The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-02-01
TRUE -=uT1
by Vance wy o public Ledger
The Man Who Cut the
Wires

COME years ago Pittsburgh was
~ much wrought up over the robbery
of safe belonging to the Union Eek.
press company.
one hundred thousand dollars was
taken from the receptacle. and no one
knew how il had been done.
The safe came into the Union sta
ton in the usual manner. locked and
guarded. and was conveyed to the of
flee of the company in the custody of
armed men.
But the messenger, who was sup.
posed to be in charge of the valuable
property, could not be found.
That fact, however. gave a clew up
on which the authorities were able to
start an investigation.
Thomas Furlong. one OF the ablest
railroad detectives in the United
States. was put upon the case. and
the first question he asked was the
name OF the messenger who had
charge of the safe when 1t left the
other end of the line.
That was easily answered. The man
was j. j. Bingham. not only reli-
able employee, but brother of the
superintendent of the express COM
pany.
Find Bingham" said Furlong,
CURLY.
He was found very readily at his
home and was just as much aston
&c tn of 10 q
officials had been.
But he was able to give Furlong
some significant information.
He said that he had received tele
gram the day before from his brother,
George Bingham, which directed him
to look out for the new messenger,
y. c. Brooks"
The telegram added:
"Meet him at Templeton, en- route.
Turn over cash and valuables to him
and take receipt for same. Then re
port to superintendent at Parkesburg,
who will give you further orders"
Obedience to orders was ingrained
in j. j. Bingham. and he did exactly
what he was told to do in the tele
gram.
The suspicion that anything was
wrong never occurred to him.
The men in the service were used
to being shifted at short notice.
He did not find the superintendent
at Parkesburg in his office. and had
gone home to change his clothes.
The telegram was forgery.
Detective Furlong made his decision
quickly. He determined to go to Tenn
pleton to get the lay of the land.
While he was walking around the
station he came across little girl,
sitting on log.
He got into conversation with the
child and she remarked that he was
not the first stranger that had been
in town in the last two days.
Questioned further, she said another
man had been there and had torn a
sheet of paper into little bits and
thrown them behind the station.
By rare good fortune Furlong found
the scraps of paper. He got down on
his hands and knees and gathered
them, and after that he went into the
station. and. by the use of mucilage
and q fresh sheet, managed to paste
them together.
The result was a blank check on q
bank at Carlisle.
But that was not all. While Fur
long was doing his Sherlock Holmes
act he found little pocket telegraph
instrument.
In itself it meant nothing.
In connection with other things 1t
meant everything.
The detective FASTENED to Carlisle.
where he continued his inquiries.
He talked to the station agent and
wanted to know if there was tele-
graph operator in town.
There was one by the name of Ma
cauley and only a few days before
he had been inquiring where he was
likely to obtain small instrument.
In less than a week Furlong had
reconstructed the whole affair.
Macauley, a shiftless character,
nceUeu uOuSy.
He conceived the idea of robbing
the express company.
I Getting his telegraph instrument
and ascertaining the name of the mes
senger who would be on duty with
the safe of valuables, he had gone to
lonely spot in the wood near Kit
tanning.
He cut the wire and connected it
with his pocket instrument.
He sent the telegram to Bingham,
met him at the appointed place and
then proceeded with the safe to Pitts
burgh.
Having been given the keys, he
opened the safe en- route and rified 1t
of the valuables.
Then he locked it and accompanied
1t to the Smoky city and saw it loaded
on the express wagon and started on
it's destination, duly guarded.
Before reaching the office he Slipped
away and disappeared with the loot.
The search for him went almoft
around the world. and he died before
being brought to trial.
wNU Service.
The Bob White
The bob-white is an American per,