, 1921-08-20
Women Guido
S.. Holmes In
.Sleuth Role
Exceptional Success Attained by
Agency Whose Difficult Work
Is Entrusted to Women Work
ers-Use More Common Sense


Marvellous. Holmes. But 1 do not
yet understand how you discovered
the murderer"
Really, Watson. at time you make
me despair the great detective re-
piled, as she whisked on her evening
gloves. THE murderer is one OF my
best friends. told me everything
at tea"
The detective story of the future
will read like this. according to the
predictions OF officials of one of Lon
don's noted private detective agencies.
whose success in employing women
detectives has raised the following
question:
Are women ~clevercr detectives than
men?
Although almost every hero of 4. de-
tective story from Sherlock Holmes
to Craig Kennedy has ben a man. is
it possible that this attitude OF the
man. like 70 many others. is to be
unceremoniously snatshed from him?
Is the legendary Holmes. smoking
his pipe in h freight of a Baker
street fiat. in temper n misogynist
and inexorabiy following out the cold
dry processes OF his reasoning. to the
dismay o. the underworld. to be VI
planted by h figure of n brisk. at
tractive young woman who detects a
criminal as she would n bad dancer?
London, home of Sherlock Holmes.
calmly faces these questions at the
present moment. owing TO the recent
achievements of the agency which
has unraveled a number of enigmas
which had bafflcd some CT the leading
criminologists of Europe A girl de-
~tective, II years Of age. has far sur
passed the feats of the detective story
heroes. or. for that matter. of Scot
land yard.
Most Work by Women.
In less than a fortnight she solved
the problem of a series of thefts In a
London college. which had stumped a
man Investigator for three months
Disguised as a student, she ferreted
out the thief and the hiding place of
the stolen goods. In every stage of the
case she was aided by a team of
women detectives.
The agency. for which she works
employs men but the bulk of the work
all Of it except the unpleasant task
of shadowing - is performed by the
girl detectives.
Miss Maud West. chief of the
agency. is an advocate of the theory
that women gifted with intuition. is
endowed with a finer sort of detective
ability han man. Seated at her desk
and adjusting a yellow chrysan-
themum in a tall vase. in an office
with 2-inch deep carpet. Prussian blue
papered walls and New Art statuettes.
which would conspire to disarm the
too clever criminal who visited 1t in
pursuit OF Poe's Purlioned Letter the
DRY Of hiding. Miss West stated the
hypothesis on which she has tracked
down hundreds of criminals.
Il employ women" said Miss West,
'in every investigation requiring sub
tlety craft, guesswork, diplomatic
conversation or plain common sense.
In cases demanding patient shadow
ing. or strict adherence to tradition.
1 use men.
Possess More Tact.
For the finer and more delicate
work 1 invariably find that a woman
is able to clear up a case in much less
time than a man. She has more tact.
quicker perception and an equally
vivid imagination. OF course, they are
not able to shadow a criminal. A
woman cannot stand in one place
without attacking attention.
As to the type of man detective.
the deductive type. who sits by the
fireside and. nonchalantly inhaling
the smoke from a meerschaum. solves
murders and finds precious necklaces
Miss West is inclined to think he
doesn't exist, and that he is the ere
alton of highly romantic minds out
side the detective business.
DO you never e detective stor-
ies?" I asked.
Never h replied. mo detective
does. 1t lever is the reflective. fire.
side type of detective who does any.
thing really. while the one who en-.
ploys unromantic, common sense
methods is successful. Not a girl in
this agency would solve a case IL
she followed fiction methods
The truth is. according to Miss
West. that theories are of little value
In the detectives business. while com.
mon sense is valuable. And the Ber.
nard Shaw theory. if any, applied to
the detective profession, accounts for
woman's success in it-viz.. that she
intuitivcly adheres to common sense
instead of Flooding after romantic
chimeras.
IL is estimated that at least ten