Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1912-12-05

ance of the clothing was such as was
usually found in cases where the gang
had done up a victim.
There were. however, two puzzling
features in the case. In Lawrence's
inside waistcoat pocket, In a 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.
Il went to see Denny Brady, as !
knew him very we'll, to have q talk
with him about the crime. The thief
who is accused falsely will always
| talk freely as o general thing about
any 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 chin
with several Of the gang, and gave
| him ghost story about the Lawrence
robbery | volunteered the informal
tion that some of the gang were sus-
pected. I had expected to hear Brady
| deny that he had ever heard Of the
robbery, but instead OF this he opened
up and gave me his idea OF the crime.
He said that none of the gang were In
| it, as they were all at the wake Of
Andy Owens, who had been killed in
a rough-and-tumble fight in Williams
! burgh
eff yer want ter find de bloke
what did de trick said Brady, take
a pipe on some of de friends of dis
Lawrence, and yer will come near hit
| ting bottom
| II investigated the 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 I would have
! to look elsewhere for the assailant Of
Lawrence. 1t 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. It
was the belief of all the detectives
who had taken part in the investiga-
ton that Lawrence had been robbed.
II went alone to look for clue in
some other direction. Down at the
hospital looked over oil 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 to meet
him at s 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
IT dropped into Gil Bender's place,
and he said that he had not made an
appointment to meet Lawrence by let
| ter or In any other way He willingly
1 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.
I showed him the letter and he said
that he had never seen 1t before and
had no idea who could have written
1t. Bender was an exconvict and had
been useful to the police in many
ways. accepted his denials as truth
and then I mentioned to him about
the "A. b. marks on Lawrence's ARIA.
'He appeared a bit surprised when
I mentioned this, and felt that had
struck something good. He denied
that he had any idea what the letters
meant, but when I gave him my word
that I would never tell what I had
learned from him, he said that Law
renee was the name selected ~ Abe
Baker to use In living on the level.
'The mystery was deepening with
every new fact that I discovered in
the case, and tell you I had many a
wild-goose chase. Baker had survived
the operation and was improving
physically every day, but his mind
was in a very confused state and 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
the way. except incidentally. became
convinced that the assailant of Baker
was some one who had a 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, and
given information which led to the
conviction of Cliff Dempsey and Ling
DAILY, who got the full sentence. while
Baker got off with nominal punish
ment. Baker did not have to testify
In court, and when I heard that Cliff
Dempsey had made a threat to take
his life for his treachery, / saw my
way clear.