Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-09-25
SHERCLIFF TYPE OF HOLDUP
Pollock Diamond RObbsr, Pinksrton Says,
is Leader In This Crime
CURSE THAT HAS coUSTRYY THE THROAT
Stamping IL Ont Matter of Timely
Interest TO Omaha Police as
Well ms Those of other
cities.


cities.
William A. Pinkerton. head Of the great
detective agency which bears his name
and is known all over the world, submits
to lengthy interview in the Sunday
| Record Herald on the subject of the
"stick-up" the term by which he des-
ignates the criminal who holds up and
robs people. The veteran man hunter de-
clares that this is a new species of crime
which has seized the whole country by
the throat. He says It is practiced mostly
by young fellows, and for Its prevalence
he blames, largely, the sensational novel
and the lurid drama, where these con-
scienceless scoundrels are transformed into
heroes and officers pursuing them into
low-browed, sneaking demons.
AS the most effe>.tual remedy In the
form Of punishment, for this class af
criminals, Mr.. Pinkerton urges the whip
ping post, saying that thirty years ago
three men who robbed a bank In Della
ware by the hold-up process were whipped
at the post in addition to other punish
ment and that there has not been even
an attempted bank robbery there since.
Police Not to Blame.
Mr.. Plnkerton does not blame the police
of the various cities for the hod-up mall
ady. Speaking of Chicago, as an example,
he says:
It is popular nowadays to criticise the
police. We should remember in the first
place that Chicago has not nearly enough
policemen. Beats are so large in the out
lying districts that if an officer attends
strictly and conscientiously to his business
he cannot walk II in an hour and some
times much longer than that. The records
will show that the big majority of stick
ups occur in these outlying districts. To
evade policeman who Is compelled to
walk that much beat is easy, for the
stick-up knows the officer, while the officer
mas no way of knowing the stick-up
II the Chicago police are to blame for
the great increase in this class Of crime
the police Of every other city are equally
TO blame; As matter of fact they are
not to blame. This is a new form OF
crime that has taken the whole country
by the throat.
The matter of the hold-up artist and
how to deal with him is just now engag-
Ing the best thoughts and attention of
Chief of Police Donahue Captain Dunn,
chief of the detective force. and the re-
mainder of the police department of
Omaha. particularly in view Of the fall
festival season which begins this week
The chief and Captain Dunn believe they
have been successful in Kidding the city
of many potential "stick-ups," and 1t is
interesting to note that they have fol-
lowed the same method in doing so which
Chief Collins has just put into vogue in
Chicago and which Pinkerton warmly
commends namely. the vagrancy warrant.
arresting every suspicious character visible
In the city.
Frank ShercIiRe the Type.
In Frank Shercliffe, the Pollock diamond
robber, in whose freedom from the Iowa
penitentiary an Omaha lawyer of reform
proclivities became deeply interested, Pink
erton finds his true type of the stick up
man. OF this notorious criminal and his
operations, Mr.. Pinkerton says:
Two, years prior to this event, the Pol
lock diamond robbery, in 1891, a gambling
house in Reno, Ney;, had been stuck up by
masked man. For some time we had
Nevada looking for a tinhorn Gambler
known as Faro Bank Charley, who was
ing plot on the Southern Pacinc road This
mans name was Thomas Horn, and, as he
happened to be the only stranger in Reno
when the stick-up occurred and as he also
happened to be leaving Reno that night,
ne, was arrested for the crime. In his
Valise was found a white-handied 45-calibeT
revolver, but this was nothing Unusual
In that country, and besides, Horn had
been chief of government scouts in Arizona
was constant companion.
/ laughed when l heard of Horns arrest
nc was NIltu anu tine Jury disagreed but
came very near convicting him; and he
stage General Manager Towne of the the
Better go to Reno ana look 'a AFTER H TSIla
interests which ! did. At Ogden. however.
whom had become acquainted in the asst
and they told me that Horn was Innocent
and that the stick-up in the Reno case was
They told me also that the stik-up was
associating with a certain gambler in
robber, but to secure the release of Horn
| went on to Reno, where | had no trouble
I1os est II 6ishing an alibi for Horn by the
During Horns trial a dozen or mora
men, who were in the gambling house when
showing how one man can cover a hun
Famous Hands-Up Picture.
The picture, Hands up!" was the result
No matter at what angle from the muzzle
amad directly at YOU This Is S net sb 10 De
suit 0i a trick on the part of the artist ana
l reter TO, 70 this picture only to illustrate
sttek-up business that has rendered that
calling SO easy and profitable. The fear
of a pistol Is turned toward the gIoIn
makes the rest OF the work of the stick-up
easy, a, The young Ing fellow that tries il once
When the Pollock case was called to
Immediately to the Reno stick IN. and The
kid" who. as l have been informed. was
guilty. l had not used this Information al
the time, but 1 had preserved memoranda
OF what the gamblers had told me in ogden
two years before. This youth was known
by the name of Mccoy. We found he had
engaged permanently in stick ups in Kan
sas city. Topeka, Lincoln Denver, Colo.
RADIO City, San Bernardlno Cal-prettv
much all over the west, in fact / discoy
cred that the gambler friend with whom
MCCOY had been associated was one Of the
gamblers who had been In the pawn shop
when Pollock traded the diamond ana
showed his goods / found he had served
term of one year In the Utah peniten-
tiary, and had left for Omaha Shortly
before the Pollock Job was done In Utah
we got good picture Of him. We finally
captured him in Leadviile Colo. ana IL
was positively identified. We brought him
back to Iowa, where in spite OF the vast |
array of money and influence brought
against US, he was convicted and sen
fenced to serve seventeen years in The
penitentiary: He is out now and leading /,
a different life.
IL Was McCOy-ShercIiHe,
This man was known as Frank sherclin
which was not his name, nor was Mccoy
We Investigated his history and found him |
TO have been raised in Aurora, III. When !
10 years old he had stuck up a stors
there, and, on being pursued by a crowd \
he stood of a gOOdly norton NJ The ron,,Ia' /