Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-11-01
DETECTIVE WORK.
The Element of Chance a,tet HIb
the Criminal Glasses.

Tho Element of Chance a,tst Hp
the Criminal Glasses.
A great deal of what passes for fine
detective work is nothing Eore or less
than sheer lucA," said Police Captain
Washburn, of the Twentieth Precinct to
a Tribune reporter. 81 have had good
deal of experience in that line myself.
1 remember particularly the case of
Kank onsky, who murdered Lena Muller,
in New Jersey. From package of to-
bacco found at the scene of the murder
it was thought that the parties lived in
my precinct, and Coroner Virgins, who
had charge of the case, asked my assist
ance, which, of course, was cheerfully
given, although the work did not prop
erly belong to me. l worked hard on
it, but was unable to gain any clue, and
other work coming up which unfortun.
ately demanded my attention, / let the
matter drop.
"One day German butcher, Philip
Emden, came to the station and said that
a man namel Kankonsky had been re-
ceiving letters addressed under the name
of Kettler; and he thought he was the
man who committed the murder. i at
once put men to watch the house.
Shortly after our men got there two men
who turned out to be Jersey Policemen
and reporter from a Jersey City paper
arrived. They had tracked the baggage
to the house, and they acted in such a
suspicious manner that they were ar
rested. 1t was solely due to the fact
that the German butcher noticing that
Kankonsky was receiving letters under
a false name and having the good sense
to report it to me that led to the murder
e-'s arrest.
"When l was a keeper in Sing Sing a
prisoner named Dunn escaped. The
papers said there had been bribery and
all that sort of stuff. Mr.. Lockwood was
warden then and he told me that he
wanted me to find the man. l came to
the city and put in about a month OF
the hardest kind of work. / found
plenty of traces, but never could lay my
hands on him. At last gave up the
chase in disgust, went back to the prison
and reported for duty. When the war.
den saw me he asked me what meant
by coming back without the prisoner
told him that couldn't do anything
more. He said, Go to New York anc
don't dare to come back without the
prisoner / asked him for money, anG
he gave me an order on Leggett & Co.
the provision merchants who furnished
the prison with supplies, and 1 came
back to the city. drew $50, and made
up my mind ifthe State of New York
could stand paying my expense l coulG
stand it too. had no idea of Worrying
myself about Dunn. / went up to Tom
Hyer place and had a rafting good
breakfast and bottle of wine. Then
spent fifty cents for three cigars, anC
lighting one of them started out for {
stroll. ] went down the bowery as fal
AS Bayard Street when man whom
recognized as an ex-convict came up Il
me and said: Hello, Washburn! Hav,
you found Dunn yetp No. answered
and don't care much whether / hay,
or not
"I'm sorry for that he said, 'becaus,
he and have been doing some work to
gether and the blank thief won't divid,
and if you'll put up enough I'll Civ,
him away l clinched bargain Will
the fellow and the next night he tool
me to Dunn's place and 1 got him
When took him back TO the pris IN tn
warden comp,imented me on my perse
verance. Perseverance be hanged
said, and then / told him the who!
story. He enjoyed it immensely, an
another case that call to mind wa
when l was patrolman in Beekma
Street. My day post was in Made
Lane. One morning man came tc N
and said that he had lost firkin of bu
ter; could get it for him? 1 told him
course | could. thought then and sti
think the man must have been a fool [
think l could find tub, of butter tbs
had been stolen for two hours. He CAV
me the marks on the tub, which i'm
mediately forgot. My night post was {
Fulton Market, and had hardly gon
on post when l saw a man with a tub
butter on his shoulder. / saw that tn
marks were similar to those given to M
and stopped him. He gave a lame e,
PLANTATION of how he got the butter an
took him and the butter to the station
1t turned out that it was the very butte
that had been stolen. The owner too
the recovery as matter of course, an
I'll bet if he ever lost another tub an
it wasn't recovered at once that he a,
cused the police of incapacity. / coul
give numerous other instances, but tn
is enough to show that great deal {
the so called fine detective work is til
result of luck, pure and simple. L don
deny though that great many, in fac
large PERCENTAGE of the hard work
the result of sheer downright hard wor
and keen detective ability.