Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-02-12
MODERN HlWKSHAWS.


ex,er;apce I cannot say that | regret
nv choice of a profession, remarked a
detective at one of the city agencies
yesterday.
What are the requisites OF a good
detective? 2" asked a reporter who o
been listening to his stories.
"Fearlessness, GOODNESS and self-con.
troll. Without these q man a never
be a perfect detective, for though
he may be useful in some branches
NJ the business he can never at
tain to the highest eminence IN
all of them. He must also have strong
.perceptive faculties, and that power OF
generalization which will enable him 10
hmm at once to correct conclusions.
Memory is one of his most important
essentials. One sight Of a face must
imprint il so indelibly upon his reeol.
lection that he can never forget II, ana
he must remember not only the face 1T
self. but the time, place and circum-
stances with which it is associated. A
memory OF faces alone is not sufficient.
The detective must have a strong mem
ory for anne numbers and dates as
we'll. He must be intelligent and there
ia no knowledge of any kind that may
not some time be of value to him IN his
profession. His eyesight and hearing
should be of the best and he should cul-
tivate a power Of observation which
will enable him to carefully note,
without seeming to do so, every
thing by which he is surrounded
STAGE n REAL DETECTIVES.
Detectives in real life are very
different from those IN novels and plays.
The latter are represented as wearing
various DISCUSSES, such as wigs, false
whiskers. etc, which they suddenly
mil off at the most unexpected mo-
ments, thereby revealing their identity.
Dion Boucicault, in one OF HIS plays,
represents a detective who is quite q
young man rs making himself up for
quite an elderly gentleman OF o
than GO and going about in broad day
light, holding conversations with peo-
ple who know him we'll in propria per-
sona without discovery. Charles Reade
and Wilkie Collins do the same thing
in some of their novels. This is simply
nonsense. 1t is utterly impossible fo-
the most skillful hair worker to make
ND q wig or a set OF false whiskers that
cannot be detected as false when worn,
and every theatre-goer knows that the
most sklllful artists in make up can
not put upon their faces the lines and
wrinkles which indicate age in such o
way as to deceive, even when aided by
the glamor of the footlights. No de-
tective in real life ever attempted to
wear any such disguise. Detectives on
the stage are usually debonair indi-
viduals, in neat suits and mutton-chop
whiskers. In real life there is nothing
distinctive in the deep appearance and
manner of detectives any more than
there is in those of lawyers or mer-
chants. For my own part, l am more
frequently taken for a 'well-to-do'
farmer than anything else"
"How do men become d~etecsiyes?"
"They don't become; they have a
natural gift in that direction. Detec.
tives, like poets, are born, not made.
Many of them begin as amateurs. For
instance, something occur in their
own lives which causes them TO turn
detective for their own purposes. They
work up the case successfully; they
find they like the work and they en-
bark in it as a business. You know
that is the way Allan Pinkerton began.
He lived In the far west, and having
horses stolen from him on several occa-
sions he traced out the thieves in every in.
stance, brought them to justice and re-
covered his property.
"You would be surprised to find how
clever some amateur detectives are. /
know a young Chestnut street merchant
who would make one Of the greatest of
all detectives If he would follow the
business. He wanted to find out the
whereabouts and antecedents of a young
fellow whom he suspected in a certain
manner. He employed detectives, bat
they could discover nothing. Finally
he began to look into the matter him
self, and, although the man he was
after had left the city and covered up
his tracks, I'm blest il he didn't find
ont everything there was to find. He
discovered the address OF q girl on Race
street to whom the raan had been paying
attentions.
He called on her, represented himself
as a lawyer, said that her lover would
inherit a fortune if his identity could
he established, and in order to do that
he'd have to have some specimens of his
hand writing, and he persuaded her to
let him have two Of the love letters the
fellow had written her. That was as
neat a piece Of detective work as l ever
heard OF.
HE LACKED SELF CONTROL.
sIt often happens that a man fails to
be q good general detective through the
lack Of some one quality. Thus, | EN-
pioyed a young fellow once who i
thought would make a splendid detect
i've. He had everything in bis favor,
possessing a splendid physique and adj
pearance. an elegant and i~nsinuating adj
dress, great shrewdness, remarkable
quickness of perception, and, in short,
every requisite Of o great detective, OK
cept one, as l afterwards discovered.
He was lacking in self-control, having
an u~ngoverned temper, to which he
gave way on slight ~proyocation. This
great fault was not apparent ut first,
however, and 1 assigned him toa num-
Der of difficult cases, which he worked
up very satisfactorily. AT last / re-
solved to test his skill to the utmost and
set him to try and extort a confession
from a young charged with in
fanticide. Now, in the course ofhis in
terview with this girl, as he
afterward confessed to me, he fell
in love with her and took it into his
head that she was not only innocent OF
the crime alleged against her, but hat
she was not the real mother Of the in
FAINT which she was accused of having
destroyed, but that she he'd merely as.
sumed the responsibility of being its
mother to shield a friend. However,
resolved to do his duty and feeling sure
the result would be such earnest pro-
testations of innocence as would convince
the whole world of their sincerity, he