Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-01-23

Next day the parsen vent down ON his knees.
With his Wlfe-bus not to prsv:
- no; twas to scraps the grease and dirt
from the carpet and the stairs away.
Shoe aad Leather Reporter.
A DETECTIVES STORY,
My name is-ns matter. l am callet
Tony. have never been member O.
the regular police, and hope my vanity
will BE- pardoned when / say that con
slider my occupation grade or two allow
it; since it must be evident to every ON,
that dull person may be and often is ,
serviceable policeman, while detectiv,
has no chance of success without q read,
perception and close study of human
nature. | am intuitively possessed of i
faculty OF Imitation, which have cult
waited to be Of great service in my bust
ness, as 1t enables me- to assume, in s
very deceptive manner, the disguise o.
any character please; indeed, 80 many
different parts have Iplayed, and in such
various company have mixed, that il
seems to nae serious problem, at times
where my proper position in society lays
I have partner in business whose
real name have no right to make pub
Tic. He is a coarse featured person, and
is capable of converting himself by means
Of dress into one of the most roug look.
ing and repulsive of men. While in one
of the meanest Of his DISCUSSES, some one
gave him the name Of" Slouch;;" and this
rather repulsive sobriquet attached to
him at first in the spirit of pleasantly, is
now about the only name by which /
address him. He is good hearted fel-
low; muscular and courageous. and he
has, in more than one instance, saved me
from great peril, if not actually my life.
SLOUGH has remarkable faculty of read
ing crime in the face. His conclusions
are generally correct; yet how he arrives
at them has always been a mystery to
me. My own suspicious are the result
Of some theory, and freely confess that
my Imagination has often led me astray.
tits different with SLOUGH. A single look
st the suspected person seems enough
for him. He has often upset nicely
woven tissue of apparently corroborative
incidents for me by glance at the party
suspected, shake of the head and a
grutt and provoking dissent. Oaly one
instance occurred where I was right and
he was absolutely wrong, but as its re-
cital would be dispersion, / shall re-
serve it for another.
We were sometimes together, and at
other times widely separated. There is
not railroad, canal, or steamboat line
in the United States that one or the
other of US had not travelled over in the
pursuit Of our calling. Recently we
have been sojourning in San Francisco.
Some time since the officers of the
P oank in the city of New York
gave information to the police that their
notes had been extensively counter
feited in a manner so alarmingly perfect
that many of the spurious bills had
passed through their own hands without
detection; in fact, the first intimation
of the crime was the perceptible infa-
ton of their paper in circulation.
Every line and shade of the original bin
was reproduced in the counterfeit in
such perfect manner, that without the
aid Of microscope, detection was utter
~ impossible. Once discovered, it was
plain that no other counterfeiting pro-
cess could 80 completely initiate the
genuine but the art of photography, and
in that science the manipulators must
have been skilled.
SLOUGH and l went to work at once, led
by the incentive of very large condi-
tional reward. We labored many weeks
without success. There was not single
Photographic establishment in that large
city that escaped our visits in disguise,
and in my zeal to succeed in the under
taking, studied the process of the art
from beginning to end. Nearly three
months had been fruitlessly spent in this
way, when one evening messenger was
sent to US from the cashier of the bank,
requesting US to hurry to his room. He
informed us that two passenger tickets
had been purchased that day at the Cal
ifornia steamship Office, every dollar for
which had been paid in the spurious
bills. He had made some inquiries him
self in the matter, and informed us that
the ticket agent had no recollection of
the persons from whom he had received
the money, and that the steamer would
sail at O'Clock the following morning.
SLOUGH and took the matter into con-
sideration, and urged by the advice and
counsel of the bank officers, we deter.
mined to take passage on the same boat.
A trunk was hastily packed with our
motley wardrobe, and after agreeing
upon cur disguises, We sailed out the
next morning, taking different routes,
and proceeded without any show of haste
to the. vessel. hesitate to saY that I
was much disguised on this trip, because
my appearance, as near as could make
it up, was that of well-dressed gentle
man of fortune travelling for pleasure,
and, of course, the first cabin was chosen
for my quarters. SLOUGH had seized a
very repulsive disguise, and might have
been seen, as the vessel left the pier,
awkwardly striding among the strange
passengers, the most perfect semblance Of
a sneak-thief ever saw. As q precau-
ton, we bore letter of introduction to
the master of the vessel, Endorsed by the
chief of the New York police. SLOUGH
and were, of course, apparent strangers,
and were as widely as possible separated
on shipboard.
Only a few days of our voyage had
passed before had succeeded in winning
the good opinion of my companions in
the cabin, while my partner, in the same
time, by his manner and appearance,
has made himself an object of suspicion
and distrust to the whole steersge. There
was an unusually small number of us in
the cabin, and among them not single
person whose demeanor could create q
suspicion of crime. The women with
out exception; were extremely ladylike
and entertaining, and I was inclined in
their society to forget the grand purpose
OF my voyage; but SLOUGH got me occa-
sionally aside, and talked bhainess :so
intensely that I became q little" more
vigilant and attentive. ." w., T.
Among the male passengers was one
who especially engaged my observation.
He was person of conspicuous appear.
ance, not unhandsome in face, fan1tless
in figure, and rather foppishly attired.
He wore dark imperial and moustache,,
a large brilliant upon his scarf, two OF
three diamond rings upon his fineers,
and carried q delicate rattan cane IN a