River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1922-02-23
True
Detective Stories
MASTER CRIMINAL

Copyright by The wheeler Syndicate. luc
CHORTLY after Allan Pinkertop
= founded the detective agency
which was destined to be feared
by SO many criminals, a number OF
banks and financial institutions
throughout the country were made the
victims of a particularly clever gang
Of crooks headed by Walter Eastman
Sheridan. the man whom Pinkerton
in his memoirs declares was the clev-
crest criminal he ever tracked.
The operations of the Sheridan or
ganization were marked by simplic-
ity which was almost startling. Their
favOrite trick was to plant one Of their
members in line leading to the win
dow Of the receiving teller Of a prom
inent bank shortly before the closing
hour. The man so planted would take
up position behind someone who held
in his hands large roll of bills. and
would wait until the depositor had al
most reached the window. Then he
would tap him on the shoulder, call
his attention to bill which "he had
dropped OH the floor and the man
would naturally stoop to pick it up,
in nine cases out of ten placing his
money on the teller's shelf as he bent
over. The criminal would then snatch
the money and make off.
While the hauls secured in this man.
ner were, of course, Of varying sizes,
Sheridan and his men picked up $751;
600 as the result Of less than five
minutes work at a Baltimore bank.
After several other coups Of SIM
ilar nature, Sheridan tried the same
game at the First National bank Of
Springfield, ILL.,, but was arrested. He
promptly skipped his bail, however,
and the next that Pinkerton heard Of
him was when he assisted at the rob-
berry OF 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 $4,000 worth Of negotiable bonds.
His next exploit-one which took
more than four months of careful
planning-was the looting of the Falls
City Tobacco bank in Louisville, KY,
when upwards of 100000 was Sc
cured.
AS result OF these operations, to-
gether with the shrewd manner in
which he had invested his money,
Sheridan was worth fully $250,00O.
Feeling certain that his past ex-
ploits had left no clue to his connec-
ton with the robberies, and having
obtained his acquittal 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 $1,000
900. These forgeries were so 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-
yate investors.
On the eve of the day on which the
bubble burst, Sheridan quietly cashed
all his assets, closed his office at No.
60 Broadway, and sailed for Belgium,
which at that time provided safe
refuge from extradition. Had he re-
NAMED there, he would have died a
free man. But he could not resist the
lure of gambling with the law, and he
slipped back into America under the
name of William A. Stewart, estab-
fishing himself in business in Denver,
and finally opening bank Of his own
in Rosita, Colo.
Even up to this time Pinker.on 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 in Denver short
ly after Sheridan had left Brussels,
there was nothing to connect him with
the bank robber and bond forger.
Realizing that Identification Ander
the circumstances would be extremely
difficult, Pinkerton determined to re-
sort to a ruse which would serve a
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-
tions to make the acquaintance of the
bank president at Rosita, and finally
to lay before him the details of a
huge swindle which they were sup
posed to be planning.
are Stewart is really honest" ar
gued the detective, "he will not listen
to such proposal But if he is the
man / think he is. he will not be able
Il resist the bait. and will come to