The Washington times., 1902-02-10
Criminal Life of Big Cities
Revealed at viii.
CLIPPINGS FROM NEWSPAPERS
Many Thrilling Accounts to BE
Found in District Scra pbooIs--
Serve TO Recall Crimes Long since
Past or Forgotten Among VAST
Mass of Routinc

History records no more stirring tales
than those that emanate from police an
mails. From the big cities come stories OF
crime, and the wall of the victim is heard
all rver the land Thus the woe-b -begone,
the poverty stricken and the unfortunate
go far to swell the varied reports con-
stantly brought to the notice OF the nu-
merous police systems.
AS matter of permanent record, as
well as to readily recall such reports, of
whatever nature, there are kept at head
quarters Of every big city certain scrap
books, in which clippings of various kinds
from newspapers, magazines, and periodi-
Gals are taken, pasted, and filed away.
Thus ii is that reference may be had by
the police officials 10 any publication
which in any way refers to past crimes or
mysteries. Whether a story appeared in
a local newspaper, or was printed by a
New York or Chicago or St. Louis jour
nal, there it is, pasted away in a scrap
book, and hidden away among the files at
police headquarters.
Memories of the Past.
Often these clippings serve to recall
crimes long since past or forgotten
among the vast mass of routine ever call
ing for police attention. In this manner
a man may be detected as the perpetrator
of a crime committed years ago, and be-
cause of the detail of such offence always
at hand the officials may be able to con-
meet him Herewith. or with some circum-
stance which might link his name with
hitherto unexplained mystery. Suc'l,
then, is the obvious value of the police
clipping system.
In this city particular attention is given
TO the clipping Of newspapers. and many
large scrapbooks adorn the shelves of
the Chief of Police. Culled from these
books may be taken many a story of SEN
sation, crime. or mystery. Some are COM
monplace, others resound' throughout the
land because of the prominence of those
involved and the enormity of the crime
committed
From Il scrapbook cont aiming clippings
of New York newspaper there are recall
ed to memory, thus, half a hundred SEN
satt, MS. Taken at random these are of
interest. Ii was in Gotham year and
half ago that Henry Grosvenor Bar
bour. rector's son, met a sudden death
in room of the st. Charles Hotel, on
Fifteenth Street. a coroner's jury declar-
ed that he died of a self-infiicted pistol
shot wound on the evening OF September
II, 1900.
Especial human interest seemed to ct
tach TO the story of the tragedy, because
young Barbour was in corr oany with Miss
Helen Southsate, a pretty young woman,
of Bryantown, Md. on the eve of his un-
timely end Before Coroner Berger in
Brooklyn, following the tragedy, Miss
Southgate testified in part
Il knew Henry G. Barbour. He came
10 the house of my aunt on the evening
of September l3. 1900, and said he wanted |
me TO take a ride with HIM ! did So
and we went to the St. Charles Hotter:
After we we're there he told me he wlshea |
10 kill himself and he wished me to go |
with him.
81 told him I did not wish TO do so. l
tried TO dissuade him from shooting MN
self and he then shot me. Then ! hearq
tbe click of the pistol in his teeth.
then rang for the porter. the atteI
said it was then quarter TO 10 O'CLOCK al
night
At no time subsequent to the tragedy
or during the investigation was MISS
southgate a prisoner. For awhile she
York. because Of her wound.
..TeInpted hy She knowledge that thou !
sand of dollars were within their grasp, !
and fortified by an intimate acquaintance /,
with postoffice methods, some one on !
Monday night robbed the United States |
mail of the entire receipts for the day /
of Station H, at Forty-fourth Street and /
Lexington Avenue" reads a paragraph Z
of a story clipped from big New York /
daily, dated nearly two years back.
such an occurrence is unprecedented 4
in the annals of the New York postofiice,
the story goes on. 1t occasiOned great .
excitement and anxiety. High officials
decline to place the amount taken by
the thieves. but subordinates say it may
reach nearly $4,000. Five pouches are
missing. They were probably taken from
wagon while il was going from sub 1
citation H to the general postoftice." L
In brief arc thus told the early reports |,
of one Of the boldest mail robberies ever
committed in the East.
Counterfciter sI>ooE.
A criminal with whom the local police
were not wholly unacquainted was John
Alfred Skoog, counterfeiter, who COM
mitted suicide by shooting himself twice
in the head on the afternoon of April 10,
1901. in New York City. Skoog was being
pursued along Broadway. New York. by
brokers upon whom he had attempted to
pass two counterfeit ifty-kroner notes,
and when closely pressed, he shot him
self. He had a world wide criminal rec
ord.
Skoog was a native OF Sweden, in which
country he began his career as coun-
He came to this country about !
1895, and opened a shop in Chicago under /
the guise of being painter. Soon after
be appeared in the Windy City the whole
Northwest was flooded with counterfeit
Uaited States twenty-dollar certificates
bearing the portrait Of Secretary Man
hing.
story Of a Chase.
The story of Skoog and his last run for
'reedom is best told from the old scrap
,ool in this fashion:
Several months ago a tail blonde man
vent into brokers' Office on Broadway.
lew York, and tried to sell him kroner