The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-02
WORKING UNDER DISGUISE.
Some "Reminiscences of n French De-
tectfve.

Some "Reminiscences of n French De-
tective.
From New York Commercial Advertiser.
Some memoirs are at present being pub
lished in the Paris Journal by NJ. Goron,
former chief of the Partisan police, who,
having resigned his onerous position, has
entered the ranks of journalism His aim
in these articles is to bring about re-
form of the secret police; but the serious
ness of his purpose does not prevent his
"reminiscences from being full of interest,"
ing anecdotes. He also speaks with much
appreciation of the work done by his for
mer agents, who, for very Inadequate re-
Enumeration, often performed acts which
were of almost incalculab.e benefit to So
ciety.
He tells in this connection of the eX-
periences of two of his inspectors, who, in
order to apprehend a band of murderers,
disguised themselves as tramps and lived
for eight days in an unspeakably filthy
dive, in the midst of every species of YER
min. The needed evidence was secured,
and the villains brought before the chief,
who had great difficulty in distinguishing
from them his own employees, so c,everly
had these dressed for the part. But de-
cessful, as an experience of Nj. Goron's
own shows He had followed Arton, the
noted swindler, to London and had ar
ranged clever comedy with one of his
agents, by means of which Anton was to
be played into his hands. According TO
the preconcerted plan, the accompnce went
TO Arton, who was at the time engaged in
the buying of stolen coupon bonds, and
offered to sell him a quantity of Italian
bonds. Just then, as had been arranged,
Goron, presumably by chance, walked into
the office. Up to this time everything had
gone smoothly, but Goron's hat although
it had been bought in one of the best Lon
don shops struck Arton and his associates
as suspiciously like a French one, and
they hurriedly made good their escape be
fore the French detectives realized what
was going on.
The question of disguise is a momentous
and prolific one in detective work, and M
Goron, in these "reminiscences, has not
made nearly as much of II as he might
have done. Upon mans ability to conceal
his identity and assume another greatly
depends his success in this most eXacting
profession. A mysScal detective in a once.
famous book, THE Leavenworth Case"
makes a remark to the effect that thetonly
disguise he cannot successfully assume ia
that of a gentleman. The same difficulty
confronts most fiesh-and-blood detectives.
=
| ant one, for it is not infrequenty brought
into reQuisition, as in a case which &C
Cured not long ago, when man, out
Wardly a gentleman, and living in an aris-
! tocratic neighborhood, was suspected of
| harboring some stolen paintings, and 1t
became necessary for a detective to dress
as a society man in order to penetrate
into the house where the suspected indi-
vidual had a bachelor apartment. As ene
| latter had no servant, it was impossible
| to attain the desired end by bribery so
the detective made use of other tactics
Finding that the apartment above that Of
his prey was to let he waited until the
people who occupied it had gone out, and
then asked to be shown it. This, the
doors being locked, the janitor could not
do but. for consideration, he consented
to let him see the rooms below-those of
the supposed thief, who was also absent -
which were identical.
Once in the jealously guarded premises,
the detective found that the suspicious
which pointed to its inmate were correct.
and was able to collect all the evidence
necessary TO convict the man. Innumer-
able instances might be mentioned of the
value of disguise and of the many forms
its takes, but two other examples will suf-
flee. One occurred very recently in Paris,
when the detective, attired as priest sat
in an omnibus and while apparently deep
in his breVary, studied the actions of sew
eral pickpockets, until having seen all he
needed to have them sent to prison, he
closed his book with a sharp clap-a signal
whereat two policemen in plain clothes
bounced upon the offenders. A few weeks
ago other detectives, likewise French,
dressed themselves as street PAYERS, and
proceeded to tear up the street just in
front of wine shop which possessed a
very evil reputation and was believed TO
be the resort of certain thieves. 1t was
observed by the neighbors that the PAYERS
were anything but jealous workmen and
that they spent much more time in the
cabaret than at their job The street
remained unpaved for so long that there
was talk of presenting complaint to the
municipality, but at last, one day ii was
paved in a trice and the PAYERS disappear
ed-and with them a half-dozen of the
habitues of the cafe, whom they escorted
to the nearest police station.