Show The Incendiary 4 Greenwold is a rural township in which there is a little village a gristmill 11 a sawmill a pnpermill a small woolen factory and many farms It is largely a farming town in fact every autumn the farmers hold an agricultural fair in their enclosed fair grounds and the exhibits of of live stock and farm products are a credit to both farms and farmers As in many other rural towns in the East the people are generally related to each other either by marriages or blood relationship There wcn > at the time of the settlement of Green wold two fami lies the Marshalls and the Browns and even now fully half the entire population bear either one or the other of these names and far more than half are related to one or the other of these families An sel Marshall and his sons Hiram and Ephraim own what is considered the best farm in Greonwold The Browns though also farmers own the mill prop rty Of late the property jaB fallen into possession of five broth ers Calvin llolmeP John Stephen and Sumner Brown For more than half a century there has I existed in this town of Greenwold that ugliest and most disintegrating of all FO 1 cial elements a feud It lies between the I Browns and Marshalls it had its origin t years ago in a dispute about a fence line and has been perpetuated in annual an-nual quarrels about flowage on the small river which furnishes water power for the mill The Marshalls own the meadows and the Browns by the dam by which they secure their water power overflow the low lands much to the detriment of the Marshall hay crop There have been numerous lawsuits of Marshall versus Brown and Brown versus ver-sus Marshall resulting in heavy pecun iary losses to the two and much profit to the county lawyers and also much hard I feeling and sometimes S personal quarrels i between the irrate principals Such a feud breeds diftigerous rancor and the I I younger Browns and Marshalls appear to have inherited this malignant feeling i I The last lawsut occurred foul years ago It was Marshall versus Brown in that I I case I believe j aid the trial resulted in the decision that the dams of the Browns should be of a certain height whichas the flowages extended back for fie miles along the river and embraced a considerable consider-able lake connected with it greatly in jured the waterpower for the mills and the factory and in fact seriously damaged the Brown interests The meadows of the Marshalls were correspondingly enhanced in value and their barns overflowed with hay In factS fact-S they built four new barns in the course of the second year to hold their increased f I crops S The Browns greatly dissatisfied and HI enraged by the verdict became still more fl bitter in their feelings towards the Mar shalls and it was said that one of the younger men threatened to have revenge adequate to the injury done It was not very strange therefore that when during dur-ing October 1SS1 a barn and its contents belonging to the Marshall farn was I burned suspicion was excited that the fire was caused by an incendiary l i There was no evidence of it however 1 and the insurance was paid I In January following another barn belonging be-longing to the Marshalls was burned The fire broke out at 10 oclock one forenoon I fore-noon and the barn with six head of l I young cattle and eight or ten sheep was I I entirely consumed h 11 I This second fire naturally created moreS I more-S comment and excitement than the first i It was not however till a third barn S 4 and several outbuildings closely connected con-nected with the dwellinghouse of Ansel 1 I Marshall were burned in July following I that the public excitement took place in f public action A town eeting was called to see 1 I what the town would do about it cj j and as there were almost as many Brown voters as Marshall voters in town it is needless to say that the meeting I S was an exciting one The Brownsin good faith for the most part no doubt indignantly denied the insinuations of the JMarshalls and opposed any action on the part of the town A majority of the towns people however very properly prop-erly voted to have the matter investigated 1 investi-gated The selectmen were empowered to take such steps as they deemed best to ascertain the facts connected with the burning of the buildings i W Instead of offering a reward for the c i detection of the supposed incendiary as is I commonly done the selectmen two of I whom were Marshall men showed their good sense by making no public stir but I communicated secretly with a detective bureau in New York City They asked simply to have the incendiary tj incen-diary of the Marshall barns caught without with-out further reference to the Marshalls j and named a sum that would be paid for 1r i detection and conviction The bureau accepted the offer and so 1 it happened that the present writerand i l hence my knowledge of the casebeing I then in the service of the bureau was I f it r sent to Greenwold to see what would be I discovered relative to the burned bams I > For the time being I became a fruit t1 t 1 tree agent for a New York horticulturist 11 I and entering the town as such began I J taking orders for trees making thorough canvass of the place In four days I sold i l fifty dollars worth of fruittrees in Green wold I scarcely asked a single question p I I ques-tion about fires but picked up what information r in-formation respecting them I heard in the ordinary conversation of the towns It t t people The facts gathered were these in substance S sub-stance everybody believed that either Steve or sum Brown had set fire to t the barns but there was not the slightest evidence against them S Steve Brown was spoken of as a blustering blust-ering fellow It was he who was said to have made the threats against the Mar shalls Sum Brown was less talkative than Steve I sold him three Flemish S Beauty peartrees and a Gage plum 5 for his garden and I noticed that he was a very observant person I learned too that he filed the saws and usually attended o at-tended to repairing the machinery both < in the caidingmill and the gristmillS S gristmill-S > John and Holmes Brownwere older men rather hard and morose 1 thought and I S TIDssibl revengeful S learned further that Sum Brown had been absent from Greenwold at the time of the fires once in July buying wool for the factory and once in March buying corn in the Vest The Browns dealt in S Western corn at their mill fc A visit to the sits of the burned barns offered no clue to the source of the fires S There was possitively no clue by which an incendiary could be traced The case was one of indefinite suspicionone 5 which might require months of closeS > close-S study and constant watching for which the compensation was insufficient I could employ my own time more profitably profit-ably otherwise c r I 5 I thought it a good testjob for some J beginner however and I knew a youn I fellow named > Garrett Coulder who hap made applilatiUll to the bureau to be em 11 I haying a I 1 nloyed by it in some capacity 1 great wish to enter the detective service I Accordingly after making my report to chief on my return from Greenwold and our theuruiWrao business I suggested I P keeping the caeo and setting HRctU as S 9 i cnldd Wn > to work upon Tt I S ft IT r liJIWJi tI I Ret was sent for He was a vigorous I young fellow of 18 with I regret to say a I strong flavor of the gamin about him He had had all the advantages of a street education and not much Education of any otter sort indeed UuP > he had a quick eye was full of tact and might I fancied develop into a detective of the ferret I I order The service required was explained to i I him j and to stimulate his zeal 300 were I pr mis d in addition to his expenses if I I he detected the incendiary and procured his conviction He was advised to co to I Grcenwoldas a laborer with his bundle and if possible hire out in the employ of the Browns or failing that to get work on a farm near at hand He was bidden to report by letter to a given address every week Are wrote to the selectmen of the town counselling patience pa-tience and silence but not a jsoul in Grecnwold was made aware that was other than what he seemed to theme them-e communicated with our junior every week but more for the purpose of keeping him steadily at his work than anything else The reader may be able to imagine Ret going about the place with his ice creamn and peanuts and it is easy to imagine that Sum Brown came in for some close watching both by night amId amI-d dayThen Then for nearly a month his reports were simply monotonous but he did not get disheartened or disgusted nor did he loge his head and run into wild theories When he had nothing to report he said so Our chief grew hopeful Ret will catch those Greenwold firebugs he predicted pre-dicted Two weeks more passed then one day I was sent for to come to the city office in haste A telegram had come from Ret It said Come to Larchville station by first train Will meet you Larchville was ten miles from Green wold When in my former character of a fruittree agent I stepped off the train jit Larchville the following evening about the first person r saw was Ret whistling on the platform But I saw that his eyes snapped We walked away together and when at a safe distance from other ears he said Ketched Mm capn Whom I inquired That Sum Baown Sure I I Well I think so You see capn Ret continued Ive mistrusted him I ever since I paw his oldfashioned clocks with wooden wheels I didnt quite know why at first but I mistrusted sumthin3 an so I watched The fact is capn I watched that chap days nights too till after one cvry morning to see that he didnt leave his house without my knowin it Last Wednesday night about leven he slipped out his back door with sum thin under his arm It was cloudy and dark but I followed him and didnt lose sight of im though I kept back where he didnt see me I saw Mm cross the bridge an then he went up the river road on the other side of the stream fer two miles or more up ter that upper barn of Anse Marshalls the one that stands off from his buildins on the interval I saw Mm go round that bam an saw Mm crawl under the back end where it sets up off the ground five or six foot I thought he had a light under there but I aint sure fer I was some distance off in the alders After he had been under there a while he crawled out an went home homeWai Wai when I was sure that he went home I went back an got under the barn an I lay on some straw there till it got light a little Then I began to hunt round an byanby way back in one corner under lot of straw an stuff I found somethin which I reckon youd like ter have a look at capn So I crawled out an come straight over here to Larchville and telegraphed Then I went back to watch Sum Brown an I found that he had gone to Boston to be gone four days about wool his brother Steve said We could not procure a team at Larch ville and were compelled to walk to Greenwold after dark last night Toward morning we reached the Marshall bam and by the light of a little lantern which I had taken along inmy bag Ret brought gut from under a rubbish heap back in one corner an old soapbox within which was a clockwork arrangement of wooden wheels and a pendulum I With the exception of a few wires and a mainspring the whole was of wood A large wooden hammer was drawn back set evidently at the end of a certain fixed time to strike against the butt end of a large phosphorous match which was bound alongside of a file at such an angle that the stroke would be certain to strike fire Piled up beneath the point of the match were other matches a sponge soaked in kerosene and as much as a pound of pitch The contrivance spoke for itself You see capn said Ret grinning exultantly hes a cunnin chap He made his clock of wood so that itll burn up an leave no telltale wheels behind in the ashes An he sets it so it will run for a day or two while he goes off on business so if anybody accuses Mm he can prove a lulliby A what A lulliby or an alliby some kin of a by You know capn wot I mean Certainly Ret I said But what next Have you any plan for catching him with this machine in his hands Thats what you need to do to make a certain cer-tain thing of it Yes replied Ret That is unless you can tell me sumthin better Let me hear your scheme I said Val you see when I found his clock goin here the other night I jest stopped it jest as tis now so it wont go off Now when Sum Brown comes back an sees the barn isnt burnt hell think that it didnt strike fire an so will come round next night to know the reason We must be on hand to catch him while hes under here alookin at it I could think of no better or simpler plan Ret put the mischievous clock carefully back in the place where he had found it Brown did not return till the second day after We watched his house that night but he did not leave it either on that night or the next I surmised that he felt some little apprehension that his machine might have been discovered by the Marshalls and that the barn might be watched He took a ride along the riverroad past it the third afternoon after his return We had plenty of watching during all those nights At last on the fifth night Ret came hastily to my room at the hotel and said excitedly Browns gone out towards the barn We hurriedly followed and stealing up from the path along the river bank came to the rear of the barn a lantern was glimmering in the space underneath it and sure enough there was our wily Sum Brown with his clock in his hands he was resetting it The next moment we were upon him and had handcuffs on his wrists before he could even get up in the low space beneath be-neath the barn floor He was caught in the very act and after his first involuntary involun-tary exclamation said scarcely a word though he looked at both Ret and myself in no little amazement We took the miserable fellow away along with hig dangerous clock and rousing up the sheriff who lived in the village gove him into custon 1 S c = m The arraignment trial and conviction I of Brown for barnburning followed in due course He was sentenced to ten years in State prison Ret received his 300 He is still connected with the detective de-tective bureau There are some persons whose natural qualities are those of the fox and hound They are naturally keen i and love to follow and ferret out crime Such persons have their use in the community com-munity Still for good reasons I should prefer that a son of mine should not become be-come a detective |