The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-29
THB key OF hts EEG
YORK WORE 4 PEG AND TUNED
iTEiTH 4 NfCKEILED WRENCH.

FoFE0t Ihs Wrench az . IIotel and When
. Man WIN q lamp Was WaRaea for
Series af aWaRdles the WFeaeh Wss
TEasea nacE 70 tire lee and lhe Man.
Principally bscauas he left behind him
on his travels . peculiar kind Of monkey
wrench used 10 tighten up the plates
OF hia artificial leg Thaddeus n. York.
desoribed by the Pinksrtons ~ a persist
ent fOrgeT.' was. caught on Tuesday
night In seattle
YORK.. IL b alleged. began a series Of
swindling operations In May. i0Oo. shortly
after the once Of the Northern Express
Company at 0AkdGls. wash. had been
robbed of money order blanks Orders
were cashed for varying amounts In
Toledo. Cleveland. Aahtabula. Buffalo,
Erie and other cities. The swindler
used the name of John " Lee in opsFat.
ing with tho money orders. and a. he
had a Government passport made out
20 John W. Les he had no diaiculty In
cashinG them after he had forged The
name Of the Northern Empress COmpany's
agent At Butte.
On May 10. ISOo. usinE the name Of
Y " Sutherland. be sWindled the Amer
lean Savings Bank and Trust Company
q seattle out Of N.Sss with two osrtia-
Gates Of deposit which had been mailed
20 he real Sutherland. a railroad employee
az Malta. Col. York. who Was once a
railroad man and telegraph operator.
had managed in some way 70 steal Suther-
lands mail. Then in Klamath Falls.
ore. he got away with tT.OoO frOm the
American Bank and Trust Company.
which called the PinkertOns In 10 run
him down. He fooled the business men
Of the place into believing that he was
a capitalist who had Interested himself
m a local hotel project All the detec-
tives had 20 start on besides . very gen
ernl description was that Frank n. Hous-
ton, - Klamath falle knew him. walked
with a limp.
The Detectives found that a man an.
sWering in a general way 70 tho one wanted
had left . nickel plated wrench at hotel
They showed tho wrench 10 an expert
and learned that wranchss Of that Find
were made exclusively BY q firm that
manufactured artificial limbs. Putting
this fact together with their description
Of a man who limpod the Detectives de
cidsd that their man had an artificial
leg. They next looked NO the firm that
manufactured tho Wrenches. learned that
only a few had been issued 10 purchasers
81 legs and proceeded 10 look Mp these
purchasers. OF whom the company had
list By q process Of elimination the
detectives decided that the man who
l. n
Thaddeus r. York. who bought q leg
in 1901 and gave his address ~ Reno
A. Reno the detectives found that
York was a telegraph operator and had
been employed on various railroads in
the NOrthV est They discovered that
his mother lived in Los Angeles. and
through her traced YOrk 10 Chelan. Wash
The detectives secured q photograph
d York In Los Angeles aud sent Il with
dozen others 20 Klamath Falls. asking
the men who we're familiar with Frank
B. Houston 10 pick him out YOrks pic
ture came hack a. once.
York had invested between ten and
twelve thousand dollars in a ranch 80
miles from Wenatchee. Wash. the near
est railroad point He had . naphtha
launch 10 carry the produce Of his ranch
down a river 70 the railroad and had ap
parently retired from the pursuit % his
profession. The Detectives aay he would
have been perfectiy safe u be hada
left that ARTIFICIAL leg wrench behind
him q thousand miles from the place
who're he vas captured
In the course Of thsir Investigations
the Pinksrtons learned that York vas
a clerk Of the Republican county. CITY
and State committees In indianapolis,
from lao1 20 iso2. He was later a clerk
Ia the post once in that city. but Lost the
job in a political Ovorturn. Prom isoi
10 ls82 he had job with the Republican
county committee Of Indianapolis ~ a
clerk. and later he Waa employed on an
Indianapolis paper - . a0licitOg. ~
iog2 he vas IN the employ % the C.. n
4 d. Railway AZ COnnOrsVille. Ind. ~ q
telegraph % orator.