قراءة كتاب Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World
Ex-General Supt. of Police, writing Mr. Wooldridge, says:
"Dear Sir—Before I retire from the command of the Police Department, I desire to thank you for your bravery and loyal service. The character of your work being such that bribes are frequently offered by the criminal class, it becomes necessary to select men of perfect integrity for the purpose, and I now know that I made no mistake in selecting you for this trying duty. It affords me great pleasure to commend you for your bravery and fidelity to your duties."
Nicholas Hunt, Inspector Commanding Second Division, says:
"I have known Clifton R. Wooldridge for the last ten years. As an officer he is par-excellent, absolutely without fear and with a detective ability so strongly developed it almost appealed to me as an extra sense. If I wanted to secure the arrest of a desperate man, I would put Mr. Wooldridge in charge of the case in preference to any one I know, as, with his bravery, he has discretion."
Geo. M. Shippy, Chief of Police, of Chicago, writing Mr. Wooldridge, says:
"Your heart is in the right place, and while I have always found you stern and persistent in the pursuit and prosecution of criminals, you were very kind and considerate, and I can truthfully say that more than one evil doer was helped to reform and was given material assistance by you."
Luke P. Colleran, Chief of Detectives, says:
"His book is most worthy and truthful and commendable; and I take pleasure in commending it to all."
SHERLOCK HOLMES IN REAL LIFE.
From The Chicago Tribune of November 25, 1906.
"Chicago may be surprised to learn that it has a Sherlock Holmes of its own, but it has; and before his actual experiences in crime-hunting, the fictional experiences through which Poe, Doyle, and Nick Carter put their detectives pale into insignificance. His name is Clifton R. Wooldridge.
"Truth is stranger even than detective fiction, and in the number of his adventures of mystery, danger and excitement he has all the detective heroes of fiction and reality beaten easily.
"He has personally arrested 19,500 people, 200 of them were sent to the penitentiary; 3,000 to the house of correction; 6,000 paid fines; 100 girls under age were rescued from lives of shame; $100,000 worth of property was recovered; 100 panel houses were closed; 100 matrimonial bureaus were broken up.
"Wooldridge has refused perhaps 500 bribes of from $500 to $5,000 each. He has been under fire forty-four times. He has been wounded dozens of times. He has impersonated almost every kind of character. He has, in his crime hunting, associated with members of the '400' and fraternized with hobos. He has dined with the elite and smoked in opium dens. He has done everything that one expects the detective of fiction to do and which the real detective seldom does.
"When occasion requires he ceases to appear as Wooldridge. He can make a disguise so quickly and effectively that even an actor would be astonished. Gilded youth, negro gambler, honest farmer or lodging house 'bum,' it requires but a few minutes to 'make-up,' to run to earth elusive wrong-doers."
The pictures which appear here are actual photographs taken from life in the garb and disguises worn by the author in several famous cases.
In this garb the author makes himself an easy mark for the crooks and grafters of the Stock-Yard district. The hold-up man—the card-sharp—the bunco-steerer—the get-rich-quick stock-broker fall "easy game" to the detective thus disguised.
Disguised as an Englishman who has money and is looking for a good investment, Mr. Wooldridge is easily mistaken for a "sucker." The trap is set. He apparently walks into it; but, in a few minutes, the grafter finds himself on the way to prison.
This is a favorite disguise of the author when doing detective duty among the lowest and most disreputable criminals. Unsuspectingly the crooks offer him all sorts of dirty work at small prices for assistance in criminal acts.
Detectives disguised as tramps: "I am made all things to all men," says St. Paul. The Detective must also make himself all things to all men, that he may find and catch the rascals. To be up-to-date it is necessary to be able to assume as many disguises as there are classes of people among whom criminals hide.
An illustration of the way the detective employs himself in the gambling dens. It is often necessary to play and lose money in these places that he may get at the facts. Observe that he is watching proceedings in another part of the room while he is throwing the dice.
Some of the most dangerous grafters in the world hobnob with the elite. Here we have our author in evening dress, passing as a man of society at a banquet of the rich, shadowing a "high-flyer" crook.
The gambling house is a station on the road to crime. In proportion to population there are, perhaps, more negro gamblers than of any other race.
