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 <: ^
 
 Copyright, 1912, by Thomas Furlong,
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS FURLONG 
 
 Late Chief of the Secret Service of the Missouri Pacific Rail- 
 way, known as the Gould System; the Allegheny 
 Valley Railway of Pennsylvania, 
 and first Chief of Police of 
 Oil City, Pa. 
 
 35 REAL DETECTIVE STORIES 
 
 Hitherto unpublished facts connected with some of Mr. Fur- 
 long's greatest cases — Other interesting incidents of his 
 long and strenuous career which really began on 
 September 14, 1862, when he was detailed 
 from his company, (Co. G., 1st Penn- 
 sylvania Rifles, better known 
 as the Pennsylvania B uck- 
 tails) for special 
 service. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 For sale by all reputable newsdealers, or can 
 be obtained by addressing 
 
 C. E. BARNETT, Chemical Building, 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Post Office Box 575 Price, $1.50
 
 TiiOMAS FURLONG,
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HIS book was not published for the purpose of dis- 
 playing any literary ability I may possess, as I 
 
 have never aspired to win fame by the wielding 
 
 of a pen. Within its pages, however, I have attempted, 
 in my own way and in my own manner, to make clear to 
 the reader the inside or hitherto unpublished facts about 
 some of the big cases I have handled during the fifty years 
 I have made the prevention of crime and the tracking and 
 punishment of criminals my profession. How well I have 
 succeeded, I will leave it to the reader to judge. 
 
 I am today, I believe, the oldest detective, in point of 
 continuous service, in this or any other country. During 
 my long career I have handled many important cases, of 
 which the reading public knows nothing about, for the 
 reason that the men, or corporations, by whom I was em- 
 ployed, did not hire me for the purpose of furnishing news- 
 papers with the material with which to amuse or entertain 
 their readers. Within these pages I tell how the work was 
 done, and how the clues were found and put together. On 
 the other hand, many cases referred to in this book have 
 received much newspaper publicity, but in these articles 
 the writers were not permitted to tell all the inside facts — 
 how the work was really accomplished. These facts are 
 made public for the first time. 
 
 In a few instances I have changed, or veiled, the names 
 of the culprits about whom the articles were written. For 
 doing this I do not propose to apologize, however. These 
 men are alive today and are leading upright lives. They 
 
 11 55793
 
 4 PREFACE 
 
 have paid the penalty demanded by the law and society, 
 and I cannot see where it would do any good to again 
 publish their early digressions to the world. I have no 
 disposition to willfully malign any one, and names are 
 only used in cases in which the facts are supported by 
 documents in the archives of the courts of this country, 
 Canada and Mexico, the scenes of my greatest activity. 
 
 In selecting material for this book I have only used 
 cases which were out of the ordinary, or in the unraveling 
 of which some original or unique detective work was 
 done. No attempt has been made to enlarge on the facts 
 at hand. The book is just a simple narration of real de- 
 tective work done on real cases handled by me — no at- 
 tempt having been made to color them as an experienced 
 writer would do, or is done to the work or the deduc- 
 tions of the phantom detectives by the writers of fiction. 
 
 Hoping that the book will serve the purpose for which it 
 is issued I am, 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 THOS. FURLONG.
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE BUSINESS. 
 
 ELEMENTS NECESSARY TO MAKE A GOOD DETECTIVE. 
 
 HONESTY AND TENACITY VALUABLE ASSETS. 
 
 THE PROFESSION HAS ITS PARASITES. 
 
 All professions have their parasites and crooks. Among 
 the lawyers you will find men who will commit a felony 
 for a few paltry dollars to clear a client of a charge of 
 petty larceny — providing he does not think there is a chance 
 of his being caught. 
 
 Among the doctors you will find men (and they have 
 diplomas with larger red seals on them than has the commis- 
 sion of the President of the United States) who make a 
 specialty of committing illegal operations, and doing other 
 things that are not considered either lawful or ethical. 
 
 Among bankers you will find men who every day violate 
 both the laws of the state and the government — high 
 finance, they call it. 
 
 The general public, however, knows and freely admits 
 there are honest, upright, truthful lawyers, doctors and 
 bankers, and highly honor each of these professions. 
 
 But the aforesaid general public is not so charitable to 
 detectives. The pettifogging lawyers and irresponsible 
 penny liners of the press have educated it up to believing 
 that all detectives are thieves, thugs and black guards, 
 just because there are some men in the business who make 
 the peddling of family secrets and the working up of evi- 
 dence in divorce cases a specialty. I could never quite 
 understand why this state of affairs should be true, for I 
 
 5
 
 6 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 know many men of as good moral character and just as 
 honest and upright in the detective business as I have 
 found in any of the other professions. 
 
 Detectives are born, not made — that is the successful 
 ones — just as are the successful lawyers or doctors or 
 mechanics or merchants. Education does not always make 
 a man a success in his chosen profession or calling. 
 Unless he really possesses the peculiar make-up, or fitness, 
 for what he chooses to make his life work, he will never 
 reach the top round of the ladder of fame. Education, 
 however, will help develop these necessary qualities, but 
 that is all. 
 
 In addition to all these qualifications there are others 
 V\hich the detective must possess. 
 
 He must be scrupulously honest at all times, with him- 
 self and with those with whom he has dealings. 
 
 He must be sober, truthful and reliable, and, in addition, 
 at all times and under all circumstances, a gentleman. 
 
 Tenacity and nerve are other valuable assets. A lazy 
 man, or a coward, has no business in the ranks. And he 
 must at all times be firm. 
 
 To my mind, a real detective should possess all the ele- 
 ments within his general make-up, which would be neces- 
 sary to make him a success at any of the leading profes- 
 sions. He should possess the keen perceptive abilities of 
 a trained or successful journalist, be able to read between 
 the lines, as it were, or recognize the value of a clue, as 
 the journalist does the value of a bit of news. He must 
 be well posted on the law, especially that part pertaining 
 to criminals. He must have the foresight and judgment 
 of the successful merchant or tradesman. He must be 
 sympathetic and just to the same degree as is the beloved 
 pastor of a large congregation. And he must be an actor.
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE BUSINESS. 7 
 
 one of the versatile kind of actors, who can play any- 
 kind of a part or assume any character without month's 
 of rehearsing. He should at all times act natural, even 
 while assuming a character, for if he overdoes the part he 
 assumes, it is more than likely to attract unusual attention 
 to him, which a real detective should avoid at all times. 
 
 Remember another thing: All crimes, nine hundred and 
 ninety-nine out of every thousand, have a motive. True, 
 these motives are often veiled and are not discernable a^ a 
 mere glance. You must be a good diagnostician to hand'e 
 these veiled cases — to diagnose them, as it were, as a 
 learned physician diagnoses his case when called to the 
 bedside of a very sick patient — find the cause. When 
 you have found the motive for a crime, the balance of the 
 work is usually easy. 
 
 There is one more phase of the detective business that 
 I want to refer to briefly. Many men believe they were 
 created or born for the express purpose of becoming detect- 
 ors of crime. They believe they have missed their calling 
 — it makes no difference by what means they are making 
 a living now — because they have not been "called" into 
 the detective business and many of them actually put in 
 all their leisure time trying to "catch on" to a job, 
 either in some municipal department of with some private 
 agency. The truth is, not one in ten thousand of these men 
 would "make good" if the opportunity to do so was offered 
 them. 
 
 The chief of a detective agency does not go among these 
 men who are laboring under the delusion that they have 
 been "called," when he wants men to do real detective 
 work. He selects his recruits from among acquaintances 
 in whom he has recognized the talents necessary for the 
 making of good thief-catchers or investigators. These are
 
 8 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 found in all professions and trades. Among the men in 
 my employ can be found, men who are capable of running 
 the mechanical end of almost any kind of business, from 
 a boiler shop to a composing room in a large printing house, 
 or who could easily find, because of their qualifications, a 
 good job in any large commercial or mercantile establish- 
 ment. 
 
 In conclusion, I will add that after the natural qualifica- 
 tions for a good detective have developed themselves, it 
 takes more hard work and study to reach the pinnacle of 
 fame than other professions require, and the remuneration 
 is a great deal less, taking into consideration the hazardous- 
 ness of the business.
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 
 
 TRUE STATEMENT AS TO HOW THE EVIDENCE WHICH HUNG 
 MAXWELL WAS OBTAINED PUBLISHED FOR THE 
 FIRST TIME, 
 
 The Preller murder occurred in the summer of 1885, in 
 one of the rooms of the Southern Hotel, St. Louis, Mo. 
 Clarence Preller was a young Englishman, as was also his 
 slayer, Hugh M. Brookes. The discovery of the body, the 
 apprehension .of the murderer, his trial and execution, at- 
 tracted the attention of the civilized world. The true story 
 of the conviction of the perpetrator of this foul crime 
 has never before been published. 
 
 Hugh M- Brookes was a native of Hyde Park, a suburb of 
 London, England. His father and mother were respect- 
 able people, and school teachers by professions. The young 
 man was about twenty-five or six years of age when he 
 committed this crime. He had never done anything but go 
 to school, consequently was well educated. The last school 
 he attended was a law school. He ran away from this 
 institution, after stealing a lot of property that belonged 
 to fellow students. The plunder he secured consisted 
 mostly of ornaments and bric-a-brac, which he pawned at 
 Liverpool, England, to secure enough money with which 
 to purchase a first-class ticket to Boston, Mass. After 
 boarding the vessel he met and formed the acquaintance of 
 Clarence Preller. 
 
 Preller was a trusted employee of a large export estab- 
 lishment of London. His duties required him to travel 
 
 9
 
 10 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 nearly all over the world, or, at least, to visit the principal 
 cities of the world. He was a young man, being about 
 thirty years of age, and finding Brookes, a fellow-country- 
 man, an agreeable companion, took very kindly to him. 
 Brookes represented himself as being a titled nobleman, 
 who had just finished his course at college, and was making 
 a pleasure tour of America. He called himself Maxwell. 
 
 Hugh M. Brookes, Alias Maxwell 
 
 The young Englishman hung for murdering Arthur Preller in the 
 Southern Hotel. 
 
 During the voyage from Liverpool to Boston, Preller 
 told Maxwell, as I will call him hereafter, that after he 
 had attended to a matter of business for his firm at Boston 
 he had to go to Toronto, Canada, where he would be 
 detained but a day or two. Then he woiild leave Toronto 
 for St. Louis, Missouri, where he also had some business 
 to do for his firm, which would require but a short time,
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 11 
 
 and that from there he would go through to San Francisco, 
 California, and sail from there on the first steamship to 
 Auckland, New Zealand. Maxwell told him that he be- 
 lieved he would go from Boston to St. Louis, where he 
 (Maxwell) would await the arrival of Preller from Toronto, 
 then accompany him to Auckland just for the trip. This 
 proposition pleased Preller. 
 
 They arrived safely in Boston, where they remained two 
 or three days together, and where Maxwell learned that 
 Preller had in his possession seven one hundred dollar 
 bills. After Preller had finished his business in Boston 
 they settled their bills at the Adams Plouse, where they 
 had stopped, went to the depot together and separated, 
 Preller going to Toronto and Maxwell to St. Louis. They 
 had agreed that Maxwell was to stop at the Southern 
 Hotel in St. Louis, there to await Preller. Maxwell arrived 
 at that hotel and engaged a room, where Preller joined 
 him a couple of days later. I think it was Saturday when 
 he arrived, and they occupied the same apartments. 
 
 On the following Sunday, after they had eaten their 
 dinner and returned to their room, Preller complained of 
 suffering from stomach trouble. Maxwell claimed to have 
 some knowledge of medicine, and administered an over- 
 dose of morphia, hyperderminally. A short time after ad- 
 ministering the drug, and when he saw that Preller was 
 beginning to breathe his last, he poured more than half the 
 contents of a four ounce bottle of chloroform into Preller's 
 almost lifeless lips. When Preller was dead, Maxwell 
 stripped the body and placed a suit of his own underwear 
 on him. Maxwell was small in stature, being only about 
 five feet five inches in height, while Preller was much 
 larger and about six feet tall. Maxwell's clothing was 
 marked with the name of Hugh M. Brookes, and they were
 
 12 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 entirely too small for the body of Preller. 
 
 In removing the underwear Maxwell used a candle 
 snuffer, which is very much like a pair of scissors, only the 
 cutting surface had a half-circle. He cut the undergarments 
 the full length of the limbs so that he could easily strip 
 them off. Then he managed to pull his own garmicnts on 
 the body. He emptied out the trunk belonging to Preller, 
 and pressed the body into it. He had to almost double 
 it into a circle to get it into the trunk, but be succeeded. 
 Then strapping and locking the trunk, he put his own, 
 as well as Preller's effects into his own trunk, and retired 
 for the night. 
 
 The next morning, after breakfast, he called at the 
 cashier's office, settled his bill, and stated to the clerk that 
 his friend Preller had been obliged to make a short run out 
 of town, and would be back to the hotel in two or three 
 days, and desired that the room be held for him, as his 
 trunk and effects would remain there until he called for 
 them. Maxwell explained that he had to leave that morn- 
 ing and expected his friend Preller to join him later. 
 
 He instructed the head porter to bring his large trunk 
 down into the corridor. The one he had ordered brought 
 down contained the dead body, but, to his consternation, 
 the porter brought down the one in which his and Preller's 
 effects had been packed. He became very much alarmed, 
 and had his trunk taken to Union Station and checked to 
 San Francisco, buying a ticket for that place. He departed 
 over the Frisco Road, and arrived in San Francisco, where 
 he remained one night, and the following day bought a 
 ticket for Auckland, New Zealand, and sailed that afternoon. 
 
 The weather was quite warm in St. Louis, and after a 
 few days decomposition set in upon the corpse in the trunk. 
 The odor from the room attracted the attention of the
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 13 
 
 servants. They reported to the office, the room was en- 
 tered and the body found. The police were notified at 
 once. A good description of Maxwell was furnished by 
 the hotel people, and telegrams were sent in all directions, 
 giving this description, and requesting Maxwell's arrest. 
 
 Capt. Leas, Chief of Police of San Francisco, received 
 one of these telegrams, started his detectives to investi- 
 gate, and succeeded in learning that the murderer had 
 sailed for Auckland some three or four days before he had 
 received the telegraphic description of him from St, Louis. 
 Whereupon Chief Leas cabled the proper authorities of 
 Auckland a full. description of Maxwell, and even the num- 
 ber of the stateroom he occupied on the ship. Of course, 
 Capt. Leas' telegram reached Auckland several days be- 
 fore the ship arrived. 
 
 When the ship arrived at Auckland, the police sent out 
 two of their detectives with the pilot, who was to guide 
 the steamer on which Maxwell had taken passage into port. 
 They arrested him as soon as they boarded the ship, and 
 when the vessel landed immediately notified the St. Louis 
 authorities, in accordance with Capt. Leas' instructions to 
 them. After obtaining proper extradition papers, the Chief 
 of Police of St. Louis sent two of his detectives to Auckland 
 to bring Maxwell back to St. Louis. They went to Auck- 
 land by way of San Francisco, found Maxwell in jail there 
 and brought him back to St. Louis. It was a long and 
 expensive trip, and cost the city of St. Louis a great deal 
 of money. 
 
 On arriving in St. Louis the prisoner was locked up with- 
 out bail, on the charge of murdering Preller. He im- 
 mediately employed two lawyers to defend him. After 
 having consulted with his lawyers, Maxwell became jubi- 
 lant — so much so that he became obnoxious to his fellow
 
 14 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 prisoners. He was naturally inclined to be overbearing, 
 and seemed to hold himself aloof from the other prisoners. 
 He was rather inclined to braggadocia, and attracted a 
 lot of attention. The daily papers devoted a great deal of 
 space to Tiim, which he seemed to enjoy immensely. In 
 fact, the notoriety appeared to be very pleasing to him. 
 
 Marshall F. McDonald 
 The Famous Criminal Lawj'er who prosecuted Brookes, alias Maxwell 
 
 A few days after he had been lodged in jail in St. Louis, 
 Ashley C. Clover, Circuit Attorney of St. Louis, in company 
 with Marshall F. McDonald, Assistant Circuit Attorney, 
 drove out to my residence one night. I was then Chief
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 15 
 
 Special Agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, 
 and both Messrs. Clover and McDonald were personal 
 friends of mine. 
 
 Mr. Clover stated that the object of their visit was in 
 reference to the Maxwell case. He went on to state that 
 although the arrest and returning of Maxwell from Auck- 
 land to St. Louis had cost the city of St. Louis a great 
 deal of money, and the case had become one of interna- 
 tional importance, yet he did not believe that the officers 
 of the St. Louis police department had made any efforts to 
 get at the real facts in the case. So far they had not found 
 enough evidence to procure a conviction, in case the defend- 
 ant went on the stand and testified that the giving of too 
 much chloroform to Preller was an accident. Mr. Clover 
 said that he wanted the real facts in the case. "For," he 
 said, "while there is scarcely any doubt that Maxwell caused 
 the death of Preller by an over-dose of chloroform, yet 
 he may have done it innocently, and if such is the case, 
 under our laws, he could not be convicted of the murder, and 
 ought not to be, in my opinion. But, on the contrary, if 
 he dosed him purposely and felonously with forethought 
 and malice, he ought to be convicted. H he did it inno- 
 cently, and I could be assured of that, I would be pleased 
 to ask the jury to acquit him, but, as I said before, if he 
 is guilty it would be my duty as circuit attorney to insist 
 on his conviction. And now, Tom, I want you to get the 
 facts in this case for me." 
 
 To which I replied; "Mr. Clover, I really do not know 
 anything about this case, except what I have read in the 
 newspapers, and, of course, you know as well as I do 
 that a man cannot base much of an opinion on a case of 
 this kind on newspaper accounts, and, therefore, I wish you
 
 16 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 would give me a little time to think the matter over. I 
 fully approve of the sentiments that you have expressed 
 in connection with the case, and will be glad, indeed, to 
 do all in my power to assist you." 
 
 Both gentlemen said they wished that I would take the 
 matter under advisement until the following evening at 
 eight o'clock, at which time they would again call at my 
 house to talk the matter over with me. 
 
 The following evening at the appointed time they called 
 and were both apparently anxious to learn what I thought 
 I could do in the way of obtaining the facts pertaining to 
 the case. 
 
 After the usual greeting, and when both had been seated. 
 I said, "Gentlemen, I have been thinking about the case in 
 question, and have become satisfied that there were but 
 two people who knew the whole facts connected with the 
 case, and the facts that you now desire to know. One of 
 these persons is now in jail, and the other is dead. In my 
 opinion Maxwell is the only living person who knows the 
 facts, and, therefore, he is the only person from whom 
 these facts can be obtained. I believe I can get those facts 
 from him, but I want you gentlemen to understand that 
 I am in the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Com- 
 pany, and, of course, they are paying me for all my time, 
 but if I were not in their employ I could not do this myself 
 on account of my being so well known. For that reason 
 it would be necessary for me to select a competent opera- 
 tive to do this work under my instructions. I shall be 
 glad to do this, or anything else that I can do to assist 
 you in unraveling this case, with the vmderstanding that 
 I am not to receive any compensation for what I may do 
 myself, but I shall expect 3'ou gentlemen to pay the
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 17 
 
 operative that I may use in this work the same aiiKJunt of 
 salary that we are paying him, and his actual exi)enses. 
 As I said before, I will do all that I can, but will neither 
 expect nor receive any remuneration for my services." 
 
 "Tom," replied Mr. Clover, "There is no fund provided 
 l.-»y the city for the employment of outside talent for such 
 work as this in question, but I expect to pay the expense 
 out of my OAvn pocket, and I shall insist on paying you 
 for your services in connection with this matter." 
 
 I answered, "I will receive nothing for any work that I 
 may do in the matter." 
 
 At this point in the conversation Mr, McDonald, who 
 had been sitting quietly, listening to Mr. Clover and my- 
 self, said, "Tom, how do you expect to obtain the facts in 
 this case? That's what I would like to know." 
 
 "Mr. McDonald," I responded, "I feel that it would be 
 easier for me to go ahead and do this work, than it would 
 be for me to undertake to tell you how I propose to do it." 
 
 Mr. Clover then said, "Tom, I am going to place this 
 matter in your hands. I want you to go ahead and get 
 this thing started as soon as possible, as the defendant's 
 attorneys are clammoring for a speedy trial, and I do not 
 wish to keep them waiting any longer than I can help. 
 You do this work in your own wa}^ and I will pay the bills." 
 
 I said, "All right." 
 
 The next day I telegraphed to Philadelphia to an operative 
 in my emplo}^ there. He was an entire stranger in St, 
 Louis. I wired him to come at once, and not to stop at my 
 office, but to come direct to my house on his arrival in 
 the city, which lie did. 
 
 His name was John McCulloch. He was about thirt}^- 
 five years of age, about live feet, ten inches in height, and
 
 18 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 weighed about two hundred pounds. He was well built, 
 had a sandy complexion, and was rather a good-looking 
 fellow. He was Avearing side-whiskers, or burnsides, as 
 they were called, and a blonde mustache, and looked very 
 much like an Englishman. He was truthful and honest, 
 and of sober habits, but a little thick-headed, or, in other 
 words, dull of comprehension. In instructing him it was 
 necessary to explain each detail fully, and sometimes it 
 would seem as if it were necessary to take a hammer and 
 pound the instructions into his head, but when he once 
 understood thoroughly what you wanted him to do he 
 would carry out instructions to the letter. 
 
 Right here it might be well to take the reader into my 
 confidence. I had decided to get my operative (IMcCulloch) 
 into jail, Avhere he could meet Maxwell, without the knowl- 
 edge of the local police officers. 
 
 After explaining the nature of the case to him, I instructed 
 him to procure the leading daily papers of St. Louis, dating 
 back to the time of the murder, and to read every line 
 that had been published relative to the case. This he 
 did, and it took him about three weeks. I met him each 
 evening during the time and rehearsed with him what I 
 wanted him to do, from the time he was arrested, and how 
 he should act after his arrest and incarceration. 
 
 Early in February, 1886, I succeeded in getting pos- 
 session of a few blank checks from the office of D. S. H. 
 Smith, who was local treasurer of the Missouri Pacific Rail- 
 road Company in St. Louis. Being Chief Special Agent 
 of the road I had occasion to visit the local treasurer's 
 office frequently, and being well known, not only to the local 
 treasurer, but to all of his office force as well, I had no 
 difficulty in obtaining the blank checks without the knowl-
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 19 
 
 edge of Dr. Smith, as the local treasurer was called by most 
 of the people who knew him, or any of his clerks. 
 
 My chief clerk was a good penman, and was familiar 
 with the signature of Dr. D. S. H. Smith. I had him 
 practice for some time on imitating Dr. Smith's signature, 
 and found that he could imitate it so clearly that it would 
 have been accepted as genuine by any bank teller. While 
 I wanted a fairly good imitation of the signature, I did 
 not want it to be so good that it would be received at the 
 bank. After practicing for a time he succeeded in making 
 a signature which I thought would answer my purpose. I 
 had him fill out one of the blank checks for the amount 
 of one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight dollars and 
 ten cents. I then gave this check to McCulloch, with in- 
 structions to him to present it to the paying-teller of the 
 Mechanics Bank, which was then on Fourth street. He 
 was to present this check at 9 :45 sharp, the following 
 morning. I had received a check, a day or two before this, 
 which bore the signature of Dr. Smith, and had purposely 
 held this out, and was waiting across the street from the 
 bank when I saw McCiilloch, whom I will hereafter call 
 Frank Dingfelter, as this was the name he assumed, and 
 was the name to which the check had been made payable. - 
 
 On entering the bank Dingfelter went to the window of 
 the paying-teller, Mr. Warner, and presented the check. 
 AVarner examined the check very carefully, and by reason 
 of its being for so large an amount, and Dingfelter being 
 an entire stranger to him (I, having allowed Dingfelter 
 time enough to have reached the paying-teller's window, 
 entered the bank with my check in my hand), held the check 
 that Dingfelter had presented, and when he saw me he 
 excitedly motioned to me to come to his window. On 
 reaching the window Warner commanded me, in an excited
 
 20 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 manner, to arrest that man, pointing to Dingfelter. 
 
 I said, "What do you want him arrested for?" 
 
 Warner, holding up the check said, "Why he has pre- 
 sented a large fake check bearing the name of Dr. Smith, 
 lor nearly twelve hundred dollars. Why, you know Dr. 
 Smith's signature?" 
 
 I replied, "Yes, here is one of Dr. Smith's checks. I 
 know this is genuine, for I saw the doctor sign it." 
 
 He compared the fake check with mine, and I said to 
 Mr. Warner, "While I am not an expert on hand-writing, 
 I do not believe that Dr. Smith wrote that signature." 
 
 Mr. Warner exclaimed, "I am positive he did not." Then 
 turning to Mr. Dingfelter I asked, "Where did you get 
 this check?" 
 
 "I got it from Dr. Smith," was his reply. 
 
 "Does Dr. Smith know you?" I asked. 
 
 In rather a grufif manner he answered, "Yes, he knows 
 me." 
 
 "Will you go with me and see Dr. Smith?" I asked. 
 
 "Well, I do not know whether I will or not. I don't 
 know who you are," he replied. Wliereupon I laid my 
 hand on his shoulder and said, "You will either accompany 
 me to Dr. Smith's office, or I will send for a patrol' wagon, 
 take you to police headquarters and have you locked up." 
 
 "Are you an officer?" he asked. 
 
 To which I replied, "Yes, I am the Chief Special Agent 
 of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company." 
 
 "Oh, well," said he, "that is dift'erent. I will go with you 
 and see Dr. Smith." 
 
 It was drizzling rain the morning of this occurrence, was 
 quite chilly and the streets and sidewalks were wet and 
 slippery and dirty, as the streets of St. Louis were not 
 kept as clean at that time as they are now. I took the fake
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 21 
 
 check and Dingfelter and myself started for Dr. Smith's 
 office, which at that time was in the Missouri Pacific gen- 
 eral office building on the corner of Sixth and Locust 
 streets. We walked west on Pine from Fourth. When we 
 reached the coraer of Sixth and Pine streets I gave Ding- 
 felter a signal, which had been pre-arranged. This signal 
 was for him to hit me a good, stiff punch, as the fighters 
 call it . There was a large, clumsy patrolman, wearing a 
 raincoat, standing under an awning near the corner saloon- 
 I was walking on the left-hand side of Dingfelter, and 
 when I gave him the signal he cut loose with his right 
 hand, which landed just over my right eye and a little 
 back of it. I had instructed him to hit me hard, and if he 
 succeeded in knocking me down and I became groggy 
 from the blow he was to stumble and fall himself, so as 
 to give the big, clumsy police officer time to reach us. The 
 officer was standing about ten feet from us when Ding- 
 felter struck me, but I knew how slow he was and I wanted 
 to be sure and give him an opportunity of getting hold of 
 Dingfelter. I went down all right, and in fact, was a little 
 dazed from the effects of the blow. Dingfelter stumbled 
 and fell, and the policeman made a dash (such as a 
 heavily loaded ice wagon going up hill would make) and suc- 
 ceeded in reaching him, not, however, until he had arisen, and I 
 also had got to my feet. He got to Dingfelter about th^ 
 same time that I did. The latter made a good fight and 
 tore off most of the uniform of the policeman and my coat, 
 vest and collar. All of us went down in the street and 
 rolled around in the mud. Our ears and faces were filled 
 with mud, before we finally succeeded in subduing Ding- 
 felter. but I am satisfied if he had tried his best he coulci 
 have gotton away with both of us, as he was a powerful 
 man.
 
 22 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 My office was on Eighth street, just north of Pine, and 
 this fight occurred just two blocks from my office, and 
 after we had subdued Dingfelter I suggested that we take 
 him there, so as to give us an opportunity of washing 
 ourselves while we were waiting for a patrol wagon to 
 take the prisoner to police headquarters. This we did, 
 and on arriving at my office we turned the prisoner over 
 to my chief clerk and one of my operatives, who hap- 
 pened to be there, while the policeman and myself begiin 
 digging the mud out of our ears and washing our faces. 
 After washing I found that my right eye was very much 
 discolored, and where my face had come in contact with 
 the pavement there were a number of small cuts and 
 scratches, which were somewhat inflamed, and I really 
 had a sore face. 
 
 The operative who I have mentioned before, whose 
 name was Phillips, on seeing my face said to me, "Why, 
 you sure ought to go and see a doctor at once. Your eye 
 is in bad shape, and you need medical attention immedi- 
 ately. Let me go up to police headquarters with this fel- 
 low. I can attend to the matter for you. 
 
 I thanked him, and said that I wished he would do so. 
 I told him what had occurred at the bank, and instructed 
 him to make a complaint against Dingfelter accordingly. 
 In due time the patrol wagon arrived and the police officer 
 and Phillips escorted Mr. Dingfelter to police head- 
 quarters. At this time Hughie O'Neil was chief of de- 
 tectives, and Major Lawrence Harrigan, was chief of 
 police for the city of St. Louis. 
 
 As soon as Dingfelter was hustled into the detectives' 
 office in the Four Courts, Chief O'Neil and a squad of 
 his men immediately set about searching him. They found 
 in one of his inside pockets a letter, addressed, sealed and
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 23 
 
 stamped, but apparently which Dingfelter had forgotten to 
 mail. It was directed to San Francisco. They also found 
 about seventy-five or one hundred dollars, and some otUer 
 articles, all of which were taken from him and placed in 
 the police department archives for safe keeping. The let- 
 ter was eagerly opened and read. This letter was quite 
 lengthy, and was just such a letter as one crook would 
 write to another. There was then, and had been for some 
 tim^ previous, a gang of bank swindlers working the 
 cities of the Pacific Coast, and the newspapers had been 
 printing a great deal about the operations of this gang 
 several weeks prior to the time of which I write; and for 
 this reason the detectives of St. Louis were led to believe 
 by the finding of the letter that they had struck something 
 which might lead to the capture of the bank swindlers. 
 The contents of the letter appeared in the afternoon papers. 
 Some of these papers censured me for having failed to 
 discover this letter. 
 
 After reading the comments of the papers regarding 
 this letter, I would have considered myself very stupid, 
 indeed, for having missed the letter, were it not for the 
 fact that I knew that I had not had an opportunity to search 
 Mr. Dinglefter up to the time he assaulted me and the 
 officer on Pine street, and then I also knew it had taken 
 me about two hours to compose and dictate that same 
 letter. 
 
 Dingfelter was locked up, of course, and the time was 
 set for his preliminary hearing, to be several days later. 
 In the meantime the St. Louis papers were devoting lots 
 of space to Dingfelter and his alleged crime; a relief to 
 the newspaper readers, as they had begun to grow tired 
 of reading day after day about Maxwell and what his 
 altorneys expected to do for him. From the time of
 
 24 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Dingfelter's arrest up to the time of Maxwell's trial, the 
 newspapers scarcely mentioned the latter's name. Some 
 of them occasionall}^ mentioned my name in rather a jok- 
 ing manner, because I had been stupid enough to miss 
 that letter. When Dingfelter was called for his prelimi- 
 nary hearing he was promptly remanded to jail to await 
 the action of the Grand Jury. 
 
 He was besieged by lawyers who were anxious to de- 
 fend him, but he declined their offers, telling them when 
 the time came he had lawyers selected to defend him, and 
 steadfastly refused to divulge their names. The second 
 day after his arrest Dingfelter was allowed to mingle with 
 the other prisoners in what was called the "bull ring." 
 An allotted time is given to the prisoners each day in this 
 place for exercise. Maxwell noticed that almost immedi- 
 ately after his arrest the newspapers were giving Ding- 
 felter all the notoriety, and had dropped himself, so he 
 hastened to make the acquaintance of one so notorious 
 when they met in the "bull ring." This was the only op- 
 portunity of meeting him, and from the first time that Max- 
 well saw Dingfelter he never lost an opportunity of talk- 
 ing with him, and he stuck to Dingfelter like the prover- 
 bial fly to the horse. The first time Maxwell approached 
 Dingfelter he rushed up to him and said, "You are Ding- 
 felter, I believe." Dingfelter replied that he was and 
 Maxwell then said, "They seem to have a strong case 
 against you." "You will have to excuse me, sir, I don't 
 want to be considered impolite," Dingfelter replied, "but 
 I must decline to talk to any one in this place about ni}^ 
 case, as you call it. I don't believe it would be a good 
 thing for me or any other person to talk about a charge 
 that is pending against them in a place of this kind. I 
 shall be glad to talk with you on any other subject, hoAv-
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 25 
 
 ever, but I trust that you will hereafter refrain from asking 
 me any questions regarding tiie charge nuw pending 
 against me in court, and then, I don't know you." 
 
 Maxwell hastily said, "Oh, I am Maxwell. I am the 
 fellow who is charged with the murder of that man Prel- 
 ler, who was killed in the Southern Hotel, and whose 
 body was found in a trunk. I was arrested at Aucklandj 
 New Zealand, and 1)rought back here to St. Louis to stand 
 trial, but I have been assured by my attorneys that I will 
 be acquitted. They have no proof against me, and just 
 as soon as I can get a trial, why, of course, I will go free." 
 
 "So you are Maxwell" said Dingfelter. "I have been 
 reading in the papers about you, and if you will pardon 
 me for saying it, it seems to me that you have already been 
 talking too much about your case. If you are not guilty of 
 the crime with which you stand charged, why you ought 
 to be acquitted, and I hope you will be." 
 
 After this first interview between Maxwell and Ding- 
 felter, he and many other prisoners looked upon Ding- 
 felter as being a wise and unusually smart prisoner. Ding- 
 felter was in jail forty-seven days, and during all that 
 time Maxwell never let an opportunity pass without talk- 
 ing to him. I received daily reports from my operative, 
 a task which I found very difficult, and it became more 
 difficult by reason of the Southwestern Railroad strike, 
 which broke out on March 4, 1886, and continued during 
 Dingfelter's stay in the St. Louis jail. Being Chief Special 
 Agent for the Gould system, my time was occupied in pro- 
 tecting the railroad company's property, and in appre- 
 hending people who were continually committing illegal 
 acts. I was occupied almost day and night in this work. 
 
 From Dingfelter's daily reports I learned that MaxwelT 
 had admitted that he had killed Preller for the purpose of
 
 26 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 obtaining seven one hundred dollar bills that he knew 
 Preller to have, as he had shown him the money in the 
 Adams House at Boston, before they separated there. He 
 also had pawned the plunder for the money which had 
 brought him to America, and that he had made Preller 
 believe that he was connected with the titled family of 
 Maxwell, that his right name was Hugh M. Brookes, and 
 that he would like to place himself under the guidance and 
 advice of an able crook, as he believed Dingfelter to be, 
 when he gained his liberty, as he was sure he would, in the 
 near future. He told Dingfelter in detail how he had 
 killed Preller by administering an overdose of morphia, 
 hypodermically ; of how, after dinner on the fatal Sunday, 
 Preller had complained of a pain in his stomach ; that he. 
 Maxwell, saw that was his opportunity for carrying out 
 the plan he had already formed for taking Preller's life in 
 order to secure the money ; that he had provided himself 
 with a large quantity of morphia and the hypodermic 
 syringe, and that he had also procured four ounces of 
 chloroform, for the purpose of administering it to Preller 
 immediately before death, to prevent the body from be- 
 coming rigid, as it does immediately after death, "as," 
 said Maxwell in his explanation to Dingfelter, "I had to 
 conceal his long body in the trunk, which was so much 
 shorter, and I did not want to cut ofif his limbs, fearing that 
 the trace of the blood would betray me." 
 
 On receiving Dingfelter's report relative to the use of 
 the morphia in the murder, I at once reported the fact to 
 Messrs. Clover and McDonald, who immediately arranged 
 with two of the most prominent doctors in St. Louis to 
 examine the body of Preller for traces of the morhpia. 
 Messrs. Clover, McDonald, the doctors, an official of Belle- 
 fontaine Cemetery, and myself, went to the cemetery.
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 27 
 
 where Preller's body had been buried, exhumed the body, 
 and the doctors made the necessary examination, keeping 
 what they discovered to themselves, and they did not 
 divulge anything about it until called on to testify at Max- 
 well's trial, when they said that the traces of the hypo- 
 dermic syringe were plainly visible on the arm, and that 
 traces of morphia were found. When Maxwell was ar- 
 rested a quantity of morphia was found among his effects, 
 and also the hypodermic syringe, but up to this discovery 
 neither had been considered in connection with the mur- 
 der, as it had been taken for granted that Preller's death 
 had been caused by chloroform. Of course, the exhuming 
 of the body, and the arrangement that had been made 
 were known to no one but Messrs. Clover, McDonald, 
 the two doctors, the cemetery official and myself, and was 
 treated as a profound secret. 
 
 Meanwhile, after Dingfelter had been in jail and had 
 obtained the information we wanted from Maxwell, I de- 
 cided that it was unnecessary to keep him there longer, 
 so I arranged to have Dingfelter released on bail, which 
 had been fixed at three thousand five hundred dollars. I 
 had ex-Judge Henry D. Laughlin, of St. Louis, sign Ding- 
 felter's bond. I did this without Judge Laughlin's knowl- 
 edge that I even knew who Dingfelter was. Upon his re- 
 lease I immediately sent him to New York, where he en- 
 tered into correspondence with friends of Maxwell's. Just 
 before being released he asked Maxwell if he could keep a 
 secret, and Maxwell said that he could, whereupon Ding- 
 felter said : 
 
 "I expect to leave this place soon." 
 
 "How are you going to get out?" asked Maxwell. 
 
 "Ah," said Dingfelter, "that is none of your business. 
 You said you could keep a secret, and the first thing you
 
 28 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 are doing is to pry into my business by asking how I am 
 going to get out. After I am gone from here, of course, 
 you will know it, but if }ou do not know how I propose 
 to get out it will be impossible for you to tell any one 
 about it. For that reason it is better that you should not 
 know anything further than what I have already said." 
 
 Maxwell apologized and promised not to be so inquisi- 
 tive again. Dingfelter then said : 
 
 "Now, Maxwell, after I am on the outside and away from 
 this place, if I can do anything for you consistently I shall 
 be glad to do it." 
 
 "You can do a whole lot for me," Maxwell answered, 
 "by getting two of your friends to come here when my 
 trial is called and have them testify that they met Preller 
 and myself in Boston, and that they accompanied us to 
 the depot when we were leaving Boston ; that at the depot 
 I proposed that the party take a parting drink ; that Prel- 
 ler, these two men and myself, went to a cafe, and that I 
 ordered two bottles of champagne, and that when I paid 
 for it I displayed a roll of seven one hundred dollar l^ills ; 
 that I explained that I wanted to change one of these 
 hundred dollar bills so that I might have some smaller 
 change to pay expenses on my way to St. Louis. If they 
 will testify to this it will account for the six one hundred 
 dollar bills I took from Preller." 
 
 Dingfelter asked, "Are you sure that your lawyers will 
 not get these friends of mine into trouble or let the police 
 get next to them if I can get them to come?" 
 
 Maxwell assured Dingfelter that his friends would be 
 perfectly safe in coming to St. Louis, and that the police 
 would not get next to them, providing, of course, that the 
 parties were not already known to the police. He took 
 a card bearing his name from his pocket and tore it in
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 29 
 
 two halves, giving one half to Dingfelter and retaining 
 the other himself, saying, "Be sure and give these witnesses 
 half of the card, which will serve to identify them to my 
 attorneys when they arrive here, as that half of the card 
 will match the half that I will retain, the edges of the 
 torn card will match and will answer the purpose of an 
 introduction." 
 
 It was about five o'clock in the evening when Ding- 
 felter was released from jail on bond, and at that hour 
 the courts in the building had adjourned for the day, and 
 the newspaper correspondents and all others had left 
 the building except the few attaches who were on duty. 
 Thus Dingfelter left the jail unobserved. On his release 
 from the jail he came to my house by a circuitous route, 
 where he remained until a late hour that night, when he 
 left to take a train for New York. I instructed him to open 
 a correspondence with Maxwell on his arrival in New 
 York, so as to get positive instructions from Maxwell as 
 to what the witnesses were to testify to when they 
 appeared on the stand in his defense. He carried out 
 these instructions to the letter. His letters reached Max- 
 well through his attorneys, and Maxwell's letters reached 
 him through the same source, and in due time, all the let- 
 ters were sent to me with his report. They kept up this 
 correspondence at intervals until Maxwell's trial was 
 called. I told Dingfelter to appear in St. Louis on the morn- 
 ing of the trial, which he did. On arriving here he went 
 to a private lodging house, and being a stranger in the 
 city, his presence was unknown to any person but him- 
 self and the circuit attorneys, Clover and McDonald. 
 
 When his trial was called. Maxwell took the stand in 
 his own defense, and testified that he had administered 
 chloroform to his friend Preller on the fatal evening at the
 
 30 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Southern Hotel for the purpose of allaying the pain that 
 he was suffering from, as both Messrs. Clover and Mc- 
 Donald had predicted he would testify. Maxwell went 
 on to state that Preller's suffering was caused by an acute 
 attack of stricture, from which he had been suffering more 
 or less for some time. 
 
 On hearing this testimony from Maxwell, it was de- 
 cided to again exhume the body of Preller so that the two 
 doctors could make another examination of the remains, 
 and either corroborate or disprove Maxwell's testimony, 
 as this was one of the most vital points in the trial. When 
 the body was exhumed the doctors removed the organs, 
 taking them to their laboratory, where the examination 
 was made, and they later came into court and testified that 
 their examination had shown beyond a doubt that Preller 
 had never suffered from stricture. 
 
 Frank Dingfelter was among the first witnesses called 
 by the prosecution. In answer to his name, he entered 
 the court room from the private office of the circuit at- 
 torney, and after being duly sworn, took his seat on the 
 witness stand. After sitting down he turned his face 
 towards Attorney McDonald, who was conducting Ihe 
 prosecution for the state. Maxwell got a full view of Ding- 
 felter for the first time since he had seen him in the jail. 
 From where I was sitting I could get a good view of Max- 
 well's countenance. I was watching him closely, and when 
 he saw Dingfelter he recognized him instantly. He turned 
 ashy pale and nearly fainted, and would have fallen out of 
 his chair were it not that he was partly supported by one 
 of his attorneys who was sitting beside him. He hurried- 
 ly communicated to his attorney that he had recognized 
 Dingfelter, whereupon the attorneys for the defense be- 
 came very much excited. Dingfelter was asked by Attor-
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 31 
 
 ney McDonald the following questions : 
 
 Question: What is your name? A. John F. McCul- 
 loch. 
 
 Q. Where were you born? A. Wilmington, Delaware. 
 
 Q. How old are you? A. Thirty years. 
 
 Q. What is your business? A. Detective. 
 
 Q. By whom are you employed? A. Thomas Furlong. 
 
 Q. Do you know the defendant in this case (pointing 
 to Maxwell) ? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q, Where did you first become acquainted with him? 
 A, In the city jail. 
 
 Q. Were you a prisoner in the jail? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. What were you charged with? A. I believe it was 
 forgery. 
 
 Q. When and where were you arrested? A. I was ar- 
 rested at the Mechanics Bank on the corner of Fourth and 
 Pine streets, this city, by Thomas Furlong, who was af- 
 terwards assisted by a police officer, whose name I do not 
 know. 
 
 Q, Why did Furlong arrest you? A. He was command- 
 ed to do so by the paying teller of the Mechanics Bank. 
 
 Q. Why did the teller cause your arrest? A. Because I 
 presented a check bearing what purported to be the signa- 
 ture of D. S. H. Smith, local treasurer of the Missouri Pa- 
 cific Railroad Company. The paying teller told Furlong, 
 in my presence, that the signature was a forgery. 
 
 Q. Did you know it to be a forgery? A. I did not. 
 
 Q. Where did you get this check? A. Mr, Furlong 
 gave me the check and instructed me to present it at the 
 bank, as I did, and told me that he would be at the bank 
 when I presented it. 
 
 Q. Was Mr. Furlong there? A, Yes, he came into the 
 bank while I was at the teller's window. That was when
 
 32 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Mr. Warner, as I believe the teller's name is, told him to 
 arrest me. 
 
 Q. Then you do not know whether the check was a 
 forgery or not? A. No, sir. I was only obeying the in- 
 structions of my employer, Mr. Furlong. I guess he can 
 tell you all about that check. 
 
 The court room was crowded, and as soon as Dingfelter 
 stated that he was a detective one of the city detectives 
 rushed out of the court, pellmell, to the office of the Chief 
 of Police, which was in the opposite end of the building, 
 and informed the Chief of what had occurred. The Chief 
 rushed into the court room, and from that time on con- 
 sternation seemed to prevail among all the authorities 
 around the Four Courts building. 
 
 Dingfelter was kept upon the witness stand for about two 
 days, and during his entire direct testimony, nearly every 
 question asked him b}'^ the prosecuting attorney was ob- 
 jected to by the attorneys for the defense. After McCul- 
 loch, as I will call him by his right name hereafter, had 
 been excused from the witness stand, I was called. After 
 being duly sworn and the preliminary questions asked, I 
 was told, by the prosecuting attorney, to state to the 
 court and jury how I had been approached by Mr. Clover 
 and himself, and what I had done in connection with the 
 case. I gave a detailed account of my work from the start 
 up to that moment, being interrupted occasionally by an ob- 
 jection from the defendant's counsel. When I had finished 
 my direct testimony, all of which has already been related, 
 the counsel for the defense began, to cross-examine me. 
 My cross-examination consumed nearly a day and a half. 
 
 The defendant's counsel first wanted to know how long 
 I had been in the detective business. I answered that 1 
 had first become engaged in the business in September,
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 33 
 
 1862. The attorney said, "Then you have had a great deal 
 of experience?" I answered that I had, and then he said, 
 "Where did you get this check?" exhibiting the check in 
 question. I asked permission to examine the check, which 
 was granted by the court, and after looking at it carefully 
 I answered, "This is one of the blank checks that I took 
 from Dr. Smith's office in the manner already described." 
 
 Question : Then you stole this check from Dr. Smith's 
 office? A. I took that blank check from Dr. Smith's office 
 without his knowledge or consent. 
 
 Q, Who tilled out this check and signed Dr. Smith's 
 name to it ? A. That check was filled out by one of my em- 
 ployes. I stood alongside of him while he filled it out. He 
 did it under my instructions, and if he had refused to do 
 it I would have discharged him and he knew it; and if the 
 law has been violated in any way I am responsible for it. 
 
 The attorney for the defense insisted that I give the 
 name of the person who filled out the check, but the court 
 overruled the question on the ground that I had assumed 
 the responsibility. The counsel for the defense then said, 
 "You kuow that you were violating the law by having this 
 check made out as you did, did you not?" 
 
 I replied, "Under certain conditions, it might have been 
 a violation of the law." 
 
 Counsel for the defense asked, "You know that it was a 
 forgery and forgery is a crime under the law?" My an- 
 swer was the same as before, that it would have been for- 
 gery under certain conditions. But he insisted on me an- 
 swering him direct "yes" or "no." At this Prosecuting At- 
 torney McDonald appealed to the court, stating that the 
 witness could not answer the question with a direct "yes" 
 or "no" unless permitted to explain what the certain con- 
 ditions referred to were. The court permitted me to ex-
 
 34 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 plain under what conditions the making of the check would 
 not be considered forgery. To which I replied that inas- 
 much as that intent is the essence of crime, and that as there 
 was no intent to obtain money or other valuables by means 
 of this check on my part, who was responsible for the mak- 
 ing of it, and that I was at the bank on the morning that 
 McCulloch presented the check for the purpose of prevent- 
 ing the teller from cashing the check, if he, perchance, had 
 not noticed that the signature of Dr. Smith was not genu- 
 ine, and for the further reason that I had promptly appre- 
 hended the man who had presented the check at the bank 
 for having done so. This was all a matter of court record. 
 
 Here I wish to say that almost every person in the court- 
 room, after hearing my testimony as to my obtaining the 
 blank checks and causing one to be filled out and presented 
 at the bank, were of the opinion that I had gotten myself 
 into serious trouble. Many clung to that opinion until 
 they heard my explanation, and the competent court at- 
 torneys saw at a glance that I was safe when I explained 
 that intent was what consitituted a crime. 
 
 I have been asked many, many times since the arrest of 
 McCulloch and my tussle with him, why I caused him to 
 knock me dewn and to strip the policeman and myself, 
 leaving us in almost a nude condition, and which com- 
 pelled me to go around several days with my right eye 
 and one side of my face discolored — as some of them said, 
 "in mourning" — and my answer has always been that I had 
 decided everything I did in connection with the case was 
 absolutely necessary so that I might obtain the true facts 
 of the case, which were very essential for the proper prose- 
 cution of the perpetrator of this heinous crime, as he was 
 the only living person who knew the real facts. I knew 
 that Maxwell was enjoying the notoriety the newspapers
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 35 
 
 were giving him, and I also knew tiiat the public was grow- 
 ing tired of reading about him, and, therefore, believed that 
 if I could paint my operative as a more desperate criminal 
 for the time being, by the notoriety he would obtain through 
 the papers, it would have the effect of attracting Maxwell's 
 attention to him, so that he might bask in the light that was 
 being attracted to McCulloch. And, as it turned out, my 
 predictions proved true. I deemed it necessary to have 
 McCulloch slug me and make the fight that he did with the 
 police officer and myself in order to allay any suspicion that 
 might arise in the mind of the Chief of Police or any of his 
 men. The Chief was an alert and experienced officer, and 
 if he suspected for a moment that McCulloch was not what 
 he represented himself to be, or that he was connected with 
 me, he would have undoubtedly exposed our scheme, and 
 thereby destroyed our efforts, which were for the honest 
 purpose of serving the ends of justice. 
 
 Both McCulloch and myself were acting parts, and from 
 the result it seems that the parts were acted well. I could 
 have gotten the blank check from Dr. Smith, I have no 
 doubt, merely by asking for it, but he, of course would have 
 wanted an explanation from me, and if I had explained 
 why I wanted them he would have been obliged to state 
 the facts on the witness stand when called before the Grand 
 Jury, and this would have been fatal to my scheme. Had 
 I told my operative Phillips, who lodged the first com- 
 plaint against McCulloch, or Dingfelter, as he called him- 
 self, he would have been compelled, under oath, to have 
 stated the truth. This, too, would have been fatal. My 
 keeping the matter a secret, resulted in every person tell- 
 ing the truth, or what they believed to be the truth. I my- 
 self, did no appear either at police headquarters or at the 
 preliminary hearing, nor before the Grand Jury, and was
 
 36 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 not called upon to testify until Maxwell was on trial. 
 
 Marshall F. McDonald was sitting in his office one day 
 alone, about a month after Dingfelter had been in jail 
 and had made such good progress with Maxwell, when Wil- 
 liam Marion Reedy, better known then as Billy Reedy, en- 
 tered his office. Reedy was, at that time, a reporter for 
 the Globe-Democrat, and was very popular. He knew ev- 
 ery official around the Four Courts and in fact, every man 
 in St. Louis who was worth knowing. He was a warm 
 friend and great admirer of Mr. McDonald, and on enter- 
 ing his office and noting that he was alone, he said, "Mac, 
 why don't you select the riglit kind of a fellow and have 
 him locked up in Jail with Maxwell. He might succeed 
 in getting the facts as to Preller's murder from him." 
 
 Mr, McDonald was startled to hear this suggestion from 
 Mr. Reedy, but, being a man of steady nerves, he managed 
 to conceal his surprise. He told Reedy that he did not be- 
 lieve that anything could be accomplished by locking a 
 man up in jail for that purpose. "For," said Mac, "there 
 are nearly four hundred prisoners in that jail and a man 
 might be there for months before he could get to Maxwell, 
 and then it is quite likely that 'his attorneys have already ad- 
 vised him not to talk to any person about his case." 
 
 Reedy said, "It occurred to me that it might be a good 
 thing to do, and I therefore made the suggestion to you 
 for what it is worth, but, . as you do not think it worth 
 while to try it, just let it go." 
 
 He left the office, and just as soon as McDonald could 
 don his hat and coat and leave his office unobserved, he 
 hastened to me. I saw at a glance that he was excited and 
 believed something unusual had happened. I greeted him 
 and asked him to be seated, and then said, "Mac, what is 
 the matter?" He extended his long- rig-ht arm and ex-
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 37 
 
 claimed, "Why, the whole thing is up." 
 
 "What's up?" I asked, "Mac, what do you mean?" 
 
 "Why, Billy Reedy came into my office a little while ago 
 and suggested that I pick out the right kind of a fellow and 
 have him locked up in jail so that he might work on Max- 
 well," he said. 
 
 "Is that all Reedy said?" I asked. 
 
 He then went on and detailed as nearly as he could rec- 
 ollect just what Reedy had said. I asked him what he had 
 said to Reedy and he told me. I then said, "Do you think 
 that Reedy noticed your excitement when he made the 
 suggestion to you?" 
 
 "No, he could not have," he replied, "I was not excited, 
 I never get excited.'' 
 
 "You were excited when you came in here, and if Billy 
 Reedy noticed it when he made that suggestion it might 
 set him to thinking, and inasmuch as you did not take 
 kindly to the suggestion, he might possibly make the sug- 
 gestion to Chief Harrigan," I said. 
 
 "Oh, no," replied Mac, "Billy would not make any sug- 
 gestions to the chief. He is my friend and I appreciate 
 the feeling that prompted him to make the suggestion, but 
 confound it, I wish he had not thought of it." 
 
 I said, "Mac, we know that Billy Reedy is a bright 
 young fellow, and a great news gatherer, and a loyal friend 
 of yours. I do not believe he will say anything more about 
 it, and now I think the best thing to do is to quietly await 
 developments." 
 
 My advice was followed, and I do not believe that Wil- 
 liam Marion Reedy, who is now proprietor and editor of 
 the St. Louis Mirror, has ever known just how much that 
 friendly suggestion of his worried his friend Marshall F. 
 McDonald. I have told in my story how McCulloch re-
 
 38 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 mained in jail and got the facts from Maxwell, and our 
 scheme was not spoiled by Mr. Reedy 's suggestion, for he 
 never repeated it to any other person. 
 
 The testimony at the trial was overwhelming against 
 Maxwell, and the jur}' before whom this case was tried 
 quickly returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first 
 degree, and Hugh M. Brookes, alias Maxwell, was hung 
 for one of the most cold-blooded murders of the age. 
 
 The St. Louis police department had an exhibit in the 
 Educational Building during the Louisiana Purchase Ex- 
 position, St. Louis, which consisted of photographs and 
 police records of criminals, burglars, tools and various weap- 
 ons. This exhibit also had the noose with which Brookes, 
 alias Maxwell, was hung, and his photograph and the pic- 
 ture of the two St. Louis officers who brought him back 
 from Auckland, New Zealand. There were thousands of 
 people who viewed this exhibit, and I deem it proper to 
 tell the public that the police department had positively 
 nothing to do with obtaining the evidence that convicted 
 Maxwell. They had really nothing to do with his arrest, 
 other than sending out his description. He was arrested 
 through the efforts of CapL Leas, Chief of Police of San 
 Francisco, Cal. His conviction w^as due to my efforts and 
 the work of my operative, McCulloch, and to Messrs. Clover 
 and McDonald. Mr. Clover paid the expenses from his 
 own pocket and Mr. McDonald deserved a great deal 
 more credit that he was accorded for the masterful way in 
 which he handled the prosecution, but not one of these 
 names were mentioned in the exhibit at the World's 
 Fair. Mr. Clover paid about six hundred dollars out of 
 his own personal funds for the expenses incurred in ob- 
 taining the evidence, and I got a black eye and a swollen 
 jaw as my compensation.
 
 THE PRELLER MURDER CASE. 39 
 
 Dingfelter, while in the jail, also made the acquaintance 
 of two brothers by the name of Johnston, who had been 
 arrested in New Orleans and brought to St. Louis for 
 safe keeping by the United States authorities, on the 
 charge of having had a large number of Brazilian bonds 
 printed. These bonds were counterfeit, utterly worthless 
 to any one who purchased them. The government secret 
 service had captured a lot of these spurious bonds and 
 had brought the prisoners to St. Louis until they could 
 be tried in the Federal Court. 
 
 The Johnstons took a liking to Dingfelter and told hirr> 
 all about their scheme, where they had gotten the print- 
 ing done, by whom, and all the other facts of their crime. 
 Dingfelter did not solicit any confidences, but they, sup- 
 posing him to be a shrewd crook, thought their secret 
 was safe, until Maxwell was on trial and Dingfelter, as 
 he was known to them, took the stand and testified, giving 
 his right name, John F. McCulloch, and his business, that 
 of a detective. As soon as the Johnston brothers learned 
 who and what Dingfelter was, they sent word to the United 
 States authorities that they had admitted to Detective 
 Dingfelter everything pertaining to their guilt, and they 
 were willing to plead guilty to the charges pending against 
 them in the Federal Court. This they did when they were 
 arraigned for trial. , 
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 
 
 TRAGIC ENDING OF A BIG CASE ON WHICH A GREAT DEAL OF 
 REAL DETECTIVE WORK HAD BEEN DONE. 
 
 The cotton swindle occurred at Sherman, Texas, on the 
 Texas & Pacific Railroad, early in the fall of 1883. It was
 
 40 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 in the cotton shipping- season, and Sherman was a point 
 from which a very hirge amount of cotton Avas shipped an- 
 nually, it being the principal shipping point, or noutlet, for 
 one of the largest cotton producing districts in the state. 
 For this reason the eastern cotton buyers and cotton mill 
 owners were represented by agents at these shipping 
 points. These agents w-ere really brokers. It was tlie 
 practice of these brokers, as soon as they had purchased 
 cotton, to have it delivered at once to the railroad com- 
 pany for shipment, when they would receive from the rail- 
 road company's agent a bill of lading, setting forth the 
 number and weight of each bale. This bill of lading, when 
 signed by the railroad agent, was negotiable at any bank 
 in the cotton producing district. The bank would take the 
 bill of lading, allowing the depositor ninety per cent cash 
 on the face value and would hold ten per cent back until the 
 exact value of the cotton was ascertained ])y the proper 
 officials. The practice of cashing these bills of lading was 
 then general in the cotton-growing country, and, I pre- 
 sume, it is at the present time. 
 
 It was early in the month of January, 1884, when I Avas 
 suddenly called to the office of Capt. C. G. Warner, who 
 was then General Auditor for the Gould Railway System. 
 The Texas &: Pacific was one of the many Gould lines. I 
 occupied the position of Chief Special Agent for that sys- 
 tem. 
 
 On my arrival at Capt. Warner's office, he informed me 
 that he had just received from Sherman, Texas, a long 
 telegraph message from one of his traveling auditors, 
 which stated that a large amount of cotton, which had been 
 shipped from that station, had undoubtedly been diverted 
 in transit, as the cotton had not reached its proper desti- 
 nation. Capt. Warner instructed me to go to Sherman at
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 41 
 
 once, where I would find the traveling auditor, Mr. Finby, 
 and make a thorough investigation. 
 
 I left St. Louis on the first train, and arrived at Sherman 
 in due time, where I found Mr. Finby, who informed me 
 that the company's agent, in charge at Sherman (whom I 
 will call No. 4) had left there on the Saturday night pre- 
 vious, since which time not one word had been heard from 
 him. Fie further stated that No. 4 had told his assistant 
 on Saturday evening, that he was going to take a run down 
 to Galveston on personal business, and expected to return 
 on the following Monday. It then being Wednesday, and 
 No. 4 not having returned, Air. Finby had become aroused 
 and wired the head of his department at St. Louis, which 
 accounted for my appearance in Sherman. I at once be- 
 gan my investigation, with a view of locating No. 4, the 
 missing agent. I remained in and about Sherman several 
 days, during which time the traveling auditor was busily 
 engaged, with some of his assistants, in auditing and try- 
 ing to straighten out the accounts of the station. 
 
 In the meantime, telegraph messages of inquiry were 
 pouring into Sherman from parties in New York, Philadel- 
 phia, Fall River, Mass., and Providence, Rhode Island. 
 These parties had purchased and paid for large quantities 
 of cotton, the total amount aggregating $121,000, and they 
 wanted to know why they had not received it. Messages 
 of this kind had been pouring into Sherman for a month or 
 six v/eeks prior to the time Mr. Finby had been called 
 there. 
 
 The officers of the railroad became alarmed, believing 
 irom the facts learned up to this time, that the cotton for 
 which the eastern l)uyers were inquiring, had Ijeen shipped 
 and had been diverted, and prol)ably stolen. If this were 
 true the railroad conipan\- would be responsible for the loss
 
 42 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 of the cotton to the buyers and would probably have to pay 
 additional damages. Thus the loss of this cotton was a seri- 
 ous matter for the company. 
 
 After I had worked at Sherman for about ten days, as 
 hard and earnestly as I had ever worked on a case in my 
 life, I succeeded in obtaining information that led me to 
 believe that there were three other men connected w ith No. 
 4, the missing agent, in this swindle. I had also succeeded 
 in locating the family and friends of No. 4, and the other 
 three suspects, whose names I withhold for the reason that 
 some of them were connected with respectable families and 
 have near relatives living today, who were in no way re- 
 sponsible for the wrong-doing of these men and ought not 
 to be subjected to the humiliation which the publication 
 of these names might inflict upon them. 
 
 During my investigation I learned that one of these men 
 (whom in mentioning I will call No. i) had a brother liv- 
 in New Orleans. (I will call the other two confederates 
 No. 2 and No. 3, withholding their names for the reasons 
 I have already given.) I had decided to go to New Orleans 
 direct from Sherman and there quietly investigate the 
 brother of No. i. I had also telegraphed to my office at 
 St. Louis, Mo., instructing George W. Herbert, one of my 
 assistants, to meet me in New Orleans, which he did. 
 
 We located No. I's brother in New Orleans very easily, 
 and after I had previously obtained information that No. 
 i's wife might be stopping temporarily with her brother- 
 in-law's family, who were living in a large and rather pre- 
 tentious mansion in that city, I began to watch the man- 
 sion for the purpose of learning, if possible, whether 01 
 not No. i's wife was staying there. I had a photograph of 
 No. I and also of his wife. She was a beautiful woman. 
 She was born and raised in the state of Tennessee, where
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 43 
 
 her mother and other near relatives resided. 
 
 I had learned that a man answering the description of 
 No. I in all respects had registered at the then leading ho- 
 tel of Sherman under the name of J. D. Dillard, Jr. This 
 man had reached the hotel at a late hour at night, was as- 
 signed to a room and remained in it all the following day, 
 ordering his meals sent to the room, explaining to* the 
 hotel people that he was ill. During the day No. 4 called 
 at the hotel and quietly visited the room occupied by Dil- 
 lard, where he (No. 4) had remained an hour or more. He 
 went to Dillard's room without making any inquiries at 
 the office, merely consulting the register. 
 
 Dillard, who was really No. i, left his room about mid- 
 night the following night, and took a north-bound train 
 from Sherman. Nobody had seen the supposed Dillard 
 during the time of his stay at Sherman, except the night 
 clerk, who had not noticed him particularly when he as- 
 signed him to his room, and a chamber-maid, a mulatto, 
 who had charge of the room of No. i, or Dillard, as he 
 called himself, had waited on him while he was there. She 
 had become familiar with his features and stated to me 
 that she would know him on sight any place. She de- 
 scribed Dillard accurately, after which I exhibited No, I's 
 photograph. She instantly identified it as a good picture 
 of Mr. Dillard. This is what caused me to place No. I's 
 brother's house in New Orleans under surveillance. I also 
 traced Dillard from Sherman, Texas, to Emporia, Kansas, 
 where the photographs of himself and wife were identified 
 by the proprietor of the hotel and the employes there, at 
 which the Dillards had stopped for a period of a month 
 prior to Dillard's recent visit to Sherman. Mrs. Dillard 
 had remained at Emporia during her husband's absence, 
 and he joined her at Emporia on his return from Sherman,
 
 44 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 and they departed from there immediately for parts un- 
 known. I traced them to Topeka, Kansas, where the trail 
 was lost. 
 
 My assistant and m}'seli kept up a steady watch on the 
 home of the brother of No. i, in New Orleans, day and 
 night, for about three weeks. We divided the time into 
 eight hour v.-atches, one of us sleeping while the other was 
 on duty. It was one of the most diificult tasks of the kind 
 I had ever undertaken, for the reason that I was personally 
 known to the chief of police of New Orleans, who w^as a 
 friend of mine. I was also known to a number of police 
 detectives of that city, and owing to the prominence of 
 the family and connections of No. i I did not deem it ex- 
 pedient to meet any of the police authorities, as by so doing 
 I, of course, would feel compelled to explain to them the 
 cause of my presence in their city. I had no doubt that 
 some of them would render me all the assistance they 
 could, but I vv^as afraid that some of them might talk 
 about my presence in the city, and the friends of Xo. i 
 might hear of it, and thereby be the means of hindering 
 me in my efforts to locate the whereabouts of No. i. For 
 this reason it required more vigilance on my part to keep 
 out of sight of the police, who knew me, than what I was 
 bestowing to the watching of the house in question. 
 
 During the long vigil many humorous incidents occurred. 
 One morning, after wc had been on watch several davs, I 
 hit upon a 'plan to find if there were any women aljout the 
 big house, as we had seen none up to this time, hoping there- 
 by to locate the wife of No. i. A few blocks down the street 
 a couple of good-looking young Italian girls were pla}^- 
 ing a hand organ. The instrument was a fine new one and 
 of exceedingly loud tone. I quietly bargained for their 
 services to take up their station in front of the house I was
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 45 
 
 watching, telling them to play there as long as the police 
 would permit them. The music and the performance oi 
 the monkeys brought several women from the house to 
 the veranda, but to my disappointment, the much wanted 
 woman was not among them. The performance was re- 
 peated several mornings, with the same results. Mrs. Dil- 
 lard was not in the house, as we afterwards learned. 
 
 Meanwhile the brother, a gentleman of leisure, was in 
 the habit of strolling each morning from his house to the 
 postoffice, where he usually mailed several letters. He al- 
 ways dropped these letters in the general receptacle, which 
 had an opening in the main corridor at least a foot in length 
 and three inches wide, and led to a large box in the base- 
 ment below the main floor. This box would hold probably 
 a wagon load of letters and packages, and when a letter 
 was dropped in this mass it was almost impossible to find 
 it again. 
 
 No. I's brother was a man middle-aged, rather slow in 
 his movements, and very deliberate in everything that he 
 did. He carried these letters in an inside pocket of his dress 
 coat, and walked with a cane. He would approach the 
 general mail box, placing his cane under his left arm and 
 carefully removing his snug-fitting glove from his right 
 hand, would take the letters, consisting of three or more, 
 and in an exasperatingly deliberate and slow manner de- 
 posit them in the box with the other mail. He would 
 watch them until they had disappeared down the chute 
 and out of sight. This operation was repeated by him 
 daily, except Sundays, during the three weeks, and wit- 
 nessed each time by either Herbert or myself, and han 
 grown very tiresome to both of us. Finally I concluded thai 
 we would prepare two letters and address them to our- 
 selves, stamp them properly and then cover the back of
 
 46 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 each envelope with a thick coating of mucilage. Herbert 
 was given one of the letters, I keeping the other. Herbert 
 placed himself on one side of the chute, while I took my 
 position on the other side, each of us being some distance 
 away from the receptacle. 
 
 The main corridor of the postoffice, in the forenoon, was 
 generally crowded with people passing to and fro, between 
 the hours of ten and twelve o'clock; for this reason we at- 
 tracted no special attention. We knew about the time that 
 No. I's brother was in the habit of visiting the postoffice, 
 and, therefore, we were not kept waiting but a few moments 
 for his appearance. He approached the mail box in his 
 usual manner, and was as painfully deliberate as he had been 
 on previous occasions, and after he had gone through the 
 customary maneuvers, but before he had time to drop the 
 three letters from his hand, Herbert rushed up to the recept- 
 acle from the left side and I from the right, and we both 
 reached out our hands at the same time with the letters we 
 held having the mucilaged surface, in such a way that they 
 came in contact with the three letters he had in his hand, and 
 forcing the letters into the chute with ours, the mucilage 
 sticking the bunch of five letters together. All slid into the 
 chute. No. i's brother became very indignant and mutter- 
 ed something about rudeness and awkwardness. I at- 
 tempted a hasty apology and disappeared around the cor- 
 ner to the office of the Assistant Postmaster, whose ac- 
 quaintance I had previously formed. I told him that I had 
 just deposited two letters in the main repository and that 
 I had discovered that I had placed the letters in the wrong 
 envelopes, and wished to get them so that I might rectify 
 my mistake. He at once conducted me to the main mail 
 box below, where there were at least a half a wagon load of 
 letters and general mail matter. I at once found the bunch
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 47 
 
 of five letters which were stuck together with the mucilage, 
 and in separating them had ample time to note the different 
 addresses oh the three envelopes mailed by No. I's brother. 
 One of these was addressed to a relative of Mrs. Dillard, 
 to her home in Tennessee. Another was addressed to an- 
 other brother of No. i, who resided in Atlanta, Georgia. 
 The third letter was addressed to J. D. Dillard, Jr., Ocean 
 Springs, Mississippi. I knew of the relatives in Tennessee 
 and of the brother in Atlanta, Georgia, and also that J. D. 
 Dillard, Jr., was the man I wanted to locate, and for the 
 first time learned that he was at Ocean Springs, Missis- 
 sippi. Ocean Springs was then a small winter resort located 
 on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, between Montgom- 
 ery and New Orleans. It was also an harbor on Mobile Bay 
 and near Biloxi, Mississippi. 
 
 Upon the receipt of this information I went to Ocean 
 Springs, Miss., arriving there about midnight on the night 
 that I had seen the letter addressed by No. I's brother to 
 this place. There I found that the postoffice of the town 
 was kept in a grocery store, which was part of the prin- 
 cipal hotel of the town. I learned that the landlord, who 
 was a very genial, clever man, and proprietor of the gro- 
 cery store, was postmaster. I quietly showed him the 
 photograph of No. i and his wife, and he immediately 
 identified them as Mr. and Mrs. Dillard, Jr. He told me 
 that Dillard had represented himself to him as a rich iron 
 manufacturer from Chattanooga, Tenn., that his wife was in 
 ill health and that they had been there for the past month 
 or more and had rented a beautiful cottage known as the 
 Montgomery Cottage, where they were living. This cot- 
 tage was situated on a small peninsula, which extended 
 from the main land, dividing Biloxi Bay from Mobile Bay. 
 It was about two miles from the postoffice at Ocean
 
 48 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Springs. The positive and ready manner in which the 
 postmaster identihed the photographs satisfied me beyond 
 any doubt that 1 had succeeded in locating No. i. I gave 
 the postmaster to understand that No. i had fallen heir to a 
 sum of money and property, and that neither he nor his wife 
 had become aware of the fact, and that I was very desir- 
 ous of apprising him of his good fortune as a surprise, and 
 before doing so, I desired to have all necessary papers pre- 
 pared, which would require a week or ten days, and, there- 
 fore, I was anxious to have the matter kept a profound 
 secret until everything was ready. The postmaster readily 
 promised me that he would not mention the matter to any 
 person until I gave him permission to do so, and after 
 making these arrangements I felt perfectly safe in not ar- 
 resting No. I until I had secured the proper papers au- 
 thorizing the same. 
 
 It was necessary for me to obtain requisition papers 
 from the Governors of Mississippi and Texas. It would 
 take about eight or ten days to accomplish this, as proper 
 complaint had to be lodged at Sherman, Texas, request for 
 the requisition had to be sent from Sherman to Austin, 
 Texas, and the request of the Governor of Texas to the 
 Governor of Mississippi for the extradition papers^ at 
 Jackson, Miss., where the agent for the state of Texas had 
 to appear in person to receive the papers. I had myself 
 appointed as the agent for the state of Texas. 
 
 At the conclusion of my understanding with the post- 
 master of Ocean Springs, I took a night train to New Or- 
 leans, where I met George Herbert, and instructed him to 
 go on the first train to Ocean Springs, and on arriving there 
 to represent himself as an invalid and to act the part. He 
 was naturally thin and had a sallow complexion, usually 
 without any color.
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 49 
 
 He represented himself as having just passed through 
 a severe attack of rheumatism, and claimed that he had 
 been advised by his physician to come to Ocean Springs, 
 where he should spend at least a month during his con- 
 valescence. He equipped himself with two heavy walking 
 canes, which he carried continuously during his stay at 
 Ocean Springs, and while he made good progress walking, 
 he seemed to b3^standers to do so with some difficulty, but 
 the balmy climate of the resort seemed to benefit him great- 
 ly, and he appeared to improve daily while there. He was 
 instructed by me to meander around and to get to the 
 Montgomery Cottage, providing, of course, if he could 
 succeed in so doing without arousing any suspicion, and if 
 he did succeed in getting inside of the cottage, that he was 
 to make a diagram of the place and surroundings, which 
 Herbert could do nicely, as he was a good draftsman. He 
 succeeded admirably. He formed the acquaintance of No. 
 I, whom he met at the postoffice on the second day after 
 his arrival. He also met him again the following day at 
 the same place, when No. i gave him an invitation to come 
 over to the cottage and take a sail on the bay, as he (No. 
 i) had a very nice sailing yacht, which he kept anchored 
 in front of the cottage. Herbert accepted the invitation 
 and visited the cottage the following day, when No. i 
 introduced him to his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in- 
 law, who happened to be at the cottage making a visit. He 
 belonged in Tennessee. Herbert was also introduced to a 
 young woman, about thirty years of age, who was rather 
 good-looking, a brunette and of medium size. This woman 
 was introduced to him under an assumed name, as we 
 learned within a few days thereafter that she was really 
 the wife of the missing agent. 
 
 Herbert was invited to luncl:§on at the cottage, and took
 
 50 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 a short sail with No. i, No. I's wife and the brunette lady 
 before mentioned. The yacht was a schooner-rigged, of 
 about twenty tons burden, and was skillfully manned by a 
 man about thirty-five years of age, black curly hair, a 
 little bald, about five feet, five or six inches in height, weigh- 
 ing probably one hundred and thirty or thirty-five pounds, 
 dark complexioned, and inclined to be slender, hollow 
 cheeked, and had somewhat of a consumptive appearance, 
 Herbert was not introduced to this man by his host, but 
 thought nothing of the matter, believing the sailing master, 
 who was always in uniform, to be simply an employe of 
 No. I. 
 
 Herbert made a good diagram of the interior of the cot- 
 tage, as well as the entrances and the grounds and out- 
 buildings. After that he made daily visits to the cottage, 
 when the weather permitted, the occupants seeming to 
 enjoy and encourage his visits. He had made arrange- 
 ments with the livery stable for the services of an old, but 
 gentle horse, and an old-fashioned buggy, in which he 
 drove around every day. 
 
 Herbert forwarded the diagram to me along with his 
 daily reports during my absence from Ocean Springs. All 
 this time I was busily engaged in procuring the necessary 
 papers and making arrangements to effect the arrest of 
 both No. I and No. 4, as upon receipt of Herbert's accu- 
 rate description of the sailing master of the yacht, I had 
 become satisfied that the sailing-master was none other than 
 No. 4, the much wanted agent. 
 
 In due time I procured the papers and proceeded to Can- 
 ton, Miss., which was the county seat for Ocean Springs. 
 I there found Sheriff Clark of that county. As sheriff* he 
 was commanded in the requisition papers to render me, as 
 agent for the state of Texas, all assistance I needed in mak-
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 51 
 
 ing the arrests. I found Sheriff Chirk to be a fine, affable 
 gentleman of the "old school." He was an ex-Confederate 
 captain, having served through the Civil War, had been 
 elected sheriff of his county at the close of that conflict, 
 and had succeeded himself in office up to the time of which 
 I write. I requested the sheriff' to go with me himself and 
 furnish one of his deputies. 
 
 We left Canton, which was about twenty miles north of 
 Ocean Springs, about ten o'clock at night, and arrived at 
 a station five miles north of the Springs an hour later, where 
 we left the train, as we did not deem it safe to get off the 
 train at Ocean Springs. I had been informed by Herbert, 
 with whom I was in daily communication, that No. I's 
 brother-in-law visited the depot at Ocean Springs at night 
 so as to see everybody who got off the night trains at that 
 station. He also stated that all passenger trains passing 
 that station were seen by some person connected with the 
 cottage. 
 
 I omitted stating heretofore that both No. i and No. 4 
 were good telegraph operators, and Herbert, while inspect- 
 ing the premises, had noticed two tiny copper wires run- 
 ning into the cottage, and had followed them from the cot- 
 tage to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and later 
 discovered that these wires were connected with the com- 
 mercial wire of the Western Union Telegraph Co., that ran 
 between New Orleans and the north. He also found that 
 they had a telegraph office fixed up in one of the rooms of 
 the cottage where they could find out all that was passing 
 over the wires of the Western Union Co., and take their 
 ease. 
 
 The peninsular upon which the cottage was situated was 
 thickly covered with pine and cedar trees, and the wires 
 were entirely hidden and could not have been discovered by
 
 52 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 au}' person unless one who was engaged as Herbert was, 
 so that these gentlemen could while away their time list- 
 ening to what was going over the wires. 
 
 After leaving the train, Sheriff Clark, his deputy and my- 
 self leisurely walked down the tracks to within a quarter of 
 a mile of Ocean Springs, and then making a detour around 
 the station, we reached the peninsula south from Ocean 
 Springs, at which point I had arranged to meet Herbert. 
 
 It began raining the evening before we had left Canton, 
 and continued to rain all night. It was in the month of 
 February, and was a cold and chilly rain. The night was 
 inky dark. 
 
 When we reached the peninsula we were sheltered 
 by the dense foliage of the trees, and we approached the 
 cottage to within about one thousand feet, and then decided 
 to remain quietly among the trees until we could see day- 
 light begin to appear in the east. At the first appearance 
 of da3dight Herbert and myself reconnoitered, circling the 
 cottage, he going one way and I the other. We found 
 that every one was apparently asleep. We then went back 
 and reported to Sheriff Clark and his deputy. We sur- 
 rounded the place, Herbert and the deputy covering the 
 rear of the cottage, and the skeriff and myself going to the 
 front door and rapping for admission, which was denied. 
 After we had rapped for admission we could hear the win- 
 dow shutters being pushed open and the inmates peered 
 out of the windows and discovered that the place was sur- 
 rounded, or rather guarded, on each side. Finally Sheriff 
 Clark told the occupants that unless they opened the door 
 that we would force it. After some parleying the front 
 door was opened. The door was a double door and only 
 one-half of it was opened, and very suddenly No. I's broth, 
 er-in-law, a very tall and slender individual, appeared in
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 53 
 
 the open door with a double-barreled shotgun in his hands, 
 but before he had time to raise the gun to a shooting po- 
 sition, he found himself covered with two double-barreled 
 guns, one in the hands of the sheriff and the other in my 
 hand. Upon being ordered to drop the gun he did so 
 promptly. The sheriff took possession of him and I started 
 down the wide hall, which ran directly through the center 
 of the cottage. As I was passing the second door from the 
 front door A^o. i stepped out of the room into the hall with 
 a pistol in his hand. I recognized him and promptly arrest- 
 ed him. 
 
 I said to him, "Where is No. 4?" 
 He answered, "In the room across the hall." 
 I went to the room indicated and rapped, but was re- 
 fused admission. I then forced the door and found No. 4 
 standing in the middle of the room partly dressed. After 
 some trouble with No. 4 and his wife, we took them all to 
 Ocean Springs. We walked over there, a distance of about 
 two miles. It was breakfast time when we reached there, 
 and the rain had stopped. We went to the hotel and got 
 something to eat, and the landlord learned for the first 
 time the true nature of the surprise that I had in store for 
 No. I. 
 
 There was an early train to New Orleans, and Herbert 
 and I took the two prisoners and left on this train for that 
 city. I telegraphed ahead to have a carriage meet us out- 
 side of New Orleans, and we left the train a short distance 
 from that city. Here we entered the carriage, which con- 
 veyed us to the ferry boat at New Orleans. We took the 
 ferry and went across to Algiers. Our object in doing this 
 was that I wished to avoid newspaper notoriety. The news- 
 paper men we were sure to meet in the main station at New 
 Orleans had we gone there.
 
 54 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 At Algiers we boarded a Southern Pacific train for Hous- 
 ton, Texas. At Houston we took a Houston & Texas Cen- 
 tral train, which took us through to Dallas, Texas. 
 
 The prisoners were lodged in jail before the newspapers 
 had mentioned the capture or arrest, for the reason that I 
 knew that there were two others connected with the swin- 
 dle, who resided in Dallas, and had not yet been arrested, 
 who were not even suspected of having any connection with 
 the swindle or any other crime by the people of Dallas. 
 
 We arrived at Dallas at night with the prisoners. The fol- 
 lowing morning the Chief of Police, Jim Arnold, and my- 
 self picked up and arrested the other two accomplices. 
 These men were Hebrews. One of them had been a re- 
 spectable and prominent cotton buyer up to his connection 
 with the swindle. The other was an educated man and 
 somewhat noted for having been mixed up in crooked deal- 
 ings. He was a lawyer, but was not practicing law for a 
 livelihood. 
 
 The reader should remember that No. i was an ex-rail- 
 road agent and telegraph operator, and had been employed 
 as such up to about one year and a half before he became 
 engaged in this cotton swindle. He had become thoroughly 
 familiar with the railroad system of receiving and handling 
 cotton. 
 
 No. 2, who lived in Dallas, was also familiar with the buy- 
 ing and selling, and value of cotton, as well as the custom- 
 ary way of obtaining cash from the banks on bills of lad- 
 ing for the same. 
 
 No. 3 was the reputable cotton buyer, or broker, before 
 mentioned in this story. He also lived in Dallas. 
 
 The arrests at Dallas added greatly to the excitement 
 which was caused by the incarceration of No. 4 and No. i 
 the night before.
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 55 
 
 The prisoners all waived preliminary hearings and were 
 committed to jail in default of bail to wait the action of the 
 Grand Jury, which convened a month or six weeks later. 
 In the meantime, three of the defendants succeeded in get- 
 ting bonds and were released from jail. My recollection 
 now is that the bonds were fixed at $10,000 each. 
 
 No. 3 was taken sick immediately after his arrest and 
 continued to steadily grow worse until he died, which was 
 about two months after he was arrested. 
 
 No. I and No. 2 almost immediately after they had been 
 released on bonds fled the countr}^ No. i going to Old 
 Mexico, and No. 2 seeking refuge in London, Ontario, Can- 
 ada. 
 
 When the cases were called for trial in court at Dallas, 
 Texas, No. i and No. 2 failed to appear, and their bonds 
 were declared forfeited. No. 3, having died, his bond, of 
 course, was not forfeited. 
 
 No. 4, it appears either did not try to procure bail, or if 
 so, did not succeed, as he remained in jail. Meanwhile 1 
 was employed in procuring duplicates of the bills of lading, 
 which had been issued and sold to the purchasers of the cot- 
 ton, which caused me to visit the cities of Philadelphia, New 
 York, Providence, Rhode Island and Fall River, Mass. The 
 procuring of these duplicates proved no easy task, but 1 
 finally obtained certified copies of all of them. These dupli- 
 cates were to be used as evidence at the trial. 
 
 I was at Dallas on the date set for the trial, and, on learn- 
 ing of the absence of the defendants, and that the court 
 had postponed the trial of No. 4, he being the only one with- 
 in the reach of the court, I at once reported the situation 
 to the railroad officials at St. Louis, in reply to which I re- 
 ceived instructions by wire from Vice-President Hoxie, of 
 the Missouri Pacific to proceed at once to locate and arrest
 
 56 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 the fugitives and take them back to Dallas, and there to 
 turn them over to the proper authorities, so that they 
 might be dealt with according to law. 
 
 Upon receipt of these instructions, I detailed operatives 
 Bailey and Herbert of my staff to locate and arrest Xo. i, 
 which they succeeded in doing after a lot of hard and good 
 work. They arrested him at Guymas, Old Mexico. This 
 city is located on the Pacific Coast. They brought their 
 prisoner back to Dallas and lodged him in jail. 
 
 I had assumed the task of locating No. 2. After con- 
 siderable work I discovered that he was in London, Cana- 
 da, which is just one hundred miles east of Detroit, Mich- 
 igan. I visited London, where I saw No. 2, without being 
 seen by him. He would have known me at sight, as it was 
 I who had arrested him in Dallas. 
 
 I found that he had surrounded himself with a number 
 of sympathizing friends in, London, many of whom were 
 fugitives from justice from the United States, as he was. 
 Many of them, he among them, had money and felt safe 
 while on Canadian soil. 
 
 The extradition treaty then in force between Great Brit- 
 ain and the United States was known as the Ashburton 
 and Webster Treaty, and was passed, I believe, in 1844. 
 This treaty only permitted the extradition of fugitives 
 charged with one of seven crimes ; murder, felonious assault 
 with intent to murder, arson, rape, forgery, uttering of 
 forged paper and perjury. 
 
 After I had seen No. 2 in London, I communicated the 
 facts by wire code to Mr. Hoxie, he giving my report to 
 ex-Governor John C. Brown, the General Solicitor for the 
 Gould System of railroads. His headquarters were in the 
 same building with Mr. Hoxie's at St. Louis. 
 
 Governor Brown was thoroughly conversant with this
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 57 
 
 case, and had a national reputation as a lawyer, and when 
 told by Mr. Hoxie of the whereabouts of No. 2, he at once 
 wired me, by code, to try my best to induce No. 2 to accom- 
 pany me across the line of Canada into either Michigan or 
 New York state. If I succeeded in getting him across the 
 boundary line I could hold him in either state until extra- 
 dition papers could be secured from the Governor of Texas. 
 
 From the instructions Gov. Brown had wired me, I 
 was satisfied that the Governor was not familiar with the 
 statutes of Canada pertaining to extradition. If I had at- 
 tempted to induce the fugitive across the Canada line for 
 the purpose of arresting him without legal authority I 
 would be subjecting myself to prosecution for kidnapping. 
 If convicted of that charge under the Canadian statutes, I 
 would have been sent to prison for a term of from two to 
 seven years. Knowing that it was impossible for me to 
 obey Gov. Brown's instructions, I employed a young attor- 
 ney, or barrister, as they are called in Canada, whose name 
 was McBride, and while he had been practicing law but a 
 few years, he was recommended to me very highly for his 
 ability and integrity. 
 
 During my consultation with him I explained to him ful- 
 ly that the bills of lading, which had been used in the cot- 
 ton swindle, had been signed by the company's agent in 
 blank and then turned over by the agent to No. 2 in blocks. 
 No. 2 had then filled out each blank for various numbers of 
 bales of cotton, setting forth the number of bales and the 
 weight of each bale in the regular way. He then turned the 
 bills of lading thus prepared by him over to No. 3, whom 
 the reader will remember was a cotton buyer. No. 3 placed 
 these bills of lading in various banks at Sherman, Dallas and 
 other Texas towns. He drew cash from the banks for the 
 face value, less ten per cent, for the purpose heretofore stat-
 
 58 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 ed. After explaining all this to Mr. McBride, I asked him 
 what crime these men had committed under the statutes of 
 Canada. He promptly answered without even referring to 
 the statutes, that under the Canadian law, they were all 
 guilty of forgery and having uttered and published forged 
 paper, including the company's agent who had signed each 
 of these bills as agent. 
 
 I said, "Supposing these men had fled from the United 
 States and were found in Canada, could they be arrested and 
 extradited back to the United States for trial?" 
 
 "Yes," he said, "they surely could, under the provisions 
 of the Ashburton and Webster Treaty, which provides for 
 the extradition of fugitives w'ho are legally charged with 
 the crime of forgery, or of uttering and publishing forged 
 paper." 
 
 "But," I said, "Mr. McBride, the company's agent signed 
 these bills of lading." 
 
 He replied, "I understand from you that the agent had re- 
 ceived no cotton. Am I right?" 
 
 I answered, "Yes, he received no cotton." 
 
 "Then," said Air. McBride, "the agent signed the bills of 
 lading for fraudulent purposes, and therefore his signature 
 w^as unauthorized by the company who employed him, and 
 under the Canadian law he is a forger, while the other con- 
 spirators would be guilty of uttering and publishing forged 
 paper. The penalty would be just as severe for the latter 
 oiTense, under the Canadian law, as it would be for forgery." 
 
 I neglected to state that after I had located No. 2, at Lon- 
 don, Ontario, the railroad company's attorneys were in- 
 formed by the judge who presided over the criminal court 
 at Dallas, Texas, that in his opinion the fraudulent bills of 
 lading heretofore described were not forgeries, as they had 
 been signed by the company's agent, and for this reason, I
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 59 
 
 presume, Gov. Brown instructed me as he did, he Knowing 
 that the fugitive, No. 2, could not be extradited from Can- 
 ada unless we could substantiate a charge for forgery against 
 him. No doubt, at the time, Gov. Brown believed the rul- 
 ing of the Texas judge was correct. All of which I fully 
 explained to Mr. McBride, to which he replied, "A Texas 
 judge has no jurisdiction in Canada, and his opinion or 
 construction of our law would amount to nothing here. 
 And if you hnd any fugitive from the United States in Can- 
 ada, who has been connected with the swindle, yoti will 
 have to identify them as being the right parties, and then set 
 forth the manner in which the swindle was enacted and 
 the amount of money or propert}^ secured by the swindlers, 
 and it does not make any difference what name the Texas 
 statutes or the Texas judge gives the crime committed in 
 the manner you have described to me, it would be forgery 
 here. You must understand that you must comply with the 
 requirements of the Canadian laws in order to extradite a 
 fugitive from Canada. If you should find your fugitive here 
 in London you can, if you desire, go to any other county 
 or city in the province of Ontario and make your complaint, 
 have a warrant issued for the arrest of the fugitive, bring 
 an officer from that county or city to serve the warrant , ar- 
 rest him here and take him immediately before the magis- 
 trate who issued the warrant, and have the prisoner commit- 
 ted to jail for two weeks without bail. At the expiration of 
 the two weeks, should you desire an additional two weeks, 
 you can secure same by convincing the magistrate that you 
 were unable to secure the presence of the necessary wit- 
 nesses to substantiate the identity of the prisoner, and his 
 connection with the swindle ; our law will allow you these 
 continuances. After the prisoner had had his preliminary 
 hearing, if the testimony offered should be sufficient to satis-
 
 60 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 fy the magistrate, he would then fix the bond at the amount 
 of four times the amount involved in the swindle, which 
 would be in this case nearly one-half million dollars." 
 
 After McBride had finished the foregoing advice to me, 1 
 thanked him and paid him his fee, which was only Sio.oo, 
 and went to Chatham, Ontario. Chatham is the county 
 seat, about fifty miles west of London, and just half way 
 between London and Detroit, Michigan. 
 
 I found the queen's counsel at Chatham, to whom I fully 
 explained my case. Whereupon, he verified and approved 
 the advice I had received from Mr. McBride of London. 
 I at once filed the necessary complaint, and procured a war- 
 rant for the arrest of No. 2. The warrant was addressed 
 and given to the chief of police of Chatham, who accompa- 
 nied me back to London, where I pointed out the fugitive 
 to him. 
 
 We arrested him immediately and took him to Chatham, 
 where he was locked up as a fugitive, and his hearing set for 
 two weeks later in accordance with the Canadian law. 
 
 The reader will remember that when I first located No. 2 
 in London he was surrounded by newly found friends there, 
 a number of whom were fugitives like himself. For this 
 reason I felt it prudent to begin legal proceedings against 
 him in a country where both he and I were strangers and 
 avoid the annoyance and trouble which his sympathizing 
 fugitive friends were sure to cause. 
 
 As soon as No. 2 was safely lodged in jail I wired Gov. 
 Brown at St. Louis, Missouri, stating that I had arrested 
 and locked up No. 2 on the charge of being a fugitive from 
 the state of Texas. United States of America, that the hear- 
 ing was* set for two weeks later and that while passing 
 through St. Louis on my way to Texas, I would stop over 
 long enough to report in person to him. In about two
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 61 
 
 hours I received his reply, which was a severe reprimand, 
 and read as follows : "Why did you disobey my instruc- 
 tions when you knew that I had instructed you as to what 
 the Texas judge had decided, and therefore, the fugitive 
 could not be extradited from Canada under the existing 
 treaty, nor in accordance with the act of Congress, which 
 provides for said treaty. Answer." (Signed) John C. 
 Brown. 
 
 To which I answered as follows : 
 
 "Hon. John C. Brown, General Solicitor, Missouri Pacific 
 Railroad Co., St. Louis, Missouri: — I disregarded your in- 
 structions, finding them erroneous, and that you did not 
 understand the law pertaining to this case. Have also 
 learned that a Texas Judge's ruling are not considered in 
 Canada, as I find that I can legally extradite the fugitive 
 from Canada under the present law." (Signed) Thomas 
 Furlong. 
 
 After sending the above message, I borrowed a copy of 
 the revised statutes of Canada from the Crown Counsel, 
 who would be called prosecuting attorney in the United 
 States. He marked each section of the statutes which per- 
 tained to our case, I at once put the law book in my grip, 
 and started for St. Louis, arriving there the following morn- 
 ing. 
 
 I immediately reported to Vice-President Hoxie, whom I 
 found in his office. After the usual greeting Mr. Hoxie 
 said to me, "Tom, Gov. Brown showed me a message that 
 he had received from you yesterday. He appeared to be 
 quite angry." 
 
 To which I replied, 'T am here to explain my actions ful- 
 ly, and I wish you would kindly request Gov. Brown to 
 come to your office at his convenience, as 1 think my ex- 
 planation should be made to him in your presence so that
 
 62 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 one explanation may serve both. My time is limited, as I 
 must go to Texas and procure certain witnesses and return 
 with them to Chatham, Ontario, within two weeks, the time 
 set for the hearing." 
 
 Whereupon, Mr. Hoxie sent for Gov. Brown, who ap- 
 peared in a few moments. After the usual salutation, I re- 
 peated the instructions I received from him. I then stated 
 that I had found it impossible for me to have carried out the 
 instructions in Canada without subjecting myself to prose- 
 cution, and probably a sentence to the penitentiary, and I, 
 therefore, concluded to do the next best thing, which was 
 to employ a competent attorney, who advised me as to my 
 rights and how to proceed legally under the laws of that 
 country. I then produced the copy of the statutes, which I 
 had borrowed from the crown counsel, and directed Gov. 
 Brown's attention to the marked sections before mentioned, 
 which he carefully read. After he had finished I produced 
 and read the telegram I had received from him, at the same 
 time calling his attention to the question he had asked me 
 to answer in his message. 
 
 He then compared his message with the one he had re- 
 ceived froin me in dignified silence, and then without a 
 word handed the two messages to Mr. Hoxie, near whose 
 chair he was standing. Mr. Hoxie read them and then 
 looked up at the Governor and said, "Governor, what do you 
 think of this matter?" 
 
 For answer Gov. Brown deliberately walked around the 
 table to where I was sitting and extended his hand to me, 
 and I arose and took it. He turned to Mr. Hoxie and said 
 in a pleasant manner, "Furlong was right all the way 
 through." Then turning to me he said, "Furlong, you ought 
 to have been a lawyer. I was a little angry when I received 
 your message yesterday, but I see that it was all right, as
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 63 
 
 you only answered the questions I had asked you." 
 
 I left St. Louis for Dallas that night, and while there I 
 arranged with the Chief of Police, Jim Arnold, and other 
 well-known citizens, to accompany me to Chatham, Ontario, 
 as witnesses in the case pending against No. 2. These 
 witnesses had all known No. 2 for years, and were familiar 
 with his reputation as to truth and veracity, his business 
 connections, etc. The witnesses and myself arrived in 
 Chatham in time for the hearing of No. 2. 
 
 The judge, after hearing the evidence, committed No. 2 
 to jail without bail to await extradition papers from the 
 President of the United States and the Governor General of 
 Canada. No. 2.,was defended in the hearing by two noted 
 barristers, who at once appealed to a higher court. In due 
 time the appeal was argued and the action of the lower court 
 sustained; whereupon No. 2's counsel had the case taken 
 up to the Privey Court at Toronto. This court affirmed the 
 action of the lower courts, and it being the highest tribunal 
 in Canada its decision was final and No. 2 was committed 
 without bail for extradition. 
 
 I immediately left Toronto for Washington, D. C, hav- 
 ing already received the necessary papers from the state of 
 Texas. I presented these to the Department of Justice in 
 Washington, on the evening of my arrival there, and they 
 were promptly approved and sent to President Cleveland 
 for his signature. By the way, these papers were the first 
 of their kind ever signed by President Cleveland, it being 
 but four days after his inauguration for his first term as 
 President of the United States. The papers were delivered 
 to me and I left for Chatham, Ontario, for the purpose of 
 taking No. 2 back to Dallas, Texas, for trial and bearing the 
 commission of President Cleveland to do so. 
 The following day the train on which I was riding stopped
 
 64 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 twenty minutes at Canandaigua, New York, for dinner. As 
 I was eating my dinner a messenger boy called out my name 
 at the dining room door. I answered and he handed me 
 a telegram, which was from the high sheriff of Chatham, 
 and read as follows : 
 
 "When my jailor went to the cell occupied by No. 2 at 
 twelve o'clock to day he found him dead. Had apparently 
 been dead an hour. Cause of death yet unknown. Probably 
 heart failure." 
 
 I wired him that I would be in Chatham on the following 
 morning. On my arrival there a post-mortem autopsy was 
 made of the body of No. 2, and it developed that he had 
 committed suicide by taking laudanum. The sheriff and the 
 jailor have never been able to satisfy themselves as to how 
 No. 2 got possession of the poison. He had friends and 
 relatives who lived at Jackson, Michigan, who called at 
 Chatham and identified the body, and took it to Jackson for 
 burial. 
 
 I then returned to Dallas, Texas, so as to be present at 
 the trial of No. i and No. 4, they being the only two of the 
 swindlers left for trial. 
 
 When I had first arrested the swindlers and placed them 
 in jail at Dallas, the Prosecuting Attorney called me to his 
 office and told me that the defendants had employed a num- 
 ber of the most able attorneys at that bar to defend them, 
 and he said that he thought that the railroad company 
 ought to permit him to select an attorney to assist him in 
 the prosecution of the defendants. I told him that I had no 
 doubt but that. General Solicitor Brown would do so if he 
 would make the request of him. 
 
 He replied that as I was going direct to St. Louis that he 
 wished me to make the request for him, which I did. ^^'^hen 
 I delivered his request to Cov. Brown, he replied that Capt.
 
 THE BIG COTTON SWINDLE. 65 
 
 Tom Brown, of Sherman, Texas, was the railroad company's 
 attorney in that district, an able lawyer, and he would be 
 glad to instruct him to assist the Prosecuting Attorney in 
 every way that he could, or, he would furnish him any other 
 of the company's attorneys in Texas, should he believe their 
 assistance necessary, and that he would take it up with the 
 Prosecuting Attorney at Dallas and make all the necessary 
 arrangements. 
 
 I communicated these facts to the Prosecuting Attorney. 
 Later Gov. Brown informed me that he (the prosecuting 
 attorney) had selected a lawyer to assist him who was not 
 in any way connected with the railroad service, and that 
 he had suggested that this assistant should be paid a fee of 
 five or six thousand dollars by the railroad company for his 
 services. Gov. Brown further stated that the attorney se- 
 lected for an assistant was not looked upon with favor by 
 either himself or any of his assistants. Some of the as- 
 sistants connected with the legal department of the railroad 
 company, under General Solicitor Brown, refused to asso- 
 ciate themselves with the cases if the man selected by the 
 Prosecuting Attorney was connected in any way with them. 
 His services were refused and Capt. Tom Brown went to 
 Dallas for the purpose of assisting in the prosecution of the 
 two remaining accused swindlers. 
 
 I had turned the duplicate bills of lading over to Capt. 
 Brown and on the morning of the trial of No. i and No. 4, 
 he placed these papers in his overcoat pocket with other 
 documentary evidence. He was a little late and hastened 
 into the dining room, leaving his coat and hat on a rack 
 in the corridor of the hotel. When he fmished his break- 
 fast and returned to his overcoat he discovered the papers 
 had been stolen. When the cases were called into court, 
 the prosecuting attorney asked that a nolle prosequi be en-
 
 66 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 tered in the cases, thus letting two of the principals in the 
 swindle go free. 
 
 Thus ended the cotton swindle, the most gigantic swin- 
 dle of this kind that had ever taken place in the United 
 States, or, I believe, in any other country up to that time. 
 
 Capt. Tom Brown was afterwards elected as Judge of the 
 Supreme Bench of Texas, and was always esteemed as an 
 able jurist and a thorough gentleman. 
 
 A REMARKABLE CASE. 
 
 IDENTIFICATION OF A LITTLE GIRL FROM A DESCRIPTION GIVEN 
 OF HER FATHER, LEADS TO THE LATTER's ARREST. 
 
 Identification of criminals from descriptions is not always 
 an easy task, for two reasons. First, there are but few men 
 who can intelligently describe a person from memory. This 
 is an art within itself. The second reason is, it takes so 
 little to change the general appearance of a man to such a 
 degree that it is hard to pick him up from a mere descrip- 
 tion, that is, unless the man wanted has some peculiar feat- 
 ure or form that is very noticeable. The ordinary man, to 
 change his general appearance, has to do but little. A 
 change of shape or style of hat or clothing, the cutting 
 off or growing of a mustache, or even a haircut or shave 
 will often serve the purpose. I have never claimed to 
 have what is today called "a camera eye" but I did a piece 
 of identification work while special agent of the Allegheny 
 Valley Railroad in the early '70s of which I have always 
 been proud, for the reason that there has absolutely never 
 been another case like it in the police annals of the entire 
 country. 
 
 During the spring 1874, a man giving the name of Joseph 
 Chalfont applied to Mr. Thomas M. King, the Division 
 Superintendent of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, at Pitts-
 
 A REMARKABLE CASE. 67 
 
 burg, Pa., for a situation as locomotive engineer. This 
 man, Chalfont, was a rather remarkable person, appearing 
 to be about thirty-six years of age. He stood more than 
 six feet in height, with extremely long arms and legs. 
 His complexion was dark and sallow, and his hair coarse 
 and black. His neck was very long, with a noticeable 
 "Adam's Apple." His cheek-bones were high, and his nose 
 straight and long. His eyes were beady and black, being 
 set far back in his head and very close together ; they were 
 crowned with a bushy pair of eyebrows, which met above 
 the ridge of his nose. Then to make the picture more com- 
 plete, his forehead was low, giving his head a small, bullet- 
 like appearance. The reader can see that a description 
 of this man, if given accurately and with any care could be 
 almost as good as a photograph. 
 
 Chalfont presented a letter of recommendation from the 
 Master Mechanic of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 
 Ry., at Buffalo, N. Y. The letter was very good, and stated 
 that Chalfont had been in the employ of that company for 
 a couple of years, and that he had left its service of his 
 own accord, because he hoped to benefit himself by a 
 change of climate. Supt. King was a close observer, and 
 a good judge of human nature. He was badly in need 
 of men at the time, and being rather impressed with Chal- 
 font's appearance and manner, he examined him as to the 
 rules governing the movement of trains. He stood a fair 
 examination and was engaged. It is usual for an engineer 
 who has not been promoted on a road, or who comes from 
 another road, to spend several weeks in riding on the en- 
 gines back and forth over the portion of the road on which 
 he is expected to run. In this way a man could become 
 familiar with all the grades, switches, side-tracks, curves, 
 signals and so forth. Chalfont was given a copy of the
 
 68 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 company's rules and an order to learn the road. When 
 he had done this he was given freight engine No. 42 to haul 
 freight between South Oil City and Pittsburg. One day 
 he was given a train of empty oil tanks at Pittsburg, and 
 started for South Oil City with them. He arrived there in 
 due time and turned the cars in safely. The following 
 evening he was given a train of forty-five full oil tanks 
 with orders to take them to Pittsburg. When he reached 
 Sarah's Furnace, about half the distance to Pittsburg, he 
 received orders to run upon the side-track there and allow 
 a north-bound freight to pass him. He took the siding as 
 he had been ordered, and in due time the first section of 
 the freight met and passed him there. The engine on this 
 section carried two red lights, which is the warning to 
 railroad men that another section is following the first one, 
 and it has the same roadway privileges as the first sec- 
 tion. It therefore became the duty of Chalfont to remain 
 upon the siding until the second section had passed him. 
 Instead of doing this, however, Chalfont pulled out on the 
 main line and started for Pittsburg. About one and a half 
 miles south of Sarah's Furnace there is a curve known as 
 Hard Scrabble Curve, which is one of the shortest and 
 most dangerous curves on the road. Here on this curve 
 Chalfont's train collided with the second section which was 
 going north. Both engines were about the same size and 
 weight, so when they met the force of ninety-five empty 
 cars going north and forty-five loaded cars going south 
 caused the engines to rear up in front, crushing the ma- 
 chinery of both. Tlie fire from the boilers immediately 
 spread, and soon the oil tanks were a mass of flame. As 
 the heat grew greater the tanks exploded, scattering the 
 blazing oil over the surface of the Allegheny River. The 
 current was quite strong and it carried the blazing oil
 
 A REMARKABLE CASE. 69 
 
 down-stream for miles, spreading destruction as it went. 
 The heat from the oil changed the wreckage into a mass of 
 molten metal. Chalfont's fireman was crushed to death, 
 as was his front brakeman. The same fate overtook the 
 engineer, fireman and brakeman of the north-bound train. 
 The bodies were cremated in the blazing oil. 
 
 At this time oil was worth from $7.00 to $8.00 per barrel. 
 The amount of oil lost totals up to nearly $200,000 in value. 
 The company's loss in property was not less than $500,000, 
 besides being responsible for the loss of the five lives. All 
 this destruction was caused by the incompetency of Chal- 
 font and the negligence of his conductor. 
 
 Chalfont luckily, or rather unluckily, escaped with his 
 life by springing from his engine cab out upon the bluff 
 side of the track. Here he climbed an almost perpendicular 
 cliff about 400 feet high. The blaze from the oil had 
 burned nearly all the clothing from his back, and had 
 singed the back of his head and neck into a blister. He 
 escaped into the hills. 
 
 The officers of the company at Pittsbiirg were notified 
 immediately by wire, and a wrecking train and crew were 
 sent to the scene post haste, in charge of Supt. King. 
 They arrived at the wreck early the following morning. 
 Here Supt. King learned what facts he could as to the 
 cause of the wreck. He then wired to me to come to the 
 wreck on the first train. I was at Oil City at the tim^?, 
 and left immediately, arriving at the wreck about noon. 
 On my arrival Mr. King walked a little distance down 
 the track, out of earshot from the noise of the wrecking 
 crew, and sat down vipon a log. He then told me what he 
 had learned and as to the cause of the wreck. He also 
 proceeded to describe Chalfont to me. He was so deliber- 
 ate and careful in this description that it took him nearly
 
 70 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 an hour to do it. He had that rare faculty of being able 
 to describe one person to another with accuracy. He then 
 said, "Tom, do you think you could recognize this man 
 from the description I have given you?" I answered, 
 "Yes, I believe I could. The description you have given 
 me reminds me very much of *Morg' Erwin, a passenger 
 engineer on the road." At this Mr. King, usually very 
 quiet and sedate, grew very excited and clapped his hands 
 as if in joy, exclaiming, "Why didn't I think of that be- 
 fore? He looks like *Morg' Erwin." 
 
 I then said, "No, Mr. King, he looks very much like Er- 
 win, but not exactly like him. He is very much like him 
 in some respects, though, being taller than Erwin. Chal- 
 font's neck is longer and his 'Adam's Apple' is much larger 
 and more prominent. His eyes are not so large and are 
 set back farther in his head than Erwin's. Chalfont's 
 cheek-bones are much higher, while his hair is more coarse 
 and much like horse hair. In short, Erwnn is a more re- 
 fined man than Chalfont." 
 
 To this Mr. King replied, "Tom, I feel sure that you will 
 be able to identify that man on sight, and I want you to get 
 him at all hazards. Spare no time or trouble, but 'GET 
 HIM.' Take him to Katanning (the county seat of West- 
 moreland Co., Pa., where this wreck occurred) and lodge 
 him in jail." 
 
 Mr. King then told me that I would find the letter of 
 recommendation Chalfont had given him on file in his of- 
 fice at Pittsburg. I took the first train for Pittsburg, where 
 I applied to Mr. Joe Reinhart, Mr. King's chief clerk, who 
 was later President of the great Atchison, Topeka and 
 Santa Fe System, and he turned the letter over to me. 
 I then concluded to go to Buffalo and see the Master Me- 
 chanic of the Lake Shore, from whose office the letter pur-
 
 A REMARKABLE CASE. 71 
 
 ported to come. At Buffalo I found the Master Mechanic 
 and showed him Chalfont's letter. After reading the letter 
 he told me that the letter head was genuine, but the letter 
 itself, with stamp, seal and signature, were forgeries. He 
 had neither written the letter nor authorized it, but he 
 identified Chalfont's hand-writing. I learned that Chal- 
 font had been a country school teacher earlier in his 
 life, and that he received such small pay as such that he 
 could not support his wife and children. He came to Buf- 
 falo, where he applied for work in the round-house of the 
 Lake Shore shops there. He was given a position at wip- 
 ing engines in the round-house. Here also his salary was 
 too small to support his family and pay rent at the same 
 time, so he was forced to move once a month to avoid 
 paying rent. One day he got into the Master Mechanic's 
 office and stole a part of a block of the official letter heads 
 of the company. He then wrote himself a letter of recom- 
 mendation which he had shown to Mr. King, and when 
 the chance offered he stamped and sealed the letter, after 
 stealing the stamp one night from the office. About this 
 time he became so lazy and indolent that he was repri- 
 manded by the Master Mechanic. 
 
 The Master Mechanic told me that he had discharged 
 Chalfont, previous to his going to Pittsburg, because of 
 failure to pay his grocery bills and his rent. The grocers 
 and landlords were garnisheeing his wages, and as the 
 company did not tolerate such things, he was discharged. 
 He also said that Chalfont's family was somewhere in 
 Buffalo, but he did not know their whereabouts because 
 they had moved so often. I thanked him for this informa- 
 tion and then decided to see the Superintendent of Police. 
 
 I called at the office of Superintendent Phillips, and asked him 
 to give me an officer who was more familiar with the haunts
 
 72 
 
 and dwellings of railroad men in Buffalo than I was. He 
 gladly assented and assigned Detective Tony Collins to 
 assist me. We started out by canvassing the grocers, 
 butchers and milkmen in the neighborhood where the Lake 
 Shore Railway men resided. During the forenoon we 
 found many who knew of Chalfont's family, but did not 
 know where they were at present. About 3 :oo P. M., as 
 Collins and I were going down a side street called Hay- 
 ward St., I noticed a group of six or eight children play- 
 ing before a row of wooden cottages, or more properly, 
 shacks. One little girl in a dirty blue dress attracted my 
 attention because of the likeness she bore to Chalfont, 
 according to my description of him. I also noticed a 
 grocery on the corner below us. When we got to the 
 grocery I told the man with me, Detective Collins, to go 
 back to the group and ask the little girl in the blue dress 
 to deliver a package to his wife. He was to tell her that 
 he lived in the large white house down the street. I then 
 told him to return to the grocery with the girl so that I 
 could get a chance to speak to her without exciting her. 
 He returned in a few moments with the little girl, who 
 looked uncommonly like a little Indian squaw, and who 
 proved to be the living image of lier father. W'hile Col- 
 lins was inside the store examining the vegetables I said 
 to the girl, "Why, hello, sis. where is your uncle Charlie 
 now?" She smiled and said, "Oh, do you know Uncle 
 Charlie?" I said, "Oh, sure; I know him well." She 
 then said, "He is down in Pennsylvania firing on a rail- 
 road." (Uncle Charlie was Chalfont's brother-in-law, and 
 had gotten a position as fireman at the same time Chal- 
 font got his jjob as engineer.) I then said to her, "Is your 
 father home now?" She looked up and said, "Yes, he got 
 home a couple of days ago, but he is sick, and — oh, he said
 
 A REMARKABLE CASE. 
 
 73 
 
 "Oh, do you know Uncle Charlie?"
 
 74 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 I mustn't tell any one." I said, "That's all right, but tell 
 me which one of those houses do you live in?" She said, 
 "We live in that middle one, with the bunch of rags stuffed 
 in the window." 
 
 I attracted Collin's attention, and told him to send the 
 girl away on some pretext. We then went up to the house 
 the girl had pointed out. I sent Collins around to the back 
 door and I went to the front door and knocked. Mrs. Chal- 
 font opened the door, and when I asked for Joe Chalfont 
 she attempted to slam the door in my face. I pushed the 
 door open and entered the house. Seeing no one in the 
 front room I walked through it to the door of the back 
 room. Here I saw Chalfont seated before a window with 
 his head and neck all swathed in bandages. As 1 entered 
 the room he said, without moving, "Well, Mr. Furlong, you 
 have got me." I answered, "Yes, Joe, I am sorry to say I 
 have." This showed conclusively that I had been pointed 
 out to him while he was on the road without my 
 knowledge. Here I will state that up to the time I entered 
 that room I had never seen Joe Chalfont himself, nor a 
 picture or photograph of him. He had seen me and had 
 heard me speaking so that he knew my voice. I had 
 suspected from the first that Chalfont might know me, so 
 when I saw the little girl, whom I believed was his 
 daughter, I did not stop in front of the houses in which I 
 supposed the children lived, but kept on to the grocery 
 store. 
 
 This is the only case of its kind on record in which an 
 officer picked out a child from a group of children and 
 recognized her from a description of her father, whom the 
 officer had never seen. 
 
 I arrested Chalfont and took him to Katanning, as Mr. 
 King had ordered. I then went to Pittsburg and reported
 
 A REMARKABLE CASE. 75 
 
 in detail to General Superintendent J. J. Lawrence. Mean- 
 while it dawned upon me that I had done a rather com- 
 mendable thing in arresting this man Chalfont, and I was 
 expecting a little praise from the General Superintendent. 
 Imagine my surprise, upon being ushered into his office, 
 at his beginning to reprimand me for arresting Chalfont. 
 He said, "Furlong, you have gotten this company into a 
 lot of trouble by arresting this man." 
 
 To this I replied, "Why sir, Mr. King ordered me to 
 get him at all hazards, and I simply carried out his orders." 
 
 He then went on, in a most bitter tone, "Well, you should 
 not have done it. I think I shall be forced to discharge 
 you for so doing. From your reports from Buffalo I see 
 that Chalfont was not an engineer, and, therefore, an in- 
 competent employe. That makes this company liable to 
 damages for the lives lost, and for all the property de- 
 stroyed in that wreck. Don't you see what you have 
 done?" 
 
 I was angered at his words, and said, "Col. Lawrence, 
 if you did not want that man arrested Mr. King should 
 not have ordered me to get him. I believe I am entitled 
 to some little credit for the capture of this man, in view of 
 the fact that the feat is so far unparalleled. So far as dis- 
 charging me goes, that will be unnecessary, for I have al- 
 ready quit the service of a company which does not ap- 
 prove of my work." 
 
 To this Col. Lawrence replied, "Furlong, I beg your 
 pardon, and want to compliment you on your good work 
 on this and other cases, but when this case comes to trial 
 all the facts of Chalfont's incompetency will be laid bare, 
 ;and it will cost us a lot of money." 
 
 I then said, "Oh, I can fix that." 
 
 •"What can you suggest?" he asked me.
 
 76 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 "I will get some prominent lawyer," I said, "to sign his 
 bond; he will be released, and as the quarterly session is 
 nearly three months away it will be hard to find him in 
 three months." 
 
 Col. Lawrence said, "See that that is done and I will 
 greatly appreciate it." 
 
 A few days later a prominent lawyer of Katanning signed 
 a bond for Chalfont's appearance in court. He was re- 
 leased and at once set out for parts unknown. Of course, 
 he did not appear for trial and the bond was declared for- 
 feited. Through professional courtesy the bond was never 
 collected, 
 
 Chalfont was not heard from until the railroad strike at 
 Pittsburg in 1877, when he again appeared in Pittsburg 
 under an alias, and got a job on the Panhandle Ry., run- 
 ning a passenger engine on the MacDonald Accommoda- 
 tion. He got partly over the road on his first trip, and 
 failing to get the proper amount of water in the boiler 
 the crown-sheet blew out of the locomotive, scalding his 
 fireman badly. He again took to the woods and disap- 
 peared, and to my knowledge has not been heard of since. 
 
 TRACING TRAIN WRECKERS. 
 
 REVIEW OF A CRIME WHICH RANKS WITH THE LOS ANGELES 
 DYNAMITING CASE FOR HEINOUSNESS — HOW CON- 
 FESSION WERE OBTAINED. 
 
 What many of my friends, who are familiar with the 
 case in all of its details, believe to have been my best piece 
 of real detective work during my long career at the busi- 
 ness, was done on what is known as "The Wyandotte 
 \\Vecking Case" in 1886. While much has been written
 
 TRACING TRAIN WRECKERS. 77 
 
 about this case, yet all the real facts have never appeared 
 in print. The crime, which was the aftermath of the 
 Knights of Labor strike on the Gould Southwest System 
 that spring, occurred on the early morning of April 26th. 
 Freight train No. 38 on the Missouri Pacific was pulling 
 slowly into Wyandotte, now Kansas City, Kansas, and on 
 reaching a point near the north depot en the banks of 
 the Kaw River, the engine and several cars suddenly left 
 the track, rolling down the embankment and some of them 
 into the river. The fireman, Benjamin F. Horton, and the 
 head brakeman, George Carlisle, who were on the engTne, 
 were pinioned beneath the wreckage and were dead when 
 taken out. The engineer, J. H. Fowler, was severely in- 
 jured, dying witlnin a few months from his injuries. The 
 conductor, A. Spaulding, who was in the cupola of the 
 caboose, was thrown from his seat to the floor and pain- 
 fully bruised and badly shaken up. The rear brakeman, 
 whose name I do not now remember, was the only one of 
 the crew to escape either death or injury. 
 
 The discovery immediately after the wreck of unmis- 
 takable evidence that it had been caused by wreckers, and 
 because of the prominence of the men who had lost their 
 lives thereby, caused a great sensation and much indigna- 
 tion. The dead fireman was a member of the Brotherhood 
 of Rai\v/ay Firemen and the brakeman a member of the 
 Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen. All of the newspapers, 
 not only of Kansas City, but of the entire country, de- 
 nounced the wreckers in no uncertain terms, as did all 
 decent and law-abiding citizens. I will add right here that 
 the facts brought to lighv at the trial of the men charged 
 with this crime, more than to any other one thing, caused 
 the disintegration or dissolution of the Knights of Labor. 
 In other words, it was the beginning of the end of that once
 
 78 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 powerful organization. For the benefit of those readers 
 who are not familiar with the history of this order, I will 
 state that it had in 1886 something over a million members. 
 It had a veritable mushroom growth. No class of people 
 were ineligible to membership ; all trades and professions, 
 as well as races and tongues, provided they were males 
 over 18 years of age, and had the price of the initiation fee, 
 usually one dollar, could join. The color line was not even 
 drawn, as it is in most secret societies. Of course, some 
 good honest men were on its roster rolls, but it was domi- 
 nated by a brazen gang of mountebanks, agitators and 
 crooked politicians and others seeking power and promi- 
 nence. To gain a point the officers of the organization would 
 stop at nothing. If coercion failed in its purpose, the boy- 
 cott and more harsher methods were substituted. In short, 
 a veritable reign of terror existed throughout the Middle 
 West. To illustrate their methods better, I will state that 
 if a merchant or other person in business, through a slip 
 of the tongue or otherwise, made even the slightest remark 
 reflecting on the order, or even one of its leaders, he was 
 a marked man thereafter, his business ruined, and he, of 
 course, driven from the country. Business men were often 
 subjected to this treatment — and worse — for simply re- 
 fusing to join the order. In many of the Western cities it 
 was impossible for a man who did not "jine" the order to 
 be elected to office, however deserving or competent he 
 might be. 
 
 At the time the wreck occurred, I was very busy in St. 
 Louis loking after cases that had grown out of the great 
 strike on the Gould System, of which I was Chief Special 
 Agent. The strike, which had been over but about a 
 month, was a long, bitter struggle, entailing much work 
 on my department, and had resulted in a victory for the
 
 TRACING TRAIN WRECKERS. 
 
 79 
 
 Scene at the Wyandotte wreck, a crime only paralleled by the Los 
 Angeles dynamiters.
 
 80 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 company. I could not get to Wyandotte to investigate 
 the wreck until nearly a month had elapsed. In the mean 
 time the railroad company had offered $2,500 reward for 
 the arrest and conviction of the guilty parties, and $i,ooc 
 for any information which would lead up to such convic- 
 tion. After looking the ground over, I became satisfied 
 that this diabolical crime had been committed by some 
 member, or members, of the Knights of labor, either out 
 of revenge or to harrass the company and divert traffic 
 from the road. After satisfying myself on this point, I 
 returned to St. Louis and requested Vice-President Hoxie 
 to withdraw the offer of a reward for the conviction of the 
 criminals, as I was then, and am now, opposed to offering 
 rewards in such cases. Mr. Hoxie was in bed sick at the 
 time, but he issued the order as requested, and I promised 
 him that I would personally go to work on the case. A 
 few days later, vvdiile I was engaged in laying plans for 
 working out a solution of the case, a bold attempt was 
 made to wreck another train near Tampoo, a short dis- 
 tance north of where the first wreck had occurred. A 
 couple of guards were on this train and these men and 
 some of the crew, who saw the wreckers, gave chase and 
 succeeded in arresting one of them. This man proved to 
 be O. J. Lloyd, a member of the Executive Board of the 
 Knights of Labor, in charge of the late strike. Prior to the 
 strike he had been employed by the Missouri Pacific Com- 
 pany as a switchman and had been a very active member 
 of the committee. 
 
 About this time my department was badly in need of a 
 thoroughly trained criminal lawyer to prosecute the cases 
 growing out of the big strike, and at my earnest solicita- 
 tion, Marshall F. McDonald, former Circuit Attorney of 
 St. Louis, one of the best criminal lawyers of his time,
 
 TRACING TR AIN WRECKERS 81 
 
 was retained by the company for the purposes named, and 
 given authority by Vice-President Hoxie to employ all 
 other counsel needed. Mr. McDonald accordingly em- 
 ployed Ex-Judge Laughlin and Judge R. S. McDonald to 
 assist him. A few days later, these three lawyers and my- 
 self met the Hon. Bailie P. Waggoner, General Attorney 
 for the State of Kansas for the company, by appointment 
 at Kansas City. We visited the scene of the crime. As we 
 were on the bank overlooking the place where the engine 
 and cars had left tlic rails, I told the lawyers that I was 
 satisfied that Lloyd, the man in jail for the Tampoo af- 
 fair, was also implicated in the Wyandotte crime, and that 
 I proposed to get a confession from him. 
 
 "How are you going to go about it, Tom?" asked Judge 
 McDonald. 
 
 "I am going to get it through a Knight of Labor," I re- 
 plied, and gave the gentlemen a short outline of the plan 
 I had evolved in my mind for getting the confession. After 
 I had finished the law3'ers all thought my scheme was a 
 good one, but not one of them thought it could be carried 
 out. I will admit that, because of the peculiar situation in 
 Wyandotte County at that time, I knew I would have to 
 be very careful or my scheme would not work. The mayor, 
 sheriff, jailor and, in fact, all of the city and county of- 
 ficials, even policemen and constables, excepting Judge 
 Ilineman of the Circuit Court, were members of the 
 Knights of Labor, and of the same local lodge as the 
 prisoner, consequently were very friendly disposed towards 
 him. As every one familiar witli such organizations as 
 the Knights of Labor knows, I would have had but little 
 trouble to find a mcinb.cr aniong them who would betray 
 the secrets of the order for a few paltry dollars and thus 
 enable me to obtain the information I so much desired
 
 82 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 from Lloyd, but I decided on another plan, as I never con- 
 sidered a man who would violate his obligation to be up- 
 right and honorable. In a word, in trusting such men 
 one is liable to receive what is known in slang parlance as 
 "the double cross." 
 
 Locked up in a safe in my office was a ritual and by-laws 
 of the Knights of Labor, and a book of instructions show- 
 ing how to initiate new members, together with the annual 
 and semi-annual pass words, and the "hailing" and "dis- 
 tress" signs and various signals used by the members of 
 the order, so I decided to set up a little Knight of Labor 
 factory of my own and make a member that I could trust 
 with the work in hand. I had an operative in my employ 
 at that time named George Fowle. He had for a long time 
 been in the train service of different railroads of the coun- 
 try, and I selected him as the man to be trusted with se- 
 curing the confession from Lloyd. I took Fowle into my 
 private office, and after instructing him carefully as to how 
 to carry out my plans, he was initiated into the mysteries 
 of the order. We took our time and went through the 
 initiatory work carefully, so that when Fowle left for 
 Wyandotte the next day to play the part of Brother Al- 
 fred in the drama that I had staged for that town, he was 
 as well posted on the secret work of the order as though 
 he had just passed through the Grand Assembly, as the 
 governing body of the order was called. 
 
 On arriving at Wyandotte, Brother Alfred proceeded at 
 once to the headquarters of the organization, where he 
 made himself known as a special envoy and minister 
 plenipotentiary of the head assembly of the order at Scran- 
 ton, Pa. His mission was to investigate tlie conditions as 
 he found them in Wyandotte, so that the head officers at 
 Scranton would know exactly what was going on in the
 
 TRACING TRAIN WRECKERvS. 83 
 
 west. He also hinted that the General Master Workman 
 and Grand Treasurer Hayes had empowered him to use his 
 own judgment alfout what was to be done in the case of 
 Lloyd, who was in jail on the train wrecking charge. 
 
 Brother Alfred also called on the sheriff, who was a 
 Knight of Labor, and after giving him the grip, asked to 
 be allowed to consult with Lloyd. The sheriiT readily 
 granted the request and Brother Alfred was ushered into 
 the jail, where he was closeted with Lloyd for more than 
 an hour and a half. After introducing himself to Lloyd, 
 Brother Alfred dispensed with all formalities and at once 
 began a discussion of the charge against the prisoner. "Of 
 course, Mr. Powderly, Mr. Hayes and the other head of- 
 ficers of the order and myself, know that you are all right, 
 Lloyd, and that you will not make a confession, but in 
 cases of this kind, where there are so many on the job, 
 some one will squeal when they are arrested, as they all 
 will be, for the Goulds have a lot of detectives on the case, 
 headed by Tom Furlong, and it is only a question of time 
 until they are all run down. Furlong, as you know, is not 
 only a great detective, but he is also very unscrupulous 
 and will not stop at anything to secure a conviction in 
 these cases. Now, the order at this time cannot afford to 
 have this crime laid at its door. If one of the men impli- 
 cated in it would confess, wdiich some of them would be 
 sure to do, as I stated before, it would be a great blow to 
 the order and cast an odium over it that would take years 
 to eradicate. Another thing, the men charged with this 
 crime could not get a fair trial here at this time, as the 
 people here are very sore, as are the members of the 
 Brotherhood of Firemen and Brotherhood of Trainmen, 
 of which orders the two men killed in the wreck were 
 members. I have, therefore, evolved a scheme to outwit
 
 84 FIFTY YEARvS A DETECITVE. 
 
 these capitalistic bloodhounds, and tlius sa^'e the order. I 
 have a lawyer over in the city from headquarters, Brother 
 Thomas, who will get you out of here on bond, and I will 
 take you east and get you a job on a railroad where Fur- 
 long cannot find you, and will do the same thing with the 
 other men who were with you." 
 
 "That is true about some of the gang squealing," replied 
 Lloyd, "We have been afraid of at least two of them 
 giving the snap away, and I know they will do it if they 
 ever fall into the clutches of Furlong and his hirelings." 
 
 Lloyd further expressed himself as being delighted with 
 the scheme, and within a few hours he wa<^ released from 
 jail and taken by Brother Alfred in a circuitous route 
 through Kansas City to Independence, Mo., where the two 
 boarded a train for St. Louis. I had been informed of their 
 movements by wire, and had one of my operatives meet 
 them at the Union Station and escort them to the room of 
 another operative in my employ at 17th and Pine Streets. 
 That evening Marshall F. McDonald and myself and a 
 stenographer called at the room, and I was introduced to 
 Lloyd as the ''headquarter's attorney," Brother Thomas. 
 I corroborated all that Brother Alfred had told Lloyd, 
 and O. K.'d the scheme to get all of these men in the job 
 out of the country, and promised to do all I could to further 
 the scheme. Lloyd then gave us the names of his partners 
 in the crime. They were George H. Hamilton, Mike 
 Leary, Robert Geers, Fred Newport and William Vassen, 
 all prominent and active members of the local executive 
 board of the Knights of Labor. 
 
 The next morning, Lloyd, in charge of Operatives Bon- 
 nell, McCabe and two guards, and myself, boarded a special 
 car at Union Station, and it was attached to west-bound 
 passenger train No. i. Of course, Lloyd did not know he
 
 TRACING TRAIN WRECKERS. 85 
 
 was in charge of officers. At Independence the special car 
 was placed on a siding and I went on to Kansas City. 
 The next morning, which was Sunday, a conference was 
 held at the St. James Hotel between the attorneys for the 
 Pacific Company and myself. It was late in the evening 
 when the conference ended, after which I decided to at 
 once arrest the men named by Lloyd as his partners in 
 the Wyandotte crime. I proceeded to Wyandotte and pro- 
 cured the warrants. As the arrests had to be made quickly, 
 and all my experienced men in that vicinity were in Inde- 
 pendence guarding the special car, I secured the services 
 of Frank Tutt, who had been employed by me as a guard 
 for the railroad during the strike, to go with the sheriff and 
 myself to make the arrests. 
 
 The first man arrested was George Hamilton, chairman 
 of the executive committee in charge of the strike. We 
 found him in VicRoy Park, Armourdale, where he was 
 acting as a special policeman. When Hamilton was pointed 
 out to me, I approached him saying: 
 
 'T want you, officer." 
 
 "What for?" asked Hamilton. 
 
 "Murder," I replied. 
 
 Had Hamilton been cracked on the head with his own 
 club he would not have been more surprised. Before he 
 could recover the club was taken from his hand and his 
 pistol from his pocket, and his big star from over his pal- 
 pitating heart. He made a feeble attempt to get indignant, 
 but failed lamentably and broke down completely, and 
 wanted to confess. He was taken to jail and locked up. 
 
 We then got in the hack and were driven to Armourdale, 
 where we arrested Robert Geers, after breaking through 
 several doors. While arresting Geers we came near getting 
 our heads blown off by an irate roomer, whose door we
 
 86 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 had broken open by mistake. After locking up Geers, we 
 went across the river and stopped in front of a shack in 
 the bottoms, and entering it arrested Fred Newport and 
 took him to jail, leaving his wife and six children in tears. 
 
 We then visited Kansas City and arrested Mike Leary. 
 He was locked up about 4:30 A. M. There was one man 
 yet missing, William Vossen. We experienced consider- 
 able trouble in locating him. He had left his home to go 
 to work for Wood Bros., the Kansas City ice dealers, where 
 he was employed as a driver to deliver ice. We obtained 
 a list of his customers, and finally overtook him near the 
 Kansas City Union Depot, at about seven o'clock. He 
 broke down at once and wanted to confess. After a good 
 breakfast I took him to the St. James Hotel in Kansas City 
 and into the presence of the attorneys for the company. 
 The prisoner broke into tears, as soon as we entered the 
 room, and made a piteous appeal to the gentlemen to see 
 that the wants of his sick wife and children were attended 
 to. "I have never been arrested before, and I was led 
 into this. I went into it at the point of a pistol," he said, 
 crying bitterly. "Damn the Knights of Labor," he con- 
 tinued, and expressed the intention of making a clean 
 breast of the whole affair. He was told by both the law- 
 yers and myself that he did not have to talk if he did not 
 want to. "I have been weighted down too long; I want to 
 tell all about it. I will sufifer, I guess, but I deserve it." 
 Then he made a full confession, giving the most minute 
 details of the terrible crime. 
 
 It was the intention of the gang, according to the confes- 
 sion, to wreck a passenger train. The tools with which 
 the spikes were pulled, and the fish plates removed, were 
 stolen from a tool house of the company, located between 
 the depot and the scene of the wreck.
 
 TRACING TRAIN WRECKERS. 87 
 
 Geers and Newport also made confessions, and all these 
 men took the stand at the trial of the defendants when they 
 were arraigned the following January. The testimony of 
 these men was corroborated in every detail, but the jury 
 failed to reach a verdict, standing 7 to 5 for acquittal. The 
 Knights of Labor representatives, through the court of- 
 ficers, who w^ere all, excepting Judge Hineman, members 
 of the order, had succeeded in getting several of its mem- 
 bers on the jury. The Knights of Labor employed the best 
 attorneys in the west to defend the men. Among them 
 were Ex-Governor Chas. P. Johnson, Ex-Senator William 
 Warner, Thomas P. Fenlon and others ; in fact, the ofificers 
 of the order spent money very freely to Bring about the 
 desired end. 
 
 After the mistrial, the attorneys for the defense made ap- 
 plication for a change of venue, and the cases were sent to 
 Olathe, The officers of the Knights of Labor immediately 
 send a swarm of organizers into Olathe and Johnson 
 County, and through coercion and other mysterious 
 methods, succeeded in getting almost every male citizen 
 of the county into the order. The second trial resulted in 
 another farce, the jury again being packed with Knights of 
 Labor. 
 
 About this time there was a change of management in 
 the legal department of the road, and the cases were all 
 nollied at the request of the company — even the three men 
 who had made confessions were turned loose. 
 
 Peculiar conditions existed in the west at that time. 
 The laboring men knew nothing about the real benefits 
 of unionism. They had been herded into the Knights of 
 Labor like sheep into a pen, and were educated by those 
 who led them into believing that any kind of crime was 
 all right when committed during a strike, or against a firm
 
 88 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 or company against which there was a grievance, and the 
 latter were often, as in the case of the big strike on the 
 Gould System, proved to be imaginary. 
 
 I and my men were only interested in this strike in so 
 far as it was our duty to see that no acts of violence were 
 committed ; in short, to protect the company's property 
 from vandals and thieves. The rank and file of the order 
 were led to believe by their leaders, however, that we 
 were a lot of crooks, who regarded a man's liberty and life 
 lightly and would violate any of the laws on the statute 
 books to secure a conviction in any case we were called 
 into. And strange to say. there are some men who believe 
 this to be true, even to this day. 
 
 I want to say right here, that this crime was one of the 
 most diabolical and fiendish crimes of the century. Had 
 it not been for a mere accident, a loaded passenger train 
 would have been wrecked instead of the freight, but, 
 luckily, the passenger was late, and the freight was given 
 orders at Leavenworth to proceed into Wyandotte on the 
 passenger train's time, with the disastrous results told in 
 the preceding portions of this narrative. The officers of 
 the Knights of Labor knew these men were guilty, for three 
 of them had gone on the witness stand and testified to the 
 facts, while Lloyd, one of the leaders, had furnished evi- 
 dence to corroborate them. 
 
 The investigation, at the next grand assembly of the 
 Knights of Labor, at the insistence of a few good men in 
 the order as to how much money had been spent in defense 
 of these men, revealed a big scandal within the order. 
 While it was true that a great deal of money had been ex- 
 pended, yet it was learned that the sum was not more 
 than one-fourth of the amount claimed by the officers in 
 charge of this fund.
 
 TRACING TI^IN WRECKERS. 89 
 
 The amount of money expended by me for the com- 
 pany, in working up the case, was very small, as all of the 
 men who did any work on the case were employed by the 
 month on a regular salary and expenses. In fact, there 
 were not cents expended in this case, when dollars were 
 expended in running down the dynamiters who blew up the 
 Los Angeles Times, the latter crime being the only one 
 which has occurred within my time that could at all com- 
 pare with the Wyandotte wrecking case for cold-blooded 
 fiendishness. It is also the only case in which big rolls 
 of money were expended by labor organizations, knowing 
 that the men were guilty. 
 
 Because of my work in this case, I incurred the lasting 
 enmity of all the heads of the Knights of Labor, from Ter- 
 rance V. Powderly, the Grand Master, on down the line. 
 This was evidenced several years later. In 1889, I 
 was tendered the position as chief of the secret service 
 bureau of the treasury department at Washington by 
 President Harrison. I was not overly anxious to accept 
 the job, as the pay at that time was only $3,600 per year, 
 and I had a good business in St. Louis, as head of the 
 agency which bears my name, but at the solicitation of 
 friends, I agreed to accept the position. Somehow, the 
 fact that I was to be the new chief of the secret service had 
 leaked out in Washington, and immediately the Knights of 
 Labor "tipped their hand," to use a slang phrase. The 
 President had gone to Deer Park, Maryland, to recover 
 from the fatigue caused by his inauguration, and his few 
 first months of service. Telegrams poured in on Tilm from 
 all points of the United States. They came from the east 
 and the west, and from tlie north and the south, and from 
 towns I had not known were on the map. Some of these 
 telegrams were long and others short, but all showed the
 
 90 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 vindictivencss of the members of the order towards me- After 
 the President returned from Washington he sent for me, and 
 on my arrival at the White House, told me of the protests. 
 To offset these, I presented letters from Ex-Governor John- 
 son and Major William Warner, chief counsel for the men i 
 had arrested for the Wyandotte crime, which .stated in terms 
 that could not be misconstrued, that I had done nothing I)ut 
 my duty in that case, and testifying further that I had been 
 very respectful and magnanimous to the prisoners on trial 
 — in short, that I had done nothing to secure a conviction 
 that was not entirely honorable. 
 
 "You are all right. Furlong, and I am going to appoint 
 you, as soon as this storm dies down a little," said the Presi- 
 dent. Of course, I was a little put out by the delay, and 
 told the President that if I accepted the place my commis- 
 sion w^ould have to be handed me not later than January ist. 
 After further assurance from the President that I would 
 have my commission before the date mentioned, I returned 
 home. A few days before January ist I was again called 
 to Washington by the President. I visited the White House 
 in company with the Hon. Richard Kerens. After a short 
 discussion of the matter, the President told me to go over 
 to the treasury department and get my commission. On my 
 arrival there, I did not find the Secretary, Mr. Windom, in, 
 he being detained at home on account of sickness. My pres- 
 ence in Washington again revived the rumors that I was to 
 be appointed, and these rumors also put the Knights of Labor 
 to work again, with the result that the White House was 
 again flooded with a lot of telegrams protesting against my 
 appointment, and my commission was again held up. I then 
 dropped the matter and returned to St. Louis. 
 
 In conclusion, I wish to state that I assumed at the time 
 all the responsibility for the manner in which the evidence
 
 "MOONSHINING" IN THE OIL REGIONS. 91 
 
 in this case had been secured. The plan for obtaining the 
 confession from Lloyd, which, in reality, was the beginning 
 of the case against the men, was worked out myself; Fowle, 
 or Brother Alfred, as he was known, simply played, or acted 
 the part assigned him. True, he played the part fairly well, 
 and carried out my instructions to the letter- At the time of 
 the arrests, and on several occasions thereafter, a certain 
 strike guard employed by the company, succeeded in get- 
 ting his name and picture into the papers of Kansas City as 
 one of the chief unravelers of the mystery surrounding the 
 crime, but he had absolutely nothing whatever to do with 
 the capture of the criminals, beyond guarding them after 
 the arrests had been made by Sheriff Ferguson and myself. 
 The "dope" he handed the papers was mere rot. There was 
 also considerable said in the papers about the part a wig 
 would play in the case prior to the trial, but all who were 
 present at the trial will remember that the wig was not in- 
 troduced in evidence. This wig was a "pipe dream," to use 
 a slang expression. 
 
 "MOONSHINING" IN THE OIL REGIONS. 
 
 DESPERATE STRUGGLE ON A BRIDGE WITH A THIEF CARRYING 
 
 A CARBOY FILLED WITH NITROGLYCERINE NARROW 
 
 ESCAPE FROM DEATH OF PRISONER 
 AND CAPTOR. 
 
 Early in the 70's, while I was Chief of Police of Oil City, 
 Pa., a long, wo'oden covered bridge spanned the Allegheny 
 River at Oil City. This bridge was at least fifteen hundred 
 feet in length, had a driveway through its center wide enough 
 lor two vehicles to pass each other. This driveway was boarded 
 up closely with siding, which separated it on either side from
 
 92 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 the footwalks, which were about six feet in width with a high 
 railing on the outside. There were Hghts at intervals along 
 the footwalks, about a hundred feet apart. The main structure 
 of the bridge was about forty feet above the river. 
 
 The bridge connected Oil City and South Oil City, extend- 
 ing from the south end of Seneca Street in Oil City to South 
 Oil City. South Oil City then, as it is now, was the principal 
 residence portion of the city, wliile the north side of the river 
 was, and is, the business portion. This bridge was a toll 
 bridge, and there were night and day toll collectors stationed 
 at the little house provided for their use at the north end of 
 the bridge. Their duty v-/as to collect the toll from all drivers 
 of vehicles, and two cents from each pedestrian wdio passed 
 their window at the toll house. 
 
 There lived in Oil City at that time a notorious character 
 by the name of Tommy Griffith, whose face and form had 
 become familiar to all the residents of the town, also of the 
 adjacent country. Griffith was a Welchman by birth, middle 
 aged, stout and heavily built in stature ; had a wife and a large 
 family, and resided in South Oil City, at that time owning 
 his own home, and was apparently fairly prosperous. He was 
 a man addicted to drink, and was known throughout the coun- 
 try as the "Prince of Moonshiners." 
 
 IMoonshiners, in the oil region, were men wdio made a busi- 
 ness of putting explosives, which were called torpedoes, into 
 oil wells for the purpose of increasing the flow of oil. The 
 oil-bearing rock, or crevices in the oil-bearing rock, which 
 were usually found near the bottom of the oil wells, w^ould get 
 clogged with an accumulation of parafine. After the well had 
 been producing for a while the inlet to the well would become 
 clogged with this accumulation, when the owner of the well 
 would resort to the torpedo. These torpedoes were composed 
 of a tin can or case, which would hold from one to four quarts
 
 "MOONSHINING" IN THE OIL REGIONS. 93 
 
 of nitro-glycerine, which is a liquid that resembles lard oil very 
 much, and is one of the most powerful explosives known, if 
 not the most powerful. The cases, or tin cans, were round 
 and nearly the size of the wells in diameter. The oil wells 
 in those days were usually four and one-half or five inches 
 in diameter. The cases were long enough to hold the quantity 
 required for the explosion, and were lowered from the top 
 of the well by means of a copper wire, which was attached 
 to the percussion cap at the proper depth in the well, then a 
 heavy weight, the wire through its center, would be sent down 
 from the top over the wire and would strike the cap on the 
 torpedo. This would cause the explosion, and would shatter 
 the oil-bearing rock and jar the parafine, thereby making the 
 opening by which the oil found its way into the well, and 
 increased the production wonderfully for a period, or until 
 the opening became clogged again from the same causes. Then 
 the same remedy would be applied, and for this reason the 
 torpedo business was a very profitable business, as this nitro- 
 glycerine was sold at the rate of about ten dollars per quart. 
 There was, at the time I am writing of, a company known 
 as the Roberts Torpedo Co., who had a monopoly of all the 
 explosives and torpedoes used in the oil wells for the purpose 
 before mentioned. The Roberts Company owned and operated 
 the factories at which nitro-glycerine was made. They em- 
 ployed only men who were experts in the torpedo business, 
 as the handling of torpedoes was very hazardous and danger- 
 ous, the nitro-glycerine being treacherous and liable to ex- 
 plode at any time, either from concussion, friction or heat. 
 In fact, nitro-glycerine is liable to explode spontaneously 
 or without any apparent cause, so that the most expert 
 handler of the stuff does not really know when 
 he may consider himself safe when near a quan- 
 tity of it. The Roberts Company also had a num-
 
 94 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 ber of what they call magazines, which were located 
 in isolated spots all through the oil regions. These magazines 
 were places for storing quantities of the nitro-glycerine, and 
 usually close to a producing district, so that the operator in 
 charge of said district could obtain a supply of it when he 
 required it for use in his territory. The moonshiner made a 
 practice of breaking into these magazines and stealing the 
 explosives, which usually were placed in a square tin can which 
 held from twenty to forty pounds. These heavy tin cans, or 
 cases, were called carboys, and had a heavy wire handle 
 attached to the top with a short spout at one corner of the 
 top of the carboy from which the nitro-glycerine could be 
 poured. As I said before, it was like lard oil, and of about 
 the same consistency . 
 
 These moonshiners would steal three or four carboys at a 
 time, concealing it in the mountains, and when they got an 
 order from a producer for a torpedo they would fill the order 
 and put in the torpedo in proper shape, as they were as expert 
 in the handling of this dangerous explosive as the Roberts 
 Company's men were, as many of them were ex-employes of 
 that company. Prejudice existed among the smaller producers 
 against the Roberts Torpedo Company, as they complained 
 that the Roberts Company were charging them extortionate 
 prices for torpedoes, therefore the moonshiners were protected 
 to an extent in their nefarious business. 
 
 Upon the night of which I am writing it was after midnight 
 when I left my office at the Ciiy Hall on the north side, and 
 started for my home on the south side. I started on foot, 
 and when I reached about the middle of the bridge before 
 described, I heard footsteps coming towards me on the same 
 foot-walk that I was on. I looked up and saw and recognized 
 the familiar form of Tommy Griffith, as he was passing a 
 light which was about a hundred and fifty feet from me. He
 
 "MOONSHINING" IN THE OIL REGIONS. 95 
 
 was coming directly towards me, and was evidently intoxi- 
 cated, as he staggered from side to side of the foot-walk. First 
 he would stagger against the enclosed side, and then back to 
 the outside railing. Every time he came in contact with the 
 bridge I could hear a slight thud. He was carrying a gunny- 
 sack upon his shoulder, containing a carboy of nitro-glycerine, 
 and I thought it would explode any moment, as he was con- 
 tinually striking it against the sides of the bridge as he 
 staggered. Then again he was liable to stumble and let it 
 fall, which would have been fatal both to himself, me and 
 the bridge. I thought of all of these things in a great deal 
 shorter time than it has taken me to write about it. It was 
 in the winter, and I was wearing rubber overshoes, and for 
 this reason I made no noise in walking. After recognizing 
 Griffith and his condition, I instantly turned and started back 
 for the north side of the bridge. I am satisfied that I made a 
 record-breaking sprint until I got safely to the toll house at 
 the end of the bridge, where I hastily told Samuel Ervin, 
 who was on duty as night toll collector. I insisted on Ervin 
 remaining at his position as usual until Griffith arrived at the 
 window, where I felt sure he would stop long enough to pay 
 his toll. Ervin was sitting in a bay window with a slide in 
 front of him through which he could take the toll, and he 
 could also see every person coming or going over the bridge. 
 I hid myself around the angle of the bay window in such a 
 manner that Griffith could not see me as he approached the 
 toll window, and when he neared the window he presented 
 his toll with his right hand while he was holding the end of 
 the gunnysack with his left hand. This bag contained the 
 carboy and was hanging over his back. I noiselessly approached 
 him from behind, and, seizing the gunnysack containing the 
 carboy, jerked it away from him, while Ervin held on to his 
 collar so firmly that he could not get away or int«rfere with
 
 96 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 "Recognizing Griffith and seeing he was loaded down with nitro- 
 glycerine, I hot-footed it to the end of the bridge. "
 
 "MOONSHINING" IN THE OIL REGIONS. 97 
 
 me until I had deposited the case of nitro-glycerine on the 
 ground, which, of course, did not take me very long. I then 
 grabbed Mr. Griffith, and he being a husky, stout little fellow, 
 and full of pluck and whiskey, made a struggle, but I quickly 
 overpowered him and promptly conveyed him to the lock-up. 
 
 I then returned to where I had deposited the nitro-glycerine. 
 I found Mr. Ervin standing upon the railroad crossing, which 
 was about seventy-five or a hundred feet from the tool house. 
 I was then obliged to carry the carboy of nitro-glycerine on 
 my shoulder to the nearest Roberts magazine, which was 
 located in a ravine known as Sage Rvm, and about three miles 
 from the north end of the bridge. The carboy weighed about 
 forty pounds, and the walking was icy and slippery, and of 
 course my progress was necessarily very slow. It was nearly 
 daylight when I got home. It is needless to say that I was 
 very tifed. 
 
 We had been informed of the theft of more than a ton of 
 nitro-glycerine from a Roberts magazine, which occurred a few 
 days prior to the night in question, and after daylight the fol- 
 lowing morning I visited the home of Griffith, which was 
 situated iif a good residence portion, and surrounded by a 
 number of good homes and families. I found in the basement 
 of Griffith's house the remainder of the ton of nitro-glycerine, 
 which was hidden under a stairway running from the kitchen 
 of the house into the basement. At the time I entered the 
 house I found Griffith's children playing and running up and 
 down these steps under which the explosive was standing in 
 the original packages. There was nitro-glycerine enough under 
 those stairs to have blown up the entire city- 
 
 I was then compelled to procure a team and sleigh and do 
 the driving myself, and to load the stuff into the sleigh and 
 drive it to the magazine and there unload it. I could not 
 induce any person to assist me, as I did not have time, being
 
 98 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 compelled to move the stuff immediately for the safety of not 
 only Griffith s family, but the whole neighborhood, and, there- 
 fore, could not wait to send word to the Roberts Co. and 
 have them send their own men, who were accustomed to 
 handling it. It was one of the most trying situations I ever 
 found myself placed in. 
 
 Griffith was tried in the court in due time, and was sentenced 
 for seven years in the state penitentiary at Allegheny, on the 
 charge of grand larceny. 
 
 Col. Roberts, who at that time lived at Titusville, Pa., and 
 was president of the Roberts Torpedo Company, sent me a 
 check for five hundred dollars, which I accepted. 
 
 Griffith served out his sentence, and returned to Oil City, 
 where he was living at my last account of him, and was fol- 
 lowing his old vocation, that of moonshining, in a more 
 moderate manner than of yore. 
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 
 
 AFTER STANDING OFF A SHERIFF AND POSSE, THE NOTORIOUS 
 BANDIT IS TAKEN SINGLE HANDED. 
 
 During the years of 1875-6 I was Chief Special Agent of 
 the Allegheny Valley Railroad. One morning I was called 
 to Brookville, Pennsylvania, to investigate the burglary 
 of the company's office at that point during the preced- 
 ing night. On arriving in the little town I found the of- 
 fice of the company almost a wreck, the safe having been 
 blown to pieces with dynamite or some other explosive, 
 and its contents, including quite a sum of money and a 
 number of Centennial Exposition and railroad tickets were 
 missing. After some hard w^ork, T obtained a clue which 
 led me to believe that the job had been done by the notori- 
 OUS Watts gang. -
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 
 
 99 
 
 This outlaw band, which originally consisted of eight 
 men, had long terrorized the good citizens of Jefferson, 
 Clarion, Forest and Elk Counties — in much the same man- 
 ner as had the James Boys and their gang of cut-throats 
 the citizens of western Missouri. 
 
 There was no crime too big or too little for them to 
 commit, but they made a specialty of arson, murder, rob- 
 
 Wess Watts. 
 
 Noted Pennsylvania bandit leader run down and captured 
 by Detective Furlong. 
 
 bery and safe-blowing. The organizer and leader was 
 Wess Watts, who, before he had adopted outlawry as a 
 profession, had been a gun and locksmith in Brookville, 
 and had the reputation of being a skilled mechanic. He 
 was about 28 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches in height, and 
 weighed in the neighborhood of 190 pounds. There had
 
 100 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 never been any question of his gameness and he was known 
 as the crack shot of that portion of Pennsylvania. He often 
 gave exhibitions of his expertness in the handUng of 
 firearms. One of his favorite stunts was to shoot an ap- 
 ple from the head of his brother at a distance of twenty 
 paces with either a gun or revolver. 
 
 In reporting to Mr. David McCargo, the General Super- 
 intendent of the road, a day or so later, that I was con- 
 vinced that the Watts gang was responsible for the Brook- 
 ville job, and venturing the opinion that this gang would 
 continue to prey upon the railroad at intervals until they 
 were exterminated ; whereupon Mr. McCargo said, "You 
 are hereby instructed to bend every effort toward the sup- 
 pression of this gang, and you will be relieved from all 
 other duties until this has been accomplished." 
 
 I at once took up the work, by visiting the Western 
 Penitentiary at Allegheny City, where I found a former 
 member of the Watts gang, who had been convicted of 
 horse stealing and was at that time serving a ten-year sen- 
 tence for the same. This man's name was Lafayette Ed- 
 wards, and he had been connected with the Watts gang 
 for a number of years and was a member at the time of 
 his arrest. He was about thirty-five years of age. He had 
 a younger brother by the name of Horace Edwards, who 
 had been connected with the gang until about a year pre- 
 vious to the arrest of Lafayette, when he grew tired of the 
 life he had been leading, and, as the gang was daily grow- 
 ing bolder in their depredations, he was afraid they would 
 all be brought to justice sooner or later, so he disappeared, 
 no one knowing his whereabouts in Brookville. On ap- 
 proaching Lafayette, at the penitentiary, I told him who 
 I was, that I had learned of both his and his brother's con- 
 nection with the Watts gang and that I desired to find
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 101 
 
 Horace, so that I might get the facts from him as to his 
 knowledge of the crimes perpetrated by the gang while 
 he was a member of it. Lafayette Edwards said he be- 
 lieved that his brother would tell all he knew, providing 
 he would not be punished for the part he had taken while 
 working with the gang. I explained to him that so long 
 as Horace had severed his connection with the gang, that 
 I had no doubt but that the prosecuting officers would use 
 his testimony against the other members of the gang and 
 nolle prosequi all charges against him, which is a custom, 
 as the prosecuting attorney in criminal cases has the right, 
 with the permission of the court, to annul proceedings 
 against a criminal, where he has been used as a State's 
 witness. I also told him if he would assist me in locating 
 Horace, that I would do all that I could, consistently, with 
 the proper officers to have the charges annulled against his 
 brother. Finally he told me that Horace was engaged as 
 a farm hand at a point near Vermillion, Illinois. He said 
 that Horace had joined the church and was living an hon- 
 est and conscientious life. I went to Vermillion and located 
 Horace Edwards, who was working as a farm hand under 
 an alias, and found that he had established a good reputa- 
 tion, joined the church, and was respected by all who knew 
 him. In other words, he had made friends with everybody 
 with whom he came in contact during his few months' stay 
 in that neighborhood. This information I verified before 
 approaching Horace. I finally called on him and told him 
 who I was, that I was from Pennsylvania, and that I had 
 seen his brother Lafayette, who was in the penitentiary 
 in Allegheny City, who had given me his address, and, in 
 fact, I told him the line of facts that I knew he would rec- 
 ognize as facts. I then proposed to him that he go back 
 to Pennsylvania with me, at my expense, promising that 1
 
 102 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Avould keep him quietly in a small town near Brookville, 
 where he would not be known until I had apprehended 
 the balance of the Watts gang, and that I would pay his 
 expenses back to Illinois, where he had so many friends, 
 and was favorably known, and that the people would not 
 become aware of his identity after his return among them. 
 In this connection, I wish to say that Horace had adopted 
 his mother's maiden name. To this Horace replied prompt- 
 ly that, as he had become a church member, he would ren- 
 der all the assistance in his power towards bringing his 
 former companions to justice, and thereby preventing them 
 from committing further depredations. I told the parties 
 by whom he was employed that his presence was required 
 as a witness in an important case in court in Pennsylvania, 
 and that I had come after him and had no doubt but that 
 he would return again in a few weeks. I took him back to 
 Pennsylvania, and rounded up the balance of the gang, 
 with the exception of the leader, Wess Watts. I learned 
 that he had last been heard from at Paducah, Kentucky. 
 This I learned through the assistance of a sister of Mrs. 
 Watts, who was in correspondence with her. I w^ent to 
 Paducah and found Mrs. Watts. From my investigations 
 I had become so familiar Avith the depredations of the 
 gang, the dates and places where they had been committed 
 that I decided to approach Mrs. Watts by representing my- 
 self as a friend of her husband and other members of the 
 gang. At this she became angry and excited, and told me 
 that if she had a kettle of boiling water convenient she 
 would scald me, as she had no further use for her husband 
 or any of his friends. He had deserted her and their thild, 
 and had run away with another man's wi'fe. It was then 
 my turn to sympathize with her, which I did to the best 
 of my ability, and of course, denounced Wess Watts in
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 103 
 
 plain words for having deserted his wife and child in such 
 a manner. Mrs. Watts, who, by the way, was really a 
 good natured woman and rather good looking, of the blonde 
 type, about 25 years of age, finally told me that her husband 
 had taken this other woman, and that she had heard, a 
 few days prior to my visit, that he and Oliver Brooks had 
 opened a gun and locksmith repair shop at Shawneetown, 
 Illinois. She said Watts and this woman and Oliver 
 Brooks and the Brooks woman were living together, and 
 that they had their shingle out for gun and lock repairing, 
 but in reality were committing burglaries and thefts almost 
 nightly in the vicinity of Shawneetown. I took a boat at 
 Paducah for Shawneetown, which is on the Ohio river 
 some 50 miles from Padud'ah. I arrived at Shawneetown, 
 which was then a very small place, about 3 o'clock in the 
 morning. The town is very low, the Ohio river being held 
 out of the town by a high levee along its banks. After 
 leaving the boat I went over the levee to the only street 
 in the town parallel to the river and had no trouble in lo- 
 cating the gun shop, by reason of the sign over the door. 
 Directly opposite this shop was a general merchandise 
 store with a large pile of empty dry goods boxes standing 
 in front of it. I seated myself upon one of these boxes, as 
 it Avas not quite daylight when I found the place and, as 
 I had had some sleep coming up on the boat, I was not 
 sleepy. I could not go to a hotel at that time without 
 arousing some comment, and, therefore, concluded I would 
 wait in the vicinity of the gun shop and watch for de- 
 velopments. I had been sitting on the box for perhaps 
 three-quarters of an hour, and day was just beginning to 
 break, when I noticed a little cloud of smoke coming out of 
 the stovepipe (which served as a chimney). in the shanty 
 in which the gun shop was located. A few minutes later
 
 104 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 the door of the gun shop was opened and I could see, 
 from my perch on the box across the street, that some 
 one was sweeping. I could see the broom, but could not 
 see who was operating it. I watched the broom for a few 
 minutes and then concluded I would go over to the shop 
 and look in and see who was doing the sweeping. 
 
 This shop was a one-story frame shanty, about i6 feet 
 wide, by perhaps, 24 feet long. It was divided in the mid- 
 dle by a partition, making two rooms. The front room, 
 being the gun shop, contained a vise bench to the right 
 of the front door, upon which were a lot of tools, such as 
 files, wrenches, one or two old guns and a couple of pis- 
 tols. 
 
 Diagonally across the shop and to the left was a door 
 opening into the rear room, which was used as a living room. 
 When I peered into the front room or gun shop there was 
 no one in the room, 43ut the door leading into the rear 
 room was open and I rapped on the shop door. My knock 
 was answered by a man, who came from the rear room and 
 had a broom in his hand. He was clad in blue overalls, a 
 knit undershirt and wore a pair of rubbers, but no socks. 
 I saw at a glance that it was Wess Watts, himself. I had 
 a very good description of him and had seen his brother, 
 sister and mother, and he resembled them very strongly. I 
 noticed that he had nothing in the shape of arms on him ex- 
 cept the broom. I decided then and there to arrest him. 
 When he came from the rear room I saluted him, saying, 
 "Good-morning," and he replied in the same way. I then 
 said, "Are you the gunsmith?" He said he was. I said, 
 "I have a job for you. I have an old gun here, but I don't 
 know whether you can do anything with it or not." 
 
 In this connection I wish to state that before I left my 
 perch on the boxes across the street, I placed my revolver.
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 105 
 
 which was a' 41-Colts, short barrel, double action, in my 
 rig-ht-hand coat pocket. I also had a pair of automatic 
 hand-cuffs, which I placed in my left-hand pocket. I was 
 wearing a sack coat, and when Watts replied that he was 
 the gunsmith, I took the revolver out of my right-hand 
 pocket in an awkward manner, holding it about in the mid- 
 dle. He turned around, in a leisurely manner, and set the 
 broom in the corner near the door, and while he was doing 
 this, I placed my gun in working position, and as he turned 
 extending his hand, evidently for the purpose of taking 
 and examining my pistol, I leveled it at his head and told 
 him to "throw up his hands." He hesitated for an in- 
 stant, but I commanded him a second time, telling him to 
 throw them up at once, or I would blow his head off. He 
 threw up his hands, and, just at the time I commanded him 
 the second time to throw up his hands, a man with a bushy 
 head of red hair peered through the door leading into the 
 rear room, but when he saw what was going on, he ducked 
 back his head, as he was in direct range with my gun. I 
 then commanded Watts to about face, and step forward to 
 the door, which he did, keeping his hands up. I was right 
 behind him with my gun at the back of his head, and told 
 him to step down and out of the door. He obeyed. I then 
 took my hand-cuff's out of my left-hand coat pocket, and 
 snapped them on his wrists, while his hands were still 
 above his head. I then told him he could drop his hands, 
 and marched him up tlie street to the hotel, which was but 
 a few hundred feet from the shop. In the meantime Watts 
 did not utter a word, but merely complied with my com- 
 mands. On our arrival at the hotel I found the night 
 clerk or porter in charge, but asleep in a chair in the office, 
 and as we marched in he awoke and appeared to be fright- 
 ened at our intrusion. I told him that I was an officer
 
 106 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 and that Watts was my prisoner. I told him we were hun- 
 gry and asked him how soon we could get something to eat. 
 He awakened the help and in about half an hour breakfast 
 was announced. 
 
 All this time Watts and I were sitting in the office gaz- 
 ing at each other, not a word having been spoken by either, 
 and when we went into the dining room and sat down to 
 the table, Watts looked at me and then at the hand-cufifs 
 as much as to say, "Aren't you going to remove these 
 hand-cufifs?" He did not speak, however. I shook my 
 head, looked at the table and food and then at Watts, as 
 much as to say, "There it is, you can eat it or leave it 
 alone." I sat opposite him at the table and he helped him- 
 self to some ham and managed to eat a pretty good break- 
 fast with the hand-cufifs on. 
 
 On arising from the table it occurred to me for the 
 first time that my prisoner was not very well dressed to 
 make a long jovirney. I espied a large-sized, old-fashioned 
 linen duster, and a big-brimmed straw hat hanging on the 
 wall of the hotel sitting room. After some dickering with 
 the porter I purchased them for 75c and put them on my 
 prisoner. The addition of these garments made Watts 
 look more like the leader of a rube band, than the bold, bad 
 man that he really was. 
 
 At that time there was a branch of the Wabash Rail- 
 road running into Shawneetown, and I had ascertained 
 there was a train leaving there shortly for McLeansboro- 
 and East St. Louis. We boarded the train at 6 :oo a. m. 
 and started for East St. Louis. After we had been on the 
 train for half an hour or more. Watts, who was sitting in 
 the seat with me, and to the left, next to the window, 
 turned around facing me and said, "Who are you, and 
 where are you taking me, and what have you arrested me for?"
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WEvSS WATTS. 107 
 
 I replied that I was a deputy sheriff from VermilHon 
 and that I had arrested him on suspicion of committing a 
 burglary there a week before. 
 
 .' He said, "Why, I was never in Vermillion in my life 
 You have made a big mistake." 
 
 "I guess I am not very much mistaken," I replied, "some 
 of our citizens saw the burglars when they left the bank, 
 and have described you accurately. Of course, if they fail 
 to identify you on your arrival at Vermillion, I will apolo- 
 gize to you, and then be obliged to pay your expenses back 
 to Shawneetown." 
 
 He then said, "You say you are a deputy sheriff? Well, 
 don't deputy sheriffs have to give bond for the careful per- 
 formance of their duties?" I replied, "Yes, they have to 
 give bond." 
 
 "Well," he continued, "these people won't identify me 
 and I will make your bondsmen pay dearly for this out- 
 rage." 
 
 "We'll see about this," I replied. "I can't be mistaken. 
 I have been a deputy sheriff for the past two years, and I 
 have arrested two house thieves and they were convicted, 
 so I can not be mistaken." 
 
 "Well, you are very badly mistaken now," he answered, 
 and with this he stopped talking and seemed to be at ease, 
 as he knew he could not 1)e identified at Vermillion, and 
 felt sure that he would be released. In due time v/e arrived 
 at East St. Louis, and I explained to him that I did not 
 care to proceed to Vermillion that night, as I had some lit- 
 tle business to attend to in St. Louis, and therefore, I pro- 
 posed to come over to the city, remain over night and take 
 the first train out in the morning to Vermillion. He seemed 
 perfectly satisfied. T brouglit him across the river and 
 took him to the Four Courts and turned him over to Major
 
 108 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 McDonough, who was then Chief of Police of St. Louis. 
 I had known Chief McDonough for years. He locked 
 Watts up, and I, of course, had his meals taken in to him 
 and had him well cared for. The next morning we took 
 an early train for Indianapolis over what is now a part of 
 the Big Four system. We got along very nicely until we 
 reached the Wabash river, which separates Illinois from 
 Indiana, when Watts suddenly turned to me and in a loud 
 and excited manner said, "Where in h — 1 are you taking 
 me? You haven't told me the truth." 
 
 "No," I replied, 'T did not tell you the truth about 
 where I am taking you, but I will do so now. I am taking 
 you to Brookville, Pennsylvania." 
 
 "Why didn't you tell me this in the first place?" he 
 asked. 
 
 I replied, "My reason for not telling you this in the first 
 place was, that after I had located you, as I supposed, at 
 Paducah, Kentuck}', I reported the facts to Sheriff Steele 
 of Jefferson County and asked him to apply for the proper 
 papers so that 30U might be taken back to Pennsylvania. 
 Sheriff Steele obtained the papers and insisted on bringing 
 a posse of men to assist in your capture, to which I objected 
 and I told him that I did not think it necessary for anybody 
 to come after you, but he and myself. He reluctantly con- 
 sented to accompany me. He had the papers and came as 
 far as St. Louis. The weather was very warm and when 
 we arrived in St. Louis, Steele was very feverish and com- 
 plained of being sick, and was afraid that he was taking 
 typhoid fever, and insisted on returning to Pennsylvania 
 immediately, which he did. He insisted on me going back 
 v/ith him, but I told liim that I Avas going to get hell be- 
 fore I returned. He left me and returned home." 
 
 "Why, he wasn't sick at all, he was just afraid of me,"
 
 THE CAPTURE OP WESS WATTS. 109 
 
 said Watts. "He was afraid to meet me, for he knew if I 
 saw him I would kill him. I stood off Steele and seven- 
 teen of his men, all armed, in Brookville once. Those fel- 
 lows are all afraid of me. So you came down here to get 
 me yourself? Well, you haven't any papers for my ar- 
 rest, have you?" 
 
 "No," I said, "I haven't any papers. I have nothing but 
 you." 
 
 "Suppose I object to going any farther with you," he re- 
 marked. 
 
 "In that case," I replied, "I would simply have to have 
 you locked up and wait until the papers arrive. They are 
 all made out, therefore you can raise all the objections you 
 like. I am a deputy sheriff, and I could have locked you 
 up in Illinois, but I did not know what that red-headed fel- 
 low and your other associates in Shawneetown would do, 
 and not wanting to be bothered with them, I decided to 
 just bring you right along." 
 
 Watts then said, "You saw that fellow with the red hair, 
 did you?" 
 
 "Yes," I answered. 
 
 "Where did you see him?" 
 
 "At the time I pointed my gun at your head he peered in 
 at the door leading into the back room, but when he saw 
 the condition of things, he ducked back into the rear room," 
 I told him. 
 
 "Oh !" Watts said, "he is a coward. If I ever get my eyes 
 on him I'll kill him on sight." Continuing, Watts said, 
 "Did you notice when you told me to throw up my hands, 
 that I hesitated for a second?" 
 
 I said, "Yes, I did." 
 
 "Do you know what I thought of when I hesitated?" 
 
 he asked.
 
 no FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 "No, I don't, " I answered. 
 
 "Why, I thought of just jumping forward and taking 
 that gun away from you." 
 
 I said, "Why didn't you do it?" looking him straight in 
 the eye. 
 
 He replied, with an oath, "I thought you'd shoot." 
 
 "I guess you were right about that," I answered. 
 
 He stopped talking for a few minutes and then began 
 to cry. He became almost hysterical. We were riding 
 in the smoking car when this conversation occurred and 
 his sobbing and crying attracted the attention of the pas- 
 sengers in the car, and it was really pitiful to see a strong, 
 athletic looking young man like Watts sob and cry like a 
 child. He finally ceased and said, "Well, I am glad you 
 got me, I have never had an hour's peace or rest since 
 that night at Catholicsburg, Kentucky." 
 
 "Why," I said, "Wliat happened at Catholicsburg?" 
 
 He answered, "Oliver Beach shot my father, James 
 Watts, in our boat at Catholicsburg, and he and Brooks 
 put the body into the Ohio River. He killed him with my 
 gun. I knew they were going to do it, but I did not take 
 any part in the killing. Now, I am going to tell you all 
 about myself and my companions since I left Brookville." 
 
 I told him that while I would be interested in hearing 
 what he had to say, it would be used against him at his 
 trial at Brookville, and that I would, therefore, prefer 
 that he would not tell me anything about his crimes until 
 we got back to Brookville, and then if he felt like talking 
 and making a confession, he could do so to the prosecuting 
 attorney, and the authorities there ; that my part in the 
 matter would end upon my delivering him to the officers, 
 and I would rather that he defer talking until we arrived
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. Ill 
 
 in that city. However, he insisted on telling me about the 
 numerous crimes that he and his associates had committed 
 while going down the Ohio River, about his capture at 
 Paducah, Kentucky; his conviction, his pardon and the 
 conviction and pardon of two members of his gang from 
 the penitentiary. 
 
 He was especially proud of one piece of work done by 
 the gang while making their home in a house-boat anchored 
 on the Illinois side of the river opposite Paducah, Watts, 
 Beach and Alston rowed across the river to the Kentucky 
 side in a four-oared skiff. It was cold and freezing. They 
 were looking for plunder and spied a large egg-shaped coal 
 stove in the office of a coal company on the levee. This 
 stove had ben filled with coal and was red hot, and the 
 fire had been banked for the night with ashes, and the 
 "gentlemen" before named, broke open the door of the 
 coal office, procured a wide, strong plank, run it under the 
 red-hot stove and took it to their house-boat, where they 
 installed it without permitting the fire to go out. So that 
 they thus succeeded in stealing and getting away with a 
 red-hot stove, which was a verification of the old saying 
 that "there was nothing too hot or too heavy for them." 
 
 In due time we arrived at Brookville, where he insisted 
 on making a full confession, which he did, in the presence 
 of Prosecuting Attorney Reed, Sheriff W. P. Steele and 
 myself. This confession, which was voluntarily made and 
 sworn to before the clerk of the court, witnessed and at- 
 tested by Mr. Reed, Steele and myself, is as follows: 
 
 CONFESSION OF J. W. WATTS. 
 
 Left Brookville, June 20, 1874, for Parkers Landing. 
 Got a boat there and went down the river. My father, 
 James Watts, traded a gun for the boat. We built a shanty
 
 112 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 on the boat as we proceeded down the river. The names 
 of the parties on that boat were: Charles Beach, Oliver 
 Brooks, James Watts, J. W. Watts, Sarah M. Watts and 
 Myrta Watts. There was no difficulty on the boat until 
 we arrived at a point near Ironton, Ohio. We got a wo- 
 man by the name of Fanny Rose on board the boat, and 
 from there down to Maysville there seemed to be some 
 trouble between Oliver Brooks and James Watts, my fath- 
 er, about Fanny Rose, the girl above named. My father 
 had been talking of turning state's evidence, and on Sun- 
 day, the 6th of September, 1874, he took an axe and cut a 
 hole in the bottom of the boat. I remonstrated with him 
 and he was going to strike me with the axe. The water 
 began filling the boat, which necessitated our landing. On 
 the night of the 6th of September, 1874, Oliver Brooks shot 
 James Watts, killing him almost instantly, for threatening 
 to turn state's evidence, concerning what had been stolen 
 during our trip down the river, by the male portion of the 
 gang on the boat. James Watts stole nothing himself. 
 He only lived a few minutes after Brooks shot him. I was 
 on another boat about sixty yards above the one James 
 Watts was on. I knew that Oliver Brooks was going to 
 shoot my father, and it made me very nervous. It made me 
 sick and I laid down. I got up and started down to tell 
 my father, when I heard a gun shot, but having an idea of 
 what had occurred I was very much frightened, and was 
 very weak through fear, and did not go into the shanty on 
 the boat, where Tames Watts and Oliver Brooks were. 
 During this Sunday afternoon Oliver Brooks and James 
 Watts had some difficulty, and Brooks told us all, except 
 James Watts, that he would shoot James Watts. Alston 
 told Brooks that he would get my father to play a game of 
 cards by a window, in order that Brooks could slip around
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 113 
 
 and shoot him from the bank of the river through the win- 
 dow, and he did shoot him. 
 
 I am here to tell the whole truth, and want to keep noth- 
 ing back. My father stole nothing, but he did help con- 
 ceal what the rest of us stole. 
 
 After he was shot, and when I came up, either Brooks 
 and Beach, or Brooks and Alston, were gathering up stones 
 on the bank and carrying them into the shanty on the 
 boat where my father was lying, and I suppose they were 
 taking them in to tie around his neck to sink him in the river, 
 from what they said before the deed was committed. Af- 
 ter they got everything fixed up, I heard them putting my 
 father into a skiff and rowing out into the river and I heard 
 them throwing him overboard. They used sixty or eighty 
 feet of half-inch rope to tie the stones to him, judging from 
 the amount that was gone from the boat. Alston told me 
 he had just dealt the cards and turned trump. The old 
 man passed, and he (Alston) turned it down. My father 
 said he would make it hearts, but turned and looked 
 towards the window from where the shot came and then 
 fell. Alston caught him to keep him from falling so hard. 
 This is what Alston told me. After they took my father 
 out into the river and threw him in, Oliver Brooks said he 
 felt just as well as he did before he committed the deed 
 and better, too. After this there was no more conversa- 
 tion about it in my presence as I would not listen to them, 
 nor permit them to talk to me about it. I did not go into 
 the room where he was killed, for five or six weeks. It was 
 my rifle that he shot him with and it was the best rifle I 
 ever saw or used, but after Brooks used it to shoot my 
 father, I never shot out of it, or looked into the muzzle of 
 it, but what I saw blood, or thought I saw blood in it. 
 Other persons saw blood in the muzzle of the gun after
 
 114 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 shooting it. I showed it to them without giving them any 
 other information. There was an understanding and mutu- 
 al agreement between us that we were never to say anything 
 about the killing of James ^\'atts. \\^e pushed the boat off 
 that evening, after my father had been killed and thrown 
 into the river and went on down stream following our 
 usual avocation of stealing, etc., and we did not stop per- 
 manently until we got to Paducah, Kentucky. At P.a- 
 ducah, all the males in our party were arrested on the Illi- 
 nois side by Marshal Geary of Paducah, Frank Farland, 
 Wood Morrow and Bill Green, on a charge of grand larceny, 
 committed at Buddsville, Ky. We were tried, convicted 
 and sent to the penitentiary at Frankfort, Ky. I got three 
 years, Oliver Brooks got two years and nine months, Pete 
 Alston got one year and six months and Charlie Beach 
 got three years. Brooks got pardoned through his wife on 
 the 14th of May, or June, 1875, ^"d I got pardoned on the 
 7th of July, 1875, and M. P. Alston on the loth of August, 
 
 1875. 
 
 Brooks and his wife got Beach pardoned. Brooks' wife, as 
 I understood it, had illicit relations with the son of the Gover- 
 nor of Kentucky, and through the influence of the son on 
 his father. Beach was pardoned. i\Iy wife got Governor 
 King to write to Governor Leslis, then acting Governor 
 of Kentucky, and through his intercession I was par- 
 doned. After Brooks was pardoned out he stayed un- 
 til Beach and I got out. As soon as I got out I started for 
 or back to Paducah, Ky., and left Brooks and Beach in 
 Frankfort. I left there on the 7th day of July, 1875, and 
 have never seen any of them since. Alston, a short time 
 after he got out of the penitentiary, went down the Ken- 
 tucky river, broke into a store, and got shot in the back.
 
 • ^ THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 115 
 
 He was sent back to the penitentiary fur live years, and is 
 there at the present time. Up to the time I left Brookville 
 I was in the habit of going out with a gang composed of 
 Dan Miller, Frank Watts, John Johnson, Frank Loader, 
 Oliver Brooks, John Lyons, and his father, and Charlie 
 Beach. Frank Watts and myself went through Eshelman's 
 grocery store at Dowlingville, and at other places, I cannot 
 now remember. 
 
 I make this confession of my own free will and with- 
 out the expectation of any reward or through any fear. I 
 make it because this thing has been lying on my mind 
 like a lead weight, and I concluded I would tell the whole, 
 thing just as it occurred. My wife and I had a conversa- 
 tion at one time in regard to the affair and we thought of 
 going to the ofificers and telling all about it, but for some 
 reason we did not do it. This was when we were in Pa- 
 ducah. 
 
 Made, signed and sworn to in the presence of Thomas 
 Furlong, detective for the Allegheny Valley Railroad Com- 
 pany, Wm. P. Steele, deputy sheriff of Jefferson County, 
 Pennsylvania, and John W. Reed, Attorney-at-law, August 
 22, 1876. 
 
 Watts made the above statement with a view to shield- 
 ing himself as much as possible. He, himself, killed his 
 father, and Mrs. Brooks so testified. She said it was not 
 only Wess Watts' gun that killed old man Watts, but the 
 gun was in the hands of Wess Watts. 
 
 I, having been subpoenaed as a witness for the state against 
 Wess Watts, arrived at Brookville on the morning set for 
 his trial. The whole forenoon was consumed in selecting 
 a jury. When the last juror had been selected it was about 
 twelve o'clock, and the court took a recess until one p. m. 
 At that time, his Honor, Judge Sterritt, stated that the
 
 116 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 prisoner, Wess Watts, should be brought into court, when 
 the testimony for the prosecution would begin. I went to 
 the hotel, ate my dinner and had returned to the sheriff'.-, 
 office in the courthouse a few minutes before one o'clock. 
 While sitting there talking to Sheriff Steele an old man en- 
 tered the office, whom the sheriff familiarly greeted, calling 
 him Uncle John, in the following manner: 
 
 "Hello, Uncle John. I haven't seen you for a long time. 
 How've you been?" 
 
 Uncle John replied, "Quite well, but I'm getting old. 
 Mammy wanted to get some things in the store and we drove 
 in this morning from Beechwoods. I've been reading in my 
 paper about Wess Watts and it says that he is to be put 
 on trial today. You know, Bill, I knew old Bill Watts, 
 Wess' father, before Wess was born. I've been reading- 
 all about the boy and his gang and he surely must be a 
 very bad and desperate man. While I'm here in town, 
 I'd like to get a look at him." 
 
 To this Sheriff Steele replied, "Court will convene at one 
 o'clock, which will be only a few minutes now, and I've 
 been ordered by the Judge to bring Wess into court at that 
 time. If you will go up and sit in the courtroom. Uncle 
 John, you will have a good chance to see him when I take 
 him in." 
 
 Uncle John was a man more than seventy years of age, 
 was a good citizen and had lived in the backwoods in Jef- 
 ferson county all his life. He knew everybody in the 
 county. His home was on a small farm about eighteen 
 miles from Brookville. He was a strong, hale man for his 
 age, and had a full, heavy, white beard. He was an inveter- 
 ate tobacco chewer and a typical backwoods farmer. 
 
 At the close of his conversation with the sheriff. Uncle 
 John walked to the door leading into the hall, but, just be-
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 117 
 
 fore reaching the door, he suddenly turned and said, "Bill, 
 I see in the paper that Wess Watts was captured down in 
 Egypt by one man, and that man brought him back here 
 all alone. The paper said that man would be at the trial 
 here today. I'd like very much to see him, too." 
 
 The sherifif (pointing to me) said, "Uncle John, here's 
 the man who captured Wess Watts and brought him back 
 here." 
 
 Whereupon, Uncle John quietly walked across the room 
 to where I was sitting, keeping his eye upon me all the 
 time, till within a few feet of me, when he said, "Young 
 man, I wish you wouW stand up, I want to look at you." 
 
 I stood up, and the old man walked about half way around 
 me, eyeing me from head to foot. He then turned without 
 saying a word and started for the door. Before leaving, 
 he said, stroking his long beard with his left hand and 
 pointing his right at me, "Bill, by jove, it didn't take much 
 of a man, either." 
 
 Then he left the room. 
 
 Court convened at one o'clock and everything appeared 
 to be ready for the beginning of the trial. The courtroom 
 was packed with spectators as the Watts trial had aroused 
 a great deal of interest, and people were attracted Trom 
 local and neighboring counties to see the prisoner and wit- 
 ness his trial. The sheriff did not appear with his prisoner, 
 however, and the judge sent an officer to notify him that 
 the Court was waiting. In a few minutes the sheriff ap- 
 peared, with the ofificer, but without the prisoner. He ap- 
 proached the. judge's stand and informed him that he had 
 been unable to induce the prisoner to leave his cell, and 
 Watts had said he would kill any person who attempted 
 to take him into court. 
 
 The jail was an old-fashioned stone jail, and the doors
 
 118 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 "Bill, by jove, it didn't take much of a man either!
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 119 
 
 leading into the cells were only about two and one-half 
 feet wide and four feet high, therefore, a person above four 
 feet in height was obliged to stoop on entering or leaving 
 the cell. They had old-fashioned wooden bedsteads in each 
 cell, and Watts had torn his bedstead to pieces that morning 
 and had taken off one of its legs, which was about three feet 
 long and four inches square, and of heavy hardwood. He was 
 a powerfully strong man, and had declared his intention of 
 massacring any person attempting to enter his cell. He 
 defied the sheriff or any of his ofificers to enter. After 
 Judge Sterritt had listened to the sheriff's report, he sum- 
 moned me to his chair and said, "Mr. Furlong, you arrest- 
 ed this man in Illinois and brought him to Brookville. Now 
 I deputize you to go to the jail and bring Wess Watts, the 
 prisoner, to this bar, as soon as possible." 
 
 I left the court with the sheriff and went to the jail, in 
 the rear of the courthouse, and direct to the door of Watts' 
 cell, where I found him standing in the center of his cell 
 armed with the big club. I tried to persuade him to leave 
 his cell, and accompany me to the courtroom, but in vain. 
 He was obstinate and declared he would kill me or any 
 one else who tried to enter that cell. I found that persua- 
 sion was unavailing and called the sheriff to one side, out 
 of ear shot, and said, "How long will it take you to heat 
 a few gallons of water to a boil?" 
 
 The sheriff said he thought there was a lot of boiling 
 water in the jail kitchen, as it was just after dinner. Wc 
 went to the jail kitchen where we found a large amount of 
 hot water on hand. We secured a tin wash boiler and put a1)OUt 
 five gallons of boiling water into it. I also obtained a large 
 tin dipper with a long handle. We carried the boiler of 
 water to the door of Watt's cell. I also armed a big, burly 
 deputy sheriff named Clover Smith, with an axe handle,
 
 120 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 and as Smith was left-handed I placed him at the right 
 hand side of the cell door, while I placed the boiler of hot 
 water on the left side. I then dipped up a dipper full of 
 boiling, water (about two quarts) and with the long handle 
 I could reach any part of the cell with the hot water. I 
 threw the first dipper full at Watts, which struck his breast 
 and upper part of his body. As he was lightly clad, and 
 the water struck him squarely, he yelled like a mad lion. 
 I threw two more dippers of scalding water at him in quick 
 succession, each time the water striking him fairly, and 
 after I had thrown the third dipper, he made a lightning- 
 like spring for the open door. As he was obliged to stoop 
 so low that his head almost touched his knees. Smith, 
 whom I had instructed, struck him with the axe handle, 
 on the head, felling him to the floor, unconscious. There- 
 upon, the sherifif, Smith and myself picked him up and car- 
 ried him into the courtroom and laid him on a table before 
 the Judge's stand. There were a number of doctors pres- 
 ent who applied restoratives and brought him to his 
 senses in a few minutes. 
 
 He was scalded slightly in spots on his neck and body, 
 but otherwise uninjured, except a good sized bump on the 
 back of his head where Smith had struck him. 
 
 He showed no further signs of obstinacy and was perfect- 
 ly easy to control and handle thereafter until he was landed 
 safely in the state prison at Allegheny. He pleaded guilty 
 of having made a criminal assault on a school girl of about 
 sixteen years of age. She was returning to her home from 
 school between 4 and 5 o'clock in the evening, her home 
 being on a mountain on the outskirts of Brookville. 
 Watts met her in a lonely spot on the road and committed 
 a violent and criminal assault. The girl knew him by sight. 
 He left her by the wayside in an unconscious condition,
 
 THE CAPTURE OF WESS WATTS. 121 
 
 from which she partly recovered and managed to reach 
 her home a few hours later. She told her parents what had 
 happened and that Wess Watts was her assailant. Where- 
 upon, the father immediately saddled a horse and rode 
 rapidly to the sheriff's office, and informed that officer of 
 the crime. 
 
 W^illiam P. Steele was sheriff at the time, and immedi- 
 ately summoned a posse of seventeen men. These men 
 hastily armed themselves with rifles, shotguns, and pistols 
 and, headed by the sheriff, went to the home of the Watts', 
 and surrounded the house, which stood on a country road 
 in the outskirts of Brookville. After the house had been 
 surrounded the sheriff and one of his men went to the 
 front door where they rapped for admission. The door 
 was opened by Wess' mother. The sheriff addressed her 
 as follows: "Mrs. Watts, I have a warrant for Wess' ar- 
 rest. I am satisfied that he is here, and your house is sur- 
 rounded. He had better give himself up, peaceably, at 
 once." 
 
 Mrs. Watts was about to reply, but before she had time 
 to do so, the large bony hand of her son Wess was ruthless- 
 ly placed upon her shoulder and she was pulled back into 
 the house, he taking her place in the doorway. He had a 
 belt about his waist in which could be seen two Colts navy 
 revolvers. He also had a Colts navy in each hand, and 
 as he stepped into the doorway he said, "Mother, you 
 need not lie to shield me. I will take care of myself." 
 
 And turning around he addressed the sheriff thus: "Bill, 
 I counted your men as they surrounded the house. There 
 are eighteen of you, and I want to say to you that I have 
 got twenty-four shots right here (referring to the four six- 
 shooters he was carrying). I know all of you , fellows and, 
 Bill, you know as well as your men know, that I never
 
 122 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 miss a mark that I shoot at. Now, I am going to leave 
 this place at once and I will not bother Brookville again, un- 
 less you or any of your men attempt to stop me- If you do 
 I will kill every man of you and will still have shots left." 
 Whereupon he extended his hands in front of him so as to 
 brush Sheriff Steele and his assistant to one side, and sud- 
 denly sprang forward, ran to the gate in front of the house 
 and then across the road to where there was a high rail 
 fence. He placed one hand on the top rail and vaulted over 
 the fence and disappeared into a patch of laurel brush and 
 timber. 
 
 In the meantime the sheriff and his posse, or at least a 
 portion of them who were in sight of Watts, quietly stood 
 and watched the proceedings without raising a gun, or at- 
 tempting to do so. It was after this escape that Wess and 
 his father, Brooks and the others made their notorious 
 voyage down the Ohio river to Paducah. 
 
 In conclusion, I will add that on the morning that I ar- 
 rested Watts at Shawneetown, I had not the remotest idea 
 of either arresting or attempting to arrest him, as I was 
 alone and in a strange state and had no papers authorizing 
 me to make the arrest, as Sheriff Steele had retained the 
 papers when he became ill at St. Louis. I knew that Watts 
 had never seen me, therefore, he could not possibly know 
 me or my business ; but, then the terrible reputation he 
 bore in Pennsylvania would preclude the possibility of al- 
 most any sane man attempting to arrest him without what 
 might be considered proper assistance. Knowing that he 
 did not know me, and having an irresistible desire to see 
 this terrible criminal, as I had heard him called. I ventured 
 into his shop merely to get a look at him, believing that I 
 could give him a plausible excuse for my early visit ; but 
 v.hen I saw him and that he w*as entirely unarmed, and he
 
 SOLVING A TRUNK MYSTERY. 123 
 
 did not really look to be as desperate, or even as powerful 
 a man as he had been described to be to me, I, being armed, 
 instantly concluded I could never expect a more favorable 
 opportunity to arrest him than right then and there, and, 
 as a matter of fact, I found myself carrying out this reso- 
 lution really before the resolution had been fully formed in 
 my mind. I saw before me the man who was much wanted 
 by the Pennsylvania authorities and believed I could get 
 him then and there, which I did. 
 
 SOLVING A TRUNK MYSTERY. 
 
 A VERY SLENDER CLUE FASTENS A ROBBERY UPON A BOSOM 
 FRIEND OF THE VICTIM — THE LOOT RECOVERED. 
 
 Early in 1872, while I was Chief of Police of Oil City, 
 Pennsylvania, I was sitting in my office in the City Hall one 
 morning, talking to Col. E. A. Kelley, who was at that time 
 City Comptroller. His office adjoined mine. The colonel 
 was a jolly, good-natured gentleman, middle-aged, very portly, 
 scholarly, and of military bearing. He was a graduate of 
 Annapolis Naval Academy, and had spent a portion of his 
 early life in the United States navy. He had traveled a great 
 deal, and was generally well-informed- He had formed a 
 great liking to me, and took an interest in the police depart- 
 ment, and especially in the detection of criminals and the 
 capture of them, and loved to talk with me during our leisure 
 moments relative to that portion of my duties as chief of the 
 department. 
 
 We were thus engaged in a pleasant conversation, when 
 two young men, who were probably from twenty-five to 
 twenty-eight years of age, entered the office and inquired of 
 the Colonel for the Chief of Police. Colonel Kelley pointed
 
 12i FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 to me saying, "There is the Chief," and arose to leave the 
 office. I knew that there was no cause for his leaving at the 
 moment, so asked him to remain, feeling that he would be 
 interested in the young men's business with me. 
 
 The spokesman of the two said to me that his name was 
 William Brewer, and that he was the superintendent of an 
 oil company which was operating a large number of oil wells 
 on the Blood farm, which was located on Oil Creek, Venango 
 County, Pennsylvania, and about six miles north of Oil City. 
 He stated that his home was in the state of Ohio, near 
 Cleveland, where he had bought a small farm for a home for 
 his parents, who were getting old, and who were now living 
 on this farm. He said that he was earning a fairly good 
 salary, and that he had been saving his money so as to make 
 the annual payment on the farm, as he had made the purchase 
 on the installment plan. His next annual payment of seven 
 hundred dollars, including the interest, would be due in about 
 a week from that date. He had been laying his money away 
 in a trunk, which he kept in his room in the boarding-house. 
 He stated that he had nine hundred dollars in bank notes, which 
 he kept in a large, leather wallet, and which he placed in 
 this trunk. He said that he kept the trunk locked, and on 
 that morning he had occasion to unlock his trunk to take out 
 some clothing, and to his dismay discovered that the wallet 
 and its contents were missing. In answer to my question, he 
 stated that he had found the trunk locked, and apparently 
 intact. I believe I only asked him the one question. He did 
 all the talking, clearly and distinctly, had a good face, and 
 his general manner impressed me very much. 
 
 His companion, who looked near enough like him to be a 
 brother, which in fact, T at first judged him to be, had noth- 
 ing to say. After listening attentively to his story, I was 
 silent for a few moments, and finally asked him how long it
 
 SOLVING A TRUNK MYSTERY. 125 
 
 would take liim to go to his boarding-house and bring his 
 trunk to my office, in exactly the same condition in which he 
 had found it. He replied that as the roads were quite bad he 
 thought he could have the trunk in my office in about four 
 hours. I then explained to him that as his boarding-house 
 was outside of my jurisdiction as Chief of Police, that I really 
 would have no right to go there, but that I would be glad 
 to aid him to the best of my ability ; to which he replied 
 that he would bring the trunk to my office as requested, and 
 thanked me for my trouble. 
 
 The boys then left the office, and I noticed that they had 
 ^ horse and buggy, in which they departed. While this con- 
 versation was going on between myself and Brewer, Col. 
 Kelley was sitting with his arms folded, intently interested, 
 but silent. When they had gone I returned to my office, and 
 sat down, where the colonel was waiting for me. A.fter I 
 had seated myself and lighted a cigar the colonel said to me, 
 "Tom, why did you ask those boys to bring that trunk here 
 to your office?" I unhesitatingly replied, "'Colonel, I don't 
 know." Right here I want to assure the reader that my reply 
 was absolutely the truth. I really had no idea at the time 
 that I asked the young fellow to bring his trunk to my office 
 why I did so, other than that I had seen, while in the company 
 of other Chiefs of Police and detectives, that they, as a rule, 
 invariably cast as much mystery as possible about their work 
 v/hen dealing with people outside of their departments. 
 Neither did I feel at liberty to admit to these young men that 
 I felt incapable of solving the mystery surrounding the dis- 
 appearance of the money. All of which I explained to the 
 colonel. He laughingly shook his head and said, "Tom, you 
 are a detective, sure enough. You are not candid in this 
 explanation that you have given to me, but I beg your pardon, 
 as it is really presumptuous on my part to ask you such ques-
 
 126 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 tions. However, I will just wait and watch the outcome, which 
 I believe will be all right." I tried to answer the colonel that 
 I had been candid with him, but it was in vain. 
 
 In due time, during the afternoon of the same day, the boys 
 returned to my office, carrying the trunk between them. 
 Col- Kelley was on hand, as he had evidently been watching 
 for them and had seen them as they entered my office. I 
 asked him to be seated, and said to Brewer, "I wish that you 
 would place that trunk in this room in as near the same posi- 
 tion as it was in your room at the boarding-house." 
 
 Brewer said, "Our room is square and nearly the shape of 
 this office, but not so large. There are two windows in the 
 west side of our room. They are about five feet apart." And 
 he placed the trunk against the wall of the office between two 
 windows, which were farther apart than the windows in his 
 room. After he had placed the trunk, I said to him, "Now, 
 I want you to approach the trunk just as you did this morning, 
 when you missed your money, unlock the trunk, and go 
 through the same motions that you did until you discovered 
 the loss." 
 
 He approached the trunk, got down on his right knee, un- 
 strapped the trunk, produced a key, unlocked it, turned the 
 lid back against the wall, then removed the tray which covered 
 the portion of the trunk below the lid. This trunk was a 
 cheap one, covered with an imitation of leather, and was com- 
 paratively new. The trunk and tray were lined with a deli- 
 cate blue paper. The tint was of such a color that it would 
 easily soil. The tray had sides and ends which were perhaps 
 two inches deep, and slid down into the lower half of the trunk 
 from the lid, where it rested upon two cleats at either end. 
 It fitted the trunk snugly. There were two straps of light 
 colored tape, which were about an inch wide and were fastened 
 with carpet tacks to the center of each end of the tray. These
 
 SOLVING A TRUNK MYSTERY. 127 
 
 tapes acted as handles by which the tray could be lifted from 
 the trunk. Brewer had to work for some time to get the tray 
 up out of the trunk, for the reason that one of the tape straps 
 had evidently been recently jerked from its fastenings. As stated 
 before, these tapes had been fastened to the tray by means of 
 four large-sized carpet tacks. When the one strap had been 
 jerked off the tack remained firm in the tray, but the heads 
 of the tacks had been pulled off. This left a sharp point on 
 one of the tacks, which projected from the wood about one- 
 sixteenth of an inch, and like a needle point. 
 
 While Brewer was trying to remove the tray I was kneel- 
 ing down at one end of the trunk and noticed the sharp point 
 on the tack. I also noticed the mark of a thumb, which had 
 been greasy and dirty, and which had been pressed over the 
 tack as the light paper plainly showed. 
 
 Meanwhile, the young man whom I supposed was the 
 brother, was standing at the other end of the trunk opposite 
 me, when I happened to look up just as he turned around 
 towards me, with his hands by his side. I noticed that the 
 thumb on his right hand, which was calloused and dirty, had 
 been cut diagonally across, leaving the cut about three-quarters 
 of an inch long, and about a thirty-second of an inch deep. 
 The cut was fresh and was beginning to gape open, although 
 not deep enough to bring blood. The hands of all men em- 
 ployed around oil wells become more or less saturated with 
 oil, and are rough and calloused. Generally they present a 
 dirty and greasy appearance. As the fellow turned and I got 
 a glimpse of the cut in the thumb, I rose from beside the trunk, 
 faced him, and instantly seized his right hand. I carefully 
 examined the cut, then looked at the imprint on the end of 
 the tray, and pointing to the stain, said to him in a sharp, com- 
 manding tone, "Wiiere is this man's money?"
 
 128 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 'Where is this man's money?"
 
 SOLVING A TRUNK MYSTERY. 129 
 
 He began to cry, and said, "If you will let me go I will 
 get the money." 
 
 I asked him where the money was, and he said, "I hid it 
 yesterday under the carpet in the hall at the boarding-house." 
 
 Meanwhile, Brewer had turned ashy pale, and burst into 
 tears, exclaiming, "My God, Chief, I am sorry to learn that 
 he, above all other men, has taken my money. He knew all 
 about it. He was the only person who knew that I kept the 
 money where I did. We have been raised together. He was 
 my schoolmate and is now my room-mate. His father and 
 mother live in Ohio and are our nearest neighbors. It would 
 kill them to know that Jim would do a thing like this. His 
 name is Jim Davis." 
 
 I said to Davis, "Will you go with Brewer and get that 
 money and turn it over to him, intact?" He promised that 
 he would do so, but he said, "Chief, I cannot get the money 
 from its hiding place unobserved until after the people in the 
 house have gone to bed, tonight " 
 
 "That will be all right," said Brewer, "I know Jim will do 
 as he promises. Now, Chief, if you will not arrest him I 
 will gladly pay you anything that you may charge me, but 
 please do not arrest him. I could not appear against him in 
 court, for if I did so it would kill his mother, and probably 
 my mother too." 
 
 I replied that I would make no charges for my services, and 
 if he was satisfied it did not matter to me. I said, "You may 
 take charge of him, and if he does not turn the money over 
 to you at once, I will take the matter up and have him punished 
 according to law." 
 
 The boys left with the trunk, and the next day Brewer called 
 upon me and told me that Davis had turned all the money 
 over to him, and had then attempted to commit suicide. He 
 had gone to a near-by drug store and purchased a quantity of
 
 130 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 poison with suicidal intent. Suspecting that Davis had con- 
 templated ending his life, Brewer had detailed a trusted and 
 mutual friend to watch him, unknown to Davis, and who 
 seized him and took the poison away from him before he could 
 use it. 
 
 Davis and Brewer were friends afterwards and became in- 
 separable, as they had been before that time. If the parents 
 of either of them ever heard of the occurrence I am not aware 
 of it. 
 
 After the boys had left. Col. Kelley, who had taken in the 
 entire proceedings in silence, came to me with moisture in 
 his eyes, and said, "Chief, you are a brick." 
 
 THE GLENCOE TRAIN ROBBERY. 
 
 ARREST AND CONVICTION OF BILLY LOWE AND GEORGE EBBER- 
 LING. — A PIECE OF QUICK WORK. 
 
 Glencoe is a small station on the Missouri Pacific Railway, 
 twenty-nine miles west of the city of St. Louis. An east 
 bound train which carried both mail and passengers was 
 boarded on the night of February 21, 1910, by two men, who 
 climbed on the front end of what is known by railroad men as 
 the blind baggage, next to the tender of the engine. These 
 micn were unobserved until the train had passed Glencoe sta- 
 tion, when they climbed over the top of the tank to the engine 
 and covered the engineer and fireman with drawn revolvers. 
 They were both masked with handkerchiefs tied over the lower 
 portion of their faces, which entirely concealed their features 
 below the eyes. They wore slouch hats and were described 
 by the engineer and fireman and other members of the train 
 crew who saw them — one as a short, stout built man with 
 very black hair ; the other as a tall, square-shouldered fellow with
 
 THE GLENCOE TRAIN ROBBERY. 131 
 
 light-brown hair, and apparently younger than his stout 
 partner. The stout man was described as having handled and 
 carried his revolver in his left hand, while his right hand was 
 bandaged and appeared to have been injured. He also was 
 reported as having acted as chief and to have given all orders, 
 and to have handled the locomotive as though he was as per- 
 fectly familiar with the vv'ork as an experienced locomotive 
 engineer. These men compelled the engineer to bring the 
 train to a full stop. They then made the engineer and fire- 
 man accompany them back to the rear end of the last mail 
 car, when the engineer was forced to disconnect the two mail 
 cars from the rest of the train. Then the engineer and fire- 
 man were marched back to the engine, and after all four men 
 had again entered the cab, the short man took charge of the 
 engine, and pulled the express and two mail cars to a point 
 about three miles east of where the rest of the train had been 
 left with the crew. They stopped at this point on the main 
 track and began rifling the sealed mail pouches in one of the 
 mail cars, continuing this for several minutes, cutting open 
 the sealed pouches and taking therefrom all the registered 
 mail. They finally concluded that they were consuming too 
 much time, as trains were liable to approach from the east. 
 They, therefore, seized a number of large mail pouches filled 
 with registered mail, and, after instructing the engineer and 
 fireman to back the engine to Glencoe and take up the rest 
 of the train again, the men left the railroad on foot, each of 
 them being loaded down with the registered mail pouches, 
 which they had taken from the car- They hid these mail 
 bags in a stack of corn-shucks in a cornfield near the bank 
 of the Meramec River. They had previously stolen a skiff, 
 or rowboat, which they had hidden in a clump of bushes on 
 the bank of the river near the cornfield. They took this 
 rowboat and made their way down the Meramec River a few
 
 132 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 miles, where they left the boat and made their way overland 
 back to St. Louis- 
 
 On the morning of February 22, I happened to be in New 
 York City and upon picking up a morning paper I read the 
 account of the train robbery and the description that had been 
 given by the train crew of the robbers. I immediately tele- 
 graphed to the manager of my office in St. Louis to go and 
 tell Mr. Dixon, of St. Louis, Postoffice Inspector in charge 
 of the district of Missouri, that I knew who the train robbers 
 were, and where they could be found, and that I would be in 
 St. Louis the following Saturday and that I would get the 
 guilty men and turn them over to him or to his assistants in 
 case he, Mr. Dixon, and his force had not succeeded in locat- 
 ing and arresting the guilty men before I returned to St. 
 Louis. 
 
 On my return the following Saturday I found Mr. Dixon 
 awaiting me. I told him that I was satisfied, from the descrip- 
 tion of the robbers, that Billy Lowe was the leader in the 
 Glencoe Train Robbery. I told about having arrested Lowe 
 eleven years before for having taken part, with others, in the 
 Leads Junction Train Robbery, which had occurred on the 
 Missouri Pacific Railroad just east and south of Kansas City- 
 He with the others had held up the train and had blown the 
 express car to pieces with dynamite. I also told him that I 
 had finally succeeded in obtaining from Lowe a complete con- 
 fession as to the part he had taken in the Leads Robbery, 
 and also the names of his associates in the crime. 
 
 Some of his other companions were also arrested at the 
 time. Lowe took the witness stand and by his testimony 
 fully substantiated the confession that he had made to me in 
 the presence of John Hayes, who was then Chief of Police of 
 Kansas City, Missouri, and D. F. Harbaugh, one of my men 
 at that time. Lowe afterwards reiterated this confession to
 
 THE GLENCOE TRAIN ROBBERY. 133 
 
 the prosecuting attorney of Kansas City- The prosecutor's 
 name I do not now remember. 
 
 Lowe having- taken the witness stand and having promised 
 the Chief of PoHce and Prosecuting Attorney and myself that 
 he would thereafter lead an honest life, the prosecuting attorney 
 annulled the proceedings against him and after the trial of his 
 associates Lowe was dismissed. He was a thorough railroad 
 man. He came to St. Louis and obtained employment as a 
 switchman in the yards of the Iron Mountain Railroad, where 
 he met and formed the acquaintance of one George Ebberling, 
 also a switchman. He and Ebberling became fast friends 
 and continued to work for the Iron Mountain for several years, 
 when they left the company's service and went to St. Paul, 
 Minnesota, where they obtained employment in the train service 
 of the Great Northern Railway Company, and finally worked 
 their way to Spokane, Washington. 
 
 In the meantime I kept track of them, believing that it would 
 be only a question of time until Lowe would become a train 
 robber again. During the years of 1908 and 1909 a number 
 of trains were held up and robbed in the vicinity of Spokane, 
 and I, knowing that Lowe was there, wrote the officers of the 
 Great Northern Company that I believed that I knew who 
 the guilty parties were and where they could be found- But 
 these officers apparently did not deem the information I had 
 sent them worth answering, as I did not hear from them. 
 
 I knew that both Billy Lowe and Ebberling were in St. Louis 
 prior to the Glencoe Train Robbery. They had returned early 
 in January and I immediately had placed a shadow on their 
 movements, and when I read the description of the men who 
 had robbed the train at Glencoe I at once became satisfied 
 that Lowe was the man who had handled the engine. He 
 had visited my office the day preceding the Glencoe affiair, and 
 his right hand was bandaged by reason of boils that he had on
 
 134 ■ FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 his wrist )ust above the hand ; and then the description in the 
 New York papers was almost a perfect description of Lowe, 
 and also the description of the tall man given in the paper 
 was that of Ebberling. 
 
 As soon as they arrived in St. Louis, Lowe had rented an 
 office room on the upper floor of the Granite Building, on 
 the southwest corner of 4th and Market streets, Lowe 
 furnished his office and had a number of maps and charts of 
 mining lands in Alaska, and offered mining stocks for sale in 
 that country. Ebberling left St. Louis immediately after the 
 Glencoe robbery. 
 
 A day or so after the robbery, a country merchant, who 
 resides in a small town near Kansas City, furnished the post- 
 office inspector with a clue which afterwards proved that I 
 was right in suspecting Lowe and Ebberling of the crime. 
 This merchant owed a St. Louis wholesale house a bill in the 
 neighborhood of $100.00. He had, on the day before the 
 robbery, remitted the amount by registered letter, keeping 
 a memorandum of the size, series and numbers of the bills. 
 When he first heard of the robbery, and knowing that his 
 package was probably a part of the loot, the merchant sent 
 a copy of the memorandum to the postoffice inspector- The 
 inspector had several hundred copies of the memorandum 
 printed and forwarded to the officials of the banks within a 
 radius of five hundred miles of St. Louis. Within twenty- 
 four hours after the distribution of these circulars, one of the 
 bills, a ten-dollar gold certificate, was presented at the receiv- 
 ing teller's window of a Hot Springs National Bank, by one 
 of its lady depositors — the keeper of a rooming house in that 
 city. On being questioned as to where she had obtained the 
 bill, the lady told the teller one of her roomers, Mr. George 
 Ebberling, had given it to her in exchange for a week's room 
 rent.
 
 THE GLENCOE TRAIN ROBBERY. 
 
 135 
 
 In the meantime, I having learned that EbberHng had gone to 
 Hot Springs and his address there, notified Inspector Dixon, 
 who immediately sent one of his assistants to Ebberling's 
 lodging place, where he secured an adjoining room to enable 
 him to keep a closer watch on the suspected mail robber. 
 The teller of the bank reported the finding of the bill to In- 
 
 WiLLiAM W. Lowe. George Ebberling. 
 
 Train robber and thief now doing Train robber and thief who assist- 
 
 a long sentence for robbing ed Lowe in many of his robber- 
 
 a mail train near St. Louis. ies, also doing time. 
 
 spector Dixon promptly, and we immediately planned the 
 arrest of Lowe. 
 
 The following morning accompanied by two of Mr. Dixon's 
 postoffice inspectors, James Smith, Chief of Detectives of St, 
 Louis, and two of his men, and my Assistant Superintendent, 
 J. S. Manning, I went to Lowe's office in the Granite Building,
 
 136 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 having previously been advised by Mr. Manning- that the man 
 under suspicion was in his office. I pointed Lowe out to the 
 city officers, who arrested him promptly. He was locked up 
 and after his arrest, Mr. Dixon telegraphed his inspector at 
 Hot Springs to arrest Ebberling immediately and bring him to 
 St- Louis. After Ebberling had been arrested at Hot Springs, 
 when he was asked how he got possession of the ten-dollar 
 note, before mentioned, he confessed that he had gotten it 
 from Billy Lowe and made a further and full confession as 
 to how he and Lowe had robbed the train at Glencoe. 
 
 Lowe did not make a confession, nor did he make any 
 .admission as to his connection with the robbery; on the con- 
 trary, he strenuously denied everything. 
 
 In his confession, Ebberling stated that Jimmy Lowe, a 
 younger brother of Billy's, knew all about the robbery, and 
 would have taken part in it but for the fact that he became 
 intoxicated on the evening the robbery was scheduled to take 
 place and could not make the trip. Ebberling also stated 
 that James Lowe had visited the cache in South St. Louis 
 where the guns and masks had been hidden, and brought 
 them to St. Louis and delivered them to Billy Lowe at his 
 mother's house. 
 
 The amount of money secured from the rifled mail pouches, 
 according to Ebberling, was between six and seven hundred 
 dollars, but the pouches which had been ''stashed" in the 
 cornfield by the robbers, and afterwards recovered by the 
 officers, contained a great deal more than this amount. 
 
 Ebberling and Lowe were tried in the April term of the 
 Federal Court at St. Louis and were convicted — Lowe being 
 sentenced to forty-three years at Leavenworth, United States 
 Penitentiary, and a fine of $3,000.00, or the equivalent of two 
 years in prison. Ebberling was sentenced to eighteen years in 
 Leavenworth Prison, and fined $3,000.00. Jimmy Lowe, who
 
 RUNNING DOWN THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 137 
 
 had laid in jail for months and had taken the witness stand for 
 the Government, was released and is now leading an honest 
 life, so far as I know. 
 
 After arriving at the penitentiary Ebberling made a further 
 confession in which he stated that he and W. W. Lowe had 
 held up and robbed eleven trains at different points on the 
 Great Northern and the Northern Pacific Railway lines in 
 the vicinity of Spokane, during 1908 and 1909, and in this 
 statement he described so accurately the places at which he 
 and Lowe had hidden certain property they had secured in 
 these robberies that the United States authorities went to 
 the places designated and recovered the property. Lowe and 
 Ebberling have since been indicted for these robberies, proving 
 conclusively that I was right when I wrote the officers of the 
 roads named that I believed I knew who the parties were who 
 had been holding up and robbing their trains. 
 
 The Great Northern and the Northern Pacific had offered 
 rewards for the arrest and conviction of the parties who had 
 committed these depredations, which aggregate, I understand, 
 $20,000.00; but, as I have always strictly adhered to a rule 
 that I formed early in my career, never to work for or receive 
 rewards that might be offered for the arrest and conviction 
 of any person, I did not claim the rewards offered by the 
 two railroads. My reason for not accepting rewards is 
 fully explained in another portion of this book. 
 
 RUNNING DOWN THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 
 
 DIFFICULT PIECE OF DETECTIVE WORK PERFORMED FOR THE 
 MEXICAN GOVERNMENT^ — SENSATIONAL SCENES ATTENDING 
 THE ARREST OP THE LEADERS. 
 
 Early in the Twentieth Century a movement, which had for 
 its object the overthrow of the Diaz government in Mexico,
 
 138 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 crystalized. The revolutionists went about this work very 
 quietly at the beginning, but later be^^ame more bold, and final- 
 ly the majority of the leaders in the movement were driven 
 from that country. Headquarters were first established at 
 Laredo, across the border, but afterwards at El Paso and at 
 Tombstone, Arizona. 
 
 As this was a violation of the neutrality laws, at the instance 
 of the Mexican government the El Paso and Tombstone junta 
 were broken up, and its officers disappeared. Within a few 
 months the Mexican government learned that the revolution- 
 ists had again gotten together, and were once more flooding 
 that country with inflammable literature. I was employed in 
 1907 by Enrique C Creel, at that time Governor of Chihuahua, 
 to locate the new headquarters of the junta, and find out what 
 was going on. I soon went to work on the case, and found 
 that the new headquarters of the revolutionists had been 
 established in St. Louis, in the 900 block on North Channing 
 avenue. Ricardo Flores Magon was the president, Antonio 
 I. Villerreal, Vice-President, and Labardo Rivera, Secretary, 
 of the junta- I also learned that Ricardo Flores Magon was 
 editing ,and publishing a scurrilous and inflammatory paper in 
 St. Louis under a fictitious name. The paper was supposed 
 to be published monthly, and was called the Mexican Re"- 
 generacion. Magon's stafif consisted of his brother, Enrique 
 Flores Magon, Antonio I. Villerreal, Labrado Rivera, and a 
 number of lesser lights, among them Munwell Lo Fez, Manuel 
 Sarabia, Tomaso Sarabia, and a number of women, two of 
 whom were sisters of Villerreal. 
 
 Villerreal's father, who was a very old man, sold news- 
 papers on the streets of St. Louis for a living. Villerreal's 
 sisters were named Andrea, the elder, and Teresa, the younger. 
 
 Antonio de P. Araujo used the following aliases, German 
 Riesco, Alberto M. Ricaurte, Joaquin P. Calvo, Luis F. Carlo,
 
 RUNNING DOWN THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 139 
 
 and A. G. Hermandez. Tomaso S. Labrado was a protege, 
 a sort of a "man Friday" for Antonio de P. Araujo. Araujo 
 made his headquarters at Austin, Texas, for quite a while, but 
 finally established his permanent abode at McAlester, Okla- 
 homa, and was a live wire. 
 
 Villerreal's sisters lived in a basement with their old father 
 for a while. Their place of residence was East Convent 
 street, St. Louis. It was the basement of a rickety old tene- 
 ment house, and besides themselves and their father, there was 
 a woman who represented herself to be the aunt of Ricardo 
 Flores Magon, and gave her name as LoPaz. I never heard 
 of her claiming any relationship with Enrique Flores Magon, 
 who was Ricardo Flores Magon's brother. The old mother 
 of Juan Sarabia, and the wife and two children of Labrado 
 Rivera, also lived in the same place. Juan Sarabia was the 
 cous(p of Manuel and Tomaso Sarabia, who were brothers. 
 The entire furnishings of this hovel could have been moved 
 in two good wheel barrow loads. The whole outfit was very 
 poor and lived in what appeared to be abject poverty and filth. 
 None of the members of the junta were in any way connected 
 with the first families of Mexico- 
 
 To write up the characteristics, ideas, habits and the practices 
 of the members of the St. Louis junta, I have material enough 
 to cover reams of foolscap, much of which would be uninter- 
 esting to the American people. I will, therefore, confine my- 
 self to the final locating of Magon, Villerreal and Labrado 
 Rivera, the originators and the ringleaders of the conspiracy, 
 their arrest in Los Angeles and their extradition to Tomb- 
 stone, Arizona, after they had been in jail for nearly two years, 
 during which time they exhausted all legal resources in at- 
 tempting to avoid extradition to Arizona, where they stood 
 charged with having violated the United States neutrality 
 laws. A large sum of money was raised and contributed by
 
 140 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 sympathizing Mexicans who resided in and about Los Angeles, 
 as well as by the different labor organizations, to assist 
 them in their defense. The laboring classes in California and 
 throughout the United States sympathized with these so- 
 called revolutionists, Magon and his party, as much as though 
 they had been respectable, honest working people. If the 
 Magons, or any of his followers, mentioned heretofore, ever 
 did a noble or patriotic act in their lives, either in the United 
 States or Mexico, I have never succeeded in learning of the 
 fact, and from the information I obtained I am satisfied that 
 none of them ever attempted to earn a living by honest labor. 
 
 I succeeded in locating, Magon, Villerreal and Rivera in a 
 cabin in the western part of Los Angeles, where they were 
 entire strangers and their real identity was known to but two 
 people in the city. Magon had made it a rule to never trust 
 his fellow countrymen, or any one else. Many Mexicans in 
 Los Angeles knew Magon was in or near the city, and knew 
 him as the leader of the Mexican rebellion, but did not know 
 hirn personally, nor would he permit them to know him. 
 
 There was a man there by the name of Modeska Diaz, who 
 knew Magon and his party was in the city and visited him in 
 his sanctum, always between midnight and daylight. Magon 
 used this man's name, Modeska Diaz, as the editor of his 
 paper in Los Angeles. There was also a married woman, a 
 Mexican, fairly good looking, thirty-eight or forty years of 
 age, light complexioned and an admirer of Ricardo Flores 
 Magon, and this admiration was reciprocated. She visited 
 him occasionally, always at late hours. She and the man Diaz 
 were the only persons in Los Angeles who were aware of 
 Magon's place of abode. They were also the only people in 
 Los Angeles who knew him personally. 
 
 After I had succeeded in locating the cabin where these 
 men were living, I was fortunate in securing rooms just across
 
 RUNNING DOWN THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 141 
 
 the street and from my window was able to watch everything 
 that went on in the retreat of the Magon party- I kept them 
 under surveillance, day and night, for a month before making 
 the arrests. They left in the day time and did all their work 
 at night, beginning as soon as it got dark and keeping up 
 their work until daylight. 
 
 I soon discovered that Villerreal was absent. He had been 
 arrested by the United States authorities the year before at 
 El Paso, Texas, and placed in jail, where he remained for 
 months, and was finally put in charge of a deputy United 
 States marshal, who started to escort him across the line, as 
 an undesirable citizen, but en route he obtained permission 
 from his guard to enter a telegraph office at El Paso, claiming 
 that he wished to notify his sisters, by telegraph, that he was 
 being deported. He left the officer standing at the front 
 door of the telegraph office and passed through the place and 
 escaped by the rear door, and thereby established a great 
 reputation for himself among the lower classes of his fellow 
 countrymen. The newspapers made a great sensation of the 
 affair, and referred to it as a hair-breadth and miraculous 
 escape from the United States authorities. The facts are, 
 that his escape was from one deputy United States marshal, a 
 half-breed Mexican, who was almost immediately after Viller- 
 real's escape dismissed from the service. It was afterwards 
 rumored around El Paso that the deputy had been bribed. For 
 this reason I decided not to arrest the others until Villerreal 
 appeared on the scene. I felt sure that it would be only a 
 question of time when he would join his master, Magon, in 
 Los Angeles, as it would be necessary for him to make his 
 report to Magon on the progress in the mission that had been 
 assigned to him in Arizona. 
 
 Finally, on the night of August 22nd, about midnight, Vil- 
 lerreal was seen to enter the cabin. Satisfying myself as to
 
 142 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 his identity, I decided to arrest them the following day, 
 August 23rd. 
 
 We had discovered that the inmates of the cabin used large 
 coal-oil lamps, and, as I expected Magon and his companions 
 Vv'ould resist arrest, there was a chance that the lamps might 
 be upset and explode. This would set fire to the place, and 
 thereby destroy papers and documentary proofs, and for this 
 reason I decided to make the arrests in daylight. 
 
 At five o'clock on the evening of the 23rd, we surrounded 
 the cabin. I had with me two Los Angeles police officers and 
 two of my own men- We found Villerreal and Magon asleep, 
 and Rivera sitting in a chair, also in slumberland, although he 
 was supposed to be on guard at the back door. Our appear- 
 ance had been so quietly arranged that the parties were com- 
 pletely taken by surprise and did not have time to reach their 
 arms. They fought hard, however, and continued to struggle 
 all the way from the cabin to the jail, a distance of at least 
 three miles. A wagon happened to pass the place at the time 
 and I pressed it into service, and it kept us busy to keep the 
 prisoners in the wagon, as they struggled and fought the entire 
 distance, and kept up a continual squawking, which reminded 
 one of a flock of wild geese. None of them spoke English, and 
 the only things they could say were that they were being kid- 
 napped and the words "help" and "Liberales." 
 
 It was just the time in the evening when people were leaving 
 their places of work and going home, and the streets were 
 thronged with people. We had to go north on Spring street, 
 the principal street of the city. By reason of the continual 
 uproar created by the prisoners it proved to be the most 
 sensational arrest that had ever been made in Los Angeles 
 up to that time. 
 
 We landed them safely in the city prison, and without any 
 one sustaining serious injury, except a few teeth knocked out.
 
 RUNNING DOWN THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 143 
 
 bruised faces and black eyes. To my great surprise Villerreal, 
 who had been so much lauded for his undaunted courage, was 
 the easiest one of the party to subdue, and seemed to possess 
 the least courage of anyone in the party. 
 
 A remarkable feature of this affair was that this party of 
 agitators appealed to the sympathy of the working element. 
 The laboring classes, nearly to a man, were in sympathy with 
 them. I know that none of them had ever been connected with 
 the working man's interests, nor were they laboring men 
 themselves. They were simply agitators and people who were 
 always trying to obtain something for nothing. 
 
 Guiterrez de Lara posed as a Mexican novel writer, and 
 claimed to have been admitted to the bar as a lawyer in Mexico, 
 and fled from there, going to Los Angeles, California, Vv^here 
 he sought refuge. He obtained a meal ticket by marrying the 
 proprietress of a lodging house, who was an American old 
 enough to be his mother. He was not known to be connected 
 with the revolutionary movement in Mexico, and was entirely 
 unknown to the Magon faction until he broke into the limelight 
 after Magon and his party had been arrested. De Lara was 
 tall, inclined to be slender, had long, black, wavy hair, which 
 he kept carefully parted in the middle, had some education, 
 spoke no English, and was a typical agitator, and opposed to 
 all law, order or government. However, he was not suspected 
 by the people of Los Angeles as having either moral or phys- 
 ical courage. 
 
 Manuel Sarabia, one of their number, was a printer by 
 trade. He had gone to Chicago during the printers' strike 
 and took a position with M. A. Donahue, Hammond, Ind. He 
 was a "scab" printer for one whole winter. I had him under 
 surveillance all the time. Magon and the others all knew 
 he was a strike breaker, .as he had been in communication 
 with them from time to time.
 
 144 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Rivera, after leaving his wife and children, started west to 
 join Mag-on. He worked his way from Kansas City by stealing 
 rides on freight trains, and in the same way from there to 
 Denver, Colorado. Here he stayed around the Union depot, 
 playing porter until the regular porters drove him away. He 
 next made his way to Leadville and worked there, also as a 
 "scab" porter. He was continuously on the lookout for de- 
 tectives, and imagined that every person who looked at him 
 was one, when, as a matter of fact, we knew his whereabouts 
 continuously from the time he left St. Louis until he joined 
 Magon in Los Angeles- In fact, it was by following him 
 that we finally located Magon's place of abode. 
 
 Munwell LoPaz was commissioned by Magon as general 
 organizer for the so-called revolutionary army. He went from 
 St. Louis to San Antonio, Texas, where he commenced organiz- 
 ing volunteers for the "army," and had considerable success, 
 until he received orders to go to Monterey, Mexico, for the 
 same purpose. On receiving these orders he secured the ser- 
 vices of Tomaso Labrada, and left him in charge of his affairs 
 in San Antonio, while he went to Monterey. 
 
 One of our operatives, who was shadowing him, informed 
 me of LoPaz's movements. I was in San Antonio at the time. 
 I arrived in Monterey twelve hours after LoPaz reached there, 
 and the following day I succeeded in capturing him at the 
 postoffice in Monterey. I turned him over to the authorities, 
 and some credentials and other papers found on him caused the 
 authorities to send him. immediately to the City of Mexico. 
 
 During the four years that I was employed by the Mexican 
 Government to look after the ]\iagon faction, I came in con- 
 tact with a number of the leading officers of that government, 
 among them President Diaz, Vice-President Corral, and 
 Ambassador to the United States, Enrique C. Creel, and his 
 successor," Senor De La Barra. I found them all gentlemen,
 
 RUNNING DOWN THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 145 
 
 good business men, honest, high-minded, and, I beUeve, 
 thoroughly loyal to the people of Mexico. I found that the 
 people of Mexico seemed to have great confidence in and re- 
 spect for President Diaz. All the officials were very popular 
 with the exception of Vice-President Corral. He was the 
 most unpopular officer connected with the Mexican government, 
 and I have no doubt that the dislike the people of Mexico 
 bore for him was a great factor in creating the disfavor that 
 finally caused the overthrow of Diaz's administration- 
 
 Ricardo Flores Magon was a man of brain, well mannered, 
 inclined to be courteous, and educated and undoubtedly intended 
 for a leader of men, but he was unscrupulous and irresponsi- 
 ble, and was an anarchist at heart- 
 Enrique Flores Magon, his younger brother, was educated, 
 with a disposition and manners similar to those of his brother, 
 inclined to be timid, verging on cowardice. 
 
 Lebrada Rivera was forty years of age, small of stature, 
 light weight, and from his appearance might have been mis- 
 taken for a Japanese. He was well educated in Spanish and 
 was at one time connected with the university or school at 
 San Luis Potosi. It was claimed by some of his friends that 
 he had been a professor of this school, but, by his appearance 
 and stibsequent actions he was more like a janitor or assistant 
 janitor. 
 
 Villerreal was about the medium height, well built and 
 rather good looking, about thirty-odd years of age, had some 
 education, and took great care of a luxurious head of black, 
 kinky hair, and a pretentious mustache, which were, in my 
 opinion, his most valuable assets. 
 
 Juan Sarabia was between thirty and thirty-five years of 
 age,' and fairly well educated, was quite an orator, thoroughly 
 disloyal to his country and a violent agitator, although he 
 possessed more courage than any of his associates.
 
 146 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Munwell LoPaz, Manuel Sarabia and Tomaso Sarabia, 
 represented themselves as important factors in the revolution- 
 ary movement. They pretended to hold official positions of 
 great importance in the junta, when, as a matter of fact, the 
 importance of their positions in the junta would compare favor- 
 ably with that of a bellboy in a first-class hotel to that of the 
 manager, who was Magon. 
 
 Magon, Villerreal and Rivera were finally extradited to 
 Tombstone, Arizona, where they were tried in the United 
 States court, convicted and sentenced to the Arizona state 
 prison at Yuma for a term of eighteen months each for having 
 violated the United States neutrality laws, by having organized 
 an armed body of revolutionists at Douglas, Ariz., from where 
 this expedition was sent to the Cannanea copper mines, in 
 Mexico, about thirty miles from the south border of Arizona, 
 with the intention of exterminating all Americans and other 
 foreigners who were employed in and about the Cannanea 
 mines. 
 
 Fortunately for the foreigners around these mines, the Ari- 
 zona rangers, who were than an active body, pursued this 
 mob of revolutionists, but did not overtake them, until they 
 had reached there and began what might have been a mas- 
 sacre, but for the timely appearance of the Arizona rangers. 
 They put the so-called revolutionists, but who should have been 
 called bandits, to flight, capturing a fev/ of the participants. 
 It should be remembered that the Magons, Villerreal and 
 Rivera, while not taking an active part in this raid, guided 
 their adherents from a long, and what they considered a safe, 
 distance. 
 
 In my judgment the penalty for the violation of the neu- 
 trality laws of the United States are not as severe as they 
 should be.
 
 RUNNING DOWN THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 147 
 
 Just as soon as these men had served their time out and were 
 released (within two months) they had reorganized and started 
 the rebelhon in Mexico, that finally resulted in the overthrow 
 of President Diaz's administration- However, this was not ac- 
 complished by Magon or his followers. It was accomplished by 
 parties who Vv^ere enemies of the Magon faction. They quietly 
 organized and stepped in at the opportune time to reap the 
 benefit of the turmoil, disruption and dissension that had been 
 created by the Magon faction. This faction was headed by 
 Madero, who had financial means and a somewhat better 
 class of followers than Magon. 
 
 Madero's victory over the federal army w^as a comparatively 
 easy one, as the government army had become completely 
 honey-combed with disloyalty. When President Diaz became 
 aware of existing conditions there was nothing left for him 
 to do but leave his country to save his life. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the newly formed administration of 
 Madero will bring peace and prosperity to the people of 
 Mexico. However, at the present time, the writer has some 
 doubts as to the fulfillment of this hope. 
 
 While the arrest and capture of Ricardo Flores Magon 
 and his associates at Los Angeles, California, on the 23rd of 
 August, 1907, may not interest the American reader very much, 
 I want to say that by reason of the shrewdness of Ricardo 
 ]\Iagon and the secrecy that he engendered into his followers, 
 the fact that none of them spoke English, and each and every 
 one of them had many aliases, and did all of their important 
 corresponding in various systems of cipher, and the further 
 fact that the Magon brothers continually kept their Mexican 
 followers from getting to know them personally, and from 
 the secret methods employed by them on all occasions, I 
 consider the final location and capture of these parties, under
 
 148 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 all of the foregoing circumstances, the most difficult, as well 
 as one of the most important, cases I have ever handled. 
 
 As a matter of course, after these people had been arrested 
 and had had various hearings in the courts of Los Angeles 
 while they were fighting extradition to Arizona, the officers of 
 this country, as well as of Mexico, had the opportunity of be- 
 coming acquainted with their faces and their methods, and, 
 therefore, before they were extradited from Los Angeles, 
 many of the police officers and others in that city and all 
 along the Mexican border would tell people all about Magon 
 and his followers, and have been known to say that they knew 
 all about them and their methods ; that their capture had been 
 a very easy proposition, and that had I not succeeded in 
 capturing them just when I did that they were about to have 
 i^iade the capture themselves, when as a matter of fact these 
 officers did not have the slightest idea as to the whereabouts 
 of this party, nor were any of these people known to any of 
 the officers on either side of the line, nor their methods, until 
 after the capture and the subsequent development in the 
 courts. 
 
 A DALLAS MURDER AVENGED. 
 
 PROMPT ARREST AND CONVICTION OF THE MURDERER AND SUI- 
 CIDE OF THE INSTIGATOR OF THE CRIME 
 WHILE AWAITING TRIAL. 
 
 Early in the '90s, I received ,a telegram from James Ar- 
 nold, Chief of Police of Dallas, Texas, and Ben Cabel, 
 County Sheriff of Dallas, requesting me to come to Dallas 
 immediately for consultation in a murder case. Knowing 
 both gentlemen well, having done business with them be- 
 fore, I answered that I would start for Dallas the following 
 dav, which I did.
 
 A DALLAS MURDER AVENGED. 149 
 
 I arrived in Dallas late on Wednesday evening. I found 
 Chief Arnold and Sheriff Cabel waiting for me at the de- 
 pot. We went to my hotel immediately where we could 
 have a quiet conference. For obvious reasons I will not 
 give the true names of the principals connected with this 
 dastardly crime, but will state the actual facts which led 
 to the arrest and conviction of the murderer, .and to the 
 suicide of the real principal. 
 
 The Chief and Sheriff told me the nature of the case for 
 which I had been summoned. They said that on Sunday 
 night, preceding, a prominent citizen of Dallas (whom I 
 will call Temple) had boarded a heavily loaded electric 
 car, downtown, in front of one of the principal churches, 
 for his home. The car had at least forty or fifty passen- 
 gers, most of whom were returning home from the evening 
 services, which Temple had attended. Temple lived on the 
 outer edge of the city in the better residence portion. When 
 the car reached his home he got off and started towards 
 his front gate. There were a number of shade trees in 
 front of his home ; the street at this point was well lighted 
 by arc lights, one of which was suspended above the point 
 where he had left the car. As he stepped from the street 
 to the edge of the side-walk, a colored man, who had been 
 concealed behind a shade tree, sprang out and was seen 
 by a number of passengers who were on the rear end of 
 the car to strike Temple a powerful blow on the head 
 with something like a baseball bat. After striking the 
 blow, the negro dropped his weapon and his hat, and fled 
 into an alley, disappearing in the darkness. The people 
 who had witnessed the assault, hastened to Temple, who 
 lay unconscious on the sidewalk, picked him up and car- 
 ried him into his house. Doctors were summoned, and 
 found that Temple's head had been split from the crown
 
 150 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 to the level of the eyes. He was still breathing, but only 
 lived a few moments, never regaining consciousness. The 
 Chief and Sheriff were sent for and found that the weapon 
 was a piece of iJ/^-inch gas pipe, near four feet long. The 
 blow was so powerful that it bent the pipe, midway, to al- 
 most an L-shape. They also found the hat, which the mur- 
 derer dropped, to be a new, cheap, broad-brimmed, black 
 hat and was of unusually large size. It was too large for 
 any ordinary sized head and indicated to me that it was 
 probably too large for the man who had worn it, and for 
 that reason had fallen off with the first violent move the 
 wearer had made. The witnesses to the crime had all had 
 a plain view of the slayer, and described him as a young ne- 
 gro, very black, about five feet eight inches tall, well built, 
 and apparently well dressed. They all agreed that he had 
 the features of a white man, thin lips, straight nose and 
 regular features. In fact, a number believed him to be a 
 white man who had blackened his face. 
 
 During our conference I learned that Temple had a 
 brother, who was a prominent physician, and who lived in 
 Springfield, Illinois. He had been sent for by his sister-in- 
 law, arriving in Dallas on Tuesday. The doctor was anx- 
 ious to have his brother's assassin brought to justice, if 
 possible, and had asked them to recommend a detective to 
 him for that purpose, so they had wired me to come on to 
 Dallas. It was midnight by this time, and I was tired. 
 After making an appointment with Sheriff Cabel to accom- 
 pany him to the scene of the murder the next morning, I 
 retired. 
 
 Next morning Chief Arnold, Sheriff Cabel and I went 
 over the ground. I examined the hat and the piece of pipe, 
 which the murderer had used, and I noticed that this pipe 
 was new and had been cut from the end of a long joint.
 
 A DALLAS MURDER AVENGED. 151 
 
 It was evident to me that it had been cut to the proper 
 length so that he (the assassin) could conceal it in carrying 
 it to the place of the murder. I then began my investiga- 
 tions. 
 
 There was a large colony of negroes in Dallas, as in other 
 Texas towns, but no one seemed to know a colored man 
 who had a white man's features. All the witnesses agreed 
 that they had never seen any one who looked like the mur- 
 derer before. It was, of course, necessary for me to dis- 
 cover the motive for the murder, since in all crimes of this 
 character there is a motive. 
 
 I found that Mr. Temple had been superintendent of a 
 Sunday School. He was also in the wholesale lumber busi- 
 ness, and was associated with two parties in the business. 
 One of them I will call Smith and the other Perry. When 
 the partnership had been formed they agreed to take out a 
 ten thousand dollar life insurance policy on each other's 
 life, and to carry these policies on the company funds. I 
 learned that Temple had incurred the enmity of a number 
 of citizens; among them was .a brother-in-law, vi^ho at one 
 time had been heard to threaten his life. Temple had had 
 some lij;igation with a saw-mill proprietor who lived in 
 east Texas. This litigation involved about fifty thousand 
 dollars, and had been in court for several years. Finally 
 a decision had been rendered in favor of Temple, a short 
 time prior to his murder. The saw-mill proprietor of east 
 Texas had the reputation of being a good citizen, honor- 
 able and reliable in business, but had killed two or more 
 people, for which he had been exonerated by the courts. 
 From the above the reader can understand that I had al- 
 ready discovered what might prove to be several "motives" 
 for the crime.
 
 152 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 At noon on the second da}- after my arrival at Dallas. 1 
 had eaten my dinner and walked out of the Grand Windsor 
 Hotel, where I was stopping, to the corner in front of the 
 hotel, where I stopped for a moment, as I was undecided 
 whether to go up or down the street first, there being peo- 
 ple in both directions whom I wished to see- It was rain- 
 ing. There was a fine-looking young woman coming across 
 the street towards me. As she approached I noticed that 
 she was a colored girl, but .about as white as myself. Her hair 
 was kinky and of a deep reddish color- Her eyes were large 
 and blue. She w^as tall, well dressed, but had large brown 
 freckles about the size of a little finger nail. Her carriage 
 was graceful, and were it not for the freckles and kinky 
 hair she would have been called a beauty. Her graceful 
 movements attracted my attention, and as I looked at her a 
 hand was laid on my shoulder. On looking around I be- 
 held Doctor Temple. He said in an undertone, "What do 
 you think of her?" 
 
 I said, "She is a freak of nature." 
 
 He answered, "Yes, she is a freak of nature. I noticed 
 her yesterday in that building where my brother had his 
 office. She appeared to be having an earnest conversation 
 with the janitor." After a few other remarks the doctor left 
 me and I concluded to go and see a party that I thought 
 could give me some information. I could not get that 
 colored girl out of my mind, and before I had gone a 
 block I decided that I would go and find out who she 
 was, and what her business was with the janitor of the 
 building where the lumberman had had his office. I knew 
 that Sherifif Cabel would know who this girl was, as he 
 knew every one in Dallas. I turned around and went back 
 to the court house, where I found the sherifif and said, 
 "Sheriff, I saw a colored girl near the hotel a short time
 
 A DALLAS A/IURDER AVENGED. 153 
 
 ago (here I described her) and I would like to know who 
 she is and something about her." 
 
 The sheriff said, "That girl is known as Liza Johnson. 
 You know Emma Johnson. She's the daughter of an old 
 colored woman who lived for many years with Emma John- 
 son, Her mother died when she was a child and Emma 
 raised her like her own daughter. She's a good girl and 
 Emma thinks a great deal of her; Emma can tell you all 
 about her, and I will take you over to Emma's if you want 
 me to," This he did. 
 
 We called on Miss Johnson, and the sheriff introduced 
 me, and told her I was a friend of his, asking her to treat 
 me accordingly, to which she assented. 
 
 I said, "I \Yant to know something about your maid, Liza. 
 I understand that she has been seen in an office build- 
 ing over on Commerce St. and I am anxious to learn what 
 business took her to that building." 
 
 She replied, "Why, I don't really know, but I reckon 1 
 can find out. About a month ago the negroes here in Dal- 
 las had a picnic and Liza went to that picnic. She met a 
 young negro there and he brought her home. I saw him, 
 and he was good looking, well dressed, and appeared to 
 be fairly well educated. He w^as black as ink though, but 
 had good features, like those of a white man. He had thin 
 lips, small mouth and, a straight nose. If he had been a 
 white man he'd have been good looking." This was an exact 
 description of the slayer of Mr. Temple, Continuing, she 
 said, "He came here from some place down in the state. 
 He is a stranger here and don't mix with the other colored 
 people. He's acting as a sort of body-servant to his master, 
 who has an office in that building on Commerce St." 
 
 I then asked, "What is his name?"
 
 154 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 She replied, "His first name is John, and his last name 
 is the same as his master's. I can't recall it." 
 
 "Was his master's name Perry?" I asked. 
 
 "Yes," she answered, "That's it, John Perry. But 
 John is not in town now. He left town last Monday. He 
 came over and saw Liza, and told her he was going to San 
 Antonio to attend the races there this week. He writes 
 her every day, though, and she got a letter from him this 
 morning." 
 
 I asked her if she could let me see the letter without 
 Liza's knowledge. She said, "Oh, yes, I'll send Liza over 
 to the drug store on an errand and I can get it then be- 
 fore she returns." 
 
 She sent Liza to the drug store, and got the letter and 
 gave it to me. It was in the envelope and had been mailed 
 the day before at San An — the balance of the word not ap- 
 pearing, because the mailing stamp had not touched the 
 paper. I believe it to be San Antonio, since he was sup- 
 posed to be there. 
 
 Upon receiving this information I asked Miss Johnson 
 to treat my visit in confidence, which she promised to do. 
 I then located a plumbing shop where I found the proprie- 
 tor and his brother, about eighteen years of age, who at 
 once recognized the piece of pipe, which he said he had cut 
 from a large joint for a negro the Friday before the mur- 
 der. He described the negro fully as Miss Johnson and 
 others had done, and said he could identify him any place on 
 sight. I immediately arranged with the elder plumber for 
 his brother to accompany me to San Antonio at my ex- 
 pense, with the understanding that I was to pay him for 
 his time. The bo_v put on his best clothes and we left Dal- 
 las that night for San Antonio, arriving there next morn- 
 ing. We v/ent to the Menger Hotel, and while at breakfast
 
 A DALLAS MURDER AVENGED. 155 
 
 the hotel clerk brought me a telegram from Sheriff Cabel, 
 of Dallas, reading as follows : 
 
 "Go to San Angelo, Texas, at once." 
 
 Before leaving Dallas I had arranged with the sheriff 
 and Miss Johnson to examine all letters received by Liza. 
 On the morning of my arrival at San Antonio Liza received 
 a letter from the San Angelo postofifice with the postmark 
 plainly stamped upon it. I took the first train for San An- 
 gelo, which left that evening. We arrived at San Angelo 
 next morning, Sunday. 
 
 San Angelo was, at the time, a small cattle shipping 
 town, and within an hour after our arrival I learned that 
 the negro, John Perry, had left San Angelo on Saturday 
 evening, with a ticket to Lampasas, Texas. I also learned 
 that I could not leave for Lampasas until Sunday evening, 
 as there was only one daily train each day. Sunday even- 
 ing we left for Lampasas, where we arrived about 8:00 
 a. m. Monday morning. Lampasas was the county seat 
 and it was court week. The town was filled to overflow- 
 ing by reason of the court. The depot was about one-half 
 mile from the postoffice in the center of the city. Getting 
 off the train the boy and myself walked over to the hotel, 
 and as we neared the postoffice we noticed a large crowd 
 around it evidently waiting for mail. The boy from Dallas 
 called my attention to a colored man, who was wearing a 
 light Fedora hat, with a blue serge suit, and was well 
 dressed. He stood away from the crowd near the postoffice, 
 evidently waiting for mail. The boy pointed to him and 
 said, "That's the nigger that I sold that piece of pipe to." 
 
 We were in front of the store when he recognized John 
 Perry, whom it proved to be. I told the boy to stay right 
 there until I had captured tlTe negro. He could then quiet- 
 ly follow us to the jail unobserved. I went over near the
 
 156 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 place where the negro stood and concluded that I would 
 wait until he had received mail, which he was evidently 
 expecting. In a few moments the negroes formed a line to 
 the window where they received their mail. In a short 
 time John reached the window and received a letter. He 
 left the line and walked around the corner of the building, 
 opened the letter and took from it a couple of bank notes, 
 hastily placed them in his vest pocket and proceeded to 
 read the letter, which was written in lead pencil. Mean- 
 while, I had gotten within reach of him without being no- 
 ticed by him or any one else, when I suddenly threw a 41- 
 calibre Colt revolver into his face, commanding him to throw 
 up his hands. To ni}^ surprise he suddenly "plunged his 
 hand inside the waist of his trousers and attempted to draw 
 a nine-inch barrel, 45-calibre Colts, concealed under his 
 vest. Before he could draw it I seized his hand and his re- 
 volver and commanded him in forcible tone to desist. The 
 moment I leveled my revolver on him the crowd's atten- 
 tion was attracted. One of them, who was standing very 
 close, was about six feet tall, and really the thinnest look- 
 ing individual I had ever seen. He wore a hat with a very 
 wide brim, making him look much thinner. He promptly 
 threw a 45 Colt on both of us, and with a voice as shrill as 
 a wild goose, yelled, "Heah, heah, I am the sheriff of this 
 county and I command peace." 
 
 To which I replied, "Mr. Sheriff, take hold of this ne- 
 gro. I'm an officer from Dallas and have arrested him for 
 murdering a white man there." 
 
 The sheriff grabbed one side and I the other, and we 
 started for the jail, nearby. The crowd hearing that I had 
 arrested him for the murder of a white man. talked of 
 lynching, but the sheriff, whom they knew and respected, 
 told them that the prisoner should be dealt with by law,
 
 A DALLAS MURDER AVENGED. 157 
 
 and that he intended to protect him. We took him to jail, 
 where I searched him. I took from him the letter which 
 he had jitst received, and which he tried to tear in pieces. 
 I also took the two bank notes which he had received in the 
 letter. They proved to be two treasury notes. I placed 
 the fragments of the letter together, which had been mailed 
 from Dallas and which read about as follows : 
 
 "I enclose you one hundred dollars, on receipt of which 
 you must go quietly and at once to the City of Mexico. I 
 will join you there. Detectives are on to us, and you must 
 not let them catch you. It would be fatal." (Signed) 
 John Perry. 
 
 I took everything of a metallic nature from him, and 
 had the sheriff lock him up in a cell, as I knew he would 
 be compelled to remain in Lampasas for twenty-four 
 hours, until we could get a train for Dallas. 
 
 By the time he was searched and locked up it was nearly 
 the dinner hour, and I instructed the sheriff to feed the 
 prisoner, but not to allow him a knife or any article with 
 which he could do himself bodily harm. I explained to 
 him that it was very important that I get the prisoner 
 back to Dallas safely, as we wanted to get a statement from 
 him as to why he had killed Temple. 
 
 I had just gone into the dining room to get something 
 to eat, when a deputy sheriff rushed into the room and 
 called my name, to which I answered. He said excitedly, 
 "Come to the jail at once. That nigger of yours has cut 
 his damned head nearly off." 
 
 The hotel was just opposite the jail and it took only a 
 short time to get there . I found the jailor, on discovering 
 what the prisoner had done, had pulled him out of the cell 
 into the corridor, where he was lying on the iron floor, with 
 his throat cut almost from ear to ear. In the cutting he
 
 158 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 had not severed the jugular vein, but had cut the wind pipe. 
 It was. a tremendous gash. He could breathe fairly well, 
 and could speak, but with difficulty. 
 
 Meanwhile the sheriff had summoned an old doctor, 
 who arrived at the jail shortly. He looked at the prisoner 
 and said, "Why, that nigger will die. I can't do a thing 
 for him," and he positively refused to do anything. I 
 pleaded with him to sew up the wound and save the life, 
 as it was of great importance to the people of Dallas. It 
 was all in vain. We finally succeeded in getting a young 
 doctor of the town, who came and tenderly dressed the 
 wound, and stated that with proper care the negro would 
 live. I assisted the doctor all that I could, and stayed 
 there with him from that time until we left Lampasas the 
 next morning. I had my meals brought to the jail to me. 
 
 About the middle of the afternoon, after the wound was 
 dressed, Perry began to feel better, and I presume, by rea- 
 son of my kind treatment of him he told me that his young 
 master, John Perry, had induced him to come to Dallas 
 for the purpose of killing his partner, Mr. Temple; that he 
 (his master) had paid his expenses and had been liberal 
 in furnishing him with spending money, also that he was 
 to give him five hundred dollars after he had killed Temple. 
 He said he did not want to do it, and tried to get out of it 
 after he had reached Dallas, but his master threatened to 
 kill him unless he did so. He said he killed Temple be- 
 cause he feared his master would kilKhim. He said that on 
 the Sunday night previous to the murder he was about to 
 pounce upon another man of Temple's congregation. This 
 man resembled Temple so much that he was about to kill 
 him for Temple, and would have done so but for the fact 
 that his master was in hiding across the street and rushed 
 out and prevented his making a mistake. He also confessed
 
 A DALLAS MURDER AVENGED. 159 
 
 that he had received a telegram on the day that he had left 
 San Angelo, telling him to go to Lampasas and call at the 
 post-office for a letter, which was the letter mentioned 
 above. 
 
 Whereupon, I wrote a telegram to Sheriff Catel, which 
 read as follows : "Negro has cut his throat and is dying. 
 Give this message to the newspapers and have them get 
 out an extra at once, without fail. Will wire you ex- 
 planation two hours later.*' 
 
 I sent this message to the telegraph office by the plumber 
 boy. 
 
 After I had decided to leave Dallas to arrest Perry, I 
 wired a code message to one of my operatives, D. F. Har- 
 baugh, to come to Dallas on the first train and call for a 
 letter of instructions that I left for him at my hotel. This 
 letter was to the effect that he should carefully shadow 
 the white man, John Perry, as soon as he arrived at Dallas, 
 and keep him under continuous surveillance until further 
 orders. 
 
 Harbaugh arrived at Dallas on Saturday and began 
 shadowing Perry according to instructions. As soon as 
 Cabel received my first message he called up the news- 
 papers and they got out an extra at once. The white John 
 Perry got one of the first extras. He read the account of 
 the colored man having killed himself, and at once left his^ 
 office and started for his lodgings, about a mile away. On 
 his way he stopped at every saloon en route (they numbered 
 thirteen in all) and took a large drink at each place. By 
 the time he reached home he had taken at least thirteen 
 drinks. 
 
 Two hours after sending the first message. I sent Sheriff 
 Cabel a second one, which read as follows: 
 
 "Negro doing well ; will recover. Leave here on morn-
 
 160 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 ing train for Dallas. Treat this confidentially and meet 
 me at Temple tomorrow morning. Arrest John Perry on 
 charge of complicity in Temple murder. Have full con- 
 fession of negro which justifies this action." 
 
 Sherifif Cabel did as directed, and met me at Temple the 
 following morning-, where we had to change cars for Dal- 
 las. We arrived in Dallas about 8:00 P. M. Tuesday, and 
 during the long journey from Lampasas to Dallas the 
 jolting of the cars, etc., caused the negro's wound to be- 
 come inflamed, and he was suffering greatly when we 
 reached Dallas. The sheriff had telegraphed ahead for a 
 physician to await us at the jail. The negro was placed on 
 a cot in the corridor where the doctor could redress his 
 wound. While the doctor was so engaged the master, 
 John Perry, who was a prisoner in one of the cells on the 
 upper floor of the jail, could plainly see all that was going 
 on below. Pie recognized the negro and immediately at- 
 tempted to kill himself by butting his head against the 
 steel bars of his cell. The sheriff" and his assistants and 
 myself were attracted b}' the actions of the white man, 
 and at once rushed to the cell. Here we found that the 
 white prisoner had almost beaten out his brains against 
 the bars of his cell. Medical aid was called and a guard 
 placed inside the cell with him to prevent any further 
 personal violence. 
 
 The following day the papers were full of what had oc- 
 curred, and owing to the high standing of Perry, the jail 
 v/as flooded with sympathizers, among whom were many 
 leading citizens. Telegrams from all parts of the state, 
 from influential people, poured in, tendering the prisoner 
 all sorts of aid, financially and otherwise. An able cou.\- 
 sel volunteered to defend him, and society ladies began to 
 send him luncheons and delicacies of all kinds.
 
 A DALLAS MURDER AVENGED. 161 
 
 The prisoner had offered as an excuse for trying to com- 
 mit suicide that he felt so humiliated by being charged 
 with murdering his partner. He declared that he was in- 
 nocent and that he would be exonerated in court ; which I 
 have no doubt he would, as the main proof against him 
 was the testimony of a negro, which does not usually go 
 very far in court in the south when it cannot be strongly 
 corroborated. 
 
 The colored prisoner continued to improve, and ihe 
 white man seemed to get along nicely for about five days, 
 when a young society woman sent him a luncheon, in 
 which was a cut glass plate containing delicacies. While 
 he was eating this lunch, and the guard was at the far end 
 of the cell Perry suddenly struck the plate on the steel 
 floor of the cell, breaking it into pieces. He picked up a 
 large, triangular-shaped piece of glass, with edges as sharp 
 as a razor, and plunged it into his throat, at the same 
 time giving the piece of glass a twist, which severed the 
 jugular vein, causing his death in a few minutes. Thus 
 ended the existence of the white John Perry. 
 
 The colored man pleaded guilty at his trial, and was 
 sentenced to the state prison for life, where, I presume, he 
 is at the present time. 
 
 I omitted to state that after I had searched the colored 
 John Perry at Lampasas, and had instructed the sheriff 
 and jailor not to allow him to have a knife or anything of 
 the kind Vv'ith his meal, Perry had called the jailor and 
 told him that he had gotten a sliver in his finger, and asked 
 the jailor to lend him his knife to remove the sliver. The 
 old jailor, having evidently forgotten my instructions, 
 gave the prisoner his pocket knife, through the bars. As 
 he stepped back from the bars Perry opened the knife and 
 cut his throat before the jailor could get into the cell to
 
 162 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 prevent it. The skin on that darky's neck was as thick as 
 ordinary sole leather and very tough. I held him while the 
 doctor sewed up the w^ound, which was a hard job, but per- 
 formed very nicely. 
 
 I arrived in Dallas on Wednesday night, made the fore- 
 going investigation, located and arrested Perry, caused the 
 arrest of the white John Perry, left Dallas and returned to 
 St. Louis, arriving there on Friday evening of the follow- 
 ing week, after having traveled nearly four thousand miles, 
 which I believe to be the quickest time ever made in 
 working up a case and capturing the guilty parties in a 
 crime of this magjiitude. 
 
 I can say that I have never doubted but that it was a 
 case of remorse that caused the white John Perry to com- 
 mit suicide, and not humiliation. 
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 
 
 EAST ST. LOUIS IN THE EARLY EIGHTY'S — HOW I HELPED TO 
 REFORM THE MUNICIPALITY A SPECTACULAR RAID 
 
 ON "sure thing" games and 
 "big mitt" joints. 
 
 Dodge City, Kansas, and Corinne, Utah, have places in his- 
 tory for being tough towns in their infancy, but take it from 
 me, Mr. Reader, that neither of these much-advertised burgs, 
 in their palmiest days, were "in the running" for toughness 
 with East St. Louis during the early '80s. The average 
 St. Louisan, in those days, was entirely different in his make- 
 up from the denizens of the cities further west, especially if 
 he was in politics, his nature being more bloodthirsty 
 than the bandit, or tough cowboy or buffalo skinner, who 
 made the first named towns famous. It was a different sort ot
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 163 
 
 crookedness in East St- Louis. The little municipality was in 
 the hands of crooks of the lowest degree. There was no crime 
 to which they would not resort to gain a point of advantage 
 over a rival. In other words, any crime was regarded as con- 
 ventional, just so the man who committed it got the "ma- 
 zuma." The principal city offices were held by gamblers 
 and "sure-thing" men. The city councilmen were nearly all 
 saloon or dive keepers, while the police department 
 was recognized as the grandest collection of thugs, 
 crooks and "strong-armers" that had ever been as- 
 sembled together within ^he borders of one town. 
 The fact that these alleged minions of the law 
 were recognized as suspicious characters by the officers of 
 other cities, and were shadowed whenever found out of their 
 own bailiwick seemed to be regarded as a good point in their 
 favor by those responsible for their being — the mayor and 
 Board of Aldermen. Any crook, big or little, if he^had the 
 price for protection, could ply his chosen profession on the 
 main streets of the town without molestation on the part of 
 those sworn to enforce the law. A "peterman" (safe blower) 
 was held in higher esteem over there in those days than a 
 priest, a "porch-climber" regarded as an artist, and the monte 
 and confidence men placed in the same class as are college 
 professors and clergymen in othei^ cities, while the taen 
 who received the bribes were all looked upon as good fel- 
 lows and smart, wide-awake business men. 
 
 Neither were the merchants and tradesmen all straight in 
 those days. It has been said of some of them that they would 
 refuse to take money in exchange for their wares when there 
 was any suspicion in their minds that the money had been 
 earned honestly. Crooks of all classes congregated there, 
 because they knew they were safe from arrest. If they were 
 broke on their arrival, after l)cing chased out of another town,
 
 164 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 they knew tliere would be no trouble in getting some dive- 
 keeper or proprietor of a fence to "go to the front" for them 
 at poHce headquarters and square things so they could "go 
 to work." It was everyday talk that .aldermen had "big 
 
 Furlong's "Full Hand." 
 
 Cartoon published in a St. Louis newspaper at the time 
 
 of the East St. Louis gambling raid. 
 
 mitt" men and "strong-armers" out working on percentage. 
 As in all such places, gambling flourished — that is, gam- 
 bling of the crooked kind. The whirr of the roulette bail 
 and the rattle of the dice in the "bird cage" could be
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 165 
 
 heard on the street, when not drowned out by the voices 
 of the cappers for "the old army game" (chuck-a-luck) or 
 the paddle wheels or sweat board. Nobody had a chance 
 to win, however, except the operators of the games, as 
 they were all crooked. 
 
 Many of the merchants openly displayed in their shop 
 windows the tools and devices used by the various "profes- 
 sions." The bully could buy brass knucks with which to 
 knock the block ofif of his adversary ; the hold-up man a 
 sand bag to stun his victim, while he helped himself to 
 his valuables ; the card sharper could buy his "strippers" 
 "bug" or "harness," while the safe blower could find any 
 sort of "jimmy" or any quantity of "soup" he desired, or 
 had the money to pay for. Then there were "fences" where 
 a thief might dispose of anything of value he might "find" 
 on his excursions to the neighboring towns, which were 
 not infrequent. The return of one of these marauding 
 parties from a tour Vv^as always followed by an orgy, at 
 which wine flowed freely, and the ill-gotten money tossed 
 about with a lavish hand. 
 
 East St. Louis was then a wide-open town, with the ac- 
 cent on the words "wide" and "open." 
 
 Finally the good people of the town awoke to their re- 
 sponsibilities, as they always do in cases of this kind. 
 Headed by an ex-mayor, John B. Bowman, editor of a news- 
 paper, a fight was begun on the crooked officials. And it 
 was a fight, a l^ittcr one. A number of' aldermen who had 
 been under suspicion of being partially responsible for the 
 bad state of afi"airs, were beaten for re-election, and an at- 
 tempt was made to get possession of the city funds in the 
 city treasury, which was in the hands of Thos. J. Canty, 
 gang city clerk, who had usurped the office of treasurer. 
 After much delay, he having resorted to the courts to pre-
 
 166 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 vent his being ousted, he was finally ordered to turn over 
 the funds to the treasurer on the morning of May 21, 1884. 
 The night before the date set for the transfer, the vault in 
 the City Hall, in which Canty claimed to have kept the 
 funds, was robbed, an entrance having been effected by 
 digging a hole through the brick wall which enclosed the 
 safe. 
 
 A few months before the robbery, Mike Coleman, alias 
 Charlie Clark, a noted "peterman" of that city, had come 
 down to St. Louis from Jefferson City, w^here he had been 
 doing time for a safe-blowing job in Monroe County, Mis- 
 souri. I had known Coleman for years and had been in- 
 strumental in "settling" him on more than one occasion. 
 He called upon me at my office, w^hich, at that time, was in 
 the Allen Building, Broadway and IMarket Streets. "I 
 am through with crime, Mr. Furlong," he said, "and I have 
 secured a good job with the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Com- 
 pany as a cutter, at a salary which will permit me to take 
 care of my wife and child, and I want to know if you will 
 allow me to live in St. Louis — that is, not tip me off to the 
 St. Louis police, none of whom know me." 
 
 I told him I was truly glad to hear of his reformation, 
 and that I would not tell any one of his presence here as 
 long as he continued to w^ork and behave himself. He 
 seemed pleased to hear this, and told me he would not only 
 live straight in the future, but would "put me next" to any 
 one he knew to be crooked should they attempt to do any 
 work in St. Louis. He further voluntarily promised that 
 he would report to me at my office every Saturday after- 
 noon. I then introduced him to my chief clerk, Edward 
 Da\vson, and told him to report to Mr. Dawson in case 
 I did not happen to be in the office when he called. 
 
 We shook hands and he took his departure. He re-
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 167 
 
 ported to the office every Saturday promptly for about 
 three months, at which time I was called south on a train 
 robbery case, and was absent from St. Louis for several 
 weeks. During my absence an epidemic of safe robberies 
 occurred in St. Louis. As many as three "boxes" were 
 opened in a single night. One night the "petermen" would 
 operate in north or south St. Louis, the next night they 
 would be down in the business district, or out in the west 
 end. The work of the gang caused a panic at police head- 
 quarters. Chief Harrigan had his men working night and 
 day, and the detective force was augumented by patrol- 
 men in plain clothes, but still the bursting of "boxes" con- 
 tinued nightly. During my absence from the city I was en- 
 abled to get the St. Louis papers once in a while. These 
 papers were full of the accounts of the robberies. From 
 the description in the papers of the way the work had been 
 done, I was satisfied that Coleman was either doing the 
 work or directing it. Nearly all of the places robbed had 
 been entered from above. I knew this skylight stunt was 
 one of Coleman's specialties. He never broke a door or 
 forced a window to get to a box. His method was to reach 
 a fire escape and make his way to the roof of a building. 
 He would then descend to the floor on which the safe was 
 located, and after detecting and fixing a side or back door, 
 through which the "get-away" was to be made in case of an 
 interruption on the part of a watchman or officer on the 
 beat, would go to work. 
 
 I returned to St. Louis one night, and in discussing the 
 robberies with Mr. Dawson, I learned that Coleman had 
 not reported at the office during my absence. The next 
 morning I called on the foreman of the Hamilton-Brown 
 .Shoe Company, by Vv^hom Coleman had been employed, and 
 who was the only man in St. Louis besides Dawson and
 
 168 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 myself who knew the ex-convict's record. The foreman 
 told me that Mike had left his position about a month 
 before, without making any explanation. He had simply 
 drawn his week's wages and had failed to show up again. 
 On learning these facts, I was more than ever convinced 
 that Coleman had gone wrong again. I was very busy in 
 my office that day looking after matters that had accumu- 
 lated during my absence, and did not leave for home until 
 after 5 130 P. M. On my way to the car I passed a door- 
 way, in which was standing a man whom I recognized as 
 Pat Lawler, the best detective on the city force, and with 
 whom I was on very friendly terms. On approaching Law- 
 ler I found him to be asleep. After I had awakened him 
 he told me he and his partner and several other men in the' 
 department had been on continuous duty for over 36 hours, 
 trying to get a "line" on the men who were "blowing up 
 the town" as he expressed it. He then told me that the men 
 in the department were still at sea, having no clue as to 
 who was doing the work. "I am going to bed and get 
 some rest, at any rate," said Lawler, "and I do not care 
 what 'the big finger' (Chief of Police) says' about it." 
 
 I then told Lawler I believed I knew who was doing the 
 work, or at least directing it. and told him that if he and 
 his partner would meet me at Twelfth and Olive Streets at 
 5 130 the next morning I would help them find the m.an I 
 suspected. After telling me that he and his partner would 
 be at he rendezvous at the appointed time, Lawler and I 
 parted company. 
 
 Coleman, under the alias of Charlie Clark, v/as living at 
 that time on the second floor of a house fronting on Biddle 
 Street, between Ninth and Tenth Streets. The entrance to this 
 flat was made from the alley in the rear. I knew Coleman's 
 wife, or the woman he claimed to be his wife. She had
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 
 
 169 
 
 formerly been the wife of Tom Gosling, a noted crook, who 
 was at that time in the Missouri penitentiary, doing a ten 
 year stretch. Her first name was Annie, and she had a son 
 about 6 or 7 years of age. 
 
 Lawler and his partner were at the corner of Twelfth and 
 Olive Streets promptly at 5 :30 the next morning, accord- 
 ing to appointment- I then told them all about Coleman, 
 
 Mike Coleman, alias Chas. Clark. 
 Daring burglar and "peterman" employed to blow the 
 City Hall vault, East St. Louis. 
 
 and we proceeded to the latter's fllat. On reaching the 
 head of the stairway, I knocked at the door. Mrs. Cole- 
 man, garbed only in a night robe, came to the door and 
 opened it a few inches. I stuck my foot in the door to 
 keep her from closing it.
 
 170 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. . 
 
 "I want to see Charlie," I explained to her. 
 
 "He is not here, Mr. Furlong," she replied, after recogniz- 
 ing me and permitting us to enter. "I do not know where 
 he is/' she continued. She then told me that Charlie had 
 gone to drinking and had quit his job about a week be- 
 fore, and she did not know where he was or what he was 
 doing. I knew she was not telling me the truth, as Charlie 
 had quit his job at least a month previous, and did not 
 drink at all. In fact, he never had been known to drink 
 to excess. While we were talking I noticed a large-sized 
 picture of Coleman hanging on the wall. This I told the 
 officers to take, and commanded her to dress. 
 
 "What are you going to do, Mr. Furlong?" she asked. 
 
 "I am going to take you down to police headquarters for 
 lying to me," I replied. 
 
 Both she and her boy began to cry and make a scene, but 
 she finally began dressing. While this was going on I 
 heard a slight noise in the front room. 
 
 "Who is in there?" I asked, jumping to the door. 
 
 "A couple of friends of Charlie's from Hannibal," she 
 replied. 
 
 Lawler and I entered this room and found a couple of 
 men in bed. After placing them under arrest we recognized 
 them as a couple of crooks, both of whom were heavily 
 armed. Under the bed was a gunny sack, which, on in- 
 vestigation, we found to contain a safe-blowing outfit, in- 
 cluding a sectional jimmy, a pair of "come-a-longs" (tool 
 used to pull the knob or "ears" off of a safe), a new ham- 
 mer and other tools. These men had evidently returned to 
 the room late and being tired threw the sack under the 
 bed and went to sleep. 
 
 Just as we were about to take our departure from the 
 room with the prisoners a mail carrier arrived with a let-
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 171 
 
 ter for Mrs. Clark. I took charge of the letter and saw it 
 had been mailed at Springfield, Mo. I handed it to Mrs. 
 Clark and she opened it and read its contents. The letter 
 was from her husband, and stated he was in Springfield, 
 and for her to answer it at once as he was only going to 
 remain in Springfield a couple of days, and he wanted to 
 hear from her before leaving there. We then took our 
 prisoners, including Mrs. Clark, to the Four Courts. Some 
 small pictures of Clark were taken from the large one we 
 had found in his home, and Chief of Detectiv^es Eurkc, 
 armed with one of these pictures, left at once for Spring- 
 field to try and effect his capture. In this Burke was suc- 
 cessful, as Clark appeared at the post-ofifice to get his mail 
 and was recognized and placed under arrest. Clark was 
 .brought back to St. Louis. He would not talk to the St, 
 Louis officers, although the latter used every art known lo 
 them to make the prisoner "cough up." Clark told Chief 
 af Police Harrigan he knew nothing that would do them 
 any good, but that he had some information that was very 
 valuable for me, and asked that I be called. At that lime 
 the relations between the chief and myself were some 
 strained, to express it mildly, but the Chief finally sent for 
 me. "This thief has some information for you," said Har- 
 rigan to me on my arrival .at his office. "I do not believe 
 he is much of a thief, either, as I know all the good ones," 
 continued the chief. After shaking hands with Clark he 
 told me the city officers could not connect him with any of 
 the jobs pulled off here, as he had nothing to do with them, 
 Init declined to talk further in the presence of the chief, 
 we being in the latter's office at the time. As Harrigan 
 did not seem inclined to let me interview Clark privately I 
 left, and returned to my office.
 
 172 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTr/E. 
 
 Later in the day Clark employed a lawyer, and sent him 
 to me to tell me that if I would get him across the river he 
 would tell me all about that job, meaning the looting oi 
 the City Hall vault. I referred Clark's lawyer to Prosecut- 
 ing Attorney Holder of St. Clair County, Illinois, and later 
 the latter made a demand on the St. Louis police for the 
 possession of Clark. The St. Louis officers, thinking that 
 they might secure at least a part of the reward which had 
 been offered for the apprehension of the men who com- 
 mitted the East St. Louis crime, took Clark over the river, 
 where he was locked up. I then called on him and he told 
 me all about the vault robbery. 
 
 According to his story, which was later verified by his 
 two assistants, Clark was employed to do the job by Thos. 
 A. Canty, acting city treasurer, to hide an alleged 
 shortage in Canty's accounts. The latter was, it was 
 claimed $60,000 short, having lost the money at poker. 
 The money had to be turned over the next day, and Canty 
 could not do it, because he could not raise that amount. 
 Clark had been introduced to Canty by Patrick Eagan, who 
 was at that time running a saloon in East St. Louis, and 
 was one of the city's aldermen. Eagan was regarded as a 
 friend of crooks of the higher class, such as confidence men, 
 safe blowers and "big mitt" men. Coleman claimed he 
 was told by Canty that ten thousand dollars would 
 be left on the top of the safe, which was the amount he was 
 to receive for doing the work. Coleman was also intro- 
 duced to Lieutenant Duffy, acting night chief of police of 
 the East St. Louis department, who was to act as lookout 
 while the work was being done. The ten thousand dollars 
 was to be divided equally between Duffy, Eagan and Cole- 
 man. A few days before the time set for doing the job
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 173 
 
 Canty became ill and was taken to Hot Springs. This did 
 not interfere with the plans, however, D. J. Canty, accord- 
 ing to the testimony, taking his brother's place in making 
 the final arrangements for the entering of the vault. Cole- 
 man did the real work, assisted by Eagan, while Duffy, in 
 full uniform, stood guard on the outside. A box, in which 
 was supposed to be $10,000, was found on top of the safe, 
 as had been promised by Canty. This box was taken by 
 the three men to Duffy's home and its contents poured out 
 on the kitchen table, but instead of $10,000 there was 
 only $3,000. This money was divided equally among the 
 three men, after which all went downtown again. It was 
 then about 2:30 A. M. Duffy, not wishing to carry so 
 much money around with him, placed his part in the safe 
 of a saloonkeeper friend, who was also an alderman. The 
 lieutenant in his testimony at the trial of the Cantys, two 
 years afterwards, declared that his $1,000 decreased to 
 $700 during the night. In other words, some one had 
 touched the roll for $300. 
 
 I told Prosecuting Attorney Holder and the Citizens' 
 Committee about Coleman's confession, and was employed 
 to secure corroborating evidence, which was done. Eagan 
 and Duffy were arrested, convicted and sentenced to five 
 years each in the penitentiary. They appealed the case, 
 but at the next term of court withdrew their appeals, after 
 a conference with Prosecuting Attorney Holder, and en- 
 tered pleas of guilty, and received two 3^ears each. The 
 Canty brothers were arrested, but notwithstanding the fact 
 that Coleman, Duffy and Eagan testified for the state, and 
 there was much corroborating evidence, the jury failed to 
 agree, standing seven for conviction to five for acquittal.
 
 174 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 At the time it was alleged that money had been expended 
 very freely to clear the brothers. 
 
 Coleman was not prosecuted. He left the city for the 
 west, and the next I heard of him he was conducting a 
 saloon on Geary Street, San Francisco. Later he and 
 Henry Schultz, another noted peterman, formed an alliance 
 and opened a half dozen "boxes" in the country surround- 
 ing the Golden Gate metropolis. They were finally set- 
 tled for one of their jobs by Capt. Leas, of Frisco. Later 
 Coleman was released, but was soon afterwards killed at 
 Houston, Texas, while attempting to rob a bank. He was 
 acting as lookout, while his pals were at work on the vault. 
 The first explosion attracted the attention of the police, 
 who opened fire on Coleman and his death was instantane- 
 ous ; thus his long career of crime ended. 
 
 Chief of Detectives Burke, of the St. Louis Police De- 
 partment, afterwards claimed the reward for capturing the 
 vault robbers, and I believe secured a part of the money, 
 but he was really not entitled to a cent, as he had done 
 none of the real work on the case. 
 
 The next sensation in East St. Louis was the assassina- 
 tion of Ex-Mayor John B. Bowman, which occurred about 
 6 130 o'clock on the evening of November 20, 1885. The 
 assassin did his work well. It can be described in a sen- 
 tence — a shot was fired, and the corpse of the leader of the 
 reformers was found lying near the gate leading to his 
 residence, alone with the secret. I was employed by the 
 son of the dead man to try and unravel the mystery, being 
 given complete charge of the case. I had known Bowman 
 for years, and was acquainted with his past life, which had 
 been a very turbulent one. He had always been a fighter, 
 one of the kind who never knew when they were whipped. 
 He settled in East St. Louis in the latter part of the '60s, and
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 175 
 
 acquired a large amount of property. He was one of the 
 few men who recognized the fact that East St. Louis 
 would later become a great industrial center. Because of 
 his large interests he took an active part in municipal 
 affairs, which, of course, brought him in contact with 
 the politicians. Bowman knew all about politics, even 
 what is called the "practical" side of the game, but he 
 was a poor diplomat — one of the kind of men who always 
 called a spade a spade, consequently he was often in 
 trouble with those who opposed him or his plans. He 
 was often deserted by men whom he had practically made 
 politically, because of his radical views on some ques- 
 tion at issue. This was the beginning of a bitter war on 
 the person so offending, by Bowman. He never forgave 
 a man who had deserted him or his cause. 
 
 On taking charge of the case the day after the diabol- 
 ical crime had been committed, I was not surprised to 
 learn that several of the dead man's enemies were busy 
 preparing alibis. Another thing that impressed me as 
 a little peculiar was that the police department was mak- 
 ing no effort to find the perpetrator of the crime. After 
 considerable hard work by both myself and my men, I 
 succeeded in finding a couple of parties who claimed that 
 they had seen the fatal shot fired. They were Christian 
 A. Schmidt and William Banks. These men were re- 
 turning from the country, where they had been to secure 
 some tobacco which had been stolen from a freight car 
 and hidden in a hay stack. As they neared the Bowman 
 home they saw a flash from across the street, and saw 
 Bowman fall. They recognized George W. Voice, a mem- 
 ber of the police force, as the man who did the shooting. 
 Later some more evidence was obtained, which, it was 
 thought, v/ould corroborate the statements of Schmidt
 
 176 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 and Banks. This corroborative evidence implicated an- 
 other police officer named Patrick O'Neil. Voice was ar- 
 rested at once and taken to Belleville and locked up. 
 Later O'Neil called on Voice at the jail, and he, too, was 
 placed behind the bars, he having been indicted as an ac- 
 cessory that day. These arrests caused a great sensation, 
 not only in St. Clair County, but on the other side of the 
 river as well. 
 
 At the preliminary hearing of Voice, Schmidt and Banks 
 went on the stand and told their story in a straightforward 
 manner, and the defendant was returned to jail without 
 bail. The friends of the prisoners then began harrassing 
 the state's witnesses. The cases against the men were con- 
 tinued from time to time until April 3, 1887, when the 
 prosecuting attorney dismissed the charges against the ac- 
 cused because he could not obtain service upon the state's 
 witnesses, they having left the county because of the threats 
 made against them. 
 
 The outcome of the case caused great rejoicing among 
 the crooks and plug-uglies in East St. Louis, and they be- 
 gan again to show their hands. 
 
 The Wabash Railroad, at that time one of the Missouri 
 Pacific properties, had rather large interests over on the 
 east side of the river. It was a nightly occurrence for our 
 cars to be broken open and looted. It was no trouble for 
 us to locate the thief, or thieves, who did the work, but it 
 was another thing to have them arrested by the officers 
 who were receiving pay for protecting them. My activity 
 in trying to cause the arrest and conviction of these car 
 robbers, and in the other cases mentioned, earned for me 
 the ill will of the police department. While they never at- 
 tempted to harm me, the police would pick up my men and 
 lock them up on trumped up charges, convict them in the
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 177 
 
 police court, which was of the "kangaroo" type, and put 
 them to work on the streets with a ball and chain attached 
 to prevent them from running away. After the police over 
 there had turned a few tricks of this kind, I decided to put 
 a stop to it by "reforming" the police department. To do 
 this I had to shut off the source of revenue from which the 
 officials were being corrupted, for I knew, even at that date 
 in life, that it took bribe money to create such a condition ot 
 affairs. The men higher up, in this case, were the pro- 
 prietors of the gambling houses. They were paying $i,ooo 
 per week for protection. This was a nice little "bit" to be 
 split up by a few aldermen and city officials and the heads 
 of the police department, 
 
 I called on Prosecuting Attorney Holder at Belleville, and 
 asked his co-operation in bringing about a change in the 
 state of affairs. I was not very well acquainted with Mr. 
 Holder at that time, but I knew he was honest and a man 
 who would do his duty. After I had entered his office and 
 introduced myself, a dialogue something like this, as I re- 
 member it, took place : 
 
 "Do you know that the gamblers of East St. Louis are 
 putting up $i,ooo per week for protection?" I asked. 
 
 "I have heard they were putting up money," he replied, 
 "but I have no real evidence as to how much." 
 
 "Are you and the sheriff getting your part of it?" I con- 
 tinued. 
 
 The question had hardly left my lips before I saw the 
 prosecuting attorney was beginning to make arrangements 
 to throw me out of his office. Before he had time to begin 
 the work, however, I explained that I was joking, and we 
 both had a good laugh. Getting down to business again, 
 Mr. Holder told me that he would "go after the gamblers 
 with hammer and tongs" if he had the evidence.
 
 178 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 "I will get you that evidence, and pay the expenses out 
 of my own pocket," I replied. 
 
 The prosecuting attorney then assured me that the 
 sheriff could be relied upon to do his part. I already knew 
 this, for I had investigated both men's character before I 
 had decided to make the move that I had. The sheriff was 
 called upon, and he, too, promised to aid me in every man- 
 ner possible. After asking both officials to keep the matter 
 a secret until I had worked out the plans fully, I returned 
 to St, Louis. 
 
 I sent a number of my men across the river, and it did not 
 take long to get all the evidence needed. After arranging 
 this evidence, I took it to Prosecuting Attorney Holder and 
 secured the necessary warrants. Sheriff Ropiequet was 
 called over to St. Louis and plans for raiding the houses 
 simultaneously were made. I secured and paid for out of 
 my own pocket an engine and two coaches from the Cairo 
 Short Line Railway, and had them in readiness to take my 
 men and the people we were to arrest from East St. Louis 
 to the county seat at Belleville, after the raid. While there 
 were over thirty open gambling establishments in East St. 
 Louis, I knew I could not raid all of them at one time, so I 
 decided to raid the four largest, the ones whose owners 
 were the most active in bringing about the crooked state 
 of affairs. On the afternoon preceding the raid, I sent four 
 trusted men, all armed, over the big bridge, with instruc- 
 tions to separate on the other side, one going to each of the 
 four houses to be raided. These men were instructed to 
 stay in the houses until the raids were made, to prevent 
 the gamblers from locking their vaults and thus hiding 
 their tools and other evidence. I then hired a big moving 
 van, in which I placed eighteen of my men. Sheriff* 
 Ropiequet and I occupied the seat, I doing the driving.
 
 THE TOUGHEST OF TOUGH TOWNS. 179 
 
 We had a number of fishing poles in the wagon to give the 
 outfit the appearance of a fishing party. On reaching the 
 other side I divided the men into four squads, placing a 
 captain in charge of each. The squad I was to lead stayed 
 in the wagon. After giving the other squads time to reach 
 their houses I drove the van to Colonel Claude Cave's fa- 
 mous resort. I handed the lines to the sheriff and ran up 
 the stairs, followed by my men. We gained an entrance 
 without any trouble and found the games running in full 
 blast. The gamblers were taken completely by surprise, but 
 submitted quietly to arrest. The spectators and players were 
 not molested, but many of them became panic-stricken 
 when it dawned upon them that a raid was being made, and 
 sought to make their escape by jumping from the v/indows 
 to the alley in the rear of the building, many of them actu- 
 ally making their escape in that manner. The gambling 
 paraphernalia was taken down to the wagon, while the 
 gamblers and their employes were marched to the waiting 
 train. The wagon was then driven to the other houses, 
 which had been raided at the same time by the other squads 
 of my men, and the gambling tools found there hauled to 
 the train. In making the raid every kind of gambling 
 device known to the profession was captured, including 
 faro boxes and layouts, dice, roulette wheels, sweat boards, 
 keno balls and cards, and something like four bushels of 
 poker and faro chips. All of this stuff was burned on the 
 public square in Belleville after the conviction of the 
 gamblers. Most of the men arrested pleaded guilty, and 
 those who did not were convicted and the county was 
 made some $22,000 richer by the fines. 
 
 The raid created a great sensation in East St. Louis. It 
 was the biggest stunt of the kind that had ever been pulled 
 off over there, and I received much praise from the law-
 
 180 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 loving people of the city for doing the job. As I had 
 anticipated, it ended open bribery in East St. Louis, and 
 later to the ousting of the crooked officials, for at the next 
 election the good people triumphed and succeeded in elect- 
 ing men who would do their duty. 
 
 The new Mayor was Col. M. M. Stevens, and as he had 
 the co-operation of an honest Board of Aldermen, it did 
 not take him long to finish the cleaning of the police depart- 
 ment I had begun. My men were then enabled to go about 
 their work of arresting car thieves without being inter- 
 fered with by the police. 
 
 If my memory serves me right, Mayor Stevens served six 
 or seven terms, and did much to make East St. Louis the 
 city it is today. But this work was not accomplished with- 
 out much hard labor on his part and on the part of those 
 who assisted him, for the gamblers and crooks did not give 
 up without a struggle. Mayor Stevens, however, made it 
 as law-abiding a place during his administration as any 
 other city in the country of its size. 
 
 No man deserves more credit for the ending of gang 
 rule in East St. Louis at that time, however, than does 
 J. W. Kirk, editor of the Signal. This paper fearlessly ex- 
 posed all of the gang's methods, and to this fact was 
 really due the awakening of the public conscience over 
 there. 
 
 THE ROHAN EXPRESS ROBBERY. 
 
 THE THIEVES ARE TAKEN AFTER A FOUR MONTHS CHASE, AND ALL 
 PLEAD GUILTY— THE MESSENGER DUPED. 
 
 The Rohan Pacific Express robbery occurred near Rohan, 
 Indiana, on what was then a part of the Wabash Railroad. 
 The Pacific Express Company had one of their cars attached
 
 THE ROHAN EXPRESS ROBBERY. 181 
 
 to the Wabash train, , which was running between Detroit, 
 Michigan, and IndianapoHs, Indiana. It left Detroit in the 
 evening and should have arrived at Indianapolis at about 
 two o'clock the following morning. 
 
 One night in October, 1883, the train stopped at Rohan, a 
 small, local station, and the train was boarded by two men. 
 They entered by the front door of the express car, and over- 
 powered Bert Lumas, the express messenger, stuffing a large 
 roll, consisting of two handkerchiefs, into his mouth. After 
 tying another handkerchief around his face, and then tying 
 his hands behind his back, he was leashed with a rope to the 
 express company's safe. They took the keys to the safe from 
 the messenger, after overpowering him, and looted the safe 
 of its contents. There were, besides much jewelry and other 
 valuables, about $4,100.00 in the safe. They left the car at 
 a point between Rohan and Peru, Indiana. 
 
 When the train halted at Peru station the expressman rapped 
 on the car door, and receiving no reply, he and others forced en- 
 trance into the car door, where they found Lumas lying on his back 
 with his arms and shoulders tied to the safe, and unconscious. 
 They found indications of a struggle. There were three or 
 four bullet holes in the side and roof of the car, the shots 
 evidently having been fired from within. They discovered 
 the safe open and the contents gone. Medical aid was sum- 
 moned, and the doctor, after considerable trouble, succeeded 
 in restoring Lumas to consciousness. He bore no marks of 
 violence other than what he had suffered from the gag that 
 had been forced into his mouth. This gag had almost cost him 
 his life, as the ball was so large that it had prevented him 
 from breathing hardly at all. When restored to consciousness 
 he stated that as the train was leaving Rohan he was busy 
 writing out his report, and while thus engaged he was pounced 
 upon by two powerful men who were wearing masks. They
 
 182 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 felled him to the floor, gagged him and bound him as he had 
 been found, and took his keys and robbed the safe- While 
 they were doing this he became unconscious from the effect 
 of the gag. He said that they had taken his pistol, which was 
 lying on a table in front of him, and fired two or more shots 
 at him, but none of the shots took effect. I was Chief Special 
 Agent for the Wabash Railroad, which was a part of the 
 Gould System. The case was reported to me by wire the 
 following morning. I went to Rohan at once, and was unable 
 to obtain any information. It seemed that the robbers had 
 not been seen by any one in or near Rohan. They had 
 probably been in hiding and boarded the train unobserved, 
 just as it was leaving the station. I then went to Detroit, 
 where I saw and interviewed Lumas, the express messenger. 
 Lumas was a young man about twenty-six years of age, fine 
 looking, about six feet tall, and weighed about one hundred 
 and eighty pounds. He was born and raised in Vermont. 
 He had an older brother, who was a passenger conductor on 
 the main line of the Wabash Railroad, who had been in the 
 service of the company for many years, and afterwards re- 
 mained in the service about thirty years, or until his death. 
 They had a widowed mother, who resided in Vermont. Bert, 
 the messenger, had always lived with his mother until he took 
 service with the Pacific Express. His standing with that 
 company was first-class. 
 
 While I was making my investigation at Detroit, I met Mr. 
 Brazee, superintendent for the Pacific Express Company of the 
 Wabash division, with headquarters at Decatur, Illinois- Mr. 
 Brazee told me of Lumas' good standing with the company, 
 and spoke of him in the highest terms. I told Mr. Brazee 
 that I was inclined to believe that Lumas might have been 
 connected with the robbery. He vigorously discredited the 
 idea. "Why," he said, "Lumas, you should remember, was
 
 THE ROHAN EXPRESS ROBBERY. 183 
 
 almost dead when he was found in his car at Peru. The 
 robbers, doubtless, tried to kill him, and would have succeeded 
 had it not been for the timely assistance rendered by the 
 doctors, and, of course, if he had been connected with the 
 robbery in any way the robbers would not have tried to kill 
 him." 
 
 I knew Mr. Brazee personally, and I knew him to be a kind- 
 hearted man and a thorough gentleman, and I appreciated 
 very much the stand he had taken for one of his subordinates. 
 I interviewed Mr. Fuller, the general superintendent of the 
 Pacific Express Company, and all the other officers who would 
 have been likely to know anything about Lumas. They all 
 spoke of him in the highest terms, and of his brother they 
 spoke equally as well. I did not know that Lumas was con- 
 nected with the robbery in any way, and they speaking of 
 him in such high terms, I did not deem it advisable for me 
 to inform the express authorities that I believed the express 
 messenger was implicated, so I decided to put a shadow on 
 Lumas' movements on each end of his route. I placed two 
 of my operatives on the work; one at Indianapolis, and one 
 at Detroit. The operative at Detroit was told to take up 
 Lumas when he left his train at Detroit, and not to lose sight 
 of him until he left on his train for Indianapolis. The operative 
 at Indianapolis was likewise instructed ; thus Lumas was kept 
 under observation at each end of the road. This was kept 
 up continually for about four months- The operative at Detroit 
 had discovered that Lumas was drinking heavily while in that 
 city, and that he was a habitual frequenter of saloons and 
 places of ill repute. Our operative at Indianapolis reported 
 that Lumas, while there, would leave his train and go direct 
 to his rooming house, retire almost immediately and remain 
 there until time to leave for Detroit. I explained this to 
 myself in this way: He needed the sleep and rest after his
 
 184 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 carousing- in Detroit. My operative secured a room adjoining 
 the room occupied by Lumas at Indianapolis, and the other 
 one in Detroit was just as fortunate, and in a short time my 
 Detroit man made the acquaintance of Lumas, became his 
 chum, and was with him almost continually in Detroit, and 
 in that way became acquainted with most of Lumas' friends. 
 
 At this time there was a private detective in Detroit, whose 
 name was Pat O'Neal. O'Neal was a widower and lived with 
 a widow rister who kept a rooming house, and Lumas and 
 my operative both roomed with this widow. O'Neal did not 
 know either of them personally, but doubtless learned from 
 his sister that Lumas was employed by some express companv, 
 and that my operative was, as he represented himself, con- 
 nected v^ith some advertising concern of the east. There was 
 also a noted thief known as Jim O'Neal, who was no relation 
 to Pat O'Neal, but one being a thief and the other a detective, 
 they knew each other. 
 
 One night, while my man in company with Lumas was 
 sitting at a table in a bee^* garden in Detroit, they were 
 approached by a man about medium size and plainly dressed. 
 He appeared to be about forty years of age, five foot eight 
 inches tall, and weighed about 145 or 150 pounds. He was 
 light complexioned, sandy haired and smooth shaven. He 
 evidently knew Lumas well, for he sat down at their table, 
 and after they had had several drinks they engaged in a 
 conversation in an undertone, evidently not intended for the 
 operative's ears. However, the operative managed to hear 
 a good deal of what was said. The stranger was evidently 
 trying to convince Lumas that everything would be all right. 
 Lumas was heard to say, "I have not been treated right, and 
 this is why I have been drinking so much of late." The other 
 man was heard to caution him about drinking so much, and 
 to keep quiet, telling him that "everything would be all right
 
 THE ROHAN EXPRESS ROBBERY. 185 
 
 later on." After hearing this conversation, my operative located 
 the intruder and found that his name was Denny Downer, a 
 barkeeper at a prominent saloon on Griswold Street, Detroit. 
 
 While the above conversation was going on between Lumas 
 and Downer, Jim O'Neal, the thief, was seated at a table 
 very close to our party, with some of his friends. O'Neal 
 knew Lumas to be an express messenger, and knew that he 
 lived at the house of Pat O'Neal's sister, and hearing a part 
 of the conversation he concluded that possibly Lumas was 
 implicated in the robbery of his car, and when he met his name- 
 sake, Pat, the private detective, he told the conversation he 
 had overheard between Lumas and Downer, whom Jim O'Neal 
 did not know. 
 
 On the evening of the following day I received a report 
 telling me of the happening, and on the next day I received 
 a report from the operative, telling me that he had located the 
 intruder and learned what his name was. On receipt of this 
 report I at once decided that Denny Downer, whom I had 
 known for years as a thief, was undoubtedly one of the parties 
 who had participated in the Rohan robbery. I had known 
 Downer in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In fact, I was in criminal 
 court in Pittsburg on one occasion when Downer was convicted 
 of burglary, and received a sentence of five years. I knew 
 his criminal record. The description I had received tallied 
 perfectly with that of Denny Downer, of Pittsburg memory, 
 therefore I felt sure of my man. 
 
 I decided to go to Indianapolis and take with me all of 
 the daily reports received from my two operatives. I notified 
 Mr. Brazee of my intention, and requested him to accompany 
 me to Indianapolis, telling him that I expected important 
 developments there. He wired that he would join me at 
 Decatur, Illinois, and go with me to Indianapolis. On arrival 
 there we secured adjoining rooms at the Spencer House, which
 
 186 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 is just across the street from the Union Station, Indianapolis. 
 We arrived there in the evening, and Lumas' train was to 
 arrive at two o'clock the next morning. I instructed my 
 operative at Indianapolis to be at the Union Station when 
 Lumas' train arrived and to bring him from his car over to 
 my room just as soon as he arrived- I had had one of my 
 operatives meet him at his train several times before and take 
 him to see different parties for the purpose of identifying 
 them as one of the express robbers, but Lumas, on each of these 
 occasions, failed to identify them, and he had always declared 
 that he could not identify any person, nor give any accurate 
 description of the men who had attacked him in his car at 
 Rohan. I never expected him to identify any one, but he 
 had been told by the express company to go with me or any 
 of my men any time that we might need him for the purpose 
 of identification, so I knew the operative would have no trouble 
 in getting him to come to the hotel. 
 
 On this particular morning I learned from the dispatcher 
 that Lumas' train would arrive on time, and I prepared my 
 room for his reception. I set a table in the middle of the 
 room and spread the daily reports of my two operatives over 
 the top of this table. They filled it completely. I told the 
 operative to tell Lumas that he had a party that he wanted 
 him to see, in my room. 
 
 Mr. Brazee was occupying a room next to and opening into 
 mine, and I arranged to *leave the door partly open, and he 
 was to sit alongside of the door in such a manner that he could 
 hear everything that was said. He considered the whole thing 
 would be a failure, as he firmly believed in Lumas' innocence, 
 as did all the other officers of the express company. 
 
 The train arrived, and the operative got Lumas, who 
 grumbled a little about going to a room at that hour of the 
 morning, but nevertheless he came over. The operative rapped
 
 THE ROHAN EXPRESS ROBBERY. 187 
 
 at my door, and I bade him enter. I was sitting at the table 
 containing the reports when he opened the door and came in 
 accompanied by Lumas. I asked Lumas to be seated, and 
 told the operative to retire to the hall until I might need him. 
 I began by saying, "Lumas, I want to call your attention to 
 these reports that are spread out on this table. They are the 
 daily reports of my operatives who have shadowed you and 
 those associated with you, for the past four months. These 
 reports set forth everything you have done in those four 
 months, and every one you have associated with- I can tell 
 you how many cigars you have smoked, how many drinks 
 you have taken, whom you have talked with, and what you 
 talked about. I find that your mother is a fine old lady and 
 stands high in the community where she resides, in Vermont. 
 I find that you have respectable connections, and that you were 
 well raised. I know all about your brother and his high 
 standing on the Wabash Road, and that your character here- 
 tofore has been good. Also that the officers of the Pacific 
 Express Company have had the highest regard for you and 
 your integrity, and for these reasons I have taken it upon 
 myself to give you the opportunity of telling the whole truth 
 about this express robbery, but I want you to understand 
 distinctly that if you do not tell the truth, if you say one word 
 that is not the truth, I shall stop you and turn you over to 
 the officers of the law. But, if you do tell the whole truth, 
 and nothing but the truth, I will do all that I can to secure 
 the extension of leniency to you for your part in the crime. 
 I can also say that if you tell the whole truth, that Mr. B razee 
 and the other officers will be as lenient with you as the law 
 will allow. So now I want you to answer my questions truth- 
 fully or not at all. Now, sir, I want you to tell me how much 
 money you received from the proceeds of that robbery."
 
 188 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 He said, unhesitatingly, "Mr. Furlong, I only received ten 
 dollars." 
 
 Long before I asked this question I could see moisture in 
 Lumas' eyes, and he finally began to cry. When he stated 
 that he had received but ten dollars, I said to him, "Now, 
 Lumas, wait a moment until I call in Mr. Brazee, who is your 
 friend." 
 
 Mr- Brazee had heard every word, and I went to the door 
 and asked him to come into my room. As he entered I also 
 noticed moisture in his eyes. I asked Mr. Brazee to write 
 down what Lumas said, and he complied. 
 
 "Lumas," I said, "who were the two men who robbed your 
 car?" 
 
 He replied, "Denny Downer and a friend of his whom he 
 called Little Al. I never did know his real name." Lumas 
 went on and stated that he had met Denny Downer in a saloon 
 in Detroit and that Downer had evidently known that he was 
 an express messenger ; that as he had gotten well acquainted 
 with him and had got to drinking considerable, Downer had 
 induced him to let him know when he would be carrying a 
 large sum of money, or what they called a "big run," and 
 that Downer had explained that he would have a party with 
 him and would board his car at an out-of-the-way station and 
 bind him, without injuring him, and shoot a few bullets 
 through the side of the car so as to make it appear that he 
 had made a fight, and that they would divide the spoils and 
 nobody would even suspect him (Lumas) by reason of his 
 good standing with the company. He finally agreed to enter 
 the plot, and learned that there was to be a safe containing 
 a sum of money, nearly four thousand one hundred dollars, 
 and some other valuables, on the day of the robbery, shipped 
 over on his train. This might not be considered a big prize, 
 but it was above the average. He notified Downer, and he
 
 THE ROHAN EXPRESS ROBBERY. 189 
 
 and Little Al took a train from Detroit and reached Rohan 
 a Httle ahead of his train. After the robbery, and he had 
 returned to Detroit, Downer sent him a letter containing ten 
 dollars, with the understanding that he would give him more 
 later on, but that he had never received any more. He had 
 become sorry that he had gone into the plot, and had begun 
 drinking. He further stated that he was now positive they had 
 tried to kill him by strangling him with the gag. 
 
 Mr. Brazee and the express company officials were all sur- 
 prised at Lumas' confession- I turned Lumas over to my 
 operative, and took the first train for Detroit, where I arrested 
 Denny Downer. On being arrested Downer acknowledged 
 his connection with the robbery, and told me that Little Al 
 was Al Perry of Boston, Mass., a noted porch climber and 
 thief. 
 
 I lodged Downer and Perry in the county jail at Wabash, 
 Indiana, where in the course ol time both were put on trial, 
 pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to six years in the pen- 
 itentiary at Michigan City, Indiana. 
 
 Their sentences were made lighter by reason of their having 
 pleaded guilty. Lumas also pleaded guilty and was used as 
 a witness before the Grand Jury against Downer and Perry, 
 and it having developed that Lumas, vi^ho was much younger 
 than the other two, being inexperienced in crime, was per- 
 suaded by them to do this thing, sentence on him was sus- 
 pended. 
 
 After the robbery the express company offered a reward for 
 the arrest and conviction of each of the robbers, and after 
 they had been arrested and convicted Pat O'Neal, the private 
 detective, filed a claim against the express company to recover 
 the reward. He had nothing whatever to do with the obtaining 
 of the information which led to the arrest and conviction of
 
 190 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 these two men, and, therefore, his claim for the reward was 
 nothing more than an attempt to obtain money under false 
 pretense. 
 
 ARREST OF LAWRENCE POYNEER. 
 
 A CROOKED YARDMASTER's CRIME — BOLD ATTEMPT TO THROW 
 
 HIS CAPTOR OVERBOARD FROM A STEAMER. — HIS 
 
 CONVICTION, SENTENCE AND A LATER ESCAPADE. 
 
 Lawrence Poyneer was a young man about twenty-eight 
 years of age in 1881. He was a railroad man and was em- 
 ployed as yardmaster by the Texas & Pacific Railroad 
 Company at New Orleans, La., where he had performed 
 the duties of his position in a satisfactory manner for about 
 two years. He finally went crooked and formed a con- 
 spiracy with the proprietor of a cotton pickery in New 
 Orleans to defraud his employers. There are a large num- 
 ber of cotton pickeries in that city. Their business is to 
 buy up damaged cotton, such as has been through a fire 
 and has been water-soaked, or otherwise damaged. They 
 pick this cotton over very carefully, eliminating the parts 
 that have been damaged by fire, or some like cause, and 
 sell the salvage for a good price. In other words, these 
 cotton pickeries conduct a business similar to that of junk 
 dealers in other cities. 
 
 Poyneer ran a car load of cotton into one of these pick- 
 eries and sold it much below its market value. It was 
 promptly unloaded by the pickery men, who destroyed the 
 marks on the bales. The empty car was located after some 
 time and trouble, by me, but it took a long time to locate 
 the cotton.
 
 ARREST OF LAWRENCE POYNEER. 191 
 
 After I had ascertained what had become of the cotton 
 and who had bought it, I set about to find Poyneer, who 
 had stolen it. I learned that he had left the service of the 
 company of his own accord, about three weeks after the 
 cotton in question was missed. I tracked him from New 
 Orleans to Palmyra, New York, where his parents resided. 
 In Palmyra I succeeded in obtaining a good photograph 
 and a good description of him. He was almost a giant in 
 stature, being nearly six feet, six inches in height, splendid- 
 ly built, weighed two hundred twenty-five pounds, and 
 wore a number eight shoe. He was a fine looking fellow 
 and an expert railroad train service man. 
 
 From Palmyra I traced him to Buffalo, New York, from 
 there to St. Paul, Minn., from St. Paul I traced him to Port- 
 land, Oregon, and from Portland to Wallah-Wallah, Wash- 
 ington. From Wallah-Wallah back to Ladales, Washing- 
 ton, which is about midway between Portland and Wal- 
 lah-Wallah, and on the Columbia River. Here I found 
 him in the service of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co., en- 
 gaged in painting box cars. I obtained the necessary re- 
 quisition papers from the Governors of Louisiana and 
 Oregon, and arrested him at Ladales, took him to Portland 
 (the head of navigation on the Willamette River), where 
 I took passage for myself and prisoner on the steamship 
 Columbia for San Francisco. 
 
 There was no one on the steamer, not even the officers, 
 who knew that Poyneer was a prisoner. He had promised 
 me that he would go with me quietly and I did not place 
 him in irons. I could not have hand-cuffed him with any 
 ordinary hand-cuffs for the reason of the enormous size 
 of his wrists. 
 
 After we had left Astoria and were out several miles on 
 the Pacific, we were taking a walk for exercise on the up-
 
 192 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 per oecK, and when we were nearing the stern end of the 
 vessel, and there were no other passengers, or even any 
 sailors, Poyneer suddenly seized me by the neck and body 
 and attempted to throw me over the rail into the sea. I 
 
 Lawrence Poyneer. 
 
 The giant switchman who attempted to hurl Furlong from 
 
 the deck of an ocean steamer. 
 
 grabbed him tightly around his neck and under one of his 
 arms so tightly that he could not shake me off. I lustily 
 called for help and one of the cabin boys heard me, gave 
 the alarm, and the captain and officer on the lookout in 
 front of the vessel came rushing to my assistance. When
 
 TICKET FORGERS RUN DOWN. 193 
 
 he heard them coming, he let go and tried, in vain, to make 
 it appear that he had been joking. I explained the situa- 
 tion to the captain, who promptly placed Poyneer in irons 
 and placed him below in what is called the brig in a ship, 
 where he remained until we arrived in San Francisco. 
 There I had him taken to the city jail, where I kept him for 
 two or three days until I had gotten thoroughly rested. I 
 borrowed a set of irons from Chief of Police Crowley, 
 placed these irons on Poyneer, and took him on board a 
 Southern Pacific Railroad train, and in due time lodged 
 him safely in the Old Parish Prison in New Orleans. 
 
 He was tried, convicted and sentenced to four years in 
 prison in Baton Rouge, where he served his term out. 
 After this I lost track of him until about ten years ago, 
 just before the Olive Street Cable was changed to an 
 Electric Street Car Line, in St. Louis. I boarded a grip 
 car on Olive Street one morning, and to my surprise, I 
 recognized Lawrence Poyneer, acting as gripman on the 
 car I had boarded. Poyneer recognized me on sight, but 
 he did not speak and seemed to be very much confused. I 
 left the car near the turning point. Later I was informed 
 that "Jones" had left his grip car at the foot of Olive Street 
 that morning. "Jones" was the name that Poyneer had 
 given when he had secured the position from the company 
 as gripman about three weeks prior to my having recog- 
 nized him. He left St. Louis and has not been heard from 
 since, to my knowledge. 
 
 TICKET FORGERS RUN DOWN. 
 
 ARREST OF LOUIS RICE AND TOM LANDS AFTER A LONG CHASE — 
 THE FORGERS ACQUIRED ALMOST A FORTUNE. 
 
 During the early '80s the officials of the passenger de- 
 partment of several Western trunk lines made the dis-
 
 194 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 covery that they had been defrauded out of thousands of 
 dollars by the means of forged railroad tickets. These tick- 
 ets had been distributed or put on the market by ticket 
 scalpers, who then thrived in all the large cities. 
 
 These tickets were gotten up on what appeared to be 
 regular paper and in regular form, with the exception of 
 the serial and form numbers, which were necessarily dupli- 
 cated. The tickets read from Boston, New York, Chicago, 
 Philadelphia and other prominent points on the east to 
 the principal points on the Pacific Coast in the west. The 
 forms were pronounced perfect and the signature of the 
 various railroad officials were imitated admirably on them. 
 
 The discovery of the forgeries were first made by one of 
 the assistants of C. G. Warner, general auditor of the Mis- 
 souri Pacific Railroad at St. Louis. TTie assistant auditor 
 discovered the forgeries, he having noticed the numbers 
 on the tickets were irregular. 
 
 At this time I was Chief Special Agent for the Missouri 
 Pacific, and the case was placed in my hands for investiga- 
 tion, by General Auditor Warner. 
 
 After a lot of tedious work, the details of which would 
 not interest the reader, I, with the help of some of my as- 
 sistants, learned that Rice and Lands were railroad ticket 
 scalpers and had offices in several cities in the middle west, 
 from which they had supplied other scalpers with large 
 quantities of these forged tickets. I also learned that Rice 
 and Lands had established a private printing office in a 
 small town in western Illinois, in which the counterfeit tick- 
 ets were printed ; the forms of which had been arranged 
 by Rice, who had been a chief clerk for a number of years 
 for a General Passenger and Ticket Agent of one of the 
 large railroad svstems of the West, and was, therefore,
 
 TICKET FORGERS RUN DOWN. 195 
 
 thoroughly conversant with the details of all of the ticket 
 business. 
 
 Lands was a crooked lawyer, who had married into an 
 eminently respectable family of the State of Indiana, Rice 
 was a single man, but was engaged to a young lady, whose 
 family was of considerable prominence. He was also of a 
 good family and had always borne an excellent reputation, 
 and was considered a bright, affable young business man. 
 
 After learning all of these facts and reporting them to 
 the proper officials of the Missouri Pacific System, I was 
 instructed to locate and arrest Rice and Lands, charging 
 them with having made and issued the counterfeit railroad 
 tickets. I had but little trouble in locating Lands, but, as 
 I considered Rice the principal, knowing that he was the 
 man who had gotten up the forms of the counterfeit tickets, 
 I decided to quietly place Lands under surveillance, by one 
 of my operatives, and then took up the search for Rice, as 
 I desired to arrest him first, being very sure that I could 
 apprehend Lands any time that I wanted to do so. 
 
 I traced Rice from Kansas City to Denver, Salt Lake 
 City, San Francisco to Portland, Oregon, but lost trace of 
 him there, and after consuming several days with no re- 
 sults, I decided to return to St. Louis, and to visit the 
 town in Iowa where Rice's betrothed resided with her par- 
 ents, which I did. 
 
 After spending several days near the home of this young 
 lady, I was finally rewarded by learning the alias that Rice 
 had assumed, and his whereabouts at that time, and I im- 
 mediately, as the traveling men say, "doubled back" to the 
 Pacific Coast, boarding a steamship at San Francisco for 
 Victoria, B. C, and from there went overland to a camp in 
 the Kassiar Mountains, British Columbia, which is about 
 357 miles from Victoria.
 
 196 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 On arriving there I learned that Rice had left but a few 
 days before my arrival, and that he had undoubtedly passed 
 me on my way to Kassiar. He had left word with friends there 
 that he was going back to Portland, Oregon. He had 
 been prospecting in the mountains for gold and had been 
 unsuccessful, and had exhausted his funds, so he had con- 
 cluded to go back to Portland and seek employment there. 
 
 I, therefore, returned to Victoria and boarded a vessel for 
 Seattle and from there I went to Portland, where I suc- 
 ceeded in locating Rice. He was working as a day laborer 
 in a bed-spring factory. He was clad in a suit of greasy 
 overalls, when I found him, needed a haircut and a shave, 
 and did not in any vv^ay resemble the dapper and stylishly 
 dressed Louis Rice, whose photograph I had in my pos- 
 session. 
 
 1 brought Rice back to St. Louis, and while en route he 
 made a full confession to me as to his and Lands' connec- 
 tion with the counterfeit tickets. He told me about the 
 printing office and gave me the names of various scalpers 
 throughout the country who were engaged with them in 
 handling the bogus tickets. 
 
 On arriving in St. Louis I secured a lodging house for 
 Rice in the suburbs of the city, placed him there, by his 
 consent, in charge of one of my operatives. I did this so 
 that the scalpers who were in collusion with the fraudulent 
 scheme would not become aware of his capture until I 
 would have time to arrange for indictments and arrest all 
 the parties connected with the fraud. I also wanted to ar- 
 rest and bring Lands to St. Louis before he had learned his 
 partner was in custody, and proceeded to Indiana and took 
 him in charge. His relatives, who were well-known and 
 influential, immediately applied for a writ of habeas corpus, 
 which prevented me from removing Lands from the state
 
 TICKET FORGERS RUN DOWN. 197 
 
 until permitted to do so by due process of law. 
 
 The judge before whom this writ of habeas corpus was 
 returnable was a lifelong personal friend of the family of 
 Lands' wife, and the judge, therefore, released Lands from 
 custody on the grounds that forged railroad tickets had 
 no intrinsic value. 
 
 This was the first and only prisoner that I have ever had 
 released by such a procedure. However, Lands was sick 
 at the time of his arrest, and lingered along for a few 
 months after his rekase, and died, which was the ending 
 of his part of the crime. 
 
 In due time Rice's trial was called in St. Louis, and the 
 judge before whom the case was tried decided the same in 
 this case as had the judge in Indiana on the Lands case; 
 and, therefore, the ticket forgers went unpunished. 
 
 The state laws in nearly every state in the LTnion have 
 since been revised so as to make the forgery of railroad 
 tickets a felony, with the same penalty attached as that of 
 forging any other document or valuable paper. 
 
 The farcical termination of the case also caused the pas- 
 sage of laws which have put the ticket scalpers out of busi- 
 ness in almost the entire country. Prior to that time, 
 every city of any size was infested with numerous ticket 
 scalping offices. The men engaged in the business were 
 usually of the unscrupulous kind, and their crookedness 
 caused the railroads no little amount of trouble. 
 
 In working up this case and apprehending Lands and 
 Rice. I personally traveled, in all, about eighteen thou- 
 sand four hundred miles, and consumed nearly six months' 
 time, did a lot of hard work and incurred considerable 
 expense. 
 
 I will say here that the attorneys of the legal depart- 
 ment for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company were
 
 198 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 fully advised as to all the facts connected with this case 
 and they advised that the parties be located and appre- 
 hended : and the work involved in the location and arrest 
 of Rice and Lands was as good as any work ever done by 
 any one in a similar case. Under the laws then existing 
 the cases of Rice and Lands could not be reached. 
 
 After Rice's final release he went to the state of Iowa, 
 where he engaged in the insurance business. He was suc- 
 cessful and finally married the young lady he was engaged 
 to, and when last heard of by the wriler, was a prosperous 
 general insurance agent, raising a nice family and re- 
 spected in the community in which he lived. 
 
 CONVICTION OF JOHN COLLINS. 
 
 HOW THE CLUES, WHICH LEAD TO THE ARREST OF THE YOUNG 
 MAN FOR HIS FATHER'S MURDER, WERE OBTAINED — 
 KANSAS* MOST SENSATIONAL MURDER CASE. 
 
 No crime committed in the West in recent years was 
 surrounded with more mystery than was the murder of 
 J. S. Collins, which occurred in Topeka, Kansas, in the 
 spring of 1898. Mr. Collins was slain while asleep beside 
 his wife in their home. The weapon used was a shotgun, 
 and one or two of the shot struck the shoulder of the wife, 
 making slight, though painful wounds. 
 
 The murdered man had been a prominent insurance and 
 real estate man of the Kansas capitol, where he had lived 
 for many years, and was well and favorably known to the 
 citizens of that city, as well as throughout the entire state; 
 in fact, he was considered one of the state's most promi- 
 nent citizens. At the time of his murder he was about fifty-five 
 years of age, had a wife, one daughter and a son, John.
 
 CONVICTION OF JOHN COLLINS. 199 
 
 The Collins' occupied a comfortable home in Topeka. 
 John, the only son, was a student at the State University 
 at Lawrence, Kansas, where he was being prepared for the 
 ministry. He had been a student at Lawrence for two or 
 three years before his father's murder. He boarded at tlie 
 school and occasionally visited his home in Topeka, usually 
 on Sundays and holidays- The Collins home, which was 
 one of the best on one of the capitol's most prominent 
 residential thoroughfares, was disturbed early one morning 
 by the discharge of a gun in the sleeping room occupied by 
 Mr. Collins and his wife, which was situated on the ground 
 floor. Mr. Collins had been shot and died instantly, and 
 his wife, as stated above, received one or two grains of 
 coarse shot in her shoulder. Other occupants of the house 
 that morning were Miss Collins, a young lady about eighteen 
 years of age, and John Collins, Jr. Both of them oc- 
 cupied rooms on the second floor of the house. There was 
 also a servant girl in the house. It was in the early part 
 of the summer and the windows were all screened with 
 wire. John, apparently aroused by the shot which killed 
 his father, dressed himself hastily and aroused the near- 
 est neighbors. It was at an early hour in the morning, but 
 after daylight. 
 
 The police were sent for, and on their arrival ascer- 
 tained that the doors of the house were all intact and care- 
 fully locked ; but a window screen in the rear of the house 
 on the second floor was found to have been cut, leaving a 
 hole large enough' for the passage of a human body. This 
 window was immediately above a one-story addition to 
 the main building in the rear. After the police authorities 
 had finished their investigation of the premises they ar- 
 rived at the conclusion that the murderer must have en- 
 tered the house by means of a key, and after having shot
 
 200 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 i\Ir. Collins escaped, going up the main stairs from the 
 lower hall to the second floor and then gone to the hall at 
 the end of which they found the window before described, 
 had cut the wire screen and jumped out of the window 
 onto the roof of the one-story addition, and then to the 
 ground, a distance of about ten or twelve feet, and in that 
 way made his escape. 
 
 The murder created a great sensation by reason of Mr. 
 Collins' high standing in the community. A number of 
 the more influential citizens of Topeka who were friends 
 of his, formed a committee for the purpose of locating the 
 murderer and causing him, or them, to be brought to 
 justice. These gentlemen wired me at St. Louis, asking 
 me to come to Topeka to investigate the case. I went to 
 Topeka at once, arriving there, if I remember aright, the 
 third day after the murder had been committed. I re- 
 ported to the gentleman who was chairman of the com- 
 mittee, and at once began my investigation, by examining 
 the premises at which the murder had been committed. I 
 interviewed the widow, who, by the way, was Mr. Collins' 
 second wife, her step-daughter and step-son, John Collins. 
 Mrs. Collins was a woman between thirty-six and forty 
 years of age, of the brunette type, rather above the medium 
 height and inclined to be slender. She was very attrac- 
 tive and considered a good-looking Vv^oman, intelligent and 
 refined. 
 
 Miss Collins was also above the medium height, nice- 
 looking, well educated and intelligent. 
 
 John Collins had just passed his twenty-first birthday. 
 Was about five feet, eight or nine inches tall, light brown 
 hair, fair complexioned, well built, pleasing in manner 
 and a very fine looking young man.
 
 CONVICTION OF JOHN COLLINS. 201 
 
 After I had consumed about four days in my investiga- 
 tion, I became satisfied in my own mind that the murder 
 had been committed by some person who belonged in the 
 house, and that the house had not been entered by an out- 
 sider. I had discovered that Mr. ColHns had been killed 
 with his own shotgun, a high priced firearm, which he 
 always kept in a leather case, and usually placed on the 
 upper shelf of a clothes closet in his bedroom. This closet 
 was unusually large and extended from the floor to the 
 ceiling. The ceiling being very high, an ordinary sized 
 man could not reach the shelf where the gun was kept 
 without the aid of a step-ladder, or possibly it could have 
 been reached by a tall person while standing on a high 
 table. 
 
 Mr. Collins had not used his gun for months before the 
 murder, and it had always been his custom after using the 
 weapon to clean it thoroughly, take it apart and pack it in 
 the case. It was, therefore, necessary for the murderer to 
 take this gun case from the shelf, put it together and load 
 it with the ammunition, which was also kept on the high 
 shelf. All of this could not have been accomplished by 
 any outside person without having been discovered by 
 some one of the inmates of the house. 
 
 I also learned that John Collins had left his lodgings at 
 Lawrence on the evening preceding the murder, going to 
 Topeka and directly to his home, where, he claimed, he 
 retired for the night at an early hour. He also claimed 
 that he remained there until aroused by the shot that 
 killed his father. I also learned that the young man had 
 formed the acquaintance of a very estimable and wealthy 
 young lady at Lawrence, with whom he had become in- 
 fatuated. He had paid much attention to her for months, 
 and finally she had informed him that her mother had de-
 
 202 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 cided to purchase or lease a cottage at Long Branch, in 
 which to spend the summer months. I surmised that when 
 he learned that she intended to accompany her mother to 
 Long Branch for the summer, young CoITTns decided that 
 his sweetheart was liable to meet some of the manv for- 
 
 J. S. Manning. 
 
 Superintendent of the St. Louis Office of the Furlong Secret Service 
 Company who did some clever work on the Collins case. 
 
 tune hunters who frequent the resort during the summer 
 months, thus endangering his chances of winning her, so 
 he had made up his mind that he would arrange, if pos- 
 sible, to spend the season at Long Branch too, so that he
 
 CONVICTION OF JOHN COLLINS. 203 
 
 might guard the affections of his good-looking, or I might 
 truthfully say, beautiful young lady friend. 
 
 The elder Mr. Collins had been considered to be more 
 wealthy than he really was at the time of his death. He 
 had met with financial reverses, and really had but little 
 more than his home in Topeka when he was murdered, 
 but he was carrying thirty thousand dollars insurance on 
 his life, ten thousand to his wife and ten thousand to each 
 of his children. 
 
 Having secured the above information I sent one of my 
 operatives, J. S. Manning, to Lawrence, Kansas, with in- 
 structions to quietly ascertain all that he could as to the 
 habits of the young man Collins and his associates. Mr. 
 Manning's investigation there developed that young Col- 
 lins had been spending considerable money in buying flow- 
 ers, carriage hire and entertainments. He had no means 
 of defraying these expenses other than twenty-five dollars 
 a month allowed him by his father for that purpose. Mr. 
 Manning also learned that there were a couple of colored 
 hack drivers in Lawrence, who had been patronized by 
 the younger Collins. Upon receipt of this information 
 from Mr. Manning, I sent D. F. Harbaugh, who was then 
 in my employ, to Lawrence. Mr. Harbaugh had lived in 
 Lawrence, Kansas, for a number of years before he en- 
 tered my service. He had been in the livery business 
 there, and had been a hack driver. He was personally 
 acquainted with the colored drivers before mentioned, but 
 these men did not know that he was in the secret service 
 work. For this reason Mr. Harbaugh found it easy to 
 find out everything that the hack drivers knew about John 
 Collins. After renewing their acquaintance Harbaugh 
 learned from them that Collins had approached them and 
 entered into a verbal contract to kill his father for a cer-
 
 204 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 tain sum of money, part of which he had paid at the time 
 the agreement was made, he agreeing to pay the balance 
 after the murder had been committed. 
 
 They told Harbaugh that they had no intention of at- 
 tempting to murder Mr. Collins, but had promised John 
 they would do so to work him for what money they could 
 get out of him, knowing, as they did, that he dare not ex- 
 pose them when they failed to carry out their agreement. 
 The murder was to have been committed on or before a 
 certain date. The date passed and ]\Ir. Collins still lived, 
 whereupon, John became anxious and expostulated with 
 the colored drivers. They told him that they were entitled 
 to more money than what he had agreed to pay them, and 
 he gave them an additional one hundred dollars, as well 
 as a gold watch his father had presented to him on his 
 twenty-first birthday. This money young Collins had se- 
 cured by borrowing from his friends and through drafts 
 he had drawn on his father, as we afterwards learned. 
 There was then another date set for the murder to be 
 comm.itted by the hack drivers. When that day arrived 
 and passed young Collins again remonstrated with the 
 drivers for not having carried out their agreement, and 
 they coolly informed him that they had concluded that if 
 his father had to be killed that he had better do the killing 
 himself, that they positively would not commit the crime, 
 and that they had never intended to do so. Learning this, 
 young Collins became desperate and left LaAvrence and 
 went to Topeka, as before stated, and without doubt 
 killed his father with his own gun. 
 . When this evidence was obtained I reported it to the 
 gentlemen who had employed me, and they then decided 
 to hand my report over to the prosecuting attorney at 
 Lawrence, A.t the request of the prosecuting attorney the
 
 CONVICTION OF JOHN COLLINS. 205 
 
 county commissioners at Topeka employed me to complete, 
 the evidence, so that Collins might be arrested and prose- 
 cuted for the murder of his father. 
 
 John Collins was immediately arrested, placed in jail 
 without bond, and in due time the case came to trial. The 
 trial caused a great deal of interest in the community, by 
 reason of the fact that the elder Mr. Collins was so well 
 known, and the killing had been done in such a mysterious 
 manner. The trial attracted great attention throughout 
 the entire country. All of the' leading western papers had 
 special reporters present, and all the sensational features 
 were "played up" (as newspaper men call it) as they de- 
 veloped. The court room was crowded, and many noted 
 lawyers were also in attendance to watch the legal battle, 
 which at times waxed very warm, as all the counsel on 
 both sides were very able men. Prosecuting Attorney Jet- 
 more was at his best, making one of the greatest fights I 
 ever saw to get his evidence before the jury. Among the 
 spectators during almost the entire trial was the late Jus- 
 tice Brewer, of the United States Supreme Court at Wash- 
 ington, who was visiting his daughter, who was the wife 
 of the prosecuting attorney, Mr. Jetmore, in Topeka at the 
 time the trial was on. At the close of the case Mr. Justice 
 Brewer complimented me very highly for my work in 
 solving the mystery. 
 
 During the trial a great many people got the idea that I 
 had been employed by the insurance companies, believing 
 that the companies were trying to avoid payment of the 
 thirty thousand dollars insurance, by proving that the son 
 had killed his father. This opinion was erroneous. The 
 people who employed me in this case were citizens of To- 
 peka and lodge friends of the murdered man, and were in 
 no way connected with the insurance companies interested
 
 206 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 in the case, and were merely acting as good and law abid- 
 ing citizens, and just as soon as I had satisfied them that 
 John Collins was the murderer, they immediately turned 
 the evidence, as far as had been obtained, over to the 
 proper state authorities. 
 
 The trial lasted more than a week. Collins was defend- 
 ed by two of the most prominent attorneys at that bar. 
 They labored earnestly and to the best of their ability to 
 clear him, but he was found guilty of murder and sent to 
 the state prison to await the governor's action in fixing the 
 date of his execution ; but, in as much as it has always been 
 the custom in Kansas for the governor to never fix the date 
 for execution of a person found guilty of murder, the 
 prisoners are usually kept in the prison, and a sentence of 
 death in Kansas usually means a life term in the peni- 
 tentiary. 
 
 There has been an efifort made by friends of young Col- 
 lins and the family to obtain a pardon for him, but up to 
 this writing I understand it has been unavailing. 
 
 I will say here that the colored hack drivers, before 
 mentioned, from Lawrence, took the witness stand for 
 the state against John Collins, and produced the watch 
 that he had given them, which had been presented to him 
 by the elder Mr. Collins upon the anniversary of John's 
 2ist birthday. This watch, with the testimony of the col- 
 ored hack drivers, in which they detailed the contract the}^ 
 had made with the younger Collins, all of which was cor- 
 roborated by circumstances that were not, or could not be, 
 contradicted, led to the conviction of the son for the 
 murder of his father.
 
 FRED ERFERT'S FALL FROM GRACE. 
 
 A TRUSTED EMPLOYEE OF A JEWELRY FIRM ROBS HIS BENEFAC- 
 TOR QUICK CAPTURE OF THE THIEF AND 
 
 RECOVERY OF THE LOOT. 
 
 The arrest of Fred Erfert, who had been a trusted clerk 
 in the jewelry house of John Bolland & Company, of St. 
 Louis, occurred in the latter part of 1892. 
 
 Erfert had been employed by the company since his boy- 
 hood. At the time of his arrest he was about twenty-two 
 or three years of age, and had become a trusted employe, 
 and carried the keys of the establishment He was the 
 first man to open the store in the morning, and the last 
 man out at night, closing and locking the store himself. 
 
 The firm was rated among the first establishments ot 
 the kind in the city, and was doing a large business. A 
 large quantity of valuable goods were mysteriously disap- 
 pearing and could not be accounted for, and finally the 
 manager, Mr. Clarence White, called at my office one af- 
 ternoon, and stated the facts in the case as he knew them. 
 He stated, further, that Mr. Bolland had requested him to 
 come and see me and tell me of the state of affairs, and 
 ask me to take the matter under advisement, and that Mr. 
 Bolland would call on me the following day for a confer- 
 ence, which he did. 
 
 Mr. Bolland stated to me that they had been missing 
 goods from time to time for the past two years or more 
 and that these losses had grown to alarming proportions. 
 In an effort to clear up the mystery he had secured the 
 services of another local private detective agency, at a con- 
 siderable expense, but who apparently had not been able to 
 fasten the numerous thefts on any person. He further 
 stated that the losses seemed to be increasing, and that he
 
 208 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 would like to have me make an investigation and appre- 
 hend the guilty party, or parties, if possible. He said 
 that in view of the amount of money he had already spent 
 in attempting to locate the thief he did not feel as though 
 he was justified in spending much more money, but he 
 wanted me to make an investigation and see what I could 
 do. He stated that he had also consulted the Police De- 
 partment of the city, but they had failed to apprehend the 
 thief. Mr. Bolland instructed me to proceed at once, say- 
 ing that he did not believe that they had any one in their 
 employ who was dishonest or disloyal, to which I an- 
 swered, "It is evident to me, Mr. Bolland, that you believe 
 all of your employes to be honest and faithful, or you, of 
 course, would not have them in your employ." Mr. Bol- 
 land replied, "You need not spend any time in looking af- 
 ter Clarence White, Fred Erfert or (laughingly) myself, 
 but you may use your own judgment as to the other em- 
 ployes, although I want you to understand that I have the 
 utmost confidence in all of them. 
 
 A short time before this interview took place, the Bol- 
 land company had purchased a large stock of jewelry at 
 Sixth and Locust Streets, at a bankrupt sale. On pur- 
 chasing this stock the Bolland Company sorted out the 
 most desirable parts, which they removed to their own 
 store, and then culled out from the stock in the main store, 
 stuff that was growing stale, and placed it with the bank- 
 rupt stock. They then started to auction off the surplus 
 stock. They placed Erfert in charge of this auction store, 
 with a number of clerks and a professional auctioneer. 
 This auction was running full blast at the time of my in- 
 terview with Mr. Bolland. 
 
 Mr. Bolland stated to me that goods were also being 
 missed from the auction store, as w^ell as from their regu-
 
 FRED ERFERT'S FALL FROM GRACE. 209 
 
 lar store. So the following day I instructed one of my oper- 
 atives to carefully observe all that he could about the 
 auction store, from the time the store opened in the morn- 
 ing until it was closed at night, which the operative did. 
 After he had spent the first day at the auction store the 
 operative reported to me that he had noticed a number 
 of what appeared to him to be irregularities, especially 
 on the part of Erfert, the manager of the place. He re- 
 ported that on the evening of his first day on the job he 
 had seen Erfert and the other clerks leave the store. Er- 
 feft, being the last man out, locked the door, put the key 
 in his pocket, and the whole party walked to the corner 
 of 6th and Olive Streets, where they separated, taking 
 different cars presumably for their homes. He said that 
 Erfert, however, did not take a car, but walked west a block 
 on Olive Street to 7th Street, then north on 7th Street to 
 Locust Street, and east on Locust Street to the side en- 
 trance of the auction store, where he unlocked the door, 
 entered the store and immediately returned to the side- 
 walk carrying a couple of large and heavy packages, which 
 were fastened with shawl-straps. He then went back by 
 the same route to 6th and Locust, where he boarded a car 
 and carried these two heavy packages, one in each hand, 
 to his home in South St. Louis, where he resided with his 
 widowed mother and his sister. He entered the dwelling 
 with these packages. 
 
 On learning this, I told the operative to carry out my 
 mstructions on the previous day, telling him that in case 
 Erfert doubled back on that evening after closing the 
 store, and repeated the actions of the previous evening, 
 that after he had emerged from the store the second time, 
 as he had the night before, the operative should then ap- 
 proach him and say to him that I was in my office in the
 
 210 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Chemical Building and wanted to see him at once, and to 
 bring him up without delay. I remained in the office that 
 evening, so as to be on hand in case Erfert repeated his 
 actions of the previous evening, and that is what he did. 
 
 It was in the winter time and dark about 5 :30 p. m., 
 when Erfert closed and locked the store and left the other 
 emplo3^es, ap^^arently starting for home. He accompanied 
 the others, as he had the night before, to 6th and Olive, 
 then left them, they going home and he making a circuit- 
 ous route, the same as the night before, and went back 
 to the store, letting himself in, and emerging almost im- 
 mediately again, carrying two heavy packages, heavier than 
 those he had taken the night previous, and fastened with 
 the shawl-straps. After he had locked the door and had 
 picked up the packages, which seemed very heavy, my 
 operative approached him unobserved, and touched him 
 on the shoulder, saying, "Mr. Furlong is at his office in 
 the Chemical Building and wants you to come over and 
 see him at once." 
 
 Erfert replied, "What does he want to see me for?" 
 
 The operative said, "I do not know. He will explain that 
 when he sees you." 
 
 Erfert replied, "I am in a hurry and haven't time. I'm 
 late anyway, and will call and see him tomorrow." 
 
 The operative said, "You can either go with me right 
 now and see Mr. Furlong, or I will call the policeman 
 (pointing to a policeman who happened to be standing 
 diagonally across the street from where they were) and 
 have him take you to police headquarters, and probably 
 Mr. Furlong will go there and see you. Now it is up to 
 you. If I take you to police headquarters your name and 
 picture will appear in the papers in the morning and you 
 will probably get a lot of undesirable notoriety,"
 
 FRED ERFERT'S FALL FROM GRACE. 211 
 
 "I don't want any notoriety," replied Erfert, "but I can't 
 understand what Mr. Furlong wants to see me for tonight. 
 However, I will go with you, but I will put these packages 
 in the store." 
 
 The operative said, "No, take these packages with you. 
 What is in them?" 
 
 Erfert replied, "I have two fine clocks that were sent 
 over to my store by mistake and are too expensive to sell 
 at auction, and I intend to take them back to the main 
 store, where they belong." 
 
 "Well," said the operative, "you take them up to Mr. 
 Furlong's office, and after you have seen him he will prob- 
 ably allow you to take them to the main store." 
 
 The operative brought Erfert to my office, packages and 
 all. I had known Erfert since his boyhood, and on his 
 entering the office I took him into my private office. 
 
 Here I will say that on the second day I had put another 
 operative to work on this case, unknown to the first oper- 
 ative, who had been shadowing the first operative and had 
 witnessed everything that had occurred, and had reached 
 the office a few minutes ahead of the first operative and 
 Erfert, so that I was fully aware of all that had occurred. 
 
 When we were seated in my private room, I said to Er- 
 fert, "Fred, what have you in those two packages?" 
 
 He answered, "They are two clocks, which were sent 
 over to the auction store by mistake. They are expensive 
 clocks and I will not sell them at auction, and intended 
 to take them home tonight and return them to the mam 
 store in the morning, before I opened the auction store." 
 
 "What other stock have you on your person which was 
 sent over to the auction store by mistake?" I asked. 
 
 He replied, "I have only a few stick pins, and a few other 
 small articles of jewelry."
 
 212 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 I said, "Put them on my desk." 
 
 He did so, and the articles that he had concealed in his 
 pockets, according to the prices marked on them, amounted 
 in all to nearly four hundred dollars. There were gold rings, 
 stick pins, and other small pieces of good jewelry. Think- 
 ing that possibly he had not emptied his pocket, I inspected 
 them myself. I found a memorandum book, in which he had 
 kept an accurate account of all articles that had been taken 
 from the jewelry company, the cost price of each article to 
 the company, and the price he had received for a large lot 
 of articles that had already been disposed of. This book 
 was written in cipher. I also found a key to a safe de- 
 posit vault that he had in some safe deposit company. 
 
 I then informed him that thousands of dollars' worth 
 of stuff had been stolen from his employers, that he had 
 been practically raised by them, having been in their ser- 
 vice nearly all his life, and that the company had always 
 treated him well and justly ; all of which he admitted, and 
 that now, as he had been caught red-handed, I thought 
 that it was his duty, and to his interest, to tell the whole 
 truth as to what he had taken, and do all in his power to re- 
 turn as much of the property as possible. 
 
 At this time my office was on the fourteenth floor of the 
 Chemical Building. My private office fronted on Olive Street, 
 and Erfert made a sudden lunge for the window and at- 
 tempted to jump out. I prevented him from doing this, and 
 after talking to him for a few moments, he admitted that 
 he had been stealing from the company for the past two 
 years. Recently he had been assisted by another of the 
 employes. His grandfather was conducting^ a jewelry and 
 novelty store in South St. Louis, and nearly all the stock 
 in this store had been stolen by himself and his confeder- 
 ate from the Bolland establishment. He also stated that
 
 FRED ERFERT'S FALL FROM GRACE. 213 
 
 he had a quantity of the stolen property concealed in the 
 attic of his mother's house, where he lived, and agreed that 
 he would go with one of my men at once and deliver all 
 the stolen goods that he could to me, and he faithfully kept 
 his word. At the conclusion of his statement, I sent a 
 messenger to Mr. Bolland, telling him that I wished him 
 to come to my office at once, as I had succeeded in captui- 
 ing the culprit. (It should be remembered that the above 
 all took place on the second day that I was working on 
 the case). 
 
 Mr. Bolland arrived at my office about ten o'clck, ac- 
 companied by his wife and Clarence White. I met them 
 in the front office. 
 
 Mr. Bolland said, "The messenger told me that you had 
 captured the party who has been robbing us." 
 
 I said, "Yes, that is why I sent for you." 
 
 "Whom have you caught?" he asked. 
 
 I replied, "Fred Erfert is the principal party." 
 
 Mrs. Bolland and White simultaneously exclaimed, "Why 
 you have surely made a mistake." 
 
 Mr. Bolland said, "I told you not to bother with Erfert; 
 that I believed he was all right." 
 
 At this juncture White (using a slang phrase) "butted 
 in," and said, "Why, Furlong, you have got your foot in it 
 sure. Erfert surely had nothing to do with these thefts, and 
 you have made a great mistake by even accusing him. He 
 has been practically raised by Mr. Bolland and in his serv- 
 ice for many years, and we've always had implicit con- 
 fidence in his honesty." 
 
 I replied, "Yes, I understand all of that; but Mr. Bolland 
 employed me to apprehend the party, or parties, who were 
 robbing him, which I have done. Erfert knows that he is 
 guilty and he has fully admitted his guilt, and I am satisfied
 
 214 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 from the evidence that I have found on his person that he 
 told the truth when he said he was guilty. I, of course, 
 realize Mr. Bolland's disappointment in finding that Erfert 
 was the guilty person, but I cannot help his feelings. I 
 have simply done my duty in the matter, and now it re- 
 mains with Mr. Bolland as to what shall be done with Er- 
 fert." 
 
 "Where is Erfert?" Mr. Bolland asked. 
 
 I pointed to my private ofifice and said, "He is there and 
 waiting to see you. He has promised me that he will tell 
 you what he has already told my assistant and myself, and 
 that he would at once return a considerable quantity of the 
 stolen property to you, which I have advised him to do." 
 
 I then conducted them to the private room where Erfert 
 reiterated the statement that he had made to me. He 
 admitted everything. Then I, with some of my assistants, 
 immediately procured a hack and went with Erfert to his 
 mother's house, where we found about two hack loads of 
 stolen goods, consisting of clocks, silver plate, fine um- 
 brellas, and various articles of bric-a-brac, all valuable stuff. 
 
 I had these goods hauled direct to the Bolland store. 
 We then visited the store of the grandfather, in South 
 St. Louis and recovered about four hack loads of goods 
 from there. By the time we had hauled the last load away 
 from there it was nearly daylight. 
 
 While this loot was being removed from Erfert's house, 
 by Erfert himself and two of my assistants, I was stand- 
 ing outside guarding the hack into which the goods were 
 l)eing placed. A police ofificer came along. He knew me 
 and was somewhat surprised to see me at that time of 
 night in that locality, and asked me, in a friendly manner, 
 what I was doing there. I told him that there had been 
 some stuff stolen from a jewelry store, and that it had
 
 FRED ERFERT'vS FALL FROM GRACE. 215 
 
 been taken to this house, and I thought it advisable to 
 remove the goods after night so as not to attract the at- 
 tention of the neighborhood, as I felt sure that the women of 
 the family were not aware of the fact that the property 
 which had been placed in their house had been stolen. 
 
 The policeman later reported having met me and what I had 
 told him, to his captain at the Soulard Street Station, and, 
 of course, this report reached the Chief of Police Harrigan, 
 the following morning. Whereupon, the chief became ex- 
 asperated and ordered the policeman suspended immediate- 
 ly, assigning the reason for so doing the fact that the officer 
 had not arrested the hack-driver and myself. He also sus- 
 pended one or two of the officers connected with the sta- 
 tion who were on duty that night. 
 
 The next morning, about ten o'clock, a city detective called 
 on me at my office and said to me, "I have been sent down 
 by the chief to see you. The chief understands that you 
 arrested a young fellow by the name of Erfert last night, 
 and that you recovered a lot of stolen property. Is this re- 
 port true?" 
 
 "Part of the report seems to be true, while the larger 
 part is not true," I replied. "You know, and the chief 
 should know, that I have no legal right to make arrests, 
 and therefore, I have made no arrest, nor have I caused 
 any to be made within the city of St. Louis, but I did re- 
 cover a large quantity of stolen goods last night and early 
 this morning. "I have delivered them to the owner." 
 
 "Where is Erfert now?" he asked. 
 
 I replied, "I do not know where Erfert is at tKe present 
 time. Why do you want to know this?" 
 
 "Because the chief instructed me to come down here 
 and get him, and bring him to headquarters at once," he 
 said.
 
 216 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 "Have you any charges against him at headquarters?" 
 I asked. 
 
 "I don't know," he replied. "All I know is that the chief 
 sent me down here to get him and bring him to head- 
 quarters." 
 
 I said, "I do not know whether there will be any charges 
 perferred against Erfert or not. His employer seems in- 
 clined to sympathize with him and more especially with 
 his family. I do not believe that he cares to have him 
 prosecuted for these thefts. I expect Erfert to call at my 
 ofifice some time during the forenoon, and I am looking 
 for Mr. Bolland here at any moment. When Erfert comes 
 I will tell him that the chief wants to see him." 
 
 The detective said, "No, you need not do that. I will 
 wait here and when he comes I will take him up with me." 
 
 I turned to him and said slowly, "If Erfert calls at this 
 office while you are here, and if you have a warrant for his 
 arrest, charging him with any crime, you may take him 
 to headquarters ; but, unless you have a warrant, I will not 
 permit you to take him out of this office. I think, per- 
 haps, you had better go and communicate this to the 
 chief." 
 
 This city detective and myself had been friends for a 
 number of years prior to this occurrence, and I must say 
 that I did not like the idea of him coming to my office and 
 attempting to have me admit to him that I had violated 
 the law by having unlawfully detained a citizen, thereby 
 laying myself liable to prosecution. However, not having 
 violated the law, I felt perfectly safe. I knew that the chief 
 was over-anxious to make me trouble as he had made 
 others in my line of business in the past. 
 
 The detective left my office and went to report to his 
 chief. In the meantime Air. Bolland came to my office and
 
 FRED ERFERT'S FALL FROM GRACE. 217 
 
 I told him of the visit of the city detective and what had 
 been said. Mr. Bolland said that he did not care to prose- 
 cute Erfert ; in fact, preferred not to do so, but, as the 
 police had the right to prosecute the case, he was really un- 
 decided as to what was the best course to pursue. 
 
 I advised Mr. Bolland to quietly take Erfert up to po- 
 lice headquarters and tell the chief what he had said to 
 me, as it occurred to me in all probability the chief would 
 insist on having Erfert prosecuted. 
 
 Mr. Bolland accompanied Erfert to police headquarters, 
 where the chief and the detective who had called at my of- 
 fice took charge of him and put him through a series of 
 questions, which were principally concerning what Fur- 
 long had done. They tried to make him say that Furlong 
 had arrested him and forced him to make a confession of 
 the thefts, and Erfert afterwards told me that they never 
 did ask him whether or not he was guilty of having robbed 
 his employer. They bent their efforts to try and make a 
 criminal case against me, and had gone so far as to pre- 
 pare a statement, which they urged Erfert to sign, de- 
 claiming that I had violated the law, instead of Erfert, 
 b}' having arrested him and then forcing him to make the 
 statement admitting his guilt, all of which would have 
 been a violation of the law on my part. Erfert refused to 
 sign this statement on the ground that it was untrue. I 
 will state right here that the foregoing is a sample of how 
 criminal cases were handled at police headquarters about 
 that time. However, all these efforts were in vain, as Er- 
 fert truthfully replied to every one of their questions. He 
 told them that I had explained to him in the beginning of 
 our interview that I had no legal right to arrest him, and 
 that I had advised him that it was optional with him 
 whether or not he returned the stolen goods, but that if
 
 218 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 he did not stay with me and help me that it would be my 
 duty to turn him over to the police, and he then would be 
 written up in the newspapers and would get a lot of un- 
 desirable notoriety that he wished to avoid. 
 
 The chief became very much exasperated with Erfert's 
 statement, by which he could make no case against me. 
 However, he later made a complaint himself against me, 
 charging me with running a private detective agenc}^ with- 
 out a license from the Police Board. He had a warrant 
 issued for my arrest. I waived a hearing, and in due time 
 my trial was called before Judge Murphy. I was placed 
 on the witness stand and asked if I was engaged in the 
 detective business in St. Louis. I replied that I was. 1 
 was then asked if I had a license from the Board of Police 
 Commissioners. I answered that I had not and had never 
 applied for one. I was then asked by what authority I was 
 conducting my business. I stated that I was conducting 
 my business by the authority of a charter from the State 
 of Missouri. I was asked to produce the Articles of In- 
 corporation. I did, and after the Judge had carefully read 
 them and had examined my charter, he dismissed the case 
 and assessed the cost of court on the complainant. 
 
 The Chief of Police insisted on a prosecution in the 
 Erfert case. Erfert was out on bond, and in due time ap- 
 peared in court, pleaded guilty and received a minimum 
 sentence, which, if I remember correctly was two years 
 in the penitentiary. I understand that he was a model pris- 
 oner and was released under the two-third rule. 
 
 The stolen property that had been recovered amounted 
 to several thousand dollars. I have learned that since 
 Erfert was released from prison he has been leading an ex- 
 emplary life and is respected in the neighborhood where 
 he resides. His confederate was a mere boy and was not
 
 BATTLE WITH WOULD-BE BANDITS. 219 
 
 prosecuted, it being understood that he had simply been a 
 tool for Erfert, and he had not been concerned in many of 
 the numerous thefts. 
 
 BATTLE WITH WOULD-BE BANDITS. 
 
 HOLD-UP OF A MISSOURI PACIFIC TRAIN FRUSTRATED — JAMES 
 
 WEST, ENGINEER, AND ELI STUBBLEFIELD, EX- 
 
 CONDUCTOR, CAUGHT WITH THE GOODS 
 
 ON THEM. 
 
 With the assistance of Joseph S. Manning, of my St. 
 i^ouis office, and three special agents regularly in the employ 
 3f the Missouri Pacific Railroad, I prevented the holding up of 
 a passenger train on the Lexington Branch near Sedalia, on 
 the night of November 29, 1898. This was only done after 
 quite a revolver battle between my posse and the robbers, re- 
 sulting in the wounding of one of the latter. 
 
 A few days before the attempted train robbery occurred, 
 Horace G. Clark, then General Superintendent of the Mis- 
 souri Pacific, with headquarters at St. Louis, summoned me 
 to his office- On arriving there Mr. Clark told me that a 
 former employee of the company, who resided at Sedalia, had 
 just informed him that a plot had been formed by six rail- 
 road men, including himself, James West and Eli Stubble- 
 field, to hold up and rob one of the company's trains at some 
 point near Sedalia, Missouri- The exact date and point had 
 not been definitely fixed, but the informant was to furnish 
 a team and conveyance with which to take the would-be train 
 robbers to the point at which the holdup was to be made, and 
 after they had succeeded in robbing the train he was to take 
 them back to the city of Sedalia. He further informed Mr. 
 Clark that when the date and point of attack had been set-
 
 220 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 tied on he would at once advise him, as he, the informant, 
 had only agreed to furnish the conveyance and assist in the 
 robbery so that he might have the guilty parties caught and 
 handed over to the officers of the law. 
 
 I listened to the foregoing statement and called Mr. Clark's 
 attention to the fact that I never placed much credence in the 
 information given by any man who would deliberately enter 
 into a scheme of this kind with his former comrades. 
 
 Mr. Clark replied that he had known his informant, who 
 was an ex-engineer named Adams, as a faithful employee of 
 the road for a number of years, and he was in good standing 
 with the company. Adams had met with a serious accident, 
 having lost one of his arms while in the company's service, 
 and since the accident he had engaged in a legitimate business 
 in w^hich he had succeeded and had accumulated consider- 
 able property within a few years. I had known Mr. Clark 
 for a number of years, and had done considerable business 
 with him while I was chief special agent for the Missouri 
 Pacific road, with which company he also held an official posi- 
 tion. It was on account of our close friendship that Mr. 
 Clark had sent for me, for at this time I had severed my 
 connection with the Missouri Pacific road and was conducting 
 a secret service company in St. Louis. 
 
 Mr. Clark said to me, "Furlong, just as soon as the time 
 and place for this holdup has been fixed I will notify you and 
 I want you to take measures to prevent that train from being 
 robbed, and catch the guilty parties." 
 
 Early on the morning of Nov. 23rd, I received a message 
 from Mr- Clark, stating that he had just learned from Adams 
 that the passenger train on the Lexington Branch was to be 
 held up and robbed that night, at a point nine miles north of 
 Sedalia, and instructing me to take immediate steps to pro- 
 tect the train and prevent the robbery- Mr. Clark placed W.
 
 BATTLE WITH WOULD-BE BANDITS. 221 
 
 W. Kay, his special agent, at my disposal, and, on consulting 
 the official time card of the Missouri Pacific road, I found 
 that in order to protect the Lexington Branch train against 
 the contemplated robbery, I must leave St. Louis at 8:45 that 
 morning, so that I might board the endangered train at 
 Independence Junction, Missouri, that evening, as that train 
 was due to leave Kansas City on its east bound trip before the 
 one I was obliged to take from St. Louis arrived at Kansas 
 City. I found that if both trains were on time I would have 
 three minutes at Independence to make connections, and I 
 succeeded by hustling — to use a western expression. I only 
 had time to catch the train from St. Louis, and barely time 
 to get word to my assistant superintendent, J. S. Manning, 
 who accompanied Kay and myself to Independence, where 
 we boarded the threatened train. 
 
 I told the conductor in charge of the train of the instruc- 
 tions I had received from General Superintendent Clark, and 
 instructed him that when the train was flagged and stopped 
 not to pay any attention to the parties who attemped to stop 
 the train, but to devote his whole time to keeping his passen- 
 gers quiet and to keep them in their seats in the cars, and to see 
 that none of them raised a window and pvit their heads out. 
 I then went over to the engineer and told him what was 
 liable to happen, and told him that when we arrived at a 
 certain curve, at which the information indicated we were 
 to be flagged, and he saw the signal, which would be a red 
 light shown across the track, he should stop the train im- 
 mediately, and by all means he must not run beyond the 
 danger signal. I told him that after he had stopped the train 
 he and his fireman could squat down on what is known as the 
 hearth of the engine, in front of the boiler, where they would 
 both be entirely safe, and could not be reached by bullets 
 fired from the ground, as the sides of the cab, up as far as the
 
 222 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 window sills, were steel, and by stooping down below the 
 level of the window sills both of them would be perfectly 
 safe from any shots that might be fired. The engineer and 
 fireman understood my instructions perfectly, but I noticed 
 that the engineer, who was a big, husky, middle-aged man, 
 acted as though he was an arrant coward- 
 
 When we arrived at the first station north of the curve, 
 which was about two miles, I placed Mr. Manning on the 
 front platform of the express and baggage car immediately 
 behind the engine- He was armed with a .44 Colts. Detective 
 Frank Barnett, of the Missouri Pacific, with headquarters 
 at Ossowattomie, Kansas, and whose home was at Sedalia, 
 and who had joined my party at Independence, was placed 
 on the rear end of the express car, armed with a repeating 
 Winchester shot gun. I boarded the engine and took a seat 
 on the engine box. I placed Mr. Kay on the fireman's box 
 on the opposite side of the engine. The fireman gave Kay 
 his cap to wear and I had the engineer's cap on, so that any 
 person on the ground, it being after dark, would naturally 
 suppose that I was the engineer and Kay the fireman. The 
 real engineer and fireman stood on the hearth in front of the 
 boilerhead. They could attend to their duties standing where 
 they were as well as though they were seated on their respec- 
 tive boxes. We proceeded south from the last station in 
 this order. 
 
 When we reached the curve, I being on the inside of the 
 curve, saw the signal first. It proved afterwards to be a 
 white lantern with a red handkerchief tied over it, which 
 gave it the appearance of a real danger signal. It was swung 
 back and forth across the track, vigorously. I called the 
 engineer's attention to it, while we were at least two hundred 
 yards away. 
 • We were running then at a speed of about thirty miles an
 
 BATTLE WITH WOULD-BE BANDITS. 223 
 
 hour. I told the engineer to slow up, get his train under 
 control and by all means to be sure and come to a full stop 
 before passing the signal. There was a slight grade to the 
 curve, and although he shut off his steam, he did not apply 
 the air-brakes, so that the train slackened its speed but very 
 little- I saw that we were bound to pass the signal, and again 
 commanded him to stop the train, but he seemed to be bent 
 on passing that signal. It appeared that he was too frightened 
 to think of the air-brakes at all. Whereupon, I threw on the 
 reverse lever myself, or "plugged the engine" as the engineer 
 would say, which caused the wheels to slip, although they 
 did not hold to the rails or stop the speed of the train but 
 slowly. 
 
 Meanwhile the party who was swinging the signal light 
 stood in the middle of the track until the train was almost 
 on top of him ; in fact, I thought he was going to be run down, 
 but he did manage to leap from the track just in time to 
 save himself. He jumped to the left hand side, which was 
 the opposite side of the engine to where I was stationed. 
 When we passed him we were running at least fifteen miles an 
 hour, and he immediately opened fire on the engine with 
 what we afterwards learned to be a .45 Colts revolver. He 
 riddled the upper part of the cab with bullets. The moment 
 the firing began I sprang from my side of the engine to 
 the gang way on the opposite side. It did not take me an 
 instant to get to that position. The gang way was just pass- 
 ing the fellow who was doing the shooting and I had time 
 then to take but one shot at him- I knew that I hit him, for 
 I saw him fall into the ditch. About the time the shooting 
 began, another would-be robber was discovered on the right- 
 of-way. He also began firing at the officers, sending a couple 
 of shots at Manning, who was on the front end of the express
 
 224 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 car, and both of which only missed Manning's head by a 
 margin of a few inches. 
 
 On account of the grade the train did not come to a full 
 stop until we had passed the place where the signal had been 
 shown, probably a distance of fifteen hundred feet or three 
 train lengths. I had instructed Messrs- Kay and Manning 
 and Barnett that if any shooting occurred to open fire on any 
 person they might see on the ground, knowing as I did that 
 they would obey orders. I had also told the conductor to be 
 sure and see that none of the passengers or his crew got 
 on the ground, and for this reason we dare not leave the 
 train until it came to a full stop. After we came to a stop 
 Kay, Manning and myself got ofT of the train and started to 
 the place where we expected to find the dead or wounded 
 man whom I had shot and had seen fall into the ditch. After 
 we had left the train the engineer began backing up, and 
 nearly ran over us as the train was backing faster than we 
 could either walk or run. 
 
 At Lexington, Missouri, the train had picked up an extra 
 coach, containing about twenty passengers, members of a 
 local theatrical troupe bound for Sedalia to give a performance 
 there. They were what theatrical people would call "bam 
 stormers." Every one of them had a popgun of some sort 
 with them, and they began shooting out of the car windows. 
 When we reached the spot where I had seen the robber fall 
 we found that he had disappeared. There had been a light 
 fall of snow, probably two inches, on the day preceding the 
 holdup, and the tracks of this man were plainly visible, and 
 there was also a streak of blood about two inches in width, 
 which led across the track from the east to the west to a 
 road running north and south. The wounded man had 
 taken this road, which led to Sedalia. While we were trying 
 to find the trail we saw another man attempting to get
 
 BATTLE WITH WOULD-BE BANDITS. 225 
 
 through a barbed wire fence, which was on the right-of-way 
 of the railroad on the east. His clothing became fastened in 
 the wire. He struggled, however, to extricate himself, and 
 finally succeeded, just at the time that Manning and I reached 
 the place where the other man had fallen. We saw him as he 
 was getting through the fence, and he started to run in an 
 easterly direction through a large newly plowed field. To 
 make matters worse the ground was covered with snow- 
 Discovering that our wounded man was gone, and spying 
 the other one running across the field, we gave pursuit. Man- 
 ning succeeded in jumping over the fence, but I thought I 
 could get through where the robber had, believing that he had 
 sprung the wires and it would be easy, but I also got caught 
 on the barbs and it was only with difficulty that I finally re- 
 leased myself. By this time Manning had got quite a lead, 
 but soon, however, after getting away from that fence, I 
 overtook him, and so it was a neck and neck race between us 
 for at least 150 yards. After leading us a merry chase 
 for that distance, the robber fell, and we, having gained on 
 him, were close to him when he fell, and we sprung upon 
 and disarmed him. His hands and face were .covered with 
 blood. He lay on the ground moaning, and we believed that 
 he was badly wounded. There was every possibility of his 
 being seriously hurt, because several shots had been fired 
 at him by Manning and myself during our chase across the 
 field. The "barn stormers" had taken the matter as a general 
 jubilee, and had begun firing at friend and foe alike. They all 
 had shooting irons of some sort and threw open their windows 
 and began firing as soon as we began to pursue the robbei. 
 Even the express messenger, who knew that Manning and 
 myself were running across that field, opened fire with a- 
 Winchester rifle from his car. Just before the robber fell, 
 a bullet, which had evidently been fired by the express mes-
 
 226 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 senger, struck the handle of the revolver that Mr- Manning 
 was carrying in his right hand, splintering the handle and 
 nearly paralyzing his hand and arm with the concussion. If 
 the bullet had hit Manning's hand it would have ruined it 
 forever. 
 
 Just as Manning and myself had grabbed and disarmed the 
 fallen man, Detective Barnett reached us, and jerking the 
 handkerchief, which had been used as a mask, from the would- 
 be robber's face, exclaimed, "Why, hello, Jim." We all knew 
 then that we had captured West, whom we had known to be 
 in the conspiracy. "Is that you, Frank?" exclaimed West, 
 after which he feigned unconsciousness- West was at that 
 time in the employ of the Missouri Pacific, with a run out of 
 Sedalia, where he had resided for a number of years. He 
 had been at one time superintendent of a Sunday school, and 
 stood well in the estimation of the business men of that town. 
 He also had a reputation among persons who knew him 
 better than the church people, as being a fairly good poker 
 player, and exceedingly fond of the game. 
 
 Manning, Barnett and myself were finally joined by the 
 conductor and members of the train crew, and we succeeded 
 in carrying West back to the train. He appeared to be unable 
 to walk, so we had to carry him. W^e laid him down in the 
 express car, examined him for wounds and found that he had 
 not been shot, but he had severed some small blood vessels on 
 his wrist while struggling to get through the fence and had 
 smeared his face and clothing with blood from these wounds. 
 He shammed being drunk, but he was not at all under the 
 influence of liquor. 
 
 Thinking that the wounded man could be found later, and 
 not wishing to delay the train any longer, we boarded the train 
 and were soon in Sedalia. I was personally acquainted v^-ith 
 Eli Stubblefield, and being pretty sure he was the man I liad
 
 BATTLE WITH WOULD-BE BANDITS. 227 
 
 wounded, when we arrived in Scdalia I sent Manning and 
 Detective John Jackson, of the Sedalia poHce department, out 
 to watch his brother's house, where he made his home, in 
 the hopes that they could intercept and arrest him. Frank 
 Barnett and myself secured an engine at Sedalia and returned 
 to the scene of the attempted hold-up. Picking up the trail 
 of the wounded man, from his tracks and the blood in the 
 snow, we followed it out to the main road and on towards 
 Sedalia. We came to a house occupied by a negro family, 
 which stood near the road- There the negroes told us that 
 just after they had heard the shooting a tall slender man, 
 about middle aged, had stopped in front of their house, com- 
 ing from the north, and was going south, and yelled to the 
 occupants, stating that he had been hurt and would give 
 them ten dollars if they would hitch up and drive him to 
 Sedalia. They told him that they could not get a horse at 
 that time of night. He departed for Sedalia holding his 
 right arm, and leaving a trail of blood along his tracks. 
 Satisfying ourselves that Stubblefield was sure to show up 
 at Sedalia, Barnett and myself abandoned the hunt, returned 
 to our engine and were again soon in Sedalia. We were right 
 in believing Stubblefield would soon show up in Sedalia, for 
 about two or three hours later the wounded man, who sure 
 enough proved to be Eli Stubblefield, turned up in Sedalia 
 and near his home, where he was captured by Manning and 
 the Sedalia police officer, who were waiting for him, accord- 
 ing to my instructions- He was taken to the county jail, 
 where West had been incarcerated, and physicians called to 
 dress his wound. It was then learned that I had shot him 
 in the right arm, the ball entering and breaking the bones at 
 the elbow. The wound soon healed, but Stubblefield never 
 had the use of the arm again, it always hanging limp at his 
 side.
 
 228 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Early the next morning West was released on a bond signed 
 by a couple of prominent and wealthy Sedalia business men, 
 but later in the day, on learning all the facts in the case, the 
 bondsmen surrendered him to the sheriff and he was again 
 locked up, where he remained until his trial. 
 
 Adams, the informant, stated to me the following morning, 
 that at the last moment the other four who had promised to 
 join in the robbery, had weakened, using his expression, and 
 therefore Stubblefield and West were the only two he had to 
 take out, and that after the firing had commenced he did not 
 Vv^ait for them, but hastily drove his rig back to Sedalia. 
 
 In due time both Stubblefield and West were tried and con- 
 victed of the attempted holdup, and sent to the penitentiary, 
 if my recollection serves me right, for ten years each. They 
 have served their time out, and, I believe, are at large at the 
 present time. 
 
 We found two six-shooters in the possession of West, and 
 also two revolvers in the possession of Stubblefield. Stub- 
 blefield was well known as a freight train conductor, and was 
 in the service of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Com- 
 pany, popularly known as the "Katy." West had always 
 been an engineer and had been in charge of a freight engine 
 on the Missouri Pacific for a number of years. The others 
 who had promised to participate in the train robbery were 
 all ex-employees of some railroad with the exception of one, 
 who was a butcher. I withhold the names of the other four, 
 as they did not appear on the ground nor participate in the 
 robbery, and were not arrested or tried in connection with 
 the crime- 
 
 I will state here for the benefit of the reader that Adams, 
 the informant, had been in the employ of the Missouri Pa- 
 cific Railroad Company for a number of years as a locomotive 
 engineer, had a good record uith the company and stood well
 
 THE GREAT PITTSBURG STRIKE. 229 
 
 in the community where he resided, as a sober, reliable and 
 intelligent man, and a good citizen. While oiling around his 
 engine one day at a station the throttle began leaking, thereby 
 admitting steam to the cylinders, which caused the engine to 
 move suddenly while his arm was extended through the spokes 
 of the drive-wheels. The sudden movement of the engine 
 tore his arm from the shoulder and thus terminated his 
 career as a locomotive engineer. The railroad company set- 
 tled with Adams for the loss of his arm without a suit, paying 
 him quite a sum of money. It was with this money that he 
 began business in Sedalia as a money lender- West and Stub- 
 blefield were among his clients, each owing him quite a sum. 
 It was while talking with them about their indebtedness to 
 him that West and Stubblefield first approached the subject of 
 robbing the train to Adams. "We will have plenty of money 
 to pay you all that we owe you in a few days," said one of 
 them to Adams, and then they asked him to join them in 
 pulling ofif the job, which he agreed to do for the reason 
 before stated. 
 
 THE GREAT PITTSBURG STRIKE. 
 
 THRILLING SCENES DURING THE RIOTS ATTACK ON THE STATE 
 
 MILITIA SENSATIONAL ARREST OF ONE OF THE 
 
 RIOT LEADERS. 
 
 In July, 1877, during the railroad strike on the Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad, at Pittsburg, Pa., a riot was in progress 
 on Sunday, the 21st, which had started on the day pre- 
 vious. The rioters were led by the looses't characters in 
 and about Pittsburg. A great many of them were rolling- 
 mill employes and miners from mines and mills adjacent 
 to Pittsburg, who were in sympathy with the railway em-
 
 230 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 ployes, who had gone out upon a strike on all the lines 
 operated by the Pennsylvania Company. All of these lines 
 were tied up. Not a car or locomotive had been moved 
 for several days prior to the breaking out of the riot. The 
 police force of Pittsburg was disorganized, many of them 
 being in sympathy with the strikers. The railroad com- 
 pany's officers then applied to the sheriff of Allegheny 
 County. The sheriff being unable to cope with the rioters 
 or to protect the company's property, called up Gov. Hart- 
 tranft, then governor of Pennsylvania. The state militia 
 of Pennsylvania was ordered to Pittsburg and placed un- 
 der the command of Gen. Nagley. Many of the militia 
 were in sympathy with the strikers and laid down their 
 arms and joined the rioters, whereupon the Governor or- 
 dered re-enforcements from Philadelphia. The re-enforce- 
 ments consisted of two regiments, the first and second 
 regiments of state militia. They arrived in Pittsburg on 
 Saturday afternoon, July 20, from Philadelphia, and were 
 in charge of Brig. Gen. Brinton. These men left the pas- 
 senger coaches at Union Station at Pittsburg, and were 
 marched north to the railroad yards, which were full of 
 freight and passenger cars, up to 28th Street. At 28th 
 Street there was a mob from eight to ten thousand men, 
 armed with guns, pistols and clubs, who closed in on the 
 Philadelphia troops, opening fire upon them and disarm- 
 ing a number of them with their overwhelming force. 
 These troops displayed great coolness and nerve under 
 the circumstances, but the numbers were so overwhelming 
 against them that they were forced to take refuge in the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad Company's roundhouse at 28th 
 Street. Here they held the position until a late hour Sat- 
 urday night. In the meantime the rioters had found a 
 number of carloads of crude petroleum oil, which were on
 
 THE GREAT PITTSBURG STRIKE. 231 
 
 a side track north of the company's roundhouse, where the 
 soldiers had taken refuge. The roundhouse being on a 
 lower spot of ground than the main grade of the yards, the 
 track where these cars were standing formed a down 
 grade, running directly into the roundhouse. The mob 
 released the brakes on two of the cars filled with oil, there 
 being a number among them who knew just how to oper- 
 ate the cars and switches. These cars were turned loose 
 down the grade, were set on fire, and ran into the round- 
 house, where the oil exploded, thereby setting fire to the 
 roundhouse, and the troops who had taken refuge there 
 were compelled to flee for their lives, although they re- 
 treated in fairly good order. Their line of retreat was 
 through a portion of Pittsburg then known as Pipe Town. 
 The troops were assaulted from windows and roofs of 
 houses with bricks, guns and pistols. Many of them 
 were maimed and wounded. Thus they found their way to 
 the Sharpsburg Bridge, which crossed the Allegheny River 
 north of Pittsburg. The remainder of the Philadelphia 
 troops formed a camp on the hills just outside of Sharps- 
 burg, on Sunday morning, where they remained until a suf- 
 ficient number of re-enforcements had assembled in Pitts- 
 burg to control the situation, when the Philadelphians 
 were again ordered back to Pittsburg. Here they re- 
 mained with the other troops until the trouble was over. 
 In the meantime, on Saturday night, after the annihilation 
 of the Philadelphia troops, the rioters went through the 
 business portion of Pittsbung, breaking into hardware 
 stores, pawnshops and in fact any other establishment 
 they were liable to find firearms or ammunition. A reign of 
 terror existed in Pittsburg, from the fatal Saturday until 
 late Sunday evening. During the forenoon of Sunday the 
 rioters turned their attention to the other cars in the rail-
 
 232 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 road yards. The writer saw men and women breaking into 
 cars, and in many instances saw them leaving the yards ; 
 some instances they would have a bolt of silk, fine laces, or 
 other fine dress goods in their arms, with possibly a ham or 
 side of bacon on top. They, being heavily laden with this 
 loot, would attempt to climb the abrupt blufifs which bor- 
 dered the railroad yards on the east side, would lose their 
 foothold on the steep blufifs and come tumbling down, and 
 women and men, bacon and silk, would be found in a heap 
 at the bottom. 
 
 About ten o'clock on Sunday morning the mob found 
 a carload of tinware in the yards, and about the same time 
 they also discovered two carloads of liquor nearby. They 
 at once captured all of the tin cups and other vessels that 
 would hold liquor from the carload of tinware. They 
 also dumped out the barrels of liquor on the ground, turned 
 the head up and used coupling links to knock the head 
 out of the barrels. They then helped themselves to the 
 liquor with the tin vessels which they had taken from the 
 carload. The liquor consisted of brandy, whiskey and 
 other strong liquors. Having been engaged in rioting the 
 night before, probably not having stopped long enough to 
 get any breakfast, they drank this liquor like thirsty people, 
 and were soon overcome with the effects of it. In a 
 short space of time the more violent of the mob fell by the 
 wayside, stupefied with the overdose of liquor. The citi- 
 zens learning of the general drunk, got together all sorts of 
 wagons, carts, and other vehicles that could be found and 
 commenced to gather up these drunken people, who were 
 utterly helpless, and conveyed them to the jail and lock-ups. 
 These places were filled with them in a short time. In fact, 
 this was the first and only time in which the excessive use 
 of strong drink was instrumental in quieting one of the
 
 THE GREAT PITTSBURG STRIKE. 233 
 
 most desperate and destructive riots ever engaged in in 
 Pittsburg, or any other city. 
 
 At about eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, a man by 
 the name of James Boyd, who hailed from Mansfield, Pa., 
 which is a small place about seven miles from Pittsburg, 
 at which place his father kept a hotel, or what was called 
 in those days, a tavern (James Boyd had been in Pittsburg 
 a short time prior to the time of the railroad strike, work- 
 ing as a barkeeper for Charlie DuChon, whose place of 
 business was directly across from the Union Station at 
 Pittsburg), with a number of others was seen by the 
 writer to roll a barrel of refined petroleum oil into the wait- 
 ing room of the Union Station. There he turned the bar- 
 rel up on end and knocked out the head, then turned the 
 barrel down again, letting the oil run all over the floor of 
 the waiting room. He then took a handful of waste that 
 he had secured from one of the engines, set fire to it and 
 threw it into the oil on the floor, which ignited instantly, 
 enveloping the entire inside of the Union Station in flames. 
 The writer witnessed this, and the direction taken by Mr. 
 Boyd. That evening Boyd, with others, set fire to a large 
 grain elevator, which was situated just south of the Union 
 Station at that time. The roundhouse and general offices 
 of what was known as the Pan Handle Railroad were also 
 burned in the same manner. All this occurred on Sunday 
 and before the carloads of tinware and liquor had been 
 discovered and the general drunk had occurred. 
 
 Boyd left Pittsburg Sunday evening, after the citizens 
 had summoned courage and had begun to gather up the 
 drunken rioters, as before mentioned. He hurried to 
 Mansfield to his father's house. The writer quietly fol- 
 lowed him to Mansfield, and after locating him at that 
 place returned to Pittsburg. After things had quieted
 
 234 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 down, and martial law was being rigidly enforced, the fol- 
 lowing Wednesday I went to a livery stable where I hired 
 a pair of horses and a light spring wagon, with top and 
 side curtains, which would readily be taken for a country 
 man's huckster wagon, with a seat in front, and also a sear 
 in the middle of the wagon. The side curtains were drawn 
 down, I called upon Sol. Colson, who was a roundsman, 
 or what is now called a sergeant of police. He was big, 
 strong and courageous. I told him that I had Boyd located, 
 and proposed to go down to Mansfield and arrest him on a 
 charge of arson, as I had witnessed his actions on the Sun- 
 day previous. I will say here that at that time I was 
 special agent for the Allegheny Valley Railroad, which is 
 now a part of the Pennsylvania System, as it was at that 
 time, but operated separately from the other Pennsylvania 
 Lines. I also told Colson that many of the parties whc 
 had taken part in the riots belong in and around Mans- 
 field (which is now known as Carnegie) and that they 
 would, doubtless, be making their headquarters at the 
 Boyd hotel. Whereupon Colson said that he would be glad 
 to go with me to assist in the arrest, but that we ought to 
 have another man with us, and he suggested a policeman 
 by the name of John Moran. We found Moran. Both 
 Colson and Moran were dressed in citizens' clothes. We 
 placed Moran on the rear seat of the vehicle, Colson oc- 
 cupying the front seat with me, and I did the driving. It 
 was raining when we left Pittsburg, it being about eleven 
 o'clock on Wednesday. We drove down to Mansfield, a 
 distance of seven miles, and located on the bank of a creek. 
 In going from Pittsburg to Mansfield the ground is 
 rolling and hilly, and near Mansfield we came to the top 
 of a hill, which is at least a mile long and quite a steep 
 grade from the top of this hill all the way into Mansfield.
 
 THE GREAT PITTSBURG STRIKE. 235 
 
 The road being fairly straight, we could see a large crowd 
 of men assembled in front of and near the Boyd tavern. 
 As we neared the crowd I recognized many whom I had 
 seen rioting in Pittsburg on the Saturday and Sunday be- 
 fore. They were apparently prolonging the spree that 
 they had begun in that city, whooping, hollering, wrestling 
 and fighting. They were a motley crowd, and in fact 
 what might be called a dangerous looking crowd. We 
 drove up to within a hundred feet of the front of the Boyd 
 tavern. Right here I want to say that Moran, the patrol- 
 man we had brought with us, was not occupying the rear 
 seat in the wagon. He had been on duty continuously 
 since the beginning of the trouble, and was without doubt 
 much fatigued. When we had gotten almost to Mansfield 
 I heard a thud in the rear of the wagon. Turning around 
 I noticed that Moran had gotten down from the seat he 
 had been occupying and was lying on the bottom of the 
 wagon. Colson thought that he was exhausted and had 
 fallen from the seat. I went to arouse him, and to my sur- 
 prise found a pint bottle which had been filled with whis- 
 key. Moran had this bottle of whiskey v/ith him and had 
 doubtlessly drank copiously of the contents. lie was dead 
 drunk, but on account of our close proximity to Mansfield 
 at the time of this discovery, it was too late for either 
 Colson or myself to change our plans, so we drove up to 
 the place before mentioned, and leaving. Colson, after 
 turning the team around and facing them towards Pitts- 
 burg, I went into the Boyd tavern to rcconnoiter. In the 
 1)arroom I found men standing at the bar three and four 
 deep, and trying to elbow up to get drinks. Old man Boyd 
 (Jim's father), Jim himself and two other bartceepers, 
 sleeves rolled up and perspiring — you will remember this 
 was in July — were serving cheap whiskey as rapidly as
 
 236 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 possible. I elbowed my way up to one corner of the bar 
 wliere Jim Boyd was working. I caught his eye and said 
 to liim in an undertone that I had a friend in my wagon 
 just outside in front of the house, who had been suddenly 
 stricken with the cramp colic, and asked him if he would 
 kindly fix me up a good big drink of brandy and Jamaica 
 ginger, and that I would appreciate it very much if he 
 would. I handed him a two dollar note, telling him to keep 
 the change. He placed the two dollar note in his white 
 vest pocket and good naturedly said, "I will fix something 
 warm and bring it out right away." He fixed up a drink, 
 and in the meantime I went back to the wagon, and as the 
 curtains were all buttoned down, of course IMoran was 
 out of sight. Returning to the wagon I hurriedly told Col- 
 son that when this man came out with the drink I would 
 be busily engaged fixing the harness and I would tell him 
 (Boyd) that the sick friend was in the wagon. When Boyd 
 came out I told him to hand the drink to Colson. Colsou 
 told him our friend was in the bottom of the wagon, 
 whereupon Boyd raised himself up on the front wheel to 
 see the sufiferer. Colson caught him by the collar, and I 
 boosted him by the heels into the wagon at the same time. 
 Colson released his hold on the reins and I had hard 
 work to grab the front end of the wagon, but somehow 
 managed to land on the front seat. Colson had dragged 
 Boyd into the wagon box and was holding him down on top 
 of Moran, who was still soundly sleeping. Colson had fallen 
 into the wagon with Boyd and he let the reins go down 
 between the horses. By the time I got on the wagon the 
 horses were running away at full speed towards Pittsburg 
 right through the crowd that was standing around the 
 tavern. 
 
 In the meantime, the drunken rioters on the outside,
 
 THE GREAT PITTSBURG STRIKE. 237 
 
 thinking the team was running- away, started in pursuit. 
 It was all the way uphill, therefore I had but very little 
 trouble slowing the team down to a natural pace, as they 
 soon became winded. 
 
 As the team started old man Boyd and some of the 
 soberer spectators had noticed Boyd being pulled into the 
 wagon, and immediately procured horses and started in 
 pursuit. Our team being winded on account of the steep 
 grade, the men on horseback were gaining on us rapidly. 
 All this time Colson was holding Boyd down on top of 
 Moran, and Boyd was making a desperate fight. He was 
 a wiry young fellow, although no match for Colson. 
 However, it was just about all Colson coiiTd do to keep 
 him in the wagon. The writer had to do the driving and 
 look after the team, and was not prepared to engage with 
 the pursuers, who were armed with pistols and guns, but 
 fortunately, by the time we had reached the grade, half a 
 mile up the hill, one of those terrible Pennsylvania thun- 
 der showers burst forth with wind and rain, and it struck 
 us fair in the face ; in fact, with such force that our horses 
 stopped and would hardly go against the storm. Of course, 
 when this storm struck us it also struck our pursuers, com- 
 pelling them to go back. The result was that we arrived in 
 Pittsburg in due time with our prisoner and lodged him in 
 jail. 
 
 Moran had never once become cognizant of what had 
 happened, and was still in oblivion when Colson and I 
 delivered him to his wife in Pittsburg, 
 
 Colson was Moran's superior in rank, but in view of 
 the fact that Moran had always been faithful, and was 
 overcome by fatigue through overwork during the several 
 days and nights preceding the occurrence just related, did 
 not prefer charges against him, Moran sobered up and did
 
 238 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 many years of good service on the police force afterwards. 
 
 This, I think, was one of the most exciting arrests I 
 ever participated in. Boyd w^as tried in the courts of Pitts- 
 burg in due time, and was sentenced to the penitentiary for 
 fourteen years. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Railroad Company brought suit 
 against the county of Allegheny and the city of Pittsburg 
 for damages to their property sustained during the riots 
 in Pittsburg. This case was later tried in Beaver County, 
 Pa., and the railroad company was awarded a judgment 
 against the county of Allegheny and the city of Pitts- 
 burg for $2,000,000 damages. 
 
 The railroad company, needing ready cash at the time, 
 sold this judgment of two million dollars to a syndicate, 
 which consisted of Wm. H. Thaw, of Pittsburg, and nine 
 other representative men of Pittsburg for $1,600,000 
 ready cash. The city of Pittsburg and county of Alle- 
 gheny then issued bonds for the two million dollar judg- 
 ment. These bonds were to mature in twenty years, 
 with legal interest payable annually, so that the purchas- 
 er of these bonds made four hundred thousand dollars net 
 on the purchase, as well as the interest on the bonds, all 
 of which has long since been payed by the tax payers of the 
 county of Allegheny and the city of Pittsburg. 
 
 MURDER OF CONDUCTOR FRAZIER. 
 
 A TERRIER BEATS A PACK OF BLOOD HOUNDS ON A MAN TRAIL — 
 ARREST AND CONVICTION OF A PAIR OF REALLY BAD 
 TEXANS FOR THE CRIME. 
 
 In 1885 an attempt was made by two masked men to hold 
 up a passenger train on the International & Great Northern
 
 MURDER OF CONDUCTER FRAZIER. 239 
 
 Railroad, at a point south of Overton, Texas. It was in the 
 month of February and about midnight, and the weather 
 was quite cold, and the ground covered with about two inches 
 of snow and sleet in the vicinity of Overton. The train, 
 bound south from Longview to Galveston and San Antonio 
 on that night, was in charge of Conductor Frazier. 
 
 When this train was about to pull out of the small station 
 of Overton, the colored porter, whose duty it was to see that 
 no tramps or other intruders boarded the train when leaving 
 stations, noticed two men climb upon what is known as the 
 blind end of the baggage car, from the north side, and the 
 opposite side of the train from the station. The porter, upon 
 seeing the men, boarded the baggage car at its rear end, and, 
 as the baggage cars of that period all had doors at each end, 
 he entered the car by the rear door and opened the front door 
 from the inside, he having a key. The train had not got fully 
 under headway as yet. He peered out and ordered the tramps, 
 as he supposed them to be, to get off the train ; whereupon 
 the men, who were on the front platform of the car turned 
 upon him, each of them holding two large Colt revolvers. He 
 then noticed that they were wearing masks, and it is needless 
 to say that he was frightened- Slamming the door shut, he 
 fastened it and rushed back into the car where he met Con- 
 ductor Frazier, and informed him that there were two tramps 
 on the front end of the baggage car, whom he had ordered ofif, 
 but that they had refused to leave and had pointed guns at 
 him. He did not tell the conductor that the men were wearing 
 masks. The conductor, believing them to be merely tramps 
 who had gotten onto the car for the purpose of stealing a 
 ride, and the night being very cold for that section of the 
 country, he concluded that he would go and bring these men 
 into the smoking car, carry them to the next station and 
 there put them off. They would be more comfortable in the
 
 240 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 smoking car than out on the front platform. He went to 
 the front end of the car, accompanied by a brakeman by the 
 name of Powers. Frazier opened the front door, and the men 
 on the outside immediately opened fire on him. He fell for- 
 ward dead, and his body rolled off the train into the ditch. 
 They now caught sight of Powers, the brakeman, who was 
 behind the conductor, but as soon as the firing commenced he 
 (Powers) turned to run back into the coaches. They shot 
 him in the body, wounding him seriously. The affair was 
 promptly reported by telegram to the Vice-President and 
 General Manager, Mr. Hoxie, whose headquarters were in 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 On receipt of this report Mr. Hoxie notified me at once, 
 instructing me to proceed upon the first train to Overton, and 
 investigate the case. I left St. Louis early the morning fol- 
 lowing the hold-up, arriving at Overton eighteen hours later. 
 Here I learned, in addition to the facts before mentioned, that 
 there was a north bound passenger train from Galveston 
 that night- There was a water tank about three miles 
 south of Overton. This north bound train was to meet and 
 pass Conductor Frazier's train at the water tank, and the 
 masked men, who later proved to be John Knight and John 
 Price, intended to steal a ride on the south bound train to the 
 water tank, and there to board the north bound train from 
 Galveston, hold it up and rob it between the water tank and 
 Overton, but owing to the fact that they had been discovered 
 on the south bound train as it was pulling out of Overton, 
 and that they had shot and killed Conductor Frazier and 
 wounded Powers, they left the train, and, taking a circuitous 
 route, made their way back to their homes in the little town 
 of Overton. Owing to the coating of snow on the ground 
 they were easily traced to Overton. Of course, when they 
 reached the main street their tracks were lost among the
 
 MURDER OF CONDUCTOR FRAZIER. 241 
 
 numerous other tracks there. Having learned all this I con- 
 cluded that these men were residents of Overton and not 
 tramps. I therefore v^ent on with my investigation, which 
 consumed about two days of my time. 
 
 In the meantime, as soon as it became known that Con- 
 ductor Frazier had been murdered, a special train was sent 
 from Marshall, Texas, to Overton with a pack of bloodhounds, 
 which were owned and kept by the Texas and Pacific Railroad 
 Company, and were in charge of a man by the name of Mun- 
 don, who accompanied the dogs everywhere they went. Mun- 
 don had a posse of several men with him, and at Overton 
 their numbers were augmented by the citizens of that place. 
 
 The dogs were taken to the spot where the masked men 
 had left the train, which was about a mile and one-half south 
 of Overton. Here the dogs went upon the tracks and fol- 
 lowed them, in a circuitous route, to Overton, where the dogs 
 became more or less confused by the large number of tracks 
 they found on the street. However, there was one old dog 
 in the pack called Lee. Lee finally scented a track in the 
 street, began bellowing, and continued until he arrived at a 
 high picket fence which surrounded the home of John Price. 
 The dogs were being followed by a large crowd, and when 
 the dogs arrived at the fence, which was too high for them to 
 jump over, old Lee kept up his howling until Mundon silenced 
 him. The dogs were then taken back to the spot at which 
 Lee had scented the first track that led him to the home of 
 Price, where, after a lot of barking and capering on the part 
 of the dogs, old Lee scented another track which he followed 
 to the house of John Knight. 
 
 Knight and Price were brothers-in-law, and both of them 
 were among the crowd who were following the dogs, and by 
 reason of their presence the crowd burst into jeers and 
 laughter when the dogs led them to the houses mentioned.
 
 242 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Again the dogs were taken away and put on other tracks, 
 which led out into the country. 
 
 While this was being done and the dogs were being fol- 
 lowed over the country by nearly every man and boy in Over- 
 ton, I was quietly making the investigations, the result of 
 which I have told before. I really feared that the dogs were 
 liable to locate some poor unfortunate, but innocent person, 
 who would be more than likely to be subjected by the mob to 
 violent treatment. So I went to Palestine, which is a division 
 and headquarters of the International and Great Northern 
 Railroad. Palestine is about forty miles south of Overton. 
 Here I found the colored porter, who was a light and rather 
 handsome mulatto. He wore short sideburns and a mustache, 
 of which he took great care. He had previously stated that 
 he would be able to pick out the men whom he had seen 
 board the train at Overton, and who had killed Frazier, on 
 sight, providing they were wearing the same clothing that 
 they had worn on the night of the tragedy. 
 
 Meanwhile, I had telegraphed to St. Louis for Mike Mc- 
 Cabe, one of my men, and McCabe had arrived at Palestine 
 on the same train that I was on. I took the porter, whose 
 name was Davis, to a colored barbershop in Palestine where 
 I had the barber shave ofif his sideburns and elegant mus- 
 tache, to which Davis protested vigorously. I then had 
 Davis don the suit of a common field hand and a soft hat 
 such as are usually worn by colored field hands in that sec- 
 tion. After I had gotten Davis shaved and decked up in his 
 new outfit, the change in his appearance was so great that I 
 am satisfied his own mother would not have recognized him. 
 
 I then placed him in charge of my man McCabe, who was 
 unknown in that part of the country. I instructed McCabe 
 to take the first train the following morning for Palestine to 
 the water tank before mentioned, near Overton, and there
 
 MURDER OF CONDUCTOR FRAZIER. 243 
 
 Davis and himself were to leave the train and walk from there 
 into Overton, and there to go around the town and look care- 
 fully over every person that came in contact with them. In 
 case Davis could recognize one or both of them he was to 
 quietly inform McCabe and McCabe was to report to me at 
 once. This program was carried out. 
 
 In the meantime, I had arrived at Overton before McCabe 
 and Davis and watched and waited for developments from 
 them- 
 
 A short time after McCabe and Davis arrived they were 
 passing a blacksmith shop when Davis, the colored man, noticed 
 and recognized John Price, who was in the blacksmith shop, 
 had on an apron and was shoeing a horse at the time. Davis 
 instantly recognized him as one of the men, from the opposite 
 side of the street. It was then near noon, and the blood- 
 hounds and the mob following them were seen coming down 
 the hill into town, evidently for their dinner. Davis caught 
 sight of and recognized John Knight among the front rank 
 of the mob following the dogs. This fact McCabe promptly 
 communicated to me. I then instructed McCabe to send 
 Davis back to Palestine and to instruct him to await there for 
 further orders from me- 
 
 Powers, the wounded brakeman, had been taken to the rail- 
 road hospital at Ft. Worth, Texas, where he was supposed 
 to be lingering between life and death from the wounds he 
 had received. I had been informed that Powers could also 
 identify the men who had assailed him. As Davis ^had; 
 identified Knight and Price, and his identification of them 
 being corroborated by strong circumstances, I concluded to 
 arrest Price and Knight and immediately take them to Ft. 
 Worth, so that Powers might have an opportunity of seeing 
 them, I therefore telegraphed from Overton to Major Jos. 
 Merron, general Superintendent of the International & Great
 
 244 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Northern Railroad, and located at Palestine. We had a cipher 
 code. I requested Maj. Merron to send a special engine with 
 a coach to Overton that night and to arrive at about eleven 
 o'clock, which would be after the citizens had retired. I also 
 asked him to send my man McCabe to me with this special 
 train- Maj. Merron replied that he would comply with my 
 request and that he would come himself and bring another 
 man with him if I desired. I asked him whom he proposed 
 to bring. He wired back that he would bring Chris. Rogers, 
 who at that time was city marshal of Palestine, a position 
 he had held for a number of years, and he was a terror to the 
 evil doers of the community, having killed no less than seven 
 or eight men during his term of office. I wired the Major 
 "O. K.," requesting him to instruct his engineer to approach 
 the station at Overton quietly and without ringing his bell 
 or blowing his whistle. The train arrived at eleven o'clock, 
 bearing Maj. Merron, Chris. Rogers and McCabe. I met 
 them and we at once went to the house of John Knight, 
 where I rapped for admission. My knock was answered by 
 John Knight himself, whom we quickly seized. Cautioning 
 him to keep quiet, which he did, we then proceeded to the 
 house of his brother-in-law, Price. Here we expected to 
 have some trouble as Price bore a very bad reputation, he 
 having been mixed up in a number of shooting scrapes, and 
 was considered by the people of Overton "the bad man of 
 the community." Arriving at the Price house I sent McCabe, 
 who, by the way, was not a very large man, but thoroughly 
 game, to the back of the house, while Rogers and myself 
 went to the front door, rapped for admission, and were 
 promptly .answered by a man's voice from within, asking who 
 was there and what was wanted. I stated that we were 
 officers of the law and had a warrant for his arrest I omitted 
 to say that I had obtained warrants for both Price and Knight,
 
 MURDER OF CONDUCTOR FRAZIER. 245 
 
 charging them with the murder of Conductor Frazier. Price 
 replied that if we were officers we might call in the morning, 
 after he had his breakfast, and that if he felt like going 
 with us he would do so, but that if he did not feel like going 
 he would probably not go. 
 
 Price lived in a small, one-story cottage or shanty, and at 
 one end of the sleeping room there was a large fire place, 
 in which there was a large fire burning, which heated and 
 at the same time illuminated the room. This fire place was 
 built up against the outside of the house, and there was a 
 crack extending along the chimney probably one-half inch 
 wide. By looking through this crack, and by the light of th« 
 fire, a good view was to be had of the interior of the sleep- 
 ing room. The bed was standing directly in front of the fire 
 place and facing it. Over the head of the bed was a shelf 
 extending along the partition, and upon this shelf Price kept 
 a Winchester rifle within his reach as he was lying' in bed. 
 
 When Price made the above reply, I left Rogers at the door 
 and went to the crack near the chimney, where I got a view 
 of the inside of the room, as above described. I saw Price 
 sitting up in bed with his Winchester in his hand, and while 
 he was still talking I went back to the door and hurriedly told 
 Rogers of conditions on the inside. Whereupon Rogers said, 
 "Price, your house is surrounded and you had better put that 
 Winchester you have in your hands back on the shelf. Come 
 to this door and open it at once or let your wife and babies 
 come out before we set fire to the place and burn you out. 
 You have been bluffing the people of Overton, but you cannot 
 blufif us. We are officers and if you come to the door and 
 surrender we will protect you. If you do not we will get you, 
 if we have to burn you out." His wife pleaded with him to 
 open the door, which he did- We took our prisoners to the 
 special car and immediately started for Fort Worth, arriving
 
 246 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 there late that evening. We went to the railroad hospital, 
 where I arranged with the surgeon in charge to have Powers 
 brought out of his room, which was small, and placed in a 
 larger room. We then had a party of probably twenty-iive 
 or thirty railroad men, and other men who lived near the hos- 
 pital, file into the room and form a semicircle around Powers' 
 cot. He was placed so that by merely turning his head he 
 could have a good view of the people who were lined up in 
 single file, forming the circle before described. Knight was 
 standing in the circle near one end of the line and Price was 
 stationed in the line about midway between the center and the 
 other end of the line. Their dress and general apparance 
 was very similar to many of the others present- After every- 
 thing was arranged the doctor in charge told Powers to look 
 over the line and see if he could recognize any persons there. 
 Powers at once pointed his finger at Price and said, "That 
 is one of the men who was on that train." He then turned 
 his head and looked along the line, and without hesitation 
 pointed to Knight, saying, "There's the other." 
 
 We then took Knight and Price to Tyler, Texas, where they 
 were both locked up in default of bail, to await their trials on 
 the charge of murder. The Knights were an old respected 
 family of Russ County, Texas, and Price had married John 
 Knight's sister a few years before the occurrence heretofore 
 related. 
 
 Col. Spivey, a prominent criminal attorney, was employed 
 by the defense. The railroad company employed Capt. Jas. 
 Hogg and his law partner, John M. Duncan, to assist in the 
 prosecution. 
 
 In due time the day of the trial arrived, Circuit Judge Mc- 
 Cord presiding. The defendants demanded separate trials. 
 Col. Spivey proposed to try Knight first for the reason that 
 it was generally understood that Knight being the younger
 
 . MURDER OF CONDUCTOR FRAZIER. 247 
 
 man of the two had been influenced by his brother-in-law, 
 Price, and also that he had always borne a good reputation 
 prior to that time. Knight's trial lasted about two days, 
 when the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. 
 His punishment was fixed at ten years in state prison- His 
 counsel immediately served notice that he would apply for a 
 new trial, and also asked the continuance of Price's trial un- 
 til the next term of court. The continuance motion was 
 granted and Price was released on bail. 
 
 While the question of Price's bond was being arranged by 
 the lawyer and the court, I, in company with Master of 
 Transportation, Wm. Boyd, left the court room and walked 
 out into the grounds in front of the courthouse, where we 
 stood conversing for a few moments relative to the result of 
 the Knight case. I had noticed a rather singular looking 
 young man who had been apparently following me almost 
 continuously during the trial. He was a good sized man, 
 probably thirty years of age, in his shirt sleeves, and was 
 wearing an extra wide-brimmed Texas hat, no collar, and 
 had the appearance of being slightly under the influence of 
 liquor, all through the trial. He promptly followed Boyd and 
 myself from the court house into the grounds, and appeared 
 to be trying to hear our conversation. I noticed him so often 
 that I had become accustomed to looking for- him myself. 
 1 did not know him. He looked to me as if he were looking 
 for trouble. 
 
 After standing within a few feet of where Boyd and my- 
 self were talking he approached us and said, in rather a 
 gruff manner, "Furlong, I know you, and I want to tell you 
 all dat you will never convict John Price, and I am mighty 
 glad he is going out on a bond-" 
 
 I replied to him that it did not make any difference to 
 me whether Price was ever convicted or not ; that I had only
 
 248 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 done my duty in causing his arrest and having him prose- 
 cuted ; that the matter was now in the hands of the court 
 and that whatever the court saw fit to do with Mr. Price 
 would be satisfactory to me. 
 
 He then said, "I was afraid that Price would have to stay 
 in jail until the next term of court. Now that he is going 
 to be let out on bail I intend to kill him before that time 
 comes. He shot my brother some time ago, in a very coward- 
 ly manner and without any cause. My brother will die from 
 the effects of the wound before long and I intend to kill 
 him-" 
 
 I said to him, "If I were in your place I do not believe I 
 would talk about what you intend to do, as you are liable 
 to get into trouble." 
 
 "Well," he said, "I am just telling you this, and I don't 
 propose to talk any more about it. I just want you all to 
 know how I feel in the matter." 
 
 As a matter of fact I felt greatly relieved when this man 
 told me what he did, as I had feared that he contemplated 
 making trouble for me. As he concluded his remarks he 
 extended his hand to me, and as he was departing said, 
 "Watch out now, and remember what I have told you." 
 About four or five weeks later Price came out of his house. 
 It was early in the morning, and he was standing on a 
 platform, that extended from the rear of his house, washing 
 his face. This platform stood about three feet above the 
 surface of the ground, and a man who was under the plat- 
 form crawled from his concealment and with a gun shot 
 Price through the head. He fell dead where he stood. A 
 party was arrested for the shooting but there was no convic- 
 tion, and up to the present time no one has been convicted 
 for the shooting of Price. 
 
 After the arrest of Knight and Price, I returned to St-
 
 FIGHT WITH A MANIAC. 249 
 
 Louis, Mo., where I reported in person to Mr. H. M. 
 Hoxie, Vice-President and General Manager of the Gould 
 System. When I entered Mr- Hoxie's office to make my 
 report of the Knight and Price affair, the Hon. John C. 
 Brown, then General Solicitor of the Gould Railway System, 
 was in his office, and he remained there by invitation to 
 listen to my report of the case. At the conclusion of my 
 report Mr. Hoxie turned to Ex-Governor Brown and said, 
 "Governor, this is a remarkable case, and the only case that 
 I know of where a terrier had beaten a pack o£ blood 
 hounds on a man-trail." 
 
 I, being Irish, presumed that I was the terrier referred to 
 by Mr. Hoxie, in his joking, but complimentary manner. 
 
 All this occurred while I was Chief Special Agent for the 
 Gould Railway system. 
 
 FIGHT WITH A MANIAC. 
 
 DESPERATE ENCOUNTER WITH A GIANT BLACKSMITH, WHO HAD 
 SUDDENLY LOST HIS MIND AND BECOME VIOLENT. 
 
 Mr. Ploffman, I believe his first name was John, was a 
 blacksmith, and about thirty years old, six feet in height 
 and weighed over two hundred pounds. He was a powerful- 
 ly built man, quiet in demeanor and good natured. He was 
 employed in the blacksmith shop of Trax & Cramer, which 
 was the largest establishment of its kind in or about Oil 
 City, Pennsylvania. They employed a large number of me- 
 chanics and their helpers. 
 
 It was a very warm morning in July and the men were 
 hard at work at the shop, when suddenly the big man, 
 Hoffman, attracted the attention of his companions by 
 his actions. He was known to them as a sober man, and
 
 250 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 his sudden and strange conduct was a great surprise to all 
 around him. He became violent without any apparent 
 provocation, and all in a moment. He began throwing 
 things, hammers, tongs, and large sized pieces of iron and 
 steel,' in fact anything he could get hold of, through the 
 shop. His fellow workmen were unable to get to him. He 
 began foaming at the mouth and making a noise like th^ 
 muttering of thunder in the distance. In short, he had evi- 
 dently become violently insane within a few moments. 
 
 The City Hall was situated on the opposite side of the 
 street, and but a short distance north of the blacksmith 
 shop. The messenger from the shop was sent, posthaste, 
 for police assistance. I was the only officer there when the 
 messenger arrived, and being the only one, I responded to 
 the call. 
 
 On reaching the shop I found Hoffman occupying the 
 building alone. He was standing near the center of the 
 shop with a sledge hammer in one hand and a large piece 
 of steel in the other, and apparently ready to attack any 
 person that might appear within his range. The other oc- 
 cupants were all in the street and outside the door and 
 out of his reach. A large crowd of passers-by had been at- 
 tracted by the excitement, and were blocking the sidewalk 
 in front of and near the place. 
 
 On taking in the situation, as above described, I con- 
 cluded that the only thing that could be done was to seize 
 and overcome Hoffman as soon as possible, so as to prevent 
 him from injuring himself or others. The question then 
 arose as to how this giant could be overcome and sub- 
 dued without injury to any one. The bystanders were all 
 anxious to see him captured, but there was none present 
 that appeared willing to assist. 
 
 I noticed at once that Hoffman was watching the crowd
 
 FIGHT WITH A MANIAC. 251 
 
 and that his attention was in that direction, so I went 
 around to the rear door and approached him from behind, 
 being unobserved by him. I seized him around the waist 
 and threw him down on the floor, but as he was like a 
 rubber ball and strong as a lion, and perspiring as though 
 he had been sprinkled with a hose, he soon squirmed him- 
 self out of my grasp and sprang to his feet. I again grabbed 
 him by the legs and threw him to the floor. Although 
 I was strong and a pretty good wrestler, I found it easy 
 enough to throw Hofl;man to the floor, but it was im- 
 possible to keep him there, he being so strong and active. 
 He had scarcely any clothing on, and by reason of this and 
 his perspiring so freely, he was as slippery as an eel, and I 
 could not keep my hold on him. 
 
 After I had thrown him down several times, which re- 
 quired every ounce of strength that I possessed, I found my- 
 self becoming exhausted, and finally in desperation I sum- 
 moned all my strength and power and succeeded again in 
 throwing him down, and<this time I was fortunate enough 
 to secure what the wrestlers would call the strangle hold, 
 or neck grip, on him, thereby succeeding in shutting off 
 his wind. I then yelled to the bystanders to help me, and 
 finally a couple of them did. 
 
 With their assistanc^e I succeeded in holding him down 
 until another bystander brought a coil of clothesline from 
 a grocery store, which was directly across the street. I 
 took the clothesline while the citizens, who had volun- 
 teered to assist me, were holding him, and commenced to 
 wind it around his legs from his feet to his body, and then 
 his arms, fastening them so that he could not move. I 
 then procured a wheelbarrow, patrol wagons not being 
 known then, and placed him in it and wheeled him from the 
 shop to the lock- lip. where he was examined and pro-
 
 252 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 nounced violently insane. In due time he was placed in a 
 straight-jacket and taken in safety to the county institution 
 for the insane at Sugar Creek, Pennsylvania, w^here he died 
 in a few months without having recovered his mind. 
 
 This, I believe, was the most desperate and dangerous 
 position I was ever called upon to face during my whole 
 life. 
 
 The reader should remember that the blacksmith was 
 almost a Hercules in stature and strength, and being in- 
 sane his strength really had no bounds. 
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN. 
 
 BARNEY SWEENEY "fALLS" FOR A BIT OF STRATEGY, AFTER 
 KILLING HIS PAL IN A FAKE HOLD-UP DOWN IN 
 INDIAN TERRITORY. 
 
 The old Indian Territory, now the eastern portion of the 
 State of Oklahoma, was the scene, or stage, of many daring 
 hold-ups and brutal murders, during the early days, but no 
 crime committed there was surrounded with more mys- 
 tery than the one of which I am going to relate the par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 On the night of September 13th, 1882, as a north-bound 
 M. K. & T. passenger train was being moved out onto 
 the main line from a siding about a mile north of Vinita, 
 two men climbed onto the front platform of the smoker. 
 "Chick" Warner, the conductor, espied them and opened 
 the door. Before a word had been spoken, one of the 
 men shot the conductor in the cheek with a small caliber 
 revolver, making a painful and dangerous wound. The 
 man who is said to have done the shooting, was then shot 
 and instantly killed by his companion, his lifeless body
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN. 253 
 
 falling across the platform of the car. The man who did 
 the killing stepped from the train and walked back to 
 Vinita station, where he reported to the station agent, 
 who also represented the express company, that the train 
 had been held up by the famous James brothers and Ed 
 Miller. He named others who had often been mentioned 
 as members of the notorious James gang. He stated that 
 this gang had been camping in the woods, or brush, on 
 Little Cabin Creek, about four miles to the north and east 
 of the scene of the alleged hold-up. He had known them 
 all personally before coming to the territory, having been 
 born and raised in Clay County, Missouri, near the for- 
 mer home of the James boys. He also said that he was a 
 cousin of the Jameses. When the gang went into camp on 
 Little Cabin Creek, it was near to a farm where his sister 
 lived, and where he was staying. They met him and had 
 told him that they intended to hold up and rob, not only 
 that train, but other trains on the "Katy," and invited him 
 to join them. He also told the express agent that he was 
 an expert marksman with a revolver and rifle, and that he 
 had been practicing shooting with his gang, and had beaten 
 them all shooting at a target, and that he agreed to aid 
 them in holding up the train near Vinita for the purpose 
 of causing their arrest and punishment later on. 
 
 I was Chief Special Agent of the Gould System at that 
 time, and the M. K. & T. was one of its leased properties. 
 Col. Eddy, the General Manager, wired me to go to Vinita 
 at once and investigate the affair, and instructing me fur- 
 ther to prosecute all parties connected with the crime. 
 I arrived in Vinita the next day. I had no difficulty in es- 
 tablishing the identity of the man who had done the kill- 
 ing. His name was John B. (or Barney) Sweeney, for-
 
 254 
 
 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 William (Barney) Sweeney. 
 
 Murderer, train robber and monumental liar who claimed 
 
 kinship with the James Boys.
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN. 255 
 
 merly a resident of Clay County, Missouri, and whose 
 reputation was all bad. 
 
 I ascertained that during the afternoon preceding the 
 affair Sweeney had been at Vinita, and while standing on 
 the platform of the railroad station he, with others, had 
 seen the special train bearing General Manager Eddy pass, 
 south bound. The telegraph operator, of course, knew it 
 was Col. Eddy's train and that the Colonel was aboard, and 
 had conveyed the news to the spectators. 
 
 I learned that the man who had been killed was an un- 
 known young man- who had appeared at Vinita but a few 
 days before the trouble had occurred. He succeeded in 
 making the acquaintance of a brother-in-law of Sweeney's, 
 who lived on a farm near the alleged camping place of the 
 James gang on Little Cabin Creek, and with whom Swee- 
 ney was making his home. This brother-in-law needed 
 help to work his corn field and employed the young man 
 to go to work for him as a farm hand. The young man, 
 who appeared to be a Swede, or Norwegian, and spoke but 
 poor English, accompanied this man, whose name, I think, 
 was Powell, to his home and there met Sweeney for the 
 first time. I also learned that the latter had afterwards 
 induced this unknown farm hand to accompany him and 
 assist him in this attempted hold-up near Vinita. Sweeney 
 had furnished the unknown with a little, light calibre, toy 
 pistol, which was afterwards picked up near the scene of 
 the killing. Sweeney was a man about five feet seven 
 inches tall, stout, stocky built, and about twenty-eight or 
 thirty years of age, dark complexioned, dark small eyes, 
 a luxurious head of black hair, a rather pretentious, long, 
 dark mustache, and weighed about one hundred and sev- 
 enty to eighty pounds. He was very quick and active in 
 his motions, was a great braggart, and whenever occasion
 
 256 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 presented itself, never failed to tell people of his great 
 marksmanship and how fearless he was. He was raised 
 near Missouri City, Clay County, Missouri, where his 
 father owned a farm in what was known as the Missouri 
 River bottom. He had a sister, a young woman, who kept 
 house for the father, his mother having died prior to the 
 occurrence of which I write, 
 
 Sweeney's father bore the reputation of being an hon- 
 est, hard-working man, while his son had the reputation 
 in Clay County of being a suspected horse thief, a notori- 
 ous liar, absolutely unreliable and a treacherous coward. 
 He had been arrested and tried for the murder of a re- 
 putable farmer of the neighborhood, who was shot and 
 killed one evening while sitting on the porch of his home 
 with his infant baby in his arms. The shot was fired from 
 behind a thick hedge, from the opposite side of the road, 
 and from a distance of perhaps seventy-five feet from 
 where the farmer was sitting. Sweeney was seen going 
 towards the farmer's house a short time before the shoot- 
 ing had occurred. He had also been seen returning to his 
 home from the same direction some time after the shoot- 
 ing. He was carrying a rifle. He was arrested and tried 
 for the murder of the man, and it was proved at the trial 
 that he had once threatened the life of the murdered far- 
 mer, who lived but a short distance from his father's 
 place, but he was acquitted, there being no direct evidence 
 of his guilt. However, a great many people of Clay Coun- 
 ty believed then, as they do up to the present day, that 
 "Barney" Sweeney, as he was familiarly called, had been 
 the murderer of the farmer. 
 
 A short time after this, by reason of his unpopularity, he 
 left that part of Clay County and went to live with his 
 sister on Little Cabin Creek. Knowing the facts about
 
 , DECOYING A BAD MAN. 257 
 
 Sweeney's bad reputation, and after hearing the story he 
 had told about the affair at Vinita, I concluded to place 
 him under arrest, charging him with having shot and 
 seriously wounded Conductor Warner, as well as having 
 murdered the man who he claimed was Ed Miller, or Wil- 
 son, thinking, as I did, that I would surely be able to find 
 out who this unknown man was. I knew that it was not 
 Ed Miller, because I knew that he was dead, having been 
 killed while attempting to rob a bank in a little town in 
 Minnesota. I also knew that at this time the James boys 
 were not in or about the Indian Territory. Frank James 
 was living peaceably, as a good citizen, in Tennessee. Jesse, 
 his brother, was also supposed to be somewhere in that 
 vicinity. I knew where Dick Little, another member of the 
 outfit, was making his home, and thus knew that Sweeney 
 was deliberately falsifying all the way through. To use 
 stronger language, he was a deliberate liar. 
 
 At the time of which I write, Captain Sam. Sixkiller, a 
 full-blooded Cherokee Indian, was the Chief of the United 
 States Indian Police, and lived at Muskogee. This police 
 force was maintained by the United States Government, 
 and consisted entirely of Indians of good reputation, and 
 it was their duty to patrol the Indian Territory. They 
 were armed and mounted, and were there to protect the 
 law-abiding Indians and other residents and their proper- 
 ty, especially from whiskey peddlers, of which there were 
 a great many plying their nefarious trade, selling the In- 
 dians cheap whiskey at exorbitant prices, which was 
 strictly prohibited by the Federal laws governing the 
 Indian Territory. 
 
 Sixkiller and his force had all authority to arrest any 
 person charged with a crime, on sight or on complaint. So 
 after deciding to arrest Sweeney, I wired from Vinita to
 
 258 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Capt. Sixkiller, at Muskogee, requesting him to join me at 
 Vinita for the purpose of arresting this law-breaker, with- 
 out mentioning Sweeney's name. 
 
 In a short time I received an answer from Sixkiller's 
 physician stating that Sixkiller was confined to his bed 
 with a severe attack of fever. Upon receipt of this in- 
 formation, I reported to Luke Sixkiller, a brother of the 
 Chief, who lived at Vinita, and who was a member of the 
 United States Indian police force. I requested Luke to 
 accompany me to where Sweeney was living with his 
 brother-in-law to arrest him. Luke promptly told me that 
 he would not dare arrest Sweeney unless his brother, the 
 Chief, was present. "Why," he said, "this man Sweeney 
 is a terror. He is a wonderful shot with either rifle or 
 pistol, and it will take at least a half-dozen men, well 
 armed, to capture him. He is a desperate man, and so we 
 will have to wait until the Chief gets well enough to come 
 and help capture him." 
 
 I had been accompanied to Vinita by one of my assist- 
 ants, whose name was William H. Bonnell. He was a 
 little fellow, only weighing about one hundred and thirty 
 pounds, inclined to be tall, but slender, had plenty of nerve, 
 and v/as a remarkably good marksman, always willing and 
 anxious to do his duty, and would take as many chances as 
 any man I ever knew. He had helped me to get the in- 
 formation which led me to the decision of arresting Swee- 
 ney, and on hearing that Sixkiller was sick he at once 
 suggested that he and I go to the Little Cabin Creek farm 
 and capture Sweeney ourselves. Our conference took 
 place in the evening, and I told Bonnell that I would sleep 
 over the matter and would decide by morning what should 
 be done. 
 
 I had seen Sweeney but once in my life, and that was
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN. 
 
 259 
 
 about a year before in Kansas City, he having been pointed 
 out to me by an officer, but I was satislied he did not know 
 me, so after carefully considering the matter next morn- 
 ing, I decided that I would take a horse and ride over to 
 the Little Cabin place alone. I felt sure if Sweeney did 
 
 William H. Bonnell. 
 
 For many years one of Detective Furlong's trusted operatives 
 and noted for his fearlessness. 
 
 not know me, or recognize me, that I would be able to 
 
 bring him into Vinita alone, with less trouble than if I 
 
 was accompanied by another stranger, knowing, as I did, 
 
 his treacherous and cowardly disposition. I reasoned that 
 
 if he saw two strangers approaching his brother-in-law's
 
 2G0 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 house he was liable to open fire on us and might kill one 
 or both of us before we could reach him, and that he 
 would be less liable to open fire on a lone man. Bonnell 
 demurred, saying that I would probably get killed going 
 over there alone, but for the reasons above stated, I decided 
 to go alone. 
 
 I procured a horse from a livery stable and started. I 
 reached the farm-house about 9 130 o'clock in the morning. 
 I took a course across the open prairie, a distance of about 
 four miles. On the other side of this I came to Little 
 Cabin Creek. There was a heavy growth of timber and 
 thick underbrush on every side. The trail to the farm 
 led directly through the brush timber for about two or 
 three miles. At last I reached a set of bars that served 
 for a gate directly in front of a two-story, frame farm- 
 house, which stood in an open field, and about one hun- 
 dred feet from the bars. The thick timber and under- 
 growth shut out a view of the house, and I did not see 
 it until my horse had reached the bars. When I reached 
 there I discovered the house and saw Sweeney sitting on 
 the porch in plain sight, and a Winchester rifle was lean- 
 ing up against the building near him. I got off my horse, 
 placing the rein over the bar post, let down one of the 
 bars and crawled through. As soon as I had got inside 
 the bars Sweeney commanded me to throw up my hands, 
 and looking up at him I found that he had risen and was 
 holding the Winchester pointed at me. I halted. He 
 said, "Who are you and what do you want?" 
 
 I replied, "My name is Foster, and I want to see Mr. 
 John B. Sweeney." 
 
 "I am John B. Sweeney," he said, "What do you want 
 with me?" 
 
 1 answered him by saying, "I beg your pardon, Mr,
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN. 261 
 
 Sweeney, but is that gun loaded that you have pointed at 
 me?" 
 
 He laughed and replied, "What the h — 1 do you think 
 I would be doing with this gun if it were not loaded?" 
 
 "Well," I said, "if that gun is loaded I wish you would 
 turn the muzzle of it in some other direction. That horse 
 that I have down there is one that I borrowed from the 
 livery man at Vinita to ride over here on, and if that gun 
 would accidentally go off it might scare the horse and 
 cause him to break loose or maybe hurt me. If the horse 
 got away I would have a lot of trouble catching him, and 
 if I did not catch him the livery man would make trouble 
 for me. Furthermore, I did not come over here anyway to 
 get shot. If I had expected there would be any shooting 
 I wouldn't have come." 
 
 "What did you come here for?" asked Sweeney. 
 
 I said, "Col. Eddy, General Manager of the M. K. & T. 
 road, went south last night, passing Vinita on his special 
 train (said this, knowing that Sweeney had been standing 
 on the platform when the Colonel's train had passed) and 
 he wired me from Eufaula, in a cipher, to come out here 
 and see John B. Sweeney and ask him to come over to Vi- 
 nita and meet him on his return north to Parsons. He 
 said in the message that he expected to arrive at Vinita 
 about eleven-thirty today, and that he wanted to have a 
 private talk with you to arrange with him for your services 
 in assisting in the capture of the parties implicated in the 
 holdup that occurred at Vinita a few days before. If you 
 are Mr. Sweeney, and will accompany me back to Vinita 
 we will just about have time, by starting soon, to reach 
 there before Col. Eddy's train arrives. The Colonel does 
 not want the people at Vinita to know that you have met 
 him, as he has been led to understand that the people
 
 262 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 of that town do not like you, so he will run his train onto 
 the siding about a quarter of a mile from Vinita, and we 
 can leave our horses at the livery stable and walk to the 
 side track, each of us taking different directions, and the 
 people will know nothing about your having met the Col- 
 onel." 
 
 Sweeney replied, "I know them fellows at Vinita are all 
 afraid of me, and if Col. Eddy will give me a job and pay 
 me enough I will get those train robbers for him. I will 
 go with you." 
 
 He called his brother-in-law and said, "Go and put the 
 saddle on Baldy." Baldy was his horse. He turned to 
 me and said, "Come up and take a seat here on the porch 
 while I go up and get ready to go wnth you." 
 
 He took his rifle and went upstairs. I took the seat he 
 had previously occupied on the porch, to await his coming. 
 I asked his sister to please give me a drink of water. 1 
 was terribly thirsty, caused, no doubt, by looking into 
 the barrel of that Winchester. I had only been seated a 
 few moments when Sw^eeney appeared in the doorway car- 
 rying in his left hand his nine-inch .45 six-shooter, Colts, 
 and in his shirt sleeves. He had left the Winchester in the 
 house. He said to me in a commanding voice, "You have 
 found the way out here, and now you can get on your 
 horse and lead the way back." 
 
 While he was speaking the brother-in-law brought the 
 horse around, Sweeney mounted it and I let down the bars. 
 He motioned me to lead the way, which I did. He rode up 
 close behind me, carrying his gun in his left hand, and con- 
 tinuously telling about how he had practiced shooting 
 with the James gang while they had been camping near his 
 home, and that he had beaten them. He also pointed out 
 a clump of bushes in which he said the gang had camped
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN 263 
 
 during the several days that they had been in that neigh- 
 borhood. After we had left the covered ground and come 
 out onto the prairie I told Sweeney that I occupied the 
 corner room in the hotel at Vinita the night before. I 
 said, "I have not settled my bill and my grip is still in the 
 room, and I think we had better ride to the livery stable 
 and leave our horses, and you had better go to my room 
 direct, and I will go from the stable to the telegraph ofificc 
 and find out from the operator where Col. Eddy's special 
 train is and at what time it will arrive at Vinita. I am 
 getting hungry and if I find that we have time to get some- 
 thing to eat before the special arrives, I will order some- 
 thing. I will come direct to the room and tell you what 
 I have learned." 
 
 We separated, Sweeney going to the hotel and I, ap- 
 parently, going to the telegraph ofifice, which was in the 
 opposite direction to that taken by Sweeney. I did not 
 stop at the telegraph office, but went around back of it, 
 placing some buildings between Sweeney and myself. I 
 crossed the street at a point west of the depot and went 
 around to the rear of the hotel, where there was a flight 
 of stairs leading from the back yard to the second floor 
 of the hotel from the outside. I ascended these stairs and 
 went to my room, where I found the door standing about 
 half way open and could see, through a crack between the 
 door and the jamb Sweeney lying down on my bed with 
 his hat, boots and spurs on. He was taking things easy. I 
 entered noiselessly, holding a small, double-barrel. Reming- 
 ton derringer that I had taken from my pocket as I entered 
 the room. I was whistling, and suddenly thrust the derringer 
 into Mr. Sweeneys mouth, breaking two of his upper teeth 
 loose. I told him to throw up his hands, and he was not long 
 in obeying. With my left hand I unbuckled his belt and re-
 
 264 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 moved it from him. It contained the holster in which he had 
 placed the nine-inch Colts. 
 
 Bonnell had noticed us when we arrived, and when we 
 separated and as I crossed the street going to the hotel I gave 
 him a signal to follow me. He entered the room just as I 
 had disarmed Sweeney. I told him to put handcuffs on the 
 prisoner and to take him to the calaboose and lock him up. 
 I had Sweeney's meals sent to the lock-up. 
 
 When the next train arrived there, who should be on it 
 but Capt. Sam Sixkiller, who had left his sick bed and come 
 up to Vinita to assist me in making the arrest. He told me, 
 on his arrival, that it would not do to take Sweney through 
 Muskogee, as the railroad men there were aroused and would 
 undoubtedly attempt violence, for they had all come to the 
 conclusion that Sweeney was a fraud and was the man who 
 shot Conductor Warner. Warner was very popular among 
 the employes of the road. So we boarded the north-bound 
 train .and brought Sweeney to St. Louis, transferring there 
 to the Iron Mountain for Little Rock, Arkansas. Here we 
 changed cars for the Fort Smith and Little Rock Road, and 
 thus reached Fort Smith, Arkansas, in safety with our prisoner 
 and without any interference from the railroad men 
 
 Sweeney never uttered a word from the time I disarmed 
 him until we had boarded the train for St. Louis and were 
 probably twenty miles north of \"inita. We were in the 
 smoking car, Capt. Sixkiller and the prisoner ahead and I in 
 a seat just behind them, when finally Sweeney turned his 
 head around towards me and said, "Mr. Foster, I wish you 
 would please show me that gun you stuck into my mouth." 
 
 I took the cartridges out of the gun and handed it to him. 
 It was not more than five inches in length and of .41 calibre- 
 He examined it critically, and without turning his head 
 handed it back to me over his shoulder, saying in a disgusted
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN. 265 
 
 manner, "H — 1, I thought that gun was a foot long." 
 
 We lodged him in jail at Fort Smith in due time. He was 
 indicted and finally tried, but, because I was never able to 
 find out who the unknown farmhand was that he had killed 
 and the motive for the crime, he was acquitted. However, 
 he had lain in jail for nearly a year, and on his release he 
 returned at once to Clay County, Missouri, and wrote a 
 letter to A, A. Talmage, then General Manager of the Missouri 
 Pacific, demanding that Mr- Talmage send him ten thousand 
 dollars immediately, and threatening that if he did not that 
 he would blow up the bridge on the Wabash Railroad and 
 destroy property in general, and in any event he would kill 
 Furlong on sight. He sent this letter through the United 
 States mail. Mr. Talmage gave the letter to me, and I at 
 once made a complaint to the United States commissioner, 
 got a warrant for Sweeney's arrest and went to his father's 
 farm near Missouri City, Clay County, accompanied by a 
 deputy sheriff, whose name I don't remember, but who was 
 a brave .and splendid officer. Sweeney was at home. It was 
 after night and he had gone to bed. We rapped for admis- 
 sion and the door was opened by his father, to whom we 
 stated that we were officers and had a warrant for the arrest 
 of his son, "Barney." The latter was in bed upstairs, but 
 heard us when we rapped for admission and had come to the 
 head of the stairs with a shot-gun in his liand. He said, "I 
 am here and I will kill any man who attempts to come up 
 those stairs-" 
 
 In an instant, and before I had time to think, the deputy 
 sheriff, who had been standing beside me, sprang up the 
 stairs. I followed him as quickly as possible, but before I 
 had reached the top the officer had clinched with "Barney" 
 and had thrown him to the floor. I picked up the gun that 
 Sweeney had let fall, and in less time than it takes to tell
 
 2G6 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 it we had captured Mr. Sweeney without a shot being fired, 
 so I feel safe in saying that he was an arrant coward as well 
 as an inexcusable liar. 
 
 I took him to St. Louis, where he was tried and convicted 
 for havingsentthethreatening letterthroughthemail. Hewas 
 sentenced to either three or four years in the penitentiary. 
 He served his time and again returned to his father's home 
 at Missouri City. A short time later he held up and tried to 
 rob a Wabash passenger train .at Missouri City. In this at- 
 tempt he was shot through the ankle by a telegraph operator. 
 He tried to escape by running, but was captured by the train 
 crew and the company's telepraph operator at that city. He 
 was tried for this offense and sent to the penitentiary for 
 fourteen years, and I had lost track of him until he recently 
 turned up in St. Louis as a witness against the New York 
 Life Insurance Company, in the famous Kimmel case. He 
 claimed to have visited the wilds of Oregon with Kimmel, 
 a man named Johnson and another party to search for some 
 hidden treasure. A portion of the treasure was found. A 
 row over its division resulted and Johnson shot and killed 
 Kimmel. Sweeney avenged Kimmel's deatll by killing John- 
 son on the spot- Both of the dead men were buried near 
 where they fell. On reading Sweeney's story in the papers, 
 which was almost a repetition of the story of the fake hold-up 
 down in the territory, as related to the express officials and 
 myself, I will admit I really sympathized with the attorney 
 who had gone to the trouble and expense of getting Sweeney 
 here, knowing, as I did, that he was absolutely untruthful 
 and unreliable. 
 
 I do not believe that I ever ran into as fun-loving a bunch 
 of railroaders as the one which attended Sweeney's trial. Ft. 
 Smith was crowded, as was usuallythe casewhen court was in 
 session. At that time there was only one "leading" hotel in
 
 DECOYING A BAD MAN. 267 
 
 town. It was a three-story, old-fashioned structure, the top 
 story of which was one large room, or hall. Social func- 
 tions, such as balls and other gatherings, were usually held in 
 this hall. When the railroad men arrived — there were about 
 fifteen of them, including "Chick" Warner, Ed Smith, W. B. 
 Maxwell, "Lute" Welch and Tom Hall, all passenger con- 
 ductors on the Katy — all of the regular rooms had been taken. 
 The proprietor, in order to take care of the boys as best he 
 could, turned this large room, or hall, into a dormitory, placing 
 therein several different kinds of beds and cots for them to 
 sleep on. A large round table and a few rickety old chairs 
 constituted the balance of the furnishings of the room. There 
 was not much doing in the amusement line after dark in Ft. 
 Smith in those days, so the railroaders retired to their rooms 
 early — but not to sleep. The first seven or eight up the stairs, 
 and there was always a race to see who would get upstairs 
 first, would assemble themselves around the table and soon 
 be busy playing a game of — well, there is no need of me 
 naming it, as everybody knows the name of the game that 
 usually interests the average railroad man most. I will add, 
 however, that there was no "limit-" By and by, those who 
 were lucky enough to have to "sit out" would get sleepy and 
 roll into their bed or cot, but they did not have .a chance to 
 get to sleep, the "I'll pass" or "I'll raise you" of the players 
 keeping them awake until the game would break up, which 
 was usually about the time the sun commenced to shine in at 
 the windows in the early morning. The players would then 
 retire and soon be snoring to beat the band. "Chick" Warner 
 being a big, deep-chested man, had all his competitors skinned 
 a mile at this snoring game. As soon as he hit the bed his 
 snoring machinery would get in motion. Then the real fun 
 would begin. The balance of the gang would throw pillows, 
 or shoes, or any old thing they could find at his head to wake
 
 268 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 him up- These efforts would not always be successful, how- 
 ever, and the snore would either increase in tone or volume. 
 
 At the breakfast table one morning, after there had been 
 an unusually long "sitting" the gang decided to get even with 
 "Chick" Warner, who was still in bed, by holding an old- 
 fashioned Irish wake at his bedside. Charlie Walters, an 
 express company route agent, who was an artist of no mean 
 ability, procured a piece of chalk and in less time than it 
 takes to tell it, had transformed the head of the bed into a 
 monument with very appropriate inscriptions thereon. Some 
 lumber was secured and a fence arranged around the bed, 
 on which were placed a lot of empty beer bottles. A candle 
 was placed in the neck of each bottle, and after these were 
 lighted and the windows darkened, the bunch arranged them- 
 selves around the "bier" and commenced a w^eird chant. The 
 noise made by the bunch attracted the attention of most of the 
 people in the town, and the big room was soon filled. News 
 of what was going on soon reached the court room and Judge 
 Parker adjourned court and he and his officers and the lawyers 
 and jurors rushed to the hotel to witness the fun-making. 
 After an exceedingly loud and boisterous outburst of "grief" 
 on the part of the "mourners" Warner awoke. It did not 
 take him long to break up that "wake," as he at once began 
 raising a rough house by throwing everything he could get 
 hold of at his tormentors. The affair was the talk of the 
 town for some time to come, and is to this day referred to 
 when two or three of the gang happen to get together- 
 
 On the Sunday following, the citizens of the town, to 
 show their appreciation of the bunch as good fellows, decided 
 to give them a carriage ride and show them the places of 
 interest. Judge Parker, in his private conveyance, was to lead 
 the procession. As none of the vehicles had been decorated, 
 as some of the railroaders thought they should be, they
 
 TRAGIC DEATPI OF BILL CASEY. 269 
 
 decided to do some decorating on their own hook. An empty 
 beer keg was procured and with a rope it was anchored to 
 the rear axle of the Judge's conveyance. As the Judge's 
 abstemious habits were known to all the citizens of the town, 
 the sight of the beer keg vmder his buggy created .a great 
 deal of amusement on the part of the citizens when they saw 
 it as the carriage was drawn through the streets. The Judge 
 did not discover the trick that had been played on him until 
 after the ride was over, but he seemed to enjoy the joke as 
 much as did the jokers. 
 
 TRAGIC DEATH OF BILL CASEY. 
 
 INCIDENTS ENCOUNTERED WHILE WORKING ON A CASE IN THE 
 OIL REGIONS — CAPTURE OF A COUPLE OP CLEVER 
 SNEAKS AND SAFE ROBBERS. 
 
 in 1872, a year after I had been elected Chief of Police of 
 Oil City, Pa. (and, by the way, I had the distinction of be- 
 ing the first Chief of Police of that town), the safe in the 
 store of Henry Fair, in South Oil City, was robbed late on 
 a Saturday night. This safe contained a number of bonds, 
 some cash and other valuable papers. The robbery was not 
 discovered until the following Monday morning by Mr, Fair 
 himself, who was the only person connected with the estab- 
 lishment who had the combination of the safe- Mr. Fair found 
 the safe locked, as usual, and upon opening it found the 
 bonds and cash missing from the safe. I was immediately 
 notified of the robbery, and upon examining the premises 
 found that no l)urglary had been committed. The safe and 
 windows and doors of the store were all found to be intact 
 on Monday morning. I also learned that the cash and bonds 
 which were missed on Monday morning were known to
 
 270 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 have been in the safe as late as ten o'clock upon the Satur- 
 day evening previous. I further learned that at that hour 
 quite a large crowd of people were in the store, all of whom 
 were supposed to be customers, and at the close of my in- 
 vestigation there was no doubt in my mind but that the 
 safe had been rifled of its contents by the sneak method. 
 During the business hours prior to ten o'clock Saturday 
 evening, the safe had not been locked and the door was left 
 standing partially opened, so that clerks and others con- 
 nected with the store might have easy access to it during the 
 busy hours of the day to get change, to look at accounts, and 
 other purposes, so it became apparent to me that there were 
 probably at least two persons connected with the robbery, 
 and that one of them had attracted the attention of the clerk 
 nearest to the safe, while his partner quietly slipped behind 
 the counter and to the safe and took the cash and missing 
 papers unobserved. It was also apparent to me that this 
 must have been done almost immediately before the store was 
 closed for the night, as the cash box and some of the miss- 
 ing bonds had been out of the safe on the manager's desk 
 until a short time before they were placed in the safe by 
 Mr. Fair himself at about ten o'clock. Upon further investi- 
 gation I learned that two young men had visited the store 
 about ten o'clock Saturday evening. One of them purchased 
 a package of smoking tobacco, while the other consumed 
 considerable time in trying to select a pair of shoes, which, 
 by the way, he did not purchase. One of these young men 
 was known as "Butch" DeWitt, then about nineteen years 
 of age, the other was William Heilman, twenty-one years of 
 age- The parents of these young men were respectable, hard- 
 working people and both resided in Oil City. The boys both 
 bore bad reputations, but up to that time were not considered 
 thieves. Upon learning that they were at the store at a
 
 TRAGIC DEATH OF BILL CASEY. 271 
 
 late hour Saturday night, I conckided that I would locate 
 and interview them, but upon further inquiry I learned that 
 they had not been seen since the Saturday night in question, 
 and evidently had left town. I also learned that "Butch" De- 
 Witt had a sweetheart, whose name was Hattie Bates, who 
 was a professional dancer and was supposed to be at the time 
 an employe of Ben Hogan, proprietor of a large dance hall 
 at Petrolia, Butler County, Pa. 
 
 For the information of the reader, I will say tnat Ben 
 Hogan was a prize fighter of note and a sporting character 
 generally. He at one time fought the celebrated Tom Allen 
 for the heavyweight championship of the world, near St- 
 Louis. The fight was a draw and created a lot of bad blood 
 between the two factions interested. Some time after Hogan's 
 fight with Tom Allen he retired from the prize ring and be- 
 came an evangelist, making his headquarters at Chicago, and 
 up to a few years ago, the last heard of him, the writer has 
 been informed had been very successful in his missionary 
 work. Prior to the time Hogan established himself at Pe- 
 trolia he had been engaged in the dance hall business at 
 Tidicute, Warren County, Pa., which is also an oil town on 
 the banks of the Allegheny River. While engaged in that 
 business a party of roughs, who were looking for trouble, 
 visited his place and started a disturbance in the dance hall, 
 which resulted in one of the parties being killed and two or 
 three of his companions being severely injured. Hogan 
 was arrested charged with murder. Upon hearing of this 
 trouble, and knowing as I did the character of the parties who 
 created the disturbance, and that Hogan was entirely justi- 
 fied in protecting his premises against the violence of this 
 gang, who had gone to his place in search of trouble, I assisted 
 Hogan's attorneys by informing them as to the character and 
 standing of the parties who created the trouble. Hogan
 
 272 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 was acquitted and ever afterwards was very grateful and 
 friendly towards me, and when I learned that "Butch" De- 
 Witt's sweetheart was employed at Hogan's dance hall, I 
 hastened to Petrolia, thinking that DeWitt might visit his 
 sweetheart there. Petrolia was about sixty miles south of 
 Oil City and I arrived there on the afternoon of Wednesday, 
 after the robbery before mentioned. This was my first visit 
 to Petrolia, which was a big oil town or more like a mining 
 camp, located in a valley on a tributary of the Allegheny 
 River, and the town consisted of one main street with build- 
 ings on both sides of the street running up and down the 
 valley, all very close together and all frame. It consisted 
 chiefly of boarding houses, saloons, dance halls and gambling 
 houses. On my arrival at Petrolia I started up this street. 
 I had had a description of Hogan's dance hall, which he had 
 built a short time prior to my going there, and it was de- 
 scribed as one of the largest buildings in town, and when I 
 arrived in front of what I considered the largest building 
 there I inquired for Hogan's place. The man from whom I 
 made this inquiry pointed out the building, which I had 
 selected as Hogan's, which was directly across the street 
 from where I was standing, and told mo that that was Hogan's 
 dance hall. There were two buildings standing along side 
 of each other, and as they were almost identically the same in 
 size and appearance, and being anxious to make no mistake, 
 I inquired again, and the man pointed out the building to my 
 left, so I understood, as Hogan's, whereupon I crossed the 
 street and entered the front door of the building, which was 
 standing open. This was about four o'clock in the afternoon. 
 I mention this fact for the reason that everything is usually 
 very quiet about these dance halls until later in the evening, 
 as places of this kind do all of their business at night. There 
 was a screen, as there usually is, in front of bar-rooms, to
 
 TRAGIC DEATH OF BILL CASEY. 273 
 
 shield the gaze of the passers-by on the sidewalk. As I 
 entered the house supposed to be Hogan's, and went around 
 the screen to my left, I found a bar standing right back of 
 the screen and behind the bar was a large young man with 
 blonde hair, rather fine looking, standing about six feet, one 
 inch, in height, and weighing in the neighborhood of two 
 hundred pounds, and about thirty years old. This man was 
 the then notorious "Bill" Casey, who was also a heavy 
 weight prize fighter, and the proprietor of this dance hall. I 
 knew Casey upon sight, and he also recognized me. When 
 I went around the screen I found myself face to face with 
 him as he was leaning over with his elbows on the bar talking 
 to one of his employes. He straightened up, looked at me 
 for an instant, and exclaimed, "Why, hello. Chief. What in 
 the world are you doing down here?" at the same time ex- 
 tending his righthand. Ishookhands with himandsaid,"! just 
 happened to be passing through Petrolia on a little matter of 
 business, and while on the opposite side of the street met 
 a friend who told me that this was your place and that I 
 would be likely to find you here at this time, so I just stepped 
 in to pay my respects and shake hand's with you." To which 
 he replied, "I am mighty glad you did. You say that you 
 are down here on a matter of business. You know that I am 
 pretty well posted among the class of people that you are 
 generally looking for, and if there is anything I can do for 
 you I shall be glad to do so." I thanked him for his offer 
 and told 'him that there might be some way in which he 
 could assist me a little later on. He then said, "You know 
 Kittie, don't you?" (Kittie was his wife), I said, "Yes, I 
 remember her." "Wait a minute and I will call her," and he 
 called to the rear part of the house for Kittie. When she 
 appeared he said to her, "Kittie, you remember Mr. Furlong, 
 don't you ? He's Chief of Police at Oil City, and I want you
 
 274 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 to shake hands with him." Kittie came to where we were 
 standing- (in the meantime Bill had come behind the bar 
 alongside of me) and good-naturedly said, "Oh, yes, I shall 
 never forget Mr. Furlong." She then continued, "Mr. Fur- 
 long, Bill and I often speak of you. You did the best thing 
 that ever happened that time that j^ou arrested Bill in Oil 
 City and he has often told me that he would always remember 
 you with the kindest of feelings for the reason that you 
 did not kill him at the time he was arrested. The manner 
 in which he acted and the manner in which he abused your 
 man Fry, if you had not appeared upon the scene as you did 
 at that time he would have killed Fry and would probably 
 have been hung. You know he was drinking at the time 
 and was acting very badly, as he always did when he drank. 
 He has never touched a drop of any kind of intoxicating 
 liquor since that time, and it has made a man of him, and I 
 give you credit for what you did. Bill has often said that 
 you had a perfect right to kill him under the circumstances 
 and has always felt very grateful." As she finished I said 
 in reply, "Well, I am very glad that you and Bill feel as you 
 do, and I appreciate your good will very much, although I 
 regretted at the time what occurred, but knew that there was 
 nothing else to do but what I did, and I am more than glad 
 of the good results." 
 
 In this connection I will say that just prior to my arrest 
 of "Bill" Casey at Oil City, which was more than a year 
 prior to the time of the foregoing interview, Casey and his 
 wife had a quarrel and had separated. Mrs. Casey (or Kit- 
 tie), as he called her, came to Oil City and was boarding with 
 a woman named Mrs. Brown, who had sixteen or eighteen 
 other female boarders. Casey, at this time, was living at 
 Petroleum Center, in the oil country, and had heard that his 
 wife was boarding with Aladam Brown. He came to Oil
 
 TRAGIC DEATH OF BILL CASEY. 275 
 
 City in search of her and visited Madam Brown's house one 
 afternoon about two o'clock. Madam Brown's house was 
 situated in Oil City in what is known as the "Red Light 
 District" and was a large and well furnished establishment, 
 in fact the finest of its kind in the oil regions of Pennsylvania 
 at that time. It so happened that I was passing Madam 
 Brown's house, when I heard a tremendous uproar in the 
 house; women were screaming and shouting for help, and it 
 was a general tumult. Some person I met on the street said 
 to me, "You had better go into Madam Brown's house. Of- 
 ficer Fry has just gone in there and it seems as though he 
 is in trouble," whereupon I hastened into the place, and in 
 one of the parlors on my right as I went in I could hear 
 Officer Fry calling for help. I ran into the parlor, where I 
 found several women, all screaming at the top of their 
 voices, and "Bill" Casey standing at one side of a large 
 square, old fashioned piano, from which he had twisted one 
 of the legs. He held this piano leg in his hand similar to the 
 way in which a ball player holds his bat, and had Officer Fry 
 backed up into a corner alongside of the piano and was about 
 to bring the piano leg down upon the officer's head. Fry 
 had his revolver in his hand, but was unable to raise it, as 
 Casey had him covered with the leg of the ]^iano. Casey was 
 standing with his back to the door from which I entered, and, 
 upon taking in the situation, I pulled my revolver from my 
 pocket and struck Casey over the head with it just above the 
 right ear, which cut an ugly gash and caused him to fall to 
 the floor. I had dealt him a heavy blow, which took him 
 completely by surprise, and before he could rally and arise 
 from the floor he was seized by Fry and myself and pub- 
 dued only after a vigorous rough-and-tumble fight. He was 
 locked up, but owing to the fact that his wife had been found 
 by him in this disreputable place, and that he was under the
 
 276 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 influence of liquor, the committing magistrate fined him 
 $200.00 and costs, with the agreement, on his part, that he 
 was to leave town immediately, upon the payment of the fine 
 and costs, which he did, and further agreeing that he would 
 never again appear in Oil City, or any place else under the 
 influence of liquor. That promise he always kept until the 
 day of his death. 
 
 With the above explanation I feel that it is unnecessary 
 for me to say to the reader that I did not enter "Bill" Casey's 
 place voluntarily. I had not the slightest idea "Bill" Casey 
 was there. The last time I had seen him was at Oil City on 
 the day of his arrest, and he had said to me before leaving 
 that he would get even with me if it took him the balance of his 
 life, so the reader can imagine my predicament better than 
 I can describe it, when I first found myself in the presence 
 of "Bill" Casey and in his own place. It would have taken a 
 good sized rope to have dragged me into that place had I 
 known that Casey was its proprietor, but on confronting 
 him I could think of no better way than to act boldly and 
 act as though I had voluntarily come in to call and pay my 
 respects, which worked admirably. 
 
 After ascertaining the friendly feeling of Casey and his 
 wife I towards me, I told them that I wanted to locate "Butch" 
 DeWitt, who was a friend of Hattie Bates, who, I understood, 
 was living next door with Ben Hogan. Mrs. Casey said 
 to me, "I know Mrs. Hogan, and we are warm friends. I 
 will go over and see her about this and see whether she 
 knows anything about the whereabouts of DeWitt or not." 
 She did so, and in a few minutes returned with Mrs. Hogan, 
 who said to me, " 'Butch' DeWitt and a young thief by the 
 name of Heilman were here the night before last. DeWitt, 
 you know, is a sweetheart of the Bates girl, who lives with 
 me. DeWitt and Heilman had some money and left here
 
 TRAGIC DEATH OF BILL CASEY. 277 
 
 yesterday morning at two o'clock for New Brighton, Pa., 
 where they have a job of some kind that they expect to do, 
 and intend to return here in a couple of days from New 
 Brighton." 
 
 I took the first train from PetroHa to Pittsburg, and then 
 from Pittsburg to New Brighton, Pa., where I arrived the 
 following" morning early- At New Brighton I learned that 
 the night before my arrival the safe in a factory had been 
 blown open by burglars and a quantity of money stolen. At 
 New Brighton I received a good description of Heilman and 
 DeWitt, and traced them down the railroad to Rochester, 
 Pa., to a hotel. LTpon entering this hotel I found that they 
 had registered under fictitious names and were still in their 
 rooms at the hotel. I went to their room, forced an entrance, 
 and found DeWitt and Heilman there. I arrested them and 
 took them to Oil City, and in the meantime Heilman made 
 a clean breast of the robbery- He told me that while he was 
 examiningthe shoes before mentioned,DeWitt sneaked around 
 behind the counter and took from the safe, which was un- 
 locked, the money and bonds that were missing. They took 
 the currency with them and secreted the bonds and other 
 things stolen by them from the safe in a tin lard can, which 
 they had buried on a farm south of South Oil City, known 
 as the Faren Farm, They accompanied me to the place and 
 we recovered the can and its contents. These boys were 
 convicted and sent to prison. 
 
 The prize fighter "Bill Casey" continued as proprietor of 
 the dance hall and saloon at PetroHa, where he did a profitable 
 business, and where he had many friends among the drillers 
 and tool dressers who were employed at the oil wells in the 
 district which surrounded Petrolia. He was noted for being 
 big-hearted, sociable and clever while sober, and it will be 
 remembered he had quit drinking after his arrest at Oil City.
 
 278 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 He had accumulated a small fortune, and upon the Christmas 
 Eve following- my interview with him, as before related, !ie 
 and his wife left Petrolia for the purpose of visiting h's 
 parents, who were living at the time at Lockport, N. Y. They 
 boarded what is known as a mixed train, northbound, o'l 
 the Allegheny Valley Railroad, bound for Buffalo. This 
 train consisted of a number of freight cars, some of which 
 were loaded with crude oil, a baggage car and two passenger 
 coaches, which were at the rear of the train. The passenger 
 coaches were crowded to their utmost capacity with pas 
 sengers, ^s there were many people leaving the oil country 
 to spend the holidays in other regions- As the train was 
 rounding a very sharp curve near Scrubgrass a front axletree 
 broke on one of the freight cars, which precipitated the entire 
 train, behind the breakdowm, over a high bank into the Al- 
 legheny River, which was at the time at high water mark. 
 The crude oil ignited, by reason of the wreck, and set fire 
 to everything. The oil spread out over the water, and, as 
 crude oil burns just as fiercely upon water as it does upon 
 land, the whole river was afire in a very short time from 
 bank to bank, and the fire was carried down stream by the 
 current at the rate of four or five miles an hour. Many of 
 the passengers were drowned, or injured and burned to 
 death by the flames, as it should be remembered that the oil 
 cars were ahead of the passenger coaches, and as the train 
 was running upstream the flames immediately enveloped small 
 portions of the passenger coaches which remained above tlic 
 surface of the water. Casey managed to <^scape from the 
 wreck, and, being a very powerful man, took his wife with 
 him and reached the bank in safety with the exception of a 
 few burns. There was a crippled newsboy emplo3^ed upou the 
 train, and in the wreck he had managed to get a portion of 
 his body through one of the windows which was upturned
 
 SUBDUING A NOTORIOUS BULLY. 279 
 
 and out of the water, while his lower limbs were fastened 
 in the wreck, and he was about to be engulfed in a body of 
 floating burning oil, which was rapidly approaching him, when 
 Casey spied him. Casey immediately left his wife standing 
 on the bank and rushed to the assistance of the newsboy, and 
 while tugging away trying to extricate the boy from the 
 wreck Casey was engulfed by the burning oil and lost his 
 life, and thus died in the act of performing a humane and 
 heroic deed. 
 
 SUBDUING A NOTORIOUS BTJLLY. 
 
 ONE OF MY EARLY EXPERIENCES WHILE CHIEF OP POLICE OF 
 
 OIL CITY — HOW A BAD MAN, WITH A LONG RECORD, 
 
 WAS TAKEN TO JAIL. 
 
 The notorious Tom Daly of Buffalo, New York, was ar- 
 rested at Oil City, Pa., early in the summer of 1872. Daly 
 had been regarded in and around the city of Buffalo for 
 years, prior to his arrest at Oil City, as a desperate and bad 
 character. He had a police record almost as long as the 
 state statutes. He was a fighter and associated and lived 
 with the most vile and vicious characters to be found in the 
 city. He was never known to work at any legitimate trade 
 or business. He did pretend to gamble. He drank at times 
 to excess, and Avas known to the police as a strong-arm, or 
 hold-up, man, and was considered by the police a hard and 
 bad man to arrest — a task which they were frequently called 
 upon to perform. But as bad as his general reputation was, 
 he had what was called a political pull in the slums district, 
 in which he resided. He had a following of his own class 
 because he was more aggressive and more physically power-
 
 280 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 ful than his associates and followers, and not for the reason 
 of any superior intellect on his part- 
 
 A couple of days before his arrest at Oil City, complaint 
 was lodged against Daly and some of his associates by a man 
 in Buffalo, who charged them with having held him up and 
 robbed him, by force, of a sum of money. The man also 
 stated that Daly and his confederates had brutally beaten him, 
 the marks of which he bore plainly. Two police officers were 
 instructed to arrest Daly and bring him to headquarters. As 
 all the officers who were located in and .about the precinct 
 in which Daly made his home knew him personally, the two 
 officers who were detailed to make his arrest easily located 
 him. When they approached him and told him that they had 
 been instructed to arrest him he smilingly inquired on what 
 charge, at the same time, as the officers were standing within 
 his reach, he promptly struck first one and then the other 
 terrific blows with his clenched fist, knocking both of them 
 down. He then ran into a brothel, or dive, in front of which 
 he had encountered the police officers. He, of course, dis- 
 appeared and escaped being arrested. 
 
 The part of the city was known, at that time, as Rock Street, 
 or the Five Points, and was the worst and lowest district of 
 not only the city of Buffalo, but probably as bad, if not worse, 
 than any other in the country. It consisted principally of low 
 dance halls and drinking places which were patronized almost 
 entirely by the lower grade of sailors and canal boat men. As 
 this district was bounded on the east by the Erie Canal and 
 on the west by the Buffalo Creek, which is the lake harbor 
 of Buffalo, it was consequently a peninsula, narrow, and 
 frequented by the class before mentioned. 
 
 After his escapade with the police, Daly, on the same night, 
 made his escape from Buffalo and went direct to Oil City, Pa., 
 where he had some friends and acquaintances. He arrived
 
 SUBDUING A NOTORIOUS BULLY. 281 
 
 at Oil City the next day about noon, where he met parties 
 whom he knew and from whom he heard about the prowess 
 of a valuable bulldog, owned by a respectable citizen named 
 Ziegenheim, and who was connected with a meat market on 
 Center Street. This man Daly was about thirty-five years 
 of age, was over six feet in height and weighed at least 
 two hundred pounds. He had an athletic build, was dark 
 complexioned and somewhat marked by the after effects 
 of small-pox. He had rather small dark eyes and the most 
 villainous expression I think that I have ever seen. He was 
 considered an expert boxer and was known to be a powerful 
 man — at least by the two police officers whom he had knocked 
 down and escaped from in Buffalo. I had heard of Daly and 
 knew of his record, but I had never seen him until I was 
 called upon to arrest him in Oil City, and I did not know who 
 he was at that time. 
 
 When Daly had learned from the friends he had met in 
 Oil City of the valuable fighting bulldog before mentioned, he 
 at once went to the meat market, where he found Mr. Ziegen- 
 heim, and tried to purchase the dog from him for the purpose 
 of using him as a fighting dog. Ziegenheim informed Daly, 
 in a polite but firm manner, that his dog was not for sale, as 
 it was a pet of his wife and children, and that he would not 
 part with the dog under any consideration, and especially not 
 for the purpose Daly proposed to use him. Daly became 
 angry .and assaulted Ziegenheim, who was fully as large a 
 man as Daly, but was a gentleman, and not a fighter. Ziegen- 
 heim immediately sought refuge behind a large, round table, 
 known as a meat block, which is used in all meat markets to 
 cut meat on. It was probably about four feet in diameter, 
 and by keeping on the opposite side Ziegenheim was out of 
 Daly's reach- Daly picked up a large cleaver, which he was 
 holding in a threatening manner. At this juncture I entered
 
 282 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 the shop, having been summoned by Mr. Steele, Ziegenheim's 
 employer, who had run from the meat market to my office, 
 which was just around the corner in the same block, and told 
 me, in a very excited manner, that there was a big man try- 
 ing to kill Ziegenheim in the shop. 
 
 At the time that Steele came into my office I was talking 
 with the Mayor, William M. Williams, and when Steele 
 apprised me of Mr. Ziegenheim's danger I sprang to my 
 feet and was about to leave for the meat market when the 
 Mayor said to me, "Tom, you had better take a club or a 
 gun with you. Steele has said Ziegenheim's assailant is a 
 big-, strong fellow." I hastily grabbed up a mace, or club, 
 which was hanging on a rack near where I was standing, and 
 hastened to the shop, where I found Daly standing in front of 
 the meat block before described, with his back to the door. He 
 was holding a cleaver, as I said before, and facing Ziegen- 
 heim, who was at the opposite side of the block. I approached 
 him from the rear without being noticed by him, and placed 
 my left hand upon the right collar of his coat as though I 
 meant it, at the same time commanding him to drop the cleaver- 
 Whereupon he immediately turned his head and looked down 
 upon me with a very disdainful and defiant expression. I saw 
 in his eyes the most vile expression that I have ever seen. 
 I instantly realized that I was in for trouble. He was wearing 
 a stifif derby hat set back fairly well on his head, and it 
 seemed to be tight fitting. Upon noticing the expression on 
 his countenance I instantly struck him as hard a blow as I 
 could with the mace, which I held in my right hand, at the 
 same time tightening my grip on his coat collar and vest. 
 However, before I struck him he made a desperate back- 
 ward lunge, evidently intending to get clear of me so that 
 he might get far enough away from me to strike me with 
 his fists. But, by reason of the strong hold I had on him I
 
 SUBDUING A NOTORIOUS BULLY. 283 
 
 had drawn myself up close to him, and in his lunge he was 
 so much heavier and larger than I that he carried me back 
 with him, probably a distance of four or five feet- It was 
 A'hile he, or rather we, were making this lunge, that I struck 
 him. My mace caught him, or more truthfully speaking, his 
 hat, just above his forehead. It forced his hat, which was 
 a stiff one, as stated, and drove it down over his forehead 
 to his eyebrows. The hat was tight and the lining was leather, 
 and with the force of the blow the lining cut the skin clear 
 across the top of his forehead, and as the hat was forced 
 down the skin peeled down over his forehead, and of course, 
 the blood spurted over both of us. He fell to his knees with 
 the force of the blow, but immediately tried to rise, when I 
 hit him a second time, which felled him to the ground. I 
 was still holding on to his collar, and when he fell I started 
 for my office, dragging him behind me. He was upon his 
 back and therefore helpless so long as I kept him moving. He 
 regained consciousness when he had gone about a hundred 
 feet and began pleading with me to let him up, which I did, 
 with the understanding that he was to accompany me peace- 
 ably. This he agreed to and did. 
 
 It being at the time of the day when the streets were 
 crowded with people, an immense crowd was attracted by 
 the excitement, and a great many comments were heard, 
 many of them condemning my action as brutal and uncalled 
 for- There was both a morning and an evening paper pub- 
 lished in Oil City at that time. The evening paper got out 
 an extra, which censured me severely, .and was entirely in 
 accord with the previous comments made by many of the 
 crowd. They were, by the way, entirely ignorant of the facts 
 which led me to act as I had found it necessary. 
 
 The crowd filled the Mayor's office to overflowing, and 
 among those present were a few friends and former associ-
 
 284 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 ates of Daly's, who succeeded in getting one of the citizens, 
 a saloon proprietor and considered a good citizen and fairly 
 well off, to come forward and intercede with the Mayor, who 
 at that time, in accordance with the laws of Pennsylvania, 
 was a committing magistrate. Daly's friends told the Mayor 
 that they would pay his fine and the costs and would see 
 that he left town within the hour, if he (the mayor) would 
 let Daly go upon the payment of the fine and costs for his 
 having assaulted Zeigenheim. 
 
 The Mayor assented and fined him one hundred dollars 
 and costs, three dollars and fifty cents, making a total of 
 one hundred and three dollars and fifty cents. The citizens 
 before mentioned paid this fine and Daly left town immediately 
 thereafter- He gave an alias to the Mayor, and his friends 
 did not betray him, and for this reason the Mayor or myself 
 did not know who he was until after he had departed. 
 
 Mr. St. John, who was the editor of the evening paper, and 
 who had so unmercifully roasted me, had always, prior to 
 this occurrence, acted in a friendly manner towards me. The 
 write-up that he had given me that evening, therefore, hurt 
 my feelings beyond description. 
 
 A Mr. Bishop, who was the editor and proprietor of the 
 morning paper, had come from Buffalo, where he was born 
 and raised, to Oil City, and he at once took it upon himself 
 to investigate, through correspondents in Buffalo, by wire, 
 what and who this man Daly was. The result of which 
 was that he devoted the entire first page of his paper, on the 
 following morning, to Daly's complete history, setting forth 
 his police record, his vocation .and his desperate character, as 
 well as the full particulars and details of his most recent 
 encounter with the two Buff'alo police officers, his escape 
 from Buffalo and his subsequent arrest by me at Oil City. The 
 article wound up with the most complimentary comments that
 
 A RUSE THAT WORKED. 285 
 
 I have ever received, considerable space being devoted to the 
 fact of my having succeeded in subduing and arresting Daly 
 unassisted by any one. This article caused a majority of 
 those who had so loudly denounced my actions of the previous 
 evening to apologize for their, hasty conclusions. Mr. St. 
 John, of the evening paper, was among the first to approach 
 me with an apology for his publication of the evening before. 
 
 If I had known that it was the notorious Tom Daly I had 
 been called upon to arrest I don't believe that I could have 
 been pulled into that meat market with a large rope attached 
 to my neck ; but I was fully convinced that prompt and decisive 
 action was required on my part the instant that I saw that 
 vicious, and I might say, hideous expression on Daly's face. 
 
 The result of this arrest had more to do with securing me 
 the confidence and respect of the law-abiding citizens of Oil 
 City than any other one arrest that I had ever made, and I 
 had made many of them. 
 
 A RUSE THAT WORKED. 
 
 HOW EVIDENCE TO CONVICT AN ANONYMOUS LETTER WRITER 
 
 WAS OBTAINED. TRAGIC DEATH OP TWO BROTHERS 
 
 AFTER THEIR ARREST AND AFTER BREAKING JAIL. 
 
 Early in the 1870's, Sam Ackert 'called at my office one 
 cold winter morning in the month of February- I was then 
 Chief of Police of Oil City, Pa. Mr. Ackert was known to 
 me as the owner of a large oil lease, on what was known as 
 the Towles Farm, on the Plummer Road, about eight miles 
 north, and a little east of Oil City, and in Venango County. 
 Mr. Ackert was considered at that time, one of the largest 
 oil operators in that district. He was operating twelve or 
 fifteen oil wells, all of which were producing large quantities
 
 286 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 of oil. Some were being pumped, while others were flowing 
 wells. My recollection is that one of these flowing wells 
 was producing four hundred barrels per day. Crude oil was 
 selling at that time for about eight dollars per barrel at the 
 well. Ackert employed quite a large number of men to at- 
 tend to the wells and look after his interests in general. Some 
 of these men were employed as engineers, which were com- 
 monly known in the oil country as pumpers. Two of these 
 engineers, or pumpers, were required to operate each well, 
 each man usually working from 12:00 noon until 12:00 mid- 
 night. These watches were morning and noon watches, and 
 men so employed usually lived adjacent to the well upon 
 which they were employed. 
 
 Mr. Ackert had a superintendent who had charge of the 
 employes and who lived on the lease. His name was Joseph 
 Sullivan. He also had two engineers wdiose names were 
 George and Henry Book. George Book was a young man, 
 married and lived in a cottage on the lease. His brother 
 Henry was single and lived with George. George was the 
 eldest. They were both employed on the same well as pumpers. 
 George was on the noon watch each day and was considered 
 a very good engineer. He was sober, competent and attentive 
 to his business; while his brother Henry had also been con- 
 sidered competent and energetic, but not asreliableas George. 
 He had been found asleep while on duty by Supt. Sullivan, 
 on various occasions, for which he was reprimanded and 
 finally discharged from the service. 
 
 Some months after Henry's dismissal, Mr. Ackert received 
 an anonymous letter through the mail. This letter threatened 
 dire destruction to his propej-ty by fire, or other methods un- 
 less he (Ackert) would discharge Sullivan, his superintendent. 
 This letter was followed by three other threatening letters, 
 also anonymous, which were received at intervals of four
 
 A RUSE THAT WORKED. 287 
 
 or five days by Ackert. Sullivan being a very competent and 
 leliable man of good character, Mr. Ackert at first did not 
 pay any attention to the threatening letters, but laid them 
 away in his desk. 
 
 ' A short time after the receipt of the last anonymous letter, 
 one of his oil tanks, which at the time contained about four or 
 five hundred barrels of crude oil, was emptied one night, be- 
 tween dark and daylight, by some person who had gone to 
 the tank and opened what was known as the lower faucet. 
 This faucet, two inches in diameter, entered the tank about 
 one-half foot above the bottom of the tank, and was placed 
 there so that by opening it the salt water could be drawn out 
 of the tank. All oil wells in that particular locality, which 
 had to be pumped, produced a percentage of salt water, this 
 water coming up with the oil. Salt water being heavier than 
 the oil, immediately settled to the bottom of the tank, and for 
 that reason, as the tank would become nearly filled to its top, 
 it was the duty of the pumpers to open this salt water faucet 
 and let the salt water escape from the bottom of the tank, in 
 order to make room for more oil above. 
 
 On the night that thistankwas emptied in themanner above 
 described, there was about three feet of snow on the ground. 
 The weather was cold, and the snow had drifted around the 
 tank so that it was about four feet deep above the faucet in 
 question. I will state here that the constant drawing off of 
 the salt water had thoroughly saturated thegroundforaspace 
 of two or three feet square under the faucet, .and for this 
 son, the ground was soft and a little muddy. The saturated 
 earth would not freeze in cold weather on account of the large 
 quantities of salt which had become impregnated with the 
 dirt. At the time this tank was emptied by means of the 
 opening of the faucet, the oil, which was very inflammable, 
 ran down into a ravine, which was thickly dotted with oil wells
 
 288 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 and tanks for a mile or more. But, fortunately, the flowing 
 oil did not happen to reach any of the fires that were under 
 the boilers of the pumping stations. If it had, it would have 
 instantly burned everything within reach along the side of 
 the ravine, thereby destroying hundreds of thousands of 
 dollars' worth of property and in all probability many lives. 
 
 Mr. Ackert called uponmethe morning after the occurrence 
 above related and told me of what had occurred, stating at 
 the same time, that he had no idea who was dastardly enough 
 to perpetrate this malicious act. He knew of no enemy on 
 earth and was more than anxious that I investigate the matter 
 and locate the party, or parties guilty of the crime. He also 
 told me of having received and retained the anonymous letters 
 before mentioned. I instructed him to bring the letters to me 
 at once, which he did. I noticed that the letters were written 
 on the same brand of paper and in a legible and penmanlike 
 manner and evidently by the same hand and pen. By the end 
 of the third day of my investigation I had learned of the dis- 
 missal of Henry Book, and the difficulties he had had with 
 Supt. Sullivan. I had also learned that his brother, George 
 Book, was a good scholar, had been a country school teacher 
 some years before in his native county, which was Crawford 
 County, Pa. I had also found out that he was considered an 
 extra good penman, and during my investigation was informed 
 that there had been other loots of oil well tools and other 
 valuable property on the Ackert and adjacent leases. 
 
 I decided to locate the writer of the anonymous letters. Be- 
 ing familiar with the manner of operating oil wells, I donned 
 the suit of an oil driller, which usually consists of overalls. 
 These overalls become spattered over with sand pumpings, 
 giving the wearer the general appearance of a bill-poster. 
 The weather was very cold, the thermometer standing below 
 zero the night that I left Oil City to visit the Ackert Lease
 
 A RUSE THAT WORKED. 289 
 
 and the pumping houses where I knew George Book would 
 be on duty until midnight. 
 
 That evening, preparatory to my departure, I visited a meat 
 marketkept by a Mr.Steele,on Center Street, where I purchased 
 five cents' worth of liver, telling Mr. Steele that I wanted it 
 for a pet cat that stayed around my office. I dressed myself 
 in heavy, warm clothing, which I wore under the overalls be- 
 fore described. Taking a small slice of the liver, I placed 
 it in the hollow of my right hand. I then placed another piece 
 of the liver on top of the same hand and tightly bandaged the 
 hand with a piece of white muslin. The liver placed on my 
 hand as described, soiled the tightly drawn bandage, which 
 gave the hand the appearance of being very swollen and in- 
 flamed. I then improvised a sling around my neck by tying 
 two handkerchiefs together so that I could place my right 
 hand in the sling at the proper time. I started from Oil 
 City, unidentified by reason of my costume, at about 7 :oo 
 o'clock in the evening, arriving at the Ackert Lease a few 
 minutes after nine. I went direct to the engine house in 
 vx'hich George Book was employed, found him sitting alone 
 there in a large easy chair, in front of the boiler, which was 
 being fired with natural gas .and well lighted by the same, was 
 warm and neatly kept. Book was reading a novel when I 
 entered, and as the engine house was located but a few feet 
 ofif the main road from Oil City to the town of Plummer, it 
 was not an unusual thing for oil well men to stop at the engitie 
 house, while passing that way for the purpose of getting 
 warm or getting a drink. So Book was not at all surprised 
 when I appeared at that hour of the evening. I asked his 
 permission to stand by the boiler to get warm. He replied 
 that it was cold, and that he would be glad of my company. 
 He eyed me closely for a while and finally said, "Where do you 
 work?" I replied that I had been working on the Foster
 
 290 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Farm, which was about fifteen miles southwest of Oil City 
 and on the Allegheny River. He then remarked, "How did 
 you get hurt?" as he noticed that I was carrying my right 
 hand in a sling. I replied, "You have been kind in allowing me 
 to get warm in your engine house, and you look to me like 
 you would not get a fellow into trouble by giving him .away, 
 and I will tell you all about it." I began by saying, "You 
 see, I am a driller and I was working under a superintendent. 
 We had trouble over a girl and he had a gun. He shot me 
 through the hand." I pulled my hand out of the sling and he 
 exclaimed, "Gracious ! You have an awful hand there and you 
 should have medical attention at once." To which I replied, 
 "I am going to have it attended to when I reach Petroleum 
 Center. You should see the other fellow, I shot him, but I 
 don't know whether he is dead or not, as I left immediately 
 and have walked the entire distance, only stopping long 
 enough to get a cup of coffee at the eating-house in the depot 
 at Oil City." He said, "You must be hungry." His sympathy 
 was now fully aroused and he was really a good-hearted fellow. 
 I then said to him, I have some friends at Petroleum Center 
 who will keep me under cover and get me a doctor, but what 
 is worrying me most now is that I cannot write with my left 
 hand, and my folks live at Ft. Erie, Canada, which is just across 
 the Niagara River opposite Buffalo, N. Y. I have been saving 
 my money and sending it to my people at Fort Erie, and they 
 have it deposited in a bank at Buffalo to my credit. I have 
 a few hundred dollars there and if I could only write a letter 
 to-night, and mail it on the early train to-morrow morning 
 it would reach Fort Erie to-morrow night. My friends could 
 then send me all the money that I need, which I would receive 
 the day after to-morrow at Petroleum." To this he replied, 
 "I am a pretty good penman, and would be glad to write the 
 letter for you." On saying this, he excused himself and went
 
 A RUSE THAT WORKED. 291 
 
 to his house, which was close by, and returned in a few min- 
 utes with letter paper, envelopes, and a nice big lunch for two 
 and a pot of hot coffee. We ate the lunch, and I had some 
 cigars in my pocket. Then he started to write the letter at 
 my dictation. In dictating the letter I used as many of the 
 words .as I could intelligently get in which had been used in 
 the anonymous letters, the contents of which I had familiarized 
 myself with. This letter of mine was not necessarily very long, 
 as I discovered that he was using the same quality of paper 
 upon which the anonymous letters were written. I also 
 noticed before he had written three lines, that it was the same 
 handwriting .and that he was using the same ink, and no doubt, 
 the same pen, that he had used in writing the anonymous let- 
 ters. He addressed the envelope, sealed and stamped it. I 
 thanked him and departed for Petroleum Center, apparently, 
 but in reality for Oil City, where I arrived about six o'clock 
 in the morning. 
 
 Duringthe forenoon I submitted my dictated letter, togeth- 
 erwiththe anonymous letters, to an expert whowasconnected 
 with the First National Bank of Oil City. He unhesitatingly 
 stated that the letters were all written by the same person- I 
 then went back in the afternoon to the Lease, knowing as I did 
 that George, whom I had met the night before, would be off 
 duty and probably in bed. I carefully shoveled the snow from 
 around the faucet of the tank, and when I got down to the 
 ground, I found two very distinct tracks of a No. 8 boot. The 
 boots had been recently half-soled, the shoemaker who had 
 made the repairs having placed three nails in a row across 
 the center of the half-soles- This was his trade-mark. I soon 
 located the shoemaker who had done this work. He remem- 
 bered having repaired the boots for Henry Book a couple 
 of days before the emptying of the tank. 
 
 I then returned to Oil City, procured a warrant for the
 
 292 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 arrest of the Book brothers, and that night about eleven 
 o'clock I arrived at the Ackert Lease, where I found George 
 on duty, as he had been the night before, and I found Henry 
 in bed at George's house. On this occasion I was accompa- 
 nied by two of my officers. We drove out in a sleigh. After 
 making the arrest, we searched the house which was a one- 
 story building with an attic. In the attic we found wagon 
 loads of loot, from the Ackert Lease and adjacent leases, that 
 was afterwards identified by the Owners, as having been stolen 
 from time to time, as before mentioned. 
 
 The Book brothers in due time, had a preliminary hearing 
 and were committed to the County Jail in default of bail. 
 
 In the meantime Henry Book had confessed to having 
 emptied the oil tank and George admitted the writing of the 
 anonymous letters. About a week before their trial was to 
 take place, there was a general jail delivery at Franklin, Pa., 
 effected one very stormy night. There were fifteen or more 
 prisoners who escaped. The Book brothers were among them. 
 They boarded a north bound freight on the A. & G. AV. R. R. 
 which is now known as the "Erie." When at a point about 
 twenty miles north of Franklin this freight train collided 
 with another train. In the wreck Henry Book was killed 
 instantly and George was so badly hurt that he died the follow- 
 ing day. Thus ended the Ackert case. 
 
 I consumed in all not to exceed six days in connection 
 wath this case, unassisted except upon the night of the arrests, 
 when I was accompanied by two of my officers, whose 
 names were George W. Frye and Max Fulton.
 
 CHARLIE DALTON, OUTLAW. 
 
 SPECTACULAR ARREST OF THIS MUCH-WANTED MAN ON A 
 CROWDED ST. LOUIS STREET CAR 
 
 The arrest, in St. Louis, on the evening- of March 12, li 
 of the notorious Charlie Dalton, was accomplished in a rather 
 unique, yet sensational manner. Dalton had been "scouting" 
 for a couple of years, with a large reward offered by the 
 state of Texas and the Missouri Pacific Railway hanging 
 over his head. Almost every sheriff, police officer and de- 
 tective in the country had his description and were looking 
 for him. The charge was murder, and the crime was com- 
 mitted during the 1886 strike on the Gould properties. On the 
 afternoon of April 3, 1886, a freight train pulled out of Fort 
 Worth, Texas, for New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides the 
 regular crew, the train carried a number of guards in charge 
 of Jim Courtwright, a noted western officer, who had formerly 
 been Chief of Police, Sheriff and Deputy United States 
 Marshal at Fort Worth. 
 
 As the train neared the Fort Worth and New Orleans 
 crossing, it was fired on by a gang of outlaws and cut-throats, 
 headed by Dalton, who were in ambush behind a pile of 
 ties on the Missouri Pacific right-of-way. Two of the 
 guards were killed outright and several wounded. The 
 crime created a great sensation throughout the entire coun- 
 try, because of its dastardliness. 
 
 The St. Louis Globe-Democrat of March 13, 1886, edi- 
 torially referred to it as the "Fort Worth Massacre." 
 
 Dalton and some of his gang were indicted by the Grand 
 Jury, but when the officers began a hunt for them they 
 had disappeared. Circulars announcing the amount of the 
 reward and giving a description of the men wanted, were 
 scattered almost broadcast over the United States, Canada 
 and Mexico.
 
 294 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 I received one of them, studied it carefully and got into 
 communication with the officers at Fort Worth. I had 
 never seen Dalton, but I had seen his brother, Geary, who 
 was connected with the track department of the Missouri 
 Pacific Railroad, in St. Louis, where he lived. I noticed 
 a resemblance in the photo I had of Charlie to that of his 
 brother, and had instructed my operatives to keep a sharp 
 lookout for Charlie, as I had learned that his mother was 
 then residing in Carondelet. In the latter part of February, 
 1888, one of my operatives reported that he had learned 
 from a reliable source that the much-wanted man had been 
 seen at his mother's home in Carondelet. Whereupon, I 
 took measures to have the premises watched. I later 
 learned that he had been making a practice of visiting the 
 Standard Theatre nightly. 
 
 On learning this, I arranged with the Chief of Police 
 of St. Louis to detail a couple of his men to visit the Stand- 
 ard Theatre nightly, where I should have one of my men, 
 who knew Dalton, on hand, so that he might point him 
 out to the officers, and they were to arrest him. These 
 arrangements were all completed on the afternoon of 
 March 12, 1888. 
 
 At about six o'clock that evening I left my office for 
 home. I then lived at 2723 Walnut Street, and I walked 
 to the corner of Eighth and Market Streets, where I 
 boarded a horse-car for home. The car proceeded west 
 and when we got to the corner of loth and Market Streets, 
 two good sized, rough-looking young men ran to the rear 
 end of the car and swung themselves onto the platform, 
 one of them lighting heavily on my right foot and hurting 
 me very much. His partner followed him and stood on 
 the lower step. This man, who had tramped on my foot, 
 ofifered no apology for his rudeness, and, in fact, paid no
 
 CHARLIE DALTON, OUTLAW, 295 
 
 attention to me or the injury he had done, but instead re- 
 marked to his partner that people ought to get out of the 
 way when they saw a person wanting to catch a car. His 
 partner said, "Charlie, we can't stay out at Geary's but a 
 few minutes, as you know I have got tickets for the Stand- 
 ard tonight and we must get there early to get good seats." 
 
 "We won't stay out there only long enough to say 
 goodbye, as we leave town in the morning," replied Charlie. 
 
 While they were talking I took a good look at the man 
 addressed as Charlie, and from the conversation, and from 
 the resemblance he had to his brother, I concluded that 
 the man thus addressed was Charlie Dalton. I knew who 
 Geary was, and I saw the resemblance that "Charlie" bore 
 to him. I also knew that the car would necessarily have 
 to pass what was then known as the Mounted Police Sta- 
 tion, located between 27th and 28th Streets, on Market 
 Street, and before reaching Geary's house, and I decided 
 that when we got in front of the station I would arrest Mr. 
 Dalton and lock him up there. He was standing directly 
 in front of me on the platform and had me crowded up 
 against the rear dashboard. He was a burly fellow, con- 
 siderably taller than I was, and would weigh one hundred 
 and seventy-five pounds. Having become satisfied that I 
 had made no mistake in his identity, I waited until we 
 had arrived in front of the police station, when I seized him 
 by the coat collar with my left hand, pulled the bell-cord, 
 and after the car had slowed up I sprang to the ground, 
 taking Dalton with me, but as he struck the street, he fac- 
 ing the car, he fell on his back, and I, still holding onto his 
 coat collar, reached for his pistol, which I was sure I would 
 find, and I was not disappointed, for there it was in the 
 waist band of his trousers, and proved to be a 41 Colts. 
 Dalton then made an attempt to rise, but I took all of
 
 296 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 the fight out of him by giving him a blow over the head 
 virith his own weapon. 
 
 "What is this for?" he asked. 
 
 "Your name is Charlie Dalton and you are under arrest 
 for murder," I replied. 
 
 "My name is Charlie Dalton, all right, by G-d, partner," 
 he exclaimed. 
 
 I then took him by the collar and assisted him to his feet. 
 I took the prisoner over to the police station and had 
 him locked up, and later wired the Fort Worth authorities 
 that I had arrested Charlie Dalton, and he was being held 
 by the police of St. Louis, subject to their orders. In due 
 time I received a reply from the Chief of Police of Fort 
 Worth, requesting me to bring Dalton to that city, pro- 
 viding he would go without waiting for requisition papers. 
 Dalton, having already informed me that he would go to 
 Texas without requisition papers, I left with him for Ft. 
 Worth the following evening. On our arrival there the 
 prisoner was lodged in jail, and remained there a number 
 of months without bond. 
 
 Between the date of the crime and the arrest of the cut- 
 throat a number of witnesses against him had died. Others 
 had left the state, and the result was that when his trial 
 was called the state was unable to produce its evidence and 
 the defendant was finally released from custody. 
 
 While it is true that I was anxious to apprehend this 
 outlaw for the Texas authorities, and had just finished 
 making preparations to do so should he visit the Standard 
 Theatre that night, because of his known desperate char- 
 acter, and the further fact that he was accompanied by a 
 big, husky pal, I doubt that I would have attempted his ar- 
 rest single-handed, had it not been for the incidents enum- 
 erated. I know I would not have recognized him on this
 
 CONSPIRATORS HANDED A LEMON. 297 
 
 crowded car had not his rudeness attracted my attention 
 especially to him. The remarks of his pal settled the ques- 
 tion of his identity in my mind, and the pain in my foot 
 and his insolence aroused my ire. The arrest followed, 
 and it has a moral — "People should be careful as to whose 
 toes they trample on." 
 
 CONSPIRATORS HANDED A LEMON. 
 
 SENSATIONAL ENDING OF AN ATTEMPT TO BRIBE ONE OF FUR 
 long's OPERATIVES IN THE NOTED MILES WILL CASE. 
 HOW THE CONSPIRACY WAS EXPOSED. 
 
 In the latter part of the '90s, Stephen B. Miles, a wealthy 
 resident of Nebraska, died, leaving an estate consisting of 
 lands in Nebraska and Kansas, bank stocks and bonds, and 
 other property valued at several millions of dollars. He 
 was survived by a wife, from whom he had been divorced, 
 two sons, Joseph H. and Samuel, and a daughter, a number 
 of nieces and nephews and several grand-children. One 
 of the sons, Joseph H., was a prominent banker and busi- 
 ness man of Falls City, Nebraska, and also had large in- 
 terests in other towns in that state. He had been a tele- 
 graph operator in his younger days, and was highly 
 esteemed by all who knew him, not only as a good citizen, 
 but a wide-awake, clean business man. 
 
 The other son, Samuel, was about forty years of age, and 
 resided with his family on one of his father's ranches over 
 the Nebraska line in Kansas. He had been rather wild in 
 his younger days and h^d caused his father much trouble 
 because of his dissolute habits. 
 
 Shortly after the death of the elder Miles, a will was 
 found in an old suit case, the provisions of which made
 
 298 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Joseph H. Miles executor and trustee of the estate, and 
 the chief beneficiary, Samuel being left, besides some 
 money, a life interest in the ranch on which he and his 
 family were living. At the death of him and his wife the 
 ranch was to be deeded to Samuel's children. The will 
 also plainly provided that Samuel could not either entail 
 or dispose of the land. 
 
 The provisions of the will were very unsatisfactory, of 
 course, to Samuel Miles, and, at the suggestion of his 
 counsel, he began court proceedings to prevent the pro- 
 bating of it, and, not succeeding in this, later brought suit 
 to have the will set aside. 
 
 In 1900 I had in my employ an operative by the name of 
 D. F. Harbaugh. This man had become well known and 
 had obtained considerable newspaper notoriety in and 
 about Kansas City through cases he had worked on under 
 my instructions. One day Harbaugh was approached in 
 Kansas City by one of the lawyers employed to break the 
 will, and asked if he (Harbaugh) could find a man whose 
 former reputation had been good, who would go on the 
 witness stand and testify to having drawn up and witnessed 
 a will made by the elder Miles, while on one of his numer- 
 ous trips to St. Louis during his life time. During the talk 
 the lawyer told Harbaugh all about the conspiracy that 
 had been formed to break the will — by "finding" a later 
 will, and gave the names of all connected with the scheme. 
 One of these men was a prominent lawyer in Falls City, 
 Nebraska, another a man of great prominence at Omaha, 
 and who had a big political pull throughout the state, 
 while another was in good standing at the bar in St. Louis 
 at that time. Harbaugh was further told that he would be 
 paid a fee of $10,000 for his part when the will was broken, 
 and as a further compensation the lawyer would send him
 
 CONSPIRATORS HANDED A LEMON. 299 
 
 to the Paris Exposition and back, paying all expenses up 
 to the sum of $5,000. Harbaugh agreed to give the lawyer 
 an answer in a few days, and left that evening for St. Louis. 
 
 The next morning Harbaugh told me all about the proposi- 
 tion that had been made to him, and asked for my opin- 
 ion as to the best thing to do. I at once said, "There seems 
 io be but two things to do in this case. One is, for you to 
 <:ompletely ignore the proposition, as there can be no doubt 
 as to the rascality of all the parties who are in any way con- 
 nected with the scheme. The other, and in my opinion, the 
 right thing to do, is for us to try and locate this man 
 Joseph H. Miles, and appraise him of the conspiracy that 
 is being worked up by these lawyers and his own brother 
 against him. For, if we keep quiet and ignore the matter, 
 they will, in all probability secure a man who will accept 
 the proposition and we would be parties to this conspiracy 
 for not having exposed it." 
 
 "Well," replied Harbaugh, "you are the boss, and it is up 
 to you. I have told you all I know about the matter. I 
 told this lawyer that his proposition was very important, 
 and coming to me suddenly I would need a few days to 
 think the matter over, and it would require at least a few 
 days to select the right kind of a man — one that could be 
 trusted. He approved of this and expects an answer from 
 me in a week or ten days." 
 
 I at once undertook to locate Joseph H. Miles, and suc- 
 ceeded in twelve hours. I found that he lived at Falls 
 City, Nebraska, that he was president of the First National 
 Bank of that place, had a bank in another Nebraska city, 
 and had a large interest in a bank in York, Pa., that he was 
 a respectable citizen and prominent business man, and very 
 well known. After locating him I wrote him a letter, 
 which read about as follows :
 
 300 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Mr. Joseph H. Miles, 
 
 Falls City, Nebraska. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 If you are the son of the late Stephen B. Miles, and have 
 a brother by the name of Samuel Miles, and a number of 
 nephews and nieces who reside in Kansas and Nebraska, 
 I have important information for you, and will impart it 
 personally if you will come to St. Louis. 
 
 I would suggest that you bring your lawyer, as I believe 
 my information important enough to justify you in so do- 
 ing. 
 
 On receipt of this I wish that you would telegraph me, 
 stating when you will leave Falls City, and at what time 
 you will arrive at St. Louis. On arriving at St. Louis, go 
 to the Planters Hotel, look at the register where you will 
 find my name, and you can then come direct to my room, 
 where I will be waiting for you and your attorney. 
 
 I am using a fictitious name, for reasons that I will ex- 
 plain to you when I see you. 
 
 Yours very truly 
 
 On receipt of the above letter Mr. Miles wired me 
 promptly that he would leave Falls City the same evening 
 and would arrive at St. Louis the following morning, via 
 the Burlington Route, and would carry out instructions 
 as per my letter. 
 
 I went to the Planters Hotel that evening, registered 
 under the name I had given Mr. Miles, and was assigned 
 to a room on the fourth floor. 
 
 The next morning about eight o'clock, ]\Ir. Joseph H. 
 Miles, accompanied by his lawyers, Ex-Judge Gillespie of 
 Falls City, and Ex-Judge Martin, of the same place, and 
 the latter's son who was a stenographer. I admitted them, 
 and Mr. Miles stated Iiis name, and asked if I v/as Mr. 
 Foster, to which I replied in the affirmative. He intro-
 
 CONSPIRATORS HANDED A LEMON 301 
 
 duced the other gentlemen and after they were seated I 
 began my story by saying: 
 
 "Gentlemen, my name is Thomas Furlong, and I used 
 the name of Foster in writing to Mr. Miles, because my 
 name and business are known to a great many people in 
 Nebraska, and a party connected with what I know to be 
 a conspiracy against Mr. Miles, resides, and is an old citi- 
 zen of Falls City, and would probably know my name if 
 he heard it, and I did not know but what he miglit be con- 
 nected with or know people connected with the telegraph 
 office, and would thus learn that I had communicated with 
 Mr. Miles, so I deemed it advisable not to use my own 
 name. Now, gentlemen, before I give you the information 
 that I have promised I wish that you would call on any of 
 the general managers of any of the railroads that enter St. 
 Louis, or the president of any bank in the city whom you 
 may know, and ask him as to my character and standing. 
 
 Mr. Miles asked, "Does Mr. William Nickolson know 
 you?" 
 
 I replied that Mr. Nickolson knew me very well. Mr. 
 Miles said, "Mr. Nickolson is my correspondent here and 
 has charge of more than a million dollars of our estate." 
 
 We walked over to Mr. Nickolson's bank and Mr. Miles 
 entered the private office, leaving me standing in the cor- 
 ridor outside. As he entered the office he left the door 
 open. Mr. Nickolson arose and greeted him, and at the 
 same time spoke to me. After the greeting, Mr. Miles 
 said to Mr. Nickolson, 'T see that you know Mr. Furlong." 
 
 "Yes," replied Mr. Nickolson, "I have known Tom for 
 years, and he is welcome to anything I have." 
 
 Mr. Miles said, "Mr. Furlong told me that you knew 
 him and insisted on me coming down here and asking 
 you about his standing in St. Louis."
 
 302 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 After a little further conversation Mr. Miles shook hands 
 with Mr. Nickolson and we returned to my room at the 
 Planters, where Judges Martin and Gillespie and the 
 stenographer were awaiting us. I then related in detail 
 the story that I had recently heard from Harbaugh. After 
 I had completed the narative, all of which was taken in 
 shorthand by the stenographer, the younger Mr. Martin. 
 Harbaugh was sent for and he verified the statements I 
 had made to the gentlemen. The conference then ad- 
 journed, the luncheon hour having arrived. All parties 
 again assembled in my room at the Planters at two o'clock, 
 when Judge Martin said, "We have been considering this 
 statement of yours, Mr. Furlong. We have known for 
 some time that these lawyers you have named have been 
 trying to make trouble, but did not know until you told 
 us today just what they intended to do, and now I want 
 to say that Mr. Miles and myself appreciate what you have 
 done in this matter so far, and we are anxious for your 
 opinion as to what you think is the best way to proceed." 
 
 To which I replied, "I believe the best way to proceed 
 would be for Harbaugh to go to the lawyer in Kansas City 
 and tell him that he would accept his proposition, and that 
 he would secure a man who could be relied on, and who 
 would assume that he had written the will for the elder Mr. 
 Miles. I would then select a man that I could trust and 
 turn him over to Harbaugh. Harbaugh would take him to 
 Kansas City and put him under the guidance of the lawyer. 
 After these conspirators had thoroughly posted and in- 
 structed this man, whom they will expect to deliberately 
 commit perjury, they will probably have his deposition 
 taken in St. Louis. He will take the stand and be able to 
 answer all questions put to him until asked if he wrote the 
 will. When he is asked this question, being under oath,
 
 CONSPIRATORS HANDED A LEMON. 303 
 
 of course, he will tell the truth. In this way we will be able 
 to prove the enormity of the crime and the cool audacity of 
 the parties connected with it." 
 
 I turned to Mr. Miles and said, "That is my opinion, but 
 if you do not approve of it and prefer to employ some one 
 else to handle this case for you, you, of course, are at liberty 
 to do so. I felt that it was my duty to advise you of this 
 conspiracy and the manner in which I had received my in- 
 formation." 
 
 Judge Martin said, "Mr. Furlong, we want you to handle 
 this case for us," and Mr. Miles nodded his head and said, 
 "Yes, I want you to handle this case for me, and to handle 
 it in your own way, and I will pay you your regular charge, 
 allow you the expenses incurred, and pay you extra for 
 your service." I told Mr. Miles that I did not expect any- 
 thing of that sort, as I did not believe in rewards and nevef 
 worked for them. He insisted, however, on paying me ex- 
 tra for my services, which he did, and I divided it equally 
 with Harbaugh. 
 
 I instructed Harbaugh to go to Kansas City and get in 
 touch with the crooked lawyer, which he did. I selected a 
 man whom I knew well and believed to be honest. I instructed 
 him as to what I wanted him to do, and in due time he was 
 introduced to the Kansas City lawyer, by Harbaugh. The 
 lawyer began instructing him and gave him a minute de- 
 scription of the deceased Stephen B. Miles, whom, of course, 
 this man had never seen. He posted him as to a room in 
 the old St. James Hotel that had been occupied by Stephen 
 B. Miles in one of his trips to St. Louis. This was the place 
 where the fake will was supposed to have been written. 
 The lawyer was pleased with the man I had sent and feasted 
 and dined him on several occasions when he was in Kansas 
 City rehearsing the part he was to play in the conspiracy.
 
 304 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 In the meantime Harbaugh had grown to be the apple 
 of the crooked lawyer's eye, and from the good treatment 
 he received from this creature Harbaugh had begun to 
 admire him for his liberality. 
 
 At last a day was set for the taking of the deposition of 
 the man who was supposed to havq written the will. 
 Due notice was served on the respective parties interested, 
 and at the appointed time our man appeared at the office 
 of the St. Louis attorney, and the taking of his deposition 
 began. After being duly sworn, the St. Louis representa- 
 tive of the conspirators began to examine the witness in 
 the usual way, asking a few preliminary questions, and at 
 last reached the question, "Did you know Stephen B. Miles, 
 deceased, and did you not write this will for him?" indicat- 
 ing a paper he had in his hand. 
 
 The witness said, "I have known a number of men by 
 the name of Miles. Allow me to describe one of them and 
 if his description suits I will be able to answer your ques- 
 tion." 
 
 I had previously requested Mr. Allies' attorneys to let 
 the St. Louis lawyer do all the questioning and examining, 
 and not to object to any question that he might put to 
 the witness, unless it was entirely out of reason. There- 
 fore, they merely sat still, carefully noting everything and 
 objecting to nothing. 
 
 Of course, the conspirators were anxious to get a 
 strong deposition from the witness, and, therefore, he was 
 permitted to describe the man Miles, for whom he was 
 supposed to have written the will. The St. Louis attorney 
 kept nodding approval to his fine description of the dead 
 man. When he had fully described Mr. Stephen B. Miles 
 to the satisfaction of the conspirators, he took the pur- 
 ported will and examined it carefully, saying "The hand-
 
 CONSPIRATORS HANDED A LEMON. 305 
 
 writing on that document looks like my handwriting, but 
 (in a loud, clear voice) I did not write this or any other 
 will for Mr. Stephen B. Miles, or any other person. I have 
 never met the man Stephen B. Miles, nor the man that I 
 have just described. I was instructed to give the descrip- 
 tion that I have given here by these lawyers (pointing to 
 the St. Louis and Kansas City lawyers, who were both 
 present) and I was expected by them to testify that I had 
 written this will, and I was promised five thousand dollars 
 if I would." 
 
 The reader can easily imagine the consternation that 
 reigned among the conspirators at this testimony from the 
 one they trusted would be their star witness. Our man 
 left the stand and the further taking of testimony was dis- 
 continued, it is needless to add. 
 
 Mr. Miles and his attorneys believed that these con- 
 spirators had ceased their efforts for a time, but later on 
 they produced another man whom they claimed had writ- 
 ten the second will for Stephen B. Miles. He was a young 
 man, also a lawyer, and had at one time lived in St. Louis 
 for a short time, married there, and had gone to Old 
 Mexico. He was discovered in Mexico by the Kansas 
 City outfit and induced to come back to Chicago, Illinois, 
 where his deposition was taken. He claimed to have writ- 
 ten the will for an old man in St. Louis, but he was either 
 afraid to describe him or could not do so, therefore his 
 testimony was worthless. 
 
 The conspirators continued to try to break the original 
 will until it was finally pronounced legal and valid by the 
 Supreme Court of Nebraska, and Joseph H. Miles' rights 
 were thoroughly and legally established. 
 
 During this litigation, however, two of the parties in 
 the conspiracy died, and the others were not prosecuted
 
 306 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 for complicity, although their actions had put Joseph H. 
 Miles to considerable trouble and expense. They had 
 made several indirect propositions to Air. Miles looking to 
 a compromise, but he promptly repelled all of them. 
 
 Harbaugh's connection with my service has long since 
 been severed, and he is now in the employ of Mr. Joseph 
 H. Miles as manager of his large stock range in Nebraska, 
 not far from Falls. City, where the writer is informed he 
 is doing well. 
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 
 
 HOW THE BLOWS WHICH CAUSED THE DEATH KNELL OF THE 
 
 KNIGHTS OF LABOR WERE ADMINISTERED. — STIRRING 
 
 SCENES AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH 
 
 THE BIG STRIKE OF 1886. 
 
 If you ha\'e an ambition to lead a strenuous life, young 
 man, and feel that excitement would serve as a tonic for 
 your nervous system, and you want to gratify your ambi- 
 tion and secure the tonic in greater than homeopathic 
 doses, both at the same time, just get yourself appointed 
 chief special agent of a big railroad during a general strike. 
 I am "dopeing" you right, for I have been "on the job" 
 on several occasions during a strike, consequently know 
 what I am writing about The most strenuous thirty days 
 of my long career, however, were the thirty days in 1886, 
 when the whole southwestern system of Gould roads 
 were tied up, and there was nothing doing in tKe traffic 
 line. While there had been dififerences between the shop- 
 men and the company for some time, these differences were 
 considered trivial, and neither side had expected that they 
 would result in a strike, consequently neither the men nor
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 
 
 307 
 
 the company were prepared for the struggle when it be- 
 gan — at ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of March. 
 The shopmen, as well as many other employes of the Gould 
 roads, including engineers, firemen and trainmen, were 
 nearly all members of the Knights of Labor. Organizers 
 
 Martin Irons. 
 
 Chairman of the Knights of Labor strike committee on 
 
 the Gould System in 1886. 
 
 and professional labor agitators had been busy all along 
 the line for months, coaxing and coercing the men into 
 the order. Martin Irons had been selected as chairman 
 of the grievance committee, and while in Texas attend-
 
 308 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 ing a meeting- of the committee, called the strike, without 
 consulting the national officers of the organization, a viola- 
 tion of one of the order's most stringent rules. He after- 
 wards admitted that he would not have called the strike 
 had he been sober. 
 
 Irons was a little weazen-faced Scotch-Irishman, with 
 a past — as most of these professional labor agitators have. 
 At the time of the strike he v/as on the payroll as a ma- 
 chinist of the Pacific Company at Sedalia, where he was 
 living with what is now-a-days called an affinity, he having 
 deserted his wife and several children in Ray County years 
 before. He was thoroughly unreliable, a drunkard, and 
 was hated by most of his followers. There were two re- 
 deeming things about him, however. A good voice was 
 one of them. He could have earned a large salary as a 
 train-caller or a barker for a tent show, and he was a good 
 actor. Notwithstanding his repulsive appearance, and the 
 fact that the shopmen did not like him, he could sway them 
 as he pleased, if granted the privilege of addressing them 
 — fill them with either tears or indignation, as best suited 
 the occasion. He never made a speech in his life, though, 
 during which he did not pay his respects to me and my 
 men, and tell how we were shadowing and hounding him 
 day and night. He did this to create sympathy. As a 
 matter of fact, there never was a time when any of Gould's 
 c-a-p-i-t-a-1-i-s-t-i-c b-1-o-o-d h-o-u-n-d-s, to use his own fa- 
 vorite expression, were ever on his trail. He was always re- 
 garded by my men and myself as a harmless demagogue, 
 and not capable of doing anything that would cause us 
 much trouble. In fact, the only thing he ever did in which 
 he did not leave a trail behind him as wide as a railroad 
 right-of-way, was the wire-tapping job he supervised dur- 
 ing the strike, which will be referred to later.
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 309 
 
 As stated previously, the strike was called at ten o'clock 
 on the morning of March 4, 1886. The sound of the big 
 whistle, the blowing of which was the signal for the men 
 to quit work, had hardly died away before the main yards 
 of the company at St. Louis, which were just west of the 
 ]>ld Twelfth St. station, were filled with a mob of at least 
 ten thousand Knights of Labor and sympathizers. The 
 company's shops at Chouteau and 29th Streets were also 
 at once taken possession of by the strikers and their friends. 
 Notwithstanding the fact that many of the employes of 
 the company were loyal, and did not want to leave their 
 jobs, these demonstrations caused them to do so. A call 
 was sent in to police headquarters by General Superintend- 
 ent Kerrigan, who was in charge of the operation of the 
 Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain roads, in the absence 
 of Vice-President and General Manager Hoxie, who was 
 detained at his home on account of illness, asking for police 
 protection for the company's loyal employes and property. 
 Maj. Lawrence Harrigan, then chief of police, responded 
 to this call by detailing Sergt. Jack Campbell, who was 
 afterwards chief of police, and eighteen men for duty on 
 the company's property. The reader can easily imagine 
 the predicament in which this little handful of officers 
 found themselves in attempting to handle a mob of at least 
 ten thousand. On orders from Mr. Kerrigan, I secured 
 three engines and crews, and we began to make up a 
 train. At this sign of activity the mob became frantic. 
 Two of the engines were soon derailed and disabled. I 
 then placed my force of special ofificers, which consisted of 
 but a few men, on the remaining engine, and attempted to 
 continue the switching of cars in order to get out a train 
 of perishable goods, but we could not make any headway, 
 as the mob pulled the pins, threw switches, derailed cars
 
 310 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 and otherwise interfered with the work. After a couple 
 of hours had been thus consumed, I suggested to Mr. Ker- 
 rigan that we had furnished enough entertainment for the 
 mob for one day, and told him I was going to take the en- 
 gine to the round house to keep it from being disabled. 
 "Do you think you can succeed in doing it, Tom?" asked 
 Mr. Kerrigan. "1 will do my best," I replied. "For good- 
 ness sake, do it, then, and when you get through come to 
 my office as I want to consult with you." 
 
 The engine, which had been abandoned by the engineer 
 and fireman, was standing just east of 12th St., a portion 
 of it being under the viaduct which spanned that thorough- 
 fare. The viaduct was lined with spectators and strikers 
 and their sympathizers, many of the latter being armed 
 with paving stones, links, pins, etc. As I climbed aboard 
 the cab some miscreant hurled a paving stone at me. It 
 came within a few inches of landing on my head. It is 
 needless to state that if it had struck me I would not be 
 writing this story. David R. Francis, at that time Mayor 
 of St. Louis, was viewing the situation from the viaduct, 
 and witnessed the attempt on my life. Turning to Robert 
 S. McDonald, former Circuit Attorney, and a well-known 
 lawyer, the Mayor exclaimed, "That man Furlong will get 
 killed by that mob." After the incident, I espied the en- 
 gineer standing in the crowd. I called to him in a loud 
 voice, "Come here and let us take this engine to the round- 
 house." On hearing this a mighty shout went up from the 
 mob, and there was much rejoicing and clapping of hands, 
 they thinking they had achieved a great victory — just 
 what I wanted them to think. The engineer climbed on 
 the engine and we made the trip to the roundhouse with- 
 out molestation. 
 
 After the engine had been safely placed in its stall, I
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 311 
 
 went at once to the office of General Superintendent Ker- 
 rigan. After thoroughly discussing the situation which 
 confronted us, I suggested that he call on Judge Portis, 
 at that time General Attorney of the Missouri Pacific, and 
 insist on him preparing a legal notice to be served on the 
 Mayor and Police Board and sheriff of St. Louis, setting 
 forth that the company was being hindered in the opera- 
 tion of its property within the City and County of St. 
 Louis, and State of Missouri, by a mob; that the company 
 had many hundred thousand dollars' worth of perishable 
 property in its cars in the yards in St. Louis, and also had 
 plenty of competent and loyal employes who were willing 
 and anxious to do the work of switching the cars and 
 running the trains, but were prevented from doing so by 
 said mob. Therefore, the company, after the serving of 
 this notice, intended to hold the said city and county and 
 state liable for all damages sustained by the company by 
 reason of said mob's interference, as aforesaid. Mr. Ker- 
 rigan, acting on this suggestion, immediately called in 
 Judge Portis, C. G. Warner, general auditor, W. H. New- 
 man, the general freight traffic manager, and some other 
 officers of the road, and had me repeat the suggestion to 
 them, which I did. The attorney did not take kindly to 
 the proposition at first, but at the demand of Mr. Kerrigan 
 the notices were prepared, and later served on the officials 
 named. 
 
 The receiving of these notices by the officials awakened 
 them to their responsibilities. That evening a meeting of 
 the Police Board was called by President Blair, and at its 
 close an order was issued to Chief of Police Llarrigan, in- 
 structing him to don his uniform early the next morning 
 and lead every available man in the department to the Mis- 
 souri Pacific yards, where he was to so station his men that
 
 312 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 none but loyal employes could enter the yards. The 
 board's orders were carried out, the chief causing a line of 
 men to be formed around the yards before the strikers 
 had entered upon the property of the company. 
 
 At the head of a force of twenty-eight men, including a 
 full train crew, conductor, engineer, fireman and three 
 brakemen, I made up a train of ten cars and started west 
 with them. We were not molested until we arrived at the 
 Compton Avenue crossing. At this point a number of 
 strikers under the leadership of a notorious agitator named 
 Geary, were seen on the track. Each striker carried a 
 small American flag, which they stuck up in the middle 
 of the track at the crossing, and then every one began 
 signalling us to stop, shouting to us that "we did not dare 
 run over an American flag." 
 
 I want to state right here, that no man in this country 
 has a greater respect for Old Glory than I have. I put in 
 four years, one month and eight days defending it on one 
 occasion, and thus helped to make it what it is today, and 
 it made me feel pretty bad to see it put to the use it was 
 on this occasion, and it is the only time in my life that I 
 failed to pay the flag the respect due it. To make the 
 story shorter, we paid no attention to the flags, and would 
 have run over the mob had they not skeedaddled out of 
 the way of that train. 
 
 At the city limits, Sergt. Campbell, who had been rid- 
 ing on the engine with me, left the train, and we continued 
 on our journey westward. Sitting on the running board on 
 either side of the engine I had two men, Billy Bonnell and 
 Mike Gibbons, each armed with a shot gun. On the dead- 
 wood, or cowcatcher, in front of the engine, I had two 
 other men, Jim McCane and W. K. Moir, each armed with 
 revolvers, and each carrying a clawbar. We had expected
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 313 
 
 to find some spiked switches, and these clawbars were to 
 be used in pulHng the spikes. The balance of my guards, 
 all armed, were placed in the caboose and on top of the box 
 cars. No trouble was encountered until we neared Pacific. 
 We pulled into the town slowly, with all brakes set, so 
 there would be no slack in the train, thus making it im- 
 possible for any one to dodge in between the cars and pull 
 the pins, thus uncoupling the cars. We knew a lot of 
 strikers had gone out to Pacific over the Frisco that morn- 
 ing, and expected trouble on arriving at that town. We 
 were not disappointed. The first switch encountered had 
 been turned for the side tracks and spiked, as had every 
 other switch leading from the main line. My men who 
 were armed with clawbars soon pulled the spikes and re- 
 set the switches and we slowly creeped into the town. 
 The strikers were holding a meeting in an old brick house 
 on the first road east of Pacific, but on hearing our train 
 coming the meeting was broken up and the men ran to 
 a sand bin located just east of the depot and took refuge 
 behind it. As our train pulled by this sand bin at least 
 lOO shots were fired at the train. Strange to say, not one 
 of my men was hurt, but the cab and caboose and some of 
 the cars were badly splintered by the bullets. After 
 pulling by the sand bin the mob ran after the train, and 
 one of the leaders, named Davis, picked up a drawbar and 
 rushed to the front of the caboose, which he was enabled 
 to do as we were running so slowly, and attempted to 
 throw the draw bar under the front wheels of the caboose, 
 for the purpose of derailing it. He would probably have 
 succeeded had not Marshall F. McDonald, the noted St. 
 Louis attorney, who had volunteered to act as one of my 
 guards, saw what the man was attempting to do. The 
 lawyer was so enraged at Davis' audacity that he picked
 
 314 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 up a coupling pin, which was lying on the platform of the 
 caboose, and hit the striker over the head with it. It 
 is needless to add that we had no more trouble with Davis 
 that day, as he went down for the count, as the sporting 
 writer would put it. 
 
 When we were fired upon by the mob entrenched behind 
 the sand bin, I had hard work to control my men, they 
 wanting to return the fire. I had previously told them not 
 to fire a shot without my orders, but in the event I was 
 compelled to order them to fire, I had instructed them to 
 shoot to kill. After the first volley, and there being no re- 
 turn fire, the strikers concluded the guards were afraid to 
 shoot, and immediately set about to uncouple the train. 
 In this they were foiled, as they could not pull the pins. 
 They then tried to climb to the top of the cars for the 
 purpose of disarming the guards and throwing them 
 from the train. In this they were again foiled, for the 
 guards, using their weapons for clubs, beat them off. As 
 soon as a striker's head appeared at the top of the ladder 
 he received a blow over it that caused him to cither fall to 
 the ground or scamper back down the ladder. Many of 
 them were badly injured, either from the fall or the blow 
 from the weapon in the hands of the guards. One of 
 the mob singled me out and kept peppering away at me 
 with a revolver. One of my men, Mike Gibbons, from 
 his seat on the running board of the engine, and who was 
 armed with a shotgun, wanted to "get" this man, but I 
 would not let him do it. The fight was fast and furious, 
 however, and lasted until our train had passed through 
 the town. 
 
 Our train met with no further trouble of importance 
 until we arrive at Chamois, the end of the first freight 
 division. Here the foreman of the round house had de-
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 315 
 
 serted his post and joined the strikers, and was acting 
 as leader, and not one of the company's employes were 
 on duty — that is, for the company. As soon as we pulled 
 in the strikers surrounded the train, but attempted no 
 acts of violence, they evidently being over-awed at the 
 sight of the twenty-two armed guards. I made a short 
 but "impressive" talk to the men, using as near as I 
 can recall it, the following language : 
 
 "Gentlemen, I am special agent of the Missouri Pacific 
 Railroad. These men you see with me here are in my 
 department. We have no grievances against the company 
 and are in no way interested in this strike, except to 
 protect life and property. I want to convey to you, Mr. 
 Foreman, the thanks of the management of the company 
 to yourself and your associates for the good care you have 
 taken of the company's property. I am here now with these 
 men to relieve you of any further responsibility in the mat- 
 ter, and all of you are hereby notified to get ofif and 
 stay ofif of the company's- right-of-way until the trouble 
 has been satisfactorily adjusted. If you attempt to get 
 back on the right-of-way, or in any manner attempt to 
 interfere with my men while in the discharge of their duties, 
 or with the movement of trains, or commit other depreda- 
 tions, you are liable to get shot." 
 
 At the conclusion of my talk the strikers left the com- 
 pany's premises. On investigation I found 19 "dead" engines, 
 that is, 19 engines from which the water had been re- 
 moved. The supply water tank was also as dry as the 
 proverbial powder horn, and the pumping machinery dis- 
 abled, parts of the engine having been removed, and as 
 I afterwards learned thrown into the little creek from 
 which the water to supply the tank was obtained. As 
 it was getting late in the day I went over to the hotel to
 
 316 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 make arrangements for getting supper for my men and 
 crew. The proprietor told me there was nothing doing, 
 as he did not want to take chances on getting his build- 
 ing burned down by the. Knights of Labor. All of the 
 balance of the regular eating houses and boarding houses 
 in the town refused to accommodate us for the same rea- 
 son. They had been notified by the committee not to do 
 so. They would be boycotted if they did, and it had been 
 intimated that even greater punishment might be meted 
 out to them in case the committee's orders were violated. 
 Later a good old German lady named ISIrs. Stoeppleman, 
 who had two sons who were loyal employes of the company, 
 sent for me and told me she was not afraid of the Knights 
 of Labor, and cared nothing about a bo3'cott or what her 
 neighbors might say, and she would feed us if we desired 
 her to do so. It is needless to add that we accepted of her 
 hospitality. After a good supper, I learned where the 
 missing parts of the pumping engine had been thrown, 
 and two of my men, Messrs. iMcCane and ]\Ioir, who were 
 both good machinists and engineers, were set to work to 
 repair the engine. The water in the creek, where the 
 missing parts of the engine had been thrown, was about 
 four feet deep, and was partially covered with ice. McCane 
 and Moir entered the icy water, while I and others held 
 torches, and fished out the missing parts. The engine 
 was repaired, and by morning we had the supply tank 
 nearly full of water. 
 
 Early the next morning, we fired up one of the dead 
 engines, and attaching it to the train of ten cars, sent it 
 on to Sedalia in charge of a crew and two guards. Leav- 
 ing eleven men at Chamois in charge of Mr. W. K. Moir, I 
 made up a train of 15 loaded cars, and with the remainder 
 of my men started on our return trip to St. Louis. No
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 317 
 
 trouble occurred until our arrival at Pacific, where the 
 scenes attending our arrival there the day before v^ere 
 partially re-enacted. We got through Pacific without any 
 serious trouble, however, and arrived in St. Louis about 
 2:00 P. M. 
 
 The St. Louis strikers had not been idle while I was 
 out on the road, however. On pulling into the Chouteau 
 Avenue yards the first thing I saw was that the big turn- 
 table had been put out of commission. The strikers had 
 deliberately run an engine into the pit, not only blocking 
 the turntable, but badly damaging the engine. 
 
 The next morning (Wednesday) Mr. Kerrigan sent for 
 me to call at his office. On arriving I was told that the 
 strikers had attacked the Washington acccommodation, 
 containing three coaches loaded with passengers bound for 
 St. Louis, at Gray's Summit, a little station west of Pa- 
 cific, and had run the train onto a siding and "killed" the 
 engine. I at once repaired to the Chouteau Avenue yards, 
 and taking an engine, attached it to a coach, into which I 
 placed ten picked men, all well armed, and the run was 
 made to Gray's Summit in fairly good time. The strikers 
 and sympathizers soon dispersed when commanded to do 
 so by me. One of my men, Jim McCane, who was an 
 experienced engineer, disconnected the disabled engine, 
 taking ofif the side rods, and in a remarkably short time 
 we had coupled the disabled engine and the coaches on 
 behind our coach. We then ran our engine to a "Y" west 
 of the little town, and after turning it around brought 
 the passengers safely to St. Louis, where we arrived a 
 little before dark. The rescue of this passenger train 
 was the entering wedge which broke the strike. 
 
 On arriving at the roundhouse that evening, a messengei 
 was awaiting me with a note from General Manager Kerri-
 
 318 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 gan, asking- me to call at his office at Sixth and Locust 
 streets to consult with the officers of the company. On 
 arriving at Mr. Kerrigan's office I found Mr. Newman, 
 freight traffic manager, and Mr. Werner, the general audi- 
 tor, awaiting me. These three gentlemen were handling 
 the strike situation for the company in the absence of 
 Vice-President and General Manager Hoxie. They had 
 learned of the conditions at the Chouteau avenue shops, 
 of the running of the engine into the turntable pit, and 
 also of the large number of men the strikers had on guard, 
 both outside and inside of the fence which surrounded the 
 shops. Mr. Kerrigan, recognizing the fact that we could 
 do but little without engines, and as all the engines, save 
 one or two, were safely locked within the round house, 
 expressed himself as wishing to again get possession of 
 the roundhouse. In discussing the best means of doing 
 this the gentlemen thought it best to call on the police 
 department for enough men to drive the strikers away. I 
 told them that it was not necessary to do that, as I could 
 get possession of the shops at any time. "How can you 
 do it, Tom?" asked Mr. Werner. "It will not take as long 
 to do the job as it will to tell you about it," I replied, 
 and further told them that we would be in possession of 
 the shops again by daylight the next morning, if they so 
 desired. They told me to go ahead and get possession 
 of the shops in my own way. At that time I knew where 
 I could get my hands on between forty and sixty of my 
 men. I sent messengers to hunt up these men, instructing 
 them to report to me on the Handlan lot, southeast 
 corner of Grand and Laclede avenues, promptly at 2 -.7,0 
 the next morning. They were further instructed to slip into 
 the rendezvous quietly, not more than one or two going 
 in together at a time, and all were given a pass word
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 319 
 
 by which they would be able to identify each other. At 
 the time fixed, forty-six men had reported, all well armed. 
 I formed them into a double line, and after cautioning 
 them to be careful about stumbling or coughing, or mak- 
 ing a noise of any kind, marched them down Grand avenue 
 to the railroad track, and then down to the west gate of 
 the fence surrounding the shops. On arriving there and 
 finding the gate fastened on the inside, four men were 
 boosted over the high fence. These men soon had the 
 gate open and the balance marched in. Immediately on 
 entering the shopyard the men split ranks, half going 
 to the right and the other half to the left, Jim McCane 
 heading one squad and I the other. The strikers had 
 placed pickets every few rods all along the inside oi 
 the fence, but our entrance had been made so suddenly 
 and noiselessly that these pickets had no time to sound an 
 alarm. They were quickly disarmed of their clubs, or 
 bludgeons, and taken along with us from one station to 
 the other, until every picket in the yard had been captured. 
 They were taken to the gate and boosted out. We then 
 entered the shops, where we found many strikers asleep 
 on benches and work tables. These were thrown out of 
 the building before they hardly had tim@ to get their 
 eyes open. A good sized crowd of watchers and beer-can- 
 ners were on the outside of the east gate of the fence. 
 These men, too, were driven from the right-of-way. By 
 daylight we were again in complete possession of the 
 shops, as I had promised my superiors we would be, with- 
 out a blow being struck or any one hurt. 
 
 I then sent trusted men down into the city to the 
 quarters where men out of work usually congregate, with 
 instructions to hire all the men they could find and quietly 
 get them into the shops in small groups. I did not care
 
 320 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 what the previous occupations of these men had been, just 
 so they were able-bodied. It did not make any difference 
 to me whether they had ever seen the inside of the rail- 
 road shop before. All I wanted was men — men who could 
 make a noise. We soon had a sufficient number of these 
 men inside of the shops to serve my purpose. Engines 
 were fired up, fire was built in the blacksmith forges and 
 th-e big engine in the powerhouse was set in motion. In 
 fact, to those on the outside of the shop who could see the 
 smoke coming out of the smoke stacks and hear the noise, 
 and to those who could get a peep through the gates, the 
 shops presented a scene of great activity. Men were 
 pounding great moulten pieces of iron on the blacksmiths' 
 anvils, while others were pounding aAvay on big pieces of 
 boiler iron, but they were not blacksmiths or boilermakers; 
 they were simply playing a part assigned to them by the 
 master mechanic and myself. Other men represented 
 machinists, while others were painters, car repairers and 
 helpers. 
 
 Of course, all these actors and guards had to be fed, 
 so we established a commissary and a kitchen and brought 
 in a lot of cots for these men and guards to sleep on, which 
 were placed in the building. To those who are not familiar 
 with the handling of strikers, I will tell why we employed 
 all those unskilled men. It was for the purpose of making 
 the strikers believe that we were fast filling their places, 
 which it did, for in the next day or so many of the men who 
 went out quietly made application for reinstatement. In 
 many instances these applications were acted upon favor- 
 ably and the men put to work, and the backbone of the 
 strike was thus broken. 
 
 As on all such occasions, many acts of violence were com- 
 mitted. When the strikers learned that men were being
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 321 
 
 slipped into the shops they were very wroth. Now and 
 then one of the strike breakers would stray away from the 
 shops. They were fortunate, indeed, if they did not fall in- 
 to the hands of the pickets, for if they did, and which was 
 usually the case, they were badly beaten. Of course, we 
 always attempted to prevent the men going out after they 
 were once inside of the enclosure, knowing what they 
 would be up against, but we were not always successful 
 in keeping them inside. On the second day, after we had 
 retaken the shops, a coach painter named Haller, who 
 had been employed at the shops for several months, and 
 who was at home at the bedside of a sick wife when 
 the strike was called, showed up at the shops and resumed 
 work. At quitting time that evening he picked up his 
 dinner bucket and started down the track to Jefferson 
 avenue, as had been his custom. On arriving at Jefferson 
 avenue he was approached by a number of pickets, who 
 remonstrated with him for going to work. "I cannot afford 
 to loaf now, as my wife has been sick a long time," said 
 Haller; "besides, I am satisfied with the wages I am re- 
 ceiving and intend to keep on working," and started up 
 Jefferson avenue towards his home, which was in the 2600 
 block on either' Franklin or Easton avenues. The pickets 
 began to assault him with rocks and clubs, and he sought 
 to escape them by running. At every step, almost, the 
 ranks of the mob were augmented. As Haller ran past the 
 strikers' headquarters, which were in Eutopia Hall, at 
 Walnut and Jefferson avenues, a crowd of several hundred 
 joined in the chase. The long run up the hill had winded 
 Haller. Besides he had been weakened by the blows which 
 had been showered upon him. Seeing that he could not 
 make his escape on account of his weakened condition, he 
 backed up against a brick building at the northwest corner
 
 322 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 of the street named and stopped. A big bully rusned up to 
 him and struck him, whereupon Haller jerked out a revolver 
 and shot his assailant, who dropped dead in his tracks. 
 This stopped the mob from doing further violence to him. 
 The police from the mounted district rushed to the scene 
 and placed Haller under arrest. No attempt was made to 
 arrest any of the mob. Later in the evening he was re- 
 moved to a cell in central station, from which the com- 
 pany's officials, at my request, secured his release on bond. 
 He was later acquitted by a coroner's ju&y, and in a day 
 or so thereafter was again back at work. After that, for 
 quite a while, I sent a guard home with him each evening, 
 but no attempt was made to molest him. This, I believe, 
 was the only fatality growing out of the strike in St. 
 Louis. Mr. Haller is now a prosperous business man in 
 St. Louis, and is highly respected by all who know him. 
 Thursday afternoon the big crane at the shops was 
 rigged up for business, and, under the guidance of skilled 
 men in my employ, ran out to the edge of the roundhouse 
 pit, into which the strikers had dumped an engine, as 
 referred to before in this article. This engine so blocked 
 the turntable that not one of the company's engines 
 in the roundhouse could be taken out. The engine was 
 lifted out of the pit, and in a short time the turntable 
 was in working order. That same evening, I decided to 
 straighten out things at Pacific. To do this I had made 
 up my mind to place the ring-leaders of the mob which had 
 attacked the train there earlier in the week under arrest. 
 I knew it would take quite a force o^ men to do this, 
 so I instructed twenty of my men to assemble quietly in 
 the neighborhood of St. Malachy's church, at 29th and 
 Clark avenues, at ten o'clock that night. They were to 
 come to the rendezvous in ones and twos, and instructed
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 323 
 
 to do nothing that would attract attention. I had an 
 engine and caboose in waiting at the shops, and when the 
 men had all assembled they were marched to the caboose, 
 and between ii and 12 o'clock we started to Pacific. On 
 arriving at the first cut east of the town the little train was 
 stopped and left in the cut under guard of the engineer 
 and fireman, and two of my men. The engine carried no 
 h'glits, and no sound had announced our arrival near the 
 town. In fact, we approached it as quietly as possible. 
 The men were divided into two squads, one headed by 
 Billy Bonnell and the other by myself. We then marched 
 into town and to the homes of the men wanted. They 
 were aroused from their slumber and placed under arrest. 
 We had no trouble, except at the home of a big blacksmith, 
 who had been especially prominent in the riot at the sand 
 bin the day we ran the first train through the town after 
 the strike had been called. He was soon subdued, however, 
 and taken with the balance of the men arrested, to the 
 caboose, which had been left standing on the track near 
 the edge of the town. Many of these men were still 
 suffering from the blows they had received at the hands 
 of the guards who were on the train they had attacked. 
 Davis, the leader of the mob, who was hit on the head 
 with a coupling pin by Marshall F. McDonald, for attempt- 
 ing to derail the caboose of the train attacked, had his 
 head still covered with bandages. 
 
 After all the men had been arrested, we boarded the 
 train with our prisoners and ran to Washington, where 
 we loaded them into hacks and wagons and took them 
 to Union, the county seat of Franklin County, where 
 they were placed in jail. In due time they were tried be- 
 fore Judge Seay, and vigorously prosecuted by Prose- 
 cuting Attorney Gallencamp, and all of them convicted.
 
 324 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Davis, the leader, was given three years in the peniten- 
 tiary, while the blacksmith and several others were let ofif 
 with lighter terms, and the balance of the men, who proved 
 to be mere tools of the leaders, at my suggestion, were 
 given jail sentences. Davis, after entering the peniten- 
 tiary, contracted consmnption, and after serving a Httle 
 over half his time, was pardoned so he might go home 
 to die. He was released from prison one Saturday, re- 
 turning to Pacific at once. The following Monday he died. 
 
 Two of the gentlemen connected with the trial of these 
 strikers have since made reputations for themselves. Judge 
 Gallencamp, who prosecuted the cases, is now, and has 
 been for several years, Surveyor of the Port of St. Louis, 
 while Judge Seay, who presided, has received high honors 
 at the hands of the people of Oklahoma, his new home, he 
 having served as governor at one time. Mr. W. K. Moir, 
 whom I left in charge of Chamois, proved to be a valu- 
 able man for the company. He being a good engineer and 
 machinist he was retained there as general foreman for 
 several years, until the division was removed to Jefferson 
 City. He was then given an engine in the yards of the 
 company at that point, but later resigned and moved to 
 St. Louis, where he continued to reside until his death, 
 which occurred a few years ago. 
 
 The St. Louis strikers made their headquarters in 
 Eutopia Hall, Jefferson avenue and Walnut street, and an 
 ex-convict named Martin O'Neal usually presided over the 
 meetings. I lived, at that time, at 2729 Walnut street. 
 My wife was very sick, being confined to her bed, and many 
 of these strikers in going to and from their meetings 
 always passed by the house, and never failed to jeer at 
 the children, if the}^ happened to be in the yard, and other- 
 wise conducted themselves in a rude manner. One striker,
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 325 
 
 a tough switchman named Duffy, went so far as to enter the 
 yard and ring the door bell a couple of times, when he 
 knew I was not at home, and when the door was opened 
 by my little daughter, had torced his way into the house. 
 He would then let on as though he wanted to see me, 
 telling my daughter that he knew all about a conspiracy 
 to take my life, and his call was for the purpose of putting 
 me on my guard. His story and rudeness always fright- 
 ened my family very badly, they thinking that possibly 
 there might be some truth in his story. I knew Duffy 
 and his reputation as a general bad man, and knew he had 
 no business with me. I also knew he was aware of my 
 whereabouts during business hours, and I decided to put 
 a stop to his visits at my private home at the first oppor- 
 tunity. As luck would have it, I was at the house the 
 next time he called, one night about ten o'clock. I had 
 slipped home to spend a few moments with my sick wife, 
 and had been in the house only a short time, when the door 
 bell rang. My daughter saw him enter the yard from the 
 window, and called me. I answered the ring of the bell 
 by opening the door and grabbing Duffy by the collar 
 and jerking him inside. I at once went to work on him 
 with both fists. He was either too cowardly or his sur- 
 prise was too great for him to make any resistance. After 
 I had given him a few good stiff jabs, he began to beg for 
 his life. "I am not going to kill you, you cur," I rejoined, 
 "but I am going to teach you better than to come to my 
 home," and I lit into him again. After punching him un- 
 til I was tired, I let up. I then issued a few orders for 
 the cowering wretch's guidance in the future, and also sent 
 a message to his followers, couched in about the following 
 language, " You people can go up and down this street, of 
 course, but don't any of you let me catch you on this side
 
 326 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 of it. Another thing, I will 'get' the next one of your 
 cowardly curs who jeers at this house again while passing. 
 I don't want any of you to ever even look at my house. If 
 you do, and I find it out, there will be trouble." After 
 making him promise to deliver the message, I again grab- 
 bed him by the collar, and pulling the door open, booted 
 him into the street. I always gave Duffy credit for deliver- 
 ing the message, for that gang always behaved themselves 
 when passing the house thereafter, and always kept to the 
 other side of the street. 
 
 St. Louis was not the only scene of rioting and mob 
 violence during the strike. At Sedalia, where the main 
 engine building plant of the company is located, and where 
 about 2000 machinists and other shopmen were employed, 
 conditions were very bad. Sedalia was also the head- 
 quarters of the operating department of the "Katy,"- one 
 of the Gould properties, and a division point for all Mis- 
 souri Pacific lines at that time running through Missouri. 
 In fact, it was what might be called a railroad town. It 
 was also the main headquarters of the strikers. The 
 Knights of Labor were very strong, even most of the 
 business men of the city belonging to the order. Tl^ 
 strikers had their own way for several days. Each at- 
 tempt on the part of Superintendent Sibley to move trains 
 was the signal for rioting. To illustrate the boldness of 
 the strikers, I will relate one incident. Adjutant General 
 J. C. Jamison, of Governor Marmaduke's staff, had been 
 sent to Sedalia to investigate conditions there. He went 
 to the yards and with two police officers, boarded an en- 
 gine, attached to a train, which the officials were attempt- 
 ing to get out of the yards. The engine was given steam 
 and the train started. Before it had gone a hundred yards, 
 however, a mob climbed aboard the engine, stopped the
 
 THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE. 327 
 
 train, uncoupled the engine from the train, put on steam, 
 and ran the engine down the Katy track about two miles, 
 and after letting all the water out of the boiler, ran the 
 engine back to the yards and into the roundhouse. No at- 
 tempt was made to^, harm the adjutant general and the 
 police officers by the mob. Immediately on the arrival of 
 the captured engine at the roundhouse, the leaders of the 
 mob, who proved to be John Perry and Fred Page, two 
 of Martin Irons' most trusted lieutenants, were placed 
 under arrest by Chief of Police Barnett of Sedalia and a 
 couple of his officers. The arrest caused one of the worst 
 riots ever witnessed in the little city. The men were finally 
 locked up, however, by the plucky Chief of Police, but 
 were soon released on bond. This riot caused a change 
 of sentiment on the part of the business men, which up 
 to this time had been with the strikers entirely, and within 
 a few days enough volunteer guards had been secured to 
 handle the situation. Traffic was then resumed on the 
 roads. Many of the ringleaders were indicted by the 
 Grand Jury, but none of them were tried, they being 
 allowed to leave the county. 
 
 At Kansas City, Parsons, Denison, Ft. Worth, Palestine, 
 Little Rock, and many other places much rioting was 
 indulged in by the strikers, and much property was de- 
 stroyed, and worse, several lives were sacrificed. 
 
 Martin Irons, after the strike, was completely deserted 
 by the men whom he had led, and became a wanderer and 
 an outcast, a veritable human derelict. His constitution 
 had become so weakened by the excessive use of liquor 
 that he could not hold a job as a machinist, although he 
 was a good workman. He then tried lecturing, but in 
 this he was not successful. Later he opened a lunch coun- 
 ter at Kansas City. This enterprise was also a failure.
 
 328 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 He finally wandered down into Arkansas, and one morning 
 was found dead in a hovel. Never was the biblical admoni- 
 tion, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," more plainly illustrated 
 than in the case of poor Martin Irons. 
 
 WHY I OPPOSE REWARDS. 
 
 IT OFTEN IS AN INCENTIVE FOR UNSCRUPULOUS OFFICERS TO 
 CONVICT INNOCENT PERSONS — RULE REGARDING 
 DIVORCE CASES. 
 
 I do not believe in rewards, and in all my long career, 
 have made it a rule to never work for, or receive one, no 
 matter how great the amount offered for the arrest and con- 
 viction of the guilty party, or parties — this being the usual 
 way that the heading of a reward is written. 
 
 Nor do I believe in or engage in procuring evidence in 
 divorce cases. 
 
 However, I can see no objection to the offering of a 
 reward for the apprehension or capture of a fugitive who 
 is known to have committed a certain crime against the 
 law, and for whom a warrant has been issued, and I believe 
 the detective, or any other person, who makes the arrest 
 would have the right to accept such reward. 
 
 Where the reward is offered for the arrest and convic- 
 tion of some person, for a crime that has been committed, 
 and the guilty party, or parties, is unknown, I,.- from 
 personal experience, have been led to the belief that the 
 offering of a reward, especially a large reward, is an in- 
 centive for unscrupulous people, and especially unscrupu- 
 lous officers of the law, to fasten the crime on some un- 
 fortunate, or perhaps some dishonest or undesirable citizen, 
 which can be found in almost any community, in order to
 
 WHY I OPPOSE REWARDS. 329 
 
 obtain the reward. These unfortunate people are easier 
 to convict of a crime than persons who have always borne 
 a good reputation. Then, again, the offering of a reward 
 for criminals whose identity is unknown, tends to keep 
 a certain class of people from divulging facts that they 
 may know, which might, if properly utilized, lead to the 
 identity, arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of the 
 crime for which the reward was offered. 
 
 To make it more plain, when a crime has been committed, 
 and no reward is offered, this same class of people are more 
 liable to "come out from under cover" and tell what they 
 know about the facts in their possession, believing them 
 of no material value to the officers engaged in running 
 down the culprit. 
 
 Experienced detectives have been very often handicapped 
 by reason of a reward having been offered, and, for this 
 reason, I have always made it a rule to pay no attention 
 to rewards. 
 
 While I am satisfied that it is, in many cases, neces- 
 sary for the purification and preservation of society, to 
 thoroughly investigate divorce cases as it is to apprehend 
 and convict people who have committed a theft or other 
 crimes, by reason of the fact that there are so many crooked 
 and unscrupulous men, who claim to be detectives, and 
 who make the divorce business their specialty, in order to 
 elevate myself and my service from the level of this class 
 of people, I formed a rule, at the beginning of my career, 
 not to have anything to do with divorce cases.. This rule 
 I have always rigidly enforced.
 
 330 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 WHY I AM OPPOSED TO HANGING. 
 
 AVERSION TO THIS MODE OF EXECUTION WAS CAUSED BY AN 
 INCIDENT WHICH HAPPENED AT BELLEVILLE ILLINOIS, 
 YEARS AGO — THROUGH THE TRAP WITH 
 A MURDERER. 
 
 In my younger days I was a firm believer in hanging 
 as a means of capital punishment, but I do not hold the 
 same views now, and have net for a long time. As my 
 friends have often asked me what caused me to change 
 my mind on this matter, I am now going to take them 
 into my confidence, and tell them all about it. 
 
 Several years ago I had some important business to 
 transact with Sheriff Ropiequet of St. Clair County, Illi- 
 nois. I went to his office in the Court House at Belleville. 
 The deputy in charge informed me that the sheriff was 
 over in the jail yard putting the finishing touches to 
 arrangements for hanging a negro named Johnson, who 
 had been convicted of killing his wife in a most brutal man- 
 ner. The deputy further informed me that if my business 
 was important, I had better go to the jail at once, as the 
 sheriff would probably be too busy later to see me until 
 after dinner. Acting on this tip, I at once went to the 
 jail and was admitted. The sheriff told me he was too 
 busy at the time to attend to the business, and would be 
 until after the hanging, and invited me to witness the 
 execution, which was to take place in a few moments. I 
 cared nothing about this, as the witnessing of executions 
 had long since ceased to be a novelty to me, but under 
 the circumstances, I accepted the invitation. 
 
 The scaffold had been erected in the yard surrounding 
 the jail. The platform, which was about eight feet square, 
 rested on four upright posts, about six and a half feet from
 
 WHY I AM OPPOSED TO HANGING. 331 
 
 the ground. The trap door, which was about three feet 
 square, was located in the center of the platform, and 
 fastened to one end by two hinges, opening downward. 
 The other end was fastened on the underside by a bolt, or 
 trigger, the pulling of which would allow the body to drop 
 down through the platform. On the center of the trap door 
 was a soap box, on which the culprit was to stand while 
 awaiting the arranging of the noose, one end of which 
 ran around a pulley fastened to a cross-beam above the plat- 
 form, so that the rope could be adjusted to the proper 
 length. A stairway, about three feet wide, had been built 
 from the ground to the platform. 
 
 Within a few minutes, the sheriff and condemned man, 
 accompanied by a priest and a deputy sheriff, appeared at 
 the door leading from the jail to the yard in which the 
 execution was to take place. As they marched toward the 
 scaffold the sheriff commanded me to join the procession, 
 which I did, following the party up the stairway to the 
 platform. The condemned man appeared cool and walked 
 with a firm step. I took a position to the right of him, 
 while the sheriff stood at his left. The priest and depmty 
 stood just back of us. After the man who was about to be 
 hanged had taken his position on the box on the trap, he 
 was asked if he had anything to say, as is usual on such 
 occasions. The negro made a complete cO(nfession of 
 his guilt, but claimed that the drinking of bad whiskey 
 was the real cause of his committing the crime, and ad- 
 monished all within the hearing of his voice to beware of 
 /strong drink. At the conclusion of his talk, the deputy 
 bound his legs and tied his hands behind him, while the 
 sheriff adjusted the black cap. The negro had an exceed- 
 ingly long head and neck, and as a result the cap did 
 not cover all of his neck, there being a space of an inch or
 
 332 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 two between the bottom of the cap and the top of his coat 
 collar. Just as the sheriff placed the noose around the 
 condemned man's neck, but before the officers had time to 
 tighten the rope, it came in contact with the bare place 
 on the negro's neck, and he fainted. The sheriff grabbed 
 one arm and I the other to keep the fainting man from 
 falling from the platform. In doing this we both stepped 
 on the trap. The deputy became rattled and pulled the 
 trigger at this moment, and all three of us started down 
 through the trap together. Now the sheriff was a very 
 large man, and I was no infant myself, so when all three 
 of our bodies reached the level of the platform we became 
 wedged in the opening. The noose had become taut, 
 just enough to strangle the negro a little, and he com- 
 menced to kick and squirm. Finally his body squeezed on 
 down, relieving the pressure on the sheriff and me, and we 
 both, too, fell through to the ground. We were not harmed 
 and were soon on our feet. Because of the fact that the 
 rope had not been adjusted to the proper length, the 
 negro's toes touched the ground, thus preventing the 
 breaking of his neck. He strangled to death, however, in 
 a few minutes. Since this incident I have been opposed 
 to hanging as a means of capital punishment. 
 
 A CROOKED DOCTOR'S CRIME. 
 
 ARREST OP THE CULPRIT, AND HIS CUNNING ATTEMPT TO PUT 
 
 HIS CAPTOR OUT OF THE WAY IN AN EFFORT 
 
 TO MAKE HIS EXCAPE. 
 
 In 1873, Mrs. Boardman, a widow woman with a large 
 family of grown children, resided on a small farm in 
 Venago County, Pennsylvania, a few miles east of Oil City. 
 She became acquainted with a Hebrew doctor, who called
 
 A CROOKED DOCTOR'S CRIME. 333 
 
 himself Dr. Solomon Steinman. He practiced medicine 
 for a short time in and about Rouseville, Pennsylvania. 
 
 There were a number of producing oil wells on Mrs. 
 Boardman's farm, and she, from the royalty obtained 
 from the products of these wells, had accumulated quite 
 a sum of money. The doctor, representing himself as a 
 bachelor, managed to grow into the good graces of the 
 widow, notwithstanding the fact that she was the mother 
 of two sons who were almost as old as himself. In a 
 remarkably short space of time the doctor succeeded in 
 obtaining ten thousand dollars of the widow's money, hav- 
 ing represented to her that he would invest it for her in 
 property that would yield fabulous profits ; but instead of 
 making the investment, he quite suddenly left for parts 
 unknown. 
 
 The widow's sons, on hearing that their mother had been 
 swindled, reported the matter to me, I being Chief of Police 
 of Oil City. They requested me to locate and cause the 
 arrest of the doctor on the charge of obtaining money 
 under false pretense. I undertook the task of learning 
 his whereabouts, and it seemed impossible to get any 
 trace of him. He had disappeared from his boarding house, 
 telling no person of his intention of leaving, and no trace 
 could be found that would indicate where he had gone. 
 He was at his boarding house for supper on the evening 
 of his departure, and quietly left, after eating his evening 
 meal, as though he was going to a cigar store or a barber 
 shop, leaving what wardrobe he had, grip and other 
 articles, in his room, and disappeared as effectually as 
 though the ground had opened up and engulfed him. 
 
 The evening trains had all left the town before he had 
 left his boarding house, so that he was obliged to have 
 left the town on foot. No one around Rouseville had ever
 
 334 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 seen a picture of him. He was a small man, dark com- 
 plexioned, about forty-five years of age, five- feet, six 
 inches in height, and weighed about one hundred and 
 thirty pounds, was smooth shaven, had black curly hair 
 sprinkled with gray, and had a decided Hebrew counte- 
 nance. About five months after his disappearance, in 
 looking over one of the morning papers, I noticed a short 
 article, giving an account of a Dr. Lewis who had been 
 arrested on the charge of malpractice, at Bay City, Michi- 
 gan, the day before. This article gave a minute descrip- 
 tion of the man arrested, and from this description, which 
 answered the one that I had of Dr. Steinman, I con- 
 cluded that I had found the person I was looking for. I 
 took the first train to Bay City and found Dr. Lewis in 
 his office, he having been released on a two thousand, five 
 hundred dollar cash bond, which he had placed in the hands 
 of the committing magistrate. I also learned that the man 
 giving the name of Dr. Lewis was none other than Dr. 
 Steinman. 
 
 He had already been indicted in Venango County, Penn- 
 sylvania, for obtaining money under false pretense, and 
 the prosecuting officer of Bay City, being willing to sur- 
 render him to me, I had no trouble in obtaining the neces- 
 sary requisition papers. After getting the papers I left 
 Bay City with my prisoner. 
 
 I searched him carefully and took charge of all his per- 
 sonal effects. We took the train for Detroit, Michigan, 
 arriving there in the afternoon. I locked him up in the 
 police station until ten o'clock that evening, when I took 
 him to the dock and boarded a steamer for Cleveland, 
 Ohio. It was the old steamer Northwestern, and our 
 state room was on the upper deck, pretty well forward. 
 We left Detroit about ten-thirty o'clock that night, and
 
 A CROOKED DOCTOR'S CRIME. 335 
 
 were due to arrive at Cleveland in the morning between 
 four and five o'clock. We retired about midnight. I 
 assigned the upper berth to the prisoner, while I occupied 
 the lower. As I said before, I had searched him thoroughly 
 before leaving Bay City. 
 
 About two o'clock in the morning, after leaving Detroit, 
 I dozed off to sleep, when I suddenly awakened and 
 smelled the strong odor of chloroform. The stateroom was 
 dark, but I reached up towards the upper berth and my 
 hand came in contact with the doctor's. He was holding 
 a cone that he had made from a towel, and had reached 
 down from his berth and was holding this cone over a 
 four ounce bottle of chloroform, and was trying to put 
 m^ to sleep for good, but the first breath that I had in- 
 haled, after he had placed the chloroform over my face, 
 aroused me. I grabbed his arm, pulled him out of his berth 
 onto the deck in front of the room, and would have thrown 
 him into Lake Erie, were it not for the fact that he yelled 
 at the top of his voice, and aroused the lookout on duty at 
 the forward end of the vessel, and also the wheelman, both 
 of whom reached us in time to prevent me from drowning 
 the doctor. If I had carried out my intention of throwing 
 him overboard, nothing could have saved him from drown- 
 ing. I then made him dress himself and took him down 
 to the forecastle, where the captain placed two of the crew 
 'o guard him until we arrived in Cleveland. 
 
 I have never learned how, or where, the doctor secured 
 the bottle of chloroform, as I had searched him thoroughly, 
 and I am positive he did not have it on him when we left 
 Bay City, and have come to the conclusion that he must 
 have secured it while he was in the lock-up at Detroit. Of 
 course, I did not search him there. 
 
 During the Civil War, on December 20, 1861, I received
 
 336 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 a gun shot wound above the right knee, at the battle of 
 Drainesville, Virginia, and before the doctor began to dress 
 the wound he administered chloroform to me. The after 
 effects of the stuff were very disagreeable and I did not 
 get over it for a long time, and resolved that I would never 
 again take chloroform under any circumstances. I really 
 suffered more from the nasty stuff than I did from the 
 wound. This, I presume, accounts for the shock the odor 
 of the chloroform produced on me. 
 
 I arrived with the prisoner at Oil City in due time. He 
 was tried at the first term of court thereafter, and convicted 
 and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of ten years. 
 
 I succeeded in locating and recovering nearly five thou- 
 sand dollars of the money the doctor had fraudulently 
 secured from the widow. This was returned to her by due 
 process of law. 
 
 CAPTURE OF A CLEVER SWINDLER. 
 
 SAM BENARd's unique METHOD OF DEFRAUDING THE RAIL- 
 ROADS — HOW HE DID THE WORK — HIS CONVIC- 
 TION AFTER A LONG CHASE. 
 
 Between the years of 1870 and 1876 the railroads of 
 this country had been swindled, time after time, by some 
 unknown person changing the address on an invoice of 
 goods after it had reached the railroad ofhce. This was 
 done on an order which purported to come from the firm 
 which had shipped the goods. 
 
 In February of 1876, a shipment of gentlemen's dress 
 goods was sent to A. A. Alden and Company of Franklin, 
 Pennsylvania, by Brock and Weiner of Buffalo. The con- 
 signment was valued at $721.19. A few minutes after the 
 goods had been delivered at the freight office, a man entered
 
 CAPTURE OF A CLEVER SWINDLER. 337 
 
 and told the agent that the boxes had been marked with 
 the name of the wrong town ; that they should go to Corry, 
 Pennsylvania, instead of Franklin. The agent demanded an 
 order from the firm, before making the change. The pre- 
 tended clerk wrote out the order, signing the firm name to 
 it, and the address, Corry, was substituted for that of 
 Franklin. This being done, the supposed clerk went to 
 Corry. Here he pretended that he was a merchant from 
 New York, and that he was to open an auction store in the 
 town. The merchant tailors did not like to have their 
 trade injured in this manner, so ofifered to buy the goods. 
 The pretended merchant sold them at a much reduced 
 price, and received a check for three hundred fifty nine 
 dollars and sixty cents. He indorsed the check with A. A. 
 Alden's name, thus adding forgery to his other crimes. 
 Then the case was given to me. 
 
 Two weeks went by without a clue to the swindler. I 
 found that other detectives had been hunting for a man 
 who had played the same game in other cities, but the 
 culprit had guarded himself so well that even his real 
 name was unknown. From the descriptions obtained and 
 from his general manner of operation, it was known that 
 the same person had been operating on all the roads where 
 this swindling had occurred. One day while in Bufifalo, I 
 chanced to go into a cigar store. At this time the news- 
 papers were full of the swindle, and some of the people 
 m the store were discussing the afifair. An old gentleman 
 who was among those present said that a young man who 
 had been employed in the same store with himself, about 
 six years previously, had swindled his employers in the same 
 manner. This was in Rochester. I took the hint and after 
 questioning the old man I found that the name of his 
 former working companion was William Benard. I went
 
 338 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 to Rochester, and while there obtained the names of some 
 of his acquaintances, and finally found a photograph of 
 him. The description given me by the detectives tallied 
 with the photograph of Benard. I therefore made up m}'- 
 mind that Benard was the man I wanted. After further 
 inquiry I found that relations of Benard lived in Detroit, 
 Michigan. I went there and obtained information as to 
 the whereabouts of the swindler. I followed him through 
 Montreal, Canada; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, 
 Toledo, Chicago, to St. Louis. He was known in all these 
 places as "Jew Harry." It seemed that it was impossible 
 to find a detective in any one place who had not at some 
 time or other been on Benard's tracks. 
 
 On my arrival in St. Louis, June 26, 1876, I went to the 
 office of Chief of Police McDonohue at once. I told him 
 who I was and that I had information which led me to 
 believe that Benard had worked in St. Louis. When the 
 Chief, who was very portly, and somewhat gruflf, heard 
 this, he straightened up in his chair, and said, "It is im- 
 possible. That fellow would not dare to come to St. Louis. 
 He would be afraid. He knows he could not work any 
 such game in this town. My police would be sure to get 
 him." I then told the Chief that I had reason to believe 
 that Benard had been in St. Louis within the last few 
 days. This idea the Chief fairly ridiculed. Just at this 
 moment a rather elderly man entered the office, in a very 
 excited manner. He had brown hair, streaked with gray, 
 and wore short side-burns, or galways, as they are some- 
 times called. He asked if he could see the Chief for a 
 few minutes, so I at once rose to leave the office. The 
 Chief told me to remain, then asked the visitor to state 
 his business. 
 
 He told the Chief that his name was H. M. Smith, and
 
 CAPTURE OF A CLEVER SWINDLER. 339 
 
 that he was a pawnbroker, in business at Eighth and Morgan 
 streets. He then went on to say that a man giving the 
 name of Solomon, representing that he was from Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, had called on him a few days previous. He 
 had represented himself as a pawnbroker, and had presented 
 the business card of Solomon & Company of Cleveland. 
 Mr. Smith told him that he knew of the firm, but never 
 had the pleasure of meeting a member of it. Solomon then 
 told Smith that he had a nephew who had been in busi- 
 ness with him for years, but that he had gone out west, 
 in the mining district of Colorado, and opened up a pawn- 
 shop of his own. There was then a large demand for 
 revolvers and pistols of heavy caliber, and that he had 
 ordered about two thousand dollars' worth of heavy caliber 
 guns and ammunition from the Simmons Hardware Com- 
 pany of St. Louis. After he had placed the order with 
 the request that it be packed and shipped immediately, he 
 had received a telegram from his nephew stating that he 
 had gotten into trouble and had been forced to leave the 
 country ; and, therefore, could not take the order from 
 Simmons. He requested Solomon to call at Simmons and 
 cancel the order. The Simmons people informed Solomon 
 that as the fire-arms were already packed and in the 
 freight-house, preparatory for shipping, they could not 
 cancel the order. Solomon then said to Smith, "I have 
 no use for these pistols and guns, and I can't ship them to 
 my nephew in Colorado since he has left there. I will have 
 these goods brought up to your store and you can examine 
 them. Then if you find them just as I have represented, 
 I will let you have them at your own price. You can 
 easily sell them and make some money on them." 
 
 Mr. Smith assented. Solomon then went and got a dray- 
 man and had the fire-arms brought to Smith's office from
 
 340 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 the freight depot. Solomon got there about the time the 
 goods did and had the cases opened. Smith found the 
 goods were just as Solomon represented, so he told Solo- 
 mon that he would give him eleven hundred dollars for 
 them, which was about half their value. Solomon, with 
 tears in his eyes, accepted Smith's check for that amount, 
 and left for parts unknown. On the morning of my arrival 
 and while I was talking to Chief McDonohue, Smith had 
 received by mail, a bill for the goods from Simmons Hard- 
 ware Company which extended to him the privilege of 
 discounting the bill, and that upon making immediate pay- 
 ment, he might deduct the usual percent. Whereupon 
 Mr. Smith called upon the Simmons Hardware Company, 
 and was there informed that a man resembling him very 
 much, had called there and selected the bill of goods, and 
 had also presented Smith's business card. They thought 
 it was Mr. Smith, and, upon finding him all right former- 
 ly, had unhesitatingly packed and shipped the goods as 
 directed. 
 
 Smith and Benard looked very much alike, wearing the 
 same style of beard and having about the same complexion. 
 Smith's description of Solomon, who was really Benard, 
 was very accurate; and finally wound up by saying that 
 Solomon looked enough like him to be his younger 
 brother. 
 
 While Smith was telling the Chief this story I was 
 listening, and when he began to describe Solomon, I asked 
 the Chief if I might be permitted to ask Mr. Smith a fev/ 
 questions. 
 
 "Why, certainly," replied the Chief. 
 
 "Do you think," I then said to Smith, "that you would 
 know this man, Solomon, if you should see him again?"
 
 CAPTURE OF A CLEVER SWINDLER. 341 
 
 "Surely !" answered Mr. Smith. "I would know him 
 anywhere." 
 
 I then took Benard's picture from my pocket, and asked 
 Smith if that resembled Solomon. He threw up his hands, 
 and exclaimed : 
 
 "Why ! That is him ! That's an excellent picture of 
 him !" 
 
 I then turned to the Chief and said, "Chief, it seems that 
 Benard was not afraid to come to St. Louis, after all." 
 
 I then got busy and learned that Benard had left St. 
 Louis over the Burlington and had gone to Quincy, Illinois, 
 a few days before my arrival. I then took the first train 
 for Quincy. There I learned of a similar swindle with a 
 case of goods shipped to Edina, Missouri. 
 
 I left at once for Edina. There the freight agent in- 
 formed me that a man named Solomon, and answering to 
 the description of Benard, had called for a case of goods ; 
 but the agent, who was a relative of the party to whom the 
 goods had been originally consigned, had refused to de- 
 liver them until presented with some identification. Just 
 about this time I received word that Solomon was walk- 
 ing out of town. I pursued him, arrested him and brought 
 him back to town. At first he denied everything, even 
 his photograph, but finally consented to go with me when 
 I brought out other proofs. I at once applied for a requisi- 
 tion from the authorities. 
 
 After the capture of Benard at Edina, by me, Benard's 
 lawyer insisted that he could not be taken to Pennsylvania 
 while he stood charged with a felony in Missouri. There- 
 lore, when he made his plea, I telegraphed a friend in St. 
 Louis to employ a good criminal lawyer, and have him 
 report to me at Edina. My friend employed Col. Nat. C. 
 Claiborne, of St. Louis. At the same time I wired Mr.
 
 342 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Smith to come at once, or send his son, Sam, to Edina, for 
 the purpose of identifying Solomon. In due time both Sam 
 Smith and Col. Claiborne arrived in Edina. Col. Claiborne 
 was an old citizen, and was well known all over the state. 
 He was acquainted with the Judge of Knox County, and 
 had him convene a special term of Court and empanel a 
 special Grand Jury. I arranged to have witnesses appear 
 before the Grand Jury, which immediately indicted Ben- 
 ard for the Edina swindle. Col. Claiborne assisting the 
 Prosecuting Attorney at Edina, for the State. Benard was 
 convicted and sent to the penitentiary at Jefiferson City, 
 Mo., for four years. I accompanied him to Jefferson City, 
 where I procured a duplicate of the receipt for the body of 
 Benard, from the Warden of the Missouri Penitentiary, 
 and previously a certified copy of the proceedings at the 
 trial and conviction in Knox County, which I turned over 
 to the officers of the Allegheny Valley Railroad on my 
 return to Pittsburgh. This satisfied them, but not so well 
 as if I had extradited Benard and brought him back to 
 Pennsylvania for triah 
 
 I omitted to say that on the night that Sam Smith 
 arrived in Edina, from St. Louis, that the small hotel was 
 filled to overflowing and the landlord was obliged to assign 
 Smith to my room, which was in the front of the second 
 story, just over the office. About ten o'clock that night, 
 just as Smith and I had retired to our room, preparatory 
 to turning in for the night, a shower of missiles such as 
 rocks, stones and pistol shots were fired through the 
 window of our room from the opposite side of the street. 
 Upon investigation I found that Benard had enlisted the 
 co-operation of some sympathizers, through a lawyer in 
 the town, whom he had employed to defend him, and at the 
 instance of whom this mob was formed with a view to
 
 LONG HUNT FOR A DEFAULTER. 343 
 
 frightening Smith and myself and the other witnesses, who 
 were to appear in the case, out of town. We were so 
 badly frightened that we did not leave town until Benard 
 had been tried and convicted, and when we left Benard 
 left with us. 
 
 LONG HUNT FOR A DEFAULTER. 
 
 INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE ARREST OF E. T. SIMMONS; 
 
 WHICH IS ACCOMPLISHED AFTER MUCH HARD WORK — 
 
 HIS CONVICTION. 
 
 In 1873, E. T. H. Simmons was employed as book-keeper 
 in the Oil City Savings Bank, at Oil City, Pa. Simmons 
 was about 28 years of age, and married. He had borne a 
 good reputation, was cultured, pleasant and mild mannered, 
 and also was known to be very industrious, and his associ- 
 ates were the best young people in the community. By per- 
 severance and his strict attention to business he had risen 
 from a messenger boy in the bank to head book-keeper. He 
 married a young and handsome lady, who was an adopted 
 daughter of a prominent citizen of Oil City, by the name of 
 Hiram Hoag. This young woman had been raised by her 
 adopted parents in luxury, and was stylish and naturally 
 extravagant. After her marriage to Simmons her extrava- 
 gant habits seemed to increase, to the extent that her bus- 
 hand's salary was not large enough to supply her demands. 
 His affection for her and his desire to satisfy her every 
 wish led him to steal the funds from the bank. At first 
 he took the money in small amounts, which he covered by 
 falsifying the accounts. The authorities of the bank noticed 
 that there was something wrong in the accounts, and 
 immediately and quietly employed the services of an ex-
 
 34-4 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 pert accountant, unbeknown to Simmons, the head book- 
 keeper. 
 
 On the morning that the expert accountant appeared at 
 the bank and took charge of the books Simmons suddenly- 
 feigned illness, and left the bank for his home, from which 
 he immediately disappeared for parts unknown, his wife 
 remaining in her home in Oil City. 
 
 Mr. John Mulwheeney, president of the bank, promptly 
 engaged the services of what was then considered the 
 greatest detective agency in the United States, to locate 
 and apprehend Simmons. However, the operatives of the 
 detective agency referred to, after a number of months had 
 been*consumed and a large amount of expense incurred by 
 them, had failed to locate the fugitive. Finally the presi- 
 dent, Mr. Mulwheeney, requested me to try and locate 
 -Simmons. In the meantime Simmons' wife had quietly 
 left Oil City, unbeknown to any person outside of the 
 family who had raised her, it being but natural for that 
 family to keep her whereabouts a secret. 
 
 I undertook the case only after the earnest entreaty of 
 President Mulwheeney. As a matter of fact, I thought that 
 the bank authorities should have applied to me in the first 
 place, after Simmons had disappeared, and before they 
 had engaged the detective agency. By reason that the 
 then far-famed detective agency had incurred an enormous 
 bill of expenses and finally failed, I bent all my energy 
 towards the task, and succeeded in a remarkably short space 
 of time in tracing Simmons' movements from the time he 
 left Oil City. I found that he had gone to New York 
 City, found there that he had boarded a ship for Panama, 
 Central America, and learned there that he had crossed 
 the Isthmus to Aspewall, and again boarded a ship from 
 there for San Francisco. At San Francisco he landed, I
 
 LONG HUNT FOR A DEFAULTER. 345 
 
 learned, and had gone across the bay to Oakland, Cali- 
 fornia, where he engaged lodgings, and a short time after 
 having arrived there he had obtained a position on board 
 a steamship as assistant purser. This ship was then plying 
 between San Francisco and Victoria, British Columbia. 
 
 I also ascertained that a wealthy old bachelor uncle of 
 Simmons resided in San Francisco, and was a large stock- 
 holder and director in the steamship line by which Simmons 
 was employed as assistant purser. I afterwards learned 
 that it was through the influence of this uncle that Simmons 
 had secured the position with the company. This uncle 
 was about seventy years of age, and was what was known 
 as a '49er. He was among the earliest of the mine prospect- 
 ors who had gone overland to California in the year 1849. 
 
 At the conclusion of my investigation I found that the 
 steamship on which Simmons was an officer was due to ar- 
 rive in San Francisco a few days later. In the meantime, I 
 ascertained that Simmons' wife had joined her husband in 
 Oakland, a.nd that they had fitted up a comfortable little 
 cottage in the suburbs of that town, so I quietly awaited 
 the arrival of the ship Mr. Simmons was employed on. 
 
 In due time the ship arrived, and I took up a position 
 where I could plainly see every one that left the ship. 
 Finally, after all the passengers had left, the officers began 
 to leave the ship for their homes, and among them I 
 noticed E. T. M. Simmons. Simmons had changed his 
 uniform for a suit of plain business clothes, and it being 
 after dark in the evening I had but little trouble in follow- 
 ing him unobserved. I shadowed him until he reached 
 his residence on Tenth street, in Oakland, where he was 
 met at the door by his wife and his mother, who appeared 
 to be on a visit at his home. I then withdrew and learned 
 that the ship would remain in port forty-eight hours
 
 346 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 The following morning- I took a train from Oakland for 
 Sacramento, California, for the purpose of procuring the 
 necessary requisition papers, which would authorize me 
 to arrest and convey Simmons from California back to 
 Venengo County, Pennsylvania, as the authorized agent 
 for the state of Pennsylvania. This I accomplished in a few 
 moments, having already procured all the necessary papers 
 with the exception of the signature of the Governor of 
 California. I returned to Oakland the same day, and about 
 ten o'clock, after first having ascertained that Simmons was 
 at his home, I, accompanied by Detective James Coffee, of 
 San Francisco, whom I had requested to assist me, 
 approached Simmons' cottage. I requested Officer Coffee 
 to ring the front door bell while I took up a position on the 
 porch at the back door. Coffee, as instructed, vigorously 
 rang the front door bell. When Simmons, who had gone to 
 bed, heard the bell he at once sprang from his bed, and 
 wrapping his clothes in a bunJie, not waiting to put them 
 on, ran to the back door, hastily opened it, and ran head- 
 long into my arms. I heard him instructing his wife, or 
 mother, as he left his room, not to open the front door 
 until he had time to get out of the back door. 
 
 This cottage, being in the suburbs, there was a large 
 open space of ground at the rear of the cottage, which 
 was thickly covered with live-oak trees, and if Simmons 
 had succeeded in getting away from the cottage and among 
 the live oaks he would have effectually been hidden by the 
 dense foliage, and would, in all probability, have made 
 his escape. 
 
 We at once took him to San Francisco, and by reason 
 of my having knowm him so well and favorably, I did not 
 lock him up, but instead took him to my room, where I 
 kept him until train time, when we took the Overland
 
 LONG HUNT FOR A DEFAULTER. 347 
 
 train for Omaha, Pittsburg and Oil City, where we arrived 
 in due time and safe, with but a single incident of im- 
 portance on the trip. Before leaving San Francisco I 
 told Simmons that if he would stay close to me during our 
 trip homeward I would not place him in irons, and that no 
 person on the train, not even the crew, would know that 
 he was a prisoner. He agreed to this and everything went 
 along swimmingly until after midnight on the second night 
 out of San Francisco. Simmons and I occupied a lower 
 single berth in the Pullman. Simmons was sleeping next 
 to the window, and I occupied the side next to the 
 aisle. I had made it a rule not to let Simmons go 
 to sleep, and kept talking to him just as long as 1 could 
 keep awake myself. The result was that Simmons got to 
 the point that he was ready to drop into slumber as soon 
 as I would allow him to do so by stopping talking to him. 
 In those days I could stand the loss of sleep if it was neces- 
 sary. On the second night, as I said, while I was feigning 
 sleep I noticed Simmons was also playing "possum." Final- 
 ly he quietly "turned the bed-spread down off of himself 
 and then noiselessly took his wearing apparel from the 
 hammock, which was above him, and proceeded to creep 
 over me into the aisle with his clothes under one arm. I 
 lay perfectly quiet and did not disturb him until he had 
 succeeded in reaching the aisle, when I suddenly grabbed 
 him by one of his limbs and threw him back into the 
 berth. He strenuously denied that he was trying to escape, 
 and protested that he was merely restless, and thought 
 he would sit up a while and not disturb me, but, as a 
 matter of fact, he was really attempting to escape from 
 the train. This occurred in a desert in Utah, but after that 
 he behaved himself and made me no further trouble. 
 After we arrived in Oil City he was locked' in the
 
 348 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 county jail, in default of bail, and when his case was called 
 he pleaded guilty to the charge of embezzlement and 
 was sentenced, by the Hon. John M. Trunkey, at Franklin, 
 Pa., to a term of ten years in the Western Penitentiary of 
 Pennsylvania, which is at Allegheny City. 
 
 However, after he had pleaded guilty and received his 
 sentence, and before he had been taken to the penitentiary, 
 he received a letter from his wife, written from Oakland, 
 California, in which she coolly and heartlessly informed him 
 that as he had pleaded guilty to a charge of felony, and had 
 been sentenced to a term in prison, that she had decided 
 to avail herself of her legal privilege, under the existing 
 conditions, and apply for a divorce from him, which the law 
 would grant her on the ground that he was a convicted 
 felon, and that she had made up her mind to marry his 
 wealthy old uncle, the "forty-niner" who had procured 
 Simmons his position on the steamship. She immediately 
 proceeded to carry out her plans. She wound up her letter 
 by saying that she would rather be an old man's darling 
 than a felon's slave. 
 
 The contents of this letter almost broke poor Simmons' 
 heart. Every person in and about Oil City, who knew 
 him, knew that it was through her extravagance and love 
 of luxury that he had committed the crime, and when the 
 contents of this letter became known the sympathy of all 
 who knew Simmons was aroused in his favor, and the 
 best people in the community, including the officers of the 
 bank whose funds he had embezzled, filed a petition with 
 the governor of the state for a pardon for him. This 
 petition was later signed by the prosecuting attorney and 
 by Judge Trunkey, himself. 
 
 Meanwhile Simmons had been taken to the peniten- 
 tiary, but he only remained there a short time until the
 
 GEORGE HERSOGG'S DOWNFALL. 349 
 
 g-overnor of the state pardoned him. On his release he went 
 immediately to California to find his former wife, now the 
 wife of his old uncle, and at once instituted proceedings 
 for the custody of their child, which he easily obtained. 
 The child was born a short time after his father's arrest, 
 and Simmons had never seen his son. Simmons obtained 
 employment in the passenger department of a large rail- 
 road company. This position he filled creditably for a 
 number of yeais. 
 
 His former wife visited Oil City about two years after 
 her marriage to the second husband. She was accompa- 
 nied by a couple of maids and a number of trunks, which 
 contained many costly robes and gowns. During her stay 
 in Oil City she called on a number of her girlhood friends 
 and, acquaintances, but it so happened that they were 
 all out when she called and finding it impossible to meet 
 them she, as the soldiers say, "hiked" from Oil City, and so 
 far as the writer knows has never been heard of in that 
 city since. 
 
 GEORGE HERSOGG'S DOWNFALL. 
 
 FACTS REGARDING THE CONVICTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL 
 AND GREAT NORTHERN BAGGAGEMAN OF MANY CRIMES. 
 
 Early in the '80s the railroad companies of the Southwest 
 were troubled very much by the continued receipt of com- 
 plaints of passengers from all quarters of the United States, 
 an^. some from foreign countries, and their filing claims for 
 articles which had been stolen from their trunks and other 
 baggage while in transit. 
 
 The Iron Mountain Railroad Company and the Inter- 
 national & Great Northern Railroad Company were both
 
 350 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 parts of the Gould System, and formed a through and 
 direct line between St Louis, Galveston and San Antonio, 
 Texas in the winter season both Galveston and San An- 
 tonio were winter resorts, largely patronized by health 
 seekers. The complaints became so numerous that they 
 were turned over to my department for investigation. 
 
 I took the matter up and alter a long and tedious investi- 
 gation decided to pay special attention to one George 
 Hersogg, who was employed as train baggage-master, run- 
 ning between Longview and San Antonio, Texas. In my 
 investigation I had noticed that nearly every case of lost 
 articles from baggage were traced to the train on which 
 Hersogg was baggage-master, therefore I concluded to test 
 him first. 
 
 Hersogg occupied a room in a private boarding house 
 when at Longview, where he had a twenty-four hour lay- 
 over. I sent one of my operatives, George Herbert, to 
 Longview, who represented himself as a railroad man, and 
 he secured a room in the same boarding house where Her- 
 sogg was stopping. After remaining there for a few days 
 Herbert became acquainted with Hersogg and with his 
 runs, and when he would be absent from his room. Having 
 accomplished this, Herbert became indisposed, and for that 
 reason was compelled to remain in his room for a few 
 days. 
 
 In the meantime impressions of certain keyholes had 
 been taken, and a number of skeleton keys had been sent 
 to Herbert at Longview. He had noticed that Hersogg 
 had two rather large trunks in his room, and when the 
 proper opportunity presented itself he examined the con- 
 tents of Mr. Hersogg's trunks, unbeknown to the inmates 
 of the boarding house, and to Herbert's great surprise he 
 found in one of the trunks a silver mounted Smith & Was-
 
 GEORGE HERSOGG'S DOWNFALL. 351 
 
 son, pearl handled revolver, which he immediately recog- 
 nized as the property of the Hon. Joseph Harris, who, at 
 that time, was Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, 
 but was in San Antonio for his health. Herbert also found 
 a number of articles of jewelry, which he knew to be the 
 property of Mrs. Harris. In this connection I will say that 
 Herbert had been a member of the St. Louis police depart- 
 ment prior to his entering my service, and while there he 
 had been on detached service at the Circuit Attorney's 
 office, in which capacity he had acted for about two years, 
 thereby meeting Mr. Harris daily, and seeing his wife very 
 frequently, and becoming familiar with both Harris' re- 
 volver and Mrs. Harris' jewelry. 
 
 Upon the discovery of the revolver Herbert promptly 
 reported to me by wire code. Up to that time we had had 
 no report of the Harris robbery, and, in fact, did not know 
 that Mr. Harris had gone to San Antonio. On receipt of 
 Herbert's report, I at once got into communication with 
 Harris at San Antonio, and he verified the loss of the 
 articles which Herbert had reported he had found in the 
 trunk of the baggageman at Longview. 
 
 Herbert also found other articles, the loss of which had 
 been reported from various sections of the country. The 
 most valuable article was a diamond and emerald ring, 
 which contained one large diamond and two small sized 
 emeralds. This ring was the property of a lady who lived 
 at Peoria, 111., and who had gone over the route to San 
 Antonio some months before the discovery of it in Her- 
 sogg's trunk. vShe valued the ring at about $800.00. 
 
 We arrested Hersogg, and he was tried in due time con- 
 victed and served four years in one of the state prisons of' 
 Texas.
 
 352 FIFTY YEARS A DETECTIVE. 
 
 Many of the stolen articles which were recovered were 
 fully identified, and returned to their owners. 
 
 It developed that Hersogg had provided himself with 
 skeleton keys of all sizes and styles. Having a whole bag- 
 gage car to himself, he was thus able to open and inspect 
 all the baggage at his leisure. He was afforded ample time 
 between stations in which to loot the contents of the bag- 
 gage car, and strap and lock them up again, leaving no 
 trace on the outside of the baggage having ever been 
 tampered with. 
 
 The capture and conviction of Hersogg was not only a 
 source of relief to the Gould System, but was an equal 
 relief to all connecting lines. 
 
 (THE END.)
 
 Organized at St. Louis, 1880 Incorporated 1891 
 
 Furlong Secret Service Company 
 
 SUITE 1206 CHEMICAL BUILDING 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Thomas Furlong, President and General Manager. 
 John U. Menteer, Vice-President and Ass't Gen. Manager. 
 E. D. Dawson, Secretary and Treasurer. 
 J. S. Manning, Superintendent, St. Louis, Mo. 
 W. E. Ward, Superintendent, Chicago, 111. 
 L. I. Ziegler, Superintendent, Cincinnati, O. 
 Suite 205 Lyric Theatre Building. 
 J. E. Smith, Superintendent, Houston, Tex. 
 
 Correspondents and Resident Operatives in all the principal 
 
 cities of the United States and all foreign 
 
 countries. 
 
 This Company furnishes competent and reliable operatives 
 to railroads, corporations, lawyers and firms, to 
 do all kinds of legitimate detec- 
 tive work. 
 
 We do not handle divorce cases or work for rewards.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 , Page 
 
 Preface 3 
 
 Sidelights on the Business 5 
 
 The Preller Murder Case {Illustrated) 9 
 
 The Big Cotton Swindle 39 
 
 A Remarkable Case {Illustrated) 66 
 
 Tracing Train Wreckers {Illustrated) 76 
 
 "Moonshining" in the Oil Regions {Illustrated) 91 
 
 The Capture of Wess Watts {Illustrated) 98 
 
 Solving a Trunk Mystery {Illustrated) 123 
 
 The Glencoe Train Robbery {Illustrated) 130 
 
 Running Down the Revolutionists 137 
 
 A Dallas Murder Avenged 148 
 
 The Toughest of Tough Towns {Illustrated) 162 
 
 The Rohan Express Robbery 180 
 
 Arrest of Lawrence Poyneer {Illustrated) 190 
 
 Ticket Forgers Run Down 193 
 
 Conviction of John Collins {Illustrated) 198 
 
 Fred Erfert's Fall From Grace 207 
 
 Battle With Would-Be Bandits „ 219 
 
 The Great Pittsburg Strike 229 
 
 Murder of Conductor Frazier 238 
 
 Fight With a Maniac 249 
 
 Decoying a Bad Man {Illustrated) 252 
 
 Tragic Death of Bill Casey 269 
 
 Subduing a Notorious Bully 279 
 
 A Ruse That Worked 285 
 
 Charlie Dalton, Outlaw 293 
 
 Conspirators Handed a Lemon 297 
 
 The Big Southwest Strike {Illustrated) 306 
 
 Why I Oppose Rewards 328 
 
 Why I Am OppCJsed to Hanging 330 
 
 A Crooked Doctor's Crime 332 
 
 Capture of a Clever Swindler 336 
 
 Lofig Htmt for a Defaulter 343 
 
 George Hersogg's Downfall 349
 
 
 AlNrt-l 
 
 
 ill 
 
 
 t 
 
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 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. 
 
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