Criminal history shows that the most successful jobs are always
planned and executed by men of education; the details of some of the
great forgeries that have taken place, of the numerous bank robberies
and burglar's exploits, all go to show the direction of a brain of no
ordinary person, being proof positive that the persons planning the
work possessed both education and talent. First class criminals are
exceedingly hard to cope with, and are the most dangerous to handle
by the officers. They do not generally do things in a rush or by
halves. Great care is given to all the minor details of their work,
and it often takes weeks and months before they are ready to put their
plans into operation. They study all the possibilities of the job;
the chances of success, and the way of escape in case of failure; how
they can cover all traces of the work and throw the guilt or suspicion
upon the more unfortunate of their class who have had reputations and
who are likely to be brought up and possibly convicted on suspicion
of being the guilty parties. Educated crooks are always to be feared,
not only by the public against whom they are constantly devising
ways and means to relieve of their valuables, but by detectives of a
lesser grade. This class of crooks do not hesitate to sacrifice the
detective if their desired ends can be successfully accomplished,
while the detective finds it a task of no little moment to gain even
the faintest clue to their operations.