The Omaha Sunday Bee.
PART TiraxE
HALF-TONE
PAGEJ 1 TO 4.
roR all the Nrvrs nrt
OMAHA DEE
BEST W TKX VEST '
vol. xxxix xo. ao.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 9, 1910.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
MESSENGERS OF MODERN COMMERCE UNLIKE MERCURY
Some of the Men Who Toil Early and Late in the Cold of Zero Weather that the Wants of Man May Be Satisfied and the Comforts of Home May Be Preserved ..
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. ITH hurrying feet the delivery man speeds about min
istering to a city's needs. It Is a long day or exact
ing service for those delivery folk. Through the
storm and snow they come to your door bringing all
of the materials of life. All that you eat or wear, tne
patter that you read, letters from friends afar or Insistent creditors
near by, your baggage, the fuel that fills the ever-voracious maw
of the furnace, messages and missives of business and social life
these are all laid at your elbow at your bidding. Business or amuse
ments may lead you where you will,; but the things you live on are
laid on the threshold.
The day's routine brings a train of servitors to your home, who
have come to figure" so mechanically in the running of life hat you
perhaps are hardly aware of their existence until a cog in the ma
chine slips. . -
When the coal bin suddenly reveals an empty nothingness just
when the chill conies climbing In, or when the paper boy goes
whistling by with your evening dally in his sack, then you realize
how much a part of existence these otherwise insignificant servitors
have become.
Pull yourself away from the easy channel of accepting things as
they are for a moment and see what these delivery folk are just now
In the heart of the whiter season when wants are many and Imperi
ous. Just imagine that all the delivery men took a mid-winter vaca
tion. Fancy yourself at the ofrice telephone in the evening just
before starting home, the mistress of your household on the other
end of the wire.
"Now, John, would you mind doing a little shopping for me?
Plea bring home a tou of coal, two pounds of steak, a bottle of
doubla cream, those carnations I ordered and
"Hello, and say, 'dear, you might stop by the postofflce and get
the mall." '
That would be a nice mess to get up against, wouldn't It?
It takes some aviation of fancy to get the idea, but those would
be the stern facts presenting the impossible problem. The delivery
people are solving it for you now. Every man his own messenger
boy and delivery man would make a large, cumbersome Joke out of
the social fabric.
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Milkman Comes First
Sagjjagje Mn AlwAaronihc Job
every errand from the purchase of a postage stamp to a pair of
shoes for baby."""
"It la an Interesting stu4y, this dally grind of studying a route,
If one takes It that way.
"There are those lonely people to whom my daily visit is an
event. They enjoy a chance to be Just a trifle neighborly and drop
a bit of confidence. Now, there's that dear old woman up there in
the next block who is out at the gate waltlngxfor me now. I'll be
sure to hear how she's worried for fear Mary Is sick and can't write.
"Then there's a little tot at the next house who always comes
out In the front yard to lisp a few of the family secrets before she
is captured by- her mother or I get through with the mail for the
flat.
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"It is just a series of little things that keep away the monotony.
Early this morning berore you got up the first of the day'a very Why, a fellow gets to have a sort of personal Interest In dozens of
uBful cillara was at vour back door, the milkman. He was busy families." , I
loading his wagons out at the suburb establishment or maybe down
V twn at the creamery Just at the tail-end Df the night and waa on
his way rattling down, the city street before the last of the stars
were gone. He rises early and he's In a hurry all day, this milkman
chap. i '
It is up to the milkman to get the cream around to the kitchen
door in time for your breakfast coffee. The remarks that you make
to the cook when he goes wrong and gets late are likely to get back
to him. and you may be assured they will lose nothing, of earnest
fervor In transmlsslop.
With about a hundred or so of breakfasts to connect with this
milk dispenser has 'to be on the move. In bis hurried flight in the
early twilight he does, however, get -a glimpse of. your home life
from an angle that you don't know anything about
Then the blue-coated servant of the public drew his pouch up
with a hitch to adjust the strap across the shoulder, drawn low by
the burdens of many a year's letters. Down In the mall man's sack
was a collection of messages In varying strains. To one home he
leaves joy, to another sorrow. It is his function to scatter them
all into the homes of the great city.
Coming of the Coal Man
A really Important visitor In these days of gloomy chill la the
coal man. His calls come high, but they are indispensable. The
haif-smothered rattle of the jetty chunks sliding down the qhute into
the basement makes a noise like a flock of dollar bills.
'Cold weather means more work for the drays. Big heaping loads
of fuel go crunching over the snow-coated pavements with rations
for an unusually hungry lot of furnaces.
There is a smile on the face of the coal man as he passes the
Ice wagon. It Is his Inning now but wait until summer comes the
other man will be wearing the smile.
There is something funereally serious about the countenance of
Detective Burns a Famous Worker
EW YORK, Jan. 1. William J.
Burns, who has just started a na
tional detective association and
taken one of their biggest Jobs
from the Plnkertons, had been
doing the protective work of the American
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The milkman gets wise while you are sleeping, all fronV a little M.nucawou ior mres weens oeioro
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glimpse of the back yard, a bit of porch and maybe a glimpse into
the kitchen. Of course he's mainly interested In his own work and
forced by the lonely hours that are his to refrain from much of
gossip.
The milkman Is very fond of the home where the empty bottles
are always on the back porch on time and each duly accompanied
by the ticket or coupon for the new supply. He Is willing to over
Icok most anything that does not mean delay. There are other
breakfast tables waiting and he must be on his way.
Old Dobbins must trot down the alleys at a merry clip If some
one does not have to drink black coffee or resort to the suspiciously
syrup-like condensed product. So, if you would stand well with
your milkman and save the spilling of a lot of lamblent profanity
on the cold, pure air of the morn, have your empty bottle out early.
Watching for the Postman
There la a lot more that Is personal in your relations with the
next of the early callers, this time a front door character, the post
man. He la a much-anticipated and eagerly-watched-for visitor.
The postman's advance up the street these cold and blustering
days U observed and watched with many a face pressed against the
frosty window pane.
Flitting along from bouse to house this postman has a merry
time of it. He gets a dozen confidences In a block like as not and
he must vicariously bear the burden of reproach for a lot of neglect
ful correspondents. If Brother Bill forgets to write his usual Sun
day letter there will be a disappointed frown for the postman from
the little sister who waits on the front step, it is up to the postman
to deliver the goods whether It was mailed or not
"It would be funny it it wasn't for the pestlferouuneus of it all,",
remarked the letter carrier with a sudden burst of communicative
ness. "You'd be surprised at the requests we meet these days.
Why, those snowbound, shut-in people would hand the postman
anybody knew anything about it except him
self, his clients and the Plnkertons, whom he
superceded. It was not until he bad been
tried and bad given satisfaction that the an
nouncement was made, and then by the
bankers' association itself. It is one of
Burns' characteristics to do his work without
any "noise."
If you find Mr. Burns in the offices of the
William J. Burns National Detective associa
tion in the Park Row building you discover
a man of about medium height, broaj
shouldered, with prominent features and a
pair of gray eyes that bore through you and
the wall beyond. It is hard to guess his age,
for his hair, which is of a reddish brown,
seems untouched by age, while his mustache,
which is of a lighter color, is liberally
streaked with gray. His manner is alert
and positive. He speaks slowly and dis
tinctly, but you get the impression that while
he Is talking he is not only answering your
questions, but weighing something else in
his mind at the same time.' Then, too, you
get the impression that if yon attempted to
pull a gun on hfm he would have his pointed
at you before yours was out of your pocket.
.Mr. Burns said that his age was 49 and
that he was born in Baltimore an.d waa sorry
he had a rule about not being Interviewed.
Yes, he had read "Sherlock Holmes" and
liked it, but thought chasing crooks was
more interesting than reading about them.
To be a good detective nowadays a man mast
be honest to begin with. He must have a
gift of intuition; he must b persistent, and
then he must be broad enough to make his
theories fit facts instead of trying to mould
No.s10 facts Into a No. 3 theory. That was
all, and good day.
He haa hie work cut'out for him, has Mr.
Burns, for he will nave hundreds of men un
der him, and he expects to have offices In
every city of Importance In the United States
and to exercise personal supervision over all
of them. At present he has as corre
spondents all the principal detective agencies
In the United States except the Plnkertons.
The Plnkertons issued a statement the other
day in which they predicted that crimes on
banks by all classes of professional criminals
would very greatly Increase and that Insur
ance on bank safes and vaults would go up,
but Burns only replied that be v.as willing to
bo judged by results."
Before Burns went after the grafters In
the Oregon laud Jrauds, which was his big
job preceding his trailing of the grafters in
San Francsico, he had had a remarkable ca
reer in the secret service of the Treasury de
partment. Chief Wllkie called him his star
man, an J Burns had run down not only noted
counterfeiters, but smugglers and every sort
of criminal with which the Treasury depart
ment har to deal.
Burns' father was commissioner of police
In Columbus, O., and there he got In touch
flrfet with police work.' He showed an apti
tude for it. but his first real detective work
was done in 1885, in connection with what
was known as the "tally sheet forgery,"
when in the state elections the tally sheets
in Columbus and Cincinnati were altered. In
one case a candidate getting 985 Instead of
185 votes. Burns assisted in running the
guilty persons down and getting a confession.
Shortly afterward he was called into a
case in St. Louis, where the notorious Jim
French and a gang of firebugs had been get
ting hundreds of thousands of dollars out of
insurance companies. French was a furni
ture dealer. He and his confederates would
fit up wening houses with expensive furni
ture, insure them to their full value, remove
the furniture and substitute junk, and then
set the houses on Are. All the big detective
agencies had been working on the case, but
failed to get convictions. Burns worked on
the job two months and got enough evidence
to com let, and French was sentenced to the
penitentiary for five years. The case was
carried to a higher court and the verdict and
sentence sustained, but French, who was out
on ball and who had powerful friends, heard
of what was coming to him and skipped.
Later he entered on a life of open crime. He
associated himself with two Basse brothers,
who were regarded as the most expert safe
burglars in the country, and they made a
specialty of post offices. After a few months
they were arrested in Arkansas, and when
the local sheriff found that French was the
man for whom a big reward had been offered
by the authorities of the state of Missouri he
took him away surreptitiously and put him
la the penitentiary.
Burn was appointed to the secret service
in 1890 and was located in the west, working
in the Indian territory, Texas, Arkansas and
the south. He was soon placed in charge of
that district, and In 189 4 was transferred to
Washington, where he was promoted for
good work and got a roving commission, go
lng, wherever there was an unusually impor
tant case. . One of the biggest feats in those
(Continued on Page Three.)
the coal man in spite of his smile. The coal man leads a dark life.
He is a grim creature of profits and cellar ways.
There is a grave possibility that the next shameful discovery will
be the combine for the illegal production of trade between the coal
man and the weather man. Think of the limitless possibilities of
such an unholy alliance.
You have to dig deep for what the. coal man haa dug.
A flitting, effervescent character among those who fetch and
carry is J.he Joyous messenger boy. His is the real variety life. He
delivers you a telegram at your business office and returns from
there, perhaps, to carry some gallant's note with a box of flowers.
The day'a errands place him in touch with all aorta and conditions
of people. In the bright period of youth before things begin to look
solemn and serious these lads gain a degree of experience that in
evitably must make them seem worldly-wise little chaps.
Merry Little Messenger
The messenger boy has a chance. Some remarkable examples
of success from lowly starts have been shown by messenger boya
who learned to run their experience to account.'
Even to be a success as a messenger boy calls for a degree of
acuteness. One sometimes finds it quite a task to And even a
familiar acquaintance in the rambles about the city. The messenger
boy is put up against the problem of finding total strangers every
hour. He generally gets away with his task, too.
The frivolities of the stage and comic prints have pictured the
messenger boy as the child mind in the throes of the dime novel
habit. The picture is hardly true. Look into the life. of a typical
group of Omaha's messenger boys and you will find a fair number of
them in schools a part of the day. The competition for boys' Jobs
has raised tho standard and the child labor law has got in its work
as well.
Don't put up the messenger boy as an angel child, however. On
guilty little rascal broke up an Omaha romance, the . other day.
Jimmy delivered the note that went with the dowers with the pack
age of bonbons while the flower girl got the bonbon note.
The mixture produced a situation in the affairs of the donor that
was entirely beyond explanation. Then, besides, the flowers were
frozen while Jimmy took a few slides with the coasters on his way.
The mischief don't always work harm. Denver has produced a
messenger boy who has became the rescuing hero through pure med
dlesomeness. He pried into a note which a young woman bad given
him to deliver and found it to be her farewell to the world on the
eve of self-destruction.
Like the hero in the "ten-tw enty-thirty," he came in with the
life-saving stunt in the last act. The police got there in time and
the prying messenger kid was crowped with public glory for his
performance.
The field of experience for the rambling messenger boy are many.
A woman living in the west part of the city last week was suddenly
served with one of those appealing notices trom the. police t clea"
the snow from the walks. Nobody available to do the work; hei
was a problem. Ah, happy thought, the trusty messenger boy. A
half hour later a busy boy with a badge on his cap was making the
drifts fly.
He's an all-around convenience that messenger boy. He has to
answer calls to climb trees to rescue ill-guided kittens, and in one
rich instance a messenger boy was put at the task of rocking the
baby to sleep In an Omaha home while the parents attended the
theater.
The season of bitter winter has given the delivery people a situa
. tlon to face. The people who carry the burdens had real work to do,
too, for never did Santa Claus do a bigger business in Omaha than
on the Christ man juat past. i
The heavy tnowfall and iced pavement forced traffic In down
town streets to follow the lines laid bare by the car track sweepers.
This forced the delivery fojk into the formation of caravans which,
of nourtse, made the car men happy. ,.
Look over the stream of traffic on the streets and you will find
that practically all of it is concerned with some branch of the de
livery business. .