The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1878-06-13
A Queer Crew
CHAPTER /.

As an ex-detective, 1 Rm Otter
asked to relate my adventures, and 8
one time l was ready enough to dj
so but soon fOuId that my tale
were looked upon as dull, prOsI
things, and not at all like what de
tectives ought to have to say 70
themselves. Everybody seems tC
think that detectives ought to finC
things out by sort of magical divins
tiOn I; but was reckOned a pretty
good one, and l have known some o
our greatest celebrities and tie only
way any Of us ever found anything
Oat was by inquiring of everybody
who was likely to know little, keep.
ing our eyes on any probable party,
holding our tongues and putting al
the scraps together. Now and then
we are befriended by lucky chance
and when this happens We get hum
dred times more praise than when Wt
puzzle out the darkest and toughest
case. The last affair / was ever en-.
gagged in was Of this kind. / was
first concerned in it two years before ]
left the police, after, by the by, had
quite given up the detective branch ;
and resumed three years afterward,
| that Is, three years after had left the
police, and this is how ii occurred. l
must first say, however, that l don't
at ali regard this as one of the dull,
prOsy cases referred to in fact, il
was the most exciting business L was
ever engaged in.
l had left the detective work, as I
said, and, indeed, had left London,
for when l grew little tired of the
business l was recommended to the
COmbestesd, a thriving market town
in one Of the home counties +; and
/ had very comfortable position there
having little to do, very good pay and
being head OF the borough police. Ol
course there is a great deal of differ
ence between life in the country and
life in town, and from pOlicemsn's
view it perhaps appears greater than
it does to anybody else and whereas
had often wondered how anybody
could be detected in London. / was
equally surprised to think how any,
body could hope to escape in the coun-
try fer, excepting when strangers
come down on some carefully-plan-
ned burglary, we could nearly always
tell when TO look for cur men if any
thing went wrong IN short, i knew
everybody. AS q matter OF course,
everybody knew me.
There was q mlddle-age1 party lived
in quiet row of houses in Orchard
street-which ran parallel with our
High street-a Miss Parkway, who
was reputed to be pretty well off, al
though not extremely rich, and re-
puted also to be rather &C.
centric. She lived by her
self, in the sense Of having none OF
her relatives with her; but there
were other persons, although not
many, in the house where she lodged.
had my attention drawn to her by
seeing her walking repeatedly in
! company with young man Of no
very good character, who was fully
twenty years her junior, and at last
heard she was going to be married
to him. All the town prOfessed to be
surprised and shocked at this, but
wasn't. Whether detectives get hard
of heart in such things or not I can
not say, but nothing in the way of q
woman of fiYe-and-fOrty marrying q
man Of five-and-twenty would ever
surprise me. Nor should 1 be sur
prised st the man marrying the wO-
man il she had money, IS in this
case. After all although l said John
Lytherly-that was his nRme-was
OF no good character, yet there was
nothing serious against him He was
good-tempered, Od,IOOking, easy
sort OF a fellow, with q lot of clever
ness about him, too, that ALWAYS
showed itself when il wasn't wanted,
and never showed itself when ii
might be Of service. He now called
himself a photographer but had
been q solicitors clerk, an actor. a
traveller for wine merchSnt, q bar
man, and had once, before his moth
er died, been bought out OF the Lane
ers. However, it was now pretty
well known that John was going to
marry Miss Parkway, and half the
young chaps in Combestesd ridiculed
and envied him by turns.
Matters progressed so far that il
was known that the lady had given
orders TO B1nnyman & Co., our chief
bankers, to call in q thousand pounds
Of her money which was out on
mortgage and it was said she in.
tended to buy one of the houses in
the High street, and fit it up as 9
photographers. 1t is also reported
that old Mr.. Bunnyman said 1: 81
hope, Miss Parkway, that, whatever