The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-01-20
A WATCH VS.. A MILLION.
ron STEALING THE FIRST. A LIFE
SENTENCE; FOR STEALING THE
SECOND, TEN YEARS.
THAT Il what Will he the Final DIspO'
sitiOn OF the Northampton
Bauk Burglars.
IN. Y. World.1

"
The Northampton Bank robbers new trial
Undoubtedly they will be sentenced to inn
prisonlnent for life. 1t will be remembered
That Robert Scott and James Dunlap were
convicted on July rs Of entering Cashier Whit
fleseys house, assaulting the family and
stealing o 5000 gold watch They had pre-
viOualy been convicted OF robbing the bank
for which, however, they can only be punished
by imprisonment for ten years,
though generally familiar, Is worth repeating:
On the night of january 25, 1876 seven masked
men entered the house OF the cashier, bound
and gagged Mrs. Whittlesey, Mrs. Matte @.
Page, q lady who was staying at the house,
and four other persons, and persuaded Mr.
Whittlesey with pistol to disclose the com
binations OF the vault lock and give up the key
To the outer door Of the vault, the only one
which he possessed. The latter they obtained
lieved IL would be impossible for them to effect
an entrance to the vault without one OF the
keys to the inner door, which were In the pos
session respectively Of the president, vice
president and 9 director. Three men were
proceeded to the bank, after the watch
man had left at o'clock g. m., and by
the aid Of the combinations, the cashiers key
and three false keys which they brought with
them. opened the vault and took therefrom
$4,000 III bank bills and government and rail-
road bonds valued OF S1,O00,000 or 81, $50, 900.
The bank owned 100000 Of these bonds and
various eitizens OF Northampton and vicinity
the rest. The latter had been In some cases
ss IL = n ,,,t ~ 10 VOC ,,nnn fhon, That Il
ss ~ uarv 20 iim,lt tn ascertain the whole
a,,s,nnt IN the rnbberv' To ret,,rn to the
Whittlesey household. Sometime after their
guards had left, the cashiers wife released
~. VI, hni., ,phicb oame about a ncncl and
tha family ware relieved from their long con-
fin U l Mir. Whittlesey was taken, still
alora Ind naeed upon his wrists
s., tia hank and an examnation seemed t1
SIn,. Hut the efforts If the robbers had failed
a. thew Ind taken the nrecaution to lock the
~a,,itay affe,. them n was renessarv tn send I 3,
Nav yr,.lr Nh. IN axnert In omen the doors and
Il sas seventy. four hours before the reai facts
.., was r.,,,, bnh ~aue tha cr,minola a"tii
s;en 9 airoe r. make Good their aanape The
oniu facta allotted nv mn immediafe eyamina-
tdonI were s that the burglars had been hanging
ehn,,t the t1,wn far Some weeks. making their
heS,i1,,ar.ters in the attic of q school house
A III ti,ni,. nsstions shnwed That thew were ner
sartiv acnuainfed with the hank and the
hal,i}u If tba cashier and Waterman
m thn fnllowfno Autumn PnIterton,s datee
lives III whom tia ease had been intrusted
fhn,,rhf thew had found n clue when thew mo-
finnd unvnrai notorious h1rglara in fra9,,ent
cnnsrltation with firm Of New York LAWYERS
who had been engaged in the comnromise
hnsineas for some Years Iinon bacominp
annvinced Tint thew were on The right track
thew notified the bank people of the Condition
III affairs. The latter however. were at this
time expecting to recover the property, and
tho aatectives were directed to take no steps
The burglars wanted aft first 5000 600 and then
came down to 100000, 1t is understood that
the owners of the securities were willing to
give 100000. At this time letters from
fhe burglars. signed rufus" were being re-
cefved by the bank authorities and an
severed by nersopals in the Herald One ppr-
~, "a
the securities. was as follows "Hope-Nearlv
rne-half of the bearing trees are girdled and
81 little value" The negotiations, however,
tiropDed through, and the work of collecting
evidence began afresh. Finally, on February
ii. William Connors was arrested as he was
coming ont of Solari's restaurant. on JTniver-
sity Place. New York. "Jim' Dunlap and
Robert Scott. alias ''Hustling Bob. left town
that morning for Richmond. Va but were
arrested i'm Philadelphia with a bag of bur
glars tools In their possession. John, alias
HRed' I,earv. who kent a saloon Mt Fort
Hamilton, another member of the gang,
got away. The Pinkertons profess to know
Int have not so far succeeded in arrestinsg ,
them. The three taken were well known to
the police and were suspected of many other
bank burolaries. Scott was considered the
captain OF the band and besides him. his
Young and pratty wife and I,earv. no one knows
fhe whereaho,Ifs of the stolen bonds Con
n,ra was n vveiladressed uentlemaniv nnnoar-
inr fellow. well known as a gambler and a
fhieves' go-between whose face was very IN
miliar on the race tracks of the coantrv. Asa
hank burglar his sneciaitw was "l9catinp'
and MAKING the nreliminary inonries Scott
md nnnlan were soon taxen rom Ph;IadeI.
mia h Massachusetta bnf Conner Il viii he
harad nod },n NJ, nd, 81
lnv Strest Jail np Ina x 1yhii ,ya;t;rn f
fbn arr;yal If h;s ronmiS;t;on ,n,,ors "a'oA ioA
'it Ia g. f VI rit t @ apels;t
,,ch tall in No,thamntnn abn,,s o en.,p we
m;sa tha raeoyeru " tha n,iss;no hondo md
ves,.s sentence for Scott nn3 nnsnlon ' Thnsa
ta in tbo ,,rnot t nnt apa oant 81
Which haa hean I o oe De c bnsr ID
that on tho dav that Set, crnssns ,riaau
fhreshnld sfvisb Mrs Scott vii, h,,rn ali pthosn
securities and thew are nat,rollv Worried r
The trial went u on met tho same hnyyvever and
the evidence was If y crnsbing weight Dash. .
Ter Whittlesev nositivelv identified the pris.
oners nv the tones of heir Voices and one nf
them BY a habit Of shrugging his shoulders.