Knots Untied; Or, Ways and By-ways in the Hidden Life of American DetectivesMcWatters, George S.
General
Knots Untied; Or, Ways and By-ways in the Hidden Life of American Detectives
McWatters, George S.
Detectives
"Talk about that when I come up," said I.
We went down the stairs--two flights--but to return. I opened the door,
the "stranger" gave the signal he had arranged with the rest of the
men, and eight stalwart, well-armed policemen were in the house, and
silently on their way up those stairs; the stranger fighting me, and
pulling me along up, making some noise, and more drunk than ever. "Our
friend won't go out," said I: "insists on staying."
"D--n him! _I'll put_ him out," said one. "No you won't," said the
stranger, drawing a pistol, and calling out to our followers, who were
just at our heels, "Come on, boys!" and there was a rush into that room
which startled every gambler to his feet, only to be throttled by a
policeman. There were six of the villains, including Collins, and the
policemen had no little trouble to silence them. The drunken stranger
immediately seized all the money on the table, notes and all, and
ordered the gamblers manacled on the spot, which was done. Payne then
told them his story (as I narrated before only in short), asked to have
his collaterals delivered up. In short, the gamblers were ready for
anything. The counterfeit money was in our hands, and the evidence
complete. Payne got all his notes back, which were at once put in the
grate and burned, and all his collaterals, his fifteen thousand dollars
of money, and was satisfied. But I was not; and a compromise was made
that on the delivering up of all the counterfeit money they had about
them the gang should give up the rooms and disperse, all but two of
them, one of whom was my man Blanchard, and another desperate scamp
whom the police wanted to answer to a charge of burglary in
Philadelphia. The safe was searched; all its counterfeit money given
up, and all the collaterals, with the names of parties who had pledged
them for gambling debts, were delivered into the police's hands. The
rest were then allowed to escape; but Blanchard, and Johnson (the
Philadelphia burglar), were ironed and taken to the tombs.
"Blanchard" was tried before the United States Court in due time, but
under another name, which, unfortunately for his respectable relatives,
became known as his proper one before the trial came on, and was sent
for five years to Sing Sing.
Johnson was, after due process of requisition by the governor of
Pennsylvania, on the governor of New York, taken to Philadelphia,
tried, and sent up for ten years.
In a short time after the breaking up of this gang proceedings were
taken to find the parties to whom the collaterals, other than Payne's,
belonged, in order to deliver them up. It took a good while to find and
surely identify them; and this delivery led to information regarding
various matters which needed the keenest detectives to unravel. I was
overrun with business, in consequence, for months after, incidents of
which I may think best to relate in other papers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account