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EDITOR'S NOTE.—Back of the exploits of the governmental detective service—exploits which in many cases are known to the public only through news items
announcing the arrest of a certain person—lie true stories of detective prowess which far outstrip the adventures of fictional crime experts. While told in narrative form,
the stories in this series are all founded on facts recorded in the archives at Washington. It has been necessary in some instances to alter names and disguise localities,
but the actual methods by which the mysteries were solved have not been changed in the slightest degree.
f fry* HE United States Secret Serv
ice,” announced Bill Quinn,
who had been connected with
that organization until a wound re
ceived in a counterfeiter's raid had put
an end to his active usefulness, “is by
long odds the best known branch of
the Governmental detective bureaus.
Tiie terror which the continental crook
feels at the sound of the name Scot
land Yard' finds its echo on this side of
tlie Atlantic whenever a criminal knows
that he has run afoul of the U. S. S. S.
For Uncle Sam never forgives an in
jury or forgets a wrong. Sooner or
later lie's going to get his man—no
matter how long it takes nor how much
money it costs.
“But the Secret Service, ’strictly
speaking, is only one branch of the
organization. There are others which
work just as quietly and Just as ef
fectively. The Department of Justice,
which has charge of the violation of
neutrality laws, banking and the like;
the Treasury Department, which,
through the Customs Service and the
Bureau of Internal Revenue, wages
< onstant war on the men and women
who think they can evade the import
regulations and the laws against illicit
manufacture of alcohol; the Pension
Bureau of the Interior Department,
which is called upon to handle hun
dreds of frauds every year; and the
Postoffice Department, which guards
the millions of dollars entrusted to the
arils.
“Each of these has its own province.
Each works along its own lino in con
junction with the others, and each of
them is, in reality, a secret organiza
tion which performs a vastly important
-d-Vice to the nation as a whole. When
ou speak of the Secret Service, the
Treasury Department's organization
tomes immediately to mind —coupled
with a panorama of counterfeiters, an
•cbixts, revolutionaries and the like.
i 1 ut the field of tile Secret Service is
•ally limited when compared to the
, ope of the other organizations.
Trophies of the Chase.
“Look around this room"—and he
•blade a gesture which included the
four wails of the library-den in which
we were seated, a room in which the
u ual decorations had been replaced by
a strange collection of unusual and, in
a number of instances, gruesome relics.
"Everyone of those objects is a me
mento of some exploit of the men en
gaged in :-ecret Service,” Quinn went
on. “That Chinese hatchet up there
came very dose to being burled in the
skull of a man in Sun Diego, but its
principal mission in life was the solu
tion of tlie mystery surrounding the
smuggling of thousands of pounds of
opium. That water-stained cap was
fished nut of the Missouri after its
owner had apparently committed sui
cide- but tlie Pension Bureau located
him seven years later, with tlie aid of
a fortune teller in Seattle. At the side
of the book-case there you will find
several of the original poison-pen let
ters which created so much consterna
tion in Kansas City a few years ago,
letters which Allison of the Postal In
spection Service finally traced to their
source after the local authorities had
given up the case as impossible of solu
tion.
“Tlie woman whose picture appears
on the other wall was known as Mr*.
Armituge—and that was about ail that
th*»y did know about her. Have that she
was connected with one of the foreign
organizations nod that in some mysteri
ous way she knew everything that was
going on in the State Department al
most as soon as it was started. And
there, under that piece of silk which
figured in one of the boldest smuggling
rases that the Treasury Department
ever tackled. Is the blurred postmark
which eventually led to tlie discovery of
the man who murdered Montgomery
Marshall —a case in which our old friend
; lierlock Holmes would have reveled.
But it's doubtful if he could have solved
it any more skilfully than did one of
tiie Postoffice operatives."
The Whit* Mice.
"What's the Higniilcahep of that
white mouse on th“ mantel-piece?’' I
Inquired, sensing the fact that Quinn
was in one of ills story-telling moods.
"It hasn't any significance," replied
the former government agent, "but It
has a story—one which Illustrates my
point that all the nation's detective
work isn't handled by the Secret Serv
ice, by a long shot. Did you ever hear
of 11. Gordon Fowler, alias W. C.
Evans?"
"No." I replied, "I don't think I
ever did."
"Well, a lot of people have—to their
sorrow," laughed Quinn, reaching for
his pipe.
• • a * »
No one appears to know what
Fowler's real name Is—continued the
former. operative, as he settled him
self comfortably In front of the fire
He traveled under a whole flock of
iliases which ran the gamut of the al
phabet from Andrews to Zach&ry but,
\o save mixing things up, suppose that
ve assume that his right name was
Copyright, 1919, by The I Vheeler Syndicate, Inc.
The ' Trail of the White Mice
Fowler. He used it for six months nt
one time, out In Minneapolis, and got
away with $20,000 worth of stuff.
For some time previous to Fowler's
entrance upon tlie scene, various whole
sale houses throughout the country had
been made the victims of what appeared
to be a ring of bankruptcy experts—
men who would secure credit for goods,
open a store and then "fail". Mean
white the merchandise would have mys
teriously vanished and the proprietor
would bo away on a “vacation” from
which, of course, he would never re
j turn.
On the face of it this was a matter
| to bo settled solely by the Wholesalers'
| Credit Association, but the Postal Jn
i spection Service got into it through the
j fact that the mails were palpably being
| used with intent to defraud and there
fore Uncle h'am came to the aid of the
business men.
On the day that the matter was re-
I ported to Washington, the Chief of the
Postal Inspection Service pushed the
button which operated a buzzer in the
outer office and summoned Hat Preston,
the chap who later on was responsible
for the solution of the Marshall murder
mystery.
“Hal,” said the Chief, with a smile,
“here’s a case I know you’ll like. It’s
right in the line of routine and it ought
to mean a lot of traveling around the
country—quick jumps at night and all
that sort of stuff.”
Preston grunted, but said nothing.
You couldn't expect to draw the big
cases every time and, besides, there
was no telling when something might
break even in the most prosaic of as
signments.
Preston On Job.
“Grant, Wilcox and Company, In
Boston, report that they've been stung
twice in the same place by a gang of
bankruptcy sharks," the Chief went on.
“And they're not the only ones who
have suffered. Here's a list of the
concerns and the men that they’ve sold
to. You’ll see that it covers the coun
try from Hoqiuam, Washington, tn
Montclair, New Jersey—so they appear
to have their organization pretty well
in hand. Ordinarily we wouldn't figure
in this thing at all —but the gang m ule
the mistake of placing their orders
through the mall and now it's up to us
to land ’em. Here's tiie dope. Hop
; to it!”
That night, while onroute to Mt. Clem
ens, Mich, where the latest of the
' frauds had been perpetrated, Preston
• examined the envelope full of evidence
1 and came to a number of interesting
I conclusions. In the first place the fuil
! arcs had been staged in a number of
| different localities—Erie, Pa., had had
one of them tinder the name of “Cole ft
11111”; there had been another In t-'lottx
i City, where Immeriing Brothers had
i failed; Metcalf and Newman, 111., had
likewise contributed their share, as had
i Minneapolis, Newark, Columbus, White
Plains and Newburgh, N. Y.: San
(Diego, California; Hoquium, Washing
ton, and several other points.
But the point that brought Hal up
with a jerk was the dates attached to
each of these affairs. No two of them
had occurred within six months of the
other and several were separated by as
much as a year.
“Who said this was a gang?" he
l muttered. “Looks a lot more like the
work of a single man with plenty of
nerve and, from the amount of stuff
he got away with, he ought to be pretty
nearly In the millionaire class by now.
There’s over s2oi>.ooo worth of goods
covered by this report alone and there’s
no certainty that it is complete. Well,
here’* hoping—it’s always easier to trail
one man than a whole bunch of ’em.”
In Mount Clemens Preston found
further evidence which tended to prove
that tlv* bankruptcy game wos being
worked by a single nervy individual,
posing under the name of “Henry
< ierard."
How "Gerard'’ Operated.
Gerard, it appeared, had entered the
local field about a year before, appar
ently with plenty of capital, nnd had
opened two prosperous stores on the
principal street. In August, about two
months before Preston’s arrival, the pro
prietor of tlie 'ierard stores had left on
what was apparently scheduled for a
two weeks’ vacation. That was the
last thnt had been heurd of him, in
spite of the fact that a number of
urgent creditors had camped upon his
trail very solicitously. The store* had
been looted, only enough merchandise
being left to keep up the fiction of a
complete stock, and Gerard had van
ished with the proceeds.
After making a few guarded inquiries
in the neighborhood of the store, Pres
ton sought out the house where Gerard
had boarded during his stay In Mount
Clemens, There he found that the
missing merchant, in order to allay
suspicion, had paid the rental of his
apartment'for three months in advance
and that the place had not been touched
since, nave by the local authorities who
had been working on the case.
“You won’t’ find a thing there,” the
Chief of Police informed Hal, In re.
sponse to a request for information.
“Gerard’s skipped and that"s sll there
is to It. We've been over the place
with a fine tooth comb and there ain’t
a scrap of evidence. We did find some
telegrams lorn up in his waste-basket,
but if you can make anything out of
'em it’s more than 1 can,"' nnd be
handed over an envelope tilled with
scraps of finely torn yellow paper.
"Not the slightest indication of where
Gerard went?" inquired Preston as he
tucked the envelope In an Inside po ket.
“Not a hit,” echoed the Chief. "He
may ho in China now, so far as we
know."
“Was he married?”
The Girl in the Case,
“Nobody here knows nothin' about
him,” tiie Chief persisted. "They do
say as how he was right sweet on a
girl named Anna Something o’other who
lived in the same block. But she left
town before lie did and she ain't come
back neither.”
"What did you say her name was?”
“Anna Vaughan, i b'lieve she called
herself. You might ask Mrs. Morris
about her. She had a room at her
place, only a few doors away from
where Gerard stayed."
The apartment of tlie man who had
vanished, Preston found, was furnished
in the manner typical of a thousand
other places. Every stick of furniture
appeared to have seen better days and
no two pieces could be said to match.
Evidently Gerard had been practicing
economy in his domestic arrangements
in order to save all the money possible
for a quick getaway. What was more,
he had carefully removed everything of
a personal nature, save a row of books
which decorated the mantel-piece in one
of the rooms.
It was toward these that Preston
finally turned in desp ration. All but
one of them were the cheap r grad" of
fiction, none of which bore any db -
tlngulshing marks, but the exception
was a new copy of the latest railroad
guide. Just a Preston pounced upon
this he heard a chuckle from behind
him and, whirling, saw the Chief of
Police Just entering the door.
"Needn’t worry with that, young
man," he urged. "I’ve been all through
it and there ain’t nothin' in it. .Just
thought I'd drop up to see if you’d
found anything." he added. In explana
tion of his sudden appearance. "Have
you ?"
"No," admitted t,hr Postal operative.
“Can’t say that I have. This is the
first piece of personal property that
I’ve been aide to locate and you say
there ia nothing in this?"
"Nary a clue,” persisted the Chief,
but iTeston, as if loath to drop the
only tangible reminder of Gerard, Idly
flipped the pages of the Guide and then
stood It on edge on the table, the covers
slightly opened. Then, as the Chief
watched Him curiously, he closed the
book, opened it again and repeated the
operation.
The “Trick" With the Book.
"What's the idea? Tryin' to make it
do tricks?" the Chief asked as Hal
stood the book on edge for the third
time.
"Hardly that. Just working on a
little theory of my own," was the ve
sponse, as the Pnstofilcc man made a
careful note of the page at which the
Guide had fallen open—the same one
which had presented itself to view on
lit ■ two other occasions, "Here, would
you like to try It?" and he handed the
volume ‘to the Chief. But that function
ary only shrugged his shoulders and
replaced the Guide upon the mantel
piece.
“ ome more of your highfalutin' de
tective work, eh?" he muttered. " don
you'll tie claimin’ that books can talk.”
"Possibly, not out loud,” smiled Hal.
“But they can be made to tell very in
teresting stories now and then, if you
know how to handle 'em. There doesn't
seem to be much hero. Chief, so 1 think
I'll go hack to the hotel. Let me know
If anything comes up, will you?” And
.with thnt lie left.
But. before returning to the hotel, he
stopped at the house where Anna
"A HEAVY VASE I'ELLEI
Vaughan had resided and found out
from the rather garrulous landlady that
Gerard had appeared to be rather smit
ten with the beautiful stranger.
"She certainly was dressed to kill,”
aid the woman, who ran the establish
ment. "A big woman and strong ns all
outdoors. Mr. Gerard came here three
four nights a week while she was
with us and he didn't seem to mind the
mice at all."
"Mind the what?” snapped Preston.
“The trill "- the white mb " I hat she
used to k""p jm pets," explained the
landlady. "Had half a dozen or more
of them running over her shoulders,
but I told her that I couldn’t stand for
that. Hln could keep "in In tor room
ts she wanted to, but I had to draw the
line somewhere. Guess It was on their
I'eount that r|i( didn’t have any other
vision H’far as I know Mr, Gerard
was the only one who called on her,"
"When did Mis* Vaughan leave?" Hal
Inquired.
"Mrs. Vaughan," corrected the
woman. "She was a widow—though
she was young and pretty enough to
have beet) married any time she wanted
to b»- Guess the men wouldn't stand
fS' them mice, though. Hie didn't stay
very long just about six weeks. Left
somewheres about the middle of July."
"About two weeks before Gerard
did?"
"About, that—though I don't Just re
member the date."
A few mere inquiries elicited the fact
that Mrs. Vaughan’s room hail been
rented since her departure, so Preston
gave up the Idea of looking through
them for possible connecting links with
the expert in bankruptcy.
A Perplexinq Turn.
Returning to the hotel, the operative
settled down to an examination 6f the
scraps of town telegrams which the
Chief had handed him. Evidently they
had been significant, he argued, tor
Gerard had been careful to tear them
into small bits, and it was long past
midnight before he laid succeeded in
piecing the messages togeter, pasting
the scraps on .glass in case there had
been any notations on the reverse of
the blank.
But, when he had finished, lie found
Hint he had only added one more
puzzling aspect to the case.
There were three telegrams, filed
within a week and all dated Just before
Gerard had left town.
“Geraldine. Anna, May nnd Florence
are in Chicago," read the message from
Evanston, 111.
"Cverge. William, Katherine, Kay and
Stephen still in St. Louis," was the wire
tiled from Detroit.
The third message, from Minneapolis,
detailed the fact that "Frank. Vera.
Marguerite. Joe and Walter are ready
I) HIM TO TIIE I’EOOIt.”
to leave Vt. Paul."
None (if the telegrams was signed
but, merely as a precaution, Preston
wired Evanston, Detroit and Minneapo
lis to find out If there was any record
of wlio had sent them
"Agent here recalls message," came
the answer from Detroit the next day.
"Filed by woman who refused to give
her name. Agent says sender was quite
large, good-looking nnd very well
dressed.”
"Anna Vaughan!” muttered Preston,
as lie tucked the telegram In hi* pocket,
and asked to bo shown n copy of the
latent Railway Guide.
Referring to a note which ha hud \
taken on the previous * veiling. Hal
turned to pages 251-2, the part of the
book which had fallen open three times
In su'ccsslon when be had examined
It In Gerard's rooms, and noted that
It was the Atchinson, Topeka and "ants
Fe time-table, westbound. Evidently 1
the mlsring merchant had Invested In .
a copy of the Guide rather than run
the risk of leaving tell-tale time-tables
around his apartment, but he bad over
stepped himself by referring to only
one portion of the book.
"Not the first time that a (rook ha* I
been lust a tittle too clever,” mused
Preston, with a smile, "If It had been
an old copy, there wouldn't have been
any evidence —but a new book, opened
several times at the same place, can be
made to tell tab's- bis honor, the Chief
of Police, to the contrary.”
It was clear, therefore, that Preston
had three leads to work on: Anna
Vaughan, a large, beautiful woman, well
dressed and with tin affection for white
mice; tlie clue that Gerard was some
where in the Southwest and at least,
i lie first names of fourteen men and
women connected with the gang.
But right there he paused. Was there
any gang? The dates of the various
llsappean\nces tended to prove that
there wasn’t, but the messages received
by Gerard certainly appeared to point
to the fact that others were connected
with the conspiracy to defraud.
Possibly one of the clerks who had
boon connected with tlie Gerard stores
would l>e able to throw a littc iglit upon
tiie situation. . . .
The Clew of the Names.
It wasn’t until Hal Interview the
woman who had acted as cashier nnd
manager for the second store that lie
found tiie lead lie was after, In re
sponse to his inquiry as to whether ahe
had ever heard the missing proprietor
i peak of any of the persons mentioned
!n the wires, tlie cashier at first stated
definitely that she hadn’t but milled, a
moment later:
“Gome to think of it. he did. Not as
people, but as trunks."
“What’s that?" exclaimed the opera
tive “Trunks?"
"Yes. I remember sometime last,
spring, when we were figuring on how
much summer gods we ought to carry,
1 mentioned the mailer to Atr. Gerard
and, almost automatically, lie replied,
‘l’ll wire for Edna nnd Grace Think
ing he meant saleswomen, I reminded
him that we had plenty, particularly
for the slack season, lie colored up a
bit, (aught his breath and turned the
subject by stating that tie always re
ferred to trunks of goods In terms of ;
people's first names -girls for the fcml- I
nine stuff and nu n’s for the masculine. ;
But Edna nnd Grace weren’t on your
list, were they?”
"No," replied Preston. "But thnt
doesn’t matter. Besides, didn’t the two
trunks of goods arrive?"
"Yes, they came In a couple of weeks
later."
"Before Mrs. Vaughan came to
town?”
"Oh, yes, some time before she ar
rived."
”1 thought so,” was Preston’s reply
and, thanking the girl, lie wandered
Iwck to tlm hotel—convinced that ho
had solved at least one of the mysteries,
the question Of what Gerard did with
Is surplus "bankrupt stock”. It was
evidently packed in trunks and shipped
to distant points, to be forwarded by
the Vaughan woman upon instructions
from Gerard himself. The wires lie had
torn up were merely confirmatory mes
sages, sent so that he would have the
necessary information before making a
getaway.
"(’lever scheme, all right," was Hal's
mental comment, "Now tlie next point
Is to find some town in the Southwest
whore a new store has been opened
within fho past two months.”
Working the Wires.
Tli.it night the telegraph office at
Mt. Clemens did more buslnesj than it
bad had for the past year. Wires, un
der the Government frank, went out
to every town on the Atchinson, Topeka
and Santa Fo and to a number of ad
j.iecnt cities, in each case the mes
sage was the sa .o:
Wire name of any new clothing
store opened within past two months.
Also description or proprietor.
Urgent.
" Preston,
"U. S', p. I. N.”
Fourteen Chiefs of Police replied
within the next IX hours, hut of these
only two- Leavenworth and Fort Worth
contained descriptions which tallied
with that of Henry Gerard.
So, to facilitate matters, Preston sent
another wire: ’Has proprietor men
tioned in yesterday's wine a wife or
woman friend who keeps white mire as
pets?”
hort Worth replied facetiously that
Ihc owner of tlie new store there was
married but that his wife had a cat—
which might account for the absence
ol the mice. Leavenworth, however,
came hack with: "Yes, Mrs. Noble,
wife of owner of Outlet tit ore, has whits
mice for pets. Why?"
"Never mind reason,” I Vest on replied.
"Watch Noble and wife until I arrive.
Leaving today."
Tell minutes after reaching Loaven
wertli Preston was ensconced In tlie
office or the Chief of Police, outlining
the reason for ills visit.
“I'm certain thlit Noble Is the man
you want," said tlie Cider, when Hal
; 1,11,1 finished. "He came here some six
i weeks or more ago and at once leased
a store which he opened a few days
; l:, ter. The description fits Him to a T,
j except for the fact that he’s evidently
dispensed with the mustache. Tp,,
I Vaughan woman Is posing ns Ids wife
'■'Hid they've rented a house on the out
skirts of town. What do you want me
|to do? Nab 'em right away?”
No, directed the operative, "I’d
I rather attend to that myself, if you
! don't object. After trailing them this
f ir, I'd like to go through with it. You
might have some men handy, though,
in ease there,'* any fuss."
The Round-Uo.
Just as Mr. and Mrs. C. K. Noble
were sitting down to dinner there was
a ting fit their front, door bell und
Noble went to si i who it was.
"I'd like to speak to Mr. 11. Gordon
Fowler." said Preston, Ids hand resting
carelessly in tin side pocket of his coat.
No Air. Fowler lives here," wua tiie
growling reply from tlie Inside.
"Then Mr. W. C. Evans or Mr. Henry
Gerard will do!” snapped the operative,
throwing his shoulder against the
Partly opened door. Noble—or Fowler,
as lie was afterward known—stepped
aside ns Hal plunged through and then
slammed the door behind him.
"Get him, Anna!" he called, throw
ing the safety holt into position.
The next thing that Preston knew, a
i pair of arms, bare and feminine but
strong as iron, had seized him around
the waist and lie was In imminent dan
ger of being bested by u woman. With
a heave and u wriggling twist ho broke
Ihe hold and turned. Just In time tn see
Fowler snatch a revolver from a desk
on tlie opposite side of the room and
raise It Into position. Without an In
stant's hesitation he leaped to one side,
dropped his hand Into Ills coat pocket
and fired. Evidently the bullet took ef
fect, for the man across the room
dropped his gun. spun clean around
und then sank t the floor. As he did
so, however, the woman hurled a heavy
vase direi tly nt Preston's head and the
operative sunk unconscious.
• • • • •
"Well, go on!” I snapped, when
Quinn paused. "You sound like a
serial story—to be continued In our
next. What happened then?”
"Nothing beyond the fact that three
policemen broke In some ten seconds
after llal fired, grabbed Airs. Vaughan
or whatever her name was. and kept
her from beating Hal to death, as she
certainly would have done In another
minute. Fowler wasn’t badly hurt. In
fact both of them stood trial the next
spring—Fowler drawing six years and
Anna Vaughan one. Incidentally, they
sent ’em back to Leavenworth to do
time and, as a great concession, allowed
the woman to take two of her white
mice with her. I managed to get one
of the other four and. when It died,
bad It stuffed ua a memento of a
puzzling case well solved.
"It’s a hobby of mine—keeping thess
relics. That hatchet, for example. ~ .
Remind me to tell you about It soms
time. The mice were responsible for
finding one man In 50,000,000—which Is
something of a Job In Itself—but the
hatchet figured In an even more exciting
affair. . .
"WaH Lee and the Flower of
Heaven’’—the story of how Ezra
Marks, of ths Customs Bervics, solved
the mystery connected with the opium
runners—will be published next.