Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-10
DETECTIVE STORIES

the protection of jewe1ry statesmen against
thieves, was entitled to its aid.
When the detectives reached the scene of
the robbery the robber had vanished as
completely as II he had been whsked off
10 another planet To be sure farmers
In the neighborhood brought rumors of the
stealing OF horses, of a strange man Sleep
ing in the woods and of a desperate-look-
ing character seen linpng along the road
But all this came 10 nothing, except to es-
tablish. what seemed probable that the
diamond thief had fed back to Omaha. A
patient and exhaustive search in Omaha
resulted in nothing. The man was gone
and the diamonds were gone; that was all
anybody knew
What made the case more difficult was
the uncertainty as to the robbers personal
appearance; for some of the passengers
testified to one thing, and some TO another
The black beard was the cause of con-
fusion; only one witness besides Mr.. Pol
lock remembered that the man wore such
beard. Mr.. Pollock, however, was posi-
tive as to this particular, and 1t seemed as
If he ought to know. 1t was also impos-
sible to decide, from conflicting statements
whether the robber had q rnustache or
not, and whether 1t was dark or light in
color. The fact is. the passengers had been
so thoroughly frightened a the time of the
assault that the eredibility of their tes-
ttmony was much TO be questioned.
Mr.. Pollock reported that for several
weeks previous to the robbery he had sus-
pected that he was being followed. He also
reported that on the day of the robbery
he had been in the shop of the largest
pawnbroker in Omaha and that while he
was there two noted western gamblers had
, entered the shop and been presented to him
as possible customers He had made
trade of some diamonds with one of. the
men, and, in the course of the negotiations,
had shown his entire stock. While the
trade was in progress q negro on the prem
ises had noticed, lounging about the front
of the shop, in a SLOUGH hat who
suggested the robber. From these circum-
stances it was decided that the robbery
might be the work Of an organized gang.
whe had been waiting their opportunity for
many days, and had selected one of their
number to do the actual deed
All his life it had been Mr. Pinkerton's
business to study criminals and understand
their natures. He knew that a crime like
this one was much beyond the power OF
an ordinary criminal. Let robber be ever
so greedy of gold, reckless of human life
and Indifferent to consequences, he would
still think many times before declaring war
to the death upon twelve men in a narrow
car, on swiftly moving train. This was
surely no novice In crime, reasoned Mr.
Pinkerton, but a man whose record would
already show deeds of the greatest daring;
a brave fellow, though bad one And
even among the well-known experienced
criminals there must be very few who
were capable of this deed.
Mr.. Pinkerton. therefore, set himself to
studying the bureaus records and rogues'
gallery to first pick out these few. Page
after page OF photographs was turned over,
drawer after drawer of records was
searched through, and at last dozen or
more men were decided upon as sufficiently