The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1907-11-22
The Detective Genius.
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In summing Up those things. said
tie veteran detective. that 90 to
make success there is one element we
usually leave ont. It's luck. My
opinion is that its nine-tenths Of the
game Napoleon. tie great war gen
iCs. recognized this and had every con
ndence in his star Of destiny. That
sta- vent down eventually and left
him IN tLe dark like other people Tie
next test thing TO luck consider in
tuition. Or the feeling that something
is so without knowing ii to be so.
/ made 4 big reputation in my day.
ny only aids Icing these tw0-luck
and feeling. The ease that did me
most good and made my superiors
think I was great detective We're
brought about almost exclusively By
luck. ! was ia government service
then and was sent out west 10 look
up the perpetrators of some $1,000
counterfeit bills. 81. Louis was the
point the money was supposed 10 en-
anate from. and there | went. This
was the only pointer | had. and my
work was very much like looking for
a needle in a haystack.
a good wav TO get rid Of these coul-
tegfeits Of large denominations is ia
gambling houses where large stakes
are played for. There's too much ex-
ne g. tres--
thing closely. After spending several
days without even getting a suspicion
Of a clew to work on | went one even
ing into gambling den. | didn't 90
there 10 get clew because | hadn't
then thought Of the facilities such
places afforded for distributing the
queer" went because-I don't
know what went for The place had
been recently opened. and the owner a
respectable looking man, was dealing
faro. / watched the game for some
time. went out TO the theater and came
hack about half past IL. Fact is |
was hungry and Id heard that fine
supper was set out after H. After
supper | lit a cigar and went to the
faro table. The game. which when |
had left Ii early in the evening was
small, had grown very large. no
ticed several piles before different
players TO indicate that the bank was
having a run Of bad luck
I've always been a bit of a gambler
myself. I had no money to play with,
for | WAS at the time drawing a small
salary and really had no funds with
me except for ordinary expenses. The
truth is that from the time ! had en-
tered the gambling place had burned
TO take hand at the game. | had
torn myself away 10 the theater, and |
question if M return was not as much
due 10 the fascination the game had
for me as the supper. At any rate, the
longer l looked on the more resistless /
became my desire TO try my luck. | 1
had several OF the $1,000 counterfeit /
bills ia my pocket and was tempted to /
make a start in the game with one of /
them, but, besides the dishOnOr of play !
ing counterfeit money, suppose should |
lie detected using ii. | could never ex- 4
plain the matter. 1t was unexplain- /
able. Then the idea came into my /
head that | might claim | was work
ing in the line of my business, though .
that would be pretty thin. Anyway. .
finally couldn't Withstand the tempta-
ton any longer and. pulling out one of
the bills, slapped it on the big square
to win.
The dealer started. 1t was natural
that he should start. Thousand dollar
bills weren't plentiful, though | had
caught sight of two or three during the
evening changing hands. One winner
had seen paid one by the bank. Still,
coppering with one was unusual The
dealer looked at me with the most
curious expression ever saw on a
mans face. Then he asked as calmly
as sucking dove:
How much stands?"
Five hundred" said.
The cards We're dealt. and the big
square won. l was handed five 500