Charles in New Orleans, where he knew his quarry
to be staying. A few moments later the clerk saw it, picked
it up, and, as a matter of course, thrust it promptly into box
No. 420, thus involuntarily hanging, as it were, a red lantern
on Dodge's door.
There is no more reason to look for superiority of
intelligence or mental alertness among detectives of the
ordinary class than there is to expect it from clerks,
stationary engineers, plumbers, or firemen. While comparisons
are invidious, I should be inclined to say that the ordinary
chauffeur was probably a brighter man than the average
detective. This is not to be taken in derogation of the
latter, but as a compliment to the former. There are a great
many detectives of ambiguous training. I remember in one case
discovering that of the more important detectives employed by
a well-known private Anti-Criminal Society in New York, one
had been a street vender of frankfurters (otherwise yclept
"hot dogs"), and another the keeper of a bird store, which
last perhaps qualified him for the pursuit and capture of
human game.
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