A prominent police official holds that
women are utterly useless as detectives,
and that no good woman will engage in
the business. He having advanced this
theory in a recent conversation with me.
my curiosity was aroused, and 1 set out
to make some investigations in the mat
ter.
“Are women useful as detectives?” 1
asked the head of a detective bureau, says
a New York Journal rejHirter.
The chief is very diplomatic, and was ,
inclined to be non-committal, but finally :
said;
“Y"es: in many cases women can be
used to better advantages than men. lit
blackmailing cases, in case of theft or in
many civil cases —and by civil cases I
do not meant divorce cases, but
the ordinary every-day cases of the civic
court —women can be made very useful,
more so than men. Their best feature is
getting hold of the confidence of other
women, leading them on to tell what they j
know.”
“Are they often employed in cases of
murder?”
“Not often; yet I do not know why j
they should not be.”
"Can they be trusted?"
The detective hesitated a moment and
his eyes were fixed upon the floor. At
last, in a deprecatory way. he said:
"Well, there is no question that the
average woman is not quite discreet. She
loves to talk. 1 have known female de
tectives whom I could trust —a few."
"Can a woman remain honest in pur
suing this calling?"
"1 do not see why she can not. I can
not see why she should compromise herself.
Of course there are a good many confiden
ces which a woman can draw from a man.
There are a hundred and one tricks at her
command which a man knows nothing of.
