Litchfield enquirer., 1881-07-14

THE HIsToRY OF TEE GREAT NORTHAMPTON
 RANK KoBBERY-How THE DEED WAS CON-
 oeCrED, ACCOMPLISHED AND ExPosED-A.
 MARVEL OF CRIMINAL ADRoITNEss
 IoNa HUNT FOR THE LOST SECURITIES AND x EVENTS THAT LED TO THEIR RESTITUTION
 PICTURESQUE INCIDENTS IN THE STORY OF
 AMERICAS BIGGEST BANK BURGLARY.
 NORTHAMPTON, Mass, June 21, 1881.
 It seems satire not only on human nature but on every beautiful work of nature as well that one should hear in this pretty town the story of one of the most famous misdeeds that shadow the criminal calendar of continent. To find crime's masterworks we rarely need to go away from the purlieus of great city and into the precincts of sober, God-fearing village of New England. Least and last of all would we go to Northampton. Set under the shadows of Mount Tom and Mount Hol- yoke on sloping bluff that overhangs the prairie like meadows of the upper Connecti- cut, surrounded by endless beauty of laud- scape and filled with stad and industrious people, this old town seems blessed alike by God and man. Yet here is laid the scene of 8 story whose details make up perhaps the most astounding narrative of ingenious villainy that the long records of crime can reveal-a nar- ratiVe that must take us into the realms of crimes highest art. show US it's uttermost re- finements and gloss moustrous wrong to society with that morbid admiration which our weak human nature always yields to clever misdeed. ..t, Five years ago the Northampton National Bank was the most prosperous of the hnau- cial institutions of this town It had capital of four hundred thousand dollars and a sur plus three, fourths as large Its stock was selling ID the market at one hundred and | sixty dollars share, it's management was conservative, and in nothing did the fore | thought of it's officers appear more conspicu- l ous than in the precautions which they had taken against burglary Inside of the mas sive bank building, which stands on one of the l principal corners of tbe town, was a solid vault. To unlock the outer dqer of the vault several keys were required, and these keys were distributed among as many bank officers | Inside of the vault also the obstacles to bur l glary seemed insuperable. There were two l inner doors, each with it's combination of four sets of figures; there was new and solid safe with double doors, eaeb slso with its combi- nation of four figures; finally, watchman stationed within the bank kept guard until ! four o'clock each morning. The financial in- | tegrlty and sdamantine safeguards of the in- 1 stitution made it popular 0ae with the solid men and danes of Northampton. In 1t were deposited not only the securities of individuals 1 but the funds of trusts as we'll as the cash and bonds of the bank itself We may imagine then the ooneternstion that spread over the 1 community when on the morning of the e6th of January, 1876, it was reported that tie pet 1 bank had been robbed and when it was found | a little later that securities worth almost a million and quarter of dollars and all the cash of the bank had been taken away. Men of wealth seemed reduced to poverty at 8 stroke, the props of the widow and fatherless were broken, and even the scant investments disaster. aStsI.ss "e'e swept ""as IL s"' 'A'' a' l The orignatnrs of this crime and chief agents Tn its execution were three expert cracks 1 men, whose rerords may justly preface the story of their crowning work Robert C.. Scott, James Dunlap and William Corners were trio of rogues who had chosen bank breaking as their criminal specially. They were men ef boldness, nerve, patience and rare skill in ''laying out" a burglary. Work Ing Tn continuation they had during series of years esssksa @aRHSa atf t6 be worth s3 900. 900 though of course not netting the rob bers that sum. In 1872 the trio robbed the Falls City Bank in Louisville, Ky, of $2OO,- 900, and two years later, after most patient and persistent work they penetrated bank vault at Quincy, Ill.,, and stole several hun-
 
 returned. Several of their attempts scarcely less bold and cunning than that at Northamp- ton barely failed. Finding, however, that the locksmiths were outstripping them, the gang sought the aid of some confederate whose technical Knowledge of keys, wards and bolts would supplement their own sdroitpess. and who, working outside of the pale of immedi. ate danger, would be tempted by an equal share in the booty. They found him in Wm. U. Edson, skilled workman of Herring & Company, the safemakers., He joined the gang in 1873, advised and assisted them when his aid was needed and took his share in the nefarious spoil. .-s.. .a. .rsa.5 1ts -s
 In an evil hour the officers of the Northamp- ton Bank fell into the tolls of this knave. Some two months before the robbery there had been difficulty with some of the doors and locks of the vault, and Edson had been sent for as an expert to make the necessary re. pairs The clever rascal saw his opportunity Entrusted with the keys used to open the outer door of the vault he took wax impres sions from which on his return to New York duplicate keys were made. But the fellow did stroke of business still more clever There still remained the four-fold combinations of the inner doors and the safe to be over come. Edison was aware that clesk of the bank knew some of these combinations, and he artfully suggested to John Whittlessy. the cashier, that there was danger in thus trusting subordinate. By his advice all the comb. nations were finally given to Cashier Whit tlesey. With the keys of the outer vault held by the robbers the whole question of a euc, cessful robbery depended upon eliciting the combii ations from the cashier,-a matter of no small andacity and peril, for he lived two thirds of a mile from the bank in house where beside himself there dwelt six persons At first the plan of the robbers was to seize Whittlesey by night, get the combination, overpoWer the watchman and fly with the plunder. But re1ecting that as the watchman lett the bank at four o'clock on midwinter morning there were two or three working hours available, the plan was changed
 The scheme moved quickly to it's culmina- tion. By frequent trips to Northampton the gang had made themselves we'll acauainted with localities and in particular had spied out carefully the situation at the house where Cashier Whittlesey lived. They had joined with themselves four muscular confederates. whose names, with one exception, are not certainly known to this day. At about 1 o'clock on the morning of the 26th of January, 1876, the burglars having reached Northamp- ton by different routes, gathered, masked. in front of Cashier Whittlesey's house. The front door was opened by turning the key, with nippers, and the masked men entered. Every one of the seven inmates, consisting of Cashier Whittlesey, his wife, another married pair. two ladies and 8 servant were awakened, bound and placed under guard Scott and Dunlap, the leaders, then took Whttlesey iB charge. He was ordered at the point of the pistol to surrender the combinations of the. vault and safe. He tried to temporize, and gave the robbers false set of combinations. Here was an emergency that the cunning of Scott was equal to. It would have wasted precious time to have gone after four o'clock to the distant bank to test the figures and to take Whittlesey through the open streets would be to risk the success of the whole scheme. So Scott who had taken down the numbers on paper. suddenly asked Whittlesey to repeat them. The cashier could not recall the fictitious figures. and his decelt was eyi. dent. The robbers then resorted to more heroic means: The cashier was pounded, kicked and choked until at last in pain and terror he pave