Date: Fri 21-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Laslo-Briscoe-history-crime

Full Text:

The Case Files of Detective Laslo Briscoe

(A Fictional Crime Series About Actual Newtown Crimes)

BY ANDREA ZIMMERMANN

It was the Clean House initiative of the chief that prompted the police

department to delve into its dark closets and rummage through long-forgotten

boxes. Almost everything deemed non-essential was hauled to the dump by the

highway crew, but the curious contents of one box roused attention and was set

out piece-by-piece on the evidence table for display.

A worn leather slipcase had a faint tooling that identified its owner as

"Detective Laslo Briscoe." Inside were the case files of the private

investigator, which chronicled both the heineous and humorous crimes that

befell the citizens of Newtown between 1894 and 1933. But the tidy penmanship

relayed more than just the facts we find in modern-day police reports; it

included observations about the criminal nature, the reactions of the

townspeople, and the methods a prominent detective would employ in an age

before fingerprinting (often, it was simply a matter of an astute mind buoyed

by a good deal of luck).

The box also held a large tin, wrapped securely with a string that was tied

and clipped right down to the knot. The string had to be cut to reveal the

array of objects inside -- articles from crime scenes in Newtown's past.

On slow or rainy days, department personnel spend time matching cases with

salvaged evidence. The nighttime dispatcher contributed a map and significant

crimes are marked in red along with the dates they were perpetrated. Now when

officers patrol these same streets in Newtown, they envision the criminal

world of more than a century ago, and trace the fine detective work that put

many a low-life behind bars.

From The Files Of

Detective Laslo Briscoe

Case No. 34 -- On The Hoof

I was called upon to help extradite H.H. Platt of Newtown, a well-known horse

trader, to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on the United States express train. It is

alleged that Platt stole a horse from that town a year ago.

Case 36 -- Silent Arsonist in Taunton

We've been having a run of ill-will in town -- horse thieves and arsonists

have been active enough to inflame sentiments so people are suggesting public

floggings -- if, they say, the culprits are ever caught. And it seems when one

villain fails, another is at the ready to set light to a barn or to a home

where people are sleeping peacefully. What mind to do this?

It was a sorry fellow with steady nerves who took hay from Benjamin Maynard's

barn and quietly stacked it in the basement of his house, soaked it with oil

and set it on fire the evening of March 19, 1894. The intent was clear: to

burn down the house with its owner and wife inside. But Ben Maynard was

awakened by smoke and quick to act. Taunton is not the usual place for

fiendish activity. With no witnesses and so few clues, it seems this case will

have no ready solution.

Case 38 -- Female Horse Thief Evades Justice

Could it be that Newtown is the chosen place for horse thieves to unbridle

their stolen goods as well as any dim spark of remorse attached to their acts?

Few are as enterprising, and as without wit, as horse thief Clara Cormany of

Bridgeport. She made the fatal error of driving up in front of Central House

and calling out Clerk Cavanaugh, to whom she tried to sell a horse and

complete driving outfit for the magnificent sum of $10. The judge suspected no

good, sent for Deputy Sheriff Glover and me. Glover made the purchase and

followed the woman's trail back toward Bridgeport; when she boarded the 11:36

train to Botsford, she must have had the satisfied grin of a thief who has

made it clean away. But was it conscience or fear that made her write a letter

upon her arrival in Botsford to Liveryman Bronson of Bridgeport, the rightful

owner of the horse? It was, in the end, this act that prevented the charges

from being sustained. Glover and I had a lively altercation with the

Bridgeport chief of police over the incident; both of us were censured. It is

a case where the villainess retires into a benign crowd and we are castigated

for our attempts to bring justice home. CASE CLOSED AUGUST 10, 1894.

Case 41 -- Burglars Leave Town In Trail of Gun Powder

Gun shots were exchanged between prominent citizens of Newtown and three men

attempting to gain admission to a store at 1:15 am on December 19. Mr Curtis

and Mr Taylor believe they marked their men, although they failed to bring

them down. I have pursued inquiry on their behalf, but the men are as phantoms

in the night.

Caution has been drawn as a drape across the town since we received news of

the series of burglaries in Watertown, North Woodbury, and Southbury earlier

this week. Alerted to possible visitation from night prowlers, Mr Taylor

reported to me three suspicious-looking characters near the bridge in the

afternoon. Later in the evening, one of these ruffians visited the store of

Warner, Taylor & Curtis and begged for some tobacco, while a second asked for

a loan of half a candle at the store of Terrill, Betts & Co. because he

desired to write a letter.

With recent criminal activity so close to home, Mr Taylor, Mr Curtis, and Mr

Bull, repaired to Warner, Taylor, & Curtis, where they procured their guns and

remarked in a joking way that they may come in use. They went to the residence

of S.P. Glover. At 1:15 a noise attracted their attention and they looked out

to see three men on the stoop of the store. The business owners called out and

the men on the stoop began to run. It is then the shots were exchanged.

It is possible these three were not the toughs seen at the bridge. If our mode

of transmitting information was improved, burglaries might better be thwarted.

It was, afterall, on Tuesday evening that the Hawleyville operator overheard

three tramps talking about, "Doing a job at Sandy Hook." He immediately

telegraphed his suspicions to the Hook operator, who was alone and unable to

secure anyone to bring the message up to the deputy or me. As of late, the

newspaper has unlimited space for commentary of criminals loose in the

community with little space for worthwhile information that might lead to

their capture.

Another year wanes. With the holidays come a quietude that spreads to every

border of town, but I am confident that the criminal element is merely biding

their time, resting until the next opportunity arises to ply its dastardly

trade.

Laslo Briscoe

Newtown December 24, 1894