Lancaster Daily Intelligencer

SHEENY MIKE COMES NORTH

The Romantic Career of the King of Safe Blowers to Have Its End In a Prison Cell,

Among the passengers arriving in Philadelphia, in one of the sleeping cars on the Southern limited express Saturday afternoon, was a little man, handcuffed and guarded by Detective Robert A. Pinkerton. The little man was on his way to Troy, N. Y. He was Michael Kurtz, alias Sheeny Mike, the king of safe-blowers. He has been in Florida since Christmas, and Detective Pinkerton has been there since New Year's day. Sheeny Mike and Billy Porter are partners, socially and professionally. Right after Billy Porter was acquitted of the murder of Jack Walsh in Shank Draper's saloon, on Sixth avenue, near Thirtieth street, in New York, about two years ago, the jewelry store of E. Marks & Son of Troy was robbed. The safe was blown open on a Sunday night in February, 1884. The safe-blowers got $30,000 worth of diamonds and nearly as much jewelry. Immediately after the robbery Sheeny Mike and Billy Porter sailed for Europe on a White Star steamer, and Sheeny Mike was known to the passengers as Henry C. Appleton, a retired mine operator of San Francisco. Billy Porter, as the retired mine operator's friend, was known as Leslie Langdon, owner of a cattle ranch in San Luis, Cal. They visited Paris and London, and were abroad until last December. During that period a number of daring robberies was committed in the heart of London. Safes were blown open and nobody heard the noise. The detectives were baffled. It is estimated that Sheeny Mike and Billy Porter were worth $100,000 each when they returned to this country last winter. Porter was nabbed in New York, but Sheeny Mike couldn't be found, and Porter wouldn't tell where his partner had gone. Pinkerton found that Sheeny Mike had gone South. After knocking about for a week the detective went to Florida, and spent New Year's day in Jacksonville. A few days later he learned that Sheeny Mike had opened an immense wholesale tobacco establishment in Jacksonville. Pinkerton could hardly believe his eyes, but he came to the conclusion that Sheeny Mike was not going to be simply a prominent merchant of Jacksonville. Pinkerton, in the course of a few days, became a retail merchant from the interior. In that way he got to know all about the place. The burglar was arrested, and the king of the safe-blowers employed the best lawyers in Florida, and they have been fighting the requisition in the courts since Sheeny Mike's arrest. The court finally decided against the safe-blower, and Pinkerton started with his prisoner for Troy.