Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-02

| lCtbiNCo anu pOiACC OiLi0S'S
make it their business to get any per-
son wanted for any sort Of an offense,
! from the robbing of a contribution box
| to the embezzlement of 100000, lead
a life Of sudden shifting contrasts and
weird antitheses. The desperate criml-
nal who for some reason feels that So
ciety owes him living, and the petty
| offender who is a burden on his fellows
! merely on account of lack of capacity,
| often follow one another on the man
| tracker's list of those wanted at the
police station.
! Drink-craze f1ends with lust for
human blood may occupy some or an
| officers morning hour, and in the
| afternoon he may find himseif SlttlnB
| in a parlor with q pious and refined
safeblower who is q veritable Quaker
in so far as militant propensities are
| concerned.
The men who make themselves
| terror to evildoers come to look upon
the events of their varied and adVen-
turous careers as simply so many
"chores" done, and often fail to realize
that, for the layman, their lives are
| filled with hair-raising interest.
Work Done MethodicaIIy
Just as a city salesman turns in
! few order slips which he has taken In
| on his days run, so the ponce de-
| tective turns in his days work with
| little capture slip and then seeks
thrilling excitement in game OF
| pinochle. In the same way that llsh
hawk scars silently above the water
watching for a sight OF the hhhy
| specimen desired, so the police detec-
! tive takes his little run around town
and awaits a chance to grab up some
| slipper offender and carry him away.
| The simile ceases with the graphing
! I'D part of the performance, for, IN
spite of the many unkind things sald
| about the police department and lts
| detectives, no instance Is on record
where the captor dined on the Vlctln.
The comic and the tragic are ire
uuently intermixed, and an incident re-
| lated by the quiet and ever vigilant
captain Of detectives, Paul e. Flam-
| mer. illustrates one Of the peculiar
clews with a humorous feature which
| the detective department now and then
encounters.
Several years ago house in Los
! Angeles was burglarized and guam
| tity of jewelry and silverware, with
large amount of clothing, was taken
| nv a daylight robber, who entered the
piace while the residents of the place
were absent. There was no clew to be
found after the robbery was reported
| other than a pair of boys rubber
boots. From the finding of the snall
boots left by the perpetrators OF the
theft it was believed by many that
some child robbers had stolen the ar
ticles. and for a long time the police
worked on this theory.
Laughed at Real cIew
One police detective decided to try
every possible manner of getting the
| onH he continuously
| questioned everyone In the neighbor-
| hood about those who had been seen
| i'm that locality on the day when the
robbery was committed While talk
ing with some bricklayers who were
at work nearby, the detective inquired
if any strange looking person hau DeSn eS,I
! going by at that time. One or the
men at work laughed and said: Yes,
| hut 1t is no clew as this was big
fellow and he had on a suit that re-
minded me of scrambled eggs. 1t was
colored yellow and had little Whlte
places and a few little specks IKE
pepper, and when 1 pointed IL out 10
| the boys here they all laughed"
From that time on the detective felt
that. in view of the fact that the pos
SCISSOR of the scrambled egg clothes
was the only man seen in the locality,
1t would be necessary to look him up
For weeks the faithful officer wan
| dered the city streets asking II anyone
| had seen a man wearing clothes of the
| kind described Finally a saloon
keeper said that, now that he came to
| think of the matter, he had Gus
toner who had some clothes whlch
lust fitted that description. The saloon
| was watched for several days ana the
wearer of the peculiar apparel was
| found The detective soon struck up
an acquaintance with his man and
while posing as a contractor VINO
might wish to hire a laborer, he was
ingratiated into the good graces of the
suspect.
Stolen Goods Discovered
At last the sleuth went one day to
the home of his prospective prey ana
tried to persuade him to accept
mythical position. Upon returning
suddenly, as if to ask another ques-
ton, the officer found his new frlend
deIving in the garden at the back OF
the house. He placed the suspect un-
der arrest at once, but hard fight
took place before the detective could
conquer his man. The police depart
ment had the garden spaded over and
dug ND all of the silverware and Jew
elry and later found all of the stolen
clothes hanging in a closet in the prls-
oner's house.
With this evidence against him, the
man eventually confessed to the crime,
and then he was asked to explain the
chiId's boots which had been left in
| the house robbed. The man denied all
| knowledge of the boots Later 1t was
| discovered that earlier in the day the
diligent burglar had entered another
nlace and been disappointed in his
| haul He took along few things which
he felt that he might be able to use,
| and then went to the scene of the op-
erations which led to mis- capture. The
haul in the last house visited was so
very excellent that he abruptly DIS
carded the rubber boots and went his
way rejoicing.
Persistent Work Pays
In talking over the story later with
| orother detective, that officer strongly
intimated that the man who had been
co nersistent in pursuit of the man who
"scrambled egg' clothes was no other
| than Detective Flammer, now captain
Flammer
said the detective captain, rs merely
| to show that persistent and persevering
work often will end in the capture of
a man sought, although there is really
no basic principle on which to work at
| tbe outset of the task of capture. The
most important captures are often the
result of the least effort and petty
offenders give the police the longest
| chase. Accident sometimes plays lit
| file part in the game of capturing
| crooks, but in the long run careful and
systematic work shows results for a
| department. Last week our men
brought in twenty-nine felons of known
| evil reputation and whose convictions
are certain. But when one stops to