The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1915-04-08

his coat and the eye of the lens was
arranged just under the buttonhole. A
rubber tube that worked the shutter
ended In a bulb placed in Peyser's
pocket. Again Peyser called at noon
and started out with the printer when
he went to lunch. He led the printer
into the sunshine -on the pretext OF
wanting to see something on the sunny
side OF the street. They walked leis-
urely along, Peyser with his hand on
the bulb in his pocket.
Funny thing about that photog.
rapher yesterday" the printer began.
Il would like to know what anyone
wants to get my picture for. thought
for while that maybe you had some
thing to do with it,"
Say, you talk like a, pickpocket,"
laughed Peyser, his hand still on the
bulb. "Only pickpockets and thieves
| get nervous when they have their pic
lures taken. If didn't know you I'd
almost think you had something heavy
weighing on your conscience. But as
for me having anything to do with
say, haven't l treated you fair?"
Sure you have" said the printer.
He faced Peyser eagerly as he spoke.
Peyser's hand in his pocket closed
over the bulb There was a sound Of
a click, drowned by the dishonest
mans voice. Sure you have never
pulled anything off on me. You're all
right"
Within twenty-four hours the picture
had been developed and printed, en-
larged and copied and was in the
hands OF every poolroom operator and
bookmaker anywhere within a radius
| Of hundred miles of New York, and
was on its way all over the country.
The next time the fraudulent printer
| tried to play the races he found cold
welcome, and before many weeks had
passed he had made up his mind that
there was more money in printing
menus for local restaurants and pro-
| grams for cheap shows on Broadway
than there was in making green and
pink and blue and yellow tickets for
the race track.
Early Acquaintance With Crooks.
This was just one of the many de-
tective games in which the clever
young detective, Frank Peyser, showed
his ability to protect the public on the
race track. He began life on the East
side in New York, and very early in
life made the acquaintance Of some of
the most notorious thieves and crooks
of the city. After school hours as a
| boy he used to meet them and listen
to their conversation. They were
cleverer than the other people he knew
on the East side and they interested
him, but contact with them fostered
no desire within him to emulate their
ways.
One day about the time he left
schoef one of these rough acquaint-
ances of his asked him to take a walk
up Broadway with him. Peyser &C
cepted the invitation. They walked
up through the Bowery and then, as
the evening shades began to gather,
they turned into Broadway, crowded
with men and women pressing home
ward after work. Suddenly, as they
pressed near to man in the crowd,
Peyser saw his companions hand rise
and stealthily close over a meerschaum
pipe that showed its rich hues over
the top of a pedestrians pocket.
Though still lad, Peyser knew that
If he were caught in company with a
| pickpocket the fact that he himself
was innocent wouldn't be of much
avail at the police station. AS his
companion pocketed the valuable pipe
a cold terror seized Peyser and he did
just what any other normal boy would
have done under similar circum-
stances. He ran, and he went right on
running till he didn't have breath
enough to run any farther. When he
came to a stop his mind was made up.
He had decided that whatever his fu-
ture calling might be, he would never
be a crook of a thief.
When, little later, Frank Peyser
applied at the Pinkerton detective
| agency In New York city for a posi-
ton, his previous experience on the
East side qualified him for immediate
employment in the race-track depart
ment of the agency.
Success In Department Stores.
| In this position he was on duty at all
the big race tracks, at Belmont park,
at Jamaica, at Sheepshead Bay, Brigh-
ton Beach, Gravesend and Morris
park, on the lookout for pickpockets
and dishonest bookmakers. So sue
cessful was he in handling pickpockets
that after six years with the Pinker-
tons he was called by the New York
Wanamaker store This work required
greater skill even than the race-track
work, for 1t is better, according to the
department store creed, to let ten
shoplifters go than to make one false
arrest. However, Mr. Peyser was no
blunderer and in the thirteen years he
worked in that department store his
employers didn't have to pay a cent
for damages and false arrests made. by
him.