Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1879-01-29

&ns lAeghtd When . clumsy lout
4 tseen ~ piano forts.
Next DAY the parson went down ON his knees,
With hs wifc-but mot TO pray;
. q; 'twas to scfnpe tAe grease and dirt
-1os cad Leather Reporter.
A DETECTIVES STORY.
NJ, name is-no matter. am called
Tony. have never BEEN . member Of
the regular police, and Hope my vanity
will b pardoned when I say that I con-
slider my Occupation agrade or two above
II; since it must be evident to every one
that ! dull person may be and often isa
seryiceable policeman, while . detective
has no chance of success without q ready
perception and : close study Of human
nature. lam intuitively possessed of q
faculty Of imitation, which / have cult.
vated to be Of great service In my busi-
men, q it enables me to assume, in q
very deceptive manner, the disguise of
any character / please; indeed, 8 many
different pasts have Iplayed, and in such
various company. have l mixed, that it
seems to me Z serious problem, at times,
whore my proper position in society lays.
! hsve : partner In business whose
real am l have no right to make pub
lie. Heis coarssefeatured person, and
Incapable Of converting himself by means
Of dFem into one Of the most rough.look
ing and repulsive Of men. While in n
Of the moanest Of his diaguises, some one
gave him the name Of SLOUGH" and this
r1ther repulsive sobriquet attached to
him at first in the spirit of pleasantly, is
now about the only name by which l
address him. He ID q good-hearted fell
low; muscular and courageous. and he
has, in moro than one instance, saved me
from great peril, If not actually my life.
SLOUGH has Z remarkable faculty of read
ing crime in the face. His conclusions
are generally correct; yet how he arrives
ct them has always been q 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. Asingle look
at the suspected person seems enough
for him. He has often upset a nicely
woven tissue Of apparently corroborative
incidents for me by 4 glance at the party
suspected, . shake of the head and q
gruff and provoking dissent. Only one
instance occurred where / was right and
he was absolutely wrong, but as its re.
cital would be q disgressiou, l shall re-
serve it for another.
We were sometimes together, and at
other times widely separated. There ia
not q railroad, canal, or steamboat line
in the United States that n 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 bank in the city of New York
gave information to the police that their
notes had been extensively counter
feited In a manner 80 alarmingly pc. feet
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 inia.
ton of their paper in circulation.
Every line and shade of the original bill
was reproduced in the counterfeit in
such . perfect manner, that without the
aid of q 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 / went to work at once, led
by the incentive of q very large condi.
tional reward. We labored MANY weeks
without success. There was not a 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 frnitlessly spent in this
way, when one evening q messenger wa
sent to us from the cashier of the bank,
requesting US to hurry to his ROOM. he
informed IA that two passenger ticket.
had been purchased that day at the Cal
ifornia steamship Office, every dollar fol
which had been paid in the spurious
bills. He had made some inquiries him
self in the matter, and informed US tina,
the ticket agent had no recollection oil
the persons from whom he had receivee
the money, and that the steamer woule
sail at 8 o'clock the following morning
Slouch and / took the matter into con
sideration, and urged Ivy the advice ane
counsel OF the bank officers, we deter
mined to take passage on the same boat
A trunk was hastily packed with on,
motley wardrobe, and after agreein,
upon u disguises, We sailed out tn,
next morning, taking different routes
and proceeded without any show Of hast.
to the vessel. / hesitate to say that
VA much disguised on this trip, becaus'
my appearance, ~ neal ~ l could max,
it up, wa that of q well-dressed gentle
man of fortune travelling for pleasure
and, OF course, the FIRST cabin was chosen
for my quarterA SLOUGH had seized
very repulsive disguise, and might hav,
bsen seen, n the vessel left the pier
awkwArdly stTiding among the strang,
passengers, the most perfect semblance o
ssneaf-thief I ever nav. As q precau
ton, We bore q letter of introduction Il
the master Of the vessel, indorsed by tn,
chief Of the New York police. Sioucl
and | were, Of course, apparent strangers
and were - widely as possible separated
on shipboard.
Only . few days Of our voyage hat
passed before / had succeeded in winnin,
the good opinion of my companions il
the cabin, while my partner, in the sam,
time, by his manner and appearance
has made himself IN object of suspicion
and distEust to the whole steerage. Their,
was m unusually mall number of us il
the cabin, and among them not a singh,
person whose demeanOr could create ,
suspicion of crime. The women with
ont exception, extremely ladylik,
and entertaining, and / was inclined il
their society to forget the grand purpos'
OF my voyage; but SLOUGH got me occa
sionally aside, and talked business 9,
intensely that / became q little NOR,
vigilant and attentive.
Among the male passengers was on,
Who especially engaged my observation
He was . person Of conspicuous appear
ance, not unhandsome in face, fauitles
in figure, and rather foppishly attired
He wore . dark imperial and moustache