Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-06

| Convict C. H. Thorn, alias Charley Dor
eey, alias Charley Moore, is now serving
| life sentence at San Quentin for killing
! Banker Cummings in Nevada City few
years ago. Dorsey (by that name he is bet
ter known than by any other has never
| disdained the ordinary implements of
| crime. He can 'blow safe" or "crack
crib" Or ''roll a drunk" or "hold up"
stage just like the true, inbred felon he is,
but he can do so much more than mere
| handiwork as to make him in some re-
spects the most dangerous convict now
| doing time in the civilized world.
Dorsey was u handsome fellow In his
earlier days. and even now, after the best
part of life spent within prison walls,
there is about him a suggestion of jaunti-
| ness and an air of smartness that make
| credible the stories of his power over wom-
en- and easy conquests of men when he was
free and in funds. Dorsey is murderer, a
burglar, a sneak thief, footpad, a stage
robber, and potentially everything else
that Is bad, but he is also a soft voiced,
mild hammered convict, with an apologetic
manner and bearing the external impress
of honest distress. To an observant stu
dent of the criminal classes Dorsey is re-
markable man. Special Officer James B.
Hume, a long time in the hire Of the Wells,
Fargo & Co.'s police department, has
known bad men no end, and it is his opin-
ion that Dorsey is the equal of any criminal
now in eastern prisons, if not the superior.
He is certainly the most cold blooded.
An old time associate of Hume, and man
whose natural gifts have largely helped to
make him a generally admitted expert in
such matters, writes of Dorsey: ellis per-
ii
no one can adequately describe him with
out seeing him. Dorsey has a peculiar,
murderous expression in his eyes, and if in
the least aggravated the eyes light up with
a bright light that helps very much to
show the character of the man"
The convict Dorsey was the first man to
| introduce hypnotism as an aid to crime In
| America When his earlier experiments In
the exercise of control over weakminded
| men were made has not been ascertained,
but that he is able to gain supremacy
over many subjects is established beyond
doubt by the authenticated story of his
criminal life. He is a fourth term man,
and that means that he is an out and out
enemy of mankind, who looks for an up
raised hand against him at every turn, and
is always ready to proceed to any length,
either to get little money or crafty
spite.
Dorsey was no sooner in San Quentin
than he began to exercise his hypnotic pow
er, and soon picked out good natured but
silly convict named George H. Shinn as
fit subject. Shinn was near the end of his
term and had been so good a convict that
he WAS made a trusty and given the re-
moval Of garbage as his daily work. A
horse and cart were furnished, and Shinn
drove where he liked, within or outside OF
the prison reserve. Dorsey soon had him
under influence, and on Dec l, five years
ago, induced Shinn to permit him to hide In
the swill cart and be carried beyond the
guard line. When the willy Dorsey was
once outside he ordered Shinn to follow,
and from that time for two years the
wretched Shinn was always under hypno-
tism, and at all times ready to commit any
crime to which the master spirit inclined.
The wanderings of the furtive pair would
make a book-how they met ex-Convict
Barton, alias Billy Thurman, and added
him to the thieving combination-how
when they passed Mickey Delaney one day
and refused to acknowledge his salute,
but sought him out afterward and soon SO
debauched his mind as to make him mere
tool All such things and many more
came long sinceinto possession OF Detective
| Hume, and were by him utilized to bring
about the arrest OF Dorsey and his reincar-
| ceration, to remain forever or until death
| parts him from his cell. Dorsey has never
shown especial bravery, but has always
| been a knavish, troublesome prisoner, to
whom liberty was the desideratum, even
though gained at cost of peaceful servants
of the government and BY murder or any
other means.