DARING DEEDS OF FAMOUS DETECTIVES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 118, 9 May 1908, Page 4

DARING DEEDS OF FAMOUS DETECTIVES

WHY SHORE, OF SCOTLAND YARD WAS CALLED "THE TERROR."

chaslm; the -tall, thin man WHO STOLE JtUti.fm

One of the uio«t extraordinary chafes iin the annals oi Scoilaud Yard was | that of a phantom "tall, thin man, badly wanted lor a great robbery. I The chafer was Superintendent Shore, ir l the guilty peraou could not have h 1 upon hi» track a more formidable •son. Detective Shore had year> befo.o secured himself the distinct ; <-M *»t a licknaine in crimiual circles. U was t. it of "The Tenor." aud he w,i-> recognised Op one ot the smartest **t the Cnminal Investigation Department.

It was fomewhat behind time that the Continental mail steamed into the London railway station wlnre a Post Office van was waiting \u arrival. The mail brought an important consignment of bond* and other securities in bags to be placed in that van. At last all the bags were inside, and it drove away. There was at the Office when it wa- discovered that a bag —the mast valuable ««£ all —a bag that should have held l»oiid- and other securities worth Cli».WH>. wa* mining! Tbe news was Hashed to Smihuid \ard, and -John Shore wa- entrusted with the task of discovering the criminal. Msnv of the Iwnd* not U*ing nnmlier* ed or" distinguished in any way. and payable to bearer, the thief would ha\e no difficulty in cashing them. Shore firet got on*his track at (ila-gow. From one end of the country to the other Shore bad sent such mformatiou as he coaid to money-changer* and other persona concerning these bonds. A TELEGRAM FROM CLAStiOW. The sender was a money-changer, who stated that, only a few hours before, a tall, thin m * n had visited his office and requested him to cash some foreigu bonds. The money-changer had his suspicions, and when the stranger left his office he sent a clerk to dog his ateps and discover where he went. The clerk reported that the man had caught the London express due at King's Cross about six o'clock that evening. Wou.d Shore meet the express? Shore, dashing to King's (Jro*s at I breakneck speed in a hansom, arrived to J find that most of the passengers by the express had already, left the station, i And the "tall, thin man" had been among them. Several persons had seen ,uch a passenger. Shore at last discovered a cabman who had driven a man with a carpet-bag to Charing Crow station. The detective darted in pursuit. PURSUED TO PARI.* A tall, thin man had at Charing cross converted bonds into cash to the amount of 1500. He had received banknotes, a"d one of the notes had been handed to the ticket-clerk at the station. The receiver had taken a firstclass passage to Paris. It took time 1 to discover that, and whvu Shore had done go the tall gentleman had got a start. A few hours later Shore was

in Paris himself, and was. with the help ot the famous Paris police, hunting for the man with his pockets stuffed with wickedly-acquired bank-notes. It wad one of the bank-notes the mys-

terious man had received at Charing Cross that a waiter at a I'aris cafe ii itl received from a customer, lie described the stranger to Shore. "He is tall and thin, well dressed in the best Parisian style. Quite a gentleman-*o pleasant and affable. A frenchman most certainly. No one but a Frenchman could speak the language so well." In the money-changer's otiice in Glasgow the mysterious stranger had, tin-money-changer declared, spoken with a pronounced S<-otti-h accent. For a fortnight Shore searched for that much-wanted man in Paris, then suddenly came the news that the stranger had been passing some of the banknotes in Berlin. Shore flew after him. "Certainly the gentleman who handed me that note was tall and thin, said the recipient of it to Shore. "He | wa- quite a gentleman, beautifully dressed, and he i- a Herman. I wonl I swear. Xo one but a German could speak the language so well! It wa-< evident that siiore wa- on the fraek of #ne of tho-o versatile evperl- in crini- 1 that reipiiie eoli-idcrable catching. 1 He was in Li-l-on! A telegram in-

formal Shore that ;i tliin ui;!ii liii-l M*mv of tho llicv-* ultile |*;iyin» )ii- lint-'! I'ilK Nlmvr nilnot ,ii .ill -ur|»riv.| m>\v so ln-ar tli;» tlu- •jrnt!t | tii;in ;» iwti\Y - lit- 'lf I.'n'jii.iL't' i>ll. \\ l.r-. Shnrr ;trri»»l in

hj" had been g"n„ three da -, lie bad taken a pi-:igc in a liner l-mnd to" New York. Shore followe,l I,illl by the next -tc.imer.

i'KAI Kill)! At last! The tall, thin gentleman was taking his and enjoying himself pi one of the iK'st hotel-. 111 >.lll Francisci when he suddenly lotind hiuill confronted bv a detective who had followed him far and -n patiently. I iie quarry was hunted down at last! 1 lii* criminal was a foreigner, lie could speak seven language* fluently, and he had had a long experience in police-ball iing methods. Shore saw a close put to all his travelling for ten years at l«-t at the Central Criminal Court. The ehasc had occupied month-. FRAIL CLI'ES. The house of the Belgian Ambassador having been broken into by burglars, who departed leaving no clue as to their identity, Shore set to work to hunt them down by means of the notes they had helped themselves to. One be found some weeks later had been passed at a public-house in the North of London. The publican's memory of the customer who had presented that to note was of the vaguest. But Shore found him. M. Goron, the great French detective chief, once declared that one of the greatest qualities of the detective was pertinacity and determination to succeed. Upon one occasion Shore was called on to investigate the burglary of a great mansion that thieves had visited, anil from which they had departed with a magnificent haul in jewels. The " operators," as they are termed in high criminal quarter*, had left behind theni some wedges that they had used to slip under the door of the room in which thev were engaged on the safe iu order to prevent unwelcome intrusion on them while at work. Those little pieces of wood wpre of a jieculiarlv-grained mahogany, and Shore learned that the wood might have been procured at any one of 0.000 shops! A CBIMINAL'S ADMIIUTION.

lie ,-et to work, selecting the ones he thought mutt likely, and at one place got a description of some purchaser.; which was enough for him to secure them ten years. One of the culprits, after h t . Ua'd been sentenced, expressed hi- high admiration of the ollicer s work, and, requesting an interview with Shore in his cell, shook hands with him, and., declaring that it was at least a satisfaction to have been caught by such an artist in tracking, made a clean breast as to where he had hidden the jewels. THE TARPEY AFFAIK.

" On** ot the uh.'-L extraordinary crime,) ever eoramitted," was how Mr. .Montagu Williams characterised the la iII,.US Tarpcv -lewel Robbery. Shore iilavol a jiart in that romantic allair. A remarkably well ' Ire -- ( -il and allable gentleman one day visited tin' -hop "I a big firm of Ijondon jeweller- in search ot piece-, of jewellery worthy of an .itlVctionate and well-to-do hu-band s be--towal oil hi,. wile <•« the o<.-a-ioii "I 1..-I birthdav. lie wa- -howii -m-li a multitude "f co-tly trinket, that he declared the ,-iii Jit of then) tilled linn with di-niav a- to making a choice b ■■ tw.-en -nch lieantiful things. Would 1 "<• i.-tt-eller mind -ending a -eleeti..n round t„ l,v addre- fur hi- wife to -co'; •IV addre- he gave wa- in a fashion .inarter near llerkeley Square. and a , the appoint.-,! time a tni-ted cmi,l,ivee (If !lie jeweller- arrived at 111i, with a ha" packed with diamonds n ,1,i,.5. , m-rald-. and pearl-. While Inw \~ r.-jr!H'V%ii'l lii- wif«' !»' wa- >u<M«'iily p-.nnced on. chloroformed, bound, and "'rhe'whole thing had been mo-t ciren.llv planned. The culprit- <l.-a|.pei«red , thev had been swallowed up m iv earth. lint Tarpey eventually " gave him»»lf away." II- to'l J in tlw <.>innn-i..n r>ni«j> caution i- often a- fatal a- too littl .

Tin: oiiam.kap.u: lodger. . \ most agreeable gentleman and In.nife a week or two after the robber; ; ii, ;l de their appearance at Ix-ammgtou. ! -,, bere thev took apartment-. He ; ....Mtleman wa- drinking the water-, and bevotol that |,e -eemed to have no occ.i----i other than paying -I" "'' l i!i,„ hi- p.i-onal appearance 1in that direction was remarkable, i 11,. .-hanged so that the landlady -ome . ,liv- hardlv rw-ogni-ed him. • » am.i/e---1.,', -he bv one of hi--transforinatiou-tliat slip became filled with .susjiicjon. Md trotted to the police to tell them

of the lodgt>r' e remarkable vagaries. Tho man was Tarpey. But the police were too late.

The charming, affable gentleman had fled to the Continent when (he offers arrived ut the house. Mrs. Tarpey ha«l remained behind, while her husband was in I'avis and Brussels trying to dispose of tin' jewels. learning liy how narrow a f-h;«vo he had escaped tin* police. he was in nn hurry to come I*<<*k. Hi* vife, arrested and placed on trial tor her pari in the robliery, was ;:r'|iiiU»'.t \\< having merely been an ins! nuuent »u the hands of her husband. A FALSE WIDOW.

For months the olliceis watched the lady. Turpey, the affectionate husband, would assuredly come back to hi* who! At la-t the watchers felt that they had come near to the end of their labour.-*. Mrs. Tarjjey made her appearanee in widow\ robes! Her lace wa* marked by the appearance of the profouwlest grief. But the widowhood of Mr*. Tarpey did not cause the detective-, to relax "their vigilance one atom. The/ watched her more Homely than ever. One day they shadowed Iter lo a lnm-e in the North of l>mdou, aud. suddenly pre-enting themselves in the r>«<m .-he had entered, found her and her aikc lionate husband chatting and laughm;: together in the liveliest f:' hion possible Over a l»OUle of wine and de -<crl. It w.i- the ln>t desserl Tarpey enjoyed THREATENED AIKX UYE I.'Ac. No one ever hear- of tin* I hre.Ucnii!'; letter* detective* receive. For yea, Detective Shore wa* "the be.-1 ened" man at Scotland Nard. I hi* was owing to his being engaged in hmra veiling the plots of the once so inu-!i dreaded Fenians. Breakfast-tinie generally brought with it some terrible epi-tle containing threats enough m make a nervous hair stand on end. John Shore read his terrible cone* pondence with undisturbed equanimity. *T can truly say," he once remarked to a friend, "that 1 don't know of onletter which ever upset my digestion. But dolin Shore was not a man of , nerves.