Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-25
law-enforcing departments of the coun-

law-enforcing departments of the coun-
try.
Petty jealousies never interfere here
| in work done by either the men from
the sheriff's office or those who are de-
tailed from my department, and if any
police official or member of the force
hears of anything which may be of
value to another department he does
not fail to give the necessary informa-
tion at once.
ITO illustrate my point I will call
your attention to the case of Pedro
CHINA, who has been sought by this
department for some time on charge
of assault with a deadly weapon. A
few days ago superintendent Cox of
the Nevada state prison read in the
paper an account of railroad accident
which occurred near San Jose. In the
paper 1t stated that one of the men
slightly injured was named Pedro
CHINA. Cox wired us, referring to the
file of a certain newspaper, and we at
once looked the matter up, sent a man
to San Jose, and now we have the
long sought Pedro CHINA.
Common Sense in Use Now
Tips and common sense methods are
of the utmost value, and to this speed
| and expedition are necessities. l am
sorry to draw the veil from the eyes or
readers of detective fiction, but 1 do not
|
job on the force in Los Angeles, and
! old Sleuth' would not be in 1t with
several of my businesslike and pleasant
appearing men whom you have met.
Not a bit less effective is the sheriff S
! department of man-tracktng, and to his
efforts can be credited some remarkable
records of speed, as well as efficiency.
William Hammel is also a scotfer at
the great heroes of detective fiction,
and he says that the game in real life
is far different
TT seems to me that it is much easier
to write stories telling how to capture
criminals than to capture them,' says
Sheriff William A. Hammel. In the
book, it is quite easy to work out So
luton of the crime and you can begin
at the end and work backward. I wish
some of these romantic writer's would
Just get busy and clear up few details
which are puzzling many efficient po-
lice departments.
Tangible Clew Is First Thing
'It is necessary to have some tan
eible cleW to work with before it is
possible to start out in pursuit of the
perpetrator of a crime. If the criminal
has been seen in the neighbOrhood of
the crime or has left any trace what
soeVer, he is almost certainly captured
within a short time. but, where there
Is UOlnIAS " MOIh Oll' VIC nave W wall
and let things take their natural
course. Sooner or later the man is
caught and pays the penalty for his
crime, although in many cases some
length of time must pass. An accom-
plice makes it easier to effect the cap
ture of any man sought, for the two
crooks are likely to talk, and there is
always the possibility of a quarrel be-
tween former pals.
Drink often gets the best Of men
whom we are seeking, and it frequently
happens that the perpetrator of a big
crime will inadvertently let slip some
hint while under the influence Of in
toxicants which gives clew that leads
to the unraveling of the whole mystery.
Fast women, with whom men of the
criminal classes often consort, are the
means of giving many tips which lead
to the apprehension of malefactors.
at appears to me that nowadays it
would be absolutely impossible for men
like the James boys, the Younger
brothers or the Evans -Sontag crowd to
operate for any length of time, and
train robbers and safe blowers Of the
more successful class operate absolute
ly alone. Where a man commits his
crime without any assistance or wit
nesses he stands a better chance of
escape than when with accomplices,
and often the capture Of such a one is
due purely to accident or chance.
Some Crooks Wear Gloves
even the finger print clew is a thing
on which we cannot count very ofCen,
as the smoother crooks wear gloves in