The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-06-18

ing place for our men, Swegles having
promised to inform US in our hiding
place when the right moment was at
hand for Us to appear at the door of the
catac0mb and thereby entrap the
ghOulS at their work SWegles was 10
work with Hughes and Mullen until
the SarcoDhagus was opened and the
casket ready to be beaded into the
wagon. Then he was to go for the
conveyance which was supposed to
be hidden near by. While on this mis-
sion he was to make his way around
the base of the bill, come to the door
OF Memorial hall aud. give the signal
that the time for action had come.
That there might be no mistake in the
darkness. a cOuntersign, the word
Wash" had been agreed upon
We had been concealed in Memorial
hall in almost GREATNESS quiet for
about two hours when suddenly the
flare of a bulls-eye lantern was shot
through the bars of the iron door lead
ing into the halI. and we knew that
the conspiracy was rapidly being put
INTO actual execution From their hur-
ried examination of the hall by the aid
of the lantern the ghouIs evidently sat
iSfied themselves that no one was in
side At any rate, they d sparted in a
moment and made around the base of
the monument To the north end, where
lay the body they were running such
desperate risks to secure. We knew
that the next few minutes would be
1 fraught with events that might mean
death to any of us I now had more
reason than ever before to believe in
the truthfulnesss of Swegles and that
he would keep his promise to signal
US when the right time arrived. So
we waited for this signal, and at last it
came.
If this story were a fancy of my
brain instead of d narrative of facts.
the current of it would here take
sudden turn from the lines / am COM
PEELED to pen. For more than a year
I had plotted to outwit the shreWd and
desperate criminals with whom We
were dealing. and, up to this point, had
been successful As soon as SwegIes
had given the signal we moved eau
tioUsly out of Memorial hau and or
dered the others to follow me-
At the giving Of this order every man
drew his revolver to be prepared for
the fight that we all believed newt
able. In doing SO Detective Hay of
the Pinkerton force accidentally dis
charged a percussion cap in the old
style Colts revolver he carried. As
the detOIIa ton VAS not loud, / paid
around to the door of the ca tacomb
with~the others behind me- The staple
containing the lock of the iron door
had been sawed and filed off. and the
door stood a few inches ajar.
l callsd on whonlsoever was within
to surrender. There was no response.
I called again and then listened Not
even the sound of breathing was au-
dible- I then struck q match The
tools used by the ghouls lay scattered
over the floor and the sarcophagus was
battered to pieces in such a way as to
allow the casket to be moved length
wise toward the door. The yandals had
fed.
There is but one word that adequate
ly describes the sensation that came
over me, and that is 'cheapness After
weeks of careful planning to catch red
handed the men whose criminaIity had
taken on so depraved turn that they
would resort to the theft of the body
of the most beloved American we
found that they had Outwitted us. As
quickly as I could recover my. presence
of mind after the shock of surprise over
| finding the catacou8b empty except for
| the desecTated sarCophagus, I ordered
my assistants to separate and scour
the shrubbery surrounding for the
ghoUls.
Going back, it occurred to me- that
the ghOuls might have sought conceal
ment on the upper parts of the struc-
ture. In the shadow / saw the figures
of two men whom could not discern
clearly CROUCH to- identify them. It
never occurred to me that they might
| be other than Huahes and Mullen. and
I called out for the men below to come
up I fired at them. and they returned
| the fire. running at the same time to
| the northeast corner of the terrace I
| fired again and again. The shot was
| answered, the bullets whiStiing past my
| head Then one of the men shouted:
| ''Tyrrell. is that yOU2''
| | made no answer, believing that one
of the men was Hughes and knowing
/ he would recognize my voice. Again
| the excited question was asked. and 1
| still kept silent. 1t took but a moment
| however. for the pursued men to make
| themselves known as McGinn and Hay
/ the PinkertOn men. who had mounted
| the steps in the hope of finding the
| ghouls hidden there.
|
Thus for time was the most serious
/ and dastardly plot ever devised turned
| into farce Our prey had escaped.
| and in order TO justify ourselves
| against the TidicUIe that would be
| heaped on us when the events Of the
/ night became known. / immediately
| took up the trail of Hughes and Null
| len After finding they had break
! tasted at a farm house about seven
/ miles from Springfield the next morn
/ ing they were again lost to us There
could now he no rest till the men were
| run to earth. Ten days later they were
| located in the saloon at POI West Madi-
| son street and arr Sted by Detectives
| Simmons of the Cbfr.l on C-itx- force
| McGinn of the PinkertOns and Elmer
/ Washburn and myself of the secret
service
! They were taken to Springfield. in
| dict5d and tried on the charges of rob
| berry and larceny. there being no sDe-
| citic statute at that time against grave
| robbing- and sent TO the nenitentiarv
| for year Their counsel. in the trial
! of the casa at Springfield. raised the
/ cry that the secret service had put
| VI a job on his clients in order to get
/ them out Of the way for counterfeiting
| operations but the absUTdity of that
| defense was too apparent to save the
! cOunteTfeiters from prison.
| This is the true record of a plot that
/ failed Tt is not known to this day
| why Hughes and Mullen left the tomb
| after Swegles went after the team he
! was supposed to have. but which in
+, fact. did not exist One theory is that
| they heard the defamation Of HAYS re-
volver and fed. Another is that they
| lift the tomb to meet SwegIes and the
| driver. and instead saw the officers
| rushing on them. Whatever may be
| the correct theory. their escape from
| the tomb before we reached il was
! merely one of the innumerabIe breaks
in the plans of all detectives-except
/ in story books