WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.599
<v Speaker 1>Hell low and happy I am to be with you again. Criminal,

2
00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:08.320
<v Speaker 1>though he was at heart and in action, No modern

3
00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:11.960
<v Speaker 1>crook who lived by his wits has equalled Walter Sheridan

4
00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:14.119
<v Speaker 1>in dash, daring.

5
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:16.440
<v Speaker 2>And devotion to crooked schemes.

6
00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:21.160
<v Speaker 1>The more educated and intelligent the professional criminal, the more

7
00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:24.120
<v Speaker 1>of a threat he becomes to society, and the more

8
00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:30.039
<v Speaker 1>difficult is his apprehension and conviction. Sheridan is a shining

9
00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.439
<v Speaker 1>example of the uselessness of a criminal life, for, as

10
00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:36.799
<v Speaker 1>you shall see, in spite of all his cunning, intellect

11
00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:41.119
<v Speaker 1>and astuteness, he could not remain outside the coils of

12
00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:46.600
<v Speaker 1>the law. Sheridan took to hotel work early in his life,

13
00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:49.920
<v Speaker 1>having been trained by the sharpest of all that gentry one,

14
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.840
<v Speaker 1>Joe Moran. But three years of seeming success found him

15
00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:00.159
<v Speaker 1>doing his first bit in state's prison. Released, Sheridan tied

16
00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:03.560
<v Speaker 1>into a mob of bank sneaks for this work. He

17
00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.480
<v Speaker 1>was admirably fitted by his quick thinking, ready tongue, fine appearance,

18
00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:09.400
<v Speaker 1>and remarkable poisoned balance.

19
00:01:10.439 --> 00:01:12.439
<v Speaker 2>The record shows that their first job.

20
00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:15.319
<v Speaker 1>Netted than thirty five thousand dollars from the First National

21
00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:20.760
<v Speaker 1>of Springfield, Illinois, Stratagem Cleverness of planning, daring of execution,

22
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.599
<v Speaker 1>not the gun were the weapons of the sneaks. Later,

23
00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:26.719
<v Speaker 1>his gang, of which he had become the leader and

24
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.799
<v Speaker 1>master mind, successfully obtained fifty thousand dollars from a fire

25
00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:34.680
<v Speaker 1>insurance company and still later thirty seven thousand dollars from

26
00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:39.920
<v Speaker 1>the Mechanics Bank of Scranton. Thus, his seeming success continued

27
00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.560
<v Speaker 1>until he was reported to be worth close to a

28
00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:46.040
<v Speaker 1>quarter of a million dollars. Then he fell at the

29
00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:50.000
<v Speaker 1>very time he thought it least likely that's life. He

30
00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.400
<v Speaker 1>tried to rob the First National of Cleveland. The sneak

31
00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:56.760
<v Speaker 1>on the job, working swiftly and silently while other members

32
00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.879
<v Speaker 1>of the gang drew attention away from him, was grab

33
00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:04.200
<v Speaker 1>with his hands on thirty two thousand dollars, and Sheridan

34
00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:08.319
<v Speaker 1>was arrested. Like all smart crooks, he was highly incensed

35
00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:12.719
<v Speaker 1>over this outrage, this arrest that had the effect he

36
00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.479
<v Speaker 1>intended upon the first magistrate to hear the charges. Thus

37
00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:20.520
<v Speaker 1>the old trick of low bail worked again. He was

38
00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:23.520
<v Speaker 1>free on a bond of seven thousand dollars, and of

39
00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:28.479
<v Speaker 1>course he forfeited it and was away the eye. As

40
00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:31.240
<v Speaker 1>the Pinkerton Agency was and still is known to the

41
00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:34.759
<v Speaker 1>denizens of the Jungles of Crime was then handling all

42
00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:39.680
<v Speaker 1>thefts from American Banker's Association members.

43
00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:39.879
<v Speaker 2>So they took up the trail.

44
00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:44.680
<v Speaker 1>By clever detective work, the manhunters traced Sheridan to the

45
00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:49.879
<v Speaker 1>town of Hudson, Michigan, ascertaining there that he owned the

46
00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:54.240
<v Speaker 1>principal hotel together with much other property. The detectives registered

47
00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:56.719
<v Speaker 1>and were assigned to a room. They soon discovered that

48
00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.800
<v Speaker 1>Sheridan's brother in law was the manager. William Pinkerton, was

49
00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:05.280
<v Speaker 1>assisting his father, Allan in this case. Desperately in need

50
00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.199
<v Speaker 1>of corroboration for their assumption that Sheridan was the man

51
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:11.439
<v Speaker 1>they sought, the young detective broke into the quarters of

52
00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:14.759
<v Speaker 1>the owner and obtained a good photograph of Sheridan. It

53
00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:19.439
<v Speaker 1>was immediately copied and appeared throughout the world. Sheridan finally

54
00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:23.080
<v Speaker 1>came to see his relatives. All crooks finally may be found,

55
00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:27.560
<v Speaker 1>seeking association of other humans, those closest to them. The

56
00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.000
<v Speaker 1>Pinkertons made no mistake of seizing him there, but instead

57
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.960
<v Speaker 1>followed him with a close shadow as it is called,

58
00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:39.560
<v Speaker 1>and arrested him in Sandusky, Ohio. En route to Chicago.

59
00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:41.719
<v Speaker 1>He made a most desperate effort to escape, and was

60
00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:46.719
<v Speaker 1>nearly successful. So many criminals are nearly successful. But he

61
00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:49.680
<v Speaker 1>had to face trial again, and although his legal defense

62
00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:52.199
<v Speaker 1>is said to have cost him better than twenty thousand dollars,

63
00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:54.759
<v Speaker 1>it was evident during the trial that he was plainly guilty.

64
00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.759
<v Speaker 1>Then astute counsel commenced the technical moves that remained today

65
00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.840
<v Speaker 1>the sh shame of our national courts. Those very things

66
00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:06.520
<v Speaker 1>originally created for the protection of the innocent were twisted

67
00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:11.400
<v Speaker 1>by conscienceless counsel to benefit the guilty prisoner. The cleverness

68
00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:14.879
<v Speaker 1>of this technical misuse of the technicalities of the law

69
00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:19.600
<v Speaker 1>freed Sheridan. He became cock sure, went east and became

70
00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:22.079
<v Speaker 1>the moving spirit in a series of criminal operations that

71
00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.519
<v Speaker 1>at that time were outstanding in the history of crime.

72
00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:29.519
<v Speaker 1>Gigantic and daring depredations. Realized loot easily worth three hundred

73
00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:33.959
<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars in the robbery of the Fall City Tobacco Bank.

74
00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:37.959
<v Speaker 1>Shortly after this, failing to be convicted, Sheridan saw fit

75
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:41.959
<v Speaker 1>to set up his standing in the social scale. He

76
00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:45.199
<v Speaker 1>maintained a great show of respectability, spending much time and

77
00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:48.839
<v Speaker 1>money on the cultivation of refined, cultured, and intellectual friends

78
00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:53.920
<v Speaker 1>and associates of unquestioned standing. It seemed on the surface,

79
00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:57.279
<v Speaker 1>having accumulated his fortune by crooked schemes, he now sought

80
00:04:57.319 --> 00:04:59.560
<v Speaker 1>to live out his life an honest man. But such

81
00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:02.959
<v Speaker 1>concludesions were unaffected by the currents that ran fire below

82
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:06.600
<v Speaker 1>the surface. In fact, he was planning even greater schemes

83
00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:10.439
<v Speaker 1>than ever. Forgery of dazzling quantities of securities was his plan,

84
00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:13.680
<v Speaker 1>and he executed it with the same daring and colossal

85
00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:18.879
<v Speaker 1>cleverness that had marked his entire career. Appearing as one

86
00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.720
<v Speaker 1>Ralston from sunny California, he bought a membership in the

87
00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:25.000
<v Speaker 1>Old Produce Exchange of New York and speculated heavily in grain.

88
00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:28.600
<v Speaker 1>While this was part of his front for his newest brainchild,

89
00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:32.639
<v Speaker 1>he maintained a secret headquarters, a brokeish office on Broadway.

90
00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:36.720
<v Speaker 1>By these operations he established the man Ralston as one

91
00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:41.160
<v Speaker 1>of integrity, considerable wealth, and wide operations in grain futures.

92
00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:44.560
<v Speaker 1>All his obligations were paid promptly and in cash. This

93
00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.439
<v Speaker 1>built him up as a large operator. Having thus created

94
00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:50.319
<v Speaker 1>confidence upon a large scale, he set and motioned the

95
00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:53.360
<v Speaker 1>real purpose of his plot. He arranged matters so that

96
00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:55.519
<v Speaker 1>he might become acquainted with the president of the New

97
00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:59.399
<v Speaker 1>York Indemnity Company. Weeks of time and much cash was

98
00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.079
<v Speaker 1>spent to in gratiate himself in the confidence of that

99
00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:07.560
<v Speaker 1>honest man. Finally, Sheridan alias Ralston moved and swiftly he

100
00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:09.759
<v Speaker 1>confided to his new friend his wish to purchase some

101
00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:13.480
<v Speaker 1>real estate. For the purchase, he needed cash to get it.

102
00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:15.240
<v Speaker 1>He would be happy to put up one hundred and

103
00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:18.199
<v Speaker 1>twenty five thousand dollars in gild Edge Railroad bonds for

104
00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:22.199
<v Speaker 1>a cash loan of some forty five thousand dollars. The

105
00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:25.439
<v Speaker 1>deal was easily consummated, for the bonds appeared genuine and.

106
00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:28.480
<v Speaker 2>Were eagerly accepted. This was the first move.

107
00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:33.000
<v Speaker 1>Others quickly followed according to plan. When all the loans

108
00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.319
<v Speaker 1>made in all ways and by all the confederates in

109
00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:37.480
<v Speaker 1>the plot had been made, it was finally discovered that

110
00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:42.560
<v Speaker 1>the bonds were forgeries, marvelous ones, but forgeries. Nonetheless, Wall

111
00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:46.079
<v Speaker 1>Street Brokers, various companies and institutions had been victimized to

112
00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:48.720
<v Speaker 1>a total that was said to have netted Sheridan alias

113
00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:53.879
<v Speaker 1>Ralston close to a cool million in genuine money. So

114
00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:57.240
<v Speaker 1>carefully had the swindled been perpetrated, that Sheridan had cashed in,

115
00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:00.879
<v Speaker 1>divided the loots, separated his gang and himself across the Atlantic,

116
00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.199
<v Speaker 1>with all of his genuine assets turned into.

117
00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:05.319
<v Speaker 2>Cash before the discovery of forgery.

118
00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:08.959
<v Speaker 1>And swindle was made. It was during this visit to

119
00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.680
<v Speaker 1>Europe that it had been claimed he created and perhaps

120
00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:14.560
<v Speaker 1>engineered the Great Bank of England swindle for which others

121
00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:18.240
<v Speaker 1>were convicted. It is definitely known, however, that while abroad

122
00:07:18.279 --> 00:07:21.399
<v Speaker 1>he successfully distributed another two hundred thousand dollars of the

123
00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:26.319
<v Speaker 1>forged railroad securities. The furore aroused by his monumental nerve

124
00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.439
<v Speaker 1>and the astounding success of his New York swindle could

125
00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:33.560
<v Speaker 1>beat uselessly against the shores of England for extradition. For

126
00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:37.680
<v Speaker 1>his particular offence had then not yet been covered by treaty,

127
00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.560
<v Speaker 1>so he was immune to follow his criminal operations there

128
00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:45.000
<v Speaker 1>in Europe. Having rid himself of this latest threat, as

129
00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:48.639
<v Speaker 1>has been said, he cleaned up another fortune there that

130
00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:52.000
<v Speaker 1>was an error. It left him no sanctuary in which

131
00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.560
<v Speaker 1>a man of his preferences might live beyond the reach

132
00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.519
<v Speaker 1>of the long arm of the law. Scotland Yard became

133
00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:03.480
<v Speaker 1>unostentatiously interested in him. He keen enough sensed that fact

134
00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:05.519
<v Speaker 1>and made the error that was to break him. He

135
00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:09.199
<v Speaker 1>returned to the United States, but he returned as sheredon

136
00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:13.120
<v Speaker 1>the master swindler might be expected to return. He was unheralded,

137
00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:17.040
<v Speaker 1>arrived on an unknown freighter carrying but six passengers, and

138
00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:20.079
<v Speaker 1>entered through a little known port. He turned up in

139
00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:23.879
<v Speaker 1>Denver as mister Walter A Stewart, a man of considerable wealth,

140
00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:29.199
<v Speaker 1>noticeable refinement, and remarkable business acumen. He branched out in business,

141
00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:31.800
<v Speaker 1>and it was a good one. Legitimate strains to say

142
00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:35.360
<v Speaker 1>in passing. It is not amiss to note here that

143
00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:38.600
<v Speaker 1>in honest endeavor he was highly successful. Yet clever as

144
00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.440
<v Speaker 1>he was, he never had thought of the sound sense

145
00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:44.559
<v Speaker 1>from the outset of confining his genius to honorable effort,

146
00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.679
<v Speaker 1>and thus avoiding the hounding of the law. This latest

147
00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:49.039
<v Speaker 1>and only honest.

148
00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.919
<v Speaker 2>Effort was as a wholesale florist.

149
00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:56.639
<v Speaker 1>And landscape gardener. His profits mounted. Then he organized a

150
00:08:56.679 --> 00:08:59.679
<v Speaker 1>bank of his own. It too was honorably officered and directed.

151
00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.879
<v Speaker 1>He had seen to that he had no accomplices. But

152
00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:05.799
<v Speaker 1>again the mania to be crooked obsesseding he entered upon

153
00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:09.080
<v Speaker 1>a wild orgy of speculation, and by a slow process

154
00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.240
<v Speaker 1>his personal funds were rapidly depleted. But the arm of

155
00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:16.080
<v Speaker 1>efficient law enforcement is long and reaches out into strange

156
00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:19.200
<v Speaker 1>places to snatch up the cleverest. So it was to

157
00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:22.320
<v Speaker 1>be with Sheridan alias Ralston alias Walter A.

158
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.200
<v Speaker 2>Stewart. His heavy commitments in the New York market during.

159
00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:29.360
<v Speaker 1>The process of his speculative spree in mining stocks, probably

160
00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:33.600
<v Speaker 1>induced by his Denver associations, marked him as worthy of investigation.

161
00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:37.159
<v Speaker 1>Keen detective brains had for some time been tracing his past.

162
00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:40.159
<v Speaker 1>He was closely watched. Finally he did as all others

163
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.799
<v Speaker 1>before him who gamble had done. He faced the need

164
00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.320
<v Speaker 1>for collateral he did not have. His past success in

165
00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:48.639
<v Speaker 1>forging was the peg upon which he hung his.

166
00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:50.080
<v Speaker 2>Latest coke of hopes.

167
00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:53.600
<v Speaker 1>He offered hurriedly forged security as his collateral for loans

168
00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:56.679
<v Speaker 1>with which to bolster his market deals. Those securities were

169
00:09:56.679 --> 00:09:59.639
<v Speaker 1>carefully scrutinized, bound to be forgeries, and he was arrested.

170
00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:02.519
<v Speaker 1>The rest was easy. He was immediately identified as the

171
00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:06.000
<v Speaker 1>Ralston of the railroad security forgery of some time. The

172
00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:09.480
<v Speaker 1>four convicted and served his time. The Star of his

173
00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:13.200
<v Speaker 1>masterly success was on the decline, For fate was dealing

174
00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.320
<v Speaker 1>the losing hands that fall to the lot of the

175
00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:19.279
<v Speaker 1>criminally inclined. Upon his release, he foolishly resorted to plain robbery,

176
00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:22.120
<v Speaker 1>which was not his forte. He was convicted for the

177
00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:25.039
<v Speaker 1>theft of a tray of unset diamonds. He served time

178
00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:27.519
<v Speaker 1>for that, and while incarcerated, he heard of a counterfeiter

179
00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:30.320
<v Speaker 1>of considerable reputation who would be free at about the

180
00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.240
<v Speaker 1>time of his release. So he hunted him up, formed

181
00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.840
<v Speaker 1>an alliance there, and in no time at all was

182
00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:39.759
<v Speaker 1>seized by officers of the United States Secret Service. Possession

183
00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.840
<v Speaker 1>of counterfeit currency was the charge. Again, he was sentenced,

184
00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:45.440
<v Speaker 1>and this time to a federal prison. Twice after his

185
00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:48.759
<v Speaker 1>release he was apprehended, each time guilty of some lesser crime.

186
00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:53.320
<v Speaker 1>In the gamut. He had run, each time more easily convicted. Sheridan,

187
00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:56.039
<v Speaker 1>the master swindler, had gone the way of all the

188
00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:58.559
<v Speaker 1>beasts of the jungle. He had been consumed by the

189
00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:01.759
<v Speaker 1>fever of greed and easy min the same fever that

190
00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:06.000
<v Speaker 1>strikes down finally those strange denizens who prefer the threatened

191
00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:09.480
<v Speaker 1>certain death of a life of crime to a normal existence.

192
00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:13.600
<v Speaker 1>He died a pauper, unattended, and his body was placed

193
00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.080
<v Speaker 1>in a pauper's grave. And now, my friends, for a

194
00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:21.639
<v Speaker 1>personal message. If you have a problem, something that's worrying you,

195
00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.120
<v Speaker 1>no matter what, whether it has to do with crime

196
00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.639
<v Speaker 1>or not, makes no difference, trust me, write me in

197
00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:32.039
<v Speaker 1>confidence at my home town, Laguna Beach. I'll spell it

198
00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:36.720
<v Speaker 1>for you l A g U n A, Laguna Beach, California.

199
00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:40.000
<v Speaker 1>Write me there, mark it confidential, and I'll do my

200
00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:40.879
<v Speaker 1>best to help you.

201
00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:42.240
<v Speaker 2>Well.

202
00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:45.279
<v Speaker 1>The hand on the face of that clock racing round again,

203
00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:48.679
<v Speaker 1>and I'm sorry. Adios till next time.