Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-04
THE DETECTIVE BUSINESS.
Learned His First Lesson In His Art
While q Reporter.


II was n reporter before I became a de-
tecttve." said a fly cop to The Star reporter.
Indeed. that's the way got my start
You are not the only one. guess" VEN
tured the reporter.
''Oh. no. it's fine school. and we're
proud of the men who rose from the repor-
tcrial ranks" smiled the detective.
Rose from the ranks is good" con-
coded the reporter; but tell me how you
happened to rise"
We'll. l was doing hotel work in a west
ern city Of a hundred thousand people or
so. and had pretty extensive acquaintance
with all kinds OF people. but i made spe-
cfalty OF detectives. They had faScina-
ton for me, and / often yearned to be one
of them, but l knew there wasn't any
chance until did something in their line
that would commend me to them. 1t hap
pened at one Of the hotels where l used to
stop once or twice week. not a very prom
inent hotel. sometimes saw quite a swell
looking young man, whose name the clerk
told me- was Marston, and that he was
real society man, and had money. i only
saw him once or twice, and I'm sure he
never saw me to remember me, but the de-
tective faculty in me. whatever it is. warn
ed me to keep an eye on this young fell
low, and did.
About this time there was a series of
small robberies. forgeries, false pretenses
and ether schemes by which somebody was
making considerable money in job lots Of
from ten to fifty dollars at a whack And
the police couldn't do a thing to stop it.
Several mysterious disappearance of jewel
ry were reported, and somehow my mind
turned to Marston, but there wasn't any
reason why it should, far as knew and
certainly there was TO tangible clue in that
the hotel. and saw Marston going into
lunch and a great idea came to me- I
furried out, and In ten minutes ] was back
again sitting in the office reading a paper
he ne t,n1p
came out. and carelessly lolled up against
the counter to talk to the clerk Ny time
had come. and went over to the clerk.
Here's a package. said |. which l wish
worth about $50. and don't want to carry
1t around. I'll send up for IT at o'clock
How'll know asked the clerk, put
ting the package gave him into the safe,
I've got to be careful Of valuable pack
ages.
Il wrote my name in the register in q
bold back hand. easy to counterfeit.
That's the signature l said, compare
1t with the signature to the order I send
Then I went out, leaving Marston stand
trg almost over the register, and having
heard every word that I had said. AS for
the clerk he didn't know a thing about the
affair. and didn't want him to until
vas ready.
'At half-past 3 o'clock came back, &C.
companied by detective, and We posted
a
door opening into a dark room behind the
Office and waited. Promptly at o'clock a
very well-dressed young man, quite a dude,
in fact, appeared.
My friend Blank he said to the clerk.
calling me by name, and presenting his
note. left a package here today to be
called for, and esked If 1 wouldn't hand
YOU the note and get 1t for him. He said
you would understand
1.-THE clerk compared the signature with
the one on the register. handed over the
package, and the young man went away
with it. The detective and followed at a
safe distance, and after chase Of dozen
blocks the young man went into one of a
row of boarding houses. We gave him ten
minutes leeway, and followed, asking for
the landlady. She told US she had a board
floor back, and on our representing that we
were his friends. she showed us to the
door Of his room, where she left us.
''1E response to our knock came an in
vitation to enter, which we did, and there
we found Marston, but not the young man
we had followed. who had reddish hair
and q mustache to match. This one had
short dark hair, and not much Of it. and
was smooth-faced. At first 1 was fearful
that had made a mistake. and was about
to apologize and get out, or fix up some ex-
cuse, but the detective had more expert
ence, and at once took the case out of NV
hands, and stated his business. Both Of
them blurred, but with sudden Jerk the
detective tipped a reddish wig out Of the
smooth-faced mans coat pocket, and then
the rest OF 1t was easy. It was the sharp
eye of the detective that saved the dav.
and sent shrewd chap to the penitentiary
for we not only had him on the forgery
but we found a lot of jewelry that Marston
had garnered among his society friends