Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-08-28
TRAILING A THIEE.
A Detectives Long Chase After ga
Fugitive Cashier.
from Minnesota Through Canada, En-
gland. Franco. Spain ,hnd italy to Swift.
erland-A Clever Ruse to avoid
Extr1dtisn PcOceaflings.


Extr4ditisa Proceedings.
While q murder is new and then
committed without the murderer be-
ing brought TO Justice, and while a pre-
portion of burglars, robbers and .ea-
hezzlers are bound to escape arrest
from the nature OF things. am expert
ence of twenty years in criminal work
has satisfied me that nc criminal can
escape Justice If q clue be left to w0nlz
On, if that clue is persistentay followed
In March, 1865, a man manned Wins
wood, of Vermont, with smother named
Adams, of Cincinnati, established u
bank in new town in Minnesota The
former was q bachelor fifty years Old
and the latter young man OF twenty
three. just how they became ae-
quainted l have forgotten. but be-
iieve they first met in bank in Gu
einnati in which Adams was employed
rs book-keeper. He had $4,000 in
cash which a relative had left him,
and Vinewood put in $4,000, and a
bank with a capital of $50, 900 was es-
tabaished. After about a month. when
emery thing was running smoothly,
Vinewood returned to Vermont on
business. having the most perfect faith
that;en would go we'll in his absence.
On the very day he left Adams re-
ceiIed deposits from citizens and from
, the county treasurer aggregating $751;
OO0 The trustees of an institution
likewise placed in his vault for safe
keeFing $50, 900 worth Of United States
bonds.
Upto 'thiss<Stte the bank had loaned
. out ahout$3, 600, aud it had $4,000 on
deposit in Milwaukee and Chicago.
- Vinewood left III the morning. That
same evening ateeight o'clock Adams
followed, having ftaken every dollar
in the bauk and the securities above
mentioned. He lett on Sunday night,
: and of course no csc in town could
suspect any thing :uutil time for the
bank to open on Monday. Then no
. one knew what had happened or what
to do, and no one had 1-inewood's ad-
dress. 1t was three days before it was
known for fact that Adams had
robbed the bank and fed. It was ten
days before Vipewood put Epe on the
case and said:
Il want this man run down if it
takes ten years and costs me my last
.eent Follow him day and night. Do
not leave his trail for an hour. I will
put $4,000 to your credit in a New
York bank, and when that is exhaust
ed Will replace it,
Vinewood was man Of deep feel
ing, and the robbery had aroused a
sense of Indignation which could not
rest until the robber had been fifty
punished. Igot several cabinet pho
:tographs of Adams as a starter. They
ali showed him with mustache It
was likely he would shave that off,
and got a Chicago artist to sketch
his face as it would appear without.
AS he did not wear glasses he would
had "a sketch made with glasses on his
nose and with his straight, long hair
cut pretty close. AS it was raven
black he could not color it. He had
gone to Milwaukee and Chicago and
checked out every dollar of deposits.
and in the latter city he had disposed
of the securities for cash. He thus
had nearly eighty thousand dollars
with him, much Of it in small bills. I
visited every bank in Chicago, but
could not find that he had purchased
drafts or exchange. At the express
Offices there was no record that he had
shipped any cash. When he left the
bank he only had the sachel in which
he was carrying the money. He there
fore had MO change Of clothing. After
visiting seven or eight different
hotels in Chicago / found where he
had registered as ''Burt j. Smith, St.
Paul. He had made but a slight at
tempt to disguise his handwriting.
He had remained at the hotel a part
of the afternoon and over night. In
stead of purchasing a trunk he had
bought a new suit of clothes and taken
his old ones out and sold them second
hand. The new suit was entirely of
gray. while his old one was black.
This made such a change in his looks
that remarks were made when he
came to pay his bills.
Two square from the hotel, on the
way to the Lake Shore Depot, was a
barber shop. I reasoned that Adams
would seek to get rid of that mustache
before he left Chicago, and after he
had left the hotel could only guess
which way he went, but I meant to
cover all routes. The barber in the
first chair in the shop had all the in
formation wanted. Adams had come
in there with his sachel, complained
of a sore lip, and had his mustache
shaved of. He had in his hand a
folder of the Lake Shore road. After
the mustache was off he had his hair
shingled, and the change in his looks
was eonsider The barber ha6
looked him over pretty closely, ane