The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-06-15


of the clever DISCUSSES which so -
often stood me in good stead and iI%S
which enabled my comrades and iS!r'
me to get our hands on hundreds '3
OF thousands of dollars that didn't :#*
belongs to us. w.
Early IN my career I conceived
the idea of furthering my dishonest
plans by posing as a wealthy old TO ;
widow. so crippled that she had ma
10 transact whatever business she mn
mad with the bank from her seat
In her carriage. This plan sue
ceeded beyond my fondest expectations,
and | am ashamed to think how many
thousands Of dollars | stole through this
simple but extremely effective little ex.
pedient.
This ruse proved its merits the first time
we tried tin the daylight robbery Of a
Brooklyn, New York. bank where one of
my two companions walked away with
$4,000 while sat outside in my carriage
listening to the old cashiers advise about
investing the money my lamented hus-
band had left me.
But let me go back to the very begin
nlng and show you just how this bold
robbery was planned and carried out.
we had had our eyes on this bank for
week-Johnny Meaney. Tom Bigelow and
l.. Between the hours OF IL and l each
day We found there were few customers
In the bank and the institution was left
bookkeeper
But the cashier although over sixty
years OLD, was keen-eyed, nervous man,
whose suspicious were apt to be easily
aroused. And besides the window in the
wire cage where he did business with the
banks customers was SO situated that he
could always see out of the corner OF his
eye the vault and the long counter where
the money was piled.
We all agreed that 1t was not safe to
attempt the robbery while the cashier was
In his usual place. If I could only devise
some way OF getting him outside the bank
for few minutes it would be easy for
one of the men to hold the young book
keeper In conversation at the paving
teller's window which was so placed that
while he stood there his back was toward
the vault. That would give lust the oppor-
tunity we needed for the third member Of
the party to step unnoticed through a
convenient side door and get the plumber
But how to lure the cashier out of the
bank? That was the question and it was
while l was racking my brains for some
solution Of the difficulty that Numbered
upon the Idea of posing as a wealthy widow
who was too lame to leave her carriage
when she called at the bank
During my stay in this city had heard
OF the death In Europe of rich and prom
fnent Brooklyn man. He had been living
abroad for the last ten years and had mar
ried there an English woman who had
never visited Brooklyn and was entirely
unknown there except by name
Nothing could have suited nv purpose
better. / would pose as this wealthy
Brooklyn mans widow, and in this puise
would induce the bank cashier TO come
out to my carriage and talk with me.
You may be sure that ! laid my plans
with the greatest care, for knew what
a bold undertaking this was and that tho
least oversight on my part would spoil
everything.
First bought silver gray wig to cover
my chestnut hair 1t was a beautiful
specimen of tho wigmakers art and cost
me sixty-five dollars
Then / made up my plump, rosy cheeks
to look as pale and wrinkled as an in
valid woman's should a the age Of sevnntv
and dressed myself In the gloomiest. most
expensive widows weeds ! could find
pair OF hideous blue goggles and two
clutches completed my disguise. The
glasses were to hide my bright ewes whose
habit Of roaming necessarily from sida ~
side had an idea often made people sus.
picious Of me; and the Clutches wore 70
bear out my story of the paralyzed limhs
which made my leaving my carriage ey.
cept when absolutely necessary out Of the
question. 'Ne
NY, MY costume was not the only detail
which had to be arranged n rnoLo Nv
pian complete. must have some visit;ns
cards-cards with a heavy mourning hnr'
oer ana the name of the Brooklyn mans
WIDOW engraved on them.
also didn't forget to place with these
cards In my handbag some worthIass 'ne e;n
ing STOCK which had been my share of !,
western bank robbery. and which even
Eiien Peck.s shrewd magic couldn't tnrn
Into cash. This would be useful, 7 tbou ,I1
In holding the old cashiers attention,
to- were my horses and a car.
rage Dehtting my wealth which the mon
hired from livery stable called n' on
TWO young thieves whom | knew over in
New York. and by promising them small