Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-26


THIS was failure number one.
Some time before this w. W. Ken
| noch, shrewd Scotchman, had been
relieved of the command of the New
| York division OF the secret service on
account of his over-indulgence in
liquor He was an honest, conscien-
tious and able operative, and had but
the one fault, fatal one, however, in
man who is carrying secrets of great
Importance to the government. After
being relieved of his eastern command
Kennoch did good deal Of work for
the secret service as roper" He
was familiar with criminals and crimes,
was plasible talker. and could worm
his way into the good graces of coun-
| terfeiters with much skill.
I enlisted his services and assigned
him to the same task had given Gal
lagher. He worked slowly, making
! Bosses saloon his rendezvous. When
he thought his relations with Biebush
were sufficiently close he preached the
subject of buying "coney." AS in the
case Of Gallagher, the willy Prussian
did not take offense nor deny that he
ever handled such goods. but he began
to put Kennoch through course Of
questioning concerning his past. Ken
noch claimed he had served in a New
York penitentiary. but he could not
furnish such proofs as demanded, for
the reason that no such proofs ex-
listed, and Biebush was cunning enough
TO know genuine proofs from false
ones. Here was failure number two.
I did not consider myself any
shrewder at such work than Kennoch.
but it is universal trait for one TO
believe he can do thing better him
self than anyone else can do it for him.
determined to see what I could do
toward leading the old fox into our
trap. l was not known to Biebush.
allowed my beard to grow into stub
BILE and chose the makeup of river
man If l may be pardoned the di.
gression will say that with few
days growth of beard and rough
clothes could look tough enough to
satisfy even the fastidious Biebush, to
whom the appearance OF "toughness"
was strong recommendation. Thus
attired l made my debut at Bosses.
There WAS card game in progress
most of the time, and I sat in" Bic
bush and others whom l afterward
learned were members of his band
played with me. frequently sat op-
posite my quarry and studied him
closely. Friendly relations were estab.
lished between us, and 1 thought mat
tiers were progressing favorably until
l limited to "Old Fred" that would
like to handle some Of his goods. Then
found that l had made just as much
progress as Gallagher and kennoch
had made-and no more. Biebush said
he did not object to doing business
with me, but that he had no coney
Just then" From the way he spoke
knew ! was wasting my time and be-
fore we landed him behind prison bars
we would have to practice deeper and
more circuitous methods in ''roping.'
Failure number three.
Before took charge Of the st. Louis
district had been informed by a dep
uty warden in the Joliet penitentiary
that certain prisoner in that institu
ton had intimated to him that he hat
information which might be of value
to the secret service. l bethought my
self of this and went to see him. He
proved to be John Bridges, alias Hoo
sier Bill" under sentence for horse
stealing. This worthy was an Indiana
product and something over 40 years
old He was a congenital criminal
stopping only at murder. His favor
lite form Of crime was "garroting, tina
Is, grabbing pedestrian by the throa
from behind, thrusting his knee int
the small of the victim S back and thu
: pinioning him while his assistant re
lieved the prey of his valuables. Blu
in the form of crime "Hoosier Bill
was not over particular, taking sid
l excursions into the field of burglary
horse stealing and petty acts of knaV
d cry. The Chicago police knew him a
West side hold-up man of danger
\ GUS character.
! listened to his story with deep in
: terest, as it bore directly on the cas-
D in hand-the landing Of the big ifs
we were playing for-Fred Biebust
"Hoosier Bill'' knew Biebush intimate
ly. He had established this intimac
by presenting proper penitentiary ere
dentials, Of which he had plenty. Be
fore he ran afoul Of an Illinois sheriff
and had been settled" for driving OF
the wrong horse. Bridges had operate
in st. Louis as burglar and turne
over to Biebush such, of his "swag" a
was suitable to the latter's purpose
especially the solid silverware. On on
, occasion he had arrived at the Biebus
residence at four o'clock in the morn
l ing in cab, bringing with him
| package of silverware. The paper wraI
per broke as he was about to ring tn
door bell, scattering the loot over tn
porch The "cabby" helped him gathe
it up, after which Biebush appeare
! and took it into the house l foun