Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-13

I passed down the marble steps I uttered
aloud a prayer that might never be rich
MY readers, without doubt, Will regard
the course of Judge Hilton in ignoring my
letter and that of Mrs. Stewart in decln-
ing to receive me as extraordinary. Had
my position not been sufficient guarantee
that / was not one of the innumeTable
cranks who had tried to gain money or no
toriety out of the case, the actions of the
principals would have been easily eXplica-
BILE; it was, / asked myself some inter
esting question. Was II possible that my
letter never had reached Judge Hilton? Had
Judge HiItous son really told Mrs. Stewart
who l was and the nature of my mlSSlonE
Could it be possible that Judge linton
deemed the $50 900 offered as reward OF
more value to the estate. of which he mad
charge, than the body of the founder or
that estate? Had Judge Hilton determined,
from q sense Of public service, not 10 prose-
cute the search in order to teach reSurrec-
tiOniSts generally that their vocation would
produce no fabulous returns from wealthy
families, and thereby fOrestan the spread
Of this class of crime? All these queS-
lions occurred to me, and from them /
chose a solution that seemed the most
plausible. l determined however. to do no
one an injustice, and determined, at the
right time, to make one more EFFORT 10 get
into direct communication with Judge HI
ton. This opportunity presented itself in
August 1881, when | read in the s.. Louis
ClObe-Democrat 4 dispatch from New YORK
stating that Judge Hilton was stu anxious
to recover the Stewart body and was prose-
cutting the search for it along all promising
lines l therefore sent to him another let
ter, and took the precautfon to register It,
The registry receipt showed this letter 10
have been received at Judge FIilton's office
but no answer was made TO II.
This third rebuff convinced me | was
wasting time in even writing letters to the
New York principals. probably could have
forced them to take cognizance of the facts
in my possession by going to the newspa-
pers with them. but I was IN the employ
of the government and not at liberty 10
neglect my duties IN the secret service d.
vision for outside matters. In popular par
lance. it was not my funeral believed
] had done everyt hing my duty as citizen
dictated. / filed away the information and
make its contents public herewith for the
first time.
The names of the five men who stole the
body | do not make public for the reason
they have not been convicted for this crime,
nor even known parties to 1t, and for
aught | know may now be leading lives OF
honesty. At that time. however, they were
all known to certain detectives as thieves
Two of them claimed New York as their
home and three lived In Philadelphia. !
have minute information concerning them
and this information is available for any
legitimate purpose. McClaughrey's story,
Invested of tiresome detail. was substantial
ly as follows:
1.-THE body of A. T. Stewart was stolen for
reward. Although the attemp. to steal Lin
coins body had been foiled by the detec-
tives the idea of making money in this way
was considered good. Stewards wealth had
been so widely talked about that II was
thought his family would pay large sum
for his body The vault had been located
and the place 'piped' for weeks before the
body was taken. Very early in the morning
of November five men entered the church.
a shovel, a dark lantern and a canvas bag.
1 was not among the five, but | was very
close by. Outside of the churchyard there
was an express wagon containing zinc
trunk. The men worked fast and without
being disturbed. The body was placed In
the bag and hoisted over the fence at the
point nearest the wagon
THE outfit was driven toward Central
Park and turned westward toward the
Hudson. At the foot of street running
west from the lower end OF the park a
Whitehall boat was tied up and into It the
zinc trunk was loaded. Wind and tide were
in our favor, and the run was made in good
time A landing was made just below the
town of Cresskill, on the Jersey shore,
twenty or twenty-five miles from Jersey
City. A light wagon was In readiness and