Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-02
SOME LUCKY CAPTNE Els

A group of Washington detectives and q
well-known Chicago sleuth who was in
town the other day were talking of how
pure luck often aids the crackers of GRIM
inals. One of the Washington detectives
mentioned the case of Frank Funk. who
was hanged here few years ago for the
murder OF an old man. Funk had been loose
for nearly two years after committing the
crime. and had spent lot Of that time
playing the races around the New York
tracks Then, when the Washington police
began to fill the country with Funk descrip-
tions. he jumped for little place called
Columbia. in Missouri. One day the country.
constable came along and saw Funk. at
work as carpenter. with his sleeves rolled
up. The constable put Funk under the gun
and gathered him right In Funk had
crucifxion tattooed ON one forearm and a
Venus on the other, as the circular, of
which the constable had seen a copy. duly
set forth When Funk was brought to
washington he told the detective who re-
lated lat ,o the incident that the day on which
the very first day on which he had rolled
up his sleeves while working and that he
had rolled them up that day through alb
sent-mindedless.
i've had several bits OF pure luck in
tracking wanted people," said the Chicago
detective, '.Once I corralled Chicago
crook who had what is called the number
bug. That is to say, he believed that the
number II was packed away by the fates
and stars for his peculiar lucky use.
He cleaned 'em up in Chicago, mostly
trusting women. for nearly fifty thousand
on phony wildcat gold-mining scheme,
and then made his jump. 1t was to toss
die to find out which way he went, but
when got the assignment I braced the
clerk of the lake front hotel at which the
swindler had been stopping in order to get
some intimate details about the chap.
THE clerk mentioned in an offhand way
that the crook had the number bug, and
that the number in his case was II. Said
that the man had insisted on getting room
No. II before moving in. and had waited
for several days for the occupant of room
II to move out before fetching along his
traps. -, The clerk said that If the mans
bar bin. or any other bill, was $3.50. or
something like that, the fellow would in
sist upon the bookkeeper making 1t q pat
SIT. Then lie clerk told me, in chatting,
as place where there was money to be
made, and with this slender stock Of in
formation I concluded that New Orleans,
as the port of outgo for Honduras, would
be as good a place to make for as any.
Il put up at the st. Charles when I got
there, and, without really expecting any
results, asked the clerk in an offhand
way who was occupying room II. The
with the number bug had the ROOM and
then knew that luck had drifted along
and given me the cordial hand. The mans
key was in box IT, showing that he was
out. I strolled down to the office Of the
company that runs the steamers plying
between New Orleans and Honduranian
ports. and the first man I saw outside the
rail in the steamship Office was the man
whose picture I had in my pocket.
He was insisting upon being given state
room II on the vessel leaving New Orleans
gave him the affectionate shoulder clap and
told him he was mine. He did a ten
speaker. with time off for good behavior,
but he'd be slipping tall ones down in Te-
gucigalpa or some other place yet II he
hadn't been possessed of that number bug
Another time 1 picked up famous ho-
tel sneak just because he was too busy
drinking wine to get himself shaved. He
wasn't famous at that time, but he is now,
and his picture ornaments all of the big al
buns throughout the country This fellow
had plucked a French diplomat for 5000
worth OF Jewels in Chicago. He had reg
istered at the hotel at the same time the
French diplomat and his wife had stopped
OF there on their way across the continent
to take steamer at New York. he had
room ON the same floor close to the French
mans suite SO that he had his chance to do
the rubberfng. He got into the Frenc..-
mans rooms while they were out driving,
did the divining rod act for the jewel chest
which he undoubtedly knew all about in
advance-got 1t, and then just dropped
away from there.
"The reason why suspicion attached to
lAio AcllOW was because ne leIC MS Two ET1DS
behind In his room in his hurry to leave
The proprietor of the hotel described the
crook to me as man wit. the peculiar dis
tinguishing mark of a mustache one-half
black and the other half snow white. The
hotel proprietor thought that this would be
about all; that the man surely ought to be
apprehended in no time, but the mustache
popularity was quite valueless, for. of
course, the man would have sense enough to
whip 1t or with a razor at the first oppor-
tunity.
There was nothing in his grips by which
he could be traced The French diplomat
set up an awful roar, but he had neglected
to deposit his valuables in the hotel safe.
and 1t was up to him. I wasn't put on this
case at all. but about three weeks after the
robbery occurred went to New York to
attend to little Identification business I
transacted my business. and then a couple
of the sleuths from Mulberry street took
me out to have fun with me- and we wound
up in an uptown Turkish bath.
I'VE were reclining in the hot room when
chap with sundry and divers indications
OF protracted Jag came in, acting pretty
with him right then and there in the hot
room. He had lot of fine rocks on the
fingers Of both his hands, but what caught
my eye was the fact that the stubble on
as ink. while the other side Of his upper
lip was as white as frost. I woke I'D then
and got next to one Of the bath rubbers.
my inquiry. oh. he's been fzgigging
around for week. He's spent nearly all
Of his time here. and when he isn't spend
ing time he's spending money. He seems
to have nothing but money. and he's kept
everybody around here all burned up since
he first made his appearance
He's got lot Of the shiny boys on his
mitts, hasn't he? I said to the attendant
Yes the rubber replied. but they're
not marker to the bunch Of gig-lamps he
deposits In the office safe every time he
comes in. When soused UP he's shown them
to me several times, and sure never saw
such layout of ice. I've been telling him
that he oughtn't to carry the stun around
with him, and that he'll be rolled for all of
the rocks sooner or later, but he's been
too much corned up to listen to sense
ut looked to me as II I was Johnny-in-
the-Neighborhood through pure luck once
more. but of course wanted to get the
thing right. 1 fell into CAB with the Woody
chap with the half-and-half upper lip stub
BILE. and we gradually drifted around to the
subject Of hotels. watched him pretty
narrowly while I told him that I thought
Chicago had New York skinned In the mat
ter Of top-notch hotels, and mentioned the
hotel where his robbery was committed He
sat right up in his reclining chair. suddenly
sobered, and looked me over with a star
tied map when I said that, and then
knew that I was in right. He was a big
fellow, and he chose scrap for his when
7 told hin, tlof 7 noodod him hut INV fuvo