The Elbert County tribune., 1909-06-10
BY George T. Pardy

any worms. 1t was dug over the
other day. Come bit further down"
Not for me-" returned Murray.
u he kind of worms I'm after are
right here. and It's easier work than
in the hard places"
Knapp said nothing in reply, but the
perspiration broke out on his wrinkled
face. Murray drove the spade into
the glound. and smiled as he felt the
blade strike something hard He
turned back the soil with few vigor-
GUS strokes. and there came to view
one OF the wheels of the missing DEM
ocrat wagon. buried beneath a foot of
earth Murray looked at Knapp who
grinned in sickly fashion. The de-
tective called his companions and
placed Knapp under arrest. He was
told that the best thing he could do
was to confess his thefts. and after
rejecting few moments he nodded
and led the way to the house. His
wife met the party at the door.
Get me the shingle,' said her hus-
band.
The woman obeyed without word
of protest She went indoors and re-
turned with broad shingle. covered
with red dots. which Knapp explained
were made by chicken blood. One
broad, red blotch signified where the
barr stood. and the smaller marks in
ticated the spots where Knapp had
buried his plumber. The detectives
selected one of the marked places and
began to dig. The first thing to come
to light was a large coffin. This
looked as though some tragedy lurked
behind, and they lifted the casket out
of the earth. 1t was very heavy and
hastily they removed the lid, expect
ing to see the mutilated form of one
of the robbers victims. But instead
of the remains Of a human being sew
eral dozens Of boxes containing shoes
were revealed. The weakened thief
standing beside them laughed harshly.
"Corpses amt the only things found
in coffins." he remarked sagely
The officers pursued their search
digging up every place indicated on
the shingle map, and great and varied
was the list of property that came to
light Among the things unearthed
were a shroud. toilet set, a baby car
riage, 40 silk dresses, gold watches.
seven ploughs. harrow. surgical in
struments. churn, log chain. a
grandfather's clock, set of grocer's
scales, hats, overcoats, pipes. bar
ber's pole, even a policeman's shot
gun. which Knapp had stolen from the
owners house.
The men took turns at digging and
even the thief himself was pressed
into service, until fully ten wagon
loads of plunder lay in sight 1t was
truly a fine exhibition of wholesale
thievfng, and the marvel of it all was
that Knapp swore to having done 1t
single handed. Subsequent develop
ments proved his statement to be cor
rect
Knapp and his wife were taken to
Erie and placed In prison. A large
vacant store was hired and all of the
recovered property placed on exhibi-
ton therein to be identified by the
rightful owners. There was no room
to spare. for Knapp had stolen enough
stuff to equip a small department
store.
For several years. it appeared, the
cunning veteran had been plying his
pilfering trade. In burying his plum
der he had boxed 1t up securely, pre-
paratory to sending 1t away. His
methods were sweetly simple. He
would drive into town in wagon. ap-
parently for the purpose of selling
farm produce or garden vegetables.
In hot oh ofvfn
knowledge of different houses. always
managing to sneak in later and carry
of whatever he could lay his hands
on Nobody knew anything about
him, who he was or whence he came.
A year prior to his capture he had
settled in the secluded belt of timber
and kept entirely to himself.
He was tried, convicted and SEN
fenced to 16 years in the Allegheny
penitentiary. and his wife. against
whom nothing could be proved, was
released. But Knapp was Of far too
original turn of mind to rest salts
fed with serving out his time. He
simulated insanity, was transferred to
a lunatic asylum. and soon after
sawed the bars of a window, escaped
through the opening thus provided,
and was never caught.
1t was not long after the Knapp
episode before thieving on a pretty
large scale began again in Erie. This
time it was burglary instead of sneak
work, as was demonstrated by the
marks of jimmies on doors and win
dows, and the disappearance of guam
titles of fine silverware and jewelry.
Chief Crawley was at first of the
opinion that Knapp, who had escaped
from the asylum in the meantime. was
operating again. but Murray did not
share this opinion. knowing that