River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-06-10
BY George T. Pardy

4
81 amt seen anyone drivin' past
here he responded. ''Not likely that
would either, for there's no place to
| drive to, seem that this is the end
of the road"
Plainly Mr.. Knapp was armed at all
| points against curious seekers for In
| formation The officers proceeded to
make a thorough search of the prem
| ises but their explorations of barn,
| house and cutbuildings proved fruit
less. Murray, however, felt intuitively
that the willy Mr.. Knapp was not as
! innocent as he would have them be-
lieve Strolling past the barn and
surveying the ground carefully the de-
tective took Tote of stretch of clear
| ed land running down to the creek
and saw that the sod had recently
been turned in one or two places.
| Slight indications frequently lead to
big results and sudden suspicion
flashed across Murray's mind.
Knapp" he said pleasantly, Il
mean to try my hand at fishing in that
creek Lend me a spade"
|
asked Knapp, tightening his lips.
"To dig bait with, of course" re-
piled Murray readily.
Knapp looked uneasy, but produced
a spade and handed it to the detec-
tive. Murray walked toward the
creek and came to a halt at one OF
the spots where the sod had been
| turned.
There's no sense in digging here,
demonstrated Knapp; you won't hnd
any worms. 1t was dug over the
other day. Come bit further down..
mot for me-" returned Murray.
The kind of worms I'm after are
right here, and it's easier work than.
in the hard places"
Knapp said nothing in reply, but the
perspiration broke out on his wrinkled
face. Murray drove the spade into
the 81 ound, and smiled as he felt the
blade strike something hard. He
turned back the soil with few vigor-
Gus strokes, and there came to view
one of the wheels Of the missing DEM
ocrat wagon, buried beneath foot OF
earth. Murray looked at Knapp who
grinned in sickly fashion. The de-
tective called his companions and
placed Knapp under arrest. He was
told that the best thing he could do
was to confess his thefts, and after
rejecting a few moments he nodded
and led the way to the house. His
wife met the party at the door
Get me the shingle,' said her hus-
band.
The woman obeyed without word
of protest. She went indoors and re-
turned with broad single, covered
with red dots, which Knapp explained
were made by chicken blood. One
broad, red b1otch signified where the
barn stood, and the smaller marks in
dictated the spots where Knapp had
buried his plumber. The detectives
selected one Of the marked places and
began to dig. The first thing to come
to light was a large coffin. This
looked as though some tragedy lurked
behind and they lifted the casket out
Of the earth. 1t was very heavy and
hastily they removed the lid, expect
ing to see the mutilated form of one
of the robbers victims. But instead
of the remains of a human being sew
eral dozens of boxes containing shoes
were revealed. The weakened thief
standing beside them laughed harshly.
"Corpses amt the only things found
in collins" he remarked sagely.
The officers pursued their search
digging up every place indicated on
the shingle map, and great and varied
was the list of property that came to
light. Among the things unearthed
were shroud, toilet set, a baby car
riage, 40 silk dresses, gold watches,
seven ploughs, harrow, surgical in
struments, a churn, log chain, a
grandfather's clock, set of grocer s
scales, hats, overcoats, pipes, a bar
ber's pole, even a policeman's shot
gun, which Knapp had stolen from the
owners house.
The men took turns at digging and
even the thief himself was pressed
into service, until fully ten wagon
loads of plumber lay in sight. 1t was
truly a fine exhibition of wholesale
thieving, and the marvel of it all was
that Knapp swore to having done it
single handed. Subsequent develop
ments proved his statement to be cor
rect.
Knapp and his wife were taken to
Erie and placed in prison. A large
vacant store was hired and all of the
recovered property placed on exhibit
ton therein to be identified by the
rightful owners. There was no room
to spare, for Knapp had stolen enough
stuff to equip a small department
store.
For several years, it appeared, the
cunning veteran had been plying his
differing trade. In burying his plum
der he had boxed it up securely, pre-
paratory to sending 1t away. His
methods were sweetly simple. He
would drive into town in wagon, ap-
. parently for the purpose of selling
farm produce or garden vegetables
and in that way obtaining a thorough
knowledge of different houses, always
managing to sneak in later and carry
of whatever he could lay his hands
on. Nobody knew anything about
him, who he was or whence he came