River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1907-05-02

They rented these houses; then they
put in velvet carpets, elegant furni-
ture, pianos and so forth, which they
insured. As soon as they had their
policies, they would move out the
furniture Then they would light
two-hour candle, and at two o'clock
in the morning the house would burn
down with complete loss. In this
way they had got hundreds of thou
sands of dollars out of the insurance
companies.
when l was called into the case
it had been pretty thoroughly gone
over by Pinkerton men, who had 10
Gated the suspects The difficulty was
to get legal evidence Jim French,
who later fed to Honduras, after hav-
ing served his first sentence, which l
got against him, was the leader of the
gang.
"The difficulty in all such cases is
to uncover the tracks of the crimi
nails while avoiding direct methods.
Instead of going out to induce some
front with a confession. | went to
them under the name Of Williams
and told them that | had been sent
by the insurance companies to inves-
tigate the detectives that had been
working on the case who were ac-
cused of misappropriating their ex-
pense money. While carrying on this
gather around me all the gang. From
them / selected the one man who, l
thought, could give me the evidence.
This fellow, John Rudd by name,
never knew until the day that he was
called into the grand jury room that
he had been aiding in the apprehen-
sion of the incendiaries.
Suspected Informer Killed.
when all was ready I went before
the grand jury and explained the case.
The insurance agents told their losses
and then we called in Rudd and ex-
planned to him his part in the case.
After indictments had been brought
in there was a terrible uproar. Some
member of the grand jury told the
gang that man by the name of
Burns had come before them and told
the whole story. No one knew Burns.
| had been going under the name of
Williams, but the following night one
of the gang was suspected by his
fellows of being Burns and was shot
dead in a saloon. They never knew
until the first day of the trial who
| was.
Marshal Mcdonald was trying the
case. | was sitting beside him. When
Rudd was on the stand he was asked,
on cross-eXamination, to whom he had
first told the story.
80 TO a man who called himself Will
liams. he replied.
DO you know his true name?
q understand now that it is
Burns.
"'Oh, this mysterious Mr.. Burns!
How long is it since you saw him
last?'
Just now
Is he here now?'
Yes.
In this room?'
He is sitting beside you was the
answer.
This was the first that Jim French
and the rest of the gang knew of
the part l had taken in the investi-
cation"
AS Burns sat at his desk telling
the story, he had the appearance of
a banker explaining deal in stocks.
He is as far from the dime novel de-
tective as he is from the wonderful
Mr.. Sherlock Holmes of Conan
Doyle's novels.
Chief Wilkie or the secret service
once remarked to me-" said Heney,
that Burns was a man with a sixth
sense, who could tell as if by instinct
when man was telling the truth,
and when he had told all he knew.
My experience with Burns bears this
out. Once in the Oregon land fraud
cases l thought witness was hold
ing something back. Burns said he
had told all he knew, and Burns was