The Virginia enterprise., 1912-11-15

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.
eft yer want ter find de bloke
what did de trick said Brady. take
pipe on soma of de friends of dis
Lawrence, and yer will come near hit
ting bottom T.yi
Il 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 would have
to look elsewhere for the assailant Of
Lawrence. It 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: investfga-
tion that Lawrence had been robbed.
Il went alone to look for clue in
some other direction. Down at the
hospital I looked over all the property
which had been found in Lawrence's
pockets. Among several letters
found one signed Gil Bender, who kept
saloon at Second avenue and Thirty
sixth street, asking Lawrence to meet
him at o'clock on the night of the
robbery. l also picked up another fact
which set my thinking-bo going. On
Lawrence's right arm ware the letters
"A. B. in India ink. What these meant
l did not know: but they were not the
initial letters of Lawrence's name, and
I started out to- find what they stood
for.
II dropped into Gil Bender's place,
and he said that he had not made an
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 tho
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 it before and
had no idea who could have writteh
it. Bender was an ex-convict and had
been useful to the police In many
ways. l accepted his denials as truth
and then I mentioned to him about
the "A. B. marks on Lawrence's arm.
"He appeared bit surprised when
l 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 l would never tell what had
learned from him, he said that Law
renee was the name selected by Abe
Baker to use in living on the level.
l had seen Baker many times, but aft
er getting out of jail the last time he
had grown a full and very heavy
beard. and put on eyeglasses, which
SO altered his appearance that. taken
in connection with the respectable
people he travelled with, made a COM
plete transformation in his appear
ance.
"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
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
juries. 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, I became
convinced that the assailant Of Baker
was some one who had grievance
against him. I carefully went over
his career as a 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 Linz
DAILY, who got the full sentence, while
Baker got off with a nominal punish.
ment. Baker did not have 10 testify
in court, and when l heard that Cliff
Dempsey had made a threat to take
his life for his treachery, l saw my
way clear. Dempsey was a man who
kept his word, and the records show.
ed that he had just finished his term
of sentence and that DAILY had died in
prison.
1T took me a week to plant Demp-
sey in this city, as he had been keep
ing very quiet. In the meantime l had
picked up evidence to show that he
was at the Fashion race track and had
been noticed dogging Lawrence there.
l also found several persons who had
seen a man answering Dempsey's ap
pearance in the neighborhood of Bak.
er's home shortly before he was hurt.
got sample of Dempsey's hand.
writing, which was identical with the
letter making the appointement
signed by Bender These facts made
it string prima facie case against
Dempsey and I arrested him.
He pleaded not guilty, but when
the case was called for trial Baker
was we'll enough to appear, and Demp-
sey changed the plea to guilty. AS he
was leaving the court room he told
Baker that the account was not Set,
tied and he would follow him to tho
end of his days"
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