The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-08-09
Hard Lines for Crooks.

Hard Lines for Crooks.
It is one of the, boasts of the New
York detectives that they are per-
sonally acquainted with all the pro-
fessional criminals in and neal town.
The results of this acquaintance are
often peculiar. You are talking with
Detective Prior a few feet from the
door of the Fifth.Avenue Hotel and he
sees q young dandy halt a few feet
away. "Better keep right on" he
says to the dandy; ''hurry up now"
ooh, good morning" says the dandy,
"l'm only going to set my watch"
That is Kid Miller, chief Of the bunco
men, and the detective will not allow
him to stop in front OF the hotel.
You are pushing your wayinto Mays
shopping store, and q little ladylike
body is just ahead ofyou. Suddenly
some one steps up to her and roughly
orders her to "Get out at once
Certainly, sir" she says very meeklyY
II was only going to match a piece OF
silk" She lies. She is a shoplifter,
and the man who ordered her out is a
detective.
Perhaps you are at the Arion ball
with its 5000 dancers and lookers-on.f
You walkin the lobby near the IN
trance for q breath OF air and meet
Capt. Williams, in uniform, alert and,
handsome as an eagle. Hedarts fsom
your side and stands in front of<a.
stout, elderly, well.dressed gentemeH
so as to oppose his progress. "Wh1
do you mean by coming here?"
says. The man answers boldly: TNfyD
wife is here and | have come TO take
her home" "ThatIl do now" S6ys
the captain; there's the door; get!"
And, as Artemus Ward used to say,
che gets" OF course the man is q
pickpocket.
A neatly-dressed, rather substan-
tial-looking man of middle age sends
in his card to. Inspector Byrnes at
police headquarters. The name on
the card is that of burglar better
known by an alias, says "Red Leary,"
for instance. "Well, what do you
want?" Mr.. Byrnes asks, gruffly.
He has an especial tone for men of
that class, and it is q tone that for
bids familiarity and suggests mastery.
q very different tone from the quiet
and easy one he has for his friends.
II would like to be in Wall street
fifteen minutes to morrow, Inspector"
says, tho burglar. II want to see
about a personal matter"
II will have one of my corps meet
you at Broad and Wall at noon,
sharp" says the inspector. =
The burglar thanked the official, fors
it is a favor to such a man even to be-
allowed to 60 to the money centre
with q detective at his shoulder all the
time he is there. To go without this
permission and escort means a GER
tainty OF being arrested and locked 1
up. The only known crooks that get
into Wall street under. Byrnes are men
in business there whose offenses he
cannot punish; the only others are
the employees who default now and
then. y
This is not the only part of town
that shady characters are excluded
from. 1t has always been a fSv0flte
method with Capt. Williams tQ say
to rascals of various sorts, 'If you
ever put your foot in my precinct Til
send you up. This may not he &C.
cording to law. but it's according to
TACT. and they give that precinct O.
wide berth. Pickpockets like the AL
len brothers, who are well known,
have q hard time of it in New York.
No matter how much they may want
to see a play or q ball game or attend
q meeting there is apt to be some one
to stop them at the entrance with a
'.right-about face, now. You can't
get in here" have seen a pickpock-
Ell hustled along like a bit of down in
the wind from one block to another,
while apparently an INNOCENT specta-
Tor of q street parade. d.
And yet on the other hand they
elude observation very often. The
hostiles are not always.on)bad terms,
either. You will sometimes see a
burglar and q detective mol pleasant
~ as they pass each other and even
stop for g moments cha Perhaps
the detective may have ant the
thief up for g. term of We; T. the
thief is even the more pro &C
quaintance on that acco' sl
to ask the officer il it n
good job" he went to jail n
in the affirmative is liz; II
strong drink to q crimins 7
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