Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-01
VlDOCQs In PETTICOATS.
METHODS OF FEMALE DETECTIVES IN
NEW YORK.
Keen Students of Human Nature-Work-
ing the Dry Goods Stores and
Custom Houses.

One of the industries which would seem
TO have been designed exclusively for men,
and into which few of the gentler sex
would care to intrude, is the detection of
crime. But the sex whose versatility and
love of adventure have led Its members to
risk their lives on the battlefield and the
ocean does not stop at sentimental trife !;
hence it is not astonishing that there
should be found among the detectives of
New York to-day few bold, adventurous
souls who hide a shrewd and daring spirit
under feminine garb.
The female Hawkshaws of the metropo-
lis are distributed in variety of fields.
Some are in the Custom House, keeping
their eyes open for fair smugglers who
bring oSa-s jewels and fnerv without the
formality of paying tribute to Uncle Sam;
others are in various pfivated detective
agencies like Pinkerton's and Fuller's,
and others, again, are in the great dry
goods stores keeping the valuable stocks
| lifters. A few are 'semi-detached" and
do occasional jobs for the police, working
at other times at some regular occupation
for livlihood. The experiences of those
plucky women would fill volumes; and
while they might not be so exciting or so
| full of hand-to- hand encounters with
criminals as those of the male detectives,
they would possess a peculiar interest, and
would illustrate the sterner side Of feminine
nature in way hitherto unsuspected.
One of the smartest women detectives in
New York is employed in an extensive
drygoods establishment. She is a blonde
of fine presence and with pair of eyes as
sharp as flash of lightning. She walks
about the store, mingling with the shop
pers and making purchases like the rest.
| When she suspects anyone she moves up
alongside. Then her knowledge of human
nature comes into service. Taking up a
piece of dry goods she asks all about it of
! the clerk or saleswoman, and when she
has the latter's attention diverted for the
moment from the suspected shopper, she
turns her own back to her and exclaims /:
"Oh, isn't it lovely p meanwhile rustling
the goods about all over the counter. This
is the thief's opportunity. A moments
pause, and then the detective wheels
around and clutching the suspected shop
| per by the arm, asks "What do you think
of it, madam" If the latter has indeed
been caught in the trap, she is discovered
| on the instant and marched off to the
office and thence to the Tenth h-precinct
station-house. If innocent, nobody is hurt,
and the lady fancies she has simply en-
countered a rather eccentric shopper, who
is asking foolish questions when She might
decide for herself Miss Fleshauers cases
are generally admitted by the police to be
dead sure" and she has never made a
| blunder in an arrest. Conviction is GER
tain to follow, unless the firm relents and
permits the offender to go with salutary
warning, which is sometimes done when
the articles stolen are trivial and it is a
first offense.
Two of the cleverest women ever en-
ployed by the Pinkertons are Kitty Parker
and Jennie Hughes. They assisted in
tracking down some of the most celebrated
criminals, acting in conjunction with male
detectives. One of the girls, from much
running after thieves, became thief her
self, and is now, in the language of the
fraternity, "laid up for repairs" other
wise in prison. Together they captured
several substantial rewards for detective
| work.
In one of the largest dry goods houses
| there is a very ingenious contriyance for
the detection of shoplifters. There are no
doors in the ladies' toilet-room, and in an
adjoining room are several reflex mirrors
with a small peep-hole, opposite which
they may be adjusted so as to command a
| full view of the toilet-room and its occu-
| pant. The female detective stations her.
self in this adjoining apartment and works
| the mirrors. When she sees any woman
slowing articles away under her dress she
quietly slips upstairs and overhauls her as
| she is about to depart, concluding the
search by turning her over TO an officer.
1t requires nerve to deal with women in
such cases. Very often they are caught at
their first attempt at peculation, and their
tears and pleadings would almost melt a
stone; but the female detective has little
mercy for her sex, and, if permitted, she
would deal harder with woman than a
man under similar circumstances.
| One of the woman who made fine
record as detective is now the wife of the
chief of a detective agency. She made so
many remarkably clever hits in the way of
recovering dresses and jewelry that had
been stolen from actresses that she was in
almost constant demand by the theatrical
| profession for such services. Nothing
would annoy her more than to find that
she had been used as an advertisement by
some speculative actress.
It's astonishing" she would say. how
often these people try the same old thread
| H.. t. IL, ro.I e. IL i
tective can invariably tell within an hour
| whether the case is a real one or fabrica-
| tion"
An amateur detective in petticoats led
certain agency wild and weird dance sew
| eral years ago. A woman, who claimed to
be detective, called at the agency and
said she had a clue to the hiding place of
the body of the dead millionaire, A. T.
Stewart. This, if true, was big piece of
luck for the agency; for half the clever
detectives all over the country had been
puzzling their brains how they might get
! their fingers on the $4,000 reward offered
by Judge Hilton and Mrs. Stewart. One
sultry August morning found the agency
| man in Evergreen Cemetery on Long Is
land accompanied by the feminine
Vidocq, and with long rods for probing the
| soil in certain quarter where the body
was said to have been newly inferred. The
party were watched by half dozen Cen
| trail Office detectives under Superintendent,
then Inspector Murray, who was prepared
| to pounce upon the body if the party
should happen to find it. After consum-
ing two hours in guessing at the location
| of the body and fighting the mosquitoes,
the probe was inserted in dozen different
places, but no hidden remains were found,
and the party sadly went homeward, hur-
ried by the sallies and laughter of the
Central Office men. 1t afterward turned
out that the amateur detective had
dreamed about the body having been
placed there, and the wild goose chase was
the result.
1t is seldom that the Central Office en-
ploys women to track criminals. Occa-
sionally they send female crook on the
track of somebody who is wanted, or to en-
trap some particularly slippery fellow who
has managed to conceal all evidences of
his guilt; but they regard the women as
unreliable for such business.
Mrs. Mohan, formerly Miss Keelaw, is
the crack woman detective of Boston.
She is of middle age and wonderfully
bright, great talker, and just the person