Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1922-05-13
True
Detective Stories
FOURTH DECREE

he WAS carrying with him at the time.
| The little Frenchman had been the
proprietor OF cafe, and, having q
| fear of the banks of America, had the
habit Of carrying hundreds of dollars
In his wallet until the opportunity pre-.
scented itself of purchasing an inter.
national money order.
One morning he was found dead In
the vestibule Of his home a .38 call
Der bullet through his heart, and his
pocketbool- missing.
That was all Byrnes had to work
upon, for there were no indications
whatever of the persons who had COM
mitted the crime. The dispatch with
which the matter had been handled.
appeared TO point to professional
criminal so Byrnes gave orders that
all the pawnshops In New York were
to be closely watched, and reports
made to him of the pawning of any
3S caliber revolvers.
Investigation of the dozen or more
.38's pawned during the week which
followed the Hanier shooting, showed
that all but one Of them had been
pledged by persons who very evident.
ty had no connection with the murder
The single exception was one Michael
McGloin, whom the pawnbroker In
question identified by means of his
photograph In the Rouges gallery.
McGloln's gun had been pawned on
the morning after the murder, and,
while the police had little difficulty
In locating the man himself, there was
not shred of evidence to connect
him with the Hanier case, beyond the
fact that he had been absent from
home on the night of the shooting In
the company of four Of his boon COM
panions.
Quietly, and without allowing a
word of his intentions to leak out,
Byrnes rounded up the quintet one
at time, none Of them knowing that
the others were being arrested. Each
of them was lodged In a cell by him.
self and questioned closely as to his
actions and his whereabouts at the
time of the murder. In spite of the
fact that Byrnes had definite infor.
nation that the five men had been to-
gether, each of them told a different
story, and each claimed to have been
alone, at considerable distance from
the Hanier house.
cts no use, Inspector said one M
the policemen who had been working
on the case about a week after the
five men had been picked up, you
can't get thing out Of 'em. They
know, all right, but you can't convict
any Of 'em without a confesslon--and
we've tried everything, including the
third degree"
"Very WE'LL" said Byrnes quietly.
"we'll have to try the fourth degree"
Fourth degree2 What's thatY
"Just little way Of getting at the
truth when man wants to hold out
on you" was Byrnes' answer. "Yoa
think there's no doubt that bIcGloin's
the man? Have him brought to this
office tomorrow morning, promptly at
ten o'clock"
At the time specified, McOloln, sui
len and resentfui at what he claimed
was an Illegal detention, walked into
the inspectors office, alone. Had he
been interested in such details, hs
might have noted that Byrnes was
seated so that he could watch the
window of his Office which looked Out
upon corridor, and also keep an eys
upon the occupant OF the only chair
In the room, bolted to the floor In
front OF the desk. But McGloin wasn't
there to demand his release and hs
told the inspector so In no measured
terms.
THAT'S all right, McGloin.' replied
several things to attend to-" and hs
motioned to the chair, placed SO thai
1t too commanded view OF the cor
ridor window. A moment later the
Byrnes. watching the gunman closely
saw that he was barely able to sup
press start--for the visitor was the
pawnbroker with whom McGloin had |
pledged his revolver Without saying
q word, the pawnbroker crossed the
room, laid McGloin's gun on the In
spector's desk and walked out
meat little boy" remarked Byrnes |
picking up the revolver. "Ever see
1t beforeT'
"Neyer," growled Mc0loin.
II thought not" was the reply. "Ttt |
the gun that Hanier, the Frenchman
was shot with. We've finally got
line on that case, after working on II
for over a month. Found man who
was a witness of the shooting"
At this moment, by prearranged
signal, one of McGloin's partners was
marched past the corridor window
"Yes," continued Byrnes, appearing
not to notice the gunman's agitation
"and we've also found man who was
present"-at which the second Of tht
quintet was ushered past the window
"and two others who have confessed
their part in the robbery but who
claim that the man who fred the Shot
was :"
"Stop 1t, for Gods sake, chieff
cried the half-crazed man In the chair
ta\ aA hp tn |