The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 31, 1898, Page 22

22 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALYL, SUNDAY, JULY 31, 1898. CALLED THE "MOST DANGEROUS OF CRIMINALS. "Big Bil" Mason, Captured at Last After Committing All Scrts of Crimes From New York to dan Francisco. “BIG BILL"” MASON, the Most Dangerous of Criminals, According to the New York Detectives. ORMER President Chester A. Arthur’s hous 123 Lexington avenue, New York, robbed in 1885, A bov the uniform of a district messenger, called with a m age. ,While the ser- vant went with the noté for answer the boy seized a piece of silver on the hatrack—it was a card e or some- thing of that kind—withdre house, shiit the door softly and took {o his heels. - The girl returned and found the ornament and boy ha The echo of that robbe: week with the arrest of “F son and his gang. His | tured with him, was Fran from the Spence alias~ “Red” Spencer, the thief whg robbed former -President A hl!l)fi(‘. Captain McClusky, chicf of the tective Bureau at police headquart performed a public service' of gre: value when his detectives, at' the risk of their lives, snapped the those four men. According to cord the. murderers, thieve dynamite A more dan are tet of assassins and safe burglars n infested a great city. They were..educated in the To conceal their unlawful pursui ¥ learned trades and followed honest ‘n- dustry long enough to enable them to get a foothold and establish headquar- ters for the trusted criminals who were to. be_thelr ociates. The récords of these men are on file at police headquarters. William - Mason, ali “Lynch” and. “Big Bill,” s ond story burglar, aged 49, a nati the United States; carriage maker profession; married; refused to residence. This chief of the gang tall, slim man—a six-footer, with dark hair and a florid complexion. He is very muscular, afraid of nothing, a despérate, powerful outlaw. His num- ber in the Bertillon gallery 1638, There they have the length of his fin- gers .and the measurements of ev part of his body, with all the dets mercilessly enumerated. .Mason, the arch-devil .of his cls escaping from Pittsburg jail, he ap- peared at Tarrytown, thepe meeting Jack Moore, an old pal. On Decem- ber 18, only nine days after his escape, he and Moore broke into the house of adley of the Tarry- Bank. d off a bag of solid sil- arly morning train and Yonkers about daylight, went ttle all-night restaurant and were ng coffee, when the local police, who had become suspictous, ar- rested them. In the raflroad depot the bag was opened and the silver bound. The took the by first t detectives instantly them as notorious ex-co g slim six-footer was W and the short, sandy s Jack Moore. nkers Hawkshaws opened s wide at this, but they tulated on their longhead- he arrest. They had ves thick with glory The prisoners were tried, convicted and January 11, 1888, sentenced to four- Sing Sing. ardoned August 7, 1895. on, for good behavior it got his “time” nd two months. So recog- victs. he soon found himself afloat again in orld, in the full strength of his od, so far 4 and nerve Mason really time will be sketch. of at Terre Haute, ncerned. ice by the Terre Haute , with “Jack” Frye, an- w York th and murderer, and “Reddy-the Gloucester,” robbed the house of George chall, at No. t, Terre Haute. g their pedigrees from he authorities put them courts at lightning speed. 432 North On recei v York at Michigan City, s under the nht, January y T. W of William name 28, 189 soon showed the no common New s a thief. On the u ers that Yor g i he kzed his keeper down, bruising him I had been hit with a ton of adelphia brick. Then Mr. Masoa New York quietly escaped and skipped to other climes. On a cool, wintry morning, December 3, 1897, George R. Blodgett, counsel “or the General Electric Company, was li ing at Schenectady, N. Y. He was well to do, and his house was liberallv fur- nished. Just before daylight on that morning his wife woke him, whisper- ing that some one was in the room. Blodgett attempted to rise, when a tall man ordered him to throw up his hands. He failed to obey. There was Jjust an attempt at resistance, when the lawyer fell back dead. Still another crime was committed in Providence on March 8, 1898. Willlam O. Hutchins, a jeweler of wealth, was killed in his own house by a bullet fired as Mason always shoots his lead. The porch had been climbed and the win- dow opened for the burglar to enter. After murdering the man and robbing his house the thief escaped by the win- dow and porch to the ground. Second story robberies, especially over a porch,y are Mason’s peculiar copyrighted methods of earning State prison fame. Much has been printed about the heartless murder of Major William C. Wilson, the aged librarian who was found dead in his book store at No. 1117 Walnut street, Philadelphia, last Aug- ust. That crime made a deep impres- sion on the police and the community. The best men of the force set at work, authorized to employ every resource in discovering Mason's whereabouts. ‘Warnings were telegraphed to all prin- cipal cities, but the robber must have kept himself well informed as to the situation. As the heat of the investiga- tion increased he withdrew to cooler quarters and kept himself hidden in the background. Captain McClusky and his assistants learned that Mason and Coffey had gone West after the Philadelphia mur- der. When Coffey returned to New York recently and opened a saloon in Cherry street, near Pearl, Captain Mc- Clusky showed his detectlve cleverness in believing that Mason would soon ap- pear on the scene, so he laid his plans accordingly. Detectives Fogarty and Stripp were detalled to shadow the place. Present- ly ‘“Red” Spencer appeared. He was but a few days out of prison. The former convicts were shadowed to the West Shore depot ferry, at the foot of ‘West Forty-second street. The officers on duty there were quietly instructed t;) “lend a hand” and be ready for ac- tion. Mason drew his gun. Fogarty's thumb flashed between the hammer and the cartridge at the instant Mason was pulling the trigeger. © struggle. A hair's breadth of time in Mason’s favor would have sent the bullet through the detective’s brain. Then followed a desperate hand to hand Mason had sworn an oath as big as a street car that never, never on this round globe would he be taken alive by any man in brass buttons and blue uniform. The robbers—all desper- ate devils, all powerful athletes, seeing Sing Sing and perhaps the electric chair yawning for them—fought like tigers. But the detectives were a whole menagerie of wild beasts of strength and ferocity. For a few minutes the situation was serious and desperate. The detectives, however, knew all the tricks, and landed blows where they would paralyze most men. Presently the robbers were hammered into rea- son, collared and handcuffed. It was one of the three great fights of the year—Dewey, Schiey and the New York detectives—all for law and order. The bandits, whose hands are red with crime, were caged behind steel bars and under thick walls in the dun- geons at poliee headquarters. They remained silent and sullen. They know exactly what to do and what to say; that is, when the time comes. Until then you will get nothing from them. According to the detectives, these men are the most dangerous criminals of recent years. They would as soon shoot a man as rob his house or strangle his wife. Mason is a unique figure in the army of crime. He occupies no second place. He is general in chief. He fears noth- ing and a ten years’ sentence in State prison is but a morning’s incident in * his calculations. At police headquarters, in the pri- vate office of Chief McClusky, the im- Plements of their trade were displayed on a table. A child could have carried the entire arsenal of -the murderous gang. A bit of iron no larger than one's lit- tle finger, and only a foot long, is a Jimmy fcr opening the strong win- dow. A larger instrument, exactly like it, which a man could hide up his sleeve, would force 4 locked oaken bank door from its hinges. A pair of twisted drills of the finest Sheffield steel lay beside the jimmies and the pistols. The detective pointed to an old-fashioned bit brace, which never cost more than 40 cents. It was cheap, he said, but it did their work well. . The drills were a different breed of ducks. They were the highest-grade tools that experts have yet devised. ‘With these drills and the old bit brace Mason or any of his gang couid bore a hole in any bank safe. It was not a roll of putty of the size of an egg and zbout as long that lay on the table, wrapped in paper, but it looked like putty. It was soft, pasty dynamite. “It's enough to blow up a building,” sald Detective Sergeant Sheridan, the custodian of the records of the office, “A mite of this paste inserted in the little finger of a lady's kid glove, and the little finger with the paste inside it inserted in the hole drilled into the safe, will blow off the steel door, when exploded by a lighted fuse. The thieves understood- their busi- ness. They were afraid of nothing, and it is a big thing for the country that they have been captured and caged to await a long sentence to Sing Sing. The prison is hungry for the blood-stained robbers.” New facts in the history of Mason are coming to light daily since his re- cent arrest. His real name is Benja- min Lippy; he was born at Carondelet, near St. Louis. The gold fever took him to the Pacific Coast when a young man, where he is credited with doing a slick job or two in and around San Fran- cisco. He made the acquaintance of train rcbbers and began a wild career. Originally he was a carriage painter and decorated many a coach for the old French families of Carondelet. Tike many of the Western quick shooters he has a sickly look, which is increased by high cheekbones and a cadaverous appearance, but he is all muscle and the skin on his neck would make a valise. Captain McClusky said: “I consider Bill Mason a menace to civilizgtion when he is loose. The pub- lic have no idea of his abilities as a robber and murderer. Notwithstanding what has been said he seldom works alone. No pal has dared to go back on him to any serious extent. “Many fine residences along the At- lantic coast, around Newport, Bostcn, Philadeiphia and other cities, have been robbed by this chief of burglars. In nearly every prominent town agents work for him. “Plans of houses are obtained, with details of the arrangement of the fur- niture in the principal rooms. Hiding places and secret drawers for valuabl are cbtained through servants and ot ers having access to the premises. The habits of families are noted and visits made during the dinner or supper hour, but the ideal time for a burgiar is just before daylight, when sleep is supposed to be soundest. “With a plan of the house clearly in his mind Mason enters and begins oper- ations at once. He relies only on his wits and his 38-caliber revolver. He never carries a dark lantern, nor does he wear a mask; but he has a habit of vartially covering his face with his left arm, so that his identity is concealed. The inmate is warned that he will be shot at the first movement or outcry. Mason always keeps his word when he promises to shoot. .He is different from other men and dangercus when at large.” Mason, in reply to a question, said: “I deny murdering Librarian Wilson in Philadelphia. He was hammered on the head to his death. Work like that is brutal. I am never brutal. ““When it comes to using a gun T al- ways give the other man the best of it. I tell him to throw up his hands or I'll shoot; that if he shoots and doesn’t kill me I will kill him. “In the last run I had with a man I offered him the same terms—told him if he shot and missed I'd put a bullet through him. He weakened and didn’t shoot, so I escaped with the silver. “I have never had business with thieves when I didn’t get the worst of it. I am better off when working alone [meaning the division of the spoils], Yet my ‘pals’ always make me CuSto- dian of the spoils. Never have I wronged any man in a division of the stuff. “I realized the importance of getting away the other day. I knew our cap- ture meant practically a life sentence. (Mason owes seven years in the Michi- gan City Prison and the authorities wili add ten more to the term for his get- ting away, giving him a tetal sentence of seventeen years.) A new incident in Mason’s career has Just come to light. After the Pittsfield robbery he and his pal, Moo were sentenced to prison. Moore W par- doned. Then Mason's wits served him a wonderful turn of fortune. He-planned for a pardon, but had no idea that he would succeed. He wrote a letter to Governor Flower ore had been released, although ynvict, while he—Mason—who r been proved an ex-convict, was still kept in jail. His shrewd reasoning was approved rnor Flower, and he pardoned t been’discovered that Sing Sing at that par- tried to escape. He n, but was captured n extension of the ticular time M: got out of the'y on the roof of buildings and was ‘ This lost him all his “good time. But Governor Flower's pardon fully made up for it, gaining for him two years and ten months of liberty. The general opinion among the police has always been that it was his good con- duct that caused his early release from Sing Sing. A requisition from Philadelphia now takes him to Penns&ylvania for trial for dark crimes alleged. B R R R R R S R O O O O R R R R R R R e e e e SR States, is a wonderfull; Hung Chang he is doubtless the ablest and most progr man of Celestial origin who has ever v CHANCES FOR AMERICAN TRADE WITH THE ORIENT BY WU TING FANG, Chinese Minister at Washington. R S S R R R R R R b e da e ASHINGTON, July 18.—Wu Ting-Fang, Chinese Minister to United interesting man. With the exception of Li ive statcs- ited this country. For that matter he is more closely in touch with European and American hab- its of thought than Li Hung Chang himself. of accent and of idiom of which many language with a faultless] He speaks the English a native- barn American might envy and which is equaled by no other Chinese puhll‘c man. He is familiar with American and European politics and .l)usmes. He can make as appropriate and effective after-dinner s;)e‘ech‘es as _Speaker E-'N‘l(‘hor Chauncey Depe Minister Wu was educated in England and s the first ’li nese gentleman who ever became an Eaglish barrister, He ited the .l‘]‘%”'v“ States in 1877 and thén returned to Hongkong. here he established mse as a barrister. After six years of practice he appointed legal ad’ Hung Chang and deputy for fore tion, too, to have bullt the first 1 first director of the Kai Ping Rai bassy in the peace mission td Jaj o een appointed chief director of the in 1895. In 1897 he was appointed to b Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotel United Sta year in Was i 0 and Lima. The wife of Minister Wu is a s made a study of the English language. T lieding $iness and who play up and down the erousness of American boys. As with keenest interest upon the part in Oti- s which America seemns likely to play. sters who have their English go the legation with the ¢ don nese stat an _he naturally loo ental politi HE prospects for the extension of American trade with China are excellent just at the present time. The material awakening of the empire is just beginning, and the volume of foreign trade and of domestic improvements, which will de- pend largely on foreign enterprise, Is bound to increase with wonderful rap- idity for the next few decades. The prejudice of the inhabitants of - China against the bullding of railroads, tele- graphs and telephones, and, I may say, a hundred other things that would cause her to lose step in the mnr(“'h of modern civilization, is finally disap- pearing. g Thus you can see at once what a large field is opened for shrewd, ener- getic Americans who know an advan- tage when they see it, and are quick to grasp it when presented. If the Chi- nese exclusion act were repealed by this or the next Congress the people of the United States would be still more benefited. It is hardly necessary to ar- gue a point like this; it is a self-evi- dent proposition. Then, there is no prejudice against American goods, nor any preference for gools of other nations to interfere with the expansion of trade with the United States. On the contrary, certain sta- ples produced by the United States have almost the entire field. Take, for instance, kerosene oil, matches, American flour, and Ameri- fcan cotton cloth, The trade in Ameri- can flour is simply immense. No other country seems able to cope with the United States in these articles with my people. The Chinese will take any- thing which is cheap and good. And in this connection I may be pardoned. I hope, if T make a suggestion—that the manufacturers of the United States study more closely the local wants of the people of China. There are many ways of doing this. One proposition that strikes my fancy strongly is the one advanced recently by the Phila- delphia Museum. This institution has appointed a commission of skilled men to visit China and learn by actual ob- servation the exact lccal wants of the people. Of course, my Government will heartily welcome this commission and will give them every opportunity for gaining the information desired. Hav- nd bo ffairs in Ti d in China, having been t. ¥ an i 1895, and wa: xchanging ratifications for the treaty of peace. S T entsin University, tary S, but also to Spain and Peru. ington and_directs from here the affal tsin. It was his g was First s plenipotentia In the m ntime he had blishad Envoy nment of the He is ac He resides the gre of the legations at Madrid woman of rare intelligence, who, like His children are bright _\'(I\l\:h;,; Chi- ing learned what Is most wanted by practical observation American manu- facturers will no longer do business in the dark. If they have the enterprise, as they surely will when they learn of the o] portunity, to seize upon this great field, their rewards will be proportionatély great. China is ready tc welcome the United States as a peaceful neighbor and commercial friend. Among the in- telligent public men of the Chinese Em- pire there is absolutety no prejudice against America. On the contrary, there is a strong desire for the friend- ship of this great republic, and ad- miraticn for Yankee ingenuity and®in- ventive genlus is quite as pronounced there as in any other part of the world. 1 repeat what I said at the beginning of this interview—repeal the exclusion act, which wiil restore the good will that existed between China and the Jnited States previous to the adoption of that act, and the trade between the twe countries will increase to enormous proportions. ‘What has China done, or what have Chinese merchants done, to encourage trade with the United States? That is a difficult question for me to answer. You will understand, however, that when a people are legislated against as the natives of China have been, the mercantile interests have not the opportunity or the zeal to encour- age trade as they would if condi- tions were different. A nation is very much like an individual. A man trades where he is best treated. This is human nature the world over, not excepting China. I live in hope that whatever may be the differences he- tween the two countries they will dis- appear. China desires to hold friendly relations with all the world, and par- ticularly with the United States. The commercial relations between the Chinese empire and the Philippines are very great. You will appreciate this more strongly when I say that over 100,000 Chinese inhabit these islands. Steamers run continually back and forth between Honkong and other Chi- nese ports and Manila, exchanging the products of the two countries. China has, as you will see, a direct interest in the Philippines. Many of the isl- ands were settled by the Chinese, who have, as a matter of course, added greatly in their development. It is as if a few thousand or more Americans et b et had emigrated to some islands off the Atlantic or Pacific coast and there built up a remunerative trade with their mother country. The maternal instinct ought to be as strong in na- tions as in individuals. The mother cannot forget the child she has borne and reared through much suffering. I gay this merely to illustrate how we feel toward those of our own blood on these islands. Would the pdssessioh of. the Philip- pines by the United States help to &n- large our trade with China and other eastern countries and how? This would seem to be the natural effect of such a dituation, but to answer thi: stion in.its full significance will require time, and the t'me has not yet arrived when the auestion can be an- ral, of course, wider intere; er trade, but the old saw a bridge until you come to it,” may well apply to this To appreciatc the recent progress of Chipa in a material way one must thoroughly understand the Chinese character. China to the world at large is an unknown land. Notwithstanding all that has been said and written the se are a very practical people. with the fiery They go siow and hold to the thirigs they hawve. Time wa S hey are not moved sy of the Anglo-Saxon. when the s opposed with a rit even of fan sm all in- ternal improvements. That spirit only in isolated instances. Re- welcomed as never he- The people are seized with the ‘We are a nation of four hundred millions.” As it is a law of nature that large bodies shall move 1y China is not to be judged in her forward mevement with a smaller na- tion. ‘Nevertheless we ate nioving for- ward. 3 2 The genius of China is not in the line ion of .territory. Were bed in,territory, perhaps r ambition might be for m It has been said of her by ley, that in time she will overrun the world with her millions of inhabitants. No one need fear such -a result. Gepghis Khan is pointed to as a bright exemplar of what the Chinaman will do when he once sets about it. But that illustrious war- rior was a Mongol. Now the Chinese are not Mongols, in the proper sense of the 'word, although the masses of man- kind so believe. The Chinese are a dis- tinct race altogether. No, we shall be satisfied if we are let alone and al- lowed to work out our destiny as a na- tion in our own way. That way may not be the way of the European or American; but it is the way best suit- ed to the peculiar nature of the race or races which inhabit jwhat is known as China. A national awakening is already go- ing on. Some years ago a Chinese dip~ lomat in Great. Britain wrote an article which. excited much d ssion in America and on the continent, the opening senténce of which was, ‘China awake!’” That watchword is on the lips of millions to-day, although' when it was uttered it sounded like a discord- ant note. China is awake. It is no small task to lift & nation to the plane of the high ideals of her wise men. But when a people once awake to the dangers which surround them they make rapid progress. China is net in such an advanced stage of decomposi- tion as some affect to belieye.. Aroused as she now is to her material interests her future is secure. exists now fore. spirit of progress. NUMBER of clever young pres- tidigitateurs have just come to town with a lot of tricks that seem to have been laying under a bushel basket for the past ten or fifteen years. New names have been given the tricks and to the younger generation they have all the attraction of being positively mew. Some of these young magicians admit that it is all tricky; others talk WW il ‘j {J‘ MAKING=HALF DOLLAR 'RUN_FROM ANOTHER HAND TO HiS OWN of secret magnetism, clairvoyance, psychic and mysterious influences. Here are some of the tricks and “psychic force” movements performed by these young magicians. The tricks and the way they are done may serve to amuse social gatherings: The professor takes a small liquor glass. This he fills with water and drops a silver quarter into it. Over the smaller glass he places a larger one, L mmnlmmmlmm!mfl"u" Y TR fiitt il DRAWING ACROSS TABLE merely to show that there is no connec- tion between him and the coin. Imme- diately the larger glass is removed and he waves his hands over the smaller one, The response is marvelous. The silver coin hesitates but a moment. Then it quivers slightly, leaves its place under the water and slides up the inside of the glass until it reaches the top and topples into his hand. A cigarette or cigar is laid on the table and slid clear across it. A half-dollar lald a spectator's hand, next to the st, crawls over the length of the hand and drops into his hand at his bldding, i lgon of the tricks relate to fl:l. a;rxl:hl- erious power moving sma) t ‘objects, weighing less than four ounces, ‘A CI6AR, and to the selection of cards. The “psychic power” and all such ex- planations are reduced to one: . A hu- man hair and a small bit of shoe- malker's wax. Usually the performer has !evemi of these long halrs stuck about his person, but the cleverer the performer the fewer of these he will have. To each end of the helr a tip of shoec- maker's wax is fgstoned. One plece of the wax serves to hold the hair to tho performer's ciothing and keop it within reach. The other pleve fs loft free to attach to the desirced object and glve it the nceegsary “paychic force,” To move a cigar, coin or card by “psychic” or any other kind of myiter- lous force, ask a spootator for the loan I'| ATTRACTING CIGARETTE BOX of a cigar or coin. Lay it on a table or any other desired place and while 80 passing it attach one end of the hair by the affixed wax, the other end be- ing, of course, still attached to your person. Make a few passes with the hands over the object to eonvey the Impression that you are filiing it with magnetism; then gradually draw away. The object will follow you If the hair and wax attend to thelr end of the businese. Bome fifteen years »~o “ths coin-in-a- glasa” trick was much more cleverly dozie by & woll known maglclan, Two hairs were attached tc the coin when it wag dr?pod in the glags of water, & phort and a long ono, The glass was then covered with a uandkerchief. THE WAY TO DO SEVERAL CLEVER PARLOR ‘When the performer lifted this hand- kerchief the short hair began to lift the coin and follow at a distance of six inches from the linen. While the spec- tators were puzzling over this the per- former broke the short hair and the coin apparently dropped away. But the performer always quickly recalled it be- fore it reached the end of the long hair. Then, as the handkerchief was slowly waved through the air, the coin under ‘“psychic power” followed it at a dis- tance of several feet. P " \ ] TRICKS. Of course the mystery Of these tricks is greatly increased by deft finger and hand manipulations of the performers. Amateur performérs frequently con- tent themselves with performing these hair tricks by simply making the ob- Jects move in one direction, toward themselves, and never trying to move anything heavier than four ounces, the limit of strength of the hair of a wo- man’s head. By practice both of these may be so modified as to escape the at- tention of the spectator. AL Em—— MAKING QUARTER | LEAP FROM A - © GLASS OF WATER