Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1907-11-07
TRACKS EVIL DOORS
WOMAN DETECTIVE FEARLESS IN
HER WORK.
Ethel King Responsible for the Break
Ing Up of Many Gangs OF Grim
InaIs-AbIe to Take Care Of
Herself.

Should you meet a good-looking
sailor boy, with a complexion some
thing too good for one who follows the
sea, take a second look at him. 1t
may be Ethel King, the woman detec-
tive of Philadelphia, in one of her
many DISCUSSES.
Take searching glance at the mes
senger boy who runs, with head down,
to deliver a missive. 1t is possible
that the female sleuth may be hiding
her identity within the blue suit.
Look around you in opium-scented
Chinatown. The dapper woman who
trips past the lookout at the gambling
joint, with side glance at the closed
door, may be pretty Ethel King in the
costume of her sex, but sent on
mission that IL very unusual to a
woman.
At home Miss King lives a quiet
and secluded life. Few of her associ-
ates in the clearinghouse at which
she has her room know what dis
tinguished parsonage is the dark-eyed
girl who is so frequently away on
mysterious trips.
has accepted any dangerous work that
has come to her in the line of duty.
She has donned the uniform of a
United States sailor and haunted the
docks and navy yard vicinity in search
for information regarding sailor GRIM
inals.
Being a small woman and looking
rather diminutive in boys clothes
Miss King had no difficulty in assum-
ing the character of district mes
senger Mercury. She readily assumed
the jargon of the corps, as we'll as
the uniform of the messenger boy, and
did valuable work in breaking up a
series Of offerings and clever swim
dies that the youngsters had carried
on for years at the expense of the
company and it's customers.
She learned that the boys were in
the habit of meeting in the street and
exchanging caps, SO that should a
complaint be made of money collected
on prepaid messages, or of cash miss
ing from envelopes intrusted to the
boys for delivery, 1t would be easy to
establish an alibi. Miss King astound-
ed the management of the company
by her revelations concerning the
tricks of the messenger boys and en-
abled the regular sleuths of the con-
Germ to checkmate the systematic
stealings and guard against a repeti
ton of them.
AS a scullery girl Miss King assist
ed in the arrest of a notorious woman
thief who had been in the habit of
hiring out as domestic for the pur-
pose of allowing her criminal friends
to enter and rob the house at night.
The woman sleuth washed dishes and
watched the other woman, and when
the critical time came, and the house
was raided in the dead of night, the
would-be thieves were caught in a
trap.
Miss King has assisted in the sup
preston of the opium traffic and of
the gambling dens of Chinatown. She
has made friends with the yellow man
and in due time betrayed him to the
police. She has been threatened time
and again, but has not so far been at
tackled. Threats she ignores, and any
one who has talked with her for a
time is impressed with the idea that
in a tight corner she could well take
care of herself, for, as she says:
"a woman is as good as a man in
q gun fight, and 1 am always ready"
Cincinnati ENQUIRER