Show trailing the erie criminals by george T pardy A true chronicle gf one sf the achievements sf john wilson murray T tar beginning of A H the year 1867 john S H allson murray bes H came one of that jg H famous body of ex appointed by uncle sam towage war against wrong doers whose excite the attention of the federal government the united states secret service it was then at the age of 26 that he began to accumulate a rich store of experience in dealing with counterfeiters counterfeit ers the arts of burglars and other varieties of thieves and the training thus acquired was destined to be of incalculable value to him in after life lie spent nearly two years as special agent for the government and was then persuaded to go to erie pa where during his early days on the lakes be had made many friends mr thomas crawley was chief of the erie police force at that time and at his invitation murray be came a detective under him shortly after his arrival there a wave of sneak thieving swept over the town and assumed very serious proportions even the furniture of private houses disappeared as if by magic clothing took to itself wings and vanished into the great unknown ploughs made strange and un account able exits from the farmers fields leaving no trace behind horses can away unseen by their owners and their stables knew them no more whole contents of stores were carried off and from one of them 20 dozen pairs of shoes appeared to have walk d into oblivion in the full glare of noon it was all so mysterious as to be almost amusing except to the un happy losers and the outraged mem bers of the police force who were to tally unable to appreciate the humor of the situation finally murray met a farmer who had cen ce n a fellow drive by his housein house in a new democrat about the alme that wagon disappeared and the description of both wagon and driver convinced him that be was at last upon the right track accod palled by crawley and an officer armed snyder murray hired a team and drove along the road the stranger axa followed with the missing wagon for fully 15 miles they traveled stopping at every farm but found nothing to reward their exertions deciding to feed and rest their horses they turned off the main road and in a secluded clearing with beveral acres of pine woods around it perceived a lone house no one was in sight but in response to a hall a buxom woman about 25 years old made her appear ance and inquired it the party want ed anything chief crawley asked for the man of the place saying that he wanted to teed his horses the woman whistled shrilly and from behind a clump of bushes near the barn there came a little man about 60 years of age the in slant murray saw the newcomer hla eyes brightened the boy a description of the stranger who left the ancient wagon an fn the shed exactly fitted the mac what stood before him what Is your name murray asked george knapp replied the with fed individual have you lived here long me and my wife have been here about a year was the reply ig that your wife inquired the de glancing at the young woman who was standing in the doorway of the souse kaapp grinned and nodded assent lie was not disposed to be bauve and hla eyes twinkled cun as they met murray s steadfast ta iho detective pawned and looked around in a nonchalant uninterested fashion presently he returned to the attack alavi you seen anything of a stranger driving basl here in a new democrat wagon lately he inquired but kampp shook his head 1 I aln I 1 seen anyone drivon past here he responded not likely hat I 1 would either tor theres no place to drive to heeln that this la the end of the road i plainly mr knapp was armed at all points aganet curious seekers for in formation the officers proceeded to make a thorough search of the prem aises but ahr explorations of barn houe and out buildings proved fruit leas lurany lur rny however felt intuitively that th wily mr knapp was not as innocent as he would have them believe ng past the barn and surveying tho ground carefully the detective took bote of a stretch of clear ed land down to the creek and baw that the sod had recently been turned in one or two places slight indications frequently lead to big results and a sudden suspicion flashed acion murray s mind knapp he raid pleasantly I 1 mean to try m hand at fishing in that creek lend me a spade what do you want with a spade asked knapp tightening his lips to dig bait with of course re piled murray readily knapp looked unevay but produced R anade and handed it to the A alve murray walked toward the creek and came to a halt at one ot tha spots where the sod had been turned therea no sense in digging here remonstrated knapp sou won t find nav worms it was dug over the other day come a bit further down bisot for me returned murray he kind of worms I 1 m after are right here and its easier work than in the hard places knapp said nothing in reply but the broke out on his wrinkled face murray drove the spade into he ground and smiled as he felt the blade strike something hard lie turned back the soil with a few vigor ous strokes and there came to view one of the wheels of the missing dem wagon burled beneath a toot of earth murray looked at knapp who grinned in sickly fashion the detective called bis companions and placed knapp under arrest he was told that the best thing he could do was to confess his thefts and after reflecting a few moments he nodded and iad the way to the house his wife met the party at the door get me the shingle said her bus band the woman obeyed without a word of protest pi otest she went indoors and re turned with a broad shingle covered with red dots which knapp explained were made by chicken blood one broad red blotch signified where the I 1 arr stood and the smaller marks in seated the spots where knapp had burled his plunder the detectives selected one of the marked places and began to dig the first thing to come to light was a large coffin this looked as though some tragedy lurked behind and they lifted the casket out of the earth it was very heavy and hastily they removed the lid expecting to see the mutilated form of one of the robbers victims but instead of the remains of a human being sev eral dozens of boxes containing shoes were revealed the standing beside them laughed harshly corpses aln t the only things found in coffins he remarked sagely the officers pursued their search digging up every place indicated on the shingle map and great and varied was the list ot property that came to light among the things unearthed were a shroud toilet set a baby car nage 40 silk dresses gold watches seven ploughs hs a barrow surgical in st a churn a log chain a grandfathers clock a set ot grocers scales hats overcoats pipes a bar bers pole even a emans shot gun which knapp had stolen from the owner s house the men toc turns at digging and even the thief himself was pressed into service anty fully ten wagon loads of plunder lay in sight it was truly a fine exhibition of wholesale thieving and the marvel of it all was that knapp swore to having done it single handed subsequent developments proved his statement to be cor knapp and his wife were taken to erie and placed in prison A large vacant store was hired and all of the recovered property placed on alon therein to be identified by the rightful owners there was no room to spare for knapp had stolen enough stuff to equip a small department store for several years tt appeared the cunning veteran had been plying bis pilfering trade in burying his alun der he had boxed it up securely pre to sending it away ills methods were sweetly simple he would drive into town in a wagon ap patently ly for the purpose of selling farm produce or garden vegetables and in that way obtaining a thorough knowledge of different houses always managing to sneak in later and carry oft whatever he could lay his hands on nobody knew anything about him who he was or whence he came A year prior to his capture he bad settled in the secluded belt of timber and kept entirely to himself he was tried convicted and sen fenced to 16 years in the allegheny alleghany Alleg hany penitentiary and his wife against whom nothing could be proved was released but knapp was of tar too original a turn of mind to rest satis fled with serving out his time he simulated insanity was transferred to a lunatic asylum and soon after sawed the bars of a window escaped through the opening thus provided and was never caught it was not long after the knapp episode before thieving on a pretty large scale began again in erie this time it was burglary instead of sneak work as was demonstrated by the marks of jimmies on doors and win dows and the disappearance of quan titles of fine silverware and jewelry chief crawley was at first of the opinion that knapp who had escaped from the asylum in the meantime was operating again but murray did not share this opinion knowing that knapp who prided himself upon his unique methods would consider bur glary a clumsy way of stealing after the third robbery it became evident that no lone burglar was at work obviously there was a gang en in the depredations for some of tho jobs required the services of a watcher or lookout on the outside miallo a pal was inside the house A mr skinners house was plundered and a great quantity 0 silverware taken and soon after the skinner robbery the home 0 mr bliss was en and a rich haul ot jewelry made murray and his brother officers worked vigorously they forced every stranger in town to account for him self they sent out the drag net and gathered in all the regulars in the suspicions character line patrols at night were doubled and a vigilant un ceasing watch kept but the burglaries continued as usual one night a house in one end ot the town would be robbed and the next night the bur clars would operate successfully in an opposite direction murray annoyed by the audaciousness of the criminals devoted all his time and energy to the task ot running them don but the only clue or trace ot them that he could discover was a peculiarity in the jimmy marks showing that a piece had been chipped or cut out of one end ot the jimmy one night about 12 0 clock w ule talking to an acquaintance in the reed house be chanced to notice a woman slip quietly down the back stairs of the hotel and out into the street on three succeeding nights he observed her doing this on speaking ot the circumstance to the clerk that worthy informed him that she was a scrub woman who worked late and lived outside the hotel there was nothing suspicious about that but as the clerk declared that be did not know where the woman lived murray out ot sheer idle curiosity determined to shadow her to her home when she slipped down the stairs as usual mur ray followed her into the street but before he had traversed five blocks realized that bis trailing was useless the mysterious scrub woman had als appeared as though the earth had swallowed her murray surprised at the seemingly elusive powers ot the ancient dame laughed 0 er what be considered a feord joke on hla ability asa shadow artist and went home on the following morning the arle papers reported another burglary as having occurred in a house tour blocks from where the scrub woman had vanished into thin air murray said nothing to his associates but that night he took up a station at the reed house and waited about one 0 clock in the morning the figure ot the scrub woman flirted flitted lightly down the stairs and murray followed her into the gloom ot night for 15 blocks he trailed behind when hla quarry turned a corner and when he came up she had again disappeared that night yet another burglary took place and murray still with his mind cen on the vanishing scrub woman began a third vigil at the reed house at one 0 clock the chase began anew and tho detective was fain to confess to himself that the female floor pol isber was one of the most artful dodgers he had ever came across he followed he until after four in the morning up streets cad down streets through alleys across lots around buildings and then across lots again it was an exasperating experience but murray persisted and gave her no chance to slip out 0 sight soon after the chase first began a cat bad mewed loudly in the vicinity ot pur and pursued and be remembered afterward that this sound had caused the dim figure in front of him to start violently dawn waa breaking when the woman headed away to the outskirts of the town and stopping in front of a double house tossed a peb ble against a window and a moment later went in murray sat down to think matters over lie was greatly puzzled or women burglars were an entirely un known quantity in his experience yet to think that an old woman after scrubbing hard for hours in a hotel would seek relaxation from her labors by going tor a stroll and prowling about all night was surely out ot the question he waited until broad day light and as the woman did not reappear went to police headquarters there he was greeted by the chief with tha doleful news that another bouse had been broken into and robbed during the night murray thought of his weary ram bles in the dark it did not seem as though his aggravating old scrub woman could have had a band in the affair for he bad never lost sight of her all the same acting upon an am pulse be could hardly explain but was not disposed to resist he resolved upon paying her a visit he went out to the house where he had last seen her on one side of the double build ing lived mrs 0 brien a respectable woman her knowledge of the mccu pants of the other side was limited to the fact of their being women who had resided there less than a year murray knocked at the door and received no answer he rapped loudly again there was a scurry of feet in the hall and finally the door swung open A big robust girl 23 years old stood on the threshold without further ceremony the detective strode in what Is you name he asked mary ann hall was the answer do you live alone I 1 live with my mother responded the girl call her said murray shortly mary ann complied and in answer to her summons the ancient scrub woman skipped out of an adjoining room in a manner that suggested the activity of 16 rather than the natural decrepitude of 60 murray fixed his penetrating eyes upon her and greeted with a coquettish qu ettish leer I 1 want to know your name he said my name Is mrs julia hall replied the old woman still grinning broadly just so remarked murray well who else lives here mrs halla for answer the old comans womans mouth opened and gave vent to a yell of maggie this call brought to the front a small sharp faced woman some ten ears younger that the active mrs hall the latest arrival smiled at her comrades and confronted the detec alve unabashed sit down ladles requested mur ray and the trio promptly responded by depositing their respective per sona on the coot ot the room what the interview was taking place the detective glanced around and observed that the chaet articles 0 furniture in the apartment were a cook stove a rough kitchen table and one shaky rocking chair you work out all night queried murray addressing mrs julia hall I 1 always am she replied coolly julia able to sleep nights broke in the second oldest of the trio adding by way of explanation I 1 m her friend mrs maggie carroll 1 I can only sleep daytimes assert ed the ancient scrub woman I 1 work or walk all night when she was young she had a fever and has been that way ever since volunteered mrs carroll murray much puzzled stood eyeing the three odd figures on the floor he questioned them as to their mode of life and mentioned the recent bur clarles gl arles but obtained no satisfaction they protested their innocense of any wrongdoing and maintained stoutly that they were only hardworking women murray sat down on the ven erable rocking chair to pursue his ex in comfort it gave way under him and he rolled upon the floor the kettle on the range struck by his |