The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-03-10
WAS JUST A JOKE.
Sheriff Thinks He Has Black Hand
Case, But 1t Was a Fake.

The work, either of a practical
joker in poor business, or some
cracked" person DESTROYS of raisiAg
funds la BLACK Hand" furnished a
large scare for the residents OF the
double house at 317-19 West Sixth
avenue last night. AS the result of a
threatening note left on the porch
of the house, Sheriff Wilkerson and
his deputies spent several fruitless
hours last night watching a trap set
for the culprit.
Monday morning Miss Karolyn b.
Whittlesey who occupies rooms in one
half of the double house, found a note
on the porch, about midway between
the two doors. This is the note,
spelling and all:
Proprietor Here.
Leave five hundred dollars at the
corner of Sixth and Polk at nine
O'Clock monday night or up you go.
Put In ordinary paper sack with wait
attached DAMASCUS
Ihis missive, roughly printed on
a haf-sheet Of note paper, gave Miss
! Whittlesey shock. of course. But
she decided that it must be intended
for her neighbor, r. B. Mckee, the
OLD gentleman who occupies the other
half of the house, so she delivered it
to him. Mckee and Miss Whittlesey
held council of war, and after tell
ing the story and showing the note to
some friends, called on Sheriff Wilker-
son. He told them to maintain
absolute secrecy, and mapped out
plan for the capture of the crook.
Mckee was to plant a dummy pack
age at the cross-street designated,
and the sheriff would be on hand to
nab any person who took the bait.
The plan was a good one. The sheriff
had worked out every detail, and
when Mr.. Mckee, who is a very old
gentleman, came down the street to
he
feet of concealed officers, who climb
ing over back fences, one at time,
had reached points of concealment in
view of the bait, without having been
seen in the neighborhood.
For two hours the officers watched
the "prize package" which glared up
as the headlight OF each passing Sixth
avenue car struck it. Several hun
dred people, passing in both direc-
TONS passed within reach of the hid
den officers, but no one gave heed to
the paper sack, loaded with news
paper clippings and a small rock,
which rested tnvitingly in the middle
Of the street. About II o'clock, a
gentleman who was waiting for a car,
saw the package, and kicked at it.
Then he boarded his east-bound troll
ley and departed. The only persons
under suspicion during the entire
vigil were two women. who walked
slowly and seemed to be taking good
look dC three Oh the TOUR corners OF
Sixth and Polk.
about 80 per cent of this kind of
stuff Is fake" said Sheriff Wilkerson,
'but we must not overlook any of
them-we might miss the 91st case.
I will have watch kept over Nc
KEGS house for some time, although
do not think there is anything ser
ious to this case. Some practical
5oker-maybe,-b If 1t is a joker,
he is running long chances. Any per-
son who picked up that bait last
night, would have run a serious
chance Of being run down and
dubbed to sleep by bunch Of depu-
ties. That Is the reason we prac-
tically surrounded the spot We
wanted to avoid injur1ng any inno-
cent person who might pick up the
sack through curiosity, and the in
structions were to avoid shooting un-
less the taker showed conclusively by
running or otherwise attempting to
escape, that he had a guilty con-
science"
Ben Mckee, the gentleman for
whom the note was no doubt in
tended, came to Topeka about year
ago from Carbonate, where he was
in the mercantile business. He was
also interested in several small coal
mines, and thought that the note and
threat might have been the work of
some miner whose enmity he had in
Cured. The Ego up" threat seemed
IN Indicate dyrpan1fte