Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-03-29

.-g evidence against him was what
we sadly needed
And let me say now that most effec-
tive detective work consists in being
able to find the right kind of informers
| know full well that detectives gen
orally are prone to throw a veil of mys-
terry over their work, leaving the i'm
preston that some sort of supernatural
vision has been brought to bear on the
unrayeling of the case in point, where
as, when the full truth is known, the
solution of the mysterious case is made
possible by the most commonplace in
formation secured from voluntary or
involuntary informers. That eminent
creature of fiction, Sherlock Holmes"
never had to make his case good in a
United States court, and if he had he
would have needed a great deal OF
corroboratiye evidence that only could
have come from ordinary, unromantic
informers.
In this predicament l fixed on Wha-
len and Woods as the two men who
most easily could be forced into tight
corner and who, once cornered would
be the most likely to sacrifice their SUI
periors in crime to save themselves. So
all my energies were bent in this di-
rection. The men were communicative
to those they trusted, fond of drink and
of not overmuch intelligence. Woods
was known as the husband of woman
who ran boarding house of question
able character in Venice, ILL.,, just
across the river from st. Louis. Wha-
len was engaged to be married to
young st. Louis woman whom he after
ward married. | mention these details
merely to show that these men were
approachable at more points than the
other members of the band.
1t required some time to accomplish
my purpose, but the time came when
| felt safe in revealing my true identity
to these men and in showing them the
trap into which they had walked. They
found themselves face to face with i'm
prisonment on one hand and turning
against Biebush on the other They
chose the latter alternative. These ne
gotiations were conducted, of course,
with the utmost secrecy and it was
stipulated that they in no wise were
to change front toward any member of
the Biebush crowd. Mrs. Woods,
through her alleged husband, was also
enlisted on the government side and
produced one bit of information which
later proved of much value-that in
the Chester, Ill, penitentiary was one
John Mitchell, alias Jacobs, a former
intimate of Biebush, who probably
would be able to give the authorities
desired information.
Mitchell, it seemed, was in Chester
for the cure of the same habit that had
brought "HoOsier Bill" to Joliet-that
of getting his own horse confused with
those OF other people. He had boarded
with Mrs. Woods and had revealed to
her his association with Fred Biebush
in handling counterfeit money. | con
sidered the lead a promising one and
went to Chester. | was amply repaid.
have told how Biebush escaped from
the court when confronted by William
Shelley, the counterfeit engrayer, in
1870, | found it had been Mitchell who
with a skiif, in which the Great South
west Koniacker" made his escape to
Cabaret island, and that Mitchell had
been arrested for stealing the horse
and buggy with which to further aid
his chief to escape the law. He had
passed counterfeit money for Biebush
in 1877 and 1878, recently enough to
make the offense punishable at that
time.
OF course, l secured from Mitchell all
the information | could, and among it
was this fact: While serving pre-
vious term in the Joliet penitentiary