Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-10-15
WORK OF DETECTIVES.
Why it often Fails-Some Notable Fail
ureS.


An old and experienced detective in the
employ Of the government, an educated
gentleman. and one who has worked not
only i'm this country, but in Europe, CON-
menting upon the Rose Clark murder mys-
terry, expresses the opinion that the de-
tectiYes now working up the case were
all wrong in their theories. and that no
satisfactory results would be obtained.
People says he, complain that the mod
elm detective is not as good as the average
detective of past generations. but | be-
lieve they are Just as good as they ever
We're. The trouble is that the average de-
tective is, and always has been, man of
little education, and, compared with his
felloW-citiZens generally, very ignorant
man. But with the advancement of sci
ence and the spread of general intelli-
gence among the masses. the criminal has
become more scientific and more intelli-
gent in his work. / was struck with Il
remark which Billy Forester, the man
supposed for a long time to be the perpe-
traitor of the celebrated Nathan murder
once made to me: There have been' said
he, rewards amounting to 100000 offered
for my capture. | have known of at least
800 detectives who were looking for me in
this country and Europe. While they
We're dyeing their mOustaches / generally
lett the city. The trouble is that nearly
TEN. There is a set way for the tracing
up of every crime, and when the average
detective has followed up every trail
suggested by the usual rules for work
ing up a certain class of crimes, he is
unable to 90 any further, and the criminal
goes undiscovered. Why, there's Josh
Taggert, Of Philadelphia, who jumped en-
Enthusiastically into the Charlie Ross case
and spent first $4,000 of his own money
and $4,000 more that he borrowed, and
then died. Then there is Capt. Jourdan,
who spent his wealth looking for Forres-
ter, of whom | just spoke, and then he,
too, died. These men. stimulated by the
reward offered, tried the old systems in
working up their cases and failed, be-
cause the men they We're looking for were
too intelligent and Outwitted their pur-
suers. The science of safe building has
developed to such an extent that the old
style safe burglary is a lost art. There
will be bank rObberies in the future, but
no bank burglaries; cOunterfeiting, too,
is carried on only by few amateurs.
| The old-timers among the cOunterteiters
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 a counterfeit note. Ask
| your banker the same question. If a
counterfeit comes out it is generally bet
! ter executed than the genuine, and it is
| detected because it is good work, rather
than because it is poor. TO do detective
work man must be Of mature age, and
must discipline himself against arriving
at conclusions too quickly. | have a
general idea from closely reading the
newspaper accounts of the Rose Clark
murder that it was not deliberately
planned affair. l think the murderer's
object was at first, when he probably
came uneXpectly upon the woman in the
darkness, that he might Overpower her
and crafty his base passion; 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
theories of the detectives shows that tn ey
are all upon the wrong track"