Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 February 1912 — WORLD’S FAMOUS POLICE MYSTERIES TRUE RECORDS OF EXTRAORDINARY CASES IN ANNALS OF CRIME [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WORLD’S FAMOUS POLICE MYSTERIES TRUE RECORDS OF EXTRAORDINARY CASES IN ANNALS OF CRIME

Inspector Denovan and Mackoull

By H. M. EGBERT

(Copyright, by W, G. Chapman.)

NE of the most auJ X dacious of thieves > was James Mackoull, ~K ">■ a character as exffljp |W traordlnary as any JjE Jr that has ever appearr ed in the annals of " crime. He was hardened to his career from the cradle, for his mother had been a shoplifter; oneof his brothers, Ben MackOU II, was hanged for

• robbery, and another, after being acquitted upon a charge of forgery, brought out a book entitled ‘ The Abuses of Justice.** In the early part of the nineteenth century the detective of the present day was represented by the old Bow street runner, often a man of striking abilities. The exploits of some _of these runners are famous In history, but nonemore so than that of a certain Mr. Scottish officer who united extreme Intelligence and unwearying patience, and was employed by the Paisley bank of Glasgow to defend it against Mackoull’s pretensions. Mackoull, having robbed this bank, was posing as a deeply injured person and suing it for the restoration to himself of the bank’s own property. Furthermore, the bank was so nonplussed by this thief’s audacity that ft had the greatest difficulty in preventing Mackoull from walking away with his entire plunder. A brief sketch of the history of this remarkable* criminal may be of interest. Mackoull, being active and athletic, first came into notoriety as a pugilist His first theft was from a purveyor of cat’s meat He threw a handful of snuff in his eyes and, while the man was blinded, cut his bag of pennies from his barrow and ran. Boon, growing bolder, he graduated as a watch-snatcher. Fearing arrest, Mackoull entered the royal navy and served for nine years, rising to the rank of purser’s steward and retiring with an exemplary character and a considerable amount of prize-money and accumulated pay. As soon as he reentered civilian life Mackoull resumed his evil courses. He posed as the captain of a West Indlaman and gave lavish entertainments, at the conclusion of which, having drunk his company under the table, he despoiled them of their valuables and disappeared. But a safer occupation was that of a receiver of stolen goods. He married a lodging-house keeper and devised a receptacle for bis goods known as "Pitt’s window’’ from the circumstance that it was a window which had been blocked up to avoid the window tax that Pitt had imposed upon the country. Being detected, Mackoull escaped to Germany, where he became an adept at fleecing the frequenters of gaming tables and gamblinghotmeik,. —JU....... „ In 1805 Mackoull returned to Scotland, qualified by his 'inany experiences to become a master swindler. Soon afterward occurred . a murder which was universally attributed to him. Begbie, the porter of the British Linen Company bank, was stabbed to the heart while carrying a large parcel of bank-notes. Several persons were suspected, apprehended and discharged from want of evidence. This first drew upon Mackoull the attention of the runner Donovan. He endeavored to bring home the guilt to this criminal; lie failed, but thenceforward the two men were matched against each other, and Mackoull found opposed to him a bloodhound of a man whose pertinacity and relentless patience nothing could overcome. Mackoull’s luck in escaping his deserts was phenomenal. Soon after the Begbie murder he was arrested on a charge of pocket-picking and lay for bind months in the Tolbooth, but no case could be made out against him. After his liberation he was arrested on a charge of passing forged notes, _ but again he succeeded in evading the law. Emboldened by this high tide of fortune, Mackoull now laid plans for his greatest and most audacious scheme; the robbery of some one or other Of the great Scottish banks. With this object in view he secured the assistance, of two of the most desperate criminals in the country, French and Huffey White, the atter a convict at the hulks whose assistance Mackoull considered to be so necessary to his that he actually contrived his escape in order to obtain his services. On Sunday night, July 14, 1811, the trio broke into the Paisley bank of Glasgow with keys which had been carefully fitted in advance, ransacked the drawers and safe and secured no less than 1100,000 in gold and notes. They immediately secured a postchaise and four and made their way to Edinburgh, and thence southward through Haddington and Newcastle to London. There the three separated, Mackmill contriving to obtain the lion’s share of the spoils—about $40,000. As to not unknown In the present day, negotiations were entered into between the bank and the thieves with a view to partial restitution on condition of their escaping punishment. White was captured and surrendered

the greater portion of his spoil in order to save his life; a Bow street runner named Sayer negotiated between the bank and Mackoull, but is believed to have made away with the portion of the plunder which Mackoull offered for his own security. Thus the affair stood for some time, Mackoull having seized the opportunity to leave the country. . He reappeared in England in the following year, believing that his surrender of part of the money would set him free from molestation. But the bank speedily secured his arrest on the ground of breach of faith. He was placed on trial for the theft, but once again the authorities were unable to make out a case against him. Mackoull surrendered to the bank a further sum of $5,000, but finding that he was at liberty, promptly sued his go-between for this sum on the ground that it had been" handed over by him without proper authorization. He actually succeeded in recovering the greater portion of it. Emboldened and considering himself free from further annoyance, Mackoull opened an office as a bill broker, buying the bills with the stolen notes. He was arrested and the notes were impounded. Again he was discharged and at once he began suit to recover his “property,” the proceeds of his thefts. The case attracted the utmost attention and crowds filled the court in which Mackoull, posing as the victim of a spite action, demanded that he be freed from further persecution. His singular luck continued with him. Unless the batik could prove his guilt Mackoull would necessarily recover his plunder. Such a travesty of justice could not be endured, and the Paisley bank turned for help to Denovan, who had been watching Mackoull ever since the murder of Begbie. Denovan was set to work to collect evidence to prove that Mackoull had been concerned in the original robbery. Mr. Denovan lost no time. He determined to reconstruct the entire history of Mackoull’s actions since the robbery, and at once left Edinburgh to follow the exact course taken by the fugitives after the robbery. No less than nine years had since that occurrence; but all along the route Denovan came upon traces of them in the post books, supplementing these meager records by the reminiscences of Innkeepers and waiters. The bloodhound-like faculty which Denovan possessed is shown by the trouble to which he went to hunt up evidence. He was told that a certain George Johnson, residing at Belford, would be able to identify Mackoull. Johnson had been a waiter at the Tai-, bot inn jn Darlinfcton nine years previously, but had disappeared from home. Denovan did not abandon his quest for such a trifle. Observing that a church stood immediately behind the inn, he thought that some of those who frequented it might furnish a clue, i He went to church the following Sunday and, listening to the scraps of conversation that passed among the worshipers, heard mentioned the name of one Thomas Johnson, a brother of George, who was a peddler. Denovan immediately set off in search of this man, found him, and learned that his brother George was still, alive and was a waiter either at the Bay Horse in Leeds or else in Tadcaster, or at an inn at Sptttal-on-the-Moor, in Westmoreland. If he' were not to be found there, his father-in-law, Thomas Cock-, burn of New York, would know of his whereabouts, The clue led next to Alnwick, where a barber remembered having shaved the fugitives. *T was anxious to find this barber,” writes Mr. Denovan, "but found he had put an end to his existence some years ago.” At Morpeth the inn at which the fugitives had stayed had gone out of existence. At Newcastle the posting book had been lost But at the Queen’s Head, Durham, there was found the entry, "Chaise and four to Darlingtom Will and Wilt” The first Will could not be located; the second Will was an old postboy, still living, and he remembered Mackoull and described him. The landlady remembered the three men also, and said that they were traveling in haste toward London and had. with them a quantity of Scottish bank-notes. When Denovan reached the Talbot inn at Darlington he obtained news of George Johnson, who Mad removed to Tadcaster. The landlord remembered the thiree men tn the post-chaise. ..'A?-"-Denovatn continued on his relentless course. At Northallerton he learned that the three men had changed a quantity of Scottish bank-notes. At York more news of George Johnson came to hand. He resided at Tadcaster, as the landlord of the Talbot inn had. said, and war a fish-hawker in that town. Johnson dearly remembered Mackoull and agreed to come to Edinburgh to give his evidence. He had seen “a stiff, stout man with a red face,” with two companions in the post-chaise at Durham, and the description answered to Mackoull exactfar Kanlrmil 1 Wmal irtnJiyaaJ a. • wRRai* 1 mi* iiwi ■ ivuuvi tou c* oww.se bank-note for twenty pounds fa payment for two pints of sherry and some biscuits, but there was not

enough change in the house to accommodate him, and the man White was asked for smaller money, whereupon he pulled out a pocketfol of banknotes, all Scottish. Johnson swore that he would know the “stiff man” again, in any attire, among a hundred. Denovan had forged the first link in the chain of his evidence. He would not fall now; he would ransack all England until he obtained another witness. The next evidence came to hand at Welwyn, where the fugitives had exchanged their heavy post-chaise for a lighter one. At this place they had sent away a, suit case to a certain address. This article was afterward recovered, and the writing was found to be in Mackoull’s hand. At Welwyn Denovan was Informed that a man named Cunnington, who had been a waiter at the White Hart in that city in 1811, could identify MackoulL Cunnington had left for London, though not then so large as at present, contained considerably more than a million inhabitants. This circumstance did not daunt Denovan in the least. He began to ransack the city in the most systematic manner. He Inquired for Cunnington at every baker’s shop, every grocer’s shop, every saloon, but in vain. Then he began to Inquire at the public offices. At one of the coaching offices Denovari; came upon a guard who told him that he had known Cunnington intimately, and that the latter had gone to Brighton. Denovan went to Brighton promptly, followed his clues from that town to Horsham, thence to Margate, then back to London. There the clues failed. Again Denovan began his investigations. He Imew that few men leave London once they have made it their home. He inquired at the post offices, the police stations, the Hospitals; and in the Middlesex hospital he found Cunnington, who was a patient in that institution.

. Cunnington remembered the fugitives clearly and said, with Johnson, that he would be able to Identify Mackoull among a thousand. He had noticed the three men counting over their money at the White Hart while he was a waiter there, and expressed his willingness to go to Edinburgh if called upon. Denovan had forged the second link in' the evidential chain. Mention has been made of the suit case which Mackoull had sent from Welwyn, addressing it in his own handwriting. This article had been seized at the time of the arrest of Huffey White who, as has been stated, saved his life by making restitution to the Paisley bank. Huffey White had been taken in the house of a blacksmith named Scoltop who lived in the Tottenham Court road, London, and the suit case, with a bunch of skeleton keys, had been found there and removed to Bow street where it was hidden away in a back closet of an office among numerous other relics es crimes. It wag opened by DeDOVan. and the astonishing discovery was made that it was stuffed with papers and notes in which Mackoull appeared in a most compromising light. Among other articles found within this suit case were housebreaking implements, punched files and “jimmies,” with items of clothing recognized as having belonged to the /three thieves. How had the runners allowed so singular a piece of evidence to remain in their possession without producing it? The answer is supplied by the fact that, as mentioned above, Mackoull had negotiated with the bank through the mediumship of a runner named Sayer whom he had entrusted with a sum of money amounting to |5,000, and who had retained this instead of handing it over to the proper recipients. The relations existing between Sayer and Mackoull were further complicated by the fact that Sayer was on intimate terms with Mackoull’s wife, a woman of dubious character. When now approached by Denovan, Sayer refused pointblank to assist him in any manner or to go to Edinburgh in order to give evidence against Mackoull. Denovan received little assistance from any of the runners at Bow. street They were jealous of his suecess hitherto, jealous of the integrity of their office, compromised by Sayer, and'not at all anxious to .have the bright light of publicity turned upon their management of their affairs. One by one all the runners —Vickery, Adkins and Townsend—refused to aid Denovan in.any way at all. He was working, they said, for the bank, a private institution, and not in the interests of the public. Let him conduct his own affairs as he pleased and they would attend to their own business. It was only because one man stood by him—Lavender, a famous runner of that day—that Denovan was enabled to 'come upon his discovery of the suit case, with its compromising evidence, stuffed away in the back closet st Bow street *7 The evidence against Mackoull was not yet complete. Denovan went to the blacksmith's shop in the Tottenham Court road and held an interview with Scoltop. How he induced him to assist him, whether by cajollery or threats is not known. His success was tile marvel of the runners, watching

Denovan’s actions with no very friendly eyes, for Steoltop was a notorious intjmate of burglars and was credited with forging for them most of their Implements. He had long been a friend of Mackoull and had made for him the very tools which had been used in the robbing of the Paisley bank. Twice Scoltop, had sent Mackoull skeleton keys, and each had been found useless, owing to the extreme simplicity of the locks used on the safe and drawers. It was not until Mackoull furnished him with a wooden model of the keyholes that Scoltop was enabled to complete his task to Mackoull’s satisfaction. Somehow or other Denovan won him over to his side, add Scoltop, though refusing to write down a word in evidence, agreed to go to Edinburgh in the capacity of a witness, and to swear not only to having made the keys but also to having received the suit case addressed in the handwriting of Mackoull and sent from Welwyn. , The chain of evidence was fast closing around Mackoull who, wholly ignorant of these proceedings, still kept up his defiant manner in court and, in the attitude of a much injured man, demanded that the bank be compelled to restore to him the moneys which he claimed had been illegally impounded. It was reserved for Denovan to complete his evidence by a remarkable triumph. This was nothing less than the winning over of Mrs. Mackoull, who was at that time living in considerable comfort upon the proceeds of her husband's robberies and might have been considered the least likely person to furnish evidence against her husband. The truth was, however, that’ Mrs. Mackoull had received a considerable amount of money from her husband and had,refused to return it to him. This had provoked so serious a quarrel that the woman was persuaded to go to Edinburgh to give evidence on behalf of the bank. “She was extremely shy at first,” Denovan writes, “and, as if by chance, she lifted up one of the cushions on her settee, displaying a pair of horse pistols that lay below.” Her fear was that she would be compelled to make restitution of that part of the plunder which she had secreted. But the bank had long since abandoned all hopes of recovering the captured spollj it was anxious merely to retain that portion which it already possessed and to bring Mackoull to justice. On the advice of Sayer, who seems to have become frightened of retribution after Denovan’s inexplicable success in winning over the blacksmith, Mrs. Mackoull surrendered to Denovan’s demands. So complete was the evidence now ready that when produced in court, Lord Cockburn, who presided, declared that “nothing eould exceed Denovan’s skill, and that the investigation had the great merit of being amply sustained in all Its important parts.” Yet scarcely a month had elapsed since Mr. Denovan set out on his celebrated journey southward from Edinburgh to pick up the nine-year-old traces of the fugitives. The trial came on in February, Mackoull, in the capacity of plaintiff, entered the court brazenly and with aggressive demeanor. When Denovan suddenly appeared in company with Johnson, Cunnington, Scoltop and Mrs.

Mackoull herself, Mackoull fell to the floor in a fainting condition. Seldom indeed have the tables been so completely and dramatically reversed. The verdict was rendered in favor of the Paisley bank and Mackoull was almost immediately indicted for the robbery. He was promptly convicted and the death sentence was pronounced. And now while he lay in his cell awaiting execution, Mrs. Mackoull relented. Voluntarily she disclosed to him the hiding place of the plunder. She exerted every possible influence on behalf of her husband, applied for a commutation of the sentence and succeeded obtaining one. Mackoull’s luck had remained with him to the last —perhaps in more ways than this, for he cheated his prison jailers as he had cheated the gallows. Before the year ended he had died in his cell, an imbecile.