The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-05-02
cHIcAeo's BOY DETECTIVES.
Trained TO Shadow Criminals and
Learn Their Secrets.
(Chicaeo Trihune.N

lChtcagO Iribunes)
The latest wrinkle in the Chicago 'po-
lice department is the employment of
boy detectives. Lads of 16 years and
under are being trained to shadow
criminals. to get their secrets BY pos
ing as innocent hystanders. and, IL nee
.essarys 70 attempt 70 make arrests
When no reg7ilaf officer can be found.
The Iesl3laines street police staIicn
is the first 10 Shelter the youthful
sleuthS, and at Chlcago avenue ana
Harrison street boys are already under
orders from city. detectives to do what
work they can toward the detection of
crime
This phase Of police business opens
UP fields of Iabsr for the many BOYS
who stin fndustriously pursue the dime
novel hero in mis- nights fer virtue and
against vice. It IS not likely to meet
with the enthusiastic approval Of
mothers who may desire that their
sons grow up with higher ideals than
those cTystaIIized by appointment to a
job on the force paying S83.33 @ month
The boys are wrapped up in the
scheme, and some have asked the Des-.
PLANES street station officers for the
hardest kind OF work
Their labor is one that gets no re-
ward in fame, The nature of the task
requires that the utmost secrecy be
( preserved and there is no chance for
a boy to become known as a good de-
Elective. As soon as he gets anything
that looks like that sort OF a reputation
he has lost his power for good as the
/ thieves have channels of Information in
every police station and viii be kept
posted about the skill of the boy work
] The boys are drawn mostly from the
different messenger services The eX-
i peTience they have had in getting about
the city and in keeping their own
counsel IS. cQunIed upon as a valuable
I factor. They are not TO wear uniforms.
I The old custom Of shadowing man
Z by sending "a messenger boy in the full
X panOply- of his Office out after MIN was
y discovered long ago by the men who
were Swallowed, and now IL isg almost
las risky to send out a messenger boy
trailer as it would be to put an officer
I in uIFifoFfnton the track Of a suspected
man. The boy detectives will wear
/ their ordinary clothes and will have
/ no stars or weapons. To trust boy
] with a revolver and then to tell him
+ That he has police powers would be to
turn the streets INTO informal shooting
galleries and this the astute police of
I fcers are not yet ready to do.
The best boy detective ia the city.
! the police say, is "A si80y named Tom
4 Harding He used to. be an A. -. T..
f messenger and lives in Ashland boule-
ward Madame Carpenter, who was in
Z trouble with the police about Bertha
! Nesize, her servant. some time ago
/ employed Harding to shadow Harry
7 SO4lberg, whom she thought acted in
4 league with her servant to steal her
property. Harding turned in reports
I that We're models OF neatness and re-
/ liability and was c0nplimented by the
/ police upon his good work since that
time ne has been hired at intervals to
( do detective work for the officers, aad
I neither he nor. any Of the other boy
/ spoilers has ever revealed a confidence
( or made a. Serious mistake
: Besides the messengers there is de-
I'll II
! class Of hotel belfboys. These boys are
! especially desirable if they have been
( employed in first-clsss hotels Then
/ they have a certain knoWiedge Of the
identity OF men who some time may
i have TO be Swallowed. and they have, in
4 addition TO that quality, the desirable
! gift OF being able TO see a lot and say
! nothing.
The last station in the city at which
/ one would expect to find boy detectives
! is Austin. This station has the record of
being the quietest precinct in the ser
/ vice, and the officers themselves find
lhttle to do. Sergeant McNallv how
/ ever, mas found that boys can get infor-
/ nation that he cannot get, and Lieu-
tenant stanton survivor of the Hav-
] market riot who is IN command. knows
! Of the employment Of boys. and does
not forbid IL. In Austin and ia I1eifteu-
ant SchmOke's station IN Oak Park. a
I better grade of youthful sleuths lis
] AtAAd llldE - present al The. stations
} nearer the river Some schoolboys have
given Assistance to the assoe station that
/ tried to close the Austin blind pigs. ,
as Wen as 70 the hyde Park Protective
association that drove Illegal sellers OF
/ liquor from that part OF town
- .
The pay received by the hoy deteo-
tiyes is not of a Nature to make other
boys who have fairly remnneratfve po-
sitions leave them and become defec-
4 tives. The boy who is addicted To the
! dime novel classic of the "Eddie Parks
i the Newshoya Detective" stripe is prone
to think that when a boy detective
.llakes great capture or obtains a
good piece 81 Information. his superior
offices at once writes a check for the
amount of which he has TO use. at least
three figures. such an impression Is