Link to the REVISED entry for #26 Augustus Raymond

From Byrnes’s 1886 edition:

DESCRIPTION. Thirty-three years old in 1886. Medium build. Born in United States. Single. Height, 5 feet 3 inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Black hair, turning gray; dark brown eyes, dark complexion, round full face. Dresses well, and is a very gentlemanly person.

RECORD. Raymond is a clever bank sneak, and a good general thief. He has plenty of nerve and works with the best people only. He is known in several of the large cities of the United States and in Canada.

Arrested April 2, 1878, in New York City, for larceny of a trunk of jewelry. The facts are, that on May 12, 1877, the firm of Ailing Brothers & Co., of Worcester, Mass., shipped by rail a trunk containing $9,000 worth of jewelry from Worcester to Hartford, Conn., to their agent. On the road Raymond slipped into the baggage car and changed the checks on the trunk. On the arrival of the train at Hartford it was discovered that the trunk had been stolen. It was traced from Hartford, Conn., to a New York hotel, and from there to Baltimore, Md., where it was found empty. Thomas Leary, alias Kid Leary (6), was with Raymond and was the party that received the trunk at the hotel in New York, for which he was sentenced to five years in State prison, in New York City. Raymond was taken to Worcester, Mass., on April 18, 1878, and sentenced to five years in State prison there, on October 2, 1878, by Judge Aldrich.

He has been arrested in several cities in the United States since his release — the last time was on February i6, 1886, in New York City, with Joe Elliott, alias Reilly (16), and George Wilkes, charged with forgery in Rochester, N.Y. Raymond was discharged and Elliott and Wilkes were taken to Rochester for trial.

Raymond was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., on May 8, 1886, on suspicion of forging a check on the Third National Bank of Philadelphia, which he gave to a boy, who attempted to get the money at the bank. Raymond was not arrested until two days after, when the boy could not be found and he was discharged. Raymond’s picture is an excellent one, taken in 1878.

From Byrne’s 1895 edition:

Arrested again attempting to enter a room in the Spring Lake House, at Spring Lake, N.J., under name of Robert Ellison, on August 2 1886. He was committed to Monmouth Co., N.J., Jail, and shortly after admitted to bail, on September 2, 1886. He plead guilty to petty larceny (a key), and was discharged on payment of a fine of $100 and costs.

Arrested again at Boston, Mass, on November 8, 1886. Charged with an attempt to take a vest from under the pillow of a passenger in a sleeping car on the Boston and Providence R.R. On this complaint he was sentenced to one year in the House of Correction on November 10, 1886. It is said he was shortly afterwards admitted to bail in $800, which he forfeited, and he is wanted there now. On February, 1887, three months after the date of his sentence in Boston, he was sent to the penitentiary for three months as a disorderly person, from Hoboken, N.J.

He was arrested in New York City on January 4, 1890, in company of Charles Cummisky, another expert sneak thief (who was sentenced to eight years and six months at Montreal, Canada, on September 28, 1890, for a sneak robbery). They were both discharged, there being no complaint against them.

Advices from London, Eng., say that James Connell and Henry Raymond, who is said to be Gus Raymond, were arrested and sentenced to three months imprisonment, charged with thefts of valuables from various Bond Street jewelers. [Note: Byrnes is confusing Gus Raymond with “Henry Raymond,” an alias used by Adam Worth in England.]

Arrested again in New York City, on April 20, 1895, under the name of Edward Carter, charged with the larceny of a satchel from a stateroom of the Cunard Steamer Lucania. Discharged by judge Lawrence, of the Supreme Court, May 1, 1895, on account of the departure of the complainant on the steamer.