Thus, for example, there are men in the detective bureau of
New York City who know by name, and perhaps have a speaking
acquaintance with, a large number of the pick-pockets and
burglars of the East Side. They know their haunts and their
ties of friendship or marriage. When any particular job is
pulled off they have a pretty shrewd idea of who is
responsible for it and lay their plans accordingly. If
necessary, they run in the whole gang and put each of them
through a course of interrogation, accusation, and browbeating
until some one breaks down or makes a slip that involves him
in a tangle. These men are special policemen whose knowledge
makes them detectives by courtesy. But their work does not
involve any particular superiority or quickness of intellect
--the quality which we are wont to associate with the
detection of crime.
Now, if the ordinary householder finds that his wife's
necklace has mysteriously disappeared, his first impulse is to
send for a detective of some sort or other.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122