The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-03


this latter end, indeed, a special STRAIT
egem was FesOrted to. ConceiVing that
Donahue and Collins. in order the more
completely TO allay Proctors suspicion,
might remain with him until the last
station was reached on the Canadian
side the detectives arranged that on
this particular night the train should
not stop al that station but push on at
full speed TO the American side.
On certain Tuesday night DOnahue,
Collins and Proctor took the 1919 p. m.
train at Montreal for Portland. No
sooner had they left the station than q
PinkeTton representative, who had
Swallowed" them aboard, telegraphod
the fact to Robert Pinkcrton at Island
Pond. Proctor went early to his berth
i'm the sleeper. In another berth, not
far distant, never closing his eyes
through the night. but lying there fully
dressed with weapons ready, was a
Finkerton detective, whose instructions
were TO accompany the three robbers as
long as they We're together, and TO stay
with Proctor to the last.
IL was o'clock in the morning when
the train drew up at Island Pond. on
the platform stood Robert Pinkerton,
sarryiug a requisition from the govern
or of Pennsylvania on the governor of
/ Collins and Proctor. charged with rob
| bling the United States Express compa-
py of $4,000 at Susquehanna. Pa. The
/ first man TO leave the train was the
[ shadow" who informed his chief that
Proctor was sound asleep IN berth No.
! j.. DOnahue and Collins, he said, had
/ left the train long before it reached the
( last station on the Canadian side. 50
that the plan for their capture had
! fallen through. Mr.. Pinkerton went
/ aboard the sleeper at once, and going
/ ia berth No. 12, pushed aside the cur
/ tains. He could not sec distinctly for
! the darkness. but borrowing a lantern
/ from one of the trainmen. let the light
/ fall on the face of the person within,
and saw il was Proctor, slumbering in
! complete Inconsistencies that his hour
! Of reckoning had come \ gentle push
| in the ribs awakened him with start.
| Recognizing Mr. PinkertOn, he said
! with admirable GOODNESS:
You have spoiled the whole business
If YOU had not come in here To arrest
me, / would have had those men across
the line next week
When he said this, Proctor supposed
4 that Donahue and Collins were asleep
/ I'm az adjoining berth; but. even to save
/ himself he never thought of betraying
( them, which goes to show that he was
q ''stancheT' man than DOnahue and
Collins had been led 10 believe. For
some time he endeavOred To maintain
/ his old character with Mr. Pinkerton:
! but on the way to Susquehanna, realiz-
ing the hOpeIessness of his case. he ac-
! lnowledged the deception he had prac-
/ ticed, and his full responsibility with
the others in the Susquehanna robbery.
He also admitted his previous Grim
inal record.
At Susquehanna Proctor was placed
i'm jail TO await trial, and there Mr.
I Pinkerton visited him some time later
Something in the prisoners manner
convinced the detective that al was
not as it should be. and he urged the
sheriff to nut Proctor in another cell
and search his clothes and his cell
thoroughly. This was done. and there
We're found a number of keys that
fitted the locks of various doors in the
Jail, and also large key fitting the
gate from the jail yard into the street
Proctor's rare mechanical skill had
enabled him to make these keys I'M his
cell from impressions furnished him by
a woman who had been allowed to visit
him Being a good talker. Proctor had
Won this Woman's sympathy, and had
also made a strong appeal To her self
interest by promising, on his escape, to
share with her a large sum of money
he had buried.
At his trial Proctor pleaded guilty,
and was sentenced TO Il years i'm
prisonment in the penitentiary at
Cherry Hill, Pa. Here, again, he was
caught in the act of making keys TO
aid him TO escape. He laid various
other plans for regaining his liberty,
indeed. but all were frustrated. His
Imprisonment worked no reform in
him. After he had served out his
: sentence. some burglaries committed
. in Maine brought him again under ar
rest, and having been identified as a
convict from the Massachusetts, state
prison, he was taken back TO that in
stitution to serve out his uneXpired
sentence.
The United States Express company
had not relaxed its efforts against his
associates after Proctor's capture
( Donahue and Collins returned to
Montreal, Well satisfied with the work
they had done, and thinking them
selves safe from pursuit. But Presi-
dent Plat instructed Robert Pinker-
ton TO take every measure possible
against them, and il was decided that
as Donahue could not be reached and
punished for the robbery at SuSque-
hanna, he should be made to suffer
for the early robbery al Quebec al
ready referred 10. DOnahue's compiled
" in this robbery was proved by the
/ discovery Of part Of the stolen goods
in his hotel at Fort Erie. Through the
efforts of the express company and
the Pinkertons he was now arrested,
and on trial was convicted and SEN
| fenced 70 five years imprisonment in
the Kingston penitentidry. After his
conviction DOnahue told the detectives
that he was fool TO have had any
thing 20 do with such a dangerous
project as an express ROBBERY, but
that the opportunity at Susquehanna
was so tempting that he could not re-
sist it. After his arrest the express
company attached all of his property,
and, although they did not succeed in
getting a judgment against him, they
fought him in the courts until his
wife, acting for him, was obliged to
mortgage all their possessions up to
the last dollar. so that they never de-
rived any substantial benefit from the
stolen money.
AS for Collins, he remained q fugi-
| tive from justice for some time after
| the conviction of Proctor and Dons-
hue. Several years, later, however.
| seeing himself constantly threatened
| By the express company and the de-
/ tectives, he decided TO placate his enc
mics by stepping out from the ranks
of the iaybreaikers and trying to lead
an honest hfe. And NE has succeeded,
as the PinkelIens have reason to