The Saint Paul globe., 1904-01-31

at was midnight
'Help
"The street was deserted.
'Thud!
at was the sound of a falling body.
"a man dashed around the corner,
and then all was silent again
And the remaining tllirty-siX chap
ters are devoted to telling of how Old
Bng Krady, the secret service sleuth,
ran down Blood Thirsty Mike, the ter
ror of the stock yards, and forever
solved the mystery of the thirty-seven
bucketsful of blood.
Such is the average detective novel,
in which the hero barely escapes with
his life every thirty-two seconds. He
always wears a suit that can be turn
ed inside out and be made to look like
another, or in lieu thereof carries q
complete wardrobe in his vest pocket.
When shadoWing a man he stops on
every third corner and changes his
clothes, hat, hair and mustache. When
necessary, he dons a new pair of shoes
also.
A brace Of forty five -caliber re-
volvers, bowie knife and dark lam
tern are indispensable adjuncts to his
person. Likewise, he carries COM
plete tool chest in his coat pocket, with
the aid of which he can do everything
from turning key in a doorlock to
saving his way through a stone wall.
Such is the detective as he appears
in the mind of the American youth who
reads scent libraries and dime novels,
and no amount of reasoning can make
him change his opinion.
So Different.
If one of the youthful dime novel
readers was to be ushered into the pres
ence of Capt. j. w. Lawrence head of
the st. Paul district of the United
States secret service department, in
his office in the federal building, he
would never recognize in the mild
hammered, pleasant gentleman one of
the man employed by the government
to run down Showers of the queer"
The captain resembles anything but
a detective. One could talk to him for
hours without discovering that he was
secret service man. He resembles
more a prosperous broker or business
man than anything else. The captain
has a thousand good stories at his
tongues end, and is ever willing to
Capt. Lawrence is at the head of the
st. Paul district of the secret service,
and has jurisdiction over Minnesota,
Wisconsin and the two Dakotas. He
has been in the service for more than
fifteen years, and is well acquainted
with most of the Western criminals.
Yesterday a Globe representative
CHANGED to make a remark apropos
of the dime-novel detective and his in
eXhaustibie supply of DISCUSSES. This
started the captain to talking of the
matter and he said:
"There is probably no one who, in
the popular mind, is surrounded with a
greater halo of mystery than United
States secret service agent. In the
mind of most people he is a mysteri-
GUS being, who prowls around in the
night, listening under open windows
- and peering in at keyholes.
The Popular Impression.
Most people seem to think that all
q detective has to do is to snoop
around in out Of -the-way places,
keeping a watch on people, and the
minute he sees that they are about to
transgress the law descend upon them
duu uldB lneHl OIL 10 IL penal 1nSt1tu-
tion.
"As matter of fact, that Is the
smallest part of the business Almost
any person with a little common sense
can catch a criminal, but mighty few
can convict him when once caught.
And there's the rub, as Will of Avon
says. That's the trouble with your
country marshal
"As soon as some country Silas be-
comes aware of the fact that a man is
passing counterfeit money, the first
thing he does is to pounce upon him
and cart him off to jail. In his mind
that completes the case. Even if the
man is caught with the goods on as we