The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-17


/ Pinkerton the next morning he was
J a tall fine-loOking young fellow. about
i27 with thin lips and q face that
showed determination. He was rather
dapper in dress, and kept on his
( gloves during the conversation. Mr..
I Pinkerton received him pleasantly and,
after they had been smoking and chat
/ ting for an hour or so, he suggested
/ to Schwartz that he would be more
comfortable with his gloves Off.
/ Schwartz accordingly removed them,
and revealed red marks on the backs
/ of his hands such as might have been
made by hnger-nails digging into them
ooh, I did that handling baggage
+ night before last" explained Schwartz;
/ and then he related incidentally that as
! he was on his way back to Chicago,
! the conductor Of the train, Conductor
Danforth had discovered a valise left
! by somebody In one of the toilet rooms.
Later in the day Mr.. PinkertOn sum-
moned the conductor, who said that
4 the Yaltse was an old one Of no value;
and, having no contents, he had thrown
It out on an ash pile. The only thing
he had found in the valise was q piece
/ Of paper that attracted his attention
/ because it was marked with red lines.
Examining this piece of paper care
fully, Mr. Pinkerton saw that it had
/ been torn from a money draft, and at
once thought of the package in the
express messengers safe. Now it is
remarkable fact that no human power
can tear TWO pieces OF paper IN eX-
actly the same way, the ragged 6berS
viii only fit perfectly when the two
( original parts are brought together.
There remained no doubt, when this
4 test was made in the present case, that
( the piece of paper found on Conduc~
! tor Danforth's east bound train had
4 been torn from the draft in the express
/ car robbed the night before on the
westbound train. The edges fitted, the
red lines cOrresp and undues-
{ iona E-d All
piece of paper from the one train to
/ the other. In other words, some one
connected with the crime of the pre-
vious night had ridden back to Chi
cago "a hours later with Conductor
Danforth.
Mr.. Plnkerton at once ordered
search made for the missing valise, and
also an inquiry regarding the passen-
( gers who had ridden on Conductor
! Danforth's train between Davenport
and Chicago on the night following the
murder The valise was found on the
ash heap where the conductor had
thrown it. and In the course Of the next
few days the detectives had located or
accounted for all passengers on Con
ductor Danforth's train. with the ex-
ception of one man who had ridden on
a free pass. The conductor could only
recall this mans features vaguely; and
while some of the passengers remena-
! bered him we'll enough there was no
clew to his name. or identity. AS it a ,
/ peared that no other of the passen-
gers could have been connected with
4 the crime, efforts were redoubled to
discover the holder OF this pass.
! So great was the public interest in
{ the crime and the mystery surround
/ ing it that three separate, well-organ-
/ lied Investigations of it were under
/ taken The Rock Island railroad Off
Gals, with their detectives, conducted
4 one Chicago newspaper, with its de-
/ tecuves, another and the Pinkertons
J in the interest of the United States
Express company, third.
Mr.. Pinkerton. as we have seen. con
I Guided that the crime had been com
mitted by railway men. The railway
officials were naturally disinclined to
! believe i'll of their employees, and an in
/ cfdent occurred about this time which
turned the investigation in an entirely
new direction and made them the more
! disposed to dfscredit Mr.. Pinkerton's
! theory. This was the receipt of let
ter from a convict in the Michigan City
/ penitentiary, named Plunkett, who
wrote the Rock Island railroad officials,
saying that he could furnish them with
1 important information.
Mr. St John the general manager
of the road, went in person to the
penitentiary to take Plunketts state
ment, which was in effect that he knew
the men who had committed the rob
! berry and killed Nichols, and was
willing to sell this information in ex-
change for a full pardon. which the
railroad people could secure by using
their influence. This they promised to
do If his story proved true and
I Plunkett then told them of a plot that
I had been worked out a year or so be-
fore when he had been grating with
a mob of pickpockets at county
fairs. There we're with him at that
time Butch" Mccoy. James Connors
I (known as Yenowhammer') and a
man named Jeff" whose surname he
did not know. These three men
/ Plunkett said, had planned an express
robbery on the Rock Island road, to
be executed in precisely the same way,
and at precisely the same point on the
road, as in the case in question.
The story was plausible. and won
Mr.. st. Johns belief 1t won the be-
lief. also, of Mr.. Melville E. Stone
publisher of the Chicago newspaper;
and forthwith the railway detectives
working with the newspaper detec-
tives. were instructed to go ahead on
new lines, regardless of trouble or ex-
pense. Their first endeavor was to
ga pture Butch Mccoy, the leader OF
the gang. Butch" was d pickpocket
burglar and alI-arOund thief, whose
operations kept him travelling all over
the United states.
The police in various cities having
been communicated with to no purpose
Mr.. Stone finally decided TO do 6
thing the ike Of which no newspaper
proprietor perhaps ever undertook be
Ifore-that is, start on a personal search
for Mccoy and his associates, With
Frank Murray. one of the best detec-
tives in Chicago. and other detectives
he went to Galesburg. where the gane
was said to have a sort of headdua r.
tiers. The party found there none OF
the men they were after but they
learned that sfThateh' Grady, a motor
ious criminal with whom Butch" Nc
Coy was known to be in relations. wa,
in Omaha. So they hurried to Omaha
but only to find that Grady had gone
to st. Louis. Then to St Louis wen
Mr. stone and his detectives hot OF
the scent and spent several days il
that city searching high and low
The method of locating a crimina
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