police, and all is grist that comes to their mill. The
district attorney sends for the officers who have worked upon
the case and for the captain or inspector who has directed
their efforts, takes all the papers and tabulates all their
information. His practiced eye shows him at once that a large
part is valueless, much is contradictory, and all needs
careful elaboration. A winnowing process occurs then and
there; and the officers probably receive a "special detail"
from headquarters and thereafter take their orders from the
prosecutor himself. The detective bureau is called in and
arrangements made for the running down of particular clues.
Then he will take off his coat, clear his desk, and get down
to work.

Of course, his first step is to get all the information he can
as to the actual facts surrounding the crime itself. He
immediately subpoenas all the witnesses, whether previously
interrogated by the police or not, who know anything about the
matter, and subjects them to a rigorous cross-examination.
Then he sends for the police themselves and cross-examines
them. If it appears that any witnesses have disappeared he
instructs his detectives how and where to look for them.
Often this becomes in the end the most important element in
the preparation for the trial. Thus in the Nan Patterson case
the search for and ultimate discovery of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan
Smith (the sister and brother-in-law of the accused) was one
of its most dramatic features. After they had been found it
was necessary to indict and then to extradite them in order to
secure their presence within the jurisdiction, and when all
this had been accomplished it proved practically valueless.