With one other name and one other fatality this record closes. John Tusawn was a brother-in-law of Patrick. He lived near Brown’s bridge previous to and after O’Neal’s death. Common report made him a party to the murder of the victim; but, although circumstances pointed to his guilt, evidence sufficient to convict him was never found, and he was not molested. It is, however, known that ever after the ghastly tragedy he lived a moody, gloomy life. When the grasshoppers came along in 1875, he lost his crops, and that fall he ended a now thoroughly miserable existence by committing suicide. It was given out that the ravages of the locusts had produced his despondency, and had indirectly caused him to take his own life, but those who knew him best say that he took this step to avoid the further sight of the horrible spectacle of O’Neal’s dead body dangling constantly before his eyes.
Old Griswold was a curse to all who came in contact with him. He did not die any too soon, and the world would have probably been better had he never been born.
THE LEICHSENRING ROBBERY.
CHAPTER XXX.
FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS STOLEN FROM A SALOON SAFE ALMOST UNDER THE OWNER’S EYES—THE THIEF ESCAPES AND IS WELL GONE WHEN GEN. COOK GETS ON THE TRACK—A REWARD OF A THOUSAND DOLLARS—VISIT TO A PAWNBROKER’S SHOP—THE DETECTIVES GET A CLUE—CHASE OF RECKLESS ROCKY M’DONALD, WHO PROVES TO BE THE GUILTY PARTY—THE THIEF LOCKED UP AND THE MONEY TURNED OVER IN TWO HOURS’ TIME—THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN ASSOCIATION PITTED AGAINST THE POLICE AND THE SHERIFF’S FORCE.
One of the boldest robberies on record was committed one cold evening during the Christmas holidays of 1879, at the saloon of C. E. Leichsenring, then on the corner of Sixteenth and Holladay streets, Denver, supplemented by one of the most adroit captures ever effected in the city. The particulars in the case are about as follows: It was near 8 o’clock when Mr. Leichsenring was induced to open his safe, in the rear of the saloon, by a man named Ayer, who represented himself to be a United States marshal from Leadville, and expressed a desire to examine the complicated workings of the time lock on the inner door of the safe, which was one of the small Hall patterns, and an object of great interest as a mechanical contrivance.
While Mr. Leichsenring was explaining the process of locking and opening the door of the same to Ayer, his attention was for a moment attracted to another part of the house, and it is supposed that the robbery was committed during the brief period that his back was turned. The theory is that during this interim, an accomplice of Ayer, named Rocky McDonald, took out of the safe a canvas bag containing $4,800 in $20 and $10 gold pieces and some government bonds, altogether amounting to $5,000, and walked out of the saloon before the absence of the bag was noticed.
When Mr. Leichsenring turned around he immediately detected that the safe had been robbed, and thinking that Ayer was the guilty party, immediately seized him and turned him over to Officer Newman, who at that juncture happened to enter the saloon. The report of the robbery spread like wildfire, and the amount stolen was quickly exaggerated to $8,000 in gold. McDonald’s presence had been noticed by three or four other men, who were seated in the saloon at the time, but no one had seen him take the money.