The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-10-25


while was trying to settle Sarah's
connection with the case and her dis
appearance she turned up unexpected
ly, footsore and weary after q tramp
Of many miles. The neighbours were
all anxious to talk with her, but ! got
her alone as soon az I could, and she
told mesin her simple way the story
of the visit of several men to the
house in the night, and all about her
giving away the hiding places of tho
old mans money to save his life.
Then made a thorough search of
tho place. I found In the corner of
the room torn cap and piece of an
axe handle which were covered with
blood. As soon as the girl saw them
she said that they belonged to Rube
Thompson. Several of the neighbors
corroborated her: sent for Rube.
When I showed him the club and cap
he seemed to change color and to
shake like Leaf. charged him with
taking part In the. crime, and, ). as
many another innocent has done be-
fore him. he lied In the effort to ex-
plain away the presence Of his cap
and club In the louise. He denied be-
Ing near the house at all, although
had positive evidence OF his being
there from several witnesses. l ar
rested Rube and sent him to the
Queens county Jail. He was indicted
for the robbery two days later.
Il believed that RUDE was in tho
plot as much as ever l believed any,
thing. but he maintained his .inno-
cence. and was able to prove it aft
erward. I tried In every way possible
to get confession from RUDE as to
who his confederates were, without
success. I looked then in other direc.
lions for information.
when old Struble's senses returned
I learned that every piece Of paper
money that he had in his possession,
amounting to about $4,000, had been
marked by him with a red cross on
the margin. There was no reason for
his doing 1t. and 1t was only one OF
the miser's eccentricities, but it turn.
ed out to be very valuable factor in
the discovery Of the criminals and the
release of an innocent man.
Il sent a notice to all banks, In New
York. Brooklyn. Jersey City and Phil.
adelphia, requesting them to look out
for any bills that were deposited with
red cross on them. In three or four
days got word from the old Blocker
Street bank to the effect that money
of that description had been received
there. learned from the cashier that
the money had been deposited by
Lena Chadwick, whose address was 10
James street, a notorious sailors
boarding house.
Il investigated Lena, and learned
that she had sold her interest in the
Boarding house and liquor store at
tachment to Left Flannelly, the lead.
or OF the Red Robins two days after
the robbery of Struble, and he had
given her $1,000 in cash. She had de-
posted just this sum in the bank.
Every one of the bills had the red
mark. brought Struble over, and he
identified every one of the bills az his
money. He had handled the money so
often that he could tell every wrinkle
in the bills. >;
"Flannelly took charge of the joint
that he had bought, and I became a
frequenter Of it as an old sailor fresh
from India, with plenty of Doodle.
There was a lot of crooked work 60
ing on. I picked out Jim Wilkes,
Slasher Kelly. Niger Foster, Joe Nc
Ginnis and Zip Ireland as belonging
to the Red Robin gang. On different
occasions, when was out on a racket
with these worthless and blowing in
my wealth. noticed that each one Of
them changed a bill which had a red
cross on it.
Y managed by getting money chang
ed also to get possession Of bills with
the red sign Of guilt on them. 1 was
satisfied that had enough evidence
to land them. In order that there
might not be any trouble or shooting,
l arranged It 50 that each one of the
gang could be picked up by the po-
lice when I was with him alone. In
this way we got the whole gang in jail
without 1t being known by their
friends that they had been arrested.
''O1d Struble identified each of the
bills had secured as evidence The
silly girl recognized each of the men
as being in the party which had car
ried her from home. learned that. on
the night of the robbery the gang had
sfODno1 in tho roar If Rr,ho'o cohir
and picked up his cap and the axe
handle. This cleared Rube, and each
Of the Red Robins was sent away for
twenty years."