Jackson County sentinel. (Gainesboro, Tenn.) 1914-current, 1922-01-19
/ True
! Detective Stories
THE DOUBLE CRIME

- Ahc wheeler Syndicate INC
TT WAS In the late summer of 100.
that the New York police discovered
the body of man, evidently a
Italian, concealed in a barrel on th,
East side. Every mark that coult
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 tC
be entered upon the book Of New
York's unsolved mysteries, ii was
cleared up through a coincidence SC
startling that no writer of detective
fiction would have dared make use
Of II.
On the night of the murder, William
], Flynn, then chief of the Eastern
division of the United States secret
service, with headquarters in New
York, was working on one of the
numerous counterfeiting cases which
occur 80 frequently In the Italian sec.
ton Of the metropolis.
Flynn himself was elected to trail a
pair OF Italians whom he had reason
70 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 a lighted room In the suspect
ed house. A few moments later q
covered wagon drew up in front of
the house, a 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
new addition to the gang, for he was
certainly no one that he had seen be-
fore. Then the curtains to the win
cow were drawn, and Flynn aban-
doned his chase for the time being,
The next morning the murdered
man was discovered, nearly half q
mile 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
hlled with blood-stained sawdust. The
date OF the murder, coupled with the
use Of a sugar barrel, recalled to the
operatives mind the fact that he had
been watching an Italian grocery az
or about the time that the foreigner
had been killed. Merely to satisfy
himself that there was no connection
between the counterfelters and the
murdered man, Flynn went to the
morgue and examined the body. The
peculiar shape of the forehead, the
manner In which the hair spayed out
above the prominent ears and the
blo0d-stained green hat which had
been found In the barrel, told the story
beyond the shadow of a 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
Of the gang which he was after, Flynn
had the body photographed from a
number Of angles, while experts in
reconstructed the fea-
lures TO something approaching a life
like appearance. Then, armed with
these post-mortem pictures, Flynn
took trip to Ossining to see If any
Of the members of the Italian colony
h Sing Sing could identify the dead
man.
The Idea proved TO be a good one,
for a convict whom Flynn knew-an
Italian serving time for another coun-
terfeiting case-identified the photo
graphs as being those of his brother
in-law, Maruena Benedetto. whom he
described as being a peaceful hard
citizen who had never been
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 on the night Of the murder, and
\ was not long before they had made
, complete roundup Of the gang. As
vas b. be expected In a crime Of this
nature, alibis were plentiful, but, as
res usual. these were none too well
by fact, and II was a com
parafively simple matter for the po-
hcs b get at the bottom of the case,
me- the identity Of the victim had
zen established.
A judicious application Of the third
legree" brought to light the fact that
3enedetto had been killed because he
nd gotten wind of the counterfeiting
lot, and because he was the brother
n-law Of the man who later identified
Ne -body-a man who had incurred
he undying enmity Of his eompa-
riots by turning states evidence. The
nfiexible laws Of the society to which
hey both belonged-one of the so
ieties which rules Little Italy with a
ule Of iron and a hand of blood-de-
handed the sacrifice Of the next Of
IN In the event Of information being