Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-23

yourself. Wait tn 1 get out OF this. an.
III put your light out forever; take NV
IN a big penitentiary. II we should meet
again on a dark night I'm a secluded spot
my light would doubtless become very
dim.
The wrfter.a Status.
The men who know nothing about nv
short career in the police business gener-
ally take me for a pickpocket or an "out-
slider" when we meet in the thiefs world.
An outsider is one who pipes or a
place to be robbed before the men who
are to do the work appear: he also con-
tinues the piping ofr"-watching out for
danger-while the men are at work He is
called an outsider because his duties keep
! him mainly in the open.
L am moderately good In keeping my
eyes open and seeing things, and when GER
tain men have convinced themselves of this
fact they have put me down for one who
'rubbers" and gets the lay of the land
before the mob" goes to work. / have
also received congratulations as a good
shower of the queer (counterfeit) but they
were given to the wrong man and were
eventually withdrawn.
A few nights ago certain party in the
Tenderloin district In New York city pick
ed me out as a profitable companion for a
crusade against the valuables of men who
go to sleep in Raines law hotels and was
sure that between us We ought to make
both fortune and fame, but we failed TO
agree about the details. and the certain
party carried his search for a suitable
side partner" further.
Passed as a Pickpocket.
Another set of men think I look moro
like 'dip"-pickpocket- treat me as
such on the road. Only the other day. in
London, two men asked me in Piccadnly
after they had tagged" me with the
thfefs cough, whether / was after the
same purse OF sovereigns that they wanted.
Ihey had seen me and two companions
split up" in what was to them a slls-
picious manner. and dangerously near an
old gentleman whom they were trying to
nick. and one OF them said TO me In
uhdlsguised Yankee tones, referring to the
old gentleman:
He's a mark all right, but there amt
dough enough for all of us. Are you after
1t, or are WEI"
and moved on. The old gentleman made
his escape unwittingly in a cab.
Ihere are few persons among the out
casts from the upper worlds point OF
view. that know about my books and have
talked with me concerning them but 1
know of no good gun or tramp who IS
personally acquainted with me that con-
meets me in any way with the things that
l nave said in print in regard TO him.
Letters come to me every now and then
from tramps and guns who say that
they do or do not subscribe to statements
winch | have made. but have never met
well some of them express themselves 1
print here letter that came to me not so
very long ago from Juneau, Alaska. IL
reads as follows:
Letter From a 'Gun."
"Octobers, 1900
My Dear Sir: Conversant as you are
with the necessities OF the powers that
prey you will understand my subscribing
to this letter the synthetical name which
a On off ha1,,
the law with a blank warrant L write
merely to extend to you the congratula-
tons OF an experienced observer on your
story In one of the recent magazines. Its
title forget for the moment, but Howard
Slifer was. / remember the name of the
hero. 1t is, think, the first authoritative
criticism of q police system which has for
the creating of a local reputation, sacrf-
feed the lives and liberties OF many. many
persons-moSt Of them. l admit, eminently
deserving of such a fate, but nevertheless
entitled to their freedom for the time be-
Ing. L was, at one time, myself desper-
ately Jeopardized by the general animus
of single police officer. followed by the
desire of some other ignorant and letharefo
detectives to make a reputation, and the
inexplicabie Willingness on the part of 9TH
erwise Intelligent reporters to accept as
true the startling efforts OF the Imagination
supplied them by the police department as
the history of the case. Had IL not been
that l was very plentifully supplied with
the mass of plausible evidence and artih-
cial identification (by outside citizens OF
impressionable character whom the police
talked into firm belief that | was the
culprft. AS IT was. | succeeded, after a
bitter legal battle, in which the ordinary
criminal practitioner could never have en-
gagged the expenditure Of several thousand =,
dollars and the securing of long lost wit
nesses whom the police and Pinkertons
had given up. in demonstrating to a re-
iuctant prosecutor that L could not be the
man they sought.
Before and since this personal expe-
rience 1 have so frequently met with SINH
lar cases OF such fiagrancy that It seems
inconceivable that the newspapers. 4. e.,
the saffron press, do not make q sensation
by reversing the present system OF apotheo-
sizing the extremely mediocre acumen Of o
detective. A good gun asks nothing but
an even break. but / wish in all fairness
that your story might be included in the
judges instructions to every criminal jury.
Sincerely, JOHN DOE"
Passing ms the Real Thing.
1t is a matter of wonder to a number OF
persons that man who does not belong In
a criminal life or profit by criminal prac-
tices should be able to pose the genu-
inc article" When with criminals / make
it my business to talk and act as the Grim
inals do, and practice has made me mod
erately sure of myself.
1t is impossible for one who lis only In
termittently on the road, as / am, to keep
track of all the latest slang, and it is also
difficult to be able to talk intelligently
about the newest tricks and lodges" but
1 have seldom been called gay cat" by
the hoboes, and the guns have never yet
dubbed me a back number"
Some men are in doubt for awhile wheth-
er / am a detective or one OF their own
kind, but 1t does not take long to quiet
their suspicious. Once convinced that they
are dealing with what they take to be a
pal. they are as entertaining human beings
In heir wa a II 20
know.