Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-10-30
RIVER THIEVES.
Mobs That Were Handy With
Knife and Pistol
A Police Inspectors Experience with Har-
Dor Pirates-A Reckless Profession
Which, Fortunately, Is on the De-
crease-River Thugs of To-Day.
IN. Y. Sun.1

IN. Y Sun.1
IT'S mistake to suppose, as many dc,
that piracy exists only in romances. There
repirates in this city to-day; and vent.
ure to say that there are pirates in every
coast city or town where shipping interests
are large. These pirates are not so pictur-
esque as those of romance. They don't
sail in a fast, rakish looking vessel, nor
bear down upon their prey with skull and
cross-bones flying; but, withal, they are
as hardened and desperate a lot of pirates
as those who once sailed the seas. They
are the criminals whom the public call
river thieves"
The speaker was Inspector Thomas
Byrnes, Chief of the detective force of this
city. He was sitting at his desk in his
commodious room at police headquarters.
The Inspector glanced over some of the
records of the department and proceeded: !:
"They are not picturesque pirates, tc
judge from the specimens New York has
produced, for their ranks are recruited
from the worst toughs of the city. They
find colnpanionship only among them
selves, for the refined thieves shun them.
We rank them with the most desperate
characters. They will take any chance,
and have no heIitancy in killing any one
who discovers them at their work Nearly
every mob of river pirates that has in
tested the harbor and rivers of this city
has scored several murders committed
during its depredations."
''Do they operate in gangs?" asked the
reporter with whom the Inspector was
talking.
"Yes' or, to be technical, in mohs. The
nature of their work makes it impossible
for them 20 operate otherwise. They 20
about il this manner: During the day
members of the mob prowl around the
docks and among the shipping, and locate
property which they think can be stolen
during the ensuing night. You see, it
would be impossible for them to work
quickly and successfully if they had 70
look for something to steal after they
started out at ght. If they see promis-
ing-looLing vessel riding at anchor, they
| get in with the sailors who come ashore
and find out who's going to be aboard her
at night-whether she's watched, or only
the Captain stays aboard"
"Then their depredations are at night?n
"All under cover of darkness. At night
and it may be a wild, stormy night
they put off from one of the wharves in a
small boat and pull with muffled oars to
the wharf on which they have located
some bale of goods or other article, or tc
the ship whose Captain they intend to rob-
They row quickly and quietly, and usually
get alongside the wharf or vessel without
being heard. They glide along as silently
as water rats. If the tide is low their work
is more diliicult, for they have more clam
bering to do. Even under most favorable
circumstances their work is difficult. Thew
have to handle rather bulky Doodle, which
isn't, after all, very valuable. OF course
owing to the bulkiness of the articles they
steal, the difficulty of handling them adds
to the risks they run of being detected
The fact is, l never could see the induce.
ments which river thieving offers to those
who follow it. For river thieves have tc
work harder than the humblest day labor.
er, and their rewards are not large Then
too, when they board a vessel they run
the risk OF being shot or being obliged tc
shoot some one in the course of their op-
erations."
" Are there many of them?"
There are not many now, but at one
time there were several notorious mobs OF
river thieves operating here. The first
notorious mob began operations here in
/ 1S4S. it was composed of William Saul
/ Nicholns Hewlett and William johnson,
They we're as desperate trio as the DO
lice ev'r had to deal with. Though thew
were arested time and again, convictiup
evidente against them could not be pro-
cured, md they escaped justice until 1853
Late in 1852 they boarded sloop lying of
the foo. of Oliver street. The watchmau
aboard Of her was below, but he heard
their footsteps on deck. As soon as he
] reachet the deck he was overpowered
bound and gagged. While the moi
was going through the cabin the watch.
man succeeded in loosening the gag
and called for help. On hearing him, the
thieves hurried from the cabin to the
deck, shot the watchman dead, continued
their work and went off with their booty
/ Like most river thieves-indeed, like most
thieves in general-they were caught by
tracing the property which they had
stolen. They were arrested by the police
| of the Seventh precinct. Saul and How
lett were convicted of murder in the first
degree, and were hanged on January 2s
/ 1858. johnson was sent to State Prison
for life. Thus the first notorious mob OF
I L ID.
"The leaders of the next mob of notori
ETY. were Patsy Conroy, Larry Griffin and
one Knevals. They thieved along the
river successfully a while, beginning
about 1880, and then thought they would
try higher game. So they began breakine
into bonded warehouses. This proved too
hazardous, and was abandoned by tn,
mob for their first pursuit, river thieving
They went scot free until 1865, and ther
only one of them, Patsy Conroy, went t.
prison. Still you must not thinl
that they worked without moIesta.
tion. Like all the others I hav,
mentioned or will mention, they were ar,
rested again and again on suspicion, bu
we could not get the evidence necessary K
convict them For instance, members O.
another mob, which began operatins
about 1850, and which was led by Jimmy
Waddy and Jack Lowry, were arrested
time and again, but not sent up till 1879
when Waddy and Lowry got ten years
There isn't thief who doesn't finally ge
frozen out or sent up or meet violen
death.
"For the past ten years the haybor ha
been systematically policed, and rive
thieving is difficult without collision OF
the part of employees of those who ar,
robbed. The best-known river thieves o
to-day are John Sheehan, Mike Shanahan
Dennis Grady, Richard Black, John Rog
ers, Eddie Watson, John Pender, Jane
Docherty, Big Mike, Tom Frost and Henr,
Cornelius. Some of these are in prisol
now. We have our eyes on those that ar,
not. and some time wen ges our hands o.