T H E   S I N S   O F   N E W   Y O R K






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                     As  "Exposed" by the Police Gazette
                            By:   Edward  Van  Emery

                         P A R T   I
             THE ORIGINAL POLICE GAZETTE  (1845)

                        Chapter  2
              The Publican, The Pewterer, and the Pugilist
               (An Astounding Case of Mistaken Identity)


1)   EXTRAORDINARY  AND  UNUSUAL  CRIMINAL  EPISODE.   1827-1828.

      In its initial feature the original National Police Gazette, in No. 1
of its series, under the title of "Lives of the Felons," carried the reader
back eighteen years. In a serial that ran through several installments, this
gave anew and elaborately the details of a criminal episode so extraordinary
and unusual as to have all the city of New York lost in wonder for many
weeks of the years 1827 and 1828.
      Conceive, if you can, a respected and prosperous hotel proprietor who
had for his double a member of a daring band of forgers and thieves. Of a
resemblance so strong that the tellers of two of the city's prominent banks,
which had been victimized, were positive in their identification of the
innocent Publican as being the one who had passed on them false checks for
the amounts of more than $10,000. Add to the picture how the brand of guilt
was further fastened on this innocent man when an unmitigated crook backed
up the identification of the bank tellers by false implication in turning
state's evidence. And then the clearing of the blameless and broken
unfortunate through the persistence and skill of a sagacious officer of the
law, whose efforts might have gone for naught but for a trivial accident at
the eleventh hour. This is not the imaginings of a novelist or a playwright,
but a matter of printed word in the daily papers and of the police records
of more than a century ago.

2)   THE  PUGILIST,  BOB  SUTTON

      As did the Gazette, to make for chronological conception of this
amazing case, we shall first deal with the Pugilist, Bob Sutton. He first
saw light some ten years after the birth of the United States, and in his
early manhood a muscular frame together with, it must be conceded,
unflinching physical courage, brought him considerable prize ring renown. As
a member of the "fancy," Bob the Wheeler (so nicknamed from his first trade)
has his fistic deeds duly recorded in no less an authority on pugilism than
Boxiana.
      Somewhere around his thirtieth birthday, he had fallen so deeply into
criminal ways that London became too hot to hold him and he sailed to this
country in 1820 and a short time after opened an English beershop at 24
Rosevelt (rosefield) Street.  Trees still extended along the way down to the
waterfront where some years before had been the homes of the early burghers,
and which had now given way to the lowest of sailors' dives. The building, a
small two-story frame structure painted in blue, became in quick order the
resort of English thieves and burglars and of bellicose youth, drawn by
their admiration of the proprietor's reputation for fistic prowess. Though
business was profitable from the first, Sutton could not refrain from a
penchant for pocket picking and other roguery which brought him in
occasional contact with the police.

3)   THE  PEWTERER,  JAMES  HOLDGATE

      The Pewterer, James Holdgate, came to this country a few years after
Sutton, and was also a Briton. It was many months after his arrival in New
York before  he was able to take up his regular line of employment, which
was the making of fancy leaden toys. Before this he was engaged with the Gas
Company, being one of the first servants of this new illuminating utility
after the president of the company had equipped his own home at 7 Cherry
Street, in 1825, with pipes and burners and had demonstrated for a gaping
throng that the danger of fire or explosion was merely imaginary. Holdgate's
occupation was the repairing of fixtures and meters in the various places of
business. While thus engaged he was corrupted by Sutton to the notion of how
fine an opportunity his calling presented for getting the impressions of
locks so as to enable access to stores and warehouses worth marking for
robbery. Several such jobs were put over successfully. Nor was Holdgate
weaned from the Sutton influence even after a citizen named Jackson,
deceived in the character of the man, furnished backing and established him
in a shop at 3 Murray Street for the manufacture of pewter objects, and
which venture proved a successful one.
<center><img src="/Image/Sin/Pub1.jpg">
New Yorker's Gas-Lit Life..Midnight Pictures of Metropolitan Sights, 
Scenes & Characters. Life in Water Street..Interior of a Dance House..
Having a Good Time..The Rear Room..The Drugged Wine..
Laid away, well salted until night in the sub-cellar..The Blind Passage
Opening into the City Sewers- The unknown Dead..
"Ah! Lize, I have got you"- Trapped at Last..Men & omen who make
Murder & Robbery a Trade-
(Sketched from Life by Gazette Artists)</center>

4)      THE  SHADY  CONNECTION  OF  SUTTON  AND  HOLDGATE  INCLUDES  STEVENS
AND  REED.

      As a matter of fact, the shady connection of Sutton and Holdgate took
on a blacker hue with the appearance on the scene of James Stevens, also a
Briton.  This new member, "a man of fine talents, elegant appearance,
liberal education and accomplished manners," was even said to be an
illegitimate son of King George III, though on what authority does not seem
to be known. This gentlemanly crook, after being forced to decamp from the
West Indies, came to know John Reed, a very clever forger, who had already
served several prison sentences. When a bold scheme of forgery had been
concocted between Sutton, Holdgate, and Stevens, one that required the
services of an artist in his line, Stevens hunted up Reed and  brought him
to the Darby & Joan.

5)   THE  DARING  PLAN

      As the first move of this daring plan, which was inspired by a number
of successful check manipulations for small amounts, an entrance was
effected in the prominent banking house of Howland & Aspinwall, in Front
Street. Keys for the main door had been fashioned by the Pewterer after
impressions procured by himself. As a result of this forced entry the
invaders were able to rummage through the premises from midnight until
daybreak, and the most prized portion of the spoils was a number of canceled
checks. Several of these checks had been merely canceled by writing in ink
instead of being mangled by cutting. Of these particular checks, one was on
the Union Bank for $7,760, and another was on the Merchants Bank for the sum
of $3,500. These checks were renovated by the skillful Reed, who with acids
removed the date and cancellation marks and then through his clever
penmanship substituted the date of October 15 (on which day it was decided
to make presentation of same on the banks) in perfect imitiation of the
handwriting on the checks.
      On the morning of October 15, Holdgate, while sweating over the fires
in his Pewterer's shop, and surrounded by his apprentices, suddenly
announced that he was going out for a few moments to get a drop of ale. It
was proven afterwards, on investigation, that Holdgate was absent from his
place of business only a very short time. Yet, inside of much less than an
hour, he had gone to the Darby & Joan and replaced his apron and working
coat and trousers with his best apparel. After which he visited both the
Union and the Merchants Banks, and of such respectability was his appearance
and deportment and so perfect the work on the checks, that the tellers
surrendered the cash amount called for on the face of each check with
practically no questioning. Then Holdgate returned to the Darby & Joan,
doffed his fine raiment, and was soon back at work in his shop industriously
engaged.

6)   THE  AUDACIOUS  FRAUD  DISCOVERED

      This audacious fraud was discovered on the very next day, and soon the
city press was alive with news and conjecture concerning the imposition on
the banks, and the entire town was talking of little else, while the search
and inquiry was going on in all directions to get trace of the man in the
dark olive-colored coat who had cashed the false checks and then disappeared
so mysteriously. Among those who shared the prevailing wonderment over the
matter was Timothy B. Redmond, keeper of the U.S. Hotel, a large and
flourishing establishment on Pearl Street.

7)   THE  ARREST  OF  THE  WRONG  PERSON

      Hardly a week later Timothy B. Redmond put on his olive-green dress
coat and started out on some business that carried him into Wall Street. As
he passed the Union Bank, Daniel Ebbetts, the paying teller who had cashed
the check for Holdgate, chanced to be coming down the steps of the
institution. The instant his eyes fell on Redmond he was convinced that good
fortune had revealed to him the mysterious swindler. He followed Redmond
until the latter returned to the U.S. Hotel, where Ebbetts after a little
investigation was surprised to learn that the man that he had been tracking
was none other than the proprietor of this prosperous hotel and saloon.
Still convinced that he could not be mistaken in his identification he got
in touch as quickly as he could with Edward A. Nicoll, paying teller of the
Merchants Bank. The two visited the U.S. Hotel and then went into the
bar-room of the place, where they were waited on by Redmond. The instant
Nicoll saw Redmond, he, like Ebbetts, was struck with the conviction that
the guilty man had been found. The following day Redmond was placed under
arrest.

8)   THE  INNOCENT  PUBLICAN  FALSELY  ACCUSED  AGAIN.

      Almost at the same time a trunk containing much valuable property was
stolen from the steamboat North America during her passage from Albany to
New York. David Ware was the one guilty of the robbery, and as he appeared
in sudden affluence and he had a police record he was arrested, but it was
on the suspicion that he might have had something to do with the swindling
of the banks, the act for which Redmond had been apprehended. The
unprincipled Ware, after turning things over in his mind, conceived the plan
of confessing to guilt in the matter for which he had been merely arrested
on suspicion. His calculation being, that his admission would turn attention
away from the misdeeds of which he was actually guilty. He thereupon sent
for John Phoenix, the District Attorney of the city of New York, and offered
to turn state's evidence and to denounce as his accomplice, Timothy B.
Redmond. And when Redmond was brought before him, the unabashed Ware lost no
time in identifying the overwhelmed hotel owner, though he had never seen
him before. After a hurried examination Redmond was returned to his cell and
with little likelihood that he would ever again enjoy freedom.


9)  MISTAKEN  IDENTITY, HAND  OF  PROVIDENCE?

     Thus comments the Gazette:

            On the day after this gigantic wrong, the journals of the city
were loud in their satisfaction at the result of the examination. They
recognized the hand of Providence in the wonderful development of the
prisoner's guilt and offered their heartfelt thanks to that overruling power
which confounds the machinations of the wicked, and which untiringly tracks
the offender until it visits upon his head the inevitable punishment of sin.
Preachers pointed a moral, or garnished a discourse with the tortures of his
guilty bosom; parents dealt out his fate piecemeal to their children as a
terrible example, and the clerks who had sworn Redmond to be the presenter
of the checks, together with the officers of the Police Department,
congratulated each other on the combined efforts of their exertions.
           Poor Redmond !  The hurricane had fairly swept him down. The
fabric of his prosperous condition had vanished as a breath; his house was
abandoned and deserted, and in addition to the destruction of his character,
he saw himself on the road to helpless beggary, maybe lifelong imprisonment.
Abandoned by all, other than the idle visitors, who gaped at him through his
cage in insulting curiosity, or those unpitying familiars who tortured his
innocence for a confession, nothing was left in the prospective but infamy
and a felon's doom.

10)   JACOB  HAYS,  HIGH  CONSTABLE  OF  NEW  YORK

      Enter the Policeman, Jacob Hays, who really deserves a place in the
title of this account. "Old Hays," as he was better known, was High
Constable of New York, the master sleuth of his day, and from all accounts a
foe to be feared by the lawbreakers and a friend to be respected by the
honest citizen. He was actually the first American detective of note though
in his time he was known as a "shadow"; detectives as a distinct corps were
not created in New York until 1857.  Old Hays was really an able man in his
field; it was this same Old Hays who originated an ingeniously effective
method for breaking up unruly gatherings. In that period almost every
citizen, no matter his station, wore a "topper," or high silk hat. Old Hays
would go to work in the midst of the boisterous element and by a deft
movement of his wrist with an extremely short "billy," he would knock off
"toppers" right and left. Then, when those relieved of their headgear would
bend over to recover same, he would administer swift kicks in the pants with
a dexterity that might have been the envy of our own Charlie Chaplin.

11)   OLD  HAYS  SETS  OUT  TO  PROVE  REDMOND  NOT  A  MAN  OF  CRIMINAL
TENDENCIES

      Old Hays believed he could distinguish the criminal physiognomy from
that of the honest man, no matter how much appearances might be against the
latter. From the first he felt that Redmond was not a man of criminal
tendencies, either by inclination or accident and he strove energetically to
prove his intuitions. The bloodhound in this shadow was keen to see the one
actually guilty brought to justice. Though further examinations and
developments brought to light apparent discrepancies in the Ware confession,
public opinion remained strongly against Redmond, and when Old Hays
requested of the District Attorney a delay that would permit of additional
time for unraveling the mystery, the High Constable came in for some sharp
criticism from the press and other sources.
      Two things counted in giving Old  Hays something in the way of clues;
one was due to his own acuteness and the other in a way accidental. Taking
up the last we will quote from the Gazette by way of explanation:

            On the second day of the Redmond trial, moved by the tremendous
excitement of the proceedings, Holdgate himself entered the courtroom to see
the sport. It was at the opening of the court and Redmond had not as yet
arrived. All eyes were at once turned upon the Pewterer, and deceived by the
remarkable resemblance, the spectators wondered why the complainant took his
seat outside the bar among the spectators. Redmond's appearance a few
minutes afterwards dispelled the illusion, though it did not allay the
amazement, and the bewildered beholders paid but little attention to the
proceedings until the Pewterer, abashed by the general gaze, got up and left
the place.

      The observing eye of Old Hays also took note of the startling
resemblance of the Pewterer and the prisoner, with the result that he made
some investigations which merely baffled and led nowhere. It was such an
ordinary thing for Holdgate to drop out of his place during the day for his
glass or two of ale, and his absence from his shop on October 15 had not
seemingly been prolonged beyond the customary stay of the boss, so there did
not seem anything suspicious here for the High Constable to work on.
     Hays, on account of the expert work in the alterations on the checks,
had his suspicions fastened on Reed from the first. Ware, though a stranger
to Reed, knew of the latter's reputation as a forger through his underworld
connections, and in turning state's evidence the conniving Ware had even
dared to implicate Reed. When the latter was placed under arrest on a
requisition from the Governor of  Massachusetts early in 1828, and he was
brought face to face with Ware, the latter failed to identify the man he had
accused of being his accomplice. Through his investigations of Reed, Hays
got wind of the fact that Reed had been in association with Stevens. So the
pursuit for Stevens was on, though for no other good reason than that Hays
desired to subject him to some questioning.  Hays was led quite a chase,
finally losing the scent after he had driven Stevens back to New York, where
the prey was searched for in vain.

12)   NEW  EVIDENCE  EXONERATES  THE  PUBLICAN

      And now it was the 8th of March, the day set for the trial that marked
what was apparently the last ray of hope for poor Redmond. And then came one
little incident that helped to undo all the perfect planning and the luck of
the villains, and that counted even more than  the relentless keenness of
the High Constable.
      On the morning of March 8 some boys were playing in a lumber-yard in
Wooster Street, next to the corner of Grand, and they chanced to find a
small tin box tied up in a handkerchief. A policeman saw the mysterious box
in possession of the boys and brought it down to the station. It was found
to contain several blank bills of exchange, some bank notes that had been
tampered with, and among them a number of canceled checks that had been
gathered on the night of the forced entry into the counting-house of Howland
& Aspinwall. Naturally, these interested Old Hays; so much so that he
promised the District Attorney in exchange for an additional delay of
twenty-four hours that he would produce positive evidence of Redmond's
innocence.
      Old Hays then proceeded to the vicinity where the boys had found the
tin box, and after some careful inquiry he learned that a party calling
himself by the name of Atkinson had just moved into a house near by. From
descriptions that were had of Atkinson there was little doubt in the mind of
the sleuth that he had  succeeded in running down the much-wanted Stevens.
The persevering officer had the house watched all night and at daybreak the
following morning he knocked on the door of the Atkinson apartment, and with
the cautious opening of the door, Hays pushed his way into the room. Before
Stevens could spring to the table on which reposed a pair of revolvers he
was seized and manacled. A search of the rooms revealed all the evidence
that was needed. Stevens was soon convinced that he had been caught with the
goods and that he was in for a long prison term, and when the crushed and
suffering Redmond was pointed out to him the appeal to his manhood brought
a confession that completely exonerated the Publican.

13)  REDMOND  IS  DECLARED  INNOCENT

      Relates the Gazette:

            In no time the District Attorney, after Stevens had been put
upon the stand, arose and touching the abandonment of the defense, stated
his firm conviction of Redmond's perfect innocence. It is difficult to
describe the sensation which this singular declaration produced in the
crowded court-room. The proceedings, which had been strikingly dramatic in
all their stages, had wound up with a miracle. The spectators, the Court,
nay the prosecuting officers, were not only amazed but thunderstruck, and
the majority almost mistrusted that they were the victims of enchantment.
           The most powerful effect was visible upon Redmond. His careworn,
fixed and haggard features were agitated for a moment with a convulsive
tremor, the tears gushed in fountains from his eyes, and sinking his head
between his clasped hands, he uttered a fervent ejaculation of "Thank God!
Thank God!"
           When the confusion and excitement had in some degree subsided,
and the repeated admonitions of the crier of the Court had restored a
partial order, the Recorder, with a moistened eye and a voice quavering with
emotion, rose to address the jury. In the brief charge which the consuming
anxiety of the whole Court rendered necessary, he observed that Redmond
stood before them a ruined man, blighted in character and deserted by his
friends. That by the arrest of Stevens, new light had been thrown on the
affair, which tended to the irrefragable declaration of his innocence, and
that it would hardly expose one to the imputation of  superstition to say,
"The finger of Almighty God is in this matter!"
          The jury then retired, but immediately returned, and upon being
questioned by the clerk in usual form, replied by the voice of the fore-man:
"We find David Ware guilty of wilful perjury."
           On rendition of this verdict the excitement broke out afresh. The
whole audience betrayed their conviction in accordance with the various
materials of which it was composed. There were streaming eyes, murmurs of
applause, and mutterings of execration against the malignant wretch who had
been so miraculously up-tripped in his deep designs. Redmond was caught up
in the arms of his counsel and his previously hesitating friends, and the
frantic joy of some of the most mercurial in the dense assemblage expressed
itself in violent expressions of delight.

14)   SO  WHAT  BECAME  OF  THE  PUBLICAN,  THE  PEWTERER  AND  THE
PUGILIST?

      Justice proceeded to make amends and Ware was consigned to the State
Prison for five years. Very soon after, Stevens in a further confession told
of the full part that Holdgate and Sutton had played in the affair of the
false checks, and in a few hours the Pewterer and the Pugilist were in the
toils and now it was  their turn to be consigned to the same prison which
had incarcerated Redmond. Obstinate defense was made for Holdgate by the
father of his affianced bride, but  when sentence was finally passed it was
for life at hard labor. Holdgate, before his confinement, made a full
confession.

          A)   THE  PUGILIST

      In 1836, the laws of the state were revised and the penalties of
several offenses were altered. Forgery, from a life imprisonment penalty,
was reduced to a maximum of five years. The Pugilist regained his freedom,
to return to a mode of life that often brought him in contact with the
police and that left him free to lead his attack on the Gazette sanctum.

          B)   THE PEWTERER

      There was a welcome in store for him which can only be found in the
priceless treasure of a woman's love. The true heart which had bestowed the
blossoms of its first affections upon the misguided artizan, had never
ceased to throb toward his gloomy prison, and though he came back to her a
degraded outcast, despised and branded with a felon's shame, it bestowed on
him at once the faithfully treasured harvest of its unalterable love. They
were married.

          C)   THE PUBLICAN

      On his return home, Redmond found his house illuminated to receive
him, and distrustful friends who had shrunk from him through his ordeal, now
gathered shamefacedly in an effort to make amends. The city, wild with a
desire to make redress for his wrongs, saw the leading citizens arrange a
public dinner in his honor, also a benefit was tendered him by the manager
of the Bowery Theatre. The profit from this affair was turned over by
Redmond to alleviate the condition of the poor prisoners awaiting trial. His
suit against the bank employees was settled for a few thousand dollars,
which hardly covered his actual losses. Sad to relate, the strain of his
troubles affected Redmond's health, and with his physical decline his hotel
never regained its former prosperity. He died a bankrupt in 1843.


Sins of New York
As "Exposed" by the Police Gazette
By Edward Van Every
Publisher:  Frederick A. Stokes Company--New York
Copyright: 1930  3 Printings  October 15, October 23 and October 30.


Prepared and Transcribed by Miriam Medina
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