Shooting For Justice by G. Tilman (top 100 novels txt) 📗

Back at the War Department, Pope obtained a draft voucher and went shopping. The single shot .45-70 trap door Springfield models of 1873 were overly powerful for what he wanted and too slow to reload. He purchased ten 1873 Winchester carbines, five double-barrel shotguns, and ten Colt revolvers. He also purchased twenty boxes of .44-40 cartridges, ten boxes of twelve-gauge buckshot, and five cleaning kits. The Army’s handguns, Colts and Smith & Wesson .45’s would have caused confusion with the rifles and revolvers shooting similar looking but non-interchangeable cartridges. With the standardization of .44-40’s, the soldiers would have a familiar handgun, except with a different cartridge of the same power class. They would fit in the issue holsters as well. His last purchase was a holdover from his San Francisco Police days. He bought twenty-five loud brass police whistles on lanyards.

Pope had his purchases scheduled for delivery after noon on Friday. He wanted to give Sgt. Wilders and his troopers time to offload the equipment they were bringing and put it in the President’s House security room.

Friday morning the two detectives parted early. Pope walked to the President’s House, and Sarah headed down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. She was armed with her letter from the attorney general. The letter was worded much like a federal subpoena and signed by the deputy attorney general. It was much more powerful than what she had imagined. The most interesting aspect of the letter to her was it was done by a Remington typewriter of the Sholes and Glidden design. It appeared to have been printed just for her on engraved stationary.

At the Capitol building, she was directed to the records room. It was managed by a gnome-like older man. He was quite taken by the beautiful detective and her letter. She spent three hours going through records and copying items of interest to her investigation. Much of her time was spent with Washington newspaper articles on the president’s more controversial agendas, such as the Navy, the Chinese situation, immigration in general, his proposed merit system, and arguments with increasingly powerful Southern Democrat senators and congressmen.

Sgt. Wilders met Pope at the front of the President’s House. His three men, one corporal and two privates, took their wagon to the rear loading door. Pope and Wilders walked followed and watched the offloading of a gun safe and miscellaneous items the two had selected from Army supplies. The current President’s House guard was a Washington policeman. Pope located him and recruited him into the mix. He was glad to have backup and said the officers on other shifts would also be pleased. He was invited to sit in on the briefing and discussion once the items were moved to the room.

“Men, this is Officer Tyron from the Washington Police Department. He has been a roving guard here for a year. He will be an integral part of our security operation. I would like to spend the next hour or so with him walking us through his rounds and sharing events of note with us. We have pencils and some notepads, so feel free to take one and make whatever notes you wish. We will come back here, and I will answer your questions and we will put together standing orders and the report format for this mission. Officer Tyron? Would you begin your tour? If you have a set tour beginning at one point each time, let’s start there. My gut reaction would be to have predetermined stations on the tour but begin it at a different station each time. Following the same route day after day leads to predictability. We want to avoid predictability,” Pope said as they began their walk through the building and grounds.

As they toured the intricate building and the grounds with so many unprotected entry points, Pope realized they would need a diagram of the building posted on the wall of the security room.

He told the group he felt any persons held for questioning should be detained by the police officer on duty, though the soldiers could assist. He explained posse comitatus, which prevented the military from interfering in law enforcement matters unless martial law has been invoked by the president. Tyron, at fifty years old and a twenty-five-year police veteran, told the men about living through martial law during the war. He said with the two opposing capitols, Washington and Richmond, being only a hundred miles apart and having many police officers in the army, President Lincoln had to resort to extraordinary actions to protect DC. Declaring martial law was one of those actions.

The group stopped at several blind entry points and discussed remedies. Upon return, they discussed items for the duty roster, standing orders and checking weapons in and out. Pope asked Sgt. Wilders to set up a range day with the whole cadre, including the Washington Policemen.

They returned to the security room. Pope asked Tyron what types of events he and other officers had dealt with over the past year. The officer explained the incidents involved drunks, job seekers, and crazies for the most part. When asked whether he had been able to deal with each alone, he responded “yes” about drunks and job seekers. However, multiple persons of any type or people with apparent mental disorders were difficult for one man. All agreed a two-person patrol with whistles to alert the desk guard to call DC police would be much preferable.

Once the policeman was released to resume his tour, and the four soldiers returned to the Washington Arsenal, Pope began to develop the types of post orders they had discussed.

He cut it close with regard to finding a suitable tuxedo for the President’s House party but lucked out at an exclusive men’s haberdashery. Pope specified the tuxedo jacket to be one size larger to accommodate his revolver without printing notice of its presence. He bought some black shoes and socks, a tuxedo shirt, cummerbund, tie and stud set and rushed back to the Willard.

Pope