Shinburn and I had gone through the stuff we had taken, and found that the precious sealed package, of which Taylor had told us, contained non-negotiable paper, upon which a customer of the bank had borrowed capital. No doubt the customer would have been pleased had the package never been heard of again. We had made a tabulated statement and, taking it with us, showed it to our table companions. It ran as follows:—
| Cash taken away | $125,000 |
| Cash left in bank vault | 200,000 |
| U. S. government bonds—then above par | 1,475,000 |
| Miscellaneous bonds, marketable | 100,000 |
| Western R. R. bonds, unsalable | 850,000 |
| Total | $2,750,000 |
In running over the list, McCord exclaimed: “Cash left in bank vault, two hundred thousand dollars! What in hell do you mean by that?”
“We left that amount there,” I replied.
The detectives looked at me in wide-eyed astonishment. “Were you crazy?” asked Kelso.
“No; just keeping a promise,” I replied. “It is nothing that interests you people. But it’s funny that the bank folks didn’t tell you about it.”
“Well, they didn’t,” said Irving.
This worried me, for I feared that the package had not been found and that we had left it to no purpose. How this could have happened I could not understand, as I had seen Taylor that morning, and told him just where I had left it, and did not believe Taylor would hold it out. However, it was found and used for the purpose intended. I learned this from the papers next morning as well as from Taylor, later. How the press got the news, I don’t know; but they got it.
Two or three days after the robbery we were told that there was a possibility that the bank might call in the services of the Pinkertons, who a few years before had established their New York branch. The Bank Ring also had some fear of this; and Irving was insistent in his demand that such a thing should not be done, as it would interfere with the plans laid by the police. And so it would have done, but not in the manner that the bank officials were led to suppose. If the Pinkertons were to get into the case, Shinburn and I felt that it would be better to have none of the proceeds of the robbery where they could be traced to us. Therefore we discussed what would be the best disposition to make of it—it was still in my rooms, all except the cash, which had been banked. Finally, we agreed to go to Peekskill and bury the stuff in a safe place.
In pursuance of this plan we got large fruit-jars and filled them with bonds, etc., crowding them down as tightly as we could. We placed the jars in tin cans and sealed them up. With a part of these jars we went to Peekskill by train, hired a livery rig, and drove out about two miles northeast of the town. Here, in a wood, near an old mill, we buried the cans we had brought. The next day we took the rest of the cans to Staten Island and buried them in the woods then standing back of what is now known as St. George.