The Anaconda standard., 1895-11-07
DAVIS IS HIS NAME
He Is Now in San Francisco and in
Trouble.
ONCE HE WAS A DETECTIVE
The Fellow Writes to Mr.. Lloyd
Asking for a Letter of Recon-
mendation-He Is Well
Known In Butte.
HE WAS A DETECTIVE

A young man named Davis, who
played an important engagement as an
amateur detective and stool pigeon in
Butte several years ago, is in trouble
in Oakland, and has written to ex-
Sheriff Lloyd for a letter of recon-
mendation, and calls attention to the
work he had done in the interest of
justice In Butte in the summer of 1891.
In May of that year several mail bags,
which had been deposited on the plat
form of the Northern Pacific depot,
were cut open and rified Of their con-
tents. The robbers were unknown un-
til Davis, who is now known in Oak
land as William A. jackson, went to
Sheriff Lloyd and told him that he had
a strong suspicion who committed the
robbery, having gained some informa-
tion while he was in jail on a charge
of petty larceny. He asked to be locked
up again so that he could pump"
some of the suspected mems friends
who We're behind the bars. A job was
put up whereby Davis rented room
down town and opened an employment
office without having first taken out
license. He was arrested for doing
business without a license and sent to
jail, where he remained for a week and
obtained information that not only re-
suited in the arrest and conviction of a
man named Brown and another known
as Scar Face for the mail robbery,
but also discovered and frustrated
big plan to break Jail by a lot of pris-
oners known as the Brady gang. They
had sawed a big hole in the floor of one
of the cells, and leading dnto a serv-
ants room below. A part of the scheme
was to throw acid in the eyes of Jail
er Jerry Griffith and release every pris-
oner in jail. but Davis gave the scheme
away to Mr.. Lloyd and the affair was
stopped just in time.
On information secured in jail by Da-
Wis. Scar Face" and Brown were ar
rested and taken TO Helena, where
they were tried and convicted. One
day while the prisoners were in the
corridor of the Helena jail Brown got
into a big drum stove and remained
there until after the prisoners were
locked up for the night, and then calm
ly walked out of the Jail and has not
been seen or heard of since. "Scar
Face" was sent to the penitentiary for
three years, and has long ago complet-
ed his sentence. In his letter to Mr..
Lloyd, Davis says that both Brown and
Scar Face" are at present in Oakland
and that they have been mixed up in
numerous crimes there. Davis does not
state the cause of his own arrest, but
says he believes that a letter from Mr.
Lloyd to A. Wilson, captain of the
Oakland police, will have considerable
weight in getting him out of trouble
and also TO get the police there to be-
lieve his story and information re-
garding the two crooks he has spotted
Mr.. Lloyd has also received a letter
from Captain Wilson asking for con-
firmation of Davis story and for de-
scriptions of ''Scar Face" and Brown
which can not be given as descriptions
of prisoners are never taken In the
county jail. The tone of Wilson's let
ter indicates that he has not placed
much confidence in the story told by
Davis, and Mr.. Lloyd will confirm ii.
Neither Davis nor Mr.. Lloyd ever re-
ceived a cent or thanks for the work
in arresting Brown and Scar Face"
for the man robbery. During his resi-
dence In Butte Davis was a regular
stool pigeon" and kept the police in
formed OF all the crime and rascality
going on In the city. He was familiar
with all of IL and II had often been a
surprise to the officers that the man
was not killed by some of the men he
betrayed.