Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-29
THE TRUNK OPENERS.
An Account of their Methods
and Capture.
WILL BE TRIED IN MISSISSIPPI
The Ringleader's Capture in Mexico
An Entertaining Story-The
s. P. Not Concerned.

The HERALD of few days ago con-
timed partial account OF system OF
robbing trunks which has been carried
on for some time on some Of the rail-
roads which center at New Orleans.
The information received at that time
was admitted to be very incomplete, and
it now appears that some of it was mis-
leading. The statement that employees
of the Southern Pacific were in any way
concerned in the affair was shown to be
wrong. It happened that the robberies
were nearly all accomplished on trunks
which were checked through to this
Coast, and for that reason the claims
were first lodged against the Southern
Pacific. When the names of the men
who were captured were made known it
was found that they were all either ex-
press messengers for the United States
Company or train baggagemen on the
Queen and Crescent line.
J. s. Risdon was in town yesterday for
short time and was seen by reporter
of this paper and the full particulars of
been made public either by the papers OF
inally arrested, or by those of the Eastern
States. The Associated Press sent out
the news few days ago that the leader
of the gang, Thomas J. Lattimer, had
been arrested by Matt Pinkerton in Lar
edo, New Mexico, but the particular cir
cumstances of this arrest and the re-
mainder of the story have not been made
public.
Mr.. Risdon is the train master of the
Queen and Crescent line in Cincinnati.
He " ent down with the Pinkerton men to
New Orleans to assist in capturing the
men and then came on to Ell Paso with
Matt Pinkerton in search of the ring.
leader, Lattimer. He visited this Coast
In search OF witnesses who could identify
goods that were stolen and also to pay
some OF the claims.
1t appears from the account which he
gives that the robberies began about a
year ago. For long time it was impos-
sible to tell which road was concerned,
whether it was the Queen and Crescent,
which runs from Cincinnati to New Or
leans, the Texas Pacific, or the South
ern Pacific. The thieves were very care
full to operate only on through baggage,
which had the effect of throwing the
responsibility on number OF different
men. At last some robberies on branch
lines of the Queen and Crescent made it
evident that the bulk of the robberies
were connected with that line. Believ-
ing that only few were in the con.
spiracy, the company tried the expert
ment of changing their baggage men and
express messengers about in the hope
that the guilty ones would be
caught and reported. The baggage
car contained always one baggage man
and one express messenger. Neither
one could have touched trunk without
the knowledge of the other. From the
confession of two of the men who were in
the conspiracy it has been learned how
the business was worked. There were
twenty-three men concerned, of which
number fourteen were express messen-
gers and the rest baggage men. The
work was regularly done on the limited
trains as they passed through Southern
Mississippi where very few stops were
made. The trunks were either unlocked
with skeleton keys, or if this was not
practicable, the lock was taken off with
Pinchers and after the trunk was rifled it
was replaced. 1t is generally supposed
that when trunk passes from the hands
of one line to the next it is examined to
see that it is all right but this is rarely
done as matter OF fact.
The detectives of the Queen and Cres-
cent road worked on the case for a
number of months and New Orleans
agency tried its hand at the business
but without success. 1t was placed in
the hands of the Pinkerton people aboui
xryifh
they had two of the men in position
where they were compelled to confess
Seventeen arrests were made. Six men
managed to make their escape, the ring.
leader, Lattimer, among them. Those
who were captured were put in Jail at
New Orleans, where it was at first the
intention of the company to havesthem
tried. 1t was presently ascertained thai
the best cases against the men were 10.
Gated in Mississippi, and it was decided
to have the prisoners transferred to that
State. 1t took no small amount oi
scheming, however, to accomplish this
design.
The requisition for the men was pro.
cured from the Governor of Mississippi
aud presented to the Governor of Louis
lana. The latter at first refused to sign
it. The men had many friends in New
Orleans and were able to use a good deal
of influence. At last the Governor
granted the requisition upon the under.
standing that the cases in Louisiana
were all to be dismissed. Fearful oil
habeas corpus proceedings the authori.
ties of the road who were conducting the
affair arranged with the judge in whose
court the dismissal was granted to hold
back the papers until the men were
gotten out of the State. A big crowd
gathered at the station with the avowed
intention of freeing the men anyhow
but they were taken out of the city in
hacks along the Shell road to Lake Poi.
chartrain and smuggled out of the city
by roundabout route.
They were taken to Meridian, Miss,
where their trial will soon come on.
In the meantime Matt Pinkerton, the
son of old Allan, who made the name
famous, had gone down into Mexico to
capture Lattimer. A Chattanooga mil
lionaire, Thomas j. Richardson, was
very anxious to see Lattimer captured
80 that he could find out where his wife's
diamonds, valued at $1,000, were. They
had been stolen from her trunk while il
was on its way to New York, and as Lat.
timer was known to have $4 900 in New
Orleans short time before the exposure
OF the conspiracy, it was believed that