The Press., 1900-08-30
A THIEVES HARVEST,
THE PickPockETs FLockED TO THE
MACE-CoBURN FIGHT.

ering of Light Fingered Artists on
Record-Some of the Amusing Incl
dents of am Eventful Day.
'"The greatest gathering of pickpock-
cts that ever saw, and, dare say, the
greatest bunch that ever assembled.
was at the Mace Coburn fight at Long
Point, Canada, on May II, 1871" said
a detective who has been in the bust
ness since 1855. "The big fight was
held in the vicinity of the old light
house on Long Point, and the only way
to get to the ground was by boat from
Erie or Buffalo or by walking a good
many miles through Canada. The boat
that left Buffalo carried in the neigh
borhood of 1 200 persons. The fact that
there were large number of thieves on
the vessel was noised about, and the
gamest persons kept their hands on
their valuables all the time. Strange to
say, not touch was made on the way
over.
1.-TWO vessels, both loaded to their
fullest capacity, left Erie, Pa, and each
of these carried a number Of pickpock-
cts. There were about dozen detect
ives in the crowd among them being
Detective Patrick " Cusack of Buffalo,
Captain Rogers and Detective Sullivan
of Rochester and few detectives from
Erie, Pa, and Toronto, Ont. They
knew that there was no use in trying to
put check on the work of the crooks,
because there were at least 800 profess
sional pickpockets in the crowd. Just
after the spectators began taking their
places about the ringside the sheriff got
in the ring and made speech like this:
"'I wish to warn every one against
pickpockets. There are hundreds of
them here.
"The sheriff stepped out of the ring
and several men grouped about him.
The central figure of the group was
crook known as Papes. When the sher
if got out of the mix his diam ond stud,
his roll of bills and his watch were
missing. He made known his loss to
one of the detectives, and the detective
volunteered to recover the property.
The detective was Captain Rogers. He
sought Papes, explained the situation
to him, and Papes Immediately turned
over the sheriff's property, saying that
he had taken it just for a joke.
81 can't begin to tell you how many
pockets were picked this day. The fight
waxed warm and every one was excit-
ed, so the crooks had a fine field to work
in. Pocketbooks were actually flying in
the air. Men were accusing honest men
who sat beside them of touching them.
Scores of diamond studs were unscrew
ed and nipped. The most humorous in
cident of the day was the, theft of $500
in bills from thief who hailed from
ST. Louis and was unknown to the New
York delegation. A New York man
named O'Donohue bad got the st. Louis
thief's roll, and he returned it when he
learned his mistake. Some men were
stripped of everything they had and
were unable to buy a meal or drink.
In such cases the crooks helped them
along with small loan, as they termed
it. The referee of the match was re-
lieved of his diamond. His bills were in
an inside pocket and were not touched.
s'Business Jagged with the thieves
after the fight was over. There were
but few pockets left to pick. Several
men who had been robbed insisted that
the honest men should band together
and attack the thieves for the purpose
of recovering the stolen property. The
detectives opposed this on the ground
that the honest men and the pickpockets
were mingled go closely as not to be dis
tinguishable and. moreover, the thieves
could fight and would fight.
"AIl the thieves returned to Buffalo
after the fight, and word Of their COM
ing was sent to police headquarters
from the first landing place. When the
boat tied up at the foot of Main street,
a hundred policemen and all the detect
i've force were there to meet it. About
SEQ or $50 thieves were marched out
two abreast and lined up on the wharf.
They were told that they were to be
escorted out of town, and they made no
protest. With the policemen and de-
tectives as herders and drivers, the
crooks were marched to the central sta
ton and corralled there under close
guard. When train for New York
was made up, the thieves were escorted
aboard it and were watched till it
reached the city line.
ga few years later big gang of
pickpockets went to another fight at
Long Point, but in size and experiences
it did not approach the gang that went
to the Mace Ccburn fight. At the Han
Ian Courtney rowing match at Chau-
tauqua lake was another big gathering
of pickpockets. They had things their
own way and reaped big harvest. For
instance, a detective g pocket was pick
ed, but the thief who did the job was
induced to return the property, Five
minutes later the detectives pocket was
picked a second time, and he was so
chagrined that he did not endeavor to
recover the plumber. But, as said, the
greatest gathering was at the Mace
Coburn fight. 1t was the last great rally
of the topnotch crooks, and if you ask
any old time crook he will tell you how
he longs for another such expedition.
1t will never be. There are too many
detectives now. Chicago Inter Ocean
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