Bucholz and the Detectives

by Allan Pinkerton

They were all dressed in the most exquisite style, and deported themselves in a manner far from what would ordinarily be expected from men engaged in professional criminal pursuits.

During the trial the Court House was thronged by the fair sex of Danbury, whose sympathetic hearts were profoundly touched at the sight of these gentlemanly-appearing rascals. The attendance was further augmented by the appearance of many of their friends, both male and female, who came from New York to witness the proceedings and offer their loving consolations to the unfortunates.

The alarm of these sympathetic friends reached a culminating point when the prosecuting attorney arose in his place and announced that he would place upon the stand one of the principals in the robbery, who would unfold the plot and its successful execution. Each prisoner looked at the other, and angry, suspicious glances flashed from the eyes of them all. Threats were whispered audibly among their friends, but no demonstration took place, and the silence in the court-room became painfully oppressive as the State's attorney, after finishing his address to the jury, called the name of Thomas Clark.

The prisoner took the stand, and, unabashed by the angry glances that were directed towards him, he told the story of the robbery in a plain, straightforward manner, that carried conviction to the minds of both judge and jury.

The testimony which he gave was as follows:

"My connection with this robbery commenced on or about the 20th of December last (1865), at which time I met Martin Allen at a saloon in New York City. It was on that occasion that he told me that his brother-in-law, James Wells, who resided in Brooklyn, had an acquaintance named Gilly McGloyn, and that Gilly had a brother-in-law named Grady, who was a brakeman on the express train of the New York and New Haven Railroad, which left New York at 8 o'clock in the evening. He also said that Grady wanted McGloyn to get somebody to help throw the safes out of that train. McGloyn went to Wells on purpose to inform him, and Wells told him of it, and Allen told me.

"The next day Allen, Wells, McGloyn and Grady met me at Lafayette Hall, on Broadway, about the 21st of December. At that time Grady exhibited a piece of soap which contained an impression of a key-hole in the lock of the Adams Express car. In the course of the conversation which ensued at that time, Grady said that there were two messengers who looked after the Adams Express cars alternately, one on each alternate night. He said that the most careless of the two messengers was named Moore, and that his evenings from New York were Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Grady said he thought any one of those evenings would be the best to select for the purpose of committing the robbery.

"Some time afterward, on a night when Moore had charge of the express car, I got on the train at Forty-second street, and went into the smoking car. There was a man there busy making a fire in the stove, and in a few moments Grady came into the car, and in order to signalize to me who Moore was, slapped the man on the back, saying, 'Billy Moore, you don't know how to make a fire.'

"The place which I selected as the proper point for throwing off the safes was between Coscob Bridge and Stamford. I hit upon that spot for the purpose, because at that point the distance between stoppages was short, being only three miles from Coscob Bridge to Stamford. I left the train at Bridgeport, where I stopped at the Atlantic Hotel, near the depot, all night. I returned to New York by the 10 o'clock train next morning. I think it was the same day that the parties I have named had another meeting at Lafayette Hall.

"It was at that time we arranged a plan for getting the safes out at Forty-second street, where we got the size of the lock of the express car. Next day Allen and myself visited nearly every hardware store in New York for the purpose of purchasing a lock similar to that on the car. The nearest to it in appearance was found in a store on Howard street, between Crosby street and Broadway. We wanted this lock to put on the door of the car after breaking the other off. That same day Allen and Wells went to the same store and bought a sledge hammer. On the evening of the same day Allen went to Crowe's livery stable and hired a horse and a heavy express wagon.