Evening star., 1900-10-08
KING OF BANK BURGLARS
MAX SHINBURN. WHOSE EXPLOITS
STARTLED THE COUNTRY.
Sentence just Ending to BE supple
mented by Term In New Hamp-
shire Prison.

Is believed. of every large city in the coun-
try, IL not in the world. breathe freer since
learning today that Max Shinburn, who is
regarded as the king of bank burglars in
America, will be rearrested as soon as he
steps out of the gate at Dannemora prison,
New York state. tomorrow. and be con-
veyed to New Hampshire to serve nine
years of a ten-year sentence for the rob-
berry of a bank in Walpole. n. H.. in 1865.
The crime for which the prisoner is now
serving the sentence which will expire to-
morrow was committed about three years
ago at Middleburg, N. Y. where he robbed
the bank in that place of a large sum OF
money.
Shinburn's record. as stated by former
Inspector Byrnes in his work on profession
al criminals in America, is follows
'Maximilian Shinburn was arrested on
June 2S. 1895. at 35th street and 7th avenue,
New York city The technical charge upon
which the arrest was made was that OF at
tempted burglary on the First National
Bank at Middleburg. n. Y. April 16.
1885, but this is only of a hundred
crimes perpetrated by him during un-
paralleled record. In the attempt on the
Middleburg Bank four men were detected
In the act of forcing an entrance. Three
escaped under heavy fire. but William
Brown. alias Ryder, alias Haywood, alias
Reynolds. fell into the hands of the police.
"Shnburn has for thirty-five years been
recognized by police authorities all over the
world the King of Bank Burglars
He is American product, in the criminal
sense, having begun his professional work
here early in the sixties as leader of that
great galaxy of safebreaking stars. all of
whom are now dead or imprisoned under
virtually life sentences.
Half a Million of Plunder.
'He fled from this country about 1879,
carrying away half a million dollars in
plunder He came back to the United
States in 1895. and quietly returned to his
original field of operations, organized a new
band of burglars and went to work All
of the bank robberies in the vicinity of New
York during the succeeding three years
were attributed to the skill and generalship
OF Shnburn. and vast amount of evidence
was secured by the authorities indicating
that his is the genius which substituted
nitro-glycerfne for the Safebreakng appli-
ances Of earlier date
among the banks robbed. as was gener-
ally believed, by Shinburn's gang during
the years 1856. in each of which case
nitro-glycerine was used. are the First Ma
tionai of Grisvold, Iowa; the Phoenix. at
Phoenix, n: Y; banks at Milan and San
dusky, Ohio; the Thomaston National
Thomaston, Conn; the st. Hyacinth. at
Montreal, Canada, and another at Toronto
Under dozen aliases and over a period of
thirty years he has stolen millions of dol
lars. eyaded countless pursuits. broken out
of a dozen prisons. lived in luxury. pur-
chased a foreign title, engineered the great
est robberies of the age and fairly won the
title of the century's greatest thief.
Shinburn is German by birth and re-
celVed collegiate education in his native
land He first appeared in New York in
1860 and at once became a patron of the
best hotels in the city. then clustered in
Broadway between Canal and Houston
streets. He first attracted the attention of
the police as gambler of remarkable nerve
and seemingly inexhaustible purse At that
tlme MS intimate associates were men then
famous as burglars. who met nightly at
various sporting resorts
Each Made n Record
After giving the names of a number of
these sports, Mr.. Byrnes goes on To say:
Every one of these men, all subsequently
under Shinburn's leadership made con-
spicicus record at safebreaking; but two
George Bliss and Fairy McGure-were
conspicuously prominent as lieutenants of
the band. AS confidential agent for the ne-
gctlation Of stolen securities, Shnburn Sc
lected a bright young Englshman, who
was at the time interested in several gam
ping houses and kindred ventures
Thus equipped, Shinburn opened his
campaign of crime. Within ten years the
leaders share in the booty amounted TO
s3oo,"o- Great was his mechanical as well
as executive ability. Among the banks
robbed by Shinburn from 1860 to 1869 was
the Naipoie Savings Bank, located at Wal
pole. n. H.. April 81 1868 For this crime
ne was arrested about July of the same
years in the New Hampshire state prison
He escaped during the first night of his i'm
prisonment and was not recaptured until
1865, when he was arrested while attemnt
ing to loot the st. Adams Bank of Frank
lin county, Vt. Shinburn served nine months
ana again escaped. In 1867 he robbed the
vaults Of the Lehigh and WiIkesbarre Coal
Company. carrying off $4,000
He made two previous visits to the vaults
but took nothing, because the deposit on
Doth occasions was too small to tempt him
lie was arrested by detectives several
weeks after the burglary as he was leaving
William j. Sharkey's saloon at No o02
Broadway The prisoner was handcuffed to
a detective. but he managed to free him
sell ana escape while his captor slept.
RObberies Elsewhere.
Another of Shinburn's exploits was the
robbery Of the bank at Cadiz, Ohio, when
s'o,ooo was secured. He also planned the
robbery of the Ocean Bank in New York
city, where a million dollars In money and
securities were carried off. After the Ocean
Bank robbery Shinburn remained In hiding
until he and others robbed the Western
Maryland Bank at Westminster I'm which
robbery they obtained in money and secur-
tiles about $4,000. He returned to New
York. and, as was his practice ATTEMPTED
to negotiate back the securities which he
had stolen through an attorney. This at
tofney, or one of Shinburns associates with
whom he had quarreled, informed John S.
Young. then chief of detectives of New
York, and he succeeded in arresting Shin
burn. and by threatening to take him back
to New Hampshire as an escaped convict
compelled him to give up the securities
After the arrest of Shinburn he was started
back to Maryland, but escaped in Jersey
City.
Soon after he fed from this country,
some twenty-five years ago, he robbed a
bank In Belgium, and for this he was given
seventeen-year sentence. which expired in
1884,
Ra