D\\vv Cornell University Library XI The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924096989177 In compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 2003 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A COLLECTION MADE BY BENNO LOEWy I854-I9I9 AND BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY Professional Criminals of America. Negative by Andtrson, N. Y. J-TcIiMypc Pn'uiiijg Co., Boston. ^Ut^» PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA BY THOMAS BYRNES INSPECTOR OF POLICE AND CHIEF OF DETECTIVES NEW YORK CITY 'PRO BONO PUBLICO' CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited 739 & 741 BROADWAY. NEW YORK Copyright, 1886, By THOMAS BYRNES. All rights reserved. PRESS OF HUNTER & BEACH, NEW YORK. , ^^<DOeytcr-^ /fA.Cri^i.<^Ci^ //yrcpri^t^e^ (^u^ e-^e^.y^ INTRODUCTION. THE volume entitled "Professional Criminals of America," now submitted to the public, is not a work of fiction, but a history of the criminal classes. The writer has confined himself to facts, collected by systematic investigation and verified by patient research, during a continuous, active and honorable service of nearly a quarter of a century in the Police Department of the City of New York. Necessarily, during this long period, Inspector Thomas Byrnes has been brought into official relations with professional thieves of all grades, and has had a most favorable field for investigating the antecedents, history and achievements of the many dangerous criminals continually preying upon the community. These opportunities have been improved to their utmost extent, and the result has been the accumulation of a vast store of useful knowledge, such as has never before been gathered by any other public officer or private individual. The book is complete, and, in my opinion, trustworthy in all its details, and in these points consists its great value and desirability. It contains over two hundred photographs of important and dangerous criminals, thus forming a public Rogues' Gallery. In addition, among its pages will be found the methods and records of several hundred Burglars, Bank Thieves, Forgers, Swindlers, and law-breakers of every description. The book also contains valuable criminal information relative to a large number of bank burglaries, notable forgeries and mysterious murders, all of which have been collected from the best possible sources, together with the Prison Commu- tation Laws and other interesting matter. It is not claimed that there will be found in these pages an account of each particular arrest of those whose records are given. This would be impossible, for a professional thief, in a locality where he is a stranger, uses every means in his power to conceal his identity, and in many instances celebrated robbers have been convicted and sentenced under fictitious names. My experience as a judge in the principal criminal court of the city and county of New York, has assured me of the great value of the contents of this volume, and my knowledge of the writer permits me to cheerfully endorse the trustworthiness of the information with which his book is replete. In my estimation the circulation of the volume will tend to familiarize the public with the faces, appearance and methods of the army of malefactors who, with keen eyes and active brains, are forever watching and planning to their detriment. The author has spread his vast knowledge of the criminal classes in a simple, straightforward narrative of facts, and the book supplies a want long felt in the community. There cannot be the slightest doubt but that it will prove an important medium in the prevention and detection of crime, and I therefore cheerfully give it my fullest endorsement and recommendation. FREDERICK SMYTH, Recorder. PREFACE A S crimes against property are of so frequent occurrence in the cities and towns of ^ this country, it was suggested to my mind that the publication of a book describing thieves and their various ways of operating would be a great preventive against further depredations. Aware of the fact that there is nothing that professional criminals fear so much as identification and exposure, it is my belief that if men and women who make a practice of preying upon society were known to others besides detectives and frequenters of the courts, a check, if not a complete stop, would be put to their exploits. While the photographs of burglars, forgers, sneak thieves, and robbers of lesser degree are kept in police albums, many offenders are still able to operate successfully. But with their likenesses within reach of all, their vocation would soon become risky and unprofitable. Experience has shown me, during the twenty-three years of my connection with the Police Department of the City of New York, and especially the period in which I have been in command of the Detective Bureau, that bankers, brokers, commercial and business men, and the public, were strangely ignorant concerning the many and ingenious methods resorted to by rogues in quest of plunder. With the view of thwarting thieves, I have, therefore, taken this means of circulating their pictures, together with accurate descriptions of them, and interesting information regarding their crimes and methods, gathered from the most reliable sources. Many mysterious thefts are truthfully explained, and the names of the persons credited with merely, without committing them are revealed ; but as information corroborative proof, is not evidence, it would be valueless in a legal prosecution. In the following pages will be found a vast collection of facts illustrative of the doings of celebrated robbers, and pains have been taken to secure, regardless of expense, excellent reproductions of their photographs, so that the law-breakers can be recognized at a glance. By consulting this book prosecuting officers and other officials will be able to save much time and expense in the identification of criminals who may fall into their hands. In the compilation of this work, information obtained from newspapers and police officials of other cities was of great assistance to me, but all the matter and data were verified before being used. Hoping that this volume will serve as a medium in the prevention and detection of crime, I remain, respectfully, THOMAS BYRNES. New York, September, 1886. CONTENTS. ^^*^^ Methods of Professional Criminals of America : Bank Burglars, ........ i Bank Sneak Thieves, ....... 7 Forgers, . ,12 Hotel and Boarding-House Thieves, . -19 Sneak and House Thieves, ..... ,22 Store and Safe Burglars, . , , . .26 Shoplifters and Pickpockets, ...... 30 Confidence and Banco Men, . , .40 Recelvers of Stolen Goods, ...... 44 Tricks of Sawdust Men, . , . -47 Frauds in Horse Sales, ....... 50 Why Thieves are Photographed, ... -52 Descriptions and Records of Professional Criminals, . 57 Several Notable Forgers, ...... 285 International Forgers—Secret History of the Wilkes, Hamilton, Becker AND Engles Gang of Forgers—Their Chief's Confession, . 295 Other Noted Criminals, ....... 308 Bank Robberies, ........ 337 Miscellaneous Robberies, ....... 339 Mysterious Murders, ........ 341 Executions in the Tombs Prison, New York City, from 185 i to 1886, 368 Adventurers and Adventuresses, . .374 Opium Habit and Its Consequences, ..... 381 CONTENTS. Prison Commutation Laws: ^^^^ Expiration of Sentence, ...... 389 New York State, ....... 389 Tables of Commutation on Sentences for Good Behavior, New York State, ......... 394 Fugitives from Justice, ..... 397 Arkansas, 399 California, 399 Colorado, 400 Connecticut, 400 400 Illinois, 401 Indiana, , . 401 Kentucky . 402 Louisiana, . , 402 Maine, 403 Maryland, 403 Massachusetts, 403 Michigan, 404 Minnesota, 405 New Hampshire, 405 New Jersey, 406 North Carolina, 406 Ohio, 406 Pennsylvania, 408 Rhode Island, . 408 Tennessee, 408 Virginia, 409 Canada Commutation Law, ...... 409 List of State Prisons, Penitentiaries, and Reformatories in the States AND Territories, . , . _ .411 Addenda, ......... 413 Index, .......... 415 METHODS OF Professional Criminals of America. BANK BURGLARS. THE ways of making a livelihood by crime are many, and the number of men and women who live by their wits in all large cities reaches into the thousands. Some of the criminals are really very clever in their own peculiar line, and are constantly turning their thieving qualities to the utmost pecuniary account. Robbery is now classed as a profession, and in the place of the awkward and hang-dog looking thief we have to-day the intelligent and thoughtful rogue. There seems to be a strange fascination about crime that draws men of brains, and with their eyes wide open, into its meshes. Many people, and especially those whose knowledge of criminal life is purely theoretical, or derived from novels, imagine that persons entering criminal pursuits are governed by what they have been previously, and that a criminal pursuit is once adopted is, as a rule, adhered to ; or, in other words, a man once a pickpocket always a pickpocket ; or another, once a burglar is always a burglar. Hardly any supposition could be more erroneous. Primarily there are, of course, predisposing influences which have a certain effect in governing choice. A man of education, refined habits, and possibly a minimum of courage, would not be likely to adopt the criminal walks requiring brute force and nerve. Such a one would be far more likely to become a forger or counterfeiter than a highway robber. Still, under certain circumstances—opportunity and the particular mode of working of those who were his tutors in crime—he might be either, foreign as they would be to his nature. Criminal occupation, however, is, like everything else, progressive. Two things stand in the way of the beginner in crime attaching himself to what he may view—taking them in the criminal's own light—as the higher walks of predatory industry, the top rungs of the criminal ladder.