St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-20
COMMITTED MANY CRIMES.
Points in the Career of the Man
of Many Aliases.

alias Ryan, Raymond johnson ct al.
who this morning died on the gallows
for shooting Officer Peter Poull, of this
city, Oct. Il last, first made his appear
anee in this section in the fall of 1885.
in Fargo. A lady residing in the upper
story OF the Liun block on Broadway
noticed man skulking along close to
the rear of the block, and an hour or so
later, when the alarm had been given
that Fuller Bros hardware store had
been burglariZed and from the rear, the
lady furnished the police with so ac-
curate description of the man she had
seen that Brown was arrested with little
difficulty, and quantity of the stolen cut
lery and a revolver taken from the store
found on his person. For this Offense he
was tried at the December term of court
and sentenced to the Bismarck peniten-
tiary for three years under the name Of
Thomas Ryan. He seems to have fallen
right in among his old cronies and he
had been in the prison but few days
until Warden Williams was made aware
of this
and familiar moves made by these iDdi-
viduals when attention was supposed to
be diverted from themselves. By close
observation aud scraps of information
straws as it were-which would prob
ably have escaped less observing Off
cial, il was made certain the warden
had under his charge four prisoners
whose previous careers were in some
manner connected. Mr.. Williams kept
his information and surmises to himself
and resolved to bide his time and rely
upon his own ingenuity in ferreting out
the mystery. He watched Ryan so
closely that he had no chance for mis-
deeds except on one occasion, when a
couple of the guards had dozen or so
of the prisoners out fixing the highway
which leads to the penitentiary
from Bismarck. Near where the men
were working stood an old straw stack.
One of the men asked to step behind
the stack for moment, which permis-
sion was granted him. About the time
the man reached the rear of the stack
Ryan called to the guard and engaged
in conversation in regard to some GER
tain part of the work he was then en-
gagged upon, and succeeded in diverting
behind the stack until. when the guard
went to ascertain the cause of the pro-
lOnged absence, the man was nowhere
in sight, having, as soon as he was out
of sight, made direct for the timber
above the city and concealed himself.
The remaining prisoners were hurried
back to the penitentiary and the escape
reported to Warden Williams, who,
with the knowledge or suspicious al
ready in his possession. Immediately
ordered that Ryan be placed in the dun
geon and fed on bread and water until
he would either give the details of the
escape or the fugitive had been cap
tured. Ryan held out
FOR THREE DAYS
and nights, but on the fourth day sent
for the warden and told him the whole
story-that he originated the scheme,
and wound up by asking the warden if
he didn't think it was good one. A
searching party. however, had been or
ganiZed Immediately upon the escape
being reported. and the prisoner was
recaptured on the second day. No more
trouble was had with Ryan after this
little episode, and his behavior to the
end of the term was exemplary in the
extreme, and in the following February
of 1888 he was released from the peni-
tentiary, but his four cronies still re-
mained in prison. Ryan, through War
den Williams, secured transportation to
Fargo, and thlther he came, stopping a
day or two, and passed east to Duluth.
a few days later word came from Du-
Iuth that a store had been broken open
there and valuable goods and money
taken. Shortly thereafter paper was
received at the Bismarck penitentiary,
directed TO one of Ryan's supposed
friends, with the Duluth robbery item
marked, and it was also noticed
numerous words were underscored in
various portions of the paper. The
warden could not make anything tan
gible out of the cipher messages him.
self. but before delivering it to the
prisoner carefully erased all the under
Innings. While Ryan did not sign a
name anywhere on the paper.the chirOg-
raphy on the wrapper and the fact that
it came to one of the four friends was
deemed sufficient evidence that Ryan
was the sender. In Superior another
burglary occurred shortly following the
one in Duluth, and Immediately there
after came papers similarly marked with
CIRCLES AROUND THE REPORTS
of the robbery and underscored words
throughout the paper. These papers
were treated as the ones before, and de-
liyered to the men. The next heard
from him was at Washburn, where he
had blown upa safe in hardware store.
He was less fortunate in this robbery,
however, as, after a chase of eight or
ten miles on the ice of Lake Superior,
the officers finally captured him. For
this Offense he was sent to the
Waupun penitentiary, in Wisconsin.
~
den Williams, of Bismarck, had kept
track of the wanderer by the arrival at
the penitentiary of papers all addressed
in the same chirography and marked
within in the same manner. When the
paper was received containing an ae-
count of the capture, Mr.. Williams i'm
mediately wrote the sheriff of the county
asking for a description of the thief,
upon the receipt of which his suspicious
were found to be correct, as he was con-
fronted with photo of Ryan. under an
assumed name. of course. During the
summer of 1855 the Bismarck warden
wrote the Waupun warden. asking how
his friend was behaving, and was sur
priSed to hear that
RYAN HAD ESCAPED
the previous Sunday. In the same
mail, or the one following, came copy
OF the Fargo argus addressed 10 one OF
his former associates, and containing
an account of the Moorhead murder,
This was convincing evidence in War
den Williams mind that the murderer
was none other than Thomas Ryan,
and. taking the first train, came down
to Moorhead, and the recognition be-
tween Mr.. Williams and the now
aliased Brown was mutual. Brown reach
ing through the bars to shake hands
and inQuiring after the health of his
former associates still in the Bismarck
stronghold. While Brown, or Ryan, or
whatever his name may be, has never
dropped a syllable either here or in
Bismarck regarding his antecedents,