He came to one paragraph, which read:

"Now to prove these facts * * * * I took my gun, a Smith we had
practiced on, and checked the package in the St. Louis Union Depot,
under the initials J. M. Now if you want a good little gun and billy, go
and get out the packages checked to J. M. in the Union Depot October
25th; there are probably seventy-five or eighty cents charges on it by
this time, but the gun alone is worth $10. Also, if you want a double-
barreled shot-gun, muzzle-loader, go along the bank of the Missouri
River, on the north side, about a mile below St. Charles bridge, and
about twenty feet along the bank, just east of that dike that runs out
into the river, and you will find in a little gully a shot-gun and a
musket. Be careful. I left them both loaded with buckshot and caps on
the tubes. They were laying, wrapped up in an oil-cloth, with some weeds
thrown over them. Also, down on the river just below the guns, I left my
skiff and a lot of stuff, coffee-pot, skillet, and partially concealed,
just west of the skiff, you will find a box of grub, coffee, bacon, etc.
I came down the river in a skiff Tuesday night, October 26-27, from a
point opposite Labodie. It is a run of thirty-five or thirty-six miles.
They should all be there unless some one found them before you got
there." * * * *

Mr. Pinkerton, in a brown study, tapping the table with his fingers, sat
for some moments. Rising abruptly, he placed his hat on his head, and
requesting Mr. Damsel to follow, left the room. In a short time he was
in the Union Depot, and stepping up to the clerk of the parcel-room,
asked for a package which had been left there October 25th, marked "J.
M.," stating that he had lost his ticket. After some search, the clerk
brought forward a parcel tied in a newspaper.