The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-03-23

True
: Detective Stofies
!, H DOUBLE CRIME


Copyright ~ The Wheeler Syndicate. Inc.
TT WAS In the late summer Of 1903
that the New York police discovered
the body Of q man, evidently an
Italian, concealed in a barrel on the
East side. Every mark that could
possibly supply a clue to his identih-
cation had been removed--even the
labels had been clipped from his
clothes-and the manner in which his
face had been mutilated rendered him
totally unrecognizable.
But, just as the case was about to
be entered upon the book Of New
York's unsolved mysteries, it was
cleared up through a coincidence 80
startling that no writer of detective
fiction would have dared make use
OF 1t.
On the night Of the murder, william
]. Flynn, then chief of the Eastern
division of the United States secret
service, with headquarters In New
York, was working on one of the
numerous counterfeiting case which
occur 80 frequently In the italian Sec
ton Of tm metropolis.
Flynn himself was elected to trail q
pair of Italians whom he had reason
to believe were working for or with
the counterfeiters. The trail led to
an Italian grocery, where, from the
shadow Of a doorway across the
street, the government detective could
see into a lighted room In the suspect
ed house. A few moments later a
covered wagon drew up In front OF
the house, a man got out, entered the
grocery, and made his way into the
very room that Flynn was watching.
The light from the lamp fell directly
upon his face, and the secret service
operative realized that this must be q
new addition to the gang, for he was
certainly no n that he had seen be-
fore. Then the curtains to the win
dow were drawn, and Flynn aban-
doned his chase for the time being.
The next morning the murdered
man was discovered, nearly half a
mile from the place where Flynn had
hidden himself the night before. It
was several days later that the opera
tive read the official account Of the
crime and noted that the body had
been found In 4 sugar barrel, partly
filed with blood-stained sawdust. The
date Of the murder, coupled with the
use Of q sugar barrel, recalled to the
operatives mind the fact that he had
been watching an Italian grocery at
or about the time that the foreigner
had been killed. Merely to satisfy
himself that there was no connection
between the counterfeiters and tho
murdered man, Flynn went to the
morgue and examined the body. The
peculiar shape Of the forehead, the
manner in which the hair splayed out
above the prominent ears and the
blood-stained green hat which had
been found In the barrel. told the story
beyond the shadow Of q doubt. II
the stranger whom Flynn had
seen entering the store which he had
been watchingi
! Feeling certain that % was q Sign
which pointed toward the operations
Of the gang which he was after, Flynn
9 tne Dody photographer from q
nunner g angles, while exrsrts u
pnynoeAcny recc1sfaceed the ~
lures 20 something approaching 2 HE
ike appearance. Then, armed with
tnese post-nortem pictures, Flynn
took IT'D 20 Ossining 90 g II
me members q tne Italian colony
70 sins sing oul identity the dead
m :, !.
1ne loea proved g oe z good one,