Produced by Melissa McDaniel, RichardW, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) TRACED AND TRACKED OR _Memoirs of a City Detective_. BY JAMES M^cGOVAN, AUTHOR OF “BROUGHT TO BAY,” “HUNTED DOWN,” AND “STRANGE CLUES.” SEVENTH EDITION. EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES & COMPANY LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 1886. _All rights reserved._ _WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ BROUGHT TO BAY; OR, _EXPERIENCES OF A CITY DETECTIVE_. THIRTEENTH EDITION. HUNTED DOWN; OR, _RECOLLECTIONS OF A CITY DETECTIVE_. ELEVENTH EDITION. STRANGE CLUES; OR, _CHRONICLES OF A CITY DETECTIVE_. NINTH EDITION. The above are uniform in size and price with “TRACED AND TRACKED,” and the four works form the complete set of M^cGovan’s Detective Experiences. To JOHN LENG, ESQ., KINBRAE, NEWPORT, FIFE This Book IS INSCRIBED, IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF HIS LOVING-KINDNESS DURING A CRITICAL ILLNESS OF THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The gratifying success of my former experiences—25,000 copies having already been sold, and the demand steadily continuing—has induced me to put forth another volume. In doing so, I have again to thank numerous correspondents, as well as the reviewers of the public press, for their warm expressions of appreciation and approval. I have also to notice a graceful compliment from Berlin, in the translation of my works into German, by H. Ernst Duby; and another from Geneva, in the translation of a selection of my sketches into French, by the Countess Agènor de Gasparin. A severe and unexpected attack of hæmorrhage of the lungs has prevented me revising about a third of the present volume. I trust, therefore, that any trifling slips or errors will be excused on that account. In conclusion, I would remind readers and reviewers of the words of Handel, when he was complimented by an Irish nobleman on having amused the citizens of Dublin with his _Messiah_. “Amuse dem?” he warmly replied; “I do not vant to amuse dem only; I vant to make dem petter.” JAMES M^cGOVAN. EDINBURGH, _October 1884_. CONTENTS. A PEDESTRIAN’S PLOT, • 1 BILLY’S BITE, • 13 THE MURDERED TAILOR’S WATCH, • 24 THE STREET PORTER’S SON, • 44 A BIT OF TOBACCO PIPE, • 57 THE BROKEN CAIRNGORM, • 68 THE ROMANCE OF A REAL CREMONA, • 79 THE SPIDER AND THE SPIDER-KILLER, • 104 THE SPOILT PHOTOGRAPH, • 115 THE STOLEN DOWRY, • 127 M^cSWEENY AND THE MAGIC JEWELS, • 139 BENJIE BLUNT’S CLEVER ALIBI, • 150 JIM HUTSON’S KNIFE, • 161 THE HERRING SCALES, • 174 ONE LESS TO EAT, • 185 THE CAPTAIN’S CHRONOMETER, • 196 THE TORN TARTAN SHAWL, • 207 A LIFT ON THE ROAD, • 218 THE ORGAN-GRINDER’S MONEY-BAG, • 229 THE BERWICK BURR, • 240 THE WRONG UMBRELLA, • 252 A WHITE SAVAGE, • 263 THE BROKEN MISSIONARY, • 274 A MURDERER’S MISTAKE, • 285 A HOUSE-BREAKER’S WIFE, • 297