Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth

[Gene C]

This weeks chapter is "The Detective Stories"

While not quite as interesting as some previous chapters, this caught my eye;
"A few miles from Port Tobacco dwelt a solitary woman, who, when questioned,
said that for many nights she had heard, after she had retired to bed,
a man enter her cellar and lie there all night, departing before dawn. Major
O'Bierne and the detectives ordered her to place a lamp in her window
the next night she heard him enter, and at dark they established a cordon
of armed officers around the place. At midnight punctually she exhibited
the light, when the officers broke into the house and thoroughly searched it,
without result. Yet the woman positively asserted that she had heard the
man enter.
It was afterword found she was of a diseased mind."

and this ploy by the detectives that didn't work;
"Major O'Bierne started for Leonardstown with his detective force, and
played off Laverty as Booth, and Hoey as Harold. These two advanced
to fiirm-houses and gave their assumed names, asking at the same time for
assistance and shelter. They were generally avoided, except by one man
named Claggert, who told them they might hide in the woods behind his
house. When Claggert was arrested, however he stated that he meant to
hide them only to give them up. While on this adventure, a man who had
heard of the reward came very near shooting Laverty. The ruhe now became
hazardous and the detectives resumed their real characters."

A rather frustrating time for the detectives.