The Little River news., 1922-03-29
True Detective Stories
NUMBER 2695
Copyright by The Wheeler syndicate, Inc

having drilled hole through his lung it was only natural that Dennis Tracey should take. up the trail of the murderers. Tracey was Lawrence's closest friend on the force.
 No one knew anything about the circumstances which led up to the crime, and, apparently, there was It. tie hope of discovering any cAe. be- cause Lawrence, though not dead (ehen discovered on the following morning, was extremely weak from exposure and loss of blood. According to the physicians, it was practically cer- tainty that he would die without re- covering consciousness.
 After leaving orders at the hospital that he was to be notified at once if bis friend showed signs of being able to talk, Tracey visited the scene of the shooting in the hope of being able to find footprints or other evidence which would assist him In the search which he intended to make. The investiga- tion, however. was entirely fruitless.
 
 been fired three times, but without effect-for Tracey found the bullets lodged in the rafters of a nearby ware house, sufficiently close together to provide a hazy outline of the place from which Lawrence's assailant must have fired. So far as Tracey was able to reconstruct the affair, Lawrence had come upon some one trying to break into the warehouse, had probably warned him by a shot over his head and followed that by two other shots which failed to take effect. The burg lar had then turned and fired point blank at the policeman, dropping him where he stood.
 But who was the other man?
 This was the question to which Tracey determined to devote as much time as necessary, the problem with out clue.
 It was late the following night be- fore Lawrence's condition showed any signs of change, and then only for the worse. The physicians gave him only a few hours to live, and Tracey hung continually over the bed, hoping for some word or sign which would pro- vide an indication of the murderer's identity. Finally 1t came.
 With an almost superhuman effort the dying officer raised himself on one elbow, and gathering every ounce of his fast-failing energy, whispered the single word:
 "Wil-kin-son '"
 Then he fell back, dead.
 But that last word was enough. Had 1t not been Tracey who heard 1t, 1t would have meant nothing-for the two officers had been secretly working on a number of recent warehouse burglaries and they alone knew of the suspected connection of Daniel Wil- kinson, son of prominent New Hamp- shire family, with the one-man thefts. Now Tracey knew that not only was Wilkinson guilty of the burglaries, but of far greater crime-the murder of Policeman Lawrence.
 Putting himself in the place of the criminal, Tracey felt certain that the latter would not remain in or around Bath. He must have known that Law renee had recognized him, and would fear that the dying man would find some way of imparting this knowledge. It was probable, therefore, that he would head for some hiding-place where he would be comparatively safe
 Knowing that Wilkinson's family, in an effort to whiten the character of the black sheep had sent him to sea number of years before, Tracey thought it likely that the fugitive would attempt to join the crew of a sailing vessel and lose himself in a foreign port. He accordingly warned the authorities of all the New Eng land sea ports to be on the watch for a man of Wilkinson's description, and then, securing leave of absence, he took up the search-combing the waterfronts of every city and town from the Canadian border to Boston.
 It was nearly six months later, af- ter he had almost abandoned hope, that Tracey wandered along the wharves at Bangor and spotted the man he wanted porting" lumber into the schooner Good Intent, at the foot of the Railroad street wharf. With out sound the policeman edged his way along the dock until he was be. hind Wilkinson, and then dropped on top of his man. flattening him to the deck. Almost before he knew what had happened the fugitive found him self handcuffed and on his way back to Bath, there to be convicted of the murder of William Lawrence, after one of the hardest-fought legal battles In the history of the state.
 The fact that, in the shadow of the state prison wall at Thomaston, there stands today headstone bearing the numerals "2695," does not close the case, for there are many who claim that the murderer had powerful friends who succeeded in saving him from the gallows and helped spirit him out of the country into the Canadian North