The daily Alaskan., 1908-12-02
DETECTING
 A DETECTIVE.
[Copyrlght, l907, by J. c. ReedI

with hlS chiet it meant that he did
 not have to watch him quite so cIsely
 as he did the others of his stan. Mir.
 Qulrk had never read the storie by
 Gaboriau, De Boisgobey or Vidocq. Ro-
 nance had nothing to do with hista5-
 Ing up detective work. He was not
 down on crime and criminals and lhnt-
 ing bad men into prison from any eel-
 ing of duty toward the jaw.
 Mir. Quirk realized that as a detective
 be had q good thing in his gnsp.
 There was field open to him tha is
 open to no other man outside the pro-
 fession. It was for him to work hat
 field Detectives have sold themseves out for a few hundred or a few tlou- sand dollars In Mir. Qulrk's oplIion such men were asses and had mlstaien their vocation He sighed to be 1ch, but he didn't propose to bIunder about 1t. He must first get a standing with his superiors and the public He work, ed for five years to accomplish this 4 dozen traps were set for him, but he escaped them all by being incorrpu. ble He worked a case for all 1t ras worth, and he never let up or com- promised If he caught a broker n a gambling house he had no more mercy on him than the thief he caught sHal- ing lead pipe. The burglar who offered him $1,OOO to look the other way fr a moment fared as did the politician who offered him like sum to 'let up" in court Ills fellow detectives pockdcd their "dlvvies" and called him q fool, and his chief looked over his reports and almost believed that he had fond a subordinate deserving of medal
 The day came when Mr. Quirk real ized that he had established his rpu- tation and that he could pull or hls scheme with safety. He had 1t In y.ew for a year He had several times been called in by the presldenS of the - National bank to straighten out crook ed things and had thus become well acquainted With the bank messenger, old Folsom. Folsom was sixty years old. He walked with a hobble. He Ind and old age had weaken ed him. Yet the bank kept him, and seemingly by some act of Providence he had never been attacked by the class always looking for a good thing In making his rounds he sometimes carried SJOO,OOO In checks In return Ing to the bank he sometimes brought S2OOOOO In cash with him. Mr. Quirk fully realized what an easy thing 1t was, but he uttered no word of warn. lVro, WrO.rr-"- ---'''-- -- O.. --.'-' -'''@' t'-
 After calling at the last bank on his route old Folsom always took a short cut through an alley to reach his own institution. It wasn't an alley so much as 1t was a passageway. It was only six feet in width and used by pedesui- ans only. At any moment from lO o'clock in the morning till 8 iu the afternoon you could look up or down the alley and count at least twenty pedestrians coming or going. There were doors opening into the rear Of office buildings, and there was one door opening into m empty building that had formerly been rag shop One afternoon Folsom failed to return to the bank at hls 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 Ire was on at the time, and there were much excitement and confusion. At 10 o'clock that night Folsom was found In the old rag shop. He had received severe blow on the head and was tied and gagged. Something like $l3OOOO in cash had been taken from his satch- el. It was MT. Qulrk who was given the case and 1t was Mir Quirk who found the old man after long hunt.
 It was four days before Folsom re- gained consciousness and told his sto- ". There was very little to tell. He had backed up against the door to stand for a 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 assalant' He was very grateful to NIT. Quirk' and he felt the fullest confidence In him, and yet there was clew 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 1t from him at the hospital and, strangely enough, said nothing about t until two weeks later when he was dis charged. Then it was among hls things. Folsom could not make 1t out at first. 1t had the name of a tailor on lIt. and he had never patronized the
 man. He believed he had seen but
 tons like that on a business suit, anc
 lt came to him after that the suit be
 longed to MT. Quirk The tailor cor
 roborated him.
 Mir. Folsom was old, but he did no
 lack wit and acumen. He set himsel
 to work, and inside of a fortnight hI found men who had noticed the detec
 tive In the alley on the day he wal
 ossoulted In the dust on the floor ht