did. I noticed that the letters were written on the same brand of paper

and in a legible and penmanlike manner and evidently by the same hand and pen. By the end of the third day of my investigation I had learned of the dismissal of Henry Book, and the difficulties he had had with Supt. Sullivan. I had also learned that his brother, George Book, was a good scholar, had been a country school teacher some years before in his native county, which was Crawford County, Pa. I had also found out that he was considered an extra good penman, and during my investigation was informed that there had been other loots of oil well tools and other valuable property on the Ackert and adjacent leases.

I decided to locate the writer of the anonymous letters. Being familiar with the manner of operating oil wells, I donned the suit of an oil driller, which usually consists of overalls. These overalls become spattered over with sand pumpings, giving the wearer the general appearance of a bill-poster. The weather was very cold, the thermometer standing below zero the night that I left Oil City to visit the Ackert Lease and the pumping houses where I knew George Book would be on duty until midnight.

That evening, preparatory to my departure, I visited a meat market kept by a Mr. Steele, on Center Street, where I purchased five cents' worth of liver, telling Mr. Steele that I wanted it for a pet cat that stayed around my office. I dressed myself in heavy, warm clothing, which I wore under the overalls before described. Taking a small slice of the liver, I placed it in the hollow of my right hand. I then placed another piece of the liver on top of the same hand and tightly bandaged the hand with a piece of white muslin. The liver placed on my hand as described, soiled the tightly drawn bandage, which gave the hand the appearance of being very swollen and inflamed. I then improvised a sling around my neck by tying two handkerchiefs together so that I could place my right hand in the sling at the proper time. I started from Oil City, unidentified by reason of my costume, at about 7:00 o'clock in the evening, arriving at the Ackert Lease a few minutes after nine. I went direct to the engine house in which George Book was employed, found him sitting alone there in a large easy chair, in front of the boiler, which was being fired with natural gas and well lighted by the same, was warm and neatly kept. Book was reading a novel when I entered, and as the engine house was located but a few feet off the main road from Oil City to the town of Plummer, it was not an unusual thing for oil well men to stop at the engine house, while passing that way for the purpose of getting warm or getting a drink. So Book was not at all surprised when I appeared at that hour of the evening. I asked his permission to stand by the boiler to get warm. He replied that it was cold, and that he would be glad of my company. He eyed me closely for a while and finally said, "Where do you work?" I replied that I had been working on the Foster Farm, which was about fifteen miles southwest of Oil City and on the Allegheny River. He then remarked, "How did you get hurt?" as he noticed that I was carrying my right hand in a sling. I replied, "You have been kind in allowing me to get warm in your engine house, and you look to me like you would not get a fellow into trouble by giving him away, and I will tell you all about it." I began by saying, "You see, I am a driller and I was working under a superintendent. We had trouble over a girl and he had a gun. He shot me through the hand." I pulled my hand out of the sling and he exclaimed, "Gracious! You have an awful hand there and you should have medical attention at once." To which I replied, "I am going to have it attended to when I reach Petroleum Center. You should see the other fellow. I shot him, but I don't know whether he is dead or not, as I left immediately and have walked the entire distance, only stopping long enough to get a cup of coffee at the eating-house in the depot at Oil City." He said, "You must be hungry." His sympathy was now fully aroused and he was really a good-hearted fellow. I then said to him, "I have some friends at Petroleum Center who will keep me under cover and get me a doctor, but what is worrying me most now is that I cannot write with my left hand, and my folks live at Ft. Erie, Canada, which is just across the Niagara River opposite Buffalo, N. Y. I have been saving my money and sending it to my people at Fort Erie, and they have it deposited in a bank at Buffalo to my credit. I have a few hundred dollars there and if I could only write a letter to-night, and mail it on the early train to-morrow morning it would reach Fort Erie to-morrow night. My friends could then send me all the money that I need, which I would receive the day after to-morrow at Petroleum." To this he replied, "I am a pretty good penman, and would be glad to write the letter for you." On saying this, he excused himself and went to his house, which was close by, and returned in a few minutes with letter paper, envelopes, and a nice big lunch for two and a pot of hot coffee. We ate the lunch, and I had some cigars in my pocket. Then he started to write the letter at my dictation. In dictating the letter I used as many of the words as I could intelligently get in which had been used in the anonymous letters, the contents of which I had familiarized myself with. This letter of mine was not necessarily very long, as I discovered that he was using the same quality of paper upon which the anonymous letters were written. I also noticed before he had written three lines, that it was the same handwriting, and that he was using the same ink, and no doubt, the same pen, that he had used in writing the anonymous letters. He addressed the envelope, sealed and stamped it. I thanked him and departed for Petroleum Center, apparently, but in reality for Oil City, where I arrived about six o'clock in the morning.

During the forenoon I submitted my dictated letter, together with the anonymous letters, to an expert who was connected with the First National Bank of Oil City. He unhesitatingly stated that the letters were all written by the same person. I then went back in the afternoon to the Lease, knowing as I did that George, whom I had met the night before, would be off duty and probably in bed. I carefully shoveled the snow from around the faucet of the tank, and when I got down to the ground, I found two very distinct tracks of a No. 8 boot. The boots had been recently half-soled, the shoemaker who had made the repairs having placed three nails in a row across the center of the half-soles. This was his trade-mark. I soon located the shoemaker who had done this work. He remembered having repaired the boots for Henry Book a couple of days before the emptying of the tank.

I then returned to Oil City, procured a warrant for the arrest of the Book brothers, and that night about eleven o'clock I arrived at the Ackert Lease, where I found George on duty, as he had been the night before, and I found Henry in bed at George's house. On this occasion I was accompanied by two of my officers. We drove out in a sleigh. After making the arrest, we searched the house which was a one-story building with an attic. In the attic we found wagon loads of loot, from the Ackert Lease and adjacent leases, that was afterwards identified by the owners, as having been stolen from time to time, as before mentioned.

The Book brothers in due time, had a preliminary hearing and were committed to the County Jail in default of bail.

In the meantime Henry Book had confessed to having emptied the oil tank and George admitted the writing of the anonymous letters. About a week before their trial was to take place, there was a general jail delivery at Franklin, Pa., effected one very stormy night. There were fifteen or more prisoners who escaped. The Book brothers were among them. They boarded a north bound freight on the A. & G. W. R. R. which is now known as the "Erie." When at a point about twenty miles north of Franklin this freight train collided with another train. In the wreck Henry Book was killed instantly and George was so badly hurt that he died the following day. Thus ended the Ackert case.

I consumed in all not to exceed six days in connection with this case, unassisted except upon the night of the arrests, when I was accompanied by two of my officers, whose names were George W. Frye and Max Fulton.

CHARLIE DALTON, OUTLAW.

SPECTACULAR ARREST OF THIS MUCH-WANTED MAN ON A CROWDED ST. LOUIS STREET CAR

The arrest, in St. Louis, on the evening of March 12, 1888, of the notorious Charlie Dalton, was accomplished in a rather unique, yet sensational manner. Dalton had been "scouting" for a couple of years, with a large reward offered by the state of Texas and the Missouri Pacific Railway hanging over his head. Almost every sheriff, police officer and detective in the country had his description and were looking for him. The charge was murder, and the crime was committed during the 1886 strike on the Gould properties. On the afternoon of April 3, 1886, a freight train pulled out of Fort Worth, Texas, for New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides the regular crew, the train carried a number of guards in charge of Jim Courtwright, a noted western officer, who had formerly been Chief of Police, Sheriff and Deputy United States Marshal at Fort Worth.

As the train neared the Fort Worth and New Orleans crossing, it was fired on by a gang of outlaws and cut-throats, headed by Dalton, who were in ambush behind a pile of ties on the Missouri Pacific right-of-way. Two of the guards were killed outright and several wounded. The crime created a great sensation throughout the entire country, because of its dastardliness.

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat of April 13, 1886, editorially referred to it as the "Fort Worth Massacre."

Dalton and some of his gang were indicted by the Grand Jury, but when the officers began a hunt for them they had disappeared. Circulars announcing the amount of the reward and giving a description of the men wanted, were scattered almost broadcast over the United States, Canada and Mexico.

I received one of them, studied it carefully and got into communication with the officers at Fort Worth. I had never seen Dalton, but I had seen his brother, Geary, who was connected with the track department of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, in St. Louis, where he lived. I noticed a resemblance in the photo I had of Charlie to that of his brother, and had instructed my operatives to keep a sharp lookout for Charlie, as I had learned that his mother was then residing in Carondelet. In the latter part of February, 1888, one of my operatives reported that he had learned from a reliable source that the much-wanted man had been seen at his mother's home in Carondelet. Whereupon, I took measures to have the premises watched. I later learned that he had been making a practice of visiting the Standard Theatre nightly.

On learning this, I arranged with the Chief of Police of St. Louis to detail a couple of his men to visit the Standard Theatre nightly, where I should have one of my men, who knew Dalton, on hand, so that he might point him out to the officers, and they were to arrest him. These arrangements were all completed on the afternoon of March 12, 1888.

At about six o'clock that evening I left my office for home. I then lived at 2723 Walnut Street, and I walked to the corner of Eighth and Market Streets, where I boarded a horse-car for home. The car proceeded west and when we got to the corner of 10th and Market Streets, two good sized, rough-looking young men ran to the rear end of the car and swung themselves onto the platform, one of them lighting heavily on my right foot and hurting me very much. His partner followed him and stood on the lower step. This man, who had tramped on my foot, offered no apology for his rudeness, and, in fact, paid no attention to me or the injury he had done, but instead remarked to his partner that people ought to get out of the way when they saw a person wanting to catch a car. His partner said, "Charlie, we can't stay out at Geary's but a few minutes, as you know I have got tickets for the Standard tonight and we must get there early to get good seats."

"We won't stay out there only long enough to say goodbye, as we leave town in the morning," replied Charlie.

While they were talking I took a good look at the man addressed as Charlie, and from the conversation, and from the resemblance he had to his brother, I concluded that the man thus addressed was Charlie Dalton. I knew who Geary was, and I saw the resemblance that "Charlie" bore to him. I also knew that the car would necessarily have to pass what was then known as the Mounted Police Station, located between 27th and 28th Streets, on Market Street, and before reaching Geary's house, and I decided that when we got in front of the station I would arrest Mr. Dalton and lock him up there. He was standing directly in front of me on the platform and had me crowded up against the rear dashboard. He was a burly fellow, considerably taller than I was, and would weigh one hundred and seventy-five pounds. Having become satisfied that I had made no mistake in his identity, I waited until we had arrived in front of the police station, when I seized him by the coat collar with my left hand, pulled the bell-cord, and after the car had slowed up I sprang to the ground, taking Dalton with me, but as he struck the street, he facing the car, he fell on his back, and I, still holding onto his coat collar, reached for his pistol, which I was sure I would find, and I was not disappointed, for there it was in the waist band of his trousers, and proved to be a 41 Colts. Dalton then made an attempt to rise, but I took all of the fight out of him by giving him a blow over the head with his own weapon.

"What is this for?" he asked.

"Your name is Charlie Dalton and you are under arrest for murder," I replied.

"My name is Charlie Dalton, all right, by G-d, partner," he exclaimed.

I then took him by the collar and assisted him to his feet. I took the prisoner over to the police station and had him locked up, and later wired the Fort Worth authorities that I had arrested Charlie Dalton, and he was being held by the police of St. Louis, subject to their orders. In due time I received a reply from the Chief of Police of Fort Worth, requesting me to bring Dalton to that city, providing he would go without waiting for requisition papers. Dalton, having already informed me that he would go to Texas without requisition papers, I left with him for Ft. Worth the following evening. On our arrival there the prisoner was lodged in jail, and remained there a number of months without bond.

Between the date of the crime and the arrest of the cutthroat a number of witnesses against him had died. Others had left the state, and the result was that when his trial was called the state was unable to produce its evidence and the defendant was finally released from custody.

While it is true that I was anxious to apprehend this outlaw for the Texas authorities, and had just finished making preparations to do so should he visit the Standard Theatre that night, because of his known desperate character, and the further fact that he was accompanied by a big, husky pal, I doubt that I would have attempted his arrest single-handed, had it not been for the incidents enumerated. I know I would not have recognized him on this crowded car had not his rudeness attracted my attention especially to him. The remarks of his pal settled the question of his identity in my mind, and the pain in my foot and his insolence aroused my ire. The arrest followed, and it has a moral--"People should be careful as to whose toes they trample on."

CONSPIRATORS HANDED A LEMON.

SENSATIONAL ENDING OF AN ATTEMPT TO BRIBE ONE OF FURLONG'S OPERATIVES IN THE NOTED MILES WILL CASE. HOW THE CONSPIRACY WAS EXPOSED.

In the latter part of the '90s, Stephen B. Miles, a wealthy resident of Nebraska, died, leaving an estate consisting of lands in Nebraska and Kansas, bank stocks and bonds, and other property valued at several millions of dollars. He was survived by a wife, from whom he had been divorced, two sons, Joseph H. and Samuel, and a daughter, a number of nieces and nephews and several grand-children. One of the sons, Joseph H., was a prominent banker and business man of Falls City, Nebraska, and also had large interests in other towns in that state. He had been a telegraph operator in his younger days, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him, not only as a good citizen, but a wide-awake, clean business man.

The other son, Samuel, was about forty years of age, and resided with his family on one of his father's ranches over the Nebraska line in Kansas. He had been rather wild in his younger days and had caused his father much trouble because of his dissolute habits.

Shortly after the death of the elder Miles, a will was found in an old suit case, the provisions of which made Joseph H. Miles executor and trustee of the estate, and the chief beneficiary, Samuel being left, besides some money, a life interest in the ranch on which he and his family were living. At the death of him and his wife the ranch was to be deeded to Samuel's children. The will also plainly provided that Samuel could not either entail or dispose of the land.

The provisions of the will were very unsatisfactory, of course, to Samuel Miles, and, at the suggestion of his counsel, he began court proceedings to prevent the probating of it, and, not succeeding in this, later brought suit to have the will set aside.

In 1900 I had in my employ an operative by the name of D. F. Harbaugh. This man had become well known and had obtained considerable newspaper notoriety in and about Kansas City through cases he had worked on under my instructions. One day Harbaugh was approached in Kansas City by one of the lawyers employed to break the will, and asked if he (Harbaugh) could find a man whose former reputation had been good, who would go on the witness stand and testify to having drawn up and witnessed a will made by the elder Miles, while on one of his numerous trips to St. Louis during his life time. During the talk the lawyer told Harbaugh all about the conspiracy that had been formed to break the will--by "finding" a later will, and gave the names of all connected with the scheme. One of these men was a prominent lawyer in Falls City, Nebraska, another a man of great prominence at Omaha, and who had a big political pull throughout the state, while another was in good standing at the bar in St. Louis at that time. Harbaugh was further told that he would be paid a fee of $10,000 for his part when the will was broken, and as a further compensation the lawyer would send him to the Paris Exposition and back, paying all expenses up to the sum of $5,000. Harbaugh agreed to give the lawyer an answer in a few days, and left that evening for St. Louis.

The next morning Harbaugh told me all about the proposition that had been made to him, and asked for my opinion as to the best thing to do. I at once said, "There seems to be but two things to do in this case. One is, for you to completely ignore the proposition, as there can be no doubt as to the rascality of all the parties who are in any way connected with the scheme. The other, and in my opinion, the right thing to do, is for us to try and locate this man Joseph H. Miles, and appraise him of the conspiracy that is being worked up by these lawyers and his own brother against him. For, if we keep quiet and ignore the matter, they will, in all probability secure a man who will accept the proposition and we would be parties to this conspiracy for not having exposed it."

"Well," replied Harbaugh, "you are the boss, and it is up to you. I have told you all I know about the matter. I told this lawyer that his proposition was very important, and coming to me suddenly I would need a few days to think the matter over, and it would require at least a few days to select the right kind of a man--one that could be trusted. He approved of this and expects an answer from me in a week or ten days."

I at once undertook to locate Joseph H. Miles, and succeeded in twelve hours. I found that he lived at Falls City, Nebraska, that he was president of the First National Bank of that place, had a bank in another Nebraska city, and had a large interest in a bank in York, Pa., that he was a respectable citizen and prominent business man, and very well known. After locating him I wrote him a letter, which read about as follows:

Mr. Joseph H. Miles, Falls City, Nebraska.

Dear Sir:

If you are the son of the late Stephen B. Miles, and have a brother by the name of Samuel Miles, and a number of nephews and nieces who reside in Kansas and Nebraska, I have important information for you, and will impart it personally if you will come to St. Louis.

I would suggest that you bring your lawyer, as I believe my information important enough to justify you in so doing.

On receipt of this I wish that you would telegraph me, stating when you will leave Falls City, and at what time you will arrive at St. Louis. On arriving at St. Louis, go to the Planters Hotel, look at the register where you will find my name, and you can then come direct to my room, where I will be waiting for you and your attorney.

I am using a fictitious name, for reasons that I will explain to you when I see you.

Yours very truly

On receipt of the above letter Mr. Miles wired me promptly that he would leave Falls City the same evening and would arrive at St. Louis the following morning, via the Burlington Route, and would carry out instructions as per my letter.

I went to the Planters Hotel that evening, registered under the name I had given Mr. Miles, and was assigned to a room on the fourth floor.

The next morning about eight o'clock, Mr. Joseph H. Miles, accompanied by his lawyers, Ex-Judge Gillespie of Falls City, and Ex-Judge Martin, of the same place, and the latter's son who was a stenographer. I admitted them, and Mr. Miles stated his name, and asked if I was Mr. Foster, to which I replied in the affirmative. He introduced the other gentlemen and after they were seated I began my story by saying:

"Gentlemen, my name is Thomas Furlong, and I used the name of Foster in writing to Mr. Miles, because my name and business are known to a great many people in Nebraska, and a party connected with what I know to be a conspiracy against Mr. Miles, resides, and is an old citizen of Falls City, and would probably know my name if he heard it, and I did not know but what he might be connected with or know people connected with the telegraph office, and would thus learn that I had communicated with Mr. Miles, so I deemed it advisable not to use my own name. Now, gentlemen, before I give you the information that I have promised I wish that you would call on any of the general managers of any of the railroads that enter St. Louis, or the president of any bank in the city whom you may know, and ask him as to my character and standing."

Mr. Miles asked, "Does Mr. William Nickolson know you?"

I replied that Mr. Nickolson knew me very well. Mr. Miles said, "Mr. Nickolson is my correspondent here and has charge of more than a million dollars of our estate."

We walked over to Mr. Nickolson's bank and Mr. Miles entered the private office, leaving me standing in the corridor outside. As he entered the office he left the door open. Mr. Nickolson arose and greeted him, and at the same time spoke to me. After the greeting, Mr. Miles said to Mr. Nickolson, "I see that you know Mr. Furlong."

"Yes," replied Mr. Nickolson, "I have known Tom for years, and he is welcome to anything I have."

Mr. Miles said, "Mr. Furlong told me that you knew him and insisted on me coming down here and asking you about his standing in St. Louis."

After a little further conversation Mr. Miles shook hands with Mr. Nickolson and we returned to my room at the Planters, where Judges Martin and Gillespie and the stenographer were awaiting us. I then related in detail the story that I had recently heard from Harbaugh. After I had completed the narrative, all of which was taken in shorthand by the stenographer, the younger Mr. Martin, Harbaugh was sent for and he verified the statements I had made to the gentlemen. The conference then adjourned, the luncheon hour having arrived. All parties again assembled in my room at the Planters at two o'clock, when Judge Martin said, "We have been considering this statement of yours, Mr. Furlong. We have known for some time that these lawyers you have named have been trying to make trouble, but did not know until you told us today just what they intended to do, and now I want to say that Mr. Miles and myself appreciate what you have done in this matter so far, and we are anxious for your opinion as to what you think is the best way to proceed."

To which I replied, "I believe the best way to proceed would be for Harbaugh to go to the lawyer in Kansas City and tell him that he would accept his proposition, and that he would secure a man who could be relied on, and who would assume that he had written the will for the elder Mr. Miles. I would then select a man that I could trust and turn him over to Harbaugh. Harbaugh would take him to Kansas City and put him under the guidance of the lawyer. After these conspirators had thoroughly posted and instructed this man, whom they will expect to deliberately commit perjury, they will probably have his deposition taken in St. Louis. He will take the stand and be able to answer all questions put to him until asked if he wrote the will. When he is asked this question, being under oath, of course, he will tell the truth. In this way we will be able to prove the enormity of the crime and the cool audacity of the parties connected with it."

I turned to Mr. Miles and said, "That is my opinion, but if you do not approve of it and prefer to employ some one else to handle this case for you, you, of course, are at liberty to do so. I felt that it was my duty to advise you of this conspiracy and the manner in which I had received my information."

Judge Martin said, "Mr. Furlong, we want you to handle this case for us," and Mr. Miles nodded his head and said, "Yes, I want you to handle this case for me, and to handle it in your own way, and I will pay you your regular charge, allow you the expenses incurred, and pay you extra for your service." I told Mr. Miles that I did not expect anything of that sort, as I did not believe in rewards and never worked for them. He insisted, however, on paying me extra for my services, which he did, and I divided it equally with Harbaugh.

I instructed Harbaugh to go to Kansas City and get in touch with the crooked lawyer, which he did. I selected a man whom I knew well and believed to be honest. I instructed him as to what I wanted him to do, and in due time he was introduced to the Kansas City lawyer, by Harbaugh. The lawyer began instructing him and gave him a minute description of the deceased Stephen B. Miles, whom, of course, this man had never seen. He posted him as to a room in the old St. James Hotel that had been occupied by Stephen B. Miles in one of his trips to St. Louis. This was the place where the fake will was supposed to have been written. The lawyer was pleased with the man I had sent and feasted and dined him on several occasions when he was in Kansas City rehearsing the part he was to play in the conspiracy.

In the meantime Harbaugh had grown to be the apple of the crooked lawyer's eye, and from the good treatment he received from this creature Harbaugh had begun to admire him for his liberality.

At last a day was set for the taking of the deposition of the man who was supposed to have written the will. Due notice was served on the respective parties interested, and at the appointed time our man appeared at the office of the St. Louis attorney, and the taking of his deposition began. After being duly sworn, the St. Louis representative of the conspirators began to examine the witness in the usual way, asking a few preliminary questions, and at last reached the question, "Did you know Stephen B. Miles, deceased, and did you not write this will for him?" indicating a paper he had in his hand.

The witness said, "I have known a number of men by the name of Miles. Allow me to describe one of them and if his description suits I will be able to answer your question."

I had previously requested Mr. Miles' attorneys to let the St. Louis lawyer do all the questioning and examining, and not to object to any question that he might put to the witness, unless it was entirely out of reason. Therefore, they merely sat still, carefully noting everything and objecting to nothing.

Of course, the conspirators were anxious to get a strong deposition from the witness, and, therefore, he was permitted to describe the man Miles, for whom he was supposed to have written the will. The St. Louis attorney kept nodding approval to his fine description of the dead man. When he had fully described Mr. Stephen B. Miles to the satisfaction of the conspirators, he took the purported will and examined it carefully, saying, "The handwriting on that document looks like my handwriting, but (in a loud, clear voice) I did not write this or any other will for Mr. Stephen B. Miles, or any other person. I have never met the man Stephen B. Miles, nor the man that I have just described. I was instructed to give the description that I have given here by these lawyers (pointing to the St. Louis and Kansas City lawyers, who were both present) and I was expected by them to testify that I had written this will, and I was promised five thousand dollars if I would."

The reader can easily imagine the consternation that reigned among the conspirators at this testimony from the one they trusted would be their star witness. Our man left the stand and the further taking of testimony was discontinued, it is needless to add.

Mr. Miles and his attorneys believed that these conspirators had ceased their efforts for a time, but later on they produced another man whom they claimed had written the second will for Stephen B. Miles. He was a young man, also a lawyer, and had at one time lived in St. Louis for a short time, married there, and had gone to Old Mexico. He was discovered in Mexico by the Kansas City outfit and induced to come back to Chicago, Illinois, where his deposition was taken. He claimed to have written the will for an old man in St. Louis, but he was either afraid to describe him or could not do so, therefore his testimony was worthless.

The conspirators continued to try to break the original will until it was finally pronounced legal and valid by the Supreme Court of Nebraska, and Joseph H. Miles' rights were thoroughly and legally established.

During this litigation, however, two of the parties in the conspiracy died, and the others were not prosecuted for complicity, although their actions had put Joseph H. Miles to considerable trouble and expense. They had made several indirect propositions to Mr. Miles looking to a compromise, but he promptly repelled all of them.

Harbaugh's connection with my service has long since been severed, and he is now in the employ of Mr. Joseph H. Miles as manager of his large stock range in Nebraska, not far from Falls City, where the writer is informed he is doing well.

THE BIG SOUTHWEST STRIKE.

HOW THE BLOWS WHICH CAUSED THE DEATH KNELL OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR WERE ADMINISTERED.--STIRRING SCENES AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE BIG STRIKE OF 1886.

If you have an ambition to lead a strenuous life, young man, and feel that excitement would serve as a tonic for your nervous system, and you want to gratify your ambition and secure the tonic in greater than homeopathic doses, both at the same time, just get yourself appointed chief special agent of a big railroad during a general strike. I am "dopeing" you right, for I have been "on the job" on several occasions during a strike, consequently know what I am writing about. The most strenuous thirty days of my long career, however, were the thirty days in 1886, when the whole southwestern system of Gould roads were tied up, and there was nothing doing in the traffic line. While there had been differences between the shopmen and the company for some time, these differences were considered trivial, and neither side had expected that they would result in a strike, consequently neither the men nor the company were prepared for the struggle when it began--at ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of March. The shopmen, as well as many other employes of the Gould roads, including engineers, firemen and trainmen, were nearly all members of the Knights of Labor. Organizers and professional labor agitators had been busy all along the line for months, coaxing and coercing the men into the order. Martin Irons had been selected as chairman of the grievance committee, and while in Texas attending a meeting of the committee, called the strike, without consulting the national officers of the organization, a violation of one of the order's most stringent rules. He afterwards admitted that he would not have called the strike had he been sober.

Irons was a little weazen-faced Scotch-Irishman, with a past--as most of these professional labor agitators have. At the time of the strike he was on the payroll as a machinist of the Pacific Company at Sedalia, where he was living with what is now-a-days called an affinity, he having deserted his wife and several children in Ray County years before. He was thoroughly unreliable, a drunkard, and was hated by most of his followers. There were two redeeming things about him, however. A good voice was one of them. He could have earned a large salary as a train-caller or a barker for a tent show, and he was a good actor. Notwithstanding his repulsive appearance, and the fact that the shopmen did not like him, he could sway them as he pleased, if granted the privilege of addressing them--fill them with either tears or indignation, as best suited the occasion. He never made a speech in his life, though, during which he did not pay his respects to me and my men, and tell how we were shadowing and hounding him day and night. He did this to create sympathy. As a matter of fact, there never was a time when any of Gould's c-a-p-i-t-a-l-i-s-t-i-c b-l-o-o-d h-o-u-n-d-s, to use his own favorite expression, were ever on his trail. He was always regarded by my men and myself as a harmless demagogue, and not capable of doing anything that would cause us much trouble. In fact, the only thing he ever did in which he did not leave a trail behind him as wide as a railroad right-of-way, was the wire-tapping job he supervised during the strike, which will be referred to later.

As stated previously, the strike was called at ten o'clock on the morning of March 4, 1886. The sound of the big whistle, the blowing of which was the signal for the men to quit work, had hardly died away before the main yards of the company at St. Louis, which were just west of the old Twelfth St. station, were filled with a mob of at least ten thousand Knights of Labor and sympathizers. The company's shops at Chouteau and 29th Streets were also at once taken possession of by the strikers and their friends. Notwithstanding the fact that many of the employes of the company were loyal, and did not want to leave their jobs, these demonstrations caused them to do so. A call was sent in to police headquarters by General Superintendent Kerrigan, who was in charge of the operation of the Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain roads, in the absence of Vice-President and General Manager Hoxie, who was detained at his home on account of illness, asking for police protection for the company's loyal employes and property. Maj. Lawrence Harrigan, then chief of police, responded to this call by detailing Sergt. Jack Campbell, who was afterwards chief of police, and eighteen men for duty on the company's property. The reader can easily imagine the predicament in which this little handful of officers found themselves in attempting to handle a mob of at least ten thousand. On orders from Mr. Kerrigan, I secured three engines and crews, and we began to make up a train. At this sign of activity the mob became frantic. Two of the engines were soon derailed and disabled. I then placed my force of special officers, which consisted of but a few men, on the remaining engine, and attempted to continue the switching of cars in order to get out a train of perishable goods, but we could not make any headway, as the mob pulled the pins, threw switches, derailed cars and otherwise interfered with the work. After a couple of hours had been thus consumed, I suggested to Mr. Kerrigan that we had furnished enough entertainment for the mob for one day, and told him I was going to take the engine to the round house to keep it from being disabled. "Do you think you can succeed in doing it, Tom?" asked Mr. Kerrigan. "I will do my best," I replied. "For goodness sake, do it, then, and when you get through come to my office as I want to consult with you."

The engine, which had been abandoned by the engineer and fireman, was standing just east of 12th St., a portion of it being under the viaduct which spanned that thoroughfare. The viaduct was lined with spectators and strikers and their sympathizers, many of the latter being armed with paving stones, links, pins, etc. As I climbed aboard the cab some miscreant hurled a paving stone at me. It came within a few inches of landing on my head. It is needless to state that if it had struck me I would not be writing this story. David R. Francis, at that time Mayor of St. Louis, was viewing the situation from the viaduct, and witnessed the attempt on my life. Turning to Robert S. McDonald, former Circuit Attorney, and a well-known lawyer, the Mayor exclaimed, "That man Furlong will get killed by that mob." After the incident, I espied the engineer standing in the crowd. I called to him in a loud voice, "Come here and let us take this engine to the roundhouse." On hearing this a mighty shout went up from the mob, and there was much rejoicing and clapping of hands, they thinking they had achieved a great victory--just what I wanted them to think. The engineer climbed on the engine and we made the trip to the roundhouse without molestation.

After the engine had been safely placed in its stall, I went at once to the office of General Superintendent Kerrigan. After thoroughly discussing the situation which confronted us, I suggested that he call on Judge Portis, at that time General Attorney of the Missouri Pacific, and insist on him preparing a legal notice to be served on the Mayor and Police Board and sheriff of St. Louis, setting forth that the company was being hindered in the operation of its property within the City and County of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, by a mob; that the company had many hundred thousand dollars' worth of perishable property in its cars in the yards in St. Louis, and also had plenty of competent and loyal employes who were willing and anxious to do the work of switching the cars and running the trains, but were prevented from doing so by said mob. Therefore, the company, after the serving of this notice, intended to hold the said city and county and state liable for all damages sustained by the company by reason of said mob's interference, as aforesaid. Mr. Kerrigan, acting on this suggestion, immediately called in Judge Portis, C. G. Warner, general auditor, W. H. Newman, the general freight traffic manager, and some other officers of the road, and had me repeat the suggestion to them, which I did. The attorney did not take kindly to the proposition at first, but at the demand of Mr. Kerrigan the notices were prepared, and later served on the officials named.

The receiving of these notices by the officials awakened them to their responsibilities. That evening a meeting of the Police Board was called by President Blair, and at its close an order was issued to Chief of Police Harrigan, instructing him to don his uniform early the next morning and lead every available man in the department to the Missouri Pacific yards, where he was to so station his men that none but loyal employes could enter the yards. The board's orders were carried out, the chief causing a line of men to be formed around the yards before the strikers had entered upon the property of the company.

At the head of a force of twenty-eight men, including a full train crew, conductor, engineer, fireman and three brakemen, I made up a train of ten cars and started west with them. We were not molested until we arrived at the Compton Avenue crossing. At this point a number of strikers under the leadership of a notorious agitator named Geary, were seen on the track. Each striker carried a small American flag, which they stuck up in the middle of the track at the crossing, and then every one began signalling us to stop, shouting to us that "we did not dare run over an American flag."

I want to state right here, that no man in this country has a greater respect for Old Glory than I have. I put in four years, one month and eight days defending it on one occasion, and thus helped to make it what it is today, and it made me feel pretty bad to see it put to the use it was on this occasion, and it is the only time in my life that I failed to pay the flag the respect due it. To make the story shorter, we paid no attention to the flags, and would have run over the mob had they not skeedaddled out of the way of that train.

At the city limits, Sergt. Campbell, who had been riding on the engine with me, left the train, and we continued on our journey westward. Sitting on the running board on either side of the engine I had two men, Billy Bonnell and Mike Gibbons, each armed with a shot gun. On the deadwood, or cowcatcher, in front of the engine, I had two other men, Jim McCane and W. K. Moir, each armed with revolvers, and each carrying a clawbar. We had expected to find some spiked switches, and these clawbars were to be used in pulling the spikes. The balance of my guards, all armed, were placed in the caboose and on top of the box cars. No trouble was encountered until we neared Pacific. We pulled into the town slowly, with all brakes set, so there would be no slack in the train, thus making it impossible for any one to dodge in between the cars and pull the pins, thus uncoupling the cars. We knew a lot of strikers had gone out to Pacific over the Frisco that morning, and expected trouble on arriving at that town. We were not disappointed. The first switch encountered had been turned for the side tracks and spiked, as had every other switch leading from the main line. My men who were armed with clawbars soon pulled the spikes and reset the switches and we slowly creeped into the town. The strikers were holding a meeting in an old brick house on the first road east of Pacific, but on hearing our train coming the meeting was broken up and the men ran to a sand bin located just east of the depot and took refuge behind it. As our train pulled by this sand bin at least 100 shots were fired at the train. Strange to say, not one of my men was hurt, but the cab and caboose and some of the cars were badly splintered by the bullets. After pulling by the sand bin the mob ran after the train, and one of the leaders, named Davis, picked up a drawbar and rushed to the front of the caboose, which he was enabled to do as we were running so slowly, and attempted to throw the draw bar under the front wheels of the caboose, for the purpose of derailing it. He would probably have succeeded had not Marshall F. McDonald, the noted St. Louis attorney, who had volunteered to act as one of my guards, saw what the man was attempting to do. The lawyer was so enraged at Davis' audacity that he picked up a coupling pin, which was lying on the platform of the caboose, and hit the striker over the head with it. It is needless to add that we had no more trouble with Davis that day, as he went down for the count, as the sporting writer would put it.

When we were fired upon by the mob entrenched behind the sand bin, I had hard work to control my men, they wanting to return the fire. I had previously told them not to fire a shot without my orders, but in the event I was compelled to order them to fire, I had instructed them to shoot to kill. After the first volley, and there being no return fire, the strikers concluded the guards were afraid to shoot, and immediately set about to uncouple the train. In this they were foiled, as they could not pull the pins. They then tried to climb to the top of the cars for the purpose of disarming the guards and throwing them from the train. In this they were again foiled, for the guards, using their weapons for clubs, beat them off. As soon as a striker's head appeared at the top of the ladder he received a blow over it that caused him to either fall to the ground or scamper back down the ladder. Many of them were badly injured, either from the fall or the blow from the weapon in the hands of the guards. One of the mob singled me out and kept peppering away at me with a revolver. One of my men, Mike Gibbons, from his seat on the running board of the engine, and who was armed with a shotgun, wanted to "get" this man, but I would not let him do it. The fight was fast and furious, however, and lasted until our train had passed through the town.

Our train met with no further trouble of importance until we arrive at Chamois, the end of the first freight division. Here the foreman of the round house had deserted his post and joined the strikers, and was acting as leader, and not one of the company's employes were on duty--that is, for the company. As soon as we pulled in the strikers surrounded the train, but attempted no acts of violence, they evidently being over-awed at the sight of the twenty-two armed guards. I made a short but "impressive" talk to the men, using as near as I can recall it, the following language:

"Gentlemen, I am special agent of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. These men you see with me here are in my department. We have no grievances against the company and are in no way interested in this strike, except to protect life and property. I want to convey to you, Mr. Foreman, the thanks of the management of the company to yourself and your associates for the good care you have taken of the company's property. I am here now with these men to relieve you of any further responsibility in the matter, and all of you are hereby notified to get off and stay off of the company's right-of-way until the trouble has been satisfactorily adjusted. If you attempt to get back on the right-of-way, or in any manner attempt to interfere with my men while in the discharge of their duties, or with the movement of trains, or commit other depredations, you are liable to get shot."

At the conclusion of my talk the strikers left the company's premises. On investigation I found 19 "dead" engines, that is, 19 engines from which the water had been removed. The supply water tank was also as dry as the proverbial powder horn, and the pumping machinery disabled, parts of the engine having been removed, and as I afterwards learned thrown into the little creek from which the water to supply the tank was obtained. As it was getting late in the day I went over to the hotel to make arrangements for getting supper for my men and crew. The proprietor told me there was nothing doing, as he did not want to take chances on getting his building burned down by the Knights of Labor. All of the balance of the regular eating houses and boarding houses in the town refused to accommodate us for the same reason. They had been notified by the committee not to do so. They would be boycotted if they did, and it had been intimated that even greater punishment might be meted out to them in case the committee's orders were violated. Later a good old German lady named Mrs. Stoeppleman, who had two sons who were loyal employes of the company, sent for me and told me she was not afraid of the Knights of Labor, and cared nothing about a boycott or what her neighbors might say, and she would feed us if we desired her to do so. It is needless to add that we accepted of her hospitality. After a good supper, I learned where the missing parts of the pumping engine had been thrown, and two of my men, Messrs. McCane and Moir, who were both good machinists and engineers, were set to work to repair the engine. The water in the creek, where the missing parts of the engine had been thrown, was about four feet deep, and was partially covered with ice. McCane and Moir entered the icy water, while I and others held torches, and fished out the missing parts. The engine was repaired, and by morning we had the supply tank nearly full of water.

Early the next morning, we fired up one of the dead engines, and attaching it to the train of ten cars, sent it on to Sedalia in charge of a crew and two guards. Leaving eleven men at Chamois in charge of Mr. W. K. Moir, I made up a train of 15 loaded cars, and with the remainder of my men started on our return trip to St. Louis. No trouble occurred until our arrival at Pacific, where the scenes attending our arrival there the day before were partially re-enacted. We got through Pacific without any serious trouble, however, and arrived in St. Louis about 2:00 P. M.

The St. Louis strikers had not been idle while I was out on the road, however. On pulling into the Chouteau Avenue yards the first thing I saw was that the big turntable had been put out of commission. The strikers had deliberately run an engine into the pit, not only blocking the turntable, but badly damaging the engine.

The next morning (Wednesday) Mr. Kerrigan sent for me to call at his office. On arriving I was told that the strikers had attacked the Washington accommodation, containing three coaches loaded with passengers bound for St. Louis, at Gray's Summit, a little station west of Pacific, and had run the train onto a siding and "killed" the engine. I at once repaired to the Chouteau Avenue yards, and taking an engine, attached it to a coach, into which I placed ten picked men, all well armed, and the run was made to Gray's Summit in fairly good time. The strikers and sympathizers soon dispersed when commanded to do so by me. One of my men, Jim McCane, who was an experienced engineer, disconnected the disabled engine, taking off the side rods, and in a remarkably short time we had coupled the disabled engine and the coaches on behind our coach. We then ran our engine to a "Y" west of the little town, and after turning it around brought the passengers safely to St. Louis, where we arrived a little before dark. The rescue of this passenger train was the entering wedge which broke the strike.

On arriving at the roundhouse that evening, a messenger was awaiting me with a note from General Manager Kerrigan, asking me to call at his office at Sixth and Locust streets to consult with the officers of the company. On arriving at Mr. Kerrigan's office I found Mr. Newman, freight traffic manager, and Mr. Werner, the general auditor, awaiting me. These three gentlemen were handling the strike situation for the company in the absence of Vice-President and General Manager Hoxie. They had learned of the conditions at the Chouteau avenue shops, of the running of the engine into the turntable pit, and also of the large number of men the strikers had on guard, both outside and inside of the fence which surrounded the shops. Mr. Kerrigan, recognizing the fact that we could do but little without engines, and as all the engines, save one or two, were safely locked within the round house, expressed himself as wishing to again get possession of the roundhouse. In discussing the best means of doing this the gentlemen thought it best to call on the police department for enough men to drive the strikers away. I told them that it was not necessary to do that, as I could get possession of the shops at any time. "How can you do it, Tom?" asked Mr. Werner. "It will not take as long to do the job as it will to tell you about it," I replied, and further told them that we would be in possession of the shops again by daylight the next morning, if they so desired. They told me to go ahead and get possession of the shops in my own way. At that time I knew where I could get my hands on between forty and sixty of my men. I sent messengers to hunt up these men, instructing them to report to me on the Handlan lot, southeast corner of Grand and Laclede avenues, promptly at 2:30 the next morning. They were further instructed to slip into the rendezvous quietly, not more than one or two going in together at a time, and all were given a pass word by which they would be able to identify each other. At the time fixed, forty-six men had reported, all well armed. I formed them into a double line, and after cautioning them to be careful about stumbling or coughing, or making a noise of any kind, marched them down Grand avenue to the railroad track, and then down to the west gate of the fence surrounding the shops. On arriving there and finding the gate fastened on the inside, four men were boosted over the high fence. These men soon had the gate open and the balance marched in. Immediately on entering the shopyard the men split ranks, half going to the right and the other half to the left, Jim McCane heading one squad and I the other. The strikers had placed pickets every few rods all along the inside of the fence, but our entrance had been made so suddenly and noiselessly that these pickets had no time to sound an alarm. They were quickly disarmed of their clubs, or bludgeons, and taken along with us from one station to the other, until every picket in the yard had been captured. They were taken to the gate and boosted out. We then entered the shops, where we found many strikers asleep on benches and work tables. These were thrown out of the building before they hardly had time to get their eyes open. A good sized crowd of watchers and beer-canners were on the outside of the east gate of the fence. These men, too, were driven from the right-of-way. By daylight we were again in complete possession of the shops, as I had promised my superiors we would be, without a blow being struck or any one hurt.

I then sent trusted men down into the city to the quarters where men out of work usually congregate, with instructions to hire all the men they could find and quietly get them into the shops in small groups. I did not care what the previous occupations of these men had been, just so they were able-bodied. It did not make any difference to me whether they had ever seen the inside of the railroad shop before. All I wanted was men--men who could make a noise. We soon had a sufficient number of these men inside of the shops to serve my purpose. Engines were fired up, fire was built in the blacksmith forges and the big engine in the powerhouse was set in motion. In fact, to those on the outside of the shop who could see the smoke coming out of the smoke stacks and hear the noise, and to those who could get a peep through the gates, the shops presented a scene of great activity. Men were pounding great molten pieces of iron on the blacksmiths' anvils, while others were pounding away on big pieces of boiler iron, but they were not blacksmiths or boilermakers; they were simply playing a part assigned to them by the master mechanic and myself. Other men represented machinists, while others were painters, car repairers and helpers.

Of course, all these actors and guards had to be fed, so we established a commissary and a kitchen and brought in a lot of cots for these men and guards to sleep on, which were placed in the building. To those who are not familiar with the handling of strikers, I will tell why we employed all those unskilled men. It was for the purpose of making the strikers believe that we were fast filling their places, which it did, for in the next day or so many of the men who went out quietly made application for reinstatement. In many instances these applications were acted upon favorably and the men put to work, and the backbone of the strike was thus broken.

As on all such occasions, many acts of violence were committed. When the strikers learned that men were being slipped into the shops they were very wroth. Now and then one of the strike breakers would stray away from the shops. They were fortunate, indeed, if they did not fall into the hands of the pickets, for if they did, and which was usually the case, they were badly beaten. Of course, we always attempted to prevent the men going out after they were once inside of the enclosure, knowing what they would be up against, but we were not always successful in keeping them inside. On the second day, after we had retaken the shops, a coach painter named Haller, who had been employed at the shops for several months, and who was at home at the bedside of a sick wife when the strike was called, showed up at the shops and resumed work. At quitting time that evening he picked up his dinner bucket and started down the track to Jefferson avenue, as had been his custom. On arriving at Jefferson avenue he was approached by a number of pickets, who remonstrated with him for going to work. "I cannot afford to loaf now, as my wife has been sick a long time," said Haller; "besides, I am satisfied with the wages I am receiving and intend to keep on working," and started up Jefferson avenue towards his home, which was in the 2600 block on either Franklin or Easton avenues. The pickets began to assault him with rocks and clubs, and he sought to escape them by running. At every step, almost, the ranks of the mob were augmented. As Haller ran past the strikers' headquarters, which were in Eutopia Hall, at Walnut and Jefferson avenues, a crowd of several hundred joined in the chase. The long run up the hill had winded Haller. Besides he had been weakened by the blows which had been showered upon him. Seeing that he could not make his escape on account of his weakened condition, he backed up against a brick building at the northwest corner of the street named and stopped. A big bully rushed up to him and struck him, whereupon Haller jerked out a revolver and shot his assailant, who dropped dead in his tracks. This stopped the mob from doing further violence to him. The police from the mounted district rushed to the scene and placed Haller under arrest. No attempt was made to arrest any of the mob. Later in the evening he was removed to a cell in central station, from which the company's officials, at my request, secured his release on bond. He was later acquitted by a coroner's jury, and in a day or so thereafter was again back at work. After that, for quite a while, I sent a guard home with him each evening, but no attempt was made to molest him. This, I believe, was the only fatality growing out of the strike in St. Louis. Mr. Haller is now a prosperous business man in St. Louis, and is highly respected by all who know him.

Thursday afternoon the big crane at the shops was rigged up for business, and, under the guidance of skilled men in my employ, ran out to the edge of the roundhouse pit, into which the strikers had dumped an engine, as referred to before in this article. This engine so blocked the turntable that not one of the company's engines in the roundhouse could be taken out. The engine was lifted out of the pit, and in a short time the turntable was in working order. That same evening, I decided to straighten out things at Pacific. To do this I had made up my mind to place the ring-leaders of the mob which had attacked the train there earlier in the week under arrest. I knew it would take quite a force of men to do this, so I instructed twenty of my men to assemble quietly in the neighborhood of St. Malachy's church, at 29th and Clark avenues, at ten o'clock that night. They were to come to the rendezvous in ones and twos, and instructed to do nothing that would attract attention. I had an engine and caboose in waiting at the shops, and when the men had all assembled they were marched to the caboose, and between 11 and 12 o'clock we started to Pacific. On arriving at the first cut east of the town the little train was stopped and left in the cut under guard of the engineer and fireman, and two of my men. The engine carried no lights, and no sound had announced our arrival near the town. In fact, we approached it as quietly as possible. The men were divided into two squads, one headed by Billy Bonnell and the other by myself. We then marched into town and to the homes of the men wanted. They were aroused from their slumber and placed under arrest. We had no trouble, except at the home of a big blacksmith, who had been especially prominent in the riot at the sand bin the day we ran the first train through the town after the strike had been called. He was soon subdued, however, and taken with the balance of the men arrested, to the caboose, which had been left standing on the track near the edge of the town. Many of these men were still suffering from the blows they had received at the hands of the guards who were on the train they had attacked. Davis, the leader of the mob, who was hit on the head with a coupling pin by Marshall F. McDonald, for attempting to derail the caboose of the train attacked, had his head still covered with bandages.

After all the men had been arrested, we boarded the train with our prisoners and ran to Washington, where we loaded them into hacks and wagons and took them to Union, the county seat of Franklin County, where they were placed in jail. In due time they were tried before Judge Seay, and vigorously prosecuted by Prosecuting Attorney Gallencamp, and all of them convicted. Davis, the leader, was given three years in the penitentiary, while the blacksmith and several others were let off with lighter terms, and the balance of the men, who proved to be mere tools of the leaders, at my suggestion, were given jail sentences. Davis, after entering the penitentiary, contracted consumption, and after serving a little over half his time, was pardoned so he might go home to die. He was released from prison one Saturday, returning to Pacific at once. The following Monday he died.

Two of the gentlemen connected with the trial of these strikers have since made reputations for themselves. Judge Gallencamp, who prosecuted the cases, is now, and has been for several years, Surveyor of the Port of St. Louis, while Judge Seay, who presided, has received high honors at the hands of the people of Oklahoma, his new home, he having served as governor at one time. Mr. W. K. Moir, whom I left in charge of Chamois, proved to be a valuable man for the company. He being a good engineer and machinist he was retained there as general foreman for several years, until the division was removed to Jefferson City. He was then given an engine in the yards of the company at that point, but later resigned and moved to St. Louis, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred a few years ago.

The St. Louis strikers made their headquarters in Eutopia Hall, Jefferson avenue and Walnut street, and an ex-convict named Martin O'Neal usually presided over the meetings. I lived, at that time, at 2729 Walnut street. My wife was very sick, being confined to her bed, and many of these strikers in going to and from their meetings always passed by the house, and never failed to jeer at the children, if they happened to be in the yard, and otherwise conducted themselves in a rude manner. One striker, a tough switchman named Duffy, went so far as to enter the yard and ring the door bell a couple of times, when he knew I was not at home, and when the door was opened by my little daughter, had forced his way into the house. He would then let on as though he wanted to see me, telling my daughter that he knew all about a conspiracy to take my life, and his call was for the purpose of putting me on my guard. His story and rudeness always frightened my family very badly, they thinking that possibly there might be some truth in his story. I knew Duffy and his reputation as a general bad man, and knew he had no business with me. I also knew he was aware of my whereabouts during business hours, and I decided to put a stop to his visits at my private home at the first opportunity. As luck would have it, I was at the house the next time he called, one night about ten o'clock. I had slipped home to spend a few moments with my sick wife, and had been in the house only a short time, when the door bell rang. My daughter saw him enter the yard from the window, and called me. I answered the ring of the bell by opening the door and grabbing Duffy by the collar and jerking him inside. I at once went to work on him with both fists. He was either too cowardly or his surprise was too great for him to make any resistance. After I had given him a few good stiff jabs, he began to beg for his life. "I am not going to kill you, you cur," I rejoined, "but I am going to teach you better than to come to my home," and I lit into him again. After punching him until I was tired, I let up. I then issued a few orders for the cowering wretch's guidance in the future, and also sent a message to his followers, couched in about the following language, "You people can go up and down this street, of course, but don't any of you let me catch you on this side of it. Another thing, I will 'get' the next one of your cowardly curs who jeers at this house again while passing. I don't want any of you to ever even look at my house. If you do, and I find it out, there will be trouble." After making him promise to deliver the message, I again grabbed him by the collar, and pulling the door open, booted him into the street. I always gave Duffy credit for delivering the message, for that gang always behaved themselves when passing the house thereafter, and always kept to the other side of the street.

St. Louis was not the only scene of rioting and mob violence during the strike. At Sedalia, where the main engine building plant of the company is located, and where about 2000 machinists and other shopmen were employed, conditions were very bad. Sedalia was also the headquarters of the operating department of the "Katy," one of the Gould properties, and a division point for all Missouri Pacific lines at that time running through Missouri. In fact, it was what might be called a railroad town. It was also the main headquarters of the strikers. The Knights of Labor were very strong, even most of the business men of the city belonging to the order. The strikers had their own way for several days. Each attempt on the part of Superintendent Sibley to move trains was the signal for rioting. To illustrate the boldness of the strikers, I will relate one incident. Adjutant General J. C. Jamison, of Governor Marmaduke's staff, had been sent to Sedalia to investigate conditions there. He went to the yards and with two police officers, boarded an engine, attached to a train, which the officials were attempting to get out of the yards. The engine was given steam and the train started. Before it had gone a hundred yards, however, a mob climbed aboard the engine, stopped the train, uncoupled the engine from the train, put on steam, and ran the engine down the Katy track about two miles, and after letting all the water out of the boiler, ran the engine back to the yards and into the roundhouse. No attempt was made to harm the adjutant general and the police officers by the mob. Immediately on the arrival of the captured engine at the roundhouse, the leaders of the mob, who proved to be John Perry and Fred Page, two of Martin Irons' most trusted lieutenants, were placed under arrest by Chief of Police Barnett of Sedalia and a couple of his officers. The arrest caused one of the worst riots ever witnessed in the little city. The men were finally locked up, however, by the plucky Chief of Police, but were soon released on bond. This riot caused a change of sentiment on the part of the business men, which up to this time had been with the strikers entirely, and within a few days enough volunteer guards had been secured to handle the situation. Traffic was then resumed on the roads. Many of the ringleaders were indicted by the Grand Jury, but none of them were tried, they being allowed to leave the county.

At Kansas City, Parsons, Denison, Ft. Worth, Palestine, Little Rock, and many other places much rioting was indulged in by the strikers, and much property was destroyed, and worse, several lives were sacrificed.

Martin Irons, after the strike, was completely deserted by the men whom he had led, and became a wanderer and an outcast, a veritable human derelict. His constitution had become so weakened by the excessive use of liquor that he could not hold a job as a machinist, although he was a good workman. He then tried lecturing, but in this he was not successful. Later he opened a lunch counter at Kansas City. This enterprise was also a failure. He finally wandered down into Arkansas, and one morning was found dead in a hovel. Never was the biblical admonition, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," more plainly illustrated than in the case of poor Martin Irons.

WHY I OPPOSE REWARDS.

IT OFTEN IS AN INCENTIVE FOR UNSCRUPULOUS OFFICERS TO CONVICT INNOCENT PERSONS--RULE REGARDING DIVORCE CASES.

I do not believe in rewards, and in all my long career, have made it a rule to never work for, or receive one, no matter how great the amount offered for the arrest and conviction of the guilty party, or parties--this being the usual way that the heading of a reward is written.

Nor do I believe in or engage in procuring evidence in divorce cases.

However, I can see no objection to the offering of a reward for the apprehension or capture of a fugitive who is known to have committed a certain crime against the law, and for whom a warrant has been issued, and I believe the detective, or any other person, who makes the arrest would have the right to accept such reward.

Where the reward is offered for the arrest and conviction of some person, for a crime that has been committed, and the guilty party, or parties, is unknown, I, from personal experience, have been led to the belief that the offering of a reward, especially a large reward, is an incentive for unscrupulous people, and especially unscrupulous officers of the law, to fasten the crime on some unfortunate, or perhaps some dishonest or undesirable citizen, which can be found in almost any community, in order to obtain the reward. These unfortunate people are easier to convict of a crime than persons who have always borne a good reputation. Then, again, the offering of a reward for criminals whose identity is unknown, tends to keep a certain class of people from divulging facts that they may know, which might, if properly utilized, lead to the identity, arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of the crime for which the reward was offered.

To make it more plain, when a crime has been committed, and no reward is offered, this same class of people are more liable to "come out from under cover" and tell what they know about the facts in their possession, believing them of no material value to the officers engaged in running down the culprit.

Experienced detectives have been very often handicapped by reason of a reward having been offered, and, for this reason, I have always made it a rule to pay no attention to rewards.

While I am satisfied that it is, in many cases, necessary for the purification and preservation of society, to thoroughly investigate divorce cases as it is to apprehend and convict people who have committed a theft or other crimes, by reason of the fact that there are so many crooked and unscrupulous men, who claim to be detectives, and who make the divorce business their specialty, in order to elevate myself and my service from the level of this class of people, I formed a rule, at the beginning of my career, not to have anything to do with divorce cases. This rule I have always rigidly enforced.

WHY I AM OPPOSED TO HANGING.

AVERSION TO THIS MODE OF EXECUTION WAS CAUSED BY AN INCIDENT WHICH HAPPENED AT BELLEVILLE ILLINOIS, YEARS AGO--THROUGH THE TRAP WITH A MURDERER.

In my younger days I was a firm believer in hanging as a means of capital punishment, but I do not hold the same views now, and have not for a long time. As my friends have often asked me what caused me to change my mind on this matter, I am now going to take them into my confidence, and tell them all about it.

Several years ago I had some important business to transact with Sheriff Ropiequet of St. Clair County, Illinois. I went to his office in the Court House at Belleville. The deputy in charge informed me that the sheriff was over in the jail yard putting the finishing touches to arrangements for hanging a negro named Johnson, who had been convicted of killing his wife in a most brutal manner. The deputy further informed me that if my business was important, I had better go to the jail at once, as the sheriff would probably be too busy later to see me until after dinner. Acting on this tip, I at once went to the jail and was admitted. The sheriff told me he was too busy at the time to attend to the business, and would be until after the hanging, and invited me to witness the execution, which was to take place in a few moments. I cared nothing about this, as the witnessing of executions had long since ceased to be a novelty to me, but under the circumstances, I accepted the invitation.

The scaffold had been erected in the yard surrounding the jail. The platform, which was about eight feet square, rested on four upright posts, about six and a half feet from the ground. The trap door, which was about three feet square, was located in the center of the platform, and fastened to one end by two hinges, opening downward. The other end was fastened on the underside by a bolt, or trigger, the pulling of which would allow the body to drop down through the platform. On the center of the trap door was a soap box, on which the culprit was to stand while awaiting the arranging of the noose, one end of which ran around a pulley fastened to a cross-beam above the platform, so that the rope could be adjusted to the proper length. A stairway, about three feet wide, had been built from the ground to the platform.

Within a few minutes, the sheriff and condemned man, accompanied by a priest and a deputy sheriff, appeared at the door leading from the jail to the yard in which the execution was to take place. As they marched toward the scaffold the sheriff commanded me to join the procession, which I did, following the party up the stairway to the platform. The condemned man appeared cool and walked with a firm step. I took a position to the right of him, while the sheriff stood at his left. The priest and deputy stood just back of us. After the man who was about to be hanged had taken his position on the box on the trap, he was asked if he had anything to say, as is usual on such occasions. The negro made a complete confession of his guilt, but claimed that the drinking of bad whiskey was the real cause of his committing the crime, and admonished all within the hearing of his voice to beware of strong drink. At the conclusion of his talk, the deputy bound his legs and tied his hands behind him, while the sheriff adjusted the black cap. The negro had an exceedingly long head and neck, and as a result the cap did not cover all of his neck, there being a space of an inch or two between the bottom of the cap and the top of his coat collar. Just as the sheriff placed the noose around the condemned man's neck, but before the officers had time to tighten the rope, it came in contact with the bare place on the negro's neck, and he fainted. The sheriff grabbed one arm and I the other to keep the fainting man from falling from the platform. In doing this we both stepped on the trap. The deputy became rattled and pulled the trigger at this moment, and all three of us started down through the trap together. Now the sheriff was a very large man, and I was no infant myself, so when all three of our bodies reached the level of the platform we became wedged in the opening. The noose had become taut, just enough to strangle the negro a little, and he commenced to kick and squirm. Finally his body squeezed on down, relieving the pressure on the sheriff and me, and we both, too, fell through to the ground. We were not harmed and were soon on our feet. Because of the fact that the rope had not been adjusted to the proper length, the negro's toes touched the ground, thus preventing the breaking of his neck. He strangled to death, however, in a few minutes. Since this incident I have been opposed to hanging as a means of capital punishment.

A CROOKED DOCTOR'S CRIME.

ARREST OF THE CULPRIT, AND HIS CUNNING ATTEMPT TO PUT HIS CAPTOR OUT OF THE WAY IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE HIS ESCAPE.

In 1873, Mrs. Boardman, a widow woman with a large family of grown children, resided on a small farm in Venango County, Pennsylvania, a few miles east of Oil City. She became acquainted with a Hebrew doctor, who called himself Dr. Solomon Steinman. He practiced medicine for a short time in and about Rouseville, Pennsylvania.

There were a number of producing oil wells on Mrs. Boardman's farm, and she, from the royalty obtained from the products of these wells, had accumulated quite a sum of money. The doctor, representing himself as a bachelor, managed to grow into the good graces of the widow, notwithstanding the fact that she was the mother of two sons who were almost as old as himself. In a remarkably short space of time the doctor succeeded in obtaining ten thousand dollars of the widow's money, having represented to her that he would invest it for her in property that would yield fabulous profits; but instead of making the investment, he quite suddenly left for parts unknown.

The widow's sons, on hearing that their mother had been swindled, reported the matter to me, I being Chief of Police of Oil City. They requested me to locate and cause the arrest of the doctor on the charge of obtaining money under false pretense. I undertook the task of learning his whereabouts, and it seemed impossible to get any trace of him. He had disappeared from his boarding house, telling no person of his intention of leaving, and no trace could be found that would indicate where he had gone. He was at his boarding house for supper on the evening of his departure, and quietly left, after eating his evening meal, as though he was going to a cigar store or a barber shop, leaving what wardrobe he had, grip and other articles, in his room, and disappeared as effectually as though the ground had opened up and engulfed him.

The evening trains had all left the town before he had left his boarding house, so that he was obliged to have left the town on foot. No one around Rouseville had ever seen a picture of him. He was a small man, dark complexioned, about forty-five years of age, five feet, six inches in height, and weighed about one hundred and thirty pounds, was smooth shaven, had black curly hair sprinkled with gray, and had a decided Hebrew countenance. About five months after his disappearance, in looking over one of the morning papers, I noticed a short article, giving an account of a Dr. Lewis who had been arrested on the charge of malpractice, at Bay City, Michigan, the day before. This article gave a minute description of the man arrested, and from this description, which answered the one that I had of Dr. Steinman, I concluded that I had found the person I was looking for. I took the first train to Bay City and found Dr. Lewis in his office, he having been released on a two thousand, five hundred dollar cash bond, which he had placed in the hands of the committing magistrate. I also learned that the man giving the name of Dr. Lewis was none other than Dr. Steinman.

He had already been indicted in Venango County, Pennsylvania, for obtaining money under false pretense, and the prosecuting officer of Bay City, being willing to surrender him to me, I had no trouble in obtaining the necessary requisition papers. After getting the papers I left Bay City with my prisoner.

I searched him carefully and took charge of all his personal effects. We took the train for Detroit, Michigan, arriving there in the afternoon. I locked him up in the police station until ten o'clock that evening, when I took him to the dock and boarded a steamer for Cleveland, Ohio. It was the old steamer Northwestern, and our state room was on the upper deck, pretty well forward.

We left Detroit about ten-thirty o'clock that night, and were due to arrive at Cleveland in the morning between four and five o'clock. We retired about midnight. I assigned the upper berth to the prisoner, while I occupied the lower. As I said before, I had searched him thoroughly before leaving Bay City.

About two o'clock in the morning, after leaving Detroit, I dozed off to sleep, when I suddenly awakened and smelled the strong odor of chloroform. The stateroom was dark, but I reached up towards the upper berth and my hand came in contact with the doctor's. He was holding a cone that he had made from a towel, and had reached down from his berth and was holding this cone over a four ounce bottle of chloroform, and was trying to put me to sleep for good, but the first breath that I had inhaled, after he had placed the chloroform over my face, aroused me. I grabbed his arm, pulled him out of his berth onto the deck in front of the room, and would have thrown him into Lake Erie, were it not for the fact that he yelled at the top of his voice, and aroused the lookout on duty at the forward end of the vessel, and also the wheelman, both of whom reached us in time to prevent me from drowning the doctor. If I had carried out my intention of throwing him overboard, nothing could have saved him from drowning. I then made him dress himself and took him down to the forecastle, where the captain placed two of the crew to guard him until we arrived in Cleveland.

I have never learned how, or where, the doctor secured the bottle of chloroform, as I had searched him thoroughly, and I am positive he did not have it on him when we left Bay City, and have come to the conclusion that he must have secured it while he was in the lock-up at Detroit. Of course, I did not search him there.

During the Civil War, on December 20, 1861, I received a gun shot wound above the right knee, at the battle of Drainesville, Virginia, and before the doctor began to dress the wound he administered chloroform to me. The after effects of the stuff were very disagreeable and I did not get over it for a long time, and resolved that I would never again take chloroform under any circumstances. I really suffered more from the nasty stuff than I did from the wound. This, I presume, accounts for the shock the odor of the chloroform produced on me.

I arrived with the prisoner at Oil City in due time. He was tried at the first term of court thereafter, and convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of ten years.

I succeeded in locating and recovering nearly five thousand dollars of the money the doctor had fraudulently secured from the widow. This was returned to her by due process of law.

CAPTURE OF A CLEVER SWINDLER.

SAM BENARD'S UNIQUE METHOD OF DEFRAUDING THE RAILROADS--HOW HE DID THE WORK--HIS CONVICTION AFTER A LONG CHASE.

Between the years of 1870 and 1876 the railroads of this country had been swindled, time after time, by some unknown person changing the address on an invoice of goods after it had reached the railroad office. This was done on an order which purported to come from the firm which had shipped the goods.

In February of 1876, a shipment of gentlemen's dress goods was sent to A. A. Alden and Company of Franklin, Pennsylvania, by Brock and Weiner of Buffalo. The consignment was valued at $721.19. A few minutes after the goods had been delivered at the freight office, a man entered and told the agent that the boxes had been marked with the name of the wrong town; that they should go to Corry, Pennsylvania, instead of Franklin. The agent demanded an order from the firm, before making the change. The pretended clerk wrote out the order, signing the firm name to it, and the address, Corry, was substituted for that of Franklin. This being done, the supposed clerk went to Corry. Here he pretended that he was a merchant from New York, and that he was to open an auction store in the town. The merchant tailors did not like to have their trade injured in this manner, so offered to buy the goods. The pretended merchant sold them at a much reduced price, and received a check for three hundred fifty nine dollars and sixty cents. He indorsed the check with A. A. Alden's name, thus adding forgery to his other crimes. Then the case was given to me.

Two weeks went by without a clue to the swindler. I found that other detectives had been hunting for a man who had played the same game in other cities, but the culprit had guarded himself so well that even his real name was unknown. From the descriptions obtained and from his general manner of operation, it was known that the same person had been operating on all the roads where this swindling had occurred. One day while in Buffalo, I chanced to go into a cigar store. At this time the newspapers were full of the swindle, and some of the people in the store were discussing the affair. An old gentleman who was among those present said that a young man who had been employed in the same store with himself, about six years previously, had swindled his employers in the same manner. This was in Rochester. I took the hint and after questioning the old man I found that the name of his former working companion was William Benard. I went to Rochester, and while there obtained the names of some of his acquaintances, and finally found a photograph of him. The description given me by the detectives tallied with the photograph of Benard. I therefore made up my mind that Benard was the man I wanted. After further inquiry I found that relations of Benard lived in Detroit, Michigan. I went there and obtained information as to the whereabouts of the swindler. I followed him through Montreal, Canada; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Toledo, Chicago, to St. Louis. He was known in all these places as "Jew Harry." It seemed that it was impossible to find a detective in any one place who had not at some time or other been on Benard's tracks.

On my arrival in St. Louis, June 26, 1876, I went to the office of Chief of Police McDonohue at once. I told him who I was and that I had information which led me to believe that Benard had worked in St. Louis. When the Chief, who was very portly, and somewhat gruff, heard this, he straightened up in his chair, and said, "It is impossible. That fellow would not dare to come to St. Louis. He would be afraid. He knows he could not work any such game in this town. My police would be sure to get him." I then told the Chief that I had reason to believe that Benard had been in St. Louis within the last few days. This idea the Chief fairly ridiculed. Just at this moment a rather elderly man entered the office, in a very excited manner. He had brown hair, streaked with gray, and wore short side-burns, or galways, as they are sometimes called. He asked if he could see the Chief for a few minutes, so I at once rose to leave the office. The Chief told me to remain, then asked the visitor to state his business.

He told the Chief that his name was H. M. Smith, and that he was a pawnbroker, in business at Eighth and Morgan streets. He then went on to say that a man giving the name of Solomon, representing that he was from Cleveland, Ohio, had called on him a few days previous. He had represented himself as a pawnbroker, and had presented the business card of Solomon & Company of Cleveland. Mr. Smith told him that he knew of the firm, but never had the pleasure of meeting a member of it. Solomon then told Smith that he had a nephew who had been in business with him for years, but that he had gone out west, in the mining district of Colorado, and opened up a pawnshop of his own. There was then a large demand for revolvers and pistols of heavy caliber, and that he had ordered about two thousand dollars' worth of heavy caliber guns and ammunition from the Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis. After he had placed the order with the request that it be packed and shipped immediately, he had received a telegram from his nephew stating that he had gotten into trouble and had been forced to leave the country; and, therefore, could not take the order from Simmons. He requested Solomon to call at Simmons and cancel the order. The Simmons people informed Solomon that as the fire-arms were already packed and in the freight-house, preparatory for shipping, they could not cancel the order. Solomon then said to Smith, "I have no use for these pistols and guns, and I can't ship them to my nephew in Colorado since he has left there. I will have these goods brought up to your store and you can examine them. Then if you find them just as I have represented, I will let you have them at your own price. You can easily sell them and make some money on them."

Mr. Smith assented. Solomon then went and got a drayman and had the fire-arms brought to Smith's office from the freight depot. Solomon got there about the time the goods did and had the cases opened. Smith found the goods were just as Solomon represented, so he told Solomon that he would give him eleven hundred dollars for them, which was about half their value. Solomon, with tears in his eyes, accepted Smith's check for that amount, and left for parts unknown. On the morning of my arrival and while I was talking to Chief McDonohue, Smith had received by mail, a bill for the goods from Simmons Hardware Company which extended to him the privilege of discounting the bill, and that upon making immediate payment, he might deduct the usual percent. Whereupon Mr. Smith called upon the Simmons Hardware Company, and was there informed that a man resembling him very much, had called there and selected the bill of goods, and had also presented Smith's business card. They thought it was Mr. Smith, and, upon finding him all right formerly, had unhesitatingly packed and shipped the goods as directed.

Smith and Benard looked very much alike, wearing the same style of beard and having about the same complexion. Smith's description of Solomon, who was really Benard, was very accurate; and finally wound up by saying that Solomon looked enough like him to be his younger brother.

While Smith was telling the Chief this story I was listening, and when he began to describe Solomon, I asked the Chief if I might be permitted to ask Mr. Smith a few questions.

"Why, certainly," replied the Chief.

"Do you think," I then said to Smith, "that you would know this man, Solomon, if you should see him again?"

"Surely!" answered Mr. Smith. "I would know him anywhere."

I then took Benard's picture from my pocket, and asked Smith if that resembled Solomon. He threw up his hands, and exclaimed:

"Why! That is him! That's an excellent picture of him!"

I then turned to the Chief and said, "Chief, it seems that Benard was not afraid to come to St. Louis, after all."

I then got busy and learned that Benard had left St. Louis over the Burlington and had gone to Quincy, Illinois, a few days before my arrival. I then took the first train for Quincy. There I learned of a similar swindle with a case of goods shipped to Edina, Missouri.

I left at once for Edina. There the freight agent informed me that a man named Solomon, and answering to the description of Benard, had called for a case of goods; but the agent, who was a relative of the party to whom the goods had been originally consigned, had refused to deliver them until presented with some identification. Just about this time I received word that Solomon was walking out of town. I pursued him, arrested him and brought him back to town. At first he denied everything, even his photograph, but finally consented to go with me when I brought out other proofs. I at once applied for a requisition from the authorities.

After the capture of Benard at Edina, by me, Benard's lawyer insisted that he could not be taken to Pennsylvania while he stood charged with a felony in Missouri. Therefore, when he made his plea, I telegraphed a friend in St. Louis to employ a good criminal lawyer, and have him report to me at Edina. My friend employed Col. Nat. C. Claiborne, of St. Louis. At the same time I wired Mr. Smith to come at once, or send his son, Sam, to Edina, for the purpose of identifying Solomon. In due time both Sam Smith and Col. Claiborne arrived in Edina. Col. Claiborne was an old citizen, and was well known all over the state. He was acquainted with the Judge of Knox County, and had him convene a special term of Court and empanel a special Grand Jury. I arranged to have witnesses appear before the Grand Jury, which immediately indicted Benard for the Edina swindle, Col. Claiborne assisting the Prosecuting Attorney at Edina, for the State. Benard was convicted and sent to the penitentiary at Jefferson City, Mo., for four years. I accompanied him to Jefferson City, where I procured a duplicate of the receipt for the body of Benard, from the Warden of the Missouri Penitentiary, and previously a certified copy of the proceedings at the trial and conviction in Knox County, which I turned over to the officers of the Allegheny Valley Railroad on my return to Pittsburgh. This satisfied them, but not so well as if I had extradited Benard and brought him back to Pennsylvania for trial.

I omitted to say that on the night that Sam Smith arrived in Edina, from St. Louis, that the small hotel was filled to overflowing and the landlord was obliged to assign Smith to my room, which was in the front of the second story, just over the office. About ten o'clock that night, just as Smith and I had retired to our room, preparatory to turning in for the night, a shower of missiles such as rocks, stones and pistol shots were fired through the window of our room from the opposite side of the street. Upon investigation I found that Benard had enlisted the co-operation of some sympathizers, through a lawyer in the town, whom he had employed to defend him, and at the instance of whom this mob was formed with a view to frightening Smith and myself and the other witnesses, who were to appear in the case, out of town. We were so badly frightened that we did not leave town until Benard had been tried and convicted, and when we left Benard left with us.

LONG HUNT FOR A DEFAULTER.

INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE ARREST OF E. T. SIMMONS, WHICH IS ACCOMPLISHED AFTER MUCH HARD WORK--HIS CONVICTION.

In 1873, E. T. H. Simmons was employed as book-keeper in the Oil City Savings Bank, at Oil City, Pa. Simmons was about 28 years of age, and married. He had borne a good reputation, was cultured, pleasant and mild mannered, and also was known to be very industrious, and his associates were the best young people in the community. By perseverance and his strict attention to business he had risen from a messenger boy in the bank to head book-keeper. He married a young and handsome lady, who was an adopted daughter of a prominent citizen of Oil City, by the name of Hiram Hoag. This young woman had been raised by her adopted parents in luxury, and was stylish and naturally extravagant. After her marriage to Simmons her extravagant habits seemed to increase, to the extent that her husband's salary was not large enough to supply her demands. His affection for her and his desire to satisfy her every wish led him to steal the funds from the bank. At first he took the money in small amounts, which he covered by falsifying the accounts. The authorities of the bank noticed that there was something wrong in the accounts, and immediately and quietly employed the services of an expert accountant, unbeknown to Simmons, the head book-keeper.

On the morning that the expert accountant appeared at the bank and took charge of the books Simmons suddenly feigned illness, and left the bank for his home, from which he immediately disappeared for parts unknown, his wife remaining in her home in Oil City.

Mr. John Mulwheeney, president of the bank, promptly engaged the services of what was then considered the greatest detective agency in the United States, to locate and apprehend Simmons. However, the operatives of the detective agency referred to, after a number of months had been consumed and a large amount of expense incurred by them, had failed to locate the fugitive. Finally the president, Mr. Mulwheeney, requested me to try and locate Simmons. In the meantime Simmons' wife had quietly left Oil City, unbeknown to any person outside of the family who had raised her, it being but natural for that family to keep her whereabouts a secret.

I undertook the case only after the earnest entreaty of President Mulwheeney. As a matter of fact, I thought that the bank authorities should have applied to me in the first place, after Simmons had disappeared, and before they had engaged the detective agency. By reason that the then far-famed detective agency had incurred an enormous bill of expenses and finally failed, I bent all my energy towards the task, and succeeded in a remarkably short space of time in tracing Simmons' movements from the time he left Oil City. I found that he had gone to New York City, found there that he had boarded a ship for Panama, Central America, and learned there that he had crossed the Isthmus to Aspewall, and again boarded a ship from there for San Francisco. At San Francisco he landed, I learned, and had gone across the bay to Oakland, California, where he engaged lodgings, and a short time after having arrived there he had obtained a position on board a steamship as assistant purser. This ship was then plying between San Francisco and Victoria, British Columbia.

I also ascertained that a wealthy old bachelor uncle of Simmons resided in San Francisco, and was a large stockholder and director in the steamship line by which Simmons was employed as assistant purser. I afterwards learned that it was through the influence of this uncle that Simmons had secured the position with the company. This uncle was about seventy years of age, and was what was known as a '49er. He was among the earliest of the mine prospectors who had gone overland to California in the year 1849.

At the conclusion of my investigation I found that the steamship on which Simmons was an officer was due to arrive in San Francisco a few days later. In the meantime, I ascertained that Simmons' wife had joined her husband in Oakland, and that they had fitted up a comfortable little cottage in the suburbs of that town, so I quietly awaited the arrival of the ship Mr. Simmons was employed on.

In due time the ship arrived, and I took up a position where I could plainly see every one that left the ship. Finally, after all the passengers had left, the officers began to leave the ship for their homes, and among them I noticed E. T. M. Simmons. Simmons had changed his uniform for a suit of plain business clothes, and it being after dark in the evening I had but little trouble in following him unobserved. I shadowed him until he reached his residence on Tenth street, in Oakland, where he was met at the door by his wife and his mother, who appeared to be on a visit at his home. I then withdrew and learned that the ship would remain in port forty-eight hours.

The following morning I took a train from Oakland for Sacramento, California, for the purpose of procuring the necessary requisition papers, which would authorize me to arrest and convey Simmons from California back to Venango County, Pennsylvania, as the authorized agent for the state of Pennsylvania. This I accomplished in a few moments, having already procured all the necessary papers with the exception of the signature of the Governor of California. I returned to Oakland the same day, and about ten o'clock, after first having ascertained that Simmons was at his home, I, accompanied by Detective James Coffee, of San Francisco, whom I had requested to assist me, approached Simmons' cottage. I requested Officer Coffee to ring the front door bell while I took up a position on the porch at the back door. Coffee, as instructed, vigorously rang the front door bell. When Simmons, who had gone to bed, heard the bell he at once sprang from his bed, and wrapping his clothes in a bundle, not waiting to put them on, ran to the back door, hastily opened it, and ran headlong into my arms. I heard him instructing his wife, or mother, as he left his room, not to open the front door until he had time to get out of the back door.

This cottage, being in the suburbs, there was a large open space of ground at the rear of the cottage, which was thickly covered with live-oak trees, and if Simmons had succeeded in getting away from the cottage and among the live oaks he would have effectually been hidden by the dense foliage, and would, in all probability, have made his escape.

We at once took him to San Francisco, and by reason of my having known him so well and favorably, I did not lock him up, but instead took him to my room, where I kept him until train time, when we took the Overland train for Omaha, Pittsburg and Oil City, where we arrived in due time and safe, with but a single incident of importance on the trip. Before leaving San Francisco I told Simmons that if he would stay close to me during our trip homeward I would not place him in irons, and that no person on the train, not even the crew, would know that he was a prisoner. He agreed to this and everything went along swimmingly until after midnight on the second night out of San Francisco. Simmons and I occupied a lower single berth in the Pullman. Simmons was sleeping next to the window, and I occupied the side next to the aisle. I had made it a rule not to let Simmons go to sleep, and kept talking to him just as long as I could keep awake myself. The result was that Simmons got to the point that he was ready to drop into slumber as soon as I would allow him to do so by stopping talking to him. In those days I could stand the loss of sleep if it was necessary. On the second night, as I said, while I was feigning sleep I noticed Simmons was also playing "possum." Finally he quietly turned the bed-spread down off of himself and then noiselessly took his wearing apparel from the hammock, which was above him, and proceeded to creep over me into the aisle with his clothes under one arm. I lay perfectly quiet and did not disturb him until he had succeeded in reaching the aisle, when I suddenly grabbed him by one of his limbs and threw him back into the berth. He strenuously denied that he was trying to escape, and protested that he was merely restless, and thought he would sit up a while and not disturb me, but, as a matter of fact, he was really attempting to escape from the train. This occurred in a desert in Utah, but after that he behaved himself and made me no further trouble.

After we arrived in Oil City he was locked in the county jail, in default of bail, and when his case was called he pleaded guilty to the charge of embezzlement and was sentenced, by the Hon. John M. Trunkey, at Franklin, Pa., to a term of ten years in the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, which is at Allegheny City.

However, after he had pleaded guilty and received his sentence, and before he had been taken to the penitentiary, he received a letter from his wife, written from Oakland, California, in which she coolly and heartlessly informed him that as he had pleaded guilty to a charge of felony, and had been sentenced to a term in prison, that she had decided to avail herself of her legal privilege, under the existing conditions, and apply for a divorce from him, which the law would grant her on the ground that he was a convicted felon, and that she had made up her mind to marry his wealthy old uncle, the "forty-niner" who had procured Simmons his position on the steamship. She immediately proceeded to carry out her plans. She wound up her letter by saying that she would rather be an old man's darling than a felon's slave.

The contents of this letter almost broke poor Simmons' heart. Every person in and about Oil City, who knew him, knew that it was through her extravagance and love of luxury that he had committed the crime, and when the contents of this letter became known the sympathy of all who knew Simmons was aroused in his favor, and the best people in the community, including the officers of the bank whose funds he had embezzled, filed a petition with the governor of the state for a pardon for him. This petition was later signed by the prosecuting attorney and by Judge Trunkey, himself.

Meanwhile Simmons had been taken to the penitentiary, but he only remained there a short time until the governor of the state pardoned him. On his release he went immediately to California to find his former wife, now the wife of his old uncle, and at once instituted proceedings for the custody of their child, which he easily obtained. The child was born a short time after his father's arrest, and Simmons had never seen his son. Simmons obtained employment in the passenger department of a large railroad company. This position he filled creditably for a number of years.

His former wife visited Oil City about two years after her marriage to the second husband. She was accompanied by a couple of maids and a number of trunks, which contained many costly robes and gowns. During her stay in Oil City she called on a number of her girlhood friends and acquaintances, but it so happened that they were all out when she called and finding it impossible to meet them she, as the soldiers say, "hiked" from Oil City, and so far as the writer knows has never been heard of in that city since.

GEORGE HERSOGG'S DOWNFALL.

FACTS REGARDING THE CONVICTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL AND GREAT NORTHERN BAGGAGEMAN OF MANY CRIMES.

Early in the '80s the railroad companies of the Southwest were troubled very much by the continued receipt of complaints of passengers from all quarters of the United States, and some from foreign countries, and their filing claims for articles which had been stolen from their trunks and other baggage while in transit.

The Iron Mountain Railroad Company and the International & Great Northern Railroad Company were both parts of the Gould System, and formed a through and direct line between St. Louis, Galveston and San Antonio, Texas in the winter season both Galveston and San Antonio were winter resorts, largely patronized by health seekers. The complaints became so numerous that they were turned over to my department for investigation.

I took the matter up and after a long and tedious investigation decided to pay special attention to one George Hersogg, who was employed as train baggage-master, running between Longview and San Antonio, Texas. In my investigation I had noticed that nearly every case of lost articles from baggage were traced to the train on which Hersogg was baggage-master, therefore I concluded to test him first.

Hersogg occupied a room in a private boarding house when at Longview, where he had a twenty-four hour layover. I sent one of my operatives, George Herbert, to Longview, who represented himself as a railroad man, and he secured a room in the same boarding house where Hersogg was stopping. After remaining there for a few days Herbert became acquainted with Hersogg and with his runs, and when he would be absent from his room. Having accomplished this, Herbert became indisposed, and for that reason was compelled to remain in his room for a few days.

In the meantime impressions of certain keyholes had been taken, and a number of skeleton keys had been sent to Herbert at Longview. He had noticed that Hersogg had two rather large trunks in his room, and when the proper opportunity presented itself he examined the contents of Mr. Hersogg's trunks, unbeknown to the inmates of the boarding house, and to Herbert's great surprise he found in one of the trunks a silver mounted Smith & Wesson, pearl handled revolver, which he immediately recognized as the property of the Hon. Joseph Harris, who, at that time, was Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis, but was in San Antonio for his health. Herbert also found a number of articles of jewelry, which he knew to be the property of Mrs. Harris. In this connection I will say that Herbert had been a member of the St. Louis police department prior to his entering my service, and while there he had been on detached service at the Circuit Attorney's office, in which capacity he had acted for about two years, thereby meeting Mr. Harris daily, and seeing his wife very frequently, and becoming familiar with both Harris' revolver and Mrs. Harris' jewelry.

Upon the discovery of the revolver Herbert promptly reported to me by wire code. Up to that time we had had no report of the Harris robbery, and, in fact, did not know that Mr. Harris had gone to San Antonio. On receipt of Herbert's report, I at once got into communication with Harris at San Antonio, and he verified the loss of the articles which Herbert had reported he had found in the trunk of the baggageman at Longview.

Herbert also found other articles, the loss of which had been reported from various sections of the country. The most valuable article was a diamond and emerald ring, which contained one large diamond and two small sized emeralds. This ring was the property of a lady who lived at Peoria, Ill., and who had gone over the route to San Antonio some months before the discovery of it in Hersogg's trunk. She valued the ring at about $800.00.

We arrested Hersogg, and he was tried in due time convicted and served four years in one of the state prisons of Texas.

Many of the stolen articles which were recovered were fully identified, and returned to their owners.

It developed that Hersogg had provided himself with skeleton keys of all sizes and styles. Having a whole baggage car to himself, he was thus able to open and inspect all the baggage at his leisure. He was afforded ample time between stations in which to loot the contents of the baggage car, and strap and lock them up again, leaving no trace on the outside of the baggage having ever been tampered with.

The capture and conviction of Hersogg was not only a source of relief to the Gould System, but was an equal relief to all connecting lines.

(THE END.)

ORGANIZED AT ST. LOUIS, 1880 INCORPORATED 1891

Furlong Secret Service Company

SUITE 1206 CHEMICAL BUILDING

St. Louis, Mo.

THOMAS FURLONG, President and General Manager.

JOHN U. MENTEER, Vice-President and Ass't Gen. Manager.

E. D. DAWSON, Secretary and Treasurer.

J. S. MANNING, Superintendent, St. Louis, Mo.

W. E. WARD, Superintendent, Chicago, Ill.

L. I. ZIEGLER, Superintendent, Cincinnati, O. Suite 205 Lyric Theatre Building.

J. E. SMITH, Superintendent, Houston, Tex.

Correspondents and Resident Operatives in all the principal cities of the United States and all foreign countries.

This Company furnishes competent and reliable operatives to railroads, corporations, lawyers and firms, to do all kinds of legitimate detective work.

We do not handle divorce cases or work for rewards.

CONTENTS

PAGE Preface 3

Sidelights on the Business 5

The Preller Murder Case (_Illustrated_) 9

The Big Cotton Swindle 39

A Remarkable Case (_Illustrated_) 66

Tracing Train Wreckers (_Illustrated_) 76

"Moonshining" in the Oil Regions (_Illustrated_) 91

The Capture of Wess Watts (_Illustrated_) 98

Solving a Trunk Mystery (_Illustrated_) 123

The Glencoe Train Robbery (_Illustrated_) 130

Running Down the Revolutionists 137

A Dallas Murder Avenged 148

The Toughest of Tough Towns (_Illustrated_) 162

The Rohan Express Robbery 180

Arrest of Lawrence Poyneer (_Illustrated_) 190

Ticket Forgers Run Down 193

Conviction of John Collins (_Illustrated_) 198

Fred Erfert's Fall From Grace 207

Battle With Would-Be Bandits 219

The Great Pittsburg Strike 229

Murder of Conductor Frazier 238

Fight With a Maniac 249

Decoying a Bad Man (_Illustrated_) 252

Tragic Death of Bill Casey 269

Subduing a Notorious Bully 279

A Ruse That Worked 285

Charlie Dalton, Outlaw 293

Conspirators Handed a Lemon 297

The Big Southwest Strike (_Illustrated_) 306

Why I Oppose Rewards 328

Why I Am Opposed to Hanging 330

A Crooked Doctor's Crime 332

Capture of a Clever Swindler 336

Long Hunt for a Defaulter 343

George Hersogg's Downfall 349

+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+