When the television show " America 's Most Wanted " was threatened with cancellation earlier this year , people rose up .A cool show , they said , especially when the bad guys get their comeuppance and snarl at the camera on their way to jail .Of course , it didn't hurt that the show has a macho title and a handsome host named John Walsh .Plus a dollop of show business .Question : How would a similar show do if it were called , say , " Stories from Bert Ziegenfuss and the Pussyfoot Detective Agency of Caney , Kan. " ?Right .Ratings would go into the tank on name alone .Still , old Bert and Pussyfoot were probably as good as " America 's Most Wanted . "Surely they were more tenacious .The Pussyfoot name came from a fellow with the monicker Pussyfoot Johnson , who at the turn of the century had been death on crooked politicians and the liquor trade hereabouts .Bert liked the name .The agency 's most renowned case involved a fellow named Nip Vann .Granted , closing the books on Vann took time _ 23 years .But eventually Bert and Pussyfoot got their man .Vann was a forerunner of a whole genre of Hollywood actors \/ \/ stuntmen .Today he 'd probably be featured on the Discovery channel .But on Nov. 12 , 1913 , he 'd ventilated the Caney city marshal , a cousin of Bert 's , with a pistol _ a bad career move .Why Vann shot John McInroy was never adequately explained .Vann later claimed it was an accident but gave few particulars .McInroy didn't live long enough to add his two cents worth .What is clear was that after Vann was seen shooting McInroy , he fled .As McInroy cooled to room temperature , Bert vowed to track down the killer .Which wasn't easy .Vann had friends in the movies , which even by the midteens were booming , especially westerns .Vann had been a wrangler and featured stunt man for Tom Mix , the cowboy star and director , who at the time of the murder was shooting an oater just over the line in Oklahoma .Movie folks , in fact , expected big things from Vann , predicting he 'd be a star with his rugged looks , ability on a horse , and the fact he was in on the ground floor of the motion picture business .But on that night in 1913 he ran .Bert sent out circulars , telegrams and postcards , what lawmen used then to track fugitives ." America 's Most Wanted " would have helped but it was still years away .Vann was spotted in Virginia in 1915 , in Montana in 1916 and in Mexico in 1927 .Bert chased after him but came up short .There were other sightings , mainly around Los Angeles .As for Vann , he became a transient stockman accompanying cattle and horses to Europe by boat and working on the railroad .He used a variety of aliases .More than two decades passed .Bert stayed on the case .Finally came a tip that Vann was in Nogales , Mexico .Bert nailed him there , hustled him across the border and got him back here for trial .A newspaperman of the era described Vann as a " bent , pain-racked , blood-poisoned , coughing , trembling specter . "In short , he didn't look so hot .Vann was 60 but appeared two decades older .Convicted of what was called fourth-degree murder , Vann received a year in the penitentiary .He emerged from Lansing in 1938 and died some years later .Bert ? He 'd got his man .And so had the wondrously named Pussyfoot Detective Agency .