Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-04-30

and charged with about 50 robberies
committed in Portland. According to
advices received from Portland, Brcn-
nan served a. term In the Utah state
prison, but that statement was "a mis-
take. as his name does not appear on
the records. While discussing the mat
ter. Detective Sheets thought of big
Griffin" who went under the alias Of
Brennan. but not the man under arrest
at Seattle.
GRIFFIN THE LIMIT
Say. wasn't he the limit2" asked De-
tective Chase. who was a guard at the
prison when Griffin was doing time
there. Il never saw a crook like him
In my life" continued Detective Chase.
Some of the other sleuths began ask
ing questions about Big Griffin" They
were interested and wanted to know
something about the crook. The an
swers given by Sheets and Chase. and
the stories they told about Griffin,
sounded stranger than fiction and also
strongly supported the argument that
criminals are insane.
Griffin was an habitual criminal. He
committed crimes all over the inter-
mountain country and served terms In
nearly every Jail within the scope Of
his unlawful operations. and finally
died some years ago In the state mem
tai hospital at Provo He was sent
there as insane. while doing" a two
years sentence for burglary
MAN OF MANY ALIASES.
The name OF this noted crook was
Thomas Griffin. alias O'Nen alias Jo-
seph Brown. alias Brennan, alias Ma
lone. Where he came from originally
is not within the knowledge Of the local
authorities. but it was along IN 1880 that
he began to attract the attention Of the
police here by numerous clever rob
berries He was a powerful man, weigh
ing $50 pounds and stood six feet one
and hve-eighths inches He glOried in
crime. and whenever he did a particu-
larry clever piece Of work. he boosted
OF Il and dehed the police In spite
Of mis- cleverness, he served terms in
salt Lake and Ogden 1ails, IN the Utah
state prison, I'm the California prison
and also In Nevada In fact at one
time he boosted that he could not be
sent 20 any place Of detention In this
part Of the country In which he had
not been before, unless the jail were
up IN the air like a balloon
on Aug s. 1898 while serving q sem
tence Of two years for burglary Grlf-
fin with six other Convicts, escaped
from the prison. He might not have
been captured had he not gone TO
Pennington and told his story of es-
cape. Sitting on the steps Of the post
office there, ne enchanted a crowd or
farmer boys by recountlng sensational
features Of his hairbreadth escape.
Into his story he injected many i'm
possible situations and all but one Of
his hearers listened with open mouthed
wonder as the tale was poured forth.
The one exception had gumption
enough TO tell the sheriff and Mr. Grif-
o.. IN
HANDOUTS NO GOOD.
1T was impossible to keep a pair
OF handouts on him" said Detective
sheets. unless he were ironed TO a bar
So he could not get his hands together.
As fast as the ordinary handouts were
placed on his wrists, he would throw
them of. How? Simply because his
wrists were bigger than his hands
Griffin was a desperate man and
would take all kinds Of chances. and
he was mean. too. and vicious as the
devil He was Jealous Of his reputa-
ton and II a slick piece Of work was
pulled Off by him and some one else
was accused Of the crime, he would
come In and tell about Il. / arrested
him ono time at the Lincoln House on
First South and he made grab for
his gun when / entered the room.
had the worst fight of my life before
he was finally landed In Jail. He was
taken before Judge Kessler and the
Judge gave him the limit, term IN
the county Jail After he was sentenced
and the handouts put on him. he asked
the Judge If he had been given the
limit. The Judge said, Yes; ! am sor-
~ I cannot give you more.
"Wlth an oath. Griffin brought his
handouts down on the table with such
force that they were demolished, and
he poured out a torrent of abuse that
would make a drunken sailor green
with envy
DIED AT PROVO.
Detective Chase knew Griffin we'll
He arrested him several times and took
him to the state prison when SEN
fenced to what proved TO be the last
term In prison From there he was
taken 10 the state mental hospital
where he died a year or so later.
while la the PEN said Detective
Chase, he invented a burglar-prooi
key The end of the key was on a
swivel so IT could not be turned from
the outside by pliers Griffin got a
patent on the key but did not take
advantage Of the opportunity.
II remember when he got away from
] prison. He told the boys at Forming.