She gave him a job; now he's in jail

Longtime Republican activist Polly Logan thought she was hiring a clean-cut young man who needed a job and a role model when he became her gardener and handyman.

Logan was generous to Danny M. Adams, providing him lodging on her Cohasset property, lessons in table manners, and even a shot at a town political post. The warnings from her children and her lawyer about Adams's checkered past went unheeded.

''He looked like a young kid that might have come from the Midwest without much breeding, a peasant," said Logan, now 80. ''I was just looking for a gardener, so I wasn't looking for a scholar."

But the man whom Logan once trusted to cash checks for her was sitting in an Ohio jail yesterday, charged in the brutal robbery three summers ago that left Logan bound and gagged in her sweltering home for days.

''Boy, I was a patsy," Logan said.

Police say that after the robbery Adams traded nearly $1 million in loot for crack cocaine. A Roxbury man indicted last month told authorities he gave Adams the drugs for Logan's jewelry.

Adams's arrest in Columbus, Ohio, where he was working at the state fair, came as a relief and a blow to Logan, who said she followed her mother's example of trying to help others who might better themselves.

''My children say that I just can't resist in trying to improve people," she said. ''I've always worked with young Republicans. I've always tried to get candidates. Grooming a candidate is just like grooming someone who comes from an unfortunate background."

Logan always suspected Adams, who had helped her move silver plateware before the robbery. Only he would have known where to find the silver, which was stolen in the robbery, she told authorities.

Logan, whose husband's uncle is the namesake for Logan International Airport, recalled the harrowing night when men entered her bedroom while she was watching an episode of ''Law & Order." The men ordered her to put her face in a pillow, so she didn't see the men's faces, while they bound her with duct tape. They said they would not hurt her; they were just looking for money.

She didn't have cash, but she offered to write the robbers a check. ''I thought, 'My god, they'll kill me if I don't have any money.' "

They took the diamond rings off her fingers, yanked a pendant from around her neck, and left her in the heat for days, until she was discovered there, severely dehydrated and unable to speak.

Logan cannot help thinking of all she did for Adams. She wrote him a recommendation for an affordable apartment through the Cohasset community center, where she had been director. She paid for his car insurance, got him a $7-an-hour job on Election Day, and even helped him in a successful run for Republican Town Committee. She recalled how proud he was to be the first in his family on a ballot.

She tried to mold him in other ways, correcting his grammar, teaching him how to use a soup spoon at a formal dinner, and to put a napkin on his lap.

''Here is a young kid that has never been exposed to gracious living, and I didn't want him to be embarrassed," she said.

Logan hoped Adams might join the National Guard and get an education. She introduced him to her friends from prominent social circles and constantly gave him books to read.

The trouble began in late 2001, when Adams was arrested for beating a man with a golf club. Logan helped him get out of trouble then, but her lawyer found that he had a criminal record in Missouri and warned her he could be dangerous. He also might be using drugs, the lawyer warned to no avail.

After the robbery, Logan shared her suspicions of her employee with police. But they said they did not have enough evidence for an arrest. At her son's urging, Logan took out a restraining order against Adams. Police spoke with Adams, and he moved to Florida.

Logan said she never heard from Adams again. Then in July, Cohasset police had enough evidence to arrest Kevin Gunter, 22, of Roxbury, who is under indictment for receiving stolen property. Next came Adams, who was arrested Sunday in Ohio, said Cohasset Detective Garret Hunt. Authorities are making arrangements to bring Adams to Massachusetts for prosecution.

Looking back, Logan said she feels more disappointed in herself than betrayed by Adams.

''When you've invested that much time and energy in trying to help people along, it's like you're training a dog," she said. ''You don't think of them failing you; you think that you've failed them. And that's a disappointment.

''My son said, 'You can't change the world.' "