Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1907-05-03

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 To-
Gated the suspects. The difficulty was
who later fed to Honduras, after hav-
ing served his first sentence, which
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
of the marked men to come to the
front with a confession, went to
them under the name of Williams
and told them that l had been sent
By the insurance companies to inves-
tigate the detectives that had been
working on the case who were ac-
cused of misappropFating their ex-
pense money. While carrying on this
special investigation / was able to
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 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 terrible uproar. Some
member of the grand jury told the
gang that a man by the name o
Burns had come before them and told
the whole story. No one knew Burns
/ had been going under the name o.
| Williams, but the following night one
of the gang was suspected by his
| fellows of being Burns and was sho
dead in a saloon. They never knew
until the first day of the trial wht
| was.
Marshal Mcdonald was trying tn,
case. l was sitting beside him. Whel
Rudd was on the stand he was asked
on cross-examination to whom he ha,
first told the story.
Ito a man who called himself Wi
liams,' he replied.
"'Do you know his true name?
81 understand now that it
Burns
"Oh, this mysterious Mr.. Burns
How long is 1t since you saw hiI
last?
Just now
els he here now?'
"'Yes.'
"'In this room?'
He is sitting beside you,' was tn
answer.
This was the first that Jim Frenc
and the rest of the gang knew {
the part | had taken in the invest
CATION"
AS Burns sat at his desk tellin
the story, he had the appearance !.
banker explaining deal in stock
He is as far from the dime novel d
tective as he is from the wonderf
Mr.. Sherlock Holmes of Coma
Doyle's novels
"Chief Wilkie or the secret servi,
once remarked to me-" said Hene
that Burns was man with a six
sense, who could tell as If by instin
when a man was telling the trut
and when he had told all he kne
My experience with Burns bears tn
3 out. Once in the Oregon land fral
l cases / thought a witness was hol
!. ing something back. Burns said
r had told all he knew, and Burns W
: right. At another time / thought
a witness had made a complete conft
sion. Burns said: Keep at him
n sure enough the most incriminatil
: part of his story came out afterwart
d "One thing that has surprised 1
8 in Burns" added Langdon, "is tn
y He never wastes any time in blufir
Every one here in town knows /
automobile. But, do you think IL
!, wanted you tonight he would st
!. block away and send his machi
:, back? No. sir. He would go straie
. to your door. Toot, toot, and ri
Q the bell"
y Never Wore Disguise.
l. Burns himself has this to say abe
y his work as a detective:
Ir people seem to think that there
o something uncanny about detect
q work. They imagine we go arou