it is one thing to follow a man who has no idea that he is
being followed and another to trail a man who is as
suspicious and elusive as a fox. A professional criminal's
daily business is to observe whether or not he is being
followed, and he rarely if ever, makes a direct move. If he
wants a drink at the saloon across the street, he will, by
preference, go out the back door, walk around the block and
dodge in the side entrance under the tail of an ice wagon.
In this case the detectives followed the presenter for days
before they reached Fisher, and when they did they had still
to locate his "plant."

The arrest in this case illustrates forcibly the chief
characteristic of successful criminals--egotism. The
essential quality of daring required in their pursuits gives
them an extraordinary degree of self-confidence, boldness,
and vanity. And to vanity most of them can trace their fall.
It seems incredible that Fisher should have returned to the
United States after his discharge from prison and immediately
resumed his operations without carefully concealing his
impedimenta. Yet when he was run down in a twenty-six family
apartment house, the detectives found in his valise several
thousand blank and model checks, hundreds of letters and
private papers, a work on "Modern Bank Methods," and his
"ticket of leave" from England! This man was a successful
forger and because he was successful, his pride in himself
was so great that he attributed his conviction in England to
accident and really felt that he was immune on his release.

The arrest of such a man often presents great legal