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eCasc Bookof a
True Narrsthres of Interesting Cases by a
Operative of the William J. Burns DetecSro
Br DAVID CORKCLL
A MATTER OF INTUITION
How the Brundage Novelty Company
Robbery Wat Uncovered
At one time In the hlatory of detec
tive work, possibly, the sole function
of the detective wai to detect crime
and crlminala. Thli still la the func
tion for which official de tec tires,
thoae employed by city atate or na
tion, exlat But In thla day of hectic
busincia competition there has grown
to startling proportions another us
for tbe private detective agency; and
the waya and means In which the pub
lic is learning to use and misuse the
service which any detective agency
places at their back and call for $8
a -day, often have little or nothing In
common with the original purposes
of the detective's profession.
Probably one half the business that
comes to the private detective agency
Is "business Instead of crime. Firms
hire private detectives to cpy on a
competitor; employera hire them to
look up the conduct 01 employes after
business Lours. There are private
tective agencies so unscrupulous that
you can engage their operatives for
almost any service, no mttter how
low. Then, again, there is the Burns
Agency, of which I was an operative,
which will not touch a piece of busi
ness that la not obviously and abso
lutely aquare. But even pursuing this
policy, without wavering, they are at
times led Into wlerd and wonderful
paths of business mazes; and the
work often is no less thrilling than
the pursuit of vicious criminals.
The Brundage Novelty Company
case was one of the most interesting
jobs of any kind that I ever tackled.
On the first of September, 1910, our
cency received a telephone call from
the Knickerbocker Hotel. The call
was: "Please pick out a man whom
you know you can trust in every way
and tend h!m up here to room L 98."
The call, r refused to give his name
or to motion the purpose for which
he wanted a detective.
"I'll explain all that satisfactorily to
you after I have. Been whether you
have a man whom I consider capable
cf handling my business," was his an
swer to the office manager's request
for racre information.
"That's a queer one," muttered the
-manager, and he took the call in to
the chief.
"Better send Cornell up there to
see what It is," said th chief. "We
won't touch it if it doesn't !ook good."
I at once took the subway to Times
Gnnora anrl a fow tnlnnfaa 1atci T I
knocked at room L 9s. The door was
opened by an old man of patriarchal
appearance, one in whom the dreamer
and the man of efficiency seemed
strangely combined. He peered at
me for possibly 30 seconds through
the six inches of opening he had
made.
"Come in," he said. After he had
shut and locked the door he added:
"You're from the Burn's Agency, of
course. Sit down."
I sat. The old man stood before
me with his hands on his hips. Usual
ly it is the detective who stands and
scrutinizes and analyzes his client,
but in this case the usual order was
reversed.
"How old are your said the old
man presently.
"Thirty-six," I replied.
"Married?"
, "Yes."
"Children ?"
j "Three."
"Got a picture of your wife or any
of the children with you?"
I looked at him and began to smile.
"Now look here, sir," I said; "so far
as I understand it, you sent for a de
tective" "Young man," said he, holding up
his hand in great dignity, "do not be
impatient, please. Please answer my
Questions. Call it humoring an old
man, if yon will. There is a reason.
Now, again; have you a picture of
your wife or children with youT Do
you carry one?"
More out of curiosity to see what
be was driving at than anything else,
X replied that I did carry auch a pic
ture, and opening my watch showed
him the tiny picture of my little fam
ily that was pasted on the inside of
the case.
"Good," said he. "Do you carry any
life insurance?
You old shark I" I said, laughing.
So that's what you got me up here
for? Well, that's certainly a new
dodge for an insurance agent."
"Young man, young man dont,
please;" said he. "Answer my ques
tion, if you please."
"Yes," I said, "I do."
"Good!" Then he drew a chair up
before me, and sat down rubbing his
hands.
T must have a decent man, a fairly
good man, a man I can believe in to
handle this business." said he. "That
is why I asked those apparently aim
less questions. A married man is more
dependable than a single one; a man
who thinks a lot of his family is most
dependable of all for my purpose.
And a man who thinks a lot of his
family will often carry a picture
around with him, and carry Hfe in
surance for their benefit. Nowdo
you understand mc? That is my way
tv wwe
PrivateDetcdiv
2
SWMj
of finding; out if I want to treat a
man."
"Welir aald L
"Well," said he, "I believe I hart
been fortunate enough to find auch a
man at my first try. I believe I can
trust you. My name la Ezra Brun
dage." At first the name conveyed nothing
to me.
"Inventor of the Brundage novel
ties," he continued, "and president of
the Brundage Novelty Company, of
Hoboken."
I placed him, then; I had seen his
photograph in the advertisements of
the Brundage novelties.
"What is it that you want me to do,
Mr. Brundage?" I asked.
"I want you." said he, "to aatlsfy
me that the Brundage Novelty Com
pany Is not being robbed."
Then he went on to explain. It
seems that he had no definite reason
for being suspicious. He said it was
only his intuition that told him all
was not right In the company. He
said that a sense of wrong-doing on
the part of someone in the office had
impressed him several weeks before;
that the Impression had grown until
he had begun to investigate, and
though he could find no signs, he now
was fully convinced that the company
and therefore himself was being
robbed.
"Intuition entirely, Mr. Cornell," he
said. "But all my life I have, listened
to my Intuition, even in my business
dealings, and I find that it guards me
better than anything else I know."
"Whom do you suspect?" I said
bluntly.
"Mr. Cornell, I am in partnership
with a young man named Gerber."
"And he's the man, is he?"
He bowed. "I am afraid so, though
I dislike to say It. Mr. Gerber is a
young man, and hitherto I have
thought him the soul of honor one
whom it was a privilege and pleasure
to associate with."
"And how do you think he's get-
ting away with the loot?
He thought it over for a few sec
onds and said slowly: "I do cot
know. That is what I what you to
find out. He is our treasurer, and
so has charge of all the finances of
the firm."
"Well," said I, "are there any de
tails you can give me? Any point
ers?" "None," he said. "But I have this
suggestion to make; that you go to
work in our office as a clerk where
you will have opportunities for close
observation."
"To watch you partner, Gerber?"
"To watch Mr. Gerber. I place the
case in your hands; watch Mr. Ger
ber." Back to the office I went to report
to the chief.
"I thought you would find sort of a
queer bird from the way he phoned,"
said the chief. "But business is bus
iness; he's retained us for the job,
and your Job is to watch Gerber.
However, don't be so slow as to mere
ly follow his suggestion about going
to work in the office. Beat the old
man to it; look up Gerber after
hours. You'll get more there, prob
ably, than you would In the office."
Under these instructions I went
over to Hoboken at once with an
other man to get a "spot" on Gerber,
who was unknown to me. "Getting
a spot" on a man in detective par
lance signifies this process: one de
tective enters an office or place of
business and asks for the man that
is wanted. Meeting him, he makes
some excuse and gets away. At the
door of the place he waits for the man
to come out. Across the street is an
other detective. Whes the man who
is to be shadowed comes out the first
detective signals to the man across
the street in some unobtrusive way,
and drops out. In this case duffer,
the man who went with me, entered
the offices of the Brundage Novelty
Company and asked for Mr. Gerber.
Having met him Cluffer merely ap
plied for a position and was turned
down. When Gerber came out at 5
in the afternoon Cluffer, standing near
the office entrance, took a paper from
his pocket and began to read it the
signal we had agreed upon. Then Cluf
fer went back to New York, and I,
whom Gerber had never seen, took
up the trail. In this way all chance
for suspicion on the part of the sub
ject is eliminated.
For the next three days we "took
him up in the morning and put him to
bed at night" That is, from the mo
ment when he left his house in the
morning to when he retired for the
night, Gerber never was out of sight
of a detective.
By day, in the office, I had him un
der my eye, having gone to .work
there as a clerk. Outside of the office
another man from the agency watch
ed him, no matter where he went.
Gerber didn't have a chance to make
a move that wasn't reported on.
But nothing developed in this time,
and I went to the chief and reported
my belief that old Brundage was half
cracked and that his suspicion was
nothing more or leas than a hallucina
tion, a brainstorm, to put in bluntly.
"Well, don't let that worry you,"
said the good natured chief. "Brun
dage is paying the bill. He's good for
It, and there's nothing more Import
ant en hand for yon Juat at present.
And, say, Cornell, don't yon foe! your
self too myth about that old fellow
bavin a brainstorm. He's a pretty
wise old bird. Any man who can in
vent the score of little things that
he's put on the market, and run a suc
cessful business at the same time, la
no fool, let tie UH you. The thing
may develop into a freak case, but
believe ma. old Brundage has some
real reason for incurring our bill."
The fifth day of the case a roughly
dressed young man came in to see
Gerber. Gerber took him into his pri
vate office and closed the door, so It
was Impossible for xae to see or hear
what west on between them. But the
fact that such secrecy had been ob
served put me on my guard, and when
the young fellrw came out I managed
to have something to do that brought
me near to him. It aeema ridiculous,
possibly to the layman, to mention as
the starting point In an exciting ease
a whiff of an odor, but such was the
real starting point of the Brundage
Novelty Company case from my stand
point. I caught the odor of gasoline from
thla young man as he swept out of
Oerber's private office.
Of course the thins meant noth
ing at the time. It suggested nothing.
The only situation opened by it was
thla: Gerber had some dealings of a
private nature with a young man who
amelled of gasolene.
At the same time. It opened up an
other possible clue for ua to work on,
for in our previous investigation we
had not found Gerber in any dealings
with anybody who smelled of gasolene
or whe anight have occasion to use
that said. Aa our task was to inves
tigate all angles of Oerber's career,
with a view to finding something to
subatantlate old Brundagea indefinite
suspicions, the young man with the
gasolene odor promptly became an in
teresting factor.
Across the street was one of our
men, waiting. When the gasolene man
left the 'building I gave Dawson the
signal to follow him. My xaan picked
up the trail like a hound, and well sat
isfied that the mysterious young man
would be followed to his destination,
I turned back to my pretended occu
pation. Mind, all this work was being done
without any sane or definite reason
for doing it We didn't know whether
Gerber was guilty of anything, or if
he was guilty, of what it might be.
We were working for Brundage, who
had a suspicion, and so long; as he
paid the bill, and we had nothing
more important to do, we would con
tinue on the job.
I suggested to Mr. Brundage that
he examine the books of the company
for Indications of anything wrong.
"I had thought of that long ago,
said he. "But Mr. Gerber has all the
books in his , personal charge. He
locks them up every evening. To se
cure them for an investigation it
would be necessary to make a demand
upon Mr. Gerber, and this naturally
would arouse his suspicion. No. We
will go on as we have begun. I am
satisfied. If anything is wrong it will
be shown, for Mr. Gerber is not per
mitted to remove the books from this
office." .
That evening I got Dawson's report
oa tae yousg man who taS been U.
to see uertKr.
He's the enrwr cf a fifty toot
gasolene Ucach. the Nadlne, that i
rytsg in the Hsdon opposite Ftortf
second street."' Dawson reported. "The
boaTs owrer is said to be a Mr. Its
set
-Said -to be?"
Tee; because I hung around ana
wormed out a description of this Ru
sr from a lot of fellows hasrieg
around the docks, and ceases pretty
close to looking like Mr. Gerber. II
these fellows were right-"
Still, this meant nothing j Zxr a-
any case was concerned. But when
1 made enquiries about the once to
find out If Gerber went ia for motor
boating, and found he had expresaeo
alms elf as having an aversion to the
water, the thing lsan to look as it
there might be sMm thing in it. 12
the boat. The Nadlne. belonged to Ger
ber, he was keeping It a ecet; an 3
If he had secrets they might be con
nected with Brundage's suspicions of
something wrong in the firm.
Strange to say, as I continued to
watch Gerber. I too. began to acquire
a suspicious feeling torarJ him. just
aa the senior partner had done. There
waj, no tangible reason why this
should be to. His actions apparently
were what they should be. But there
was something wrong with the man.
That la as veil as I am able to ex
plain It: He wasn't "right" I have
felt thla intuition or "hunch," in de
tective parlance several times in my
career; and the experiences have con
vinced me that the detection of crime
could be rrnde an exact psychological
science, that ach and every guilty
person carries about him certain signs
or possibly an aura which distin
guishes hira from the normal being.
For guilt of a crime of any sort, after
all, is an aDnormality.
Gerber. in his oice. and in his life
after business Lours, apparently went
along as an honest man in his posi
tion should. But the more I studied
him the more I began to agree with
Brundage that it waa time he was in
vestigated. I put Dawson to work on the young
engineer. Dawson rented a little mo
tor boat, got permission to tie it up
beside the fifty-footer in the young
man's charge, and began to overhaul
his engine, as if preparing for a cruise
This gave him an opportunity to bor
row wrenches and oils from the larg
er boat, to buy drinks and cigars to
pay for the favors, and so to strike
up a close acquaintance wfch the man
he was after.
Had that young man been strictly
temperate it is doubtSol if the Brun
dage Novelty Company case ever would
have become a credit to the Burns
Agency. Dawson plied him steadily
with liquioTrefreshment in the saloons
along the water front. od the young
man began to talk about his employer.
"He's a queer crab."' said the en
gineer. "He. makes me keep this
boat in running order day and night
makes me stay by it ready to re
paint it at a minute's notice. Now
what in the devil would a man want
to have his boat repainted so sud
denly for?"
T couldn't guess, said Dawson.
. Then again, went on the intem
perate engineer, "his name is Gerber
and be v xae tell every bodythat
th Wat i owned by a chad "named
Hose el No, what weald bt t doing
that for? I
He shut up suddenly then, reallatsg
ia drunken fashion that be bad gone
too tar.
After Dawson had made thla report
be went off the case, being called tn
to the New Tork See. For the next
week, or until September SStb, I
worked on Gerber tn every way I
knew bow. without finding a thing. On
the 25th he failed to show up at the
oSce. A telebnne call to his house
elicited l-e fact that be had left at
about midnight and had not returned
I had a bench oa the Instant, and
calling a taxi drove to the place where
the Nadlne had been docked. The
slip waa empty, the boat was gone.
From men around the docks ! found
that the boat had disappeared lu the
night without belni seen, that nobody
had known it was going, and that no
body krew where it bad gone.
I went back to the office and told
Brundage all I knew.
"Um!" said he, and together we
went in the safe. Brundare tried
to open it. he and Gerber having had
the combination together. He failed.
For half an hour he tried, and then ho
gave up and telephoned for an t Xpert
from the safe company.
When the safe finally was opened
the books were placed at once In the
hands of an expert accountant. He
found the discrepancy within half an
hour.
"It is one of the clumsiest cases of
Juggling I ever saw," he said. "Aa
near as I can tell on this short exam
ination, the cash is J1&.000 short. Ap
parently it has been short for a Ion
time, because I see that the Juggling
of figures has been going on for
months."
"Hm," said Brundage. "For months,
eh? I waB slow. Mr. Cornell, your
task is simplified now; you have only
to find Mr Gerber."
Yes, that was all, but that waa
When hefumec! wwfroml
window I tsos slandinj before bim.'
plenty. Here is how we laid down
our theory of the situation: Gerber
had gone away in the Nadlne. He
had probably had the boat repainted,
renamed, and otherwise altered be
fore leaving. He had left no sign of
his route or destination. Our task
was to comb the Hudson river up and
down and pick out Gerber in his prob
ably altered boat.
Dawson came over on tae Jump
from the office.
"I sized the Nadlne up carefully
said he. "I think I will know-her even
under a different name) and different
paint" ,
"Get the fastest boat for hire on
the river," said Brundage, "Follow
him . and bring him back."
We got the Puritan, a semi-racer
with a small cabin. Two houis after
the discrepancy in Oerber's books had
been found, Dawson 'and I were chug
chugging up the Jersey side of the
Hudson 20 miles an hour, with our
eyes on the lookout for a launch that
might be the Nadlne. At the same
time we notified all police chiefs of
the towns along the river to be on
the lookout for such a boat and for
Gerber and his engineer. Four days
of this sort of work, coupled with the
efforts of the various -police depart
ments, showed us that no boat of this
fleecrtptlca aa ci ftl.
Ndlte b4 4is?;- x
I wea? Uck to tl
and ba to c?k
era-ou ales tie k-it
htS Wntt v..
, ..T tTM .
and caan? oe. Cf Af ;
remark that r: c- .
-Where vt
far." aid tku cut
hate ta ut
five miles, atd tir
to get any wt a, ,
44
iiaui.
If this was tr. ti N
purchajMf cok&
maae a iorg trip
find, she had art
aa a chance that tie i,. ..,?i-r
la the riclclly.
Working on itu ci
to search the n- 37 ulJ
the second dy c
was up hlRh ar.d Srj
Hut frvr I V. . "
served the derietlcs rf
ply the bt rr.!M h4,t U;. M$1
till it rotted tWore rcjrj JT
the work of diKu.;:r. ur u wT
well done, and a t.! oz tiV,.
in dry dock is of 4Str-t i;;c"u,M
than a boat In tto a!tr.
I a forced to rr.! a r-.,. ,
of Gerber hen I tour
He Lad fooled ut. ar.d f u JJ
ycally. We had though: j. frj
thing that be had Coa ?,
down the rirer. He feai trk. Y-
tlcally to this end lix u jk t
nothing of th i in. All l u
as I discoered h-n 1 ioc
engineer was to te; Lcl t A.
ter to take the N.idln cut a:
and 1st her up for rtv.rt J
boatyard. Then h Gerber. U
ted otherwhere. U-arlng ti to
away on his false, watery !n?ki jj
was well done, it was btu t?u
than most crooked pleceg cf cr.
like all crooks he had not i;;:
consider the absolute cert&iuj of u
Ing cauRht when tber ! ;".:t $
money willing to be spent to re i
capture.
"Get him." directed Unitd -j
don't care how high the ISIU rzz;
that man."
After that it was only a qumv;:- of
time.
How Is the net woven with t. i
certainty around the hid!:.: cr.u.'
In Gerber'a case, ten !: fvr .
defalcation was discovered. ( : cr
culars, containing his desrri;.ii' i:
history and two cuts of him. rr s
the hands of as many tralr.1 i
all parts of the country. A t bourns
men, in all the large ports c! tit
world, had these circular ttrn
weeks later.
Gerber was not caught, hotw.
until after three months had
Then one of his intimate friezi
whom I was watching as the first ;?
son Gerber would be likely lo cti
municate with received a leutr ii
marked New Orleans, and ddreii-t
in a disguised hand. I bad ioeifi.ci
of the letter before the friend ei?
saw it through a secret arranirtnn
with the postal authorities. I o;it
it and it was from Gerber. Co;7n
the letter, word by word. I m!i
again, and sent it along to its itt's
atlon. But before he ever recent
the letter I was on my way to N
Orleans. I went straight to tht $
eral delivery window at the rost o?
flee and waited. Gerber had dirert4
his mail to be sent there. I got tia
that night He came in with bii tat
over his eyes, and asked for a letter
When he turned away from the vta
dow I was standing before bin.
"Hello, Gerber." I said. "I cirt
down to bring you back to Hobckea
He stood dumb for ten teccoU
Tken he blurted: "How in did yoi
ever do It? Haven't been out of cf
room in daylight since I came fcert"
"Oh. well," I said, "you comt fccl
like a nice boy and I'll uU joc 3
about it on the train."
Brundage didn't prosecute Gerte-
He said, "Fifteen thousand dollari U
big sum to lose. But It would
harder for me had I lost faith ia nJ
sense of Intuition"
The Captain of His Soul.
Nearly blind, partly paralysed
Vholly helpless. Ged. Homer U
cently in command of tbe Tlctcs
Chinese revolutionary army. ! report
ed to be returning to tb tTcit
States. His ailments are not cf
cent origin. As a young man Ho
Lea was frail and under Ued.
Thoie who saw this lad a few 7"
ago drilling companies of
with broomsticks for riflaa oaly f
ed at the grotesque eight But te re
fused to recognlre his llxaitatiocsi
driving force within him urged his
and made up for all deficiencies .
through the force of an ldcx
personality he conquered more o r
than is uaually given to eTn the or
liantly endowed man of fine J115"
Stone walla do not priaoo B.wl
Iron bars a cage. Neither does M
leal frailty bar a person from acw
ment Milton did hla eert
after he had become blind. '
was deaf when he wrote the J
Ninth Symphony. Spencer djo
work In spite of chronic In rf
Stevenson wrote under senten
exile to the South seas, jce
dumb and ollnd Helen
xnacle her life count . t
Hemley was right A cf
master of his fate and the cai
his soul If be will only taxe
mand.
Going Up- b0 of-
"Would you vote for a man
fered you money r .. . tt
"I should say not, repu
shifty member of the legislator
days for that kind of traJ cy
past. A man who wants to o
influence has got to have i a I V ,t
n'ess and slip me an Interest
V