Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-04-05
A DETECTIVES STORY.

Rue de Jerusaleme, the Scotland
Yard of Paris.
A friend of mine, \ solicitor, had
among his clientsa firm of East In
dia brokers, into which had recently
been admitted, as a partner, the son
OF the senior member OF the house.
This young man had by no means
turned out well. He had not only
been extravagant, but utterly reck-
less in money matters, and had
lately capped his previous offences
by absconding to the continent, ard
taking with him G10,000 WORTH Of
!. foreign bonds or securities, that
were not only property Of the firm,
: but formed the nest-egg on which
. the partners relied in case of a rainy
day. Like most foreign securities,
these bonds were payable to s'bear-
err" and were therefore all the more
easy to negotiate or dispose of. For
several reasons the firm did not
wish to make their loss public. In
the first place, doing so would have
been a severe, if not fatal, blow to
their credit in the city; and, sec
ond, the other partners were natu-
rally very unwilling to publish the
I vi tIiCAA
Somehow or other it had been ascer-
tanned that the absconded partner
had gone to Paris. The affair had
been placed in the hands of my
friend, who, as | have said, WAS
their solicitor, and his plan Was to
try and recover the securities on
payment of certain sum. AS a
matter of course, 1T was to be eX-
pected those persons in whose hands
they were pledged would ask as
much as possible for these docu-
ments; and that, if they knew that
legally there was doubt if they
could be looked upon as stolen, their
demands would rise in proportion.
To me was intrusled the task of
getting back the bonds. 1t was
agreed that | was to start the next
day that | was to pay as little as
possible for the recovery; and that
[ was to keep the whole affair as
much as possible in the dark.
Some of the peculiarities of the
| French detectives and their system
struck me very forcibly, even be-
fore | landed at Boulogne. On board
the same steamer with me there
happened to be very few passengers
but among them was an elderly,
very gentlemanly-looking French
man, who spoke English well,
although with very decided ac-
cent. L am what is called a very
good sailor, and always enjoy run
across the Channel, even in the
mosl stormy days. AS was smok-
ing my cigar in the bow of the
steamer, and watching an iron-clad
| in the distance that was toiling up
the Channel, the Frenchman of
whom | speak made his way up to
me and begged the favor of a cigar
i light, evidently with the intention
! of there and then commencing a
conversation. He was spare, mid
dle-aged man, well set up, about 30
years of age, with irOn-gray hair
and mOustache, no WhiSkers or |
| beard, and with the omnipresent /
/ red ribbon in his buttOnhole. He |
| was well-dressed, had good man. |
ners, and all the outward and Visi- |
! BILE signs of a retired officer of the |
| French army. After talking for |
some time on Indifferent matters, /
he asked me if was not Monsieur
So-and-so, mentioning my right |
name. Thinking he was some in |
dividual had met in Paris or else
where on the Continent, replied |
in the affirmative.
"Ah," said he, 81 never forget a |
face or name. Let me introduce
myself as Monsieur X, of the Po- |
| lice CorrectionnelleS Secrete de Paris. |
l have been engaged in a little affair |
in London. Your police wanted |
some one who could identify a GER
| tain individual, and was sent over
for that purpose. / happened to be
at the bureau at Scotland Yard |
when Monsieur came there last !
Wednesday, and one of the inspect |
Ors pointed you out as gentleman /
about to proceed to Paris to recover
some securities which had been |
stolen. If / can be of any use to
Monsieur over yOnder in the Rue |
de Jerusaleme, shall only be too
happy"
l thanked my new acquaintance
very much, and told him that /
/ though | had letter of introduction |
| from the French Eembassy to the |
| Chief de Police COrrcctiOnnelle in |
Paris, should be very glad indeed |
| to avail myself of his services. We |
| then had a little refreshment to-
| gether, and agreed to travel in COM
pany with each other to Paris.
In the train, as we'll as in the
steamer, my friend talked good |
deal about our English police sys-
/ TEN, and more particularly about |
our English detectives. The latter
| he declared to be "des exeellents
gems" and "des brave hommes,"
but was not little surprised at
their way of doing work, which, as
he said, would never suit Paris or
| France. "Your secret police" he
said, ''are no more secret than your
police in uniform. Everybody |
| knows them, and they evendress so
exactly alike that they might as
well wear the blue tunic with the |
number on the collar. This is not
| the first or second time have been |
| in London, ard it has always struck
| me that your rascals and vagabOnds |
| know far more what your detectives
are doing than the detectives know
about the rascals."
ssWe," he continued, "divide our
police into two great divisiOns--la |
! police politique and a police cOriec-
| tfonnelle. OF the former you have |
none at all, So much the better FOR |
you. The police correctionnelle was
subdivided into two categories,
those who wear uniform and those
who don't. The former are for
keeping order in the streets, at the
doors Of public buildings, and other
PLACES where there are crowds; also, |
/ they have 10 deal with ordinary |
| thieves, housebreakers, and rOgues |
of the lower orders. For instance, |
! if happened to be passing through !
the streets of Paris and saw fight, |
tumult, or other disturbance, !
should not dream of interfering. 1t
would be the business of the SER i
! geants-de-ville to do so, This part |
of the London police duty is admi-
rably performed. Your policemen |
do their work in the streets, and
whenever there is crowd or a |
crush, with good temper and for
bearance that is beyond all praise.
But it must be admitted that this is
very much owing to the English
people themselves. With the ex-
ceptiors of the lowest of the low, the
English are a people who love or
| iG Hnif1O