The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-07-07
DETEcTIvE WORK.
Popular Notions OF the Secret Service
That arc Erroneous.

800
DETEcTIyE WORK.
Popular Notions OF siac Secret Service
That arc Erroneous.
9 People generally have very queen
notion of what detective really is,n said
an ex-member of the Police Department to
reporter day or two ago. 81 think the
majority of ideas must have been formed
from careful reading of series of modern
detective stories. Now that I'm out of
business don't mind telling you what YOU
perhaps already know-that the usual stor.
les of detective work are the veriest bosh.
There Is not one officer in 10000, for in
stance, who ever DISCUSSES himself for AMI
work he may be bent upon. The success.
I Il detective is the man who has the largest
and most accurate knowledge of particu-
lar Glass of criminals. For instance, in o
counterfeiting case there are one or two
United States officers who..will look at bill
and after asscrutiny will say, Nov, let's
see; there are three men in the country
who are capable of such work as this. Bad
Jack is doing ten year stretch in Sing Sing,
Clever Charley is in hook at Joliet and
Sweet William is the only one who is Of
large-it must be William" So he pro-
ceeds TO locate William, and when they get
him they have the man who did the work
" How about our local force Z"
"Well, there are no detectives on the
Central force. Several of the boys are very
clevor punapesa, and sisht hose 10 sshA-a nil
the so-called detective work of the Chicago
Office is done. There are probably no
better buffers in the country than Shea and
Ripley. II they can get hold of man who
they think knows what they are after they
will put him away In cell at the Central,
both of them will get into the cell with him,
and by persistent course of questioning
carried on in q very energetic way they will
get the prisoner to divulge many things he
would have sworn he would never have
given away under any circumstances.
" l can see how that might work after
they had man, but how to get him II
must have taken some ability to get him.
have certainly read some very interesting
newspaper reports about how Detective So
and-So, while strolling down State street,
saw suspicious looking individual whom
he piped to remote part of the city and
eventually arrested in possession of proper
ty supposed to have been the plumber from
the burglary of old Money-bag's house. 1t
always seemed to me that there must be
good deal of shrewdness in the officer who
can spot mysterious looking party who to
anybody else looks no different from 10000
other young men who can be seen on the
street any time. How is that ?"
That's all in your eye," was the reply
Of the ex-ofiicer. It's rs simple as rolling
off a log when you know how it is done.
The story you read in the papers is made
from the report furnished by the interested
officers for the reporters of the daily papers.
OF course, the boys want all of the credit
they can get out of the case aud tell as
pretty story as they can invent. 1t would
never do to tell the truth about these cases.
You see, ninety mine out of q hundred are
worked through the squeal of some thief or
extinct who keeps posted on the doings OF
others of his class in the city.
" He knows some officer intimately and
not infrequentfy is in the regular employ of
the city lie goes to this officer whom he
knows and tells him that the night before
Three Fingered Jack, who il well known to
the officer, turned q trick on Indiana
avenue with Tommy So-and-So, and that
the stuff is planted at such and such q
place. Acting on this information the off,
GERS visit the place indicated, and sit
around and wait till their man shows up.
Lots of ability about that, isn't there. Some
people have an idea, You know, that after
burglary the detectives visit the house where
it occurred, and, after examining certain
marks on the window where the men got In,
Immediately say This is the work OF
Slippery Sam. He is the only fellow who
does this sort of work in this particular
style Nothing of the kind. It's just as
I've told you in ninety mine cases out of a
hundred. In the other case some citizen
gives the officers information that leads to
the capture of the man."
Where in the world, then, do the writers
of detective stories get their facts upon
which they build the tales that SO startle
the readers of story paperss'
AN in your cye," was again the re-
ponse; "all in your eye. I've read some
of those stories myself, and they are the
veriest rot. In every one of them you will
strike some place where 1t will tell how the
detective, hard pushed by band of muir
derers or something of that sort, will step
behind tree and in the twinkling of an
eye effect SO complete change in his ap-
pearance that thirty seconds later when the
gang comes up with him he is able to fool
the whole crowd. What drivei.'' The ex-
officers disgust was all apparent.