Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1895-07-18
MAX sHlNBURN IN BENNINGTON.
Exploits of the Famous Bank Robber-
The Noted Trial which Resulted.

The Noted trial MnlCn
Bennington county as well as Cheshire,
New Hampshire, has reason to remember
Max Shinburn, the bank burglar recent
" arrested i'm New York state, for one of
her most famous lawsuits was fought
there as the result of one of his ingenious
robbcrics 1t was the first jury trial held
before Judge H. II. Wheeler after he
went upon the bench in this state. In 1865
soon after the First National bank was
organized there. and while occupying u
little building by itself, 1T was one night
robbed of $4,000.
The safe had a large combination four
wheel lock. only four persons in the
world knew the combination and one of
them was Eugene Graves, son of the
president. and he was a rather wild boy
who happened to be in Troy that night
As it could not be understood how the
safe was entered, suspicion was directed
quite strongly against him. Among the
securities stolen were $4,000 bonds belonging
to the cashier and $4,000 to Enos Adams,
placed in the bank for loan which had
been partly paid. Adams sued the bank
to recover the amount and the case was
twice tried, i'm December, go, and Deem
her, 20. The first trial resulted in dis
agreement of the jury and the second in
a verdict for the plaintiff for all bonds
held as collateral, and as to the rest for
the defendant. Besides all the questions
regarding the law of bailmen involved,
the case turned on the question of the
vindication of young Eugene Graves.
Shinburn had in the mean time been ar
rested at Welhi. n. y, for another rob-
berry and for bail had offered a $1,000 bond
which was found to belong to the cashier
at Bennington. and to have been among
those stolen. In Shnburns room at New
York was also found the bug which he
had used to break the safe. as the process
nrt 10
was a diamond. and taking off the outer
piece of knob of the lock, he adjusted
the diamond so it would make scratch
for each movement in unlocking, then put
the knob back on. he waited until the next
night after the record had been made of
the number of revolutions each way re-
quircd. which he was able to read from
the interior of the mechanism by the use
of magnifying glass. These diamond
marks were found in the lock and it was
also found that Shinburn had been in
town for eight days waiting for the cashler
to open the interior box in the safe, III
which was more than 100000 OF cash and
securities He had gone through with the
same process on the inside lock, but as
there was no occasion in the meantime to
go to the inside box for the banks bust
ness, he had to commit the robbery with
out it.
These facts, with some other circum-
committed the robbery and relieved
Young Graves from unjust suspicion The
Gaze was one that excited intense interest
at the time. all the Bennington lawyers
being engaged on one side or the other.
Edward j. Phelps and Southworth fought
for the defendant, while the late Charles
n. Davenport and at the different trials
W A. Beach and Judge Fursman, now OF
the New York supreme Court, then Of
tho firm of Smith, Beach & Fursman OF
Troy. took the lead for the plaintiff. Mr..
Phelps argument in Vindication of young
Graves was declared by Mr. Davenport
to have been one Of the finest ever heard
in any court 1t was soon after this tria!
that Mr.. Beach went TO New York. a.
confidential counsel for Jim Fisk and Jay
Could beginning a. celebrated career
there, in the Tilton- Beecher and other
cases. Fisk and Gould first offered this
position with all its opportunities TO Da-
NEWPORT who declined it.
The manufacturer of the safe testified
at this trial that it was the constant study
and struggle of that business to keep
ahead of the bank burglars, but he would
have to admit that at that stage the bur
glars were ahead and some new way of
circumVentinp them would have to be
studied up. This was frequent expert
cnce of safe manufacturers as against
Shinburn. He drove the Lily safe out of
the market by the discovery that the door
could be pried off by the use of a powerful
Jimmy after knocking off the hinges. He
also discovered that a person with an
acute hearing, by putting his ear to the
safe and turning the dial, could discover
at what numbers the tumplcrs dropped
into place. He is undoubtedly the ablest
sooundrel this continent has contained and
his career has been wonderful one. HIS
robbcres will probably mount up into the
hundreds. When he fled from this coun-
try in 1863, he carried off over 100000, and
purchased an estate; a silk mill and title
of count in Belgium where he lived a quiet
life for several years. But he was always
a reckless and profuse gambler, and lost
his money and returned to bank burglaries
again, being finally caught and spending
five years in prison. The Cheshire county
officers who went over to New York last
week to get him to serve out his sentence
in New Hampshire had to come back
without him. The New York authorities
refused to give him up because they think
they can convict hm.-Brattleboro Re
former.