Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30
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MOFFETT M
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ming around the label. The add ess on the
package read:
''S41 600
United States Treasurer,
Washington.
All this was printed except the figures
$41,O00 even the dollar sign. The figures
were In the writing OF Mr Watson the
paying teller of the bank. whose business
| II was to oversee the sending of the money
| His initials were also marked on the label
with the date of the sending: 50 that en-
| examining the label Mr. Watson himself
| was positive that II was genuine
Al this made it tolerably clear that The
| roDpery had not been committed at the
| pank oe1ore the package was intrusted to
| the Two messengers; for no bank clerk
would have made up so clumsy G. package,
and the paying teller himself had he been
party to the crime, would not have cut
| uine package and pasted 1t on .he bogus
| one; he would simply have written out an
other label, thus lessening the chances of
| detection. Furthermore. it was shown by
testimony that during the short time be-
tween the sealing up Of the package in the
paying teller's department and is celiv-
cry to Dominic Earle, who took 1t first. 1t
was constantly under the observation OF
half dozen bank employees; so that the
work of cutting off the label and pastjns
II on the bogus package could SC arcely Rave
been accomplished then without detection.
Earle and Crawford. the bank messengers
were submitted to repeated examinations;
out their statements threw no light upon
the mystery. Both stuck persistently to the
same story which was that neither had
| loosed his hold on the handle of the yalise
| from the moment they left the bank until
| they had delivered the package through
the window of the express companys
money department. Accepting these state
ments as true, 1t was impossible that the
| package had been tempered with in this
| part of its journey; while the assumption
that they were not true implied apparently
| a cOlluS1On between the W
which was highly improbable, since Domi-
ME Earle had been a servant of the bank
Tor thlrty-fve years, and had never In that
long term failed In his duty or done any
thing to arouse distrust. Before entering
the banks employ he had been preacher,
and his whole life seemed to have been one
of simplicity and honest dealing.
AS for Crawford, who was, indeed, a new
man, 1t was plain that if the Dominic told
the truth and had really kept his hold on
the valise handle all the way to the ex-
press company's window, his companion,
honest or dishonest. would have had no
opportunity to cut off the label, paste 1t on
the bogus package and make the substitu-
ton.
Finally came the theory that the money
package had been stolen while in the care
of the express company. In considering
this possibility 1t became necessary to know
exactly what had happened to the package
from the moment 1t was taken through the
window of the money department up to The
time of its delivery at the treasury. The
package was first receipted for by the head
of the money department, Mr. ]. C. Young
Having handed the receipt to the bank mes
sengers, he passed the package to his as
sistant Mr.. Littleteld who in turn passed
1t on to another clerk, Mr.. Moody, who way
billed it in due form for Washington, and
then placed 1t In the iron safe which was
to carry 1t on its Journey Two or three
hours may have elapsed between the re-
cetpt of tho package and the shipment of
the safe, but during this time the package
was constantly in view of five or six clerks
in the money department, and. unless they
were all in collusion II could scarcely have
been stolen by any one there. AS for the
express messenger who accompanied the
safe on the wagon to the train and then
on the train to Washington. and then on
another wagon to the treasury building,
his innocence seemed clearly established
since the safe had been locked and sealed
according to custom, before its delivery to
him, and showed no signs of having been
tempered with when opened in Washington
the following morning by another repre-
sentative Of the express company. The
messenger who accompanies a through safe
to its destination, indeed, has small chance
of getting inside, not only because of the
protecting seal, but also because he is never
allowed to have the key to the safe or to
know Its combination. Later, as still fur
Their safeguard, the Adams Express Com
pany introduced into its cars an equipment
Of large burglar-proof and fire-proof Safes
especially as a guard against train robbers,
who found 1t comparatively easy to break
open the small safes once in use. In the
present instance, of course, there was no
question of train robbers.
One important fact stood out plain and
uncontrovertible: That a responsible clerk
in the money department of the Adams EX-
press Company had receipted for a package
supposed to contain Si1 900, intrusted to the
company by the bank. This threw the re-
sponsibility on.the company, at least until
it could be shown that the package as de-
livered contained brown paper, and not
bank notes. In accordance with their
nSnal DnljCy of nrOmpfnRSS and nhnr1lltV,
the Adams people paid over TO the Ameri-
can Exchange Bank the sum of $4l,0GQ and
said no more about it. But their s.lence
did not mean inactivity. Their instructions
to their detectives in this case, as in all
similar cases, were to spare neither time
nor expense, but to continue the inyestiga-
ton until the thieves had been detected and
brought to punishment. or until the last
possibility of clearing up the mystery had
certainly expired.
fastening to New York in response TO
the telegram sent him. Robert PinkerJon
examined the evidence already collected by
his representative, and then himself ques-
toned all persons in any way concerned
in the handling Of the money. Mr.. Pinker-
ton after his Investigation, was not SC sure
as some persons were that the package had
been stolen by employees of the express
company He inclined rather to the opn-
ion that in the rush of business in the ex-
press Office the false package, badly made
up though 1t was, might have been passed
by one Of the clerks. This conclusion
bank messengers. OF these he was not
long In deciding Dominic Earle to be, in
all probability, innocent. While he had
known of instances where old men, after
years OF unimpeachable life, had suddenly
turned TO crime, he knew such cases to be
infrequent, and he decided that Earles IVES
not one of them. OF the innocence of the
other messenger, Crawford, he was not so
sure. He began careful study of bis rec
ord.
Edward Sturgis Crawford at this time was
about twenty-seven years old, a man of
medium height, a decided blond, with large
blue eyes, and of rather effeminate type
He went scrupuously dressed, had white
hands with carefully manicured nails,
parted his hair in the middle. and al-o-
gether was somewhat Of a dandy. He had
entered the bank on the recommendation
of wealthy New Yorker, young man
about town. who, strange to say. had made
Crawford's acquaintance and, lndeed, |
struck up quite a friendship with him,
while the latter was serving In the humble
capacity of conductor on a Broadway car
This was about a year before the time of
the robbery. Thus far Crawford had at |
tended to his work satisfactorily. doing
nothing to arouse suspicion, unless 1t was
INDUCING a tendency to extravaganza in
dress His salary was but $42 a month, |
and vet he permitted himself such Injuries |