Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1901-08-14
ROBBERS GOLD WAS FOUND
JACK WINTERS CONFESSED.
He Guided the Party to Place Where
1t Was Futile Tells of the Rob-
bery-Win Receive Light Punish-
ment, If Any.


ters, who was arrested for the Selby
smelling works robbery, has con.
fessed Tire crime, and so far $4,000
worth of bullion has been recovered
from the bay, where he had sunk it.
For three days the detectives have
tried all sorts of intimidation to make
Winters confess, but their threats ap-
parently had no effect upon him.
Finally he asked to see Superintend-
ent Ropp of the works, who, he said,
was the only friend he had. In his
conversation with Ropp Winters man.
ner indicated that he knew where the
gold had been hidden. Ropp told him
that they had a strong case against
him and that he would be sent to
prison for 30 years. He said
"You will be an old man when you
get out and it will do you no good to
hide the gold. We know it is hidden
in the water near the works and we
will search every inch. You may be
sure that the gold will be found before
you get out of prison.
Ropp that he had taken the gold, and
would take him to the spot where it
was hidden. The criminal. in COM
pany with Superintendent Ropp and
force of detectives, left on a tug for
Crockett. There they waited all night
for the low tide. Winters pointed out
the place at the end of the railroad
wharf, behind the coal bunkers, at
the beginning of the Vallejo slip. At
| that point at low tide the mud Is about
| four feet deep, covered by a foot of
water. When the tug first reached
spot in the water where he said he
/ had thrown the gold. Superintendent
Ropp marked the place on the wharf
and the tug steamed away to wait for
low tide In the morning Winters
himself got into the mud and water
up to his neck and for and hour and
half CROPPED for the missing bullion
Up to 10 o'clock $4,000 worth had
been recovered. This includes the
four bars of fine gold. Winters had
put some of the bars in bags. He said
that one of the bags had broken and
some small bars had dropped out. 1t
is now only a question of careful
search to find the rest of the $2S0,000
Winters claims that he did the job
all alone. He says that he made II
trips from the vault to the wharf from
which he dropped the gold. The
NJ or OFF ;olc
that he received assistance from some
one. The detectives think that his
story that he did it all himself is cor
rect.
The tug with the detectives and the
prisoner, Winters, on board has re
turned to the city.
| Winters, when he had made up his
mind to tell all he knew about the
crime, was exceedingly willing to give
all the information that was neces-
sary for the recovery of the bullion.
He practically assumed charge of the
operations and led Captain Seymour
and Superintendent Ropp to the dock.
He acted more like one of the detec-
tives employed than as prisoner. AS
soon as he arrived at the waters edge
he called the superintendent to his
side and said: "Now watch where
am going to show. Be careful that
you get the locations right"
STOPPING, he picked up three stones
and pacing forward he tossed one of
them into the water. 1t fell to the
south of the spot at which the pris
oner stood. Another stone fell to the
east and the third was thrown directly
in front Of Winters.
| That" said the prisoner Twill
| mark the water boundary of the place
where your geld is hidden"
! Stepping to the left, Winters drew
nail from his pocket and asked for
hammer. He then paced off few
yards to the right and drove another
nail in the timber.
1.-THE gold" he continued, will be
between these two nails, somewhere
in line with the stones l just tossed
into the water"
| A small boat was secured and into
1t Sheriff Veale, Detective Kimball of
the Pinkerton agency and two labor
ers were loaded. Winters assisted in
the search for the bricks. He talked
glibly all the while. The deep mud
finally put a stop to operations. and
it was decided to build a cofferdam
before trying to recover the rest of
the treasure.
! Winters told the officers that he
planned the robbery long ago with
minute detail. He had been two or
three months on the work Oh his little
tunnel.
| 1t had taken two nights labor to
cut through the brick wall of the
smelter. Most of the boring in the
bottom Of the vaults had been done
on the night when the gold was taken
He carried the plumber, which was
heavy, from the vault to the water and
deposited it where the water was from
three to six feet deep at low tide. The
distance from the vault to this cache
was about quarter of a mile and he
made II round trips. He was at
work four hours on Monday night.
Four small bars of refined gold he
concealed among the stones of the
breakwater, just at the further mouth
of the railroad tunnel.
His purpose had been to use this
gold for present needs.
Inc f,s, ~