The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-04-13
CECADENCE OF THE BURGLAR
enFE-opENER NOT UP TO STAND
ARD or Ills PREDEC ESSORS.
The 3e7l Good Ones Are Few in Mum
Der ana Mostly in Jail-Deatn OF :.
Famous Bank Sneak Thief.

Famous Bank Sneak Thief.
~Times have changed" said the
old detective. when some one REFERRED
to In. arrest O. "Ddtch Herman
sinner. onp 81 the most expert safe
breakers Known to the police II"
idea Of Herman being caught IoF =
500 JOB, He's = GOOD man in his
line. bat We haven't many left FL
teen wears ago il toGk cur best work
to fieht such Mtn ana even III ~
and % they made lots OF WORK 10Y
us. Why. it was only seven or ei5At
wears a%o that four safes We're 'Elch-
cd open in restaurant on Park ROW
III one night. Now, the good safe
crackers are few. and mostly in jail
Right here in New York couldn t
90 ont to-day and pick mp more thah
three or tour good men.
Palmer claims he has been honest
f0! the last four or five years, but
doubt it, These fellows don't say"
anything I.oCk 1T jimmy Hope. on"
of the best of the old-time Safecrack-
ers. His son supports him. AMI mas
for years. The cid gang weren't ne
chanics. either. like the new men.
They attacked a safe cleverly. from
a scientific STANDPOINT. and IL had 10
be pretty good one to resist them.
They used tools. only, and dim 7
dream Of kicking III q safe with miro
or dynamite. Eut. then, | suppose
the Oh way took too long. Palhtf
is mighty good at the nitro. too, lot
in his last JOB he cracked tn" sal"
without breaking a glass case tina,
rested en- it"
Perhaps three Of The BEST known
safe robbers are. the Palmer referred
to abo.c; his brother, "AuGie, AM
kid" McManus The two last name
are AZ present in Canada. i'll tn
Kingston pcnitentiary for q safe rob-
berry il Ottawa in October. 1901. Nc
S1anuss sentence was eight years.
Palmer. or George Smith. as he
sometimes calls himself, was for years
the terror OF tae New York police.
He is new ffty-three years old, but
looks fo.ty-tive lie was first convict
ed in 1876, ana was sentenced 10
three years for Il burglary here. Ia
1881 h robbed hardware store OF
$500 worth OF cutlery. for which he
served four yCals. Next, in 1892. AID
ed by his brother "Aueie, he robbed
two safes on Amsterdam avenue. ana
was sent away for ten years. her
mans last previous arrest was III
1900. when he defeated an effort to
take him TO Baltimore where the pO-
lice wanted him for a safe robbery.
Three or four years ago the police
here arrested MIN about once week
regularly on suspicion.
McManns was a bartender back in
the eighties. He was first photo
graphed for the Rocues' Gallery in
1888. when he was twentv-three years
old. and most interesting collection
Of his photographs may be seen in
Inspector McClusky's office. They
tango from the picture of a :mooth
faced youEgster TO that Ct gross,
hardy iSaged man of middle age. Ev-
cry picture les his pedigree on The
rev erse, ard all tell of his indelible
l.arkS Of identifcation-"J. NJ in a
wreath tottooed on his right arm. and
the blue powder marks on his left
forearm and right hand.
Starting with grand larceny in
1883. McManns was next heard of in
I,1 nj ,l a.
Bridgeport. and was sentenced to foIr
years in prison. In 1895. along with
Jack WEIGH Kid went to st.
Louis looking for business. but he was
arrested before he accomplished any
thing. and as he had his safe-break-
ing tools with him he was sent to the
penitentiary for six months. TWO
years later he ard ''Brooklyn johnny
committed burglary in Syracuse. but
they got off In 1900 Kid" and some
Of his kind went abroad. He was ar
-ested in Paris during the Exposition.
and again in Guernsey. England,
where he tried to rob a post office.
but luck still attended him and he
was not convicted. On his return he
went to Canada, where the authorities
will keep him for several years more.
William Vosburg. old Bill to the
police, died I: few days ago on the up
per East Side Vosburg was very
near the seventy year mark when he
died During the last eight years he
led an honest life. but for half a
century he led crooked one. As
bank sneak he had no equal During
his career he stole over 100000.
He died a poor man.-New York Post.
DISCOVERY IN NEBRASKA.