Unlocking Secrets: Kate Warne’s Case Study-Part 2

Part two in the story of Kate Warne’s first big case. Here’s the link to part 1.

This is the second entry in the Kate Warne story of her first major case. While she plays a small piece in it, she’s part of the strategy and eventual trap.

Strategy Session –

According to modern fiction, the detective works alone. They work the case with minimal, if any external help.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Detective work is a collaborative effort. Maybe the reason TV doesn’t show it is it’s impossible to make a morning meeting look interesting.

But Alan Pinkerton knew getting a bunch of people together was important. And so something he did was to have meetings. Perhaps he knew the piece of the Bible that goes “Iron sharpens iron.” Because he had his detectives sat around a table and talk their cases. Often times someone had an insight that was needed to break the case open.

And he applied the idea to strategies for cracking the big cases. Often, he’d let everyone put in their two cents and then form a plan out of it.

Talking about the Latest case from the Adams Express Company, he took all the ideas presented and put them into a coherent plan and said, “We look again at the couriers.”

“We have to,” one to the agents said. “After all, they’re carrying the bag.”

“But the bag is locked!” another protested.

“Locks can be picked,” Pinkerton said. “How about Maroney?”

“We have to look at him,” Kate Warne said. “He is part of the chain of events.”

Pinkerton leaned forward. “Here’s what we’re going to do. One of you will go down there. You’ll have a job at the express company in Montgomery. Become part of the community for a while. Your job will be to learn what you can about Maroney.”

Agent Tom Sullivan was selected to go. He would work fine as a working man in the area.

“Kate,” Pinkerton said. He looked up at the girl and smiled. “The man has a wife and child. Think you could get her to talk.”

There was no hesitation in her voice. “I can.”

“Then it’s decided. Tom. Pack you stuff and get some money. You’re going to Alabama. And Kate, start thinking of getting in on her.”

“I will.”

Connecting the dots-

“Mr. Maroney has an interesting accent,” Tom observed over lunch. He and one of his counterparts were sitting outside on a bench in front of the express office. Tom had his lunch wrapped up in a cloth. It consisted of bread with butter, a couple of hard-boiled eggs, and some pickles. All of it was purchased at the local market.

“Oh, speaking Mexican did that,” his fellow worker observed.

“So he not from around here?”

“No, he came from Texas,” the man said. He had a jelly sandwich and Tom wished he’d thought of that.

Tom’s job was simple. Since he could read and write, add and subtract, he was doing bookkeeping and light secretarial work for the couriers. Sanford had “hired” him saying the young man was the son of an old friend.

“Texas, huh,” Tom took a sip of his coffee. “I’ve always wanted to see Texas.”

“You should talk to Mr. Maroney about it,” his co-worker suggested. “He was part of the Texas Rangers, you know. I think you’d fit right in with them.”

“The Rangers?” Tom said. “I’ve heard of them. Tough outfit.”

“There’s no law down there. So, they are they law.”

A simple check would show that Maroney had been a member. But the Texas Rangers weren’t the world class Law Enforcement agency they are today. Back then, they were closer to a militia than anything else and chased bad guys on the side. It wasn’t uncommon for their ranks to be swelled with former, current, or future outlaws.

“He used to work for another outfit,” his friend said, still eating the bread and jelly. “A rival stage company, in fact. I don’t know which.”

“Sanford hired him?”

“Yeah. He knows his job.” Then his friend frowned. “He’s supposed to have worked for a small circus in Mobile.”

“A circus? As what? A lion tamer?” Tom asked with a laugh.

“No,” the man answered with a laugh. “He said he was scared of lions. No, he kept their books in order and handled moving them around.”

“A circus?”

“Yeah, it went broke a few years ago and that’s how he started working in the express business.”

“They went broke you say?” Tom said. He just eaten an egg and decided he needed to buy some spices to make it tasty.

“That’s what I heard. The owner lives in Atlanta. I don’t know what he’s doing.”

That evening, Tom reached out to a Pinkerton who was working in Atlanta, asking him to do some follow-up. It was almost two weeks before he got his answer.

Tom, I found and interviewed the former owner of your circus, and he said something very interesting.

He said, “I don’t get it. The seats were always full, but the books didn’t show that kind of money coming in. You ask me? I think some of the money was going into his (Maroney’s) pocket.”

When Tom forwarded his report to the main office, he included this.

“So, we’re not the only ones who think he might be a thief,” Kate said, reading the report.

Pinkerton nodded in agreement. It was important to keep Kate in the flow of information. When it came time to turn her loose, she could easily be his ace in the game.

“So, what would you do if you were him?” he asked.

Kate thought about it for a minute before answering. “If he’s the one, he has a lot of money laying around.”

“True.”

“It’s probably not in a bank someplace.”

“Also true.” While the banking industry wasn’t the same as today, following him and asking a few questions would confirm if it were. The man was probably too smart for that.

“Why have money if you don’t spend it. He’s keeping the money close, and I’m sure his wife knows where it is.”

That made sense to Pinkerton and he told his people to start watching Maroney and his wife.

For the first few weeks they watched in vain.

Then Maroney took a vacation. He took a leave of absence from the company and he and his family left town. They traveled throughout the coastal states. What he didn’t realize was he had a team of detectives watching him.

What the detectives witnessed astonished them.

Maroney and his wife stayed at the nicest and most expensive hotels. They ate lavish meals. They purchased expensive clothes and perfumes. Maroney even purchased a couple of racehorses. Clearly this was man who was living far beyond his means. Some further investigating showed Maroney enjoyed gambling and the finer things in life.

It was enough. He was arrested for embezzlement.

And that’s when the stuff hit the fan in Alabama.

“What do you think?” Tom asked his friend, again over lunch. With Maroney in Jail, they were running the express office.

“It’s nonsense,” his friend answered.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. We hear stories. The company lost the money, and they have to blame someone.”

“So, he was arrested for no reason.”

“Exactly. He’s no criminal. Maroney is a solid citizen!”

Some of the townspeople thought so, too. They were so convinced he was innocent, they posted his bail.

The trouble was the case against Maroney was weak. He claimed to have no part in the matter, and the money certainly couldn’t be found. Without finding the money, prosecuting him was almost pointless.

To strengthen the case, Pinkerton assigned several more of his detectives to the matter. One agent, a former watch and clock maker, opened a shop not far from Maroney’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania. The thinking was that if he visited them, he might try to hide the money there. That would position them to catch him with it.

In an effort to build the case, Maroney was arrested again. This time on a charge of conspiracy. The timing on this was deliberate.

Pinkerton wanted Maroney’s wife out of town when they did the arrest. She’d left for Pennsylvania to get away from the nightmare she’d found herself in and the timing was perfect. He had traveled to New York, and that’s where he was arrested and held.

Pinkerton now needed to get his star assets in place.

“Kate,” Pinkerton said, walking up to her desk.

“Yes, Mr. Pinkerton.”

He might have smiled when he said, “It’s time. Get packed and get some money.”

About the time Maroney was arrested, another young man was arrested for forgery. They became cellmates. What Maroney didn’t know was his cellmate was actually Pinkerton Detective John White.

Another agent, George Bangs, posed as White’s attorney.

The trap was set.