Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1916 — Page 2

This story throbs with realism In the word’s narrowept meaning. It is a faithful rendering of an authentic ence in the career of a high official of a detective agency whose name is a household word throughout the Englishspeaking world. Real names of persons and places are sometimes disguised. In all other respects the amazing, often thrilling, always gripping facts are recorded just as they happened.

"A million and a half.” observed Felix Hazard. “That is a whole lot of money." "Huh!” grunted the fat, heavyJowled man who sat glowering at him through a pair of gold-rimmed noseglasses. “A whole lot more than the Transcontinental Express company can afford to lose, let me tell you." Hazard’s lean, intense visage was frankly incredulous. He glanced at the inscrutable countenance of his burly chief (the four were in the latter’s room at the Sutherland Detective agency), and then at the fourth member of the party—a young man, tall, slender, very fair and anemic looking, and fastidiously attired. “A million and a half,” repeated Hazard. "Robbing express wagons and vans, it would appear, has been elevated from the level of petty larceny to the lofty rank of an exact science.” "Very true," admitted the president of the Transcontinental. "But it happens that we are up against the real thing in roguery. Such outrages can be perpetrated only by a well-organ-ized gang of intelligent rascals. "Besides. don’t think for a minute that they are going it blind; they never take anything but valuable packages.” "Is that true?" Hazard suddenly asked. "True!” the other stormed. “Haven’t

I every reason for knowing how true It is? - - Humoh!" “I’ll tell you in a few words,” went on the latter as soon as his choler subsided, “how it was possible for our losses to mount up to such a prodigious amount within the period of little more than nine weeks. The scoundrels are operating all over the country. Stuff stolen in one city is shipped to another to be disposed of —here, there, everywhere; It is gone before we can get track of it. A few weeks more at the same rate and the Transcontinental will be on the rocks.” "How do you know that is their method?” asked Hazard. . “It is obvious. Of the thousands of dollars’ worth of plunder taken from our wagons right here in Chicago not a dollar’s worth has been traced by the police; nothing has shown up through the regular crook channels. Or’else the police are too stupid to find anything.” “Has any other company besides yours suffered?” “If so it has kept the matter confoundedly quiet.’’ The pale young man, who so far had been indifferently attentive, even bored, now interposed in a listless, drawling voice. “They naturally would, you know,” ■;rw>^g.eomment. Hazard contemplated him a moment and considered the two, father and son; Ferdinand Butler, head of one of the country’s largest corporations, and Harry Butler, manager of the concern’s most important office. He addressed the son; “You, I presume, personally took the matter of the Chicago losses to the police. What have they done?” Harry Butler lit a cigarette and flipped away the match. "Nothing,” he replied unemotionally. For some time the burly chief had remained silent and motionless behind the barricade of his desk. He now spoke. “I suppose you appreciate the fact, Mr. Butler, that this is a pretty big undertaking. Leave the matter with us a few days. You shall hear from us shortly.”

lilt may seem odd that a Sutherland operative should not only be a guest at an elaborate Lake Shore society function, but, by reason of her beauty, grace and Charm, that she should attract more attention than any of •cores of other ladies who represented the flower of Chicago’s, as well as s&ne other cfties’, most exclusive and fashionable sets. This signal honor, if so it may be regarded, fell to Helen Bertel op the night following the conference with the Butlers. At Helen’s request no men were absolutely unavoidable. As may be imagined, more than one of the men gained his point with the hostess, and the girl was obliged to be agreeable for a time, then tactfully, as she told Felix Hasard afterwards, ■take a “graceful getaway.” One of these males, however, she

THE SECRET SIX

Taken bam ttie __ Notebook of an Old Detective

by Charles Edmonds Walk

And With Name* and Places Hidden Published as a Proof That Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

seemed to 3n<T especially amusing. Indeed, Helen laughingly told her hostess as much when that lady offered to relieve her of his embarrassing presence. Mrs. Miller-Crosby was herself a shrewd woman. "My dear!” she protested in a horrified whisper. "You don’t suspect. . . . Why, he is Hany Butler, son of Ferdinand—.——■—Said Helen soberly; “I sincerely trust that no occasion will arise for me to suspect anyone here, it simply occurred to me that by attaching one man tonight ,1 can avoid seeming rude to others; Mr. Butler is less dull than some I have been obliged to be pleasant to, that is all.” Observing that Harry Butler was waiting- close by, she excused herself and rejoined him. “Let’s get out of this crowd,” said he. "Here —this way.” And he guided her deftly through the outer fringe of dancers. bp the conservatory they found a seat amongst a screen >pf palms and hanging baskets of orchids. Butler laughed nervously. ” "What do you think,” he abruptly began, "there are detectives here tonight—right among the guests, by Jove! Nobody has any idea who they are. ... Why, you might be one yourself!” Helen was so taken unawares that she could not find words for a moment, so surveyed the . other in silence. She knew that another Sutherland operative, Ferndale, was present tonight, and wondered whether he had been indiscreet. But Harry Butler revealed the source of his information. "Jack told me.”- (Jack was Mr. Mil-ler-Crosby, whom Helen mentally blessed.) "But he wouldn’t point ’em out. Mighty mysterious about it. Told me not to mention it to anybody else.” The girl had recovered herself. She favored the young man with one of her rare smiles. "And of course you haven’t,” said she dryly. “Why, no; of course not. Only to you. You know, there’s been no big, swell affair this winter unless somebody’s jewels have been stolen. Raffles, you know.” • For some unexplained reason Helen was on tenterhooks, alert, keyed up with expectancy, as if something uncommon were about to happen. And at that very instant something did happen. A woman screamed—a piercing, agonizing scream that shrilled above the murmur of voices, above the sound of dancing feet and the throbbing strains of the orchestra. The two started from their bench. The scream was near at hand, just inside a doorway opening upon a short gallery that connected -with the ladies’ dressing-room. It rose in a climax of mortal terror. Then came the sharp, electrifying crack of an automatic pistol. One —two —three —four shots. . . . A clatter of running feet. ... Silence. . . ...

While the outburst still thrilled every hearer Helen was hastening to the dressing-room. Within that brief period the tumult had begun and ended. Her companion was left behind, forgotten. Dumfounded men were pouring in from the supper and ball rooms. But she was just an instant ahead of the first arrival; just in time to witness what the others missed. CTirrldor a man running toward the conservatory collided with her in a headlong fashion that nearly swept her from her feet. In the flashing vision she had of him she saw that he was dressed formally; that, save for two extraordinary details, he might have been any one of the male guests. But his right hand gripped a big automatic pistol, and his features were concealed by a black mask. She recollected Harry Butler, then, with a little pang of alarm; yet, he must take his chances. And surely, after the shooting, he would not allow a masked man to pass him in the conservatory without making an effort to stop him. Her delay was only momentary. In the dressing-room she first noticed that a window was wide open, through which an icy wind was billowing the curtains. Upon the floor lay a man and a woman, motionless, apparently lifeless. The woman she did not know; but the man was’Ferndale, the other Sutherland operative. His right hand still clutched a blue-barreled auHelen turned first to him, where two or three of the men joined her, and knelt beside him. A larger group of both men and women gathered excitedly about the woman on the floor. I Experienced in such emergencies, the girl’s deft fingers soon ascertained that Eerndale was not dead; that the ! blood plotting one side of his head was merely from a torn scalp where a steel-jacketed bullet had plowed its way. Even while thus engaged she was not insensible of the agitated ejaculations and disconnected remarks from the second group. “Mrs. Charters , . . Murdered!

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN,. RENSSELAER, ISP.

. . . Who is that man? . . . Diamond dog-collar gone. . . . He’s dead too. . . . Pistol still in his hand. . . .” The men were now questioning Helen regarding what had happened. “I was not here,” she explained calmly, but rapidly. "I happened to be near and arrived first. But it is plain that a robbery has been committed, and that this man, in trying to protect the victim, was nearly murdered. One of the villains is still in the house. He ran past me toward the conservatory, where I left Mr. Butler.” -' A man went over to close the window which opened upon the portecochere roof. At the very instant he raised his hands to the sash an excited outcry came up from below. The words were plainly distinguishable inside the room. "Here’s one of ’em! . . . Fell from the roof. . . . Dead! . . .”

I!l. From the Miller-Crosby ball Helen Bertel brought two important clues. The first of these was a torn scrap of note-paper that had been found in Mrs. Charters’ bodice. It suffices to say o t this that it afforded a striking example of the thieves’ resourcefuloess in availing themselves of a clandestine flirtation to lure Mrs. Charters to the ladies’ dressing-room at a specified time. The note was merely a scrawled line, signed with the initials of a well-known name that had frequently been coupled with the dashing and wealthy young widow’s. Ferndale, with higssyMirzealously upon the costliest jewels at the ball, was particularly solicitous of Mrs. Charter’s $40,000 diamond dog-collar. Without, of course, imagining its cause, as the hour for the tryst in the dressing-room approached her increasing nervousness and agitation aroused his curiosity, and she slipped furtively away he followed to the very door.

Thus he heard the first sounds of tumult and struggle, and entered in time to confront two masked men. The three promptly commenced a threecornered fusillade. Ferndale believed —which, a few minutes later, was discovered to be true —that he had wounded the man who plunged through the window. Mrs. Charters was insensible upon the floor when he arrived, her rare diamond ornament already reaved from her throat. Otherwise she was not in- the least injured. The masked man who collided with Helen doubtless got rid of the telltale face covering and mingled with the guests; for Harry Butler maintained that he never even so much as saw an armed masked man in the conservatory.

The most interesting clue, from Hazard’s viewpoint, had to do with the man who fell into the enow from the porte-cochere roof. It transpired that he was not killed nor even seriously injured; but before he recovered Helen fished from one of his pockets a curious bit of paper. It was the peculiar particulars which this sheet bore that suggested the appellation “The Secret .Six,” by which later came to be distinguished one of the most notorious and daring bands of criminals in the country’s annals of crime. The paper appeared thus: No. 2 cover room & exit fm prt-cochere roof. No. 4 pass bundle to No. lat appted place. 3, 5 & 6 wait with auto as ordered to cover retreat & lend aid if necessary. No. 1. Thus it will be seen that the robdeliberately down to its smallestdetSnr^'^^-^issssi; Indeed, the plot was carried to a successful and sensational climax' right at the massive stone pillars and huge wrought-iron grille that constituted the Miller-Crosby gate. The wounded man was being led away by a policeman to await at the spot mentioned the coming of a patrol-wagon, already summoned. As the two emerged upon the walk the policeman was set upon and overpowered by three masked men, all armed with businesslike automatics. The prisoner was bundled into an automobile and, right from the midst of a group of curious—and frightened—chauffeurs, whisked away into the night. During the ensuing fortnight almost the entire Sutherland force, not only of the Chicago main office but at every branch in the United States, was bending every effort to run to earth the “Secret Six” and their confederates. But it was Felix Hazard who finally drove the principal members of the crime syndicate to cover.

That the six principals for the time being eluded the police was in a measure disappointing; but a more vital issue was at stake, one far more serious than the capture of the criminals. Helen Bertel at the time was In their power. IV. , The Transconlfnentsa's president, only half convinced, sat like ono stunned. "W-w-what you s-say is—ls —damme, it’s inconceivable!” he spluttered in response to Hazard's asseverations. can’t see bow it is possible.” "Why, it l» quite simple," said

Hazard patiently. "If ytra will examine the lists of the hundreds of parcels that have been stolen, you will see that every one of them was in some way. handled, in the Chicago main.. of-, flee—that is, either consigned here in the first instance, or sent here from some other city, or else relayed here while in transit. “The deduction is inevitable that somebody in the Chicago main office has kept track of every valuable parcel, doubtless marked them for identification by the confederate chosen to steal them. I presume they have a code. "Another thing you may learn by consulting the list of thefts: those in Chicago were, without exception, committed within a circumscribed area, a territory comprising not more than a half dozen city blocks. Do you appreciate the significance of that circumstance? It is this —a conclusion I arrived at on the day of your first visit here: the theftß could not go on for so long uninterrupted without police connivance, It is absurd to think that any large number of the force could be corrupted or coerced, so the way they worked it was for the wagons bearing marked parcels to drive to a neighborhood known to be ‘safe.* There the wagons could be leisurely looted without fear of hindrance. “Another thing,” Hazard pursued; "at least one of the six has entree to Chicago’s most fashionable society, as accurate knowledge on their part of Mrs. Philip Charters’ intimate affairs and the episode of the Miller-Crosby ball indicate. For I am firmly convinced that the jewel and express

His Right Hand Gripped a Big Automatic Pistol and His Features Were Concealed by a Black Mask.

thieves are one and the same crowd." buzzer sprang into activity. He snatched up his telephone and received a message from the outside office. A messenger had just arrived with a report. “Send him right in,” ordered Hazard; and a few seconds later a girl entered softly and laid an envelope upon his desk. He ripped it open and hastily scanned this note: Suspect has been engaged off and on all morning preparing what I think is code letter. It is short, on single sheet, size of postcard, and typewritten. Five of these are ready to mail. No chance to see them —Crawford. The reader’s eyes lighted with satisfaction. He tore the sheet into tiny bits, and after a moment’s contemft*™™ opposite Turn, said: ~ ‘ “Mr. Butler, I believe the opportunity I have been waiting for is about at hand. Tonight, or tomorrow night, I believe the Secret Six will all meet together Bomewhere. We have only not to lose sight of the one whose Identity we are positive of to round up the whole crowd.” 1 Mr. Butler went gloomily away, and a few seconds later a brisk, dapper individual breezed into Hazard’s room. His manner indicated suppressed excitement. “What is it, Crawford?” quietly asked Hazard. "I’ve been fired,” returned the other. “A few minutes after I sent you the note from the Dearborn street office a man entered and was closeted with the suspect for perhaps twenty minutes. When he went away he had the five letters, stamped, addressed, ready to mall. Couldn’t be trusted to any of the office force, you see. I got my hat and overcoat, meaning to follow him. “Well?" r~ “I was called hack and told to wait a minute. I waited thirty. ThenJUr. Harry Butler called me Into hia private office-and told me that If the Sutherlands couldn’t supply him with a man more competent than I am, why, he could get along without any. Then he told me to beat it—or words to that effect” “And the man who took the letters?” “Of course I lost him. But I succeeded in mugging him.” “Good! Give Miss Loftls the film

with instructions tht.usual, number of duplicates. Fill in a description form, then get back on the Job. You mustn’t lose sight of your quarry for a second.” _ V. The evening of December 22 wan blustery and snowy and, outside the limited radius of the street lamps, almost unbelievably dark. As Helen left the “L” station and hurried along Fullerton avenue in the direction of Lincoln park and the lake (whence drove the boisterous wind), her hands elbow deep in a great muff, her chin snuggled warmly in her sable collar, her mind was animated by a single thought—to get to the bright coziness of her two rooms as soon as possible. In consequence she paid but slight heed to a big closed touring car that drtw up at the curb and halted a few yards ahead of her; and when, as she drew abreast of it and its tonneau doors were flung open an 1 four masked men poured out, she was taken wholly by surprise. A fifth masked man remained in the driver’s seat. In a twinkling she was surrounded. Any direction she looked she peered into the sinister muzzle of an automatic pistol. Before she had time to collect her scattered wits a heavy cloth was thrown over her head from behind and twisted tight. Next she was entirely enveloped in a long dark mantle so that she became merely a shapeless bundle. If she had been minded to raise an outcry, it was impossible to do so now. She had been afforded no time even to free ’ r hands from the muff.

Her arms were clasped, not roughly but firmly, to her sides. She felt her skirts wrapped snugly around her ankles. Then she was bodily lifted and deposited in the automobile, which at once plunged away, she could not guess whither. Not a word had been spoken by her captors. .. - . It would seem that the abductors could have chosen an hour no more suitable for the successful perpetra/tion of the outrage. Helen was helpless at the mercy of an unscrupulous gang, and apparently without hope of immediate succor from any source. In a fashionable South side neighborhood things were happening, too, on this memorable night of December the cold and storm and wind-driven snow, in every cross at]£et bounding an area of which a certain well-appointed flat-building; was the center, automobiles were waiting. Muffled figures moved like, wraiths hither and thither, keeping the house under surveillance from every possible angle. At eight a big touring car, curtained, dashed up to the curb, and four muffled figures carried a shapeless bundle into the house. No one was near enough at the -moment to form any conception of the bundle’s nature. The watchers saw it carried into the house. They heard the door slammed. They saw the automobile hurry away. Then they closed' in, tightening the cordon around the silent house. . . . . . . Up a flight of stairs the bundle was carried, four men staggering beneath Its weight It was deposited gently upon a couch In a richly furnished room, peculiar in that it had no windows and only one door. The four men withdrew, locking the door after them, and the lights were extinguished. As soon as Helen could free herself from the many folds In which she was swathed, she found herself in pitchblack darkness, unhurt—save for her outraged feelings—and without the least idea of her whereabouts. . tectives still waited and watched. Only five men were known to be In the bouse; a sixth had not as yet been accounted for. A Sutherland operative on a nearby corner was startled by the apparition of a big, high-powered roadster

as it drove skidding through the enow at break neck speed. It halted within a pace for him, and a white, pinched face peered into' hie. quavei lug voice that he scarcely recognized demanded to be told where Felix Hazard might be found. “Ferndale! ” exclaimed the surprised detective "What’s happened?" “I must find Hazard right off. Miss Bertel has been kidnaped.” The detective wasted no time in talking. He whistled in a peculiar manner. The whistle was taken up and repeated, hither, yonder, from a score of invisible sources, like the echoing plaint Qf some night bird. From out the dark and the swirling snow Hazard appeared to the two. He harkened to no more than a dozen words of Femdale’s dismaying report, when the quiet neighborhood began to buzz like a disturbed beehive. . • • . . . The lights in the prison room came on slowly, and Helen became aware of two ghostly, fantastic figures who stood over by the door. Two men they were, manifestly, albeit each was entirely covered with a sort of domino that hid every line. With a swift, noiseless, gliding movement, the two weird forms closed in upon her; but she deftly eluded them. Then darkness again. Thus handicapped amid strange surroundings, she was obliged to yield when each of her /rists was seized in a viselike grasp. She was propelled along the hall to a stairway and up this to another story. At last they halted before a double door, which swung apart as if by its own volition. Filled with wonder, Helen surveyed a spacious room draped wholly in dead, lusterless black—floor, walls and ceiling. In the center of the floor stood an oval table, around which were arranged six chairs, all the same ebon hue. Three of the chairs ■ were occupied by fantastic counterparts o.' the two robed figures holding her wrists. The sole illumination was from six wax tapers that burned at each of the six places. A pair of black velvet portieres parted at one end of the room and a sixth figure entered; one garbed from head to foot fn .a long formless robe like the others, with the exception that it was snow-white instead of black. This apparition seated itself at the head of the table. For perhaps a full minute there was neither sound nor motion from any of the strange masked company. Then the white domino arose and addressed the others. At the first sound of hbi voice Helen started and looked closely at the neutral robe that betrayed nothing of its wearer’s identity. “You all have seen the captive: is -there any doubt as to her identity?” There was no answer and the hollow voice continued to issue from beneath the mask. “It is positive, is it, that she is a detective from the Sutherland concern?” The five ghoulish figures remained silent, motionless, but Helen felt that every eye was upon her. Then the voice asked: “What is your verdict?” The white leader appeared to ponder a minute. Then he announced: “The cord.” The leader clapped his hands thrice, and now entered a gigantic negro, as black as the room’s hangings. He carried a silken cord, perhaps a yard in length. One end terminated in a loop through which he passed the other end, thus forming a noose. He tested the cord’s strength, glancing from it to Helen’s throat. Then he walked toward her. At the same tiqae captors shoved her forward.

The negro opened his arms to re? ceive her. And In the Instant of passing she determined her defense. She could not hope to overpower the giant,or even to resist him long, but she meant not to yield as long ias ijreath was in her. She fell forwardTso that lier shoulder, when she rose, came up under:' the outstretched right arm. At the same time she grasped the wrist with both hands and jerked it downward. She heard the man groan; but instantly his free hand caught the heavy coil of her hair and her head was pulled violently back. —_____ So deftly and quickly that sfiß' could -not -make a mov-e to jegsist, the noose was drawD tight. Firmly holding the cord, the black placed a knee in the her back and pushed her away from him. She heard a shot v The hand holding the cord loosened its grasp and the negro sank limply to the floor. ' The room was plunged Into darknessi A momentary subdued stir, then Felix Hazard’s voice rang out: “We’ve got ’em. A light—quick!” A half-dozen electric torches flashed. But, save for Helen, the lifeless form was empty. The Secret Six had vanished. Safe in her own rooms—Hazard would not leave her until he saw her under Mrs. Hewitt’s capable protection —Helen expressed a belief that the mysterious Six had not meant to murder her in cold blood. But Hazard was skeptical. “They would stop at nothing,” said he. “And who in the world would have thought of a tunnel a block long in a neighborhood so eminently respectable!” His tone was bitter.’ “The entire six of them walked away from the whole Sutherland force as if we were so many blind sheep.” "We’ll get them' sboner orlatfov” declared the girl. "Don’t forget that we now know the ringleader.” “You are positive about the voice?” ’ asked Hazard. . ' "Yes, positive. It was Harry Bet ler’s.’* {Copyright, 1915. toy W. O- Chapman*