Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-10-11
.GA|ES My Be CROOK
Man Arrested For Theft at Vim
ton Has Peculiar
Letters
ARE WRITTEN IN CIPHER
The Authorities Believe He Was Con.
nected With An Organized Gang Of
Crooks Whose Headquarters Are In
Chicago - PROGRESSED to Be Greatly
Interested In Church Work.
oecial 10 Times iepubiican.

! Special 10 Times Republican.
| Waterloo, Oct. 1.-THE arrest of
Charles f. Gates, who was caught in
| the act of robbing the county treas
ury vault at Vinton, as told in these
dispatches yesterday, promises to de-
velop more sensations. Gates was
known in Waterloo as a gentleman and
chllrchman and claimed to represent
the Sprague Mercantile Agency of
Chicago, and letters found In his pos
session indicates this claim to be true.
which was searched yesterday by Off
Gals here, indicate he might have be-
longed to a. gang of crooks whose
headquarters are in Chicago. ~, %
berry OF the office at Vinton took place
several days ago, ana the q. .s,,-
ces are about as follows: The vault
Of the county treasurer's office is tenn
porarfly located at the rear of the
Peoples Savings bank during the con-
struction Of the new Benton county
court house. Gates was caught in the
act by the treasurer, James Wilson,,
who was in the bank in front trans
acting some business. Mr.. Gates
stepped into the side entrance OF the
treasury Office and noticing that no
one was in the room opened the draw
er which contained the silver and COM
menced to relieve it of it's contents
Mr. Wilson glanced toward his office
just in time to see Gates in the act.
Accompanied by several attaches OF
tho bank. Mr.. Wilson went to his Office
and surrounded the thief. He gave up
Immediately and returned the money
over to Mr.. Wilson. He was immedf-
ately taken into custody and incarcer-
ated in the Benton county Jail,
A Gentleman Burglar.
The last thought of any person
would be that Gates is man that
STEALS. He has roomed at oil LaFay-
cite street since September 9Th, and
has always conducted himself as
gentleman. He was an enthusiast in
religion and attended church regularly
while here. He claimed to be rep
resentative of the Sprasue Mercantile
Agency Of Chicago, and his CORE
spondence would indicate such to be
the fact He has done nothing in his
stay in Waterloo to arouse the least
suspicion amongst the Alderman fam
lily that he was other than gentle
man. The first occasion for any anx-
iety as to the man and his where
abouts was Sunday week after. he
had said he would return to Waterloo.
He was last in Waterloo two weeks
ago last Thursday, and at that time
said he would return the following
Sunday. A week and ten days passed
and no signs Of the man. At that a
letter was written to the Sprague Mer-
camille Agency, informing them of
their representatives persistent abb
sence No letter has yet been received
from them, but 1t is thought that they
are investigating the case.
Brought to This City.
He was brought to this city this
morning by Deputy Sheriff H. A. Seely
Of Benton county, accompanied by ].
A. Elliott, overseer of the poor. His
trunk was thoroughly searched and
found to contain thousands Of dollars
worth of jewelry, such as diamonds,
stick pins, watches, chains and silver
ware. From this the officers have rea-
son to conclude that they have appre-
l1ended one of a desperate gang Of gen.
tlemen crooks that have been operat-
ing in the west Their scheme is to
follow carrivals, street fairs races and
the like at which times people are
least on their guard. This theory is
confirmed by the factsthat Gates came
here just ahead of the carnival at Red
Cedar park and during the first week
in September paid several visits to
Waverly, where a carnival was holding |
forth. Since the Waterloo carnival he
visited the La Porte City Fair. and
other amusemer1ts that have been go
ing on in the immediate vicinity Of
this city.
Will Be Tried This Fall.
He will be taken back to vinton,
where he will be placed in Jail to
await trial. The man declares he was
under the influence of morphine at the
time or he would not have committed I
such a rash act. His apparent man
nerly actions and modesty led the Of
ficers to believe at first that the man
ha Inv