Claude Melnotte as a Detective, and Other Stories

By Allan Pinkerton

The stories which compose this volume are taken from the author’s original notes on three actual cases, which were placed in his hands several years ago. Whatever else may be said of these tales, they cannot be denied the merit of strict truthfulness ; and it is to this quality, more than to any pretensions to literary excel¬ lence, that the author trusts in presenting them to the public. The patrons of the old Clifton House in Chicago will readily recall the occurrences related in “ Claude Melnotte,” and many of the regular boarders will recognize the characters herein depicted. In some very minor details, a small ingredient of fiction has been introduced, but the accuracy of the story has not been perceptibly affected thereby. It is hardly necessary to state that the names given are all fictitious ; the characters, however, are genuine, and the localities are correctly described. The same is the case with the dramatis persona of the “Two Sisters”; but, for obvious reasons, the scene of the abduction is located at some distance from the town where it actually occurred. The operations of Jules Imbert, “ The Frenchman,” are given literally, without the slightest departure from the facts. (From Preface)

Chicago : W.B. Keen, Cooke & Co. ; Chicago : Lakeside Publishing and Printing Co. 1875. 346p.