The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-11-17

80
he did. He fought cunning with cunning.
He set the 'cOney mem against each other.
He granted immunity to some after getting
them dead to rights, on condition that they
turned traitors to their associates. There
was not a gang in the country that did not
have his agents as members. It was a des-
perate case that required a desperate rem
edy. The money turned out in those days
by such gangs as that Of Ballard and Nc
Cartney was of such superior workmanship
hat it readily sold to the showers at 5 to
l. That ia, it required $1,000 good money
to buy 5000 of the queer The finest coun-
terfeiters in all ages have been Italians.
Whitley soon had some Italians OH his
staff. The countcrfeiters had wealth in
abundance and the power and influence
that money will buy. The government
had, however, the largest purse, and OF
course it won. One by one the masters Of
the profession were taken in, but there was
much bloodshcd and treasure spent before
the backbone Of the conspiracy was broken.
But broken it WIS, and counterfeiting is
dead today.
Another class of crime that requires ex-
ecutive ability Of a high order, GOODNESS and
courage was what we call bank cracking
The robbery Of the Manhattan bank of New
York, the Chemical OF New York, and a
dozen others in the east and New England
of hundreds of thousands Of dollars need
not be mentioned in detail. Banks were
tunneled into and circumvented in a dozen
ways.
The same tactics were never employed
twice. In self defense the banks met the
skill OF the cracksmen with the skill of the
shoemaker. There is not q bank safe in
any big bank of the country today that safe
blowers could open if given 72 hours unin-
terruptcd work at it. When the safes be-
gan to get too strong for the cracksmen,
they were equal to the In the
dead Of night the robbers entered the home
of the cashier and with u pistol at his head
he was marched to the bank and forced to
open the safe of which he knew the combi-
nation.
The robbery OF the Northampton bank
was the most striking instance of this phase
of crime. The result was the invention of
the time lock. From this time the banks
were safe from every source of attack ex-
cept dishonest cashiers, and to meet even
this IN extradition treaty with Canada has
been negotiated. In the subtreasury in this
city the time lock combination can only be
operated when the hour of opening arrives
by two men, each Of whom is acquainted
with but one-half the combination.
For every dollar that the express COM
panies have had stolen by train robbers,
they have had 500 taken by dishonest m
ployees. The history Of conspiracis against
express companies would fill Il large vol
ume, and it would certainly be the most
Interesting contribution to the crimina
history of the world that could be written.
IL nine cases out Of ten, and the cases num-
bercd into the hundreds, Il messenger or
trusted employee WAS Implicated, generally
in connection with some former employee
of the company. Messengers were fonnd
gagged and bound, druRged or beaten into
insensibilily and bleeding from a dozen
wounds. 1t did not take long, however, to
adopt the rule Of suspecting the messenger.
''That clcw was marked first of all. The
circumstance surrounding the robbery of
Messenger Fothtringham by Fred Witt
rock were so CloselS OF the lines of the old
time express robberies that the express Off
Gals and the detectives in charge of the
case were more than warranted i'll their I'M
Just suspicion vi the messenger. They ro-
luctanMy gave up their theory of his Eu!lt,
and not until his innocence was manifest to
the world. So perfect is the system of sur
VIGILANCE now OF express company ens-
ployccs that they cannot hope to olude po-
lice vigilance should they join in a crime
against the company"