CHAPTER 7 Cleaning Up Loose Ends
The three investigators arrived at the train depot about twenty minutes later. Officer Pete Green was already at the scene. He met the others as they were exiting the carriage.
“It’s a mess, Sarge. Here’s what we have so far. About an hour ago, the train arrived at the station, and the Kansas City officer exited the train with Myrt and Ragman, and they walked out the front door to the street here. Witnesses say two masked men came around that corner, and began firing at them. All three were hit. The KC Officer is dead as well as Ragman. Myrt has been taken over to the hospital, and I don’t know how bad she is.”
“Any idea who the perpetrators might be?” O’Hara inquired.
Pete shook his head. “No, Sarge. We’re not even getting good descriptions of them.”
“The bodies over there? Mac asked.
”Yeah, Sarge. Each one shot three to four times.” Pete answered.
“Kansas City been notified?” Mac continued.
Again Pete replied, “Yeah, we sent a telegraph. The Chief and a couple representatives will be here as soon as they can. KC mayor is coming also.”
“Okay, Pete. Take some officers and cordon off the entire block, rail station and all. I want a list of names of everybody within that block. I don’t care who they are, write their names on my list, and where they were when this happened.” O’Hara ordered.
“That’s a tall order, Sarge, but we’ll make it happen.” Pete responded.
“And Pete, anybody gives you any trouble, lock them up.”
“Yes sir, Sarge. Yes sir.” Pete smiled as he replied.
“Pete, one more thing.” “Yeah, Sarge?” “I want a passenger list for the last train to arrive, and the last train to leave.”
“You got it, Sarge.” Pete said.
“Bobby, you and Adam check out the bodies and perform a good search of the area. I am going to the hospital to check on Myrt.” Mac directed.
“Yes, sir.” Bobby replied. Mac left and the other investigators started working.
Mac arrived at the hospital a short time later and approached the reception desk. “The hobo lady, Myrt, where is she?” Mac inquired of the receptionist.
“I am sorry, sir, but I cannot give out that information. The receptionist said.
Mac looked at the woman, “I am Detective Sergeant Mac O’Hara, with the St. Louis Police.” Mac shot back at the woman.
“Do you have any ID, sir?” She asked.
O’Hara could feel his face turning red, but before he could say anything, he heard, “Mac.” He turned to look. It was Chief Atkins. “It’s okay, ma’am. He’s with me,” the Chief told the lady.
“Thanks Chief. How is Myrt doing? Where is she?” O’Hara wanted to know.
“She is in surgery now, Mac. Doesn’t look too good. It’s just a wait and see now. Listen, Officer Lee and Officer Sparrow are in the waiting room. Let’s you and I go find a coffee shop. They can let us know when she is out of surgery. I want to know what you know.”
“Sounds good Chief.” O’Hara said.
It had been about two and a half hours since O’Hara had arrived at the hospital. Officer Lee came into the coffee shop. “Chief, Myrt is in a room now and she’s starting to come around a little. I just thought you guys might want to come on over so when she’s awake enough, you can question her.”
“Thanks Toney,” the Chief replied. “You ready, Mac?”
“Yeah,” Mac replied. “Oh, Toney, can you get someone to go to the train station and tell Ella to come on over to the hospital.”
“Sure, Mac. I’ll go myself.” Officer Lee said.
“Gee thanks Toney. I’ll owe you one.” Mac said. “No problem, Sarge, whatever you need.”
Lee turned to go and Mac slapped him on the shoulder, looked at the Chief and said, “He’s looking for your job one of these days.”
It took just a few minutes to get back to the hospital where Mryt was being cared for by two nurses. The Chief and O’Hara walked up to the door of the room. One of the Nurses walked over to them. “How’s she doing?” Mac asked.
The nurse hesitated and pushed them out the door. “She won’t make it through the night, we’re just trying to ease her pain and keep her comfortable.”
“Oh jeez,” Mac said as he shook his head. “Do you think she could talk to us or answer a couple of questions?” Mac asked the nurse.
“Maybe. She can’t talk, but she might be able to indicate ‘yes or no’ to some questions. You can give it a try.” the nurse answered.
Mac approached the bed, reached out and took Myrt’s hand. Her eyes opened and she looked at him. “Remember me, Myrt?” O’Hara said. She squeezed his hand, shaking her head yes, and trying to say ‘copper”, but no words came out. “Did you recognize who did this to you?” Myrt shook her head no. “Myrt, I need to know where you got that purple flowered dress. Now just shake your head for me. Okay?” Myrt shook her head yes. “Did you buy it?” She replied ‘no.’ “Did you find it somewhere?” ‘No’ “Did you steal it?” She squinted her eyes and emphatically shook her head ’No’. O’Hara stood there for a moment.
The nurse spoke up, “Ms. Myrt, did somebody give you that dress?” Myrt shook her head ’yes.’ “See Sergeant. You have to think like a woman.” and she smiled at the Sarge. Myrt looked at him, and shook her head again, ’yes’.
“Who could have given it to her?” Mac wondered. “Myrt, Did MS Baker give it to you?” She answered ’No.’ O’Hara asked her, “Myrt, was it someone at the Baker Residence. She answered, ’yes.’ “Was it Kara, the maid?” Mac questioned. She answered, ’no.’ “Myrt, was it Calvin, the stableman?” Myrt didn’t answer. “Myrt, was it Calvin?” Tears came in her eyes as she shook her head, ’yes.’
“Myrt, Calvin is not in any trouble.” Mac told her. She tried to smile and say something but there were no words coming out. “What is she trying to say?” Mac asked.
The nurse leaned over close to her. The nurse straightened up, looked at Mac. “Pretty, she is saying pretty. Myrt shook her head, ‘yes.’ Calvin thought you were pretty in that dress, didn’t he?” Tears now ran down her face, and this time she smiled as she looked at Mac.
“Myrt, you were pretty, very pretty in that dress.” Mac said. As her eyes closed, Mac said, “You were very pretty in that dress.”
Mac turned and walked out of the room, and the Chief followed. They stopped in the hallway for a moment. Mac looked back into the room, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped the tears from his eyes.
Mac and the Chief were walking through the lobby of the hospital when Officer Lee came through the front door.
Seeing Mac he went over to him, “Where is Ella, Toney?”
“Mac, we don’t know.
“What?” Mac said loudly.
“She never made it to the crime scene at the train station. She didn’t show up at the livery with the horse either.”
Mac headed for the door, almost in a run. Toney was keeping up with Mac telling him all he knew. “Mac, we found the horse, wandering down near the third street pier, but no signs of Ella.”
Mac was experiencing fear, anger, anxiety, all at the same time as he now began to run toward the third street pier. It had been almost six hours. Where was his Ella?
Ella couldn’t see anything. She knew she was in the back of a wagon, gagged, and blindfolded. Two men sat at the front of the wagon. She could hear them giving commands to the horses. They had threatened her if they heard a sound or if she tried to move, she would regret it. They had been traveling down street after street for about 45 minutes she would guess. She did not know for sure where she was, but she had heard a blast from the horn of a steamboat, and it seemed reasonably loud, leading her to believe she was near the river. A few minutes earlier, she thought she smelled peanuts roasting and popcorn popping possibly indicating she was near Sportsman’s Park, the home park of the St. Louis Browns baseball team. From her observations she thought she was somewhere near the river in south St. Louis.
The wagon finally stopped. The only noise she could hear was the chugging of a steamboat and the two men talking. She was taken out of the back of the wagon, left blindfolded and gagged, and led to a door. Entering the door she was turned to the right and immediately, led down some steps. There were greater than forty steps down, and Ella realized she was far underground. When finally at the bottom she heard the noise of a match striking against something hard and smelled the sulfur odor from the match. She heard one of the men raise the globe of a lantern, and then close it. The other pulled the gag from her mouth. She felt a relief and took several deep breaths. It was so good to be able to breathe freely again, though the smell in the room where they were, was quite musty and seemed damp. It was very cool. The blindfold was removed from her eyes. It took a moment for her eyes to focus and become accustomed to what little light that was there.
She tried to see the two men, but both had their backs to her. She looked around in the dim light. She could see gears, shafts, belts, and could hear water flowing. She had never been in one before, but from what she could see and hearing descriptions from some of the factory workers, she suspected she was in a wheel pit. The wheel pit was the underground portion of a water power system driven by a waterwheel. The waterwheel was either directly in the flow of a river or stream, or powered by water diverted through a raceway, more often referred to as a ’race’.
Ella looked around more and saw the steps they had used the come down in the wheel pit. One of the men came toward her. He was very tall and had a Cajun accent. Very rough looking. She also saw the large knife he had on his side. He had put it to her throat when she was assaulted, and kidnapped. The second man, named Jacque, had a very discernable French accent. He wasn’t as tall or heavy as the other man. Jacque seemed to display a little sophistication and intelligence. The other man, whose name she had now determined was Andre, appeared to be the ’muscle’ of the two.
Ella’s hands were still tied behind her back. She leaned back against the banister railing, as she looked for a place to sit. Spiders and other insects abounded in the wheel pit, making the selection of a sitting place a little difficult. Andre moved toward Ella, and came so close she could smell the musty body odor and the odor of tobacco. He reached out his hand and stroked her hair. Ella squealed and squirmed trying to get away from him, but he had her pinned with his body against the banister. Ella kicked, catching Andre’s shin, and then scraped her shoe down his shinbone, removing some of the tender flesh. Andre grasped her dress at the neck and pulled her away from the banister. He balled his fist, cocked his arm all the way back and landed a big punch to the right side of her face. Still holding her by the neck of her dress, he readied another punch, “Andre, no.” Jacque called out. “No, not now. There will be plenty of time later to ’play.’ Tie her to the large wheel there, and be sure to tie her tightly.” Andre did as he was told.
Ella was tied with her arms stretched out to the side and slightly over her head. Her legs were also splayed and tied to each side. Before tying her, Andre had ripped her dress, leaving her wearing only her undergarments. The pain of her face, the blood trickling down her cheek, the bruising and humiliation overcame her and she cried. She cried for Mac to help her.
After a while, Ella was suffering terribly from the position in which she was tied, but her terror and suffering was only beginning. She looked toward the wall to the left. Jacque had gone back up the stairs, and returned after a few minutes with a box. He opened the box and began to remove items from it. Ella could not see well enough to tell what items he took out of the box. But she saw very well when he pulled a yellow dress from the box, and hung it on the wall.