The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-12-08

At length the Pinkertons relaxed their
vigilance for Il few days. He gave them the
slip, found his confederate, got his half of
the SlS0,000 and went to England with it.
1t was a most astonishing case of "honor
among thieves" 4 Pinkerton of good ed
ucation and address, pleasing and plaus-
ible egentleman, was sent to England, where
he succeeded in becoming the intimate
companion Of the fugitive. The latter was
induced overture to New York, nominally
but for few days, and on landing was at
once arrested on civil process. He had
served his time on the criminal charge. On
trial the company failed to prove that it
was their money he was spending in Eng.
land, and he went scot free.
A vast storehouse of realistic romance
waits for the novelist or historian who
shall describe the doings of Wells, Fargo
& Co. in the Rocky mountains. On every
long stage line they had guards skilled in
all the devices of woodcraft, quick on trig-
ger, cool and fearless, and in control of
them such trained vigilantes as Neil
HOWE, Y. Beidler and their coworkers.
The company's system was scientific in it's
calculating coolness. The object was to
make death certain for all stage robbers,
and any time between 1860 and 1880 the
placards Offering $4,000 for any one of
the below described-dead or alive"
And "dead' it generally was for the
robbers were desperate when overtaken,
and their pursuers took no extra risks for
the sake of capturing them alive. At
length the courts took the matter up In
every territory at one time or another the
officials decided that Offering such rewards
was an Indictment to kill, and many or
gans of public opinion held that in the
long run the dead or alive" clause caused
more crime than it prevented. The latest
case to attract much attention was that of
the robbery by five men Of the treasure
coach on the line from Helena to Corinne,
.. II. In three weeks four Of the robbers
were dead men, and the fifth was in iail
with an assortment of badly broken bones.
Bagiey's case was ont Of the common.
He was originally an ordinary farmer near
Davenport, Ia, then adriver of the express
delivery wagon and finally messenger on
the route Of the United States Express
company from Omaha to Chicago. He Is
uneducated and certainly not above aver
age in shrewdness. When two packages
containing $50, 600 each were consigned to
him at Omaha sudden temptation over
came him. He left the train at Daven-
port, where his wife and two children live,
hid 500, 600 in his stable loft, gave $3.50 to a
friend to keep for him, and after some aim
less wandering and deal of hard drink
ing on the remaining fifty dollars went on
to Chicago and was arrested not more than
twenty-four hours after his crime.
1t was plain case of spontaneous klcp-
tomania. Being promised immunity by
the express company's officials, he con-
Quoted them to his stable and to the friend
who held the money, and all was recovered
but trihing sum. The reaction when he
found he was not to be prosecuted seemed
to throw him into sort OF hilarious fever.
He talked and acted as if he had achieved
wonderful trick. In fact his acts and
general appearance-he is n strange, sal
low and cadayerous looking fellow--indi-
cate that his mind Is disordered.