Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-17

personal search for Mccoy and his associ-
ates With Frank Murray, a detective in
Chicago, and other detectives, he went to
Galesburg, where the gang was said to
have a sort of headquarters The members
of the party found there none of the men
they were after. but they learned that
Thatch" Grady, notorious criminal with
whom Butch Mccoy was known TO be in
relations was in Omoiia. So they hurried to
Omaha, but only to find that Grady had
gone to st. Louis. Then to 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 a.
great city Is as interesting as it is little
understood. The first step is to secure
from the local police information as to the
favorite haunts of criminals of the class
under pursuit, paying special regard in the
preliminary inquiries to the possibility of
love affairs; for thieves. even more than
honest men, are swayed in their lives by
the tender passion, and often brought
to justice through the agency of women.
With so much of such information in their
possession as they could gather, Mr.. Stone
and his detectives spent their time In likely
resorts, picking up acquaintance with fire.
qUenters, and whenever possible. turning
the talk adroitly upon the man they were
looking for. 1t is a mistake to suppose that
in work like this detectives disguise them
selves. False boards and mustaches, Cog
giles and lightning changes of clothing are
never heard of except fn.the pages of badly
informed story writer's. In his experience
of over twenty-five years Mr.. Murray never
wore such disguise nor knew of any
reputable detective who did. In this ex-
petition the detectives simply assumed the
character and general style of the persons
they were thrown with, passing for men Of
sporting tastes from the east; and having
satisfied the people they met that they
meant no harm, they had difficulty In
obtaining such news Of Mccoy and the
others there was. Unfortunately. this
was not much.
Ia,
various clews. the detectives finally
brought up In New Orleans They had
spent FIVE or SIX weeks and large amount
of money only to. find themselves without
q ciew as to the whereabouts of the men
they were pursuing. when a telegram from
Mr. Pinkerton told them that 'Butch'' Nc
Coy was back In Galesburg. where they
had first sought him. Proceeding thither
with all Dispatch they traced Mccoy into
saloon. and there three of them with
drawn revolvers captured him. in spite of
desperate dash he made to escape.
McCoy's capture was the occasion of
much felicitation among the people inter
ested In the matter. But Mccoy showed
on trial that he had left New Orleans to
come north only the night before the mir-
der and had spent the whole of that night
on the Illinois Central railroad. 1t also APP
peared that McCey's associate. Connors,
vas in jail at the time Of the robbery and
that the man ..Jeff wac dead. Thus the
whole Plunkett story Was exploded
Some time before this the man who had
ridden on the free pass and given the de-
tectiyes so much trouble had been acct
dentally found by Jack Mullins, a brake
man ON Conductor Danforth's train. He
proved to be an advertising solicitor, en-
ployed by no other than Mr.. Stone, who
would have given THOUSAND dollars to
Know what his agent knew; for the ad-
vertIsing man had seen the conductor bring
on. the valise containing the important
fragment OF the draft. But he had rot
ealized the value of the news IN his pos-
session, and Mr.. Pnkerton took good cara
To keep him from that knowledge. ore
hint OF the truth to the newspaper peo-
pie and the whole story would have keea
blaxoned forth In It's columns, and tie mur-
derer would have taken warning. Not un-
til he had seen the man safely on a train
out from Chicago did Mr.. PiItkeiston hrea the
easily, and 1t was rot until months lafes
tifal Mr. Slone learned Bow ffear re G me
10 getting a splendid -sF0op ID the whole
ss.sts and count
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moved the last sos2s ns liz tia S.s1ssIsa
had been ken Into tbs NJ any III
cpna Dan Ana yet.