The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1881-08-20

Who lie is, How He Works and What He
Gets for 1t.

Robert III. Pinkerton in the New York SUM-
81 want to know about detectives as they
are not as they should be. Who are they?
How do they work."
"As to the first question. that's not so easy
to answer. Detectives are-weli. they are
detectives They may have been clerks,
sale.men, students, newspaper men, any
body. Aman in any business does, perhaps,
bit Of detective WORK as an amateur, be-
comes fond of it, and, if he really has it in
him, eventually gets to be a master of the
art Oh, yes, there's an art in it. A great
many boys and young men areo often anxious
to become detectives. They get their ideas
of the work and the lite from the dime
novels and fash illustrated newspapers.
They think that a detective is q mysterious
parsonage, who always goes disguised and
prepared to assume any character at mo
ment's notice, who is walking arsenal, and
who has the happy faculty of turning up at
just the right moment, clapping big pistol
to the villains head and rescuing youth and
beauty. We have had great many appli-
cations from these deluded persons, and
once we tried one of these lads His father.
wealthy man in Chicago, came to US and
said that his boy was crazy to be detective.
and asked us to take him and give him some
work that would disenchant him. He was a
| bright, smart young fellow, full of the dime
| novel idea We set him to watching house
in lonely part ofthe city. He had explicit
instructions not to lose sight of the door
| from dusk in the evening until day light
next morning It was winter. The boy
stood it one night and reported all right
| next morning. The second morning he did
net report. He never has reported. The
father, however, did report that his boy was
ready to 90 to school, and he was very much
obliged to US. Ycu ask me who detectives
are. 1 can tell you who they are not. They
are not ex-thieves. In the first place, it is not
save to trust ex-thieves. While, perhaps,
they nigh. have information that would be
invaluable to detective, they are not temp
tation-proof. They will take advantage of
their position to put up jobs in crime that
they never could accomplish were they not
employed as detectives. The experiment has
been tried; it will not work as rule. Ofcourse
we sometimes get information from thieves,
not because they are thieves but because
they have the information But we have to
use the greatest care in verifying their in
| formation
"You ask, 'how do they work. and that is
another difficult question to answer. To be-
/ yin Will, Il Ill say IudI ucbcCtifCc diC OiNiuCd
| into three general classes: shadows, investi-
gators, and ropers. When max begins the
| busiaess he is put at shadowing. 1t is an
excellent way to try him and see what stuff
there is in him If he will watch house
night after night, in all sorts of weather, or a
man, day after day without exciting sus-
picion, it is pretty safe to employ him regu-
larlv. A good shadow is an important part
of detective force. In great many cases
of crime there is no clue to the criminal. but
only suspicion. The shadow is told tt
watch such man and see what he does
what sort of company he keeps where he re-
sorts; or he is told to watch house, SEE
who goes in and out, what the Character o.
ths inmates is, what hours they keep. Now
in order to do this man must have tact
intelligence, perseverance,. He must not only
not excite the suspicious OF the suspected par
ties, but he must not excite the suspicious o
the police. 1t is very awkward for q de
tective to have to give an account o
himself to policeman. While the police
man may be the most honest and faithful il
the world it endangers the case if he know
detective is around, and mentions it cas-
ually to brother policeman. You can se
that to do his work we'll a shadow must be
man whose appearance will not provoke
comment or attract attention. You'd no
make good shadow. You're too tall. A
very short man won't do. In fact, thor
, oughly commonplace looking man is tn
+ very best. He should be young and active
We ha' had Office boys who developed
considerable talent for that sort of work
Sometimes boy can be used where a maj
can not. He can hang around q house
make the acquaintance of other boys in tn
neighborhood, and the criminal who ma,
. be watching from inside the house for
i, chance to steal out unobserved, may thinl
the coast clear when he sees that there is n
} one around except two or three boys play
f ing marbles on the sidewalk. We had
. case of this kind in Baltimore at the time O
+ the robbery of the Third National Ban
there. We wanted to watch house Of
. Perry street, and we couldn't do it with an
! of our regular shadows. So we put bo,
l there. He was playing marbles when tn
!. man came out, and then gave the sigma
{ that resulted in his capture. But bows, as
0 rule, are not safe. They are likely to be
come too important in their own estimation
and they may talk. Some great criminal
e have been captured, by means of shadow
r The Northampton Bank robbers were shad
}, owed months before Scott and Dunlap wer
! arrested. Billy Conners was shadowed tw
months, and Red Leary, before his last Al