Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 29, Number 28, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 9 September 1908 — Page 2

KELLY’S GREAT “MOONSHINER” COUP By GE&RGE 3AHTOJV '<* ; ■ - 7"'-. 7" 7. ' ’ . . ' ” •' T ‘ v ' -v . ' How the Chief Figured in Illicit Whiskey Case Which Brought Him Fame and the Friendship of General Grant.

■■■MX' the Bth of April, 1874, OFranjcis R. Kelly was granted leave of absence from the Philadelphia po- * lice force and directed to report to Jame3 J. Brooks, at the time prominent as a detective in the United €jTsp States secret service. The purpose of his, asH' J signment was'kept a pro■saHjaJ found secret. By ap pointment, he* met Detective Brooks at the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Philadelphia, and when he started not. even thte members of his family knew his destination or the purpose of his journey. When Kelly met Brooks at the gate leading to the train, he handed him a ticket to New Orleans by way of the great Jackson route. A word of preface may help to explain how r Kelly came to receive this assignment, which was to prove one of the most dangerous and important in his whole professional career. While he was a police officer in the tw'entysecond polica district of Philadelphia, he was going to his home early one morning in January, 1874, and passing a big-distillery on 20th street above'Berks, lie was accosted by a voice which whispered huskily: “Is that you, Joe?” It was sp dark and foggy that a person could hardly see his face before hipi; but on the impulse of the moment Kelly replied “Yes,” and then halted to await developments. Presently a two-horse team, filled with illicit liquor which had been distilled in the factory, started out of the place. Kelly jumped into the wagon and pulled a pistol on the driver and directed him to go to a certain point in the city, which happened to be the police station. There he was placed under arrest. The seizure of this distillery and the arrest of the government storekeeper and' his conviction which followed, was the means of bringing Frank Kelly before the notice of his superior officers both in Philadelphia and Washington. The sequel wa3 this mysterious assignment which began, at the Broad Street station in Philadelphia. After they had fairly started on their journey, Mr. Brooks joined Kelly in the car and introduced him to the other two men, one being Alfred Brooks, his son, and the other John Mitchell, another secret service operative. Mr. Brooks explained the mission to the party in a few words. A short time before, President Grant, Simon Cameron and Alexander P. Tutton, who was .then supervisor of internal revenue for Pennsylvania, had a conference at the white house concerning the operations of the whisky ring, which had become a national schandal and was so powerful that the government was being robbed of millions of dollars. Gen. Grant, who was . deeply interested in probing, the matter* to the bottom, leaned over his inevitable' sPtmTp of a cigar between his set teeth, announced his purpose, of transferring all supervisors of internal revenue in '■y rv section pf the country. Mr. Tutton. at .this point expressed a doubt' concerning the wisdom of such action. He said it would be the means of punishing many good officers and would not be just. General Grant took a fresh grip on tihretgar and said: “What am I to do, then?” ]Mr. Tutton replied: “Find out the identity of the crooked distillers and the government officers who are shielding them, and punish both.” It was suggested to the ,president that Detective James J. Brooks was a safe man to intrust with an important work of this character and that he could get Detective Frank Kelly to assist him. Tlje president replied immediately: “I will do as you advise —we will take BroOks and Kelly.” This explains why Detective' Kelly, Detective Brooks, his son, and. John Mitchell were bound for New Orleans on the Bth day of April in 1874, In his pocket Mr. Kelly carried a •letter from Secretary of War Belknap to the commandant of the garrison at -Now Orleans, him to furnish the bearer—Frank Kelly—at a moment's notice, such a number otj soldiers as he should call for. This comi>mnication_iwas significant. It Indicated very clearly that they i were to act alone and' without the aid, assist- j ance or knowledge of any of the gov-1

eminent officials connected with the revenue at New Orleans. They began work almost immediately upon their arrival in the Crescent City. They separated in order not to create any suspicion; but every night they met Mr. Brooks for repo-t and instructions. All of the big distilleries in the neighborhood of New Orleans were shadowed; their proprietors cloiely" watched, and a never-fail-ing tab kept upon every one of the government officials connected with the revenue. There was fine detective work to be done both day and night. It -lasted for -many weeks, and when the climax came and the results were accomplished in a single night, the entire country was startled by the result. The establishment on which the greatest amount of suspicion was directed was a big distillery on the other side of the river. But while the detectives were morally certain that

IN MID AIR EXPLODED.

an illicit business was being conducted there, they were without positive evidence upon which , they could proceed, legally. For" the purposes of this article the place shall be known as the “Big Ben.” It was guarded day and night by armed men and any strange person coming within firing distance placed his life in jeopardy. The problem was to catch the promoters of the concern red-handed — to find them in the very act of distilling and ’shipping illicit liquor. The first move toward this end—was—4©smuggle several secret service men into the Inside: They secured employment in the establishment and thus kept tab on all of the queer happenings of the place. That was only the beginning. The next most important step was to arrange a plan of signals by which the United States officers could be guided in making their raid. There wns.-a.de? sdrted house on the side of the river where the distillery was located, and it was decided to make use of this as a signal station. ' One of the detectives was supplied a large lantern and provided with a key to the -house. On the first-night that the conditions were favorable he 'was~to go tnto she third story front room of the house and place the lighted lantern in a position in the Window where it could be seen on the other side of the river. Night after night Retentive Kelly waited on the New Orleans side of the river for the signal from the deserted

house. And night after night he was confronted by great banks of heavy Impenetrable fog. Finally one night when patience had almost ceased to be a virtue, a bright white spot appeared from out of the gloom. It was the lantern in the deserted house. Kellj- pulled out a whistje and summoned his pion at once. They responded with alacrity and in a few minutes were in a big flat-boat that had been kept, on hand for the purpose. There had been heavy floods in that section of the south; and the Mississippi river w*as swollen to an abnormal size. The secret service men, armed to the teeth, entered the boat in a few seconds. The colored men who were to do the rowing showed some hesitation. “Come on, you rascals,” shouted Kelly, “get in that boat and get to work.” Something in the commanding tone

of the man’s voice made them feel that mutiny would be .suicide. “It looks mighty dangerous, boss,’* muttered the chief oarsman. '“That's why the boys are so slow.” “It is mighty dangerous,” retorted Kelly. “That's why I want the boys to be quick.” Started off with a wil.i, the turbulent waters dashing over the sides of the boat and splashing the faces of the passengers. Kelly fully realized the peril pf crossing the -river ©n such a had night but his fears, if he had any, were kept quietly locked in his own breast. A second boat fbflowed immediately after the first. In it was a detail of soldiers under the command of a commissioned officer anil these were all” subject to t.'ae-or.ders of Detectives Kelly and Brooks. Kelly was in the first boat and he encouraged the lusty oarsmen to do their" best. They worked like Trojans. At times it looked as if the rickety. boat might capsize and throw 'hem all to the bottom of the muddy stream,- All were alarmed. To add to the terror of the waters, it becalne so dark at times that the oarsmen could scarcely follow their course. Kelly pointed to the light in the window of the deserted- house. “Boys,” he said, “keep your eye on ’that light.” They did so, pulling away against great odds."‘Once the-,boat sprung a leak and there, threatened to be a panic among the frightened passen-

gers. Kelly with admirable presence of mind quelled their fears. Bits of sticks wore whittled and plugged into the holes. Several of the secret service men with sponges and tin cans prevented the boat from accumulating any great quantity of water. With these expedients they managed to progress fairly well. Suddenly the chief oarsman uttered a cry of dismay. “What's the matter?" asked Kelly. “The light’s out!” Sure enough the light in the window of the deserted house had been extinguished. All sorts of forebodings filled their minds. Could it be that their carefully laid plans had gone entirely astray? Scarcely! Could the man in the house have been attacked? That was possible. At any rate they continued their journey to the other side. It would not do to weaken at this stage of the game no matter what the consequences. The boat rocked dreadfully at this point. They were

scared. Indeed It is no .exaggeration to say that for many minutes they feared death, but finally they reached the other, the stream. The messenger from the deserted house -awaited-them-on the bank. To their delight he had not met with any difficulty beyond that which camp with the storm and thp. rain. A sudden g.qst.of wind had blown the iantern out, and as all of his matches were wet, he was unable to repair the misfortune. Kelly and his companions prepared for the still more serious part of their adventure. A fine mist* was now falling; it was dark and disagreeable. The wide banks of the great river were overflowed and they had a four mile march to the Big Ben distillery through the low marsh country, being compelled at Intervals to wade through mud and water up to "the armPits. . ; Kelly took the lead with his assisants following some distance behind. He headed straight for the Big Ben distillery, Detective Brooks, with another detail .of men, was after another establishment in a different section. Things had been planned so that the various chiefs should sijnuF taneoirsly swoop down on the several law-breaking concerns. Kelly stumbled ahead, sometimes falling .into puddles of water,, and at other times being confronted with great hfltdbks of mud, until the affair began to lose all of the flavor’of romance. But he was ac-

Few, If Anyone Suspected His Presence in South When He Went There, Surprised Plant in Operation and Won Deserving Promotion. How He Trailed Down Culprits On Fragment of a Clew,

customed to hard, every-day prosaic work, and he plodded along steadily, every minute coming nearer to the goal. From the information they had received, all of the watchmen at the distillery were either asleep or off guard. They were soon undeceived. Presently the walls of the building loomed up in the distance. A gate leading into the premises was locked It was forced open. As Detective Kelly stepped inside, a figure emerged out of tne darkness. “Who goes there?” called a voice. ■ "A friend,” responded the detective who had been given the countersign. Something Ip the’TSne-'of the reply Must have roused the rfiarFs suspicions ior he hurried forth with a pistol in lis hand. He confronted the detective. “What do you want here?” he said menacingly. - "That's my business,” was the jaunty reply. “You go back to your post.” . “My post's here,” was the stubborn i eply. • “Oh, get away,” cried the detective, giving him a push. The trick did not work. Instead of disarming his suspicions, the move only confirmed them. The guard leveled his pistol at Kelly. . “'Move one step and you're a dead rnau.” The detective had to move and act quickly. It was either surrender or fight. He determined to fight. With a movement almost as quick as thought itself he hauled back his right leg and raising it up high in the air, gave the point of the pistol a kick that sent it flying a dozen yards away. The blow struck the trigger and in mid-air the weapon exploded with a loud report, in kicking the pistol, Kelly struck the man's hand and bruised it in a way ,that brought a shower of profanity from the guard. He made a mad rush for Kelly. The first impulse of the detective was to pull his own pistol, but on second thought he refrained from doing so. The guard in his own crude way believed be was doing his duty. He was defending the property of his employer that employer was a lawbreaker. As he'TUshed. on Kelly caught him by the shoulders and the next .moment the two- men had -clinched, ’str u ggl Tng ”Tn”fh"e~nfu iT. .V'haTUffPzltTr assistants were in the near distance, but the detective disdained to caii upon them for help. .This was his own battle. He wouid fight it out in his own way. The guard was a powerful fellow, The chief moonshiner had reckoned well when he selected him to keep intruders from the plant. But Keijy was in his prime at that time. He ha<j dealt with the most dangerous criminals in America, and he was not to be vforsted by the unarmed watchman of an illicit distillery. In ;less than a minute he had the man on his back. His associates came up at this moment, and in less time almost than it takes to tell the story, the guard was bound* and gagged. - Events moved quickly after that. When they reached the distillery proper they met an armed resistance, but the phalanx of secret service men, reenforced by a detachment of United States soldiers, induced surrender without the firing of a shot. The distillery which had caused so much, trouble .was promptly seized and placed in the custody of a platoon of soldiers. When another great distillery plant at Algiers' was seized, uniformed soldiers with fixed bayonets were put on duty to guard the property. After that was over thedeteetives had to reeross the river before ■daylight; and then before "the people of the Crescent City were at their breakfast tables, Hammond’s distillery and Henderson’s- rectifyinghduse on the New Orleans side of the rivpr were placed in government custody.

It was a tremendous bit of enterprise —a night’s work that was never before equalled iij, the world. When the facts came out during the course of the following day the people were thunderstruck —none more than the government officials who were located in New Orleans. Neither people nor officials knew that Brooks and Kelly and their men were in New’ Orleans, and the capture proved to be one of the great sensations of the time. Indictments were promptly found and convictions followed in every case. The government confiscated over a half million dollars in property and contraband whisky. The trials were not officially concluded until almost two years after the capture, and in the spring of 1876 Kelly returned to New' Orleans in the capacity of witness, being granted a leave of absence front the position he then held —that of lieutenant of police in Philadelphia. There is one phase of this story to which particular attention is directed. It was freely said at that time that President Grant was a man who took care of his friends, and it was insinuated that his friends were sometimes not the kind of persons who deserved the encouragement of a high-minded official. Well, Hen: Grant did take care of his friends. But his friends, as Francis Kelly happened to know in this instance, were the friends of good government; they were the men who under his inspiration and the supervision of James J. Brooks were instrumental in breaking up the notorious whisky ring; they were the men who sent offenders to the penitentiary, and they were the men who helped to restore hundreds of thousands of dollars to the treasury of the United States. In other words, Gen. Grant was determined that justice should be done, no matter where the chips might fall. In 1874 after the return from New Orleans, Gen. Grant sent lor Mr. Brooks. He called at the White House and found the president in his office smoking a big black cigar. He looked up quietly as Mr. Brooks entered, and said with characteristic terseness: “Brooks, you and Kelly did good work at New Orleans.” Mr. Brooks bowed at this and murmured his thanks at receiving the Commendation of the chief magistrate -efAho- f “Brooks,” continued the .president,. “I am going to appoint you chief of the government secret service.” And so he did. Within a few days this deserving, intelligent and competent detective was placed at the head of the m&st important service in the world. Kelly was promoted to the position of lieutenant of police in his home city, and of course the fact that he had figured in the government exploit’was chiefly responsible for this promotion. Supervisor Tutton was appointed collector of the port of Philadelphia. Alfred Brooks was named as a special revenue agent, John Mitchell had his salary raised and was placed in a position of importance in the service. After the trial and conviction of the distillers in New Orleans in 4876, President Gijfnt reappointed Mr. Beckwith United State# attorney for the district of New Orleans; United States Marshal Packard, who figured in the seizure and arrests, was appointed United States consul at Liverpool. Judge Woods, who was the district 'jurist before Whom the distillers were tried, waa elected to a sept on the supreme court bench at Washington. (Copyright, by W. G.. Chapman.) Many-Families inrihe Lead.’* A London firm; is getting ottt a list of "leading families” in the United States and Great Britain, and it is said to be much more liberal than many American publications of the same kind. The price of the book is $25, and it will be very sumptuously bound.’