Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30

N.
aNlt 1881, Crawford took his departure for
oentral America giving out to his friends
man N s ne was going iNre to assume the
oyo acres. owned by his wealthy friend and
benefactor ~
Before Crawford sailed however. the
shadoWs' had informed Mr.. Pinkerton of
.rawiords Intention. and asked instruc-
tions Should they arrest the man before
ne look Hight or should they let him goY
ar; fihkerton realized that he was dealing
| WITH man who. TX guilty. was a criminal
OF unusual cleverness and cunning His
arrest would probably ACCOMPLISH nothing
ana might spoil everything. There was 1T
tie likelihood that the stolen money would
| be found on Crawfords person he would
probably arrange some safer way for ats
transmission. Perhaps 1t had gone ahead
OF MIN TO Central America weeks before
We'll let him GO" said Mr.. Pinkerton
with grim smile; only We'll have some
one go with him"
! The Pinkerton representative en,ployed 70
shadow Crawford on the voyage sent word
oy the first mail after their arrival In Gem
trai America. that the young man had
rarely left his stateroom, and that when
ever forced to do so had employed a col
ored servant to stand on guard so that no
one could go inside.
Nothlng more occurred, however, to jus-
ufy the suspicion against Crawford until
the early part of 1890. when the persistent
efforts OF the detectives were rewarded by
an important discovery. 1t was then that
Robert Pinkerton learned that Crawford
fore the bank officials in regard to his FAM
lily relations in New York. He had stated
thdt his only relative in New York was a
brother Marvin Crawford who was then
DRIVING street car on the Blocker street
me. Now 1t came to the knowledge of Mr.
Plnkerton that Crawford had I'm the city
tnree married aunts and several cousins.
1 he reason for Crawford having concealed
this fact was presently brought to light
through the testimony Of one of the aunts
VINO, having been induced to speak. not
without difficulty, stated that on Sunday,
May 6. 1855, two days after the robbery
her nephew had called at her house and
given her package which he said con-
tanned gloves, and which he wished her to
Keep for him. 1t about this lime that
the papers contained the first news of the
robbery, and. her suspicious having been
aroused, she picked a hole in the paper COW
erlng or the package large enough TO let
her see that there was money inside. Some
what disturbed. she took the package to her
husband. who opened it and found that it
contained $1,000 in bank notes. Realizing
the Importance of this discovery, the hus-
band told his wife that when Crawford
came back to claim the package she should
refer him TO him. which she did.
Some days later. on learning from his
aunt that she had spoken 10 her husband
about the package Crawford became great
" excited, and told her she had made
dreadful mistake. A stormy scene followed
with his uncle, in which the latter posi-
lively refused to render him the money un-
I'll he was satisfied that Crawford was its
IT
ford's young friend, the man about town.
called on the uncle and stated that the
money in the package belonged to him and
must be surrendered. The uncle was still
obdurate, and when Crawford and his friend
became violent in manner he remarked
meaningiy that IL they made any more
trouble he would deliver the package OF
money to the Adams Express Company and
let the company decide to whom 1t belonged.
This brought the angry claimants to their
senses, and Crawford's friend left the house
Qr7d rot
uncle compromised the contention by CIV
ing his nephew 500 out of the So 600 and
retaining the balance himself, In payment,
one must suppose, for his silence. At any
rate, he kept 81, 500, and also a receipt in
Crawford's handwriting for the $500 paid
to him.
Other members OF the family recalled the
fact that a few days after the robbery
Crawford had left in his aunt's storeroom a
valise, which he had subsequently, called
for and taken away: None Of them had
seen the contents of the valise but they
remembered that Crawford on the second
visit had remained alone in the storeroom
for quite time, perhaps twenty minutes.
and after his departure they found there a
rubber band like those used at the bank
The detectives also discovered that on the
10th of May, 1888, eleven days after the
robbery, Crawford had rented a safety de-
post box at a bank in the Fifth Avenue
Hotel building, under the name OF Eugene
Holt. On the 18th of May he had ex-
changed this box for a larger one. During
the following months he made several visits
10 the box, but for what purpose not
known.
On presenting this accumulated evidence
to the Adams Express Company, along with
Its own deductions. Robert Pinkerton was
rot lorg IN convincing his employers that
the situation required in Central America
ne presence OF some more adroit detective
than had yet been sent there. The dffii
Guilty or the case was heigh tened by tho
fact that Crawford had established himself
IN British Honduras and that the extradl-
"a I'D
England did not then as 1t does now pro-
vide for the surrender of criminals guilty
OF such offenses as that which Crawford
was believed to have committed Crawford
could be arrested, therefore only by being
gotten into another country by some cleyor
maneuVer. The man best capable of car
rying out such a Tnaneuver was Robert Pin
kerton himself; and, accordingly, the ex-
press company, despite the very consid-
cradle expense involved, and fully aware
that the result must be uncertain. author
suit of Crawford.
Mr. Pinkerton arrived at Balize, the capt.
tai of British Honduras, on February IL
1890 nearly two years after the date of the
Robbery. There he learned that Crawford's
plantation was about ninety miles down the
coast, a little back of Punta Gorda.
Punta Gorda lies near the line separating
British Honduras from Guatemala and is
not more than a hundred miles from Span
ish Honduras, or Honduras proper, directly
across the Gulf Of Honduras.
DIHcultleS confronted Mr.. Plnkerton from
the very start. People were dying about
him every day of yellow fever and when he
started for Punta Gorda on n little steamer
the engineer came aboard looking as yellow
as saffron and Immediately began to vomlt.
50 that he had to be taken ashore. Then
the engine broke down several times on tho
voyage, and the heat insufferable.
AS the boat steamed slowly into Punta
Gorda 1t passed small steam craft loaded
with bananas. Look" said one of the
passengers to Mr.. Pinkerton, not aware of
the nature of Mr.. Pinkerton's mission,
there goes Crawford's launch now"
Landing at once, the detective waited
for the launch to come to shore, which
It. presently did. The first man to come off
was Marvin Crawford, whom Mr.. Pinker-
ton recognized from description although
he had never seen him. Then he saw Ed
ward Crawford step off, dressed snartly In
a white helmet. red sash. a fine plated
linen shirt, blue trousers, patent-leather
shoes, and so on. Mr.. Pinkerton approa ched
and held out his hand.
81 don't remember YOU said Crawford;
but his face went white
You used to know me in New York when
I examined you before the bank officials"
said the detective pleasantly.
Crawford smiled in q sickiy way and