The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-12
A FAMOUS DETECTIVE.
Inspector Jnrvis's Career, AprOpose
of His Approaching Retirement.


From the London Telegraph.
After thirty years service. including a
full quarter-century of experience as a
leading detective, Frederick Jarvis. chief
Inspector Of Scotland Yard, enters upon
his well-earned retirement next month. 1t
would be difficult to find an officer more
dramatically opposed to the popular con-
ceDtion OF detective. Mr.. Jarvis stands
close on six feet, and the dominant ex-
preston conveyed by his personal appear
ance is that he is a good-natured provin-
c.al rather than one of the sinewdest
and cleverest hunters of criminals that
ever existed. There was time when a
good detective had to be either a rough
fellow able to mix in the lowest society
without exciting suspicion or comments, or
a highly educated man, able to direct the
operations Of others. Mr.. Jarvis is a
combination of both these types. Starting
in the force as a constable, hts first serv-
Ice was in the A division in the course
of which he was on duty about the houses
of parliament. Drafted soon into the de-
tective department, he devoted all his en-
ergies to one object-a thorough acquaint-
ance with the ways of criminals. With
this end he frequented courts and pris-
ons, race meetings and dens. One of the
first cases In which he distinguished HIM
self was the LEROY murder. After this
came the Fenian and dynamite outrages
of DIR. Gallagher and his associates, and
of Cunningham and Burton. A celebrat-
ed task imposed upon Mr.. Jarvis was to
trace the career of Neil Cream, the Lam
beth prisoner, in America and Canada.
One of the officers speclaties In criminal
investigation was the detection of forger-
iaa nd / fz ri la me nv of ia al
mirers that as result of his efforts in
this direction an act of parliament may be
instanced. This came directly from the
sentence Of ten years Imprisonment on
Barton for forgeries on the Northwestern
railway amounting TO over $4,000. The
forger was pursued TO America, where he
was followed over half the continent.
The most sensational OF Mr.. jarvis
cases was the arrest of Mendell Howard
for extensive bank forgeries in France,
America, Germany, and Belgium. This
forger, who was watched for over two
years before he could be captured with
proof sufficient to insure his conviction,
was taken with a complete forgers fac
tory at Chester Terrace, Eaton square,
where he lived. Another celebrated for
ger who owes his Incarceration TO the Wig
lance and ability Of the retiring inspector
Is Dombrowski, the Russian bond forger
now completing ten years sentence, with
whom was also captured Laterner, who
got three years. These were arrested as
they were getting off the boat at Dover
with forged bonds and notes to the value OF
thousands of pounds in their possession.
The Sunderland Bank robbery was s1r.k-
ing instance not only of the braiusSand
money now employed In such enterprises
but OF the difficulties with which a mJd-
ern detective must contend. Here was no
case Of cracksmen who go on the spree
as soon as they secure their booty and
betray themselves, but Of men with COO.
nerves and money enough to take them
to the ends of the earth, If need be, to
eiude capture. That Mr.. Jarvis was able
to arrest these criminals Is high tribute
to his skill. That he should hold the GRIM
inal after capturing him is proof that his
long experience IN handling such crim-
nails had not made him foolhardy. He
kept a good bold on Armstrong and
promptly secured him III d cell, while the
other prisoner easily slipped away and Is
still at lar:'c
To the average reader it will be q sur
prise to learn that DISCUSSES form no part
Of the modern detectives outfit. There are
two ways by which the perpetrator of a
crime becomes known to the police-that Is
supposing of course, that his pals" do
not peach" One Of these is by an exam
ination of the scene of the felony; the 9TH
er Is by Information received at Scotland
Yard, which Is IN reality, little more than
a bureau Of information. II is next to i'm