The Washington times., 1913-08-18

tell you.
Dismantled Hiding Place.
Returning TO the Melrose House. Ed
| dies prison. we quickly removed all of
| the furnishings of the upper room
! gether. left an old water bucket there
/ half 1lled with water. in which floated
! cigarette butts. Notwithstanding the
fact that We had blindfolded Eddie
| when we took him from the Melrose
Hill house, in less than two hours from
the time the search started the next
| morning after Eddie had returned home,
the boy led the police and newspaper re-
porters to the house, which he made
| sure to identify by the emptiness of the
house and the water bucket with the
cigarette stumps floating in the water
When the police were satisfied that
the house was the place of captivity of
the boy, they began a search of the
neighborhood to see II they could learn
who had occupied the premises. A man
in the neighborhod, who knew me- told
the police that about a month before
| he had seen me looking at the house
| That was straight steer. l had been
| there looking over the house as a pros
pective place to hide the kidnapped boy
| later deciding on II.
Dodged Police Six Years.
got away from Omaha ahead Of the
| pickets OF the sleuths of that village.
and was gone six years. At the END Of
that time l became tired of lodging
the police and detectives, and surren
dered to the sheriff of Douglass county,
| in which Butte Is located. l refused to
give myself up to the chief of police of
4 Butte. A go-between, barkeeper, who
| knew was IN that city to surrender TO
the authorities. endeavored to get me to
| surrender to the chief of police. l de-
lined to do that, as os some of the de-
tectives of that town had on one occa-
sion attempted TO kill me. Five of the
detectives fired at me while ! stood on
a corner OF an isolated street one night.
No. ] was not convicted for the kid
naping. l was tried on three charges
kidnapping. extortion, robbery. and some
other things. Between the time / left
Omaha, after kidnapping young Cudahy,
made a tour Of a wide scope OF the
| country, always keeping away from
trouble and the police. l knew that II
was ever arrested and the police got
my photograph once, that the Omaha
police would recognize me, and the dis
appearance act would then and there
end. was lucky TO dodge the whole
police and dtective force Of the country
for six years.
/ have always regretted the kidnap-
ing of young Cudahy. The money that
got from old man Cudahy did not
amount TO carfare to him. But l am
sorry for the sorrow and anxiety the
stealing OF the boy caused his mother
and father. II had the thing to do
over again, would not do it.
Not a oBrn Crook.
1 am not a born crook. l was raised
by a godly mother and amid Christian
influences that should have Influenced
me 10 a life Of a good citizen. When
I was born. my mother went blind and
lost her reason. The priest prayed for
her restoration for three hours and the
prayer was answered. She recovered.
I was taught to pray by my sainted
mother and up 10 the time ! got mixed
up in the business Of life l was a good
boy
How did become 10 be a crook? Well,
lei me tell you. l was born forty-three
| years ago in Scott county, Iowa-by the
| way very near where Lillian Russell
and Col. William F. Cody c'Buffalo
BnTO were born. My maternal ances-
tian people all along the line. My pa
tcrnal ancestors were business people
with more or less respect for religion.
When a young man. with a brother.
went into the meat and grocery busi-
ness In South Omaha, doing a retail
trade. was located near the Cudhy
packing houses. We ran a credit bust
ness and trusted everybody. After two
| years hard work we failed and found
that We had nearly 5000 on our books,
| all bad debts. I got about 800 and my
brother 500 as his share Of the collec-
tions.
While casting around for work I Sc
cured position with Mr.. Cudhy's South
Omaha store-retail department. I was
made manager at q a day. I began my
crooked career by tapping the till for
small sums. NY successes emboldened
me and In a short time I was robbing
the frm for so a day. l was spotted,
caught and later discharged. l was not
prosecuted for the thiefts That was
the start OF my life as a crook.
Served Two Years For Theft.
I have served two terms for rob-
berry. One Of my pet hobbies after the
Cudahy success was TO go to New York
where had planned TO kidnap the son
of a multI-millionaire and hold the boy
for 50 0On,OO0 ransom. l had the whole
thing planned and believe could have
carried il out as successfully as l did
the Cudahy work. | abandoned that
after ! surrendered at Butte
Aftfr | was discharged from the trials
for the Cudahy work ! worked for a
New York morning paper and Vicks
/ Magazine. ] have been all over the
I country and was sincere when I an
nounCed that intended to lead an hon
est life. ! am trying TO do that now
for the sake Of my wife and two boys
! in Omaha. 7 travelled extensively as 4
lecturer and later as a Snowman since
the kidnapping Of Cudahy.
What brought me to Washington
Well that is A fair question. ] came
here from the orthwest-Nebraska-
via Chicago. From the Windy City
" ent TO Gary 10 see the officials Of the
them TO finance a patent 7 have 70,
preventing the spreading Of rails.
have a device which will prevent thai
and eliminate some OF the biggest rail
read accidents that happen on the rail-
roads. stopped OF at Cumberland
There ! drank some. Ny purpose "
coming here was TO promote my patent
I wanted 10 sec a certain patent At
torney that had been recommended q
me. ! also wanted TO see William Jen
] niEgs Bryan, Secretary Of State. whom
| know and have had some correspond
ence with in connection with my patent
] went directly to Mr Brvan's home
on arriving here. He was not at home
asked for his secretary. who came
, out. I told him who I was and tn,
Young man directed me to call at Mr.
, Bryen's ofr.ce the next morning anC
, he would arrange an interview. lef
the Bryan home and walking dowr
!, Fourteenth street sat down in the Bar
I bour property to rest fell asleep ant
was arrested b. a policeman on
charge of drunkenness and vaRrancv
| hnf hrtr -.ll E4I1 c.