The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-07
DEAD LINE MOVED UPTOWN.
MCLUSKY HAS PUT 1T NOW AT
FORTY.SECOND STREET.

Any Crook Found In Broadway Below
That Point IN Danger OF Immedlste
Arrest-Wire Upper to Re Treated
a. Byrnes treated wall Street Thieves
When Phil Reilly, former detective
sergeant OF renown. died the other DAY
his friends asserted that u was he who hrst
suggested the Fulton street dead me- DE-
low which hardly any crook whose fnee u
known to the police dares to 60. Az any
rate, II the crook does 60 below that ilne
he knows that he II In immediate danger
Of being arrested. whether his errand down
town Is legitimate or not.
A sun reporter was talking about this
to q policeman than whom none knows
much more of what happens in the De-
tective Bureau.
There il no Fulton street dead line any
more said that man. "The present dead
line runs up Broadway as far a. Forty
second street. The town has grown 30
that the dead line had to be moved up.
Il don't mean to say that crook can't
sneak down below Forty-second street II
he goes out Of the well-beaten line OF travel
and away from the sctive business part
of the city But il he gets anywhere near
the hotels and the theatres he Is just as
likely to be pinched and sent to court a.
suspicious person as he were caught
down In front of the Stock Exchange.
DO YOU remember that shortly after
McClusky took charge OF the Detective
Bureau again he sent gang OF his men
into the Tenderloin and out along the
Bowery and on several other busy thorough
fares? Do you remember how many
crooks of evil repute they arrested?
well. the>tip went out right then among
the crooks that the boss detective OF New
York wasn't going to stand for any more
of the con games and overlapping games
and other rascally schemes that had been
carried on openly in front Of certain resorts
and in them. The tip was that new dead
line had been drawn. It's too early yet
to say Just what will happen. because the
scheme has not yet been perfected, but the
theory ia all right and ought to work ak
right.
1T is merely a modernization of the old
dead line that was worked out in Tom
Byrness time. When Byrnes got control
Of the detective force back in 1880 there had
been a lot OF bad police cases down in the
Wall Street district. Crooks went there just
the same as they went anywhere else in the
city, and carried on their trade to An extent
that was really scandalous.
They worked out their schemes with
much the same freedom that wire-tappers,
or rather pretended wire-tappers. used a
few weeks ago up in the Tenderloin. There
were several cases that really made the
police themselves blush for shame, and
there were many hints Of police COLLISION.
when Byrnes got into the bureau he
cleaned out practically all Of the old men
and organized q new force Of workers
One Of the first things that he did was to
establish Wall Street branch Of the Detec-
tive Bureau.
.Byrnes went downtown and hired q
room at his own expense at II Wall street.
He put ten Of his men there and instructed
them to arrest any thief or crook that they
found in the Wall Street district.
1T wasn't long before he was invited to
put his men in a room OF the Exchange
Building, and telephone connections were
made with all the important banks in the
city. In that way he was able to prevent
all the funny business that had been
going on.
Then he established the Fulton street
dead line. That may have been suggested
by Phil Reilly. About that do not know
You see, Byrnes did all the talking for the
bureau and made his men do the work they
were paid to do. In fact, he was q great
organizer-one OF the greatest that ever
lved-and he insisted that his men N,ould
let him do all the talking there was to do.
THAT Fulton street dead line at once
worked wonders. The crooks SOON got
the tip that if any of them were caught
below the street they would be pulled in
just as soon as detective could do it.
'Byrnes WAS hammered a little for that
and for rounding up the crooks before
every great event that came Of in the city.
but he kept at it without a swerve and soon
made people see that he was in the right.
His idea was that crooks had little or no
rights and that il he did make u mistake
once in a while the general run Of affairs
was for the greatest good OF the greatest
number.
THE crooks soon learned that he meant
business and the hanks In Wall Street and
the diamond houses In Maiden lane were
soon pract ically free from the crowd Of
crooks that had infested the district: Many
while they we're carrying document boxes
and such things across the street, That
method Of robbery soon disappeared almost
entirely. People in business down there
soon learned all these things and helped
the good work along.
A few Of the crooks, of course. managed
to get In and do their work once In while.
For example, there was Harry Hardy or
Charles O'Connell. He was one OF the
most daring bank sneaks in the country.
One day in 1888 he robbed two bank mes
sengers in the same day-one OF 5000
and the other Of 81 900.
He was arrested after a chase OF ten
days, but managed to escaps from the court
prison. He was arrested soon after that
In Pennsylvania and was brought back
here and sent to Sing Sing.
He got transferred from Sing Sing to
Dannemora and escaped from there. Then
there was grand hunt for him and he was
nabbed at Plattsburg. but he escaped from
prison again.
did he stay in this country Well, not
much He went to Germany and was
arrested there in 1892 and at last accounts
was just about to finish his bit.
But such cases were few and far be-
tween, and nowadays they are almost
unheard OF in this city. Did you ever
think Of that?
You can just depend upon 1t that In q
short time, II nothing goes wrong, a crook
will be as scarce an article in the Tenderloin
as he la in Wall Street As McClusky has
said, Broadway will be as safe as q country
lane
CYCIIST M'IE4N WYNS.