Professional thieves and the detective

By Allan Pinkerton

Containing numerous detective sketches : collected from private records. “ The life of a Detective is naturally a varied and excitable one. At one time he is engaged in the pursuit of the hardened Criminal, whose hands are crimson with the blood of his victim—at another, the Burglar, whose manipulations of the protecting appliances which have been invented to secure the wealth of others from his rapacious grasp, engrosses his attention—and anon he is found working his silent way through the intricate mazes of science, where the Counterfeiter and the Forger, with their miraculous chemicals and deft handiwork, require not only a familiarity with their mode of procedure, but an astute knowledge of human nature and their various characteristics. In the succeeding pages will be found a series of incidents which will fully justify my previous expressionsj and will throw a ray of light upon some of the hidden mysteries which surround the Criminal, but which must eventually present themselves to the intelligent eye of the Detective.”

New York : G.W. Carleton & Co., 1883. 682p.