Speaker 1: Hell low and happy I am to be with you again. Criminal,
Speaker 1: though he was at heart and in action, No modern
Speaker 1: crook who lived by his wits has equalled Walter Sheridan
Speaker 1: in dash, daring.
Speaker 2: And devotion to crooked schemes.
Speaker 1: The more educated and intelligent the professional criminal, the more
Speaker 1: of a threat he becomes to society, and the more
Speaker 1: difficult is his apprehension and conviction. Sheridan is a shining
Speaker 1: example of the uselessness of a criminal life, for, as
Speaker 1: you shall see, in spite of all his cunning, intellect
Speaker 1: and astuteness, he could not remain outside the coils of
Speaker 1: the law. Sheridan took to hotel work early in his life,
Speaker 1: having been trained by the sharpest of all that gentry one,
Speaker 1: Joe Moran. But three years of seeming success found him
Speaker 1: doing his first bit in state's prison. Released, Sheridan tied
Speaker 1: into a mob of bank sneaks for this work. He
Speaker 1: was admirably fitted by his quick thinking, ready tongue, fine appearance,
Speaker 1: and remarkable poisoned balance.
Speaker 2: The record shows that their first job.
Speaker 1: Netted than thirty five thousand dollars from the First National
Speaker 1: of Springfield, Illinois, Stratagem Cleverness of planning, daring of execution,
Speaker 1: not the gun were the weapons of the sneaks. Later,
Speaker 1: his gang, of which he had become the leader and
Speaker 1: master mind, successfully obtained fifty thousand dollars from a fire
Speaker 1: insurance company and still later thirty seven thousand dollars from
Speaker 1: the Mechanics Bank of Scranton. Thus, his seeming success continued
Speaker 1: until he was reported to be worth close to a
Speaker 1: quarter of a million dollars. Then he fell at the
Speaker 1: very time he thought it least likely that's life. He
Speaker 1: tried to rob the First National of Cleveland. The sneak
Speaker 1: on the job, working swiftly and silently while other members
Speaker 1: of the gang drew attention away from him, was grab
Speaker 1: with his hands on thirty two thousand dollars, and Sheridan
Speaker 1: was arrested. Like all smart crooks, he was highly incensed
Speaker 1: over this outrage, this arrest that had the effect he
Speaker 1: intended upon the first magistrate to hear the charges. Thus
Speaker 1: the old trick of low bail worked again. He was
Speaker 1: free on a bond of seven thousand dollars, and of
Speaker 1: course he forfeited it and was away the eye. As
Speaker 1: the Pinkerton Agency was and still is known to the
Speaker 1: denizens of the Jungles of Crime was then handling all
Speaker 1: thefts from American Banker's Association members.
Speaker 2: So they took up the trail.
Speaker 1: By clever detective work, the manhunters traced Sheridan to the
Speaker 1: town of Hudson, Michigan, ascertaining there that he owned the
Speaker 1: principal hotel together with much other property. The detectives registered
Speaker 1: and were assigned to a room. They soon discovered that
Speaker 1: Sheridan's brother in law was the manager. William Pinkerton, was
Speaker 1: assisting his father, Allan in this case. Desperately in need
Speaker 1: of corroboration for their assumption that Sheridan was the man
Speaker 1: they sought, the young detective broke into the quarters of
Speaker 1: the owner and obtained a good photograph of Sheridan. It
Speaker 1: was immediately copied and appeared throughout the world. Sheridan finally
Speaker 1: came to see his relatives. All crooks finally may be found,
Speaker 1: seeking association of other humans, those closest to them. The
Speaker 1: Pinkertons made no mistake of seizing him there, but instead
Speaker 1: followed him with a close shadow as it is called,
Speaker 1: and arrested him in Sandusky, Ohio. En route to Chicago.
Speaker 1: He made a most desperate effort to escape, and was
Speaker 1: nearly successful. So many criminals are nearly successful. But he
Speaker 1: had to face trial again, and although his legal defense
Speaker 1: is said to have cost him better than twenty thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: it was evident during the trial that he was plainly guilty.
Speaker 1: Then astute counsel commenced the technical moves that remained today
Speaker 1: the sh shame of our national courts. Those very things
Speaker 1: originally created for the protection of the innocent were twisted
Speaker 1: by conscienceless counsel to benefit the guilty prisoner. The cleverness
Speaker 1: of this technical misuse of the technicalities of the law
Speaker 1: freed Sheridan. He became cock sure, went east and became
Speaker 1: the moving spirit in a series of criminal operations that
Speaker 1: at that time were outstanding in the history of crime.
Speaker 1: Gigantic and daring depredations. Realized loot easily worth three hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in the robbery of the Fall City Tobacco Bank.
Speaker 1: Shortly after this, failing to be convicted, Sheridan saw fit
Speaker 1: to set up his standing in the social scale. He
Speaker 1: maintained a great show of respectability, spending much time and
Speaker 1: money on the cultivation of refined, cultured, and intellectual friends
Speaker 1: and associates of unquestioned standing. It seemed on the surface,
Speaker 1: having accumulated his fortune by crooked schemes, he now sought
Speaker 1: to live out his life an honest man. But such
Speaker 1: concludesions were unaffected by the currents that ran fire below
Speaker 1: the surface. In fact, he was planning even greater schemes
Speaker 1: than ever. Forgery of dazzling quantities of securities was his plan,
Speaker 1: and he executed it with the same daring and colossal
Speaker 1: cleverness that had marked his entire career. Appearing as one
Speaker 1: Ralston from sunny California, he bought a membership in the
Speaker 1: Old Produce Exchange of New York and speculated heavily in grain.
Speaker 1: While this was part of his front for his newest brainchild,
Speaker 1: he maintained a secret headquarters, a brokeish office on Broadway.
Speaker 1: By these operations he established the man Ralston as one
Speaker 1: of integrity, considerable wealth, and wide operations in grain futures.
Speaker 1: All his obligations were paid promptly and in cash. This
Speaker 1: built him up as a large operator. Having thus created
Speaker 1: confidence upon a large scale, he set and motioned the
Speaker 1: real purpose of his plot. He arranged matters so that
Speaker 1: he might become acquainted with the president of the New
Speaker 1: York Indemnity Company. Weeks of time and much cash was
Speaker 1: spent to in gratiate himself in the confidence of that
Speaker 1: honest man. Finally, Sheridan alias Ralston moved and swiftly he
Speaker 1: confided to his new friend his wish to purchase some
Speaker 1: real estate. For the purchase, he needed cash to get it.
Speaker 1: He would be happy to put up one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty five thousand dollars in gild Edge Railroad bonds for
Speaker 1: a cash loan of some forty five thousand dollars. The
Speaker 1: deal was easily consummated, for the bonds appeared genuine and.
Speaker 2: Were eagerly accepted. This was the first move.
Speaker 1: Others quickly followed according to plan. When all the loans
Speaker 1: made in all ways and by all the confederates in
Speaker 1: the plot had been made, it was finally discovered that
Speaker 1: the bonds were forgeries, marvelous ones, but forgeries. Nonetheless, Wall
Speaker 1: Street Brokers, various companies and institutions had been victimized to
Speaker 1: a total that was said to have netted Sheridan alias
Speaker 1: Ralston close to a cool million in genuine money. So
Speaker 1: carefully had the swindled been perpetrated, that Sheridan had cashed in,
Speaker 1: divided the loots, separated his gang and himself across the Atlantic,
Speaker 1: with all of his genuine assets turned into.
Speaker 2: Cash before the discovery of forgery.
Speaker 1: And swindle was made. It was during this visit to
Speaker 1: Europe that it had been claimed he created and perhaps
Speaker 1: engineered the Great Bank of England swindle for which others
Speaker 1: were convicted. It is definitely known, however, that while abroad
Speaker 1: he successfully distributed another two hundred thousand dollars of the
Speaker 1: forged railroad securities. The furore aroused by his monumental nerve
Speaker 1: and the astounding success of his New York swindle could
Speaker 1: beat uselessly against the shores of England for extradition. For
Speaker 1: his particular offence had then not yet been covered by treaty,
Speaker 1: so he was immune to follow his criminal operations there
Speaker 1: in Europe. Having rid himself of this latest threat, as
Speaker 1: has been said, he cleaned up another fortune there that
Speaker 1: was an error. It left him no sanctuary in which
Speaker 1: a man of his preferences might live beyond the reach
Speaker 1: of the long arm of the law. Scotland Yard became
Speaker 1: unostentatiously interested in him. He keen enough sensed that fact
Speaker 1: and made the error that was to break him. He
Speaker 1: returned to the United States, but he returned as sheredon
Speaker 1: the master swindler might be expected to return. He was unheralded,
Speaker 1: arrived on an unknown freighter carrying but six passengers, and
Speaker 1: entered through a little known port. He turned up in
Speaker 1: Denver as mister Walter A Stewart, a man of considerable wealth,
Speaker 1: noticeable refinement, and remarkable business acumen. He branched out in business,
Speaker 1: and it was a good one. Legitimate strains to say
Speaker 1: in passing. It is not amiss to note here that
Speaker 1: in honest endeavor he was highly successful. Yet clever as
Speaker 1: he was, he never had thought of the sound sense
Speaker 1: from the outset of confining his genius to honorable effort,
Speaker 1: and thus avoiding the hounding of the law. This latest
Speaker 1: and only honest.
Speaker 2: Effort was as a wholesale florist.
Speaker 1: And landscape gardener. His profits mounted. Then he organized a
Speaker 1: bank of his own. It too was honorably officered and directed.
Speaker 1: He had seen to that he had no accomplices. But
Speaker 1: again the mania to be crooked obsesseding he entered upon
Speaker 1: a wild orgy of speculation, and by a slow process
Speaker 1: his personal funds were rapidly depleted. But the arm of
Speaker 1: efficient law enforcement is long and reaches out into strange
Speaker 1: places to snatch up the cleverest. So it was to
Speaker 1: be with Sheridan alias Ralston alias Walter A.
Speaker 2: Stewart. His heavy commitments in the New York market during.
Speaker 1: The process of his speculative spree in mining stocks, probably
Speaker 1: induced by his Denver associations, marked him as worthy of investigation.
Speaker 1: Keen detective brains had for some time been tracing his past.
Speaker 1: He was closely watched. Finally he did as all others
Speaker 1: before him who gamble had done. He faced the need
Speaker 1: for collateral he did not have. His past success in
Speaker 1: forging was the peg upon which he hung his.
Speaker 2: Latest coke of hopes.
Speaker 1: He offered hurriedly forged security as his collateral for loans
Speaker 1: with which to bolster his market deals. Those securities were
Speaker 1: carefully scrutinized, bound to be forgeries, and he was arrested.
Speaker 1: The rest was easy. He was immediately identified as the
Speaker 1: Ralston of the railroad security forgery of some time. The
Speaker 1: four convicted and served his time. The Star of his
Speaker 1: masterly success was on the decline, For fate was dealing
Speaker 1: the losing hands that fall to the lot of the
Speaker 1: criminally inclined. Upon his release, he foolishly resorted to plain robbery,
Speaker 1: which was not his forte. He was convicted for the
Speaker 1: theft of a tray of unset diamonds. He served time
Speaker 1: for that, and while incarcerated, he heard of a counterfeiter
Speaker 1: of considerable reputation who would be free at about the
Speaker 1: time of his release. So he hunted him up, formed
Speaker 1: an alliance there, and in no time at all was
Speaker 1: seized by officers of the United States Secret Service. Possession
Speaker 1: of counterfeit currency was the charge. Again, he was sentenced,
Speaker 1: and this time to a federal prison. Twice after his
Speaker 1: release he was apprehended, each time guilty of some lesser crime.
Speaker 1: In the gamut. He had run, each time more easily convicted. Sheridan,
Speaker 1: the master swindler, had gone the way of all the
Speaker 1: beasts of the jungle. He had been consumed by the
Speaker 1: fever of greed and easy min the same fever that
Speaker 1: strikes down finally those strange denizens who prefer the threatened
Speaker 1: certain death of a life of crime to a normal existence.
Speaker 1: He died a pauper, unattended, and his body was placed
Speaker 1: in a pauper's grave. And now, my friends, for a
Speaker 1: personal message. If you have a problem, something that's worrying you,
Speaker 1: no matter what, whether it has to do with crime
Speaker 1: or not, makes no difference, trust me, write me in
Speaker 1: confidence at my home town, Laguna Beach. I'll spell it
Speaker 1: for you l A g U n A, Laguna Beach, California.
Speaker 1: Write me there, mark it confidential, and I'll do my
Speaker 1: best to help you.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: The hand on the face of that clock racing round again,
Speaker 1: and I'm sorry. Adios till next time.