Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-12-18
KNIGHT OF DEATH
is A BUTCHER BOY
EVANSTON, ILL.,, LAD TELLS OF
HIS CAREER AND EFFORTS
TO ExToRT MONEY.
CONFESSES AND SAYS
THE AFFAIR is A JOKE

Youth Asserts He Got Enjoyment |
When He Dug UP Coffin Handles
and Bones to Send to Citizens
Acts as SchooIboy Are Elaborated.
Chicago, Dec. 14.-The mystery OF |
the authorship of The Knights of the |
White Death" letters has been solved
The lad who wrote them is under ar
rest and has made a complete confess
sion. A striking story of how Will
liam j. Pollard, % years old. butcher
boy who worked in r. Lorimer's meat
market, Oil Chicago avenue, Evans
ton, was traced and finally captured,
was told Sunday. He was arrested at
his home, 635 Michigan avenue.
Evanston, by E. A. Jameson, assis-
tant chief of police of the suburban
city, who had worked for two weeks
with Post-Ofce Inspector James 3.
Stuart in an effort to locate the writer
of the letters, which sent fear into the
households of police officials, minis
tiers and professional men.
AS soon as he was caugh, and
realized that he had reached the end
of his rope, Pollard sought to make
light of his offense by declaring it
was all joke. Post-Office Inspector
| Stuart, however, refused to see the
humor from Pollard's point of view.
Pollard said he merely wrote the let
ters to scare people and see what the
police would do. He declared that in
none of the cases, while he had de.
manded money from his victims, did
he intend to get any of it. He was
arraigned before United States Com
missioner Foote Saturday for a pre-
liminary hearing.
Given to Playing Tricks.
In the Harrison street police sta
ton Pollard declared that his favorite
reading has been books of travel. He
could not recall the titles of any ex-
cept Frank Carpenters book on South
America. He answered questions
about foreign countries, cities, rivers
and mountains in minute detail, and
did not fail on any question asked
him. He located Cape Town, Pata-
gonia, No Mans Land. the Yukon and
dozens of other places not well
known. He said that he got books from
the public library of Evanston and de-
voted most of his time when he was
not writing letters to reading He
explained that when boy of
IA he had severe attack of scar
let fever, which, 1T is believed. may
prove to be responsible for his condi-
ton. He said that he had always
been given to playing tricks.
In school," he said, when we were
told to write compositions | used to
take blank piece of paper and make
writing. When we were told to read
the compositions | would take the
blank paper and read out Of my head
Then 1 used to send out funny pos
tai cards to the boys in the neighbor
hood, but did not sign my name. One
day they found out who was sending
them and policeman came around
and told me to cut 1t out l used to
play lots OF other tricks like this"
confesses Writing Letters.
Pollard signed a selfwritten comics
sion admitting having penned letters
with pictures of bombs, skulls and
collins on them to DR.. Adolph Gehr
mann, 1916 Ellis avenue: Rev vii
, liam o. Waters. pastor of Grace
church, and to Assistant Chief of Pc
lice Schuettler. and also acknowl
q edged to Inspector Stuart that he hac
q written similar letters to Rev. D. P
Roberts. pastor of Quinn chapel. Rev
A. c. Dixon, pastor of Moody church
' demanding money and threatening
, death and destruction by dynamite.
Pollard confessed he had no &C
n completes, that he wrote the letter
a in his room after his folks had gon
n to sleep, that he obtained coffin har
!. dies and fragments of human skele
Q tons from old graves in Calvary GENE
X terry, where his father had been fore
man, and that he walked to Chicag
to mail the letters under cover of tn
night
The idea of writing the letters, b
said. suggested itself to him afte
reading some of Conan Doyle's detec
i've stories. which led him to believ
sAoI uO ulau WI hlu6 WlIuOuI dCCOu
plices could be traced by detective,
,r A cross on one of the coffin handle
I proved Pollard's undoing. The handl
=, had been sent to Assistant Chic
!. Schuettler and the emblem gave Il
~ spector Stuart the first clew.
.. From a Catholic Cemetery.
IL The finding of the cross-marked CO
,g fin handle narrowed the search dow
a to the Caholic cemeteries in that d1
| trict. A thorough canvass of all IL
no. Catholic cemeteries was made ar
at Calvary 1t was found that conside
-. able trouble had been experience
with grave diggers who dug up o
graves. 1t was learned that Pollard
father had been foreman of the Gel
ed etery and that William, the son, hi
been seen frequently about the gra,
"a. yard. A study of the writing by G
perts made it certain that the lette
is were written by some one who b
lot learned to write in the last ten yea
nd and that led to a canvass of I
DO Evanston schools. An old copy boo
We which belonged to Pollard when
~ attended ST. Mary's school, was {
~ tanned and the writing OF the yertit
ed. letters and capitals was found to
gh identical with that OF The Knights
tie White Death" letters.