The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-14

reason. except that these detectives
may reap their financial harvest,
homes are wrecked, the confidence Of
husbands and wives In each other
shattered, promising careers cut short.
ana even suicides and murders precipi-
tated. simply on perjured suggestions
and inuendoes. Not only is the sane
ttty OF the home invaded, but even the
courts and public officers are deludei
and prostituted, and Justice herself Is
jostled out of the way. provided the
game Is big enough ani the stakes
worth playing for.
Broadly speaking. there are two
courses along which these private de-
tectives pursue their practices, and the
course always determined upon is the
one that will yield the most money
The first and most popular method is
to gain the secrets OF the patron, and
then. with money furnished by him. 20
out and gather evidenced If possible,
against the person to be investigated.
The case is strung out with false re-
ports and clews. until the patron re-
fuses to pay more money, and then,
provided the person investigated can
pay, the information is sold to him or
her. as the case may be- There are safe
methods by which this trick can be
turned.
BY the other method the agency is
loyal enough to the patron: the dis
honesty consists in the manner in
which the evidence is procured and
manufactured. Private detectives such
as l have described do not as usual
thing so out to learn facts, but rather
to make. at all costs. the evidence de-
sired by the patron. The result is that
often innocent persons are trapped in
to compromising positions and then
testified against by agents" to whom
perjury Is only an ordinary incident in
the routine of business While this
system is applied to all kinds of cases.
1t is more common in investigations
conducted for the purose of securing
divorce evidence
The growth of this condition of at
fairs has been simultaneous with the
increase Of prosperity and wealth in
America, and coincidental feature is
that. generally speaking. in the filthy
cases of divorce and scandal and
blackmailing. it is the rich and not the
poor who suffer. Primarily this is
true, because the poor have no money
to spend for private detectives even if
they so desired. but it is fact that
people of wealth are prone to place
themselves liable to exposure, though,
by reason of their position, exposure is
the more to be feared.
The reputable detective, like other
professional men, formerly sat in his
Office and waited until he was ap-
preached BY client who wished to
retain him. But American progressive
ness put new face on the matter, and
instead of sitting down and waiting,
the detective began to drum up bust.
ness. So long as this carried on in
legitimate way there was no harm.
Soon there were not enough cases 10
go around. and then, with the aid of
spies and informers. the Inscriptions
detectives began to make cases. Agen-
cies began to work up evidence aginst
persons and then resort to blackmail,
or else approach those to whom the in
formation might be valuable, and by
careful manoeuvering have themselves
retained to unravel the case. This
brought into existence hordes of pro-
fessional informers who secured the
opening wedges for the fake agencies.
Men and women. many of them OF
some social standing, made it prac-
tlce to pry around for secrets which
might be valuable; spies kept up their
work in large business establishments
and began to haunt the cafes and re-
sorts Of doubtful reputation, on the
watch for persons Of wealth and prom
inence who might be foolish enough
to place themselves in compromising
circumstances. Even the servants in
wealthy families soon learned that GER
tain secrets of the master and mistress
could be turned to profitable account.
We shudder when We hear of the sys-
tenn OF espionage maintained in Russia,
while in the large American cities, un-
noticed. are organizations of spies and
informers on every hand who spend
their lives digging pitfalls for the un-
wary who can afford to pay.
The Farce of the Law.
For this immense task of fighting the
evils in the private detective system
the state Of New York employs one
man, who, on totally inadequate ap-
preparation and without assistance,
goes on year after year hampered by
lack of finances and cooperation OF
courts. 1t is like the battle of Don
| Quixote with the windmills, this war
waged by one man on one side with an
army of inscriptions men on the
other
| The man who wishes to operate as
a private detective in New York files
an application at Albany, and after this
application has been passed upon by
an agent appointed to look into such
| matters he is eligible to operate after
! furnishing bonds and paying license
fee OF 500. The detective is now at
liberty to start an agency and employ
as many operatives as he sees fit
| These operatives are answerable only
to the head of the agency, not being
| licensed or under bonds. Thus it is
that the head of bureau may be hon
est and yet have in his employ staff
| OF irresponsible crooks Swindling
agencies do not care what the charac-
ter of the employe may be provided he
will work cheap. Think of the social
ed detective whose agency pays him
| 81 or $3.50 per day being engaged upon
confidential work and in the possess
sion of secrets that he knows are
worth money! Is it any wonder that
so many cases are sold out by en-
| ployes even when the agencies are
| honest?
| The average charge to the client is
| IS or So a day for every operative en-
ployed, and. in addition, any expenses
that may occur. A popular practice
among most Of the agencies is to have
one operative work on as many as half
a dozen cases on the same day, turn
in reports for each and thus enable the
chief" to collect full rates from all
six clients.
While the selling out of clients is
common, it is the head Of the bureau