Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-19
PRINCE OF THIEVES.
LITTLE HORACE" HOvAN AND HIS
 NUMEROUS ROBBERlES.

LII iIc f1OnACE' HUMAN AND HIS
 NUMEROUS ROBBERlES.
 Not Harm a Mouse-Hundreds of Thou
 sands of Dollars Stolen From Banks.
 Why He Cannot Reform.
 Two genteelly dressed men walked into the Peoples Savings and Deposit bank, in Denver, Colo. It was shortly after the noon hour, and most of tho officials were at dinner. Only tho cashier remained, and he approached the wicket window to converse with one of the callers, who wished to make arrangements to become depositor.
 Suddenly a noise In the rear of the bank caught the cashiers ear. He turned to see the other stranger at the door of the big open vault Quick flash the official ran to the safe seiains as he passed the counter, q re- volver.
 Throwing tho cooked weapon into the face of tho robber, he made him put up his hands The prisoner quietly submitted to arrest, while his companion hastily left by the street door.
 When turned over to the police the man pleaded that it was his first offense and begged for mercy. His name was James Metz, and he was merchant, broken down by reverses and trouble, who fell when confronted with the opportunity to rob the bank His address and appearance seemed to confirm his story A dark, heavy mustache and full beard nearly covered his thin, sallow face. He was rather small and slender of stature One feature of his attire, however, deepened the suspicious of the police. He wore heavy felt shoes, but then he urged that he was Q conSumptive and they were to protect his feet from damp ness
 IT WAS LITTLE HORACE"
 Four days later Robert and William Pink erton, the celebrated detectives, happened to stop over in Denver. The authorities had as yet been baffled in discovering the identity of ''Mr. Metz," and decided to call on those chiefs of thief takers
 Little Horace!" exclaimed Bob Fullerton assoon as he clapped his eyes on the prisoner. Metz was silent for a moment, and then frankly admitted he was none other than Horace Hovan, one of the most celebrated and successful bank sneaks the world ever knew.
 When reminded of his arrest by Mr:Pinker- ton for the robbery of the Middletown (Conn) bank in 1879, out of which he secured $1OO,- such was the fact
 gave a brief sketch of his career, and 1t Is cer- tainly a most interesting account of the life of a criminal
 Little Horace has been associated with the best bank sneaks in the country, and his lines have frequently thrown him with other noted crooks whose specialtes differed from his In appearance he is very gentlemanly looking, of slender build and of genteel appearance and dress. He is the last man whom any one would suspect of being Q dangerous criminal He is possessed of the greatest nerve of any man in the world, and, up to eight or ten years ago, was most successful Unlike most professional criminals, he is very steady in | his habits; outside of associating with them in | his profession he never associates with them, | nor resorts to places frequented by criminals. | Although he has been engaged for number l of years professional criminal he is very | little known to police officials. He is domestic | in bis habits, always selects quiet residence, and stops around home He Is in no way a | desperate criminal, anG when cornered he will endeavor tc sneak or run away. He has never been known to carry weapons of any kind, and he not only abhors such things, | but will even refuse to work with any one | whom he thinks would attempt to do any one an injury. In police circles this Is considered one of the best traits of his character. He never allows any one to visit himself or his family, and never lets any one know where l he lives.
 l ONCE A THIEF ALWAYS A THIEF. In 167O, in company with a man who has since reformed, and who is now living hon estly, and Big Ed Rce Little Horace stole S2O, 900 from Halifax (N. S.) bank Hovan and the man before mentioned were arrested, but Rice got away with the money. Both men were released, as the money was re- turned to the bank. In 1878 Hovan was con- victed for a sneak job in Pittsburg and sen l fancoH fp and {,, ho Western penitentiary at Allegheny City. He got away, and Robert Pinkerton arrested him shortly afterward for the robbery of a vault of the Middletown Conn.) bank, where he secured over s10O, 900 in government, state and county bonds. The bonds were returned and he was released. In 1881 he was arrested in Philadelphia with Frank Buck for the lar ceny of SIG, $50 in securities from a brokers safe in that city. He was convicted of bur glary and sentenced to three years in the Eastern penitentiary. He was pardoned out in 1883 on condition that he would go to Washington and testify against some officials who were on trial. He agreed to do SO on condition that an old case against him in Charleston, s. C., should be settled, and the authorities agreed to his terms He gave his testimony, which was not credited by the jury, and in 1884 he was discharged A month after his release he and Buck Taylor were arrested in Boston, but as nothing could be proved against him he was simply ordered out of the city.
 In the fall of 1885 he was detected fin ab- stracting package of bank notes from 6 safe in an English bankers office and was sentenced to three years imprisonment. After he had served his time abroad he re- turned to this country via Canada, and came to Chicago and lived for a while at the Ire mont house He then left and went west by way of Kansas City.
 The crook then summarized his career as he chatted with the detective: "Why don't you reform, as once advised your asked the de tectiye.
 "I would only be too willing to do so If any one would give me employment that my health would stand, but where could man hke me get worki You once advised me to make an honest living and l determined to accept your advice went to city to settle down and get employment. detective came