The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-17

Then you bob up sereneiy. bob up serene
Iy-"
The words of one of the hits of a comic
opera success some years ago were never
more applicable than to w. H Fttzger-
aid, alias Feeney, and then alias indefi-
nitely.
FITZGERALD. or Feeney. is still well re-
memDered in Salt Lake by reason of his
interesting escapades of fooling several
local business men with slips of paper
that looked like good checks, followed
by his arrest for fOrgerIes committed in
Texas. and the time 81 ais disappear
ing when he took a sader out through
the window of rapidly moving car near
Pueblo, while being taken ssck there 10
answer to a criminal charge
It was printed in The herald that ne
had gone east, letter written by MN
to friend In Pueblo being republished,
but that Fitzgerald has again "bobbed
up serenely'' Is shown in an article in
a recent issue of a lodge paper tx
cludiiig names and titles, for obvious Tea-
sons, the article. which tells of the do
ings Of a man who IS travelling through
out the east imposing upon the charity
of certain orders and performing other
questionable acts, is as follows:
This party gave the name of William
B. Bennett. He called. with representa-
tons of hard luck, and told story OF
good family connections that later turned
out to b. false. After receiving tempo-
raTy assistance he disappeared. Three
bad checks have since turned up that
were passed by man answering his
description, which Is as follows:
About 20 years of age. feet 10 inches
in height, weighing about 10 pounds :
straight, well pTopoTtioned and a.Lgetlc
in build and carriage. thick. black hair
bIuish-grey eyes; rather dark complexion,
and probably of Irish descent; of pleas
ant address and appearance; apparently
of fair education and good opportunities.
and able to drop a helpful tear at the
opportune moment He wore a dark suit
linz .f far
white in it, and a black soft hat
Anyone remembering Fitzgerald recalls
that this description fits him perfectly,
and Chief of Detectives Sheets is positive
that II is the same man who so sue
cessfully carried out his games in salt
Lake and then escaped from the Texas
officer at Pueblo.
This latest story regarding Fitzgerald
which emanated from Buffalo. n. Y, re-
calls one told by Detective Byrnes, Of
Chief McCafferty's staff of New York.
while he was passing through Salt Lake
several weeks ago with prisoner from
California.
In a conversation between Detective
Byrnes and a Herald reporter the lat
ter happened to refer to the escape OF
FITZGERALD and mentioned that he was
presumed to be the son of a wealthy
brewer of Troy, n. Y. In response to
the detectives question the reporter be-
gan to give a description OF Fitzgerald
when MIR. ByrEes interrupted with:
why, I know that fellow. I arrested
him once in New York and know that
he is one of the cleverest sneak thieves
that travel the route
He is the nephew of a prominent brew
er living at Troy. n. Y, and has had
every opportunity but he is simply a bad
actor / caught him one night after he
had stolen dozen bottles of champagne
from a Wholesale liquor house in New
York. and when he was found guilty ne
was sent to the Island for six months.
After his release he went to Buffalo, and
the last we heard of him was that he
was wanted there for the theft OF an
overcoat and some other clothing from a
hotel So you've had him out here, ehe
Well he's smooth, and the chances are
that he is again in the east turning
| tricks"