The Little River news., 1922-08-16
True Detective Stories FOURTH DECREE

"HERE was put Httle uoupI III 'ne mind of Thomas Byrnes, superin- tendent of police in New York city. that Louis Hanier had been 'mur- dered for the sake of the money thai he was carrying with him at the time. The little Frenchman had been the proprietor of a cafe, and, having fear of the banks of America, had the habit of carrying hundreds of dollars in his wallet until the opportunity pre- sented itself of purchasing an inter- national money order.
 One morning he was found dead in the vestibule of his home, 3S cali Der bullet through his heart, and his pocketbook missing.
 That was all Byrnes had to work upon, for there were no indications whatever of the persons who had con- 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 .38 caliber revolvers. Investigation of the dozen or more .3S'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 The single exception was one Michael
 McGloin, whom the pawnbroker in question identified by means of his photograph in the Rouges' gallery. McGloin'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 .a 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 l 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- l gether, each of them told a different story, and each claimed to have heen i alone, at a considerable distance from l the Hanier house.
 "It's no use, inspector" said one of the policemen who had been working l on the case about a week after the l 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 confession-and we've tried everything, including the third degree.'"
 "Very we'll" said Byrnes quietly, "we'll have to try the fourth degree" !" Fourth degree? Whats that?"
 "Just little way of getting at the
 truth when a man wants to hold out i on you" was Bymes' answer. You think there's no doubt that McGloin's the man? Have him brought to this | office tomorrow morning, promptly at ten o'clock"
 l At the time specified, McGloin, sul.
 len and resentful at what he claimed i was an illegal detention, walked into the inspectors office, alone. Had he
 been interested in such details, he
 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 eye
 upon the occupant of the only chair
 in the room, bolted to the floor in front of the desk. But McGloin wasn't
 worrying about such triaes. He was | there to demand his release, and he
 told the inspector so in no measured terms.
 That's all right, McGloin,' replied
 Byrnes. "Sit down minute. I've
 several things to attend to-" and he
 mOtiOned to the chair, placed so that
 it too commanded view of the cor
 ridor window A moment later the
 office door opened and a man came in.
 Byrnes. watching the gunman closely,
 saw that he was barely able to SUD-
 press start-for the visitor was the
 pawnbroker with whom McGloin had
 pledged his revolver. Without saying
 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
 it before?"
 "Never," growled Mc0loin.
 "I thought not" was the reply. Its
 the gun that Hanier, the Frenchman.
 was shot with. We've finally got a
 line on that case, after working on 1t
 for over month. Found man who
 was a witness of the shooting"
 At this moment, by a prearranged
 signal, one of McGloin's partners was
 marched past the corridor window,
 "Yes," continued Byrnes, appearing not to notice the gunmars agitation.