Thieves, Con Men and Murderers
One of history's most unusual state robberies took place in 1889 at the Wells Fargo Company in Caddo, Oklahoma (then Indian Territory).
The culprit, John D. Hammond, an employee of the company, sent a telegram to the Wells Fargo head office in Kansas City.
It was one of the most audacious messages ever to be tapped out over the Western Union telegraph system:
"I have stolen your gold shipment of S50,000.
“I now await the arrival of your arresting officers."
Wells Fargo officials thought the wire was a practical joke.
If it wasn't, they surmised, then their agent, Hammond, certainly might be half a bubble off plumb.
The United States Marshal at Caddo was contacted.
He picked up Hammond and tried to reason with him.
Hammond ignored his pleas. "They believe I've gone loco, eh, Marshal Paxton?
“Well, I tell you, I haven't. “Listen!
“I'm young and I don't plan on being a slave to wages all my life. “You know the maximum sentence for this kind of crime, Marshal?"
"Of course," responded Paxton, "20 years."
"That's right," continued Hammond. "I'll probably do only eighteen, with time off for good behavior.
“I'll be making $2,500 a year all the time I'm in prison.
“That's a whole lot more than I'm making now."
Marshal Paxton stared incredulously as Hammond concluded: "Oh, don't worry Marshal, I'm not crazy.
“I'm just willing to give 20 years of my life for $50,000.
“It'll legally be mine when I finish serving my time.
“You ready to take me in now?"
Paxton obliged the Wells Fargo thief and placed him under arrest.
John Hammond was tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary. Finally, Hammond's prison time was up.
The Indian Territory had been admitted to statehood and became Oklahoma.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad had double-tracked long stretches of its right-of-way.
And the population of the Territory had more than quadrupled.
But none of this was of interest to John Hammond.
As he strolled from behind bars in December 1909, a guard yelled: "Hey! Hammond!
“The warden told me to give you this here letter."
"Thanks," responded Hammond.
He stuck the envelope in his coat pocket and climbed aboard the train heading for Caddo.
Comfortably settled in his seat, he opened the letter and read:
“Dear Mr. Hammond:
“This is to inform you that when the M.K. & T. double-tracked its railroad line from Parsons, Kansas, to Denison, Texas, laborers running the track through Caddo dug up the trunk containing the $50,000 in gold where you had hidden it about 50 feet in back of the railroad station.
“Very truly yours
“WELLS FARGO COMPANY”
There are true stories about obscure unsolved murders and robberies.
There are true stories about other bizarre crime capers that were solved. Learn, for example, about the millionaire murderer who was to be married and hanged on the same day. Just minutes from the gallows, he escaped by brazenly committing the "perfect crime."
You can read about this in Chapter 4, He Beat the Hangman With a Perfect Crime.
Read about the strange and fantastic chain of events surrounding a crime that stunned the world -- the theft of the Mona Lisa.
It’s all covered in Chapter 6, The Art Theft That Shocked the World.
Businesses failed and banks closed, when the queen of society swindlers career of blackmail and fraud was exposed.
The true tale can be found in Chapter 5, The Undisputed Queen of Society Swindlers.
The Skyscraper Burglar – Best In the Business covered in Chapter 9 stole millions of dollars in his fantastic crime career, but a petty theft proved to be his demise.
Read about the largest, fastest, most perfectly planned and executed holdup in the history of crime. It’s to be foundin Chapter 7, The Perfect Armored Truck Robbery.
More than 26,000 fortune hunters became involved in an epic of perjury, forgery, stolen records and invented family skeletons in the phenomenal scramble for the Garrett fortune.
This is covered in Chapter 11, The Only Good Heir is a Dead Heir.
Here also is the amazing story of a get-rich-quick artist who defrauded thousands and raked in more than $20-million in eight months. Read about this character in Chapter 8, Carlo Ponzi’s Incredible Jackpot.
But enough of this.
Let's start out with a shocking horror tale, still clouded in mystery, of a cold-blooded killer.
This heartless woman mercilessly butchered an astounding number of her lonely hearts paramours.
You'll find it all in Chapter 2, "The Despicable Lonely Hearts Mass-Murderer."
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The culprit, John D. Hammond, an employee of the company, sent a telegram to the Wells Fargo head office in Kansas City.
It was one of the most audacious messages ever to be tapped out over the Western Union telegraph system:
"I have stolen your gold shipment of S50,000.
“I now await the arrival of your arresting officers."
Wells Fargo officials thought the wire was a practical joke.
If it wasn't, they surmised, then their agent, Hammond, certainly might be half a bubble off plumb.
The United States Marshal at Caddo was contacted.
He picked up Hammond and tried to reason with him.
Hammond ignored his pleas. "They believe I've gone loco, eh, Marshal Paxton?
“Well, I tell you, I haven't. “Listen!
“I'm young and I don't plan on being a slave to wages all my life. “You know the maximum sentence for this kind of crime, Marshal?"
"Of course," responded Paxton, "20 years."
"That's right," continued Hammond. "I'll probably do only eighteen, with time off for good behavior.
“I'll be making $2,500 a year all the time I'm in prison.
“That's a whole lot more than I'm making now."
Marshal Paxton stared incredulously as Hammond concluded: "Oh, don't worry Marshal, I'm not crazy.
“I'm just willing to give 20 years of my life for $50,000.
“It'll legally be mine when I finish serving my time.
“You ready to take me in now?"
Paxton obliged the Wells Fargo thief and placed him under arrest.
John Hammond was tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary. Finally, Hammond's prison time was up.
The Indian Territory had been admitted to statehood and became Oklahoma.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad had double-tracked long stretches of its right-of-way.
And the population of the Territory had more than quadrupled.
But none of this was of interest to John Hammond.
As he strolled from behind bars in December 1909, a guard yelled: "Hey! Hammond!
“The warden told me to give you this here letter."
"Thanks," responded Hammond.
He stuck the envelope in his coat pocket and climbed aboard the train heading for Caddo.
Comfortably settled in his seat, he opened the letter and read:
“Dear Mr. Hammond:
“This is to inform you that when the M.K. & T. double-tracked its railroad line from Parsons, Kansas, to Denison, Texas, laborers running the track through Caddo dug up the trunk containing the $50,000 in gold where you had hidden it about 50 feet in back of the railroad station.
“Very truly yours
“WELLS FARGO COMPANY”
There are true stories about obscure unsolved murders and robberies.
There are true stories about other bizarre crime capers that were solved. Learn, for example, about the millionaire murderer who was to be married and hanged on the same day. Just minutes from the gallows, he escaped by brazenly committing the "perfect crime."
You can read about this in Chapter 4, He Beat the Hangman With a Perfect Crime.
Read about the strange and fantastic chain of events surrounding a crime that stunned the world -- the theft of the Mona Lisa.
It’s all covered in Chapter 6, The Art Theft That Shocked the World.
Businesses failed and banks closed, when the queen of society swindlers career of blackmail and fraud was exposed.
The true tale can be found in Chapter 5, The Undisputed Queen of Society Swindlers.
The Skyscraper Burglar – Best In the Business covered in Chapter 9 stole millions of dollars in his fantastic crime career, but a petty theft proved to be his demise.
Read about the largest, fastest, most perfectly planned and executed holdup in the history of crime. It’s to be foundin Chapter 7, The Perfect Armored Truck Robbery.
More than 26,000 fortune hunters became involved in an epic of perjury, forgery, stolen records and invented family skeletons in the phenomenal scramble for the Garrett fortune.
This is covered in Chapter 11, The Only Good Heir is a Dead Heir.
Here also is the amazing story of a get-rich-quick artist who defrauded thousands and raked in more than $20-million in eight months. Read about this character in Chapter 8, Carlo Ponzi’s Incredible Jackpot.
But enough of this.
Let's start out with a shocking horror tale, still clouded in mystery, of a cold-blooded killer.
This heartless woman mercilessly butchered an astounding number of her lonely hearts paramours.
You'll find it all in Chapter 2, "The Despicable Lonely Hearts Mass-Murderer."
Thieves, Con Men and Murderers
One of history's most unusual state robberies took place in 1889 at the Wells Fargo Company in Caddo, Oklahoma (then Indian Territory).
The culprit, John D. Hammond, an employee of the company, sent a telegram to the Wells Fargo head office in Kansas City.
It was one of the most audacious messages ever to be tapped out over the Western Union telegraph system:
"I have stolen your gold shipment of S50,000.
“I now await the arrival of your arresting officers."
Wells Fargo officials thought the wire was a practical joke.
If it wasn't, they surmised, then their agent, Hammond, certainly might be half a bubble off plumb.
The United States Marshal at Caddo was contacted.
He picked up Hammond and tried to reason with him.
Hammond ignored his pleas. "They believe I've gone loco, eh, Marshal Paxton?
“Well, I tell you, I haven't. “Listen!
“I'm young and I don't plan on being a slave to wages all my life. “You know the maximum sentence for this kind of crime, Marshal?"
"Of course," responded Paxton, "20 years."
"That's right," continued Hammond. "I'll probably do only eighteen, with time off for good behavior.
“I'll be making $2,500 a year all the time I'm in prison.
“That's a whole lot more than I'm making now."
Marshal Paxton stared incredulously as Hammond concluded: "Oh, don't worry Marshal, I'm not crazy.
“I'm just willing to give 20 years of my life for $50,000.
“It'll legally be mine when I finish serving my time.
“You ready to take me in now?"
Paxton obliged the Wells Fargo thief and placed him under arrest.
John Hammond was tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary. Finally, Hammond's prison time was up.
The Indian Territory had been admitted to statehood and became Oklahoma.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad had double-tracked long stretches of its right-of-way.
And the population of the Territory had more than quadrupled.
But none of this was of interest to John Hammond.
As he strolled from behind bars in December 1909, a guard yelled: "Hey! Hammond!
“The warden told me to give you this here letter."
"Thanks," responded Hammond.
He stuck the envelope in his coat pocket and climbed aboard the train heading for Caddo.
Comfortably settled in his seat, he opened the letter and read:
“Dear Mr. Hammond:
“This is to inform you that when the M.K. & T. double-tracked its railroad line from Parsons, Kansas, to Denison, Texas, laborers running the track through Caddo dug up the trunk containing the $50,000 in gold where you had hidden it about 50 feet in back of the railroad station.
“Very truly yours
“WELLS FARGO COMPANY”
There are true stories about obscure unsolved murders and robberies.
There are true stories about other bizarre crime capers that were solved. Learn, for example, about the millionaire murderer who was to be married and hanged on the same day. Just minutes from the gallows, he escaped by brazenly committing the "perfect crime."
You can read about this in Chapter 4, He Beat the Hangman With a Perfect Crime.
Read about the strange and fantastic chain of events surrounding a crime that stunned the world -- the theft of the Mona Lisa.
It’s all covered in Chapter 6, The Art Theft That Shocked the World.
Businesses failed and banks closed, when the queen of society swindlers career of blackmail and fraud was exposed.
The true tale can be found in Chapter 5, The Undisputed Queen of Society Swindlers.
The Skyscraper Burglar – Best In the Business covered in Chapter 9 stole millions of dollars in his fantastic crime career, but a petty theft proved to be his demise.
Read about the largest, fastest, most perfectly planned and executed holdup in the history of crime. It’s to be foundin Chapter 7, The Perfect Armored Truck Robbery.
More than 26,000 fortune hunters became involved in an epic of perjury, forgery, stolen records and invented family skeletons in the phenomenal scramble for the Garrett fortune.
This is covered in Chapter 11, The Only Good Heir is a Dead Heir.
Here also is the amazing story of a get-rich-quick artist who defrauded thousands and raked in more than $20-million in eight months. Read about this character in Chapter 8, Carlo Ponzi’s Incredible Jackpot.
But enough of this.
Let's start out with a shocking horror tale, still clouded in mystery, of a cold-blooded killer.
This heartless woman mercilessly butchered an astounding number of her lonely hearts paramours.
You'll find it all in Chapter 2, "The Despicable Lonely Hearts Mass-Murderer."
The culprit, John D. Hammond, an employee of the company, sent a telegram to the Wells Fargo head office in Kansas City.
It was one of the most audacious messages ever to be tapped out over the Western Union telegraph system:
"I have stolen your gold shipment of S50,000.
“I now await the arrival of your arresting officers."
Wells Fargo officials thought the wire was a practical joke.
If it wasn't, they surmised, then their agent, Hammond, certainly might be half a bubble off plumb.
The United States Marshal at Caddo was contacted.
He picked up Hammond and tried to reason with him.
Hammond ignored his pleas. "They believe I've gone loco, eh, Marshal Paxton?
“Well, I tell you, I haven't. “Listen!
“I'm young and I don't plan on being a slave to wages all my life. “You know the maximum sentence for this kind of crime, Marshal?"
"Of course," responded Paxton, "20 years."
"That's right," continued Hammond. "I'll probably do only eighteen, with time off for good behavior.
“I'll be making $2,500 a year all the time I'm in prison.
“That's a whole lot more than I'm making now."
Marshal Paxton stared incredulously as Hammond concluded: "Oh, don't worry Marshal, I'm not crazy.
“I'm just willing to give 20 years of my life for $50,000.
“It'll legally be mine when I finish serving my time.
“You ready to take me in now?"
Paxton obliged the Wells Fargo thief and placed him under arrest.
John Hammond was tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary. Finally, Hammond's prison time was up.
The Indian Territory had been admitted to statehood and became Oklahoma.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad had double-tracked long stretches of its right-of-way.
And the population of the Territory had more than quadrupled.
But none of this was of interest to John Hammond.
As he strolled from behind bars in December 1909, a guard yelled: "Hey! Hammond!
“The warden told me to give you this here letter."
"Thanks," responded Hammond.
He stuck the envelope in his coat pocket and climbed aboard the train heading for Caddo.
Comfortably settled in his seat, he opened the letter and read:
“Dear Mr. Hammond:
“This is to inform you that when the M.K. & T. double-tracked its railroad line from Parsons, Kansas, to Denison, Texas, laborers running the track through Caddo dug up the trunk containing the $50,000 in gold where you had hidden it about 50 feet in back of the railroad station.
“Very truly yours
“WELLS FARGO COMPANY”
There are true stories about obscure unsolved murders and robberies.
There are true stories about other bizarre crime capers that were solved. Learn, for example, about the millionaire murderer who was to be married and hanged on the same day. Just minutes from the gallows, he escaped by brazenly committing the "perfect crime."
You can read about this in Chapter 4, He Beat the Hangman With a Perfect Crime.
Read about the strange and fantastic chain of events surrounding a crime that stunned the world -- the theft of the Mona Lisa.
It’s all covered in Chapter 6, The Art Theft That Shocked the World.
Businesses failed and banks closed, when the queen of society swindlers career of blackmail and fraud was exposed.
The true tale can be found in Chapter 5, The Undisputed Queen of Society Swindlers.
The Skyscraper Burglar – Best In the Business covered in Chapter 9 stole millions of dollars in his fantastic crime career, but a petty theft proved to be his demise.
Read about the largest, fastest, most perfectly planned and executed holdup in the history of crime. It’s to be foundin Chapter 7, The Perfect Armored Truck Robbery.
More than 26,000 fortune hunters became involved in an epic of perjury, forgery, stolen records and invented family skeletons in the phenomenal scramble for the Garrett fortune.
This is covered in Chapter 11, The Only Good Heir is a Dead Heir.
Here also is the amazing story of a get-rich-quick artist who defrauded thousands and raked in more than $20-million in eight months. Read about this character in Chapter 8, Carlo Ponzi’s Incredible Jackpot.
But enough of this.
Let's start out with a shocking horror tale, still clouded in mystery, of a cold-blooded killer.
This heartless woman mercilessly butchered an astounding number of her lonely hearts paramours.
You'll find it all in Chapter 2, "The Despicable Lonely Hearts Mass-Murderer."
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940014664103 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Freedom & Liberty Foundation Press |
| Publication date: | 06/29/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 356 |
| File size: | 121 KB |
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