Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-06-11
UNCLE SANS WAR
ON THE Z" XEGGS.'
CONTINUED from Second Page.)

virginia ana west virginia and q
portion Of North Carolina. The Plym-
outh Office appeared to be so poorly
protected and easy of entrance that
it was decided to tackle this job on
the same night another office was
rlfled. Inside negro watchman was
found, but as he was asleep wher the
yeggs crept in it was an easy matter
to tie him up and gag him. The
negro, wall-eyed and with wits nearly
frightened out Of him, lay in cor
ner OF the office while the safe was
blown, and when the last blast was
set off he went into commissions from
| fright. The robbers made a fairly
good haul and decamped, leaving the
negro still bound hand and foot, the
gag propping his cavernous mouth
wide open.
The usual precautions were taken
to cover their flight, and the blood
hounds that were put on the trail
made no headway and apparently the
detectives were without a clew
A few months later Mccarthy was
arrested at Norfolk, Va, and taken
to Charleston, w. Va, where he was
tried for the robbery of the post
office at Bramwel, that State. John
Collins, alias John W. Kennedy;
DuISh llSliiS anu IOIlldnu NeQ
also were seized for this safe job.
BY strange twist of the law Nc
Carthy, or "West Phileadelphia john
n.y." escaped through the loophole of
mistrial, but the others were con-
victed. Mccarthy was Immediately
rearrested and taken to Raleigh, n.
c., where he was tried for the Plym-
outh robbery, for which he, Port
land Ned" and Dutch" Herne had
been jointly indicted. Mccarthy got
two years in the Federal prison and
with the other Federal prisoners was
removed to the Tennessee penitenti-
ary at Nashville.
In the light of later events, espe-
cially since he SO distinguished him
self by the wholesale confession he
made in the Vermont prison, John
ny" is believed to have furnished the
police office inspectors the informa-
ton which brought about the convic-
tion and Imprisonment of Ned" and
Herne.
Portland Ned" escaped from the
West Virginia penitentiary and was
never rearrested for the Plymouth
job. The term he faced in South Car
olina was so much more severe than
the one he would have gotten in
North Carolina that the Federal au-
thorities decided to hold back the
Plymouth case until he emerged
from the custody of the South Caro-
lima authorities, but in this Ned"
outwitted them.
While Ned" was in durance vile
in West Virginia Mccarthy was PROV
ing himself a model prisoner in the
Tennessee institution until the op-
portunity arrived whereby he could
take Frech leave. He readily seized
this opportunity and was soon at
work with Delaware Danny" Lem"
and West Philadelphia Whitley"
and after pulling off a number of
safe jobs was seized and locked up
again. Lem" got seventeen years,
Whitley was given sixteen and a
half years, while fifteen years was
the sentence meted out to Mccarthy.
Mccarthy Starts on Tour.
Lem" is still doing his bit, while
whitley" was called to answer be-
fore higher court, death cutting
short his stay in prison. The usual
luck attended Mccarthy, for he had
not been in prison two months be-
fore he escaped, and by strange CO.
incidence at the first rendezvous for
yeggmen he visited after fleeing
prison he met Portland Ned" who
also had just broken jail Then be-
gan McCarthys celebrated tour
through the West and Southwest.
Few men outside of the Federal
service are better acquainted with
the customs, habits and haunts of
yeggmen than Geo. w. Dougherty,
Deputy Police Commissioner of New
York city. For years as one of the
most active operatives in a private
detective service he has trailed yeggs
the country over, and is regarded as
an expert in yegg lore.
Those haunts in New York city
which would be most likely to attract
"Portland Ned" are being carefully
watched, and yeggs now in the city
are constantly being shadowed in the
hope that they will lead the men
trailing them to the lair. of Ned"
All Of 'Ned's" closest friends are well
known to Dougherty, and he has
taken unusual precautions to have
the whereabouts of these men looked
up. Should any one OF them appear
here the chances are he would be
seized at once and held until some
thing definite could be learned from
him as to "Ned's" whereabouts.
But the inspectors attached to this
office do not think Ned" is lurking
in or near New York. They know
that those who are supplying him
with cash are only doing so because
they realize Ned" will not long re-
main idle and that with one or two
good post Office jobs to his credit he
will be able to pay back with big in
terest all funds advanced to him.
For this reason inspectors attached
to the rural districts have been warn
ed and instructed to be on the alert
and report to the minutest detail
any safe job that might be pulled in
their bailiwick. All of "Ned's" Jobs