The times dispatch. [volume], May 25, 1913, Image 4

About The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914

Image provided by: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

                
WHY GRIME DOES NOT PAY
\
No. 8 of a Series of Extraordinary Revelations
Written by SOPHIE LYONS
The Most Famous sisd Successful Criminal of Modern Times, Who Made a
Million Dollars in Her Early Criminal Career and Lost It at Monte Carlo, and
Has Now Accumulated Half a Million Dollars in Honorable Business Enterprises
Written by Sophie Lyons,
Copyright, 1913, by the Star Company.
THE bank robberB and other criminals
whom I have been telling you about
In these pages depended tor the suc
cess of their crimes almost entirely upon
their Ingenuity. It was their brains against
the combined brains of the banks and the
police, and to carry out their dishonest
ends they very rarely fonnd it necessary
to use violence.
It is quite true that most of these rob
ber* were always heavily armed, but the
weapons they carried were, as a rule, used
only In the most desperate emergencies?
when a well-aimed bullet was the only
thing that could save their own lives and
liberty. Men like Langdon Moore and
many other successful burglars whom 1
have known positlvoly refusedl to have
anything to do with crimes where it was
Beceasary to harm their victims or even
to threaten them with violence.
But with train robbers it is quite dif
ferent Like the pirates who used to In
fest the seas, these desperadoes can ac
complish nothing without first Ailing their
victims with the fear of serious injury or
death. The automatic revolver, the repeat
ing rifle and the dynamite bomb are essen
tial parts of their equipment and on the
slightest provocation they stand ready to
choot to kilL Indeed, the train robber, in
bis eagerness to got his plunder, often
Bhoots down helpless men and women
when there is really no necessity for
bloodshed.
In my previous articles I have shown
that the biggest bank robbery ever accom
plished was really an unprofitable under
taking; that the great and "successful"
burglars lived to learn the lesson that a
life of crime Is not really profitable; that
even those who, when caught, have man
aged to escape from prison, profited noth
ing. And to-day in the field of train rob
bery 1 shall prove to the readers of this
page that here, again, the rule holdB true
that CRIME DOES NOT PAY'.
Of course, there have been men clever
enough to hold up trains without resort
ing to violence, but they are exceptional
cases. The famous "Black Bart," the lone
highwayman, was such a man. He boasted
that the shotgun he carried on his exploits
had never been loaded and that never In
all his long criminal caTeer had he taken
? life or Injured a human being.
TbiB "Black Dart"?Charles Boles was
bis right name?was as romantic a char
acter as any swashbuckling pirate of the
story books. He was a well educated man
and had once had a prosperous business.
Just bow he happened to turn highway
man and train robber was a secret which
- bfe would never divulge.
A Lone Highwayman
"Black Bart" began his long career as
a hold-up man in the days when the stago
coaches used to carry large amounts of
currency and gold dust over the mountain
trails of the Far West. He always worked
alone, but by a clever ruse which I will
tell you about he led his victims to believe
that he had several heavily armed accom
plices to help him enforce,his demands.
The vein of humor which showed itself
in everything he did extended even to the
way be dressed himself up for his rob
beries. He invariably wore a long linen
duster with a jute bag wrapped around
bis body like an Indian's blanket A tall
cone-shaped hat, such aB clowns In the
circus wear, completed a costume more
outlandish than any ever seen outside a
fancy dress ball.
"Black Bart" chose the scene for each of
bis robberies with the greatest care. His
favorite spot was a sharp curve at the foot
of a long hill where the road ran through
a bit of forest or between high cliffs.
A few yards from this point in the road
but close enough to be plainly seen frora
the halted stage coach, the robber rigged
tne ingenious decoy by which he lured his
Tictims into believing that he was not
alone but had with him a considerable
armed force.
With jute bags or pieces of tent canvas
he built a screen about three feet high be
tween two trees or two piles of rocks. The
outside of this ambush he carefully masked
with branches of tref? and chunks of sod.
Behind 'hf ambush he s'.uck in the
ground a half do7.en sticks and on each
stick he hung an old sombrero such as
every cowboy and miner in those days
wore.
1 hese hats showed above the ambush
just as they would have if there had been
Teal men underneath them. Below each
hat "Black Bart" stuek a piece of broom
nick painted black to give the semblance
of rifle barrels.
It all looked very real and very for
midable?for all the world as if Fix men
were crouching there with rifles iri hand
ready to fire on the stage coach at the first
Bigti of resistance.
When It came almost time for the coa/h
to be due the lone highwayman would
climb to the top of a tree or a neighboring
cliff and watch for its approach with the
powerful field glasses he aJways carried.
If there was any indication -that the ex
pected money bags were not on board or
that its occupants were heavily armed, he
would quickly dismantle his dummy am
bush and lay it one side to wait for a
more favorable time.
But if every thing looked all right,
"Black Bart" clambered down and took
up his position at the bend in the road
where he could not be seen from the' coach
until it was almost upon him. He carried
the Bhotgun, which he afterward said was
never loaded, and behind him appeared the
hats of his six dummy "confederates" with
their menacing "rifle barrels."
"Hands up!" shouted the highwayman,
stepping out into the road directly in'front
of <the advancing horses and leveling his
shotgun at the driver's head.
The driver tugged on the reins. Jammed
the brake down hard and the heavy vehicle
came to a hurried stop. Everybody looked
In amazement at the grotesque figure in
the road?not quite sure whether to laugh
or to cry.
But any hopes that It might all be *
Joke were quickly dispelled by the busi
ness-like way the highwayman handled his
gun and by the meaning nod of his head
in the direction of the sombreros nnd rifle
barrels, which formed such a threatening
background for this little drama.
"Don't shoot until I give the word, boys."
he calls over biB shoulder to his supposed
confederates ? the scarecrow imitation
bandits who looked very threatening in
the bushes beside the road
His Dummy Robbers
Whatever Idea of resistance the driver
or any one else on the stage might have
bad was immediately dropped at sight of
the dummy desperadoes to whom "Black
Bart" addressed this stern command.
"I'll have to trouble you to step out of
that stage for a moment," says "Black
Bart," with the courtesy for which he was
famous.
As the men, women and children left the
stage he ranged them in a long line by the
roadside, directly in range of the am
bushed riflemen, whose painted broomstick
guns, significantly enough, kept the little
group constantly covered.
From under his dusier he produced a
neat canvas bag. With this in one hand
and his shotgun in the other, he passed
along the line and gently but firmly re
lieved his victims of watches, pocketbookB.
scarf pins and everything else of value.
This operation over, he would make the
driver open the mail bags and the strong
box in which the valuable shipments were
carried
From their contents he selected all the
money and gold dust and stowed it away
In his bag, which by this time was bulging
with plunder.
"Now drive on," said "Black Bart," mo
tioning his victims back to their places
on the coach, "and if you value your lives
don't look back. My men and I are dead
shots and will fire at the first head we
see looking around."
Anything that would take them out of
the range of those gunB was welcome to
the frightened people on the coach. The
driver would crack his whip and away the
stage would roll at a great pace?with
never a person bold enough to look back
at the scene of the robbery.
In addition to his other accomplish
ments, "Black Bart'" was something of a
poet and evidently took a good deal of
pride in hlB verses. Quite frequently, af
ter robbing a stage coach, he would hand
one of his victims a bit of paper on which
were scrawled some of his (rhymes.
Here is a "poem" which the driver of a
Wells-Fargo stage received from "Black
Bari" as a souvenir of the time when the
highwayman robbed the strong box of
$6,000 in gold and diamonds:
"Here I lay me down to sleep,
To wait the coming morrow?
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat
And everlasting sorrow.
Yet corne what will?I'll try It on.
My condition can't be worse,
And if there's money in that stage.
Tis money in my purse.
"BLACK BART."
When railroads began to take the pla"e
of stage routes "Black Bart" proved to his
satisfaction that the methods by whlcb he
had robbed so many stages single-banded
and without taking a life, w?=re equally
well adapted for holding up trains.
Time and again fast express trains on
the western roads would be stopped Just
at dusk In some lonely spot by the frantic
waving of a red flag.
When the engineer Jumped down to see
what the trouble was he was confronted
by "Black Bart," dressed as usual In the
eccentric garb which distinguished him
from every other train robber.
A*, the point of his shotgun the robber
forc?d the engineer and fireman to un
couple the engine and run it a few hun
dred feet down the track.
By this time the passengers and train
man werp pouring out of the earn 10 learn
the cause of the delay. "Black Bart**
wasted few words on tbem. Nodding bis
Sophie Lyons?the "Queen of the Burglars"
heart significantly In the direction or the
"riflemen,'' whose hats and "gun barrels"
showed from the usual ambush at the side
of the track, he paid loud enough for all
to hear:
"Don't flro unless I give the word.
boys!"
The hint was quite sufficient. Convinced
that they were at the mercy of a large
band of desperate men, passengers, train
men and exprcB3 messengers quickly
handed their valuables over to "Black
Bart."
When he had secured all the plunder
he could, he uttered his usual threat about
not looking back on penalty of being shot
at and allowed the train to move on.
"Black Bart" Es Caught
After eluding the police and express
companies for years, "Black Bart" finally
lost his nerve in a way tha/t seemed strange
in view of the coolness he had displayed
on bo many previous occasions.
He had held up a Southern Pacific train
In the usual way. As he was packing the
laBt of the plunder Into his bag a farmer s
boy came walking down a mountain trail
toward the train.
The boy had been hunting and carried a
rifle. He was Innocent of any Intention to
interfere with "Black Bart"?In fact, had
he had any Idea that a train jobbery was
going on he would nromptly have taken to
his heels.
Strangely enough the sight of this lone
toy with tie rifle filled the train robber
with the greatest alarm. Hurriedly throw
ing his bag of booty over his shoulder he
started off in the opposite dlreotlon atf fast
as he could run.
The pa&sengcrs and trainmen were
dumfounded. Why should this robber run
away when be had six armed men over
them to protect him?
JuBt then a passing gust of wind blew
two of the sombreros off the "heads" of
"Black Bart's" dummies. That laid hare
for the first time his clever ruse?the ruse
which had enabled him to steal thousands
of dollar? from trains and stages single
handed!
The express messenger was the first of
the victims to come to his senses. Seizing
the rifle from the astonished farmer's boy,
be fired several shots at the fleeing robber.
But none of them took effect and "Black
Bart" Boon disappeared In the woods high
up th'* mountain side.
Detectives who visited the scene of the
robbery found that In his hurried flight,
"Black Bart" had dropped the first clue to
hl? identity they had ever been able to
find. It wan a handkerchief, (bearing In one
corner the- Initial "B'' and the mark of
a San Francisco laundry *
A close watch was set In the vicinity of
this laundry. When, a few weeks later,
"Black Bart" left his lonely cabin in a
wlldern'-fiH of 'ho Sierras and came to San
Francisco to dispose of the proceeds of his
latest robberies, he was promptly arrested.
Hla n*-risdes* panic at the sight of the
farmer's boy and Mb rifle had proved his
undoing
'Bin/ k Barf pleaded guilty. At his
'rial he arnij^ed 'he court by relating how,
trtiqiu riii/, (,u his vtnits to San Francisco,
be hk.fi dleeuceed his crimes with some of
the very v?-.k v.ho were searching
for hUn
A ft rr. Kervfng n long term In San Quen
Uo prlfcon. h? reformed, and the la?t I
tt-'ar ny
Knew of him he was living honestly, am
the money hlB crimes brought him had
been gambled away and he was penniless
when he left prison and had to struggle
hard to make a living. For this daring
and unusually lucky desperado surely
crime did not pay.
"Old Dill" Miner was another famous
train robber who generally worked alone
and who, like "Black Bart." never posed
as a bad man and never took human life.
He was one of the first train rc/bbers to
operate on the Pacific Coast and Js said to
have originated the expression, "Hands
up!"
Only a few years ago he figured In a
daring series of robberies along the Canar
dlan Pacific Railway. The crimes fol
lowed each other Jn rapid succession?
hardly a- week passed that this bold man
did not hold up some fast train and make
his escape with large sums in currency
and gold dust.
The reward of $16,000 which the Cana
dian Government offered for his capture
seemed to have no terrors for Miner. One
May evonlng. when the search for him
wag at ItB height, he stopped a fast train
near Furrer, British Columbia, on almost
the exact spot of one of his previous rob
beries.
At the point of his revolver. Miner
forced the engineer to uncouple the com
bination mall and express car from the
rest of tho train and take It a mile or so
down the track. As Miner knew, a heavy
shipment of gold dust had been made on
this train and he expected to make a rich
haul.
But to his surprise, when he came to
rifle the car, he found not one of the ex
press company's strong boxes. The only
thing of value the car contained was a
Bmall quantity of registered mall.
Women Train Robbers
The frequent robberies had made the ex
press messenger apprehensive for tho
safety of his treasure. Just before reach
the point where Miner had waved his red
lantern acrosB the track he had taken the
boxeB of gold dust out of the express car
and secreted them In a vacant stateroom
in a sleeping car at the rear of the train.
Disgusted at his failure to find the gold
dust where he had expected and fearing
some trap If ho attempted to search the
rest of the train, Miner abandoned the
robbery and fled.
But again he was to be foiled by the
v quick wits of this same express messenger.
Ab tho train robber Jumped on his horse
and rode away, the messenger climbed a
telegraph pole, cut a wire and wkh an
emergency key, flashed the news of the
robbery to the noarest garrison of the
Canadian Mounted Constabulary.
As a result, several armed posses were
soon hot on Miner's trail. They surround
ed him five days later and after a desper
ate gun fight, succeeded in making him a
prisoner. He is now in a Canadian prison
serving a life sentence?this was the bad
reward of all his crimes.
I am thankful to say that I never had
any Inclination for this kind of crime and
never assisted in holding up a train. The
fact that I was a woman would not have
prevented my doing this had I wished, for
there have been many successful woman
train robbers.
Etta Place was one of these. She was
the recognized leader of the desperate
^wwSiSsS
co???7,ona8bc weeS M" cl???
ban*hurglara Elb'SuSg
bad <o face the problem of rettlnv inin
.afcs The, frequently aought oni ?n
other's advice aa to the bef? mean.^i
toryaktypee TSr?8?Tbor''CU'ar'y 'efraC
.heM;Q\\lb?arofbsirLc;rfrlLrc,'r.?
& [r!ln''rlZ"' afd """" ?"o hi'
, en train robbers In their #?ariv ?^.-T
later became bank burglars careers
ChaH^n.m^01^8 Wcrc ,ke Ma"h and
^^?'^^m^usssrs/'^st
(he robbery of an express car on The N?
and^5o^"rnrr!en^bonds ?f '15?'?00 ta Ca8h
ruT?ra^;0-j-n;rd^^?Y?e''r.rbj
3Sr WffxT,;
Marsh would bo waiting a? am! an
SSSEafcsSS
wlthoutde^ecuon "d *dm" <hem
Thieves' Clever Plan
, ?*?. '?"lde <he car <?? roBoera would
. * a holc ln ">? door through which the,
had entered Thla hoi, was Juat lir?
???? ;or 3 m" 10 """ "" *lrra through
and allde hack the bolt ?? lbe lnslde ?f
?mp^.slo^That0'^", JX* ,0 "?'* ?"?
entrance to th\ c?r Mlne<1
r/vri8: s
through the dojr " "d saw'"S
?he"' Z\Z??ZZ ",5? 5aa,ned?.dh ?"" "
cut^'on hl#dfaco^and"h ??d
hard struggle hVf?Hband" t0 ,nfllcate the
on Pa'?S S~
on his Hp, and thus lddPrl?m7lS"l """
Parent sufferings reality to his ap
tlonS,Lheth.raou,,.!r,ru?d,T a'v,ome "*
S;ierr-^?H;?"d
;%C^eaE^^'rae,v^dredwo!d
c?r,.ru" ?%h?'r1,h<,?d Zbh"y 'h'n had >??
EEvh8?r^d?""?"edf'h?->H^
without aahItchderUk0n U Went throuRh
thfs sudden ftet
Btory3 oTaLho? tro^.b,e h,s conscience. His
i?latiRlh?? k robbery, at first entirely
r r-is'-r
arrest for complicity in the crime
JIard.at'hl8 turn ot affairs. Rullard
and Marsh fled to Canada. They wer?
{hey had* stolen *** Part of what
vin i 8toI,en was recovered. I told
Jut S theF White ptKV ^
never recaptured. y ero
?MVajrsssusws sag
Sn^of'^J'^vZrarod'rlctrVhe
^deheen?.'aUCh' l"n ? '*'?*>'"l??~S
a vf. ? committed another crime.
torv of tr?1X KK^'nary chaPtcr 1" the his.
tory of train robbing Is that which Includes
reer?wM?^ioi al^ C^rtfs PerTy' H,a ca"
maruL * of lon? duration, but it was
marked by a diabolical ingenui<tv and a
li^es o?otherresgardh?f h'8 ?Wn "fe and tbe
shown iXJ5 aS fGW men have eve'
snown. His crimes were all the morp r<x
mUted in becau,se ^ey not com.
but iS r tSSt. ,y re8ion of the West
York State! 8eCt,0Q ?f NeW
Late one evening in the early Fall a
Bturdy, -well built and well dressed young
vIJlu . ti,,rK?Ugh the New York Cen?
. w Albany. Several of the rall
suoh an*'? ? ,nCn 8&W Mm' but he wa*
low and I ifent; C,ean-cut looking fel
ness thnI thV f:n ly Boins about hIs tousI*
"?sHs'(Jhat vtbey took him for an employee
fh^r . wl n?fhlng straii^e of his being
there at that hour.
tbe station a limited express train
tood ready to start on its trip westward.
.. ? ,ay flat on h,? ajo
half suffocated by the smo\e
to death at every motion
himself along to a steel
Fastening one end of a l0na
waist. He gripped the rope
himself cautiously down the
only a man of almost
attempt. Hanging in midai
hand and smashed the giacs
"Open that door or |'i|
The astonished express
would stop the train, but bef
Then, reaching his hand thr
the door open and swung hj
Tihe .If*1!? insisted or an turp
directly behhd the engine, and
that a baggate car and a lone
sleepers and cay coaches.
???m a.thl?Uc young man approa
JuBt at the train was vuj
mJn f, eaae of an experienced
man he graspeJ the railing on t
platform of the express car as I
blm and swung hlmeelf on board
Is young nan who crouche<
the 1,Rtform until the
lighted AJbany yuda had been let
was Oliver Perrr. Having mBdt
poor success of ?urglary and ser
eral prison senteices. he was n(
J?y b,B hand at ^aln robbery
The express car as I have Bald,
first car In the Lain. Its front
solid panel of meal and wood
curely locked.
The front half of the car was
a miscellaneous asortment of b
rels and other frefcht. making
Pile from the floor o within a fe
the ceiling. In the rear half
were two safes and a desk at
solitary express masentcr was
eorling way bills.
The train was abott forty mile
Albany when. abov? tho clattcr
voice 1110 rnefl8enge thought ho
"Hands up!" was vhat he th
said?but how absurd
He was not a nervcra man and
sure that ho was all Jone In the
thought his Imaginatlci and the
the train muBt havo dceived him
out even raising his bed he went
his work.
But again the voice Bonded,
it was unmistakable, a?j to the
command there was soimhing ad
'Hands up." it said. V I'll bl
head off!" I
Looking up. the astonshed m
caw Perry's ugly face leeing at
Oliver Perry's D