Show f oab to ev ER T MAY 0 A ak AM A r ff M ta little details overlooked h y criminals often lead to their undoing 0 some instances given I 1 HE most absorbing detective stories are based on the proposition ti that at a series of truthful events dovetail together with exact nicety while a fabricated story of similar events must always have a missing cog which with diligent search mill be discovered it Is beyond human ingenuity to construct a false story of a series of averils events and not make male a mistake prosecuting attorneys are always on the watch match for these lit tie tle openings that explode the false testimony nor are there lacking numerous examples of this thia situation in the dally daily court grind and in general police work mork A few days ago a merchant reported to the police that a large shipping case had been opened nearly in merchandise abstracted and the ase lase nailed shut again A police detective waa was letallec le to make an investigation of the theft he ile went over the ground with mith a department head and at the conclusion of his investigation had learned absolu absolutely tel nothing at a loss as to the next move he engaged the head shipping clerk in conversation the talk being relative to the mans trade the clerk an affable mechanic took tool pride in demonstrating the efficiency of his department he ile explained everything about the business and at last demonstrated the method of making boxes this was a new thing to the officer the boards were mere placed in position about a form of the dimension the finished box would be and with one movement nearly nails were automatically driven hame rhe box waa was thus made as quickly as a man could assemble the boards there being no time lost in tho the ii nailing alling process the detective looked over oner the machine that in one operation drove drone all the nails and got a hunch strolling back to the packing case that bad had been rifled of its contents he made a careful examination of the surface then for the first time in his experience as a detective he took stock of the fiction 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 marks N were ere made bv by a badly chipped hammer continuing his search the officer eventually found a hammer in the tool chest of a delivery delhery boys 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 lie 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 fol followed lomed the detectives would have had to investigate the entire force of employees N who nho ho had access to the basement the theft and sale had been entirely covered up and it was mias 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 cst demonstrated and the prosecuting attorney must en ever er 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 fires tires of more than 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 sue he ile had also concocted an alibi and proved by excellent witnesses that he had left home 24 hours prior to the fire the district at office while feeling that the tile man was lying could hardly refute the testimony of the witnesses produced it was not until the last day of 0 the trial that a member of the district attorney attorneys s office diR discovered covered that on the day the tile 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 hive taken that train the prisoner was mas convicted on this one circumstance A woman conducted an unprofitable apartment house venture en ture and planned for more than five months to destroy destro the property by fire she placed more than gallons of distillate and aa gasoline s oline in various vacant rooms in the house the place was mas a vertical bomb and had find it been fired it would mould have been blown to pieces with great loss 0 oi 1 I 1 fe on the night the fire was mas to have been started the woman opened a stopcock in the furnier room ps emitting 40 gallons of dir to escape into the room then she went ment to the top floor of the building for the purpose of overturning the miny cans calls 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 m who ho knowing the room to tube be unoccupied made an investigation and discovered the plot the ring and gang of arsonists fired the home of a AN wealthy aali hy fellow countryman but in arranging their plans spilled some of the liquid on their clothing when they struck a mitch to light the plow slow fuse that was mag to have exploded the bomb after their departure they were mere both horribly burned the men were mere given long prison terms but were mere rele ased on a technicality after serving two years of the sentence A jeweler desired to get a quick return on his insurance and planned a fire lie ile placed a gasoline bomb in a closet floated a lighted candle in the mixture and fled to a neighboring alt thereby y hoping to establish nn an alibi when he opened the front door of his its home to leave draught di aught vas sas cro ere buted binl the closet door blew shut lack of air extinguished the flame A police policeman ninn witnessed the flight of the je jeweler Neler and made an tion the fire lire trap was mas discovered and an tin officer went in n pursuit of the je jeweler Neler when apprehended the police searched the man miln find found on him his alre ur insurance policy on the envelopes envelope a were mere figures that later turned out to be an an fn invoice olce of the tile it stood and a computation of the p 1 ito 1 nerty as T tl i 0 k i f insurance indicating that the man anticipated a tat fat profit from the transaction A well known detective once overthrew an insurance fraud that was all but perfect in detail the fire was to all appearances an accident and there was lifts nothing on the surface to indicate fraud Not wIthstand ing the officer went into court to contest the claim tor 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 lie ile produced the entire remains of the fire in the form of ash and charred wood mood and convinced the jury that the fire was not only of an incendiary origin but that there was as nothing of value in the building the owners of the furniture had described aa a number of brass beds elaborate brass finished furniture dressers wardrobes robes trunks tables lamps and other metal bound articles the de teethe 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 ishike auls it was mus impossible to prove arson the insurance wag was never paid as insured fled the same night rancher robbery victim only a few weeks ago a Lanker shim rancher saved 2700 and sent a dishonest broker broiler to jail for a long term b bv breaking up the elaborate story of the accused the rancher drew the money from a local bank tor for the purpose of purchasing an additional dit ional pt piece ece of ground he ile went to his ills home to meet the agent and while awaiting his arrival worked ab about 0 ut 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 poat and hung it on a board at tit the well viell after a time he went ment to a nearby building to secure an additional section of pipe on his fits return the coat was on the ground the 0 money missing the rancher beard heard the muffled roar of an automobile driven drinen at a high rate of speed and rushing into the road saw a small machine disappearing in a cloud of dust the rancher believed he recognize ll the brokers automobile and going to a n telephone he notified the police and sheriffs sheriff a 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 coming down the road in an entirely different car than the one he usually rode the rancher formally welcomed the broker made a quiet statement of the robbery and then declared that he had recognized the thief lie ile did not mince words mord but openly accused the broker of the theft while the men were wrangling a deputy sheriff appeared the rancher was so positive in his identification of the broker as being the person that had fled that the deputy placed the man under arrest A search of the brokers safe revealed several suma sums of currency that totaled a little more than 2700 the broker fell back on the plea that there could be no identification of money unless it w m as marked or unless the numbers on the bills were produced nevertheless after a consultation between the rancher and a deputy district attorney a warrant was issued the money in the brokers broker a safe was seized placed in an envelope delope and marked evidence at the trial the rancher was nina unable to prove much ranch of a case cage on the broker the machine was wits one of several million of the same model he could not swear smear whether the broker was in the machine and he acknowledged that he did not have hae ha e the numbers of the lost currency then the broker was mas placed on the witness stand and endeavored daa deavo bored red to show that he was at a certain office at the very time of the robbery then by relatives he tried to show that the money in his safe had bad been del delivered hered to him in several sums at this point the district attorney called on several persons who uhn alleged they had bad paid him money in each instance they declared the money had been drawn draun either from a bank or had been secured on the dav day of delivery from another the district attorneys representative thenarose then arose and w mailing oer ov er to the accused broker broke the seal on the tile package of money held as eil evidence dence and holding it in front of the prisoner demanded if it there was mas any identifying mark on the currency nonplused Nonplus ed for the moment the man replied there was none turning to the rancher the deguti asked the same question yes there la Is a decided mark of identification on every ciery bill the man replied turning back to the broker the deputy gave gao him another opportunity to identity identify the mone and a third time appealed to him to know if there was as any way in which be he could es ouner ownership ship remember the rancher had not viewed the cur since it went into the hands of the deputy dic district trIet atto attorney aney the deputy then called on the cincher to identify the tho money I 1 if the bills in that pad pact age are mine the edges will mill bo be found smeared with mith red lead I 1 dropped the roll onto a splotch of the red lead while I 1 was mas working i on mv my windmill and after cleaning off as muth mu mut h of the stuff us as I 1 could I 1 put the money in a coat pocket letting the damp edges project out so they would dry that Is how this man pointing to the prisoner came to see the money the bills were mere examined and each one was found to have liae the telltale red mark along the edge marp more than that three uIt witnesses nesses caroo came forward to testify that they had observed traces of red on the broker s q hands on the day of his arrest and the brojir declared that he lie must ila leave e cut his hand he forgot the rain in a prepared meant to deceive quite as likely as not the impostor will overdo hn hi part and thus lead to exposure A youth with a serious charge hanging over his head managed to quite fog the issue of the cige ba h n cleverly prepared alibi two reputable but mistaken witnesses assisted him in an tin effort to find a point on which seize the district attorney permitted or rather v x ji V insisted on a complete detailed account of the roans mans 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 explained that in addition to having his boots polished he had 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 season raged not only on the day of the crime but on the days prior and following the witnesses were recalled and thea the also remembered that it t was mas a dusty blowfly da this so confused cont used the prisoner he lie made several other tits which in the end led to his its conviction A ranch hind accused of the wholesale theft of grain from the fields of california ranches declared that he was not in california until after the date of the alleged ill eged robbery he ile 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 don two weeks before the robbery and that the accused could not have described the trees except from personal knowledge his ills alibi upset the unfortunate ranch hand pleaded to turn states evidence and implicate what he lie was nas pleased to term the ringleaders ring leaders of an cit gang of grain thieves identify coin coln by perfume several weeks ago a woman oman dropped her purse conta containing inin m a large sum of money A child of tender bears picked up the valuable container and started to carry li it home two to men in an oil distributing 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 ouner of the money made a report to the police and also instituted a persona personal search she inquired all along the street in which the loss bad had occurred eventually embracing the tile ery iery child that had found the money the little tot immediately pointed out the two men who ullo 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 dental frightened the child police officers were mere summoned but b this time the child was nas thoroughly demoralized ani refused to identify the men declaring that ho he was not now certain to whom he had delivered the purse the owner omner of the money among other things declared the bills of currency could be identified it if located by their odor she explained that fol following lovIng her securing the currency from froni a bank she had purchased a bottle of perfume and that this bottle had been accidentally opened in her purse and the bills saturated ith 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 as supposed to have come luto 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 scan bed the oil station sniffing into every can and bos box in the place within a few moments after the search was nas instituted one of the |