The town in question was a county seat of about five thousand population. I had concluded also that the culprit, from the fact of his forgeries covering aperiod of seven months, must be a resident, or at least an habitue of the town. I found myself figuring how long it would take to enable me to see a specimen of the handwriting of every man in the town. This being my plan I started to work along the line of least resistance, going first to the court house, where I secured permission to look over any and all kinds of records, in the hope of finding somewhere in the town a specimen of handwriting identical with that of the forger in the case. Near the close of the second day my search was rewarded through my finding upon the payrolls of a contractor a signature, every letter of which was identical with the same letter in the forgeries, the forger being at that time in the employ of the contractor. The same characteristics and peculiarities being evident in both handwritings, I lost no time in effecting arrangements for having the suspect brought before the town marshal and me.
We handed the man pen and ink and check forms, and upon his signifying his willingness to write for us specimens of any checks we desired, we of course had him write copies of the forgeries. His handwriting proved to be identical to the smallest detail, with the handwriting in the forgeries, and upon being shown both writings he made a confession on the spot. Later he pleaded guilty to the charge of forgery and was sentenced to serve two years in state prison.
A favorite method of offenders in defrauding banks, and which scheme is worked somewhere every business day of the year, is to visit a bank and open an account by depositing a bogus or worthless check, and which transaction is usually handled by the receiving teller. As a rule a pass book will be given to the offender in the regular way, but no money will be paid out by the bank until it ascertains if the check is good, and which,by ordinary methods, usually requires two days’ time, and longer if the check be drawn on a far distant bank. On the day following the opening of the account the offender will visit the bank and on this occasion approaches the paying teller. Of course, he is not known to the paying teller, but he produces his pass book and shows the paying teller that he has on deposit say one hundred dollars. He asks to withdraw fifty. Hundreds of paying tellers have been caught off their guard with this game by neglecting to look up the party’s account, and in an unguarded moment take it for granted that the party’s account is O. K.
Stolen pass books are an extensive source of loss to banks. Throughout the country thousands of foreigners have savings accounts in banks. With most of them it is customary to keep the bank books in their trunks or rooms where they can easily be stolen by one of their countrymen, who takes the book to the bank, impersonates the owner and obtains the cash.
To illustrate the importance that the detective must give to the small details when making an investigation, I was once called upon to investigate a forgery that had been perpetrated upon a bank in a town of about twenty thousand population. In this case a middle aged woman presented a check and obtained eighty dollars thereon, the check later proving to be a forgery. I questioned the paying teller for an hour, but he seemed unable to assist me and could say nothing about the woman except that she was of middle age and pleasant appearing. This, however, was very vague, as there were in the town probably five hundred women who were pleasant appearing and of middle age. I persisted in having the paying teller revert his mind to the occasion of the woman’s visit to the bank, and he finally recalled that the woman wore a pinbearing the emblem of a secret society of some kind—he could not recall which. I immediately set to work, and later in the day submitted to the paying teller a dozen or more lodge emblems, when he selected the emblem of the Order of the Eastern Star as being identical with what the woman wore. The foregoing consumed one day, and the next morning I set about ascertaining what member of the Order of the Eastern Star in that town or vicinity would have been likely to pass the forged check. From the secretary of the order I obtained a list of the members, then decided to take the secretary into my confidence and asked him who of the members he thought would have been most likely to commit this crime. His suspicions rested upon a woman who lived in a village just outside of the town, and from all he told me I became convinced she was the woman wanted.
The next morning, accompanied by the paying teller, I called at the woman’s home under a pretext, and when the paying teller promptly identified her as being the woman for whom he cashed the check.
Many large sums of money have been obtained through forgery. The most remarkable case ever brought to my attention was one that involved $30,000.00. A man forty years of age had been made the business agent of a wealthy lady who was some eighty years old. This man was also named in the lady’s will to be the executor of her estate after her death. It happened, however, that this man died first and among his papers and effects was found a note for $30,000.00 purporting to have been signed by the woman in favor of this man. When claim was made upon her for the amount of this note she promptly denied having ever signed such a note, and pronounced the note a forgery, and so the note wasnever paid. In this particular case it occurred to me that the man no doubt believed that the woman for whom he was business agent would, in all probability, die first, and when it would have been an easy matter for him, as executor, to have taken possession of the amount of the note. Because of the prominence of all parties concerned in this case, it was never given publicity.
Raised checks are an extensive source of loss and annoyance to banks and individuals. Many checks, after being written, mailed or sent, fall into the hands of persons who make a practice of “raising” the amounts for which the checks were originally intended and written, and then pass or have them cashed. For instance, a check written for ten dollars will be raised to one hundred dollars, or to whatever amount the raiser may believe it can be passed without arousing the suspicions of the bank, merchant or individual upon whom it is to be passed. I have seen many raised checks, the favorite method of the latter day check raiser being to remove from the check with chemicals the figures and wording of the amounts, and then to insert a greater amount. The original signature of the drawer of the check is of course left intact. It often requires the aid of a magnifying glass to discover the erasure or removal of the original writing. When necessary the name of the payee is also removed and another name inserted.
CONFESSIONS
As in other criminal cases, when confessions are obtained from forgers, it is a good plan to take the same in writing in the presence of reliable witnesses, and to have the confession signed by the criminal. However, great care must be exercised when taking a statement or confession from a criminal, and even though the statement or confession is given voluntarily and willingly by the criminal, it should be embodied in the statement in writing that the same is so given, that it is given without any threats or coercion having been made or resorted to, and that it is given without promise of reward or compensation. Such a statement should also show that it has been explained to the person before signing it that he or she understands that the same may be used against him or her later.
For the average case I would suggest a statement worded about as follows, or in accordance with the kind of case it is to apply to:
“I, Jone Doe, wish to state that on June 30th, 1914, I entered the First National Bank and obtained $50.00 cash upon a check which I knew to be a forgery, and to which check I signed the name of John Smith, without Mr. Smith’s permission or authorization, and which check I represented to the bank ashaving been signed by John Smith. I was arrested today by Detective John Brown, who has not threatened nor coerced me in any way, neither have I been promised any reward, compensation or leniency for making this statement, and I understand this statement may be used against me.”
“I, Jone Doe, wish to state that on June 30th, 1914, I entered the First National Bank and obtained $50.00 cash upon a check which I knew to be a forgery, and to which check I signed the name of John Smith, without Mr. Smith’s permission or authorization, and which check I represented to the bank ashaving been signed by John Smith. I was arrested today by Detective John Brown, who has not threatened nor coerced me in any way, neither have I been promised any reward, compensation or leniency for making this statement, and I understand this statement may be used against me.”
Having persons make affidavit to statements of this nature does not strengthen them in any way, since the law permits persons to repudiate affidavits without constituting perjury, so long as the affidavit or statement has not been given in any judicial proceeding.
In connection with the investigation of forgery cases I might add that it is a good plan to have the person whose signature was forged make an affidavit that the check or other paper repudiated by him, was not signed by him and not authorized by him. I once had a case of forgery wherein it was neglected to do this. When the offender was arrested he proved to be a close friend of the man whose signature was forged. Then to save his friend from prosecution the man went to the bank and stated that the check which he had at first repudiated was his own signed check.
MURDER CASES
In my experience with murder cases I would divide such crimes into three classes, namely: The cases wherein a murder has been carefully planned or premeditated; the cases where a murder is committed suddenly or on the spur of the moment; and those that are a result of some person intending only to do bodily harm to another but wherein such injuries later cause death. One could hardly lay down any set rule to be applied by the detective for the proper investigation of murder cases. There are, however, several primary things that should be kept in mind by the detective, and which I have found will apply in most murder cases. The first and most important thing to be looked into is the motive. Every effort should be made by the detective to establish the motive, and if successful he will, as a rule, have little difficulty in ascertaining the identity of the murderer. After the murderer’s identity is known the detective has something definite upon which to work.
The detective should satisfy himself as to which of the three classes previously named the crime would come under. It should be borne in mind that murders as a rule, are not committed for pastime or amusement. I would venture to state that seventy-five per cent of murders committed come under the first named class. Often they are very carefullyplanned and the plans just as carefully executed. The detective should ascertain, by making inquiry or otherwise, who would profit by the death of the person murdered. It should be ascertained if robbery was the direct motive.
Hundreds of persons have been murdered by slow poisoning. In such cases the detective must look for the relative who would benefit by the death of the person murdered. Persons very often are murdered so that the insurance they may carry can be claimed. It should be ascertained if the person murdered had any quarrels with business associates, relatives, friends, or other persons, or if the enmity of any person in particular was incurred at any time. If a weapon was used to cause death, it should be ascertained from the nature of the wound what kind of weapon was used, and if the weapon prove to be a pistol, its calibre, make, etc., should be gone into. Regardless of the kind of weapon used, if its nature can be established, the detective should endeavor to learn where it was secured, who was known to be in possession of, or known to have carried such a weapon. In murder cases every clue, no matter how small or vague, should be run out by the detective. The smallest clues often develop the best results. As the circumstances in every murder case will differ, the detective must use his own judgment as to how to proceed. Application of good judgment and good common sense methods have never failed to bring about results.
GRAFTERS
A class of criminals who are, in my opinion, the most obnoxious of any the detective may have to deal with, and of which class only a small percentage are detected and convicted are the grafters. I will venture to state that not more than one such criminal in every hundred finds his way behind prison bars, where all thieves of this class rightly belong. The general public cannot perceive how prevalent this form of stealing has become. The reason probably is because the grafter of today usually moves in the best society and often holds a position of trust, which facts tend to divert suspicion from him and from his crooked dealings.
I am sure that a successful career awaits any ambitious young detective who will devote his time and energy to hunting down grafters. One or two successful cases will start the detective on the road to success. The field for detectives for this class of work is unlimited, remuneration is the best, and better still, the grafter is by far the easiest of all criminals to catch. It is as easy to catch grafters as it is to catch fish, the process being simply a matter of baiting a hook; the grafter, in his greed for money, will do the rest.
In both large and small cities, and in country districts as well, grafters are daily gathering in illgotten money in many different ways. Criminal records of most of our states show that men, while holding important positions of trust in our state departments, have been detected and found guilty of various forms of grafting. The same records, in a good many of our large cities, will show the same. I believe that one of the best things that could possibly be done by the governors of our states, by the mayors of our cities, and by our prosecuting attorneys, would be to employ annually a first-class, reliable detective to investigate thoroughly into the various interests of the public which they control to ascertain if grafting exists. Grafting has usually been found where such investigations have been made.
The various ways by which men who have held official positions in state, county and city governments have been known to profit by grafting would be a long story to relate. Regarding grafting by public officials, there is one thing in particular that the detective should always keep in mind, that being that political records show that thousands of men throughout the country have had themselves elected to public office, the full term of which netted them in salary often only half the amount expended by them in having themselves elected to office. When such persons are elected to public office it very often is the beginning of grafting by them in some form.
We will grant that some of these men were public spirited citizens, and while in office may have served the public at their own expense. Nevertheless, when we know that a man has actually bought his way, and paid dearly to have himself elected to office, that man will at least bear watching. I have in mind the case of a certain county official in a western state, who, some years ago, succeeded in having himself electedto office, which office, for its entire term of three years, carried a salary amounting to $2,400.00. This man was known to have expended close to $5,000.00 to become elected. Within a year after taking office he was ousted by the people of the county, who demanded his resignation, it having been found that his campaign for election was financed by a certain manufacturing company, and that after taking office he had accepted certain additional sums of money to protect the interests of the same concern.
Right here we have another kind of grafter. The man just mentioned was known to have purchased outright with money, at so much per vote, hundreds of votes that were cast for his election. Voters accepting such money are of course guilty of a crime worse than grafting. In most of our states we now have laws which make it a misdemeanor for anyone to pay or promise to pay, or to give or promise to give anything for any person’s vote.
Grafting of the worst kind has been found to exist in the law making bodies of some of our states. Many state legislators have been convicted through having accepted money to vote for or against certain measures, when by so doing they virtually sold out, for considerations of money, the people by whom they were elected to faithfully represent. The methods employed by most grafters, I believe, are too common and too well known to need mention.
In connection with grafting in county and city governments, it has been found very often that officials whose duties were to protect society, and to endeavor to stamp out and to prevent certain violations of the law, were grafters of the worst type. For considerations of money they guaranteed protection to persons known to be violating the law. Such protection has been guaranteed in many of our large cities by police officials to keepers of houses of ill repute, to keepers of gambling dens, or blind tigers, etc. The extent to which such grafting is done can easily be ascertained by the detective if he will cultivate the acquaintance of the keepers of such places. And now a few words as to how the detective may set about catching some of these various kinds of grafters.
One good way for the detective to secure evidence against a grafter is to first form his acquaintance, then lead him to believe, and make it plain to him that he also is a grafter, or at least willing to be one. After such confidence is established, an arrangement should be made for making any payments of money to the grafter at such a place and in such a manner that it can be substantially corroborated. So as to make this point more clear, I will illustrate how I once, as a result of one day’s work, secured confessions from some forty grafters in connection with vote buying in one county just previous to an election.
It was suspected that a certain candidate for office was spending large sums of money for votes and I was called in to obtain positive proof of it. After being supplied with a list of names of persons believed to be the distributors of the candidate’s money, I purposely selected from the list a man said to be the smartest of the lot. A few hours later, accompanied by an assistant, I called upon the man at his home. I advised him that while we were strangers to him we were old friends of the candidate’s and that we had been called upon to assist in his campaign.
After discussing local conditions with the man, and the prospect of our friend’s election to office, I took from my pocket two hundred dollars in bills whichhad previously been marked, and handed them to the man saying that our friend the candidate sent the money to give to him for distribution. Needless to state, the man did not refuse to take the money. The bold and confident manner in which it was handed to him laid at rest any fears or suspicions he may have had. He no doubt felt satisfied that we were grafters of his own type, and immediately began to talk very freely with us. We conversed with him for probably an hour, during which time he advised us of various sums of money given him by the candidate for distribution, also gave us the names of a dozen or more men who were distributing funds for the candidate.
Before the day was over we had this man arrested and searched, when all of the marked money was found on his person. Realizing that he had been trapped, he lost no time making a confession, in which he implicated others, with the result that some forty confessions were secured. I have found grafters of this kind very prevalent practically all over the country, and, as a rule, a good detective will experience little trouble finding some honest, public-spirited citizen willing to defray the cost of detective hire to run down such persons.
Regarding another kind of grafter, I once was called upon to secure evidence in a certain small town against a county official who was believed to be guaranteeing protection to persons selling liquor in violation of the law, the chief violators being several local druggists. Shortly after arriving in the town I began to negotiate in a business like way for the purchase of one of the drug stores. I found the proprietor of one of the stores willing to sell out provided he secured his price. After remaining in town about ten days, Itook an option for thirty days on one of the stores, for which option I paid a hundred dollars. I then left town temporarily, telling the druggist I was returning to my home town to consult with my partner in business.
Within a week I returned with my partner (another detective) and who expressed himself as being satisfied with the place I had negotiated for. We told the druggist we were ready to buy, but before closing the deal had decided we would like to be assured against interference by the authorities in case we saw fit to sell liquor in our store. I suppose because he believed he was getting his own price for his property and business, the druggist responded quite easily. As we expected he would do, he volunteered to take us and introduce us to the very county official we were after, and which he did that evening.
The druggist explained to the county official that we were to purchase his property and business the next day, and that we were naturally anxious to know if we could be assured of protection in case we decided to sell liquor. Everything appearing to be regular to the official, he told us very bluntly what it would cost us per year to be protected and requested a first payment of $50.00. I advised him we did not have so much cash with us, and finally arranged that he call upon us the next day at 10 a. m. at my room at the local hotel, when we would make the payment.
Early the next morning at the hotel we secreted two responsible persons in a closet in my room, then awaited the arrival of our grafter. He came at the appointed hour and we again discussed the matter of our protection and paid him $50.00. Immediatelyafterwards our witnesses stepped out of the closet, and finding himself caught with four witnesses against him, the man readily agreed to give us a written and signed confession. He was told he would have to resign his position forthwith or be prosecuted. He chose the former, which ended the case.
The dictagraph has played an important part in the detection and conviction of grafters. When it is suspected that state, county or city officials are grafting, in order to detect them, we will take for example one or more city officials whose duty it is to let for their city, contracts for paving. When a municipality gets ready to pave three or four streets, or to let contracts for machinery, buildings or other public improvements, specifications are drawn and the same advertised. Perhaps twenty contractors will submit bids and one can imagine the rivalry that may exist among the contractors, especially since the municipality usually reserves the right to reject any or all bids and are not bound to let any given contract to the lowest bidder. Then naturally and very often the question arises as to who shall be favored. My experience in many cases has been that when the city officials are open to taking graft, a contract will go to the contractor who will pay the most for being favored.
Three city officials once were trapped when a detective spent six months in their city posing as a contractor, and finally when his company was favored with a street paving contract upon the payment of $500.00 cash, he arranged to talk over the transaction and later paid over the money in a room in a hotel in which a dictagraph was secretly installed, and which made it possible to substantiate the transaction from start to finish.
Grafting is prevalent in many lines of business, especially where one man is entrusted with the letting of contracts, or with the purchase of supplies for a city, corporation, factory or individual. The following will illustrate just how prevalent petty grafting has become and which came to my notice through a case I had occasion to investigate for a certain well-to-do gentleman. This man owned two automobiles and entrusted to his colored chauffeur the purchase of gasoline and supplies for the machines. From various dealers this chauffeur obtained a “rake-off” on every gallon of gasoline used, and on the purchase of new tires, etc. The more gasoline he used the more money this chauffeur would make, and the same with tires and other supplies. During the investigation this chauffeur’s purchases of gasoline from the dealer were compared with the mileage of the automobiles, and when it was estimated that the owner was paying for two or three gallons of gasoline per week for a long time that could not possibly have been used. It was then believed that the chauffeur was selling the surplus gasoline, but this could not be proven. Finally, when taken to task and shown the amount of his purchases, he confessed to having poured the gasoline into the sewer of the garage.
I was once called upon to look into a case where grafting was suspected in a small town, and where the president of the town council, who was a prominent physician, was under suspicion. I arrived in town two days before a certain measure was to be acted upon in council, the measure being in relation to a heating contract. I called upon the physician at his office and told him in plain words that I represented one of the competing firms and that I hadbeen authorized to offer him two hundred dollars for his vote and influence in favor of my company. He accepted from me the two hundred dollars cash consisting of marked five dollar bills, and endeavored to convince me that he was not a grafter by saying that he had intended favoring my company anyway and was not accepting the money for changing his decision on the measure in council.
After leaving him I went promptly to the persons who had retained me, when it was quickly arranged to have a certain person who owed the physician a small bill go there to pay it with a twenty dollar bill. This party returned with three of the marked five dollar bills, which the physician unsuspectingly made the change with. In addition, I had had the physician prescribe for me for a pretended ailment, and by which I was enabled to substantiate my call upon him, in spite of the fact that I went to him alone. It was only desired to have this man resign from council, which, it may be imagined, he was glad to do when confronted with the evidence of having accepted a bribe. This entire case was closed successfully in less than four hours after active work was started.
DETECTIVE WORK IN DEPARTMENT STORES
There are, in my opinion, no business concerns that suffer a greater loss, nor are occasioned more worry than are the department stores of our large cities. Annually they lose thousands of dollars worth of merchandise mainly through the operations of store thieves known as shoplifters, and through the dishonesty of employes. In any of our large up-to-date department stores the services of no less than a dozen trained detectives, both male and female, are required to properly guard such stores against thefts. Inasmuch as department stores offer one of the broadest fields for private detectives, I shall set forth some of the many ways by which such stores are robbed and defrauded daily; also one of the best known methods for detectives to cope with the offenders.
As previously stated, in department stores, both male and female detectives are employed. Although I have known instances where experienced female store detectives have been of valuable assistance to department stores, male detectives, as a rule, can give the best protection. The store detective must be a person of good, sound judgment, be able to think and act quickly, and must always be alert and wide awake during business hours at the storewhere he or she may be engaged. It is essential that store detectives dress well, but not conspicuously, and while in the store, if the detective be a man, he should wear his hat and coat at all times.
If it be in the winter time the detective should wear a light overcoat, and on rainy days should carry an umbrella. It is a very good plan for the detective to carry a package under his arm, the purpose of all these things being to give out the impression that the detective is a customer instead of what he really is. The detective should keep moving about in the store, pretend to make purchases, and if possible change his hat and coat several times a day.
In order to emphasize the necessity of these things, we will look at shoplifting for a few moments from the shoplifter’s point of view. Usually when a shoplifter decides upon some particular store to operate in, he or she may first visit the store a dozen times if necessary in order to pick out the store detective. After becoming satisfied on this point the shoplifter figures on how best to avoid the persons he or she have picked out as being detectives, then will begin to operate.
The professional shoplifter, if she be a woman, usually wears, during cold weather, a long coat and wide skirt in which are capacious pockets for concealing and carrying off stolen merchandise. The shoplifter rarely will bother with cheap merchandise, but will confine her thefts to valuable laces, silks, furs, jewelry, etc., which she secretes in the pockets of her skirt or coat. During the summer season when it would be out of place to wear a coat, the shoplifter takes advantage of the rainy days and enters stores with her umbrella, in which she secretesand carries off such articles as she may find an opportunity to take from the counters unobserved by the clerks or floorwalkers.
Very often a professional shoplifter will take with her to a store a confederate, especially if she has reason to believe that her operations have aroused the suspicions of any of the store’s detectives. The confederate will proceed directly to the ladies’ toilet or rest room. After the shoplifter has taken one or more articles she joins her confederate, and unobserved passes the articles to the confederate. Then in case she has been watched or is arrested upon leaving the store, no goods will be found on her person.
I have known careless store detectives to arrest shoplifters whom they observed stealing goods in the store, but who did not have the goods on their persons when they were arrested. When an arrest of this kind is made it is usually the beginning of serious trouble for the management of the store. The detective will have played into the hands of the shoplifter; she will promptly take advantage of the circumstances and bring suit against the management for false arrest. Ordinarily department stores do not relish such undesirable notoriety; damage suits are expensive, so usually they settle such cases. If the shoplifter, after having been observed taking some article, enters the rest or toilet room before leaving the store, it will be best for the detective not to take any chances in causing her arrest for the reason just mentioned.
The detective, as a rule, should not make an arrest under any circumstances until after the shoplifter has left the store. I have known cases where shoplifters and store thieves were arrested inside ofstores with stolen goods on their persons, but who, immediately after being arrested, set up the claim that they had no intention of stealing the goods, but that they were just taking the goods to the light to examine them. Later when their cases came up in court they would be represented by shrewd attorneys who took advantage of the law itself by maintaining that inasmuch as the goods had not been taken from the premises of the store, no theft was committed.
I would state that as a rule if the detective is watchful he will have no difficulty in picking out the shoplifters. Persons so bent usually keep looking about them furtively to note if anyone is watching them. Quite often they are nervous and flit quickly from one counter to another. If the detective be in doubt he usually can, with half an hour’s careful watching, determine to his own satisfaction the real purpose of any person’s visit to the store.
Department stores suffer serious losses through the operations of other classes of criminals who make a practice of preying on such stores. A large department store of the present day may have on its list from one to two thousand customers, who have with the store what are known as charge accounts. Such customers may visit the store, make a purchase, and have the amount of same charged to their account. Often they make such purchases by telephone, or may send a maid or other person to the store to make the purchases. A certain class of store swindlers make it a point to ascertain the names of persons having such accounts at stores after which they visit the stores, impersonate the customers, and very frequently secure and make off with goods of great value.
Usually such swindlers are not discovered until the end of a month, when the customer receives his or her bill, but by which time the swindler may be in some distant city preparing to victimize another store. Dishonest employes and discharged employes are usually responsible for giving out information regarding customers’ charge accounts. The swindler, however, can easily secure such information in many other ways. We have also the store swindler who goes to some large city and purposely registers at a leading hotel. He then visits a department store, purchases an expensive suit or overcoat, in payment of which he tenders a bogus check. He requests that his purchase be delivered to his hotel, which may be done, but the swindler will be gone long before the store discovers that it can not realize on the check.
One may ask how stores can be so easily victimized. There are two reasons, and they apply not only to this class of swindle, but to many others as well. The swindler may have, by his smooth and suave manner, impressed the management or clerk that he was all that he represented himself to be, and they, in an unguarded moment, allowed themselves to be swindled. On the other hand, it may have been the anxiety of making a sale at a good profit with an apparently good customer that may have caused them to overlook ascertaining the genuineness of the swindler’s check before delivering the goods.
Another source of loss by department stores is through dishonest clerks being in collusion with outside parties. A clerk, for instance, employed at a silk or lace counter, will have a friend or confederate call at her counter during the day. A yard of silk may be purchased and paid therefor, but it isquite an easy matter for the dishonest clerk to cut off and have wrapped a yard and a half or two yards of the material purchased. I have known respectable, well-to-do women enter into such arrangements with clerks at stores, seemingly treating such matters lightly, and even telling their friends about such transactions.
There are innumerable other ways by which employes steal from stores. Some clerks inclined to steal become very bold and very often carry out openly stolen goods that they claim to have purchased. At thoroughly up-to-date stores all clerks and employes, when leaving the store in the evening, are required to leave by some certain exit, where there is stationed a watchman who examines all packages that are carried out. The watchman holds up all packages that do not bear the O. K. of some floorwalker or other official of the store.
During such times as the Christmas shopping season, which in large cities begins about November first, the management of large stores find it necessary to double their detective forces, and well they may, as November and December are the months during which shoplifters, pickpockets and others figure on reaping their harvests. Pickpockets in stores must also be given attention by the store detective. Customers do not relish having their purses or pockets picked while in stores, and when it does happen to a customer, he or she usually remains away from that store in the future. Much more might be said upon the subject of department store detective work, but I believe what has been gone into will be sufficient to guide the average person in this branch of the work.
RAILROAD DETECTIVE WORK
Railroad companies suffer tremendous losses yearly in spite of the fact that vast sums are continually being spent to guard against theft by employees, thefts by car thieves, damage suits, etc. As to the first mentioned source of loss railroad companies are obliged to maintain at their freight yards and terminals large forces of detectives to guard against thefts. Although not generally known to persons outside of railroad circles, it is a fact that many roads employ an average of fifty detectives for every hundred miles of their systems. The large railroads nowadays are policed in much the same manner as are our large cities.
Besides guarding against thefts of valuable freight while in transit, patrons at the crowded stations and depots must be protected so far as possible from the operations of pickpockets, swindlers and baggage thieves. The smaller stations along the line where there are ticket offices must be guarded against attacks by burglars. Practically all large railroads maintain staffs of detectives whose duties are to travel over the lines and do what is called checking. Manipulation of tickets and cash fares is usually prevalent and no doubt will always be so long as we have railroads and conductors.
Trains are checked at regular intervals unknownto train crews. Action of train crews while on duty are reported on by detectives; also the kind of service accorded patrons of dining, parlor and sleeping cars. In these days when competition is keen, and when railroads are vying with each other to furnish the best possible service, it is important to managements to know to a certainty if conductors and other employees are courteous and obliging to patrons, if any rules of the company are being disregarded, and, as a whole, if the kind of service that it is intended to give is being given.
Checking passenger trains is one of the most congenial branches of detective work, and a branch which gives the young detective plenty of valuable experience. This branch of railroad detective work being the most desirable, I will endeavor to show what managements usually expect from their detectives. The detective may be detailed to check a sleeping car on some particular line from the time of departure of the car from some given point in the evening until it arrives at its destination in the morning. The detective’s report will be expected to contain information about as follows:
Name of the conductor in charge of the car; if the crew got out at stations to assist passengers to board or alight; if the stepping box was properly placed for passengers; if assistance was given with baggage; if the conductor and porter were wearing their proper uniforms; if uniforms were neat, and if the conductor and porter were courteous to passengers. If the car was properly cleaned and dusted; if the porter unnecessarily disturbed the passengers in any way; if all berths were made up properly, and if properly closed in the morning; if the window shades worked properly; if hammocks were properly hung in berths; if the linen was clean and the lights in good order; if the lights were turned out at the proper hour; if any persons at stations disturbed passengers; if any of the crew loafed in any unoccupied berths. If there were any complaints by passengers and if the complaints were attended to. If ventilation was good and proper temperatures maintained; if any of the crew slept while on duty; if the water and towel supply was proper and sufficient; if there were any accidents during the trip; if porter had shoes properly polished.
If passengers were properly brushed by the porter; if any of the crew acted familiarly with passengers; if any of the crew smoked while on duty; if tickets were collected promptly by the conductor, and if railway and hotel guides were in proper places. In addition to the foregoing the detective usually is required to report on how many berths were occupied in the car, the number of men and number of women passengers, children if any, also how many cash fares were collected by the conductor for berths. When reporting on dining car service detectives usually are expected to cover in their reports the following:
If crew was polite and efficient; if conductor was properly uniformed, amount of the detective’s check and its number; if linen was in good condition and clean; if tables were properly set; if food was of good quality. If waiters were properly uniformed; if finger bowls were promptly and correctly served; if dining car was properly ventilated and lighted; if liquor was served on the car; if silver was in good condition and prompt service given. The articles of food and drink ordered by the detective shouldbe shown, the number of the table at which he sat, the number of the waiter who served him, the number of the car, the time he left the car, the number of the train, its time of departure and arrival, and between what points traveled.
With such daily reports placed in their hands, persons responsible to the managements for proper maintenance of sleeping and dining car service are enabled to know precisely the kind of service that is being given patrons, which information enables them to keep such service to the highest standard of efficiency. Employees often, when coming in from a run, are summarily discharged, or their resignations may be asked for, but that is another matter; railroads need and must have detectives. It will be seen that the railroads offer a very broad field for detectives, and there is no reason why any young man with good common sense should not be able to properly check a sleeping or dining car on his first attempt.
DETECTIVE WORK FOR STREET RAILWAYS
Practically all street railway companies find it necessary to employ detectives. The largest corporations of this kind may employ anywhere from ten to fifty detectives the year round, and one may wonder why and how all these detectives are employed. Street railway companies, like the railroad companies, are obliged continually to guard against three serious sources of loss, namely: thefts by employees, damage suits and strikes. Experience has taught the management of street railway companies that stealing on the part of conductors is always more or less prevalent. Conductors are not usually prosecuted when caught stealing fares, but are simply discharged. The morning and evening crowds on street cars provide opportunities for conductors to steal, if they may be so inclined.
A conductor may feel that half a dozen fares appropriated to his own use every day will not be missed by the company. However, if we take a corporation employing say five or six hundred conductors, it will readily be seen that small thefts by conductors can easily run into hundreds of dollars daily. As a rule managements do not discharge a conductor for stealing until it has been found conclusively, on at least two or three occasions, that he is doing so.Usually there are as many detectives employed on street railway lines as there are runs or routes on the system. Unknown to the conductors these detectives ride on the cars from early morning until evening, or from morning until midnight, changing from one line to another frequently enough not to be noticed by the conductors.
The detective provides himself with a small counting machine which can be concealed in the hand. Upon boarding a car he makes note of the number of the car, the cap number of the conductor, and the number of cash fares shown by the register. While apparently busily engaged reading a newspaper or magazine, the detective keeps accurate count of the number of passengers boarding the car, noting at the same time if transfers are received or issued. As a rule conductors are required to render separate reports to the company for every trip they make, and to show the place and minute the trip was terminated. They must show in their reports the number of cash fares collected; also the number of transfers issued and collected.
If a conductor’s report for any given trip does not coincide with the report of the detective the conductor will be checked more closely on succeeding trips, often by as many as three detectives at the same time. If the conductor’s reports to the company continue to show a shortage of cash fares, the chances are that he will be discharged. As to the second mentioned source of loss, managements of large companies usually are obliged to defend in the courts the year round, damage suits brought against them for personal injuries by persons who very frequently have sustained no injury or damage whatever. A surprisingly large number of fakesuits are entered yearly against transportation companies. There is also to deal with the professional witnesses, who go from place to place, and who, for considerations of money, will swear to having seen anything happen.
I recall a case wherein a middle aged lady left her home one morning in New York to board a steamship bound for Europe. She rode down town in a surface car which happened to collide with another car, with the result that half a dozen passengers were more or less injured. The lady in question, however, sustained no injury and continued on her way. Several months later, while at the home of a relative in England, she accidentally fell and injured her spine. She promptly took advantage of her mishap by returning to New York, where she brought suit against the railway corporation, claiming to have been disabled permanently as a result of the street car accident before sailing for Europe. The fact that she was permanently injured could not be disputed; the railway was not prepared to dispute the matter of where and how she claimed to have received her injuries, with the result that she received heavy damages. The fraud was discovered by chance several years later.
Like all other large employers of labor, street railway companies are not immune from having their employes go out on strike. When street railway employees, or those of other transportation companies are organized, a strike is liable to be called at any time, and often upon the least provocation. It is highly important that managements have advance information of any proposed strike, and of any grievances of any employees, whether well founded or not. By having such advance information serious loss can very often be averted by the management getting rid of the agitators and trouble makers as quickly as they make their appearance among the employes. It is well for the managements to keep advised at all times regarding the attitude of employees.
There is but one good way to accomplish this, and that is to have detectives scattered among the employes. The detectives can be put to work among the men as conductors, motormen or as shop men. I have known detectives to work in each of these capacities for years at a stretch without becoming uncovered, and without their purpose having become known. The valuable services that such detectives can render their employers will readily be appreciated.
OTHER KINDS OF DETECTIVE WORK
I believe it will be of interest to both experienced and inexperienced detectives to be enlightened regarding some of the many other sources from which private detective work arises. Lawyers throughout the country, in both large and small cities, and even in thinly settled country communities, are large employers of private detective service. When prosecuting or defending damage cases, attorneys very often need detective service in getting at facts, in order to properly prepare their cases. Witnesses must be interviewed, and very often investigated. Murder, burglary, damage and divorce cases supply needs for a great deal of detective work.
State, county and city governments are large employers of private detectives. Counties and cities often have their own staffs of detectives, but there are many occasions when special detectives must be pressed into service. Nowadays election frauds are practiced practically everywhere. Private detectives are needed and can easily obtain employment wherever there are professional politicians. Trusted employees often go wrong and disappear with public funds. Officials holding high offices very often turn out to be embezzlers. Dozens of banks are being defrauded daily somewhere by forgers, sneak thieves and others. Hundreds of our large banking institutions periodically place under surveillance their entire staffs of employees, from the cashier down to the messenger boy and porter in order to keep advised regarding the habits and associates of the employees, which information enables them to select from time to time the proper persons for promotion.
Large manufacturers, no matter what the line, usually are extensive employers of private detectives. I have in mind a large manufacturing concern which employes in its factory probably three thousand persons, and at all times not less than two hundred traveling salesmen, also dozens of branch managers. When it is suspected that a traveling salesman is not attending to business, he is placed under surveillance while on his travels from city to city, for probably one, two or three weeks. The detective’s report will show the time of day the salesman begins work, what firms he calls on, how much time spent with each firm, and how much time is idled away, and the time the salesman discontinued work each day; also how much time the salesman may spend in saloons or other places, how he spends his evenings and how much money he spends.
In connection with this class of detective work, I once had occasion to keep under surveillance for three weeks a traveling salesman, who, as it developed, devoted more time to a side line than he did to the line he was being paid to travel and promote business for. Needless to state, this salesman, after his employers received my reports, was obliged to change his ways. The tendency of salesmen to devote time to side lines is one of the worst evils that employers of traveling salesmen have to contend with.
In factories, no matter of what nature, employers usually find it expedient to place secretly among their employees, detectives who work side by side with the employees. Male or female detectives are so placed, as the case may warrant. The reports these detectives are enabled to render show which employees are worthy of trust or promotion and those that are not. Such reports will show who are the lazy ones, the dissatisfied ones, the strike agitators, those who steal tools, material or supplies, those who violate any rules of the factory or shop; also what kind of treatment is accorded the employees by the foreman. An entire book could be written on this branch of detective work alone. It is an undisputed fact that large employers of labor nowadays cannot conduct their business as successfully without secret service work.
Besides the thousands of manufactories, transportation companies and others who constantly employ detectives, we have the wholesale companies who deal in groceries, dry goods, drugs, shoes, etc., who also are in need of such services. The traveling salesman of such concerns must be looked after, also the drones and thieves with which their warehouses become infested.
ILLEGAL LIQUOR SELLING
Illegal liquor selling opens a very broad field for detectives throughout the country, and I have personally obtained and directed the obtaining of evidence in a hundred different ways. In this branch of the work one cannot be guided by any set rule, but must be governed by prevailing conditions. If it be desired to obtain evidence regarding the illegal sale of liquor, or regarding any other violations oflaw in a hotel of any size, there is only one good plan, and that is to have the detective obtain employment at the place for a few weeks or a month.
I have had many occasions to direct the work of obtaining evidence of the illegal sale of liquor, gambling and other vices in small towns. In the average town of from three to ten thousand population, the best plan is to have the detective obtain employment in some mill, factory or store. In this way he can easily become acquainted and can associate with whatever element he may choose to associate with and without his purpose being suspected. After the detective has been in the town for two or three weeks, and has purchased liquor at the various places where it is sold illegally, a second detective is sent to the town who poses as the friend of the first one. The first detective then proceeds to take his friend around to the various places in the evening, or on Sunday, and in this way corroborative evidence is obtained. Bottles of liquor should be obtained at the various places and retained intact for use later as evidence.
ANONYMOUS LETTERS
There are written and mailed every year thousands of anonymous letters, threatening and otherwise, and there is need for much detective work along this line. Many such letters are written and addressed with the typewriter, the authors believing that by so writing them they can escape detection. But this is not so, as I have always found it easier to trace to the writer those that are written with typewriter, because when type is placed under the magnifying glass it is found that type differs considerably on every typewriter, and each set of type has its own peculiarities. With theassistance of an able typewriter expert, I was enabled during the course of one year to clear up three anonymous letter cases wherein the letters were written with a typewriter.
Thousands of letters known as “black hand” letters are mailed and sent throughout the country, the sending of which offers a wide field for investigation. “Black Hand” letters are by no means all sent by Italians, as is commonly believed. The term is usually applied to letters in which sums of money are anonymously demanded, upon threats of death, torture or punishment.
“ROPING”
The term “roping” is used in connection with detective work to express cultivating the acquaintance of a criminal or other person for the purpose of learning what the person may know regarding a crime or other matter about which it may be desired to obtain information. There is a vast lot of detective work of this kind done, and I will submit a few cases, since every detective should be proficient along this line.
A man was in charge of the supply department for a large corporation, and was suspected of carrying to his home such articles as light globes, machinists’ tools, paint, stamped envelopes, soap, towels, etc. Being called upon to verify this, I detailed a female detective on the case, who succeeded in obtaining lodging and board at the house, and in two weeks she had seen and brought away more than fifty different kinds of articles that had been stolen and carried home by this man.
I once directed the investigation of an $8,000.00 jewel theft which was brought to a successful close by having a negro detective “rope” a negro waiter. Thejewels in question were inadvertently left lying on a chair in a cafe by a well known actress, and they were not missed until the following morning. Three negro waiters came under suspicion and finally suspicion was narrowed down to one of them, who, after the theft, kept roving from city to city. Although he was kept under close surveillance for a period of four months he was never seen with any of the stolen jewels, and apparently made no effort to dispose of them. The suspect finally obtained a position as waiter in a fashionable cafe in a certain large city, when I arranged for a similar position at the same cafe for a negro detective, who immediately began cultivating the acquaintance of the suspect. After two weeks he told the suspect that he was worried over the fear of arrest for having stolen some jewelry in another city. This caused the suspect to feel safe in confiding to the detective the fact that he also had stolen some jewels and was worried over the matter. On a certain night they arranged to meet at the suspect’s room to show each other their stolen jewels, the detective arranging for this so as to ascertain where the suspect was keeping his. The suspect was arrested the following day, and at his room practically all of the stolen jewels were recovered.
I have handled a great many cases wherein the acquaintance of persons holding confidential positions were cultivated. For example, men who employ private secretaries often desire to know if the secretary is absolutely reliable and trustworthy. Whether the secretary be man or woman, “roping” is resorted to, to ascertain if such persons would divulge secrets of their employers. “Roping” of this class of people often entails great expense and detective work of a very high order. I have handled several cases whereinit was necessary to have the detective, in order to get acquainted in a natural way, join the same church and clubs to which the party to be “roped” belonged, also furnished the detective with an automobile and other things so as to keep up appearances, and apparently be on an equal footing with the person to be “roped.”
Roping is very frequently resorted to in damage cases, also in theft cases. Many fake damage suits are brought annually against street railway and other transportation companies. While such suits are pending it is a good plan to have a male or female detective, as circumstances may require, get acquainted with, or obtain room and board with the person to be “roped,” and which usually results in the detective learning the extent of the person’s injuries, if there be any, and such other information of value to attorneys defending such a case.
DETECTIVE WORK IN WAREHOUSES
As previously stated herein, every owner of a wholesale house or warehouse can employ detective service with profit, also packing houses and similar concerns. I have in mind a certain wholesale drug house which employs approximately one hundred men the year round. At one time it was estimated that between two and three hundred dollars worth of goods were stolen and carried off per month. I detailed a detective to go to work in the building among the other employees, and at the end of four weeks the detective’s reports showed specific instances of stealing on the part of sixteen employees. The detective was then permitted to discontinue, and I took these sixteen men in hand, one after another, and obtained signed confessions from them relative to their stealings, and all were discharged. I recall that one of these men admittedstealing and carrying off seven Gillette safety razors in a period of two weeks. Also one of the men whom we took in charge, as he was about to quit work for the day, had secreted on his person six different stolen articles.
In the case of a large packing house it was found that drivers were short some of their goods upon arriving at depots, claiming that the missing goods either were stolen or had not been loaded upon their trucks. They made these trips to the depots between midnight and 5 a. m. These drivers with their trucks were shadowed, when it was found that each had along his route a place where goods were unloaded and sold by the driver. In the case of another large packing house I uncovered thefts of butter alone amounting to three hundred pounds per month.
EXPRESS COMPANIES
Express companies are large employers of detective service, because the temptation to steal goods while in transit is very strong with a great many employees. By detailing secret detectives to work with employees, both in the depots and on trains, I have uncovered many thefts. I once obtained a confession from an express messenger who admitted having stolen in one day two dressed turkeys, a loin of pork, two pounds of butter and a quart of whiskey. He admitted these thefts after he was shown that his helper in the express car was a secret detective, who saw him appropriate the articles.
I once had occasion to conduct an investigation for an express company regarding the theft of $1,500.00 worth of unset diamonds, which were stolen while in transit. In the course of three weeks the thief had not been detected, and the nearest that responsibilitycould be fixed was that the theft was committed by one of three persons. A ruse was then resorted to which produced results, and which ruse often brings results in cases of theft by employees. We caused it to be published in the newspapers that after several weeks investigation and surveillance we had learned the identity of the thief, and that an arrest would positively be made the following day. This had the effect of causing the thief to believe that he had actually been detected, for the next day the stolen diamonds were delivered to the company by mail. The same ruse, applied in various forms, has also been the means of obtaining many confessions in criminal cases. Fear of arrest and conviction often leads a first offender to give up his plunder, and the successful use of this ruse is a matter of bringing it to the attention of the one under suspicion in the most forceful way.
On behalf of an express company, I once was called upon to investigate what was reported to be a burglary of the express office in a town of about five thousand population. Upon arrival there the next day I found that the front window of the office was broken, the break being sufficiently large to have admitted a man’s body. I talked with the agent whose breath indicated to me that he had been intoxicated the night previous, and which fact he admitted. This agent had reported to his superiors that upon arrival at the office that morning he found the front window broken, that the safe apparently had not been tampered with, as the key was found to work perfectly. Upon opening the safe he found that two hundred dollars was missing, fifty dollars having been left in the safe by the burglar, according to his statement. Nothing else around the office was stolen or tampered with. In less than five minutes after arriving thereI concluded that if any cash had been stolen the agent himself was the guilty one. From a boy outside I learned that the window became broken during a severe electrical storm the previous night, which placed the town in darkness for several hours around midnight. An overhead sign was blown down and crashed through the window. Being further convinced that the agent was guilty and had taken advantage of these circumstances to report a burglary, I asked the agent if he had ever loaned his safe key to anyone, and he replied in the negative. I then told him that I knew how the window had become broken, and asked him if he believed it logical that a thief would take the trouble and risk arrest by having a suitable key made for the safe, enter the building, steal two hundred dollars of the cash and leave fifty there. I told him that in my judgment such would be the work of an employee but not of a burglar. The agent hung his head and I told him I was justified in having him arrested on the spot. He confessed immediately, less than an hour after my arrival upon the scene. The facts as shown in this incident should prove of much worth to the experienced or inexperienced detective.
CONSPIRACIES
The disclosure of conspiracies in their hundreds of forms offers a broad field for the detective. Hundreds of damage suits are instituted annually throughout the country wherein damages claimed to have been suffered by the plaintiff are nothing more than conspiracies to defraud. The field for such investigation is very wide, especially as it applies to fake bankruptcy cases and damage cases brought by persons against railroad and street railway companies. For example, I once investigated a case wherein the storeof a certain jewelry firm was destroyed by fire. Later they claimed that during the excitement of the fire some $20,000.00 worth of diamonds were stolen from the premises by some person unknown. The creditors were loath to believe this and had an investigation made which developed that the diamonds in question had not been stolen, but were removed from the store by the owners previous to the fire, and that the fire itself no doubt was a part of the plan to defraud creditors.
Railroad companies suffer tremendously as a result of conspiracies, of which the following is an example, and which ease I personally directed: A new railroad was constructed through a certain farming district, for a distance of perhaps fifteen miles. Before the advent of the railroad none of this farming land had ever been valued at more than twenty-five dollars per acre. Practically all the farmers along the line of the railroad claimed damages up to a hundred dollars per acre. The cases were decided in the courts, upon the opinions of viewers who were appointed by the court, and which body of viewers was composed of disinterested farmers of the same county.
After the railroad company had been compelled to pay two or three excessive claims, it looked about for relief, it having suspected right along that a conspiracy existed among the farmers and viewers to claim and recommend such excessive damages. After three cases had been decided against the railroad company, I detailed two detectives to visit these farmers, and who pretended to have been sent by a number of farmers of a far distant county, who also proposed bringing damage suits against a new railroad company; that they had heard of the success these farmerswere having with their suits, and that it was desired to know along just what lines they were proceeding. The two detectives also advised the ring leaders that they did not want the information gratis, and if given assistance were authorized to pay a certain percentage of all damages secured in the distant county. The result was these farmers then unsuspectingly told the detectives how they had all met and agreed to claim certain amounts of damages, and how they had even gone so far as to hold mock trials at several of the farmers’ homes, so that all concerned would be properly coached when the time came to go into court. At these mock trials one farmer would pose as plaintiff, while another would pose as the railroad company’s attorney, when questions were asked, and answers agreed upon, as was anticipated would come out at the real trials or hearings. Needless to state, that after corroborative evidence of this conspiracy was placed in the hands of the railroad company’s attorney, no more excessive damages were paid, and I later had the pleasure of being advised that this bit of detective work saved the railroad company fully forty thousand dollars.
As to how creditors are defrauded in hundreds of instances, the following is a fair example: A retail shoe dealer in a middle western state went into bankruptcy owing several eastern jobbers several thousand dollars. Examination of the dealers’ stock and records of sales for several months developed the fact that two or three thousand dollars worth of shoes purchased from the eastern jobbers evidently had never entered the dealer’s place of business. It was suspected that the merchandise was concealed or had been secretly disposed of by the dealer. I directed aninvestigation which resulted in locating the goods in another city, the investigation having been conducted along the following lines:
Information as to the road over which the goods were shipped, together with dates, weights and car numbers was first obtained from the shippers. The drayage company on the dealer’s end was then seen, after which drivers for the drayage company were interviewed, and which developed information that the missing goods had never been delivered to the dealer’s place of business, but instead were moved from one depot to another and promptly re-shipped to another city. The same plan was then followed in that city with the drayage companies and the goods easily located, and which were promptly attached by the creditors.
In another case an Italian fruit jobber once received three carloads of fruit, and after disposing of same left suddenly for parts unknown, without remitting to, or paying the shippers. I was called into this case, and I promptly directed that the Italian’s wife and children be placed under close surveillance. In about a week the wife and children packed up their household goods and had the same shipped to a city some three hundred miles distant. The household goods were then watched closely after being unloaded in the freight depot at the point of destination. Three days later the goods were removed from the depot and taken to the home of an Italian, whose house was then kept under surveillance, but no trace could be seen of the fugitive. At the end of a week the household goods were again taken out, hauled to a depot and re-shipped to a small town a hundred miles away. I recall having personally examined the shipping tags attached to the goods upon this occasion, which gave us theaddress of the final destination of the household goods, and which address, a few days later, enabled us to cause the arrest of the fugitive.
TESTING RETAIL BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS
The making of test purchases in retail stores is done very extensively, and for which work detectives are employed. Taking for example a high class confectionery store, drug store or cigar store. The proprietor may not come to his place of business until late in the morning, or may be away for perhaps a week. He desires to know if his sales clerks are honest and reliable, and courteous to customers during his absence from the place of business. The detective retained for this purpose enters the store one, two or three times a day and makes purchases the same as any other customer would, and while in the place makes careful note of the kind of treatment accorded him by the sales clerk, and in particular notes if the amount of his purchase is properly rung up on the cash register, with which most retail business establishments are now equipped. Owners of department stores and of saloons spend thousands of dollars annually for detective work of this kind.