The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-26

you are liberal we may be able to do
business with you. II you entertain
any such ideas. please insert personal
in the New York Herald. Address to
XgX. and sign Rufus, to which due
attention will be paid. To satisfy you
that we hold papers. We send you
couple OF pieces"
CNo signature)
No attention had been paid 10 this
letter, although two certificates Of
stock accompanied IL which had un-
dOubtedly been in the banks vault.
Three other letters of a similar nature
had been received later, To one Of
these the bank people had sent a guard
d reply, which had called forth the
following response. dated New York,
Oct 20, 1876:
Gentlemen: Since you have seen fit
TO recognize the receipt of our letter,
we Will now send you our price for the
return Of the goods. The United States
coupon bonds and money taken cannot
be returned; but everything else
bonds, letters and papers, to the small
est document-Win be returned for
$4,000. If these figures suit you, we
viii make arrangements, according to
our promise, and you may have the
goods as soon as preliminaTies can be
arranged for the safe conduct OF the
business. II you agree to this price. in
sert In the New York Herald personal
column the simple word Agatha Re-
specially, etc, RUFUS"
The special value of these letters was
in helping the detectives 10 decide
which one of several gangs of bank
robbers then operating in the country
was most likely to have committed the
crime. Being familiar with the meth
M
able TO draw useful differences from ev-
idence that would otherwise have been /
insignificant. He knew. for instance, |
that the notorious gang headed by |
James Dunlap would be more apt than
any other 10 thus negotiate for the re-
turn of all the securities in a lump,
since il was Dunlaps invariable rule
10 insist upon personally controlling
the proceeds OF his robberes until final 1
disposition was made of them. on the
other hand, the gangs headed respec-
lively BY the notorious Jimmy" Hope,
Worcester Sam" and George Bliss |
might have divided the securities
among the members. and then tried 10
negotiate a compromise on the indi-
vidual portions.
a fact of much significance to the
Pinkertons was the rather remarkable
interest in the case. and apparent IA
miliarity with it. shown by one J. c..
Evans, an expert in safes and vaults,
and the representative of one of the |
largest safe manufactures I'm the coun-
try.
The day after the robbery Evans had
been at Bristol, Conn. in the interest
OF his firm. who, on receipt Of the news.
mad Immediately wired him to proceed
10 Northampton. His presence in
Northampton was regarded as nothing
strange, for he had been there several
times during the months Just preceding
the robbery. and once had inspected the
lock and dials Of the vault of the robbed
bank. What did seem a little strange.
however, was Evans evident interest
in the negotiations for a compromise.
ON 2 dozen different occasions he
talked with the president and other Off
GERS Of the bank regarding the robbery,
and insinuated quite plainly that he
might be in position to assist them in
recovering their lost securities. A few
months after the robbery he even went
so far as to tell one Of the directors
that he could name the members of the
gang
This disposition Of Evans 10 put him
self forward In the negotiations had all
the more significance to Robert Pin
kertOn from the fact that it had been
rumored that a series or daring bank
robberies lately committed in various
parts of the country had owed their
success 20 the participation of an eX-
pert in safes and locks. who had been
able, through his position of trust. TO
reveal 10 the robbers many secrets of
weak bank locks. safes and vaults. Up
10 this time these rumOTs had remained
indefinite, and no one ventured to name
the man. It was known however, that I
the false expert was a man Of high
standing i'm his calling and generally
regarded as above suspicion. 1t was
also known that there was great jeal-
Ousy in other gangs of bank robbers
because OF the amazing success OF the /
gang with whom this man was work
ing and that oVertures even had been
made by the leaders Of some other
gangs 10 win over 20 their own gangs
this desirable accomplice. Robert Pin
kerton had already concluded that the
gang so ably assisted was the Dunlap
gang; and he was now pretty we'll per-
suaded, also, that the Northampton
robbery had been committed by the
Dunlap gang. There was every reason,
therefore, FOR keeping a sharp eye on
the safe-eXpert Evans.
AS he studied the case Mr.. Pinkerton
recalled a circumstance that had han
pened IN the fall Of 1875. On the night
of Nov, 4, 1875 the First National bank
OF Pittston, Pa, had been robbed OF
$50 geo. and Ny. Pinkerton had gone
there to investigate the case. He met !
a mum Der Of safemen il being a bust
ness custom with safemen To flock to
the scene of an important bank robbery
IN order To supply new safes for the
ones that have been wrecked. While
they We're all examining The vault still
Uttered with debris Of the explosion.
the representative of one of the safe
companies picked M a small air-pump
used bv the robbers and, looking at it
critically, remarked that he would have
sworn il belonged 10 his company did
he not know that was inposs'bie. The
air-pump was, ne declared. OF precisely
his c0mpgnv's model. one that had been
recently devised for a special purpose
At the time Mr.. Pinkerton regarded
this as merely a coincidence, but now
the memory came 10 him as q fash Of
insoirs tinu that the man who had re-
marked the similarity I'm the air-pump
represented the same company that
emDloved Evans
In view ~ all the circumstances. it
WAS decided o pat Evans under the
closest questioning He did NOT denv
that ne had made unusual efforts TO e
feet the return OF the securities. but
protested that Il was because ne was
sincerely sorry for the many people
who had been ruined through the rob
berry. And he professed TO believe. also.
that ne had been uuiustiy treated IN
the affair, though fust how. and by
whom, he would not say. To the de-