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Notable Erie Detective Recovers a Farmer’s Wagon and More
In 1867 Erie detective John W Murray tracks a sneak thief gang led by George Knapp, uncovering a buried wagon wheel, a cache of shoes and other plunder in a meat of safes and barns. Knapp and wife are jailed, then Knapp escapes asylum and resumes crime until captured. Murray later nets women burglars Julia Hall and Maggie Carroll, and ties a broad counterfeiting network to a wider system of plate makers, shovers, and distributors. Several suspects including Tom Hale are exposed. Hale’s overcoat yields counterfeit bills and a failed secret service exposure. The piece ends noting Hale’s 16 year sentence and broader federal pursuit of counterfeiters.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
John Wilson Murray
Uncle Sam
United States Secret Service
Thomas Crawley
Erie
Tme
Murray
New
Tolworthy
Crawley
Snyder
George Knapp
Knapp
Democrat
Alleghany
Jimmy
Skinner
Mr. Bliss
Julia Hall
Maggie Carroll
Alleghany Penitentiary
Mary Ann
Landers
Tom Hale
New York
Morton House
Mr. Sales
John Anthony
Tom
Hale
Poke” Sales
United States
Pittsburg
Washington
Secret Service Department
Wood
Secret Service
Col. Whiteley
Whiteley
Philadelphia
W. G. Chapman
Great Britain