The Detroit times., 1915-01-02
Pontiac Railroad Men of Good
Reputation Confess Whole
:. sale Stealings
SCRAP OF ENVELOPE
is CLUE TO CRIMINALS
Youthful Member, Who Prac-
ticed Burglary as Side Line,
Caused Arrest of Pals

PONTIAC, Mich, Jan. 2.-(SpecialD
Charged with stealing vast quanti-
ties of merchandise, four railroad men
OF this city, drawing salaries OF 500
to $3.50 monthly, and who have always
borne good regulations, were arrested
New Years day by the local police.
A scrap OF white paper, q bit OF an
envelope. found by the police New
Years eve at the scene of a burglary
and containing drop of blood and
the name Kirby" led TO the undoing
OF the gang, whose systematic steal
Ing has baffled the police and the
Grand Trunk system detectives for
months. The cleverness of these bur
glars has earned for them the title OF
The phantom robbers"
The search, based on the scrap OF
paper, led TO the home Of John Kirby.
Oliver block, Pontiac. and while Sher
III Oliver was questioning the youth
the boys mother slipped from the
house with a suit case which she left
with a next-door nelghbor, Gran1
Trunk employe, saying that her sol.
wanted to 60 hunting and she was
hiding the gun. The neighbor was
suspicious and, opening the suit case.
discovered Is revolvers and other
goods.
The Grand Trunk chief Of detec-
tives, James Foley, was quickly noti-
fed, and the arrest Of Frank Tanner.
uncle of young Kirby and an engineer
of good standing on the Grand Trunk.
followed shortly. Tanner confessed
and told Detective Foley the full de-
tails of the gangs system of robbing
freight cars. On the strength of Tan
ner's confession Clarence Young, age
26, No. 81 Clinton-st.. fireman; Harry
Decauter, age 3S, No. 279 Willow-aye..
Pontiac. foreman switching crew, and
Harry Frisbee, No. IA Sanderson-ave..
Pontiac. switchman, and the youthful
Kirby were also taken into custody.
All OF them are said to have confess
ed.
Rugs, musical instruments, chests
| OF silver. clothing. silks and other
dress goods, shoes, all manner of food
supplies, tobacco, wines. candies, fur
niture, rubber goods, Christmas nov
elites and many other varieties OF
merchandise have been stolen by the
men and the deputy sheriffs OF Oak
land county are being kept busy haul
Y ing back the thousands Of dollars
worth OF merchandise to the railroad
Offices.
Tanner. In his confession, said that
watch was kept on freight cars as
they came into Pontiac, and when one
was found containing merchandise 1t
was marked. These marked cars
were switched to deserted track and
while Young remained on his engine
and Frisbee continued the work OF
switching. he and Decauter would
break open the cars, throw out the
merchandise and hide II behind piles
OF lumber. In the meantime the
switch engine would whistle loudly
and the other cars would be jostled
together with a crashing sound to de-
tract attention from Tanner and De-
cauter. The merchandise would be
hauled to the homes of the men in
the middle OF the night.
| While most OF the merchandise was
recovered, several hundred dollars
worth had been given away by the
men as Christmas presents to needy
RELATIVES.
| AS the wives Of Decauter and Fris-
bee brought forth piles OF merchan-
disc from hiding places, they wept
bitterly and acknowledged TO the po-
lice that they were then wearing
dresses stolen from freight cars. The
women protested that they had begged
their husbands not 10 take the goods.
but that they had refused to listen to
them.
II John Kirby, the youthful mem
Der OF the gang and nephew OF Tan
ner. had not enlarged his operations
by robbing hardware stores In Pom
tiac, the police say that the men
might never have been apprehended
Warrants charging them with grand
Larceny. will probably be issued today