Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-20
A DETECTIVES EXPERIENCE.


The man who sits down to deliberately
plan a crime works every point and detail
to one common center-an alibi. The law
has common sense enough In this one par
ticular to presume that man who is In
Boston. for instance, when a murder Is
committed in Cincinnati could not have
fred the shot or struck the blow. There
fore. let one accused of crime prove to the
Jury that he was at some other point at
certain critical hour, and he must be de-
clared innocent. This knowledge makes
the alibi favorite defense. lfnot clearly
proved says the New York Sun, it always
raises doubts ard affords opportunity for
argument On the other hand, however,
when an alibi is fairly beaten by the prose
cution then circumstantial evidence be-
comes he death-trap of the accused, and
he has no show.
One of the best-laid alibis | ever ran
against In my career as a detective, and
one Of the easiest to work out after | got
the end of the thread in my hand, was put
forward In a case In Iowa about twenty
years ago. The situation was this: In a
small village in the western part of the
state lived a Miss Clarinda Moore, a spin
ster about 45 years of age. She was worth
$4,000. and she had adopted boy NAM
ed Byron Fergus. AT the date of which |
am writing this boy was no longer a boy,
but man or %. He was employed as a
clerk in a dry-goods house and boarded
and lodged at home. He was adopted at
the age Of II and ON the day he reached
his majority Miss Moore made will leay-
ing him everything. This fact was known
to all In the village Fergus was a model
young man. No one could point out a
single bad habits He was trusted and re-
spected by all, and had he been accused of
the slightest dishonesty no one would have
believed the charge.
In a smaller village six miles away Fer
gus had an aunt who was a widow and liv-
ed alone, with the exception ofFhaving the
company of a servant-girl. He was In the
habit Of going over there about once In
two months and remaining over Sunday.
On these trips he drove horse and buggy
belonging to the village cooper. The
horse had peculiar habit, which will be
described later on. One Saturday evening
of July day Fergus drove away on one OF
these trips. There were two or three
women at the gate in company with Miss
Moore when he drove away The only
thing out of the usual run was the remark
that Byron looked rather pale and seemed
a bit nervous; bit probably this would
never have been thought of but for what
came to pass.
At II o'clock that night there was a
thunderstorm, and an insurance agent
who was on the road between the two vii
lagos, with horse and buoy, drove into a
fence corner and sheltered himself as well
as possible with the water proofs. In the
midst of the storm horse and buggy came
along. The driver was so enveloped by
water proofs that che agent could not tell
whether he was old or young, large or small,
white or black At that spot the road had
lately been graded up, and was very soft.
The stranger was urging the horse to trot,
but the beast found the mud too deep and
could only proceed at a walk. As the
strange horse came opposite there was a
long. vivid fash of lightning, and the agent
saw that the animal had his head turned to
the right and his tongue out. That was
the peculiar habit of the cooper's horse
when on walk. When trotting he held
up his head and kept his tongue back.
The agent identified the horse to his per-
feet satisfaction, and called out to the
driver asking who he was. Instead of
hating or replying the man struck the
horse sharply with the whip and was out of
sight III a moment.
That's old Shepherd (the COOPER, and
he's afraid | am a highwayman, laugh
ed the agent, and, the rain now beginning
to cease, he made ready to resume his
journey.
Miss Moore was an early riser, and
moreover never missed church services.
As the day was fine and she was not seen
at church, two or three Of her friends call
ed at the house on their way to ascertain
her excuse They found the curtains
down and the doors locked. As they
knew of young Fergus going 10 his aunt S
the evening previous, they reasoned it out
that he must have returned during the
night for Miss Moore, she perhaps being
wanted for an emergency. This theory
satisfied them until about o'clock In the
afternoon when one Of them returned to
gather a boquet of flowers. She then
noticed bloody fnger-marks on the back
door, and trying the door, found it I'M
locked. She dared not enter the house,
but two or thrt e men were summoned to
make an investigation and In few min
utes it was discovered that a murder had
been committed. The dead body of Miss
Moore was found In the sitting-room She
had been struck three terrible blows with a
CluU Ut OlLSI DluuI WGdpO1. 6dCH OiC
breaking the skull
| was visiting the sheriff at this time
and we were driving through the village
when the first alarm was sounded. | was
therefore at the house among the first. and
being placed in charge by the sheriff |
kept the people out until | could make an
investigation. The murderer had not OBJ
tanned forcible entry to the house. Not a
single article of value had been removed,
nor had any rans2cking been done. The
woman had been struck down where the
body lay, but her hands clenched as if she
had grasped the weapon of death and it
had been pulled away from her. The palm
of one hand was torn and bleeding, | did
not know either the dead woman or Fergus,
but | wanted an authority to arrest the
latter. When this fact became known
was regarded as an idiot or a lupatic. A
general cry went up that Fergus could nc
more be suspected than an angel In heaven,
but while the sheriff was left to secure the
necessary papers | drove out to interview
the Young man and bring the news TO him
If Fergus was guilty his defense would be
an alibi. and he had carefully arranged
the details. He would be expecting the
news and he would be braced up tc play &
part.
I found him making ready to hitch VI
to drive back He had never seen me be
fore, and he did not know my profession