"You had better be careful; you may be killed," suggested Strong.
"No danger of that," he replied. "The wire is insulated."
"Well, you had better get a rope at the car barns, anyway," urged the sergeant, and Wilson agreed to go over to the barns on 75th Street for a rope. He was last seen alive when he left the car barns with some rope about 3:20.
Evidently he threw the rope over a branch of the tree, and then tried to put the deadly wire through a noose in one end of the rope so that it could be drawn up into the tree out of the way of passers-by. The wire must have squirmed around unexpectedly striking Wilson on the back of the hand and killing him instantly.
Wilson, who was 27 years old and had been on the police force for five years, is survived by a wife and two small children.
Stories of Crime. Accounts of crime, or "police
news stories," are constructed on practically the same
principles as those of fires and accidents. In all crimes
in which human lives are destroyed or endangered,
the essential points are the names of the persons involved,
the nature of the crime, its cause, its results,
and, if the perpetrator escapes, clues to his identity
and whereabouts. In murders, attempted murders, suicides,
and defalcations, the motives for the crime are
always matters of great interest. The value of what
was stolen or what might have been stolen should be
given in reports of robberies or embezzlements. Ingenious
methods used to gain entrance to places robbed
make interesting features. In defalcation or fraud peculiar
means of deception employed may be "played
up." The "human interest" in the accused or the victim
must not be overlooked in crime stories. When
