purpose, and that the
Frenchman was pigeon worth plucking. lie had
box she said, full Of gold, and lots Of watches
and other trinkets. This fact she, the next dav,
communicated to old friend Of hers, Joe Wal
lace, who told Mary Growing shield, girl whom
he kept() in Dgane street A council was held,
and three other thieves called to give their advice
in the matter. The names OF these WORTHLESS
Mat Browne, Fred Evans, and yellow negro known
as Augustus Latimer The result Of these delibera-
tions was resolve that the Frenchman was NO gen
tleman TO rob poor girl and must in has turn be
robbed Of his gold and his watches. This resolution
having passed The house, Barrow and I.atmer were
appointed = committee 10 carry out their good i'm
tentions The first Of these is an accomplished ras-
cal, and speaks French fuently, whilst Latimer Is
celebrated for his light fingered operations Barrow
prepared letter to the French landlady. and key
by some russ Tguerre. The plan succeeded to a
miracle; the trunk with its contents being carried
of while Barrow was bamboozlins" the keeper Of
the house. Wallace was then deputed, on account
of his good looks" TO carry the strag 20 Philade
phia whilst Latmer was 20 accompany him as his
servant In that city the watches were all sold 10
an Irish fence and several burglaries committed by
these fellows before they returned home and tivided
the spoils.
The Frenchman applied TO the Police Office, made
affidavit Of his loss was told to keep quiet and there
the matter rested until the month Of August, when
Justice Matse took the matter in hand for the pur
pose Of tracing the robbery Of Madame saubert's
house in Dey street.
About this time il appears the gang were reinforced
by James Dixon and ohm Williams and they laid a
plant to rob all the French houses in the city, by the
agency OF Barrow, who was to visit them all, well
dressed and like Foreign Count as possible, talk
nothing but French, and cut big figure In this
way he obtained footing at Madame Sauber's, AID
on the fret evening, when that lady was at home,
Dixon and Williams came in, when the three seized
and gagged the lady and carried plate 81 oetera
In making their escape, however, Dixon was eaptur
ed by Waterman, whom he almost knocked down
in his haste. Barrow dropped his top coat and viii
lams lost one Of his shoes Justice Matsell deter
mined 70 detan Dixon il possible although nothing
being found him, IL was difficult 10 evsde all the
applications Of the legal fraternity under the bang
system. BY keeping his arrest pretty close. this
object effected, and in the end was productive Of
great results.
After the boss Of Dixon, the gang took house in |
Duane street, for the purpose Of in weighing the sn
wary to- and there victimizing them Gu secret This
house we have visited in company with the Justice,
but can give but faint idea upon paper ofthe hume
rous traps which il csntans. This place is techni-
cally called a man trap or touch-hole. About the