Evening star., 1907-08-24
JUMPING AT CONCLUSIONS
MAKES POOR DETECTIVES

he would have thought considerably less Of
the reformed man. H. indeed. he would not
actually have suspected him had that chap
! hinted around at the name OF some dip"
whom he thought to be a likely possessor
| of the stolen 5000
Pinkerton got the actual pckpocket. with
! the roll still on him-the dip" hadn't found
| the opportunity to slip the wad' to a con-
federate-ten minutes after his conversation
with the reformed pickpocket
As little sideiisht on the racing game
and its personnel over here In New York.
| let me add the note that that reformed
| p.ckpocket is now one OF the most success
| full pungers in the business with no need
| whatever To weed feathers" even IL he had
| a bunch To backslide.
i Not Infallible.
The only detective. however who never
made a mistake was that mythical and
| supernaturally keen one. Sherlock Holmes.
| Bob Pinkerton made mistakes and
| laughed over them. His sense OF humor
was large enough to give him enjoyment in
| laugh at his own expense. which is more
| than can be said OF a good many noted
| individuals alive and dead
! Bob" Pinksrton was the victim OF not a
few put-up jobs on the part of fellows who
! recognized him on his travels. one Of tho
| most diverting Of thes. incidents Pinkerton
/ himself told me- about last year
! Il was travelling from Chicago to New
York, he said. and. is my custom be-
| Ing vicious. not to say insane, smoker. I
spent most of the time of the trip In the
smoking compartment of the sleeping car.
| AT Pittsburg-we got there at break
| tast time In the morning-four yolngish
| chaps. none of them much above twenty
three. should say. came aboard the train
and took possession of the smoker.
| Il caught them eyeing me pretty keenly,
| but was pretty we'll accustomed to that.
| seeing that l had been unfortunate
| a,n r1kyh fa'k- I,I
| shown in the newspapers. and, by the
! way. I'm not affecting this for il has
| been "A serious handicap to me In my
| business to have many people recog-
! nize me from my newspaper published
pictures.
We'll. l didn't pay much attention to
! the young fellows. but went ahead read
1 ing my paper. till | saw them take
couple of quart bottles of liquDr from
! their grips. From behind the shelter Of
! my newspaper l noticed that they seemed
| to be hitting up their bottles pretty fire.
! quently. and that they We're becoming
| so boisterous that ] meditated IuittIng
! the smoking compartment for that OF the
| sleeper ahead Taking another look,
| observed that one of the four appeared
! to be the most to be affected by the
| liquor and 1t struck me that the other
three were deliberately attempting to ply
him with liquor, and all the while they
were doing this they appeared to be eye
| Ing me suspiciousiy, as if they resented
| my presence in the smoking ccmpart-
| ment.
| This situation caused me to sit ND and
| take notice. 1 didn't let on that 1
! watching the situation, but l managed to
! watch all of the moves of the three men
they sat in a bunch on the leather
| bench opposite me-who were obviously
| attempting to get the fourth man intoxi-
Gated for purposes of their own. l didn't
| fail to observe that the fourth iran, the
one who 1t appeared was to be tho victim
| or the other three. was apparently the
| most prosperous of the quartet. for he
l had fine n Ia anynd Lii,
/ stlckpin. and when he paid for some
| cigars brought by the porter he flashed
| a good sized roll.
The "Dope" Bottle.
| so. about an hour after the four men
| had entered the compartment, one of them,
with many furtive looks in my direction
| me sheltered behind my newspaper-puiled
a tiny phial from his waistcoat pocket and.
still watching me- cautiously poured the
| contents of the phial into one of the bottles
| of whisky. and then / was dead certain
that was right in the presence of a singu-
| larly bold and braZen job.
1.-The man who had dumped the phiai into
] the bottle was prodding the three-parts-
| drunk chap meant, as supposed. to be
the victim of robbery, to take swis from
| the drugged bottle. when / bulged in.
| felt that there wouldn't be any chance on
| earth for me IL l got mixed in a rough
| house with three husky chaps all ugly
! from liquor. and so l pulled my gun OF
| sudden and, standing up. covered the three
| Of them.
! THAT will be about ALL I announced to
| them. I've watched the moves of you
| three right carefully. and I've got you with
| the goods Your work Is pretty coarse. at
| that. I'm not wearing any official badge.
! but l don't need one to stop Job Of this
kind You fellows may consider yourselves
under arrest-Ill get the conductor and the
brake to attend to your cases
| THE three young chaps sat and looked
at me with apparently great CONSERVATION
on their faces-and then the chap who was
supposed to be drunk and drugged could
stand 1t no longer. and. grabbing his sides,
| absolutely rolled around on the floor of the
| laughter. The other three, instantly and
| strangely sobered, as it seemed to be until
| l got on to the situation. Joined him In the
| big laugh as soon as he began. and pres
! emily the whole four OF them were rolling
| around the compartment. shrieking in a
veritable ecstacy of mirth.
! We'll, L had to join them. although it
was all at my expense. when found
out the lay OF the thing. The four
young chaps were medical students.
| line aways, and they. had recognized
me soon as they got aboard at
| Pittsburg and had fixed up the little job on
me. Their suit cases were filed with
| luncheon material for the picnic. and the
| two quart bottles of whisky, as had sup
posed. were nothing more than bottles Of
/ cold tea. The phiai that the student had
| dumped into one of the bottles contained
| some perfectly harmless fluid. They had
acted the parts beautifully through every
! stage of 1t. that's all. and there 1 was,
/ waving a gun. and feeling like the fool
/ that was-for on that occasion 1 had
| jumped to a conclusion instead OF crawling
| to It." CLARENCE L. CULLEN.
|
Mare Saved Her Colt.
i