The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-01-23
SPYING AND SPIES.


The Secret workings OF . City Detective
~ Departments.
'.You think our business queer one"
remarked Central Station detective
yesterday.
I'VE have to do all kinds of tasks"
he continued, risk our lives one day
capturing some thief, and the very next
perhaps assume all the delicate tact and
nice behavior required to convince a
lady that she has absolutely no cause
to be jealous of her husband. Then
the worst of it is we have to be so mys-
FERROUS in everything we do. Not .
syllable dare we utter for fear of spoil
ing the job. Sometimes Ifairly ache to
tell of the funny things / see. but it
won't do; the story might contain some
scrap of information which. thought
lessly repeated by others. would afford
outsiders clue to the business had
| in hand.
II remember an incident of the kind
in question. showing the bad policy of
talking too much about u case. Some
four years ago the confidential clerk of
a certain big grain house in this city
was found to be an embezzler. This
discovery was made one Sunday after
noon by the proprietor himself. who de-
voted the entire day to the work of
overhauling the accounts of the con-
Germ. He chose Sunday for this work.
so as not to excite the suspicious of his
man and about four in the afternoon
| had abundant evidence that the young
fellow was several thousand dollars
short. Naturally the old man was
excited. He jumped around his office
and tore his hair. and then resolved to
have the embezzler arrested forthwith.
His eye at that moment caught sight
of a young bootblack on the opposite
side of the street. and he called the lad
over and gave him dollar to go to the
house where his clerk boarded and in
quire if he was there. The boy knew
the young man very we'll, and when he
appeared at the door told him every
thing that was going on at the office.
".Mr. - is pulling his hair out by
the roots, said the boy. and the young
man took the hint and left the city
within half an hour. We got track of
him and telegraphed to a town farther
on his description. and asked the pol CO
to arrest him on the cars. But the
| fugitive knew thing or two himself,
aud left the cars at a small station. and
boarded train going in another direc-
ton. That young man gave the depart
ment more trouble than care to tell.
He was tracked to Kansas City. thence
to Quebec, and finally, six months later.
| be was located in st. Louis. An officer
4 tah a1 To- hx.s,. sn, 1x,a l. Ir,k
the bird had flown. How is it, we
asked. that this man is able to escape
us right along; he seems to forestall all
our actions. and it would appear he was
being advised of our intentions right
along?'
''Such proved to be the case. and
some of our men talked little too
freely. The fug tive was a member of
a powerful society, and all our talk
concerning him. we found out after
ward, had been telegraphed him direct.
and he knew befo -ehand what we in
tended to do. We captured him at last.
however, and he is now doing his bit at
Joliet.
THAT case taught the department a
valuable lesson. 1t would be impossi-
BILE now for case like that to be re-
peated. and that is why / first said you
might possibly think our business
queer. If you'll allow that we have
many odd jobs to do. what do you
think of the men who are hired to
watch US? You see a detective keeps
his eye on thieves. but there are de-
tectives whose only business it is to
watch other detectives. Spying on
spies is their work. and if I am any
Judge should think it rather ticklish
work to do"
"Who are they?"
II don't know. All l know is that
every detective in this department, and
every uniformed officer as well, is I'M
| der surveillance. and that these secret
agents report only to the Superintend-
emit"
what do they report?"
Well, various things. In the first
| place, the Chief of Police is constantly
in receipt of complaints against patrol
men and others on the force. Some
times a Lieutenant is said to be work
ing his district for a gold watch, a
horse and buggy, or some expensive
present. which generally takes the form
of a testimonial There is rule in the
department prohibiting an officer of
police from receiving any present. Now.
| this rule is not often enforced, but. to
make sure that it won't be. your ambi-
tious copper tells the chief that the
diamond star he is about to receive, or
the horse and buggy, or the gold watch.
/ or whatever it may be, is the unsolicited
| gift Of the residents of his district who
open their pocket-books and buy him
what he gets in order to express their
sense of his fitness for office. OF course
that is all bosh; the Lieutenant is always
at the bottom of such scheme. and one
of the jobs your mysterious fly bobs'
has to do is to look up the extent to
which he is party to the dodge.