Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1868-02-08
SELECTED STORY.
TEE sTORE OF q FAHOUs DETECTIVE
OFFICER.
From the Albany Eve. Journal

fer than all, a successful detective. HIS
fame was in DO wise contracted within
the pent-up Utica" of even the great
netTopoIis OF our country. 1t pervad-
ed the State, and by the powerful IN
strumeptality of the Press, had per
neDted aIl sections of the Union. Not
fame alone, however, had rewarded his
efforts. nor was that the only recon-
pense he mad sought. Wealth had
been gathered In his Golfers. DE had
been employed In very many cases
when the large amount OF property IN
volved had brought handsome re-
unuDeratiOn for Its recovery. The
world knew little, il anything, of the
means bv which he had attained such
eminent, and, IN many instances. such
slppuIsr- success. The parties whose
property he recovered, and who so
gladly remunerated him with munlti-
osnt iargesses, may have had reason to
SUSPECT that he bargained with guilt TO
bring about such miraculous results,
and such golden harvests, but IN the
fuIlness Of their Joy they did not ioiter
to make inquiry, or to seek discovery
By the process OF reason.
But the tide which, ''taken at the
flood had led him to fortune" had be-
gan to ebb. Others, quite as skllful,
had grown mp to measure strength and
fame with him. The easy and Access
sibIe avenues that he had travelled to
success were quite as open to others,
and they used them. For some time
he had done nothing to give renewed
spur TO his celebrity, and enable him
to keep pace with others who were
passing him on the goal to success.
He came hither In the summer of
1885,. Obtaining a private audience,
he announced his purpose to be to OBJ
tain q warrant Tor the arrest OF one or
two persons upon the charge of being
engaged In the utterRnce of counter
felt money.
They resided, or at least operated"
in the contiguous village of -, then
and for a long while well known as a
great entFepot for that kind OF illicit
traffic But lew inquiries we're made,
and bat little evidence exacted, and
the process was issued Nothing more
was seen, heard, or thought of the off
Ger OF the case till the expiration of a
week. Then the officer returned, and
with a prisoner IN his keeping.
An examination of the case was en-
tered upon. The prisoner quickly and
impulsively insisted upon having the
privilege of procuring legal counsel,
and coupled his request with vigor-
Gus asseveration OF his innocence
There was present a third person who
seemed then and subsequently to act
in the capacity of dR1icUs cIv-iR TO the
prisoner, while his relations with the
officer were friendly and confidential.
This circumstance, though not then
the subject of comment, or curiosity,
subsequently, contributed much to the
development of the. facts of the case.
an attorney was procured through the
efforts of this friend, and the latter
engaged earnestly in the brief cOnsulta-
ton that ensued between counsel and
client. AS the examination of the case
progressed, every ebullition OF sur
prise, denial, or innocence on the part
of the accused was repressed by the
effort of this imprOmptu friend, and
who was quick to prOffer the balm of
consolation to sssuage any swelling
grief. The attorney, too, counselled
resignation to his client, with a pecu-
liar fervor that, had a spectator sus-
pected the case to be a curious one,
might have thought there was a sin
gular affinity between the counsel and
the party, who, while he thus evinced
kindness to the prisoner, was undeni-
ably in the interest of the prosecution.
The case, however, proceeded with ac-
customed form, and those who, from
a sense of regard for the law, and the
interests of the public, rejoice in the
detection of the guilty, would have
believed that there had been caught,
and impaled for punishment. one of
that fearful horde of cOunterfeiters
that had so long burrowed at the place
In question, and scattered throughout
the community the mischievous fruits
OF their criminal labor.
The officer vas the sole witness. If
anything bad been wanting to give the
assurance of belief that instinctively
arose from his recognized reputation
for sagacity. method and directness, it
was To be found in the force of his
testimony, all whose parts dove-tailed
with one another, and with the SEM
blance of tru4h, with mechanical ac-
curacy, and vhich fastened itself about
the prisoner with links of steel.
The relation of the testimony wa:
that the officer, assured of his eventual
triumph, had been lying in wait, and
in CliQuise, for an entire week, that be
might encompass the parry with sucf
unmistakable and overpowering prOOI
OF guilt that no ingenuity nor circum
stance could shake their force. The
arrest had been made at the very mo
meut when ell these living proof
should have been accumulated In one
fearful volume, and the evidences o
the prisoners guilt overwhelmed bin
to mems eyes"
The prisoner and another, then alleg
ed to be a confederate, was seen Il
leave In a wagon q house long reputeC
20 be a rendezvous for men of that call
iny. and DEPOT for the manufacture
and sale of cOunterfeit bank notes. =
They were suddenly stopped upon the
highway by the officer, who sprane
upon them from his lair. He was sup
ported in bis sortie by the person be.
fore mentioned. who in the examina.
tiOn had so kindly aided the prisoner
Ia the procurement of counsel, and
the alienation of his eriefs. BY some
mishsp, whose circumstances none
stopped to inquire about, the compan-
ion, and supposed confederate of the
prisoner, escaped out of the wagon and
avoided arrest. Upon the person of