Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-06-20
GOOD DETECTIYE FORK.

| GOOD DETECTITE YORK.
A Good Job of Work by Bresett-A Brnte
OF the Coiored Persuasion In DURANGO
History of His Crime and Arrest.
AT an early hour, on Thursday morning last,
dastardly attempt was made to commit an in
decent assault upon the person of young
Swede girl named Ida Lofstedt, in
the employ of Mr.. Henry A. Brewster, who
keeps the boarding house on the corner of
Sixth and Robert streets. The facts as the
girl relates them, are as follows:
| She occupied room in the first story over
the kitchen, the window of which had been
left open on account of the heat. Between one
and two o'clock, as near as she could Tx the
hour, she was awakened by what she at first
thought was rain dropping on her face and night
clothes, and in a moment or two she felt
burning sensation on her shoulder She removed
her night dress and in a few moments thereaf-
ter felt hand upon her knee. Surprising it
was one of her fellow servants, who occasional
ly slept with her, she called out, "Nellie, is
that you?" Immediately hand was placed
on one side of her head and grasped her throat
and muffied voice said ''be quiet" Now
thoroughly alarmed she struggled with her as
sallant and began to scream. This frightened
the intruder and he made hasty exit from the
room through the open window, and all she
| saw OF him was his hands as he laid them On
the window in springing out Frightened as
she was she noticed that the hands were black,
| and from this she came to the conclusion that
! her assallant was negro. She at once rushed
to Mr.. Brewster's room and in excited language
related what had occurred. At first Mr.. and
Mrs. Brewster thought the girl had been dream
| ing.
visit to the girls room, however, bore evil
dence of the truth of her story. The bed
clothes were disarranged, and a strong odor of
chloroform hlled the room. In addition, two
| handkerchicfs, one soiled silk one, and a
| white, were found on the bed further
search IN the morning showed that high dry
goods box had been placed under the window,
| by which the scoundrel obtained access, and on
! the top of that laid a small vial labeled poi
| son, ''chloroform." This was conclusive evil
dence that diabolical attempt had been made
| to outrage the girl. The mystery was who had
| attempted to commit the deed. The girl was
totally unable to give any description of the
1end beyond the fact that she thought it was
negro from the fieeting glimpse she caught of
his hands as he made his exit. With this
slight clew the matter was placed in the hands
OF Detective Johnny Bresette, sand as
the result he succeeded in working
| mp the neatest piece of detective business
known to the annals of this or any other city.
After visiting the premises and hearing the
stories of the girl, and MIR. and Mrs. Brewster,
he commenced still hunt, and yesterday
| afternoon, between and o'clock, he ran his
man to earth, and lodged him in the city jail.
! AS stated above, the only clue he had was the
two handkerehiefs and the empty bottle
| labeled chlOroform. The vial which had con-
tanned the poison did not bear the name of any
druggist, and hence he had to visit every drug
| g1st's establishment in the city to find out if
they could recognize it. In this ne was sue
cessfni, finally tracing it to the establishment
Sf.,or e. II,
| q Lath keep an accurate and complete account
OF every poisonous package they sell,
together with the date and the name
OF the person to whom delivered. When
the vial was shown them, one OF the partners
at once recognized the label as that of the firm,
and by turning to their books he found that 1t
had been sold to negro who gave his name at
Henry Johnson, but stated that he wanted it
for another negro named Henry Lewis. This
was on the 18th day of May last. and MIR. Lutz
was confident that he could identify the person
II he saw him again. Armed with this much
intelligence, Brlsette started out again to find
negro who answered to either of the names
given. After long and diigent search. both
night and day, to his utter dismay, he could
not discover negro in the city who answered
to either of those names. Now, Bresette! knows
nearly if not every colored man in the city by
sight, and he next determined to keep look
out for any strange face of that color he came
across. Between and 5 o'clock yesterday
afternoon he saw negro approaching him on
Robert street, aud, with an intuition born OF
skilled detective work, he at once made up his
mind that he had his man. Without auy
ceremony he arrested him upon charge of
stealing suit of clothes. The fellow denied
the charge when Bresette told him to come
along and prove his innocence by confronting
his accuser. This threw the follow off his
guard, and he walked along up to Wabashaw
street Durincr the he maraOpd tn mt
his hand in his pocket and took out pocket
knife with villianous blade but the quick eye
of the officer noted the movement, and as long
as his prisoner did not attemp4 to open it, he
paid no attention to the action, being anxious
not to give his prisoner any intimation of the
real charge against him. Arriving at the
corner of Wabashaw and Sixth streets, the officer
suddenly rushed his prisoner into
the drug store of Stuart q LutZ, and
pulling out the BOTTLE asked the proprietors if
they recognized the label and they answered IN
the affirmative. Next they were asked If the
prisoner was the man who bought it, and again
they answered yes. At this the fellow wilted,
and ne walked as meek as lamb to the city
Jail. After being placed in the cell he admit
ted to Bressett that he bought the poison for
another man, and that his name was William
Lane. From all that can be gathered concern
ing him he has been in st. Paul only about a
month, and has been laying about the city do
Ing noth1ng. For seVeraI nights ne Das Deem
sleeping in the neighporhood of the Brewster
mansion, and thus became familiar with the
surroundings. He will have an examination
to morrow morning, and there Is no doubt,
from the chain of evidence which Bressett will
bring out, that he will be held to answer the
charge against him. Taking it altogether as
stated above, this is about as neat piece of
detective work as we have been called upon to
record in some time, and is another laurel IN
Detective Bressett's cap.