Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-20
RALLY OF CROOKS.
huge Harvest Gathered by Pick
pockets at Fight.

/ pockets ut II 4 teht.
1.-The greatest gathering of pickpocksts
that ever saw and, darcsay, the greet;
est bunch that ever assembled was at the
Mace Coburn fight at Long Point, Canada.
on May H. 1871" said detective who
has been in sbe business since 1856 to the
New York Sur. 1.-The big fight was held
in the vicinity of the old lighthouse at
Long Point, and the only way to get TO
the ground was by boat from Erie or Buff
falo or by walking a good many miles
through Canada. The boat that left Buff
falo carried in the neighborhood of 1000
persons The fact that there were a large
number OF thieves on the vessel was noised
about, and the honest persons kept their
hands ON their valuables all the time.
Strange TO say, not touch was made on
the way over Two vessels, both loaded
to their fullest capacity, left Erie, Pa,
and each of these carried a number of
pickpockets. There were about dozen
detectives in the crowd, among them be-
ing the present Chief of Detectives Pat
rick V Cusack of Buffalo, Captain Rogers
and Detective Sullivan of Rochester and
few detectives frsm Erie, Pa, and Toronto.
They knew that there was no use in try
ing to put a check on tho work of the
crooks, because there were at least 800
professional pickpockets in the crowd.
just after the spectators began taking
their places about the ringside the sheriff
got in the ring and made this speech:
"'I wish to warn every one against pick
pockets. There are hundreds of them here.
1.-The sheriff stepped out of the ring,
and several men grouped about him. The
central figure of the group was a crook
known as Papes. When the sheriff got out
of the mix, his diamond stud, his roll of
bills and his watch were missing. He
made known his loss to one of the detec
tives, and the detective volunteered to re-
cover the property. The detective was
Captain. Rogers. He sought Papes, ex'
planned the situation TO him, and Papes
Immediately turned over the sheriff's
property, saying that he had taken it just
for joke.
81 can't begin to tell you how many
pockets were picked this day. The fight
waxed warm, and every one was excited,
so the crooks had a fine field to work in.
Pocketbooks were actually flying in the
air. Men were accusing hone st men who
sat beside them of touching them. Scores
of diamond studs were unscrewed and
nipped The most humorous incident of
the day was the theft of 5000 in bills from
a thief who hailed from st. Louis and was
unknown to the New York delegation. A
New York man named O'Donohue had
got the st. Louis thief's roll, and he re-
turned it when he learned his mistake.
Some men were stripped of everything
they had and were unable to buy meal
or a drink. In such cases the crooks help
ed them along with small loan, as they
termed it. The referee of the match was
relieved of his diamond. His bills were
in an inside pocket and were not touched.
Business Jagged with the thieves after
the fight was over There were but few
pockets left to pick. Several men who had
been robbed insisted that the honest men
should band together and attack the
thieves for the purpose of recovering the
stolen property. The detectives opposed
this ON the ground that the honest men
and the picpkockets We're mingled SO
closely as not to be distinguished, and,
moreover, the thieves could fight and
would fight.
All the thieves returned to Buffalo
after the fight, and word of their coming
was sent to police headquarters from the
first landing place. When the boat tied up
at the foot of Main street. 100 policemen
and all the detective force We're there to
meet it. About 800 or $50 thieves were
marched out two abreast and lined up on
the wharf. They were told that they were
to be escorted out of town, and they made
no protest. With the policemen and do
tectives as herders and drivers the crooks
were marched to the Central station and
corraled there under close guard. When
a train for New York was made up, the
thieves were escorted aboard it and were
watched till it reached the city line. u