Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1916-08-04

He begged me. 10. use all possible ef-
forts ito discover who the person was
and to bring him to justice. He then
told OF having received the anonymous
letters, which he laid before me. / at
once perceived that they were all writ
ten upon the same brand of paper, In
a legible and penmanlike manner, and
evidently by the same hand and pen.
By the end of the third day of my
Investigations. I had hit upon a clue.
Joseph Sullivan, the superintendent,
had employed two engineers whose
names were George and Henry Book.
George was a young man, married,
and living in a cottage on the leased
property. near the we'll. Henry. his
brother, was single, and lived with
George and his wife. They were both
employed on the same we'll as pump
ers. George. who was employed on
the day watch. was considered a very
good engineer and a reliable man,
while his younger brother, Henry.
though known to be competent and en-
ergetic, was not nearly SO reliable.
He had been found asleep while on
duty by Superintendent Sullivan on
various occasions, for which he was
several times reprimanded, and finally
discharged from the service. 1t was
subsequent to his discharge that Mr..
Ackert had received the first of the
anonymous letters.
In addition to the attempt to destroy
property or, at any rate, to the drain.
ing Off Of Mr.. Ackert's tank, there had
been the theft Of oil we'll tools and
other material on the Ackert and ad-
sacent leases. This c~orroborated the
~supposition that the perpetrator of
these acts was familiar with that O
ton of the oil territory. In fact, every
thing pointed to Henry Book as the
guilty man.
Being familiar with the manner in
which oil leases were operated, I
donned the suit of an oil driller, con-
sisting Of overalls spattered over with
sand pumpings, which gives the wear
'er the general appearance of a bill
poster. Thus equipped, / set forth
on a cold night in February, the Their
mometer at the time standing below
zero. My objective was the pumping
house of a we'll where I knew George
Book would be on duty until midnight,
when he would retire. to be succeeded
by the man who had taken the posi-
ton formerly held by his brother,
Henry
Before making my way from Oil
City to the Ackert property, / visited
a meat market in the town, where /
asked for five cents worth Of liver.
There's a pet cat that seems to
have adopted me-" I explained to the
meat market owner. "She stays round
my place and cries for food regularly
at meal times, and so / guess it's up
to me to see that she gets it."
Having planked down my nickel, I
received the chunk of liver which
the proprietor cut off and wrapped up
in a piece of paper. I took it around
the corner, where / made further in
roads into 1t with my jackknife. "A
small slice ! placed in the hollow Of
my right hand. I then cut a thin
piece and spread it on the back Of the
same hand, which ! afterward tightly
bandaged with a piece of white mus.
lin. The liver soiled the tightly
drawn bandage, which gave the ap'
pearance of a wound extremely in
famed and sore. I then tied two hand
kerchiefs together and improvised a
sling in which I could put my right
hand at the right time. So equipped