The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-12-13

4s Conan Doyle, In his Sherlock |
Holmes stories, which have been /
read with SO much interest by many
people, never made any more re-
tnarkable deductions in solving mys-
terious cases than the late John r.
Norris and the beautiful part of 1t
Is that the latters deductions were
real aud are on record.
Norris achieved fame many years
ago and was a terror to evl-doers i'm
his day. He rounded up the greatest
gang of counterfeiters and green
goods men in the country, and was
identified with number of national
Unknown cases, including the $20,000
diamond robbery committed in this
city about twenty years ago. a repre-
sentative of the Keck jewelry house
in Cincinnati, having been robbed
while at the Union station in this
city.
His First job.
Norris was seventy-three years of
age. During the civil war. he entered
the secret service department of the
government.
The famous slewh began his ca
reer as detective shortly after the
close of the civil war. About the
first case he was engaged on was
| the recovery OF some goods stolen
| from a farmer living east of the city.
"a sneak thief, who operated at night
time, had annoyed the residents OF
that part of the county for weeks
Finally he visited the home OF a
farmer who decided to employ a de-
| teotlve to run him to earth.
| Norris was the man selected. He
went to the farmers house. looked
around the premises for a short
time, returned to the house and sur
prised the farmer by announcing that
he knew who robbed him. In ex-
planation Norris said that the man
drove black horse. blind, and that
the animal had a new shoe on the
right hind foot
The farmer thought Norris was
crazy and laughed heartily at his de-
ductions. Norris soon convinced him
that he was on the right track. TAX
ing the farmer down to the fence,
where the thief had hitched. while
he collected the stolen goods together
| Norris pointed to the black hairs.
where the horse had rubbed itself
against the top rail.
The black hairs were his evidence
that the thief had driven black
horse. Going out into the road Nor
rls pointed to the hoof prints, show
ing that they were nat. The de-
tectlve used this as an argument to
convince the farmer that the horse
was blind. claiming that blind
horse strikes the ground Hat, while a
horse which can see puts It's toes
down first. A further examination
OF the hoof prints revealed that the
shoe on the right hind foot was not
worn like the others 1tf
Fiat Hoof Prints.
The farmer realized that there was
more In Norris deductions than he
had first supposed They visited a
neighborlng blacksmith shop and
learned who had NV shoe put on
the right hind foot of his blind black
horse. The farmer would not be-
lleve that the owner OF the horse was
the thief, Norris insisted that he was:
search warrant was secured, and
the stolen goods were recovered, con
cealed in the barn. The man was
prosecuted, convicted and sent Ia
Jail.
His Greatest Capture.
Probably the greatest capture made
by Norris was the arrest of Lou
Hauk, the notorious three-carC
monte man, who was wanted foI
killing man on a train. HauS was
caught cheating while playing game
of cards. He drew a revolver and
shot the man In the mouth. Hauk
made his escape by jumping from thu
train The tragedy occurred on tho
B. & o. train. For six years the
Pinkertons and their men worked OF
the case and finally reported tha
IIauk must be dead as they were un.
able to find any trace Of him. Norri,
took the case for $2.5O0 and his ex,
pense money Six weeks after ho
signed the contract he had Hauk un,
der arrest.
The detective followed him to Cali,
fornia, but his bird had flown wher
he arrived. Norris waited until nigh
time and called on a pal of Haul
and the pal fell for the trap laid. o.
course Norris claimed that his visi
was only a social one. He expected
the pal TO telegraph Hauk and tha
is just what he did. Norris had mer
to shadow the house and shortly aft
er he left the pal, came out and start
ed down the street going to the tele
graph office. In those days the latter
was connected with the railroad
ticket office, The pal wired HaulS
who was in Nevada, TO be on thl
lookout for Norris. The pal had ief
the office but a few minutes wher
the sleuth appeared. A young mar
was In charge of the Telegraph Of.
fee. Norris had learned to telegraph
I by placing a silver dollar between nil
teeth. He worked the trick on tn,
young man and gained his confidence
The sleuth was admitted to the of
flee and while the clerk was en-.
gagged in selling a ticket, Norrii
changed the address on the teIe-
gram. Then the defective beat 4
and hastened on after ,Hauk, find
ing him at the address given by th'
pal.
Strong on Publicity.
Norris was always strong on pub
llcity and he always denied that the
newspapers made him famous. R'
was one man who realized the power
of the nrpsa He was frQouantIV crit.