Historical perspective: The capture of notorious safecracker Frank Bruce
Rob Robbins
Historical perspective: The capture of notorious safecracker Frank Bruce
Mike McCormick Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — Sgt.
Thomas Welch of the Terre Haute police nurtured a reputation for bravery and
trustworthiness during his long career.
As he neared retirement in 1911,
“Old Tom,” as he was called, was placed in charge of the patrol barn and drove a
patrol wagon during the day.
A Terre Haute Tribune reporter cornered
Welch one day and asked him about “his toughest case.”
The officer spent
several minutes searching for an answer. Before speaking, he inserted his thumb
and forefinger into a new package of Mailpouch and took a mammoth
chew.
“Well, I don’t know, hardly,” he began. “I have been mixed up in a
lot of them and always had pretty good luck. But I believe the most important
case I was ever mixed up with was the capture of the notorious Bruce gang in
1893.
“It was Saturday night, June 24, 1893, I believe, that the Buckeye
Cash Store at Sixth and Wabash was entered, its safe blown and about $600 in
cash taken.
“It was a neat job, right in the very heart of the city. The
yeggmen got away without leaving a single track. Police chief Con Meagher
dispatched patrolman ‘Peggy’ Smith to check out hotels and boarding houses on
the north side of the city for any strangers who might be suspects while I did
the same on the south side.
“If we got any leads, Sgt. McCrea and Charlie
Hyland would do a follow-up investigation.
“By accident, we got a tip
that there was a mysterious couple stopping at a rooming house on S. Fifth St.
and that they were being visited by another mysterious couple which had stopped
at a hotel on N. Ninth St.
“Early the following morning we received a tip
that the couple on S. Fifth St. was preparing to leave and that a suspicious
conference was taking place in the room they were occupying. Chief Meagher, Sgt.
McCrea, patrolman Kotsch and myself secreted ourselves in the rooming house to
await their departure. We did not have to wait long.
“The man was
carrying a valise and the woman was carrying a hand satchel. They saw us
approaching them and evidently suspected what was coming.
“As we came up
to them, the man turned quickly and reached for his hip pocket. I made a leap
for him and caught his hand just as he was lifting it from his pocket with a
revolver.
“During this time, the other three officers were having a
terrible struggle with the woman, who was fighting like a tigress to get to her
pistol from her satchel.
“We finally overpowered the pair and got them to
the police station where we learned that the man was none other than the daring
Frank Bruce, alias Mings, who had terrorized the State of Missouri with his
daring robberies.
“During our interrogation, neither prisoner was
cooperative. Meanwhile, patrolman Smith arrested “Red” O’Brien, alias John Cane,
a known member of one of the most notorious gangs of safeblowers ever to infest
Indiana.
“With O’Brien was a woman named Florence Wilkins. The quartet,
it was learned a few days later, had operated in the states of Iowa and Missouri
and had worked with the famous James boys in some of their daring
robberies.
“Little by little, the heads of the various police
departments, by correspondence, gained further information and all four suspects
admitted their identities. Bruce also admitted his participation in the robbery
of the Buckeye Cash Store. Almost all of the money from that robbery was
recovered.
“No evidence could be found to make a solid case against
O’Brien and the Wilkins woman. They were released on their promise to leave the
city.
“Bruce pled guilty and was sentenced to the Jeffersonville
Penitentiary for five years. His wife, who was his partner in crime, was
released on her promise to leave the area. She moved to Louisville, worked in a
‘fashionable resort’ and visited her husband as often as prison rules would
permit.
“A close watch was kept on her to be certain that she did not
smuggle a weapon which might be used to try to escape or to hurt the
guards.
“Frank Bruce had been in prison about two years when he made a
daring attempt to escape by jumping from the top of one of the high prison
walls. When he landed, he was injured. Undaunted, he picked up an armload of
blocks to appear as if he was going home from work.
“When prison officers
realized Bruce was missing they traced him walking along a street on the
outskirts of Jeffersonville. They approached him with caution but quickly
discovered that his broken ankle caused him too much pain to try to get
away.
“Bruce died in prison about a year before he was scheduled to be
released.
“While the four notorious criminals were harbored at the jail
in Terre Haute, an extra watch was kept. In spite of that precaution, they
nearly gained their freedom by sawing a hole in the top of their
cage.
“They would have succeeded had it not been for ‘Kid’ Gerard, a
notorious local crook. Gerard got mad at the gang and ‘tipped their hand’ just
as they were about to remove a piece sawed loose to make their dash for
liberty.
“They had secured the saw from a woman named May Lockhart, a
notorious character and a friend of criminals.
“Charles Dix, a daring
thief and brother of the Lockhart woman, was being held in jail on a charge of
robbery. The sister went to jail often to visit him. During one of those visits
she delivered the saw.
“Lockhart also gave Bruce or O’Brien a weapon and,
when officers walked in on them after learning from Gerard about the plan to
escape, they faced a desperate fight.
“Fortunately, they were at a
disadvantage and soon were overpowered and placed in a very secure cell. They
threatened vengeance against Gerard but did not act upon it.
“I think
that was the most important case I was ever active in.”
~Catherine Pulsifer~
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