The sun., 1900-12-29
LUCK IN THIEF HUNTING.
nsrrEK may sHSR,ofk Hoiwtss
THEORfSs, Stts DSrEffitS.
An rmb~,,ier BETRAYED h, Hveshins rhes'f"
scat 4 Chicago Wold.tp Msn- Marked
Hand Z rhisf Caught Becsuse We was
Too pus, to Oct shaved The Namber tsd

! n few nights ago tho aisle sea, occupied 10y
heavy man In one ~ ~" front rows ~ tho
orchestra suddenly collapsed tn" heavy
man sat down pretty hard and slightly scraped
his nose on tho back Of the seat ahead IN
sitting down But he took II good naturcdN
and lrinncd when tho inevitable laugh ran
around III" lower part of the house IN
usher quickly appeared and escorted him 10 u
|, vacant -ent in one Of the boxes
The breaking down Of n seat in theatre,
remarked u Chicago detective who wns stand
ing In the rear Of the house when the little
nccident occurred "oncc enabled m" to Get
hold Of chap for whom I had been searching
for several months. lie was thief on some
what heavy scale and he's stl doing his
biz In Joliet II" was the confidential man Of u
big Chicago Board Of Trade operator, and
he made his jump with about s6o.Ooo of his
employers currency. The EN- loyer for
some reason or other. didn't report the Do
falcati for nearly ten DAYS. and this delay
gave the embezzler pretty good start
There wasn't much Of a tangible sort 10 go
by In setting out after him, so that | didn't
cnthuse over the assignment particularly:
like the rest of the fys like to have AZ
least decent chance OF landing err when !
get out.
The departing steamers on the Fast and
N'hl 'puSlS NfI' bl 'bll ~ 'bNfl'u Nv WIZ
az soon as the defalcation was reported bu'
by that time the theft had had plenty of chance
to be almost as far ms Egypt. After few
days Of nosing around. got hold Of enough
to lead mo To believe that the chap had taken
10 the West for his and when got To Omaha
] was still more convinced of this. II was Il
pretty chilly trail however. although | found
marks of II, after quitting Omaha. a. Cheyenne
Ogden, Salt Lake and lot Of other points
along the line Of the Union and Central Pacific
] got hold Of Just enough 10 be convinced that
the fellow was taking his time. anyhow, If
he medtated taking one Of the Pacific Coast
steamers. probably because he was wise
enough to know that all of those steamers
would be watched.
From Salt Lake ] went on 10 San Fran
CISCO where the thief had relatives. and it
took lot of time for me to watch these rela-
tlveS mail and the like. ] had been on the
hunt for nearly three months before | be-
came convinced that the absconder had
covered up his tracks and that there was no
further need of my hanging around san
Francisco. ! was about to double back to
Chicago when ! got n wire from the chief
directing me- to run mp To Portland. ore to
look up another Chicago thief who was sup
posed TO be in that town. ! got this No
fellow within twenty-four hours after my
arrival in Portland. and, as he consented to
come back without requisitiOn papers, !
bought the tickets and arranged TO start for
Chicago with him on he following day
That night went to one of the Portland
theatres. The house was jammed. and SO |
stood M and leaned on the rail at the back
! had seen the show in IT," East. so il didn't
amuse me particularly. and near the close of
the second act decided to go back to my
Ia. al 4
ration for the overland Journey TO begin on
the following day | was Just turning to so
out when there was a crash down in front.
followed by giggle, such as you heard when
that man came down in his seat while ago
Il turned back and rubbercd over the rail
and saw that the seat under a young fellow
with Van Dyke beard had let him down
He didn't take ii so good d-naturedly as the
lat man did in this house a few moments
ago but came up the aisle scowlnR out Of
habit looked at him closely When I saw n
small red mark on his white forehead n
blrthmark not unlike an acorn in shape, |
felt little excited underneath my vest
That acorn mark was the distinguishing
Identification mark of the fellow for whom
had set out from Chicago several months
before. But he had beard, this chap COM
ing up the aisle with the angry scowl on his
smoothfaced That was easy enough, Of
course. hut didn't want to make any bad
breaks. for had never clapped an eye on
the thief in Chicago HS height and build
however. corresp"nded with my description
OF him. and 50 decided to take a chance /
followed him out into the lobby Of the theatre
and as hc was buitonine up his ovcrcoat. |
placed my hand on his shoulder and said.
Hello, there. Burdock didn't hurt YOUR
self much. hope
"Bqrdock that's close enough to his name
" p.l In
trolley car is only four feet behind him and
coming at full speed. and the nallor Of his
boy all right even before he SPOKE But
what be said gave him away
who told you that my name was Bur
dock he falier"d. getting psler all the time
",0h littlc bird in Lincoln Park. .Chicagn
said and then j put the wristlets on him
It's ali up, said he. and the newt dov
with the assistance of a man on the Portland
stan ! started with both of my birds for
1t is singular. continued this Chicago
sleuth, after the performance. how enor-
mously pure. bull-headed luck helps along
detectives. who receive in blushing silence
credit for astutenesS worthy of that i'm |
possible hopItiend, Sherlock Holmes. I've |
but being human I've not let ANYBODY els" |
know that II was luck About Ave wears ago.
when hold-up- in Chicago were even more |
ing lot was sent out to see what could |
do toward rounding up some Of the members |
ol tne sOu'n Slu" glnl-shOe fraternity. ] gOt |
hold Of quite a few OF them, but there was /
one man that | wanted particularly and 1 |
couldn't seem to land him
"for about six months this chap had been
pinching the diamonds out Of women's ears !
That was his specially. He'd pick out women |
idiotic enough To wear their shiny rocks after !
nightial and he'd nail them ~ they entered :
their front gates or the entrances to their /
apartment houses. and then he'd give 'cm |
the knee and the strangla min the galids out /
of their ears and be swallowed up. He held |
up number of women right in the lighted |
Nestbues. of their flthouses in this way |
None OF these women was able tn see much |
oi the fellows makeup but some Of them
caught glimpse of the right hand that he
used 10 choke them with, and they stated /
that the hand had number Of fve-prong"d
stars ana some compaSseS tattooed on the /
back oft
Il kept an eve out in rubbering around the
dives Tor man with a rlgut hand dikcd ont
This way, or for man, for that matter. who
kept his night hand consistently out of view
when ] was around but had no luck until
on" afternoon in the back room of the old
Hous" OF David on Clark street | saw a man
raising a glass of red-eye to his face whose
right hand looked pretty badly Scared on
the back ] had a sudden hunch. and | con-
Cluded that perhaps the fellow had been re-
moving som" tattoo marks from the hand
with a toothpick. That's the almost uni
v"rsal way OF criminals in removing tattoo |
marks sine" III. Bertillon system was gen
orally adopted They dip a toothpick in