The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-26
A PRACTICAL CRIMINAL
SECRET SERVICE ,OFFICER HALLS
MET ONE THAT KEPT SOCKS.
Tells of Another Criminal Being Pur-
sued by Birds-Experiences
of a Detective.

criminal keeping books as they do in a
business house, did your" remarked Capt.
Thomas z. Halls. of the secret service, 10
a Journal reporter. 81 hardly think you
did, for such a thing is a great rarity.
However, L once knew a criminal who DID
that very thing. Nearly all prominent
criminals have some strong or marked pc
c~uliarity which often proves the means OF
their undoing. About the strangest freak
1 ever knew a professional crook to in
dulge was that of a notorious thief named
Lloyd, who not only succeeded In keeping
me guessing for a long time, but made me
a great deal of trouble besides. My affair
with Lloyd happened during the period OF
my connection with the railway service. L
was considerably annoyed by reports COM
ing to me of the loss of several trunks
which disappeared at certain Intervals
either from baggage cars or baggage rooms
along the lines of the various divisions or
the railroad system upon which l was en-
ployed. These trunks disappeared as COM
pletely as if they had gone up in smoke.
In spite of my most diligent efforts they
continued to disappear. ] held consuita-
tons with brother officers on other lines of
railroad, and discovered to my surprise
that they were having similar experiences
and were quite as much at a loss TO ac-
count for them as 1 was myself. However.
I succeeded in getting on to- the thief and
also his modus operandi at last in a most
curious and interesting manner. Among
the trunks which were reported as having
been stolenN was one belonging TO the trav-
cling agent of a stationery house, and 1t
contained a general assortment of diaries,
fine pocketbooks and the like. Right after
this came the loss of a trunk belonging to
a hardware house. 1t was filled with an
assortment of high-grade cutlery. The
next trunk to vanish from view was one
which had been checked from Danville. Ill,
and which was the property of a gentleman
residing in Washington, d. c. The owner
made a great fuss about the loss of his
trunk, claiming that it was filled with very
valuable stuff, among which was a hand
some pincushion which he said was pre-
sented to him by some of his women
friends in the capital city. The gentleman
described this cushion to me so often and
with such minute particularly that 1
dreamed of the pesky thing and knew per-
fectly we'll I would instantly recognize it
if I ever ran across it. One day L was in
Urbana, ILL.,, which was the terminus of the
runs of all the freight crews on that rail-
road. OF course, L was we'll acquainted
with these men. While standing on the
platform conversing with a couple of
freight conductors L happened to notice a
beautiful gold pencil case swinging from
the end of a watch chain on the vest of one
of them. a very handsome little charm
/ remarked. Yes he replied, 1T was a
| present to me from a friend of mine named
Lloyd L have a knife which Lloyd gave
me- observed the other conductor; he is a
nice fellow, isn't hep Just at that moment
a trainmaster came along and called me
away. interrupting The talk. The next day,
being at Peoria, on my way to the depot
] met two other freight conductors, and we
stopped to have a little friendly chat. Dur
ing the conversation one Of them drew
from his pocket a very pretty little memo
randum book in which he proceeded to jot
down notes of certain instructions which I
gave him. The book had gilt edges and
seemed to be unusually well made. You
appear to be rather high-toned,' I said, fin
the mattery of stationery oh, yes he
replied, "a fellow can afford to be high
toned when he can get such things for
nothing Where did you come across such
an article as that?' 1 asked. Why he
answered, Bill Lloyd gave me this
DETECTIVE BECAME INTERESTED.
II then became deeply interested in this
man Lloyd, recalling the charm on the con-
ductor's watch chain the day before. Who
is this man Lloyd?' / inquired. Well said
the conductor, L don't know. He travels
on freight trains a great deal, and always
seems to nave plenty of money. Why, he
gave me a nice knife, too Have you got
it with your / asked Yes he replied,
producing a very elegant pocketknife. The
other conductor laughed and told me Lloyd
had given him a knife also. L made as
many inquiries as 1 could in regard to this
munificent gentleman without exciting too
much suspicion, and learned that he made
his home when in Urbana with one of the
conductors on that end Of the line. This
conductor was called Familiarity by his
comrades 'Fourpaw.' on account of having
lost a finger from one of his hands. L i'm
mediately wen TO Urbana n waited for
'Fourpaw' to come home. The next morn
ing / succeeded in getting a talk with him,
and during the conversation 1 incidentally
mentioned Lloyd's name. He Informed me
that he had not only received several nice
books and knives from Lloyd, but that the
fellow had presented his wife with a very
handsome pin cushion. He then proceeded
TO describe that identical object which l
had photographed indelibly on my brain
from the owners repeated accounts of its
appearance. l then knew l was on a very
hot trail. In a few days 1 arrested Lloyd
as he was coming out of Peoria by his IA
, vorite mode of travel--a freight train. He
was very indignant and put up a good-sized
bluff but when l searched him L found in
his possession a large diary, in which the
fellow had actually kept a complete record
Of all his movements during the year.
There, in the clearest possible manner, was
set forth an account OF every theft he had
committed, including the manner in which
ne had disposed of each trunk and its con-
tents. He even told in the diary exactly
how he operated in stealing the trunks.
This, of course, was very interesting read
ing, not only to me, but TO my brother de-
~tectives on the other roads, where IL ap-
peared that Lloyd had been the author of
81. tho loccoS Of rrt,ple