The Dickinson press., 1883-10-27
WORK OF
Why it Often Fails-Some Notable
Failures.

Why it Often Fails-SOme Notable
Failures.
Washington Star.
An old and experienced detective in
the employ of the government, an edu-
Gated gentleman, and one who has
worked not only in this country, but in
Europe, commenting upon the Rose
Clark murder mystery, expresses the
opinion that the detectives now work.
ing up the case were all wrong IN their
theories, and that no satisfactory results
would be obtained, "People," says he
complain that the modern detective is
not as good % the average detective of
past generations, but l believe they are
just as good as they ever were. The
trouble is that the average detective is,
and always has been, q man OF little ed
ucation, aud, com pared with his fellow
citizens generally, a very ignorant man.
But with the advancement of science
and the spread of general intelligence
among the masses, the criminal has be-
come more scientific and more intel
ligent in his work. I was struck with q
remark which Billy Forester, the man
supposed for a long time to be the per-
petrator of the celebrated Nathan muir
der, onc made to me, "There have
been," said he, rewards amounting to
S50O,M offered for my capture. / have
known of at least SOC detectives who
were looking for me in this country and
Europe. While they We're dyelng their
mustaches ] generally left the city. The
trouble is that nearly every detective
does his work after a system. There IS
n cnf Nrpu fon fhn p..nJNr nm Of
crime, and when the average detective
by the usual rules for working w a GER
tain class of crimes, he is unable to go
any farther and the criminal goes I'M
discovered" Why, there's Josh Tag
CERT of Philadelphia, who jurNped en-
Enthusiastically into the Charlie Ross case,
and spent first $40, 600 of his 1wn money
and IS. 900 more that he borrowed, and
then died. Then there is Capt. Jourdan,
who spent his wealth looking for For
roster, of whom | just spoke, and then,
he, too. died. These men, stimulated
by the reward offered, tried
tile old systems in working up their
cases and failed, because the men they
were looking for were too intelligent
and outwltted their pursuers. The sci
ence of safe building has developed to
such all extent that the old style safe
burglary is a lost art. There will be
bank robberies in the future, but no
bank burglaries; connterfelting, too, is
carried IN only by a few amateurs. The
old-timers amongthe counterfeiters turn
their attention to other %swindles, where
the outlay is small and the risk not so
great. Ask a business man how long it
has been since he saw acounterieit note.
Ask your banker the same question.
If a counterfeit comes out it is generally
better executed than the genuine, and
it is detected because it is good work,
rather than because it is poor. To do
detective work a man must be ofmature
age. and must Discipline himself against
arriving at conclusions too quickly. l
have a general idea from closely read
ing the newspaper accounts of the Rose
Clark murder, that it was not a deliber-
ately planned aft ir. I think the MUIR
derer's object was at first, when he
probably came unexpectedly upon the
woman in the darkne g. that he might
overpower her and crafty a base pas
sion; but. finding he had used too much
violence; he made good the work Of
murder when once he saw he had gone
too far, and threw the body where it
was found. The vanishing Of the theo-
ries of the detectives shows that they
are all upon the wrong track"