Gilbertsville Bank Robbery - 1905

Gilbertsville Bank Robbery - 1905

 

C.A. Daniels

Who Proved Himself a Hero at the Gilbertsville Bank Robbery

Utica Saturday Globe, June 1905

 

 

C.A. Daniels

 

Gilbertsville, N.Y. [Otsego Co.]:  Developments in connection with the bank robbery of several weeks ago are coming very slowly, and folks are beginning to wonder if the authorities will be able to bring the guilty parties to punishment.  The difficulty in the way of identifying the robbers is the stumbling block to the guardians of the law.  It was dark when the robbery was committed and few persons got near enough to the burglars to see even the outlines of their forms, to say nothing of faces.  Failure to identify Watson led to the release of one of the men captured in New York.  The other is almost positively identified and may be indicted.  As long as the bank robbery is remembered people will speak of C.A. Daniels, who proved himself a hero on the occasion.  It was he who alarmed the town and led in the pursuit of the robbers.  Mr. Daniels is a popular resident and it did not require his courageous act to place him high in the esteem of our people.

 

Binghamton Press, May 17, 1905

Sheriff Notified of Their Arrest

Oneonta [Otsego Co., NY]:  Sheriff Mather was notified yesterday by the Pinkerton bureau of New York that two men and a woman had been arrested there on suspicion of being members of the gang that robbed the Brewer bank in Gilbertsville on May 2.  Sheriff Mather will go to New York today with Gilbertsville people, who saw the burglars leaving town, to identify, if possible, the persons under arrest.  Conductor Robinson of the O.&W. train, that carried the four burglars from Norwich to Oswego, will also be taken to New York to see if he recognizes the two suspects.

 

Gilbertsville Bank Robbers Believed to Be in Custody

Word has been received here of the arrest in New York of two men and a woman who are supposed to have committed the Gilbertsville Bank robbery.  The men are Edward Watson and John Mullin and they were arrested at 231 West Forty-ninth street yesterday by detectives from the central office.

 

Taken with the men was Mabel Watson, 21 years old, who said she was a seamstress and who is believed to be Watson's wife. They had been living at the Forty-ninth street house under the name of Wilson for about three weeks.  Watson gave his age as 21 years and his occupation as a musician.  Mullin said he was 25 years old and a painter.  They were arrested at 6 o'clock in the morning, while still in bed, by Detective Sergeants Peabody, Clark and Cooney of the headquarters staff.  Almost $1,000 in case was taken from the trio.

 

After the three prisoners had been taken to police headquarters the detectives went back to their rooms and made a search.  The burglar tools were found in two suit cases.  They were taken to headquarters where spread out, they completely covered a big table.  ...."This is the finest collection of bank burglars' tools that has come here in years," said Captain McCauley, "They are finely made, all modern.  The Kit includes everything an expert safe cracker could ask for."

 

Watson said the tools were used for piano tuning.  He would say nothing further to the police, remarking that he would tell what he had to say when the proper time arrived.  The other prisoners followed his example, and although the police made a determined effort, they got nothing out of the prisoners.

 

The authorities at Gilbertsville  have telegraphed to Inspector O'Brien that they will send for the prisoners.  Although the bandits wore masks, they were seen at close range by a number of citizens, and it is believed that they can be identified.  It was recalled after the burglary that a strange young woman had been seen about the bank several days before, but she had conducted herself so quietly that her presence had aroused no suspicion.

 

Telegraphic descriptions of the bandits were sent all over the country and Inspector O'Brien, who heard that the bandits had boarded a train for Oswego the day after the robbery kept watch for members of the band in New York, with the result that he had under surveillance the two men and the woman the moment they reached New York, and they were watched night and day.  Inspector O'Brien held off the arrest of the trio as long as possible in the hope that other members of the band would show up, but was disappointed, and decided on Monday night to take his quarry yesterday.

 

The arrest was made quietly, the trio offering no resistance.  They did not have much baggage and the kit of safe blowing tools and the nitroglycerine, fuses, fulminating caps, etc., were carried in a traveling bag and leather suit case.  Inspector O'Brien and Captain McCauley are confident that the prisoners are from Pittsburg and have operated heretofore in the West.  he was tracing them last night and said he hoped to know more about them today.

 

They were locked up to await the arrival of a representative of the police from Gilbertsville.  The Detectives refused to say a word as to how the men had come under suspicion, but they positively state their belief that the men are members of the Gilbertsville band, and had them photographed and measured according to the Bertillion system.

 

Two Men and a Woman Believed to be Implicated in Bank Robbery

Geneva Daily Times & Courier, May 18, 1905

John Mullen and Edward Watson, alias Wilson, who were arrested with Mabel Watson, a seamstress, yesterday in connection with the dynamiting of a private bank in Gilbertsville, N.Y., on May 2 and the larceny of $2,000, were arraigned this morning as suspicious persons and turned over to Sheriff Mather of Gilbertsville to be taken there for identification.  The Watson woman was not taken however, as the police are satisfied that she knew nothing of the safe blowing.  She was released. 

 

The woman confessed this morning that she had met Watson in Allegheny, where she was leading a life of shame.  She said that he showered money on her and that recently she received a telegram to join him in Syracuse.  She said she met Watson there and was introduced to Mullen.  She said that Watson told her that he was a bank robber but gave her no further information.  She admitted that Watson and Mullen were absent from Syracuse for two days at the time the Gilbertsville bank was blown open.

 

Held for Gilbertsville Bank Robbery

Brookfield Courier, May 31, 1905

Watson and Mullin, arrested in New York on the charge of committing the bank robbery at Gilbertsville, were arraigned for examination before Justice White at Cooperstown Wednesday.  Watson was released since none could identify him as being in Gilbertsville on the night of the bank breaking but Mullin, identified by E.C. Stockwell, was held to appear before the grand jury on June 5, to answer the charge of burglary in the third degree.  H.J. Witte of New York appeared for the two prisoners and the wife of Mullin was present at the examination as a witness for him.  District Attorney M. Bridges appeared for the people and he had a number of witnesses from Gilbertsville in addition to the New York detectives and some railroad men who are believed to have seen the burglars.  Detective Wade followed the robbers to Oswego and Rochester and then to New York where the arrests were made. After the examination Mullin was returned to the jail.  Watson was immediately taken again in custody by the sheriff, on an order from Officer Peabody, who took him back to  New York where he will be arraigned on the charge of being a burglar.  The finding of the set of burglar's tools with him is the evidence against him.  The tools were taken back to New York.  Watson is also wanted by the authorities at Pittsburg, Pa., and he may do several years before he again has his liberty.  The Watson woman who was arrested with the two men, has made a confession stating that the men were absent from the city for a week beginning May 1, and that they returned with a quantity of money.

 

 To Be Continued