The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1913-06-27


has fund Of incidents that occurred
during the days of his active service
TINT find interesting. Some Of them
happened to him personally, and some
were told him by his fellow craftsmen
during Idle hours. This Is one Of Ath.
erton's stories that especially pleased
me from the ingenuity and assurance
perpetrated by u rogue:
There are two ways by which crooks
work, the one with, the other without
confederates. Both ways have their
advantages. A man who works alone
doesn't have the fear Of being betrayed
by his pal. for where one Is offered an
easy letting Off from hard sentence
II he will squeal he is pretty BILE to
squeal. But man who has a con-
federate can do what one man can't do
alone.
In one way crook pals will usually
stand by each other. When one Is In
danger the other will do all In his pow
er and take considerable risks to help
him cut ! was once put on job to
s'">N wv" a. - man NdhS0 JGiiy
who was in the confidence department
Of roguery. Wilson usually worked
countrymen. He was one Of the most
accomplished swindlers ever met.
He had been an actor and was prof
cient In the art Of making up. We
would hear Of him one day passing as
q stockbroker. at another as a clergy
man and again as a cotton planter
with perfect southern dialect OF
course we didn't know at the time that
these were one and the same man. but
we often suspected It and in time learn
ed 1t from Wilson himself.
One day a countryman reported ut
police headquarters that he had been
victimized by man who passed him
self of for an Englishman. The coun-
tryman had come from England TWEEN
ty years before and had never become
Americanized. Englishmen seldom be-
come natpralized. You will find thou
sands Of them in this country, and 9TH
er countries for that matter, who have
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 him
as fellow countryman. One born,
he said. under the British flag and
once accustomed to the home accent
could always be placed as an English.
man. Then he launched out on the de-
merits of This bloody country" and
won the farmers heart completely.
A confidence man becomes very ex-
pert in drawing out information from
a greenhorn. and the new acquaintance
Henderson he called himself-was
evidently an adept at this work. for
the farmer soon learned that they both
came from the same county in Eng
land and from the same town and
knew the same persons. Henderson.
being later arrival, gave his former
fellow townsman lots Of information
as to what had become Of many Of his
old friends-who were living and who
were dead and who had married. The
result was friendly drink ut pub
lic," rs they call a saloon in England
followed by friendly game, with the
consequent transfer of several hundred
dollars Of the farmers money to the
pockets Of Mr.. Henderson, who, when
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
er's testimony might have been met
by an alibi and other subterfuges. and
decided % capture him at his own
game. Having located him. stood
near him and. adopting the British ac-
cent, began to talk about dear old
Merrie England The fellow chimed
in, and we were soon hobnobbing to.
gether. had my pocketbook stuffed
with marked bills, which passed into
my countryman's possession. Then
tipped a confederate the wink, and to-
gether we took him in.
There corldn't have been surer
case against man than that. could
there2 From facts l gathered and the
mans ability to personate different
characters I believed / had got the
slippery Wilson. and intended to put
him where he would trouble the public
no longer. In making up jury to try
him we R"t nine good men. wher
somehow we couldn't get any furthe,
Some were exempt and some Ind suffi-
Client excuses When we got the elev-
enth man 40 much time had been lost
that the judge was getting impatient.
A gentlemanly looking man In the
courtroom said that II the trial would
not occupy much time he would help us
out He was Immediately served with
a summons, accepted md sworn In.
The trial didn't require or II was not
given long time The evidence was
perfect. and the conviction was consid-
cred q mere matter Of form. Besides,
there was the gentleman who had vol
unteered to serve on the case provided
he would not he long detained. After
he had been sworn In he told the Judge
that he was really exempt, but would
not claim exemption provided he was
assured that he would In every proba-
billy, be discharged within a couple Of
hours since he was waiting for train
that would leave at the expiration Of
that time. think the Judge must