Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-09
MISSED THEIR MAN.

''In this day of almost universal eX- tradition treaties" said an old federal officer, 'it is next to impossible for fugitive from justice to find spot be- yond the reach of a warrant. But only few years ago there were plenty of places of refuge, and the officers used to have some peculiar experiences in trying to decoy shy birds over the danger line. One of the funniest things of that kind that ever happened took place at Niagara Falls, when Canada was still heaven for embeZ- zlers. A white line cross the middle of the old suspension bridge was sup posed to indicate the boundary be- tween the two countries, and the bank looterS who had taken up their resi- dence on the other side seemed moved by some irresistible fascination to stroll frequently in that direction. They would come as near as possible to the fatal mark and more than one foolhardy individual has been yanked across by detectives who were turk ing on the other side.
 However, to get to my story. one of the runaway colony at the time l have in mind was a man named Pat terson. who had been a president of q big savings bank somewhere in the northwest and who had finally de- camped with all the visible assets. The victims of the dedication were unusu ally sore, and. instead of letting the case drop as hopeless when the fugi- tive reached Canadian soil, they quiet ly raised a purse for expense money and hired a couple of the best detec- tives they could find and told them to bring Patterson back by hook or crook if it took them ten years to do it. The T. lo: r. l. |, and q month or so later they suddenly | turned up on the Canadian side in the role of two runaway cahiers. Their idea. of course, was to get acquainted with their man. win his | confidence, and then watch for a | chance to kidnap him across.
 ''The first part of the program was not especially difficult. and the three were soon on excellent terms. The de- | tectives told Patterson cock and bull story about their supposed embezzle- ments, to which he responded with some condolences of his own, and their 1 intimacy grew with pleasing rapidity. Like most of the other eXiles, the trio frequently strolled down to the bridge and peered wistfully toward home over the white line. Of course the detec- 1 tiyeS didn't dare to rush their man | across when there was anybody in sight to inform against them for kid mapping. but one night they proposed stroll to the river, when, as luck would | have it, the bridge was completely de serted. They sauntered up the foot way and sat down on ledge at the side, quite near the line. The sleuths glanced around stealthily. saw that the | coast was clear, and closed i'll sudden ly from each side.
 | c }osc poffnrCnnN of them, seizing him by. his lapels; we're sorry to do it, old man, but we will have to take you across" Tn that case youll have to take the bridge. too,' he replied calmly, and pointed to his left wrist. It was handcuffed to one of the big steel suspension strands. I did that trick as we sat down. he l continued. and took the precaution to drop the key in the river. The fact is. boys. I've been on to you for several weeks, and I couldn't resist the temp tation of giving you a little surprise before I let you go. I've been carry ing these handcuffs for just such an emergency every time we took a
 walk 'Thunderationv groaned one of the officers; run for file" Tt would take you an hour to file those links said Patterson. blandly, and
 watchman passes every twenty mln- utes. You'd better run for cover. The
 sleuths looked at each other, swore flu ently and disappeared on the American
 side The man who told me the
 story" added the old officer. insists
 that Patterson then extracted dupll-
 cate key from his vest pocket. un-
 locked the handcuffs and strolled home
 whistling Annie Laurie ''-New Or | leans Times Democrat.