The Minneapolis journal., 1904-11-25

A blood smeared revolver, found yes
terday afternoon on the Great Northern
tracks near Central avenue, may throw
murder at Columbia Heights, Tuesday
night.
The revolver, S2-caliber, was found
, by brakeman just as the train was
pulling out of the yards on It's way to
Elk River. The trainman saw it lying
close beside the rails a little west of
: Central avenue, and jumped from the
boarded the train. He saw no officers
before leaving the. city limits and
waited until the train pulled into Elk
River, where he turned the weapon
over to Sheriff E. l.. Ward.
If this .gun, belonged to the The men men
night, 1t will do much to aid the au-
thorities in their Investigations. It
will not only indicate the route taken
by the fugitives, but it's Identification
may lead to an immediate arrest.
Outside sheriffs Help.
This discovery has again brought
Sheriff Ward Of Sherburne county and
Sheriff Palmer Of Anoka county to the
another thoro search Of the fields and
roads near Columbia Heights for more
discarded weapons.
Whether the find will tend to incrim
inate the men captured at Cambrldge
or those now under suspicion in North
east Minneapolis, the police will not
say, but it's Importance is shown by
the eagerness with which they look up
the new clue.
The revolver is an ordinary nickel
plated weapon Of 32,ealiber and Is Is
Comparatively new. It was well
smeared over with blood and had evil
IDENTIFY, been placed IN a pocket ma as
blood on it is thought. to indicate
that the man who carried it was
wounded, and this theory fits IN with
the fact that one of the hold-up. VIC
Tins insisted that he shot at and hit
one Of the robbers. ....
Local Crooks Suspected.
Investigations by the police this
morning have resulted in the elimina-
tion of many vague clues and SUSPICION
Is now practically confined to members
Of two notorious gangs, who live In the
city and are still here. :,
The obstacle that now confronts the
police is the gathering OF suflclent CT ev1,
dence to warrant an arrest. This will
be heavy undertaking, for all OF the
Young men suspected have many friends
and SO far the detectives have been
unable to pick any flaws. in their allbis,
But even before the officers can begin
to get the evidence, they must settle
their suspicious finally on one or the
The difficulty SO far has been in har'
monizing the descriptions OF the rob
bers and fitting It them to the m members N 4i 5
possibility that the two gangs may have
merged for this particular y gndertak1ne dc ia tRe
work.
hours has been along this line, and both
gangs are under close watch.
Were Tramps the Robbers?
Another possible clue is indicated by
the story of a brakeman on the Soc
road, who affirms that three men board
ed his train near Columbia Heights
shortly after the shooting. and rode a.
Far as Cardigan station, where they go
off and went away from the tracks
The brakeman saw the men distinctly
and his description corresponds closel.
with that of the bandits.
So much credence is placed In Thu
story that he has been given a leav
of absence to aid the police in thel
search.
A Bit Of Corroborat1on.
There are two other clues which bacl
up bis story. F.. G. Savoy, proprleto
of the Log Cabin saloon, was huntln
with a friend in the vicinity of Colum
the The murder. On their way into tn
city they stopped at Mingo's saloo
for a drink. They had their guns wit
them and jokinglIy told Mingo, tha
him up. He laughed and said it woul
be all right. AS Savoy said this, .tw
strange men in the saloon who boz
every appearance of being ra1lroa
tramps, cast a hurried glance at, th
to each other. Savoy noticed this, br
said nothing about it to Mingo. d
now thinks that these were two of th
bandits who had come in to size u
the situation and were much surprise
to hear some one speaking of their IL
tentions.
A poster announcing the turkey Ia
fe was at that time on the. walls !
the saloon and they undoubtedly saw
Other residents of Columbia .Heigh
saw these men on the same DAY, D,
those who obtained good view OF the
The other clue supporting the brak
mans story is that some Of the cloth
left behind by the murderers we
soiled and greasy, giving evidence {
the knockabout life of the wearer.
Shot at the Robbers.
The police have also learned to the
satisfaction that one of the men In tt
crowd that night emptied his revolv
at the desperadoes. He dropped b
hind table and did his best to wou1
the men. This probably accounts f
the report that one Of the robbers sta
gered against the stove as he was goi1
out. The man is positive that one
his bullets went to the mark. and
hole in the sweater found by the roa
side may give his story some found
Continued on Second Page.