Evening star., 1905-08-20

who had arrived during the day. He car
ried a small valise and explained to the
clerk that he was going away the next
morning early and wished TO be called. He
paid for The room in advance. When the
bell-boy made the call at the hour desig-
mated the room was vacant and the bed evil
IDENTIFY had not been slept in. No signif1
canoe was attached to the fact. as it often
happened that guests vacated their rooms
after leaving calls before the calls were
made. l requested the privilege of cutting
the signature in question from the register.
This process was repeated at each hotel
from which robbery had been reported.
found in every case that room had been
paid for in advance, a call left, and the
room vacated before the call was made. In
two cases two men had arrived together
and been assigned to the same room Such
meager descriptions as | could gather were
taken and they tailed in several instances.
There was no longer any doubt in my
mind that all of the thefts had been com
mhted by the same crowd. But in vain I
searched the fremont House register for a
signature corresponding in chara cter to
any of the suspected signatures I had cut
from the various registers, and I came to
ihe conclusion that the thief in this case
had shadowed Mills room without having
taken a room in the hotel
On Inc day Following the robbery at the
fremont [ had long conversation with
-'iiAio Ip!tSei lIinS tle men who had
10 his rooms. Aside from a few personal
friends most of his callers had been local
jewelers., who had come to his rooms to
look at his samples and buy goods. He
named these one by one
DID you have any callers who did not
buy jewelry?" l asked
dlils ran over the list and then said:
Yes, one man came here two or three
.iines ana looked through my samples, but
bought nothing.
Who was he?" I asked
Mills named a jeweler and auctioneer who
kept store in Clark street
Was there anything unusual in his ac-
tions?" ' 1o
Nothing whatever, except that I recall
the fact of his having made the impression
on me that he had no intention of buying
when he came here I wasted no tine oo
MIN on that account"
made mental note of the incident and
so 1ar as / had time, kept an eye on the
Niark street store. In passing II one day
my attention was attracted to a man COM
ing OUT OF 1t. l thought he acted In a fur
tive manner.
For soiae time previous to the events here
narrated there had been living in the rear
of 149 South Halsted street a family named
Ewing, John the head of the family had
married widow with one daughter and
these three composed the family Ewing
ii
Minnesota penitentiary, and had settled in
Chicago with his family. He did not pIy
his trade there. His cottage was a rendeZ-
Eous Tor thieves of the better class. l knew
MIN and his wife. The latter was anxious
10 keep a home where he would be free
from molestation by the police and could
live life Of apparent responsibility at in
tervals. at least.
| knew the woman's ambition IN .b;s n.r
ucular and believed it could be turned to
good account. Arranging an interview
with Mrs. Ewing, ! learned from her that
Ihonas White and John Horton, two of
the most dangerous hotel thieves In the
country. had been calling on her husband
l asked her to secure for me the natural
signatures of White and Horton and this
She promised 10 do. These signatures soon
those / had cut from the different hotel
registers served to show beyond doubt
that two of the mysterious hotel guests
had been White and Horton There u-as
one signature, however, which evidently
had not been made by either White or
Horton, as the comparison plainly showed
Mrs. Ewing furnished another valuabIe
clue in the statement that Horton was a
frequent visitor to the Clark street ieweIrv
store.
As said in the beginning. Adam Brown
or James X Barron, was at that time a.
criminal. He a Scotchman twentv-
seven years old. and had brought to bear
on his nefarious calling all the strength of
character and shrewdness that have dis
IlHSulSLeu tHe Scot III SO many lines of hui
man endeavor.
Barron had been clerk in a dry goods
store in Montreal several years before
Under cloud, he drifted to other eastern
cities. Although never in serious trouble
the east grew warm for him, and he came
to Chicago. where he worked at several
large stores for a time. But his sprouting
ambitions in the field of crime would no
longer brook the restrictions of even a
pretense of honest employment, and he
gathered around him through his inborn
capacity OF leader a large number of
criminals over whom he assumed despotic
command. Most of these men were thieves
of established reputation and years of ex-
perience.
His enlisted men were divided into squads
according to their speciaities. Barron
mapped out the campaign for each. He or
dered them into different parts of the coun-
try to execute plans he had formulated
The booty secured. IL was turned over to
Barron, who had displayed his mastery
ability by establishing the most complete
network of connections with dishonest mer-
chants and fences any thief in this coun-
try ever had. In Cincinnati. st. Louis, Buff
falo Detroit and many other cities he had
agents-most of them supposedly reputable
merchants-who disposed of the booty
shipped TO them by Barron.
In Chicago he had several receiving and
distributing depots where the miscellaneous
assortment of stolen property was sorted.
ranaclad ard Skinned Was one of the