The record-union., 1898-09-18

For hours after Taylor's arrest Fish
er sat with his new prisoner explaining
to him the unbroken chain of evidence
which had been woven about all four
of the men by Sheriff Johnson, himself
and Deputy Sheriff George Kelly, but
the prisoner was defiant, and at times
almost became abusive toward the de-
tective.
Fisher, however, had studied his man,
and little by little, as the most damag
ing points in the strong chain of evil
dence were discussed, the detective
drove his man to his corner anad final
ly, when the all-important clew-the
little yellow pug dog, which the rob-
bers had abandoned as they were get
ting on the electric cars on Twenty
eighth street-was mentioned the pris-
oner threw up the sponge" and ac-
knowledged his crime.
Taylor not only verbally admitted his
participation in the robbery, but also
addressed a statement to District At
torney Ryan, which reads as follows:
ITO Frank d. Ryan, District Attor-
ney: I, William Taylor, who was
caught in Fresno, Cal, by Detective
Max Fisher on a charge of aiding in
robbing two japanese near Brighton
Junction on the night of August %.
1898 hereby admit that / was one of
the four young men who committed this
crime. I wish to make a voluntary
statement to you, the same as l have
made verbally to Mr. Fisher.
AT the time / helped to do this job
I was out of money and had no home.
My mother died when / was little boy,
and my father abandoned me and l
drifted into bad company. Mr. Fisher
has advised me as to my rights-that /
need not say anything regarding my
case unless I do SO voluntarily-and
that what 1 might say could be used
against me at my trial.
Mr. Fisher. however, seems to be so
we'll acquainted with all of our move
ments, as we'll as with the facts in the
case, that 1 make no denial as to the
truth of the charge of robbery against
me- / will plead guilty, and will save
your county the expense of trial. On
account of my poor health I would beg
of you to have me sent to San Qu4ntln,
instead of Folsom Prison, and would
also like to have me as leniently dealt
with as the court conscientiously can.
At the expiration of my term [ Will
leave this State forever and will try
with all my heart to lead an honest life
again. Respectfully,
WILLIAM TAYLOR.
Witnesses: T. A. Benjamin and Max
P Fisher.
The apprehension of these thugs and
the obtaining of their confessions en-
titles the District Attorneys and Sher-
IFS office to considerable credit, for
both District Attorney Ryan and Sheriff
Johnson aided County Detective Fisher
in every conceivable way to ferrit out
the perpetrators of the bold robbery,
which almost terminated in murder.
Both spurred Fisher on to do his best,
and the detective has once more demon
strated his ability in successfully run
ming down criminals.
The four robbers, after committing
the crime, struck out in pairs in diff
ferent directions. Burke and Taylor
boarded train for San Francisco,
while the other two-whose names are
for the present withheldIeft for the
East.
Fisher traced Burke and Taylor to
Port Costa, and thence to Martinez
From there the trail led to Walnut
Creek. in Contra Costa County, thence
to Niles and San Jose. From there
they went to Lathrop, and later to
Fresno Burke, however. pushed on to
Bakersfield Sheriff Borgwardt of Kern
County was notified, and he arrested
l.manner as described above.