Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-02-16
Burglars Mistakes.

For two years ps st the officers of the sc
cret service division of the government
have been endeavoring to unravel the mys
tery attached to the attempted robbery o
the United States sub-treasury in Philadel
phia, Pa. Up to this time they have me
with indifferent success, and the chance
are they will never be able to ascertain
with distinctiveness who were in the plot
As the case stands now it is a matter o
suspicion against some of the bodies
cracksmen in the country. None bu
thieves were concerned, and they refust
to give information which might lead tC
the detection of their confederates. The
story is an interesting one. But for mis-
calculation on the part of the robbers they
would have succeeded in capturing somt
$l2, ,OOO.O 900 of coupons and cash. Ii
would have been the largest haul evel
made in this country but for their stupid
ity- The large vault in Treasurer Eys-
| ter's office, in the Custom-house building
| contains two apartments. In one of these
it is customary to store the cash and cou
pons that are presented for interest. In
the other small coin is kept. The fact
became known and gang was organized
to make raid on the place. Prominent
on the list was Jimmy Logue, now in the
Eastern Penitentiary, who had $40, 900 on
hand fresh from bank burglary. There
were couple of well known New Yorkers
and two fellows who had escaped from the
Kings County Penitentiary, believed to be
Porter and Irving. Another of the party
was new man, for whom the country has
been secured but without avail.
Logue secured fine residence in West
Philadelphia, where the whole party re-
sided. He was to be reimbursed for his
expenditures out of the proceeds of the
robbery. As warrants and acquisitions
were out for the men on all sides, they
selected Paramount Park as their place of
rendezvous. Their favorite resort was the
quiet retreat at Strawberry mansion. Here
they met daily, after taking an airing and
mapped out their plans. 1t was found
necessary to have one of their number in
side the Custom-house, so this happy plan
was hit upon:
One day reverend-looking gentleman,
with clerical-cut garments and white
choker, waited upon Collector Tuition and
informed him that he was the Rev Mr..
Paddock. The official knew of this
clergyman. The sham minister was ac-
companIed by an innocent-looking young
man who he stated was one of his parish
toner's. DIR. Paddock would be so much
Obliged to the Collector if he could only
give the young man something to do
some light work, such as watchman-as
he was in need, and his health would not
admit of exposure. Collector Tuition was
exceedingly pleased to see DIR. Paddock.
Mr. Tutton's rector In Downingtown and
DIR. Paddock were in fact well acquainted,
and Mr.. Tuition talked freely OF Downing
towns spiritual needs. To the reverend
gentleman he explained that no reliance
could be placed on the recommendations of
politicians, while minister's endorsement
was nearly always safe guide. The sham
clergyman got quite shaky when MIR. Tut
ton touched on Downingtown matters, but
soon switched OFF the conversation and
avoided embarrassment. IL Is now dis
closed that '.Shoey" Miller, who was mixed
i.r, ia the bogus naturalization business,
xIG was sentenced 70 Two years imprisos-
ment in the Eastern penitentiary, person
ated the Rev. DIR. Paddock, and was a
party to the job.
The young man recommended by him
was appointed and made watchman. BY
a strange coincidence the fellow was as
signed to that end of the building where
the suD-ireasury is located For weeks he
was attentive to his duty; but all this time
he was gathering points aud familiarizing
himself with every part OF the building
and with all the persons employed in it.
These facts were made known TO the gang
of which he was member, and some OF
his confederates visited the place to learn
the by-ways.
The robbers exhibited no undue haste in
moving upon their prey, but waited until
the time when the quarterly interest on the
U. S. bonds fell due. They knew that
large sums of money were stored in the
vaults. One Sunday morning It was dis
covered that hole had been made in the side
of the Custom-house wall, large enough to
admit the passage of mans body through
it. A closer examination revealed the fact
that this led directly into the vault. The
place had been cleaned out, but the rob-
bers had been fooled. In this apartment
had been stored the pennies and small
coins. Next to il, and with only the thick
ness of few bricks, was the huge pile of
interest money 1t has been presumed
that the thieves believed they had struck
bags of gold, and that in the darkness they
merely felt of them to learn whether they
were coin or not, and Immediately passed
them out to their confederates to carry to
place of safety. Instead of going further
81. ,s.t for la of
this time, and after an outlay of thousands
of dollars the burglars captured but couple
of hundred dollars worth of pennies. 1t is
thought that daylight came too fast for
them, and they were compelled to vacate
the premises, which was good thing for
the Government.
Investigations were made by the officers,
and detectives were put to work up the
case. They never discovered much. Su-
spicion began to point to the watchman
appointed at the "Rev." MIR. Paddock s
instance. 1t suddenly was revealed to
every one that no one knew anything con-
cnrDlng this individual. He was sent for
by the collector and told to send MIR. Pad
dock to the office. But he did not. That
young man left, and to this day he has
never been seen or heard OF. This job
broke up Logue. When he was arrested
for the Portuondo robbery, he had little
money on hand, but gave mortgage on
bis house for certain sum of money, con-
ditioned upon the fact that if the mortgage
was not paid at set time the house was
to be sold. AS part of the bargain, a
prominent lawyer of Philadelphia. it is
said, agreed to educate and care for Logue's
children until he served his three years
sentence. The mortgage has been fore
closed, and the children are in want. One
of the secret service men traced lot of
pennies to the custody of a couple of well
known thieves, but they made a satisfac-
tory exrlanation of where they came from.
There the veil drops.
A Lesson In English.
What queer blunders these foreigners
make! A German woman living on Tenth
nnl- .t