The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-28
r-COnduCtor Stole Here And
 Disguised Self
Then Worked For Trolley Co in New Haven But Was Run
 Down by "Spotters'

| NAAN N4Sy SOul JSSlCIoay VI OOAA
 ductor John R. Coyle, alias Robert B
 McCourt, for stealing from the trolley
 company disposes of one of the slick est crooks the company has ever had
 to deal with. Incidentally it removes
 from the ranks of honest conductors
 man who was a reflection upon
 them. Coyle was sentenced to jail for six months and his conviction fol-
 lowing that of Conductor Henry L. Cougle in Hartford, Monday, reveals
 the intention of the trolley company | to prosecute to the limit dishonest
 employees out of justice to the honest ones.
 Coyle, or McCourt, formerly worked
 as conductor in Bridgeport, and he left that city taking a whole days
 receipts with him. His knowledge of
 the art of makeup gleaned in his
 experience as an actor, enabled him | to very cleverly disguise himself so | that he dared go to New Haven and
 apply for work at the office of the Connecticut Company in that city. Coyle's case is most interesting one. He is an actor and a member
 of the White Rats, the noted New
 York theatrical organization, and his
 ability to disguise himself, as it will
 be shown he did, undoubtedly came
 from his experience in making up"
 on the stage. He claims to have
 played one of the big vaudeville cir | cults and at one time appeared in this
 city.
 | McCOURT MAKES DENIAL. McCourt was the only witness in | his own behalf and the best he could do was to make a sweeping denial of all the charges preferred against him, | admitting, however, that he had some
 money over on June 21st but claim | ing that this was due to a mistake
 rather than to any intentional dishon-
 esty on his part. This in the face of l the testimony of ten private detec-
 tives, two of them women. who claim ed to have actually seen McCourt col
 lect IA fares which he did not ring up on the register on that and the prev | ious day, evidently didn't have much weight with the court. McCourt with | all the fervor of an actor, made claims seem to fail to jibe in with the evidence which had been introduced 1 at the trial.
 TEN DETECTIVES ON STAND. The Connecticut Company was well fortified with evidence of such a con- crete nature that Attorney Arthur B. OKeefe, who represented the accused, found himself running against a stone | wall when he tried to muddle up the Wiln0SSeS 1n0 prlNdlS uGlSCllNSS were all out of town men and from their statements on the stand have evidently been working in the city for several days. On June Fist there was | one of the detectives on McCourts s car on practically every trip he made | The two women detectives were Mrs. James Lake and Mrs. Augustus Vie derholf, whose husbands also appear ed in the case. The other detectives I were George w. Rubero, John J. Nevins, James Lake, William H. | Cooke, Charles Tisserand, Gustave Wiederholf, John Walters and Fred erick Wish, all experienced men in this line of investigation. Their tes- timony was all the same. Most of them had ridden on McCourt's car two or three times on the day in question, and on all except few trips claimed that McCourt knocked down" from two to twelve fares. McCourt was making as much if not more than the company.
 PICTURE IN DISGUISE.
 The fact that McCourt had his pie ture taken in disguise when he work ed for the local office was brought out by Detective Bonnet W. Dorman, who arrested him. Exhibits of two pictures, one taken of McCourt when he went to work in Bridgeport under another name, and one taken here when he went to work under the name of Coyle, were introduced. When ar rested Detective Dorman claimed that McCourt admitted taking the money, but claimed he didn't take as much as was charged. Dorman quoted Me Court as saying: 'I only took enough to pay for my eating"
 Dorman also said that while at the railroad office one of the officers there had made some joking allusion to nyoofhinO MnCnJlrf had said and fhn other answered.: Don't try to kid me; I make my living by kidding peo- ple."
 On the stand McCourt claimed that he meant by this that he had made his living on the stage and said that deville circuit. He said he took up railroading for his health. He prac tically admitted that the photograph submitted to the local officials was taken in disguise, saying that he didn't want the men here to know that he had worked on the road elsewhere. Attorney Webb asked him if it wasn't because he had left Bridgeport with out turning in a whole days receipts, and McCourt admitted it. He claim ed, however, that he could easily ex- plain this trouble. He also admitted when questioned by Attorney Webb, who appeared for the trolley company as dSSiSldhI lO lAC SldlS, llldI iIdu been discharged as a conductor in the Bronx, New York city, as an "unde- sirable.'' He denied the statement which had been made previously by Detective Dorman that he had been discharged there for stealing.
 REWARDED BY COMPANY.
 An amusing fact which came out while McCourt was testifying was that several weeks ago he was pre- sented with a gold watch by the | company for his efficient work at a 1 trolley accident. The conductor of the car in the accident had failed to get the names of any witnesses and McCourt happened along about that time and secured the names The trolley officials told him at that time that he had probably saved the com pany thousands of dollars in damage suits and complimented him on his "head-work.''
 There were two counts against Me- Court, one for his embezzlements on June 10th and one for those on June Fist.
 The first one was for only 15 cents but Judge Mathewson sentenced Me- Court to ninety days on each count.
 Attorney OKeefe filed notice of ap- peal Judge Mathewson fixed the ap- peal bond at $500. Millionaire Miynd