The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-21
CAPTURED By DEDUCTION.

In the month of June, ten or twelve
years ago. strange things began to
happen in the town of Brinley. Eng
land. The place is q town of about
5000 Inhabitants. It has several man
ufacturing plants and q public insti-
tuition that will be mentioned later on.
One morning the owner of a livery
stable woke up to find that eleven of
the thirteen horses he had to hire had
been hamstrung and rendered useless
during the night. Two boys employed
about the barns slept there at night,
but they had heard nothing. Any one
could easily have effected entrance by
the door, but it was discovered that
the intruder had made his way in by
a window in the rear of one OF the
barns.
The next night two cows in the barn
! of q citizen had their Threats cut On
| the third night a. horse in a pasture in
the suburbs was stabbed to death. On
the fourth night an old woman living
alone in the town was dubbed to
death. On the fifth night there was
an incendiary IRE that did $40. 900
worth of damage.
The reader may we'll believe that
these things stirred up great excite
ment- The local police were busy and
the newspapers demanded arrests. but
no results were attained. It might have
been figured that the livery man had
an enemy who was determined on his
ruin but for the fact that the other
by the same hand. The man who
killed the horse in pasture certainly
! had no grudge against the owners of
! the COWS. and why should the man who
set the fire want to kill the old wo-
man? There was much speculation
over the matter, but as nothing more
occurred the excitement gradually
passed away.
/ One night early IN September lot
/ OF Statuary IN a public square was de-
faced or ruined. The same hand, on
the same night. destroyed many trees
and shrubs A private citizen had 8
4 fish, in his grounds This lake was
/ drained off and. the fish left to perish.
| On the second night a farmer living a
mile from town, and having many
hives of bees, was visited and all the
| hives thrown down. On this night
| also. a cooper shop was set on fire and
| a. horse in a stable was stabbed to
death. It looked to the police as if
the same f1end had come back and re-
| sumed his work, and on the third night
every man on the force was on the
street and looking for him. Despite
/ their vigilance he ruined more shade
trees. broke many windows in school
| h use, and visiting a cemetery, he
/ tipped over more than a score of
| tom bstones and monuments. He fin
ished the night by committing a muir
der. The Waterman at a lumber yard
| was found next morning with his skull
crushed in from blows of a. club.
"a Ffend Abroadt7 was the heading
of the newspapers, and it certainly
seemed to fit the character of the I'M
known. He appeared to be 1nbued
with the idea of destruction, and it
mattered not what he came to. There
was such excitement over the new out
break that citizens to the number of
one hundred turned out as a patrol
On the fourth night with a policeman
or citizen at every corner, the I'M
known ruined memorial windows in
two churches; he threw stones through
the windows of several residences; he
broke down two lamp posts, and he
assaulted a citizen in his own yard.
This citizen had got up at 1 o'clock in
the morning to see If his barn had
been safely locked. While he was
traversing the path leading from the
house, having q lantern in his hand,
he was struck down by a club and lay
lsenseless for an hour. Fortunately, the
/ force of the blow was expended on his
| shoulder. When he recovered he would