The St. Johns herald., 1900-09-15
: How the Bank Was Robbed

HERE is the mystery of a great
 crime solved at last. In May fsss, the sum of s4O,oOO in mutiIated currency disappeared from the sat chel in which it was being trans ported from the American Exchange national bank, New York, to the treas nry at Washington.
 John II. Walkinshaw, who played an important part in the robbery, now tells the Sunday World exactly how jt was perpetrated.
 Tn the days when there were horse ears on Broadway Wallinshaw was a driver in the company's service. The conductor of his car was Edwin S Crawford, his brother-in-law.
 He was a good-Ieoking young man with pink cheeks and girlish voice, who paid particular attention to the grooming of his hair and finger nails. Spending more money on the adorn- ment of his person than his wages of two dollars a day warranted, he swelled his income by knocking down" fares - that is, neglecting to ring them up.
 This made it desirable to secure as many passengers as possible. The driver could bring this about by talk ing more headway than he was en- atlsd to and making up for lost time toward the end of the trip. Craw- ford squared" the driver.
 Meanwhile the spick-andLspan con- dnctor had made valuable friend-a rich and influential young New York CT, who often rode on his car. This individual procured him a situation as messenger in the American Fix change national bank, and the Broad wny railroad was relieved of dis honest conductor.
 On May 4, 1888, the bank had $4O,- 600 in bills sufficiently well worn to De exchanged at the treasury for new currency. In the ordinary course of business they were made up in pack age to be expressed to Washington.
 This was the work of the paying teller, Mir. Watson. He counted the money with his usual care, and for some little time it lay on his desk in plain sight of four clerks, who aft erward swore to the circumstances.
 MT. Watson with his own hands tied up the bills in a neat package, sealed 1t, countersigned it, labeled it "S40,- e00," addressed it United States Treasury, Washington, D. G." and bcl1ed it in leather satcheL.
 At three o'clock this satchel was delivered to two messengers, to be carried to the office of the Adams Express compary. One of them was "0ld Man" Earle, who had worked for the bank years, and was known to be as true as steel The other was Edwin s. Crawford. q
 Followed at little distance, accord ing to custom, By the bank detective, the old and the young man thread ed Broadway to the express of flee, carrying the satchel between them.
 Together they started up the stairs, but Earle, who was a little out of breath, fell behind a few steps. Or perhaps Crawford, who was carrying the satchel, was in hurry.
 They joined company again after passing the first turn, where the stairs were dark, and thereafter until it was delivered to the proper officials of the express company, who gave them a receipt for it. Shortly afterward they returned to the bank. E A satchel, properly marked and ad- dressed. reached the treasury in due course. The clerk who opened it and took out the package realized at once, 50 accustomed was he to handling bun- dles of currency, that there was some thing queer about it, and was care ful not to tear it open until he had procured the presence of Treasurer uymans.
 Sure enough the package contained not currency, hut a bundle of wrap ping paper cut to greenback size.
 One thing was clear from the out set, and that was that the money had surely left the bank in the hands of Earle and Crawford. Beyond that all was mystery. When had the false package been substituted for the orig jnal?
 Old man Earle was above suspicion. Crawford. his companion, could have done no harm without his knowl- edgel Stay! Did he remember that moments separation on the stairs? If he did it had been so brief that he fniled to associate it in his mind with the mysterious crime.
 But it was in that moment that the deed was done. In this place-al- though other exciting events should come first in chronological order shall be interpolated John Fl. Walk inshaw's confession, made 10 the Sun, day World 12 years after the crime: .
 'sMy right name is John H. Walkin- shaw. | worked with Edwin S. Crawford on the Broadway surface noad, though in another name.
 "Afterward he went to work in the American Exchange rTtional bank, and, meeting him on my car one day, he told me if I came to his house he would give me a suit of clothes.
 Well, l went. He gave me the siothes and also told me that he would give me a chance to make some money in a few weeks. Then he came to my boarding house.and told me what be wanted. "On the afternoon of May 4, 1888, at. about four o'clock, 1 walked into the Adams Express company build ing carrying an empty satchel-or thought it was empty.
 "l hnd seen KA and the told Inan'