Atlanta Georgian., 1914-02-19
BURNS STORIES
Of ADVENTURE
THRILL CROWD
Noted SIeuth, in Lecture, Urges
Woman Suffrag9-Says Nation
Is Becoming Better.

This thing of being a great detec-
tive is simple after all. Several hun
dred Atlantans who had imagined
that one must be girted with some
strange power OF divination, and
must possess a hypnotic eye that
drills right into guilty mems souls
and draws back out with every eVii
thought and purpose hanging TO IL,
knew better Thursday
They had heard the lecture of w.
j Burns the night before in the Bap-
tist Tabernacle Burns shattered
this rather attractive and awesome
fancy.
Common sense-that is all one
needs to be "A great detective, he said.
And he ought to know, being account
ed in many quarters about as able
sleuth as there is roaming at large
spreading terror and dismay among
inoffensive dynamiters, thrifty bribers
and bribe takers, purchasers OF seats
in Congress and the like.
Makes Able Lecture.
You can be detective just as
well as L. he said And his sweeping
glance and gesture included every
one in the well-i,led auditorium.
A new ambition thereupon was born
in score of youthful breasts.
The detectives theme was "Citi-
zenship," a subject which he illumf
mated most interestingly by tales of
his own experiences in uncoverings
graft and corruption in number of
the principal cities of the United
States
He digressed frequently, but the
bypaths of his lecture were no less
attractive than its main course.
If there were those present who in
former years sneaked away from
their watchful parents to be held in
tinglng excitement by the tales of
mick Carter" "Oid Sleuth," and con-
temporary literature of the sort, they
probably were the ones who were
leaning forward over the seats ahead
that they might not miss a word Of
the thrilling recital they were getting
first hand from a participant.
Tells His Experiences.
In his picturesque and vigorous
language, into which Crept occasion
ally the expressive parlance of the
professional detective, Burns told of
the cleanup given San Francisco as
the result of his exposures there; of
the uncovering of the graft in De-
troits Council a sensation of which
the Michigan city has not yet ceased
talking; of the jailing of Atlantic
City's corrupt Councllmen, together
with the famous boss, Louie
N
prosecution of the men concerned in
the effort to buy a seat IN the Ma
tional Senate from West Virginia.
He declared. in spite of these in
stances of corruption, that munich
pal and state administrations are
growing better, more honest and more
tfiective. For the corruption and
INSTRUMENTATION that still exist he
blamed not the boss and the rest of
the profess! !onal politicians, but the
merchant and the banker and the
professional man, who refuse to con-
Germ themselves in what is going on
in city and State affairs
Private Detectives Crooks"
In the course of one of his digres-
sions he paid his compliments to
private detectives in general by say
ing that "as a class, they are the
greatest lot of unwhipped thieves
and blackmailers that ever escaped
Justice"
Speaking of his own agency, he ad-
mitted: I'VE get hold Of a few
crooks occasionally; that is unavoid-
abe in any business. But when we
do, we are the first to find 1t out
and we prosecute them"
He declared that all of the vices
and evils that infest the nation are
mostly traceable to municipal corrup-
ton.
The last seven years" he said
have witnessed the greatest reform
IN this respect that America ever has
experienced. The we'll governed city
now is not a rarity The citizens no
longer leave everything to the profess
sional politician.
They are eliminating the bosses
We need leaders. yes. but not bosses.
1t has been rough weather for the
bosses. Those that are not in jail
are headed that way
I'VE are better to-day than we ever
have been. and we are getting better
every day. 1t is due partly to the
fact that women are having q larger
part in municipal affairs and because
they have been allowed to vote in
some parts of the country | sincere
ly trust they soon will be voting all
over the country.
People who fail to interest them
selves in politics and municipal at
fairs are the persons who are re-
sponsible for the rottenness that eX-
lists.