The record-union., 1898-01-07
THE RECENT MAIL ROBBERY.
BURGLAR WILSON CONFESSES
TO THE CRIME.
Officers Douglas and Pennish Dis
cover the Thief in the .
County Jail.

The mystery surrounding the robbery
of the mail bags at the depot two weeks
| ago last Saturday has been unveiled
through the clever work of Officers
Douglas and Pennish.
These officers have found th,s thief,
and for their excellent work will doubt
less be well rewarded by the Postoff1ce
Department at Washington.
The man who riled the mail-bags is
none other than the supposed-to- be
simple minded fellow, Arthur Wilson,
whom lawyer Clinton L. White subse-
quently caught in his basement one
day investigating the contents of trunks
stored there. This is not mere con-
lecture, but is verified by Wilson's con-
fession taken down in writing and
signed by him in the presence of wit
nesses.
When the cut and rified mail-bags
were found in the rear of the City Jail
by Officer George Naghel and Railroad
Officer Frank Rider, Chief Drew de-
tailed Officers Pennish and Douglas to
work up the case and if possible arrest
the despoiler of Uncle Sans mails. The
| officers set out two weeks ago and fol-
lowed such slight clews as they could
get until they had pretty accurate de-
scription of the man whom they had
reason to believe committed the rob-
berry
They found where the suspected per-
son had lodged in a downtown house,
and they searched Easements and cell
lars in the vicinity in the hope of find
| ing some of the missing mail matter
that might verify their suspicious, but
without result. Then they searched
| the room he had occupied, and ripped
open the mattress on the bed, but all
to no purpose. Still the officers did
not give up, though they had lost the
trail of the suspect and were unable to
locate him.
A few days ago Pennish and Douglas
had occasion to visit the County Jail,
and to their surprise and delight they
saw there the very man whom they
suspected Of being the mail robber. He
was none other than Arthur Wilson,
then awaiting trial for the burglary Of
Lawyer Whites house. The officers
endeavored to get him to talk, but Will
son was too foxy and they did not
want to spoil their work by giving him
a fright.
The officers then decided to lay the
facts before District Attorney Ryan, as
that official had better opportunities
to work on the prisoner. They told
the District Attorney all that they had
| discovered, and he saw at once that
they had a good case. So he had Will
son taken to his office, where the lat
ter was subjected to a severe examina
tion, with the result that when con-
fronted with the facts that officers
Pennish and Douglas had worked up
against him he made a clean breast Of
the matter. This was on Wednesday,
but on the preceding day wilson
doubtless hoping to escape a worse fate
had gone into court and pleaded
guilty to the charge of burglary pend
ing against him.
| Following is the confession made by
Wilson to the District Attorney:
WILSON'S STATEMENT.
Il, Arthur Wilson, hereby declare, of
my own free will and without any in
ducements having been held out to me,
that early one morning in December,
1897, l took two mail-sacks from the
depot and took them to the lumber
pile near by and opened them.
Il took the letters and papers out
the river. but gave the checks. or
| money orders (postal orders), to (nam-
ing a certain woman). She runs a
| lodging-house on street. between
K and L. She told me that the money
! orders were no good to anyone, and
that she would burn them, and to the
best of my knowledge and belief they
We're destroyed by her in that man
ner.
There was one check for 500 or
$3.50. The rest. Of the checks were for
! small amounts from 81 % to 81 80.
The papers and letters which 1 took
from the mail-bags We're mostly from
Folsom and Placerville
| Il make this statement to District
| Attorney Ryan and County Detective
Fisher Of my own free will. My desire
| for making this statement is so that
| no innocent person might be blamed
| for it and also that the owners of the
checks may get their money returned.
ARTHUR WILSON"
Witnesses: Max p. Fisher, Frank D.
| Ryan.
Armed with this confession Officer
Douglas went to San Francisco yes
terday and found the woman referred
to by Wilson, whose name is withheld
for the present at the officers request.
(The woman had gone TO San Fran
cisco, where she has relatives shortly
after the mail robbery)
Douglas had a long talk with her. and
she apparently told straightforward
story. She said she was breaking up
housekeeping at the time Wilson, who
had been stopping in her house. brought
couple Of letters or money orders and
asked her about getting them cashed
She said she merely saw them and
noted their character, but he did not
give them to her and she had no knowl-
edge of what disposition he made of
them. The woman said she was about
to return to Sacramento and would be
here in few days, and was ready to
at my time tell what little she knew
of the matter.
Officers Pennish and Douglas had also
discovered that Wilson, fearing detec-