The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-06-22
TALES OF THE TIMES.
eome Stories Cleaned at the Recent Cen.
vention of the Chiefs Of Police.

ventiOn of the Chiefs OF Police.
At their recent meeting at Washington
the chiefs of police Of different cities OF
course exchanged yarns and experiences OF
the thief catching line during recesses from
their convention business.
"Crimes are sometimes committed that
the shrewdest cannot unravel," said Chief
of Police C. C. Starkweather of Detroit.
~ recall two cases right now in my OVID
experience. One Sunday night a French
thrasher, living about eight miles from
Detroit, moved his machine TO the barn of
q neighbor two miles away in order that
he might begin work early Monday morn
ing. The thrasher retired, it would ap-
pear, at the usual hour to a room on the
second floor of the log house. The husband
end wife slept on the first floor, the two
sons of the family on the same floor with
the thrasher. Early tn 9 next morning, the
tbrasher not appearib for breakfast, one
of the sons was sent to awaken him. He
found the thrasher lying on his back, with
q bullet hole in his head and dead. The
authorities were promptly notified and an
Investigation begun. The owner of the
premises. an old Frenchman, his rather
young wife and the old Frenchman's sons
They claimed to have heard noise during
the night that might have resembled the
discharge of firearms They were not GER
tain about it, however. Anyway, accord
ing to their story, they did not get up to
Investigate. Now the mystery was how
would a man be shot in the house without
creating sufficient noise to awaken some
one. Suspicion first fell on the sons, but
~ fiva N no fOrlnH-
and, worse than all, no evidence to base
an accusation upon. The old man might
have been jealous of his young and rather
good looking wife. Stories were af1oat that
the murdered man was rather gay and
fond of women. No weapon, however, was
discovered on the premises. The old
Frenchman was finally arrested and put
into the sweatbox, but nothing that would
warrant his detention was extracted from
him. That crime remains as much OF a
mystery in the police annals OF wayne
county today as it was the morning the
deed was discovered.
"a short time since drug clerk was
found dead in front of his store in the city
of Detroit on a street off from the main
thoroughfare, but near to it. The BODY
was discovered about midnight and was
SIlll warm. 1uc IIOiiO Oooi VI INV So
vas standing open. The clerk had been
shot through the heart. No one had peen
alarmed by the report of fi-earm in the
immediate neighborhood. We looked up
the record of the young man and found
that he was fond of the society of a certain
woman who was the friend of a certain
married man. After e1hausting every
thing else bearing on the case, we worked
4. -nnsh nr n
tions of the drug clerk to the woman
might not have inspired motives of revenge
on the part of the married lover. We We're
never able to get enough evidence to war
rant the lovers arrest, and that crime Is
also added to the list of UNPUBLISHED ones.
"People make a mistake when they as
sumo that it is the big thieves who give
Che most trouble to the police forces, SAID
Chief Harvey o. Carr of Grand Rapids.
Ion the contrary, it is the small thieves
who make life miserable for Us. This pet
ty pilfcring is so continuous and WIDE
spread that we are lucky if we can bring
to the bar % per cent of the pilferers. The
men who steal doormats, oyercoats, hats
and other small stuff are usually persons
addicted to the drink habit, which is SO
strong that they will seize anything that
can be easily carried away to pawn at some
bar. BY the way, we have singular fam
lily in our vicinity. The head Of the family
IS well to do farmer. His farm is well
stocked, and, strange to say, he has q ma
MIA for stealing sheep. lie has been arrest
cd and convicted of the crime a number OF
times and do not know how many cases
he has compromised ia some way or other.
I. has no 10 rod
that this mans father, grandfather, great
grandfather and perhaps his great great
grandfather were sheep thieves. 1t is the
strongest case of hereditary influence ever
brought to my personal knowledge.
"a short distance below Little Rock, Of
which town l am chief of police, said
Flank Mcmahon. sis a cave once occupied
b., the notorious John Murrell, the land
pirate. An island in the river is where
Murrell used Ia keep a great deal of the
live stock wh,h he and his gang used to
steal in different sections of the country.
My father, who was a Tennesseean, knew
Murrcll very we'll Is young man, and for
years afterward Murell was fairly well
educated, dressed in the height of the pre-
vailing fashion, stood e leet in his stock
ings, and although slender in build was
nevertheless powerful and n dangerous an
tagoniss. / have heard my father relate
that his downward career began with an
infatuation for cards. He became a des-
perate gambler killed one or two men in q
quarrel over the gaming table, and having
tasted blood became human tiger. He
stole more thoroughbred horses than any
man in the south before or since his time.
1t was his habit to ride a thoroughbred
stallion. and his ft,Iiowcrs were all mount
I'd on the fleete5. Ihoroughbreds that could
he stolen or l.,Gght. Murreu and his gang
also stole cassie Is we'll as wavlaid and rob-
bed travellers. The cattle and horses were
corralled on the island, ard the remaining
booty was stored In the cave. The island
and cave still bear Murreu's name. st.