The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-07-31
A MARINE
CHASE
II Was For q Crook
and $4,000
By WARREN MILLER

The most interesting chase l ever had
in all my experience as a detective off.
Ger was for Simpson, who had robbed
the - National bank of $4,000 in
currency. Simpson was located In New
York by the police, or was supposed to
be, and his problem was to get out of
the city with the plunder. The prob
lem Of the police was to arrest him
with the funds on him.
My being called into the case arose
from certain information that came
from Philadelphia. The chief Of police
Of that city gave out information that
small steamer no bigger than a canal
boat that had been laid up for some
time had been purchased and was be-
ing put into commission. The owner
could give no satisfactory account Of
the sale or who was the real purchaser.
Indeed, they had become suspicious of
the use to which she was to be put and
had advised the police to be on the
lookout
The way We got on to Simpsons con-
nection with the steamer was this: An
anonymous letter was received at po-
lice headquarters which stated that he
had chartered single sticker at New
London and was intending to make for
Canada in her. Had we not heard of
the Philadelphia matter We would
have been on the lookout in the direc-
ton Of New London. As it was We In
ferred that Simpson had written the
anonymous letter to put us of the
track. But II this were so he had not
counted on our being in a position to
put these two bits Of information to-
gether.
AS soon as arrived at Philadelphia
l went to the dock where the suspect
was lying. Without appearing to be
interested In her l made a mental note
Of everything in her outward makeup.
She was evidently such a boat as is
used for carrying passengers short dis
tances between city and its outlying
towns. She had a single stack, was
moved by propeller and was painted
white. The name on her stern was Pc
ter Muller.
There were no signs Of her leaving
port, and l got the idea that I was Off
the track. l employed a man to watch
the boat and made visit to the police
department, hoping to get some more
information concerning her. They told
me they thought they had traced the
new ownership of the Muller and 1t
was all right.
Had It not been for this information
l would have watched the boat myself
or at least taken better measures to
keep advised of her movements. As it
was l went to my hotel and to bed
early, being tired. was awakened at
8 o'clock in the morning by a bellboy,
who ushered into my room the man
had placed on watch He told me that
he had gone to sleep about midnight
and was awakened by a putting. Open
ing his eyes, he saw the Muller going
out.
l chartered tug, and, having re-
ceived information that my quarry aft
er making the ocean had gone north
ward, I followed In hot haste. The
Muller must have had good motive
power, for despite the fact that we put
on all steam she kept ahead Of us. We
saw nothing of her, but upon inquiry
learned that she was several hours
ahead of us, making northward.
Before leaving Philadelphia l had
telephoned the New York police de-
partment Of what had taken place, but
whether or not they took steps to head
OF the fugitive nothing came of my
notification. kept on, guided by In
Quiry alone all day, but all day gaining
on the Muller. When night came on /
felt that temporarily at least had lost
her, for at night she could go where
she pleased without her movements
being noted.
However, l reasoned that the Muller
would not know that she was being
chased and would therefore not be like
ly to attempt to throw me off her track.
At any rate, l determined to put into
the first available port and try to pick
up information of the fugitive the next
day. This l did and In the morning
started again northward, making In
quiries along the way. About noon /
got the first information. The Muller
had been seen about FIVE hours ahead of |
me, still pointing northward.
In this way / followed the fugitive
for several days. The last l heard Of |
her was off Cape Cod. She was then |
pointing for Portland. I now saw her
object. She would make for Casco bay, ]
N which there are several hundred is |
ands, among which she would have an !
excellent opportunity to lose herself. |
There would be both advantage and dis
in this to me. / would have
ler cooped within limited area, for
The could not go on with safety north
ward, there being no harbor between
Maine and the St Lawrence river. But
o find her among the islands of Casco
'ay would be like looking for a needle
a q haystack. At the same time I
night hunt her down by the same proc
"a 0f innuirv 4 had olrao dx ,n~.,ou5