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Show jr i rue ;; : Detective S lories ALLAN PINKERTON'S v S RECORD CASE ! CopyrUhl by Tho WneeK-r Syndicate, Inc. THERE was uo response to tho impatient knocking on the heavy doors of the Adams Express com-pany's com-pany's building near the end of the Columbus (O.) Union station, ono uight In the middle of winter. There stood the train, wltli the usual bustle and clumor preparatory to departure, but tho express clerk and his asslste ant hud not made their apiearance. Hung! Bung I Bang! This time John Grossman, the express ex-press messenger, knocked harder thun ever, for It was beginning to dawn upon him that something must bo wrong. A moment later he tried the knob of the door. To his amazement It turned easily and he stepped forward for-ward Into utter darkness, stumbling over boxes und packages until he reached the gus Jet In the center of the room. Papers and pureels lny In wild confusion all over the floor, the door of the safe stood open and tho clerk and his assistant were lying In one corner, In a sort of stupor. It was evident that the two men had been chloroformed the sickening odor of the drug still pervaded the room and thnt the company had been robbed, In spite of the fact that hundreds hun-dreds of people had been Just outside the building all during the evening. Theo circumstances, coupled with tha fact that $40,000 was missing from the safe, were all that Allan Tlnkerton had to work upon when he reached Columbus the following morning. The details of the robbery were obtained ob-tained directly from John Barker, tho express clerk. According to Barker, he and his assistant as-sistant were stretched out on two cots, as usual about ten o'clock In the evening, eve-ning, taking a nap before going on duty on the train which was due to leave Columbus shortly after midnight mid-night "I was awakened by what appeared to be a muffled pounding or pushing at the door," Barker continued. "Was the door locked?" inquired Pinkerton, "It was and bolted. I didn't pay any attention to the matter because, while we did have $72,000 in the safe $32,000 of It In revenue stamps we had often guarded a good deal more, and I thought the noise had been made by some one who had stumbled against the door In the darkness. dark-ness. Then, before I got really awake, I heard the bolt give, and the next thing I knew some one had pinioned my arms, and I caught a whiff of something which I recognized as chloroform. chlo-roform. I struggled, but it was no use. When I came to, Grossman, the messenger, was bending over me, and the whole place looked like a cyclone had struck it The $40,000 in cash was gone, but they had overlooked or deliberately left the $32,000 In stamps." Pinkerton made no comment at the time, but continued his examination of the room where the robbery had taken place. A careful scrutiny of the door revealed two interesting facts: The bolt had been bent, as if It had been In place when the door was forced, but It was bent far more than was necessary to secure an entrance en-trance to the room, and there were no scratches or other signs cf violence on the outside of the door. All the evidence appeared to point to the fact that the job had been handled from the inside, and Pinkerton Pinker-ton immediately ordered the arrest of Barker and his assistant. The two men protested their Innocence. Upon looking Into Barker's antecedents, ante-cedents, Pinkerton found that the express ex-press clerk had a brother living In Chicngo, a man who was reputed to be quite wealthy and whom Barker stated stat-ed would willingly go on his bail if permitted to do so. But the Chicago branch of the Pinkerton nger;cy reported re-ported that the other Barker n as not only not wealthy, but was prominent In the life of the underworld. "Where was this man on the night of the Columbus robbery 7' Allan Pinkerton Pink-erton Inquired by wire. "Unable to obtal definite Information," Informa-tion," came back the reply; "but he was not in Chicago." "Trail him closely, and arrest him the Instant he attempts to leave the city," were the telegraphic directions which followed. Early the following morning, less thnn 36 hours after the crime In Columbus, Co-lumbus, Henry Barker was arrested en route to Canada, and $14,000 was found in the lining of his valise. Later after having been given a taste of the famous Pinkerton "silence cure," he revealed the hiding place of the other $26,000 and the details of the whole affair, which he had claimed his brother broth-er had planned. The scheme was simplicity itself. John Barker had administered chloroform to his sleeping sleep-ing assistant Then he opened the outside out-side door, admitted his brother, and opened the safe. After strewing papers pa-pers all over the floor. Henry Barker placed a cloth saturated with chloroform chloro-form over his brother's nostrils, stuffed the cash In his pocket and left first bending back the bolt on the door. Unfortunately, Un-fortunately, however, he had been a little too thorough in attending to this last detail, and had left a clue which enabled Pinkerton to start the two men townrd the penltent'ary within with-in 4S hours after the discovery of the robbery. |