The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-22

bryant n. OrAndall's SIX Yeara' 1xpsrisnee
: : RoGus-A Long search for
NJ EaEitlya
BuTYALo. june 10.-Bryant B. Crandall,
Who y awaiting trial d ! charge Of swind-
ling, fooled i've insurance associations.
dsludsd his brothers In Free Masonry, and
baiied tho sdorts of the police and private
dstecttvea 10 ind him for six years. He
va caught i California, not through the
usual workings Of the law OF the secret
societies 70 which he had belonged. but
through betrayal BY Z woman whose tdsn-
tity y : mystery TO tho people In this city
and g Cranaall, II the prisoner tells the
truth. Crandall's confession Of his iden-
tity was not made until several days after
the police lad brought him hers and his
old friends and nsiRhbors. including the
district attorney y judges Of the
criminal courts had identiisd him. Gram
dali refuses % tsll Why he astsd - he
did, and the motives of this betrayer are mn
known. Grand larceny il the technical
YS4U&ASt ~ Wlu0tA4H ~ tuV4 2Ot1Al
offence for which bio will 10 triad, urisss he
pleads guilty. % hs ma in the fses Of III
the evidence against him. His only claim
Tor Immunity from p~Rnishnsnt8 10 thAt he
never received any Of the money shst was
paid BY the insurance. associations, and
therefore hs was not technically guilty.
The prosecution expects to show that he
was Responsible for tbs circumstances that
made the frald possible, and that h. acted
a. hs did to evade his liability to support
his deserted family.
Crandall, prior to April ]. 1896. VA ! man
Of n~nblsmished reputation in this com
ity. he vas associated in the real estate
business with Henry w. Box, : real estate
LAWYER and popular lobbyist Is Albany.
Ihoy wsfo net in partnership, but Crandall
was in . position to profit by the Judgment
Of the best Judge Of real estate values and
Possibilities who eyer lived in Buffalo.
Crandall was often ! witness in suits rsla-
tive 70 real estate values, and District Az.
TO ney Quinby examined Crandall many
times In rrocsedinRs in court. What Gran
dali did with his monty is not known, and
i 10 suspected that : woman was in the
case. Possibly she betrayed him because he
deserted her for another woman. In Los
Angeles. Cal, where Crandall was dur
ing the six years he was away from
Buffalo. he lived with 2 woman % Bryant
j. WilsOn. but 1t has not bcens learned that
she was from this region. He certainly
went away alone. Among his associates
there Was no suspicion that be had any in
fRtuation. His home was happy, appar-
three bright children. The oldest child il
nov 9 boy Of IL. another is a girl somewhat
younger. and the baby when he loft home
10 q Ind Of eight. Ctandall. seemingly, was
devoted TO his family, outside Of his bust
ness, and tbs attention he gave to the secret
orders to which he belonged. He had been
insured in these association for 4 long time
before he disappeared, q to some OF them
he had belonged for ten years. When he
left, the total insurance on his life was $1O,-
800. or that. $4,000 was in the North
western Masonic Aid association. Of Chi
sago. and $1,000 each in the Masonic Life
association OF western New York, thesAnei-
ent Order of United W0rkmen, the ROYAL
Iemplars OF temperance. and the Empire
Order Of Mutual Aid. A5s
Niagara Falls was selected by Crandall as
the place for disappearing. Suicides were
common there, and he probably reasoned
that an unidentified body would turn up to
ut his case. April /. 1886, was the day, and
in the light of subsequent events il was q
siRnifcant date. Crandall wrote a letter
70 HIS WIG luClOHlnR q small sum OF MONEY!.
all he had, he said, and bidding hers1ood
by. He said he was tired Of life a. he had
found 1t. was discouraged by poor health
and lack of business success, and would.
therefore, end it all. He gave some inst nc
tions about collecting the insurance on his
life. A letter in a similar vein was written
to his half brother, George T.. Newman, 4
merchant Of this city. Besides looking dis
heartened and disappearing, the only other
thing that Crandall did was to pin his card
TO a hat and leave 1t on q settse near the
brink OF the falls. The supposed suicide
was a n~ine-days' wonder. Search was made
for the body, n one was found two
months later.
The body was 30 torn and dis6gured
through contact with the rocks that il was
~unrecoQnizable. The face was q hollov
hole with only the skull and jawbone loft.
On CrandalPs foot was a scar caused by a
cut. and = scar was found on the corpse by
Dr.. Green. the family physician Of Gran
dali, who examined the body. Others saw
the mark. Cautiously enough, that mark
had disappeared when the unknown corpse
was recently sxhumed for another exam
ination. Although it has been buried in
Crandall's family lot for nearly six years
it was found in a good state of preserve
ton. No attempt has been made TO ao-
count for that singular feature of the case,
The CrandAll family went into mourning.
and the insurance companies were asked 10
pay $1O.5OO. The first circumstance. ont
sid Of the hasty burial of the corpse found
- -. 4Ea' -"