The Saint Paul globe., 1904-01-31
Difference Between Real
and Dime Novel SleuthS

say, he stands fair chance of escap-
ing punishment and for this reason.
AT the Jail the man is searched and
the money taken from him. The mar
shall, in the exuberance of his capture,
places the money in his own pockets
among number of good coins, with
the intention of showing them to his
friends. Sometimes he lets his friends
borrow the coins to show them to their
friends, and before the trial begins the
money has passed through number OF
hands.
when the case comes to trial and
the marshal produces the queer, he
often gets a dollar or two of good coin
mixed up with the counterfeit When
the question is, Is this the money
taken from the prisoner is propound-
ed, the sleuth is up tree. He cannot
prove this, because in the first place
he did not mark the money taken from
the counterfeiter in the presence Oh
witnesses and later allowed it to pass
through number of hands.
Must Get the Evidence.
'It is the securing of evidence that
will convict that is the hardest part or
the work We are oftentimes forced to
allow a man to pass counterfeit money
when we know that it Is such, until
time when we cam arrest him while
passing it under circumstances that
will make such evidence admissible in
court
Concerning the qualifications Of
good secret service man, / might say
that first of all ne should be fairly
good lawyer. He need not hold a GER
tificate of admission to the bar, but he
should be we'll posted on the law ap-
pertaining to his work. He should have
knowledge OF what kind of evidence
will be admissible in a criminal case,
and should know how to secure such
evidence. Possession of the sleuth-
hound instinct is a secondary matter.
another erroneous idea concerning
detectives is the one of disguises. Sc
cret service men often don disguises,
but not to the elaborate degree por-
trayed in yellow backed novels. The
detective of today seldom disguises
himself, but when he does, it is when
he starts out on a case. He does not
dodge into a doorway every second
block or so, while shadowing a man,
and don a new suit of clothes. nor does
he even carry patent collapsible der
by in his vest pocket, which he can
clap upon his head when he thinks that
he has been seen wearing a soft hat.
False mustaches and boards are all
right in their time and place, but there
are mighty few of them which cannot
be detected as false in good light A
man would be a fool who would trust
his fate to a false beard.
Things SIeuth Doesn't Do.
'The secret service man does not car
ry a small tool chest in his pockets,
although certain small implements are
| necessary in some branches of the busi-
ness. One of these is not an apparatus
designed to enable him to look around
the corner of a brick wall when ten feet
away, nor does he wear a third eye in
the back of his head.
He does not carry an arsenal about
him, neither does he shoot upon each
slight provocation. A man who will
get himself into a tight scrape every
few days, is of no worth in the service
He should have sense enough to go
about his business quietly, and not
make theatrical displays of himself.
When preparing for an arrest he should
have matters so arranged that escape
Or fight is impossible.
Il will admit that occasionally a
man, through no lack of judgment,
finds himself in a tight place and is
forced to use drastic measures to es-
! cape, but such cases are rare.
| 1T is about time that all the chimer-
ical nonsense concerning detectives is
banished from the public mind. am
glad to hear that the Chicago officials
are enforcing the law, prohibiting the
display Of yellow" literature in shop
windows. 1t does the youthful reader
much harm, and certainly no good.
many of our worst criminals began
their careers as dime novel readers"