, 1889-05-24


One of tho best known detectives In the
United States sat in tho lobby of the Windsor
hotel yesterday afternoon, and after repeated
solicitation by a reporter for Tho Times, con-
sented TO talk about the business
There is all the difference In the world he
said, between tho methods used by tho Sc
cret service agents OF different countries.
People who read French novels have an idea
that the disguises spoken Of in them as being
worn by the Lecocqs Of the different stories
are something utterly untrue. Strange as it
may seem, however, it is true
"a French detective who cannot 50 dis
guise himself that his superior cannot recog-
nize him could not find employment in any
detective bureau The disguisas arc wonder
full, too, and even tho strong light Of day
shows no imperfections In them.
Ill IN
There arc two sorts of detectives In
~France-state detectives and the municipal
or city force. Among the former no one
knows who his fellow detectives arc, md us
they never work in pairs the necessity for
knowing each other Is not 50 great. The
working Of the French bureau Is very thor
ough and more like the American method
than the English.
The latter never think Of Disgusting them
selves, and go TO work openly. If a bank is
robbed in France a new assistant teller or
clerk appears in the bank a day or so after
ward-he is n detective, of course, and where
in England the detectives would DO called in
in front Of NIL the employees and nsk them all
manner OF questions, the French would say
nothing, and nothing moro would probably
be heard of the robbery until the thief was
caught
"The English have a great system of stool
pigeons. Among tho vicious of all Glasses,
male and female, are always those to DO
found who, for the sake Of being protoctedin
n certain way, carry all tho news of tho
crooked work done among the swell mobs-
men, rs high class thieves arc called. to Scot
land Yard, where Is situated the criminal in
v~estigation bureau. II Harry the Swell is
flashing n great deal OF money about, tho
fnct is at once reported to tho police, and II
any large forgery or robbery has recently oc-
CURED, Harry the Swell is liable to prove an
alibL. Inside the great portico OF Scotland
Yard is a large caso containing tho pho
togrnphs Of all the detectives employed by
the bureau, and tho crook or thieves can
have free access at any time to study the
faces OF those who are liable 10 DO after them
at some future time. This stool pigeon sys-
tom is not used much In America, rs tho po-
lice do not put much faith in 1t.
ain France or England, II the employo of
n big banking house is suspected Of irregular
tiles his habits aro watched and tho facts as
certalned, while in America n man will be
Bot upon tho track of the supposed thief, make
his acquaintance and ingratinto himself into
tho suspected mans confidence. Ho will
spend as much or moro money than the sus-
pect, and will go into any dissipation with
him In the event of Irregularities In my
large concern the American detective becomes
an employo Of tho corporation-whethcr rs a
porter or n director OF n bank. The clew and
tho working up OF it is made much more OF
by an American thnn by any ono else. Ho
will jump at conclusions from n fnint some-
thing, and frequently hit the mnrk, where
tho stolid Britishor would DO stumbling In
the dark
ITO DO good detective a man must DO
possessed Of courage, brains and coolnesa
There Is no mystery, however impcnctrnble
1t may appear, but what can DO solved II the
right methods are employed. There was a
case | remember in Chicago some years ago.
"a well known business man was found
murdered ono morning in his Office. Tho
crime had evidently been committed the
night before, for the body had been cold a
long time, and the mans family had wnited
for him TO come TO his home the evening pre-
vious His valuables had been taken, the
safe had been riied, and beyond the ghastly
bullet hole in the back of the mans head,
there was nothing to Indicate with what tho
- INV AaA Wi Ao lIaNbl NDulu
be found
81 was put on tho case and reasoned that
as the robbery WINS evidently committed for
gain tho murderer must DO In poor circum-
stances | visited all the pawn shops I'm tho
city, and found that five rcvolvers had been
pawned between O O'Clock tho previous even
ing and tho morning. Three were 45 cali
Der, the size evidently used to kill tho man.
Two of the men were well dressed and tho
pthar ,-au,fN III. Is& =
me, and | took tho pawnbroker down to the
different railway dcpots whore trains were
leaving. We went through throo trains, and
finally located the mnn in n smoking car.
arrested him, and much Of the dead mans
property was found In his possession. It's
not much Of a story-if tho man hadn't
pawned the pistol he would certainly have
got of, but it shows how much little things
amount to, and will give you an idea of how
a detective viii go to work
Those who arc intrusted with the handling
OF large sums of money arc frequently
watched by detectives, particularly II any
money is missing from tho institution. Bank
clerks arc particularly liable to DO kept under
surveillance Not long ago n leak was known
to exist In one of the banks of this city.
Every clerk was shadowed by a detective un-
til finally tho thief was discovered. His
mother made good his defalcation, and beinS
OF good family, he was permitted to resign
"The life Of n detective is startling enough,
but it gets tiresome and m~onotonous, and /
expect soon to retire. l remember ono case
that happened in New York A very swell
reception was given by one-of the leaders of
society. Ono OF the guests had left a valu-
able solitaire in the ladies' dressing room on
the washstand, and, forgetting 1T, had left it
On her return to find it, It had of course dis
appeared Nobody knew where It was Tho
hunks Of all the servants were searched, but
no trace'could be found of tho jewel, which
WINS worth about $4,000. l finally found 1t
where 1t had been pawned for $500 in n pawn
shop by a French woman. ! took the visit
ing list Of the hostess and finally, after q
weeks search, found that one of tho guests, q
rich woman, had a French maid, and that she
had gone to Europe shortly after the recep-
ton.
81 had to wait for her return, made the
acquaintance of tho maid, and took her to
the pownbroker's where he identified her.
She confessed and her mistress redeemed tho
diamonds and paid all expenses 1 never told
on her.
You $50 also that pawnbrokers are impor-