Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-11-20
THE OLD DETECTIVES STORY.


fnIl share of criminals on the ealows and be-
hbsd ne bars have had some rousing ad-
vsusurss and queer experiences. One OF the
lae>se hes been called to mind within day
q sWo by reading Of the death OF 9 man in
neeghboriDg city. For convenience sake
will call him Charles bennox.
was attached 10 the force OF q Western
oitv. and We had been running along for
many weeks without any break on the part
Of evil dcers, when a murder occurred. The
janitor Of q bank was found dead in the busi-
ne~n once OF the bank, with the outside
doors opsn. The man had been struck on
the side OF the head with some heavy weight
and his skull crushed. Nothing had been
taken from the bank, and so we reasoned in
this way Tho robbers had called the janitor
20 the door on some pretext or other, and rs
soon - he opened IL they rushed In aud dealt |
him the blow. II was the night before 10. |
cal election, and the approach of people who |
were carousIng or electioneering had ratified |
the robbers and they had fed. In these days |
= hank robber would have cooliy shut the |
door and gone to work on the safe, but they |
were different class OF men then. III they |
had not been, we should have probably ar |
Rued differently.
An inquest was held, a verdict rendered
that John shields came to his death at the
hands of parties unknown, and be was
buried. The robbers bad not left the slight
est clue behind tnefD, Dut rs WAS hnDIlipuS
to make name WAS allowed to begin work
ON the case. In town twelve miles away |
found, after long hunt livery stable man
who had let horse and buggy that night TO
two strangers, whom he accurately de-
scribed, and whom he believed to be two
brothers. They had told him they were
going TO Amesbury, but l traced them
straight to Blankville, which was the place
where the murder occurred. The town
where they hired the horse was Rossburg,
osa had tbara 40 in in fha
afternoon. They could have come down to
Blankville by the same train, and that they
did not argued was sharp trick on their
part They had driven away at haltpast
O'Clock. The body of the janitor was found
about To- The horse had been returned just
about midnight About 10 O'Clock, as | had
forgotten TO tell you, there was an alarm OF
fire in Blankville, and the fire department
was called out to quench a tre which had
been set in one corner ot large tSnnery.
The flames had not got much of a start and
were speedily drowned out, and the case was
reported as the work OF boys
had, then, alter two weeks work, clue.
Two bank robbers, doubtless from Chicago,
had come to Blankville to do up q bank, but
had been frightened away after committing
murder. i knew just how they reached
Bankville and just how they left it, and |
had descriptions of both. You NAV say
had but little to work on, rs the men had
come two hundred miles and might not then
be within a thousand, CT il they were, they
had changed their identity; but even the
smallest points will encourage detective
who has his heart in his work. In describ'
ing the men the stable keeper, who was nat
urally observing and had a good memory,
remembered that the older one carried Top
shoulder, bad gold filling in his front teeth,
and there was tremendous motion of the
eyelida You have observed this in people
Those who do it would stammer II they did
not wink. There were no points In the de-
scription of the other which would serve TO
u 10
"looked enough like the other TO be his
brother"
spent two weeks in Chicago looking for
my man, and, although | WAS well assisted
by the detectives, my search was vain. No
one could remember a crook bearing that de-
scription. was at the depot ready 10 take
the train for home, when l ran across c.,
B. Il O. Il. Il. detective, whom | had not
seen Tor several months. As we talked
about the Blankvile murder / gave him a
description of my men, and | had hardl Y
done so when he replied
know them both, or at least where they
can be found. saw them in Il yestsr-
day, aud they are often on the road"
, he town ne named was about seventy-iive
miles from Blankville, on a cross-llne rail
road, and had not been in il two hours when
! located my men. They were brothers, aud
one kept bakery and the other a saloon.
Both had the reputation of being pfaceiul,
w.abiding men, and they had families. IL
therefore behooyed me to go slow, and the
arrests were not made until they were posi-
lively identified by the liveryman and / had
positive evidence that they were away from
home at the time In each case, when max
ing The arrest ! was asked concerning the
nature OF the utiense or crime, and | replied
that II was for the murder al RDssburg The
prisoners we've strangely silent, and, though
seemingly auNiOus about the future, they
refused 10 talk of the case | took them to
Rossburg, put them in jail, aud in two or
three days they were arTaigned. They had
sent to Chicago Tor counsel, but he had not
arrived. Temporary counsel appeared for
them, they pleaded not guilty, and in an
hour or two were returned to jail.
You may now ask yourself what case had
against the brothers. As | looked it over
came to the conclusion that my work had
just begun. They had left home without
noise, ii not secretly had hired a horse and
buggy under false pretences had driven Sc
cretly across the country under cover Of
darkness. They were objects of suspicion,
but had no proofs. II was my duty to hunt
for proofs. / went TO the bank to have some
questions answered. 1t was in summer
and the front door stood open. A new jani-
tor had been employed, and as l entered the
cashier was saying to him:
"John, get paper and wrap around that
brick which holds the door back. Il is no
ornament as ii is"
Naturally enough | glanced down at the
brick. As the ianitor lifted it up ! took it
from his hand, and the next instant l had
made a discovery. There was a clOt of dried
blood on the brick, and in the cot were
sticking several hairs which knew had come
from the dead jsnitor's head. / had made
an Important discovery, but had at the same
time ruined my case. The brick had been
IN the office year or more The blood and
the hairs were evidence that 1t was the
weapon used TO strike the ianitOr with
Ihen followed the queries
Would men come TO rob the bank with
out weapons? Was 1t likely that the brick
was used ?' replied to these in the mega
tive, and walked straight over to the iail
and into the presence OF the prisoners, sud
said:
Neither of you is guilty of the marder Of
the janitor."
We are not" they answered.
You were not near the bapk that night. "
We were not"
"But yet you had secret purpose in COM
ing here that night"
ave had"
"What was IL ?"
We will not tell"
That ended the interview. Mind Won.
every man in the community believed them
guilty OF murder, and l was the recipient OF
praise on every hand for what was termed q
ciever capture You may think it strange
mat went away from the Jail az fully deter
mined to clear them az had been to convict
them. HFaN