The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-31
Arrest Of A. D. Sly, Whose Notions
of Meum and Tuum Are
Unpopular.
The Leader of q Rough Gang OF
Burglars Perniciously Active
OF Late.
Property ola Despoiicd Express Messen-
ger Found on His P~erson-Dyna-
mite His Weapon.

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 30.A-rhe leader Of the
gang who robbed the Adams Express mes
senger at Glendale, on the night of Nov
30, together with q female accomplish, are
under arrest in San francisco and the cap
ture of the remainder of the gang seems
only a matter of time. The leader IL Abel
bert D. Sly, a noted ex-M Missouri convict.
Tn latest series Of exploits by this gang
began with the robbery of the Omaha street
car barns last October. The same month
they robbed the Kansas City street car
barns. Then came the robbery OF the Pa
cifc Express company, on the Missouri
Pacific, near Omaha, Nov. 4, and the
American Express company near Western
Union junction, Wis, Nov. IL. In all these
Sly was the leader and the engine of war
was almost invariably dynamite. After
the Western Union junction robbery. VIM.
Pinkerton found that Sly, in 1881,
while in the employ of the American Express
company at 81 Joe. defaulted with a
package containing $4,000. After a long
search he was apprehended in California.
returned to Missouri and sentenced to
seven years in the Missouri penitentiary.
On being released from the penitentiary he
associated himself with a gang of rough
burglars, their headquarters being in Kan
sas City and Omaha. Quiet investigation
began and Sly was located in st. Louis a
few days previous to the Glendale robbery.
it being thought that he was connected
with the Western Union junction robbery.
Chief Harrigan learned from a furniture
dealer that a house on Swan avenue had
Laa, Ek&nJ We <ou corr n nyI orn w
man. The gang disappeared from the
house three days after the Glendale rob
berry, leaving their furnitureI:behind them.
Their baggage was traced to the depot.
thence to Omaha, where the party split,
taking different routes west.
From descriptions of the fugitives no
doubt is left in the minds of the police and
detectives that Sly was their leader. Satur-
day last a man answering Sly's descrip-
ton was arrested By Robert Pinkerton in
the Los Angeles postotfice. He denied that
his name was Sly, saying it was A. s. Dem
ton. That clinched matters, as Sly's full
name is Aidebert Den q Sly, In his pos
session was found $2,ec0sa lit of personal
property and the watch taken from Mes
ssnger Mulrenman, Of the Adams Express,
at Glendale.
Sly's arrest was kept quiet until to-day.
with a view of getting come Of the others of
uAo khAH ~ AoPS W"S
lied to-day, when a dispatch from San
Francisco was received saying a woman
calling herself Florence Waterman, who,
the detectives suspect, is connected with
the gang, was arrested in that city to-day.
The officers feel confident that it is now q
comparatively easy task to secure the rest
of the gang. Sly's avowed ambition is to
be a second Jesse James, but aside from
his daring and utter disregard of distinc-
ton of meum and tuum, his most notable
characteristic is %singularly abstemious
habits.
The other men associated with Sly in the
robbery are equally desperate and are we'll
known to the police. Marion R%edspeth,
whose wife or mistress was to-day arrested
in San Francisco, was fist connected with
the affair by local detectives under Chief
Desmond. Another man whom the detec-
tives want for the robbery, but who is still
ut large, is L. II. Wilson. of Omaha, a man
of notorious character. who has been con-
cerued i'll several affairs but always man
aged to escape prison.