The Indianapolis journal., 1902-09-07


with a wooden brevity My own contribu-
tion to the story was, / am afraid, pre-
sented with no approach to the professional
phlegm. The Inspector fingered the mans
jaw. You seem TO have hit him pretty
hard, Stringer'" said he. I'D got to-
Stringer answered
OF course a young journalist, with his
way to make in the world. could not let an
episode of this kind go by without making
some use OF it. wrote letter to my jour
nal under some pseudonym which l have
forgotten. describing the scene. and
tolling the promptitude of the officer, who,
by the timely cracking of that ruffian's
jaw. had certainly saved two lives. one
from the mahogany bludgeon, and one from
the hands of Jack Ketch. Partly, believe,
as a consequence of this narrative. Stringer
was complimented from the bench. He and
became acquaintances. and often took
modest quencher in company. He opened up
his mind to me in characteristic quiet
way. Its no use entering on any line of
life," he told me in effect in the course of
many conversations, unless you're bent on
going through with 1t. 1t isn't a very fat
job to begin with, but there's any amount
Of chances in 1t. An inspectors pension is
a thing worth trying for" That was his
modest ambition, and he has lived to real
ize It,
When my own time for promotion came,
as IL did with an unhoped for swiftness,
induced my editor to set me Summing.
and Stringer was my guide, philosopher
and friend. We explored together every den
of infamy and professional squalor In the
town, and what Stringer did not know
about the local criminal population seemed
barely worth the knowing. When we went
round among the doss-houses the deputy
received him with profound respect at every
place of call. want any of our lot to-
night, Mr.. Stringer?" he would ask. II
don't know till 1 see,' Stringer would an
swer. "Tn have a look round" So he had
his look round. and every now and then in
these informal beatings of the criminal
coveys he would bag a bird. "Oh! you are
here, are you? Well I'll trouble you to
pull your boots on. Amt got no boots. Well,
that simplifies matters, don't it?" 1 never
saw symptom of revolt 1t was Eyes. Mr..
Stringer," and "All right, Mr.. Stringer,"
and "I won't keep you waitin' a minute,
Mr.. Stringer." They all knew him. They
were all in dread of him, and in a slavish
| hurry to propitiate him. He walked
among them lake a Fate. 1 think
| the very commonplace of his as
pect helped him. 1 knew the COM
| monplace of his manner did so. These of the
doss-houses were pitiful breed of rogue,
of course, and as often as not broken spir-
| tied by the constant misery of their lives,
| but before he got step beyond his posi-
! tion of plain-clothes man he encountered a
little congregation of felons of another
! type, a gang of skilled coiners who fought
give evidence in the case. He produced a
bowler hat, with bullet hole in either side
of it. He sketched in business manner a
rough and tumble of a fight for life, out Of
which a novelist would have extracted a
page of thrills. He could not have been less
emotional about it If he had recorded the
| purchase of umbrella. He had the pro-
| fessional manner par excellence. 1t was
dry as ground glass. and as solid as an
anvil For his work in this case he was
| specially complimented by the watch COM
mittee. and L remember hearing that he
received handsome gratuity from the au-
| thorities of the mint. 1 do not know how
the authorities at the mint are in the habit
of behaving in such cases, but whether they
| rewarded his services or no he was a man
marked for promotion from that time, and
I was anything but surprised when I next
heard of him years later as having been
translated to 1.-The Yard" which was, of
| course, the goal of his own hope.
was fated to meet him again, when he
was engaged in perhaps the biggest case of
his life. 1t was I'm the middle of the dyna-
mite scare, and he, having special knowl-
! edge of the men who were employed in pro-
noting it, had been appointed to shadow a
little confederation of Irish-Americans,
whose presence in this country was known
to be inspired by some dangerous purpose.
This was service of particular danger and
difficulty, for though he had the advantage
of knowing the men, he had the disadvan-
tage of being known by them. But it was
he who ferreted out the fact that the men
| suspected were large purchasers of nitric
and sulphuric acide and glycerin. He
| traced the delivery of these purchases to
one house, and he found a demoniac brew
Of nitroglycerin in a common kitchen boiler
| There were some sixty gallons of the stuff
and Ii was so badly compounded that 1t was
in state of such diabolic sensitiveness
that 1t was liable to explode al
the faintest impulse at eny instant
Stringer took charge of this hell-broth, tc
all appearance If he were taking charge
of bucket of pump water, and mounted
guard over it, until the government expert
in explosives came along with his skilled
hands, who manipulated the stuff into com.
parative harmlessness, at the momentary
peril of their own lives. 1t was said on au.
| thority at the time that If the contents OF
that kitchen boiler had exploded they would
have laid waste half square mile of thick
ly peopled streets. Stringer saw the whole
business through The two or three jour
nalists who had scent of the affair were
warned wide OF the ground. When the af
fair was over I asked Stringer how his lat'
employment had affected him. Well, he an
swered with that eternal determination oi
his to look like the essence of common
place-he didn't know particularly, and
anyhow IL was all in the way of business.
p. S.-Since this was written, have en-
! countered by one of the oldest chances in
the world, the warehouseman who sold anC
invoiced the greater part of the chemicals