St. Paul daily globe., 1893-01-20
COPIED OUT The COIN
A Kansas City Bank Messens
ger Caught in st. Paul
With $11,5O0.
He Was On His Way to CAM
ada to Join the Amer
lean Contingent.
Without Any knowledge oi
the Business He Poses as
a Cigar Salesman.
Fly Bobs Get on to Him and
Recover Nearly All the
Money.

y
derby hat and fashio1ably made suit
of dark clothing, occupied one of the
compartments in the North western linz
tied Chicago sleeper last evening. lie
was accompanied by a misunderstanding
man of uncertain age, who sat i'll the
same seat with him, and who did not
permit his companion to leave his i'm
mediate vicinity.
The first mentioned was Charles W,
Thorn, of Kansas City, formerly a mes
sengcr in one of the banks of that city,
who left Monday evening. having in his
possession the sum of Sll,500 of the
money belonging to the bank, and which,
until the following day, was supposed
to be locked up in the vaults Of that in
stitution. His companion was one Of
the operatives of Thiers detective serv-
ice. Thorn was
Caught in st. Paul
Yesterday morning by the agents on
Thiel's service, and at the time of his
apprehension he had in his possession
all OF the money which had been taken
with the exception of about 1000, which
was afterwards discovered in the pos
session of woman in Minneapolis and
recovered. Thorn was located on de-
Scription, and was given the alternative
of being arrested and locked up by the
police of st. Paul or remaining in the
custody of the Thiel men until his ar
rival in Kansas City. Not desiring to
go through the process of being locked
up he agreed to the milder proposition
and remained in the custody of Man
ager Cooley until train time.
Thorn was terribly broken up on
beiug arrested, and at once confessed
his identity. He had with him at the
time of his arrest a small red leather
satchel which he carried by strap over
his shoulder. This was his repository
for the stolen funds, which consisted of
currency in bills of large denOmina-
tionS.
Thorn had been in the employ Of the
bank for four years and has been con-
sidered one OF the. most trusted men in
the institution. His work has been col
lecting and the general work incidental
to the position of messenger for
a bank. He was set to work Mon
day arranging some of the papers in
the currency vault and busting up
the interior when he was seized with
an uncomfortable desire to take some
of the money. On the shelves were ar
ranged many thousands Of dollars in
currency, wrapped i'll packages and
being marked with the amount in each
bundle. In a farther corner OF the
vault were two packages containing
$1,000 each and three packages contain
ing $500 each. They were
Composed Principally OGSIOO BILLS.
He took the five packages from the
vault wrapped them up in newspaper.
and took the bundle out into the office
room. where lie laid it on his desk. He
then completed the work of sweeping
and dnSting the vault, put on his coat,
and went out into the street carrying
the packages OF currency with him. He
explained to the cashier that he was
going to exchange pair OF shoes
which he had recently purchased and
which were too tight for him.
That is the last they saw of him In
Kansas City. lie repaired at once to
his home, where he changed his cloth
which was beginning to make its ap-
pearance Oh his lip, and then, carrying
the package of money careleSsly un-
der his arm, he boarded cable car
which took him to the outskirts of the
CITY. At a livery stable which was
i'm the vicinity he hired horse
and buggy in which he droVe to
a small station twelve miles from the
CITY OH the Maple Leaf road. Here he
bought small valise or satchel in
which he placed the package OF money.
He also purchased heavy ulster with a
high collar, leaving his light overcOat at
the store and stating that he would call
for il. When the evening train came
through lie boarded it on the side oppo-
site the platform and entered the sleep
ing car.
On arriving in Sioux City lie left the
train, and after getting something to eat
in a restaurant, he sought clothing
store, where he bought an entirely new
outfit, suit, OvercOat and hat. lie pur-
chased grip such as are used by trav-
cling men, and then bought Of cigar
firm n number OF boxes of cigars, all
made by the CarmOdy Cigar company,
of st. Louis. He then registered at a
hotel as being from st. Louis. and
bought mileage book over the Burling-
ton road in the name Of the Carmody
Cigar company.
In the evening he took the train to
Burlington. To-, and from there he came
TO st. Paul. arriving yesterday morning.
The loss of the money was not dlscOv-
cred until the following morning, Tues
day, and then only after search for
The Missing Messenger
whose absence created the first suspicion
that all was not right. His absence the
afternoon before was not noticed, as lie
mad sent note to the bank stating that
he was sick and would not come
down until the next morning.
When it was found tina. the
packages had been distracted, the To-
cal representative of ThiePs agency was
sent for and a number of men were
placed on the case. His movements
were followed to the livery stable, where
they found the owner just in receipt OF
a telegram stating that the rig which
had been hired of him was at the point
where it had been left by the abscon1er.
The train to Sioux City being the first
one out of the station, it was supposed
that he had taken it, and two operatives
followed on the next one.
As it was apparent that Thorn was
making for the northwest, with the IN
tention of reaching the Canadian Dor.
der. advices were sent to the st. Paul
Office of Thiel's agency, with a complete
description of the man wanted. Oper-
atiyes were sent out to meet all OF the
trains coming into the city, and the
union depot was closely watched. when