THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, JULY 9, 1933
tTaMGab.l?
TiXQ
Tale of Thrilling Bank Messen
ger Hold-up and How It Was
Solved. A True Detective
Story.
BY GEORGE S. DOUGHERTY.
Formerly Deputy Police Commissioner
of New York.
IT WAS on a Thursday in February
that the "great taxicab robbery"
took place in New York city. At
10:30 o'clock that morning two trusted
messengers left the East River National
bank, at Broadway and Third street, in a"
taxicab to draw $25,000 from the Prod
uce Exchange bank, downtown, at Broad
way and Beaver street.
Thee taxicab driver was an Italian,
Geno Montani. He was customarily used
by the messengers.
Five men suddenly swooped down upon
the cab es it was on its way to the bank
with the money. The unarmed messen
gers were beaten until they were uncon
scious. One man compelled the driver
to speed out o the neighborhood, when
all the bandits left the cab.
After the three robbers had left his
cab Montani sought a policeman. In a
few minutes we had the meager descrip
tions he gave us, and as soon as possible ,
after that I sent out a general alarm :
"Stole $25,000 in five and ten dollar
bills, contained in a leather telescope bag
24 Inches long, 16 inches square, from
two bank messengers in taxicab about
11 A. M., at Park Place and Church street
and escaped in a five or seven seated
touring car, top up."
While the detectives were working out
side hunting for eyewitnesses and seek
ing to uncover a pretty well hidden trail
we were having a conference back at po
lice headquarters, mapping out a plan of
action. First we recalled all bank rob
bers and holdup men we thought capable
of having done this piece of work.
It was a complicated, well planned
robbery. Brains had been in back of it;
such brains as bank robbers in general
do not possess. Moreover, the taxicab rob
bers had had knowledge. They knew the
methods of the bank In transferring cash.
They knew when the taxicab bearing the
messengers would make its trip, and they
knew the route. What is more, they knew
that an old man and a boy, both un
armed, were the messengers. Their plans
had been detailed.
After that conference we examined
Montani in detail. He was willing to
tell all he knew to help the police. He
was frank and straightforward and con
fident of himself. Montani was an i
Italian, about 30, heavy set, medium
height. His face was intelligent, par
ticularly his big black eyes. .
The newspaper men were won over by
Montani's personality as well as his story. '
They set out at once to defend him and
to set up criticism of the police for having
held him for we did hold him. After
he was discharged in court after a pre
liminary hearing a few days afterward
the police were condemned rather se
verely. But, as a fact, the newspaper men did
not understand all they knew. And they
didn't know everything. For on that first
day Montani, through his answers, got
himself so deeply into the case that we
could have held him in spite of his dis
charge at the hands of the magistrate
who, incidentally, reprimanded the po
lice but wo let him go for the time
being.
Montani had said he slowed down his
cab to keep from running over an old
man who got into the way. But detec
tives at the scene of the robbery found
. eyewitnesses ' who swore that such was
not the case, that the cab had slowed
without apparent reason. He had said,
too, that his own cab with himself driv
ing had answered the summons from the
bank that morning, although the other
one was first in line, because the other
cab had been sent up town to have a
tire vulcanized. Investigation by detec
tives proved that that had not been so
that no tire had needed vulcanizing and
none had been vulcanized.
Ho testified he had raised a cry for
help as eoon as the robbers left his cab.
Witnesses said that was not true. He
admitted that he had gone south away
from the robbers' automobile after he
had taken a policeman aboard instead
of "going north following it, explaining
that that was according to the police
man's orders. The policeman denied
this.
A ticket seller came forward mean
while to tell that three men had taken
an elevated train at his station near, the
robbery scene that morning. .They had
carried a leather bag, he said, and had
, not waited for change from a quarter.
He could not describe them except to
say that two of them had blood spots on
their clothing.
Montani was in my custody that night,
but before morning We had more or less
forgotten him and were working on a
clew that was as new and unexpected
as the robbery itself had been.
At about 1 o'clock Friday morning 'I
received a message on the telephone. I
rushed uptown to a hotel and met the
man who had telephoned, arriving there
at 2 o'clock. This informant had real
information. Sometimes informants do;
frequently they don't.
The man lived at a lower' west side
lodging house. On the afternoon of the
robbery, at about 3, a fellow lodger by
the name of Eddie Collins had hurried
home and told a woman known as "Swede
Annie," with whom he lived, to hurry
and pack their belongings. Then they
had left together. The informant said
also that he had seen a hand bag filled
with bills in Collins' possession.
Early the next morning we took care
ful steps to approach the landlady of the
rooming house to discover whether she
was in or out of sympathy with Collins.
It was learned without difficulty that
she was honest and reliable. One of the
detectives asked her outright what she
knew of Collins.
"Sure, and I know a lot about? him,"
One of the
Mrs. Sullivan replied, "but little that's
good."
Then she told how, two weeks before,
he had approached her and offered to
pay her if she would appear as achar
acter witness in a Brooklyn court for a
criminal named Molloy being held there
charged with robbery. Mrs. Sullivan had
refused to perjure herself, having never
heard of the man.
Then, after a few days, one morning
while she was tidying up his room she
saw two blackjacks in Collins' bureau
drawer. She asked him why he needed
the weapons. '
"We need 'em in our business," he re
plied. "What is your business?" Mrs. Sullivan
questioned. Then, assuming that arro
gant, confident bearing which has proved
the undoing of more criminals than all
detectives have ever caught, he told her
of a plan of his gang to rob a taxicab
that carried money from one bank to
another every week.
'It'll be easy," he saidj "We've got
it all fixed with the chauffeur."
Mrs. Sullivan did not notify the police
because she decided Collins was boasting. "
Immediately the 60 detectives were
put on the career of Collins and "Sweds
Annie." Operatives went into the under
world and talked casually with dive
keepers, criminals, shady women and
other characters of that realm. By the
end of the week we had learned that
Annie and Collins had taken a taxicab
Thursday afternoon, accompanied by a
second man, and had left the lodging
house to go uptown. A good description
of her companions was obtained. It was ,
also learned that the real name of Collins
was Eddie Kinsman, that he had been a
prizefighter, and that he had come to
New York from Boston. Annie had worn
a cheap little hat with a row of red roses
adorning it. Also the police got a good
picture of Annie and a fair photo of Kins
man. These pictures were reproduced in
a hundred copies and sent all over the
country.
I believed that Eddie , and Annie and
their unkndwn friend had gone to Boston.
Here I introduced a departure from cus
tom. Instead of telegraphing the Boston
police to intercept them, I sent two de
tectives from our own forces there. Sat-
urday night Inspector Edward P. Hughes,
in charge of the detective bureau, and
Detective Sergeant John J. O'Connell left
New York for Boston. Nobody In the de
partment except myself knew they ha&
gone.
Saturday I resumed my examination
of Montani. An insurance company had
come forward with the information that
Montani had several months before pre
sented a fraudulent bill for repairs on a
burned car, which had never been re
paired. The company had not pressed
the matter, but had got a written con
fession from the chauffeur that the bill
was fraudulent. We told Montani noth
ing of what we had learned.
' Saturday night while Montani and I
were walking together on the Bowery on
our way to supper he stopped suddenly
and pointed at an old Bowery beggar.
"There is the old man who got in front
of my car," he said.
The old man was a typical character
of the slums rags and whiskers. He
was picking up cigarette butts with as
tonishing agility. I Immediately dubbed
him "King Dodo," and maybe he is still
known by that name in the Bowery. We
took him to headquarters with us. He
immediately established a perfect alibi.
In a spirit of playfulness I paroled him
on his honor and he took it seriously.
band opened the bag in the rooms of "Swede Annie"
Two days later King Dodo reported to
me dressed and brushed up to an aston- .
ishing transformation, his whiskers neat
ly combed.
Kinsman had not gone to Boston. In
spector Hughes found out whore his fam-
ly lived a very respectable family, by
the way and learned many things about
Kinsman's life in Boston. But we had
to take up a new trail. Monday morning
I arranged to question conductors of all
trains that left New York on the after
noon of the day of the robbery. For two
days nothing was learned of consequence,
but on Wednesday Detective Watson, for
merly a railroad engineer, learned that a
train of the New York Central had car
ried three passengers to Albany on the
day of the robbery who answered the de
scription of the threp sought. These
three had taken the train at Peekskill.
Evidently they had driven in the taxicab
to that station. The conductor who gave
the information remembered Annie, be--cause
he caught her smoking a cigarette
in the lavatory of the day coach. Another
of the trainmen remembered assisting
her to alight at the Albany station. De
tective Watson was sent Immediately to
Albany with instructions. To-tell what
his instructions were it will be necessary
to go back from Wednesday to Monday.
We learned Monday morning that a
woman known as Myrtl Horn, a friend
of Annie's, had moved from Mrs. Sulli
van's rooming house to another place,
taking a double room there; that she
had carried Annie's trunk with her. Our
deduction' from that was that "Swede
Annie" was due to come back to New
York.' I went to this house in person,
as a contractor, and soon found that the
landlady was trustworthy. I told her
what I wanted and we worked out a plan.
That evening Police Matron Isabelle Good
win moved into the lodging house. I
carried her bundle, and when she and the
landlady caught sight of each other they
rushed together and kissed noisily, mak
ing much talk of the long time since they
had seen each other. Mrs. Goodwin was
posing as the landlady's sister from
Montreal.
Tuesday "Swede Annie" came back
wearing a new hat.
But I'm not through with Monday yet.
On that day Montani was arraigned and
dismissed for want of evidence.
We had started by tracing the fugitive
. Kinsman's career, learning that he had
come to New York the previous summer,
engaged in one prize tight and then had
got a job as a waiter in the Nutshell Cafe
on Sixth avenue. We learned of two of
his associates there who needed Investi
gation. One of his friends was a fellow
known as "Gene," a man with a hooked
nose. The other was a little Italian
known as "Jess," who had once been pro
prietor of a dive and criminals' hang out
named the Arch Cafe.
" It was an easy matter to learn who
. "Jess" , was. We made a cautious ap-,
proach to the Arch Cafe, planting a man
there to pick up all possible information.
The first day he was there he learned
that a man named Clarke, alias Molloy,
who was under arrest in Brooklyn had
been the inspiration for a defense fund
collected among his frienjjs. The Italian,
"Jess," last name "Albrazzo," had been
placed in charge of the fund, and had
squandered it on a spree. He had made
it up later and sent it over to Molloy by
a man known as "Dutch" and an Italian
named "Matteo."
Molloy, incidentally, was the same man
whose good character Mrs. Sullivan was
asked to vouch for.
An officer who knew Jess was sought.
He was found in Detective Antony Grieco.
Gr'leco and another officer were put upon
Jess's trail. They learned that Jess was
accustomed to stop in a Thompson street
saloon kept by another Italian, James
Fasquale, better known as "Jimmie the
Push." They kept Jess under close sur
veillance and waited.
. By roundabout methods and unwitting
Informants we learned that the "Gene"
who was one of Kinsman's associates was
Gene Splaine of Boston, an ex-convict.
From his description we figured him as
the man who had left with Kinsman and
"Swede Annie."
Wednesday Detective Watson found
the conductor who remembered Annie
and her friends. That day he set out for
Albany with instructions.
In Albany, I said, go to the big hat ,
store on Broadway near the station. May
be that's where Annie got her new hat."
Detective Watson found the sales
wpman in that hat shop who had sold
Arinie her hat. Also he found the old
"hat. there,, the cheap affair with the row
of red' roses;-.- He sent it to me by ex-,
press and I was glad to get it. It was a
cheap thing, but it looked mighty dear
to me just then.
Unquestionably the two men had left
Albany, but we had no way of knowing
when or where they had gone. Detective
Watson made inquiries at Albany and
I sought information by telephone from
the ticket salesmen in Albany, and we
learned after a while that two men an
swering the description had bought tick
ets for Chicago Friday -morning. We con
cluded that they had left on the next fast
train, at 12, Friday noon. That conclu
sion was strengthened when Policewoman
.Goodwin reported that she had learned
' Annie had come back to New York Friday
night and had hidden out until Tuesday.
Kinsman had given her $125.
So that night Detectives Clare and Daly
took a fast train from New York to Chi
cago. I gave them unlimited expense priv
ileges, false names and a telegraph code
title of "Orange Growers."- I told them
they were to stick to the trail if it lasted
all over the world.
Disguise is seldom necessary, but the
"Orange Growers" thought It advisable,
so, taking advantage of their train's being
snowed under in Michigan and of numer
ous delays of the Journey, they let their
beards grow. When they arrived in Chi
cago they were not recognized by crimi
nals they had known for years. First, of
course, they had gone to police headquar
ters and enlisted the aid of local detec
tives. Then, wearing old clothes, they
haunted Chicago criminal resorts, posing
as "thugs." They made inquiries about
Kinsman and Splaine, and successfully
trailed them to a fashionable apartment
house. They had spent several days In
the underworld section of Chicago, but
Kinsman, they learned, had returned to
New York. Splaine was still thought to
be in Chicago, but, they cpuld not find
him. They tried several ruses, but none
worked. The "Orange Growers" found a
woman with whom Splaine, had spent
some time. Clare went into the place
where she lived and represented himself
ae a "strong-arm," a holdup man; de
scribed Splaine to her, telling her that
.he and his partner were looking "for the
rich guy" to "stick him up." They de
scribed Splaine and promised the woman
that they would give her a part of the
loot If she would tell where her friend
was. .
She said she didn't know whom they
were talking about. Clare and Daly posed
to her as desperate characters and told
her that they were going to find the man,
anyhow. They went out, and two Chicago
detectives came in directly afterward, tell
ing the woman they were looking for two
desperate "yeggmen," for whom they had
warrants two of the worst characters in
the country. The officers had trailed
them to this building. They described
Clare and Daly. The woman vowed s'
had never seen them, and the officers left.
After a while Clare and Daly returned,
and the woman told them - "the bulls"
were on their trail. Daly replied that
. they'd as soon kill a cop as anybody else,
and said they were going to etay by her
side till Splaine returned. Then she told
them that Splaine had left town that day;
she did not know where he had gone. The
"Orange Growers" believed her.
They hurried to police headquarters
and sent the alarm to other cities. The
next morning Splaine was arrested in
-Memphis as he alighted from a train in
the Grand Union depot.
Sunday night, the second Sunday after
the robbery, an informant telephoned- me
that Kinsman had been seen in New York
in the company of "Swede Annie" and an
unknown" man wearing a bright colored
necktie. Immediately afterward Mrs.
Goodwin telephoned that she believed
Kinsman was back in New York.) s But
Annie had been followed by the shadow
men. . I Boon learned that five of them
were outside a hotel on Third avenue near
Forty-second street, to which they had
followed Kinsman and Annie. I called
for 25 detectives, and in 30 minutes the
hotel was completely surrounded. But I
thought it better to not arrest Kinsman
at once in the hope that he would lead
me to others. So I sent squads of men to
the railroad station and simply kept
watch on the hotel.
I was in the Eighteenth-street station
house Monday night when a man was
brought in for drunkenness. He gave his
name as Molloy. He turned out to be
the Molloy who has turned up twice be
fore in this story.
Kinsman and Annie and the man in the
red tie were followed the next day. He
was arrested In the Grand Central ter
minal. Annie and the other men were
with him. The unknown man turned out
to be Kinsman's brother, who was not
"in oil" the robbery at all.
Kinsman was brought to me at police
headquarters. His bearing as he was ush
ered into the room was of supreme con
fidence, almost arrogance. I asked him
first' if he would stand up and let me see
how tall he was. He laughed and stood.
Then I opened his coat and looked at the
label. "I see you've been in Chicago," I
saiff. I looked into his hat. "This was
bought in Chicago, too." At his tie. "And
this." Then I looked at the label on his
underclothes. "These were bought in a
State-street store in Chicago," I said, "and
a very good store it is."
"Look here!" he turned on me as if
ready to fight, "do yqu take me for a
boob?" v
"Yes, I do," I replied. "Why didn't you
make your getaway with a brass band
instead of taking 'Swede Annie' with you
to Albany to attract attention all the
way? Why didn't you advertise in the
papers Instead of sending her back here
to tell where you had gone?" ...
We confrontecLmr prisoner with much
that Annie had told and much more that
she had not until at last we had dragged
a complete confession bit by bit from him.
After he ha'd told us all he went through
the whole detailed admission again. His
story brought new characters- into our
mystery.
saell cafe Kinsman had met several men
who were afterward to exert considerable
influence upon his life. Among them were
"Dutch" Keller, "Joe the Kid," "Scotty
the Lamb" and Gene Splaine. Through
these' he was introduced to Jess Albrazzo.
Another Whom he met was Molloy, and
"Dutch" and "Joe the Kid" had been
Albrazzo's messengers to Molloy when
he was in "prison in Brooklyn.
Jess-had been the first to tell Kinsman
of the plan to hold up the taxicab. Meet
ings followed in which plans were laid,
hinging principally upon Jess' friend,
Gano Montani, who drove the taxicab in
which the money was carried and who
would be willing to collaborate on the
job." The conferences were held In the
saloon of "Jimmie the Push," and it was
agreed that the loot was to be divided
there.
At 8 o'clock on Thursday morning, Feb
ruary 16, the six bandits were out of their
beds. Gene Splaine and "Dutch" Keller
took the two blackjacks Mrs. Sullivan had
seen in Kinsman's drawer. Kinsman, be
ing a boxer, asserted he needed no
weapons.
The six ate breakfast together in a
cafeteria and then went to the saloon of
"Jimmie the Push," where they had a
round of drinks. There the final plans
were gone through, Jess Albrazzo with
drawing from actual participation with
the explanation that he was the chief of
the robbers and would employ his privi
lege. Then three other characters, here
tofore not implicated in the robbery, took
a hand, and the affair took a new twist.
A little band of Italian desperadoes known
in the underworld as "The Three Brig
ands," entered the scene and put in
a claim, asserting that they proposed to
take no part in the holdup but to be at
the spot with fitting weapons to see that
it should go through without a hitch.
Then, they said, they would put up a
claim. for their share of the spoils. "The
Three Brigands" were men to be feared,
and so the six robbers went on their mis
sion somewhat more diffidently than be
fore, but still determined to carry the
rqbbery through. They knew it was up
to them.
"Dutch" Keller saw Montani's cab am
bling up Church street and gave the sig
nal. Montani stopped at once; "Dutch"
rushed for the taxicab dbof nearest him
and struck the old messenger, Smith, on
the head With his blackjack. On the other
side of the car Gene Splaine opened the
door and was pushed in by "Joe the Kid."
The younger messenger, Wardle, put up
a little struggle, but was knocked sense
less in quick time. Kinsman, who had
boosted "Dutch'i into the cab, jumped on
the seat beside Montani and pointed his
finger at the driver's side to simulate a
revolver. The car sped toward Park
Place. There the robbers alighted,
"Dutch" carrying the bag with the money
in it. He and Splaine were spotted with
blood. The green car standing near by
was a ruse. The three bandits did not
take it. They went to the elevated sta
tion, boarded a train and rode to the next
stop. Then they took a street car. The
conductor of the surface car noticed the
blood and remarked on it. "Dutch" said
they had been In a fight, :
They headed for the saloon of "JImmie
the Push." Arrived there they found Jess
and "The Three Brigands" awaiting them.
"Dutch" placed the leather bag on a
table. Matteo Albrano, leader of "The
Three Brigands," immediately drew a re
volver and held up the taxicab bandits.
Another of his band opened the bag and
took a parcel containing $10,000. Matteo
gave the remaining $15,000 to Jess, Kins
man and the robbery gang. Jess then
took $3000 for himself and the same
amount for Montani. Splaine took his
$3000, and Kinsman had to be content
with $2750. Neither "Joe the Kid" nor
"Scotty the Lamb" was present, so the
former was counted out with $250 and
"Scotty" with nothing at all. What was
left was to go to "expenses." Then they
separated and made their escape.
In the examination of Jess Albrazzo I
had to resort to trickery to get a confes
sion. Jess was rather an-ignorant fellow,
superstitious in the extreme, but obsti
nate. He was not on the point of confes
sion for a good while, and finally I walked
over to where he sat and pinched his left
ear. Then I left the room. As soon as
I had gone out he turned to my assistant
and asked why I had done that.
"To see if you were lying," was the
reply. "Then I came back and looked
scrutinizingly at his ear. "Yes," I said,
"he's lying all right." I called in several
to examine it, and all agreed that he was
lying. Jess himself was so curious that
he tried to turn his head to see his own
ear. Then he weakened and confessed.
That night Jess and I went together to see
"Jimmie the Push," whom he had impli
cated. In a day or so we placed "Jimmie
the Push" under arrest.
When we arrested "Jimmie the Push"
we also arrested his partner, . Robert
Deilio, upon whom we had proof of com-,
plicity.
Meanwhile Splaine had arrived on ex
tradition papers from Memphis and con
fessed. We set out to find "Dutch" Keller, "Joe
the Kid" and "The Three Brigands." We
had some luck, but not a great deal. We
found no trace of "Dutch" or Joe. But we
did find Matteo Albrano, who had robbed
the holdup men,, and we learned some
thing of his two mates, who, with him,
made up "The Three Brigands." Both of
them were itf'Mexico.
Matteo confessed to his part, as did all
of our prisoners except Montani. The
chauffeur, incidentally, got the longest
prison sentence of them all.
How a Girl and a Plane
Now Foil the Rattler :
(fonttnuort From First Pagiv)
ing how the poison is extracted from a
snake Roosevelt wrote:
"From the boxes an impassive assist
ant took the snakes and handled them
fearlessly and with caution. The poison
ous ones were taken out with a long-handled
steel hook, inserting the hook under
the snake and lifting him. . . . Dr.
Brazil stepped forward. . . . The at
tendant dropped his hook on the neck of
each in succession, seizing by the neck
behind the head and holding the reptile
up for the doctor. . . . Dr. Brazil in
serted a shallow saucer into each mouth
behind the fangs into which the poison
oozed. From the big lachesis came a
large quantity of yellow venom, which
speedily crystalized into minute crystals.
The rattler yielded a much less quantity
of white venom, but which is far more
active of the two."
Roosevelt also observes that King
Cobra, most poisonous of reptiles, will not"
feed on another poisonous snake, even
though it may come from another part of
the world.
According to Dr. Ditmars the cootalu3
serum manufactured at the Instituto
Therapico, which is used for snake bites,
comes from the throats of horses that
have been immunized under the direction
of Dr. Brazil, discoverer of the method.
A small drop of rattler poison Is first
injected, into the horse. The dose is
gradually increased until the horse ac
quires absolute immunity. After this the
horse's blood serum will neutralize snake
poison when mixed-with it. The resulting
anti-toxin is what comes back to the
United States and is one of the serums
that will be rushed to a snake-bite victim
by the airplane service of the San Diego
Zoological society. The society also has
on hand a supply of anti-venomous serum
known as "antivenene."
According to the published plans of the
society, in case of snake bite the alarm
should be immediately sent in. The air
plane will be started out. A special para
chute will be provided and the anti-toxin,
together with the necessary instruments
for injecting it, will be dropped into' the
town or the locality from which the call
for help came.
This service is one of the many humani
tarian activities of the San Diego Zoologi
cal society and will be free to those who
avail themselves of it. The society Urges,
however, that notification be made aa
soon after the wound as possible.
In case it is necessary to transport the
serum by airplane, a charge for transpor
tation will be placed against the Town or
place where it is dropped or in case it is
out in the wilds against the person.
Instructions will be sent with the emer
gency kit containing the serum.
Copeia quotes Barbour and Garman ad
vancing a new theory on the way a rattler
got its rattles. They declare that the rat
tles developed through a constriction in
primitive times that kept part of the skin
on when the snake cast its skin. A' nerv
ous snake vibrates its tail. The rattler
discovered that by vibrating its tail it
could warn bigger mammals not to step
on it. Thus it needed the rattles and, with
the aid of the constriction, repeated at
each casting, and the natural result of
selection, the rattle was evolved, not to
warn, but to protect, these writers con-
elude-,