heCase Booltof a
True Narratives of Interesting Cases by a Former
Operative o! the William J. Burns Detective Agency
By DAVID
(Copyright by lh International Pxmb BoxmaJ
A MADE TO ORDER
BANK BURGLARY
How a Vault and a Reputation Were
Shattered by Too Much Dynamite
"The Welldon Community bank, or
Welldon, N. Y., "was robbed by safe
blowers last night. Nitroglycerin was
need to open the bank vault, with dis
astrous results to one of the robbers,
who was blown to pieces by the ex
plosion. His confederates successful
ly looted the bank and obtained $85,
000 In cash."
This little Item carried by the vari
ous New York papers was the genesis
of my connection with the great Well
don Community bank robbery. A few
hours after the papers carrying the
sews were on the street I was on my
way to Welldon, ordered by the Burns
agency to Investigate the case as a
representative of the National Bank
ers' Protective association.
As the reader probably is not famil
iar with the Welldon community it is
necessary to delay my story a trifle
in order that the situation may be
made more clear. This community is
one of several of the sort that may be
found in southern New York and
northern Pennsylvania. It was found
ed about 1840 by an Englishman
named Welldon, who was in his own
way a seeker after a modern Utopia.
Welldon believed that our whole sys
tem of living in cities, crowded and
uncomfortable, or in country districts,
Isolated and lonesome, was all wrong.
He believed that the small community,
fifty families, for instance, gathered
around a common center, and yet not
gathered so closely together as to
make an actual town, was the ideal, as
well as the practical way, for mankind
to dwell. He had made something of a
fortune in the mill business in Eng
land. Unable to put Into practice in
that country his novel idea, he came
to America and, after considerable
searching, fixed upon the rich farming
Talley in southern New York as the
spot most favorable for the location of
the Welldon community. There he
brought together about thirty families,
bringing most of them from his native
land, England. He established a co
operative store, a blacksmith shop, a
school, a church, a mill, in fact, every
thing needed to supply the welfare or
an agricultural community Including
the Welldon Community bank. This
bank, while it was owned and patron
ized mainly by the people of the com
munity, was chartered and managed
as any small country bank would be.
Welldon had conducted its affairs him
self at first. At his death it had passed
to his son so far as management was
concerned, though the title remained
In the community. Welldon's son had
continued the banking business as suc
cessfully as his father had done before
him, and the bank was as prosperous
and sound as a small bank f possibly
could be. It had never become a pow
er, but on the other hand, it had never
been in trouble once during Its whole
existence.
Welldon's son had died a few years
nefore the robbery occurred, and the
management thereupon had passed
Into the hands, of Giles, the cashier.
He had done fully as well by the bank
as the Welldons had, and the com
munity had trusted its money to the
bank's care as implicitly as ever. The
bank had proved time and again that
It was panic-proof; but it wasn't burglar-proof.
After over sixty-five years
of successful operation it had been
cleaned out by the conventional acci
dent of safe-blowing. Altogether it
was a remarkable situation.
I found the little place In the great
est stir of its history when I alighted
from the accommodation train that
carried me from the nearest city up
the spur to Welldon community. There
wasn't much of a town at Welldon,
only a few stores, offices, warehouses
and bouses strung along the road In
the center of the farms of the valley.
The bank was a neat, old gray-stone
building that occupied a position of
honor in the middle of it all. It was a
compact, sturdy looking building, ob
viously built with a view to guarding
as well as possible whatever might be
kept Inside. Around the building were
gathered most of the people or the
community. The rest of them were
buzzing around the undertaker's shop
across the road, where the body of
the slain safe-blower lay for the pres
ent. The county sheriff and the coro
ner were doing their respective duties
In assertive fashion, and the people
had to content themselves with stand
ing and looking: at the outsides of the
buildings containing the objects that
had aroused their curiosity. They
were the most shocked and horror-
stricken group that I had seen for a
long time. It was the first real crime
of any importance that had ever been
committed in the valley within the
memory of the oldest Inhabitant, and
the community was so awed by the
shock of It that there was scarcely a
thought left in the whole crowd.
I went to the bank first and my card
let me in past the sheriff's deputy. 1
was received by Mr. Giles, the presi
dent of the bank, and the board of di
rectors, who were assembled in the
banking room. They were glad to se-i
Eae. This was something altogether
PrivateBetectiv
e
CORNELL
out of their line, and they were re
lieved to have some on arrive on
whom they could unload the burden of
their worry,
"I had eared for years that It was
coming," said Giles. "Every night for
the last .twenty years that I have
locked up that old-fashioned vault 1
have said to myself: 'What would hap
pen If a safe-blower knew what a
weak door stands between this bank's
money and a robber?' I have recom
mended time after time the installa
tion of new vaults, but you gentlemen
of the directorate have seen fit to be
lieve that economy should continue to
be our watchword. . Far be it from me
to pretend to criticize, but there might
be a different tale to tell this morning
If there had been a modern vault in
this bank."
"Oh, well," said one of the directors,
"I suppose these safe-blowers could
get into any kind of a safe, couldn't
they, Mr. Cornell?"
"Some of them can," I replied. "It
depends on their skill. Suppose we
take a look at the safe."
Giles promptly led us into the rear
room, where the vault was located. 1
never have seen a vault or safe that
had been used more roughly than the
one that now was before my eyes. In
the language of the profession, it had
been "all shot to pieces." The door
had been cracked and torn and twist
ed and flung across the room. Pieces
of bolts, bars and iron were lying all
over. It was Impossible to tell what
kind of a door it had been that locked
in the Welldon community's money,
so shattered was it. An enormous
amount of horse blankets had been
used to niuffie the sound of the explo
sion, "A big charge," I said; "a desperate
ly big charge. They must have wanted
to make sure of blowing her open and
didn't fear to make a noise. Please
leave everything just as it is and let
ns step across and look at the man
who got caught In the explosion."
We Mr. Giles, the directors and
myself went over to the undertaking
shop where the dead bandit lay. I had
hoped to recognize him as some listed
yeggman, though my acquaintance
with that class was limited; but I was
disappointed. His face had been blown
so thoroughly to pieces in the explo
sion that it was impossible for anyone
not familiar with his smallest charac
teristics to make out who he might
have been. He was dressed a - little
better than the average yeggman, for
there was the remnant of a clean cuff
on one of his wrists, but this was all
that I tould make out in a cursory
examination.
"I'll be back later," I told the man
in charge. Then I told Giles that I
would like to hear the whole story or
the affair.
He led the way back to his office in
the bank building and told the story
in a careful, intelligent way. There
was nothing remarkable in the story.
He had been called down to the bank
at 6:30 that morning by a working
man "who, while passing to his work,
had seen that the front door of the
bank building was unlocked, lie had
gone in at once, in company with the
workman. He had found the door be
tween the banking room and the vault
room locked, as usual. He had opened
the door and had found the dead bur
glar and the looted safe, much as we
had seen the room. Eighty-rive thou
sand dollars in large bank notes had
been taken. Some hundreds of dol
lars worth of smaller bills and about
a thousand dollars worth of silver had
not been touched. Nobody had been
found who had heard the explosion,
and there was absolutely no trace of
the robbers.
That was Giles' story. It was told
in precise, clerical fashion, greatly In
contrast to the story of the sheriff,
who, when he was called in, rambled
about bloodhounds and posses and
made a fool of himself trying to ap
pear "wise" berore a city detective.
"You locked up the vault last night,
did you, Mr. Giles?" I asked.
"Yes sir," he answered.
"And this money was all in there
when you locked It up?"
"Yes, of course."
I thanked him and said: "Now will
you kindly let me go over the vault
again alone? I must study It carefully
in order to make out an intelligent re
port."
He acquiesced readily and I went in
the room and shut myself In with the
shattered vault.
I bad been Impressed with my first
glance by the apparently enormous
charge of explosive that had been
used in the robbery. So terrible had
the wreckage been that it seemed Im
possible to me that any living man
could have been in that room and sur
vived after the "soup" had scattered
the fragments of that door around
The room was so narrow that it must
have been like standing before a mor
tar loaded with scrap iron. The horse
blankets were torn to shreds. I said
to myself: "A bungler's Job," and went
out and telegraphed for an expert on
explosives, for the expert of the firm
that made the safe, and for Durango
and Mabaffey, two of our men who
knew most of the big yeggs In the
country by sight. I locked and sealed
the vault room, so It could not be tam
pered with.
' When Mehaffey came he took one
look at the dead yegg, lifted his hands
and examined the back of them and
found some tattoo marks .and said:
"Sailor Benny, as I'm alive How did
he ever get so far from Omaha? And
how did he ever put in too much soup?
He was the prince of them all in
knowing just how much It took to
loosen a door. By glory! Cornell,
there's something queer about this,
Benny never overloaded in his life."
The dynamite expert and the safe
man came in on the next train and
the. three of us entered the vault room
of the bank together. The dynamite
man took one look around and said:
"Shut the door." ,
The safe man obeyed and, to make
sure, I hung my coat over the key
hole. .
"My gad!" said the safe man, al
most crying, Tit Isn't possible. No safe
of ours could be blown up in that
fashion. Say, nobody ever could blow
one of our safes up 1n that fashion
not even one of these old ones."
"Yes," said the dynamite man, "I've
done it myself.'
"How?"
"On a test," said the other. "By
loading the safe on the Inside and then
locking the door."
We looked !at one another.
"That is what was done here, isn't
it?" I said.
"Absolutely," said the dynamite
man. ,
I sent for Mehaffey and told him
what had been said.
"Then the job never was of Sailor
Benny's doing," said he instantly.
"Good gad, man! The load mu6t have
been put in by the man who locked
the door. And then how did Benny
come to be killed cracking the door?"
The dynamite man and the sate man
prepared to withdraw.
- "I guess the case is all up to you,
Mr. Cornell," they said. "It looks like
work for a 'tec' "
They went away and Mehaffey and I
sat down to theorize behind the
locked door.i '
"Cornell, said Mehaffey, "there is
this about this job: Somebody had
t 1
"That is v&al was done
isri 1 it ?" Lsaid.
been in on it before Sailor Benny got
to it. Somebody had stuck a load In
there back of that door, and whoever
It was must have been the man who
closed the vault and fixed the combi
nation. Then Benny comes along
with his pal and gets busy. Benny
puts In his little charge. Just a little
soup poured In the cracks to loosen
that old door. His pal Is in the other
room, doing lookout. Benny turns
loose his charge and, bang! goes the
big one that's Inside. Naturally Ben
ny is knocked stiff. His pal comes in,
sees what has i happened, gets the
money ani beats it in a hurry. Isn't
that the way you size it up?"
"Not quite," I said. "Why did that
big load happen to be on the Inside the
night-that Benny came to blow the
crib? Didn't the man who put it
there' know that Benny was coming?
And If he did know how did he come
to know? Why did he know that?
And If he knew which he certainly
did WCy did he leave It there, know
ing as he certainly must have that
it would blow Benny to pieces as sure
as he ever turned loose his charge?
And if he knew all this this man
which he did why did he do it? Why
did he want Benny killed there In
front of the safe? .Why did he do
that 7"
Mehaffey shook fcls head.
" "She's a bad case, Cornell," he said.
Yes," I said, ''because the man
who put that soup in there to go off
when Benny came ( must have had
something to hide, and this was the
way he took to hide It. Mehaffey," 1
said, suddenly, "you and Durango
both know all about Benny'B old
haunts out In Omaha. Better run out
there right away and Bee If you can
find why Benny came east,"
"Ye-es," said he, slowly. "That's
about the way she will work out. Why
did Benny come east? Who got him
to come? That's the question that's
to be answered. Durango stars in
that piece; he used to work in Omaha
and knows Benny's girl."
When we came out or the vault
room I said to the president:
"Well, Mr. Giles, we have done
about all we can do here. What we've
got to do now Is to to try to look for
this dead robber's confederate, the
man who got the money. We will do
our best, but I assure you it will be a
hard task to find him."
"I fear bo, Mr. Cornell," said Giles.
"But you people are very capable, 1
understand."
"We never have fallen down on a
case yet," I said as we left him.
I suspect that Durango at one . time
or another had been on the other side
of the fence, fpr his knowledge or
criminals, their hang-outs, their man
ners and their associates in this coun
try was something too intimate to
have been picked up as a detective.
Durango could at any time go to any
city in the country, go straight to the
criminal quarter and be accepted as
one of the bunch without, the slightest
suspicion. This was his sole qualifica
tion as a detective, however, so he
was valuable only at infrequent inter
vals. In this case he was, as Mehaf
fey put It, the Btar. The pair of them
blew into Omaha on the beams of a
box car, attired In proper hobo cloth
ing. They went to a saloon kept by
an ex-convict near the stock yardsa
crooks nest and within a few hours
they were associating with some of
Durango's old friends in a back room
here,
upstairs. They worked for two days
and then sent me this bulletin:
"Sailor Benny was flush with
money for weeks before starting to
do Welldon Job. Must have, been
paid in advance to do It." -Next
day came another wire:
"Have found Benny's wife. From
her got Information that Benny was
originally a Welldon boy. He used
to get money from there occasion
ally. Perhaps you can connect VvP
on this."
And the third day:
"Benny's wife says Benny went to
Welldon in answer to wire saying
just 'Come.' She doesn't know
where wire came from."
I wired back:
"If possible send me sample of
writing from person remitting him
money from Welldon."
And that the result of that wire
settled the Welldon bank robbery.
On the tenth day of my stay in Well
don, just after he had pulled down the
curtains and closed the bank for the
day, I placed Mr. Giles, the president,
under arrest.
"Arrest?" he cried. "Me? Under ar
rest? What does this mean, Mr. Cor
nell?" ,
"Just what It sounds like, Mr. Giles,"
I said. "I am sorry, but there Is noth
ing for me to do but place you under
arrest for robbing the Welldon Com
munity bank of IS5,000." .. .
"Great Scott!" he said. "Do you
know wLat you are. talking about?
Are you crazy?" . ,
"I hope not," I said, : "Let me tell
you what I have discovered since 1
came to Welldon: I discovered that
you have been an Inveterate Wall
street gambler for the last ten : years.
It wasn't hard to do that; the, brokers
keep a list of every out-of-town trader
they do business with. You had been
tradicg under the name of Travers,
but your broker knew who you were.
He had looked you up. You were
fairly lucky for an outsider until last
June. Then your losses began to pile
up steadily. A month ago you owed
$85,000. and had to make It good or be
exposed. You did make It good. You
did make it good out or that vault
back there.
"You hoped to cover that loan you
made yourself so that nobody ever
would be the wiser for it. You hoped
to put It back; they all do. But, like
most of them in the same fix, you
found that you couldn't do it. Then
you began to look around for some
means of covering up your crime. , In
your dilemma you thought of a certain
man who had left this town as a boy,
who bad gone to the bad, and whom
you had helped I give you credit for
a good heart, Giles at various inter
vals when he needed it. You thought
of him. You got him to come here.
You told him what you wanted done;
you wanted the safe blown and robbed.
You promised that you would give him
half of the big sum that you said was
inside and which should have been
Inside.
"But you knew you were playing
with fire In taking this criminal in as
your confederate In so dastardly a
crime as robbing your own bank. You
needed to have that safe blown to
have it appear that the bank had been
looted of $85,000 but you couldn't af
ford to let a criminal live and know
your secret. So you loaded that vault
before you locked it the evening be
fore the robbery. You did that only
you could have done it because you
admitted that you locked the vault up
for the night.
"You put that big charge of explos
ive back of the door. Your man
Sailor Benny, the yeggman came as
you had requested. He went to work
in workmanlike fashion and shot a re
spectable charge in the cracks of the
door. His explosion turned loose the
terrific load you had prepared for him.
The door was blown to pieces, so was
the yeggman, and you woke up in the
morning and felt you were safe once
more. Isn't that about the truth of
the affair, Mr. Giles?"
"Proof?" he said, sneering. "You
have proofs to substantiate this pretty
little story?"
I merely lifted my hand from the
table so he could see underneath what
Durango had sent me from Omaha. It
was on old envelope which Durango
had got from Benny's wife, and in
which Benny once had got money
from Welldon. -
Giles took one swift look at the
handwriting and began to gasp like a
fish. The writing was his own.
He confessed that night to the board
of directors and pleaded for mercy.
But those old, hard working farmers
were made of tough stuff. They re
fused his plea and Giles went to Sing
Sing under a heavy sentence.
Real Home of : 1
flie Soft Shells 1
There may be persons who have
never heard of Crisfleld and who do
not know that It Is the greatest mar
ket in the world for soft-shell crabs.
Some hotels in New York get their
supplies of the delicious crustaceans
direct from there and they have been
shipped as far as Seattle.
Crlsfield is in Maryland, down on
the lower part of the eastern shore.
It is not a big place, but they do send
out good things to eat from there
not only the soft shell crab, but the
diamond-back terraDiri. the Tangier
oyster, which the gourmets of Balti
more think is to be classed among the
most delicious of lhe species, and
white shad, to which those same gour
mets hold that no shad is equal. And
so on. With which introduction, en
ter h. H. Carson.
.air. carson was at the Imperial re
cently, says the New York Sun. He
lives In Crisfleld, is in business there
and has made a study of the crab
scientifically and commercially.
"Crisfleld," said Mr. Carson, ' "pro
duces 90 per cent of all the soft, crabs
consumed in this country. They are
caught within a radius of ten miles of
the town. The old part of Crisfleld
was built on dyster shells, but of re
cent years thejtown has expanded. It
was only about twelve years ago that
the discovery that the soft-shell crab
could be popularized started a boom
and the values of property In the last
six years have trebled.
Evolution of Soft-Shell Crab. 1
"In the waters about Deal's, Tangier
and Smith's islands the soft crabs are
caught in two ways. One is employed
by the 'scrapers, who drag an instru
ment like an oyster dredge in the wa
ter six to twelve feet deep, from a
bateau or canoe. The other method
is employed by the 'netters,' who
stand in the bow of a skiff, pushing
the boat slowly along in shallow wa
ter and making a swoop with a dipnet
when they see a crab on the bottom.
Ninety per cent of the crabs thus
caught are hard-shelled, and they are
put into floats and kept until they
shed their shells.
"The first stage of a crab in pro
gressing from hard to Boft is what is
termed locally a 'snot.'- The change
from a snot to a 'softer requires from
four hours to four days, depending on
the condition of the crab. The snot
becomes a peeler, when he is much
prized for bait, and a new shell has
completely formed under the hard
coat, and then a buster when the hard
shell has started to come loose at the.
back. Then in a short time emerges
the softer, -eady for the market and
the table.
From Crustacean to Hardshell.
The average life of a crab is threo
years. The secretary of the Virginia
state board of fisheries, who has stud
ied crabs many years, says that a
single female in the spring of the year
will produce 1,250,000 eggs. Out of
all those only about 200 crabs mature.
The remainder are consumed by other
uou auu Dy craps. Alter laying her
eggs the female crab is eaten by. oth
ers of her species.
"The season opens in our waters on
May 1 and lasts until Oct. lywhen the"
crabs go out Into very deep water.
In the early spring, to be exact, on
March 1, the soft crab season opens at
Morehead City, '.-sT. C, where many
Cri6fleld packers o and operate until
the season begins at home.
Shipped Pacled In Seaweed.
"If when a crab is unpacked In New
York, it is what Is called a 'paper
shell. which means that the shell has
begun to harden; that means that If
the crab was properly packed It waa
that hard when it started. Packed in
sea ores (seaweed), they will keep soft
until they die. 1 shipped crabs last
summer to a frieud in Houston, Tex.,
a seventy-two hour journey. We do
not ship in refrigerated cars, but in
refrigerating boxes.
"Some persons do not know how to
tell when a crab Is fit to eat. Here
is an Infallible method of telling. The
fact that a crab is dead when it Is
unpacked does riot mean that it is nec
essarily spoiled. The way to tell is to
pull out one of the back fins. If it
resists, the crab should be In good
condition. . If the crab should be
thrown away the fin will come out
easily and will be mushy on the end.
Brown 6pots on the top of shells of
crabs do not mean anything Is wrong,
because you will frequently find them,
on live crabs. It makes no difference
how long a crab has been dead If the
back fin pulls out hard.
Prices of Crabs Fluctuate Greatly.
"About 75 per cent of the population
of Crisfleld is engaged In the oyster
and fish trade. But we cannot count
upon anything like a regular produc
tion. Crabs may be selling one day at
SI a dozen and in three davs tim
may drop to 30 cents because of over
production. Then a storm may cut off
the supply and the price go soaring
again.
"Hard crabs are picked into three
grades of meat. Claw meat, for use
on free lunch counters; white, for
devil crabs and crab cakes, and lump,
for newburgs and fancy . dishes. Ij
have heard that Japanese crab meat.:
canned, comes into this country free'
of duty, but have not been able to
verify It.
"Diamond back terrapin are Bcaroa.
WThen you think that in slavery time
the Maryland legislature passed an
act prohibiting planters from feeding
them to their slaves more than thre
times a week. It seems queer to fis.3
them bringing $75 a dozen now." y