"appealed" to the cop on the beat, who proved more
reasonable, but although he used all his force, he was unable
to break down the door which had in the meantime been
reinforced from the inside. After about an hour, the old
lady unchained the door and invited the detectives to come
in. The crook was sitting by the window smoking a cigar and
reading St. Nicholas, while all evidence of his crime had
vanished in smoke.

One more anecdote, at the expense of the deductive detective.
A watchman was murdered, the safe of a brewery blown open and
the contents stolen. Local detectives worked on the case and
satisfied themselves that the night engineer at the brewery
had committed the crime. He was a quiet and, apparently, a
God-fearing man, but circumstances were conclusive against
him. In fact, he had been traced within ten minutes of the
murder on the way to the scene of the homicide. But some
little link was lacking and the brewery officials called in
the agency. The first thing the superintendent did was to
look over the engineer. At first sight he recognized him as
a famous crook who had served five years for a homicidal
assault! One would think that that would have settled the
matter. But it didn't! The detective said nothing to his
associates or employers, but called on the engineer that
evening and had a quiet talk with him in which he satisfied
himself that the man was entirely innocent. The man had
served his time, turned over a new leaf, and was leading an
honest, decent life. Two months later the superintendent
caused the arrest of four yeggmen, all of whom were convicted
and are now serving fifteen years each for the crime.