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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1921)
urn n "fin nil . ill win The TP 11 yzger is iracKea Detective Gains facts From the Most Dubious Clues. rlKM.'int, by tho World-Wide News b nazariene daan Kannibelle. ; JcrvnaT', fuilnada m nrabably Mat (mm Kifltah deterttvn ont- WAcliuid Yard wha errr haatml naM. Jolard the Maarnnrter 1 fa ish a r fra 'la Frbruary, lg, and ha ,.-.r acA'rmarkabla dcterlira abil l . , i.: hat ha aalrktr iaa tha rank nf jrtmr, mi ' ! (Cwham 1 it! 4rtaf, aad flnallr aperlntendrat of ifaiwh Mllnt (mm. A man I C wham ha brausht ta book mar ba laaM, Cartwrlshf and Fairrll, far banrlar and arson l John 72 pty "Old Kmt Boad" war I PaHaa. wha mardmd a Mr. r la a faarrhHrd cab) Bob t af madrra tlmea, and hun- af alhar frtmlnal Altocrthcr t,wf l.Soa rtmlnab, and r nrineBdatlaa af nrarlr tnrr wha trlrd a rue In Blanrheatcr, Ml ' aa rrlla hnumrraMa rc tar hi rcewrkabla apprrhtiu'oa ItMwa-wantfd rrinUnala. Tha ntary I hara illaiitratra tha method ar laadar aarhana more than moat 1 af few faptam, and ahawa how h af Krnlaa. combined with tho Itaklas aatlenea of avnla la dolnc - woraw will aaiT a row which i at -tho a at net haprtem.) . . jmvt on the -pavement of one i&rmain streets ot Manchester idlywttchinB the traffic, when riced four-wheeled cab coth- lo;.. The door opened as he (Iliad a young man slipped mtf'jfrojted down a side, street, tVr-eabman. Quite unconscious JSat aval happening, drove serene XTflU his attention was drawn he marr on the navemcnt. .Hi. f.by!" he shouted, waving nh and pointing to the swing- door, .of the cab. "Your fares bolted down Cambridge street. C 'cabinan drew up with a mnt ' curse-. ntound mm, nc muuerea as off Jus seat to close the door. JeA."tfi drunken old com- n in here to pay. though, and 4 to an old. prosperous y V.Ail.m3n in the rah. who d;,7o;.f)e in tfie last stages of intoxication. 'along, sir," he cried, shak- assenver. "where do you twe-'nie alone." muttered the -oltAan slrenilv. and all the Jforts were useless to get lWr more intelligible reply IWsfl. so he hailed a. police- re got an old gentleman here it- Bands, and don t know where riv him to," the cabman said. tt s - have a look at him." said noirccman. t bi efforts wer iore suc jBst T tere ...i.iV nanl t . I ten inrel r r'lWjtrj rt j7 cessful . to roiise the old - gentleman than the cabman s. "He's hopelessly drunk," the po liccman said. "You'd better drive Rim to Albert - street police station. I ll sit inside with him. The cab had only gone a short distance on its way when the police man stopped it and ordered , the cab man to drive to the infirmary. "I don't like the look of him," he said. "I dont think he's drunk at all, though he has evidently been drink ing. I believe he s ill. Heloless Passenger. ' The cabman whipped up his horse, while the policeman did his best to nrcvent the heloless passenger from swaying about too much. His head had fallen forward on his chest, and his'deeo. uneasy breathing seemed to have ceased altogether. At the infirmary the doctor who examined him promptly said he had , died a few minutes before his arrival, and it was concluded that he had had a heart attack after a drinking bout, for he smelt strongly of alcohol. A search through the dead man's pockets to find' some clue to his identity, revealed the fact that he had been robbed, for everything of any value was missing.. There was no doubt that the young man who had so swiftly dropped out of the cab and bolted, down a side, street was responsible for the -robbery, if not for something worse than -that, for now the death of the prosperous looking passenger demanded a closer investigation than the one made on the assumption that he . had died through- over drinking- himself. . The case was at once put in the hands of Jerome Caminada, the ia mous Manchester detective; ....... "It's not certain any crime has been committed save , robbery," said his chief when giving -the detective the outline of the case. "And I am afraid you are rather up against it. for I have had all kinds of descrip tions of the man who bolted from the cab Some people .say he was - - . L!l. wearing a iigni cnecK sun, wnne others say he had on a dark brown one. We have had descriptions of his face as ruddy and as fair, and his height anvthing from five feet to five feet five." . "That's pretty hopeless. replied Caminada. "Still I might be able to track him down from where the cabby picked him up." Detective work, is as much a mat ter -of organiiation and patience as anything else. Detectives have to learn their work like any other, hu man beings., and Caninada knew very well that it would be no easy task to find the - man wanted for robbery on such a vague, descrip tion. " . 1 , Dead Man's Identity. His first step was to discover the identity of the dead man. That was comparatively easy, for - he was clear) v, a well-to-do citv man " of -some Tcind. and -prosperous ' men! don t disappear without some in FOLLIES OF 3r quiries being made about them, and that pretty quickly. It was soon re ported to him that- a Mr. John Fletcher, a well-known retired paper manufacturer, was missing, and he and the dead man were soon recog nized to be one and the same. Nat urally the news created great ex citement in Manchester, for Mr, Fletcher was a Justice of the Peace as well as a member of. the Lan cashire county council Step by step Caminada laborious ly traced the dead man's movements. This is the part of a detective's work which only comes to light; on rare occasions, and, though in some ways uninteresting, it. calls for a patience and a skill in eliciting information in a casual way which lifts the great detective above his colleagues. . Caminada found that the manufac turer had come to Manchester to attend a sale at the Mitre hotel. He left there about 5 to keep an an pointment at Sinclair's restaurant. This appointment was not till 7, and as the restaurant was in the neigh borhood of a large number of old inns, and as the manufacturer had clearly been drinking it was only a reasonable deduction that he might have been drinking in one of the inns and there' became acquainted with the young man who .had robbed him while the elderly man was killing time till his appointment. ,t . 1 The detective's first deduction was right.. After some hours of patient inquiry he found a number of peo ple who had seen the two together, though, . unluckily, none knew who the young man was. , As far- as get ting any further, on the actual dis covery of the wanted man he .had drawn a blank. It . was then he thought of - the man who had first called the atten tion of the cabby, and he interviewed him. ... - i "Did you happen to 'see v which way he went?" he asked. " "Yes." reolied the other. "Down Cambridge street. The last I "no ticed of him was in the direction of AH Saints church. . Inquiries Rewarded. Again the detective wandered in and out of public houses, this time near All ' Saints church. He was soon rewarded by the landlord of a beer house in Higher Chatham street near by. .. - , . "Yes. a young fellow did come in about that time." he replied in an swer to the detective's inquiries; "about 7:30 I should say as near as I can fix it I remember him be cause he pulled out a handful of gold and silver, but he only had a glass of soda and milk while he was here." "You don't know him. I suooose?" asked Caminada. "Never saw him before." returned the landlord. "He said he was a Stranger just come Up from London, and he pulled out a handsome gold watch several times to sec what tie it was." f . . THE BEE: OMAHA. SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 11. 1921. THE PASSING SHOW THE LAST HOWS Of5 SVJMME ) 5 The End of reatest "Did he - happen to say where he was going? ."No, but he . asked me to get him a cab. and drove off in it." "Ah, that's important. If I find the cabman I might get where your customer went to, said the detec tive as he. went out. .. . The. police and cabmen are always in Close touch with one another, and many .a crime : has been . brought home to the offender from clues first provided by drivers of public vehicles. Caminada therefore had little difficulty in finding the cab man he wanted. "I drove him to the Locomotive Inn," he replied to the detective's question. , Both the cabman and the last land lord had given Caminada closely tallytng descriptions of the wanted man, as a young fellow in a dark brown check suit, but at the Loco motive Inn the detective came up against' a blank wall, and had to re port failure for time being. The land lord 'of the inn asserted that he knew no one of that description, and had never seen him in the inn. "Well, we'll have to find . him," said the chief of police to Caminada, I have just heard that Fletcher was poisoned, and we shall want his com panion on a charge of murder." . "Poisoned." echoed Caminada. "What .with?" , , i "Chloral," returned the other! "Evidently it was intended to stupefy him by putting it in his beer, and then to rob him. As it was, he was given an overdose, and it's mur der instead of robbery. That's why we've, got to get him. ' Caminada ' sat. back in his chair thinking. The result of his inquiries, though they would give him wit nesses to identify and swear to the Webb City Is Torn in Twain on the Question of Hick Stuff in Horseshoe Pitching on Main Street Webb City, Mo., Sept. 10. Does the ancient and honorable game of pitching horseshoes put the "hick" sign on; a town and hold it up to public ridicule? - This question has caused a row which has stirred the Webb City Chamber of Commerce to its very depths and has caused the resigna tion of its president, Tom Hayden, motor dealer and all 'around sports man. . Hayden 'was sponsor for some "barnyard golf links in a vacant lot in the center "of Webb City's busi ness district ' The clang of old horseshoes against the iron pegs and the shouts of the spectators when an accurate "heave" dislodged a humdinger of a "hubber" made more noise along "Main street" than that thoroughfare had heard in some time. . . . Neitrbborinz- farmers soon be ran to took, forward to a trip tq the 0 .Tf.' nemRHiK5 to wcwfc- YOU RENTED FUftmSttEP fOKTHB .SEASON the Season wanted man's movements when cap tured, had not led him any real dis tance on the road to arrest him. He cast his mind carefully "over thetmoney, .whole case, step by step, trying' to think it he had overlooked anything which might form a possible clue; or give him a hint' to search in a new direction. - Suddenly he jumped up. "I've got it. - I'm a fool not to have seen it before, when you. first spoke. You know the Locomotive Inn?" i ' v ' . "Yes," replied his chief. "What's that got to do with it. That's where you lost him." -. . ' "And it's where I'll get him again," said Caminada. "The Locomotive Inn is the resort of -boxers, and one of themes Pig Jack." "What, Jack Parton? What's he got to do with it?" "Don't you remnieber, years ago, he used to keep a beerhouse in Greengate, where all the racing touts and bruisers used to gather?" ' ' "Yes," replied, the chief. "Well," wenf on the detective, with growing confidence that the Re duction at the back of his mind was right. "Pig Jack has a son, Charlie Parton." He fits in with the descrip tion of the murdered man's com panion." 1 1 " ' . ' ..- ' ' "By Jove, I believe you're right, Caminada," cried his chief. "That's a bit of clever reasoning, and if it comes off we've got him.". . " . The very first inquiries at the home oi- the Partons convinced Caminada he was n the right track. Young Parton had moved 1 But the detective's patient and tortuous chase in and out of cabs and public houses was rapidly coming tovan" end. He had little difficulty in' find ing that- Charlie Parton was living only a short distance away. "city" with the same expectancy they did in bygone days when the tavern put out something which prot duced that -inward glow conducive to some "mean harmony" later around the hitching stables. Every., four corners hereabouts was developing a horseshoe flinging "champeen." But "Main street" talked, and the uplift element said it made Webb City "too backwoodsy." Finally the town marshal swooped down on the hojseshoe. pitching sports in the midst of an exciting "rubber." Hayden, who weighs nearly 300 pounds, arrived just in time to save the situation. ' ; But when the game was finished, however, he pulled up the pegs in disgust -and sent in his resignation to the Chamber of Commerce. Should horseshoes be pitched along "Main street?" Ask that ques tion in Webb City, and you've gVjt aq argument that's apipp; By Hanlon 7' v L - . aa M EFFECTS TWaj NfcXI SPRING tV, "You are arrested on suspicion of having stolen a gold watch ' and chain,; valued at $750, and a um of , the. exact amount of which is . unknown, said the ' detective. "And ( warn you to be careful of what you say." ' Another Smart Move. .'VI know nothing about it," lie answered. "I was at a coursing meeting near Liverpool, and I was home before 6 o'clock. . . The mention of Liverpool and the fact that the dead manufacturer had died from chloral poisoning brought suddenly to the mind of the detective a communication he - had - received from the police of Liverpool some short time before. . This communica tion was to the effect that a customer had " gone into 1 a drug store ; in Liverpool, and bolted, without warn ing, with a pound bottle of chloral. Off went Caminada to Liverpool cs soon as he remembered this fact,' and he interviewed the druggist there. " '."I was alone in the shop," said the druggist, "when a young fellow came in and asked for 40 grains of chloral. I refused to serve him with so much and he begged for 10 grains on the plea that it was to relieve his mother of pain, as she was Suffering from heart .disease. As soon as I put the bottle on the counter to serve from it he snatched it and bolted."; "Would you know him again if you saw him?" asked the detective eagerly. .. . - , , "Yes, rather," replied the drjggist. "You just give me a" chance." . "I'm going to," said Caminada grimly. "I want- you to come back with me to Manchester. I think 1 have got my hand on- the young man who stole your chloral. Caminada was right. The druggist at once pointed out Charlie Parton as the man, and he was remanded before the judge on the charge of murdering Mr. Fletcher. Step by step from the most unpromising opening the famous Manchester de tective had traced down the mur derer and in but a few days had an outline of a strong chain of evidence against him. y 1 . , Piling Up Evidence. "Nearly all the - people . he had in terviewed in public houses and the cabmen who drove the accused man recognized him as the man with Mr. Fletcher. But all those interviews might have been1 useless if it had not been for the cleverness of Caminada in deducting who the wanted man might be. - . , The value of Caminada s investiga tions were quickly proved once pub-' licity had been given to the case, for a number of people reported to him that they had narrowly escaped the fate of the retired paper manufac turer. . ' i First of all. a grocer from Ashton- undcr-Lyny, while on a visit .to Manchester, walked into a free and! Copyright, l$tt, y Iks .11 aV la? a i! easy concert in the evening in. one of the low inns near Market. This was a few weeks before Mr. Fletcher met his unexpected fate. While' sit ting listening to the singing, a, young fellow-spoke to him, and jnvited him to have a drink. He looked so quiet and innocent, and as the grocer was old enough to be his father, he- had no thought of ' harm;' and accepted the offer, , '-.-:.. r ; ; "You've got to be caerful what you're doing here," said .the young man. "There's too many sharps about here for my liking." ; : r,,. ' "I'm weight enough for them " re plied the grocer confidently. ; "I can take care of myself.".,, ., The grocer warmed up to his conv panion, and soon the two had wan dered into another. ' public ; House, from which they were turned out at midnight. . . . . 1 ; "I must be getting home, lad,',' said the grocer, as he sleepily sup ported himself on his companion's arm. ."Eh, but I, could tjo with-my bed." '. , , ' '.. ' "..( ' - "I'll put you safe into your train, father," answered' the young , map, and that was the last thing the gro cer remembered till he woke up in the cold, cheerless police . cell; the following morning. ... ..,' "Oh, dear!", he said, when telling Caminada his expereinces..," "I was found riding in a tab . with ' my pockets turned inside out, and ..my watch and chain, and money gone, and taken to the police 'Station. 'I hadn't even a penny to pay the fine, arid then I had to' face the wife. That's learnt -me a thing or two!" Needless to say, the grocer's com panion and Charlie Parton were one and the same man. The grocer had not the slightest difficulty, in rec ognizing him. An amusing side of his identification was that he asked Caminada if he could get his . fine back. . "I was fined for being drunk" he said, "when I was drugged!" He actually put his point of view in front of -the judge, but, without any success. The grocer wasn't the only one who so narrowly escaped. A rail way porter named Parkcy, who had spent a night in Manchester, met Charlie Parton, and had drinks with him. Precisely as in the other two cases Parkey became absolutely helpless and sleepy, just as though he were so drunk he couldn't stand, and he was bundled into a cab by his companion. When he recovered it was to find all his money and his watch and chain pone. .Parkey, like the grocer, had no difficulty in recogt nizing the accused man as the same one who had drugged and robbed him. During the interval, while Parton was waiting to be tried. Caminada was able to discover a witness who gave him most valuable evidence. During his inquiries the detective learned, that the. U$t public house 5 M PuhtU Itdfr Cfc Oi A 7 P SHORT SKIRTS the wiNteRgiri- MA '. . HAVE. TO ADOPT LEGGING the murdered man and Parton were 1 seen in was the Three Arrows. There one of ' the regular customers told hhe detective a remarkable , tale. though not until Caminada had brought considerable pressure ' to -beaf on-him." - ; . ' "Yes, I saw Fletcher arid Parton on the . evening of the. 26th. of Feb ruary drinking together here, though I didn't know their names. I saw Parton pour'something out of a bot tle into his own glass of beer. While I watched him he picked up his own glass and his companion's, and held them up to the light, as though to see if they were clear.". "Did he change the tumblers when he' put them back?'.' . , 1 1 "I'm not sure.". V -' ' " ' "Why didn't you come forward at. once?" demanded the detective. ' "It, doesn't do a man'any good to be mixed in things like that," was the astonishing reply. ' . , Quick Investigation. : . Anfortunately there are too many people in the world who arc afraid of coming forward and giving evi (ience against criminals because they don't want to be mixed up in any trouble. Hundreds of crooks - every year are let: off simply because of that. , . .vr- "My case against Charles . Parton was completed," says the famous de tective in his reminiscences, "and on the morning of the trial the public interest was made manifest by. the huge crowd which gathered outside the court."' - - - Parton ; was , remarkably cool throughout his trial, and he listened to the. . careful chain of evidence sgainst hint, forged patiently link by link by Caminada, as though his life were not in the balancet But, long before the fabric built' up by the' detective had been placed before the jury in evidence, he realized that he- was doomed, and his face altered and became despairing. It only took twenty minutes, as a matter of fact, to bring in the dread verdict of "guilty.". and he was sentenced to death. The- sentence was afte -wards commuted to penal servitude for life on account of his youth. from the time the case was placed in - Caminada's hands till the day Parton . was. convicted was only a matter f three weeks, an amazingly quick investigation when one con siders the extremely slender clues the police had to go upon in the. first instance. ' .There was a great deal of mis placed sympathy for Parton at the time, but. . though legally he was responsible for only one murder, morally he was guilty of two, for the wretched Parkey never recovered from the effects of being drugged. and he died, after a lingering illness, only a few months after Parton had been convicted. Another World's Greatest Detectn-4 - iraM next saaaat 4 )rt .had 4 bt"aaHaft"'