Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-12-10
NIFTY new TRICK
OF CROOKS WORKS
Manipulation OF Il Requires But Few
Minutes and Nets Two Princ'-
pals SI50.
ST. LOUIS MEN ARE VICTIMS
Pair Working at Rock Island Arsenal
Duped BY Slickers While Walt
ing for Train.

One OF the cleverest and without
doubt one OF the newest tricks in the
bag OF modern criminals has come 20 Z
the attention Of the Rock Island police
In the robbery OF two men, Frank
sherman and Robert Kushman at the
Burlington station Saturday night I
Both men are natives of st. Louis and .
should be wise to big town stun" but
they surely fell for this one.
sherman and Kushman had been
staying ia Rock Island and WORKING as
carpenters on the construction work at
the arsenal for the last few months.
Saturday they quit their Jobs and were
going 10 go TO their home In ST. LOUIS. /
They went to the %" station 20 leave
on the 1888 train They bought their
tickets and put them in their pocket
books where Sherman bad his weeks
wages and where Kushman had all
that he has saved while he had been
working here. -.
II seems their train was a little late
so they. like the rest OF the people IN
the station, gathered about man who
was singing in the waiting room. There
they were still standing, listening at
tentiveiy TO the pleasing tenor of the
entertaining stranger when their train
pulled in. Sherman and Kushman. like
the rest OF the people in the station
made a rush for the door to get their
train. Unfortunately, though, man
apparently In terribly crippled con-
dition was the first in the doorway, and
though he seemed TO make every pos
slbie physical effort to get out his
progress was slow. Sherman and kush-
man, along with the other people, con-
tInued to jostle about but refrained
from bothering the person that was
blocking the passageway IN Difference
to his crippled condition.
Then Somebody Coughed.
This situation held sway for possibly
thirty seconds when somebody in the
rear Of the crowd trying to get out
The door, coughed, Strange indeed
were the effects Of that cough. No
sooner was It heard until the badly
crippled man" picked himself up and
hurried away with the ease OF the most
agile. The crowd in it's mad desire to
catch the train, streamed out the pas
sageway to where the train was stand
ing. When Sherman and Kushman got
10 the steps of the train and reached
for their pocketbooks to get their tick
cts to show the conductor, they could
not find the articles sought. Their
pocketbooks were gone. Sherman had
his ticket. his check for his tools anG
$40 IN cash IN his purse and Kushmar
had his ticket, check for his tool boz
and 500 in his purse Though the!
searched all their pockets through
frantically time and again, the pocket
books with their full contents wer
missing.
Singer From ChIcagOl
Then Sherman and Kushman begal
to put two and two together and the
\ wondered considerably about the mai
with the singing nature and the crippl
that could walk after sOmebOd,
coughed. So they reported their losse
10 the police and learned that the au
thorites had received information an
photograph from Chicago to be Of
the lookout for a certain party. TIL
picture was shown TO Sherman an
kushman and they identified ii as tina
OF the singer"
ia is the supposition that tn
cripple and the singer wo~. tn
railway stations over the country tC
gether. The entertainer gets his VIC
cal chords busy and everybody on III
inside Of the station and outside a
well flock around him and listen, an
for a time forget about their train'
Then the train comes and all have {
make a grand rush for the door. 1t
then the crippled man gets in his worl
lie evidently stands in readiness fC
just that moment and he resolutel,
though seemingly helplessly, block
the passageway, which results in
jostling jam at the door The Singer
then goes through the pockets Of hi
former audience and when he has con
pleted the delicate task he coughs thu
notifying the cripple" that he needn
be crippled" any longer but can max
his getaway The crowd moves 0
without knowing what has taken paC
and the crooks easily escape.
Others }ictimized.
According to Sherman and Kushma
when they reported their loss to Il
station agent, that person stated thi
on the previous Saturday night FOL
had had their pockets picked and the
purses taken although had not been
unfortunate as to lose their train tiC1
cts too. Whether or not there We
other victims Saturday night as We
Sherman and kushman, is not know
Y but even If there were not, the crool
made a neat little $3.50 in a few mi
utes at that.
Despite The fact that they lost q