Evening star., 1905-08-20

functions Of his leadership, also. to protect
his men from trouble with the officers of
the law. and, once they found themselves
in the tolls, to secure their release. AT this
he was as adept as in the command of
men and the disposal of stolen property.
Before his first arrival in Chicago Barron
had spent some time in PittSburg, and
there had met the wife Of a saloon keeper.
The woman, fascinated by his dashing style
and glib talk, deserted her husband and
came with him to Chicago Barron and the
woman took up their residence at II Ann
street under the name of Burton. I deemed
it advisable to lay wires by which l might
keep in touch with his movements. and,
with that end in view, 1 formed the ac-
quaintance Of Mrs. Kelly, with whose
daughter Barron was living. She knew my
reasons for wanting to keep track of Bar
ron, and willingly, but secretly, gave me
such information concerning Barron's
movements as came to her through her
daughter.
In the process of organizing his combina-
ton of thieves Barron had included in the
individual group clique of hotel thieves.
From the information that had leaked out
at John Ewing's in the hearing Of his wife
l was positive that White and Horton were
two of the hotel workers who reported to
Barron as their superior officer. Just how
far Barron aided them in their actual op
erations I did not know. but I considered
1t of Importance to identify the remaining
suspicious signatures cut from the hotel
registers. l found some trouble in securing
a specimen of Barron's handwriting, but.
once in my possession, it was found to have
been written by the man that placed the
heretofore unidentified signature on the
hotel register.
This was satisfactory progress, but
along general lines only. I was satisfied
that Barrons hotel thieves had robbed
Isaac Mills and turned the jewelry over
to him for sale. 1t also was probable that
the proprietor of the Clark street jewelry
house was running q fence" and, under
h &c pln nf f..l tu hn1 FIN Itch
Horton, White and Barron with informa-
tton concerning the contents of Mills
trunk and its surroundings, information
which he secured during his inspection Of
Mills samples.
y
My investigation up to this point had
progressed by inches and was almost at
a standstill when Chance smiled on me.
There was in existence then-and 1 sup
pose Is at the present time-an organiza-
ton of jewellers for the mutual protection
of themselves and their travelling sales
men against thieves. Facilities for pro-
tecting trunks and sample cases on the
road were not as complete then as they
are now and the organization undertook
to supply this lack, adding, / believe, an
insurance feature against loss. William
A. Giles was the Chicago representative
of the association, and he and l had
talked the fremont House robbery over
with each other and with Mills. Mr. Giles
had taken keen interest in the case, al
though dependent on the police for the
recovery of the jewelry and the capture
of the robbers
About the time had thoroughly salts
fed myself that the job had been done by
Barron's crowd there arrived in chicago q
travelling salesman for a Boston jewelry
firm named Phlo w. Scof1eld He handied
the same class of goods as Mills-solid
gold articles--a fact well known in the
trade, and, presumably. by the thieves
who kept in touch with the trade. Scofield
had been In Chicago but day or Two
when he was approached by two men who
claimed to have failed in the JeWeiry busl-
ness and who were seeking 10 dispose OF
some of the stock on hand Scoheid mace
some INQUIRY as to the character OF the
iewelry they had for sale and soon learned
that there was a number OF watch chains
OF a pattern which, from the description
seemed to correspond with the style or
chains stolen from Mills. NO SaiiipleS HOW
ever were produced.
Scofield made a second appointment. AS
soon as his visitors left he notified Mr.
Giles who in turn Informed me of the in
cident At the second meeting Scof1eld
agreed to purchase a quantity of the goods
and price per pennyweight FOR the solid
gold jewelry was agreed upon. the proceeds
of the sale to depend on weight entirely
The merchants" still refused to show their
wares. but promised to produce them for
inspection at third meeting, to take place
at the corner of Adams and Peoria streets
the 1OIlO"iHS udy.
In this arrangement the pretended mer
chants followed the plan of most of their
ilk-insistance on a series of meetings in
order that they might satisfy themselves
OF the good faith toward them Of the man
to whom they planned to sell their goods
Scofield was adroit enough in his dealings
with them to throw them off their guard
He reported the progress of his negotia-
tions to Mr.. Giles and me, and at either OF
the two meetings / could have accomplished
the arrest of the suspects, but to have done
so would have been to catch the mwith no
discriminating evidence. and l determined
to wait till they kept an appointment with
Scofield with the jewelry we believed to
have been stolen in their possession.
Our plan of action was this: Scofields
visitors had informed him they would ap-
pear at Adams and Peoria streets in
spring wagon with the jewelry. and Mr.
Giles and decided to drive to point near
the meeting place in buggy. Scofield was
to signal to us at the proper moment by
raising his hat in a careless manner habitu-
al with him. Mr.. Giles >then was TO drive
toward their wagon, and, when close
enough, to turn into it, locking the front
wheel OF his buggy into the front wheel of
their wagon. / was to be on foot near the
scene, and, in the mix-up of the vehicles, to
grab one of the men, while Scofield cap
tured the other A policeman selected for
the purpose was to be stationed near to
assist in the event our plans went awry.
Scofield was on the spot at the appointed