The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-18
POLICE RECORD
+ OF BILLY HURT
Continued from Page L.

young M1tcheiI LA blanche nght, Dut
nothing tangible was ever proven against
him. He suddenly went East and on his
return changed his methods entirely. He
had become heavy SWELL wore clothes
of faultless cut and put up at the Pal
ace. He gave up the small fry, cut all
his old friends, and went hunting for
big game His method was to get the
confidence of his victims and then steer
them out to some room where little
game was going on. He was a wonder
at shaking dice and clever with the
cards. One of his schemes was the offer
to sell var Gus mines and ranches, get
men with money to go out with him,
and then try to win the money while
travelling. He got in with Col Jack
Haverly, the theatrical man, and trav-
eled all over the country with him, get
ting Haver3y to introduce him to people
of means. 1t was always supposed that
Haverly got his share of the spoils
In 1891 Hurt and Haverly opened up a
game at the Clunie House in Sacramen-
to and before the legislative session was
over had managed to win from the poll
ticians several thousand dollars. One
of the politicians revenged himself by
having Hurt run out of Mexico. Dean
is said to have been Hurts working
partner in Sacramento.
Dean used to be barkeeper at the
Reception on Suffer street. Though
not over shrewd he managed things
smoothly and made a good decoy. He
was arrested several times in the North
west and was run out of both Seattle
and Tacoma. He has been working to-
gether with Hurt and Haverly for some
time.
A Pacific Union Club man has run
across Hurt in several places in the last
few years. His first experience was
down at his ranch in Texas, where he
met Hurt posing his partners neph-
ew. Hurt put up bold front when con-
fronted, and insisted that he was the
nephew come down to manage the
place. The three sharpers were there
together. They managed to clear about
S. 600 out of the town before they left
He afterwards heard of them in various
parts of the West, and met them again
in Frisco with wealthy young Balti-
more man in tow. He was instrumental
in forcing Hurt to leave the California
Hotel and finally had the pleasure of
seeing the trio ordered out of the city
by the police.
Young MITCHELL" the middleweght
reluctantly admitted that Hurt was his
brother-in-law, but said that he was
thoroughly ashamed of the fact and
didn't want to be mixed up in any of
his doings. AT one time Hurt acted as
a sort of manager for me, said Mitchell,
but he did something in connection with
a fight that 1 did not like and we sep
arated. We saw little of him after that.
though ] heard about him frequently.
The police all know the trio quite well.
Detective Ben Bohen and Officer Dawes
know the three a little better than most
of the other detectives. On several
casions they have had the task of seeing
the proprietors of various saloons and
warning them not to let Hurt play poker
in their rooms. None of the detectives
had heard of any of the trio making a
big haul here.
DRIVEN OUT OF FRISCO.
The Examiner of December IA, 1898,
says: William w. Hurt, Col. Jack Dean,
Joseph Fisher, known in New York IS
Joseph Foster" and few other men
of the same caliber were ordered to
leave San Francisco for good and all by
Chief of Police Crowley.
Several stories told of how Hurt,
Gel. Dean and DIR. Crawford, a retiring
gentleman of means" known to the dark
side of life as London joe" worked
various guldible gentlemen around town.
Most of their operations were confined to
the Palace Hotel. Crawford and Hurt
are said to have worked the directors
and managers of the Suffer street line
out of $4,000 al five sittings of poker.
The first three sittings naturally result
ed in loss to the two worthless, they
dropping about $1,000 On the fourth and
fifth sittings they amply recouped their
losses by winning nearly everything in
sight. They are said to have left the
game winners to the extent of $4,000.
Crawford stayed around town for awhile
after his grand coup, added a little pol
ish to the already refined" manners of
Mr.. Hurt and finally departed for paris
unknown. After Crawford's disappear
ance Hurt cultivated the acquaintance of
Dean, who was a barkeeper on Suffer
street. The latter was introduced around
town, by Hurt, as Col. Jack Dean, mil
lionaire and cattle king of Arizona.
Three Sittings were required by the two
to work a German count out of So, 800.
The game took place at the Palace. An
entire night was devoted to a Mr.. TIL
ford, who was manager of the Standard
Oil Company the Coast. Before the
game was over Tilford had paid out
money and signed paper aggregating
$12 500
4 Hurt and Dean had $4,000 in cash, but
as Tilford demurred about the paying of
the balance, they considerably eompro-
missed the matter by accepting $3.50 as
the balance.
Fisher and Hurt had a wealthy Mon
tana mine owner in tow when Dean
burst into the room with the announce
ment that Chief of Police Crowley had
given the trio but twenty-four hours to
get out of town. They drew $4,000 out
of the Bank of California and left the
same day for New York
Their operations in New York culnf-
mated in the game with Mcdonnell, who
lost $4,000 and Hurt sued the Advertiser
for $4,000 for libel. Although Dean was
supposed to have committed suicide at
Coney Island, he turned up here in San
francisco along with Hurt and Fisher.
looking hale and hearty after their New
York experience. They are said to have
taken $4,000 out of New York.
! Now they are ordered to leave San
francisco in peace and nevermore re-
turn.
HURTS SUIT FOR LIBEL.
dispatch to the Examiner, dated New
York, September q, 1898, says: Col John
A. Cockerill, editor of the morning Adj
vertiser; johnson Renshaw, a reporter,
and Michael b. Mcdonnell manager of
corset company at 500 Broadway, ap-
peared before Justice Martin in the
Toombs court today to answer to a
charge of libel
| The complainant was William w.
Hurt. He alleged that on September 21st
last defendants caused to be published
story headed Cheated at Cards." which
he declared was false and scandalous
and tended to hold him up to ridicule
and scorn. Lawyer Edmund E. Price
appeared for the defendants. They were
paroled until tomorrow Hurts suit was
for $4,000.
HURT IN 1894