The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-09
WOMEN AS DETECTIVES.
POLICE OPINION DOES NOT HOLD
THEM IN HIGH REGARD.

There has been a great deal of talk lately about
the women detectives in certain department
stores. Around The holidays, when goods wcro
displayed temptingly, professional. amateur,
and iinpromptu shopllfters were busy. and so
was the woman detective. Sometimes she
busted herself too much. and charged innocent
shoppers with stealing. This was not calculated
to make the woman detective popular; neither
did IL draw customers 10 her employers. 1t also
suggested questions as to woman's qualifca.
tions for detective work. When questioned on
this subject ex.Police Inspector Alexander 8.
Williams said:
81 can tell you in two words what l think Of
woman's qualifications for detective work
precious little. When n woman attempts TO
do detective work OF any kind. in depart
mcnt stores or out OF them. she Ia in.
clined to 20 too far. to overstep the bounds,
and for that reason she Is not qualified
for the work. To do detective work success
fully it Is literally true that one has to be as
wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove.
Woman's place is with her family or taking
care of a home of her own. Not all women can
do that. however. Many Of them are forced 10
earn their own living, but my aivicc to them is
to earn 1t in some other way than by doing do.
tective work.
Woman is not qualified either physically or
mentally to do detective work. She can stand
around three or four hours In n store without
feeling it. but when 1t comes to standing ten or
twelve she gets physically worn out and nervous,
and then woe to the woman shopper who comes
along wearing n dress or n ribbon that does not
please her taste. Five times out Of ten she i'm
| mediately suspects her OF wanting to lift some
thing and watches her closely, often accusing
her on the evidence that she is badly dressed
or has on a green ribbon when the detective
thinks a blue one would look better or not jar so
much on her unstrung nerves."
"What noted women detectives have been on
the police force during the last twenty-five
| years T. asked the reporter.
Not one," nswere cx-Inspector Williams
emphatically. About twenty-five years ago
there was a woman connected with the Police
Department in a kind OF way who started out
very cleverly. She was a bright. clever, pretty
little woman. with a trim little figure, and. so
far as / know, was all right when she started in
the business. But she saw so much bad that she
| got bad herself. Finally she sank 30 low that
she actually sold her own daughter, a girl Of six
teen, to a man on the east side. That woman
saw absolutely nothing to raise her morally.
Harm watch, harm CATCH you know. and
especially docs this seem to apply to
women. Women have always been employed
by the Police Department to do certain jobs, but
in all my experience / mover knew a woman to
accomplish anything in detective work that
amounted to anything or to amount TO anything
herself afterward. We must all admit that the
woman detective is useful in a way. She can go
to live in a fiat or den. become acquainted with
those living there, and obtain I very useful in,
man couldn't do it at all. But the woman de-
tective's career is a short one; After about q
year the people. whom the police are after all
know her. and her usefulness is gone:
Women have one characteristic that should
faces is much better than that of the average
man. 1 once knew a man who took his wife to
terested in the kitchen. More than a year later
a man called to see her husband one, day. and
taking. After the visitor had gone the hns.
baud said to her:
"'Yes. his face is strangely familiar she
answered. but / can't exactly place him
The husband said nothing more. and picked
up a newspaper. In about two minutes she said:
peelins potatoes in Sing Sing Prison kitchen
ten would have recalled and placed him. and
hardly one out Of ten men: But, all the same.
work. mentally or physically, and it certainly
pulls them down morally, A woman had better
Capt. George ". McClusky. Chief of the De.
~tective Bureau. has a little better opinion Of
woman's ability to hunt out crime and criminals
than the ex.Inspector, but his estimate is not
likely to turn the heads of the women detectives.
the Police Department said Capt. McClusky.
"and none has been in the last quarter of a CEN
are no good, but on special cases, when it comes
to finding things out they do, fine work. Their
oTerzealoUs. We have two IAoorrf three hHs'' Young e@1ie
women that we call on frequently. and they 40
sasiSiaa Exit fle cIerk wG sasps sSsh s az Seating sst.lns f Sy
their employers, and getting into houses and
making the aeaqsintance Of people; Tell you
Concerning their work would talRdp' destroy their hhafii use.
| htn Rnna mi 1 a q = InnH n . at NnnNa
detectives never accomplished anything very
startling, you may be sure OF that. We do not
women we employ TO do detective work any
more than We do about the morals OF the men
ever" admitted Capt. McClusky with a smile
and a shrug that told more than his words,
broad.minded and liberal be- in their View Views. + they
they be They are literally paid for every Job.
and. in short. discretion is their meal ticket. as
OF woman's ability for general detective work.
puzzled II it were not for the shrewd assistance
Of a clever woman. Through women many ar.
Miss Doyle, the matron of the Eldridge street
police station. comes in constant contact with
| district near by and also with women who do
general detective work. She is gentle voiced.
geHIis,nf War redx ana IN ,S Ere ,26S student Sn,s OF human
her ability for the work are decided.
"A woman who does detective work loses all
wa EiN FotA = &c q
matron here six years and I've seen the woman
detective in all her phases. Woman is too mar
row-minded to do detective work honestly and
conscientiously. That isn't her fault. for it Is
our environment that has made us narrow
minded, and our sex should stay out of the de-
tectiye business until we outGrow the effects OF
our former environment.
Women detectives have no mercy on women.
I've seen them bring shoplifters in here. and our
m n would beg them to show mercy and they
wouldn't. Where a man detective shows mercy
"A woman is as hard as steel. She is in the busi-
ness for the money. and her employment de-
ponds upon the game she bags, so she pounces
down on professionals and amateurs alike, show
ing mercy 10 none. I've seen women detectives
responsible for situations in this station house
that would wiring the heart of the hardest
man. and I've seen tears in the eyes OF the
Sergeant and officers. Last week a de-
tective arrested an Italian woman and
her sisterin.law and brought them here.
The woman had a 6.weeks'Old baby in her
arms, and had been caught stealing a pair of
l5-eent mittens for it. Nothing was found on
the sister-in-law. but she was locked up. too.
Al of us begged the detective TO let the woman
go. as the mother implored her TO let her pay
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