Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-09-05
DAILY SHORT STORY
mINUTIAE IN DETECTIVE WORK.
LOriginai.l

LOTlSlNaiI
The most important case, at least the
most important 10 me, l have had
since l entered the detective business
was the Hinton case. Besides. it is the
best illustration that has ever passed
under my notice OF the fact that atten-
ton to minutiue i the main feature il
detective work.
One day l received 4 call from 8
young lacy, who told me that she was
Interested in running down Il gang of
cOunterfeiterS. She had rented house
next door to where she suspected they
We're at work. and that was as far as
she could 90. She could not shadow
the occupants, for women cant go
where men can 20 without attracting
attention. Therefore she must have the
services of Il detective. Her interest i'll
bringing the people she suspected to
Justice was this: Her brother had been
made the dupe of cOunterfeiterS and
had been arrested while passing their
spurious money. He was lying in jail
waiting his trial. Her object was to
fix the responsibility on the proper per-
son.
Miss Henrietta StOwell interested me
at once. How she had worked up the
case thus far is too long a story TO he
given here. but that this young girl I'M
aided had succeeded i'll locating the
gang filled me with establishment and
admiration. | say located the gang
because there was every reason to he
lieve that they were the persons who
had used her brother for 4 catSpaw.
But she had been unable to secure one
-h.lf
expected to do.
began to watch the suspected house
and soon noticed that it was occupied
by an Cmincntly respectable looking
man and an Old woman. who acted as
houSckcpper. There were no visitors,
the housckccper never went out, and
the respectable looking man went out
very seldom. | learned that the name
by which ne was known was Cochrane.
divided the twenty four hours of
the day into three watches. taking one
watch myself and leaving the other
two TO assistants. My experience tells
me that the finest crooked work is
done in broad daylight. Therefore |
took the watch from . in the morning
to in the afternoon. Mr.. Cochranc'S
tours from the house were to 4 news
stand few blocks away, where he
went twice Il day 10 buy Il morning
and an evening paper Besides this lie
went marketing every day and carried
everything home himself \ few days
watching showed plninly that he ANA
his hOuSckCepcr We're either enormous
eaters or he was marketing for others
However, after watching the house
for fortnight / was no nearer bag
ging the game than when l COM
menced Countcrfeiters are the slip
perieSt kind of lawbreakers. being al
ways prepared for raid. Besides, in
this case there was no certainty that
there was anything wrong with Mr..
COchranc.
On the fifteenth day Of my watch
Mr.. Cochranc. at 10 o'clock in the morn
ing. came out of his front door, stood
idly swinging cane. gaped. then, slow
ly descending the steps. seemed uncer-
tain for moment which way he would
go. At last he Strolled down the street
aimlcssly. l. disguised as Il working
man, followed him to a building usei
for stores below and rooms above. /
waited for him to come out. but wait
ed long time in vain. About half an
hour after he entered Il man about his
build, but much oIdCr-he wore Il white
beard came out, but it did not occur
to me that he could be COchrane.
chung to my post till noon, when the
old man returned. and as he passed
very near me I noticed that his white
linen cuff had been despatched with
| mud, doubtless by Il passing vehicle.
In twenty minutes more l was re-
warled by sight OF Mr.. COchranc
stepping unConccrnedly from the build
ing, and as he passed me I noticed
some yellow marks on his cuff. In
twinklinC I put two and two together
and had q definite result. COchrane
| and the old man We're one and the
same person. He had gone to n room
he doubtless rented in the building,
disguised himself, gone out and re
turned. He had undoubtedly noticed
the dirt on his cuff and brushed it OF.
leaving the stain.
But what had he done all this for?
He had likely visited some person or
persons to whom he had turned over
the queer TO be placed in circulation.
At least that was my inference. | was
| tempted to proceed at once against
| had no evidence. and l was i'll a fair
way to get the best of evidence. What
troubled me was that l must wait for
another one of Cochrane's exits in dis
guise, and in the meantime the gang
might change tEcir quarters
1t was ten days before l was again
rewarded by seeing Mr.. COchrane go TO
his rented room. disguise himself and
go out This time l followed him. His
object was TO get rid Of counterfeit
money. but in 4 way that surprised me.
He visited a number of places. in each
Of which he bought some tritling arti-
Gle, for which he paid with Il ten dollar
bill. receiving a large proportion OF
change. telephoned TO police headQuar-
tiers. and he was arrested, n descent be
ing made on his house AT the same time.