The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 20, May 15, 2005, Article 17

BILKED BANKER TWISTS THUMBS

The following story from the Daily Herald of central Utah
has only a tenuous numismatic connection, E-Sylum readers
love history and a good tale of treachery, so here are a few
excerpts:

"On the morning of April 21, 1891, Nephi banker Charles C.
Whitmore put up $6,000 as security for a share in a Mexican
gold mine. He also promised to sell two gold ingots produced
by that mine to the U.S. Mint. Whitmore received a severe
shock later that day. He learned the ingots were really copper,
and the people who had taken his money had left town.

People from all over the territory wondered how the flimflammers
had duped the wealthy banker. They reached a consensus of
opinion -- sometime before the jeweler tested the metal, the
swindler switched, by slight of hand, the packet carrying the
copper filings with one containing gold.

Hell hath no fury to match that of a bilked banker. With frenetic
fortitude, Whitmore pursued the men who had bamboozled him.
He promised Provo lawmen a liberal reward if they captured
the mysterious Mexican and his two cronies."

"Early on the morning of April 22 while the exciting news of the
gold brick scam was still spreading through Utah, Rio Grande
Western Agent D.S. Taggart saw the same red-nosed gambler
who had come into town the previous day. The man appeared
to come to the train from a saloon on the south side of the
tracks, and he boarded the late night train bound for Salt Lake
City from the south side. Most passengers boarded from the
north."

"Whitmore claimed he recognized the Mexican and notified the
train's conductor that the man they wanted was on board. Then
he pointed the man out to Hill and ordered the officer to make
the arrest."

"Provo's Enquirer wrote that the jailer put the suspect in a cell
"at an hour when graveyards are said to yawn," and admitted
Hill and Whitmore before going about his early morning business.
The Salt Lake Tribune printed a sensational article describing its
version of what happened after the jailer left.

The newspaper claimed Whitmore was worked up to a frenzy
by "alcoholic liquifacations" and was determined to wring a
confession out of the suspect whose real name was found to be
William Leonard. According to an inmate in a nearby cell,
Whitmore swore at the man he interrogated and repeatedly
yelled, "You have got to confess!"

When this method brought no admission of guilt, Whitmore
resorted to the "Siberian torture." He pulled out a rawhide
thong and a metal bolt. The banker turned master of the
Spanish Inquisition wrapped the thong around Leonard's
thumbs and used the bolt to twist the rawhide tighter and
tighter until the prisoner screamed and yelled, "Stop it!
Stop it!"

The Tribune claimed the jailbird didn't sing "until the blood
bursted from under the nails." Leonard confessed to the
crime, but he refused to say what he had done with his share
of the money until Whitmore produced the leather thong and
bolt once more.

Just seeing the instruments of torture induced Leonard to reveal
that he had sewn the money in the lining of his coat. Whereupon
Whitmore ripped loose the lining and removed seven $100 bills.
The jailer, who had heard yelling and screaming, returned at that
point and compelled Whitmore to leave the cell. "

To read the full story, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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