The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1907-10-24
My Amateur
Detective Work.
LOriginal.l

equal to murder. This is right, thOugl
crime does not seem to be preventet,
by the rigor of the punishment at,
tached. But no punishment cln equal
the sufferings of parent at the kid.
mapping of child. The night we miss
ed our Harry and knew that he had
been kidnapped was the terrier OF iE
life. | have been shipwrecked | have
seen those | have loved die. | lay Il.
night severely wounded on a battle.
field, but none of these has approach.
ed my sufferings at knowing my chile
was in the hands of men who woalg
murder him if it became their interes;
to do so.
With the letter@that came to me de.
handing ransom, after the shoe.
that the threats in it occasioned.
found occupation and in occupatio.
some relief IsResolved to conduct tht
case myself, permitting the police I,
work Independently. The public,l nat
urally interested. must know what
being done to recover a KIDNAPPED
child, and the news given out, being
published in the papers, keeps the kid
napers we'll informed of their enemy:
movements therefore sent inquirers
to the police for information and KEEP
my own counsel. The letter I an
swered myself, assured the writer ht
ly than with any one else and proceed
ed to negotiate with him for my boy:
return.
I received several letters one after
another in tolerably quick succession
They were dirty things, written by an
illiterate person. The third one | re-
that had had no mucilage on the en-.
velope, and it had been sealed by past
ing. The sealer had made mussy job
of 1t, getting the paste smudged on
the envelope, and had pressed down the
flap with his thumb, leaving a faint
imprint. Added to this, hair had got
In under the flap and was held there
by the paste.
l handled the envelope very gingerly
to preserve the thumb imprint and
sOftened the paste about the hair till
/ was enabled to extract it entire II
the writer of the letter could be, cap
tured, the thumb mark or the hair, or
both, would serve to identify him.
treasured them, but said nothing about
them to any one.
We had settled on the amount / was
to pay for my boys liberty, but nei-
Their the kidnaper nor / was able to
suggest a method of payment salts
factory to him. l was obliged to wait
while he thought out a plan for a
transfer of the funds. Meanwhile I
was at work. | bought the best micro
scope l could find and examined the
hair. 1t was red hair and had been
dyed. having grown sixteenth of an
inch since the dyeing. I had been
warned in the letters l had received
that if any attempt was made to track
any one calling at the postof1ce for
mail the boy would be k;.'PC But
now. having evidence to Identity the
kidnaper, desired to locate his where
aboutS. | therefore hired a man to
take position at the postofice and
shadow any one calling for my letters
He tracked a girl about twelve years
old to an alley, where she disappeared.
On two other occasions he tracked the
same girl to the same alley. but some
means had been invented to conceal
her QOfIHOPQ fO 9nV hI1il6inp
= ] now hired detective to go into
that alley and look out for a MAJ
with dyed beard He went in there
as Jew peddler of the lowest order.
While he was at work the kidnaper
settled upon plan by which | might
pay the ransom. | was to drive to a
certain road on a certain night ana Ct
a certain crossing would see Il red
lantern, a signal protecting q hoe IL
the road. l was to leave the none.
in a cigar box l would find beneath
the lantern. If l did this my boy
would be left on the street where he
could find his way home.
On the very day | received this let
ter my detective came to tell me that
he had found man with dyed mus
tache occupying room he rented by
the week. The detective had tried to
get into the room and had failed
indeed. he could not get near it, being
ordered away on the story below it.
His information he had got from the
janitor of the building
All now depended upon whether my
detective had spotted the right man.
He said he had scrutinized every per-
son living in the alley, which was but
two blocks long, and had been a good
while finding even one man with dyed
hair, so he felt very confident. At any
rate / decided to appeal to the police
TO arrest the man. A number of plain
clothes men under guidance of my de
tective went to the building he deslg-
mated and assembled to the room occu-
pied by the suspected man. The first.
policeman was stopped on the floor be-
low by a watcher, but the other police
men coming up forced their way.
Kicking open the door of the room
they sought there was my dear little