Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1916-06-30

The two checks were compared by
me, and l continued:
while l am not an expert on hand
writing, 1 do not believe that Dr..
Smith wrote that signature"
Where did you get that check?"
demanded the teller of Dingfelter.
81 got it from DR.. Smith," was the
reply.
"Will you go with me and e DR..
Smith," I asked.
well, 1 don't know whether I will
or not" Dingfelter answered. Are
you an officer?"
81 am the chief special agent for the
Missouri Pacific Railroad company"
| replied.
"Oh, we'll, that is different. i will
go with you and lei DR.. Smith," said
Dingfelter.
We started for DR.. Smiths Office &C.
cordingly. At the corner of Sixth and
Pine streets I gave Dingfelter the pre-
arranged signal, which was for him to
hit me a good, stiff punch in the face.
A large, clumsy policeman, wearing
a %raincoat, was standing under an
awning near the corner saloon. Ding
felter hit hard, as he had been in
structed, and struck me above the eye,
knocking me down and inf1icting a
rel confusion. Dingfelter STUN
bled and also fell, and the clumsy po-
liceman made a dash for him. In the
ensuing fight the policeman lost most
Of his uniform, and all three of us
went down in the mud and were COW
cred with filth before Dingfelter was
finally subdued.
Dingfelter was taken to headquar-
tiers and searched. In an inside pocket
was discovered a letter directed to
some person in San Francisco, togeth-
er with a large sum of money. The
letter seemed to implicate the pris-
one in a series of bank swindles
which had excited the people of the
Pacific coast. The newspapers had
printed a good deal about this gang,
and the St. Louis detectives felt that
they were on the trail of the robbers.
The afternoon newspapers censured
and ridiculed me for having failed to
discover this letter.
However, l was not disconnected,
for it had taken me about two hours
to compose and write the same epistle.
The st. Louis papers devoted to
Dingfelter a good deal of the space
that they had been devoting to Max
well, much to the disgust of the lat
ter. The two men met in the bull
ened to make the acquaintance of SO
notorious a swindler as Dingfelter
seemed to be. The more the latter
held himself aloof, the more anxious
Maxwell appeared to be to cultivate
his acquaintance.
"You r Dingfelter, l believe" said
Maxwell.
Dingfelter replied that he was, and
Maxwell continued:
They seem to have a strong case
sgainst you"
"You will have to excuse me, sir
answered Dingfelter. 81 don't wan
to seem impolite, but I must decline
| ~ Ldlh ~ duyoLO III LAlO PAoSO ANU
my case, as you call it. / don't be
lieve it would be a good thing for me
or any other person to talk about
charge that is pending against him il
a place of this kind. Besides, / dom
know you"
81 am Maxwell" replied the other
II am the fellow who is charged will
the murder of that man Preller, who
was killed in the Southern hotel, anC
whose body was found in a trunk.
was arrested at Auckland, New Zea
land, and brought back here to st
Louis to stand trial, but I have beer
assured by my attorneys that l will bt
acquitted. They have no case agains'
me, and just as soon as / can ge'
a trial, why, Of course I will go free
81 have been reading in the papers
about you," answered Dingfelter, "anC
if you will pardon me for saying so
it seems to me that you have alread.
been talking too much about you
cas- If you are not guilty Of the
crime with which you stand charged
you ought to be acquitted, and I hop'
you will be-"
Dingfelter was in Jail for forty
seven days. during which time Max
well never let the opportunity pas
without talking to him. Meanwhile
Dingfelter was making daily reports
to me. Maxwell, who seemed to hav'
implicit confidence in Dingfelter, ad
mitted that he had killed Preller t.
obtain the even hundred dollar
which the latter possessed.
Maxwell also told Dingfelter that h
had used morphine, which had no
hitherto been suspected, owing to tn,
presence of the chloroform. TIL
body was at once exhumed, an
traces of morphine were found, tn
examining doctors guarding the secre
faithfully until the trial.
After this information had been OF
tanned from Maxwell it was unneces
sary to keep Dingfelter in Jail an,
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