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 of law
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 the assistance 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. The jewels 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 wherein it 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 admitted stealing 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 responsibility could 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 there I 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 store of 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 farmers were 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 an investigation 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 the address 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.
DIVORCE CASES
As everyone knows, thousands of divorce actions are brought every
year throughout the country and many detectives find employment in
connection with such cases. The custom is that when the husband,
for instance, suspects his wife of infidelity, he has her placed
under surveillance for a month or so, which usually develops whether
or not his suspicions are well founded. However, information and
corroborative evidence is obtained by the husband, or by the wife, as
the case may be, in a hundred other ways. While detective work of this
nature has no doubt always been profitable to detectives, my opinion
is that it has never been any too creditable, and my advice to the
detective is to keep as clear of this kind of work as possible, because
such cases require skillful work and handling, and often when handled
successfully, the results do not offset the undesirable notoriety that
may be given the detective.
ARSON
As is quite well known, the fire losses in the United States run
annually into millions of dollars, and if one would take the trouble
to have half an hour's talk with any fire insurance expert it will be
found that a surprisingly large percentage of fires are no doubt the
results of schemes to defraud fire insurance companies. Much detective
work is directed in an effort to lessen these losses, and to bring
about the arrest and conviction of the offenders, but my knowledge of
conditions is that the crime of arson continues on the increase rather
than on the decrease.
Life and accident insurance companies throughout the country employ
hundreds of detectives the year round to investigate risks and
fraudulent claims. Many individuals somewhere daily place in the hands
of private detectives, various kinds of cases to be investigated, and
in conclusion I will say that when a case is submitted to the detective
for investigation it should be made the subject of careful thought and
consideration. As a rule, every case differs in some way, but if good
common sense methods are applied, results can be secured, no matter how
difficult or how complicated the case may be at the start.
FINGER PRINTS SIMPLIFIED
A New Handbook of the Science of Finger Print Identification
By JAMES HOLT
[Illustration: Book Cover]
CONTENTS
I The Uses of Finger Prints:--Banking--Military Uses--Family
Records--Loss of Identity--Criminal Work--Opportunities for Students.
II Finger Print Future:--The Probationary Period--Check
Protection--Pensions--Wills--Business Identification--Criminal
Identification--Offsetting Circumstantial Evidence.
III Making and Reading Finger Prints:--Types of Prints--Articles
Needed--How to Take Prints--Ridges and Depressions--Types or
Patterns--Type Distribution--Care in Taking Prints--Symbols Used in
Finger Prints.
IV Classification of Finger Prints:--How to Produce Formulas--Method
of Forming Primary Classification--Sub-Classification--Lettered
Formula--Classification Rules--Second Sub-Classification--Final
Classification--Classifying Broken Sets--Ring Finger Count.
V Filing, Searching and Comparing:--Order of Filing--Searching Files.
VI Review Questions and Answers.
FULLY ILLUSTRATED
Cloth Binding. 135 Pages. Price, postpaid, $1.25
FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO., Publishers
CHICAGO
Transcriber's Notes:
--Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
--Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
--Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
--Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.