JOSEPH COLON

Alias: JOHNSON, JOSEPH ROGERS

Specialties: HOUSE BURGLAR, PICKPOCKET, SLEEPING-CAR WORKER, SNEAK

No: 178 Last Displayed: 6/7/2021

Description:

Thirty-nine years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 138 pounds. Brown hair; brown eyes, nose flat and turns up at the end, sandy complexion; sandy mustache or beard, when grown. Has scar on side of head; mole on the left cheek. A woman's head on right fore-arm, and a star on the right hand in India ink.

Record:

JOE COLON is a very clever sneak thief and house man. He may be found around boat regattas, fairs, etc., and sometimes works with a woman. Of late he has been doing considerable house work. He travels all over and has been quite successful, as he drops into a town or city, does his work. and takes the next train out of it. Colon first made the acquaintance of the New York police on October 23, 1877, when he was arrested at the Grand Central Railroad depot, on the arrival of a Boston train, for having in his possession a vest, watch and chain belonging to Elliot Sanford, a broker, in New York, which he had stolen from a sleeping-car. Mr. Sanford, after getting his property back, refused to go to court, and Colon was discharged, after his picture was taken for the Rogues' Gallery. Colon was arrested at Troy, N. Y., on August 20, 1884, under the name of Joseph Rogers, for the larceny of a gold watch and chain, the property of George L. French, from a locker in the Laureate Club boat-house during a regatta. He was convicted under Section 508 of the New York Penal Code, and sentenced to one year in the Albany, N. Y., penitentiary, and fined $500, on Saturday, August 30, 1884. He was, however, discharged before his time expired. He was arrested again in Boston, Mass., on November 11, 1885. Tools for doing house work, consisting of a palet-knife for opening windows, a screwdriver, soft black hat, rubber shoes, and a one-inch wood-chisel for opening drawers, etc., were found in a satchel he was carrying. His picture was taken, and he was discharged, as no complaint could be obtained against him. Colon's picture is a good one, taken on November 11, 1885.