Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-14
$500 REWARD IS
PAID TWO FOR
MAKING ARREST

corker of a detective story, fellows.
and nobody knows how it's going to
end, or whether the villain is really
the villain, or anything; but it's got
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. hero. and a
man-hunt with bloodhounds and air
planes, and more thrills than a Bill
Hart movie.
It's like this, so far, though there
may be a new chapter before you
have finished reading:
Florence Barton, Kansas City So
ciety girl, and Howard Winter, her
fiance, driving near Hillcrest Coun-
try club on the night of October 2,
were shot by one of three men in
another automobile. Winter was
slightly wounded. Miss Barton died
on the way to a hospital.
Private detectives and the city
force were put on the job of finding
the murderer. After a months chase
DenzeI Chester, 27, blacksmith, was
arrested in Great Falls, Mont, where
he was lured to a rooming house by
letters signed with the name of a
woman whose love letters had been
found among his belongings.
On the train, Chester was put in
a stateroom. E. e. Beasley, police
detective, sat in the room with him.
Outside sat two detectives from a
private agency. Beasley afterWard
said Chester's handouts had been le-
moved to let him eat lunch and
shave, and because he was treating
him we'll to get him to answer ques-
tionS.
Suddenly, as the train, pulled out
of Broken Bow, Neb., there was a
crash of glass, d. volley of shots, and
Beasley dashed out of the stateroom,
shouting: my God! DENIES jump
ed out of the window"
Chester, who was supposed to have
dived through two heavy panes OF
glass, there was no trace save hat
with bullet hole in it.
Followed then man-hunt that
the whole middle west will always
remember. 1t was freezing weather
and Chester was hatless and coat
less. .
Bloodhounds. were put on the trail.
Officers took trains in all directions.
Mss, Barton's two brothers and VIII
ton secured the country in automO-
biles. John Hagan, superintendent
of the detective agency, lowered over
the region in an airplane.
Rewards. totaling $1,000 had been
offered. But the prairie seemed 10
have opened and swallowed Dennle
Chester.
Almost exhausted Barton, Hagan
and a deputy sheriff named Ham
mond got a fresh tip, November ~,
that Chester was near Oconto' Ne
braska. 1t was 3 o'clock In the
And just then arrived the hero, DR..
Martin Hanson, over six feet tall,
"a years old, first lieutenant in
the veterinary corps during the
war. He had been treating SICK
horse all night, and he volunteered
to help in the search.
About noon. Hanson and Ham
mond, driving together. met a man
in khaki unionalls.
How far to Oconto?" asked Han
"oh, five or six miles, replied
Hanson's revolver was already
against his stomach. Hands up
he ordered, and they went up. 1t
was penzeI Chester Dow 5oi, Lotto
that afternoon, Chester tore strips
from his blanket. knotted them
about his throat. and had almost
strangled himself before he was
denly stood up on his cot and dived
headlong to the cement floor.
And here, instead of ending. be-
gins the really puzzling part of
Chester's adventures.
Between attempts at suicide, he
has lain limp, apparently helpless
and absolutely speechless, staring
at the ceiling or the light. Exam
nations by many doctors. including
a neurologist and an X-ray expert,
fail to show any injury from his
attempts at suicide, or any reason
why he could not speak Or walk If
he wishes. The doctors believe he
is shamming.
He was carried to the train
shackled on stretcher. In Kansas
City he is in a steel room in
hospital, under heavy guard. After
a, long period here, of helplessness,
suicide. He. tried to butt out his
the guard looked away.
been going on. It is whispered that
money without limit will be avail
able in the dark places of Kansas
City's dens and dives. to help Ches-
ter.
A police Investigation of the es-
cape has resulted in the dropping of
Beasley from the city force. the rev.
ocation of the commissions Of the
private agency, and political semi
upheaVal.
Hanson and Hammond have re-
ceived the $4,000 reward offered by
the Law Enforcement league for his
recapture. The rest is contingent
upon conviction.