St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-08-24

for salary Of between twelve and
eighteen dollars a week. II he is on
the city detective force the salary i.
larger and political influence is the
only qualification required.
"A good part of the detective work
done by ordinary operatives consists
OF 'shadOwing' or following a party.
1t Is the most monOtOnOus, unpleasant
job ever heard OF. Suppose the man
to be watched is not engaged in bust.
ness. The day may be pleasant Al
half-past seven in the morning the
shadow arrives in the vicinity of the
mans house. His party may come out at
once or may stay in until noon. The
detective walks around to avoid suspi-
ciOn and tries. with great earnest
ness OF purpose. to make himself COM
Portable. Finally the suspect makes
his appearance and goes down town.
He drops into restaurant for lunch
and pays lengthy visits to various
friends. while the detective shHers
outside in case it is the winter season.
After calling at a number OF saloons
the man goes to the theater and closes
the evening by seeing the town with
a party Of FOUNDERS. Numerous hausts
OF vice are visited and at 4:3O a. m. .ths
detective crawls into bed. first telling
his wife to call him at $50. for it is ex-
pected that the man will leave town
and he may get up early to do it.
''On other occasions the severity OF
the weather will cause the 'to-be-fOl-
lowed gentleman to stay in doors.
while outside young man will walk
around and around the block. waiting
for his party to appear. The detective
will pedestrianize in that manner from
7:SO n m, to 1880 p. m. then he is
kindly allowed to go home.
''Of course there are some pleasant
features in the detective life. but they
are few and far between. The hours
are long. no holidays are observed.
and for the work done the pay is
small. OF course the managers and
prOprietors OF various large agencies
are well paid for their labors, but the
subOrdinates get barely enOught to live
ON, and seldom rise to any higher pO-
sition than that of an operative
Il suppose you have often seen ad
vertisements in the papers in which
some detective agency state that they
want agents in every county and town
in the United States Many individu-
ais have got rich by working this
game. They have no experience in
the business. their agency is located
in a pOst-cfiice box. and the stock in
trade consists of bundle of circulars
and few hundred tin badges. The
few lines in the paper bring letters
from people in all parts of the country.
mostly young men who arc detective
struck. The applicants are sent a cir
cular which states that agents must
supply themselves with badges. cost
only two dollars. and as soon as
this cash is forwarded they say the
agents claim will be favOrably con-
sidered. BY the next mail comes .
two-dollar-bill from the embryo detect
i've. and his employers fulfill their part
Of the contract by forwarding badge
which has cost them but few cents.
This badge. OF course. gives the wear
er no moro authority than he previous
ly possessed. He can no more make
an arrest or have extra police privi-
ieges than the humblest private citi-
zen. The detective. however. never
finds this out until he attempts TO arrest
some Ito him) suspicious character.
when he learns to his sorrow that the
Banner Protective Agency Of Camp
gaw. N. H." has no inalienablc rights
that the United States Government is
bound to respect. When he learns this
the detective abstains from any FUR
ther exhibitions of authority and con-
tents himself with clandestinely exhib-
iting his trophy to country cousins.
children and servants. There must be
now many thousands of these badges
in the possession OF irresponsible pco-
pie throughout the countsy."-Chicago
Times.