Author: jpkntz

#87 Thomas McCarty

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Thomas McCarthy (Abt. 1850-1893?), aka Thomas McCarty, Bridgeport Tommy, Tommy Moore, George Day – Burglar

From Byrnes’s 1886 edition:

DESCRIPTION. Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Stout build. Sandy complexion. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Light brown hair, brown eyes, high cheek bones. Has an India ink ring on second finger of left hand. Generally wears a sandy mustache.

RECORD. “Tommy Moore,” or McCarty, the latter being his right name, is a well known New York sneak, pickpocket and burglar. He was formerly an associate of Joe Parish. He went to Europe, and on his return fell in with Johnny Dobbs, and worked with him all over the United States until the gang was arrested in Massachusetts. He is known East and West, and is considered a first-class outside man. He formerly lived in Bridgeport, Conn., where he was known as ” Bridgeport Tommy.”

He was arrested in Lawrence, Mass., on March 3, 1884, under the name of George Day, in company of Mike Kerrigan, alias Johnny Dobbs, Dennis Carroll, alias Wm. Thompson (147), Frederick P. Gray (73) and John Love (68), with burglars’ tools in their possession. They had just left their rooms to commit a burglary, when the marshal and his officers made a dash for them and succeeded in holding four of them. The fifth man, Johnny Love, escaped from the officer. After their arrest, their rooms at the Franklin House were searched, and one of the most complete set of burglars’ tools ever made was found there.

On March 6, 1884, Dobbs, Day and Gray were committed for trial in $10,000 bail each. Thompson, who had fired several shots at the officers, was committed in $20,000 bail. Kerrigan, alias Dobbs, and Thompson pleaded guilty, in the Superior Court of Lawrence, Mass., to having burglars’ tools in their possession, and were sentenced to ten years each in Concord prison, on July 9, 1884. McCarty, or Day, and Gray stood trial, were convicted, and sentenced in the same court, on February 11, 1885, to ten years each. McCarty’s picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1884.

From Byrnes’s 1895 edition:

He was reported to have been killed by a premature explosion of a safe that he was burglarizing, in a small town near Rochester, N. Y., in November, 1893.

Credit must be given to Inspector Byrnes and the New York Police Department for their information gathering and record keeping, which in the case of “Bridgeport Tommy” exceeded any information to be gleaned about him from newspaper sources. There were many crimes committed between 1870 and 1893 by men named Thomas Moore or Thomas McCarthy/McCarty, but it was only his 1884 arrest in Lawrence, Mass. that can definitely be attributed to Tommy.

More intriguing is Byrnes’s 1895 note about McCarthy’s supposed death. There were no newspaper reports of a burglar dying due to a premature explosion in Western New York or elsewhere in 1893, or in the one or two years prior.

However, in late November, 1893, there was a botched dynamiting of a safe in a post office in a small town in Western New York (145 miles from Rochester). It took place in the village of Frewsburg, New York:

The five burglars were never captured. Was Bridgeport Tommy one of them? Did he sustain mortal injuries during the miscalculated explosion, or from shots fired afterward? This could be a bit of information that Byrnes learned through his informers, a tale that was never made public.

#151 Oscar Burns

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Oscar Burns (Abt. 1843-????), aka Willis Homer, John L. Harley — Store thief

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Cigar maker. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 162 pounds. Dark brown hair, brown eyes, dark complexion, heavy nose-lines. Generally wears a heavy brown mustache. Looks like a man that dissipates. Has a pearl in his right eye.

RECORD. Oscar Burns is well known all over the United States. He is known out West as a “stall” and “hoister”—a Western term for a shoplifter. He works with Jim Barton, who is well known in Boston and Medford, Mass. They were both arrested in Springfield, Mass., for burglary. Burns gave bail, which was forfeited, and Barton was discharged from custody in February, 1881.

Burns was arrested again in New York City, on December 23, 1881, for a burglary committed in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was delivered to the Michigan officers, taken there, and pleaded guilty to the crime, and was sentenced to ten years in State prison on December 29, 1881, by Judge Parrish, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. See Michigan Commutation Law for expiration of sentence. Burns’ picture is an excellent one, taken in Buffalo, N.Y.

Oscar Burns, according to information compiled on him by Pinkerton detectives, was much older and had a much longer criminal record than Thomas Byrnes suspected. During the Civil War, Burns was convicted of forging government vouchers in Tennessee and jailed there, and was wanted in Indiana for the same crime. By 1865, Burns had migrated to Chicago and was arrested for larceny.

In 1868, Burns, under the alias Willis Homer, was discovered stealing from a till of a butcher shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan, after distracting citizens by setting a fire. While awaiting trial, he broke out of the county jail and fled to Windsor, Ontario. While in Canada, he worked as a railroad brakeman, but shortly afterwards set fire a railroad warehouse. He was convicted and sent to the provincial prison in Kingston. Either his sentence was short, or he escaped, and fled back across to Detroit. In Detroit he joined a gang of thieves, but was finally caught in December, 1872 for a boarding house robbery.

Oscar resurfaced in Chicago in 1877, where he joined a ring of burglars and fences led by George Eager. When detectives began to round up that ring, Burns was among those captured and offered testimony against Eager, escaping prosecution. He continued to commit burglaries in Chicago with some other young thieves, including Joseph Cook (George S. Havill). However, Burns had made enemies by “squealing” in Chicago, and decided to look for greener pastures.

He headed to Cincinnati with two partners, and committed a burglary of a fur warehouse. He and his partners were arrested. While detained in Cincinnati, other prisoners there offered testimony against Burns (giving him a taste of his own medicine), but it wasn’t enough to convict him.

Burns headed east, stopping at Fort Wayne, Indiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and later in Springfield, Massachusetts, to commit warehouse burglaries. He was picked up by Inspector Byrnes’s men in New York City in 1881 and delivered to Michigan authorities.

In December, 1881, Burns was sentenced to ten years’ hard labor at the Ionia State Reformatory. Burns proved to be a model prisoner, and earned a sentence commuted to June, 1889–and was released fours months early in February, to allow him to plant a crop on a truck farm.

Burns’ reform appears to have been real. Byrnes had no update on him by 1895; and his name never surfaced in newspapers after 1889.

#103 Frank Woods

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Frank Woods (Abt. 1846-????), aka Frank McKenna, Frank Wilson — House Thief

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Thirty-five years old in 1886. Born in New York City. Single. No trade. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, fair complexion. Has scar on left hand, near thumb joint. Has figures “25” in India ink on outside of left fore-arm.

RECORD. Woods is perhaps one of the smartest house thieves there is in this country. He confines himself to second-story work generally, and usually works wealthy manufacturing towns and summer resorts.

He was arrested in New York City on July 15, 1874, under the name of Frank McKenna, in company of William Johnson, charged with entering the house of J. A. Terhune, No. 416 West Twenty-eighth Street, by removing a panel of the basement door. The noise awakened the occupants of the house, who pursued them, and caused their arrest. Woods and Johnson both pleaded guilty to burglary in the third degree, and were each sentenced to State prison at Sing Sing for five years on August 4, 1874, by Recorder Hackett.

Woods escaped from Sing Sing on June 2, 1876, but was recaptured and returned to prison the same month.

He was arrested again in New York City on March 5, 1885, and delivered to the authorities of Pawtucket, R.I., charged with robbing the house of William Sayles, a wealthy manufacturer of that place. This robbery was what is called a second-story job. He was tried on July 3, 1885, and the jury disagreed. He was afterwards admitted to bail, an official becoming his bondsman, so as to insure his return in case any further evidence could be obtained against him. This was a lucky escape for him. Woods is well known in all the large Eastern cities. He has served time in State prisons in New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and is a very clever thief. Woods’ picture is a good one, taken in December, 1877.

Inspector Byrnes missed the opportunity to add more detail to Woods’s background and crimes, though perhaps he did not have those at hand. An 1876 article from the New York Sun informs us:

“Frank McKenna was the handsomest and most promising of the Sixteenth Ward youths ten years ago. He had received a collegiate education, and was a student for the ministry. His father was rich, and his home refined. Unluckily, some of his associates were evil minded, and they led him to drink, gamble, and the rest. By his father’s death he was made master of three dwellings in Seventeenth street, near Eighth avenue, and thereafter he squandered his patrimony. Then he became a burglar, known to the police as Frank Woods.”

Byrnes and the Sing Sing registers preferred the opposite: that his real name was Woods, and McKenna an alias.

It was as “Frank Woods” that he was rumored to have been a member of the infamous 1873 “River Pirate” gang led by Patsey Conroy and Pugsey Hurley. If so, then Woods was one of the lucky couple of members of that gang that established alibis and escaped prosecution.

Woods escaped from Sing Sing in June 1876. Some sources state that he escaped twice, the first time in May of 1875; but these accounts confuse Frank with a man involved in that earlier attempt, Peter McKenna. The 1876 escape was nearly a carbon copy of the 1875 break: prisoners walking from the rock quarry passed nearby an arch that ran over nearby rail tracks between the prison and the Hudson River. They made a break from the guards and dropped onto the passing engine and coal tender. The New York Sun got the story of the engineer:

Woods was able to get across the river and evaded his pursuers. However, he was caught in St. Louis fairly quickly, and was returned to Sing Sing to serve out his sentence.

In Byrnes’s 1895 edition, he updated Frank Woods entry to inform the public that Woods was currently living in New York, and had reformed. If so, he might have started life under a new name, because there was never further mention of the thief, Frank Woods.

#65 Joseph Whalen

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Joseph Whalen (Abt. 1861-????), aka Joe Wilson — House burglar

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Twenty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Married. Height, 5 feet 6 3/4 inches. Weight, 143 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, sallow complexion. Wears black mustache. Has a scar on right temple, another on corner of left eye.

RECORD. Joe Whalen, alias Wilson, is a clever shoplifter, and is well known in all the principal Eastern and Western cities, having formerly lived in Chicago. He was arrested in New York City on November 21, 1883, for shoplifting.

He was arrested again in New York City on August 25, 1885, in company of George Elwood, alias Gentleman George (114), a desperate Colorado burglar, with a complete set of burglars’ tools in their possession. When the detectives searched their rooms in Forsyth Street, New York, they found considerable jewelry, etc. Among it was a Masonic ring engraved “Edson W. Baumgarten, June 25, 1884.” This ring was traced to Toledo, O.

In answer to inquiries about the same. Chief of Police Pittman of that city sent the following telegram: “Hold Elwood and Wilson; charge, grand larceny, burglary, and shooting an officer.” The circumstances were as follows: On August 13, 1885, masked burglars broke into Mr. Baumgarten’s house in Toledo, O., and being discovered in the act of plundering the place fired several shots at the servants and escaped. An alarm was raised and the police started in pursuit. Coming up on Elwood, the officer demanded to know what was in a bag he was carrying. He said, “Nothing of much value—take it and see.” The officer took the bag to a lamp near by, and when in the act of examining it, Elwood shot him in the back and escaped.

Whalen and Elwood were taken to Toledo on August 29, 1885, to answer for this and a series of other masked burglaries in that vicinity, in almost all of which there was violence used. They were both tried there on December 12, 1885. Elwood was found guilty, and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary at Toledo on December 19, 1885. Wilson was remanded for a new trial, as the jury failed to convict him.

Elwood hails from Denver, Col., and is a desperate man. Whalen was formerly from Chicago, but is well known in New York and other Eastern cities. These two men committed several masked burglaries, generally at the point of the pistol, in Cleveland, Detroit, St. Paul, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. Whalen, or Wilson, was tried again in Toledo, and found guilty of grand larceny on May 5, 1886, and sentenced to five years in State prison at Columbus, O., on May 15, 1886, by Judge Pike, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lucas County, Ohio. See record of No. 114. Whalen’s picture is an excellent one, taken in 1883.

Inspector Byrnes’s reference to a November 1883, shoplifting arrest of Joe Whalen/Wilson in New York City can not be verified. However, there is other evidence that Whalen was well-known in New York as a shoplifter: in February, 1885, he was found in New York City by a New Haven, Connecticut detective tracking down shoplifters who had recently hit a tailor shop in that city. Hartford newspapers indicated that Whalen already was in New York’s Rogues Gallery as a shoplifter, but do not make clear under what name his record existed.

When George Ellwood and Whalen were arrested in New York in August 1885, police detectives also wondered if they had been responsible for a February 1883, house robbery in New York City’s Pike Flats apartment building. However, while this suspicion was mentioned in newspapers, Byrnes does not mention it in his entry; so it may be that the evidence was too flimsy for Byrnes to cite.

It is also curious that Byrnes made claims about Whalen’s history under the entry for George Elwood (Ellwood), but did not repeat those claims in his entry for Whalen:

“Before Wilson associated with the desperado Elwood he operated for months alone in Brooklyn, N.Y. House robbery was his line of business, and silverware his plunder. He committed a series of mysterious robberies, and although an active search was made for the “silver king,” he succeeded in avoiding arrest. His repeated successes stimulated other thieves, who began operating in Brooklyn. One of the latter was caught, and it was then believed that the cunning “silver king” had been at last trapped. Such was not the case, for Wilson had set out for the Western country.”

Between February and August 1885, Whalen teamed up with George Ellwood to commit a string of house burglaries said to include Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Cleveland, and Toledo. However, it was only the ring found in their possession in New York that tied them to any specific crime.

Whalen, aka Joe Wilson, was tried in Ohio in December, 1885, resulting in a hung jury. He was re-tried in May 1886. Whalen’s wife, whose name remains unknown, impressed the courtroom with her attractive appearance and her passionate defense of her husband. He was found guilty at the second trial, after which Mrs. Whalen accused the court bailiff of taking money from her to guarantee a not-guilty verdict. Whalen was sentenced to five years in the Ohio State Penitentiary.

One “Joe Wilson,” described as an ex-convict, was arrested for an apartment robbery in New York in 1894, but it is not clear that this was Whalen.

In his 1895 edition, the only update that Byrnes offers is that Whalen was arrested in New York on August 2, 1895 for an unspecified offense, in company with his brother Michael, also a well-known burglar; and both were released. No newspaper accounts of this arrest can be found, nor can any Whalen family be found in the New York region (or in Chicago, where Byrnes indicates Whalen originally came from) that has a Joseph and a Michael of similar ages.

Without more clues, it is impossible to tell where Whalen originally came from or where he went, after serving his sentence in Ohio.

#129 Kate Ryan

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Catherine Ryan (Abt. 1836–19??), aka Kitty Ryan, Kate Ryan, Catherine Mantell, Ellen Mantell, Ellen McCarthy, Ellen Murray, Kate Murray, etc. — Pickpocket

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Fifty years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Seamstress. Married. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 3 1/2 inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Dark brown hair, light hazel eyes, dark complexion.

RECORD. Kate Ryan is an old New York pickpocket and shoplifter. She works parades and stores, and is known in Philadelphia and New York, and some of the Western cities.

She was arrested in New York City on St. Patrick’s day, March 17, 1876, charged with picking pockets during the parade. She was convicted and sentenced to four years in the penitentiary on March 28, 1876, by Recorder Hackett, in the Court of General Sessions.

Kate has served time in State prison and in the penitentiary since the above. Her picture is a good one, taken in March, 1876.

In his 1895 edition, Inspector Byrnes merely added, “Reported dead.” Perhaps he just lost track, considering that Kate was sent to prison in 1876, 1883, 1886, 1888, 1890, 1891, and 1894–and these are the convictions that are known of, in New York City and Brooklyn alone.

Kate specialized in stealing from women’s pocketbooks–in parades, in stores, at funerals and weddings, etc.

Kate was not dead by 1895, but she was about to be caught in the worst mistake of her life. She had been arrested in Brooklyn in June, 1893, for picking pockets. Before she could be tried, she was released on bail of $1000 put up by Henry Hamilton, a Brooklyn livery stable keeper. She jumped bail, returned to Manhattan, got arrested for shoplifting, and was sent to Blackwell’s Island penitentiary. In 1896, Hamilton, who had forfeited the $1000 he offered as bail, discovered that Kate was in Blackwell’s Island. He informed the Brooklyn District Attorney, who arranged for a detective to greet Kate upon her release from Blackwell’s. Kate was outraged to discover that she was being rearrested. She claimed that she was being persecuted. Judge Aspinall of Brooklyn showed Kate no mercy; she was sent to Auburn State Prison on a sentence of ten years.

At that point, Kate was already 60 years old, so many doubted she would survive her stretch at Auburn.

She was back in Brooklyn in 1907, and was caught picking pockets under the name Ellen McCarthy. No one appeared to testify against her, but she was jailed for vagrancy. As similar episode occurred in 1908–she was spotted jostling customers in line in a butcher shop, and was detailed for disorderly conduct.

In 1912, Kate (still using the alias Ellen McCarthy) was spotted opening clasp pocketbooks on Coney Island. She claimed to be 59, but police knew that she frequently shaved decades off her age–she was closer to being 77. She was handed over to a probation officer.

A year later, under the name Ellen Mantell, she was caught in a New York department store attempting to reach into the purse of a female store detective. As she was being booked, the police lieutenant looked at her and asked, “You must be nearly 80 now?”

“Seventy-five,” Kate replied in a broken voice.

The officer looked over her record: she had been arrested 14 times since 1886, and had served fifteen and a half years in prison. He leaned over in front of her face, “And you came back?”

“Yes,” she said, her head drooping. “They put the temptation in my way.” Kate was referring to the fact that the store detective had been walking around the displays with an open purse, and bills visible inside.

At her trial, Kate plead guilty. “I’m all in judge,” she said, “and I want to go to Auburn prison for a long time. There ain’t nothing much more for me and its too late for me to try to get anything more than a place to sleep and three meals a day. I’m hungry and tired and broke.”

Judge Swann, realizing that prison was unnecessary, sent Kate to the Reformatory.

#31 Louis R. Martin

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Lewis R. Martin (Abt. 1827-1894), aka Luther R. Martin, L. R. Martin, Lew Martin — Counterfeiter, Forger

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Sixty-three years old in 1886. Born in United States. Horse dealer. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 10 3/4 inches. Weight, 164 pounds. Gray hair, eyes dark gray and weak, complexion light. Is a fine, gentlemanly-looking man.

RECORD. Martin was believed to be the capitalist of the Brockway gang of forgers and counterfeiters. He was well known by all the reputable horse and sporting men in this country, as a man of means engaged in the transportation of cattle between the United States, England and Australia.

He was indicted in the United States Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1875, with an accomplice named Henry Moxie, alias Sweet, for passing counterfeit $500 notes. He was never tried. Previous to that time he had been known as an expert engraver and printer of counterfeits, under the name of Martin Luther. He made and owned the plate with which the $500 notes for which himself and Moxie were indicted were printed.

He has been connected in several large counterfeiting schemes with William E. Brockway (32), J. B. Doyle, Nathan B. Foster, English Moore, and others. He is well known by the United States officers as a counterfeiter.

Martin was arrested in New York City, on November 10, 1883, with Brockway (32) and Nathan B. Foster, charged with having in his possession forged $1,000 bonds of the Morris & Essex Railroad of New Jersey. At the time of his arrest, in the St. James Hotel, New York City, there was found in two valises in his room fifty-four $1,000 bonds of the above road, thirty-three of which had been numbered and signed ready for use. For this offense Martin was convicted, and sentenced to ten years in State prison, on August 6, 1884, by Judge Cowing, in the Court of General Sessions in New York City. His counsel obtained a stay of proceedings, and he was granted a new trial, and admitted to bail; while confined in the Tombs prison from some cause he became totally blind. His picture is an excellent one, taken in November, 1883.

There is no doubt that Lew Martin was a central partner in several counterfeiting schemes; less clear is whether he was ever an engraver himself, or always worked with others. Whatever the case, his crimes appear to have been episodic, and fueled by his real passion: horse breeding. Martin’s known crimes occurred far from his adopted home, San Francisco. As a counter to his profile in Professional Criminals of America, consider Lew Martin’s obituary in Breeder and Sportsman:

Martin’s patron, starting around 1870, was one of California’s greatest businessmen, Lucky Baldwin. Not only did Baldwin stand by his friend in his last decade as an invalid, Baldwin surely must have been aware of Lew’s counterfeiting crimes. [Was Lew Martin the “broker” of these rings? Or was it his rich mentor?] Martin must have also rubbed shoulders with Baldwin’s friend and horse-racing enthusiast, Wyatt Earp.

In the 1860s, prior to his move to California, Lew Martin was a well-known trotting horse breeder living in Brooklyn. In the late 1880s, the head of the United States Secret Service, Andrew L. Drummond, claimed that it was during the 1860s that Martin first started working with William E. Brockway.

Martin’s downfall was his 1883 arrest in New York with Brockway and Nathaniel B. Foster. The events surrounding this arrest are more fully described in two sources: 1) Allan Pinkerton’s Thirty Years a Detective (published in 1884), in the chapter “Counterfeiters;” and 2) A. L. Drummond’s True Detective Stories, in the chapter “A Wonderful Man Loses His Luck.” Brockway, Foster, and Martin likely would have been daunted to learn that the forces of the Pinkertons, the Secret Service, and Inspector Byrnes were all aligned against them.

#85 William Beatty

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William T. Soby (1849-????), aka William Burke, William Brady, William Baker, William Brown — Thief, Abuser

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Married. Barkeeper. Height, 5 feet 8 1/2 inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, dark complexion. Has letters ” W. S.” and coat of arms in India ink on left fore-arm. Generally wears a brown mustache.

RECORD. Beatty was arrested in New York City and sentenced to three years and six months in Sing Sing prison, on April 8, 1875, for burglary, under the name of William Brown. He was arrested in company of Andy Hess, another New York burglar, who gave the name of Alfred Brown, for a silk burglary in the Eighth Ward, New York City.

He was arrested again in New York City on May 18, 1878, for the larceny of $57 from a poor woman named Brady, who lived at No. 214 East Thirty-eighth Street, New York. He was committed for trial by Judge Wandell, but discharged by the District Attorney on a promise to return some stolen property to one Mr. St. John which he never did.

He is a mean thief, and is called by other thieves a “squealer.” He is well known in New York, Boston and Albany, and other Eastern cities. His picture is a good one, taken in February, 1878.

William Soby’s criminal career dates back to the late 1860s. A jimmy he used in a burglary at that time was added to the police museum collected by New York City District Attorney Oakey Hall. Byrnes correctly notes his 1875 arrest, which placed him into Sing Sing for the next three years. The 1875 Sing Sing register, which named him as William Brown, indicated that he claimed a wife, Emma H. Brown. Whether she existed, or was merely a girlfriend, is unknown.

Upon his release in 1878, Soby embarked on a notable year. In May, he entered a house on Thirty-Eighth Street in New York City on the pretense of visiting a friend; but being left alone in the parlor, he saw $57 left out on a table and snatched it, then ran out the door. He was later apprehended. The deal that Byrnes suggests was offered by the District Attorney for dropping charges against Soby depended on Soby’s willingness to testify against burglar Joseph Ottenburg in another case.

In early November 1878, a crime occurred that knocked the previous week’s headlines concerning the Manhattan Savings Institution robbery off front pages. Though the largest bank robbery in American history was still an unsolved mystery–one that would hound Byrnes’s reputation for many years–the events of the next week would tax his abilities even further. The body of A. T. Stewart, the founder of one of the largest department stores in America, had been stolen from its grave in a small churchyard in New York. Stewart had been dead over two years, and his body had been placed in an underground family crypt.

Grave desecration in the 19th century was a highly inflammatory outrage, particularly if–as seemed to be the case–it was done to take the remains hostage for a ransom. With virtually no physical clues left at the scene and no witnesses, Inspector Byrnes was left with only one tool: street informants–and that resource had already been leaned on heavily the past week to find the Manhattan Savings robbers. Some flimsy, misinterpreted gossip led Byrnes to arrest two men: Henry Vreeland and his friend, William Burke, aka Baker, Brady, Brown, i.e. William Soby.

While less devious suspects would have stammered to proclaim their innocence, Soby saw this as an opportunity: at the least, he could get out of whatever deals he had made during the summer with the District Attorney; but even better, he could make Inspector Byrnes look like a clueless fool.

The story of how Soby and Vreeland led Inspector Byrnes (and the citizens of Chatham, New Jersey) on a wild goose chase has been recently retold by author J. North Conway in Bag of Bones: The Sensational Grave Robbery of the Merchant Prince of Manhattan. After wasting Byrnes’s time for a crucial couple of weeks, the pair finally admitted they knew nothing about the crime. Ransom demands were sent to the police–but from many different sources, confusing them, and likely causing them to miss the opportunity to deal with the real grave robbers. The next year, a set of remains was eventually returned to Stewart’s widow, but whether they were A. T. Stewart’s bones is a matter of debate.

During the time that Soby was being held for his supposed involvement in the Stewart desecration, Soby’s alleged wife arranged to be interviewed by the New York Herald, in order to tell her story and to give a more sympathetic sketch of Soby himself. The resulting long article published by the Herald, titled “A Cracksman’s Bride: Sad History of the Wife of William Burke,” is an absolute classic example of the overworked, maudlin, human tragedy feature journalism that typified New York’s great newspapers. [Follow link to see the full clipping.] In this article, she was named “Ella,” and told an amazing story of her own history.

Soby himself must have been touched by her story. Upon his release by the police, he formally married her; her real name was Julia Maria Bernard. Julia worked hard to reform Soby from his criminal habits. He became a sewing machine salesman. He joined the William Mission in 1880, and became the superintendent of its Sunday school. He later joined the Peter Dwyer Mission and was instructed as a lecturer by Bob Hart and Patrick Goff (himself an ex-fire company official and ex-convict.)

However, Soby’s worst traits soon resurfaced. One evening in June, 1884, he stumbled home drunk after two a.m., falling over a chair and upsetting a table. Julia lit a lamp, and Soby took off his coat and fumbled at his collar. “Julie,” he said, “shere’s a knot ‘ner k-k-k’ar butt’n. Take it off, liker goo’ girl.” Mrs. Soby took off his collar and lifted the table upright. Soby leaned over to take off his shoes, lost his balance, and rolled on the floor.

“Julie,” he slurred, “shere’s knot ‘ner shoe string. Take off my shoes.” “I’ll take off no man’s shoes,” she replied indignantly. “Take them off yourself.”

“A’right,” Soby replied. “Don’t want to quarrel.” He took off his shoes, then used them to beat his wife. Hours later she went to the police and filed assault charges against him. He was held for trial.

Less than a month later, Soby and his new ex-convict friend, Patrick Goff, were arrested for stealing coats at a tavern. They were sent to Blackwell’s Island Penitentiary for one year. When he was released he did not return to Julia. They spotted each other on the street on day in 1888, after three years of not having seen each other. He found out where she was now living and tried to get in her room. The next day, she filed charges of abandonment against him and had him arrested. While he was locked up, a police detective investigated other outstanding charges against Soby, and Julia was never bothered by him again.

His fate from that point is unknown.

#168 Thomas Shortell

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Frank Shortell (1859-????), aka Thomas Shortell, Frank Wilson — Thief, Counterfeiter

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Twenty-seven years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. Conductor. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Brown hair, gray eyes, dark complexion. Eyebrows meet ; high cheek bones. Has an anchor in India ink on back of right hand.

RECORD. Shortell, although young in the business, is a very clever sneak thief. He was formerly a conductor on one of the New York railroad cars, and first made the acquaintance of the police in New York City on November 20, 1880, when he was arrested for perjury in a seduction case — Murry vs. Cronin — which was being investigated in one of the police courts. In this case he was not convicted.

He was arrested again in New York City on January 22, 1883, in company of Benton B. Bagley (163) and John T. Sullivan, two other expert sneak thieves, for the larceny of a sealskin dolman, valued at $350, from the Church of the Incarnation, on Madison Avenue, New York City, during a wedding, on December 27, 1882. Bagley and Sullivan were discharged on January 30, 1883, and Shortell was sent to the Reformatory at Elmira, New York, by Judge Cowing, on February 5, 1883.

Shortell was arrested again, under the name of Frank Wilson, in company of Tommy Connors, another New York thief, who gave the name of Thomas Wilson, at Nashville, Tenn., for picking pockets during the race week, in May, 1885. On searching their baggage in their rooms it was found to contain $1,000 in counterfeit $10 United States Treasury notes. They were indicted in the Federal Court, and the charge of picking pockets withdrawn. They were delivered to the United States authorities, tried, and both sentenced to a fine of $100 and five years’ imprisonment in Chester (Ill.) prison on May 26, 1885. Shortell’s picture is a very good one, taken in January, 1883.

Like his friend and co-conspirator Benton Bagley, Frank Shortell’s crimes appear to be more amateurish than professional. He was born in New York’s 21st Ward to Irish immigrants T. Henry and Mary Shortell. It appears that several family members did not survive the 1870s, and by 1880, Frank was living alone and employed as a streetcar conductor. The fact that Shortell was sent to the Elmira reformatory–at age 24–rather than a penitentiary indicates that veteran Judge Cowing did not consider Shortell to be a career criminal.

Shortell’s arrest in Nashville was also amateurish. He and his friend were caught with very poorly-produced counterfeit notes that were easily recognized. Following his sentencing to a federal prison in Illinois, all trace of Shortell is lost.

#172 Wm. H. Little

~ jpkntz

William Henry Little (Abt. 1841-19??), aka Tip Little, William Johnson, Henry Osgood, William Thompson, George Thompson, William B. Austin, George F. Clark, George Little — Pickpocket, Panel House thief, Shoplifter, Forger

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in New York, Married. No trade. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Dark curly hair, gray eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a black curly beard. Has a peculiar expression about the eyes.

RECORD. “Tip” Little is an old New York “panel thief,” confidence man, sneak thief and forger. He is well known as the husband of Bell Little, alias Lena Swartz, alias Eliza Austin, a notorious pennyweight worker, shoplifter and “bludgeon thief.” This team is well known all over the United States. They worked the “panel game” in New York and other cities for years, and their pictures adorn several Rogues’ Galleries. Of late they have been working the “bludgeon game” or “injured husband racket” with considerable success, as their victims are generally married men and will stand black-mailing before publicity. “Tip” and “Bell” have been arrested in New York City several times, but with the exception of a few short terms in the penitentiary, they have both escaped their just deserts (State prison) many a time.

Little was arrested in New York City on November 28, 1885, in company of a negro accomplice named Isaac Hooper, for attempting to negotiate a check that had been raised from $4 to $896. About one week before the arrest Hooper obtained a check for $4, on the Nassau Bank of New York, from Henry Carson, a grocer, of Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N.Y., by pretending that he wanted to send money to a relative, and that he had only silver dollars. He raised the check himself from $4 to $896, and also made a spurious check for $1,200, on the Nassau Bank of New York, and signed Carson’s name to it. With the $1,200 check. Tip Little, on November 25, 1885, went to Wm. Wise & Son’s jewelry store on Fulton Street, Brooklyn, and selecting articles worth $400, tendered the check in payment. He was so indignant when it was suggested that it would be nothing more than a common business transaction to ask Mr. Carson if the check was all right, that he snatched it up and left the store. Then he planned to swindle Daniel Higgins, a furniture dealer on Eighth Avenue, New York City, with the raised check of $896, which had been certified by the cashier of the Nassau Bank. He visited Mr. Higgins on November 27, 1885, and selected furniture worth $300. Higgins went to the West Side Bank, which was close by his store, and its cashier ascertained by telephone that Mr. Carson repudiated the check. When Mr. Higgins returned to the store, “Tip” had left without his change. Hooper (the negro) was tried, convicted, and sentenced to seven years in State prison on January 15, 1886, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General Sessions, Part L He had been previously convicted and sentenced to State prison for forgery in Providence, R.I. “Tip” Little pleaded guilty on January 15, 1886 (the same day), and was sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison, by Judge Gildersleeve, in the Court of General Sessions, Part H. ” Little’s” picture is a very good one, taken in April, 1879.

William Henry Little was born about 1841 in Goshen, New York, about sixty miles northwest of New York City, to a respectable family including his mother, Mary and father, William C. Little, a butcher. It is not clear if he enlisted in the army during the Civil War, but by 1866 he was living on his own in New York City. In August of 1866, he was rounded up with other “well-known pickpockets” under the name William Johnson. By 1870 he had gained the honor of being #3 in the New York police department’s Rogue’s Gallery of photographed criminals, and was described as a shoplifter and pickpocket.

In 1871, Tip was found running one of New York City’s “panel-houses,” into which men were lured by a woman, distracted by foreplay or sex, and robbed by hidden accomplices. Tip’s house was in the Eighth Precinct at 476 1/2 Broome Street; the whole surrounding area was infamous for allowing these operations to continue (likely through pay-offs to the precinct captain).

In 1873, Tip married one of the woman with whom he conducted the panel-house business, Elizabeth Bropson, who later became known to the public as Lizzie Little, Belle Little, Martha Ward, Clara Morris, Mary Hart, Eliza Austin, or, more colorfully, “The Whale.” Mrs. Little was plump, but had a pleasant face, creamy white complexion, and an engaging manner. However, Tip also worked with other women: he employed the noted panel-house thief, Mollie Rush; and in the 1880s worked as a shoplifting partner of Lena Kleinschmidt, aka Black Lena. On several occasions, Lena was misidentified as Mrs. Tip Little (who also sometimes partnered with Lena on shoplifting expeditions).

In December of 1884, Mrs. Little got into a argument with Johnny Jourdan, the noted thief, over a $100 loan that he supposedly owed her. She called in the police to have Jourdan arrested; one of the results was that she and Jourdan were identified in public as lovers, and it was suggested the fight was over Jourdan’s other women, not money. That may or may not have been true; and moreover, Tip Little may or may not have cared about her romantic entanglements. Perhaps he cared more about coming under the scrutiny of the police. Whatever the cause, he arrived home and started to beat and kick Mrs. Little, to the extent that the police were called in again.

Tip fled the scene. Several months later, it was reported that Mrs. Little was no longer associated with Tip, but instead had taken up with her shoplifting partner, George Williams, aka Pettengill. However, by July 1885, the Littles had reconciled.

In late 1885, Tip tried passing altered checks made by Isaac Cooper [not Hooper, as Byrnes cited]. Cooper was an ex-convict, having already seen one term in Sing Sing. Cooper stands out as the only African-American criminal mentioned by Inspector Byrnes; and newspapers cited him as the only black convicted in New York state for forgery. Both Tip and Cooper were convicted of forgery; Tip got five years while Cooper was sentenced to seven and a half years.

While Tip was locked up at Sing Sing, Lizzie Little died; by most accounts, she was only forty-five years old. After his release, Tip took care of his mother, Mary, who now resided in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He also spent time at racetracks, working the crowd with small cons. In 1993, he chose the wrong victim: a prominent politician. Instead of being too embarrassed to press charges, the politician instead exerted his influence to keep his name out of the papers while still prosecuting Little. Tip, under the name Henry Osgood, was sentenced to another five years in Sing Sing, the latter portion of which was served in Dannemora.

After two years of freedom, from 1897-1899, Tip was caught till-tapping, a crime usually performed a young, agile thieves. He was given a term four years and two months in Sing Sing, once again under the name Henry Osgood. A news item from 1907 claimed that he had died in prison, sometime between 1899 and 1903.

#99 David Swain

~ jpkntz

David Swain (Abt. 1844-19??), aka Old Dave, James A. Robbins, James A. Roberts, James G. Allison — Swindler, bunco steerer

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in New York City. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Light brown hair, blue eyes. Ruddy complexion. Wears full sandy beard and mustache. Married. Scar on forehead over left eye. Part of an anchor in India ink on right fore-arm.

RECORD. Swain is one of the sharpest, meanest, and most dangerous confidence men in the business. He has no favorites, and would rob a friend or a poor emigrant as soon as a party with means. He may be found around railroad depots or steamboat landings, and is well known in all the Eastern cities, especially Boston, Mass., where, it is said, he has a mortgage on the Eastern Railroad depot.

Swain was arrested in New York City on July 17, 1873, for grand larceny from one Edward Steinhofer, of Brooklyn. He was committed to the Tombs prison on July 18, 1873, but was shortly afterwards delivered over to the Albany, N.Y., police authorities, and taken there upon an old charge. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in the Albany Penitentiary, at the Court of Quarter Sessions, in Albany, on September 20, 1873. His time expired in March, 1876.

Swain passed considerable of his time in and around Boston, Mass., when out of prison, and has fleeced many a poor victim there. In August, 1883, he robbed two poor Nova Scotians, man and wife, out of $150 in gold, all the money they had saved for years. He was finally arrested in Boston, Mass., on December 12, 1884, for robbing the Nova Scotians, whose name was Taylor. He lay in jail there until May 23, 1885, when he was brought to court, where he pleaded guilty to the charge, and was sentenced to two years in the House of Correction.

Swain has been working these last few years with George Gifford, who was arrested in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 15, 1886, for swindling one John Reilly by the confidence game, and sentenced to four years in the Kings County Penitentiary on April 30, 1886. He has also served a term in Boston, Mass., for the same offense. Young Gifford is the son of Harry Gifford, a very clever old confidence man, who died a short time ago. Swain’s picture is a good one, taken in 1881.

David Swain’s criminal career dates back to, at the least, August 1868, when he (along with a partner) was caught at a New York  railroad depot using the old gold brick swindle. In 1872, Swain’s name was invoked as the man engaged to burglar Ed. Johnson’s sister. Johnson, Dave Cummings, and Mose Vogel had been arrested for a bank robbery attempt in Jersey City, New Jersey, and while in jail implicated Jersey City’s Chief of Police and a detective as being in on the robbery. Johnson’s highly amusing testimony mentioned his sister and Swain.

As Byrnes mentions, Swain was arrested the next year for a swindle in Albany, and was sentenced in September of 1873. About six months after getting out of prison in New York, Swain was caught robbing a hotel room in Philadelphia. He was sentenced in thirteen months in Eastern State Penitentiary.

Swain was known to have worked at various times with George Gifford; George Affleck; and Walking Joe Prior.

In 1881, he showed up in Boston, but was arrested on suspicion and told to leave town. Byrnes recounts what happened to Old Dave when he ignored that warning–he was arrested in Boston in 1884 and was shuttled between jail and prison until 1887.

In 1892, Dave was caught pulling swindles on travelers at a rail depot in Chicago.

An article written in 1905 by the Columbus, Ohio Chief of Police described Dave as now being a dangerous bunco operator. In 1909, Dave was detained in Montreal, Quebec for vagrancy–an offense often used to get pickpockets and swindlers off the streets.

A David Swain died on Staten Island in 1914 that might have been Old Dave, but there is no definite evidence linking this Swain (and his family) to the notorious con man.