The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-08-08
50 s.Sas .ys Fa8&s sasE-ysssa. ~ &sfss
detective
Story :
B. ALBERT KENYON

AEN
70 fascinating 10 that It u a perpetual
Then there are % many In
genious methods OF p~erpetrating swim
dies and copcealing ali kinds Of crime.
A detective never knows when be Ii
going to hight on . new and Ingenious
device
But II IL not In such cases that !.
now twenty years q detective. have
found the keenest relish. The muir.
derer Is not In . condition Of mind to
think out q problem coolly. He y In
abnormal condition. For my pArt
I could never understand how any one
could commit a crime the discovery Of
which would bring q dreadful punish.
ment. Nevertheless criminals often
work out very Intricate problems.
II 10 when two or three persons above
the average In the social acale and In
education conspire together that the
most ingenious devices develop. Per
hape this 10 because each gives the
other courage. That II what makes
hunting down = gang OF counterfeiters
20 interesting. They are usually intelli.
gent me and work together. Yet there
10 one thing they all lose sight Of or
disregard-the fact that they are al
ways caught In the end.
The most interesting surprise ! ever
encountered was In nnearthing one Of
these counterfeiting gangs. say sur
prise. for 1t was no credit to me that
! made the discovery. Indeed. had !
not made a criminal OF myself | should
never have got on to them. | was put
on the case In this way: Some counter
felt twenty dollar bills were being put
into circulation. They seemed to come
to the surface In a small town In Kan.
sas. and drift eastward. At any rate.
one of them was traced to this place
and ] was e n out there to invest
gate. There Is always a difference in
towns. some being inhabited In the
main by good. religious people. others
being VIGOROUSLY bad. NJ. the point
where the counterfeit bill came from
was neither good nor bad. but not long
before my arrival a party had begun
to assemble every evening to play
poker, The game or series of games
had been started by two or three men
who had recently come to the town.
and a number Of citizens had gradu
ally come TO take a part In the pro
ceedings. They were played in the
sometimes OF one sometimes OF
another. member Of the party.
! went into the town ostensibly to
buy cattle. A day or two after my
I was informed by q man
whose acquaintance | had made that
there was a poker party In a room mp
He said he WAS going up to
look on. and l told him l. would 60
with him II he would introduce me
The truth is | have suffered all through
my life from the gambling passion
Having a fortune. | lost 1t. and that
was what threw me into the detective
business. should not have gone to
watch this game. for ! ran q great
risk of being drawn into 1t.
l found q party of good fellows. who
received me cordially. and It was NOT
long before ! called for some chips 4
soon lost what good money ! had
about me and to recoup yielded to Q
temptation to use q counterfeit bin
that I had brought with me for a sam
pie. The moment ! laid It on the To-
BILE | saw two of the players give each,
other a meaning look: then both
turned their eyes on me. A cold chill
ran down my back. for It looked AZ II
I were detected on the start. But my
business had schooled me in conceal
Ing my feelings. and | returned the
mems glances with q blank stare
Doubtless It was this that caused one
Of them to make q mistake. he gave
me ! crafty look. returned II with
one equally crafty.
had 10 idea what this meant. !
happened to win the bill I had put up
and something besides. Then caution
got the better Of my pas1ion. and 1f
only 70 long ~ ! could play on
what I had won. ! saw the men WIN
had noticed the bfll 20 on the table
watching me Evidently l didn't oil
the bin Of what they had expected Of
me. for rot No more con6deptial,
glances. One thing i poticed~Aexerai:.
kwDnty dollas bll1e came oUt. fr0r5ias
thoee men On the same hank y the
one I had used for ! stake ana 49,
"a into the hands ~ other players
One of them fell to me-. The man who
Aad Given me the meaninG giance ~