I know several of these gentlemen whose pictures I feel confident do not appear in the Rogues’ Gallery, and who have not been, as yet, convicted of crime.  A client is as safe in the hands of a good detective agency as he is in the hands of a good attorney; he should know his agency, that is all—­just as he should know his lawyer.  The men at the head of the big agencies generally take the same pride in their work as the members of any other profession.  They know that a first-class reputation for honesty is essential to their financial success and that good will is their stock in trade.  Take this away and they would have nothing.

In 1878 the founder of one of the most famous of our national agencies promulgated in printed form for the benefit of his employees what he called his general principles.  One of these was the following: 

“This agency only offers its services at a stated per diem for each detective employed on an operation, giving no guarantee of success, except in the reputation for reliability and efficiency; and any person in its service who shall, under any circumstances, permit himself or herself to receive a gift, reward, or bribe shall be instantly dismissed from the service.”

Another: 

“The profession of the detective is a high and honorable calling.  Few professions excel it.  He is an officer of justice, and must himself be pure and above reproach.”

Again: 

“It is an evidence of the unfitness of the detective for his profession when he is compelled to resort to the use of intoxicating liquors; and, indeed, the strongest kind of evidence, if he continually resorts to this evil practice.  The detective must not do anything to farther sink the criminal in vice or debauchery, but, on the contrary, must seek to win his confidence by endeavoring to elevate him, etc.”

“Kindness and justice should go hand in hand, whenever it is possible, in the dealings of the detective with the criminal.  There is no human being so degraded but there is some little bright spark of conscience and of right still existing in him.”

Last: 

“The detective must, in every instance, report everything which is favorable to the suspected party, as well as everything which may be against him.”

The man who penned these principles had had the safety of Abraham Lincoln in his keeping; and these simple statements are the best refutation of the baseless assertions above referred to.

It may be that in those days the detection of crime was a bit more elementary than at the present time.  One can hardly picture a modern sleuth delaying long in an attempt to evangelize his quarry, but these general principles are the right stuff and shine like good deeds in a naughty world.