Show GREAT COUP y tay GEORGE how the chief figured in illicit whiskey case which brought him fame and the friendship of general grant aa N the ath or april 1874 francia R kelly was granted leave 0 absence from the philadelphia police force and directed to report to james J brooks at the time prominent as a detective in tho united states secret service the purpose of his as was kept a profound secret by appointment be met detective brooks at the pennsyl vanla railroad station in phil adelphia la and when he started not even the members ot his family knew his destination or the purpose ot his journey when kelly met brooks at the gate leading to the train he hand ed him a ticket to new orleans by way of the great jackson route A word ot preface may help to ex plain how kelly came to receive this assignment which was to prove one of the most dangerous and important iff his whole professional career while he was a police officer in the twenty second police district ot philadelphia he was going to his home early one morning in january 1874 and pass ing a big distillery on street bove berks he was accosted by a voice which whispered huskily Is that you joe it was BO dark and foggy that a person could hardly see his face before him but on the impulse of the moment kelly replied yes and then halted to await developments present ly a two horse team filled with illicit liquor which had been distilled in the factory started out of the place kel ly jumped into the wagon and pulled a pistol on the driver and directed him to go to a certain point in the city which happened to be the police station there he was placed un der arrest the seizure of this distill cry and the arrest of the government and bis conviction which followed was the means of bringing sprank kelly before the notice of his superior officers both in philadelphia and washington the sequel was this mysterious as alignment which began at the broad street station in philadelphia after athey had fairly started on their jour ney mr brooks joined kelly in the car and introduced him to the other two men one being alfred brooks his son and the other john matchell Ml another secret service operative mr brooks explained the mission to the i party in a few words A short time before president grant simon cameron and alexander IP who was then supervisor of internal revenue for pennal vanla had a conference at the white house con the operations of the whisky ring which had become a national and was so powerful that the government was being robbed ot mil llona of dollars gen grant who was deeply interested in probing the mat tei to the bottom leaned over his desk and with the inevitable stump of a cigar between his set teeth an bounced his purpose of transferring all supervisors 0 internal revenue in every section of the country mr at this point expressed a doubt concerning the wisdom of such action he said it would be the means of punishing many good officers and would not be just general grant took a fresh grip on his cigar and said what am I 1 to do then mr replied find out the identity of the crook ed distillers and the government of bleers who are shielding them and punish both it was suggested to the president that detective james J brooks was a safe man to with an important work of this character and that he could get detective frank kelly to assist him the president replied immediately 1 I will do as iou advise we will take brooks and kelly this explains why detective kelly detective brooks his son and john were bound for new orleans on the ath day of april in 1874 in his pocket mr kelly carried a letter from secretary of war belknap to the commandant of the garrison at isca orleans directing him to furnish the bearer frank kelly at a moments notice such a number of sol adlers as he should call tor this corn was significant it andl bated very clearly that they were to act alone and without the aid assist ance or knowledge of any ot the gov eminent officials connected with the revenue at new orleans they began work almost immell abely upon their arrival in the ores cent city they separated in order not to create any suspicion but every night they met mr brooks for report and instructions all of the big als in the neighborhood of new orleans were shadowed their proprietors closely watched and a never fall ing tab kept upon every one of the government officials connected with the revenue there was fine detective work to be done both day and night it lasted for many weeks and when the climax came and the results were accomplished in a single night the en tire country was startled by the result the establishment on which the greatest amount of suspicion was dl reeled was a big distillery on the other side of the river but while the detectives were morally certain that an illicit business was being conduct ed there they vere without positive evidence upon which they could proceed legally for the purposes ot this article the place shall be known as the big ben it was guarded day and night by armed men and any strange person coming within firing distance placed his life in jeopardy the problem was to catch the pro motors of ohp concern red handed to find them in the very act of ing and shipping illicit liquor the first move toward this end was to smuggle several secret service men into the inside they secured employ ment in the establishment and thua kept tab on all of the queer happen ings of the place that was only the beginning the next most important step was to ar range a plan of signals by which the united states officers could be guided in making their raid there was a deserted house on the side of the river where the distillery was located and it was decided to mako use of this as a signal station one of the detec was supplied with a large lantern and provided with a key to the house on the first night that the conditions were favorable be was to go into the third story front room of the house and place the lighted lantern in a po in tho window where it could be seen on the other side of the river ight after night detective kelly waited on the new orleans side of the river for the signal from the deserted A bouse and night after night he was confronted by great banks ot heavy impenetrable tog finally one night when patience had almost ceased to be a virtue a bright white spot appeared from out of the gloom it was the lantern in the deserted bouse kelly pulled out a whistle and sum boned his men at once they respond ed with alacrity and in a few minutes were in a big flat boat that had been kept on hand tor the purpose there had been heavy floods in that section of the south and the mississippi river was swollen to an abnormal size the secret service men armed to the teeth entered the boat in a few sec ends the colored men who were to do the rowing showed some hesitation come on you rascals shouted kelly get in that boat and get to work something in the commanding tone of the man s voice made them feel that mutiny would be suicide it looks mighty dangerous boss muttered the ahlet oarsman that 6 why the boys are so slow it Is mighty dangerous retorted belty thata why I 1 want the boys to be quick they started off with a will the turbulent waters dashing over the sides of the boat and splashing the faces of the passengers kelly tull realized the peril ot crossing the river on such a bad night but bis fears it he had any were kept quietly locked in bis own breast A second boat followed immediately after the first in it was a detail of soldiers un the command of a commissioned officer and these were all subject to the orders of detectives kelly and brooks kelly was in the first boat and he encouraged the lusty oarsman oarsmen to do their best they worked like trojans at times it looked as it the rickety boat might capsize and throw them all to the bottom of the muddy all were alarmed to add to the terror of the waters it became so dark at times that the oarsman oarsmen could scarcely follow their course kelly pointed to the light in the window of the deserted house doys he said keep your eye on that light they did so pulling away against great odds once the boat sprung a leak and there threatened to be a panic among the frightened gers kelly with admirable ft presence of mind quelled their ears bits ot sticks were whittled and plugged into the holes several of the secret ser vice men with sponges and tin cans prevented the boat from accumulating any great quantity of water with these expedients they managed to progress fairly well suddenly the chief oarsman uttered a cry of dismay the matter asked kelly the lights out sure enough the light in the window of the deserted house had been ex all sorts of forebodings filled their minds could it be that their carefully laid plans had gone en astray scarcely could the man in the house have been attacked that was possible at any rate they continued their journey to the other side it would not do to weaken at this stage of the game no matter what the consequences the boat rocked dreadfully at this point they were scared indeed it la no exaggeration to say that for many minutes they eared death but finally they reached the other side of the stream the messenger from the deserted house awaited them on the bank to their delight he had not met with any difficulty beyond that which camo with the storm and the rain A sua den gust of wind had blown the lan tern out and as all of his matches were wet be was unable to repair the misfortune kelly and his companions prepared for the still more serious part of their adventure A fine mist was now fall ing it was dark and disagreeable the wide banks of the great river were overflowed and the had a tour mile march to the dig den distillery through the low marsh country being compelled at intervals to wade through mud and water up to the arm pits kelly took the lead with his asals ants following some distance behind he beaded straight for the dig den distillery detective brooka with another detail of men was antei another establishment in a different section things had been planned so that the various chiefs should elmul swoop down on the several law breaking concerns kelly stumbled ahead sometimes falling into puddles of water and at other times being confronted with great hillocks of mud until the affair began to lose all of the flavor of romance dut he was ao few if anyone suspected his presence in south when he went there surprised plant in operation and won deserving promotion how he trailed down culprits on fragment of a clew customer cus tomed to hard everyday every day prosaic work and he plodded along steadily every minute coming nearer to the goal from the information they had received all of the watchmen at the distillery were either asleep or off guard they were soon undeceived presently the walla of the building loomed up in the distance A gate leading into the premises was locked it was forced open As detective kelly stepped inside a figure emerged out of the darkness who goes therea called a voice A friend responded the detective who had been given the countersign something in the tone ot the reply must have roused the man s suspicions or he hurried forth with a pistol in his hand he confronted the detec alve what do you want here he said menacingly that s my business was the jaun ty reply you go back to your post my posts here was the stubborn reply oh get away cried the detective giving him a push the trick did not work instead of disarming his suspicions the move only confirmed them the guard lev aled his pistol at kelly move one step and you re a dead man the detective had to move and act quickly it was either surrender or fight he determined to fight with a movement almost as quick as thought itself he hauled back his right leg and raising it up high in the air gave the point of the pistol a kick that sent it flying a dozen yards away the blow struck the trigger and in midair the weapon exploded with a loud report in kicking the pistol kelly struck the mans hand and bruised it in a way that brought a shower of profanity from the guard he made a mad rush tor kelly the first of the detective was to pull ila own pistol but on second thought he refrained from doing so the guard in his own crude way believed be was doing hla duty he was defending the property of his employer although that employer was a law breaker As he rushed on kelly caught him by the shoulders and the next moment the two men had clinched and were struggling in the mud A halt dozen assistants were in the near distance but the detective disdained ed to cail upon them for help this was his awu battle he would fight it out in his own way the guard was a pow bertul fellow the chief had reckoned well when he selected him to keep intruders from the plant I 1 but kelly was in his prime at that time he had dealt with the most dangerous criminals in america and he was not to be worsted by the un armed watchman of an illicit dastil distil lery in less than a minute he bad the man on his back his associates came up at this moment and in lees time almost than it takes to tell the story the guard was bound and gagged events moved quickly after that when they reached the distillery proper they met an armed resistance but the phalanx of secret service men re enforced by a detachment of united states soldiers induced surrender without the firing of a shot the als which had caused so much trouble was promptly seized and placed in the custody of a platoon of soldiers when another great dastil distil lery plant at algiers was seized formed soldiers with fixed bayonets were put on duty to guard the property after that was over the detec lives had to the river before daylight and then before the people of the crescent city were at their tables hammonds dastil distil lery and rectifying rectify ing house on the new orleans side of the river were placed in government custody it was a tremendous bit of enterprise a nights work that was never before equalled equal led in the world when the facts came out during tha course of the following day the people were thunderstruck none more than the government officials who were located in new orleans neither people nor officials knew that drooks and kelly and their men were in new orleans and the capture proved to be one of the great sensations of the time indictments were promptly found and convictions followed in every case the government confiscated over a half million dollars in property and contraband whisky the trials were not officially concluded until almost two years after the capture and in the spring of 1876 kelly returned to new orleans in the capacity of witness being granted a leave of absence from the position he then held that of lieutenant of police in philadelphia there Is one phase of this story to which particular attention Is directed it was freely said at that time that president grant was a man who care of his friends and it was in that his friends were some times not the kind 0 persons who deserved the encouragement of a high minded official well gen grant did take care of his friends but his friends as francis kelly happened to know in this instance were the friends of good government they were the men who under his inspiration and the supervision of james J drooks were instrumental la breaking up the notorious whisky ring they were the men who sent of tenders to the penitentiary and they were the men who helped to restore hundreds of thousands of dollars to the treasury ot the united states in other words gen grant was deter mined that justice should be done no matter where the celpa might fall in 1874 after the return from new orleans gen grant sent for mr brooks he called at the white house and found the president in his office smoking a big black cigar he looked up quietly as mr drooks entered and said with characteristic terseness brooks you and kelly did good work at new orleans mr brooks bowed at this and mur aured his thanks at receiving tho |