St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-07-28
"Ewen then they were foiled. for

approaching equinoctial storm Blu,
the storm proved to b. a dry one
and 50 Adams and Howard were com
peeled to abandon the project. though
they spent five nights in the bank with
their tools before doing So
If there is any thing I admire
about these big bank burglars it is the
pertinacity with which they conduc,
their operations Having wasted near.
ly four months Howard was disposed
to give the thing up but Adams in.
sisted upon making another and boldel
attempt.
One bright sunny day. Howard
drove up in front of a hardware store.
nearly opposite the bank. H, was
dressed like a country farm hand and
ordered four or five pounds of nails oi
different kinds While the clerk was
filling the order Harry stood at the
door and saw the bank Off GERS and
clerks go away for their dinner. A
few minutes after Adams appeared.
and receiving a signal that the coast
was clear coolly entered the building.
locking the outer door behind him.
He found tho safe key on the ledge. as
he expected. and. opening the vault.
soon stripped it of its contents.
amounting. as l have aid. 10 nearly .
million.
II need not say that the bur Slary
created a great sensation and tho po
lice all ov er the country were put on
their mcttle by the offer Of q big re-
ward for the recovery of tho stolen
money and securities.
six month, elapsed. however.
without any clew. and with the cxccp-
ton OF Captain John Jourdan. of the
New York police. nearly every body
gave it up rs bad job
Its curious how often a mere acci.
dent will put detective on a fresh
scent. and that is just what happened in
this case. Captain Jourdan had dis
covered that \ man named David Kim
ncy had been selling altered bonds.
and as he was known to be pal Of
Charley Adams he jumped at the con-
clusion that the latter had had hand
in the burglary. H. found. that Kin.
ncy was very '.ly." SO there was no
chance Of working him. In the month
OF October. 1865. JOurlan and George
Elder. "a well-known detective in his
day. were standing together on the
of Fifth avenue and Fifty-fourth
street when they saw Thomas Barton.
a young fellow who had just served
out sentence for counterfciting. On
the impulse of tho moment Elder laid
his hand on Barton's shoulder. and
was surprised to find him trembling
with fear. Slipping his hand into the
fellows pocket Elder discovered that
his prisoner was loaded down with two
thousand dollars in counterfeit postal
currency. for we had no silver in those
days Of course State prison stared
him in the face. and Jourdan dccilcd
10 use him as stool-piseon in order
10 capture Kinney"
"How could he do that?" was my
natural question.
Easy enough 1t is a common
practice TO use small fish to catch big
ger ones. so Jourdan obtained the con-
sent Of the New York district attOr-
ney 10 promise immunity or a light
sentence TO Barton il he would help
he policr. Tho end Of it was that
Kinney was led by the counterfeitcr
into a negotiation for bonds and when
arrested no was found in possession of
4 quantity Of Concord B ank bills and
several thousand dollars worth of
stolen bonds Kinney being thus
caught in turn consented 10 save him.
'clf by revealing the hiding-placo of
Charles Adams 1t had taken over
hree months to secure Kinney. and
he detectives supposed that they were
near the end. but they soon discovered
heir error.
Ia January. 1866. Captain Jour-
Ian and George E.dcr accompanied
y four or five policemen. proceeded
o Camden. N. j.. and thence drove to
he village of Paulsboro. twenty
niles away. They arrived between
midnight and dawn. and approached
! handsome villa standing on
no banks of the Delaware river.
ADAMS was found in bed. and
,eins arrested. was carried of to New |
FORK by the Captain. Elder and the
est remaining behind 10 search for
he stolen property. You will stare
Vhen tell you that. after tearing up |
he carpets and breaking the furni-
urc. they next proceeded to examine
he house. finally de molishing the en-
ire building. The work occupied
cveral days. and the neighbors were
Informed that q new and handsome
lila was to be erected in its place."
Did they find the bonds?" l asked.
Not one. They knew that Adams
ad bought and paid for the villa and
ontenis. SO they had no compunction
a smashing every thing. but no trace
( the plunder could they find. Adams
Dok things very coolly. and laughed
1 the police whenever approached.
hen there was . conference. The
istrict attorneys Of Concord and New
'ork got together and made certain
to the Governors Of tho
wo States The police superintendent
nd several judges took hand in the
ase. the end being that Adams, Bar
On and Kinney were promised their
arlon il Adams would surrender the
under. This being settled. signed
I'd sealed. Charley Adams told the
i"ry Of the burglary. and stated that
English Harry had taken for his
hare over one hundred thousand dol