WORLD'S SMARTEST DETECTIVES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 235, 22 February 1913, Page 1 (Supplement)

WORLD'S SMARTEST DETECTIVES

PARIS' EFFICIENT FORCE. ]t is claimed for the Paris detective that he is the cleverest and most courageous in the world; and without drawing invidious comparisons it would be difficult to find a rival with a more resourceful brain in the tracking of crime or a stouter heart to brave danger and even death in the pursuit of his calling. And certainly it requires not only courage of a high order, but strong muscles to support it, to tackle the apaches of Paris, who are the most desperate and dangerous hooligans of the Continent, with their "playing-ground" in the desolate districts fringing the fortifications. In these lawless regions they swarm and prowl, ready to pounce on any wayfarer.

A favorite method of the Paris hooligan is described thus: With an accomplice, he lurks in the moat of the fortifications until a more or less prosperous wayfarer passes by, when the rascals leave their hiding-place to stroll casually in the same direction behind their victim. On reaching a dark, deserted thoroughfare, the leader leaves his companion, walks a little in advance of the unsuspecting man, and pauses to light a cigarette until the latter passes him. Then, with lightning quickness, he whips off the strong silk muffler which he carries loosely knotted round his neck, slips it over his victim's head, and with a swift turn of the body lifts him oil' his feet. The accomplice then rushes up, renders the helpless and choking man unconscious by a heavy blow on the head, and in a few moments his pockets are emptied, and the hooligans walk off with their booty, leaving him senseless by the wayside. BRUTAL METHODS OF THE APACHE. Such is one of the many cralty and brutal methods of the apache, when, as he always is, on. plunder bent, and which make him an object of terror to lawabiding citizens. But he has at least his match in the Paris detective, who knows every one of his tricks and how to meet them. When, for instance, the apache is in danger of arrest, his usual resource is to charge his would-be captor with lowered head, thus effectually disabling him by a crashing blow "below the belt."

But the Paris policeman is much too wary a bird to be thus easily caught. Stepping quickly aside, he deals his man a heavy blow on the nape of the neck as he passes, thus placing him hors de ccmbat; or, with raised knee, he will counter the blow, and before his dazed aggressor can recover, will send him to earth with a sledge-hammer fist.

With what almost incredible coolness the detective can face even a large gang of those ruffians, the following experience of M. Goron. late Chief of the Paris Service de Sure-tie, shows. Once, after midnight, M. Goron was walking alone and unarmed along the solitary road that borders the fortifications in the Pantan qnartier, when he saw a number of apaches sitting round a fire. It was too late to retreat, for he had been seen, and no doubt recognised. "I was not long in making up my mind," he says. "Going up to the group. I said 'Good evening.' 'Good evening,' they repeated, without enthusiasm. Then they stood motionless, eyeing me suspiciously. 'I want you to do me a favor,' I continued; 'it is a long way to the Commissariate, the road is not very safe, and I shall be obliged if two or three of you will accompany me so far." Then, pointing to the two most villain-ous-looking members of the gang, M. Goron asked them to act as his escort; and, sullenly responding to the invitation, the brace of desperadoes not only accompanied him back to the Commissariate, but followed him inside, "like lambs taken to the slaughterhouse," and drank his health in cognac before taking their departure. Such is a typical example of the courage and coolness of the Paris detective nt times when a moment's hesitancy or cowardice would certainly cost him his life.

But there is no emergency to whieh he is not equal and no risk he is not prepared to face. At an hour's notice he will start on the track of a murderer or burglar, and disappear for, it may be, weeks, in the lowest slums of Pans, rarely returning without having run his quarry to earth. And for this purpose he can assume any one of a score of disguises, each so clever as to baffle detection. He will play the role of butcher or beggar, count or cabman, and each he will play to the life, combining the skill of a clever actor with the tracking instinct of a bloodhound.

One of the smartest detectives of Paris once masqueraded for weeks as a wrestler and "strong man" until at last he was able to put the handcuffs on a professional Hercules who had committed a particularly brutal murder. Another worked as a scullion at a restaurant, and only left bis plate-washing when he had discovered a couple of much-wanted thieves among,his fellow employees. And a (bird detective. ~SL Hamard, a man of brawny muscles and a sublime contempt of danger, once forced his way unarmed into a room, the occupant of which was a. murderer armed with a sabre, and after a, desperate struggle led him away a prisoner. FIVE THOUSAND ARRESTS.

One officer alone has a record of more than five thousand arrests, the majority of them effected single-handed, and almost all at considerable risk; and yet with such consummate skill have they been made that he has only received injuries (and those but slight) on four occasions.

But such work as this forms only a small part of the duties of the Paris Service de Surete, which spreads its close-meshed net over the whole of the capital—and far beyond it; for the Prefect has his secret agents in all the principal towns of Europe. Xo one enters Paris without the Surete knowing all that is necessary about him in 24 hours. The history and whereabouts of every known criminal are on its records. Xo lawless meeting can be held that is not attended by one or more of its officers in disguise; and every gamblingroom is constantly under similar surveillance. The harmless-looking old gentleman or young sprig of fashion who is your neighbor at the roulette table is very possible an officer of the law masquerading as a gambler. Xor is the detective himself safe from espionage; for his movements are followed by the eyes of other officers wbose duty it is to play the spy on him, in a variety of disguises which are as much a puzzle to him as to the criminal.

It is perhaps scarcely to be wondered at that the Paris detective system is such a, perfect machine; for not only are its officers chosen from the best material in France, but they are trained for their work with a thoroughness unknown in

any other country, and it is only after a long period of schooling by experts that they are allowed to commence their work. STIFF TESTS. How exacting this training is may be gathered from the following tests which a student must pass in a very early stage of his coaching. He is placed in the centre of a brilliantly-lighted room. After a few seconds the light is extinguished, and the pupil is then expected to draw a plan of the room, marking the exact position of the furniture and

oeksd to describe it accurately, its features, and the color of hair and eyes, and then to pick it out from hundreds of other photographed faces. A third and still more difficult test is for the student to enter a darkened room full of curious and unusual objects, and, after passing his hands over them, to leave the room and to give a minute account of its contents. And what is the reward for such skill and risk and laborious training? A sal- 1 tiry which a London artisan would scorn! An inspector of the Surete has a commencing salary which a London constable would decline for his own, for it falls short of 25s a week; and the greatest Weekly income he may hope for, if he is a lucky man, is barely a guinea more. And when his 25 years' service is ended he retires on a pension ranging from £4B to £72 a year!