The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-06-25


! took quarters away from the hotel and
/ his bride remained at the Wright
/ House. Several days later Bailey and
his wife again became reconcied. She
/ evidently had the power TO throw him
l into the most violent fits of jealous
! rage, and then, by pretense of repent
/ ance and other wOmans Wiles. to bring
/ him to her feet again. Right after this
/ second reconciliation the pair moved TO
I De Smet, a mere hamlet at that time,
/ containing only sixteen families. The
! country was new and was being deVel-
! oped by the railroad that had just built
a line through it.
]
| Bailey believed that the village had
I a promising future and announced his
| intention to settle there and go into the
/ real estate and loan business. In his
/ travels he had carried with him several
! thousand dollars and soon after arTiv-
ing at De Smet he deposited this money
in the Bank of Kingsbury County, con
Quoted by A. and Thomas II. Ruth. The
! Baileys rented a two-story building
/ that had been used as a shoe store, with
/ living rooms above, bought furniture
] and soon were, 10 all appearances, COM
A., fortably settled.
| The ground covered by the BaiIeys
| from the time they returned from the
! Pacific coast until they settled in De
| Smet was all carefully gone over by me.
| 1t must be remembered that in these
wanderings they had been nearly year
in advance of me, and 1 necessarily de-
| pended to a great extent on the gossip
/ they had left in their wake. From this
! 1 sifted as carefully as 1 could the
| statements that I deemed worthy of
! credence- At each place they had
| stopped there were plenty of tales of
| jealous quarTels, always due, as nearly
4 glc- IruH to- fol- of
| bride and her seeming wanton pleasure
/ in keeping her husband in the throes of
/ jealous rage. The conclusion I drew
was this: That here was a case of d
| woman who had married, not from love.
! but because her sutton had been a de-
| sirable catch" l was satisfied that
she had had no genuine affection for
/ Bailey; but to the daughter of an OBJ
/ scure carpenter. an offer Of marriage
| from a rising, agreeable young lawyer
| of ample means was not to be treated
/ lightly.
Thus judged the woman on the facts
/ as I had gathered them and without
/ prejudice or desire to work any injus-
| tice. And here 1 wish to say that in
my many years of work in hunting
! down and securing evidence against
I criminals OF all kinds-a career begun
| in 1861 have never been dishonest in
( trying to manufacture evidence against
/ any person suspected or accused, and I
4 have never formed premature notions of
/ the guilt OF innocence of a suspect. al
! ways reservins conclusions on this
point until the facts CLEANED forced
| such conclusions. I am fully aware
4 that many detectives of my persona
/ acquaintance first assume the guilt of a
| suspect and then make the evidence fit
! their pTeconceiTed idea Even-handed
/ justice is due the worst criminal. If
/ they are guilty intelligent. honest and
/ peTsevering work on the part of1the of
J ficers- of the law will develop that fact
/ II the evidences Is in any way obtainabIe-
| IT not-well I have always believed in
/ the adage that il is better for nine
| guilty men to escape than for one inno-
| cent man TO be punished. So in the
] case of Nellie Bailey ] took the stories
/ Of her ffirtatious wanderings for Just
| what they were worth as shedding light
on the character of the woman-and for
! nothing more
On April "A the BaiIeys moved into
! their De Smet home For three DAYS
/ Bailey was seen about town in good
/ health and spirits. engag ed in the petty
/ affairs connected with the furnishing
I OF his home So far as 7 could learn on
/ my arrival ar De Smet several months
/ later, he had not been seen by any of
/ the ueighbOrS after the 9th Of the same
month He had bade no ono goodbye
and none Of the tOwnspeOpIe had seen
F, him leave. Mrs Bailey went bIytheIy
/ about her daily household duties. and
when questioned concerning the absence
| of her husband explained he had bust
/ ness interests in California and had
| been summoned thither by telegraph.
| OF course, there was some gossip over
/ the haSty and unseen departure of the
I lawyer. but il turned more on his hav-
/ ing deserted his wife on account of her
frivolity and freedom Of action with
other men than on anything more seri-
/ Gus.
For two months Mrs Bailey lived in
De Smet, and then she announced that
/ her husband did not intend to return
there. and that she inteded to leave
The newly bought furniture was sold
at a sacrifice and other preliminaries
/ to her departure quickly arranged Ell
gin, Ill. was given as her destination.
and later this was found to be the place
TO which she went. Thus the Baileys
faded out of Dakota.
$50
On my arrived at De Smet I went to
| the bank of Kingsbury- I had sent in
an assumed name, and while waiting
TO be admitted voice called out:
Hello, Tyrrell. is, that you?"
4
who had served on jury before which
I had had a counterfeiting case in st.
Paul There was no further chance for
me to conceal my identity or my mis-
sion The Ruth brothers placed their
services at my disposal. From them
| asceTtained that Bailey had deposited
several thousand dollars in the bank
when he first came to De Smet and that
he had withdrawn IL soon afterward.
From the same source learned of the
arrival and departure of the BaiIeys
and of the gossip that attended the dis
appearance of the lawyer.
The facts gathered up to that time
touching the career of Nellie Bailey
were such as to strengthen my rapidly
forming opinion that the woman was
capable of deeds more desperate than
flirting, although nothing in itself more
serious had been unearthed. 1t was
not difficult to imagine, however. the
lengths to which such A woman might
go TO free herself from the thraldom Of
marriage TO a jealous husband for
whom. I was convinced. she bore no
real affection Her husbands possession
of several thousand dollars in cash.
coupled with her inoTdinste love of fem
iuine fnery. rendered stronger any 9TH
er motive she might have had for wish
ing her husband out of the way
The withdrawal of his funds from the
bank and his sudden disappearance
from De Smet presented themselves to
me as additional grounds for harboring
the theory that had been forcing itself
on me-that Shannon Bailey had been
murdered by his wife.
From the depth of his infatuation
for his Maynard wife l found il diff
cult 10 believe that he would yoluntar-
ily absent himself from her for two