Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-09-12
A DETECTIVES TALK.
An Old Hand Outlines the Requi-
sitos Of a Good Sleuth-

In a pleasant half hours talk the other
day with the head of a great detective
agency Of National reputation, 1 learned
more about the favorite dime novel heroes
detectives - than l have ever read or
IMAGINED in the whole course Of my ex-
istenoe, writes correspondent Of the Chi
cago Journal.
As all who have ever rod any dealings
with them well know detectives in real life
are very different from those i'm novels and
plays. The stage detective is a neatly
dressed, debOnair individual with mutton
chop whiskers. With the aid Of wig and
false boards he assumes all sorts CT dis
guises, which he suddenly throws of TO dis
close his real identity at the most unex-
Pected moments. Dion BOucicault, in one
OF his plays, represents detective who is
quite = young man as making himself up
for an elderly gentleman Of sixty years,
Ind going about holding conversations with
people who know him well without being
recognized. In many other plays and novels
detectives are represented as doing similar
impossible things. The cunningest hair
worker can not make a wig or beard which
will defy the detection of a keen observer
In bright light, and every actor well
knows that it is impossible to paint upon
without making it perfectly plain to specta-
tors near the stage that they are painted
and not natural There is nothing peculiar
or distinctive in the dress or appearance Of
real detectives, and the famous one to
whom l have alluded looks more, like a re-
spectacle farmer than any thing else. When
asked him how men become detectives he
replied that they don't "become " but must
have a natural gift for the profession.
Detectives must be born and not made"
he continued "Many of them first find
out their aptitude for the work by some
event occurring in their own private ex-
psrience which causes them for the nonce
TO turn amateur detectives. That was the
case with the late Allen Pinkerton.
HE was farming IN the West, and was
much annoyed by the depredations Of a
gang Of horse thieves. BY the cleverest
kind Of detective work he at length sue
ceeded in bringing them 10 justice and re-
covering his nags. His services'were then
sought by his neighbors in similar cases,
and the final result was that he established
the Pnkerton Detective Agency"
"What qualities are most essential in a
detectivel" 1 asked.
'ract, coolness, courage, good judgment
and solf-control The lack of any of these
~
rank in the profession, though il may not
prevent him from being fairly clever in
some branches of IT. / once knew and en-
ployed a very bright young fellow who pos
sessed every requisite of a great general
detective, save self-control, and the lack Of
that quality caused him to spoil some Of his
best work. l resolved TO subject him TO one
OF the severest of all tests of n detectives
skill. l set him TO try to extort confess
sion from young woman charged with in
fanticide. In the course of many inter
views with this girl he fell in love with her,
a. he afterward confessed to me, and
blinded by his passion he came TO believe
firmly in her innocence He also formed a
theory that she was not the mother of the
murdered child, but had assumed TO be to
protect the reputation of her younger sis
Ter. Nevertheless, determined to DO his
duty, he persisted in his attempts TO extort
confession, believing that the result
would be the confirmation of his theory.
He played his part so well that the girl
broke down and was about to confess her
self a murderess, when he, realizing the
true state ofthe case, was so angry at find
ing himself thus deceived In the character
OF the woman he loved, that he broke out
with such volley of oaths and reproaches
as forever sealed the unnatural mothers
lips on the subject Of her crime. AS a con-
sequence she was acquitted for lack of di-
rect evidence. This shows how important
self-control is 10 a detective
Besides the qualities 1 have named,
strong perceptive faculties are Of great i'm
portance to detective, as is also power
of generalization which will enable him to
jump At once to correct conclusions from
slight and seemingly trifiing premises. A
good, reliable memory he must have, that,
having once seen a face, he may be able to
instantly recognize and place IL, no mat
ter when, whore or under what circum-
stances he sees II again. He must not only
remember faces, but names, numbers and
dates as we'll There is no business or pro-
fession in which intelligence-both natural
and acquired-counts for more. Knowl-
edge Of any kind may at some time prove
useful.
"A detective must have good eyesight
and good hearing, and especially such a
power of quiet observation as will enable
him TO make mental note Of every thing
that goes on around him without seeming
TO do So He must always bear in mind
that appearances are often deceptive. An
innocent man wrongly accused will almost
always appear like a guilty one, while hard
ened criminal, under the most eliminating
circumstances, will readily assume the bear
ing of injured innocence.
81 can recall some striking illustrations
Of this, and of the ptter unreliability Of cir
cumstantial evidence. One occurred re-
Gently in England. A farmer was tried at
the Yorkshire assizes for the murder OF a
peddler. The only evidence against him
was purely circumstantial, and consisted Of
his having been the last person with whom
the peddler had been seen alive, and in the
fact that at the time of his arrest he was
wearing wig which was identified as hav-
ing belonged TO the murdered man. The
accused accounted for the possession of the
wig by saying that he had found it lying in
the road on returning past the spot where
he had parted from the peddler. His state
ment was not believed. The jury found
him guilty of murder in the first degree
and the judge was about TO pronounce SEN
tenoe of death, when one Of the spectators
arose and, declaring the innocence Of tho
farmer, proclaimed himself the real muir
derer. He fully corroboratcd the farmers
statement about the wig, saying that in the
mortal struggle with the peddler, whom he
had attacked within a few moments after
the farmer had left him, the wig had fallen
from his victims head, but that in his haste
20 rob the dead man and conceal his body in
the hedge he had entirely overlooked the
circumstance. The real murderer was sub
sequently hanged for his crime.
II was one night privately summoned to q
fashionable club in New York, where a re-
putedly wealthy swell was believed to be
cheating at poker.
Though he Indignantly denied the accu-
sation OF having cards concealed about his
person, he absolutely refused to permit him.
self 10 be searched or TO display the con-
tents Of his pockets. When we came to
search him by force we found no cards, but
several ham sandwiches In his clothes.
Losses in Wall street and at the gaming Ia
bic had 80 reduced him in circumstances
that he had been obliged TO give up taking
his meals regularly az n restaurant or board
ing house and 70 buy cheap food which he
carried in his pockets and devoured surrep-
utiously when opportunity offered. pre-
ferring to deny himself in this way rather
than 10 sacrifice his passion for fine dress