The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-02-23
True
Detective Stories
THE DOUBLE CRIME

East side. Every mark that could
possibly supply clue to his identifl-
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, Il was
cleared up through a coincidence 30
startling that no writer Of detective
fiction would have dared make use
Of 1t.
On the night of the murder, william
j. Flynn, then chief Of the Eastern
division of the United States secret
service. with headquarters In New
York. was working on one OF tho
numerous coun.erfeiting cases whichl
occur so frequently In the Italian sec
tion Of the metropolis.
Flynn himself was elected to trail q
pair of Italians whom lA had reason
to believe were working for or with
the counterfeiters. The trail led to.
an Italian grocery, where. from the
shadow Of doorway across the
street, the government detective could
see into lighted room in the suspect
ed house. A few moments later q
covered wagon drew up-in front Of
the house, 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 a
new addition To the gang, for he was
certainly no one that he had seen be-
fore. Then the curtains to the win
dow were drawn, and Flynn aban-
d"hed his chase for the time being.
The next morning the murdered
man was discovered, nearly half q
mite from the place where Flynn had
hidden himself the night before. II
was several days later that the opera
tive read the official account Of the
crime and noted that the body had
been found in sugar barrel. partly
filled with blood-stained sawdust. The
date - the murder, coupled with the
use of s~gar barrel, recalled to the
operatives mind the fact that he had
been watching al Italian grocery ar
or about the time that the foreigner
had been killed. Merely to satisfy
himself that there was no connection
between the cOunterfeiters and the
murdered man, Flynn went to the
m0rgue and examined the body. The
+ peculiar shape of the forehead, the
manner In which the hair splayed out
above the prominent ears and the
hl0od-Stained green hat which had
been found in the barrel, told the story
beyond the shadow of doubt. II
was the stranger whom Flynn had
| seen entering the store which he had
been watching!
Feeling certain that here was a sign
which pointed toward the operations
or the gang which he was after, Flynn
had the body photographed from a
number of angles, while experts In
physioInomy reconstructed the fea-
lures To something approa ching a life
like appearance. Then armed with
these post-mortem pictures. Flynn
; took trip to Ossinlng to see II any
of the members of the italian colony
{ In Sing Sing could identify the dead
man.
The idea proved to be a good one,
/ for convict whom Flynn knew-an
Italian serving time for another coun-
terfeiting case-identlfied the photo
: graphs ns being those Of his brother.
h-lnw. Maruena Benedetto. whom he
described as being peaceful hard
working citizen who had never been
implicated In any of the crimes Of the
italian settlement.
! Working backward from this clue,
| Flynn and the other secret service
operatives trailed the Italians whom
the chief had seen In the grocery
store OH the night Of the murder, and
1t was not long before they had made
complete roundup Of the gang. Ae
was to be expected In a crime Of this
nature, alibis were plentiful, but, az
was usual, these were none too we'll
supported by fact, and 1t was q COM
paratively simple matter for the DO
lice to get at the bottom Of the case,
once the identity Of the victim had
been established.
| A judiciOus application Of the third
degree" brought to light the fact that
Benedetto had been killed because lie
had gotten wind Of the counterfe.ting
plot, and because he was the brother.
in-iaw OF the man who later identified
the body--a man who had incurred
the undying enmity Of his compa.
triots by turning states evidence. The
infiexible laws Of the society to which
they both belonged-one OF the So
cieties which rules Little Italy with a
rule of iron and hand OF blood-de-
manded the sacrifice OF the next OF
kin in the event OF information being
| given TO the police.
But. II Flynn had not happened to
be watching the grocery store the
night of the murder. the chances are
that the crime would still be unsolved.
The leader Of the murder gang was
found to he Ignazio Lupo, one Of the
very men Flynn was after, but the
government allowed the counterfeitIu, +,