Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-04-16
He IS WANTED IN
THREE COUNTRIES
internationally Famous Mali
pouch Robber Who Was
Caught in Tacoma.
HIS FAMOUS ESCAPADES
Story of His Escape From a Me1inl
Train and of His Chase Across a
Continent-England and
France Want Him. -

Kansas City, April "a ~dispatci,
from Tacoma, Wash, tells OF the arrest
there, after an exciting chase and a des-
perate attempt to escape OF Albert r.
Bell, alias James T.. Butler, a daring
mail pouch robber n forger, VINO once
operated in Kansas City and VINO is
wanted by the governments or the
United States, England and France for
de~predatiohs against the postal service
and by the American Pro-
tective agency for defrauding banks.
Bell has a long career or crime, ana,
though he is known to have served
three sentences in two pe"nitentlarles' ne
has often eluded the officers out
witted them by taking the most desper-
ate chances.
Only last October Bell jumped from
n window of a coach of a rapidly NOV
ing railway train on the PennsylVanla
railway to get away from TWO deputy
United States inHrshals who were TAX
ing him from Denver to IhlladeIphia
to answer a charge OF stealing a mall
pouch containing nearly $500, 900 In bank
drafts of Philadelphia banks, mailed
to Pittsburg banks. The robbery took
place at Philadelphia September 8,
Bell was captured October 2 In a hos
pital I'm Denver. The marshals were
taking Bell then from Denver to Phlla-
delphia. AS the train neared us des-
tination Bell made an excuse TO the OIL
GERS to go to the Mushroom OF the car.
Once inside, he locked the door. ana:
opening the window, flung himself
headlong through It. The officers did
not discover his escape until the train
had gone miles beyond, when Bells
continued absence roused their sus-
picions. They took up the trail n the
chase for the man, who had evidently
not been injured, led them the entire
breadth of the continent.
Last Try for Liberty.
When arrested at Tacoma, Bell was
with a companion n both or them
went quietly with the officers, thus
throwing them off their guard. When
they arrived in front of the city Jail
Bell made a break for liberty and
leaped over a steep embankment al
most sixty feet high. He was recap
tured and locked up. When searched
a number Of letters, all addressed TO
Portland, Ore, merchants from points
along the Seattle n international
railroad in his state and British CO.
lumbia were found in his pockets, all
containing checks or money orders.
Bell said that he and his companion
had stolen Il mail pouch from a truck
in front of the Seattle depot last sum
day morning and had secured 81 ZOO In
checks and money orders, 500 Of which
they had converted into cash.
Bell was arrested in Kansas city in
1895 for stealing a mail pouch at the
union depot. He was tried before q
United States court and sentenced to
three years imprisonment. The Jeffer-
son City penitentiary was selected by
the court. After his release he went
to st. Louis where, under the name or
A. Il. Hammond, he opened an account
with the Lincoln Trust company, de-
a q nAA -. NLl- IEnn ~ n IN III
, pouch was stolen at Springfield. Ill,
/, containing $4,000 in securities. Bell
I changed these drafts and deposited
them with his account. a few days
! later he withdrew his entire account
and the bank lost the $4,000. The bank
was a member of the American Bank
ers' Protective association and the Pin
kertons were put on the tran.
Has Many Aliases.
on April II, 1899, Bell was arrested in
: New York, charged with stealing $4,000
in drafts from a mail pouch at Buffalo,
N. Y. He was convicted of this and SEN
fenced 20 a term in the prison at Au-
burn, n. Y. Bell has many aliases, In
Guiding Hammond, Butler, Crosby and
| Crawford. When arrested In Kansas
| City In 1895 Bell was living in an old,
rickety shack at Fifth and III streets
| He was not married then.
III Ills llNNl nv $780, -
associated with a woman who says she
is his wife. She is good looking n Is
said to have lived in Winchester, Kan.
| prior to meeting Bell.
Bells method of operating was unique
and bafled the police and postal au-
thcrities at the time Of his Kansas City
| arrest. When he was captured foul
years later in New York city, however
the mystery was cleared up The posta
employees had never been able to de.
termine how the pouch was stolen In
Kansas City. Nc suspicious looking
persons were seen about the mai
trucks. The pouch simply vanished
When arrested in New York, however
Bells trunks were found and In then
the detectives discovered a complete
uniform and outfit of a railway brake
mar or porter. Bells method was t(
wear these, walk boldly into the depot
and take up the mail sack and carry !
away. His uniform covered his action