The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-10
NO TIME FOR HIM TO TALK.
An Accused Person Must Keep His
Mouth shut or He Is Lost.

mouth smut or tie Is LOST.
From the indianapolis Journal.
IF we can get criminal to talking
we are all right" said Detective Ger
Der the other day, for if he is not
telling the truth he will contradict
himself the next half hour after he
first told the story. 1t seems funny,
but nevertheless it is true, that the
most experienced criminal will CONTRA
dict himself if he is not telling the
truth, if you just keep asking him the
same question, changing the language
a little. 1t seems as if they simply
can't remember the first story that
they. told. But when they absolutely
refuse to talk then we are, as the say
ing is, up against it, A criminal who
will not say a word is the hardest
man on earth to handle. We often get
men who will not talk and then we
have to hunt up evidence from the
outside to convict them.
VERY often the evidence we send
men up on is very slim, yet it is
enough to condemn them. l know not
long ago we sent man up on cuff
button. He was a known thief and
had it on him when searched; there
was an initial on the button. which
corresponded with the one which had
been stolen, and the fellow finally con-
fessed to doing the work. Another odd
case was that to which we saw a man
who had done time in the penitentiary
going around town apparently doing
nothing, and yet he was well dressed.
One day 1 held him up and as he
could give no satisfactory answers
about himself, l searched him and
found two pieces of money on him.
One was a Scandinavian piece, while
the other was a peculiar looking pen
ny. Well, at the time / searched this
man we were looking for a burglar
who had entered a house in the ex-
treme southern part of the city. but
there had been nothing said about any
money such as / had found in the
description of the stolen goods given
us. 1 went to the man whose house
had been entered for a more accurate
description, and during the talk he de-
scribed the penny and Scandinavian
piece | had found and when the ex-
convict was confronted with these
facts he confessed"
rs the detective we read about in
books anything like the real one?" the
captain was asked.
"Well, / should say not" he said.
Those stories are only written to
amuse and entertain, and there is moth
ing practical about them. detec-
tive does not have to be able to de-
duce from circumstances to solve
case. And so far as reading human
nature is concerned in finding crimi-
mails. it is all stuff. About the only
way a detective solves a case is by
working hard and never letting up on
n lead when he finds one. | know men
who have the making of fine detectives
L..k
cause they do not know how to follow
a clue when they get one. They give
up too quick and haven't the perse-
verance that is required. One of the
principal things in being a detective
is experience with criminals. And
then a man has to have a good mem
ory for faces. so if he ever sees a crook
once he will know him the next time
he sees him.
IF there is any one who thinks
detective does not earn his money |
wish he would come down here and go
with us a while, and he will then find
that we have no bed-of-roses position,
by any means. When working on
case we are out hours at a time and
in all kinds of weather. and when we
are in hiding watching for some one
it becomes pretty tiresome sometimes,
especially on a cold night, when man
may have to wait longer. Very often
we arrest burglars and have them
locked up before the people whose
house is robbed know IT.
I'VE can always tell a man who has
served two or three terms in prison
by his actions. I don't know what it
is about this class that gives them
away, but they can be spotted every
time. and we always keep in touch
with them, for they are good men for
reference. And so with a pickpocket--
we can generally tell him by his ac-
tions. The noticeable thing about him
is that he never works in a crowd. He
always goes on the outside of it so he
viii have some chance to escape. These
fellows work i'm gangs, and when the
first lifts the leather as they call
taking a pocketbook, he passes 1t toehis
pal, who gets out Of the way as quick
~ as possible.
But as to the life of a detective
be. Like every one else in active work.