Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, June 17, 1911, Page 1

NUMBER 30. ‘With two men wounded, one a ‘prisoner in the Beltrami county jail and the other crouching in the forest underbrush near Puposky and the arrest of Mayor D. T. Dumas of Cass Lake, in the lime lignt as tne king of American cracksmen, Pinkerton detectives claim to have laid bare the greatest criminal sensation in months, and one in which the repu- tation of many prominent persons in Minneapolis, Bemidji and Cass Lake is at stake. Crisis Comes; Robbers Trapped. The crisis of the episode, which for thrills and a study in psychology is unequalled by the wild tales of Poe or Stevenson’s Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, came at 1:30 this morn- ing when two safe robbers, Mike, alias "Curley” Davis and Billy Bean, were trapped by detectives while in the act of cracking a safe at Puposky, 18 miles north of here. ‘When discovered the robbers drew automatic revolvers, sending a vol- ley at close quarters into the detec- tives and otker officers but without effect. Detective Fielding had his men armed with shotguns, loaded with duck shot, and at the first bullet from the robbers gave the command to fire. Duck Shots and Bullets Fill Air. The report from half a dozen shot- guns was the reply and one robber, Bean, fell in his tracks. His pal, Davis, sent 12 more bullets from his revolver toward Fielding and his men but missed. A charge from one of the shotguns then caught Davis in the side, tearing open a great wound. With a curse Davis broke and ran, leaving a trail of tell-tale blood. He dragged himself into the bushes of the forest and has not been captured at this hour, but his liberty is merely a question of time. Prisoner Brought to Bemidji. Bean, whose legs were shattered by the shot, was rushed to Bemidji on a special train on the aneapolls Red Lake & Manitoba and he was safely placed in jail here at 5 o’clock .this morning. Evidence is at hand showing that both of these men are expert safe crackers and they are charged with having been the men who blew the safe at Minnetonka several months ago, also one at St. Cloud and one at Shevlin in Clearwater county, twenty miles west of here six weeks ago. large, is believed to be the man who shot and seriously wounded Deputy Sheriff Andrew Johnson, on Thanksgiving day, 1909. Only Beginning Says Fielding Detective Fielding, who worked up and executed the trap, declares that the arrest of Dumas and the shooting of the robbers is but a slight part of the sensation which is to follow. Mr. Fielding said: “From information and evidence at hand, I can say that Mayor Dumas Wwill be shown up in a vastly differ- - ent light than that of the respected . Physician and honored public official But he is not the only one. We have 8lven the public only the horns, the feet are yet to be exposed. Heard Him Gurgle Blood. “In my opinion, neither of the mem . at Puposky bad any chance of get- ting away. We grabbed Bean with- = out any trouble but Dayis- dragged himself away. There is no question but that he was badly wounded. We heard him choke and cough as if he Were gurgling blood and he seemed tu be. trying to call for help. He Davis, the man who is still at| MAYOR DUMAS UNDER " CROOKS; T AT PUPOSKY: OTHE ‘Mayor Dumas in chaige of Fuller- ton, Fielding and Hazen arrived at 4:40 on the Soo and Sheriff Hazen teok Dumas to the county jail and locked him up. COEPPOOOOOOOOG G OUTRAGE, DECLARES DUMAS © Hibbing, Minn.,, June 17.— (Daily Pioneer Special Wire Service.)—Here is Dr. Dumas’ public statement: “I am entirely innocent of any charge for which I have @ been arrested, I don’t even know © the extent or particulars of the @ charge. I wish to say that it is © an outrage to arrest an innocent @ man, especially a man promi- & nent in social, business and @ political circles. @ “I came here to witness the ® ball game to be played with ® Hibbing today and do not even @ know what the policemen have @ arrested me for, but believe < me somebody will have to sit up @ and take notice before I get ©® through with this affair. 4 “There was a very hot fight @ over the recent election when I @ was elected mayor but it looks @ to me as if somebody was trying @ to play a dirty trick on me but ® ‘they have made a mistake, who- ® ever is responsible for my ar- @ rest, and believe me they will @ have to make a strong apology @ to me or else there wm .be & irouble; - ©® “Me a yeggman! you must be & @ crazy. I do not even know & ©® what you are talking about.” OOV PPOOPPPOO®POO®O® @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PROOPPPPPOPOPPVRVPOOPOVVOPPVIVPPOOOPO®OO® probably fell in the woods and we might have got him then and there but Davis is a bad man and I did not wish any of my boys to take unnec- essary chances and neither did Sher- iff Hazen.” Dumas Placed Under Arrest. The arrest of Mayor Dumas was made at 10 o’clock this morning as he stepped from a Great Northern train. Mayor Dumas is manager of the Cass Lake baseball team and he had taken his players to Hibbing to play the team at that place this afternoon. He was one of the first men to step from the train when it stopped at the Hibbing station and he landed square in front of the Hibbing chief of police who had been warned by Detective Fielding from Cass Lake to apprehend the mayor. Mayor Becomes Prisoner. “Good morning Mr. Mayor, you will have to come with me,” said the Hibbing officer, taking Dr. Dumas by the arm. “What’s the matter?”” rejoined Dumas, in a surprised tome. “There is a warrant out for your arrest at Bemidji and I have been in- structed to hold you,” said the chief. Mayor Dumas nonchalantly ac- companied the chief of police to the Hibbing jail where he requested permission to telephone to Sheriff Hazen. This permission was grant- ed and Dumas at once called up Cass Lake where Sheriff Hazen had gone with Detective Fielding by auto- mobile. Dumas requested Sheriff Hazen to instruct the Hibbing chief over the telephone to permit him to go about Hibbing in the company of a single guard that he might not be the object of the curious. Hazen Takes No Chances. Sheriff Hazen, after a consultation with Detective Fielding, refused to “| grant this liberty, fearing that the now much wanted man might im- prove the opportunity to make a dash for liberty. Mayor Dumas was told that he would be brought to Be- midji at the earliest moment and given every oportunity to present his side of the case, the doctor vehement- 1y denying the general allegation of the warrant which was sworn out by Sam Fullerton, assistant fire mar- shal, which charges: Say They Have Many Charges. “Conspiring- for -the willful, “mali= cious and felonious . destruction of property.” “The warrant does not charge the crime of robbery” was suggested to one of the detectives. “Well, if we had written down all the charges based on the evidence we have at hand,” was the reply, “we would not have had enough pa- per to write on. Further than that, I do not wish to say anything but it will all come out in due course of time.” The warrant was sworn out in Be- midji in police court. Turns Dumas Over. This noon Chief Ring of Hibbing who arrested Dumas turned him over to the judge of the Hibbing munici- pal court and a deputy sheriff, who started with him to Grand Rapids. When this became known at Cass Lake where Fullerton, Fielding and Hazen have spent the day, Sheriff Hazen at once left for Grand Rapids where he took charge of Dumas this afternoon and will bring him to Be- midji. Dumas Office Searched. At Cass-Lake this afternoon the office of Dumas was searched on the stxength: of -a search-warrant -issued | by Judge Ives to Deputy Sheriff Mack Kennedy of that place. It is said that papers of an incriminating character were found in Dumas’ office. Dumas’ safe was taken to the bank and placed in the vault. An expert has been summoned from St. Paul and the safe will be opened Monday and its contents are expected to add still more light on the case. Fast Trip in Autos. The trip from Bemidji to Cass Lake ‘was made in record time by two auto- mobiles, the first driven by V. Curtis carried Fire Marshal Fullerton, Sup- erintendent Fielding and Sheriff Hazen while the second car driven by C. W. Jewett carried a Twin City newspaper man and A. G. Rutledge. Dr. Dumas while in Bemidji Wed- nesday was the guest of Dr. D. L. Stanton for six o’clock dinner at the Rex, after which the two went to the Commercial club rooms, where an hour was spent in the parlor, Dr. Stanton going from there to his office. Drinks Buttermilk Here. Dr. Dumas in company with Dr. Desmond, county coroner of Hubbard, spent some time in the Bank saloon. The two men drank buttermilk. It was noticed that the doctor while in Bemidji drank no intoxicating liquor, and that he was less talkaive than usual. Fail to Find Missing Bandit. All efforts to find the wounded bandit at Puposky have so far failed. Detectives led a posse of farmers into the tangled underbrush of the forest near that village but up to this afternoon he had not been locat- ed, although the pursuers are sure that he was badly wounded. Strict orders have been issued by Sheriff Hazen not to permit anyone to see or converse with Bean in jail here. Both May Be Murderers. Both Davis and Bean are said to face charges of murder, the former for shooting a policeman in Chicago. The strangest and most surprising part of the tragic story is that part which relates to Mayor Dumas. The mayor of Cass Lake, whose father lives in Minneapolis, has been highly respected as a leading physi- cian and faithful official. During the time that “Pussyfoot” Johnson was attempting to close all the sa- loons in the Indian country of the Northern part of the state, in which | Cass Lake is-located, Mayor Dumas; attalnei notoriety by warning the goveranient that the property of the saloon Keepers of Cass Lake would be protected at the point of guns. He organizéd the fire department into a sort of standing army, and as the result of his bold stand,fie was sum- moned to Washington and there, af- ter. a conference with Richard Ball- inger, at this time secretary of the Interior, the order for enforcing the Indian treaty provisions regarding the sale of liquor were suspended, and Dumas returned to Cass Lake where he was received as “the man of the hour.” Now Accused of Crime. Now /he stands accused of being the ringleader of the worst band of robbers of which the police of all cities west of Chicago have had to deal. Not only is he said to have par- ticipated in councils of the safe blowers, but he is said to have fur- nished the explosives, made by him- self, with which to blow the safes, and it is understood that the failure of the robbers to get into the bank at Shevlin was the result of a too limited supply of “soup” furnished by the doctor. Four times the safe An automobile. dashing at topmost speed is said to have rushed from Shevlin to Cass Lake after more ex- plosives, but by the time the auto-; mobile got back it was too near day-! break to make further attempts, so the robbers made their get-a-way. Burning of the Dumas Residence. There is still another wicked a.ngle‘ to the affair, and it involves the burn- ing of the Dumas residence in Cass Lake a few weeks ago and the de- struction by fire of a house at Black- duck. In fact it was from the charge of incendiarism that the present im- portant arrests resulted. Sam Ful- lerton, assistant state fire marshall, has been in Bemidji on the case for the past month. Former Robber Tells Plans. The plans for trapping the robbers at work, and just how this work was to be performed, is presumed to have come from information furnished by a former member of the gang, who became disgruntled at the amout of booty awarded him on certain jobs, decided to tip the thing off to the officers. He claims to be in high standing and has said that if worst comes to worst, .“the governor will pardon me.” His name is withheld. More Arrests to Follow. More arrests involving prominent persons both in Minneapolis and Be- midji will be made, it is said, before many days roll by. The plans for the capture of Dumas, Davis and Bean were car-; ried out‘as Detective Fielding had expected until the battle at Puposky when Davis crawled to cover under shelter of darkness, and later when, after, Beans had been locked wup here, Fielding took his men, together with Sheriff Hazen to Cass Lake in automobiles where the detectives were to arrest the mayor, before any news could get to him of the un- successful effort of his men to rob the Puposky store. Whiz to Cass Lake After Dumas, The detectives were whizzed to Cass Lake shortly after daylight ar- riving in Cass Lake to find that Dumas was not there. The robbery at Puposky was a fine demonstration of the robbers’ in- genuity and their skill and cleverness all but gave them their liberty, for they discovered plans of the detec- tives at the last moment, and in fact actually made use of a “blind” door cut in the building for the use ofthe detectives. Fielding, however, . was not to. be»outdone by ‘the " clever @@@@@@“@@@@’@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ CRACRCRCRRCRR R ¥ ¢ GIGANTIC SC SAYS St. Paul, Minn,, Jins (Daily Pioneer Sp Service.)—0. 0. Ri erintendent of the in St. Paul, today ‘&al “One of the most gigantic &/ schemes for robbing insurance & companies, burnlng buildings & and cracking safes éver organ- © ized in the northwest will be disclosed by the affair.at Pu- posky. Men higher up are to be implicated and the trial of Mayor Dumas will bring some startling disclosures. “We think we have got all the men that hayve been doing the work. We started a week or ten days ago. Mr. Fielding, assistant superintendent, took two men with him to Bemidji. Mr. Fielding understands the work of the yeggman. It was he ‘who rounded up the gang in Wisconsin about two years ago. He arrested a gang at Holden angd at Warren, and secured seven convictions. The men who constitute the gang at Puposky have been.living in Wisconsin and have ‘been wérk- ing there and in Minnesota, and I might say to you that hundreds of thousands of dol- lars worth of property in this part of the country have been destroyed by these men and these men have been paid to do jobs in order to get the in- surance.” A R R R RO CRORCRCRCRCY criminals, having all avenues escape thoroughly guarded. Were to Rob, Dynamite and Burn Store. The plans for the Puposky robbery were consumated in a saloon in Bemidji. Mayor Dumas was present it is said, and agreed to furnish the necessary explosives. According to the detectives, who were stationed so that they could hear every word of the saloon plot, the affair at Puposky was more in a spirit of revenge on the part of Dumas than in the. hope of obtain- ing a large sum of money. The place agreed upon for the robbery was the LaQua store and postoffice. It is claimed that Dumas knew La-| Qua in Winnipeg and that he bore a grudge against him, and that the expedition of last night was made in the spirit of revenge. The plans were that the safe should be robbed | and that then the building was to be dynamited and destroyed by fire. Fielding Lays His Plans. With this information in. their possession, as the result of the con- fession of the former crook, and up- on information furnished by two Be- midji men, whose names cannot be given, the detectives, under the di- rection of Fielding set out to catch the men in the act. The robbers had first planned on cracking the safe on Thursday night, but postponed because the “soup” the explosive used, did not comefrom Cass Lake. How the “Soup” is Made. Dr. Dumas, who the detectives give credit as being “chief of yegg- men,” and the author of innumerable holdups, "safe blowings, incendiaries and all kinas of startling schemes, even to the manufacturlng of a specially prepared explosive, was re- lied upon for the “soup.” This deadly destructive material is pre- pared by boiling dynamite to a cer- tain degree of heat, which should it of vary a fraction would blow the exper- imentor into atoms. The dynamite POOPPOOOIPIRIVIPOPOOOPIRPOOOOVOOO® um*u, | # mgonsmapon ieh rork. It ‘tuft*as-this and TrEeviiog doens ste schemes that nA »d to have spent the day time he £ the sick as & 20 ioctor. s s N s | Dumas Was' Jolly While Here. Dr. Dumas came to Bemidji Wed- neaday, conferred with his pals dur- ing the afternoon, and during the evening spent. his time at playing cards at the Commercial club rooms, and is remembered as having been in a jolly mood, and his partners at cards did not for a minute suspect that he was playing a still deeper game, with liberty and even life at the stake. < It is said that at the nefarious saloon conference, Dr. Dumas ad- mitted that he had in his employ the brainest and best safe cracker in the world. It is believed that he referred to a robber who is now known to be operating in the west. As anexpect, howevep, Davis, ranks close to the top in his profession, as is .shown by the systematic and cautious man- ner in which he proceeded at Pu- posky. Robbers off for Puposky. Davis: with his pal ‘went to u- Posky- by automobile from Bemidji yesterday afternoon, leaving the ma- chine before entering. the village, Which was brought back by a third man, believed to be an accomplice. The bandits, who made up as lumber- jacks, sauntered into the village, which is a lumbering town of 150, without attracting attention. At midnight the men, who all this time were under the eyes of the de- tectives, approached the scene of the attempted robbery. They quickly forced the front door. All telephone wires were cut. After being in the building a few minutes the robbers withdrew, as if they suspected sur- veilance. After an absence of half an hour the robbers returned, again entered the building and went to work on the safe. / Hazen and Helmer on the Job. Outside the building at that time were Sheriff Hazen, Deputy Sheriff Helmer, and three detectives, all un- der the personal orders of Detective Fielding. Fielding had had a blind door cut in the side of the store, while at the back of the store he had & small hole in the partition from an adjoining room, and through this aperture the officers watched the op- eration of the robbers. 2 Tense Moment Arrives, The robbers had poured the “soup’” into the cracks of the postoffice safe preparatory to setting it off when Fielding took three of his men to the front of the building, leaving the rear also guarded. In' doing this a slight mnoise gave the alarm to the robbers who quickly shut off their dark lantern, but to the surprise of the detectives, instead of coming out the front door, the robbers made a straight line for and escaped through the blind side door, cut in several days ago by the detectives. The détectives were not to be thwarted, however, and closed down on the alarmed robbers. “Throw Up Your Hands!” “Throw up your hands,” came the order from the robbers. “We are onto your game,” replied Detective Fielding and then with real “detective story” style the shoot- ing began. Bean, the wounded robber, refuses to talk regarding the affair, and his own interest was shown in:the ques- tion: >, .“Did you arrest anyoneielse?” “Beap was.taken beforé Dr. E. H. Marcum here who examined the is boiled. . until.all. the. oil..can be.i. ‘squeezed ~out. “This makes it wounded .man.and.found flmaen shot e