Beverly banner., 1925-11-27

me, ana continued.
while / am not an expert on hand
writing, 1 do not believe that DR..
Smith wrote that signature"
Where did you get that check?"
demanded the teller of Dingfelter.
81 got it from DR.. Smith," was the
reply.
"Will you go with me and see DR..
Smith," 1 asked
well, l don't know whether / will
or not" Dingfelter answered. Are
you an officer?"
81 am the chief special agent for the
Missouri Pacific Railroad company"
replied.
ooh, well, that is different. will
go with you and see DR.. Smith," said
pingfelter.
We started for Dr. Smiths Office ac-
cordingly. At the corner of Sixth and
Pine streets / gave Dingfelter the pre-
arranged signal, which was for him to
hit me a good, stiff punch in the face.
A large, clumsy policeman, wearing
a raincoat, was standing under an
awning near the corner saloon. Ding
felter hit hard, as he had been in
structed, and struck me above the eye,
knocking me down and infiicting a
severe confusion. Dingfelter stun
bled and also fell, and the clumsy po-
liceman made dash for him. In the
ensuing fight the policeman lost most
of his uniform, and all three of us
went down in the mud and were COW
cred with filth before Dingfelter was
finally subdued
Dingfelter was taken to headquar-
ters and searched. In an inside pocket
was discovered a letter directed to
er with large sum of money. The
letter seemed to implicate the pris-
Oner in a series of bank swindles
which had excited the people of the
Pacific coast. The newspapers had
printed good deal about this gang,
they were on the trail of the robbers.
The afternoon newspapers censured
and ridiculed me for having failed to
discover this letter.
However, / was not disconnected,
for it had taken me about two hours
to compose and write the same epistle.
The st. Louis papers devoted to
Dingfelter a good deal of the space
that they had been devoting to Max
well, much to the disgust of the lat
ter The two men met in the bull
ring" in the Jail, and Maxwell hast
ened to make the acquaintance of so
notorious a swindler as Dingfelter
seemed to be. The me 9 the latter
held himself aloof, the more anxious
Maxwell appeared to be to cultivate
his acquaintance.
you are Dingfelter. believe" said
Maxwell.
Dingfelter replied that he was, and
Maxwell continued:
They seem to have strong case
against you"
You will have to excuse me, sir," )"
answered Dingfelter. 81 don't want
to seem impolite, but l must decline
to talk to anyone in this place about
my case, as you call it. l don't be-
lieve it would be good thing for me
or any other person to talk about a
charge that is pending against him in
a place of this kind. Besides, don't
know you"
81 am Maxwell" replied the other.
Il am the fellow who is charged with
the murder of that man Preller, who
was killed in the Southern hotel, and
whose body was found in a trunk.
was arrested at Auckland, New Zea-
land, and brought back here to St.
Louis to stand trial, but l have been
assured by my attorneys that / will be
acquitted. They have no case against
me, and just as soon as l can get
a trial, why, of course l will go free" !"
II have been reading in the papers
about you," answered Dingfelter, "and
if you will pardon me for saying so,
it seems to me that you have already
been talking too much about your
case. If you are not guilty of the
crime with which you stand charged
you ought to be acquitted. and hope
you will be-"
Dingfelter was in Jail for forty
seven days. during which time Max
well never let the opportunity pass
without talking to him. Meanwhile
Dingfelter was making daily reports
to me. Maxwell, who seemed to have
implicit confidence in Dingfelter. ad-
mitted that he had killed Preller to
obtain the seven hundred dollars
which the latter possessed.
Maxwell also told Dingfelter that he
had used morphine, which had not
hitherto been suspected, owing to the
presence of the chloroform. The
body was at once exhumed, and
traces of morphine were found, the
examining doctors guarding the secret
faithfully until the trial.
After this information had been OBJ
tanned from Maxwell it was unneces-
sary to keen Dingfelter in iail any