The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-11-14

ance Of the clothing was such Rs was
usually found In cases whore the gang
had done up victim.
There We're, however, two puzzling
features In the case. In Lawrence 3
inside waistcoat pocket, in O large
wallet. were $4,000 in cash and the
records OF several bets which had
been made the day that he was In
| jured. The theory which was adopted
as the most plausible one was that
some OF the gang had been at the
track and seen the roll of bills Law
renee carried. and given him the razoo
the first chance they got at him when
he was alone
II went to see Denny Brady, as
knew him very well, to have a talk
with him about the crime. The thief
who is accused falsely will always
talk freely as general thing about
ecy particular crime, and wished to
see how Brady would act about this
case. found him In liquor store In
First avenue with the gang. and he
greeted me very kindly. went out
with him alone after he had a chin
with several OF the gang, and gave
him a ghost story about the Lawrence
robbery. l volunteered the informa-
ton that some OF the gang were sus-
pected. had expected to hear Brady
| deny that he had ever heard of tho
robbery. but instead of this he opened
up and gave me his idea OF the crime
Ho said that none OF the gang we're in
Il, as they we're all at the wake OF
Andy Owens, who had been killed IN
rough.and-tumble fight In Williams
burgh.
"If yer want ter find do bloke
what did de trick said Brady, take
pipe on some OF de friends OF dis
Lawrence. and yer will come near hit
ting bottom
81 Investigated tho story told by
Brady as to the whereabouts of the
gang on the night OF the robbery, and
found that he had told the truth.
which satisfied me that / would have
to look elsewhere for tho assallant 81
Lawrence. II was possible. OF course.
that some other gang might have done
Lawrence up. but the more thought OF
the case the less confidence did | have
In the gang and robbery theory. II
was the belief of all the detectives
who had taken part in the investiga.
tion that Lawrence had been robbed.
II went alone to look for a clue In
some other direction. Down at the
hospital looked over all the property
which had been found in Lawrence's
pockets. Among several letters |
found one signed Gil Bender. who kept
a saloon at Second avenue and Thirty.
sixth street, asking Lawrence 10 meet
him at 8 o'clock on the night Of the
robbery. | also picked up another fact
which set my thinking.box going On
Lawrence's right arm were the letters
"A. b. in India Ink What these meant
did not know; but they were not the
initial letters OF Lawrence's name, and
| started out to find what they stood
for
81 dropped into Gil Benders place.
appointment to meet Lawrence by let
ter or In any other way He willingly
agreed to write certain words for me
which were In the letter and to sign
his name. ! compared these with the
letter and saw that there was no point
of similarity in the two handwritIngs.
| showed him the letter and he said
that he had never seen II before and
had no idea who could have written
II. Bender was an ex.convict and had
been useful to the police in many
ways. accepted his denials as truth
and then ! mentioned TO him about
the "A. B. marks on Lawrence's arm.
HE appeared bit surprised when
! mentioned this, and felt that had
struck something good He denied
that he had any idea what the letters
meant, but when gave him my word
that would never tell what l had
learned from him, he said that Law
renee was the name selected by Abe
Baker to use in living on the level.
THE mystery was deepening with
every new fact that discovered in
tho case, and tell you ] had many
wild.goose chase. Baker had survived
the operation and was improving
physically every day. but his mind
was in very confused state ind he
made many contradictory statements
about the way he received his in
iuries. The woman who lived with
Baker did not, or pretended not to
know anything Of his history.
with the motive OF robbery out OF
tho way, except incidentally, became
convinced that the assailant OF Baker
was some one who had grievance
against him. carefully went over
his career as thief. While making
this Investigation | learned that Baker
had turned states evidence In the
Empire bank robbery In Troy, aad
given Information which led 10 the
conviction OF CHE Dempsey and Ling
DAILY who got the full sentence. while
Baker got off with nominal punish.
mcrt Baker did not have 10 testify
in court, and when heard that CHI
Dempsey had made a threat to take
his life for his treachery, saw my
way clear,