Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-13
ROMANTIC STORY OF A CROOK
Criminal of Rank Put Out of Busi-
ness by a Chicago PO-
Ilceman.

| When Harry Featherstone. bandit crook
and fighting man, died by the bullet of a
straight-shooting officer in Chicago New
Years morn criminal Of rank and record
second only to Jesse James and Harry Ira
cey passed to his long home. When the Of
| ficials of Chicago came to look up the past
and fix the real identity Of Harry Feather
stone they learned that the bandit was
warrior of fighting race son Of line
which had bred soldiers for we'll nigh 1000
years. For Harry Featherstone the ban
dit, was of noble blood, Of lineage almost
| princely, and his death climaxed a life Of
strange romance and melodramatic fire
1t was Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh, Of
the bluest blood OF England, who lay dead
upon that dingy floor. and never did novel
paint nor stage portray a stronger story.
More than that, the death and the career
Of Featherstonhaugh should give philoso-
piers, genealogists, men who love to delye
in mystic theories, material for discussion
through dozen years to come.
1t was perhaps sixteen years ago that
Harry Featherstone began to make him
! self a mighty figure among Chicago 8
| criminals. He was a young man of evil
dent English origin, with utter reckless
ness and defiance of all statutes his rul-
ing qualities, and a way Of action that
was radically different from that Of the
| average criminal.
The common or garden variety Of crook,
thug or burglar is yellow. He fears to
mingle in a fair fight and he shoots when
cornered and in peril Of his liberty.
Featherstone was warrior and fighter.
He preferred to rob in daylight and against
tremendous odds He would rather shoot
| he 1, 4
nothing Of the cowardice or brutality Of the
petty thug about him. In word, Feather
stone was a robber baron.
If the great criminals of the age were
graded properly, Harry Featherstone would
rank with Jesse James He was the man
behind the gun in most Of the big holdups
that have terrorized Chicago during recent
years. II a billiard hall was held UP with
100 men in the place the leader-perhaps
the only robber there-was Featherstone. If
a solitary robber stopped a group of three
or four pedestrians and demanded their
money, it was Featherstone, The police
smothered scores of Featherstones tre-
mendous deeds, either denying the affairs
or crediting them to robbers who would not
have dared, with ten comrades at their
| backs, to do what Featherstone did fifty
times alone
Were the police mortally afraid OF
Featherstone? While visiting the warden
Of the county jail one day saw strongly
built, determined looking fellow enter q
saloon across the street, come out again
lounge in the doorway for awhile, and, ap-
par.ntly calculate the strength of the
Jail and its coigns of vantage. From the
Hong tiers where prisoners are confined
rose a yen Of recognition, "Featherstone
Featherstone. Featherstone, the stick-uI
man! Oh, you Featherstone"
Inside the jailer's office were perhaps
half dozen officers. Across the street
stood Featherstone, nodding gravely In
recognition Of the popular applause. Fea'
therstone at that time was more than sus-
pected Of a dozen "robberies with vio-
lence," but none of the officers went across
the street to take him in. He lounged in
the doorways for half an hour and then
walked up the avenue undeterred.
Featherstone was not only bandit, but a
knight and paladin. One OF the killings
laid at his door was supposed to be that OF
a policeman, slain by Featherstone in de-
fense Of young girl. Other deeds OF
chivalric valor were attributed TO this
strange criminal. and the underworld in
general regarded him with awe and deep re-
| Specl. fedlueEsNouef On Ale OAheI manu.
mixed but little with other crooks. though
always tacitly accepted as the leader when
he chose to enlist gang for big robbery
At home he was the soul OF kindness to his
mother and his sister and, when not on
thuggery bent was an interesting conver-
| satonalist.
All of which goes to show how blood will
tell. For, when they came to learn the
truth Of Featherstone, they found that he
was the blacksheep scion OF a noble house
the runaway boy, disowned by elder broth
ers. but the idol Of the women OF th;.
ancient family. The bandit was Sir Harry
FeatheTstonhaugh, last lord OF the Border
clan. and in his very crimes a startling
bareback TO the glorious past. For the
Featherstonhaughs were the terrors Of the
Border. They rode in all the grim forays
between Scotland and England. and thsiI
banners we're blazed deep with the records
OF = hundred stricken fields. Sir Harry