The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-28
mRT LEE NO CRIME SUBURB.
.n,rr1S TO HAVING SENSATIONS
"PL4NTED" THERE.
...,o,ons story Of the Fisherman VINO Got
his Garden Spaded by Hints TO Detecs
lives In search Of Hidden Dynamite
-poIlcr Force G~eologically Stratihed.

The civic IlVIt u ~ ~
.,n,er r-lq rhat Of any other borough in
T,u Jer-av. lcoording to the dwellers over
.ssre because they say, wheneVe the
'.r,a NJ Neg York or Jersey City have a
P",.ry which they cannot handle they
~, il, In Fort Lee. If a horse thief gets
20 from Harlem with a rig why he got
'..,.s m the Fort Lee ferry, and If some
Nv Is Kidnapped in Hoboken or Union
uHI ,be police give it up with the remark
-, tbe victim is probably concealed in
20 about Fort Lee. There are no caves
,bolt For Lee.
yov il Is he mystery Of the stolen eI-
,,,.iyes which Moran, the dynamiter, con-
fh..ed he had hidden in New Jersey. That's
III he .ai!-ln New Jersey, But the police
'~r,oyed m that confession and named
r.- Lee a. the hiding place. That's why
~ borough Of E~dgewater, in which Fort
Taa Is on,v dne Of many scenic and historic
.,,,actIons rthe words of the real estate
~,n, was all stirred up yesterday; and
william O'Gale, shad fisherman. was the
.,ly resident who seemed to have found
INV extenuating circumstances in this
Las, attack on the horough's reputation.
.Tts like the prizefghter, this dynamite
rvstery " said the postmaster, who hopes
,,t Fort Lee will some day send and re-
n.ve enough mail. outside Of black hand let
,.s oput hun into the first class. When
AVER there's a prizefght in Guttenburg the
,rmors on the Manhattan side of the river
sIrays have it that a mill has been pulled
A in the woods at Fort Lee. Now if / was
sNns n look for that dynamite Id dig in
Guttenburg Just say in the paper, will
vo1. that it is buried in the old racetrack,
and give our town a chance"
4 don't believe any dynamite is buried
t.r.' remarked the real estate man
But how could you tell? So many people
,p living over here now and so many more
,r coming over every day to buy homes
that that boat is crowded-you may quote
ma Il vow like-that that boat is crowded
every trip. And il is Just possible that some
dysmiter might slip in disguised as the
servant AZ some wealthy New York banker
living here there is my card). 1t is just
possible that he might have buried that
dynamite on one of our fine villa sites up
on the hill, but l don't believe it because
We have such ample police protection that
be would have been detected. If you'd
like 10 look further just take that map
and 60 round. Now. there's a plot there
big enough for the dynamite, of course,
lOby IN, with a grand view down the river
and only thirty minutes from Broadway
As the real t man said, Edgewater
does have ample police protection, partly
from the FIVE stalwart men on the force,
but principally from the topography Of
The borough. The assignment of details
i itself a good first or. second lesson in
elementary geology, Chief Hines patrols
the narrow strip Of coastal plain that is
4 just wide enough for two barrooms and
Tor the trolley cars, connecting with all
bats, to get a flying start on the level
\ for their jump W the Palisades. Then
above him the captain patrols the first
rarow ledge along the face Of the eruptive
formation of the trap rock Palisades and
% on up, the sergeant next, then the rounds
lap and the lone patrolman or the ridge,
I which is Edgewater's dividing line. OF
4 course, that Is only the detail for night
policing By day Chief Hines works in
he oil works and everybody on the force
r promoted one geological period. All
they can climb like goats), and along n
s u the efficiently policed highways or by
vays Of the borough. That is why Fort
Je feels so sure that no dynamiters have
4 been there
John o Brien, the captain of police, who
vas patrol!ing the coastal ribbon yester-
DAY, three miles north and back, said that
be was sure nobody had been there since
sunrise
And last night he added, Il was in
the first ledge and / know nobody passed
ne, because | have to turn sidewise to let
anybody by on that post
Capt; Brlen is a large officer and he
hasn't been comfortable on patrol since he
vas a plain cop up on the broad top Of the
fisherman, wasn't so sceptical as the real
estate man and the postmaster.
Two men did come to my place up near
Smiths woods the other morning" said
the fisherman, and asked me if l had seen
any suspicious characters around. They
said they were looking for some stolen
dynamite that had been buried somewhere
IN Jersey. Reing a thrifty man, | was
pussy mendlng my nets, for the shad will
begin to run naXt month, and l was wishing
that had my garden spaded up too. It's
On That south slope where 1t gets the sun.
The snow i of and there is no frost in the
ground. didn't know for sure that
body hadn't buried something in that
patch and that's what | said. That fuade
EN- suspicious and they said they guessed
tneyd LOOK round my place. They meas
ufe1 some footprints on the road and meas
lLfed some more in the garden patch and
nen they whispered.
Being a systematic man, if l am a fisher
mar, ! had made a little plan Of that garden,
p:t as | am gong TO have it this spring,
With some ines drawn for the rows and
ZONE circles for the hills, with a P here
bf peas. all o there for onions, and a B
ir beans and a { for corn. That's about
VI !ralse, Just for my own use.
DUST 70 help EN- | handed them the
pan and sald that I'd picked it up in the
patch right near those footprints. One
ald that n vas a plan Of the stolen dyna-
rate and then they jaHed me for making
en lose time by not telling them about
le plan before, But that was all right
Wen | lea' one Of them a spade and the
gher a fork | guess they dug for that
o%listn!'e al ont all the morning and they
Gudn't have followed the lines in that
pan bette # they'd been hired men on
me jon. IA told my wife what was up
aa lns' .s they we're going away she
pointed ~ STRIP by the fence where she
= gong ~ lave some sweet peas and
va she 'acGEht She had heard a noise
VA thai fence ore night. Then they
SAae1 hat Ip, They took the plan away
.'Eere 'hav detectives from New York
How t' know that they were detec-