Mississippi Outlaws and the Detectives: Don Pedro and the Detectives; Poisoner and the DetectivesPinkerton, Allan
History
Mississippi Outlaws and the Detectives: Don Pedro and the Detectives; Poisoner and the Detectives
Pinkerton, Allan
Detective and mystery stories; Detectives
Soon after the arrival of Robert with Levi Farrington, a man, named
David Towler, tried to get admission to Farrington's room. On being
denied, he was very insolent, and he insisted on seeing Farrington
alone. Finding that this would not be permitted, he went away cursing
the officers and swearing to be revenged. His actions naturally
attracted the attention of the police, and caused him to be regarded
with a great deal of suspicion, as a probable member of the Farrington
party of robbers. About eleven o'clock that night, a policeman, named
Benjamin Kline, discovered this man Towler with a drawn revolver,
skulking behind a car standing on the side track near the dépôt. He
immediately called for the railroad company's night watchman, and the
two approached the thief to arrest him. The man instantly shot Kline
through the lungs, and then shot Moran, the watchman. Kline's wound was
mortal, and he died in a few minutes, while Moran was supposed to be
fatally hurt also. The pistol-shots quickly drew a crowd, and a few
determined men gave chase to the murderer. After quite a long pursuit he
was captured, and brought back to the station where Kline had just died.
A justice of the peace held a preliminary examination at once, and the
prisoner, David Towler, was held for murder, without bail. He was known
to be a low, desperate fellow, who had been imprisoned for
horse-stealing and other kindred crimes, until he was regarded almost as
an outlaw. He had long lived near Reel's Foot Lake, and while there he
had become acquainted with the Farringtons. That their friendship was
more than that of two casual acquaintances was shown by an important
circumstance discovered by William. It will be remembered that when Levi
Farrington stopped in Cairo to send eight hundred dollars to his mother,
he purchased two of the largest-sized Smith & Wesson revolvers. They
were exact fac-similes of each other, and were numbered 1,278 and 1,279
respectively. At the time of Levi's arrest, only one of these revolvers
was found, and he said that he had given away the other to a friend,
retaining number 1,279 himself. When Towler was captured, William
happened to notice that his revolver was similar to the one Levi had
carried. This would have been nothing to be remarked under ordinary
circumstances, since there were, undoubtedly, many of these revolvers in
use, all exactly alike except in number; but William connected this man
Towler's appearance in Union City with the arrival of the express
robbers, and the new revolver caught his eye at once. On closely
examining it, his suspicions were fully confirmed: _it was numbered_
1,278, and was, without question, the mate to Levi's, bought by him in
Cairo and given to Towler.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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