A Train Robber’s Confession From Wales
A fugitive arrested in Wales admits he and a partner held up a Great Northern passenger near Seattle in 1905—a crime local investigators had blamed on the notorious Bill Miner.
Seattle—Charles H. Crooks, now under arrest at Narberth, Wales, on a charge of larceny and obtaining money under false pretenses, has confessed to the authorities there of having, with the aid of another man, held up and robbed the eastbound Great Northern overland passenger at Richmond Beach, near this city, one night in October, 1905, according to old world advices received by Chief Ward.
Crooks relates in his confession that his partner was arrested for the holdup and is now serving 20 years. But one arrest was made in connection with the robbery, which the local police and railroad detectives generally credited to the notorious Bill Miner, lately escaped from the British Columbia penitentiary, and that was of Lem Short, who died during the progress of the trial. The amount taken from the Great Northern is generally believed to have been $50,000, though the management of the road admitted but $700.
“The amount taken from the Great Northern is generally believed to have been $50,000, though the management of the road admitted but $700.”
The case shows how a notorious suspect can become the accepted answer before evidence catches up: local police and railroad detectives blamed Bill Miner, while Lem Short died during the trial. It also captures the transatlantic reach of local crime reporting and the way official loss figures—$700 versus the rumored $50,000—shape public memory.
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