The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-09

home keeping person in the hunting of men by men. For the past few years New York. has. been kept on a very slen- der diet. of detective. literature, except that which Is frankly fiction. Now the city has rather an. oyerplus of it. One can hardly pick up a newspaper that one is not enthralled by a story as deep ly thrilling as any that Conan Doyle ever wrote.
 Due to Two Men.
 And it Is all due to two men-one a graduate from the. United States secret service and the other the present head of the United States secret service bureau in this city. William J. Flynn, who is now at the head of New York city's detective department, has done more in the few weeks of his incumbency to boost the insurance rating on crim- nals than all the so-called sleuths of the metropolis have been able to do since Superintendent Byrnes left the depart ment. Flynn was only obtained from the United States secret service-and perhaps on loan, at thatAbecause the officials of the service felt that In Ricn- ard H.. Taylor they had about as good a man as Flynn. ....s.s
 A Bad System Before
 No one who is not in touch with con- ditions can comprehend the extent of the breakdown of the detective branch of the police system here in recent years. If 1t were not tragic, 1t would have been humorous. The newspapers knew of a dozen or so detectives-men who ev- cry, night might be found drinking wine around a table in Shanleys or Rectors- and the 4Oo-odd other members of the de- partment were mercifully unknown. They never caught any criminal who could not as readily have been run down by a uniformed man. Mayor Gaynor at least partially cleaned up the department for he put William J. Flynn in charge of the detectives. And Flynn has been de- tecting on a 24-hour-a-day schedule ever since.
 Caught the Kidnapers
 Just as a sample of his quality, Flynn obtained the return of children Kidnapped by the so-called Black Hand, for the first time in the police history of New York. That may not be a magnificent statement to an outsider. but consider this; that for years Kidnapping and bomb throwing have been allied professions on the lower East Side, and have been carried on absolutely without effective interference from the police. It Is ab- solutely true that the New York police have never recovered one Kidnapped child from the kidnapers, although hardly q week-certainly not a month-has passed without one at least such case. Many of these cases never were heard or in po- lice circles The aggrieved. family bought the freedom of the stolen child by the sacrifice of their ,scanty means It is all so true that. except in a notably few instances, that vilest crime-the throw ing of a bomb into a crowded tenement house-has never been followed by the arrest and conviction of the bomb throw CTS. Then Flynn came.
 With Men in Disguise
 Flynn will win, because Flynn went at this kidnf ping case in an intelligent manner The men who got the evidence did not make the arrest. Flynn sent them out in disguise-here's your detec- tive story comng-and they twisted the cranks of hand organs and sold roasted sweet potatoes, and sang behind twank- ing guitars. and mended leaking pipes and got drunk in villainous winerooms and generally conducted themselves aft CT the fashion of the hangerson in the Italian settlement. They were picked men to begin with. From his own sources. which he does not reveal, Flynn had certain information. week or so of loafing around on the part of the dis suised men got him the knowledge ne needed. Then other detectives made the raid. The men who had found the gang did not appear at all.
 Taylor Does Some Work
 So it was with Dick Taylor, the head of the local bureau Of the United States secret service. when he caught a souad of Italian counterfeiters the other day A sharp eyed clerk in the treasury department had discovered that on an otherwise perfect So bill the wor.l treasury was spelled 'treasnrg-" There wasn't another flaw. upon the bill. Let tering. engraving red and blue lines and all that were just as good as that. turned, out by Uncle Sam himself. Tay-