Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1909-02-03

was In a hurry.
The stiffness was broken by the
policeman. Drawing his revolver he
tapped with it lightly on the glass,
calling in loud voice:
Hi, there! You in there! sec
you. Hold up your hands and come
on out o that! Come out, say!"
We'll, we'll, we'll! IT'S poor old
Swartz-he's hung himself" the DO
llceman whispered in awe. Then he
remembered that the door of the shop.
fastened on the outside, was secured
ny means of bar and paddock. These
must nave been put in place by some.
oody with Swartz in the shop! Then
VINO could that somebody be if not
the murderer! Yes, it was not suicide
II was murder, and If murder, who
could the murderer be but Flanagan,
me only person besides Swartz pos.
sessing key to the paddock?
With the flash of this obvious Sc.
quence into his mind, the policeman
hurried to the store telephone and
called up his station, notifying it that
SWartz was murdered, that Flanagan
clerk, had done the deed and was
missing.
FROM the evidence not a man of the
force present entertained the slightest
doubt of how the crime had occurred,
nor who the criminal logically must
be. Flanagan, just before closing
time on Saturday night when, trade
oelns over and the shop deserted, the
street door was closed and the shut
ters put on all but the back window,
mad Tor some reason throttled his
boss with his powerful hands, slipped
the rope around his neck and hoisted
MIN up there to make it appear to be
a case of suicide, locked up and fled.
Flannlgan was thick-witted, and it
would never occur to him that he had
left all the signs pointing to himself,
and only to himself. AS long as no.
body had seen him do it he would feel
safe; for he was one of those people
who are continually repeating for the
information of their audiences that
what you don't see you don't know"
Officers were at once dispatched in
several directions for the man, The
fact that he was not at his boarding
house, but must have returned to his
room from the shop and changed his
clothes at some time between six
O'Clock on Saturday evening and eight
on sunday morning, was precisely the
evidence that the police looked to find
there, and they found it. Flannigan's
lodging mistress said that on going to
his room to put it in order on Sunday
morning at eight the usual time, she
saw that the bed had not been slept
IN, and examination showed that his
everyday clothes hung in the closet
While his best suit was missing from
Its accustomed hooks. And he had
not been seen in the vicinity since
Saturday morning, when he left the
mouse for his days work. To this in.
formation the police, making a search
OF his room on their own account.
added certain other suggestive items.
A badly soi!ed shirt, torn up the back
as If discarded in a hurry, was crowded
behind the bureau; razor, unwiped
after using, and shaving paper with
dried lather on it, as if the shaver
was in such haste that he could not
stop to clean away the traces of his
work, were on little table near the
gas jet; a travelling bag, which the
lodging mistress asserted that he
owned was not to be found; there was
no linen in the bureau drawers. In
fact, all the evidence tended to show
that the man had left suddenly for
parts unknown, saying nothing to any.
body of his intended absence. taking
with him what few valuable effects he
possessed. II the razor remained he.
hind it was because in his excitement
he had forgotten 1t.
Inquiry in the neighborhood soon
brought to light man who had seen
Flanagan late Saturday night with q
suit case and big roll of bills stag
gering from one saloon to another on
the way down to the south station:
and it presently being learned thai
Flanagan had relatives In the little
country town Of Fairview, which was
his native place, the rest was easy
He was just the type Of man who
having committed a crime, would i'm
mediately make for the vicinity of his
old home, having neither sense no,
general information enough to steer
AS widely away from that particula,
spot as possible. Connections were
made by telephone with the police Of
Fairview, and within two hours from
that time Flanagan was undergoing
examination at station five.
He was a very muscular fellow OF