Next Best Thing

NZ Truth, Issue 1198, 15 November 1928, Page 6

Next Best Thing

AN interested spectator during the recent murder trial m Dunedin was ex-chief-detective Patrick Herbert. No doubt "Paddy" — as he is better known — felt a twang of the old am- J bitiousness which, . together with his great abilities, made him one of the smartest crime detectors this country ever had as a society guardian.. At all events, P.H. could not resist a peep m to see how some of his successors had woven the old net of circumstantial evidence, ancV Patrick is well-qualified to judge such matters for he figured m the trials of many notorious crimes. Whether the old sleuth could pick out any flaws m the handling of the case is very doubtful, but you can rely upon it that he. would pour out genuine admiration if the presentation of the case pleased his very comprehensive perception of police work. Irish?— Yes, and fully endowed with the stoushiar propensities of the Celtic race, Paddy gloried m a little oral combat with any member of the legal profession. Pitting his brain against those of the criminal world, he revelled m his work, ever presenting himself as a nasty snag m the surging waters of crime.