It was at a meeting of the Justice Club that he first made his mark. The society was debating the rights and wrongs of a certain celebrated criminal trial, and Poole, rising as a comparatively unknown member when the discussion had reached a stage of considerable confusion and imminent collapse, had reviewed the evidence for the prosecution from so original a standpoint and with such logical precision that the “jury” had returned an enthusiastic and overwhelming majority for the defence. As a result of this speech, Poole had been elected a member of the Criminologists Club, a much older and more reputable body, at whose meetings celebrated old members often attended and spoke. Here he had met Harry Irving, whose personality had fired John with his own enthusiastic interest in the fascinating subject of crime. On another occasion the principal speaker—not a member—was the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who, speaking on the subject of police work generally and criminal investigation in particular, had definitely opened John Poole’s eyes to the possibility of crime investigation as a career. At first the young undergraduate thought of becoming an independent investigator—a private detective—possibly after a short career at the Bar with the object of picking up the legal side of the work. But after thinking over again all that the Chief Commissioner had said, and reading such books on the subject as he could lay his hands on, Poole came to the conclusion that the powers and machinery of the official police gave them such an overwhelming advantage over the “amateurs” that in the Force itself alone lay the prospects of really great achievement. For the high offices in the Police Force, the Chief Constables of County Constabularies, the Chief and Assistant Commissioners of the Metropolitan and City Police, it was not of course necessary to have been a policeman. Such posts usually went to soldiers and sailors, or even occasionally to barristers, though in some of the Borough Police forces promotion from the ranks was becoming more common. But, from the first moment, Poole set his mind on one post, for which—though it was generally so filled—he did not consider that an army or navy training was sufficient. He wanted to be Head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard.