Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-08

AeSheihCo thO willing DO thdI VI ulOOI
1t was nearly two years after his es.
cape. We at once notified the Ameri.
can police authorities Of our discovery
and Moore was promptly arrested and
sent back to jail. I have always
thought 1t was a curious coincidence
that the old lawyer should have hap.
pened to bring me Moore's letter
which, Of course, was signed in another
name"
Froest's writing is very individual
His former chief and predecessor in
the post which he himself is 80 soon
to vacate, John Shaw, once said laugh
ingly: If we took a specimen OF
your handwriting to a chemist he would
make 1t up as a prescription for cure
for bad cold or as a remedy for
corns."
Another noted criminal who was re-
sponsible for Froest paying a visit to
the states was Bunco-Steerer Tom
O'Brien, who was arrested and brought
to trial in 1891 in Albany. He receiv-
ed a sentence Of ten years, but sue
ceeded in escaping from jail and made
his way to France. A reward Of $4,000
was offered for him and this sum
tempted one Of his pals with whom he
had fallen out over a blackmailing
deal. O'Brien shot his friend and was
arrested by the French police, tried
and sentenced for a life term to one of
the penal settlements, where he ulti-
mately died. O'Brien escaped q capt.
tai sentence because his victim was
himself a criminal.
The Townsend Burden jewel robbery
in 1895, was another case In unravel-
ing which Froest played a prominent
part. The Jewels, worth 100000, were
stolen from the wealthy American and
his wife by two English servants, an
endeavor being made by the culprits to
cloak their dishonesty by the pretense
that there had been a burglary. The
deception was discovered in time for
nearly the whole of the jewelry to be
recovered.
Another sensational case in which
Froest showed his natural skill as de-
tective to a marked degree was that of
Nancy Guildford, an American woman
doctor, who, after warrant had been
Issued for her arrest successfully
eluded the American, Canadian and
Liverpool police. Froest took up the
clew from Paddington station, the
Great Western railway terminus,
where 1t was believed she had arrived
from Bristol, the police Of that place
being positive that a woman answer
ing her description had bought a tick
ct for London.
Froest had a cabled description Of
the woman, who was between 80 and
40 years old, and also knew that she
had with her a trunk with broken
strap. He went to Paddington, and.
after thirty six hours Of close ques-
tioning Of railway officials, cabmen and
others at the station, he found a cab
man who had taken her and her trunk
from the station. From this point Fro
est worked almost night and day for a
week before running his quarry to
earth. His difficulties were increased
by the fact that he soon discovered
that the woman's method was to take
a cab and direct the driver to put her
down at certain house. She would
linger on the sidewalk until the cab
man had driven of, and then get boy
to fetch another cab, when the process
would be repeated. AS variation she
would have her luggage taken into the
house or hotel, pay for a room, and
after few hours drive of. Froest per-
severed, cabman by cabman, and final
ly traced her to lodgings in Camden
Town.
He described the finish of his hunt in
a quiet, matter-of-fact way when tell
ing the story.
"The last cabman," he said, when
I questioned him was sure he had TAX
en- the woman I was searching for, but
added: I don't know the number of
the house nor the street it's In. but !
think can drive you there So pop
ped into his cab and told him to take
me to the house. When I got there
rang the bell and asked the landlady
IL she had any one answering the de-
scription which gave. We'll, sir she
replied, there is one lady here, an
American lady, but she never sees any
body and keeps her door locked all
the time So I said, I am a police
officer and must see her. Can't you
go upstairs, knock on the door, and
when she answers tell her that you
have a letter for her" The landlady did
as asked her and I followed her up.
AS soon as Nancy Guildford opened
the door I pushed my way into the
room. She was furious, and indig-
nantly swore by all that was holy that
she was neither Nancy Guildford nor
had ever heard Of her; that she would
complain to the ambassador about my
conduct and generally make things
unpleasant for me.
1.-The moment I set eyes on her /
knew there was no doubt she was the
woman. I showed her the cabled de-
scription, told her how I traced her,
and pointed out to her that one Of the
straps to her trunk was broken. While
she was getting ready to accompany
me noticed when she thought I was
not looking in her direction that she
bent down and slipped something un-
der the hearth rug. When turned 1t
UP I found underneath a linen collar
marked with her name.
"Tn the face Of this, madam, you can
no longer deny that you are Nancy
Guildford,' said.
That's the mistake of the laundry;
they sent me somebody else's collar
she replied, but she knew we'll enough
that 1t was an oversight on her part,
because she had carefully cut out the
name from all her other garments.
"She was ultimately sentenced to, /
think, ten years"
Altogether Froest has either directly
or indirectly been concerned in the ar
rest of we'll over 100 American crimi-
nails. He was asked which he remem-