The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-01

ago we sent man up on cum buttom
He was a known thief and had it on
him when searched, there was an mi
tial on the button which correspondent
with the one which had been stolen.
and the fellow finally confessed TO do
ing 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
I 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
niece while the other was a peculiar
looking penny. Well. at the time 1
seaFche his man We were looking
for a bu Slar who had entered house
in the extreme southern part of the
city. but there had been nothing said
about any money such as l had found
in the description of the stolen goods
given us. / went to the man whose
house had been entered for more
accurate description, and during the
talk he described the penny and Scan
dinavian piece l had found. and when
the ex-convict was confronted with
these facts he confessed"
is the detective We read about IN
books anything like the real one?" the
captain was asked
We'll, l should say not" he said.
Those stories are only written TO
amuse and entertain, and there is Moth
ing practical about them. A detective
does not have to be able to deduce from
circumstances to solve a case. And
so far as reading human nature is
concerned in finding criminals, it is
all stuff. About the only way a de-
tective solves a case is by working
of
when he finds one. 1 know men who
have the making of fine detectives In
them, but they never succeed because
they do not know how to follow a
clew 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
man has to have a good memory of
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 a
detective does not earn his money I
wish he would come down here and
go with US a while, and he will then
find that we have no bed of roses po-
sition by any means. When working
on case we are out hours at a time
and in all kinds of weather, and when
one 1t becomes pretty tiresome some
times, especially on a cold night when
man may have to wait in one place
six or seven hours and even longer.
Very often we arrest burglars and
have them locked up before the peo-
pie whose house is robbed know it,
1--WE n ALWAYS tell a man who has
served two or three terms In prison
by his actions. 1 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 pick-pocket
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
will have some chance to escape. These
fellows work in gangs, and when the
first lifts the leather as they call TAX
ing a pocketbook, he passes it to his
pal who gets out of the way as quickly
as possible.
But as to the life of a detective
he. like everyone else in active work
outlives his usefulness. New things
keep coming up that he doesn't get
on to, and the exciting life he leads
ages him early"