St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-02-14
Freight House Thieves.
TIE OPERATIONS AND SUBSEQUENT AR
REST OF THE TWO PLUNDERERS.

| from one of the freight houses of the
Boston and Albany railroad. Their
thieving operations. according to the
confession of one of them, have been
carried ON for years on different rail
roads of New England from Portland to
New Haven. from Boston to st. AL
bans. and west to Springfield. Their
headquarters were III Boston, where
they sold most of their plumber. They
belong in Vermont and are said to he
respectfully connected. The particular
| theft which led to their arrest WAS of
four chests of tea. worth about 500.
which one of them took from the freight
house of the Albany road in Worcester,
the other having gone t" Troy to sell
two tubs of sugar which the two had
stolen and forwarded on the day previ-
ou>. The dates of these two thctts
were JANUARY 24th and 25th.
| The discovery which led To the al
rest WAS the merc>t accident. The
chests of tea had been conveyed 10y the
thief from the freight depot To the door
of IL grocer near 10y. where he had called
Il tcamStcr To load the goods for con-
| veNaucc to the merchant express office.
Some employees of the grocery no
| ticcd the load Just IL the team started.
and thinking the man had been steal
ing the tea from their premises. gave
chase. The team was not ONcrtakcn.
but the name on the express wagon WAS
a>ccrtaincd. and 10y inquiry of the
| teamStcr. who was quite unSu>pirioIt>
of ANY thing iilcgitlmate i'll the tr:InSaC-
ton. Information of the Whereabouts of
the goods WAS readily obtained. The
chests were found in the express office.
marked -. II. Hatch. Troy" Assist
ant city marshal Mcfarland. of Wor
ce>tcr. VIII" WAS consulted. adv i>ed that
the tea hc forwarded ~ marked. and he
| immediately took the train for Troy To
/ intercept the thief Whcn he came to get
/ the goods. He found the party wait
| ing round the Troy express office. not
/ hay ing received Vel the two tubs of
sugar, previously stolen and sent f"i-
ward. the reason being that the break
of the Middlcticld bridge had delayed
/ transportation. The Marshal inferred.
and rightly. that the man would not
wait much longer. hut would take the
/ train eastward. To avoid the bother
of getting cNtr;lditi"n papers. he mere
/ ~ ''shad"vcd' him. and taking passage
on the same train. arrested him At
Springfield. and held him i'll custody
/ TIL the train reached Worcester.
Meanwhile through the activity nt
the Troy officers. the other man WAS
arrested and brought To Worcester
/ They were brought before the police
court ON Tuesday. and Warren WAS
| fined 800 and costs for Two larCcnicS.
| Both of the criminals were bound over
to the superior court in May. i'll $500
bonds for larceny from Il building.
/ There will Ice little use III their getting
/ bail. H. J. W. IIildIrth. general freight
agent of the Concord railroad has >cN-
rlal varrnut> filed and awaiting them
in the jailur'> office tor thctt- from his
road. from which they have taken large
quantities of butter. Other railroads
are looking after THEN interests. hut the
Vermont Central. which is the heaviest
lo>cr. W i'll not hr able L. bring suit tuI
want of proof. Wa>hhuu has made Il
full confession To MIR. tIahtrcc. and it
seems that his real name l. John llag-
grrtN. He l. hat cuty-nnc Years old.
and halls from Nuod~toch. VI. where
h, and Warren Wcie boys together.
Waucm'> name i Edward smith. and
his father l. said I" hc Il business man
AT Word>tock. and worth SIOO.tmO.
'Ihcir friends III W oud>tnck knew moth
inu of their " hcrc;IhuiIt>. and they We're
very anxious to keep their real names
secret on this account. Smith l. Il fine
looking Young man oulN twenty Nc.n :
old. hut both lc and llaggcrtN are old
offenders and have been arrested he
fore. la r"hhimg freight houses they
used /" spot thciI goods in the day
time and then come around 1T dark
while the work men were closing up the
buildings. and before the WHtchmcn had
arrived transfer the stun from the plat .
form to their team. While driving Ia
tn" express office. one would Scrape of
the old marks and put on theirs. ami
10y the time they reached the office
they were ready for shipment. At
Manchester. y. H.. they went to Il
freight house and carried OF IL lot of
butter in day light, going in and ont
|. among the crowd as if they belonged
there. At one time WaShhurn travelled
through the eastern part of New Eng
land with Punch and Judy. Whenever
they wanted Il pair of boots or suit OF
clothes. they watched their opportunity
and helped themselves from IL store.
without stopping to pay. Their receipts
o.
but the money went us fast as it was
obtained, for women and fast living,
although neither of them are addicted
To drink. llaggerty would sometimes
come the piouS dodge for IL change, and
has tIcquentcd the rooms of the Young
Mems Christian Association. both i'll
Boston and Worcester. One of THEN
exploits was to steal fifteen tubs of
butter i'll one lot ut Winchester. y. H.,
take it To Boston. and sell it to one of
the largest dealers in the city. Butter
has been Il tilVoritc commodity with
them. and Na>hhurn SAYS that the
losses of the Vermont Central in this
one article may he reckoncd by thou
sands of dollars. They took anything
: which had Il marketable value. They
have supplied the eating houses in B0S-
ton which they regularly patronized
almost exclusively with butter.
ESCAPE OF john MORRILL,, THE
PLATT>BUKGH FIRE Our read
ers will remember the case of John
Morrill,, the Plattsburgh bllardist. who
WAS arrested i'll August, 1871, for set
ting fire to his billiard saloon. and who
was tried last summer on the charge
convicted and sentenced to seven wears
Imprisonment i'll Clinton prison ut Dan
; nemora. Ever since the affair tran
spired his friends have used every en-
deavor to assist him. since his comvic-
ton working for Il new trial. etc \
short time ago he was brought to Platts-
, hurgh on writ of error, stay ofproceed-
ihgS. OF some other legal technicality.
The matter was decided by competent
am h,rity M, Saturday ,nI Mn,,;I