The Savannah morning news., 1900-10-15
A THIEF OF RARE SKILL.
BILLY PINKERToN TALKS OF A
CLEVER CRIMINAL.

try Looking for Him for Years.
Chance Encounter 10 New York
THAT Led to uis HccoEnifion-Wo e
Came 10 crook when tie Robbed
Jewelry salesman.
From tho Chicago chronicle.
''It's a queer thing in this world q ours.
said william A. PHukorton one day last
week. how trivial Things which appear
70 be- accidents sometimes shape them
selves 90 az 70 have q sreat effect in the
future The capture OF the man who o.
probably th. eIesorcst professional tnief
In the Joliet perrrntIay was due Go
consideraaIe extcUt 90 az occurrcna e VIII h
might Boz termed occidental in which
had tho honor 81 bearing % part
And whom 40 sou cons der tho clever
est inlet m that famous stronghouse at
Joliet" asked a ioungcr in the noted dc
iectves private office
Wen Il Is hard 20 say that onhanh
there are 50 very many grades and vari"-
ties Of thieves down there. experts N vari-
Gus lines clever safeblowcr and a
clever hote. sneak work ou altogether ar
fHfNuN
or hank sneAk. yet eacn o. a dangerous
man ia his specially But the fellow ]
had In mind Is hotel thief whose name
"a 'Hod' bacon who had the police ~
this whole country looking Tor him for
twelve or fifteen wears. For long time
there had been complaints of Motel ron-
berles bobhiug up in every large city To
The country Now 80 would he New York
and in q month or so 81 Louis or Chicago
and the police couldn't get O clew except
that the thief was an old man well dress
cd well behaved and 10 an outward an
pearencc a highly respectable guest %
the various hotels which were robbed In
every case the work was cleverly done
and evidently hy an expert No rooms
were broken into or trunks broken o-en
The thief had skeleton keys for room doors
nnd FOR trunks ard Volises. ana be lett
no trace behind him except the absence
~ the valuablcs
Police We're In Despair.
The complaints became 80 persistent
that the best detectives In the various
cities were time and again set 20 work 70
bring in all the hotel -neaks they knew.
but the right man was not found Thor"
were plenty Of old mcu following the cal
ling but IN no case could the crime under
consideration be Fastened on any ~ them.
were Ga despair For more than a dozen
years this sort of thing went OF ana g.
became more Of q mystery with the pass
ing years There was scare city in tho
country in which the police force ga not
have "a complaint against the mNslnferlo-
room " orker who seemed 10 laugh a. their
effort 20 trap him.
About two years ago ! happened 10 be
IN New York on business aud had been
49, aNaaHHI. act
ers one evening, and here is where thv
trivial Incident comes in which had such
an effect afterward. II was simply a
chance that ] dropped into pevery's Of
fce that evening. and after We had talk
ed q while he sali.
We've Eot fellow locked M az Cap
tain Prices station who was caught work
ing rooms in the Waldorf Astoria ana W.
think he's got a record but We can't make
him out suppose We step down there 80
YOU con take a look az him
The assistant manager of our New
York office was with me and told him
20 ret out the picture % western hotel
sneaks. and as we had nothing else on
hand three 81 us took stroll TO the
station aud they brought this fellow BOZ
Now. Eve never seen q srerai Joe Wheeler.
but ihis cd fellow locked exactly like the
picture of General Wheeler boz the news
papers and that struck me the first Trims.
lie was about ~ year- Old ana when they
arres, ed him they found a bunch Of skels-
ton keys that would open anything
doors. trunks OF anything else The
second thing thar struck me was that
had seen him before. but at that moment
couldn't piece him I looked him over
pretty carefully aud said finally.
rive seen you somewhere before
Nat Professional Thief.
No. you've never seen me. he said.
You re- MIR rinkerton. ! know. Isn't m
not a professional thief This Is my FIRST
omense and you never saw M ia your
ne
Il kept on looking at him and finally
landed MIN. ] said.
81 saw YOU IN the South at prize
fght about twenty-five years ago. l. was
either the Mason Allen or the Allon-Prics
fight. ! don't remember which. You were
with Johnny De Mas ana yellow SAM.
i've seen YOU since IN Now orleans when
You trimmed the 81. Charles hotel there.
know you. hat l can't think Of your
name just now "
''He looked me right In the eye and
said
'Mr Pinkerton. you've got me wrong. I
never heard Of those ue0p.c you mention
and I haven't been in New Orleans f"r
q NtFAA many NfAAHf
II picked no his derby hat that WAS ly-
ing on the table and looked inside Il and
there was the trade mark OF New Or
leans hat dealer.
No. you haven't been there says
20 him. YOU probably have your hats sent
10 YOU from New Orleans. don't your
sAu this time our New York man had
been looking through the photographs Of
hotel sneaks who had been arrested for
years back and finally he handed me one
and SAYS. There's his picture. ana sure
enough it was when the picture wa
taken he had side whiskers and az that
time he wore ful beard. but it was his
picture an right aud I told him 70.
You're not e professional says
what Is your picture doing IN our gal
lery. thenr
A" That's not my picture h. says /
don't know anything about that picture
% Just take look AZ the way the
wrinkles IN this forehead run I SAYS.
and then look az your own In the glass.
Look az the shape Of that ear. les your
picture aud wen have your record to-
morrow
Remembers Name of Criminal.
Then he weakened and admitted q
was his picture hut he snid ne had serve .
MS time for the crime committed when
the picture was taken and that shouldn' {
BE- brought against him All this time ]
wac puzzllng over his name for. Of course
the name on the back 81 the picture was
an alias But l couldn't make st. Finally
we left ard az we we're going ] said 10
him. We protect an tho jewellers IN tho