Since there is no actual equivalent of the position of “Staatsanwalt”
it is almost impossible to find an English rendering that conveys
its full meaning. In part the duties assimilate those of the Public
Prosecutor, but in England we can hardly conceive of an official of
high judicial status personally identifying himself with his cases to
the extent of disguising himself and playing the part of a detective.
Wenk’s position appears to combine some of the offices which would here
be delegated to various individuals acting more or less independently
as subordinates to a higher and single authority. He was a barrister
and an LL.D., and a person of some influence, however, as his threat
to the governor of the women’s prison, and his treatment of the night
editor prove.
In accordance with modern German usage I have adhered to the original
in dropping the “von,” when intimates of the same social class are
speaking to or of each other, maintaining it in the more formal
intercourse and the reports tendered by social inferiors.
Readers should note that in the currency now prevailing, the amounts
staked by Hull and his friends would be tens of thousands, and his
total losses would run into many millions.