The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-03
DETECTING A DETECTIVE.

d
siders that meant that he was honest
and faithful and would not betray his
trust. With his chief it meant that
he did not have to watch him quite
so closely as he did the others of his
staff. Mr.. Quirk had never read the
stories by Gaborio, Du Boiscoby or
Vidoc. Romance had nothing to do
with his taking up detective work
He was not down on crime and GRIM
inals and hunting bad men into pris-
the law. Outsiders get that notion
into their heads and cause insiders to
smile. Mr. Quirk had been patrol
man, and having worked out three
or four cases as such had been pro-
NOTED and changed his uniform for
plain clothes. AS regular detective
he had had very good luck and made
a very good record. He had come to
be known to merchants, bankers,
and hotel keepers as a keen and nom
est officer, and when they had a case
for the detectives they asked that it
be given to Quirk.
There were times when Mr.. Quirk
sat and smiled and communed with
himself. 1t was never at headquar-
tiers, where his fellow Officers might
have noticed it, but always in the
privacy of his own room. He had
thoughts and schemes and plans.
They were not connected with any
case he was working on just then, but
with what he called his general case
There may be detectives who have no
special object in view beyond hold
ing their places. but Mr.. Quirk was
not of these. AS patrolman he had
arrested many "drunks' at night. He
had found that going through them
before taking them to the station was
a perfectly safe thing. The man who
gets drunk and loses his money can
blame no one. Now and then, in
riding on the cars. Patrolman Quirk
had noticed young men acting in a
suspicious manner, and later on there
had been an cutlery of pickpockets
been "presented"' with twenty dollar
bills He had seen Uncle Reuben be-
ing worked by confidence men, but
he hadn't rushedsin and rescued him.
He had been made the richer for not
doing so. 3 S. ~ -
Mr.. Quirk realized that as a detec-
tive he had a good thing in his grasp.
There was a field, open to him that Is
open to no other man outside the pro-
fession. 1t was for him to work that
field. Detectives have sold themselves
out for a few hundred ora few thous-
and dollars. In Mr.. Quirk's opinion
such men were asses. and had mis-
taken their vocation. He sighed to be
rich but he didn't propose to blunder
about it. He must; first get a standing
with his superiors and the public. He
worked for five years to accomplish
this. A dozen traps were set for him,
corruptible. He worked a case for all
it was worth. and he never let up nor
compromised. If he caught a broker
in a gambling house he had no more
mercy on him than the thief he caught
stealing lead pipe. The burglar who
offered him thousand dollars to look
the other way for a moment Jared as
did the politician who offered him
like sum to "let up in court. His Eel,
low detectives pocketed their "divvies"
and called him fool. and his chier
looked over his reports and almost be-
lieved that he had found subordinate
deserving of a medal.
The day came when Mr.. Quirk real
lied that he had established his repu-
tation. and that he could pull off his
scheme with safety. He had 1t In view
for a year. He had several times been
called in by the president of the ---
National bank to go straighten out
crooked things, and had thus become
we'll acquainted with the bank messen-
ger. old Folsom. Folsom was sixty
years old. He walked with hObble.
He had rheumatism. and old age had
weakened him. Yet the bank kept
him, and seemingly by some act of
Providence. he had never been attack
ed by the class always looking for
carried half a million dol
lars in hecks. In returning to the
bank he sometimes brought two hun
dred thousand dollars in cash with
easy thing it was. but he uttered no
word of warning. He was waiting to
establish his reputation.
After calling at the last bank on his
route old Folsom always took short
cut through an alley to reach his own
institution. 1t wasn't an alley so much
as it was passage-way. 1t was only
six feet in width, and used by pedes-
TRANS only. At any moment from 10
o'clock in the morning till in the af-
ternoon you could look up or down the
alley and count at least 20 pedestrians
coming or going. There were doors OPP
ening into the rear of office buildings
and there was one door opening into an
empty building that had formerly been
a rag-shop. One afternoon F'olsom
failed to return to the bank at his usual
hour. When half an hour had passed
an alarm was given. Men were found
who had seen him in the alley, but an
alarm of fire was on at the time and
there was much excitement and con-
fusion. At 10 o'clock that night Folsom
was found in the old rag shop. He had
received a severe blow on the head.
and was tied and gagged. Something
like S130,00O in cash had been taken
from his satchel- 1t was Mr.. Qulrk who
was given the case, and 1t was Mr.
Ouirk who found the old man after
long hunt.
If was four days before Folsom re-
gained consciousness and told his story
There was very little to tell. He had
backed up against the door to stand
for moment and look for the fire. and
the door had been opened, he had been
drawn in, and then followed the blow
on the head and darkness. He had not
even seen his assailant. He was very
grateful to Mr.. Quirk, and he felt the
fullest confidence in him, and yet there
was a clue that he suppressed. Why
he did he could not have told himself
AS he fell he must have grasped the
mans coat and torn off a button, for
there was the button clinched tightly In
his hand. They took it from him at
the hospital. and strangely enough said
nothing about it until two weeks later
when he was discharged. Then it was
among his things. Folsom could not