Burglars

#76 Billy Forrester

~ jpkntz

Alexander McClymont (1838-1912), aka Billy Forrester,  Frank Livingston, Frank Howard, Conrad Foltz, etc. — Thief, Burglar

Link to Byrnes’s text for #76 Billy Forrester

The story of Billy Forrester’s career is filled with misinformation: false stories of his origins; crimes that he likely did not commit; aliases which he may or may have not used; how he escaped prisons; women he married; and when and how he came to an end. The worst mistake occurred when New York detectives (before Byrnes’s time) accepted the word of a convict-informer and started a manhunt for Forrester, believing him to be the murderer of financier Benjamin Nathan. For many years, Forrester found himself branded as a killer, despite the fact that he proved he was in the South at the time when the burglary at Nathan’s mansion occurred.

When Billy realized that he was about to be railroaded for murder in 1872, he explained his history to the New York Herald: his name was Alexander McClymont, he was born in Glasgow, and served for a long period in the U. S. Navy, starting as a messenger boy in 1852.  [As late as 1907 or 08, Forrester was still trying to get past pay due to him, and in fact thought he was was owed decades of pay, since he had never been formally discharged. Detective William Pinkerton tried to dissuade Billy of that claim, reminding Billy that he had deserted.]

In 1872, Allan Pinkerton gave the Chicago Tribune an account of Forrester’s history, most of which can be verified from 1868 on. Forrester himself had once indicated he had been in Joliet from 1863-1867, but if so, must have been under a different name:

For the act of interceding, “The.” Allen was dragged through court proceedings for six months.

Pinkerton’s account continues on, but skips over an embarrassing episode. From New York, Billy went to Boston, where he romanced a young girl, Elizabeth Dudley, the daughter of a respected liquor merchant from a venerable family, James Winthrop Dudley. They eloped and were married in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in October 1869. [Though there are hints he had been married to others earlier.] “Lizzie” Dudley later claimed she only knew Forrester to be a gambler, but it is more likely that both she and her father knew exactly how Forrester earned his living. Forrester was arrested in Boston in November 1869, discharged, and then rearrested by detectives who had learned about the requisition issued for his return to Illinois. In December, he was put on a train to New York, linked to a detective by a cord. They got off for a drink in New Haven, and Forrester managed to cut the cord and escaped.

Two months later, Forrester and a gang tried a bank robbery in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Before they could crack the safe, they were spotted and had to flee. Billy headed to Pittsburgh, where he was seen by a Pinkerton operative and captured. In March, 1870, he was taken first to Philadelphia to face charges for the Wilkes Barre robbery attempt; while being measured at the station house there, he fled, wearing nothing but his underwear.

In April, Billy and his bride Lizzie Dudley were reunited in Baltimore. The Baltimore police learned of his presence in the city, and the couple were forced to flee south, taking a ship to Key West, then to Havana, and finally to New Orleans, arriving in early June 1870. New Orleans police had already been warned to lookout for Forrester, and he was soon arrested in mid-June, 1870. However, no requisition was yet in hand from Illinois, and so he was released on a writ of habeas corpus.

Billy lived in New Orleans without further harassment for a couple of months, during which time he was seen by many people. Meanwhile, in New York City, financier Benjamin Nathan was killed in his home during a bungled burglary on July 28, 1870.

After a gap of activity in the late summer and fall of 1870, Billy returned to New Orleans in December to coordinate the robbery of Scooler’s jewelry store, which took place on the night of Dec. 31, 1870-Jan. 1, 1871. While Billy was enjoying the spoils from this job, his one-time partner in the failed Wilkes Barre bank robbery, George Ellis, informed police from his cell in Sing Sing that Billy was responsible for the Nathan murder. This kicked off a nationwide manhunt.

He was run to earth in Washington, D. C. in September 1872 and taken by train to New York. There he was interrogated, and proved his alibi to the grudging satisfaction of prosecutors. The Pinkertons and others had been hoping to collect a $50,000 reward for Nathan’s killer, but instead were forced to send Billy back to Joliet to serve out his term.

Billy was freed in January 1880 and drifted to Philadelphia, where he was frequently seen in the new high-end saloon run by the Brotherton brothers, who themselves had recently been released from San Quentin. In April 1881, Forrester was captured during a house burglary in Philadelphia, resulting in his trial, conviction, and sentencing to Eastern State Penitentiary for five years. His term ended there in November 1885.

Byrnes picks up Billy’s history in his 1895 edition:

Shortly after Forrester‘s release from the Eastern Penitentiary, at Philadelphia, Pa. (in November, 1885), he was arrested at Richmond, Va., as Frank Renfrew, charged with breaking into the residence of one A. L. Lee. He was indicted for burglary and carrying burglars’ tools. While in jail awaiting trial he escaped, and the next heard from him was his arrest at Chester, Pa., in 1887, under the name of James Robinson, for safe breaking and shooting at a police officer.

He was convicted at Media, Pa., and sentenced to four years in the Eastern Penitentiary, at Philadelphia, Pa. He was released from there on March 20, 1891, re-arrested, taken to Richmond Va., where he plead guilty to having burglars’ tools in his possession, and was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary on April 9, 1891. Forrester’s time expired at Richmond, Va., on August 17, 1895.

It should be noted that while Billy was devoting time to prison in Philadelphia and Richmond between 1885 and 1895, another criminal who took the alias “Billy Forrester” was active in Denver, Butte, and Chicago. His specialty was safe-cracking.

After Billy got out of prison in Richmond in 1895, he was taken in Washington, D. C. and held to account for a robbery there. He was sentenced to ten years, to be served in Albany County Penitentiary in New York.

Gaining his freedom in 1902, Billy went to New York City and lived for awhile with an old friend, Dan Noble. Flat broke, he approached the Pinkerton Agency in New York and asked for a loan to tide him over until he gained employment. They offered him a small amount in cash, and tried to recruit him as an informer. He declined.

He was never heard from again, until 1909, when he went to Buffalo to meet William A. Pinkerton. Though he tried to press Pinkerton to support his claim to back pay from the Navy, in truth he seemed just pleased to talk to his old adversary.

Billy was then working as a facilities superintendent for “a major Catholic institution near Niagara Falls,” described as a large monastery. This almost certain refers to the Mount Carmel monastery in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Billy managed a staff of seven there, working from 1903 until his death in 1912.

#161 Frederick Lauther

~ jpkntz

Frederick R. W. Lawther (Abt. 1845-19??), aka Freddie Lauther/Louther, Frederick R. Watson, Robert Shaw, Robert Campbell, George Dussold, Light-Finger Fred, Matthew Clark, Fritz Lawther, etc.–Burglar, Pickpocket

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 145 pounds. Dark hair, dark gray eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a heavy sandy beard; sometimes dyes it. Has numbers “33” in India ink on his left fore-arm.

RECORD. Lauther is an old New York sneak thief and pickpocket. He formerly kept a drinking saloon in the Tenth Ward, New York City, which was the resort of a large number of the professional thieves in America. He is the husband of Big Mag Shaffer, a very clever old-time shoplifter and pickpocket.

Lauther was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to Sing Sing prison for two years and six months on April 20, 1874, for grand larceny under the name of Robert Campbell.

He was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., on February 21, 1878, under the name of Shaw, his picture taken, and discharged.

Arrested again with George Milliard (138), and Tommy Matthews (156), in New York City, on the arrival of the Fall River steamer Newport, on April 12, 1879, for the larceny of a watch and $12 in money from Daniel Stein, during the passage from Boston to New York. So cleverly was the robbery committed that Judge Otterbourg was forced to discharge them.

He was arrested and convicted in Harrisburg, Pa., in June, 1879.

Again, on April 3, 1880, in Philadelphia, in company of Will Kennedy, for larceny from the person, and sentenced to eighteen months’ solitary confinement in the Eastern Penitentiary.

He has been arrested from time to time in almost every city in the Union. He has served terms in Sing Sing prison and the penitentiary on Blackwell’s Island, N. Y., and is a man well worth knowing. His picture is an excellent one, taken in June, 1885.

Fred Lawther was an atypical career pickpocket, in that he came from a close family, married and sired a family, and operated a business (a saloon) for several years. This despite the fact that he was sent to Sing Sing four times, and had stints at Eastern State Penitentiary and the Ohio State Penitentiary.

His wife, “Big Mag,” Margaret Dussold, may have had as many as seven children, though some apparently died as infants. Lawther was arrested on one occasion for beating his wife, but the marriage survived–at least until the late 1890s, when Lawther was behind bars in Columbus, Ohio–and his family thought him dead. At that juncture, Big Mag moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, and was known as Mrs. Eitel, the proprietor of a “disorderly house,” i.e. brothel.

Fred Lawther’s first brush with the law came in 1867, when he took part in a bungled burglary and was arrested under the name Robert Shaw:

This misadventure sent Lawther to Sing Sing for 5 years and 11 months. In April 1874, he committed another burglary under the name Robert Campbell, and was sentenced to a further two and a half years at Sing Sing.

In September 1877, Lawther assaulted a police office that came into his saloon and was bothering his sister-in-law.

Byrnes notes that Lawther was captured and later discharged in 1878 and 1879 in Philadelphia and New York, but he was caught in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in June 1879 and convicted on a light sentence. The next spring, 1880 found him in Philadelphia, where was was caught dipping again and sentenced to 18 months at Eastern State Penitentiary.

Lawther then headed to Windsor, Ontario, where he joined forces with Tom Bigelow and his wife, Louise Jourdan. In October 1884, he was arrested in Detroit under the name George Dussold for picking pockets.

Back in New York by 1888, Fred was arrested in New York with saws and wax key impressions that he intended to use to break friends out of jail in Bangor Maine. By Fred’s account, he was simply being a good friend:

In 1896 he was caught picking pockets in Cleveland, and sentenced to five years in the Ohio State prison. Released in May 1899, Lawther was immediately taken back to New York to face trial for lifting a diamond pin from a man on a street car in 1895.

In June 1899, Lawther was sentenced to five years and eight months in State Prison, going first to Sing Sing as Frederick R. Watson. He was later transferred to Clinton, where he was released in June, 1903.

#190 Henry Hoffman

~ jpkntz

Hiram Hoffman (1852-????), aka Henry Hoffman, Harry Hoffman, William Tannis/Tennis, Henry Steiner — Burglar, Receiver

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Thirty-two years old in 1886. Jew, born in United States. Married. No trade. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8 3/4 inches. Weight, 154 pounds. Black hair, dark eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a black mustache. Big nose. Parts his hair in the middle. Has a Jewish appearance. Has ” H.H.” near wrist on right arm. Scar on left cheek.

RECORD. Hoffman, which is his right name, is a well known New York thief and receiver, and has been arrested from time to time in almost every city in the United States. He has served two terms in State prison for burglary, and is a man well worth knowing.

He was arrested in New York City on October 14, 1882, in company of Frank Watson, alias Big Patsey, and Julius Klein (191), and delivered to the police authorities of Boston, Mass. Hoffman, Watson and Klein were arraigned in court in Boston, Mass., on November 24, 1882, and pleaded guilty to breaking and entering the store of Mr. Thomas, No. 35 Avon Street, that city, and carrying away velvet and cloth valued at $1,000. Hoffman and Watson were sentenced to three years each in Concord prison. Their sentence expired on July 3, 1885. Klein was sentenced to two years in the House of Correction at South Boston. His sentence expired on October 2, 1884.

During the months of October and November, 1885, two express wagons and their contents were stolen in Boston, Mass. The wagons were recovered, but their contents, valued at $4,000, were only partly recovered. Shortly after the robbery two notorious wagon thieves, named Stephen Dowd and William W. Alesbury, were arrested in Boston for the offenses. In Dowd’s pocket was found the directions of Hoffman’s house in New York City. Hoffman was arrested in New York, and part of the stolen property found in his possession. He was taken to Boston on December 15, 1885, and used as a witness against Dowd and Alesbury, who were convicted and sentenced to four years each in the Charlestown State prison. Alesbury has previously served a three years’ sentence in the same prison for a similar offense.

Hoffman was arrested again in Baltimore on May 7, 1886, under the name of Henry Stiner, charged with burglary. He pleaded guilty on June 3, 1886, and was sentenced to five years in State prison. His picture is an excellent one, taken in May, 1886.

Hiram Hoffman’s known record is even more depressing than Byrnes relates. He was sent to Sing Sing at age 19 for stealing two rifles and two pouches, under his real name, Hiram Hoffman (son of Abraham and Minna Hoffman). Even then, he was described as “an old and well-known offender.” For this crime, he was sentenced for five years, the latter portion spent in Auburn State Prison.

His activities between 1875 and 1880 haven’t been traced, but by that point, he was using a very common name, Henry Hoffman.

In June 1880, he was caught stealing $125 worth of goods from a Manhattan jeweler. He returned to Sing Sing for another two years.

He was next arrested in Boston with two more polished burglars, Frank Watson aka Big Patsey and Julius Klein. Whether Hoffman was being coy when offering an alias, or whether the court reporters were just sloppy, Hoffman’s processing was reported under six different names: William Tannis, William Franks, Big Bill, Tom Travis, William Francis, and William Tennis. Whatever name he was sentenced under, the term was three years. He was discharged from the Massachusetts State Penitentiary in October 1884.

Hoffman apparently made some burglar friends in jail, because in December 1885, two thieves were apprehended in Boston and one had Hoffman’s New York address in his pocket (which was an inexcusable blunder). New York police raided Hoffman’s abode and found half the loot from the Boston robberies. To save himself, Hoffman agreed to go to Boston and testify against the two crooks.

Hoffman was arrested again for burglaries of his own in Baltimore in May 1886. He was given a term of five years in the Maryland State Prison, emerging in August 1890.

A month later, he was caught again in New York, and given a much stiffer sentence: eight years and eleven months at Clinton Prison in Dannemora. He was discharged on August 5, 1896.

One can only hope that Hoffman finally made some peace with society. He wasn’t heard from again.

#34 Richard O. Davis

~ jpkntz

Richard Oliver Davis (1856-19??), aka James Camp, George T. Carson — Forger

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Married. Born in United States. Cloth cutter by trade. Medium build. Fair complexion. Height, 5 feet 9 1/2 inches. Weight, 161 pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes. Dresses well. Davis and his partner, No. 36, are considered clever people. They are well known in New York, Boston and in several other cities in the United States.

RECORD. Davis was arrested in New York City on November 22, 1883, in connection with Edward Darlington (36) and Charles Preston, alias Fisher (41), charged with forging a check for $400, drawn on Harris & Co. The complaint was made by Howes & Co., bankers. No. 11 Wall Street, New York City. He was committed in $2,000 bail by Justice Duffy. Davis pleaded guilty in the Court of General Sessions in New York City, and was sentenced to six years in State prison, on December 27, 1883. His sentence will expire, allowing him his commutation time, on February 26, 1888. This man and his partner, Darlington, had been traveling around the country for some time, before their arrest in New York City, passing forged checks. His picture is a good one, taken in 1883.

While Richard O. Davis was not a forger’s dupe, like Berkeley Puseley (aka Edward Darlington, the young man whose life was ruined by Davis and Charles Tisher, aka Charles Fisher), neither was he a master penman. His usual role was to establish good accounts and gain the trust of cashiers, while a lower-level player presented the bad checks. Inspector Byrnes never realized the full extent of Charles Tisher’s operations–Tisher, more so than Charles Becker or George Wade Wilkes–was the foremost forger mastermind of the 1880s and 1890s.

Richard O. Davis was the son of James Oliver Davis and Anna V. Luce. Richard was just one of more than ten children in the family, which made several moves: from near Albany, New York; to Weehawken, New Jersey; to Dunkirk, New York (on Lake Erie); and finally back east to Manhattan. James Oliver Davis was a jack-of-all-trades: a carpenter, a tavern owner, and lastly a stable owner. His son Richard sometimes worked for his father, buying horses. It was likely in this capacity that he came in contact with Charles Tisher, sometime in 1882, leading to his conviction for forgery–along with Berkeley Puseley–in 1884.

Davis’s whereabouts between his release from Sing Sing in 1888 and 1894 are not known, but it is likely that he joined a new forging gang led by Charles Tisher following Tisher’s release from Sing Sing in May 1892. The new gang included Bob Bowman, a veteran operations man, James Cregan, and Charles Becker, a skilled penman, as well as several others.

Davis was seen passing a forged check in April 1894 in Cincinnati, Ohio, posing as James Camp. A bank teller identified him as Davis from the photograph in Byrnes’s book. This kicked off a legal battle to find, extradite, and convict Davis that lasted more than four years. He was arrested in October 1894 in New York City, sparking the first legal battle over whether there was cause to send him to Ohio. After a hearing, it was decided to allow him to be escorted back there. Next a writ of habeas corpus was submitted, arguing that the requisition issued by Ohio had not been valid. That was denied, but in February 1895, Davis was allowed out of the Cincinnati jail on a $5000 bail bond. He dutifully returned to a Cincinnati court in March to renew his bail bond.

The next month, April 1895, Davis was caught trying to pass a forged check in Boston, Massachusetts, under the name George T. Carson; his partner was Max Steele. He was held in jail for months, long enough for official in Cincinnati to hear about it. A Cincinnati police detective came to Boston, posted Davis’s bail there, and took him back to Cincinnati to face trial. However, prosecutors now had difficulty collecting witnesses against him, and he was released on bail again.

Davis next joined a gang of postal box thieves/forgers, a crime that had been perfected by Charles Tisher. Tisher himself had fled to England in 1897, so leadership of the postal-box gang fell to Timothy J. Hogan. The so-called “Hogan band” gang made a huge tour starting with Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo, Minneapolis, and Kansas City. Davis was arrested in New York in December 1897 by postal authorities for mailbox robberies that took place in Toledo; Hogan was arrested in Kansas City, Kansas. Prosecutors once again failed to make a case against Davis in Toledo, so he was taken to Kansas City. There, the case against him failed when it was discovered that the alleged crime had taken place in Missouri, not Kansas. Missouri officials declined to take over the case, so Davis was once again released in late 1898.

Davis turned to burglary in March 1900, and was quickly arrested in New York City. No one recognized him as the once-famous forger. He was sent to Sing Sing on a sentence of five years, and released in 1904. A year later, in December 1905, he was caught in Queens, New York, again for burglary. When he re-entered Sing Sing with another five-year sentence it was noted he was lame in one leg.

There is no record that Davis was ever discharged or pardoned.

#198 John Pettengill

~ jpkntz

John J. Pettingill (Abt. 1835-1886), aka John Anderson, Joe Pettengill, James Pettingill, William Pettingill, James Gray, Little Pettingill, Boston Pett, Edward Perkins — Thief, Forger, Counterfeiter

From Byrnes’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Fifty-one years old in 1886. Born in the United States. Single. No trade. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Blue eyes, very weak; light hair, Light complexion. Thick lower lip, broad, high forehead. Has India ink marks on left arm and back of left hand. Small scar on back of neck from a boil.

RECORD. Pettengill is an old New York thief. He is what may be called a general thief, as he can turn his hand to almost anything — burglary, boarding-house work, handling forged paper or bonds, counterfeiting, etc. He has been arrested in almost every State from Maine to California, and has spent considerable of his life in State prison. He is well known in all the cities, and is considered more of a tool than a principal.

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 24, 1875, and sentenced to two years in Cherry Hill prison. Since then he has served terms in Sing Sing prison, New York, and other places. He was finally arrested in the ferry house in Hoboken, N.J., on April 18, 1885, in company of Theodore Krewolf, charged with passing a number of counterfeit ten-dollar bills, of the series of 1875, on several shopkeepers in Hoboken. He was sentenced to six years in Trenton State prison for this offense, on July 22, 1885. His picture is a good one, taken in June, 1875.

Byrnes describes Pettingill as “an old New York thief,” but Pettingill was a Boston native through and through, earning the nickname “Boston Pett.” His prime years as a criminal took place a generation before most of Byrnes’s crooks. In 1860 he was arrested for robbing $3000 worth of silks from a Manchester, New Hampshire store; and at the same time held for a store robbery in Boston. Even as this juncture, Pettingill was described as a “well-known Boston thief.”

In 1865, Pettingill was caught trying to pass counterfeit $50 bills at a Springfield, Massachusetts bank. He was arrested and taken to a station house, but while his Bertillon measurements were being taken, ran out the door. He was later recaptured and held on a $4000 bail bond; the money was put up, and Pettingill disappeared, forfeiting the bond. In 1866, Pettengill was rumored to have been in Dan Noble’s gang when it committed the Lord Bond robbery, netting a million and a half dollars [however, the crooks who committed the Lord Bond job have never been conclusively identified.] He was finally recaptured in 1868, and was sent to prison.

In 1875, Pettingill  passed a forged check at a Philadelphia bank. He was tracked to New York, arrested, and sent back to Philadelphia, where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to three years at Eastern State Penitentiary (not two years at Cherry Hill, as Byrnes indicated).

Upon his release, he was next discovered in 1878 in Washington, D. C., where he robbed Chief Naval Constructor Isaiah Hanscome of $48,000 in bonds and cash. This job was pulled off in partnership with two notorious Philadelphia criminals, Pete Burns and Jimmy Logue. Pettingill was jailed for over a year while he was tried, convicted, and held on appeal, but finally, in July 1879, his appeals were denied and he was sentenced to three years in prison.

Pettengill was next apprehended, four months after his release, in New York in 1882, trying to pass a forged check in company with two other noted forgers, Andy Roberts and William Bartlett. Curiously, neither Byrnes nor New York newspapers offered details of any prosecutions resulting from these arrests, which suggests that the case against them was dismissed.

Boston Pett’s last misadventure came in Hoboken, New Jersey, in June of 1885, when he and a partner are caught trying to pass counterfeit $10 bills at a series of stores in New Jersey. Pettingill was sentenced to six years of hard labor at the State Prison in Trenton. His constitution could not endure the conditions there; he died in January 1886.

#147 Dennis Carroll

~ jpkntz

Dennis Carroll (Abt. 1858-????), aka William Thompson, Big Slim — Pickpocket, Thief

From Byrne’s text:

DESCRIPTION. Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single. No trade. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Dark hair, dark eyes, quite weak; dark complexion. Generally wears a light, thin mustache. Slightly pitted with pock-marks.

RECORD. “Big Slim,” the name he is best known by, is a Chicago thief, and was formerly a partner of Joe Parish (84). He is a bold, desperate thief, having shot an officer out West who was trying to arrest him and Parish for picking pockets in one of the towns that ex-President Garfield’s body passed through. He came East four or five years ago, and has been working the country with Johnny Dobbs and his gang. He was arrested in Lawrence, Mass., on March 3, 1884, in company of Johnny Dobbs (64), Thos. McCarty, alias Day (87), and Frederick P. Grey (73). Carroll, or Thompson, is the man that did the shooting. (See record of No. 64.) Carroll and Dobbs pleaded guilty and were sentenced to ten years each, on June 9, 1884. Carroll was pardoned on September 23, 1885, by Governor Robinson, of Massachusetts. It was claimed that he was suffering from an incurable disease. His health returned, however, upon his release. When last seen he was in New York City, apparently as well as ever. (See record of No. 87.) His picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1884.

Byrnes’s entry for Dennis Carroll is very similar to his entry for another member of the 1884 Lawrence (Johnny Dobbs) gang, Thomas McCarthy. Both Carroll and McCarthy are mentioned as former partners of Joseph Parish, but are virtually untraceable prior to the Lawrence arrest. Both had distinctive nicknames…and both disappeared into obscurity after being released from Massachusetts.

Carroll had been jailed in Massachusetts under the name William Thompson. He was pardoned a year and a half into his ten-year sentence:

The prison physician, Dr. Sawin, had received his medical degree a year earlier, in 1883. Byrnes implies that Carroll made a miraculous recovery once he was free; however, in his 1895 edition, Byrnes indicates that Carroll inherited wealth and moved to California, but was still in ill-health.

#87 Thomas McCarty

~ jpkntz

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

~ jpkntz

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.

#85 William Beatty

~ jpkntz

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.

#73 Frederick P. Grey

~ jpkntz

Frank Sutton (Abt. 1854-????), aka Fred P. Gray, Frank Smith, Big Frank Norton, William Gray, George Perry – Thief

From Byrnes’s 1886 edition:

DESCRIPTION. Thirty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Single. No trade. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, 165 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, light complexion, brown mustache, and a thin growth of brown beard. Large ears.

RECORD. Grey, or Gray, is no doubt a clever burglar, from the fact that he was one of the “Johnny Dobbs” gang, that gave the authorities all over New England so much trouble in 1884. He is from the West, and is not very well known in the Eastern cities.

He was arrested in Lawrence, Mass., on March 3, 1884, in company of Johnny Dobbs (64), Denny Carroll, alias Wm. Thompson, alias ” Big Slim” (147), and Tommy McCarty, alias Day, alias Tommy Moore, alias “Bridgeport Tommy” (87). See record of No. 64 for full particulars. Kerrigan, alias Dobbs, and Carroll pleaded guilty. McCarty and Grey stood trial, were convicted, appealed their case without avail, and were finally sentenced to ten years each in State prison, at Concord, Mass., on February 11, 1885. See record of No. 87. His picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1884.

From Byrnes’s 1895 edition:

Grey was arrested again in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 16, 1895, under the name of Frank P. Sutton. He was in company of one Charles Johnson, who is said to have served a term of four years for burglary in California. A number of burglars tools were found in their rooms in Brooklyn. They were wanted for a number of post office robberies throughout the country. His second trial resulted in his acquittal on June 19, 1895. He was then delivered to the authorities of Matteawan, N.Y., who wanted him for an alleged post office robbery in that place. Later on he was admitted to bail.

      Chief Byrnes’s 1895 edition went to press with Frank Sutton’s trial for a post office robbery in Dutchess County, New York, still pending. There is little doubt that Sutton was a professional criminal well-versed in covering his tracks with aliases, tight lips, and good lawyers. His real name and family history are still unknown, as is his fate. However, details of the crime that took place at Matteawan and its subsequent trial shine a bit of light on the character of Frank Sutton (the name he was most often known by).

      On the night of February  5, 1895, three burglars entered the small town of Matteawan, New York and robbed a hardware store, then broke into the post office and blew open the safe there, using so much dynamite that the whole front of the building collapsed into the street.  On their way out of town they knocked down a watchman with a sandbag, then encountered a policeman, Officer Marshall Snyder, who emerged from a doorway two houses down from the post office. A short, thick-set man, supposed by authorities to be a thief named Charles Johnson, spotted the officer, pointed a pistol at him, and told him to get back inside the house. Snyder hesitated, and Johnson fired at him. The bullet went through Snyder’s mouth and into his neck, just missing his spinal column, and Snyder fell onto his back just inside the doorway. He was stunned, but conscious.

      After a few seconds, a taller man leaned over Snyder and struck a match. “Are you much hurt?” the taller man asked with concern. Snyder’s mouth was full of blood, and he could not reply. The stranger lit several more matches, examining Snyder’s wounds. Over the tall man’s shoulder, Snyder saw the short, stocky man who shot him looking on anxiously. The tall man said to his partner, “You had no business to shoot this man. We may get in trouble for this.”

      The shorter man snorted, “There will be trouble enough if you stay here much longer.” The taller man acknowledged that remark, and leaned over to take Snyder’s revolver and handcuffs. “You won’t be needing these tonight.” Then the burglars disappeared.

      Police had no clues to identify to perpetrators, but as arrests were made of burglars in New York City, over the next few weeks, a check was made against the descriptions that Snyder and other residents of Matteawan had offered. In March of 1895, Charles Johnson and Frank Sutton were arrested in Brooklyn for possessing burglar’s tools. There had been a recent string of burglaries in Brooklyn, but the case against Johnson and Sutton there was weak. Officer Snyder, still healing from his gunshot wound,  was brought down to the city and identified Frank Sutton as the taller burglar, the one who was concerned over his injury. Snyder invited other Matteawan residents who had seen the supposed burglars in town just before the robbery to take a look a Sutton, and they agreed he was one of the culprits.

      Frank Sutton was transferred to the Dutchess County jail in Poughkeepsie to stand trial for the Matteawan robbery. Following him from Brooklyn to Poughkeepsie was a “handsome, well-dressed” woman who claimed to be Sutton’s wife. One newspaper reported that she had been the wife of a Cleveland lumber dealer who decided to leave her husband and accompany Frank Sutton on his adventures.

      Sutton was tried in June, 1895. He entered court finely dressed, wearing jewelry, and well-groomed. Officer Snyder was placed on the stand to testify, and under cross-examination began to waiver in his certainty that Sutton had been the tall man. Snyder’s doubt was enough to discharge Sutton. As the courtroom cleared, Sutton’s companion rushed over to Snyder and thanked him profusely.

      Sutton walked out of the Dutchess County jail a free man, vindicated by sworn testimony. Had he been found guilty, he would have returned to his county jail cell to await sentencing before being transferred to a State prison. However, he might have had a backup plan in mind in that event. After Sutton had left town, the sheriffs found in his cell a piece of soap on which he had made impressions of jail warder’s keys; and behind the tin sheeting of the tiles in the prisoner’s wash room, they found: nine saws, two door keys, three handcuff keys, and three files. One of the door keys fit the main cell block door, and another would have opened Sutton’s leg shackles.