The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-26
WAS AN Ex-CoEWcT.
CAREER OF nANKER wHIrrLE.
The Despoiicr of the Bank of CraS-
ford Of Crawford. Ncb-, Was an
Oid-Time Criminal and Had Been
sent 90 Prison by an Iowa Jury.


sent 20 Prison by an Iowa Jury.
From the Chicago Record.
Omaha. Neb.. Feb. ut is just begin
ming to dawn on the authorities that they
have no ordinary criminal to deal with
in Albert B. Whipple. who 50 success
fully looted the Bank of crawford at
Crawford. Neb. When he suddenly disap-
peared in December he took with him all
the banks assets except the interior fix
lures He left numerous unpaid bills. some
of them heavy for he was interested in
several extensive government contracts
and tribe more. United States. state
and local officers have been looking for
Whipple everywhere. but have so far sue
ceeded only In capturing some OF his bag
gage at an express office in Denver and
locating a check he had cashed at a bank
at Alliance Ncb.. last week.
Whipple was well thought OF at Craw-
ford. and was doing good business until
last May, when he was found loosely bound
and locked in the vault OF his bank. He
reported that just before the hour for
closing a masked robber had held him
up taking $1,000 in cash. and forcing him
into the vault. bound AID locked him
there. Whipple's bank was insured by d
bond company against daylight robbery
and when application for indemnity was
made the bond company began an inves-
tigauon that led to the claim being
I dropped. From that time Whipple's credit
/ began to wane. until just before he dis
/ appeared the president Of the bank and
/ one Of the stockholders forced the cashier
at the point of pistols to pay their bank
/ the money that they had invested. This
/ forced the crash.
Since Whipple fed the officers have
/ followed his record and have developed
that he is a criminal of long standing
and great versa tility. Early in the SOS
he was agent for the Burlington * Coin,
/ Iowa. lie was hardly out of his teens,
/ but was soon a work developing his ca
/ pacty as a business man and hnancier.
/ The station was junction OF the Burling-
/ ton and Wabash roads. and the Gould
I line was getting the bulk Of the business.
! Whipple set about getting shippers from
I the Wabash to his road. He could get
| no passes to influence business He Of
fered TO shippers. who would bring their
/ business to him, trips to Chicago and
return or to St. Louis and back for
NOMINAL cost. re manipulated AlNktle
/ that were accounted for as from Com TO
. Clarinda, to carry shippers whom he
/ could trust TO the nearest junction station
I TO Chicago He would stamp the dupli-
/ Gates TO Clarinda, but the original or train
/ ticket to some small branch north of the
! main line-perhaps Geneva, III, via Au-
rOra-and the passenger would pay fare
from aurora into Chicago If the conductor
| spotted him. The friend of Whpple would
I then take back the ticket to him at Coin
and 1T would be destroyed, thus prevent
ing his being called to account for more
than one ticket for perhaps, IS cents to
I Clarinda.
1t was charged later, bat not proved.
that he had eventually grown reckless
and accepted half-farc for some Of these.
When he wanted an elevator built anc
the company declined to erect il, he put
it up himself That man would have
been general manager Of the road in T.
little while if he had stayed straight, q"
one regrettng friend observed After
some years he was discharged with regret
because he had proposed to neighboring
I agents to deadhead brick and lumber and
like freights in carloads to himself, de-
stroy the way bills and divide on the
profits Of what they collected. Some time
after the company discovered that forged
tickets were being used
A detective was engaged. but after six
weeks advised Supt Duggan that he could
I 40 nothing more IMAM lie low Tor a
while, in hopes OF catching the swndler
Duggan then laid the matter before p S
Eustis. then general passenger agent at
this city, and he called in J IL. Davis OF
this city for detective work. Davis round
ed up Whipple in a few days. The forged
tickets that brought Whipple to grief had
been sold to Broker Bushnell in Council
Bluffs by Whipple who passed himself
there as Rose, and Bushnell bought them
in good faith They looked all right and
brought the usual price, but they were
forged as to destination. Whipple would
take tickets from Coin to Glenwood and
change the name "Glenwood" by erasure
to read Denver" and thus beat the road
out of the difference in fare of over 500
miles.
Whipple was convicted in 1855 and sent
to prison for two years and nine months
hut was pardoned and restored to citizen
ship in less than two years. A young wo-
man of Coin, who was desperately in love
with him, enlisted the sympathies of Con-
gresham Hepburn and others so that they
interceded with Gov. Larrabee for his par
don before his good time was effective
When Whipple was released he vowed he
would 80 west and no one should ever see
him again. He felt bitter toward the rail-
way company and most of the people of
that part of Iowa, and seemed to feel that
he deserved more consideration from the
railway company than he had met. The
young woman is the wife of a farmer now
and leading a serene and happy life. While
in prison Whipple mastered shorthand
and upon his release told his friends that
he had secured place with an army officer
in the west, which was a fact. He became
a clerk to a ouartermaster. He was sta
toned as transfer agent of the govern
ment at Rushville 0hen Bordeaux, Wyo.,
and finally got army contracts at Fort
Robinson. Then he opened a store at
Crawford, another at Hyannis, became an
army contractor and eventually a banker
BURGLARS BLOW UP DANK.