The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-09
SKERRIGAN'S DISCOVERY.
THE TRUE STORY OF THE MYSTERY
OF "THAT MICHAEL"
BeinE Explanatory OF n serirs or Mysterious
Assaults that Banned Capt. O'Biank's
s~icuihs-How NHr. skcrriEnu Earned His
Ernnnfinn II He n nntnrtIrn anrrnnnt

BeinE Explanatory OF n serirs or MSstcrious
Assaults Thst Bnned Capt. O'Biank's
sicuih.-How Mr. skcrriEnn Earned his
Prenstisn TO ne n Detective sergeant.
Skerrigan was made n detective Sergeant
shortly after Capt. McBlank succeeded Capt.
O'Blank as the head Of the Detective Bureau,
and his friends said It was luck and Skerrigan
said 1t was just common sense. and the story
OF how II happened makes this ono. The Sc
cret OF II has been well kept by Skerrigan and
his present commanding officer, but 1t is worth
telling now, not because many people arc inter.
ested in Skcrrigan. but as an explanation of a
series of mysterious assaults which from time
TO time have attracted public attention and then
been forgotten except by the victims OF them.
The secret society upon which Skerrigan stun.
blcd by chance has changed its headquarters
and its password, but its work still goes on.
When Byrnes was the Chief and Skcrrigan
was merely a cork.soled. squarc.toed wardman
II was occasionally remarked by way of q joke
that the old man had his eye on Skerrigan.
The official supervising eye at Headquarters
changedtand Skerrigan became n plain clothes
man attached to the Detective Bureau staff.
He WINS sent out to watch the Jersey ferries
for bunco men from the Bound Brook division.
He went out on mysterious diappearanccs and
he searched pawnshops for stolen goods, but his
name seldom figured in the newspapers and
promotion was not in sight. Capt. O'Blank's IA
voriteSwere the men who never.went out to post
u letter or find Broadway without putting on a
disguise. Skerrigan had once captured a
noted confidence mar who was wanted in Chi
cago. A stool pigeon-whom he had befriended
told him the saloon where this confidence man
spent most OF his time. and Skerrigan just
dropped in there one morning and arrested his
man without trouble. He didn't recognize
tha aD,.o,,nt - - - .,,-a. ,.t H. C.,t n'Df..t-
to tho newspapers, and he had the foolishncss
to deny 1t. He furthermore asserted that he
had not followed this confidence man for days
in disguise and finally captured him after a
desperate struggle. That cooked his goose
at Headquarters, SO far as promotion was
concerned. and 1t explained why he was
not detailed to work up the mysterious series
of assaults on which nearly all the other Head.
quarters men were employed. That Skerrigan
solved the mystery was due partly to luck, and
1t will now be news to his fellow detectives.
The history of these assaults Is now neatly tab
ulated at Headquarters. and although the news.
paper reading public knew of them as they &C.
CURED, they were simply disconnected pieces
Of news at different dates and must needs be
rctold in order to explain their connection and
Skerrigan's promotion.
Criminal news had been dull at Police Head
quarters for more than a week when, on the
evening Of Oct. Il, shortly after IL o'clock, a
slip from the Nineteenth precinct was pasted
up on the glass partition that shuts Off the
telegraph office in the basement. This is the
clearing house for all the news which comes
over the police wires and it is watched day and
night by the reporters detailed for that pur-
pose. This slip read:
y. Y. De Snow. As years old, OF 20 West - street,
found unconscious on sidewalk before 1l9 West
r-t- - q 49,
Bellevue.
The Headquarters reporters telephoned the
slip to their newspaper offices. and 40 it was
a case for the Tenderloin reporters to investi-
gate they did not go out on it. 1t looked likea
good story. Col. De Snow was known in
Of fairs. He had suggested, inaSgurated and
700 fairs in aid OF various associations. II was
unkindly said that he had made the same
opening speech speech more than 200 times, but as his
newspapers this could not be proved.
Next mornings newspapers told with many
spite spite his ak'? badly CATERED 9ed S Head the the 6 %G . rue pf'
dent ward of Bellevue. Al soon as he recovered
consciousness he issued a statement of the as
f biG fai for at the he nfTT s5BisPon soI hs had eaS 0aRsneid ID s The
that evening. and those who heard his usual
seemed to lose his delight in it. He had drunk
one glass of champagne with his Honor. the
started for home, He walked down to Eight.
zenith street fo- the exercise and then started
through for the Sixth avenue elevated station.
lie did not notice that any one was following
him. suddenly he heard a deep voice behind
him say That Michael and then came a stun
until he found himself in Bellevue. The blow
that felled him had been struck with q blunt
instrument and the physicians declared that the
force OF it would have broken an ordinary mans
skull. Col. De Snow said that he had no enc
mics and he Sc Gonld advance no theory as TO the
plain clothes the next night to look for sand
baggcrs. but no arrests were made.
Col. De Snow was still nursing his battered
head when, on the morning of Oct. %, the news
papers told of a peculiarly brutal assault which
Redliw: the well-known humorous entertainer
and author of old Jokes That Made Me Laugh"
pacity. the dinner OF the Country Editors As
socintion at Delmonico's. The che FRS of recog-
tho street. Merry little Major Redliw kept
his audience in roars OF laughter said the
he finished his series OF stories the President OF
the sentiment. old friends are best: May we
ing this merry scene just before a collection was
taken up for the walters, Major Redliw started
He walked down Fifth avenue and passed many
people. At Thirty;ffth street some one behind
he received a violent blow on the head. The po.
lice found him where he fell and took him to his
rooms. He came TO with his favOritc joke on
his tongue and a bad taste in his mouth.
To the police he said that he had brought mer.
riment TO many boards and that he didn't know
why any one should assault him. The after
noon newspapers commented on the fact that
Col. DE Snow had recently been assaulted in
much the same manner and that n mysterious
Michael had figured in his case. The police
said positively that this was merely a Coinci-
dence. Privately. and for the information Of the
reporters the police limited that Col. De Snow
and little Major +. Redliw had each slipped on a
banana skin. The police thought that they could
locate the italian who sold the fruit and until
this was done IL would be wise to say simply
that "the police expect TO make an important
arrest soon."
Another mysterious assault. similar in char
acter, was reported at Police Headquarters be-
fore Capt. O'Blank had reason to doubt his ba-
mana skin theory. A well.dressed man was
found unconscious on Sunday evening, Oct.
81. at IL 80 o'clock on the boulevard. A clot OF
blood on the back Of his head indicated tho
wound. A ward man from the Sixty sixth
street station suggested that the unconscious
man was probably ii minister. u Judging from his
dress.
An ambulance carried him to Roosevelt Hos.