Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-04-12
raE IaIAL OF THE sAssNs soYs.
Sensational Evidence Brought Out In Trial.
Scheme Equal to Most Approved FlctIc1.


story that made the Nick Carter and
Diamond Dick series to pale into insight
fcance; a tale that held the throng Of
spectators breathless with attention, was
told in the United States Cirouit Court,
Judge Brawley .esiding, yesterday af-
ternoon, when John r. MCCARTHY, alias
John o. Dandrell, now serving a sentence
in Vermont State prison, was put on the
stand to testify in the Latta post office
robbery case.
When District Attorney Capers asked
MCCARTHY If he knew John King
and Edward Morgan, alias Murphy, he
replied: "Oh, yes, I know them. I CO.
operated with them in the robbery of the
post offae at Latte on February 25, 1904"
On further examination Mccarthy
gave full account of the movements of
tho gang which infested this State some
two years ago.
In part MCCARTHY said: II met the
the two Rabens, Rudolph and Chris, in
Charleston in 1908, and saw King and
Morgan at the house of Rsbens fre-
quently."
When asked to give an account of the
robbery at Latta Mccarthy, In part,
said: swell, after conference with
several members of the gang it was de-
oided to have try at the post office or
bank at Latta. Two Of US went up there
to look over tho ground, and then the
rest Of us Acknowledgment, King, my
self and one other. We went to Dillon
and got breakfast in q house In the fac
tory district. Morgan and Shorty, who
had been over to Latta, came up to us
and reported that 1t looked good. We
cooked dinner and supper in the woods,
near the track, between Dillon and
Latta, and after dark set out for Latta,
halting on the edge of the town until
midnight, when we entered. We broke
open a carpenters chest in an unfinished
house, endeavoring to find the necessary
tools; we finally went to blaoksmith's
shop and got a sledge hammer, orowbar,
chisel, brace and other Instruments. We
went into the bank, and King and myself
kept watch, while the two others did
the work. The bank, which was in the
same building with the post office, was
blown all right, but the force of the ex-
plosion jammed the door and there was
nothing doing in the swag line; SO we
tried the post Office safe. Morgan and
Shorty were inside, and pretty soon
heard two explosions, following closely
upon each other. The stamps, money
and letters were put in sack and the
two came out.
Fixed for Bloodhounds.
"After coming from the building we
all fixed for rbloodhounds-that is wo tied
string or cloth to the 'lapels' of our
shoes and sprinkled it we'll with mustard
"a dog cannot follow such track We
went down by the depot and across the
country to a branch track and when
about four miles from Latta went into
the woods and divided the swag. We
had about $3.50 in money, a large number
of stamps, two pocket-books and lot of
letters. / lost one letter from Winnie
Lewis and tore up another letter."
Inspector Gregory then produced two
letters, one of them intact and the other
put together on a pane of glass. Nc
Carthy identified both as the ones leftiin
the woods.
Buried the Pennies.
eve buried about two hundred pen
nics, as they were two heavy to carry,
and then went down the track about two
miles, i:eeping under the cover of the
woods constantly. We skirted Dillon
and then the gang separated. went on
to Fayetteville, N. c., with Shorty. We
stopped at the Davis House and the
next morning Morgan and King showed
up at the breakfast table. We then went
over to Hamlet the next morning, which
was Sunday, and King hid the stamps
under freight she'd"
Going back bit, Mccarthy said, "I
first met the two Rabens in the fall of
1903 at the Star Theatre Shorty was
with them and 1 met Gus De Ford either
at'the theatre or at Rabens's house. De
Ford brought dynamite to the city and
the glycerine was extracted, so that the
pure glycerine might be obtained. The
operation was carried on in Rabenss
house. Shortly afterwards Shorty, Nor
gan, De Ford and myself began discuss
ing good job, and we decided on Dem
mark. An investigating committee was
sent out and it reported that Denmark
was all right. We worked it safely and
came back to Charleston, taking the
money to Rabens's house. We had about
$500 between the four of us. We all
counted out our part, and Rabens went
out and had it changed into paper. /
spent most of mine at the Star Theatre.