The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-09-13

Exchange place. where W t,suld Pipe
tho hank. T. + z< r ~ ~, ~ Y: !:
Mrs. Francis. told me that four
men were In the gang, and after 4
long wait we saw two OF them come
out OF the boarding house.. In q few
moments the two other fellows came
out, and they all crossed the ferry to
New York. knew one of them. He
was the best looking one In the gang
I had played several games OF bill
lizards with him at Taylor's hotel, and
was beaten every time 1 found out
afterward that he was Cummings.
Bowie and I crossed over to
Nafew's saloon, and got small col
Ored boy who worked there. We
took him into the boarding house and
pushed him through the open fan
light into the studio. The kid jumped
into the hole in the fireplace, saw the
condition Of things there and came
back scared half to death.
Then waited at the house until
three OF the gang came back. They
seemed to be In hurry, and went to
work In the vault late in the after
noon. Cummings did not return. I
knew the trick was about to come on,
and he had been left outside to watch.
II sent Bowie to the station house
for tue men, and when they returned.
after making sure that Cummings was
not on the lookout anywhere, l sent
two men to the roof Of the house, sta
toned three others In the bank, and
the rest placed on the stairs. Bowie
and I, with four big nervy men, made
for the room. The sound of the ham,
mering was very distinct, but / could
not tell whether the three men were
in the hole or not.
Il stood fiat against the studio door,
and placed Bowie and two policemen
behind me- 1t was a ticklish moment,
and I'll admit l felt little uneasy, as
men of the kind we were going up
against are very handy with guns.
gave the signal in a low voice, and
we threw ourselves against the door.
It was important that the locks and
bolts should be broken at the first
effort, so that the gang would not
have warning.
''The door few open, and l landed
on my hands and knees in the middle
Of the room. The place was empty,
and jumped for the fireplace with
my revolver in my hand.
Bowie, one of the stoutest-hearted
boys l ever knew, got there ahead OF
me and shouted to the gang to throw
up their hands. In the hole were
three men on their hands and knees
and I heard them whisper to each
other, but could not tell what the.
said. I knew that they would not
give up without battle and felt re-
lieved when one of the policemen
shouted: Here are their guns, Cap
They were unarmed, and knew
had them all safe. The three fellows
climbed out of the hole with as ugly
expressions on their mugs as ever
saw. One of them kept swearing all
the time. They kept their hands
above their heads, but could see that
they were sizing up the game as they
crawled into the room. Before We
had a chance to grab them, one fell
low gave me a vicious kick in the
abdomen, and started for the window
my men would have killed him II
I had not called them of. Another OF
the thieves made for the door. He
courage of lion. Why he was not
killed l never could understand, but l.
suppose we got little careless when
we found out they had nothing to
shoot with and gave them more Of
chance But we got the handouts on
house.
There was sequel to this cap
ture which created even greater ex-
element than the attempted bank
robbery. The thieves 'squealed' at
their trial and said that Captain Nc
Williams and Detective Doyle, who
was McWilliams' confidential man,
were in the scheme to rob the bank
and were to be rewarded with share
of the proceeds for giving them pro-
lection
THE trial Of Captain McWilltams
and Doyle was the most sensational
one ever held in Hudson county. The
thieves told of their various meetings
with Doyle. A diary was produced
containing a record of the converse
lions with him and the convicts swore
out a very stiff case. A point that
was made to count strongly against
Captain McWilliams was his absence
in Philadelphia when the trick was to
have come OF, but all the Jury would
not believe the testimony OF the men
who had been thieves all their lives
in preference to men Of good reputa-
ton and the jury failed to agree. Nc
Williams spent fortune In his de-
Tense, gave up the police business and
became a detective at the AstOr
House. Doyle was ruined and drank
himself to death.