Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-31

the proposition. TO effect this Keairns
was told to so to Des Moines but later
instructed to come to Davenport,
which he did with the friendly stran-
ger, arriving Tuesday. Keairns' reCol-
lection of the incidents in Davenport
which released him of the modest for
tune are as follows:
A Sad Story.
Upon arriving In Davenport I was
told that the president of the organiza-
ton which was to buy my land was
away on business in Illinois We went
in the park and my companion met
man there and they talked about a bet
on a horse race in which the man had
won 81 900. After a while Reayes and
another friend took me to q building
which / think is located in the south
east part OF the city and we went to the
third floor IN an elevator. They took
me- to a room where large bulletin
b BARD covered one side of the wall.
There was a horse race in progress,
they told me- and Ward said he could
pick the winner every time. And he
could, too. They kept us informed az
to the progress of the races with two
telephones. He bet, he said, for. a COM
pany which he was working for and he
and his companions made SlUo,U00.
Then / bet on a 10 to / proposition and
won $1,000. Again I bet l to 10 and
lost $4,000 in that bet Altogether 1
lost S10,2SO."
Paid His Checks.
Keairns paid these checks person
ally before leaving. After having lost
his money in the bet he became sus-
picious but left the swindlers as the
best of friends and promised to return
with more money. He went back home
and notified the Shelby county sheriff,
c. W. MaCNaughtOn, of all that had Oc-
Cured and MacNaughtOn immeditely
wired State Agent o. o. Rock, who was
in Davenport in connection with the
saloon cases. MT. Rock procured the
assistance of J. +. Risdon and W. il.
Terrell, other special agents who were
also in Davenport. MIR. RisdOD made
arrangements with J. NJ. Carl, former
chief of police of Cedar Rapids, and
George Streator, also of Cedar Rapids,
to follow Mr. Keairns from the depot
Keairns had been notified to make
arrangements with his friend that he
was coming on a train and that he
would bring $50 900 with him. But
KeaiTns arrived earlier than expected
and completed the plan to effect the
capture of the get-rich-quick sChem-
ers. He was then sent in an autOmo-
bile to Eldridge TO catch the train he
had been scheduled to arrive on. When
he arrived at the depot one of the gang
of confidence men was posted and with
a series of signals with his hat nOti-
fed his cohorts Of the arrival Of the
farmer.
Brown, Ward and Reaves then
rushed up to the arrival and greeted
him as a long lost cOmrade. The
crooks were then arrested and turned
over to Sheriff Louis Eckhardt.
1t is believed that a dangerous band
of swindIers has been detected The
1argeness of their undertaking, the
daring with which they clung to their
victim, refusing to be satisfied with
their first haul, and the large number
which seem to have been engaged in
the enterprise leads the officials who
affected the capture to think that one
of the most important captures of sew
eral years has been made.
Keairns and all of the officials who
were connected with the episode Will
remain in this city awaiting prOsecu-
ton Of the criminals.
In the meantime Keairns declares he
will not bet on any more horse races.