The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-02-13

was becoming of it. The junk dealers
of the city protested that they We're not
! buying of anything of the kind and es-
pecially from boys who were believed
! to be responsible for most of the thiev-
I ing Suspicion was finally directed
towards Lieberman and a search of his
place of business revealed an immense
amount of the stolen junk secreted in a
dark corner of the cellar under an ad
| joining building and covered with rags.
About this time Doc" Manson, who
/ is now in the reformatory at Hutchin-
/ son was arrested charged with stealing
brass from the Santa Fe railroad and
lconfessed duplicating IS other men and
( boys who have since been arrested and
most of whom are now in the county
jail The stealing from the Santa Fe
| amounted to thousands of dollars in the
value of the metal taken and the pro-
perty damaged by the thieves. The
special agents of the road were espec-
tally busy in running the gang down.
Agent H. K. Germain and his men that
the gang was broken up.
After Manson had turned states evil
dence confessions came thick and fast
from other members of the gang and
nearly every confession indicated that
Lieberman was one of the ringleaders
in the plot to strip the Santa Fe and
Topeka of all its available junk One
night the officers We're informed that a
raid was to be made on one of the junk
boxes in the Santa F'e yards and men
were stationed to watch. About mid
night the thieves approached and were
permitted to break the locks and were
filling their sacks with brass and cop
per when they were surprised by the
officers and commanded to throw up
their hands.
Instead of needing the commands of
the officers they took to their heels and
were followed by a volley from shot
guns in the hands of the posse and
though all of them escaped, one was SO |
badly wounded that he was arrested
when he sought to have his wounds !
dressed. Manson was not prosecuted |
for his part in the thefts and was made |
deputy sheriff and accompanied the |
officers on several of their raids and |
was responsible for the arrest of many |
of the thieves.
He was released from Jail and had !
not been cut a week when he was i
caught with a sack of stolen junk on I
his back one night and his confession |
and q trip to the refOmatory quickly |
followed. Topeka has been ractically
free from junk thieves during the last
few months but the county jail is
overcrowded with them
With the confessions of the men as
they were arrested came the arrest of
Lfeberman on five different charges of /
receiving stolen property He secured
bonds the first two counts and i'm
mediately left for parts unknown. but
was arrested several weeks later and
landed in Jail as Colonel H. c.. Lind
sey, his bondsman, refused to take any
then made by his brothers in Kansas
City and he was again released on
bonds though this time they were
fixed at $4,000 and signed by the Bank
of Topeka which is secured by Kan
sas City bank.
Lieberman was permitted to plead
guilty yesterday on each of the five
counts against him to a misdemeanOr
and was to have been sentenced at 2
O'Clock by Judge Dana of the district
court His attorneys appeared at the
hour set as did one of the men re-
sponsible for his bond. but Lieberman
was not to be found, nor has he been
located since.
The officers are particularly anxious
to land Lieberman behind the bars as
he has proven to be one of the most
offenders they have had
to deal with for long time. Sheriff
Wilkerson spent Tuesday in Kansas
City, but could get no trace of the flee
ing Junk dealer and the Santa Fe
special agents have been notified that
he has jumped his bond and is badly
wanted.
When he did not appear at the APP
hour for sentence Monday
Judge Dana declared his bonds for
feited and raised his bonds to $1,000