all over the country, and sent on to New York for
identification. Three had been arrested at Liverpool, and one man just
as he landed at Sydney, Australia. But so far the murderer had escaped.
We were all talking about it one night, as everybody else was all over
the country, in the local room, and the city editor said it was worth a
fortune to any one who chanced to run across Hade and succeeded in
handing him over to the police. Some of us thought Hade had taken
passage from some one of the smaller seaports, and others were of the
opinion that he had buried himself in some cheap lodging-house in New
York, or in one of the smaller towns in New Jersey.
"I shouldn't be surprised to meet him out walking, right here in
Philadelphia," said one of the staff. "He'll be disguised, of course,
but you could always tell him by the absence of the trigger finger on
his right hand. It's missing, you know; shot off when he was a boy."
"You want to look for a man dressed like a tough," said the city editor;
"for as this fellow is to all appearances a gentleman, he will try to
look as little like a gentleman as possible."
"No, he won't," said Gallegher, with that calm impertinence that made
him dear to us. "He'll dress just like a gentleman. Toughs don't wear
gloves, and you see he's got to wear 'em. The first thing he thought of
after doing for Burrbank was of that gone finger, and how he was to hide
it. He stuffed the finger of that glove with cotton so's to make it look
like a whole finger, and the first time he takes off that glove they've
got him--see, and he knows it. So what youse want to do is to look for a
man with gloves on. I've been a-doing it for two weeks now, and I can
tell you it's hard work, for everybody wears gloves this kind of
weather. But if you look long enough you'll find him. And when you think
it's him, go up to him and hold out your hand in a friendly way, like a
bunco-steerer, and shake his hand; and if you feel that his forefinger
ain't real flesh, but just wadded cotton, then grip to it with your
right and grab his throat with your left, and holler for help."
There was an appreciative pause.
"I see, gentlemen," said the city editor, dryly, "that Gallegher's
reasoning has impressed you; and I also see that before the week is out
all of my young men will be under bonds for assaulting innocent
pedestrians whose only offense is that they wear gloves in midwinter."
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