The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-17

] 'ist sang buLtn was J plCkpOChet.
burglar and aIl-around thief. whose
/ operations kept him travelling all over
/ the United States.
The police in various cities having
. been communicated with to no pur-
/ pose, Mr.. Stone finally decided 10 do a
/ thnS the like of which no newspaper
proprietor perhaps ever undertook be
I lofe-that Is, start on q personal search
! Tor Mccoy and his associates. With
/ Frank Murray, one of the best detec-
/ tives in Chicago. and other detectives
/ he went to Gaiesburg where the gang
/ was said to have q sort of headcUar-
/ ters. The party found there none of
/ the men they We're after. but they
/ learned that "Thatch" Grady, Il notori-
I Gus criminal with whom Butch" Nc
/ Coy was known to be in relations, was
/ IN omaha. SO they hurried 10 Omaha,
but only 10 find that Grady had gone
/ 10 St Louis. Then 10 St. Louis went
/ Mr.. stone and his detectives, hot on
/ the scent. and spent several DAYS in
/ that city searching high and low.
The method Of locating a criminal in
/ great city is as interesting as il is
/ little understood. The first step is 70
secure from the local police informa-
ton as to the fayorite haunts of Grim
: mails Of the class under pursuit. paving
special regard in the preliminary in
/ quries 10 the possibility of love af-
! Ialrs' for thieves. even more than hon
/ est men. ARE sWayed in their lives by
/ the tender passion, and are often
/ Drought 10 justice through the agency
/ OF women. With so much Of such in
/ formation IN their possession as they
could gather, Mr.. Stone and his detec-
. haf a.,
picking up acquaintance with frequent
ers. and, whenever possible. tt,.nipo
the talk adrOitly upon the man thew
/ We're looking for II is a mistake TO
4 suppose that in work like this deter
+ yves disguise themselves. False boards
and moustaches. goggles and lightning
changes of clothing are never heard Of
/ except IN the pages of badly Informed
story writers. In his experience of over
twenty-five years Mr.. Murray never
wore Such disguise, nor did he know
or any reputable detective who did
/ IN this expedition the detectives sim
1 ply assumed the characters and general
/ style or the persons they were thrown
with, passing for men OF snortins-
tastes from the east. and, having saf-
lsiled the people they met that tbev
meant no harm, they had no difficulty
IN obtaining such news of Mccoy am,
the others as there was. Unfortunate.
~, this was not much.
After going from one city 10 another
on various clews, hearing OF one mem
Der or the gang here and another
there, and in each instance losing their
man, the detectives finally brought nm
III New orleans. They had spent five
or SIX weeks OF time and q largo
E nr
serves absolutely without a clew as tn
the whereabouts of the men thew were
pursuing. They were much discor-
aged, when telegram from Mr.. Pink
erIou told them that Butch" Mccoy
was back in GalesbuFg, where they had
I first sought him. Proceeding fbtfber
with all dispatch. they traced Mccoy
into saloon, and there three of them
John Smith. representing the Rock
Island railroad; John McGinn. for the
Pinkerton agency, and Frank Murray.
working for Mr. Stone-with drawn re-
Volvers, captured him. in spite Of
desperate dash he made 10 escape.
McCOy's capture was the occasion of
much felicitatiOn among the people in
terested in the matter Mr. ST. John
and Mr.. Stone We're confident that now
the whole mystery of the express rob
berry would be solved and the murderer
convicted. Nut Mccoy showed on trial
that he had left New Orleans to come
north only the night before the murder
and had spent the whole of that night
on the Illinois Central RAILROAD It
also appeared that McCoy's associate
Connors. was in Jail ar the time of the
robbery. and that the man JEFF was
dead. Thus the whole Plunkett story
was exploded.
Some time before this the man who
had ridden on the free pass, and given
the detectives SO much trouble, had
been accidentally found oy Jack Null
Inns. a brakeman on Conductor Dan
forth's train. He proved 70 be an ad-
vertising solicitor, employed by no
other than Mr. Melville L. Stone, who
would have given q thousand dollars
to know what his agent knew; for the
advertising man had seen the conduct