New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-29
ROBIN FREE; Will
live FOR REVENGE
Banker" Quits Prison To-
day-Will Expose Plot
to Ruin Him.
RISE TO RICHES
WAS SPECTACULAR
Indicted After Crash Which
Dragged Down Carnegie Trust
Run Office from Tombs.


4 short, dark man, his face paler and
thinner than when he went to 3lackwells
Island, will walk out of the penitentiary
this morning. with his sentence OF year,
reduced TO ten months and eighteen days
by good behavior, at an end. When the
ferry lands him on Manhattan Island
again. Joseph g. Robin. convicted bank
wrecker, high finance" wizard, and in
formant against men whose positions, be-
fore their troubles, were above suspicion,
will step ashore with his announced
motive for living. that OF revenge.
Robins return to freedom. if the words
Of his lawyer are substantiated by events.
will be the beginning of disclosures OF a
plot to ruin him. and of legal processes
beside which the convictions in which
Robin was involved will be mild.
Except for the many times when he
was enjoying the comparative freedom
obtained by writs of habeas corpus. Robin
has been at work for the last three
months and half as shoemaker. Be
fore that he was occupying a cell in the
Tombs and an office in the Criminal
Courts Building. Now. back TO the penni-
less DOilli llOti VIM II iii' A'N' w ''''''''
began. he intends to come back and
re-establish himself I'm this city
Mr.. Robin said Robert ID. Ireland.
his attorney will leave town for short
while. He will make New York his home.
Charges Plot to Ruin Him.
When he gets into harness again |
expect that the people who brought about
= C,l hands fnll The
financial and otherwise potent influences
that have been arrayed against him are
appalling in their magnitude. The plot
of which Mr.. Robin has been the victim
IS so far-reachng as almost TO challenge
belief.
1T took me a year 10 run the thing
down in almost all its ramihcations, but
| believe Mr.. Robin Is going 10 win out
I'm the end.
The first thing he will devote his at
tention to, believe. will he to run down
the men who looted the Washington Saw
ings Bank and make them disgorSe. Last
week he was successful. before Judge
CohaIan. in having himself made party
10 a suit now on the calendar FOR the
recovery Of $4,000 OF the savings bank
money. The suit will be tried within the
next few months.
He has no money. They cleaned him
out of that. But It won't be long before
he will be on his feet again
While Robin will technically have served
a sentence Of more than ten months on
the Island, In reality his actual amount
of doing time" has been far less than
that. From the moment when he PLEADED
guilty, in March, 1911, TO the charge Oh
larceny Of 81, 900 OF the Washington Saw
ings Bank TO to-day he has been absent
many DAYS from the Tombs and the peni-
Tertiary. on these occasions. while under
the nominal care OF a keeper, he has en-
loved such an extent OF freedom as 10
call forth comment from the judges. even.
who issued the various Writs employed.
Robin was indicted in January, 1911. on
eight counts for grand larceny following
the sensational crash of the Northern
Bank. which had nine branches through
out the city When the banks suspension
was investigated II was found that there
was a vast amount Of pyramiding. in
which the Washington Savings Bank, the
Carnegie Trust Company and many other
smaller corporations were dragged down.
Robins attempts to escape imprison-
ment were from the start melodramic.
He attempted suicide while waiting trial.
Following this he was taken to private
sanitarium and declared insane. which
defence District Attorney Whitman sue
ceeded I'm breaking down.
Helped Convict c. n. Hyde.
There ensued a period OF almost year
in which Robin, with STAFF OF assistants.
occupied an office near that OF Mr. Whit
man in which the tangled affairs of the
Robin corporations were straightened out.
This work led 10 the indictments brought
against the officials OF the Carnegie Trust
Company and the Brooklyn banks in
which Robin had exercised authority. The
information Robin gave about the trans
actions was so important that the District
Attorney recommended extreme elem
ency" when Robin was sentenced.
The most far-reaching OF the Robin dis
closures were those which brought the
name Of Charles II. Hyde, city Chamber
lain. and former law partner Of Mayor
Gaynor, In court. Hyde was charged with
bribery In the use Of city money TO Dol
ster up the Carnegie Trust Company, and
was found guilty. While Hyde and Robin
were almost neighbors in the Tombs, this
verdict was reversed.
Robin began his service OF yea. y
sentence on January 10 OF this year by
spending half an hour on Blackwell5 ISL
and. lie was almost Immediately brought
hack TO the Tombs, where he was re-
rnanded until his testimony in the various
I. nj nipg