The Rock Island Argus., 1882-08-05
TALES OF A DETECTIVE.
A Man Who Obtained His First Start in Life by
Stealing

ueen maue puDilc. AiInough the man
! of mystery could furnish a newspaper a
vast amount of intensely interesting
reading matter every day in the week,
| he has the habit of reticence and secrecy
| so firmly imbedded in his nature that it
| makes his face ache every time he lets
I drop u little grain of information, or
pointer" as it is called.
| The particular detective referred to in
| this article had no special reason for re-
| ticence, and therefore he was willing to
| talk just little. He was willing to
state facts, but his nature revolted
against giving names and dates. Hav-
ing found coy retreat and comforta-
BILE seats. he was asked to furnish the
data for newspaper article, devoid of
imaginative ornamentation and based
upon solid, substantial, undeniable
facts.
Facts" said he laughing. ''are the
only things / dealt in while detective:
they were the only things that were
worth a nickel to me. | spent years in
separating hard facts from unsubstan-
tial fancies and learned to distinguish
the one from the other at sight. KNEW
it TO be fact that prosperous mer-
chant of St. Louis, who is also an ac-
tive church member. obtained his first
cally robbing his employers. He was a
packer in a wholesale dry-goods house
years ago, and had an intimate friend
Who was doing Il good business in one
of the interior cities. He purchased all
his goods at the house in which our
friend was employed. Between them
they arranged II plan by which they
could swindle the house and escape de-
lection. The country merchant came
to the city, bought bill of goods. and
of course it fell to the duty of our friend
to pack them. 1t was very easy mat
ter for him to slip in an extra piece of
silk, or a bolt of cloth of some kind.
When the box arrived at the destination
there were more goods in it than were
called for by the invoice, but the coun-
try merchant understood what it meant,
and when he next visited the city he
would quietly slip so or a $50, or
two or three bills of those denomina-
tions. according to circumstances, into
our friends hand, and the transaction
was complete. OF course the house
missed the goods. but never knew what
became of them. This sort of arrange
ment ran on for wears. Our friend final
~ started in business. for he saved his
earnings. and he prospered. He is now
rich. Well, this thing might have al
WAYS remained secret if the country
merchant had followed our friends ex-
ample-but he didn't. He didn't save
his earnings, neither did he shun the
flowing bowl. He did not prosper. One
day he came to the city fiat broke, and
called upon our friend and his friend
his friend who had served him SO well
in the past, and asked him for the loan
of 500. Our friend refused it now, for
he had reformed and had grown virtu-
Gus. The country merchant obtained
the money elsewhere, got drunk, and
became talkatiye. The refusal of his
former friend ranked in his bosom, and
out OF revenge he gave away the whole
scheme. He repented of it afterward,
for he suddenly realized that in betray-
ing his friend he had betrayed himself,
and then he denied the truth of the dis
closure, saving that he had only been
fooliag. Out of mere curiosity-noth-
ing else--I worked at the ease, and
found it was just as have told you."
'.Both parties alive to-day?" s'Both
parties alive to-day as far as l know.
One of them is, surely. unless he has
died within two hours.
There are a great many strange oc-
currences in a large city p
Yes. and the public never sees nor
hears of one-quarter of them. | was
once called upon by a prominent and
wealthy business man who wanted me
TO take a case for which he offered to
pay me literally He said that on the
previous morning his wife's trunk had
been broken open and a large amount
of jewelry and other valuable property
had been taken. / stepped into his car
riage and went to his residence an ele-
giant, aristocratic mansion in fashion
able quarter of the city. l went up to
his wife's room-a front room-the sec
ond story-a and there, sure enough, was
the trunk with the hasp of the lock
pried off and the contents consisting of
dresses and finery of all kinds, tumbled
about as though hurried search had
been made. The lady told me that on
the previous morning she went down to
breakfast, leaving the trunk locked, and |
when she came back she found it broken
open and the stuff gone. She said that |
she had heard no one come into the
house nor leave II, and had forgotten to |
see whether the front door WAS open or
not. carefully examined the room and |
the trunk. watched the lady's manner, /
the servants, and decided to |
give up the case. did not tell the mer-
chant of my decision, but worked on the |
matter for day or two. | was satisfied |
as TO the ease almost at once, but on the |
day | discovered that on the
evening prior to the alleged robbery |
man had raped at the lady's door. had |
been admitted to her room, remained /
there less than i've minutes. and had /
left the house. The next day inform
ed the merchant that the case was hope-