Under His Thumb — page 132: what you’re looking at

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

UNDER HIS THUMB. 123 “Do you know why I have taken so much trouble to overtake you?’’ Vag 7? ‘Tell me what you think is my object,’’ ‘To find out about the murder of Hiram Waldron.’’ ‘“Why should a detective come to you for informa- tion on this subject?’ “Because, I suppose, I was formerly connected with him in business, and because | am now con- nected with the class of vagabonds and criminals to whose charge all iniquities are laid, whether they are guilty or not. I know how this detective busi- ness is managed. If aman is arrested by the police upon any charge, no matter how light, he is put on record as a suspicious character; then he is watched. If he doesn’t live a more perfect life than the most respectable of citizens, they soon have a long record against him. Then, when a murder like this one is committed, they look over their catalogue of hard characters, hit upon two or three who might possibly have a motive for the crime, and then watch these unfortunate men so sharply that they are made to do more suspicious things, until they are so strongly implicated that there is no escaping arrest and prob- able conviction. That is the way it is done, and that is why you are following me in this manner. You mean well enough; you’re doing your duty; but that is no reason why I should not distrust you, and look out for my own safety.’’ Croly, the detective, could not restrain a feeling of deep sympathy for this unhappy man. Indeed he sympathized with all, even the most vicious; for he believed that the spark of immortal aspiration and capability existed in every human breast, and that it was only clouded by ignorance, vice, and the. -comicbooks (E(6) mn