"V"y, -.'' .; .;:-'- ;". ,:. . Vy -'-V HIE
r' ! '' . , '. rp .-a. ..i , , ,. r.s. '
- - I A , w M i -res "BBw -i
eggmen
as ' Allies ; of i Justice ui
Capturing Their Kind
CCfN INF0RM4 TJON received, we
0
arrested tnts man for ourgiary oj
New Jersey postoflicesi I would
ask you to hold him until our witnesses ar-
rive;
"Hold you in $Z500 bail for further
hearing Wednesday next, 10 a clock. Pris
oner committed. That's all"
If new to the pen the prisoner rages. and
invokes all the natural ana consnmnonai
:Utt nt ! if im nM hand he turns sill.
rtghtS Of man, tt an Old MHa, tie turns SUl'
lenly td the bench from which he has risen to
receive the decision. The detective, tries to
taA dozf Dursuinv reporters, lhe com
mining magistrate argues twith the clerk the
i trains t
tilla of proof, beyond some detective's bare
word alleging .an unauincnticatca rcyvrt vf
a whole week
; "On information received
hypnotic power of
lies behind the necromantic,
those mysterious words? . , . .
i is the secret of the alliance of justice ..
with crime, the secret which has at last made
vulnerable the Achilles heel of the redoubtable r
yeggmari, the secret of setting a thief to catch';
a thief, bhich France learned so Jong ago in
the days of the great Vidocq, which the Unit
ed States is unwillingly tearntng now in the
times of postal inspectors and '"ptyirt clothe?'
-tr THE United States were mora law abiding It would
I have a far more Interesting jutd far mora popular
X
literature; of -crime. The statement la a true a
it anneara paradoxical '
In England, even with a newspaper press that Is ex-...
pert In the, suppression of tha aenaatlonal, a bold robbery
or a flagrant murder will act tha whole empire by tha
ears; to England'a literature r the creator of Sherlock .
Holmes can become a popular Idol as Scotland Yard can
. become a popular bogey,
- , In Franco, with no newspaper press whatever-for
journalism, there la practically limited to essay, wit and .
romance a few "strong arm" boys and men can set Paris :
'quailing before tha atrocities of.ltg. tribe of "Apachaa,
while a Du Boisgobey'a memory , remalna forever en-v
shrined to the pantheon of the popular affections. , -.
; , ' In the United States, m every large city, la every .
newspaper, every day,- a regular department is served tip -
where the burglaries, highway robberies and murderous -assaults
are disposed of writh less and Jess attention to
their thrilling details, purely because the public doesn't
TToaawmj uf ne f Inadequate: Tha law's ohamplona find themselves, pW-
IVard. 1 ' .- . ' . . . - - - force, compelled to seek alUea In tha numberleas campa
' Thats aU. "On ihfortna W ortraT tn.r a. . tyVot
rfo.fi the simple ominous, legally illegal trick;' $ESfc2& S. lli'SfeffM
and a man atratnst whom there ts itot a sew-: to be found the guide to hia extinction, '
.LifiS'i 9 Em mM M mm mmm r my mw mr I irn F MTmrmm in
juet me imagination iie.iauow ana n win jump like a
frightened horse at the faintest flick of the whip; lash it .
with "sensations" day In and day out, and it will plod
' under the blacksnake. '" -
- So murders that would set England aflame, robberies
' that would have France in a ferment, leave the United
States jogging along, indifferent. .
That is why the whole new "school" of ymejhaa
ill
xvx
beea abl to crow up to tha past decado untU it com
priies on of the moat powerful, moat kmajlng orft-aataa
tlons of crtmlnala aver rrbuped together by common In
tereita and imiUr methode in tha hlatory of a modern
filiation. And that, too. la why only at tbla lta day
ao auth0riUear cheat to cheat In their conflict with
crime, raiie the enormoua
way to its aubiug-.tion. 1
difficulties that bar their
heel of tha law. ardently and aren-
erally applied, could hava stamped out summarily the
nascent profession of tha yeg. Today all tha machinery
of the law, applied with all the energy and shrewdness
Inherent In a. really high state of efllclency, proves to be
& . . - ' . i
IS" T ARIOUS United States diBtrict attorneys,
K actinjf undet recent ' instructions . from
Attorney Qeneraj Bonaparte,-aTe engag-:
ed in the preliminaries or the actualities' of suits
r'iJm" ., "vtv '
against railroad comjfanies for violations "of the
country's iafety appliance laws The number of
prosecutions instigated tfas 10J. , ,
- Meanwhile the 'Interstate Commerce Oommis- '
sion,' under , act of Congress, is spending $50,000
which Congress gave it for the study of block sig
nal systems and appliances for the automatic con
trol of trains. " - : . .
t ' " - ,C , , v
' Oh. the Empire State must larate wait. ' "
,VjAd the Cennonbelt go banal .: ii'r.:.
;,vwhen the wentbound's ditched and the teolear'e hitched,
K' Wtt'' for h Breakdown iiaag tlawrai), t
; ayitf ,taa,.nf tt h il ngn , gnsj T" TT ' v'
orxcon . Sunday ... jourjiAU roniLAOTt
In . tha opinion Of exnart crlmlnolofftats tha 1ca
agalnat burgUry. a burglary baa been evolved recently,
are too lenient to meet the Incentives and temptatlone that
now incite to tha.crlme. Industrial conditions have made
great numbers ' men; wboee intelligence, like their
morals, la of low grade, famllUr, with the working of
, Iron and ateel and tha use of explosives.
A vast amount of knowledge has been put at tha
command of vast numbers of workmen, tha large majority
of them honest enough, but .the exceptions, very numer
ous in tha aggregate, unfitted by training or environment
to refrain from criminal use of their knowledge when
opportunity offers and need presses.
Result, tha yeggs hundreds of them, soma ao expert
that they can blow a safe and not disturb a single stamp
msny belonging to the thick-heeded type of workmen
who areas likely to blow tha whole building and them
selvea to smithereens as tbsy were to bungle tha job from
which they had to be discharged.
AN ANOMALOUS MEDLEY
A queer, anomalous medley amid the seething crime of
the underworld real mechanics, really out of employ
ment; real tramps, really fitted by acquired skill and
equally unfitted by native rascality And Uslnesa to hold
the easiest job aver offered; real burglars, shining lights
amid the dark obloquy of their calling, who. are nattily
dressed gamblers today, hoboes camped, on soma creek
bank tomorrow, ahadowy, expert, coolly murderous safe
blowers In the neighboring postofflces to-morrow night
Tha penalty for tha crime In the government courts la
five years' imprisonment and $1000 fine; that Is, five years
and one month extra, since tha criminal has tha advan
tage of the Insolvent debtor's law. t
But already several western states have established a
pepalty of not more than forty and not less than twenty
years for burglaries committed In buildings where ex
plosives are used and the building Is occupied by people.
The new criminal code of the national government, so
long In its revision and now before Congress, carries a
hlTrTZ -i
TtfOMPSotr BLoacsrsrzM
mi
-,. I ed Industriously enough during? the scant two
1 years which have elapsed since It got ltsr
150,000. Every few months, anxious to catch
up with the slaughters that have been coming at
lightning express epeed. It has issued bulletins from -Washington
telling how many. ' , - .
. A few weeks after the first of the year the com
mission found 'itself only 20,000 or so behind. It had.
to let the casualties for the concluding months of 1907
await collection, as bearers do with those who felt In
yesterday's battle, because hey can collectonly the
remnants and remains of those who went down the
day before. - 1
hv That Is why the bulletin of the commission covered '
only, the months of July, 'August and .September In ;
1907. But, during those three months, the casualties -Auaabarad
2t,0S of whom 1329 were killed and 21.714
i -3 " ' X S
. -'.a- - r-rrr- VMx v'W' .f--y Ky :
KOSftlTi'G. APRIL
I l'V A
penalty of fifteen years for any robbery of a government
postofAoe. ,
Bare lies the hope of the future that Is held by the
government's guardians of tha law. With penalties so
severe, any gang of yeggmen apprehended for a robbery
la likely to Include at least one weaker brother who
quails before the long term that stares him In tha face.
If, hopeful of leniency nd leniency, somehow, usual
ly Is extended to the man who turns state's evidence or
gives such aid to the prosecution as Insures conviction
his reticence breaks down, the way la cleared for remov
ing the whole gang permanently from tha scenes of their
pernicious activity.
That will be tha law's Iron heel, reinforced tea years
later than it should have been. For the present the law,
instead of compelling the thief to Immure tha thieves,
can do no more than, brim him. '
That la tha explanation of tha request for $5000 em
bodied In an Item of tha Postofflce Appropriation bill
which -Chief Postal Inspector McMilUn was forced to
make to a House committee recently.
Postal authorities have denied emphatically sine, then
that they hire professional yeggs to join In burglaries for
the purpose of securing evidence; but. even with tha de
nial accepted t its face value, the fact remalna tha ap
propriation is urgently needed for the main general pur
pose of bribing the bribable yegg.
There is a reward fund, distributed at the discretion
of the postmaster general, of f 10,000 a year for Informa
tion and aid that bring about the arrest and conviction of
postofflce burglars; and the payments are commonly
made upon an appraisement of SZS0 & criminal. But that
Is available only long after the arrest, and a yeggman.
when he is willing to betray, turns Judas nly under the
pressure of Immediate necessity.
So the bribe he gets comes directly from the pocket of
the local postal Inspector who is working on the case
and the Inspector's sole source of replenishment for the
pocket Is his government salary.
in one eastern city last year a chief Inspector, whose
pride In the record of his district would not let him lose
-0 ' '
were Injured, an Increase of 1ST In the number of
killed and of JOSS In the number of Injured beyond the
totals of the corresponding quarter for 1806. ' -'
- : The number of collisions and derailments Increased
by 607, thus affording the interesting three months'
total of m, with m collisions and 208 derailments
te prove that the companlea favored, no special form
Of accident, being perfectly fair and just. ,c .,,
There would appear to be some Slight dlscrlmlna-
tion against smashing and upsetting passenger trains.
r than war. nnlv S20 onllialona unrt 9.'?. 2 il.rillniAnli
In that class of traffic: it may have been that the rela
ho Kaon ih. k. ..i..
Uvea of killed paasengera are unpleasantly addicted to'
damage suits, or it may have been merely an over
sight. i'-ri j-- '-- .''-A- .J,.- ,J ; '.,; ..
. Direct damage to cars; engines and roadway, due
to ' the collisions "and ' derailments of those three
months, amountea to s.ua,6S,' -j.;i
road accident funds leaves it eertal
"ettle Sflgr :
rnmDaniea are still tryin to settle or to ne-ht
claims for further millions to damages which juries.
a tittle of helpful Information; spent $700 Cut at his own
salary to defray the various incidental yegg "grafts"
that had to be complied with. ,s .' '
A whole underground system prevails. Borne "plain
clothes" raaa on the city police force has a yegg "stool
pigeon," reformed thief r treacherous tramp, who known
the identity and hiding place of the members of tha, gang
that robbed a. country postofflce. ? , ' . . ! l:
He tells the postal Inspector, with the intimation that
about $lf will satisfy the yegg. Tha inspector must pass
along the $13, wherever it comes from, . He may capiuro
and convict the burglars, but ha never gets back his tU
for government officers are expressly debarred from par
ticipation in the reward fund. :- ,'
Or, say, a gang of yeggs, having worked successfully
through tha South, conclude the time bus arrived fur
flitting. They are suddenly transuogriAed from hoboes
to traveling salesmen, and. m good clothes and guod stj le,
they journoy to New York. , .
They hasten Ao any one of half a doi-n "dumps
located on the ' Bowery, conducted by 1 some old-uma
burglar, and known to the police as well-to-do crimlntiin.
There they receive the late Information of the tind.-r-world
and of the police domain, for the criminal claoten
spy on the authorities quite as Industriously ss the U
spies on the criminal; It Is "pull devil, pull baker," all
along the line. ' ,
, Hatlened they are "in" right, the prosperous yeirg
betake themselves to some apartment house recommenuvil
by the keeper of the dump, with whom Uiry may leave a
change of clothing and their tools of trade. He never
betrays them the consequences of a loss of revenue frin
the drinks they so lavishly buy and of a knife in th.j
back it they should discover his treachery are too immi
nent to make him less than an absolutely faithful ally.
LWAYS READY TO "PEACH"
But some needy hsnger-on, his memory filled with the
goselp of the place, knows them for the gsng who cleaned
up JkjuO in cash and 2uo In stamps near Richmond, Va.;
and he knows, too. that they are going to twist thn
tiger's tall at MoCandtosa' that night. He may earn ,
he may earn $, by the betrayal, according to the value
of his information. .
Sometimes they And htm out, and then the city au
thorities have a mysterious murder to unravel, for every
great eity has Its yeggs who live in dally apprehension of
the hour when some betrayed burglar shell be released
from Jail, with his term lowered, by "good behavior" tha 1
professional criminal is the bear behaved la all prisons
and shall hunt him down as relentlessly as a hound hunts !
a fox. j
The secret history of the postal Inspectors offices
throughout the country Is filled with stories of the yeitg
amateur detective, whose aid alonw has made tha, law.
' operative. " . -
Two yeare ago the police of Paterson, N. J., arrested
on suspicion, because he was carrying a kit of burglar
tools, a man who gave his name as Kdward Kearney
and protested that he was an honest mechanic. .
There was practically nothing against him, for the
crime bo waa out for had not been even begun. But la
Philadelphia a yegg "tipped off" a postal inspector to the
idea thai he might be Ed Carney, a famous burglar, using
another spelling for his name, i
The Inspector sent to Paterson a Rogues Gallery like
ness of the original Ed Carney and Edward Kearney,
virtuous mechanic. Is now doing a five-year term in Jer
sey for the trivia offense of carrying a kit of tools which
might have served the turn of burglary
Justice these days has a saying about the yeggman
which varies what injustice in the old days used to say
Ofthe Indian; "The only good yeggman is a jugged man."
About the time of Ed Carney's Incarceration, Tom
Dowd, known as ''Denver Harry," waa picked up in
Bridgeport, Conn., on suspicion of having robbed the post
offlce at Fairfield, but not a glint of evidence could be
procured for his conviction. .
Before his release, however, a treacherous yegg toM
tha postal inspectors that he had some time previouiv
murdered a mtln while robbing a Texaa postofflce. lio
will neither rob nor murder in the future. The etatn
of Texaa has him. hard and fast, in its penitentiary foe
Ufa. . i--.--- -
In April last Frank "Wagner, George Daly land ITarr-?
Williams, arrested and convicted of postofflce robberies at
Falls Creek and Soldier. In Pennsylvania, had the scrupu
lous coneeajment of their identity, as the most skilful
desperate yegg burglars In tha country, penetrated by
"Information received" from a yegg In Philadelphia who
needed money. . '
The whole history of their other unpunished crimes Is
now In the possession of the authorities; if, with the many
prosecutions that are awaiting them upon the expiration
of their current terms, they live to be old enough to re
sume robbery, they will be miraculous '-Witnesses to tha
hygiento value of American Jails.' ' -
Plot and counterplot it is the whole story of the now
handicapped campaign, that ' justice 1 is -waging again'
crime, with every faintest scrap of information seizes
upon and treasured by the- shrewd, watchful foe.
This article, in the cool, calm opinion of the most con
scientious thief-taker employed by tha United States gov
ernment, within one week from today will be in the bund j
Of every yegg from Maine to California. '
But, Gentlemen Yeggs, do not mistake It for enm
postal Inspector's slip of tha tongue. It la rather a If.
Iated declaration of war.
more or less Intelligent, will render for revision b -Supreme
Courts more or less addicted to technicality
, Trusting to luck, after years and years of losin
cards dealt by insulted fate, or trusting to the forget
fulness of United Htates district attorneys, would er-
pear to be the only possible explanations of such uni
versal, otrich-llke inhumation of the eye of precau
tion in the blind sand of negligence. .,.-...
Nothing else could account for it. with such safelv
appllances as are In actual ; use demonstrated to h
futile 4279 times within the brief period of ninety
two days, with 13,805,696 wasted for the most damnin -?d-$r.tl8ement
raUroada ever Invested in and wiu
23,036- casualties. ;.v.v .-. i v - h.. ' x
The commission has been accdrding attention 1 1
new inventions that profess to be automatically, euros '
safe, and among those It has investigated Is one b
Frederlchi -V. Thompson, an assistant electrical en- s
neer f the Philadelphia and Beading Bailway. H--
commission, apparently, is the only body Interested in
railroading In the United States that cares a hf
whether Frederick V. Thompson, assistant electi i
engineer, has Invented an automatlo safety ajj
Snce or an automatically explosive crowbar.
Mr. Thompson's device la an automatic engin
operating on the engine in connection, if that be .
elrable, with the Hall electric aignal system. By
automatlo opening of an auxiliary throttle and vai
electrically equipped. It keeps every train continuHi
In Its separate "block" or section of track, am
guarding against front and rear collisions, again
nearly all classes of. obstructions and agalnat o;
awitchea open draws, open sidings and open crt.-
overs. - .- - . sr -
The mechanism operates by electrle conned
with the raila An electro magnet opens the va;
which; eenda compressed air from a reservoir In t
engine to a cylinder, which closes the steam throu
Valve and opens the valve on the air brakes.
The roadway Is divided. Into blocks, and, nl
with the two vails ordinarily in service, a third r
la installed,-whloh a very well be tmide of the
rails that roads are constantly throwing out for t
placementvwith ! the standard 100-poun4 rail. . .
third raUearriea the battery current, but a current .
low la power as to offer no, danger, even U tnu 1
Inery jblock ; of tc ner r, whl--h r-
. i . . . Ifi T i riatr of maenets and a.l an
with contact points'.t either end of the am.. .
with contact peinu TL"' Kach a"t V.f .
two contact points in tne ' "lafv , i ,
points protects a block, one at eitner ena ot tr.o c
block.
Thl
- The two magneta" of 'the' relay are connect- l t
Vr?Jn raila with the battery in Series. '1 ( ,
Vtaa main rails
ii.aria.tiv bridsed. completing the tucuif
v-Minir whether by a train, 1 y.
nn fr'iiH w,
Arw. atops an approacning
train
even though
lhe t li
:-r 1.
autanitn."."ji.
with the thlrt rail, and go save ib.u,
of installation.