New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-01

Let have Mr.. Adamson. chief special agent"
The wire was connected with the desk OF J. 2.
Adamson, who is the head OF the detective service
OF the railroad. and the voice continued:
This is Conductor -, OF Freight Train No.
-. westbound. We have discovered a thief In one
Of the box What shall do7"
Mr.. Adamson learned the location OF the train
and replied:
Lock him up in the car. I will have a man
ready 10 arrest him at HaIstead.''
When the train reached Halstead the detective
found that the thief had knocked hole IN the
floor OF the and had escaped Only a man Of
unusual strength could have accomplished such
feat. After a two hour hunt the detective found
his man. but his order to surrender met with
only defiant string Of oaths 1t was not until the
sleuths revolver had landed a bullet In the mans
leg that the thief up the fight. The detective
took his captive to the Moses Taylor Hospital. IN
Scranton. and a few days later the Lackawanna
officials learned that their patient" was wanted
at Wellston, Ohio. on a charge OF murder.
In the anthracite region around Scranton. tapped
by the Lackawanna, The Dead Line Gang was
long a source Of terror TO the miners and their
helpers. One night these marauders would break
into store. and at another time they would rob
postoffice. They would also steal the great brass
valve seats. weighing fifty hundred pounds.
from the Mines and carry away their loot in wag-
under OF night.
After the Lackawanna detectives had been nut
on the trail OF the gang they learned that Il was
in the habit OF selling its brass TO certain Scran-
ton junk dealer. They kept close watch on the
fence" and morning gratifed to sec their
men riding up to the junk shop with a wagon
loaded with valve seats and car axles. After a
short fight the Dead Liners" surrendered. Their
leader however. not on the wagon but was
later found at home in bed As the result Of over
whelming evidence Mike Judge. the leader was
sentenced to seven years. ''Macky" McDonough to
eleven years. John J. Welsh TO three years and
Pat Finnigan. better known as Butch to one
year.
During the great coal strike the Lackawanna
detectives continually on the cut vive Not
only did the special agents department increase
the number and the vigilance OF its watchmen but
it frequently confronted with a crime whose
solution at first seemed ineUDlicable. One morning
for example. a Waterman by the name OF Sweeney
who was guarding mine property, was found muir
dered. The whole community seemed especially
secretive, and thorough search OF the homes OF
several strikers who were suspected afforded no
clew. At last ono OF the detectives discovered a
cap near the scene OF the crime. which led the
search to the house OF a John Smith There they
found shirt spattered with blood. Through Smith
the real facts OF the crime were obtained. Smith
did not kill the Waterman himself but stood so
near that the victims blood struck him Those
who had plotted the murder had first made Sweeney
drunk. and then got accomDlIes to complete the
deed.
One OF the most deplorable customs OF the rail-
road thief IS the frequent partnership OF men and
boys. A hardened criminal will pick UP a homeless
lad, promise him big wages, and then teach him
his own wickedness. In robbinR a station, the man
will boost his apprentice through a transom or
an upper window, to open the door within.
still more striking combination of youth and
age Is to be found among the most successful
ptcIpockets. Here, however. 1t is the younger
man who has the brains and the deftness of finger
The older man is used simply as a stall" AS a
passenger crowds along the aisle OF a car looking
for seat the "stall' iostles against him roughly
Just then the young thief slips his hand into his
victims pocket, and disappears Should the 'stalT
be arrested nothing is found him to identify
him as having committed a crime.