BEGGARS FORM A TRUST.
Gigantic Organization Unearthed at Indianapolis.
BLIND MAN GENIUS OF OCTOPUS.
One Alphonse Hoover Rented Out Lists of Residences and "Easy" People to Professional Mendicants. Proof of a System Extending Over the Country Found.
What is believed to be a regularly organized "beggars' trust" has just been unearthed through an investigation which was inaugurated by the officers of the Indianapolis charity organizations, and the developments have been followed by a sudden hegira of the members of the trust, who are now possibly operating in some other city, says the Chicago Record-Herald. Secretary Grout of the Associated Charities had his attention called some time ago to a marked increase in the number of house to house and street beggars, and a little investigation convinced him that the mendicants were being brought to Indianapolis and, after working it for awhile, were sent to other cities and their places filled in Indianapolis by new men and boys under a regular system.
Officers were detailed to investigate, and it soon became apparent that every beggar that came to Indianapolis sooner or later reported at the home of Alphonse Hoover, a blind musician and beggar. He lived in one room with his wife and two daughters and had one boarder. He went to Indianapolis from Pekin, Ill., in 1899, and had been there but a short time when he applied to the county for aid. He had been assisted from time to time and plied his trade of begging and playing the accordion without hindrance by the police, but the inquiry developed the fact that he was receiving a part of the earnings of other beggars and that he was in communication with all who came in the city.
Charles Hall, who played a fiddle about the courthouse, gave the business of the trust partly away, and the officers expected complete details from him, but he was married to a good looking young woman one morning and went away on his bridal trip and has never returned. Before leaving he turned over a paper to John Devine, a one-legged young man who went to Indianapolis from Cincinnati, which proved to be a letter from Hoover, in which the writer told of the easy "grafts" which existed in Indianapolis and where to call when he came for further information and "directions who to strike."
Devine said that Hall had $200 when he left Indianapolis with his bride. Devine admitted that he, too, had received a letter from Hoover and that a friend named Lancaster, with whom he had traveled, gave Hoover his Cincinnati address. The authorities had Devine's record looked up, and it was learned that his sister in Cincinnati had received a letter from him in which he had enclosed $1 and said that he had just struck a new "graft," with prospects of good results, and he would send her some more money soon.
The officers of the Associated Charities, under direction of the board of children's guardians, then went to Hoover's house to take his two daughters away, but Hoover had heard of their coming and managed to secrete his children until he could arrange to get out of the city, and he left the next day for Kansas.
In the house, however, the officers found typewritten lists which contained the names and residences of a large number of citizens, and these were divided into sections which were regularly allotted to certain persons, the names of the latter having been provided for by leaving certain blank spaces to be filled in later. The lists of residences at which beggars would receive something contained the names of many well to do citizens.
When the lists were shown to Devine, he admitted that Hoover had furnished him one like it when he first went to Indianapolis and that he had paid him a dollar a week for its use till he had learned the houses and names of the owners, a total of $3. He said that Hoover furnished lists of people in different parts of the city and that his wife had had a large number of them made on the typewriter for the use of the "boys." He also said that Lancaster, at whose instance he went to Indianapolis from Cincinnati, had one of the lists, but he had paid $3 for his and had taken it with him when he left the city. As a rule the lists were not sold outright, but rented at a dollar a week, the borrower putting up a forfeit, which was returned to him when he gave up the list before going away.
Devine said that Hoover was arranging to extend his system to other cities and was having lists made for use in those cities when the board of children's guardians got after him, and he was forced to leave.
A peculiar thing which came out in the investigation and which was an eye opener to the Associated Charities officers was the fact that these professional beggars were acquainted with others of their class in nearly all the large cities and were regularly in communication with each other. Devine could rattle off the names of forty or more professionals in different cities, and he said Hoover had a list "as long as my arm."
It was through this information that Hoover hoped to perfect his trust and extend it to other cities. He would then be in a position to furnish lists and send the professionals from place to place and by taxing each one so much for information regarding the "grafts" make a good thing for himself and for them also. A general instruction below the list of names read as follows:
"A good way is to have some cheap shoestrings or papers of pins to sell for them, as don't buy, nearly always give something anyway."
Devine was sent back to Cincinnati with orders not to return. Hoover and Hall have left, and Lancaster has disappeared, and the officers believe the town is rid of them for keeps, and every professional that is found upon the streets hereafter will be sent to the workhouse.
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| Judge Rowland Davis. |
THE TALMAGE CASE.
Judge Davis Will Not Permit It to be Settled Out of Court.
At 10 o'clock this morning the case of the People vs. Joseph H. Talmage, who was arrested last Thursday on the charge of grand larceny in the first degree upon formal complaint of his wife, Mary A. Talmage of Owego, N. Y., who claimed that her husband was selling goods belonging to her, was called in police court. The defendant was present at the time appointed but his wife, the complainant, failed to appear, whereupon the court questioned Talmage as to her whereabouts. Talmage said that he was with his wife yesterday afternoon about the city, but that in the evening she went down to Mrs. Cole's on Railroad-st., and he had not seen her since. The judge said it looked to him very much as if the two parties to this action were trying to settle the case out of court, and that it was a very serious matter to try to settle a crime, and a crime is charged in this action. If his suspicions should prove true and it should appear that a settlement had been made the judge said he should certainly press matters before the grand jury.
Mrs. Talmage was then sent for by an officer with a subpoena, but the officer had another surprise for the court when he returned with the information that Mrs. Talmage had started for Owego last night in utter disregard of the fact that the examination of her husband, who had been arrested upon her complaint was set down for this morning.
The case was then adjourned until Friday at 10 o'clock, and an officer will be sent to Owego with a subpoena for Mrs. Talmage, compelling her to come to Cortland and appear in the case she has instituted.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
President Roosevelt has denied commutation of sentence in the cases of A. J. Hatthias and Mont S. Ballard, who in 1897 tortured and burned two Seminole Indians in Oklahoma, who they believed, had killed a Mrs. Leard and her young child. It afterward transpired that the Indians, who were tortured until they confessed to the murders, were innocent, and the two men, who were deputy marshals, were convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison. The trial judge and others recommended that their sentences be commuted to three years. The president believed that the punishment should fit the crime. He was right. The sentences were not too severe. There are, perhaps, times when the "third degree" is proper and useful. But when it is overworked to the injury of the innocent, those guilty of the outrage should not escape just punishment by reason of their holding official position at the time of the commission of the crime.
A BROKEN LEAD PENCIL
REMOVED FROM THE SIDE OF FRANK LARKIN.
Fell on It Last Saturday and it Broke off—Didn’t Know Anything About it—When Trouble Came Supposed He Had Been Shot—Anxious Season for the Family of the Boy who was Charged With Shooting.
Dr. Dana, assisted by Dr. Neary and Dr. Reese, this morning removed a piece of a lead pencil an inch and a half long from the side of Frank Larkin, 15 years old, son of John W. Larkin of 174 Railroad-st. The boy had been sick for several days and he thought that he had been shot and that a ball was in his side. He knew nothing about the pencil breaking off.
Last Saturday morning Frank Larkin and two other boys about his age had been down to the factory of the Cortland Door & Window Screen Co. to see the effects of the recent fire. They were returning home and were walking along the tracks of the Lehigh Valley R. R. The house and lot of Supervisor F. A. Phelps at 77 Pomeroy-st. adjoins the railroad property, the rear of the house being from six to eight rods distant from the track. When passing this house a small dog belonging to one of Mr. Phelps' boys ran out and began to bark at them. It is said that the boys threw some snow balls at him and he barked so vigorously as to attract the attention of Mrs. Phelps in the house, who told her boys to go out and call him in. Frank and Harry Phelps, 15 and 18 years old respectively, went out to call the dog, but be wouldn't come, and continued to bark at the other boys on the track. Suddenly Frank turned and ran back into the house and up stairs, saying to his mother as he passed her, "he won't come, but I know how to bring him." He seized a 22 calibre rifle which he had and throwing up a window and pointing the muzzle of the rifle toward the ground fired a single blank cartridge. The report of the gun had the desired and expected effect. It appears that the dog is very fond of going out hunting with the boys and the sound of a gun will make him abandon anything he is doing and hurry off in its direction expecting some sport.
The rifle was something which Frank had secured about a year before in a trade with another boy. At that time he had some ball cartridges with it, but Mrs. Phelps had a perfect horror of the boys having a gun, fearing that one of them might get shot. She protested against their using ball cartridges and suddenly the ball cartridges disappeared and the boys were forbidden to get any more for the present, though they were permitted to secure blank cartridges, and occasionally they indulged in firing the gun off to see how it would sound, while anticipating the time when they could be older and have some real cartridges and go hunting.
After the dog came in Frank Larkin and his friends went on home. Frank spoke to his mother of Frank Phelps having fired off a gun as they passed his house. Mrs. Larkin inquired if her son had been hit and he said he had not.
That afternoon Frank Larkin was playing with other boys on the walk near his home when he slipped and fell heavily. He got up with difficulty and felt faint, complaining of his side and back. When he reached the house he spoke of his fall and the result, and the family told him to keep quiet and rest and he would soon feel better. He was in more or less pain that night and Sunday and all day Monday. Toward night Monday he had chills and it was apparent that he was decidedly ill. Dr. Neary was summoned.
Meanwhile something suggested the thought to the family to examine the boy's clothing. A small hole was found in his shirt and undershirt and blood upon the latter at a point a little for ward of the right hip, and there seemed to be a dark stain on the undershirt around the hole. In thinking the matter over there flashed into mind the recollection of what had been said about Frank Phelps firing a gun on the previous Saturday and at once they looked at the flesh beneath the hole in the undershirt. There was surely a wound there and the impression immediately prevailed that the boy had been shot. When Dr. Neary arrived he was told that he was called to care for a case of a gunshot wound. He found the opening into the flesh near the eleventh rib on the right side and felt a hard bunch on the back immediately in the rear of the wound. He prescribed measures which would bring temporary relief and said that in the morning he would probe for the bullet.
Tuesday morning accompanied by Dr. Dana Dr. Neary called upon his patient and the wound was probed. It was impossible then to recover the foreign body and fearing that it had penetrated the pleural cavity or the peritoneal cavity they decided to wait till the next day to prepare the patient in the mean time for a more serious operation than was at first thought needful.
This morning Dr. Dana assisted by Dr. Neary and Dr Reese performed the operation. After probing for some time Dr Dana succeeded in getting hold of the sought for body. In the meantime he had declared that it felt like the queerest piece of lead that he ever got hold of. When it was finally extracted it struck all of the physicians as being the longest bullet they had ever seen. It was an inch and a half long and was found to be a piece of a lead pencil, the point end. They were absolutely amazed. While they were operating Mr. Larkin, the father, said that they had discovered a broken pencil in the boy's pocket and they had concluded that the bullet must have struck and shattered the pencil before entering the flesh. But there was no bullet about it and never had been. The boy fell on the pencil and it broke off and penetrated his side when he fell on the walk last Saturday. The stain on his undershirt which was taken to be the discoloration from a lead bullet was from the lead of the pencil.
Yesterday morning inflammation was found to exist about the wound and there was pus in the wound. But during the operation this morning it was all thoroughly cleaned and there is reason to believe that the patient will recover quickly.
The finding of a pencil was a tremendous relief to Frank Phelps and to his family. Frank says he knew the cartridge was a blank and that in any case he pointed the muzzle of the rifle toward the ground. But the finding of the pencil removes all questions and clears everybody.
WALSH-KELLEY.
Two Popular Young People Wed at St. Mary's Church in Early Morning.
Mr. William Walsh and Miss Mayme Louise Kelley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Kelley, 12 Crawford-st., were married at 7:30 o'clock this morning at St. Mary's church by Rev. J. J. McLoghlin in the presence of a few relatives and friends. After a wedding breakfast, given at the home of the bride's parents to the wedding party, the happy couple started at 9:22 for a week's trip to New York and Kingston.
Mr. Walsh is one of Cortland's most popular young men. He is a clerk at the Model clothing store and enjoys the friendship of a large circle of acquaintances. The bride is one of Cortland's fair young ladies, modest and unassuming, and a great favorite among her large number of friends. Her wedding gown was a becoming gray veiling, trimmed with chiffon. Her bridesmaid, Miss Annie Kirnarney, wore green albatross. Mr. John McDermott was best man.
Mr. and Mrs. Walsh expect to return to Cortland in a week's time and make their home at 13 Crawford-st.
BREVITIES.
—There will be a special meeting of the L. O. T. M., at Good Templars' hall, Thursday evening at 8 o'clock sharp.
—Hopkins & Stilson, the liverymen, have bought the Terry hitching barn on Main-st., and have moved their livery to that location.
—New display advertisements today are—A. S. Burgess, Clothing, page 2; Warren, Tanner & Co., Mill remnant sale, page 7.
—The rehearsal of the "Rose Maiden" chorus will be held this evening at the Y. M. C. A. rooms instead of at the First M. E. church.
—Locke and Moravia Odd Fellows are negotiating for a special train by which to visit Vesta lodge in Cortland at an early date.—Moravia Republican.
—The February class at the Normal school held its class day exercises last night. There are twenty-nine members of the class. The class of next June is expected to number about ninety.
—The opening sale of tickets at Ithaca Monday night for the Cornell Glee club concert during the week of the junior promenade yielded aggregate returns of over $1,500. Some high premiums were paid for choice of seats.
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