Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-01-25
Minufiue In
Defecffx,e Work
[Original.1

LuOSI W lhC, AdNC hdu
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 minutiae is the main feature In
detective work.
One day received a call from q
young lady, who told me that she was
interested in running down a gang Of
counterfeiters. She had rented house
next door to where she suspected they
were at work, and that was as far as
she could 60. She could not shadow
the occupants, for women can't go
where men can go without attracting
attention. Therefore she must have the
services Of a detective. Her interest in
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 story to be
given here, but that this young girl I'M
aided had succeeded in locating the
gang filled me with establishment and
admiration. 1 say located the gang"
because there was every reason to be-
lieve that they were the persons who
had used her brother for a catspaw.
But she had been unable to secure one
item Of proof, and that was what l was
expected to do.
began to watch the suspected house
and soon noticed that it was occupied
by an eminently respectable looking
man and an old woman, who acted as
housekeeper. There were no visitors,
the housekeeper never went out, and
the respectable looking man went out
very seldom. learned that the name
by which he 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 8 In the afternoon. Mr.. Cochrane's
tours from the house were to news
stand a few blocks away, where he
went twice day to buy a morning
and an evening paper. Besides this he
went marketing every day and carried
everything home himself. A few days
FOL oh MD t,,lx fhat hn md
his housekeeper were 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 COM
menced. Counterfeiters are the slip
periest kind of lawbreakers, being al
ways prepared for a raid. Besides, In
this case there was no certainty that
there was anything wrong with Mr..
Cochrane.
On the fifteenth day of my watch
Mr.. Cochrane, at 10 o'clock In the morn
ing, came out of his front door, stood
idly swinging a cane, gaped, then, slow
ly descending the steps, seemed uncer-
tain for moment which way he would
60. At last he strolled down the street
aimlessly. I, disguised as working
man, followed him to a building used
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 q man about his
build, but much older-he wore white
beard-came out. but 1t 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 noticed that his white
linen cuff had been despatched with
mud. doubtless by passing vehicle.
In twenty minutes more was re-
warded by a sight Of Mr.. Cochrane
stepping unconcernedly from the build
ing, and as he passed me / noticed
some yellow marks on his cuff. In a
twinkling put two and two together
and had a definite result. Cochrane
and the old man were one and the
same person. He had gone to a 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 1t of.
leaving the stain.
But what had he done all this fort
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. I was
tempted to proceed at once against
him, but prudence babe me wait.
had no evidence, and / was in fair
way to get the best Of evidence. What
troubled me was that / must wait for
another one Of Cochrane's exits in dis
guise, and In the meantime the gang
might change their quarters.
It was ten days before was again
rewarded by seeing Mr.. Cochrane go to
his rented room, disguise himself and
20 out. This time followed him. His
object was to get rid of counterfeit
money, but In way that surprised me.
He visited number of places, in each
Of which he bought some trifiing arti-
Gle, for which he paid with ten dollar
bill, receiving a large proportion of
change. telephoned to police headquar-
tiers. and he was arrested, q descent be-