Frankly, I
have known very few such, although for some ten years I have
made use of a large number of so-called detectives in both
public and private matters. As I recall the long line of
cases where these men have rendered service of great value,
almost every one resolves itself into a successful piece of
mere spying or trailing. Little ingenuity or powers of reason
were required. Of course, there are a thousand tricks that an
experienced man acquires as a matter of course, but which at
first sight seem almost like inspiration. I shall not forget
my delight when Jesse Blocher, who had been trailing Charles
Foster Dodge through the South (when the latter was wanted
as the chief witness against Abe Hummel on the charge of
subornation of perjury of which he was finally convicted),
told me how he instantly located his man, without disclosing
his own identity, by unostentatiously leaving a note addressed
to Dodge in a bright-red envelope upon the office counter of
the Hotel St.
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