The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1917-10-11

Snai j. L. hunt OF Wliilam GeOrSe Ber-
ger. alias William Mcdonald. and his
juvenile associates. Emmett and Ev-
erett Harris, twelve-year-old twins,
adds another chapter to one of the
most remarkable stories in the crimin-
al ananls of Colorado. The boys were
protegees and students of Berger and
Charles J. Taylor alias Jim Clark.
alias Joe Moran, in a career of rob-
berry which rivals anything in the
pages of fiction and resembles in many
particulars the chronicle of Charles
Dickens of the school of thieves con-
Quoted among the boys in the slums
of London by Fagin, famous Jewish
character in Oliver Twist, sixty or
seventy years ago. The story of how
these boys, decoyed from their home
in Denver to Glenwood Springs by
Taylor and Berger and We're taught
how to carry on a systematic trade of
robbery, was told in the Daily Record
on Monday and need not be repeated
in this connection. Thru combina-
tion of the talents of these two men
and their pupils with such outside
assistance as they were able to enlist
robberies in various parts of the state
and shipped their oooty to confeder
ates in various cities of the country
in car load lots. rhe theft of more
oF
including jewelry, watches. clothing
and nearly every conceivable kind of
movable property, has been traced
to their operations.
When the arrest of Berger and the
two lads were made at Florence a
large amount OF stolen goods was
found in their possession. the larger
part Of which had been secured in rob-
berries in that city. The Harris boys
had been used as tools by Berger in
locating and spying out during the
daytime houses that offered exception
al opportunities Tor loot. The results
OF their Investigations We're reported
to Berger. who burgiarized them at
night or during the absence of their
occupants. The same system had been
pursued by them in Colorado Springs,
Pueblo and other places.
Taylor. who was the organizer and
leader of this gang of thieves, was
taken into custody at Colorado
Springs for robbery on September 81.
and is now confined in the FL Paso
county Jail there awaiting trial in the
district court. At the time of Taylor's
arrest Berger held up the police Of
fcer who attempted to take him into
custody and made his escape. He i'm.
mediately left Colorado Springs. TAX
ing with him the twin boys Posing as
a tourist camping out in the hills with
his two sons. and, later, as a Colo
RADIO Springs man with couple of
Boy Scouts engaged in the search of
Nellie Ferguson the ten-year-old Colo
rado Springs girl who SO mysteriously
disappeared from her home on Sep
tember 18th. Berger and the two lads
tramped across the country to Flor.
ence. =
Sheriff John Weir of Itl Paso county
obtained the first clue to the where
abouts of Berger and the Harris boys
on Tuesday from Don Jones, an Ell
Paso county rancher, who spied the
camp OF man and two boys on Tur-
key Creek. The next day in looking
over newspaper MIR Jones saw Ber-
gers photograph and recognized it as
the picture of the man he had been
talking to the day before. The I'll Paso
county authorities were communicated
with and Marshal Hunt at Florence.
as well as special officers of the San
To Fe and the Denver &c Rio Grande
Railroad company's were requested to
keep lokout for the trio. As the re-
suit OF this Information Marshal Hunt
found them in hiding in a vacant
house in Florence about 10 O'Clock
Wednesday night. The prisoners were
taken to Colorado Springs on Thurs
day and clicked up to await judicial
hearing.
Both Berger and Taylor are ex-con-
victs. the former having been paroled
from the penitentiary here on Septem-
ber 9th and the latter having been pa
rolled in March 1915. II is believed
that their partnership in crime was
formed at Gienwood Springs last sum
mer. Taylor was conducting a dance
pavilion there and Berger was clerk
20 the foreman OF a convict road