Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-01-30
MAKING DETECTIVES.
The Conditions Which Are Neoess
sary for Success.
feariessness, Goodness aRd Self-Controf
Absolutely Required-The Dinerencs
Between Detectives In Fiction
and Real Lifes
TPhnadslphIa TImes.l


and Real Lifss
Philadelphia Times.l
"Lookins back over my twenty years'
experiences can not Say that regret my
choice Of profession" remarked q detec-
tive at one Of the city agencies yesterday.
"What are the requisites Of good detec-
tive!" asked q reporter.
"Fearicssness, coolness and self-control.
Without these man can never be q per.
feet detective, for though he may be useful
in some branches of the business he can
never attain TO the highest cminence In all
Of them. He must also have strong per-
ceptive faculties aud that power Of gener-
alization which will enable him TO jump at
once TO correct conclusions. Memory 10 one
of his most important essentials. One
sight cf aface must imprint il 30 indeliSly
upon bis recollection that he can never for
getit, and he must remember not only the
face itself, but the time, place and circum-
stances with which IL Is associated. A
memory of faces alone Is not sufficient.
The detective must have q strong memory
for names, mum bers and dates a. WELL He
must be intelligent, and there is no knowl-
edge Of any kind that may not some time
be of value TO him in his profession.
Detectives in real life are very different
from those in novels and plays. The latter
are represented as wearing various dis
guises, such az wigs, false whiskers, etc.,
which they suddenly pull Of at the most
unexpected moments, thereby reveal
ing their identity. This is simply non
sense. 1t is utterly impossible for the most
skillful hair worker to make up q wig or @
set Of false whiskcrs that can not be de-
tected as false when worn, and every
theater-goer knows that the most sxiliful
artists in "make up can not put upon their
faces lines and wrinkles which indicate
age in such way as to deceive, even when
aided by the glamor of the foot-lights.
No detective in real life ever attempted to
wear any such guise. Detectives on the
stage are usually debonnair individuals, in
neat suits and mutton chop whiskers. In
real life there is nothing distinctive ia the
deep appearance and manner of detec-
tives any more than there is in those of
lawyers and merchants. For my own part
am more frequently taken for swell to.
do farmer than anything else."
w uos 40 LAc o6AdIy VI QeL0CtiVeSg
"That is hard question. to answer.
There 10 no business in which the price
varies more. Sometimes man, after hav-
ing had an apprenticeship on the police
force or in connection with some agency.
will set up in business for himself as pri-
vate detective, and then he charges what
ever he pleases. Detectives are paid by
the day, and have known some OF these
private detectives, such as I have men,
toned, TO charge the unsophisticated So
and even more per day.
"How do men become detectives?"
"They don't become; they have q nat.
ural gift in that direction. Detectives,
like poets, are born, not made Many of
them begin as amateurs. For instance,
something occurs in their own lives which
causes them to turn detective for their own
purpose. They work upths case success
fully; they find that they like the work
and they embark in it as business.
"You would be surprised to find how
clever some amateur detectives are. Iknow
young Chestnut street merchant who
would make one OF the greatest of all de-
tectives il he would follow the business
He wanted to find out the whereabouts and
antecedents of a young fellow whom he
suspected in q certain matter. He en-
ployed detectives, but they could discover
nothing. Finally he began to look into tire
matter himself, and although the man he
was after had left the city and covered up
his tracks Pm blest IL he didn't find out
everything there was to find. He discov-
cred the address Of girl on Race street to
whom the man had been paying atten-
tions.
HE called on her, represented himself as
q lawyer, said that her lover would in
herit q fortune IL his identity could be es.
tablished, and in order to do that he'd have
ing, and he persuaded her to let him have
two of the love-letters the fellow had writ.
ten her. That was as neat o piece Of dc.
tective work as ever heard of.
"It often happens that man fails to be
good general detective through the lack OF
some one quality. Thus, 1 employed o
young fellow once who + thought would
make a splendid detective. He had every.
thing in his favor, possessing a splendid
physique and appearance, an elegant and
insinuating address, great shrewdness. re.
markable quickness Of perception, and, IL
short, every requisite of great detective
except one, as I afterward discovered. He
was lacking in self-control, having
an ungovernable temper, to which he
gave way on slight provocation. This
great fault was not apparent at FIRST
however, and assigned him to a number OF
difficult eases, which he worked up very
satisfactorily. At last resolved to test
his skill to the utmost, and set him to try
to -extort a confession from young woman
charged with infandcide. Now, in the
course OF his interview with this girl, as he
afterward confessed to me, he fell In love
with her and took it into his heod that she
was not only innocent of the crime alleged
against her, bat that she was not the real
mother Of the infant which she was &C.
cused of having destroyed, but that she
had merely assumed the responsibility O.
being its mother to shield friend. How.
ever, he resolved to do his duty, and feel.
ing sure the result would be such earnest
protestations OF innocence as would CON.
vince the whole world Of their sincerity. ht
perseyered In his attempt to extort a con.
fession. He acted with 50 much tact that sht
hroke down completely and was about t<
confess the whole affair, but being salts.
fed, from her words and actions, that shs
was undoubtedly guilty, he became so en-.
ragged to find that one whom he had al.
lowed himself TO love and believe in hac
BEEN guilty Of such baseness that he bursi
forth into such o torrent of oaths and I'm.
yeesfses against her a. to seal her lips for.
ever ON the subject Of her crime. The re-
suit was her prompt acquittal for lack OF
direct evidence. Thus you zee how Inn.
portant Il 10 for detective 70 keep hi.
tempsr.0
sAre not the innoceut often mistaken fcr
he guiltyl"
svery Often. An innocent n1an wroneiy
MONEY TO LOAN, on real estate with
out delay. at the First National Rank