The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-01-17
BANK CRACKSMEN
ARE IN CUSTODY
BURNS MAN SAYS THREE GANGS
WORKING MONTANA HAVE
BEEN BROKEN UP
Johnnie Reed, in Jail at Choteau,
Said to be the Brains of One Or
~ganization; Arthur Davis Said to
Have Been Another Leader.

teOuuuup Oh uSptC DChOfON y
have been implicated in the
than a score of bank robberies COM
mitted in Montana within the Last
two years is nearly completed, &C
cording to w. S. Gordon, manager
of the criminal department of the
Burns detective agency. Fifteen
men and a woman, Gordon said,
are awaiting trial in various jails
of the state, and he intimated that
confessions in the hands of autho-
rites will aid in cleaning up nu-
merous wholesale burglaries.
The officer also talked interesting
~ upon the so-called master minds"
the safe blowers, outside men and
numerous aides in the widespread
crimes, most of whom lived in Butte
off and on and who are now believed
to be in custody as the result of the
activities of the authorities and of
Burns men in Montana, Utah, Cali
~fornia and Washington.
That Johnny Reed, now in Jail in
Choteau, and said to be the brains of
one organization; "One-Eye" Dyer,
veteran crook, who is held in Boze-
man, and Arthur Davis, alleged to be
the head of another gang of marau-
ders, who worked in liquor and mar
cotic traffic and burglary, hold long
criminal records in America, was the
statement of the officer about the
three who are we'll known to Butte
officers.
Mr.. Gordon arrived in Butte from
Bozeman, where he took Daddy"
Marshall, former Havre resort keep
er, who will be charged with COM
plicity in the Salesville bank rob
berry, one of the many perpetrated by
the gangs within a short radius of
Butte. The detective was accom-
panied by Inspector E. W. Bavin OF
the provincial police of Alberta.
AS the result of months OF work
by Gordon and other Burns opera
tives, Chief Murphy of Butte, where
first tips leading to arrests were I'M
covered, and other authorities, ar
rests of many suspects were carried
out in widely scattered sections in a
few weeks time.
Arthur Davis, with his wife, Rhea
Davis, now in the Virginia City jail,
kept a home in a well-known Butte
apartment house. He was arrested
a month ago in Stockton, Calf. with
a man known as Stevens. who went
by at least a dozen aliases. Stevens
was found to be an escaped convict
from the California penitentiary, and
when he was returned to serve out
his time he was quoted as saying, II
don't want to go back to Montana"
He was around Butte at various pc
RODS in the last few years, Detective
Gordon stated, and was also known
by police in a dozen middle-western
cities.
Davis was taken to the Conrad jail
a few days ago by California officers
and his bond was fixed at $4,000
pending trial for completely in the
robbery of the First National bank at
Waller.
Called a master Mind"
Johnny Reed, a g~ood-looking
young man of 20 years, called the
master mind" of a gang by officers,
was taken to the Choteau jail sew
eral days ago from Seattle. He will
be charged with the Fairfield bank
robbery. He was arrested ear Sc
attic on the same night that Davis
was taken in California, and James
Wilson and John Mason, alleged ac-
completes in burglaries in this state,
we're taken with him.
Reed, who, while in Butte, rented
the home of prominent people who
were absent from the city for some
months. bears a long criminal record
in Canada, the detective stated. A
career of crime was started when he
was Is years ago, according to the
records officers hold of him. He was
then arrested IN Prince Rupert, Brit
ish Columbia, on a charge of carrying
a revolver. He served a short time
for that offense under an alias. Then
in 1912 he was sentenced to serve
nine months at Calgary for having
explosives in his possession. He then
went under the name of Leslie Ayers.
Two years later he served time at
Regina, Saskatchewan, on charges Of
carrying concealed weapons and
again having caps, fuses and explos-
ives. He gave the name Of W. B.
Fisher at that time. In the same
year, Reed, under the name Of Fish
err, was ordered to serve three years
in the Saskatchewan p~enitentiary for
shop-breaking after a trial in Regina.
The last record Canadian officers
have of the man is where he was
sentenced to serve four years after
having been convicted in Moose Jaw
charged with having participated in
the attempted robbery of the bank
at Hall about tour months ago, Mr..
Gordon said. In that affair the ban
dts were frustrated when residents
Of the little town opened fire on