Detective Bob Bridger — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ae DETECTIVE BOB BRIDGER. keep pace with the prominence he had thus cheaply at- tained. He received a dozen letters in as many days bidding for his services, and at length accepted a position under the Government. Carefully studying the ways of the criminal classes and the methods of the best detective officers, executing every commission given in his charge with intelligence and alacrity, he rapidly advanced to a front rank in his adopted profession. When he had been two years in the service of the govern- ment an incident occurred, ever after which he became the department’s first choice for any case requiring thor- ough skill and reckless daring. A gang of ouflaws were engaged in illegal traffic, de- frauding the Government of revenue, near St. Louis. They had effectually eluded several tried officers who had been sent to work up the case against them, and had at length murdered a Government detective in cold blood. The marshal of the district, as a last resort, had laid the case before the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington. That gentleman was ina quandary what move to make in the matter, when an old, gray-headed employee of the office suddenly suggested : “T tell you, Mr. Secretary, there’s only one thing to do about it.” ‘And what’s that?” demanded the Secretary. “Send ‘Old’ Bridger out there.” Acting on the old timer’s suggestion, the Secretary sent for Bridger, and was greatly surprised to see in him a tall, handsome, keen eyed young man of twenty-five.. However, he dispatched Bridger to the aid of the district marsha\ in Missouri. A fortnight later his attention was again called to Bridger _by the receipt of a report which the detective had been in- structed to forward when anything definite had been ac- complished. Reading it over, he called the old employee to his side, and said : “By the way, why did you in speaking of Detective Bridger, the other day, call him ‘Old’ Bridger? The officer is quite young.” . “Well,” responded the old man, “I’ve wedalind the doings of every one of these secret service men that have acted for this department for many years back, and I have never known one of all the lot to succeed so uniformly in Gomicbooks.co