Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-06-09
CONFESSION OF A DYING THIEF

The Remarkable Dcathbed Story of Bar.
uunr's "Vancouver, the No-haired Man,
of Vancouver lslagJ She was Born il,
(,onuecticut-His Subsequent Life of Crime
-Confessions of Murders and Rurglaries
A Troy, New York, dispatch of May
25th says,
A few weeks since an old man was ar
rested in this place having in his posses
sion horse and buggy which lie had
stolen from livery stable in Norwich
Chenango Go. The man gave his name
as Burr Deming, and was noticeable fol
the abse nee of hair on his head and
face. Shortly after his arrest he was
taken LII and continued to grow worse
until Saturday when he died. The day
before he died he requested a clergyman
to be summoned to his bedside, as he
desired to make certain revelations and
confessions before he died. The story
he told, or portion of it, have just been
made public, and is one of the most ex-
traordinary narratives known to the
records of crime.
He was born, he said, in Sharon,
Litchfeld county, Conn.,, and the fact
CT his having no hair attracted the at
tention OF P. T. Barnum, when tia
Snowman first started out, and who en-
gagged him to travel with him. Barnum
advertised him SIS Vancouver, the no.
haired man Of Vancouver's Island" a
feature of the early exhibitions of Bar
mum which will be remembered by
many yet living. He was with Barnum
seven years, and then left him to follow
life of crime. which he adhered to
ever after. He was married eight times,
and seven of his wives. he declares, are
yet living--one in New York. two in
Philadelphia, one In Connecticut, one
in New Orleans, one in Lockport and
one In Boston. He said that he had
been concerned in no less than 300
burglaries since he left Barnum, three
of which were attended with murder
He had been arrested 115 times, and
served many terms in prison, rangin,
from six months to two years. The last
time he was sentenced was in Buffalo.
He was an accomplish of Dan Noble in
the celebrated bond robbery of 1869,
and in 1870 he was tried at Buffalo and
sentenced by Judge Boardman to five
years in Auburn Prison. He served
two of it, and was then pardcaed out by
Gov. Hoffman at the petition of friends.
After leaving Auburn, Deming went
to Canada He had been there but a
few months when he joined gang of
burglars and planned and helped to ex-
ecute the robbery of the ST. GATHERINGS
Bank He was arrested before he could
leave the province, all the rest escaping.
When put upon trial he succeeded in
establishing an alibi through the testi.
mony of one Mary Washburne, sup
posed respectable seamstress of st.
GATHERINGS. but in reality the wife of one
of the gang ana an accomplice in the
robbery. There is a reward, Deming
said, of So, 900 still standing for the ar
rest of the parties engaged in the st.
Catharines' robbery. They got away
with about $40, 900 and Il large amount
oil. bonds. These latter, according to
the dying criminal, were buried in Del
aware county, near the Ulster county
line, and are there yet for all he knew
to the contrary. Deming said that the
robbery of the United States mail of five
bags of valuable matter at Utica a year
ago was planned by him, but he did not
participate in the robbery, although
he knew all the parties engaged in it,
and how they have managed to elud
justice. He was one of the gang w
committed the Comstock robbery. q
In Utica, which, he said, did not vie 4
the amount that was reported as taken,
being, in fact, an Improbable job. Be
sides these leading crimes IN which he
was concerned, Demming confessed to
being a leader in numerous others
which acquired but local reputation,
but which were important as to the
profit they yielded. He claimed to
know who broke open the Port Jervis
Bank in 1869, when about $50, 900 In
money and bonds were stolen, and said
he was one of the watchers outside
when it was done. Deming also said
that ne knew who robbed and murdered
Mr.. Edwards a few months ago al
Cooperstown. It will be remembered
that Edwards, who was a wealthy resi-
dent of Cooperstown, was attacked at
night at his residence, robbed and
murdered. By a hat which was left
behind by the murderer or murder
ers supposed clew was obtain
ed to party concerned in the
crime, and he was arrested. Deming
said they had not got the right man
that he knew to whom the hat belo- e
ed. He gave detailed account of IL u
crime, mentioning the names of those
concerned in it, and made many extraor-
binary developments. which the authori-
ties who now have the sworn confession
will not as yet divulge. Deming lived
but few hours after making his state
ment, and was fully aware of his ap
preaching dissolution. Opinion as C
the truth of his confession is considera
bly, divided; many believing that dying
man would not trump up the stories he
told, and others claiming that Deming
was crazy. An investigation of the state
ment will be made, and their truth OF
falsity settled ct once.
Cape POrpOises and Blackfish.
At present whales are scarce in Cape
Cod Harbor: and it is an extra hazard