The Laramie Republican

HOUGHTON'S BAD BREAK

HE HAS GIVEN UP TO THE OFFICERS OF THE LAW FULL INFORMATION.

He Was Suspected From the First and the Officers Have Been Working on Him With Considerable Tact--The Painted Beauties in the West End Got Some of the Money.

Cheyenne, Wyo., Oct. 30.--(Special to The Republican.)--Walter R. Houghton this morning turned over to United States Marshal McDermott and Inspector Frederick $14,700 of the $15,000 stolen from the mails by him on September 30. He also gave up a package of jewelry. The plunder had been hidden in his father's barn and chicken coop. Houghton says he cut open the pouch between Laramie and Rawlins and burned 21 packages of small value and the pouch. Yesterday The Republican published the news of the confession of young Houghton, the mail clerk. The Cheyenne Sun-Leader gives additional details, as follows: Today Walter Houghton, a well-known mail clerk and Cheyenne boy, confessed that he stole the pouch which it will be remembered, was lost between Chicago and San Francisco, and which contained $14,500. He says he has the money, but will not give it up. To the United States inspectors and especially A. P. Frederick is the credit of Houghton's confession due. This gentleman was seen by a reporter and asked for a statement, and said: We have suspected Houghton nearly from the beginning. In fact, it was almost a certainty that he had the pouch and we knew it. We have been working on him for some days and today got him so cornered that he confessed. He says he has got the money, but will not give it up. He made his confession to Judge Clark and myself. We have Houghton under arrest and are working on him now to get him to give up the money, which he will no doubt be induced to do. When asked how the case was worked up the inspector said That, of course, is our business. It is hard to deceive the government and never has this been successfully done. We knew from the start who the guilty party was, but we needed, of course, absolute information. An insurance company which had insured the safe arrival of the package, gave up the search a few days ago and decided to pay the amount of the loss. The investigation, however, was continued by hundreds of detectives, who, looking for reputation and reward, made every effort to discover clues. Two of these detectives got on the right track and as above indicated were successful. Walter Houghton has resided in Cheyenne nearly all his life. He is known by nearly every citizen and was always regarded as honest, though of late has betrayed vicious tendencies and it is said the charms of women and the attraction of the "little ball which usually rolls in the wrong hole" that made him reckless, and going from one extreme to another he has gradually become blinded to truth and honesty. Walter Houghton inherits none but good tendencies and his disgraceful termination is due to nothing but his mode of living and his development of sensual desires and his attraction to demoralizing pastimes. He was detected by the means of $300 in marked bills which he had spent with the painted beauties of the West End.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

The Cheyenne Tribune of this morning gives the following additional details of the arrest of Houghton: Houghton was immediately arrested by United States Marshal McDermott and taken before United States Commissioner Fisher, where he waived examination, and was bound over to the grand jury, which meets on November 9, and the amount of his bond fixed at $15,000. Houghton could not furnish bail and he was taken away to jail. The officers at once armed themselves with a search warrant and repaired to the home of young Houghton, where a careful search will be made for the hidden treasure. From Inspector Fredericks the Tribune reporter obtained the following story of how the valuable pouch was stolen: The pouch containing $15,000 left Chicago on the morning of September 29th and was placed in charge of Clerk Phoney. It came over the Chicago Burlington and Quincy road to Council Bluffs, arriving there at 2:30 p.m. Clerk Phoney transferred the pouch to Clerk Brill, who runs between the Bluffs and Cheyenne, and received his receipt for the same. Clerk Brill, instead of copying the numbers from the packages in the pouch in making out his receipt for Clerk Houghton to sign when the pouch was transferred here, he copied them from a duplicate of the receipt which he had signed to Clerk Phoney at Council Bluffs, and in so doing omitted to enter the number of the package containing the $15,000. When Houghton checked up his run he at once discovered he was short the valuable package. The large sum was very tempting and Houghton, evidently thinking he would never be detected, stole the package thereby committing the crime which is punishable by a term of 15 years in the penitentiary. Houghton was seen by the reporter a short time after he made his confession and he looked and acted as though his crime was of little consequence, the air being that of one who felt that he had done something great.