Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-23

DetectNe Lesch, Who Has Hunted Western
 Desperadoes, Says He Thinks th~. Men
 Seen In Lakewood, V. J., Were the Last
 of the HI Starred short Gang.
 NEW YORK, Feb. 23.-Detectivo NJ. F. Leech, a well known and most successful dcsperado hunter of the west, is staying at the Astor House He has been laid up for over year. suffering from injuries re- ceived in railroad accident In talking about the recent supposed attempt to kid nap little Kingdom Gould he said yester- day to a reporter:
 "n the woman in Lakewood actually saw two such men as she describes plot ting about the Gould children, I expect to find that the survivors of the old Luke Short gaug-FTank Howard and Frank Mckinney-have come back to carry out a scheme that has been in their heads for years l don't know how many times they have attempted to kidnap Gould, but have learned at various times of four attempts.
 Tn 1876 l was in the employ of the Union Pacific railroad as a detective with headquarters at Ogallala, Neh We had a good deal of trouble in those days with train robbers, road agents. who held up stage coaches and horse and cattle thieves
 II think it was in July, 1876, that Jay Gould came to Ogallala in his private car to inspect the cattle of Keith &S Barton. With him was Sydney Dillon, Guy c. Bar ton, M. c. Keith and Superintendent J. T. Clark of the Union Pacific. MT. Clark can corroborate my statement.
 Tried to Capture Jay Gould.
 About an hour before the Gould train arrived was informed by little fellow ErNN nlNt. hn in with toughs, that n band of men had organized for the purpose of Kidnapping Jay Gould on his arrival In the gang were George Crandnll, who acted leader; Luke Short, William Phoebus William Harris. alias Missouri Bill, and Sam Brown.
 II got together posse and locked the gang up, and kept them locked up till aft CT MT. Gould left. He was in Ogallala about four hours. At tho request of Su- perintendent Clark we kept the matter quiet, as he was afraid if Gould heard of it he would be backward about continuing his journey
 "The gang went to my house in Ogalla- la about three weeks after that. They had threatened to kill me. ! was away, but they got my old father and mother out of bed and made my father dance for them while they shot all around his feet
 Two years later I met Crandall in Fort Fetterman, Wy, face to face in the street. We both fired at about tho same time. He shot me through tho left hand, and l shot him through the left lung. He was in the hospital for awhile, and then We took him down to Cheyenne for trial He caught cold on the way and died before his trial came of.
 Gould came to Georgetown, Colo. in August, 1881. with Mrs. Gould, the little girl and two boys, both little fellows then. The scheme was to capture one or moro of mines at Middle Park, about 20 miles to the west.
 II happened to be in Georgetown the day before the Gould party arrived and saw Short. They concluded that knew their game and was prepared for them, and they got out.
 1T got information of the details after ward from Frank Howard, whom sus- pect to bR one of the men recently seen at Lakewood. Hc is no good follow, who would stick to his friends when thero was any money in it and botray them ns soon ns he saw it was to his advantage
 The third attempt on the Goulds was in the summer of 1892, only few months before Jay Gould died. He was up in the Wood river country, in Idaho. a month or six weeks for his health. He had tho two girls with him and Howard Gould, and I think a younger son was there. George Gould came up, but only staid for few days.
 "S. II. H. Clark, the president of the Union Pacific, started in his private car to visit Gould, and being on my way to Boise City he invited me to ride with him.
 The Plot of 1892.
 Tn the third gang Luke Short again appeared as leader. Frank Howard was his first lieutenant, and the third man, have always believed from his description, was Frank Mckinney. whom now sus- pect to bc with Howard in this vicinity. l never had Mckinney positively identi- fled, but his description was well known through the west, as he was wanted for various crimes.
 My presence with President Clark in his car again led the gang to believe that their game was blocked, as learned after ward from Frank Howard in Boise City. II came east in the summer of 1898. I | took my boy down to Coney Island to see the sights, and was greatly surprised when on the iron pier I saw Short, How ard and this man whom I think Is Frank Mckinney.
 ''I didn't want any trouble on account of my boy being with me. and tried to keep out of sight. Howard saw me- and as soon as he could get away from his friends he joined mo and told mo he had | something to tell me told him was stopping at the Astor House, and later he | called to seo me.
 He told me he was in with the others to kidnap one of the Gould children, and that they had been laying for them up in the Catskills, but that the family had left there and come down to Now York, and that he and his companions had about de- spaired of carrying out the scheme
 He wanted mo to go to George Gould with proposition that he would for t5, 900 betray his pals into tho hands of the police. Ho was to leave the country with the money as soon as his pals were arrest ed declined of course and warned him to drop tho business.