The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1893-12-30
George Q. Sommers the Supposed
Lake Shore Express Robber.
FORMERLY A DETECTIVE
Robbed a Safe in Mississippi, Went to the
Penitentiary and Managed to Es-
cape by Forgery.

have recently been welded TO the cndln
of evidence indicating the completely of
George o. Sommers, alias Jack Hennes-
sey, In the robbery of the Lake Shore
ago. After his escape from the peni-
Tertiary at Jackson, Miss, he was seen
lettering around the Lake Shore depot
in Chicago, and a few days afterward
the express was held up. Sommers, or
Hennessey, formerly worked for the
Pinkerton agency, and was assiduous in
his duties during the Burlington strike.
After the battle with the switchmen
Sommers went to work for the Illinois
Central railroad as yardmaster at New
Orleans. Most of his boyhood had been
passed at San Francisco and New Or
leans, and he was thoroughly acquainted
with the latter city. He worked for the
Central until train was held up by
Colonel Bunch two years ago, just north
of Canton, Miss. Sommers volunteered
with Colonel Jackson, of the Southern
Express Company, to run Bunch aud his
partners to earth. Governor Stone of
Mississippi offered a reward of $4,000
for Bunch, dead or alive. Sommers and
Jackson traced Bunch to within fifty
miles southeast of where the robbery
was committed. 1t was arranged with
Bunch's partner to capture the leader,
and it was this partner who fired the
shot which killed Bunch. After the
shooting Sommers returned to Chicago
and tried toget employment at the Pink
erton agency. He failed to get job
and then starsed south with a partner,
Joe Tonner.'
1t was in February, 1892, that these
two men stopped at Mereden, Miss.
The express agent at Meredien, think
ing that Sommers was a detective, al
lowed him to remain about the office of
the Southern Express company, Som
mers is known as a "key filter" and
while the agent had left the office he
tried number of keys until he found
one which would fit the old-fashioned
safe. Then he stole package contain
ing IS, 900. He had calculated to seize
$50 900, as it was the time TO send this
amount of money on what is known as
the Mobile run. In this he was disap-
pointed.
Sommers passed the package to Ton
ner about IL O'Clock that night, and both
men agreed to meet in New Orleans.
Both took the Cannon Ball" train that
night, but William Pinkerton was al
ready on the scent. He suspected Som
mers and went to New Orleans, where
he arrested him, and then brought him
back to Meriden. Only $500 was found
on Sommers, who then confessed the
robbery. Tonner had gone to Chicago
with the rest of the money, but he was
arrested as he stepped out of the nli-
nois Central depot. The men were SEN
fenced to five years each in the jackson
penitentiary. Sommers made himself
popular with the Jail officials and he
was employed to run messages from one
office to the other. He was well known
to the guards.
Aug. Z, 1898, he noticed that a new
guard had been placed on duty at the
main gate. Sommers seized his oppor-
tunity. He wrote note purporting to
come from the warden of the Jail, tell
ling the guard that he was wanted i'm.
mediately at the office and that the con-
vict would take his place. The green
guard left his cloak and rife with Som
mers and FASTENED to the warden. In
the meantime the convict had disap-
peared, and all efforts to find him proved
futile. Sommers went to New Orleans
and was later heard of in Chicago. He
was seen about the Rock Island depot
several times, paying particular atten.
ton to the Lake Shore express cars.
The night of the day that Sommers dis
appeared from Chicago, going east, the
Lake Shore train was robbed at Kessler,
Ind. Sommers was again seen in Chi.
cago two days after the robbery with
plenty of money, He said then he was
going to Vancouver, B. G. John Hart
ford and hispartner, the late Ed Carney,
of the central station, were close enough
to Somers at that time to have arrested
him if he had not suddenly changed his
sleeping quarters. These facts were
reported at the time to the officials of
the United States Express ompany in