The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-10

been Whisked of TO another planet To
( be sure, farmers in the neighbOrhoOd
/ brought rumors of the stealing of
horses, of a strange man sleeping in
the woods, and of a desperate looking
character seen limping along the road
But all this came 10 nothing, except TO
establish, what seemed probable. that
the diamond thief had fled back TO
] Omaha. A patient and exhaustive
search III Omaha resulted in nothing
The man was gone. and the diamonds
We're gone; that was all anybody knew.
What made the case more difficult
was the uncertainty as 10 the robbers
/ personal appearance; for some of the
passengers testified to one thing. and
some 20 another. The black beard was
a cause of confusion: only one witness
| besides Mr. Pollock remembered that
! the man Wore such Il beard. Mr. Pol
lock- however, was positive as TO this
particular, and il seemed as il he ought
| 10 Know. IL was also impossible TO
decide. from conflicting statements.
whether The robber had a mustache or
/ not, and whether it was dark or light
! in color. The fact is the passen GERS
/ had been SO thoroughly frightened at
TIE time OF the assault that the credi-
bility Of their testimony was much TO
| be Questioned.
Mr.. Pollock reported that for several
weeks previous To the robbery he had
suspected that he was being followed
He also reported that on the day of
the robbery he had been in the shop
or the largest pawnbroker in Omaha.
and that while he was there two noted
western gamblers had entered the shop
and been presented TO him as possible
customers. He had made a trade Of
some diamonds with one of the men,
Of he +s..e
had shown his entire stock. While the
trade was in progress a negro on the
premises had noticed lounging about
the front of the shop. a man in a
SLOUGH hat, who suggested the rObber
| From these circumstances il was de-
clded that the robbery might be the
work Of an organized gang. who had
been waiting their opportunity for
many days, and had selected one Of
their number to do the actual deed.
All his life it had been Mr.. Pinker-
toms business to study criminals and
understand their natures. He knew
that a crime like this one was much
beyond the power of an ordinary Grim
inal. Let a robber be ever So greedy
of gold, reckless of human life and
Indifferent TO consequences, he would
still think many times before declaring
war 10 the death upon twelve men in a
narrow car. on a swiftly moving train.
This was surely no novice i'm crime,
reasoned Mr.. Pinkerton. but a man
whose record would already show
deeds Of the greatest daring: a brave
fellow. though a bad one. And even
among the Well-kuown experienced
criminals there must be very few who
We're capable Of this deed.
MIR. PinkeTtOn therefore set himself
ha I
rogues' gallery 20 first pick out these
few. Page after paSe of photographs
was turned over, drawer after drawer
Of records was searched through, and
at last dozen or more men were de-
cided upon as sufficiently pre-eminent
20 merit consideration in connection
with the present case
Photographs Of these dozen or so
We're speedily struck off and submitted
by the detectives TO all the men who
had been in the smoking car at the
time Of the robbery. to the conductor
OF the train and the trainmen, to other
passengers, 10 farmers and others who
might have seen the rObber while MAX
ing his escape. and to various people
In Omaha. The result was startling
Conductor u. NJ. AshmOre, without
hesitation, selected from the dozen or
more portraits one as that of the rob
Der Mr.. Shaw. the Omaha well dig
ger, who had sat just behind the rob
Der. selected the same photograph and
was positive Ii pictured the man ne
had tried 20 talk TO. Other passengers
also picked out this photograph. as did
various persons who had caught sigat
Of the man as he escaped.
The portrait thus chosen by common
accoTd was that Of Frank Bruce, one
Of the most desperate burglars OF the
younger generation in the country, ana
IL seemed only necessary now to find
Bruce 10 have the problem solved
Many days were spent, and hundreds
OF dollars. in searching for him DOZ-
ems of cities were visited, and every
conceivable effort made to get on his
track but il was not until his our
suers were almost weary o. the chase
that he was finally discovered living
quietly in Chicago, on Cottage Grove
avenue near Thirty-siXth street. where
he was operating with another high
class burglar BILLY BOyce.
Requisition papers We're AT once pro-
cured from the governor of Iowa on
the governor of Illinois, and men were
sent 10 take Bruce into custody, when
the shadows" reported that he and
Boyce had left for Milwaukee, where
of course the requisiJiUn papers were
Nalueless Fortunately that same
night they attempted a burglary in
Milwaukee. for which they we're ar
rested and held for ninety days. This
gave the Chicago detectives abundant
time to Identify Bruce as the missing
robber.