Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-06-13
DETECTIVE WORK.
Important Part Played by Chance in Captur-
ing Criminals.

ing Criminals.
New York Sun.
If had the selection of corps of de-
tectives, / should pick out men who are
known as lucky. Certain men are thus
characterized, and the term properly be-
longs to them. | have worked alongside
of officers who were as sharp and keen as
men ever become, who were persevering
and tireless, who had the pluck of a war
rier and the patience of slave, and yet
they were "dOwn on their luck" as the
saying goes; that is, the big things passed
them by and fell into the hands of others.
In detective work one must have courage
and Judgment. He must know human
nature pretty we'll. He must be fairly
shreWd and sharp. If he is working a
blind trail, the rest must De left to luck.
And the luck and ill luck of detective
life is something wonderful. The luck
we hear of every day. The i'll luck Is sup
pressed as much as possible. In the
month OF June, 1867, l was spending a
few DAYS with relatives of mine on farm
near Oberlin, o. had been in detective
business about five years. We got no
newspapers at the farm, and l had not
received a letter for 10 days and had not
heard the least bit of news from the out
side world, when uncle and | drove into
the town one day. On the way In | got
out of the wagon and picked up copy of
a Cleveland paper which was lying on
the highway. The first thing | saw was
an account of a murder at Peru, Ind, sew
eral days before. An old man had been
murdered and robbed of large amount
of money. Not the slightest olew to the
murderer had been discovered. No one
he n
white or black, or which way he had gone.
It seemed a hopeless case, and felt bit
sorry for the two Chicago officers who
had been sent for to work the case out.
The first call l made after reaching
Oberlin was at the post office. 1 then
visited barber shop, but the two chairs
were occupied and had TO wait about
10 minutes. Having nothing to occupy
my mind, / looked the two BARRIERS over
in detail and then turned my attention
to the customer in the nearest chair. |
began at his feet first. He wore No. 8
CATERS, and they were a new pair; indeed
they had never been blackened. His
trousers were frayed about the bottom,
and as came to look closer l saw that
they were old and tnr eadbare. On the left
leg, which was nearest me, between the
knee and the ankle we're several stains.
They might have been made by either
blood or acid. When the man sat up
straight after his shave | saw that his
coat was also old and l looked over to his
hat on the hook to find 1t very rusty.
The BARRIERS were not speaking to either
of the men so that both of them must
be strangers in the town. Ny man had
reddish hair, which he had had clipped
close before [ came in. His neck was
sunburned and dirty, and, after looking
him over from toe to crown, l said to
myself:
sThis chap has all the looks of pro-
fessional tramp. That suit was probably
given him, bat ten to one he stole those
CATERS. Wonder if ne can sorape up
enough to pay the barber"
The bill was 35 cents. The man gave
me a furtive look as he got out of the
chair, and while being brushed he felt in
his pockets for change. He had two 10
cent shIn-plasters, but as these were not
enough he turned from me and fshed a
greenback out of his pocket. The barber
had TO go out to change it, and the man
was so impatient and nervous that he
could not stand still. When the barber
returned he had the change for the $40
note. He began to count it out, but the
stranger muttered his confidence that it
was all right, and reached out for the pile
and crammed it into his vest pocket.
He was about to 60 when ] rose up and
said:
my frisnd, 1 want to have a few
words with you, if you are not in big
hurry"
'But ami" he replied, trying to push
past me without looking me in the face.
"But you'll have to wait just the same.
want to know who you are"
"There was a back door TO the shop.
He wheeled and sprang for it, but it was
looked. As he turned on me again he
pulled revolver from his bosom and
levelsd it at me and fired q shot which
went over my head and through the win
dow. Before he could fire again 1 had
him jammed against the wall, one hand
hold of the weapon aud the other on his
throat, and l choked him until he sank
in heap. Who did he turn out to bes
The Indiana murderer who had been
lodging about the country for six days,
and who had run the gauntlet of hun
dred officers. 1t was blood on his trous-
ers, though we did not have to prove it,
as he made q full confession. It was
simply my good luck. 1t was simply the
ill luck of two Cleveland detectives who
reached Oberlin two hours too late.
About 15 years ago, while connected
with the force in Chicago, a jewelry
house on State street was robbed of
$4,000 worth of jewelry. Aside from
this there was a package of government
bonds amounting to $4,000, which had
been deposited in the safe for security.
The robbery was committed oy profess
sional craftsmen, who left thar tools
behind, but no clew. I was at this time
at Bowling Green, KY, after q counter
faiter, and / read an account of the rob-
berry in Louisville paper. 1t wasn't my
job, and | didn't give it any particular
thought. had traced notorious coun-
terfeiter down into Kentucky and located
him at Bowling Green. At least, I traced
him to that town, but there / lost the
trail for a few days. I got a false clew,
which led me down to Franklin, and when
started to return took an accommoda-
ton train. 1t was at night, and there was
but one coach on the train, and that con-
tanned only five pas sengers besides my
ser. Three of these were natives, sure
enough, while the other two talked about
a coal mine in Tennessee, and seemed TO
own land In that state. gave them little
attention, being three seats in the rear,
and was talking with the conductor on