| Show the ruse that worked stories of the greatest cases in the career of thomas furlong the famous railroad detective told by himself copyright by W 0 41 h Z ord Z WOULD YOU MIND MY STANDING BY YOUR BOILER TO GET WARMED the ruse which I 1 am about to describe was perpetrated by me at the time when I 1 was chief of police of oil city pa and resulted in the apprehension of an anonymous letter writer the case was more serious than that however for the property of a number of men valued at several hundred thousand dollars and the lives of an entire city as well were imperiled one cold winter morning in the month of february I 1 received a visit from a gentleman named sam ackert mr ackert was well known in the district being the owner cf a large oil lease on the towles farm as it was called situated upon the P plummer I 1 ummer road to the northeast of oil city and in venango county mr ackert was considered to be at that time one of the largest oil operators in the district he was operating from twelve to fifteen oil wells all of which were producing large quantities of oil some of it was wa B being pumped while others were f owing flowing wells one of the latter kind was producing as much as four hundred barrels a day and at that time crude oil was selling at the well tor for about eight dollars a barrel ackert employed a large number of men to attend to the wells and to look after his bis general interests some of 0 these men were employed as engineers gi gin edre being generally ge known in the oil regions as bumpers pum pers to operate each well two of these bumpers s were required each man working f tor or 12 hours at a stretch their work was divided into watches and men who were so employed usually lived in houses or shanties adjacent to the wells at which they were employed emp loyeL the cause of mr Ac kerts visit to me was that some months previously he baa received a threatening letter in his hib mail it stated that unless he be would discharge his superintendent a man named joseph sullivan and thoroughly competent and trustworthy the property would be destroyed by fire or b by y other methods mr ackert paid no attention to this letter which was followed lu in the course of time by three others of the same threatening character each one being anonymous and each demanding the discharge ot of the superintendent sullivan the three letters followed each other at intervals of four or five days A As sullivan sulivan was not only a competent man but thoroughly reliable and at af good character as well mr ackert paid no attention to these letters but laid them aside in his desk A short time after the receipt of the wt last anonymous letter ono of mr air ack erve erts oil tanks containing at tho the time from four to five bi hundred indred barrels of crude oil was emptied one night at a time between midnight and daylight by some person who had gone to the tank and opening what was known as the lower faucet this faucet which was two inches in diameter entered the tank at a point about six inches above the bottom it was placed there for the purpose of drawing oft off the salt water at the bottom of the oil all oil wells in that locality which did not flow but were operated by pumping produced a certain percentage of salt water which came up with the oil out of the ground salt water being heavier than oil it immediately settled to the bottom of the tank and for this reason when the tank had become nearly filled with the mixture it was the duty of the men employed as bumpers to open the salt water faucet at the bottom of the tank and let the salt water escape through it the oil thus settling down and making room tor for a fresh influx above on the night when this tank was emptied in the manner described there was about three feet of snow on the ground the weather was cold and the snow enow had been heaped up around the tank by the wind so that it was piled about four feet above the salt water faucet at the bottom the constant drawing off of the salt water had thoroughly saturated the ground for a space of two arthree or three feet under the faucet and the g ground round was waa soft and muddy since rated earth would not freeze on account of the large quantities of salt aalt which had bad intermingled with the dirt salt and snow form a muddy slush which does not harden when the faucet was opened the salt water ran out followed by the total contents of oil within the tank amounting as has been stated to tour four or five hundred barrels this oil which was highly inflammable even in its crude state ran down into a ravine which was thickly dotted with oll oil wells partly belonging to mr ackert and partly to other producers for the distance of more th than an a mile had this stream in the course of its journey reached any of the fires that were under the boilers of the pumping stations it would instantly have been converted into a fiery river carrying destruction all along the mile of its course destroying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property 4 and probably sacrificing many lives mr ackert called calle d upon me on an the morning after this occurrence 1 I have not the slightest idea who was dastardly enough to commit this malicious act he be said 1 I am not aware that 1 I have an enemy on earth he begged me to use kit all possible ef efforts to discover who the person was and to bring him to justice ile he then told of haverl having received the anonymous nou letters which he be laid before me vat I 1 nt once perceived that they were all written upon the same brandhof brand of paper in a legible and pen manlike mannex manner ind and evidently by the same hand and pen dy by the end of th the third day of my investigations I 1 had bit upon a clue joseph sullivan the superintendent had employed two engineers whose names were george and henry book george was a young man married and living in a cottage on the loused leased property near the well henry his brother was single and lived with george and his wife they were both employed on the same well as pump ers george who was employed on the day watch was considered a very good engineer and a reliable man while his bis younger brother henry though known to tie b e competent and energetic er was not nearly so reliable he had been found asleep while on duty by superintendent sullivan on various occasions tor for which he was several times reprimanded and finally discharged from the service tt it was subsequent to his discharge that mr ackert had received the first of the anonymous letters in addition to the attempt to destroy property or at any rate to the draining oft off of mr air Ac kerts tank there had been the theft of oil well tools and other material on the ackert and adjacent leases this corroborated the supposition that the perpetrator of these acts was familiar with that portion of the oil territory in fact everything pointed to henry book as the guilty man being familiar with the manner in which oil leases were operated I 1 donned the suit of an oil driller consisting of overalls spattered over with sand pum pings which gives the wearer the general appearance of a thus equipped I 1 set forth on a cold night in february the thermometer at the time standing below zero my objective was the pumping house of a well where I 1 knew george book would be on duty until midnight when en he would retire to be succeeded by the tha man who had taken the position formerly held by his bis brother henry before making my way from oil city to the ackert aror property arty I 1 visited a meat market in the town where I 1 asked for five cents worth of liver theres a at that seems to have adopted me I 1 explained to the meat market owner she stays round my place and cries for food regularly at meal times and so I 1 guess its up to me to see that she gets it having planked blanked down my nickel I 1 received the chunk of liver which the proprietor cut off and wrapped up in a piece of paper I 1 took it around the corner comer where I 1 made further inroads into it with my jackknife A small slice I 1 placed in the hollow of my right hand I 1 then cut a thin piece and spread it on the back of the ahe same hand which I 1 afterward tightly bandaged with a piece of white muslin the liver soiled the tightly drawn bandage which gave the appearance pe arance of a wound extremely inflamed and sore I 1 then tied two handkerchiefs together and improvised a sling in which I 1 could put my iny right hand at the right time so equipped I 1 left oil city passing unrecognized through the streets by reason of my costume and walked through the darkness e and bitter cold to th the pumping house on the ackert property where I 1 arrived a few minutes after nine in the evening inside the pumping house george book was seated alone in a large easy chair close to the boiler which was fired and well lighted with natural gas and was waa kept warm and neat he was reading a novel when I 1 entered T the he engine house was located only a few feet off the main road that ran between oil city and the neighboring town of plummer and it was not an unusual thing tor for oil men or any other men for the matter of that to stop at the door while passing to get a drink or to warm themselves especially on a february night with zero temperature book looking up from his book was consequently not in the least surprised to see another of his fraternity as he imagined me to be standing at the door at that hour in the evening would you mind my standing by your boiler to get warmed I 1 asked not a bit responded george book its mighty cold outside and ill be glad of your company where do you work he continued eyeing me closely and a little suspiciously at first 1 I have been working on the foster farm I 1 replied naming a property which was situated on the allegheny river about fifteen miles southwest of oil city how did you get burtt hurt asked aske d book immediately afterward observing the bandaged hand which I 1 had bad slipped into the sling just before entering the pumping house I 1 muttered something inaudibly and stood nearer to the boiler after a period of silence I 1 said in a slow manner as a man uses wh who 0 is about to reveal a confidence you have been mighty kind in allowing me to get warm niara in fi front of your boiler and you look to me like you would not get a fellow into trouble by giving him away so I 1 will tell you all about it you see I 1 continued 1 I am a driller and I 1 was working under tinder a superintendent we had bad some trouble e over a girt girl and he be had bad a gun he shot me through the hand with that I 1 pulled my hand 0 out ut of the sling and showed him the bandage to which the liver adhering had bad given a hideously stained appearance while the liver itself looked like a chunk of raw and quivering flesh gracious youve got an awful hand there said george book looking at the liver and the bandage and shuddering you ought to have it attended to at once im going to have it attended to when I 1 reach petroleum center I 1 answered 1 I dont want to stop on themay th eway either because of the other fellow I 1 shot him but I 1 dont know whether he is dead or not in fact I 1 wait to see I 1 left immediately he dropped and have walked the entire distance only stopping long enough to get a cup of coffee at the eating house in the oil city depot books sympathy was now fully aroused for he was really a fellow you must be awful hungry he said I 1 rm za NOW em dl D l 4 zi Z i THERES A PET CAT THAT SEEMS TO HAVE ADOPTED ME 10 1 X f kl EACH DEMANDED THE DISCHARGE OF THE superintendent not very I 1 answered 1 I 1 have so some me good friends at petroleum center who will feed me and look after me and keep me under cover while the police are searching for me and I 1 guess they will get a doctor too what Is worrying me most just now is that I 1 cannot write with my left hand band and I 1 want to write a letter you see my folks live at fort erie canada which Is just across the niagara river opposite buffalo I 1 have been saving caving my money and sending it to my people at fort jerle erie and they have it all deposited la ia a bank at buffalo to my credit I 1 have several hundred dollars there and it if I 1 could only write a letter tonight and mail it on the early morning train tomorrow morning it would reach fort erie tomorrow night my aly friends could then send me all the money I 1 need which I 1 would receive the day after tomorrow at petroleum center george book was thoroughly taken off guard 1 I am a pretty good penman and would be glad to write the lette sr r you he answered this as a matter of fact I 1 knew already tor for I 1 had learned that george book was a good scholar having been a country school teacher some years before in his native county crawford county pennsylvania he was also considered an extra good penman at the same time it was on henry and not on george that the suspicion had naturally fallen george book excused himself and went to his house which stood nearby returning in a few minutes with letter paper envelopes and a big lunch for two including a pot of coffee we ate the lunch together and then I 1 produced cigars from my pocket and we lit up after we had bad finished george book started to write the letter at my dictation in dictating this I 1 used as many words as I 1 could which had been used in the anonymous letters with whose contenta conten tn tu I 1 of course thoroughly familiarized myself I 1 at once perceived that georgs georga book was using the same quality of paper as that upon which all the anonymous letters had been written and in consequence did not make my letter very long I 1 also perceived before three lines had been set down that he used the same handwriting the same kind kina of ink and in all probability the same pen as had been used previously it was now obvious that the letters had been written by george whether or not he had drawn the oil out of the tank had still to be shown and that was the nacre mere serious offense by tar far when the letter had been written book addressed the envelope the missive and sealed and stamped it apparently profusely grateful I 1 thanked him and departed in the direction of petroleum center but in reality toward oil city which I 1 reached early the following morning after I 1 had bad set out during the course of the forenoon 1 I submitted the dictated letter which I 1 had taken away as though to post it with the anonymous letters which had been sent to mr ackert to a writing expert who was connected with the first national bink bank of oil city its he compared the four and said without hesitation that they had all been written by the same person that afternoon I 1 went back to the ackert lease knowing that george book would bo be off duty and in bed and that in consequence there would be no probability of my meeting III nina approaching the emptied tank I 1 care car fully shoveled the snow from around the salt water faucet and when I 1 got down to the muddy ground I 1 found very distinct traces of a no 8 boot the boots had been very recently ball bait soled and the shoemaker who bad made the repairs had bad placed tareo nails in a row across the center ot of the half sole as his trade marl mark and sign manual returning to oil city I 1 made diligent inquiries among the shoemakers of the town there was not a large number of men who did repair work of the rough and ready type which was required by the men employed in the oil leases and after a short investigation vesti gation the man who had soled the shoes was discovered ile he at once remembered having repaired a pair ot of shoes for henry boole book a couple ot at days before the oil tank had bad been emptied I 1 it developed then that both 00 brothers were in the conspiracy the one having written the letters and the other having acted upon the threat contained in them undoubtedly george book had been more or less asb a tool in his brothers hands tor for |
