The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1907-02-01

The opportunities for Cheney to do
special Work for large firms and pri-
vate individuals became very insist
ent, and finally he decided to relin-
quish his government position and
start out for himself. Fully did he
realize that the smallest emolument
of government work was pay He was
not penurious-far from it; yet he
knew that time was coming when
he would not be able to work assid-
uously all the time, and he must needs
lay by a penny for the rainy day, in
evitable always, whether from old age,
sickness or adversely.
Therefore, he resigned his position
in the secret service and started the
Cheney Detective Service company"
with headquarters in Chicago, and in
due time he had branch offices in all
the large cities from one end of the
country to the other. He even had cor
respondents in the principal capitals
of Europe, and many case took him
and his operatives far beyond the con-
fines of the United States. With
Cheney came Ed Lonergan, Sid Guth-
RE and several others who had worked
with and under him during his gov
ernmental service. Other brilliant
men were attracted to the work and
it was not long before Col. Jack
Cheney had the very cream of detec-
tive work in his hands. At this time
he was 35 years old, and in every way
nature favored him. Though he had
left the service of the United States,
he was still called upon to consult or
work out many difficult cases for the
state, war, navy and post Office de-
partments. Money came to him plen-
tifully. 1t was judiciously invested
and Cheney achieved independence in
a very few years. Success did not
swell his head in any degree. He was
always the same quiet, forceful, virile,
taciturn man. Whatever he did, or
was done by his operatives, was done
ing rules of conduct from his men,
and at the same time always set the
proper example. He practiced what
he preached. He was the general who
said: Come on, boys" rather than
Go in there" There were, of course,
some failures, but his measure of sue
cess was uniformly great. Cheney
often said: 1.-THE detective who never
failed was found only in story books"
Infallibility was not claimed as vir-
tue. Of course his work of directing
the silent but sure workings of his
great bureau precluded his giving
much personal attention to any partic-
ular case. When he did and brought
the work to successful conclusion his
fee was always commensurate with
his clients financial ability to pay.
Many a poor devil had come to Col.
Cheney and he had assisted him by
his brains, intellect and money, too;
and when the reckoning day came his
bill had been paid by a fervent
THANK YOU or God bless YOU for
what he had done. On the other hand,
fairly gasped when Cheney's bill had
been rendered. He believed that
Unto him that hath shall be given,"
and he paraphrased the sentence to
read him that hath shall give"
While he maintained his main head
quarters in Chicago, and had beauti-
fully furnished offices, he was equally
we'll known in New York, st. Louis,
Frisco and other points. Every one
of Cheney's operatives was supposed
to be always on the alert, and the
colonel had habit of dropping in on
his subordinates at the most unexpect-
ed times. The business grew rapidly
and Guthrie and Lonergan were given
charge of entire districts over which
they presided. But the one masterful
directing mind was that of Col. John
V. Cheney. He was as patriotic as
ever, member of the Loyal Legion,
Grand Army of the Republic and a
Mason of high degree.
Thus we find him one morning in
the sos, sitting in his private Office
debating to his secretary, and this
secretary, by the way, was the same
Miss Wood who had served him ear
Tier in a similar capacity in st. Louis.
Jeff, his faithful colored attendant,
came in and presented the colonel
Will du tuSfdVeu Cdru redO1nS.
Charles B. Farwell, Duluth, Mime
sota"
who is he, jeff" Col. Cheney had
great faith in jeff as character read
or, and always had him find out what
he could about each client before he
got into the inner sanctuary of the
private office.
Young man, sah," replied JEFF,
"'bout 80, good lookin we'll dressed,
appearance of havin' money, sab.
'Spect it's woman trouble, kunnel."
"Why woman trouble jeff" smil-
ingly asked Cheney.
well, you see, sab, he's mighty un-
easy an powerful anxious to see you.
Wouldn't see any one else. Then he's
got brack eyes an always rolls 'em
from side ter side. Alive noticed men
wifi brack eyes that rolls 'em from
side to side is mos gently in truble
over women. OATS all, kunnel."
jeff was greatly impressed with his
ability as slo,1th HE ono obcorb