Chapter III — The Investigation

Family Feuds & the Pinkerton Agency

The Snell children turn on each other. Libel suits are filed. The Pinkerton Detective Agency is hired. A Cincinnati theory emerges — and collapses. By 1893, the investigation is quietly closed.

Source: Murder by Gaslight — Robert Wilhelm, April 2019

At the end of 1890, Snell's children began fighting among themselves. Albert Stone, husband of one of Amos Snell's daughters, had taken control of the case from the start. In November 1890, the wife of Albert Snell — Amos's only son — publicly took issue with Stone's handling of the case. Stone issued a terse response which Mrs. Snell interpreted as an implication that she and her husband were involved in the murder. She filed three libel suits against Stone, demanding $300,000 in damages. The same day she announced she had hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to investigate the case.

Henrietta Snell had tried early on to get the Pinkertons on the case, but she wanted them to work for the reward — against the company's basic principle. Presumably, Mrs. Albert Snell was now paying the Pinkertons' regular fee. A detective named Frank Golden claimed that some of Snell's documents were in a safety deposit box in Cincinnati, and that the break-in had not been an ordinary burglary but was to steal documents for the benefit of one man deeply in debt to Amos Snell. Nothing came from the Cincinnati theory, and the Pinkerton Agency denied having any role in the investigation.

In May 1893, States Attorney Kern announced that the Tascott investigation had ended — but the indictment against him would still hold if he were ever captured. By this time, it was estimated that more than 1,000 men nationwide had been arrested on suspicion, but no one was held. The Snell case faded from public view.

"More than 1,000 men nationwide had been arrested on suspicion — but no one was held."