The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-08-24
M FlRsT u.s. clEsE ! !!
4oottIro" tie Man, Who Hung a jury

fsliS9H4to " enS. ,uAJsLlnat. tue manager, Oh
iShe New York ONCE OF the Burns De
lteetiye Agency handed me an order
Tor $50 expense money and started mo
up the Hudson river on my first man.
hunt l. had never done ANYTHING In
my. life that might have been suspect.
rcd OF even remotely resembling detec.
lltlye work ! probably, knew as little
3 about the business as anybody in the
epuntryn and I,had never had any
iyearning or intention to become a do.
tectiye. But was So years old out
ofgwork, almost broke-in New York!
had, % family tossupporteand, most
important Of all, 1,hSppenSd TOT have
met the celebrated detective StIo n
the, head Of the agency byswhich,ni
came 70 be employedyi ths largest, rep.
9utabie private deteGtiveS agency IN, the
}lcountry. That wasywhy i became,
and am, private detective.
Ono morning found myself at 42d
IBtfeet and Broadway, looking at the
newspaper bulletins and wondering
how long my money would last and
where In the world l should turn for
Ia Job One, Of the bulletins read:
Detective Burns Nabs More Bri.
: iberB.pSl h; ~ ~ M, sFs"t ~
That bulletin did the trick. "a y Z |
HE may remember me-" l thought,
and he may know OF q job to at me-
went straight down town to the
{ ONCE of the agency OF which the big
man is the head and asked II he was
I'm. a
What do you want Of him." asked
the ONCE manager. slt.9i.
ssI;was desperate. I. said: az know
him.. and want a Job" Il,
He looked me over, went into an
inner ONCE for while, and reap
peared. bearing an application blank.
The ONCE, and everything in II, was
Just as II would be in an up-to-date
business ONCE. The business of the
place might as well have been selling
insurance as hunting criminals. The
application blank had all the conyen.
y tional Questions Of such paper, and
IN addition these: r2a 'FTI[ tf
X. Were you ever connected with
any police force, or any detective
agency7 Are you acquainted with
any police officials, or any one en-
ployed by detective agencies? a. -
We're you ever employed by any
railroad9 >, ", a, !.
Il DO you know anything about the
newspaper business?
\ Have you large number OF &C
: quaintances, and can you keep your
occupation from your friends and &C.
Quaintances7"
Fiji that out" said the office man.
ager. He had not even asked me II /
wanted to become detective, and
but for the last questions on, the blank
would not have knoSn that he was
considering me as an applicant for
such a position.
I've never done any detective work
in my life,"I said.
Good" he said. "If you had, we
wouldn't have you: Fill out the
blank"
When 1t was filed out he took 1t
and disappeared again. He was back
in three minutes.
All right" be said, sitting down9at
his desk and picking up some papers.
There's man up in Pecksyille Ia
small town on the Hudson river near
New York;. who hung the Jury in a
damage suit: Want you to 60 up and
get him. Here's the dope"
He began TO read from the papers
in his hand. The gist Ipf twas that
one Kellner, New York contractor,
had done 100000 worth of workson
the water supply, system Of the town
OF tPeeksyille, When the time came
for him to render his Bill he had been
approached by one Of the towns DO.
liticaf powers. Bruley by name, and
commissioner Of public works, who
let 1t be known that II he would make
out o bill for $1S0.O00, It would be al.
lowed in full without protest or ques.
ton, and that $4,000 Of the 100000
overcharge would 60 to him as q re.
ward for placing certain officials in
the way of lingering $4,000 OF the
peoples money. J3 y -. ~
Kellner had refused. When he rem.
dered his rlghtful bill for 100000 the
powers in the city hall calmly. cut IL
to $4,000. claiming that portions OF
the work were poorly done; that parts
OF the contract had been awarded
Illegally, but in reality merely iget-
Ing even with Kellner for refusing to
assist them to some easy graft! :
t:sKellner promptly sued. He had a
case 80 strong. and public opinion
was so strongly aroused over the ex.
posed seaudsli that recovery of, his
$4,000 seemed foregone conclusion.
But the would.be .grafters had manag,
ed to place the Niger in the woodpile
IN the shape of'one Of their clan on
the Jury. Eleven of the jurymen on
the first ballot had voted for Q full
Judgment for SKellner. The twelfth
man had voted mo, on that ballot,
and on the second, and the third. and
on every ballot for the next twenty.
four hours. He had hung the jury,
and the case was a mis.triaI. The
mans name was Harry Donlin, q real
estate agent