The St. Louis Republic., 1902-09-07
, CRIMINALS WHO have LED
, OFFICERS ON STRAhGE QUESTS.

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There have been many long pursuits OF
criminals. great In the distance travelled.
| the obstacles overcome and the persistence
| of pursuing officers. but that Of Sergeant
Wood of the Natal. South Africa, police
finds no parallel In fiction.
The man sought by Sergeant Wood was
charged with embezziins large sums OF
money at Pietermaritzburg. He got away
from South Africa and went to New York.
Although the detective had information as
TO where his quarry was hiding. yet he had
first 10 visit London TO obtain the neces-
sary extradition papers. Then he hurried
to America and. with the assistance OF the
United States poli"e, ran down his man
By the time he had reached Maritzburg he
had been travelling for nearly three months
and had covered nearly 2l,0oo miles
One OF the sternest chases of recent yea .
was after Loys Darrell, formerly Sergeant
IN the Seventh United States Cavalry. OAR
rell enlisted at the beginning of the Spanish
American war and distinguished himself in
Cuba There he fell in love with pretty
Spanish girl and beggared himself In buying
finery for his sweetheart To obtain more
money he robbed and murdered a compan-
ion n arms named Crouch. He then fed.
A detective named Dupuy was pu; upon
the muIderer's track. and. finding a ciew.
hi. surmise that Darrell had gone there
but when he arrived the bird had flown. He
had left on British mule transport for
South Africa Dupuy took train for New
York. fast boat for Southampton. rushed
by rail across Europe. caught a boat OF
the German East African Line and finally
arrived at Beira, in Portuguese East Africa.
There he waited like a spider for d..
and just as Darrell was fancyinS himself
safe from pursuit he pounced upon him
Later on the detective deposited his pris-
oner safely IN Castle William Jail, in New
York. He hao travelled in all $1,000 miles
and spent 81, so IN the chase
One o. the most astonishing criminals Eng
land ever produced was a man named BEN
son. who began operations in London with
two confederates- He organized a series ox
swindling companies In the city, while he
himself. pretending to be an invalid. lived
In the greatest luxury In the Isle of Whit
He posed as = great philanthropist, wSs
foremost in charitable works, and went in
10 the very best society. BY dint u
orioing certain officers Of the law he lived
ior some years on the proceeds OF h;s
s"indIes- But one day the crash came He
WAS arrested, sentenced, and got q LONG
term in Portsmouth jail.
No sooner was he out than he was AZ
his old tricks again These culminatsd in
e.itzeFiano. where he managed to gain the
anecuens OF the daughter of an English
officer Through her he induced her father
10 trust him with the investment of his en-
tire capital. some $3S.00. He bolted with
the money. Chased across Europe q detsc- =
tive caught him at Bremen. To avoid scam
dai the victim promised not to prosecutd
If Benson would give I'D the money. The
latter did SO and left for America. Hard-S
y was the vessel out Of sight before Il
was discovered that the bundle of scrip the
thief had handed over was worth at most
Nso.
FoIloued across fb> A,I,rtt. p~--
capped to Mexico, where he made 5000 bS
passing himself Oh as Nine. PATHS agent 4
and selling forged concert tickets. BY this
time bis photograph was in almost every
police bureau In the world. savs the ChicaSo
Chronicle Yet he lodged and twisted un- a
der q dozen aliases and was heard Of In al
most svery South American State before
clever New York detective ran him dewn
in Rio after q two Year, hunt
Even then he cheated justice. landed n
prison In New York. he walked upstair4
chatting amiably to bis jailer. Suddenly i
he made = spring and jumped clean oses
the bantster. He was picked up with Z 4,
broken back and died that night
The police never exhibit more reaantlAau 4
energy than In hunting d,"D-S co,uaSs-h
coincrs crime Ia against Government, An4
SO the whole forces Of the State are aSaina6
MIN. The United States suffers Tar more
from coiners than England does and S0,Dr6- 4
portionately keen to run down such o04nA-
ers. Early in 1850 Q man named HasttnGD
Was surprised in his workshop. from wh1ea
he had issued many thousands OF uRA0
silver coins. but he was too quick for - 4
would-be captors and escaped No fsNsr
than seven secret service men were put a.
his track. The remarkable fact u tAR1
Hastings never attempted to leave u
States
Ellfer, one OF the detectivsA got . hin1
that a stranger was In the woodA He
took a blanket and some food and hid him 4
self In - thicket. Very early In the morn
ing Hastings passed. carrying bag Of food
Ellfer tracked him to his refuge and ~ i
the forser was armed He waited some dis 4
tance away in hiding. When night came
came out with a dark lantern and
searched every bush near his hiding place
At last he was satisfied and went back 3
soon as Eilfer felt sure the man was asieep
he crept up and had the handcuns on MIN
before he could awake. On the way t.
the tail Hastings told his captor that he
had seen him on ten different occasions ana
had once, IN Cincinnati. been within thssa
feet OF him in q theater.