The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-11-01

high and low, in all the dives, gank.
bling houses. sporting resorts and
disorderly houses o. all kinds. to get a
trace or an inkling from some Of the
old-time thieves al to who might bs
doing the trick here. g" '.' -
1T, was evident that local thieves
capable Of doing: this. high class Of
work were all in jail. It was, therefore.
my opinion that the crimes were be-
ing committed by thieves from other
places. Reports were received from
the chiefs Of police Of all the large cit
les In the east and west, and Canada.
az to the absence Of flrst.class thieves
from their bailiwicks, or az to tho re-
cent discharge from state prison Of
f1rst-class thieves.
Many descriptions Of thieves were
sent to us, with names and pedigrees
While we had plenty Of work to do
In looking for these outsiders, as it
turned out afterward, no one had
given W tip as to the right man.
was having q pretty sorry time, l tell
you, looking up one or two new rob-
berries every day. The only consola-
ton was that other detectives were
In the same boat.
mel Rogers was a staggerer. At the
time the robbery must have been COM
mitted. between 200 and 300 guests
were III the house. Among these
were several wellknown military men
and others, who would have only
been too glad to enliven the .festivi-
ties with little diversion with
thieves. Yet the thieves had the nerve
to enter, and they got away without
soul seeing them.
THE entrance to the house was
made from the rear. over piazza
which extended up to about five feet
OF the second-story window. It was
my belief that the thieves had got
ten to the yard from q vacant house
In the rear on the next street. There
was, however, nothing In this house
to show 1t had been entered at all, all
the doors and windows being locked.
1.-THE roof Of the piazza had been
freshly painted. It showed the foot
prints OF but one man, who wore rub
bers or moccasins without heels. The
marks on the paint, where the thief
clutched the top of the piazza to draw
himself up from the pillar, were very
peculiar. The left hand showed four
finger prints, while the right hand
showed only one. This was very puz-
cling. l thought perhaps it was due
to the fact that the thief held rope
ladder with his other fingers. The
piazza did not extend the full length
of the house, and the rope ladder was
found hanging from one of the win.
dows.
THE presents in the house had been
left in charge of servant. When the
guests all went downstairs to the din
ing room she thought there would be
no further use for her, so she went
down to take view of the decora.
tons in the parlor and dining hall.
1t was during her absence that the
thief did the trick. She wasn't gone
more than ten minutes. When she
returned she did not notice that any
thing had been disturbed 1t was q
couple Of hours after the robbery be-
fore it was discovered.
THE colonel offered a reward OF
$4,000 for the recovery of the stolen
goods and the capture Of the thieves.
There was great hustle among
thieves themselves to get a bit OF
this $4,000. The fences would have
given up almost any thief for whack
at 1t. But the thieves were cunning
dogs. They had never pawned or
sold any of the stolen goods in this
city.
While 1 was cracking my skull to
get a clue that would amount to some
thing, l got tip from Joe Foley, an
ex-convict. that Big Pete McCracken
and Kid Kelly were in the city, and
that the Kid only had one finger on
his right hand. This was the first
good news I had heard.
The case fairly haunted me. One
Friday afternoon l dropped into the
Aston house for lunch. glanced
around the room carelessly. and saw
standing at the bar tall, determined
looking man. drinking with a man not
bigger than good-sized boy. When
the little fellow raised his glass to
drink, saw that he had only his
thumb and forehnger on his right
hand. You can bet l did not lot this
pair Of worthless get out of sight. They
were given an excellent reputation at
the hotel; had never been out eve
nings, and it was thought that they
were wealthy miners from the west.
got Joe Foley to take peep at them.
He identified them as being McCrack-
en- and Kelly beyond doubt
"They were booked for passage for
Europe on the following day, which
was Saturday, under fictitious names.
went with them from the hotel to
the steamer about an hour before the
steamer sailed to see if they had any
confederates In the city. No one met
them. When the bells rang to 70
ashore I placed Kelly and McCracken
under arrest and took them OF the
steamer. They made terrible fuss,
and protested innocence Of any Grim.
inal act. l kept a careful watch on
the pair Of them while the police
were taking them away, and I saw Nc
Cracker drop a paper, which l picked
up at once It proved to be a bill of
lading, showing several boxes to have
been consigned to j. r. Wilson,
London
THE MEN were locked up at police