Wichita eagle., 1888-10-31
ISAAC MARSH.
Career of Famous Robber, Just Released
From Prison.

| lars that ever infested the United States,
was liberated from the Eastern peniten-
tiary at sunset this evening. The imme-
diate crime for which he has been doing
penance was the robbery of the First
National Bank of Wellsboro, Tioga county
and of the Citizens Savings
Bank at Athens, also in this state.
winch acts, committed in the dead of the
night. netted him and his assistants il the
neighborhood of 500, 900 each
In 1871 the Waterman of the Wellsboro
bank was found in the cellar of that
building, tied hand and foot. He was
stained with blood and the dust of the
floor. and had evidently not been subdued
without desperate struggle. The safe IN
the room above had been cleverly opened
without any explosive, and every dollar of
cash and every negotiable bond was taken
by the thieves
For brief time suspicion rested on the
unfortunate Waterman, the theory being
that he had bruised himself and that a
''paP had bound him after they had Sc
cured the money. The subject of an ar
rest was at one time considered, but for
reasons soon TO be discovered was not de-
cided upon.
Meanwhile the Waterman stoutly main
tanned that he was innocent, and showed a
peculiar button which he claimed to have
snatched from the coat Of his principal as
sailant.
While the officials of the bank were
still trying to unravel the mystery, news
was received of the robbery of the Athens
bank in Bradford an adjoining county. A
Waterman had been attacked, subdued
and bound in exactly the same way. The
safe so had been similarly opened, and
there was no longer any reason to doubt
the innocence of the Wellsboro Waterman.
1t was equally obvious also that the bur
glars were not novices, as they opened the
safe without the use of explosives, but OBJ
tanned access to the bank without so much
as smashing window pane.
By singular coincidence the second
Waterman had snatched a button from
the coat of one of his assailants, and this
was found in his hand although ne was
unconscious when discovered.
A conference of the officials OF the two
banks was held. and by means of the two
buttons the two crimes were traced TIC the
one individual.
A posse of citizens, melted by the offer
of $4,000 reward, soon after
ward captured Marsh on the Do
minion frontier. lie sturdily refused
to give the names of his associates,
and they managed to escape unpublished,
but two buttons were missing from his
coat, which retained two others exactly
like those in the watchmen'S hands
Big Ike" as he was called, first came
into national prominence as a crook about
1867, when he figured as the leader of a
gang DOING business in New FORK. Asso-
ciated with him were Max Shinbnrne,
Charles w. Billiard, alias piano Charlie"
Adam Worth and Robert Cochran.
Their operations were on such a
gigantic scale that they We're thwarted
the most vigiant detectives and astounGed
the world. The first bold job of this nOtO-
rious gang was the robbing of the Ocean
City bank of New York, in 1861, when
500, 600 was stolen. This daring burglary
startled the world, and detectives from all
over the country searched Tor the perpetra-
tors, but were baffied.
The country had not recovered from the
shock when another big robbery was an
nounced. This was the theft of $780, 900
from the safe of an express train on the
New York Central railroad a few months
afterward. About this time the detectives
were getting on the trail of the gang and
they fled to Canada. They were followed
and arrested after desperate battle, and
after being extradited were imprisoned in
the county jail at White Plains, n Y.
Here they seemed to have abandoned hope
of escape but it was all ruse to allay sus-
pcion. One bright morning several weeks
after their arrest the turnkey received
no answer from any of their cells. and
pushing open the door he discovered that
the whole gang had fled. With a chisel, two
penknives and such other implements as
they could pick up in their cells they had
driven tunnel under the walls and made
good their escape. Two years thereafter
the city of Boston was astounded one
morning by the news that the Boylston
bank of that city had been robbed Of
Sf50,000. The affair WAS the most mys-
FERROUS of its time. There were no traces
Of the burglars about the building, except
the half open door of the safe, reveal
ing state of confusion in the
riiled apartments of that repository. BY
the utmost effort the crime was traced to
Marsh and his followers, but the culprits
could not be found. The country was
frutlessly secured. The bank officials
offered enormous rewards, and the keen
est detectives were put on the case. but
every effort was fruitless, and the pursuit
was finally abandoned.
The secret of the failure was that the
crooks had got into the Dominion and
sailed for Europe with all their swag.
With the money they had captured they
lived in retirement as American gentle
men of wealth. Marsh settled in London,
Shnburne went to Stuttgart, Wurteln-
burg, where he lived like a prince. Many
Americans that Travelled abroad were his
guests.
Adam Worth is said to have opened a
gambling house in Paris. Cochran drifted
about and eventually returned to America.
Worth is ROW said to be living quietly in
some shire in England.
While Marsh lived in London he was
lionized, gave sumptuous dinners, and liz
the character of an American
swell was success. On one occa-
sion he was present at the christening
of child Of wealthy Londoner.
He expressed desire to make the child a
present, and no objection being made
placed on the babes breast diamond
cross worth 81, 800. Dinners became more
frequent at the Queens hotel, where
Marsh made his home, and he invited all
the officials and sharpest men among the
Scotland Yard detectives iodine with him.
His object was to familiarize himself with
their faces.
From London Marsh went to Dublin.
There he squandered money, but at last
the fatal day came and big Ike was almost
reduced to poverty. Having no other
course 10 pursue ne then returned to this
country, and becoming involved in the
Wellsboro and Athens cases. was captured
as described above.
The seventeen years of confinement have
had their full effect, and Marsh Will live a
straight life hereafter. When he was con-
yicted he was a brown-haired, bright-eyed
man, not yet IS years old, handsome, edu-
Gated and popular. Those who saw him
today say that he is bent and gray. a nd
silent to the verge of moroseness.