New-York tribune., 1874-06-13
THE DISTRICT BURGLARY.

| terested person, on reading the story OF the
robbery of the Distrct-AttOrney's safe in
| Washington, was to exclaim at the stupidity
| of such clumsy scheme to discredit the ad-
versaries of the District Ring. The plot
| seemed so transparent and the performance
| was such stupendOus piece of bungllng that
we hardly knew whether to be more indig-
| uant at the baseness of the cOnspiratOrs or
| dsgusted at their inefiiciency. But as fuller
| reports of the testimony taken by the Com
| mttee are made public, we see that the job
was planned, after all, with a good deal OF
shrewdness and might have succeeded but for
two or three trifling accidents. The purpose
of the criminals appears to have been to i'm
| picate one of the most prominent and highly
respected of the memOrialists, Mr.. Columbus
Alexander, in felony. The first step
was for one Michael Hayes to call upon Alex
| ander and offer to deliver. for consideration,
the private account books of the Ring paving
contractor John o. Evans. Mr.. Alexander re-
| fused to pay for any such service; but Hayes
persisted in his proposal, and one day brought a
cOmpanion to Mr.. Alexander's house, and in
troduced him in the following words: This
sis the man that will bring you the books.
Look at him 80 you will know him." About
| this time Hayes stated to three reputable citi-
zens of Baltimore with whom he had some
acquaintance that he was employed by Har-
rington to blow up safe and put the blame
on somebody else, and that professional gen.
tleman from Sing Sing was to be hired for the
mechanical part of the job. The re-
| cpents of this extraordinary confidence,
supposng that it had some connection
with the Sanborn case, carried the story to
their representative in Congress, Mr.. Swami,
and were then sent with il to Messrs Dawes
and Foster, to the President, and to MIR.
Richardson; but nobody knew what to make
| of il until the mystery was cleared up by SUBJ
| seduent occurrences.
| The agents being secured and Mr.. Alexander
prepared for the receipt of the supposed secret
documents and for an interview with the
burglar, Mr.. Harrington was seen to enter his
Office with what appeared to be an account
book, and to come out again leaving it be-
hind him. Whether he had "planted" it is
of course matter of conjecture. He next
exhibited an anonymous letter, warning him
that "bloke" in Washington had engaged
persons TO rifle the safe in his Office the next
night and although the Chief of Police was
disposed to make light of the story, Mr. Har-
ringtOn insisted that there was something in
it, and jumped at once to the remarkable con-
clusion that the "blOke" was Columbus Alex
ander. In his evidence before the Committee
to be sure he denies that he ever sus-
pected this gentleman, but the Chief OF
Police emphatcally contradicts him. In
accordance with Mr.. HarringtOns request
and under his personal direction watch was
set about the office. 1t was probably the most
extraordinary watch in the history OF police
administration, and it was rewarded by the
discovery of the most extraordinary burglary
in the whole history of crime. The jantOr OF
the building was sent out of the way, and Mr..
Harrington and the Chief took their seats in
a back room overlooking the office. In little
while the two burglars came and tried the
door, but the watchers held it on the inside
(there was no lock-, and the intruders took
the hint and retired. Mr. Harrington then
thought they had better get out OF there"
40 they stationed themselves in the street,
Immediately opposite the City Hall. There
they were reinforced by two policemen, and
pretty soon Mr.. Tom Shepherd, the brother
of the Boss, came along in a casual
way, and Joined the party in ambush. 1t
might have been supposed that the
burglars would have run away for the
night when they found somebody holding the
| door against them in the little back room but
no in the course of half an hour Hayes and
the Sing Sing professional came back as bold
"a brass, burst open the office, threw up the
windows with great deal of noise closed the
blinds and went to wOrk-f0rgetting even to
station a guard on the outside, a precautiOn
which we believe gentlemen of their craft do
not usually neglect. The police wished now
| IN step in and arrest the men, but Harrington
said be must see what they would do with the
| booty. He accordingly instructed the officers
| IN wait until the burglars came out, to follow
the one with bundle, and if he went to
Columbus Alexander's house to let him deliver
| the property and then to arrest the thief
and Alexander too. Presently there was
| loud explosion and the two men reap
peared. Hayes walked away unmOlested.
The other, carrying satchel, went in
| the direction of Mr.. Alexander's house,
| and the watchers followed him. 1t was Gu
rious chase The robber showed neither hurry
| nor concern, and Harrington, Tom Shepherd,
and the three officers stepped 30 close upon
b,s heels that they almost trod on him. He
accosted his pursuers after while and asked
IL "Mr. Columbus something" did not live
around there. They showed him the house,
and he rang the bell, while they waited on
the sidewalk.
The plot-if il was plot-had worked 80
we'll thus far that success seemed certain.
Mr.. Alexander would como down, and recOg-
MIXING tho man who was to bring him tho
secret books. would receive tho satchel yi'hoW