Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-08

I v 3
out the author or authors of the following
| anonymous letters which were sent to Mrs.
| Kate Dawson, widow of the late Colonel John
| w. Dawson of this city, and daughter of the
late Mr. Eugene Magevuey. Mrs. Dawson
| received a letter, marked No IN the follow
| ing account, and at once placed it in the
hands Of Chief of Police P. r. Athy. The
other letters were received in the order
| given:
Letter No. L.
| MEMPHIS, March 2, 1879.
Miss DossoN-There is now being formed by gang
of experienced and notorious Chicago burglars
plot TO rob you and your house of the valuables dia
You have considerable lot Of them. an the gang
| has had their heads set on getting them We have
| also been Informed that you are very good and
charitable woman. l, the leader of the gang, have
stopped the movements for the presentsn all have
ditons: That you Will give US the small amount OF
three hundred dollars, by which you can let me know
by putting in the personals of the APPEAL paper,
Tuesday morning, March 4th, saying, ~ Will COM
money, three hundred dollars, say the opposite and
we WILL however, know how to proceed; and II you
through the mail where to send to, and If you DO
not feel disposed to come up to our agreement we
will carry out plans at all hazards Our scheme
is good one and well planned, and there is way
in the world that you could foil u.s. and before We
would be taken or foiled in the attempt to secure
these yaluableswe would murder any and everybody
that comes In our road as We have every necessary
for to operate we'll in; want to leave, but not
till we get the money to go on. think by your COM
plJluB VIII you Will save u6dp
of trouble and perhaps bloodshed. If anybody
comes In our way while our operations
the money not a hair Of your head Shall be hut
Be sure to pub fsh the answer in the APPEAL paper
it for granted that you viii do what We want when
we shall commence our operations which will be in
the money or somebody will get hurt in US getting
PSNPat in the paper this way: Mr. X. WIN
comply with your request; inform me where to send
the package.
MARCH 8, 1879.
MRS. DOssoN-Your answer is satisfactory, and In
reply say to send the package to wallace, post
office box 1885, city, and everything will be all right;
and however you put spies or detectives on to u.s.
to Interfere with our movements, we will A7H the
first and anybody that approaches us, and should
any of us get caught, of us would not and
Venge would be TO burn your house or do something
even worse than that SO it would be cheaper for you
to inclose the money, three hundred dollars, in
medium size envelope and send It to us at the above
not nerered with, will be perfectly satisfied and
not hair OF your head or your grdndmotbeT's either
to get out of being robbed than to comply with our
small request. There is honor among thieves, an d
your rest In peace and safety after you have done
what you said and not place any detectives spies
on to our movements, as there would certainly be
bOOdshed on one side OF the other Send the
money this way Put six fifty dollar bills or three
hundred-dOllar bills, in a dark. heavy, medium
sized envelope and direct 1t to wallace. postOice
box 1876, city. Put 1t in the postofice Wednesday,
the fifth, sure, so We can get it Immediately and
leave town. Don't fail to comply with your part and
should you be stubborn and try to get caught
somebody will be sure to be murdered will let
no man take us without Offering r powerful n resist
We would burn whole city if necessary to carry
Letter No. 3.
MEMPHIS, March Z. 1879.
MRS. DOSsON-We write you for the last time. We |
want to know If intend to comply with your part
of the contract, and give us that money not You
like us when you suit. You would comply with our |
the chief of police, whe set trap with the post |
master to catch but Will tell he amt sharp
In it; we would not take 1t out We are not going 10
be fooled WITH and If value your property come
out In the personals of the APPEAL tomorrow and |
say that you will or you Will not give us that moneY
The police don't catch uS-you need not try to get
vate Waterman of yours the other night quick |
with slungshot that he would never know what
any longer, say If you intend to fix your promise
or not and We will tell you where to send the money
we will drop on you when you leave IN a way you
will never think. If you can t7ke that empty pack
to bite at your trap when there is nothing In it, and
If you don't decide pretty quick what you are going
to do, the loss Will be heavy on you.
The above letters, as received, were placed
in the hands of Chief-of-Police Athy, the last
one was received yesterday, and the chief,
with his detectives, Messrs. M'Cune ard
Pryde, and other members of the force, who
had been put on that special work, were
able to arrest and "pull'' the men who at
tempted to play the game of blackmall.
They are A. T. Foster, young man raised
in Memphis, but lately an employee of Fore
paugh's circus and mepagene. ae is a fast
young man, aged about twenty-five years, |
and is crooked" The second was Charles
Sims, alias J. Wallace, Crook who is
comparative stranger in Memphis, but has
been here for some time as performer at the
Washington street variety-show, as fancy,
lightweight glove boxer. He is about TWEEN
two-years of age. The third young man is a
Memphian. and most respectfully
connected. He admitted that he wrote
the letters above given at the dictation
ct the other young men. He is about twenty
one years CT age, and has been recognized as
a young man who worked for a living, but
fast life, beer, whisky and fast women of the
variety school were too many for him. He
formed bad associates and, of course joined
the gang" The three young men who at
tempted to extorG money were arrested by
the agents of the chief of police yesterday,
and they confessed as to their delinquencies.
Esquire Quigley was called in and issued
State warrants against each of the young
men. and their cases will be heard by him at
Ten o'clock Monday morning next. The
Memphis man gave bail in the sum of two
thousand dollars to appear on that day, his re-
atIves and friends going on his bond. The
other two young ''crooks, " A. L. Foster and !
Charles Sims, were sent to Jail in default of
pail The entire trouble was beer, wine and
women, which results generally in crooked
ness" and robbery, at least with young men