The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-06
seen AFTER MANY DAYS"
A NEW YORK DETECTIVES 'REvE-
LATION..


berry, Now Told for the First Time
How the Combination was Discov-
ered-How a Mere Accident Put the
Detective on the Scent.
NEW York, May 5.--While walking up
Washington street, Boston, last week, l
encountered well-known New York de-
tective. who said he was going to the Mas
sachusetts State Prison, at Charleston, and
invited me to accompany him. We were,
of course, speedily admitted, when the de-
tective had mysterious interview with two
of the convicts
At the invitation of the warden we sub
seuuenty made tour of the poison. In the
shoe shop my detective friend called my at
tention to a pale-faced man who was bend
ing over pegging machine.
THAT was Charley Adams" remarked
the detective while we were in our train to
this city, Though he is better known to the
police as Laugdon w. Moore. He is one of
M st skillful bank bur glars in this coun-
tryr
lis he in now for robbing a bank" l
asked.
Eyes. He and a gang broke into the
Cambridgeport Bank in 1880, and is now
serving out a sixteen-years sentence. He
will be out during the summer of 1892, owing
to Communication for good behavior, and
we will have to keep our eyes open after
that"
"Why, he is quite gray" said l. SIS he
not too old for more crimep
"Thieves like him are never too old for
work. Adams was born in 1880, and has
spent half of the past forty years in prison.
He always aimed at getting big plumber. He
got so much once that the authorities were
afraid to prosecute him."
"How was thatW | asked, seeing there
was chance for story.
well, you must remember that at the
close of the war there was an immense
amount of money invested in government
bonds. Adams and a pal of his enptied the
safe of bank and carried off nearly mil
lion When arrested, he gained his liberty
by sulrendering the greater part of his
booty.
1.-The Concord Bank, of Massachusetts,
had for its President, Mr.. George Hey
wood, WHO was also the cashier of the
County Savings Bank, and he kept all the
securities belonging TO the latter institution
in the vault of the Concord Bank. All
of the merchants and most of the farm
ers in that neighborhood had bonds on de-
post in the vault for safe keeping, though,
as it turned ont, they could not have
chosen a more convenient place for the
burglars.
a man HdIneu I1OWdTu, DuD more
commonly known as English Harry, was
a well-known and very skillful burglar He
had met Charley Adams while they were in
prison together for bursting into different
banks. In the early part of January,
1865, he happened to be IN Concord, when
the idea at once occurred to him that the
bank might be safely cracked. On the
impulse of the moment "EDgli h Harry"
entered tie bank and requested change
for 800 bill. Mr.. Cheshire the teller,
declined to give it, not liking Towards APP
pearance.
This only angered the ex-convict, and
he at once proceeded to birmingham
where Adams was living on his farm. The
result of their conference was that a week
after Adams called at the bank and opened
negotiations for the purchase of some 7-30
United States bonds. Having his eyes
open, he soon discovered that the cashier
kept the key to the vault ON ledge
near the door, and was also foolish enough
10 have the combination on a paper beside
adams and Howard then began work
ing out a plan for robbing the vault. They
first took an impression of the lock on the
outer-dOor, and sent it to New York to
have key made. Fifteen days and nights
elapsed before they got the key to fit, and
nearly three months more we're occupied in
making keys for seven otherIdoors which had
10 be opened before they could reach the
vault safe.
even then they we're foiled, for when
the two men entered the bank one dark
rainy night, they discovered that the cash
Ter was not silly enough to leave his safe
key on the ledge over night, so they had to
adopt some other plan. At first they de-
cided to blow open the safe, fixing the time
for the approaching equinoctial storm. But
the storm proved to be a dry one, and so
Adams and Howard were compelled to
I,a ,Nrniact THOUGH lav E.ya
nights in the bank with their tools before
doing So
"If there is anything | admire about
these big bank burglars it is the pertinacity
with which they conduct their operations.
Having wasted nearly four months Howard
was disposed to give the thing up, but
Adams insisted upon making another and
holder attempt.
zone bright, sunny day, Howard drove
up III front Of a hardware store, nearly OPP
posite the bank. lie was dressed like a
country farm hand and ordered four or
five pounds of nails of different kinds.
While the clerk was filling the order Harry
stood at the door and saw the bank officers
and clerks go away for their dinner. A few
minutes after Adams appeared and receiv-
Ing "A signal that the coast was clear, coolly
entered the building, locking the outer door
behind him He found the safe key on the
ledge, as he expected, and, opening the
vault, soon stripped it of its valuable con
tents, amounting, as have said, to nearly
million.
Il need not say that the burglary created
great sensation and the police all over the
country were put on thar mettle by the
offer OF Zig reward for the recovery Of
the stolen money and securities
Six months elapsed, however, without
any clue, and with the exception of Capt
John Juurdan, of the New York 20.
lice, nearly everybody gave it up as bad
lob.
Its curious how often mere accident
will put a detective on fresh scent, and
that is just what happened in this case
Capt Jourdan had discovered that a man
named David Kinney had beer selling al
tered bonds and as he was known to be a
pal OF Charley Adams, he jumped at the
conclusion that the latter had had hand in
the burglary. He found. however, that
Kinney was very fly, so there was no
chance of working him. In the month Of
October, 1865, Jourdan and George Elder,
well-known detective in his day, were
standing together on the corner of Fifth
avenue and Fifty fourth street, when they
saw Thomas Barton, a young fellow who
had Just served out a sentence for confer
felting On the impulse of the moment