Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-03-02
True
Detective Stories
MASTER CRIMINAL

which was destined to be feared
bt so many criminals, a number of
banks and financial institutions
Throughout the country were made the
victims Of particularly clever gang
o. crooks headed by Walter Eastman
Sheridan, the man whom Pinkerton
in mis- memoirs declares was the clev-
crest criminal he ever tracked.
Tae operations of the Sheridan Or
saTzation were marked by simple
ity which was almost startling. Their
fatHrite trick was to plant one of their
me-2bers in a line leading to the win
doT of the receiving teller of a prom
ineGt bank shortly before the closing
hot'. The man so planted would take
up 0OSitiOn behind someone who held
nj h;S hands a large roll of bills, and
wou!!: wait until the depositor had al
most reached the window. Then lie
EoUs1 tap him on the shoulder, call
us attention to a bill which che had
crop9ed on the foor,' and the man
Wouh! naturally st0op to pick it up,
in nt4@ cases out of ten placing his
plOne. on the teIler's shelf as he bent
cfer. The criminal would then snatch
the HVhey and make off.
White the hauls secured in this man.
ner were, of course, Of varying sizes,
Sheridan and his mer picked up $75,-
900 as tue result Of less than five
minutes work at a Baltimore bank.
After several other coups of a SIM
lar nature, Sheridan tried the same
SNme at the First National bank of
Springfield, ILL.,, but was arrested. He
promptly Skipped his bail, however,
and the next that Pinkerton heard of
rim was when he assisted at the rob-
bnry Of a Cleveland bank which net
ted the gang some $4,000. This was
Followed by raid upon the Mechan-
les bank Of Scranton, Pa, where
Sheridan and one Of his men got away
With 100000 worth Of negotiable bonds
His next eXplOlt--one which took
more than four months of careful
lAanning-Was the loocing Of the Falls
Nllg AODlNNO Jain III IsOuIJNlllt, NY W.,
when upwards of 100000 was Sc
cured.
AS a result of these operations, to-
sether with the ShreWd manner in
which he had invested his money,
Sheridan was worth fully S25OOOO.
Feeling certain that his past ex-
plOitS had left no clue to his connec-
ton with the rObberies, and having
obtained his acqutttal of the only
Charge on which he had been arrest
ed, Sheridan Joined In a series of the
most gigantic frauds ever known in
America-the issuance of bonds pur-
porting to be worth more than $5,OOO,-
ono. These forgeries were 50 clever
~ executed as to deceive even the
officers Of the companies involved, and
the discovery of the swindle ruined
scores of Wall street brokers and pri-
ware investors.
On the eve of the day on which the
bubble burst, Sheridan quietly cashed
all mis- assets, closed his Office at No.
60 Broadway, and sailed for Belgium,
which at that time provided a safe
refuge from eXtradttion. Had he re-
mained there, he would have died a
| free man. But he eDuld not resist the
| lufe Of gambling with the law, and he
/ slipped back into America under the
name Of William A. Stewart, estab-
listing himself in business in Denver,
and finally opening a bank of his own
in Rosita, Colo.
Even up to this time Pinkerton had
no idea that the master criminal had
returned to the states. Pinkerton
however, CHANGED to have bust,
ness which carried him into the min.
ing districts of Colorado, and it was
on the streets of Denver that he came
face to face with the man whom he
was certain was Sheridan.
Investigation developed the fact
that Stewart" had been leading an
apparently upright and honest life
and beyond his arrival An Denver short
ly after Sheridan had left Brussels
there was nothing to connect him with
the bank roDber and bond forger.
Realizing that Identification Andel
the circumstances would be extremely
difficult, Pinkerton determined to re
sort to a ruse which would serve 6
double purpose-that of proving
whether Stewart and Sheridan were
one and the same man, and at the
same time duplicating him, if guilty
In the planning of new crime. Ac
cordingly, Pinkerton sent two of his
best men to Colorado with instruc
lions to make the acquaintance of the
bank president at Rosita, and finally
to lay before him the details of q
huge swindle which they were sup
posed to be planning.
"If Stewart is really honest" ar
gued the detective, "he will not lister
to such q proposal. But if he is the
man | Think he is, he will not be able
to resist the bait, and will come tC
New York to participate in the fraud.
The plan worked out precisely as
Pinkerton had figured. stewart" no
only agreed to handle some of tn,
more difficult details of the proposed