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Little details overlooked by criminals often
lead to their undoing—Some instances given
4
HE most absorbing detective stor
ies are based on the proposition
\ that a series of truthful events
I dovetail together with exact
nicety, while a fabricated story
of similar events must always
have a missing eog, which with
diligent search will be discovered.
It Is beyond human Ingenuity to
construct a false story of a series
» of events and not make a mis
take. Prosecuting attorneys are
always on the watch for these lit
tle openings that explode the
false testimony. Nor are there lacking numerous
examples of this situation in the daily court grind
and in general police work.
A few days ago a merchant reported to the po
lice that a large shipping case had been opened
nearly SSOO in merchandise abstract^ and the
case nailed shut again. A police detective was
detailed to make an investigation of the theft.
He went over the ground with a department, head
and at the conclusion of his Investigation had
learned absolutely nothing. At a loss as to the
next move be engaged the head shipping clerk in
conversation, the (alk being relative to the man's
trade.
i The clerk, an affable mechanic, took pride in
demonstrating the efficiency of his department.
He explained everything about the business and
at last demonstrated the method of making boxes.
This was a now thing to the officer. The boards
were placed in position about a form of the di
mension the finished box would be and with one
movement nearly 100 nails were automatically
driven home. The box was thus made as quickly
■as a man could assemble the boards, there being
no time lost in the nailing process. The detective
looked over the machine that in one operation
drove all the nal’.s and —got a hunch.
Strolling back to the packing case that had been
rifled of its contents he made a careful examina
tion of the surface. Then for the first time in his
experience as a detective he took stock of the fic
tion detective and brought into play a magnifying
glass.
The surface of the box indicated that instead of
the mechanical nail-driving process the nails had
been driven with a hammer. The magnifying
glass disclosed that the hammer murks were made
by a badly chipperl hammer. Continuing his
search the officer eventually found a hammer in
the tool chest of a delivery boy’s equipment that
made exactly the kind of marks found on the
packing case.
It only required a few hours' investigation to
ascertain that the youth was the thief and that
he had been disposing of the goods in a foreign
settlement. The discovery of the hammer marks
unfolded the crime in a few hours, while had the
usual process been followed the detectives would
have had to investigate the entire force of em
ployees who had access to the basement. The
theft and sale bad been entirely covered up and It
was only the one cog In the wheel that had been
missing.
Arson Plots Revealed.
It is In cases of arson that this theory is often
est demonstrated mid the prosecuting attorney
must ever be on the alert to detect the point
where there Is a divergence of the fabricated
story. Within recent years there have occurred
in a limited district more than 100 fires of more
Ilian a suspicious nature. Many of these have
been exposed in court and others by some flaw In
the construction of the crime.
An arsonist planned a fire and was highly suc
cessful. He had also concocted an alibi and
proved by excellent witnesses that he had left
home 2-1 hours prior to the fire. The district at
torney’s office, while feeling that the man was
lying, could hardly refute the testimony of the
witnesses produced. It was not until the lasi
day of the trial that a member of the district at
torney’s office discovered that on the day the
man declared he left home by train, owing to a
wreck the train had not been sent out over the
regular route and it was therefore impossible
for the man to have taken that train. The pris
oner was convicted on this one circumstance.
A woman conducted an unprofitable apartment
house venture and planned for more than five
months to destroy the property by fire. She placed
more than 100 gallons of distillate and gasoline
In various vacant rooms in the house. The place
was a vertical bond) and had it been fired it would
have been blown to pieces with great loss of life.
On the night the fire was to have been started
the woman opened a stopcock in the furnace
room, permitting 40 gallons of distillate to escape
into the room. Then she went to the top floor of
the building for the purpose of overturning the
many cans of inflammable liquids.
In the first room she entered, long vacant, the
fumes of the gasoline overcame her and she
swooned, falling against a table and overturning
a telephone. The light on the switchboard
alarmed the operator, who, knowing the room to be
unoccupied, made an investigation and discovered
the plot.
The ring and gang of arsonists fired the home
of a wealthy fellow-countryman, but in arranging
their plans spilled some of the liquid on their
clothing. When they struck a match to light the
slow fuse that was to have exploded the bomb
after their departure they were both horribly
burned. The men were given long prison terms,
hut were released on a technicality after serving
two years of the sentence. i
A jeweler desired to got a quick return oti his
Insurance and planned a fire. He placed a gaso
line bomb in a closet, floated a lighted candle in
the mixture and fled to a neighboring city, thereby
hoping to establish an alibi. When he opened the
front door of his home to leave draught was cre
ated and the closet door blew shut. Lack of air
extinguished the flame. A policeman witnessed
the flight of the jeweler and made an Investiga
tion. The lire trap was discovered and an officer
went in pursuit of the jeweler. When apprehended
the police searched the man and found on him his
fire insurance policy. On the envelopes were fig
ures that later turned out to be an Invoice of the
property as ft stood aud a computation of the
insurance, indicating that the man
anticipated a fat profit from the
transaction.
A well-known detective once over
threw’ an insurance fraud that was
all but perfect in detail. The fire
was to all appearances an accident
aud there was nothing on the sur
face to indicate fraud. Notwithstand
ing^ the officer went into court, to
contest the claim for insurance and
to prosecute the insured. The case
went slowly along until the defend
ants put in their claim, mostly for
expensive furniture. Then the officer
showed his hand. He produced the
entire remains of the fire in the form of ash and
•charred wood and convinced the jury that the fire
was not only of an incendiary origin, but that
there was nothing of value in the building.
The owners of the furniture had described a
number of brass beds, elaborate, brass-finishM
furniture, dressers, wardrobes, trunks, tables,
lamps and other metal-bound articles. The de
tective showed that there was not a trace of
metal in the ash—no hinges, knobs or brass bed
frames —nothing in fact but several hundred nails,
such as come from packing cases. While it was
ImjlCissible to prove arson, the insurance was
never paid, as tlie insured fled the same night.
Rancher Robbery Victim.
OtSy a few weeks ago a Lankershlm rancher
saved $2,700 and sent a dishonest broker to jail
for d long term by breaking up the elaborate story
of the accused. The rancher drew the money from
a local bank for the purpose of purchasing an ad
ditional piece of ground. He went to his home to
meet the agent, and while awaiting his arrival
worked about a windmill in the yard. Becoming
warm with the exertion of tightening up a number
of rods and replacing a number of iron pipes the
rancher removed his coat and hung it on a board
at the well. After a time be went to a nearby
building to secure an additional section of pipe.
Qn his return the coat was on the ground, the
money missing. The rancher heard the muffled
roar of an automobile driven at a high rate of
speed and rushing Into the road saw a small ma
chine disappearing in a cloud of dust. The
rancher believed he recognized the broker’s auto
ntobile, nnd going to a telephone he notified the
poliqe and sheriff’s office of the theft, and of his
suspicion of the broker.
But while waiting to hear from the officers the
rancher was surprised to observe the broker com
ing down the road in an entirely different car
than the one be usually rode. The rancher for
mally welcomed the broker, made a quiet state
ment of the robbery and then declared that he
had recognized the thief. He did not. mince
words, but openly accused the broker of the theft.
While the men were wrangling a deputy sheriff
appeared.
The rancher was so positive in his identifica
tion of the broker as being the person that had
fled that, the deputy placed the man under arrest.
A search of the broker’s safe revealed several
sums of currency that totaled a little more than
$2,700. The broker fell back on the plea that
there could be no identification of money unless
it was marked or unless the numbers on the bills
were produced. Nevertheless, after a consulta
tion between the rancher and a deputy district
attorney a warrant was issued. The money in
the, broker’s safe was seized, placed in an en
velope and marked evidence.
At the trial the rancher was unable to prove
much of a case on the broker. The machine was
one' of several million of the same model. He
could not swear whether the broker was In the
machine, and he acknowledged that he did not
have-' the numbers of the lost currency. Then the
broker was placed on the witness stand and en
deavored to show that he was at a certain office
at the very time of the robbery. Then by rela
tives he tried to show that the money in his safe
bad been delivered to him in several sums. At
this point the district attorney called on several
persons who alleged they had paid him money,
in each instance they declared the money had
been drawn either from n bank or had been se
cured on the day of delivery from another.
The district attorney’s representative then arose
and walking over to the accused broker, broke the
seal on the package of money held as evidence
and. holding it in front of the prisoner, demanded
If there was any identifying mark on the cur
rency. Nonplused for the moment, the man re
plied there was none. Turning to the rancher the
deputy asked the same question. "Yes, there is
a'decided mark of identification on every bill,” the
man replied. Turning back to the broker the
deputy gave him another opportunity to Identify
the money, and a third time appealed to him to
know if there was any way in which he could es--
tablish ownership.
Remember the rancher had not viewed the cur
rency since it went into the hands of the deputy
distfict attorney. The deputy then called on the
rancher to identify the money.
“If the bills In that package are mine the edges
will’ be found smeared with red lead. I dropped
the jell onto it splotch of the red lead while 1 was
working on my windmill and, after cleaning off as
inucit of tlie stuff as I could, I put the money in a
coat-pocket, letting the damp edges project out
so tl«>y would dry. That Is how this man (point
ing Ip the prisoner) cume to see the money.”
TKfe bills were examined and each one was
fount) to have the telltale red mark along the
edge.’ More than that, three witnesses came for
wardito testify that they had observed traces of
red on the broker’s hands on the day of his arrest
and the broker declared that he “must have cut
his rand.”
He Forgot the Rain.
Ima prepared story meant to deceive, quite ns
likely as not the imposter will overdo his part
nud thus lead to exposure. A youth with a serious
chaise hanging over his head managed to quite
fog the issue of the case by n cleverly prepared
alibi. Two reputable but mistaken witnesses as
sisted him. In an effort to find a point on which
to seize tlie district attorney permitted, or rather,'
IRWINTON BULLETIN, IRWINTON, GEORGIA
insisted, on a complete detailed account of the
man’s movements on the day in question. The
story was glibly told and it was Impossible to
confuse the witness.
Then came the stumble. Among other incidents
the prisoner told of visiting a bootblack and ex
plained that in addition to having his boots pol
ished be hud received a thorough brushing off,
all because it was an exceedingly dusty day. The
records were produced and these showed that one
of the heavy rains of the seasoh raged not only
on the day of the crime, but on the days prior
and following. The witnesses were recalled and
they also remembered that it was a dusty blowly
day. This so confused tlie prisoner be made sev
eral other misstatements which In the end led to
his conviction.
A ranch hand accused of the wholesale theft of
grain from the fields of California ranches de
clared that, he was not in California until after the
date of the alleged robbery. He then convicted
himself by describing a clump of gum trees in
one of the fields. The prosecution was able to
show that these trees were cut down two weeks
before tlie robbery and that the accused could
not have described the trees except from personal
knowledge. His alibi upset, the unfortunate ranch
hand pleaded to turn state's evidence and impli
cate what he was pleased to term the ringleaders
of an intensive gang of grain thieves.
Identify Coin by Perfume.
Several weeks ago a woman dropped her purse,
containing a large sum of money. A child of ten
der years picked up the valuable container ami
started to carry it home. Two men in an oil dis
tributing station saw the incident and managed to
get the purse from the child, giving him a few
pennies. The men hid the money in an oil can,
first extracting a few bills for immediate use.
The same day the owner of the money made a
report to the police and also instituted a persona*
search. She inquired all along the street in
which the loss had occurred, eventually embracing
the very child that had found the money. The
little tot immediately pointed out tlie two men
who had taken the purse and the woman made
a formal demand for the return of the money. The
men denied the theft and by their fierce denial
frightened the child.
Police officers were summoned, but by this time
tlie child was thoroughly demoralized and refused
to identify the men, declaring that he was not now
certain to whom he had delivered the purse. The
owner of the money, among other things, declared
the bills of currency could be identified, if located,
by their odor. She explained that following her
securing the currency from a bunk she had pur
chased a bottle of perfume and that this bottle
liad been accidentally opened in her purse and the
bills saturated with the liquid. The police visited
the stores in the neighborhood and learned that
one of the suspected men had paid a grocery bill
a few hours after the money was supposed to have
come into his possession. On examining the bills
that had been paid to the grocer they were found
to be strongly impregnated with perfume. Then
the officer searched the oil station, sniffing into
every can and box in the place. Within a few
moments after tlie search was instituted one of
the officers found the bills secreted in a can of
cotton oil waste, the perfume being distinctly dis
cernable In spite of the oil.
Minor Matters Trip Crooks.
Instances of a similar nature may be found in
the police court without number. A thief was con
victed recently on a charge of larceny because, al
though he had memorized the numbers on the case
and works of a watch and produced what purport
ed to be a bill of sale, still he did not know that
in the scroll work on the back of the ease were
the initials of the owner.
Another criminal was justly convicted ami later
ihade a full confession after tlie police had dis
paired of fastening the crime on him. He was
accused of cutting open a number of packages hi
an express office and extracting articles of value,
repairing the damage to the package so that there
could be no exposure for several days after the
theft. While the trial was in progress the prose
cuting witness picked up a pocket knife, the ac
knowledged property of the accused, and on a
close examination found a. red coral bead in the
slot where the knife blade reposed when clasped.
One of the beads had stuck to the knife blade and
had thus been Imbedded in the knife slot. This
simple find resulted In the man’s conviction and
the return of several thousand dollars of loot to
the express company.
Many Os The Best Citizens
Os Wilkinson County have be
come regular patrons of this
bank. Are you among the
number?
The Milledgeville Banking Co.
MILLER S. BELL, President
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Metropolitan Case
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Gus H. Carrott and Chris Balanis
PROPRIETORS.
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MILLEDGEVILLE, GA.
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