The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-09-28
True
Detective Stories
VANISHING MAN

Copyright by The wheeler syndicate, Inc.
WHEN Gideon Rabshaw, chief of
w detectives of Cleveland, Ohio,
was notified w the long dis
lance wire from Buffalo, that the
police of that city had captured the
four men responsible for the murder
of Patrolman Leroy Bouker, he smiled,
shrugged his shoulders, and muttered:
Fine work! That much Is out Of
the wayr
But, had Rabshaw only known
1t, his troubles were only beginning
for one of the bandits, a man by the
name of Meaney, determined to fight
for his life with every weapon that
the law afforded him.
Securing an attorney familiar with
the kinks and twists of criminal law,
he quickly succeeded in manufactur-
ing an alibi which appeared to be IRON
clad. Half a dozen witnesses sWore
that, at the time Bouker was shot,
Heaney had been In their company,
and that 1t was physically impossible
for him to reach the scene of the crime
I'm time to take part In the murder.
Meaney's lawyer followed his clients
instructions to make the alibi good
enough for me to have "a hours clear
ance-once I'm out of Cleveland they'll
eve find me" and the district at
torney, rather than iMperil the entire
case, decided to drop the proceedings
against Meaney and concentrate his
attack upon the other three men who
had the foresight to provide themselves
with capable legal assistance. There
fore, in spite of the ~pleadings Of Chief
Rabshaw, Meaney was released.
Less than twelve hours later, the
chief of detectives secured evidence
that riddled the carefully prepared
alfbi-evidence which proved that
Meaney had been directly implicated
In the murder. But 1t was too late.
The gunman had vanished, apparently
into thin ar!
Spurred on by a realization that he
had had the man he wanted, actually
lodged In Jail. only to have him slip
through a loophole in the legal wall
which surrounded him, Rabshaw de-
termined to nail the escaped murder
Or If, as he stated, sit took ten years
and every man on the force to do it"
The city Of Cleveland was cOmbed
from n end to the other. Every
known meeting place In the under
world was watched and raided and
eosed.
But the days heightened into weeks,
and the weeks into months, and still
there vas no trace of Meaney.
At night, when his days work vas
finished, Rabshaw would relieve the
man always ON watch at the former
Neaney home, for the chief had a
theory that some day the %fugitive's
wife would provide the clue which
would lead them to the man they
wanted.
ayes, l know It's hard work ana
tedious work. RabshaU would say,
as he took up his nightly vigil. But
there's no woman alive that can out
wit us If we keep steadily at 1t.
AS events proved, however, Rab-
shaw was wrong The clue which led
to the final capture came from an
ether and unexpected source.
It was some eleven months after
the Bouker murder-after Meaney had
been traced to Toledo and Pittsburgh
and St. Louis and Toronto and vart'
ous points in between, the police al
$1,000 49, :-1- L~I;~1 I;~o +ho% Dnh-
shaw dropped into the Cleveland post
office to purchase a stamp. There was
nothing unusual in the action itself.
He had bought stamps al that window
hundreds Of times before. But there
was something In the attitude Of the
oma ahead of him in line, some
thing furtive about the manner In
which she attempted to conceal the
address of the letter which she car
rfed, which made the chief of the de-
tectives wonder what was wrong.
When he caught a flash of her face,
half-hidden under a long black veil,
he had an intuition that he knew her
reason for trying to prevent anyone
from seeing the letter. The woman
was Meaney's sister-in-law.
As she purchased the stamp and
bent forward to affix it, Rabshaw
stepped swiftly out of line, and sue.
ceeded in catching a glimpse of the
envelope. One glance was all he
needed. The misSive was addressed
- John M. Oliver, at a number which
Rabshaw knew was in a secluded and
quiet part Of Indianapolis.
Early the following morning Rab
shaw took up his vigil outside thu
house where Oliver was supposed Il
be living. But no n answering tt
the description of the missing mar
made his appearance, so the CLEVELAND
chief determined to force the issue b.
find out II anyone by that name re
sided there. Scarcely had they re
ported that SOLVER lived there, bu
was out at the time" than Meane,
strolled down the street and starte'
to mount the steps of The house, total
1y unsuspicious Of his danger. An In
slant later, Rabshaw was upon him
his automatic ready for action, bu
the fugitive, realizing the folly of OF
position TO superior force, threw u
his hands and surrendered.
you've got me-" he admitted. "Jus
when / thought I was safe, tot
How'd you manage It"
"A little matter Of a postage stamp
said Rabahaw, ard it wasn't until af
s er he had commenced his life ter,
In the Ohio penitentiary, that Meane
discovered the 1oophoIe which he ha