Early in the winter of the following year, I was deeply engrossed in business, having an accumulation of cases on hand which taxed my ingenuity and energies to the utmost. I therefore placed almost all of the less important operations in the hands of my superintendent, Mr. Francis Warner, though I kept a general supervisory control over every case on the books of the Agency. One morning, as I was conversing with Mr. Warner, two gentlemen were admitted to my office by my confidential clerk, who informed me that they had suspicions of foul play as the cause of the death of one of their friends, and they wished the circumstances fully investigated by the Agency. The gentlemen were Mr. John Updike, of Cleveland, and Captain Edward R. Dalton, a ship captain, of Buffalo. They introduced themselves, produced credentials and references, and then told me the following story:
In November previous, Mr. Stanley D. Trafton, of Cleveland, left that city to go to Chicago. He was the son of Mr. Richard S. Trafton, a wealthy shipper of Cleveland, and the father was anxious to keep his vessels employed. Captain Dalton commanded one of Mr. Trafton's schooners, and he expected to arrive in Chicago harbor about November 20. Accordingly, young Trafton was to meet the vessel there, and, in case she did not obtain a charter at a paying rate, he was to purchase a cargo of oats on his own account. He brought, therefore, a considerable amount of money and negotiable paper. He had about eight hundred dollars in currency, two thousand five hundred dollars in United States five-twenty bonds, and a letter from his father authorizing him to draw upon him for a large amount. The bonds were the usual coupon bonds of the denomination of five hundred dollars each, and fortunately Mr. Trafton, senior, had the numbers of these securities.
Stanley Trafton arrived in Chicago November 22, and found the schooner awaiting him. He tried to obtain a room in one of the hotels, but he soon gave this up as a hopeless task, for the reason that there was no hotel in the city which was not already crowded almost to an unsafe degree. He then took up his quarters on board the schooner, getting his meals at a restaurant. This was not at all pleasant, and he finally discovered a place where furnished rooms were to let near one of the hotels. He therefore announced to Captain Dalton that he had taken a room at 92 West Madison street. They met each other every day, however, and at last, seeing no profit to be made by purchasing grain in the then condition of the market, Mr. Trafton informed the captain that he might sail for Cleveland on Friday, December 1. On Thursday he visited the captain and promised to return on board again that evening; he failed to do so, however, and the schooner sailed next morning.
Five days afterward, Captain Dalton received a dispatch, sent by a firm of commission merchants in Chicago, announcing that Stanley D. Trafton had been found dead in his bed. Mr. Updike, who was a warm friend of the family, and Captain Dalton, then visited Chicago, arriving December 8. They found the body of Mr. Trafton at the Morgue awaiting claimants, together with a quantity of valuables which had been in his possession when he died. There were two five-twenty bonds, one being torn in two pieces, a set of diamond studs, a small amount of loose change, and three one-hundred-dollar bills. A coroner's inquest had been held, and a verdict of death by congestion of the lungs had been rendered.
The circumstances of young Trafton's death, as related by the officials in charge of the body, created considerable suspicion in the minds of Messrs. Updike and Dalton, who, therefore, proceeded to investigate the affair. In the first place, they were well aware that fifteen hundred dollars in bonds, and nearly five hundred dollars in currency, were missing; secondly, they learned that Trafton had been found dead in bed Friday morning, December 1, only about eighteen hours after he had left Captain Dalton in perfect health.
Accordingly, Mr. Updike and Captain Dalton visited his late lodging-place, which was kept by a woman named May Sanford.
The building was a two-story frame residence, which, like thousands of others after the Great Fire, had been rearranged for business purposes. The lower floor was occupied as a furniture store, while the second floor was also partly occupied by business offices. A covered stairway on the side led to the upper story, and, while the front hall bedroom, the front parlor and the next room back, were used as offices, the rear portion was occupied by Mrs. Sanford, who rented most of her rooms as sleeping apartments.
"He was lying in bed with froth about his mouth and a ghastly look on his face."—Page—
On stating their object in calling, the two gentlemen were admitted to Mrs. Sanford's sitting-room, and she then gave her account of the circumstances connected with young Trafton's death. She stated that she met him first on the street and recognized him as an old acquaintance who had been intimate with her husband and herself when they lived in Buffalo; that he stopped and talked with her for a time, and, learning that she had furnished rooms to let, he said he would rent one. He stayed there five days, and, on the sixth, which was Thursday, November 30, he came to his room in the evening and complained of feeling unwell. He had been drinking very hard all the week, and she said that this evening he was quite drunk. He complained that he could not keep anything on his stomach, and asked Mrs. Sanford to cook something nice for him. Accordingly she boiled a chicken, but he could not eat it, and he then went to bed. During the evening, she heard him snoring very loudly as she passed his door, but she thought nothing of it, and went to bed at eleven o'clock. About seven o'clock next morning, she knocked at his door, but he made no answer, and she pushed the door open, the bolt being a very slight one. She then found Mr. Trafton lying diagonally across the bed, with his head hanging down and froth on his lips. Becoming alarmed at his appearance, she called in a gentleman named Taylor G. Pratt, who occupied her back parlor as a real estate office and sleeping-room. Mr. Pratt examined the body of Mr. Trafton and told her that he was dead, advising her to inform the police authorities of the fact. She immediately closed the room and went to the nearest police station, where she reported the circumstances relative to the death of Mr. Trafton so far as she knew them, and asked what she should do with the body. The police sergeant promised to send the coroner as soon as possible to make an investigation, and she was instructed to leave the body and room untouched until the coroner should arrive. That evening an inquest was held by the County Physician, and a verdict of death by congestion of the lungs was rendered. Mrs. Sanford gave an account of the finding of the money and bonds, which exactly agreed with that given by the County Physician, whom she assisted in making search for Trafton's valuables. In one boot, lying under his head, they found a five-twenty bond for five hundred dollars and half of another one, the remainder of this torn bond being found in the right-hand pocket of his pantaloons. In his vest pocket were found three United States notes for one hundred dollars each, and a small quantity of loose change. A set of diamond studs still remained in his shirt, and, as the story was related by her, there was nothing suspicious about the affair except the suddenness of his death.