Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-09-27


markable for the cruelty Of the prin.
cipals is that of the "McKibbon gang.
A Agnes McKibbon, a woman in the
u early 4Os, had three children, boy
Of 10 years and two girls, IL and Il
years old. Her confederates were An
ME Ralston, Mary Tiernan and Alice
. McDevitt They operated in this city
and made eighteen claims upon the
: transit company. The women would
board q trolley car with the children
, gaily dressed as II for some pleasure
trip. AS the car slowed down on ap-
preaching a crossing, the women would
lead the children to the platform
While one Of them watched the con-
ductor and gave the signal when he
was not looking, Mrs. McKibbon would
deliberately pitch her children into the
street as the car came to a stop.
In this way the little boy sustained
la fracture of the right arm and of
both legs, and the younger girls legs
were also broken. They were taken to
"a hospital, where the boy was found
to be most seriously injured Can
creme appeared and he Is now an in
valid for life. The girl was in almost
as bad a plight She sustained inter-
nal injuries due to the repeated trials
Of her tender body, and she will carry
all her life the burden of her mothers
brutality.
The McKibbon gang was brought to
justice in 1904. The women were sem
fenced to three years each in the east
ern penitentiary.
Then came the "Doran gang" of
eight desperate crooks, headed by
William ]. Doran. They went to pris-
on for terms of from two to five years,
after a long crusade Of fake claims.
|. Doran was at one time an acrobat In
Barnums circus. His speciality was
; that of getting in front Of car and
allowing 1t to hit him. 1t didn't mat
ter to Doran how fast the car was go
ing. The faster 1t came the more he
liked 1t. -l
With some Of his gang in places OF
vantage, sometimes upon the car, that
they might become witnesses, Doran
calmly walked in front Of 1t. The
nimble acrobat caught the rail Of the
front platform and made flying leap
backward, landing on his head. The
car was stopped 20 or 80 yards from
the scene with jolt that threw the
passengers from their seats. White
as paper, the trembling motorman,
sure that he had killed a man, jump
ed off and ran back But Doran would
not be so badly hurt after all. He
gave the name Of confederate and
made off through the crowd. The
confederate whose name he had given
would meanwhile be propped up in bed.
When the claim agent called settle
ment would promptly be made. Do
ran in one day put three men to bed
in this manner.
| , Doran Goes to Prison:
But the small amount for which the
sick men settled made the transit folk
suspicious. Doran was tracked. He
tired of the acrobatic trick, andS his
Young wife, who had followed the cir
lcus with him in his straight" days,
was pressed into service. One day in
I19O3 he helped her off the back plat
form Of car at Germantown avenue
land Jefferson street as II she were 80
much junk. That was his undoing.
He was tried for conspiracy and sent
lup for five years, after confessing.
Confession is the great weakness Of
this style Of fakir, from the standpoint
of the connoisseur in crime. In al
most every case an admission Of the
lguilt has preceded conviction. This Is
lpartly due to the care with which the
transit company detectives collect
|evidence and partly to the swindlers'
own vanity In their reckless craft.
This brand of. criminal seems to have
q big bump of humor, and a visit to
his cell Is marked by an uncanny can
dor on the part of the prisoner.
It Is a long list of adventures the
fellows have to tell, for these are the
most hard working of crooks. No
sooner do they succeed with one job
than they are off to some other city
for another. But the detectives pa
tiently await their return, sure that
they will come back to the scene Of
their former successes.
Their liking" is Edward Pape, high
diver at Coney Island, who would
lump from a platform sixty feet In
height into a tub containing four feet
of water. One day man In the crowd
watching Pape as he stood poised for
his leap became excited just as the
divers psychological moment had
come. There was a hubbub, Pape's
attention was diverted and he missed
the centre of the tub. His neck struck
it's side and the third and fourth ver-
tebrae were broken.
After lying in the hospital for some
time, the man, to the amazement or
the surgeons, walked out-with his
broken neck. He found that he could
let his head fall back upon his spine.
That gave him his chance. He would
fall off a car and lie in the gutter. his
neck back on his shoulders. He play
ed the game at Ninth and Market
streets. He was carried to the Jeffer-
son hospital, where hip boots were
strapped on him and fastened to the
footboard Of his cot. A rubber band
age went under his chin and over his
head, with 75-pound weight to keep
his head from moving forward, as the
physicians thought this would be fatal.
81 thought that weight would kill
me-" Pape said the other day in New
ark jail, where he is serving four
years sentence. 81 would pray for
the night to come, when I could haul
up the weight into bed with me under
the blankets. Otherwise I don't see
how I'd have got any sleep"
Beatrice Graham's Tricks.
|, firing Of the merry whirl Of stage
life, pretty Beatrice Graham went In