Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-11-06
MEN WHO LEAD DUAL LIVES.
Strange Facts Called to Mind by the Murder
of Old Man Warner.

of Old Man Warner.
New York Mall and Express
In a great cosmopolitan city like New
York where vice. crime, and morality
are separated only by paper screen,
the occurrence Of some social tragedy,
the accidental arrest Of some petty of
fender, the burning of an old house, or
the breaking down of a trotting-wagon,
lead every once in a while to the
unwilling of some Of those mys-
FERROUS men and women who,
more from habit than necessity,
live a dual life. Thus some years
ago "Dr." Luther j. Bryant kept an
old-coin stand in Fulton street near
William. He was gray-haired, distin-
guished in appearance, fluent CONVEX
sationalist, and would converse for
hours on his favorite topic-old coins
from the time of the Caesars down.
Finally he was arrested by one of
Pinkerton's detectives for buying stolen
postage-stamps from boy in the en-
ploy of Taber & Co., and committed to
the Tombs. While confined there his
residence, in the Eleventh Ward, was
entered by burglars and robbed. Up to
that time be had been regarded as a
poor but abstruse numismatist, whose
whole life was wrapped up in the
collection Of old coins. To the sur
prise of the community, it was learned
that the furniture of his apartment alone
was valued at els. 900, that the carpets
in his rooms equalled in fineness any in
the country, and that the burglars car
ried away nearly 100000 in gold,
which he had hidden between the false
bottoms Of magnificent old oak bu-
reau. The burglars were arrested by
Detective Philip Reilly, convicted, and
sent to prison, but the only part of the
property recovered was silk UNI
brella. Bryant subsequently died from
grief. James D. Grady, alias I" Dia-
mond Jim,' was another eXem-
plifcation of the fact that some
men prefer naturally to be thieves
rather than honest. He was
nominally a peddler of diamonds.
In reality he was one of the greatest
receivers Of stolen jewelry and bonds
in the country. A low-sized, gray
haired Irishman. he was known to
nearly every politician in the city du-
ring the palmy days of the Tweed ring.
In the most severe winters, night or
day, he wore only black alpaca
Jacket, in the various pockets Of which
he habitually carried from $4,000 to
$50, 900 in diamonds, and in a small
black leather bag about the same
amount in watches and expensive
iewelry. These he sold to poll
ticians, gamblers, and men about
town. This man, stripped of his false
personality, was the hacker and friend
Of such bank-burglars as Jimmy Hope,
James Brady, Worcester Sam, George
Miles, Jimmy Burns, John Dobbs,
James Haggerty, and others. lie was
one of the few men who knew the inside
history Of the Barre-Bank robbery,
where the unfortunate cashier, Mr..
Barron, paid the penalty of his faith
fulness with his life. Still, one morning
when Grady was found dead in his chair
at his Office in Fourth avenue, the hid
den secret of his tortuous career was
revealed, and little by little the
stages OF his criminal progress
from early manhood to the grave be-
came marked. Cold, unainching, auda-
cious, and INSCRIPTIONS as he was in
his dealings with men Of his own stamp,
in his dual life he had one weakness.
He was sybarite OF the most advanced
type. OF all the thousands Of dollars
he had accumulated during his years
of cunning infamy, nothing remained
behind him but few paltry pennies,
and he was seen TO the grave by some
broken-down pickpockets whose only
fortune it was to be at liberty at the
time.
Tom Davis, who was shot dead by
the Texan, James Holland, whom he
attempted to swindle in his " Doodle
den " in West Broadway, was another
specimen of double-lifed man. In
public he was the dashing gambler, the
hacker Of pedestrians and pugilists,
and the patron Of horse-racing. In
private he was the contemplate {" boo
die thief, with spiders web set in
every part Of the city--a man with
three households and wife in every
house.
Three years ago the city police were
puzzled to account for the disappear
ance Of the plumber of sneak-thieves,
petty criminals, and park pickpockets.
Last year Inspector Byrnes found the
hidden mine. Detectives Mangin and
McCloskey arrested q boy who had
stolen . watch. He confessed that he
had pawned it and that an old man
called the Doctor had bought the ticket
from him for fifty cents. The 81 Doc
tori was traced down and arrested at
his room in No. IL Stanton street.
lie was known there as Profess
sor Schlessinger, . teacher of Lam
guages, and so circumspect was