Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-07-27
HotU I Entered the
Detective Field
fOriginai.1

a farmer living on the Arlington road,
had been found dead with a bullet in
his heart. There was no clew to the
murderer. was out Of Job at the
time and made up my mind that
would test my natural bent for detec.
tive work by trying to unravel what
appeared TO be an insoluble problem.
I went to the house and found the doc.
tors engaged In extracting the bullet
from the dead mans heart asked to
see Il and was permitted to do 80. My
reason for wishing to examine It was
that had always heard that every
minutia in detective cases was impor-
tant The truth is l was green and
didn't know how else to begin.
The bullet was Of the usual conicai
shape. looked 1t oil over and noticed
places where II had been rubbed or
scratched There were three OF these
marks. two near together. third on
the opposite side. It struck me that
there bad been some projection in the
barrel Of the pistol that had caused
these scratches II I could find the PTS.
toll that would make similar scratches
on other bullets fired from it could
identify it as the weapon with which
Mulholland had been killed. But na
weapon had been found near the body.
Stories about murderers leaving knives
sticking in their victims or dropping
pistols in their haste to get away are
inventions. Murderers do lot Of
things to incr!minate themselves, but
4 GO, hof
I secured IN interview with the muir.
dered mans wife and asked her to tell
me about every one that had had any
connection with her husband during a
year or SO past He had had trouble
! with the owner OF an adjoining farm
shout the boundary. A tramp had
been turned out OF the barn few days
before the murder and had gone OF
muttering curses. farm hand had
been discharged. but an interval Of
three months had elapsed since the
discharge; BESIDES the man had made
no demonstration at the time.
| or the three my suspicious were for
the tramp hadn't the means Of
securing the country for him. 30 I
went to the police and recommended
them to do So The tramp was hunted
down and arrested. He had no pistol
on him. but he had pawn ticket. The
pawnbroker where it was issued pro-
duced a silver watch that It stood for
Of little value. After The police had
dropped the scent I went to the pawn
broker. hoping to ;lcit some clew.
While we were chatting I stood lean
ing on glass case contaiing 7awred
articles Among them | noticed a pis.
toll. 1t was a cheap, old fashioned arti-
Gle worth few dollars. Something
moved me to ask the broker who had
pawned II. He said that the m: n was
q negro asked the broker to let me
look at the weapon. and he handed it
to me. Taking It to u window where
the sun was shining in, looked into
the barrel. Near the muzzle l noticed
some spots of rust There were two
near together and one opposite.
Noting the caliber. went out and
got some cartridges to At che pistol
and. going into the back yard with it.
fred bullet into Il barrel OF water.
When l examined the lead l found
scratches OH it exactly like those on
the bullet that killed Mulholland.
| fired several more bullets, and every
one was marked exactly like the first.
Without saying word to any one, I
went to Mrs. Mulholland and asked
her II her husband had ever had any
trouble with a negro. At first she an
swered mo" but presently remem-
bered that three years before negro
had stolen some clothing and Mulhol-
land had been instrumental In sending
him to the penitentiary. The negro was
an ugly fellow, with bad record. I
time had expired and he had been re-
leased few days before the murder.
At this point made a grave mis-
take. was not willing to give the po-
lice the benefit Of my discovery. SO I
traced the negro myself and found him
In low negro dive. l swore out q
warrant. had him arrested and in his
pocket found q pawn ticket for the pis-
toll l had discovered.
then made out the papers accusing
the prisoner Of the murder Of John
Mulholland. The police. who had IN
the first place resented my interfer.
encc, treated me with whitening con-
tempt.
young feller." said the chief. when
you've been mixed up with criminals
as long as I have you'll learn that It's
one thing to suspect a man or even to
know he's the one you want and an
other to prove it. It's Just such men
as you that cost the state money spent
uselessly."
made no reply. biding my time.
When the trial came OF the prescott.
ing attorney was we'll posted by mo on
the case and demonstrated before the
Jury what had discovered in the
pawnbroker's back yard. He showed
them the bullet that had killed Null
holland. then took cartridge and dred
1t into a barrel Of water The bullet
coming out marked as the one he had
shown them, he fired another and an
other till they were perfectly satisfied.
One would think that to be the end
Of my story. but 1t isn't The chief Of
police, not willing that IN amateur
should accomplish what he couldn't do
himself. connived with the lawyer ap.
nointed nv the state to defend the