Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-01-09
o past that is!
SECOND SIGHT.

u. /
retired superintendent of the Metropolitan
detective force. As anybody who reads
his daily paper must know, man in my
former way of life sees many curious
things. and mixes in many odd adventures
| have had my share of queer experiences
| some cod deal queerer than the one
| am now going to relate, perhaps, though
! hope that this may prove fairly interest
ing. If II does not, then the fault will be
| IN the way of my telling it on paper. |
am none too handy with pen and ink.
being tools have had very little practice
| in using, beyond keeping my report book
| straight when on office duty. or writing an
| odd letter now and then. But have told
| it by word of mouth to a good many
| people, to interest them.
The events | now take my pen in hand
| to narrate occurred more than thirty years
| ago, and | am the only person who will he
mentioned in this story who is now alive.
| That. however, is nothing against my
| truIhfulness, as anybody who will turn to
| the criminal cases reported in the papers
of the end of July, 1857, will find the facts
| given there by witnesses on oath IN the
| box-myself and my friend and brother
officer, Charles Freeman. being the chief
| of said witnesses, and not the only ones.
The case created great interest at the
| time, and was as much commented on as
| any case mot one of murder) that | re-
| member in my experience. 1t was work
| ed up into stage play by gel tleman
| had the honor to know, and was played at
! the Elephant and Castle theatre. The
actor who played me made up, as it is
called in the profession. to look like me,
| and succeeded wonderfully though quite Il
| 4 II, If he,
| succeeded so well, indeed, that ! thOughG
it oest to see him and persuade him to
| make the resemblance not quite so perfect;
for was on duty in the Elephant and
| Castle district at the time, and | never
did care for much publicity especially
when it took the form of all the IDLE vaga-
| bonds in the neighborhood following me
around and asking me to tip them a see
| Ond sight performance In my uniform in
the public street, which is power | pos
sess, if anybody ever did possess it in this
| world, which take leave to doubt. You
| know the story of the American who
wouIdn believe fairy tale somebody
| pitched him, because he was a liar h m.
| self That's me as far as second sight
| Is concerned. | know all about it, and it 5
| Il fake-a clever fake enough; well done,
but nothing more than that.
! Charles Freeman. the brother officer al
! iuded to above, was the one that taught
me second sight. He had picked it up
! from a stravelins Snowman in America, and
| he was a dab at it. We had the second
| and irst floors III the same house, and We
used to practice the code together. 1t was
a mixed cOde-half signs and attitudes
and half forms of words For instance.
What is this COin?'' meant that it was
| d sovereign: what coin is this?'
meant half-a-sOvereign, and so on. If I
used any form of words and scratched my
chin, it meant jewelry; if rubbed my nose,
1t was a penknife, if | asked the question
twice and snapped my fingers the second
| time, 1t meant purse, and so on. All codes
are the same at bottom, and by practicing
| hard a couple of men with good memory,
used to each others style, can make the
! code cover almost any article you could
name.
We used to make our fellow officers
wonder, | tell you. When it's we'll done
| it's like magic. One chap brought book
! of Watts Hymns to the station one nigat
and hid it in the cupboard before Charley
came. ! made him guess it IN three tries.
Well by and by. Charley left the force
| He was clever chap, but very unsettled
and restless; as clever chaps often are, and
he never stuck long at anything he tried
| For a time he wrote to me from different
| places; but after year | lost sight of him
altogether, ana when I next met him he
| was In the very thick of the story m tell
| ing. One day. over year after he d gone.
| | was put on a code. 1t was a common
| sort of thing enough, robbery by
| traveller for jewellery trm-Stanton Il
{ n ipl Of
| dock. He'd travelled for the same house
| for years, and they had great confidence in
| him. Stanton 4 Co. had invented some
new pattern in jewelry, and 8urdock was
| to 90 round the principal towns with set
| of paste bracelets and pendants In the new
| fashion to solicit orders. Ten minutes
| after he had left the shop with his samples.
| it was found that he had taken a real set of
| the new jewelry, value 5000 pounds. in
| stead of the paste lot valued at some
| thing like 100 pounds. They sent a clerk
| to his lodgings where he had lived for ten
years. He had paid up and left the night
| before, leaving no address to write to.
| Birmingham was the first town he was to
| visit, and it was understood he was to
start from ST. Pancras. The cIe1k-be
had his head well sore we'd on. that chap
drove straight there. A Birmingham
train had just started, with Burduck
aboard. Well the firm wasn't much
! frightened set. He'd been their servant a
goodish time, and had never been out
shilling In his dealings. So they wired a
telegram to him at the hotel he used in
Birmingham. telling him of the mistake.
| and they wired to the police in BTrming-
ham, as a precautionary measure, asking
them to keep their eyes on him wien he
got there. and stating the time of the train
he'd gone by. Two hours later they got
wire to say Burdock had not come BIZ
that train. Then they saw the hole they
were in. called in the help Of Scotland ward
and was put on the job.
Now, it so happened that | knew Il
bit about Mr.. Burdock. | knew HIM per-
sOnally. for one thing, for I'd seen him at
low lighthouse that called itself club.
on which / and other officers made a raid
one night. The matter had been hushed
up, for there were three ban onets and a lord
in the place; and their families brought
to bear, and the case frizZed out and the
public forgot it. That was year or two
before this time, but | never forgot a face.
ana when ! beard the name-James Bur
dock-l remembered my friend at the
night-house
Now, l want to make remark about
my profession. There Is nothing in the
worId-at least, nothing | know ANYTHING
about-into which luck doesn t enter. mere
or less. | claim no credit in this affair
that Is due to me. | may say that | was
pretty smart officer. | knew my bust
ness, knew my way about: bat luck
helped ne here, as it has often done. and
as it very often has in other cases I've
had to do with. When any successful
man wants to claim all the credit Of his
success to his own cheek. you may be sure
that he deserves q lot less credit than
claims. Luck helped me all through this
business. had the brains to use IL when
it came, but it Is a much by luck as judg-
ement that pulled 1t off.
All | got from the frm about Brrdock-
except his personal appearance which
Through luck knew perfectly well al
ready-was that he always carried his
samples and money in hat box, to avoid
suspicion, and that he was very good
amaetur actor-so good that he had had
offers from regular managers TO play in
their theatres. Out Of these facts | made
my theory; anil that theory was that he
had got the guard at St. Pancras to pus
him into carriage alone. and had. IN
the carriage, made up, as the actors
say, TO look different from his real self. and
gone on, past Birmingham to Liverpool
the following dav. which strengthened
that part OF nv theory