The times., 1899-05-21

of detecting crime than of any other call
ing in the walks of life. The small boy
delights in reading of the adventures OF
'Old Sleuth" Nick Carter" ''Huckle-
berry Bill, the Boy Terror of the Counter
feiters," and like mythical personages, un-
til he regards the life of a sleuth as one
of exalted preference. and he declares pos
itively that he will be a detective rather
even than President of these United States.
Some of these boys do become detectives
when they attain manhood. Then after
going about the city looking and feeling
uncomfortable for a week or two they se-
cure positio.-s as street car conductors or
commence TO drive a cab anything rather
than stay in the detective business They
soon find that it is no fun. there is no par
ticular glory attached TO the Office, and
a great deal of hard work is required. The
small boy is not alone in his alteration
OF the detective. Dreams Of catching bur
glars and snatching captive maidens from
the hands of fierce and dark visaged con-
spirators sometimes find a place in the
mind of his elder brother. and, strange
to say, despite the fact that they have
daily demonstrations that romance has no
place in the average detectives life they
still cling to their silly ideas and adore
the sleuth all the more. If they should
happen to lose a diamond pin or something
vices of the headquarters detective to help
them find it. Sometimes he does aud
sometimes he does not. In most cases
the young man finds that he has mslaid
the valuable and comes on 1t suddenly
hidden away in some secret place long
after the silent sleuth has forgotten all
about 1t. Very seldom do the detectives
/ do anything very startling, and then they
get so much newspaper notoriety from
the fact that they have walked from their
.somnolence that the public marvels at the
great men who have slumbered in their
midst without making their presence
known.
II is probable that Washington has as
good a detective force for city OF its
size and location as any other place in the
world and the life of detective in the
Capital City is about the same as that
OF his compatriots the world over. II may
be said that the Washington detective is
better than those in other cities because
there are fewer of him and he has more TO
do in consequence Washington has been
called the best governed city in the world.
Congress is reputed to provide for its
maintenance with a lavish hand and the
money spent on street improvements
amounts 10 a large sum each year. But
Congress does not hurt itself in the pro-
vision OF funds for the guarding of the
taxpaying citizens even though il does ap-
propriate thousands of dollars for the
Identification of its parks and thorough
fares. In this city the population is very
near the 300, 900 mark, and there are about
500 policemen who patrol the streets
There are never more than 200 OF these
on the streets at one time and on some
occasions there are less than 100 on duty
at the same time These men patrol over
300 miles OF streets in the District once
each hour. They are expected to be on
hand whenever wanted and are severe
/ iy censured if they are not there. Police
men are supposed only 10 arrest those who
have been caught in the act. and very
/ little detective work is thought 10 come
their way. The Washington policemen are
compelled TO do detective work. however,
very often. and they have been generally
successful. The detective force of the
District requires the services of twelve
men. city of 800, 900 inhabitants has
It's homes protected by twelve able
| bodied men These men were all of them
policemen once. and have been detailed for
duty az headquarters detectives because of
special aptitude for that particular branch
| OF pol-ee work. Some of them did duty