The masked war Author:William J. Burns Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III FOLLOWING A SAWDUST TRAIL I have always insisted that every criminal leaves a track—that many times Providence interferes to uncover the footpr... more »ints left by the criminal. And so on this occasion, one charge under a second girder failed to explode, due to the fact that the dry battery used in the clock bomb lost its voltage. In this way we were able to determine the method used by the dynamiters for bringing about those simultaneous explosions, as through this clock-working device they were enabled to set the explosion for 11 hours and 59 minutes and 59 seconds, which would give them plenty of leeway to escape. They could thereby establish a perfect alibi. They figured, of course, on the total destruction of the bomb, which would obliterate every vestige of evidence as to the character of the explosive used. I detailed the very best operatives in our service to make this investigation and personally directed each step of their operations. They returned several times with final reports, and each time would be sent back to the work to dig further. Knowing that nitroglycerin could not be transported on railroad trains, we felt that it must have been manufactured within easy reach of where the explosion took place. Besides, the dynamiters used the original can in which they purchased the nitro- glycerin. In addition to the can filled with nitro- glycerin that failed to explode, there was also an empty can found in the vicinity, and in this same spot were found some grains of sawdust, all of which was carefully gathered up. And this indicates the care with which the trained detective does his work, for, by a similar circumstance many years before, I was able to bring about the conviction of the notorious Bill Brockaway, by finding at the counterfeiting plant an oi...« less