The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1879-02-21
AN ADROIT SNEAK THIEF.
The vIcIssitudes of Detective Life.
WRITTEN FOR THE NEWS BY COL. W.

WRITTEN FOR THE NEWS BY COL. W.
Several years ago, when Geo. S. Bout
well was secretary of the treasury depart
ment at Washington, a party of ladies
and gentlemen of high official connec-
ton and aristocratic bearing, entered the
treasury building for the purpose of in
speeding Gen. Spinner's division and the
printing bureau.
They were accompanied, unknown
to them, by one of the most remarkable
sneak thieves that New York city could
boast of. And as an exemplification of
the rare tact of this educated villain and
his ability to play a shrewd game, the
case in hand is perfect illustration. To
the distinguished ladies and gentlemen
of the party he accompanied he appear
ed to be a treasury official, kindly and in
telligently explaining the purpose of the
various machines for printing and en-
craving. He conversed pleasantly with
the ladies nearest him as they passed
from room to room. By the various
treasury officials. they fell in with, the
bold sneak was Dked upon as men,
Der of the party in whose company he
was-a lover or husband, perhaps, of one
of the fair ladies present, and thus the
distinguished gentlemen, fashionable la
dies and gallant rogue passed along to-
gether until they reached Gen. Spinner's
cash room, whittier they went to feast
their eyes on the enormous piles of green
backs that were there lying about in pack
ages as plentiful as bags of corn and oats
in grain warehouse. One nice, tightly
bound bundle, containing just 100000 in
brand new ten dollar bills, just as they
came from the mill, attracted the atten-
ton of our champion ''hoister," and as
he stopped to admire it he swayed his
body gracefully and with a dexterous
motion of his right hand he transferred
the neat little package from the table to
his left hand under his stylish broab-
brimmed Panama hat. The rapidity
with which the feat was performed would
have done great credit to the ablest ma
gician extant. The expert rogue then
quietly sauntered toward the door, and
with hat In hand politely bowed his way
out backwards past the attendants on
duty.
The person whose business it was to
keep a sharp lookout for the packages of
money lying on his table discovered
the loss in few minutes after his de-
parture. The visitors were still present
in the cash room, and as all of them, like
the wife of Cesar, were above suspicion
the disappearance of a package that had
lain plain in sight a few minutes before
became profound mystery, as the sys-
tenn of handling money in the cash room
is such as to almost preclude the posi-
bility of parcel being removed for a
moment without the change being dis
covered. That it was gone was plain to
be understood, but where? oh! where ?
No one could tell. And strange enough
to relate no one seemed to have any sus-
picion of the istinguished looking gen.
tleman who was thought to be an attache
of Gen. Spinner's guests.
1 received information of the robbery
of the $4,000 on the following day while
at my office in New York city. The only
description of the package that could be
given was the numbers on the notes, which
were serial in their form. Several days
of cautious inquiry and careful manipu-
lations throughout the haunts and dives
of the most noted crooks of the empire
city developed lead; trif1ing though it
was at first, by dint of hard labor, it soon
assumed tangible shape and resulted
in the discovery of deposit of several
hundred dollars of the missing money at
the Stuyvesant bank to the account of a
livery stable keeper named William Mer-
riam.
had heard of Merriam before as the
man Friday of one of the most illustri-
Gus rascals that our modern Gotham
could then boast Of 1 arrested Merriam
but he was Immediately discharged upon
his preliminary examination before the
United States commissioner, there being
no evidence going to prove that he had a
guilty knowledge of the money having
been stolen from the government. 1t oc
CURED to me that Merriam might have
received the money from the man whose
tool he was known to be. A pursuit in
that direction was based upon a mere
suspicion, only this and nothing more.
was aware that a noted thief, not Mer-
riam, was the real owner of the livery
stable of which M-was keeper And
| Immediately put my men to work to
find the residence of the owner of the
stable in question. 1t did not take them
long to find his domicil, but to catch the
bird and connect him with the robbery
was the part of another story.
1t was late in the afternoon when l
rang the front door bell of an imposing
mansion on 37th street. The person in at
tendance at the door was rather pretty
but determined looking woman of five
and twenty summers, or Whereabouts, as
near as l could judge, as only portion
of her person was visible from where l
stood, she having taken the precaution
to open the door only few inches, and
1t was easy to see that it was held by a
chain; otherwise l should have pressed
my way into the house for the purpose
OF examing the premises. But seeing
how matters stood, and fearing l had a
keen woman to deal with, made no at
tempt to carry out my original design,
but quietly and modestly inquired for
the gentleman resident of the house. She
informed me that he had stepped out a
short time before' 1 then said to the
young lady that it was a matter of no
consequence, that would call again the
next time visited the city.
l then retired around the corner where
l had stationed a number of my men,
and to two of whom gave instructions
to carefully watch the house in question,
and to give the collar to any man they
might see entering the premises with a
latch-key. On the next day I secured
the services of an expert in opening safes,
an employe of Herring's safe manufac-
tory, and with him and several of my
men went to the house on Thirty-sev-
enth street. We stepped carefully up to
the front door. 1t was our intention to
break that chain the moment the door
was opened. pulled the door-bell sew
eral times huf No ono raSD0ndad ffar