Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-05-21
WASARRESTED HERE.
sHERcLlFFE, NOTED DIAMOND
RoBBER, ESCAPED FROM MT.
PLEASANT JAIL.
True Name Is James j. Morris - Was
Indicted for Hold-Up of Agent at
Lockridge Special Agent James
Harrison Tells of Case.

Frank Shercliffe, characterized BY
the noted William Pinkerton as the
most dangerous man alive, the dia
mond thief who is now serving tern
In the Fort Madison penitentiary fol
most daring diamond robbery, was
arrested in Ottumwa several years
ago on a robbery charge and is vel
remembered by old officers in this
city. Shercliffe, whose real name is
j. j. Morris, has recently come in
to public gaze very prominently by his
confession duplicating Tom Dennison,
the Nmaha ward politician and gam.
bier, in his big $4,000 diamond rob,
berry at California Junction, Iowa, and
by reason of an attempt to make polit-
lcal capital out of his case. Morris is
known as one OF the most dangerous
If not as Pinkerton says. the most
dangerous criminal in the United
States.
The crime for which Morris was ar
rested in this city was the hold-up of
the night operator of the Burlington
at Lockridge and the methods en-
ployed were similar to the crime of
which he was convicted a few years
later and sentenced to the peniten-
tiary. Daniel Harmon was city mar
shall and Ed Johnson deputy marshal.
Morris and shis accomplice, Pullman,
were taken to Jefferson county by
Special Agent James Harrison of the
Burlington and Daniel Harmon and in
dicted by the grand jury but they es-
capped from the jail The indictment
still stands against them.
Sforv IF the Crir,,a
On the night of March 20, 1890, A. ].
Mcfarland, night operator at the Bur-
lington depot at Lockridge, a small
station east of Fairfield, was held up
by two masked men and at the point of
a revolver compelled to turn over to
them his silver watch and a sum of
money. Mr.. Mcfarland Immediately
wrote to Daniel Harmon, city marshal
of Ottumwa, giving a description of
his watch and of the two men. The
letter was received by Marshal Han
non the following morning.
Boys Find Plant.
around pile of ties in the Burlington
yards in the East End of the city
found silver watch and number of
other articles hidden away. Marshal
Harmon was notified and at once rec
ognized the property as answering to
the description of that stolen from the
operator at Lockridge. A close watch
was kept during the day and that ev-
ening the marshal stationed Deputy
Marshal Ed Johnson and anothsri Off
sccr-n s1ss ,he pile of ties. After wait
ing for several hours the officers were
rewarded when two men came and be-
gan searching for the property they
lad left hidden and were promptly ar
ested.
Waived Examination.
The two men gave their names as
J. ]. Morris and Charles Pullman and
It was found that they came to Ottum
wa Immediately after the robbery and
stopped over night at the old depot no.
tel near Vine street. The men were
taken to Fairfield the next day by Spe-
cial Agent James Harrison Of the Bur-
lington and Marshal Harmon.
Morris and Pullman waived examina-
ton before Justice of the Peace T. E.
Noble and We're held to the grand jury
nnder $500 bonds They were ndiet-
ed by the grand jury in April but the
defendants counsel succeeded in Sc.