CHAPTER XX
THE DETECTIVE BUREAU
The main spoke in the wheel at the Central Office is the Detective Bureau. Less than sixty years ago this branch of the service was organized as a separate and independent Bureau.
Sergeant Lefferts was one of the earliest commanders of the Detective Squad. This was in 1857, and he held it for one year. Headquarters was then on Broome Street. After Lefferts, Captain George W. Walling, afterwards Superintendent, commanded the City Hall Precinct. He took charge of the Detective Bureau and held it from 1858-60. Then Chief John Young took charge of the Bureau from 1860-67. He was assisted by Sergeant Lefferts. After him came Capt. Jas. J. Kelso, who held it for three years. He was followed by Capt. James Irving, who was in charge from 1870-75. After him came Captain Kealy who held it for four years.
In 1880 Inspector Byrnes took charge of the Detective Bureau and held it twelve years. This was longer than any other man. During this period he completely reorganized it, putting it on a more scientific basis. Byrnes was followed by Captain McClusky, Steven O’Brian and Titus, each of whom held it in turns. In 1901, when Commissioner Greene was made head of the Police Department by Mayor Low, Inspector Brooks and Captain Langan were jointly in charge of the Detective Bureau, but the former held it only a few months.
In an interview with a well known Inspector, who is one of the best of our city detective experts, I asked him what were his methods in detecting crime. He replied, “I have no methods but hard work. Each case must be a law to itself. We have no cast iron rules for discovering crime.” Then the Inspector went on to say, “When a crime has been committed we consider first of all the underlying motives. If it is a burglary or a ‘hold up,’ it is more than likely it was done for plunder. If a murder, it was doubtless done for revenge. If it is a case of much importance we put a couple of good men upon it. Follow up the clues, search the pawnshops, watch the haunts of criminals and work on till the property and crooks are discovered. Careful work always brings good results.”
“The detective methods in vogue fifteen years ago,” said the Inspector, “would be useless to-day.” “With the evolution of the criminal there must needs be a change in the detection of crime. Here is a letter from a fellow in State Prison,” said the Inspector; “this fellow is willing to ‘squeal’ on his ‘pals’ who are on the outside, provided he gets his liberty. Of course we cannot promise him any such luxury, it is the Governor’s prerogative to pardon, not ours.”
The twentieth century criminal makes a business of crime. A man of this character made bold to tell me that he had been a thief for nearly forty years and he meant to be a thief to the day of his death. He refused to work for a living. Pickpockets and thieves of the lower order make a business of following circuses, county fairs, picnics, races and conventions, and they always make a good haul at such places. A few days before the Dewey Parade in this city, September, 1900, which drew together from one to two hundred thousand strangers, Captain George W. McClusky, then Chief of the Detectives, captured nearly four hundred well known crooks in his dragnet and locked them up till the “show” was over. In this crowd there were tramps, pickpockets, sneak thieves, second story men, country thieves, professional criminals of every ilk, including the irresponsible thief. They were held in prison for a few days as suspicious characters. After the crowds left the city they were discharged. While locked up in the Tombs they were in an ugly mood and abused every one in sight.
If the direct perpetrators of a crime cannot be found in the ordinary way, then our modern Sherlock Holmes must fall back upon “clues” and follow them up to their legitimate end. But if there are no clues, then the brainy detective must work out a satisfactory solution of the mystery for himself and solve it. The method of Thomas F. Byrnes, who had been long and successfully connected with the New York City Police Department, was to bring the suspected criminal back to the scene of the crime for sake of the startling effect. If an atrocious homicide had been committed Chief Byrnes usually took the murderer back to the place where the deed was done, and then watched him. If a burglary, and the property found, it would be placed before the suspect and be watched.
Criminals are made of different classes or types. The beginner in crime is often a petty offender. He steals small sums although never arrested. The scale is a descending one, rather than ascending. Few men leap over a moral Niagara all at once; they are going down hill gradually for a long time before the law gets hold of them. After a few years the man who was once a greenhorn plans crime like a general who plans a campaign. It is then that the Department needs an expert Sherlock Holmes to capture them.
The history of a crime is often full of thrilling experiences and when unraveled by a keen-minded detective and all the details of the plot laid bare, the final revelations show it to be the work of a master mind. The great crimes of the past hundred years were not the work of ignoramuses but of men capable of commanding an army. They were brainy criminals.