Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-03

! II were necessary he would leave his hid
ing place and return to Boston to get re-
| venge In the discussion Martin became
fexcited. There was a row. The relative
declared that all further visits were at
| an end, Walsh jumped up from the table
and threatened to shoot the politician on
sight He declared that he was going
/ back to Boston and to demonstrate to
| the parties present that he meant BUSH
ness he whipped the gun out of his
| pocket and as he brandished il in the air.
l he dropped in a heap on the floor When
! they got him to couch he was dead"
/ According to announcement made here
District Attorney Whitman of New York
/ WILL tomorrow, consider the matter of
sending an assistant to this city to inter-
view Kelher regarding the New York
| former police lieutenant. who is alleged
! to have profited to the extent of $4,000 in
helping keliher rob his victims in New
York Whitman. who is in Buffalo. n. Y,
is quoted as saying over the telephone to
| Boston II will so the limit to obtain
any evidence of police grating that Keli-
her may possess. My aim will be to OBJ
I
probability one of the assistant district
i attorneys connected with my office will
go to Boston and interview Keliher
| Should | deem such action necessary
will request Gov. Foss to permit Keliher
to come here and testify. AS it is, the
matter must rest until | return to my
i office, on Monday
Attorney Merry Ruckner, chairman of
] Al Ill.
mittee in New York, is quoted as saying:
Il will lose no time in comforting with
/ District Attorney Whitman. when he re-
+ turns to his office, Monday The story
| rings true Keliher could not have in
vented it. Although it appears that the
police lieutenant named by keliher ac-
CURED a large part of the banks money
after he retired from the force the ac-
cnsation that he accepted S900o to grease
the hands that We're going to pass out his
/ police pension is enough to make one sit
up and take notice. As matter of fact
+ | believe that the lieutenant, If he got
/ Ssoo0 as pension Ammunition, put one
! over on keliher and Martin Walsh the
smooth gambler. My interest in Keliher' s
statement is confined to whatever mon
eys the police lieutenant acquired while
an active member of the force
Boston, Mass, Feb. ACTION by
/ Dist-Atty. Whitman of New York on
Big Bill Kelliher's charge that the
fake faro syndicate paid $500 a night.
amounting in all to about $4,000 to a
| former New York police lieutenant is
| extremely unlikely, according to men
! familiar with the inside developments
in the case.
1t is pointed out that on Kelliher's
| own admission only three men had
knowledge of the bribing of the police
! official One of these men. kelliher.
/ is convicted felon. and his unsup-
ported testimony would be worthless.
| Another was Martin ]. Walsh. form
err international card swindler. fake
| wiretapper and leading figure in the
elaborate faro swindle that wrecked
/ the National City Bank of Cambridge.
sent George w. Coleman the banks
: hookkeeper. to prison, and fieeeed
| dozens of wealthy and prominent men
of hundreds of thousands.
| Walsh is dead according to KelIiher.
| The former police lieutenant would
naturally deny the charge. His identi-
ty could readily be aseertained. if he
: had any real existence. but nothing
more than the fimsy testimony of
confessed bank looter and professional
swindler could be presented against
him.
The New York authorities are fol-
lowing keliher's story with interest,
mixed with n liberal allowance of salt
Much of his story is recognized as
having some basis in fact. The great
er part of the exposure is regarded as
merely in keeping with various wild
and contradictory stories told by the
imprisoned gambler at various times
1t is pointed out that in his eiabor-
ate statement given to The Herald a
the state prison, Friday night, Keli-
her specifically named two of Bos-
tons most eminent lawyers as having
actually handled his written confess
sion, and that these men, whose yerac-
ity canot be questioned, Indignantly
denied his story.
| Furthermore, lawyers who have been
working on the receivershop of the
i looted bank have known every detail
of Keliher's confession for more than
three weeks and have found nothing
to warrant placing the matter before
the local prosecuting officials.
Although Keliher repeatedly and
specifically mentioned two other Bos-
ton lawyers as having obtained a huge
sum of the banks money from him
for the purpose of bribery, the Boston
Bar Association has never even con-
templated an inquiry into this phase of
the case.
Keliher, still smarting under the be-
lief that he was made the goat" for
the band of swindlers with whom he
operated, continued, yesterday. to
make public additional features of his
astonishing career in crime. His story
bristles with names of alleged victims
who dropped fabulous sums in the eff
! fort II break the Jack Leonard MAR
tin j. Walsh faro bank in the New
York tenderloin.
He has written full story of his
life from the cradle to the felon's cell
and is apparently enjoying the expert
ence of relating his rise from the driV-