The Portland daily press., 1900-06-30
BYRNEs AND CROOKS.
The Methods Of New York's Old
Chief OF Police.

Keepfnx In Touch with the Move
mcnts of Crooks saved an Innocent
Man From Conviction.
A group Of old New York police and
| fire officials were chatting the other day
when the talk veered around to ex-Su-
perintendent OF Police Byrnes.
tom Byrncs," said an ex-detective
sergeant, "wns bright man, but he real
ly gained his reputation through the tai
cnt Of the men under him. The men did
the work. but he got tho credit and the
notoriety. He was shrewd In this re-
spect. BE surrounded himself with the
best men In the department, and every
thing they accomplished he took the cred
It for"
THAT'S your side Of IT," said a fire
captain. But I'm going to tell little
story about Byrnes which will show you
Just how the man worked and which will
prove, I think. that he didn't get any
more credit than he deserved. When l
was deputy ERE marshal, got to know
a number OF the people around police
headquarters. About that time a well
known society leader = call her Mrs.
Jones--was living at her country house
y
Her husband was in Europe. and, be-
sides her servants. she had stopping with
her a woman friend. To make matters
easy, we will say her name is Miss
Smith. One night burglar got into the
house and finally landed In the room OF
Miss Smith. She was awakened, but be-
fore she could move she was told by the
burglar, who, by the way, was masked,
that II she kept quiet she would not be
harmed. He kept his word, and she was
too scared to open her eyes for nearly an
hour after he had gone. Then she set
up big yell. But no trace of the in
truder could be found. of course. Strange
to say, however, for a woman, she re-
tanned a good description of the burglar.
And what impressed her most was his
voice, which, she said. she would recog-
nize at any time.
1.-THE local police were notified of the
burglary, but nothing came of 1t until
two weeks later. One afternoon Mrs.
Jones and her guest drove TO town and
stopped ut a store where newspapers and
stationery were on sale. The proprietor
of the place was young man who had
worked on train selling papers, candy
and books and. being an industrious chap.
had saved enough money to start in busi-
toners, and naturally there was some
conversation over their purchases. On
leaving the store the two women got into
their carriage and started for home.
Miss Smith appeared nervous. and the
other asked what the trouble was.
"Pve found out who the man was that
robbed u.s. was the startling reply.
"'WhoY asked her friend in surprise.
"sThe man who waited on us in that
store
'Nonssnsev said Mrs. Jones. That's
, impossible. He owns the store and is
respectable man. He's married too.
think you're very much mistaken
"But Miss Smith was positive In her
+ son>aion- She said that the burglar
was OF tse same height and bald. and. to
| make the Identification complete. she was
sure that the voices Of the burglar and
the proprietor Of the store were exactly
alike. She couldn't be mistaken.
''The next day Mrs. Jones' husband ar
rived from Europe. He was told OF the
burglary and what had happened subse-
| quently and was so impressed with Miss
| Smiths convictions that he had the man
| who ran the stationery store arrested
| and lodged in Jail to await the conven-
ing of thNcounty grand jury. Here was
n nice mixNp. and I'll tell You it looked
mighty bad NJ the prisoner. for the peo-
pie who cause'sis arrest had good deal
OF influence. However. the prisoner had
many friends in q town. and they in
terestcd theinselve%Nl the case. They de-
l clared that il wa, 'idiculous to lock
man up on such fimsy evidence, but Miss
Smith positively identified him ms the
burglar, SO what could be done? 1t hap
| pened that one of the prisoners friends
was a friend Of Tom Byrnes. SO one
morning he came down to this city and
| explained the whole thing to Byrnes.
asking his help. Byrhes promised to do
what he could.
Some time before this Byrnes had is
sued an order that catsed lot OF dis
sension among his detectives. The order
required them to give HIM report each
| day OF every crook they net In their trav-
| els. Special mention vds to be made
| where they saw the crooi, and they were
to follow him few blocks and find out
IL possible where be wai going. The
men thought this unnecessary, but most
of them complied with y They were
also also required to keep a rtprd for their
1.-THE morning after ByrnS' Tarrytown
friend had visited him he tod his men Of
the case. detailing the description OF the
burglar as given by Miss Smith. One of
the younger members of THIS staff. who
was a very bright fellow az is in the
business today. took out hS, notebook
and searched through 1t. On the date of
the robbery he found this memorandum:
"'Saw Red Jack" on West One Hun
bred and Twenty-fifth street; took a train
for White Plains; looking very seedy.'
A few pages farther back in the book
he came across this memorandum:
"'Saw RED Jack" on Broadway; look
ing swell; must have made a strike
"That was dated one week later than
the other. As Red Jack answered to
the description Of the burglar. Byrnes
gave the young detective instructions to
bring Jack in. and two days Latch Red
Jack was at police headquarters. What
happened down there l don't know, but
l do know that Jack confessed to having
committed the robbery. Red Jacky and
the stationery man were ringers forIeaeh
khAA Aa1 FNu