The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-05
DETECTIVES TN CHICAGO
System Under Which the SIeuths Of
The City Work.
No Mystery About the Business-The
Toned In Sensational Novels Not In
Use-Thc Surveillance of Criminals
IA Mater-of-Fact Calling Nowadays.

The man who reads occasionally about
the detective bureau at the city hall may
have a vague impression that it is a mys-
terious place, where dark-eyed men slip
in and out on secret missions, wheTe masks
and wigs are kept in cabinets to fit out
sleuths when they go upon the chase after
criminals, and where detectives of the
brand extolled in light literature have Sc
cret conferences at all hours with the I'M
fortunate victims of great conspiracies.
But it isn't.
No bureau in the city hall is more bust
ness like or is run on a more distinct sys-
tenn than is the cent. station, as 1t is
colloquially known. Not that there is as
much bookkeeping there as in the city
treasurer's office or anything of that sort,
but things by no means run along in the
haphazard fashion which might be expected
of a sleuth headquarters. With 1S4 men
to look after. superintend, and account for,
Captain Colleran and his three lieutenants
have matters arranged so Systematically
that they know at all times just what each
officer is doing, or at least what he is de-
tailed on, and by means of the telephone
signal Jokes keep in touch with the whole
force at all times.
Not all of the 1874 officers are on duty
all the time, nor are they all on street
duty" at any time. The various forms of
crime which the bureau has to fight
against constantly have been specialized
in some instances and certain officers de-
tailed 10 follow up certain lines regularly.
For instance in addition to the sixty
eight detectives on active duty, there are
the following special details regularly
made and engaged every day in pursuing
their particular lines: Six men on pawn
shops, outside; four men in the station on
pawnshop records; three men on bicycle
thieves; three men on horse thieves; two
men on swindles; two men on Unofficial
correspondence; three men on criminal
bureau records.
All these officers, as can be seen by the
various details to which they are attached,
are engaged in a constant and systematic
warfare against criminals of various kinds
while sixteen men are Dolly kept in the
station on reserve duty and ffty-two are
out on street duty, keeping a lookout for
thieves, pickpockets, confidence men, she'll
workers, and other known criminals. The
whole force, except ten men. reports for
roll call at $50 o'clock every morning.
After roll call, at which any general or
special orders are read, the men on street
duty leave the station and the sixteen
whose turn 1t is to be on reserve remain
for emergencies. As fast as complaints of
robberies hold-ups or crimes of any kind
are received these reserve men are sent
out in teams" or couples
At 2 O'Clock ten more men report for roll
call and they work until midnight. Their
special fort is to watch for pickpockets
during the afternoon and early evening
when the cars are taking on the heavy
loads of homeward bound people, and after
the theatres are out there are again on the
keen scent for the light-hngered boys vino
NH fha xrfha
turn and around the theatre entrances.
Three times during the tour OF duty these
men as well as all the others on the street
are required TO communicate with the GEN.
trail station from a patrol box and il any
of them are wanted at the station they
are called in at once. At $50 in the ev-
ening all OF the force, except this special
detail of ten men, reports at central again
for roll call. The others do not report,
because that is their busiest hour and they
are hard at work on downtown corners.
But the oldest feature OF the whole force
is what is called the lobster gang" It
is composed Of six men and goes on duty
at $50 p. m and remains hard at it until
$3.50 a. m. This is the only force of men
that works all night long and nobody
wants the service. But this is how it
comes about.
Each detective is required by Captain
Colleran to make out daily on a bank
form a report of what he has done. Every
hour is accounted for and the results are
rewarded with points as follows:
For each arrest. one point
Each person held 10 criminal court FIVE points
Each prisoner sent TO the peritentiary, ten
For each $50 worth o; property recovered, ono
point
These blanks are turned in daily and the
average of each team is computed by the
chief of detectives. The six men at the
bottom of the list are for the next month
on the lobster gang and are doomed to
do duty all night. Therefore 1t is appar-
ent that the position is anything but one
OF honor.
outside the station are divided. four for the
South Side and two for the West SIDE.
They enter every pawnshop in town two
or three times day, examine the book,
and see what has been pawned. They get
reports from the station before they start
out ami during the day by wire. giving de-
scriptions of soften property, ard they
keep a sharp lookout for IL on the books
OF the pawnshops.. All watches pawned
must be entered by number in the books.
and II the number Of a stolen watch is
known it can be watched for on the
books. OF course a crooked pavnbroker
could buy stolen property or lend money
on it without entering ii on his books,
but he runs the chance of losing his Ii
cense or even going to the penitentary.
Every twenty-four hours each pawnshop
is required to send in a complete report
of all its business, and it is on these re-
ports that the four men in the station
work tracing stolen property.
The detectives detailed on bicycles and
stolen rigs work largely on complaints,
searching bicycle shops and secondhand
stores for stolen wheels and meeting with
remarkable success. The vast number of
wheels stolen in Chicago daily, owing to
the ease with which a bicycle may be
ridden away when left by careless own
err keeps them busy.
Two detectives are kept constantly at
work on swindlers of various kinds, get
rich quick concerns, fake advertisers
who try to get people out of town TO mail
them money, and the thousand and one
other schemes which crooked and nimble
brains invent for getting something for
nothing. As soon as one plan is exposed
| and all its operators arrested complaint
comes in about another system for WOO
! ing dollars from the easy" portion of the
| community and the detectives are off on
a new tack.
Unofficial correspondence" is the name
| by which letters from people seeking their
lost relatives or friends is known and two
men are constantly at work searching Tor
! people swallowed up in the vortex of the
great city The letters average six day
! that are received making enquiry for per-
| sons who disappeared in Chicago, and
| these two detectives have no time to play
pinochle In addition TO these details are
| the men who are employed recording the
| criminal histories Of persons wanted all
| over the United States and filing and In
vestigating circulars and postal cards from