The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-05-30
THE YOUNG
DETECTIVE
BY DONALD CHIAMBERLlN

The way got into the detective bust
ness was this: was about sixteen
years old and Office boy for a detective
bureau. Among other things, | had
charge of any articles that might be
useful as clews or evidence in cases
worked on by the office force. These
articles were kept in cabinet that
stood in the Office. 1t was kept locked,
and | had the key. The reason for Its
being in my possession was that was
the only one always on hand. | was
naturally interested in these articles
and, having vivid imagination, CON
jured up all sorts Of improbable stories
connected with them. There were
usually one or more weapons on hand,
and these We're my favorites.
| One day when | was alone in the of
flee | opened the cabinet and began
handling the contents. There were sew
eral buttons, a razor, two shoes mot
mates). a bloody shirt, two knives, one
pistol and a bullet.
The last named had been put in the
day before and had killed man; there
fore | was very much interested in it,
taking it up and examining it closely.
On it l noticed three scratches of diff
ferent depth and length, two near to-
gether. the third on the opposite side
Of the circumference. | took up the
pistol and, looking into the muzzle, no
ticed bit of rust about as far down
in the barrel as | could see. Then an
idea occurred to me. Might not the
scratches on the bullet have been made
by bits of rust or other inequalities in
the barrel of the pistol from which it
was fired?
l knew the pistol in the cabinet had
nothing to do with the bullet, for the
| former had been there a long while,
| but the pistol from which the latter
| had been fired doubtless existed, and if
another ball should be fired from it the
same streaks should appear on its sur
| face as on the first one.
My experience with boys has taught
me that they know lot of things
man doesn't take time to consider. For
instance, boy living beside Il rail
road knew every train and its number
| that passed his home and Il great many
other things about the road of which
| his father was profoundly ignorant. |
! had shown Il boys observation in no.
| ticing the scratches on the bullet and
10, 10 e inv ton,
on my own account. l had pistol at
| home and that evening put drop of
water in its barrel near the mu2Zle
The next morning there was rust
spot where the water had been. l took
smooth bullet out into the yard,
| loaded the pistol with it and fired it
straight up into the air. | found it
when it came down and examined it,
There was a scratch on it, but not well
marked. l rusted the pistol in two
other parts and fired another bullet, TO
| find three scratches OIL it.
| asked at the office if the pistol
| from which the bullet in the cabinet
was fired had been found and was told n
man living in the same house as the
murdered man was suspected of the
murder. A revolver had been found in
| the suspects room with one empty
| chamber, but there was nothing to
prove that the bullet it contained had
done the murder, except that the bull
let was of the same caliber as the PTS
toll.
| wished to get possession of that
pistol, if possible. and see if the bull
let fitted it, but the pistol was not in
the cabinet, and didn't know where
| it was. SO | went to the chief and told
him that if he would get the pistol for
me | would tell him whether it had
contained the ball that did the murder.
He asked me how | would know, ANA
refused to tell him, whereupon he de-
clined to let me have the pistol, which
was in the hands of one of the office
force. After that | said no more about
the matter
Several days later he and the detcc
tive who had the pistol belonging to
the suspect called me to them and queS
toned me as to what | had meant by
connecting the bullet and the pistol. !
told them that if they would fire a new
| bullet from the pistol of the suspect
into the air | would tell them if the
bullet in the cabinet did the murder.
They decided to fire it into water.
Taking me with them, they fired it into
a wooden cistern eight feet high, and
when it was found they showed it
to me.
| looked at it and saw scratches
on it to correspond with those on the
bullet that had done the murder l
took the two bullets and showed the
two men the corresponding scratches
on each, proving that both had been
fred from the same pistol. Subsequent
ly the rust spots inside the pistol We're
located. On this evidence alone the
suspect was convicted.
My chief told me that | was a born
detective and had better follow the
business. Young as was, he took me
on the force and put me on cases
Just the same as the other detectives.
| have been successful, but | don't
think any of my cases have been as
neat as the one that insured my en-
trance into the profession. | attribute
it first to the fact that | had a boys
instinct to observe what man would
pass over lightly and upon noticing the
scratches on the bullet in the cabinet
was fortunate in seeing Il rust spot
near the muzzle of the pistol there
Had that rust spot been a trihe farther
down in the barrel | would not have
seen it, would not have associated it
with the Scrntches. would not hnye 10.