The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-17
THE SHAPING
OF A CAREER

SOL - 10 the public, introduced Dy
nTs' tfiIf,iI hand Of Edgar Allan Poe,
ne tacsme at once the accepted type
hs - detective OF fiction. Nor has this
q - changed 10 any great extent since
W. ct forth in the person OF the
il "as The Murders in the Rue
heIo ,e Still doth Sherlock Holmes
hols5 the darkened precincts OF his
iulA..bsated rooms, consuming tobacco
sa1I,,ing with the insidiOus delights
a,o IoiIr5. al times taking refuge I'm the
o. opso-,Da silence" for which Poe's
p'te ANALYST was noted, and emery
-, his reveries master of new
~ - brilliant deductions warranted
s,frnfsh a key to the secrets Of any
5l.rinsI case presented for his consid-
-ation And even as Holmes followed
!. the footsteps of Dupin, countless
lnsls Of irnitators camp upon the
rail Of Holmes, and We are forced 10
~. conclusion. that the type is pretty
~. m he utilized by authors for the
nsvt fifty years
me question naturally suggests it
-.If- Is the real simOn-pure detective
NE unto the member of his profession
IN works wonders in the world of
setlon9 Put this proposition up t.
W-;json Murray. chief inspector of
,i-oins1 investigation Of the depart
ront Of Justice of the province OF
Ontario Carada, and lie viii answer
Sr,nhaticalIy in the negative The
soil-ing Of these seemingly inexplicable
problems is a capital exercise for the
intellect but has mighty little to 90
with practical police work. For crin--
ais are not drawn into the meshes
~ the official net by virtue of fine
drawn deductions and Opium-bred in,
splrations.
such would be Murray's opinion,
and Murray knows whereof he speaks,
for he has been through tne mill.
Far over thirty years he has been in
spAcior. and in that time murders by
he dozen. burglaries by the score,
crimes Of all kinds, totailing thousands
have been solved by him and the per-
petratOrs apprehended. His career is
. record Of events outrivaling the de-
tective tales Of fiction; for fact. in rs
fullest scope. Is stranger far than fiC-
ton. He has followed men over two
continents. he has pursued them over
land and sea. from country to country,
from hemisphere TO hemisphere, from
new world to old world and back
again. He has Travelled over $4,000
miles IN chase of a single man. He
has shot and been shot. He has been
worsted in desperate struggles when
help came in the nick OF time, suu he
has fought grim battles single-hauded,
when defeat would have meant death.
His prisoners have ranged from men
Of high estate to creatures of the
lowest depth. The cases he has
solved range through every variety of
crime known TO the police records Of
the world. He has run down counter
letters of $1,000 900 and more; he has
Unraveled the mysteries of murder
where life was taken for so cents. He
has the cOunterfeiting plates, valued at
$4,000 as a trophe Of the one chase and
and he has rusty iron pipe as a SOU
venir Of the other.
John Wilson Murray was born ih
the city Of Edinburgh. Scotland, on
June %, 1870. He came or a long
line OF seafaring men who had been
sailing the globe for generations be
fore him. Early in his teens he went
TO sea, sailed around the Horn and
made voyage 10 the West Indies
Later he landed in Philadelphia, made
his way to Buffalo. and sailed for some
time on the great laKss. On June 3,
1881, he enlisted in the United States
navy, joining the [. 5. 5. Michigan.
then in Chicago, although her head
quarters were in Erie, Pa He stayed
aboard the Michigan until the civil
war broke out in 1861. He was 81
years old then; there was a shortage
Of officers in the regular service. and
Murray was selected as one of the
likely young fellows to be sent on TO
the training school al Washington He
studied faithfully, and when the ex-
aminatiOns were held he passed and
received a commission in the United
States navy.
Murray served through the civil war
IN the navy. He was in the Missis-
slppi, or gults squadron a part Of the
time, under Commander Jewett, ana
he fought under FarTagut and was in
a number of engagements, including
the fight at Mobile. From service in
the Mississippi and gulf Murray was
ordered to the great lakes aboard the
Michigan. He continued aboard her
until after the close of the war, and
in December. 1866, he left the Michigan
and the service.
Thus at the age of % Murray had
sailed the South seas and around the
horn had stood the gTuelling of a six
months trip to the guano fields, had
ueeh through the pounding life aboard
me west indies fTuiters, had fought
through the civil war and stood d
powerful, self-reliant young giant on
lne lookout for his calling in life. lie
Vas as strong Is bull, silent fell
io"' slow to anger and plenteous ia
vengeance, once he was aroused. He
feared neither man, gun nor Delaying
pm he was faithful friend and a
relentless foe. He was the last to
Pieh quarrel, but once It was picked,
ne was the last to drop it. His assO-
GATES liked him. He was silent.
sturdy, self-contained person, with
remarkable gift for gaining the conf
ueaoe Of other men.
Ine war left its indelible imprint
on Nurrays life as it did on the life
OF many other man. IL tended 10
mold his ambitions and direct them
along the line of what later became
MS occupation. His career was not
CaSt ashore by any dread of hardship
SloaJ or any dislike of service at sea.
AZ vas infunCed by an event that is
one Of the important. yet little known,
episodes of the civil war: The attempt
OF the coDfederates, in 1864. to cap
Ille the [. 5. 5. Michigan, to take
Johnson island, i'm Ssndusky bay In
Lake Erie, release 1000 confederates
imprisoned there. burn the islam I, and,
possible. destroy Detroit, Cleveland
ana Buffalo by fire, and strike terror
70 The hearts Of the north. The man
VINO discovered the plot was Murray,
ouu II was he who unearthed the iden-