Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-03-23
FROsTBURG, Md, SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1901.

them, and admit | took quite Il liking
to him. His wife was more reserved
and less to be seen. but yet the four of
us went to the thcatcr occasionally in
company, and she was agreeable if not
talkativr. Iiadan was fair sized
man. who always shaved smooth. His
reddish hair was SCant, one of his front
teeth broHrn, and he limpcd little,
from an old accident. Any policeman
rould have picked him out of a crowd
on description. Saunders was
larger man. with hair turning gray,
perfect teeth and side whiSkcrS. Davi-
son was a smaller man than the other
two, with black hair black mus
tachc and Il prominent wart on his
cheek. Iadan had the voice of a
woman; Saunders spoke slowly and
with a growl; Dawson had what might
be termed "A fair voice.
Now, thcn, for six years | knew these
three men, and two of them were un-
der espionage. | talked with them, ate
with them. drank with them and never
imbbcd the fainteSt idea that | was
the biggest fool in the world One day
n man who was in a machine shop not
far from detective headquarters was
killed by accident | happened to be
almost the first one on hand. | recOg-
niZcd him at once as the tailor. and the
body was taken home. While doing
his work the undertaken found that the
black hair and muStachc and wart
were all false. This was Il revelation
even to the wife. The affair was pub
liShcd in the papers and in less than
two days it was found that IIadan,
Saunders and Dawson were one and
the same man. He had padded his body
to increase his size and apparent
weight, and Il false tooth. whiSkcrs,
mustache and Il wart had done the rest
You will say | ought to have detected
the cheat by the voice. In an ordinary
case, yes, but this man had made
study of Disgusting his voice and was
doubtless Il natural mimic to begin
with. | never caught a tone to make
me suspect
1ou Will say that Il good detective
ought to penetrate such shallow dis
guises as false whiSkarS. In answer
to that let me say that whiskcrs or
mustachc can be made to look so renu-
Inc that no living man can detect the
cheat. The Wart was new dodge and
one | was not up to. 1t was so we'll
done that | had seen the man prick it
with pin and cringc little as he did
It, l should have felt bad enough at
being fooled even had there been no
case in it. but there was Il case. The
SllYerSmith was a fence" for thieves.
the bric-a-brac man was another, and
the tailor was Il third He was mar
rled to three different women: he lived
III three different parts of the city; he
carried on three occupationS he repre-
sented three different men. All this
he did successfully for six or seven
years and but for the fatal accident
might have gone on for years more.
During his career he had made a for
tune. and never person had suspect
ed the diSguiScS. 1t seems as if wife
should have detected them, but the
three did not, or at least so claimed.
lie divided his time between them,
passed as respectable member of So
ciety, and they accepted his excuses for
his absence without question. In each
case he told his wives that he travelled
so many days per week. and in each
case he left the house and returned to
1t with hand baggage. Yes; was made
a fool of; but, fortunately. was the
only one who knew it, and | may give
the fact away now without my identify
being suspected. 1t would have added
more glory to my record to have caught
up the sly rascal but now and then
the SharpeSt of our profession are out
wittcd, and if made a stupid blunder
in the one case have offset it dozen
times over in making a success of 9th,
ers.