Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-07-22
Women Detectives
BY Frederic I. Haskin

up and the discovery OF the crook that
he Is being pursued may mean the
absolute failure Of a case and possibly
a cut throat 1t is. therefore. merely
necessary to say that week later the
professor was apprehended and sub
sequently died in prison. AS for the
victims of the swindle, although they
lost the greater part of their savings,
they are recovering rapidly and are
now on the road to wealth again.
Mrs. Goodwin considers this one of
the most interesting cases in her
career on the New York detective
force, perhaps because Of its human
elements. For despite her facility in
handing people over to the law, Mrs.
Goodwin is humanitarian. Twenty
years ago she herself felt the pinch
Of adversely when she was left with
four children to support. She secured
a position as police matron, but her
natural ability for detective work was
soon evidenced and she was given her
first case. In New York 1t is illegal
to gamble on horse races. OF course,
there are races, and it Is we'll known
that individuals bet on them. but no
organized booking and gambling Is
permitted. Hence when 1t became
known at headquarters that number
OF women were meeting in the back
room of liquor store for the pur-
pose of placing money on the races,
woman detective was REQUIRED to get
the evidence. Mrs. Goodwin became
a regular member of the meetings
where no one suspected her profess
sion. and finally turned the whole es-
Enlistment over to the police.
The majority of cases handled by
women detectives in New York deal
with petty swfndfes, such as the arrest
of alleged physicians practicing with
out certificates. fortune tellers. med
iums. small thieves, etc, which are
Of less dangerous order For most
OF the larger crimes. dealing with muir
ders, thefts. blackmail. kidnapping and
smuggling men are used 1t is esti-
mated that nearly IS per cent Of the
crimes committed in New York are
the work Of foreigners. and for this
reason it Is necessary to maintain men
OF several nationalties on the detec-
tive STAFF. For example. almost every
Kidnapping case is perpetrated by
Italians against their own people in
this country. so that it is necessary
to have an italian detective handle
the affair. If a German Is the prin-
ciple factor in a case, then a German
detective covers it. and the same is
true Of Spaniards, Norwegians, Swedes
and every other nationality. Women
are employed to obtain evidence in
Offices, boarding houses and apart
ments. but when there Is grave and
apparent danger connected with the
case It is given to man.
Thus when TWENTY-FIVE thousand
dollar robbery occurred one day and
Mrs. Goodwin was called to cover the
case, she was agreeably surprised
since 1t was her ambition to work on
bigger things. A bank clerk and a
messenger, CARRYING bag containing
twenty-five thousand dollars in, taxi
cab. were attacked and the money
taken away from them: A glimpse of
q disappearing taxicab speeding in
the other direction was the only clue
turned In at detective headquarters.
The detective authorities. however.
had occasion to suspect two men of
the theft-men who we're already we'll
known and much desired at headquar-
tiers for various other crimes. It was
also known that these men frequented
a boarding house in downtown street
where they planned their crimes with
two women Of equally desperate char
acter. le became Mrs. Goodwin's task.
therefore. to gain access to this board
ing house and to secure evidence that
these men had committed the taxicab
crime. 2t*
Dressed in untidy clothes, with her
hair screwed in knot and speaking
with an unmistakable Irish brogue, she
obtained employment in the boarding
house as a maid. Seeing in the new
maid nothing but slovenly. good
natured Irish woman of incredible
stupidity, the women in the case al
lowed her to enter their rooms, run
errands for them, and otherwise gain
all the necessary evidence to convict
the four of them. The detective came
out Of this house, however, with a we'll
developed case Of nerves. since 1t was
inha bited by crooks Of the most dan.
gerous sort, who, II they had once sus-
pected her mission, would have i'm
|mediately killed her.
There are few women detectives on
the New York detective staff. and they
have had exceptionally few failures.
The profession is gradually widening
for women -s.