Connecticut western news., 1895-02-14
A DETECTIVES YARN.

Riley, "that detective is forced to as- sume disguise to get information, but sometimes it is absolutely necessary. The last time that had to go into den of thieves in bogus character was B good many years ago, and l had a rather lively experience and enough of excitement to stand me until the end of my days.
 "We received report of the escape of crook from the Charlestown prison, and from what the authorities there had been able to gather 1t was supposed that the convict had come to this city. They sent description of the man, and the only thing that I saw was of any use was that on the mans right arm were the initials "A. T., with a flag above and anchor below them in india ink. 1 looked over our records and found that we had there the pedigree of Abe Taylor, and he had the same marks on his right arm The rest of the descrip- tion that we had did not tally very closely with the one sent from Charles town, but I thought that there was good ground for the belief that the es- capped convict was Taylor, who was one of the most successful jail breakers in the country.
 ''In order to be certain of the identi- ty of the convict I went to Charlestown. l found that the man had been convict ed under the name of John Smith for the robbery of the Pittsield bank, and the style of tho work was in line with the business usually touched off by Tay- Tor. took run over over to Pittsfeld, got description of the two men who had done the bank out of Sl60, 900 and became convinced that the man who had been shot and arrested and who escaped was Abe Taylor, and that his partner was Jerry Connors
 ''I knew that l was up against stiff game, and on the train from Boston l laid out plan which 1 thought would give me show to get on the track of the men. Abe and Jerry I knew were partners with Petey Slade, who ran a notorious fence and dive in Washington street, near Canal, and made up my mind that some time or other the pair of them would land in Shades place. I decided that my strongest hold would be to get in with Slade and his gang on their own terms. I knew the risk was taking, for the gang were about the toughest set of thugs and assassins in the city and would not hesitate to slit a man's wizen in. second upon the slightest provocation. put up scheme which thought would beat their game, and it worked to the queens tatse.
 "When reached the city, had my self arrested for fictitious crime and was tried and sent to the Blackwells 6 Island penitentiary in perfectly regu- lar way, with the assistance, of course, of Recorder Hackett. The warden in the penitentiary knew my game and aided me in carrying out the business. After had been locked up a few days I made my escape from the island after dark. The next day the newspapers con- tained thrilling account of my escape and the story was that I dug my way out of my cell and swan across the river to this city. I must have had a terrible time, as the papers told it, but as a matter of fact I crossed the river in boat, and the story was given out to make me solid in the work I had laid out to do.
 "When I reached the city, it was dark, and I walked down to Slade's s dive in my convict's rig, which had been soaked with water to carry out my scheme. sent a boy into the dive to get Slade to come to me, and told him the story of my escape and said that a thief who had started to get away with me, but had lost his nerve when it came to taking the swim, had told me that when we reached the city we could go to Slade's and put up until the thing blew over.
 Shade was very cautious. He felt my clothing and took me ip back room in the den and carefully examined the clothes and shoes to see if they were the genuine convict's outfit. He was satis. fled on that point, but was suspicious when I could not give him the name oi my partner. did not dare to fake z name, for Slade knew where every thie1 l was who had been sent away that ht | ever did any business with. I told hin that the man was known to me as Jack and as Jack Mccarthy, one of Slade't gang, happened to be on the island a the time my story was taken as being straight, and was given room on tn, l second floor to bunk in. The next day Slade saw the story of my escape in th' papers and became my friend at once. | '.I must admit that never got better treatment from any one than l did iron Slade and the gang. He told them tha
 I was all right, ard they were glad tt know a fellow who had the nerve t, swim across the East river, where tn,
 tide runs like mill race. Ihad to keeI in the house all the time, and in cas,
 the police got on to me in any way
 was shown a way that could escape b, i getting into an underground passage
 which led to sewer in the street.
 was fed like fighting cock, and noth
 ing turned up for about three weeks
 Then early one morning, while I wa
 sleeping, some one came into my room
 and heard whispered consultation
 There was dim light ill an adjoininl
 room, and could see four figures. NJ,
 hair stood mp on end, for I naturall,
 thought that they were talking abou
 me, and that I had been found out.
 made up my mind to give them as goo'
 fight as there was in me, but afte
 awhile the men went into the next room
 and heard them get into bed. In tn
 morning my heart gave big thumI
 when I saw that the new arrivals wer
 Abe Taylor, Jerry Connors and And
 Cummings, the men I was after.
 My first idea was to connect wit
 the outside and have the place pulled
 and I would have done this if had no
 learned that scheme had been put u
 to turn off savings bank in Newark Cummings and Taylor had been a wee in Newark planting the place. wa introduced to them by Slade, and Fay
 Tor took me right away as jail breake
 after his own heart. worked my card
 as skillfully as could and let the gan T IT