Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the WorldWooldridge, Clifton R. (Clifton Rodman)
History
Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World
Wooldridge, Clifton R. (Clifton Rodman)
Crime -- Illinois -- Chicago; Police -- Illinois -- Chicago
"I take it from him instantly, and hold it up with the bill
corner at the bottom, flipping the leaves through from
front to back and forward again. In the act the corner of
the bill drops out on the floor, where he doesn't see. 'Not
here,' I says. 'You made a bad draw. Here's the bill,' I
says, taking up the book that holds it and turning to the
$10 bill, just where it lies. He doesn't know how it all
happened, but I console him that he has the three wild west
books for his library when he gets home.
ALL SUCKERS NOT IN DAY COACHES.
"I don't find all these suckers in the day coaches--not on
your life. I found two pretty boys in the smoking room of a
sleeping car a week ago, and I had $7.50 from one of them
and $5 from the other, and they didn't know a line about it
till they got together after I had gone.
"Friends of mine have kicked because I get $2, or $3, or
$4 apiece for gold-rimmed spectacles that cost me $1.80
a dozen. But where is the kick. I know men who have paid
$10 or $15 for glasses from an oculist when the glass was
cut out of a broken window pane. I save such people money,
don't I?
"I am not out after the old farmer with hayseed in his hair
and leaf tobacco in his mouth, chewing. There are a lot
of gay chaps traveling these days who think they've got
the bulge on the train butcher by a sort of birthright or
something. They are after me, sometimes, till I can't go to
sleep after I come in from a run. For instance, the other
day a chap got into the train out of a little country town,
intending to go to another little town twenty miles away
without change of cars. He had $2 cash and a guitar when he
got on the train, but I had both when he got off. He wasn't
mad at all; he just didn't understand it. For that reason
I'll see him again one of these days, and he will buck the
game harder than he did the first time. The trouble is he
wants to vindicate himself; he's one of these smart alecs
that you couldn't down with a crowbar--he don't think!
COUNTRY TOWN "SPORT" EASIEST MARK.
"Just give me the dead-game sport as he comes from the
country and the country town. He's as good as I want. It's
a sort of charity to take his money away from him before
he gets into real trouble with it. One of them thought he
had me the other day when I tried to sell him a pair of my
famous $4 glasses with the gold rims. His had silver, only,
but he told me mine wouldn't show a full moon after dark.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account