_Difficulties.--Blind Trails and False Scents.--A Series of
Illustrations showing the Number of Officious People and
Confidence Men that often seek Notoriety and Profit through
important Detective Operations._
The art of detecting crime cannot be learned in a day, nor can the man
of business understand, without previous experience in the habits of
criminals, the expedients which the boldest class of law-breakers adopt;
hence none but skilled detectives can hope to cope with them. Yet often
my clients insist on some certain method of procedure wholly contrary to
my judgment and experience, until the total failure of their plan
convinces them that there can be but one thoroughly successful mode of
detection, namely, to submit the case to a skilled detective of
character and standing, and allow him to act according to his judgment.
The range of investigation in such a case as this robbery will often
extend from New York to San Francisco, and unless one mind gathers up
the clues, classifies the information, and determines the general plan,
there will be continual error and delay. Such a state of affairs
frequently occurred during this operation, and much time and money were
spent upon matters too trifling even for consideration.
The principal of a detective agency, from his long experience with
criminals, learns the earmarks of different classes of men, and he is
often able to determine the name of the guilty party in any given
robbery by the manner in which the job was done. He can readily see
whether a novice in crime was engaged, and also whether any collusion
existed between the parties robbed and the criminals; and so, when he
sees the traces of a bold, skillful, and experienced man, he knows that
it is useless to track down some insignificant sneak-thief, simply
because the latter happens to have been in the vicinity. Yet, neither
will he slight the smallest clue if there is a bare chance that any
valuable fact may be obtained from it. But the _sine qua non_ is that
he, and he alone, shall direct the whole affair. A divided
responsibility simply doubles the criminal's opportunities for escape.
Among the many difficulties of the detective's work, none are more
embarrassing than the early development of false clues. In the stories
heretofore published, the direct steps leading to the detection and
arrest of the criminals have been related, without referring to the
innumerable other investigations, which were progressing simultaneously,
and which, though involving the expenditure of much thought, time, and
money, proved after all to be of no value whatever in developing any
evidence in the case. In this operation, such instances were of frequent
occurrence, and I propose to mention a few of them to show how wide is
the range of the detective's inquiries, and also the annoying delays to
which he is often subjected by the inconsiderate zeal and interference
of outside parties. These latter may be--indeed, they generally
are--well meaning people, anxious to serve the cause of justice; though,
on the other hand, they are sometimes spiteful meddlers, striving to fix
suspicion upon some personal enemy.
The plan of detection which alone can insure success, must be one which
neither forgets nor neglects anything. In investigating any alleged
crime, the first questions to be considered are: 1. Has any crime been
perpetrated, and, if so, what? 2. What was the object sought thereby?
The matter of time, place, and means employed must then be carefully
noted, and finally we come to consider: 1. Who are the criminals? 2.
Where are they now? 3. How can they be taken?
The fact that a crime has been committed is generally apparent, though
there have been cases in which the determination of that point requires
as much skill as the whole remainder of the operation. Such was the case
in the detection of Mrs. Pattmore's murder, related in my story of "The
Murderer and the Fortune Teller." The object of a crime is also
sometimes obscure, and, where such are the circumstances, the detection
of the criminal is apt to be one of the most difficult of all
operations. Having once solved these two difficulties satisfactorily,
however, and having observed the relative bearings of time, place, and
means to the crime itself, the question of individuals is the important
one to be determined. It often happens that there is no concealment of
identity, the problem to be solved being simply the way to catch the
guilty parties; but, on the other hand, the greatest skill, experience,
patience, and perseverance are sometimes required to discover, first of
all, the persons engaged in the crime. Indeed, an operation is often
divisible into two distinct methods of action, the first being to find
out the identity of the criminals, the second to follow up and capture
them.
In the course of a blind trail, such as we were obliged to travel in the
case of this express robbery, it was impossible to know whence the men
had come or whither they had gone; hence, I was forced to take up every
trifling clue and follow it to the end. Even after I was satisfied in my
own mind of the identity of the criminals, the agents and officers of
the express company were continually finding mares' nests which they
wished investigated, and the operation was sometimes greatly hindered on
this account. As an example of the number of discouragements which the
detective must always expect to encounter, I propose to mention some of
the false scents which we were forced to follow during this operation.
Three or four days after William's arrival in Union City, he was
informed by the superintendent of the express company having charge of
the operation, that there was a young man in Moscow who could give
important information relative to the first robbery at that place. This
young man, Thomas Carr by name, was a lawyer who had once had fine
prospects, but he had become very dissipated, and he finally had been
taken seriously ill, so that he had lost his practice. On recovering his
health he had reformed his habits, but he had found great difficulty in
winning back clients, and his income was hardly enough to support him.
On learning that this impecunious lawyer had valuable information,
William strongly suspected that it would amount to little more than a
good lie, invented to obtain money from the express company;
nevertheless, he sent for the young man and heard his story.
According to Carr, a man named John Witherspoon had visited him about
six weeks before, and had asked him whether he would like to get a large
sum of money. Carr replied affirmatively, of course, and wished to know
how it could be obtained. Witherspoon had said that the express company
could be robbed very easily by boarding a train at any water-tank,
overpowering the messenger, and making him open the safe. Witherspoon
also had said that he and several others had robbed a train at Moscow
some weeks before, and that they had got only sixteen hundred dollars,
but that they should do better next time. He had asked Carr to go to
Cairo and find out when there would be a large shipment of money to the
South; then Carr was to take the same train and give a signal to the
rest of the party on arriving at the designated spot.
On hearing Carr's story, William sent him back to Moscow with
instructions to renew his intimacy with Witherspoon, and to report any
news he might learn at once; in case it should prove to be of any value,
the company would pay him well for his services. It is hardly necessary
to add that Mr. Carr, having failed to get, as he had hoped, a roving
commission as detective at the company's expense, was not heard from
again, his bonanza of news having run out very quickly on discovering
that no money was to be paid in advance.
The next case was a more plausible one, and William began its
investigation with the feeling that something might be developed
therefrom. It was learned that a former express messenger named Robert
Trunnion, who had been discharged several months before, had been
hanging around Columbus, Kentucky, ever since. While in conversation
with the clerk of a second-class hotel, Trunnion had spoken of the ease
with which a few determined men could board an express car, throw a
blanket over the messenger's head, and then rob the safe. The clerk said
that Trunnion had made the suggestion to him twice, and the second time
he had given Trunnion a piece of his mind for making such a proposition.
Trunnion had then said he was only fooling, and that he did not mean
anything by it. William learned that Trunnion was then engaged in
selling trees for a nursery at Clinton, Kentucky, and that he was
regarded as a half-cracked, boasting fool, who might be anything bad,
if he were influenced by bold, unscrupulous men. William therefore paid
a visit to Mr. Trunnion, whom he found to be a very high-toned youth,
too fiery-tempered and sensitive to submit to any questioning as to his
words or actions. In a very brief space of time, however, his lordly
tone came down to a very humble acknowledgment that he had used the
language attributed to him; but he protested that he had meant nothing;
in short, his confession was not only complete, but exceedingly candid;
he admitted that he was a gas-bag and a fool, without discretion enough
to keep his tongue from getting him into trouble continually; and,
having clearly shown that he was nowhere in the vicinity of either
robbery, he asked humbly not to be held responsible for being a born
idiot. William was satisfied that the fellow had told the truth, and,
after scaring him out of all his high-toned pride, he let him go, with a
severe lecture on the danger of talking too much.
On the nineteenth of November, when the identity of the robbers had been
fully established, William was called away to Iuka, Mississippi, on
information received from Mr. O'Brien, the general superintendent of the
express company, that a man named Santon had seen the leader of the
party in that place, just a week before. Santon represented that he knew
the man well, having been acquainted with him for years in Cairo, and
that he could not be mistaken, as he had spoken with him on the day
mentioned. William found that the man Santon was a natural liar, who
could not tell the truth even when it was for his interest to do so. The
descriptions of the various robbers had been scattered broadcast
everywhere, and none of them were represented as over thirty-five years
of age; yet Santon said that his man was over fifty years old, and that
he had been a pilot on the Mississippi for years. This was a case--not
an infrequent one, either--where people talk and lie about a crime for
the sole purpose of getting a little temporary notoriety. Owing to
various accidents and railway detentions, William lost three days in
going to hunt up this lying fellow's testimony.
Perhaps the most impudent of all the stories brought to the express
company's officers was that of a man named Swing, living at Columbus,
Kentucky. He sent a friend to Union City to tell them that he could give
them a valuable clue to the identity of the robbers, and William
accompanied this friend back to Columbus. On the way, William drew out
all that Swing's friend knew about the matter, and satisfied himself
that Swing's sole object in sending word to the officers of the company
was to get them to do a piece of detective work for him. It appeared
that his nephew had stolen one of his horses just after the robbery, and
he intended to tell the company's officers that this nephew had been
engaged in the robbery; then if the company captured the nephew, Swing
hoped to get back his horse. A truly brilliant scheme it was, but,
unfortunately for his expectations, William could not be misled by his
plausible story; and, if he ever recovered his horse, he did so without
the assistance of the express company. Nevertheless, he took William
away from his work for nearly a whole day, at a time when his presence
was almost indispensable.
Another peculiar phase of a detective's experience is, that while
following up one set of criminals, he may accidentally unearth the
evidences of some other crime; occasionally it happens that he is able
to arrest the criminals thus unexpectedly discovered, but too often they
take the alarm and escape before the interested parties can be put in
possession of the facts. About two weeks after the Union City robbery,
in the course of my extended inquiries by telegraph, I came across a
pair of suspicious characters in Kansas City, Missouri. I learned that
two fine-looking women had arrived in that city with about eight
thousand dollars in five, ten, and twenty dollar bills, which they were
trying to exchange for bills of a larger denomination. The women were
well dressed, but they were evidently of loose character, and the
possession of so much money by two females of that class excited
suspicion instantly in the minds of the bankers to whom they applied,
and they could not make the desired exchange. One of the women was a
blonde and the other was a brunette. They were about of the same height,
and they dressed in such marked contrast as to set each other off to the
best advantage; indeed, their dresses seemed to have attracted so much
attention that I could gain very little acquaintance with their personal
appearance. I could not connect them in any way with the robbery at
Union City, nor with any other recent crime, though I had little doubt
that the money they had with them was the proceeds of some criminal
transaction; still, having my hands full at that time, it would have
been impossible for me to look after them, even had I thought best to do
so. As it is my practice to undertake investigations only when engaged
for the purpose by some responsible person, I did not waste any time in
endeavoring to discover the source whence these women obtained their
money; though, of course, had I learned enough about them to suspect
them of complicity in any specific crime, I should have reported my
suspicions to the parties interested, to enable them to take such action
as they might have seen fit.
The most important of all the false clues brought out in this
investigation was presented by a noted confidence man and horse-thief
named Charles Lavalle, _alias_ Hildebrand. I call it the most important,
not because I considered it of any value at the time, but because it
illustrates one of the most profitable forms of confidence operation,
and because the express company, by refusing to accept my advice in the
matter, were put to a large expense with no possibility of a return.
Very shortly after the Union City robbery, a letter was received from a
man in Kansas City, calling himself Charles Lavalle. The writer claimed
that he had been with the gang who had robbed the train, but that they
had refused to divide with him, and so, out of revenge, he was anxious
to bring them to punishment. He claimed further that he was then in the
confidence of another party, who were soon going to make another raid
upon the express company somewhere between New Orleans and Mobile.
The plausibility of his story was such that he obtained quite a large
sum from the express company to enable him to follow up and remain with
the gang of thieves with whom he professed to be associated. No news was
received from him, however, and at length I was requested to put a
"shadow" upon his track. My operative followed him to St. Joseph,
Missouri, and thence to Quincy, Illinois, but, during two weeks of close
investigation, no trace of the villains in Lavalle's company could be
found, and he was never seen in the society of any known burglars or
thieves. It was soon evident that he was playing upon the express
company a well-worn confidence game, which has been attempted probably
every time a large robbery has occurred in the last fifteen years. He
became very importunate for more money while in Quincy, as he stated
that the gang to which he belonged were ready to start for New Orleans;
but, finding that his appeals were useless, and that no more money would
be advanced until some of his party were actually discovered and trapped
through his agency, he soon ceased writing.
The foregoing are only a few of the instances in which our attention was
diverted from the real criminals; and, although the efforts of my
operatives were rarely misdirected in any one affair for any length of
time, still these false alarms were always a source of great annoyance
and embarrassment.