Evening journal., 1913-11-11

gallery in Philadelphia. He picked out
the picture OF Virgins as the man who
had robbed him These facts were COM
municated to the chief, and by the chiei
to the captains, and by the captains TO
the other officers on the force Wig
gins capture tncn became of the great
est importance. The duty of the de-
partment was no longer a courtesy to
another state TO assist in the capture OF
an escaped convict. but IL went much
further than that, and their duty then
was to capture a well-known desperate
character who had committed one of the
boldest crimes known TO the history OF
the city.
Made Frequent Use Of Nails.
"Wiggins began Immediately after
that to write many letters 10 his
friend and relatives in this city;
some Of them we're post-marked
Philadelphia some ST. Louis. and at
least one the City of Wilmington. II
was within, however, a day or two Of
the robbery that he sent TO his moth
er the proof Of a picture, which he
had had taken in Philadelphia. This
fact was made known to Chief OF Po-
lice Black and he acted upon II
promptly and sent Sergeant Wardle
to Philadelphia, to work with the de-
tectives there, and they Immediately
began to watch the studio for the re-
turn OF Virgins. According 70 the
evidence this was Friday and Satur-
day, after the car barn robbery of the
previous Wednesday morningA
When Sergeant Wardle left Phila-
delphia on that Saturday afternoon
ne had secured two Of these pictures
from the detective bureau in Phila-
delphia, the pictures that had been
taken since Virgins escaped, and
probably since the car-barn robbery.
Sergeant Wardle delivered one of
these pictures 10 Chief Black, and tle
other one he had secured for his per-
sonal use, and it appears that he
kept Il in his possession until Wig
gins death. Whether the fact was
known to Chief Black is not clearly
shown.
"One of the pictures, however, was
delivered by Sergeant Wardle TO
Chief Black, at the same time. called
Captain Evans into his office and
showed It to him No further use OF
this picture was made. so far as the
testimony shows. Several of the wit
nesses testify that it was a good pic
ture Of Virgins. and a much better
one than the rogue's gallery picture.
Some witnesses testify that they
could have recognized Virgins from
his latest picture. but would not have
recognized him from the rogues' gal
lery picture.
Photograph Of Criminal.
About the time the photograph
was secured it was also ascertained
from Taylor, who had just been re-
turned to the penitentiary, that Wig
gins had requested him to come to
Wilmington to commit a robbery
here, and stated that they could stay
at house at Fourth and Shipley
streets where meals could be served
in their room. This was communi-
Gated by Chief Black to Captain
Evans with instructions to have the
house covered. This instruction
was understood by Captain Evans
and by the men under him that the
men on that district should give it all
the attention they could, but they
we're not to neglect their regular
duty. Captain Evans, reported to
Chief Black the next morning that
his Instructions had been carried
peared at the house Chief Black, in
his testimony, however, states that
after the death of Virgins Il was
learned that Virgins had stayed in
that house on that very night, which
was the 18th of September The tes-
timony of Miss Healing, who occu-
pied the house. was that he came
there on Wednesday, the 10th of
September, and occupied the room off
and on from that time until the nth
OF September. cannot find from
the testimony that any further spe-
cial attention was paid TO that par
ticular house because of the infor-
nation obtained from Taylor. This
was probably due TO the fact that
Miss Healing advised the officers. in
the first instance that they knew
no such man as Virgins, and there
must be some mistake about it be-
cause they had not served meals in
rooms for the past FIVE years. Tay-
lor's statement was to the effect that
Virgins had lived there before and
had meals served to him in his room.
THE next important matter devel-
oped by this investigation was that
Sergeant Kelleher, who had charge
of the district in which the house at
Fourth and Shipley streets is located.
ascertained from private individual
that there was a strange man stop-
ping at this particular house This
was on Saturday the 9th Of Septem-
her, and only a day or two before
I Virgins death. The description Civ
en- OF this strange man by Miss Heal
ing was that he was a man 2S or 20
years OF age and had a prominent
gold tooth. This woman was inform
ed that the officers we're looking for
man about 90 or p years of age
and she replied that they had no one
answering that description. Ser
geant Kelleher secured the suit case
Of that young man and upon opening
IL found. among other things. two
wings and two boards. Miss Heal
ling was questioned by Sergeant KeI-
leher as to the habits of the voun .
man and found that they were moi
unusual Miss Healing was re-
quested by Kelleher to report IN the
men on the district or to the police
station when her lodger returned,
and this she agreed to do.
Kelleher's Part in Case.
Sergeant kelleher made a report
of what he had discovered to captaiu
Evans, who was on night duty when
he, Kelleher, was going off duty that
day He also states that Acting CAP.
tain Tucker was present when be
made this report to Captain Evans. and
this statement is also supported by the
Testimony OF Captain Evans. Sergeant
Tucker, who was then Acting CAPTAIN
states that he heard no such report
made.