The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-01
|0UHT sHINDURN CAUGHT
H. Notorioas Bank Burglar Is Again
10 the TOils.
|Hesr REMARKABLE CAREER
0uDMA and His Gang Said to Have
MilIious-He Is One of the
lost Expert Locksmiths in
the Country.

kting in this country and abroad
= 1861. was arrested h,re on Friday
detectives connected with the Pin
on agency. He is accused of being
leader of a gang Of burglars which
robbed twenty banks in or near
York state during the last three
rs, hut the specific charge against
win be completely in the attempted
sglnry at the First National hanK
diddleburg, N. V. on April IL last,
{e depredations of the gang brough'
khcut the organization of the country
banks Of what is CALLED the American
Bankers association. This body was
formed solely to break up the few we'll
organized bands by ha'ak burglars re-
manning In this country, and they re-
tanned the Pinkertcn agency to do the
work The arrest OF Shinburn Is its hrst
triumph.
The man, II Is said. has been living
In q boarding house on Thirty-fouNn
street, between Sixth and Seventh ave-
nues. but the detectives decline 20 give
the number of the house on the ground
that Il is a respectable place and that
Shinburn's character and real name
were unknown there. After arresunS
ehinturn, who made no resistance. the
detectives say, they went to his room.
where they found n most elaborate ki'
OF burglars tools. The implements
were OF the finest make and included
everything of the sort known 10 the
craft, from ''sneak" shoes, saws. skele-
ton keys. jimmys. lock picks. and drills
to nitro-glycerine, powder, cartridges,
and pistols.
Shinburn is now 81 years old. but he is
4 active and dangerous as a criminal
the Pinkerton people say, as he ever
was. He Is a German by birth and
came to New York in 1861. He was q
first-class mechanic. but he didn't work
at his trade here. becoming instead the
associate Of gamblers and crooks. He
lived at the, Metropolitan hotel. and
frequentei theresorts on Prince, Grand.
md Houston streets. and among his
intimate friends were such welI-known
crooks a. George Miles. better known
- BlfsY Fairy" Mcclure. piano
Charley3 Bullard. big Ike" Marsh.
end IL tile Dave Cummings.
His Skill as Mechanic
Shinburn's remarkable mechanical
4xAIdC WILL USEFUL IfltIl
nnSse thieves, and when ne became a
professional burglar he was able to
choose from among them as confeder-
ates whomsoever he pleased. George
Bhss. Fairy" Mcclure, and a young
Englishman. whose name ii not re-
called by the Pinkerton agency, were
those selected by Shlnburn. and after
ward the two former figured in all OF
the burglaries which Shinburn planned
and led.
The young Engliahman never aided
In the actual robberies. but was used
- . Eo5kNeen IN negotiating for the
return OF the securities stolen by Shin
burn and his pals. In this way Shin
burn and the Englishman made for
tunes, Mcclure and Bliss only proflting
in q slight degree, and in 1863. when
Shinburn was forced to flee from the
country. he was able to take something
Hike $780, 900 with him.
Shfnburu was nothing II not thor
ough, and to perfect his knowledge of
combination locks he went to work, in
1856. for the Lilly Safe company. He
diecovered half dozen ways of finding
O0s SkAC NOttkOiifhtiOhi VI tiAt hlLr seltC-
BY listening to the clicking Of the locks,
and 90 s3rilful did he become at it that,
: sutil the improved locks came in, the
P1nkerton people say. there was not a
asfe IN, the country he could not open.
6hinburn robbed the Walpole Savings
bank at Walpole, ". H., in 1865, with
Btm and Mcclure, and was afterward
arrested and sentenced to ten years
6mprisonment In the New Hampshire
state prison. He escaped from the
prison the day after he was taken there.
and IN the next two years succeeded in
sobbang number of banks without de-
AeCtion.
In 1851 Shinburn made up his mind to
rob the vasit in the Lehigh and Wilkes
Barre Coal company's office at White
eaven. Twice he visited the vault, but
on neither occasion was there more
chan 1900 to be had, so simply extract
ing enough for expenses he waited, and
On his third visit found $4,000, which
Ae Wu1ked of with. He was arrested
later In this city and taken to White
haven, where every night he was