The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-11-28
IHE OLD DETECTIVE.
~ TELLS or a COUPLE OF HIS Pc
cULiAR EXPERIENCES.

Il
cuLiAR EXPERIENCES.
Nhs Man Who Was Found Robbing o
n Trunk and the Man who Was Evil
aentiy n suicide-stories showing
How Appearances May Deceive.
aWhen was considerably younger and
sreener In this business" said an old de-
ltectiye who had been asked to tell
story OF his experience. II lived at GER
tain hotel. which it Is not in the least
necessary to name. One rainy, sleety
might in early winter came in very late,
Z and going directly to my room was sur
.pRised 70 find the door ajar. had on
pair of old rubbers, so my approach had
made no noise, and peeping in l saw a
man bending over my open trunk. did
mot stop to mediate, but was on his back
An a couple Of jumps, and who should it
turn out to be but the porter, a young
white man, much liked by everybody in
The house. He was 80 startled that he
couldn't say word, and there was the
evidence plain as day. The trunk had
been forced with a chisel, which lay on
che floor The contents were tumbled
tabout. and sticking In the lock of the
! door was skeleton key made out of
piece of copper wire.
a when the porter found his tongue he
i begged me not to turn him over to the
police. lie said that his mother, who was
dependent on him for support, was sick
and in destitute circumstances; that he
was unable to earn enough to provide her
4 with necessaries, and his desperate need
of money had tempted him to the act 1t
was his first offense, he pleaded. and if l
/ would let him off it would be his last--in
short he gave me the usual story, but he
told it so well and begged so piteously
that at last weakened and told him to
get out. Next day he quietly left town,
and later on discovered that the mother
story was a fake. Then cussed myself
for being fool.
"Ncarly year afterward' continued
the detective, 81 arrested professional
crook for car breaking and found him
wearing pair of my own cuff buttons
which | had missed for long time and
didn't know what had become of them.
Under pressure he confessed that he had
stolen them from a room In such and
such house, naming the hotel where l
lived. He said he had opened the door
with a false key, broken into trunk and
was Just riiing it when he heard some
body coming and darted out, barely
lodging young man in the hall. l pull
ed out the copper skeleton key, which l
still had on my ring, and he identified it
Immediately as the one he had used
Inl I
erably agitated, and went to work i'm.
mediately to locate the exporter. After
q good deal of difficulty l finally found
kilu in Memphis clerkng in grocery
store. got the tip, by the way, from
letter he had written to a friend. Well,
! curnercd him and insisted on an eX-
planation, and he told me story will
never forget as long as live.
'"Hc said he was coming down The hall
that night when he saw man run out
OF my room. The fellow got away be-
fore he could grab him, and, naturally
enough, he went in to see what was up.
He noticed the trunk open and had just
stopped down to see whether it had been
forced when | rushed in. The surprise
z Of it bewidered him for moment, and
then he realized that he had been caught
inadvertently in Il position that would
certainly convict him Of burglary.
81 knew you wouldn't believe me if l
told you the truth he said, and would
be dead sure to have me arrested, but l
did think there was some chance of
working on your feelings by pretending
to confess. | remembered hearing you
reMark,' said he, that you always felt
sorry for man that owned up So he
tried that plan. and, as you already
know, it worked. l was satisfied that
what he told me was absolutely true,
and, taken altogether believe that was
the aueercst case I ever had anything to
90 with. The last l heard of the young
man he was living in Atlanta and doing
well The car thief got seven years"
AT our business it doesn't do to jump
nj conclusions said the detective. Il
hat that fact impressed on my mind long
ago. when l was young and green, by
epmething that occurred at q certain city
-aever mind exactly where. | can tell
you the story Just as well without the
iname. A man Of some prominence was
staying at the principal hotel Of the
place. and one morning he WAS found
dead in his bed, with the door locked on
Che inside, windows fastened and the gas
turned on full tilt. Nobody doubted that
he had committed suicide, and as he had
tbeeu handling some trust funds | was on
gagged to make private Investigation.
As far as | could discover, his affairs
were straight. but vague suspicion new
eriheless attached 10 his memory. Peo-
ole don't kill themselves for nothing, and
Il was generally believed that some hid