History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 58

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 58

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Mr. Cutler heard Miss White scream, and quickly arose, stepped out into the hall, and inquired what the matter was. He at first supposed Miss Benton was in trouble. At the head of the stairs he met a man with a dark lantern, who at once placed his hand over Mr. Cutler's eyes and told him not to make a noise and he should not be hurt. He handeutled Mr. C. and led him into Mr. Whittelsey's room and ordered him to sit on the bed. He, too, comprehended the situation as soon as the man placed his hand upon him. He knew that they were in the power of a gang of burglars.

Mrs. Cutler was not captured so easily. She supposed Miss

Benton was in trouble, and was going into her room, when she met a man with a dark lantern. She shut the door upon him, but he at once brought a sledge to bear upon it, and smashed out the panel. She had lighted a lamp, and that displeased the man, who extinguished the light and placed his hand upon her throat roughly, when she screamed; but, in- stead of saying to her to be quiet and she should not be hurt, he used abusive language. This man had very rough hands. Another man entered Miss Benton's room by breaking in the door with a sledge, and still another took charge of the Irish girl, Kate, who was by no means a willing captive. They were all told to keep quiet and they would not be hurt.

When all had been captured they were marched, hand- euffed, into Mr. Whittelsey's room. Mr. W. was still in bed, under guard. He was toll to get up and dress himself, and the others were also ordered to dress themselves, the robbers getting their clothes for them. Mr. Whittelsey was then taken down-stairs, and the others were secured and safely guarded. They were all told to put on two pairs of stockings, as they were to be bound, and would thus be more comfort- able. Mr. Cutler was handcuffed and taken to his room and told to get on the bed quick ; he was then strapped and lashed. Ifis legs were spread out, a leather strap with an iron ring upon it put around each ankle, and a cord running under the bed and through the rings on the straps, drawn tightly, made him almost immovable. They very considerately placed a shawl under his feet when he was sitting in a chair before being lashed to the bed. They had a large carpet-bag, which contained their implements. Once an article was missed, and one of the number went to the ravine in the rear of the house to get it, but eame back and reported that he could not find it. Mr. Cutler says they treated him very considerately, bringing him extra clothing to make him warm, and placing a pillow under his head.

Mrs. Cutler and Miss Benton were bound together by the hands with a cord of the size of a clothes-line, and also straps on their feet. They were placed on the bed in Mrs. Whittelsey's room. The hired girl was also bound and placed under guard. She was asked if there were blinds to the window, and, on being told that there were not, the man pulled down the curtain.

Mrs. Whittelsey and Miss White were bound together with handcuffs on their hands and straps about their feet. Their other hands were also fastened to each other by a cord running under the bed. Their feet were also lashed to the bed. In this position they were guarded until about fifteen minutes before six o'clock. More or less conversation passed between them and their guard, but he was not in the least rude and used no ungentlemanly language. This man wore a pair of leather or kid gloves, and was quite tall. The inmates of the house were bound in five separate rooms.

When the burglars went away they took one of Mr. Cut- ler's long-handled market-baskets, holding about half a bushel. They left many of their traps, among which were five sledge- hammers, five pairs of handcuffs, five masks, five dark lan- terns, two pairs of rubbers, ten leather straps, one pair of soft leather gloves with the finger-ends cut off, five large-sized gimlets, five gags, and some cord. They passed out of a rear door, having closed all the doors of the rooms in which the persons were confined. Their traps were left in Mr. Cutler's sitting-room and kitchen, where there was a coal fire.

Soon after four o'clock-the inmates of the house think it was about half-past four-three distinct raps were heard. Two other raps followed, and then some one said, " All doing well." This was probably a communication between the operators at the bank and those left in charge of the captives in the house, or between a spy at or near the bank and the main body at the house.

When the two men approached Mr. Whittelsey's bed, one of the first things they did was to put their hands under the pillows to ascertain if there was a pistol there.

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

Getting short of cord while lashing the captives to the beds, they asked the hired girl where the clothes-line was, and, on being informed, one of the men went and got it.

The burglars ransacked the house, opening every closet and all the bureau-drawers. They brought clothing for the ladies from the elosets, and were so thoughtful as to hunt up and find a lot of extra stockings in a drawer, which they distributed among the persons who were to be bound. One of the bur- glars was asked if he was a married man. He said he was ; but when asked how many children he had he seemed to he bothered for an answer.

The rooms were not much lighted by the dark lanterns, and the robbers could not be seen very distinctly. Once, when the light was favorable, Mr. Whittelsey looked closely at the man who was questioning him. This was noticed by the burglar, who ordered Mr. W. to keep his eyes away from him.

Mrs. Whittelsey was fortunate enough to save her gold watch, which was on the bureau, near Mr. Whittelsey's. She took it, and by a quick movement slid it under the bureau, where it found a safe resting-place.

When the inmates of the house were being marshaled to- gether in Mr. Whittelsey's room, one and another of them made appeals in behalf of others, who were sick or feeble. Mrs. Whittelsey appealed to them not to treat her niece harshly. Mr. Cutler put in a plea for his wife. Mrs. Cutler spoke feelingly for the invalid Miss Benton. Miss White also appealed for kindness toward Miss Benton. The reply was very significant : one of the burglars said, " There was always some one sick on these occasions."

Cashier Whittelsey says the first knowledge he had of the presence of the burglars was the pressure of a man's hands on his throat. On attempting to speak, the burglar said, " Be quiet, and no harm will come to you." Ile was immediately handcuffed, but, unlike the treatment of the others, his hands were fastened behind him. He was kept in bed, and in that position he remained from half to three-quarters of an hour. When all the other inmates of the house had been secured, and were gathered in Mr. Whittelsey's room, he was directed to get up and dress himself. For that purpose they unshackled his hands, and assisted him in dressing. He told them he sup- posed their objeet was to get into the bank-vault, but he assured them they could not do so, as four keys were neces- sary. They replied that they would take care of that; that they knew more about bank-locks than he did, and that all they wanted of him was the combinations. Before he arose they examined his bed to see if there was a pistol in it. No pistol was presented to him until after he had dressed himself. They asked him if there was more than one safe in the vault, and he replied that there was not. (There were two.) They took him into the hall and sat him on a sofa. He thinks they did not enter the house as early as the other inmates say they did,for soon after he was attacked he heard a clock strike two. After that he could not keep the run of the time, as they took his gold watch and chain and stopped all the clocks in the house. They told him they were going to take him down to a stable in the rear of the bank, and that if he did not open the vault for them they should " make it hot for him." At about half-past three they took him down-stairs into the sit- ting-room. They asked him for the key to the bank-door. He replied that he did not have it, as they had ritled his pockets. One of them then produced a key, and asked him if it was the right one. He said it was. They doubted his word, and tried the key in the lock on the front door of the house. It fitted that, and they then accused him of lying, and began choking him. The house-key was soon after found on the floor, and they became satisfied that they had the right key.

In the sitting-room they sat by a table. Here they de- manded the combinations. While this was going ou one man stood with a pistol pointed at his head, and another with pencil and paper took his answers. There are three combinations, of

three figures each, one to the vault-door, another to the safe inside the vault, and the third to the safety-box or steel-chest inside the safe. He gave them false answers. They ordered him to talk fast, and when he hesitated they prompted him by punching his chest with a large, sharp-pointed lead-pencil. Immediately after he had given the false combinations they ordered him to repeat them, and to do it quickly. That he could not do, and they then told him he had lied. They com- menced choking him and pummeling his chest, putting him in great torture. They assured him it would be of no use for him to continue to keep from them the combinations, as they should force him to divulge. Their manner was very firm and de- cided ; their movements and speech all indicated that they were fully prepared for the job in hand, and nothing was done which did not show that it had been previously considered and de- cided upon. Finally, after much suffering, Mr. Whittelsey gave them the correct combinations. They took them down, made him repeat them, ordered him to give certain figures in a particular combination, and in various ways tested him until they were satisfied that they had obtained what they wanted. Even with the correct combinations, Mr. Whittelsey did not believe they could get into the vault without the keys held by Mr. Warriner and Mr. Prince, and so told them ; but they said that was their business, and they would take care of it. At about four o'clock they bound him firmly to the bed in the bedroom below. llis hands were shackled behind him, his legs were secured by a strap and tied with cords to the side- rails of the bedstead, and strong cords hound his body to the bedstead. He was also gagged. In that position he lay about three hours,-and they were hours of fearful torture to mind and body. He was released at about seven o'clock, and as soon as possible went to the bank. His handcuffs were still on his hands, but they had been filed apart by one of his neighbors.

Mr. Whittelsey was told by one of the burglars that he had seen him at Watch Ilill, two years before, while Mr. W. was there on his summer vacation.

At about four o'clock-the time when the watchman and night police went home-all but two or three of the burglars left the house and repaired to the bank, leaving behind a force sufficient to guard the prisoners.

Just before the last of the burglars left the house, they pro- ceeded to gag each of the captives. For this purpose they were prepared with rubber gags. This gag consisted of a rubber ball, about the size of an egg, through which ran a small iron rod. The ball was perforated with three or four holes, so as to allow of breathing. To each end of the iron rod was fast- ened a strong cord, sufficiently long to reach around the neck. These gags were placed in the mouths of six of the captives, and, there not being another, Miss White was gagged with a handkerchief, a knot being tied in the centre to fill the mouth. When the gags were being tied to Miss White and Mrs. Whittelsey, they complained that they were hurt by their hair being drawn into the knots. The burglar then very carefully drew up their hair and placed the cord under it, where he tied it without injuring them. All the captives being gagged, the two or three burglars in charge of them after four o'clock left the house at about a quarter before six, which would give them just time enough to get to the depot to take the first train for Springfield.

The first to get released sufficiently to give an alarm were Mrs. Whittelsey and Miss White. They worked their hands free, and finally succeeded in raising a window. This was about half-past six. Their screams attracted Mr. James O. Mantor, Mr. Sydell, and one or two others, who were on their way to the hoe-factory. Mr. Charles J. Bridgman, living just across the street, also appeared at the same time. Mrs. Whit- telsey was at the open window, screaming, under great excite- ment. She supposed that Mr. Whittelsey had been taken to the bank by the burglars, and directed the men to make all haste to find him. Mr. Mantor did so, but found the bank-

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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

door locked as usual, with no appearance of any trouble there. He then went to the station-house and aroused Policeman Richards, who hurried to the bank. Mr. Richards directed Mantor to go to the office of the deputy sheriff, Ansel Wright, where he would find him. He did so. It was 6.45 when Mr. Mantor notified him. He ran to the bank as quickly as pos- sible, and found the door locked. He then hurried to the Mansion House, where Mr. Warriner, the vice-president and active manager of the bank, boarded, and aroused him. Taking the key to the bank, he ran back, and was the first to enter.

The outer door of the bank was found fastened as usual. The door of the vault was shut, the two dials were apparently all right, and, with the exception of two or three drawers found open, there was nothing to indicate that anybody had been in the bank since the officers left it the night before. On attempting to turn the dials, however, they were found to be loose, and easily came off. The burglars had wrenched them off', but had carefully replaced them, so as to create a favor- able impression upon the first comers. There was not a serap of paper on the floor or upon the counters, nor anything else such as the presence of a gang of burglars would be likely to create. The vault-door, with the exception of the loosened dials and the marks of a small wedge, showed no evidence of having been tampered with. The officers of the bank were at once summoned, and it was their first belief that the vault had not been opened. This belief was stoutly maintained by them and by many others during that day, but the great majority of people, after hearing how skillfully and successfully the burglars had planned and executed their previous work, had little doubt that they accomplished the object of their attempt. There was, however, enough of doubt hanging over the matter to make the suspense very great. The maker of the lock at New York was telegraphed to come up and open the door. He re- plied that a man would be sent by the first train, but he did not arrive until nine o'clock in the evening, when two men came. They at once went to the bank, and their first work was to replace one of the dials. This took considerable time. It was necessary to take the dial to Webster Herrick's machine- shop to have a hole drilled through it, so that a set-screw could be put in. The dial was thus connected with the spindle. It was then necessary to get the dial in a position to correspond with the position of the burglars' dial when that was removed from the lock. After trying 31 of the 100 points, the operator struek the combination, and in a moment the great bolts were thrown back. The operator's work being done he stepped aside, and Vice-President Warriner came forward and pulled open the door. This was fifteen minutes before twelve o'clock. It was about eleven o'clock when the dial was adjusted to the spindle. The burglars had locked the door on the same com- bination that was used by the bank-officers. If they had changed the combination, the door could not have been opened in less than four or five days,-that is, the man who put it on said so.

There were present in the bank when the door was swung open about a dozen of the bank-officers, sheriff's, and parties interested. The sight revealed by the opening of the vault was appalling. The door of the new safe in the vault was found to be wide open, also the door of the inner steel chest. One look was enough. It told the whole story. The con- tents of the safe were gone, and the success of the great burglary was complete.

The scene at this time was one of most painful interest. Up to the last moment before the opening of the vault, Mr. Warriner had stoutly maintained his belief that it had not been entered by the burglars. His confidence in the lock was unbounded, and his astonishment when the sight of the empty safe revealed the great reality was overwhelming. The ex- citement of the others present was equally intense. All were astonished and confounded. The excitement could not have been greater if an earthquake had opened the bowels of the

earth near the bank. A million of dollars' worth of money, stocks, and bonds, the accumulations of half a century of toil, patient waiting, self-denial, and skillful financiering, had vanished. A few hours before, a deep sense of security per- vaded the minds of all connected with or interested in the bank. With watchmen, vaults, safes, combination-Jocks, multiplied keys, and loeks upon locks, it was felt that the treasures within were almost absolutely secure. But they were gone. The empty shelves, the rifled boxes, the plun- dered chest, how eloquent of the uncertainty of things earthly ! Verily, " riches take to themselves wings and fly away."

On the floor of the vault there was found a jimmy, which the burglars left. It did not appear to have been used for any purpose, except to open the small trunks of the special depositors.

The office of the four keys, the absence of which Cashier Whittelsey relied upon to prevent the vault being opened by the burglars, was simply to disconnect the dials from the spindle or shaft which moved the machinery in the interior of the lock. This disconnection was properly made when the bank was closed Tuesday afternoon,-the bank-officers are cer- tain of that. The burglars, therefore, could do nothing with the lock in that condition. A very reasonable suggestion is that they wrenched off the dials, taking note of their exact position, and put on a skeleton dial, which they had previously prepared, and which was arranged with a set-serew, hy means of which it could be at once connected with the spindle. This is the way the expert opened the vault. He did just what the burglars probably did ; but they had the advantage in knowing the position of the dials they took off, while he knew nothing of the position of their dial, which they took with them. He had to get a set-serew put in ; they had it all ready at hand. Ile had to find the position of the dial taken off; they knew it exactly. He knew the combination ; so did they. He un- locked the vault in forty-five minutes after connecting the dial with the spindle ; they probably did it in two minutes. If we knew the time it took them to wrench off the two dials and put on one of their own, we could tell within five minutes the time it took them to open the vault and safe and gather up the money and bonds.

For several years the three banks in this town had employed a night watchman. His orders had been to go on duty at nine o'clock, and off at four in the morning. Each bank kept a gas-light in the banking-room during the night, and these the watchman would turn off just before leaving. IIe did so on the morning of the robbery, putting out the lights at about four o'clock. There were also two night policemen, hired by the town, who went on duty at nine and off at four. Why it happened that this force was permitted to retire at so early an hour is a mystery, and was one of the weakest points in all this terrible calamity. From four to half-past five o'clock during the winter season is as still as any hour of the night. It was probably this early retirement of the watch and police that tempted the burglars.

No event in this region, with the exception of the great reservoir disaster in 1874, caused so much excitement as this robbery. It ereated almost as great consternation as did the opening scenes of the Rebellion. Nothing else but the robbery was talked of. Conversation was all about banks, vaults, safes, money, bonds, stocks, robbers, burglars, masks, gags, combinations, cashiers, pistols, and so on, until every man heard enough on these subjects to make him a pretty good financier, if not a hero.

The Sequel .- The case was immediately placed in the hands of the Pinkerton Agency, and that astute and expe- rieneed detective and his assistants strained every nerve to ferret out the robbers. After the lapse of many months sus- pieion seemed to' rest upon Robert Scott, James Dunlap, " Red" Leary, and William Connors as the real personnel of the gang. The burglars, however, upon discovering that

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

they had taken over $1,000,000 in money and bonds, felt very secure, as they knew that the individual losers would be only too anxious to recover the stolen bonds, and that they would be safe even if suspected, and immediately negotiations for a compromise were begun. William D. Edson, a salesman for the Herring Safe Company, and the same person who opened the vault after the robbery was committed, began ostensibly to assist the bank-authorities in negotiating for the funds, and he was soon suspected of " having a hand in it," which proved true. Edson was one of the gang, and had been connected with the robbers a number of years while in the employ of the Herring Company as salesman and lock-expert, which readily gave him access to any bank using this company's safe. Ile was concerned with the gang in the attempt to rob a bank in Elmira, N. Y., Quiney, Ill., Saratoga, N. Y., Long Island, Covington, Ky., Roekville, Conn., Pittston, Pa., Wilkesbarre, Pa., Nantucket, Syracuse, and Northamp- ton. In 1874 he superintended putting in the doors for the Northampton Bank, and later, under the pretense of fixing the locks, took them off and took impressions of them for the use of the robbers; but this scheme was never consum- mated.

As soon as Edson saw that he was suspected by the bank- authorities he made still more strenous efforts to compromise, but to no effect. Mr. L. B. Williams, of Northampton, vis- ited New York several times, and had interviews with Wm. Connors, the negotiator, but no satisfactory terms could be agreed upon. At last Edson was charged with being an ac- complice, and for a sum of money-said to be $10,000-went to Pinkerton's Agency and gave a detailed history of the robbery, which led to the arrest of Scott, Dunlap, and Con- nors, and to the flight of " Red" Leary. The real cause, doubtless, which led to the revelation by Edson was his un- successful attempts to secure what he deemed to be his portion of the plunder, as they had attempted only a short time before to cheat him out of his fair proportion of the spoils of the Quincy robbery. Connors escaped from the Ludlow Street jail, but Scott and Dunlap were brought to Northampton, tried, convicted, and sentenced to twenty years in the State- prison. It seems that many attempts were made to compro- mise with Scott and Dunlap almost to the hour of sentence, but to no effect ; the men are serving out the sentence for their crime, and the funds are still in the possession of the robber gang.

There is only one more phase of this robbery that will be of interest to the general reader, and that is, Where were the se- curities hidden and when were they removed ? Immediately after the robhery the intelligence was given to Edson that the " plunder" was secreted in Northampton, and as soon as he was in a position to communicate this intelligence to the bank- authorities he did so. The excitement then became intense. Ahout two hundred men patrolled the roads, avenues, and lanes in and about Northampton, and seemingly every possible spot was searched for the hidden treasure, but the search was useless. At last Messrs. Scott and Dunlap evidently suspected Mr. Edson of treachery, and notified him that the securities had been removed to New York. Knowing Scott's consum- mate ability to plan and organize, and Dunlap's ability to ex- ecute, he readily believed it, and immediately communicated the information to the bank-people, who in turn did not for a moment question its truth, and the large body of men-about two hundred-who had been guarding the town at no little expense were withdrawn, and probably that very night, or soon thereafter, Dunlap, who had been on the watch to witness the operation of this ruse, walked over from Amherst, and, enter- ing the school-house* on Bridge Street, tore up a little step which was fastened to the floor under the blackboard, removed

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 58

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 700

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700