Con man "Big Ed" Burns arrested in Cincinnati 1891

"BIG ED" BURNS
The Wichita daily Eagle
February 14, 1891

(Click image to enlarge)

trong Arm Workers in Trouble.

"Big Ed" Burns

      Confidence man "Big Ed" Burns has a history all his own, but is just a shadow to most historians. Most know him as Ed Byrnes(sic), leader of the Top and Bottom Gang in Benson, Arizona. Burns was one of the men who warned Wyatt Earp that the "cow-boys" were out for blood, just before the gunfight behind the OK Corral. Later, Burns joined bad man "Soapy" Smith in Denver and Creede, Colorado, and followed Soapy north to Skagway, Alaska in 1898.

     Today's post centers around an 1891 newspaper clipping regarding the arrest of Burns in Cincinnati, Ohio. Of interest is the artist rendition of Burns, which is the only known likeness I have ever seen. Below the newspaper clipping I transcribed the text for ease of reading.  

Copy of original article
(transcribed below)
The Wichita daily Eagle
February 14, 1891

(Click image to enlarge)

The Wichita daily Eagle

(Wichita, Kansas)

February 14, 1891

“Strong Arm Workers” in Trouble.

      Three men were arrested at Newport, Ky., recently who have turned out to be the ringleaders of a gang of sneak thieves who have committed a number of bold depredations in the neighborhood of Cincinnati. They were Frank Hayes, alias Lang; Frank Thompson, alias McCarthy, and James Williams. Upon investigation it was found that Hayes is none other than the notorious Big Ed Burns, of Chicago, whose specialty has been “strong arm work.” He recently served a term in the Stillwater penitentiary for robbing a room at the Fischer house, Minneapolis. Subsequently he was arrested on suspicion at Chicago and given time to leave town. He then visited Cincinnati, and in conjunction with Thompson and Williams, committed a series of robberies of the “strong arm” type, which means the spoliation of the victims by main strength. Williams was recently a drug clerk, and new to the business. He made a full confession, and the whole gang will soon be under lock and key.

"Big Ed" Burns
Nov 13. 2009
Feb 10, 2010
May 20, 2010
Apr 7, 2011

"Big Ed" Burns: pages 43, 77-79, 101-02, 120, 176, 210, 405, 487, 489, 571.

"Gambling in itself is bad enough even when the game is square (honest); but your professional gambler never plays the game that way. He is an expert with cards. His seemingly innocent shuffle of the pack gives him a full knowledge of where every card is located. He deals you a hand good enough to induce you to make dangerously high bets, but not high enough to win. He lures his victim by small winnings to destruction in the end. He uses cards so cleverly marked on the back that he can read the values of your hand as well as if he were looking over your shoulder, and governs his play accordingly."

—Harry Houdini, The Right Way to Do Wrong, 1906.

APRIL 4

1812: The territory of Orleans becomes the 18th state and will be known as Louisiana.

1818: The U.S. flag was declared to have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars and that a new star would be added for each new state.

1841: President William Harrison dies of pneumonia at the age of 68. He is the first president to die in office.

1848: Thomas Douglas is the first San Francisco public teacher.

1850: The city of Los Angeles is incorporated.

1862: The Civil War Battle of Yorktown begins as Union General George B. McClellan closes in on Richmond, Virginia.

1873: Bad man John Wesley Hardin shoots and kills Deputy John B. Morgan in a saloon at Cuero, Texas.

1878: Dick Brewer, ranch foreman of John Tunstall's horse ranch, is shot dead by Jesse “Buckshot Roberts” Andrews, at Blazer's Mill, New Mexico Territory.

1878: Outlaw Sam Bass and his gang rob the Texas and Pacific railroad at the Eagle Ford, Texas station, getting away with about $233.95. Soapy Smith later witnessed the shooting death of Sam Bass in Round Rock, Texas.

1887: Susanna M. Salter is elected as the first female mayor in the US, of Argonia, Kansas.

1895: William "Tulsa Jack" Blake of the Doolin-Dalton Gang is killed by Deputy Marshal Will Banks in a gun battle in Major County, Oklahoma. Blake took part in numerous bank robberies and train robberies, including the battle with US Marshals in Ingalls, Oklahoma in 1893.

1930: Denver, Colorado policeman Sam Howe dies. He had been with the Denver police for 48-years, starting in 1873. His name and a monetary figure grace the pages of one of bad man “Soapy” Smith’s notebooks.