The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-07-08

like to talk with John Atherton, q
retired detective friend of mine, for he
has fund of incidents that occurred
during the days of his active service
that l find interesting. Some Of then
happened to him personally, and some
were told him by his fellow craftsmen
during idle hoHrs. This is one of Ath
erton's stories that especially pleased
me from the ingenuity and assurance
perpetrated by rogue:
There are two ways by which crooks
work, the one with, the other without
confederates. Both ways have theil
advantages. A man who works alone
doesn't have the fear of being betrayed
by his pal. for where one is offered al
easy letting off from hard sentence
If he will squeal he is pretty liable tt
squeal. But a man who has a con
federate can do what one man can't d.
alone.
In one way crook pals will usually
stand by each other When one Is IL
danger the other will do all in his pow
er and take considerable risks to hell
him out. l was once put on a Job tt
track down man called Jerry Wilson
who was in the confidence department
Of roguery. Wilson usually worked
countrymen. He was one of the mos
accomplished swindlers l ever met
He had been an actor and was prof
Client In the art Of making up. W,
would hear of him one day passing al
a stockbroker, at another as a clergy
man and again as a cotton planter
with a perfect southern dialect. o.
course we didn't know at the time tina
these were one and the same man, bu
we often suspected 1t and in time learn
ed it from Wilson himself
One day countryman reported a
police headquarters that he had beel
victimized by man who passed him
self off for an Englishman. The coun
tryman had come from England tween
ty years before and had never becom,
Americanized. Englishmen seldom be
come naturalized. You will find thou
sands of them in this country, and 9th
er countries for that matter, who hav
become old men and not seen England
since they were children and are still
British subjects
The man who picked him up doubtless
heard him speak with his British lingo
had stepped up to him and hailed hin
as fellow countryman. One born
he said, under the British flag AM
once accustomed to the home accen
could always be placed as an English
man. Then he launched out on the de
merits of this bloody country AM
won the farmers heart completely.
A confidence man becomes very ex
pert in drawing out information iron
a greenhorn. and the new Acquaintance
Henderson he called himself-wa
evidently an adept at this work, 70
the farmer soon learned that they boil
came from the same county in Eng
land and from the same town an(
knew the same persons. Henderson
being later arrival. gave his forme
as to what had become of many of hi
old frlends-who were living and VIII
were dead and who had married Th,
result was friendly drink at ''puh
lic," as they call a saloon In England
followed by friendly game, with tn
consequent transfer of several hundre,
dollars of the farmers money to tn
pockets of Mr.. Henderson, who, whel
he had drained his fellow country
mans resources, slipped out through
back door.
Well, we got on to Mr. Henderson
but were deficient in proof The farm
ers testimony might have been me
by an alibi and other subterfuges, AM
decided to capture him at his owl
game. Having located him, | stoot
near him and, adopting the British &C
cent, began to talk about dear oil
Merrie England. The fellow chimes
In, and we were soon hobnobbing to
gether. l had my pocketbook stuffe,
with marked bills, which passed int
my countryman's possession. Then
tipped a confederate the wink. and to
gether we took him in.
There couldn't have been a sure
case against a man than that. coul,
there? From facts gathered and tn
mans ability to personate differen
characters | believed | had got tn
slippery Wilson. and / intended to pu
him where he would trouble the publ
no longer. In making up jury to TT,
him we got nine good men, whel
somehow we couldn't get any further
Some were exempt and some had stuff
Client excuses. When we got the elev
enth man so much time had been los
that the judge was getting impatient
A gentlemanly looking man In tn
courtroom said that If the trial woul,
not occupy much time he would help u
out. He was Immediately served witt
summons, accepted and sworn in
The trial didn't require or 1t was no
given long time The evidence wa
perfect, and the conviction was consid
cred a mere matter of form Besides
there was the gentleman who had vol
unteered TO serve on the case provided
he would not be long detained Afte
he had been sworn In he told the judgl
that he was really exempt. but woult
not claim exemption provided he wa
assured that he would in every proba
bflity be discharged within couple o
that would leave at the expiration o
that time think the judge mus