Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-20
THE DEsBoUILLoNs ROBBERY.
The Capture.in New York of Two of the
Gang Supposed to Have Committed

The Capture. in New York of Two OF the
Gang supposed to Have Committed
the Burglary.
The capture in New York last week by
Pinkerton's detectives of the last two of
gang of professional safe cracksment
who have been robbing jewellers in in
terror cities for over a year, and the
statement by the Pinkertons that
they probably belong TO the gang
that robbed Desbouillons' jewelry store,
in this city. on election night last winter
of $4,000 worth OF jewelry and valuabies,
aroused considerable speculation as to
the truth of the report.
The gang began operations IN New Or
leans. and worked nOrthward, taking in
small places, and invariably making
clean sweep Of the dealers stock. Their
operations were SO extensive that whole
sale dealers began to lose through
the losses of the retailers. To
combat the gang the jewelers. Security
Alliance was formed in New / ork last
June, and was assisted IN its efforts to
break up the gang by PinkertOn's Agency.
The capture of the two burglars was
made near Ellenyille. Ulster county, y.
Y. where a daring and successful robbery
was committed. The mode OF operating
in this instance and in many others diff
fered from that by which the DesbOuil-
Ions safe was opened, and from this TACT
it is doubted by many whether the gang
is the same which perpetrated the robbery
here.
The mode OF breaking the safe at Ellen
Vile was an ingenious one. \ half inch
hole had been bored between the handle
of the safe and the combination lock.
thread had been cut in this hole and an
instrument used that broke the lock and
pushed it inside the safe. The previous
method has always been to use ''puller'
and draw the lock out, piece by piece,
through the hole. The old process Occu-
pied several hours and was very noisy.
The new method occupies from twenty
minutes to half an hour, and may be done
so silently that safe has been opened IN
the next room to that in which family
were sleeping, without awakening any
| one.
The tools found in the rooms of the men
| where they were arrested in Eighth ave-
nue.. New York. were the first set used in
/ the new process Of safe breaking that
| have vet been discovered. They CON-
Drised an auger to bore into the sale,
| screw to cut the threader. and ''pusher."
which is operated by powerful brace 10
| shove the lock IN, besides lot OF other
/ implements. Some OF the pieces are miss
| ing but it is thought they Will be found
| to be those that the burglars left in Ellen
| vile. The whole set weighs less than
! four pounds. In the room was found
| complete workshop for the manufacture
1 of burglars tools and a number Of Imple-
ments in various stages OF completion.
| Among the other effects were memo
randum book, which it is thought Will be
very valuable i'm discovering other cracks
men: a'big revolver with the barrel cut
! off short so that it can be carried IN an
/ OvercOat p0cket; another set of the safe
/ breaking tools and several memoranda of
| safe combinations. The names of the
| craftsmen are Charles II. Mahon, alias
! The DOwneaster," and John Moore.
MahOn is a well-knOwn safe burglar.
1 He is about - years OF age and is a
| brOther-in-law of "Gus" Tristan, who is
now serving u years for burglary. MahOn
! has served term of u years i'll Massa-
| chusetts State prison, whence he derives
4 the alias of 1.-the DOwneaster;" term OF
/ four years and a term Of three years In
| the Cherry Hill prison in Philadelphia for
/ the same Offense. His family are very re-
! spectacle people. Moore is % years OF
| age. and has previously been known as
! hOuse-breaker. His parents are also re-
| spectable people. Mr.. PinkertOn says
/ that the arrest of MahOn and Moore breaks
| up the more dangerous of the two gangs
! that the jewelers. Alliance was formed
/ to combat. He thinks that Mahon, Moore,
! Burgess, Yost and HOulihan, others ofthe
! same gang started out together with the
new process for safe-breaking, which was
probably invented by Moore, who is
! skilled mechanic, and that they split in
! the South, where they are supposed to
/ have committed the Desbouillons robbery
! i'm this citv and also to have robbed L. A.
/ Zadocks, Of Mobile, Ala; stephen
! Thomas. Jr., of Charleston, ;. c., and
! large number of places further North, IN
! Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Eastern
! States.
! A MORNING NEWS reporter called upon
! Mr.. DesbOuillOns Yesterday to know what
/ action he had taken toward identifying if
possible the robbers and recovering the
| property if the men were implicated in
! breaking his safe.
Il have heard nothing except what l
! have seen in the papers," said Mr.. Des-
| bouillons, ''but l shall notify Captain
! Byrnes, Of the New York police, who has
| a description of my property, to be ON The
! lookout
ssDo YOU have an idea that these men
arrested were the ones that entered your
| stOre?"
II can't tell anything about it. ! have
no reason to believe that they are or are
not. and if they are it will be unlikely
! that l shall ever get any of the property.
! 1t has been disposed of long before this"
! Detective Julius Kaufman, who with
| Detective Wetherhorn were engaged for
/ some time in following up the case, fur
| Their stated that 1t was not at all probable
! that the parties were implicated in the
Savannah robbery. as their mode OF oper-
| alton was entirely different.
The cracksmen are now undergoing eX-
| animation in New York, and 1t is possible
| that from them some clue to the case
may he obtained.