Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City DetectiveForrester, Andrew
General
Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City Detective
Forrester, Andrew
Detective and mystery stories, English; Fiction; Short stories
The reader who desires to see poetical justice summarily inflicted on
every wrong-doer as soon as the wrong has been committed, may have been
grieved to learn that a gang of villains escaped their merits. I shared
that feeling. I do not believe that Wilson was in the fraud, although I
cannot undertake to say that the evidence of my faith is so perfect as I
could wish. He, however, was utterly and hopelessly ruined, by the
dismissal from his situation under circumstances of so grave suspicion;
and if his worst offence was negligence (as I suppose), he has been
terribly punished. The last time I saw him (not six months ago) he was
selling penny packets of "stationery for the million" on a stall in one
of the popular marts at the East End of London. The reader last
mentioned may obtain some proper comfort in the evidence I can supply as
to the ultimate vindication of justice upon the persons of the whole of
the gang concerned in this great "plant." I hunted down four of them not
long since, and one volunteered a statement of the facts of that case
(as each of the four did), in the hope of being admitted to the
privileges of what the Irish call an approver. During this conversation
(after he had completed his confession of the offence he was then
charged with) he also told me that he had taken part in this affair
along with all his present companions in crime,--who were the last of
the set who had up to that date eluded justice.
AN EPISODE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
Some time ago a robbery was perpetrated in the mansion of Lord H----,
which is situated in one of the squares of Belgravia. The thieves made a
tolerably successful and remunerative haul. They cleared out the whole
of the plate, and also much of the jewelry, which chiefly belonged to
Lady H----, and was of enormous value.
How the thieves obtained access to the premises did not for a long while
seem at all clear. Appearances on the surface warranted a belief that
one or more of the servants of his lordship or her ladyship had aided
and abetted the robbery. But there was no scintilla of what is called
legal evidence to justify or warrant that suspicion. Nobody attached to
the household was therefore arrested on the charge; but a reward was
offered for the discovery of the offenders, and ordinary police
vigilance was exhausted in the endeavour to track the delinquents.
Weeks and months (about three months) rolled by, and nobody was brought
to justice.
His lordship was irritated beyond measure by this failure of justice. He
one day went to his solicitors, declaring that he would spend half his
fortune, if necessary, in order to secure the offender and his adequate
punishment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account