The record-union., 1899-09-01

uty Sheriff Schwilke, arrested a little
German named Fred Stephan, alias
Flat -Nosed Fritz" on suspicion OF
having committed a burglary in con-
junction with Gestner and a man
named Harry Heinsohn near Natoma
on April 23d. A fine double set of buggy
harness had been stolen from L. Lau-
ridson's barn, and the officers traced
the missing harness into the possession
of Van Norman's band of thieves for
such these men have since acknowl-
edged themselves to be-
When Fritz" was being locked up
he begged to have Van Norman sent
for, and for several days he held out
defiantly, and even became insolent to
the Chief But at last the mass OF
evidence which Fisher had been gath
ering began to tell, and he sent for the
officers, and acknowledged his partici-
patton in this particular crime He was
held to answer and offered to plead
guilty when he saw that Van Nor
man was deaf to his entreaties to come
to visit him. Fisher kept after his
man, and several days ago Fritz init
mated to Sheriff Johnson that he de-
sired to make a clean breast of the
whole affair and tell all he knew, not
caring to shield himself or others
equally guilty.
STEPHAN CONFESSES.
When taken before Assistant District
Attorney Wachhorst Fritz in the pres
ence of Sheriff Johnson, Under Sheriff
Reese. Chief Dwyer and Fisher made
a voluntary statement, which reads in
part like this:
MY name is Frederick Stephan, but
they call me Fritz I got acquainted
with Harry West, who used to have a
horse and wagon that belonged to Van
/ Norman I used to go around the
/ country with West, and one day in
/ January Van Norman said: Fritz, I
| know where there is a fine lot of elec~
| tric copper wire easy to get I think
/ there is about $40 worth of it; it's over
/ along the Twelfth-street road. across
/ the American River You better drive
/ over there after dark and see about it. ,
1 went over there, but could not find
| the wire; guess it was gone Then
| a little later I met Hank and Butch
/ (H. w Gestner and Harry Heinsohn),
/ and we went together. Van Norman
! said they We're all right; were fellows
! he could trust. Van Norman said he
| needed brass. and Butch told him
! there was lots of railroad brass at
| Tracy, and Van Norman said: You fell
| lows go down and get it, but be sure
to break it up before bringing it here,
| as 1 can't use it in big pieces. Heat it
| in the fire and strike it with an ak or
! sledge, and it breaks easy
] ~
pounds of brass and 200 pounds of Bah
| bitt metal. We had two of Van Nor
mans wagons to get it with. He gave
! us S41 for the lot Then we brought
| four or five more lots of brass from
! Tracy. Then Van Norman gave Butch
a wagon and gave him money to buy
an old horse. He gave me a wagon.
too. Butch went by himself and got
! things for Van Norman, and Hank
went with me.
GOT LOTS OF BRASS.
Van Norman said that Charley Har-
! ley at S44 Harrison street San Fran
cisco, had written him a letter in which
it said: Do not ship US any more of this
railroad brass, we can't receive it, the
( police are watching at the dock Van
/ Norman told us to get other kinds of
/ brass and to get garden hose, he said
he had lots of demand for garden hose,
and it was easy to handle, because
few people would know their own hose
/ again if they saw it. We went around
and wherever we found any garden
hose we took it and we took all the
1 brass work from the engines on irri-
/ eating pumps we could find. Lots OF
times we had to break the machines
/ to get the brass off. We skinned two
engines near Trask's Landing, one fine
! electric pump near Clarksburg, two at
Elk Grove one on Flint's hop ranch,
one at Perkins and several more
around the country and some about
/ Courtland.
Then we broke into blacksmith
shop at Courtland and stole a lot of
! brass. Then we went to the graveyard
near Elk Grove and took the brass out
! Of the water tank, the unions or what
/ you call them, and we took all of the
faucets from the hydrants where they
water the grass on the graves We
| took the garden hose out of that little
! building in the graveyard and all of
/ this stuff we brought to Van Norman.
He said That is good brass, bring
more like it?' l told him 1 was getting
/ scared and he laughed He said for
us to be careful. but if we We're caught
he would get us a lawyer and would
get US out all right, but I guess he
forgot all about me being in Jail He
said not to worry, that nobody sus-
/ pected him, because his reputation was
/ good and that he belonged to a couple
of lodges that would help him out If he
got into trouble.
Butch told him he knew where there
was a big gold machine on Alder
! Creek, with lots Of brass, but it would
take a pipe wrench to get it off and
we had none, and Van Norman said
he would get us all the tools we needed
TO get the brass. He said he had a
! pipe wrench and gave it to Butch and
he put it in the wagon; the wagon be-
/ longed to Van Norman. We took it
and went up to Alder Creek and burst
ed some Of the attachments off and
with the pipe wrench we unscrewed the
rest. Coming back we took a har-
ness. I guess it is worth about $50.
We took the brass and the harness to
him and he paid us cents pound for
the brass and about the harness he
said: Boys, you had better hide it
for month, it comes from too near;
the owner or the cops might come
| around looking for it; / can't hang il
out now, it would be too dangerous
"He wanted more brass and more
garden hose Butch got seven or eight
here in the city and then we got some
in the country They nearly all had
nozzles on them. 1 guess he took the
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