Classic Audiobook Collection - The Great Taxicab Robbery by James H. Collins ~ Full Audiobook [mystery]

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

The Great Taxicab Robbery by James H. Collins audiobook. Genre: mystery In 1912, $25,000 was stolen during a bank transfer in New York City in broad daylight. In what may appear astonishing in today's world, the transfer occurred in a New York City taxicab. This factual account brings true crime of the early twentieth century to life. The various methods used by the detectives and police in their attempts to solve the mystery behind the robbery, and hopefully bring the thieves to justice, makes for great reading, particularly when one considers the fact that the accounts occurred over a century ago, and are quite authentic. Although the police now have higher technological advantages than was available over a century ago, the reader may find that many general techniques haven't changed all that much over the years. The characters involved with this true caper prove ingenious on both sides. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:20:36) Chapter 02 (00:27:42) Chapter 03 (00:42:50) Chapter 04 (01:02:06) Chapter 05 (01:20:50) Chapter 06 (01:34:17) Chapter 07 (01:48:49) Chapter 08 (02:06:58) Chapter 09 (02:28:08) Chapter 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Great Taxi Cab Robbery, A True Detective Story by James H. Collins. Section 1 This book has something to say about practical results of wiser police administration in New York. It is respectfully dedicated to Honorable William J. Gainer, mayor of New York City, the official who took the initiative in improving conditions. Preface. there are several reasons for this little book but the best of all is the main reason that it is a cracking good story and right out of life the characters will be found interesting and they are real people every one of them the incidents are full of action and color the plot has mystery surprise interplay of mind and motive

had a novelist invented it the reader might declare it improbable this is the kind of story that is fundamental the kind mr chesterton says is so necessary to plain people that when writers do not happen to write it plain people invent it for themselves in the form of folk-lore but apart from the story interest there are other reasons when the new york police department had run down all the threads of the the plot, and accounted for most of the characters by locking them up, they had become so absorbed in the story themselves, as a story, that they thought the public would enjoy following it from the inside. While the crime was being dealt with, the police were subjected to pretty severe criticism. They felt that the facts would make it clear that they knew their trade and had been working at it diligently. The story gives an insight into real police methods.

These are very different from the methods of the fiction detective and also from the average citizen's idea of police work. They ought to be better known. When the public understands that there is nothing secret, tyrannical, or dangerous in good police practice, and that our laws safeguard even the guilty against a police, abuses, there will be helpful public opinion behind officers of the law, and we shall have a higher degree of order and security.

The directing mind in this case was that of Commissioner George Doherty, executive head of the detectives of the New York Police Department. Thousands of clean, ambitious young fellows are constantly putting on the policeman's uniform all over the country and rising to places as detectives and officials. The manufacturer or merchant may find himself in the police commissioner's chair. Even the suburbanite, with his bundles, may be, out at Lonesomehurst, a member of the village council, and thus responsible for the supervision of a police force that, though it be only two patrolmen and a chief, is important in its place. So, in writing the story, there is a story, there is

been an effort to show how a first-rate man like Commissioner Doherty works. His methods are plain business methods. Most of his life he has earned his living following the policeman's trade as a commercial business. What he did in a case of this kind and how and why are matters of general interest and importance. Finally, the story throws some useful light on criminals. it shows the cunning of the underworld and also its limitations to free the law-abiding mind of romantic notions about the criminal and show him as he is is highly important in the prevention of crime the cast gino montani a taxicab proprietor wilbur smith an elderly bank-teller frank wardle a seventeen-seven year old bank office boy. Eddie Kinsman, alias Collins, alias Eddie the boob, a hold-up man.

Billy Keller, alias Dutch, a hold-up man. Gene Splane, a hold-up man. Scotty the Lamb, a thieves helper or stall. Joe Philadelphia, alias The Kid, a runner for thieves. or Lobbygau. James Pasquale, alias Jimmy the Push, keeper of shady resorts known as 208 and 233. Bob Delio, partner of Jimmy the Push.

Jess Albrazo, a middleman, formerly keeper of the arch cafe, Pal of Montani, Jimmy the Bush, and Bob Delio. Mateo Abrano, Polly Gonzalez, Charles Cavanero, the Three Briggins. King Dodo, a Bowery character. Rhinelander Waldo, Police Commissioner of New York. George S. Dorety, second Deputy Police Commissioner, Executive Head of Detectives. Inspector Edward P. Hughes, in command of detectives.

Detective Bureau. Police Lieutenant Dominic G. Riley, aide of Commissioner Dorety's staff. Detective Sergeant John J. O'Connell, official stenographer. The detectives on plants, trailing, surrounding, arresting, etc. John P. Barron, Edward Boyle, Frank Campbell, James Dalton, James J. Finnan, W. Finn, Joseph A. Daly, Daniel W. Claire, John Gaynor, Anthony Greco, John P. Griffith, Daniel F. Hallahan, Edward Lennon, Henry Muggy, Richard Oliver, Gustavus J. Riley, James F. Shevlin, Joseph Toner, George Trojan, James A. Watson. swede annie kinsman sweetheart myrtle horn a pal of annie rose levy a newcomer in thompson street jess albrato's girl mrs isabella goodwin a police matron mrs sullivan keeper of a west side rooming house josie a lady of the levy district chicago detectives policemen informants, witnesses, denizens of the underworld,

newspaper reporters, train men, ticket sellers, etc., etc. Place, chiefly in New York, with scenes in Chicago, Albany, Memphis, Boston, and Montreal. Time February and March 1912 The Great Taxicab Robbery Chapter 1 what the public heard about the crime on thursday february fifteenth nineteen twelve the new york evening papers had a startling news story between ten and eleven o'clock that morning two messengers were sent in a taxicab from the east river national bank at broadway and third street

to draw twenty five thousand dollars in currency from the produce exchange national bank at broadway and beaver street in the downtown financial district and bring it uptown this transfer of money had been made several times a week for so long a period without danger or loss that the messengers were unarmed one of them wilbur f smith was an old man who had been in the service of the bank thirty-five years and the other was a mere boy named wardle seventeen years old the taxicab man an italian named gino montani seemed a man-aul seemed almost a trusted employee, too, for he operated two cabs from a stand near the bank, and was frequently called upon for such trips. While the cab was returning uptown through Church Street with the money, five men suddenly closed in upon it. According to the chauffeur's story,

a sixth man forced himself to slack and speed by stumbling in front of the vehicle. Immediately, two men were, men on each side of the cab opened the doors. Two assailants were boosted in and quickly beat the messengers into insensibility while their two helpers ran along on the sidewalk. The fifth man climbed onto the seat beside the chauffeur, held a revolver to his ribs,

and ordered him to drive fast on peril of his life. This fellow seemed to be familiar with automobiles and threatened the driver when he tried to slack in speed. That is a busy part of the city, yet nobody on the sidewalks seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. The cab dodged vehicles, going at high speed for several blocks. At Park Place and Church Street, after a trip of 11 blocks, at a busy corner, the chauffeur was ordered to stop the cab,

and the three robbers got down, carrying the $25,000 in a leather bag, ran quickly to a black automobile without a license number, which was waiting for them, and in a few moments were gone. That was the substance of the story. Information came chiefly from the chauffeur, because the two bank employees had been attacked so suddenly and viciously that they lost consciousness in a moment. When the chauffeur looked inside his cab after the crime,

he said he saw them both lying senseless and bleeding. They could give no description of the assailants. Eyewitnesses were found who had seen men loitering in the neighborhood where the cab was boarded shortly before the crime, but their descriptions were not very useful. That night, the New York Evening Papers published accounts of the crime under great black headlines, and on the following morning, every news items of a criminal nature was grouped in the same part of the papers to prove that the city had entered one of its sensational waves of crime.

And for more than a week, the public read criticism and denunciation of the police force. It was charged that the police had become demoralized, and various changes of administrative policy introduced into the department within the past eight months were blindly denounced. The most important of these changes was that devised by Mayor Gaynor. Eight or ten years ago, every uniformed policeman in New York carried a club and often used it freely in defending a man. while making arrests. Abuses led to the abolition of this means of defense, except for officers patrolling the streets at night. There were still undoubted abuses, however, and when Mayor Gainer came into office, bringing well-thought-out opinions of police administration from his experience as a magistrate on the bench, he took a determined stand for more humane methods of making

arrests and strict holding of every policeman to the letter of the laws. Every case of clubbing was prosecuted. The plain legal rights of citizens or criminals upheld, and the police department began teaching its men new ways of defending themselves by skillful holds in wrestling, whereby prisoners may be handled effectually and without doing them harm. sentiment against the use of the club began to grow in the police department itself, it being recognized that clubbing was an unskillful means of defense, and that special athletic devices were more workmanlike. Now, however, the newspapers published every chance opinion of discharged,

retired, and anonymous police officers who objected to the new regulations. It was alleged that criminals had got out of bounds because policemen no longer dared club them into good behavior, and the editors, without paying much attention to the many good points of the new regulations, or trying to understand the merits of a settled policy applied to an organization of more than 10,000 men, set up a cry for the presumably good old days of Inspector so-and-so. and chief this and that, when every known criminal was promptly struck over the head on sight and thereby taught to know his place. If the files of New York journals for those days following the robbery are examined,

they will reveal a curious exhibition of pleading for official lawlessness and autocracy. Another point of criticism centered on a new method adopted in the distribution, of the detective force. This comprises more than 500 men. For years, they were all required to report at police headquarters every day, coming from distant precincts, and had an opportunity to see whatever professional criminals were under arrest. Then they went back to different precincts to work.

This took too much time, it was found, and the old-fashioned lineup of criminals was chief. a spectacle, the same offenders dropping into the hands of the police with more or less regularity. So detectives were redistributed on a plan that attaches a proper number of plain-clothes policemen to each precinct, according to its needs, and in those precincts the men live and become acquainted with local criminals. Many of them work in sections where they were born, and detectives speaking foreign languages are a assigned to foreign quarters. The newspapers charged that red tape had brought the police department to such a low state that young detectives had no idea what a real criminal looked like, and urged

the restoration of the old system with its picturesque lineup. In the days of Inspector Burns, when practically all the banking of the city was done around Wall Street, the police established a deadline beyond which criminals were supposed not to operate. In its day, the deadline was real enough, undoubtedly, but it was not necessarily an ideal police measure, and the growth of the city has long made it a mere memory, living only in newspaper tradition. Today, banking extends as far north as Central Park, and millions upon millions of dollars are being carried about daily. by people of every sort. Despite the fact that the last loss of money from a New York bank through professional criminals,

apart from fraud and forgery, dated back some 15 or 18 years, the newspapers seemed to agree that life and property were no longer safe in the city, because this purely mythical deadline had been disregarded by the robbers. There was other comment of the same character, and it had an immediate and grievous effect. On the day after the robbery, a chance remark about a safe in an east side bank, coupled with the general excitement, led to a run of its depositors, chiefly people of foreign birth. The bank was solvent, and the run was undoubtedly stimulated by gossip, started by criminals for their own ends.

But the frightened depositors insisted on drawing out their money and exposing themselves to danger of robbery and assault. The situation was met by careful police cooperation. About six months before the taxi cab robbery, the New York legislature put into force a measure known as the Sullivan Law, providing penalties for the taxi cab robbery, the carrying of pistols and concealed weapons. This is unquestionably a wise measure fundamentally,

and one that was badly needed for police administration and public safety. It is perhaps open to certain modifications to be made as actual conditions are encountered in practical working of the law. Newspaper opinion drew a connection between this law and the wave of crime and its repeal was urged so that every citizen might arm himself as he pleased hundreds of persons who had felt safe in going about their business unarmed now applied for permits to carry pistols fortunately a sensation does not last long in new york though the police department felt this criticism keenly and was hampered by it pressure began to slacken and about a week. Other sensations came along. There was nothing to publish about the taxi cab case, as police information was withheld for good official reasons. Presently, the town ventured to joke about the case. At an elaborate public dinner one night, among other topical effects, a dummy taxi cab suddenly

scooted out before the guests, held up a dummy police commissioner. took his watch and scooted away again. The diners laughed, and that was fairly representative of the town, which was now ready to have its joke about the crime, too. Had there never been any further action by the police, the case would have quietly dropped out of sight. But fortunately, there was police action, and with that we shall now deal.

End of Section 1 Section 2 of the Great Taxi Cab Robbery A True Detective Story by James H. Collins This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Section 2 Chapter 2 How the Crime was Handled by the Police

On the Trail Now let us follow the police story. We will begin at the very beginning watch the incidents and character unfold, and give quite a little attention to the technical methods by which results were arrived at. For the story is a study in clean, straightforward detective work, and that work ought to be better known by the public, so that intelligent public opinion may back up honest police effort. The story starts with a burly genial man, sitting in a big office at police health.

headquarters. The office is that of the second deputy police commissioner, and the man is the commissioner himself, George S. Doherty. Commissioner Doherty dominates the story. The taxi cab robbers were caught by his methods, plans, and supervision, backed by the splendid teamwork of the men under him. His own sources of information supplied the clues and his personal skill in examining criminals brought out the confessions that saved the city the expense of trials with all but one offender. It is far from the writer's wish to indulgent hero worship, however, so these details will appear in their proper place in the narrative. George Doherty has had nearly 25 years experience in criminal work in New York and over the whole

country. Until his appointment by Mayor Gaynor in May 1911, he was connected with the Pinkerton organization. Bank and financial crimes have long been his specialty, so the taxi cab case fell right into his own province. He knows the ways of forgers, bank sneaks, swindlers, burglars, and Yegman, and is personally acquainted with most of the criminals in those lines, in and out of prison. He has also had much to do with protecting the crowds at races, ball games, aeronautic meetings, and other big gatherings. As executive head of the Detective Bureau, 500 plane-clothesman police scattered over Greater New York cover all crimes of a local and routine nature and are subject to his call when a special case like the taxi cab robbery comes up

his personal attention on an ordinary quiet morning at police headquarters there will be a steady stream of people passing into dorritie's office several assistants guard the doors leading from two ante-rooms and marshal the visitors now a group of detectives enters and hears a talk on methods then two detectives come in make a report and receive a report and receive further instructions. Then there will be an interruption, perhaps, while an assistant soothes and sends away a crank, who occasionally turns up with a purely imaginary affair of his own, and two more detectives pass in accompanied by a man and a woman, who look just like the people one sees dining at a fashionable uptown restaurant. The woman's furs are magnificent, and her hat, a costly Fifth Avenue creation. A couple of taxpayers, speculates the group of reporters, waiting outside to get a statement

about some important case. Two of the cleverest check swindlers in the country, corrects a detective, and presently the reporters are called in, and Dardy recites names, dates, and facts connected with the gang to which these prosperous taxpayers belong, gazing reflecting reflectively out of the window as details come back in memory and chuckling with the delighted journalists as the pithy slang and professional names of the underworld are jotted down on their pads. They fire a scattering volley of questions at him and depart, and then his secretary announces that the saloon-keeper who knows a good deal about the blind puppy cafe case is outside,

but refuses to talk to the police at all. Hello, is the commissioner's offhand greeting as the cautious saloon-keeper comes in, and in two minutes the latter is answering questions freely. Why, say, he exclaims, I'll tell you anything. Then a humble little woman in a cheap hat and a long cloak is brought in, for more than an hour she has been waiting outside with her eyes fixed patiently on the door leading to the inner office stand there says the commissioner with gruff kindness and he makes a formal statement about her husband who has been arrested with a criminal gang and is pretty certain to go to prison he tells her what has been done in the case and what will follow and the little woman listens mutely

when he finishes her eyes fill with tears but she makes no reply nor any sound the commissioner winks fast as he looks out of the window again, and then says, sympathetically, "'That's the best that can be done. But don't you worry. Come in and see me again. Keep in touch with me, and don't worry yourself. Come in and talk with me. Come in tomorrow.'

And she bravely wipes her eyes and goes out with her trouble. The procession continues. Police captains and detectives and squads, prisoners and witnesses in twos and threes, newspapers in court and singly, and occasionally a cautious gentleman who wants to see the commissioner alone, and is anxious that nobody say anything about this visit

to police headquarters, for he is an informant. End of Section 2. Section 3 of the Great Taxi-Cab Robbery, A True Detective Story, by James H. Collins. this librovoc's recording is in the public domain section three chapter two part two the first alarm the taxicab robbery took place on a quiet morning like this suddenly around eleven o'clock on thursday february fifteenth a brief message comes from the second precinct stating that a robbery has been committed in the financial District. A little later, there is a fuller report over police wires. The details are few,

as will be seen by the general alarm that presently goes out over the city. Police Department, City of New York, February 15, 1912. To all, all boroughs, notify the patrol platoon immediately. Arrest for assault and robbery three men. Number one, about 35 years, five feet eight or nine inches in height, 160 or 170 pounds. Small stubby dark mustache, dark complexion, medium build, dark suit and cap, no overcoat. Number two, about 35 years, five feet ten inches in height, slender billed, dark hair, possibly smooth-shaven, light brown suit, no overcoat, wore a cap. No description of number three. Stole $25,000 in five-and-ten-dollar bills contained in a brown leather telescope bag, 24 inches long, 16 inches, inches,

square from two bank messengers in a taxi cab about eleven o'clock this morning at park place and church street and escaped in a five or seven-seated black touring car top up look out for this car bag and occupants on streets at ferry entrances bridge terminals railroad stations inquire at all garages automobile stands stables, etc. If found, notified Detective Bureau. Before noon, the Commissioner had postponed appointments, assigned routine business, and is engaged in an investigation that will keep him busy until that morning, 12 days later, when the first arrests are made, and the case is, in police parlance, broken. Where do the police begin in such a crime? what do they start with when there is apparently so little to work upon in spite of the wide popular interest in police and criminal matters the average citizen has no very clear idea even the newspaper reporter following police activities every day is not well informed in technical details some information is necessarily withheld from him

and he is a busy young man with his own technical viewpoint working hard to get his own kind of information this lack of knowledge leads to a feeling of mystery helplessness and terror after a sensational crime and to criticism of the police they are at work skilfully honestly diligently but results take time it would do little good to make arrests without evidence the citizen's sympathies are aroused by brutal lawlessness and he urges that somebody be caught and punished if results are not at once apparent he jumps to the conclusion that the police are demoralized he would be startled if he could see how quickly and persistently the underworld takes steps to strengthen him in that conclusion and use him to discredit the police sixty detectives are immediately called into the case five of them go down to the scene of the robbery with orders to work there until further notice they make a thorough search of the neighborhood following the route taken by montani's taxicab and questioning merchants news dealers porters truckmen and other persons likely to have information as eye-witnesses they go through the streets that may have been taken by the escaping robbers and work over the whole ground this search through one of the busiest sections of new york in a busy hour amid the excitement created by the crime may appear like hopeless business but as will be seen presently it yields important results other detectives search garages for the black automobile

without a license number in which the robbers are reported to have got away four uniformed policemen on beats along the route taken by the taxi cab are questioned other detailed inquiries of the same nature are started but the most important work of the first day centers at police headquarters where a conference is held by commissioner dorritie and his assistance and in the examination of Montani, the taxi cab driver. Strip all the labels off a suit of clothes and lay it before a committee of tailors. In a few moments, certain points would be agreed upon. It may be a new suit or an old one, a fine piece of tailoring, or a cheap hand-me-down. The committee would often identify the cheap suit and tell the name of its manufacturer, While with a $75 suit, it might be possible to determine the maker's name.

This holds true of many other lines of work, and it is particularly true of criminal investigation. Who cut and made that suit of clothes? The conference sat down to determine this, judging the robbery strictly as a piece of workmanship. names of known bank criminals were brought up one by one and details gone over. It soon became clear that none of them, and identified with bank crime, were likely to have the brains, skill, or organization to plan and execute so complicated a robbery. The criminals had known the habits of the bank in conveying cash uptown. They knew the route and were aware that the gun was.

guard was only an elderly man and a seventeen-year-old boy both unarmed they had boarded the cab at the best point and evidently made arrangements for stopping it there was teamwork in every detail it showed marked insight for instance to provide additional men to boost each assailant inn at the doors for young wardle the bank employee had made a plucky attempt to shove his robber out and shut the door and might have succeeded had there not been an outside man robberies are committed under exciting conditions they sometimes fail because criminals balk that outside man was there not only to help his slugger into the cab but to force him in if he shrank and make certain he did his work whoever planned such details it was agreed at the conference possessed more cunning than the ordinary bank criminal montani is examined when montani the taxicab driver arrived at police headquarters he was willing to talk and seemed anxious to help the police in every way he knew suspicion might be directed toward himself but did not resent that he talked like a man confident of the truth of his story and certain that he would be found blameless montani is an italian from the northern part of italy about thirty years old five feet six inches high rather stout and thick set with very dark complexion

the striking feature of his countenance his large intelligent brown eyes commissioner dorritie found himself thinking of napoleon in connection with montani the first examination lasted all afternoon montani going out to lunch with the commissioner hundreds of questions were asked bearing on the robbery the appearance of the criminals and montani's past and personal affairs the story was gone over again and again and different questioners relieved each other yet the taxicab man never lost his temper or patience and did not contradict himself in any important particular montani had been in this country since the age of twelve it appeared had a wife and two children and was the owner of two taxicabs operated from a stand at a hotel near the bank, whose money he regularly carried. He had owned three cabs, but lost one through business reverses. In fact, he had passed through money troubles, and his story excited sympathy. Starting originally as a truckman for a salvage company,

his ambition and intelligence had won him such confidence that this company lent him money to set up trucking for himself. still more ambitious he had become a taxicab proprietor through the trickery of an ill-chosen partner however he had lost some of his savings he seemed a little bitter about this and it was a circumstance not likely to escape an expert police examiner for the loss of money through fraud coupled with temptation is often the starting point in crime the italian's former employers spoke highly of his character when questioned by detectives he gave the names of chauffeurs who had worked for him lately and of business people who knew him and careful investigation failed to disclose any suspicious circumstances montani quite won the newspaper men so much so that when he was discharged in court a few days later for apparent lack of evidence the newspapers criticized the police for having held him at all and yet before that first night montani himself largely through simple answers to questions had become so involved that there was ground for holding him under arrest in the questions and cross questions the checks and counter-checks of a skilful examiner

there are possibilities little suspected by those not familiar with that kind of work montani had slowed down his cab at the point where the robbers boarded in he said that an old man had suddenly got in front and he had slackened speed to avoid running over him but detectives along the route found eyewitnesses who had seen the robbers board the cab and who could testify that there had been nobody in front of the vehicle both of his cabs had stood in line near the bank that morning the one driven by himself being second and the other in charge of an employee was first when the call came from the bank montani answered it himself out of his turn sending the other cab uptown as he explained to have some tires vulcanized but it was not a good explanation he said that as soon as the robbers left his cab he had raised a cry for help but eyewitnesses were found who denied this instead of running north after the robbers automobile when he had taken a policeman aboard his cab he ran south away from it this action he maintained was taken under orders from the policeman but the latter denied that he was not able to explain how the robbers had known where to post their automobile so it would be waiting at the spot where they finished their work interest centered in this mysterious black automobile without a license number for though montani was an experienced chauffeur and his replies to other questions showed that he had seen both the rear and the side of that car he was unable to tell its make

meanwhile it was learned that three men had hurriedly boarded an elevated train near the scene of the robbery shortly after not waiting for change from a quarter the ticket-seller was unable to describe them but connected them with the robbery when he heard about it montani was held in the custody of the commissioner that night to be put through further examination in the morning but long before morning the police were working on an entirely new development end of section three section four of the great taxicab robbery a true detective story by james H. Collins. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Chapter 2 Part 3 The First Direct Clue The law-abiding citizen goes around New York with little knowledge of the crowding underworld all about him. It is perhaps just as well that he knows nothing of the lives and morals

of hundreds of people who elbow him on the streets, sit beside him in the car, and scrutinize him with a strictly professional eye in many places, nor has he any clear conception of the relations that a good police officer maintains with members of this underworld. It is a world just as complete as that of business or society, however, and much of the time of a detective or police official is spent keeping track of people in it, forming acquaintances and connections in.

various ways and establishing the organization of informants that will help in the direction and prevention of crime. A good detective is like a good salesman. He keeps track of his trade. Shortly after midnight of the first day, Commissioner Doherty received a message over the telephone that sent him uptown to meet an informant. At two o'clock in the morning of Friday February 16th, he and this person had a talk at a fashionable uptown hotel. Indeed, most of the meeting with informants during this case were held at two well-known hotels, perhaps the last places in the city that anybody would connect with such conferences. Informants are not always right, nor always possessed of useful information, but this one had the first real clue.

on the afternoon of the robbery it was learned a fellow known as eddy collins had come to his rooming-house on the lower west side told a woman with whom he lived known as swede annie to pack up and be ready to leave the city in a hurry and presently disappeared with her he was also reported to have a large roll of money with a rough estimate of the size of this roll given by the informant and a dummy roll of stage money made up for the purpose the police were able to judge that collins must have had between three thousand and five thousand dollars that would have been his probable share in a division of the stolen currency among five men the house where colin had lived was kept by a mrs sullivan steps were at once taken to surround this woman as the operation is known technically for before a possible source of information like mrs sullivan is followed up it is necessary to know something about it the person in question may be criminal or in league with the underworld on the other hand he or she may be quite innocent and willing to aid the police the surround is an interesting operation it is often made without the knowledge of the person investigated in many cases it takes time mrs sullivan came through the ordeal handsomely she proved to be a wholesome hard-working landlady keeping a house that sheltered occasional suspicious characters but entirely honest herself

she was not only able to furnish information about her late lodgers but willing sure it's a good deal i know about that collins as he calls himself she said and mighty little that's good it seems that about two weeks previously collins had offered to pay the landlady if she would appear in a brooklyn court and testify to the good character of a criminal named molloy who was who was being held for trial on a charge of robbery they're paying fifteen to twenty dollars for character witnesses said her lodger and do you think i'd take the stand and perjure myself swearing for a man i never heard of asked the indignant landlady oh that's nothing to some of the things we do was the reply several days later while she was putting some laundry into collins's bureau drawer the landlady caught sight of two new blackjacks she asked collins what he was doing with such weapons ah we use them in our business he said then with the confidence often bred in criminals by success he told her he knew a gang that was planning to rob a taxi-cab that carried money uptown to a bank every week mrs sullivan questioned him as to details and he assured her it would be an easy job for we've got it all fixed with the chauffeur he said At that point, however, like many an honest person who might aid the police with information,

Mrs. Sullivan let the matter drop out of her mind. It is a simple thing to mail a letter or telephone to police headquarters, giving such information, and the experience of the Detective Bureau is such that the information can be investigated without involving innocent persons. But perhaps Mrs. Sullivan concluded that, in a big city like New York, it is well for people to keep their mouths shut. Or maybe she decided that Collins was merely boasting. On Friday, less than 24 hours after the robbery, a network investigation was begun. Sixty detectives searched that part of the city where Collins and Annie had lived, seeking further

information. Photographed galleries and other places were investigated on the chance of finding pictures. Denizens of the underworld were talked with casually. Professional criminals, prostitutes, dive-keepers, receivers of stolen goods, and other shady characters were brought before Commissioner Doherty in couples and half-dozens for quick cross-examination. By Saturday evening, the police had some highly important information. It was learned that Annie had been seen going away on the afternoon of the robbery in a taxi cab, accompanied by two men, one of whom was Collins and the other unknown. Good descriptions were secured of Annie and her sweetheart,

especially of her hat, which was a cheap affair, but conspicuous by reason of a row of little red roses. It was also discovered that Collins had been a boxer, that he hailed from Boston, and that his real name was Eddie Kinsman. Finally, the police secured two photographs, one an indifferent picture of Kinsman, and the other an excellent portrait of Annie.

These were quickly put through the department's photograph gallery, where there are facilities for making duplicates in a hurry, and more than a hundred copies were soon ready for work, which will be described in its proper place. The trail now seemed to lead to Boston. At all events, further information was to be secured there, and here came in a little refinement imparted by Commissioner Doherty's experience with the Pinkerton forces.

For where this private detain, organization works unhampered over the whole country, the official police forces in most cities confine their searches to their own territory. When it is believed that criminals have left town, as in this case, a general description is telegraphed to other cities. Dorotty's method, however, is always to send a man from his own staff with detailed instructions. There are no local boundaries for him. Late on Saturday night, Inspector Hughes

of the Detective Bureau slipped out of headquarters with Detective O'Connell and took a train for Boston. Their departure was kept strictly secret. They bid good night to associates, saying that they expected

to be up and at work again early next morning, and until their return on Monday, everybody who asked for the inspector was told that he is usually around the building somewhere. Montani points out King Dodo. All through Friday and Saturday, while the network investigation was going on, Commissioner Doherty continued his examination of Montani.

Some important information against him now came from outside. It developed that Montani had been involved several months before in an insurance case, claiming indemnity for a burned automobile under a policy. He had presented, as part of its value, a bill for repairs amounting to $1,348. The insurance company, however, had found that this bill was fraudulent, that the repairs had never been made, and had obtained a statement to that effect from the Italian chauffeur. out of pity for his wife and two children the case was not pressed against him now that he was involved in another crime however the insurance people came forward and laid the facts before the police of course montani knew nothing about this new development for two days the chauffeur was questioned at intervals and the inquiry centred chiefly on the knotty points in his story

of the crime. He was particularly pressed for better explanations of the slackening of his cab when the robbers boarded it, but stuck to his original statement about a man getting in front of the vehicle. He described this person as an old man and said he must have been in league with the criminals. As the police had good evidence that there had been nobody in front of the taxi cab, however, this point was returned to again and again, and toward night on Saturday, February 17th, the little chauffeur began to feel the strain. On his way to supper that evening, with the men from the detective bureau, Montani was taken through the bowery.

Suddenly he stopped, dramatically, and exclaimed, "'There! That is the old man who got in front of my cab!' his finger indicated a bowery character as typical as anything ever seen in melodrama a ragged little old figure with an amazing set of whiskers engaged in picking up cigar butts along the gutters he was immediately taken to headquarters no detail of his work interests commissioner dorritie more keenly than his study of the many picturesque characters who turn up as an important unfolds. He has a ready appreciation of everybody who appears, from the society lady who lost her jewels to the typical Bowery loafer. He is as ready to look at facts from a criminal's point of view as that of an honest man. He has often gone half across the country to get acquainted with a good burglar, and in this warm human interest lies the basis of his skill as an

examiner of suspects. These details are set down, not in glorification of Doherty, but for the guidance of every police officer interested in his methods. The moment Doherty laid eyes on this new character, with his magnificent whiskers, he gave him a nickname. King Dodo, said the commissioner, and by that name he was known insofar as he figured in the at all. King Dodo proved to be entirely innocent, and nothing more than the victim of a chance move of Montanis, who evidently thought that he ought to produce something tangible to back up his assertion that the cab had been intercepted by an old man. King Dodo established a perfect alibi, proving that he

had been elsewhere at the time of the robbery, and after being questioned and the truth of his story established, he was released, there being no reason for holding him. I feel safe, said the commissioner solemnly, in paroling you on your own responsibility, to appear again if wanted. There may have been a heavier responsibility than had been put on his shoulders in years, but he rose to it. Two days later, a decently dressed, clean-shaven, elderly gentleman, came in and asked for the commissioner. He was all dulled up in police parlance and looked like a retired small shopkeeper. The staff did not recognize him for a moment, but it was King Dodo, doing his best to fill

the part of a minor figure in the great taxicab mystery. There being nothing for him to do he dropped back into private life. on his sunday visit to boston inspector hughes talked with chief inspector watts of that city learned where kinsman lived and that his family was a respectable one found a bright patrolman named dorsey who knew kinsman and gave more information about his personal appearance habits and career as a boxer desertion from the navy and so forth and made arrangements to have the kinsman and made arrangements to have the kinsman Kinsman home watched, so that news of his return would be secured immediately. It was clear that Kinsman had not returned to Boston. Discovery of Kinsman's Trail As soon as Inspector Hughes returned from Boston on Monday morning,

the commissioner took steps to question the crews of every train that had left New York since 1 p.m. on the day of the robbery. Just the other afternoon, the writer sat with a squad of young detectives at police headquarters and heard a talk on methods given by Dorety, and one point clearly brought out was the usefulness to the thief-catcher of routine information. He began by relating an amusing incident. Some days before, a detective had turned up at headquarters for instruction and naively asked the commissioner to lend him a pencil and a slip of paper so he could make some notes.

Another detective was found who had only a hazy idea of the location of New York's telephone exchanges. Taking these as his text, the commissioner explained the value to every police officer of what might be called timetable information, knowing the depots and ferries, what roads run out of them, the cities reached, the number and character of trains, the general methods of dispatching trains, and so forth. The commissioner himself is as well informed on such matters as any railroad man, and thoroughly familiar with routine methods in many other lines of work and business. How such knowledge can be employed was shown by the next move in the taxi-cab case.

Detectives were sent to every railroad terminal to secure lists of trains, learn the names of the crews, and make out schedules of the time when each crew would be back in the city. Then each man was found and carefully questioned. His memory could be helped by pictures of kinsman and Annie, and by intimate details of personal appearance and manner.

The search bore fruit, though it took time. On Wednesday, Detective Watson, who was a railroad engineer before he joined the police, found that train number 13 on the New York Central had taken on three passengers answering the descriptions on the afternoon of the robbery. They had boarded the train at Peakskill, the town to which, as it was subsequently learned, they had ridden in a taxi cab. The conductor's attention had been drawn to Annie by her smoking a cigarette on the sly in the toilet of the day coach. He remembered her high cheekbones and the black velvet hat with its little roses, and the athletic build of her men companions.

who both appeared to be boxers. It was also established that the trio had gone to Albany, for one of the trainmen distinctly remembered helping Annie down at that station. End of Section 4. Section 5 of The Great Taxi Cab Robbery, A True Detective Story, by James H. Collins. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain.

Section 5. chapter two part four plant twenty one is established monday february nineteenth was an important day in more ways than one while the train investigation was going on it was learned that a woman known as myrtle horn an intimate of annie's had moved to a lower west side rooming house taking annie's trunk with her as though annie expected to return to the city. After a preliminary survey, this house was visited by Commissioner Doherty in person. He explained that he was a contractor about to build a section of the new subway and that he was looking for a quiet room at a reasonable price where he might have some of the comforts of home. After a little talk with the landlady, it became clear that she was honest and trustworthy,

with no information of the new lodger who had taken her front room in the basement. Arrangements were quickly made to put this house inside and outside under constant surveillance. Along in the evening, Mrs. Isabella Goodwin, a police matron, was installed there. The commissioner brought her and carried her bundle. The landlady and the matron had never seen each other in their lives, but killed. kissed ostentatiously, and made considerable fuss on the chance of being overheard. Mrs. Goodwin was planted as of the landlady's sister, who had come from Montreal to live with her and help in the housework,

until she could find a position in New York. The commissioner grumbled a little about her stinginess in refusing to pay an expressman to bring her bundle, and then took his departure, explaining that the country. had been late and the baby was not well and his wife aggie would be worried about him and so forth mrs goodwin established herself in a room at the rear of the basement handy to that occupied by myrtle horn and kept her eyes and ears open as she went about the housework slipping out to report when she had any information and receiving instructions outside surveillance on this house was conducted from an empty store across the street arrangements for the use of such property are usually made by the police without difficulty though occasionally a close-fisted owner expects rent blinds were put up over the windows peep-holes made and a few hammers provided with some nails and boards then six of the best shadow men in the detective bureau were stationed there they made a little noise occasionally in getting the store ready for a big firm moving up from downtown and watched the house day and night

whenever myrtle went out she was followed if she had visitors they were investigated this store was known by the code term of plant twenty one so the reports could be sent without disclosing police information montani goes free on monday two montani was arraigned in court and discharged for what appeared to be lack of any evidence against him At this point, the commissioner took the liberty of fooling the newspaper men for the good of his case. Newspaper criticism for three days had been particularly severe. Editors made many charges and were fertile in suggestions as what ought to be done to reorganize the presumably demoralized police department. The present writer feels confident, however, that a careful search of the first person, files for those days will disclose hardly any suggestions likely to be at all helpful to public servants in the discharge of duty many questions with no real bearing on the case had been brought up by the journalists and the commissioner who was patient in answering the newspaper men began to be a little tired on sunday night his big office was filled with reporters they sat about everywhere he had admitted them because he wanted them to see that he was working from time to time they quizzed him in this fashion

is it true that you and commissioner waldo have quarreled is waldo going to resign do you favor the sullivan law against pistols will the deadline be maintained now? Hadn't the daily lineup of criminals ought to be restored, so the detectives will know crooks when they see them? Hasn't Mayor Gaynor tied the hands of the police? And so forth, and so forth, and so forth. Suddenly, on Sunday night, Dorotty turned and read the newspaper men a lecture. He said that he wanted them to understand that he was no spring chicken at his business. that he was working eighteen hours a day and that he knew he would show results if the people would only be patient and give him time his only recommendation in the way of new laws or reforms was for a statute that would enable the police to put known criminals without occupation or visible means of support at work mending roads he outlined a plan which rather strangely did not get any attention in the newspapers at all his idea of dealing with idle criminals he said

was to have a cart with commissary and sleeping quarters for twelve men as soon as twelve idle criminals with records had been sentenced they would pull this cart out of town themselves under guard and go to work repairing roads If that plan were adopted, New York would not only be as free from criminals as the District of Columbia, where a similar measure is enforced, but the roads all around the city would be so well cared for that they could be used as roller skating rinks. The newspapers next morning were quite certain that Commissioner's Waldo and Doherty had quarreled, and when the journalists went down to report Montani's examines' examines, in court, they were decidedly partial to the taxicab man. Doherty had told the newspaperman beforehand that he had evidence enough to have Montani held for trial.

He had made very positive statements about this. Montani would be arraigned, he predicted, and if charged on one count, would be immediately arrested on something else. If he was discharged on that, he would still be arraigned on further charges. It needs no very brilliant imagination, therefore, to picture the effect upon the newspapers when Montani, after being arraigned on the doubtful points in his own account of the crime, and those not too vigorously pressed, was discharged, with comment by the court upon the flimsiness of the police case.

there was one striking discrepancy in the evidence presented at the examination which if pressed should have resulted in the holding of montani for trial he still insisted that he had stopped his cab because an old man had got in front of it but this was denied by a witness that point was permitted to pass by lieutenant riley who appeared for the police montani could have been re-arrested on charges based upon his attempt to defraud the insurance company but he was permitted to go free that course had been decided on at police headquarters after some difference of opinion the newspapers were now more pessimistic than ever in their comment they contrasted this outcome with dority's promise that the chauffeur would be re-arrested it was taken as a confession of police incompetency and bewilderment which as will be seen in its proper place was very useful in its way montani went free and was jubilant calling on the commissioner next morning to thank him but from the moment he left court until he was arrested again the italian chauffeur never got out of sight of the police department what developed on a busy tuesday it was on the day after montani's release that commissioner dorritie began to uncover more interesting characters in the taxicab drama bit by bit through points supplied by informants and persons who had come in contact with him in various ways a very good working knowledge of the fugitive kinsman was pieced together

it appeared that he had come to new york the previous summer from boston and after a brief career as a boxer had gone to work in a sixth avenue resort known as the nutshell cafe where he was a waiter among his associates there had been two characters who invited further inquiry the first of these was a fellow called jean described as having a parrot nose and a criminal record He had been a close pal of kinsman, and had also introduced another intimate, a wily little Italian called Jess, who had formerly owned a thieves resort, which he called the Arch Cafe. A good description of Jess was secured. There was some delay, while the commissioner surrounded this last-mentioned resort, to find out if it was a place where any information might be obtained over. The question was decided in the negative, so a plain-clothesman was quietly planted there to pick up information. When a criminal is arrested, or falls, it is customary in the underworld to raise a fund for his defense. The arch cafe was a center for the deposit of such fall money.

It was learned that a hundred dollars had been raised for the defense of a man. named Clark, alias Malloy, under arrest in Brooklyn for robbery. This was the same Malloy to whose fine character, Kinsman had asked his landlady to swear in court. The Italian named Jess had taken charge of Malloy's defense fund, but squandered it in a spree. Later, making it good, he had sent it over to Malloy's relief by Kinsman's pal, Dutch, and an Italian known as Mateo.

District inspectors of police were then called upon to find a detective who knew Jess, and an Italian plainclothesman, Antony Greco, who had grown up in that part of New York where Jess had kept a cafe, and who knew the latter well, was detailed with another detective to look him up and keep him under surveillance. They found that Jess, whose last name was Albraco, had headquarters in a tough resort in Thompson Street, kept by an Italian named James Pasquale, better known as Jimmy the Push. From that time, Jess was kept on tap to await further developments. Then the commissioner undertook to find out more about the character called Gene.

working in new york as waiters and bartenders were many members of a criminal band known as the forty thieves of boston the commissioner called in all of them that he could find and sounded each for information about this gene after the time of day had been passed the talk would turn on members of the band and criminals in general and after curiosity had been excited jean would be referred to casually if the party interviewed said he knew jean the commissioner would probably be sceptical ask his last name press for details of appearance and habits and then pass to some other subject it was found that jean's last name was spain that he had served a term in prison in boston as a boy and that by his general description, he must be the third fugitive accompanying Kinsman and Annie. When Detective Watson got better descriptions of the third man at Albany, and comparisons were made with sources of information in New York, it became practically certain that Gene Splane was with Kinsman.

Annie shows at Plant 21. It was on this day, too, Tuesday, February 20th, that swede annie suddenly stepped into police view wearing a new hat she turned up quietly at the house where myrtle horn had moved with her trunk and began living in the front basement room matron goodwin and plant twenty one immediately reported her presence and from that time the shadow man across the street had something to do besides driving nails for whenever annie or myrtle went out of the house they were followed shadowing is a highly interesting kind of police work at which some men have exceptional ability the general conception is that of a detective following closely behind the suspected person with his eyes glued to him and cautiously crouching behind lamp-posts and trees when the victim turned suddenly but that is far from the real thing the work is done in ways altogether different shadow men operate in pairs as a rule and keep track of their party from vantage points not likely to be suspected they dress according to the character of the case always in quiet clothes changed daily and with absolutely no colours that will attract attention or lead to recognition through the memory. They know how to follow when the person under surveillance rides in cabs,

cars, or trains, to cover the different exits from a building into which he or she may have gone, and to loiter several hours around a given neighborhood, if need be, without attracting the attention of honest citizens. This work is done by shifts. The operators relieve each other almost as regularly as office employees, no matter how far the trail may have taken them. They are in constant touch with headquarters for the purpose of making reports and receiving instructions. In this branch of detective work, as in many others, the chief requisite is resourcefulness.

The detective of fact wears little disguise, apart from clothes that fit the surroundings he moves in. but he has an instant knack at accounting for himself as a normal character who has happened quite naturally into the scene ready wits do the trick not false whiskers thus it came about that whenever annie and myrtle were hungry and sat down in a restaurant what they said was noted by a couple of fellows at another table who quickly made a party of the chance patrons they found there discussing wages or the suffragettes or if annie used the telephone in a drug store a polite young man turning over the directory said to her go ahead lady i'm in no hurry and listened at the same time matron goodwin was reporting conversations from inside the house it appeared that kinsman had sent annie back to the city after buying her her a new hat and giving her a hundred and twenty-five dollars he promised to write soon but did not tell her where he was going toward the end of the week as no letter arrived annie began worrying and was talkative she feared that eddie no longer loved her she reproached herself for letting him go without taking her along and spoke of setting out to find him

End of Section 5. Section 6 of the Great Taxicab Robbery, A True Detective Story, by James H. Collins. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Section 6. Chapter 2 Part 5 The Trail is taken up. It was now Wednesday, February 21st, and all the careful detail work began to come to here.

together. It was this day that Detective Watson found the crew of train number 13 on the New York Central, which had taken Kinsman, Annie, and Splain aboard at Peekskill the afternoon of the robbery after they had ridden out of New York in a taxi cab to avoid possible police surveillance at the railroad stations. Commissioner Doherty dispatched Watson to Peekskill and Albany with thorough instructions. His motto in working out a case is, Supervision is half the battle. When you get to Albany, he said, go to that big hat store on Broadway near the station.

I'll bet that's where Annie's new hat was bought. They sell the best millinery in the country outside of New York. Nothing important was learned at Peekskill, but at Albany, sure enough, Detective Watson found the saleswoman right in that big hat store, who had sold the new hat, and secured Annie's discarded headgear. The new hat had cost $25. The old one looked as though it might have cost $95, a division street special.

Its black velvet was of the cheapest grade, the famous little red roses proved to be, on close inspection, nothing more than little loops of pink cotton cloth, and the general state of the hat indicated that it was about time Annie had a new one. This interesting bonnet, however, seemed just then more handsome than any costly article of millinery ever smuggled over from Paris. It was immediately sent to New York by Express, with a copy of the sales slip covering the purchase. the saleswoman was able to add one or two details of description and remembered how after the woman had selected a hat the two men had joked about who was to pay for it she's your girl said spain and so kinsman had paid the bill with five five dollar bills nothing could be learned as to the direction in which the two men meant to travel

detective watson now began a search among train crews running out of albany and commission dority in new york got the albany ticket sellers by long-distance telephone his knowledge of how railroad tickets are sold accounted for taken up cancelled and checked by the auditing department made it possible to sift matters down to the strongest kind of probability After considerable telephoning, aided by Detective Watson on the spot, it was determined that Kinsman and Splane had been the purchasers of two consecutively numbered tickets for Chicago, sold together on Friday morning, 24 hours after the robbery, and that they had gone west on train number three, leaving Albany at 12.10 p.m. Their tickets were available for that train, and the conclusion was strengthened by calculating Annie's movements,

for it was found that she had come back to New York the same day between four and five in the afternoon. She had kept out of sight until she appeared at Myrtle Horn's lodging and was reported by Matron Goodwin and Plant 21 on Tuesday. But she must have taken to take her. a train from Albany about the time that the men was starting for Chicago, reaching New York at 3.45 p.m. Commissioner Doherty felt that the chances of finding his men in Chicago were so good that without wasting time in an investigation of the crew of train number three, he put Detective Daly and Claire aboard a Chicago train that same night.

Kinsman and Splane would both find. congenial company among the pugilists in Chicago. These detectives were given names to conceal their identity and ordered to report under the code term of orange growers to eliminate all flavor of police business. They received detailed instructions about where to go and what to do. Again, the commissioner covered the trail when it led out of New York by sending capable assistance, instead of merely wiring the police in other cities.

Before the orange growers departed, the boss gave them a little talk about expenses. The detective attached to a municipal police force is very often hampered by fear of making unusual expenditures. Accounting routine is strict. Telegrams are often limited to the minimum of ten. ten words, where a hundred are needed to send a working description or report. The long-distance telephone is used as a luxury, and in many instances, where the plainclothesman can get valuable information through an informant, he pays the shot out of his own pocket, because there is no other way of paying it,

and trusts to the chance that this private investment out of his salary will help him break a naughty case. commissioner dorritie told the orange growers that they would be kept on this trail if it led all around the world they must not consider expenditure when there was vital information to put on the wire he expected them to turn to the long-distance telephone whenever they needed new instructions in a hurry briefly he took the blinders and shackles off them and sent them out to do good work and the outcome justified this far-sightedness at that period of the winter trains were delayed everywhere by storms so the orange growers had opportunities to make inquiries at stations and railroad restaurants all along the line to buffalo they were in search of their brother who was described in terms of kinsman's personal appearance and was supposed to be on his way somewhere with another man. At Syracuse, an observant waitress remembered their brother distinctly, having served both the men when their train stopped for supper. Finally, the two orange growers got snowed up in Michigan for a time, and there we will leave them for the present.

Montani quizzed once more. By Thursday, many loose ends of the case were being brought together so effectually that the outlook seemed exceedingly bright but only to the executive circle in dorritie's office outside all was dark newspaper criticism had become more caustic than ever and the public after the ingrained habit of new york was turning its attention to fresher news sensations at a big annual dinner of police officials held that evening February 22nd, the atmosphere of gloom resting upon the department was most tangible. The fourteen hundred guests, who were chiefly police inspectors, captains, and lie that a stigma lay upon the service with which they were identified. They had no means of knowing, of course, that one week from that night the gloom would have lifted, criticism be turned to praise, and that policemen generally would be, as a witty lieutenant put it,

back to our official standing again, which never was so very high. Montani had called at police headquarters repeatedly, accompanied by his unseen shadowers. He professed to be anxious to furnish further information, if it lay in his power, and the commissioner chatted with him cordially, leading him to bludely, leading him to believe that he no longer rested under the slightest suspicion on friday dority made an interesting effort to break montani he now had a minute physical description of kinsman as well as two photographs of him the chauffeur was asked to describe once more the man who had sat upon the cab seat with him the questions went over details from head to foot and were prompted by details of kinsman's real appearance montani said the man had large brown eyes which was true he remembered that he had talked with a good american accent and used words not common to the criminal which was also more or less true he suddenly recalled a gold-filled tooth in the robber's upper right hand

jaw, a point already furnished by informants. In fact, as this new examination went on, it became clear to the commissioner that Montani was actually describing Kinsman, changing only one detail. He said that the robber had had a dark mustache, while it was certain that Kinsman had been smooth-shaven. Suddenly, the commissioner tried what is known as a shot. the examiner in such an inquiry is often in possession of incriminating evidence instead of producing it bluntly as evidence however he will perhaps let it slip out bit by bit as though by awkwardness meanwhile maintaining an appearance of absolute confidence in the suspect's integrity a classic example of this device is found in the russian writer dostoevsky's crime and punishment

the skillful shot is usually far more disconcerting than evidence produced openly to overwhelm for the suspect assumes that the examiner really knows nothing and is merely blundered so he is on his guard outwardly but he also worries inwardly and this trying conflict between inner doubt and the need for keeping up outer calm will often break him down completely dorritie's shot was a photograph of kinsman by prearrangement an assistant came into the office and began turning over some papers on the commissioner's desk the photo of kinsman popped out where montani could see it plainly and then was hurriedly put out of sight again the commissioner scolded his assistant and the latter stood shamefaced and silent but in this instance the device failed montani not only betrayed no interest in kinsman's pitcher but took the awkward assistance part and asked the commissioner not to scold him montani had planned his crime fitted the plan with men laid out every detail in his mind and arranged his story beforehand he expected to be arrested and said so he admitted that there were inconsistencies in his story but hoped to clear them up he had discussed the crime with jess and dutch and had not been seen in the company of the other criminals so having settled on his story montani stuck to it without variation under every form of pressure others forgot what they had arranged as their defence or departed from it or broke down and confirmed

but not Montani. He alone went to trial and stuck to his story until the end. End of Section 6 Section 7 of the Great Taxicab Robbery, A True Detective Story, by James H. Collins. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Chapter 2 Part 6 The Orange Growers in Chicago when daly and claire the two new york detectives working as the orange growers arrived in chicago they went to police headquarters in that city made inquiries about kinsmen and spain and secured the aid of chicago detectives then they put up at a hotel where by arrangements with the house detective they occupied a room on the second floor handy to a little used stairway leading to a little used stairway leading to a hotel where by arrangements with the house detective they occupied a room on the second floor handy to a little used stairway leading to a little used stairway leading to

a side street, which would make it easy to slip in and out without going through the lobby. On the trip from New York, both of them had neglected shaving, and Daly was an especially tough-looking citizen, for his beard grows out stiff and bristly, with black and red intermixed, and a little green to help the general effect. With suits of old clothes and sweaters, they were so little like their official selves, that for several days, though they went rather freely around resorts frequented by crooks who knew them in New York, they were not recognized. The orange growers now became a pair of hardened yegman or bank robbers, and for three days were busy visiting thieves' haunts all over the city, from the levy district to the stockyards.

It was found that Kinsman and Spleyne had put up at a high-class boarding-house in a fashionable residence section. Kinsman seemed to be doubtful about the impressions Splean might make there, though in the opinion of the police, Splean was by far the more intelligent of the pair. So he took the landlady aside and asked her privately if she had objections to a prize-fighter in her house. the landlady replied why no if he is a gentleman many prize fighters are just like other people thereupon kinsman undertook that spain should behave himself he also wanted to know of valuables were safe there and the astonished landlady assured him that her house was like a home that the guests were like one big family and seldom locked their doors and that mr well known as an officer in one of the leading banks had lived there for years the pair had spent considerable time in criminal haunts but had now disappeared kinsman as it was learned later had returned to new york spain was apparently in chicago still spending his money but the two orange growers seemed never to catch up with them their man had always gone around the corner within the past hour

finally they planned a ruse with the aid of two chicago detectives spain had been intimate with a certain woman of the underworld known as josie clare went to her represented himself as as a stick-up man said he and his partner were after that guy with all the money and diamonds meaning splain and that they meant to rob him if josie worked with them like a good girl she would come in for her third of the plunder josie professed ignorance she was sure so help her mike cross her heart that she knew nothing about no gent with any money or diamonds no such a party had been near the house in months worse luck claire argued a while with no results and then said he would come back a little later and bring his pal then daily was introduced to josie as the extremely undesirable citizen who would do the strong-arm work but josie still insisted that she had no idea what they were talking about they went out and within a few minutes the two chicago detectives dempsey and macfarlane known by josie as officers came in described the disguised clare and daly as two of the most desperate yegman in the country said that they had warrants for them and asked if they had been seen josie crossed her heart again and said that there had been nobody around there all evening believe her it was like living the simple life and if things kept on being so quiet she'd blow the town and go back to keekok then enter the two orange growers once more to be warned by the fair josie

say the bulls here are after you boys and you better pull your freight cause if you stay round here they're goin to get you ah hell was the reply we'd just as live kill a cop or anybody else we stick in this house till you tell us where we can reach that guy with the money and the diamonds understand then josie broke down and told them spain had been there early in the evening but had gone away to take a train out of town she did not know the railroad and urged them to leave this was evidently the truth so they hurried to police headquarters telegraphed descriptions to other cities with a request that arriving trains be watched and went to bed to get a little sleep so that they could be at work early the next morning but in the morning word came from the memphis police that spain had been arrested there on alighting from a train and they thereupon notified new york went to memphis secured spain on extradition papers and brought him back to the metropolis the traps are sprung on saturday afternoon february twenty fourth while most of the energy of the detective Bureau was centered on the taxi cab case, a brutal murder was committed in Brooklyn. Word came that a Flatbush merchant had been found dead in his store,

shot by unknown criminals whose motive was robbery. They had taken his watch and five safety razors. Inspector Hughes was sent to the scene of the crime, and Commissioner Doherty quickly followed. The murder occurred about one person. p.m. By six o'clock the same day, the number of the watch had been learned through a canvas of jewelers in the neighborhood, it being on record by one of them who had repaired it, and the watch and two of the safety razors had been found in pawn shops. Descriptions of the murderers were

obtained, and by three o'clock Sunday the following day, their identity had been established. Within 30 hours after the crime, these men had been arrested, positively identified as the ponderers of the stolen articles, and completely tied up with their own statements. At half-past nine Sunday night, while the commissioner, Inspector Hughes and Captain Coughlin, in charge of Brooklyn detectives, and Lieutenant Riley were winding up their work on this murder case, word suddenly came. over the telephone to Commissioner Doherty from an informant that Eddie Kinsman had been seen in New York with Swede Annie, and that he was accompanied by an unknown man wearing a red necktie, supposed to be Jean Splain. At the same time, Matron Goodwin, stationed inside Annie's lodgings, telephoned that she had information indicating that Kinsman had returned to the city. when the commissioner motored over to new york he found his men covering a hotel on third avenue not far from forty-second street

kinsman and annie were inside the commissioner hurried to the eighteenth precinct police station and sent out a call for twenty-five detectives team work on the case had developed to such a degree by this time that though the men came from many stations they were all on hand in record time a matter of twenty or thirty minutes then a squad of these plain clothesmen was sent to watch every railroad station and ferry house each accompanied by one of the men from plant twenty one familiar with annie from having followed her movements for a week surveillance on the hotel was strengthened and steps taken to ascertain whether the unknown man in the red tie was really spain while making these arrangements a curious incident occurred showing how small is new york after all with its five million people as dority sat in the eighteenth precinct station detective rain brought in a prisoner arrested for shooting a citizen he was drunk and extremely disagreeable and gave his name as stigle living at ninety eight third avenue something in this address echoed to something in dorritie's memory a keen one for names dates addresses and facts generally he investigated further and found that this prisoner was no other than the criminal molloy whose urgent need of character witnesses had played so important a part in furnishing the first information in the taxicab case by some mischance these operations came to the ears of the newspaper men word went about beginning in brooklyn that important arrests were to be made

the reporters followed the commissioner in a crowd when he refused to make a statement they not only hampered the work but greatly endangered the outcome on the following day monday the papers published information about the police activities of the night before the hazard here may be appreciated when the reader is told that kinsman had been a persistent reader of newspapers from the day of the robbery and that it was largely the pessimistic newspaper comment upon montani's release in court that led him to return to new york deceived by the newspaper chorus of police demoralization and the easy way in which montani had got free he concluded that the taxicab investigation had been given up as hopeless kinsman was arrested in the grand central station at half-past eleven monday morning with swede annie and the unknown in the red tie they were about to set out for boston there were some amusing circumstances in the arrest kinsman's immunity over night and police precaution in deferring the arrest until the last moment on the chance that other persons would join the party gave him a false confidence he afterward admitted that ideas of a pinch at that time were far from his mind when a criminal thought to be dangerous is to be arrested in a crowded place like the grand central station police officers operate by methods that prevent a struggle as two detectives closed in on the party kinsman watched one of them out of the corner of his eye while a waiter at the nutshell cafe he had often thrown objectionable guests out on to the sidewalk

he now fancied that one of the detectives resembled a man he had once bounced and was ready to fight if attacked i was just folding it up he said referring to his fist and getting ready to land on him when one had me from behind and the other in front then i knew they were cops annie was gorgeously dressed in a new blue suit and fine fur coat bought out of the taxicab money the unknown man proved to be kinsman's brother who had come down from boston with him kinsman had visited his native city before returning to new york but had escaped the police net there by stopping at a hotel and sending for his brother he sent a grip home by this brother and it was afterward found to contain three packages of bills of two hundred and fifty dollars each in the original wrappers of the bank as soon as words of these arrests was telephoned to police headquarters the other traps were sprung detectives brought in montani jess albrazo and myrtle horn the latter with annie being held as witnesses end of chapter two end of section seven section eight of the great taxicab robbery a true detective story by james h Collins. This Librovox recording is in the public domain.

Chapter 3 Part 1 How the Crime Was Handled by the Police, The Confessions. Now begin some of the most interesting work connected with the taxicab case, the examination of the first prisoners, which led to confessions, the implication of other guilty persons not yet under arrest, and the voluntary pleas of guilty in court, which saved costly trials in all but Montani's case. This sort of work is familiar under the term of third degree. It is popularly supposed to be accompanied by force and sometimes brutality, and in the wrong

hands often is. Commissioner Doherty's experience with a commercial detective agency, however, has led him to develop intelligent methods. The commercial detective organization is none of the authority of an official police force, and at the same time, through its national operations and the general character of its work, deals chiefly with the most accomplished criminals. Therefore, tact and legal subtlety are dependent upon in examining suspects, and the commissioner long ago learned to get his results mainly by straight question and answer.

he puts his own wits against those of the suspect backed by experience in many other cases he has a practical grasp of criminal psychology as well as many ingenious ways of using evidence to the best purpose overwhelming the suspect and breaking down stolidity and deception dority is not only opposed to force in the third degree but knows that it is of absolutely no use the first prisoner examined was eddy kinsman when he was brought to police headquarters kinsman appeared to be thoroughly satisfied with himself and confident that no policeman would get anything out of him he proved to be a good-looking young fellow of athletic build and by no means a fool methods of examination are never twice alike for they depend upon the case and the suspect as a rule however when the criminal first sits down to answer commissioner dority he is astonished by that gentleman's apparent lack of guile and ignorance of worldly knowledge when dorriti composes himself for an inquiry he is rather a heavy-looking citizen not unlike a country magistrate and his first questions put for the purpose of determining the suspect's character and previous surroundings usually relate to bald routine matters such as name age residence education family and so on gee thinks the suspect this guy is is the biggest lobster i ever got up against i wonder how he ever got to be a police commissioner he must have a strong political pull

kinsman was ushered into a large quiet office where this bureaucratic official began by asking his name birthplace and other details will you kindly stand up a minute while i get your height asked the questioner and kinsman did so in a patronizing way. Then the dull-looking gentleman turned back Kinsman's coat and looked at the little label sewed in the inside pocket. I see that you have been in Chicago recently, he observed. This suit was made by a tailor there. You ordered it February 17th, two days after the robbery. He looked into Kinsman's hat. That was bought in Chicago, too. He examined. He examined. in the label on kinsman's tie this was also bought in chicago he turned up the label at the back of the neck of the new silk underclothes worn by the prisoner those were bought in state street chicago and from a very good store too i know it well kinsman now began to be pugnacious and defiant see here he said you must take me for a boo

Yes, I think you are a boob, replied the commissioner. You might as well have made your getaway with a brass band as to take Swede Annie with you to Albany, attracting attention all the way, and then sent her back to New York with a hundred dollars to tell the police where you had gone. Suddenly, Lieutenant Riley, personal aid, walked into the commissioner's office, carrying a cheap article of millinery. a shabby black velvet hat with a row of little red roses across the front commissioner dority apparently grew very angry what do you mean by bringing that thing in here now he exclaimed i am not ready for that take it away this shot had been previously arranged of course but riley pretended to be injured when called by his superior cripes exclaimed kinsman annie's old hat how did you get that so quick oh that is only one thing we've got on you replied the commissioner

we know that you went to peakskill in a taxi-cab with annie and spain on the afternoon of the robbery we know that you took train thirteen to albany and where you stopped that night and where you bought annie's new hat and how much you paid for it and what train you took to chicago friday noon suppose you tell me something more about your movements kinsman became scornful if you know all that he said maybe you know more about where i went and what i did than i do myself so what would be the use of me telling you anything while certain people were being found outside the commissioner worked upon the prisoner along another line enough of kinsman's personality was now disclosed to show that he was vain and egotistical this side of his nature was therefore fed with flattery he was assured that the taxicab robbery had been a wonderful stick-up everybody in new york had been astonished the whole country was talking about it and about him he must be an awfully bright cunning fellow to have planned and carried out such a piece of crime kinsman warmed up genially under this admiration and seemed to be more confident than ever that so shrewd a young man as himself would have little difficulty in fooling the police but presently self-satisfaction was subjected to shock after shock detectives were bringing in montani myrtle hoyte rose levy mrs sullivan the landlady with whom kinsman had lived and her housekeeper

jess obracho was under arrest kinsman's brother was there for examination and inspector hughes and lieutenant riley were bringing in startling intelligence every few minutes. The housekeeper was ushered in and told how Kinsman had given her five dollars from a huge roll of bills before leaving for Peekskill. Commissioner Waldo came in and sat while Mrs. Sullivan told her what she knew about her late lodger. Kinsman's brother gave information about the former's movements from the time he had arrived in Boston until he brought him to New York to have a good time. And Kinsman knew that at the home of his parents in Boston, the police would surely find money in the original rappers of the bank.

The prisoner was put under pressure to explain how a man like himself, known to be working as a waiter in a cheap resort, could suddenly have come into possession of such sums. Statements from the women in the case had been secure, and were produced, and finally, Kinsman was brought to detailed admissions, one by one. He agreed that it was true he had gone to Peakskill in a taxi cab with Annie and Splain, that he had gone to Albany, had bought Annie a hat there,

had gone to Chicago, and so forth. Opportunities were given him to see Montani and Jess under arrest. Nothing but the truth was told him, yet by degrees he was led to see himself surrounded on all sides by evidence and confessing accomplices. At last he broke down completely, his vain self-confidence destroyed and made a detailed confession. Kinsman's story brought up fresh circumstances and new actors in the taxi-cab case. He told how he had come to New York nine months before, to have a good time and make money and how after going penniless and hungry and getting a few dollars for taking part in a boxing match he had become a waiter at the nutshell cafe

there he soon made the acquaintance of criminals meeting jean spain dutch keller joe the kid scottie the lamb and other characters who were afterward to assist in the taxi robbery there he also met swede annie and became her sweetheart and finally jess elbrazzo a dark little italian who seemed to exert marked influence over all the others it was from jess that kinsman first heard about the plan to rob a taxicab carrying money to a bank this swell job was discussed and jess told him he had a friend named montani who carried the man the bank's cash and would cooperate in stealing it. The job would be easy because Montani would run the cab through a side street, and the only guard was an old man and a boy, neither of them armed. One Sunday night, two weeks before the crime, just took kinsmen and other accomplices over the route, after all had drunk themselves into optimistic mood, and pointed out the bank from which the money was drawn, the streets through which Montani would run,

the place where the gang could board the cab, and the point at which they could leave it and escape uptown. Details were discussed. There was a difference of opinion as to methods, and the plotters parted that night with the understanding that each would submit his own ideas of how the robbery could be most effectively and safely carried out. Eventually, there was a definite agreement as to boarding the cab, preventing an outcry, making the getaway, and splitting up the money. According to Montani's information, the bank messengers usually carried between $75,000 and $100,000. When the day for the robbery had been set,

word suddenly came that there would not be so large a sum. This was disappointing, but the gang decided to put their project through nevertheless. Kinsman was busy at the cafe, where he worked until 4 o'clock on the morning of February 15th, and Dutch called for him several times, asking if he was going to lay down on the job. Finally, Kinsman got away, went to a room. in a lodging house, taken by Dutch, and found the gang all there, smoking and drinking. At five o'clock they all went to sleep. At eight, everybody was awakened. Dutch and Splaine took blackjacks and offered kinsman a revolver, which he refused,

saying he could take care of himself with his hands, being a boxer. There were six in the party. Kinsman, Dutch, Splane, Joe the Kid, Jess, and Scotty the Lamb, whose part was to stumble in front of Montani's cab at the place selected for the boarding and thus give the show for a colorable reason for slackening speed if eyewitnesses afterward called his honesty into question. The gang had breakfast in a cheap restaurant, stopped for a drink at the saloon of Jimmy the Push in Thompson Street, where the booty was to be divided,

and proceeded downtown, after parting with Jess. The latter was the organizer and took no part in the robbery. As he explained, he was known as a friend of Montanis, and wanted to arrange so that he could prove an alibi if suspected, proving that he had not been near the scene of the crime, when it was committed. At that saloon they had met a trio of Italian criminals known as the Three Briggins, who said they were not to take part in the robbery, but would be on hand to see that it was vigorously put through. Arrived upon the ground at Church Street and Trinity Place, Splean and

kinsmen waited on the west side of the thoroughfare, while Dutch and Joe the Kid stood on the opposite side. Scotty the Lamb posted himself 50 feet off. As Montani's cab came speeding along, Dutch raised his hat as a signal. Scotty the Lamb did not have time to step in front of the vehicle before it slackened, and the robbers were aboard. Dutch opened one door and struck the old bank teller, Wilbur Smith, and Joe the kid boosted Splane in on the other side, where he assaulted young Wardle.

Kinsman mounted the seat beside Montani, and the latter put on full speed, telling Kinsman to point his finger at his side, as though he had a revolver. The cab slipped past trucks and dodged pedestrians. Kinsman said he seemed to see policemen everywhere and was dazed when the vehicle stopped at Park Place and Church Street.

All the criminals did, got off there, Dutch lugging the brown bag containing the money. Splane and Dutch were both covered with the bank guards' blood. Taking kinsmen, they jumped aboard a street car. It was crowded. Several passengers noticed the bloody men, but were told that there had been a fight, and the occurrence was not reported to the police. After riding two or three blocks, they got off. boarded an elevated train rode to bleaker street and went to a back room in jimmy the push's saloon where the money was to be divided here they found jess and the three brigands and the latter now set up a claim for a share of the booty matthewo leader of the trio pulled out a revolver and there was a discussion

finally the bag was opened and found to contain twenty-five thousand dollars there were three packages of five thousand dollars each and one of ten thousand dollars matteo grabbed the latter package saying that his gang was to get three thousand dollars a piece and that the odd one thousand dollars would go for fall money to get maloy out of jail in brooklyn the robbers then divided the remainder just taking three thousand dollars for himself and another three thousand dollars for montani splain getting three thousand dollars kinsman two thousand seven hundred and fifty joe the kid two hundred and fifty and scotty the lamb nothing kinsman then told how he had called for swede annie and left town in a taxicab going as far as Peekskill to avoid the police at the Grand Central Station. End of Section 8. Section 9 of The Great Taxicab Robbery, a True Detective Story, by James H. Collins. This Librevox recording is in the public domain.

Chapter 3, Part 2 Jess confesses and assists. The next prisoner examined was Jess Albrazzo, a dark little Italian who appeared to be somewhat ignorant. In this examination, the commissioner had ample outside proof, and he also employed what he calls his psychological study. Years ago, in dealing with Negro suspects in southern crime, Doherty devised a little instrument which he dubbed his lie watch.

This was a dial with a needle hung around the suspect's neck. if the latter told the truth the needle presumably pointed to truth and if he didn't it pointed to lie being out of the suspect's sight it had a strong effect from that dority went into studies of the mental states of suspects under examination and found rough physiological indications which he uses as a guide to the integrity of the suspect investigations of european criminal experts like professor hans gross amply demonstrate that there is a real scientific basis for such methods dority took it a little easier with jess they sat down and the commissioner went over the italian's movements for the past few months showing him how thoroughly he was implicated jess had worked for montani and been intimate with the rest of the time taxi cab mob. He and Montani were confronted with each other, and points brought out in Kinsman's confession were skillfully used. At one point in this examination, the commissioner rose from his desk, took the lobe of Jess's ear between his thumb and finger, pinched it slightly,

looked at the ear closely, and then walked out of the room. Jess was all on edge with curiosity. why did he pinch my ear he asked of lieutenant riley to see if you are telling the truth was the answer and in a moment the commissioner came back and examined that ear again yes he's lying he declared look at his ear can't you see it yourself others were invited to look at jess's ear and the little italian became so curious that he actually tried to look around the side of his skull and see his own ear this psychological study was backed up with abundant proof that jess had not told the whole truth presently he weakened and confessed he told how he had handed two thousand dollars in a collar box to jimmy the push on the day of the robbery which was to be taken to a bowery bank and put in a safe deposit vault for montani he agreed to accompany the police to jimmy's place in thompson street and late that evening a party made up of commissioner dorritie inspector hughes and lieutenant riley went there taking jess along jimmy the push's place is one of the most picturesque thieves resorts in lower new york typical of the old village as dorotty puts it in fact this whole case has a strong flavor of the little old village of new york jimmy was out when they got there but this saloon was in charge of the biggest swarthyest italian bartender in town a tough hercules weighing somewhere around three hundred

pounds. The room was crowded with motley characters, drinking beverages known to the neighborhood as shocks and high hats. For their edification, a tramp magician was taking coins out of his ears, his nose, and the air. Jess was not known to be under arrest, and immediately sent a boy called Ready to fetch the proprietor, who had known the three police officers for. years. Presently Reddy came back and said that Jimmy would come in about a half an hour, as he was playing cards and had a fine hand. Reddy was sent back to impress upon Jimmy that Jess wanted to see him right away. It was very important. In about two minutes, just as the commissioner had bought a high hat for everybody in his party, Jimmy appeared. He was told that Jim was told that Jim

Jess had got into trouble in connection with the taxi-cab robbery, and asked about the money in the safe deposit vault. Jimmy the push, with his partner, Bob DiLio, had by this time been implicated themselves, for it was clear that the money had been divided in their resort, and that probably they had taken part in the planning and the decidedly one-sided division of the spoils. Jimmy was led to believe that he did the...

not rest under suspicion, however, and that he was only asked to aid the police. He said Jess had handed him a collar box on the day of the robbery, asking him to put it in a vault, in his own name, but that he had had no idea what the box contained, and had left it lying behind the bar for a couple of days before he got a chance to go to the bank with it. He readily promised to appear at headquarters the following morning, bring the key to the safe deposit box and help recover the money. Thereupon, the police officials bade him good night and went away. But no chances were taken on Jimmy the Push.

From that moment he was shadowed. That Monday was a busy day in many other ways. Developments came thick and fast. Kinsman's home in Boston was visited, and $750 of the bank money recovered in the original rappers. It had laid in his grip, unknown to the honest kinsman family. Swede Annie, Myrtle Horn, and a girl named Rose Levy were examined, quickly broke down, and made tearful statements to be used in evidence.

These women were held only as witnesses, and as the case cleared up after a few days' detention were released. The girl, Rose Levy, greatly attracted the commissioner. She was only 19 years old, a mild-mannered little jewess, with jet-black hair and very remarkable eyes. The commissioner went into details of her personal story. It seems that she had left her home in Brooklyn two months before, after a quarrel with her mother and had come to New York looking for a position.

But she quickly fell into the lower world, became known as Jess's girl, and was ambitious to be one of the gang. After a fatherly talk, she was persuaded to return to her home and live a decent life. But within a week, she was back in New York again, in her old haunts, trying to raise money to help Jess, for whom, she told the commissioner, she would willingly work for the rest of her days. Before visiting Jimmy's saloon, the commissioner called up the orange growers in Chicago, had a long talk with them, told what progress was being made and put new life into them. More money recovered. True to his word, Jimmy the Push walked into police headquarters at nine o'clock.

o'clock Tuesday morning, February 27th, closely followed by his unseen shadowers. He produced the key of the safe deposit vault and went with officers to see the money recovered. There was $2,000, as Jess had stated, still in the rappers of the bank. Jimmy was still permitted to go free, under the impression that he had come through the ordeal clean, while fresh evidence was being obtained against him. That morning the commissioner also took kinsman down over the route of the robbery, to have him explain it in his own way.

This was done to strengthen the case against Montani and upset his story in court. Then Scotty the Lamb was located, arrested, brought to headquarters, and led to confess. Scotty the Lamb was located, in some respects a pathetic figure in the case and also a humorous one he had been in charge of the lunch kitchen at the arch cafe when jess owned it and later worked as a dishwasher in a washington square hotel a scotch youth from glasgow he had been in this country about four years and while no criminal record appeared against him he was plainly in the company of thieves most of the time According to his statement, he had been promised $25 for doing some work for Jess,

and without inquiring into the nature of it at all, had shown up with the gang and gone along to do his minor part of a stall, stumbling in front of the cab. But before he could get out into the street, the cab had been boarded. So poor Scotty the Lamb, without a nickel for car fare, plotted all the way uptown again to the saloon where the money was to be divided and got nothing whatever. He was a cheerful soul, however, and the life of the party when the gang was locked up, cracking jokes, and taking the view that, as sentences ought to be proportioned to the amount of money

each member of the gang had got in the division, and he had got nothing, he might be let off with six months' imprisonment. scotty haven't you got any overcoat asked inspector hughes sympathetically as they were going to court one brisk morning did you ever have an overcoat scot no sir i never had an overcoat replied scot and then as he thought of his prospects for going to prison added droly and now i don't expect sir that i ever will the fine italian hand the next step in the case was that of arresting jimmy the push and his partner bob d'ilio another phase of the robbery now began to come out plainly up to the present time the main burden of proof pointed to the four hold-up men of american birth as the chief actors in the crime montani and jess the two italians appeared to be accessories but as the tangled threads were unraveled one by one it was found that the italians involved outnumbered the american thugs and that furthermore they had outwitted them when bob de ilio was arrested he drew two hundred and fifteen dollars in five dollar bills out of his pocket and handed it to the police

admitting that it was part of five thousand five hundred dollars of the stolen money the rest he asserted had just been paid for rent of the two resorts operated by jimmy the push and himself jimmy and bob were taken to police headquarters and examined with jest present commissioner dorritie played one against the other so skilfully with cross questions and counter pressure that in a little while each was excitedly telling tales of his two companions, with the desperate hope of clearing himself, and denunciations flew back and forth among the trio, as evidence came out that was likely to send them all to prison. Their confessions were obtained and used in a new effort to break down Montani, but this was without results. The little Italian chauffeur still stuck doggedly to his original story. From these new confessions, it appeared that the Italians had planned the crime

and listed the American hold-up men to carry out the dirty work and laid a counterplot for holding them up in turn when the money was divided. The three brigands were ostensibly offered a chance to take part in the actual robbery, but refused on the plea that it would be too risky, and that they did not believe Montani could kill. carry it out successfully. On the morning of the crime, they walked north over the route. When they met the taxi cab coming south, with a policeman on the seat beside Montani, and two unconscious bank messengers inside, they knew that the project had succeeded. So the three brigands

hurried uptown to Jimmy the Push's saloon. They got there so quickly that they were ahead of the robbers. Jess made a rehearsed protest when they insisted in sharing in the plunder, but the three brigands drew revolvers, threatened to make a disturbance that would bring in the police, and finally helped themselves to $10,000. When the thugs who had done the actual work left the saloon, they had only $8,000 all told. The Italians, who had played safe at every point had $17,000. One of the brigands comes in. The actual whereabouts of the three brigands

was not known to the police then, but there were certain channels through which news might reach at least one of them. Word was sent through those channels, therefore, that it might be best for them to appear and give an account of themselves, and on Friday, March 1st,

just at the time Splain had been brought back from Memphis, the little leader of the brigands, Mateo Arbrano, an undersized Italian wearing spectacles, who had carried out the job of robbing the hold-up men, surrendered himself to the district attorney. Arbrano said that he had divided his $10,000 with his two companions, Gonzales and Cavacero, and immediately left New York, taking a steamer from Mexico by way of Havana.

At the latter city he stopped overnight, met a woman and accompanied her to her resort, was drugged and robbed of $2,700, and woke on the Prado with only $100 left, a single bill that had been concealed in his shoe. With that he returned to New York. The story is regarded by the police as more picturesque than convincing. it is probable that Mateo's share of the plunder, with that of other Italians involved, has been carefully planted. Pauli Gonzalez, another of the brigands, was traced to Veracruz, Mexico.

In the present state of that country, however, it was found impossible to arrest and extradite him upon the evidence at hand. Three other persons concerned in the robbery are still at large at their own. writing, Dutch Keller, Joe the Kid, and an unknown whose identity is concealed for police reasons. Montani pleaded not guilty and stood trial. After two days, exactly a month and a day subsequent to the robbery, he was convicted by a jury and sentenced to not less than ten years and not more than 18 years and two months in prison with hard labor. A word must be said about the prompt action of the district attorney's office in the taxicab case. Where crime has had such publicity, there is an opportunity

to make a demonstration of great value by pressing the prosecutions. It was not lost. Under Assistant Charles C. Knott, Jr., evidence was succinctly laid before judges, and juries. The trials finished in a matter of hours, and convictions and sentences secured within six weeks after the robbery. Furthermore, the various sentences were just, being carefully graded according to the part played by each offender, his character and previous record, and his individual effort in facilitating justice. Gino Montani arrested February 26, 1912, pleaded February 29, 1912,

sentenced March 16, 1912. Sentence, not less than 10 years nor more than 18 years, two months. Judge Seabury Edward Kinsman, arrested February 26, 1912, Pleaded March 1st, 1912. Sentenced April 9th, 1912. Sentence, not less than three years, nor more than six years. Judge Crane.

Eugene Splane Arrested March 2nd, 1912, pleaded March 4, 1912, sentenced March 25th, 1912. Sentenced, March 25th, 1912. not less than seven years six months nor more than 14 years six months, Judge Seabury. Robert Delio Arrested February 28, 1912, pleaded March 4th, 1912, sentenced March 29th, 1912.

Sentenced, not less than two years six months, nor more than four years, two months. Judge Seaberry. James Pusqually, or Jimmy the Push. Arrested February 28th, 1912. Pleaded March 4th, 1912. Sentenced April 8th, 1912. Sentence, six-month penitentiary, Judge Davis. Joseph Lamb, or Scotty the Lamb.

Arrested, Ferry, FRIENETTINF. February 27th, 1912, pleaded March 18th, 1912, sentenced March 29th, 1912. Sentence, intermediate sentence, Elmira, Judge Seabury. Mateo Arbrano, arrested March 2nd, 1912, pleaded April 3rd, 1912. sentence two to four years judge davis jess albraco arrested march 26th 1912 pleaded march 18th 1912 sentence three to six years judge davis end of section nine section ten of the great taxicab robbery a true detective story by james h This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Final. A word about the New York Police. It has been the writer's good fortune to look into the work of both the London and the New York policeman recently, within the same year. A somewhat embarrassing point arose. In London, the Bobby was anxious to know which police force the writer considered best. The Bobby gets his ideas from the New York cop from such accounts as filter through the cable dispatches from our newspapers. He hears chiefly the worst

and pictures the cop as a lawless individual wielding pistol and club indiscriminately with whom it is not safe to pass a civil word. So when he puts his little question about the respective merits of the two organizations, he reserves the right to keep his opinion that the London force is best anyway. In New York, it is much the same. The cop has heard just enough about the Bobby to regard him with mild tolerance.

He pictures him as a policeman servile to the last degree, thankfully accepting six-penny tips from pedestrians, and occupied chiefly with unarmed thieves and harmless political offenders. When one has good friends in both forces, the question, which do you think best, is to be met with tactful evasions. And the more one thinks it over,

the more it becomes clear that there is really little difference at bottom. Both police organizations are made up of good men, following the same trade along the same lines, and dealing with about the same general conditions. The London Bobby, however, enjoys excellent leadership, is governed by a definite administrative policy, has the backing of the courts, and therefore comes in for a general public goodwill

which is exceedingly useful to him in the performance of duty. The New York cop rather lacks public goodwill. administrative policy has not been well defined in the past. The courts do not always accept his evidence, much less back him up, and he has been made the scapegoat for various shortcomings in leadership. But today the New York policeman is working on an entirely new basis. Before along, his public is certain to understand and like him, as thoroughly as London does, it's Bobby.

the change began with mayor gainer who insisted that both policemen and citizen have plain legal rights until the citizen has committed a crime the policeman may not arrest him the policeman has plain rights the law empowers him to use all necessary force in making arrests in grave cases but force must not be used for minor offenses confusion existed on these points to such a degree that when the mayor began insisting upon them many people thought he was putting into effect some of his personal whims but they are all in the statute books and many of them were there before the mayor was born because they are constitutional the present police commissioner rhineland or waldo is not only administering the department along the strict legal line pointed out by the mayor, but is effecting improvements of organization and method that must favorably alter the whole future of the service. Commissioner Waldo is a soldier

with a record of service in the United States Army and the Army's fine standards to guide him. In some ways, the administration of the New York Police Department is a soldier's job, if the ten thousand members were mobilized they would make quite an impressive little standing army with eight or ten full regiments of patrolmen a brigade of cavalry a small transport corps a little navy and so forth as in an army too the men are enlisted and may only be discharged for serious offences it is a force scattered over three it is a force scattered over three hundred square miles of territory the leader must be skilful in laying down regulations and handling men in the mass rather than by personal contact he must define duty plainly hold everybody to it eliminate departmental politics and abuses every man wherever he is stationed must feel that the general knows his building

that he lays down regulations for good reasons and that day by day he is taking the organization somewhere for years every police commissioner has asked for more men to keep pace with the growing city when waldo took charge he asked too while he was waiting however he overhauled the organization and got one thousand additional patrolmen by cutting off men detailed for clerical and other special duty. Every large working force tends to create superfluous routine work. The useless routine was eliminated by better accounting methods, and the men sent back to do the street duty

for which they originally enlisted. Then Waldo's system of fixed posts was introduced. Complaints that policemen were hard to find at night had become common. so the platoon on duty from eleven p m to seven a m was distributed by a plan under which the men work in pairs one patrolling a given beat and the other standing on a street intersection each hour they change places or often are in severe weather the fixed posts are about a thousand feet apart all over manhattan and parts of brooklyn the system has been indiscriminately criticized but produces its results fire losses were cut down the first six months night crime has decreased and many notable arrests are due to the fact that policemen stand all over town like checkers through the night the exposure is no greater than that endured by traffic men

the men have better opportunities to advance themselves by making meritorious arrests and the commissioner knows that as citizens see the police on duty night after night and crime decreases there will be a growing good will for the department the detective bureau has not only been reorganized so that plain clothesmen are distributed over the whole city but a new spirit has been introduced formerly when the patrolman rose to detective rank he felt that he had arrived no longer wearing the uniform or keeping scheduled hours he was in danger of going to sleep to-day however the detective has not a job but an opportunity he must maintain his rank by results or be reduced to help him do this he is taught methods in the the school for detectives but he knows that hundreds of ambitious men in brass buttons are working to attain that rank in an organization of ten thousand men it would be strange if there were not some intriguing in politics new york policemen are exceptionally shrewd and occasionally they will try to put one over on the commissioner going around his authority but commissioner waldo has proved singularly resourceful. He meets such an emergency with the quickness, certainty, and impartiality of a natural force like gravity, and the department has

found it out. He has laid out a clear path for advancement all through the department. The newest uniformed patrolman understands that, for meritorious work, he will have a chance of promotion. If he makes a commendable arrest, he is sent to the Detective Bureau, given instruction, and tried at detective work. If he makes good, he stays. If unfitted for plain clothes duty, he has still had his chance. What is just as important, the Detective Bureau has had a chance to see him.

Under Commissioner Waldo and Deputy Commissioner Doherty, the so-called black-hand crimes among Italians have been checked and will be stopped. Many of these cases were traced to sensational reporting of ordinary quarrels and assaults, and others to business rivalries. In the serious cases, arrests have been made and convictions secured. Another well-known form of law-breaking in New York is gambling. this is particularly difficult to check because of ingenuity in concealing evidence developed by long experience on the part of the lawbreakers and also the strong political alliances of gambling housekeepers but after several experiments in dealing with it the commissioner now feels confident that he has a method which will result in the suppression of gambling and that as he says

when you put a crimp into things of that sort they don't generally come back in other directions red tape has been abolished and economies brought about the way has been opened for individual merit in all ranks steps have been taken to develop and teach better methods the work of the department has been brought closer to the public there is a new spirit in the new york police department to-day a spirit certain to develop the public good-will and appreciation that is so necessary to the best order of public service some interesting facts about the police department of the city of new york the police department of the city of new york is made up as follows commissioner and four deputy commissioners 19 inspectors. Twenty-five surgeons. Ninety-five captains. 624 lieutenants.

586 sergeants. 8,585 patrolmen. 191 doorman. 69 matrons. One superintendent of telegraph. Two assistant superintend. of telegraph one chief lineman five linemen two boiler inspectors ten thousand two hundred and seven total uniform force of this number five hundred are detectives in civilian dress in addition there are over two hundred and forty-seven civilians employed in clerical capacity there are six automobiles

and 161 other vehicles, including patrol wagons used by the department. Also, 679 horses for mounted patrolmen. The Harbor Squad numbers, one captain, seven lieutenants, nine sergeants, 36 patrolmen, two doormen, besides civilians employed as engineers, firemen, oilers, deck hands, etc. It is provided with one vessel of 235 tons, five launches, two dories, and six boats. These boats patrol about 340 miles of waterfront. End of Section 10. End of The Great Taxi Cab Robbery, A True Detective Story by James H. Collins.