The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-08-07
ONE OF PINKERTON's FEATs
The Accusing Blood that Led a Muir
dcrcr To Commit Suicide.

ONE OF PlNk EkIONS FEAIS
Tho Accusing Blood that Led MUIR
dcrcr To Commit Suicide.
"a was just thinking" said Captain
r. }. Linden, superintendent of Pink
crton's Detective Agency, "of the
wonderful will power and untirlng per-
severance Of Allen Pinkerton. Very
few persons, unless they were init
mately associated with him, would be-
Heyo that any person could possess
such patient persistence, which sur
mounted obstacles that to ordinary
men would appear like impossible
mountains. Major Pinkerton was n
man with a big heart. | don't think
he knew how to do mean thing. He
was one of those honorable, fair-mind-
ed men, who, while giving everybody
their due, eXaCted the same for himself.
In matters Of business he insisted on
getting every penny that belonged to
him, and once he made promise it
was lived up to il it cost him every
penny he owned in the world. His
likes and dislikes were intense. If he'
became your friend
NO AMOUNT OF CALUHNY
on the part of your enemy could
change his opinion; but if he disliked,
you, neither arguments nor entreaties
could shake him an iota.
Major Pinkerton' perseverance and
ingenuity were the secrets Of his sue
cess in all his undertakings. If he
could not accomplish his purpose by
one plan he Immediately resorted to
another. His mind was wonderfully
fertile in expedients, and it was q rare
thing for him to fail when he had once
set his mind upon success. You can
form some idea of his ready tact and
capacity for planning in the case of the
colored murderer Johnson, of South
Carolina, who killed an enemy under
the most brutal circumstances. Major
Pinkcrton was pretty positive as to the
mans guilt, but it was impossible to
obtain complete chain of evidence.
With the natural secretiyeness of his
race, johnson refused to fall into any
of the man-traps laid for him and
make a confession, which was Pinker-
toms object. After weeks of patient
but abortive work, novel plan was
hit upon. The murderer was surprised
one morning when he went to take u
pillow into field to find it spattered
with blood. In the open field where
ne was to work the murderer found
LITTLE POOLS OF BLOOD
along the course he was to plow. When
he went back to the stable he was
startled by seeing the bloody imprint of
n human hand on the stable door.
Livery hoe, or rake, or other farm I'M
plement that the man picked up had
blood on it. When nightfall came the
murderer was so paralyzed with fear
that his teeth were chattering and he
was afraid to 90 to bed. He believed
that the spirit of his victim was haunt
ING him. The detective and his assist
ant noted these symptoms, and were
confident that the right plan had been
struck at last. 1t had been after
fashion, and there was horrible proof
given the next day. Johnson was
found in the barn with his throat cut
from ear to ear. He had killed himself
rather than endure the tortures of q
guilty conscience. | need not explain
| that the blood marks which frightened
the murderer's guilty soul were the
work of the detectives and not Of
spirits.
ut was in that kind of detective
work that Major Pinkerton excclled.
He could change his tactics so that the
man or men he was seeking would be
led into trap when they really
thought they were getting out of one.
There are scores and scores of such in
stances, but they have all been pub
lished from time to time as they oc-
Cured and | do not suppose would
interest you. 1t was one of Major
Pinkerton' rules to conceal nothing
from the public of public interest, after
the work was done, and it was another
inhexible rule to tell the public nothing
before the job was finished or while it
was in progress, From this he never
departed. and his sons, William and
Robert, who are their fathers success
ors, will adhere to it rs rigidly rs the
founder of the agency did. '-Phj!adeI-
| pbia Press.
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