Professional Criminals of America by Thomas Byrnes

Author:Thomas Byrnes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2019-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

132

KATE ARMSTRONG, alias MARY ANN DOWD,

alias DILLON, alias SANDERS.

PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER.

———

DESCRIPTION.

Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Cook. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 2½ inches. Weight, 200 pounds. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, florid complexion. Wears gold eye-glasses. Has a large space between upper front teeth. Vaccination mark on left arm.

RECORD.

MARY ANN DOWD (right name Catharine Armstrong) is a very clever woman. She was arrested in the spring of 1876, during Moody and Sankey’s revivals, in Madison Square Garden, in New York City, for picking a lady’s pocket, and sent to Sing Sing for two years.

She was arrested again in Providence, R. I., on May 14, 1878, and sentenced to two years in State prison in June of the same year, for picking a woman’s pocket on the street.

After her time expired in Providence she went West, and visited Chicago (111.) and St. Louis. Mrs. Dowd generally works alone, and confines herself principally to opening hand-bags, or stealing them. Her operations have been greatly aided by her respectable appearance and her perfect self-control.

She was arrested in New York City on October 20, 1884, charged with the larceny of a diamond, sapphire and pearl bar-pin, valued at $250, from the jewelry store of Tiffany & Co., New York, on July 7, 1884. The pin was found on her person, with the diamond removed and a ruby set in its place. For this she was tried by a jury, convicted, and sentenced to five years in State prison. She obtained a new trial in this case, which resulted in her discharge by Judge Cowing, on December 18, 1884.

She was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., at Wannemaker’s grand depot, in company of Harry Busby (135), on November 3, 1885, for picking pockets. Busby was discharged and Mary Ann was convicted, and sentenced to two years and six months in the Eastern Penitentiary on November 11, 1885.

Her sentence will expire on September 11, 1887.

Mrs. Armstrong’s, or Dowd’s, picture is a good one, taken in November, 1885.

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