The St. Louis Republic., 1901-03-03
CHIEF KELLY TALKS Of The BUSINESS Of BEING A POLICEMAN
Made
Work He Has No Revo
luionary Plans Is Evils to Correct

practice the business, have the, time to de-
scribe 1t even as well rs 1t can be described.
There is one good ru!e-keep your. eyes
open. Another good rule is-be diligent.
I Then if YOU have the knack. and get the
| experience. you rlay become policeman
The average detective story is a funny
| thing to the man who knows the police
business / don't take much stock In them.
| They are so different from the real way in
which the work is done. There are those
Sherlock Holmes stories They are inter-
esting, Of course; but they don't tell how
thieves are really caught. didn't so to see
j understand Billy Desmond went, and that
he wasn't carried away by the realism of
the thing.
And then there are the Old Sleuth' sto-
ries. Oh. yes. l have read some of them.
But they do not tell how it is really done.
For instance, the detective in the story
always wears many DISCUSSES. and when he
shadows a man he rides in cabs and does
other furious things. Now. l will tell you
about the biggest job of shadowing 1 ever
l tell it to show the difference between the
novel policeman and the real one.
Well. l was at Sixth and Market streets,
which used to be great hang-out for
thieves. l noticed two men paying close at
tention to third one, and when. after they
started down the street l summed it up as
an attempt at II holdup. They were going
west on Market; saw Il friend on the cor
coat and hat. and gave them to him. Then
l took mis- hat. and started after the trio
AT Ninth street they turned north on the
west side of the street. was some distance
behind them. and when l turned north 1
was on the east side of the street. 1t seemed
10 me that the alley back of where the Lin
coin Trust building now stands would be a
good place for. the hold-up. so 1 hurried
Just as the trio got to the alley. one of
them hit the victim a terrible smash and
laid him out cold. 1t was done in a jiffy.
and in another jiffy they had his pocket,
book and We're on a dead run
had begun to run sooner than they
ana was good runner. too. l drew NV
revolver as l ran, and called to them to
hait They paid no attention and / fired I
hit the man who had the pocketbook. but
he did not fall. ! fired again, and hit him
again. but still he did not fall Then / fired
the third time. and he fell
The other fellow was still running and
turned west on Chestnut street. l Jumped
over the body of the man who was shot and
Kept after the other one. catching him he
fore he got to Eighth street
Ihat is just about the way all shadow
ing Is done. am much more proud of nv
craftsmanship on that occasion than of nv
shaoowing. A dispensary doctor told me |
1t was the best shooting he had ever seen
by Policeman. My first shot had struck |
Just above the ankle of the right l9g; the |
SECOND Just below the knee. and the third |
Both men were noted crooks
NO. haven't any idea of revolutionizinr |
sne s methods of conducting a great police |
department. In great city. Not an idea |
OF such thing. ! am simply going to do |
my uqty. TO the best of my ability Wher-
ever ma evils l shall exert every effort
" correct them. Wherever l see a cnaace |