My twenty-three years experience as a detective ...

Front matter

I

(:> ei/gi

(V

CHAPTER I Synopsis The contents of this book will be as follows

My first experience as a policeman, and after four years of service as a policeman, I was appointed to Chief of Detectives. How I came to be appointed. The rottenness of politics, both in the department and outside the department. The condition I ac¬ cepted the office, the different kinds of crime and how they are detected. The advice to girls and mothers. How so many girls go to the bad. My two years experience as Chief of Detectives, or Of¬ ficial Manager of the Wallace Circus. My experi¬ ence in politics. Advice to young girls and boys.

There will be nothing in this article that young boys and girls cannot read, in fact, it is an edu¬ cation for the young people. It exposes crimes of all kinds and shows the fatal ending of all crim¬ inals, for there never was a criminal that did not finally receive what was coming to him. It either ends in death or the penitentiary. The first part of this article will not be as interesting as the last part, for as I became better educated in crime and experience, the more proficient I became in the business, and the more large and tough cases I had to handle. About this time, I became mixed in politics, and at that time the police department was in politics. I could readily see what a curse it was to have political bosses coming to our police officers and threatening them by saying that they would get their job, as they stood in with the Mayor and council, if they pushed the case they had against so and so. I went one evening at roll call before the department and asked the boys to assist me in having a civil service bill passed by the legislature. The police appointed Sergant Thomas Denham, and myself and Denham put in two months . working with the legislature and the committee on cities and towns. Our bill finally came up and we found that we only had two majority if they all voted as they had agreed to. So the bill came up the next morning for passage and we won out by a two majority. This placed both the police and fire departments under civil service. They had to take their civil service examinations before the civil service commission, and then if they passed the ex¬ amination, and after twenty-two years of service, they were allowed to retire from active service on half the salary they were drawing at that time. The improvement in the department was something wonderful, for the boys could then say to the poli¬ ticians “You get out of here with your threats and promises, or I will arrest you, and put a charge against you of interferring with an officer in his official business." And after the boys knew that their jobs were only dependent on their good ser¬ vice to the department and to the city, we soon cleaned the city up, and had as clean a city as there was anywhere in the country for the size of it and as good a police department. I also explained the Bertillion system of measurements, how we meas¬ ure criminals, and take their Bertillion measure¬ ments. Now, my dear readers, I will proceed to give you my history from the time I was born.

CHAPTER II Historical

I was born in Nicolet County, Minnesota, in 1859, and at one A. M. on the 13 th day of March, in a little log hut that father built himself, it was lo¬ cated in the heavy timber along the Minnesota River. Father having taken up a claim from the Government which contained twenty-two hundred sugar trees, of which we used to make a great deal of maple syrup and maple sugar. In 1861 when the war of the rebellion broke out, the Indians of the country, especially the Sioux and Black Hawks, the Chief of the Sioux, old Sitting Bull, used to have a camping ground right in our timber, and there has been as high as five thousand Indians camped there at once. My mother at one time while they were camped there. Sitting Bull's son was taken very sick. My mother, who was a very good cook used to fix up different kind of dishes of food and take out to him. And by so doing she made a great friend of Sitting Bull. After the draft had passed, and they were drafting all the able-bodied men of Minnesota in the war, the Indians made up their minds they would massacre those who were left and take back their lands that had been taken from them by the Government. At the same time Sitting Bull sent one of his friends to my mother, and no¬ tified her that they were going to massacre all the whites in the country and for us to get our things together and get out of the country as fast as pos¬ sible. We immediately hitched up two ox teams we had two wagons, loaded them with all the goods we could and started tcx Iowa.

We crossed what was then known as the big Prairie and were about half way across the same, and we could see the fires burning, for the Indians had massacred the people and set fire to the buildings. We finally got through Minnesota and over into Iowa, and we came on through Des Moines, Iowa. I was then two years and three months old at the time of our arrival in Des Moines. I started to school in the old brick building known at that time as the first ward school. About that time, or a little later, Wm. E. Mason, the ex-Senator from Illinois took charge of the school, and kept charge of it for five years. And I want to say right now that I learned more from the honorable Wm. E. Mason in that period of time than I learned all the rest of the time of my school life. Mason afterward re¬ signed, went with Palmer and Withrow into their law office, and studied law with them until Withrow went to Chicago and Mason went with him, and became one of the brightest attorneys in Chicago. He was first elected to the House from Illinois, and then to the Senate. This position he was holding at the time of his death. At the age of 10 I was appointed the janitor of the schoolhouse by St. John who was treasurer. I held that position until a woman by the name of Dugan was appointed as teacher. She was one of these red-headed school marms who always had their pets, and to whom the other scholars had to knuckle or have a row. I would always prefer the row rather than to knuckle to anybody. Those days the seats of the school house were the desk for those behind and the seat for the one in front.

So that a scholar when writing, if the one who sat in front wanted to be mean, he could shake the desk and make the one behind ruin their copy-book. There were two pets of Miss Dugan, who were sitting in the seat in front of me, and had been shaking the seat a great deal during the twenty minutes we had for writing. I went to the teacher and told her and she said that she guessed the girls who were in front would not hurt me if I did not bother them. The next day they tried the same thing over, I got very mad, packed up my books and left school. I went over to see Mr. St. John about the matter the next day, he wanted me to go back to school, but I said “No, Mr. St. John, not as long as that red¬ headed cat is teaching. But I would like to hold my position as janitor for awhile anyway. 1 ' He said that was alright that I could hold the posi¬ tion as long as I wanted to, as I had done very good work and given satisfaction to the Board of Education. I was almost ready to graduate into High School when this trouble came up, and I quit school and went into the express business. I stayed in that about fifteen years, after first getting started, I took my brother and father in with me, and we worked the business up until we had altogether fifteen wagons between the express \and transfer business together. I then sold my interest to my brother and father, and went into the police de¬ partment under Mayor Campbell. I served four years as patrolman, ten years as Chief, and seven years as a member of the detective department.

I then had some trouble with the democratic mayor who had just been elected and went off the depart¬ ment for two years, coming back again under Mayor James Brenton. I then stayed on the department until John Hammery was elected a member of the public safety department. The first morning after the election of Hammery, he came into my office, and said he had made up his mind to put another man in my place as Chief of Detectives, said he knew I had a right to fight the case before the po¬ lice Commissioners, but if I did he would make it so hot for me around the headquarters that I would wish I was never born. And knowing what a dirty cur he was, I concluded after having talked the mat¬ ter over with my wife that I would drop into the department and let the Chiefship go. But that did not stop him, he kept on for several weeks trying to make me so angry that I would resign, and I finally made up my mind that it was going to be a case of kill Hammery or resign from the department. And not wanting my name up as a murderer of his calibre, I went into the office one morning and sat down and tendered my resignation in writing. I took it into Hammery and said “And now, you dirty dog, I suppose you are satisfied, here is my resignation.” I then says to him “Now Hammery it is six weeks more to election, and I’ll tell you what I am going to do, I am going to put in that six weeks both day and night, trying to beat you for a second term, so you can make up your mind that I am after you from now on.”

About four weeks after John discovered that I was putting in some pretty hard blows which were liable to defeat him. So he said “Now Mac, if you will let upon me, I will come out in an article in the paper, stating this was a put-up job on you for the purpose of getting you to resign. I will explain the whole case to the public and clear you of all charges.” I says to him “You dirty cur, you come out in the paper beforehand and square me with the public and then come to me and talk, but not until then.” But he did not do it, so I kept on working day and night until election day, and we beat him about eighteen hundred votes. I then went to work for the P. F. Collier Publishing Company of New York and worked for them for seven years selling their books and magazines. I then after doing some careful figuring made up my mind to go over to the Capitol Extension Co., of the Capitol grounds enlarging the grounds. They had bought about thirteen blocks to extend the Capitol grounds, in a thickly settled residence part of the city. When I got over they had sold everything except five brick apartment houses. I asked the superintendent what he would take for the five. He figured up and said “Twenty-five hundred dollars.” I says “No, I’ll give you eighteen hundred dollars as they are, and will tear them down and remove them at once.” He said “They are yours.” So I then asked him if he would turn over the men to me that had done all the wrecking. He said he would and we went up where the men were working and called them over to us, and said, ’‘Men, you are all working for Mr.

McNutt from this time on.” The men all said alright as long as they got the same salary as the state was paying them. I knew they were exper¬ ienced men at the business, so we went to work the next morning wrecking the brick flats. I gave them instructions to take the woodwork all off and tie it up in packages, mark them what room they belonged in and place the doors and windows with the parcels so that when I got them over where I in¬ tended to build all I had to do was to sort the wood¬ work out for each room, as I had built the brick work the same size rooms, halls and everything that they were in the old building that was torn down. The woodwork was in good condition and so was the brick. So that all they had to do was to open the packages marked for each room and nail the woodwork in its place, being all fitted and every¬ thing ready to go in the room. We left the locks and doorknobs right on the doors, and all they had to do was to put the windows in the frames and the room was completed. I got a hundred and seventy-five thousand brick out of the five flats, and only lost about ten thousand out of the whole thing. I bought about fifty thousand, or I should say a hundred and fifty thousand from the Barber Asphalt and Brick Co. I used all the new brick for the front and the old brick which was nearly all paving brick I used for the side walls, partitions, etc., so I got the flats built for about half of what it would cost me by buying new brick and lumber and putting them all up new. And you could not tell them from new after they were fin¬ ished. They cost me only about thirty-five thou¬ sand dollars. In the meantime I had gone to the Central Trust Co., of Des Moines to get a loan of fourteen thousand, they persuaded me to take a tem¬ porary loan of six thousand and when I had the buildings inclosed they would make the loan four¬ teen thousand permanent for ten years at six per cent. I had enclosed the buildings about three days before the temporary loan was due. Scott Rawson who was president of the Central Trust Co. had made up his mind he was going to get the flats for six thousand dollars. So he refused to make the permanent loan and three days after started fore¬ closure on the temporary loan. It was just at the time during the war when you could hardly bor¬ row money at any price. I went to the National

Fire Insurance Co., of Iowa, and asked them for a loan of twenty-four thousand, and they said they would go up and look at the property that day, which they did, and they said to me the next morn¬ ing they did not hardly think that would be enough to pay off the Central Trust Co. claim and finish them up. So they said we have made up our minds to let you have twenty-eight thousand and we know that will be enough to finish them up. In the meantime Rawson had gone into court under fore¬ closure, thrown it in the hands of the receiver, and had himself appointed receiver. He had started to finish the flats, he went and hired the same man whom I had fired for stealing plumbing goods from the building. The two of them had run up a bill of over five thousand dollars, and had not done over one thousand dollars worth of work. The court, as usual, allowed all the bills they put in. They had allowed Rawson’s attorney seven hundred dollars as attorney’s fee, for which he had not done over one hundred dollars worth of work on the whole transaction. Other bills that Rawson had made while acting as receiver which totaled fourteen thousand dollars included the temporary mortgage. I got Rawson and went down to the fire insurance office, and ordered them to pay him fourteen thousand dollars, which they did, and I went on and finished up the flats, and paid all the bills I could out of the other fourteen thousand. At that time I was about all in on money so a party made me an offer of thirty-five thousand dollars, for the apartments, which contained fifteen apart¬ ments, with from four to five rooms in each apart¬ ment.

I had to take a farm in Wisconsin of three hundred and twenty acres and one in Texas of one hundred and sixty acres and one in South Dakota of eighty acres. I had to let them go for what I could get, which was a very small amount, and all were incumbered. I went to Wisconsin and the party there had threatened foreclosure and offered me five hundred dollars or they would foreclose their mortgage, and being out of money at that time I had to let it go. I had to sell the Texas farm for eight hundred, and the South Dakota farm, I onlv got five fifty for. About a year after that the party who had bought the flats sold them for ninety thou¬ sand dollars. I owned my residence property which was an eight room, all modern, and worth seven thousand dollars. I also owned a cottage next door, five room, value four thousand. I owned the two lots just south of the flats which I had been offered two thousand for. I also owned three houses and lots in Kansas City, one on Thirty-ninth, west of Woodland Ave., value forty-five hundred. I owned one on Howard Street, just off Prospect Avenue and eight rooms all modern valued at six thousand. I owned a seven room bungalow, with two sleeping porches, on Thirty-third and the Paseo, which was valued at eight thousand. Of course there were encumbrances on most all this property but I thought at the time that I could pull through and still think so if it had not been for Scott Rawson and the Cen¬ tral Trust Co. I sold my home property for fif¬ ty-five hundred, took that and bought the Newport Pool and Billiard Hall at 412 W.

Locust. I took a few hundred dollars and painted and papered, re¬ covered the tables, and had one of the best pool and billiard halls in the city for its size. I bought that from one Ralph Weimer who guaranteed me that all bills were paid and that he did not owe anything on the place. I later discovered that there was over fourteen hundred dollars in bills against the place. I went to him and demanded that he pay those bills at once or I would prosecute him. In the mean¬ time I was doing my business under my oldest daughter’s name. My attorney who had been doing business for me for some time was also Weimer's attorney, and he and Weimer got their heads togethcr and concocted a scheme whereby they could get a half interest in the pool hall. They telephoned my daughter one day to come immediately over to the lawyer’s office and not to say anything to me about coming. She immediately dressed herself and went over to the lawyer's office and Weimer and his lawyer were there waiting. Weimer told her he had the drop on me and could send me to the penitentiary and would do so if she did not give him a half interest in the billiard hall, and it scared her almost to death to think that I might have t^ go to the penitentiary, so she told him that she would sign it over. This happened just before dinner, and after dinner, I had just started out to pay three hundred and seventy-five dollars worth of bills that I owed, when I came back Weimer was in there and had possession, and said that my daughter had signed a half interest over to him and was to pay him a salary of twenty-five dollars a week for running the place.

I was about the sickest man you ever saw, I always kept a gun in the cashdrawer, I start¬ ed in and went behind the bar to get my gun, and Weimer had stole that out. If I had gotten it I would surely have killed him on the spot. Knowing that if I left the place it might be to my disadvan¬ tage when we came to court, so I called up my attorney on the telephone and asked him what I had better do. Well, he said it was too late now to get hold of the court and that I might just as well go on home and wait until morning. So I went home and sat down to think of the best way out, and finally made up my mind that there was only one thing to do, that was to throw the business in the hands of the receivers and have the court appoint a friend of mine as the receiver. My attorney and I went up to the Sheriff's office to get a warrant to serve for Weimer's arrest. The Sheriff refused to serve the warrant that night but said that he would the next morning. The next morning we insisted on him serving it at once and finally did serve it, ar¬ rested Weimer and took him to the courthouse and while Weimer was there the new receiver took pos¬ session. Weimer was a gambler and was running a gambling house over the pool hall at the time I bought it. My lease, by the way, covered the whole building including the basement. Weimer offered me a hundred dollars a month for the upstairs room he was then occupying. I had furnished a room for myself up over the billiard hall and was out of town one day, and when I came back the furniture I had bought from Davidson Bros, on the install¬ ment plan had all been removed from the room, I immediately went down to Davidson Bros, and de¬ manded to know what they had done with the furniture and they said Weimer had come down there and ordered them to come and get it and take it out of his room which they did and took it to their warehouse. I then served notice on them to either return the furniture or pay me back what I had paid on it or I would immediately have them arrested. They had broke the lock on the door to get in, and had laid themselves liable for so doing. So Davidson agreed to give me credit for the amount I had paid on the furniture and also twenty-five dollars for my trouble. They left the furniture that I had bought placed in the room and my trunk, etc., so I had to go to a hotel and get me a room. I stayed there and worried and fussed until my legs gave out and I then packed my grip and came on to K. C. I was laid up for some time with my legs and after I got some better I went to work for the Westlands Photograph Co. I worked for them up to December of last year. I then was laid up until April of this year, when I went to work for the B-R Electric Co. for whom I am still working.

I was married June 27th, 1880, to Miss Susie Shunk at 605 Des Moines Street and was at that time in the Fruit and Confectionery business on

My Twenty-three Years"

East 5th and Locust St. I had a lease on the build¬ ing for 2 years and when the lease ran out the owner refused to release me the room for the reason that they had made plans to build a five story brick building and I had to move in a place at that time that proved to be no good on. East 4th and Walnut where the Northwestern Hotel now stands. The hotel is run by Otto Starsinger and is a very good place to stop. I then went back into the ex¬ press and transfer business. Previous to our mar¬ riage I had learned the printer’s trade. I was with Thomas Orwig of the Des Moines Daily Bulletin. Wills & Co., job printers, and the Des Moines Daily Bulletin but the business did not agree with my health and I went to work outside in the open air. I stayed in the express and transfer business until I went on to the Police Department. My wife and I raised a family of five children, Eva, Ernest, Blanche and the youngest were twins, Hattie and Hazel. The twins looked so much alike nobody could tell them apart. I gave all my children a good education, three of them on to the stage. The boy started out as advance man for the Wilbur Kierwin Opera Company about the time Dr. Rucker who had located his show at the Capital City Opera House. Joe Connelly was manager of the opera house. The Doctor always gave one amateur night a week and sent for me to come out and I went and he says, “McNutt, I understand you have a couple of twins that have the reputation of being real clever and I want you to let them go on tonight at the amateur contest, we are giving tonight a thirty seven piece silver set and from what I have heard of them, I believe they can win it.” The girls had been on at the amateur's contest a short time before and had made such a big hit they were the talk of the town. The girls went on and the rules of the contest were that the winners were to be left to a vote of the house and when the vote was announced, it was unanimous in favor of the twins. A short time after that the Doctor went with his show to Minneapolis and he wired me to send the girls and he would start them in at $50.00 a week. They were then only 14 years old.

So I had an aunt living there and the girls went direct to my aunt, in fact, I went with them my¬ self to Minneapolis and the Doctor and his wife said they would look after them around the thea¬ ter and treat them the same as if they were their own children and they did. The girls had always been crazy to go to work at Ingersoll Park which was run by the Des Moines St. R. R. and Fred Buchanan who afterwards owned the Buchanan Cir¬ cus. Fred had his circuit on the Orpheum Circuit and he had at this time a black face team that had been suddenly called to New York on account of sick¬ ness of their mother and he wired the girls to come on and he would give them two weeks at Ingersoll Park at $100.00 per week and the girls came on and made good the first night and the first Sunday they were on the Jack Hoffler show was in the city and they all went out to the Park to see the show and when the girls’ turn came they received a very hearty welcome and before they were through Hoeffler turned to me and says, “Mac, I want those girls with me this winter,” and says “How much do you want per week for them?” I says ”$75.00 and you and your wife agress to look after them.” Mrs. Hoeffler spoke up and says, “Mr. McNutt, I will take as good care of them as if they were my own girls so you do not need to worry about them while they are with us as they will be in good hands.” So he told me to have them come to Webb City, Missouri the next week. So I took them down and we arrived there just in time for supper and the girls were all the attraction. They looked so much alike that no one could tell them apart. There was only 1 -4 of an inch difference in their height and

1-2 pound difference in weight. It used to keep my wife and myself busy to tell them apart and a stranger had no chance at all. The leading man says, “I have them now,” and I says, “I will bet you a box of candy for the ladies that you cannot tell them apart.” He said, "I will take the bet.” So I took the girls out in the hall and then came back with one of them and he said “That is Hattie.” He says, “I know better, you fool me. Hattie has a mole on her right cheek.” So I called Hazel in and says, “Hazel, show the gentleman the mole on your cheek” and she had one in the same place. “Well,” he says, “I give it up, you win. I will buy the candy.” And he did. The next morning the girls wanted to see Joplin which was only about 7 miles from Webb City so I took them over to Joplin and the Interurban runs over there so we went over and the first thing we knew we run into a big bunch from Des Moines. They owned several large mines. I introduced the girls and says, “Boys, better come over and see the show we have one of the best on the road, and besides I want you to see the girls work out.” So that evening they chartered two of those big interurban cars and packed them with their friends and when the show opened they were turning them away and when the girls came on with their stunt, I thought the crowd would tear the house down and the girls got four encores and then the crowd tried to get them back again and after the show Hoeffler says, “Well, Mac, you have got the best sister team in the coun¬ try. The reception they got last night was won¬ derful. I never saw anything like it before. They are certainly wonders,” and they worked that sea¬ son for Hoeffler and the next season Sport North came to me and says, “Mac, I want those girls next season,” and I says, “Sport, it will cost you $100.00 per week.” He said that was alright he would pay it and for me to come to the hotel that afternoon and he would have a contract ready for me and after dinner we both signed the contract. The girls stayed with Sport five years and after closing with Sport, my son went with the girls and they were together for three years in vaudeville.