St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-04
He Had His MuStache Shaved
Here and PaWned His
Ring.
When He Was Branded as the
Probable Murderer, He
Skipped.
The Man Now Thought To Be
in the Vicinity Of
Winnipeg.

Tascott, the murderer of Millionaire
Smell. 1t took Detective HenShaw and
Inspector Bonfeld and Acting Chief of
Police Hubbard a long time to conclude
that Tascott had been in st. Paul, and
in that time the trail be-
came very cold, but there is still
some chance that the fugitive will
be captured. Just two weeks ago to-
day the first hint that Tascott had been
in this city came to Chief Clark and
Chief of Detectives John O'Connor at
police headquarters. 1t came from
c. E. White, a newsdealer in the
Portland block, who said that stranger
answering Tascott's description had
beed in his store every evening from
Saturday, Feb. II, to Friday, Feb. II,
Friday, Feb. II, the information
that Tascott was. the murderer,
and description Of him were made
public in the newspapers. He had
called regularly every evening for the
Chicago papers, but after that he came
no more. The following Sunday morn
ing it occurred to Mr.. White
| that his strange customer an
swered Tascott's description, and
he told the police. -Four st. Paul
detectives were detailed at once to look
into the matter. 1t was learned from
Irving Maurel. superintendent of rail
way news service in this city. The par
ticulars of his visit are familiar to
| GLOBE readers.
The detectives also learned from CT.
| Jacobs, st. Paul real estate dealer,
! who had been a SchOolmate of TascOtt's,
| that he had seen and recognized Tascott
on Third street on the afternoon of
Tuesday, Feb. Ia. The Chicago police
were fully informed by telegraph of
everything which TRANSFERRED. For some
| reason
THEY TOOK NO ACTION
in the matter, but proceeded to inves-
tigate rumors from Leaf Lake,
Lebanon, Mo-, Omaha, Mason City,
Los Angeles and London, Eng, regard
ing the man they wanted. Detective
| O'Connor and his men continued the
search and obtained positive proof that
Tascott had been here. Late in the
afternoon of Friday, Feb. II, Tascott
had his mustache shaved off in the
| Portland block barber shop, four
doors from where he had been purchas-
ing the Chicago papers. The barber
| who shaved him remarked that the mus
tache was dyed, and dyed very poorly.
He spoke to Tascott about it. Tas-
| colt denied that he had used dy-
ing. Then it was learned that
| Tascott had been taking his meals at
| the Portland cafe, and that he had left
his valise, ring and diamond stud in
pawn with the proprietor for $40, That
was the same evening and shortly
before he had his mustache shaved,
and there is no doubt but
that he left the city that night. He
made no new acquaintance in any OF
the places mentioned and was always
very reticent. He had asked the pro-
prietor of the cafe several times for a
loan on his ring and stud, and had
Friday evening when he came
to supper he brought in the russet-col-
ored valise, which he carried when he
left Chicago, and an alligator skin valise
! OF about the same size. He came to the
| proprietor of the cafe and his wife, who
| were at the cashiers desk, and persisted
] in his request fol loan. He at
first wanted $50, then came down
to $50 and finally agreed to take $40.
The proprietor gave him $40 bill, TAX
| ing the russet-colored valise, the ring
and studs. Then he said he
HAD SOME MORE THINGS
in his room which. he was anxious
to raise money ON, and wanted
and look at the stuff The proprietor
! refused to do this and requested Tas-
colt to go away and not bother him any
more. Before going out Tascott re-
moved the strap from his russet-colOred
valise and attached it to the alligator
skin valise, hanging itover his shoulder.
The Chicago police were notified at
once of the finding of this valuable
clew, and the pawned articles were eX-
pressed to Chief of Police Hubbard by
Chief of Detectives O'Connor, OF this
city. The ring and rnsset-colored valise
were those mentioned in the first de-
scriptive circulars issued from Chicago.
The ring was fiat band with square
top piece in which were originally set
three garnets and three pearls, and one
in the stud was small, and the stud was
attached to a gold pin, by fine gold
chain.
The description of the clothing worn
by Tascott on the last day he was seen,
as obtained by the ST. Paul police, was
considerably different from that
contained in the Chicago circular.
On learning that he was dis
covered to be the murderer, he had evil
IDENTIFY ''rung himself" as the police ex-
press it, and had raised what money he
could in anticipation of flight. When
the articles pawned by Tascott
were received at Chicago the
police of that city awoke to
the fact that they had exercised very
poor Judgment in refusing to recognize
previous reports. The first thing they
did was to issue the following
SECRET CIRCULAR,
which was sent to police authorities
throughout the Northwest:
80, 900 REWARD.
Department of Police, Chicago, ILL.,, Febru-
airy 30, 1SSS-William 3. Tascott, who is
wanted here fol, the murder of A. j. Smell,
date he left that city. Before leav-
plete change of dress, as follows:
black diagonal suit cut,away coat, vest with
binding somewhat worn. The whole suit
looks old, brown sack oyercoat, black
| SLOUGH hat, mustache shaved off. He
exchanged the valse described in our
former circular for square alligator one, a
| little darker than russell. He took the strap
from the russell valise and attached it to
the alligator one. While in st. Paul he
gave the name of Dixon. No photo
graph has been or can be obtained. The
above reward will be paid for his capture and
detention until an officer with papers can ar
rive ior him. Send all information to
GEORGE W. HUBBARD,
Assistant General Superintendent of Police.
The st. Paul officers are OF the opin-
ion that Tascott rented room some
where in the vicinity of the Portland
block, but after diligent inquiries from
house to house all through lower town,
they have so far failed to discover it.
Mr.. White says that Tascott always
came down on the west side of Broad
way. from the direction of Mississippi
street. ;: There is every reason
to (. believe that TaScott left
here on that Friday evening
Two detectives from Chicago arrived
here one day last week. and after tax.