Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-10
Worlds Greatest
Detective Cases

The United States Express COM
pany's mail and baggage car were
uncoupled at Morris and taken to a
siding. The railroad officials, fol-
lowing the instructions issued from
the express company's Office in Chi
cago, telephoned to Pinkerton, and
within five hours William A. Pinker-
ton himself reached the scene of the
murder and wasted no time in his i'll
vestigation.
He first telephoned to the next sta
ton where the express train was to
stop to have the names and addresses
of every passenger taken down, as
we'll as the names and addresses OF
those who got out before the train
reached its destination. 1t was a
battling case, indeed. The thieves
had left no clue with the exception
of black mask, which on examina-
ton appeared to be part of the in
side lining of an overcoat. This was
the first, and, at the time, appeared
to be the only clue.
But William Pinkerton still kept
on shifting about. He admitted to
himself that the inprovised mask
Was not clue that would lead him
to discover its owner. He was
about to admit to himself that it
was a case that would take months
to follow up when he suddenly found
blood stained poker behind the an
thracite coal stove which in those
days heated the baggage car.
Not until l came across this
blood-stained poker did believe
that the murder had been committed
by someone who rode i'll the train
regularly, one of the railroad EN-
ployes." he explained afterwards
when he was relating the story of his
discovery of the murderer. 81
reasoned that the person who used
this blood-stained poker knew that
the poker was kept behind the stove.
If the murderer was stranger it
would not have been natural for him
to put the poker where it was gen
orally kept.
"On the other hand, if the poker
had been laying in front of the stove
where it could be seen and picked up
by stranger, he would not have de-
liberately gone behind the stove and
put the weapon he had used in the
proper place if he had killed Kellogg.
So ] reasoned that the person who
committed the murder knew every
detail of the mail car. In this line of
reasoning proceeded, and was sure
that the man had often poked the
stove himself and placed the poker
in its proper place after using it, SO
that after the murder he uncon-
sciously put it where it really be-
longed, no matter from where he
had picked it up. So, had it not been
for the fact that the murderer
obeyed his impulse of habit, per-
haps he would have never been dis
covered"
"As events proved the detectives
reasoning eventually brought the
murderer to book.
Then Pinkerton picked up the black
mask clue.
Snow Not Tracked.
He searched, from Morris to Joliet,
the snow-covered railroad tracks
and the bankings. The surface of
the snow was clean and without a
footmark, absolutely untrodden.
This fact convinced the great de-
tective that no one had left the train
between Joliet and Morris. The
murderer, or murderers, were still on
the train at Morris, but he was still
far from solving the mystery.
Pinkerton once more returned to
the mail car, the scene of the tragedy,
and again examined it to test New
ton Watts account of the murder
On examining the broken ventilator,
through which the revolver had been
pointed, according to Watts state
ment, Pinkerton found that that
could only be possible by the man
who held the threatening weapon ly-
ing on the top of the car. However,
the top of the car, like the roadside,
was covered with snow, about six
inches high and the surface was abb
solutely unbroken. Now he had some
thing to work on. Newton Watt was
not telling the truth. If Newton
Watt lied, he either lied to cover
somebody, or somebody and himself.
Now Pinkerton took stock of his
progress so far. The blood-stained
poker was used by one of the ac-
completes. The other party to the
murder used his revolver, and the
person who used the poker used it
on discovering that the revolver bull
let had not put the life out of the
heroic defender of the mail car.
Schwartz and Watt were, in the great
detectives mind, the men who COM
mitted the deed. He Immediately
instructed one of his assistants to
shadow Watt day and night. He
made up his mind to question
Schwartz himself.
Schwartz came to Pinkerton's Of
flee, dressed up in his best clothes.
1t must be kept in mind that Pink
erton did not send for Schwartz to
interrogate him. The suspected man
was invited" by the great detec.
tive ito help him to solve the case"
1t was Pinkerton's intention to leave
the suspected man in as much false
sense of security as possible. When
Pinkerton met Schwartz he sized
him up. Schwartz showed the mis-
erable effects of the flattery with
which the great detective had tempt
ed him.
-Flattery is recognized among the
great detectives as one of the best
weapons to draw the suspected per-
son and lead him to betray himself.
William Pinkerton showed
Schwartz how greatly he was i'm
pressed with him and the interest
he took in the case.
Schwartz" he said, effecting
confidential demeanor, II am up
against it in this case. To tell the
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